History Main / ForgotICouldntSwim

* In a ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' story, [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain the Gibbon and the Grizzly]] try to go straight and become good guys, and the Gibbon is actually able to fix up a CoolCar for them... But the Grizzly tries to drive it into the bay, thinking that the Gibbon had told him it was aquatic, which it is not. After they call a tow truck, the Gibbon says he had been ''thinking'' of making it aquatic, but it turned out to be too expensive. (Whether it was his fault for not explaining it more thoroughly or the Grizzly's for not listening isn't exactly clear.)
* In a ''Franchise/StarWars'' one-shot comic, Boba Fett is hired to track down the man who killed a crime lord's son and kill him. Turns out, Boba Fett was the one who killed the boss's son, and the job was a setup to allow his other son to get revenge. After fighting against hordes of scrapyard droids, Fett douses the guy in oil and lights him on fire. Naturally, he runs screaming into a nearby pool to put himself out -- remembering immediately afterwards that ''he can't swim''. As he watches him drown, Fett aptly remarks "No smarter than your brother."
* In The Brave and the Bold 118, Joker jumps into the water to save a dog that he believes infected him by biting him. He says "Oh noo! I forgot... I can't swim! Help! Helppp!"

Note that, name notwithstanding, the activity in question is not necessarily swimming, much like ForgotICouldFly. If they actually ''do'' swim very well in the attempt, the reminder that they can't is invoking the ReminderOfImpossibility, while questioning how they can swim so well can lead to CentipedesDilemma.

This trope is usually used as a gag. Usually a prideful or heroic character will quickly make a snap decision to swim without thinking through all the ramifications first. They're just that focused on the immediate goal. We as the audience can laugh at them for their own foolishness in being so forward without bothering to plan correctly.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Misty's Psyduck is prone to this. And this is despite him being a ''Water-type'' Pokémon!

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': When the Water Palace begins to flood, the Taurus grabs onto a Hinox, gasping that he can't swim. The Taurus's armor ends up dragging them both underwater.

* A rather painful version happens in the first ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory''. After seeing the moving van ramp nearly crush Woody, Buzz and RC, Slinky Dog hastily decides to jump on the ramp himself attempting to pull them on board. Unfortunately, the batteries run out, dragging him 40 feet wide. It's a wonder how he ever returned to his exact shape.

** In one cartoon, Pepe sees Penelope on a cruise boat and runs after it. As he sinks he calmly tells the audience, "Silly me, I forgot I cannot swim."

* Varation: ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'' is using his super-car to distract Longhorn, a redneck minotaur in a super semi-truck. They race all around the country till they get to the ocean, and Freakazoid thinks, "Let's see him follow me under water!" Longhorn's truck has a scuba mode. The Freakmobile ''doesn't''.

** One of the many ridiculous plans to catch the pigeon is flying a ''diving board plane'' with Dick Dastardly on it, so when he is directly above the pigeon, he will dive, catch the pigeon and land on a plane carrying a huge tank of water. Before the squadron takes off, Dastardly remarks, "OK... but I still think we're forgetting something." Remarkably, Dastardly actually catches the pigeon, but suddenly says, "Uh oh! Now I remember! I CAN'T SWIM!", sinks beneath the water, lets go of the pigeon and once again begs for Muttley to rescue him.

