Arm Cannon: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A specific type of [[Artificial Limbs]] that's [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: a ranged weapon integrated with a character's arm.

 

 

 

Both kinds generally come with [[Bottomless Magazines]], and are often fired by [[Unusual User Interface|thought alone]]. Larger versions of both types are common on [[Humongous Mecha]], which can be conveniently designed to carry them from the start.

{{examples}}

== First Kind (arm ''is'' cannon) ==

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'': Android 16 had two cannons called "Hell Blasters" in his upper arms. In order to use them, he had to remove his forearms, usually holding them in his armpits. It helps that his forearms can also be used for a [[Rocket Punch]].

** In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', villain Tao Pai Pai also got an Arm Cannon after being cybernetized.

* 004/Albert Heidrich from ''[[Cyborg 009]]'' looks normal, but as part of his cyborgization process all his limbs were replaced and now contain variable quantities of armament. The most remarkable are his finger guns (take that literally) and the rocket-launcher in his knees.

** Omnimon has an arm cannon too, naturally from the [[Macross Missile Massacre|MetalGarurumon]] side of him. It's utilized for his attack/technique called Supreme Cannon (known as ''Garuru Cannon'' in Japanese).

* The protagonists of ''[[Ayakashi]]'' and ''[[Mushi-Uta]]'' have organic arm cannons. For the former, he normally has a Power Fist, but in the finale, his arm mutated into a dragon cannon. For the latter, his [[Bond Creatures|Bond Creature]] attached to his gun, and as the influence from the merger spread, it mutated his arm and, near the end, most of his body.

** Panynia has a leg cannon.

** On top of that, both Edward and Wrath (anime version) have transmuted their arms to machine guns.

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', {{spoiler|when Sensui switches to his Kazuya personality}}, his left hand morphs into a gun.

* [[Night of the Living Mooks|The Mariage]] from ''StrikerS Sound Stage X'' of the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' franchise. [[Shapeshifter Weapon|One of the many forms their arms can take]] is a [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|high-explosive howitzer-style cannon]] which one of them used on an unprepared mage. {{spoiler|Since the mage was [[Super Prototype|Subaru]], [[Smoke Shield|It doesn't work]]}}.

* As mentioned in [[Artificial Limbs]], one of Rally Vincent's recurring enemies in the manga series of [[Gunsmith Cats]] is a tall imposing man named Gray. He lost his hand in their first encounter and replaced his entire forearm with a multi-tooled Arm Cannon. Attachments included a hook and spring-launched machete.

* The Type 99 Helldiver military labor from ''[[Patlabor]]'' mounts a 40mm autocannon on its right arm.

* The gun-swordsmen in ''[[Brigadoon Marin and Melan]]'' have a gun at the end of one arm and a sword at the end of the other, hence the name. They also have a second set of odd-looking retractable arms, which have stubby hands that they use for holding things.

* ''[[Voltes V]]'s'' Voltes Bazooka. The entire weapon is hidden in his right arm, and is deployed by tilting the right hand downward (which also becomes the weapon's grip held by the left hand) allowing the barrel to telescope out of the arm.

* ''[[Nichijou]]'': [[Ridiculously Human Robot|Nano]] has a machine gun in her right arm, [[Abnormal Ammo|which shoots beans]]. This is only [[Played for Laughs]], though, and never used seriously.

* ''[[Nurarihyon no Mago]]'': Yura Keikain's shikigami Rentei transforms into one in Yura's arm that shoots a powerful stream of water.

 

=== Art ===

* In the art book ''Drawing and Painting the Undead'', one creature, the Mechanized Corpse, had it's left arm replaced with an M60 machine gun. The ammo belt [[Squick|replaced its stomach and intestines.]]

 

* Cyborg of ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' can transform one arm (both in some stories) into a "sonic cannon".

* In one of the many, many attempts by the DC writers to counteract the whole ''[[Superfriends]]'' [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|cock-up]], [[Aquaman]] had his arm chewed off by piranha when his powers were disabled. He got it replaced with a harpoon, and later a cybernetic hand that could morph into a harpoon gun. The hand was later replaced with one made of mystical water. Neither really helped much.

