Deflector Shields: Difference between revisions

{{trope|wppage=Force field (fiction)}}

[[File:Voyager_shieldVoyager shield.jpg|link=Star Trek: Voyager|frame|Shields at 20% and holding!]]

{{quote|'''Cat:''' Why don't we raise the defensive shields?<br />

Also called "[[Force Field|Force Fields]]s", these are invisible (or, if the budget allows it, barely-visible) energy barriers placed around objects to protect them from harm.

Most common around space ships, but also seen around bases and -- veryand—very occasionally -- [[Barrier Warrior|individual people.]]

An energy barrier can zap or repel anyone who touches it, or can simply behave like an impenetrable wall. It's often represented in the form of a [[Beehive Barrier]] or another [[Hard Light]] construct. In practice, this is somewhat less scientifically feasible than [[Energy Weapons]], but not by much, at least in the way it is usually depicted -- adepicted—a strong electromagnetic field really can be used to deflect [https://web.archive.org/web/20100528134109/http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x.html#particle particle beam] weapons or railgun/coilgun slugs. A better example is the Earth's magnetic field which safeguards us from charged particles in the solar wind. NASA and ESA are actually researching how to reproduce the effect on future interplanetary spaceships, to protect Mars travellers from cosmic radiation.

Unfortunately, the alternative is not much better; though many writers choose to omit energy fields these days, they neglect that, without some kind of continuously regenerating barrier, a ship traveling at relativistic speeds (say, more than half the speed of light) isn't going to get very far before micrometeors and particulate matter punch holes through its armor, however thick it is. There are feasible alternatives though -- selfthough—self-repairing armour seems to be a common feature of bioships, or, since the ship only needs to be well-protected at the front, a ''fountain'' can be used while the ship is accelerating -- mostaccelerating—most of the voyage may be spent accelerating at .01g, and then when you arrive you just need a way to decelerate quickly while your armour lasts.

Note that if a shield deflects not just [[Frickin' Laser Beams|rays]] but massive objects, Newton's third law kicks in, as it requires the force stopping the projectile to be equally applied ''to the shield'' -- and—and if it has negligible mass, this means ''directly to the shield generator'', bypassing armor and everything. So if the shield is not ''very'' thick and/or does not distribute load over a ''very'' large area, its not a missile-stopper: any massive object moving at a modest (on an orbital scale) speed will pass through the shield if their interaction is limited to the safe level or crush the shield emitters and ''then'' pass through if it isn't. So bonus points if the shield either mostly disintegrates incoming projectiles [https://web.archive.org/web/20120520161314/http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/spacegunconvent.php#Kinetic_Kill_Weapons~Effects so that armor deals only with dust] (i.e. acts as a rechargeable sort of [https://web.archive.org/web/20081211000227/http://hitf.jsc.nasa.gov/hitfpub/shielddev/basicconcepts.html Whipple Shield]) or it's ''not'' a main defense against missiles and that pesky iron-nickel gravel, or both. Usually in these cases [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]]. Unless, of course, the shield is [[Handwaved]] to stop kinetic energy as well.

Other issues involve a shield's interaction with the same effects passing ''from inside''<ref>it would need to either be asymmetric or able to open "windows" for firing weapons and any non-inertialess propulsion, with all problems this entails</ref> and lower-grade effects.<ref>if it blocks lasers, there would need to somehow be a method to only block radiation above a certain energy level or it would block visible light</ref>.

Shields may be handled as a single egg-shell or as several independent barriers covering different areas of the ship. The latter encourages certain maneuvers, such as making sure your shielded side is always facing the enemy.

Shields are popular in fiction because it allows the [[Cool Ship]] to participate in battles without the inconvenience of having to spend the rest of the episode making repairs to physical armour and systems. In older or lower-budget movies and TV, they also eliminate the need to show battle damage on the ship; e.g. having your Ensign call out "Shields down to twenty percent!" can be a lot cheaper than showing a gash blasted in your ship's armor. The downside is that creators often have to resort to [[Explosive Instrumentation]] to provide combat casualties on a shielded ship. In somewhat-harder science fiction, shields are useful to overcome the seemingly overwhelming attacker's advantage--citiesadvantage—cities on planets can't dodge, so if there isn't some way to defend against space-launched missiles and kinetic projectiles, wars are going to be short and boring.

