Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Does it really have to be an energy weapon?
, started by Deboss on Jan 21st 2011 at 3:44:53 AM
Dry Paratroopa
Quick question: Why is it named Wave Motion Gun?
This signature is empty. Nothing to see here. Hide / Show Replies
Apparently, it's named after a particular gun from an anime/manga.
Still, Maybe we could find something that makes a bit more sense to people other than that particular anime/manga's fanbase?
Edited by Dragon573 It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.
I was wondering the same thing. This article is about extremely powerful energy weapons. Wave motion gun sounds like emphasis is being put on the "wave" part, which is misleading. I thought this article would be about energy beams that "waved" for no particular reason, like the Wave Beam from Metroid.
The Wave Motion Gun was the name of the weapon of the Yamato/Argo in Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers, the first popular production to have such a weapon (made in 1974, it even predates Star Wars and by extension, the Death Star). Wave Motion Gun is the name of the trope because *it created the trope*. Deal with it. Just because you're not familiar with the name doesn't mean Yamato doesn't deserve credit for creating the trope. Meanwhile, you should consider "Wave Motion" as the adjective, rather than just "Wave"
The WMG was so named because it pooled the energy from the ship's engine, the Wave Motion Engine, and fired "tachyonic particles faster than the speed of light" (verbatim quote from the series).
The Space Battleship Yamato 2199 remake from 2012-13 changes the nature of the gun. The Wave Motion Gun is a nickname, it still draws its energy from the Wave Motion Engine, but now it's a channeling of Hawking Radiation from microscopic black holes created in the firing chamber.
Edited by gryffinseye
As I understand it, the Wave Motion Engine was supposed to work by forcing all of the atoms in the area of space occupied by the Yamato to vibrate at almost exactly the same frequency and in the same direction at the same time, thus creating an atomic "wave" of moving atoms (the "motion" of the name) to somehow carry the ship along at faster-than-light speeds (possibly the idea was that the atoms were temporarily converted to tachyons).
The gun was supposed to harness this energy as a weapon. The above technobabble was the only "explanation" ever given for how this was done.
Absent-minded professor and Neverwinter Nights DM
...I know this is years late, but just because it deserves credit doesn't mean that the trope should necessarily keep the inaccessible name. The point of trope names is to tell you what the trope means, not tell you who created them.
That is late.
But you're sort of right. This name wouldn't fly if it were proposed today. But at this point it's grandfathered in and won't be changing.
That said, I always found it (according to the description above, accidentally) descriptive. It's a gun that fires such a huge blast of energy it seems like a wave. I'd never seen Star Blazers so it's not like I'm influenced by that.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Quick question: Can a projectile weapon count as a Wave Motion Gun as the Nova Cannon mentioned in the Warhammer 40'000 entry fires massive explosive shells rather than energy.
Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well
The section about EVE Online needs to be updated to reflect the past few years of changes. It's been a while since they changed the DD weapons from giant smartbombs to single target LAZERS and MISSILES
It should be noted that Space Battleship Yamato 2199 does NOT take the power of the Wave Motion Gun to a new level. The Floating Continent on Jupiter was the same size (i.e. roughly that of Australia) in the 1974 version as it is in 2199. It completely destroyed the Floating Continent in the original series, it did so again in the 2012 version.
Edited by gryffinseye Hide / Show Replies
You should also note that Australia is larger than Pluto. So the Wave Motion Gun would easily destroy the planet.
Edited by 216.99.32.44
I don't know... there was a visible distortion/shockwave on Jupiter that (based on eyeball measurement of covered area) was larger than the great red spot when they were departing the area later.
You could drop Earth into the great red spot and the great red spot probably wouldn't notice. Also after seeing Blu Ray 7 this weekend I'd put it up a few notches in the 'please don't point that at my planet' gun category than the original.
Spoiler: The Garmallis military shows the ability to effectively raze a planet without space defenses completely in a matter of a few hours. Multi gigaton fusion devices, orbital beam cannons, they just sterilize a whole planet without really breaking a sweat.
Starsha knows what they can do.
The Wave Motion Gun horrifies, disgusts, and terrifies her at a level far beyond that.
Two more:
Saber rider and the star sheriffs (Sei Jushi Bismark) which has one especially nice exampel of this in the dozens of main guns of the Ramrod Mecha/Ship hybrid they send into battle...
and Plastic Little, where the Cha-Cha Maru, nominally "just" a overly glorious fish trawler/sub built to hunt the exotic animals of the planet the film is set on, can literally vaporize a whole Navy fleet made out of dozens of battle ships, most of them by far larger than the Cha-Cha Maru. you won't find much wankier examples of the WMG out there...
The top-rated video as of this moment is of a handheld weapon in Splatoon 2 that is described as a high-pressure spray of ink that can penetrate walls. Does this really fit the spirit of the trope? I think it's more confusing than clarifying given that to my understanding the Wave Motion Gun is generally a massive, destructive device, and the spray in the video is thin and seems to only damage players and paint walls.
I should note though I've never played Splatoon
Edited by MechaAnguirus