Paintball Episode: Difference between revisions

[[File:Big Bang Theory 379.jpg|link=The Big Bang Theory|frame|They play, it doesn't mean they're good at it]]

 

 

One difficulty for training solders is to try and recreate the conditions of a battlefield, because you don't want people to go into shock once they hear things whizzing past their head. You also don't want to be using live ammo to get them used to that sensation. So playing paintball is one of the few ways to recreate a battlefield scenario without all the messy carnage involved.

 

This is [[Truth in Television]], as military and law enforcement use special "Simunition" rounds for training that are fired from an actual gun, while still being relatively safe to use. In any case, skills and tactics used in paintball (regardless of equipment including the gun and headgear) translate rather well to an actual combat engagement.

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' has a brief sequence showing the Knight Sabers doing this in their off hours, presumably for tactical training. The usual "no masks on" rule applies, though the girls are otherwise wearing clothes that'd pass muster, especially considering they fight killer robots on a nightly basis. A welt or two'd probably not even be noticed. Of course, all inaccuracies were overshadowed by Sylia winning the match with a paint ''landmine'' (those are real; just expensive).

** The opening of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory]]'' shows the test pilots of Torrington Base staging a mock battle using paintball clips in their [[Humongous Mecha|mobile suits]]' machineguns.

* One episode of ''[[You're Under Arrest]]'' featured a paintball match between Yoriko and some of the other Bokuto officers on one team and Chie Sagami-Ono leading the other team. {{spoiler|Sagami-Ono won the match, but Yoriko arrested some robbers who were hiding nearby and mistook the paintballs for real bullets.}} Another episode featured the Bokuto officers on their day off visiting an amusement park with a paintball arena and competing against the amusement park employees, who wear monster costumes (thereby triggering Miyuki's [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|phobia]]). (This latter storyline was adapted from a manga chapter; in the manga version, it was a laser tag arena instead.)

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* IDW's ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' series has the training exercise variation. A group of Joes armed only with paintball weapons have to attempt to infiltrate the Pit. A pair of Cobra commandos kill most of the team (who mistake them for their opponents), leaving three essentially unarmed Joes (Cover Girl, Downtown and Tripwire) to take on the Cobra soldiers.

 

* In the ''[[Basalt City Chronicles]]'', a brother of one of the main characters is in the PaNoTer armed forces. He tells his family over a dinner about a time when he and his squad wish to have a practice battle on a paintball field. Several smilodonian youths are there for the same purpose, and the two sides decide to go against each other. The soldiers see no reason to go easy on the youths (all of whom have received some military instruction). [[Curb Stomp Battle|Needless to say, the youths lose SPECTACULARLY.]]

 

 

== [[Literature]] ==

{{quote|'''Senior Wrangler''': I'm on ''your'' side!

'''Dean''': But you made such a good target! }}

* ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'' has an episode with paintballing.

* ''[[CSI]]'' has an episode where a trio of the main cast visits a paintball course to bring in a suspect. The main members enter the field in the middle of an active game without any protective gear, and the suspect removes his mask while still on the field even though viewers can clearly see people still shooting each other in the background.

** A later episode testing whether a "[[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|Slap in the Face]]" can get you out of a hysterical fit and back to dealing with a stressful situation had them testing cognitive awareness using simunition rounds at a gun range. They used paintball ammo largely because they had to simulate mental fatigue ''and'' give that person a gun.

* ''[[iCarly]]'': In ''iSaved Your Life'', the trio and Spencer play a game called ''Assassin'' using only blow tube guns. Carly and Freddie were "eliminated" early on, leaving behind extreme mind games between Sam and Spencer. No safety equipment is used at all, although the relatively low speed nature of blow-guns reduces the risk of injury and it was meant to be played in a home.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]

[[Category:Sports Story Tropes]]