Trampoline Tummy
Sometimes when a character needs to get somewhere high, they'll have to fall back on using whatever they can find as a makeshift trampoline. Sometimes it's an actual trampoline, other times it's a mattress, and then you get crazier with things like gigantic globs of Jell-O, huge blocks of squishy foam, or overgrown plush toys. Other times, a fat person or creature's stomach can do the trick just fine.
A common trope in cartoonier media, an obese character's stomach is not just plush and soft, but also durable enough for people to bounce and jump around on it without seriously hurting the guy. It still doesn't make it a pleasant experience though, and it's not uncommon to have the victim lash out at the person bouncing on their belly and ask just what the hell they think they're doing.
No real life examples, please; It's safe to say that this is not how things work in Real Life. Bouncing on anybody's stomach can horribly injure, if not kill them. So PLEASE don't try this at home. Or elsewhere.
Comic Books
- In Cigars of the Pharaoh, Tintin jumps on a fat man's belly from a tree to get over a wall.
- Disgustingly subverted in Preacher (Comic Book). The retarded kid who is the last surviving descendant of Jesus apparently amuses himself by taking flying leaps into the copious fat-rolls of the evil Cardinal who rules The Grail. Rather than bouncing hilariously off of it, however, it just makes the cardinal puke by the bucketload, which suits him fine since he's bulimic...
Film - Animated
- In Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys, Ash jumps off a Snorlax's large belly to reach the control robot.
- In My Neighbor Totoro, Mei bounces on the furry tummy of a sleeping Totoro; later, her sister Satsuki falls from the top of Totoro's tree and lands with a bounce on his stomach.
Literature
- The Dr. Seuss book Hop on Pop.
Live-Action TV
- One Monty Python's Flying Circus animation has two men bouncing on a fat woman's belly.
Video Games
- In Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, you can do this with the eponymous enemies in the level "Double Header".
- Zorro, the 8-bit classic from 1985, involved getting a bottle of wine to intoxicate a drunkard, to trampoline to the top of the screen.
- Used in the Meat Circus level of Psychonauts, with a circus fat lady who otherwise just stares off into space...
- Darun Mister from Street Fighter EX uses this trope as an attack. He has a super called the Super Indra Bash where he curls up backwards and leaps, utilizing his stomach as a springboard to launch his opponents into the air, setting them up for a combo (including a second and third Super Indra Bash if he has enough meter). He also has a normal Indra Bash that's a command throw, and it involves him grabbing his opponent by the arms, falling backwards to pull them on top of him and then bouncing them high into the air with his belly. There's also his Meteor Tag Combo with Pullum Purna (as seen here), where both Pullum and your opponent bounce off of Darun's midsection until Pullum kicks them down to the ground, where they're caught by Darun in a backbreaker. The only subversion is that Darun is actually in good shape.
- Aladdin shows Abu bouncing on a guard's belly in early levels.
- Pokemon: Some of Snorlax's Pokedex entries indicate that they are docile enough to let children and small Pokemon bounce on its stomach.
Western Animation
- On Animaniacs, the Warners interrupt the Yalta summit to bounce on Sir Winston Churchill's belly. Then Josef Stalin joins in.
- Timmy Turner did it in an early episode of The Fairly OddParents.
- One episode of The Flintstones had Fred doing this with Pebbles.
- Family Guy's Stewie uses Chris' stomach as a pole-vaulting landing pad.
- Cerbee used Beezy like this on Jimmy Two-Shoes.
- In one episode of Goof Troop, Pete had this done to him by his daughter Pistol, much to his discomfort. The clip is also in the intro.
- In The Powerpuff Girls episode "Buttercrush", Ace and Buttercup have fun this way on Big Billy's stomach.