Line #35 Main/DisposableVehicleSection


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3	%% The examples have been alphabetized. Please put any new example in its proper place in the folder rather than at the end.
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6	[[quoteright:232:[[WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ccaarrmmeenn_9056.jpg]]]]
7	[[caption-width-right:232: Because who needs car insurance when you can just improvise?]]
8	->'''Arcee:''' Did we have to let them detonate three-quarters of the ship?\
9	'''Springer:''' Seeing as how they were going to detonate ''four''-quarters, I think it was a good choice.
10	-->--''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie''
11
12	One or more characters are travelling somewhere in a vehicle. The vehicle is damaged, runs out of fuel, the reactor malfunctions, etc. Or maybe it's just not fast or maneuverable enough. Normally, that would be bad news for everyone on board, but instead someone pushes a switch and a large section of the vehicle containing the problem detaches itself, leaving the characters with a smaller, undamaged, fully fuelled vehicle to continue the mission.
13
14	Sometimes:
15	* This will be PlayedForDrama, as the characters have to leave something (or someone) behind in order to escape or are in a RaceAgainstTheClock to complete the separation.
16	* The part left behind is still capable of carrying out a supporting role, often giving the separated vehicle covering fire.
17	* The smaller vehicle has a third, even smaller vehicle that the characters end up in at the end of the sequence or plotline.
18
19	Do note: This is not for a small vehicle carried aboard a larger one. It has to be an integral portion of the vehicle so that the disposable section is not functional (or at least functional only for distraction; intentionally disposing it as a means of attack doesn't count).
20
21	A form of TravelCool. Related to CombiningMecha, DetachmentCombat, DidntNeedThoseAnyway. May serve as a justification for ShedArmorGainSpeed for armored vehicles. Compare EscapePod (a specialized compartment used in emergencies to escape certain doom on your vehicle), LifeOrLimbDecision (when the disposable thing happens to be your own limb), and RailCarSeparation (when the portion of the vehicle that's being disposed of consists of cars from a railroad train).
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23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Advertising]]
29	* There was a commercial for some beer company (possibly a SuperBowlSpecial) where an airplane full of passengers and cases of the beer was forced to land place far away from any help. The pilot (or someone) says that in order to get back up, they have to reduce the weight of the plane, the assumption being that they'll have to leave the beer behind. The next shot is the plane taking off, without its outside fuselage.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
33	* ''Anime/BatmanNinja'': The cockpit of the Batmobile detaches and transforms into the Batwing. When the Batwing is grabbed, Batman is again able to detach the cockpit, which becomes the Batcycle.
34	* In ''Manga/BrokenBlade'', the ''[[HumongousMecha Delphine]]'' goes into battle wearing colossal heavy armor plates. Once those are too damaged to help anymore, Rygart drops them and gets about 200% faster.
35	* ''Anime/GallForce''
36	** In "Eternal Story", the [[spoiler:Star Leaf]]'s forward section splits apart to reveal a landing pod that can act as an oversize escape pod.
37	** In "Destruction", a heavy shuttle detaches the rear section to act as a decoy while the forward section and mecha launched from it's cargo hold infiltrate an ElaborateUndergroundBase.
38	* ''Anime/HaloLegends''. In "The Package", when the team of Spartans led by Master Chief gets too close to their objective, the Elite Supreme Commander starts ejecting parts of his spacecraft in an effort to stop him, [[WeHaveReserves throwing everyone inside those sections into space]].
39	* Likely copied from the Franchise/JamesBond film ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', in one episode of ''Anime/MarineBoy'', the title hero has the episode's BigBad cornered when he's driving off on his speedboat. So he presses a switch which splits the boat, with him speeding away and Marine Boy left behind on the rear half.
40	* ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''[=/=]''Anime/{{Robotech}}'':
41	** The Zentraedi recon pod can detach the legs and use the body of the mecha as a shuttlepod.
42	** Hikaru Ichijo/[[DubNameChange Rick Hunter]], piloting the heavy armored space fighter, detaches the armor after battling a Zentraedi cruiser, revealing an ordinary Valkyrie mecha inside.
43	** In the DreamSequence ClipShow episode "Phantasm", a comatose Hikaru imagines his fighter's nose section ejecting and converting into his old racing plane.
44	** In ''Anime/MacrossII'', after taking heavy damage, the bridge of [[spoiler:the Macross]] detaches to become an airborne command post.
