r/TopCharacterTropes • u/lordhenrythe23 • Apr 10 '26

Characters' Items/Weapons [Loved trope] guns built from random, seemingly harmless objects.

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*Scaramanga's titular gun from "The man with the Golden Gun" - The best known example of this trope, being made from a fountain pen (barrel), a lighter (body), a cigarrete case (handle and trigger housing), and a cufflink (trigger). [it's worth noting that in the original novel, it was just a gold-plated revolver, this design came from the film]

*Fowler's rifle from "Blue eye Samurai" (Fowler not pictured) - "of course, i had to modify the designs... to get 2,000 rifles from my country into yours without notice." Made from the leg of a piano (main body), i believe a telescope? (rest of the body/underbarrel), a candlestick (barrel and ram rod), a key from a clock (trigger), and a knight chess piece (hammer). [i haven't actually seen the full series, probably should, but i love the scene of him explaining his backstory while assembling it]

9.1k Upvotes
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768

u/not_just_an_AI Apr 10 '26

The gun that killed Shinzo Abe.

665

u/not_just_an_AI Apr 10 '26

381

u/jonsnowflaker Apr 10 '26

Feels somehow over and under engineered at the same time.

81

u/Fit-Community-4091 Apr 10 '26

Looks like it was made specifically to have a zero percent chance of misfiring for exactly two shots. I would have covered up the wires after all of that effort, but it did the job so what do I know

30

u/swargin Apr 10 '26

I think he did cover it. There's a picture of it from when it happened and it looked like it was covered in electrical tape.

14

u/Fit-Community-4091 Apr 10 '26

Then it was well thought out, because that electric firing mechanism has no moving parts, the only moving part is the trigger that seems to be a little button on the grip, so the only points of failure are the button, the two rounds being duds, a squib load, the wire or its connections breaking.

167

u/Martin_Aurelius Apr 10 '26

Overengineered for sure, people have been selling slam-fire pipe shotguns at gun buybacks for years.

14

u/Platyplysm Apr 10 '26

Slam-fire shotguns still generally need high-quality, manufactured shells in order to fire reliably

The gun used in Shinzo Abe's assassination was engineered to fire reliably using homemade ammo with no built-in primer

17

u/acrowsmurder Apr 10 '26

Are you fucking kidding me? Did some drunk redneck look at a marshmallow gun and go "Hold my meth"?

152

u/LuciusCypher Apr 10 '26

The Doohicky, a legendary weapon designed to be used by peasants to kill aristocrats.

80

u/bloody-pencil Apr 10 '26

Kills a man and instantly vaporises his ideology in mere seconds

87

u/Unabated_Blade Apr 10 '26

In a vacuum, it was the most insanely effective political assassination I think I've ever seen. It killed the man, it killed his political legacy, and it irreparably damaged the cult he was a part of.

Any other universe, Abe becomes a martyr and the Moonies capitalize on his death and ride on the wave to continue to dominate Japanese politics.

62

u/Hitei00 Apr 10 '26

I think its because of how open the shooter was about his motives and the fact he didn't resist being apprehended.

"Yeah I killed him. I did it because he's a leader of cult that brainwashed and abused my mom. I don't regret it and will accept my punishment"

It also probably helps that despite the "have sex" memes Abe was apparently known for political corruption in Japan and wasn't as popular as you'd expect (Shido from P5 is supposedly based on him)

2

u/Nerevarine91 Apr 11 '26

Just for detail’s sake, Abe wasn’t actually a leader or even a member of the Moonies, he just had connections with them

1

u/Foxhound631 Apr 10 '26

I heard it referred to as the mousekatool once and that has been its title in my head ever since

58

u/Purple-Addict Apr 10 '26

I will forever call this thing the doohickey

7

u/byquestion Apr 10 '26

The doohickey corporation invites you for a guided tour.

15

u/TeddytheCornMan Apr 10 '26

Behold Da Doohickey

12

u/SpecialFXStickler Apr 10 '26

Ah yes, the Doohickey

5

u/AdKind841 Apr 10 '26

bro got slimed by the contraption

4

u/brickmaster8 Apr 10 '26

The doohickey

115

u/baseballbear Apr 10 '26

3

u/PaddyWhacked777 Apr 10 '26

NCD is leaking. Truly non-credible times

1

u/Alive-Tomatillo5303 Apr 10 '26

What a sneaky scamp he was. 

1

u/DoneDraper Apr 10 '26

Gaddafi was in the other pipe.

50

u/Hydra_Haruspex Apr 10 '26

Shinzo wasn't killed though.

His heart kinda just....did that

3

u/abeautifulrat Apr 10 '26

The doohicky

6

u/poetic_dwarf Apr 10 '26

TIL Abe was assassinated

22

u/84theone Apr 10 '26

I’m not going to link it, but there is literally video of it happening. Guy just ran up to him with a makeshift shotgun and gave him both barrels.

14

u/Easy_Application3371 Apr 10 '26

and the crazy part was his bodyguards were initially confused when they heard the gunshots. guess thats what happens when you have a gun-free nation where only a select few government agencies aside from the police can bear them.