Line #54 Main/MonowheelMayhem


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13	[[quoteright:300:[[TabletopGame/{{Chaotic}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mowercycle_5904.jpg]]]]
14	[[caption-width-right:300: I don't think your insurance will cover what that thing did to your neighborhood.]]
15
16	So you've decided for your character's CoolCar to be [[CoolBike a motorcycle]]. But aren't hogs overdone by [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Hells Angel lookalikes]] and feeling that the Japanese bikes are too generic? Then lucky for you there exists a type of motorbike called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monowheel Monowheel]] that is essentially a motorcycle [[RecycledINSPACE IN A GIANT WHEEL]].
17
18	This type of vehicle is typically used in futuristic or fantasy settings despite it having pedal versions [[OlderThanTheyThink in the late 19th century]].
19
20	The issue of fast acceleration and sudden braking leaving the rider spinning inside the wheel itself is usually ignored or [[HandWave handwaved]].
21
22	A SubTrope of OneWheeledWonder. Compare RollingAttack, which describes a living (or robotic) being temporarily adopting a similarly rolling form for aggressive purposes.
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24	----
25	!!Examples:
26
27	[[foldercontrol]]
28
29	[[folder:Advertising]]
30	* In a 2007 television commercial produced for the drink brand Capri Sun, a boy and a girl are both riding in variants which appear to be manufactured vehicles made of metal and fiberglass (up to the point where they are levitated into the air by a CGI effect).
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34	* ''Manga/TheAmazing3'' features three agents from outer space who travel in a tire-shaped vehicle called the Big Wheel, which can travel at enormous speeds on both land and water (and, with modifications, through the air).
35	* In the OVA series ''Anime/DirtyPairFlash Mission 3'', a young female assassin called Monica drives a Red Futuristic Monowheel.
36	* Some of these eventually show up in the ''{{Manga/Gantz}}'' manga. Although their users tend to die just as horribly as everyone else.
37	* One chapter of ''{{Manga/Kochikame}}'' has a mad scientist creating cars of the future with unimpressed renewable energy sources. Ryotsu is impressed of the monowheel and goes for a ride, until the wheel goes out of control when he stops at the red light and knocking him unconscious.
38	* Many mobile suits of the Zansacre Empire in ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'' use Einrads, giant versions that they stand in. They can also ''fly''.
39	* Jean from ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'' uses one. It even appears in the opening, at least in the French dub.
40	* ''Anime/{{Symphogear}} G'': Shirabe can [[AdaptiveArmor pull out]] a bladed monowheel as part of her ''Extreme Σ-style Lunar Eclipse'' attack.
41	* In the animated adaptation of ''Manga/VenusWars'', one-wheeled motorcycles are used both in bloodsport and combat.
42	* Jack Atlas in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' has one of these as his D-Wheel, called the Wheel of Fortune (Phoenix Whirlwind in the dub). A D-Wheel fit for a [[strike:former]] king.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Comic Books]]
46	* A [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Airboy_-_War_Wheels_8674.jpg multiple War Wheels example]] from ''[[ComicBook/{{Airboy}} Airboy Comics]]'', courtesy of Website/{{Superdickery}}’s "Weird Science" section.
47	* ''ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}}''
48	** [[StupidJetpackHitler The Nazis have a superweapon]] called the [[http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2009/02/26/thursday-whos-who-the-war-wheel/ War Wheel,]] which is one of these on steroids. How it manages to roll when the "turning" part is way bigger than the immobile part isn't explained.
49	** One of their villains, the Hoopster, once used used [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hoopster_-_flaming_Monowheel.jpg a flaming version of this]] against the Blackhawks. Later on another villain impersonated the Hoopster and rode [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hoopster_impersonator_-_flying_Monowheel.jpg a similar flying vehicle.]]
50	** The ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica / Franchise/{{Batman}}'' crossover by John Byrne has Captain America face off against a War Wheel in his first scene of the book.
51	* ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'': The Screeching Tire, a War Wheel expy controlled by a talking hamster running in a smaller wheel inside.
52	* ''ComicBook/FrankensteinAgentOfSHADE'' gets into the act in the ''War of the Monsters'' arc. Frankenstein needs more firepower, so S.H.A.D.E sends a pair of War Wheels that have been updated with cutting-edge technology and were carrying a battalion of jet-pack G.I. Robots. With that much firepower, these reinforcements curbstomp the target EldritchAbomination.
