Follow TV Tropes

Following

Huddle Power

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Huddle.jpg
"Whose hand is that?"

"I've got just the thing! Now, huddle up boys, and make that old whispering sound!"

WE NEED A DESCRIPTION! TROPER HUDDLE!

*huddle*

Planning a Zany Scheme? Huddle! Organizing an infiltration? Huddle! Have to get your team fired up for the game-winning Hail Mary toss? Huddle! Want to discuss whether or not you should let The Mole back on the team? Huddle! Huddles solve everything!

The huddle comes in two variations, where either the audience is part of it, or the audience isn't.

If the audience is a part of it, there will be a Huddle Shot. We will hear everyone's concerns as they whisper back and forth.

If the audience is not privy to the huddle, we will instead see a far shot of everyone squished together. There will be indecipherable whispering. Occasionally, especially in cartoons, one person will look up at whoever/whatever it is they're all talking about, before being dragged down by a fellow huddler. This version of the huddle follows the Unspoken Plan Guarantee— that is, because the audience doesn't know what's about to happen, the plans will go smoothly.

Fun fact: the huddle can be traced back to the 1890's when Gallaudet College's Paul Hubbard began using it during games that his American football team was in. Which was useful, since the college is made up of deaf students and the huddle enabled him to communicate to his teammates without opposing players being able to see his hand signals.

May be accompanied by a Team Hand-Stack.

Got that? BREAK!


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • Bleach anime episode 146. When Nel and her friends think that Ichigo and the others are bad guys, they go into a huddle to decide what to do.
  • For a manga about football, this is actually inverted in Eyeshield 21; in order to win the Christmas Bowl, the Deimon Devil Bats decide that they need to go the entire second half without a huddle so their opponents, the undefeated Teikoku Alexanders, won't have time to think.
    • Played with against their last fight against the White Knights. With only less than a second on the clock, the Devil Bats are on the receiving end of a kick. In order to make one last touchdown, Hiruma yells for a huddle during the middle of a play for Taki, Monta, and Sena. There, he passes the ball to one of them, leaving the White Knights too confused. The enemy quarterback realizes who has the ball, but a moment too late - Sena scores the winning touchdown.

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: When the Dwarfs manhandle Grumpy into washing his hands.
  • A Bug's Life featured a "Royal Huddle" between Atta and her court, in the middle of a trial that she's judging.
  • In Turning Red, Mei and her friends do this to decide if they will attend Tyler's birthday party.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Flash Gordon (1980). When Flash is beating Ming's warriors at "football", Klytus calls them together into a huddle and instructs them on how to beat him.
  • The Mighty Ducks used this. Twice in the sequel, in fact, both times using the Unspoken Plan Guarantee.
  • Used in Red Tails, in which dozens of pilots form a massive huddle to pray and Crowd Chant, psyching themselves up for a crucial mission.
  • The cross-country team in McFarland, USA does this—when the team huddles, and you hear, "Uno, dos, tres... McFarland!", expect something great to happen.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The heroes in the MST3K-featured Time of the Apes do this at one point, prompting Crow to state their plan as "We'll bang our heads together and walk around in a daze!"
  • Families conferring for an answer to steal on Family Feud.
  • In the classic Mork & Mindy episode, "Mork's Mixed Emotions," as a inversion of it. Mork, whose emotions are each presenting themselves as separate personalities, leans down as to confer with them in a one person huddle. After he's finished, Mindy asks what was the result and Mork answers "We have mixed emotions."
  • The New Directions on Glee do this before a competition.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Sergeant Terry Jeffords tries to keep his detectives in line when they are all invited to Captain Holt's birthday party. They had an emergency squad meeting in the briefing room before the party, but Terry has them in a party huddle soon after they arrive. They end it with cheer-whispering "be appropriate".
    Terry: Party huddle, stat! Okay, gang, we need a new strategy.
  • In the Broad City episode "Destination: Wedding," Abbi forms a two-woman huddle with Ilana so they can discuss how to pay for the incredibly expensive rental car. Abbi seems like she's going to try to concoct a Zany Scheme revolving around the fact that she's over 25 but has an expired license, but Lincoln pays for the car before she can finish.

    Music 
  • The music video for Hinatazaka46's "Tomo yo, Ichibanboshi da", which is set at a soccer stadium, features an Opening Narration about huddle power.
  • Nightwish does one of these with their band members before every concert. It took on a much darker turn when they did one after a concert instead, and fired lead singer Tarja Turunen while in it.

    Theater 
  • The Supreme Court goes into a football-style huddle in Of Thee I Sing when asked to decide between corn muffins and justice.

    Video Games 
  • Final Fantasy VIII: Rinoa and the Forest Owls have a variation where they squat down on the floor while constructing plans. Lampshaded by Squall.
    Squall: How serious are you...? Really...? The three of you plop down on the floor to discuss strategy? On top of that, you can't make a decision without our input, right? How do you think we feel, working for such an organisation?

    Western Animation 
  • The Powerpuff Girls do this on occasion, most notably with Mojo Jojo in "Forced Kin" as they must come up with a plan to stop an alien power from taking over Townsville.
  • Spongebob Squarepants subverted this in the Cowboy Episode where "Dead-Eye" Plankton plans to take over Bikini Bottom... err, Gulch. First it looks like the citizens are huddling together, only to reveal that it was just Spongebob making whispering sounds because he didn't really have a plan.
  • The Simpsons:
    • Spoofed when the family huddles to think of a plan to get their counselor out of a tree. (Long story.) Homer begins whispering, while Lisa talks in her normal voice...
      Homer: It's a huddle. You have to talk like this.
      Lisa: Fine, I'll talk like this.
      Homer: WHAAAT?!
    • And then it turns out the wolves and cougars at the bottom of the tree the counselor is in are also huddling and whispering.
    • In "A Tale of Two Springfields", Homer tells The Who that Old Springfield will make them "cut [their] hair, turn down [their] music, and wear frilly shirts like Keith Partridge". They're so shocked by this that Roger Daltry calls for a "Who huddle".
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • The audience-participation version appears in the episode "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", when the Apple family gets into a huddle to discuss whether or not to accept the Flim/Flam brothers' partnership deal. The camera whips around to each member in turn, and ends to reveal that Flim and Flam have also joined in their huddle.
    • Also occurs in "Putting Your Hoof Down", when motivation trainer Iron Will and his entourage - consisting of goats who are never shown as even being able to speak - consider whether they should fight Fluttershy's refusal to pay for his seminar (because she was not "completely satisfied" as he had guaranteed).
  • The New Scooby-Doo Movies: In "The Ghostly Creep From The Deep," the Harlem Globetrotters suggest an impromptu basketball game with the gang to while away time in a deserted mansion. When they see the Trotters do their thing, Velma suggests a group huddle to plan a strategy against them.
  • Mighty Magiswords: Prohyas and Vambre frequently perform a "Warrior huddle" to discuss strategy. What follows is the one of the siblings talking into the camera with arms outstretched, switching to either the other sibling or the inevitable huddle intruder(s) whenever they have something to say.

Top