Frickin' Laser Beams: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|"''You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks|sharks]] with '''[[Trope Namer|frickin' laser beams]]''' [[Weaponized Animal|attached to their heads]]! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that can't be done. Can you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here.''"
|'''Dr. Evil''', ''[[Austin Powers]]: International Man of Mystery''}}
{{quote|''"Cooool! You mean I actually have frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads?!"''
|'''Dr. Evil''', a few movies later.}}
The most prominent type of [[Ray Gun]] these days.
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Most of the complaints about laser weapons not behaving like real lasers are because their primary function in TV are not to be [[Reality Is Unrealistic|realistic depictions]] of how real energy-based weapons would work. They are merely [[Family-Friendly Firearms|stand-ins for "real" guns]] to appease [[Media Watchdog|media watchdogs]], to establish a show as [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|being futuristic]], or simply applying the [[Rule of Cool]]. In fact the usual "laser bolts" effect looks a lot more like machine gun fire using tracer bullets (which was even colored according to nation, as in ''[[Star Wars]]'') and early writers' [[World War II]] experiences may have inspired the effect.
There actually are "real lasers" in weapons research and
Incidentally, ''plasma'' weapons fire ''really hot'' gas; this is different from lasers, which are light beams. Necessarily, plasma weapons can't use light speed projectiles as, having mass, they would be susceptible to all sorts of physics that make approaching the speed of light extremely difficult. Practically a trope in and of itself, plasma weapons are almost always depicted as producing ludicrous glowy puffballs (often green) that somehow avoid mixing into the air, sometimes [[Hand Wave|hand waved]] as magically autogenerated magnetic containment.
For those keeping score, the title of this trope comes from an otherwise unrelated line in the first ''[[Austin Powers]]'' movie. For ''really frickin '''big''''' laser beams, see [[Wave Motion Gun]]. For real handguns [[Bowdlerise
Occasionally misspelled "[[Xtreme Kool Letterz|lazer]]" in fiction, commonly to differentiate from actual LASERs. Frequently misspelled "lazer" in [[Real Life]], because [[Viewers are Morons|people are dumb]], or because it's easier to trademark names that aren't real words. In reality, the name '''"L.A.S.E.R."''' is an acronym of "'''L'''ight '''A'''mplification by '''S'''timulated '''E'''mission of '''R'''adiation", since [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|that's what lasers do]]. It helps that, by happenstance, the acronym "LASER" makes for a [[Rule of Cool|cool-sounding name]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* Beam weapons in ''[[Gundam]]'', while fast, are frequently dodged when they are fired.(First few episodes of the First Gundam, Char Aznable stated very clear that he dodges where the gun points, not the beam) This is also because the beam weapons aren't laser beams, but are made up of particles with a considerable amount of mass, called a "Mega-particle". See below, and also see [[Minovsky Physics]] (the [[Wave Motion Gun]]-grade weapons like the Solar Ray and Solar system ''are'' portrayed as travelling at the speed of light; fortunately, [[Psychic Powers|Newtypes]] sense the shots before they fire in Gundam).
** ''[[Gundam]]'' creator [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]] has commented, in later years, that he chose to use particle beam weapons over more realistic lasers for dramatic purposes, feeling that the invisibility and unerring accuracy of lasers would make for boring combat sequences.
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* ''[[Wolf's Rain|Wolfs Rain]]'' deserves a mention here. The laser-like weapons installed in the Nobles' airships fire beams that can actually ZIG-ZAG en route to their targets. (To quote [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|another series]], "don't ask me how it works or I'll start to whimper".)
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' features ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|ancient Egyptian laser beams]]''.
* You'd think that a series like ''[[One Piece]]'' would be void of any beams of the sort, but through [[Light Is Not Good|the powers of one of]] [[The Government|The World Government's]] [[Light Is Not Good|three Marine admirals]], and technology 500 years ahead of the current time, even pirates can face off against
* Sailor Star Fighter's "Star Serious Laser" attack in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. Shown as a beam of light that travels much, much slower than the real thing.
