# Your favorite sci-fi weapons
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 24, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999 "2001-06-24T20:40:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@ModernRonin2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ModernRonin2)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/61 "2001-06-28T02:45:06Z")
Can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Bubblegum Crisis stuff
yet. But I suppose most anime fans here only know about
BGC 2040, which pretty much blows in comparison to the
original.
Hardsuits. Relatively form-fitting but unbelievably
strong armor. Exceptionally agile, if not outright
strength and agility enhancing. Has a jetpack for flight
capability, and weapons built in to the arms. The weapons range from a light-saberesque “laser sword” to railguns
with 2-foot-long needles as ammo to shaped explosive
charges quite capable of blowing foot-wide holes all
the way through armored adversaries to monomolecular
edge whips capable of cutting through anything.
For an encore, a motoroid. A motorcycle that transforms
into an exoskeleton and fits around the hardsuit. Also
carries a gun that is essentially an anti-aircraft cannon.
When fired, the exo-hardsuit combo is pushed back two or
three feet, heels tearing big gouges in the pavement.
[http://www.ravensgarage.com](http://www.ravensgarage.com) for more.
-Ben
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2001, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/62 "2001-06-28T03:04:15Z")
Those orbital H-bomb-powered X-ray lasers Ronald Reagan wanted to build sounded pretty neat…
…oh, wait, that wasn’t _supposed_ to be sci-fi, was it?
(On a similar note, I have a sneaking fondness for [Project Orion](http://www.friends-partners.org/mwade/articles/probirth.htm)–not _technically_ a weapon, but you could obviously do some interesting things with the ship’s “main drive”, as it were.)
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### Author:  [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2001, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/63 "2001-06-28T03:31:35Z")
What about the Iron Giant’s weapons? They were smallscale, but from what I could tell, they were pretty cool.
One of them seemed to be a laser that discharged into a cylinder. At either ends were magnetic fields that contained the light, and oscillated in tune with the laser’s charge so that the charge was contained within the field but more light was allowed entrance by timing it’s entrance with the reflection of the other pulses. When enough charge was built up (or across a large enough spectrum) the forward magnetic field was de-powered and the laser stream was launched at the target.
That’s what I got from watching, at least.
–Tim
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### Author:  [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2001, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/64 "2001-06-28T04:23:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \*
> \*\*Those orbital H-bomb-powered X-ray lasers Ronald Reagan wanted to build sounded pretty neat…
>
> …oh, wait, that wasn’t _supposed_ to be sci-fi, was it?
>
> (On a similar note, I have a sneaking fondness for [Project Orion](http://www.friends-partners.org/mwade/articles/probirth.htm)–not _technically_ a weapon, but you could obviously do some interesting things with the ship’s “main drive”, as it were.) \*\*
Funny you should mention both of those in this Niven dominated section of the thread - those bomb powered x-ray lasers were used in ‘Footfall’, launched from a spacecraft that used the Orion drive to reach orbit.
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### Author:  [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/65 "2001-06-28T07:41:17Z")
the **Iron Giant’s** Obliterators (the green ball weapons) were self propagating molecular disasembly weapons which dropped the junk into another dimension; think self-cleaning ‘little doctor’.
hey! that’s right! no one has mentioned the M.D. (molecular diassembly) device! whoo… that was some kickass hardware. did anyone else notice that they started calling it a missile in “ender’s shadow”? damn paralell timelines…
anyway, back to weapons…
the best would have to be the six chaos devices from “Beyond the Blue Moon”. these were grenades with a spirit from a chaos dimension imprisoned within.
here is what i remember of what happened when one was triggered in the bad guy enclave:
“hey, hawk! look there… i’m not a doctor, but i am pretty sure that that is too many legs for one person.”
“yes… and look! they are all moving {_Rip!_} in different directions.”
“hey… the chaos element is heading towards that morbidly obese fellow… watch…”
{_Rip! Splat! Tear!_} “Bwahahahhahahahahahah!”
“huh! its true; there _IS_ a skinny person trapped inside every fat one!”
“um… the spirit is headed our way!”
“time to run like fuck then!”
