History Main / HumanDoorstop

[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy "I've been a good towelrack, Eddy."]]]]

* In the ''Anime/RanmaOneHalf'' movie ''Big Trouble in Nekonron, China'', the main cast is chasing Prince Kirin's airship across the Sea of Japan to China. They're picked up by Lychee's boat, there's an argument, and an angry Jasmine (Lychee's elephant) stomps a hole in the boat. How do they plug the hole? With {{Miniature Senior Citizen|s}} Happōsai, whose theft of a scroll years ago started all the trouble.

* ''Literature/{{Overlord|2012}}'':
** To punish Shalltear for her behavior while BrainwashedAndCrazy, Ainz decrees that he'll use her as a bench (that, and the throne Demiurge made for him is made of human skulls). Unfortunately for him, Shalltear's creator equipped her with almost every fetish known to otakudom (including ACupAngst, humiliation and necrophilia), and as a result Ainz has to stop when he realizes Shalltear is audibly ''[[{{Unishment}} getting off on it]]''. Worse, everyone else thinks Shalltear is getting preferential treatment by serving as Ainz' seat. Eventually Ainz decides to continue as a way to punish himself, since he believes Shalltear being brainwashed was his fault.
** Having heard of the above, Cocytus offers himself to be used as a seat by Ainz when he visits the Lizardmen under his charge. When Ainz clarifies that he was trying to punish Shalltear at the time, Cocytus retorts that he should be punished as well since one of the Lizardmen was rude to Ainz. After he relents, Cocytus asks Ainz which seat he prefers, leaving Shalltear seething in rage and Ainz fuming in embarrassment.

* The pirates on ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift'' use a live badger as a flag, the patterns on his back forming a perfect skull and crossbones. He can also become a white flag by turning his underbelly forward.

* When time stops in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', Myria [=LeJean=] invites Susan to take a seat on a small child. Susan refuses, and [=LeJean=] says the child won't know. Susan replies that ''she'' will.

-->'''Telson:''' Tidy, a job for you. You're to stay by the entrance. If that door tries to close, you're to jam it with your body and yell.
-->'''Tidy:''' [[SarcasmMode Thanks. I'm glad to be of use!]]

* Being assigned reactor shielding duty is one of the many punishments available to traitors in Alpha Complex. If they're lucky, there will be enough lead vests to go around. Just another day in ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}''.

* For most of Shale's memory in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', no one knew it was a sentient intelligence trapped in a golem's body, not even its master. So it was used among other things as a doorstop, coatrack, lawn ornament, village centerpiece, and birdseed holder. No opportunity exists for the player to utilize Shale for this function.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', escaped slave Fenris notes that in addition to being a super-powered bodyguard, his master occasionally had him pour drinks for his guests and prop up the furniture.

* Kevyn from ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' doesn't trust [[spoiler:Lota's]] bots. But he doesn't want to be wasteful, either, so he has a tendency to [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-29 strap them to the ship's hull as extra armor]].

-->'''Edd:''' IS THAT THE SUPPORT BEAM TO THE HOUSE?!
-->'''Ed:''' What's a support beam?
-->'''Edd:''' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck This has been quite a day...]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' episode "The Fat and the Furious" ends with Kiva needing to quickly wire the robot's core to the system to get it working in time to repel the Glorft. Meanwhile, Jamie complains the whole time. The final connection she makes? "Could you hold this wire? [[HarmlessElectrocution And this one?]]"

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': When Marcille is [[TakenForGranite petrified]] by cockatrice venom, her friends use her as a pickling weight while they concoct an antidote. There's no harm done other than to her pride.

* ''Manga/Overlord2012'': To punish Shalltear for her behavior while BrainwashedAndCrazy, Ainz decrees that he'll use her as a bench (that, and the throne Demiurge made for him is made of human skulls). Unfortunately for him, Shalltear's creator equipped her with almost every fetish known to otakudom (including ACupAngst, humiliation and necrophilia), and as a result Ainz has to stop when he realizes Shalltear is audibly ''[[{{Unishment}} getting off on it]]''. Worse, everyone else thinks Shalltear is getting preferential treatment by serving as Ainz' seat. Eventually Ainz decides to continue as a way to punish himself, since he believes Shalltear being brainwashed was his fault.

* ''Manga/Overlord2012'': To punish Shalltear for her behavior while BrainwashedAndCrazy, Ainz decrees that he'll use her as a bench (that, and the throne Demiurge made for him is made of human skulls). Unfortunately for him, Shalltear's creator equipped her with almost every fetish known to otakudom (including ACupAngst, humiliation and necrophilia), and as a result Ainz has to stop when he realizes Shalltear is audibly ''getting off on it''. Worse, everyone else thinks Shalltear is getting preferential treatment by serving as Ainz' seat.

A subtrope of CoolAndUnusualPunishment. Related to HumanResources. DoorstopBaby is an unrelated trope.

* For most of Shale's memory in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', no one knew it was a sentient intelligence trapped in a golem's body, not even its master. So it was used among other things as a doorstop, coatrack, lawn ornament, village centerpiece, and [[BerserkButton birdseed holder]]. [[SchmuckBait No opportunity exists for the player to utilize Shale for this function]].

* The pirates on ''WesternAnimation/IceAge4ContinentalDrift'' use a live badger as a flag, the patterns on his back forming a perfect skull and crossbones. He can also become a white flag by turning his underbelly forward.

* ''Manga/Overlord2012'': To punish Shalltear for her behavior while BrainwashedAndCrazy, Ainz decrees that he'll use her as a bench (that, and the throne Demiurge made for him is made of human skulls). Unfortunately for him, Shalltear's creator equipped her with almost every fetish known to otakudom (including ACupAngst, humiliation and necrophilia), and as a result Ainz has to stop when he realizes Shalltear is audibly ''getting off on it''.

* ''Series/{{Earthsearch}}''. Although he's JustAMachine, some of the tasks given by the protagonists to their SnarkyNonHumanSidekick come across as this.