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Chainsaw Good

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"Aaah! Chainsaw! The great communicator!"

"I love this saw! This saw's a part of me, and I'm gonna make it a part of you!"
— Buzzsaw, The Running Man

Basically, chainsaws are good. Good here having the meaning of "totally unstoppable weapons of mass destruction." Nothing can stand before their roaring, multi-toothed might; only death awaits any who challenge a chainsaw-wielding maniac. Death and Gorn.

Since they're usually used in media where carnage is key, chainsaws are typically a favorite tool of Ax-Crazy lunatics, horror villains, and the Zombie Apocalypse Hero.

Realism isn't usually a priority in media when chainsaws start swinging. In reality, the tools make pretty terrible and hazardous weapons for a wide number of reasons. Even in many works of fiction, chainsaw wielders often get carved up by their own weapon either accidentally or their opponents using it against them.

A common way of playing with this trope is to make a chainsaw part of a Swiss-Army Weapon.

See also Vibroweapon, Deadly Disc, Rule of Cool, Awesome, but Impractical. Compare Sinister Scythe, another gardening tool commonly used as a weapon in fiction.

While the trope name mainly refers to chainsaws, it has mutated to also include the use of similar power tools such as circular saws/buzzsaws, hedge trimmers and even lawnmowers as well.

Does not have anything to do with Hedge Trimmer, which is about editors who clean out clutter and other dirtiness from This Very Wiki, such as Word Cruft and Conversation in the Main Page.

Note: This is about actual chainsaws (and the like). For weapons with a chainsaw-like grip, see Chainsaw-Grip BFG.

Example subpages:

Other examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • One of Jim Varney's old "Ernest" ABC Warehouse ads ended with him putting a chainsaw to a turkey and cutting the table in half.
    Ernest: What'll it be Vern, light or dark!?
  • This ad for the SNES Killer Instinct has a guy cut an arcade machine in half with a chainsaw, to reveal an SNES with the game in it.
  • A non-graphic example to boot. In one of her Spring Air ads, Vanna White decides to go the Show, Don't Tell route regarding the mattress's inner features—By putting a pink one to it.

    Anime & Manga 
  • The Patchman uses one once in AR∀GO: City of London Police's Special Crimes Investigator… It made a bit of a mess.
  • Motorball warrior Armblessed in Battle Angel Alita has a chainsawed-out body.
  • Grell the grim reaper of Black Butler uses one that she supposedly customised herself. Some might say that it conflicts with the "Victorian" setting, but Black Butler doesn't really pay attention to that kind of thing.
    Outside of the French translation, the word 'chainsaw' is never used, and none of the other characters seem to know what it is.
  • Black Lagoon has Sawyer the Cleaner, a chainsaw wielding Elegant Gothic Lolita. To be fair, it's as much a tool of her trade as much as an instrument of mayhem even though she can apparently deflect bullets with it. What's her trade you ask? She 'cleans' up the many bodies that litter Roanapur by making them... More portable. Occasionally when the bodies are still technically alive in order to give the correct impression to the receivers of the bodies in their portable state.
  • In A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun, Mikoto Misaka can use her electrical powers to magnetically form iron sand into whip chainsaws.
  • Chainsaw Man:
    • The title character merged with a devil embodying human fear of chainsaws. Now Denji can pull a cord sticking out of his chest to transform his head into a chainsaw and grow them out of his arms and legs.
    • Previously, said devil, known by Denji as Pochita, simply turned into the weapon his partner used by hand. He used to be much more powerful, in a humanoid form with blades like what Denji gains, because devils are empowered by fear of their concept, and something as loud and gruesome as a chainsaw fits well with the Rule of Scary.
  • In Code Geass, Humongous Mecha with Chainsaw Katanas show up about halfway through season 1. Much asskicking ensues.
    • Mao also used a normal-sized chainsaw. It was presumably powered by a small nuclear sakuradite reactor or something since he manages a Diagonal Cut on metal.note 
  • Digimon Fusion had MadLeomon, who had a chainsaw arm in his "Armed Mode."
  • In the Fairy Tail anime, Gajeel's Iron Dragon Sword was changed from an everyday jagged blade to a colossal chainsaw.
  • In Food Wars!, one of the Noir AKA Midnight Chefs, is a woman in military garb named Sarge, whose main cooking tool is a chainsaw carving knife.
  • Buccaneer in Fullmetal Alchemist has a Chainsaw Arm style of Automail, though his is actually more realistic than most examples here in function. It consists of a chainsaw that is part of a larger pincer, and allows him to dismantle other Automail limbs. Furthermore, the chainsaw motor is used to keep the Automail warm and prevent frostbite, which is important given that he works in the far north. Also is likely to be handy what with the whole zombie army that shows up in the finale.
    • Which becomes useless when tangled up.
    • In the manga, when Winry sees that Ed has broken his automail arm again during his fight with Lan Fan, she forgoes her usual Wrench Whack and chases after him with a chainsaw. The end result is censored, though Ed is coated with blood the next time we see him.
  • One of the mecha pilots in Full Metal Panic! uses a chainsaw sword to cut a hasty hole in an airliner to extract a bomb. What, you thought Warhammer 40,000 had a monopoly on chainswords?
    • And in episode 5 of the spin-off, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, the school janitor uses this against Sosuke and Issei after he's had enough of their fighting.
  • A set of robotic guard dogs in Ghost in the Shell have chainsaw teeth.
  • Head maid Sakurazaka Hazuki in Haruka Nogizaka's Secret is known for whipping out a chainsaw out of blue.
  • In Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Malike, the first Immortal Colin encounters in the film, has a massive chainsaw sword he uses. Colin's katana blocks it just fine, even in a Blade Lock.
  • Hetalia: Axis Powers: America is using a chainsaw for no explained reason, scaring Canada out of complaining about him to his face. He also sported a very Yandere expression with Scary Shiny Glasses. (America didn't mean to threaten him though, he was just being unintentionally scary.)
  • Is This A Zombie? deserves mention due to a bright pink chainsaw named Mysteltainn featuring prominently in the course of the show as part and parcel of the resident Magical Girl's outfit and moveset, including the Finishing Move "Mysteltainn Kick" (which isn't a kick at all).
  • Kars from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency can spring chainsaw-swords from his body.
  • Kichikujima: Kaoru uses a chainsaw not unlike Leatherface with also using a knife and hammer. His father also used the same chainsaw when Kaoru was a child before Kaoru grew up and took it as his own. Ami also used it against her abusive father that tried to rape her.
  • In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, King Dedede cuts down a forest with a laser chainsaw. This is only true in the dub to make it less imitable.
  • In Kotetsushin Jeeg, the title Humongous Mecha can equip the "Earth Parts," granting it a pair of chainsaw arms.
  • The Urbanus in Last Exile is a Flying Battleship with massive chainsaw wings.
  • The manga series Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer features a magic teddy-bear that actually fights using a huge chainsaw that is stuffed inside of him, and its name is the Texas Chainsaw.
  • Metal Armor Dragonar features a Ace Custom mecha that has arm-mounted chainsaws as its melee weapon. Also, they can parry laser swords.
  • In the manga version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Unit 02 uses a double-bladed chainsaw against the Angel Armisael. Naturally, it backfires hilariously.
  • In Overman King Gainer, the first important weapon King Gainer gets is the chain gun, a chainsaw sword, and gun all in one package.
  • One of the antagonists of Priest wields a primitive chainsaw. In the Old West.
  • Princess Resurrection's Hime uses a chainsaw as her signature weapon. She even dualwields two chainsaws to fight off the Pharaoh.
  • Torikabuto is shown to Dual Wield them in one chapter of Reborn! (2004). But considering the fact that the main character fights with a pair of woollen mittens and someone else fights with a dining fork, this borders on the mundane.
  • Rebuild World: The Don Rogelt prefers using a giant chainsaw sword for his Mini-Mecha.
  • In Rosario + Vampire, Routier Miao, aka Ludie, attacks Fong-Fong with a chainsaw.
  • Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo takes this trope up to eleven with Fumio, a teenage Yandere who learned a Confederate Chainsaw Martial-art from her Texan grandfather. She ultimately faces an Evil Twin of herself who wields an identical chainsaw, leading to a chainsaw duel.
  • The School Days OVA Magical Heart Kokoro-chan gives us the Hello Kitty Chainsaw Massacre.◊ Yeah, should've seen that one coming...
  • Soul Eater:
    • Giriko's weapon form is a chainsaw, which he describes as "a truly traditional evil weapon."
    • One suggestion is that the use of chainsaws in horror films is the reasoning behind the 'truly traditional' comment.
    • He's also one of a few weapons which can wield themselves by turning part way into their weapon form (he usually manifests his chain to act as armour, cut stuff up with his hands and feet or...as treads to move around with).
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: General Cytomander's custom Ganmen, the Shuzack, is fitted with a buzzsaw. It proves largely useless against the favoured weapon of the heroes.
  • Tokyo Ghoul has a chainsaw-shaped Quinque called "Rotten Follow". It's initially wielded by Psycho for Hire Shiki Kijima, and later inherited by his subordinate, Nimura Furuta. The process used to create such weapons only adds to the horror, as it was made from Rio's older brother and uses part of his corpse as the engine.
  • One of the mechs from Viper's Creed has a chainsaw-rifle combo, a villain's mech in the last episode has two mounted on extra arms.
  • An episode of Wedding Peach showed that the red string of fate was so powerful a chainsaw couldn't cut it.
  • Akutabi Gamma of Zombie Powder carries a chainsword as tall as he is, and wields it one-handed. Oddly, he's supposedly one of the greatest swordsmen in the world anyway, which makes you wonder why he needs to carry around an encumbering, gas-guzzling chunk of overkill as well. Outside of the obvious.

