History Main / BiggerStick

* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': The Sensational Sisters, who are in hot water due to losing too many Gym battles, attempt to force/trick Ash to battle their strongest team. Unfortunately for them, their strongest team [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome is out of shape due to months of inactivity]], and Ash manages to beat them with a combination of skilled tactics and his SuperEmpowering ability.

* A famous story from the end days of WW2 during the battle for Cologne. A German Panther tank was laying in wait to ambush any American Sherman tanks that came into view, and had already done so at least once. The Americans decided to try and flank the tank with one of their armored units. The German Commander, however, had a premonition that the Americans might try this and rotated the Panther's turret to the right, just in time to see a tank barrel around the corner. But what came barreling into into view wasn't a Sherman; it was an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M26_Pershing M26 Pershing]], The American's answer to the German Heavy tanks. The crew of this particular tank, call sign Eagle 7, had nearly crapped themselves when they turned the corner and found the Panther looking right at them, ready to fire, and in a panic the Driver had hit the gas by mistake, causing them to roll out ''into full view''. This proved to be a blessing, however; since the US had never fielded heavy units until now, The German Commander decided it must be a friendly unit and ordered the gunner to hold fire. This mistake gave Eagle 7 just enough time to line up its 90mm Main Cannon and fire a shot into the Panther's engine block, then two more rounds for good measure. Four of the Panther's crew were able to bail out before the tank was destroyed.

In series in which two or more characters (or factions) frequently come to blows, you can often find characters who spend their time [[TrainingFromHell training]] in order to [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours defeat their enemies]]. Sometimes, you get characters who just use a Bigger Stick. They don't care if they aren't as strong as their opponents: it's their equipment which does all the fighting -- if you have better equipment, you can handily defeat anybody, after all. Just Add MoreDakka.

Although this trope is not inherently Freudian, a large majority of its examples are. The Bigger Stick is probably going to end up being a {{BFS}} or {{BFG}}.

Compare UselessWithoutPowers, characters who rely on inherent abilities for success. Contrast TheManMakesTheWeapon, where someone demonstrates skill by defeating a much better-armed opponent. See also CarryABigStick and PrimitiveClubs if your looking for tropes ''actually'' related to big sticks.

** Similarly, Setsuna F. Seiei of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' fame survived his battles with Graham, Sergei and Ali because he has Gundam Exia: had he been piloting a lesser Mobile Suit he would've had his ass handed to him all three times. Hell, ''all'' of Celestial Being, [[spoiler:Thrones included]], was like that until the [[LensmanArmsRace GN-X units were deployed]]. And in the one occasion when it seemed to get subverted, [[spoiler:it turned out the Gundam in question had a OneWingedAngel form.]]\\

This later proves to not exactly be true late into the second series when Setsuna pulls the reverse. He pilots a trashed Exia that is held together by spare parts, spit and sheer dumb luck. The unit is missing an arm, has a makeshift replacement camera eye, joint protection parts missing and a literally a broken weapon. That combined with the fact that his Gundam is literally five years out of date means that he was actually very skilled to have made it that far fighting that Ahead and GN-X III because if he had been any less skilled, he would have been shot down like before.

*** It's especially noticable in Destiny when Kira's Freedom is the only nuclear powered unit still in service, and he is just untouchable by everyone up until Shinn manages to destroy it by exploiting his unwillingness to kill in a situation where Kira can't go all out without footage of the fight being used as bad press against his homeland. Then Shinn gets a nuclear powered MS and also becomes unstoppable. Where as before he was an ace by skill, with the Destiny he can basically crush the EA without even trying. In fact Shinn's skills notably degrade after awhile with Destiny, because against all but Kira and Athrun (who get new nuclear MS's equally powerful) all he has to do is flail his sword or fire his cannon and his enemies die.

** Manjoume once faced an opponent on ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' whose deck seemed to revolve around Equip Spell Cards and monsters with Special Effects that favored or worked with Equip Cards. Manjoume defeated him with zero-attack-point Ojama Trio.