In [[Video Games]], deflector shields have a special use. They are effectively a way to justify [[Regenerating Health|regenerating hit points]], but only for a part of a unit's health. Shields get to regenerate, but if there is something beneath them, like armor, [[Regenerating Shield Static Health|the armor ''doesn't'' regenerate]]. Also, for many games where a target can take [[Subsystem Damage]], that won't start until you penetrate the [['''Deflector Shields]]'''.

Note that, despite the name, [['''Deflector Shields]]''' don't really need to ''deflect'' enemy attacks, in the sense that the attack will bounce off and possibly hit somebody else. It's more common for the attack to simply stop at the shield's edge, meaning that the attack has technically been ''diffused'' or ''absorbed''. (The term "deflector" comes from the proposed use of similar, weaker technology to deflect tiny incident particles of dust and debris while a spacecraft is flying at orbital speeds or faster. And ya gotta admit, "deflector shield" and "energy shield" sound [[Rule of Cool|cooler]] than "absorption shield".)

=== Large-scaleAnime Shieldsand Manga ===

* The title spaceship in ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' has deflector shields that are specialized for fending off the lizards' gravity-weapon attacks. The Jovians used them too, however.

* ''[[Gundam]]'' has several types. The most common one is the I-Field, which only protects against beam weapons, as all it does is make a cushion of particles that stops anything with less mass than the particles. They also made specialized versions to keep ships aloft in the air. Later, they developed the Beam Barrier/Beam Shield, which is basically a really wide [[Laser Blade]] that could be used against physical attacks as well.

** The Mercurius Mobile Suit and Virgo [[Mecha-Mooks|Mobile Dolls]] from ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' had Planet Defensors, [[Attack Drone|Attack Drones]]s that generate a forcefield capable of blocking most ranged weapons. Their only weaknesses seem to be [[Frickin' Laser Beams|lasers]] and melee attacks, but this is usually offset by the Virgos' powerful beam cannons, their working in teams, and the rarity of weaponized lasers in the setting.

* The energy shields in ''[[Kurau Phantom Memory]]'' are specifically tailored for deflecting and containing Rynax-energy. They don't usually form much of an obstacle for the protagonist though.

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' has two different versions, one for each of the major military factions. The MSV maser shields used by [[The Empire|Britannia]] appear on the [[Super Prototype|Lancelot]] as beam shields a'la ''[[Gundam]]'' before developing into full-on Deflector Shields and being applied to some [[Ace Custom|Ace Customs]]s and larger devices such as the [[Cool Airship]] ''Avalon'' ({{spoiler|and eventually the [[Kill Sat]] ''Damocles'' near series' end}}). [[La Résistance|The Black Knights]] develop the Guren Mk-II's radiant wave attack system into a shield called the Radiant Barrier and install it in their commander mecha and battleships in the second season. Worth special mention is the Shinkirou, protagonist Lelouch's [[Ace Custom]] machine: its Absolute Protection Territory uses an array of MSV maser shields that require on-the-fly coordination by the pilot, meaning that only someone incredibly intelligent can use it to its full potential (that being the strongest shield system in the ''Geass''-verse).

* The alien invaders and the title robot in ''[[Cannon God Exaxxion]]'' use force fields that are an offshoot of their [[Artificial Gravity]] tech. They have rendered most types of weapons obsolete, with the exception of [[BFG|BFGs]]s & melee weapons wielded by extremely strong combatants, the idea being that the only way to penetrate such a barrier is to focus more energy on a single point than the system can produce. Explosives don't work, as their energy is spread too thin & lasers are right out due to gravitational lensing.

* ''[[Super Atragon]]'': The undersea-battleship ''Ra'' has one of these that stops even gigantic enemy cup-shaped things from crushing it.

=== Fan FicWorks ===

* Calvin's [[Cool Plane|box-plane]] in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]'' has one of these.