* Averted and played with in ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' season 2: when Haruhi subconsciously gives Mikuru the ability to "shoot laser beams" for a special effects shot, the resulting beam is not cool-looking and innocuous, but invisible, instant and razor-thin. Later, Mikuru is enchanted with various other beam weapons which also adhere to the specific principles of whatever name Haruhi used.
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** Another point the show got correct: even if the lasers hit instantly, they don't DESTROY instantly. Thus requiring one character to use [[Ramming Always Works]] on a missile that has negated laser defense systems... just by having an erratic flight path to prevent a continuous beam.
* ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'' actually pokes fun at this in one episode by having [[The Starscream|Starscream]] open fire with his laser cannons, point out that lasers travel at the speed of light, and then having Optimus Prime promptly dodge his lasers with ease.
* ''[[Super Atragon]]'': The enemy gigantic black cylinders' [[Wave Motion Gun|powerful laser shots]]; bonus points for the "gravity lens<ref>
* ''[[Code Geass]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2s_EeYBqJI Lelouch in R2 when he gets the Shinkiro]. He even has an attack called the "Zero Beam"; which can be condensed into a single laser beam, or when he shoots his [[Viewers are Morons|diamond thing]] it can work like a mirror, and deflect several beams into dozens of enemies.
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* The blasters of ''[[Star Wars]]'' are not actually lasers ([[
** And that one Star Destroyer's constant-beam laser in ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'' that breaks a Banking Clan Comm Ship (right before a bit of debris from it hits the Star Destroyer). The [[Space Is Noisy|sound of it]] was awesome.
*** If you pause the scene you can actually see that the source of the beam is one of those walker thingies that fired the beam in ''Attack of the Clones''. According to the official site that is actually one of the ground based lasers firing from the hangar bay of the Star Destroyer; many Star Destroyer captains augmented their firepower by enlisting the help of the ground troops they carried.
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* ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]] 2'' featured strobe-light weapon props because [[Special Effect Failure|they couldn't afford real guns]]. Incidentally, [[Reality Is Unrealistic|everyone complained that the guns didn't look like they were shooting "lasers"]].
* ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' (2009) follows the "bullets of light" model: a handheld phaser shoots discrete pulses. The ''Enterprise'' itself ''shakes from recoil'' as its phasers fire.
** However, as portrayed through all ''Star Trek'' series, Phasers are not actually lasers but phased particle beams (called nadions) that occasionally look like lasers. [[Word of God]] is that [[Gene Roddenberry]] realized shortly into TOS that people who saw the show in 20 years would say "Lasers don't do that" and retconned all weapons into "phasers" instead (after briefly toying with calling them "Lasser" [sic] weapons, presumably after a hypothetical inventor).
** In contrast to most of the rest of the franchise where phasers are presented as beam weapons that connect instantly. They still create shaking on a target when hit though... Err... those are Particle beams. The phased laser is carrying all kinds of hazardous extras for the feds.
* [[Godzilla vs. Destoroyah|Destoroyah]] from the ''[[Godzilla]]'' franchise is able to emit a laser beam from his horn.
** The ''[[Godzilla]]'' franchise also sported freezing lasers. Large weapons mounted on vehicles fired blue laser beams that would lower the temperature of the target hit to several thousand degrees below 0 °C, creating ice even out of thin air (presumably the water in the air freezing). Note that this does not happen anywhere else along the laser beam, not even on the gun's muzzle. Ice crystals should be forming along the whole length of the beam, causing a a cold fog to fall along it, but this doesn't happen.
* In Disney's ''[[Condorman]]'', the hero's [[Cool Boat]] comes equipped with a small turret-mounted laser cannon. Oddly, the non-instantaneous beams it fires do indeed [[Reflecting Laser|reflect off of water]]
* In ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]] 2'', one of Tony's new toys is {{spoiler|a Death Blossom-like spinning multi-laser thing.}}
* Subverted in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'': "It's not a laser! It's a light bulb that blinks!"
