Instrument of Murder: Difference between revisions

[[File:09 minstrel 1940.jpg|frame|Nothing says evil like a flame-throwing banjo!]]

 

 

So you're an assassin who is also a musician. Unfortunately you're not a [[Musical Assassin]] and cannot [[Power of Rock|kill people with the power of your music alone]]. So what are going to do? Why, have a musical instrument that doubles as a deadly weapon of course. A step up from [[Senseless Violins]], with no danger of your weapon being discovered if anyone opens your case.

 

This trope covers weapons hidden in musical instruments. For assassins who kill their targets with music, see [[Musical Assassin]]. For weapons used as instruments, see [[Instrumental Weapon]].

{{examples}}

* Midvalley the Hornfreak in ''[[Trigun]]'' is mostly a [[Musical Assassin]] who tears it up with sound waves from his saxophone, but it's also a complicated firearm that he eventually {{spoiler|used to commit suicide... not by shooting himself with it, but by playing it after the B-flat got shot out. It blows up.}}

* The chancellor of Alabasta in ''[[One Piece]]'' also used a firearm/saxophone as his weapon of choice.

* The ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' girls have a habit of using these. Mew Lettuce has a pair of ''castanets'', though at least she shoots water from them, and Mew Pudding has tambourines can that rend the earth and encase a target in ''jello''.

** Cure Lemonade from ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' also uses castanets, which is odd, because her teammate, Cure Mint, is an [[Expy]] of Mew Lettuce. Also from the ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' series we have [[Fresh Pretty Cure|the Pine Flute, the Passion Harp]], the [[Heartcatch Pretty Cure|the Shiny Tambourine]], and the [[Suite Pretty Cure|Love Guitar Rod]].

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': Catherine Armstrong uses a ''piano'' to attack Yoki when he tries to steal money from the Armstrong family. Given her [[Super Strength]], That Has Been Passed Down Through The Armstrong Family For Generations.

* ''[[Blade of the Immortal]]'': The ridiculously skilled Makie Otono-Tachibana, who specializes in [[Waif Fu]], wields a double bladed three-section-staff called Haru-no-Okina concealed in a hollowed-out shamisen, a mandolin-like Japanese instrument which she is able to play when not slicing and dicing her enemies.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Also in [[The DCU]], the Fiddler, a golden age foe of [[The Flash]], was primarily a [[Musical Assassin]]. However, he would occasionally use gimmicked violins containing blades or guns.

* The preferred weapon of Minstrel Maverick, a [[Western]] character from [[DC Comics]], was a reinforced guitar that he used to whack owlhoots.

* [[Spy vs. Spy]] sometimes has weapons disguised as instruments.

* In ''[[Nextwave]]'', Elsa Bloodstone one time was knocked into a store fighting brocolli men, grabs a guitar, and dispatches several.

* While doing a [[Jack Benny]] homage, [[The Joker]] used a violin bow with a razor blade instead of a string.

* Bullseye has killed people with a piano key, a clarinet reed, a spit valve and a french horn.

* One-shot [[Batman]] villain the Maestro (''Batman'' #149) used a number of gimmicked instruments, including a harp that shot arrows and horns that fired bullets.

* In the [[Marvel Universe]], [[Dazzler]] had a foe called Johnny Guitar who wielded an electric guitar that fired sonic blasts. He had a partner in Dr. Sax, and you can probably figure out the rest on your own.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[The City of Lost Children]]'' has a music box that controls a circus flea, making it inject its host with a nerve agent. The affected person then turns violent and [[Mind Control|attempts to kill whoever they happen to be with.]]

* In ''[[Wristcutters: A Love Story]]'', Eugene electicutes himself with an electric guitar and a bottle of beer.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* One of Samuel R. Delany's ''Nova'' protagonists has senso-syrinx, a complex futuristic instrument capable of projecting holographic images, complete with sound and odours. The thing is, it includes a laser to create holograms, has a very sharp focus and runs on near-inexhaustible batteries. As the bad guys learn the HARD way, with [[Improvised Weapon|it's maximum output focused on a person]], it can knock them out with horrible stench, blow their eardrums out and not only blind them with a laser, but ''[[Kill It with Fire|set them ablaze]]''.

 

* In ''[[The Goodies]]'' episode "The Stolen Musicians", the Goodies use a euphonium as a cannon, only to be outgunned by the Music Master's pipe organ that doubles as a multi-barrelled artillery piece, but are saved when the symphony orchestra arrives shooting bows from their violins.

* Ibuki of ''[[Kamen Rider Hibiki]]'' has a gun that can transform- by shifting the parts around- into a trumpet. It actually works in reverse from normal: he uses the gun to implant bullets in the [[Monster of the Week]] (who is naturally [[Immune to Bullets]]) then switches to the trumpet to create a resonance that blows it up.