53	* In ''[[ComicBook/JonahHex Hex]]'', Reinhold Borsten's forces had armoured monowheels; sort of like miniature, one-man War Wheels.
54	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': The cleverly named villain [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Wheel_(comics) "Big Wheel"]]
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
58	* Ray Steam in ''Anime/{{Steamboy}}'' builds a pedal/steam-powered one. Notable in that the aforementioned spinning-within-the-wheel problem actually happens.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
62	* The aliens in ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' use these against land-based targets (and the protagonist's pesky destroyer). They can smash through just about anything and have a whip to hit anything they miss on the first pass.
63	* Agents Jay and Kay break a couple of these out when their car is destroyed in ''Film/MenInBlack3''. Jay has trouble with the whole spinning inside the wheel thing at first.
64	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
65	** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', General Grievous tries to escape Obi-Wan by riding a Wheel Bike that also [[MechanicalHorse has some legs]] for rough terrain.
66	** Droidekas in all three prequels fold up into monowheels to maneuver around. ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' animated movie took advantage of the lack of shields in this mode to render them into scrap.
67	** A ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' Crossover figure. They noticed that the Wheel Bike looked like Grievous enough to make a figure of Grievous that transforms into it.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Literature]]
71	* There's a very cool one of these in [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]'s ''Literature/AgainstADarkBackground''.
72	* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls''. While traveling on the Moon, the vehicle the protagonists are in is attacked by a giant Monowheel. It has gunpods sticking out from each hub.
73	* Creator/StanislawLem's novel ''Eden'' features motorized variants of the monowheel.
74	* In ''Literature/{{Eric}}'', a treadmill being used as a punishment in Hell is pulled off its axis by the Luggage, and briefly becomes a sapient-pearwood-powered engine of destruction before falling to bits.
75	* There's a living example in Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' series novel ''Galactic Patrol''. The Wheelmen of Aldebaran I are literally wheel-shaped aliens, with their heads where the hub would be, and dozen of arms with capable looking hands. They move around by rolling like wheels.
76	** The Lensman series also features living ''di''wheels (the scarcely-less-impractical extension of the idea to two wheels, side-by-side on a common axle) in the form of the Zabriskan fontema, a primitive life-form that lives directly off solar energy.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
80	* ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger'' had the Giant Roller (dubbed the Defender Wheel in ''Series/PowerRangersZeo''), although it was generally used as an attack rather than transport.
81	** There was also Tackle Boy (the Warrior Wheel in ''Zeo''), a large wheel that was a TransformingMecha (themed after a football player for some reason); it would arrive on the battlefield in wheel form (typically being shot out of a cannon from the mecha hangar), then transform to robot mode; for the finisher, it would transform back to wheel mode, and the [=OhBlocker=]/Super Zeo Megazord would roll it towards the target; once it got close, it would transform back to robot form, turn into energy and tackle the monster, causing the monster to explode.
82	* The toyline for ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' gave the [[SixthRanger Magna Defender]], who had no transportation in the show, a vehicle like this dubbed the [[https://d1w8cc2yygc27j.cloudfront.net/1977663540766858863/3823643621762915077.jpg Magna Rotator.]] (It never appeared in the show.)
83	* One episode of ''Series/ScrapheapChallenge'' had the two teams constructing monowheels and then racing them around a test track.
84	* In ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger''/''Series/PowerRangersSPD'', Dekabreak/Omega Ranger rode a futuristic unicycle into battle.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
88	* ''TabletopGame/{{Arduin}}'': Dungeon #1 ''Caliban'' has a magikal construct called a "Warwheel" that ranges from 10-24 feet high. It takes the shape of a wheel with conical spikes coming out of the tread with a large eye and a long tentacle in the hub on each side.
89	* ''TabletopGame/HollowEarthExpedition'' supplement ''Secrets of the Surface World''. In the Weird Science chapter, the example of the creation process is a Wheelbike: a single large wheel running around the outside of a gyroscopically balanced cockpit and engine.
90	* ''{{TabletopGame/Rifts}}'' has a suit of PowerArmor that can become one of these.
91	* The fourth edition of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' features a monowheel called the Horizon-Doble Revolution. It is also interesting because it solves the "how are you supposed to look around the giant wheel?" problem by means of having sensors that link to an AugmentedReality "X-ray vision" display.
92	* ''TabletopGame/{{Tales of the Space Princess}}'' RPG. The War Wheel is a large wheel-shaped vehicle with an cockpit in its hub. It is heavily armored, can traverse almost any terrain and has two gunners in bubble turrets, each firing either 2 laser cannon or 4 phasic rifles.