* Mostly averted in ''[[Congo]]''; the laser has no recoil, travels immediately in a straight constant beam and produces deadly amounts of heat and cutting power. It does, however, include a visible beam, appears to cauterize wounds, and is powered by an unprocessed diamond that was chipped out of a rock literally seconds earlier. So basically all the cool parts without any of the hassle or overwhelming gore.
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* [[David Weber]] handles this particularly well, especially in the ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series (''[[Horatio Hornblower]]'' [[In Space]], clearly acknowledged both by the author and in the series itself). There are multiple fights in the books where technologically inferior ship #1 sends out a radar pulse to try to find ship #2, which is received by ship #2 who then instantly triggers their laser weapon already targeted by their superior technology on ship #1, such that the return radar pulse is received by ship #1 immediately followed by the laser pulse which destroys them, because radar and lasers both travel at the same speed.
* In ''[[Hyperion]]'', laser weapons work at the speed of light. Unfortunately, space battles take place across such great distances that the enemy ships have to watch the beam crawl across space towards them. While the time it takes for lasers to hit is realistic, unless their sensors work considerably faster than light there's no way they could notice the attack until it hit, not to mention it raises questions about why they don't move out of the way.
* Laser weapons in ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' are considered
* In [[Larry Niven]]'s books, laser flashlights can be used as weapons, but more like ranged knives than guns. If you sweep the beam across the target quickly, it will make a shallow cut. Doing so slowly makes for a deep cut. And using it on someone wearing clothing the same color as the beam is difficult, as the clothing is that color because it ''reflects that color of light''.
** Oh, and not to mention the fact that the Ringworld has the ability to cause its sun to flare, and then turn that flare into a frickin' SUPER laser.
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** In the first season TNG episode "Conspiracy", Riker and Picard are able to dodge a phaser beam ''after it's been fired''.
** In TNG episode "Home Soil", Data does dodge a laser drill - but he does this because he realizes it must track its target, then halt, then fire, so he dodges the moment it stops moving, just before it can fire. Earlier human victims plainly hadn't got past panicking.
* Not only are the blasts of the [[V (TV series)||Visitors']] sidearms slow enough to dodge, if you're in good shape you could probably ''outrun'' them.
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' warships typically use lasers (or some sort of continuous beam) as their main armament. For fighters and groundpounders, however, EarthForce usually relies on plasma weapons.
** The GROPOS use [[Magnetic Weapons|railguns]], PPG only get used when they have to worry about accidental damage like being on a ship or station like Babylon 5.
* The 1980s television show ''[[Buck Rogers in
* ''[[Space: 1999]]'' had what are possibly the slowest laser beams in television history. The beams had a clearly defined beginning and end.
* In [[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|the original ''
** Completely [[Averted Trope]] in the remake [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|of course]], though most ship-based weapons use tracer rounds that look like your typical lazer bolt.
* If you dare, watch "The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman," in which the newest operative of the OSI undergoes bionic augmentation. ''His'' frickin' laser
* ''[[Knight Rider]]'': KITT has a laser that's typically used to destroy things rather than attack people.
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== Music ==
* "Laser Jesus" in [[Hot Chip]]'s "I Feel Better" music video.
* Japanese [[Girl Group]] [[Perfume (band)|Perfume]] has a song called "レーザービーム" <ref>
== Tabletop Games ==
* Clerics in 4e [[Dungeons
** Well, not really. To elaborate: there is indeed a cleric build with the actual [[Fan Nickname]] 'laser cleric'. It focuses on ranged attack powers, which for clerics at least as often as not involve dishing out radiant damage; hence, 'laser'. However, these are still essentially attack ''spells''; 4e clerics do not in fact run through dungeons with implausibly anachronistic high-tech weaponry.
