Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
WikEd fancyquotesQuotesBug-silkHeadscratchersIcons-mini-icon extensionPlaying WithUseful NotesMagnifierAnalysisPhoto linkImage LinksHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconic

Items on your wrist are easy to access, versatile, and just look awesome.

Can function as any number of useful tools, like a communicator, a firearm, a light, a scanner, a music player, a wristwatch, etc. Typically, this will appear in sci-fi shows as a device from which characters can access a wide variety of tools. Also, unlike a hand-held device, being wrist-mounted makes it "Hands Free", meaning it won't get lost, dropped or hinder the user by limiting the number of hands they might need in a given situation. Truly a remarkable device.

Compare: Comm Links (can be worn on the wrist), Gadget Watch (with other built-in special devices).

Examples of Super Wrist Gadget include:


Anime and Manga[]

Comic Books[]

  • Funky Koval used a gadget watch with a blaster on one occasion.
    • When the scene was spoofed in Gorsky and Butch, there was no gadget involved - the watch was such a cheap replica that the villain fainted with disgust and fell over the railing.

Film[]

  • Spy Kids
  • Subverted in Toy Story, where Buzz thinks he has a wrist gadget, but as Woody points out, it's just a sticker.
  • The main character of Cowboys and Aliens wears one, which turns out to be an Arm Cannon.
  • The watch James Bond wears usually has some non-wrist watch functions.
    • This is given a nod in the video game of GoldenEye, in which the watch is both used in-game as a gadget and is also the pause menu/user interface/mission briefing.
  • The Predator had a cool wrist device that not only houses his wrist blades, but also a nuclear Self-Destruct Mechanism. The Aliens vs. Predator video games add even more gadgets to it, such as a compact first aid kit or hacking tool.
  • In Sky High, Royal Pain has one that controls her suit (and the device that cuts off the antigravity of the school).
  • The stun guns used in Pandorum. According to the Word of God this was so the character could use his hands for all the physical activity required.

Live Action TV[]

Newspaper Comics[]

Video Games[]

  • The Fallout series' PipBoy 3000 was introduced as a bulky, Zeerust tablet computer complete with vacuum tubes, but its incarnations in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are as smaller, wrist-mounted devices. The PipBoy's uses include but are not limited to data storage, inventory management, topographical mapping, assisted targeting, medical diagnostics, and radio receiver.
  • Commander Keen's ComputerWrist
  • The Omnitools from the Mass Effect series.
  • That thing that Sonya Blade wears on her arm in Mortal Kombat can, at the very least, be used as a communicator, firearm and metal-cutter. One might speculate that it probably also works as a watch.
  • The Poketch in Pokémon Diamond/Pearl might just as well be called an iPhone on the wrist, with all the various apps that can be installed on it. In addition to a clock, these apps include a device to check the status of your Pokemon, another to check the Pokemon you left in daycare, a history of Pokemon you recently caught, a markable map, a step counter, a sketch pad, a timer, a virtual coin flip, etc. If only there were real-life watches that could do all that...
  • Geo Stelar's Transer in Mega Man Star Force. A combination Facebook and email account, that also contains an antiviral weapons array and an alien Energy Being that he fuses with to engage in thrilling heroics.

Western Animation[]

  • Bob's Glitch from Re Boot, though it is strongly overlaps with Gadget Watch.
  • Ben 10's Omnitrix.
  • Parodied in Futurama: Leela has one, and she calls it "this thing on [her] wrist" which also has a built-in surgical laser for reattaching noses.
  • Space Ghost had his Power Bands.
  • The titular hero of Phantom 2040 has a pair.
  • Partway through the fourth and final series Kim Possible gets a new Kimmunicator in the form of a watch. It even has a grappling line in it, somehow.
  • Both of the Swat Kats wear the Glovatrix, a wrist-mounted item featuring multiple weapons and tools.

Real Life[]

  • Steampunks seem to have a fascination for cool wrist-mounted gadgets, from guns to chronometers to computers.
    • Cybergoths are fond of this too, though their tend to look less gadgety compared to Steampunks.
  • Company Armstar produces an armoured gauntlet, marketed to body guards, that has a built in taser, video camera and flashlight. It now also has an armoured iphone dock.
Advertisement