Spin to Deflect Stuff: Difference between revisions

* The ''[[Gundam]]'' series use this quite a bit, and is semi-plausible because they're [[Humongous Mecha]].

** In ''Turn A [[Gundam]]'', protagonist Loran Cehack was fond of doing this with the titular machine's beam saber. Sometimes he did it with [[Dual Wield|both sabers]]. He even did it with a [[Badass|ball and chain]].

*** The benefit of course lies within the fact that it was designed exactly with this purpose in mind with no secondary benefit. The grunts are not going to be given state of the art material for a mundane shield and the shield rod uses far less material while being overally lighter. This suits a mecha that more or less is made of paper because a makeshift spinning rod is far more effective for blocking hits than a giant shield that would weigh them down.

** The Beam Rotors in ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Victory Gundam]]'' are based on this concept, and they provide lift for many [[Transforming Mecha|Zanscare machines]] in copter mode.

* Young Goku does this regularly in ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' with his magic staff, even against full-automatic gunfire. That is, before he plain and simply becomes [[Immune to Bullets]].

* Angemon from [[Digimon]] can do this by spinning his Angel Staff. Notably in Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Landing!!/Transcendent Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals.

 

 

== Comics -- Books ==

** Justified by the hammer being magic and the wielder being a god.

* Donatello and Master Splinter from ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' do this on what must be an episodic basis with their [[Simple Staff]]. Leonardo and Michelangelo also do it frequently. Even Raphael has pulled it off a couple of times with his sai.

== Literature ==

* Cashel from ''Lord of the Isles'' can do this with his quarterstaff. Of course, it helps that he's a natural magic-user. When he spins his staff it creates a blue barrier than can stop magic, so clearly the spinning is an aid rather than the whole protection.

* Isana does this with ''water'' in in the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' final book. A small pool of water on her arm shaped like a shield and spun at high speed deflected vord attacks, and [[Required Secondary Powers|nearly tore her arm off.]]

 

* When Faust blocks an attack in ''[[Guilty Gear]]'', he does so by spinning his giant scalpel.

** Slayer has the same strategy in ''Guilty Gear XX'', though he "parries" everything with one hand.

** Pit in ''Brawl'' has this as one of his special attacks with his bow/swords called Angel Ring.

** ROB also has a spinning move that deflects projectiles.

** Zelda & her "Nayru's Love" barrier.

* Randy in ''[[Guardian Heroes]]'' both attacks and blocks this way.

* Katt's defensive stance in ''[[Breath of Fire]] II'' shows her spinning her [[Simple Staff|staff]] faster than humanly possible.

*** Well, there ARE about a gazillion "spinning shield" weapons that Mega Man can get, ranging in utility from the useless Power Stone from 5 (which actually had TWO such weapons, the other being the slightly less useless Star Crash) to the nearly impenetrable Jewel Satellite from 9...

** Heck, quite a few other Robot Masters can do it too, like Blizzard Man from ''6'', Clown Man from ''[[Mega Man 8]]'', Pirate Man from ''Mega Man and Bass'', Strike Man from ''10'', Punk from the [[Game Boy]] ''III'' (returning in ''10''), and Sunstar from the Gameboy's ''V''.

* Subverted in ''[[Suikoden V]]'' when {{spoiler|Roy attempts to deflect a hail of arrows by spinning his weapon. It doesn't work out so well for him.}}

* ''[[Fatal Fury]]'': Billy Kane has had a staff spin as his main technique for nearly as long as he's existed (the original Fatal Fury had it in his winpose, but not as an actual move) which, in most games, serves to block projectile attacks as well as attack close opponents.

== Real Life ==

* As noted in the trope summary, the use of staff weapons to deflect arrows.

* There is an obscure weapon called an "arrow catcher", used by Gatka martial artists. It is essentially 20 chain flails, linked together to form a giant spider's web, which is then spun around quickly. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3s8VZy5IQI It's all probably just for show though.]

* Many jujutsu (and other "soft martial arts") grab defenses involve spinning your arm around the attacker's grasp to reverse the leverage advantage of the attack. A favourite of Steven Seagal.

** Except for the kind that come straight down. That's why you have Kain.

*** Except for the rematch in the DS version. Summon and Black Magic spam are your only hope here.

** Then again, as long as you're using your Slow power, you can deflect anything from bullets, to tank shells, to ''lazer blasts''.

* In ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]] 3'', a boss named Serenade will spin in reponse to almost all attempts to damage it, taking no damage and returning a damaging wave. Attacks are best made while Serenade is attacking. It's implied that this spinning deflect is enabled by the [[Scarf of Asskicking|celestial robe]] encircling Serenade. Incidentally, the same game starred Battle Network's rendition of Yamato Man.

** Serenade apparently needs to dodge as well as spin, though; prevent it from moving up or down and it can't counter your attacks.

 

== Web Comics ==