History Main / PalatePropping

* ''LightNovel/BofuriIDontWantToGetHurtSoIllMaxOutMyDefense'': Maple does this to a dragon boss during the 7th event.

** In the episode "Animan", the shapeshifting VillainOfTheWeek turns into a ''TyrannosaurusRex''. After entangling its legs with her yo-yo, Ladybug uses the car jack provided by her Lucky Charm to pry open the ''T. rex''[='s=] jaws and keep its huge maw locked open, making it harmless (as they have little to fear from its small arms).

* On ''WesternAnimation/DragonsDefendersOfBerk'', Stoick shoves a round Viking shield into the equally-round mouth of one of the Whispering Death hatchlings. The shield doesn't last for long, thanks to the Whispering Death's rotating rock-borer teeth, but it holds up until Stoick can make his next move.

* A very silly example in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangface}}'', when the title character uses a car-jack to prop open the mouth of a ThreateningShark.
* Used in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'', when the king of the jungle needs to get some teeth from a crocodile. Unfortunately, it's revealed that every crocodile now [[CrazyPrepared carries a stick-removal tool for such situations]].
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' has Gung-Ho pull this move in order to avoid getting chomped on by an alligator.
* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "Treasure of the Temple". While engaged in underwater combat with a crocodile, Race Bannon sticks part of a broken paddle into its mouth to prevent it from biting him.

* This was used in the ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS2E7BogusPrivateEye Bogus Private Eye]]". Bogus, with help from Kevin the family bulldog, tries to stop a thief that somehow invades the house. Kevin tries to bite the thief, but the thief whips out a bone and sticks it between Kevin's jaws.

* On ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'', when a snarling bulldog contests Scooby's claim upon a very large bone, Scooby jams it upright into the bulldog's mouth to hinder it while he makes his escape. The bulldog shatters the bone by sheer jaw strength, but does this too late to catch Scooby.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' short "Peculiar Penguins" zig-zags this trope. The penguin props open a killer shark's mouth with a stick -- so the shark just swims after him with his mouth wide open, swallowing the penguin whole, and an entire school of fish with him. Then the shark stops swimming as he tries close his jaws again, but before he can break the stick, the penguin and all the fish just swim out his mouth to freedom.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungSamsonAndGoliath'' episode "The Lost City of the Dragon Men". Samson rips a tree trunk out of the ground and sticks it into the mouth of an attacking crocodile to prevent it from attacking him.

* On the ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' short "WesternAnimation/AMatterOfLoafAndDeath", Wallace props open a crocodile's mouth with a French baguette.

* ''Film/SeedingOfAGhost'': As the demon fetus gains a OneWingedAngel form resembling a giant skinless crocodile and goes on a rampage, it is temporarily stopped when Dr. Wang shoves a barbell vertically into it's mount just as it's about to chomp on a woman. This also allows a few moments of vulnerability, for the fetus' sole weakness is it's head, hidden inside ''it's throat'', so propping it's mouth open allows Wong to grab a nearby shotgun and blast it dead.

* In ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'', this trope leads to a Mexican stand-off, with the hero literally crouched inside Draco's mouth, his sword's point braced against the dragon's palate.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, Littlefoot uses a stick to prop up a [[spoiler:seemingly-dead]] ''Allosaurus's'' mouth, but abandons the effort when [[spoiler:it starts breathing]].

* The Goitacás, a (now extinct) native Brazilian tribe, regularly did this to sharks, specially as part of a coming-of-age ceremony: young Goitacá males would jump in the water and wait until a shark came near or tried to bite them, at which point they'd place any stick-like object in the shark's mouth to prevent them from closing, jam their arm down the shark's throat and pull out their organs, turning them inside out; they'd then make necklaces out of their teeth, as proof of completion.

* Occurs in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge2TheMeltdown'' when a prehistoric crocodilian creature leaps at Manny and gets its jaws caught around his tusks, before being thrown back into the water.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', Maui performs the "full body" version of this, standing on a gigantic monster's lower teeth with his hands on the upper jaw in a desperate attempt to avoid being eaten.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** ''The Hole Delver's Catalog''. One of the many items in the catalog is the Wonder Widget, which looks a lot like a crowbar. When one of the characters was fighting an alligator he put the Wonder Widget inside its mouth to prop it open, thus saving his life.

