Family-Friendly Firearms: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"With [[ABC]] deleting dynamite gags from cartoons, do you find that your children are using explosives less frequently?"''|'''Mark LoPresti'''}}
In an example of the [[
Sometimes it gets
==== Several reasons for this have been theorized
* Changes in American gun culture, akin to those that made things like smoking an increasingly rare phenomenon in American media.
* Imitability. Shooting someone with a bullet is [[Don't Try This At Home|an imitable act]] which might result in negative publicity, but a kid can't find his Dad's laser rifle and zapfry his buddy. [[Technology Marches On|Yet]].
* Higher leeway on how much damage it deals and how it is portrayed. It is easy to accept an action hero getting [[Frickin' Laser Beams|blasted away by an energy beam and then jumping back to his feet]], but if he got shot with a bullet, then we'd have to deal with the fact that he has a physical object lodged in his
Note that this is usually limited to bullet-firing weapons. More destructive weapons like RPG's may still be seen in works using this trope, despite (or perhaps ''because'' of) the increased difficulty in obtaining them. In rare cases, it will have [[BFG|large guns]] fire actual bullets, but still no realistic small arms.
==== This trope manifests in several ways
* When characters who would be expected to own
* When most or all of the guns in a particular universe are energy-based or use [[Abnormal Ammo]], regardless of the owner or the universe's particular technological level.
* When a firearm looks and acts like a real firearm, even including parts which make sense for bullets but not for lasers, but whose ordnance still looks or sounds like lasers. Inversely, when an unrealistic-looking gun fires actual bullets.
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In the first few episodes of 4Kids' ''[[One Piece]]'' dub, guns would occasionally be replaced with a sillier-looking equivalent, the most notable seen in the picture above. Originally the standard flintlock pistol seen in the OP universe, it was heavily edited into something that looks more like a showerhead on a spring. (The weapon changed back to a gun in a long shot and a few other frames that 4Kids missed.) Simultaneously, other guns would be edited or recolored to look less
** In one instance, a poison dart gun was changed to shoot poison ''suction cups''.
** In the flashback to Luffy and Shank's origin stories, Shanks is held up point blank with a gun to his temple and he casually points out that the man holding the gun is in danger of a backblast if his skull causes the bullet to shrapnel, just to show how badass he is. In the 4kids version the man is holding a popgun, although Shank's lines remain mostly unchanged. Shank's man shoots the would-be shooter dead and they didn't bother changing his gun, but left in a comment that it was full of blanks and that the other man simply fainted.
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** An interesting example: The Digimon Revolvermon is basically a giant revolver barrel with limbs and a cowboy hat. While the English dub changed his ''name'' to Deputymon, his appearance and attacks were not altered at all.
** Probably because, if they erased his gun, he would look more like a human than a Digimon.
* The [[Edited for Syndication|broadcast version]] of the dub of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' actually has ballistic weapons visually edited to look like lasers. They missed a few shots. [[media:1110048506407.jpg|Click here]] to see examples. The editing got really inconsistent in the last two episodes, which were aired so late at night that Cartoon Network could get away with more than when the show was aired at 10 PM. And some of the "lasers" were ridiculous enough to undergo [[Memetic Mutation]]
** This was edited much less in Canada (''Gundam SEED'' aired at 9PM or later on Fridays) -- mainly editing out the over-graphic deaths had by some "extras" (such as from the radiation
*** One [[Epileptic Trees|fan theory]] is that the gun edits were intentionally ludicrous: Bandai and CN both realized that the fans would see right through the edits, but it still had to be done, so they were made silly-looking to give viewers something to laugh at.
* Not just the broadcast version, but the English Dub period (even on the DVD) replaced the firing sounds of the head vulcans of various Gundams in ''[[G Gundam]]'' to sound more like rapid-fire lasers.
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** In the Japanese version of ''Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds'', some character wield realistic-looking guns, but to remain child friendly, these guns shoot "lazer beams" in one arc, and in another arc in the next season, six-shot revolver style guns shoot "Stun Cannons". To be fair, ''5Ds'' does take place in the future, and in one scene the laser beam completely dismembered a mans arm.
* A painful example of this trope can be found in the [[Edited for Syndication]] ''[[Toonami]]'' dub of ''[[Outlaw Star]]'', in which guns were edited to become lasers, but ''almost every scene'' showing Gene buying bullets ''stayed in the show''.
* ''Zatch Bell'' (a.k.a. ''[[Gash Bell]]'') has bizarrely inconsistent censorship. In several episodes, automatic rifles are edited to fire lasers and feature large metal bulbs along the barrels. In others (namely, the episode "Danny Boy"), guns are not censored at all, even when they are fired
* ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'''s weapon nut Giroro is especially noticeable in that his low-ordinance weapons (e.g., his trademark ''barrelless'' handgun) don't actually seem to use bullets, despite being treated as if they do.