** So those spells/powers generate and shoot Frickin Laser Beams, ie. coherent light. Radiant damage is described as searing light and many specific Radiant powers are described as rays. 1+1=Lasers
* In ''[[Warhammer
** In previous editions, lasguns were actually described as firing a discrete "bullet" of laser energy, described in at least one novel (and portrayed in at least one video game) as a twinkling ball of light that moves at about the same speed as a bullet, if not slower. This has been rectified as of the third edition of the game, so that all laser weapons are now assumed to fire actual laser beams (and are portrayed doing so in ''[[Dawn of War]]'').
** In the 40k novels, what lasguns are and how they work vary [[Depending on the Writer]]. [[Dan Abnett]] has a sniper having to compensate for wind and gravity, with a permanent bruise from the recoil. Others have had lasguns fire normal bullets, in a bizarre inversion of [[Family-Friendly Firearms]]. One mistake just about all of them do is have the shot cauterize the wound, while in real life lasers would do pretty much the same damage as normal firearms.
** Lascannons and other larger laser weaponry are generally portrayed more realistically, although the beam is usually visible (which would only happen with lots of dust in the
** 40k also has plasma weapons, which are typically depicted as behaving more like particle
** The "autocauterizing laser wound" is repeatedly mentioned in [[Ciaphas Cain]], usually in comparison to a slug-type weapon which would leave a gaping wound.
* In ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', laser pistols are common, and so reflective armor is also common. The laser pistols also come in different colors (to match security clearance levels). In the first edition, higher-clearance reflec armor was multi-colored, to represent all the colors of laser that it protected against; the second edition switched to single-color reflec armor (which also protected against all lower clearances). The editors' explanation was basically "yes, we know physics does not work this way in real life, but this is simpler".
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* In ''[[Traveller]]'', lasers are powerful but expensive, fragile and easy to defend against, with both hand-held (pistol and rifle) and ship-based versions. Plasma and fusion weapons are ''terrifying'' but even more expensive, heavy and often require the user to be wearing [[Humongous Mecha|power armour]]. And they're almost universally illegal for civilians.
* Lasers in ''[[GURPS]]'' are represented accurately, in fact their lack of recoil is a big selling point compared to guns, but can be defended against by reflec-armor. As it happens the ''Ultra-Tech'' book has pulse lasers that ''do'' fire a "bullet" of light, albeit one that moves at the proper speed.
** ''Electro''lasers actually fire [[Shock and Awe|balls of lightning]], using the laser to make it go where you want it to. These work a lot more like conventional
* ''[[Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot]]'' has "Sharks WFLB," which is illustrated as... sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads.
* The board game ''Khet'' uses pieces with [[Light and Mirrors Puzzle|mirrors]] on them and laser pointers in the board. You destroy pieces by hitting a non-mirrored side with the laser, and win by destroying the King-er, I mean the "Pharaoh", because this game is Egyptian themed. That's right, this game has [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Ancient Egyptian Laser Beams!]]
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** The earlier ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' series also had all sorts of energy weapons which moved very slowly, and a number of typically near-hitscan bullet weapons. Since there were only one or two enemies with bullet weapons and one or two [[Cool but Inefficient]] energy weapons you could use, this typically added up to you dodging lots of enemy fire and them ending up as bullet-riddled heaps of steaming entrails (when you didn't trick them into starting a fight with the other guy that was standing behind you.)
* In ''[[Descent]]'', the various laser weapons travel approximately at twice your ship's velocity and [[Painfully-Slow Projectile|can be dodged]]-however, the Vulcan Cannon, [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|effectively a machine gun that fires pieces of metal]], [[Hit Scan|travels instantly and ''cannot'' be dodged.]] (Now imagine the Vulcan Cannon doing much more damage per shot with an equally [[More Dakka|high rate of fire]], and you have ''[[Descent]] II's'' [[Game Breaker|Gauss Cannon]].) Once you get the afterburner powerup, you can travel at the same speed as the laser beams.
