| 1 | %%% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings! |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %%% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | %% |
| 8 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1302455081088409400 |
| 9 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 10 | %% |
| 11 | [[quoteright:282:[[ComicStrip/SpyVsSpy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/backwards_2084.jpg]]]] |
| 12 | [-[[caption-width-right:282:Putting a whole new spin on the ScopeSnipe.]]-] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ->''"They say that in the army\ |
| 15 | The guns are mighty fine\ |
| 16 | But when you pull the trigger\ |
| 17 | The bullets fly behind!"'' |
| 18 | -->-- "They Say That In The Army'' |
| 19 | |
| 20 | This is a comedy weapon trope (although there are dramatic examples) featuring a gun designed or modified to fire backwards, tricking the person who uses it into shooting themselves. A common version seen in cartoons is to bend the barrel back into a "U" shape. Note that this trope may still come into play even if the person who might fire the gun would have to be really stupid not to notice the modification. It can also result from FingerInABarrel. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | These guns tend to show up in cartoons and spy genre {{pastiche}}s. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Despite the trope title, other projectile weapons, such as a crossbow or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwacha hwacha,]] may be examples of this trope. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Compare HadTheSillyThingInReverse. |
| 27 | ---- |
| 28 | !!Examples: |
| 29 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 30 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 31 | * One story in the original ''Manga/LupinTheThird'' manga had Lupin himself being shot in the head by a gun that fired backwards, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness set up by Jigen no less]]. [[NegativeContinuity He gets better]]. |
| 32 | ** In ''Anime/LupinIIITheItalianAdventure'', [[spoiler:the [[AssholeVictim Head of MI6]] is killed this way near the end of the series when Leonardo Da Vinci tampers with his gun. What makes this worse is that he ''saw'' what Da Vinci was doing, and still tried to use the gun on him anyway, prompting [[TooDumbToLive death by stupidity]]]]. |
| 33 | ** A less fatal variation appeared in the TV Special ''Anime/LupinIIIEpisode0FirstContact'' where a mob boss tried to shoot Lupin with his own gun...only for a [[ExtendoBoxingGlove coiled boxing glove]] to fly out of the other end. |
| 34 | *** This could also be a homage to the very ''[[Anime/LupinIII first series of Lupin]]'', which included a variation of the same gag. In this example, the unfortunate "victim" is smacked in the face with a spiky ball rather than a boxing glove. |
| 35 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': The anime only G8 arc had the Straw Hats (specifically Luffy, Ussop, Zoro and Robin) when the Marines corner them in a storage vault (They had raided it to recover the treasure they had gained from Skypeia). When a Marine Commander named Shepherd pulls out a gigantic gun dubbed the "Eagle Launcher" and goes to aim. But the Marines around him tell him he's pointing it the wrong way. When he doesn't believe them, he fires and predictably ends up hitting the troops behind him. What's more Robin uses her Hana Hana powers to take control of him and the gun to keep firing it, giving the Straw Hats a path to escape. |
| 36 | * ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': Battler suggests this to explain one crime. |
| 37 | [[/folder]] |
| 38 | |
| 39 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 40 | * A Franco-Belgian comic book involving a zombie problem features semi-automatic pistols tricked out to fire their sliding barrel backwards, killing the user. |
| 41 | * ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': In "Crime on the Wing" in ''Batman'' #33, ComicBook/ThePenguin drops one of his [[ParasolOfpain gimmicked umbrellas]] while fighting Batman. Batman picks it up and fires it at the Penguin, only to discover that umbrella is booby-trapped, and fires a dose of gas back in the firer's face. |
| 42 | * ''ComicBook/BigBangComics'': When MadScientist Dr. Dookmkopf attempts to shoot Super-Frankenstein with his [[DeathRay sub-atomic annihilator]]. His assistant points out the annihilator has not been tested, Doomkopf dismisses this, saying he will test it on Frankenstein. The ray backfires and disintegrates Doomkopf, leaving everything else untouched. |
| 43 | * An issue of the ''ComicBook/{{Impulse}}'' comic book guest-starring ComicBook/TheRiddler featured said Crown Prince of Conundrums with a revolver rigged to shoot backward. |
