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Basic Trope: A character blocks a blade with their bare hands.

  • Straight: Alice swings a sword at Bob, but he blocks it easily between his hands.
  • Exaggerated:
  • Downplayed: Bob blocks Alice's sword with gauntleted hands.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted: Bob blocks Alice's punch by pinning her fist between two swords.
  • Subverted: Bob tries to block it, but ends up missing...
    • Bob's blade grab technique involves dodging the blade /after/ it comes to a near or complete stop.
  • Double Subverted: ... Only to catch the blade between his elbows instead.
  • Parodied:
    • Bob catches Alice's sword, then mentions he took a course in blade-catching in college.
    • Bob uses a Baseball mitt to catch it, and then tells Alice she struck out.
    • Bob blocks Alice's sword using the palm of his hand several times, until Alice finally lands a blow on his face... and the sword harmlessly bounces off.
  • Zig Zagged: Alice tries to stab Bob but he catches her sword. She simply presses the attack, pushing him against a wall where she has more leverage and the blade begins to slide closer to Bob's face. He ends up tossing the blade out of her grasp with his hands.
  • Averted: Bob finds a different way to stop the strike.
  • Enforced: "We want Rule of Cool, so let's have him block his blade with his hands."
  • Lampshaded: "How'd he block my sword with his hands?"
  • Invoked:
    • Bob purposefully catches Alice's sword when he could have avoided it in order to show how badass he is.
    • Bob is going through Training from Hell and his mentor forces him to learn this technique.
  • Exploited:
    • Alice expect Bob to attempt to catch the blade, and made sure to cover it in contact poison, ensuring he dies anyway.
    • Bob realizes he's about to get into a fight, and subtly bets with the innkeeper that he can do this.
    • Bob, who has Super-Toughness, disarms an enemy this way, preventing said enemy from using that weapon on one of his friends, effectively Taking the Bullet.
  • Defied: Bob avoids the strike altogether.
  • Discussed: "Bob says he can catch a sword with his hands. Do you think he's serious?"
  • Conversed: "Characters catching swords with their hands is so unrealistic."
  • Implied: Bob warns Alice not to try to stab him or "I'll have to take it from you with my bare hands."
  • Deconstructed: Bob tries to catch Alice's sword and ends up slicing his hands open.
  • Reconstructed:
  • Played For Laughs: Bob catches Alice's sword between his hands and tells her, "You're just lucky I didn't have my shoes off".
  • Played For Drama: Bob is the Big Bad and Alice is trying to take him down with her sword, only to find out he is much more skilled than expected. Cue Oh, Crap! reaction from Alice.

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