Line #16 Main/BehindAStick


1	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/WillieWhopper https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/behind_a_stick_willie_rs.png]]]]
2
3	->''...seven feet of grinning, snarly beast leaps from behind the two-foot-wide tree. Lions really ''are'' sneaky bastards like that.''
4	-->-- ''VideoGame/ImprobableIsland''
5
6	The ability of animated characters to hide behind items clearly smaller than they are, be it a tree, a lamp post or a drawing pin. Perhaps they disappear into [[HammerspaceHideaway hammerspace]]?
7
8	Sometimes two characters will lurk behind the same narrow object, clearly unable to see each other back there. Frequently the front end of one will emerge from one side, while the rear end of the second waggles out the other side. Or both front ends will emerge, spot one another, and resume the ChaseScene.
9
10	TreeCover is a related trope, done seriously, and generally at least plausibly (courtesy of a nice thick tree).
11
12	Not to be confused with DrivingStick.
13
14	----
15	!!Examples:
16	[[foldercontrol]]
17
18	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
19	%%* Nobita from ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' tries this quite often, but he fails.
20	* Makoto in ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'' tries this. It doesn't work -- she is quite obviously behind the lamp post.
21	%%* ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'': Panty and Stocking do this while following Garter to his secret room.
22	[[/folder]]
23
24	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
25	* Averted for humour in ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'' twice.
26	** Beetle has a hunch Sarge is watching him from hiding... mainly because Sarge is far too obese to fit behind the object he's standing behind, and the attempt just looks silly.
27	** Another time, inverse to the above, Beetle annoys Sarge by letting him know he's hiding behind a pole that can hide him because he's so much thinner. (Kind of played straight, sort of accidentally, in that the pole doesn't ''quite'' look thick enough to really cover him. But it's nothing like as extreme as the usual example, and the idea is that ''only'' someone so skinny could do it.)
28	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':
29	** One strip shows Hobbes hiding behind a standard lamp as he sneaks up on Calvin.
30	** Lampshaded when Calvin tries hiding behind a swing set but notices that the poles don't do a good job of hiding him.
31	* Both ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} and Odie hide behind a lamp in one Sunday strip.
32	* In one ''ComicStrip/KrazyKat'' Sunday strip, Krazy hides (from the stork) behind an egg roughly the size of Krazy's ''head''.
33	* Spoofed in two early ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strips -- Charlie Brown first tries this with a normal-sized tree but it doesn't work because his enormous round head protrudes on both sides of the trunk, so in the second example he finds a tree with a big square sign nailed to it at the right height...
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
37	* In ''Caliph-Stork'', advisers hid behind very narrow pillars.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Fanfiction]]
41	* ''FanFic/ThirtyHs'': A ten-foot-tall character appears "from behind nothing much".
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Film — Animated]]
45	%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'': Pumbaa somehow manages to pull this off when he and Timon are spying on Kiara while she's out on her first solo hunt.
46	* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'', Snoopy hides behind a lamp while spying on the Little Red-Haired Girl.
47	* The ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' does this a couple of times to hide from Ringo behind lampposts.
48	* The cat in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' can do this, teleporting by vanishing behind one object and then appearing from behind another.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
52	%%* This is one of the "cartoon tricks" that the main character of ''Film/BadlyDrawnRoy'' can do.
53	%%* Chris Farley, of all people, does it in ''Film/BeverlyHillsNinja''.
54	%%* As does security guard Bobby in ''Film/ErnestGoesToJail''.
55	%%* Hurley tries to do it behind a table leg in ''Film/GForce''.
56	* Hans Richter's 1928 short film ''Ghosts Before Breakfast'' features a number of men disappearing behind a lamppost.
57	%%* Freddy Kreuger does this in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'', though it's justified as he exists within dreams.
58	* ''Film/DangerHasTwoFaces'', a police drama, has a final shootout in a forest with the protagonist, his FriendOnTheForce, and the hero's young son (kidnapped by the baddies and just rescued) taking cover from enemy fire by standing a straight row behind a tree. They eventually decide to [[HumanLadder stand on each other's shoulders]] because said tree isn't wide enough.
