Basic Trope: Large guns have little to no recoil; meanwhile, small guns do almost as much damage to the user as Real Life large guns do.
- Straight: Alex shoots an AK-47 with no trouble. Meanwhile, Bob uses a revolver, and is thrown back against the wall upon firing it.
- Exaggerated: Alex uses something that's normally mounted onto an armored vehicle like it was nothing. Bob uses a Derringer, and his arm is blown off.
- Downplayed: ???
- Justified:
- Alex is larger and stockier than Bob; recoil has less effect on Alex.
- Bob is simply not good with guns, or not experienced.
- The big gun is designed to absorb recoil shock; Bob's pistol is not.
- In this setting, guns are like Magic Wands: they choose who wields them. Apparently, the pistol doesn't like Bob.
- Inverted: Alex shoots an AK-47 and has trouble controlling it, or is thrown against the wall while shooting it. Meanwhile, Bob uses a revolver with no trouble.
- Subverted: It turns out that Alex has been firing blanks the whole time, whereas Bob's rounds are more akin to cannonballs.
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: This effect is observed with children using water guns.
- Zig Zagged: Sometimes guns are realistic, other times they are not.
- Averted:
- Alex and Bob use firearms better suited to their respective sizes and skill levels.
- No guns are used in this particular work.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "What's a little guy like you doing with a BFG like that?!"
- Invoked: Alex and Bob are faced with a choice of weapons: the BFG that seems stronger (and cooler), or something that doesn't seem as strong.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alex and Bob don't take larger gun than they can handle.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Law of Inverse Recoil
