Unskilled but Strong: Difference between revisions

[[File:Trope_-_Unskilled_But_Strong_2_6669.jpg|link=Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|frame|Are you really going to criticize his poor form?]]

 

 

 

A character who is [[Unskilled but Strong]] lacks the refined technique of formal training, but compensates in various ways through raw power. They may [[Made of Iron|eat anti-tank missiles the way a glutton goes through an all-you-can-eat buffet.]] They may be [[Super Strength|so strong they kick tanks around like footballs]] or [[More Dakka|have the firepower to crush the US, China and Russia in a conventional conflict.]] They may [[Super Speed|make a Bugatti Veyron look slow]] or [[Super Reflexes|waltz through a]] [[Dodge the Bullet|point-blank crossfire of]] [[Gatling Good|Gatlings]] with ease that makes [[The Matrix|an Agent]] envious. They may have won the [[Superpower Lottery]]. However it is, they are [[The Gift|so very naturally talented]] they don't ''need'' skill. They tend to have the attitude that if brute force doesn't work, [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|it's just because]] they [[Gonna Need More Trope|didn't use enough of it.]]

 

== Anime & Manga ==

** It's worth noting that while his fighting skills are unrefined, which he does improve throughout the series, the ways that he's found to use his skills even from fairly early on can be incredibly clever and are usually the cause of his victories.

** While some consider his improvement over the timeskip an [[Informed Ability]], he begins using his jutsus more intelligently, largely outgrowing the use of rushing enemies with dozens of clones, in favor of more creative uses, such as creating one to redirect himself in the air. As such, while he had used powerful jutsus to compensate for lack of skill earlier, he now can use said powerful jutsus to their full potentials, being easily a Jonin- or Kage-level ninja ([[Almighty Janitor|but still a Genin in rank]]).

* Many young heroes in the ''[[Gundam]]'' series are notably less skilled than their more experienced [[Ace Pilot]] adversaries, but manage to survive due to [[Falling Into the Cockpit]] of a [[Super Prototype]]. Generally, though, they survive enough battles through the series to become experienced and an ace in their own right.

** In a specific example, in [[Mobile Suit Gundam|the original series]], Amuro Ray (who's been piloting the Gundam for roughly a month and a half at this point) manages to defeat Ramba Ral, a veteran soldier who's been piloting a mobile suit since they were first introduced to the battlefield four years ago. Ral praises Amuro, but tells him not to get cocky, since it was the Gundam's power and not his own skill that won the day; Amuro just calls him a [[Sore Loser]].

** A shadowy figure in the Yomi base hints that Berserker may be coming back, although without the "unskilled" part.

* Similarly, Bunshichi Tawara in ''[[Tenjho Tenge]]'' is reported to be entirely self-taught, but was able to defeat a powered up Shin Natsume in a fight.

** Wonderweiss is so fast and strong that he can take on [[Badass Grandpa|Yamamoto]]. The old man complements his power, but quickly reveals that his vastly superior skill and experience is more than enough to turn the tide.

** Yammy is practically brute force incarnate: strong enough to casually break people to pieces. He's also incredibly stupid and arrogant, with no strategy besides attacking head-on. Urahara, and later Kenpachi and Byakuya, wipe the floor with him.

** To expand, Freeza had spent so much time toying with opponents far weaker that he never learned how to stand up in a protracted battle against someone of equal strength. Once raw power was proven not to be enough, it was only a matter of time before the more highly trained (and now more powerful) Goku defeated him.

** This was also Piccolo's reasoning for training Gohan after witnessing Gohan's hidden power first hand against Radditz.

* Yoshimori is this way in ''[[Kekkaishi]]'', although he's improving, in contrast to his [[Weak but Skilled]] counterpart, Tokine.

* The title character of ''[[Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has a lot of raw power, but her technique isn't quite up to the task at the very beginning. Later on though, she trains and refines her technique so immensely that it almost becomes an inversion. She learns ''fast'' and she does it ''good''.

** Applies to Fate to some degree, too, as Precia had Linith skip over certain aspects of her training while teaching her how to fight in order to get her ready to search for the Jewel Seeds soon enough. While observing Fate and Nanoha's battle in Episode 7, [[Weak but Skilled|Chrono]] notes that both of them are mainly throwing around powerful attacks with less regard to using the best one for the situation.

** Subverted and played straight with Brian Hawk. It is the very lack of skillfull boxing that makes him so incredibly dangerous. He doesn't have the limits of the textbook boxing techniques and, combined with naturally insane power, speed and reflexes, becomed completely unpredictable. His fighting style is even described by his trainer as not being boxing but "simply violence." Takamura spends the first half of their fight trying to prove that boxing skill ''is'' of use. It is eventually played straight when Hawks trainer learns how very superior Takamura is through having learned the proper technique and how much of a backbone Brian Hawk lacks because of his lack of proper training.