=== Films -- AnimationFilm ===

** Ground-based shields, in ''Star Wars'', serve to prevent your force from having the living bejeesus vaporized out of them by orbital bombardment. That forces the enemy into a land engagement which you usually have a better chance of winning -- thewinning—the scenario that took place in ''The Empire Strikes Back''. ''Star Wars'' canon has two kinds of shields -- "energy" shields (a.k.a. ray shields) to repel energy blasts, and "particle" shields to repel physical objects. Shields consume a massive amount of energy, though, so if you're shielding something the size of a planet, you generally can only have one. This makes perfect sense in canon, but [[All There in the Manual|a systematic failure to explain it at any point in the movies]] left entire audiences going "What the hell?" when droids casually strolled through the shield that had just repelled tank fire in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]''. The confusion, and the length of the above explanation, also explain why so many writers prefer to just make their shields magical barriers that just ''work''.

* Most film versions of [[War of the Worlds]] have the alien tripods protected by energy shields, an update to the story that is necessary to protect them from modern weaponry.

=== Literature ===

*** It doesn't really make sense even then. People using personal shields are still vulnerable to momentum and Newton's Third Law, meaning that sufficiently powerful artillery rounds could toss them around like rag dolls (killing them in the process).

* ''[[CoDominium|The Mote in God's Eye]]'' has one called the Langston Field, but Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle go into minute detail about how it works in a story collected in ''N-space''. This includes them claiming that they came up with how that technology worked and then wrote the story around those limitations.

** Gets around the above-mentioned Newtonian problem by draining energy from anything incoming. Energy beams are weakened, and projectiles lose kinetic energy and slow down. (Note that this makes the Field a zone around the ship rather than a thin bubble or wall.) The Field absorbs the drained energy, then gradually radiates it outward as heat--unlessheat—unless it absorbs too much energy, in which case it [[Phlebotinum Overload|collapses]], radiating all the stored energy inward ''and'' outward at once, destroying the shielded ship.

** your basic garden-variety 'conventional' shield, which effectively acts as an invisible wall -- thewall—the safest type to use if you're worried about civilians walking right into it;

** As a final point, the series also features literal 'deflector fields'...which actually aren't this trope at all, but rather [[Cloaking Device|Cloaking Devices]]s working for the most part in the visible spectrum (they get their name from the way they 'deflect' light around who- or whatever wants to remain invisible). They're seen most often on the personal scale, but ''can'' in principle be used to hide larger objects as well; it's just not normally worth the bother because somebody actively looking for those will likely not rely on optical sensors alone anyway and the energy of the field itself is quite detectable.

* Also from the mind of [[Larry Niven]]: his ''[[Known Space]]'' series features a "stasis field" -- though—though not technically a "deflector", since it was a field in which no time passes -- thatpasses—that can be used for everything from creating a knife (his "variable-sword" is a monofilament cord encased in a stasis field) -- to shielding a ship or spacesuit (see ''World of Ptavvs''). Larry Niven himself once stated that it got to the point where he had to find reasons NOT to use a stasis field as a solution for everything.

* In David Weber's ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series, the "shields" (referred to as "walls" and "bands" in the novels) actually have a logical basis, given the way they are described to work. The ships have gravity drives; the effect of the drives manifests itself on the "top" and the "bottom" of the ships (called "bands" to differentiate them from the other "walls") -- where the effect is impenetrable. All ships above pinnace size also have "sidewalls" -- also—also areas of focused gravity, though not as strong as the top or bottom walls. A strong enough energy blast can penetrate the sidewalls, though with distortion and a lessening of power -- thepower—the bows and sterns of the ships are unshielded. Or at least were, until the protagonist's star nation develops "bow-walls". Tactics involves using enough missiles to get past the defenses of the opposing ships and letting loose with nuclear-bomb-pumped lasers. This is all a complicated rationale to have Napoleonic style fleet battles [[In Space]].

* In the ''Tomorrow War'' (rather [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness|"hard"]] 'verse) by Alexander Zorich, shields are useful against [[Frickin' Laser Beams|rays]], but not kinetic weapons, which of course makes latter [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|just better]]. Attempts to strap shields on a aerospace fighter the first time was one of the first book's plot lines, mainly on account of trying to make it work in an atmosphere -- apparentlyatmosphere—apparently, it was "solid" enough to mess up aerodynamics, but not enough to be used as a [[Hard Light]] element.

