[Nightcrawler]

What's your favorite fictional or science fiction weapon? I'm not talking things that are spawned from Hollywood foolishness, like the ceramic Glock 7 and whatnot. I'm referring to weapons that were decently thought out and appealed to you in some way. Anything cool that you've seen in a movie, or read in a book?

I've always been partial to the weapons of Aliens, myself, and the pistol of the Grammaton Clerics from Equilibrium was really cool.

I like your good old fashioned, shoots-a-blob-of-energy blasters, too, but they're not often well done on the big screen. I liked them in The Sixth Day; really cool pistols plus a short carbine variant!

[Balog]

Gauss rifles
Concussion rifles
Bowcasters
Disruptor rifles
All from Star Wars EU IIRC

Edit: Actually, I don't know where Gauss rifles came from.

[Mark Tyson]

The "man portable Gatling gun" that Jesse Ventura uses in Predator. The real gun requires a tripod to use effectively.

[geekWithA.45]

3 things I've always wanted:

A Phaser
A lightsaber and
A Starship.

And it doesn't look like I'm gonna get any of them this time around.
:mad:

[50 Shooter]

A Death Star, the thing can take out a friggin' planet!:what:

[cuchulainn]

Well, maybe this qualifies as "spawned from Hollywood foolishness," but I kind of liked the idea.

A really bad move, eXistenZ (1999: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law) had a bioengineered gun that was grown from human tissue. Since it was indistinguishable from human flesh and bone, it could get past security sensors. The bullets were bone-like hunks.

If the movie ever is on TV, watch for the gun is in the first five or ten minutes. After that, turn the movie off. It's horrible.

[Schuey2002]

The "man portable Gatling gun" that Jesse Ventura uses in Predator.
Ditto.

Oh, and a 10mm caseless rifle like one the Marines were using in the movie, Predator..:cool:

[Skunkabilly]

The MP5/M203 from Schawzenegger's End of Days and Half-Life.

[marauder220]

I would definatly take an M41-A pulse-rifle with an over\under pump-action grenage launcher....I'm sure Cpl. Hicks would agree too.

[September11]

the gun used by Harrison Ford in Blade Runner!!!

[hksw]

VANG - Christopher Rowley

WAK .55

[Pilgrim]

I like that "mind monster" controlled by Walter Pigeon in "Forbidden Planet."

Pilgrim

[Joe Demko]

The Gun from the novel Logan's Run; and remember,

There
is
no
Sanctuary!

[gulogulo1970]

Have to go with a Vader's light sabre.

[HankB]

Hmmm . . . in Gordon Dickson's Dorsai-universe books, the soldiers have "spring rifles." From the description, they're deliberately simple, with no computers or electronics for an enemy to hack or detect. They apparently have BIG magazines and shoot what are essentially needles.

Some of L. Neil Smith's characters are armed with things like a .17 caliber electric pistol - a needle fired at many thousands of feet per second.

The '30s pulp novels of Lester Dent ("Doc Savage") prominently featured "supermachine pistols" with a very high rate of fire, shooting anything from "mercy" bullets (nonlethal, with knockout drugs) to demolition charges. (BTW, back in the 80's, a really, really bad movie about Doc Savage was made. Don't see it.)

But my favorites are the personal weapons from the novels of the late Edward E. Smith, one of the writers who popularized "space opera" science fiction several decades ago. In his "Skylark" series, the characters had "X-Plosive" pistol rounds, rated from from Mark 1 to Mark X. From the description, a Mark I went off about like a pound of C4. When fired at a 900+ yard target, the explosion of a Mark V was enough to stagger the shooter. After shooting a Mark V, the lead character said "I don't want to shoot any Mark X's around here!"

It's hard to find well thought-out weapons in today's sci-fi, especially in the movies. It seems like the director just says "Give the guys ray guns" or something. (A laser crossbow?) Or they take things like Ruger Mini-14's and dress them up.

[Nightcrawler]

The Starship Troopers movie is especially guilty of this. They have interstellar starships, but the best small arm they can come up with is a bullpup assault rifle with an attached shotgun, that can't even be switched for a left-handed shooter? Not to mention the lack of an aiming apparatus.

Yikes.

But then, the silly guns were probably the least stupid thing about that awful movie.

[Joe Demko]

Gene Wolfe, who is an engineer in "real life", has posited some interesting weapons in his various novels. In particular, in his Book of the New Sun and Book of the Long Sun series', he has some really interesting ideas. Especially after having heard him speak and having read several of his essays, his ideas actually make a good deal of sense and aren't out of technological reach. Just one example: Cavalry fell from use because repeating firearms, especially machineguns, would cut down the cavalry when they would attempt a mounted charge. Armored vehicles marked the final nail in their coffin. Yet today, genetic engineering is a hot field. Suppose a mount (he calls them destriers) is developed using material from horses and cheetahs. Now you have a mount that can run 60mph. Give it kevlar barding. It can graze instead of needing motor fuel. It is far more nimble than any Humvee. Suddenly mounted cavalry isn't so outmoded...

[Nightcrawler]

You know Golgo, I'd never thought of it like that. Imagine a cavalry mount that was faster than a modern armored personnel carrier and had about the same amount of armor; it'd be a lot quieter than a diesel engine, too.

Hmm....interesting concept, if nothing else! :D

[CJ]

An old Timothy Zahn series (first one called "Cobra") involved a set of highly trained specialists who had, among other weapons, some pretty powerful lasers implanted in their pinkies. Small, easily concealable, and always at hand :)

[MagKnightX]

What about the Cerebral Bore used in Turok 2? I'm also very partial to the shock rifle, minigun, lightning gun, and the Redeemer from Unreal. Yeah, I know, video games, but...

And the MP5/M203 was turned into an M4/M203 with the Blue Shift graphics pack, unfortunately.

What about the flame pistols from I think it was Logan's Run?

