The Worf Barrage: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Direct hit! ...[[Oh Crap|No effect]]."''|'''[[Trope Namer|Worf]]''', every second episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''}}

 

 

This is the thing that proves how [[Made of Iron|resilient]] or [[Badass]] the [[Big Bad]] or [[Monster of the Week]] is. Almost always produces [[Smoke Shield|large amounts of smoke or debris]], allowing the hero to think the enemy was killed, before his [[Beehive Barrier|shielded silhouette]] starts to show through. [[Out of the Inferno|At least you]] ''[[Out of the Inferno|hope]]'' [[Out of the Inferno|it's shielded...]]

 

Might prompt a [[What the Hell Are You?]] moment. Compare with [[It Only Works Once]], [[So Last Season]], [[Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh]] and [[Won't Work On Me]]. Contrast [[Unblockable Attack]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Digimon]]'' just ''loves'' this trope. Go ahead, go and count how many times a fight against a notable bad guy includes a scene where the good Digimon launch insanely powerful attacks at them, the good guys cheer when the baddie seems to be taken down - and then the dust settles and the villain hasn't got a scratch on themselves. Que general villanous mockery and ass-kickery. This happens ''at least'' once per season, once per ''story arc'' at best.

* A textbook example occurs in the second last episode of ''[[Zoids: New Century Zero]]''. The Berserk Fury [[Smoke Shield|survives]] a Worf Barrage from not just one but three [[Wave Motion Gun|charged particle cannons]] ''simultaneously'' with its [[Beehive Barrier|E-shield]], and then proceeds to effortlessly blow away the three [[So Last Season|Geno Saurers]] responsibe with a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|charged particle beam of its own]].

* In episode 42 of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', Autozam's battleship ''NSX'' attempts to drive off [[Wutai|Fahren's]] [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|Giant Sang-Yung illusion]] through the use of [[Macross Missile Massacre]]s, [[Beam Spam]], [[More Dakka]], and the ship's [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|two]] [[Wave Motion Gun|Laguna cannons]]. Unfortunately for the ''NSX'', the assault fell squarely into this trope.

* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', Ranma goes to great trouble to get [[Person of Mass Destruction|Prince Herb]] angry enough so she can use the "[[Finishing Move|ultimate technique]]" Hiryu Shoten Ha. She succeeds... but Herb had [[It Only Works Once|already seen that technique in the past]] and descends with a gigantic counterattack of his own, completely unscathed. The look of sheer disbelief and incomprehension on Ranma's face when she sees Herb come down says it all.

* Setsuna's Artifact in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. To sum things up for those not in the know, Artifacts in ''Negima'' are items of great power given to a mage's partner, and seeing one get pulled out is always a cause of alarm for everyone. Now, let's analyze the times Setsuna's artifact, [[Flechette Storm|a set of flying knives]], was used in battle. She attempted to use it to trap the Mahora Festival [[Story Arc]] [[Big Bad]]... and failed since the [[Big Bad]] could teleport. She used them to block the attacks of a senior Shinmeiryuu Swordswoman... whereupon they shattered. She used them to attack Fate... and failed to do any damage. {{spoiler|[[All Your Powers Combined|Negi]]}} used them to threaten Jack Rakan... who simply grabbed them with his teeth and spat them away to the side. Hopefully, she'll have better luck {{spoiler|with the new artifact she got from her second Pactio Partner, Konoka}} in Chapter 252.

** Note that while for most other characters, their Artifact is their superpower (That is, they're [[Muggles]] without it), Setsuna has [[Implausible Fencing Powers]] and can kick ass without the need of her Artifact. Why she didn't then get a support Artifact like Kaede, who is on the same boat, is the real question here.

* Following [[Captain Tsubasa]], ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' is even moreso at using this trope, especially the third season, where special shots and blocks rarely work past 4-5 times without geting evolved or replaced with another and more destructive skill.

 

* During the "Death of Superman" storyline, at one point the entire Justice League hits Doomsday with their combined powers ([[Superman]] with his heat vision, [[Booster Gold]] with his hand blasts, Fire and Ice with their flame and ice blasts, etc.), and when they're all finally drained and stop and the smoke clears, we see that the total amount of damage Doomsday endured was distributed entirely throughout his restrictive suit, which was now unrestricting him. He hadn't even been knocked down.

** In a later story, [[Darkseid]] blasted Doomsday with a "full power" Omega beam. It knocked him back and caused a mountain to fall on him. Doomsday simply pushed it off of him, stood up, and KO'd Darkseid with a single punch.

* Blackbolt from [[The Inhumans]] has two [[Finishing Move|special moves]]. The first is [[Make Me Wanna Shout|his voice]] which is normally treated with a great deal of respect which has allowed him take down foes like the [[Hulk]] and even killed an alternate reality version of [[X-Men|Apocalypse]]. His second is the Master Blow, which consists of all of his energy channeled into a single punch. For some reason, this Master Blow seems about as powerful as his normal punches (he has [[Super Strength]]), which makes it redundant. On top of that, it leaves him drained and weak. This is probably why most writers ignore that particular ability.

* The Saint of Killers from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' shrugs off pretty much everything without even flinching, up to and including {{spoiler|a nuclear warhead}}.

 

== Film ==

* Pepper spray is often treated as a [[Worf Barrage]]. It is used by an otherwise defenceless (usually female) characters, and it invariably fails to make the [[The Dragon]] even blink. Such is the case in the sequel to ''[[Under Siege]]'' and ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]''.