45	* Played for laughs in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' with the Dai-Gurren, a mobile fortress in the shape of a humanoid mecha with a knife-shaped battleship deck positioned in order to effect a GagPenis. During the Battle of Teppelin, the Dai-Gurren rams the enemy city's giant hammer with the knife section, then "detaches" by sliding out of it and running away. The remnant is shaped like a skeletal pelvis.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Comic Books]]
49	* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'': Downplayed in the issue that introduced the [=BATs=]. The Awe Striker is being pursued by a Cobra Stinger driven by one of the [=BATs=] and their main cannon has been unloaded. When Bazooka complains about the situation, Crankcase suggests getting rid of the cannon to save them some weight. He does and throws the cannon at the Stinger, decapitating the BAT.
50	* ''ComicBook/{{Robin\|1993}}'': While the Redbird's shifting panels were designed that way in order to change the car's appearance into that of a commercially available sports car they can be jettisoned off the car if they're damaged or stuck.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
54	* In ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'', Scrat the squirrel and his love interest are fighting over an acorn when a geyser erupts beneath them, sending the three and a large rock skyward. As the two squirrels climb the rock toward the acorn, the bottom of the rock falls away in a ShoutOut to staged rockets (see below).
55	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', the Autobots perform an "emergency separation" of the front cockpit of their shuttle so the rear portion would be destroyed and fool the Decepticons into thinking they were killed.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
59	* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
60	** In ''Film/BatmanReturns'', the Batmobile split off the flarings on both sides and the wheels retracted to form a vehicle (the "batmissile") that could fit through a narrow alley.
61	** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has Batman ejecting from the Batmobile on a motorcycle, leaving behind the damaged part to self-destruct.
62	* ''Film/TheBigBus'': The ''Cyclops'' is equipped with an automatic tire changer so the bus can eject punctured tires and replace them with new ones while still rolling along.
63	* In ''Film/TheCore'', the drill vehicle carrying the scientists to the centre of the Earth was designed to jettison damaged parts. In the end, they force-jettisoned the ship segments to pull off their big plan.
64	* ''Film/DeathRace'': The hero's car has a 6-inch-thick armor plating in the back called "The Tombstone". When it gets damaged and his other defensive weapons aren't working, the hero jettisons it in the hope that it will damage the car behind him. The disadvantage of this tactic is that [[EveryCarIsAPinto it leaves the fuel tank exposed]].
65	* ''Film/FiveWeeksInABalloon'': At the climax of the film, the heroes have performed an EmergencyCargoDump to try to keep the balloon aloft after it gets damaged, but when it turns out it's still not enough weight ''and'' that the villainous team of slavers are about to cross a bridge to get to the uncharted territory they're all racing for and conquer it, they intentionally allow the balloon's passenger section to hook on to the bridge and then they release the balloon, flying off in a smaller "crow's nest" section while the bridge collapses.
66	* ''Film/TheGreenHornet'' film showcases that the [[CoolCar Black Beauty]] has front-wheel drive, which allows the car to keep on moving when the rear end is torn off by an elevator.
67	* In ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'', the assassin pulls this trick when his miniaturized pod is damaged beyond repair. In the style of an ImplacableMan he ejects himself out of it and continues attacking the hero wearing a gadget-loaded space suit.
68	* ''Franchise/JamesBond'':
69	** In the climax of ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', the ''Disco Volante'', Emilio Largo's yacht, jettisons its stern to confuse and divert the American and British warships closing in. The mooks left aboard the stern section use a variety of guns, from machine guns to a 40mm cannon, to fire on the pursuing warships. Meanwhile, the forward half becomes a hydrofoil, which is far faster than any of the pursuing ships and might have escaped if not for Bond's interference.
70	** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' opens with a chase scene, during which a truck sideswipes Bond's car ramming part of its fender through the car door. Bond elects to dispose of that door to free himself -- unfortunately this means there's a vulnerability in his bulletproof car that the men chasing him try to exploit.
71	* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
72	** in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Tony's [[MetaMecha Hulkbuster Armor]] uses a very modular build, allowing any damaged piece to be ejected and replaced on the fly.
73	** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', Yondu reveals that the front section of his ship is a fully-functional ship in and of itself. [[spoiler:Which comes in handy when he blows up the rear section in order to finish off the mutineers.]]