[MarineTech]

A couple of my favorites:

Rick Deckard's sidearm from Blade Runner

The Tribarrels from David Drake's Hammer's Slammers books....... Strike that, I want the whole tank.

An old Timothy Zahn series (first one called "Cobra") involved a set of highly trained specialists who had, among other weapons, some pretty powerful lasers implanted in their pinkies. Small, easily concealable, and always at hand

Don't forget the anti-armor lasers that they had inplanted in the long bones of their left legs.

[Jim March]

The ULTIMATE was something they came up with for one episode only towards end of Deep Space Nine.

This was a rifle firing plain "old fashioned" bullets, with a difference: at the end of the barrel is a teleporter device. The aiming system has an eyepiece, and there's a "depth view adjustment" that lets you look forward or backwards right through walls. Once you have it aimed and the depth adjusted, firing causes the viewfinder to send a signal to the teleporter on how far to throw it.

Upshot: you could be standing on one side of a space station and hit a target on the other side of the station through 20 or whatever walls and the bullet would never impact anything before creaming the target.

Also very late in the DS:9 series, we started to see phaser rifles with genuine sights. And in this season's episode of the newest series, one of the commandos on board fired a sniper energy weapon at a guy through dense fog/dust with a popup tubular scope that per the view through the scope (which they showed), was clearly infrared or similar (the target bad guy who was firing a big gun blindly glowed orange).

That same commando team has tonfas (police-style batons) that have an electric contact stunner on one end.

[Brian Williams]

The space Battle axes from EE "Doc" Smith Lensmen series and the portable blasters.

The Powered Suits from The book Starship Troopers, I want a Scout suit.


There was a series that had the Heroine using a needle gun which fired a flash frozen needle powered by compressed gas. It had a dial set in the side to set the lethality of the liquid of the needle.

[Hkmp5sd]

Top of the list is a Star Wars Lightsaber. Second would be the gun used in the Tom Selleck movie Runaway with the bullets that are mini-cruise missiles that track the target and chase him down before going kaboom. Also like the guns used by the judges in Judge Dread.

[mgjohn]

Plasma rifle in the 40 watt range and a T101 to use it for me.

[Poohgyrr]

I kinda liked that 1911 Selleck carried in Runaway , to go with the pistols in Judge Dredd & everything in J.T.R.'s mountain hideaway in The Survivalist series by Ahern. Lightsabers are a must.

[FireInTheHole]

The guass rifle in Fallout2.

Hell, even the gauss pistol from Fallout2.

I thought that GE miniguns were man-portable....assuming you could find a man willing to carry a 80lbs(higher?) weapon the ammo to use it around....

Id like one of those disk weapons from Predator II.... heh

[Moparmike]

Does my own customizable TX count?:D :D :D

Damn it Jim (I am a doctor, not a bricklayer:p ), you beat me to the transporting rifle in DS9.

I want my own AT-AT, an "ancient weapon and a hokey religion", a Type 1 phaser, Type 2 phaser (only I want DS9 power in a Star Trek VI pistol configuration), Type 3 phaser rifle, and my own Defiant Class warship. And a Run-about, with some modifications :D .

Sea Quest would be cool submarine, all with its own talking dolphin.;)

Edited to add: A Schwartz ring!:D :evil:

[vertigo7]

Edited after I took a while to really think about it.

[list=1]
Green Lantern's power ring
Lightsaber
Guyver III bio-booster armor
Saber-model Cyclone (http://www.kent.net/robotech/mecha/ref/saber.shtml) motorcycle/power armor unit from Robotech
[/list=1]


An old Timothy Zahn series (first one called "Cobra") involved a set of highly trained specialists who had, among other weapons, some pretty powerful lasers implanted in their pinkies. Small, easily concealable, and always at hand


And if I remember correctly, they had an anti-armor laser cannon running down the inside of one leg. Yikes. Now you've done it. I've gotta go dig up those books and read them again.

[ceetee]

Okay, PERFESSR ... You can have the Scout suit.

I always wanted a Marauder... Somehow, looking like a giant steel gorilla that can fly, leap over buildings, shoot fire, and launch tactical nukes always appealed to me.

Other than that, there was a short story I once read about a man named Voll. He had titanium bones, retractable claws, fiber-optic nerve pathways, and self-healing flesh... In short, he was the weapon...

[Nightcrawler]

He had titanium bones, retractable claws, fiber-optic nerve pathways, and self-healing flesh

Wolverine?

[Camel]

I want a phaser. Not the new girly phaser, but the old-school Capt. Kirk phaser. No stun setting for me, I want to shoot my enemies then watch as the turn red and dissapear. Now thats stopping power.

A Death Star would b nice too. First order of business would be to put a screen over that exaust port.

[Nightcrawler]

I want a blaster pistol. I'd be cool looking, and would have a built-in tritium-holosight as an aiming device. The power cell would feed into the grip.

I'd fire blue bolts of energy, that'd clip along at about 3000 feet per second, so it'd seem like blue streaks coming out of the muzzle.

Ideally, it'd be able to punch clean through your typical badguy, body armor or no, and would cause massive wounds and severed limbs.

Basically, I want the pistols from The Sixth Day, just not so big (they were built on Desert Eagles in the movie).

[Harold Mayo]

Oh, this is SO my kind of post...

First and foremost...in a book by an author named Daniel Keys Moran, one (or more) of the characters had something that was similar in design to a light saber but was a little better. It was described in such a way that you were reminded of a black-bladed light saber but it was basically a black hole in blade form. Anything that it touched (but ONLY what it touched) was sucked in and destroyed but only along the line of the blade. The effect was basically the disintegration of whatever was touched without regard to substance.

Next...soldiers of the Eternal Emperor in the Sten books by Chris Bunch and ??? (forget the co-author) used guns that fired small anti-matter pellets. The explosions were small but deadly.

