Gatling Good/Playing With
Basic Trope: Six barrels are so much better than one.
- Straight: Look! A man-portable minigun!
- Exaggerated:
- Justified: The story is about Bug War. Ludicrous amount of targets makes miniguns the only viable weapons.
- Inverted: Miniguns are among the weakest weapons in the setting. Slow-firing-but-powerful weapons are infinitely better.
- Subverted: The minigun is experimental and often more dangerous to its users than the targets due to various technical problems like steam leaks. Plus it's accuracy is so terrible that a simple swordsman could kill its user after thousands of rounds were fired.
- Double Subverted: Once its inventor solves those problems it's a terrifying invention that leads to the complete collapse of existing formation based tactics.
- Parodied: Kids terrorize the neighborhood with a Gatling spud gun.
- Deconstructed:
- Someone tries to use minigun while on foot - without a tripod or any other support - and knockback sends him flying straight into a nearby wall.
- He/she runs out of ammo in about 20 seconds of continuous fire
- Reconstructed:
- So giving miniguns to foot soldiers was a bad idea. Never mind. Let's just stick them on Powered Armour instead.
- And handwave a Bottomless Magazines.
- Alternatively, give them to Super Soldiers.
- Zig Zagged: The heroes try using one, but it turns out they're too weak to lift it. Then Powered Armor comes in, but it turns out the bullets are ineffective. Then an A-10 comes in and proceeds to show some GAU-8 goodness.
- Averted: No miniguns are seen, despite heroes could really use one.
- Enforced: Everyone loves Gatling guns, and the writer is no exception.
- Lampshaded: "Can you even find non-rotary weapons on this planet?"
- Invoked: One regiment in the army is armed exclusively with Gatling guns, supplied with explosive rounds, and used mainly for psychological warfare.
- Defied: The Genius Bruiser refues to take one, since it'll only slow him down and make him an easy target for a Cold Sniper.
- Discussed: "Don't you think we may be overdoing it a little?" "Shut up and keep firing!"
- Conversed: "Isn't it a bit odd how many handheld miniguns movies have?" "Well, it's cool."
No, that's not God's chainsaw you're hearing. That's the sound of Gatling Good.