* Anime/{{Windaria}} Shadowland's militar has tanks and machine guns while Lunaria's has hover craft and crossbows. When the war starts, the former marches [[CurbStompBattle more or less unopposed]] to the latter's capital.

** This was used in a filler arc, when the villains are seemingly normal people, who are able to outfight their otherwise superior opponents (the Sand Siblings) with their magical weapons, culminating with their resurrected clan leader beating the utter crap out of Naruto and Gaara who can't even use their Jutsu due to his Chakra-absorbing armor. It didn't help when Gaara threw a massive spear made of sand at him.
** Similarly, in the [[Anime/NarutoTheMovieNinjaClashInTheLandOfSnow first Naruto movie]], the four main villains have "Chakra Armour", which makes their Jutsu stronger and making them immune to the effects of Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. These are beaten however. Sasuke kicks his opponent into her partner and their armour detonates, killing them, Kakashi piledrives his opponent into oblivion, and the main villain is taken out by Naruto, who blasts him with his Rainbow Rasengan, destroying his armour (which Sasuke had previously cracked with an overcharged Chidori; guess where Naruto aimed the Rasengan) and sending him flying about fifty feet into a mirror.
** The titular Naruto has shadow clones, more shadow clones, rasengan, more-different rasengan, (seriously, he beats the bad guy of most movies by pulling out a special environmentally-enabled rasengan out of his ass) and various degrees of bigger rasengan.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The "upgrades" of Nami, Usopp and Franky are primarily done this way -

** Zoro the swordsman, in addition to regular training, has the rare times where he acquires new swords. Those new swords he gains are also part of the numerous legendary swords in the verse, too.

** ''Anime/YuGiOh'' anime: This appears to be Seto Kaiba's strategy for much of the series. Even after getting the his Egyptian God Card, it doesn't seem to work. He actually does display tactics, and a great deal of strategy - though it primarily centers around bringing out his Bigger Sticks quickly, protecting his Bigger Sticks, reviving his Bigger Sticks, using his Bigger Sticks to power up Still Bigger Sticks, and [[OhCrap gaping]] [[TheWorfEffect when the opponent brings out a Bigger Stick Than The Bigger Stick He Has.]]

** Poor, poor [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Viral.]] He's WeakButSkilled in a ''SuperRobot'' show, which dooms him to VillainDecay when Team Gurren (unwittingly) discover Spiral Power.

* Kuromorimine Women's College in ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' has very powerful and well-built German tanks, and a lot of them, making their school the most powerful force in tankery. Their tactics are designed to synergize with this advantage through superior discipline and [[AttackAttackAttack refusal to retreat]] that allow them to make full use of their tanks' power, but the combination is vulnerable to Oarai's ConfusionFu techniques with a mishmash of weaker tanks.

* The titular character from ''Franchise/{{Doraemon}}'' isn't terribly powerful by himself, but he brings a ton of gadgets that serve various functions up to RealityWarper level. His defeats in the non-serial movies tend to be because the villains have ways to neutralize his gadgets in some ways. For example, in ''[[Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheBirthOfJapan Birth of Japan]]'', Doraemon fights the BigBad using the latest stun-spear from the 22nd century, only to be trounced by his opponent's latest stun-spear from the ''23rd'' century.