| 44 | * ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'': |
| 45 | ** In "El tirano", Mortadelo modifies General Panocho's rifle to be this. However, Filemón demands to try it, not knowing it's been rigged, and inadvertently shoots himself. |
| 46 | ** A variation in "El premio No-Vel": VillainOfTheWeek Ten-Go-Pis infiltrates the TIA's headquarters and tampers with Filemón's gun, making it fire ''upwards'' and causing Filemón to shoot himself in the nose. |
| 47 | * ''ComicBook/SinCity: The Big Fat Kill'' had this happen to [[DirtyCop Jackie Boy]]. Miho puts a throwing spike into the barrel of Jackie Boy's gun. Despite Dwight's warnings not to fire the thing, he fires the weapon, and the slide flies backwards, impaling him through the head. This doesn't even kill him, just render him blind. |
| 48 | * ''ComicStrip/SpyVsSpy'': |
| 49 | ** As seen in the page image, this occurs in one strip drawn for a series of paperbacks. |
| 50 | ** Another comic showed the White Spy tricking the Black Spy into launching a missile at him. The missile then broke apart and fired a rocket right back at the launcher. |
| 51 | * In the ''ComicBook/StanleyAndHisMonster'' mini-series, Ambrose Bierce gives Stanley a backwards-firing water pistol that squirts him in the face. (A bit more serious than it sounds -- Bierce is trying to figure out who in the house might be a demon in disguise, and so the gun shoots ''holy'' water -- but since Stanley's just a kid, he's okay if wet. The actual demoness who shows up a bit later [[spoiler:to fetch the same demon Bierce is after back into Hell]] and ends up getting her own hands on the pistol and pulling the trigger is somewhat less amused.) |
| 52 | * Used seriously in one ''ComicBook/{{Torpedo}}'' story, where the killer commissions a special one-shot gun for this purpose, replacing a cop's gun with it. |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/{{Urbanus}}'': In "De dochter van Urbanus", there are three of them. |
| 54 | [[/folder]] |
| 55 | |
| 56 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 57 | * ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' did this with a squirt gun in one strip. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 61 | * ''Fanfic/BoyWithAScar'': In Chapter 29, when Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday make it to Laboon's stomach, they're much more nauseous and dizzy than in canon. Luffy notices this trope in effect when they aim their bazookas, but doesn't say it until after they fire, accidentally blasting the steel door behind them rather than the stomach's ceiling. It doesn't kill them. But it sends them flying into the stomach acid. |
| 62 | [[/folder]] |
| 63 | |
| 64 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 65 | * One of these shows up in ''Film/TheAmerican'' when [[spoiler:George Cloony's character intentionally designs one for an assassin. Why would he do this? Simple: He figured out that the assassin would use the gun to kill him.]] |
| 66 | * In the 1989 Tamil film ''Film/ApoorvaSagodharargal'', the dwarf Appu tricks Sathyamoorthy into killing himself with a circus hand gun that shoots backwards. |
| 67 | * An improvised version occurs during a GunStruggle in ''Film/TheArtOfWar'' (2000), with the protagonist jamming the barrel of TheDragon's pistol against a marble floor and forcing him to fire, causing part of the slide to fly back into his face from the confined gunshot. |
| 68 | * In ''Film/BallisticEcksVsSever'' the big bad tricks a lackey into killing himself by giving him a backwards firing pistol. More of a loyalty test with a built-in punishment, since he was told to shoot himself with it. |
| 69 | * One of the many {{MacGuffin}}s in ''Film/BulletTrain'' is a booby-trapped gun rigged by [[AmbitionIsEvil the Prince]], in hopes of using it against [[spoiler:[[ArchnemesisDad her father]],]] [[BigBad the White Death]], to {{exploit|edTrope}} his habit of [[InvokedTrope killing people who've wronged him]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with their own weapons]]. [[spoiler:Her initial gambit doesn't go as planned, but he eventually kills himself with it in the end of the film, while aiming it at somebody completely different.]] |
| 70 | * ''Film/CarryOnUpTheKhyber''. The Afghans sabotage a British howitzer so it does this trope [[RuleOfFunny by shoving a huge cork in the barrel]]. |
| 71 | * In ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'', Creator/GeorgeRaft, who was best known for playing gangsters, is shot with such a gun. |
| 72 | * An alternate ending for ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'' has John [=McClane=] threatening Simon Gruber with a Chinese rocket launcher with the sights removed, making it impossible to tell which direction it would fire. He gave it to Gruber and allowed him to chose which way to point it in a variation of RussianRoulette. [[spoiler:Gruber ultimately points the rocket launcher the wrong way.]] |
