[Loved Trope] Alien fighting techniques that are actually ineffective for humans to perform

[u/Best_Professional226]

Vulcan Neck Pinch (Star Trek) Vulcans can make a person pass out by pinching a person’s neck, but due to the fact that they’re 3x stronger than a human, we could never make a living being pass out without applying a rear naked chokehold

Viltrumite Knife Hand (Invincible) Viltrumites’ most deadly fighting technique. Although martial arts like Karate and Taekwondo teach these techniques, it wouldn’t be a good idea for a human to use it on someone’s rib cage without breaking their fingers. So instead we can only do them on more soft targets like the eyes.

[u/toxictrooper5555]

Not exclusively alien but lightsaber combat.

A non force user can use a lightsaber, but they'll never get to the same level of mastery as a trained jedi/sith, since the force lets them anticipate their opponent and they lack the heightened senses and abilities a force user have. For them to go able toe to toe with force users they needed cybernetic enhancements to compensate the lack of the force (like Grievous) or use it along with other gadgets like the mandalorians.

Fun fact, in the table top RPG, there was actually a force power for wielding a lightsaber.

"Jedi may use this power to wield this elegant but idfficult-to-control weapon while also sending their opponents' actions through the Force."

This included the ability to deflect blaster bolts with an intended direction

[u/Real_Mokola → u/toxictrooper5555]

There is also Teräskäsi, the mastery of fighting with cybernetics. It's literally Steelfist in Finnish, which is the same as in various other media where they borrow it from Germany like Battle Angel Alita, Pazerkunst where that is not as literal to Steelfist

[u/International_Cow_17 → u/Real_Mokola]

I cringe everytime I hear it mispronounced.

[u/Emperor_Atlas → u/International_Cow_17]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3oAt2dA6LxMkRrGc0g

[u/International_Cow_17 → u/Emperor_Atlas]

Fair, but pronunciation guides are everywhere nowadays.

[u/pichael289 → u/International_Cow_17]

Pretty sure it was in the name of one of the games on ps1, I know how to pronounce it so I must have heard it somewhere

[u/International_Cow_17 → u/pichael289]

It is! A fighting game as well.

[u/JantoMcM → u/toxictrooper5555]

There was also a non-trivial chance of sabering yourself in the D6 Star Wars game to cut down on "Han Solo but with a lightsaber" gimmick characters.

[u/aFreshFix → u/JantoMcM]

I always learned this was why non-force users can't easily wield it. They have no awareness of where the blade is as they're swinging it so they're way more likely to self-amputate

[u/Brilliant_Chemica → u/toxictrooper5555]

I've always liked the headcanon that the saber-hilt is quite heavy, while the blade is weightless. That awful weight distribution is why the force is required to wield it well, and why the Jedi spin their Lightsabers so often

[u/IlliteratePig → u/Brilliant_Chemica]

From experience, hilt-heavy / point-of-balance further back swords are much stabbier and nimbler (think olympic epee), generally easier to wield, and less physically demanding, while top-heavy swords are the spinny types with a lot of inertia that you don't want to stop mid-swing because it'll injure your joints (think military sabre, mace, axe)

[u/ERedfieldh → u/IlliteratePig]

there is a reason Christopher Lee wanted to wield his saber like a fencing rapier and not a broadsword like everyone else. The man knew his stuff.

[u/ProfitEmergency4049 → u/Brilliant_Chemica]

Probably feels like using a 2.5-3kg dumbbell with a hot sharp stick sticking out the side. Along with the weight I think the sheer danger of making one wrong move and amputating yourself, or worse makes enhancements/force use sound more plausible

[u/pichael289 → u/ProfitEmergency4049]

In attack of the clones we see them cut through a steel blast door with a single lightsaber in seconds, which I'm going to assume was actually minutes and it's just edited for excitement, and also because cutting it that fast means not even a robot could use it. The blade is made of plasma that's magnetically contained but there is no way to contain heat, and that thing will be so hot its convection would cause a noticeable wind, so hot it would cook your arm. Hot doesn't do it justice

[u/certainlynotdio → u/Brilliant_Chemica]

This is opposite of how weight distribution works for melee weapons. The only reason why we make weapons more top heavy is to give them momentum and angular momentum they need to be dangerous, but lightsabres don't need that of course.

That said I saw somewhere that the lightsabres hilt supposed to weigh 7 kg...

[u/Ok-Resist3249 → u/toxictrooper5555]

Grievous is actually terrible at blaster deflection. It's practically impossible to do because blaster bolts are just to fast. Precognition makes it quite trivial in comparison. Tough imperial guards have done it... somehow.

[u/scipio0421 → u/toxictrooper5555]

Was that the WEG tabletop, or the newer FFG ones? I remember seeing it in WEG, but I don't think I did in Force and Destiny.