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| - Have you ever been to a picnic where everyone freaks out when a bee buzzes by? Wouldn't it bee great if you could take that primal reaction and channel it for your own purposes? As it turns out, quite a few writers have had just that thought. Enter the Bee-Bee Gun -- the weaponization of flying, stinging insects. Bees tend to be effective weapons of terror for a number of reasons -- they're too small to shoot or stab, they always seem to come in swarms that can cover every inch of a person, they're difficult to outrun or outmaneuver, and they make that terrifying buzzing noise. Unlike honeybees and some others in the real world, these ones don't seem to die after the first sting. And god help you if you're allergic. ("Your insides will boil out of your eye sockets like a science-fair volca
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| - Have you ever been to a picnic where everyone freaks out when a bee buzzes by? Wouldn't it bee great if you could take that primal reaction and channel it for your own purposes? As it turns out, quite a few writers have had just that thought. Enter the Bee-Bee Gun -- the weaponization of flying, stinging insects. Bees tend to be effective weapons of terror for a number of reasons -- they're too small to shoot or stab, they always seem to come in swarms that can cover every inch of a person, they're difficult to outrun or outmaneuver, and they make that terrifying buzzing noise. Unlike honeybees and some others in the real world, these ones don't seem to die after the first sting. And god help you if you're allergic. ("Your insides will boil out of your eye sockets like a science-fair volcano!") And if you're not, well, being stung to death by thousands of bees would be a rather slow and unpleasant way to go. In Real Life, of course, a foraging bee isn't likely to sting you unless you try to touch it, or you happen to be covered in sweet stuff, or you threaten their hive. Honeybees die when they sting (and workers can only sting once per bee; drones cannot sting at all) because their stingers are barbed, so that when they attempt to pull it out, they wind up wrenching it out along with a portion of their intestines: ergo they're not likely to do it unless they think it's really damn important. (Yellow jackets and most other wasps, on the other hand, have smooth stingers that enable them to be pulled out of whomever they sting, and they take malicious glee in reminding everyone of this fact.) A stinging bee (or a crushed bee) releases attack pheromones that attract and rile up more bees. Bee venom is designed to make you think you've been hurt badly, and enough of it causes your throat to swell so that you asphyxiate. The pheromone sticks around and does not wash off quickly. Water is not an ideal deterrent - bees will sting whatever parts are above the water, and come after you when you get out. The sensation is not unlike that of being stung by ants or nettles, as all three use a venom cocktail that includes formic acid. Ironically, a true swarm of bees is not particularly hostile; some people swear by bee venom therapy' for arthritis etc., and when bee workers kill their queen they do so not by stinging, but by balling up around her and vibrating her muscles until the heat kills her (Mmmm... popcorn...). 1.
* An actual gun that shoots bees. 2.
* A special ability to control bees. 3.
* A character that is actually made of bees. 4.
* Dogs with bees in their mouths so when they bark they shoot bees at you. A subtrope of Abnormal Ammo and Living Weapon (possibly also Attack Animal). Often hits a Did Not Do the Research / Somewhere an Entomologist Is Crying, because real bees often do not work that way. Note that beeing able to control all kinds of insects is a semi-common Stock Superpower, but bees, specifically, just seem to bee the go-to insect for this kind of thing. Must be that whole Hive Mind idea. Or maybe it's because "bees" just sounds funny. Or it may bee that they're one of the more terrifying insects one may see on a regular basis. For instances where the attacking bees are not under someone's control, see Gosh Hornet. Examples of Bee-Bee Gun include:
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