[[quoteright:170:[[VideoGame/ApeEscape http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Pipo_Snake_4468.PNG]]]]

An ineffectual character shows up with an ineffectual "weapon", usually something that's not a weapon at all. Har har har! He's without a chance— wait a minute, turns out that this weapon is really dangerous! Related to ImprobableWeaponUser and ImprovisedWeapon.

Sometimes used as an end to an apparent BrandishmentBluff.

Can be done with a FingerGun, especially if the user has FingerFirearms. Compare LethalJokeItem.
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!!Examples:
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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''BananaNoNana'', bananas are Nana's WeaponOfChoice. With her powers, she can turn bananas into a sword, a shield, a spear, a whip, a bow and arrow, [[MundaneUtility a tent]].... The list goes on and on.
* Inverted by [[JojosBizarreAdventure Giorno Giovanna]] whose ability can turn inorganic objects, including weapons, into organic objects and back. He even performed this trope literally by turning a gun into a banana and tricking a gangster into shooting himself with it.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Detective Richard {{Fell}} was GenreSavvy enough to recognize that the AxCrazy guy putting razors into grocery produce was probably dangerous with a banana in his hand.
-->'''Fell''': "It was a good shooting. The guy was armed, after all. With death bananas."
* In a ''PinkPanther'' comic, Pink Panther threatens the villain with his pointer finger. The villain laughs... [[FingerGun and Pink Panther somehow manages to fire from his finger]].
* [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol Mr. Nobody]] has a boiled egg and is not afraid to use it. He thinks you know what he means.
* Often subverted by TheJoker who carries a gun that when fired just puts out a stick and flag that says "BANG!" but then afterwards proves to be deadly in various ways.
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[[folder:Films - Animation]]
* In the ''{{Babar}}'' movie, when Baber, Celeste, & Zephir's attempt to impersonate a rhino TotemPoleTrench style with the aid of a cape and a banana doesn't work out, Zephir quickly finds another use for the latter:
-->'''Zephir:''' Stand back!
-->'''Retaxas:''' Watch out! He's got a banana!
-->'''Zephir:''' And I'm not afraid to use it! *squirts it in Retaxas' face, temporarily blinding him and letting Babar snatch his sword*
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[[folder:Films - Live Action]]
* Played for drama in ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'' where Andrew points a FingerGun at a local gang member and uses his [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] to knock him down.
* Used in the ''{{Hancock}}'' when Hancock uses a candy bar to disable a would-be robber.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* Subverted (or ''something'') in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}''. Rincewind is desparate enough to attack [[AGodAmI Living God]] and RealityWarper Coin with… a half-brick in a sock. Not that it actually works or anything, but Coin is so fascinated by the concept (half-bricks in socks don't ever really occur to you when you have limitless magic at your disposal) that he spares Rincewind.
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/GetSmart'' - Maxwell Smart had a .22 calibre FingerGun. Fires two shots.
** Inverted when KAOS abducts Smart, with his escaping being part of their plan. At one point Smart raises a finger to a KAOS guy who throws up his hands, as if Smart had a finger gun. Smart insists it's just a finger and shows the KAOS guy, who gives up and leaves. Alone in his cell, Smart mutters to himself "Come ''on'', Smart. Use that fantastic ''brain'' of yours!"
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' - "Pssh, what could a screwdriver do?" is a pretty common reaction at first. But did we mention it's ''sonic''?
* One ''[[TheMuppetShow Muppet Show]]'' sketch featured Fozzie as an Old West-style criminal whose entire arsenal consisted of fruits and vegetables.
--> I-I'm sorry, I didn't know the pickles were loaded!
* A literal example in a duel segment of ''TurkeyTelevision''. When choosing their pistols, one of the duelists is forced to take a banana. The real pistol jams, but the banana fires a lethal blast and kills the other duelist.
* Zig-zagged in a ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch with a police sergeant teaching his charges how to defend themselves against anyone armed with fresh fruit. He uses a gun, a 16-ton weight, and a tiger.
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[[folder:Radio]]
