Troperville
Help us survive. All donations are anonymous on the wiki and unacknowledged, as we don't wish to create a hierarchy among Tropers.
Editing
Tools
Toys
|
|
|
|
Mal: Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. What does that make us?
Zoe: Big damn heroes, sir!
Mal: Ain't we just?
Homestar Runner: (as "Silent Rip") We're outnumbered! We need reinforcements!
Coach Z: (as "Reinforcements") Did somebody say my name?
The poor Distressed Damsel is looking her fate dead in the face, and is resigned to it, because they know that Nothing Can Save Us Now... and then, boom! Here come the heroes.
Big Damn Heroes is the heroic swoop to save the day just in the nick of time. Generally this is because the heroes had to fight through a swarm of baddies, or had to figure out just where their friends are before the clock ran out. Or sometimes the hero is just being a real jerk and likes to see the Distressed Damsel suffer a little.
Abandoned By The Cavalry is a subtype where the Big Damn Heroes should have been there in the first place and are only redeeming themselves now. When the Big Damn Heroes come in with a massive gunship or other vehicle with intimidating firepower (see BFG), it is a Big Damn Gunship. In the event that the Big Damn Heroes just show up in some relatively dramatic manner and clear a path for the hero to get to whatever they need to go, usually during an air battle, it's the I Got You Covered subtype. Commonly awesome.
Compare The Cavalry, when it's the heroes being rescued by the suddenly-competent Redshirt Army. See also Contrived Coincidence.
Examples:
Live Action TV
- The trope name (and the quote) comes from Firefly, wherein Mal and the rest of the crew save Simon and River from being burned at the stake in the episode "Safe".
- ...Not that Simon and River would have even been in danger if Mal hadn't shooed them off in the first place, making the line a little ironic.
- Ace Rimmer in Red Dwarf is usually introduced in a Big Damn Heroes scene. In his first appearance, he flies in, saves the crew, then performs emergency surgery on the Cat while nursing a broken arm. The second time, he literally sweeps in, rescues a Distressed Damsel from a Nazi firing squad, surfs from a plane on an alligator, takes a bullet to the holodrive and still manages to have sex before seeking aid — what a guy.
- In an episode of the 2004 reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, called "Exodus", the titular ship is attacked by three Cylon Basestars while attempting to help colonists on the planet New Caprica escape. The ship is severely damaged, and somber music plays while the camera zooms out as the basestars pummel the Galactica to death in the cold darkness of space... until a missile, then more missiles, fire off the edge of the screen, and the Battlestar Pegasus hurtles to the rescue, just in the nick of time. Of course, this is just the high point to heroic events which kicked off with a deadpan "Prepare for turbulence".
- Stargate SG-1 did pretty much the same thing in a battle against Anubis fleet above Antarctica, in the two-parter Grand Finale (well, it was a finale at the time), "Lost City", at the end of season seven. Dozens of ships are descending towards the heroes' defenseless cargo ship. Cue rockets blowing up Goa'uld fighters, as General Hammond leads the Prometheus against the incoming enemies.
- Both of these share several stylistic similarities: main characters convinced that they are doomed, and the sudden appearance of rockets, instantly followed by the use of a Theme Music Power Up: Galactica with fast-paced drums and Stargate with the main theme of the series. The resemblance is probably just a coincidence, unless a Galactica writer did a Homage to SG-1.
- Also shows up in the Babylon 5 episode "Walkabout". Just as Sheridan's White Star is about to be destroyed by a Shadow ship, the Narn cruiser G'Tok arrives and thoroughly fries the Shadow battlecrab. A small army of reinforcements arrive immediately thereafter.
- Occurs all the time in Power Rangers
- And more often than that in Walker Texas Ranger.
- Doctor Who: Mickey and Jackie showing up to save Sarah Jane.
- Lost, third season finale "Through the Looking Glass:" Three of the Others are holding Sayid, Jin, and Bernard at gunpoint. Sawyer and Juliet are hiding in the bushes, wondering how they can possibly rescue them unarmed. All of a sudden Hurley comes barreling onto the beach and runs over one of them with a Volkswagen Bus.
