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Over-the-Shoulder Carry

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April has a habit of getting carried away.

Over-the-shoulder carrying (abbreviated OTS) is a method to transport another person. The person is laid face down over one's shoulder with their upper body to the rear. The person's legs are held at the hollow of the knees to secure them. This position allows for relatively easy transportation, even if they are the same weight as oneself. It can be a humiliating pose for the person being carried, since they're turned into a passive object, with their face down, body folded and their buttocks in the air for all to see, (which, depending on the camera angle, also makes it a potential source of Fanservice).

When this happens in fiction, usually (but not always), it involves an antagonist carrying a Damsel in Distress or other captive that they have caught or subdued. Expect such a victim, if conscious, to scream, curse, and make lame attempts to punch the abductor. On the other hand, this method is sometimes used by a hero character as a way of rescuing/evacuating an injured or unconscious victim from a dangerous area, since it allows them to be slightly more mobile than they would be using other carry forms like Bridal Carry, and it leaves one hand free for doing things like opening doors or wielding a weapon. It also does not wear out the carrier as much as a bridal carry would, since most of the weight is placed on the legs instead of the weaker arm muscles. Sometimes in media where males Wouldn't Hit a Girl the interfering female is "neutralized" from the situation by being carried away in this fashion by a support male character when a female available to oppose her isn't available. This can also happen in non-combat situations where a female is trying to make her presence known or is otherwise impeding progress. Compare Neck Lift and Hoist Hero over Head, which are other ways a villain shows of their strength by lifting up a victim.

Sometimes called the Fireman's Carry, although this is actually the name for another position where weight is supported on both shoulders and the carried person is held by both legs and whichever arm is draped over the carrier's shoulder.

Depending on the context and because of position of the person being carried, they may be subject to Pain to the Ass or a Flirtatious Smack on the Ass.

Note that this position (as well as the Fireman's Carry) is often recommended against - it tends to worsen any spinal injuries sustained, and can asphyxiate people in a burning building.

This trope is often performed effortlessly to highlight super strength, or above average physical capabilities. This is always the case when females do this to males, since it occurs less frequently and often highlights physical prowess to match enhanced attractiveness of said female.

Compare Piggyback Cute.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • This happens frequently in Agent Aika, due to the revealing angle when a female character is slung over someone's shoulder.
  • In the OVA and the revised edition of the Ai no Kusabi novel, Iason carries Guy like this. In the original novel it was Riki that carries Guy by himself while still in pain.
  • In Alice in the Country of Hearts, Peter White carries Alice like this before they go down the rabbit hole because she refuses to get up and follow him.
  • Happens frequently in Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts when a student's avatar goes down to 0 HP. A teacher named Ironman would sometimes carry the student away to remedial classes in this manner.
  • Berserk despite technically being The Hero carries off Farnese as a hostage in this fashion, he even holds a torch to her rear and threatens to "burn her ass" when Farnese's knights come at him. To be fair to Guts, they're the ones who hunted him down, whipped him and threw him in a cage.
    • In the movies Guts carries an unconscious naked Casca in this fashion after climbing out of the river.
  • Black Butler: Sebastian (wearing a deer head disguise) carries Prince Soma like this when he's saving him from Agni's attacks.
  • Bleach:
    • Ichigo carries Orihime like this after battling Grimmjow. Orihime is embarrassed by this, but only because she thinks she is heavy.
    • During Don Kanonji's visit to the hospital, Ichigo and Rukia try to stop him from exorcising a spirit and are held back by the police. Kisuke helps Ichigo turn into a soul reaper and distracts the police. Tessai carries Ichigo's body over his shoulder while they escape.
    • When Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and Uryú enter the Soul Society through the restrictive current, Uryú's cape gets stuck. Chad frees Uryú, then carries him over his shoulder the rest of the way.
    • During one of Ichigo's battles with Byakuya, Yoruichi stops the battle by knocking Ichigo out, lifting him onto her shoulder and running off with him.
    • When Hiyori first appears, she makes fun of Chad and Orihime and tries to kill them. Shinji stops her and runs off with her over his shoulder.
  • In Brave10, Saizou carries Isanami this way after saving her from assassins.
  • In the 6th episode of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, after the Edgerunner's attempt to extract information out of their captive's mind goes awry, they have to forcefully cut Lucy's connection to his mind. As she is still asleep but the NCPD is storming the bulding, David throws her over his shoulder and runs with her to their escape vehical.
  • D.Gray-Man: In Book 2, Allen carries an injured Toma like this when he and Kanda are looking for Lala and Guzol.
  • Happens in the Dragon Ball series when injured characters are carried away from the battlefield. One of the few times it happened to a female character was when Bulma tried to stop Trunks from training to fight Majin Buu and Krillin carries her away like this.
  • In the Punishment Game OVA of Fairy Tail: Gajeel carries Levy this way before telling a bunch of men who are following her to scram off and leave her alone. Since she's wearing a Playboy Bunny outfit at the time, he doesn't miss the chance to look at her butt from up close, much to her annoyance.
  • In Fruits Basket Volume 18, Haru carries Rin like this after finding her passed out on the sidewalk. Rin insists she can walk, but Haru assures her he's strong enough to carry her.
    • In the sequel, their son Riku carries on the tradition: when he thinks Sawa might be ill, his response is to sling her over his shoulder and set off in search of the school nurse's office.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist, Ling Yao carries a badly injured Lan Fan in this manner after she's severely injured by Wrath, and in a stunning display of combat prowess, he actually manages to fight off Wrath for a short time while he's still holding her. Quite an accomplishment considering Wrath is basically a One-Man Army. Eventually though, Wrath does became too much to handle, and after they manage to disengage, Lan-Fan ends up amputating her own shattered arm in order to throw Wrath off their trail.
  • Fushigi Yuugi:
    • When Tasuki first appears, he throws Miaka over his shoulder, uses his spell cards to make wolves attack Hotohori, Nuriko and the bandit leader, then carries Miaka off.
    • A slaver briefly carries Yui when she and Miaka first enter the book.
  • In Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Ledo carries Amy away in this method after being revived on Gargantia, hoping that having a hostage will prevent the unknown people from attacking him. This also provides him with the added benefit of allowing Chamber to learn Earth's language due to Amy's constant string of profanity as she's being carried off.
  • The manga adaptation of Girls' Frontline provides two examples:
    • Chapter 19 sees Sangvis Ringleader Executioner carrying her fellow Ringleader Hunter, who had been deactivated by their boss Ouroboros, over her shoulder to the nearest Sangvis base.
    • Chapter 28 has the Sangvis Master Mind shut down M4A1 who is then carried over the shoulder by her teammate M4 SOPMOD II to safety.
  • Handsome Girl and Crossdressing Boy: Hazuki grabs Iori like this and runs away from Koyuki and Sayuri in Chapter 70.
  • In Inuyasha, Miroku carries an unconscious Sango to safety using this method during his Determinator moment in Mount Hakurei. Kagome is also carried this way when kidnapped by Kouga, though he uses a somewhat inverted method where she is facing the same side he is and her buns are where her face would be in the traditional method.
  • Jotaro carries a possessed Kakyoin back to his house like this in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure after knocking him out.
  • In the end of season 1 of K, Misaki and Saruhiko are still fighting, but the rest of the Red and Blue Clans have evacuated the island. Rikio has to carry them off like this. Misaki is kicking and screaming. Saruhiko is just embarrassed.
  • Happens twice to Miu Furinji from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple:
  • Enjouji carries a struggling Ranmaru this way to bring him inside Rena's hotel in the third OVA of Kizuna.
  • In the 12th episode (titled "Who will have the last laugh") of the Lupin III anime's 1st part, Lupin ties up Fujiko, throws her over his shoulder, smacks her ass and carries her outside of the cave they were both in alongside Jigen (who carries statues Fujiko stole).
  • In a Filler-episode of Naruto, after the Konoha kunoichis failed to seal Three Tails, it breaks out and attacks them with water projectiles. Ino is knocked out but rescued by Lee who carries her over his shoulder onto nearby dry land.
  • Happens a few times in One Piece:
    • This is Luffy's method of carrying people, so he can have one hand free to stretch and swing away. The most notable example is when he does it to Nami during the Aqua Laguna which she couldn't possibly escape from on her own.
    • Blueno deserves a mention for carrying Usopp and Franky on each shoulder.
    • In the Punk Hazard arc, where Zoro carries Tashigi this way to run away from the deadly gas Shinokuni, since she's injured, and thoroughly humiliated as she is coming backside first towards her Marines.
    • In a Filler-scene in episode 755, Carrot saves Luffy from drowning by catching him in the water, loading him onto her shoulder and jumping with him back on land.
    • Sanji carries Nami in this fashion when they running through the Seducing Woods, justified as Yonko Big Mom is chasing them and it's either Run or Die. Nami doesn't mind and uses her clima tact from Sanji's shoulder.
    • After defeating Katakuri and being brought out of the Mirror World by Pekoms, Sanji grabs Luffy and tries to escape with him carrying him over his shoulder with Luffy's upper body hanging down Sanji's front.
  • In Ore-sama Teacher, Takaomi is about to pick up Mafuyu and taker her to the nurse, and everyone around watches in anticipation for him to hold her in 'the legendary princess carry'...and then are appalled when he holds her like a sack of grain over his shoulder and demand he hold her the other way.
  • In the first episode of Ranma ½, Genma (in panda form) knocks out Ranma (in female form) with a street sign and carries her over his shoulder to the Tendo's house, which she isn't too happy about when she wakes up.
  • Redo of Healer:
    • In Chapter 20 of the manga, Keyaru is attacked by a hooded cat lady. They are then interrupted and attacked by forces of the Demon Lord. Keyaru uses the opportunity to knock out the cat lady and escape with her carrying her over his shoulder.
    • In epsiode 12 of the anime, Keyaru knocks out and subsequently kidnaps Princess Norn carrying her over his shoulder.
  • When Makoto (aka Sailor Jupiter) first appears in Sailor Moon, she saves Usagi from being hit by a car by picking her up and carrying her over her shoulder to safety.
  • In Skip Beat!, Kyoko is carried out kicking and screaming over a security guard's shoulder after she threatens revenge on Sho.
  • In Snow White with the Red Hair, Shirayuki gets carried away by this method when she's kidnapped by bandits in season 2.
  • Space Adventure Cobra has a scene in chapter 8 and episode 16 of the manga and anime respectively where our hero, while infiltrating a Rugball team, sees one of the players carry a cheerleader in this fashion (he thankfully gets him to drop her). As with the series's fanservicey nature, the woman is of course scantily clad while getting carried.
  • In episode 7 of Sword Art Online, Kirito briefly carries Lisbeth this way while the two of them are trying to escape from an ice dragon.
  • In Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, Tanaka is carried by Ohta nearly Once an Episode, as the former is often too lazy or sleepy to walk.
  • In Ten Count, Kurose carries Shirotani this way when he doesn't budge from the door.
  • In the Touhou manga, Wild and Horned Hermit, Marisa tests out the Super-Strength she temporarily gained from drinking out of the Ibaraki Medicine Box by easily carrying Reimu around in this manner. Reimu responds by kicking her in the face.
  • To Your Eternity: After defeating him in combat, Stalker with a Crush Hayase takes the unconscious Fushi carrying him over her shoulder to a room wanting to rape him.
  • When Kiba is too injured to run in Wolf's Rain, Tsume slings him over his shoulder, much to Kiba's protest. How exactly this would work in their wolf forms is a mystery.

