Line #134 Main/WeaponizedCamera


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11	[[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/camera_weapon.jpg]]
12	[[caption-width-right:324: Hey, Fritz: Say "Käse"!]]
13
14	->''"Hands up, gangster, or I'll 'photograph' you at point blank range!"''
15	-->-- '''Tintin''', ''[[Recap/TintinTheBlueLotus The Blue Lotus]]''
16
17	So there's a fight scene, and someone just happens to have a camera. Not only is the camera useful for snapping photographs, it's one more possible weapon out of many already present in the scene. If the camera isn't being used to physically bonk people over the head, the flash can be used to [[BlindingCameraFlash momentarily blind them]]. In some rare cases, the effectiveness of the camera as a weapon has to do with superstition on the part of the person whose picture gets taken ("You stole my soul!"). An ArtAttacker may have one of these as their weapon.
18
19	When the camera's offensive properties go beyond just the flash or a simple bludgeon, it's likely a MagicalCamera or ShoePhone.
20
21	Subtrope of ImprovisedWeapon.
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
29	* ''Anime/CuteyHoney'' has Honey's photographer form bludgeon a few Panther Claw goons with her camera in the first anime opening.
30	* The protagonist of ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'' can kill with his camera, which blows up whatever he photographs.
31	* The female character in ''Manga/ZombiePowder'' turned her tripod into a cannon.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Comic Books]]
35	* Mr. Camera is a minor ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' villain who uses photography-based gadgets in committing his crimes.
36	* In ''ComicBook/{{Cavewoman}}: River Styx'', Meriem uses the flash on a photographer's camera to blind a cave-swelling KillerGorilla whose eyes are adapted to functioning in very low levels of light.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Fan Works]]
40	* ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace''. Captain Proton is annoyed by TagalongReporter Buster Kincaid, who has a habit of letting off a BlindingCameraFlash from his [[AnachronismStew 4 x 5" Speed Graphic camera]] in the face of everyone he meets. At the climax of their adventure, Proton is being held at gunpoint by the villain who insists that Buster record him killing Earth's greatest hero. Turns out Buster is actually a secret agent with the [[ShoePhone appropriate gadgetry]].
41	-->He barely had time to scream as a terrible flash burnt his shadow against the wall.\
42	"Oops!" said Buster, unscrewing the bulb with [[AtomPunk lead-lined gloves]].
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
46	* It took Buzz and his gang a camera set in the baggage conveyor belt scene to temporarily paralyze ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'''s villain, [[{{Prospector}} Stinky Pete]]. [[BlindedByTheLight With the flash]], of course.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50	* ''Film/TheBodyguardFromBeijing'' have an assassin disguised as reporter armed with a camera concealing a hidden gun. But the titular character played by Creator/JetLi sees through the disguise and quickly puts a bullet through the camera's lens, as well as [[BoomHeadshot the assassin's face]].
51	* The terrorists in ''Film/DeathTrain'' demand a camera crew be let onto the train so they can show off the bomb and make their point clear to the world. This is done - but the heroes are in the news crew, and the camera has a single-shot gun hidden inside.
52	* In the film ''Film/DogSoldiers'' they use a polaroid camera to blind the attacking monsters. The photographs they take show up in the end credits.
53	* In the horror film ''Film/DontBeAfraidOfTheDark'' in 2011, Sally was given a Polaroid [=SX70=] [=OneStep=] camera by Kim. During the dinner party hosted by her father, she went to photograph proof of the Fairy Fold monsters. However, she becomes locked up in the library and has to keep the Fairy Fold away from her with the flashes until her father finds a way in.
54	* In ''Film/DrNo'', photographer Annabelle Chung cuts Quarrel's face with a broken flashbulb. It doesn't do her much good.
55	* Done in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' when one of the characters tries to take a Polaroid of the Gremlins and discovers that they're sensitive to bright light.
56	* A camera-mounted tripod is used as a stabbing and bludgeoning weapon in ''Film/HalloweenResurrection''.
57	* The Camerahead Cenobite from ''Film/HellraiserIIIHellOnEarth'' can make things explode by taking a picture of them with his camera eye, which can also extend with enough force to punch a hole through a man's head.
58	* When her home is plunged into darkness, Sarah from ''Film/Inside2007'' uses the flashes emitted by her camera to navigate the house, and find the wounded killer.
59	* In ''Film/LicenceToKill'', Q provides Bond with a ScaramangaSpecial sniper rifle that looks like a high-end camera and accessories when disassembled. Q also has a Polaroid camera that fires {{Energy Weapon}}s (and takes X-ray photos) that is only used for a throwaway gag.
60	* In ''Film/MurderAtTheBaskervilles'', Colonel Moran has a high power air gun concealed inside a movie camera that he uses to shoot the jockey on the winning horse during the cup race.
61	* An alternate ending for ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' would have had a possessed Katie beat Micah to death with the camera.
