| 1 | %% Image changed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1625074575037331000 |
| 2 | %% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1448945928023636200 |
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| 4 | %% |
| 5 | [[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pigsflysmbc.png]]]] |
| 6 | [[caption-width-right:350:"Breaking News: [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Woman crushed by mutated pig]]!\ |
| 7 | Local scientists blame air currents."]] |
| 8 | %% |
| 9 | ->'''Mr. Burns:''' You know, Smithers, I think I'll donate a million dollars to the local orphanage...when pigs fly!\ |
| 10 | ''[Burns and Smithers laugh, then see the roast pig from Homer's barbecue sail through the sky outside the window. Both men stop laughing and look alarmed.]''\ |
| 11 | '''Smithers:''' Will you be donating that million dollars now, sir?\ |
| 12 | '''Mr. Burns:''' ...No, I'd still prefer not. |
| 13 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E5LisaTheVegetarian Lisa the Vegetarian]]" |
| 14 | |
| 15 | This is what happens when FinaglesLaw, TemptingFate and the human tendency to spout hyperbole when a simple "never" would suffice [[JustForFun/XMeetsY all get together and have a drunken party]] [[HilarityEnsues with hilarious results.]] |
| 16 | |
| 17 | When circumstances conspire to incite someone to exclaim that something would happen if and only if something everyone ''knows'' is impossible occurs -- "when [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Hell]] freezes over" (nevermind that according to ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', the final level of Hell ''is'' frozen over) and/or "when pigs fly!" and/or "[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs when pigs fly over the frozen landscape of Hell!]]" -- you can bet that by the end of the episode we will see pigs soaring majestically over the landscape or {{Satan}} running ski slopes while sipping hot cocoa. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Compare NoManOfWomanBorn, IronicEchoCut, RetroactiveWish, InstantlyProvenWrong, AndImTheQueenOfSheba and OrMyNameIsnt. See also KitchenSinkIncluded. MovingTheGoalposts can often follow. |
| 20 | ---- |
| 21 | !!Examples: |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 24 | |
| 25 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 26 | * A Canadian lottery commercial references the trope. Two people are in the lunchroom at work. One looks out the window. "Hey, flying pig." And indeed there is a flying, or rather hovering, pig outside the window, along with a "Not possible" caption on the screen. "Hey, I won!" says his coworker, checking his lottery ticket. "Possible" shows on the screen. |
| 27 | * There's a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAiXlxtEd2k Red Bull commercial]] featuring this. (Boy wants to go to a 'gentlemen's club', told only if pigs fly, cue the pigs.) The Italian (European?) version has the "flying donkey" variant. In the ad, the pigs/donkeys have drunk Red Bull, of course. |
| 28 | * A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcYHtCn3Ek Burger King ad]] played with this, when a customer notices an ad for bone-in fire-grilled ribs and expresses disbelief until a winged pig confirms it's true. Namely, a winged pig driving ''a truck''. The customer brings it up, and the pig explains that [[MundaneFantastic he's moving out of his mother's basement, and needs the truck to carry his stuff]]. |
| 29 | * A Advertising/{{GEICO}} ad has Maxwell the pig using his GEICO mobile app on a plane in preparation for takeoff. The flight attendants say, "I'll believe that when pigs fly," at which point the pig turns to the guy next to him and says, "Did she seriously just say that?" |
| 30 | * There's a Advertising/JayBushAndDuke advertising Bush's Baked Beans [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwby5MIeyz0 ad]] where Duke asks Jay, "Are you ever going to let me sell the secret family recipe?" Jay replies, "Sure, when pigs fly". GilliganCut to Duke talking to a pig with improvised wings getting ready for takeoff: "Now, just buzz around the house a couple of times and that should do it." |
| 31 | * A 2015 Super Bowl [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQo0TfuueaY Doritos commercial]] showed a young boy asking an older guy, possibly his brother, if he can have a Dorito. His brother tells him he can have one "when pigs fly". The boy is then shown working on some plans and then the scene changes to a pig flying on a rocket, after which the kid is given a Dorito. The commercial shows the kid then patting the pig on the back, it having apparently come out of the experience [[NoAnimalsWereHarmed no worse for the wear]]. "Good boy." |
| 32 | * A series of banned commercial in Indonesia: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cNRzfY-G7o "If there's some telephone card that goes cheap to all operators, I'm marrying a monkey!]] The sequel: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVutpjyR5Zc If there's a card that gives telephone bill that lets you talk till you're satisfied, I'm remarrying. With a goat!]] |
| 33 | * A 2014 commercial for the New York Lottery features a pair of construction workers. One is going to get lunch. |
| 34 | -->'''Worker 1:''' Hey, I'm going to get a lotto ticket. Want in?\ |
| 35 | '''Worker 2:''' Yeah, right. If you win, I'll be your pool boy.\ |
| 36 | '''Worker 1:''' Alright.\ |
| 37 | ''[cut to Worker 1 lounging by a pool while Worker 2 cleans it]''\ |
| 38 | '''Worker 2:''' You're real literal, you know that? |
| 39 | * During one of the Apollo missions, an ad for a convenience food (roast beef slices in gravy) was aired. It showed two servants working the roasting spit in a mediaeval castle kitchen, one proclaiming his dream that one day, roast beef will be available in little boxes. The other sneeringly replied "One day, a man will land on the moon!" |
| 40 | [[/folder]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 43 | * ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. During the famous elevator argument, Asuka gives the hell frozen over line over the fact that Rei is trying to initiate a conversation. The original Japanese version is: "Fancy you starting a conversation! Maybe it'll snow tomorrow!" -- a reference to the Second Impact weather changes that have caused Japan to have a permanent summer. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 47 | * The ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4495 Phantom Wings]] has on its illustration a goat with wings magically added, and the flavor text is: ”But you ''said'' ‘when goats fly!’” [[Characters/MagicTheGathering Squee]] whined. The card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=241989 Mighty Leap]] has a similar joke, except with elephants this time. |
| 48 | ** The flavor text on the card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=398499 Meteorite]] implies this trope. |
| 49 | * ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'': the tuner monster [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Buten Buten]]is a walking...er, flying VisualPun of this trope. |
| 50 | [[/folder]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/StarWarsTales'' #7, "Force Fiction" has this trope mixed with [[BankRobbery Ban... err... "Restaurant" robbery.]] When Yoda and Mace Windu were, in an interesting case of role reversal, debating whether Anakin should be made a Jedi or not at a restaurant, Yoda, while chewing out Windu for even suggesting the idea to let Anakin receive the late Qui Gon Jinn's lightsaber, much less train him as a Jedi, mentions "When Banthas fly, my Jedi friend." One panel later, a "flying bantha" of sorts (a repulsorlift skiff designed in such a way that resembled a bantha) crashes through the window of a restaurant, with the pilots declaring that they are committing a robbery, demanding that everyone put their credits on the table and raise their hands. |
| 54 | * In a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] issue of ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]] [[Characters/WonderWomanAllies Steve Trevor and Etta Candy]] are arguing about the impossibilities involved in catching the "[[NaziNobleman Gentleman Killer]]". Within a handful of pages Di ends up riding a winged flying pig. |
| 55 | [[/folder]] |
| 56 | |
| 57 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 58 | * ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'': In one Sunday comic Opus is trying to buy a lottery ticket from Milo, who's trying to talk him out of it since the odds of him winning are equivalent to getting squashed by a chunk of metal peeled off the wing of a passing 747. Opus begs him not to say that and cringes as an airliner's wing panel falls on... the old lady behind him in line. Opus then asks for ''two'' tickets. |
| 59 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': During a brief period when Dilbert had a steady girlfriend, Phil the Prince of Insufficient Light barges in: |
| 60 | -->'''Phil:''' [[GoshDangItToHeck Heck]] just froze over.\ |
| 61 | '''Dilbert:''' This is ''not'' my fault!\ |
| 62 | '''Phil:''' ''[points over his shoulder to a pair of flying pigs]'' Tell that to ''them''. |
| 63 | * ''ComicStrip/LibertyMeadows'': |
| 64 | ** When Frank gets a date, it cuts to Hell where it's snowing. A confused Satan (who looks an awful lot like UsefulNotes/RichardNixon) says that this either means [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Germans finally hate David Hasselhoff]] or Frank got a date. |
| 65 | ** Another comic has two demons arguing over a steady drop in temperature and snowfall in Hell, which is revealed to be caused by Frank working up the courage to ask Brandy out. |
| 66 | * In ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}},'' Jeremy's dad watches a flock of pigs flying by. He looks surprised until his wife tells him Jeremy cleaned out his bathroom without being threatened. |
| 67 | ** In another example during a weeklong arc, Richandamy BREAK UP but before they do a bunch of wildly improbable things happen; Pierce, of all people, wins the "Student of the Month" award (seemingly to proudly accept it with no question), an entire marching band comes out of Hector's locker (only giving a curious stare), and Jeremy observes a flock of flying pigs before he receives the news (which, mind you, shocks him more than the flock of flying pigs that garnered his attention of mild concern). |
| 68 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': |
| 69 | ** Consciously averted by Garfield: "Don't get me wrong, I love dogs. I'd never hurt a dog. And if I'm lying, may lightning... *pause* ...strike the dog next door." (Crack) "Yip!" |
| 70 | ** [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2010/07/04 Jon made a drawing of a pig]] (which just so happens to look like [[ComicStrip/USAcres Orson]]). Garfield made a much more elaborate drawing of a flying pig. When Jon complained that pigs didn't have wings, Garfield said "They will before you can outdraw me, [[Creator/PabloPicasso Pablo]]". |
| 71 | * ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' only hints at the metaphorical boast, but does illustrate its undoing: |
| 72 | -->Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and with nostrils flaring and manes flying, wild horses dragged Sam away. |
| 73 | [[/folder]] |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 76 | * At one point in the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' fic, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8026382/1/Diplomatic-Impossibility Diplomatic Impossibility,]]'' Numbah Infinity states that Numbuh 4 has the same chances of getting an A+ in school as flying mutant space pigs attacking the KND moon base. At the end of the story, 4's essay on the customs of the obscure nation the mission took place in nets him that grade, and the moon base quickly braces itself for impending space pig attack. |
| 77 | * Ginny in ''Fanfic/WaterAerobicsForTheAquaphobic'' is turned into a flying pig (courtesy of the Spring of the Drowned Pig and the Spring of the Drowned Homing Pigeon). At one point, Harry says something might happen 'when pigs fly', and immediately collides with Ginny in her cursed form. |
| 78 | * In ''Fanfic/ChrysalisVisitsTheHague'', the lawyer Estermann boasts (on a radio talkshow, no less) that it was entirely inconceivable that the International Criminal Court would ever put Chrysalis on trial in The Hague, and that if they did, he'd eat his hat. It gets a CallBack in the next chapter, when Colm is surprised that Estermann's still wearing it. |
| 79 | --> '''Lauren Mephisto:''' Shame. I liked your hat. |
| 80 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10579834/5/Dusk-To-Dawn Dusk To Dawn,]]'' Hibari Minoru almost goes to the window to check for flying pigs when his nephew Kyouya shows interest for someone other than himself. |
| 81 | * ''Fanfic/SouthOfOz'': Provides the page quote for it. West requested to find her mother with Ozma's permission. He said yes, but warned that it might be fruitless. Later on, [[spoiler:West and Glinda not only got to Tamaria, but also got her out of Isolation Island, a place once deemed unsurvivable]]. When Ozma heard of this, this conversation occurs... |
| 82 | -->'''West:''' I bring you good news.\ |
| 83 | '''Ozma:''' Have you managed to sort your attitude?\ |
| 84 | '''West:''' Funny. I bring different news.\ |
| 85 | '''Ozma:''' What is it?\ |
| 86 | '''West:''' [[spoiler: My mother has been found and recovered.]]\ |
| 87 | '''Ozma:''' ''Interesting. Where are her current whereabouts?\ |
| 88 | '''West:''' [[spoiler:She was on Isolation Island, but me and Glinda freed her.]]\ |
| 89 | '''Ozma:''' Did any pigs fly when you came back?\ |
| 90 | '''West:''' No, surprisingly enough. Anyway, [[spoiler: she is currently resting in Ev]]. |
| 91 | * Purposely invoked in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11999343/13/Snapped Snapped.]]'' After the ''Daily Prophet'' calls Snape a hero for using basilisk venom to kill Voldemort, Harry loudly states that pigs will fly when this happens. Several hundred magically-altered porkers then soar into the Great Hall. |