    Comic Books 

    Fan Works 
  • In Master's Way, Ranma slings Akane over his shoulder and carries her up to her room at one point, as a flirtatious way of letting her know he wants to sleep with her that night.
  • Displaced (The Legend of Zelda): Zelda jokingly asks Link to carry her because she's tired. At first it looks like he's going for a Princess Carry, but instead he does this.
    Link: What? You wanted me to sweep you off your feet like a princess and romantically carry you off into the sunset?
    Zelda: Technically, yes, that is exactly what I asked you to do.
    Link: And technically, that's exactly what I'm doing.
    Zelda: I'd hardly call this romantic.
    Link: You wouldn't? You're tired, and I'm carrying you even though I'm tired too. I'm a catch.
    Zelda: This is like you're going to drag me off to your cave and grunt at me.
  • The Iron Bull subjects Varric to this treatment, in order to remove him from a potentially dangerous situation, in Beyond Heroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium. When asked about it later, Cullen - genuinely startled - assures Varric that Bull was not given explicit directions and decided entirely on his own how he was going to interpret Cullen's request to get Varric out of there.
  • Kingdom Hearts: The Antipode: When Gaston punches Jim Hawkins during a bar fight, Baloo, the tavern's bouncer intervenes, slinging Gaston over his shoulder and carrying him away.
    No one manhandles Gaston!
  • The artist Gérald Parel reinterpreted the scene in Space Adventure Cobra (see anime/manga section) where the football player Gelt carries the cheerleader Miranda like this.
  • The Ultimate Evil: In the reimagined version of the Jackie Chan Adventures episode "The Tiger And The Pussycat", Tohru lifts Valerie Payne over his shoulder when she tries to escape from him while holding in her arms Jade and the box containing the Talismans. He then carries them all to his car and throws them in the backseat.

