History Main / RockBeatsLaser

** Parodied in a ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone Scary Door]]'' episode (that happens to be a parody of ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'') in the third movie.

** The Fremen. Desert-dwelling nomads with handmade gear, beat TheEmpire's most badass, ruthless, and well-armed soldiers, the Saudarkar, with knives, Sandworms, and, er, one teensy little atomic bomb (but this was used only to remove a geographic obstacle to worm-travel, not on the enemy). This deserves some clarification, because while it is an example, it's not as bad as it looks outside of context. Melee combat with bladed weapons in the Dune universe is actually the norm, because of shielding technology that renders ranged weapons nearly useless. Although the Fremen lack such shielding technology, so it still counts. [[Film/Dune1984 David Lynch movie]] kind of ruins this by actually giving the Fremen ''more'' advanced weapons than the Saudarkar, in the form of [[MakeMeWannaShout voice-amplifying sonic guns]].
** The writers of the [[Series/{{Dune}} Sci-Fi Channel miniseries]] go a long way towards [[ContinuityReboot putting things right]], exercising far less creative license than Lynch and, subsequently, remaining much closer to [[Creator/FrankHerbert Frank Herbert's]] original novel.
** [[BigBad Baron Harkonnen]] uses ancient projectile artillery when he reconquers Arrakis, because even though the explosives can't penetrate shields, when the Atreides troops hide in caves, the artillery collapses the roof and seals them in. He does think artillery is barbaric and has the weapons dismantled immediately after, despite his rabid nephew Rabban's wishes to keep them - in part because they need the metal.

Compare ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge, CoolButInefficient, GoodOldFisticuffs, KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter, GunsAreWorthless, BreakOutTheMuseumPiece, MugglesDoItBetter and OlderIsBetter. One of the things to watch for in JustForFun/HowToInvadeAnAlienPlanet. Contrast LowCultureHighTech, where a low tech culture uses superior high tech devices. See also SuperweaponSurprise when natives have something up their sleeves that could reasonably be expected to beat the invaders, or InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien when the invaders themselves really don't have anything that could reasonably be expected to beat the natives. See SchizoTech for low tech and high tech used together. Can be justified if [[ZergRush the primitives have a huge numerical superiority]].

* A huge balance issue in the [[AllegedlyFreeGame F2P]] MMO ''VideoGame/BlackProphecy''. Bullet weapons completely overpower energy weapons because they ignore shields. Energy weapons have to deal with a fighter's shields first- and then they do less damage to the actual hull of the shield in average than projectiles. The only "drawback" projectile weapons have is that bullets ''supposedly'' slow down when approaching an enemy with shields (with no damage penalties). This doesn't actually happen ingame, and even if it did, chances of hitting the target would still be high, considering you are using either a fast-firing chaingun or a hitscan sniper rifle.

** In the same series, Wakandan technology is superior to pretty much everything, thanks to their strongly implied usage of {{Magitek}} and the fact that the spears and arrows are outfitted with heads made of Vibranium (the ultimate {{Unobtainium}} of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse -- to put this into perspective, the Adamantium used on Franchise/{{Wolverine}} is Vibranium's ''second-rate, inferior copy'').

* Averted in a fanmade WebAnimation/DeathBattle [[http://lady-n-gentleman.deviantart.com/art/Death-Battle-Black-Panther-vs-Connor-Kenway-445996959 pitting Black Panther against Conner Kenway]] which instead applies RealityEnsues. Conner enters the battle armed with 18th-century weapons and armor, whereas Black Panther has weapons composed of Vibranium, which are more advanced and effective than anything existing in the present day. The Black Panther's greater strength and fighting skills are enough that the writer found the battle so much a mismatch in Black Panther's favor that the set-up for the fight made his victory a ForegoneConclusion.

