Beware My Stinger Tail: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A tail is used for things like balance or [[Prehensile Tail|grasping objects]]. Another use is [[Tail Slap|a weapon]], which can vary from [[Epic Flail|flailing]], [[Whip It Good|whipping]], or crushing. It is only logical then that a combatant would add things to make their tail hit harder like a club. Why just hit when you can also [[Cool Gun|shoot stuff]] or stab with a stinger on the end, which may or may not be poisonous? This trope is about ''weapons'' on tails, be they [[Natural Weapon]] or not.

 

Part of the [[Anatomy Arsenal]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Cell from ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', who introduces a horrifying twist. After stabbing someone with his tail, he actually sucks up all of their internal organs through his stinger, ''while they're still alive.''

** The most notable one of course ''is'' on a Scorpion-Zoid: The [[Wave Motion Gun|Charged Particle Gun]] of the Death Stinger.

** Another notable example would be the two main "sniper" zoids, the GunSniper and Snipe Master; both resemble dromeosaurs (raptors), with the tail forming the barrel of the primary sniping weapon.

* Sasorina from ''[[Heartcatch Pretty Cure]]''

* Mihiramon from ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' has an attack that can transform his tail into a sansetsukon.

** While his actual "body" lacks an actual tail, it is also designed to invoke the scorpion imagery - the role of a tail is filled by a long cable winded inside his stomach and ending with a poisoned spike

 

 

 

 

 

== Film ==

* Dren in ''[[Splice]]'' has one of these.

* In ''[[Rango]]'', Rattlesnake Jake, is a rattlesnake, which opts for a [[Gatling Good|gatling gun]] instead of a traditional rattle tail.

* The Scorpion King, but only in ''The Mummy Returns''.

* A Stegosaurus attempts this in the second ''Jurassic Park'' film too, naturally.

 

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Redwall]]'': Cluny the Scourge.

* In ''[[Spellsinger]]'', the gatekeeper of Polistrindu is an intelligent beaver, whose personal armament includes a spiked metal plate that turns his flat tail into an intimidating weapon.

* Naturally becomes a worry in ''The Magic School Bus'' book where the teacher shrinks the class and sends them into a beehive.

 

 

** Dragonzord also has a [[This Is a Drill|drill]] on the end of its tail.

* The slashers on ''[[Terra Nova]]'' have tails tipped with hard, serrated blades that they wield like whips.

* A hypothetical species of predator with a pair of stinger-tails appeared on an alien life-themed episode of ''Into The Universe With [[Stephen Hawking]]''.

* ''[[Young Hercules]]'' gives the hydra a spiked tail.

 

== Oral Tradition ==

** Some go so far as to have a ''snake'' for a tail.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Wyverns have a stinger with very strong poison.

** So do giant scorpions.

** Purple worms too.

** Both attacks can only be used if there's enough enemies around, too.

* A common form of Striker in ''[[GURPS]]''.

* The villain Ankylosaur from ''[[Champions]]'' is a man wearing powered armor with a [[Grenade Launcher]] in his tail.

 

== Video Games ==

* Most dragon bosses in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' do this in some manner.

* One of the possible monster powers available in ''[[Crush Crumble and Chomp]]''

* In ''[[Spyro the Dragon|The Legend Of Spyro]]'', Cynder has a metal blade at the end of her tail that can be used as a weapon in various ways, including inbueing it with her Poison element. Being she's the only Black Dragon shown, it's unknown if this is simply natural or something Malefor had done to her.

* [[The Dragon|Black Scorpion]] from ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has one of these, as his name would imply. His tail is used for firing energy beams, not stinging, though.

** Which makes the optional killing of the cute dragon girl and cutting off her really short tail very [[Kick the Dog|cruel and violent]].

* The worms and arrowheads from ''[[Monster Rancher]]'' have extendable stings.

* Giant Scorpions wander the Shapeir desert in ''[[Quest for Glory 2]]'', and are deadly combatants, the second-toughest random monsters you can fight. Their tails are particularly deadly: when it starts to shake, you'd better either run away, prepare to dodge, or prepare to die, as a single strike will kill you no matter how many health points you have left. Poison ''cure'' pills can make you temporarily immune to the scorpion's tail strike, but due to the way the game is coded, it will ''always'' wear off when the stinger starts to shake, making the pills functionally useless.

 

== Web Comics ==

* One of the alternate universe Kin from ''Goblins'' is half-scorpion instead of half-snake. She goes on at length about how her armored, razor sharp, venomous tail is superior to "our" Kin's fleshy, soft, weaponless tail. {{spoiler|until that [[Prehensile Tail|fleshy, soft tail]] manages to [[Combat Tentacles|wrap itself around Scorpion!Kin's throat]].}}

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* Every incarnation of [[Transformers|Scorponok]].

* Siege from the ''Mighty Ducks'' cartoon has a club on his tail.

* [[Felix the Cat]]'s tail sometimes serves as this, seeing as [[Cartoony Tail|it can do pretty much anything]]. In an episode of ''[[The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat]]'', he turns it into a mallet and smashes his alarm clock with it.

== Real Life ==

* Many prehistoric creatures, perhaps most famously Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus.

** Gyptodonts, giant armadillos with clubs at the end of their tails.

* Some bees, wasps, and ants can spray formic acid from the end of their abdomens.

** Including one of the most dangerous flying insects in the world, the Asian Giant Hornet.

* Those pretty blue or yellow tangs seen in saltwater aquariums? They get their name from the "tangs" protruding from the hilt of a dagger, because they have retractable spines on each side of their tails that they use to discourage pursuing predators. As do their cousins, the surgeonfishes.

** And [[Finding Nemo|Dory]] is one of them!

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]