Next...a book that I read LONG ago, an old sci-fi novel that was probably from the 1960's, had characters using various handguns. The ship captain used a handgun that fired nuclear rounds (I think that the book was old enough that they used the word "atomic" rather than "nuclear"). There were other handguns that did other things but I can't remember them. Hmm...time to test Google to the limit...

I guess that covers ranged as well as melee weapons pretty well.

Oh, guess not. I'd also like to have the sword "Stormbringer" from Michael Moorcock's Elric books...but without the demonic influence...

[Billll]

For the blaster, google "plasma toroids".This is effectively a rail gun, projected around a cone, fireing the plasma spark plus whatever erodes off the electrodes. My railgun did the same thing, but the plasma doesn't go very far in the atmosphere, only an inch or two. This is an outer space weapon.

For Lightsaber, I propose an industrial grade hypodermic syringe, using a blank cartrage to supply pressure, and about 15cc of water forced through a .002" nozzle. This sort of thing is used for metal cutting in industry, but my version would only run for about 10 seconds, or untill the water was gone. 'Till then, though, you'd be the baddest bear on the subway, out to 3 or 4 feet, capable of slicing hoodlums, leather jackets, and the pole they were holding on to.

My ideal job? Engineer/Designer for a gun company.

Weapon? One of those neat concealed carry numbers from the Weapon Shops of Isher, that knows when you need it and jumps to your hand when you reach for it.

:evil:

[Kaylee]

oooh.. neat.

"just for fun"... lightsaber of course. :)

real weapon.. prolly one of those little car-remote sized phasers. talk about your ultimate CCW -- tiny little thing would slip into a little pocket, yet be able to vaporize an assailant.
"Why no officer, I didn't hear anything this evening.. why do you ask?":D


But if I could have just ONE sci-fi gizmo, it wouldn't be a weapon. I'm thinking an omni. (betraying my 80's childhood here. :) ) Better yet, a TARDIS. but I was thinking hand-held.

[hksw]

Timothy Zahn series (first one called "Cobra")

Oh yeah. Cobra and Cobra Strike. Had their bones coated too to improve strength. Then there was the short Blackcollars series.



...Sten...

Oh yeah. Knife edge 15 molecules wide.

Cole and Bunch's A Reckoning for Kings (non-SciFi) is pretty dang good too, IMO.

[cool45auto]

I liked Robocop's gun, and Han Solo's blaster.

[Harold Mayo]

ALLAN COLE and Chris Bunch! How could I forget? I had forgotten about Sten's knife, too. Kinda pales in comparison to the black hole blade, though. I WOULD love to have the chameleon suits that Sten and Alex used, though.

[Jrob24]

First would be the railgun from Eraser. Second choice would be the Calico "Spacegun" from the B-movie Dark Angel that fires very powerfull explosive/incendiary rounds :D

[Frohickey]

Geez... you guys are amateurs.

Varon T Disruptor (http://www.startreklives.de/artifacts/varont.htm)... banned in the Federation. :D

[Chris Rhines]

The temporal swords from Leo Frankowski's Conrad's Time Machine.

- Chris

[six 4 sure]

A lightsaber of course

the Glave? from the movie Krull

the desert suit or whatever it is called from Dune


An X-Wing fighter would be kinda sweet too


six

[cz75bdneos22]

eraser- arnold swa

they bgs had a plasma/energy gun..or something to that effect..:what:

[yy]

Omega-13

[kannonfyre]

That magazine fed 12 guage full auto gun shooting AP rounds that they featured in Showtime starring Eddie Murphy. Wouldn't hurt to have Robert Deniro's daughter by my side though. :D

[Ian11]

Yep, nothing cooler than a lightsaber.

2nd: Pulse Rifle from Aliens

3rd: Deckards's handgun from Bladerunner

[atek3]

AMR (antimatter rifle) your basic rifle that uses electromagnetic propulsion to throw a slug containing antimatter. However, the gun is programmable, so you can say, "gun fire a level 1 charge" and it would do 10d6 damage. level 2 100d6, level 3 1000d6, etc. and so on. Basically level 10 couldn't be fired on the same planet as the target :)

Also science has made the "monomolecular knife" a reality. Ze Germans have found a way to use CVD to make a diamond blade that tapers to a few nanometers. The first target market is eye surgeons who need Really sharp knives. I give it 10 years before every topflight fighting knife has a monomolecular edge. Ow. Or rather, whats that wierd feeling, ohhhh, both my legs have been severed, DOH.

atek3

[Hot brass]

OH, I would " LOVE" to own a LIGHT SABRE. And then the rifle our New Gov. used in the movie Eraser. Can I have Vanessa Williams too:evil: , and last the mini gun that Jesse Ventura used in Preditor. My small town would be crime free:scrutiny:

[jercamp45]

Daily carry....phaser....useful to warm rocks on cold nights..imagine it might warm up a cold coffee or pizza just the same and start a fire. Stun setting for those pesky ones that just won't shut up. Kill for, well, killing. And vaporize when you just wanted the problem to go away. Might want to hose the molecular remains into the nearest gutter, can use a urine stream if garden hose is not available. I can think of a few Vaporization Award Recipients.
A Scout suit, for sure. Makes roaming in dangerous places much safer!
A fully programable (and functional) TX to watch my six and perform other tasks as, um, required.
I would also have one of Heinlein's fold up diminsional boxes(Glory Road) that weighed nothing and could be unfolded the size of a small house containing whatever armaments your heart might desire.
A small Talon ship for my spatial/temporal jaunts.
That's enough for a start!
Jercamp45

[Chuck Dye]

Valentine Michael Smith and presumably most or all Matrians, could, by the power of the mind, twist an object or person through one or more dimensions, causing them to disappear/cease-to-exist.

I think, therefore you aren't.

Register, permit, or regulate THAT!

[LiquidTension]

The Sun Crusher. No doubt about it, one of the coolest weapons ever built (in the Star Wars universe anyway).