59	* ''Film/TheDirectLine'': In the final shootout, the ActionGirl protagonist (played by Creator/YukariOshima) takes cover from 3 mobsters shooting at her, behind a pillar barely as thick as her waist. Somehow, it works, with NONE of the bullets fired hitting her.
60	* Done subtly in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing''. In the scene where the hobbits are hiding from a Black Rider, the Rider actually emerges from behind a tree instead of riding in from the right side of the screen as you would expect, despite said tree being too small to hide the Rider and his horse.
61	* Seemingly spoofed in ''Film/PowerConnection'', with '''three''' people (the two CowboyCop protagonists and an innocent nurse bystander in between them) hiding behind a narrow pillar during a shootout. The shooter is firing away with an Uzi, and all three of them try to align themselves to avoid being shot.
62	* ''Film/TheVillain'': Cactus Jack, being primarily inspired by ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', does this at one point, with the title character and his horse hiding behind a cactus.
63	%%* In ''Film/HorridHenryTheMovie'', Henry does this to hide from and ambush Margaret.
64	* A non-stealthy variation occurs in ''Film/TrueLies'', when ButtMonkey Gib is forced to step behind a lamppost when a terrorist opens fire on him. Despite said terrorist scoring several hits on the lamppost -- and Gib being noticeably wider than it -- he emerges unscathed when the terrorist runs off (though he does a quick body check to make sure [[GroinAttack everything is intact]]).
65	* In the SilentMovie ''Big Moments from Little Pictures'', a group of policemen (an imitation of [[CluelessDeputy The Keystone Cops]]) dash behind a stack of barrels, which is large enough to hide them all with the right camera angle. But the stack is nowhere NEAR big enough to hide the car that then drives out from behind it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP-mL-rVMhw (around the 23 second mark)]].
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Jokes]]
69	* One physical humor joke involves placing two knuckles on either side of an upright finger and asking the viewer to identify what it's depicting. The answer, of course, is "Music/DollyParton hiding behind a tree." (Substitute any other well-known busty woman, as appropriate.)
70	* "Have you ever seen an elephant hiding behind a lamppost?" "No." "They're so damn good at hiding..."
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Literature]]
74	* ''Literature/TheKillerAngels'' (and the film adaptation ''Film/{{Gettysburg}}''). General Pickett amuses his fellow officers with a tale of how he witnessed a long line of soldiers taking shelter from artilery fire behind a single tree, and how the line would sway from one side or the other every time a cannonball shot past.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
78	%%* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfLanoAndWoodley'', practically a live-action cartoon, does this at one point.
79	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E7TimeFlight "Time-Flight"]], the Master's TARDIS takes the form of a black classical column that is only just wide enough for him to stand behind unseen, and too narrow to include any kind of normal door.
80	* At one point, ''Series/SesameStreet'' had a closing credit sequence in which Barkley the dog played hide-and-seek with a large group of children, who hid behind a tree too narrow to conceal them all.
81	* The Creator/{{ITV}} live-action children's series ''Series/{{Woof}}'' had a variation where walking past a pole hid the main character long enough to allow him to transform into his dog form. Though this was probably due to technical restrictions on this mid-90s low-budget series.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Myths and Folklore]]
85	* The Hide-Behind of [[FearsomeCrittersOfAmericanFolklore American folklore]] is a forest creature able to contort its body to hide behind any of the myriad trees, bushes, rocks, and other objects of its environment while stalking its prey.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Pinball]]
89	* ''Pinball/FooFighters2023'': One animation that plays during "Holding Poison" shows a band member hiding behind a road sign that ''should'' be far too thin to obscure him.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
93	* Starting in 3rd Edition, some character classes in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' could get the ''Hide In Plain Sight'' ability, which allowed them to hide even if there was nothing for them to hide behind and even [[ExaggeratedTrope while hostile creatures were looking directly at them]].
