http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SmashCut

A Smash Cut cut occurs without warning in the middle of a scene and transitions abruptly to another, and is often intended to give the audience a startl

Very often, it goes something like this:

Bob: I'm so not gonna —

(smash cut to Bob doing

Bob: ...Dammit. I'm so not gonna —(smash cut to Bob doing whatever he was about to say he wouldn't do ...Dammit.

Can also be combined with Gilligan Cut, or Ironic Echo, though a Smash Cut is defined by the lack of warning that it is coming and the fact that it usually cuts someone off mid-sentence. It can be used effectively to create a Mood Whiplash. This is also a popular technique for going to credits, or for when someone wakes up from a Nightmare, so it often overlaps with Catapult Nightmare. Compare Ironic Echo Cut, Jump Cut, and Smash to Black.

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Overlaps with Interrupted by the End. Not to be confused with the Canadian movie Smash Cut. Compa

Examples:

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Advertising

One Progressive commercial features an in-universe ad for "Progressive Park", a theme park based on the insurance company and what they do. The ad ends by saying the park is "fun for the whole fa-" and then, a cut to Flo and her coworkers looking at Progressive Park's completely empty parking lot.

Anime and Manga

In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: the Big Bad of part 5 King Crimson , to create and exploit in-universe smash cuts, erasing ten seconds of time to skip over events he doesn't want to happen and attacking his enemies when they're caught off guard.

, to create and exploit in-universe smash cuts, erasing ten seconds of time to skip over events he doesn't want to happen and attacking his enemies when they're caught off guard. In Mahou Sensei Negima!, chapter 83, we follow Yue briefly after she sees Negi and Nodoka off on their date. In the last two panels of the page she bumps into someone and apologises. The scene then abruptly cuts back to Negi and Nodoka, and it's not until four chapters later that we return to this scene and find out that she bumped into Negi himself

In the Neon Genesis Evangelion episode "Moment, Heart, Together", Asuka splits the episode's Angel into two independently acting enemies. Shortly after, the episode abruptly cuts to her and Shinji in a NERV officer room, being debriefed via on the comically ridiculously ways each was beaten by the Angel.

Fan Works

In Bring Me All Your Elderly!, the Gaang and the movie characters are spotted by a collection of Fire Nation soldiers. Given the wimpification of the movie universe, Sokka says they can easily take the soldiers — cue them being led into the Earthbender prison in chains before Sokka can even finish his sentence.

A Delicate Balance ends one of its chapters with Twilight and Applejack joking about Pinkie watching them through a telescope. The next chapter opens with none other than Pinkie watching them through a telescope.

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Film  Animated

In The LEGO Movie, during the climactic final battle, Wyldstyle bemoans the fact that Emmet - who made a Heroic Sacrifice by throwing himself into an abyss earlier - isn't there to see it. Wyldstyle: He'd say something adorable, like-

[cut to Emmet , still falling]

Emmet : AAAAAHHHHHHH!!! He'd say something adorable, like-[cut to

- who made a Heroic Sacrifice by throwing himself into an abyss earlier - isn't there to see it. Used in Planes when Dusty is flying inside a train tunnel just as the train is about to enter. As he exits, the train is just inches from his face, and then... smash cut to a white screen and no sound, and then Dusty appears to be flying in Fluffy Cloud Heaven (actually a misty valley in the Himalayas).

Film  Live-Action

Literature

The penultimate chapter of Shatterbelt ends quite abruptly as Tracy's premonitions come to fruition. Cut to some time later as Mr. Klein, driving from South Australia to Melbourne, turns on the radio to learn that his town has just been hit by a major earthquake.

Live-Action TV

Video Games

In the Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People episode Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective, this happens when Strong Bad tries to edit around Coach Z's bad acting. It fails: Dangeresque : I solved the kidnapping case, Renaldo! She was kidnapped by a monster with a

Renaldo : That's the dumbest [jump cut] Dangeresque, you're a genius! : I solved the kidnapping case, Renaldo! She was kidnapped by a monster with a broken heart : That's the dumbest [jump cut] Dangeresque, you're a genius!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The E3 trailer opens with Sakurai giving a very basic description of Smash. It immediately cuts to a black screen with the words "THE END" in white text, quickly followed by a "(Just kidding.)"

