Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,624
edits
m (Mass update links) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (typo fix) |
||
(9 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat around the bush. "Make it evil," he'd been told. "Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that
{{quote|''They say that the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully [[Averted Trope|disagree!]] I prefer the weapon you only have to fire ''[[One-Hit Kill|once.]]
[[Ornamental Weapon|Not everyone who carries a weapon actually uses it]]. Sometimes it's best to have something to make you look intimidating, be it a large staff or a gun. It might actually be completely useless (such as an unloaded gun or even a toy gun). Other times it's just not needed all that much, but when you need it, it'll get the job done.
Line 9:
Subtrope of [[Useless Accessory]]. The [[Sword of Damocles]] is an upscaled version of this trope; a weapon so fearsome it brings nations or worlds to their knees in fear of it. If you don't even have a fake weapon, but wish to achieve the same effect, that's a [[Brandishment Bluff]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Sand Land]]'', when Rao is asked why he didn't use his gun in a fight, he answers that bullets are expensive (especially in a [[Single Biome Planet|Desert World]]) and pointing his gun is enough to scare most would-be bandits.
==
* In ''[[2000 AD]]''{{'}}s ''[[
** And then he does it yet again with what's left of the soap gun in the following installment.
* In ''[[
== Film ==
* Philip Marlowe in ''[[Murder My Sweet]]'' carries a revolver but states that he rarely needs it.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels]]'', Soap states that people are more intimidated by knives than guns because they're quiet, and thus can be used without attracting the police. He concludes, "Guns for show, knives for a pro."
* ''[[Snatch]]'' has a few of these:
** Vince buys a gigantic shotgun to "raise pulses" when he robs a bookie joint. He actually uses it to blow a hole in a wall, then gets it turned against him.
** Later, Sol gets two starter pistols loaded with blanks as intimidation weapons against Bullet-Tooth Tony, who notices that they've got "Replica" written right on them.
** Tommy's [[Hand Cannon|gigantic]] [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolver]] is bought for self-defense, but it actually doesn't work. He still keeps it around, and uses it as an intimidation weapon against Brick Top's [[The Dragon|dragon]] and a bunch of [[Mook
* ''Inside Man'' has the bank robbers armed with AK-47s that they never fire and Clive Owen has a [[Hand Cannon]] that he uses for intimidation. {{spoiler|The guns are all fake.}}
* [[Woody Allen]]'s ''Take the Money and Run''. Virgil tries to escape from prison by threatening the guards with a fake gun carved out of soap. Then it starts to rain...
Line 34 ⟶ 32:
* ''[[Fight Club]]'' has a scene where Tyler Durden takes a store clerk out the back of the store and holds a gun to the back of his head, scaring the wits out of him and forcing him to go and follow his old dreams of being a veterinarian. At the end of the scene, the protagonist (who was with them) opens the chamber of the gun and sees there are no bullets inside.
* In ''[[The Gumball Rally]]'', hot-blooded Franco pulls a gun from a paper bag and threatens another driver with it. It turns out it's a squirt gun, and the whole thing was a gag.
== Literature ==
* [[Chekhov's Gun|Dally's revolver]] in ''[[The Outsiders]]''. It's not actually loaded, and he states that he uses it to scare people and that's all. This comes back to bite him when {{spoiler|he raises the unloaded gun at the police after Johnny dies to get a [[Suicide by Cop]].}}
* In ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'' by [[J. R. R.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Evoked in ''[[
** Also invoked in ''[[
** And then of course, there's [[BFG|Detritus's crossbow, the Piecemaker]], which is generally used as a threat, as opposed to actually being fired.
* In ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Shards of Honor]]'', Aral Vorkosigan says that this is the reason he prefers nerve disruptors or plasma arcs to
{{quote|
* Near the beginning of [[Snow Crash]], the protagonist decides to rely on his swords, rather than the toy-looking (but deadly) pistol he's been issued by his employer, to defend himself from
* E.C. Tubb's Earl Dumarest disapproved of this notion: he told one woman he'd rescued from thugs that when she drew her laser against them she should've started shooting at once. She asked, "Kill without warning?" and he replied, "Why warn if you intend to kill? Why draw a weapon if you don't intend to use it?" The narration notes that "Like a tamed dog she had bared her teeth hoping the sight would protect her, unwilling and unable to do more. A pathetic defense and useless against the predators she had met."