74	* Occurs during the second battle between the smaller British ''Surprise'' and the larger French ''Acheron'' in ''Film/MasterAndCommanderTheFarSideOfTheWorld'', when a cannon shot by the ''Acheron'' fells a mast on the ''Surprise''. One poor sailor falls into the raging sea with the debris, and desperately tries to climb the rigging back aboard the ''Surprise''. However, the rigging and the mast debris are acting as a sea anchor, slowing the ''Surprise'' in its flight to escape the pursuing ''Acheron''. Captain Jack orders the rigging cut, to gain speed by marooning the sailor.
75	* The protagonists' car in ''Film/MadMission'' has an escape pod which ejects from the car, and is actually a small vehicle itself.
76	* In the opening of ''Film/PitchBlack'', the co-pilot of the space transport faces a moral dilemma: should she eject the rear compartments of her crashing vessel (one of which contains passengers) to improve the chance that the forward compartment in which she's sitting won't be destroyed? Several cargo compartments are purged, but the pilot intervenes and stops her from sacrificing the one with the passengers.
77	* ''Film/{{Sonic the Hedgehog\|2020}}'': Doctor Robotnik's first attack vehicle has three separate stages -- a large menacing black semitruck, a smaller white vehicle that pops out of the underside of the first and can function with even one wheel, and finally one of his Badniks, a little white drone armed with a laser that becomes a StickyBomb when damaged.
78	* As with the TV shows, this is a fixture of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' films starting with ''Generations'':
79	** In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', the ''Enterprise'' crew have to evacuate to the Saucer section and separate it from the Engineering section before the Warp Core breaches. The Saucer gets far enough away to ''almost'' OutrunTheFireBall, surviving intact enough to make a crash landing on the nearest planet.
80	** This happens again in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', where a Borg sphere shoots out of the nearly destroyed Borg cube and carries on with its mission to assimilate the Earth. In another play on the trope, the ''Phoenix'' is launched via a multi-stage rocket, similar to the 20th- and 21st-century rockets it was based on.
81	** And again in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', where [[spoiler:Kirk orders the ''Enterprise'''s saucer separated after the ship is severely damaged in battle. Both sections of the ship end up crashing anyways, despite efforts at DamageControl.]]
82	* In ''Film/VanHelsing'', when the titular character's riding a horse-pulled cart away from Dracula's brides, he has to sacrifice the cart in order for his horses to jump over a ravine. The brides fly towards the falling cart, thinking that Anna and the Frankenstein's Monster might be inside... [[spoiler:and then they're greeted by silver stakes instead, courtesy of the exploding cart.]] Minus the vampires, Van Helsing's tactic of cutting the horses loose from a doomed stagecoach and riding them to safety is a classic for old Westerns.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Literature]]
86	* ''Literature/KnownSpace'' features a freighter owned by Sigmund Ausfaller, built as bait for a pirate gang. When the pirates attack, the ship would ditch the huge lumbering cargo module, revealing itself as a [[AceCustom devastating miniature battleship]] with an invincible [[ArmorOfInvincibility General Products hull]].
87	* Seen in ''Literature/PerryRhodan'''s Andromeda arc. One contemporary [[FasterThanLightTravel linear drive]] unit simply doesn't have the range to cross the void between the galaxies with while the enemy can take a convenient large-scale intergalactic [[{{Teleportation}} transmitter]] shortcut? Well, let's just revive the old multi-stage principle with additional ''external'' units and jettison each as it burns out!
88	* The [[Literature/{{Railsea}} Shroakes]]' first rule is that you never leave anything too valuable in the last coach or wagon. The reason for this is first demonstrated when they are attacked by a giant owl which carries off the last vehicle in their train.
89	* During the railway pursuit of kidnapper Baron von Leinsdorf in Nicholas Meyer's Franchise/SherlockHolmes thriller ''Literature/TheSevenPerCentSolution'', Holmes and Watson demolish the train cars from back to front to fuel the locomotive's boiler. Once each car was bereft of combustibles, it was uncoupled. This effort succeeds in catching up to the Baron's special. This sequence was faithfully adapted to film in 1976 by Universal Pictures.
90	* ''[[Literature/{{Uplift}} Startide Rising]]'' has a mostly dolphin-crewed starship unable to escape its pursuers...until it suddenly jettisons all its swimming-around water. The pursuing ships smash into the resulting ice cloud and go boom, and the suddenly much lighter Terran ship easily outruns the survivors.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
94	* In the ''Series/BuckRogersInThe25thCentury'' episode "Space Vampire", the ship that the Vorvon and Vamp Wilma escape on is programmed to fly into a star. Once the star's radiation returns Wilma to normal, she detaches the rear portion of the ship and flies to safety while the Vorvon continues into the star in the front portion.