| 92 | * In fifth year of ''Fanfic/HarryIsADragonAndThatsOk'', Ron observes that Draco is being helpful, the twins are ''not'' pranking the obnoxious teacher, Ron himself is teaching more Defence than the professor is, and there's a griffin in Slytherin, and thus is wondering if Hogwarts has turned upside down yet. When Neville downplays it by saying that they would know if Hogwarts had been turned upside down, the Weasley twins stick him to the ceiling. |
| 93 | * [[BigEater Kid Flash]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8680098/1/Charades Charades]]'' is under so much stress he doesn't react when his friends want to go for pizza. Artemis is extremely disturbed over it and Robin outright incredulous. |
| 94 | ** Also, after the Team [[spoiler:managed to rescue Robin from being BuriedAlive]], Batman sincerely thanks them. Kid Flash's mental reaction is flat-out "ohmygosh the end is NEAR!". |
| 95 | * In ''Fanfic/TheSevenMisfortunesOfLadyFortune'', after Kim says at the school reunion that he saw Chloé and Nathaniel leaving together, everyone laughs because [[spoiler:a dead person will rise from the grave before these two will end up together]]. Then they go to their classroom and… [[spoiler:sure enough, Marinette is right there after seven years of being LegallyDead]]. |
| 96 | * In ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'', Jade, the last remaining District 1 Victor and a prisoner of District 13's forces, watches Katniss's planned execution of President Snow. Her friend Shilling hopes Katniss will turn against President Coin instead, but Jade doesn't see that happening anytime soon. |
| 97 | -->'''Shilling:''' What are the chances she takes out that bitch instead of [Snow]?\ |
| 98 | '''Jade:''' Katniss Everdeen, doing something her puppet masters haven't approved of? I think you give her too much credit. … If Katniss Everdeen has an original thought for once, I'll take back everything I've ever said about her after three martinis. But look at her. [[EmptyShell Her wings are clipped. She's as much a corpse as we are.]] No, Shilling, I don't think we can be expecting any more miracles from Katniss Everdeen.\ |
| 99 | ''(Katniss shoots her arrow at Coin instead of Snow)''\ |
| 100 | '''Jade:''' Well, I have a new best friend. |
| 101 | * ''Fanfic/{{The End of the World|FernWithy}}'': |
| 102 | ** "These Are the Names" (the story Effie narrates) ends in the months after the 73rd Hunger Games, with Effie reflecting on both her personal and professional relationships with Haymitch in the following monologue. |
| 103 | --->He has his world, I have mine. As far as I know, these worlds will go on forever, circling each other like the binary planets in Erastus's book, locked in a tidal stare, with nothing short of a catastrophic asteroid hit to move them. The next spring, I reap Primrose Everdeen. |
| 104 | ** In the following story, "The Last Tribute" when Prim is reaped, Haymitch's PerspectiveFlip gets a brief moment of this as he ponders her fate. |
| 105 | --->It's always the same. I try to think of some way this tiny child is going to survive, and can't think of one. There's nothing anyone can do. "PRIM!" I look up. The girl I noticed earlier runs forward, surging towards the stage. "Prim!" She screams again.... I sit forward, the brandy haze lifting a bit. There ''is'' something that can be done for Primrose Everdeen. It's never happened in Twelve, at least in my memory. Something that's utterly insane. "I volunteer[,]" the older girl gasps. "I volunteer as tribute." |
| 106 | * In [[https://edorazzi.tumblr.com/post/167991092040/the-twin-au-edition-of-gigantitan-aka-how this]] ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fan comic, Bridgette once again tries to pester Felix for a date, and he responds that the Eiffel Tower will fall before he agrees to one. Seconds later, the battle between Paris' heroes and Gigantitan triggers [[MonumentalDamage exactly that.]] |
| 107 | -->'''Felix:''' [[GracefulLoser ...so I'll pick you up later this afternoon.]] |
| 108 | * ''Fanfic/JohannaMasonTheyWillNeverSeeMeCry'': After Haymitch announces his intention to stay sober through the Games in order to keep his promise to Katniss and Peeta, [[DeadpanSnarker Johanna]] replies with this: |
| 109 | --> '''Johanna:''' My, my, did anyone else see that pig flying past the window? |
| 110 | * ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': In chapter 9 of the fourth story, ''The Diplomat's Life'', Queen Scolopidia (one of the six changeling queens featured in the series) witnesses a rare smile from Queen Remigium (another of the six changeling queens). Soon after, when the other Queen outright ''beams'' at her, it's so unexpected that it makes her want to check outside for a flock of approaching pigasi (a species of supposedly mythical winged pigs from the comics). |
| 111 | * Referenced in ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/1974662/1/Shade-and-Shadow Shade and Shadow,]]'' a ''Anime/YuGiOh'' / ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' crossover. Seto Kaiba, Joey, [=KaibaCorp=]'s new head of security [[OriginalCharacter Alix Gaudet]], and the Ghostbusters have all gone to deal with a problem. Mokuba, on the other hand, has been left at the Ghostbusters' firehouse with their secretary. Kaiba being the notoriously overprotective type that he is, the fact that he'd left Mokuba in the care of someone other than one of his staff for a while leaves Alix so mindboggled that "It was enough to make her wonder if pigs were currently on approach to La Guardia." |
| 112 | * Natsu tries to invoke this in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10264509/549/Tales-of-Fairies Tales of Fairies]]'' when Lucy says she'll only let him into her bed when pigs fly: cue Happy (the flying ''cat'') dressed as a pig. After stopping herself from laughing, Lucy points out that doesn't count, only for Natsu to argue that if he found a talking, flying cat by accident, he can easily find a flying pig ''on purpose'', making her give in. |
| 113 | ** Turns out Happy was the backup plan since Lisanna was supposed to be the flying pig, only to already agree to help Juvia get a date with Gray when he said the same phrase. |
| 114 | * Deliberately invoked in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1442274/1/Emotions-Running-High Emotions Running High.]]'' When Draco regrets having told Harry that he'd date him when pigs fly, he uses a spell to give one flight-capable wings and then states that it looks like he'll have to keep his word. |
| 115 | * ''Fanfic/TheresMoreMagicOutThere'': After Chloe apologized to Marinette for how she treated her in the past and the latter seeing that the former is making a genuine effort to reform, Tikki comments that Chloe could have a heart of a hero after some time. Marinette playfully replies that she'll consider it when werewolves, vampires, or witches exist. [[DramaticIrony The premise of the fanfic is that many of Marinette's classmates are secretly monsters or magic users, including Juleka (vampire), Alix (witch), and Chloe (werewolf)]]. And in a downplayed subversion, while Marinette does pick Chloe to be the bee hero against the latter's akumatized father, she still remains unaware of her classmates' monster nature. |
| 116 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14055219/1/When-Pigs-Fly When Pigs Fly]]'' Harry says he'll go to Hogsmeade with Draco when pigs fly. Draco interprets it as a challenge to prove his love and promptly charms about a hundred of the porkers. |
| 117 | [[/folder]] |
| 118 | |
| 119 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 120 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', this trope appears in the backstory. Whitmore reveals to Milo that he and Milo's grandfather Thaddeus had had a [[TheBet bet]]: If Thaddeus ever found the elusive Shepherd's Journal, Whitmore would not only finance the expedition to find Atlantis, but he'd also kiss him full on the mouth. Whitmore then shows Milo a [[https://i0.wp.com/img.screencaps.us/200/1-atlantis-1080p/full/atlantis-disneyscreencaps.com-1318.jpg?ssl=1 photo]] of himself and Thaddeus, both looking thoroughly {{squick}}ed out. |
| 121 | -->'''Whitmore:''' Imagine my embarrassment when he ''found'' the darn thing. |
| 122 | * ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'' had WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck muttering "[[TemptingFate I'll be a musketeer when cows fall out of the sky!]]" Naturally, Clarabelle the Cow happens to be falling from the bridge above at that moment. |
| 123 | * Parodied in the [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Toy Story short]] "Hawaiian Vacation", in which Woody decides to celebrate his vacation from Bonnie by playing checkers with Slinky Dog: Woody asks Slinky if he's ready to lose at checkers and the latter replies, "When pigs fly," which triggers this exchange between Hamm and Buttercup: |
| 124 | -->'''Hamm:''' Actually, I had an uncle who was a pilot.\ |
| 125 | '''Buttercup:''' Really?\ |
| 126 | '''Hamm:''' No, not really. |
| 127 | * In the made-for-DVD movie ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooFrankencreepy'', when Shaggy and Scooby announce that they're not hungry, shots of pigs flying and Hell freezing over are quickly seen. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 131 | * In ''Film/{{Dogma}}'', Jay propositions Bethany, and she turns him down. So he says, "What if the world was about to end?" and she agrees so he'll shut up. Fast forward all the way to the end of the movie, when Bartleby is close to unmaking reality, and Jay tries to make good on their "deal". |
| 132 | * Subverted in ''Film/AngelsInTheOutfield''. Roger's dad tells him that he'll take him out of foster care and they'll be a family again "when the Angels win the pennant", meaning never (the Angels were in last place in the standings at the All-Star Break, a little past the halfway point of the season). Roger [[InnocentInaccurate takes it literally]] and [[AchievementsInIgnorance makes it happen]] with the aid of supernatural beings. [[TearJerker/AngelsInTheOutfield His dad leaves him in the custody of the state anyway.]] [[spoiler:It gets [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]] at the very end when Roger and J.P. get adopted by the Angels' manager George Knox, who had become a ParentalSubstitute over the past few months covered by the movie, the night after the Angels do win the pennant; ExactWords come into play because Roger's prayer about wishing for the Angels baseball team to win the pennant never specified that the family he wanted out of it had to include his biological father.]] |
| 133 | ** In the ''{{Website/Cracked}}'' spoof, Roger's friend J.P. quips "[[TakeThat It could be worse, he could've said the Padres!]]" |
| 134 | * ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'' |
| 135 | -->'''General Graham Chapman:''' It's all very well to laugh at the military, but when one considers the meaning of life, it is a struggle between alternative viewpoints of life itself. And without the ability to defend one's own viewpoint against other perhaps more aggressive ideologies, then reasonableness and moderation could, quite simply, disappear! That is why we'll always need an army, and may God strike me down were it to be otherwise. (''is promptly struck by lightning'') |
| 136 | * In ''Film/TheWolfman2010'', Dr. Hoenneger is lecturing about the strapped-down Lawrence Talbot remarks that his patient can no more transform into a monster than he, the doctor, can sprout wings and fly out of the window. Sure enough, when Talbot transforms and breaks loose, he invokes DestinationDefenestration on the shrink. |
| 137 | * In ''Film/ItsAVeryMerryMuppetChristmasMovie'', Miss Bitterman is threatening the Muppet Theater with foreclosure, and says they will raise the money to save it "when pigs fly". In swoops Miss Piggy, still suspended from the cables from the act they had been practicing. After a {{beat}}, Bitterman adds, "For the record, I consider that a coincidence, and not a sign from God." |
| 138 | * In ''Film/BruceAlmighty'', Bruce-turned-God confronts the hoods who had beat him up the previous day, demanding an apology, to which one replies: |
| 139 | -->'''Hood:''' Okay cool, man, the day a monkey comes out of my butt is the day you'll get your "sorry".\ |
| 140 | '''Bruce:''' What a coincidence, because that's ''today''. |
| 141 | * In ''Film/NannyMcPhee'', Mrs. Blatherwick mentions "it'll be snow in August before ____" a few times throughout the story. In the end, when Mr. Brown decides to [[spoiler:marry Evangeline instead of Mrs. Quickly]], Nanny [=McPhee=] summons up [[SnowMeansLove a sudden snowfall]], leaving her to marvel at the fact that there is, in fact, snowing, in August! The [[Film/NannyMcPheeAndTheBigBang sequel]] has actual flying pigs for the same effect. |
| 142 | * In ''Film/ForrestGump'', the bitter and legless Lt. Dan mocks Forrest's optimistic ambitions, telling him "If you're ever a shrimp boat captain, that's the day I'm an astronaut!" Years later, after the two have made a fortune in the shrimping business, Dan attends Forrest's wedding wearing titanium prosthetics - which Dan cheerfully points out is the same material used on NASA's space shuttle. [[HilariousInHindsight For added hilarity]], Creator/TomHanks and Creator/GarySinise later starred as NASA astronauts James Lovell and Ken Mattingly, Jr. in ''Film/Apollo13''. |
| 143 | * A meta example: ''Film/TheNewMutants'' was infamous for having its release be [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment constantly delayed]] for various reasons, to the point that it came out ''2 years'' after the first trailer was revealed. When the movie finally got a set release date, a new poster was put out with the {{Tagline}} "Hell has frozen over". |
| 144 | [[/folder]] |
| 145 | |
| 146 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 147 | * One overly complicated joke that can be found on the Internet has a graduate student answering the question of whether Hell was exothermic (releasing warmth) or endothermic (absorbing it) on his final exam, via the postulate a cheerleader had told him his freshman year, that she'd sleep with him when Hell froze over. Since he'd slept with her last week, this proved that not only did Hell exist, but it had frozen over and thus it was endothermic. There's an alternate version where, because the person ''hadn't'' slept with him, that proved that Hell was exothermic. Despite the claims that it was a real answer in a real university exam, it's not. The gist of the joke though is that he makes several otherwise scientific postulates, such that a soul has a certain amount of energy, and since every religion says that if you don't believe in that religion you're going to Hell i.e. everyone is going to Hell, the question becomes whether Hell is expanding faster than there are souls going into it (Hell freezes over) or it is expanding slower than the rate of souls going into it (all Hell breaks loose). Then he discards those for the punch line. |