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 
  • A Clockwork Orange: Mrs. Alexander is slung over Dim's shoulder while Alex gags her and sings "Singin' in the Rain".
  • In the film adaptation of Amadeus, an ill Mozart collapses during the premiere of The Magic Flute and is carried out slung over someone's shoulder, as seen here.
  • The poster for the film of Arsenic and Old Lace shows Mortimer carrying his love interest this way. Has a double meaning- on one hand, it calls to mind the sexual version that's like a Bridal Carry, but it also references how the corpses in the film are carried before being taken to be buried.
  • In The Artist, Clifton finds George passed out drunk in a bar and carries him home like this.
  • Berkshire County: Kylie sees one of the intruders carrying Sam like this when she looks inside the house from outside.
  • In Blood Harvest, Jill's stalker carries her like this at one point.
  • Borat Subsequent Moviefilm has Borat dressed as Trump carrying Tutar like this on the CPAC, offering her to Mike Pence.
  • Carry On Screaming!: The monsters carry their kidnapped women over their shoulder.
  • In Casper, when Cat's father realizes that they're staying in a legitimately haunted house, he throws her over his shoulder and runs down the stairs in a panic. Cat protests the whole way.
    "I can walk, you know."
  • Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: When singing together while stranded in Switzerland, Raj ends up carrying Simran over his shoulder before going home on a carriage.
  • Edward Scissorhands: During the burglary scene, everyone except Edward runs out the door when the alarm goes off. Kim tries to go back and help Edward, but her boyfriend Jim throws her over his shoulder and carries her to the van.
  • In Eloise At Christmastime, Brooks Oliver carries a protesting Eloise like this into the boiler room and locks her in the closet.
  • Enchanted: Narissa, disguised as the old hag, has the unconscious Giselle over her shoulder after poisoning her with the apple and carries her into an elevator to try and escape.
  • In the movie Ever After, Danielle and Prince Henry are robbed by gypsies. When Danielle demands her things back, the ringleader tells her she can have "anything you can carry." She proceeds to deftly lift the prince over her shoulder and walk away with him, much to the gypsies' amusement (and Henry's astonishment).
  • Fifty Shades of Grey: Christian throws Anastasia over his shoulder when he is upset with her for stopping him from attempting to finger her under the table while dining with his family.
    • Fifty Shades Darker: Christian carries Anastasia over his shoulder when about to have sex with her and later when about to propose her.
  • In Forrest Gump, Forest finds Lieutenant Dan wounded during a firefight in The Vietnam War. Despite Dan's wishes, Forrest picks him up in this fashion and carries him to safety, having to Outrun the Fireball on the way. Dan, meanwhile, has drawn his sidearm and is firing defiantly at the attacking enemy behind them.
  • Ghoulies IV: When Alexandra kidnaps Jeannie, she chloroforms the girl before hoisting her unconscious body over her shoulder and casually walking off.
  • The Girl from Missouri: How Tom takes a drunk, loudly protesting Eadie away from the clutches of Charlie Turner at the climax, having decided to marry her after all.
  • The Goonies: After Mikey sees Sloth in the Fratellis' restaurant and runs upstairs, an angry Brandon picks him up and carries him outside over his shoulder.
  • Grease: During the famous hand jive scene at the school dance, one of the boys can be seen dancing with a girl slung over his shoulder twice.
  • Hayride 2: When Ol' Pitchfork catches Amanda, he places her over his shoulder and carries her off.
  • Hook: When Peter is fighting the pirates on Captain Hook's ship, he carries one pirate over his shoulder and spins him around while fighting other pirates at once.
  • Done for laughs in the comedy movie Hot Shots! Part Deux. Topper Harley has to carry a hostage out of an enemy base using this method. The hostage explains that he is incapable of walking because the enemies tied his shoelaces together.
  • In It Happened One Night, Peter walks across a shallow stream carrying Ellie over his shoulder to prevent her from falling in. However, Ellie thinks he is carrying her piggy-back and Peter slaps her on the butt for being foolish.
  • Jumanji: Upon meeting Alan again after being estranged for 26 years, Sarah is shocked until she passes out. Then, Alan carries her by his shoulder to his house.
  • Malliswari, a Bollywood film that takes multiple story points from IHON, has a scene that's almost identical to it's inspiration; The rough male lead carries the spoiled female lead across a stream and they have a back and forth that annoys the man, who asks her to hold what's in his right hand to free it so he can slap her butt. The only 2 differences are that their conversation isn't about piggybacking and that the scene is mostly shot at angles showcasing her rear end.
  • Looney Tunes: Back in Action:
    • While in Paris, one of the villain thugs kidnaps the female costar Kate and somehow manages to bind and gag her inside a sack. He proceeds to carry her away in this fashion all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
    • In a deleted scene, when the thug and Kate are at the top of the tower, the thug takes her out of the bag and tries to carry her over his shoulder into the helicopter.
  • In Machete, in the beginning, Machete saves a naked victim (which is later revealed to be a Honey Trap) by carrying her over his shoulder.
  • In The Mangler Reborn, Hadley kidnaps a girl to give to the Mangler by placing her in a bag and carrying her over his shoulder first into his van, then into his house. He carries another girl too, after knocking her out with a hammer. All of these can be seen here.
  • Magic Mike: During Tarzan's segment in one show, a woman is brought onstage by two "hunters" and tied to fake trees. Tarzan saves the woman and carries her backstage over his shoulder.
  • Monster-in-Law: After finished painting the wall together, Kevin carries Charli by his shoulder before cuddling up.
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "Bring out your dead!" An old man who is not quite dead yet is carried away and put on a cart with dead bodies.
  • Monty Python's Life of Brian: Just before the stoning scene, the beard and stone salesman offers a beard to a woman with a sick donkey, which she is carrying over her shoulder.
  • The Mummy Returns: Rick carries his wife, Evelyn, by his shoulder, saving her from getting burned alive.
  • During the fire in the depot in Mutiny on the Buses, Stan grabs an underwear-clad Suzy and holds her over his shoulder, copping a feel of her bottom as he does so.
  • In the 1942 film My Favorite Spy (starring Kay Kyser as the lead), the main character tries to get away from people chasing him alongside his wife (played by Ellen Drew), who doesn't understand the situation and screams to get their attention. To get out of this, Kay Kyser's character gets her in a room, ties her up, puts a bag over her head, carries her over his shoulder and gives her a harsh smack on the butt to stop her from struggling (which only actually stops her for a second).
  • My Little Sister: At the start of the movie, Tom picks Sheila up and carries her like this for a bit, both laughing the entire time.
  • Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: Nick's friend carries the drunk Caroline like this after she locked herself in Nick's car as seen at the end of this scene here
    Caroline: Norah, I'm being carried!
  • Peter Pan (2003): The pirates capture Wendy, John, Michael and the Lost Boys by tying them up, gagging them and carrying them to the ship over their shoulders.
  • In The Phantom, Sala carries Diana Palmer over her shoulder in one scene, as seen here.
  • In the movie Pillow Talk, Rock Hudson grabs Doris Day in her pajamas, wraps her in a blanket, and carries her back to his apartment just this way. She even asks a doorman they pass on the street for help, but he, in typical 1950s fashion, is on Rock's side on this one.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: Jack Sparrow has Elizabeth over his shoulder when he rescues her from drowning.
  • Playing With Dolls: During the climax, we see the killer carrying someone over his shoulder.
  • Redwood Massacre Annihilation: In one scene, the killer is seen carrying one of his victims this way.
  • Posters for Ruby Sparks shows Ruby slung over her novelist's shoulder, as does the trailer (around 1:03 in.)
  • Scooby-Doo: The gagged Daphne is carried away by a monster and grows tired of being the victim.
  • Sixteen Candles: The geek (aka "Farmer Ted") carries the drunk and unconscious Caroline like this to Jake's car.
  • Talon Falls: The employees at the park are sometimes seen carrying their prisoners in this manner.
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003): Leatherface captures Andy and carries him to his basement over his shoulder.
  • In the movie Two Weeks Notice, George carries Lucy over his shoulder and walks through traffic to an RV so Lucy can use their bathroom. It's especially humiliating for Lucy, because she has dirt spots on the backside of her skirt from falling right before George picked her up.