** Massively and horrifyingly averted later on. When Grievous and his droid army head to Dathomir, the Nightsisters attempt to fight back using spears, bows, and hand-to-hand skills... against enemies who are made out of metal, are physically stronger than organics, and are wielding guns, bombers, tanks, and artillery firing shells that only affect organics. [[RealityEnsues They proceed to get slaughtered with relative ease]], except for Ventress who was smart enough to use her lightsabers and Force powers.

* Slightly justified in ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA: Year One]]'' with Franchise/TheFlash. Snapper Carr complains that the League having a library in their base is pointless, since they also have a computer and can use it to do research much faster. But no Internet connection in the world can move faster than Flash, who has a book open to the appropriate page before Snapper even finishes typing. And could probably even run to any library in the world and back in the time it takes Google to load. This was based on RealLife accounts of the series' [[Creator/MarkWaid writer]] answering comic trivia faster than the Internet.

* Subverted in ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' series ''ComicBook/TheKryptonChronicles'': Several millennia ago, Kryptonians were conquered and slaved by an alien race known as Vrangs. The first slaves who revolt against the Vrangs use their own chains to kill the guards watching them, even though the latter were armed with beam weapons. Though, the rebels are aware that they couldn't fight a whole army armed with firearms, so they escape after stealing their masters' weapons, which Hatu-El manages to reverse-engineer and improve.

* In '80s post-apocalypse series ''C.A.D.S'', the C.A.D.S is an elite military unit perfecting PowerArmour battlesuits just days before the Soviets nuke America. The PowerArmour is immune to small-arms fire but they keep losing members as the C.A.D.S constantly FailedASpotCheck for the bandit with a bazooka. The worst case was one C.A.D.S member dying after getting tackled by a crazy who was sick with a mutant virus. Despite weighing hundreds of pounds, the armoured soldier got knocked to the ground and because he foolishly had his visor open, the crazy barfed diseased vomit down his helmet and he quickly contracted the agonizing disease. The other C.A.D.S gave him a MercyKill with their built-in flamethrowers.

* In another '80s post-apocalype series ''Doomsday Warrior'', book 13 ''American Paradise'' - it's more like "rock beats next-gen assault rifles''. Our party of heroes, including Ted Rockson the Doomsday Warrior himself, are on their way to meet some fellow resistance fighters when they're ambushed by vicious cavemen. The cavemen are protecting themselves with large rock slates that they use as shields. These are so thick that the party's Liberator assault rifles can't penetrate them even though they use armor-piercing ammunition. Even the martial art specialist's explosive shuriken ain't working. Only grenades and the crossbowman's explosive quarrels are having any effect. Luckily the other resistance fighters show up riding high-tech surfboards and they wipe out the cavemen with explosive-tipped tridents.

* In '80s post-apocalype series ''Doomsday Warrior'', book 13 ''American Paradise'' - it's more like "rock beats next-gen assault rifles''. Our party of heroes, including Ted Rockson the Doomsday Warrior himself, are on their way to meet some fellow resistance fighters when they're ambushed by vicious cavemen. The cavemen are protecting themselves with large rock slates that they use as shields. These are so thick that the party's Liberator assault rifles can't penetrate them even though they use armor-piercing ammunition. Even the martial art specialist's explosive shuriken ain't working. Only grenades and the crossbowman's explosive quarrels are having any effect. Luckily the other resistance fighters show up riding high-tech surfboards and they wipe out the cavemen with explosive-tipped tridents.

** Massively and horrifyingly averted later on. When Grievous and his droid army head to Dathomir, the Nightsisters attempt to fight back using spears, bows, and hand-to-hand skills... against enemies who are made out of metal, are physically stronger than organics, and are wielding guns, bombers, and tanks. [[RealityEnsues They proceed to get slaughtered with relative ease]], except for Ventress who was smart enough to use her lightsabers and force powers.

* OlderThanFeudalism: In ''Literature/TheIliad'', the bronze weapons and armor are described in the same sort of loving detail found for high-tech arms in modern techno-thrillers or SF. Despite this, on several occasions heroes who can't be defeated with bronze weapons are killed or wounded by someone grabbing a large rock and hitting them. E.g., Diomedes was wounded this way, Diorus was killed, and Ajax almost kills Hector with a rock - twice.

