History Main / KnifeOutline

Their clothes may or may not be affected; sometimes they really ''are'' pinned in place, and other times they can simply walk away, leaving a noticeably person-shaped silhouette of projectiles on the wall.

Contrast WilliamTelling. See also PinnedToTheWall. Related to the InverseLawOfSharpnessAndAccuracy and, if the target is pinned, an inversion of the InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality. If intentional, usually requires ImprobableAimingSkills. Usually the end result of a KnifeThrowingAct. SubTrope of NearMisses (peak tension is achieved by a character ''almost'' getting hit by a projectile).

Contrast WilliamTelling. See also PinnedToTheWall. Related to the InverseLawOfSharpnessAndAccuracy and, if the target is pinned, an inversion of the InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality. If intentional, usually requires ImprobableAimingSkills. Usually the end result of a KnifeThrowingAct.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'': 3.5 has the "Ranged Pin" feat that allows you to make a grapple attempt with a ranged weapon. The flavor text describes it as pinning the target's clothes to the ground or wall.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** The above picture is from the fifth season of the anime, where Ukyō ends up pinned to a tree by Shampoo throwing forks.
** Mousse also does this with knives to a patron flirting with Shampoo in another episode of the anime. And he also does it to Ranma's female form in another episode.
** Shampoo does it to two {{Muggles}} in an early manga story, by deflecting a barrage of knives thrown at her back with her serving plate. And she doesn't move an inch or spill a single bite of the food she's serving.
** The Musk Dynasty warrior Mint does this to Mousse as an opening move.
** The Dojo Destroyer can do this by throwing the ''wooden signs'' of the dojos he has conquered.

* Variant in ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' when the Bad Lads surround Vash perfectly with bullet holes.

* Saruhiko to Douhan in the end of ''[[Anime/{{K}} K: Missing Kings]]'', to stop her from [[GratuitousNinja walking through a wall]]. (Specifically, he used the knives to create points, then used his Blue Aura to create a barrier between those points that stops her Green... not-quite-Aura-powers that allowed her to walk through walls.)
* Episode 14 of ''Anime/KaleidoStar'' sees this happen to Sora twice. Don't worry, squeamish viewers; it's AllPartOfTheShow.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Riza Hawkeye does this to her new dog Black Hayate with bullets as her way of toilet-training.
* Practically Kuroko Shirai's whole fighting style in ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'', being a teleporter rather than throw her razor sharp weapons she instead teleports them into positions that would incapacitate opponents.
* Used for comedic purposes in ''Manga/SchoolRumble''. Tenma decides to admit her feelings to Karasuma via love letters attached to arrows, which she proceeds to shoot at him. ''HilarityEnsues''. At times, it seems like he's posing for the arrows.
* Nuriko gets a comedic arrow outline in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''.
** There is a serious MoodWhiplash in the scene as the same RainOfArrows wipes out all nearby civillians.
* In episode 6 of ''Anime/PaniPoniDash'', after irritating Becky one too many times with her opening and closing of the door to her private lab without saying anything, Akira Miyata gets this treatment with a bunch of pens, although in her case the pens blow past her and cut a perfect outline on the wall behind her.
** Becky does this while saying [[HypocriticalHumor Miyata would make a hole in the door by doing that]].
* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' lots of random things happen in the background during the Student Council meetings. One of them involves Touga throwing knives at Miki, who doesn't react, even though he had to switch positions at the last second to not be injured. [[OffscreenRealityWarp The outline also keeps shifting as he changes position]].
* In ''Manga/CLAMPSchoolDetectives'', during a kidnapping situation, [[TheStoic Suoh]] does this to a mook with some kunai, in order to find out where [[GreatDetective Nokoru]] is. His last hit manages to break the mook's glasses in half, ''without even scratching his face.''
* During one incident in ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'', the villain does this to Kyoshiro, who plays dead. Then his stomach rumbles.

* Mahiro from ''Literature/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'' is good enough with [[ForkFencing forks]] that he does this to Nyarko once when she gets overly amorous. In an earlier episode, we see that one of her attempts to...[[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale "make their love take form"]] ended with her pinned to a table by both forks and a bedsheet.
* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', certain members of the Dead Moon Circus performed this attack to pin one of the heroes. In [[Anime/SailorMoon the anime]], Tiger's Eye pinned down Mamoru. In [[Manga/SailorMoon the manga]], the twins, Xenotime and Zeolite, pinned down Minako.
* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': The Nail Fiend is introduced pinning the Chainsaw Man Church's [[ChildSoldier teenaged gunmen]] to the wall, managing to incapacitate them without injury. [[BaitTheDog Then they bash one's head in]] for not speaking formally enough when he surrendered.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': In episode 5, Super Auntie Probe shoots five kitchen knives towards Yaya, and they pin her by her clothes to a tree behind her.
* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': In Season 3 episode 5, the princess having food with the Superstar School students throws away a knife after being given one, saying she doesn't use it for dinner. Headmaster Tele and the other students decide they don't have a need for knives either; the barrage of knives pins Big M. and Little M., who are behind them, into uncomfortable poses on the wall.
[[/folder]]

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' had this with bullets leaving an outline around the Riddler. Approximately five times as many bullets as the weapon in question could actually hold. And no explanation of why the Riddler wouldn't run away while the shooter was reloading. (Except the RuleOfCool).
** ... maybe the shooter had spare pistols on him? Besides, Loeb's Riddler was always a spineless wimp anyhow, so maybe he was just petrified by fear.