    Literature 
  • Adrian Mole: After Adrian's first proper hangover, Pandora puts him to bed, and gives him a fireman's lift up the stairs.
  • In A Brother's Price, Jerin carries a wounded soldier this way. It is depicted as Bridal Carry on the cover, naturally. No complaining ensues, as the soldier is unconscious, having been hit over the head with a blunt weapon. When she regains consciousness for a moment, she's already on a horse, in a much more dignified position.
  • Happens frequently in the Artemis Fowl series.
    • Butler has carried Holly like this three times, and he's also carried Juliet and Artemis.
    • Holly was also carried like this by Julius Root.
    • In "The Arctic Incident", Artemis Sr. is carried like this by one of the members of the Russian Mafiya.
  • In Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window, Count Olaf's Associate That Looks Like Neither a Man or a Woman grabs Violet by the hair and slings her over his/her shoulder, then picks up Klaus and Sunny to carry all of them away. Luckily, the children escape when the Associate slips and drops them.
  • The Brotherhood of the Conch: In The Conch Bearer, Anand and Nisha are captured by a group of ape-like creatures who carry them over their shoulders while they climb up a cliff to the cave where they live.
  • In John C. Wright's Orphans of Chaos, Glum carries off Amelia like this. Giving her a few clues, because in spite of his having hit her in the solar plexus just before it, she is not nauseated by the jolts of his shoulder.
  • Taran does this to the unconscious Eilonwy when they have to escape from The Castle of Llyr in The Chronicles of Prydain series.
  • In Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Greg is carried over a security guard's shoulder after getting trapped in the ladies' restroom in Leisure Towers.
  • In Dogs Don't Talk, Ben carries The Bully this way during their fight.
  • Dolphin Trilogy: In Daughters of the Dolphin, men kidnap Syn from Crab Island so they can hold her for ransom. One of them carries her over his shoulder back to his boat.
  • On the cover of Barbara Park's Operation: Dump The Chump, Oscar's little brother Robert is carried like this.
  • The Easy Part of Impossible: When Sean gets drunk at a football game, Ria asks Cotton to help her help him to the car. She expects Cotton to grab Sean's arm, but instead he lifts him over his shoulder and carries him. Later he carries Sean from the car to the porch the same way.
  • In Fire Engine By Mistake, the young fireman Jim Price has to learn the proper way of carrying people when rescuing them from a burning building. When he does this for a competition, he rescues an old fireman who says he doesn't mind being "rescued" just that one afternoon.
  • Fractured Stars: During the Great Escape, Dash knocks out some prison guards, carries them over his shoulder one at a time to the control room, and locks them in a closet.
  • The protagonist of The Goblin Reservation carries a girl from the gassed room in such a fashion. She comes to her senses and starts complaining about this being an absurd way to carry a woman. He puts her on the floor and sarcastically suggests he should just leave her there.
  • Keeper of the Lost Cities: In Flashback, Ro is dragging Keefe back to his session when he makes a needling comment about her and Bo. She responds by tossing him over her shoulder and stomping out.
  • In The Place Inside the Storm, a helpful stranger carries Loki this way when he's unconscious from a particularly bad seizure.
  • In Star Wars Path Of Deceit, after Padawan Kevmo Zink held off the torrent of water rushing into the cave of the Path of the Open Hand long enough for its members to escape, he runs out of strength and is subsequently presses against the rocks of the cave knocking him out. However, Path member Marda Ro dives down to him fighting the strong current. She manages to get a hold of him, pulling him towards her loading him onto her shoulder. She then manages to get back to dry land while carrying him over her shoulder.
  • Tempest (2011): After Sabyn knocks Mahina unconscious in Tempest Unleashed, Tempest carries Mahina over her shoulder while she swims away. Mahina recovers after a few minutes.
  • The Vazula Chronicles: In A Kingdom Restored, when the magic-wielders break the Record Master out of the dungeon in Bryford so he can face justice in the triple kingdoms, Percival carries him over his shoulder.
  • In Where's Waldo Now, one of the scenes Waldo visits takes place in the Viking Age. Three Vikings are shown running away from houses they've robbed, each with a screaming woman slung over their shoulders. In a comic reversal, two large ugly women are shown carrying Vikings they've captured over their shoulders.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In one episode of Alphas, Cameron carries a brainwashed Rachel over his shoulder.
  • In one episode of Baywatch, Mitch (David Hasselhoff) is visited by his friend Mary Lou Retton (as herself), who is on hand to promote a Special Olympics event. He does this to her several times throughout the episode; it's implied to be an old joke between the two friends because Mary Lou is so tiny.
  • Big Time Rush:
    • Freight Train has slung Kendall over his shoulder twice and taken him to the studio. He had Logan slung over the other shoulder one of those times.
    • In "Big Time Mansion", Carlos has Logan over his shoulder when he passes out during all of the chaos at Gustavo's mansion and James and Kendall help carry him.
    • In "Green Time Rush", the school bully throws Logan over his shoulder and carries him out of the room to work on their school project.
    • James briefly carries Camille like this in "Big Time Beach Party" to have a private talk with her.
    • Kendall carried Katie over his shoulder in "Big Time Reality" and "Bel Air Rush."
  • Beverly Hills, 90210: In episode "Spring Dance", Dylan throws Brenda over his shoulder and twirls her when having alone time in a hotel room right before doing Their First Time.
  • Boys Before Flowers: Jun Pyo lifts Jan Di over his shoulder when playing golf together.
  • In the Castle episode "Knockout", Castle carries a struggling Beckett over his shoulder to save her life.
  • In Charité at War, Martin does that when he finds Otto with a bullet wound. With Martin's leg prosthesis and carrying a man his own weight down a ladder and through a half-demolished staircase during the fall of Berlin, it's nothing short of a feat of heroism.
  • The Closer:
    • On one episode, a man fakes a heart attack in order to murder a pair of ambulance attendants. One of the attendants carries him like this while he is faking his symptoms, which proves to be his undoing. While he is being carried, he leaves his fingerprints on the attendant's belt.
    • Brenda gets carried by the Det. Sanchez when her crime scene turns out to be a bombing site. She gets carried out twice, the second time remarking that she can walk.
    • Sanchez has carried away a few women when they started trouble.
  • Dancing with the Stars:
    • During Season 6, second place winner Jason Taylor carried winner Kristi Yamaguchi and his partner Edyta like this once or twice.
      Edyta: This week we're doing the Viennese Waltz, so I need you to treat me like a proper lady.
      Jason: Okay.
      (Jason throws her over his shoulder and carries her out of the frame)
    • During Season 9, Mark Ballas carried Melissa Joan Hart over the shoulder at the end of their Charleston.
    • During Season 10, Derek Hough jokingly carried Nicole Scherzinger over his shoulder after their fox trot.
    • During Season 16, Mark Ballas carried Alexandra Raisman over his shoulder in some of their routines, although she was on her back and facing upwards.
    • Varieties of over the shoulder lifts are usually used in the contemporary routines.
    • During Season 17, Bill Engvall carried his partner Emma Slater like this towards the end of their Charleston. Val Chmerkovskiy also carried Elizabeth Berkley Lauren like this in their jazz routine.
    • During Season 19, Mark carried Sadie Robertson like this at the end of their samba.
  • In a season two episode of Doctor Who ("The Satan Pit"), after contact with the Doctor is lost after apparently falling to his death, the crew decide it is time to leave the planet and escape in the rocket. The Doctor's companion, Rose, chooses to stay for him (believing him not to be dead) but the station's captain, Zack, renders her unconscious and carries her along, as he has lost too many people.
  • Fellow Travelers: At a Fire Island beach, Hawkins Fuller lifts his former lover Tim Laughlin over his shoulder and then carries him until they fall into the water.
  • In the Frasier episode "The Proposal", Niles plans a perfect evening to propose to Daphne, but she comes over sick. Niles changes plans, leaving Frasier the job of getting everyone involved with the proposal out of the house without Daphne seeing them. At one point he quietly runs to the door with the chef bound and gagged over his shoulder.
  • In the first episode of Galavant, Gareth slings Madalena over his shoulder when he and King Richard are kidnapping her.
  • Sandor Clegane, "The Hound," rescues Sansa Stark from being gang-raped when a riot breaks out in King's Landing during the second season of Game of Thrones. He carries her in this fashion to leave his sword hand free as he carries her to safety.
  • General Hospital:
    • Jason carried a disoriented Spinelli over his shoulder to the passenger seat of his car in one episode.
    • In another episode, Jason carried Sam over the shoulder after she twisted her ankle.
  • Ralph carried Bill over his shoulder many times in The Greatest American Hero.
  • In an episode of Hannah Montana, while sleep walking, Hannah stumbles into her brother's room and is quickly tossed over his shoulder and carried back to her bed.
  • In Happy Endings, when Jane and Alex are about to get into a violent fight in "The Incident," they're separated by Max, carrying Alex, and Brad, carrying Jane, with the sisters still screaming at each other as they're carried away.
    Jane You were adopted!
    Alex You were born a man!
  • As per the Real Life section, the only time this ever shows up in London's Burning is when Colin and his new bride Sonia are embarking on their honeymoon, and when she asks to be carried over the threshold he jokingly uses the Fireman's Carry method instead of a Bridal Carry. Sonia doesn't mind in the least.
  • In Merlin, Morgana fakes a sprained ankle and Arthur throws her over his shoulder in this position. It's played for maximum embarrassment (to Morgana) as she squeals and complains about what he's doing while Merlin smirks. Interestingly, two episodes earlier, Arthur gave her the Bridal Carry when she was seriously injured after a fall.
  • In The Mighty Boosh, Bollo carries the infected Vince Noir while they flee from a group of enraged punks (season 3 episode "Journey to The Centre of The Punk").
  • Modern Family: In the Valentine's Day episode "Bixby's Back," Jay carries a protesting Gloria into their house over his shoulder to show her the elaborate dinner he planned for her, which Gloria found out about and moved to the garage to surprise Jay.
  • In the "South of the Border Part Uno" episode of My Name Is Earl, Randy tries to get Earl to go on a bus with him to find Catalina, but Earl would rather buy a taco. Randy throws Earl over his shoulder and heads for the bus, but Earl retaliates by giving him a wedgie until he puts him down.
  • In Once Upon a Time, this is how Neal rescues Henry. Too bad he set him down...
  • In the Out of This World (1987) episode "Baby Talk", Evie gets a babysitting job and her mom helps her prepare. One of the things she does is carry Evie over her shoulder to demonstrate the fireman's carry, as seen here (at 3:36)
  • Passions: Luis carries Fancy like this twice in one episode.
  • In the Power Rangers Operation Overdrive episode "Man of Mercury: Part 1", Ronny is captured by the Fearcats. When trying to escape, one of the Fearcats lifted her up in the air on his shoulder.
  • In The Professionals, Doyle is knocked out and carried like this by the villian he was impersonating.
  • RuPaul's Drag Race had one of its most iconic moment in the show's history in Season 3 during an elimination "Lip-synch For Your Life", in which Mimi Imfurst lifted fellow contestant India Ferrah over her shoulder against her will. The producers punctuated the event by superimposing sound effects from a nature documentary over the moment, and cumulated with RuPaul eliminating Mimi by telling her "Drag is not a contact sport".
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: Is Data unconscious or otherwise non-functioning? And is Worf there? Yes to both? Then congratulations, you're going to see Michael Dorn gripping Brent Spiner by the knees and flinging him over his shoulder.
  • Doug carried Tony in this fashion in an episode of The Time Tunnel called "Attack of the Barbarians".
  • Whose Line Is It Anyway?:
    • During one game of "Party Quirks", Greg Proops is the host of a party and Wayne Brady is a fireman trying to rescue everyone from a burning building. Wayne slings Greg over his shoulder and briefly carries him to safety.
    • In this playing of Greatest Hits, Wayne Brady and Chip Esten sing a song about it, which inevitably leads to Wayne carrying Chip like this.
  • In a Wizards of Waverly Place episode, Felix carries Justin over his shoulder to the Hall of Wizards to save Alex from Cragmont because Justin initially refused to go.
  • Dan Schneider seems to be a fan of this trope and uses it a lot in his shows:
    • iCarly:
      • Spencer was slung over Jackson Colt's shoulder unconscious in "iLook Alike".
      • Spencer has carried Carly over his shoulder twice: once to carry her to safety when their apartment was on fire, and the second time to bring her downstairs to talk to Shelby Marx.
      • Sam mostly throws Freddie over her shoulder when he's reluctant to go somewhere with her.
        Sam: (looks at Freddie) Then you're helping me.
        Freddie: Oh no, I'm not gonna risk getting caught and then having my mother find out...
        (Sam picks Freddie up and walks to the door)
        Freddie: Oh, come on! Sam! How do you do this??!!
      • Sam also carried a bound Adam over the shoulder in "iStart a Fan War" and briefly carried Carly like this in "iBust a Thief."
    • Drake & Josh:
      • In the episode "The Drake and Josh Inn", 'Sheet Man' puts Drake over his shoulder and spins him around a few times.
      • There's a brief clip of Josh carrying Drake over the shoulder in the Season 2 opener.
      • In the episode "Girl Power", Drake briefly has his girlfriend Lucy over his shoulder when they're wrestling to see who is tougher.
    • Victorious:
      • In "Andre's Horrible Girl," Trina annoys a music producer and the producer's muscular bodyguard carries her out over his shoulder twice.
      • Sikowitz carries his sick grandmother out of the classroom like this in "Prom Wrecker"
      • In "How Trina Got In", Tori and Robbie are trapped in a sushi restaurant because they can't pay the bill. Tori tries to escape, but is quickly tossed over the shoulder of the cook Kwakoo and carried back inside.
      • In "The Bad Roommate", Andre carries Tori out of the room like this after she plays his song for Kojeezy.