Historically, every industrialized nation on Earth with imperialist goals regularly steamrolled over the armies of soon-to-be-conquered or otherwise humiliated natives. Occasionally, natives won battles; this had more to do with the colonial forces being commanded by [[UpperClassTwit arrogant aristocrats]] who [[GeneralFailure completely underestimated the capabilities of the primitive natives]] and [[ModernMajorGeneral knew more about "matters vegetable, animal, and mineral" than actually leading an army]]. In the rare cases where the natives managed to keep Europeans from completely taking over, they generally received a crash course in development and won with modern weapons, rather than BambooTechnology.[[note]]Interestingly, "bamboo spear tactics" is an actual Japanese term for fighting against a technologically-superior adversary[[/note]] However, it took a while before these conquered lands readjusted their mindset, using their occupiers' knowledge against them.

* Demonstrated in ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'' when Rincewind beat [[AGodAmI a sourcerer]] while wielding nothing more than a half-brick in a sock. Played with, as the sourcerer saw him as such a non-threat that he refused to fight him at all and underwent a HeelFaceTurn. The half-brick in a sock did prove useful when the sourcerer's staff tried to stop him, since it let Rincewind knock it out of his hand without touching it.

* Discussed in the 1959 novel ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', in the chapter that discusses [[PoweredArmor powered suits]]. The suits are designed to be as invisible to their users as possible, for admirably common-sense reasons: "If you load a mudfoot down with a lot of gadgets that he has to watch, somebody a lot more simply equipped - say with a stone ax - will sneak up on him and bash his head in while he's trying to read a vernier." The Mobile Infantry also train with more primitive weapons, from unarmed hand-to-hand combat on up to 20th-century weaponry, partly to prepare them for using the powered battlesuits and also to prepare them for situations in which the battlesuits would be impractical.
** The film version also touches on this, albeit in a much nastier way. A recruit questions the need to learn hand-to-hand combat when they can just kill their enemies by "pushing a button". His drill instructor responds by stabbing him through his hand, pinning him to a wall, and asking how he intends to push said button now.

** {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', explaining that the PoweredArmor used by the Mobile Infantry was designed with a relatively easy to use interface to prevent an opponent with a rock from beating in the head of a person trying to read a vernier.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Janeway, not an exceptionally strong woman, manages to kill a Borg drone with a [[CoolSword bat'leth]] at least once... after the drone had knocked down the bat'leth's owner -- a large Klingon male. Though this was in a simulated world.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' justifies this trope by virtue of [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1446.html a Stone Age weapons table and no damage scaling]].
-->''Stick, two-handed, hardwood: [=1d12=]''
-->''Blaster, second-hand, dodgily repaired: [=1d10-1=]''

-->'''Sally''' ''(reading off the Stone Age weapons table)''
--->Bows. [=2d8=] is enough to penetrate trooper armour. ''(Ewoks archers fire)''
--->...lassos and ropes can totally stop any moving creature. ''(an AT-ST tumbles)''
--->Rocks, of course. ''(stones are dropped on several troopers)''
--->Clashing logs. [=20d6=] damage. ''(another AT-ST gets crushed between two massive trees)''
--->And a logfall trap. ''(logs are dropped on a third AT-ST)''
-->'''[[{{Munchkin}} Pete]]:''' We should totally be using these [[UpToEleven against the star destroyers in the space battle]].

* Zigzagged also in the second ''WesternAnimation/UltimateAvengers'' movie. Wakanda's weapons technology is surprisingly effective, but this is solely because they are forged of Vibranium and their few gun-based weapons are powered/controlled from a downed Chitauri ship. When the ship is destroyed, and they have to rely on their medieval-grade tech, they really don't do so well, for all that their weapons are capable of piercing Chitauri armor.