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* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** Akane first establishes her SuperDrowningSkills with this gag, jumping into the ocean to save Ranma from Cologne's attack, failing to remember that she is utterly helpless underwater.
** In a very similar joke, Ryoga once dives into the pool to save a drowning Akane, completely forgetting that he'll turn into a small black pig in contact with the cold water. Ranma even lampshades this mid-dive.
** During the Pantyhose Taro arc, this antagonist kidnaps Akane and takes her to a remote temple in the mountains, then leaves to confront Happosai. Akane escapes, comes across a river, and leaps in... only to splash and sputter her way back to shore. She even says "Oh no! I forgot I can't swim!" afterwards.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Anybody who eats a "Devil Fruit" gains some kind of fantastic power, such as an elastic body -- at the cost of gaining SuperDrowningSkills. Not only do they lose all buoyancy and sink like an anchor, should they fall in the water they become paralyzed as well. Since almost the entire cast of ''One Piece'' are pirates and live on the ocean, this is a pretty big deal; yet, they don't seem to get the "jumping in the sea" reflex out of their system ''nearly'' as fast as they ought.
** It's a RunningGag that Luffy, the elastic main character who ate a Devil Fruit as a kid, falls into the ocean and begins to drown. (Truthfully, he couldn't even swim ''before'' he ate it.) In one episode where it happens, Chopper and Brook valiantly leap in to save him... ''But they're Devil Fruit users too.'' All three of them are then saved by one of the other crew members who're understandably pissed at their thoughtlessness. Luffy himself never forgets, likely due to his lack of swimming ability before.

* Early in ''Manga/{{Kodocha}}'', Sana challenges Akito to a bungee contest, since she knows that he's afraid of heights. Meanwhile, she forgets that although she loves high places, she ''has no idea how she'll react to falling from them'' -- as it turns out, with abject screaming horror. This is in character.

* In ''VideoGame/YoakeMaeYoriRuriIroNa'', Feena jumps into the river to save a drowning puppy despite the fact that she herself can't swim. Luckily, Tatsuya is there to rescue her.
* In ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', in the first volume, Chiyo can "sort of do a doggy-paddle," but that doesn't stop her from jumping in and proceeding to sink. Of course, this happened during ''swim class'' and had many people monitoring her, so teaching her was kind of the point. (She improves as the series progresses; by the time they go to Okinawa, she's been SCUBA diving.)
* In ''Anime/DinoZaurs'', Rena jumps into a hippo and crocodile infested lake in Africa to try to goad her friend into jumping in as well. He jumps in, but only to save her when she nearly drowns.
* Happens to Nagisa from ''Anime/AnimalDetectivesKiruminzoo'' in the second episode.
* In ''Manga/SamuraiHaremAsuNoYoichi'', the title character was raised in the mountains and never learned to swim, but when a side character falls into the water and is unable to swim because the bad guys are creating waves preventing him from doing so, Yoichi heroically jumps in to save the other. After several moments, he surfaces and splashes about. The original water-bound character is eventually saved by a third character who ''can'' swim (though no one knew that) while Yoichi gets a life preserver tossed to him so he can distract/fight off the opponents.
* In one episode of ''Manga/SgtFrog'', Keroro falls into icy water and starts to drown. In a display of friendship, Fuyuki forfeits a match to jump in and save him. However, previous episodes have made it plain that Fuyuki can't swim, and when Keroro points this out, he starts to flounder, even shouting out the trope's name verbatim.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' has a somewhat comical example as well. Jaden wins a duel against a pirate duelist, but gets kidnapped and is forced to join the latter's crew, only to escape and return to the Academy at the end of the episode. His boat, however, almost doesn't make it, and Syrus dives in to help him, literally forgetting he couldn't swim until Jaden asked him about it.
* Ryugazaki Rei in ''Anime/{{Free}}'' falls victim to this after ''joining a swim team.'' He promptly belly flops and nearly drowns during his first practice.
* ''Manga/PingPong'': Peco, after meeting Sakuma on the beach.

* In ''Manga/BoardingSchoolJuliet'', Inuzuka being this trope when he tries to save a drowning Percia is what convinces Hasuki that his feelings are true...although he isn't the brightest bulb in the box regardless.

