Bigger Stick: Difference between revisions

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And sometimes, you get characters who just use a '''Bigger Stick'''. They don't care if they aren't as strong as their opponents: it's their equipment which does all the fighting—if you have better equipment you can handily defeat anybody, after all. Just Add [[More Dakka]].

This trope is commonly found in Mecha shows, and is related to [[Super Prototype]], but subversions aren't unheard of (see [[Magic Feather]]). If two factions try to beat each other's Big Stick with an even ''Bigger'' Stick, you get a [[Lensman Arms Race]]. A commander who believes that [[We Have Reserves]] may try to get a Bigger Stick by sending in even more [[Zerg Rush|ludicrous numbers]] of disposable [[Mooks]]. Overwhelming numbers may actually ''be'' the Bigger Stick—tie enough small sticks together and you can make a pretty good club, after all.

 

 

Although this trope is not inherently [[Freud Was Right|Freudian]], a large majority of its examples are. The '''Bigger Stick''' is probably going to end up being a [[BFS]] or [[BFG]]. Mostly unrelated to [[Carry a Big Stick]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Gundam]]'' series.

** At the start of the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', the protagonist (Amuro) is nowhere near the level of Zeon's aces, but survives several encounters because he's piloting the Gundam. (He gets better later in the series.)

** Similarly, Setsuna F. Seiei of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' fame has survived his battles with Graham, Sergei and Ali because he has Gundam Exia: had he been piloting a lesser Mobile Suit he would've had his ass handed to him all three times. Hell, ''all'' of Celestial Being, {{spoiler|Thrones included}}, is like that so far. And in the one occasion when it seemed to get subverted, {{spoiler|it turned out the Gundam in question had a [[One-Winged Angel]] form.}}

** The events of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' are touched off by the Earth Alliance's attempt at building a Bigger Stick with which to fight the more physically-abled Coordinators of ZAFT, and ZAFT's theft of all but one of those Bigger Sticks. Then the protagonist and [[The Rival]] get even ''bigger'' sticks halfway through the series, which only the [[Big Bad]] in the Biggest Stick yet succeeds in being an actual threat to... The only exception is [[Ace Pilot]] Mu La Flaga, who manages to hold his own against Coordinators in cutting-edge [[Humongous Mecha]] while he is piloting a much less powerful mobile armor and, in some cases, only a fighter jet. Nevertheless, in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]],'' even Mu gets a Bigger Stick. And then there's cases where you want your Bigger Stick to literally be much bigger. Cue [[Oh Crap|Destroy Gundam.]]

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'': This appears to be Seto Kaiba's strategy for much of the series. Even after getting the his Egyptian God Card, it doesn't seem to work. He actually does display tactics, and a great deal of strategy - though it primarily centers around bringing out his Bigger Sticks quickly, protecting his Bigger Sticks, reviving his Bigger Sticks, using his Bigger Sticks to power up Still Bigger Sticks, and [[Oh Crap|gaping]] [[The Worf Effect|when the opponent brings out a Bigger Stick Than The Bigger Stick He Has.]]

* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''

** Averted. Despite their mecha being superior in every way to those possessed by the major world powers, Mithril is shown to be a force that depends heavily on small-scale and well-planned surgical interventions and hit-and-run attacks, because ultimately they cannot hope to fight protracted battles and come out the victors. Also, those piloting the near-[[Super Robot]] lambda driver-equipped arm slaves are given that privilege ''because'' they're already highly skilled pilots.

** Also, the first episode of ''Second Raid'' is an object lesson in the fact that, no matter how superior your weapons are, you can still run out of ammunition.

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'':

* Rando of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' has about a hundred different powerful spiritual techniques, but he's not very strong without them, doesn't use them very well, and doesn't even completely understand how they work. He's ultimately defeated when [[Hoist by His Own Petard|one of his own spells backfires]] as a result of him not understanding its weakness.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'': Homura doesn't care of the jarring power difference between her and The Walpurgis Night, she will just bring more devastating [[More Dakka|(conventional!)]] arsenal against it/them, [[Groundhog Day Loop|each time]]. {{spoiler|Doesn't work.}}

 

 

== Film ==

'''{{spoiler|*Iron Monger suit shuts down*}}'''

'''Iron Man:''' Might wanna look into it! BONK! }}

** ''Iron Man 2'': [[War Machine (Comic Book)|War Machine]] is supposed to be this to Iron Man, but it turns out that Tony has more tricks in the Mark VI than in the Mark IV. They're actually pretty well matched, but as Tony points out, War Machine ''has'' a big gun, he's not ''the'' big gun. Tony's got a lot of cool [[Spin Attack|tricks]] [[Frickin' Laser Beams|up]] [[Energy Weapon|his]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|sleeve]], but because War Machine was created by Tony Stark yet upgraded by Justin Hammer, the suit's [[Energy Weapon|more]] [[Gatling Good|of]] [[Bottomless Magazines|a]] [[More Dakka|mixed]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|bag]].