    Comic Books 
  • Anti-Hero Abslom Daak: Dalek Killer carried a Chainsword. Quoth the Dalek Killer:
    Abslom Daak (to a Dalek): Okay, Chuckles, take a look at this chainsword. Notice those nice whirring teeth... and imagine them ripping through your little tin body!
  • In Cavewoman: Labyrinth, Meriem is attacked by a zombie cyborg guard who has a chainsaw for an arm.
  • The Chick Tract "Boo!", in which the devil himself goes on a chainsaw rampage… wearing a jack-o-lantern with a goofy grin on his face.
  • Dark Web: In the Venom tie-in, Meridius mocks Bedlam for not using a bladed weapon to counter Codex (Dylan Brock)'s Necrosword katana. Bedlam manifests a chainsaw arm-blade, which he uses in the finale to rip and tear Limbo's demons to shreds.
  • Spoofed in the underground horror comic Death Rattle, where a drugged-up horror movie fan tries to live out his fantasies by attacking a woman with a chainsaw...which gets lodged in a table and immediately sputters out. He laments that this never happens to Leatherface.
  • In the Doom Comic the Doomguy calls it "the Great Communicator" and promptly communicates to a group of zombies his desire to have their guns.
  • Barracuda in Fury: My War Gone By is introduced in the Nicaragua arc with three tied men on front of him and holding a chainsaw over his shoulder. What happens to the men is mercifully off-panel.
  • Ghost Rider 2099:
    • In the original series, Zero has the ability to turn his right hand into a chainsaw that can cut to subatomic level.
    • In the 2019 reboot, while he doesn't appear to possess that ability, he grabs a chainsaw from his girlfriend's workshop, coats it in what may or may not be Hellfire and dubs it a Hellsaw.
  • The 2000 AD series Nemesis the Warlock has a variation in book 9 - having already broken his chainsaw Cheryl, Big Bad Torquemada dispatches a henchman to find a replacement. When he returns during Torquemada's battle with Nemesis, it turns out that the local garden centre has sold out of chainsaws - so Torquemada has to make do with a hedge trimmer instead.
  • Planetary has chainsaw bullets.
  • Downplayed in The Punisher issue where he joins the Hand, the Hand wanted to test his worth and so a team ambushes him at his safe house. Among the weapons that Frank pulls out, one was a chainsaw. It was a desperation move that had him overextend himself with a two-handed swing. He only took out one ninja and killing that guy was just because Frank was partially in the shadows, so the ninja didn't see what he was doing. The main reason Frank survived the fight was he had very good torso armor and even then he barely made it.
  • In Robyn Hood; I Love NY #4, Robyn fights a Monster Clown wielding a chainsaw. She points out to him what a stupid weapon choice that is just before she shoots him the head which causes him to hit himself with his chainsaw as he falls.
  • Subverted in Saga of the Swamp Thing, when Woodrue attempts to unleash the Green against humanity and wipe out all animal life. The defiant wielder of "Evangeline" is immediately knocked out from behind by a fast-growing root, and the psychotic plant elemental attempts to turn the weapon on Abigail, yet he too is stopped by Swamp Thing.
  • The Savage Dragon. The hero, Dragon, early in his series, uses two chainsaws against a (later revealed) brainwashed rat man. The creator, Larsen, said he chose the chainsaws because they look cool. And Dragon could easily survive kickback.
  • Soda: One Serial Killer uses a chainsaw to cut up his victims.However, not only is he easily beaten by Soda's partner, his chainsaw falls on him and he ends up removed from her apartment in three separate bags.
  • In Sullivan's Sluggers, the bus driver protects Casey and his team by wielding a chainsaw against the monsters.
  • In S.W.O.R.D. (2020), when Shi'ar Majestrix Xandra Neramani and a few of her Imperial Guard make a diplomatic visit to planet Arakko (Mars), they're ambushed by the new Lethal Legion. One of them, Mr. Eloquent has an "Atomic Chainsaw" for a hand. Facing the Guardman Neutron, who boasts of his invulnerable skin. Mr. Eloquent easily stabs through Neutron and then tells him "My Atomic Chainsaw proves that there's no such thing."
  • The Tick has the Chainsaw Vigilante, a highly skilled wielder who seeks to humiliate vigilante superheroes back into private life by cutting their clothes off. With a chainsaw. He's never actually killed anyone with it. He's that good.
  • The German comic Werner features the "Dolmette," a motorcycle powered by two dozen chainsaw engines. It actually subverts Defictionalization: It was designed for the Werner comics, but it was built in Real Life (see that section) first.
    • In Gekotzt wird später!, Andi uses a chainsaw to top chop the Oldsmobile.
  • In Wonton Soup the main character is a skilled wandering chief in a demented space opera universe, when he has to defend himself against a bunch of alien monsters he uses his large chainsaw spatula.
  • When X-23's Ax-Crazy former handler, Kimura, recaptures her in X-Force, she goes to work on Laura with a chainsaw just for "being a bad girl." She ends up cutting off her arm by the end of the torture session, though Laura regrew it by the next story arc.