| 148 | * [[http://ranneliike.net/keskustelu.php?act=rthrd&grpid=7&thrdid=3648 This]] joke about Finland. The end is obsolete now. Another version talking about Norway worked until 1985, and there was also one about Russia that worked until 2008. Has Europe run out of northern countries yet? |
| 149 | ** The joke works with Northern Canada. Maybe even southern Canada, as long as you're not too close to any of the Great Lakes. Only problem is the crazy hot summers in the southern parts... |
| 150 | ** Several of the Midwestern states have variants on it. Simply replace "Koskenkorva" with "keg" and "Eurovision" with "Super Bowl" (if you're in Michigan, Minnesota, or Ohio) or "World Series" (Illinois[[note]]Although that one's obsolete too as of 2016, when the UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} Cubs finally won after ''108 years''[[/note]], Wisconsin) or "Stanley Cup" (Missouri[[note]]Also obsolete after the St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup in 2019[[/note]]). |
| 151 | ** The current version replaces Eurovision with Football World Cup. WeWait... |
| 152 | * The punchline shall suffice: "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky!" (/s/flying pigs/man on the moon/)[[labelnote:*]]An UrbanLegend holds that a young Neil Armstrong overheard an argument between his neighbors, with Mrs. Gorsky saying she'd give her husband oral sex when the neighbors' kid walked on the moon[[/labelnote]] |
| 153 | * A joke: In the [[TheSeventies 1970's]], people said America would have a black president when pigs fly. [[HeartwarmingInHindsight In 2008]], [[HilariousInHindsight they elected]] UsefulNotes/BarackObama, and sure enough, [[BlackComedy swine flu]]. |
| 154 | [[/folder]] |
| 155 | |
| 156 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 157 | * In the Creator/DianaWynneJones book ''Literature/DarkLordOfDerkholm'', an elf makes a sarcastic prophecy that he'll find his brother "when pigs fly". As it happens, the main character is a wizard who breeds flying pigs... |
| 158 | * The book ''Pigs Don't Fly'' by Mary Brown has it written in the title itself, [[spoiler: and a pig actually does fly, [[OurDragonsAreDifferent only it's not a pig]]]]. |
| 159 | * Inverted in Dante's ''Inferno'': Lucifer is imprisoned in ice. When it melts, it's gonna get bad.[[note]]Dante notes that it's never going to happen: Lucifer is half-submerged in a lake that has frozen around him, constantly beating his wings trying to escape. If he could ''just'' stop beating his wings, the ice would melt and he would be free in no time at all. But he ''can't'' stop beating his wings, because he longs to return to Heaven and bask in God's radiance once more. Lucifer is held in place by his own unquenchable desire.[[/note]] |
| 160 | * In Piers Anthony's ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series, a minor character says she'll surrender to some pirates "when God kisses Satan and all the Incarnations applaud". Guess what [[ItMakesSenseInContext happens]] at the end? |
| 161 | * ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' has the Clazmonian Sow, a pig which not only flies, but also has toxic breath. |
| 162 | * In the ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'' book "A Snowy Surprise", Vidia claims she'll appreciate other talents "when it snows in Pixie Hollow" (where it's [[ItsAlwaysSpring always spring or summer]]). One day, however, it does snow and all the fairies, including Vidia, enjoy playing in the snow. Rani points out to Vidia that she must appreciate another fairy's talent now, since the snow was all the work of the water fairies. |
| 163 | * In ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', [[RebelliousPrincess Miriamele]] tells Cadrach she will trust him again "when the stars shine at midday!" [[spoiler:Of course, during the Storm King's attempt to return to the world at the end, the midday sky appears as the night sky did on the night of his death, and Miriamele trusts Cadrach enough to walk across his invisible magic bridge during his HeroicSacrifice.]] |
| 164 | * In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novel ''By the Sword'', teenage aspiring mercenary Kerowyn ruefully thinks that finding life with a man who would love her and let her be [[ActionGirl herself]] would be as likely as her horse talking to her. Given that Heralds are paramilitary agents of Valdemar who are {{bond|Creatures}}ed to {{Sapient Steed}}s, and that one of the Heralds has the hots for her, guess what happens a couple of decades later after her [[PrivateMilitaryContractors merc unit]] [[LineInTheSand goes beyond the terms of]] the contract they accepted from Valdemar and her [[CoolHorse Shin'a'in Warsteed]] gets killed under her in the middle of a fight? |
| 165 | * The protagonist of the ''Literature/GarrettPI'' series frequently references this expression about his own hyperbole, even though he lives in a fantasy world where winged pigs might hypothetically be possible. |
| 166 | * Justified in the Emily Rodda novel ''Pigs Might Fly''. The story is set in a parallel universe where a weather pattern called the Unlikely Events Factor, or UEF Storm, causes all manner of unlikely events, most commonly flying pigs. On one occasion, the government foolishly attempted to stop these by tying pigs down, which meant the next UEF Storm was completely unanticipated and impossible to detect until it was over. |
| 167 | * At the beginning of ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' story "Toomai of the Elephants", the title character is told by Petersen Sahib that he may one day go into all elephant stockades "when thou hast seen the elephants dance" -- although there is evidence that such events occur, no human has yet witnessed it, thus the statement equates to "never". Sure enough, though, by the end of the story, Little Toomai has seen the dance of the elephants. |
| 168 | * There was a children's book by Valerie Coulman about this trope called--you guessed it!--"When Pigs Fly". |
| 169 | * In "Fire, Water, Air, and Pigs" a short story set in the land of [[Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned Caederan]], a somewhat impetuous young wind-mage tries to fly a herd of oiled pigs from one side of the castle to the other to place them properly for a pig-catching contest. Even lampshaded: |
| 170 | -->'''Nahruahn (as narrator):''' We actually attracted quite a crowd the cook, several maids, the gardener and his two sons, and a number of fathers other servants. [[LampshadeHanging I don't think any of them had ever seen a flying herd of pigs before.]] |
| 171 | * In ''Literature/ADeepnessInTheSky'', it's mentioned that Qeng Ho genetic engineers routinely create flying pigs as a symbol as they go forth to do things sessile civilizations consider impossible. The geneticist at On/Off doesn't make any, because she finds flying kittens cuter. The mission produces miracles anyway, but judging from the sequel, nothing comes of them. Perhaps they needed the pigs. |
| 172 | * ''[[Literature/MagicShop Juliet Dove, Queen of Love]]'': Juliet is asked if she'll recite a poem at their town's annual Valentine's Day Poetry Jam, and responds with "When rats fly!" A few days later, the talking rats Roxanne and Jerome wake up with wings (ItMakesSenseInContext -- they'd become temporary avatars of Cupid's power), and Juliet does indeed wind up reciting a poem at the Poetry Jam. |
| 173 | * Invoked in ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' when Sela and Fangburn are telling Cluny the Scourge a fictitious account of Redtooth's death: |
| 174 | -->'''Cluny''': [[SarcasmMode And then I suppose three little pigs with wings flew down and gave you a toffee apple each?]] |
| 175 | * In ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'' Ipslore the Red tries to make his CurseEscapeClause (that will allow Death to claim his soul) when Hell freezes over, but Death says he can't inform him about conditions in the afterlife. He settles for making it when his son throws away his MagicStaff, into which Ipslore has also bound his soul. |
| 176 | * In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the last book mentions that people in the Shire say "When the King should come again" to refer to some vague, far-off time, or some deed that was unlikely to be achieved. Incidentally, the last book is titled ''The Return of the King.'' |
| 177 | * Some of Creator/JohnSteinbeck's first novels had the insignia "Ad astra per alas porci" (to the stars on the wings of a pig) on them with a flying pig. Why? He was literally told this by a professor if he would ever become a novelist. |
| 178 | * In ''Literature/MyBrotherIsASuperhero,'' Luke attends his cousin's wedding in the second book. She and her longtime boyfriend had always maintained that the end of the world would happen before they got married; so, right after the near-apocalypse in the ''first'' book, they reserved the golf club. Naturally, Luke and co. have to sneak away from the reception to prevent an alien invasion, leading him to quip that the end of the world might beat them this time. |
| 179 | [[/folder]] |
| 180 | |
| 181 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 182 | * ''Series/TheDeadZone''. Johnny Smith has a vision of CorruptPolitician Greg Stillson asking him for help, which leads to his snarking to Bruce, "Fasten your seat belt. I think hell is about to freeze over." |
| 183 | * In the fourth season of ''Series/WhiteCollar'', Neal is trying to find out [[spoiler:who killed Ellen]] by searching for the man she told him about, Sam. [[ConspiracyTheorist Mozzie]] suggests that Neal should ask for Peter's help, because Peter's FBI resources could be useful. |
| 184 | -->'''Neal:''' You realize somewhere pigs are flying right now?\ |
| 185 | '''Mozzie:''' Yes, and that ''is'' the sound of Hell freezing over. |
| 186 | * ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': Around the time of the 2000 US presidential election, there was a "flash forward" skit in which each of the candidates (Bush, Gore, Nader) is giving a speech about the state of the nation under their yet-to-be administration. When it came time for Nader, he droned on for a while, and then stuffed winged pigs started floating past and a couple of earmuf-wearing devils wandered into the shot rubbing their hands and throwing snowballs at each other. |
| 187 | * In one ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'' episode, Chris points out that his father's lack of an appetite can only mean one thing. Cue shot of Satan shivering and rubbing his arms. |
| 188 | * An episode of ''Weird, True and Freaky'' on animals with tattoos included a photo of a piglet with wings inked on its sides. |
| 189 | * In the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Appendicitement", the BBQ restaurant's kitschy decor includes a plastic pig statue with white feathery wings. The subplot set ''at'' the restaurant is, itself, rather tongue-in-cheek, with one implausible event after another. |
| 190 | * On ''Series/MidsomerMurders'', Barnaby expresses his faith in the judicial process. |
| 191 | -->'''Barnaby:''' Look, we catch the criminals; we offer up the evidence. Not everyone likes what happens in court. Maybe the judge was right; give the boy one more chance. [[SarcasmMode Oh, look, a squadron of pigs over Causton]]. |
| 192 | * ''Series/FamilyMatters'': |
| 193 | ** When Laura [[RelationshipUpgrade finally agrees to go out with Steve]], Steve throws his hands up and triumphantly declares "Hell has frozen over!" |
| 194 | ** After one of the many, many, many, many, ''MANY'', times Steve broke something of Cal's, Carl got even more ranty than usual, saying that Steve would only ever be allowed in that room again when He, Carl, explicitly says he can. ''"AND DO YOU KNOW WHEN THAT WILL BE, STEVE?!" "...When Hell freezes over?" "WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER, AND THE DEVIL GIVES FREE SLEIGH RIDES!!"'' |
| 195 | * ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' had a ''spectacular'' example where Dennis boldly proclaims that if Charlie becomes King of the World, [[TemptingFate 'I'll blow myself']]. Cue episode title: [[spoiler: Charlie Rules the World]]. |
| 196 | * Lorne gets one of these in an ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode. |
| 197 | -->'''Angel:''' I'm buying.\ |
| 198 | '''Lorne:''' Ladies and gentlemen, Hell just froze over. |
| 199 | * ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'': If a line is so slow that its forward movement would only happen "when pigs fly", cue said Flying Pig to appear and entertain the crowds. |
| 200 | * On ''Series/{{Alice|1976}}'', whenever Flo disagreed with someone, she would only agree that whatever it was the other person said would happen "when donkeys fly!". Her second replacement Jolene Hunnicutt[[note]]Her first was Belle Dupree, who was played by the actress who played Flo in [[Film/AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore the original movie.]][[/note]] also did this ("When pigs wear perfume!"). |
| 201 | * ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}''. Chloe Decker tells Lucifer she'll sleep with him when Hell freezes over. Lucifer replies, "I can arrange that actually!" They do eventually have sex in season five and the morning after Lucifer takes the opportunity to tease her for her earlier comment on the matter. |
| 202 | -->'''Lucifer:''' Are you cold?\ |
| 203 | '''Chloe:''' Cold? No, why?\ |
| 204 | '''Lucifer:''' Odd, given that Hell was supposed to freeze over.\ |
| 205 | '''Chloe:''' ''[laughs]'' Right, because I said I wouldn't have sex with you until Hell... yes, yes, you think you're very funny. |
| 206 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. At the start of Season 8, Dean returns after a year in Purgatory and finds that [[TenMinuteRetirement Sam has given up the Hunting business]]. |