62	* In ''Film/PeepingTom'', Mark murders his victims with a retractable knife hidden in the leg of his camera tripod: allowing him to film them at the moment he kills them.
63	* The Water Street Butcher bashes a child's head in with the camera in ''Film/ThePoughkeepsieTapes''.
64	* In one scene of ''Film/Quarantine2008'', a character uses the POV camera to beat up a zombie lens-first.
65	* The climactic scene in ''Film/RearWindow'' involves the protagonist using camera flashbulbs to slow down the villain as he advances on him.
66	* In ''Film/{{Ruby}}'', the title character is given a home movie camera with a gun hidden inside.
67	--> '''Vitali:''' It takes nine-millimeter film.
68	* The murderers in the Australian slasher film ''Film/ScareCampaign'' use a variety of weaponized cameras to bludgeon, stab, garrote, and ''chainsaw'' their victims.
69	* ''Film/{{Shatter}}'': The titular protagonist, an assassin disguised as a reporter, kills an African dictator using a camera concealing a mini-pistol that fires a bullet from its lens as the victim had his picture taken.
70	* The killer in ''Film/TheSleeper'' blinds two co-eds with camera flashes before attacking them.
71	* Erin uses one of these in ''Film/YoureNext'' to set up an ambush for the fox-masked intruder.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Literature]]
75	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
76	** In ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', Bel-Shammaroth is stunned and scared off by caged Salamanders flashing lights. Salamanders whose purpose is to provide light for Twoflower's camera.
77	** In ''Literature/TheTruth'', Otto Chriek's experimental camera is used to advantage in a fight scene because it uses Uberwaldean Land Eels -- which emit the mysterious "dark light" -- instead of Salamanders.
78	* The ''only'' way to defeat the BigBad in the book ''Golden And Grey: The Nightmares Ghosts Have'', was to capture his image in some way. The hero intended to use a pocket mirror and brought one along, but when it broke, an annoying reporter with a camera ended up saving the day.
79	* Sometimes, the camera really ''does'' steal souls. See (repeatedly) ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'', most notably the ''Say Cheese and Die!'' books.
80	* In Charles Stross' ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'', the CCTV cameras ubiquitous across England can be turned into "look-to-kill" weapons, operating on the same principle as [[TakenForGranite basilisks, gorgons, etc]]. It says something about how bad [[ApocalypseHow a full-scale invasion]] by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s is expected to be that killing (by petrifying and/or cooking) most of Britain's population is considered ''[[GodzillaThreshold the better option]].''
81	* In Creator/MichaelCrichton's ''Literature/{{Prey}}'', the killer GreyGoo were originally designed to be nanomolecular cameras.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
85	* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Michael Westen once cracked open a disposable camera and put the case around a taser.
86	* One of the ''Series/{{CSI}}s'' had a girl die when a camera was thrown at her.
87	* The "KGB vs. CIA" episode of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'' featured the KGB using a camera that was also a gun. It was intended for assassinations, which was why it only held [[OneBulletLeft a single .22 caliber bullet.]]
88	* Mentioned in an episode of ''Series/HogansHeroes''. There was a Hollywood star who had joined the US Army Air Corps and had been shot down, and had agreed (for some bizarre reason) to take part in a German propaganda film. Carter's idea to keep "America's Sweetheart" from doing a propaganda film for the Nazis?
89	-->'''Carter''': I pretend I'm taking a picture, but inside the camera, I've got a [[{{BFG}} thirty-seven millimeter cannon]]...sawed off.\
90	'''Newkirk''': You don't think that's a bit messy?
91	* ''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker''
92	** "Bad Medicine". When Kolchak takes pictures of a diablero, it flees to protect its eyes from the bright light from the camera's flashbulb.
93	** Subverted in "They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be...". Kolchak thinks the monster is adversely affected by the light from his camera's flash bulb. It actually turns out to be vulnerable to the sound the camera's recharger makes after the flash.
94	* ''Series/TekWar'': A former mayor and tek-addict was running for office. When he finally wins, one assassin moves into position with a camera modified with a rapid-fire energy weapon, while being able to look like a normal person of the press.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
98	* At the 1993 King Of The Ring PPV, Wrestling/HulkHogan was defending the WWF title against Yokozuna. Near the end of the match, a photographer shot a fireball out of his camera, hitting Hogan in the face and allowing Yokozuna to get the win and regain the title.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
102	* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'' adventure ''C.L.O.W.N.'' Snapshot, one of the members of the title villain group, had a high tech camera that could change its target into a photograph.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Toys]]
106	* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': April O'Neil's action figures for the 1987 cartoon and 1990s live-action movies typically included a camera and microphone as accessories that the toys' packaging typically referred to as weapons. In her first toy, she had a cam-corder that hid a concealed pistol.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Video Games]]
110	* While Jade cannot actually fight using her camera in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'', it does serve as a substitute for a SniperRifle scope for making precise long-distance shots with the disk launcher.