    Fairy Tales 
  • In many versions, the tale of Little Red Riding Hood doesn't end with a brave hunter rescuing the ladies, but with a Woodcutter. He's more likely to carry an axe, but in some modern versions he's portrayed with a chainsaw.

    Fan Works 
  • In one Bleach fanfiction, Kenpachi discovers American Horror movies and this leads Kenpachi to chase after Ichigo with a Hockey Mask and Chainsaw for the rest of the story.
  • The Left 4 Dead 2 fanfic Blind Man's Bluff has Ellis absolutely adoring chainsaws, much to everyone else's amusement/exasperation.
  • Calvin & Hobbes: The Series:
  • Dungeon Crawler Katia: Apparently Donut's pet velociraptor wasn't dangerous enough, even with the magical tooth caps that let him inflict lightning damage when he bites things. So a benefactor sends in a loot box that lets them fit his wings with chainsaws that activate when he flaps them. Because that will definitely end well.
  • Invader Zim: A Bad Thing Never Ends: During the fight in Chapter 13, GIR turns his arms into chainsaws, that happen to be on fire (and shooting peanuts), which he uses to go after MiMi and the DIRs.
  • During the climax of Mad World (Invader Zim), Nny wields a chainsaw against the Thing in the Wall when it bursts loose. When Dib questions it, he admits he has a few lying around.
  • The MLP Loops:
    • Loop 96.6 has Spike finding the Necronomicon in the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters. Apparently, this is not the first time this has happened, and the last time it did, he ended up with a dragonfire chainsaw gauntlet, which he says "was pretty awesome".
    • In Sunset's first Loop meeting Leman Russ, she used a chainsaw to break Tirek's captives out of his prison. It made enough of an impression that she got pardoned for her earlier crimes.
    • As noted in 133.7, Trixie owns a prop chainsaw that she uses for the "saw a pony in half" trick. Chrysalis freaked out when Trixie tried to do it without telling her it was fake. (And when Snips and Snails tried to reproduce it with a real one.)
    • Subverted when Twilight tries to use a chainsaw to open the Cutie Map and analyze it. She ends up with a Loop Crash that sends her to G3.
    • Pinkie collects chainsaws. During the "Gravity Falls: Friendship is Magic" arc, she tries to add the beaver-chainsaw to it, but gets distracted when the Gobblewonker shows up. She later tries to use a pink flaming chainsaw against a ghost. Rainbow Dash also uses a chainsaw later on for a different incident.
  • Persona: The Sougawa Files: The first major opponent the party faces, Shadow Wilma, wields a chainsaw for a good portion of the fight, though she eventually trades it out for another weapon.
  • The April Fools' Day chapter of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines reveals that the Author Avatar writes the story with a chainsaw, of all things.
  • Progress has Luna and Twilight meeting an elderly earth pony couple whose home they had (accidentally!) dropped a boulder or two on. The farmers mistake them for dragons. Their response?
    "Uh... They sound like chainsaws and..." Twilight's eyes widened. "Oh horsefeathers."
    "DEATH TO THE UNBELIEVERS!"
    "FOR THE GLORY OF GODDESS QUEEN CELESTIA!"
  • In the Jackie Chan Adventures fic Queen of All Oni, Left tries to use a chainsaw to try and destroy the Dog Talisman (we don't see it, and it fails), and he later uses one to KILL a wolf-squid hybrid.
  • This shows up in multiple ways in Shinji And Warhammer 40 K:
    • In the early chapters, Shinji invokes it when he uses a modified chainsaw to cut wood.
    • Later on, when the Evas start using 40K-influenced weaponry, they're equipped with prog-chainswords. Unit 02 later gets a prog-chainaxe.
    • Unit 01's upgraded Titan Armor takes this to ludicrous extremes - it has chainsaws coming out of practically every body part imaginable.
  • Thirty Hs: "Dobby relished his groinsaw's roar..."
  • In Thousand Shinji, Asuka's Unit-02 gets a massive chainaxe. Asuka's absolutely lethal with it.
  • In Wonderful (Mazinja), this trope was invoked when a poster in the PHO boards said that a tank model built by a super-villain "needed more chainsaw".

    Films — Animation 
  • Lilo & Stitch: During Jumba's invasion of Lilo's house, Stitch picks up a chainsaw to fight him off—prompting Lilo to remark, on the phone to Cobra Bubbles, "Oh good, my dog's found the chainsaw!".
  • Mavka: The Forest Song: Some villagers are armed with chainsaws by Kylina (the Big Bad) when attacking the forest (against Treants and not just mere trees), and Kylina's assistant Frol attempts to kill Lukash's dog and the frog-cat with one, only to end up chased by it.
  • Open Season: The climactic animals vs. hunters battle features chainsaw-wielding beavers.
  • In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the Canadians use chainsaws as melee weapons.
  • A variant in Trolls: World Tour where the chainsaw user destroys things rather than trying to attack someone. Barb trashes her Angler Bus by slicing a couch in half via chainsaw, out of anger for getting glitter in her face. She apparently does this often because there are repair seams, and a Rock Troll in the couch doesn't flinch from reading his book when Barb reveals his hiding spot.
  • In The Water Babies (1978), the bill of the heroic swordfish develops tiny moving serrations, plainly meant to resemble a chainsaw's, when he fights or cuts through things.
  • Wreck-It Ralph: After the interrogation scene, Duncan retrieves one from a toolbox to free Ralph from the giant cupcake.

    LARP 
  • In the Live Roleplay scenario Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste, Johan Martens (a character on the edge of insanity) has a chainsaw, inherited from his uncle. During the game, it is accessible to the player of Martens — it can be used for various things, including killing people/things/sea monsters. Now consider the fact that another character, who wants everyone on board dead, can make attempts to mind control Martens...