93	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', and its sequel game ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', the [[RatFolk Skaven]] have the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom Doomwheel]], a weird gunned-up, blade-covered wheel powered by ''hundreds of running rats''. The race has also developed the Doom-Flayer, a much smaller motorised version of the Doomwheel crewed by a pair of Skaven and designed to be used in the close confines of tunnel fighting.
94	* The trial Black Legion army list for ''Epic: Armageddon'' (the 4th Edition of the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' ''Epic'' scale game system) introduced the Death Wheel, a monowheel siege engine designed to smash through the walls of enemy fortifications before unleashing its formidable weaponry to slaughter the troops within.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Toys]]
98	* ''Franchise/GIJoe'' had the Cobra Buzz Boar, a digging vehicle that moved on a giant, toothed wheel.
99	* Toys/{{Lego}} ''WesternAnimation/MonkieKid'': Nezha's Fire Ring is a futuristic rocket-powered car built inside a giant golden wheel that itself has rocket thrusters.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Video Games]]
103	* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreVIFiresOfRubicon'': HELIANTHUS Machines are huge (significantly larger than the player's mech), AI-guided, self-propelled grinder wheels that vaguely resemble the flowers they get their name from, if a flower could be made entirely of spinning serrated edges. Naturally, keeping to the air is the best way to handle them, but in that case they're also capable of spewing fire and shooting missiles. Certainly one of the Rubicon Research Institute's most [[MechanicalMonster deranged creations]].
104	* In Frogwares' ''[[VideoGame/EightyDays 80 Days]]'' it's possible to acquire and ride around in one of these.
105	* You can fight some of this in ''VideoGame/AirForceDelta Strike''.
106	* ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' features the Cyclone, a Promethean speedster monowheel that can feature sawblades or a hover loop instead of a normal tread.
107	* In ''VideoGame/EmperorBattleForDune'', the Harkonnens have the Buzzsaw, which specializes in ruining Spice fields or slicing through infantry formations. No explanation on how the blades stay sharp after traveling over rocks, though.
108	* The ''Franchise/GIJoe'' Nintendo video game featured vehicles that could be stolen from Cobra armories by any of the playable Joes. One of the most commonly appearing vehicles was the [[http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/87/buzzboar/ Buzz Boar,]] a giant sawblade-based monowheel with an enclosed pilot's capsule in the middle and weapons on its outer shell. Notable for being able to scale walls and ceilings with ease, and for firing spiraling energy shots that traveled around it in an expanding orbit instead of something like missiles, since it moves easily in two dimensions and needs weapons that would be able to do the same.
109	* In ''VideoGame/HellYeahWrathOfTheDeadRabbit'', Ash's main weapon/vehicle is a bladed buzzsaw that once belonged to his late father. It comes with a jetpack that he can use to fly and can carve up enemies. Some levels however require him to ditch the vehicle and continue on foot.
110	* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': The recurring Wheelie enemy takes the form of a [[OurMonstersAreWeird sentient tire]] that tries to attack Kirby. In ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', Kirby can ride on top of one if he summons it as a Helper. There's also the [[KingMook Grand Wheelie]], an enormous Wheelie that's about twice as tall as Kirby and serves as a recurring MiniBoss.
111	* ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' has the [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060820184834/megaman/images/2/24/Mm4monoroadersprite.png first variant of the "Roader" enemy.]] The roaders that appear in later games look less like a monowheel, though.
112	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
113	** Venipede's evolution, Whirlipede, is a cocoon Pokémon that resembles a wheel.
114	** Iron Treads, [[spoiler:the future Paradox form of Donphan]], is what happens if you emphasized Donphan's wheel-like attributes to the extreme.
115	* In the Nichibutsu UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame ''VideoGame/RadicalRadial'', the player character is basically a weaponized monowheel.
116	* Minori's [[LimitBreak Ultimate Ninja Art]] in ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'' is the "Strawberry Rainbow Slide", which has her mowing down enemies while riding inside a cake covered in strawberries. It's basically a giant, edible, murderous hamster wheel with strawberry-flavored spikes.
117	* This is one of the Extreme Gears you can use in ''[[VideoGame/SonicRiders Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity]]''.
118	* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Koensayr family of vehicles includes monowheels with neon lights.
119	* One of the enemies in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'''s Subspace Emissary is essentially this.
