History Main / QuicksandSucks

-->'''Marion:''' [[TemptingFate "I'm alright. [Marion holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasants's concern for her, then as she tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom had caught her when she fell in mud and made a loud splash after she fell in, and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and how she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own at all] Uh, I can’t move me legs (Marion says rather embarrased and annoyed, then turns towards the shore to tell Robin and serfs that she is stuck in mud and needs help to be rescued). I can’t move me legs! (Marion says a little louder this time)."]]

* In ''Film/RobinHood2010'', Lady Marion Loxley, tries to free a ram stuck in the quicksand-like mud on her own without help, but she falls in mud and gets stuck herself. Leading to Robin going to rescue both Marion and ram.
-->'''Marion:''' [[TemptingFate "I'm alright. [Marion holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away serfs concern for her, then as she tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom had caught her when she fell in mud and made a loud splash after she fell in, and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and how she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own at all] Uh, I can’t move me legs (Marion says rather embarrased and annoyed, then turns towards the shore to tell Robin and serfs that she is stuck in mud and needs help to be rescued). I can’t move me legs! (Marion says a little louder this time)."]]

* In ''Film/RobinHood2010'', Lady Marion Loxley, tries to free a ram stuck in the quicksand-like mud on her own without help while [[TemptingFate]], but she falls in mud and gets stuck herself.

* ''Film/Dune2021''. An approaching SandWorm vibrates the ground to cause soil liquefaction, essentially turning hard-packed, walkable sand into quicksand for FastTunnelling. Needless to say this causes problems for anyone trying to run away from them.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': In the episode "Countdown to Extinction", Megatron lures the Autobots into quicksand, expecting them to at least be stuck forever, and also expecting them to be completely submerged by it.
-->Megatron: "I know you Autobots know how to tread water, but it's not quite the same in sand."

* Happens in the form of dry desert quicksand ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' episode "Countdown to Extinction".

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', where the babies didn't know the proper term for it, but Chuckie described it as "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin some kind of sand that I'm sinking into really quick]]".

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Handy's Sweetheart", the mean Custodian of the pools of Avalon makes the waters turn into quicksand to trap the three Smurfs who were trying to take his lilyroot without paying him gold in return.

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': Link, using the Book of Mudora in the Desert of Mystery, reveals a scorpion statue that has the Pendant of Power hang on it. Before Link can approach it, he sinks into the quicksand — and resurfaces on top of a Lanmola. Eep!

* ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'': ''Pyramid Sands'' features a lot of quicksand. The yarn graphics give it a unique approach: the sand is in fact horizontal strands of yellow and orange yarn, and each strand is pulled away rythmically, leaving Kirby fall onto the strand below the previous one, effectively pulling Kirby lower and lower.

See also SandIsWater, MuckingInTheMud, SwampsAreEvil, and BubblegloopSwamp... Also compare UnrealisticBlackHole, because both black holes and quicksand are portrayed in media as pulling in anything nearby, whereas in reality both only consume things which have gotten too close in the first place.

** In ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' and its sequels, quicksand return and again appear in desert levels, with some of them leading to secret areas instead of bottomless pits.

*** ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' has some quicksand in Yold Desert. They fill the pits in these areas and if Mario (or other protagonists) sinks through it, he will essentially fall into the pit, lost 1 HP and is brought back to the surface.

* ''A Fall of Moondust'' by Creator/ArthurCClarke is one of the better-known pre-Moon landing stories that described Moon dust as being fine enough to amount to quicksand.

%%* ''VideoGame/ZanZarahTheHiddenPortal'': Drowning in the swamp is one of the few ways to truly die.

** ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' #2 article "The Bestiary". One possible encounter in chasm floor jungle terrain is quicksand that will pull anyone trapped in it under its surface in a couple of minutes unless they are rescued.

** Adventure 3 ''Twilight's Peak'' has quicksand as a possible encounter in wetlands on the planet Fulacin. If {{PC}}s get into it they will be trapped and sucked down with no chance to save themselves.

