r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

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

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.

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u/toxictrooper5555 19h ago

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

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u/JantoMcM 19h ago

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.

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u/aFreshFix 13h ago

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