[[{{Tsukihime}} http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ciel_weapons_small.jpg]]
Supernatural, magical, or just plain awesome beings often stand on tall, thin objects, such as the tips of pine trees or lampposts. This is flying for people who cannot fly. Or even the ones who can.

Less about true strategy and more about [[RuleOfCool looking cool.]] Expect DramaticWind (actually, wind speed increases with altitude, so wind that seems dramatic to those on the ground [[JustifiedTrope is *normal* at high altitude]]).

This seems to have originated from training techniques that involved standing on bamboo; see, for example, the ''Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'' and ''TeenTitans'' examples. This is common in WireFu movies.

When [[TranslationTrainWreck the geography that you stands compares you superior]], you are playing with GeoEffects.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* Tuxedo Kamen from ''SailorMoon'' was a master of IHaveTheHighGround. That was pretty much all he ever did. Haruka and Michiru were fond of standing on high pillars as well, and the ''[[SailorMoon Sailor Moon S]]'' opening credits put ''all'' the senshi up there.
** The Stars anime actually parodies this: when Uranus and Neptune try the high ground trick by standing on the dinning table in Usagi's house, Aluminium Siren actually remarks on how rude they are for doing so with shoes on, making them blush in embarrassment.
* Ciel from ''{{Tsukihime}}'', above. Lampshaded and mocked frequently in the {{oddly named sequel}}.
** Arcueid of ''{{Tsukihime}}'' in the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ''BattleMoonWars'' was immensely fond of this, at one point revealing that she hadn't shown herself until then because there wasn't a cool lamppost that she could stand upon when making her entrance.
* First shot of Rukia in ''{{Bleach}}'' has her standing on top of a powerline pole. When the other two [[TheGrimReaper Shinigami]] first appear, they too are standing on lampposts. A preference for high places is even listed on Rukia's character sheet.
**Rukia's [[EmpathicWeapon zanpakutou, Sode no Shirayuki,]] does the same when she appears in the real world, standing on top of the tower of a nearby bridge when facing Ichigo at the beginning of the recent filler arc.
* Occurs constantly in ''{{Naruto}}'', related to the ninja's ability to channel [[KiAttacks chakra]] into their feet. Also used the WalkOnWater combination with logs that balanced on the surface of a lake a pivotal point during the climactic Naruto vs. Sasuke battle.
**Not to mention Sasuke's first warning that his charming big bro Itachi has gone Ax Crazy is catching a glimpse of him doing this in blacked-out silhouette on a telephone pole, against a rising red moon, with only his crazy eyes visible. Shortly afterwards, Sasuke stumbles on the first of many, many bodies...
* In the original ''AhMyGoddess'' {{OAV}}s, Belldandy watched Keiichi go to work while improbably on top of a thin willowy tree. (However, Belldandy gets a pass because she's both literally and figuratively a Goddess. Not to mention the fact that she can also ''fly''.)
* Likewise various characters from ''YuYuHakusho''. At one point, Kurama is seen standing on ''the railing of a balcony'' in the manga. Why he just didn't stand on the balcony is a mystery; the anime corrected this, if memory serves.
* And the ''BakuenCampusGuardress''.
* Chii from ''{{Chobits}}'' does it too, with some impressive DramaticWind.
* The ''ShamanicPrincess'' and her primary opponent actually generate their own tall, thin objects to stand on while fighting.
* Amelia is introduced in ''TheSlayers'' doing this as she confronts a bandit. She explains to Gourry later that as an "ally of justice", she is expected to make this sort of entrance. The problem is that she's still working on the dismount; every time she does a dramatic jump down to begin the battle, she crashes. One of the ''Slayers'' movies takes this even further, with two characters climbing stone precipices to hurl verbal abuse at each other (at a distance of less than fifty feet).
** At the beginning of the third season (Try), the joke had run it's course and fallen into disuse. So they brought it back and flipped it. Amelia jumps from a ridiculously tall tower and scares everybody, but this time she casts the levitate spell right before landing. The kicker? She risked her life and limb just to heal a small bump on an old woman's head.
* Anju and Ren both do this in ''{{Karin}}''. Both are able to fly by various means but seem limited by the vampire creed to the RuleOfCool.
* Cyberdoll Sara leaps up onto a powerpole in ''HandMaidMay'', to aid her search of the city for May. Kotaro Nanbara, being mortal and far less cool, is forced to scramble up with normal climbing.
* ''KaitouSaintTail'' does it at least OnceAnEpisode, either when she reveals her presence or once she's secured the stolen goods.
* Used in a couple of Angel battles in ''KidouTenshiAngelicLayer''.
* Lelouch is seen in the first OP of ''CodeGeass'' doing this. Given his utter lack of physical skills and his flair for the dramatic, what we didn't see was the 15 minutes he spent using his MindControlEyes on an army of people to get him up there.
** This troper figured out that he had Kallen help him glue his shoes to the top of the pole with the [[HumongousMecha Guren.]]
*** This troper always assumed it was actually C.C., who canonically pulls this trick once while wearing Lelouch's [[SecretIdentity Zero]] outfit.
* Volfogg from ''GaoGaiGar'' is a [[TransformingMecha transforming]] {{ninja}} [[HumongousMecha giant robot]] who does this. And can become invisible (visually, and to most sensors), too.
* Meta Knight was quite fond of this pose in the ''Kirby'' anime, although this is rather understandable given his short stature.
* In ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', Fate is standing on a telephone pole firing magic when Nanoha first sees her.
** Later, Hegemon Ingvalt of ''[=ViVid=]'' makes her first appearance standing on a street light as she challenges Nove to a fight.
* All of the cloaked Dragon Knights from ''{{Noein}}'' do this, it's an aspect of their otherworldliness.