| 73 | * ''Film/FromBeijingWithLove'' has which the assassin picked up from the table and use it as an assassination attempt, but only to hit herself in the arm. After explaining that it's a backwards-firing gun, she tries but hits herself again - it's called the "nicked gun" which fires backwards then forwards. |
| 74 | * ''Film/GhostTown1988'': Outlaws Ned and Billy get the drop on Langley and force him to hand over his shotgun. Before he does so, he surreptitiously plugs the barrel with mud. As soon as he gets the gun, Billy fires it at Langley. The plugged barrel makes it backfire; shooting Billy in the gut. |
| 75 | * ''Film/{{Hulk}}''. The Incredible Hulk bends back a tank's cannon so it's pointing at the wide-eyed crew. It can't fire this way of course, [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry but they get the point]]. |
| 76 | * ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'': The final trap in the [[spoiler:original version of the]] Farm Trap sequence is a shotgun that was rigged to fire in reverse. One of the last two survivors grabs it, assuming that killing the other survivor is the only way out of the trap, and is killed when the trigger is pulled. [[spoiler:This also destroys the key that would have let both survivors escape, which was hidden inside the shotgun shell.]] |
| 77 | * ''Film/LawAbidingCitizen''. A criminal is about to execute a policeman whose gun he stole, only for the 'cop' to reveal he's [[ImpersonatingAnOfficer actually the man whose family he murdered ten years ago]]. Pulling the trigger releases needles in the grip injecting the criminal with a paralysing neurotoxin, so he can be tortured to death at leisure. |
| 78 | * ''Film/LostInAHarem'': While escaping jail, Harvey threatens the guards with a rifle. Unfortunately, he holds it over a candle, causing it to bend backwards and fire through his hat when he pulls the trigger. |
| 79 | * The eponymous pistol in ''Film/TheMexican'' killed its first victim this way when it was being test fired. This lead to the persistent rumor that the pistol was cursed. |
| 80 | * One of the victims on ''Film/{{Mindhunters}}'' is killed by sabotaging his gun this way [[ChekhovsGun after he spends the entire movie complaining that he doesn't want to part with his gun]]. |
| 81 | * Happens with a wrongly assembled cannon in Creator/BusterKeaton's ''Film/ThePlayhouse''. |
| 82 | * In the 1966 film ''Film/TheSilencers'' (part of the MattHelm series starring Music/DeanMartin, a parody of the spy genre), a guard got hold of one of these guns, not knowing it was a trick gun, and pointed it at a woman, as she stoically awaited her fate (she didn't know what it was either). The guard pulled the trigger, shot himself, looked kind of puzzled, and shot himself ''again''. She took the gun and fled. When she was later confronted by another guard, she pointed it at her own chest. The guard, thinking she was about to commit suicide, said "You don't have to do that." She replied "I must" and pulled the trigger, killing him. |
| 83 | * In ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', the taser built into Bond's phone has the prongs come out from the bottom of the phone, rather than the top, meaning the user runs the risk of shocking themselves if they press the wrong button. This comes in handy when Bond has to trick an adversary into disabling himself, under the pretense of remotely unlocking his car. |
| 84 | [[/folder]] |
| 85 | |
| 86 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 87 | * ''Literature/{{Clue}}'': The book ''Midnight Phone Calls'' has a chapter titled "The Guest Who Couldn't Shoot Straight". While hunting an escaped rhinoceros, the six guests are armed with revolvers, two that only shoot to the left, two that only shoot to the right, and two that work normally. At the end, one of the first four revolvers is pointed directly at the rhino, but apparently hits one of the other guests instead. (As usual, it turns out the "victim" isn't really dead - the bullet hit his own revolver's handle, and he fainted from fear.) |
| 88 | * In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', the city Watch was at the end of the supply and priority chain for just about everything, and tended to be issued with crossbows so defective that they fired backwards. This ended when Captain Carrot raided the city armoury so as to be able to control an obvious source of weaponry and deny it to rioters, then to issue his City Militia with reliable kit. Later on, Sam Vimes uses his new wealth as Duke of Ankh to ensure Watchmen get the best sidearms available. |
| 89 | * The [[http://livre.fnac.com/a2516355/Hugh-Laurie-Tout-est-sous-controle French Cover]] of Creator/HughLaurie's ''Literature/TheGunSeller'' shows an automatic pistol with the barrel clearly pointing backwards. |
