Precision-Guided Boomerang: Difference between revisions

[[File:capsshieldispoweredbypatriotism.jpg|link=Captain America (comics)|frame|This pentagram brought to you by [[Patriotic Fervor|raw patriotism]].]]

 

 

{{quote|''Comic book boomerangs, rather than being just sticks with a vague tendency to curve around, are nearly supernatural items with an ability to return where they started no matter what happens. They can bounce off the interestingly ridged skulls of alien conquerors, latch onto weapons or jewelry, or run off to the bar for a quick Jack and Coke, and yet still return to the waiting hand of whatever costumed goon threw it. [[Trick Arrow|The boomerang arrow]] is basically the same thing, only rather than simply ignoring physics, it drags physics home, chains it up in the crawlspace, and feeds it cockroaches and detached pigeon toes.''

 

Most would allow a [[Boomerang Comeback]].

 

* ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]''. Ken's Birdrang.

* An extreme example from ''[[Fate/stay night]]'': whenever Archer throws one of his [[Dual-Wielding|dual swords]], it will always return to him as long as the other is still in his possession (due to their being "married" swords). Shirou uses this to great effect against {{spoiler|Saber Alter}}: he throws both from the first pair, and Traces a second. The first pair is deflected, but when Shirou attacks with the second set, the first set ''flies back'' to hit from behind at the same time.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]''

** "Moon Tiara Action!" Note that it obeys her commands—Sailor Moon once ordered to stop right before it'd hit an ally.

** Zoisite used an actual boomerang when he was impersonating Sailor Moon (and it came back after it hit).

* Used in the first episode in ''[[Trigun]]''. Unfortunately, the wielder is incapacitated shortly after throwing it, leading to a landslide.

* Chikuma Koshirou from ''[[Basilisk]]'' [[Dual-Wielding|dual wields]] kama scythes. He once threw them so that both of them cut off half a human head and still returned to his hands. They work solely by [[Rule of Cool]], no magic involved, since when Kisaragi Saemon and Kasumi Gyoubu knocked the weapons off course, they just fell to the ground.

 

* In ''[[Batman]]'', Batarangs and Birdarangs all fall under this. Bats even went as far as to invent a remote-controlled Batarang. This is also averted at times. [[Depending on the Writer]], Batarangs can also be simple bat-shaped shurikens. [[Fridge Logic|While keeping the name]]. Most notably, this is what they are in ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]''.

* [[Nightwing]] has even been shown doing this with Escrima Sticks (which aren't even meant to be thrown to begin with), bouncing them off the heads of two mooks, a wall, the floor, and back to his hand.

* ''[[Tintin]] in America'' features a Chicago gangster with a literal boomerang doing this.

 

* The [[Predator]]'s disk and shuriken weapons are a high-tech version, though occasionally they won't come back due to being lodged in a wall. Or somebody's chest.

* ''[[The Road Warrior]]'' has the Feral Kid's sharp metal boomerang. It slices off fingers and returns to him without a problem. Partially subverted when it gets buried in a dude's head.

* In an old Italian film starring Toto, such a boomerang is used in the climax. It's so effective that not only it takes down a whole room of bandits, but it even ''knock'' on a door in order to return to the thrower (of course, hitting him in the head).

* Subverted in the movie ''[[Batman Returns]]''—Batman takes a Batarang, ''programs'' it to hit multiple targets, and lets fly. A small dog catches it like a Frisbee before it can return so that it can be used to frame him later.

 

== Literature ==

* Wulfgar's warhammer in R.A. Salvatore's ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' novels always returns to him after he throws it. In this case, it's not a matter of the hammer flying through the air, though—the hammer, being magical, simply ''rematerializes'' in Wulfgar's hands after it falls to the ground.

** This is based on the ''returning'' enchancement in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', see below.

* Ian Cormac, the lead protagonist of Neal Asher's ''Polity'' series, has a shuriken that is programmable and can fly under its own power, returning to the user and even being remote controlled in flight. Another character in the first book has a knife that will return to his hand as long as he is wearing the ring that comes with it.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In ''[[Warehouse 13]]'', an artifact football will always return to where it was thrown... a few hours later, after circling the ''entire world''.

* Some weapons wielded by the main characters in several [[Ultra Series]], such as the [[Ultra Seven|Eye Slugger]] and the [[Return of Ultraman|Ultra Bracelet]].

 

== Music ==

== Puppet Shows ==

* ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' has Lew Zealand and his boomerang fish act. "I throw the fish, and they come back to me."

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** The magical Devastator Spear will return to its owner after being thrown.

** The Hawk Hatchet has a kernal of True Air forged into it that causes it to return to the thrower's hand.

 

== Video Games ==

** Wicky in ''Kid Kool''.

** Bird Fly in ''Psycho Fox''.

* Chakrams in ''[[Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]]''. Not only do they come back when thrown, but they can do a few tricks in the air like hitting multiple targets before coming back to you. Justified since they're explicitly magical weapons.

* Colette in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' wields chakrams that do this.

 

== Web Comics ==

** Chief has a spear that materializes in his hand after throwing it. It also splits into lots of spears when thrown.

** Kin also had a crossbow with bolts that regrow in the quiver... but that takes an hour.

 

== Web Original ==

* In the [[That Guy With The Glasses]] Anniversary Video, That Aussie Guy whips out "The Stereotype of Doom", throwing a boomerang that knocks down [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]], Handsome Tom, [[Marz Gurl]], and Ma-Ti, before he effortlessly reclaims it, spouting a menacing "Oi" at the end.

* In ''The Gods of Arr-kelaan'', this is a major plot point that Satan triesto plan around. The magical pink mallet still goes through him to return to Ronson.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In both ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' and ''[[The Batman]]'', the Batarangs are much more often just bladed throwing weapons that may or may not curve. And sometimes they're not. However, ''The Batman'' might also be a justified case, since here the Batarang is equipped with the same kind of [[Applied Phlebotinum|weird technology]] found within the [[Grappling Hook Pistol]], the BatWave, etc. -- remember that strange zinging noise the Batarang makes.

* In ''[[Krypto the Superdog (animation)|Krypto the Superdog]]'', Ace the Bat-Hound also has a teleguided batarang.

 

== Real Life ==

* "[http://hyperpat.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/australia-day-seven/ ...but there was one (isn’t there always one?) who managed to throw it almost straight up, and it returned practically on top of heads. I suppose that’s the reason that everyone except the thrower is kept inside a roofed wire enclosure]".

* A guilt-ridden American who stole a boomerang from an Australian museum in 1983 returned it. Just goes to show you that boomerangs really do come back, even after 25 years.

* [[Just for Fun]]: R.W. Wood (physicist, enthusiast of boomerang and surfing, and sort of daredevil) at one of his open demonstrations decided to show how the boomerang flies [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|and sent it into wide loop over tribunes]]. Then one of his students raised an umbrella high enough to be in the way. Boomerang cut it down.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Exotic Weapon Supremacy]]

[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]