History Main / FighterLaunchingSequence

* All the Creator/GerryAnderson shows had epic stock launching sequences. They are pretty much the trope codifier.
* This was because with puppets, they couldn't simply just walk to their vehicles. Anyway, what is the fun in just walking to them?

* In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', [[spoiler: it's [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] ''horrifically''. As the Resistance are about to launch their fighters, almost all their pilots are killed and their fighters destroyed by a surprise attack on their hanger.]]

* Your spaceship from ''{{Galaga}} '88'' does that at the start of the game.

* Happens in ''[[KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts II]]'' every time you enter an area with the Gummi Ship. Never mind that it was already in space. Fortunately, it's mostly skippable though.

* ''Top Gun'': The plane is seen firing its engines in the opening cinematic, and then you watch your jet take off in first person. You also have to land the thing at the end of the level, much to a generation of player's immense frustration.

* Although modern military aircraft are complex machines that can take 15 minutes or more to start up under 'normal' circumstances, if kept on alert they can be scrambled in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksy1Uya5G0s as little as 5]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aFT5mrMF5o even 2 minutes]].

* ''{{Freelancer}}'' has a skippable mini-sequence every time you enter a planet, station or capital ship.

* ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'', as shown [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no-BxyU7MWA here]]. They start lampshading the stock footage [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_5ee0jzO2Q pretty quickly]].

* The first opening sequence of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'' did this using Nanoha and Fate in the place of planes and HumongousMecha, complete with flight strip lined with lights and [[TheCaptain Hayate]] gesturing for them to launch. HumongousMecha series [[MixAndMatch disguised as a]] MagicalGirl series, remember?

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''. Every series (with the possible exception of Turn A) has had at least one launch sequence.

* ''Anime/UchuuSenkanYamato'': The Black Tigers.

* A one-time example occurs during episode 14 of ''Anime/MaiHime'', where an AmazonBrigade made up of most of the [=HiME=] is shown heading into battle against the season's BigBad. Each of the girls (minus Mikoto, who just goes into a blind, screaming charge) emerges from an ElaborateUndergroundBase, summons her [[BondCreatures CHILD]], and launches into the fray while a ThemeMusicPowerUp triggers in the background. Midori naturally lampshades it by yelling "TAKEOFF!" when it's her turn.

* ''Anime/StrikeWitches'' most prominently uses this at the beginning of the second episode of the first season, where we see Sakamoto and the rest of the Akagi's fighters preparing for takeoff.

* ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' sometimes has StockFootage of the Nirvash launching into batttle, complete with TransformationSequence.

* Subverted in David Lynch's version of Film/{{Dune}}. As the Atreides troops become aware that their shields have been crippled, they run for their ships... which are blown up in their faces by Harkonnen bombers.

* Series/{{Batman}} again (the Adam West incarnation): "To the Batmobile!" followed by "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed..." (the latter appears as a ShoutOut in ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'', as the fighter start-up while waiting for the mission to load.)

** This goes back to the Franchise/SuperSentai origins, of course, which heavily preferred vehicular mecha in the early years -- the first one, ''Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger'', could do this with ''a hot-air balloon.''
** Early Sentai also had mobile bases which carried their mecha... which first emerged from the heroes' main base. It's a good thing TransformationIsAFreeAction, otherwise Tokyo would be gone while the second base was launching.

* ''VideoGame/BattlestationsPacific'' features this both in StockFootage before some campaign misssions, as well as in-game, as it takes quite some time for carrier-based aircraft to launch.

* The player character of ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend'' is always shown to go from Walking to Flying mode in a TransformationSequence before she tackles a corridor. It also has the inversion, where she transforms back once the corridor is complete.

* The ''194X'' series of [[ShootEmUp arcade shooters]] had an initial launch sequence from an aircraft carrier.

* This is rife in the original trilogy of ''AnotherCenturysEpisode'', where the player's selected HumongousMecha lumbers or gets a lift to the catapult of the hero faction's warship. This is most accentuated in ACE 2 where each robot ends up on the catapult with a short musical jingle accompanying them, which gets lengthened if the mecha in question has large thrusters like the [[Anime/MetalArmorDragonar Dragonar]] units. Then, a 3D cut-in of the mecha's pilot appears, requesting for launch, of note is the [[Main/NamesToRunAwayFrom Prince of Darkness]] Akito Tenkawa simply saying "Going." with a grin on his face. The logical extreme that went with all this presenation in mind was Domon Kasshu summoning the [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam God Gundam]] by snapping his fingers and appearing on the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Albion's]] bridge rather than the flight deck).

* CombatFlightSimulator always starts campaign missions and one-off missions with the player on the ground, requiring you to start your engines and take off before getting to do anything fun. Ordinary flights usually let you start at altitude, though.

* All of ''TheTaleOfAlltynex'' games does this in some variation or another.

* A one-time example occurs during episode 14 of ''Anime/MaiHime'', where an AmazonBrigade made up of most of the [=HiME=] is shown heading into battle against the season's BigBad. Each of the girls (minus Mikoto, who just goes into a blind, screaming charge) emerges from an ElaborateUndergroundBase, summons her [[BondCreatures CHILD]], and launches into the fray while a ThemeMusicPowerUp triggers in the background. Midori [[GenreSavvy naturally]] lampshades it by yelling "TAKEOFF!" when it's her turn.

*** Another occurs during your first and then last missions from the [[spoiler:Kestrel]].

* In ''RogueSquadron'', each mission starts with a cutscene showing your selected craft take off from a hanger and fly out through space towards the appropriate planet. Including when that craft is a snowspeeder.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' has an equivalent sequence at the start of each level where the player's ship accelerates to intercept the enemies while the [[AwesomeMusic/VideoGames music kicks in]].

* An elaborate one in ''SpaceAboveAndBeyond'', in which the cockpits descend and attach to the bodies of the fighters before launch.

* {{Lucasarts}}' ''Metal Warriors'' for the SNES featured this for the player's GiantMecha as part of the first mission's opening cutscene, complete with dramatic switch-flipping.

* Every time an Interceptor is launched in ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', we are treated to a dramatic cutscene where its launch catapult is primed, and it's shot out of the big double-doors in the ceiling to chase down a flying saucer.

* All the GerryAnderson shows had epic stock launching sequences. They are pretty much the trope codifier.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''. In the first episode of ''Spartan Ops'', following the Infinity's DynamicEntry at Requiem by way of [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming]] ''through'' a Covenant battlecruiser, the massive starship then proceeds to a scrambling sequence that involves mass deployment of [[DropShip Pelicans]], [[SpaceFighter Broadswords]], and even entire Charon-class ''frigates'' from internal bays, immediately engaging the Covenant remnant forces above the shield world.

* "Aces High" by Music/IronMaiden is the WorldWarII flavor of this.

* All the time in the various ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' series (''Anime/{{Macross}}'', ''Anime/SuperDimensionCavalrySouthernCross'', ''Anime/GenesisClimberMospeada''), complete with a StockFootage unfurling of the tail fins from their storage mode.