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A character is subjected to something which is clearly, obviously, incontrovertibly and usually quite messily fatal, or at the very least extremely painful.
There's a moment's pause for comic effect...
And from the wreckage emerges a muffled "I'm OK.", sometimes accompanied by a thumbs-up. This trope is always Played for Laughs, and exists as a product of Rule of Funny.
Compare/Contrast He's Okay, in which another character notes that the injured party isn't dead, and in a usually serious situation.
See also Non Sequitur Thud for another common outcome of this scenario. Not to be confused with I'm OK, a video game.
Anime & Manga[]
- Lampshaded wonderfully in the CP9 arc of One Piece. After the entire crew gets smashed through a wall by a runaway train, Luffy laughs off the danger. The rest of the crew, buried in rubble, say "Don't be stupid... we're not rubber like you... there's not way we're... ABSOLUTELY FINE!!" they burst out of the rubble at the last bit, with little more than superficial bruising.
- After the Yellow Flag explodes for the first time Black Lagoon, Dutch calls out for his teammates to make sure they're still alive. Revy and Rock have already checked in, and after calling for Benny, Benny runs up through the doorframe to safety with a "miraculously, I'm alive!"
- Done in Fairy Tail, during the Oracion Seis/Nirvana arc when Lyon sacrifices himself to defeat racer, only to reappear a few episodes later, perfectly fine
Films — Animation[]
- A Bugs Life. While Flik's idea to ride dandelion fluff across the chasm seems brilliant, he slams directly into a rock afterward. But he's still quick to inform us: "I'm... OK!"
- In Monsters vs. Aliens Bob is repeatedly stepped on by the huge rampaging robot.
Bob: I got him you guys, I got him! *stomp* Don't worry, I'm wearing him down! *stomp* Hot dogs! Ha! *stomp* |
- Double-subverted in The Road to El Dorado when Tzekel-Kan's giant stone jaguar storms the palace:
(after being thrown around in the air, bitten repeatedly, paw-smacked, and landing on the ground hard) |
Films — Live-Action[]
- In The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Inspector Clouseau vaults over a banister, falls down some stairs, and announces "That felt good."
- Done magnificently in Death Proof. After a tense car chase that had Zoe Bell frantically holding onto the hood of the car, it ends with the cars skidding off the road and one of the protagonists opening fire on their attacker. She gets back in her car as he drives away, and sits there with her friend, shaking, clearly agitated by the whole experience. Zoe is nowhere to be seen for about 15 seconds, until she pops up in front, waves, and quickly says "I'mokay!"
- It's a Wonderful Life: Uncle Billy drunkenly walks off screen, then we hear a crash. "I'm all right... I'm all right!" Said crash was an accident and they Threw It In.
- Played for laughs in a TMNT trailer
- Dracula: Dead and Loving It: Dracula falls down a flight of stairs, then tosses off an "I'm fine!" A moment later, you can see his shadow limping up the stairs behind him.
- In the opening sequence of Hot Shots!, a fighter pilot slips while trying to repair his craft at cruising altitute and gets racked by the tailfin at several hundred miles per hour. In a helium voice he informs his co pilot, "I'm okay!"
Literature[]
- In Waking the Witch, Savannah does this when she's been poisoned and the villain is forcing her to summon her angel mother.
Live-Action TV[]
- In the Eureka episode "Welcome Back Carter", Sheriff Andy's car is suddenly crushed flat with him in it. "I'm OK" comes complete with thumbs up.
- McLean Stevenson on The Carol Burnett Show the night after being McLeaned.
- In The Red Green Show, Bill doesn't say (or at least isn't heard saying) "I'm OK", but he always gives a thumbs-up at the end of the segment to indicate that yes, he survived again.
- Frequently used by Cousin Skeeter.
- Father Ted has Mrs. Doyle, who'd fallen down the stairs and been crippled earlier in the episode, fall down again (with a chorus of "OHHOLYMARYMOTHEROFGOD" to the thumps), get up and pronounce, "I'm cured!".
- Rachel does one of these on Friends in a first-season episode when she falls off her balcony--she ends up swinging by her ankle from the Christmas lights that she was taking down.
Video Games[]
- Played for laughs in Crash Twinsanity, where Cortex is knocked into a (seemingly bottomless pit) and shouts "I'm okay! The spikes broke my fall..."
- In the Tokimeki Memorial series, Miyuki Kotobuki is the master of this. No matter if the Ferris-wheel makes an unexpected brutal stop that makes her hit the cabin's floor hard, or if she's run over by trucks, or if she nearly passed out from training at Dance Dance Revolution for a whole day, continually, without eating or drinking (and getting her feet very grazed in the process ; all of this to regain the trust of her partner who was angry at her lack of focus and left her), she'll always tell, in a dazed voice and swirly eyes : "Daijoubi-, daijoubi-" (a Miyuki-version of "daijoubu", "I'm okay").
- One of Eugene's dying quotes in Whacked is "I'm okay!", although he then thinks to himself, "This sucks.".
Web Animation[]
- Red vs. Blue, Season 5:
Caboose: (some time after "donating" blood to an alien child) I'm okay! I'm okay! |
- A staple of Garry's Mod animations involving the Scout.
Scout: That didn't hurt! |
Western Animation[]
- Exegerated in Phineas and Ferb. Phineas is in a NASCAR-like race and as a result of random destruction to the arena, most of the other cars go flying. They end up stacked artistically, some upside down. Then all the drivers popped out and simultaneously shout, "We're okay!"
- Played for laughs in Ruby Gloom, whenever the adventurous Iris crashes into something offscreen ("I'm good!") or when Misery gets struck by lightning ("Ow.")
- This was Eugene's catchphrase in Hey Arnold
- A played with example in Danny Phantom. Every time one of Valerie's ghost hunting weapons accidentally goes off, her father hears it and calls her name, prompting her to call back "I'm okay!"
- In the TV series of Men in Black, one episode was set in a dream world where everything went the way that Jay liked. Part of this was Agent Kay being ultra incompetent: he would regularly be run over by some alien device run amok, and shout (from a distance) "I'm OK!" subverted when Kay crawls into sight — as nothing but a skeleton — and shouts, "I'm OK!" [looks down at himself] "Whoa, what happened here?"
- A variation in Storm Hawks. A bunch of Blizzarians are playing around on snowmobiles, racing through ice caves. One of them decides to do a stunt by racing up the wall, leaping off, and grabbing a stalactite. As he and the other Blizzarians cheer, he lets go with his hands to do twin rocker signs, which causes him to slide off and plummet to the ground. There's a beat, then we see him lift his hand in another rocker sign, cheering. The other Blizzarians cheer along with him, while the Storm Hawks don't show much enthusiasm at all this.
- On Jimmy Two-Shoes, after a character is dropped in a Shark Pool: "I'm okay...kinda."
Real Life[]
- Jackie Chan's bonus reels.