* In the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'', the ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}} can copy any ability he sees perfectly. When he was little, he used this to perfectly mimic a dive when he was unable to swim and almost drowned as a result.
* In a ''Franchise/StarWars'' one-shot comic, Boba Fett is hired to track down the man who killed a crime lord's son and kill him. Turns out, Boba Fett was the one who killed the boss's son, and the job was a setup to allow his other son to get revenge. After fighting against hordes of scrapyard droids, Fett douses the guy in oil and lights him on fire. Naturally, he runs screaming into a nearby pool to put himself out -- remembering immediately afterwards that ''he can't swim''. As he watches him drown, Fett aptly remarks "No smarter than your brother."

* In a ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' story, [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain the Gibbon and the Grizzly]] try to go straight and become good guys, and the Gibbon is actually able to fix up a CoolCar for them... But the Grizzly tries to drive it into the bay, thinking that the Gibbon had told him it was aquatic, which it is not. After they call a tow truck, the Gibbon says he had been ''thinking'' of making it aquatic, but it turned out to be too expensive. (Whether it was his fault for not explaining it more thoroughly or the Grizzly's for not listening isn't exactly clear.)

* In chapter 3 of the ''Fanfic/UndertaleFanNovelization'', Frisk considers swimming across the river to avoid a puzzle. The problem, realized only after coming up with the idea but fortunately before trying it, is that Frisk can not swim.
* ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'': In chapter 4 "Love", Asuka is swimming in a lake while Shinji is fishing. She tries to encourage him to go for a swim as well, but he says he can't swim. Suddenly, Asuka screams that she is drowning, and Shinji gets into the water unthinkingly. He paddles rather clumsily, but he manages to pull her out of the pond.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', after learning that Prince Eric's bride-to-be Vanessa is actually the sea witch Ursula in disguise, Ariel dives into the ocean to reach the wedding barge...and then remembers that she doesn't know how to swim with legs.

* Subverted in ''Film/TimeBandits'', when, after declaring as he struggles in the Atlantic after the ''Titanic'' sinks that he can't swim, Fidgit the Bandit discovers to his sudden delight when transported to the Time of Legends that, for no adequately explained reason, "Hey! I can swim!"

* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', Wolverine forgets that his '70s body doesn't have adamantium on his bones or claws several times; he's surprised when he ''doesn't'' set off a metal detector and tries to cut [[spoiler:a Sentinel prototype]], even though his uncoated claws have points but no edges.
* In ''Film/SummerCampNightmare'', a 1980s adaptation of ''Literature/TheButterflyRevolution'', Donald Poultry, one of the campers of Camp North Pines, is told to come out of the water to be checked for a skin problem by the visiting nurse from Camp South Pines, only to be told that it was a heat rash. He quickly goes back into the water, only to find himself drowning when he realizes he couldn't swim. Franklin Reilly, one of the counselors-in-training watching the events going on at the lakeside, looks at the adult counselors being too busy with their own things to notice that somebody is drowning, then goes in and saves Donald by bringing him back to shore.

* In ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures'' book 4 (''Aliens Stole My Body'') by Bruce Coville, the main character has had his brain transferred into the body of an alien. He talks the alien whose body he is sharing into going for a swim, only to realize that's not a good idea when you breathe through your skin...

* ''Series/FamilyMatters'': The sixth-season episode "Sink or Swim," where Urkel's ability to pass physical education -- and graduate from high school -- rides on his ability to pass a simple swim test... and (predictably) the nerd can't swim. But Carl can -- and this naturally leads to plenty of comedy.

* ''Series/SeriouslyWeird'': In "Harris and the Mermaid", Harris foolishly challenges Wayne to a swimming race, oblivious of the fact that he doesn't know how to swim.

* In an old ''WesternAnimation/TheFantasticFour1967'' cartoon, when the Fantasticar is shot over the ocean, the Four manage to bail onto an island. Johnny Storm turns into the Human Torch to go recover the submerged car. Think that one through, since clearly he didn't.

