"You may have a Lion, but its power is weak in your fledgling hands."
—Emperor Zarkon, Voltron: Legendary Defender
"Strategy? Spacing? I just keep punching until I hit something."
— Sol Badguy, Guilty Gear Xrd
Tetrax Shard: Your choice of warriors is based solely on brute strength, without regard for any strategy. Do you ever pause to consider your actions at all?
Ben Tennyson: Hey! I kicked more than my share of alien butt!
Tetrax Shard: Such as your recent success in the mine shaft with the bounty hunters?
Ben Tennyson: It was two against one!
Tetrax Shard: You were moments away from losing your life, and the Omnitrix. Victory should have been swift and effortless.
Ben Tennyson: Hey! I kicked more than my share of alien butt!
Tetrax Shard: Such as your recent success in the mine shaft with the bounty hunters?
Ben Tennyson: It was two against one!
Tetrax Shard: You were moments away from losing your life, and the Omnitrix. Victory should have been swift and effortless.
Kenpachi: Did you know sword strikes are more powerful if you use both hands?
Nnoitra: Everyone knows that!
Kenpachi: But most people don't realize quite how powerful.
Nnoitra: Everyone knows that!
Kenpachi: But most people don't realize quite how powerful.
— Bleach
Sheik: You're all impulse and reaction instead of thought and action. You have potential, but you lack skill... How did you even manage to defeat Demise in the first place?
Link: Luck, I guess.
Link: Luck, I guess.
"You're good, but you lack discipline."
—Deathstroke to Kano, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Champion of the Universe: I AM INVINCIBLE!
Thanos: You also telegraph your blows a light year ahead of their coming.
Thanos: You also telegraph your blows a light year ahead of their coming.
"It's like I know every combo in the game and he keeps pressing the A button!"
— Gibbs, Titan Maximum
Jin: Your stance leaves you wide open, and your moves are totally inefficient. All in all, your fighting style is a mess.
Mugen: You son of a...
Jin: I swear, you are the most undisciplined fighter I've ever known...
Mugen: Shut your damn mouth!
Jin: ...and the only one I wasn't able to kill.
Mugen: You son of a...
Jin: I swear, you are the most undisciplined fighter I've ever known...
Mugen: Shut your damn mouth!
Jin: ...and the only one I wasn't able to kill.
Katara: She's strong.
Member of White Lotus: She lacks restraint.
Member of White Lotus: She lacks restraint.
— The Legend of Korra (commenting on Korra's Firebending in episode 1)
"So, you've never lost, huh? You defeat all your enemies in one shot. You deflect all attacks away. People like you wouldn't know how to street fight."
— Touma Kamijou, to Accelerator, A Certain Magical Index Episode 14
"[Steilman] doesn't know how to fight. Not for real. He's never had to learn, because he is big and strong and mean."
— Senior Chief Petty Officer Horace Harkness, Honor Among Enemies
"A shame with that physique of yours, you never learned how to fight."
— Dark, Hunting Humans
"The attacks he sends out are just smashing swings with no technique to them. But that's enough. If there is overwhelming power and speed, there is no room for technique. Techniques are something humans invented to compensate for their weaknesses. Weaknesses are something this giant doesn't have."
— Shirou on Berserker, Fate/stay night
"The one thing the monster lacked was technique. She'd managed to blow away Narita with one hand and dismantle the researchers with raw, unadulterated power. Being perfect, Ruri Mikado needed nothing more. Perfect beings required no lessons from others, for the power she had was more than enough."
—Hello Lady!
You're huge, strong and firm, but you don't have any skill.
— Kurugaya to Masato, Little Busters!
He has no idea of the arts of war,
of shield or sword-play, although he does possess
a wild strength(...)
of shield or sword-play, although he does possess
a wild strength(...)
— Beowulf on Grendel, Beowulf
"The machine's good, but the pilot can't bring out its full potential!"
"A beastkin, huh? Her Ars Magus aptitude is average, but her physical tests are off the charts. She would have no trouble taking on a group of two or three people."
