The Sword and Laser discussion
Coolest Sci-Fi Weapons
You can't beat the classics. E. E. Smith created all the coolest weapons for the Lensmen series. Personal weapons you've got the DeLameter, most powerful and versitile of blasters; takes the entire output of a nuc. power station 12 hours to recharge. Then the giant-sized, ultra-dense space axe for the heavy-world marines. For large-scale weapons you have Negaspheres of planetary anti-mass and sun-beams.
It just don't get cooler than that, no do it?
While we are in the territory of manga&anime, I'd like to mention "Psycho-Gun" from Cobra series:
Peter Hamilton's Void trilogy (the sf part) had a 'hawking m-sink' that could shrink a structure like a spaceship to nothing. In fact the 'red matter' in the new Star Trek movie was remarkably similar.
I'm really fond of the props on Warehouse 13 in general, but especially anything Claudia has modified from the original design. Therefore, my vote goes to the Mini Tesla. The prop-makers for the show based it off of a Remington .41 caliber double Derringer.
I have to agree with those that previously mentioned the Portal gun!After playing Portal 2 with my husband (each of us completed the solo game and completed the co-op together), I'd catch myself thinking of ways I'd want to use portals in everyday life. Big pile of papers on my desk at work? Portal to my recycle bin and wah-lah! ;)
It is also a pretty effective weapon to send your opponent (or unsuspecting husband-bot when he isn't paying attention) across the room/into a crevasse to his doom.
Cheese from the mid-80's; but still one of my favorite weapons.
Mod
I want the Big F****** Gun ;-)
Cattfish wrote: "@tamahome: is that the only time Niven got on the screen? I want my ring world movie!I thought of another one, but less cool than a towel (maybe when it's in the wash?)
Most of the swords from F..."
Not a big fan of Sheildbreaker's weakness. I'll take Coinspinner, while it sticks around. On second thought, give me Sightblinder or Doomgiver.
Wow, need to read that series again...
Well maybe im over reaching a little but it was considered a weapon platform..."Death Star"...'nuff said.
Sonic Screwdriver is only a weapon in the sense that the word Doctor means "Great Warrior" in the language of the forest. A thompson vs a lightsaber = lightsaber because force shield.
MIB noisy cricket. Sucker has a kiiiiick.
But my favorite weapon in SF hands down has got to be the Armor from Armor. Nuke grenades, full environment and everybody looks nice in black.
Wolverine's claws.Mechs/power armor a la Starship Troopers, The Matrix Revolutions, the glorified forklift in Aliens, etc.
Would those flying silver death balls from Phantasm qualify? Seems to me that Phantasm was a horror movie with elements of sf, or maybe an sf movie with elements of horror. By the way, if fantasy is swords, and sf is lasers, then what would horror be? Chainsaws?
Scott wrote: "Wolverine's claws.Mechs/power armor a la Starship Troopers, The Matrix Revolutions, the glorified forklift in Aliens, etc.
Would those flying silver death balls from Phantasm qualify? Seems to ..."
oh!! I wanna walk thru walls!
All the weapons on the Slave I. I want that ship.
I'm gonna have to concur with the M920 Cain from Mass Effect 2 and 3. It's a portable, rechargeable nuke launcher. What's not to love?I destroyed a reaper with one shot using that beast. I call mine Helena.
When I sat down to think about this a thousand thoughts flooded into my mind like a tidal wave. Coolest sci-fi weapon.. where to even get started. I realised quickly that approach wasn't going to work so I had to take a step back. I thought to myself "well if I was in a sci-fi setting what would I take". The answer suddenly became very obvious. The Sonic Screwdriver.I feel like the Sonic Screwdriver is symbolic of Doctor Who. A lot of science fiction is naturally about conflict which you could argue is a good or bad thing, thats a debate for another day.
However Doctor Who is somewhat of a departure, rather than dealing with hostiles with violence he finds other ways to win the day and overcome the wrongdoers.
The Sonic Screwdriver really isn't a weapon, it's more a tool than anything but it has one ability that few other weapons do have. It has the ability to disable practically anything else.
It's lightweight, has multiple uses, does not look threatening and has the ability to overcome most weapons. It's nearly a fantasy weapon but that is the one I would take into the beyond.
There was a book Liege-Killer, in which characters called the Paratwa, mentally entwined twins, fought with Cohe wands. Flexible beams of energy. I always thought they sounded pretty cool. Very enjoyable book as well,
I have to go with the "Wunderland Treatymaker". When you need a weapon that will get your enemy's attention, don't mess around.
I'm also going to vote for "The Soft Weapon" that Larry Niven introduced in his short story of the same name which was the basis of this animated Star Trek episode titled "The Slaver Weapon". It had many settings including a matter to energy conversion beam. It had a built in semi-intelligent computer setting which was also a great concept. Tamahome wrote: "Here's Larry Niven's episode of the animated Star Trek with the Slaver weapon. It's one of my favorites anyway. No Kirk in sight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqJVv3..."
Is 'The Soft Weapon' in an in print collection right now?
Shannon wrote: "I'm really fond of the props on Warehouse 13 in general, but especially anything Claudia has modified from the original design. Therefore, my vote goes to the Mini Tesla. The prop-makers for the sh..."Any show that has Sylvia Plath's typewriter causing deep depression in any user is my kind of show.
