History Main / SpinToDeflectStuff

** Keetongu's Whirling Shields not only blocked energy attacks, but transferred their power to Keetongo himself. On the toy, an axle allows you to spin them.

** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', [[SinisterScythe Marluxia's]] take on Block ability is this trope.

* As noted in the trope summary, the use of staff weapons to deflect arrows. The staff doesn't actually need to be spinning so fast that it's impossible for any arrows to get by, it just needs the staff wielder to have a good idea of when and where the arrow will arrive and times the spin to hit it.

** ROB's side special, where it spins it arms around its body, has this as a secondary use.

This is ''a tiny bit'' TruthInTelevision in that a few hundred years ago, when bows were the norm rather than guns, there were martial artists who claimed that they could spin a staff fast enough to deflect arrows.[[note]]An arrow is about a meter long, so to block one reliably, the staff has to complete half a revolution/second for each meter/second of speed the arrow has. Even at a mere 10 m/s (slower than a sprinter), that's 5 rev/s... hard to pull off continuously, but it only needs to be spun for the brief window between the arrow being en route and being in your chest. A medieval-style longbow can fire at 60 m/s, requiring 30 rev/s. If you could spin a staff ''half'' that fast, you could stick airfoils on it and become a human helicopter. To its credit, rotating slower would still provide a better defense than just holding a weapon steady, though not nearly to the degree that it's most commonly depicted.[[/note]]

** Longtime Thor enemy Thunderball has done this at least once, though he was in a ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' comic at the time -- he spins his ball-and-chain in a circle to deflect small arms fire. Thunderball is human, but he and his ball-and-chain are empowered by Asgardian magic.

* One antagonist from the ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' movies blocks Lina's fire blasts like this. Subverted, in that said antagonist's sword catches fire.

* ''VideoGame/NineMonkeysOfShaolin'' have you being attacked by mooks armed with projectile weapons like blow-pipes, arrows or rifles. They have a habit of staying out of your weapons' range, too, but you can spin your weapons (either a MartialArtsStaff, a BladeOnAStick or a [[CarryABigStick powerful mace on a long handle]]) to send their projectiles back at them.

** [[BladeOnAStick Bolverk]] and [[EpicFlail Plutonian]] from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'' have the ability to deflect bullets by spinning their weapons.

* This is a standard move in many ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games, where holding the attack button would make you spin your [[WhipItGood whip]]. This would block many basic projectiles before they reached you. A lot of magic shields in ''Castlevania'' games have also have a habit of spinning around. This doesn't actually block out everything. A spinning whip deals less damage than a normally flung whip, and enemies can still run into you while taking damage. Also, if you have a set of n things (where n is usually 2, 4, 6, or 8) whirling around your character, projectiles can still fall through the cracks and hit you. Thus, both of these tactics are most useful for dealing with weak but annoying enemies, such as medusa heads. Also, don't forget the recurrent Spear Guards, who have a nasty habit of deflecting projectiles this way. In some games (''Harmony of Dissonance'', in example) they become completely immune while doing this.

** Itsue does this with a [[WhipItGood whip]]. That IS her special power, and the only one that is actually useful out of all the Aasu sisters.

* In the ''WebVideo/FranceFive'' final episode, Blue Accordéon and Yellow Baguette spin their weapons to shield themselves against lightning thrown by [[BigBad Glou Man Chou]]. [[CasualDangerDialog And they hold a conversation while doing it.]]

* True to tradition, Donatello does this with his [[WeaponOfChoice signature]] [[MartialArtsStaff Bo]] in ''Film/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2014}}''. [[RuleOfCool Against machine guns. At point-blank range]].

* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'' gives us Madeline the Paladin, [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level2/level-2-11/ who deflects some thrown daggers]] with her WeaponOfChoice [[ImprobableWeaponUser (a hoe)]].

* Given Aang's WeaponOfChoice, this is inevitable in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. But he has airbending to help lend speed to his staff spin. It also creates a buffer of air that helps deflect or stop attacks, making this example somewhat justified.

* Two decades before [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Aang]], Ranma from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' spun a simple wooden staff to deflect fire. The difference is, Ranma is a normal human, is afflicted at the moment with a shiatsu point that increases his sensitivity to heat (even lukewarm water is painful), and her ([[GenderBender at the time]]) hands aren't even singed. The next time he uses a staff as a defensive measure, he explicitly blocks the attacks by swinging it instead of spinning it.
* Kento, and the Ancient One wield staffs in ''Anime/RoninWarriors'' and often spin them rapidly for defense. The Ancient's staff is so powerful it can even break weapons rather than simply deflecting them.

* Tuxedo Mask of ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' does this with his fancy cane/wand (it looks like a magicians' wand, but is probably meant to be a cane) on several occasions.

* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/AMindSwitchInTime'', ComicBook/{{Superboy}} confronts two bank robbers who are armed with weapons called magma blasters which ''really'' pack a punch. Superboy resorts to spin around to deflect the beams while flying towards the crooks.
* Donatello and Master Splinter from ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' do this on what must be an episodic basis with their MartialArtsStaff. Leonardo and Michelangelo also do it frequently. Even Raphael has pulled it off a couple of times with his sai.