* In the anime version of the manga ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn|Reborn]]!'', Reborn's gun is colored green and is actually a [[Equippable Ally|shape-shifted form of his pet lizard]], and the [[Magic Bullets|special bullets]] it fires transform into energy before they can hit and power-up Tsuna (with the bleeding from the shots removed too). Similarly, Lambo's grenades are colored purple. Oddly enough, the other guns in the series remain untouched. This however was probably done in order to give the show a standard transformation sequence and the Lambo thing because [[Rule of Funny|it's funnier that way]].
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' spin-off film ''[[Ewoks the Battle For Endor]]'', the Ewoks fight goblinlike creatures that live in a [[Dark Age Europe|Dark Ages]] castle, get dinosaur-looking aliens to pull their wooden wagons that use log-ends as wheels, and fight with laser
** To make things worse, [[George Lucas|Lucas]] at one point was supposed to be considering removing the "bullet holes" on dead stormtroopers' armors.
** Yeah, but the movie happens not more than a few decades before ''[[Return of the Jedi|RotJ]]'', by which point blasters are common and slugthrowers (what projectile weapons are called in canon) are rare, so using blasters is perfectly acceptable.
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* The 20th Anniversary Edition of ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'' (in)famously substituted guns held by police with walkie-talkies. This was parodied mercilessly in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Free Hat", where all of [[Steven Spielberg]]'s thugs carry walkie-talkies in such a manner that suggests they were "originally" carrying guns. They cock their walkie-talkies to threaten the boys ("Hold it! Don't make me use this walkie-talkie!"), and Spielberg himself at one point steals one and threatens to "shoot".
** Even more so, the same episode has an edited version of ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', featuring US soldiers being graphically killed by machine guns, while returning fire with walkie-talkies.
** Better still, in Australia, so much was "altered" in the 20th Anniversary Edition that the studio was legally required to resubmit it for
* The [[Live Action Adaptation]] ''[[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra|G.I. Joe the Rise of Cobra]]'' kinda uses it: while the Joes employ live ammo (including a [[Gatling Good|Gatling]] [[The Right Hand of Doom|glove]] for [[Powered Armor]]), the Cobras instead use Concussion Rifles that fire potent beams. Then again, much is made of the fact that M.A.R.S. has been developing exotic weaponry, and the concussion rounds are extremely effective in certain situations; a near-hit will still cause a large enough impact to disable or wound an ordinary soldier.
* ''[[Clockstoppers]]'' has guns that fire liquid nitrogen paintballs instead of bullets, pulling targets out of hypertime instead of killing or wounding them.
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* In ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl'', it was specifically said that [[Metal Gear|Solid Snake]] could not use guns... but his rocket launcher, mortar, grenades, and land mines are all good. This may have also been for gameplay reason though, since a projectile that moves almost instantly (like Sheik's needles) that you could [[Spam Attack|fire almost constantly]] would be [[Game Breaker|really cheap]] (also, [[Stuff Blowing Up|explosions]] [[Rule of Cool|are more fun]] and [[Rule of Funny|more hilarious]]). Also, [[Star Fox (series)|Fox, Falco, Wolf]], and [[Metroid|Samus]] get to use energy weapons, but that's more a matter of [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] than this.
* Occurs within the ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' [[Novelization]] of ''Tiberium Wars''. Within the novel, the regular infantry of Nod (the bad guys) are armed with energy weapons. While Nod do have lasers within the game, its only limited to special forces, while the regular mooks get conventional weapons. The trope is almost invoked by one soldier "Where the hell'd they get-" after seeing the lasers. The change isn't because of censorship, but as a result of a continuity error.
** In the expansion to ''Tiberium Wars'', the Black Hand subfaction can upgrade their basic [[
* Inverted (sort of) in ''[[Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan]]''. At first the cops use real guns to fight rampaging robots which don't do anything. Then they figure out their weakness and attack with water guns instead, which are [[Justified Trope|very effective]].
* [[Disney]] ended up doing that in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] II''. In the first game, the only gun we had was in Deep Jungle ([[Tarzan]]'s world), which was Clayton's, and it wasn't censored. In the second game though, there were two occasions of guns in the Japanese version, and both of them were changed in the American
** Actually both Will and Jack had flintlock pistols unedited, and even Barbossa too in the boss fight.
** There is a part in the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movie when Will puts a gun to his head and threatens to kill himself if his friends are not released (because the pirates can't end their curse without him). In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', he leaps to the edge of the ship, just like the movie, and threatens his own life...while pointing the gun at the ground. You probably don't want to encourage children to point guns at their owns heads, but at the same time it was a bit jarring to anyone familiar with the movie.
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== Toys ==
* [[LEGO]] have a "no present-day weapons"
** This is why even ''[[Bionicle]]'', easily the most violent Lego franchise ever, is restricted to energy weapons and [[Abnormal Ammo]].
*** Bionicle went so far as to use the words Murder and Thieves for one of their lines, and made it very clear that [[Anyone Can Die]] in their post-Inika Story arcs (whereas in all other stories the characters would get comically blown to pieces, but survive nonetheless since they can just rebuild themselves). The closest they've ever gotten to a real weapon was the Cordak Missile Launchers, which functioned like a Gatling gun (but it only held 6 ammo rounds) and even then it was far too comically short to be taken seriously.