- Occurs nearly every episode in Stargate SG-1, with a prime example being in the Anubis invasion of Earth. The Tau'ri forces are losing to vast numbers of advanced foes, when out of the blue Colonel O'Neil wipes out the entire fleet using the ancient drone chair in Antarctica. Unfortunately, he freezes himself in a block of ice in the process.
Anime
- Debatably, what happens when Sara gets Ram-Dass in Soukou No Strain — in any case, the other pilots certainly see it as such.
- In the Elfen Lied manga, just when Mayu is about to be raped by the unnamed "hunter", Bando shows up in big damn heroes fashion, which leads to fight that is his Crowning Moment of Awesome.
- The main characters in action anime tend to do this so many times in their respective anime that it becomes tired and cliché after a while. Notorious perpetrators of this trope include Goku from Dragonball Z, Ichigo from Bleach, Kenshiro from Fist Of The North Star, etc.
- Bleach plays with this by sometimes making the main characters into the rescuees, to indicate that they're not yet Bad Ass enough to be a Big Damn Hero. The Hueco Mundo arc does this to/for every single primary character. Each one gets their own Captain to save their arse. Currently, Ichigo's rescuer/rescued from ratio is about 5:2, tipping to 3:2 if the current arc continues its trend.
- Naruto has quite a few of these - Naruto rescuing Inari from Zabuza's thugs, Asuma rescuing Shikamaru during the Chunin exam arc, Naruto saving Sasuke from a crazed Gaara, Lee rescuing Naruto and then the Sand Siblings rescuing Shikamaru (again), Kiba and Lee during the "Retrieve Sasuke" arc, and the Konoha ninja returning the favor to the Sand Siblings in one of the filler arcs.
- Another DBZ character who abuses this trope is Piccolo, whose constant Gohan rescuing actually becomes something of a running gag in the movies. It finally gets lampshaded in movie 10, when Kuririn pulls the obligatory Gohan rescue... dressed up as Piccolo.
- Vegeta also has a few of these moments. Granted, he only does it because someone else was about to kill off Goku before he got the chance.
- The last thirty minutes or so of the Martian Successor Nadesico movie is pretty much a long string of these moments crammed together. There's so many heroes showing up to foil the bad guys in various places that the narrative starts to fall apart at the end.
- The last 5 or so minutes of the OVA Gao Gai Gar FINAL is the ultimate Big Damn Heroes moment, after an episode leading up to it: after all of the Yuusha Corps members pull out all the stops to defeat their 'rivals', the bad guys revive. In droves. No, really. Droves. But then it is revealed that the battles themselves were merely a diversion for GGG to figure out just how the Sol 11 were regenerating themselves - the 'Sun'. So Genesic Gao Gai Gar flies up and - in what has to be the most incredible attack sequence ever animated - combines with the 3 battleships waiting in orbit, themselves combined in hammer form. The show had its Goldion Hammer before, which crushed enemies with near-infinite mass - the Goldion 'Crusher' was designed to be used against Jupiter-sized enemies. So yeah, GGGG warps to the fake sun, and crushes it into light.
- Most of the new character (and tool) introductions in that series actually qualify. Especially anything involving Symmetrical Docking. ChoRyuJin, being the only one who can operate the energy-dissipating Eraser Head "missile", gets multiple ones, including the crowning Big Damn Heroes moment in the third episode of FINAL.
- This troper wonders if you're not referring to the second episode of FINAL, where Replica Mamoru has paralysed Guy with the 'true' Hell and Heaven. Then, moments before it hits: "ERASER HEAD XL!!".
- And one cannot forget perhaps Cho Ryu Jin's Big Damn Heroes in the original Gao Gai Gar when, after realising a second ubercharged railway cannon shell is coming moments after the first has been dissipated, detaches his Mirror Coating chestplate and stands firm, holding it up as a shield.
- Suzaku from Code Geass is an expert at pulling of Big Damn Heroes moments.