* Joe Haldeman's ''[[The Forever War]]'' has the "Stasis field." Only problem is that nothing inside can go faster than 16.3 &nbsp;m/s, rendering most projectile weapons useless, and any living thing not wearing special armor dies instantly when inside of it. Which means that inside of the field, it's a [[Sword Fight]].

* In ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' at least big colony ships has shields elastic and -- ''large'' -- enough—enough to bounce away objects at typical meteor speed without turning them to fine dust. However, they have destructive mode as well, just set in deflection mode as more resource saving and obviously safer for shuttles.

=== Live-Action TV ===

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' has lots of shields and force fields. On ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Star Trek Enterprise]]'', we even get to watch these get invented. ''Enterprise'' (NX-01) herself did not have shields (except in a [[Flash Forward]]), but appears to have had some kind of "navigational deflector" to avoid being pierced by space dust. According to Treknobabble, the solidity of holograms in the [[Trek Verse]] is the result of their being surrounded by a highly specialized force field. The abundance of [[Tim Taylor Technology]] coupled with the availability of force fields has led some to theorize that, in fact, ''all'' Federation technology is [[Reinforce Field|held together by tiny force fields]].

** And as to the speculation, it's arguably supported by canon. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeYrkdyW2Cw Watch] ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'' some day if you dare). ''Enterprise'' with shields up? A sizable chunk of Romulan ship just bounces off it. ''Enterprise'' with shields ''down''? A few heavy blasts from the main beam weapons of a ''gigantic Reman supership'' smash the front windshield.

** The navigational deflector has been a canonical part of ''Trek'' since ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'', and explains why the ship isn't flayed apart when going exponentially faster than light. It was just never properly mentioned until a certain famous episode in ''The Next Generation'', but ever since then, it stopped being a deflector and became a general-purpose power emitter. You can use it to blast things, hold open or close rips in time, jump-start somebody else's ship, or hell, maybe punch open wormholes for all we know. Voyager briefly goes to low warp with the navigational deflector offline in the episode 'Year Of Hell' and takes damage as a result.

* ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven7]]'' called this a "force wall".

** There are also the personal force shields they find in that freedom fighter base -- theybase—they activate only when hit by blaster fire, but then will protect the wearer from pretty much anything, up to and including lava. Unfortunately, apart from one use in the next episode, the few that our heroes manage to salvage are never used again after "I Shrink Therefore I Am," presumably because [[Bounty Hunter|Axicor]] had them destroyed the moment he discovered them.

* Averted in [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the reimagined ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'']] where there are no energy shields, just cold hard steel. Which somehow can survive ''multiple direct contact hits from nuclear weapons''. Whatever a Battlestar is made of, it ''ain't'' steel.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S15 E6/E06 The Invasion of Time|The Invasion of Time]]'', the planet Gallifrey was shown to have a large force field protecting it from being attacked.

* In ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'', anything built by the Protoss comes with a deflective shield that wears off after absorbing a certain amount of damage; although these shields slowly regenerate over time, the player can use Shield Batteries for a quick recharge. The Terrans also have a special skill, the Defensive Matrix, that surrounds a unit in a mostly impenetrable shield (the unit still takes a little bit of damage).

** Also lampshaded when the commander of a Terran battlecruiser (a powerful yet unshielded warship) says: "Shields up, weapons online!" -- only—only to correct himself when clicked again -- "... not equipped with shields? Well then, buckle up!"

* The ''[[Wild ArmsARMs]]'' RPG series features the golem Asgard who seems to specialize in deflector shields. Notably, its shields completely disintegrate anything that touches them when they're on. In the original game, the characters realized that this meant that the golem who supposedly had the Ultimate Defense also had the Ultimate Offense and used the golem to break through another force field around the enemies' base. Later games simply took it for granted that Asgard would be attacking with moves like Barrier Fist and whatnot, and ''[[Wild ArmsARMs XF]]'' gave Asgard the ability Barrier Storm, which instantly killed anyone standing next to it by doing more damage than your maximum HP.

* ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]'' explains ship-based deflector shields has shunting energy to a theoretical dimension based on imaginary numbers.

* Magical force fields protect Ganondorf's castle in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]''. The only way to get by them is by destroying their [[No Ontological Inertia|corresponding core]].

