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"Cuz if we find we're in a bind
We're totally screwed, but nevermind
We'll pull something out of our behind."
— The USS Make Shit Up
An Ass Pull is a moment when the writers pull something out of thin air in a less-than-graceful narrative development, violating the Law Of Conservation Of Detail by dropping a plot-critical detail in the middle, or near the end of their narrative without Foreshadowing or dropping a Chekhovs Gun earlier on.
In cases where a character suddenly gets a new skill without explanation, it's usually explained away as a Chekhovs Lecture or Chekhovs Skill that was forgotten earlier.
An Ass Pull used to resolve an unwinnable situation for the protagonists is a Deus Ex Machina. An Ass Pull used in the same way for the villains is a Diabolus Ex Machina. An Ass Pull doesn't necessarily have to resolve or derail a situation, though; many times, an ass pull is just used without any greater plot implication. Please limit examples on this page to ones that don't fit in either of the other two.
The term is also used to describe something that the characters make up on the spot.
When the term is used literally (to pull an object out of someone's rear), that's an Ass Shove.
See also Shocking Swerve. Given certain examples, Wing Pull could fit into this as well. Sometimes called Sulu's Foil, since it's the opposite of Chekhovs Gun.
As this trope frequently concerns plot twists, there are unmarked spoilers below.
Ass Pull is among the Tropes Of Legend.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
- Mahou Sensei Negima:
- The other characters force Chisame, who just wants to be normal, to get a magical pactio with Negi for the sole reason that her artifact might be something useful for their situation. Turns out that it's exactly what they needed. Although it kind of makes sense, in that the artifact is based on the person's personality, so they had some idea of what to expect- her personality quirk is being a Net Idol, so they expected something related to computers, and thus probably useful for hacking.
- They do it again when Asakura reveals her pactio and again the artifact is exactly what the group was in need of. The total convenience of it was lampshaded repeatedly by the other characters. Again, it has to do with personality- she's a reporter for the school newspaper, always seeking out info for the next big scoop, so they knew to expect something related to recon.
- A classic and fairly divisive one comes in Getter Robo Armageddon: Genki Saotome, former token Cute Kid of the cast (a type practically required by and endemic of 70s television), was retconned into a girl (an Action Girl at that) so that s/he could be part of the new Getter team. This was foreshadowed a little in the actual Armageddon OVA before the big reveal, but just why everyone treated him/her like a boy during the original Getter shows is basically completely unexplained. Some consider this a slaughter of a character's original concept but others see it as an absolutely hilarious and ingenious subversion, as by the time Armageddon was produced in 1998 the Cute Kid was the deadest of Dead Horse Tropes; the original Genki would not have worked in a show like Armageddon at all.
- The dub has Benkei handwave Genki being raised as a boy as an act of protection by her dad, Professor Saotome. Good call since the people looked ready to slaughter Genki until Benkei declared her his daughter.
- Pokémon:
- When a creature evolves just at the right time, often in the middle of a battle. Especially noticeable as the game mechanics only allow evolution after a battle has ended. This is not the only game mechanic to be played around with in the animé ("Pikachu! The horn!" in his battle against Blaine's Rhydon, for instance). The horn moment became a Reverse Funny Aneurysm when later games introduced Rhydon's ability to attract lightning with the horn, protecting allies at no cost to itself.
- Averted during Ash's battle against Boring Invincible Anti Hero Paul when Ash's Chimchar evolved into a Monferno while battling Paul's Electrabuzz. It then promptly lost quite thoroughly, cementing the contest's status as a Curbstomp Battle.
- And before that, some episodes before the Gym Battle versus Fantina, Ash fights with their Turtwig in a One-to-One battle against Paul and their Honchkrow. Turtwig was going to be defeated, and in the precise moment, Turtwig evolves to Grotle. It looks like a shine of hope for Ash, but not, he evolved only for being curb-stomped by the quick attacks of Honchkrow. Justified in that Turtwig, when evolved to Grotle, gained a lot of weight, making to Grotle unable to move with ease and quickness.
- The worst case of this was earlier in the series, when circumstances forced Ash to use his vastly inferior Krabby in a tournament battle. The winning move? HYPER BEAM, a skill a Krabby wouldn't normally have access to, and which Ash has not been shown to acquire for the little pocket monster.