- Happens in the first episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's second season, when Fate and Yuuno save Nanoha's ass from a rather messy hammer-induced death literally at the last second.
- In Shakugan No Shana, the Bottle Fairy Magical Girl (No, really) Margery Daw has a Big Damn Heroes moment. Both she and her Sidekick/Empathic Weapon point out that this is "Nice timing".
- Subverted in Saiyuki Reload, when Sanzo, Goku and Hakkai show up to 'save' Gojyo from Kami-sama—only to spend several minutes kicking him into submission for making them go through the big damn trouble of backtracking several days to find him. Still moot, though, because Kami-sama proceeds to beat them all spectacularly. Ironically, Gojyo is the only one conscious in the end and mostly responsible for their escape.
- Used again in the Gunlock finale, when Goku, Hakkai, Gojyo, and even Hakuryuu have gotten sick and tired of being attacked by assassins thinking they're still the Sanzo party after they split from the priest, so they decide to go kick his ass right as he's being shot repeatedly. Plenty of jeering, Sanzo gets shot some more... only after that does Goku get a chance to punch him, and then Sanzo punches Gojyo, Sanzo tells them they're pains in the ass, they agree wholeheartedly. All is right with the world.
- And don't even get me started on InuYasha —although it does subvert this trope occasionally.
- Lampshaded in Rurouni Kenshin, when Hiko saves Yahiko from the giant Fuji. The boy accuses the swordsman of timing his rescue perfectly to look cool, with the latter rebutting that he was merely lost because of his pupil's poor directions.
- This became a trademark feat of Gundam SEED protagonist Kira Yamato after he acquired the Freedom Gundam, and it's upgraded model in the sequel Destiny.
- Athrun Zala and Mu La Flaga are also occasionally guilty of this trope.
- Mai and Mikoto play Big Damn Heroines to Natsuki at the end of Mai-HiME episode 4, freeing her from the Naughty Tentacles of the Panty Thief Orphan and giving her an opportunity to finish it off herself.
- Natsuki returns the favor in Episode 14 when the others are cornered by the Searrs army, shooting the soldiers' guns and blinding them with a flash cartridge to give Mai and Mikoto a chance to escape.
- The manga series Kamen Rider Spirits seems to be one Big Damn Heroes moment after another - only it's often just one such Hero against a small army of overpowered cyborgs. (The V3 version of this is the best - a seemingly untransformable Kazami Shiro versus the first half of his monstersoftheweek, then transforms and beats them all down. While bleeding from the transformation. And then firekicks the Big Bad's body into little pieces of BLAM. On the moon.)
- In Guyver, Guyver III tends to do this a lot to Guyver I, the protagonist. Occasionally, Guyver I will return the favor.
- In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Simon and Viral leave Earth to save the day when Anti-Spirals are destroying the Arc-Gurren, a huge spaceship. They arrive in an epically awesome Big Damn Heroes moment — so awesome that it is actually a Crowning Moment Of Awesome as well, as the raw, unrestrained awesomeness of this particular Big Damn Heroes moment is so great that it actually, by itself, wipes out a swarm of Anti-Spiral enemies.
- In the Kyoto arc of Mahou Sensei Negima, Evangeline, of all people, gets one when she shows up on the field trip to save Negi and co. from a giant demon.
- Not to mention Mana and Ku Fei doing the same for Asuna and Setsuna, and Kaede preceding hers with a Big Fraggin' Shuriken, all earlier in the same arc.
- And again in the latest arc with a double BDH. Setsuna and Kaede show up to rescue Nodoka from bounty hunters,but the hunters planned ahead and they're suddenly caught in their magical lightning trap. Then Asuna appears,jumping in to rescue Setsuna & Kaede whilst Negi completes the first BDH and saves Nodoka all on his lonesome with his Dangerous Forbidden Technique. The series' transformation into Magical School Dragon Ball with added fanservice is now complete.
- Once more in the latest arc, as Kotarou shows up to save the collective rears of Nodoka, Paru, and Chisame, entering the scene with a nonchalant "whoa there."