Tamahome wrote: "Is 'The Soft Weapon' in an in print collection right now?"Yep, here you go past-Tamahome: Playgrounds of the Mind.
I see I was beaten to the punch multiple times when it comes to recommending the Soft Weapon. Hands down the coolest SF weapon ever created.I'm also a fan of Sten's forearm knife, although I could never quite figure out how it would work.
Did the Sten series feature the gun that can shoot around corners? Because that was pretty dang cool. (Maybe it was Forever War?)
I read Niven's The Soft Weapon. Lots of creativity packed into those 60 pages. A little grisly. Instead of Spock it actually has a puppeteer from the Known Space universe.
Trike wrote: "Did the Sten series feature the gun that can shoot around corners..."Yep - it managed it because the gun rounds were, err.. round, and they were able to be made to spin when leaving the gun allowing the bullet to curve around corners, much like a pitcher can throw a curve ball.
I know i'm gonna sound pretty lame, haha, but I think i'm in love with Warehouse 13's take on the "Grappling Hook" it has this very awesome "steam-punk" feel to it. Also, there fascinating "Tesla Gun" which has the ability to paralyze enemies :)
Unless I missed it, no one said Vera from Firefly. That gets my vote. You don't see any Jedi naming their lightsabers - EU doesn't count in case that does occur there :P
The Azoth used in Gene Wolfe's New Urth books is orders of magnitude cooler than a mere lightsaber.
Derek wrote: "Unless I missed it, no one said Vera from Firefly. That gets my vote. You don't see any Jedi naming their lightsabers - EU doesn't count in case that does occur there :P"Totally forgot that one. Jane would've been proud. Haha!
I've always loved the Chainswords from the Warhammer 40,000 universe
City of Heroes is getting chainswords soon. Also chainpikes, if the pictures are to be believed.
Derek wrote: "There she is. Ain't she a beaut :) "
I prefer what he offers to trade for.
Ok, everyone picture Christina Hendricks fro a moment, get it out of your system :P
That was a really funny Firefly episode, "Our Mrs. Reynolds", written by Joss Whedon himself. 
Derek wrote: "There she is. Ain't she a beaut :) "
No, if you want a beautiful gun, go with Upotte, a Japanese series about girls who are the physical embodiment of firearms, with various parts of their bodies corresponding to ... look, it's very educational.
Sean wrote: "No, if you want a beautiful gun, go with Upotte, a Japanese series about girls who are the physical embodiment of firearms, with various parts ..."Leave it to Japan to find a way to put an edutainment show about military history in a school girl outfit.
Booksaremagic1 wrote: "I know i'm gonna sound pretty lame, haha, but I think i'm in love with Warehouse 13's take on the "Grappling Hook" it has this very awesome "steam-punk" feel to it. Also, there fascinating "Tesla G..."
Doesn't sound lame to me! Warehouse 13 has been brought up a few times; clearly, I need to move it up in my Netflix queue!
Sean wrote: "Derek wrote: "There she is. Ain't she a beaut :) "
No, if you want a beautiful gun, go with Upotte, a Japanese series about girls who are the physical embodiment of firearms, with various parts ..."
if we start bringing anime&manga in the topic why we don't count the angeloids from sora no otoshimano?
a quick detour into anime and manga and we'll surely go to that special place in hell for it
I always found the planet buster that Ender used to be particularly frightening. One of those "What hath we wrought?" sort of weapons.
Joshua wrote: "I always found the planet buster that Ender used to be particularly frightening. One of those "What hath we wrought?" sort of weapons."Meh, a mere pea-shooter compared to the weapon unleashed in Jack L. Chalker's Well World series, which eats the universe itself. Seriously, it reverts the universe back to its resting state, nullifying everything in its path.
Monomolecular Wire from the William Gibson sprawl novels. I believe it exists in other books as well, not always a weapon.
Trike wrote: "Joshua wrote: "I always found the planet buster that Ender used to be particularly frightening. One of those "What hath we wrought?" sort of weapons."Meh, a mere pea-shooter compared to the weapo..."
Yeah? Well i can count to infinity plus ONE!
I'm all for the sapient Knife Missiles in Iain Banks' CULTURE series.
Meh, a mere pea-shooter compared to the weapo..."It wasn't impressive for the scale of destruction, there's been plenty of planet busters, but just for the sheer visceral horror of seeing a planet devoured while you could do nothing to stop it.
God, I love this group. It's everything I wanted for Goodreads to become. Let's stick together like glue guys, keep the convo. going!
Margaret Weiss had some good ones in her Star of the Guardians trilogy. The Judas gun (I think it was called). The blood sword (similar to the light sabre).King's Test
Of course, I am partial to the light sabre.
I thought the Shrike from Hyperion was pretty interesting.
Chris wrote: "Margaret Weiss had some good ones in her Star of the Guardians trilogy. The Judas gun (I think it was called). The blood sword (similar to the light sabre).King's Test
Of course, I am partial to ..."
Totally agree with you on "the Shrike" best thing to ever be created.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Revelation Space (other topics)King's Test (other topics)
Playgrounds of the Mind: The Sequel to N-Space (other topics)
Liege-Killer (other topics)
Armor (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Iain M. Banks (other topics)Charles Stross (other topics)
I don't see why not.
If it's not too far out of your way, can you pick me up some automail?"
Sure, but I'm keeping the watch.
Hmm now I'm torn between a Trigun marathon and FMA.