Bigger Stick: Difference between revisions
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In series in which two or more characters (or factions) frequently come to blows, you can often find characters who spend their time [[Training From Hell|training]] in order to [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours|defeat their enemies]].
And sometimes, you get characters who just use a
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
Naturally, if [[The Rival]] captures [[
Although this trope is not inherently [[Freud Was Right|Freudian]], a large majority of its examples are. The
{{examples}}
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* ''[[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 Stick|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.]]▼
This later proves to not exactly be true late into the second series when Setsuna pulls the reverse. He pilots a trashed Exia that is held together by spare parts, spit and sheer dumb luck. The unit is missing an arm, has a makeshift replacement camera eye, joint protection parts missing and a literally a broken weapon. That combined with the fact that his Gundam is literally five years out of date means that he was actually very skilled to have made it that far fighting that Ahead and GNX-III because if he had been any less skilled, he would have been shot down like before.
* ''[[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.]]<br /><br />Many, many [[Monster of the Week|one-shot antagonists]] use this tactic, as well as the game's creator, Pegasus, and his totally invincible one-of-a-kind Toon Deck. [[The Hero]] [[Death by Irony|inevitably brings them down]] [[Cherry Tapping|with their weakest Monster.]]▼
▲** The events of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' are touched off by the Earth Alliance's attempt at building a
▲* ''[[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
Many, many [[Monster of the Week|one-shot antagonists]] use this tactic, as well as the game's creator, Pegasus, and his totally invincible one-of-a-kind Toon Deck. [[The Hero]] [[Death by Irony|inevitably brings them down]] [[Cherry Tapping|with their weakest Monster.]]
* ''[[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.
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== Fan Fic ==
* New!Chaos in ''[[The Open Door]]'' owes a lot of their [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomping]] to the [[Warhammer 40000|canon!40k]] technology they inherited. If there is one thing those who criticize them as being [[God Mode Sue
* In ''[[An Entry With a Bang|An Entry with a Bang!]]'', while the ''[[BattleTech]]'' chaps have the [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] and the tougher armour, Clancy-Earth's effective BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capability is one of the key reasons why the latter has prevailed so far.
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== Film ==
* ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' series
** ''Iron Man'': Tony Stark literally makes reference to
{{quote|'''Iron Man:''' How'd you solve {{spoiler|the icing problem}}?"
'''{{spoiler|Iron Monger}}:''' {{spoiler|icing problem}}?
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== 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]].▼
Honor, ''personally'', typically goes into any given battle wielding the smaller stick, because otherwise how could she show how badass a commander she is? {{spoiler|As of Storm from the Shadows Manticore may turn out not to have the biggest stick anymore.}}
▲* [[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
* 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.
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* 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 ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate 2]]'', when Minsc notices his current weapon cannot harm his enemy, he exclaims "No effect!? I need a bigger sword..." He makes a similar remark after the first encounter with one of the game's [[Bonus Boss
* 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.
* [[Airforce Delta]] Strike plays this straight with its progressively better planes.
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* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', the Brotherhood of Steel fights the Enclave, who have greater numbers, better technology and better resources, and besides that the Brotherhood is busy fighting super mutants and other hostiles in the area. Then they activate [[Humongous Mecha|Liberty Prime]], who for a period of two weeks utterly crushes any resistance and helps the Brotherhood track down the remnants of the Enclave one group at a time. They the Brotherhood tries to use Prime to assault an Enclave main base and find out the Enclave has been holding back the biggest stick of all--{{spoiler|an orbital missile satellite, which blasts Liberty Prime to pieces.}}
* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' has Mr. House' Securitron Army and their software upgrade. Depending on your choices, you can choose to help him along with activating both of these which would ensure his dominance of the Mojave or destroy the army under the orders of Caesar. Even better, help House upgrade his army, kill him and then ''take'' the Bigger Stick for yourself (or at least under the control of a [[lickspittle]] A.I.).
* Buying and upgrading new ships is a major part of survival in ''[[Infinite Space]]''. In the storyline, it explains some [[Curb Stomp Battle
* New Mobile Suits and weapons are at least as important as character levels in ''[[MS Saga: A New Dawn]]''.
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