Coolest sci-fi weapons?

[Tracy Lord]

What are the coolest, flashiest, best-named, most nifty weapons dreamed up by sci-fi writers or prop crews? I mean, you've got your classic phaser/blaster/ray gun/1920s-style "death ray," the lightsaber archetype of "it's just like a regular weapon...ONLY MADE OF PURE ENERGY!", the remote-controlled matter de-matterifier....

But my sci-fi grounding is sadly lacking, and I'm having some trouble coming up with any REALLY COOL weapons. Ones that make you go "ohmygod he did NOT just do that with that shiny pointy-looking thing" or "ooh, excellent name" or "PIO PIO! [other energy-bolt-like sounds, fired from the first-finger-and-thumb hand gun]".

So...what are your favorite really neat sci-fi weapons?

[Walker in Eternity]

The "Tissue Compression Eliminator" used by the Master in Doctor Who.

A really cool weapon which kills people by compressing them to the size of a doll. Which given the BBC's special effects budget in the 70's was exactly what they used.

[Mangetout]

Not sure if it quite qualifies as a weapon, but one of my favourite SF devices is Larry Niven's Tasp - it's a device that, at a distance, can induce a small electrical current in the brain's pleasure centre; this can be used to reward, incapacitate or enslave the 'victim'.

[Seven]

The Illudiom Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

[Seven]

Or is it the The Alludium Q36 Explosive Space Modulator?

Whatever. Marvin's ray gun was teh roxors (as those crasy kids say today)

[SPOOFE]

The Culture's Lazyguns... when fired, they didn't directly kill the target. Instead, they caused something to happen to obliterate the target. Or, as described...

If you had aimed at a person, a spear might suddenly materialise and pierce them through the chest, or some snake's spit fang might graze their neck, or a ship's anchor might appear falling above them, crushing them, or two enormous switch-electrodes would leap briefly into being on either side of the hapless target and vaporise him or her.

If you had aimed the gun at something larger, like a tank or a house, then it might implode, explode, collapse in a pile of dust, be struck by a section of a tidal wave or a lava flow, be turned inside out or just disappear entirely, with or without a bang.

Increasing scale seemed to rob a Lazy Gun of its eccentric poesy; turn it on a city or a mountain and it tended simply to drop an appropriately sized nuclear or thermonuclear fireball onto it. The only known exception had been when what was believed to have been a comet nucleus had destroyed a city-sized berg-barge on the water world of Trontsephori.

Rumour had it that some of the earlier Lazy Guns, at least, had shown what looked suspiciously like humour when they had been used; criminals saved from firing squads so that they could be the subjects of experiments had died under a hail of bullets, all hitting their hearts at the same time; an obsolete submarine had been straddled by depth charges; a mad king obsessed with metals had been smothered under a deluge of mercury.

The braver physicists - those who didn't try to deny the existence of Lazy Guns altogether - ventured that the weapons somehow accessed different dimensions; they monitored other continua and dipped into one to pluck out their chosen method of destruction and transfer it to this universe, where it carried out its destructive task then promptly disappeared, only its effects remaining. Or they created whatever they desired to create from the ground-state of quantum fluctuation that invested the fabric of space. Or they were time machines.

I doubt any other weapon could have a description that tickles me so merrily...

[Ranchoth]

The SOL orbiting laser from Akira. (I've always had a soft spot for orbital death rays designed to be used against ground targets)

The Focusing Disintigrator Ray from Teenagers from Outer Space—it instantly reduces it's victims to skeletons. (Which stay attached, and still in the pose the victim was in at death, for a few seconds)

The Genesis Device from Star Trek II/III. The ultimate terraforming tool (albeit one that still needs the bugs worked out), and the ultimate weapon. A few of these things could have ended the Dominion War in about a week.

Phasers. With their settings between "stun" (light, medium, and heavy); "burn"; "kill"; and "vaporize." (In my opinion, "burn" and "vaporize" get used far too infrequently) And the classic phaser has a "wide beam" setting. Most new ones seem to just have the "fire a single energy packet at 60 feet per second, with a rate of fire of 40 rounds per minute.)

The WSTE-M Combat Shotgun, from Marathon.

And of course, the United States Colonial Marine Corps' M56 (http://members.tripod.com/~Corpral_Hicks/M56.html)Smartgun (http://www.geocities.com/area51/dungeon/3169/infosmartgun.html).

[Mini-Thud]

While not having the best name, but certainly making up for it with the ability to destroy the universe.

The wormhole weapon in Farscape. Nasty Damage :D

[Scissorjack]

A board with a nail in it, as wielded by Moe.

[Smeghead]

I always like the inertialess planets in the works of EE "Doc" Smith. Go grab a couple of spare planets lying around, install some inertaless drives on them, then position them juuuust so... Turn off the drives simultaneously, and BOOM! Your target gets squished between two (or more!) planets suddenly hurtling toward it.

[paulberserker]

Phased-plasma rifle in the forty watt range.

Them remote sentry guns from the Aliens Directors Cut would come in handy for my garden too.

[sturmhauke]

There's the "Dr. Device" from Ender's Game. It was formally called the D-R Device, although I can't remember what the letters stand for. It worked by suppressing the forces binding atoms together on a large scale, large enough to destroy planets.

Lightsabers are a classic. Can't go wrong with two of those, one yellow, one purple, with different crystals to give you a well rounded set of special abilities - ahem, sorry, having KOTOR flashbacks there.

If you were very lucky, you could find the Alien Pistol in Fallout. More powerful than a standard plasma rifle, lighter, and it could reduce your enemies to a pair of eyes that blinked once before falling into the puddle of goo that used to be the rest of them.

[matt]

Not sure if it quite qualifies as a weapon, but one of my favourite SF devices is Larry Niven's Tasp - it's a device that, at a distance, can induce a small electrical current in the brain's pleasure centre; this can be used to reward, incapacitate or enslave the 'victim'.

Warren and Smith's versions of the "Dirty Pair" anime borrowed this idea, but gave it the snazzier name of the XTC gun. It was supposed to be used for riot control!

Not really a weapon, but the same series had a sedative patch like a nicotine patch for slapping onto unruly prisoners. The brand name for the thing was "Drug a Thug", which gets cool name points from me.

Niven had a number of rather nasty weapons in his Known Space - the solar-flare-powered laser from Ringworld, the electron-charge-suppressing disintegrator from the same (causes matter to fly apart into its individual atoms from eletrostatic repulsion), variable swords (a wire blade one molecule wide held rigid by a field that stops time), and a beam weapon that transforms matter to antimatter, to name a few. He never succeeded in making me care about any of his characters, though.



The "Tissue Compression Eliminator" used by the Master in Doctor Who.

A really cool weapon which kills people by compressing them to the size of a doll. Which given the BBC's special effects budget in the 70's was exactly what they used.


Wasn't there an episode where they found a radio telescope technician in his own lunchbox? Gave me the creeps.

[Ephemera]

The TR-116 (http://www.phasers.net/2370/tr-116.htm).

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

For vehicle-mounted weapons, nothing beats the Yamato/Argo's Wave Motion Gun.

Blow 'em up REAL GOOD! :D :D :cool: :cool:

[Earthworm Jim]

The main gun of the SDF-1 (http://www.kent.net/robotech/ships/rdf/sdf-1.shtml). The Veritechs were pretty cool too.