| 207 | -->'''Dean:''' Yeah and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_grey Sasha Grey's]] gone legit.\ |
| 208 | '''Sam:''' Huh.\ |
| 209 | '''Dean:''' What?\ |
| 210 | '''Sam:''' Nothing... she did a [[Creator/StevenSoderbergh Soderbergh]] movie... |
| 211 | * In the ''Series/ShakespeareReTold'' adaptation of {{Theatre/Macbeth}}, the prophecy is that Macbeth will be killed "when pigs fly". Cue a visit, near the end, from the Police Helicopter Squad[[note]]"Pig" being a British term of insult for the police[[/note]]. |
| 212 | * In the ''Series/ILoveLucy'' episode where Lucy tries to get a story of hers published in a magazine, Ricky declares that he'll eat his hat if the magazine actually accepts her ([[GiftedlyBad rather terrible]]) story. When they do, Lucy smugly hands Ricky his hat and he bites down on it. |
| 213 | * Used in one episode of the short-lived ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' SpinOff ''Gloria''. Clark, the assistant in the veterinary practice where Gloria works, has already been established as a sex-crazed ditz, so everyone is stunned when he makes a suggestion that's actually a good idea. |
| 214 | -->'''Maggie:''' The sound you hear is Hell freezing over. |
| 215 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In "Dead to Rights", Oliver Queen is trying to repair the radio in the crashed airplane they've taken shelter in. Slade Wilson has just killed a boar and brought it back to eat. He says Oliver will get the radio working when pigs fly. Just then Oliver gets it to work, and [[VisualPun Slade throws the boar off his shoulders]] as he rushes over to the radio. |
| 216 | * ''Series/{{Blackadder}}: The Cavalier Years'': Edmund assures King UsefulNotes/CharlesI that the Roundheads will never find a man willing to execute him. "And if they do, may my conjugal dipstick turn into a tennis racquet." Moments later, they receive a message. After Edmund reads it, he drops the orange he was holding, which bounces back into his hand. |
| 217 | * ''Series/RadioEnfer'': A carpenter assistant named Raymond has trouble getting work done because of something that happened during his childhood, so Jocelyne decides to help him with his problem and succeeds. When Vincent learns about this, he is so surprised by the fact that Jocelyne proved to be an efficient psychologist that he is convinced there is a hen somewhere in the world that started growing teeth. This is a reference to the French saying "...when hens will have teeth", which has the same meaning as "...when pigs fly". |
| 218 | [[/folder]] |
| 219 | |
| 220 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 221 | * When Music/TheEagles got back together in 1994, they named the tour and the new album ''Hell Freezes Over'' (which was when Don Henley said they would get back together after breaking up 14 years prior, in 1980). |
| 222 | * Brad Paisley's "Come on Over Tonight" takes this attitude toward falling in love. "Come on over tonight, we'll sit on the swing / Watch the pigs fly by, flapping their brand new wings..." |
| 223 | * And, [[http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Chinese+Democracy%22+pigs+flying perhaps]], what was the best example of SavedFromDevelopmentHell in music: Music/GunsNRoses' ''Music/ChineseDemocracy''. Some even suggested [[http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2747/chinesedemocracygt2.jpg this cover]]. |
| 224 | ** Akin to the Eagles, how was the tour that welcomed Slash (and Duff) back to the band named? "Not In This Lifetime" (which was when, four years before, Axl Rose [[http://loudwire.com/axl-rose-guns-n-roses-reunion-tour-not-in-this-lifetime/ said a reunion was possible]] - though the ExactWords of the question were about a full line-up, of which the band is short on the rhythm guitarist and drummer). |
| 225 | * Music/TomPetty, "It's Good to Be King": |
| 226 | -->Yeah I'll be king when dogs get wings |
| 227 | * The Foremen's ListSong of things that will never happen, ''[[http://www.madmusic.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=4452 Hell Froze Over Today]]''. |
| 228 | * Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/{{Animals|1977}}'' [[BookEnds opens and closes]] with "Pigs on the Wing" (and the album's cover has an inflatable pig, which was carried over to the band's live performances). |
| 229 | ** And predictably, when the band reunited for a one-off gig at Live 8 after ''decades'' of open conflict, several banners in the audience proclaimed "PIGS HAVE FLOWN." |
| 230 | * Music/TheMegas have the song "Hell Has Frozen Over", which features [[PlayingWithFire Fire Man]] and [[AnIcePerson Ice Man]] teaming up to take on [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]] even though they had thought such a union could never be. Just to drive it home, the majority of the chorus is the words [[TitleDrop "Hell has frozen over"]] over and over again. |
| 231 | * Music/RingoStarr sings in the Music/EltonJohn-penned "Snookeroo": "Oh, pigs will fly and the earth will fry, When they get me doing honest hours."[[note]]This is TruthInTelevision; childhood illnesses, and long hospital stays, left Ringo unfit for either of the career paths open to Liverpool men in his day (too weak to be a labourer, too uneducated to be a clerk), so he had little choice but to become a drummer.[[/note]] |
| 232 | * During UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra, Series/SpittingImage considered a flying pig was a more likely prospect to manifest than a pleasant, modest and amenable [[AmoralAfrikaner South African]]: |
| 233 | -->''I've seen a flying pig, in a quite convincing wig, but I've never met a nice South African! |
| 234 | * Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's song "Cold" has Hell-freezes-over motif in both its two slightly different choruses. |
| 235 | * Both ''Music/JTMusic'' songs [[VideoGame/Doom2016 "Fight Like Hell"]] and [[VideoGame/DoomEternal "Home to Hell"]] invoke this trope as a BadassBoast. |
| 236 | -->'''Fight Like Hell:''' They told me I could rule the world when Hell was frozen over! / Hold up, is it just me, or did it just get colder?\ |
| 237 | '''Home to Hell:''' They told me I'd be king when Hell froze over / So did anybody notice that the temp just dropped? |
| 238 | [[/folder]] |
| 239 | |
| 240 | [[folder:Myths & Religion]] |
| 241 | * [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent Hippogriffs]], believe it or not. They were originally a speculation as to what would result from the expression "breeding gryphons with horses" -- which Creator/{{Virgil}} coined to refer to an {{impossible task}}, since gryphons prey on horses in myth. (Compare "[[Film/Ghostbusters1984 dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!]]") But hippogriffs eventually evolved from a joke creature into their own myth. [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction Love knows no bounds...]] |
| 242 | * A less-well-known aspect of the {{Pegasus}} is that, born out of the blood of the slain Gorgon Medusa, Pegasus had a twin brother. This was Chrysaor, who in many readings of the story is a winged flying pig. The flying pig is therefore twin brother to the flying horse. |
| 243 | * A very disturbing example from Myth/ClassicalMythology is the feud between the brothers Atreus and Thyestes for the throne of Mycenae. Thyestes was king, and Atreus treated him to a feast. Atreus got Thyestes to swear an oath that he'd give up the throne if the sun rose in the west and set in the east. Atreus then revealed that he'd murdered Thyestes's sons and [[IAteWhat and served them to him in his meal.]] The [[GodOfLight sun god Helios]], who drives the sun across the sky each day, was so disgusted by Atreus's crimes that he reversed his usual course and started in the west before settling down in the east. Thyestes, caught by his own oath, was forced to give up the throne to Atreus. |
| 244 | [[/folder]] |
| 245 | |
| 246 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 247 | * Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin aligning himself with long-time ArchEnemy Wrestling/VinceMcMahon at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania X-Seven''. |
| 248 | * Likewise, Wrestling/RicFlair aligning himself with long-time ArchEnemy Wrestling/HulkHogan after ''[[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling Bound for Glory 10.10.10]]''. |
| 249 | * When Wrestling/BretHart appeared on ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' in 2010, 12+ years after the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob he said that he guessed Hell just froze over. |
| 250 | * At ''TLC 2011'', Wrestling/CMPunk, [[Wrestling/MattCardona Zack Ryder]], and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] walk out as the WWE Champion, US Champion, and World Heavyweight Champion respectively. Punk and Bryan are Indies wrestlers, which have great difficulty in the WWE and them alone would be enough. Zack Ryder? He was a ''jobber'' who worked his way up to this point through sure, home grown PopularityPower he got purely by himself! This is probably the single biggest Cue The Flying Pigs moment in ''WWE history!'' CM Punk, being who he is, [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this]] to no end the next night. |
| 251 | * Speaking of CM Punk, this was the general reaction when Punk made Wrestling/VinceMcMahon apologize to him ''on live television''. |
| 252 | * Wrestling/{{Christian}}, the newly crowned WWE Intercontinental champion, turning up at TNA's ''Slammiversary'' Pay Per View to present the number one moment in TNA history, as voted by the fans. |
| 253 | * While he remained involved in professional wrestling on some level or another over the years even after retiring, if one only watched WWE, you'd get the impression Wrestling/BrunoSammartino had nothing to do with the sport whatsoever due to a long-standing hatred of Wrestling/VinceMcMahon. So him going to the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 2013 was this to many, be they WWE fans who thought he fell off the grid or fans of other promotions who insisted Bruno had no incentive to take WWE's offer, already being in ''their'' halls of fame. |
| 254 | * Wrestling/BarryHorowitz teaming in Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling with ''Wrestling/{{STAN HANSEN}}'' qualifies, not so much because of any feud between the two, but because of how Hansen is one of the biggest foreign stars in the history of Japanese wrestling and Barry is best known, unfortunately, for his long losing streak. |
| 255 | * The fans at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XXX'' looked like the ring had just exploded when Wrestling/BrockLesnar '''''[[DefeatingTheUndefeatable ended]] [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker The Streak]]'''''. '''''[[ShockingMoments Cleanly]]'''''. |
| 256 | * Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} winning the ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2006'' for a number of reasons: 1) he's billed at 5'6, pretty much the smallest wrestler on the WWE roster at the time, 2) this is just months after Wrestling/EddieGuerrero's passing and this match was in his memory, and 3) he's the #2 entrant, Wrestling/TripleH being #1. He won through it all, and still holds the record at longest Royal Rumble time at ''62 minutes''. |
| 257 | * And two years prior, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit lasting 61 minutes, 30 seconds by eliminating Wrestling/BigShow by ''pulling the giant'' from under the bottom rope. |
| 258 | * Wrestling/AJStyles leaving [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] was legitimately shocking due to his reputation as a company man and having been there (literally) since the very beginning, making him one of the TNA Originals. That was enough for many fans to start declaring that TNA is dead. Despite numerous rumors, reports, and even a statement from the TNA website all but confirming it as true, watching him debut at the 2016 Wrestling/RoyalRumble was ''surreal''. Seven years ago, the idea of this ever happening was laughable to nonexistent. The fact that both he and ''Wrestling/SamoaJoe'' were in WWE at the same time only adds on to the craziness. And if not that, the fact that both were able to use their original names rather than WWE-generated trademarks. |
| 259 | ** At ''Wrestling/{{Backlash}} 2016'', he became the WWE World Champion. Just to reiterate: the man who, once upon a time, was impossible to imagine competing in the Wrestling/RoyalRumble was '''one of the top guys in the company'''. |
| 260 | ** And with Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura winning the 2018 Wrestling/RoyalRumble and picking him as his WM opponent? We get '''AJ vs. Nakamura main-eventing Wrestling/WrestleMania'''. |
| 261 | * In 2001, a wrestler with [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]] stated that he didn't want to work with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon (and for a good reason considering what he did with some other WCW talent...). 13 Years later at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries, Wrestling/{{Sting}} debuted. |
| 262 | * Everybody thought that CM Punk wouldn't go into detail about what happened when he left WWE back in January 2014. Then the 27th of November happened, and the Internet exploded. |
| 263 | ** Following ''that'' podcast and the ensuing ''lawsuits'' against WWE, nobody ever saw Punk being connected to the company again. Then November 12, 2019 happened, and the Internet exploded ''again''. |
| 264 | * The Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} developmental brand's final two-hour special event of 2014, Takeover 3: R-Evolution, received such rave reviews, especially compared to the main roster TLC pay-per-view/Network special which would take place that same week, that the "NXT is superior to the main roster" sentiment which had been building for a long time finally exploded. This, combined with the WWE Network's financial woes and controversial comments from Wrestling/VinceMcMahon which fans have perceived as proving true the complaint that Vince is out of touch with today's wrestling audience, has a noticeable contingent of wrestling fans, WWE wrestlers, and even investors with the company saying Vince should step down. The flying pigs part? ''Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/TheKliq member who married Vince's daughter Wrestling/{{Stephanie|McMahon}}, the man notorious for protecting his spot at the expense of other wrestlers when he was an active performer, has been the man in charge of NXT since it became the developmental brand. And they want '''HIM''' to take over.'' |