- Krabby's winning move was Vice Grip, it then promptly evolved mid-battle and pulled a power out of its ass in the form of Hyper Beam. Which is only slightly less of an Ass Pull as Kingler can in fact learn Hyper Beam, just not by level. Unlike Krabby who can't learn it at all.
- No way. The "Thunder Armour" seen during the Advance Generation makes all the others look puny. I mean, essentially granting the user(s) invincibility out of nowhere, without being used again at all in the rest of the series? What makes this you scratch your head, though, is how the hell Ash managed to come up with the idea in the first place.
- Bleach:
- The fans have come to nickname such occurrences plotkai. We've got Ichigo getting a new form out of nowhere, Kira being a former fourth squad member so he could have healing powers, and Yammy being the 0 Espada for no apparent reason other than to have a plot twist.
- With the revelation that Vizards can Ressurection, Ichigo's new form MIGHT qualify as foreshadowing, thereby reducing the charges to merely Deus Ex Machina.
- Hitsugaya got cut in half by Harribel! If untreated, he could be the first fatality in Bleach! Just kidding... he prepared an ice mirror/clone of himself that bleeds and gasps "What the Hell" when cut in two, and he did it all in the space of a few seconds to take an attack he couldn't have possibly seen coming! What a guy!
- Earlier on in the Soul Society Arc, Yoruichi reveals that since they went in on the day the cleaners were in the dangai, they went back in time seven days, something that had never been hinted at before or had any logical basis. Then again, this is proved pointless almost as soon as it's revealed, as Rukia's execution is pushed forward, leaving the heroes only one day to save her.
- Also, Ikkaku's Bankai could count.
- How in the unholy fucking ass balls did Aizen completely and utterly reverse his entire thought process in the span of a second to counter Shinji's EXTREMELY powerful shikai, where literally every single possible thing in combat is reversed - down is up, forward is backwards, left is right, AND the way you're looking is NOT the way you're attacking. AND AIZEN JUST SWITCHES ALL OF THIS OVER LIKE IT'S NOTHING. There's a reason he's called Captain Broken/Godmode/Superman.
- Naruto:
- The Gaara vs. Lee fight; Gaara managed to get away from Lee's Initial Lotus by creating a stupidly perfect sand replica of himself, pulling a Replacement Jutsu with it, and burying himself in the ground A.) while rather high in midair, B.) while he was getting the crap beat out of him, C.) and so quickly that Kakashi was the only one in the room even capable of noticing anything had happened.
- The Great Snake Escape. To elaborate: Following Sasuke's (already bullshit laden) fight with Deidara, Deidara attempted to pull off a Self Destruct tech. Sasuke survived the resulting explosion (which was large enough to destroy a city) by summoning, mind-controlling, and teleporting a massive snake when it had just a few panels ago been established that he was out of chakra. Any one of these techniques would be difficult on their own, because of the huge amount of chakra required and the strength of the snake in question, much less all three. As if that weren't bad enough, Sasuke managed this all in the time it took for the explosion to reach him. After it had already started. When it started just a few feet from him.
- In general Sasuke is known for pulling new skills and techniques out of nowhere whenever he's in a tight spot (which means every single fight). It's gotten to the point where the author himself is lampshading this bullshit practice now. In his latest fight Sasuke summons a giant eagle out of nowhere. Even know-it-all Madara is left wondering when he had time to acquire the summoning contract.
- A notable non-Sasuke example is Pain's amazingly sudden evasion of Naruto's final Rasenshuriken. One moment he was standing still as it flew extremely fast, came within three inches of hitting him, two shadow clones grabbed him from either side to stop him from escaping, and yet in the next panel he was able to a)Stab and destroy both clones b)Leap several feet high while performing a classy backflip. And yet when Naruto repeated the trick with a slower hand-tossed Rasengan-bearing shadow clone he was unable to move an inch.
- Oh no! Sasuke is about to die from chakra exhaustion! Oh wait, never mind, Zetsu managed to use a time release jutsu (in the split second before the Raikage snapped his neck) that sucks all the chakra out of everyone in the room and gives to Sasuke. Though in all fairness, this at least is not as bad as some other examples since it's only half of Zetsu.
- The latest contender to step up to the plate is Danzo and his Sharingarm, which is Shisui Uchiha's arm that Danzo took to replace his own, on which is grafted numerous sharingan as well as the ability to use the First Hokage's unique Wood element bloodline technique, which he somehow managed to implant successfully despite the process having a one-in-sixty surival rate. Thankfully, however, Kishimoto does retroactively justify this. He apparently had it implanted as an adult, and as soon as he loses too much chakra, the cells go berserk and he has to rip off his arm before he's swallowed into a tree suddenly growing from it. Ergo, not so much successful as "unstable".