    Literature 
  • Michael Z. Williamson's novel Better To Beg Forgiveness features, among other equally awesome things, the esteemed yet extremely enraged President Bishwanath of Celedon driving off a mob of bloodthirsty rioters with a chainsaw. Yes. The PRESIDENT.
  • Chrysalis (RinoZ): In her first batch of mutation, Crinis purchases "Ripping Spines", which can rapidly move back and forth to approximate the effect of a chainsaw. Even monstrous crocodiles are paralysed with fear when they see their compatriot get wrapped up in her tentacles and undergo the 'Crinis experience'.
    Anthony: She'll probably get a few more levels of Dismembering from this.
  • In Doom, Arlene grabs a chainsaw and uses it to clear a hall full of demons. This nearly gets her killed. The second time she still grabs the chainsaw because she wants to get it right. How a chainsaw came to be on Deimos is a mystery.
  • Lieutenant Karrin Murphy in The Dresden Files: Summer Knight uses one to lame an ogre, and a few minutes later, kill a tree monster. The chainsaw cuts through both monsters more easily than might be expected because of its steel teeth—The Fair Folk really, really don't like being attacked with Cold Iron.
  • In The Lotus War the Iron Samurai wield chainkatanas, which are the unholy spawn of a katana and a motorized chainsaw.
  • Averted in Misery, in which Annie Wilkes is found dead from her injuries and clutching a chainsaw she'd plainly intended to use on Paul Sheldon in the end.
  • In the novel, movie and manga Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge, the personification of evil uses a chainsaw.
  • Possibly one of the very earliest Chainsaw Swords in literature is the Diskos from William Hope Hodgson's seminal 1912 fantasy-horror novel The Night Land.
  • Secret police and Cacticae security in Perdido Street Station carry Rivebows, a large crossbow which shoots spinning chakris (circular saw blades). In universe, the main way to defeat Cacticae (humanoid cacti) is through severing limbs.
  • The heroine of Eric Flint and Dave Freer's Rats, Bats and Vats books, Virginia Shaw, adopts a chainsaw as her personal weapon.
  • This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It: John asserts that only "cure" to brain spider infection involves "finding out what a chainsaw tastes like." He later uses a chainsaw to decapitate an infected Frankie. John's enthusiasm for chainsaws is a bit of a Call-Back to David's assertion in the previous book about how chainsaws make the absolute dumbest weapons.
  • In Under a Graveyard Sky, during the operation to clear a cruise line ship of Technically Living Zombies, Faith mentions several times that she'd like to have a chainsaw available as a clearing tool, although Fontana points out some of the problems with using a chainsaw as a weapon.
  • The Zombie Survival Guide deconstructs this, noting all of the above reasons not to use a chainsaw against the undead, and adding that it's incredibly heavy for a weapon that you're probably going to be lugging around for miles, that the very loud noise it generates is certain to attract more zombies and even its marginal usefulness as a weapon ceases completely the instant it runs out of gas or breaks down.
  • Conversely played straight in How to Survive a Horror Movie, which mentions that chainsaws are among the best weapons to procure because they're lightweight, easy to use, and highly effective, with the issue of fuel being ignored outright. Then again, the guide is for surviving in a horror movie, where the realistic problems with using a chainsaw as a weapon will never come up.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In Ash vs. Evil Dead, the chainsaw arm makes a return and is used prominently throughout the series.
  • Bones: “The Lumberjack in the Competition” had a victim who was a Lumber Sports athlete. Hodgins and Fuentes are very eager to spend a few hours using various chainsaws to cut up logs so they can find out what model was used. It actually turned out that the weapon wasn’t a running chainsaw but a chain that had come loose from the saw.
  • The Brittas Empire: At one point in the episode “The Trial”, Brittas gets his hand stuck to a chainsaw. He winds up accidentally causing grievous bodily harm to several elderly woman (by slipping and sawing through their walkers) and (also accidentally) decapitates a gangster.
  • The Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Fear Itself" had Giles use a chainsaw as an impromptu skeleton key to get into a Haunted House (a demon had caused the doors and windows to vanish). And he was awesome doing it.
    Xander: Giles? Everyone, it's Giles! With a chainsaw!
  • The Burn Notice movie The Fall of Sam Axe has Sam use a chainsaw against his enemies by throwing it into a moving vehicle. Considering who plays him, this is a clear Actor Allusion which is only cemented by his follow-up line: "Groovy."
  • One segment of the multi-part CSI episode "Toe Tags" showcased both the damage-dealing potential and the dangerous unwieldiness of the chainsaw as a "weapon": The Killer Was Left-Handed, and accidentally killed his friend and himself trying to cut up some furniture to spite his ex-wife. He'd been using a chainsaw designed for righties at the time.
  • Danger 5: The Big Bad is Dual Wielding four fire-sprouting chainsaws during a school massacre.
  • Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: As the main trio's fight at the end of "Friendship" continues to get increasingly heated offscreen during the episode's credits, Red Guy uses a chainsaw to ram Duck and Yellow Guy.
    Yellow Guy: I'LL KILL YOU!!!
    Red Guy: Oh, really?!
    Duck: NO!
    [a chainsaw is heard, going for Duck and Yellow Guy as they both yell]
  • Double the Fist gives us The Time-Saw, a chainsaw which can cut through the fabric of time and space. Oh yes, Chainsaw indeed good.
  • On Home Improvement, Tim and Al take part in a turkey carving competition on Tool Time, and when Tim starts lagging behind he brings out a chainsaw to finish the job.
  • Kamen Rider Fourze has a chainsaw kick.
  • In Lost Girl, Kenzi defeated the reality warping Norn by threatening her sacred tree with a chainsaw.
  • MacGyver (1985): The chief bad guy tries to kill Mac with a chainsaw during a fight in a sawmill in "Log Jam".
  • When the MythBusters tested whether the video game Fruit Ninja was replicable in reality (answer: no, though over 50 real-life fruits in 60 seconds was impressive), Jamie decided to go to Fruit Chainsaw as their way of ramping things up.
    • And when they revisited the question of whether it's better to have an axe or a gun versus a zombie horde (the axe proved marginally more reliable), they threw the chainsaw into the mix and found it far outperformed either of the former, deeming it Confirmed as a viable improvised short-term weapon for Action Survivor vs standard issue Zombie. While drawbacks like the weight, running out of gas/battery charge, and kickback were acknowledged, these were counterbalanced by several factors, the primary one being that a chainsaw does not need to be swung: meaning no delay between takedowns, more precision, and that the user isn't exhausted as quickly. The end result was that where the ax test ended with Adam exhausted and swarmed, and the firearm test ended with Jamie taken down before unloading more than a few guns, the chainsaw allowed Adam to take down the entire horde at a brisk walk.
  • John Woo's TV series Once A Thief (in turn itself a remake of his own movie of the same name) features a 'parody' episode filled to the brim with intentionally absurd situations, one of which involves a lightsaber-style duel involving chainsaws. That's right, complete with clashes and sparks flying and all that jazz. That particular scene is concentrated awesome.
  • Pizza gives us Bobo, the Ax-Crazy pizza store owner who keeps a chainsaw under his counter.
  • Subverted on The Red Green Show. Red and other characters never used chainsaws as weapons, but as tools both for things they were designed for (e.g. to cut wood) and for things they were not designed for (e.g. to cut through everything from fiberglass to metal, and as components of handyman projects, like turning a bicycle into a moped by duct taping a chainsaw onto it to serve as a motor.
  • A few Robot Wars competitors employed chainsaws as weapons as did House Robot Matilda (though this was later replaced with a vertical spinning disc in the 5th wars), but they were quickly proven to be Awesome, but Impractical as they were largely ineffective against robots with metal armour (i.e. the vast majority!) and, in the case of Matilda, proved to be a critical weakpoint to the likes of Razer.
  • The History Channel's show Sliced in which a guy cuts things (pool tables, pinball machines, other chainsaws) open with various saws to see what's in them. Not entirely sure what it has to do with history.
  • A Saturday Night Live skit had a Candid Camera Prank show where someone pranked his neighbor who kept borrowing his tools and not returning... with a chainsaw. ("I can't believe how much prank juice came out of him when I pranked him in half!")
  • Smallville:
    • In the episode "Conspiracy", the villain tries to charge at Clark Kent and the others with a circular saw, but hits some low hanging wires and electrocutes himself to death.
    • In the episode "Crush", Justin Gaines uses telekinesis to turn on a chainsaw and throw it at Chloe. Clark Kent saves her in time.
  • Chainsaws are among the recurring murder weapon of choice in some Tales from the Crypt episodes, with expected gory results. Examples include "Television Terror", "Split Second", "Split Personality", and "House of Horror".
  • Subverted in an episode of Torchwood, where Rhys fires up a chainsaw to take out a rampaging Monster of the Week, only to have the machine die on him at the worst possible moment. It's then that Jack blows it apart from behind with an alien BFG.
  • Tomica Hero Rescue Force gives us the Rescue Crusher Mantis Mode, which, surprisingly, isn't usually used for slicing up badguys.
  • One edition of Top Gear featured the use of a chainsaw to resolve a Cool Wall argument.
    • During the South America Special, as they hack through the rainforest:
    Jeremy: I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE!
  • The penultimate episode of True Blood's second season includes a protagonist attempting to use a chainsaw as a weapon, only to get it hopelessly stuck in a counter-top before it can be of any use.
  • In the Walker, Texas Ranger episode "White Buffalo", the villain attacks Walker with a crowbar, only to be beaten down with a 4x4. Naturally, while Walker deals with one of his accomplices, he decides that the proper response is to rev up a chainsaw. It doesn't really take.

