Law of Inverse Recoil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Firearms depicted in films and television seldom (if ever) demonstrate realistic recoil action (ironically, it is usually more realistic in comedies, or when used for comedic effect). The practical reason for this is because blank-firing prop guns have no projectile, meaning very little mass is pushed out of the barrel, hence minimal recoil (Newton's third law) -- it is not true that they have none, however, or they would not even be able to cycle their own action. No matter what type of small arms are used in fiction—even fully-automatic, high caliber ordnance and heavy gauge shotguns—the shooter will not so much as flinch.

 

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* In the final chapter of ''[[Macross]] Plus'', when struggling against Sharon Apple and other threats, Myung has the common sense to arm herself with the submachine gun of a fallen guard (by itself, quite a rare occurrence) but wastes almost the entire magazine when she tries to use it in full-auto, being overcome by recoil and spraying bullets everywhere. She gets a few shots in the right direction, however...

* Seras Victoria in ''[[Hellsing]]'' notes after becoming a vampire that she barely feels the kick on a huge gun, demonstrating her new super strength. She later gets an even bigger gun and can fire it with ease.

* The [[Humongous Mecha|Jagd Mirage]]'s main caliber, ''Twin Towers'' [[Wave Motion Gun|buster launchers]] in [[The Five Star Stories]] neatly avert the trope. ''Jagd'', a heavy artillery support MH, generally needed to properly deploy before firing, [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous|releasing numerous additional arms and legs]] to anchor itself in the ground, brace its own structure and deploy special shields to protect itself from the enormous recoil and backblast of its own guns. It was also mentioned that it was almost completely defenseless in the deployed mode, and thus was always accompanied by a squad of other mechas [[Awesome but Impractical|for protection]]. Due to its impractical nature, [[Super Prototype|only two]] were ever built.

* Played with in ''Teki wa Kaizoku''; the main character jerks his wrists whenever he fires his laser gun like it's recoiling even though laser weapons shouldn't, but immediately after we first see him fire it he's called on that and he admits that pretending his gun recoils is just a hobby of his. Sure enough, if you pay attention in future fight scenes he keeps doing it but nobody else does.

* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', the Laevatein (the [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] to the Arbalest) is equipped with a giant gun called a demolition cannon; when it its Howitzer Mode, the recoil is so great that the Laevatein ''will'' be knocked off its feet unless the physics-defying Lambda Driver is active.

* In ''[[Desert Punk (manga)|Desert Punk]]'', Kanta's preteen sidekick Kosuna complains almost literally that her small pistol is not cool enough to match her self-persona. Kanta then takes her to an arms dealer, who first forces her to go dig holes for several hours before allowing her to try out an assault rifle. While she exhibits accuracy that astonishes Kanta and the arms dealer, she brings the gun back admitting that firing it is physically punishing for a girl her size and that she'd be completely ineffective in combat with it.

* ''[[Sin City]]'' monologues sometimes refer to the sensation of recoil but it's minimal.

 

 

* Averted in ''[[Aeon Entelechy Evangelion]]'', where Shinji while piloting Unit-01 tries to use a High-Velocity Assault Rifle one handed (the other hand was busted) and fail. Being written by the physics student helps.

* Pointedly averted in the book ''[[Patriot Games]]'' Jack Ryan gets his hands on one of the terrorist's submachine guns and fires on them. Before firing he remembers his military training and aims with his target in the upper right part of the sight to account for the recoil and make sure that subsequent rounds will still be on target.

* In ''[[Un Lun Dun]]'' when Deeba first fires the unGun she falls over because of the recoil. She gets better at firing it later on, though.

 

== Live Action TV ==

== Tabletop Games ==

 

** And this is despite the fact that Bolter ammunition is explicitly stated in several places to be self propelled. Probably the charge needed to actually get the bolt out of the weapon would not be enough to break somebody's arm..

* In the ''[[Rifts]]'' RPG, the [[Powered Armor|Glitter Boy]] boom gun (the [[BFG]] of all [[BFG]]s) requires the wearer of the armour to engage foot anchors and backpack thrusters to absorb the massive recoil.

* ''[[GURPS]]'', in its relentless pursuit of accuracy, avoids this at every turn and even tries to establish realistic recoil of weapons that don't exist.

* ''[[S4 League]]'' has the Gauss Rifle, one of the more powerful automatic weapons. Firing it continuously causes your aim to move slightly upwards, making less effective at long range. However, it's subverted if you only fire one or two shots at a time, in which case your shots won't fire the wrong way, making the Gauss Rifle a mild case of [[Difficult but Awesome]].

* All guns in ''[[Spelunky]]'' push the player back a few pixels, which can easily drop one off the edge on the slippy ice surface.

 

== Web Comics ==

 

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', when three Jaegermonsters [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030430 attempt to fire a ] [[Humongous Mecha|Clank]] [[BFG|gun]], which sound effects indicate is meant to act like a machinegun, the one holding the weapon from behind is realistically enough slammed into the wall behind him.

** Of course, Jagers being Jagers, the one who did the firing recovered in short order with nothing more than a broken nose ("Oooh! Lemme see!").

 

* Averted in ''[[New York Magician]]''; Michel mentions at least once that firing his Desert Eagle, despite his extensive training with it, has still made his wrist hurt.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In an episode of ''[[Transformers]] Heavy Metal War'', Wheeljack tries his new "shock blast cannon", a shoulder-mounted bazooka-like weapon, out on an incoming Megatron - only to knock himself to the floor with the quip, "That's a shock, alright..." Kind of a justification, as Wheeljack built the thing himself, and as a [[Mad Scientist]], it probably wouldn't be the first time he'd forgotten to take into account something as simple as recoil.

* The recoil from Yosemite Sam's six shooters is strong enough to make him airborn when firing downward.

 

== Real Life ==

[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]

[[Category:Guns Do Not Work That Way]]