| 90 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', Ron's wand is damaged and becomes prone to firing spells through the wrong end, the one pointing towards the spellcaster... which is good news when Professor Lockhart steals it and tries to use it to erase Ron's and Harry's memories... |
| 91 | * The ''Literature/{{Lovejoy}}'' novel ''The Judas Pair'' featured a pair of duelling pistols designed to fire backwards. The owner would challenge someone to a duel and let them fire first. His opponent would end up shooting himself in the face. This story was also made into an episode of the ''Lovejoy'' TV series. |
| 92 | * Played with in ''Literature/{{Starworld}}'', where a pistol has been {{Booby Trap}}ped to explode when fired. The pistol belonged to [[MagnificentBastard Thurgood-Smyth]], who realised an underling suspected him of treason, so he has the weapon prepared in advance, knowing the underling couldn't resist [[EvilGloating confronting him directly]] with his own weapon. The only problem was putting some distance between them so he wouldn't be killed also. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 96 | * Happened in ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' episode "The B-Team", a skit that spoofed ''Series/TheATeam''. Murdock chooses to make use of an outdoor latrine just when B.A fires an [=M72=] LAW at the villains; B.A. is holding the rocket launcher the wrong way round and [[CampingACrapper blows up the latrine]] instead. Murdock staggers out [[{{Fartillery}} thinking it was something he ate]]. |
| 97 | * In ''Series/Class2016'', the displacement gun is an alien weapon that fires both forwards ''and'' backwards, thus killing its wielder as well as its target. It was intentionally designed as a [[TakingYouWithMe suicide weapon]], as it's intended exclusively for use against Shadow-Kin: otherworldly entities that exist inside other beings' shadows, hence can only be killed if the opponent whose shadow they are inhabiting is simultaneously annihilated. |
| 98 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' |
| 99 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor The Time of the Doctor]]", the Doctor convinces the wooden Cyberman that he has converted its weapon into one of these. When the Cyberman reverses his gun, it winds up shooting itself in the chest. |
| 100 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E5FugitiveOfTheJudoon Fugitive of the Judoon]]", the Doctor brings along a laser rifle for her confrontation with Gat, [[BatmanGambit betting that Gat will attempt to execute her with that rifle]]. The rifle has been recalibrated to vapourize the one who fires it. She did urge Gat repeatedly not to fire it, but left out why. |
| 101 | * A ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode in which Crichton [[AndYouWereThere imagines himself]] in a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon has him pulling this trick by sliding the sight forwards on D'Argo's shotgun. An angry D'Argo swaps the barrel round, only to shoot himself a second time. Exactly like Wile E Coyote below. |
| 102 | * ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Lair of the Libertines", one VictimOfTheWeek is killed when the killer removes the safety catch from his pistol. This causes the firing pin to shoot out backwards when he fires the pistol, hitting him between the eyes. |
| 103 | * ''Series/TheGoodies''. In "The Movies", Graham Garden is making TheWestern. He kicks open a door holding revolvers GunsAkimbo, only for the [[TheDoorSlamsYou door to slam back in his face]]. When he opens the door again, both barrels are bent upwards, causing debris to rain down from the ceiling when he fires. |
| 104 | * In ''Series/HenryDanger'' episode "The Time Jerker", Schwoz created a typical laser gun they use, but with a scope on top that actually shoots the shooter. He tricked Henry into using it, but in this case, it was just a painful, but harmless result. |
| 105 | * ''Series/InspectorGeorgeGently'': At the end of "Son of a Gun", the skinhead leader Jonjo Burden is blinded when the Sten gun he is aiming at Gently backfires. It turns out the boy he was forcing into modifying it hadn't finished boring out the barrel. |
| 106 | * In a season 3 episode of the Canadian series ''Series/TheListener'', this turns out to be the payoff for the villain's EvilPlan to wreak revenge on the guy who molested his daughter -- he set up a scenario where he knew the guy would get the gun from him, but the gun was rigged to shoot the chamber backwards right into his head. This also allows him to rationalize the guy's death with his personal vow against killing others; ''technically'' he didn't pull the trigger. |
