Suspender Snag

Your suspender's looking pretty sharp there, Mario.

Ever since their creation, suspenders (or braces in the UK) have proven to be useful alternatives to wearing belts. However, as useful as they are for holding up pants, they can just as easily get caught on objects or end up in the grasp of other people's hands. That's when this trope is in effect.

In media, characters who wear suspenders run the risk of getting dragged along in directions they most likely don't want to go. This often happens from the back to catch them by surprise, though getting dragged from the front or upwards is also effective. This also often happens with suspenders made with elastic so they don't instantly realize they've been caught. This is usually a comedy trope, but it can sometimes be played dramatically if they get caught by someone or something that'll get them in trouble. If the character is wearing overalls or a similar article of clothing that gets hooked, it can also qualify.

Not to be confused with women's garter belts getting caught. Can overlap with Stripping Snag if this causes them to get detached from the pants. Compare Cape Snag and Dragged by the Collar.

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Examples:

Advertising

• In this Kool-Aid commercial, one of the three bank robbers gets so startled by Kool-Aid Man's entrance that he walks into a crane, which catches him by his suspenders and lifts him into the air.

Anime and Manga

• Kill la Kill: During Ryuko's battle with Gamagoori, she is nearly knocked off the stage but manages to catch herself when her blade snags in the suspender-like part of her outfit.

Comic Books

• In one Archie Comics story, Archie decides to try out suspenders for a day, but after Reggie's pranks (including getting pantsed in front of a bunch of girls) and various instances of his suspenders getting caught, he goes back to wearing a belt the next day.

Fanfiction

• In this unnamed fanfiction based on Mork & Mindy, Mindy pulls Mork inside the house by his suspenders when he wants to play in the rain.

Films — Animated

• The Aristocats:
  • When Georges Hautecourt arrives to discuss matters with Madame Bonfamille, he insists on walking up the stairs. Edgar tries to help him navigate the steps, but Hautecourt plays a prank on him by pretending to fumble down the stairs, only to use his cane to snag Edgar's suspenders. He then uses the suspenders to launch himself onto the butler's back, thus making Edgar carry Hautecourt on piggyback the rest of the way up.
  Hautecourt: Don't panic, Edgar! Upward and onward, WHEEE!
  • Later on in the film, when Napoleon and Lafayette chase after Edgar on his motorcycle, Lafayette catches Edgar's suspenders when he passes him and uses them to catch up with him.
• James and the Giant Peach: When the Centipede unwittingly gets the gang lost in the Arctic Ocean, he tries to make things right by swimming down to a sunken pirate ship so he can bring back a compass to help them find their way to New York City. But when he tries to steal the compass from the skeletal pirate captain (with an uncanny resemblance to Jack Skellington), his suspenders get caught in the grasp of the captain and he gets captured by the pirates.
• Lucky Luke: Daisy Town: During the Bar Brawl involving him, Lucky Luke grabs the suspenders of the jerkass cowboy who provoked him and punches him, sending him flying and hitting a wooden pole repeatedly with the suspenders acting like elastics. To cap it off as the jerkass grabs his gun, Luke uses the suspenders to catapult the saloon's cash register in his face.
• Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: Victor Quartermaine chops down a tree in the woods Wallace and Gromit are going through as a roadblock to give Wallace a piece of his mind for trying to take Lady Tottington from him. Wallace tries to walk away from the situation, but his suspenders are snagged by Victor's axe and he gets pulled back.

Films — Live Action

• Babe: Pig in the City:
  • Justified as it's part of a gag in a show, but part of Fugly Floom's clown show involves his ape performers grabbing him by the suspenders as he walks off, dragging him back.
  • Later on in the film, Esme Hoggett, who's forced to wear Fugly's clown costume after her dress gets ruined, barges into the ballroom's kitchen to try and get Babe back and comes close to catching him, but the chefs holding her by the suspenders cause her to get pulled back, knocking them over in the process.
  • Shortly after that, Esme exploits the trope by tying the suspenders to a drape and using them as an improvised bungee in an attempt to take Babe back from a chef who tries to steal him.
• Delicatessen: Exploited by Louison when he's painting a hard-to-reach ceiling. He hooks his suspenders onto a nearby pipe to balance himself on top of a ladder (which works great, until the end of the "squeaky bed" scene when he falls on his face).
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day: The T-800 gently lifts up to face level Enrique Salceda's toddler Paco by the straps of his overalls to inspect him.