- Gundam SEED:
- Canaan:
- The cliffhanger in which Maria is locked up in a train car with a time bomb ticking down. In the next episode, she is saved from the wreckage by Yunyun. It's totally unclear how any of that happened and how Maria managed to survive her shotwound afterward, even though Yunyun had been carrying her around for hours.
- Alphard surviving her fall of several meters also has some of this. Sure, the woman is strong, but that is just ridiculous.
- Ral & Grad: The very final battle ends with Ral exploiting a quality of Shadows that was never mentioned before, contradicts almost all of what we were previously told, requires several Wall Of Text word balloons to explain, and apparently exists solely to facilitate a Bittersweet Ending.
- In Blassreiter's Final Battle, a fatally wounded Joseph finds himself in a strange pocket dimension with the spirits of Gerd and Hermann, who take over his body to fend off Xargin until he bounces back. May be an unexplained Amalgam ability, as Elea uses this later for the series' Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming.
Comic Books
Film
- Monty Python And The Holy Grail
- "We do have the Holy Hand Grenade." "Of course, the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. It's one of the relics Brother Maynard carries. Brother Maynard, come forth!" Never previously shown, mentioned, hinted at...
- Then there's the huge army following them which they use to storm the castle at the end (almost.)
- The Eyes of Laura Mars. There was no slightest indication on who is the true killer during the movie. One of the most unnatural endings I've ever seen.
- Ocean's Twelve. The whole movie is shown as a complex and brilliant strategy contest. At the end, without a single clue dropped before, you're told that everything done by the good guys was a big great fake (justified by a natural paranoďa to be watched), just to have the occasion to laugh at the villain's face. The problem is that in the same move, you're joking on the audience too. Perfect ass pull.
Literature
Live Action TV
- Star Trek:
- The writing team did this when Denise Crosby expressed regret over quitting Star Trek The Next Generation, with several episodes featuring Crosby as Romulan Commander Sela, a half-human half-Romulan alternate-universe daughter of her original character Lt. Yar (but somehow was her perfect identical twin in every way, except for having pointed ears).
- For an example of the "Character Made It Up On The Spot", in "The Corbomite Maneuver" Kirk pulls some Corbomite out of his ass, calling it a material that can reflect the attackers' destructive potential back on them and everything else in a large area and then some. It was entirely a bluff to get Balok to back down. It worked so well, he pulls it out again for some Romulans in "The Deadly Years".
- Then they actually made a Corbomite Reflector- it's the special equipment of the Federation capital ships in Star Trek: Armada, the video game. Though it should be noted that it was simply named after Kirk's bluff and that games don't count in Star Trek Canon.
- There are many variations of the "Star Trek" computer game. you fly around, destroying Klingon and or Romulan ships, and dock with starbases to repair. You are always given a self destruct system in these games, which blows you and everything else in the quadrant up. If you use it, the message is, at least in some of them, "corbomite destroys the quadrant." And yes, if this finishes off all the remaining enemies, that counts as a win.
- Notably, Harlan Band tries the exact same maneuver (in a bit of a Shout Out) against the Spung in an episode of Space Cases. It doesn't work, apparently because the Spung warlord is played by George Takei.
- Kirk is clearly the master of this maneuver, as in "A Piece of the Action," he generates the card game Fizzbin from the orifice mentioned in the trope's name, complete with nigh-indescribable rules. Suffice it to say, you don't want two jacks and a king on Tuesdays at night.
- Kirk's mastery of this extends as far as confusing people long enough to get a good grip on the table that's going to be upended.
- 24: It was decided only towards the end of the first season that Nina would be the series's major mole, despite it contradicting some of her actions as seen earlier in the season.
- Dallas: Perhaps the ultimate in television is the infamous reappearance of Bobby Ewing in the shower.
- Thank God You're Here is a sketch/game show where various comedians are brought into different sets with different plots and as different characters. They aren't informed as to what they're going to be doing or who they're supposed to be - though costumes can occasionally give them hints- and they are required to play the role they're given as best they can. It's like Who's Line is it Anyway but without the explanations.
