A person is skiing or snowboarding on a steep hill or mountain. Suddenly he trips and starts tumbling down the slope, as he tumbles, snow gathers up around him until he's embedded in a giant snowball rolling down the hill. In earlier stages, their head, limbs and ski gear can be seen sticking out of the gigantic ball of snow before it gains more snow with every revolution, engulfing them whole. By the end, the snowball is big enough to start absorbing parts of the scenery, like strings of lights.
Once the skier-turned-snowball reaches the end of the slope, it may either end up in one of these situations:
- The snowball simply stops rolling on the flat snow and the skier pokes their head out of the snowball.
- The snowball crashes onto a stationary object (tree, wall, etc.) and shatters.
- The snowball rolls into a body of water (lake, pond) and slowly melts, releasing the skier.
Obviously, this trope wouldn't work in real life for several reasons; the human body is still rigid despite many points of flexibility, leaving the poor victim unable to get in a decent ball form; snow doesn't automatically ball up when rolled, and ski slope snow is far to powdery to form a ball in the first place; snow is heavy, so any poor schmuck who gets involved would either get flattened by the thing rolling over them or crushed to death by the sheer weight of the snow around them and if they survive, digging through is not going to be easy; finally, a decently sized and packed snowball is very dense. If the obstacle isn't strong enough, it will break instead of the snowball.
See also Gravity Is a Harsh Seamstress, when falling through clotheslines gets you dressed in mismatched clothes.
Can overlap with Human Snowman, as all the snow could easily allow multiple snowball-encased people to be stacked up into a snowman, or let one snowball be sculpted to make a single person into a snow sculpture. Not to be confused with Snowballing Threat.
Examples:
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Advertising
- A commercial for Doctors Without Borders used a rolling ball of people as a metaphor for the spread of AIDS. Travelers Insurance did a similar spot soon after Citi spun it off, using a ball of people as a metaphor for risk. Critics compared both to Katamari Damacy.
- Because Katamari Damacy can't get enough Shout-Out, there's a Traveler's Insurence commercial
with this. And a normal one.
Animation
- Boonie Bears: In Season 5 episode 47, Logger Vick trips and falls over the edge of the ground as he is running away from a monster, and he rolls into a large snowball that hits a rock and disintegrates near his tent.
- Kaun Banega Superstar: In "Pahadon Ki God Mein", after he changes what Blue Star's snowman looks like, Red Star is hit by a large snowball that bounces around on the mountain a few times before falling into a ravine.
- In one episode of Masha and the Bear, Masha is late for the Bear's schools lessons, goes out with skis on and ends up rolling into a large snowball upon descending a hill leading to the Bear's house.
- In Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Joys of Seasons episode 47, Wolffy, in his polar bear fur coat, goes to catch Tibbie and Jonie, who are skiing down a snowy hill. He's knocked into the snow when Tibbie knocks him away and he hits Jonie, only for him to get back up with a big leap... but then he ends up rolling in the snow, becoming enveloped in a big snowball that only gets bigger as he keeps rolling.
Anime & Manga
- Used as an inventive way to get rid of a body in a Case Closed case.
- Happened to Tubby in an episode of the Little Lulu anime.
- Pokémon the Series:
- In one episode of Pokémon: The Original Series, Ash, Pikachu, and Chikorita are victims as they were rolling down a hill after escaping Team Rocket.
- In a Pokémon the Series: XY episode, while Pikachu, Clemont’s Chespin and Serena’s Braixen are making balls of snow, Chespin ends up making a snowball that is obviously too big to place on the sick Snover. As Chespin pushes the snowball, it rolls too fast, and Chespin somehow gets caught in said snowball and is helplessly sent rolling down, with Braixen dodging right before the snowball hits the wall.
- In a Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon episode, Ash’s Pokemon (except for Torracat, who was with Ash when he traveled to the past) fall victim to this before landing in the sea.
- During one chapter of the Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl manga, in order for Ash to get his Pikachu closer to an attacking Abomasnow, he puts Pikachu in a snowball and then rolls the snowball down the hill, with Pikachu breaking free from it once he is close enough to land a hit.
- Happens to Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie after Robotnik blows up his plane in some snowy mountains.
Comic Books
- A lethal version occurs in the Tintin story Prisoners of the Sun in which Captain Haddock becomes a snowball and causes the same to happen to some unfortunate mooks in the Andes. Cliff ensues, only the captain survives thanks to a rock in his way.
- Happens to Booker in a U.S. Acres comic.
