Basic Trope: The protagonist fights with their hands instead of a weapon.
- Straight: Hiro is a Messianic Archetype and a Bare-Fisted Monk; Emperor Evulz is a Complete Monster who attacks people with every weapon he can get his hands on.
- Exaggerated: Every good-aligned character in the series fights with their bare hands, while every evil character is a Walking Armoury.
- Downplayed: Hiro is willing to use weapons when he needs to, but always prefers to use his fists and never carries weapons on his person; Evulz is willing to fight barehanded, but he's a Combat Pragmatist who is always looking for a way to outgun his foes.
- Justified: Hiro's Powers Do the Fighting and he shall not kill, so guns are both redundant and counter-intuitive for him, not to mention he Does Not Like Guns; Evulz is literally evil because of his Evil Weapon, which has corrupted him into violent madness.
- Inverted: Hiro's the Good Cop who's never without his pistol; Evulz is a psychotic killer who takes glee in tearing people apart with his bare hands.
- Subverted: Hiro only looks unarmed: it turns out he's a master of Hidden Weapons, Arsenal Attire, and skullduggery in general.
- Hiro starts heroic, but gradually becomes more and more brutal as time passes. Despite this he never picks up a weapon.
- Emperor Evulz carries a wicked-looking sword, but upon meeting the bare-handed Hiro drops it because he wants to beat Hiro at his own game. Either that, or Evulz has (somehow) some sort of code of honor, that if someone is unarmed, then he fights unarmed too.
- Hiro picks up a bike and goes ham on everyone with it.
- Double Subverted: It turns out the Hiro we first saw was actually a Criminal Doppelgänger, and the real Bob is both Heroic and a Bare-Fisted Monk par excellence.
- Hiro's increasing evil displays itself in a growing fondness for Booby Traps, Arsenal Attire, and eventually actual, handheld weapons.
- As the series progresses it becomes apparent that Evulz is evil in name only and never actually uses his sword, instead performing a Heel–Face Turn.
- Parodied: Bob is a Knight Templar who attacks anyone wielding a weapon, even toy weapons on sight, in the belief they must be eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil!
- Zig Zagged:
- Alice is a clear Anti-Hero, while Carol is a clear Anti-Villain: they used Armed Legs and a Power Fist respectively, so they are not quite armed or unarmed.
- The series is a Morality Kitchen Sink, with characters from all sides decrying the use of weapons or praising the power of the gun.
- Averted:
- It's a Fighting Series where everyone is a boxer, martial artist, or otherwise has no need of weapons.
- Conversely, it's a series where Everyone Is Armed.
- Enforced: The show is an Anvilicious commentary in favor of gun control, so of course anyone using a gun is demonized.
- Lampshaded: "Fighting barehanded shows strength of character: fighting with a weapon shows only the strength of said weapon."
- Invoked: Hiro, upon becoming a superhero, vows against the use of weapons, believing it to be unfair with the advantages he already possess.
- Exploited: Hiro is Dressing as the Enemy and Emperor Evulz suspects this; the latter orders his men to have a firing drill, knowing that the former will be a terrible shot because of his refusal to use weapons.
- Defied: "Guns don't kill people, people do. I am not going to suddenly become Hitler because I'm actually prepared for this battle."
- Discussed: "Hiro, could you teach me how to fight unarmed later? I'm definitely interested in learning how to fight bare handed instead of swinging weapons."
- Conversed: "Wow, he's pretty ballsy for charging in unarmed."
- Deconstructed: Heroic or not, martial artist or not, Hiro's refusal to arm himself frequently gets him into trouble as expected from someone barehanded trying to fight a well-equipped army.
- Reconstructed: A preference for unarmed combat has its own advantages: Hiro never has to worry about being disarmed and he can get through airport security with impunity.
- Intended Audience Reaction: Hiro's refusal to use weapons reflects his philosophy: he's a Messianic Archetype and Guile Hero who is always trying to find a way To Win Without Fighting. As such, by the time he brings out the fisticuffs, it's clear that a situation has already gone off the rails: he's a master of the open hand, not a closed fist.
- Played For Laughs: Hiro, despite being completely outgunned by everyone, simply just throws a left hook to everyone that stands in his way. It works time and time again, to a stellar degree.
- Played For Drama: Guys like Biggs, Pike, and anyone who genuinely admires Hiro's hand to hand combat skills would definitely WANT to respect him; Unfortunately, Hiro's such an overbearing snob who hates even the idea of a weapon that he simply alienates them and brands them as cowards simply for picking up a weapon. Not only is it a blow to their ego, but they KNOW it's a terrible idea to ditch their weapons.
Back to Heroes Fight Barehanded