* This happened to ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} of all people once, when Dogbert's [[ArtisticLicensePhysics "animal]] [[RuleOfFunny magnetism"]] reverses. Dilbert gets pinned to the wall by everything in his silverware drawer. (This was before the strip's theme shifted to making fun of business idiosyncrasies.)

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/74587/ponies-and-throwing-knives Ponies and Throwing Knives]]'', Applejack does this to Rainbow Dash as part of a knife-throwing competition.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', this happens in the ShowWithinAShow “Somethin’s Cookin’”. Baby Huey accidentally sends every knife in the kitchen flying just as Roger pops out of an ironing board, and the knives pin Roger to the wall. A pairing knife parts his hair and a large meat cleaver hits the wall in between his legs, barely missing his crotch. Roger gulps loudly at the GroinAttack near miss.
* Appears in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', when the hero tries throwing knives and nearly hits Phil:
-->'''Phil:''' [Hero] Rule #96: AIM!

* Sort of half-humorous example in Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's ''Anime/TheCatReturns''. The darts cut the cat's "bra" straps (even though most other cats wear no clothing at all) and the guy throwing them gets defenestrated.
* [[https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2020-09/9/18/asset/a536acd031be/sub-buzz-2254-1599677393-10.jpg?output-quality=auto The original promotional poster]] for ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}''.
* During the final battle in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', shortly before [[OneWingedAngel he turns into]] [[ScaledUp a giant snake,]] [[BigBad Jafar]] actually sends a barrage of swords he created from his own magic at Aladdin while mocking him, [[HurricaneofPuns "Get the point?!"]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', [[AnIcePerson Elsa]] pins a guard to the wall with icicles.
* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansIIPatchsLondonAdventure'': Cruella throws knives around Lars [[spoiler: when he refuses to paint on a canvas that Cruella planned to make from Dalmatian skin]], resulting in this trope.

* ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'': after saving Dave Chapelle's character from the Sheriff's thugs, Robin Hood hears one of them yell, "You haven't seen the last of us!" Robin promptly fires six arrows at once in a similar method to the picture above, causing the thug to concede, "You've seen the last of us."
** Will Scarlett O'Hara later pins a mook to a door with his knives, and then decks the goon before retrieving them. "''Am I good? I'm good!''"

* A character in the Chinese martial-arts comedy ''The Duel'' accidentally fires off a knife-launching device; another character is somehow pinned to the nearest wall ''five feet off the floor'', with one knife caught in his teeth.

* Subverted in ''Film/Hero2002'' -- [[spoiler:Nameless]]'s outline is left in negative on a wall by thousands of arrows from the King of Qin's army, [[spoiler:not because he was intentionally outlined, but because [[HumanPincushion his body intercepted all of those arrows]].]].
* Terrifying live action example in Creator/MartinScorsese's ''Film/GangsOfNewYork''. "Whoopsy-daisy!"
* Played straight as an <ahem> arrow in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtgcJBXD4sA Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'' (at 7:00).
* ''[[Series/TheAddamsFamily Addams Family Values]]'': When Gomez and Fester go to hug each other, Gomez grabs Fester and flings him towards a nearby wall before throwing a series of knives at him. The end result is Fester pinned to the wall upside down surrounded by a knife outline.
* In ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'', Gonzo pins one of the pirates to the side of the ship using starfish as throwing stars. The gag gets revisited later in the same fight scene, as various other pirates get their swords knocked out of their hands, and each time the sword flies towards the pinned pirate, landing disturbingly close to his crotch.
* Not at all played for laughs in ''{{Film/Carrie|1976}}'' with [[spoiler:her mother]]'s knife crucifixion.

* Creator/RidleyScott's ''Film/RobinHood2010'' used a version of this to interrogate a French officer. The first arrow hit next to his head. The second arrow hit him somewhere lower. The third arrow didn't need to be fired.
* There was a somewhat disturbing scene in ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' where [[BigBad the Duke of New York]] has the president tied to a wall, and is casually chatting with his fellow prisoners in between shots. We only see him fire two or three times, but the unfortunate President is surrounded by bullet holes.
* Mario, the [[KnifeThrowingAct circus knife thrower]], creates as a knife outline around the killer when his identity is exposed in the climax of ''Film/CircusOfFear''.

* ''Film/AgainstAllFlags'': When his sailing master is accused of stealing booty, Roc interrogates him by throwing knives around him so they just miss.

* Literary example: in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series, Mat asks to play "Maiden's Kiss" with the local AmazonBrigade... and winds up pinned to a wall by spears.
** Somewhat off-kilter, in a way--they didn't throw the spears, merely pinned him while still holding them and forced him to demonstrate calmness under pressure. If he didn't kiss well enough, they moved the spears a bit.
** Birgitte does this to Nynaeve as a circus act. With arrows shot from 100 paces.