{runs away}
{back to me}
boy do those sound unpleasant…
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### Author:  [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/66 "2001-07-01T08:24:04Z")
Mmm. Hardsuits, Boomers, and Moteroids (use once, then discard 🙂 ) are cool, but when it comes time to make a firm statement, Orbital Particle Beam Satellites are the way to go. Wether raining celestial-themed death on the petty insects who deny your divinity, holding whole countries for ransom, or defending earth against hotshot pilots in the YF-19, they make anything cool. And when you can make the X-Files cool, if only for an episode, you know you’ve achieved something.
It’s little cousin, the asteroid-dropping Mass Drivers ( **Hardwired** , **Babylon 5** , many others) are as effective, but lack the precision, and more importantly the style.
Likewise, any type of spaghetti missile, in the **Macross/Robotech** tradition, is cool, too.
Mataglap nano, from **Aristoi.** Turns almost anything it touches into more of itself. Only to be used when you hate someone enough to kill everyone who happens to be on the same planet they’re on, though.
Further on the Hardsuit angle, how about the “Unit-G,” which allows humans to summon the **Guyver** bio-armor? Fast regeration, enhanced strength and speed, telepathic communication with other guyvers, a wimpy area effect sonic attack, a gravity controller that can be used to fly or form a pressure cannon, vibration blades, and a Mega-smasher. We don’t know what a mega-smasher is, but it has a nifty shimmery special effect and a goofy name, and really, what else do you need for a final attack? And it lets you make truly terrible live-action movies, too!
How about Project Black Mind, from **Hardwired**? Someone irritating you? Bullies kicking sand in your face? Girls kicking sand in your face? Why not overwrite their personalities with your own via com line?
Of course, for a formal occasion, perhaps a dinner party before taking out that pesky rival country, you can’t do much better than Ifurita. She accessories well, destroys citys at will, and can run for years on a few cranks from the Power Key Staff. The ancient **El-Hazard** ians were true masters of flywheel technology . . .
Computer game-wise, I can’t think of many. Doom and later Quake had weapons called BFGs, but the Red Riot from **Shogo** was, in my opinion, weapon that actually _felt_ like a BFG. And it even burned your enemies shadows into the ground! **Unreal Tournament** ’s Redeemer is more powerful, and **Slave Zero** ’s final weapon looked much cooler, but they didn’t have the same impact . . .
Actually, **Shogo** ’s Shredder, the basis for **Quake 3** ’s BFG, was pretty damn cool, too. Would have been cooler if it was ballistic, though . . .
Hijack: Actually, I thought BGC2040 was better than the original in some ways, (It was more than three times as long, after all, and a full third of BGC got cut out . . .) but tech certainly wasn’t one of them . . . They really can’t be compared directly. One’s an original short OAV series, ones a TV series using an existing property . . . And you can have endless fun shouting “I’m not Makoto!” every time Makie appears onscreen.
–
“Gun! Death Blossom Mode!”
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/67 "2001-07-01T08:55:20Z")
Ura-Maru, have you seen Quake III’s BFG? Combines the strength of a rocket launcher with the refire rate of the plasma gun…
And y’all know what? I still think that the Magi-tech Armor from _Final Fantasy III_ kicked major ass…
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### Author:  [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/68 "2001-07-01T09:20:25Z")
Those things off _Dune_ that went off when you shouted. Cool. Even a cool shout.
And the little hovering guided missile that tried to take out Kyle MacLachlan.
And you could use those thumping worm-attractors from _Dune_ as wildly effective sabotage weapons. Or anything, really. Maybe that’s even been done in the books.
But all you really need is Q. Or to _be_ Q, to be more precise. If you were Q, even if you got hit with a weapon you could just rewind time and work out a really cool way to deflect the shot and take out your assailant, then let the universe run again.
Star Wars blasters, rifles and other such items were as cool as it gets. Phasers are wussy, I’m sorry, they’re AWFUL.
And that button they pressed in the 80s Godzilla cartoon to summon the big green guy. Plenty much handy.
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/69 "2001-07-01T10:07:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Star Wars blasters, rifles and other such items were as cool as it gets. Phasers are wussy, I’m sorry, they’re AWFUL.
Damn straight. Blaster rifles go “BANG!” Phasers sound like you’re peeing in the Arctic.