* Averted in ''[[Unreal Tournament 2004]]'' in the Lightning Gun. It is not a laser weapon at all, but rather a sophisticated weapon that shoots electricity. Description of the Lightning Gun from the GameSpy [https://web.archive.org/web/20131020125032/http://planetunreal.gamespy.com/View.php?view=UT2003GameInfo.Detail&id=8&game=5 Weapons Guide:] "Once the target has been acquired, the operator depresses the trigger, painting a proton ?patch? on the target. Milliseconds later the rifle emits a high voltage arc of electricity, which seeks out the charge differential and annihilates the target."
* ''[[X-COM]]'' has lasers, which are slower than light and pulse, but are impossible to
** ''[[X-COM]]: Apocalypse'' has laser sniper rifle. Of vehicle weapons available early in the game, lasers are cheap, cause less collateral damage if miss and miss less to begin with than other variants.
* ''[[BattleTech|MechCommander]]'' featured a bizarre spin on the matter: lasers move as visible projectiles towards the target (at the same speed as ballistic projectiles), but whether they hit or not is predetermined at the moment they are fired. This results in bizarre situations where firing at a fast-moving target will cause the laser to [[Roboteching|actually bend, change course]], and follow the target until impact.
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** In a mission to capture Boba Fett, he is also able to insta-dodge Disruptor shots, with the same animation (maybe he learned it from Remo Williams).
* In the ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' games, ''laser bolts are slower than bullets''. It's not like the speed of light was actually altered in-universe or anything, but the fact remains that bullets do hitscan damage and lasers fly through the air ''slightly'' faster than rockets.
* Space sims vary somewhat, usually for gameplay reasons more than anything
** In the ''[[Escape Velocity]]'' games, lasers, plasma, protons, and bullets all move about as fast, but a number of special weapons (like the original game's particle beam) move ''instantly'' but with a very short range. Some projectiles, though, are faster or slower in the third game: "blaster" shots are fast, with railguns and fusion pulse shots being slower. Weapons described as "lasers" like the Capacitor Pulse laser, Bio Relay laser, and the Thunderhead do hit instantly, but all had visible beams. There were also some non-laser beam weapons that hit instantly.
** In ''[[Freelancer]]'', everything is a projectile. The laser and photon weapons just have faster projectiles.
** The ''[[Free Space]]'' games saddle the player with lasers that fire projectiles. However, capital ships in the second game usually mount "beam" type weapons as their main guns. These are highly visible so that the player has a chance to avoid flying through them and being destroyed... assuming the player isn't in their path to begin with, as they are [[Hit Scan]] weapons.
** All the ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' games (you guessed it) feature projectile weapon mechanics even for the "lasers". Interestingly, the laser is universally the weakest ship-mounted weapon, even though it has a high rate of fire and is the most efficient in terms of energy usage.
** A different kind of space sim, the [[4X]] game ''[[Master of Orion]] II'' used lasers as its most basic ship-mounted
* ''[[Too Human]]'' avoids this, as its laser weapons shoot an immediate continuous beam, which also heats up and does more damage the longer its kept on target.
* ''[[Touhou]]'' often has these kind of weaponry in Spell Cards. Two notable examples are the ''slow'' laser beams rampant in Keine's and Nitori's attacks (from ''Imperishable Night'' and ''Mountain of Faith'', respectively), and the laser sight to laser in Mokou's and Patchouli's attacks (from ''Imperishable Night'' and the gaiden game ''Shoot the Bullet'', respectively)
** There are also quite a few instant laser attacks, generally done by having a faint and harmless laser appear for a second or two before the opaque laser that damages you appears in the same location.
** ''Undefined Fantastic Object'' adds Shou Toramaru, whose entire ''theme'' seems to be
*** Other users of curved lasers include Iku Nagae (in ''Double Spoiler'') and Seiga Kaku.
* ''[[EVE Online]]'' has lasers, used primarily by the ships of the Amarr Empire. ''EVE'' lasers are visible as solid beams, but do strike the target instantly.
