Examples
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Anime & Manga
- In one episode of Kekkaishi, Yoshimori Sumimura ends up face planting after Tokine Yukimura uses a small kekkai to trip him.
- Smile Pretty Cure!: Yayoi (Cure Peace) does these from time to time even in her version of the ending
◊ she even gets a red nose in her next appearance.
- The anime adaptation of Sword Art Online has this happening several times to Kirito over the course of the first episode of the ALFheim Online arc. One pretty spectacular one has him slamming into the ground head-first from several hundred feet in the air and seemingly being stuck for almost a minute after impact.
- In Axis Powers Hetalia, both America and Romano (South Italy) landed face-down after slipping on a Banana Peel.
- The Kurumada Fall is the non-comedic variant that happens in super-charged fights. Often involving the target looking deader than dead only to force themself back up. The parodies of it, on the other hand, go right back to laughs.
- Akagami no Shirayukihime: Mihaya trips Shirayuki after kidnapping her and tying her hands behind her back when she kicks a box at him and tries to run past him out the only door to the room she is in. Since she doesn't have any way to break her fall she lands on her face, though she tries to take most of the fall with the rest of her body. Definitely not played for laughs.
Comic Books
- In The Blue Lotus, Thompson and Thomson try to catch a train that has Tintin on it and fall on their faces. They are next seen in a hospital with their noses in casts.
Fan Works
- In New Kid On The Block, Wally West takes a tumble when he tries to remove Pied Piper from a fight. It isn't a prime example of a slapstick moment, but Captain Cold is pretty amused when the Kid hits the concrete.
- Happens to Princess Cadance in A Hell of a Time when she falls 60 feet to the ground after Tirek banishes her and the other Princesses to Tartarus. She ends up stuck face-first in the ground for quite a while before freeing herself.
Films — Animation
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games:
- Pinkie Pie ends up face-first on the floor upon opening a school exit after one of her overexcited rants.
- Twilight after she trips trying to jump over a hay bale. That must have hurt considering she's wearing her glasses, and she's lucky to not have broken them.
Films — Live-Action
- Happens in Twister when Jo Harding slams on the brakes on Bill's truck while he's in the back readying the Dorothy probe, causing him to smack the back window face-first.
- Near the climax of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the Grinch tries a Diving Save to catch the slipping sled only to fall short and land face-first in the snow behind it.
Live-Action TV
- Most blooper shows will usually have at least one clip per episode of someone falling victim to this.
- Game of Thrones: When Myranda falls into her death, she lands face first, leaving a huge bloodstain. Not so pretty now...
- It's practically impossible for contestants on Wipeout to get through even the first round without having this happen to them.
- The opening credits of the CBBC comedy Gruey show the protagonist trying to jump over a wall, tripping, and landing face-first in a patch of mud.
Pro Wrestling
- This particular method of selling a move is so iconic for Ric Flair that it's dubbed the "Flair Flop" by fans.
Video Games
- Some of the games in the Battlefield series will automatically put the player into a head-down skydiving pose if they fall from a certain height. If the player doesn't have a parachute handy or doesn't deploy it in time, this can result in an invariably fatal faceplant.
- The majority of games that employ Ragdoll Physics will sometimes show characters faceplanting after being killed.
- In Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon, the Have a Nice Death screen for falling deaths ("Deceleration Trauma") shows Roger Wilco upside down with his head mashed into the ground. Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge has similar.
- Notably employed in Sonic the Hedgehog as a Running Gag.
- In Brain Dead 13, Lance does this on the chopping block table in a dead faint after his hand gets chopped off by Vivi.
- Happens almost constantly to Derpy whenever she's present in in My Little Pony.
- The Kid from Bastion enters any area by falling from the sky and landing face-down. Becomes significantly less funny at the end of the game when, after taking a vicious beating from the Ura, the Kid returns to the Bastion, lands in his usual manner...and stays down.
- Bridget's Shoot The Moon Instant Kill in Guilty Gear XX launches the character to the moon, where they smash upside-down into the ground so hard most of their upper body's imbedded in it.
Web Comics
- Blade Bunny: Mixed with a Literal Metaphor for bonus point: Bunny proudly states to her latest employer that she isn't tripped up easily. Then a bystander points out that her bootlaces are untied (again). Bunny trips and faceplants.
Bunny: That doesn't count. I was being metaphorical.
Lady Kyoto: I am beginning to believe this plan was an horrible mistake.
Web Original
- YouTube is jam-packed with home videos showing people meeting Terra firma face-first.
- Ask Fluffle Puff takes this beyond Running Gag territory with the titular character. She can even move around while flat on her face.
- ASDF Movie has the "Do the Flop Guy", which is this trope as a Dance Sensation.
Western Animation
- Happens to most of the mane characters at one time or another on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
- Apple Bloom has this as a running joke in "Hearts and Hooves Day".
- Happens to Spike in "Inspiration Manifestation", when he tries walking in the bulky crystal armor Rarity puts him in.
- In "Equestria Games", when Spike is brought before Cadance upon arriving in the Crystal Empire, he falls face-first on the ground when the guards transporting him come to a halt.
- Mabel Pines pulls one off in the Gravity Falls episode "Double Dipper", when she attempts to do a flip while singing karaoke.
- In Barbie and the Secret Door, Nori has trouble walking since she's used to having a mermaid tail, and falls flat on her face when trying to take a step.