| 265 | * If not that, then definitely ''Takeover: Brooklyn'', which may perhaps be the first time in WWE history that fans agreed the best match of the night was a ''Divas'' match (Wrestling/{{Bayley}} vs. Wrestling/SashaBanks) -- let alone that it is far-and-away the frontrunner for Match of the Year (rivaled only by the Lesnar/Cena/Rollins triple threat at the Royal Rumble). The last MOTY with that unanimous level of consent? Wrestling/JohnCena vs. Wrestling/CMPunk at ''Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank 2011''. It got the point that [[ToughActToFollow just having to follow that match]] was the biggest flaw of the Wrestling/KevinOwens vs. [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Balor]] main event. Adding to that, for the first time ever, the WWE Divas got to headline a WWE special when the thirty-minute Iron(wo)man (re)Match between Bayley and Sasha Banks was made the main event for ''Takeover: Respect''. If ''Brooklyn'' hadn't sent the pigs sailing, that sure as hell did. |
| 266 | * For seven years Wrestling/KofiKingston was a lifelong babyface, which led people to expect him to be the next Wrestling/RickySteamboat in that aspect. Then came Wrestling/TheNewDay and Kofi was a heel for the first time ever. |
| 267 | ** On June 13, 2018, WWE uploaded a video of Wrestling/TheNewDay preparing for a video game showdown at E3 where they would play ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV''. WWE made sure to mention their opponents...'''Wrestling/KennyOmega and Wrestling/TheYoungBucks'''. Yes, WWE actually mentioned those names on their website. |
| 268 | * The quality of ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Monday Night Raw]]'' eventually decayed to the point where the crowd at ''TLC 2015'' chanted "We ''Want'' Cena!/Cena Sucks!" during the main event TLC match between Wrestling/RomanReigns and Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}. That's right -- the fans ''actually miss Wrestling/JohnCena''. Granted, it was Boston, Cena's ''de facto'' hometown, but while Boston does go a little easier on him than other smarky cities, they've never reached a point where they've actively chanted for him to ''come back''. |
| 269 | ** That same night, Wrestling/RomanReigns, who many believe was ''never'' going to get over because of the terrible Cena-like booking he's had to endure for the last ten months, managed to get over. It turns out all he had to do was beat the crap out of Wrestling/TripleH. The next night, Philadelphia, who booed both him and ''[[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]]'' out of the building eleven months before, happily cheered for him [[spoiler:and even marked out when he won the title that same night]]. So somehow, Reigns went from one of the biggest heat magnets in wrestling and the unintentional embodiment of everything the fans consider wrong with WWE, to being over enough to get the smarkiest crowd on the planet cheering for him in the span of twenty-four hours. Smarks are outright baffled over what happened, even if they are happy for him. Unfortunately, it didn't last and he became TheScrappy again about a month later. |
| 270 | * Wrestling/RomanReigns was pretty much designated as the next Wrestling/JohnCena, despite the active resistance of the fans. That meant he would always win and only lose via shenanigans. It seemed nothing would change Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's mind about that. And then, not even three months after they finally gave him his moment at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 32'' to the disgust of the majority of the fanbase, [[EpicFail he violated the Wellness Policy]]. That meant the company had to get the title off him ASAP before he went on a forced vacation. He subsequently lost clean to Wrestling/SethRollins for the title, and then [[Wrestling/JonMoxley Dean Ambrose]], of whom many were convinced the company was ''never'' going to pull the trigger on, cashed in his newly won Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank contract to finally become WWE Champion. After setting up Wrestling/TheShield triple threat for ''Battleground'' the following night, Roman was suspended. When he came back, he ate another clean pin from [[Wrestling/JonMoxley Dean Ambrose]] for the triple threat, much to the shock of the fans. And yet, despite this unprecedented turn of events, the IWC was ''still'' convinced Roman would get back his push soon afterwards. It wasn't until Roman ate another clean pin, at the hands of [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Balor]] no less, who had just debuted on the main roster, to make Finn the new #1 contender for the new WWE Universal Championship, did fans realize how deep in the doghouse Reigns was. |
| 271 | * For nearly nine years after his retirement, nobody, not even the man himself, would believe you if you said that Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} would wrestle again, let alone win a Wrestling/RoyalRumble and main event Wrestling/WrestleMania. |
| 272 | * And not one year after the un-retirement of Edge, we not only saw the return of Wrestling/{{Christian}}, but the return of ''Christian Cage'' (a name he had not used in over a decade). The thought that he would ever wrestle again, let alone outside of WWE was shocking to many. And even that is nothing compared to the fact that he is Wrestling/ImpactWrestling's world champion. |
| 273 | * 2020 had the swerve no one saw coming: Wrestling/RomanReigns has ''finally'' [[FaceHeelTurn turned heel]], and he's now a Wrestling/PaulHeyman guy. |
| 274 | * After seven long years of people giving up hope that Wrestling/CMPunk would ever return to pro wrestling, [[HesBack he finally came back]] and under the banner of [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW]] to boot. |
| 275 | * Speaking of AEW, nobody though Daniel Bryan would ever be Wrestling/BryanDanielson again. Then ''All Out'' happened... |
| 276 | * While many accepted that an [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW]] top star will eventually join WWE at some point, nobody believed it would be Wrestling/CodyRhodes (one of AEW's ''founders''). And yet he did at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 38''. |
| 277 | ** That same night, after a ''nineteen-year'' absence from the ring, Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin wrestled again, beating Wrestling/KevinOwens in an impromptu match. |
| 278 | * Many expected Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, ever the ControlFreak chairman who works non-stop and gives everything that he can do to Wrestling/{{WWE}}, to stay working until his death. And yet, July 22, 2022 was the day that no one in the wrestling community expected as Vince announced his ''retirement'' from WWE. Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon took over his position as the new chairwoman of the company while the position of booker and head of creative had been given to none other than '''''Wrestling/TripleH''''' himself... until early 2023, when Vince decided to return and take over, leading both of them to resign from their position. |
| 279 | ** Following the closing of the TKO deal in September 2023, it was widely reported that Triple H had been further endorsed by new parent company Endeavor as the creative head of WWE while [=McMahon=] had been largely separated from day-to-day input. While Vince still looms in the TKO sphere in the executive suite, it appears he may have indeed been KickedUpstairs from the WWE product itself. |
| 280 | ** In a disturbing reveal, in late January 2024 news broke of a lawsuit filed against [=McMahon=] and the company connected to allegations of sexual assault and trafficking carried out by the longtime chairman, leading to [=McMahon=] ''again'' resigning, presumably for good this time. |
| 281 | * The return of ''Wrestling/CMPunk'' to '''''WWE''''' at Wrestling/SurvivorSeries on November 25, 2023. Punk had completely burnt his bridges with WWE during his initial exit from the company and yet, despite his reputation is arguably at a new low because he had ''also'' burnt his bridges with AEW with the All Out 2022 Media Scrum and All In 2023 disasters, Punk was willing to make amends with people like Wrestling/TripleH and Wrestling/TheMiz, allowing him to be accepted back to the company and basically start himself from anew. Triple H himself acknowledged this by saying that Punk's return is a [[https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1728631658054836491?lang=en "mighty cold day in hell"]]. |
| 282 | [[/folder]] |
| 283 | |
| 284 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 285 | * ''Theatre/FiniansRainbow'': |
| 286 | -->'''Woody:''' I'll raise the money somehow.\ |
| 287 | '''Buzz:''' Money don't grow on trees, you know.\ |
| 288 | ''[the cliché explodes in his face in a shower of dollar bills which Sharon drops down from the tree]'' |
| 289 | * ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'': Eleanor responds to the classic "When pigs fly" remark with "There'll be pork in the treetops come morning." |
| 290 | * ''Celebration'': |
| 291 | -->'''[[HollywoodAtheist Potemkin:]]''' Nobody believes in God anymore. It's over, kid. The jig is up. There is no Heaven. There is no Hell. There are no little White Lady Angels hovering up in the sky--What's the matter? What are you staring at?\ |
| 292 | '''Orphan:''' There's a little white lady angel hovering in the sky. |
| 293 | [[/folder]] |
| 294 | |
| 295 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 296 | * ''VideoGame/EvilGenius2'': One side-story has Agent X claim that the Genius will take over the world when pigs fly, and the Genius decides to create flying pigs [[EvilIsPetty just to spite him]], raiding old facilities to find how to do it. As it turns out, the flying pigs being manufactured were kiddie rides, and the Genius decides to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain never speak of it again]]. |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/Guacamelee2'': One of the side effects of Salvador's meddling with time is El Infierno freezing over. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIV'': The waiting screen occasionally quotes one of Hermann Göring's more famous (and far less foresighted) boasts, that no enemy bombers can reach the Ruhr area or his name's not Göring, by deliberately misquoting his name. |
| 299 | --> ''"No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Göring. You can call me Meyer."'' -- '''Hermann [[SarcasmMode Meyer]]''' |
| 300 | * ''VideoGame/PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous'': If the player completes the Gold Dragon ascension paths, they can have a conversation with the demon lord Socothbenoth where the latter scornfully rejects the player's offer to join them on the side of righteousness by sarcastically remarking that "my sister will repent and give up her Abyssal realm before I become a goody-two-shoes like you!" In the background lore of the tabletop game, as already established by the time of ''[=Wrath of the Righteous=]''[='=] release as taking place a few years after the game's events, Socothbenoth's sister and fellow demon lord Nocticula does precisely that. |
| 301 | * ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxBeyondTimeAndSpace'': In "What's New, Beelzebub?" Sybil says that they'll be serving ice cream in Hell before she lets Max conduct her wedding. Near the end of the game, both these things happen, in that order (thanks to Sam and Max escaping from a pit in the depths of Hell using Santa's sleigh, which had the side effect of causing Hell to magically freeze over). Max also gets the Nobel Peace Prize, while Sam lets Max have the phone and seriously considers working harder to lose weight. Oh, and the [[EldritchAbomination Shambling Corporate Presence]] is finally making progress at work. |
| 302 | * ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'': Several years ago, 3D Realms employee George Broussard said that ''Duke Nukem Forever'' would be released "when pigs fly". On September 1, 2010, however, his Twitter account [[CallBack linked to a picture of a flying pig]], and a playable demo of ''Duke Nukem Forever'' (whose development had been picked up by Gearbox) was on display at Penny Arcade Expo. |
| 303 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'': ''Creator/XSEEDGames'' tweeted a picture of a flying pig shortly before the release of ''Trails in the Sky SC'' following a very TroubledProduction translating the sequel, four-and-a-half years after the release of the first game. |
| 304 | * ''VideoGame/DiabloII'': Creator/BlizzardEntertainment celebrated the release of a long-awaited patch with [[http://www.delorian.net/Wallpapers/DiabloII/HellFrozenOver-text-1024x.jpg a wallpaper]] featuring the Chaos Sanctuary frozen over, and Diablo himself leaning over a campfire to keep himself warm. |
| 305 | * ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'': A conversation has a soldier claiming that swine will take wing before soldiers dabble in black magic, and his friend retorting that with a Grimoire's power, a sow could outfly a falcon. It later turns out that the Cardinal, as well several soldiers under his employ, are proficient in the Dark Arts. |
| 306 | * Hamster Corporation has involved this trope with the release of Nintendo's arcade games for the Platform/NintendoSwitch; the first time they have ever appeared on a console system. This ''especially'' applies to Nintendo's early arcade games including ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', ''Donkey Kong Jr.'',[[note]]The Japanese arcade version, and all NES releases use the abbreviation "Jr.", while the U.S. arcade version spells out the "Junior".[[/note]] and ''Donkey Kong 3'' since they were written by video equipment and camera maker Ikegami Tsuhinki, and ended up being ScrewedByTheLawyers.[[note]]These releases don't come from Nintendo themselves. Hamster is releasing them under license.[[/note]] |
