Don't Try This at Home with a baby, kids.
So you are thinking of a way to honor your best friend for saving that kitten the other day. What do you do? Toss them into the air!
Nobody knows when the tradition of Celebratory Body Tossing started, but it is associated with celebration. Usually, this trope comes into play when somebody does something considered heroic. People notice and then get the urge to lift them toss them into the air, sometimes with a blanket or trampoline. Sounds like a perfect way to get a party started right?
However, this hasn't always been the case. In Europe, tossing somebody in the air with a blanket was once considered a Cool and Unusual Punishment, as shown in Don Quixote. The punishment aspect of body tossing, however, decreased in recent years with the rise of thrill seeking.
Truth in Television, as demonstrated with the Northern Alaskan tradition of Nalukataq
. Bridal Carry and Crowd Surfing are sister tropes. Compare with Twirl of Love, Fireman's Safety Net and Group Hug. Sports examples may overlap with Drench Celebration.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In the thirtieth chapter of Asteroid in Love, Mira, Ao and Mai attempts to toss Mari in the air in celebration of the latter finally getting into her first-choice college, considering Mari didn't get the first time around. Mikage stops them, since Mari would eventually come down, or "drop"—and in Japanese, "drop" is the same word as "fail".
- Azumanga Daioh: When Yomi successfully passes her college entrance exams, the rest of the girls suggest tossing her up in the air in celebration. Tomo pipes in that Yomi is too heavy, so she convinces them to toss Chiyo-chan instead.
- Cowboy Bebop: While on Earth, Radical Edward manages to find her father. When the two reunite, he proceeds to toss her about in the air in celebration.
- Inazuma Eleven: After Endou snaps the Dark Emperors out of corruption and their match with second Raimon ends in a tie, everybody tosses Endou in the air.
- Naruto: After Naruto defeats Pain, the villagers of Konoha toss Naruto into the air. Poignant in that it show Naruto has finally earned their respect after years of being scorned for being the container of the Nine-Tails.
- One Piece: In the Arlong Arc, Luffy gets tossed into the air by the villagers of Cocayashi after he defeats Arlong and subsequently destroys Arlong Park, freeing the villagers from the Fishmen Pirates rule.
Asian Animation
- Bread Barbershop: In "Potato Chip's Chip", after Bread becomes a hero of Bakery Town, the citizens (including Wilk and Choco) throw him into the air.
Comic Books
- Lucky Luke: In "The Tenderfoot", part of the hazing newcomers can expect from the locals involves a trampoline made from a large tarp. Waldo Badminton (who's inherited a ranch) bears this formality with the stoicism of an English gentleman among former subjects of Her Gracious Majesty, which leads to the grudging respect of the workers. At the end of the book, Waldo has loosened up a bit, and rushes to the rescue of a newcomer... but on seeing it's Willy Balderash (a fellow Englishman who holds his golf clubs the wrong way, according to Waldo) he joins in the hazing.
Film - Animated
- Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day: The film ends with Pooh and Piglet being thrown a hero party and getting tossed with a blanket by their friends. They just happen to do it over one of Gopher's holes, and he ends up getting hit on the head by our heroes and bumped down the hole.
Gopher: What's all that ssssstompin' and sssssingin' and sssssilly ssssshenaniga—(gets pushed down by blanket) WUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHH!!! (THUD!)
- The Lion King (1994): During "I Just Can't Wait To Be King", Simba gets some giraffes to toss him and Nala into the air.
- How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: At New Berk, the Berkians have a party, Some Berkians were seen tossing Hiccup is the air.
- Inside Out: One of Riley's most important memories is of her hockey team coming over to celebrate her when she felt terrible after missing a winning shot. They lift her off a tree branch and toss her into the air.
- The Three Caballeros: At Acapulco Beach, Donald Duck gets tossed around on a blanket by some bathing beauties.
Literature
- The "celebratory" part of the trope is subverted in Don Quixote. After leaving the inn without paying, Sancho is tossed up and down by some fellow inn guests holding a blanket. This embarrasses Sancho for the rest of the novel.
Live-Action TV
- In the animated intro of The Mickey Mouse Club, Mickey is tossed into the air by his friends holding a trampoline.
Video Games
- In Dead Estate, beating the True Final Boss ends with your player character getting hoisted by the other protagonists while they do a pose from Jojos Bizarre Adventure.
- In Paper Mario: Color Splash, at the end of Toad Trainworks, the Toads go to the foreman and toss him up in the air for helping fix the train. They then realize that Mario did all of the work and instead celebrate for him and Huey in the same manner instead. Returning to the level after beating it, however, shows that the Toads are still throwing the foreman in the air.
- Tomodachi Life: One of the possible group poses in the Photo Studio is "Celebration," eight Miis tossing one into the air.
- One of Wario's goal cutscenes in Mario Strikers Charged involves Wario making his teammates throw him into the air. They fail to catch him and they all get knocked down, resulting in Wario punching his teammates and demanding...
Wario: "Keep! Throwing! Me!"
- Super Dodge Ball: After winning the World Cup, Team USA celebrates by doing this to Sam, the team captain. A sepia-tone photo of the scene is shown with the end credits.
- Like a Dragon
- Yakuza 6 has the Setouichi Warriors do this to Kiryu, serving as their captain, at the end of the baseball substory out of gratitude for finally leading them to glory. Then they accidentally drop him.
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon has this happen to Ichiban whenever he passes a vocational school exam, with Ikari and three extras running in to toss Ichiban in the air in celebration.
- Weaponized in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth with the "Essence of Showboating" for the Linebacker Job, in which the character does a touchdown dance with a bunch of cheerleaders who proceed to kick the crap out of enemies. The attack ends with the cheerleaders hoisting the enemy up into the air before scattering and letting them plummet headfirst into the ground.
Webcomics
- Mage & Demon Queen: After Malori successfully negotiates the nearest human village to switch their allegiances from the human king to the Demon Queen, the soldiers from her escort celebrate a peaceful resolution by tossing her into the air.
Western Animation
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "F.U.N.", when SpongeBob gets back a stolen Krabby Patty from Plankton, the people of Bikini Bottom name him "Honorary Rookie of the Day" and toss him up high with a giant donut around him. Surprisingly, SpongeBob isn't in a celebratory mood, as he feels sorry for the defeated Plankton and decides to befriend him.
- Phineas and Ferb
- In "Nerds of a Feather", the convention goers toss Candance, dressed in a Ducky Momo suit, into the air after she "defeated" a "monster" (which was just a hologram created by Phineas and Ferb to make the convention goers get along). Subverted when Candace reveals herself to be the one wearing the Ducky Momo suit, causing the nerds to put her back down and wonder why they just celebrated a teenage girl.
- Candace and Phineas and Ferb's friends toss the titular duo into the air with a blueprint during the Once per Episode song in "Phineas and Ferb Interrupted" while trying to restore their creativity.
- In The Loud House episode "Undie Pressure", the Loud sisters throw Lily in the air (pictured) several times to celebrate her winning the bet they made.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In "The Ticket Master", Pinkie Pie has a group of ponies repeatedly throw Twilight Sparkle. in the air while talking about how Twilight is her "very best friend" (in an attempt to get Twilight to give her a spare ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala).
- Twilight gets tossed into the air again in "Sweet and Elite", while her friends are celebrating her birthday.
Real Life
- The Inuit tradition of Nalukataq is possibly the Trope Maker. Meant to celebrate the spring whaling harvest, the celebration involves villages holding a walrus skin and tossing people into the air with it, while the dancer tries to do as many tricks as possible before landing.