95	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Castrovalva", we learn that in an emergency the TARDIS can eject one quarter of itself in order to propel it. Problem: You can't decide which quarter will be ejected, it just might be the part you're standing in at the time. When something similar happens in "The Doctor's Wife" the Doctor explains that he's now added a safeguard: the occupants of ejected rooms are moved to the main control room.
96	* Shows up quite a bit in the various ''Franchise/StarTrek'' shows. Gets a mention as a possibility once in the Original Series, and is done multiple times in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. This is done variously to evacuate the crew due to damage, get civilians out of danger before an expected battle, or to give the ship an advantage in combat by giving the enemy multiple ships to fight instead of one big one. And as seen in the Film section above, the tradition carries on into the films.
97	* A specific ''Series/TopGear'' example: the Homemade Limo challenge. Clarkson's AbsurdlyLongLimousine had to have a large section removed to be made road legal. The modification was poorly done, and the limo eventually split apart. Undeterred, Clarkson plops the celebrity he's escorting in the front passenger seat and drives off in the front half, leaving the rest behind.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Radio]]
101	* ''Radio/{{Earthsearch}}''. The protagonists are away in a shuttle when their starship is hijacked and leaves without them. They do an EmergencyCargoDump in a desperate effort to catch up before they are AlmostOutOfOxygen. Sharna decides to ReadTheFreakingManual and finds the engine section can be detached with explosive bolts in event of an overload, so once they're out of fuel they dump that as well.
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Video Games]]
105	* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the ending FMV of the game has [[spoiler:an emergency switch to eject the bridge from the Highwind, which transforms into a functional airplane]].
106	* The final boss in ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' can lose its two wings and keep fighting, though not without [[CowardlyBoss making a jump to safety first]].
107	* Many ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}''-like shoot-em-ups have this trope in force (creating SequentialBoss in the process), so it's impossible to list them all. They all follow a similar pattern: Shoot the large flying mechanical boss; when it takes enough damage it ejects the damaged portions, becoming smaller, but faster and more likely to unleash BulletHell upon you.
108	* In ''VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram'', any multi-stage craft will be [[DesignItYourselfEquipment built this way]], and completely {{justified\|Trope}}. After all, getting to orbit requires a lot of propulsion and fuel, and once up there the empty fuel containers and excessively large engines just become dead weight. Any craft that averts this is considered a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle, and depending on engineering and mission goal can range from AwesomeButImpractical to DifficultButAwesome.
109	* In ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' the Great Sacred Treasures is designed to be able to keep fighting no matter how damaged it gets. Throughout the final battle, it takes on five different forms, shedding parts either deliberately for more mobility or necessity due to damage.
110	* The Interceptors in the ''VideoGame/{{Spy Hunter\|2001}}'' reboot, its sequel and ''Nowhere to Run'' can eject sections and convert to a cycle-like Secondary Escape Vehicle mode after taking sufficient damage. The one in the sequel could also convert on player command.
111	* The Corpus Obelisks in ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' can eject their bridges in case something goes wrong, as Frohd Bek demonstrates after you sneak [[TrojanHorse hacked Ambulases]] on his ship in Pluto [[BossBattle assassination mission]].
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Webcomics]]
115	* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', the [[CoolAirship Mechane]] included a feature to jettison its ballistae, as a means of passing itself off as a civilian ship in situations when the crew may find themselves in the middle of a warzone (referred to as the "Innocent Traveler" plan). This is used to lighten the load of the ship [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1076.html during the events of the story]] to help get them over a cliffside.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Western Animation]]
119	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "Harley and Ivy", the Joker's car gets snagged with a grapple line. Harley ejects the rear section, allowing her and Mistah J to escape while the discarded piece slams into the Batmobile and nearly sends it off a bridge.
120	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdman\|1967}}'' episode "Number One". When Birdman breaks into the title villain's pirate satellite, Number One activates a SelfDestructMechanism and escapes in the detached head of the satellite.
121	* ''WesternAnimation/TheGalaxyTrio'' episode "The Duplitrons". When a rocket pod in which the Trio are flying malfunctions, Meteor Man presses a button and the pod splits in half. The rear section falls away and Meteor Man continues to fly on in the front half.
122	%%* In ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', IIRC, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny gets launched into space this way.
