Basic Trope: You can easily fix things by hitting them.
- Straight: Bob's computer is on the fritz. He hits it, and it starts working.
- Exaggerated:
- He also repairs his car, his bike, and his watch the same way.
- Bob punches his computer so hard that it smashes against a wall located several feet away. After that, the machine starts working at 400% of its maximum efficiency!
- Everything, even his house, is fixed with a simple tap of the fingernail.
- Bob punches his computer so hard that it smashes against a wall located several planets away. After that, the machine starts working at Eleventy Zillion Percent of its maximum overdrive efficiency!!
- Downplayed:
- Bob's computer is on the fritz. He hits it, and while it doesn't fix it, it makes it to where Bob can retrieve his files.
- Bob manages to fix his computer by hitting it but it is a very precise one with enough force to force a pin back into its socket.
- Justified:
- Bob is a Technopath.
- In real life, machines may malfunction because their internal parts get shifted out of place. A well-placed hit might actually end up getting the components realigned.
- Bob elbows a vending machine to get a drink to come out.
- Inverted:
- Bob's computer doesn't miraculously start up after he hits it, but his carpal tunnel goes away.
- Bob's computer disassembles immediately upon but a tiny tap of the fingernail.
- Hitting the computer doesn't fix it, but lightly tapping it does.
- Subverted: Bob hits his malfunctioning computer. It gets worse.
- Double Subverted: But a second hit fixes everything.
- Parodied:
- Bob's doctor hits him, and his cold goes away.
- Right before Bob hits his computer, the electronic device starts talking and begging him for mercy.
Please! Don't hit me again! I'll be good, I promise!- Right before Bob hits his computer, the computer grows a pair of fists and punches him in the face.
How do you like that, bitch?! - Zig Zagged: Every subsequent whack fixes a previous problem, but creates a new one that needs to be fixed.
- Averted: Hitting machines doesn't fix them.
- Enforced:
- The original script had Bob typing some commands on the keyboard to fix it, but the director thought that didn't look dramatic enough.
- It's a fast-moving video game where the players need some way to repair things, but there's no reason to do it realistically; beating friendly tech with wrenches to repair it is an Acceptable Break from Reality.
- Lampshaded:
- "And all it took was a good whack? Really?"
- "If My Calculations Are Correct, a well-placed kinetic strike, administered with a bard hand or light cudgel, will return the device to standard operation."
- Invoked: "You could try whacking it. That might get it started again."
- Exploited:
- Alice pulls a practical joke on Bob by putting glue on the side of his computer monitor and writing a program that makes the screen flicker.
- A robot is designed to operate under this principle, so it gets stronger every time it's shot at.
- Defied:
- "You really think whacking it is going to make it work?"
- Rather than hitting his computer to make it work, Bob sends it away for repairs.
- Discussed: "Have you ever tried whacking that thing to get get it working?"
- Conversed: "Hey, I tried whacking that thing the other day and it started working."
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is used to fixing his computer with punching so much that one day he breaks it with a usual punch.
- The computer may or may not get fixed, but Jim (Bob's boss) does not likes what Bob did. Bob gets sued with attempted destruction of company property (if he does not owns the computer) or given a warning for inappropriate behavior in company grounds (if he does). And elsewhere he gets the infamy of "that psycho who drop-kicks laptops".
- Reconstructed: When Bob finally gets his computer fixed at the workshop, he understands that punching certain areas of his computer won't do anything good. But punching other areas is still a good choice since some parts of his computer tend to shift in their sockets.
Back to - back...back....ba...back to Perc...back to...(WHACK) Back to Percussive Maintenance.
