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Superweapon Surprise: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.SuperweaponSurprise 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.SuperweaponSurprise, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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* They are a [[Proud Scholar Race]] of [[Space Elves]] and/or [[Perfect Pacifist People]] who live in a [[City in A Bottle]] that ''is'' a [[Forgotten Superweapon]] of some sort.
* They are a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] species of unimaginable power who like to be low key about their abilities until their patience runs out.
* They are a peaceful species- except for [[One
Compare [[Awakening the Sleeping Giant]], where the civilization is ''known'' to be extremely dangerous, but something compromises their neutrality anyway.
{{examples
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* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', the Nox. Except they're really a highly advanced civilisation with flying cities, which is just masquerading as Space Amish. While we never see them use any sort of weapons (they're still [[Actual Pacifist|pacifists]], and not of the [[Technical Pacifist|technical]] variety), it's nearly impossible to find them if they don't want to be found. It's even harder to cause them real harm, since they can [[Death Is Cheap|raise the dead]], with the limits (if there are any) not being defined.
** The Ancients somewhat qualify. Appearing to be all about [[Crystal Spires and Togas]], except said crystal spires are in fact spaceships masquerading as cities with some some of the meanest weaponry around. The weapons in question are shown to be ''significantly'' superior to any and all modern-day Goa'uld technologies, despite the fact that over ''ten thousand years'' have passed since they were built.
** The Tollan were an advanced Human civilisation who had developed their science far beyond Earth's and were well on their way to becoming the next Ancients. They are shown as peaceful and non-militaristic, but they did possess powerful ion cannons that could destroy a Ha'Tak in a single shot. Unfortunately for them, their technological prowess did not transfer into their military strategy which had all but atrophied. They naively trusted the Goa'uld, [[Not Now, Kiddo|refusing to listen to our heroes as they considered Earth's civilisation as primitive]]. The deceitful Goa'uld inevitably developed countermeasures (as {{spoiler|their new leader, Anubis, was formerly [[Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence|ascended]] and had the knowledge to replicate much of the Ancients' technology}}) and wiped them out/enslaved them.
** In one episode, the team finds a civilization that has given up all weapons except a mythical "sentinel" that is supposed to "send away" their enemies. The Goa'uld who have pretty much taken control of their planet understandably believe the "sentinel" doesn't exist. Turns out it's just broken {{spoiler|(a previous SG-team killed the guy who kept it working)}}. Once SG-1 gets it working again, every Goa'uld on the planet is indeed "sent away" to locations unknown. Well, [[Captain Obvious|they're probably just dead]], but it seems that [[Never Say Die]] is an important part of the planet's society.
** Subverted in "Thor's Chariot". The people of Cimmeria ''think'' the Hall of Thor's Might is one of these. {{spoiler|It's actually a way to contact the aforementioned Asgard.}}
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* In the novel ''[[Discworld|Night Watch]]'', the leader of a rebellion in Ankh-Morpork reflects that due to the anti-weaponry laws, his makeshift army doesn't have much in the way of real weapons--a few heirlooms passed down by veteran ancestors--but then, when his army consists of stevedores, longshoremen, butchers, and blacksmiths you pretty much have all the heavy or sharp objects you need. And if he ordered them to about face they'd make hash of themselves.
* In ~James H. Schmitz~'s story ''The Tuvela'' (AKA ''The Demon Breed''), a research biologist and a elderly researcher defeat an advance force of the Parahuan, intent on probing the defences of the Federation. {{spoiler|Mutant otters are her real ace in the hole.}}
* [[Iain M Banks|Iain M. Banks]] ''lives'' by this trope (see examples from the other subcategories): [[The Culture]] itself is also a nasty surprise. They are not [[Space Amish]], they are [[Planet of Hats|Space Hippies]]. They spend their time [[Really Gets Around|having as much sex as they can]], playing [[MMORPG|MMORPGs]] [[Deep
** Aesop: When you have trouble with your neighbors and are able to quasi-instantly drop items into existence across star systems, consider sending them anti-matter.
** It even happens on an individual level: the ''Sleeper Service'' appears to be a mildly eccentric GSV which has spent 40 years wandering the galaxy as a storage vessel for [[Human Popsicle|Human Popsicles]]. In fact it's {{spoiler|an agent of Special Circumstances and has spent those 40 years not only constructing an armada of remote-controlled battleships and a full wartime weapons suite, but also making arrangements to offload its 'official' cargo and convert its entire internal volume to engines, transforming itself into the most heavily armed and fastest vessel in the entire Culture in a matter of days.}}
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* Cleverly subverted in ''[[Command and Conquer|Command and Conquer 3]]'', where the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] fall prey to Kane's diabolical [[Xanatos Gambit]]. It turns out that the aim of the liquid tiberium explosion (engineered by Kane) was to trigger a premature alien invasion of Earth, permit the still-powerful GDI to slaughter the aliens, then recover their technology. This is reflected in the Scrin campaign, where initial confidence quickly gives way to damage control, followed by a hasty evacuation of the invading forces. They only helped Kane's [[Evil Plan]] along.
* Done straight in ''[[Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones (Video Game)|Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones]]''. Myrrh appears to be a shy, young little girl who seems harmless. But when equipped with her Dragonstone, she transforms into a huge-ass Dragon who can kill almost anyone with one shot.
