History Main / RunningOverThePlot

* ''Anime/SonicX'' averts, then nearly inverts this in the first episode, where an outburst of Chaos energy instead causes him and his friends to be transported to Station Square, a city in a world populated by humans. Only *then* is he almost hit by a truck. Four of them, actually.

It's a well-observed cliche to start an [[TrappedInAnotherWorld isekai]] work with the protagonist [[LookBothWays being run over by a vehicle]] so they will die and ReincarnateInAnotherWorld. This sudden death can be established without a setup and usually sidesteps the question of sending the protagonist to their home world. MemeticMutation has [[AmalgamatedIndividual conflated these]] into "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck-kun Truck-kun]]", the ''same'' truck heroically going around killing ordinary teenagers so as to send fantasy worlds the hero they're summoning. Characters sent to these worlds in this way are often said to have been "isekai'ed", and it's become an [[DeadHorseTrope oft-parodied cliche]].

It's a well-observed cliche to start an [[TrappedInAnotherWorld isekai]] work with the protagonist [[LookBothWays being run over by a vehicle]] so they will die and ReincarnateInAnotherWorld. MemeticMutation has [[AmalgamatedIndividual conflated these]] into "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck-kun Truck-kun]]", the ''same'' truck heroically going around killing ordinary teenagers so as to send fantasy worlds the hero they're summoning. Characters sent to these worlds in this way are often said to have been "isekaied."

* Invoked in the ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'' episode "100 Proof Highway". When Mandrake discovers that Kshin has been taking liquor from his drinks cabinet, and that Kshin doesn't understand how dangerous alcohol can be, he conjures up a vision in which Kshin (aged up to the same age as Rick, LJ and Jedda) drunkenly drives straight into the path of an oncoming truck and is killed. Afterwards, Mandrake tells a shocked Kshin that this is what "one little drink" can lead to.

* Invoked in the ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'' episode "100 Proof Highway". When Mandrake discovers that Kshin has been taking liquor from his drinks cabinet, and that Kshin doesn't understand how dangerous underage drinking, can be, he conjures up a vision in which Kshin (aged up to the same age as Rick, LJ and Jedda) drunkenly drives straight into the path of an oncoming truck and is killed. Afterwards, Mandrake tells a shocked Kshin that this is what "one little drink" can lead to.

* Parodied in ''Literature/KonoSuba'', where the protagonist, Kazuma, is almost hit by an extremely slow ''tractor'' -- actually dying of shock -- and his death is so absurd, ''his own family'' apparently laughed at it.

* As noted above, the sheer overuse of this method in the isekai genre has led to the idea of the truck being a sentient character hunting down main character material in the streets of Japan, leading to variations like [[https://twitter.com/neurowing/status/1399211410769559553 a Transformer getting punched by a robot that turns into a truck]], one comic even [[InvertedTrope inverting it]] with the ''truck'' [[PedestrianCrushesCar getting sent to the fantasy world]], and a one-shot manga (titled "Isekai Truck", appropriately enough), where the protagonist runs down selected Japanese persons to send them to a fantasy world in need of heroes.

%%* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', it happens quite often. It can be at any given moment of the episode if cars or highways are involved, but one particular example comes to mind. A girl just escaped her death and goes to the highway, where's she's almost ran over by the Winchesters. '''Administrivia/ExamplesAreNotGeneral'''
* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E134YouDrive You Drive]]", Ollie Pope runs over and kills a kid before the opening narration, and the story revolves around his guilt making his car a SentientVehicle.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/IsekaiTransporter https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/runningplot1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Try explaining that to your insurance company.]]
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* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', shortly after arriving in 1955 Marty accidentally gets run over by his grandfather's car, which introduces him to his mother (who is instantly smitten with him) and accidentally prevents his parents from meeting. This triggers the main subplot where Marty must work to get his parents back together to stop the GrandfatherParadox obliterating him from existence.

* Subverted in ''Manga/MonsterMusume'': Kimiheto gets told he's going to die by Lala the [[HeadlessHorseman Dulahan]], but he doesn't believe it. He steps out into the street and it looks like he's about to get run down by a speeding car, only for the perspective to shift and reveal that it's just a kid's remote control car that harmlessly bumps his shin.