Good Old Fisticuffs: Difference between revisions

 

See [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]] and [[Combat Pragmatist]]. If the hero (or the villain) is a threat not because of technique but innate [[The Gift|Gifts]] like [[Made of Iron|unnatural damage-soaking abilities]], he is probably [[Unskilled but Strong]].

 

== Advertising ==

* There's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFdBK4gdYcA a commercial for Heineken Light] where a gent with a handlebar mustache engages in an "old-timey boxing match."

* Sure, Monkey D. Luffy from ''[[One Piece]]'' trained all right, but so far his official training was only shown to be survival training and endurance- Garp was never shown teaching him any hand-to-hand combat. Luffy apparently got strong from brawls with his two older brothers and his [[Rubber Man]] powers he obtained in early childhood gave him durability. But, it's implied by [[Word of God|Oda]] that the only technique he worked on as a child was the [[Rocket Punch|Gum Gum Pistol]], (although a recent anime filler showed him practicing his Fuusen technique, too) and confirmed by [[Word of God]] that he doesn't train, but comes up with attacks on the spot; his most commonly used ones involving the ol' fists.

** He also plays the trope pretty straight, beating highly trained Martial artists who have been taught several different and deadly techniques since a young age ([[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the very first Gum Gum Jet Bazooka and Gum Gum Jet Gatling, anyone?]]). And in Rob Lucci's defeat with the Jet Gatling, it was even because Luffy had more heart and determination than him. Also, as a child, he lived with bandits and played in a Trash Mountain, and eating or getting money meant beating/killing animals and thugs or being beaten/killed.

* From the prologue of ''[[All Rounder Meguru]]'': "The truth is, experienced fighting will beat out half assed karate any time, especially when the other guys are older." Even after the timeskip, Takashi gets his ass kicked by an ex-boxer bodyguard.

* This trope shows up in, of all places, ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''. In an anime all about glorifying ages-old (fictional) martial arts schools with legendary histories, Juza uses a completely made-up-himself style that allows him to fight [[Big Bad|Raoh]] on a nearly equal basis. Sure, he also has [[Charles Atlas Superpower]]s, but almost everyone and their dog has that in the ''Fist of the North Star''-verse.

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Discworld]]'':

* In [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''Mason & Dixon'', Mason is [[Your Worst Nightmare|menaced in his nightmares]] by a [[Knife Nut]]. After being councelled in the matter by a Malay medicine man, he defeats his dream-foe through the Gloucestershire tradition of kicking him in the shins.

* Played straight in the ''Dunk & Egg'' tales (prequels to the main story of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''). Dunk is only a fair swordsman, but he is also quite tall, strong, and an experienced streetfighter. When a more skilled swordsman gets the better of him, he tends to grab hold of him and start tossing him around like a ragdoll.

* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' recently gained the Street Justice powerset, which is all about this kind of fighting, as opposed to Martial Arts. Both sets have their strengths over the other.

* [[Asura's Wrath|Asura's]] main Ffighting style is all about this.

 

== Web Comics ==