111	* In ''VideoGame/{{Deceit}}'', cameras are used that way against the Infected when they are transformed. What's more, they are put there specifically for this purpose by a mysterious man hosting a DeadlyGame as a way for the innocents to defend themselves against the Infected.
112	* In ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' there's a level where you play as a journalist in a makeshift World War I hospital. You start the level with a camera and some flash powder which you can use to stun enemies (which is useful, considering some of them can easily dodge the puny guns you're given).
113	* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' one of Edgar's tools is a camera with a damaging flash.
114	* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' has Charlotte, a journalist who uses her camera as a catalyst for her [[AnIcePerson Cryo powers]] and attacks enemies by snapping pictures.
115	* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', Combine Scanners are small, flying camera robots that can blind you with their flash.
116	* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'', a camera can be used to blind foes.
117	* Ran Hibiki from the ''VideoGame/RivalSchools'' games incorporates her camera into some of her special attacks, being a SchoolNewspaperNewshound and all.
118	* In the movie studio stage of ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorldTheGame'', one of the generic {{mooks}} attacks with a flash camera.
119	* In ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'', from the ''HD'' remake onward you can find a camera that causes a BlindingCameraFlash in a box in front of you, stunning and disorienting most enemies (including the otherwise invincible and infallible [[StalkedByTheBell Ghost,]] if only for a brief moment) and outright ''killing'' most undead enemies, including skeletons and vampires.
120	* In ''VideoGame/SuperSolvers: Midnight Rescue,'' the Super Solver's main tool is a camera. It serves two functions: One, to take photos of Morty's robots to gain clues on which robot Morty is hiding inside. Two, to zap the robots and make them disappear whenever they try to attack you.
121	* Although it works ''slightly'' different in both games, [[VideoGame/DeadRising Frank West]] uses a camera as one of his special moves in both ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'' and ''Ultimate VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3''.
122	* There's at least one ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' videogame adaptation where you can use the camera to scare away birds/bats and stun both men and beasts alike, allowing you to get close enough to knock them out cold.
123	* In ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' {{Gaiden Game}}s ''VideoGame/TouhouBunkachouShootTheBullet'' and ''VideoGame/DoubleSpoilerTouhouBunkachou'', taking enough pictures of the bosses makes them explode as though they were defeated. Taking pictures also clears away [[BulletHell bullets]] in the picture.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Webcomics]]
127	* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Catalina and Rhoda use their cameras' flashes along with a loud whistle to scare off a boar.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Western Animation]]
131	* In the ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' episode "Dear Diary," Dr. Goosewing loads a camera with a stake to fire at Duckula. He gains entrance to the castle disguised as a photographer, but he gets revealed when the gunpowder meant to propel the stake blows up in his face.
132	* During a ''Film/JamesBond'' {{parody}} episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' a mook at the photography company's secret lair uses a camera to shoot shuriken-photos at Dexter. The main villain has an electronic camera eye with a flash that renders victims catatonic.
133	* During one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. Xana was using rats that were extremely sensitive to light. Cue everyone using the cameras flashbulbs to get the rats to scatter along with some incredibly painful "say cheese!" and "smile!" puns.
134	* In one ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode Eddy keeps doing this to Kevin.
135	* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' used this to defeat the Molemen in one episode.
136	* When ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' went to Itchy & Scratchy Land and the robots went berserk, flashes from cameras made them malfunction and short circuit, rendering them useless.
137	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'': During a battle between Venom an Spider-man at the [=J3=] news station, Venom grabs a large camera an is about to smash Spidey with it, before Iron Man blats it out of his hands.
138	* Simon Bar Sinister of ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'' created a special camera in "Simon Says" (his first-ever appearance in the show), that, when it hits the victim, turns said victims into photographs, and he intended to do so to our hero and Sweet Polly and then kill them both by tearing up their photographs. Underdog defeated Simon by [[HoistByHisOwnPetard employing a mirror to make the ray bounce back towards him]]. The effects are reversible by switching the lens in the opposite direction.
139	-->'''Simon:''' Simon says, "Hold it"!
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Real Life]]
143	* More reasonable than you may think. Older film cameras are liable because they tended to be made out of milled metals and other durable materials with a simple internal construction, while modern high-end cameras tend to have heavy-duty magnesium frames and are designed specifically so that you can drop them on rocks in the middle of an African safari and still expect them to work well enough. As for flashes, well, a professional off-camera flash is something you don't want going off in your face rapidly in the first place, and many modern flashes have enough capacitors to build several flashes' worth of charge per cycle. Plus, many photographers are liable to have [[DualWielding two or more flashes on them if they have their kit]]. Basically, don't put a photographer in a corner, it could be painful.
144	[[/folder]]

Context Main / WeaponizedCamera