History Main / SwissArmyGun

* The obscure game Redline (also known as Redline - Gang Warfare: 2066) features such a weapon wielded by the protagonist. Besides the standard assault rifle mode, it can also become a chainsaw (with optional nitro upgrade), a rocket launcher, an EMP device (handy for those vehicles!), a shotgun, a grenade launcher, an alien goo shooter, a sniper rifle, an instant-hit type plasma beam weapon..

* Zorg on ''TheFifthElement'' has developed one, and gives a very helpful Q Speech on its features, as the page quote shows.

[[TheFifthElement http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Zorg-1_1496.jpg]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Zorg-1_1496.jpg

--> ''[[GunPorn Voila, the ZF-1]]. It's light; handle's adjustable for easy carrying; [[RightHandedLeftHandedGuns good for righties and lefties]]; [[IKEAWeaponry breaks down into four parts]]; undetectable by X-ray; ideal for quick discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger; [[BottomlessMagazines 3000-round clip]] with bursts of [[FiveRoundsRapid 3]] to [[MoreDakka 300]]. With the replay button, another Zorg invention, it's even easier. One shot... ''[shoots mannequin]'' ...and Replay [[RoboTeching sends every following shot to the same location]]. And to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies but goodies. [[{{BFG}} Rocket launcher]]... [[AutomaticCrossbows arrow launcher]] [[TrickArrow with exploding or poisonous gas heads]], very practical... our famous net launcher... [[KillItWithFire the always-efficient flamethrower]], my favorite... and for the grand finale, the all-new '[[KillItWithIce Ice-cube System]]'.

* The XM-8 is often held up as an example of why people don't take attempts at this very seriously anymore. It was supposed to be one weapon that could fill a half dozen roles (assault rifle, designated marksman rifle, light machine gun, grenade launcher, submachine gun). The result was a weapon that was mediocre at everything.

* The M16A4 and M4 carbine are designed to be field modifiable with a variety of attachments, using rails and hand-turnable screws to attach weapon mods to them, such as foregrips, grenade launchers, laser sights, flashlights, tasers, shotguns, red dot sights, and scopes... and that's just the stuff the military issues. There are third party mods for all sorts of things. Even better, the guns can be changed to fire a different cartridge with the push of a couple of pins and the replacement of the upper receiver and barrel, a trivial operation that can be completed in under a minute by an experienced user. If they could attach a swiss army knife to the gun, they'd be set. (They can take bayonets, though. Almost there....)

-> ''[[GunPorn Voila, the ZF-1]]. It's light; handle's adjustable for easy carrying; [[RightHandedLeftHandedGuns good for righties and lefties]]; [[IKEAWeaponry breaks down into four parts]]; undetectable by X-ray; ideal for quick discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger; [[BottomlessMagazines 3000-round clip]] with bursts of [[FiveRoundsRapid 3]] to [[MoreDakka 300]]. With the replay button, another Zorg invention, it's even easier. One shot... ''[shoots mannequin]'' ...and Replay [[RoboTeching sends every following shot to the same location]]. And to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies but goodies. [[{{BFG}} Rocket launcher]]... [[AutomaticCrossbows arrow launcher]] [[TrickArrow with exploding or poisonous gas heads]], very practical... our famous net launcher... [[KillItWithFire the always-efficient flamethrower]], my favorite... and for the grand finale, the all-new '[[KillItWithIce Ice-cube System]]'.
-->-- '''[[MagnificentBastard Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg]], ''TheFifthElement''''', mentioning every feature except the SelfDestructMechanism...

* The rifle used by CDF troops in JohnScalzi's ''[[OldMansWar Old Man's War]]''. It can shoot bullets, grenades, flames, microwaves, rockets... Even better, one can customize to fire, say, a blast of flame followed by a grenade. Justified, in that the "ammunition" is a block of nano-machines which assemble into the correct type of ammunition upon firing.

* Possibly the UrExample would be the dial-a-gun or "dallygun" from Gordon R. Dickson's SF war novel ''the Tactics of Mistake.'' Sadly it was described briefly and played little role in the story, preventing this from being the TropeMaker.
* In JohnScalzi's ''[=~Old Man's War~=]'' the CDF troops have this -- a gun that can manufacture multiple types of ammunition from a solid block of nanobots.

* In John Scalzi's ''OldMansWar'' the CDF troops have this- a gun that can manufacture multiple types of ammunition from a solid block of nanobots.

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* ''StarWars: {{Republic Commando}}'' cuts down the amount of equipment the characters have to carry by making the primary weapon modular, capable of swapping between automatic, sniper and grenade modes depending on which quick-change barrel assembly is currently attatched.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''BlakesSeven'' featured some of these for the last season when they started going more overtly CyberPunk. Quite how one makes a relatively small handgun fire FrickenLaserBeams, [[StunGuns unspecified less-lethals]], [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter "old-fashioned percussion bullets"]] and [[InformedAbility a bunch of other stuff they never get around to using]] ''just by swapping magazines'' was glossed over.

* In John Scalzi's Old Man's War the CDF troops have this- a gun that can manufacture multiple types of ammunition from a solid block of nanobots.

Subtrope of SwissArmyWeapon. Often also a {{BFG}}. Compare to DoAnythingRobot, for its even less realistic equivalent. The key difference between this trope and the DoAnythingRobot is that the Swiss Army Gun generally has some kind of limit or some set number of forms. See also GunAccessories.

* The cancelled ''[[CommandAndConquer Tiberium]]'' FPS would have included a transforming weapon as part of its basic design. Wielded solely by the player, the "GD-10" served as a basic assault rifle, grenade launcher, missile launcher, and ''personal ion cannon''.

* How is ''{{Republic Commando}}'''s three-in-one blaster not here?

-> ''[[GunPorn Voila, the ZF-1]]. It's light; handle's adjustable for easy carrying; [[RightHandedLeftHandedGuns good for righties and lefties]]; [[IKEAWeaponry breaks down into four parts]]; undetectable by X-ray; ideal for quick discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger; [[BottomlessMagazines 3000-round clip]] with bursts of [[FiveRoundsRapid 3]] to [[MoreDakka 300]]. With the replay button, another Zorg invention, it's even easier. One shot... ''[shoots mannequin]'' ...and Replay [[RoboTeching sends every following shot to the same location]]. And to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies but goodies. [[{{BFG}} Rocket launcher]]... [[AutomaticCrossbows arrow launcher]] [[TrickArrow with exploding or poisonous gas heads]], very practical... our famous net launcher... [[KillItWithFire the always-efficient flamethrower]], my favorite... and for the grand finale, the all-new '[[AnIcePerson Ice-cube System]]'.

* Although highly experimental/theoretical, both proposed liquid propellant and railgun designs could potentially vary the speed of the projectiles, by either changing the amount of propellant fed into the firing chamber, or the amount of charge used in its electromagnets, respectively. This could result in a gun that could effectively switch between being a submachinegun to being a sniper rifle with the flip of a switch- or switching from a low powered "silent" mode to a high powered but noisy "magnum" mode.

* Although highly experimental/theoretically, both proposed liquid propellant and railgun designs could potentially vary the speed of the projectiles, by either changing the amount of propellant fed into the firing chamber, or the amount of charge used in its electromagnets, respectively. This could result in a gun that could effectively switch between being a submachinegun to being a sniper rifle with the flip of a switch- or switching from a low powered "silent" mode to a high powered but noisy "magnum" mode.