* In the British comic ''[[Storm Force]]'', John Storm had his left arm amputated above the elbow: he then carried around a rucksack full of prosthetic weapons, e.g. a machine gun arm and a flamethrower arm. He could also connect his stump to vehicles, e.g. a car or an aircraft, as long as they were designed for this.

* Another [[Marvel Universe]] villain, Rapido, has a gatling gun mounted in place of his missing arm.

* The ''[[Transformers]]'' comics of Marvel, Dreamwave and IDW featured the chess master-type villain Shockwave, who not only sported a cannon as his left arm, but also transformed into a gun - making him a relatively rare example of [[Entire Body Cannon]].

** Megatron (The original, G1-version) himself might also qualify in that, while his right arm technically wasn't a cannon on its own, his famous Fusion Cannon was permanently attached to it, making his right hand almost useless to do anything (except perhaps point at things).

* In the Marvel ''[[Marvel Star Wars|Star Wars]]'' comic book, there's Valance, a cyborg bounty hunter who predates Boba Fett. He had a blaster cannon fitted inside an artificial arm; it was powerful enough to take down a wall, and even come very close to killing Darth Vader himself.

* Deadshot, [[Batman]] villain, sports two specially designed guns; one on each hand (the ammo belt goes around the wrist like a bracelet).

 

=== Films -- Animation ===

* EVE from ''[[WALL-E]]''. Like Mega Man, she can morph it from gun to hand, and even a little transitional mode which she uses most of the time. It's even detachable, and has an outside trigger which lets it be used by other characters as a conventional weapon. {{spoiler|Darn it, WALL-E.}}

* In Disney's ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', Long John Silver was a cyborg and had an arm that transformed into a cannon at one point.

* Rattlesnake Jake from ''[[Rango]]'' has a gatling gun where his rattle should be. Instead of shaking his rattle as a warning, he spins the barrels. It's ''really'' creepy.

 

=== Films -- Live Action ===

** All the Transformers, really. With few exceptions, the Autobots and Decepticons convert their arms into guns, swords, and other weapons, in order to avert the use of [[Hammerspace]]. This is sometimes described as them "generating" the weapon out of the protoform.

* The heroine of the Japanese film ''Kataude mashin g?'' (a.k.a. ''[[The Machine Girl]]'') is tortured and has her arm cut off by the Yakuza. The owners of a machine shop who rescue her replace it with a machine gun.

 

=== Literature ===

** Although they hardly use them, so do the alternate universe Cybermen. Their original universe counterparts just carried guns.

** Rory in The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang.

* Riderman, from ''[[Kamen Rider V 3]]'', was notable for being a [[Kamen Rider]] whose only technological augmentation was his right arm, and just for that, he ''still'' threw down more than any regular human ought to be able to. The arm itself could change somehow, through cassette cartridges inserted in his right elbow, into various forms (a drill, a claw, a net launcher, the ''original'' Hookshot...) but it wasn't until he showed up in ''[[Kamen Rider]] SPIRITS'' that he got a proper ''gun''. And how! A proper Machinegun Arm that could, in a pinch, fire individual shells; seeing as how he just didn't have the firepower to take down some of his foes, these shells were ''hardening agents'', on the theory that, if they couldn't attack him, he didn't actually need to blow them up.

** The first ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' movie gives Riderman (played here by [[Gackt]]) the Blaster Arm, a high-power energy cannon. However, unlike his others, he actually has to '''tear off''' his original cybernetic arm and attach the Blaster to the severed stump in order to use it.

* The Betrayers in ''[[Cleopatra 2525]]'' are robots disguised a humans whose arms can turn into laser cannons. Their creators - giant machines called Baileys, can also deploy arm-like appendages that fire energy bolts.

* The ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode “Infection” has an alien organic weapon which takes over a human and gives their body armor and an Arm Cannon.

 

=== Music ===

* [[Video Game]] music band [http://armcannon.com/ Arm Cannon] warrants a mention. Fittingly, the first track of their first album is from ''[[Metroid]]'', and the second is from ''[[Mega Man 3]]''.