A close second would be a lightsaber. A silver one. With adjustable blade. Cool.

[Orthonym]

I want a laser finger like the one Mandella had in "Forever War". Those tachyon rockets were really cool too.

Does anyone know the formula for duodecaplylatomate? Doc Smith had that particular chemical explosive badder and louder than some nukes.


Of course what I really want is a Lens from Arisia. Don't think I could pass the background check, though.

[MicroBalrog]

Ngu Departure 10mm

[CMcDermott]

The David Drake Hammer's Slammers series has a couple neat guns - "flechette" rifles with diamond lined bores firing finned needles at 20,000 fps, the "powerguns", that take a plastic wafer impregnated with metal ions and turn it into a plasma burst - a way of having a plasma rifle that takes actual ammo instead of energy packs. Power sized with the size of the plastic wafer, pistols took 1 cm disks, rifles and the tribarrels (gatling style guns) take 2 cm disks, up to tank cannon sized guns, though I don't remember what there "caliber" is.
Then there is the sword in CJ Cherryh's Morgaine novels, sort of a wormhole generator that can send an entire army to somewhere else with one good swipe - though it doesn't necessarily kill anyone doing it.
Then the ultimate weapon - in an early Star Trek episode Kirk and Spock find a pistol sized device that turns out to be a matter to energy direct conversion device. At the minimum setting it was like setting off a nuclear device, Spock theorized the max setting would cause suns to go nova. They had to destroy it to keep the bad guys (Klingons?, memory fails) from getting it.

[Brian Williams]

I do not want a light saber but from the Ringworld series by Niven I want a Sinclair molecular chain sword. It had a blade of "sinclair molecule chain", some molecule attached to each other in a chain could be any length stiff or flexible. It could slice thru anything cause it was only 1 molecule wide and made out of scrith. So thin it had a light on the end so you knew where the end was.

[PeteyPete]

I like the gun from the movie "Eraser".

[BeLikeTrey]

Marauder,
I too agree that the m41-a is one of the best. Both due to realism due to real firearms that are used to make it and that it sure is Coool!
There is even a site that tells you how to make one! For your enjoyment here is the link. Use the navigation at the left to view process. It's a tommy gun and an spas-12!! Neat huh?

http://home.pressroom.com/philips/pulser/pulse.htm

[Dorrin79]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Reason

ultima ratio regnum

now that's a gun! Need something to keep the power source cool, though...

(from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash )

[HankB]

Then the ultimate weapon - in an early Star Trek episode Kirk and Spock find a pistol sized device that turns out to be a matter to energy direct conversion device. I don't remember that episode, but this sounds like Star Trek stole an idea from a Larry Niven story. IIRC, humans and Kzinti found what they thought was an old Slaver weapon, but it was a Tnuctipun artifact - a morphing handgun. One of the things it did was convert matter to energy . . . you really did NOT want to be anywhere nearby.

Niven's characters also had the "Variable Sword" a device that sent out a thin wire - thin as in one molecule wide - encased in a stasis field. It would cut through anything.

If we're looking at things beyond handguns, E.E. Smith had some doozies in his "Lensman" and "Skylark" books. In the former, he had the Sunbeam - a ray that harnessed ALL the output energy of a star, which could then be directed against an enemy. His guys also used planet-sized chunks of negative matter against enemy planets - sometimes warped out of a parallel universe where the rest state was 15x lightspeed in our universe. (Even the Arisians couldn't figure out what would happpen beforehand.) And in his Skylark books, fourth-dimensional translation was used to take stars from one galaxy and drop them on all the suns in the galaxy of the evil chlorine-breathing amoeboid monstrosities threatening humanity, wiping out a whole galaxy full of them ("Doc" Smith wrote on a grand scale.)

Heinlein had a book in which his characters had a "tunable" death ray, so you could set it to kill, say, only Orientals. Which was handy since the USA had been invaded by Pan-Asians. (Heinlein took this idea from an earlier John W. Campbell novel titled "All.")

And of course, John W. Campbell came up with the ultimate weapon in his book, The Ultimate Weapon. Basically, when fighting a losing battle against aliens, a human scientist had an idea that, when he computed it out, always reduced to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Unable to resolve this, he figured he'd build the machine anyway . . . and he ended up with a device that generated uncertainty. Contact with the top level of uncertaintly caused matter - and mankind's enemies - to cease to exist.

[Brian Williams]

Niven's characters also had the "Variable Sword" a device that sent out a thin wire - thin as in one molecule wide - encased in a stasis field. It would cut through anything.

Thanks HankB I could not remember what it was called, but IIRC the fight when it was used wrecked a lot of stuff

[rennaissancemann]

M41-A pulse-rifle (Aliens)

2 cm Powergun (Hammer’s Slammer’s)

Squeeze Bore Rifle (Forlorne Hope)

.17 Webley Electric or 50 cal. Gabbet Fairfax (Probability Broach)

Anything from the Weapon Shops of Isher

[Hatchett]

Speaking of sci-fi guns, who can identify what these are supposed to be?

[George Hill]

#1 Deckard's pistol from Blade Runner
#2 M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens
#3 Noisy Cricket from Men In Black
#4 Scout Blazer rifle from "Armour"
#5 Storm Trooper's blaster rifle from Star Wars
#6 Zork Industries weapon pod thing from 5th Element
#7 Leon's pistol from Blade Runner
#8 Grammaton Cleric's pistol from Equilibrium
#9 "Weirding Module" from Dune
#10 "Smart gun" from Aliens

Special props to supporting technologies:
#1 Lightsabers: Star Wars
#2 Personal Shields: Dune
#3 Scout Suits: "Armour"
#4 Tricorder: Star Trek
#5 Transporter: Star Trek
#6 Speeder Bikes: Star Wars
#7 Taxis: 5th Element
#8 Drop Ships: Aliens
#9 "Seakers": Dune
#10 Star Destroyers: Star Wars

[Ed Straker]

SPACE:1999 Stun Gun. They just look cool. I actually had a watergun version when I was a kid.

http://space1999.tv-toys.co.uk/replica-stun.jpg

[zahc]

Vulcan Raven's cannon in Metal Gear Solid.