* One enemy agent in ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' had a clarinet with a blade that would slide out of the bell when the right key was pressed. He used it twice: once to kill a fellow he caught trying to steal the [[McGuffin]], and once in an unsuccessful fight with Steed ... who remarked that the instrument probably played [[Incredibly Lame Pun|"sharp."]]

* In ''[[Community]]'' episode [[Community/Recap/S1/E24 English As a Second Language|English as a Second Language]] Chang wields a key-tar like a battle axe.

 

* [[Greek Mythology]] time: According to one myth, the lyrist Linus was the music teacher to [[Classical Mythology/Characters|Hercules]]. After criticizing Hercules' playing a bit harshly, Herc took Linus' lyre and [[Disproportionate Retribution|bashed its owner's head in]]. The first evidence of this story is in vase-paintings of the 5th century BC, making this one [[Older Than Feudalism]].

 

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

** Before J-A-Double R-E-Double T, there was the Honky Tonk Man. Though the whole "smack you with the guitar" thing took a nasty turn when Honky hit [[Jake Roberts|Jake "The Snake" Roberts]] with a ''real'' guitar and severely injured him -- [[It Got Worse|which was the beginning of Roberts' many problems with painkillers]].

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** The Exorcist applies this principle to a pipe organ... then attaches it to a ''tank''. Too bad the Exorcist couldn't hit the broadside of a Titan.

* In ''[[Silver Age Sentinels]]'', Feedback is a rock star turned superhero who wields a guitar that focuses his powers into energy blasts.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The AI Weapons in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]: Peace Walker'' are primitive [[Vocaloid]]s put into big, heavily-armed tanks.

* Bards and their more powerful counterparts in ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' fight with their musical instruments. What doesn't entirely make sense is how they manage to throw/shoot arrows (depending on the skill) by swinging it at their opponents. They can also be ''Musical Assassins'' by spamming songs, but it takes more effort, mana, and time.

* ''[[Improvised Weapon|ANYTHING]]'' can be used as a weapon in ''[[Dead Rising]]''. Guitars and other musical instruments count as "anything".

* Talim of ''[[Soul Calibur]] IV'' uses a pair of ocarinas as her [[Joke Item|joke weapons]].

* There was an old Christian-themed computer game (called ''[[Knights Of Virtue]]'' if I recall) which featured among its weapons the "trump of fire" and "trump of lightning", a pair of trumpets that, if pointed at your enemy and played, wouldn't make a note (just a "ffffff" noise like someone blowing into a tube, fancy that), but ''would'' rain down fire or lightning on them.

* ''[[Terraria]]'' added a weapon called the Magical Harp. Oddly enough, it can be used to kill [[Bonus Boss|The Destroyer]] in a matter of ''seconds''. Beware the [[Spoony Bard]].

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'' has the deathknight Resonance Ben, who just recently upgraded to an entire band.

* As the example mentioned above, piano wire: In a flashback arc of ''[[And Shine Heaven Now]]'', after [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves]] refused to teach [[Hellsing|Walter]] a complicated technique with their weapon of choice, monofilament, Walter nicks the piano wires from Bertie's piano to practice on his own, and later uses it to hold back a vampire while the others escaped.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' spinoff ''The Program'' had John Ferrara use, of all things, a banjo to beat Matthew Gourley to a pulp. On the main site we have Isabel Guerra making a shiv out of a trumpet and broken piece of glass. [[I Call It Vera|It's called Partario]].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* The season finale of ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' had Skwisgaar Skwigelf kill several invading Revengencers with his guitar. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|The guitar is not damaged at all.]]

** He also owns a guitar made from the wood of the cross Jesus was crucified on.

* In ''[[Silverhawks]]'', Bluegrass wielded a sonic blaster guitar as a weapon while his [[Evil Counterpart]] Melodia had a keytar that fired laser blasts shaped liked musical staves.

** Got an [[Actor Allusion]] [[Shout-Out]] in the ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' ep "Battle of the Bandits" where the Rangers and a pack of Slaverlords started firing their "modified" guitars at one another. Doug Pries played both Bluegrass and Gooseman.

* The Cosmic Guitar from ''[[Loonatics Unleashed]]'' which, amongst its other powers, could fire energy blasts.

* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', Ignignokt and Err had the Foreigner Belt, a guitar-shaped belt that causes damage effects according to [[Foreigner (band)|Foreigner]] lyrics.

** And in "Night of the Batmen!", the Vigilante has guitar that doubles as a rifle.

* ''[[Class of 3000]]'': In "Funky Monkey", Tamika uses her harp as a bow to fire a drumstick at Lil' D.

* Five from ''[[Generator Rex]]'' wields an electric guitar as her primary weapon.

** If her father is to be believed, the instrument started life as an axe and was turned into a guitar later.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]