* In a ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip, John and Garfield try to one-up each other with sticks. It starts with Garfield giving John orders while holding a small stick. John pulls out a club to make it clear who the boss is, then Garfield leaves and comes back with a TREE, but is unable to hold it up.
* In ''ComicBook/IronMan'', Tony will regularly get his suit destroyed by an opponent, only for him to come back and win with a much better version.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* In ''FanFic/AnEntryWithABang!'', while the ''{{TabletopGame/Battletech}}'' chaps have the [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] and the tougher armour, Clancy-Earth's effective BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capability is one of the key reasons why the latter has prevailed so far.
* New!Chaos in ''FanFic/TheOpenDoor'' owes a lot of their [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomping]] to the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} canon!40k]] technology they inherited. If there is one thing those who criticize them as being {{God Mode Sue}}s tend to miss, it is that they win easily also because they are deliberately avoiding the universes with ''even {{Bigger Stick}}s'', such as ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann''.
* In the ''Anime/CodeGeass'' fanfic ''FanFic/RiseOfANewMoon'', [[GenderFlip Luna]] and the JLF are fully aware of their extreme numerical and logistical disadvantage against Britannia, so they decide to match them with more advanced technology. [[SuperweaponSurprise This is shown by their deployment of the Gekka to fight the Blood of the Samurai and the Hiryu in support of Luna's takeover of Japan]].
** Milly has a non-weapon version when her parents are pushing her into an ArrangedMarriage, when Luna gives her Lloyd's noble title which allows her to negate it.
* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': The Sensational Sisters, who are in hot water due to losing too many Gym battles, attempt to force/trick Ash to battle their strongest team. Unfortunately for them, their strongest team [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome is out of shape due to months of inactivity]], and Ash manages to beat them with a combination of skilled tactics and his SuperEmpowering ability.

* ''Film/IronMan'' series

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', when Minsc notices his current weapon cannot harm his enemy, he exclaims "No effect!? I need a bigger sword..." He makes a similar remark after the first encounter with one of the game's {{Bonus Boss}}es, the red dragon.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' brings back the Brotherhood's big stick, [[TheJuggernaut Liberty Prime Mk. II]]. Being one of the most technologically advanced factions in the Boston Wasteland, similar to how the Enclave were a mere 10 years prior, Liberty Prime is a Super Sledge when compared to everyone else's dried twigs, figuratively speaking.

** Nami goes from a SimpleStaff, to a special staff called Clima-Tact that lets him control the weather in a small scale, to better and better versions of the latter.

* In ''Comicbook/IronMan'', Tony will regularly get his suit destroyed by an opponent, only for him to come back and win with a much better version.

* ''WesternAnimation/IronMan'': In the second-season finale, after his plan to destroy all advanced technology has fallen, Mandarin reveals his backup plan to be this - armor bigger, stronger, faster and generally better than Tony's and [[MagiTek increasing the power of his rings]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Comics]]

** It goes farther in the unofficial 1.13 patch - if you cheated or saved up, your mercenaries can be equipped with top-of-the-line armor (or even bomb suits!) and weapons such as the G11, P90, XM8, or FN SCAR-H, and you'll be fighting troops with [=80s=] weaponry, such as old [=M16s=] and flak jackets.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout4}}'' brings back the Brotherhood's big stick, [[TheJuggernaut Liberty Prime Mk. II]]. Being one of the most technologically advanced factions in the Boston Wasteland, similar to how the Enclave were a mere 10 years prior, Liberty Prime is a Super Sledge when compared to everyone else's dried twigs, figuratively speaking.

* The titular character from ''Franchise/{{Doraemon}}'' isn't terribly powerful by himself, but he brings a ton of gadgets that serve various functions up to RealityWarper level. His defeats in the non-serial movies tend to be because the villains have ways to neutralize his gadgets in some ways. For example, in ''Birth of Japan'', Doraemon fights the BigBad using the latest stun-spear from the 22nd century, only to be trounced by his opponent's latest stun-spear from the ''23rd'' century.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'', the demons lost because they were surprised by the fact our 'sticks' weren't ''literally'' sticks. They came expecting swords and shields and met long-range artillery bombardment. [[CurbStompBattle Guess who won]].
[[/folder]]

* A famous story from the end days of WW2 during the battle for Cologne. A German Panther tank was laying in wait to ambush any American Sherman tanks that came into view, and had already done so at least once. The Americans decided to try and flank the tank with one of their armored units. The German Commander, however, had a premonition that the Americans might try this and rotated the Panther's turret to the right, just in time to see a tank barrel around the corner. But what came barreling into into view wasn't a Sherman; it was an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M26_Pershing M26 Pershing]], The American's answer to the German Heavy tanks. The crew of this particular tank, call sign Eagle 7, had nearly crapped themselves when they turned the corner and found the Panther looking right at them, ready to fire, and in a panic the Driver had hit the gas by mistake, causing them to roll out ''into full view''. This proved to be a blessing, however; since the US had never fielded heavy units until now, The German Commander decided it must be a friendly unit and ordered the gunner to hold fire. This mistake gave Eagle 7 just enough time to line up its 90mm Main Cannon and fire a shot into the Panther's engine block, then two more rounds for good measure. Four of the Panther's crew were able to bail out before the DoubleTap.