 

=== Tabletop Games ===

* In ''[[Mortasheen]]'', the creature [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/smoldron.htm Smoldron] has a ''flamethrower'' version of this.

* Many battlemechs in ''[[BattleTech]]'' mount a large gun where a hand would be, and leave the other arm free with a hand. Many other 'mechs do this with ''both'' arms, turning the 'mech into a dedicated firing platform at the cost of melee combat ability.

** It's implied that Obliterators can access the Warp and use its energy to power their weapons. They also don't have kinetic-energy weapons anymore, so there's no point wondering where they store the ammo for heavy bolters or autocannons.

*** ''Inquisitor'' specified that they produce their own ammunition as a result of their encounter with [[The Virus]].

** Space Marine Terminators have Assault Cannons, gatling type guns that are attached to one hand. Their Chaos counterparts have a similar gun, the Reaper Autocannon.

** Space Marines of the Grey Knights Chapter have wrist-mounted Storm Bolters, essentially two miniature rocket launchers firing as one weapon. This is generally fired by thought alone.

* ''[[GURPS]]: Ultra-Tech'' lets a gun be hidden inside the hand or arm. Alternately the entire arm can just be replaced with a weapon mount.

* ''[[Mechwarrior]]'', the tabletop roleplaying companion game to the ''[[BattleTech]]'' tactical game, allowed any character who needed an artificial limb to replace one that they'd lost to also install special equipment in said replacement. Naturally, concealed weapons were included, ranging from the somewhat feasible (such as a hold-out pistol hidden in the wrist) to the highly unlikely (like an ''entire laser rifle'' built into the forearm). The rules didn't explicitly deny the inclusion of any weapons beyond [[Game Master]] fiat, and if a GM wasn't paying attention or didn't care, this could lead to things such as concealed double-barrel shotguns, concealed Gauss pistols, or ''concealed anti-'Mech rocket launchers''.

 

=== Video Games ===

* Reisen from the ''[[Touhou]]'' shooting game series is shown to fire her bullets straight out of her fingers (often with her hand in the classic [[Family-Friendly Firearms|invisible gun]] pose).

** And Subterranean Animism gives us [[I Love Nuclear Power|Utsuho Reiuji]], whose right forearm is a nuclear control rod capable of firing small suns. Though it wasn't confirm as an arm cannon until ''Hisoutensoku'', fandom nonetheless [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H8pL8gTXo ran with it (skip to 2:00)].

* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' has Protectrons whose arms have integrated laser cannons. And of course the badass Sentrybots whose one arm is a gattling laser cannon while the other is a rocket launcher. ''"Hostile detected. Non-combatant safety can no longer be guaranteed."'' No shit...

* Grobyc (note the [[Sdrawkcab Name|Sdrawkcab]] significance) from ''[[Chrono Cross]]''.

* ''[[Evil Dead]]'': In the video game ''Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick'', Ash Williams, as an extension of his [[Artificial Limbs|usage of right-hand replacement weapons]], can swap out his chainsaw hand for a gatling gun.

* In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', "Cannibals", Batarian-derived Husks use arm cannons that are actually ''human'' bodies grafted onto their own.

* Many Strogg enemies in the ''[[Quake (series)|Quake]]'' series, one even has a driller-arm which can shoot lightning out of it.

 

=== Web Comics ===

* Michelle Flammel from ''[[Monsterful]]'', when she fuses with her golem Ourox she gains the "Oux Cannon" which is able to fire concentrated "moe energy", the cannon has been shown to be able to upgrade itself, 2 versions have been shown so far, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130101223902/http://www.monsterful.com/chapter05page06.php 4k] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20121217063000/http://www.monsterful.com/znp15-02.php 5k.]

* The superhero Cannon from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130904204902/http://www.heroesofcrash.com/ Heroes of C.R.A.S.H.]'' has one as his superpower.

* All characters in ''[[Bob and George]]'' based on the Mega Man sprite have the ability to morph their arm into a cannon. [[Running Gag|Except George]].

* Clayton from ''[[Chaos Theory]]'' has a frigging ''minigun'' built into his robot arm after a weapons malfunction caused him to lose the original left one.

