Line #19 Main/IfICanOnlyMove


1	->''"If only... I could lift my sword..."''
2	-->-- '''Cecil''', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''
3
4	There are times when the most important thing a hero can do is the slightest move.
5
6	For instance, the hero is immobilized and is facing certain doom if he remains that way. Suddenly, ''everything'' depends on moving just enough to reach and activate something vital like his [[KidWithTheRemoteControl giant robot remote control]] or TransformationTrinket to summon help or activate his power mode to break free before it's too late. Unfortunately, the thing needed is often seemingly out of reach.
7
8	With the maximum suspenseful music and editing, the hero, often saying "If I can only move.." gives it everything he's got and just barely makes it. With that, help is summoned or the transformation, set to a ThemeMusicPowerUp, has begun and he's back in action.
9
10	A variant is when a patient in a hospital has a severe back injury and there is a real danger of paralysis. In that case, the medical staff and patient tensely hope against hope for any movement to indicate the limbs are still functioning.
11
12	Professional Wrestling has a specific SubTrope, RickyMorton, (strategy depends on the morton of a wrestling team tagging their partner after getting beaten out).
13	----
14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
17
18	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
19	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Near the end of the [[Recap/OnePieceEniesLobbyArc Enies Lobby arc]], Luffy is exhausted and trapped in the ruins of a tower with several battleships poised to blow him away. Problem is, his fight with [[TheHeavy Rob Lucci]] took all his usual {{Determinator}} tendencies to bring him down, leaving him so weak he really ''can't'' move at all, even with a few scenes of numerous allies cheering him on. Fortunately, [[PlotTailoredToTheParty Robin's ability allows her to move him herself from a distance]].
20	* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'': Knives has gained the upper hand, and is about to use the devastating Angel Arm to annihilate Vash. As an exhausted Vash struggles to get up, he hears [[NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay the voice of Wolfwood]], telling him that all he has to do is reach down slightly to reach the trigger of the Cross Punisher that he had previously dropped. The resulting burst of gunfire disarms Knives and lets Vash seize the advantage.
21	* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Asato Kido doesn't allow his paralysis to stop him from telling Yusuke who the [[DeadlyDoctor evil doctor]] is by [[CouldntFindAPen writing the name with his own blood]].
22	%%* ''Anime/YuGiOhCapsuleMonsters'': this happens to Yami Yugi in the second and fourth episodes. Thanks to advice from Yugi and some quick thinking, he's able to save the day.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Comic Books]]
26	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': "If I can just reach my utility belt..."
27	* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': Thorn is pinned only inches from the Crown of Thorns, and all she has to do is touch it and the world will be saved. Fone Bone holds her hand and [[spoiler:touches the Crown, producing the same effect as if Thorn had touched it]]. Probably.
28	* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': Dr. Donald Blake has been tied up, so he has to struggle to reach his walking stick to strike it and transform into Thor.
29	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': One of the most famous panels is Spidey pinned beneath tons of rubble. The rare isotope that his dying Aunt May needs is mere feet away, and the room is being filled with water. He keeps trying to lift the rubble enough to escape, but it's VERY heavy. Cue the final Herculean effort!
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Fan Works]]
33	* ''Fanfic/{{Override}}'': Occurs in the opening passage when Blaster Blade tries to recover his sword embedded in Stealth Dragon Voidmaster's chest.
34	* ''WebAnimation/TailsKeepsSonicAlive'': Without his controller, Sonic has zero control over his body, infinitely trapped in his Idle Animation when not being carried or taking damage. When Metal Sonic loses his controller, he also can't move, but he can still "communicate" and look around.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
38	* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'': Tai Lung is kept immobilized in a top security prison for years. Once he could take the very first step thanks to a lockpicking with a stray feather, he gets out easily.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
42	* ''Film/KillBill'': "Wiggle your big toe." Maybe not 100% true to this trope but the Bride does this after coming out of a coma and trying to solve the problem of atrophy. Her arms however had been getting plenty of exercise, apparently.
43	* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'': Éowyn duels Gothmog and Witch-King in quick succession. Just as she's killed the latter, the former starts crawling toward her. She's too exhausted to stand up, so she's left to frantically try to grab her sword.
44	* ''Film/Predator2'': Lieutenant Harrigan is on a ledge on the side of a building with the Predator hanging onto him. The Predator has activated his SelfDestructMechanism, which will destroy a large area and kill thousands of people. The Predator's cutting disk is embedded in the wall just out of Harrigan's reach.