| 307 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand'' [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]] with the [[{{Feelies}} Guidebook]] talking about how people shouldn't invoke the flying pigs, and then introduces a [[LiteralMinded Flying Pig enemy]] [[SelfDeprecation Hogwash]]. |
| 308 | * ''VideoGame/Afterlife1996'': One of the disasters than can strike is Hell Freezes Over. The description reads "Once in a long while, little pieces of Hell freeze over. No one's sure why this happens, but many Demons attribute the phenomena to [[TakeThat honest politicians, surprisingly strong dramatic performances by Madonna, and the occasional Rose Bowl appearances of Stanford and Northwestern]]." In gameplay terms it essentially freezes a chunk of your buildings temporarily and causes idle demons to pass the time and fill unzoned space by making giant unremovable snowmen that only fade when things thaw. |
| 309 | * ''VideoGame/CompanionsOfXanth'': After an InfoDump about Literature/{{Xanth}} and magic, the still skeptic Doug sarcastically remarks that he just saw a pig fly. Nada replies that [[ComicallyMissingThePoint the migration season hasn't started yet]], and he must be mistaken. |
| 310 | * ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}'': In ''Calamity Trigger'', [[DeadpanSnarker Rachel]] made the claim that [[ButtMonkey Bang]] beating Ragna is about as likely as Bang [[spoiler:erasing all the seithr in the world]]. Two games later in ''Chronophantasma'', [[TookALevelInBadass Bang not only defeats Ragna]] but also [[spoiler:holds his own against '''[[TheDreaded Relius]]''', and also ends up becoming an integral part of the villain's plans, which does indeed culminate in erasing all the seithr from the world]]. Bet Rachel DidntSeeThatComing. |
| 311 | %% Please do not add Cloud Strife being added to the Super Smash Bros roster, instead add it to UnexpectedCharacter |
| 312 | * ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'': During a cutscene, late in the game, Edna comes to visit Zaveid to ask him why he was killing hellions. "Well, well, Edna coming to see me. Should I be scanning the skies for pigs?" |
| 313 | * ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' has flightless winged pigs known as porcavians as an item of Europan wildlife. Squad 7 adopts Hans, a young porcavian, as their mascot and people occasionally claim to see him flying. This is probably unrelated to their strange and improbable victories against overwhelming odds. |
| 314 | * ''VideoGame/VivaPinata'' features a literal example. According to Leafos, you'll only be able to tame sour Mallowolves "when Rashberries fly". Taming a Mallowolf actually requires a piñata called a Pigxie, which is acquired by getting a Rashberry to Romance a Swanana. |
| 315 | [[/folder]] |
| 316 | |
| 317 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 318 | * ''Webcomic/BoyMeetsBoy'' has done both the "flying pigs" and the "Hell frozen over" version. |
| 319 | * Invoked straight in an early ''Webcomic/CogaSuro'', where a pug literally flies across the panel as Steve realizes that he is right and [[TheSmartGuy Jerry]] is wrong--at the time, an unusual situation indeed. |
| 320 | * [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_391.php In this]] strip from ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'', Dan telling Wildy that he doesn't feel like hitting on girls prompts a cut to the artist in Hell (having gone there in a [[VisualPun handbasket]] on [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_225.php this page]]) preparing to play ice hockey. |
| 321 | * In [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1253#comic one]] ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' strip, a woman turns down a date with a man with the "when pigs fly" line, so he tries to create a flying pig. [[spoiler:It doesn't work; the winged pig can't actually fly, and it crushes the woman when he throws it out a window.]] |
| 322 | * In [[http://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=43#2004-10-30 this]] ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' strip, Satan has stoked the fires of Hell to the point where they would sear the flesh from a demon queen's bones... and suddenly it's snowing. The Red Sox won the World Series! |
| 323 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': |
| 324 | ** In [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060927 this strip]], [[AuthorAvatar Phil]] tells Oggie, "[[IWantGrandkids I'll get married]]--[[DramaticIrony when you find a Heterodyne]]". |
| 325 | ** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130731 In this comic]] pigs fly; specifically, they fly when a character is faced with an impossible escape, cued no less by the sentiment, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130807 "What can she possibly do?"]] |
| 326 | ** Also happened in the past, as the backstory to the "Prince of Sturmhalten's Big Bet" sandwich. The titular prince bet he'd eat his hat if a cathedral was ever built in Mechanicsburg... and the Heterodyne of the era went and put one up. And true enough, the sandwich's list of ingredients includes one (1) hat, just as it did that day. |
| 327 | * ''Webcomic/{{PHD}}'': [[http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=590 A strip]] set just after the notorious procrastinator and serial grad student Mike Slackenerny finally gets around to defending his thesis, snow comes in June, winged pigs terrorize crowds, and Hell freezes over, while Mike and his advisor comment on how neither of them honestly thought that this day would come. |
| 328 | * ''Webcomic/BrunoTheBandit'' does this literally. The pig's name is Wingham. |
| 329 | * [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/8 This]] ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' strip. See ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' in the VideoGames section above for context. |
| 330 | * ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'': |
| 331 | ** [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2010-07-01 "The day you change]] is the day '''pigs fly.'''" Cue Squigley (a pig) soaring by ...on a [[ItMakesSenseInContext toilet.]] |
| 332 | ** Slick actually manages to get a date. Cut to [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2001-12-24 Hell, which has frozen over]]. |
| 333 | --->'''Satan''': What the-? |
| 334 | * ''Webcomic/FullFrontalNerdity'' -- one of the characters looks out the window to see (offscreen) flying pigs shortly before he is informed that Creator/SamuelLJackson has been hired to play ComicBook/NickFury in the upcoming ''Film/IronMan'' movie. |
| 335 | * In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' book ''Snip, Snails, and Dragon Tails'', 4e Haley explains to 4e Elan, that she used her Knockout on 3e Durkon by stabbing him in the foot. She had "used the power of abandoned verisimilitude" -- and she and Elan are surrounded by flying pigs. |
| 336 | * ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': |
| 337 | ** After [[LivingShip Tagii]] is locked down and Tagon has Ennesby take control of the ship, he comments on the irony of what he said the last time Ennesby asked to be the shipmind. |
| 338 | --->'''Tagon:''' I guess I was wrong. If you're the last ArtificialIntelligence on the planet, I ''will'' let you fly my ship. |
| 339 | ** In another strip, Tagon and Kevyn are looking for another Demolitionist for the company. The only applicant is Pi. |
| 340 | --->'''Kevyn:''' Shodan praises Pi's combat prowess, his courage, and even his leadership but I'll be a monkey's uncle before I trust him with a brick of boomex.\ |
| 341 | '''Tagon:''' Your sister has a number of [[UpliftedAnimal gorillas]] on her staff. There's always a possibility...\ |
| 342 | '''Kevyn:''' That any illegitimate nephews would still be [[InsistentTerminology apes, not monkeys]]. I checked. |
| 343 | * In the ''Webcomic/AndShineHeavenNow'' arc "Fangirls Are Hell" we see Hell freeze over, and all the other fangirls and fanboys literally frozen in shock because what they thought was impossible happened: [[CanonForeigner Incognito]] has ''fans''. |
| 344 | * In one ''Webcomic/DorkTower'' strip, Ken and Carson are discussing a pamphlet that a group picketing Pegasaurus Games was handing out, claiming TheEndIsNigh. They laugh it off...until Matt runs by them, excitedly yelling about how he has a date. One {{Beat}} panel later, the two of them look over the pamphlet more seriously. |
| 345 | [[/folder]] |
| 346 | |
| 347 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 348 | * One [[Website/SCPFoundation SCP]] ends with the punchline that Hell is literally freezing over as a result of an idiotic demon extracting heat from it to power an electrical plant, and that is a bad thing because this will result in the laws of probability breaking down so that improbable things become common. |
| 349 | [[/folder]] |
| 350 | |
| 351 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 352 | * WebVideo/TheIrateGamer ''Dick Tracy'' review features an unexpected guest star... that being WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd himself, meaning that the two shows have officially done a video game review crossover together. |
| 353 | -->'''AVGN:''' [[LampshadeHanging Did you see this coming?]] |
| 354 | * As seen on [[Quotes/CueTheFlyingPigs the quotes page]] this was invoked by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic for his review of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'', when he found out that [[TheVoiceless Tom and Jerry]] ''talked'' in it. |
| 355 | * Before the second Minecraft Ultimate, the event organizer, Pikaclicks, believed WebVideo/{{Technoblade}}'s team would lose, due to the disadvantage of not having a fourth player. Cue [[PigMan Techno]] becoming [[LiteralMetaphor a literal flying pig]] (nicknamed "Technoplane"), able to transport his team and swoop down on any opponents they saw, which led to winning them the game by a wide margin. |
| 356 | -->'''Pikaclicks:''' Unpopular opinion but I don't actually think Nestor, Cal, and Techno are gonna win tomorrow. I've challenged them with an immediate disadvantage of being a team of 3 in a team of 4 event on 1.12... that's gonna be really hard no matter how good they might be |
| 357 | * A Beanie Baby-themed Harlem Shake video actually has a flying pig. |
| 358 | [[/folder]] |
| 359 | |
| 360 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 361 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In season 6's "Best of the Nest", [[LiteralMinded Binky]] asks Brain if he thinks it'll be cold in the summer because the former asked his dad for a computer; his dad said that he would...when it snows in July. |
| 362 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': In the pilot the titular characters are cursed to become stone until the castle they guarded rises above the clouds. One thousand years later [[CorruptCorporateExecutive David Xanatos]] moves the ruins of the castle to the roof of his Manhattan skyscraper, above the cloud line, breaking the curse and unleashing the gargoyles on the Big Apple, just as Xanatos planned. |
| 363 | * ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': |
| 364 | ** We see Hell freeze over ''before'' it cuts to a half-naked nerd dance around singing "I got laid! I got laid!" with a hot girl in the background saying that she thinks NerdsAreSexy. |
| 365 | ** A small girl asks her mother if her curfew can be midnight. Her mother replies "only when pigs fly". The daughter then launches her pet pig out of a catapult to get her mother to change her curfew. |
| 366 | * ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'': There's a crazy example in the first season finale, where the narrator is being carried away to fuel the narrator-powered ray gun, he begs to himself that it's all just a dream, then the flying pig appears and says it's real, or else he won't have wings. Cue BigNo. |
| 367 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 368 | ** In "Lisa the Vegetarian", Lisa defiantly pushes a rolling barbecue cart holding a roast pig down a hill, as it loses control and the pig goes airborne. We cut to Burns telling Smithers that he'll donate an enormous amount of money to charity when pigs fly, and they both have a good laugh... which fades as they look out the window. |
| 369 | --->'''Smithers:''' Will you be donating that million dollars now, sir?\ |
| 370 | '''Burns:''' Nnnno, I'd still prefer not. |
| 371 | ** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", where Mr. Burns and Smithers enter a book store: |
| 372 | --->'''Burns:''' Books and cocoa in the same store? What's next, a talking banana?\ |
| 373 | ''[a moment of [[{{Pun}} fruitless]] waiting follows]''\ |
| 374 | '''Smithers:''' Uh, I don't see one, sir.\ |
| 375 | '''Burns:''' Of course not. The very notion of a talking banana is absurd. But still.... |
| 376 | ** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E4TreehouseOfHorrorXXV Treehouse of Horror XXV]]", Bart and Lisa are sent to a school in Hell. When Lisa joins a group of "popular" demon girls, it starts snowing. "It's true- it would be a cold day in Hell when I was popular.." |
| 377 | * ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': "Billy Joe, I will marry you when pigs fly!" Cue flying pig shooting [[EyeBeams heat-beam eye-blasts]] (though the flight part was caused by the rooster accompanying the pig), and also cue Billy Joe getting a big wet kiss. |
| 378 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'', the rarity of two genies falling in love is illustrated by the presence of flying pigs playing croquet in the skies above Agrabah. |
| 379 | * ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': |
| 380 | ** Played with in the short "Crowing Pains", where WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn gets halfway through the phrase "I hope to be struck by lightning" when an ominous rumble of thunder and a lightning bolt appearing behind him forces him to reconsider. |
| 381 | ** In "The Trial of Mr. Wolf", the Big Bad Wolf gives a heavily biased account of the events of ''Little Red Riding Hood'' that make him look good and makes Red Riding Hood and her grandmother look bad. At the end, the Wolf is surprised to see [[JokerJury the all-wolf jury]] looking skeptical. He declares "If that ain't the truth, I hope I get run over by a streetcar!", whereupon a streetcar crashes through the wall of the courtroom and runs him over. The Wolf emerges from the rubble, and sheepishly admits he ''might'' have exaggerated. |
