History Main / RazorFloss

** Also seems to be an application of whatever power Donquixote Doflamingo has. Presumably he uses the same strings for his PeoplePuppets skill too.

* The third episode of the {{Hyperion}} Cantos features monofilament wire used as a tripwire in an ambush.

[[GetBackers http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kazuki2.jpg]]
[[caption-width:250: [[DudeLooksLikeALady He is not a seamstress.]]]]

--> The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no [substantial] existence enters where there is no crevice.
--> --''Tao Te Ching'' by Lao-tzu (trans. by J.Legge)

* In the {{Touhou}} [[{{Hentai}} H]]-[[{{Doujinshi}} doujin]] ''NingyouKakumei'', [[{{Yandere}} Alice]] manages to trick the naive [[LivingToys doll Medicine]] into consenting to helping her in her ''[[UnusualEuphemism research]]'' to make a self-capable Doll. As soon as Medicine said that she'd help, Alice traps her with puppeteer's threads:

* Kurenai, from ''RedNinja: End of Honor'' uses a tetsugen, or an iron wire.

* The infamous "hilo curado" ("charged string") used in Chile to have kites fly and cut each other's strings. Basically, it's normal kite thread covered in liquid glue and pulverized glass. [[http://www.chile.com/tpl/articulo/detalle/ver.tpl?cod_articulo=92265 VERY FUCKING DANGEROUS]]. (Link is in Spanish).
** Here in Brazil we call it "cerol", and there were a good number reports of people actually being accidentally killed by that thing around here, too. Extremely dangerous, indeed.
** This style of kite combat is actually fairly common all over the world.

* The winch cable they use to launch gliders can be quite dangerous: a kilometer long cable moving at high speed, there are stories it cut a cow in two, unlucky enough to wander on the airfield. The cables have a parachute at the end so that they fall gently after being disconnected from the glider after takeoff. If the cable breaks during takeoff, it can snap to the ground with great force, so the wich itself is usually armored or at least has reinforced bars on the windows.

* Besides working as a sensor and communicator, Shamal of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' reveals that the strings of [[EmpathicWeapon Klar Wind's]] pendellum form also serves as excellent restraining devices.

* A support wire is used for just the first part of the mass murder in the opening seen of the horror movie ''GhostShip''.

* In ''The City Who Fought'' by {{Anne McCaffrey}} and [=~S. M. Stirling~=], Joat, a young girl, sets up several strands of monofilament wire across a corridor than baits a Kolnari patrol to chase her, running into the trap. The Kolnari are literally sliced to pieces by the molecule-thick wire, making for a gruesome, bloody scene. As Joat says, it "...gives a new meaning to 'cut off at the knees!'"

* Any wire, or even occasionally rope on a ship is a potential case of this. Get your arm tangled in a spool of wire attached to something heavy - say, a sail or fishing net - and lose control of it and... rrrrip. This can strip flesh to the bone - or even in some cases strip limb from body.

* The wich cable they use to launch gliders can be quite dangerous: a kilometer long cable moving at high speed, there are stories it cut a cow in two, unlucky enough to wander on the airfield. The cables have a parachute at the end so that they fall gently after being disconnected from the glider after takeoff. If the cable breaks during takeoff, it can snap to the groud with great force, so the wich itself is usually armored or at least has reinforced bars on the windows.

* Diamond Lil, from ''AlphaFlight'', sometimes plucked a hair from her hair and used it as a slicing garrotte. Justified by her being NighInvulnerable, over six feet tall, and very, very strong (thought not superhumanly so). Since it can't be cut, her hair is also very long.

* Snapping cables can do horrible things to anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in their way, too.

Odd as it may sound, strings can become deadly weapons in the [[ImprobableWeaponUser right hands]]. Besides restraining enemies and even controlling marionettes, or even [[PeoplePuppets other people's bodies against their will]], or triggering traps, they can be pretty handy for cutting. In many works of fiction, one skilled enough, can use strings to cut opponents or even boulders, without hurting themselves.

Fantasy settings generally have this type of string made of human hair, while in more modern ones it's probably monofilament wire. In series less reliant on the RuleOfCool, the wire usually manifests as garrotes or tripwires, with varyingly messy outcomes.

* In TSR's short lived RGP, ''Alternity'', there was a particular type of villain named the "kroath" who made use of monofilament wire to set up traps. On a good roll, the material was capable of killing PCs in one attack.

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* Kazuki from ''GetBackers'' (pictured), who's also known as "Kazuki of the Strings." They're just ordinary koto strings (harp strings in the Tokyopop version) that defy the laws of physics because of the vibrations he applies to them with his fingers. The picture above is actually a relatively tame example; in the last arc of the story, he destroys multiple skyscrapers in seconds with his strings. Other characters who use strings can also create perfect body-doubles of themselves, tigers, and supernatural cocoons attached to the heart. IAmNotMakingThisUp.

* Janus from ''BlackCat'' has a glove with lines of RazorFloss attached to the tips of the fingers as his primary weapon.

* Agent 47 from the ''{{Hitman}}'' series has a garrotte wire as his second signature weapon.

** If you look in better done movies or old war films, you'll see an A-frame device on the front of jeeps and such. Those were used to cut wires by channelling it up into a cutting notch.

* In ''The City Who Fought'' by Anne McCaffery and S.M. Stirling, Joat, a young girl, sets up several strands of monofilament wire across a corridor than baits a Kolnari patrol to chase her, running into the trap. The Kolnari are literally sliced to pieces by the molecule-thick wire, making for a gruesome, bloody scene. As Joat says, it "...gives a new meaning to 'cut off at the knees!'"