| 107 | * ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' had in one episode a pistol which fired backwards AND forwards, so that the assassin would take out her target and at the same time inadvertently silence herself for good. |
| 108 | * Happens to Kenny in ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', only with mace, while trying to spray Earl with it. Earl helps take the sting out of his eyes afterwards. |
| 109 | --> '''Earl''': When you steal a lot of purses, you learn a thing or two about mace. |
| 110 | * The bent-barrel version of this trope was tested--and [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters confirmed]]--on ''Series/MythBusters''. |
| 111 | * A completely accidental version occurs in an episode of ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'' due to a design flaw in an automatic weapon: in an attempt to keep the weapon's weight down so it would be easier to carry, the designer made the barrel wall too thin to withstand the heat and pressure buildup that comes from continuous firing, causing the barrel to explode if the gun is in operation for too long. The owner of one of said guns learns this the hard way, taking a piece of shrapnel in the neck. |
| 112 | * ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': In the zany [[{{Pastiche}} spy-spoof]] episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE15TheGirlWhoWasDeath The Girl Who Was Death]]", Number 6 modifies some rifles so that they'll fire backwards before some guards arrive and attempt to shoot him with them. He also modifies German "potato-masher" grenades so that the charges are in the handles instead of the heads. |
| 113 | * ''Series/RedDwarf'': In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVTheInquisitor The Inquisitor]]", Kryten and Lister steal the Inquisitor's gauntlet and Kryten reprograms it. When the Inquisitor reacquires it and fires it at Lister, it fires backwards and removes the Inquisitor from history. |
| 114 | * One episode of ''Series/RunningMan'' had Yoo Jae-suk, acting as [[Franchise/JamesBond Yoomes Bond]], searching for an apprentice. He ends up taking in Lee Kwang-soo, whose medical history has a prominent case of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Nonetheless, the two working together were able to eliminate the other players with squirt guns until they were the last ones left, whereupon Jae-suk presents Kwang-soo with one last test by handing him a squirt gun and challenging him to either shoot him and take the prize for himself, or put the gun down and they can split it. It becomes a SecretTestOfCharacter, as the gun Jae-suk hands over is a trick gun that fires backwards. [[spoiler:Kwang-soo fails the test and pulls the trigger only to shoot himself in the face, to Jae-suk's disappointment but not to his surprise.]] |
| 115 | * In a Russ Abbot sketch parodying ''Film/TheGodfather'', the [[ParodyName Oddfather]] explains that if he suspects someone's trying to kill him, he leaves a backwards-firing gun on the table, so the would-be assassin snatches it up, aims it at him, and shoots themselves. The henchman he's explaining this to grabs the nearest gun, shouts "[[TemptingFate I'm smarter than da rest! Say goodbye, Oddfather!]]", [[TooDumbToLive points it at himself, and pulls the trigger.]] Turns out it wasn't a backward-firing gun after all. |
| 116 | * "Wine, Women and War", the second pilot for ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' has Steve Austin crimp the barrel of a mook's gun closed with his bionic fingers. The mook doesn't notice this and, despite Austin warning him not to fire, he shoots and nails himself (though it's unclear whether he actually shoots himself or gets knocked out by backfire). |
| 117 | * ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E24WorstCaseScenario Worst Case Scenario]]", Seska has programmed the holodeck to become a DeadlyGame involving the Voyager crew; when Holodeck-Janeway fires her compression phaser rifle at Seska, it [[DeathIsCheap disintegrates Janeway]]. Later Seska forces Tuvok to PutDownYourGunAndStepAway, but the same thing happens to her as Tuvok sabotaged his rifle before handing it over. |
| 118 | * ''Series/TheWildWildWest'': |
| 119 | ** In the season 2 episode "[[Recap/TheWildWildWestS2E16TheNightOfTheTotteringTontine The Night of the Tottering Tontine]]", the killer substitutes such a gun for the regular revolver of one of his intended victims, one Harry Stimson. Since Stimson was a TriggerHappy {{Sociopath}} who enjoyed shooting up saloons for fun... cue him taking the substituted gun and offing himself instead. |
| 120 | ** In another season 2 episode, "[[Recap/TheWildWildWestS2E28TheNightOfTheBogusBandits The Night of the Bogus Bandits]]", Miguelito Loveless hands James West such a pistol, but he sees through the ruse. Said gun pulls a {{Chekhov|sGun}} at the end of the episode, when Loveless pulls a gun on a hostage, only for West to remind him that there were two identical-looking guns in the bag, only one of which shot forwards. |
