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Basic Trope: A revolver proves more effective than other guns.

  • Straight: Bob has a revolver that is better than any other gun in the setting.
  • Exaggerated: Bobs's revolver can out range rifles, blow entire buildings to smithereens, and automatically give Bob Improbable Aiming Skills.
  • Downplayed: Bob's revolver has specs similar to a decent rifle, and is conveniently much smaller.
  • Justified: Bob lives in a time when his revolver is the only repeating firearm available; everything else is a single-shot flintlock.
  • Inverted: Bob's revolver does about as much damage as a half-heartedly thrown pebble.
  • Subverted: Bob's revolver is a fine gun, but he eventually trades it in for a semi-automatic pistol with more bullets and a faster reload time.
  • Double Subverted: Bob's semi-auto pistol is actually just a revolver with different casing.
  • Parodied: Bob's revolver can reduce entire planets to dust with a single shot.
  • Zig Zagged:
    • In the setting, there are many different revolvers. Some are extremely strong, other have considerable drawbacks, and some are so outlandish they are revolvers In Name Only.
    • Revolvers are portrayed as "just better" because Revolvers Are for Amateurs: their reliable operation and simpler handling makes them excellent backup weapons and are valued by amateurs and professionals alike.
  • Averted: Revolvers are about as strong compared to other guns as one would expect.
  • Enforced: "Hmm, we need a really powerful and accurate handgun as a secondary weapon in this First-Person Shooter we're making. What kind of gun feels strong and accurate? I know! A revolver!"
  • Lampshaded: "Why are our laser assault rifles weaker that the commander's dinky pocket revolver?"
  • Invoked: ???
  • Exploited: Rather than wasting money equipping their troops with the latest hi-tech weaponry, the military instead buys a whole bunch of revolvers to cut down on costs.
  • Defied:
    • Bob wants a more powerful and advanced weapon, such as an assault rifle, and only makes do with a revolver until he can get it.
    • Alternatively: Bob needs a gun to fight off the gangsters he owes money to, but he's dirt poor, so a second-hand or heirloom .38 is the best he can get a hold of.
    • Bob brings a revolver to a fight where every single one of the enemy shooters carries Metal Storm assault rifles, .50 Browning machine guns and automatic shotguns and he spends the entire shootout huddled behind cover.
  • Discussed: A Red Oni, Blue Oni debate arises between two gunslingers over whether a rapid-fire semiautomatic or a more accurate revolver chambered for high-powered ammo is better.
  • Conversed: ???
  • Implied: The story actually shows no gunfights throughout its run, but all the best-known gunfighters are shown to prefer revolvers.
  • Deconstructed: Revolvers are only better in the hands of The Gunslinger, with custom modifications and years of training, and even then only in small-scale firefights; for an average Red Shirt soldier from a military, or even a One-Man Army video game protagonist squaring up against hundreds of enemies, a semiautomatic offers higher volumes of firepower, faster reloads, and thus better chances of survival.
  • Reconstructed: Bob is no ordinary gunslinger, he's a demonically enhanced mercenary who uses two revolvers at once. His demon powers let him perform Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics, ricocheting and curving bullets mid-flight to rip through multiple targets. His enhanced agility lets him keep ahead of multiple enemies and take out crowds with just his six-shooters. Regular soldiers might as well be a Red Shirt Army to him, and he can stand toe to toe against much tougher fighters with his skills.

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