| 382 | ** "Fool Coverage", ends with one big parade of the trope. WesternAnimation/{{Daffy|Duck}} is trying to convince WesternAnimation/{{Porky|Pig}} to buy insurance. In the process, Daffy runs into mishap after mishap, and this convinces Porky to sign. He then says all he needs to get a million dollars is to get a black eye. Daffy then notes that the policy [[ImpossibleInsurance has a list of impossible conditions]] (no pigs, but there is a stampede of wild elephants and a hailstorm in the Fourth of July among other more plausible details). Cue Daffy's chagrin when ''every single one'' of the conditions occur...''including'' the one he made up on the spot (one baby zebra). |
| 383 | ** In "The Hardship of Miles Standish", after hearing the radio adaptation, Grandpa angrily turns off the radio and retells the story to his grandson. At the end he exclaimed if it ain't the truth, then let lightning strike him. Lightning does strike him. Hanging from the rafters, he looks at the audience and says "Well anyhoo, that how I heard it!". |
| 384 | ** In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny short "His Hare-Raising Tale", Bugs is telling his nephew Clyde about some of his adventures (which includes clips from "Stage Door Cartoon", "WesternAnimation/BaseballBugs", and "WesternAnimation/HaredevilHare"), but at the end, Clyde frowns as if he doesn't believe any of it. Bugs responds, "If everything I've told you isn't true, I, uh, I hope I'm run over by a streetcar." Cue a streetcar that bursts through the living room and runs Bugs over. As Clyde looks on in shock, Bugs emerges from the rubble and complains, "I suppose you don't believe I was run over by a streetcar!" |
| 385 | * This happens several times in ''WesternAnimation/AlmostNakedAnimals'', considering one of the characters is a pig... |
| 386 | -->'''Octo:''' Aren't bad things meant to happen when pigs fly? ''[cue comic slapstick]'' |
| 387 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Played with in "[=SpongeGuard=] on Duty": |
| 388 | -->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' I'm every bit as cool as Larry, and if I'm not, let me be struck by... ''[thunder]'' ...a flying ice-cream truck. ''[ShadowOfImpendingDoom, accompanied by BombWhistle and ice-cream truck chimes] AND LIVE!'' |
| 389 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 390 | ** {{Subverted|Trope}} when Cartman is not hit by lightning when he says he has never done anything just for the money, although Butters does move out of the way. |
| 391 | ** Kyle's parents will only allow him to go to a concert when he [[BreadEggsMilkSquick cleans out the garage, shovels the driveway, and brings democracy to Cuba]]. His parents explain that he wasn't actually supposed to accomplish the last one but he expressed more concern about shoveling the whole driveway. |
| 392 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Huey, after a number of odd schemes, fails to prevent the execution of an obviously innocent man on death row and resorts to praying as his last hope for a miracle. Uncle Rukus, after some sort of near death experience in the beginning of the episode, claims to have spoken to God and creates a televangelical craze by claiming that hatred of black people, including self-hatred, can get one to heaven. As Rukus makes the standard "may I be struck by the Lord himself" a lighting bolt strikes the microphone in his hand. The electrical blast causes a blackout moments before the electric chair for the execution is activated. This is followed by the Governor finally calling to stay the execution, thanks to being spooked by some slander Huey made up earlier in the episode as one of his last-ditch attempts. |
| 393 | * ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'': In "Ski-Hi I.Q.," Muttley is made the new leader of Vulture Squadron. Dick Dastardly protests "It'll be a rainy day in May before I take orders from that mutt!" The phone rings, and when Dick answers a cloud emerges from the mouthpiece and douses him with rain. |
| 394 | * When ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' was UnCanceled, their very first scene back is Peter breaking the news to the family that their show has been axed by Creator/{{Fox}}. When asked why, he explains that Fox needs to make room for their hot new shows such as ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', ''Series/DarkAngel'', and about [[ScrewedByTheNetwork three dozen other programs]] which had come and gone in the period that ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' was on hiatus. When Lois asks if there's any hope, Peter replies sarcastically that they might have a shot if all those other shows get dropped. Roll opening credits. |
| 395 | * A running gag in the first season of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' has Hayley telling Stan that he can do some crazy thing 'when pigs fly'. He then calls a CIA lab and tells them to keep working on the flying pig experiment. In one episode, Stan calls the CIA and they tell him that it's almost complete and it shows a pig with only one wing. |
| 396 | * ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': |
| 397 | ** When Susie says Farrah Fawcet is her cousin, Johnny notes "Yeah, and pigs fly." Then he looks up in the sky... |
| 398 | ** There used to be a commentary by Johnny in Cartoon Network's years of running the show, asking WesternAnimation/PorkyPig if he could wear a pair of wings as a girl he asked out said she'd go out with him if pigs fly. |
| 399 | * On ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', when [[{{Satan}} Lucius]] tells the story of how he won his bowling trophy, it involves him telling his father if he makes the strike, [[HumanPopsicle he gets to freeze him]]. Lucius VI agrees, muttering "And pigs will fly." Of course, Lucius makes it. Flash forward to the present where he's frozen, and his son is holding a flying pig on a leash, saying "He was always making crazy bets." |
| 400 | * In ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'', Johnny literally makes pigs fly thanks to the "Super Smarty Pants" boosting his IQ ten thousand fold. Susan and Mary are not amused. |
| 401 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 402 | ** Possible reference to this trope: the Beifong family crest is the Flying Boar, which is, well, a boar with wings. A vision of such a creature is part of what leads Aang to search for Toph. Her family crest may be a reference to how unlikely it would seem for a 12-year-old blind girl to be a master Earthbender, especially when the majority of Earthbenders shown so far were burly men. Incidentally, winged boars may be a real thing in the setting where MixAndMatchCritters abound; one episode took place on a farm with pig-chicken hybrids. |
| 403 | ** Toph is also the inventor of Metalbending, a subset of Earthbending previously thought to be impossible. Multiple references are made to her supposed inability to do so despite her talent, until she actually does it. World's greatest earthbender, indeed. |
| 404 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': |
| 405 | ** In "Hex Games", when Timmy beats Vicky to determine the new [[ItMakesSenseInContext Queen]] of the Skatepark, she [[ILied refuses to step down]], claiming that he's got a better chance of some loser 12-year-old plummeting from the sky and plowing her into the ground than her [[GracefulLoser gracefully accepting her loss]]. [[BrickJoke Francis immediately falls from space right on top of her]], and she cheerfully hands over her crown. |
| 406 | ** In "Wish Fixers", Timmy must make no idiotic wish for five days. Cue "When Pigs Fly" poof. Cue pigs. |
| 407 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': Elf contracts are normally airtight but contain a nullification clause if the papers are burned by a lindworm's fire, Alfur claims that the clause was meant to be like saying "when cows fly." Naturally, Hilda manages to actually get an elf contract incinerated by a lindworm in [[Recap/HildaS1E7 "The Lost Clan"]]. |
| 408 | -->'''Frida''': Don't you mean when pigs fly?\ |
| 409 | '''Alfur''': No, that happens with surprising regularity. |
| 410 | * In ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'', Yang tells Yin that she'll only get a boyfriend when pigs fly. Later, when Yin actually gets a boyfriend, a nearby pig suddenly sprouts wings and flies off, spotted by Yang. And when said boyfriend turns out to be [[spoiler:[[EvilCounterpart Yuck]]]] in disguise, [[PuffOfLogic the pig loses those wings and falls out of the sky]]. |
| 411 | * ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie'' has a flying pig named Pinkey in it. And yes, the characters do have a lot of good luck in this series. |
| 412 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': In "Brittney's Party", [[AlphaBitch Brittney Wong]] says that she'll invite Star to her birthday party when pigs fly, so Star magically conjures up a flying pig. |
| 413 | -->'''Star:''' Problem solved.\ |
| 414 | '''Pig:''' Anything for you, Star. ''[Brittney swats at him]'' Flyin' pig don't need this. |
| 415 | * ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'': When the crew of the 42 are tracking down a fugitive Buzz on Trade World. |
| 416 | -->'''Booster:''' These streets go on forever in every direction.\ |
| 417 | '''XR:''' Unless the clouds are going to open up and drop Buzz Lightyear right in our laps.\ |
| 418 | ''[[[GlassSmackAndSlide Buzz falls from above, crashes into the cockpit window, and slides off]]]''\ |
| 419 | '''Mira:''' Please tell me I'm not the only one who saw that.\ |
| 420 | '''XR:''' [[RetroactiveWish Why didn't I ask for money?]] |
| 421 | * ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'': |
| 422 | ** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': At the end of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E26ToWhereAndBackAgainPart2 To Where and Back Again, Part 2]]", [[StageMagician Trixie]] says that [[RealityWarper Discord]] can join in on her magic act "when pigs fly". Discord, being [[{{Troll}} Discord]], says "your wish is my command," before creating flying pigs under him and Trixie and sending them flying down the street. |
| 423 | ** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTellYourTale'': At the end of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyTellYourTaleZippsFlightSchool Zipp's Flight School]]", Zipp says that she will open a true flight academy when crabs fly. Cue Hitch's two pet birds carrying his pet crab and helping him fly. |
| 424 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In one episode, [[SadistTeacher Miss Simian]] refuses to apologize to Gumball and Darwin after accusing them of something they didn't do, despite Principal Brown urging her to do so. She replies she'll apologize "when fish grow legs and walk out of the water". Darwin (who happens to be a fish with legs walking around on dry land) is about to reply, but Gumball immediately proceeds to cover his mouth. |
| 425 | * ''Creator/RankinBassProductions'': In the "It's the Truth" song in ''Pinnochio's Christmas'', Fox is trying to convince Pinnochio of his latest scam "Or may lightning strike me down!" Naturally, he spends the entire number narrowly dodging lightning bolts. To be fair, none of the lightning actually ''hits'' him- Cat, on the other hand, [[TheChewToy isn't so lucky.]] |
| 426 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheDeputyDawgShow'': One cartoon has the local dentist hiring Muskie and Vince to get Deputy Dawg over for a visit. After numerous chases, they eventually do. DD checks out just fine. He then tells how everyone should see a dentist. When he clarifies what he and the others went through as having Muskie and Vince earn their reward, the two critters brush it off as hogwash. |
| 427 | -->'''Deputy Dawg:''' If I'm not telling the truth, may the ground open up and swallow me! ''[it does]''\ |
| 428 | '''Muskie:''' ''[to Vince]'' He's just sayin' that 'cause it could never happen! |
| 429 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In "[[Recap/GravityFallsS1E9TheTimeTravelersPig The Time Traveler's Pig]]", Stan has Soos modify a dunk tank so that the dunking mechanism can't be triggered. Soos does so, and claims that it would take "some sort of futuristic laser arm cannon" to actually set it off. Unfortunately for Stan, he didn't account for time travelers from the future who happen to have laser guns... |
| 430 | * ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'': In "The Sellout", Milo declares that he'll give Nicky his extra concert ticket when pigs fly. He then ducks to avoid a pig-shaped kite being flown by Dieter. Unaware of the conversation, Dieter comments, "Nice breeze, yes?". |
| 431 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet'': In one episode, Mr. Jolly comes to Prettyboy one day reminding him how Prettyboy said, "It would be a hot day in December before I teach you how to sing." Mr. Jolly then shows Prettyboy a calendar and a thermometer to prove that it is indeed a hot day in December, to Prettyboy's irritation. |
| 432 | [[/folder]] |
| 433 | |
| 434 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 435 | * A spoof news story from 2002: [[https://web.archive.org/web/20100122063203/http://www.satirewire.com/briefs/pigs_fly.shtml "Pigs flying over the frozen landscape of hell reported that online retailer Amazon.com turned in the first profit in its history on Tuesday, just moments after the sun set in the East."]] |
| 436 | * Before Eurovision Song Contest 2006, after a Finnish metal band was announced, it was said that "Hell will freeze over before Finland wins". Finland got 292 points, at that time the highest number on record. |
| 437 | ** Perhaps ironically, the Finnish band was Lordi, which was almost not admitted due to accusations of Satanism. Definitely ironically, the song with which they won was "Hard Rock Hallelujah", which the band's "face", Mr. Lordi, [[TheDevilIsALoser used as proof that they're not Satanic.]] |