- Done on purpose by the villain in the 1960s comic strip where the TARDIS crew meet Santa Claus.
Comic Strip
- Garfield: Jon suffers this fate in this Sunday comic. And rather than help Jon out of the snowball, Garfield humiliates him further by decorating the snowball and alerting the news.
Fan Works
- In Star Of Wonder Star Of Night, Fuwa rolls down a hill and gets trapped in a snowball then she crashes into a tree, but she goes up the hill to do it all over again.
Films — Animation
- An interesting case of a Snowman Snowball occurs in Frozen when Olaf ends up rolling down a snow covered roof, his head and arms sticking out of a huge snowball before he shakes off the snow.
- Kung Fu Panda:
- A scene from Kung Fu Panda 2 shows Po and the Furious Five traveling up a large snow-covered mountain. While they make their way down the other side, Po trips and starts rolling down the mountain as a whole bunch of snow gets built up around his body.
- Kung Fu Panda 3: Well, Panda Snowball in this case... Demonstrating that he learned to roll like a true panda, Po rolls downs a snowy slope straight toward Kai, turning in a huge snowball in the process before smashing into the villain.
- The Three Caballeros has a segment, The Cold-Blooded Penguin, where a penguin freezes solid at the top of the hill and rolls down it, crashing through his farewell party.
Films — Live-Action
- Willow has Madmartigan and Willow escaping an enemy's snowy mountain base on a sled. A bump causes Madmartigan to fall off the back and tumble down the mountain. Willow gets to the bottom first to only then realize he lost his partner. His eyes go wide when he realizes that Madmartigan is only a few seconds behind encased in a huge cylinder of snow.
Literature
- At the start of Christmas Catastrophe, Geronimo Stilton gets into one with another mouse, then they both hit a rock. Life sucks.
- In The Berenstain Bears story The Bears' Christmas, Papa Bear attempts to ski down a giant ramp, only trip and roll off it as a giant snowball, which proceeds to roll through town and crash into the Bears' tree house.
Live-Action TV
- Thunderbirds, normally rather serious, has this happen to Parker fighting an assassin, rolling down a hill in "The Cham-Cham".
Video Games
- Crash Twinsanity: Near the end of the first "Humiliskate" segment in Slip Slide Icecapades, where Crash uses Cortex as a human snowboard, Cortex attempts a Big Ball of Violence with Crash again (aka Rollerbrawl), only for both characters to wind up in one of these. They only get unstuck by crashing on top of Dingodile's house.
- Defense of the Ancients: Ymir the Tusk has this as a skill. Teammates can join in (sometimes unintentionally while passing nearby), which will increase the size and damage of the snowball when it is sent rolling towards the enemies.
- Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: Snowcloak has a fight with a Yeti whose Frozen Mist breath attack will turn the Spriggan Icecutters that spawn into snowballs — and then bigger snowballs if he breathes on them again. Knocking the snowballs into the Yeti is the only way to stun his Northerlies attack — or do any significant damage to him.
- Katamari Damacy is this trope applied with everyone. We ♥ Katamari even has an actual level where a giant snowball was the goal.
- Kirby:
- Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards: This is one of the powers achieved by combining two ice powers.
- Kirby's Return to Dream Land: The Super Ability Snow Bowl turns Kirby into the actual snowball, thus any enemy or ally that's in the way when he gets rolling will helplessly be going along for the ride.
- The Legendary Starfy: One level in Chillydip Cove have enemy penguins shove Starfy into a huge snowball and send him rolling down the cliffs.
- Pikmin:
- Pikmin 3: The snowballs shot by Arctic Cannon Larvae can pick up Pikmin and send them rolling downhill until the ball crashes and breaks apart.
- Hey! Pikmin: A number of Pikmin are caught in a rolling snowball during a brief cutscene in one of the Snowfall Field levels.
- Snow Bros: Basically the point of the game- throw snowballs at enemies to trap them in big balls of snow, then give those balls a shove to take out other enemies. Repeat until you've cleared out all the enemies on the screen.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Mario & Luigi: Dream Team: This happens to Mario and Luigi when Mammoshka throws a gigantic snowball at a brother and they fail to dodge/counter in its boss battle, and later when they try escaping the Mount Pajamaja boss in Dreamy Mount Pajamaja.
- This happens in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Island DS if you hit a rock during one of the skiing sequences.
- Wario Land: Wario turns into a giant snowball, Snowman Wario, seemingly instantly after standing on any form of slope or slanted ground. This causes him to roll downhill fast enough to break certain blocks.