* The eponymous girls in ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'' are theoretically some of the most powerful people in existence, but as otherwise ordinary ten-year-old girls their lack of training and experience means they sometimes struggle against [[Weak but Skilled]] opponents.

* Luffy's victory over Boa Sandersonia and Boa Marigold in ''[[One Piece]]'' falls into this. The sisters' mastery of [[Ki Attacks|Haki]] allows them to predict Luffy's movements and deflect his attack. Once Luffy goes into his Gear 2nd power-up, however he's able to move so fast that predicting him is useless and his attacks are powerful enough to overwhelm any attempt to block.

** In addition, Luffy doesn't really have any "training" in his fighting style, he is just extremely creative with his rubber powers and makes up techniques on the spot.

* Hanamichi Sakuragi from ''[[Slam Dunk]]'' is incredibly tall for his early age and has huge physical strength as well as almost animalistic reflexes and jump abilities, but his raw power is paired with a complete lack of experience skill. Therefore he gets stuck by the sidelines in the first part of the series, and has to go through [[Training From Hell]] to compensate.

** Hitoshi Morishige is a similar, yet less extreme case. He has already gone through the training and it shows when we see him play, but is still very rough around the edges. I.e: he's seen performing an excellent slam dunk, but then gets scolded by the referee for knocking two opponents down while at it.

* Kouichi in ''[[Kurogane no Linebarrel]]'' is this [[Character Development|at first]]; most of his early victories are entirely due to Linebarrel being a [[Lightning Bruiser]], and he causes extreme amounts of collateral damage from inexperience. [[Weak but Skilled|Reiji]] points all of this out when ''he hands Kouichi his ass'' in the fourth episode of the anime.

* Yoshika from ''[[Strike Witches]]'' starts out as one of these, selected by Mio for her immense raw power. Her inability to focus her power causes problems early on.

* Sanosuke from ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' definitely fits this trope. Unlike many of the characters in the series, his fighting abilities were derived from being a fighter-for-hire. He lacks any formal fighting style other than [[Good Old Fisticuffs]], making up for it in raw power and being [[Made of Iron]]. This is deconstructed in a fight with Saito; He proves to be just as powerful as Sanosuke if not more so, but has learned basic skills like defense. This allows him to pummel Sano with ease while avoiding damage.

** To a degree, Shishio's [[The Dragon|Dragon]] Soujirou is this. He's stated to have talent that at the very least, equals Kenshin. However, his strategy basically boils down to relying on his superior speed to overwhelm Kenshin.

** Envy gets a lot of mileage out of its shapeshifting abilities and {{spoiler|its [[One-Winged Angel]] Form}}, but it possesses poor hand-to-hand fighting skills. {{spoiler|This is taken advantage of very liberally by the Xingese fighters, who are not only skilled at hand-to-hand but also have the ability to detect homunculi, rendering Envy's shape-shifting moot.}}

** Gluttony possesses decent physical strength {{spoiler|and an ability to fire a giant beam which sucks up everything it touches}}, but spends most of his time getting pounded on by the heroes.

** Pride relies pretty much on {{spoiler|his endless mass of shadow tentacles}}, but they're all he really needs to be one of the most dangerous villains.

** On the heroic side, {{spoiler|Van Hohenheim}}, despite being one of the strongest characters in terms of raw power, admits to not being much of a fighter, a description which also applies to the [[Big Bad]] himself.

* The main character of ''[[Psyren]]'' Yoshina Ageha starts out this way, being less skilled than fellow newbie Hiryu. This is justified by his incredibly powerful yet unstable PSI Melchese Door relying more on emotion. Though he quickly has to overcome it due to the toll it takes on his mind.

* Munakata Kei from ''[[Medaka Box]]'' possesses a [[Hyperspace Arsenal]] of a whole variety of weapons(katana, grenades, guns, hammers). However, he lacks any actual skill at handling his weapons, and tosses aside any that don't finish the job. Zenkichi manages to counter almost all his weapons because of this, though is severely tired by the process.

* Suzaku in ''[[Code Geass]]''. He's had combat training his entire life, so on foot he doesn't apply. In a Knightmare, however, he's a complete newbie whose natural abilities and advanced Knightmare allow him to dominate most opponents. This is most obvious when he faces off against Kallen, who is both skilled and strong. Suzaku only ever wins against her when he has a distinct advantage (or when luck intervenes).

 

** [[Word of God]] indicates that Peter was in fact ''very'' skilled at using his powers and at fighting, especially towards the latter half of his career. It's specified that his successor Miles Morales is drawn much clumsier in order to contrast the two.