[Chuck Dye]

REAL SF?

By real SF, I presume meeting your, or perhaps some larger groups, standard of acceptability. Won’t you please post the rules so we can get it "right"?

[Nightcrawler]

Everybody play nice now.

Star Wars isn't so much science fiction as it is Space Fantasy. But, it never pretends to be hard science fiction, either.

Star Trek is little different. The problem with Trek is many people seem to assume that it's based on real scientific theory and is fairly realistic. It's really not.

I'd really like to hear people's favorites from OTHER scifi, though. I mean, you do a search involving anything "space" "science fiction" or what have you on the net, and you'll pull up a million links for Star Trek and Star Wars. Heck, I have a book I bought about the weapons of the Star Wars universe...

[wingnutx]

Powered Armor from Heinlein's "Starship Troopers".

Retractible claws from Gibson's "Neuromancer".

Both of those guys have been imitated so often it's amazing.

[Nightcrawler]

So this character from Neuromancer...was he the inspiration for Marvel Comics' "Wolverine" character, then?

[wingnutx]

Well, that particular weapon is not a good example of something that was imitated.

The entire 'Matrix' universe is, though. An entire genre (cyberpunk) was created with Williams' first work.

Somebody up-thread mention 'Reason' from Snowcrash. Now that is a gun!

[wingnutx]

I forgot to add:

Power Holsters, from Harry Harrison's Death World trilogy. They basically as strapped to your forearm and whip your pistol into your hand when you make the right gesture.

[Joe Demko]

As I recall, those power holsters beath the daylights out of your hands during the learning process.

[wingnutx]

First and foremost...in a book by an author named Daniel Keys Moran

I think that book is "Emerald Eyes", if I remember correctly.

I would really like another copy of that book.

[buzz_knox]

So this character from Neuromancer...was he the inspiration for Marvel Comics' "Wolverine" character, then?

No, Wolverine was introduced first (1974). Neuromancer was published in 1984.

[36fan]

1. Darth Maul's double bladed lightsaber

2. The Emperor's or Count Dooku's Finger tips that shoot 'lightning'

3. Emperial Class Star Destroyer

[vertigo7]

So this character from Neuromancer...was he the inspiration for Marvel Comics' "Wolverine" character, then?

No, Molly had retractable surgical scalpel-sized blades under her fingernails. And she was packing a wicked flechette gun too.

[KC]

Anyone ever pick up a copy of the RPG "Underground" by Ray Winninger from Mayfair Games? I would really like a 15mm Urban Nightmare #802 (a revolver that Magnum Research is trying to make)....'course a 12mm Daemon Arms "Death's Head" semi-auto wouldn't be bad either.

The Tcnutpin (sp?) toy in Niven's "The Slaver Weapon" is neat, but impractical unless you want to carve holes in a planets crust. (Unless you want to get 'close' and use the monomolecular wire.)

So far as weapon systems go, the Sentinals in 'Matrix' have a alot of uses, but don't seem to have a ranged weapon, and depend on swarm tactics to do much. But honestly, it's hard to beat an Ogre Mk.5 in ground warfare, or some of the larger of Saberhagen's "Berserkers" a little higher up. (The Romulan singularity torpedos would work against Berserkers, but you need a lot of them...or just one Genesis Device and run like hell.)

[Nightcrawler]

How come it's only in role-playing-games and comic books (ahem, graphic novels) that futuristic guns get cool names like "Death's Head" and "Urban Nightmare"?

What do we get? "GP100". "Glock 17". "Government Model". "Model 629".

OOOOh, scary! :rolleyes:

:D :) ;)

[HankB]

But honestly, it's hard to beat an Ogre Mk.5 in ground warfare, or some of the larger of Saberhagen's "Berserkers" a little higher up. Unless you're using one of Keith Laumer's MkXXX Bolos on the ground, or piloting E.E. Smiths "Skylark of Valeron" or "DQ" a little higher up.

On the other hand, controlling the Markovian supercomputer at the heart of Jack Chalker's Well World would make you tough to beat, too.

My favorite nonexistent imaginary weapon can beat your favorite nonexistent imaginary weapon. :neener:

(Nightcrawler: At least we had Black Talon and Street Sweeper . . . and still have Golden Saber and Deep Shock. ;) )

[KC]

Because Comic Book and RPG publishers aren't (as) afraid of the PC nazis are are 'real' firearms manufacturers. Besides, the gun makers may at one time have read Orwell's "1984", but the game publishers have well-worn copies at their desks.

That, and they are better at marketing unlicenceable material to a hungry audience.

[Nightcrawler]

Two ways to piss off both Star Trek and Star Wars geeks.

1) Tell them how the two shows are bound together in that Industrial Light and Magic did special effects for both of them.

2) Say that Babylon 5 was better than either of them. (This especially offends the Trekkers :evil: )

[fmjcafe]

Call me old fashioned but I always liked the rifles the apes carried in Planet of the Apes.

[vertigo7]

Say that Babylon 5 was better than either of them.

I once had a bumper sticker that said "Babylon 5: Our last, best hope for good sci-fi on television". :D

Speaking of B5, the phased-plasma pistols they were carrying were great. Enough power to take down a person, and able to do it without punching holes in walls or people.


vertigo7, who always listens to Ivanova.

[Ed Straker]

Okay, Babylon5 - The Rangers' staff. I'd love to have one of those!

[tyme]

The beams from Babylon 5 (shadows) and the church ships in Dan Simmon's Endymion and Rise of Endymion are both rather cool, ergs being the coolest defensive mechanism ever (in Simmon's books).