** ''Magazine/{{Dungeon}}'' magazine #58 adventure "Challenge of Champions". One way to defeat the purple worm in scenario 2 is to wedge a spear into the worm's mouth to keep the mouth open. The fighter can then enter the worm's stomach and get the medallion which the object of the scenario.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Aldin Hoffmann demonstrates the "use your whole body" variant against a giant snake clank (whose teeth look like venom injectors) as part of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160701 "Heroic Freestyle" combat with his brother.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In the ''WebAnimation/{{Dumbland}}'' episode "Get The Stick", a man unexplainedly has a stick caught in his mouth this way, propping it open. At the insistence of his son, Randy tries to remove the stick, but since Randy is only capable of stupidity and rage, all he's able to do is break the guy's neck and [[EyeScream poke his eyes out]].
-->Fucker never even said thank you.

* Early on in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Yuusuke uses a piece of wood to hold open the villain Gouki's mouth so he can AttackItsWeakPoint.

* ''ComicBook/{{Rahan}}''. The title character once manages this while bound hands and feet, when offered in sacrifice to a big prehistoric crocodile. He catches a branch between his feet and wedges it between the croc's jaws, who then swims away rather miffed.
* "[[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/46/62/b1/4662b148d386b74aadc9abd91a03679b.jpg Jawbreaker]]", a piece of promotional art for Frank Cho's ''ComicBook/JungleGirl'', depicts the title character using her body to prop open the jaws of a hungry dinosaur.

* On the ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' short "WesternAnimation/AMatterOfLoafAndDeath", Wallace props open a crocodile's mouth with a French baguette.
* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine''. When the giant Glove is about to bite down on John Lennon, he sticks the word "Nothing" into its mouth, forcing its mouth open.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'', Wart (in fish form) does this to the pike in the moat with a broken-off piece of spear. Merlin compliments him for using his head.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'', Lewis uses a shovel to prop open the tyrannosaur's jaws.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, Littlefoot uses a stick to prop up a [[spoiler:seemingly-dead]] ''Allosaurus's'' mouth, but abandons the effort when [[spoiler:it starts breathing]].

* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Luke braces the Rancor's jaws open with a large bone from the floor of its pit. This buys him a few seconds, but not much, as the Rancor's bite is powerful enough to snap it in two.

* ''Film/SeedingOfAGhost'': As the demon fetus gains a OneWingedAngel form resembling a giant skinless crocodile and goes on a rampage, it is temporarily stopped when Dr. Wang shoves a barbell vertically into it's mount just as it's about to chomp on a woman. This also allows a few moments of vulnerability, for the fetus' sole weakness is it's head, hidden inside ''it's throat'', so propping it's mouth open allows Wong to grab a nearby shotgun and blast it dead.

* In the animated FramingDevice for ''Film/Creepshow2'', the leader of the bullies manages to hold open the maw of the giant Venus flytrap that's attempting to devour him. [[EatenAlive But only for a short while.]]
* The heroine of ''Film/JurassicGalaxy'' holds off [[RaptorAttack a raptor attack]] by holding two stone daggers, points facing oppositely, in her clenched fists and bracing the creature's jaws open with them. As with the ''Dragonheart'' example above, it's more the potential for self-injury than the sturdiness of the prop that discourages it from snapping its maw shut on her wrists.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** The first time Rincewind takes something out of [[ChestMonster the Luggage]], in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', he uses a piece of wood to prop its lid open. Once he's removed some food and water bottles, the Luggage very slowly closes its lid anyway, grinding the wood to splinters, just to show it's able to subvert this trope any time it likes.
** In ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'', Sardines does a hat-and-stick dance and then dashes into a rat hole, only to run into a trap. There's a loud snap, and then he's heard calling for help, because the stick he's braced the trap open with is starting to give way.
* During ''Literature/{{Dinoverse}}'', Mr. London manages to balk a Microvenator this way. The Microvenator gets the stick out on its own and has bits of wood in its mouth after, but this did buy time.
* In ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', Hunter recalls having used this tactic when she fought a giant weasel beneath Bangkok, shoving her leather shield in its open mouth to deflect its attack while she struck it with a war club.
* Recognizing that Laird Duncan's luggage is magically booby-trapped, Literature/LordDarcy's aide Master Sean places a heavy stone doorstop on its rim to serve this purpose before reaching into it. The trap is triggered and the trunk's lid swings down as if to sever Sean's hand at the wrist, but is blocked by the doorstop.
* The ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "The Musgrave Ritual" uses this as the murder method: A butler finds a secret vault under a cellar flagstone, propping it up with a piece of wood with the help of his ex-mistress. He goes down into the vault, hands her the contents of a chest he found inside, and the [[LoveForgivesAllButLust ex-]] part comes in when she kicks the prop away, leaving him to die of suffocation. Or so Holmes works out, as the girl is never found, having dumped the treasure in a lake before disappearing.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', a reaction command lets Sora jam open Cerberus' mouth with his Keyblade. Of course, Cerberus has ''two other heads'', so he has to move quickly.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Aldin Hoffmann demonstrates the "use your whole body" variant against a giant snake clank (whose teeth look like venom injectors) as part of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160701 "Heroic Freestyle" combat with his brother.]]