[Walker in Eternity]

Wasn't there an episode where they found a radio telescope technician in his own lunchbox? Gave me the creeps.

Yes there was, I think it was in "Logopolis", where incidentally a policeman and an old lady were also turned into Ken and Barbie.

As an additional Doctor Who weapon (sorry about the geekiness) there was the DMAT gun which erased someones whole timleline so that they never existed.

[stegon66]

I'm partial to the killer flying spheres in the Phantasm movies...

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

I'm partial to the killer flying spheres in the Phantasm movies...

Not Science Fiction. :mad:

[Scumpup]

The "Weirding Module" from the 1st Dune movie. What's better than a zap gun? A zap gun that works by the user saying "zap" into it! Wait...actually that is kind of sucky and stupid. Never mind.

[Snickers]

I'm a huge fan of the weapons they have on that quirky game advertised for PlayStation 2 (I can't remember the game's name!). You know, the Sheepinator (that turns your enemies into sheep) and the Chicken gun. Those are hysterical.

[Terminus Est]

I've always liked the 1920's style death rays.

[Lute Skywatcher]

The Culture's Lazyguns... when fired, they didn't directly kill the target. Instead, they caused something to happen to obliterate the target. Or, as described...If you had aimed at a person, a spear might suddenly materialise and pierce them through the chest, or some snake's spit fang might graze their neck, or a ship's anchor might appear falling above them, crushing them, or two enormous switch-electrodes would leap briefly into being on either side of the hapless target and vaporise him or her.

If you had aimed the gun at something larger, like a tank or a house, then it might implode, explode, collapse in a pile of dust, be struck by a section of a tidal wave or a lava flow, be turned inside out or just disappear entirely, with or without a bang.

Increasing scale seemed to rob a Lazy Gun of its eccentric poesy; turn it on a city or a mountain and it tended simply to drop an appropriately sized nuclear or thermonuclear fireball onto it. The only known exception had been when what was believed to have been a comet nucleus had destroyed a city-sized berg-barge on the water world of Trontsephori.

Rumour had it that some of the earlier Lazy Guns, at least, had shown what looked suspiciously like humour when they had been used; criminals saved from firing squads so that they could be the subjects of experiments had died under a hail of bullets, all hitting their hearts at the same time; an obsolete submarine had been straddled by depth charges; a mad king obsessed with metals had been smothered under a deluge of mercury.

The braver physicists - those who didn't try to deny the existence of Lazy Guns altogether - ventured that the weapons somehow accessed different dimensions; they monitored other continua and dipped into one to pluck out their chosen method of destruction and transfer it to this universe, where it carried out its destructive task then promptly disappeared, only its effects remaining. Or they created whatever they desired to create from the ground-state of quantum fluctuation that invested the fabric of space. Or they were time machines. I doubt any other weapon could have a description that tickles me so merrily...Those would be great in a game of Paranoia!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

The Weather Dominator (comes apart into 3 pieces for easy air shipment)
The M.A.S.S. Device
The Pyramid Of Darkness
Battle Android Troopers
HISS Tanks
Rattler VTOL Ground Attack Aircraft.



COOBRRAAAAAAAAAA!!

[shijinn]

a mech. is that a weapon? a car? a plane? a tape recorder?!

[Bippy the Beardless]

Space 1999 stun guns here (http://www.space1999.net/~moonbase99/tech2.htm) were very cool.
The monomolecular whip and needle gun from "Johny Mnemonic".
Darth Maul's Light Saber, even though it is completely impractical.
Aliens sentry gun.

[Balle_M]

I'll go with the powered suits from Starship Troopers.

[Yumblie]

Samus's ice beam from the Metroid series. Nothing quite like freezing your enemies and then using them as platforms to reach a power-up.

[MacTech]

The Supernova Bomb from HHGTTG, it's a *very small* bomb that just might have the ability to destroy the universe

the talking bomb from Adams' Starship Titanic video game, the one that sounds suspiciously like John Cleese and doesn't like to be touched....

"i don't like being touched, please stop, recommencing countdown"

after you touch it a few times it almost loses it...
<angry> Excuse me, but saying "please don't touch me" does *NOT* mean "okay, do it again!!" recommencing countdown....

and after you touch it one too many times...
LOOK, NO MEANS NO, GOT IT!! ...recommencing countdown

another vote for John Crichton's wormhole weapon, starts small but will grow to the point where it could engulf the universe

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

a mech. is that a weapon? a car? a plane? a tape recorder?!
THIS (http://www.monstersdirect.com/mas_assets/full/MADCAT.gif) is a Mech, short for BattleMech. The pilot rides in the head. king of the battlefield.


And HERE (http://www.mektek.net/Madhouse/build%20a%20mech_part2_files/image025.jpg) are two guys with too much free time. But very, very cool ideas.

:)

[ElvisL1ves]

The Supernova Bomb from HHGTTG,
the talking bomb from Adams' Starship Titanic video game,
Well, hell, if you're into talking bombs, watch Dark Star sometime (John Carpenter's first movie, before he got infatuated with vampires and shit). link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6300251616/104-4667961-9339915?v=glance&vi=quotes-trivia).Doolittle convinces the bomb not to explode.Doolittle: Hello, Bomb? Are you with me?
Bomb #20: Of course.
Doolittle: Are you willing to entertain a few concepts?
Bomb #20: I am always receptive to suggestions.
Doolittle: Fine. Think about this then. How do you know you exist?
Bomb #20: Well, of course I exist.
Doolittle: But how do you know you exist?
Bomb #20: It is intuitively obvious.
Doolittle: Intuition is no proof. What concrete evidence do you have that you exist?
Bomb #20: Hmmmm... well... I think, therefore I am.
Doolittle: That's good. That's very good. But how do you know that anything else exists?
Bomb #20: My sensory apparatus reveals it to me. This is fun.

Pinback wants the bomb to disarm.
Pinback: All right, bomb. Prepare to receive new orders.
Bomb#20: You are false data.
Pinback: Hmmm?
Bomb #20: Therefore I shall ignore you.
Pinback: Hello... bomb?
Bomb #20: False data can act only as a distraction. Therefore, I shall refuse to perceive.
Pinback: Hey, bomb?
Bomb #20: The only thing that exists is myself.
Pinback: Snap out of it, bomb.

making video diary entry

Bomb#20: Let there be light.

to the alien

Doolittle: Don't give me any of that intelligent life crap, just give me something I can blow up

Boiler: What's Talby's first name?
Pause
Lt. Doolittle: What's my first name?

Lt. Doolittle: The bomb must have gone off inside the ship
Talby: The ship blew up? What?
Lt. Doolittle: Funny, I thought I had the damned thing convinced.

[rjung]

If we're talking video games, I'll nominate the BFG 9000 from the original Doom. Intimidating size, neat effect, massively destructive, kewl sounds, and a really fun name, all in one package.

Battle Android Troopers
Only the first version (http://www.yojoe.com/action/86/bat.shtml) for me -- the later ones all look like ass.

[Shade]

There's the "Dr. Device" from Ender's Game. It was formally called the D-R Device, although I can't remember what the letters stand for. It worked by suppressing the forces binding atoms together on a large scale, large enough to destroy planets.IIRC it was "Molecular Disruption Device" = "MD Device" = "Dr Device."

And it wasn't the scale exactly, it was a chain reaction, so you can use it on anything which gets close enough together. Interesting tactics.