But for personal handheld weapons, those sonic guns (I forgot what they were called) that could shatter people and other things in one episode of Time Trax (tv, 1996-ish) were pretty cool. I'd go for a keyfob that shot energy blobs that could knock people unconscious, too (every single episode).

[buzz_knox]

The rounds in Time Trax weren't energy blobs but pellets dispensing different types of chemicals: one to stun and one to put in suspended animation in preparation for time transport.

I watch way too much TV.

[Dr.Rob]

Ahhhh


Aside from the obvious Planet of the Apes m-1 Carbine...

A Blade Runner pistol... and a Police Spinner.
A lightsaber, natuarlly.
Skin Reversing Rifle from tank girl. Actually, tank Girl's tank, Fluffy would be pretty cool. esp If Lori Petty comes with it.
Chewbacca's bowcaster is positively arcane.
Any of the big stormtrooper guns. Ala MG 34
Klingon disrupter. Doubles as a melee weapon. Try that with a phaser.
Phaser type 2 (a boosted power pack for the type 1 which can be removed and concealed)
The Golden Gun
The Cylon guns from Battlestar Galactica were proof that in the future you'll still need bayonets!
Jason's pistol from G-Force.
The Russian rocket pistol from Gibson's "Difference Engine"
Real Soviet 3 barreled space survival gun.
Johnny Socko Robot.
Batman Utility belt.
A-Wing fighter.

[tyme]

Those were chemicals? And they made people glow? Uh-huh. Silly TV show producers. The pellets didn't look remotely like matter.

Now that I think about it, wasn't there an instance in the same episode with the sonic guns where he fired repeatedly at a rope to cause it to fray? Some chemicals! Acidic or basic enough to cause rope to disintegrate, but doesn't have any serious effect on humans, floors, walls, ceilings, or anything else.

And acid/base destruction would have been gradual; this was instantaneous like a projectile's effect on rope.

[buzz_knox]

Yup, chemicals. Now, they might have been energy pellets that caused a forcefield with the necessary chemical imbedded therein, to be distributed around the person, resulting in an even distribution. (Nice Sci-Fi answer, no?) But they were called pellets in the show, and before prisoners could be transported back to the future, they had to be dosed with a chemical (TXP).

The key bob was also identified version of the standard issue PPT (Pellet Projection Tube) modified to look like a car alarm so as to blend in with the 20th century natives.

[Morlock]

i'd ike to see a "chiller" from the "Ted Quantrill" trilogy by Dean Ing. Integrally suppressed w/ explosive projectiles. Can't remember much more 'cept it sounded pretty bad@&&.

[Epesiarch]

In David Brin's The Practice Effect, the main character has a weapon that basically looks like a pistol. However, to give it ammo you put any piece of metal you can find into the handle where the magazine would normally go. The pistol then shaves off pieces of the metal and propels them (using gas taken directly from the atmosphere, if I recall) at anything you point the trigger at. The beauty of the pistol is that it needs no propellant because it culls gas from the atmosphere and any metal that can fit in the handle is potential ammo. It was solar powered, too, so with air, sun, and any metal you have unlimited ammo.

Also, someone mentioned Saberhagen. In one of his Beserker series, the humans attacked the beserkers (robot ships bent on the destruction of all life in the universe) with what they called "C-plus" weapons. These were ships which carried one huge, massive "bullet"--the bullet itself was ship-sized. When the bullets were fired, they would skip in and out of hyperspace so that they couldn't be blown up. Right before the target they would exit hyperspace and strike the target at virtually light speed. Bye bye target. Think of a Titanic-sized solid mass striking a spaceship at that speed. The energy involved would be obliterating.

[wingnutx]

They had those ram-ships, too. Then it was old-school boarding with a gun and a cutlass, basically.

[Andrew Wyatt]

the grav guns from the legacy of aldenata are pretty cool, but the best two weapons in the series IMO are the metalstorm turretted m-1a1 tanks and the she-va guns, which are anti- air SP 16 inch guns that fire shells with antimatter warheads.

[buzz_knox]

From David Weber's Fifth Imperium series:

grav gun - gravitically propels (at around 3 klicks per second) flechettes capable of piercing most substances before detonating

warp rifle - sends anything caught within its beam irretrievably into hyperspace

[Mastrogiacomo]

I second the vote for Equilibrium -- I still dream about Beretta coming out with guns like that for 2004....:D

[OEF_VET]

Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=577268

[Hutch]

'Vet, thanks again for the holster, but ahhh,, it's an Illudium Q-36 interplanetary space modulator. The bazooka-thingie in the picture ain't it. Remember when Bugs swiped the little firecracker thingie? "THAT CREATURE!!!"

On to the question: I wanna plasma rifle as described in "March to the Sea" et al, by Ringo/Weber. Way cool stuff, prone to occasional kb's (which are not at all fun for the operator, and those in the same zip code). The effects as described on fixed stone fortifications (think medievel (sp?) castle) is awe-inspiring.

[KC]

"..the bullet itself was ship-sized."

It's been a while, but I thought that the c+ cannon came in various sizes, mostly small-ish. The largest ones, as I recall, had bores that were not ship sized but fired hyperdense slugs had the mass of a ship.

Either way, lotsa fun.

[Hawk]

Modular and easily configurable:

Inner Sphere Timberwolf / Madcat II

with dropship

[zahc]

Don't forget that handheld nonlethal space warp generator thing from 'Minority Report'.

[OEF_VET]

Hutch,

You thinking about this one:
http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=577609

[Billll]

Oh yeah, The moon mens "Scroonch Guns" from Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[Gary H]

Don't think that she would fit in the range bag and my wife might question my need for another weapon, but here is the ultimate sci-fi weapon:

http://www.pappayon.com/premiums/wallpapers/fifth_element_the/6fifth_element_the_640.jpg

[C-Note]

I always loved the look of the Blaster pistols from Battlestar Galactica. Also, gimme a personal shield-belt like the one from Dune. I don't care that it attracts giant Sand Worms!

