So Long, Suckers!

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    If it becomes necessary to escape, I will never stop to pose dramatically and toss off a one-liner.
    —Evil Overlord List #58.

    This time it sure looks like it's over: the heroes have been captured by the Big Bad, who is gloating and enumerating the ways he's going to kill them. But wait! Someone (or something) suddenly shows up, a defector reveals himself or the heroes put their plan into action, giving them the chance they need to escape and leaving the foe staring at them as they run off while delivering a final taunt: "So long, sucker!"

    Subversions may or may not ensue, depending on whether the character performing the So Long, Suckers! is a hero or a villain (it's way more likely in the latter case).

    For when this trope backfires, see Crossing the Burnt Bridge.

    Compare We Will Meet Again. Prisoner of Zenda Exit is a sub-trope.

    Examples of So Long, Suckers! include:

    Anime

    Vegeta: I'm sorry. Yep. Totally sorry. I just feel terrible. [...] Yes, I'm very, very, very sorry.... [ship door closes] that you're all still alive! [flies away] SUCKERS!! HAHAHAUCH ow ow, it hurts to laugh.


    Comic Books

    • After losing a fight, some ninja in The Tick (animation) actually read from a paper labeled "Parting Threat"... then Tick throws a chimney at them.


    Film

    Prisoner: So Long, Suckers!! (escape-wings begin to fail) HELP ME, SUCKEEEEEEEEEEERS!!!

    • A textbook example occurs at the end of The Rocketeer, complete with one-liner and swift ironic death. "I'll miss Hollywood."
    • Narmful example in the second Mortal Kombat movie, as Scorpion teleports out with a cry of "Suuckeers!"
    • Troy, one of the villains in The Goonies, uses this phrase when he sends Brand flying off the road at high speed.
    • Subverted hard in The Incredibles. After being totally defeated, Syndrome gets to his airborne jet and gloats about how he is sure to escape and will return to claim Mr. Incredible's son someday. Mr. Incredible takes this opportunity to throw a car at him, which results in his death.
    • In Bananas, Woody Allen's character says this and gets knocked out a moment later.
      • Some years earlier, in Casino Royale 1967, he's at a Latin American firing squad - his last cigarette is a concussion bomb he throws at the shooters. He climbs the wall chuckling "So long, suckers!" - and lands on the other side in another country, in front of a firing squad for another guy.
    • In Yellow Submarine, as the submarine travels through the Sea of Monsters, at one point, it narrowly escapes being swallowed by a vacuum monster, after which one of the Beatles, probably George, says this phrase to the monster.


    Literature

    • In the Discworld novel Maskerade, Greebo (in his human form) taunts an angry mob from the back of a moving carriage. Unfortunately, since he's too busy taunting to steer, the carriage hits a curb and he ends up falling off.
    • Averted in the Animorphs novel Back To Before: while making an otherwise-classic fire-escape exit up a building side, Marco and Rachel realize stopping to taunt their pursuers would be a Bad Idea and keep climbing. (Good thing, too, that's about when the Dracons came out...)
    • In the Wheel of Time book Towers of Midnight, when Mat escapes the land of the 'finns using the weapon they had given him. "Looks like the game can be won after all...Tell the foxes I'm mighty pleased with this key they gave me. Also, you can all go rot in a flaming pit of fire and ashes, you unwashed lumps on a pig's backside. Have a grand bloody day."
    • In The Programmed Man (1968), The Empire was tracking one of a rebellion's top agents. But when they captured him, although he was supposedly able to teleport across even interplanetary or interstellar distances, they discovered he was actually a brainwashed Imperial agent, specifically, the man they'd thought was coordinating the pursuit. Meaning the real rebel agent was aboard their warship, accessing their most critical secrets. When confronted, he laughed and confirmed his identity—and the Imperials remembered his power ... just as he demonstrated it by getting away.


    Mythology

    • Odysseus and the Cyclops.


    Video Games

    • The Final Boss fight in Half-Life 2 is an extended version of this trope. Gordon Freeman must chase the fleeing Wallace Breen as he rides a Dark Energy-fueled teleporter to the top of the Citadel; the final portion features Breen gloating rather extensively while Freeman tears apart the device bit by bit using stray balls of Dark Energy. "When the singularity collapses, I will be far away from here - in another universe, as a matter of fact. You on the other hand will be destroyed in every way it is possible to be destroyed, and even in some, which are essentially impossible!" Boy, is he surprised when you blow his ride apart.
      • Portal has a... musical version of this, to say the least.
    • After a while in X-COM: UFO Defense, the aliens do this to your Interceptors with irritating regularity.
    • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has a particularly humorous moment of this where Liquid Ocelot childishly mocks Snake as he flees to his command ship.
    • At the end of Silent Scope, the Big Bad escapes by boat, but pauses well out to sea to shout some taunts at the hero... unfortunately for him, the hero has One Buwwet Weft. Of course, a shot like that is one in a million...


    Web Animation

    • Homestar Runner says this word for word after tricking himself into eating a pinecone. It Makes Sense in Context. See the Strong Bad e-mail secret recipes.
      • Homestar also says this to the King of Town after tricking him out of his secret blend of eleven herbs and spices that Homestar needs for Marzipan's Halloween potion.


    Web Comics


    Western Animation

    • In the animated series, Carmen Sandiego would do this Once an Episode whenever the protagonists solved her heist and where so very close to catching her. See you next crime!
    • Massive subversion in The Simpsons episode "Viva Ned Flanders". Drederick Tatem, several goons and miscellaneous Vegas types attempt to circle in on Homer and Ned to lay the smack down on them for deserting their Vegas-married wives. Homer and Ned then jump into a convertible, used as a prize at their casino. Homer just has time to say "So long, suck---" before they all catch up, which results in him and Flanders getting a massive beating from the assorted ensemble. Hilarity Ensues.
    • Happens in every episode of M.A.S.K.—even if the bad guys' team was on the brink of defeat, the Big Bad was always able to transform his helicopter into a jet and escape.
    • In the Futurama episode "Future Stock", "80's Guy" becomes the new CEO of of Planet Express. Farnsworth, as he quits, gives him his "business plan". 80's Guy points out that "this isn't a business plan; it's an escape plan!" And before you know it, Farnsworth is making his escape while shouting the trope name verbatim.
      • In "Fear of a Bot Planet", Fry, Leela and Bender escape from human-hating robots on the winch of the Planet Express ship. Fry shouts the line; the robots stand on each others shoulders, and almost reach the winch. Fry says: "Uh, hello, suckers!
    • Done almost word-for-word in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. As the townspeople prepare to evacuate the Mayor rides up and declares "I have an important announcement...see y'ah, suckers!" and jumps onto the first boat.
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