** The trope started with ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'', in which the final temple was sealed by a magic barrier that wouldn't lower until you had cleared all the other temples.

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' also has energy barriers, generated by twilight realm beasts. In certain battles, they prevent you from leaving the [[Mini Boss]] arena until you defeat all the creatures attacking you. Sometimes they make it impossible to actually defeat them all at once, requiring that you defeat the out-of-the-way one before taking on the remaining two.

** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]'' also had an energy barrier protecting the door to the lair of Agahnim ([[Epileptic Trees|either Ganondorf in disguise, or a part of him, or just The Dragon]]), for which the [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Master Sword]] was needed to break.

** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'', the pathway leading to Ganon's tower was blocked by an invisible wall of energy that could only be broken by the fully restored Master Sword.

** ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]''{{'}}s cities are protected by a "Paling," a [[Magick]] force field projected by a massive crystal in the center of town, that lets travelers pass through but keeps hostile creatures (or attacks) outside. Once the Paling falls, the city becomes vulnerable to assault and invasion --orinvasion—or the stray airship that was just shot out of the sky.

** ''[[Final Fantasy Type -0]]'' is continuing to up the ante, this time with a shield that protects an entire ''country''. Naturally, the barrier generator (a crystal, of course) shatters, kicking off the main plot.

** ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'''s Sin can protect itself with a gigantic spherical force field, which is effective enough to repel, overload, and destroy the Al-Bhed [[Wave Motion Gun|Wave Motion Guns]]s and then [[Sphere of Destruction|expand to disintegrate anything in the vicinity]]. Strangely enough, Sin fails to use this shield when [[High Altitude Battle|engaging the party and their airship]] --though—though it may have been holding back willingly at that point.

* A common feature in the universe of ''[[Beyond Good & Evil (video game)|Beyond Good and& Evil]].'' There are both large [[Deflector Shields]], designed to protect buildings from airborne attacks from the [[Alien Invasion]], and smaller, personal shields used by both good and evil soldiers to prevent you from damaging them.

* Deflector shields, both ship-mounted and man (animal?) portable versions, occur frequently throughout the ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FoxFOX]]'' game series.

* ''[[EveEVE Online]]'' has these on all ships. The Caldari and some Minmatar ships, rely on shields as their primary means of defense (as opposed to the Gallente and Amarr, who rely chiefly on armor plating).

* In ''[[Vega Strike]]'', "GraviElectroMagnetic" shields are necessary for any ship, and consume lots of energy, setting the low limit for reactor power. Segmented into 2, 4 or 8 sectors depending on the ship, station or turret type. The main limitation is that shields are disabled by activation of either spatial distortion drive, jump drive or [[Stealth in Space|cloak]], thus a cheap shot with missile (if it's lucky to not get knocked silly by ECM) or two may kill or cripple a strong enemy who just arrived and didn't recharge shields yet. However, while shields absorb point-for-point disruptors (working on the same principle) and plasma, many weapons (including [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|all kinetics]] and otherwise weak lasers) can ''partially'' bypass shieldsthem.

* ''[[Galactic Civilizations]]|Galactic Civilizations 2: Dread Lords]]'' and its expansion packs allow you to research and equip your ships with shields. However, while shields are great at protecting against various laser and particle beam weapons they provide ''very'' little protection against missiles or mass drivers and have a diminishing return on protection against anything other than beam weapons (The actual formula in game uses the square root of the shield power when hit by missiles or projectiles). You need countermeasures to protect against missiles and armor to protect against projectiles.

* In the ''[[X (video game)|X]]-Universe'' series, shields are the only viable defense--hulldefense—hull is very weak and damage translates to very expensive equipment getting destroyed.

* In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'', all of the Schwarzwelt Investigation Team [[Cool Ship|Cool Ships]] --thes—the ''Red Sprite'', the ''Elve'', the ''Blue Jet'', and the ''Gigantic''-- are—are equipped with a so-called "plasma shield." It's never made clear whether it's a shield ''composed of'' plasma or one that protects ''from'' plasma (seeing how the Schwarzwelt is, itself, surrounded by a plasma wall that disintegrates whatever it touches,) but not only is it explicitly enabled every time the ''Red Sprite'' jumps between dimensions within the Schwarzwelt, but presumably it's what keeps demons from tearing the ship to pieces while the Strike Team commandos are on a mission.