    Music 
  • "Malcolm" by The Arrogant Worms that begins as follows:
    Billy solves his problems by calling up his Ma,
    Heather solves her problems with drugs and alcohol,
    Daniel solves his problems with a doctor and the law,
    But Malcolm has his own way, and it's better than them all...
    'Cause Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw,
    Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw,
    Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw,
    And he never has the same problem twice!
  • The Band Perry has the appropriately titled song "Chainsaw", about a scorned woman cutting down a tree that she and her ex-boyfriend had carved their names into to show their everlasting love.
  • Mentioned in Cannibal Corpse's "Kill or Become":
    Fire up the chainsaaaw!
    Hack all their heads oooff!
    Fire up the chainsaaaw!
    Hack their fucking heads off!
  • In "The Curse of Millhaven", by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, the Enfant Terrible protagonist uses a circular saw (close enough) to decapitate a handyman, and then leaves his severed head in the mayor's fountain.
  • The cover art of Dismember's album Massive Killing Capacity has a mecha duel-wielding chainsaws.
  • Evelyn Evelyn's autobiographical monologue "The Tragic Events of September Part 1" describes how, when the Conjoined Twins were born, the doctor attempted to separate them with a chainsaw, accidentally killing their father in the process.
  • Family Force Five has a song named "Chainsaw". It's about how awesome using a chainsaw is.
  • Rock band Jackyl is known for their song "Lumberjack". Lead singer Jesse James Dupre actually plays a chainsaw as an instrument during the song, including a chainsaw solo. When played live he would chop things up on stage during this number.
  • Ke$ha's second 'Take it Off' video has one that shoots lasers.
  • "Pleasure to Kill" by Kreator has a zombie on a rampage, presumably using a chainsaw according to one lyric — "Listen now to the motor of my chainsaw."
  • In the song "Break Stuff" by Limp Bizkit, Fred Durst points out that he "packs a chainsaw" and politely suggests that people get out of his way.
  • Used as an instrument and stage prop by Finnish punk rocker Maukka Perusjätkä.
  • M.I.A.'s "Steppin Up" kicks off with a sample of a chainsaw.
  • Miss Construction's "Slaughterhouse"- I bring the chainsaw, you bring the knife. I bring the chainsaw, you bring your wife. I bring the chainsaw, let's have some fun. I bring the chainsaw, I kill the fucking bitch.
  • The song "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" by The Radiators (US) (named for the movie)—in the early days, they'd start up an actual chainsaw when performing the song live. (Which got them thrown out of a club or two.)
  • One of the songs on The Ramones debut album is "Chainsaw", which was inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974, complete with a power saw opening the song.
  • "The Saw is the Law" by Sodom is about a Serial Killer who dispatches his targets with a chainsaw.
  • "POWER OFF! POWER ON!" from Um Jammer Lammy and its soundtrack album Make It Sweet! is about the joys of chopping down every tree in sight with chainsaws.
  • WASP have a song called "Chainsaw Charlie", which starts off with few chainsaws revving up.
    • Lead singer Blackie Lawless used to wear various saw blades on his costume in the eighties.
  • Played for Laughs when "Weird Al" Yankovic wields a chainsaw in the music video for "Like A Surgeon".
  • Yuzuki Yukari has "Goodbye Chainsaw, KurageP. It's a song about Yukari solving problems with a really cool chainsaw.

    Pinball 

    Podcasts 
  • In the Cool Kids Table game Creepy Town, the torture cabin has a chainsaw in it that the killer activates to kill Ethan.