| 121 | [[/folder]] |
| 122 | |
| 123 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 124 | * In the BBC radio drama ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: The Lazarus Syndrome'', Ra's al Ghul accidentally shoots himself when he grabs a gun from Batman's trophy room, not realising that it is a booby-trapped weapon rigged to fire backwards. |
| 125 | [[/folder]] |
| 126 | |
| 127 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 128 | * The classic ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' module ''Expedition to the Barrier Peaks'' has a super-science pistol that relies on a player to interpret it being held like a normal gun (something the ''characters'' should never have seen before) to apply this effect. It doesn't actually fire backwards -- it's designed to fire at what it's aimed at, it's just designed to fool the ''player'' using meta-game knowledge instead of figuring out the correct way to hold it. |
| 129 | * ''TabletopGame/GrimtoothsTraps Too'' contains a reverse-firing "Double Crossbow" as a loot trap. |
| 130 | * One ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' mission includes an experimental weapon that needs to be field-tested. When activated, it explodes. [[spoiler:This is intentional. The weapon is called the "Traitor Killer"; it's assumed that there'll be a traitor on the team, and that they'll volunteer in hopes of not being targeted.]] |
| 131 | [[/folder]] |
| 132 | |
| 133 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 134 | * ''VideoGame/CobraTriangle'': One of the two forms of the top of the Fire power-up chain fires one bullet from the fore, one from the aft, and one each from starboard and port. |
| 135 | * ''VideoGame/DuckGame'' has one inspired by the Suicide Gun image manipulation. [[TooDumbToLive Naturally, using it kills its user]] and it's often hard to tell from the normal revolver due to the small size of the handle and trigger. However, if you fire it while standing, and slide just as you pull the trigger, the bullet safely flies over your head. [[LethalJokeItem Once you master this trick, it becomes a remarkably effective weapon.]] |
| 136 | * [[spoiler:The Gun that can Kill the Past]] in ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon''. |
| 137 | * The site ''Epic Mafia'', centered around an online version of the [[ParlorGames parlor game]] ''Mafia'', has the Fabricator role. While Village-aligned roles such as the Gunsmith, Blacksmith, and Santa can secretly give others gifts every night, this EvilCounterpart can create fake versions of items. This includes a fake gun which backfires and kills the user. |
| 138 | * The "Cursed Halo" mod for ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' features ''two'' versions of this. |
| 139 | ** First, the [=M6C=] Magnum is replaced by a throwing magnum, which is backwards-facing and can actually shoot its holder, but the secondary fire will instead throw it and deal normal pistol damage on impact. |
| 140 | ** The rocket launcher also fires backward, though it doesn't hit the player due to the silos sitting on the player's shoulder. |
| 141 | * ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'': |
| 142 | ** The Split Pea has two heads, with its rear head firing peas backwards at twice the rate that its front head does. |
| 143 | ** In the Vasebreaker mode, some of the vases contain Repeaters which inexplicably face the wrong way, forcing you to place them behind the zombies. |
| 144 | * One of the ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' chapters has Guybrush insert a glass tube in the [[VisualPun shape of the letter 'U']] into an antagonist's gun, causing it to fire backwards. |
| 145 | * In ''Videogame/WarThunder'', damage to the breach of the tank's cannon can cause it to misfire. Attempting to fire with a damaged breach has a fairly high chance of causing the shell to explode in the breach, instantly killing the crew. |
| 146 | [[/folder]] |
| 147 | |
| 148 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 149 | * In one episode of ''Literature/BastardOperatorFromHell'', we find out that the cattle prods have two settings. "Stir Fry" operates normally, while "Stun" causes the high voltage to fry the person brandishing the device. This is then used by the Bastard when he suggests the Boss use the cattle prod to stun the PFY. |
| 150 | * One early digression in the podcast ''Worst Foot Forward'' has the hosts and guest speculate on whether making guns that randomly shot the user as well would reduce gun violence. |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 154 | * ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': In "An American Benwolf in London", a robot grabs Rook's gun off him and points it at him. Rook says that he knows something about the weapon that the robot does not. As the robot fires and blows a hole in its own chest, Rook says "You're holding it backwards". |