* ''TheGoonShow'' - "You fool, you can't shoot me with a banana, it's-" Bang! Bang! "... swine ... it was ... loaded!" *thump"
** In another episode, Seagoon is told that Moriarty killed himself by pointing his finger at his head, and saying "bang".
--> '''Seagoon:''' That’s ridiculous. ''[Laughs]'' How can a man shoot himself by pointing his finger at his head like this and going -
--> ''[Gunshot, body falls]''
--> '''Undertaker:''' Mine, I think.
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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' supplement Armory provides weapons stats for common, everyday tools. More than one cocky player has met their end because they didn't believe that a sufficiently skilled combatant with a screwdriver could be any harm.
** Using the first level of the Improvised Weapon Fighting Style in odd places can lead to some of this.
* The Orks in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' are so [[RealityWarper latently psychic]] that anything they believe should behave like a gun, will. If you handed an Ork a figurative or literal banana and told them it was a real sneaky shoota, bullets would come out. From where is anyone's guess.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* In the ''VideoGame/TimeSplitters'' series, there is a tendency to give the player a massive abundance of powerful weapons from destructive to plain GameBreaker and BFG, however in every installment they include the weapon "Brick", which may sound stupid at first, but tends to be more of a LethalJokeItem. Bricks can be thrown as fast as you can pull the trigger, they do acceptable damage, and they have pretty good range and consistent accuracy. Best of all, they ricochet with full force, so if it hits someone and bounces off into a wall, it could bounce back into them and repeat until the target is dead.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' games (especially the ones from ''Armageddon'' onward), the sillier a weapon is, the more dangerous it is. Sheep, bananas, and little old ladies can and will [[MadeOfExplodium explode violently]]. And let's not get started on the Concrete Donkey.
* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' is based on the premise that you defend your home during a ZombieApocalypse with assorted [[EdibleAmmunition vegetables, fruits, mushrooms and other plants]] that can do massive damage to endless hordes of invading zombies.
* The Heavy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has a taunt where he points a FingerGun and "fires" it at someone. If you happen to be in its line of fire, ''it's a one-hit kill''.
** [[ImprobableAimingSkills Not that it's easy!]]
* In ''SoulCalibur'' GhostPirate Cerevantes normally uses a pistol gun thingy, but his [[NerfArm Joke Weapon]] is a wooden toy sword… which can still use the bullet firing moves.
* The 1993 Amiga game ''HiredGuns'' by DMA Design had a banana as the most powerful explosive weapon in the game as a joke item, similar to ''Worms''.
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''StageSelect'' is the trope namer for this [[http://www.stage-select.com/comic.php?archive=0059 page]] and this [[http://www.stage-select.com/comic.php?archive=0085 page]].
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* A ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'' {{Machinima}} where the Heavy invents a Sandvich gun [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7q3_NWcH_M proves surprisingly effective]].
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Often used in ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts.
** "The Unmentionables": BugsBunny threatens mobster Rocky with a carrot. Rocky laughs it off, until the carrot fires in his face. Unfortunately, it won't fire again.
--->'''Bugs''': "That's the trouble with carrots: they're only good once."
** "Drip-Along Daffy": Nasty Canasta is felled by a tiny wind-up soldier… whose rifle packs a mighty wallop.
* ''BountyHamster'' - "Hah! You didn't think that banana was loaded!"
* "[[PerfectHairForever Listen to me.]] I can capture anyone that I want, at anytime. IN BUNS!!" Also, Coiffio sending a Tree to kill [[TheHero Gerald]].
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[[folder:Real Life]]
* The 6th finger, which is a toy that shoot darts.
* Leading up to the 1948 War of Independence, the fledgling state of Israel had a problem: they had more success with their underground bullet factory than they had smuggling guns, so they had more bullets than they could conceivably fire! They had to figure out novel ways to deliver bullets to invaders, and one of these ideas was ''one-shot walking canes'' for Jerusalem's (otherwise defenseless) elderly.
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