X on a Stick

Ah, the Simple Staff. Very versatile if you just add another thing to it.

Of course, this trope isn't limited to just weapons. "On a stick" is a tradition of fair foods; including Twinkie on a Stick, Porkchop on a Stick, Ramen on a Stick, Rat on a Stick... one year, the local internet access company handed out their startup discs as "Internet on a Stick".

Tropes on a Stick

See also Double Weapon when you add more than one thing to it.

Examples of X on a Stick include:

Anime and Manga

When Luffy busts Don Krieg's Great Battle Spear in One Piece, he mocks it as now being just a "Bomb on a Stick".
- When Usopp becomes Sogeking, he uses a Slingshot on a Stick.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: The Solvernia uses a Drill on a Stick

Film

Surf's Up features squid on a stick. Tastes Like Chicken.
Madagascar: "One Fun-side special coming right up. Seaweed on a stick."
The movie Hoodwinked features the character of the Woodman who's day job is selling Schnitzel on a Stick and has an entire song and dance number featuring the food item.
- As a note, the concept of Schnitzel may have been what lead to the invention of the corndog.
In the original Conan the Barbarian film from 1982, there is a shot of Conan eating lizard-on-a-stick as he walks through a marketplace.

Literature

Discworld's Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler will sell almost anything "onna stick!", including Rat on a Stick for dwarfs.
- At one point his Omnian counterpart Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dhblah sells yogurt on a stick.
Lord of the Flies: a sow's head on a stick

Live-Action TV

An early Dad's Army episode has the Home Guard platoon improvising spears by tying kitchen knives to broom handles. Mainwaring chews out Pike for not taking the brush off the other end.
One of the earliest "Late Night with David Letterman" Running Joke was Larry "Bud" Melman (Calvert DeForrest) selling toast-on-a-stick.
In an episode of Stargate Atlantis where a character ties a camera to a wooden stick, another character jokingly calls it a "MALP-on-a-stick".
On Newhart, the Minuteman Cafe once offered "Critter on a Stick".
PBS Kids Sprout's Preschool Musical on a Stick. When The Wiggles joined Sprout, it became Preschool Musical on Two Sticks
The Bajoran confection jumja, made from the sap of the jumja tree, and known to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine production staff as "glop on a stick".
There's a Running Gag in iCarly where the manager of the local smoothie restaurant Tibo tries to sell random items of food on a stick like pickles or a tacos.

Recorded and Stand Up Comedy

Jeff Dunham: José Jalapeño on a Steek.
- Controlled Chaos discussed him as an Improvised Weapon.
An Upright Citizens Brigade sketch suggests the efficiency of using dog poo on a stick as a weapon.

Tabletop Games

In Magic: The Gathering:
- "X on a stick" is a generic term for a spell placed on a permanent (like an artifact, enchantment, or land). This is because of the original Stick, Isochron Scepter, which allows the repeated casting of a spell.
- The Boggarts of Lorwyn have a habit of attaching random things to sticks. Adder-Staff Boggart, for example, has a live snake tied to his staff (hence the name). The flavor text of Caterwauling Boggart (whose staff has several frogs attached) lampshades it.
In Munchkin, the Rat on a Stick is a wieldable item that lets you automatically escape from low-level monsters.

Toys

Bionicle: Matau uses a buzzsaw on a stick and Whenua a drill on a stick

Video Games

Crafting in Minecraft. A torch is coal on a stick, a redstone torch is a pile of crushed redstone on a stick, an iron sword is two ingots on a stick, and a diamond pickaxe is three diamonds on two sticks.
Maple Story has poo on a stick as an item that repelled monsters.
Gears of War 2: Skorge uses a double chainsaw on a stick
One of the food items you can find in Fallout 3 is Squirrel On A Stick. Even though you never see squirrels in the game. This could be problematic if you consider where some other foods come from.
- The earlier games had Iguanna-Onna-Stick as an oft-found food-item. Gross, but at least you could tell what it was, unlike the 'Mystery Kabob'...
Dead Rising 2 lets you stick two chainsaws on opposite ends of an oar with duct tape.
- Don't forget the machete on the end of a broom handle combo weapon.
Scribblenauts: Don't underestimate the power of sticking something to a stick.
Soul Calibur IV: Seong Mi-Na's Joke Weapon is a "pimp-slap on a stick" instead of the usual Blade on a Stick.
Team Fortress 2 has the Sun-on-a-Stick for the Scout.

Web Comics

The Squid-Onna-Stick has become something of an internal meme in Sluggy Freelance. The original was a demonic spear from the Dimension of Pain, which could turn anyone stabbed by it into a demon. And it looked just like a squid on a stick. Later, several identical weapons have shown up that are actually a squid on a stick, or a squid-like organism on a stick...
- There's also Zombie-Head-on-a-Stick, or ZHOAS, as she's usually called.
Girl Genius features "Mimmoth on a Stick" as a carnival food—where a mimmoth is a tiny mammoth. There is also a Buck Godot Shout-Out, where poiled slurgs are served "Fried! Onna stick!"
Meat Shield has Mr. Lich-on-a-stick.

Web Original

"For the love... of... Hilary Duff... on a stick!"

Western Animation

The Simpsons: The addition of a rag makes a handy washing implement.
- "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em": Bart uses a peanut stick to torture Skinner upon discovering his allergies, leaving Skinner at his mercy until Comic Book Guy gives him the encouragement to fight back and go for Bart's own allergy: shrimp.
In 6teen, Jude worked at a restaurant where every food item on the menu was served on sticks.
In the Looney Tunes short "Fast Feud", Daffy opens the store "Stuff on Sticks", selling pizza, watermelon, snails, fish sticks, etc. on a stick.

Real Life

Let us not forget the real-life restaurant chain, Hot Dog on a Stick.
Many, many varieties of food, mostly at fairs and fast-food things. It's convenient for the consumer and cheap for the seller (no plates and utensils to buy and stock) plus it produces minimal trash, reducing expenses associated with that. The classic example would be your basic corn dog, a hot dog coated in corn bread batter, deep-fried and served on a skewer.