History Main / WaveMotionTuningFork

** ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' gives us a private military version of the SDF called the Macross Quarter. About 1/4 the size of Battle Frontier, she carries a Heavy Quantum Cannon. This tri-prong, splitting weapon of mass destruction, though new in the pantheon of Macross wonder weapons and not as powerful as Battle Frontier's WaveMotionGun, still has enough power to take out a Vajra battleship double (and even a little more) its own size. Instead of firing a single beam from between the prongs, each prong fires its own beam which cycles down the the "rail-gun" structure and "twists" together with the others into a combined spiraling beam.

** The TropeCodifier was the original Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross itself , whose bow separated to form its WaveMotionGun.
*** The Zentraedi ship-mounted smaller cannon also had a sort of baby-version of this look to them.
** ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' gives us a private military version of the SDF called the Macross Quarter. About 1/4 the size of Battle Frontier, she carries a Heavy Quantum Cannon. This tri-prong, splitting weapon of mass destruction is new in the pantheon of Macross wonder weapons that, though not as powerful as Battle Frontier's WaveMotionGun, it still has enough power to take out a Vajra battle ship half, even a little more it's own size. The beams cycle down the the "rail-gun" structure and seem to "twist" into a single beam when fired.
** Also in ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'', we have one of the most advanced VF, the VF-27 Lucifer, with a smaller version of the Heavy Quantum Cannon. The gun splits into a dual-prong energy "rail-gun" that takes a cue from its bigger brother armed on the Quarter. While not as obviously powerful, it can take out a medium sized Vajra with one shot.
*** The [[NonSerialMovie second movie]] gave the YF-29 Durandal, which has one similar to the VF-27's, only it opens vertically instead of horizontally.
*** The Quantam Cannons used in Frontier deviate from the original trope. Inside of firing a beam from between the prongs, each prong fires its own beam which then converges together into a spiraling beam.

* ''TransformersCybertron'': When powered up by his Cyber Key, one of Optimus Prime's SuperMode {{BFG}}s opens up the barrel to create one of these.

* ''TrinityBlood'': When Abel cranks the Crusnik up to 80%, his ''wings'' act as one of these.

* ''VideoGame/UnrealI'' has the Dispersion Pistol, the {{Evolving}} RayGun that goes from RangedEmergencyWeapon to HandCannon, become this depending on the number of upgrades. With one, it's a perfectly example, while with three it has a proper barrel but with "tuning fork" prongs on the sides, while after the fourth it has even more prongs on top.

[[AC:Litereature]]

* The Tesla Cannon in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''(Broken Steel DLC) and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''.

* Railguns work by discharging capacitors through rails connected to the positive and negative capacitor poles with the projectile completing the circuit generating a electromagnetic field, this accelerates it depending on the charge of the capacitors. Modern railguns can go faster than 7x the speed of sound.

* Railguns work by discharging capacitors through rails connected to the positive and negative capacitor poles accselerating it depending on

* Raising Heart from ''LyricalNanoha'' has a "Cannon Mode", in which its half-crescent knob turns 90 degrees and extends, forming this type of weapon, while a gun grip and trigger forms on the other side. The explanation is [[AWizardDidIt simple]].

* The [[KillSat Artemis]] from ''MaiHime'' uses this for its main weapon

Note that while most [[MagneticWeapons magnetic acceleration weapons]] (railguns) have this kind of structure internally, they do not count unless explicitly showcasing said structure in a dramatic fashion. For example, a theoretical design called a "plasma armature railgun" might be able to generate what appears to be a plasma beam rather than a solid projectile. Most fictional weapons with this design do away with projectiles entirely and discharge energy directly; as the energy inside the fork arcs and sparks, this is also a common design for a LightningGun.

* The larger energy weapons in the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' series (and by extension ''{{Robotech}}'') are of this design. Some of the ships of the titular class even used ''the arms of a HumongousMecha [[TransformingMecha mode]]'' as "prongs".

* Haken's HandCannon opens up like this during his LimitBreak in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars OG Saga: VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'' Notable in that the actual barrel of the pistol remains between the prongs.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance'', the Ash Saver's Halberd Launcher is a [[HumongousMecha Personal Trooper]] version of this, firing a [[BeamSpam main beam and several side beams]] at the target.

* In ''{{MARDEK}} 2'', the Dracelon boss monster has one as a claw. The two prongs also open out to 180° when it uses its Lightning Storm attack.

* The larger energy weapons in the ''{{Macross}}'' series (and by extension ''{{Robotech}}'') are of this design. Some of the ships of the titular class even used ''the arms of a HumongousMecha [[TransformingMecha mode]]'' as "prongs".

** ''MacrossFrontier'' gives us a private military version of the SDF called the Macross Quarter. About 1/4 the size of Battle Frontier, she carries a Heavy Quantum Cannon. This tri-prong, splitting weapon of mass destruction is new in the pantheon of Macross wonder weapons that, though not as powerful as Battle Frontier's WaveMotionGun, it still has enough power to take out a Vajra battle ship half, even a little more it's own size. The beams cycle down the the "rail-gun" structure and seem to "twist" into a single beam when fired.
** Also in ''MacrossFrontier'', we have one of the most advanced VF, the VF-27 Lucifer, with a smaller version of the Heavy Quantum Cannon. The gun splits into a dual-prong energy "rail-gun" that takes a cue from its bigger brother armed on the Quarter. While not as obviously powerful, it can take out a medium sized Vajra with one shot.

* The wing-mounted beam cannons from the Knight Sabers' gunship in ''[[BubblegumCrisis Bubblegum Crash!]]''

* The Covenant Plasma Rifle and Plasma Pistol as well as the Brute Plasma Rifle from the ''{{Halo}}'' series. As might be expected, their workings have raised quite a bit of speculation but one of the more prominent ones is that the prongs supercharge air molecules between them and accelerate the resulting plasma out with a magnetic field. Better to [[BellisariosMaxim just play the game]].

* The nose of the Vic Viper from ''{{Gradius}}'' is shaped like this, and is even used as such in some art/adaptations.

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' has two of these: Beelzemon's gun opens in such a manner before firing, and the lion head design on Lowemon's chest can do a fairly unusual version of it (the mouth opens, and a sphere of black energy swirls into existence between the jaws. A yellow beam is then fired from deep inside the mouth, through the black sphere, and the enemy is struck with a black-and-yellow blast. It looks a lot cooler than it sounds.)
* The Oratorio #8 KillSat in EurekaSeven.

* ''TrinityBlood'': When Abel cranks the Crusnik up to 80%, his ''wings'' act as one of these. It is awesome.

* Warp Rifles in ''[[VideoGame/UFOAfterblank UFO: Aftershock]]''.

* Warp Rifles in ''[[VideoGame/UFOAfterblank UFO: Aftershock''.

** The TropeCodifier was the original SuperDimensionFortressMacross itself , whose bow separated to form its WaveMotionGun.

** The dimensional bomb has two folding flanges that the Doctor extends like this to set it.