Multi-Armed Multitasking: Difference between revisions

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Line 1: {{trope}} {{cleanup\|Examples of multi-armed characters who don't multitask need to be moved to [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]].}} You look in the mirror and see [[Multiple Head Case\|three heads]] looking back at yourselves with [[Extra Eyes\|five eyes]] and [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous\|seven arms]] and think to yourselves, how do we [[Dual-Wielding\|septo-wield]]? Or better yet, how can we write our book, cradle our baby, and make paper airplanes at the same time? Practice, that's how. Please note this has surprisingly little to do with [[Excuse Me While I Multitask]], if you're thinking about wielding weapons with many arms you [[Required Secondary Powers\|still need some form]] of ~~Multiarmed~~'''Multi-Armed Multitasking'''; it just belongs in [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]]. If your extra limbs are for walking, they belong in [[Spider Limbs]]. If a character has extra arms but doesn't uses them to do two (or more) things at the same time, that's "just" [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]], which is a supertrope to this trope. ---- {{examples}} == [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] == * In ''[[Squid Girl]]'', Ika ~~appears to specialism in~~has this with her tentacle hair.▼ * Ceres from ''[[Oban Star Racers]]'' an Animesque racing series co-produced by French and Japanese animation studios.▼ ▲* In ''[[Squid Girl]]'', Ika appears to specialism in this with her tentacle hair. * ''[[Spirited Away]]'' - Kamaji operates the bathhouse boiler room. He has six spidery arms, which he uses to multitask: reaching into the hundreds of herb cabinets, pouring boiling water, grinding potions with his yagen (related to a mortar a pestle, but using a wheel in a narrow trough) and responding to wooden tags on ropes signalling requests from the bathhouse above. * ''[[Franken Fran]]'' oftentimes attaches her head to a special multi-armed body in order to perform particularly complex surgery. Line 34 ⟶ 37: ** Subverted with Zaphod Beeblebrox, who gave himself a third arm and then does nothing at all with it. == [[Live -Action TV]] == * [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"\|Pilot]] from ''[[Farscape]]''. One episode notes that having the ''mental capacity'' for multitasking is very uncommon, and more important than the multiple arms themselves. * The short-lived 1970s sci-fi sitcom ''[[Quark]]'' featured Interface, a four-armed alien woman who worked as an intergalactic switchboard operator connecting calls between ships. Line 43 ⟶ 46: * Different Buddhas are sometimes depicted with many arms. == [[Tabletop ~~RPG~~Games]] == * ''[[GURPS]]'' has the Multiple Arms [[Point Build System\|advantage]] available for player characters, but you also need to buy special coordination to use them fully- otherwise they are only good for holding things, not performing more than one task at a time. ** In ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'', the Ananasi werespiders can take this ability, though it's a fairly high-level spell, since it requires a fair deal of mental skill. * Techpriests in the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' universe can do that. == [[Web Comics]] == * ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' had it played with in several ways. Andy is a Fobott'r (generally humanoid, but four-armed species) During his initial interview, he bragged about quad-wielding handguns, but Thurl just pointed out that he still only had two eyes, so no matter how many weapons he's got, he'll only hit one target. There has been incidents where he ~~HAS~~''has'' used it, though - including wielding a two-handed assault-rifle and two handguns at the same time - but it's been purely for intimidation-value. Or sometimes just for fun. It's still useful in having extra free hands for tasks not requiring sight, e.g. they can hold and use a weapon [[Guns Akimbo\|or two]] with one pair of hands, and get something else ready at the same time. And specifically Fobott'r have an option of using one hand to read their [[Tactile Script]]. ** Schlock himself has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he can not only form extra hands when needed, but also use them quite effectively. The fact that he can have multiple eyes (if he can get hold of them) means he could aim at multiple targets. * [[Spinnerette]] uses her 6 arms to knit - all at once. ** While using silk she produced herself. * ''[[At Arm's Length (webcomic)\|At Arms Length]]'' When not fighting evil, Ally, Reece and Sheila are not above using all four arms to cut corners in mundane activities. ** The entire Enchanter race, which is naturally four-armed, is built around this trope. == [[Western Animation]] == Line 65 ⟶ 64: * Spydra in ''[[Gadget Boy and Heather]]'' does this at times in a few episodes, making full use of her six arms simultaneously. * In the cancelled series ''[[Stripperella]]'', a supervillainess with six arms pilots a blimp all on her own, with two hands on the wheel and the remaining four on switches and buttons. She also utilised six pistols at one go in the earlier portion of the episode, allowing her to use them as a makeshift machine gun. ▲* Ceres from ''[[Oban Star Racers]]'', an Animesque racing series co-produced by French and Japanese animation studios. {{reflist}} [[Category:Pages needing more categories]]▼ [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] [[Category:Multitasking]] ▲[[Category:Pages needing more categories]]