94	* Explicitly possible in the tabletop RPG ''TabletopGame/{{Toon}}''. If you succeed on a Hide/Spot Hidden skill check, then you are hidden. Somehow. It doesn't matter whether there's something you could have plausibly hidden behind. In fact, the skill is demonstrated in the rule book by an illustration of an elephant hiding from a hunter behind a ''parking meter''.
95	* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', Lord General Ursarkar E. Creed had the "Tactical Genius" special rule, which allowed you to give any unit an outflanking maneuver to sneakily enter the battle from an unexpected quarter. This arguably included [[StealthyColossus superheavy vehicles]] (there was some controversy over the validity of this, as most superheavies were simply too big to use Tactical Genius from a strict interpretation of the rule). Nonetheless, [[MemeticMutation the fandom ran with it]], interpreting the situation much like this trope. A related meme is to scream [[SayMyName CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!!!]] as you reveal your unit, since Creed is so notorious for this ability, both in and out of canon.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Video Games]]
99	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' has a button that will result in the player taking cover behind walls, unrealistically bulletproof cars...and random detritus like fire hydrants and miniature bookshelves.
100	* ''VideoGame/ImprobableIsland'':
101	** Your first encounter with [[RunningGag the sneaky bastard lion]] starts with you spotting its signature tail poking out from behind a two-foot-wide tree. Upon hearing your terrified mutterings, the seven-foot-long feline leaps at you. [[HandWave Lions are sneaky bastards, of course they can do that.]] Later encounters find the lion hiding in such diverse places as a sandwich and your underwear.
102	** {{Subverted\|Trope}} in a later encounter with the same lion: You find a flowerpot with a suspicious pair of feline ears sticking out of it and call the lion out for thinking it's so clever -- only to be pounced InTheBack, as the lion had actually stuck an AnimalEaredHeadband on the pot [[KansasCityShuffle so it could ambush you while you were distracted thinking you'd figured it out]]. It actually mocks you for thinking it could possibly have fit in the pot.
103	* ''VideoGame/InvisibleInc'': All cover objects are treated equally in terms of concealment. Things like bookshelves, lockers, refrigerators and sofas make good cover, but agents can also use floor lamps, coffee tables, folding chairs, and even transparent glass holding cells just as effectively.
104	* Used in the same manner as many cartoons in ''VideoGame/JusticeLeagueHeroesTheFlash''. Occasionally, when you break a traffic light, a MechaMook will be revealed as either having been hiding behind it or inside of it, despite the fact that the robot is several times wider than the post.
105	* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', as [[ProfessionalKiller Thane's]] loyalty mission starts, he manages to vanish completely behind two passers-by, each walking in opposite directions.
106	* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', Sans tells the player character to go hide behind a [[LampshadeHanging "conveniently-shaped lamp"]] as Papyrus approaches. It fully conceals the player character, but only during the cutscene.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Webcomics]]
110	* Parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Bard}}'', where the entire staff of the Leafy Bar sans Shelia tries to hide behind a tiny plant from [[spoiler:Dejero, the true boss of the joint]].
111	* Played with in ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire''.
112	** At one point, an alien ninja (and the narration points out that ''every'' culture in the universe has its own version of ninja) is sneaking down a passage, then decides to hide in a small, somewhat shady corner... which shouldn't by any rationale be able to hide him. When he gets close to it, however, the ''dozens of other ninja'' already hiding in there tell him to go away.
113	** He also [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20080614 pulls it off straight]] shortly after.
114	* In [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autotwb1822.html this strip]] for ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'', during a [[PaintballEpisode paintball match]] Bandit peeks out from behind a tree that in no way is thick enough to actually hide him, even with his normal slenderness. His peeking out almost makes it look like his head and neck are sprouting from the tree like a branch.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Web Original]]
118	%%* Done in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj30XYXNbiM#t=2m55s One Man Band]] to Music/{{Animusic}} alongside other camera tricks.