- House, M.D.: The whole story about Cameron suddenly deciding to try out Calvin's drugs and sleep with Chase. It's very strange and random that a person like Cameron would actually do such a thing. Her decision was (somewhat) explained as her being angry/upset that she had spent her whole life being a 'good girl' always doing the right thing by helping people, and still got screwed over.
- The Lost Room: The business about the Law of Conservation of Objects comes out of nowhere in the last five minutes of the series and is crucial to the resolution of the main plot.
- Stargate Atlantis needed a "dramatic" way to get Atlantis involved in the battle with the Super-Hive, so Zelenka pulled "ass drive" out of McKay's wormhole.
- In the Doctor Who episode "The End of Time, Part 2," we discover that the Doctor has given Donna a "defense mechanism" in that if she ever remembers her adventures with the Doctor she will not, in fact, burn out and die, but instead shoot some kind of sleep ray that just happens to knock out any pursuing Master clones. This comes out of nowhere and apparently serves to ensure the Doctor's regeneration is the saddest thing in the episode, because it doesn't actually prove important to the plot as Donna remains asleep for the rest of the episode and misses everything. Again.
Tabletop Games
- The metaplot of Legend Of The Five Rings RPG's second and third edition may be considered full of Ass Pulls with killing off main NP Cs and even gods, as the authors simply interpreted the outcomes of official L5R CCG tournaments instead of coming up with something more coherent themselves. Way less than graceful. Made even sadder by the fact they've been doing it with the game's metaplot since day one. Some are great twists, others...not so much.
- Every Dungeons And Dragons Dungeon Master ever will occasionally resort to this to keep things moving. If necessary to end the game after going Off The Rails, they may employ the "nuclear option".
- GURPS has two advantages that let the players do this: gizmos, which allows you to pull out a small item out of nowhere, as long as it is something your character would have, and Wild Talent, which lets you perform an untrained skill, and even learn it permanently with an enhancement.
- Warhammer 40,000's Eye of Terror campaign involved an Ass Pull from Games Workshop. Namely, the Eldar came in just behind the guard and marines yet ended up losing Eldrad and all the Blackstone Fortresses - ie, the sort of result that might be expected from coming in last.
- And even the loss of Eldrad may or may not have happened, as Games Workshop took down the .PDF with the results from their site, and materials published after the Eye of Terror campaign speak of Eldrad as alive. He is still included as a fieldable character in the Eldar codex published afterward.
Video Games
- World of Warcraft:
- The "twist" of M'uru allowing himself to be captured and drained by the Blood Elves would have far more effective if everything in the game hadn't pointed in the opposite direction (M'uru making active attempts at escaping, the Blood Elves becoming increasingly violent and arrogant about their stolen abilities, etc). One of the Blood Elf leaders, Lady Liadrin, pulling a complete 180 in terms of personality in the space of three seconds didn't help the plot development seem any less of an ass pull. Not that it makes it much less silly, but some people were expecting that exact plot twist from the day blood elf paladins were announced. There are forum discussions and fanfics theorising it well before the actual events occurred in-game.
- To be fair, the Blood Elves did have cause to gloat there. If you've done something that's supposed to be impossible, you'd be a bit arrogant too. And it's only the ones in Outland who were following Mr. Sunstrider that were evil. They also weren't very happy with being ignored by the Alliance when they were high elves instead.
- The original lore of the Blood knights was an Asspull as well. The light (power from faith), suddenly being able to be siphoned like gasoline from the recently created Naaru. The worst part was Thrall and Cairne not caring as they got power from it. It's so bad that the above change could be considered an Authors Saving Throw, meaning the explanation is "this stunt worked because said Naru was letting it work." And when M'uru is kidnapped, somehow they still manage to stay Blood Knights, and new player character paladins can still be created.
- Likewise, the whole notion of the Blue Dragonflight suddenly turning hostile and thus providing a convenient source of killable mobs in the Northrend expansion is a shameless ass pull. Note that in the preceding Outland expansion said Blue Dragonflight actually helps you defeat the final boss...
- Not to mention that the whole reason that Malygos went insane in the first place is because Deathwing wiped out the entire Blue Dragonflight 10000 years ago, which means there shouldn't be any blue dragons around at all except Malygos.
- The Blue Flight's resurgence is explained at the end of the War of the Ancients Trilogy. Korialstrasz, having been sent back in time, preserved some eggs to be given to Malygos when the time was right. This in itself is a pretty big asspull, not that the Warcraft lore isn't known for that.