I don't think anyone ever considered what'd happen if you aimed it at a sun, but perhaps you couldn't get close enough, or perhaps it wouldn't have any effect as the sun is *already* a fusion explosion.

[msmith537]

More of a defensive countermeasure than a weapon but:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEP_field

[1010011010]

There's the "Dr. Device" from Ender's Game. It was formally called the D-R Device, although I can't remember what the letters stand for. It worked by suppressing the forces binding atoms together on a large scale, large enough to destroy planets.

"Then we aren't using the nuclear missles from the First and Second Invasions?"
"Dr. Device is much more powerful. Nuclear weapons, after all, were weak enough to be used on Earth at one time. The Little Doctor could never be used on a planet. Still, I wish I'd had on during the second invasion."
"How does it work?"
"I don't know, not well enough to build one. At the focal point of two beams, it sets up a field in which the molecules can't hold together anymore. Electrons can't be shared. How much physics do you know, at that level?"
"We spent most of our time on astrophysics, but I know enough to get the idea."
"The field spreads out in a sphere, but it gets weaker the further it spreads. Except where it actually runs into a lot of molecules, it gets stronger and starts over. The bigger the ship, the stronger the new field."
"So each time the field hits a ship, it sends out a new sphere--"
"And if their ships are too close together, it can set up a chain that wipes them all out. Then the field dies down, the molecules come back together, and where you had a ship, you now have a lump of dirt with a lot of iron molecules in it. No radioactivity, no mess. Just dirt. We may be able to trap them close together on the first battle, but they learn fast. They'll keep their distance from each other."
"So Dr. Device isn't a missle-- I can't shoot around corners."
"That's right. Missles wouldn't do any good now. We learned a lot from them in the First Invasion, but they also learned from us-- how to set up the Ecstatic Shield, for instance."
"The Little Doctor penetrates the shield?"
"As if it weren't there. You can't see through the shield to aim and focus the beams, but since the generator of the Ecstatic Shield is always in the exact center, it isn't hard to figure it out."
"Why haven't I ever been trained with this?"
"You always have. We just let the computer tend to it for you. Your job is to get into a superior strategic position and choose a target. The shipboard computers are much better at aiming the Doctor than you are."
"Why is it called Dr. Device?"
"When it was developed, it was called a Molecular Detachment Device. M.D. Device."
Ender still didn't understand.
"M.D. The initials stand for Medical Doctor, too. M.D. Device, therefore Dr. Device. It was a joke." Ender didn't see what was funny about it.
_____________________

I'm going to have to vote for exosketeton armor, though.

[Shade]

Yeah, much better than my answer :) The annoying thing is that by the third or fourth book it *was* a missle. But I forgive them because of the exchange after they abort a launch:

I'm glad to see you didn't have any of that nonsense about pressing the buttons in the right order to turn it off...
No, it's easy. There's instructions on how to do it all over the thing. Now, turning it on, that's hard.

[BrainGlutton]

The Culture's Lazyguns...

Never heard of The Culture -- what book, movie, comic or whatever is it from?

[Steve Wright]

Nitpicks: 1) the Lazy Guns are from Against a Dark Background, which isn't a Culture novel ... the Culture goes in for more pedestrian devices, like gridfire, intelligent knife missiles, electromagnetic effectors, and people who suddenly disassemble themselves into clouds of killer nanobots.

2) The guy who winds up inside his own lunchbox is in "Terror of the Autons".

As for weapons ... I want one of the Xeelee devices from the Stephen Baxter stories. Fired at a sun, it destabilizes it, rendering any habitable planets around it pretty much uninhabitable. What's particularly cool about this particular device? It's a handgun ...

Though for close-quarter fighting, and a great ominous hum, I'd have to go for a BH-209i plasma cannon.

[BrainGlutton]

All the Klingon blade weapons seem totally impractical to me. If the batleth were a practical weapon for humanoids, wouldn't some human culture have invented something in roughly that shape by now? And that knife with short spring-loaded prongs on each side -- what good is that? The prongs would just dissipate the force of the main blade's thrust -- and maybe make it harder to draw the knife back out. But they all look totally cool, which I guess is the point.

If we're going by visual coolness, I remember some old SF movie or Japanese monster movie -- or maybe it was some schlocky TV show like Ultraman -- with a weapon that emitted a series of light-rings, like angels' haloes. That looked, you know, weird and otherwordly.

In Logan's Run (the book, not the movie or TV series), the Sandmen used a kind of handgun with six specialized rounds -- one shot a wire-net that tangled up the target, one shot fire, the "Homer" was a missile that targeted body heat, and so on. In retrospect it seems too contrived and gimmicky, but it seemed really cool when I read the book as a teenager.

Slight hijack: What the fuck is the point of a Star Wars lightsaber? I can see the Klingons fighting with batleths, just as people now practice fencing and kendo, as a cultural holdover from pre-firearms times. But, in a civilization that has the technology to make a lightsaber, why would anybody invent one? Swords became obsolete on Earth because firearms have so many advantages over them, including longer range, and ease of use with minimal training. And an ordinary lead-slug-throwing rifle or pistol, let alone a blaster, is superior in exactly the same respects to a caged-laser-beam (or whatever it is) weapon with a range of, at most, three feet.

[Strinka]

I second Dr. Device from Ender's Game. However, it was not originally D-R device. It was originally M D Device. M D stood for molecular disassociation.

[Knorf]

In Futurama, season 3, in the episode "War is the H-Word," Fry joins the Earth Army to get the military discount, but war is declared against the Brain Balls. My fave weapon: Fry's blaster rifle, which eventually runs out steam (so to speak), and, in order to be recharged, Fry has to turn this little crank which plays "Pop Goes the Weasel."

Link (http://www.futurama-madhouse.com.ar/guide/2acv17.jpg).

[Khan]

The main gun of the SDF-1 (http://www.kent.net/robotech/ships/rdf/sdf-1.shtml). The Veritechs were pretty cool too.

Yeah, gotta love those uber-cannons from anime that leave a swath of charred corpses and pure destruction. The Macross Cannon and Wave Motion Cannon have been mentioned, but let us not forget the Buster Rifles from Gundam Wing, the Satellite System from Gundam X, and the Hyper Mega Bazooka (or whatever it was called) from Zeta Gundam (although it wasn't as devastating as the former two, AFAIK).

Also from the Gundam Universe(s), are the pscyommu and psycoframe systems that allow a pilot to control a mecha telepathically, or the Zero System which is, well, the zero system. Not weapons in the sense that they shoot stuff, but they make give people the skills to shoot stuff better.

And as heretical as the weirding modules from Dune might have been, they were a pretty neat idea, if a bit schizophrenic. From the books, there are the lazguns and the effect they had on shields. Love that Holzman effect.

And sandworms. They might not be technological, but it IS the Old Man of the Desert we're talking about here.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

The raygun in [i]Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow[/b] had googobs of old school charm, and wins my vote.

Daniel

[Cynical Optimist]

Ever read the book "Snow Crash"?

"I'm sure they'll listen to Reason."

Basically, a man-portable railgun that fits in a briefcase. I still don't know why this book hasn't been filmed (or have I just missed it)?