* "Twilight Suzuka" in ''OutlawStar'' does this several times, usually as she's about to enter battle.
* [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma]] and his father trained by sparring atop bamboo poles... and were CursedWithAwesome by falling off into the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyou. Ranma also frequently runs along fence railings. And Kodachi Kuno does this as part of her MartialArtsAndCrafts.
* The holy city guards that fight Claire in ''{{Claymore}}'' don't remark how incredible she is until she leaps onto a steeple.
* Subverted in ''{{Mai-HiME}}'', with LampshadeHanging. Nagi (who is ''fond'' of having the high ground to say the least) appears on top of Fuuka Gakuen's clock tower in a very cool and dramatic manner and starts delivering an important message to the main characters, and Midori tells him to step down because standing that high is dangerous.
* In the first episode of ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}'', Flame Wingman does this after the Skyscraper card is activated, glaring down at Ancient Gear Golem from one of the taller 'scrapers, despite being quite visibly capable of flight. It does [[RuleOfCool look cool]], though. The same happens later in the series, just before Jaden defeats another student who had stolen Yugi's deck and was imitating him.
* Master Asia of ''GGundam'' clearly one-upped almost everyone at this trope when he once performed it by standing on the tip of ''his own martial arts belt twisted into a pole shape'' while balancing on top of the wreckage of the HumongousMecha that he'd just defeated with nothing but said cloth and ''his bare hands''. He also tended to do it in the traditional manner, and at times even did so ''while in his Gundam'', despite the fact that its weight ''should'' have caused the collapse of what he was balancing on.
** ''GGundam'' being a SuperRobot series that runs on RuleOfCool, elite Gundam Fighters like Master Asia can simply tell the laws of physics to shut up and sit down.
* In another Gundam example, Norris Packard did this with his Gouf Custom on top of an already bombed out Vietnamese office block in The08thMSTeam. This is even more egregious, as that series was meant to be a more realistic take on the Gundam mythos.
** Like most of what Norris did, it was mainly done to scare the living ''hell'' out of the protagonists and give him a psychological edge.
* In {{Gundam 00}} season 2, [[strike:Graham]] Mister Bushido tops them both, in altitude at least, by posing on top of an ''asteroid'' in his Masurao.
*Reiri the vampire girl is doing this on the steeple of a church in the opening of ''PrincessResurrection.''
*Inumari does it on his first appearance in ''TheLawOfUeki''.
*Light of ''DeathNote'' visualizes himself and L doing this as imagery of their struggle against one another, using incredibly thin skyscrapers.
*Jeanne of ''KamikazeKaitouJeanne'' almost always starts begins her transformation sequence by jumping off a building, tower, etc. She enjoys attacking her adversaries this way as well.
* Raitei and the [[FourIsDeath Four Kings]] in ''GetBackers'' are often portrayed sitting or standing on large columns of rubble. Two in particular seem to enjoy it: when Ban and Shido get into a fight on a sloped rooftop, Kazuki makes sure to be standing higher along when he steps in, and honestly? Sitting on a(nother) rooftop and making cryptic remarks is really about all Masaki does until the final arc of the manga.
*A recurring trope in ''{{X1999}}'' in which almost every character gets to pose dramatically in an absurdly high place at one time or another. (Sorata even comments on this when he first meets Yuuto standing on the top of a rather tall tree.) They always seem to prefer leaping from telephone pole to telephone pole at perilously high speeds rather than take the public transportation.
* [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] does this a few times in Sonic X. There are also variations involving the nosecones of high-speed jets, and trees.
* Spoofed in ''SoulEater'' where Black*Star often does this, in one case he was so high up nobody could hear him.
* Polylina in ''GalaxyFrauleinYuna''. May be a spoof of Tuxedo Kamen, since she wears a mask and holds a rose, and seems to be the main character's crush.
* ''YokohamaKaidashiKikou'' combines this with Walking on Water. Achieved not for coolness but for a sense of serene surrealism (check out the main article on ''YKK'' for a picture)
* Meta Knight in the ''{{Kirby}}'' anime often appears in high places when he needs to work as MrExposition. It's become a joke in the fandom that he does it to compensate for his otherwise short stature.
* Manga example: In the "BattleRoyale" manga, Kiriyama takes this to the extreme, standing on THE EDGE OF A SPLINTER sticking up from a broken wooden pole. To make it more ludicrous, he stands as if he were standing on solid ground, both feet spread wide apart..despite under a square millimeter of one foot (if that) actually having support.
** The page in question is [[http://www.mangafox.com/page/manga/read/17/battle_royale/chapter.2781/page.7/ Here]]. [[http://www.mangafox.com/page/manga/read/17/battle_royale/chapter.2781/page.6/ This]] shows him getting on the edge of the splinter.
* Various characters do this in SilentMoebius, including both Cheyenne sisters, Katsumi Liqueur, and Ganossa Maximillian
* Evangeline of ''MahouSenseiNegima'' does this when trying to look scary. It usually works.
* Elfriede in ''MoonPhase'' stands atop a cross on the roof of a church, with wind of course, and reflective glasses in the moonlight.
* Lucia from ''VenusVersusVirus'' does this quite often.
* In ''FullmetalAlchemist'', Ling is shown in a number of scenes looking from a higher elevation on a city below, alluding to his grand ambitions. [[spoiler: after Greed possess him, he also gets into the habit]]
* The first time Himiko Se catches a glimpse of [[VampirePrincessMiyu Miyu and Larva]], they're sitting (Miyu) or standing up (Larva) on top of a ''torii' gate.

