History Main / TheManMakesTheWeapon

* In at least one ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'' game, you have the option of picking up a broom if you knock it from the hand of a random guy sweeping the streets. It's wielded like a sword, and does very little damage... but it can still be used for instakill counterattacks, once again enabling you to dispose of a horde of armed guards with a simple stick, just to show off your supreme skills.

* ''TabletopGame/HollowEarthExpedition'': This trope is the basis for the whole combat subsystem, following the TwoFistedTales general style of the game. Weapons have pre-definied values to them, which only go so far. And for non-specialists, if given equipment comes with low value, it will remain so. But a dedicated [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]] can easily kill someone with a tiny derringer from an improbable range, while a WarriorMonk will perform InstantDeathStab with a throwing knife - ''despite'' both of those weapons being near-useless for everyone else. This further extends to variety of Talents, which allow to swap stats used for Skill rating, weaponizing high Intelligence or Charisma for characters with lackluster physical stats, which in turn solves the typical issues various [=RPGs=] have with skill monkeys and party faces characters.

* ''TabletopGame/HollowEarthExpedition'': This trope is basis for the whole combat subsystem, following the TwoFistedTales general style of the game. Weapons have pre-definied values to them, which only go so far. And for non-specialists, if given equipment comes with low value, it will remain so. But a dedicated [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]] can easily kill someone with a tiny derringer from improbable range, while a WarriorMonk will perform InstantDeathStab with a throwing knife - ''despite'' both of those weapons being near-useless for everyone else. This further extends to variety of Talents, which allow to swap stats used for Skill rating, weaponizing high Intelligence or Charisma for characters with lackluster physical stats, which in turn solves the typical issues various [=RPGs=] have with skill monkeys and party faces characters.

* Accented Cinema [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] this trope in his video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXeNHwsePk0 "Why are Chinese Swords not as Famous"]], and considers this trope's prevalence in Chinese culture to be a major reason. While [[LegendaryWeapon legendary swords]] exist in Chinese mythology as with other parts of the world, "a swordsman's skill is often far more important than the weapon"; while "you can recognize someone through" their WeaponOfChoice, "at the end, it's just a sharp piece of metal" in the context of Chinese works.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "There's a Batman in my Basement," when the Penguin draws his [[WeaponOfChoice umbrella sword]], Batman ([[YouCanBarelyStand still injured]]) picks up a screwdriver.

* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTwoTheSecretOfTheOoze'': In the opening, when fighting a group of thugs, the turtles decide to not use their actual weapons and instead improvise in order to make the fight more challenging. Michelangelo winds up grabbing a string of sausages in place of his nunchucks, while Donatello uses a mop (which is possibly cheating since it's basically no different from his staff except for having a little bit extra on the end).

[[folder:Anime & Manga ]]

[[folder:Film ]]

[[folder:Literature ]]

[[folder:Video Games ]]

[[folder:Western Animation ]]

Contrast CherryTapping, where the purpose of picking a weak weapon would be to humiliate their opponent. This is usually why WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter; the weapon isn't better, but the user of the weak weapon is usually stronger. Also contrast ImprobableWeaponUser, someone who regularly arms themselves with wacky weapons, and OnceKilledAManWithANoodleImplement, where a character brags about or is rumored to have fought someone with an improbable weapon. See also ImprovisedWeapon.

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', on at least two occasions, Utena has actually wielded a Shinai - [[WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter that is, a bamboo-sword]] - against opponents using steel blades, and on both occasions, won. And in the movie she pulls the same feat off with a ''broom''.
** Though in the movie her opponent quickly slices the broom into pieces, and she wins only thanks to Anthy's timely interference - it's against the rules to duel without a sword, apparently.

[[folder:Comics ]]

* This is the reason why ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} chose a weapon as unintuitive and user-unfriendly as a whip; without substantial practice, anyone attempting to use one puts themselves at a disadvantage, and she wanted something that would not be a liability if she was disarmed.

--->'''The Doctor:''' [[CrazyAwesome I'm the Doctor, just accept it.]]

* In ''Literature/King'sDarkTidings'' by Kel Kade, this trope idea is spelled out very literally in Rule 233 of the Strikers, which states that you are the weapon. Simply put, it refers to the fact that weapons are used to make one more effective, but should never be depended upon to do so. Exemplified after [[spoiler: Rezkin beats a large number of assassins in the Gauntlet without drawing his own weapons or taking a life, as stated to the Grandmaster assassin.]]