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** IIRC the "present-day" means "World War II or later".
*** The "present day" rule was actually relaxed at some point - no form of realistic gunpowder weapon was allowed at first, even obviously obsolete ones.
** The [[Lego Adaptation Game
** This is the main gripe of the technic fans, as these older consumers know full well that Lego has the ability to create realistic, working tanks and military aircrafts, and they would be ''awesome''. However due to the above rule, we will never see them officially released. Lego has no problem releasing fictional, futuristic tanks however.
*** This is also why the Lego Starwars line is considered by all to be their best selling line, as they can make movie-accurate guns and war machines without violating their rule. In particular the old technic lines and the larger hobbysets are much well received by the older demographic, who long for realistic tanks, but get close enough with a movie-accurate scale Millenium Falcon.
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* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' plays this trope straight, although the fact that the world established in the series appears to be different from our own in several key ways means their use is not as jarring as some other cases.
* ''[[Godzilla: The Series]]'', is actually an interesting example of lasers being acquired ''during'' the series. In early episodes, real guns (including M16s) are used. During the "Monster Wars" story arc, the invading aliens end up leaving some of their [[Energy Weapons]] on Earth when they retreat. Soon after that, lasers show up as military weapons, in all likelihood reverse-engineered from the alien ones—unfortunately, they prove to be as effective as the projectile weaponry.
* Everyone in the various ''[[Ben 10]]'' series uses lasers. While it make sense for characters who are connected to the numerous alien races that are a series mainstay, the fact that regular
* While the trope was initially in full effect (with some exceptions, such as a scene involving a wild west shoot-out) in the early episodes of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'', more realistic-looking guns started appearing as the series went on. The second season featured stylized guns which shot ambiguous-looking ammo which appeared to be designed for maximum plausible deniability, which evolved into more realistic automatic weaponry in the third season. It wasn't until the fourth season that handguns began appearing. While laser weapons did appear throughout the series (and far more frequently than "real" firearms), the producers attempted to justify them by showing that they were only accessible to the particularly well-funded; however, once an alien invasion left a large amount of advanced ordnance lying around, a black market was created, and street gangs began using them as well.
* The original ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987]]'' cartoon, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction. While initial seasons featured characters using what where meant to be “real” firearms (although the animation, as was typical for the show, was rather inconsistent in this regard, showing what looked like lasers at the same time lines like “eat hot lead” and “the bullets aren't stopping them!” were being said) by its final season you'd have security guards using some very sci-fi-looking lasers.
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* This trope is part of the reason why the ''[[Rambo]]'' franchise was able to be turned into [[Rambo the Force of Freedom|a cartoon]], despite its trademark violence and Vietnam setting.
* Similarly, the original ''[[RoboCop]]'' animated series has villains using laser weapons instead of regular guns. May be justified by ''RoboCop'' being set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], but certainly unfaithful to the movies.
* In ''[[Zorro: Generation Z]]'', the mayor's [[Mooks]] have weapons that look an awful lot like ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' phasers, while Diego himself uses a weapon that is a combination laser, [[Laser Blade]] and laser whip. Some of the criminals have [[Laser Blade
* The fantasy world of Perim in ''[[Chaotic]]'' featured this trope via [[Fantasy Gun Control]]: while the Tribes can churn out arsenal fulls of flamethrowers, hand-held water cannons, and [[Boom Stick|boom sticks]] powered-by the classical element air, gunpowder-based firearms appear to be completely alien to their world. Likewise, in the episode "Chaotic Crisis" featured a conflict between the creatures of Perim and real-world humans, who, instead of using the expected arsenal, instead used tanks with ''[[Kill It with Fire|flamethrowers]]''.
* Not-quite-a-gun example: in the cartoons based on ''[[The Legend of Zelda (animation)|The Legend of Zelda]]'', Link couldn't kill the enemies by stabbing them with his sword like in the games. Instead, he had to defeat them by shooting them with the [[Sword Beam
* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' featured real guns during the first two seasons, with cops, robbers, commandos, and even ''Miss Bellum'' wielding threatening, bullet-firing weapons with appropriate sound-effects. One episode even points out that the girls are bullet-proof, with Blossom [[Shooting Superman|wondering why criminals even try]] as bullets bounce off of her. This changes in the third season, in an episode which shows policemen fire fully-functional pistols and machineguns which are inexplicably coloured fire-hydrant red, and eventually the trope is played straight, with a bank robber shooting at the girls with a laser pistol.
* Parodied in ''[[South Park]]'', where George Lucas and Steven Spielberg set out to release remakes of ET and the [[Indiana Jones]] movies where all the guns have been digitally replaced with walkie-talkies.This is later taken a step further [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] when the boys are being held captive by real soldiers, all armed with machine gun sized walkie-talkies.
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