* ''[[Space Colony]]'' has the Space Defence Shield, which protects against meteor showers and volcanic debris.

* ''[[Project Eden]]'' and ''[[Descent]]'' (1,2 and 3) have shields, but no separate health or armor, meaning the character/player dies when the shield fails.

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has "unifield shields" that use [[Artificial Gravity]] to distort the paths of incoming attacks. Warships invariably use "breacher missiles" that emit a gravity pulse to try and push back. The author [[The Rant|expounds at length in a]] [[Foot Note]] about how shields would realistically be best portrayed,<ref>since they are designed to obstruct energy attacks of all forms, including visible laser light, they should technically obstruct the view of the ships they enclose entirely, leaving battles fought between blobs of darkness where the stars are obscured</ref>, [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20071214.html2007-12-14 and how he portrays them with a distinct amount of artistic license.] He's also suggested that, if he doesn't have time, he would portray them realistically...

* In ''[[Drowtales]]'' the [https://web.archive.org/web/20111204100715/http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive//20060208c12p022.JPG Sarghress] have developed this technique to compensate for being indvidually fairly weak [[Barrier Warrior|barrier warriors]]. Done with a more powerful individual [https://web.archive.org/web/20111204082418/http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive//20060217c12p025.JPG here]. Although powerful, even she has to upgrade from [[Barrier Warrior|personal barrier]] to deflector shield with the help of the two mana specialists behind her (white cloaks) to deflect a cannon ball.

* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', Sumdac Tower has a force-field that can be activated if the building is under attack, though it only comes up a few times throughout the series. While it ''is'' the 22nd century, and Professor Sumdac ''did'' have Megatron's head in his lab for a while, this is still pretty impressive. The Elite Guard ship can also create one.

{{quote| Child 1: [Makes a missile sound effect and a boom, imitating it hitting the other child's [[Toys|toy]] tank/plane/etc]<br />

Child 2: [[Deflector Shield|Force field]]!<br />

=== Personal Shields ===

* Yomi of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' has a barrier that deflects, and in some forms absorbs demonic energy, {{spoiler|although Yusuke gets around this by finally realizing to turn off the demonic transformation and use HUMAN''human'' Reiki. I guess Yomi didn't figure humans to be enough of a threat.}} Also Luka/Ruka in the Dark Tournament arc, when {{spoiler|after some foul play by a team owner, she poses as a nurse and traps Hiei and the Masked Fighter behind a powerful, painful-to-the-touch barrier; her main mistake is that the barrier works with her nurse masquerade by HEALING the people inside it, who at this point want to throttle her. It most notably heals Hiei's arm that was damaged in the first round, so she actually tips the entire tournament in the Urameshi team's favor by this accident. She almost dies when Hiei tries to bust out, and wisely leaves the force-field for hire business soon after.}}

{{quote| '''Kuu Fei:''' Asuna's barrier break and my combo are super effective against mages [[Verbal Tic|~[[arune~]]]].}}

* ''[[Soul Eater]]'': Shinigami uses skull-shaped shields to defend against Asura, and at one point attempt to crush him into the ground. Kid gets a smaller version through Brew, which he uses to defend against Mosquito's attacks. Stein has a technique -- experimentaltechnique—experimental spirit body -- whichbody—which creates a human-shaped shield around himself. Used only once, but it's an example of soul wavelength being used to block attacks. Such is the versatility of souls in the series, it'd be unsurprising if the idea gets used again.

** This was explicitly the defense of Starbrand of Marvel's [[New Universe]], but he can control how far out it extends or turn it off, which meant he didn't have any problem getting his hair cut, or need a special costume.

* During a time when his iconic shield was lost in the Atlantic, [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] was provided with a photonic energy shield by Sharon Carter. Said shield, in addition to being an energy facsimile of his regular shield, could even be converted into various other forms, which included: a bo staff, sword, and even a larger force-shield. Unfortunately, the photonic shield didn't have the ricocheting ability that the regular shield had.