* This was used in the ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS2E7BogusPrivateEye Bogus Private Eye]]". Bogus, with help from Kevin the family bulldog, tries to stop a thief that somehow invades the house. Kevin tries to bite the thief, but the thief whips out a bone and sticks it between Kevin's jaws.

* ''Young Samson & Goliath'' episode "The Lost City of the Dragon Men". Samson rips a tree trunk out of the ground and sticks it into the mouth of an attacking crocodile to prevent it from attacking him.

* Used in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'', when the king of the jungle needs to get some teeth from a crocodile. Unfortunately, it's revealed that every crocodile now [[CrazyPrepared carries a stick-removal tool for such situations]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "Treasure of the Temple". While engaged in underwater combat with a crocodile, Race Bannon sticks part of a broken paddle into its mouth to prevent it from biting him.

* ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'': Diana uses her [[RetractableWeapon telescopic staff]] to prevent a dragon/dinosaur that caught her in its claw from eating her. The beast manages to snap the staff in two after some struggle, but it doesn't matter much since the magic weapon can self-repair anyway.
* On ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'', when a snarling bulldog contests Scooby's claim upon a very large bone, Scooby jams it upright into the bulldog's mouth to hinder it while he makes his escape. The bulldog shatters the bone by sheer jaw strength, but does this too late to catch Scooby.
* A very silly example in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangface}}'', when the title character uses a car-jack to prop open the mouth of a ThreateningShark.
* On ''WesternAnimation/DragonsDefendersOfBerk'', Stoick shoves a round Viking shield into the equally-round mouth of one of the Whispering Death hatchlings. The shield doesn't last for long, thanks to the Whispering Death's rotating rock-borer teeth, but it holds up until Stoick can make his next move.

* The heroine of ''Jurassic Galaxy'' holds off [[RaptorAttack a raptor attack]] by holding two stone daggers, points facing oppositely, in her clenched fists and bracing the creature's jaws open with them. As with the ''Dragonheart'' example above, it's more the potential for self-injury than the sturdiness of the prop that discourages it from snapping its maw shut on her wrists.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** '''Magazine/{{Dungeon}}'' magazine #58 adventure "Challenge of Champions". One way to defeat the purple worm in scenario 2 is to wedge a spear into the worm's mouth to keep the mouth open. The fighter can then enter the worm's stomach and get the medallion which the object of the scenario.

* 'TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* ''The Hole Delver's Catalog''. One of the many items in the catalog is the Wonder Widget, which looks a lot like a crowbar. When one of the characters was fighting an alligator he put the Wonder Widget inside its mouth to prop it open, thus saving his life.
* One possible tactic for foiling the attack of the tunnelmouth dweller, a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' monster from ''Dragon #267'', is to prop its gaping maw open with a polearm or 10' pole.

* In ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'', Wart (in fish form) does this to the pike in the moat with a broken-off piece of spear. Merlin compliments him for using his head.
* In ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons'', Lewis uses a shovel to prop open the tyrannosaur's jaws.

* In ''Disney/{{Moana}}'', Maui performs the "full body" version of this, standing on a gigantic monster's lower teeth with his hands on the upper jaw in a desperate attempt to avoid being eaten.