* ''[[Metroid]]'' has the Chozo: peaceful bird-like people who lived in harmony with nature. Also were once ''the'' single most technologically-advanced race ''ever''. Vanished without a trace by the time the series continuity starts, but their remnant technology demonstrates this trope well. In particular, their statues, while decorative and ceremonial, also function as guardians of important places to the Chozo: Ridley, in ''[[Metroid Prime|Prime]]'', blew up one of their temples trying to kill Samus, and got six giant lasers to the chest for doing so (''after'' Samus beat him into the ground). Samus is the [[One
* A variation occurs in ''[[Unreal II the Awakening (Video Game)|Unreal II the Awakening]]''. Most of the game involves a hunt for what you think is a superweapon. The ''actual'' super weapon turns out to be a race of seemingly-harmless aliens that perform various menial tasks. The "superweapon" you were collecting was merely an activation key that takes them out of this "dormant" form, into their true form -- giant unstoppable killing machines that can shoot black holes from their hands. No, really. Unfortunately, it really is ''only'' an activation key -- it provides no control, so the new supersoldiers rampage through the ship this was tested on and you have to reroute it into the nearest star and escape alive.
* In ''[[Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri]]'', the Gaians--and, in the expansion, the Cult of Planet--seem like rather wimpy factions, what with being more concerned with environmentalism than proper defense training, a lucrative economy, or developing weapons technology. That is, until you find that their devotion to the environment also gives them an innate ability to take control of the extremely dangerous [[Mind Rape|mindraping]], live-brain-devouring native fauna of Planet. Did we mention that said fauna is equally threatening to unarmored infantrymen carrying ancient guns and your best tanks armed with literal black hole generators and armored with space-time itself? You ''don't'' want to know what they can do once they figure out how to breed their own...
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** Since then, we have gotten a bit more of a view of the [[Sot S]] universe. The Suul'ka in question are the insane Liir elders who in an attempt to avoid their inevitable death by crushing enslave the entire Liir race and run them through rapid industrialization in order to have them build a massive spacesuit they can live in. After the last time this happened the Liir rose, led by the Black and decided that they weren't going to let that happen any more. Oh and that they were going to go ahead and get rid of those insane elders already in space. Cue most of the Suul'ka dying. A few got away though and as of ''Sword of the Stars 2'', they're back.
*** This also means their story of using a bioweapon to wipe them out is complete bullshit created for PR purposes. Since the Suul'ka are about a dozen individuals that have no physical contact with one another, using a virus doesn't make any sense, especially since the Liir would be more likely to infect themselves, as they're the same species.
*** Actually, it was a bioweapon. Or more specifically, [[One
* In ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'', Mimigas once ate flowers that made them into [[Killer Rabbit|Killer Rabbits]] as a last resort to thwart an invasion. It's so secret they no longer know it.
* When the Orcs of ''[[War Craft]]'' initially sent scouts to Azeroth, they saw peaceful meadows tended by farmers, and quickly came to the conclusion that they would roll over the population. Instead, the Azeroth soldiers and knights crushed their initial attack. The orcs regrouped and invaded more successfully later, but them being on the business end of an asswhuppin' came as a shock.
** The main reason they won was because King Llane was assassinated by Garona, whom he trusted. Until then, Stormwind held out fairly successfully. It ''was'' the strongest of the Seven Kingdoms, after all.
* The game ''[[Immortal Defense]]'' has people ascended to pathspace to serve as the [[One
* The Volus in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' have only a ''single'' Dreadnought... that packs enough firepower to roast an entire planet ''three times over''. There's a reason they ''don't'' need two.
* In ''[[Mini Robot Wars (Video Game)|Mini Robot Wars]]'', the titular MiniRobots are [[Mechanical Lifeforms]] who are initially overwhelmed and captured by the invading Machines. They actually have many battle-capable units who are able to destroy and repel the invading Machines, but the MiniRobots are peace-lovers and were not prepared for war.
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* Half a century later, Lebanon's Hizbollah pulled something similar. Not so much Superweaponing as massive Underdogging.
* The 2008 South Ossetia war: the Georgian government thought that the Russians wouldn't care what happens when they invade that little, unstable secessionist region between their borders and killing hundreds of Russian citizens. They were wrong.
* Finland during Winter War. The Soviet Union was certain they could conquer the entire country within a span of few weeks. Instead, the plucky little place resisted for a hundred days and made their enemy pay a heavy price for every mile they acquired. Technically the Soviets did win, and they could have kept going and eventually crush the Finns, but it more than qualifies regardless. Besides, Finland had a [[One
* Inverted during [[World War II]] when the Japanese grabbed an atlas, took a look at the size of Australia and believed that a successful land invasion would be utterly impossible. Even if every able bodied Aussie alive at the time was armed and ready, they still wouldn't have enough troops to defend themselves as their population was only a bit over 7 million. Even now, they only have a bit under 22 million (the majority of the population is within a couple hundred miles of an ocean coast - the inland is primarily desert and almost entirely unpopulated). On the flipside, they do have large uranium deposits and the know-how to make them into something explosive.
* The siege of Syracuse 215 B.C. . What was supposed to be a quick assault turned into a three year siege. Credited to the wonderful devices of Archimedes. As the biographer Plutarch put it "When, therefore, the Romans came up under the walls, thinking themselves unnoticed, once more they encountered a great storm of missiles; huge stones came tumbling down upon them almost perpendicularly, and the wall shot out arrows at them from every point; they therefore retired.... . At last, the Romans became so fearful that, whenever they saw a bit of rope or a stick of timber projecting a little over the wall, “There it is,” they cried, “Archimedes is training some engine upon us,” and turned their backs and fled."
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