119	* In ''WebVideo/TheMercuryMen'', Edward attempts this, hiding behind a two-inch-wide narrow pole.
120	* 1d4Chan, taking the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' rule that "tactical genius" Lord Ursarkar Creed can infiltrate ''anything'' (except cavalry), notes that he could hide a [[TankGoodness Baneblade]] behind a light post, a [[HumongousMecha Titan]] in a swimming pool, or an army under your desk.
121	* Done a few times on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''. At least twice, characters have managed to hide behind The Stick, an aptly-named local "landmark" consisting of a stick stuck in the ground. In one Strong Bad Email, "[[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail196.html hiding]]", as part of a game of hide-and-seek, Strong Mad hid behind ''himself hiding behind The Stick.'' However, the fake Strong Mad was visible.
122	-->'''Strong Bad:''' Uh, Strong Mad? Buddy? That's the same spot you hide in every time we play.\
123	''(Strong Mad emerges from behind "himself")''\
124	'''Strong Mad:''' DAWWW!\
125	'''Strong Bad:''' Whoa! Did you make a hiding spot out of you hiding in your usual hiding spot? To hide behind?\
126	'''Strong Mad:''' I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT!\
127	'''Strong Bad:''' ''(sarcastically)'' And it was well worth your time.
128	* The self-billed "Honest Politician" Gil Fulbright has a series of satirical videos that include a tendency to walk out from behind a tree to promote his political campaigns (and it may be worth noting that he's on the hefty side). For his presidential campaign video, it escalates at the end to stepping out from behind a tiny tree that's clearly ''smaller'' than him.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Western Animation]]
132	* Spoofed in an untitled animated short, in which a character hides behind a thin flagpole. His pursuers run by, and the camera moves in ''behind'' the pole, revealing at least four other people along with the character in a lavish room with several large chairs and a fireplace. One of the others inquires who ''he's'' hiding from.
133	* This is one of the oldest tropes in animation history, dating back to Charles-Émile Reynaud's pioneering 1894 cartoon ''[[WesternAnimation/ReynaudFilms Pauvre Pierrot]]''. When Harlequin's romantic rival Pierrot shows up, Harlequin hides behind an impossibly thin marble column.
134	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "The Voice", when Gumball admits to asking Darwin to make a surrogate confession to Penny, he comes out from behind a football goalpost. The former two try to do this in "The Guy", [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome but are still visible]].
135	%%* Used in the ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' when the recently-baseless Predacons evade a Maximal patrol.
136	* A few years later, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and the rest of the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes stable were fond of this.
137	** A common joke they would also have is where a character [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed based on]] Frank Sinatra would be able to do this behind his microphone stand. Not as a trick, but because he's just that skinny.
138	** In ''Confusions of a Nutzy Spy'', Missing Lynx manages to replicate himself for a moment by looking out from both sides of a tree at once.
139	%%* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': In "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E44MyValentineGhoul Valentine Ghoul]]", Negaduck does this while spying on the titular hero and Morgana.
140	* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', "Three Squares and An Ed", which features a rare example of displaying the ''back'' of the pole. The Eds are shown to [[RuleOfFunny somehow]] be able to alter their anatomy to resemble that of spaghetti while using the banisters in Ed's house to sneak past Sarah and Jimmy (who are trying to make sure the grounded Ed stays in his room). This manages to look hilarious and oddly creepy at the same time.
141	** Played straight in ''The Ed-Touchables''. Eddy and Edd hide behind a pole while [[SubvertedTrope Ed keeps banging into it.]]
142	* The ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' episode "Total Recall" has the rotund Oz hide behind a thin lamppost.
143	* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' when Bloo is trying to sneakily follow Uncle Pockets, we see an object the perfect shape and size for him to hide behind, but he instead hides behind a lamp that doesn't cover him at all (also he's on the wrong side). When Bloo [[SelfServingMemory mentally revisits this scene]] he was properly hidden behind the lamp because he was wearing an invisibility cloak.