* While [[Irredeemable|The Plutonian]] often shows himself to be very intelligent and more then able to outwit his foes, when finally forced into combat with someone on his level of power he gets his ass kicked as he never needed to learn to fight.

* The vampire Cassidy from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]''. He's shown ripping people apart for most of the series but in the final arc Jesse is able to [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomp]] him because, as he puts it, he's so strong he never had to learn how to fight.

* ''[[The Mighty]]'' has Alpha One who wasn't used to fighting others with his power level and just used his power.

* At a party thrown by the Superhomeys in ''[[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]'', Ninjette redirects Captain Havoc's super-strength punch with martial arts, and throws him to the floor. Offscreen sound effects and dialog indicate she does it several more times, to the amusement of the other heroes.

 

 

== Fan Works ==

 

 

== Film ==

* Mongo in ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' is a bit slow, but can take out a horse in one punch.

* Obadiah Stane from ''[[Iron Man]]''. His Iron Monger armor is a bipedal tank, but he is dependent on his engineers to help him keep up with Tony.

* [[A Knight's Tale|Count Adhemar]]: "No style whatsoever... neither has an anvil."

* The Titans from the ''[[Death Gate Cycle]]'' - huge golems created by the Sartans in the World of Fire to serve as simple workers. The Sartans gave them access to the most basic level of magic, in order to help with their work - the kind of spells a 4-years-old Sartan child could weave. But they made the mistake of granting them enormous, primal power to back it up with. Thus, when the titans inevitably got [[Turned Against Their Masters]], they proved to be quite dangerous to the [[Weak but Skilled]] Spartans. (Oh yeah, and they're huge, [[Nigh Invulnerable]] giants, so there's that too.)

* In a weird way, [[Harry Potter]]. He has the raw power to produce a solid, stable patronus at 13, and is able to access a fairly large reservoir of magical power (enough to face down Death Eaters and Voldemort when he's 17). However, he is continuously outclassed by Hermione, who is incredibly skilled, and any other wizard or witch who doesn't just rely on raw power for their magic.

** Really, the only reason he's alive is that [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape|other vampires aren't allowed to kill him]], and every other threat is either too focussed on the main characters or simply considers him beneath their notice.

** Admittedly, that's only in his human form, in his actual vampire form he's a lot stronger and faster, and seemingly immune to pain, and would have {{spoiler|killed Valkyrie and Fletcher if he hadn't [[It Makes Sense in Context|fallen off that pier]].}}

* The blonde giant in ''[[The Millennium Trilogy]]'' is freakishly strong and literally feels no pain, but he's a really terrible boxer. He never learned to fight properly because he didn't care about getting hit.

* This is how Vin starts off with her powers as a Mistborn in [[Mistborn|the heroic fantasy series of the same name]]. Under the tutelage of Kelsier, she undergoes [[Boxing Lessons for Superman]] and [[Takes a Level In Badass]] in the process. Possibly subverted, however, in that it rapidly becomes apparent that a Mistborn without some amount of proper training isn't that strong at all.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** Glorificus/Glory, a powerful yet bratty [[Physical God]] that could tear apart buildings with her bare hands, but when Buffy used a weapon that could actually hurt her she was swiftly trashed.

** In the 6th season the otherwise physically unremarkable Warren Mears temporarily became this thanks to some [[Applied Phlebotinum]]. In a fight with Buffy the far more skilled Slayer got in several punches and kicks to every blow Warren landed on her - but while he shrugged off her hits almost at once Buffy felt every one of his and was visibly tiring before she was able to destroy the source of his power.

** Caleb from Season 7, as well as the Turok-Han (prior to the finale induced [[Villain Decay]]). Punch-for-Punch, Buffy is noticeably outclassed by both, serving as a potent reminder about the overconfidence the Slayer Strength may bring.

 

 

* A metafictional example of this is present in almost all video games with [[Character Level|level-up systems]]. Endgame will have some [[Smash Mook|Smash Mooks]] that, [[Statistically Speaking]], could probably destroy a planet with a well placed punch due to their STR and may have [[Marathon Boss|a lot of HP]]...but they have no techniques other than variations on "hit the heroes", and AI scripts that border on [[Artificial Stupidity]] at best, thus: [[Unskilled but Strong]].

* Computer controlled opponents in general are difficult to program, and are often made [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|stronger]] and [[Computers Are Fast|faster]]<ref>In terms of raw speed, rather than finesse</ref> to compensate for their tactical shortcomings.

* Marisa Kirisame of ''[[Touhou]]'' is perplexingly both [[Unskilled but Strong]] ''and'' [[Weak but Skilled]]. She lacks any inherent abilities and can only fight as well as she does by [[Badass Bookworm|studying really hard]], but 90% of that study is purely towards making bigger explosions, lacking the finesse and control of other Magicians (most notably Patchouli) and relying on [[Wave Motion Gun|Master Spark]]ing her opponents into oblivion.