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[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Recent incarnations of Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}} have also got him doing doing this, which isn't too much of a stretch, due to his adhesive abilities and equilibrium. (His more usual trick is to hang from ''beneath'' a lamppost arch or flagpole.)
* Used to the point where it is considered an explicit sign of otherworldly skills or powers in the now-physically published {{webcomic}} ''{{Megatokyo}}''. Many characters are observed walking on phone lines or on poles. It is even used by Miho (a possible DarkMagicalGirl, and definitely one of the comic's most powerful beings) to convince Yuki that she is a MagicalGirl by making her follow her up onto a power line without realizing it. Largo can also do it, but for ''Megatokyo'', being good at games also counts as [[CyberSpace otherworldly]] skills.
* FanArt example: A "manga-tized" Dee Dee from ''DextersLaboratory'' performs on top of a fence pole in this [[http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l35/avatar_portal/mag/47_48.jpg comic]] done by artist Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* The fight along the tops of the bamboo grove in ''Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon''.
** Spoofed in a second {{Asterix}} movie.
* In "Iron Monkey," the prequel to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the entire epic final battle occurs on top of poles, because [[spoiler:the ground below is covered in burning oil.]]
* Daniel [=LaRusso=] in ''TheKarateKid'' practiced his FinishingMove on wooden posts.
** I suspect that this movie was what started this trope in the West.
* The angels in TheProphecy have a fondness for standing on the backs of chairs, railings... anything that looks cool, basically.
* Fine, if nobody else is gonna say it. StarWars Episode 3 used this line verbatim, in a duel between Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, possibly making it the TropeNamer.
** Doesn't fit the trope description. This is GeoEffects.
** Actually, it's both. It does provide a GeoEffect when Anakin tries to dodge out of it, but it's mainly used metaphorically; Obi-Wan has the physical and ''moral'' high ground, symbolized by him [[AsskickingPose standing ready and looking awesome]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In Larry Niven's ''Patchwork Girl'', a short story taking place in his Known Space universe, a Moon native leaps onto a spire of rock. Gil Hamilton, an Earth man, calls it "Graceful as all hell."