=== Films -- AnimationFilm ===

* Another fantasy example is from the Death Gate Cycle, where the Patryns tattoo magical runes all over their bodies for magical protection. However, these aren't perfect shields -- inshields—in the second book, when faced against a giant monster, the main character's magical shield broke under the giant's assault with a tree trunk. The explanation being that the powerful blows caused cracks to form between the sigla that comprise the magical barrier, thus weakening and ultimately obliterating the shield.

** In one episode of ''The Next Generation'', Worf Jury-rigged himself a personal force field... using a comm-badge. This hasn't made it to Starfleet R&D WHY''why''?

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'': "Shield" and "Mage Armor" spells are the standard personal deflectors for mages in the thick of action. Other force effect include, well, the ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Wall of Force]]'' spell.

* ''[[GURPS]]'' has a force screens in ''Ultra-Tech'' and spells like "Utter Dome" in ''Magic''. There is also a skill which requires both Telekinesis and ESP which allows the user to wrap himself in a personal force field.

* Deflector shields, both ship-mounted and man (animal?) portable versions, occur frequently throughout the ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FoxFOX]]'' game series.

* In the ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' games, Princess Zelda fights with magic rather than weaponry, outside of her Final Smash; one of her spells is called Nayru's Love, which tosses up a short-lived protective barrier around her that deflects attacks.

** And then there's the Team [[Star Fox (series)|Star FoxFOX]] reflectors, that repel any projectiles, but not regular attacks. And the standard method of blocking manifests as a shield around a character.

* The [[Player Character]] in ''[[Flashback (video game)|Flashback]]'' is a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]] with a personal shield. Hits drain the shield, so [[Hit Points]] are restored at a recharge station.

* [[MOTHER 1|In]] [[EarthboundEarthBound|every]] [[Mother 3|Mother]] game, there is at least one Franklin Badge, which reflects lightning-based attacks for whoever is carrying one. {{spoiler|In [[Mother 3]], this ends up being a bad idea.}}.

* One of the powers available to the protagonist in ''[[Advent Rising]]'' is the "negate" power, which manifests as either a carryablecarriable or placeable rectangular force shield or a player-encompassing bubble that blocks all attacks for as long as the protagonist has the energy to sustain it. Alas, this isn't all that long.

* Mage-type Shades in ''[[Nie RNieR]]'' can project a [[Sphere of Power]] around themselves or their allies that make them impervious to damage, or at least negate a very large fraction of it. Nier himself can call upon Weiss' Dark Wall spell, which can cast an invincible [[Instant Runes|rune-inscribed wall]] of limited duration in front of him --buthim—but ''only'' directly in front of him, and it's fixed in place once cast.

** As of the "Labyrinth" expansion, Evie aquiredacquired a skill that creates a large, crystal-shaped shield that offers complete invulnerability for a short time. Casting time is instant, but casting cost is high. Unlike most personal shields (and her normal magical shield), the character is fully immobilized inside (curled up in a ball); although the shield itself can be knocked around by enemies.

* Archer of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' can summon one of these. Kind of a strange example, in that it's theoretically an actual physical shield that a warrior might carry--butcarry—but it's a legendary weapon that can deflect anything and he can summon it as a magical ability, so it works out to be more like [[Deflector Shields]].

=== Web ComicsOriginal ===

* One of ''[[Danny Phantom|]]'': One of Danny's]] many ghost power is a shield. It usually comes in two varieties, a wider, weaker one or a smaller, deflective one.

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': Kim has a supersuit with a built-in shield. Other shields are shown occasionally, including one used to stop Ron, who has been villain powered to destroy anything by touching it, from destroying things with his hands.

* In ''[[Barbie and the Diamond Castle]]'', the stones that Liana and Alexa wear around their necks create a visible barrier that shields them from the [[Vain Sorceress|villain]]'s [[Magic Music|evil spells]]. Later, they're able to use the instruments in the [[MacGuffin Location|titletitular castle]] to create a similar barrier that not only guards them, but reflects the spells back on the villain.

* Creating energy shields, either as flat planes or enclosed domes/spheres, is one of Gwen's most-used powers on ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]''.

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|]]'': Twilight Sparkle]] can conjure these with her magic. They're quite powerful, too: She can block [[Reality Warper|Discord]]'s power. Her brother, Shining Armor, can also do it - it's his special talent.

[[Category:Deflector Shields{{PAGENAME}}]]