    Music Videos 
  • In Cyndi Lauper's video for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", Cyndi watches TV during the "Some boys take a beautiful girl..." line. A black and white movie clip of an apeman kidnapping a woman in this fashion is shown.
  • In Tom Cochrane's video for "Life is a Highway", a couple take a break from driving their car. After the first chorus, the boyfriend playfully tosses his girlfriend over his shoulder and spins her around.
  • During the dance between the ex-boyfriend and his victims in Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts" video, one of the girls takes a running leap at him. He catches her, drapes her over his shoulder and spins her around.
  • When Lindsey Stirling and Tyler Ward are romping around in "Thrift Shop", he briefly carries her in this fashion.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • While most spine busters simply involve grabbing the legs and slamming someone to the mat, the bionic spine buster is a no hands over the shoulder carry, for wrestlers who want to show off.
  • Randy Savage did this with Miss Elizabeth a few times, most notably on an edition of Saturday Nights Main Event where George Steele took a liking to Elizabeth.
  • The Schwein/Kryptonite Krunch piledriver starts this way but ends with the attacker only holding one of the legs before planting the opponent's head into the canvas. A popular variation, Mariko Yoshida's air raid crash, is instead done from a fireman's carry, which makes the head planting easier, if less painful looking.
  • One of Black Rose's signatures, since she shows off how strong she is by dumping wrestlers significantly larger than herself into turnbuckles this way.
  • When unauthorized "ROH a Night of Hoopla" special guest referee "Elizabeth" agreed to Machismo King's wedding proposal, Mike Bennett carried her off over his shoulder, to King's chagrin.
  • Jacqueline and K-Kwik defeated Ivory and Haku on the June 16 (taped June 11), 2001 WWF Jakked when Jackie powerbombed and pinned Ivory. After the match, Haku threw Ivory over his shoulder and carried her away, with her screaming and protesting the whole time.
  • Happened constantly to A.J. Lee during her in-ring career. Anytime she was defeated, knocked out, or otherwise unable to walk on her own after a match, her partner or manager would inevitably carry her this way backstage.
  • During a Brawl between ODB and Velvet Sky the bigger stronger ODB grabbed and put the smaller Velvet in this position and rammed Velvet rear end first into a wall. Velvet notably didn't enjoy it.
  • When Samoa Joe was starting his "Nation Of Violence" gimmick and was terrorizing the heels of the company before joining them himself he kidnapped Sharmell (Booker T's Wife) by carrying her away in this fashion.
  • In TNA's feud of Christie Hemme vs the VKM (Voodoo Kim Mafia) where Christie was finding new opponents for them every week Lance Hoyt prevented her from interfering by carrying her away in this fashion before the match started.

