Basic Trope: A victim is comically hit by a falling anvil dropped by another person.
- Straight: Alice drops an anvil on Bob.
- Exaggerated: Alice drops ten anvils on Bob, with each one being larger than the last.
- Downplayed: Alice drops an anvil, which barely misses Bob.
- Justified: Alice and Bob are in a race, and Alice wants to win, so she drops the anvil on Bob.
- Inverted: Alice drops Bob on the anvil.
- Subverted: Alice tries to drop an anvil on Bob, but the anvil misses him.
- Double Subverted: The anvil lands on a trampoline, bounces back, and ends up hitting Bob. Alternatively, Bob gets hit by something else. Perhaps a brick?
- Parodied: The anvil starts floating in the air, moves to above Bob's head, and falls on Bob. Alice is extremely amazed.
- Zig Zagged: Alice drops multiple anvils throughout the cartoon, and the anvils vary in ability.
- Averted: Alice doesn't have any anvils with her.
- Enforced: The creators wanted to have an anvil somewhere in the cartoon, so they had Alice drop one on Bob.
- Lampshaded: "This happens in almost every episode. Sooner or later it'll even have a theme song!"
- Invoked: Alice and Bob's world is filled with anvils. Chances are Alice will take this to her advantage.
- Exploited: Alice uses the anvil to stop Bob from cheating in a contest.
- Defied:
- Alice thinks about dropping the anvil on Bob, but decides not to.
- Bob successfully dodges the anvil.
- Charlie snatches the anvil away from Alice and runs off with it.
- Discussed: "I knew someone was going to drop an anvil sometime soon."
- Conversed: "In these cartoons, anvils always fall on someone, don't you think?"
- Implied: Alice runs offscreen to the right while carrying an anvil. Soon after, a bang is heard and Bob shows up from the right side of the screen with Circling Birdies around his head.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is unharmed, but the anvil is stuck to his head.
- Bob is severely harmed or even killed.
- Reconstructed: Bob successfully removes the anvil from his head, and drops it on Alice.
- Played For Laughs: Amusing Injuries
- Played For Drama/Horror: Someone dies or gets seriously injured when an anvil falls on them.
Watch out for falling anvils on your way back to the main page!