—Jin Kisaragi, Heart to Heart, discussing Makoto with Tsubaki
"That's some strength. I'd be more impressed if you knew what to do with it, though."
—Goku to Nappa, Dragon Ball Z Kai
"With such a lack of skill, that Walker Machine is wasted on you!"
— Timp Sharon to Jiron Amos, Xabungle
San Francisco is a big karate town: in 1965, there were roughly seven thousand full-time fee-paying karate students roaming around the Bay Area... but in any active bar, you can hear a story about a bartender who 'busted up a guy who tried to pull some karate stuff.' It hardly matters how many of the stories are true. The point is valid: the difference between survival and wipe-out in a physical crisis is nearly always a matter of conditioned reflexes. A bartender with scar tissue all over his knuckles will hit faster and harder than a karate-trained novice who has never been bloodied.
—Hunter S. Thompson, Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga
"One criticism of Brock's fighting technique is his lack of patience. In his early MMA fights, he tended to frantically whack at his opponents like his mother just deleted his save game. This never really mattered since a sloppy half-punch from Brock Lesnar is an extinction level event for spinal fluid."
Hey, you know what really gets under my skin? Proverbially, of course? A century of wizards looking down their damn noses at me. Energy Drain! I know people think I'm stupid. Because I'm not a wizard. Because I get bored easily. Because I have no interest in strategy or tactics or contingency planning. Energy Drain! But see, I've learned a lot over the years since I died. A lot more than I learned during my life. And now I see that planning doesn't matter. Strategy doesn't matter. Only two things matter: Force in as great a concentration as you can manage, and style. And in a pinch, style can slide. Energy Drain! In any battle, there's always a level of force against which no tactics can succeed. For example, all I need to do is keep smacking you with Energy Drains, and soon you won't be able to cast any of your fancy spells at all. Energy Drain! Because yes, I am a sorceror - and this magic is in my bones, not cribbed off of "Magic for Dummies." And I can keep casting the same friggin' spell at you until you roll over and die. You can have your finely-crafted watch - give me the sledgehammer to the face any day. ENERGY DRAIN!
— Xykon, The Order of the Stick, "Start of Darkness"
"The strength to make all tactics useless. That is strength absolute."
—Younger Toguro, YuYu Hakusho
"A beast indeed. Fighting with no rationale, just pure, raw power."
—Cammy on Necalli, Street Fighter V
"Zaporavo was the veteran of a thousand fights by sea and by land. There was no man in the world more deeply and thoroughly versed than he in the lore of swordcraft. But he had never been pitted against a blade wielded by thews bred in the wild lands beyond the borders of civilization. Against his fighting-craft was matched blinding speed and strength impossible to a civilized man. Conan's manner of fighting was unorthodox, but instinctive and natural as that of a timber wolf. The intricacies of the sword were as useless against his primitive fury as a human boxer's skill against the onslaughts of a panther."
— Conan the Barbarian - "The Pool of the Black One"
Having power and knowing how to use it aren't the same thing.
Hard to believe you saved the world. All you know are three punches and a kick!
— Ava to Knack, Knack II
"...you're just an awful fighter. [...] I've fought awful people before. But at least the fights were fun because they had skill. Heck, I've fought people weaker than me before and gone easy on them because I wanted to see what I could learn from them. But you? You don't have any skill. You don't have any technique. You've just gotten by on the fact that you're stronger and faster than everyone your whole life."
— Son Goku to Frieza, Tales of the Monkey Queen
"Y'know, maybe if you actually trained instead of gorging yourself on a worthless species, your punches might actually hit a little closer to home."
—Vegeta, Dragon Ball Z Abridged
Cell: You can't hit me.
Trunks: Then what do you call the last five minutes?
Cell: Pity.
(Trunks tries to attack Cell, who casually dodges all of his attacks)
Trunks: What? How?!
Cell: Because you're green!
Trunks: Wait, you mean...?