* Happens a few times to Bullwinkle in ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', notably in the Maybe Dick story arc where he's submerged head first. He uses his legs to spell out "Save me" in semaphore to Rocky.
** In the very first arc, "Jet Fuel Formula", Bullwinkle, with Rocky's help, devises a multi-step plan that relies on him swimming around the perimeter of an island. Somehow he gets through the entire planning phase without recalling this fact, and only remembers in the moment after he plunges into the water to carry out the plan.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'', WesternAnimation/CountDuckula dives [[ItMakesSenseInContext 500 feet into a glass of water]]. Guess what he says just after he makes the jump?
--> "Oh no, I just remembered, I can't swim!"
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': after Perry the Platypus [[FreakyFridayFlip switches bodies]] with Candace he once still tried to give a slow-motion tail-slap to Dr. Doofenschmirtz, but just span around pointlessly because he didn't have a tail anymore. After getting mocked for this, he then starts beating Doofenschmirtz with a purse [[HammerSpace from nowhere.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'', the titular DoAnythingRobot has a wide variety of tools. A means of flight is not among them, which would have been nice to remember ''before'' he jumped out of a skyscraper.
* This happens to ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} in the animated special ''Garfield's Halloween Adventure''. (Of course, he and Odie were running from a mob of [[GhostPirate Ghost Pirates]], so it's hard to blame him.)

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Numbuh Four dives at an aspargus sea to chase what he believes to be a cheeseburger, and then he remembers he can't swim.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Handy's Sweetheart", when Handy has his foot caught in a Smurf-eating clam and Marina the mermaid tries to get help from the Smurfs to save Handy before he drowns, Brainy presumes to do the job by diving into the water, only to find out that he can't swim.

* Nobita from ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' is a good example to this. While saving a friend, a character usually states that he couldn't swim. Realizing that, he drowns, usually ending up being saved by another character.

* In ''Literature/AliensStoleMyBody'' by Bruce Coville, the main character has had his brain transferred into the body of an alien. He talks the alien whose body he is sharing into going for a swim, only to realize that's not a good idea when you breathe through your skin...

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', one arc has the titular mercenaries take a job as mall cops. As part of the contract, they have to leave behind all their military grade gear, including armor that can let them fly. When what appeared to be a thief started [[LeParkour jumping from balcony to balcony]], Captain Tagon jumped from his balcony intending to fly and follow. Only on his way down did he remember that he couldn't fly because he wasn't wearing his suit and promptly crashed into someone's dinner table, taking [[EyeScream a fork in the eye]] for his trouble.

* Early in ''Manga/KodomoNoOmocha'', Sana challenges Akito to a bungee contest, since she knows that he's afraid of heights. Meanwhile, she forgets that although she loves high places, she ''has no idea how she'll react to falling from them'' -- as it turns out, with abject screaming horror. This is in character.

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, the ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}} can copy any ability he sees perfectly. When he was little, he used this to perfectly mimic a dive when he was unable to swim and almost drowned as a result.

* Played with in a [[ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics Disney Comics]] story where Mickey Mouse and Goofy are tied up and about to be thrown overboard from a boat so that they will drown. Goofy comes out with the gem "But I can't swim". Later, he and Mickey (having escaped their bonds thanks to some plot-handy sharp coral) are treading water calmly discussing their next move when Goofy suddenly starts panicking and Mickey asks what's wrong. '''Goofy:''' "I just remembered, I can't swim."
* In a Franchise/SpiderMan story, [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain the Gibbon and the Grizzly]] try to go straight and become good guys, and the Gibbon is actually able to fix up a CoolCar for them... But the Grizzly tries to drive it into the bay, thinking that the Gibbon had told him it was aquatic, which it is not. After they call a tow truck, the Gibbon says he had been ''thinking'' of making it aquatic, but it turned out to be too expensive. (Whether it was his fault for not explaining it more thoroughly or the Grizzly's for not listening isn't exactly clear.)

* In ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', after learning that Prince Eric's bride-to-be Vanessa is actually the sea witch Ursula in disguise, Ariel dives into the ocean to reach the wedding barge...and then remembers that she doesn't know how to swim with legs.