 

=== Web Original ===

* Mecha Sonic of ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'' has a machine gun/missile launcher hidden in ''both'' arms (though he only ever uses one at a time).

 

=== Western Animation ===

* Loads and loads of ''[[Transformers]]''.

** Shockwave in ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' has a blaster arm.

** [[Transformers Animated|Animated]] Omega Supreme is another both-arms example. Of course, he was built to be the Autobots' war-ending [[Person of Mass Destruction]], and is the size of a skyscraper in any case: he's not going to be able to physically interact with most creatures.

** In ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', almost every Autobot has one or two of these, the only exception being Ratchet, who sticks to [[Blade Below the Shoulder|arm-mounted blades]].

* A video game section of ''[[Futurama]]'' parodies this trope by having the digital version character fire from their fingers, and in Fry's case, from his arm, which makes the sound of a shot gun cocking.

* Zachary Foxx from ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'' has a bionic arm. It needs a bit of charge time before firing, making it an arm-sized [[Wave Motion Gun]] more than an Arm Cannon. "Armada" showed it was capable of knocking a small starship off-course.

* In the [[Animated Series]] of ''[[The Mask (animation)|The Mask]]'', the titular character has a pirate form that has an appropriately-styled cannon replacing one arm.

* In ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', amongst XANA's monsters the "Tarantula" has two laser cannons stubs in lieu of arms (and legs too, though the latter are never seen in use). Its firing position is a crouch reminiscent of ''[[Star Wars]]''' Droidekas.

 

* There is at least one real-life example of a machinist building such a device, so a one-armed man could compete in target shooting. In a strange case of life imitating fiction, he was eventually barred from competing with the "arm cannon" because it made him such a good shot—the gun was triggered by his opposite shoulder muscle and bolted on firmly, giving much more stability when firing than anyone could otherwise achieve.

 

* In ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'', when the group first comes across a kudan gang war, the gang members are aiming their arms at each other while shooting off energy from just above their wrists, clearly meant to evoke the arm-mounted cannon.

* The Gundam "Alex" in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]] 0080: War in the Pocket'' has a [[Gatling Good|Gatling gun]] hidden in each forearm, which came as a nasty surprise to the Zeon commando who tried to take it out.

* Absalom from ''[[One Piece]]'' combines his invisibility powers with a pair of arm mounted bazookas to surprise his enemies.

* Gates from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]: The Second Raid'' might count. His Venom has a pair of machine guns on his back which swing forward beneath the armpits into a position where they can be aimed by hand.

 

* [[The DCU]] villain Deadshot typically gets into gunfights with a pair of wrist-mounted guns.

* ''[[PS238]]'' has forearm-mounted [[Grappling Gun]] in Moonshadow's usual equipment. The Centurion armor of the Headmaster's henchmen has gauntlets with built-in [[Sticky Situation|glue gun]] and taser, and (at least some cases) a lightning gun. Alexandra Von Fogg built herself a similar [http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/12182013/ gauntlet], too.

 

* Jack from ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]'' gains this when his [[Morality Dial]] is switched.

 

=== Films -- Live Action ===

* In ''[[Cowboys and Aliens (film)|Cowboys and Aliens]]'', The main character steals one in his escape from the Aliens, and the only thing that has a chance of damaging the Aliens.

** Interestingly, no one else tries to do the same.

 

=== Literature ===

* The Tavleks mercenaries in ''[[Farscape]]'' are armed with a gauntlet that can fire energy blasts, create force-fields, and inject the wielder with a powerful stimulant. Unfortunately, though the stimulant enhances strength and speed, it also has a [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|nasty habit of giving new users delusions of grandeur]]. The good news is that knocking the wearer out automatically detatches the gauntlet, thus making sure that they can be disarmed without being [[Incredibly Lame Pun|dis-armed]]

* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'': Rito Revolto had a flamethrower that mounted like a glove over his left hand. It was only used in his battles against the Ninja Megazord (the second of which was a recyc of part of the first).

 

=== Tabletop Games ===

** This comes from being based on the Gespenst, since every type of Gespenst has three barrels mounted on their right arm. Strangle only the Wei?Ritter and Alt Eisen actualy have build in weapons which use them as range attack and the Gespenst II M, makes use of the barrels as close range weapon. Which makes someone wonder why the other types have those barrels but no weapon build in to use them.