[BrainGlutton]

I never read this book and can't even remember the author or title, but I once read a review of an SF book (published within the last 10 years, I think) about a group of American soldiers who fight by remote control -- that is, they sit in an Army base in safe territory, hooked up to virtual-reality sets, radio-controlling these humanoid robots that are fighting in some Central American civil war. If one of the robots is destroyed, you just hook up the soldier with a fresh one. Now that's a cool weapon! All the close-up precision work of live infantry troops, without putting their highly trained lives at risk! They can even get "killed" in action and learn from the experience! Of course, the enemy could take out a whole platoon at once with the right radio-jamming equipment, but you can't have everything.

[Cervaise]

BG: That book is Forever Peace by Haldeman, a thematic (but not story) sequel to Forever War.

ElvisL1ves took the one I was going to nominate. Dark Star is a very underrated movie in a lot of ways, and the snarky bomb is fall-off-the-couch hilarious.

[msmith537]

Slight hijack: What the fuck is the point of a Star Wars lightsaber? I can see the Klingons fighting with batleths, just as people now practice fencing and kendo, as a cultural holdover from pre-firearms times. But, in a civilization that has the technology to make a lightsaber, why would anybody invent one? Swords became obsolete on Earth because firearms have so many advantages over them, including longer range, and ease of use with minimal training. And an ordinary lead-slug-throwing rifle or pistol, let alone a blaster, is superior in exactly the same respects to a caged-laser-beam (or whatever it is) weapon with a range of, at most, three feet.

Because it's not as clumsy or random as a blaster.

[hlanelee]

I thought that the "Rape Robots" in Flesh Giordon were amusing!!! :D

[emekthian]

The time-ship from the episode of Voyager where the villian was messing with the timeline in order to bring his family back into existance.

[MacTech]

how about the Transmutatron used by Kro-Bar and Lattis in "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra", it can make aliens look like the stereotypical '50s couple, it can make mutants "more harmless" and can combine 4 forest animals into a slinky "cat-woman", rowr!

admittedly the fact that it looks like a standard caulking gun is a bit of a drawback, but still....
;)

[QuizCustodet]

Because it's not as clumsy or random as a blaster.

This is the essence of it - to expand a little... these are Jedi. They pride themselves on finesse, non-violence wherever possible and (judging from their combat techniques) just looking damn cool at all times.

If you're trying to use finesse and persuasion, you don't actually want a ranged weapon: if a Jedi was sitting in a position far enough back to see an enemy soldier without them seeing him/her, the Jedi would simply go around them or use the Force to become invisible to them.

Additionally, there are fewer unintended consequences: if we accept, as all filmed SF seems to, that energy weapons have a group velocity very much less than <i>c</i>, the target can move between the time that you fire at him and the time that the energy impacts. Thus a very carefully aimed disarming shot can become a lethal shot. Bad Jedi! This doesn't happen if you're using a melee weapon, particularly if you use the Force.

And the most important point: it just looks damn cool! The silliest thing about light-sabers IMHO was <i>Knights of the Old Republic</i>'s revealation that everyone and their brother owned a melee weapon that could stand up to light-sabers. Necessary for game balance? Possibly. Still lame.

[Mr. Blue Sky]

The Time-Space Separation Unit (or "Tisser") from an obscure 80's sci-fi novel, War of Ommission.

It looked like one of those Telxon ordering machines with three antennae sticking out the front end. You set the co-ordinates (X, Y, & Z) and hit the button and whatever you aimed at would disappear, not only from the real world but from everybody's memory as well.

[Tangent]

How about the Death Star? It blows up whole planets!

And IIRC, in the movie Runaway (starring Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons!) the villain has a gun that fires "personalized" bullets that will only go after their intended target, to the point of actually tracking them around corners.

My favorite video game weapon was in Heavy Barrel, when you collected all the pieces to assemble the mega-gun and you would hear the game announce "HEAVY BARREL!" and then you had about ten seconds to start blasting everything on screen away with a very wide-beam superblast. So much fun!

[Odinoneeye]

The Time-Space Separation Unit (or "Tisser") from an obscure 80's sci-fi novel, War of Ommission.

It looked like one of those Telxon ordering machines with three antennae sticking out the front end. You set the co-ordinates (X, Y, & Z) and hit the button and whatever you aimed at would disappear, not only from the real world but from everybody's memory as well.

I read that. I loved the idea of using calories as currency while trying to rebuild civilization. (I'll give you x amount of calories worth of food if you do Y amount of work)

My nominee is

The Death Star

[Ogre]

This is the essence of it - to expand a little... these are Jedi. They pride themselves on finesse, non-violence wherever possible and (judging from their combat techniques) just looking damn cool at all times.

If you're trying to use finesse and persuasion, you don't actually want a ranged weapon: if a Jedi was sitting in a position far enough back to see an enemy soldier without them seeing him/her, the Jedi would simply go around them or use the Force to become invisible to them.

Additionally, there are fewer unintended consequences: if we accept, as all filmed SF seems to, that energy weapons have a group velocity very much less than <i>c</i>, the target can move between the time that you fire at him and the time that the energy impacts. Thus a very carefully aimed disarming shot can become a lethal shot. Bad Jedi! This doesn't happen if you're using a melee weapon, particularly if you use the Force.

And the most important point: it just looks damn cool! The silliest thing about light-sabers IMHO was <i>Knights of the Old Republic</i>'s revealation that everyone and their brother owned a melee weapon that could stand up to light-sabers. Necessary for game balance? Possibly. Still lame.Plus, can you imagine the close-combat advantage of having a sword-length weapon whose entire mass is concentrated in your hand, and whose (effectively ultra-sharp, indestrucible) blade weighs nothing?

[dotchan]

Here's another nomination for Marvin the Martian's gun.

Also, Duck Dodger's Disintegrator.

"When I say it disintegrates, it disintegrates."

*pulls trigger*

"Well, what do you know, it disintegrated."

:D

[Ranchoth]

Another point, on the lightsaber...Jedi seem to be able to use them to deflect energy weapon fire, even back towards whoever was shooting at them.

That, and they can be used for the only thing they let Wolverine use his claws for in cartoons...cutting through doors and walls.

And for lopping hands off.

[Smeghead]

Hey, no one's mentioned the gun from The Fifth Element:

The ZF1! It's light, handles adjustable for easy carrying. Good for both righties and lefties. Breaks down into four parts, undetectable by x-ray. Ideal for quick, discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger. 3,000 round clip with bursts of 3 to 300. With a replay button, another Zorg invention, its even easier. One shot and "Replay" sends every following shot to the same location. And to finish the job, all Zorg oldies but goldies. Rocket launcher. Arrow launcher with explosive poisonous gas heads. Our famous net launcher. The always efficient flame thrower. My favorite. And for the grand finale, the all new ice cube system.

[sturmhauke]

The thing about lightsabers is, they are much more an extension of the user than practically any other weapon. A Jedi with a lightsaber is whirling death, but some shmoe with a lightsaber will quickly slice himself into seared chunks of meat.

[BrainGlutton]

Because it's [a lightsaber] not as clumsy or random as a blaster.

Maybe not, but if Luke Skywalker, armed only with a lightsaber, tried to go up against Bobba Fett or an Imperial stormtrooper, armed with a blaster, he would die before getting withing ten yards of his enemy -- unless he used the Force to disarm him.

[BrainGlutton]

This is the essence of it - to expand a little... these are Jedi. They pride themselves on finesse, non-violence wherever possible and (judging from their combat techniques) just looking damn cool at all times.

