Just a person and a caption: Confusion Fu

I'm saying no picture is better than a bad one. Voting to pull.

Supporting the pull, it's just too artifacted for my taste plus I'm coming around to the WTF-ness everyone else is getting from it.

edited 11th Oct '11 1:34:55 PM by Willbyr

Thirding, natch.

Well, that was quick. Pulled.

How about a pic of Voldo's more... exotic battle stances from Soul Calibur? Like this one◊ or this one, with a caption like "why, this is a perfectly normal battle stance. Why did you ask?"

Has the same problems as pulled had.

Weren't you against the pull in the first place? My thinking was that maybe a battle stance was better at showing the trope than just some doctor guy striking a pose.

I was
But it was done. And putting something with the same problem makes the pull just plain wrong.

Not down with the Voldo pic...it could possibly work for something else, but not here.

Voldo is kinda better, but barely, not sold on it.

I think one major problem is that the trope a dynamic thing, not a static thing. It is difficult to show a unpredictable, random yet effective fighting move in action. I think the first Voldo is better but I still just see a weird posture.

How about showing a screenshot from Soul Calibur, with on one side Voldo in a weird pose, and on the other side a very normal looking opponent?

Where exactly did those stat wheels for the more standard archetypes in Competitive Balance come from? Maybe we could use one of those, only with really bizarre statistics?

I don't get how it would show. It's not having random stats, it's having random moves.

Right.

We could have a gif demonstrating someone's moveset, to show how bizarre and unusual it is.

^Gifs aren't allowed.

^ If Fast Eddie approves of it, like on True Art Is Incomprehensible, then they are.

I can pretty much guarantee that that page's GIF is the only one that will ever be allowed.

I'd suggest something from Deadpool, specifically the one where he fights Taskmaster.

This picture of Arakune nicely contrasts him with a more "normal" character.◊

Mr. Game and Watch hits Falco with fish jumping out of a fish bowl. The shocked expression on Falco's face helps.◊

edited 12th Dec '11 12:07:04 AM by GildedATM

The first, due to the sequential nature, makes it look like Noel's turning into Arakune.

The second is a little better.

Maybe we could add labels and a division line to the first picture?

I'm afraid I don't see any combat in the first image, just a series of poses. I have no idea what is going on in the second.

I think it is time to accept this one is just too darn hard to picture. We've been going since August and we haven't worked out how a fighting style made potent by unpredictability could be visualized in something static, even in theory.

There's no way this is unpicturable. Even if we can't find any video game examples, there's still probably a comics example floating around where a character does something silly and random and his opponent getting surprised by it. There has to be some sort of Deadpool/other crazy guy comic with him/her improvising with something ridiculous.

As for my own suggestions, the first picture shows one of the characters is fluid and can take different shapes, while the other is just a normal-looking girl with guns. It doesn't show fighting, but this trope is generally about characters who are good because they're unpredictable.

The second shows actual fighting game footage (Complete with hitsparks and a flinch); I understand the non-human characters may be confusing, however.

edited 12th Dec '11 11:00:13 AM by GildedATM