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Some thrown weapons are reusable, like WP Net if you have a rope tied to the net. I'm not sure if it's covered anywhere but I think whalers also sometimes tie ropes to harpoons, I figure it might be possible to do something like that with spears to get weapons back if you throw them. Feasibly anything, really, though getting a properly secured knot could be tough. Then you have things like WP Grappling Hook which are effectively the same thing since, thrown or swung, they give a reusable ranged attack to some degree.

Then you have things like cosmic weapons or various tattoo or magic-enchanted or rune weapons which return when thrown, a total nuisance.

What I'm wondering is... if instead of using a parry to merely deflect these thrown attacks, could you roll entangle vs them? If so, wouldn't that prevent the weapon from being used?

In the case of things tethered by a rope the person wouldn't exactly be disarmed, but like entangling a melee weapon I figure it would effectively prevent them from using it and encourage them to let go and draw different weapon instead. For non-tethered they effectively disarm themselves upon throwing the weapon anyway so they just don't get it back?

When situations like this come up I'd find it helpful if Palladium could release some online/Rifter Errata telling us the effective PS a weapon pulls with when tries to return to its thrower.

In the case of tethered weapons I figure, as opposed to dodging to escape an entangle (always found that odd) I think there should be rules on using PS contests to overpower an entangle. Something about a PS5 Gnome being able to keep a PS60 Herakles or whatever from attacking seems odd. Entangle should allow weaker guys an advantage over stronger ones to some degree... but maybe something like for every 5 points of PS above the entangler, the escaper gets a +1 to their dodge roll to wriggle out? Same (perhaps better) if a weapon is entangled since then you could more efficiently tug on the rope. Even if an entangled thrown weapon can't be pulled free, you should be able to perhaps knockdown/flip the entangler if they're a lot weaker or lighter, right?

From Ninjas and Superspies Revised, Nightbane, Dead Reign, Chaos Earth, Rifts Main Book, and Rifts: Ultimate Edition:

Entangle: A defender can attempt to trap the weapon or arm of an attacker. This is done instead of parrying or dodging, and takes up one attack per melee. An entangle is successful if the defender rolls above the attacker's strike roll. It takes one attack and a roll to entangle to keep an opponent's arm or weapon entangled every melee round. In order to get free, the entangled opponent must roll a dodge against the entangle roll.

From Robotech Shadow Chronicles:

Entangle: A move to trap the weapon or arm of an attacker. This is done instead of parrying or dodging, and takes one melee attack. Roll to strike (or parry if a defensive move) as usual. A successful roll means the opponent's arm is entangled and cannot be used to attack anyone. As long as the character works to keep an opponent's arm or weapon entangled it remains tied up. The entangled victim must roll the equivalent of a successful dodge to break free. Each attempt to break an entanglement counts as one melee attack. Both the entangled and entangler roll 1D20, the high roll wins, the entangler wins ties because entangling is a defensive maneuver.

From Palladium Fantasy Second Edition, and Heroes Unlimited Second Edition:

Entangle: Entangle: A defender can attempt to trap the weapon or arm of an attacker. This is done instead of parrying or dodging, and counts as one melee attack/action. An entangle is successful if the defender rolls above the attacker's strike roll. It takes one roll to entangle to keep an opponent's arm or weapon trapped/pinned every melee round. In order to get free, the entangled opponent must roll a dodge against the entangle roll; high roll wins. The character using the entangle move cannot attack without releasing his entangling hold.

Right, but these are obviously based around trapping melee weapons so it's worth considering what happens when you entangle a ranged WP. IT would be pointless to entangle an arrow/bullet but reusable thrown (harpoons, nets, grapple hooks, etc) does seem worthwhile.

In this case rolling a dodge seems strange since you'd basically just be pulling on the rope in interesting ways to try and get them to let go. It's different conceptually from squirming out of someone's grasp if they arm-pit your forearm.