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{{trope}}
Our hero has to get to his destination ''yesterday'', and he's on foot. Unfortunately, there's a huge crowd between him and his goal, and for whatever reason, shouting at them to get out of his way just isn't cutting it. His only option is to weave his way through the crowd Frogger-style; changing speeds, cutting left and right to avoid clumps of people, and sometimes even ducking under carried objects and jumping over the incidental obstacles like benches and garbage cans. Generally, if the person is being chased or is fleeing a scene, they'll not even bother dodging, preferring to just bull their way through a crowd as best they can. (Naturally, the hero has to be nicer about it than the villain.) Of course, if the person being chased does this right, they tend to be [[Lost in
If one half of a couple is about to leave on a plane/boat/train/whatever, the odds that the other person will have to run the
This can often be in a [[Nightmare Sequence|scary dream sequence]]: the character is doing their best to move forward in the crowd, only to find that said crowd is getting denser and denser, resulting in the character being swept away as if in a tidal wave. Happens quite a bit in [[Crime and Punishment Series]] with the "Cop(s) chasing Suspect(s)" version.
Often a case of [[Truth in Television]]. Occasionally [[Played for Laughs]]. Compare to [[Excuse Me, Coming Through]], where the crowd parts just when the hero or villain needs it to. If the character chooses a more direct path through the masses, it's a [[Foe-Tossing Charge]]. See also [[Le Parkour]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Psycho Busters]]'', one character is trapped in a [[Master of Illusion|illusion of a town]] [[Night of the Living Mooks|full of zombies]]. He uses this trope to avoid the zombies.
* Daily mobstacle course training was how the protagonist of [[Eyeshield 21]] managed to (unintentionally) develop the skills needed to become a great runningback.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Nami went through one of these to get to the [[Cool Boat|Going Merry]] at the end of the Arlong Arc, though this example is a bit different from the norm in that the crowd is an issue because they're trying to ''thank'' her. Being Nami, she not only gets through the crowd with ease, she steals all their money in the process.
* In the ''[[Kenichi:
== Comics ==▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In [[Don Rosa]]'s [[Donald Duck]] story "On Stolen Time", Donald and his nephews chase the Beagle Boys atop the heads of a crowd of people who have been frozen in time.
== [[Fan
* In ''[[Drunkard's Walk|Drunkard's Walk VIII: Harry Potter and the Man from Otherearth]]'', Doug Sangnoir has a favorite training simulation in the Warriors' danger room -- "Asymmetric Combat Exercise Number 7":
{{quote|Basically, ACE7 was an urban combat simulation which set me against an unlimited number of fully-equipped normals, coming at me from all sides in an endless stream. It only terminated when I decided I'd had enough, or I died.}}
* Subverted in ''[[Hackers]]'', where the heroes are able to not only weave through the crowded conditions around Grand Central Station easily, they use the crowd (and the traffic) to keep the FBI at bay for a while.
* Used 1966's ''[[Batman:
* Deckard does this while pursuing Zhora through the crowd in ''[[Blade Runner]]''.
* Subverted in ''[[Ong Bak]]: The Thai Warrior'' in which Tony Jaa, confronted by a crowd, ''runs across people's heads''. The [[Mooks]] chasing him are unable to duplicate the feat and must push through the
* Likewise in ''[[
* In ''[[The Princess Bride (
* In ''[[
** Later in ''[[
*** Or simply change places with them
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Broadcast News]]'', Joan Cusack's character must cross a
* ''[[
* ''[[
** ''[[
* ''[[The Wind
* ''[[Wanted]]''. One of the various climactic scenes is this trope [[Incendiary Exponent|on fire.]] The main character runs through a huge loom hallway covered with explosive rats, shooting the hell out of everyone that gets in his way, never once reloading his weapons- instead, he catches the guns his enemies drop out of the air. And he doesn't stop moving.
