History Main / PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo

** ''Privateer'' gives us Proton Torpedoes, which are really just very powerful dumbfire missiles that are otherwise unrelated to the regular torpedoes of the rest of the series.

* The ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series brings us IronMan's [[MemeticMutation PROTON CANNON]].

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' gave us "pulsar cannons." While pulsars aren't a subatomic particle, they're a type of neutron star, which does have "neutron" in its name. (The prospect of somebody shooting neutron stars at you is [[MadeOfExplodium also pretty frightening]].) The reimagined version stuck with good old atom bombs and slug-thrower guns.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is the TropeMaker. Generally, torpedo types are named like this, usually with the name being an [[MeaningfulName actual explanation for their payloads.]] In later shows though, [[{{Flanderization}} the name serves no purpose]] except [[RuleOfDrama adding dramatic flavor]] when the characters [[CallingYourAttacks order for the weapon to be fired.]] There's:

** Plasma Torpedoes, which are a [[PlasmaCannon ball of plasma]] that are somehow [[VeryHighVelocityRounds fired at warp speed.]] Compared to the other torpedoes, this one is a WaveMotionGun, capable of completely destroying [[SpaceStation starbases]] and starships in one hit. It's drawbacks are the fact that it has a has a limited range, and due to power constraints, it cannot not be fired while the ship was cloaked.

* Amusingly enough for the page description, game developers SiliconKnights created a top down turn-based-strategy/action hybrid game called ''Cyber Empires'' which featured the Neutrino Cannon as its most powerful energy weapon.

* In a parody of this, positron shooters are apparently standard issue for [[TheFederation DOOP]] soldiers in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. They play Pop Goes The Weasel as they're wound up.

* "[[TheBFG Plasma Torpedoes]]" get a mention from time to time in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novels. In usage, they are more akin to cannons than torpedoes.[[note]]Then again, in RealLife, Torpedoes were originally a type of stationary sea mine, named for a type of electric ray.[[/note]] They are very short ranged and ineffective against sidewalls or gravity wedges (to the point of usually being irrelevant) but immensely destructive on the very rare occasions where they can be brought into play. Thoroughly averted with standard missiles, which employ multi-megaton nuclear warheads and the most exotic they get is using the missiles to power a cluster of bomb-pumped lasers.

* "Plasma Torpedoes" get a mention from time to time in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novels. In usage, they are more akin to cannons than torpedoes.[[note]]Then again, in RealLife, Torpedoes were originally a type of stationary sea mine, named for a type of electric ray.[[/note]] They are very short ranged and ineffective against sidewalls or gravity wedges (to the point of usually being irrelevant) but immensely destructive on the very rare occasions where they can be brought into play.

This sometimes results in [[ArtisticLicensePhysics hilariously unrealistic]] weapon names for people with a knowledge of the properties of said particles. A "Meson Cannon", for example, would be a terribly pointless weapon and a "[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Gluon Gun]]" wouldn't be much use either. This however can be averted by creating your own fictional particles [[MinovskyPhysics with fictional properties]], or by simply doing a bit of research - '[[CallARabbitASmeerp Photon Beam Cannon]]' for example could realistically denote a laser or any electromagnetic radiation based EnergyWeapon, a regular Photon Cannon could just be a flashlight, and 'Positron Warhead' could refer to an explosive that uses {{antimatter}} annihilation as its energy source.

This sometimes results in [[ArtisticLicensePhysics hilariously unrealistic]] weapon names for people with a knowledge of the properties of said particles. A "[[{{Privateer}} Meson Cannon]]", for example, would be a terribly pointless weapon and a "[[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Gluon Gun]]" wouldn't be much use either. This however can be averted by creating your own fictional particles [[MinovskyPhysics with fictional properties]], or by simply doing a bit of research - '[[CallARabbitASmeerp Photon Beam Cannon]]' for example could realistically denote a laser or any electromagnetic radiation based EnergyWeapon, a regular Photon Cannon could just be a flashlight, and 'Positron Warhead' could refer to an explosive that uses {{antimatter}} annihilation as its energy source.

* ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' has King J-der's finger-mounted Anti-Meson Guns.

* ''{{Traveller}}'' largely keeps it "realistic" (with most ships only having lasers or nuclear missiles), save for the fusion gun and the [[WaveMotionGun spinal mount]] meson cannon.

* The [[TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}} Star Munchkin]] roleplaying-game book parodies the concept, explaining that the smaller the thing the torpedo is named after is, the bigger the explosion the torpedo makes.
* TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}} has a example in the form of the Particle Projection Cannon (which, incidentally, is described as firing a stream of ions or protons). It's more commonly referred to by the initialism PPC.

* ''TransformersWarForCybertron'' has 'Neutron Assault Rifles', '[[MoreDakka Ion Disruptors]]' and '[[{{BFG}} Nucleon Shock Cannons]]'.

* Several of the energy weapons mounted on Protoss vehicles in ''{{Starcraft}}'' qualify. Corsairs use a Neutron Flare, Scouts mount dual photon blasters and anti-matter missiles, Arbiters and Dragoons carry phase disruptor cannons, and their defense building is a Photon Cannon.

* In ''SpaceEmpires'', torpedoes go from AntiMatter to Quantum. The beam weapons use protons and mesons.

* In ''EVEOnline'', hybrid blasters of all sizes come in three variants: electron, ion, and neutron, all of which use the same types of metallic charges (which also double as railgun rounds).

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' likes to name torpedo types like this despite sometimes having an actual explanation for their payloads, but mostly the names just denote the [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience color of the torpedoes]]. There's:
** The standard Photon Torpedo ({{antimatter}}, white in the original series, blue in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', red in the subsequent movies, orange in the Next Generation onwards).
** The better Quantum Torpedoes (zero-point energy, blue-white).
** Polaron Torpedoes (purplish red).
** Plasma Torpedoes (red in the original series, green in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'').
** And probably a whole bunch of torpedoes used only once by lesser species and [[ForgottenPhlebotinum never seen again]].
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. The Doctor threatens off some powerful aliens with Voyager's 'photonic cannon' in "Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, Spy". The weapon is entirely imaginary, as is his role as Voyager's "Emergency Command Hologram"[[note]]At the time. Partly ''because'' of the events of the episode, the Voyager crew decided to implement the ECH function for real.[[/note]].

->"Fry, cover us buddy! You got the only wounded-up positron shooter!"

* The proton torpedoes of ''Film/StarWars: Film/ANewHope'' count as these.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'': Proton packs, which are "positron colliders" (or sometimes "unlicensed nuclear accelerators") that shoot particles from "neutrona wands".
* From the checklist Alex ran down in ''TheLastStarfighter'', Gunstars are apparently armed with a particle beam and proton bolts.
** In the novelization, Grig states the real names involve science too advanced to translate, so he uses the [[ShowWithinAShow game]] terms for the sake of convenience.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' has the Tau Cannon (aka the Gauss Gun) and the Gluon Gun (aka the [[Film/{{Ghostbusters}} Egon]]).

* ''Stellaris'' features such weapon names as Proton Torpedoes, Particle Lances, Tachyon Lances, and Quantum Missiles.

** ''VideoGame/Stellaris'' features such weapon names as Proton Torpedoes, Particle Lances, Tachyon Lances, and Quantum Missiles.

** The tools/weapons used by Probes and SCVs are Particle Beams and Fusion Cutters respectively.

Often, if the writers bother with [[AllThereInTheManual background material]] they will list such weapons as having yields in the kilo-gigaton range, making this a case of NuclearWeaponsTaboo.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has the Positron Rifle.[[note]]Note that in anything resembling atmosphere, a rifle that fired positrons would be a shoulder-mounted grenade. Further note that we did not say grenade LAUNCHER. The name may instead imply that it uses positrons internally, to (for example) generate gamma radiation.[[/note]]