[hoppinglark]

there was a gun in the low budget sci-Fi direct to home video series "Trancers" that shot Silicon or carbon bullets, made from anything you put into it. you just had to pick up things from your environment, in the desert-use sand, in the woods-use twigs and rocks, "just shove it up your butt" is what Jack Deth was told when issued this wonderous gun! He also got the "long second watch" the would speed him up so that, he would experience one second has 10, (you can run pretty far in 10 seconds!!)



and I already have my Lightsaber

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/slingshot70/images/jedimastersweetpea.jpg

[Orthonym]

"I'm getting very angry!" (Spoken in adenoidal nerdy tone)

What I'm working up to writing about is, of course, the best SF (eff Sci-Fi, movies and TV) weapon ever invented,


The ACME disintegrating pistol!



Don't laugh, people! Thinking of that has caused me to be extra careful, when reloading cartridges, to avoid double charges and suchlike oopsies.

[Orthonym]

personal attack removed

Sorry, Oleg, and all other folks here, but I think it's perfectly OK to make fun of that terminally stupid (spaceships making noise in vacuum) Star Wars movie(s) and all of its fans, when one of the most major, maximally coolest, seminally influential, erudite, heroic (proved in war) good example and natural gentlemen, not to mention one of the 4 or 5 best SF writers who ever lived, has just died.

I am writing about Col. Harry C. Stubbs, USAAF Ret., aka Hal Clement.

[lee n. field]

Anything cool that you've seen in a movie, or read in a book?

Webley Electric. Handgun, 100 or so 17 caliber steel needles in a magazine, electromagnetic induction. Selector switch for single shot, 3 round burst or full auto. ZZZZaaap! L. Neil Smith's _Probability Broach_ universe.

Sedrich Fireclaw's sword Murderer. Nothing special, your basic claymore, modified to fit a prosthetic socket. What's special is the man behind it.

The powered warLART Cluebringer.

[George Hill]

No one has mentioned the double ended lazer blasters from "THE BLACKHOLE".
Weapon has a gun on both ends of the grip... it was pretty cool.

[Stevie-Ray]

I want one of those BFGs the intergalactic exterminators used in Critters.

[Deadman]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but I'd take the Predators' shoulder mounted 'Plasma-caster' (or what ever cheap name they use for it).

And one of the Games Workshop Warhammer40K Bolt pistols. Full auto pistol which fires armour piercing, explosive tip rounds. One in each hand of course.

[wintermute76]

#1 Mercury Bow from Oni (PS2) fired a frozen mercury spike
#2 .223/12mm over under submachine gun from Red Faction (also on PS2) looks like an MP5
#3 Plasma rifle from Iain M. Banks' "Use of Weapons" an antique museum piece, but Zakalwe likes how it's balanced
#4 a Culture GSV (general systems vehicle) "Iain M Banks describes his Culture ships as follows:


Culture starships - that is all classes of ship above inter-planetary - are sentient; their Minds (sophisticated AIs working largely in hyperspace to take advantage of the higher lightspeed there) bear the same relation to the fabric of the ship as a human brain does to the human body; the Mind is the important bit, and the rest is a life-support and transport system. Humans and independent drones (the Culture's non-android individual AIs of roughly human-equivalent intelligence) are unnecessary for the running of the starships, and have a status somewhere between passengers, pets and parasites.
The Culture's largest vessels - apart from certain art-works and a few Eccentrics - are the General Systems Vehicles of the Contact section. (Contact is the part of the Culture concerned with discovering, cataloguing, investigating, evaluating and - if thought prudent - interacting with other civilisations; its rationale and activities are covered elsewhere, in the stories.) The GSVs are fast and very large craft, measured in kilometres and inhabited by millions of people and machines. The idea behind them is that they represent the Culture, fully. All that the Culture knows, each GSV knows; anything that can be done anywhere in the Culture can be done within or by any GSV. In terms of both information and technology, they represent a last resort, and act like holographic fragments of the Culture itself, the whole contained within each part.

[KRAUTGUNNER]

I'd prefer one of those "Pulser Pistols", which are the standard weapons of the armed forces in the "Honor Harrison"-Universe, created by the excellent writer David Weber.

Those are guns that fire 3mm-darts at hyper-velocities (8000fps+), propelled by so-called "grav-drivers" (directed pulses of artificial gravity).

One good torso hit and you're mince meat! :evil: :evil: :evil:

[KC]

RE: Personal Shield Belts from "Dune"

"I don't care that it attracts giant Sand Worms"


They also have this really unfortunate side effect when they get hit by lasers. (For the uninitiated, there are some intresting harmonics, and the shield go off in a nuclear explosion. Potentially embarassing.)

[4v50 Gary]

With the genesis device. Wipes out planets. Runner up: Death Star - wipes out planets but needs a bug screen real bad.

[Erik]

Lightsaber

[Alan Fud]

A type-1 hand phaser ... http://fud-files.netfirms.com/image/private/guns/f08.jpg

[denfoote]

My favorite:

A P.O.'d Klingon with a Batlev and a hand phasor!! :evil:

[LawDog]

The spetsdod and slap-caps from Steve Perry's Matador series.

A willygun from the Sten series by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch.

A custom-made Lobe'li pelletgun from the Liaden universe of Sharon Lee.

LawDog

[SnWnMe]

Those rifles that every trooper in the 80s cartoons GI Joe carried. They were taking out tanks and jet planes with em. Always made me wonder why they even bothered building tanks and planes vice more rifles.

[Dionysusigma]

Aliens and Starship Troopers pulse rifle.
Terminator phased plasma rifle.
Star Trek 1-6 phasers (TNGs are so... poor in the ergonomics dept).
Dune SoundAmp Module thingy.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein Snooper rifle, Tesla cannon, and chaingun
Star Wars Light Saber (make mine red :evil: )
Blood 2: The Chosen Life Leech and Orb

[Kestryll]

Gundam Wing Zero
http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/dengekihobby/wg0c-hikaruspecial.jpg

For daily carry, Green Lantern's Power Ring.