- Death Knights, Asspull ahoy! A new class of undead who rebelled against the Lich King (Sound familiar?). Okay, fair enough. However the only two races that according to previously established story could have been death knights were Humans and High Elves, both of which were slaughtered en masse by the scourge. That's why all Forsaken look human. Instead however we have dwarf, gnome, troll, night elf, and tauren death knights who weren't anywhere near the undead. Then you've got Draenei death knights who weren't even on the same damn planet. Then there's the fact that these folk are happily accepted back with the living. The Forsaken, not so much. So apparently if you're a lieutenant to the big bad you can come back home to open arms, but if you were just a mindless Mook then it's exile for you!
- The new death knights are supposed to be a new "generation" of death knights. It's All There In The Manual. (Worgen death knights, however, stretch even Willing Suspension Of Disbelief a bit.)
- TO be fair to Blizzard, they have only announced Worgen DK's, and they *might* get a different origin.
- This can be applied to the ending of the game Legendary, wherein Deckard's Signet is revealed out of entirely nowhere to be the blueprint for the construction of another Pandora's Box.
- Final Fantasy VIII: While floating out in space with no chance of rescue, Squall and Rinoa just happen to find a massive, fully operational battleship spinning towards them.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- Avatar The Last Airbender:
- To many people Energybending was just this. Ironically it combines with Foreshadowing: Aang's desire to Take A Third Option in regards to defeating the Big Bad is seeded into the narrative some episodes in advance. It's the third option itself that could've been set up better.
- Ozai accidently unblocking the chakra allowing Aang to enter the Avatar state also qualifies.
- Thunder Cats
- There are so many Asspull moments that go in favor of the good guys, it is annoying. The Sword of Omens in particular seems to gain new powers every episode. As Mumm-Ra once said, it's always used to "pull [Lion-O's] fat from the fire." Whenever the good guys are in a bind, it's always the Sword of Omens that saves the day.
- Apparently, Cheetara has untapped extreme power. All that one has to do is piss her off royally. Then, she's capable of exuding brilliant rays of psychic energy that can disable a mobile fortress, knock the good guys out of a trance, and destroy machines. What?
- Even the Big Bad Mumm-Ra has his own Asspull moments. There are moments in the show that Mumm-Ra seemed to be killed off for good, but he somehow comes back:
- Fighting a Genie underground, causing a cave-in that traps them both.
- Lion-O defeating Mumm-Ra in his final day of the Anointment Trials. It seemed permanent.
- Mumm-Ra trying to open the Star of Thundera, which causes a massive explosion that Mumm-Ra seemed to be consumed by.
- Even when the Ancient Spirits of Evil get sick of Mumm-Ra's failings and give him an ultimatum to kill off the good guys or else he'll be banished from Third Earth. As expected, Mumm-Ra fails and gets exiled. What happens next? He ends up on New Thundera.
- Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog:
- In The Fairly Oddparents, some of "Da Rules" seem to be made up on the spot to make sure Timmy can't just unwish his problems (all vocal wishes must be made in the voice of the godchild, no breakfast wishes after 10:30am, etc.). Not to mention that most of da rules/fairly odd parents abilities do not apply to other episodes. Examples:
- When Timmy goes to an old city and he is put in jail (remember the episode please, I won't bother explaining it), he needs this document. He wishes for it, but then Wanda says she doesn't know where it is, and thus she can't bring it. But wait, doesn't Timmy like... wish Vicky's dairy on another episode and Wanda gives it to him without a single problem? This is regarding to the Fairy's abilities.
- Vicky's diary is in her house (which is a normal-sized house, therefore not massive), but they probably don't know what building that document is (and such a building would be a big one).
- Regarding da rules: It is supposed that if anyone that doesn't have a fairy godparent sees yours, they're supposed to be taken from you. Oh wait, but it doesn't apply to the episode where they wish for Christmas everyday, because it simply doesn't matter that a whole bunch of kids were around Timmy, Santa, Wanda and Cosmo. And like this, we can find many, many plot holes.
- They had to recognize that they were fairy godparents first- as seen in The Movie Abracatstraph. Those kids must have thought that Cosmo and Wanda were one of Santa's elves.
- In many respects, the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show had much of this in Ninja Tribunal, such as an original Shredder, among other examples that I don't know to list.
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