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Improbable Weapon User

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Don't ask Jax for a light.

"Here's a riddle: When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? I'll tell you: Whenever you want it to be."
Cheshire Cat, American McGee's Alice

The high probability your wackiest party member (like the Team Pet) will use some sort of bizarre and, well, improbable "weapon" — that is, in the sense of an object you could conceivably hit something with. And some of these "weapons" don't even go that far.

Many games also have a gag weapon for each of the party members, which is essentially an Improbable or Nerf Arm version of their regular weapon, like the following: a fan, a wooden sword for the sword-wielder, a broom for the White Magician Girl, or a squeaky-mallet for someone who normally wields an axe or hammer. Of course, this might end up subverted with an Infinity Plus One slingshot which fires dangerous marshmallows. Sometimes they may be Stat Sticks instead, things that are "equipped" as a "weapon" to give the user the stats but aren't actually used for attacking. Compare The Man Makes the Weapon for when someone deliberately use a gag substitute of a real weapon to showcase his skill.

This trope surprisingly isn't that far from reality and may be one of the stranger examples of Truth in Television. Martial arts weapons have included not just spears, swords, and knives, but farming tools, boat oars (see also Miyamoto Musashi), fans, metal rings (no, not even chakram, just round metal rings), and... small wooden benches? Hell, this doesn't even go into the military trench shovelnote .

Subtropes include the following:

For one-time examples, see Improvised Weapon. If someone manages to pull this off with an actual weapon, see Improbable Use of a Weapon. Compare Abnormal Ammo for improbable things you could throw/launch at an enemy. And Impossibly Cool Weapon for actual weapons with impossible (and cool) properties.

See also Improv Fu, This Banana is Armed, Shoe Phone, Nerf Arm, Happy Fun Ball, Grievous Harm with a Body, Musical Assassin (killing with music), Martial Arts and Crafts, Once Killed a Man with a Noodle Implement, Joke Item, and Lethal Joke Item.


Example subpages:

Other examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Asian Animation 
  • Ever thought of using a toilet plunger as a Magic Wand? Well, in Happy Heroes, Huo Haha does just that and puts it to surprisingly competent use. He also flies on it like a Flying Broomstick in a couple of episodes.

    Manhua 
  • Infinity Game:
    • Meibo uses chalk, a lot, as a throwable weapon and apparently carries boxes of the stuff around with her. She's strong enough with it to break down Long Wei's door.
    • The team defeat a monster by hitting its weak spot with a Ronald McDonald statue.

    Manhwa 
  • In the second chapter of Love Aquarium Gugu throws a hamster (because it was in his co-worker's pocket) at a man with a bloody knife, threatening the main character for sneaking into an off-limit zone. The man faints from a hamster to the face.

    Music 
  • "Every Dog Has Its Day" by Flogging Molly contains the line, "That night on the bridge, with my shovel in hand / Well he threatened to kill me; for sure he picked the wrong man." Of course, a shovel probably only seems like an improbable weapon until someone beats you with it.
  • Evillious Chronicles: In "Tailor Shop on Enbizaka]]", Kayo Sudou kills four people with tailoring scissors. Admittedly, they were an Artifact of Doom, though...
  • The Ambiguously Human main character of Tom Waits' song "Black Wings", we are told, "once killed a man with a guitar string". We are given no further details on this incident.
  • Wesley Willis describes beating Spider-Man to a pulp with a rubber hose for harassing Wesley's girlfriend on the aptly named "I Whipped Spiderman's Ass".

    Podcasts 
  • Yoshi from the Cool Kids Table game Here We Gooooo! wields a shell, though this isn't very improbable in the context of the Mario universe.

Alternative Title(s): Improbable Weapon, Unusual Weapon User

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The Joker’s Super Move

No way he keeps all that stuff in that jacket…

How well does it match the trope?

5 (4 votes)

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