123	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'': The Red Skull has attained a Nazi weapons cache hidden in South America, and has loaded a goodly amount aboard a panel truck, which he drives toward the coast. The Spider Friends are in pursuit, preparing to mount the truck. Seeing this, the Red Skull orders his henchmen to "Jettison truck shell, and stand by to dive!" Verily, the outer shell is detached, revealing a mini submarine on wheels, which zooms across the beach and into the ocean.
124	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\|1987}}'': The Turtle Blimp that was introduced in later seasons had the ability to detach the gondola from the balloon and function as a glider in the event that the balloon was damaged. Naturally, this happened on a regular basis. [[ToSellToys The toy based on it]] had the same ability. One episode notably did the reverse, where the gondola section was shot off the blimp but the Turtles clung to the still flying balloon via the cables that usually held the gondola on.
125	* The page image is taken from the ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'' episode "The Trial of Carmen Sandiego", in which Carmen and her henchmen escape from the Salisbury Cathedral having nabbed the Magna Carta, leaving brother-sister detectives Zack and Ivy trapped inside. The two siblings escape by rappelling out a window, throwing a spear to use as an anchor and damaging the tires of Carmen's getaway vehicle in the process. The duo manage to subdue the henchmen while Carmen gets away. At first unable because of the damaged tire, she converts the vehicle into a mini rocket ship and blasts off, leaving some of the damaged part of the vehicle behind with her henchmen.
126	-->'''Carmen:''' I'd call this attempted entrapment, detectives. You'll have to do better!
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Real Life]]
130	* Many larger rockets are designed to stage, separating an engine along with the now-empty fuel tanks feeding it to lighten the load after reaching the upper atmosphere, perhaps most notably the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V Saturn V]]''. What landed back on Earth was a small capsule the size of a car and comprising less than 0.2% of the 110-meter-tall, 3,000-tonne rocket. Every shed gram having been necessary to send this small thing to the Moon and back.
131	* Drop tanks, as used on military aircraft, function similarly to the rocket stages above, though in this case, the section being disposed of is simply a fuel tank, rather than an engine.
132	* Many [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JATO JATO or RATO]] units are designed to be jettisoned from their parent aircraft after takeoff.
133	* A few aircraft such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163_Komet Me 163]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2 U-2]] were designed to take off using devices such as a dolly under the fuselage[[note]]in the Me 163's case[[/note]] or bogey wheels supporting the wingtips[[note]]for the U-2[[/note]] that would be released once the plane was airborne. In each case, the aircraft was specially designed to land without the dropped wheels.
134	* Allegedly, some passengers incorrectly believed the ''Titanic'' could do this.
135	* TankGoodness: Later World War II German tanks were designed with add-on armoured panels, deliberately sacrificial appliqué armour spaced out from the main armoured shell of body and tank. These were designed to take the impact of infantry anti-tank weapons -- expending their destructive power some distance away from anything important--and could be discarded and replaced according to need. Other parts of the tank, such as track guards and front/rear fenders, could also take damage and be removed, as they were not critical components. Modular armor and weapons are now a fairly common feature for combat vehicles, allowing both for easier repair of damaged armor and easier mobility, by stripping unneeded armor to make the vehicle lighter and easier to transport.
136	* This is the logic of crumple zones in automobiles, though in this case, it's not so that the car can keep moving but so that the passenger compartment can stay intact in the event of a bad crash. Before crumple zones were invented, cars would compress like aluminum cans when they crashed: as a single unit, with the passenger compartment deforming as readily as the front, all while the driver and passengers sustained whiplash from the entire car stopping all at once. Crumple zones not only cause the car to decelerate more slowly, reducing whiplash, they absorb the entire blow so that the passenger compartment doesn't collapse and crush the people inside. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPF4fBGNK0U This crash test]] where a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu slams into a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air demonstrates how they work.
137	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_or_nothing_(armor) All-or-nothing armor]] is this concept applied to warships, as a result of lessons learned from UsefulNotes/WorldWarI naval combat. The idea was that there was no point in armoring a ship in non-essential areas, like crew berths, since the ship could take a hit there and keep fighting just fine; instead, armor should be applied only to critical areas like the engines and powder magazines, which should be placed low down in the center of the ship to minimize the amount of armor needed to completely enclose them. This also meant the armor piercing shells commonly used to punch through the armored "Citadel" would instead vastly ''over''-penetrate the unarmored sections, punching a hole through, but likely only exploding well after it's gone out the other side of the ship.
138	[[/folder]]

Context Main / DisposableVehicleSection