!!Examples:

* From a ''Comicbook/BlueBeetle'' comic, in a showdown with a highly advanced alien race:
-->'''Negotiator:''' Reyes! You could ''not possibly'' have co-ordinated with this "Bat-Man"! We monitored every ''electronic frequency'', every ''bandwidth'' you could use to reach him!
-->'''Blue Beetle:''' I know. Scarab told me. That's why I sent a '''letter'''.

'''(one of the Joes):''' Itsy-bitsy spider signing off! (''rock smash'')

* In ''Comicbook/FantasticFour: The End'', the solar system is surrounded by a high-tech energy barrier meant to prevent any communication or travel between the solar system and the rest of the universe while it's completing its trial period before joining the Galactic community. The Mad Thinker, part of a group of super-villains seeking to work with outside agents to bring the barrier down, outwits the barrier by the simple method of using Morse Code and what amounts to a flash light since the barrier didn't block normal light from passing through.

* In ''FanFic/WorldwarWarOfEquals'', the newly improved Killercrafts of the Race got their asses handed to them by Italy's UsefulNotes/ColdWar-era fighters, more specifically ''F-104S '''already phased out but reactivated to face them'''''.

* In VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda fic ''Zelda and the Manacle of Cahla'', one of the types of enemies Zelda fights is MechaMooks with built in {{Magitek}} weapons called Automatons. Wielding only [[BowAndSwordInAccord a sword, bow and arrows]], a whip and some magic spells from the titular manacle, she clears through literal hoards of them.

[[folder:Film — Animation]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

** ''Film/{{Predator 2}}'' shows us a Predator trophy room which contains, among other things ([[spoiler:like the skull of an alien from the Alien franchise]]) a ''flintlock pistol''... implying that not only did a human attempt to challenge a Predator with this weapon, this individual put up enough of a fight to be considered a {{worthy opponent}}!
* In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', Picard pumps some Borg drones full of Holodeck-simulated lead from Tommy guns (with the [[FailSafeFailure safeties off]]), because Borg shields are calibrated to stop phasers, not old-fashioned bullets. The debate on whether holodeck-generated bullets are more phaser than bullet is something that fans debate to this day (plus, the number of Borg drones defeated by the holographic Tommy Gun is roughly equivalent to the number of drones defeated by phasers before they adapt... two). Later on in the film, Worf kills another Borg with a ''sword''. He's a dangerous man-[[TheWorfEffect allegedly]]. Indeed, people tend to fare better against the Borg in close combat in general, until assimilation occurs. But that only really comes into play when dealing with inhumanly strong people like Worf or Data. Early on, a RedShirt tries to rifle butt a Borg drone after his phaser is adapted to. The Borg shrugs off the hit and promptly hands the man his ass. Some of the expanded universe material does take the "kinetic strikes are effective against the Borg" approach.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Janeway, not an exceptionally strong woman, managed to kill a Borg drone with a [[CoolSword bat'leth]] at least once... after the drone had knocked down the bat'leth's owner-a large Klingon male. Though this was in a simulated world.
* Though not quite as far apart technologically, in ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' the Samurai army [[KatanasAreJustBetter universally favors "honorable" weapons like katanas, spears, and bows]] instead of the firearms of the regular Imperial Army of Japan. They win their initial battles against poorly-trained soldiers armed with rifles, and only lose their climactic final battle after killing over two-thirds of the second, better-trained and armed army, who outnumbered them six to one. This is somewhat of a subversion. In the end the Samurai win a moral battle by showing the newer army that traditional values, especially courage against overwhelming odds, should be respected. This may have been their goal all along.

** The ''I. rex'' is an animal that manages to outwit some of the most advanced tracking and takedown methods available to the staff at the park using its natural abilities. [[spoiler: It helps that it was engineered for precisely this purpose.]]

