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The wave motion gun (波動砲 ha dō hō) or Yamato gun/weapon is a science fiction concept of an extremely powerful weapon which, after being fired, requires considerable time to recharge while leaving its user powerless and vulnerable.
The term specifically came from the anime series Space Battleship Yamato, where the wave motion gun was one of the most visible features on the Yamato battleship (renamed Argo in the American dub, Star Blazers) and many other capital ships, particularly the flagship Andromeda in the second season. It worked by redirecting tachyon energy from the ship's main engine (the "wave engine") through the opening at the ship's bow. A trigger-like mechanism in the bridge was used to activate it when aiming and charging were complete. It could deal devastating damage with a single blast, but required all non-essential power systems to be deactivated beforehand and left the ship adrift and unable to defend itself for a short time thereafter.
Examples of similar weapons include:
- The main cannon of the title ship in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross anime series (renamed the Reflex Cannon in the Robotech adaptation). When the ship's experimental space fold drive vanished, the main cannon could only be connected up and fired when the Macross underwent modular transformation into a form resembling a giant humanoid robot.
- The Macross Cannon of the ship Battle 7 in the anime Macross 7, which gained its name from the above. Again, it could only be fired in robot mode.
- The Yamato Gun of the Terran Battlecruiser in StarCraft, named after Space Battleship Yamato.
- The main gun of the starship Excalibur in the Babylon 5 spinoff series Crusade.
- The Watchtower in Justice League Unlimited also had a gigantic binary fusion cannon which when fired drained the station of all but emergency power for one hour.