* ''LightNovel/YuushaNiNarenakattaOreWaShibushibuShuushokuOKetsuiShimashita'': Late in the series, Raul grabs a 1-ft ruler in self defense and treats it like a shortblade. He manages to [[{{Pun}} school]] two adventurers.

* In ''Comicbook/TheUltimates'' 2 Hawkeye shows off this ability. First by killing most of a SWAT team with things he finds in his kitchen. Then when he escapes the holding facility he tries to find a gun. The last panel of him before he shows up for the finale is a naked Hawkeye with his fingertips stretching toward a pistol while dozens of armored soldier with assault rifles open fire from a couple feet away.
* ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'' villain Bullseye is all about this trope. If it can be thrown or shot, he probably killed a guy with it. This includes arrows, guns, ballpoint pens, shards of glass, bits of his own broken teeth, etc...
* This is the reason why Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} chose a weapon as unintuitive and user-unfriendly as a whip; without substantial practice, anyone attempting to use one puts themselves at a disadvantage, and she wanted something that would not be a liability if she was disarmed.

* ''Film/{{Fearless 2006}}'': in one of his many duels, Huo faces off against a guy wielding double broadswords, using only a short stick.

-->'''The Doctor:''' [[CrazyAwesome I'm the Doctor, just accept it.]]

* WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack once had to indulge a FakeUltimateHero [[JiveTurkey "Sa-mu-rai"]] in a duel. Not wanting to actually hurt the idiot, he insisted on a duel with bamboo stalks first, and managed to [[DefeatByModesty strip him naked]] with zero effort. He then dealt with an ''actual'' threat (a hundred robot assassins [[DualWield with scimitar-arms]]), [[NerfArm still using the stick]].

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Taken to its logical conclusion. The greatest swordsmen don't need swords at all. They can cut through entire armies with nothing but their will alone. Auntie Maya, the greatest swordswoman the multiverse has ever seen, only drew a sword once over the course of the comic--to fight an angel, which is described as a living nuclear explosion trained in millennia-old martial arts. The sword she drew was broken, with maybe an inch of blade left above the hilt. She used its nonexistent blade to cut the angel in half with a single stroke, which continued on to cut through everything behind the angel, and everything behind that...

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Taken to its logical conclusion. The greatest swordsmen don't need swords at all. They can cut through entire armies with nothing but their will alone. Auntie Maya, the greatest swordswoman the multiverse has ever seen, only drew a sword once over the course of the comic--to fight an angel, which is described as a living nuclear explosion trained in millennia-old martial arts. The sword she drew was broken, with maybe an inch of blade left above the hilt. Its nonexistent blade cut the angel in half with a single stroke, which continued on to cut through everything behind the angel, and everything behind that...

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': Taken to its logical conclusion. The greatest swordsmen don't need swords at all. They can cut through entire armies with nothing but their will alone. Auntie Maya, the greatest swordswoman the multiverse has ever seen, only drew a sword once over the course of the comic--to fight an angel, which is described as a living nuclear explosion trained in millennia-old martial arts. Even then, she only used a broken sword with barely an inch of the blade left.

* WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack once had to indulge a FakeUltimateHero [[JiveTurkey "Sa-mu-rai"]] in a duel. Not wanting to actually hurt the idiot, he insisted on a duel with bamboo stalks first, and managed to [[DefeatByModesty strip him naked]] with zero effort. He then dealt with an ''actual'' threat (a hundred robot assassins [[DualWield with scimitar-arms]]), [[RefugeInAudacity still using the stick]].

-->-- '''One of the many {{Mooks}} Creator/JackieChan whooped'''

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Mat defeats a pair of very skilled swordsmen with a quarterstaff (at the same time). Upon their defeat, their master points out that the greatest swordsman in history was defeated only once, by a farmer with a quarterstaff.
** Though it's hard to call a quarterstaff anything other than a proper weapon; it's a stout, long stick which can crack bones and skulls quite well. Staff fighting is nigh universal and pretty much every culture devoted a martial art to it.

* ''OnePiece'': First duel of Roronoa Zoro with Mihawk, where the latter defeated the former with a butter knife. Mihawk even apologized for not having a knife ''even smaller''! He then proceeded to block a heretofore considered unblockable attack with it, with minimal effort.

* [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Shāng Bù Huàn\Shō Fu Kan]] from ''Series/ThunderboltFantasy'' [[Spoiler: uses a wooden sword painted to look like a normal sword.]] However because of [[spoiler: the massive amounts LifeEnergy he channeled into the sword it was just as, if not even more, effective than an actual steel blade.]] This is revealed towards the end of the first season when [[spoiler: he picks up a random twig or branch from the ground and fights just as effectively with it as he did with original "sword".]]