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* ''[[Kirby]]'' can gain a "laser" ability (slower than light, travels in tangible lumps rather than as a continuous beam); in the words of the ability description screen, "it [[Reflecting Laser|bounces off walls]], too!".
** In ''Nightmare in Dreamland'' and ''The Amazing Mirror'', the game actually gives you the acronym "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation", in addition to telling you "And it ricochets off hills, too!"
* Even ''[[Castlevania]]'' is not free from this trope, despite all but two of the games taking place pre-scifi. Orlox and the Nova Skeletons in ''Symphony of the Night'', Joachim in ''Lament of Innocence'' (and how!), those wall-eyeball things in ''Bloodlines''
** Soma also gets Gergoth's Soul in ''[[Castlevania: Chronicles of Sorrow|Dawn of Sorrow]]'', which allows him to fire a laserbeam as long as he has MP. It's [[Awesome but Impractical]] and surprisingly weak. The aforementioned Nova Skeletons re-appear in ''[[Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia|Order of Ecclesia]]'', where Shanoa can absorb their Glyph "Nitesco." It is a borderline [[Game Breaker]], and easily the best attacking glyph in the game due to it's good range and multi-hit capacity. And then Death does vertical laser beams in Aria of Sorrow too. There's a fair few examples.
** ''[[Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin|Portrait of Ruin]]'' also features [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|ancient Egyptian laser beams]] as pressure-activated traps.
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** Oddly, laser attacks in ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' (at least the American port) deal dark-type damage. Made all the more egregious by the fact that light-type attacks exist in the game too.
* In the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series, Mecha-type enemies throughout the series often come armed with lasers, masers, and similar beam-emitting weapons such as Atomic Ray and Heat Ray.
** One of [[Final Fantasy VIII|Quistis]]'s [[Limit Break
** The ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' incarnations of [[Humongous Mecha|Alexander]] use a modest, instant-beam laser to carve a line into the ground, causing a tremendous explosion afterwards.
*** Valefor does the same thing in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''.
** One boss in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', {{spoiler|Barthandelus,}} likes to spam his laser beams, particularly during your second fight with him. {{spoiler|Yaag Rosch does it too when you fight him in his ''Proudclad'' mecha.}}
** [[Final Fantasy III|Cloud of Darkness]] in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' constantly fires off laser beams and energy blasts of various types for her attacks, but they're called "Particle Beams", not lasers. In the same game [[Final Fantasy IV|Golbez]] both averts the trope and plays it
* ''[[Raptor: Call of the Shadows|Raptor]]'', the Apogee shareware shooter, did deal nicely with lasers. Your best bet was to not be in front of it when it fired: whether from you or foe, there was no real lag between fire and impact. Unusually for a shooter, you could also mount a small laser turret. Pew pew pew.
* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|FEAR 2]]'' has a laser gun that pretty much averts this trope. It is a constant beam with no recoil that hits instantly. Especially annoying since the enemies can still hit you even in [[Bullet Time]].
* The Falken and Morgan superjets from the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series mount laser weaponry. However they act more like [[Laser Blade
* Several different varieties of laser are staple weapons in ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri|Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri]]'', and like all weapons, have various stats describing how they supposedly work (aside from their flat Attack Value), including Active Medium, Type, and Burn Rate for one meter of steel. The basic laser, the first new weapon you can research in the game with AV 2, is a fiber-coupled diode laser and burns through one meter of steel in 0.76 seconds. The Singularity Laser at the end of the game, with AV 24, is a singularity induction laser using a ''temporal boundary'' as its active medium. Burn rate? Relative.
** There's also the Gatling Laser, Fusion Laser, and Quantum Laser amidst the other weapons.
* There's an arcade [[Shoot
* ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' has at least one room which rapidly fills up with absolutely ''huge'' laser beams coming out of nowhere to reduce you to splatter.
