History Main / SeesawCatapult

* ''Series/JohnsonAndFriends'': In "The Birthday Balloon", Alfred has Squeaky sit on one end of a xylophone and McDuff jump onto the other end to catapult Squeaky up into the air and bring Johnson and the balloons back down. McDuff jumps at the wrong time, sending Alfred into the air instead, but he still manages to bring Johnson back down.

->"When you have a fat friend, there are no see-saws; only catapults."

[[AC: Anime and Manga]]

[[AC: Comic Strips]]

[[AC: Live-Action Film]]

[[AC: Literature]]

[[AC: Live-Action TV]]
* The ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' once tested a variant about a skydiver who crashed onto a playground seesaw after his parachute failed, launching a child who miraculously landed on a high rise and survived. After some very bizarre experiments, they concluded that A) the impact would cause any seesaw to instantly buckle that wasn't made from industrial materials (which, the Mythbusters being overdoers by principle, theirs was), and B) there's no way in hell that either the kid or skydiver would survive.

[[AC: Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':
** In one strip, Hobbes turns Calvin's improvised skateboard ramp into a catapult with expert timing.
** In another strip, Calvin tries to use this mechanism to launch a giant snowball. The predictable result [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meanttodothat_6855.jpg is that he gets a faceful of snow himself]].
** In yet another strip, Calvin tries to use the same configuration to make a springboard so that he can jump into a pile of leaves. Predicably, the rock that he uses as a counterweight flies up and hits him in the head.

[[AC: Video Games]]

[[AC: Web Original]]
* Used by Kano to inflict a fatality on Johnny Cage in ''WebVideo/KombatKids''.

[[AC: Western Animation]]

[[AC: Real Life]]
* The ''pierrette'' is possibly the simplest form of catapult device used in ancient and mediaeval warfare and works pretty much on this premise. Depending on size, between eight and twenty-four people working as a team would pull on ropes in unison on a centrally balanced beam. The other end on the beam would carry a payload, which was propelled purely by the force put in by those operating the opposite side. A properly trained and experienced team could deliver a large rock with surprising accuracy - but a lot depended on their being trained to pull their ropes with exactly the right amount of force at ''exactly'' the right moment.

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', at Maroon Studio, a [[Disney/{{Fantasia}} hippo ballet dancer]] sits down on a bench next to a man, launching him into the air.

** In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' and ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 2]]'', there are seesaws in [[SpaceZone Star Light Zone]] and [[DeathMountain Hill Top Zone]], respectively. In the former game, there is a spiked ball on one end, and in the latter game, there is a Gohla enemy on one end. Sonic can launch the projectile to the other end and stand on the end it was on originally so it can launch him in the air, causing him to reach higher places. In the former game, this is also the key to defeating Dr. Robotnik in Star Light Zone, as he drops spiked bombs onto empty seesaws. If timed perfectly, Sonic can even [[TennisBoss hit Robotnik's machine simply by launching the spiked balls back at him]].

** In the episode, "[[CircusEpisode Circus Angelicus]]", when Angelica stages her own circus in Tommy's backyard, she wants Chuckie to be a "[[HumanCannonball human]] [[{{Malaproper}} candyball]]". However, Chuckie can't remember what he's supposed to do, and as Angelica tries to explain it to him by sitting on one end of a seesaw, Phil and Lil jump onto the other end, launching her into the air.

** In the episode, "[[ThanksgivingEpisode The Turkey Who Came to Dinner]]", the babies befriend a live turkey and try to protect him from getting cooked and eaten by the adults. They attempt to launch the Turkey out of Tommy's backyard by putting him on one end of the seesaw and having Phil, and later Chuckie, jump onto the other end. They only end up getting the turkey to land on Stu and Drew's satellite dishes, causing interference with the many football games they're watching.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the fourth episode Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason, Rainbow Dash intentionally invokes this, asking Applejack to jump from a height onto the seesaw to launch her for an aerial trick. Things don't go as planned: AJ keeps missing due to her sleep deprivation, and when she finally does land properly, it's at a moment when Rainbow Dash isn't ready for it. HilarityEnsues.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' and ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 2]]'', there are seesaws in [[SpaceZone Star Light Zone]] and [[DeathMountain Hill Top Zone]], respectively. In the former game, there is a spiked ball on one end, and in the latter game, there is a Gohla enemy on one end. Sonic can launch the projectile to the other end and stand on the end it was on originally so it can launch him in the air, causing him to reach higher places. In the former game, this is also the key to defeating Dr. Robotnik in Star Light Zone, as he drops spiked bombs onto empty seesaws. If timed perfectly, Sonic can even [[TennisBoss hit Robotnik's machine simply by launching the spiked balls back at him]].

* ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'': Mushroom Hill has a variant where there are two mushrooms with a shared stem, and pushing one mushroom down by landing on it raises the other and launches a weight into the air. When the weight comes back down, Sonic is launched into the air himself.

** In the episode, "[[ThanksgivingEpisode The Turkey Who Came to Dinner]]", the babies befriend a live turkey and try to protect him from getting cooked and eaten by the adults. They attempt to launch the Turkey out of Tommy's backyard by putting him on one end of the seesaw and having Phil, and later Chuckie, jump onto the other end. They only end up getting the turkey to land on Stu and Drew's satellite dishes, causing interference with the many football games they're watching.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode, "[[ThanksgivingEpisode The Turkey Who Came to Dinner]]", the babies befriend a live turkey and try to protect him from getting cooked and eaten by the adults. They attempt to launch the Turkey out of Tommy's backyard by putting him on one end of the seesaw and having Phil, and later Chuckie, jump onto the other end. They only end up getting the turkey to land on Stu and Drew's satellite dishes, causing interference with the many football games they're watching.

* In one ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip, Hobbes turns Calvin's improvised skateboard ramp into a catapult with expert timing. In another strip, Calvin tries to use this mechanism to launch a giant snowball. The predictable result [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meanttodothat_6855.jpg is that he gets a facefull of snow himself]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'', Herman Toothrot has built a fixture on Monkey Island that he insists is modern art, but consists of a log placed over a rock with a boulder on one end. This leads to a puzzle in which Guybrush mush turn the log to the correct angle and drop a rock from an overhanging ledge in order to knock down a banana tree on a distant beach. If he gets the angle wrong, he may hit his own ship, resulting in slight embarrassment on his part and an extra scene in the ending in which his crew are marooned on the same island.

* In one ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip, Hobbes turns Calvin's improvised skateboard ramp into a catapult with expert timing. In another strip, Calvin tries to use this mechanism to launch a giant snowball. The predictable result is that he gets a facefull of snow himself. The result is the current page image for IMeantToDoThat.

* The [[{{Pilot}} Early reel]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' sees Gumball and Darwin waiting at one end of a seesaw while a series of {{Batman Gambit}}s transpire into a RubeGoldbergDevice they believe will launch them over the schoolyard fence to freedom. The good news: the sequence happens exactly as planned. The bad news: the actual launch from the seesaw instead launches them inbetween Hector's buttocks.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog 1'' and ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 2]]'', there are seesaws in [[SpaceZone Star Light Zone]] and [[DeathMountain Hill Top Zone]], respectively. In the former game, there is a spiked ball on one end, and in the latter game, there is a Gohla enemy on one end. Sonic can launch the projectile to the other end and stand on the end it was on originally so it can launch him in the air, causing him to reach higher places. In the former game, this is also the key to defeating Dr. Robotnik in Star Light Zone, as he drops spiked bombs onto empty seesaws. If timed perfectly, Sonic can even [[TennisBoss hit Robotnik's machine simply by launching the spiked balls back at him]].

* The FinalBoss of the SNES/Genesis ''VideoGame/TheSmurfs'' game had to be fought using such a device, to launch acorns dropped by a cracoucas.

* This happens in several of Creator/ChuckJones's ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner'' cartoons, with the teeter-totter being made of stone. The Coyote would either use the teeter-totter rock as part of his scheme or end up falling on it as a result of a scheme. He would be flung into the air when a large rock fell on the other end of the teeter-totter rock.

* Used at the end of various levels in ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim2''. The first time works correctly, others fail in hilarious ways (one of which introduces [[CheckhovsGun the taxi]]).

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' sees Gumball waiting at one end of a seesaw while a series of {{BatmanGambit}}s transpire into a RubeGoldbergDevice that Gumball believes will launch him over the schoolyard fence to freedom. The good news: the sequence happens exactly as planned. The bad news: the actual launch from the seesaw has gone hilariously wrong.