Weaponized by the Final Boss of the Genocide route in Undertale who, during his second phase, begins Smash Cutting you out of and into his various Bullet Hell patterns, giving you a split second to assess your ever-changing situation before he lays the smack down on you. It's just as unfair as it sounds and is not even the most unfair thing he pulls on you during the fight.

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Web Animation

The Happy Tree Friends episode "False Alarm" starts off with Lifty and Shifty selling Nutty a dump truck full of candy. They dump the candy on him, but before it falls on him the scene cuts to him in the hospital with the candy having impaled his stomach and him getting it surgically removed. In this video of The Most Popular Girls in School, this also counts as a bit of a Curse Cut Short. Shay : Shit!

Mackenzie : Goddamn-(Smash Cut to Shay and Mackenzie strangling each other)

of The Most Popular Girls in School, this also counts as a bit of a Curse Cut Short. From RWBY, when Ruby meets Glynda and realizes her hero is a huntress: Ruby: You're... a huntress... Can I have your autograph??

[scene cuts to Ruby being reprimanded by her hero in an interrogation room] Ultra Fast Pony combines this with Medium Awareness for the end of the first episode. [Night Moon Mare is freed, and will soon destroy the world.]

Twilight: Don't worry, I have a pla-

["To be continued..."]

Twilight: Dammit!

Webcomics

El Goonish Shive uses this when Catalina tries to figure out how to make up for spreading a rumor about Elliot being gay : Catalina : I'll think of something! I'll come up with an argument so airtight that

[cut to Catalina kissing a surprised Elliot on the lips ]

: Played straight, and then subverted in The Order of the Stick #855, while discussing a dungeon's poorly disguised traps. Earlier, Vaarsuvius had fallen into one of the traps when distracted by realizing the results of Familicide . Elan: Roy, what about Vaarsuvius?

Roy: I didn't see any signs of a wizard battle outside. Ether V's not out there, or has managed to stay hidden. As much as I want to find V, we'll be no help if we get picked off at long range. We'll need to figure out later what happened to Vaarsuv-

Haley: [upon spotting the trap door V fell into] Look! A trap door!!

[cut to V lying at the bottom of said trap door]

Roy: Nice catch, Haley. In the old days, we would've just fallen in!

Elan: We're improving!

[Later]

Haley: Pit trap. Saw blade trap. Some sort of shifting wall trap.

Belkar: Geez, this is the lamest dungeon ever. No monsters, and even *I* can spot the traps!

Roy: Well, you have to remember that most of this was probably covered with illusions while the Draketooths were still alive. All these walls look the same, so I bet it was easy to get turned around with a few choice mirages until you walked into a deathtrap.

Belkar: Yeah, but

[beat panel]

Roy: Huh, I really felt like there was going to be a cutaway panel there.

Haley: Me too!

Belkar: Weird. Roy, what about Vaarsuvius?I didn't see any signs of a wizard battle outside. Ether V's not out there, or has managed to stay hidden. As much as I want to find V, we'll be no help if we get picked off at long range. We'll need to figure out later what happened to Vaarsuv-[upon spotting the trap door V fell into] Look! A trap door!![cut to V lying at the bottom of said trap door]Nice catch, Haley. In the old days, we would've just fallen in!We're improving![Later]Pit trap. Saw blade trap. Some sort of shifting wall trap.Geez, this is the lamest dungeon ever. No monsters, and even *I* can spot the traps!Well, you have to remember that most of this was probably covered with illusions while the Draketooths were still alive. All these walls look the same, so I bet it was easy to get turned around with a few choice mirages until you walked into a deathtrap.Yeah, but what kind of a moron would be so distracted to fall into one of them now [that there are no illusions]?Huh, I really felt like there was going to be a cutaway panel there.Me too!Weird.

Web Original

Western Animation