** [[The Dragon]] in ''Under Siege 2'' hilariously takes the pepper spray and uses it as a breath mint.

 

== Literature ==

* In the Max Brooks novel [[World War Z]], the American military stages a battle against the massive zombie infestation of Yonkers, New York. With the media watching, the military unleashes an overwhelming barrage of missiles, rockets, and artillery at the approaching zombie horde, only to see the largely unscathed tide of undead slouch through the smoke. {{spoiler|The unprepared ground forces are totally overwhelmed, leading to a catastrophic defeat and the western retreat of the U.S government.}}

* In ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', we are told that Zeus' Master Bolt makes hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers. However, {{spoiler|the only time we see it in action is against [[Eldritch Abomination|Typhon]], who just shrugs it off}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Then there's the naquadriah-enhance gatebusting nuke, the most powerful WMD in earth's arsenal at the time, which didn't do a thing to remove the Ori beachhead.

*** Of course, {{spoiler|the Ori wanted them to nuke the beachhead, because that was the only way it could get enough energy to expand.}} So, justified.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* In [[Calvin and Hobbes]], Calvin's "Spaceman Spiff" daydreams almost always involve finding out the "monster" is invulnerable to his "death ray blaster" or "zorcher" (same actual gun.)

** One particularly memorable sequence had him firing a laundry list of weapons at an attacking fleet, none of which have any effect. The last panel shows him in class giving a bunch of wild guesses to a question he was asked.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* The probability that [[Christian]] will so much as ''pull off'' a successful Killswitch during a given match is inversely proportional to the importance and impact of said match.

* [[Randy Orton]]'s [[Five Moves of Doom]] have hit a streak where they'll usually fail or be interrupted after the third or fourth step. Either the fourth step, a hanging DDT will get reversed, or the final step, the RKO, will be escaped. That part is subverted, as when Orton wins, it's almost exclusively from an RKO, so the RKO fails that time, but succeeds later.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

*** Except when you hit a Garguntan Creature or Super Heavy Vehicle with Vortex Weapons, then, if you're lucky, will only cause ONE point of wound/Structure Point loss. Yes, a weapon which can literally vaporise ANYTHING will still not guarantee a straight kill of, say, Titans.

* Averted (in a way) in [[Exalted]], where everyone and their aunt has access to Perfect Defences, which is exactly what it sounds like. Ultimately, this has the effect of rendering any and all "ultimate attacks" virtually useless, due to the cost efficiency of perfect defences versus decent attack combos. That fifty-mote Titan-killing punch you just delivered? He blocked it with a toothpick for four motes. That storm of ten thousand arrows converging on his soul at the speed of light? He just dodged it for three motes. That mile-wide beam fired from the Titan Directional Fortress, which just incinerated the local mountain range? He shrugged it off for ''two'' motes.

 

== Video Games ==

* Given the extremely high possible levels and cinematic attacks, [[Disgaea]] allows Worf Barrages up to the point of a ten [[Colony Drop]] combo doing [[Scratch Damage]].

* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' has the titular character [[Summon Bigger Fish|summoning demons]] to perform [[No Kill Like Overkill|incredibly brutal]] [[Finishing Move|finishing moves]] on all of the bosses. [[The Dragon]]? {{spoiler|Kills the demons she summons. ''[[Oh Crap|All of them]]''}}.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In the ''[[Bob and George]]'' subcomic, ''Jailhouse Blues'', Megaman fires ''MORE AMMUNITION THAN GOD!" at Prison Toilet Man, and keeps firing into the dust cloud even while PTM is standing right behind him, berating him for his lack of Genre Savviness. The Worf Barrage effect is subverted however, as it turns out that Megaman was firing guided missiles that locked onto him, and are now waiting inside the dust cloud to destroy PTM.

* Played straight, dust and all, in ''[[Kid Radd]]''.

 

== Web Original ==

* As a tribute to ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'' hasn't shied away from this trope. The Bowser battle featured a full-on [[Kamehame Hadoken]]-worthy Fireball attack from Mario that didn't even make a scratch on Metal Bowser. And during the early stages of the Mecha Sonic battle on Yoshi's Island, Axem Red decides to try out his "secret weapon," a [[BFG]] that unleashes a [[Wave Motion Gun]]-worthy blast that turns out not to have worked on him, just before the [[Big Bad]] lays into him with an Akuma-style Raging Demon and a [[Kamehame Hadoken]] of his own to finish him.

* In ''The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon'', the Ginosaji shrugs off its hapless victim's increasingly outlandish attempts to destroy it, culminating in the detonation of a huge bank of buried TNT.

 

== Western Animation ==

*** Until Ratchet decides to unlock their military mode in season 3 (why he didn't do it before is another story) and suddenly Bumblebee's stingers are more powerful then anyone else's weapon, the only weapon of the entire team capable of ''scratching'' Omega Supreme!

* While Ulrich's [[Doppleganger Attack|Triplicata]] isn't specifically the Ultimate attack (after all, who need a ultimate attack in a show where most enemies can be killed in one shot as long as you hit them in the weak point ?), and was actually quite weak in season 1, but in season 2, it had become incredibly powerful, once allowing him to take down a whole army of monster of his own. In season 4, however, he used it only once against [[Sixth Ranger Traitor|William]]. William immediatly finds which Ulrich is the real one and devirtualizes him instantly, ending the move in a few seconds.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]

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