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/70 "2001-07-01T17:05:44Z")
Anyone who mentioned Keith Laumer’s **Bolo’s** get some of my excess **Spoofe Points**. Bolos, especially the later models, weren’t just sophisticated A.I.s; they had _heart_ and all of the positive military virtues such as courage, honor, loyalty and a sense of self-sacrifice.
Some pundits may say “Well of cousre they have them, they were programmed to”. That doesn’t explain the many instances of Bolos exceeding their programmed parameters in combat.
While I agree that SW Blasters look way cool, Lucas need to pump some more special effects into what happens to a person struck by one of their bolts. Typically, they just fall down, and I can get that from any '60s western. I wanna see massive explosive deformation of major body parts from the liberated energy flash-heating the body’s water, as David Drake describes the guns in his _Hammer’s Slammers_ series.
Speaking of which: Drake’s supertanks, commanded by Colonel Alois Hammer, while being no match for a Bolo one-on-one, are more than a match at platoon or company strength.
The **Guyver** suits (animated, not the movie) would tear up Heinlein’s _Starship Troopers_ power armor, but may not stand up to mass attack. **Guyver** sort of had the advantage of coming later than Heinlein, so it’s conceivable that **Guyver** built upon Heinlein’s concept.
All you SW junkies get bent: there is only one fighter worth mentioning from SW. The Y-Wing. And I ain’t talking about the pokey game versions either. According to Lucas’ original concept, the Y-Wings were just as fast and as maneuverable as the X-Wings and TIE Fighters.
WEG just butchered them for the RPG (which the PC games borrowed heavily from) as the X-Wing just _had_ to be better (after all, the hero, Luke, chose the X-Wing, right?) and invented all kinds of “deficiencies” as plot devices to justify the Y-Wing’s early demise in the first movie.
Lasers, Ion Cannons, Torpedoes and rugged as hell (a flying tank, essentially).
Gimme a Y-Wing any day of the week. As Jake “Cool Hand” Grafton says:
> [@](#):
>
> Fighter pilots make movies; bomber pilots make history.
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### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/71 "2001-07-01T17:26:10Z")
I’m not familiar with the Guyver suits, but I think one of the coolest suit/armor weapons is the X-O manowar suit. Valiant comics. Very powerful, seemed pretty invulnerable to Solar, a Q-like creature that seemed to have control of just about any form of energy.
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### Author:  [@Psi\_Cop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psi_Cop)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/72 "2001-07-01T18:04:26Z")
The Vorlon Planet Killer from B5. Sure, maybe it isn’t quite as mysterious as the Shadow Planet Killer, but the Shadow Planet Killer is sort of like the Death Star – hit one spot on it and the whole thing blows up. Want to destroy the Vorlon version? I hope you have a few First One Fleets to take it out, plus a heck of a lot of lesser fleets to distract the escorts.
There is just something cool about a gigantic ship that can reduce a planet to rubble with one burst, is composed of organic technology to repair itself, is (probably) partially sentient, and just _looks_ like death personified. Death Star? Ha! No comparison there.
-Psi Cop
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/73 "2001-07-01T19:28:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> WEG just butchered them for the RPG (which the PC games borrowed heavily from) as the X-Wing just had to be better (after all, the hero, Luke, chose the X-Wing, right?) and invented all kinds of “deficiencies” as plot devices to justify the Y-Wing’s early demise in the first movie.
Well, almost ANYTHING that came from WEG should be thrown out the window. They’re responsible for some of the biggest pieces of bullshit the world has ever seen (such as the “Executor is only 8 kilometers long”… yeah, right, take a glance at the movie… that thing was WAY longer than five times that of an ISD…)
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### Author:  [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-sci-fi-weapons/69999/74 "2001-07-01T23:33:27Z")
Those handy tan guns Gary Oldman was selling in _The Fifth Element_ - slipped right over your arm, had as many options as Batman’s utility belt.
Batman’s utility belt.
Give me either a Shadow or Vorlon ship from _Babylon 5_ any day, and a telepath to power it.
Telepaths.
The flamethrower from the video game “Postal.” I only wish you were able to use it during the marching band level…
Esprix
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