Weapon Of Choice Discussion - Television Tropes & Idioms

Working Title: Nameless YKTTW: From YKTTW

New Number Order: Musical instruments anyone?

BT The P: I call foul on the sawed-off being the katana of guns. The sawed-off is the club of guns, the chrome-plated automatic is the katana of guns. And the sniper rifle is the longbow of guns.

32_Footsteps: Depends. If we're talking about actual effectiveness, you're probably right. But if we're talking about how pop culture treats guns... think about how moronic fanboys treat katanas. There are plenty of guns they'll also fetishize, but none nearly so much as the sawed-off shotgun. If you've ever done Tabletop Games gaming in a modern setting, you'll know how much the munchkin drools over the sawed-off. The ultimate modern-day munchkin character would be a martial arts expert that always wears a black trenchcoat and dual-wields a katana with a sawed-off. And for even talking about that character, I'm going to wash myself off now.

Robert Bingham: The modern-day munchkin loadout may include sawed-offs and katanas to go along with the standard-issue Badass Longcoat, but the Desert Eagle has also made it onto the "must-have" list. Often wielded akimbo-style, despite the fact that you generally need two hands in order to wield one of these fifty-caliber monsters with any kind of effectiveness. When I design a gunman character for Feng Shui, my choice for weapons to go akimbo with is usually in 9mm or .45 Automatic.

The Defenestrator: In order to be the katana of guns, a gun needs to have a connotation of elegance as well as effectiveness. Therefore, the sleek automatic pistol is the katana of guns.

HeartBurn Kid: I think Footy (you don't mind if I call you Footy, do you Footy?) is saying that sawed-offs from a Trope perspective are used in fiction the same way that Katanas are — they're just better than other weapons without rhyme or reason to it, and thus find their way into the hands of way too many Badasses without any justification.

32_Footsteps: The Kid has it right (and while I usually go by "32", anything will do, really). It's all about how sawed-off shotguns are presented, versus the reality of them.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: In the original lineup, the Red Ranger used a sword, the Black Ranger used an axe, the Yellow Ranger used twin daggers, the Blue Ranger used a trident-style weapon, and the Pink Ranger used a bow. And all five had blasters as back-up.

HeartBurn Kid: Good, good. Now, how does this reflect their personalities?

Robert Bingham: Kinda undecided which of the characters (the Black Ranger and the Yellow Ranger), were the Lancer and the Big Guy, though I can definitely map the others (Jason is definitely the Hero, Billy is the Smart Guy, and Kimberly is the Chick).

Edit: I checked out the Five Man Band page, and it turns out that the Power Rangers were somewhat unique among such ensembles for not having a Big Guy. Zack turned out to be the Lancer, and Trini was another Chick (though she did share elements of The Smart Guy with Billy). Which makes sense — daggers are very Chick-like weapons, and you would expect a badass Lancer to wield a badass weapon, though I've often seen axes in the hands of Big Guys as well.

Wiki: Son, I've been lookin everywhere for this thing, then when I finally find it, someone's started it. Eh, nice title anyway. I liked that song.

Scrounge: Okay, so, what about chainsaws?

Roland: Almost without exception the chainsaw is an 'evil' weapon. It's rarely used by anyone good-aligned, and tends to carry connotations of brutality and horror. Ash from Evil Dead is probably the only good-aligned chainsaw wielder.

And whatever happened to Chainsaw Good?

Scrounge: Fair enough... What about scythes? Grenades? Spears and javelins with a single tip? Refusal to use weapons at all and insisting on one's own skills? There's a lot of weapons out there.

Lale: But this trope is only interested in ones that have an obvious, widespread, corresponding personality counterpart. Chainsaws are for villains, I agree. Scythes are for The Grim Reaper and other Black Cloaks. Spears and javelins are for guys.

Bob: Aren't Polearms used by calm, focused professionals? Like Fate with Bardiche in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Benawi in Utawarerumono. Or is that just Halberds? Because the current Polearms doesn't really describe character traits.

Kimiko Muffin: Removed the song lyrics at the beginning, which have nothing to do with the trope, and are merely from the song the trope was named after (and they don't make a whole lot of sense there, either).

Sabre Justice: What about shields? We don't have anything for shields! Admittedly it's hard to find people that use them but still...

Axes aren't popular because dwarfs used them. They're popular because vikings used them! Seriously, how can anyone get this wrong?

Pure Question: I am getting really sick of hearing about Gurran Laggen.

Look at it this way:

Viral uses katanas/swords because he's actually an Anti Hero
Yoko uses a BFG, partly to highlight the fact that she isn't some girly girl.
Simon uses drills. He's got a motif. 'Nuff said.
Kamina used his sunglasses because he's Kamina.
Rossiu fights with politics because he's an intellectual.

And if you're sick of listening to it, you've probably not watched the show. People aren't really exaggerating what happens.

DoKnowButchie: So, does anybody know if there's any connotation to using multiple weapons? What does using swords, chains, claws, and dust in tandem indicate about a person?

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