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In ''{{Dark Angel}}'', Max frequently sits on top of the Seattle Space Needle, especially when she is brooding. Other characters, such as Ben and Logan, occasionally go up there as well.
* In {{Torchwood}}, especially the first season, Jack Harkness is often found on top of Cardiff buildings. Flagged up in the second series when Ianto notes he's "good on rooftops". Also spoofed in ''Dead Ringers'' by having a scene shift to a rooftop for no good reason.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In the ''SlyCooper'' games, one of Sly's many moves is the "Ninja Spire Jump", which allows him to stand atop tall, narrow objects. In ''Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves'', Sly does battle with General Tsao, a crime boss who fancies himself a Chinese warlord, in a BossBattle atop a bamboo grove, obviously inspired by ''Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon''.
* The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/KH2_Final_Mix%2B_Cover.jpg cover]] of ''KingdomHearts 2 Final Mix+'' shows all the major characters either sitting or standing on poles (or in the case of Goofy, clinging to one).
** Of course, [[BlackCloak Organization XIII]] gets one of their own as six members stand collectively on a high ledge to taunt Sora the first time he travels to [[FinalFantasy Hollow Bastion]]
* Altair of ''AssassinsCreed'' can climb most buildings, and on some of them, he can perch on a ledge to spot what is happening on the streets (thus revealing side missions). And then do an improbable somersault in strategically placed hay carts all the way to the ground.
* Ryu Hayabusa of ''NinjaGaiden'' fame likes doing this in the cutscenes of the Xbox remake series.
* The BigBad of Metal Wolf Chaos, Richard Hawk, does this on a ''helicopter'' in a ''HumongousMecha'' at one point.
* An example of the high ground having a strategic advantage is in ''FinalFantasyTactics'', as bow-users gain extra range to their attacks.
* The first time Auron is seen in ''FinalFantasyX'', he's standing on a high ledge in Zanarkand, watching Sin approach. As it enters the world, he holds his jug of sake out in tribute before heading back down.
* The Light Brothers from ''MegaMan'' have a predisposition to high places, most frequently skyscrapers. Mega Man is seen standing heroically atop a skyscraper in Mega Man 2, complete with DramaticWind blowing through his hair. Proto Man is likewise seen in such poses in the Power Battles arcade games.

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[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* {{Megatokyo}} is quite fond of this. It seems to be unique to {{Magical Girl}}s, but they enjoy showing it off.

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[[folder: Web Originals ]]

* YuyuHakushoAbridged takes Hiei's tendency to perch on tree tops, and Kurabawa's strength building exercise of punching down trees to it's logical conclusion. The two then bicker over who's behavior was more ridiculous (and thus was at fault)

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In one episode of ''TeenTitans'', Robin also fights atop a bamboo grove against an anthropomorphic monkey while journeying up a mountain to meet a martial arts master. He later perches on top of the bad guy's staff, and then leaps off, causing the staff to smack the bad guy in the face.
* In ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Princess Azula is able to execute this by perching on a pole by the tips of her toes, during a chase sequence situated near a scaffolding. [[http://iroh.org/screencaps/ep23/ep23-293.png Looks cool, doesn't it?]] Aang does the same during his fight scene with Zuko, in the unaired pilot which the sequence was based on. [[http://DVDscreenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/007/224.jpg Not so much]].
** It's also how you play Airball, apparently.
* An episode of ''CowAndChicken'' featured the characters training with this method. When they ask why, their teacher says "I saw it in a movie once".
* In ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'' KimPossible stands on the roof while overseeing the villains gathering. Instead of, like, standing on the ground so she could attack them quicker...
*In one episode of ''DannyPhantom'', Vlad greets Danny and friends by standing on top of a street light, cape bellowing from the wind in dramatic fashion and everything.
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