History Main / MegaMawManeuver

-->'''[[LetsPlay/{{Critikal}} Cr1TiKaL]]:''' Aw shit! Space VideoGame/PacMan!

** ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'': The BigBad Karl Stromberg has a device that can cause submarines to lose power and surface. He also has a giant oil tanker with a bow that can open and swallow up the helpless submarines. He uses them to capture three nuclear missile submarines (one Soviet, one American and one British) during the movie to reuse them for his nefarious scheme.

* Occurs at least once in the ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' series. In level nine of ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld 2}}'', Captain Soban's frigate is swallowed up into the hanger bay of a Vaygr carrier.

** After Rey and Finn escape Jakku in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' with the help of the ''Millennium Falcon'', the ship is suddenly overridden and a large transport engulfs it. They're certain they've been caught by the First Order, but it's actually [[spoiler:Han Solo and Chewbacca, whom are rather overjoyed that they finally found their ship again]].

* Submarines are often equipped with these in the ''Litterature/RussalkaChronicles''. They allow for a ship to recover equipment, buoys or debris without stopping. It's explicitly mention it's never used to recover people due to the risk of people [[CruelAndUnusualDeath slipping in between the "jaws" and being cut in two when it closes]]. The heroine is naturally saved in this fashion at one point (they didn't think there were any survivors).

** ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'': [[NebulousEvilOrganization SPECTRE]] uses a rocket variant in {{False Flag Operation}}s to kidnap US and Soviet space capsules in order to cause WorldWarIII for [[BigBad Blofeld]]'s [[WarForFunAndProfit own profit]].

* ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You]]'': The Special Corps investigates the mysterious disappearance of a navy space station whose last message was: "THE TEETH!" He uses time travel to go back to the event and sees it swallowed by a planetoid sent by alien invaders, who carry the station back to their homeworld.

* ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You]]''. The Special Corps investigates the mysterious disappearance of a navy space station whose last message was: "THE TEETH!" He uses time travel to go back to the event and sees it swallowed by a planetoid sent by alien invaders, who carry the station back to their homeworld.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': the Planet Killer, a giant ship that destroys planets. In an inversion, they deliberately fly a starship into its maw to destroy it from the inside out.

*** The [[{{Ultraterrestrials}} Voth]] city-ship so large that they simply beam ''Voyager'' inside to capture them.
*** In "Collective", a Borg cube draws one of ''Voyager''[='s=] shuttles inside itself with a tractor beam. When the crew wake up, they're inside a vast chamber full of small spacecraft.

* In ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire,'' the Vasari Loyalist titan has a level six ability titled "The Maw" that guzzles up all enemy ships within range, and turns them into resources.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/PinocchioAndTheEmperorOfTheNight'' the huge, creepy FlyingDutchman-like ship of the BigBad opens its bow like giant jaws and swallows the paddle tugboat Pinocchio and his posse were on.

While certainly an [[RuleOfCool interesting]] maneuver, it does pose several problems in RealLife. For one, its success hinges upon the maw ship being much larger and much faster than its victims. For another, the very real possibility of the target performing some desperate evasive action trying to get away would pose considerable danger. Sometimes {{Tractor Beam}}s are used to speed up the chase and/or [[JustifiedTrope explain away]] why the target isn't performing any evasive actions. Also, if it's happening in space, the bigger ship is a subject of the [[WeaponizedExhaust Kzinti Lesson]], if the smaller ship will turn their engines on while inside of the maw. And even then, there is the risk of the smaller ship having both a SelfDestructMechanism and a pilot who decides they would rather die than be taken alive, which could quickly lead to an attempted TakingYouWithMe situation.

While certainly an [[RuleOfCool interesting]] maneuver, it does pose several problems in RealLife. For one, its success hinges upon the maw ship being much larger and much faster than its victims. For another, the very real possibility of the target performing some desperate evasive action trying to get away would pose considerable danger. Sometimes {{Tractor Beam}}s are used to speed up the chase and/or [[JustifiedTrope explain away]] why the target isn't performing any evasive actions. Also, if it's happening in space, the bigger ship is a subject of the [[WeaponizedExhaust Kzinti Lesson]], if the smaller ship will turn their engines on while inside of the maw. And even then, there is the risk of the smaller ship having both a SelfDestructMechanism and a pilot that decides they would rather die than be taken alive, which could quickly lead to an attempted TakingYouWithMe situation.

While certainly an [[RuleOfCool interesting]] maneuver, it does pose several problems in RealLife. For one, its success hinges upon the maw ship being much larger and much faster than its victims. For another, the very real possibility of the target performing some desperate evasive action trying to get away would pose considerable danger. Sometimes {{Tractor Beam}}s are used to speed up the chase and/or [[JustifiedTrope explain away]] why the target isn't performing any evasive actions. And finally, if it happening in space, the bigger ship is a subject of the [[WeaponizedExhaust Kzinti Lesson]], if the smaller ship will turn their engines on while inside of the maw.