- Macross Frontier episode 14: Sheryl is forced to pilot Skull-02 (Mikhail's Valkyrie) when he's knocked unconscious, but she's shot down less than a minute later and they're both ejected from the vehicle. Then Luca shields them both from the approaching Vajra, but his shots are ineffectual and his gun is knocked away. He's literally staring death in the face (the biggest Vajra is reflected on his visor) when Alto folds in at the last second, destroying all the approaching Vajra and letting loose a volley of micro missiles that demolishes several dozen more, all while performing a continuous axis roll
 that turns his Transforming Mecha into the missile equivalent of a Gatling gun. Then he does a fly-by as the others look on in awe.
- Pulled on a grand scale in episode 25, as not only has Alto's VF-171EX been shot down, the Vajra are enjoying a Theme Music Power Up thanks to Ranka, and to top it off, a Vajra gunship is charging up to fire right into the Battle Frontier's bridge. Cue the SMS Macross Quarter skewering the Vajra gunship with a shot from its Heavy Quantum Reaction cannon, while still inside the fold portal. Then, after explaining everything to the Frontier commanders, the Quarter and all its squadrons proceed to counterattack.
- Rom Stoll in Machine Robo: Revenge of the Chronos practically live by this trope. His favorite method is when there is trouble, he would suddenly appear out of nowhere and yell MATTE!!! (WAIT!!!), causing the said villain to be shocked and ask who's there. With arms crossed, Rom then proceeds to give out a long-winded speech of virtue and justice, frowning upon the said villain, and then the villain would respond with "Wha!? Who are you to talk to me like that!?" Rom's answer? "You don't deserve to know my name!". Cue to ass kicking afterwards.
- Super Robot Wars then plays on this one to further Rom's awesomeness. He would interrupt LOTS and LOTS of villains out of his series, even those who can't audibly speak (for example, an Angel) and tell them that they don't deserve his name!
- Great Mazinger was a master of these kinds of moments, as even his debut was a major one. During the final episode of Mazinger Z, a new enemy army appears and proceed to completely overwhelm Kouji. As the Mazinger barely holds itself even a tiny bit together, the Great Mazinger shows up just before the final blow is struck and proceeds to absolutely dominate the new foes. Also something he's fond of doing in remakes, often with a nice big THUNDER BREAK to blast any number of enemies ready to swarm his allies. Also some really nice descending from the clouds shots.
- The Fullmetal Alchemist manga just had an incredibly awesome one from Ran Fan complete with new automail arm in chapter 86.
- Suzumiya Haruhi - When Kyon was about to get killed by Ryoko Asakura, Yuki arrives to the rescue by ''breaking through the wall/into the space'' and catches the knife with her hands.
- In the 4th novel Disappearance, Yuki gets another Big Damn Heroes moment. Again, catches Asakura's knife.
- Played straight in episode 19 of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Angel Of The Week is trashing Central Dogma and suddenly Unit One crashes through the wall and Shinji kicks arse!
- This happens fairly often in Chrono Crusade. Two scenes that come to mind is Remington suddenly appearing to chase off Aion as he looms over a weakened Rosette and a badly injured Chrono, and Satella who comes flying in on a summoned beast to save Chrono and Rosette from a long fall.
- Berserk pulls a big one of these off in the manga when the Skull Knight saves the lives of Guts and Casca at the end of the Eclipse just as the two of them are about to be finished off by Griffith and the Godhand.
- Sailors Uranus and Neptune do this all the time in the anime adaptation of SailorMoon. Likewise, Sailor Pluto comes to their rescue at one point in Sailor Stars. In the movies, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the de facto Reinforcements.
Comic Books
- In the climax of Watchmen, this is subverted. The big bad saw the Big Damn Heroes coming and activated his plan as he did. Consequently, they arrive 35 minutes too late.
- Elf Quest: in part 15 of the original series, just as the Wolfriders and Leetah are about to be slaughtered by Guttlekraw's trolls, they are rescued by the Go-Backs and (big spoiler): Rayek. All except One-Eye, who's killed before they arrive. Here's the scene, if all the spoiler tags haven't put you off.