    Radio 

    Tabletop Games 
  • In Battlemachines chainsaws are one of the satisfyingly destructive weapons that you can arm a mech with. This is taken to new heights with Carman Skiric, whose personal mech has no less than four chainsaws, and if he hits with one of them, the rest will hit automatically.
  • BattleTech and MechWarrior Dark Age allow players to field IndustrialMechs that use civilian gear as weapons. The Forestry and Logger Mechs carry what can only be described as giant Mech-scale chainsaws, which they can use very effectively for cutting down trees or carving up opponents. The saws are the size of the host Mech's leg. Just have a look at the thing.
    • 'Mech-sized saws subvert the trope a bit as their anti-armor damage doesn't really compare that well to even that of a simple hatchet except on 'Mechs so light that they probably don't bother to mount them on account of the saws' weight and bulk. However, by the rules a unit equipped with one can reduce even a dense forest hex notionally thirty meters across to mere "rough terrain" with few if any trees left standing in at most forty seconds — half that if a second such unit helps out.
    • It also does a fine job of tearing down buildings, doing a minimum of 7 damage and up to 12 damage against any kind of building. A single chainsaw-equipped unit can reduce a hardened bunker 30 meters across to so much rubble in as little as 90 seconds and can cut bridge supports inside 30 seconds, enough such that even the toughest bridge would be unable to support heavy units trying to cross it.
    • The game also has the Dual-Saw, which is a paired set of circular saws that are built to cut rock. They're more effective against mech armor than chainsaws (though still not a terribly effective weapon).
  • Buffy The Vampire Slayer: They deal great damage, but they are dangerous. If you roll a Critical Failure, you'll hit yourself.
  • Call of Cthulhu gives a chainsaw the equivalent of an impale (where a stabbing weapon hits something vital) but in this case it removes a limb.
  • Cyberpunk 2020 has the Husqvarna Chainripp - a chainsaw which you can install into your bionic arm.
  • For the D20 system, 1001 Science Fiction Weapons contains a whole chapter on powered saw weapons. Usually powered by energy cells like most other EnhancedArchaicWeapons, however they have the option of the clumsy combustion engines. They come in various forms, the exact details of which are left to the GM/players imaginations, but include a normal chainsaw designed as a tool, a single-handed circular saw which can be swung or used a quatar, or similar saws on the ends of staves. The double-ended staff is intended to be marketed to space barbarians and heavy metal bassists.
  • d20 Modern has the Decapitator, which is essentially a Vorpal Chainsaw, and the Chain Saw of the Psycho, which is an enhanced-damage weapon that inflicts negative levels on good-aligned users.
  • There is a Chainsword (a unique magic sword that's a cross between a sword and a chainsaw, described in DRAGON Magazine #132) in AD&D.
  • Doctor Who Adventures In Time And Space has extremely simplistic rules for melee weapon damage which, as the game cheerfully points out, make chainsaws among the most dangerous melee weapons possible... for all the good that does. Given the source material, combat is generally discouraged, and numerous opponents have access to ranged attacks that deal instant death on a good roll, deflectable by spending Story Points.
  • Dragonmech, a steampunk take on a d20 fantasy world, has as part of the new "steam tech" chatterswords, which in addition to 2d6 damage can inflict a bit more damage later on as the victim's own movement rips open their wounds. Then there's the terrifying buzzaxe, which does 2d8 damage.
  • Even Dungeons & Dragons has gotten in on this trope. With the second Adventurer's Vault sourcebook, anyone who wields a Heavy Blade, Axe or Polearm can find a Fleshgrinder version, a demon-developed magical weapon that the text and sidebar make clear is a chainsaw-bladed version of the greatsword, battleaxe, scythe, glaive or whatever's appropriate.
  • Exalted characters are well known for their daiklaves. How do you go one better? With a chainklave. It's not just a chainsaw sword...it's a magical chainsaw sword about the size of a man. Unsurprising, really, since Exalted actually has a Rule of Cool game mechanic.
    • The Alchemicals have the Gyroscopic Chakram, the signature weapon of the Thousand-Wounds Gear Style. It can only be described as the bastard offspring of Captain America's shield and a table saw.
    • A canonical form of chainklave, the autoklave, appears in the appendix to Shards of the Exalted Dream. Apparently they're popular in, surprise surprise, Autochthonia, as well as every Shard except Burn Legend.
  • Games Workshop games:
    • In Warhammer 40,000:
      • For the Imperium, the chain weapons are a ubiquitous close combat weapon, especially among the Astartes. While the chainsword is the most iconic there are also chainaxes which are fondly used by the more violent or battle-loving chapters, Terminators can be equipped with chainfistsnote , the Sisters Repentia of the Adepta Sororitas use huge two-handed chainswords. These weapons' adamantium teeth have monomolecular edges, all the better to cut through enemy armor, especially since power and force weaponsnote  are in relatively short supply due to the Imperium's technological limitations. Even their vehicles/walkers aren't safe as sentinels can also have chainsaw attached to them, older models looked similar to a hedge trimmer but newer models have proper chainsaw arms.
      • Tyberos the Red Wake, a Captain (and possibly Chapter Master) of the Carcharodons wield a pair of weapons called Hunger and Stake. They're essentially a combination of Lightning Claws, Power Fists and Chainfists all into one, with the chainsaws in the palms of the hand like teeth in a shark.
      • The Deathshroud Terminators of the Death Guard Legion wielded Chain Scythes, which they kept millenia after their fall into worship of nurgle. Mortarion, the Primarch of the Death Guards, got an absolutely huge Scythe tipped with a chainsaw right at the end named Silence, which mutated along with him upon his ascension to Daemon Primarch and is now the size of a small car.
      • Chaos forces, especially the Heretic Astartes, use chain weapons for essentially the same reasons, although theirs are usually much nastier in form and function. Khorne Berserkers wield chainaxes almost exclusively, as their frenzied Attack! Attack! Attack! nature makes them extremely vicious and there's nothing quite like a weapon that can bash your opponent's head in and puree him out at the same time, which is why the Space Wolves like them so much also.
      • The Striking Scorpion Aspect Shrine of the Craftworld Aeldari specializes in melee combat, and those fighters wield chainswords that are very effective against Space Marine armor. While they could wield psychically-charged weapons, those are usually reserved for Warlocks and Seers, who concentrate more on psyker powers in combat. Exaggerated with the Biting Blade, which is reserved for their Exarchs.
      • For Orks, the thought process for using chain weapons is something like "'Ey, what makes a choppa more killy? Put some spinnin' teef on the edge!" More excessive versions include the 'uge choppas used by Ork Nobz, which if you're using the ones from the Nobz boxed set generally have a chainsaw edge or circular saw of some description at the violent end; the circular saw arms on the Deff Dredd and Killa Kan kits; and the Mek/Meganob-specific killsaw, which is designed to carve open tanks so that the Mek can reuse the parts to build more chainsaws.
      • Imperial Titans are sometimes armed with a Titan Chainfist, which is basically a giant chainsaw the size of a small bus, which they use to punch stuff with. Generally it's used against other titans, but on occasion they are known to punch the poor sap 3 feet from their toes. Khorne Lords of Battle wield massive Great Cleavers, which are massive titan-scaled Chainaxes. Ork Stompas have similarly large chainsaws to Titans, albeit much more crudely designed.
    • Necromunda:
      • As with the wider Warhammer 40,000 setting, chainswords are a popular weapon but their high cost means that they are often only wielded by gang leaders and their most trusted fighters. In 1st and 2nd Edition chainswords were the most powerful of the Common close combat weapons while in 3rd Edition rules for chainswords weren’t introduced until the second Necromunda: Gang War supplement and the release of the Forge World weapon kits.
      • The primary weapon of the Spyrer Matriarch is the chainscythe, a weapon that fits with her techno-Grim Reaper visual theme.
      • Although it had no effect in the rules, the 1st Edition Goliath Leader with meltagun model has replaced his traditional mohawk with a chainsaw blade, something the 3rd Edition models give a Shout-Out to with the inclusion of a similarly designed mohawk as an option on the Goliath plastic sprue.
      • The background for Pit Slaves makes mention of the legendary pit fighter Harkan Vore, who had a chainsaw replacing his lower jaw.
      • During the 1st and 2nd Editions of the game, Redemptionist Crusades were the only gang who had access to Evisorators, massive two-handed chainsaws popular with religious fanatics throughout the Imperium.
    • It's not just the grim darkness of the future that loves its chainsaws, the Rending Sword from Warhammer Quest and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was a semi-sentient sword with a set of razor-sharp whirling sawteeth on its blade. A great weapon for chewing up a Chaos Warrior's flesh and armour. Speaking of Chaos, one property a Daemon weapon can get is Chainsword, which is an oil-sputtering, armor-piercing engine of destruction
    • Games Workshop loves their chainsaws as Blood Bowl has the Goblin team's Loonie carrying around a chainsaw as do certain All-Stars. The chainsaw's great for taking down an opponent, but it's an illegal weapon that referees can suspend and there's a chance you could gut yourself on it.
    • Finally there's Chainsaw Warrior, where you are a cyborg super-soldier trying to fight through a New York city tower to stop the Darkness. The Chainsaw Warrior can carry a variety of guns and melee weapons, but his strongest unlimited use weapon is his chainsaw which gives a huge bonus to combat and can cut through certain traps. In the sequel Chainsaw Warrior: Lords of Night, the main man can have several varieties of chainsaws, including a diesel-fuelled chainsaw and a stone-cutting industrial saw.
  • In GURPS chainsaws do more damage than any other melee weapon. Unfortunately, they're terribly difficult to use.
  • Hong Kong Action Theatre lists the chainsaw as just one of the Improvised Weapons a character can wield. It does a fixed 100 points of damage rather than being reliant on Muscle like most other melee weapons, but it's also got the biggest Speed penalty out of all the weapons of the game, meaning you're not going to get a lot of Actions with the sucker. But if you want to recreate the final showdown from Tiger On Beat, what's stopping you?
  • Mechanical Dream is set on a reality-warping planet almost the size of Jupiter which is undergoing an Industrial Revolution with steampunk technology. As such, quite a few chainsaw-like weapons exist. These include the mechanical saw, the Real Mechanical Saw, the grindsword and its uglier cousin the goresword, which are all powered by a special fruit. Additionally, for the Judicator class, there is the Judicator Blade, which can develop the powers Gnasher and Rend to make the Judicator Blade into chainsaw.
  • Mekton represents this with the Armour Piercing upgrade. The standard Saw item has a low Weapon Accuracy, to represent its clumsiness. However, the weapon construction system in Mekton Plus offers no obstructions beyond price/space considerations to building a chainsword that could be used by a particularly agile Impossibly Graceful Giant for fencing.
  • Munchkin has the card called Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. It's Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
  • The kinder and gentler Mutant Chronicles also loves chainsaws in the future. Capitol Sergeants have chain swords. Brotherhood Inquisitors have flamethrowers with chainsaw bayonets. And Legion has guys with chainsaw halberds.
  • Numenera has the artifact Cacophany Blade which is described as well-oiled sword with chain with blades running through it. The weapon is a bit unwieldy so users take a hit in attacking with it but it does significant damage and has some armor-piercing ability. Interestingly this weapon is a markedly superior to the Disruptive Sword, usually in most media the lightsaber-style weapon is better than the far cruder chainsaw/chainsword.
  • In Paranoia
    • The standard peripherals for docbots include surgical chainsaws. Please hold still, citizen.
    • One bonus book includes stats for a "papercut chainsaw," which has sheets of paper instead of metal teeth.
  • A two-handed +1 chainsaw can be gained as loot during the Pathfinder adventure path "Iron Gods", and is even being wielded by the character on the cover of the second book. In-book art for volumes three to six depicts it being wielded by iconic barbarian Amiri, who has never met a BFS she didn't like.
  • In Rifts, Armor-shredding Chainsaws are a favorite weapon of the chemically-augmented Juicer Warriors.
    • Thanks to the Mega-Damage combat system, those chainsaws CAN slice through a tank. The fact that the preferred model among Juicers has teeth virtually honed to the molecule, and that your average Juicer can bench press a grown bull, may be a factor in this as well. Anti-tank chainsaws wielded by suicidal-steroid-freak-supersoldiers are not among the top 40 weirdest things in Rifts. Which tells you something of what you need to know...
    • And while the books note that strictly speaking a chainsaw isn't a very practical weapon even in the hands of a colossal Juicer or Titan Juicer (that is, while stupidly deadly, they're still extremely clumsy in use), they admit that the potent symbolism and intimidation factor is the real reason they see widespread use among Juicers; entire Coalition brigades have run in terror at the sight of a mere handful of chainsaw-wielding Juicer shock troopers.
  • Shadowrun doesn't list chainsaws among its normal weapons, but a note in the Breaking and Entering gear section says that you can use a chainsaw in close combat, and it deals horrific amounts of damage, but it is extremely unwieldy. In the 3rd edition, the Cannon Companion included chainsaws, and, oddly, it was roughly comparable to a katana in terms of general damage output. Looks like katanas really are just better.
    • The 5th Edition supplement Run & Gun introduces the Ash Arms Combat Chainsaw and a monofiliment version. While the fluff mentions that users are more likely hack off their own limbs, mechanically they're some of the best melee weapons available, with average accuracy, good reach, high damage, and some of the best armor penetration; the drawback being that you can't apply your strength to damage, and as an "exotic" melee weapon, it requires putting skill points directly into it's use.
  • In Sine Requie Templar characters can wield Expiators, which are basically chainswords inscribed with verses from the Bible. They are among the close combat weapons that cause the gravest wounds.
  • In Unknown Armies, melee weapons deal +3 damage per quality they have—sharp, heavy, and/or two-handed. Among the examples mentioned, chainsaws give a + 9 damage bonus in melee, the highest in the game. As do katanas.
  • The Vampire: The Eternal Struggle CCG game has "Talbot's Chainsaw," a magical chainsaw that turns the equipped minion into a combat monster. The drawback is that the minion must attack another minion each turn or do damage to himself.
  • Both versions of The World of Darkness grant chainsaws terrible accuracy penalties... but if you can land that hit, they deal great damage.

