Bigger Stick: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy!"''|'''Howard Stark''', ''[[Iron Man]]'' (the guy selling the sticks.)}} |
{{quote|''"Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy!"''|'''Howard Stark''', ''[[Iron Man]]'' (the guy selling the sticks.)}} |
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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 |
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]]. |
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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]]. |
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]]. |
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* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' |
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' |
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** 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. |
** 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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** The trope is subverted in the ''Second Raid'' season when Belfangen Clouseaux neatly bowls over Sousuke, lambda driver or no, in a training match using an inferior mecha. While Clouseaux is a skilled mecha pilot, the primary explanation given for how handily he beat Sousuke was that Sousuke, on the verge of a [[Heroic BSOD]], was stuck piloting a mech he ''hated''. |
** The trope is subverted in the ''Second Raid'' season when Belfangen Clouseaux neatly bowls over Sousuke, lambda driver or no, in a training match using an inferior mecha. While Clouseaux is a skilled mecha pilot, the primary explanation given for how handily he beat Sousuke was that Sousuke, on the verge of a [[Heroic BSOD]], was stuck piloting a mech he ''hated''. |
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** 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. |
** 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. |
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* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': |
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': |
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* 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. |
* 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. |
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* ''[[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.}} |
* ''[[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.}} |
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* [[Windaria]] Shadowland's militar has tanks and machine guns while Lunaria's has hover craft and crossbows. When the war starts, the former marches [[Curb Stomp Battle|more or less unopposed]] to the latter's capital. |
* [[Windaria]] Shadowland's militar has tanks and machine guns while Lunaria's has hover craft and crossbows. When the war starts, the former marches [[Curb Stomp Battle|more or less unopposed]] to the latter's capital. |
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== Comics == |
== Comics == |
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== Fan Fic == |
== Fan Fic == |
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* New!Chaos in ''[[The Open Door]]'' owes a lot of their [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomping]] to the [[Warhammer |
* New!Chaos in ''[[The Open Door]]'' owes a lot of their [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomping]] to the [[Warhammer 40,000|canon!40k]] technology they inherited. If there is one thing those who criticize them as being [[God Mode Sue]]s tend to miss, it is that they win easily also because they are deliberately avoiding the universes with ''even Bigger Sticks'', such as ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. |
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* 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. |
* 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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== Tabletop Games == |
== Tabletop Games == |
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* 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]]. |
* 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]]. |
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* The ultimate weapon of ''[[Warhammer |
* The ultimate weapon of ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'s'' Imperial Guard? Gigantic tanks. If that doesn't work, they get ''[[Military Mashup Machine|even bigger]]'' tanks. If those don't cut it, they roll out the ''really'' [[Base on Wheels|big tanks]]; we're talking ''tanks so big they can serve as APCs for '''other tanks'''.'' And we haven't even got ''started'' on their [[Humongous Mecha]]. |
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** Of course, if that still fails, they just call [[Apocalypse How|Exterminatus]] and wipe out all life on the planet. |
** Of course, if that still fails, they just call [[Apocalypse How|Exterminatus]] and wipe out all life on the planet. |
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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. |
* 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. |
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** Incidentally, in ''Command'', Star Wolf team do indeed have better ships, outclassing every other playable ships in the game. |
** Incidentally, in ''Command'', Star Wolf team do indeed have better ships, outclassing every other playable ships in the game. |
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* 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]]es, the red dragon. |
* 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]]es, the red dragon. |
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* 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. |
* 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. |
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* [[Airforce Delta]] Strike plays this straight with its progressively better planes. |
* [[Airforce Delta]] Strike plays this straight with its progressively better planes. |
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** Jamie subverts it by pulling off repeated [[Airstrike Impossible]] missions in ''prop fighters'' through 2/3 of the game. |
** Jamie subverts it by pulling off repeated [[Airstrike Impossible]] missions in ''prop fighters'' through 2/3 of the game. |
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* ''[[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. |
* ''[[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. |
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** Special note for the Engineer: |
** Special note for the Engineer: |
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== Western Animation == |
== Western Animation == |
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* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' |
* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' |
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** 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''! |
** 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''! |
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** 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) |
** 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) |
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* ''[[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]]. |
* ''[[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]]. |
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{{quote|'''Mandarin:''' This is another backdraft of your technology, Stark. Somebody can always build a bigger stick.}} |
{{quote|'''Mandarin:''' This is another backdraft of your technology, Stark. Somebody can always build a bigger stick.}} |
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* [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in a [[Halloween]] episode of [[The Simpsons]]. [[Jackass Genie|Lisa wishes for world peace from a Monkey's paw]] causing everybody to throw away their guns, but then [[Alien Invasion|Aliens invade]]. Ned Flanders then obtains the Monkey paw and wishes the aliens away. Moe Cizlak chases them off with a board with a nail in it. |
* [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in a [[Halloween]] episode of [[The Simpsons]]. [[Jackass Genie|Lisa wishes for world peace from a Monkey's paw]] causing everybody to throw away their guns, but then [[Alien Invasion|Aliens invade]]. Ned Flanders then obtains the Monkey paw and wishes the aliens away. Moe Cizlak chases them off with a board with a nail in it. |
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{{quote|Kang "Soon they'll build a bigger board with a nail in it, and then one that surpasses even that one! Until they create a [[Parodied Trope|board with a nail in it that can destroy the entire Earth!]] |
{{quote|Kang "Soon they'll build a bigger board with a nail in it, and then one that surpasses even that one! Until they create a [[Parodied Trope|board with a nail in it that can destroy the entire Earth!]] |
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Both: "[[Evil Laughter|Hahahahahahah!]] }} |
Both: "[[Evil Laughter|Hahahahahahah!]] }} |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]] |
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]] |
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