** It's also the attack Mecha Birdo pulls out after you destroy its antenna.
* ''[[Defense Grid the Awakening]]'' partially averts this: Laser towers fire continuous beams that heat up the aliens and continue to do damage after they leave the laser's range. This heat damage is extra effective against the fast aliens, the Racer and the Rumbler. But the tower fires a laser [[Law of Chromatic Superiority|the same color as it]]: green for level 1, amber for level 2 and red for level 3; in [[Real Life]] the green laser would be the strongest and the red would be the weakest.
* [[Mega Man 2|Quick Man's]] [[That One Level
* The ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series. There's just too many examples to list.
* [[Robot Dinosaurs That Shoot Beams When They Roar]]. (Yes, a description [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|seems superfluous]].)
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* [[Silent Hill 3|Heather Beam]]
* ''[[Vega Strike]]'' among all weapons mountable on a small ship has lasers doing the most [[Deflector Shields|shield-piercing]] damage at the longest range, which makes them attractive even when compared to much stronger weapons for the same mounts. It also has a [[Shout-Out]] with a weak plasma weapon shooting slow red bolts named "Laser" which according to its own in-game description is "not a laser by any stretch of the imagination".
* ''[[Portal 2]]'' features the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFRbGppLaUI "Thermal Discouragement Beam"]. It behaves exactly like a real laser save for being highly visible, passes through glass, and can be redirected with "Discouragement Redirection Cubes". It's also one of only two ways (in the player's control) to actually destroy a turret, but it's surprisingly non-fatal when the player touches
* ''[[
* The July 20, 2011 patch for ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' gave the Soldier two.
** Actually, they are not. The Soldier gains something more reminiscent of plasma weaponry; one, those are clearly not light-based weapons, and two, they do not reach their target instantly.
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== Web Comics ==
* Khrima in ''[[Adventurers!]]'' loves laser beams.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100701183908/http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20020520.html A little bit too much...]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100628012042/http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20060204.html make that ''far'' too much]
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Riff regularly carries a laser cannon around whenever it looks like trouble might be brewing.
* Subverted in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' as most of the characters, with the exception of Sergeant Schlock who prefers a plasma cannon, tend to use projectile weapons. The reasoning for this is explained in the footnote for [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20001029.html This comic].
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** They're just like real cows. Only with lasers.
{{quote|''' "Elsie" 113''': Auditory response: Moo.}}
* This type of laser [https://web.archive.org/web/20110816205848/http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2010/02/22/page-149/ recently appeared] in Jayden and Crusader which moves slowly enough for one character to leap in front of it yelling a [[Big No]]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110810114748/http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2010/05/24/page-153/ Shooting out her frickin' arm!]
* In the future of [[SSDD]], buckminster fullerene armor has made conventional guns obsolete. However [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070712.html handheld lasers] are ridiculously expensive, over 30 times as expensive as a coilgun or solvent-grenade launcher.
** And then there's the [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070713.html Black Rose Plasma cannon], which looks like a flamethrower but fires a plasma stream that burns straight through fullerene alloys. Unfortunately it has a tendency to explode and has a reputation for killing more of its users than enemies.
* [[Derelict (webcomic)|Derelict]] [http://derelictcomic.com/?strip_id=23 A UV weapon]
* ''[[Galactic Maximum]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20141102050026/http://maximumcomic.com/?strip_id=0 The opening fight]
* In ''[[Minion Comics]]'' the minions are given a plan: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120904142100/http://www.meetmyminion.com/?p=621 "Run in there and shoot lasers everywhere."]
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** Also, the materialized monsters that XANA attempted on two separate occasions in Season 2 ({{spoiler|Kankrelats and later Krabes, though the latter destroyed the Scanners upon materialization due to sheer size}}) were able to shoot lasers. Unlike in Lyoko, these lasers are actually ''very'' dangerous, and almost killed a few people. Fortunately, the attack was stopped and Return to the Past'd [[Just in Time]].