    Theater 
  • Even Cirque du Soleil's Mystère plays with this trope for laughs. Brian Le Petit tries to get a man out of a locked wooden crate with a chainsaw. The emcee stops him; Brian begins to shoo him away with the threat of a Groin Attack — and then the power runs down...
  • In The Rocky Horror Show, Frank chases Eddie into the freezer with a chainsaw or an axe.

    Theme Parks 
  • Halloween Horror Nights at the Universal Studios parks go all out with this trope. HHN Orlando has the long running Chainsaw Drill Team who roam the park grounds scaring guests while HHN Hollywood has the pigmasked lackeys from Saw performing the same function and running visitors out of the park at the end of the night in the "Chainsaw Chaseout". They also appear in the hands of the "scareactors" in their haunted houses.
  • Sideshow Bob wields a sawblade against the protagonists in The Simpsons Ride.

    Toys 
  • Kotobukiya M.S.G.:
    • As part of their Mobile Support Goods (MSG) model kit lineup, Kotobukiya has a WORKING small chainsaw (Weapon Unit MW26, Dynamic Chainsaw) for their other plamo, like the Frame Arms and the Frame Arms Girls (and is also compatible with Bandai's Gunpla). It has a fully articulated belt made of linked individual teeth, comes with a spring-powered windup motor, and can be outfitted with the battery-powered Gimmick Kit Motor. Of course, the tiny polystrene chainsaw teeth are both too blunt and too soft to really be much of a danger to your fingers (unless you get pinched between the teeth due to carelessness). Video Review link here.
    • The M.S.G. HW13 Grind Circle is a motorized chainsaw wheel, it can split into a pair of huge curved sawblade swords.
    • The M.S.G. MW13 Chainsaw, while not motorized, is more compact than the Dynamic Chainsaw. It can also be used as a chainsaw bayonet.
  • LEGO:
    • The Ice Planet theme had ORANGE TRANSPARENT CHAINSAWS. Notably these were available long before standard solid-gray ones were introduced.
    • Later runs have also had solid-grey buzzsaws.
    • Later in BIONICLE, Onua Nuva had Quake Breakers that were essentially these. They also doubled as all-terrain treads.
  • The Mobile Suit In Action!! figure of Mobile Fighter G Gundam's Lumber Gundam (Grizzly Gundam in North America) came with a chainsaw accessory - even though it never used one in the anime - because why not?

    Web Animation 
  • Buzzkill in Ducktalez 4. His hands are buzzsaws.
  • Tommy Wiseau uses one to take down the Zombie Lisa in The Frollo Show's zombie apocalypse arc. The Pity story of the Finally Do It arc introduce Aya from Mad Father who uses a chainsaw as her signature weapon.
  • Homestar Runner:
    • In the Strong Bad Email "bedtime story", Strong Mad uses a chainsaw as a musical instrument while Strong Bad sings his lullaby to get The Cheat to go to sleep.
    • In "videography", Strong Bad uses a chainsaw in several of his "jobs that have quotes around them" such as "heart surgeon", "licensed technician", "poultry farmer", and "fireman".
    • In issue 11 of Teen Girl Squad, What's Her Face and The Ugly One sing a campfire song with Counselor Shortshorts, only for a chainsaw-wielding "MANIAC IN A SPEEDO!" to show up and dismember the three of them in a comically over-the-top fashion.
  • Hank from Madness Combat is especially excited by a chainsaw in the seventh installment. This despite the fact that he's a Person of Mass Destruction even without any weapons. Give a chainsaw to someone who can already stab people through the skull with a nightstick from across the room...
  • In RWBY, the White Fang Lieutenant who fights and, after an initial poor showing, soundly defeats Weiss wields a massive chainsaw that he can hold one-handed and swing like a sword.