** Supplement 2 ''Animal Encounters''. {{PC}}s can randomly encounter quicksand in swamp terrain on two types of planets: small worlds with thin atmospheres and medium sized worlds with standard atmospheres.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasThreeVisionarySwordsmen'' have Nobita's AlternateSelf, Nobitania, fighting General Ganbosu, a powerful [[CruelElephant elephant demon]] who reveals his ability to transform into a mountain-sized behemoth. Doraemon then takes out his quicksand powder and have Nobitania's allies, Shizukaria, Sunemisu and Giantosu, sprinkle the powder all around Ganbosu's feet. Cue the elephantine monster suddenly sinking and quickly drowning (the last scene being his trunk sticking out the quicksand's surface).
* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasTheLegendOfTheSunKing'' have a guilt-ridden Prince Tio setting off on a solo quest to rescue his LoveInterest, Kuku, in the jungles. Nobita, Doraemon and their friends quickly catches up and managed to find Tio - nearly drowning in a quicksand, with his hand holding on a root until Doraemon pulls him out with a gadget.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': Subverted in ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie''. While there is quicksand in Mayahem Temple and Terrydactyland, it doesn't pull you down, the Dragundas living in it do, then spit you back onto solid ground. The wading boots are used to cross the quicksand. The Dragundas are also in Grunty Industries' toxic waste and polluted water.

%%* ''VideoGame/IceAge 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'': The last few levels are surrounded by tar tar that acts like quicksand

%%* ''VideoGame/BillyHatcherAndTheGiantEgg'': The Sandy Ruin level features this a lot.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Clonk}}'': One of the TrickArrow types added by the fans turns the ground where it hits into quicksand.%%Which behaves like what?

%%* ''VideoGame/IceAge 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'': The last few levels are surrounded by tar, which is equivalent to quicksand.

%%** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'': Sonic and Shadow can easily jump out. Tails and Eggman sink and die on touch, though.

* ''Literature/TheBible'': This happens to Jeremiah during an assassination attempt in Jeremiah 38. He was rescued, though.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' Zigzagged. The game averts the trope in both the desert-themed Isle of Gust and its dungeon the sandy Temple of Wind (the actual threat is the wind currents and geysers, sand is harmless otherwise); but it's played straight in the Goron Temple, where '''all''' sand is deadly for Link (luckily, his Bombchus can navigate through them just fine).

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'': Link can keep from getting sucked into the quicksand of Lanayru Desert if he [[VideoGameDashing sprints across it]]. Also, the Timeshift Stones can change it back into the solid, grass-covered ground it once was BeforeTheDarkTimes.

* [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/answer14.html This]] ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon involves Homestar making this type of overestimation, as applies to a sandbox crudely labeled "[=QUiCK SAnD=]". "If you have any vines or roots you can toss my way, I would be really, ''really'' still alive."

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'': There is a pool of this whose dangers are carefully described by Vamp. Who then, seconds later, starts swimming through it with ease (He does have superpowers). This has been implicated in the loss of ships at sea, because of a subsidence or other event on the seabed which causes a dramatic release of gas.

* Water with a great deal of gas bubbling through it behaves suitably, in that a human would sink like a rock in it, and subsequently drown. This isn't encountered very often, however. An example in real life which has taken many lives is Niagara Falls. The massive amount of falling water has the same effect as the aerated water of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' and has resulted in many people drowning.

* ''VideoGame/SweetHome'': Several sand traps are found in the dungeons below the mansion. Anyone who falls in can be rescued with a rope, but pulling off a successful rescue takes timing. Naturally, the InfinityPlusOneSword is found at the bottom of one of these pits.

* Mont Saint-Michel in France is a tidal island, and the ground exposed during low tide is known for its rampant patches of deep mud and quicksand. For this reason, tourists are advised to either stick to the causeway or travel with a qualified guide (who will know how to both avoid and escape quicksand), as the intensity and fickleness of the tides creates the drowning hazard mentioned above.