* In Creator/GarryKilworth's ''The Silver Claw'', a knife-thrower is on the list of murder suspects. At the beginning of his act he does a Knife Outline on another suspect's arm. The victim reacts with anger and is booed offstage. The detective hero then observes the knifethrower during his act and sees that, when challenged to hit the centre of a playing card pinned to the wall, he simply outlines it and can't hit the centre, because "he has trained all his life to ''miss'' things, not to hit them."

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode ''Gunmen of the Apocalypse'', Lister pins a gangster to the wall with thrown knives in this manner. Just to really rub it in, he grabs an apple and flicks that into the gangster's mouth.
* In the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Fifteen Minutes", Carla uses throwing stars to do this to J.D. in one of his fantasies.
* There's a commercial for Butterfinger involving this trope but with staples. Lightning-fast staples.

* Invoked in one episode of ''Series/ILoveLucy'', where Lucy ends up auditioning as the assistant to a professional knife-thrower. In a twist, it's quickly revealed that the knife-throwing is an illusion; the knife-thrower palms the knives and false handles are pushed through the back of the wall.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3.5]] has the "Ranged Pin" feat that allows you to make a grapple attempt with a ranged weapon. The flavor text describes it as pinning the target's clothes to the ground or wall.

* Variant subversion: In a cutscene of the John Woo game ''VideoGame/{{Stranglehold}}'', the main character, Inspector Tequila, ends up in an unexpected shootout in a teahouse with a band of vicious gangsters, one of whom takes cover behind an overturned wooden table. Tequila fires a series of shots through the table, creating an outline of the gangster, then pauses... and just as the gangster realizes he wasn't actually hurt and is about to leave, Tequila puts a final bullet into the middle of the outline and through his heart.
* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/{{Sam and Max|FreelancePolice}}'' adventure games from Telltale games. There is a bullet outline of Max in the office wall, except there is a bullet hole right where his brain is. Would explain a few things though.
* Subverted in Shadow's Cinekill in ''VideoGame/EternalChampions: Challenge From The Dark Side''. The Dark Champion does this with shuriken... but he's aiming for her body. The first four hit her hands and ankles, the fifth one hits her chest, and then he throws one last one. It's a headshot.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'': The Stiletto Mask used by the villain Sly Rax has the ability to fire small darts. Whenever Rax uses his Mask on people, this is the only thing that ever happens.
* Early use in the [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse short]] ''Mickey's Nightmare'' (1932), complete with head near-miss. Babies are throwing the (huge) knives at Mickey, and the scene was edited out of TV prints for many years.
* Nearly every ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short ever.
* Also showed up often in ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Maggie pins Homer to a wall with a nail gun. She even went as far as to pin his ears and the palms of both hands.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' send-up episode of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', three characters run through a corridor filled with {{Death Trap}}s. One section involves a hail of arrows, which all miss and leave perfect silhouettes of the running figures.
* Gosalyn does this to Negaduck in the ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' episode "Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E59TheQuiverwingQuack". Negaduck ends up pinned to a wall in his costume with arrows, but somehow escapes when Darkwing isn't looking. [[spoiler:Because he did the ''obvious'' thing to do when only the ''costume'' is pinned.]]

* Happens in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'', when the BigBad pins the girls' outfits to the wall with a nail gun. He must have had very good aim, considering the characters wear [[SpyCatsuit skintight catsuits.]]

* Parodied three time in the ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop'' episode "Ninja Worrier": first when a female ninja shows off by doing this to Hoop with ninja stars, including one on his crotch which actually nicked his testicle because "that one leans left". When she shows him again and he's luckily wearing a crotch guard. Then he practices it on her, and misses several times, though she thought this was funny.
* ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' do it to Boog in the episode "Monster in the Mist". Made funnier by that [[GroinAttack Boog only screams when there's a fork flying towards his crotch]].
* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny has had this happen to him with ''shotgun blasts.''
* This happened to the titular ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' in "Funny, You Don't Look Rennish". There was no blood, but Pinky did mention they were "piercing our flesh. Poit!"

* The WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} short "The Organ Grinder's Swing" has Bluto throwing knives at Popeye, but he shield's himself with a wooden board. He fires the knives back at Bluto, which give him a CloseCallHaircut.
* When Roger from Creator/CordellBarker's short cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Strange Invaders|2001}}'' falls down the stairs, some sharp objects left over from Peanut's cannibalizing everything tumble with him, and penetrate the floor around Roger's supine form, leaving him battered but uncut. Then comes the bowling ball. ''Crunch.''

* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' lots of random things happen in the background during the Student Council meetings. One of them involves Touga throwing knives at Miki, who doesn't react, even though he had to switch positions at the last second to not be injured. Notably, [[OffscreenRealityWarp the outline also keeps shifting as he changes position]].

* In ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' lots of random things happen in the background during the Student Council meetings. One of them involves Touga randomly throwing knives at Miki who doesn't react even though forming of the knife outline depends on him switching positions in the last second. Notably, the outline also keeps shifting as he changes position. [[MindScrew It's probably deliberate.]]