* The ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' more often than not has the various sci-fi weapons and alien invaders being outgunned by conventional Earth tech. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', the Avengers who do the best against the alien invaders are those with regular guns and explosives; War Machine, with a minigun and a small missile launcher, probably gets more kills than the entire Wakandan army armed with vibranium spears and blasters. Rocket Raccoon, who has access to several energy weapons, is quite impressed by Bucky's fifty year old [[MoreDakka M60]] and asks to buy it off of him. In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Widow and Hawkeye's bulbous VTOL shoots down several alien aircraft with just its single GAU-17/A minigun, and a single tactical nuke launched by an F-35 annihilates the entire Chitauri armada with a proximity detonation (meaning only a fraction of the energy was actually transferred to the targets due to the SquareCubeLaw). In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', a small army of {{Magitek}} undead Asgardians get mowed down by a single guy with a pair of [=M16s=].
* In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', the Amazons successfully dispose of a German platoon armed with bolt-action rifles using only ancient weaponry, superhuman strength, and lifelong martial training. With that said, they suffer many losses in the battle and even [[spoiler:Antiope, their general and most skilled warrior]] is killed by a well-placed bullet.
* ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'': Despite being {{physical god}}s with access highly advanced tech that surpass anything in modern day, the Apokoliptians were defeated by humans, Amazons and Atlanteans over 20,000 years ago. Sure, they had literal divine intervention on their side (the Olympian Gods fought to defend Earth) as well as [[spoiler:a couple of Green Lanterns to assist them]], but it doesn't change the fact that a bunch of pre-historic warriors managed to beat {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s with ships and hover tanks.

** In the first film, BadassNormal future soldier Kyle Reese fights a T-800 cyborg infiltrator with 20th Century ballistic firearms throughout the movie and eventually shears it in half with a homemade pipe bomb - [[spoiler:though the machine survives and [[TakingYouWithMe Reese himself is killed in the blast]]; Sarah Connor finally finishes it off by luring it into an industrial press and crushing it into scrap.]]
** In the second film, a captured and reprogrammed T-800 is sent back to protect a teenage John Connor from a T-1000, an advanced prototype cyborg made of liquid metal; the T-1000 is ImmuneToBullets, can assume almost ''any'' form, and can [[spoiler:reform itself after being shattered into a million bits after it is washed in liquid nitrogen - it is destroyed when it falls into a vat of boiling metal and the "consciousness" holding it together glitches out.]] Justified in the novels and comics: the T-1000 was designed by Skynet in tunnel vision as a peerless infiltrator first and a combat unit a distant second, and it proved a FlawedPrototype as it can only form blades and other simple weapons with its limbs which are useless against a T-800, and while it can heal from any damage, this takes time and stuns it for a brief moment; combined with concerns about its high intelligence and [[AlwaysChaoticEvil inherent sadism]][[note]]Yes, you did read that right: ''Skynet'' is ''afraid'' of the T-1000[[/note]] and the T-1000 was branded a failure and left by the wayside.

* Although not from the SciFi genre, in Literature/ElConquistador the Aztec warriors easily overpower the Spanish men, although they were one of the most sophisticated, clever and successful armies over all Europe at that time. This is because the Aztecs use their obsidian "Macanas" [[note]]They were actually pretty fearsome weapons ''very'' capable of cut through steel[[/note]] and high-training at the calmécac to cut over the Spanish steel swords and armors.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Rule Of Law" has a scene where the judge protagonist, armed with a handgun, confronts a lynch mob armed with laser guns. The crooks mock his inferior weapon, but are [[CurbStompBattle defeated with ease]], owing largely to the judge's superior marksmanship and training.

** Human-made bullets are more useful than Asgardian high-tech weapons against Replicators: they absorb the energy of energy blasts, but bullets blow them apart. Also, it was shown that while Goa'uld personal shields can easily deflect fast moving bullets, they're powerless to stop a relatively slow-moving arrows or thrown knives. The implication throughout the series is that AppliedPhlebotinum is often AwesomeButImpractical.