* ''[[RoboCop]]'' series

** In ''[[RoboCop]]'', Detroit is being torn apart by rampant crime, and the police are starting to feel like they're more like an army on the losing side of a war with casualties mounting. Cue the titular [[RoboCop]], who is nigh-immune to small-arms fire and single-handedly trashes the largest drug factory in the city. In response, the criminals get anti-tank weapons.

** In ''[[RoboCop]] 2,'' when the new drug kingpin takes out [[RoboCop]] by outsmarting him, OCP uses it to push the need for the much larger and deadlier [[RoboCop]] 2; there is actually a certain amount of conspiracy on their parts to take advantage of this trope, although they don't directly plan all of it. When [[RoboCop]] 2 goes rogue, [[RoboCop]] is smart enough to bring one of those anti-tank rifles to the fight, although this is a subversion since it turns out the rifle isn't actually ''enough'' of a bigger stick than his sidearm to hurt [[RoboCop]] 2.

 

== Literature ==

* A series of [[Piers Anthony]]'s had a rather pathetic hero who only won because he had magic gloves (and later magic shoes) that pretty much did all the work for him.

* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series, by David Weber: Subverted in that Manticore indeed holds the biggest stick in the Galaxy, but first, not everybody thinks so, second, they constantly spend positively ''enormous'' amounts of money and effort just to keep the edge, and third, they ''train'' to use that stick, and do it ''hard''. And still, it's just barely enough, because while their sticks are bigger, their enemy has a ''lot'' more of them.

* [[Dr. Seuss]]'s ''The Butter Battle Book'' featured two separated races, the Yooks and the Zooks, building bigger and bigger weapons to go against each other, each time with the Zooks ahead in the arms race. In the end both sides develop a weapon capable of obliterating the other side, resulting in both wielders of the weapons staring down each other in a life-or-death stalemate—all because they were arguing over [[Serious Business|which side of a slice of bread should be buttered]].

* The High-Technology Aerospace Weapons Center "Dreamland" from [[Dale Brown]]'s books exists to create and test bleeding-edge technology, so it is unsurprising that they come up with a lot of potent high-tech stuff. The Americans are not the only ones with new toys, though.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Well, the Ancients are pretty much the poster boys for [[Neglectful Precursors]].

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Most players in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' tend to be concerned more with getting better weapons than everyone else had rather than actually ''surviving''. This gets a lot of them [[Too Dumb to Live|killed]].

** Of course, if that still fails, they just call [[Apocalypse How|Exterminatus]] and wipe out all life on the planet.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star Fox]] 64'', the Star Wolf team shows up near the end with improved fighters that are technically superior to the Arwings.

** Incidentally, in ''Command'', Star Wolf team do indeed have better ships, outclassing every other playable ships in the game.

* In the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series and other flight-action titles, getting a better plane which is better-armed, faster and more agile is an [[Invoked Trope|invocation of this trope]]. As to be expected, every now and then a [[Weak but Skilled]] enemy ace, like Alberto "Espada One" Lopez from ''ACZ'', will proceed to show that having the better plane is not all that matters.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' has been locked in what can only be described as an escalating Arms Race between its 9 classes. However, the Engineer, the most recent recipient of an update, has a ''smaller'' stick: the combat mini-sentry that deploys faster and having a higher rate of fire than a level 1 sentry at the cost of having less firepower and un-repairable.

** Special note for the Engineer:

* Buying and upgrading new ships is a major part of survival in ''[[Infinite Space]]''. In the storyline, it explains some [[Curb Stomp Battle]]s.

* New Mobile Suits and weapons are at least as important as character levels in ''[[MS Saga: A New Dawn]]''.

 

== Western Animation ==

** Parodied in one episode of where one character pulls out a gun on another character, then that character pulls out a bigger gun. The two keep pulling out guns bigger than the other until the guns reaches ''outer space''!

** A similar exchange in another episode subverts this at the last second, with Bugs' final Bigger Gun being...a peashooter. (that is, a hollow straw full of peas)

* ''[[Iron Man (animation)|Iron Man]]'': In the second-seson finale, after his plan to destroy all advanced technology has fallen, Mandarin reveals his backup plan to be this - armor bigger, stronger, faster and generally better than Tony's and [[Magitech|increasing the power of his rings]].

{{quote|'''Mandarin:''' This is another backdraft of your technology, Stark. Somebody can always build a bigger stick.}}

Both: "[[Evil Laughter|Hahahahahahah!]] }}

 

== Web Original ==

 

== Real Life ==

* Being the armed guy fighting an unarmed opponent. Even a two-bit thug wildly flailing a knife or pole has a large [[Unskilled but Strong]] advantage over the unarmed guy, never mind the ones who have enough experience to know how to use their weapons well. In contrast, it takes a lot of skill to take down an armed opponent while unarmed.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]