- Wii Fit: Jumping too late during the ski jump minigame causes your Mii character to miss the jump and turn into a giant snowball.
Website
- Education City: Sten rolls a snowball in the activities "Slippery Slope" and "Hot Springs" when he thinks to have apparently found a way for him, Stig, Klara, Granny and Manu to get home. As the title implies, Sten rolls down a very steep hill and ends up becoming a human snowball; in "Slippery Slope", once he reaches a ledge, he makes it out unscathed, but Sten naturally starts shivering as his face turns blue because of how cold the snow was for him. This action of Sten freezing is absent in "Hot Springs" as he does not shiver and instead has an amazing time rolling down the hill.
Western Animation
- Happens to Socrates and Aristotle in an episode of Adventures from the Book of Virtues.
- Happens to Amos the mouse in the Miscellaneous Disney Short Ben and Me just right after being frightened by a cat (resembling Lucifer from Cinderella) peeking through a window on his way toward Benjamin Franklin's house.
- The TV special The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree had Papa, Brother, and Sister ski down the mountain near the end of the special, then they trip and become snowballs. At which point they form into one snowman.
- Happens to Betty Boop in her incomprehensively strange adaptation of Snow White.
- Happens with a huge wad of gum in Chowder, with the sticky gum and music culminating into a huge Katamari Damacy Shout-Out.
- Happens frequently in Dennis the Menace.
- DuckTales (1987): Happens to Launchpad, Huey, Dewey and Louie in "The Duck Who Would Be King."
- Happens Katamari-style in the Ed Eddn Eddy episode "May I Have This Ed?", where a bunch of kids get stuck to Rolf's blow-fish costume.
- On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Molotov actually does this to one of his own men as a battle tactic.
- Played with in the Looney Tunes short "Daffy and Tom Turkey". Porky chases Daffy down a series of hills, with Daffy forming a snowball as he runs down the hill, then shrinking back to Daffy as it rolls up the next hill. Eventually, the snowball shrinks down to nothing, confounding Porky. Daffy, of course, is just offscreen, ready to pelt Porky with a snowball.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Happens in the episode "Winter Wrap-Up", after Twilight's attempts to use her magic to help clear the snow goes awry.
- In "Tanks for the Memories", Rainbow Dash and Tank become a part of a massive snowball that crashes into Ponyville.
- In "Frenemies", Cozy Glow attempts to climb Mount Everhoof but her frustrated screaming causes a Hair-Trigger Avalanche. A giant snowball bounces on top of her, sending her down the mountain.
- In one episode of PAW Patrol, Marshall gets stuck in a snowball while rolling down a hill after falling off his snowboard. Just an average Monday for Marshall.
- The entire plot of the Pingu episode "Pingu And The Snowball". Pingo is trapped inside it, while Pingu runs from it.
- In Regular Show, this happens to Eileen and Rigby when they go snow tubing.
- Happens to Bullwinkle in one of the opening segments on Rocky and Bullwinkle.
- Rudolph's Shiny New Year does this and makes 3 human and one reindeer snowball.
- Happens to Bart and Homer in one episode of The Simpsons. They were fortunate enough to land in the outdoor jacuzzi of a nearby hotel. Upon being asked if they had any money, however, they left... by jumping back down the mountain.
- Clumsy in The Smurfs (1981) cartoon special "The Smurfic Games" turns into a Smurf snowball when he attempts to make a ski jump run during the titular games tournament.
- Happens to Jerry of Tom And Jerry in the opening of "Snowbody Loves Me."
- Total Drama:
- Team Amazon attempts to descent the mountain in "Slap Slap Revolution" with a poorly filled sausage molded into a sled. All five of them fall off when they hit a ramp and go tumbling, picking up snow along the way until they reach the finish line together as one big human-filled snowball.
- Dave and Sky try to ski down the mountain in "Lies, Cries, and One Big Prize" by going through the snow piles, but because they're too light they're launched upwards. They lose control and go tumbling, picking up snow along the way until they reach the mountain's foot jointly inside a giant snowball.
- In one of Chuck Jones' early "Two Curious Pups" cartoons, one of the dogs falls down a snowy hill, but instead of a ball, the snow accumulates in the shape a giant dog.
- Befalls Buzzsaw Louie in VeggieTales: The Toy That Saved Christmas when he successfully escapes the toy factory in the beginning, only to slip on the icy steps and roll down the snowy hill ahead of him before crash-landing over the side of a small cliff. He remains there until he is discovered by Bob, Larry, and Junior the next day.