Basic Trope: A character improvises a weapon, often a broom handle, to use as a fighting staff.
- Straight: Bob is fighting a horde of mooks. His weapon breaks, so he reaches into the janitor's closet, pulls out a mop, and starts attacking with it.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob pulls a light post out of the street and begins to wield it as a staff.
- Telephone Polearm
- Bob's broom is his favorite weapon.
- Downplayed: Bob grabs a walking stick (already a staff, but not one designed for fighting) and unleashes some Cane Fu on the enemy.
- Justified: Bob was trained to use a quarterstaff, and the mop handle was the next best thing.
- Inverted: Bob attaches a mop head to his fighting staff and sweeps with it.
- Subverted: Bob, a martial artist, picks up a broom lying around and uses it as if it were a baseball bat.
- Double Subverted: Then he realizes that it would be better used as a staff.
- Parodied: Bob doesn't remove the mop head from the shaft, adding a level of ridiculousness to the fight. Bonus points if Bob actually mops somebody's face.
- Zig Zagged: Bob's attacked by ninjas while mopping, and pops the mop head off to use as a fight. One of the ninjas claims that a mop stick could never be used as a quarterstaff, because it's not strong enough. Bob replies that he's mounted the mop head on his quarterstaff for just such an occasion, and proceeds to lay the beat down on the ninja. Charlie rushes in as the ninjas escape, and mentions that Bob must be really paranoid to have prepared the quarterstaff-mop in advance. Bob smiles and reveals that it was a regular mop all along. As Bob and Charlie exit the room, the camera zooms in on the mop's handle, which has an insignia on it showing that it really was a quarterstaff the whole time; Bob just didn't want Charlie to think he was so paranoid.
- Averted: Bob uses a different Improvised Weapon.
- Enforced:
- They couldn't afford actual quarterstaves, so they just took a broomstick and ran with it.
- It isn't a karate movie until someone whacks someone else with a broom.
- Lampshaded:
- "Keep that broom away from him!"
- Alternately: "How did you lose to someone using a broom?"
- "Did you fear they would sweep you up, wormbrain?"
- Invoked: Bob puts a mop in every room of his house in case he needs one.
- Exploited: The Mooks know that broom handles aren't made for fighting, and destroy Bob.
- Defied: The Big Bad makes sure that none of the handles on any of his equipment are long and/or strong enough to be used as a staff.
- Discussed: Mook: Oh, Crap!, he's got a broom! Fall back!
- Conversed: I didn't think they made broom handles so strong.
- Implied: Bob is attacked by Mooks, and is backed into a closet, and looks at a broom intently. In the next scene, the Mooks are lying on the floor, and the broom is in a different position.
- Deconstructed: Broomsticks weren't made to be fought with. It breaks as Bob cracks the first mook on the head.
- Reconstructed: But he is able to use the stouter handle of the fallen mook's spear instead.
- Played For Laughs: Bob's attacked by a dozen janitors wielding mops and brooms after making a mess. Bob asks aloud what he could possibly have done to deserve this, and finds out that there's a secret janitor society trained in broom combat specifically for dealing with perpetually messy clients.
Back to Broom Stick Quarterstaff