*** On the older Gespensts (''and'' the MK II M), those are apparently the hilts of their Beam Sabers. The MK II M's are designed to be able to do the Jet Magnum attack.

* In ''[[Front Mission]]'' (SNES) and its later PlayStation remake (and the Nintendo DS port of that) named ''Front Mission 1st'', at least one of the early game arm parts has an integral machine gun; it's strong, has good accuracy for the early game and can save you money due to not having to buy a separate machine gun for a regular arm. Its only downsides are the inability to unequip, the weight, and those of a machine gun (as a Short range weapon its priority is higher than Melee weapons but lower than Long range weapons, and between Short range weapons its priority is less than a Rifle which only shoots once per attack).

* Slipskulls in ''[[Resistance]]: Fall of Man'' have their guns mounted to their arms with metal bands. When you find a pair of their weapons lying around in the New Game + , you just use them like regular machine pistols, though.

** As a fair warning to other tropers, {{spoiler|The POPE, and Cesare are both [[Immune to Bullets]]. This is strange since they the first is an old man in robes, and the other is a whiny 20 year old in light armor (That stops claymores too... The two handed sword, that is.)}}

*** Which is something of a moment of fridge brilliance, come to think of it. One would suppose the Animus disregards the bullets because Ezio doesn't remember either of them dying that way. {{spoiler|He saw Rodrigo die to a poison apple, and dropped Cesare off a high wall.}}

* Subject Delta from ''[[BioShock (series)]] II'' has all his guns bolted to a plate on the back of his right hand.

* Firebats from [[StarCraft]] have twin, wrist-mounted flamethrowers. This continues on in the [[StarCraft II]] unit, the Marauder, who has twin grenade launchers for arms. It's a giant [[Mini-Mecha]] / [[Powered Armor]] suit, though, so he can still take it off. The new Firebat has the same design as well.

* In the ''Metroid'' series Samus' [[Powered Armor|Power Suit]] has one of these. Samus' arm within the suit controls the cannon which has a [[Swiss Army Weapon|blaster, missile launcher, freezethrower, flamethrower, dark energy weapon, light energy weapon, sonic energy weapon, etc]].

* The [[Magic From Technology|Artificer]] in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons Online]]'' has a weapon called the Rune Arm which is essentially a [[Magitek]] Arm Cannon.

 

=== Web Comics ===

* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]'': Cere, a cybernetically altered anthropomorphic kangaroo, has one built into her arm. But it's not too reliable.

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-26 gauntlet guns] on some [[Powered Armor|hardsuits]].

 

=== Web Original ===

* Rob from the web fiction serial ''[[Dimension Heroes]]'' sports a [[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]-esque blaster on his right hand when in Guardian form.

 

=== Western Animation ===

** Hilariously spoofed [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1YCztmwPZs here]

** So do lots of other ''[[Transformers]]'' in varying sizes.

* Every robot or cyborg character on ''[[Gargoyles]]'' has a retractable particle beam gun in its forearm, with an almost identical extend/retract mechanism. Sensible, since all of them were evolved from designs stolen from Cyberbiotics by Xanatos, and it's hard to reinvent the wheel when you didn't invent it in the first place.

* Buzz Lightyear, of ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' and ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' fame, has a laser built into the wrist of his suit—at least on the latter where it's standard-issue; on the former it's "a little lightbulb that blinks".

* Modo, of the ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]'', has an energy blaster built into the forearm of his mechanical right arm. It extends and retracts in a manner similar to the ''Gargoyles'' examples above.

* Teela has a wrist-mounted laser in the original ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'' Filmation series. In the 2002 reboot, Man-At-Arms wears a big cannon on his forearm sometimes.

 

=== Real Life ===

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120712043210/http://www.3riversarchery.com/Gift+Ideas+Gifts+Under+$50.00++Wrist-Rocket+Pro+Slingshot+by+Saunders+Archery_c48_s215_p0_i9935_product.html This slingshot] is mounted atop one's wrist.

 

{{reflist}}