- Y: The Last Man. Natalya and Ciba arrive just in time to stop one of Alter's mooks from kidnapping Beth Junior. Genre Savvy Hero even quips: "Natalya; always with the last minute Han Solo."
Film
Literature
- In the Fairy Tale, Bluebeard, the heroine asks her murderous husband for a chance to pray as a last request, and her brothers arrive to save her just as her time is up.
- In the Star Trek novel My Enemy, My Ally, the Enterprise and renegade Romulan vessel Bloodwing are fleeing from a Romulan research station with the Vulcan-crewed starship Intrepid II, having just freed the latter and her crew from being experimented upon. With Romulan forces overtaking them, they're saved in the nick of time as Starfleet reinforcements charge in across the Neutral Zone. Turns out to be a subversion, as Kirk had actually ordered them to do so several days previously, pre-emptively calculating that if he hadn't made it back by then, he'd probably need backup at that exact time.
- In the Ciaphas Cain novel For the Emperor, Jurgen and Sorel get one of these moments when they arrive just in time to save Cain and Amberley from a Genestealer Broodlord.
Western Animation
- Transformers: Beast Wars has too many of these to list, generally set up by cutting to the good guys headed towards where they're needed, then cutting back to their destination and letting a scene play out until it's a good time for it to be interrupted by weapons fire. The best example of the trope occurred in "Coming Of The Fuzors, Part 2", when the Maximals are outgunned and literally surrounded. When it looks like they're done for (Megatron says, "Finish it."), the wall of the Maximal baseship blows open to reveal the new-and-improved Optimus Prime, who had been locked in the chamber in the previous episode to be resuscitated.
- Avatar The Last Airbender: "The Boiling Rock" has Mai saving the group from having the gondola they're dropped into the boiling lake.
- Also, in "Sozin's Comet" : Sokka and Toph are about to fall off an airship, and are surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers...in comes Suki, riding on top of another airship, giving them someplace to jump down to and destroying the first airship at the same time.
Video Games
- Subverted and lampshaded in Disgaea 2, when
Demon Lord Beauty Queen Etna, arrives just in time to save the heroes from being overrun by a neverending flood of zombies. She's actually downright annoyed that she's wound up arriving just in the nick of time, "like one of those 'heroes of justice' losers", and considers just letting the zombies finish you off before taking on the Big Bad - fortunately for you, the Big Bad is carrying the Villain Ball, and sics the Mooks on her instead of letting them finish you. Cue the explosions.
- In Tales of Symphonia, before facing Yggdrasill in Welgaia, all of the members of the party besides Lloyd apparently sacrifice their lives (via being caught in various traps) so that Lloyd may continue onward to face Yggdrasill. Finally, Lloyd enters the chamber in which Yggdrasill is waiting for the completion of the transfer of Martel's soul to Colette's body. Yggdrasill is shocked and extremely angry that Lloyd managed to reach him, and moves to kill him — but then a fireball from above stops Yggdrasill in his tracks. What do you know, the rest of the party didn't die after all, and appeared just in time to save Lloyd! (This scene also counts as a Battle Royale With Cheese.)
- Final Fantasy VIII pretty much lives off this trope. Half the game seems to be centered around Big Damn Heroes moments.
- There's one in Final Fantasy IV, too! After smiting the Calcobrina dolls, the group is confronted by Golbez, who promptly douses them with a paralyzing agent before summoning a Shadow Dragon to start killing them. Kain gets off lucky if he's in the air before the gas goes off and when the killing begins; Rosa and Yang are still screwed. Golbez happened to be hiding the Villain Ball in his robe at the time, as he takes a moment to bid Cecil farewell... a moment too long, as that's when a Mist Dragon erases Golbez' Shadow Dragon and Cecil's paralysis is lifted via Unicorn Horn before the real boss battle begins. Name the mystery benefactor, folks.
