Top 10 X-Fighters...by CBR

[Killerbee911]

Again there is a difference between

A. Absorbing the Spanish language
B. Absorbing the knowledge and experience of a specific Spanish speaker

The first one yeah you know Spanish but if you talk to a native speaker you will learn that areas use different words and pronounce stuff differently. That is the disconnect, Prodigy power works like the second thing.

You don't like how the fiction works that is fine but that is the fiction. They are a ton of things in fiction that does not make sense and we can nitpick all day. This is not reality, If Prodigy powers just gave him skills I would shut up but how Prodigy ability works it gives him the skill AND instruction manual on how to use the skill AND the person tendencies. People want to say he does have enough feats to be on the list. Fine. People want say it is power not really him. Fine. People want to say he will never be used as skill as I am talking about. Fine but the application of his power is how I am describing it and it makes him one of the best fighters in the same way Forge is one of the best inventors at Marvel.

[Ambaryerno]

Again there is a difference between

A. Absorbing the Spanish language
B. Absorbing the knowledge and experience of a specific Spanish speaker

The first one yeah you know Spanish but if you talk to a native speaker you will learn that areas use different words and pronounce stuff differently. That is the disconnect, Prodigy power works like the second thing.

You don't like how the fiction works that is fine but that is the fiction. They are a ton of things in fiction that does not make sense and we can nitpick all day. This is not reality, If Prodigy powers just gave him skills I would shut up but how Prodigy ability works it gives him the skill AND instruction manual on how to use the skill AND the person tendencies. People want to say he does have enough feats to be on the list. Fine. People want say it is power not really him. Fine. People want to say he will never be used as skill as I am talking about. Fine but the application of his power is how I am describing it and it makes him one of the best fighters in the same way Forge is one of the best inventors at Marvel.

All right, let me put it this way:

I study German longsword. The techniques are taught using fencing manuals that are either direct translations of the original manuscripts, or extrapolations from them. However the one thing they have in common is how the material is presented, as each technique is taught through a series of scripted plays. For example, one of the most fundamental techniques in the corpus is the Zornhau (a powerful falling diagonal cut from your strong side designed to strike the opponent while at the same time cutting off his line of attack to protect you). The play works like this:

1. If he attacks you with an oberhau, (also a falling diagonal cut) step towards him diagonally (so you're not quite stepping around him but are moved offline from his attack) and execute a Zornhau targeting his body. This strikes him and places your sword in a position to intercept his attack.
1a. If you don't strike him, at the very least put the strong of your sword (the half closest to the guard) against the weak of his (the half closest to the point) to take the line, and stab him in the face.
2. If he moves to offset your point and take the line out of the bind (when the swords make physical contact) step to the opposite side and Zucken (basically, twitch your point upwards and off his blade so you can strike from the opposite side)
3....

Basically, each step in the full play adds a little more on.

However the YOU WOULD NOT ACTUALLY FIGHT LIKE THIS IN A REAL FIGHT. If I were to try to perform the play by rote in a tournament or duel I would have my ass handed to me. Because the purpose of the plays ISN'T to teach a specific series of techniques to use in a given situation. It's to teach you the PRINCIPLES involved. And those principles and how to apply them can only be learned through repetition and practice, NOT from just reading the book.

Other martial arts are taught the same way: You learn the basic techniques. You practice them in drill (either solo or with a partner). However they are just that: DRILL. It's not a guide on what to actually DO in a fight, but essentially a mnemonic for learning the underlying principles that ALLOWS you to apply them effectively.

So Prodigy having the instruction manual is WORTHLESS without the preexisting training and experience on how to actually fight. All he'd end up doing is repeating the drill by rote, which makes him predictable and gets his ass kicked.

As for knowing the opponent's tendencies...

Just look at what Laura did to Taskmaster. He knew all her moves, and still got his ass kicked because she did what EVERY MARTIAL ARTIST EVER does: Rather than sticking with a canned pattern of attack, she throws a curveball (in this case, popping her foot claw when Tasky blocked her kick).

Using my example above, I have at least a DOZEN options for dealing with that opening oberhau. Maybe instead of Zornhau I use a Schielhau (a falling strike with the reverse edge that ends with the hands at the hips and the point to the opponent's face) to offset his attack for a stab to the face from below instead. Or maybe, especially if I'm standing in a low guard, I might spring in to close the distance and catch his wrists on my edge from below. This intercepts his cut and forces his hands up where I have control. Or maybe I simply void the attack altogether, leaping back to clear his point and springing back in with a counter. Among many, MANY other options.

A trained martial artist DOESN'T HAVE TENDENCIES to take advantage of, because they have MULTIPLE means of dealing with you and can naturally slip between them. Yes, you can try to PREDICT what your opponent will do, but if you rely on ONLY that you're going to get your face slammed into the pavement by an opponent who makes FULL use of the art rather than following a rote set of plays (incidentally, this is one reason why Cass' body reading is actually a pretty worthless power).

And I'm talking about this from the perspective of a martial artist who DOES know my opponent's techniques and moves (whether it's Ringeck, Danzig, Meyer, or Talhoffer, the German schools of longsword are all based on largely the same principles. And honestly the techniques aren't all THAT different from the Italians).