* The climax of ''[[
* ''[[
* In the Hungarian film ''[[
* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', our introduction to the titular character occurs as he dashes with a stolen piece of bread through crowds, fakirs, and herds of sheep with ease while his pursuers take the "toss-everyone-aside" approach.▼
* This is how Kronk loses the bag holding the unconscious Kuzco in ''[[The Emperor's
== [[Literature]] ==
* The main character of [[Cory Doctorow]]'s ''[[Down and Out
* Done by Rincewind in ''[[
▲* The main character of [[Cory Doctorow]]'s ''[[Down and Out In The Magic Kingdom]]'' does this all the time, which leads directly to his employment at Disney World.
* In one of [[
▲* Done by Rincewind in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Last Continent|The Last Continent]]'', in a [[Shout Out]] to the ''[[Crocodile Dundee]]'' example above.
▲* In one of [[EE Doc Smith]]'s books (an early ''[[Lensman]]'' one, if memory serves) our hero is undercover with some criminals on a very highly populated planet - the criminals are experts at running the crowds, and the hero has to barge people aside and generally rush to keep up, and hope that the villain doesn't turn back to check on him. The expectation was that a guy in the position he was claiming to hold would know how to run the crowds, and it was a sort of [[Secret Test of Character]].
* ''[[New Moon]]'' does this in the big Italy scene. You've got to get to the other side of the square before the clock stops tolling in order to save your beloved from a successful suicide they really don't want to do..... did I mention we're having a festival?
== [[Live
* ''[[Seinfeld]]'' does this with George while trying to get a ''Frogger'' arcade console across a busy New York City street. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* In the ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' episode, ''Turn and Face the Strange'', the ordinarily calm and collected Mr. Bennet has to make a desperate on-foot escape through a city street, comically knocking over just about every pedestrian in his way.
* In the ''[[
* Happens when ''[[The Amazing Race]]'' visits big cities, especially in India. Sometimes used as a task where teams have to find a specific person within the mob.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Dead Rising]]'' lets you do this through crowds of zombies if you position your jumps right.
** Not in the [[Wii]] version, where [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|you instead just blast your way through with your guns]].
* One of the highlighted features of ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' was the protagonists capacity to make his way unnoticed through
* Ryo ends up having to do this a few times while chasing various people in ''[[Shenmue]]''.
* You do this automatically if someone's in your way in ''[[Prototype (
* The [[Nintendo]] ''[[Back to The Future]]'' game. And what's better, [[Everything Trying to Kill You|everyone wants Marty dead]], including [[Sheet of Glass|guys carrying windows]] and hula hoop girls.
* ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' invokes a tragic version of this while you're trying to get to Jason.
==
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' had a few, with varied [[Excuse Me, Coming Through|methods]] and level of success.
{{quote|'''Breya''': And I [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-07-23 still] wear [[Powered Armor|carbonan]] [[Latex Space Suit|undies]].}}
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "A Taste of Freedom", during Freedom Day (the day for doing whatever you want with no regard for consequences) Bender attaches a cowcatcher to himself for pushing through crowds.
▲* In [[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]], our introduction to the titular character occurs as he dashes with a stolen piece of bread through crowds, fakirs, and herds of sheep with ease while his pursuers take the "toss-everyone-aside" approach.
▲* This is how Kronk loses the bag holding the unconscious Kuzco in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]''.
== Real Life ==▼
▲== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Truth in Television]], of course, especially in large cities.
* There's an actual tag-like game involving this and [[Le Parkour]]: when on areas with very little people, you're allowed to move any way you like, even [[Roof Hopping]], but when in a crowded area, your objective is to cause as little commotion as possible and still move as fast as you can. Usually, the one with the best "crowd intuition" wins.
* The employees of theme parks (especially the larger ones, like the [[Disney]] parks) become World Champions at the art of navigating a Mobstacle Course. Having to get from Point A to Point B through a crowd of 80,000+ people gets them lots of practice.
* The entire sport of roller derby could be summed up as a) making the most impassable
* This is essentially what bicycle messengers in big cities do (the most famous are in New York.) They navigate between people on the sidewalk and cars on the street. Their entire selling point is being faster than on foot, and faster than a car since they can dodge in between them on the road.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Chase Scene]]
[[Category:This Index Is in The Way]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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