U.S. Marines wear swords with their dress uniforms for the sake of looking cool (and honoring tradition), but they don't carry them into combat. If for some reason you need to slash or stab something, you can use your bayonet.

[BrainGlutton]

Plus, can you imagine the close-combat advantage of having a sword-length weapon whose entire mass is concentrated in your hand, and whose (effectively ultra-sharp, indestrucible) blade weighs nothing?

Now that makes sense. Provided, as noted above, that the situation allows you the luxury of "close-combat, i.e., your opponent does not have a weapon of greater range.

[BrainGlutton]

Another point, on the lightsaber...Jedi seem to be able to use them to deflect energy weapon fire, even back towards whoever was shooting at them.

That, and they can be used for the only thing they let Wolverine use his claws for in cartoons...cutting through doors and walls.

And for lopping hands off.

That makes sense too. But, if I were a Jedi, I would never think of going into any situation armed only with a lightsaber. Remember, when Luke boarded the Death Star to rescue Leia, he got a lot more use out of his blaster than his lightsaber. Whereas we get the impression that old-school Jedi like Qui-Gon Jinn and young Obi-Wan Kenobi would not even know how to aim or fire a blaster.

[Ninja Pizza Guy]

A few entries:

The abdiatic bomb (from Killing Star): turns heat into mass - instant freeze.

The microscopic "kill anyone instantly, without a trace" gizmo Worsel dreamed up for Kimball Kinnison.

Gray goo.

And a shameless plug: the Shiva: The Shiva (SWT29.1) is a C-fractional weapon. It has a 2,000 ton AM warhead, subdivided into 20,000 sub-munitions, each weighing 100 kg. It is launched from the outer reaches of the system and accelerates to about 0.9 C. Just before impact, the warhead splits and the sub-munitions spread wide enough to cover the entire facing hemisphere of the targeted planet.

[Tracy Lord]

Maybe not, but if Luke Skywalker, armed only with a lightsaber, tried to go up against Bobba Fett or an Imperial stormtrooper, armed with a blaster, he would die before getting withing ten yards of his enemy -- unless he used the Force to disarm him.

Well, yeah, duh. But the Jedi do have the Force to call on, which is why it doesn't matter that the lightsaber isn't a long-range weapon.

[Miller]

Maybe not, but if Luke Skywalker, armed only with a lightsaber, tried to go up against Bobba Fett or an Imperial stormtrooper, armed with a blaster, he would die before getting withing ten yards of his enemy -- unless he used the Force to disarm him.

Like hell. The guy with the blaster would never come close to even touching a Jedi. Lightsabers can parry blaster bolts, and a talented enough Jedi can bounce them right back where they came from. A stormtrooper could get off maybe three shots before his first shot came back and pegged him 'tween the eyes.

Also, keep in mind that when Luke went to rescue Leia from the Death Star, he'd had maybe two weeks of Jedi training, max. But by Return of the Jedi, he's stopped wearing a blaster altogether, IIRC.

In with you on the Klingon bat'leh, though. Stupid looking, impractical weapon. The daggers are a bit more plausible, as there is a real-world analogue. Can't recall the name of it off the top of my head, but there was a type of dagger that had the two spring-loaded extensions like the Klingon knife. Except that it was specifically designed as a defensive weapon to counter the rapier. You'd catch the blade between the two extensions, then twist your arm and either disarm the other guy or snap his blade in two. Don't really see that working against at bat'leh...

[HPL]

The Pulse rifles in Aliens were pretty cool. 90 rounds in a little magazine and an ammo counter? Nice.

The Sister Ray in FF7 was sweet, even if pretty damn useless.

[Hunter Hawk]

A couple of thoughts:

The Shrike, if you count it as a "weapon".

The Hammer's Slammers' hovertanks/communication/IFF/aiming equipment.

The Gauss rifle and super sledgehammer from Fallout 2. God, I loved those things.

[Mr. Blue Sky]

A couple of thoughts:

The Shrike, if you count it as a "weapon".

Well, it does move outside time. Tough to beat that.

[Mr. Miskatonic]

In with you on the Klingon bat'leh, though. Stupid looking, impractical weapon. The daggers are a bit more plausible, as there is a real-world analogue. Can't recall the name of it off the top of my head, but there was a type of dagger that had the two spring-loaded extensions like the Klingon knife. Except that it was specifically designed as a defensive weapon to counter the rapier. You'd catch the blade between the two extensions, then twist your arm and either disarm the other guy or snap his blade in two. Don't really see that working against at bat'leh...

Trident Main Gauche? (http://www.silvermane.com/Trident%20Main%20Gauche.html)

[Quasimodal]

I always thought the ferengi electric whips were cool (if impractical, what do you do in close quarters?)

Borg Nanoprobes, eating you up from the inside is neat

R2D2's ewok roaster was kinda fun (Used for a good purpose)

The Batleth!

Can you tell I'm a star trek fan?

[Quasimodal]

Ooh! Another Trek weapon.

Annorax's weapon that erased civilizations from time. This was in a few Voyager episodes. It literally erased species from history.

Thats a cool weapon.

[Gerome_K]

Ever read the book "Snow Crash"?

"I'm sure they'll listen to Reason."



On a related note, I'm going to nominate the Skull Guns from
The Diamond Age. A tiny, undetectable cannon surgically implanted in your forehead that fires minute nanotechnological ammunition. I mean, come on, it's a gun that goes in your head .

[C K Dexter Haven]

I'm surprised we've got this far with no mention of Ice-9. Of course, there are some disadvantages to using it, say, in a combat situation.

[RandomLetters]

Just make sure that when you cast Ice-9, your opponet is in a parallel universe, or stuck in a bag of holding, and you won't have a problem.

[Heller Highwater]

Ice-9 is fine in a combat situation, as long as you've got a bag of holding. (Preferably one not stuffed with more riches than actually exist.)

And on preview, I see that RandomLetters has beaten me to the punch. Curses! Foiled again!

[slortar]

My favorite is the Shadow planet killer from Babylon 5. Gotta love a show where you have to specify which planet killer you're talking about. :D

Either that or the n-space planetoids in Doc Smith's Lensman series. Basically, you put a big ass engine on a suitably large chunk of rock, switch it over to n-space, where the laws of physics no longer apply, accelerate it to hundreds of multiples of c, and then switch it back to normal space, aimed at your target. Target then dies in a spectacularly non-Euclidian fashion.

[Miller]

Trident Main Gauche? (http://www.silvermane.com/Trident%20Main%20Gauche.html)

That's the one!

[Zebra]

Maybe not, but if Luke Skywalker, armed only with a lightsaber, tried to go up against Bobba Fett or an Imperial stormtrooper, armed with a blaster, he would die before getting withing ten yards of his enemy -- unless he used the Force to disarm him.


You are forgetting that Luke is basically a novice Jedi. He did not get the years of training that most Jedi's get so don't base the weapon on his skill with it. I hate to say this but look at what the Jedi in the first two films can do.

Heck look at Vader in ESB. Han, who is pretty good with a blaster, draws and fires on Vader to no effect. Vader uses the force to CATCH the balster fire. He doesn't even have to deflect it.



For me the coolest weapons are the phaser from TOS, the light saber, and that gun from the movie Looker that made hot chicks freeze.