| 438 | ** According to a pre-2006 Russian joke: "At -10 degrees Celsius, heating is switched on in British homes, while Finns change into a long-sleeved shirt. At -20, Austrians fly to Málaga, while Finns celebrate midsummer. At -200, Hell freezes over and Finland wins the Eurovision Song Contest. At -273 absolute zero temperature is reached, all atom movement ceases. The Finns shrug and say: 'Perkele, a bit chilly today, isn't it?'" |
| 439 | ** Given the number of Finnish metal bands, especially with the country's relatively small population, this was probably inevitable. |
| 440 | * Appropriate headlines were done when Apple, after years of claiming the Platform/AppleMacintosh's [=PowerPC=] processors could "toast" the Intel Pentium, switched the entire line to Intel processors in 2005-2006. |
| 441 | * The late James Randi presented Pigasus Awards (Pig + Pegasus) each year for paranormal fraud in several categories. |
| 442 | * Creator/HunterSThompson and the Battle of Aspen. Thompson ran for Sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado, of which Aspen is the county seat. Folks said that the long-haired hippie-types who formed the "Freak Power" movement to elect Thompson would win when pigs flew, or some such. Thompson shaved his (already balding) head, and began referring to the crew-cut Republican candidate as "my long-haired opponent". |
| 443 | * The New Orleans Saints for the most part were one of the worst NFL teams; some exclaiming that "Pigs Would Fly" if the Saints went to the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl. However, the Saints' fortunes have changed for the better and in 2010, the Saints finally got the right to play in the Super Bowl, which Saints announcer Jim Henderson then exclaimed: ''"Pigs have flown! Hell has frozen over! The Saints are on their way to the Super Bowl!"''. Later, making sure that "Pigs Were Flying" in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, the Saints would go on to win the Super Bowl. |
| 444 | ** A popular radio sportscaster in New Orleans once said that if the Saints ever made it to the Super Bowl he would wear a dress. He died before he got the opportunity, so former Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert led a drag parade in memory of this trope. |
| 445 | * [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160207135420/http://airbridgecargo.com/press/news/798.html 1,275 breeding pigs flown to Vladivostok.]] |
| 446 | * An Italian soccer team has embraced a variation of this trope, but with donkeys instead of pigs. Verona hosts two soccer teams: Hellas Verona and Chievo Verona. In the past decades, the first team used to play in Serie A, while the second used to play in Serie B. Supporters of Hellas Verona even made a rhyme about this: ''Quando i mussi i volerà / faremo il derby in serie A / e sarà sempre così / Verona in A e Chievo in B''. Translated into English: ''When donkeys fly / we'll have a derby in Serie A / and it will always be like this / Verona in A and Chievo in B''. Cue 2001, when Chievo was promoted to Serie A and went on to actually play two derbies against Verona. At this point, Chievo itself embraced the trope, inserting the picture of a flying donkey in the team's website and getting the nickname "i mussi che vola" (="the flying donkeys"). For added irony, Hellas Verona were stuck in the bottom of the third division in 2007-08 (although Chievo spent their only season outside the top flight since 2002 then- they won Serie B easily, and have remained in Serie A since 2008, in spite of a terrible start to the 2008-09 season), but survived due to the financial predicaments of others, and, in 2011, managed two promotions in 3 years to return to Serie A and take on Chievo again. |
| 447 | * As almost everyone knows by now, there is a town in Michigan called Hell. Being in Michigan, it has been known to freeze from time to time. There's one in Norway as well. The one in Michigan has begun to realize this, and has begun to [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormdog42/sets/72157624704514053/with/4935976169/ market themselves]] [[{{Pun}} (sigh)]] to Hell and back. When Creator/CarolineRhea had her own talk show, she asked one of the town citizens if she had seen her ex-boyfriend (whom she had told to go to hell previously.) The woman said that he had enrolled in their local university, Damn U. They also sell souvenirs (Hell in a Hand Basket) and toys (Bat out of Hell) and even have an Ice Cream Parlor. |
| 448 | * A man walking on the moon was another thing-that-will-never-happen until Neil Armstrong made it happen in 1969. |
| 449 | ** There's an [[http://www.snopes.com/quotes/mrgorsky.asp urban legend]] that when Neil Armstrong was a boy, he overheard his next door neighbors arguing loudly. The wife shouted at her husband, "I'll give you oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!" |
| 450 | ** Johnny Carson told America in his monologue that NBC had given him a raise. "It was in my contract that I'd get a raise when people walked on the moon." |
| 451 | ** Legend has it during one batting practice early in his career, someone remarked that "they'll put a man on the moon before" then-San Francisco Giants pitcher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Perry Gaylord Perry]] hit a homer (major league pitchers aren't usually known for their batting prowess). The most often-cited source of the quote is Alvin Dark, who managed the Giants from 1961-1964. It's not known for sure if Dark or anyone else actually made this claim, but Perry did hit his first career homer about twenty minutes after the P.A. at Candlestick Park announced that the ''Eagle'' had landed on the moon. |
| 452 | * In UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball, the Sydney Swans had a long losing streak in 1992-3, which ended when they beat the Melbourne Demons. The next day, a newspaper cartoon featured two demons standing in a frozen-over hell, with one saying, "Looks like the Swans finally won a game." |
| 453 | * During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}} was in a bit of a bind--traditionally aligned with the Allies and heavily dependent on American trade, the regime at the time was authoritarian with Fascist sympathies, and as a result tried to remain neutral. As a result, the dictator Vargas said that Brazil would enter the war "when snakes smoke" (at the time a Brazilian Portuguese expression for "when pigs fly"). When Brazil actually did join the war in 1943, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Expeditionary_Force Brazilian Expeditionary Force]] was nicknamed the ''Cobras Fumantes''--the "Smoking Snakes". Their insignia was even [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Distintivo_da_FEB.PNG a snake smoking a pipe]]. Ever since, "''a cobra vai fumar!''" ("snakes will smoke!") has meant "it will definitely happen, and it will be ''huge''!" in Brazilian Portuguese. |
| 454 | * Also during World War 2, Hermann Goering supposedly said, "No bomb will fall on Berlin (or, in some versions, the Ruhr). If they do, you can call me Meyer."[[labelnote:Note]]A German expression roughly equivalent to saying "...or my name's not [X]."[[/labelnote]] German population called air raid sirens, common over most of Germany in the latter half of the war, [[http://www.historynet.com/why-did-goering-say-you-can-call-me-meyer.htm "Meyer's trumpets"]] on the account of this. |
| 455 | ** Göring also made comments that he would eat a broomstick if enemy bombers reached Berlin. He was subsequently known as "Meyer the Broomstick". |
| 456 | * It is said that before he became Emperor, [[TheCaligula Caligula]] met with a fortune-teller, who told him "You are as likely to rule the Roman Empire as you are to ride across the bay of Naples without getting your horse wet." When he did become emperor, he commandeered all the boats in Naples, lined them up from one side of the bay to the other, and rode his horse across them, just to spite the fortune teller. |
| 457 | * Appropriate headlines were made when Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio finally won the Oscar in 2016 (for ''Film/TheRevenant''). |
| 458 | * Horror punk innovators Music/TheMisfits have a long, long history of disagreements between original members [[{{Music/Danzig}} Glenn Danzig]] and Jerry Only, including multiple lawsuits, and it was assumed that they'd never reunite again. Jump to May 2016 when it is announced that Danzig, Only, and original member Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein will reunite for the first time in 33 years in September. |
| 459 | * Susan Lucci was, for a time, the DistaffCounterpart to Leonardo [=DiCaprio=]. She was nominated for the Emmy ''18 times'' for her role on ''Series/AllMyChildren'' without winning. Many made flying pig jokes when she ''did'' win her Emmy on nomination #19. |
| 460 | * The 2016 [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball World Series]] ultimately came down to a [[TheChewToy Chew Toy]] showdown: UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} Indians (last final: 1997; last title: 1948) and UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} Cubs (last final: 1945; last title: '''1908'''). [[https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151012/wrigleyville/will-hell-freeze-over-before-cubs-win-it-all-mayor-of-hell-mich-says-no While the mayor of Hell said the town only gets really cold by November]], jokes calling it the "Hell Freezes Over series" soon emerged. In the end, the world's longest championship drought was finally over as the Cubs won in extra innings on Game 7. |
| 461 | * On December 2 1976, London Heathrow Airport was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1zh5fSBrpo closed by a flying pig]] (see the Music folder above). |
| 462 | * The Philadelphia Eagles '''''finally''''' won the Super Bowl in 2018 (last NFL championship 1960, seven years prior to the first Super Bowl). Against [[TheJuggernaut the New England Patriots.]] Appropriate headlines were made. |
| 463 | * Director Creator/WernerHerzog said that he would eat his shoe if Errol Morris finished his documentary "Gates Of Heaven". Morris did, so he did. It's immortalized in the documentary ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe]]''. |
| 464 | * On this very wiki's page for ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'', it mentioned this trope saying, "When Duke Nukem Forever comes out". Turns out it actually happened. |
| 465 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' examples: |
| 466 | ** This trope was also quoted more than a few times, including on this very wiki, when [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Ridley]] [[PromotedToPlayable was announced as a playable character]] in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' (as seen in the Quotes page for this trope). Previous installments had not featured him as playable in part because the developers presumably couldn't get him to work properly as a fighter due to [[EvilIsBigger his greater size]] relative to most of the other fighters. When he ''did'' finally become playable, celebrations broke out. Similar claims have also been made regarding other unlikely candidates being announced in ''Smash Bros.'' since then, including [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K. Rool]] (who hadn't been seen in a video game since ''2008'' and [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo and Kazooie]] (who had been absent for nine years since their appearance in a game at all following the Xbox 360 version of ''Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing'', and hadn't shown up on a Nintendo console since the 2005 Game Boy Advance game ''Banjo Pilot'', the last ''Banjo-Kazooie'' game on a Nintendo console). |
| 467 | ** An interesting variant happened with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujDG1BHFAN0 this guy]], who said that if [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]] was ''not'' the final DLC fighter, he would take a bite out of his ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' disc. Then Sora was actually revealed, as the final DLC fighter. |
| 468 | ** Prior to any of those examples, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]]'s reveal for ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU 3DS/Wii U]]'' solicited this reaction due to his limited appearances on Nintendo consoles, and that his home game hadn't been on a Nintendo console at that point (which eventually happened on the Platform/NintendoSwitch). |
| 469 | * Incidentally, the first airborne living cargo ''might have been a pig''. John Moore-Barbazon, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara brought one when using an airplane in 1909. |
| 470 | * This was the reaction of a lot of computer users given Microsoft's openness to Linux in the late '10s, hosting Linux servers on its Azure cloud computing service and releasing its Windows Subsystem for Linux. It happened again with Richard Stallman giving a talk at Microsoft headquarters in 2019. |
| 471 | * In a literal sense, the city of Cincinnati in Ohio hosts an annual marathon called ''Flying Pig''. So, on a day early in May every year over there, someone Cues the Flying Pig! |
| 472 | * In October 2019 Denise Kirby, a DUI lawyer from Kansas City, was told that a case she was scheduled to defend was set for February 3, 2020, and she asked to reschedule that trial because she said that she would be in Miami on that date to watch the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Kansas City Chiefs]] play in the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl. The courtroom laughed, as the NFL season wasn't even halfway done and the Chiefs, while looking promising with a young athletic quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, hadn't been to a Super Bowl in fifty years; nonetheless, the judge said that if they did make it she would be granted continuance. Lo and behold, the Chiefs make it to the Super Bowl after beating the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship Game on January 19, Kirby [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/abovethelaw.com/2020/01/chiefs-lawyer-super-bowl/%3famp=1 filed the pleading]] for the continuance, and it was granted. Presumably she spent February 3 recuperating after partying all night as the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. |
| 473 | [[/folder]] |
| 474 | ---- |
| 475 | -->Thank you for riding Pork Airlines, the only way for pigs to fly. |
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