History Main / SeesawCatapult

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In a 1930 [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse Mickey Mouse]] comic (written by Creator/WaltDisney himself), Mickey tries to break into Sylvester Shyster's office by launching himself into his second-story window this way. Unfortunately, the boulder he uses [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome breaks the board in half]].
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* In a 1930 [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse Mickey Mouse]] comic (written by Creator/WaltDisney himself), Mickey tries to break into Sylvester Shyster's office by launching himself into his second-story window this way. Unfortunately, the boulder he uses breaks the board in half.

Film/The Muppets During the opening song, Walter and his brother Gary are on a see saw and Gary launches Walter to the sky.

* 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. Or when he tried to fling the rock into the air, it would fall on him instead.
** And then there was the time when he tried using one to fling himself across a gorge. The rock was too much for the ledge the other end was on, so it smashed through and turned the catapult into a ramp poor Coyote slid down to his doom.
* Creator/ChuckJones also directed some ''Characters/TomAndJerry'' cartoons, one of which is "Bad Day At Cat Rock." The concluding scenes of this cartoon occur at a construction site where a building's framework is being erected. Tom assembles a fulcrum and plank for this mechanism, aiming to launch himself up to Jerry Mouse, who's perched contentedly on a higher crossbar. Six efforts in a row fail horribly, and the cartoon irises out on Jerry shaking his head as if apologizing to the audience.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason Applebuck Season]]", 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.
* ''WesternAnimation/Lou2017'': During the chase around the playground, Lou ends up on a seesaw, and then [[TheBully J.J.]] lands on the other side, catapulting Lou into the air.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode, "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS2E9KickTheBucketListPartyDown Kick the Bucket List]]", Lincoln and Clyde attempt to complete all the activities on their Spring Break bucket list in one day. When they split up so they can each do half the things on their list, Clyde uses [[CompanionCube a rock]] as a substitute for Lincoln. When Clyde plays on the seesaw with Rock Lincoln, he gets launched into the air and lands on Lola and Lana's sandcastle, destroying it and prompting them to beat him up.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' LicensedGame for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, there's a section in the final level where Pocahontas must jump onto one end a seesaw that Meeko is sitting on the other end of. When she launches Meeko into the air, he will soon land on one end of a seesaw that Percy is sitting on the other end of. At that point, he will launch Percy into the air, and Percy will knock down a [[BeeAfraid beehive]], scaring away one of Governor Ratcliffe's henchmen standing near it.

* Used in quite a hilarious subverted example in the ''WebAnimation/EddsWorld'' episode "Moving Targets". When the boys are accidentally dropped from a plane, Tord falls on one half of a wooden plank that is situated on a barrel. Edd, Tom and Matt fall on the other side and Tord eyes them nervously, worried that the plank is going to work like a seesaw and fling him into the air. [[RealityEnsues It instead snaps in half]], and Tord breathes a sigh of relief. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Then a hippopotamus randomly falls on top of him.]]

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' had this courtesy of her [[BrattyHalfPint cousin Amanda]]. She plays with Salem on a plastic seesaw and then stamps on the end, causing him to fly through the air.

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

* Seen in the first episode of ''Anime/OhSuddenlyEgyptianGod'', when Anubis, Thoth and Medjed are playing with a seesaw, the latter two jump on one end at once and send Anubis, who is on the other end, flying into the air.

* Seen in the first episode of ''Anime/OhSuddenlyEgyptianGods'', when Anubis, Thoth and Medjed are playing with a seesaw, the latter two jump on one end at once and send Anubis, who is on the other end, flying into the air.

** In the ''[[Literature/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]]'' special from the "Tales from the Crib" series, to get the dwarf babies into Queen Angelica's castle, Chuckie (as Scaredy) slides down a slide in the nearby playground so that he can land on one end of a seesaw and launch whichever dwarf baby is sitting on the other end into the air so they can fly through the open window. When there's no one to launch Chuckie into the air, he climbs up the arrows that the Archer spreads around the castle wall to advertise a GarageSale at [[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk the Giant's castle]].

* In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf: Joys of Seasons'' episode 75, Wolnie finds herself on a seesaw after being chased around by the other goats, who are all pretending to be Tibbie to distract her from the real Tibbie, who is sick. Jonie charges at Wolnie and jumps onto the other side of the seesaw, sending her flying into the air.

It's one of the most elementary of {{Improvised Weapon}}s (and indeed, is a simple machine): Take a plank, place it over a rock or barrel or some other object to create a fulcrum, place a payload (which might often be [[CatapultToGlory a person]]) on one end, jump on the other end, and voila, instant airborne surprise. Of course, it requires great expertise in ballistics to hit one's target by such rudimentary means, and many depictions have the payload sail upward only to crash down on the launcher, which is actually a fair approximation of what would usually happen.

* ''VideoGame/BugsBunnyBirthdayBlowout'': Bugs can stand on one end of a seesaw and use his hammer to hit the other end, causing the seesaw to launch him into the air.

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

* In the ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}'' LicensedGame for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, there's a section in the final level where Pocahontas must jump onto one end a seesaw that Meeko is sitting on the other end of. When she launches Meeko into the air, he will soon land on one end of a seesaw that Percy is sitting on the other end of. At that point, he will launch Percy into the air, and Percy will knock down a [[BeeAfraid beehive]], scaring away one of Governor Ratcliffe's henchmen standing near it.

[[quoteright:225:[[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ch870502.gif]]]]

** 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.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog:''

Because this device is so basic to construct, it often occurs spontaneously, if not accidentally, during action or chase scenes. It is also seen with real playground seesaws, when a small child is launched into the sky by either a fat kid innocently sitting down, or a large {{bully}} with malicious intent.