[BrainGlutton]

And a shameless plug: the Shiva: The Shiva (SWT29.1) is a C-fractional weapon. It has a 2,000 ton AM warhead, subdivided into 20,000 sub-munitions, each weighing 100 kg. It is launched from the outer reaches of the system and accelerates to about 0.9 C. Just before impact, the warhead splits and the sub-munitions spread wide enough to cover the entire facing hemisphere of the targeted planet.

Whaddaya mean, "plug"? Got one for sale?

[Tangent]

Oooh! I've got it!

The nude bomb from the Get Smart movie.

Best. Weapon. Ever.

[Trailer Park Casanova]

flame throwers still are the best in any ol sci fi movie.

[Scissorjack]

I dimly remember an old Judge Dredd villain called Madtooth who had his teeth rigged with explosive charges so when he bared his fangs, so to speak, he could shoot people with them - hardly ultimate, but kind of fun: course, Dredd just shot him.

Oh, and there was the Fletcher from Neuromancer, which fired explosive flechette darts: non-lethal on penetration, but they detonated ten seconds later - so, as Molly put it, "You get to think about it."

[HPL]

Ooh! Another Trek weapon.

Annorax's weapon that erased civilizations from time. This was in a few Voyager episodes. It literally erased species from history.

Thats a cool weapon.

Just don't point it at any comets or else you'll erase your wife.

[smiling bandit]

Two words: Shark Gun
from Armed and Dangerous (a quasi-sci-fi game), it was a gun that shot shak rounds, which swam through the ground and then bit your enemies to peices for you.


If the batleth were a practical weapon for humanoids, wouldn't some human culture have invented something in roughly that shape by now?

Yep. And they didn't. Of course, it may have been designed as a ritual weapon first. There's still no reason why they should get it out in every fight.


Slight hijack: What the fuck is the point of a Star Wars lightsaber? I can see the Klingons fighting with batleths, just as people now practice fencing and kendo, as a cultural holdover from pre-firearms times. But, in a civilization that has the technology to make a lightsaber, why would anybody invent one? Swords became obsolete on Earth because firearms have so many advantages over them, including longer range, and ease of use with minimal training. And an ordinary lead-slug-throwing rifle or pistol, let alone a blaster, is superior in exactly the same respects to a caged-laser-beam (or whatever it is) weapon with a range of, at most, three feet.

In practical terms your right. The Jedi get to have magic powers, though.


And the most important point: it just looks damn cool! The silliest thing about light-sabers IMHO was <i>Knights of the Old Republic</i>'s revealation that everyone and their brother owned a melee weapon that could stand up to light-sabers. Necessary for game balance? Possibly. Still lame.

They *may* have that fixed in KotOR 2, since attacking chests with weaponry often turns stuff in it to spare parts. I'm not sure. It was funny that a Tusken raider's gaffi stick could stand up to lihtsabers, though.


The thing about lightsabers is, they are much more an extension of the user than practically any other weapon. A Jedi with a lightsaber is whirling death, but some shmoe with a lightsaber will quickly slice himself into seared chunks of meat.

People in SW say this a lot, but the lightsaber was not originaly a Jedi-only weapon. It dates back to days when people didn't like using guns or blasters on ships; they kept inventing better melee weapons instead. The Jedi are simply the only ones who still use them.

Besides, I'm sure I can, if I wish, use a flashlight without shining the light directly on me. All I have to do is thrust the thing at the enemy and wave.


Like hell. The guy with the blaster would never come close to even touching a Jedi. Lightsabers can parry blaster bolts, and a talented enough Jedi can bounce them right back where they came from. A stormtrooper could get off maybe three shots before his first shot came back and pegged him 'tween the eyes.

Although good marksmen can bring down Jedi. Jango might well have killed Mace Windu if the jetpack didn't break. He also killed at least one other Jedi quite handily.

[BMalion]

For me the coolest weapons are the phaser from TOS, the light saber, and that gun from the movie Looker that made hot chicks freeze.


Zebra, you read my mind!

[Master Wang-Ka]

1. Another vote for the DS Gun (the Sandmen's hand weapon from the book version of Logan's Run). Each gun was coded to its user; anyone not recognized by the handgrip would likely get his arm blown off if he tried to use the thing.

Furthermore, it had six separate charges:
1. Vapor (either CS or sleep gas, not sure which)
2. Tangler (enmeshed the target in a monofilament web removable only by police with special equipment)
3. Ripper (not sure what this was, but tended to dice the target chunky style)
4. Nitro (explosive charge, useful when you need an exit, NOW)
5. Needler (standard projectile charge)
6. Homer (heat-seeking gyrojet-type charge with a white phosphorous explosive tip; it'd chase you in circles or around corners, and then you'd be toast, literally).

The downside of the Sandmen's Guns were that when your palmflower went black, they'd begin howling an awful racket, to alert the populace that a Sandman had gone Runner...

2. I rather liked the 1920's style death rays used by the brainskulled Martians in Tim Burton's underrated Mars Attacks! These colorful weapons came in pistol and rifle versions, and fired standard flesh-disintegrating death rays, which left humans as brightly colored skeletons (red or green, depending on the color of the beam), and caused explosions when fired at inanimate objects. Handy, lethal, attractive, and left a very colorful battlefield! Downside: not very versatile, and apparently had no other setting than "Kill."

3. The Ringworld Meteor Defense System. Basically, it used a gravity polarizer to warp the sun's gravitational field into lenses, then aligned the lenses in such a way as to magnify solar energy into a laser beam big enough to assassinate God. Only drawback is the sheer scale of the thing, and the fact that the beam is limited to the speed of light...

4. The Jedi Lightsaber is a weapon requiring a great deal of skill and training to use; I suspect it requires no small sensitivity to the Force to be able to handle one very well. Its advantages over a blaster include the fact that you can't swat your enemy's blaster bolts away with a blaster, and it's considerably more versatile. Depending on which fanfiction you read, it's also way more energy-efficient. It's a defensive weapon, not offensive, which suits the philosophy of the wielders.

If you want to start a party at a distance, turn the thing off, hook it on your belt, and get a grenade launcher. Simple, no?

[Miller]

4. The Jedi Lightsaber is a weapon requiring a great deal of skill and training to use; I suspect it requires no small sensitivity to the Force to be able to handle one very well. Its advantages over a blaster include the fact that you can't swat your enemy's blaster bolts away with a blaster, and it's considerably more versatile. Depending on which fanfiction you read, it's also way more energy-efficient. It's a defensive weapon, not offensive, which suits the philosophy of the wielders.

If you want to start a party at a distance, turn the thing off, hook it on your belt, and get a grenade launcher. Simple, no?

I dunno. I'd be a little leery about lobbing exlosives at a guy with telekinesis.

[shijinn]

... Besides, I'm sure I can, if I wish, use a flashlight without shining the light directly on me. All I have to do is thrust the thing at the enemy and wave. ... exactly! what's with the considerate straight in straight out thing that darth maul did on quite gone case? i would have thrusted the sabre in and scribbled. :D

were i a Jedi, i'll spend some serious time mastering telekinesis to offensively control a flung lightsabre.

[The Vorlon]

Another vote for the Wave Motion Gun.

I do have a soft spot for Wunderland's answer to the Slaver disintergrater.......

As the rat-cat Kzin learned....

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Ifnn y'all are aa huntin' them thar Jed-eye, y'all need a shotgun.


