History Main / SpinToDeflectStuff

** There are at least two instances of this in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', both within boss battles. The first is about halfway through the game [[spoiler:in Timeless River, in which Pete attempts to escape on a steamboat. He creates objects that fly towards Sora, who spins his Keyblade in a reaction command to deflect them before knocking them right back at Pete.]] The second occurrence is at the end of the game [[spoiler:during the last battle with Xemnas, whose desperation attack surrounds Sora and Riku with hundreds of [[MoreDakka red]] [[FrickinLaserBeams laser]] [[BeamSpam bullets]]. The player must mash two buttons to command the pair to dodge about and spin their Keyblades nonstop to deflect the incoming projectiles.]]

* The 1958 WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck cartoon "Robin Hood Daffy" famously parodies this trope. Daffy, as Robin Hood, shows off his quarterstaff skills to Porky Pig, as Friar Tuck. He executes a number of maneuvers, calling his attacks, including "SPIN!" The first time he tries it he hits himself in the face. The second time, Porky inserts a little stick into the spinning quarterstaff, with the result that the staff stops spinning and Daffy starts spinning around instead. He ends up flying into the river.

* Slightly subverted in ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'', when Captain Shang uses his spinning SimpleStaff to deflect rocks thrown by his students: although he successfully deflects them, it's clear that he's specifically blocking individual attacks, not simply spinning his staff so fast that attacks can't penetrate. When other characters (specifically Mulan herself) try the same thing without proper training, they just end up twirling their staff uselessly as stones pelt them.

This is ''a tiny bit'' TruthInTelevision in that a few hundred years ago, when bows were the norm rather than guns, there were martial artists who claimed that they could spin a staff fast enough to deflect arrows.[[note]]An arrow is about a meter long, so to block one reliably, the staff has to complete half a revolution/second for each meter/second of speed the arrow has. Even at a mere 10 m/s (slower than a sprinter), that's 5 rev/s... hard to pull off. A medieval-style longbow can fire at 60 m/s, requiring 30 rev/s. If you could spin a staff ''half'' that fast, you could stick airfoils on it and become a human helicopter. To its credit, rotating slower would still provide a better defense than just holding a weapon steady, though not nearly to the degree that it's most commonly depicted.[[/note]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* [[SuperSpeed Tachyon]] of the ''[[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]]'' once used this technique and a length of steel pipe to deflect automatic weapons fire.
[[/folder]]

** He tries it again in ''Film/Deadpool2'', [[AvertedTrope with rather less success]].

* In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', Thor spins Mjolnir in the opening battle against Surtur to deflect his fire blasts. Somewhat more plausibly than most examples, Thor spins his hammer by the cloth strap at the end of the handle rather than the handle itself.
* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'': Thanos, wielding a double-bladed {{BFS}}, deflects electric and repulsor strikes from the Avengers this way. He is also able to deflect six continous laser beams at the same time, in utter defiance of common sense and physics.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** Jedi and Sith have been shown to do this with their lightsabers, although they often don't spin them as fast as you might expect. They don't actually spin the blades as a shield, they parry the blasts much as one would a blow from another sword. Of course this is due to TheForce allowing Jedi to anticipate where to block ''before'' the shot's even been fired.

** Some of the [[RedShirtArmy grunt machines]] in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' have a Defense Rod based on this very concept. The benefit of course lies within the fact that it was designed exactly with this purpose in mind with no secondary benefit. The grunts are not going to be given state-of-the-art material for a mundane shield and the shield rod uses far less material while being overally lighter. This suits a mecha that more or less is made of paper because a makeshift spinning rod is far more effective for blocking hits than a giant shield that would weigh them down. In the second season, the grunts have shields ''with'' Defense Rods, but since TheFederation has gained access to GN particle technology by this point, the rods have the added benefit of generating a circular particle field for additional defense on top of everything else.

* Longtime [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] enemy Thunderball has done this at least once, though he was in a Franchise/SpiderMan comic at the time - he spins his ball-and-chain in a circle to deflect small arms fire.

* As noted in the trope summary, the use of staff weapons to deflect arrows.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'': Thanos, wielding a double-bladed {{BFS}}, deflects electric and repulsor strikes from the Avengers this way.

* When fired upon by multiple guards, Kroenen in ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' spins his blades to deflect them.

An example of ImplausibleFencingPowers and SisterTrope to ParryingBullets, but can be done with any long and thin object. Distinguished from a plain IKnowKarate display because it's normally only done when there are dangerous airborne objects approaching. SimpleStaff users can be counted upon to do this at least once in their careers. This can also be done using a SpinAttack with almost anything, even your entire body!

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' occasionally practices this.

** Heck, quite a few other Robot Masters can do it too, like Blizzard Man from ''6'', Clown Man from ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'', Pirate Man from ''Mega Man and Bass'', Strike Man from ''10'', Punk from the GameBoy ''III'' (returning in ''VideoGame/MegaMan10''), and Sunstar from the Gameboy's ''V''.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox''
** More of a "spin your whole ship" variant, but the page quote is the immortal ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' [[MemeticMutation barrel roll]]. All the controllable crafts in the game, namely the Arwing (nimble spacecraft), Landmaster (tank) and Blue Marine (submarine) are capable of a spin maneuver that deflects most types of enemy projectiles.
** The first ''Star Fox'' (SNES game) had this as well, but it only worked with enemy laser attacks and would only work if your wings were undamaged.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Neji Hyuuga does this by spinning his entire body around like a spinning top, creating a vortex that blocks all projectiles and damages opponents caught in it. The lack of dizziness is justified: [[MagicalEye Byakugan]] gives him near 360-degree vision, so the visual clues always remain in the sight; and technically, he's not spinning all that quickly himself (the vortex is created by spraying chakra around).

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Ruby uses this to deflect shots with her massive scythe. It seems to only work on smaller caliber weapons with larger explosives capable of getting through.
** So does Adam - he deflects incoming fire with his sword in his character short, and he even uses it offensively - ''by twirling the sword so fast before throwing it as a flying buzzsaw!''

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[SuperSpeed Tachyon]] of the ''[[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]]'' once used this technique and a length of steel pipe to deflect automatic weapons fire.

* Done in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' rather impressively; [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Wade]] walks into a room full of {{Mooks}} and manages to deflect all the bullets fired at him using rapidly spinning [[DualWielding dual-wielded]] [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]]. His mutant power is to see in bullet time, so like many other examples, he's not making a truly impenetrable shield, but blocking individual shots. The spinning is highly implied to be him showing off.
** He tries it again in ''Film/Deadpool2'' [[AvertedTrope with rather less success]].

->''"Do a barrel roll!" (Press Z or R twice)''
-->-- '''Peppy Hare''' instructs the player on this tactic, ''VideoGame/StarFox64''

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* This is the standard gimmick of ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot''.

* In ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot'' you'd expect this to be the case, however unless it's an enemy moving quite fast, it's painfully [[AvertedTrope averted]].

* Done in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' rather impressively; [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Wade]] walks into a room full of {{Mooks}} and manages to deflect all the bullets fired at him using rapidly spinning [[DualWielding dual-wielded]] [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]]. His mutant power is to see in bullet time, so like many other examples, he's not making a truly impenetrable shield, but blocking individual shots. The spinning is highly implied to be him showing of

* Done in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' rather impressively; [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Wade]] walks into a room full of {{Mooks}} and manages to deflect all the bullets fired at him using rapidly spinning [[DualWielding dual-wielded]] [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]]. His mutant power is to see in bullet time, so like many other examples, he's not making a truly impenetrable shield, but blocking individual shots. The spinning is highly implied to be him showing off.