Basic Trope: Melee weapon capable of generating a ranged attack.
- Straight: Bob's sword Reacher Aether is capable of launching beams when swung.
- Exaggerated: Reacher Aether is capable of launching humongous blasts that rend buildings.
- Reacher Aether works via Depth Deception: its sword beams can cut anything visible on the horizon, including entire cities or the Moon itself.
- Downplayed:
- Reacher Aether projects a very short-ranged, weak beam when swung.
- Reacher Aether generates and sheds a beam coating when swung.
- Justified:
- Reacher Aether is a Laser Blade using Weaponized Exhaust
- BFS Reacher Aether slaps the air so hard it can slam wind into people.
- Reacher Aether is swung so quickly it lights the air on fire, sending a burst of flame shooting forth.
- Bob merely channels his Light 'em Up abilities through Reacher Aether.
- Inverted:
- Chained Heaven is a solidified energy projectile used as a melee weapon.
- Pistol-Whipping
- Subverted: Reacher Aether actually just has an invisible extended blade.
- Double Subverted: ...Which is the result of Reacher Aether being temporally frozen, locking the Sword Beam in mid-launch.
- Parodied: Reacher Aether shoots out plush toys when swung.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Melee weapons do not inexplicably fire ranged projectiles.
- Enforced: "The kiddies need to understand they Don't Try This at Home, so let's have it that Reacher Aether fires projectile attacks."
- Lampshaded: "Ah, yes, why bother with a sword and a gun when you can just shoot magical bullets from a sword?"
- Invoked: Bob, wanting to surprise his foes, deliberately rigs Reacher Aether to hurl forward its energy blade.
- Exploited: Bob uses Reacher Aether's beams to hit distance targets like switches or boxes.
- Defied: Bob, an honorable combatant, refuses to use Reacher Aether's sword beams because he wants to fight his opponents equally.
- Discussed: "Lately laser blades have picked up motion, and I've even seen people weaponizing the exhaust & even deliberately destabilize the blade to get Whip Sword-like natures. What do you think will be next?" "Probably launching forth the blade's laser itself as a projectile attack, a Sword Beam if you will."
- Conversed: "Sword beams are just so... generic, no thought put behind them! Does anyone even think deeply about sword beams?" "Well, standardly the Sword Beam is done to give ranged capability to melee or sheer coolness. Quite frankly, there's not too much one can do in customizing the Sword Beam."
- Implied: Whenever Reacher Aether is swung clear Sword Lines are produced, yet nothing ever seems to happen at range and anyone close enough to the lines already are getting Reacher Aether itself lashed out at them.
- Deconstructed:
- The prevalence of sword beams means few proper swordsmen and greatly ceased production of proper ranged weapons. Thus the moment sword beams are somehow lost, almost no one knows how to fight with pure melee or ranged weapons.
- The beams having a fixed exit point, the moment one incorrectly wields their weapon they end up harming themselves.
- Reconstructed:
- Though having a melee weapon that fulfills ranged capacity becomes the standard weapon, militaries and others also train in using normal weapons in the event they can't rely on sword beams.
- The beams can be fired from any point of the weapon, thus avoiding self-harm if undesired.
- Played For Laughs: Each beam fired is a different color of the rainbow, thus firing them in rapid succession causes Reacher Aether to fire out whole rainbows.
- Played For Drama: Reacher Aether has to be regularly used in order to expel the built up energy, and failure to do so will result in Reacher Aether violently exploding.
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