144	* A ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' short features Dipper investigating the Hide-Behind, a tall, skinny creature that can fold its body up so as to hide behind just about anything.
145	* Used on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', including Heloise popping out of the thin-as-a-pole Jimmy.
146	* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In "[[Recap/MollyOfDenaliS1E16ToothOrConsequencesQyahSpy Tooth or Consequences]]," Tooey uses a branch to hide his face while sneaking into the bunkhouse.
147	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
148	** In "Green Isn't Your Color", Pinkie Pie repeatedly hides in places where she can't possibly fit, such as a small apple stand and a basket of sponges.
149	** Pinkie Pie is seen hiding under a rock in "Feeling Pinkie Keen", despite the rock still touching the ground with no gap underneath.
150	** In "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows", Pinkie Pie hid herself and a large wagon loaded up with baked goods behind a thin tree.
151	* ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'': In "A Few Quick Facts about Fear", Snafu and his warhorse manage to behind a tree trunk that is far narrower than the horse is wide.
152	* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' has Bob do this while inside a pirate ship's prison cell to make the pirates think he's escaped. It's implied that Mouse had hacked that cell when she was previously forced to occupy it and installed {{hammerspace}} into it.
153	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep'', Shaun and Bitzer hide behind a very narrow tree while trailing a fox who raided the henhouse.
154	* Subverted in a 1958 cartoon, ''Sick, Sick Sidney''. In it, WesternAnimation/SidneyTheElephant tries to hide from safari hunters by getting behind a very thin tree. However, Sidney is too fat and thus unsuccessful, saying "Oh they just don't make trees like they used to."
155	* Spoofed in, what else, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in which Fat Tony steps out from behind a tree sapling after hearing that the school would need construction for a wheelchair ramp.
156	** Played straight later in "The Fool Monty" when Mr. Burns steps out from behind the microphone stand.
157	** An EPA agent pops out from behind a thin tree when the Simpsons find a screamapillar in their backyard.
158	** In "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", Sideshow Bob manages to hide behind a sculpture of jet planes in flight that conveniently resembles his silhouette.
159	* [[WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons Tex Avery shorts]]:
160	** In "WesternAnimation/NorthwestHoundedPolice", an escaped convict has been [[TheCatCameBack trying in vain to get away]] from Droopy, and eventually ends up on a tiny island with only two small rocks.
161	--->'''Convict:''' (''[[NoFourthWall to the audience]]'') [[LampshadeHanging Yeah, I know]]. (''points to the larger rock'') He'll probably be ''right'' under that rock.\
162	'''Droopy:''' (''popping up from beneath the smaller rock'') Nope, under ''this'' one.
163	** In the short ''Caballero Droopy'', the villain jumps out from behind a cactus to stick Droopy up. Later, he goes behind the cactus and comes back out riding his horse.
164	** ''One Ham's Family'' has the wolf hiding behind a thin tree, then coming out disguised as Santa Claus.
165	* Done in at least one ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short (and probably many more), in which the front and rear ends of the titular characters emerged from round the side of the pole in various combinations before either of them realised what was happening.
166	* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': Lindsay's first hiding spot in "[[Recap/TotalDramaHideAndBeSneaky Hide and Be Sneaky]]" is behind a thin tree. She has her arms stretched to look like branches, but all the same the tree should be too thin by a quarter for her head, chest, and hips. Yet it isn't, which is blatant when Lindsay leaves her hiding spot to join Heather in the main lodge.
167	* The ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' episode "Beat the Clock to Yellow Rock" at one point has a scene where Dick Dastardly and Muttley manage to hide behind a cactus that's much thinner than both of them.
168	* The 1933 Ub Iwerks WesternAnimation/WillieWhopper short ''Spite Flight'' provides the current page image, in which its Simon Legree-type villainous landlord leans out of his improbable hiding spot behind a 2-inch-thick tree trunk.
169	[[/folder]]

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