#fighting styles

With the chapter of Ambush Simulation coming out soon, I wanted to talk a little bit about how Ambush Sim Touya fights in comparison to his canon self.

His technique is geared more toward quick, precision attacks rather than overwhelming fire. And once again proving that I never really left the Castlevania fandom, this fighting style was largely inspired by another character.

Trigger warning for gifs and flashing lights below.

When I was just starting to get back into the MHA fandom, I was coming out of Castlevania, so in protagonist vs antagonist fire-user fashion, I ended up considering the question: Who would win in a fight between Sypha Belnades and Dabi?

And there really wasn't much thought put into it before I realized, "It's Sypha. No contest."

...

One of the key differences that Sypha Belnades brings to the table is that even though her abilities are magic, not superpowers, she doesn't use fire the same way Endeavor, Shouto, and Dabi use fire. All three of the Todoroki guys rely on techniques that mostly involve blasting their enemies with tremendous heat and as much output as they can manage without overheating themselves. This is what marks them as the heavy-hitters on both the protagonist and antagonist sides of the conflict.

No shade to MHA, but Castlevania was a bit more creative (closer to firebending in ATLA but unique in its own way) when it came to fire manipulation.

Even though Sypha doesn't have Dabi's drawback of burning herself, she still uses her flames in moderate but effective outbursts. It's not explicitly pointed out in Castlevania, but we do get to to see her progress of improving her abilities and fighting styles over the four seasons. Instead of overwhelming power, Sypha focuses on strategic attacks and has an expert level of control over her magic, able to alternate back and forth between small-scale attacks to all-encompassing onslaughts with relative ease.

She also has an advantage of being able to control fire that she herself didn't make. As in, usurping someone else's flames, so she definitely has the ability to burn Shouto, Dabi, and Endeavor alive with their own fire. She burns a fire-breathing demon from the inside out using its own fire. Super OP as far as the MHA parameters of superpowers are concerned.

...

In Ambush Simulation, Sypha actually cameos as a Pro Hero from Romania. (Canonically, she's from the Iberian Peninsula, but most of her story takes place in Wallachia, now modern day Romania.) She's been mentioned at least once in the narrative.

Touya raised his eyes to the shelves above his desk, sweeping over his books, past the jade monkeys his students had given him, past the figurine of Belnades that Fuyumi had given him for his twenty-first birthday, and the polar bear plushie that sat on the top shelf gathering dust.

Dabi picked up some of her techniques from watching videos of her fight as opposed to solely relying on his father's methods, so rather than the wanton destructive flames he uses exclusively in canon, he fights more like this in Ambush Simulation:

And yes, she also uses ice, so Shouto would definitely have something to learn from her style, too.

Also, I just really...

Really...

Really...

Even just once...

Disclaimer: this is JUST from watching their 1v1 fight in the 3rd Deadpool movie but I feel like it was the best one to get a really close look while they fought each other.

Wade: super light on his feet, quick and reactive; also tends to throw the first punch. Prefers his guns over his swords in the beginning of fights, but is proficient with both. Is constantly predicting his opponent’s next move. Very skilled avoidance technique while also striking any weak points he spots. Not afraid to fight dirty.

Any one of them theoretically would have a chance of winning, especially if you tossed them into a room and just said “fight”. Battles are tapestries woven of moves and countermoves; a single action taken by one of the boys could unravel any chance of them winning, but the correct sequence of events could assure their victory.

Each of them do have their strengths and weaknesses, though, which make some outcomes more likely than others.

Killer could arguably be labelled the strongest. Give him a knife and he has the highest possible ATK out of the four, and his magical attacks are nothing to underestimate either. He is also the most versatile of the bunch. Typically, he prefers close-range combat with his knives, overwhelming opponents by shortcutting around them and slowly wearing them down. Battles are ridiculously fun for him; at times, he gets so lost in them he forgets everything else, including to utilize his other magical attacks. This may create a short opening to catch him off guard, but it also makes wearing Killer down a nonstarter.

When Killer does add his blasters and bone attacks, bolstered by his high LV and excess of magic, it becomes obvious why Nightmare refers to him as his General. 

Anyone fighting him can only hope he forgets to use them and slips up; otherwise, things won’t end well for them. Throw him into a room with the other three, and he’s most likely to win.