Manhua

• One Old Master Q short plays this for Black Comedy, where Master Q, after an argument with his girlfriend, tried killing himself by jumping off a cliff, only for his suspenders to be snagged by a branch midway where he ends up dangling in mid-air in a comical fashion.

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street: In the Elmo's World episode about getting dressed, Elmo asks Mr. Noodle how he gets dressed. When Mr. Noodle puts on his pants, he has a hard time keeping them from falling down, so Elmo and the children tell him to use his suspenders to hold them up. Mr. Noodle does so, but in the process, his suspenders get stuck to the hook on the door, which holds him back.

Video Games

• Mario Party: The artwork for Luigi's Engine Room depicts Wario hanging from a crane by the back of his overalls, for which he looks angry at Luigi since he seems to be the one controlling it.
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: In the reveal trailer for Sephiroth, a scene is framed in a way that makes it look like Sephiroth has impaled Mario with his Masamune, but then it turns out the sword only has him hooked by his overalls strap.

Western Animation

• The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: In the episode "Oh, Brother!", Kooky drags Mario into a Warp Zone leading to King Koopa by hooking the Plumber Pole (a fishing rod) onto the strap of his overalls and reeling him in.
• The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise: When Papa Bear is sawing off a tree branch, Small Bear warns him too late that he's standing on the branch he's sawing off. Papa falls as the branch comes off, but luckily he gets left hanging from another branch by the back of his overalls just before he hits the ground.
• Dennis the Menace (1986): In "So Sorry!", Mr. and Mrs. Wilson take Dennis to a Japanese village. When they arrive, Dennis is excited to be the first one off the bus, and runs off as Mr. Wilson tries to keep up with him. As Dennis gets off the bus, the suspenders of his overalls get caught in the door latch, and when Mr. Wilson tries to catch up to him, Dennis' suspenders close the door, causing Mr. Wilson to slam into it.
• Goofy: In "For Whom the Bulls Toil", after the bull makes Goofy's suspenders come loose, he tries to reattach them, but they get caught on the bull's horns after it charges towards him. The bull swings him around the arena by his suspenders, and when he tries to escape in his car, he gets pulled back into the arena because they're still caught on the bull.
• Little Rural Riding Hood:
  • The poster depicts City Wolf's hand holding Country Wolf by his suspenders to keep him from getting close to City Red.
  • Subverted in the short itself. When Country Wolf tries to run towards City Red, City Wolf grabs him by his suspenders, but instead of simply holding onto them to restrain him, he places a mallet in them and lets go, letting it whack Country Wolf in the back of the head when they snap back. Country Wolf does the same thing to City Wolf when he starts running toward Country Red.
• Looney Tunes: In "The Country Boy", two rabbits getting ready for school put on pants with suspenders, but they both button the back ends of the suspenders to the back of the opposite rabbit's pants. When they rush off in opposite directions, they both get pulled back and their backs smack into each other.
• The Perils of Penelope Pitstop: In "Wild West Peril", the Ant Hill Mob save Penelope from a building set to collapse on her by the Hooded Claw, but as they exit the building with Penelope, Softy's suspenders get hooked on a loose nail, which makes the Ant Hill Mob get dragged back into the collapsing building and leaves Penelope open to get captured by the Hooded Claw yet again.
• The Raccoons: In "Read No Evil!", as Herman is forced to leave Beaver Bite Swamp, Herman thinks about all his fond memories of growing up there, one of them being his mother getting him dressed for the first time. Young Herman jumps into his overalls while his mother holds them by the straps, and he tries to run off but snaps back into his mother's arms.
• Rugrats (1991):
  • In "Tommy's First Birthday", the series' first episode, Tommy wants to eat dog food after seeing a commercial for it on television, believing it will turn him into a dog. At one point, he and Angelica are standing atop a pile of pots and pans, but when the can of dog food is out of their reach, Chuckie uses the Hoverama, a remote control flying saucer that Stu invented and gave to Tommy as a birthday present in an attempt to get it down. Tommy loses his balance and falls over, but the suspenders of his overalls get caught in the Hoverama's antenna, preventing a nasty landing.
  • In the episode "Starstruck", when Chas is excited about meeting an actor named Mack Granite, his wife Kira holds him by the suspenders to prevent him from following Mack.
• The Three Little Pigs: In "The Big Bad Wolf", the titular antagonist exploits this trope by tying his suspenders to a tree branch and putting on a fairy disguise to fool the Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood while dangling himself from the tree. The tree branch breaks, ruining his disguise and he chases after them while his suspenders drag along the fallen branch behind him. The trope gets played straight when it gets caught between another tree.

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