* Early in [[Gordon R. Dickson]]'s ''The Outposter'', Ulla Showell thinks that having a small gun strapped to her wrist under her sleeve is being sufficiently armed. She doesn't want to listen to the regulations that say she has to wear a more visible gun, as part of '''rubbing in''' to the unwilling "colonists" that they '''must''' obey.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* The Jaffa staff weapon in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' is explicitly described as this: their primary purpose is to intimidate the low-tech slave populations and fight equally armed warriors of rival Goa'uld. In the hands of a trained Jaffa warrior, as Teal'c repeatedly demonstrates, staffs are lethal weapons both ranged and melee. Colonel O'Neill [[Lampshade Hanging|calls them out as weapons of terror and intimidation]] when demonstrating the efficiency of the team's P90 to a group of rebel Jaffa.
* In an episode of ''[[Red Dwarf]],'' the crew are creeping aboard a badly-damaged simulant ship, heavily armed with bazookoids, and feeling ''somewhat'' confident. Then Lister admits that the superstructure of the ship is so unstable that even a loud noise could cause a shipquake, so the bazookoids are for psychological use only. Cue [[Death Glare]] from the Cat.
Line 53 ⟶ 52:
* In the first episode of ''[[Sherlock]]'', the culprit threatens the eponymous detective with a gun. Before long, Sherlock has reason to call his bluff. {{spoiler|It's a novelty lighter.}}
* On one episode of ''[[Frasier]]'', Niles needs to get Maris a gun for protection. After not being able to procure one, he buys a ''starter's pistol'' since having any kind of gun would make her feel safe.
* In ''[[Have Gun — Will Travel]]'', Paladin will often use his gun as a deterrent, either simply pulling it out or shooting an object to scare his enemy into backing down.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Intimidation value is certainly part of the mystique of ''[[BattleTech]]'''s BattleMechs, although this doesn't keep them from ''also'' being quite functional war machines. And then you get things like the ''Atlas'', designed specifically to be "as powerful as possible, as impenetrable as possible, and as ugly and foreboding as conceivable, so that fear itself will be our ally". The machine isn't actually unbeatable in the game, being primarily a slow short-range fighter with somewhat limited ammunition stores; but it's still one of the heaviest 'Mechs ever built and a tough nut to crack, and you definitely ''don't'' want to be caught in front of it if it ever does manage to close the distance...and whenever one shows up on the field in the associated fiction, even other MechWarriors generally take notice, as it's armor and short-range damage potential are one of the highest possible with 3025-era technology.
** Similarly, fluff-wise anyway, the Titans from [[Warhammer
* ''[[GURPS]] Goblins'' actually provides game mechanics for this by giving every weapon a Menace attribute. A weapon's Menace is not necessarily tied to its effectiveness; a schoolmaster's cane may not be a very strong weapon, but it has a high Menace due to the [[Sadist Teacher|painful]] [[Boarding School of Horrors|memories]] seeing one can call up.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' there are three weapons (a grenade launcher, a missile launcher and a guided missile launcher) which aren't particularly useful for general combat, but can easily scare almost any enemies into dropping items.
* Kyle Katarn in ''[[Jedi Academy]]'': "Remember, your lightsaber is an invaluable tool. Even when inactive, it can defuse a potentially hostile situation. Trust me on that." Of course, in the actual gameplay...
* [[Liberal Crime Squad]]: You can try to intimidate or kidnap people, and it works better with a weapon. Even if you don't have the skill.
* Sam in [[Sam and Max Freelance Police]] The Devil's Playhouse, when you try to use the gun on anything you are not supposed to, Sam states that "I don't need to shoot anybody, it's enough they know I have a gun."
* [[I Am Alive]] has your gun be used in this way as you start with no bullets and what bullets you do find are few and far between.
== Web Comics ==
Line 79 ⟶ 75:
* The atomic bomb counts. After Little Boy and Fat Man got used in [[World War II]], no one dared to use them ever again in any conflict. Considering its world-ending potential, its only effective use is as a deterrent (both from conventional invasions as well as other countries with nukes). The weapon you only have to fire ''twice.''
* Tthe Gatling gun was designed to reduce casualties by decreasing the size of armies and intimidating armies into preemptive surrender. Unfortunately, it didn't have the intended effect.
* Security experts often say that
** The trope is actually invoked in some US states, where the sound of a pump action shotgun being cocked legally qualifies as sufficient warning to leave the owner's property.
* Because guns are banned in the UK with a few exceptions, most gun crime is done either with an air rifle (which won't be killing anybody) or with a gun with no ammunition at all (as while guns are frequently smuggled in, bullets are apparently harder to obtain). Nevertheless, when a criminal's gun pointed at unarmed people, that's no time to take chances on whether or not they can actually kill someone.
* The M1 Carbine is loved among veterans who carried it as backup, but never had to use it, due to its low weight and easy handling that ensured it did not interfere with their support roles (like artillery crews and transport operation) like a full rifle would. Those that actually used it (Except possibly the ones who got the late war night vision scope) regularly derided its unreliability and the terrible power of .30 Carbine.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
|