Discussion Main / PrecisionGuidedBoomerang

Should the page image be changed? Looking at it, it's probably a better representation of Improbably Aiming Skills or Pinball Projectile, since it's bouncing off the walls to make a star shape.

If a replacement is needed, I'd suggest anything from the Legend of Zelda series, perhaps most prominently Phantom Hourglass. That game lets you draw out the boomerang's path, so it should be easy to portray with a single image.

Edited by flameclaw0x7

"Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Ken's Birdrang.''

Bonus points for bladed wings, therefore able to cut several throats and then return to the hand. (Even though the drag should have slowed it way down after the first couple hits.)

And then there's the itty bitty rocket motor in the thing, rarely seen (maybe even just once).

Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett

I cut a lot of the "how boomerangs work in RL" stuff from the intro; it takes away from the trope itself. A lot if is just rambling, useless to the trope, and it bloats the first paragraph.

Here it is, in its entirety, as it was before I trimmed it down:

---

A real-life boomerang is simply a stick carved in such a way as to get some rotor lift when thrown turning end-over-end. Throw it properly, and the boomerang will curve back on its course and return to its point of origin. Be distracted, and you can bludgeon yourself with it when it returns at knee-cap level. Or at head level, if thrown improperly. There's also another kind which isn't designed to return to the user, mainly because it should be stuck in something's rib cage. It can be massive enough to become really dangerous and flies much farther than a simple thrown club, but that's all. Some (including R.W.Wood, one of the early American enthusiasts of the boomerang) speculate that the returning boomerang was used mostly on waterfowl: if it hits, well, the hunter has to retrieve the kill anyway; but if it misses there's no need to waste time and go into water or shrubs. Some variants have more complex trajectories, but these are merely interesting toys. As for more dangerous versions, it's obviously possible to make a boomerang of a metal band, but do you really want to see a whirling steel airscrew flying back to you?

Edited by Ronka87 Thanks for the all fish! Hide / Show Replies