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 
  • The logo for James Rolfe's Cinemassacre is a combination between a camera and a chainsaw.
  • Doctor Steel's most popular toy line was the Buzzsaw Baby, a kewpie doll with rotating saw blades for hands.
  • EVERY TUESDAY, EPIC MEAL TIME! Comin' at you with a chainsaw and a big pile o'meat! If you ain't down with that? THEN YOU AIN'T DOWN WITH COOKING!
  • The Flash cartoon "Forehead Shavecut". "You dodged the bullet, Neo. But now you will die by chainsaw!"
  • I Am Not Infected features what, in the first shot, appears to be Paul decked out with chainsaws on both arms. Then it turns out to be a "Chainsawsuit" including the aforementioned arm chainsaws, leg chainsaws, and a back chainsaw. It's awesome.
  • This Left 4 Dead 2 fan-made Fauxtivational Poster.
  • This is probably the principle behind Mortasheens mascot, the Chainsaw Kid.
  • In this Muppet web video, a chainsaw is one of the "utensils" the Swedish Chef pulls from hammerspace for carving sapient pumpkins.
  • In Chapter 18 of Shinji And Warhammer 40 K, NNHIS shows off several mods for the Evas to the pilots and team, among them the IN HIS Name Prog Chainsword and IN HIS Name Mighty Chainaxe.
  • The hyper-novel Sixgun features Abe Lincoln in a chainsaw fencing match. This is not nearly the weirdest thing going on.
  • Version three of Survival of the Fittest had a chainsaw in it, which was used to carve up a student in one particularly gruesome scene, but subsequently abandoned.
    • Version four featured one as well, which ultimately eviscerated the same character who had initially been attempting to wield it.
  • Two Saiyans Play: In his playthough of Bro Force, Vegeta's third favourite character seems to be "Chainsaw Hand Guy".
    Hey. Are you guys prepared? Because, I don't think that you were sufficiently warned. 'Cause, uh, today there is a, uh, high chance, probably about a 50 to 80% chance, OF CHAINSAAAAAAAAW! YA-HAHA!
  • Axe-Crazy Serial Killer characters in 7-Second Riddles are often depicted as holding giant, bloody chainsaws.

    Western Animation 
  • Played with in American Dad!. Francine has a dream sequence in which Stan threatens her with various objects. At first (or possibly second), he chooses a chainsaw. He changes his mind, walks offscreen, then comes back holding a leopard. Apparently having decided this is not threatening enough, he repeats the act, this time returning with a leopard holding a chainsaw.
  • In The Batman, Batman wields chainsaw tonfas at one point to fight Poison Ivy's plant monsters.
  • Beast Wars' Dinobot has an angular 'sword' that rotates. It's functionally a chainsaw sword, as proven when he used it to cut Inferno from shoulder down to mid chest. Sparks could be seen flying as the sword gradually cut deeper and deeper into Inferno's body!
  • The Beavis and Butt-Head episode "Die Fly Die" has Beavis trying to kill a fly with what appears to be a hedge trimmer rather than a chainsaw.
  • In an episode of Codename: Kids Next Door, The Delightful Children From Down The Lane have a mecha that wields flaming chainsaws.
  • In The Crumpets, chainsaws are a recurring prop and weapon, like the one(s) wield by Granny for violent use.
  • Darkwing Duck: Negaduck uses a variety of chainsaws, including dual-wielding them and multiblade attachments.
  • DuckTales (2017): In the final fight of "The Duck Knight Returns!", Jim Starling takes up a chainsaw against Drake Mallard. This is an obvious nod to the aforementioned Negaduck, whom Jim ends up becoming in this continuity.
  • In Dexter's Laboratory, while Dexter is picturing Dee Dee destroying his lab in "The Old Switcher-rooms", the first Imagine Spot is his sister with a chainsaw.
  • Buzzer, one of the Dreadnoks from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, wields a diamond-toothed chainsaw that allows him to cut through anything, including bank vaults.
  • Ash Williams's wannabe Affectionate Parody Hoss Delgado from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy can turn his hand into a crossbow that shoots FLAMING chainsaws. He also has a chainsaw for a peg-leg in the Underfist movie.
  • In the Hey Arnold! episode "Helga's Parrot", Helga was going to kill the annoying parrot with a chainsaw, but it ends up escaping to Arnold's house when his front door is left open.
  • Mr. Cat and Stumpy from Kaeloo both use chainsaws to destroy everything they can.
  • While it was fairly rarely used, Tanya's signature weapon in Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series is a small chainsaw in her wrist-mounted Omnitool, one of many tools in her armour.
  • Rico, the Ax-Crazy penguin of The Penguins of Madagascar, is capable of vomiting up a fully activated chainsaw. As a symbol of his affection, he uses the chainsaw to make an ice sculpture of...a chainsaw.
    Private: Oh, Rico, "chainsaw" is Your Answer to Everything!
  • The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In the episode "Stray Bullet", the first of numerous weapons Mojo Jojo takes out to destroy the trapped Powerpuff Girls is a chainsaw, which scares them as they struggle to get free from his lair.
  • The intro of Quack Pack has two of the nephews using chainsaws to cut away one clip of Donald and reveal static behind it.
  • ReBoot, in a Shout-Out to Evil Dead, gave the user character a chainsaw hand. It gets ruined when he tries to cut through a piano.
  • In The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", Bart is being stalked by Sideshow Bob and therefore edgy. That night, Homer excitedly bursts into his son's bedroom to show off his brand new Hockey Mask and Chainsaw.
  • South Park: In "Pinkeye", Chef wields dual chainsaws when fighting zombies.
  • In the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "Gift of the Card", the bounty hunter Rasticore Chaosus Disastorvayne wields a chainsaw that can open portals by slashing the air. A Running Gag is that every time he has to start his chainsaw, he has to rev it several times.
  • In Star Wars: Clone Wars, Gennedy Tartovsky joked regarding the offscreen fight with General Grievous that they should put the sound of a chainsaw into the scene. Needless to say, it made it into the scene, and it turns an otherwise terrifying scene into something to laugh about as you wonder where he could have gotten a chainsaw. Hilariously, one of the Jedi waiting on the elevator while this is going on starts frantically hitting the call button faster when he hears it.
  • On SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, the Shredder Missile fired by the Turbokat has its front end pop off in flight, revealing it to be a pair of chainsaws with a rocket booster for thrust.
  • Transformers: Animated: Lockdown's weapon of choice is a chainsaw that his left arm transforms into.

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Video Example(s):

Mike Shadow - Chainsaw

The Chainsaw special has Mike cut through the machine with his chainsaw and then some.

Murderous Rampa...

The Chainsaw

Gigan's Rotatin...

Rachel with the...

Denji vs the Zo...

Final Vengeance

Dr. T'Ana With ...

Primaris Lieute...

Hank finds a ch...

The Cool Wall g...

Catherine

The Hillbilly

Juliet

Alternative Title(s): Chain Sword, Chain Massacre

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Mike Shadow - Chainsaw

The Chainsaw special has Mike cut through the machine with his chainsaw and then some.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (4 votes)

Example of:

Main / ChainsawGood

Media sources:

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Mike Shadow - C...

Murderous Rampa...

The Chainsaw

Gigan's Rotatin...

Rachel with the...

Denji vs the Zo...

Final Vengeance

Dr. T'Ana With ...

Primaris Lieute...

Hank finds a ch...

The Cool Wall g...

Catherine

The Hillbilly

Juliet