    Radio 

    Tabletop Games 
  • In this illustration from the original Fiend Folio, one of the hapless adventurers is being carted off this way by a crabman.

    Theater 

    Video Games 
  • In Batman: Arkham Knight, the Arkham Knight captures Oracle and carries her out of the clock tower like this, upon Batman observing some security footage of the incident. It happens again later after Oracle manages to crash the Knight's transport vehicle they were both occupying, and he carries her away on his shoulder.
  • Rogue is carted away by Mr. Sinister's Dumb Muscle henchman in the Deadpool game - the protagonist has to chase them to save her, but is distracted several times by obstacles and hallucinations.
  • At one point during Death Stranding, Higgs carries Amelie over his shoulder with one hand resting on her butt while the other is shooting at Sam. He even gives her rear a couple of light taps as he teleports away.
  • In Dishonored and the sequel, the player character carries a unconscious or an intact dead body this way. You have to be careful when putting unconscious bodies down, as they could easily become dead bodies if they slide off an edge or land the wrong way on a bookshelf.
  • Pauline gets carried away in such a matter in most Donkey Kong games.
  • The opening sequence of Double Dragon has Marian being carried over by a mook after being knocked unconscious, complete with a panty shot (at least in the original arcade version).
  • Duke Nukem Forever has a "Capture the Babe" mode, in which the player captures said babes and takes them to their base in this manner while fending off opponents. During this time, the player is severely limited in combat, as the only weapon they can use is a tiny Derringer pistol in their free hand. The babe will periodically try to sabotage the player by waving her hand in the player's face; she has to be slapped on the butt to make her stop.
  • In Far Cry 4, the player uses this method to move dead bodies so enemies can't find them. There is also a campaign mission where you have to capture Paul Harmon by knocking him out and carrying him to a getaway vehicle. There is a long distance to cover to get there any numerous enemies along the way, so this often requires putting him down to go into combat and then picking him up again. There's also a skill you can unlock that allows you to fire any sort of weapon the game classifies as a sidearm while in situations that only actually require one hand/arm, which carrying corpses (or Paul in that one mission) counts as.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake: In chapter 7, when they are separated from Cloud in an exploding factory and he's hanging one-handed off a ledge, Barrat grabs and carries Tifa to safety this way over her protests and her Futile Hand Reach.
  • In Professor Layton and the Last Specter, "Third Eye" Jakes does this to Arianna when he "arrests" her for supposedly masterminding the Specter's rampages throughout the town. Carrying her off in this manner makes it even more obvious that this is essentially a kidnapping, not a sincere effort at upholding the law.
  • Red Dead Redemption:
    • If John Marston kills Javier Escuella instead of capturing him, he will carry Javier's body sorrowfully in this manner: once in bringing him into El Presidio's prison cell for a moment to weep silently over him there before going after the arriving army reinforcements; and once again when he returns to the cell and carries the body outside before handing it over to Edgar Ross and the authorities as proof (although John does get a "What the Hell, Hero?" from Archer Fordham, who had expected him to bring Javier in alive). John also does the same thing if Javier is captured alive, in order to bring him into the same prison cell.
    • John can also do this to the wanted criminals he hogties in order to bring them in alive for the rewards.
  • In Resident Evil 4 poor Damsel in Distress Ashley Graham gets carried in this fashion a lot. This is how mooks take her away from Leon. Also in her own chapter, she gets put in this position after an exclusive neck snap death. She is also shown like this for a small part in one chapter.
  • In Nefarious, once you kidnap a princess, the rest of the level consists of carrying her this way. Depending on which one it is, Crow gains an additional ability. (For instance, if it's Apoidea, Crow can jump higher.)
  • Sakuna Of Rice And Ruin: How Sakuna is forced to board the ship away from the capital, when her guardian, Tama, allows Tauemon to carry her this way, being a fully grown adult carry a child-like goddess.
  • In Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights, Daphne is kidnapped by the villain in this fashion.
  • In the app Subway Surfers, if your character is caught by the guard, he will sometimes carry them away over his shoulder.
  • Super Mario Sunshine has Shadow Mario, who snatches Peach at the beginning of the game and tries to make a get away by running amok through the entire city while carrying the princess the entire time. Either Shadow Mario has strength or she has no weight.
  • In Sword of the Samurai, on missions to kidnap family members of rival Samurai lords, the player uses this carry method to take the hostage out of the rival's castle. It's best to make sure all the guards have been cleared out first, as you realistically cannot fight while carrying the hostage. Oddly enough, you also use this method to evacuate your own hostage family members when you perform rescue missions, even though there is no reason they should not be capable of walking out of the castle with you. The most likely explanation for this is that programming a friendly AI character that could safely follow you on their own after you find them would have been too difficult for a game made in 1989.
  • In Tekken 5, Craig does this to Anna after defeating her, carrying her off to an unknown place.
  • Valkyria Chronicles III has a non-villainous version in Felix's chapter when he rescues Giulio from enemy reinforcements. Naturally, the screen gives the player a nice view of the latter's butt.
  • How your soldier recovers dead troopers (they won't complain) and their gear, or injured troopers (noted in Worst Aid as being a last ditch way to carry someone, but considering that 1) your soldiers (probably) aren't doctors, and 2) if you have to carry an injured soldier, it's because they are either about to die or you need to evacuate the premises before enemy aircraft arrive to engage your Drop Ship, it's very justified) in XCOM 2.
  • In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Donkey Kong's Cargo Throw has been changed so that he hoists and carries his opponents on his shoulder as opposed to above his head like the previous installments, as seen here.
  • Sam Fisher carries bodies around in this fashion in the Splinter Cell games, the original two having him hoist them across both shoulders and Chaos Theory/Double Agent having him carry them over one shoulder. Interestingly, the Worst Aid aspect is hinted at in the original game, where Sam carries an injured programmer to a medical office in this manner during the Kalinatek mission, and after giving some exposition, said programmer immediately dies.
  • In Mass Effect, Commander Shepard does this twice to evacuate either Ashley or Kaidan. Once on Virmire in Mass Effect after sustaining injuries in combat against the geth and again on Mars in Mass Effect 3 after they're critically wounded by a Cerberus robot. Bonus awesome points if it's female Shepard hoisting Kaidan.note 
  • Manhunt has James Earl Cash carry his victims like this. Same happens in Manhunt 2, with extra Jitter Cam.
  • In the first Kingdom Hearts game, Hercules carries Cloud Strife this way after he collapses during a fight.
  • Done to Momiji in the DS version of Ninja Gaiden while she was still treated as a Faux Action Girl. Fortunately for her due to the game being more family friendly her ninja rear end wasn't displayed instead close ups of her battle weary passed out face and shoulders were mostly used.
  • In the 2nd installment of The Witcher, Roche carries a tired Triss. During gameplay, Geralt has to protect them from enemy assault while Triss keeps up her spell shielding them from arrows. All the while, she complains that Roche's hands are on her butt.
  • E. Honda does this to his opponents in Street Fighter V and rams them into the nearest corner.
  • Honoka in Dead Or Alive puts her opponents in the position before droping them on their heads in Dead Or Alive.