45	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
46	** ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'': Luke Skywalker is trapped in the wampa's cave, dangling by one foot, and about to be turned into a meal by the monster. His lightsaber is just out of reach; fortunately, he's able to use The Force to call it to his hand and cut his way to relative safety at the last moment.
47	** ''Film/TheLastJedi'': Paige Tico is incapacitated in a Resistance bomber inches away from the remote that will blow up the First Order Dreadnought. All it takes to blow up the spaceship is to kick that remote to where she can detonate it...
48	* ''Film/WhatLiesBeneath'': Michelle Pfeiffer is slowly drowning in the bathtub, so she desperately tries to pull the plug out with her toe.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Literature]]
52	* ''Literature/FatherFigure'': Joachin manages to get Richard/Athis at gunpoint, and is one trigger pull away from ending the nightmare… unfortunately, it turns out that Richard can now invade Joachin's mind and control/stop his movements...
53	* ''Literature/{{Liavek}}'': Granny Carry at the climax of "Ancient Curses".
54	* ''Literature/SilverJohn'': At the climax of "Vandy, Vandy".
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
58	* ''Series/DarkShadows'': Elizabeth, thought to be dead, is interred in a coffin. When Carolyn comes to visit her mother's "grave", Liz's voiceover says this.
59	* ''Series/{{Loki\|2021}}'': Throg is buried underground, constantly bashing himself against the walls of the glass jar he's trapped inside, with Mjölnir just out of reach. He'll likely be in there for a while.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Video Games]]
63	%%* ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'': The player in the final battle of--insofar as it can be considered a 'battle'.
64	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'':
65	** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': At the end, you must look to [[spoiler:Captain Price, who throws you his gun to shoot Zakhaev and his guards]]. It's a whole mechanic trying to get your character to just turn his head.
66	** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'': In space, you must move slightly as [[spoiler:the astronaut in order to progress the scene]] or even more pivotally [[spoiler: where you must pull a knife out of your chest to throw at the enemy to save Captain Price.]]
67	* ''VideoGame/{{Enchanter}}'': At the end of ''Spellbreaker'', the BigBad paralyzes you and then starts a JustBetweenYouAndMe speech that goes on just long enough to let you make one move at the last second to stop him. Unfortunately, by that point [[DownerEnding your options are limited]]. Even more awkwardly, you have to deliberately provoke him into paralysing you as soon as possible, so the paralysis wears off in time for you to act; if you try to remain under the radar he'll eventually paralyse you anyway and it won't wear off until after he's already won.
68	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
69	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'': During the fight with the Dark Elf, the party is struck down due to how their metal equipment is magnetically pinned down. Cue Cecil lamenting, "If I could only lift my sword!"
70	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': At one point Tifa is attached to a chair and has to wriggle ({{Fanservice}} suspected) enough to reach the key on the floor with her feet and use it to free herself before the room fills with gas.
71	* ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'': Spoofed in one of the exchanges that can happen during an armored car robbery:
72	-->'''Cop:''' If I could just... reach... [[ComicBook my utility belt!]]\
73	'''Robber:''' Quiet, you!
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
77	* ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' has a psychological example. The first step the protagonist needs to take out of his crippling depression is to leave his bedroom.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Web Animation]]
81	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': All Wash has to do in his fight with [[spoiler: the Meta at the end of season 6]] is distract him long enough to activate the EMP.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Web Videos]]
85	* ''WebVideo/ALZIProduction'': Wonder Woman lassoes Sergey's neck, which leaves him complaining in Russian that he can't move an inch. He thinks that doing so would allow him to free himself.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Western Animation]]
89	* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'': In "[[Recap/CelebrityDeathmatchS02E14 The Laser Pointer]]", Stewart pins Bernhard to the mat and glues her head to the ground. Bernhard tells Stewart to get off of her arms, presumably so that she can attack her.
90	* ''WesternAnimation/FrankensteinJr'': In "The Menace from the Wax Museum", Buzz Conroy is immobilized with wax, so everything depends on moving his ring to an open candle flame to contact his robot.
91	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'': Popeye always seems to get stuck with his spinach just out of reach.
92	* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'':
93	-->"I... can't reach... my... power bands!"
94	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'': Spidey is trapped under a ceiling fixture while Gwen Stacy is in dire need of a rare isotope. The room is filling with water and he tries to move the rubble just a little so he can free himself. It's a MythologyGag to a scene in the comics.
95	* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'': Zan and Jana often find themselves in the need to activate their powers while they are both just out of reach. However, Gleek tends to solve the problem since his body can act as a conduit for their powers.
96	[[/folder]]

Context Main / IfICanOnlyMove