- Also, after returning from the Moon, Cecil and friends are horrified to see they're too late to stop the awakening of the Giant of Bab-Il, a kilometers-tall monstrosity that starts devastating the countryside. As they gape in horror, they see a huge burst of artillery on the Giant's flank... and the entire armed forces of the world arrive to buy Cecil's party some time, all with the Theme of the Red Wings rising in the background.
- The above is referenced later, in Final Fantasy IX, when the party, aboard the Invincible, try to enter the portal above the Iifa Tree. Beset by hundreds upon hundreds of Silver Dragons, the formidable ship looks suddenly very small and vulnerable, and is seconds away from being shot down when the airship armadas of Lindblum and Alexandria show up to protect the Invincible, and clear a path into the portal.
- During the second trip through the Forsaken Fortress in The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Tetra pulls this twice - once to distract the Helmarock King and buy time to rescue the captives and again when Link is in Ganondorf's grasp... only for this attempt to fail and require another dramatic rescue.
- Pretty much happens in every case of the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney series at some point. The prosecution appears to have won and Phoenix is ready to give up but then... OBJECTION! Someone comes in with new evidence to save the day. The last case in the second game ends up boiling down to stalling until the big damn hero arrives.
- Also of note is the third case of the first and third games where Detective Gumshoe pulls this outside of court.
- Not to mention Gumshoe's failed attempt at this in the fourth case of second game, and Franziska's pick up save off of this at the very last second.
- This trope occurs in Halo games several times, with Master Chief rescuing marines, or Johnson rescuing the chief. The third game directly references the Trope Namer, as a character called Sergeant Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion, states, "Looks like we got here just in the nick of time. What's that make us?". Of course, this troper immediately replied "Big Damn Heroes, sir!"
- In fact, part of the ad campaign for Halo 3 was based around the beneficiaries of such moments reminicing about the hero who saved them. You can see a couple of these ads here and here.
- The Subspace Emmisary of Super Smash Bros Brawl has Sonic showing up just in time to prevent the final boss Tabuu from releasing a superattack on everyone. Also Ness and Falco get their Big Damn Heroes moment.
- This troper recognizes it was the story mode of a fighting game, but still thinks it was a really lame way to introduce one of the most anticipated characters ever to be featured in the game.
- Link, Mario, Pit, Kirby, and Yoshi get one as well, leaping off a cliff to come to the aid of some of the other heroes who're fighting off the
Heartless Primids.
- Fire Emblem does this in every game out in the US (probably every game, period), generally as reinforcement to the stories Lord showing when they are in a really serious bind. However on easier difficulties this often leads to the reinforcements needing AMAZING projection as they aren't as leveled.
- The first example of the Lord getting to be the "Big Damn Hero" is in Fire Emblem 7 (released in the states as Fire Emblem). Florina (a supporter to the tutorial chapter's lord, Lyn) arrives to the main team of heroes to tell how her Lyn and the castle are under attack, naturally the main team of the game go to save them.
- Second example is in Fire Emblem 10, right when Lucia is going to be executed by the rebellion, The Greil Mercenaries in PERFECT Big Damn Heroes form all show up. What's great is that in the cutscene for their arrival, each one arrives saving another member of the party from being attacked. So any time the villains attempt a counter strike, they are instantly taken down. Making it a string of Big Damn Hero moments.
- In Mega Man Battle Network 6 (6 being the last game) in the 3rd to last (the last 2 being past the point of no return) cutscreen in the game, the villans realize it is a better idea to take on the Kid Hero in the real world then in cyberspace, only one of these moments save Lan.
- To be broader, Battle Network loves this trope such much that it has a Leit Motif for it
- Laker from Super Robot Wars Original Generation actally plans this, he lets Elzam keep the Kurogane, and occasionally gives him mechs so he can have moments like these, and aid the Hagane, and Hiryuu Custom from the shadows. In Original Generation 02 the Hagane did this a lot in the early levels pissing off the Shirogane's captain Lee Injun, who was jealous of the Hagane.