| 155 | * ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis and Gnasher]]'': In "Yard Sale", Walter picks up Dennis's squirt gun and attempts to shoot Dennis with it, only for it to spray him in the face as Dennis says it backfires. He then turns the gun around and attempts to shoot Dennis again, only to soaked again as the water comes out the barrel and Dennis adds "Sometimes". |
| 156 | * Used at least twice in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': |
| 157 | ** In the episode "Assie Come Home" when making a delivery, Leela has Bender bend the barrels of all the guns, leading to all the gang members killing themselves. |
| 158 | ** A non-lethal example occurs with a megaphone in "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid", Fry shouting uselessly into the conical end and getting blasted with an amplified pigeon noise as the bird inspects the microphone end.[[note]]Presumably, Fry misunderstood the stereotypical "backwards pistol grip" (common to real and cartoon megaphones) as a forwards pistol grip.[[/note]] |
| 159 | * Occurs in numerous ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts. |
| 160 | ** Apparently you can make any gun fire backwards if you stick your finger in the barrel. (As the Series/MythBusters proved, [[JustForFun/TropesExaminedByTheMythBusters this doesn't work in real life]].) |
| 161 | ** In one notable example, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny causes Wile E. Coyote to shoot himself, several times, simply by moving the sight to the other end, or removing it completely so he can't tell which end is which. |
| 162 | ** And in "WesternAnimation/HillbillyHare", he does it by turning the barrel of a long rifle round after the trigger has been pulled. |
| 163 | ** "WesternAnimation/PreHystericalHare" has a Prehistoric Bugs do this with the ''first'' gun, right after inventing the thing, no less. After loading it and giving it to Elmer Fuddstone, Bugs switches the stock around right before Elmer tries to shoot him with it. |
| 164 | * ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries'': When facing off against an escaped alien prisoner in "The Take No Prisoners Syndrome", J grabs an unfamiliar alien weapon from the armory and threatens him with it. The Bug sneeringly informs J that he's grabbed a "Sonar Tube" and is holding it backwards. J turns it around, looking at the brace-like structure on the end he's pointing at himself and the open barrel-like end pointed at the Bug, then puts back the way he had it, points it back at the Bug, and pulls the trigger. A small nozzle promptly pops up and aims a targeting laser at J's forehead, forcing him to jerk the blaster up before it nearly takes his head off. |
| 165 | * In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Mr. Burns moves the power plant to India. When one of Moe's patrons comments that the bar is being powered by imported electricity, Moe sees no problem and points out other imported stuff. When he's asked if he has anything made in America, he shows his shotgun and tries to shoot, causing it to backfire. |
| 166 | [[/folder]] |
| 167 | |
| 168 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 169 | * A poorly-made, incorrectly assembled or worn-out firearm or excessively powerful cartridge loads can cause the bolt, part of the breech or -- in the case of semi-automatic pistols -- the slide to be blown back into the user's face. The ReliablyUnreliableGuns page has a couple of examples. |
| 170 | ** The most notable version is probably the Ross Rifle, a Canadian-designed and built substitute for the excellent Lee-Enfield during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. While a fine design, just as powerful and slightly more accurate, it could be disassembled and then reassembled with the bolt head turned in the wrong direction, chambering and firing a round without the bolt securely locked to the receiver, resulting in possible EyeScream. |
| 171 | ** When the Beretta M9 was the standard US military handgun, the US UsefulNotes/NavySeals were among the only members of the US military to use a 9mm pistol that ''wasn't'' it, partly because of a combination of defects that caused the same sort of issue as the Ross rifle above -- poorly heat-treated slides and incorrectly forged locking blocks in early batches were giving out five times earlier than they should have, and this was made worse when a bad batch of horrifically overcharged ammunition was thrown into the mix. In any case, whether you had a weakened slide that broke in half or a cracked locking block shattering to pieces, or if a faulty cartridge exploded, the slide (or the back half of it) would fly off and hit the SEAL firing it in the face during training, with at least one SEAL reportedly having [[EyeScream lost his eye]] from it. As the quote went, "you ain't a SEAL until you've eaten Italian steel". |