*** It's especially noticable in Destiny when Kira's Freedom is the only nuclear powered unit still in service, and he is just untouchable by everyone up until Shinn manages to destroy it by exploiting his unwillingness to kill in a situation where Kira can't go all out without footage of the fight being used as bad press against his homeland. Then Shinn gets a nuclear powered MS and also becomes unstoppable. Where as before he was an ace by skill, with the Destiny he can basically crush the EA without even trying. In fact Shinn's skills notably degrade after awhile with Destiny, because against all but Kira and Athrun (who get new nuclear MS's equally powerful) all he has to do is fail his sword or fire his cannon and his enemies die.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': The Sensational Sisters, who are in hot water due to losing too many Gym battles, attempt to force/trick Ash to battle their strongest team. Unfortunately for them, their strongest team [[RealityEnsues is out of shape due to months of inactivity]], and Ash manages to beat them with a combination of skilled tactics and his SuperEmpowering ability.

Although this trope is not inherently Freudian, a large majority of its examples are. The Bigger Stick is probably going to end up being a {{BFS}} or {{BFG}}. Mostly unrelated to CarryABigStick.

Compare UselessWithoutPowers, characters who rely on inherent abilities for success. Contrast TheManMakesTheWeapon, where someone demonstrates skill by defeating a much better-armed opponent.

* In ''FanFic/AnEntryWithABang!'', while the ''{{TabletopGame/Battletech}}'' chaps have the [[EnergyWeapon Energy Weapons]] and the tougher armour, Clancy-Earth's effective BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capability is one of the key reasons why the latter has prevailed so far.

* In ''FanFic/AnEntryWithABang!'', while the ''{{TabletopGame/Battletech}}'' chaps have the FrickinLaserBeams and the tougher armour, Clancy-Earth's effective BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capability is one of the key reasons why the latter has prevailed so far.

** ''Film/IronMan2'': Comicbook/WarMachine is supposed to be this to Iron Man, but it turns out that Tony has more tricks in the Mark VI than in the Mark IV. They're actually pretty well matched, but as Tony points out, War Machine ''has'' a big gun, he's not ''the'' big gun. Tony's got a lot of cool [[SpinAttack tricks]] [[FrickinLaserBeams up]] [[EnergyWeapon his sleeve]]; the War Machine suit, created by Tony and then upgraded by Justin Hammer, is [[EnergyWeapon more]] [[GatlingGood of]] [[BottomlessMagazines a]] [[MoreDakka mixed bag]].

* Being the armed guy fighting an unarmed opponent. Even a two-bit thug wildly flailing a knife or pole has a large UnskilledButStrong advantage over the unarmed guy, never mind the ones who have enough experience to know how to use their weapons well. In contrast, it takes a lot of skill to take down an armed opponent while unarmed.

** Ea. Unlike the other Noble Phantasms stored in the Gate of Babylon, this one is wholly unique to Gilgamesh. A nameless (Gil only calls it "Ea" out of convenience) otherworldly weapon, Ea is classified as an Anti-''World'' weapon. This is not an exaggeration -- a single swing of Ea can wipe out an entire army with ease (along with the battlefield itself). It's essentially a handheld magical nuke (and that description is severely ''downplaying'' its power if anything) that is vaguely shaped like a sword.

** Ea. Unlike the other Noble Phantasms stored in the Gate of Babylon, this one is wholly unique to Gilgamesh. A nameless (Gil only calls it "Ea" out of convenience) otherworldly weapon, Ea is classified as an Anti-''World'' weapon. This is not an exaggeration -- a single swing of Ea can wipe out an entire army with ease (along with the battlefield itself). It's essentially a handheld magical nuke (and that description is severely ''downplaying'' its power if anything).