    Webcomics 
  • The one Fred pulls off in Namesake is impressive for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that he does it at a dead sprint. Also, given that Elaine was running in the same direction several paces ahead of him, he apparently had to speed up, spin her around and then hoist her over his shoulder without breaking stride - all of which is so fast we don't even see it happening between panels. Coming from anyone else, this would be unbelievable, but...
  • In Girl Genius when Gil swings by and grabs Agatha away from OTHAR TRYGGVASSEN, Gentleman Adventurer! before knocking the boisterous "hero" out a window she ends up carried mostly over his shoulder.
  • I'm the Grim Reaper: After rescuing Chase from the Red Spades and running into Brook again, Scarlet swings him over her shoulder so she can wield her scythe.

    Web Videos 

    Western Animation 
  • Adventure Time: In season 7 episode 11, after getting poisoned in a previous battle, Marcy falls unconscious. Princess Bubblegum then loades her onto her shoulder and carries her back to Peppermint Butler's poison lab.
  • American Dad!: In season 16 episode 21, Hayley carries a barely conscious Steve over her shoulder to a test he wants to take.
  • Betty Boop was carried like this by the villains in some of her cartoons. In "Chess-Nuts," the black king throws her over his shoulder and heads for the bedroom; fortunately, Bimbo comes to her rescue. In "No! No! A Thousand Times No!," the villain ties up her other boyfriend Freddie and carries her like this into a hot air balloon to escape with her. Again, she is rescued.
  • In the Bugs Bunny cartoon Hot Cross Bunny, Bugs tries to run away from a scientist set on switching his brain with a chicken's. The scientist gives Bugs laughing gas to make him cooperate and carries him to the operating room over his shoulder.
  • In the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode "Cowboy Courage," Courage dreams that he, Muriel and Eustace are in the Wild West. The outlaw Eustace throws Muriel over his shoulder and tries to carry her off, but Courage stops him.
  • Daisy-Head Mayzie: Like in the book, Miss Sneetcher picks up Mayzie and carries her to the principal's office over her shoulder as Mayzie's classmates tease her with a song.
  • Danny Phantom: While fighting Vlad in one episode, Danny's 'cousin' Dani knocks him unconscious with a ghost ray. Vlad slings Danny over his shoulder and he and Dani fly off with him.
  • In the 5th episode of the 5th season of Dragons: The Nine Realms, Olivia is frozen by Speed Stinger. Shortly after the Dragon Club discover her, they are in turn discovered by the Speed Stinger. Tom then picks up the frozen Olivia by bending forwards pushing her lower stomach against his shoulder, then standing up carring her over his shoulder to Plowhorn holding her in place by pressing against her back and butt.
  • Generator Rex:
  • In the french animated series Il Était Une Fois... L'Homme, an episode centered on the Roman empire showcases romans pillaging a Gaulish village, with one legionnaire carrying a female Gaul over his shoulder while she screams for him to let her go.
  • Done in Jackie Chan Adventures with Jade and the mook of the day. Being only 12 years old and 3 foot tall and the mook being much bigger than her she had to out wit him to get out of his grasp.
  • In season 2 episode 19 of Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures, Jonny Quest knocks out Melana and carries her over his shoulder to a helicopter to avoid getting trapped in another realm for 500 years.
  • In season 2, episode 10 of Kim Possible, Kim is knocked out by White Stripe and left laying on a metal beam. Ron then proceeds to load her onto his shoulder and use her grappling hook to swing to the ground while carrying her over his shoulder.
  • The Legend of Korra: In the eighth episode of season 3, Korra is kidnapped by the Red Lotus. She is then saved by Lin Beifong who tries to escape the ongoing fight while carrying her over her shoulder.
  • In The Legend of Prince Valiant, Guinevere is kidnapped in this fashion in one episode.
  • At the end of Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands, Ghostspider manages to knock out the villain Screaming Mimi, binds her hands with her nets, loades her onto her shoulder and carries her over her shoulder to prison.
  • Happens at least once in My Life as a Teenage Robot.
  • Ninjago:
    • In "Rise Of The Snakes," Cole, Jay, Kai and Zane carry Lloyd like this after they caughter him trying to steal candy in a village.
    • In "Never Trust A Snake," Jay slings Lloyd over his shoulder and carried him to the ship after the latter is cornered and Wu orders him to come with them.
    • In "The Temple on Haunted Hill," Ronin carries Nya like this when she refuses to run away and let Morro steal her suit.
  • The Fairly OddParents!:
    • In "Abra-Catastrophe," one of the apes carries Timmy over his shoulder to their lab to do experiments on him.
    • In the episode "Take and Fake," Timmy's parents accidentally insult Trixie's costume during her party and are carried out over the shoulders of her guards.
    • In the episode "Hero Hound," Sparky carries Timmy in this fashion when he's rescuing him from a well.
  • Fireman Sam: In the opening to Series 5, Sam carries Mandy out of a burning building over his shoulder.
  • Hey Arnold!:
    • In the episode "Spelling Bee", a kid is caught cheating using a hearing aid as his mom spells the words in his ear. The kid is carried out over a security guard's shoulder protesting his innocence.
    • In the episode "Parent's Day", Big Bob carries Helga over his shoulder during the tournament's relay race.
  • Onyx Equinox:
    • In episode 5, after Yun loses consciousness due to bloodloss, Zyanya loades him onto her shoulder and carries him to the cave of a healer.
    • In episode 6, after accidentally teleporting to a city, Zyanya and K'in are knocked out and the group is taken captive by the city's soldiers. Since they are still knocked out, Zyanaya and K'in are loaded onto the soldiers shoulders and carried to prison by the soldiers.
  • Phineas and Ferb: Happens a few times. One such example appears in the caveman episode, when the caveman does this to Candace while she attempts to bust her brothers.
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show:
    • In the pilot episode, Ren is carried like this by a little girl who wants to adopt him from the pound, thinking he's a poodle.
    • In "Powdered Toast Man," Powdered Toast Man carries the Pope like this when he's rescuing him from Muddy Mudskipper.
  • Happens quite frequently on Scooby-Doo, usually to Daphne.
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
    • In the first episode of season 5, Scorpia has to sting Adora knocking her out to prevent her from charging into a group of enemies. She then carries her over her shoulder while retreating.
    • In the fifth episode of season 5, Adora rescues Catra from Horde Prime. Since Catra has fallen unconcious and they are surrounded by Horde Prime's attendents, Adora, as She-Ra, throws her over her shoulder and proceeds to beat Prime's minions while carrying her over her shoulder.
  • Happens occasionally on The Simpsons.
    • In this clip of the episode "Homer the Heretic," Ned carries Homer over his shoulder when he rescues him from his burning house.
    • In this clip of the Treehouse of Horror V segment "The Shinning," a crazed Homer falls down a flight of stairs and passes out. Marge manages to carry him like this into the pantry and locks him in there. Not that he minds.
    • Barney rescues two and carries them over his both shoulders from Moe's burning tavern. It's two barrels of beer. He also returns for Moe... and another barrel.
  • In the second episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends titled "crime of the century", Kraven the hunter throws a heat sensing boomerang (with a freezing spray) at Firestar, making her fall to the ground unconscious from way above the sky. Kraven then catches his prey and carries her over his shoulder.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • In the episode "Arrgh!", SpongeBob carries Patrick home over his shoulder after he falls asleep playing the Flying Dutchman game with him and Mr. Krabs.
    • SpongeBob carries Squidward like this a few times in the episode "Squid Baby".
  • In a season two episode of Star Wars Rebels ("Always Two There Are"), Sabine and Zeb try to lay a trap for the Fifth Brother, who is hunting them, using thermal detonators. The plan backfires when the Fifth Brother uses the Force to throw the detonators at Zeb and Sabine. They both survive the explosion, but the blast leaves them unconscious and Sabine is thus taken captive by the Fifth Brother, as shown here.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
    • Frequently happens to April O'Neil in the original cartoon during her many kidnappings or when the turtles rescue her.
    • Happen also to young version of April in an episode of the 2012 series, as illustrated in the trope image.
  • Total Drama:
    • In both versions of "The Very Last Episode, Really!", Trent picks up Gwen and holds her over his shoulder after the winner has been decided. If Gwen loses, he does it to cheer her up and playfully get the promise of a date out of her. If Gwen wins, he does it to congratulate her on her victory.
    • Trent is shocked to be voted off in "3:10 to Crazytown" and refuses to leave without saying goodbye to Gwen, who is not present at the elimination ceremony because she's on the other team and because the two of them recently and awkwardly broke up. Not one to tolerate campers that make their elimination a chore, Chef picks him up, throws him over his shoulder, and carries him off to throw him into the Lame-o-sine.
    • Tyler gets the apple bobbing in the pond for Team CIRRRRH in "Broadway, Baby!". However, this leaves him exhausted, so Owen grabs him and throws him over his shoulder to carry him along to the finish line.
    • After rescuing Cody from a giant mosquito in the Amazon Rainforest in "The Am-AH-Zon Race", she declares that she's the only one he can truly rely on and throws him over her shoulder to rejoin their team.
    • The final challenge in "Niagara Brawls" requires male contestants to carry female contestants over a tightrope across the Niagara Falls as groom and bride. Although a Bridal Carry would be conventional, two teams opt for the over-the-shoulder carry. Firstly, Sierra goes against the assigned gender roles by carrying Cody. She carries him over her shoulder for mobility and switches to a bridal carry when they reach Chef's customs booth. Duncan and Courtney stick with the gender roles, but because outside of the challenge they're bitter exes, Duncan refuses Courtney any dignity and carries her over his shoulder.
    • Jo has just forced Cameron into an alliance in "Up, Up, and Away in My Pitiful Balloon" when she catches him giving advice to Lightning. She tells Cameron to stop talking, grabs him by the hoodie, throws him over her shoulder, tells Lightning to get his own nerd, and runs off with her ally.
    • Leonard tries to cast a time reversal spell in "I Love You, Grease Pig!" when he learns that he's been eliminated. Neither Chris nor Chef are fans of his wizard shtick and don't like campers that try to fight their elimination, so Chef throws Leonard over his shoulder and carries him over to the Cannon of Shame.
  • Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race: MacArthur frequently carries Sanders using this method. Sanders returns the favor in "Bahamarama" after MacArthur gets knocked over by Josee.
  • Totally Spies!: The girls, especially Clover, were carried like this a few times.
  • T.U.F.F. Puppy: In "The Doom-mates," Dudley carries Kitty like this a few times because she has no sense of balance after losing her whiskers.
  • The Twins of Destiny: In one episode, an Arab slave trader kidnaps Julie to sell her to a sultan by tossing her over his shoulder and running away.
  • The Venture Brothers: In "Operation P.R.O.M.", Sergeant Hatred carries a thoroughly tied up and ball-gagged Princess Tinyfeet over his shoulder. She's into bondage, so everything in this scenario is at her behest.
  • Gambit had to carry Jubilee this way for both to flee from a mob of Sentinels in X-Men: The Animated Series. And he couldn't resist making a crack about her weight in the process.
  • In the ninth episode of season 2 of Young Justice, Tuppence Terror knocks out Beast Boy and kidnaps him carrying him away over her shoulder.