| 172 | *** Beretta eventually fixed the problem with the M9 (upgrading the base platform into the Beretta 92FS) and the only reason the [=SEALs=] encountered the problem was because they train more on sidearms in a month than most regular servicemen do in their entire careers. However, the damage was already done to Beretta's reputation, and for the next three decades the US military, almost like clockwork every three or four years, propped up programs to either select a new standard sidearm (when they just wanted to get rid of the Beretta) or adopt a secondary special-purpose .45 ACP sidearm whose "special purpose" would be to replace the Beretta (when they were feeling bold enough to try going back to the M1911); by the time of the last, successful attempt in the Modular Handgun System, Beretta didn't even bother offering further upgrades of the M9 because it would have been rejected on principle. |
| 173 | * In UsefulNotes/WorldWarI there were attempts made to mount large caliber cannons onto the flimsy biplanes of the day to shoot down zeppelins, and one method used to mitigate the substantial recoil was to simply weld a second cannon facing backwards to the back of the forward firing cannon, and firing both guns at the same time, the rear one loaded with chain or other such material to cancel out the recoil of the forward firing gun. This wasn't very successful against high-flying zeppelins, but U-boats became the primary victims of recoilless artillery, especially when patrolling flying boats equipped with Davis Guns could simply point the guns straight down and hit the submarines before they could dive. |
| 174 | * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recoilless_rifle Recoilless rifles]] were adopted after UsefulNotes/WorldWarI to combat tanks. Instead of the weapon itself taking the hit from the cartridge being fired, a lot of the gas is vented from the back. The same principle is used by rocket launchers like the bazooka and RPG-7. Because the blast isn't contained, the weapon itself is much lighter, allowing small vehicles and individual soldiers to carry a weapon that can penetrate tank armor. The backwards firing part comes in when you consider that those same gasses that aren't stopped by the weapon can injur and even kill anybody some feet behind it. This also prevents them from being fired indoors, as nearby walls would bounce the gasses back to the shooter. |
| 175 | ** During the Korean War, a number of U.S.-built recoilless rifles were captured by Chinese troops, who attempted to use them without being aware of how they operated. They didn't do it twice. |
| 176 | ** The same thing happened to the Finns in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII when they were supplied with Panzerfausts by Germany - though the weapon did have a warning printed on it, [[LanguageBarrier it was naturally written in German]], resulting in some Finnish soldiers bracing the weapon on their shoulder like a rifle and killing themselves with the backblast. |
| 177 | * Water guns have been made so that there's a rotating exit on the top allowing guns to squirt in any direction and forward at the same time. |
| 178 | * There is a possibly photoshopped image of a backwards revolver circling the Internet. |
| 179 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytqgR71dpbc But there is in fact a real toy version of a backwards revolver.]] |
| 180 | * ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' has used it a few times as one of its BRollRebus-esque images. |
| 181 | * Backwards-firing [[http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/cutlery/cutlery.htm Combat Cutlery]]. "It is difficult to imagine a social gathering where it is appropriate to shoot off your own elbows." Needless to say, it seems that the utensils have to be turned around ''before'' the triggers can be pulled. |
| 182 | * One 'dirty trick' of covert warfare is to arrange for your enemy to get hold of small-arms cartridges loaded with C4 (or nitroglycerin) instead of regular gunpowder. |
| 183 | * Squibbed guns are a bad thing. A squib occurs when a foreign object gets really stuck down a gun barrel or if a projectile failed to leave during the firing cycle. Attempting to fire a squibbed gun will usually result in a burst barrel or worse, a piece of rifle bolt (or a piece of shattered slide from a pistol) flying into the user's face. |
| 184 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Main / BackwardsFiringGun
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