[36fan]

I almost forgot -

4. the primary weapon on the ships in Independence Day (note to self - get a good anti-virus program)

[BamBam-31]

Giant Robot. :)

[Nathanael_Greene]

The SHAKK from John Barnes's Timeline series. 2000 rounds, fully automatic, effective to several miles, seeks targets automatically, can be reloaded from junk, destroys buildings and people with equal effectiveness.

[Kestryll]

Giant Robot.

As long as it comes with the Unicorn costume and the watch!:p

[ssteven1]

I second the SHAKK. Reload froms anything If you shoot it at a person it zeros in on the head and goes round and round until the head turns into goo. Also handy for making weapon grape plutonium. (ore goes in plutonium come out) :)

[Stoker]

In Ian M Banks' 'Consider Phlebas' the Culture agent has a handgun that mostly exists in another dimension (or something like that) and is only visible when she is about to use it. How's that for a CCW?

Takes Harry Harrison's 'Deathworld' wrist holster to another plane of existence, so to speak.

[enichols]

TimberWolf/Mad Cat omnimech from Battletech.

[Labinnac]

Zf1
M41A? What about Drake and Vasquez's toys?
Defense lasers from Warhammer40K in epic scale.
PPC, ER PPC, and the clan variants of these from Battletech.
The little shoulder cannon the predator had.
Distortion cannons from Warhammer40K.
Lightsaber, make mine bright orange.
And the sentry mech thingers from Revolutions. Only seem them in the trailers but they look to be the epitome of rock and roll with tracers.

[KC]

Distortion Cannon from WH40K? Wow, you've been playing for a while. Why not a Grot gun while you're at it...get the bonus entertainment factor.

[foghornl]

The BFG9000 from the "Doom" series of shoot-em-up games.

I leave it to your discretion as to what the BFG means... :D

[kenehsr]

The gun that Van Diesel uses in XXX.
Also the gun in judge dreed. I dont know theres something about a gun that can talk or that you use voice commands with.
:) :D ;)

[Schuey2002]

Oh, and whatever uber-:cool: weapon makes its debut in this..

http://www2.fileplanet.com/images/130000/132403ss_sm.jpg

[Moparmike]

2) Say that Babylon 5 was better than either of them. (This especially offends the TrekkersUmm. Offend doesnt begin to describe it. More like nauseate. Its like saying a Bryco is better than a Kimber Custom with all the bells, whistles, and kitchen sinks that one could apply to it. Babble-on-and-on-and-on-and-on 5 sucks.:barf: :barf: :barf:

Ok, now that I got that out of my system....I still say that having my own customizable TX would be the best.:D

[Nightcrawler]

Babble-on-and-on-and-on-and-on 5 sucks

Well, we understand that having a linear storyline might be a bit too much for Trekkies who are used to one-hour or, at most, two hour adventures that wrap themselves up neatly before the credits roll. :neener:

[Moparmike]

we understand that having a linear storyline might be a bit too much for Trekkies Umm. Yeah. You obviously have never seen the last 3 seasons of DS9 have you? Save for about 6(the really fun ones, like the alt. universe or Quark traveling back to Roswell-1947) episodes, it was completely linear.

Babble-on is more like a soap opera, which is probably why I find it so damned boring and psychologically straining.

Now that we have had our little spat, lets get back on topic, shall we?

[Correia]

The Big O. :D

The powered battle armor the Swiss Guards used in Dan Simmon's Endymion.

And my light saber would be purple thank you very much.

[KC]

Lightsabre? Oh puhl-ese. There is no jedi mind trick that will let you doge a transporter beam. Or a grenade, for that matter.

Big O is something different...just need to figure out the n-dimensional engineering required to build a mega-deuce.

[mgjohn]

The starship Andromeda and Rommie.

The aliens pistol from "I come in Peace"

The robot from Lost in Space (TV series)

The computer asteriod Obie from the Well World series by Chalker.

[280PLUS]

into toon town,,,

you know, the one with the cartoon bullets

too bad they were "dum-dums" though,,,

:neener:

:D

[Andrew Wyatt]

correia:big o wasn't that useful. no ranged weapons.

the ACS's from legacy of aldenata would blow that out of the water.

[powderific]

How about something from AE Van Vogt's Wepons Shop series?

[Nightcrawler]

correia:big o wasn't that useful. no ranged weapons.

What are you talking about? Big O had plenty of ranged weapons! A beam weapon in its forehead, missiles in the chest, those rocket-propelled chain-thingies, machine guns in the hands...

(You see a lot of this in Season 2, which was great, except the end didn't make any sense.)

[hksw]

Hmm, looks like those molecular edged knives in the Sten series are just around the corner. 3 nanometer radius edge.

http://popularmechanics.com/science/extreme_machines/2003/10/knives/print.phtml

[Correia]

Andrew, as Nightcrawler said, you must have missed a lot of season 2.

Oh and while we are at it, I want a Bolo.

[Andrew Wyatt]

I never really got into big o. I'm more of a Cowboybeebop kinda guy.

How are bolos used in combat? it seems like city-sized tanks would be hard to use effectively.

[Correia]

It is hard to describe. But I suggest you read some of the Bolo books. Let us just say that Bolo's kick incomprehnsible amounts of butt. They may weigh millons on tons, but they are quick, smart, tough, and are bristling with every weapon you can think of. :)

[KC]

Bolo's are not so much tanks in a tactical sense. They might be better coinsidered a mobile strategic combat platform. Like Ogres, they are intended to operate in multiple enviroments--subsurface, pre- and post-nuclear, etc.--and engage threats from a variety of sources, with the processing power to examine an object outside it's database, give it a friend-or-foe classification and respond accordingly.