120	* This is one of the party's primary means of transportion in ''VideoGame/WildArms5''. In the penultimate battle, [[spoiler:Dean turns it into a weapon. MONOWHEEL TO THE FACE, BITCH]].
121	* The Nazis make use of a version of this in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'', fitting their StupidJetpackHitler aesthetics.
122	* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' there are two monowheel mounts from Mechagon, one a drop from a vignette mob and the other from a meta-achievement.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Webcomics]]
126	* ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' [[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=305 solution]]: 1 running wheel with a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} crazy humanoid squirrel]] still inside + 2 shots at the construction holding it in place = 1 improvised light tank.
127	* The Martian tank in ''Webcomic/TheStormrunners'' runs on a huge 45 degree wheel. It's only seen at the beginning of the story because it soon gets blown up.
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Web Original]]
131	* Among the numerous StarfishAliens on the planet WebOriginal/{{Polinices}} are the Rotigrada, ringlike colonial organisms that move by rotating themselves along the seafloor like wheels.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Western Animation]]
135	* The Clock King drives a monowheel in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!".
136	* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', the Incursions use massive monowheel tanks to supplement their spacecraft when subduing a planet.
137	* ''WesternAnimation/TheCattanoogaCats'': Autocat chases Motormouse with a giant spiked tire in "Wild Wheelin' Wheels". [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption It goes as badly as expected]] when Motormouse leads Autocat aboard a freighter.
138	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Chaotic}}'':
139	** The Mowercycle is this plus some metal teeth that can either be used to climb vertical surfaces and even run across cavern ceilings or be used to vandalize your enemy's city by powersawing through their stone statues.
140	** A set release of the card game introduced the Bi-Mowercycle. As you can tell it has two wheels to allow more city wrecking fun. [[FridgeLogic Although this may disqualify it]] for being a monowheel [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of doom]].
141	* Pre-dating ''Star Wars: Episode III'' by 20 years, ''WesternAnimation/{{Droids}}'' features a monowheel.
142	* In ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'', the ''Tom Slick'' short "The Apple-Less Indian 500" involved a monowheel race in the Nevada desert.
143	* In ''WesternAnimation/HotWheelsBattleForce5'', The Red Sentient Kytren uses The Vyirex which is a gyroscope monowheel (hence the name).
144	* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' story "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS1E24To26TheSavageTime The Savage Time]]" has [[StupidJetpackHitler Nazis using the War Wheel]] from the ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}}s' example.
145	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Tenzin's version of the [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender air scooter]] is a big air monowheel.
146	* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS5E11TheEntity The Entity]]" has Mr. Garrison invent "IT", a high speed, super-efficient monowheel. Despite the control system requiring a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything joystick up the ass and in the mouth]], it's still wildly popular, as "it's still better than dealing with the airlines". One can only guess how popular it would have been [[spoiler:if they'd figured out that you ''don't'' need to use the anal/oral joysticks to move -- there are alternative controls on the IT, too]]. The episode is making fun of the not-yet-released Segway, which at the time was a closely guarded secret with lots and lots of wild public speculation.
147	* Similarly, the Big Wheel appears in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries''.
148	* Colonel Dirk Courage, TheHero from ''WesternAnimation/SpiralZone'', drove the Rimfire, a monowheel with a {{BFG}} on top.
149	* A futuristic version of the monowheel is shown in a few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003''.
150	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', Nox's {{Mooks}} ride such monowheeled vehicles to battle, looking like giant clockwork cogwheels.
151	[[/folder]]
152
153	[[folder:Real Life]]
154	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4YmVP6i4qw McLean V-8 Monowheel.]] Too bad it crashed. Don't worry the driver wasn't badly hurt.
155	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSbfAJEYS_k School project?]]
156	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu1iZKz-jMA Some monowheel fun,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE6rQwT5liE more monowheel fun,]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmeTWPN5o4 old-fashion monowheel fun.]]
157	* [[http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/17/war-tank-on-one-wheel-operated-by-one-man/ This]] article from ''Popular Mechanics'' (November, 1933).
158	* Behold the [[http://www.davidszondy.com/future/war/gyro.htm gyro-electric destroyer]]! ([[NumberOfTheBeast See page 666...]])
159	* [[http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/TRANSPORT/motorwhl/motorwhl.htm More real-life monowheels than you can shake a stick at.]] (And [[http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/TRANSPORT/diwheel/diwheel.htm diwheels]] and [[http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/museum.htm goodness knows what else.]])
160	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MonowheelMayhem