Think about it. ;) :D

BTW--this means that Jed Clampett & Uncle Jesse Duke could whip the tar outta Obi-Wan & Yoda.

Obviously. :D

[the Lady]

I've always wanted a force lance (from Andromeda)
You can shoot people with it, you can key it to only your DNA and if all else fails you can use it as a big stick to hit people with.

[mbh]

by Master Wang-Ka
6. Homer (heat-seeking gyrojet-type charge with a white phosphorous explosive tip; it'd chase you in circles or around corners, and then you'd be toast, literally).

Minor nitpick:
"What gets me is the way it finds a runner. The way it homes in on the body heat. They say it burns out your whole nervous system. Every nerve in your body."

And the last thing she felt was raw, blinding agony, as the homer struck burned ,ripped, and unraveled her.

I have to admit that the Gun (from the book Logan's Run ) was a much more interesting device. On the other hand, the Weapon (from the movie Logan's Run ) looked really cool when it was fired.




by Tangent
The nude bomb from the Get Smart movie.

Best. Weapon. Ever.

Runner-up. The best ever was the Sex Ray Machine from Flesh Gordon. Shoot it at a crowd, and an orgy breaks out.

[smiling bandit]

It's a defensive weapon, not offensive, which suits the philosophy of the wielders.

If you want to start a party at a distance, turn the thing off, hook it on your belt, and get a grenade launcher. Simple, no?

I actually thought about writing a story called "Jedi Hunter", about a soldier in a special squad of (non-clone) grunts wiping out the Jedi with Darth. In short, threy used special armor and a variety of weapons to screw with the Jedi, including flamers, acid sprayers (very nasty!) and fast-acting toxic grenades. Jedi often tossed the acid grenades and toxics back, but they had a wide dispersal and could main or kill the Jedi before he had a chance to react. In other words, the toxics had a very advanced nerve gas. The acid was intended to blind and burn the Jedi, and all the force skill won't help much with that kind of firepower.

[Ogre]

I've always wondered if the Jedi didn't just fort up against Darth's purge, and if not, why they didn't. A ton of Jedi in one place with Obi Wan, Mace Windu, Yoda, and other super-powerful "enlightened" Force wielders there as well could probably have detected and destroyed/repelled anything coming at them from any direction, at any practical distance.

[Mini-Thud]

exactly! what's with the considerate straight in straight out thing that darth maul did on quite gone case? i would have thrusted the sabre in and scribbled. :D

Hah! I thought the same thing. That would have done some terrible damage. Mushy.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

I've always wondered if the Jedi didn't just fort up against Darth's purge, and if not, why they didn't. A ton of Jedi in one place with Obi Wan, Mace Windu, Yoda, and other super-powerful "enlightened" Force wielders there as well could probably have detected and destroyed/repelled anything coming at them from any direction, at any practical distance.

3 words: "Sustained Orbital Bombardment".

[smiling bandit]

I've always wondered if the Jedi didn't just fort up against Darth's purge, and if not, why they didn't. A ton of Jedi in one place with Obi Wan, Mace Windu, Yoda, and other super-powerful "enlightened" Force wielders there as well could probably have detected and destroyed/repelled anything coming at them from any direction, at any practical distance.

3 words: "Sustained Orbital Bombardment".

According to an unholy, inhuman force of nature and bad writing, like Cthulhu's bastard stepson, Kevin J. Anderson had several minor Jedi with a few weeks training "combine their powers" and managed to disable the engine on four SD's and toss them several light years away. Instantaneously.

Oh god, that was a horrible book. It's not so much that his writing itself is bad, but that he's no idea what the hell he's talking about.

Still, he's not as bad as that damned hack who made up some "Sith Talisman" that any punk Jedi could use to blow up stars on demand. Yes, the ultimate superweapon angle worked in the movie. Did every fnargin author thereafter *have* to go try and top it?

Frankly, given what some of the books said, the Jedi were basically gods on the earth. Its like that stupid clone wars Tv series (it wa a good show, but there's one thing:) where Mace Windu takes on the army of battledroids and beats them up with his fists.

Guys, if the Jedi were that strong Palpatine wouldn't have bothered with the Death Star.

Although according to the old pnp RPG, the emperor didn't actually need to crush planets. He could do it with the force. And Vader could actually tos the damned DS around, so it didn't really need hyperdrives. Hmmm...

maybe that was why the Emperor was on the DS2 with the giant chasm? So he could shoot the big beam out at the enemy himelf?

[BrainGlutton]

In S.M. Stirling's novel Drakon, Gwendolyn Ingolfsson -- a genetically-enhanced warrior from the Draka master-race, who has been been transported (by a "molehole" or wormhole experiment gone wrong) from her own version of Draka-ruled Earth in the 25th Century to our own (or a very similar) Earth in the late 20th Century -- carries a "plasma gun" and a "layer knife." These are the equivalent of "ordinary walking dress" for a Draka. The plasma gun is a kind of blaster, nothing groundbreaking there. The "layer knife" is more interesting -- the design is based on the big machete or "bushknife" 19th-Century Draka soldiers carried when they were conquering and enslaving the Africans, but the blade is made of some space-age synthetic material that allows it to hold its shape while being no more than a few molecules in thickness. This makes it as sharp as the "variable sword" from Larry Niven's Ringworld, and without requiring the assumption of Thrintun stasis-field technology.

[Evil Captor]

Tsk, tsk, tsk. I'm ashamed of the lot of you people who claim to be SF fans. Al this talk about cool SF weapons and no mention of

The Weapon Shops of Isher? (http://members.aol.com/sfandfbookclub/weapon_shops_of_isher.htm)

It was basically a pro-gun polemic, but it did describe some very cool weapons that were advanced for its day -- he was ahead of all the others here in describing guns that could be used only by their owners.

Also, the inhabitants of Harry Harrison's Deathworld series had some very cool handguns that allowed lightning-fast firing because they could draw themselves.

And there are some cool weapons in John Barnes' Timeline Wars series (Washington's Dirigible, etc.) most notably (to me) the rifle with a nanoassembler built into it's stock for ammo. When you ran out of ammo you just grabbed some dirt and shoved it into the stock and it rendered the dirt into its constutuent elements and custom-built ammo from it. Quite rapidly, too. There was also a nasty powered flechette weapon -- the flechette didn't just enter its victim, once there it continued moving, rotating in a spiral pattern, rendering its victim thoroughly dead.

And CURSE YOU for already thinking of the Lazy Gun. It's hands-down the coolest weapon ... after Zakalwe himself in Use of Weapons.

[NoCoolUserName]

I like the Sun Beam (Doc Smith). And even more I like how it reappears in Ringworld. Lucky guess or brilliant prediction?

[Ninja Pizza Guy]

Whaddaya mean, "plug"? Got one for sale?Requires a Class 666 Federal Firearms License. Launch system not included. :D

Whipped it up when I was fleshing out the background for a SF book I'm working on.

At present, only Armageddon, Victory, City, and Final Sanction class ships are Shiva-capable.
Waaaay too much time on my hands.

[Tentacle Monster]

Since Ice-Nine's already been mentioned, I'll list a few of my favorites from Transmetropolitan.

The bowel disruptor. I so want one of these. "Now, what setting? Watery, loose...prolapse."

The Marr Special-Issue Nervebreaker. Kinetic burst, concussion wall and flamethrower all in one.

