The love of cool weapons seems to be a deep-rooted part of human nature, as shown by the numerous examples that can be found in our myths and legends. However, coolness often comes at the expense of usability as well as practicality, with the result that more than a few cool weapons from the movies are actually more dangerous to their users than to the enemies.
Here are five examples of cool movie weapons that are more lethal to the user than to their enemies:
Bat’leth
There are a couple of problems with the bat’leth of Star Trek fame. First, it is a close-quarters weapon in a setting that makes extensive use of pulsed energy projectile weapons. Second, its design doesn’t just need the use of both hands but also lack reach compared to other two-handed weapons that existed in the real world.
Double-Bladed Lightsaber
There have been numerous weapons in the real world with a weapon-head at each end. For example, it was not uncommon for the poleaxe to have a butt-spike, which paired well with the axe, the hammer, and the spear-point on what most people would have considered to be its head. However, it is interesting to note that there have been either no or next-to-no examples of a double-bladed sword, which speaks volumes about how impractical such a weapon would have been. Combined with the fact that lightsabers are much more dangerous than their real world counterparts made out of metal, it is no wonder that Darth Maul’s double-bladed lightsaber was restricted to Force users.
Mech
Mechs are very, very cool, but they are also very, very impractical for fighting a war for a number of reasons. For example, they make huge targets, meaning that they are much easier to hit than something like a tank. Furthermore, the human form possesses a lot more vulnerabilities than something like a tank, particularly because the sheer amount of surface area would make it a nightmare to armor. Never mind the engineering challenges of actually scaling up the human form to some extent. Of course, it is important to note the sheer range of mech in media, meaning that some examples can be much more practical than others. For example, Evangelions get to ignore such complaints because they are bio-mechanical god-monsters that are by no means limited to conventional physics. In contrast, the mech from Avatar had nothing but glass to protect its pilot, which seems like a huge oversight considering the future tech that should have been available to its makers.
TIE Fighter
Starfighter combat is 3D, meaning that starfighter pilots need to be able to see in a wide range of directions for the best results. As a result, the TIE fighter is a poor design because it forces the pilot to look forward while limiting their view in other directions. One could argue that starfighters in the Star Wars setting have high-tech instruments that can be used to make up for the lack of a clear canopy, but considering what we saw in the first three Star Wars movies, that seems rather improbable. After all, even Darth Vader was surprised by an attack from his rear, which was in spite of the fact that he was one of the most powerful Force users to have ever lived in the setting.
Wrist-Mounted Gun
Wrist-mounted guns show up in a surprising range of media. Theoretically, they let the user blast their enemies with their full firepower while keeping their hands free for other purposes. Unfortunately, successful shooting is something that needs proper aiming, which is why most firearms are supposed to be used with both hands. Even worse, combining something as sensitive as a trigger with the full range of motion of the human hand seems like a recipe for missing and mangled fingers should the user ever suffer a serious bump, jolt, or some other kind of impact.
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