- Axel Almer and Alfimi both did this in OG Gaiden to play part in the Super Robot Wars MX prologue. When the Jetzt wrecked the Cry Wolves, and it got Foglia killed, Hugo fatally wounded and Albero is sure in to be their next victim, suddenly both of them arrive and attracted the Jetzt, giving Albero time to escape with Hugo.
- In Call Of Duty 4 you both play as the Big Damn Heroes in several missions and are blown up by a nuke because of it in one outstanding, totally badass instance and are saved by the Big Damn Russians in the very last mission, though Gaz and Griggs would probably have preffered it if they could have arrived a few moments earlier....
- "Reinforcements? I am the reinforcements."
- The same line occurs in Mass Effect on Virmire, when you ride in to recue the Salarian recon squad. They are less than impressed with your Bad Ass selves, wondering why the Council didn't send the army they asked for.
- And speaking of Mass Effect, what about "It's the Alliance! Thank the Goddess!"
- In Metal Gear Solid 4, Johnny Sasaki, the resident Butt Monkey of the series, saves both Solid "Old" Snake and Meryl in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and then saving Meryl near the end of the game. Johnny and Meryl then proceed to kick a lot of ass, becoming a Battle Couple in the process. Also Raiden, who would save Snake's life at least twice... the first time cutting off an arm to do so, then the second time appearing without his arms, his sword (Rule Of Cool) first clutched in his teeth and then in his left foot.
- Shinobu during the final boss fight of No More Heroes.
- Subverted multiple times in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, wherein the bounty hunters show up just in time to reactivate a dead orbital cannon and nuke the Space Pirates' asteroid weapon - and then just before they can hit the Big Red Button, Dark Samus shows up and blows them all away, achieving a Big Damn Villain moment of her own.
- And then subverted yet again, as Samus turns out to be Only Mostly Dead, hauling herself to the control panel and activating the cannon before lapsing into a month-long Convenient Coma.
- Happens more than often in the Suikoden series. For example in S2 where Victor and Flik show up just in time to save the Hero and Jowy from execution.
- The World Ends With You has Neku and Shiki, in the third day, almost out of time. Then at the last second, Beat and Rhyme show up and finish off the "master of A-East." Since only one player needs to complete the mission to spare everyone from the threat of erasure that comes with running out of time, their action not only spared them, but also Neku, Shiki, and all the other players currently in the game.
- In Mega Man X 2, if X succeeds in retrieving all of Zero's parts from the X-Hunters, Zero will break into the Central Computer's core just before Sigma unleashes his Copy-Zero on X, then proceed to destroy the Copy himself and punch a hole in the floor for X to pursue Sigma, all accompanied by kick-ass heroic music.
Music
- This is the core theme of the Ray Stevens novelty song "Along Came Jones".
Tabletop Games
- Most RPGs have you appear in the villain's lair just in time, after fighting your way past all his henchmen. This occurs even if you Take Your Time getting there.
- It could be said that Exalted takes this to an extreme, as not only do you show up in the nick of time, but you are all but guaranteed a flashy, even gaudy entrance that defies all logic.
- The ridiculously extensive battle history of Warhammer 40000 has hundreds of these moments on every side, to the point where in the latest Space Marine codex, Sternguard Veteran Squads have a 'Heroic Intervention' ability exclusively to pull off these moments... though it doesn't always work.
Web Comics
- Antimony from Gunnerkrigg Court finds herself on the receiving end of this three separate times (some less successful than others).
- Gwynn (of all people) actually pulls one of these off in this Sluggy Freelance strip.
Web Original
- There are a few instances of this in Survival Of The Fittest. A notable example is that of Seth Mattlock rescuing Bryan Calvert and Tory Johnson from a player - pulling it off in the true spirit of the trope: just in the nick of time. Amusingly, this is because he waited before pulling off the save, although he was, admittedly, trying to get the best possible shot on the bad guy. It also turns into an unintentional Heroic Sacrifice.
Real Life
- Blucher and the Prussians managed to pull this off in the battle of Waterloo.
- Or possibly not; scholarship is divided as to whether Blucher outright saved the day, or turned up late and just turned the French defeat into a rout.
|
|