* Somewhat standard equipment in ''[[Kim Possible]]'', especially in ''[[The Movie|A Sitch in Time]]'' (in a [[Bad Future]]). Due to [[Non-Lethal Warfare]], it never hits anyone human. [[What Measure Is a Mook?|Drones,]] [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|on the other hand...]]
* In ''[[Monster Buster Club]]'' the kids have
* Parodied in ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' when the Mooninites fire laser beams at ATHF. The beams move very, very slowly.
** Frylock's [[Eye Beams]], on the other hand, don't.
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*** One type actually based on lasers uses a piece of video software called a “glint detector” for targetting. Linked together with an appropriate laser, it allows any number of lensed devices (such as cameras… Or [[Eye Scream|eyeballs]]) within view for hundreds of feet to be instantly detected and burned out.
* The largest laser ever created, consisting of focused beams from 192 individual lasers, will be used at the National Ignition Facility in California to attempt to finally achieve break-even nuclear fusion.[https://lasers.llnl.gov/ Details.]
** If completed, the Extreme Light Infrastructure can even outperform NIF, since it can have its peak power in exawatt range, and should be powerful enough to ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131101061517/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8857154/Worlds-most-powerful-laser-to-tear-apart-the-vacuum-of-space.html tear apart the vacuum of space-time itself]''!
* Lawrence Livermore laboratories used to have a [https://web.archive.org/web/20120915212555/https://www.llnl.gov/str/Petawatt.html Petawatt laser], which could produce over 10<sup>15</sup> Watts of power at the instant of its peak output. The pulse was so brief, however, it only produced about 600 Joules of total energy.
* Still think the plasma cannon is sci-fi fantasy? Check out [[wikipedia:Shiva Star|Shiva Star]], an experimental accelerator the can fire toroids of plasma at 3% the speed of light and pummel targets with electronics-frying x-rays.
* Scientists have developed a [http://intellectualventureslab.com/?p=23 mosquito-zapping laser]. It doesn't attack humans or butterflies, according to TV reports.
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20131018090148/http://www.dailytech.com/WickedLasers+Unveils+Lightsaber+Powerful+Enough+to+Set+People+on+Fire/article18681.htm Spyder III Pro Arctic]. The world's first consumer hand-held laser weapon. Made from a cannibalised laser projector, it packs enough power to ignite flesh and cause permanent blindness instantly. The emitter also looks exactly like a lightsaber handle!
** [[Awesome but Impractical|Not yet effective as a weapon though]], since it takes minutes to burn through your opponent, enough for him or her to kill you by more mainstream weapons. [[Science Marches On|Unless they can in the near future]] multiply the power by a factor of 10 and keep the same size and battery.
* In 2010 the BBC posted a story linked to the first public video of [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10682693 a laser weapon] destroying a large target.
* There actually are laser weapon system being actively used today, such as the [https://web.archive.org/web/20131110115822/http://www.defense-update.com/products/t/thor-IED.htm Thor] and [[wikipedia:ZEUS-HLONS (HMMWV Laser Ordnance Neutralization System)|ZEUS-HLONS]], but they are primarily for explosive disposal, not for shooting people.
* [http://www.laser-gadgets.com/ This guy] makes frickin' laser beams as a hobby! The demonstrations show two pistols and what can only be considered a [[Doctor Who|Sonic Screwdriver]] burning through discs and sunglasses, popping balloons, and setting matches on fire from across the room. Granted, being [[Too Dumb to Live]] and looking into the beam emitter directly will blind you permanently even with a welder's shield. But still, laser pistols!
* [[Laser Glo]] is a company that builds handheld lasers powerful enough to ignite small fires in paper and sometimes unrefined wooden targets.
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[[Category:Artistic License Physics]]
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:Everything's Better with Indexes]]
[[Category:Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters]]
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