    Real Life 
  • Often called the fireman's carry because it allows firemen to carry out fire victims while maintaining a free hand. That said, as noted above, it's fallen out of favor except in the most absolutely dire situations where the risk of death or worse injury is worse than that of further spinal injury, or those where it's obvious that the only injury is from things like burns or smoke inhalation, exhaustion, wounds to the lower legs and feet — if there's a risk that someone's neck or back is injured (as in a vehicle accident or building collapse) or has bullets/impaling objects/shrapnel in/near it (as in the aftermath of an attack/explosion or a building collapse), most firefighters and paramedics are strictly warned not to do this.
  • Unfortunately, along with the Bridal Carry, common among people with little to no medical experience trying to "help" fainted/injured people. Combining this trope with pulling people from a wrecked vehicle or a collapsed building, for example, has led to severe injuries.
  • There's a popular sport in Finland, Asia, and some parts of the U.S. called wife carrying, where men compete in an obstacle race carrying their wives. The wives can be carried piggyback, over the shoulder or Estonian style.
  • It is arguable that Yoshiki Hayashi's neck injuries were exacerbated by the tendency of roadies/staff to carry him off the stage either like this or in a modified Bridal Carry. Road crews and venue staff tend to make the mistake, in general, of carrying injured performers offstage when it is generally a far better idea (especially if the injury has been sufficiently bad to stop the show anyway) to simply remove anything that could further injure someone so badly hurt they can't walk offstage under their own power (e.g. their instruments or gear or accessories, nearby pyro, etc.) and leave him or her in place until properly equipped paramedics arrive.
  • The logo of the Wounded Warrior Project depicts one soldier carrying another in this fashion.

 
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Noe's Slow Reaction

When Vanitas tells Luca a lie to conceal the truth behind why Jeanne sucked his blood and left a mark on him, Jeanne gets embarrassed and drags him out of the restaurant to talk to him about it in private...by flinging him over her shoulder and leaping out the window. It takes Noe a minute to realize what's going on and goes after them, leaving a confused Luca and Dominique alone, though in the manga, Noe goes after them right away.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (1 votes)

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Main / DelayedReaction

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