And the good old-fashioned low-tech Chair Leg Of Truth.

[Master Wang-Ka]

I've always wondered if the Jedi didn't just fort up against Darth's purge, and if not, why they didn't. A ton of Jedi in one place with Obi Wan, Mace Windu, Yoda, and other super-powerful "enlightened" Force wielders there as well could probably have detected and destroyed/repelled anything coming at them from any direction, at any practical distance.

"Nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Of course, if you take all the books into account, that wouldn't work, either.

And I'd thought of the Weapon Shops of Isher... but if we're speaking of general coolness factor of a weapon, who wants one that can only be used defensively? Man, I want one I can use to carve manhole covers out of steel bulkheads, shoot out the guy wires on the main communications tower, and then flip it upside down, hop on, and RIDE AWAY TO GLORY!

Hm.

Perhaps Larry Niven's "Slaver Weapon" is what I really want. Depending on what setting it was adjusted to, it fired bullets, neutralized nearby energy fields, fired a total-conversion energy beam, and sprouted footrests so you could skate to safety on the thing...

...of course, it was notoriously picky about who was trying to wield it....

[NoCoolUserName]

Er, that's the "Soft Weapon"--a Tuncnip (or turnip or however it's spelled--I'm on the road with no access to books) spy weapon. It does match your requirements pretty closely. To keep it happy you have to convince it you are not a slaver.

[OtakuLoki]

Er, that's the "Soft Weapon"--a Tuncnip (or turnip or however it's spelled--I'm on the road with no access to books) spy weapon. It does match your requirements pretty closely. To keep it happy you have to convince it you are not a slaver.


Which is harder than it might appear on first blush: Slavers were telepathic, so you didn't have to be a Slaver to be aligned to them. What was worse was that the one Soft Weapon found was paranoid, by 'modern' standards. (Relics of ancient, genocidal wars tend to be that way, don't you know?) So, since it never met a species like yours, you're screwed.

My favorite SF weapon is the 'warp grenade' and 'warp cannon' from David Weber's Dahak books. Taking your target and leaving it in hyper space, without a spaceship. Just a faint 'poof' and no more target.

[iggy popov]

As far as coolest-looking sci-fi weapon I would have to go with Han Solo's blaster pistol.

Here is one version

http://www.swtroopers.com/props/props_hanblaster.jpg

and another

http://assall.de/movie-prop/sw1/sw1_51.jpg

[emarkp]

The Tar-Aiym Krang was a pretty nasty one from memory (from the book of the same title). Nothing like a collision with a black hole to dampen your enemy's day.

Of course that reminds me of the short story "The Hole Man" where a black hole from an ancient communication device was used similarly.

I seem to recall some books with a C+ missile/cannon something where the missiles would accelerate to near C (or slightly over) so their relativistic mass was tremendous on impact.

[BrainGlutton]

In the 1973 made-for-TV movie Genesis II (your basic scientist-goes-into-suspended-animation-and-wakes-up-in-the-future plot -- see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070101/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9Z2VuZXNpc3xodG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=17;ft=55;fm= 1), the ruling mutant caste (they have two hearts and two navels) of the city of Tyrania control their human slaves with a baton called a "stem," which, touched to the subject's skin, can induce intense physical pain -- or pleasure, depending on how the wielder sets it. Very versatile, no? Not exactly a "weapon," of course. It would need more range (like a Puppeteer tasp) to be useful in combat.

[hlanelee]

Of course that reminds me of the short story "The Hole Man" where a black hole from an ancient communication device was used similarly.

emarkp Would that be anything like Acme's Instant Hole, once used by Wiley Coyote in his nwever ending pusuit of Road Runner?

[ElvisL1ves]

a baton called a "stem," which, touched to the subject's skin, can induce intense physical pain -- or pleasure, depending on how the wielder sets it. Very versatile, no? Not exactly a "weapon," of course. It would need more range (like a Puppeteer tasp) to be useful in combat.
Blatant ripoff of the Agonizer in the alternate-universe Star Trek where Spock had a beard.

[scr4]

The Improbability Drive. Not a weapon per se, but if it can turn incoming missiles into a bowl of petunias and a sperm whale, imagine what else you could do with it.

[AtomicDog]

Space Ghost's Power Bands (http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/spacgost.htm) Those two bracelets give him at least twelve types of offensive and defensive capabilities:


Powers/Abilities: Space Ghost's powers seem to stem from his costume and the power bands he wears on his wrists. With it he can fly, and is able to travel underwater and in outer space without requiring further equipment. His belt hides an "inviso button" which can turn him invisible or generate a protective force field. He can fire a viso penetron beam from his eyes, and has a communicator located in the silhouette on his chest. His power bands seem to be able to harness the electromagnetic spectrum to enable him to fire a wide variety of different types of energy blasts, including, but not limited to: force ray, destructo ray, stun ray, heat ray, freeze ray, somic ray, electro ray, magnetic ray, anti-matter ray, force shields, hypno force ray, and straghtforward lasers. Multiple types of ray can be combined to increase his firepower. The bands also grant him superspeed, and the ability to create time warps. Probably his single most impressive power is his ability to teleport, transforming himself into pure thought and energy through concentration and will power, so that he can teleport elsewhere and reassemble there.

And he has one of the coolest battle cries ever!

[AtomicDog]

Another great Space Ghost site (http://www.tntie.com/ashleys4jc/)

[bump]

[QUOTE=The Vorlon]
I do have a soft spot for Wunderland's answer to the Slaver disintergrater.......
QUOTE]


The Wunderland Treatymaker! (http://technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=208) I was just thinking about the disintegrator/digging tool as a weapon being pretty cool, but the Treatymaker was a great idea!

This page:

http://technovelgy.com/ct/Science_List_Detail.asp?BT=Weapon

has a list of pretty cool science fiction weapons and descriptions.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

"Activate Interlock! Dynatherms Connected! Infracells Up! Megathrusters are GO!"

Not to forget "FORM BLAZING SWORD!"

[Kamino Neko]

A couple superhero weapons:

The Sandman's gasgun - or, more specifically, the gas itself. Puts the victim into a state of semi-conciousness, where they're vaguely aware of the world around them (albeit often filtered through a dream-state), and incapable of lying.

Green Lantern's ring. More a tool than a weapon, its ability to do pretty much anything the weilder wants renders it a really impressive weapon when that's called for.

And, my final suggestion:

The Composite Superman/Batman robot. Just for the sheer demented creativity for it.
Take the Composite Superman (http://hometown.aol.com/brainiacfive/composite.html), combine him with Mazinger (http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~miya/mazinger.JPG), and build the whole thing out of metallo (the metal, not the psycho-cyborg also built out of it). Moved that whole story-arc from 'Pretty darn good' to 'freakin' brilliant'.

[rjung]

"Activate Interlock! Dynatherms Connected! Infracells Up! Megathrusters are GO!"
Bah, Predaking would pimp-smack Voltron inside of three minutes... Though calling them "weapons" wouldn't help your life expectancy any. ;)

[sturmhauke]

Dude, it's all about Go (http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010617) fo (http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010711) tron (http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010715).

[Goofus]

I like the Cohe wand from Christopher Hinz's Liege-Killer and its sequels. It's a hand-held slice-n-dice energy weapon like a lightsaber, but the beam is flexible like a whip so the wielder can get you even if you're not in his line of sight.