Ben 10 is motivated to heroics primarily by his dislike of bullies, though it can sometimes be masked by his love of the limelight. he sees his opponents as bullies, picking on people who can't defend themselves in order to make themselves feel more powerful. in fact, almost all of his major villains fall into this category, including Vilgax, Kevin 11 (before redemption), Hex, Charmcaster, the Highbreed, and Agreggor. When Ben approaches combat, he approaches it as someone intervening in a schoolyard fight. He gets in between the aggressor and the victim, transforms into one of his more intimidating aliens even if it isn't the right one for the job, squares his soldiers, looks his enemy in the eyes, and demands that they redirect their aggression. He even uses phrases like "why don't you pick on someone your own size". He doesn't usually harbor any real ill will toward his opponent, but he wants them to stop what they're doing immediately.

The story of Ben 10 is the story of a kid who got bullied through much of his childhood, who suddenly gained the power to stand up to the bullies for the sake of other kids, and adults as the case may be.

Rex's approach to combat is a bit more complex, because he basically has 2 varieties of enemies, and thus 2 "modes"; hero mode and soldier mode.

The majority of Rex's opponents are EVOs. These are normal, regular innocent people who have become monsters through no fault of their own. To Rex they aren't bullies, they aren't even enemies; they are just innocent, sick, scared, and extremely dangerous people. Rex wants to help them, and indeed he really is the only one who CAN. But he can't let them hurt anyone else. Rex is also very conscious of his position, the fact that to so many people he represents hope of getting out of this dark time. When dealing with most of his foes, Rex first aims a blow at his target to knock them back and hopefully stun them, and then if there are any people in immediate danger he checks in on them quickly to see if they are OK. He might try to get them out of the area before engaging, or he might delegate that task to a nearby providence agent or less powerful hero as the case may be, but he usually checks regardless.

If he is convinced that everyone around him is at a safe distance, the show begins. He turns his cockyness and snark up to 11 and begins making aggressive, annoying moves to try to focus his opponents aggression on him. He projects confidence to everyone who can see him, to assure them that yes, he has everything under control, and everything will be fine so long as they follow his instructions. He carefully gauges how much punishment his opponent can take and only uses that much to take them down, even if it extends the fight. He will try to stun his opponent and cure them if possible, and if not he will hold them off long enough for Providence to come in and contain them.

By dramatic contrast, his other opponents are typically not just villains, but actual irredeemable psychopaths, the kinds who will maim, torture, or kill if it suits their purposes, or even just because it amuses them. In this case, as soon as Rex realizes what kind of opponent he is facing he switches "modes" almost instantly. He will immediately try to lure his opponent as far away from a populated area as possible, and if that isn't possible he will task providence agents or minor heroes to move everyone out as fast as possible. Then he fully switches to soldier mode. When in this mode, Rex's goal is to take his opponent down fast and hard, using lethal methods if necessary. Every second his opponent remains standing is an opportunity for that opponent to kill someone, so he has to take them down without hesitation. Just look at the difference in how Rex treats everyday EVOs compared to how he treats his main antagonists, like Van Kleiss or Quarry. He goes straight for the kill, sometimes without even saying anything if the opportunity presents itself. This is the result of his paramilitary background and painful experience.

Starting off with Danny, I see his fighting style as very traditional seeing as he is the only one who actually trained for several years in K’un Lun to become The Immortal Iron Fist. To me Danny strikes a balance between being firm, but also flexible when fighting. Once you're fighting him neither of you is leaving till one of you can’t fight anymore, but he also has a sort of agileness to his fighting style. Probably from being The Heroes for Hire with Luke so many years, since Danny is sort of the “unstoppable force” to Luke’s “immovable object” 

Next up is the often forgotten runner up Pei. Her fighting style is a bit like Danny’s seeing as she was mainly trained by him, but when she fights she is more acrobatic and moves around a lot more making her a harder target to hit. When I think of Pei’s fighting style I think “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. She is fast and agile, but when she hits you she hits you hard. She may even have picked up a few of Jessica and Luke’s fighting mannerisms seeing as they had custody of her for a bit, leaning all the more into the fact that if she wants to hit you hard, she will hit you hard. 

Icarus with their trident, fighting style reliant on speed and agility, vs Centross with his scythe, reliant on brute force and skill. They cover each other's weaknesses and rely on each other's strengths.

Think about it. Icarus takes off to recover, and Centross gets to just destroy a swath of enemies, which clears the battlefield for Icarus to land. Icarus being able to target anyone who escapes Centross' notices, watching his 6. Even the trident v scythe - tridents are used to catch and control, rarely to actually strike the killing blow, but scythes are excellent against restrained opponents.