History Main / ReverseShrapnel

* Used by Nova in ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth.''

* So many ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' spells.

* It's suggested that Razor Leaf works like this in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', but with leaves.

** A better example from the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series would be the Power Bomb combos. Charging a single beam and then switching to morph ball with power bombs highlighted would result in one of these for each beam. Ice Beam has four iceballs circling Samus, while Plasma and Wave shoot to the corners of the screen and come back, and Spazer makes it rain lasers.
* Ice Bullets in the first ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' have a similar visual effect.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' for the SNES has a subversion: Dredd receives one of these in the last level, but it's made up of Dark Judges and malevolent.

* The spell Halo of Earth in ''VideoGame/{{Sacrifice}}''.
* The "Bullet Shield" weapon in ''VideoGame/TheGuardianLegend''.

* The "Orbit" spell in ''VideoGame/{{Caster}}'' does this.

** Earlier, Katara creates a cloud of floating ice spears [[spoiler:around her mother's killer, readying herself to strike - but doesn't go through with it]].

* The BadFuture episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' has this during the Goliath vs. Xanatos [[InsideAComputerSystem VR battle]], with an added helping of [[spoiler: PullingHimselfTogether.

* ''Franchise/DevilMayCry 3'''s Vergil, in [[HarderThanHard Dante Must Die]] mode and the Special Edition, can make his magic summoned swords encircle him, hitting all enemies that are too close. They break after a few hits though. They can and, for the boss version, always get repurposed as FlechetteStorm after a short while.
** He also does this as Nelo Angelo during the final showdown with Dante in the original ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'', often summoning them around Dante before cutting loose. It is by far his deadliest attack.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC: TabletopGames]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

** In the GrandFinale, [[MessianicArchetype Aang]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome surrounds himself with a sphere of all four elements]] during his final battle with the [[BigBad Fire Lord]].

* The BadFuture episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' has this during the Goliath vs. Xanatos [[InsideAComputerSystem VR battle]], with an added helping of [[spoiler: PullingHimselfTogether. See the [[Awesome/{{Gargoyles}} Awesome page]].]]

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Piccolo uses this against [[ArtificialHumanCyborg #17]], firing off several ki blasts until he has the cyborg trapped in the ki-ball variant of a minefield. He then controls the ki blasts to converge onto #17 all at once.

* Ice missiles in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 3'' act like this, when they freeze something sharp ice crystals from in a sphere then snap onto the target.
** ''Metroid Prime 2'''s Dark Beam had a similar effect on targets when charged.
** A better example from the Metroid series would be the Power Bomb combos. Charging a single beam and then switching to morph ball with power bombs highlighted would result in one of these for each beam. Ice Beam has four iceballs circling Samus, while Plasma and Wave shoot to the corners of the screen and come back, and Spazer makes it rain lasers.

* [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Seraphim]] from ''[[NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' can surround themselves with a cloud of hovering ClockPunk robots that pummel the stuffing out of anyone who attacks them. Seraphim are TheDeterminator of the series, so anyone attacking them is going to have to brave the cloud a ''lot''.

An attack with some resemblance to a MacrossMissileMassacre. Unlike normal shrapnel, which expands out in all directions, ''reverse shrapnel'' focuses its [[StuffBlowingUp explosive]], [[PowerGlows glowy]] death into a [[BarrierWarrior protective]] [[HolyHalo ring]] or [[SphereOfPower sphere]] around the character who brought it forth, with the fragments then homing in on nearby enemies. It could be [[PowerFloats floating]] weapons, shards of PureEnergy, or other kinds of fragments.

* The antimatter-filled mines used by the [[LightNovel/CrestOfTheStars Abh]] can be utilized this way. Or they can simply be launched in a MacrossMissileMassacre.

* In the ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' anime, Captain Kaname Tosen's zanpakuto had this as its shikai attack. He used against Captain Kenpachi Zaraki during the Soul Society arc.

* In {{DragonBallZ}}, Piccolo uses this against [[ArtificialHumanCyborg #17]], firing off several ki blasts until he has the cyborg trapped in the ki-ball variant of a minefield. He then controls the ki blasts to converge onto #17 all at once.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''? Archer is, of course, the master of the technique.

* The Sniper in ''YuYuHakusho'' turned leaves and a cutlery set into reverse shrapnel.

* From ''[[Main/{{MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha}} Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]],'' we have Fate's Photon/Plasma Lancer, and Chrono's Stinger Blade. Both spells produces blades of energy that float around their target for a moment before launching.

* Ice missiles in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 3'' act like this, when they freeze something sharp ice crystals from in a sphere then snap onto the target. Definitely a stock visual, but I'm not sure it has any other significance than that.
** Ice Bullets in the first ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' have a similar visual effect.
** Want a probable physics answer? The explosion of the missile releases the ice shards at the point of impact into a small sphere area, and then the, uh...the ''gravity'' from the missile explosions makes the shards snap to the target. So, uh, the second part is kind of flimsy, but...
*** Let's just [[HandWave say]] it's a vaccuum created from the blast.

* Kohr-Ah Marauders in ''StarControl'' send out rotating blades that can do this--but it takes some skill to position them well.

* The Patras in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' are giant winged eyes with a bunch of smaller winged eyes circling around.
** Ghirahim in ''SkywardSword'' will occasionally summon rhomboid blades in a ring around himself, which then fly toward Link one at a time and must be deflected or dodged. Later, he creates a similar ring around Link himself, who must use the right kind of SpinAttack to take them all out or they'll simultaneously converge on him.

[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CastlevaniaAxe.jpg]]

* How did we miss ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''? Archer is, of course, the master of the technique.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3'''s Vergil, in [[HarderThanHard Dante Must Die]] mode and the Special Edition, can make his magic summoned swords encircle him, hitting all enemies that are too close. They break after a few hits though. They can and, for the boss version, always get repurposed as FlechetteStorm after a short while.
** He also does this as Nelo Angelo during the final showdown with Dante in the original ''DevilMayCry'', often summoning them around Dante before cutting loose. It is by far his deadliest attack.

* Similarly, the Earth Daggers spell from ''{{Earthdawn}}'' summons a volley of pointy crystal daggers, which home in unerringly on the target.
* So many ''DungeonsAndDragons'' [[strike:powers]] spells.

* Used by Nova in ''[[Main/{{MagicKnightRayearth}} Magic Knight Rayearth]].''

* The "Orbit" spell in ''{{Caster}}'' does this.

** In the GrandFinale, [[TheMessiah Aang]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome surrounds himself with a sphere of all four elements]] during his final battle with the [[BigBad Fire Lord]].

* The antimatter-filled mines used by the [[CrestOfTheStars Abh]] can be utilized this way. Or they can simply be launched in a MacrossMissileMassacre.

* ''{{GURPS}} Supers'' has the Ring of Fire power, which according to the Wall of Fire description can just as easily be made of blades or [[BeeBeeGun stinging insects]].

* In ''Undying'', the Skull Storm spell causes cackling, burning skulls to [[ClownCarGrave burst out of the ground]] one by one and hover in front of you until you let them all go flying off to explode on their target.

* The Spike Ball item in ''Shantae'' has this effect. The Fireball item, which you find later in the game, does similar; it just does more damage. They also make defeating the FinalBoss MUCH easier.