** A straighter example is Utsuho. Not really brought up in the text, but very apparent in the fight (while Marisa [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|fights more or less the same way as everyone else]]). ''Subterranean Animism'' consists almost entirely of gimmick patterns. Except for Utsuho. Her patterns are quite straightforward, making up for that by way of having the largest bullets in the series, and spamming them. Furthermore, while most stage 6 bosses are all about variety, Utsuho sticks with what she does best, not even changing up her nonspells.

* [[The Brute|Flak]] and [[AI Is a Crapshoot|Jugger]] from the GBA [[Advance Wars]] games. Because this is a strategy game, [[A Commander Is You]] renders their units as [[Glass Cannon|Glass Cannons]], increasing their offense while hurting their defense.

* The Heavy Handed Trait in ''[[Fallout]]'' gives you more unarmed damage, but lower critical hit damage. Worth noting is that the Fallout universe correlates critical hits with finesse.

** Likewise, the Gifted Trait increases all of your primary stats while reducing both your skill levels and the rate that they improve.

* While not superpowered, dancers and yoga instructors in ''[[Liberal Crime Squad]]'' have the highest physical stats of all professions, even surpassing soldiers and [[The Men in Black|agents]]. They tend to not have any combat skill.

* ''[[Tekken]]'' gives us Miguel Caballero Rojo, a Spaniard who enters a world fighting tournament with nothing but the ability to swing his legs around and throw haymaker punches as his only training. No one should dare underestimate him.

** Bowser is this in the Mario & Luigi [[RPG|RPGs]]. The only attacks he knows is punch things really hard, breathe fire and punch things even harder. He's good at directing his minions, though.

* ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' gives us [[Little Bit Beastly|Makoto]] [[Good Old Fisticuffs|Nanaya]], whose main form of combat involves just mostly punching people, with some [[Energy Ball]] dropping to go and some [[Doppelganger Spin]]. In-story, her Ars Magus aptitude is average, meaning that utility ars and aforementioned [[Energy Ball]] are her everyday techniques. That's the "Unskilled". She's "Strong" on the part that due to beastkin heritage, she has ''monstrous'' strength and durability (11K health when 13K is the highest on normal). So, her punches CAN [[Punched Across the Room|knock her target across the room]], [[Intimidation Demonstration|make one huge impact crater on the go]], and [[Effortless Amazonian Lift|she can just lift her friend just fine on a dead sprint]]. And thanks to that, she's counted as one of the most powerful characters in the game.

 

== Webcomics ==

** Grace herself falls into this, as well, as she defeats Damien solely because of her [[Berserk Button]]. This has since been [[Lampshaded]], and Grace has agreed to start [[Boxing Lessons for Superman|martial arts training.]]

** It's also worth noting that Xykon is also ''dangerously'' clever and full of nasty tricks. That [[Unskilled but Strong]] behavior isn't actually a lack of skill, it's Xykon being ''lazy''.

* Fighter in ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'' is an absolute savant in swordplay, but it mostly comes from innate talent which he never bothered to improve upon. A personification of Sloth tries to get Fighter to realize the folly in this and rely as much on his mind as on his skill. Fighter kills Sloth with his swords because his brain told him that'd be faster.

 

== Web Original ==

{{quote| "OH GOD! Is this pain?! I think this is what pain feels like! MOMMY! SOMEONE MATERNAL!"}}

* Chair from [[Nerdy Show]]'s Dungeons & Doritos. Justified in that he was a chair [[A Wizard Did It|turned]] into a dwarf a few weeks ago. That and his player tends to [[Critical Hit|roll high]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* Bamm-Bamm in ''[[The Flintstones]]''.

** It turns out that Megan's psychic powers are the same way, after {{spoiler|she accidentally causes a psychic simulation to go awry, ultimately putting the rest of the team into a coma}}. [[Martian Manhunter|J'onn]] speculates that she could be one of the most powerful Martian psychics ever.

{{quote| '''Aquaman''': You did it! You defeated him!<br />

'''Green Lantern''': Zy-Kree had forgotten one thing: his power equaled yours, but your skill was superior. }}

** Played straight with Ozai, Katara and Toph, who are all pretty much helpless without their powers, especially Toph; who is one of the most dangerous people in the world with her Earthbending, and a blind little girl without it

** Subverted with Aang, Zuko, Azula and Iroh, each of whom has recieved or given themselves [[Boxing Lessons for Superman|additional training]], and can at least hold their own without using their bending.

{{quote| '''Katara:''' She's strong. <br />

'''Other Master:''' She lacks restraint. }}

 

{{reflist}}