Cell: No, not like me, you idiot! You're a novice! An amateur! You're surrounded by fighters who have seen more action in a week than you've seen in your entire life! Hell, at your age, Goku had defeated an entire army, several demons, and sent a rabbit to the Moon! And the worst of it is, that form isn't anything new! Watch! (buffs himself up like Trunks) "Look at me! I'm Trunks! Please love me dad!" See? Anyone can do it. For God's sake, I bet even your father can do it! He's just not stupid enough to try. And as we have seen today, that threshold is vast. Now, how about you come on down, stop using that useless form, and quit wasting everyone's time?
Trunks: Then what do you call the last five minutes?
Cell: Pity.
(Trunks tries to attack Cell, who casually dodges all of his attacks)
Trunks: What? How?!
Cell: Because you're green!
Trunks: Wait, you mean...?
Cell: No, not like me, you idiot! You're a novice! An amateur! You're surrounded by fighters who have seen more action in a week than you've seen in your entire life! Hell, at your age, Goku had defeated an entire army, several demons, and sent a rabbit to the Moon! And the worst of it is, that form isn't anything new! Watch! (buffs himself up like Trunks) "Look at me! I'm Trunks! Please love me dad!" See? Anyone can do it. For God's sake, I bet even your father can do it! He's just not stupid enough to try. And as we have seen today, that threshold is vast. Now, how about you come on down, stop using that useless form, and quit wasting everyone's time?
Gail: A blow of tremendous force. Stone's ribcage was literally pushed in. The broken bones worked like knives inside him.
Lynch: A skilled fighter, then?
Gail: No. The blow was way off the killpoint. It should just have dented his shoulder a bit. Nothing serious. It was the force that proved fatal, not the aim.
Lynch: Shit. And Gwydion?
Gail: Skull. Same thing. If there weren't traces of rubber heel, I'd think it was done with a bench press.
Lynch: A skilled fighter, then?
Gail: No. The blow was way off the killpoint. It should just have dented his shoulder a bit. Nothing serious. It was the force that proved fatal, not the aim.
Lynch: Shit. And Gwydion?
Gail: Skull. Same thing. If there weren't traces of rubber heel, I'd think it was done with a bench press.
[D]on’t skimp out on Ito’s martial arts classes because you think you’re such a badass that you don’t need it. Most real opponents aren’t impressed. Training trumps power, you overconfident jackass. [...] Your form sucks, you have no experience, and you fight like an amateur school bully. You have no capacity to fight without your cronies.”
— Eldritch, adding a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Imperious, Whateley Universe, "Call the Thunder, part 7"
Baraka: Your first fight was impressive.
Skarlet: It's why Shao Kahn taught me the blood magic.
Baraka: It's become your crutch, Skarlet.
Skarlet: It's why Shao Kahn taught me the blood magic.
Baraka: It's become your crutch, Skarlet.
Baraka: I'll pick your bones clean.
Sub-Zero: Savagery is no match for skill.
Baraka: The savage eat the skilled!
Sub-Zero: Savagery is no match for skill.
Baraka: The savage eat the skilled!
"A simple headbutt...his fighting style may be course and unpolished, but...he can draw so much chakra.
—Gamabunta on Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto
"That's the trouble with monsters. No theoretical vigor. No one ever made you iron out your fundamentals, did they? If they had, you certainly wouldn't fall for this..."
—Alice, The Magicians
"No style whatsoever. But neither has an anvil."
— Count Adhemar referring to Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein (i.e. William Thatcher), A Knight's Tale
I do not require
brains or technique
I've got so much muscle I'll never be beat!
brains or technique
I've got so much muscle I'll never be beat!
"The power of the Aegis is formidable, but the Driver's skill betrays her..."
— Mòrag on Rex, Xenoblade Chronicles 2
"Bastard... despite so many wasted movements, his miraculous vision and reflexes let him dodge my moves. Oh well. His technique is still that of a complete amateur's."
— Garou about Saitama, One-Punch Man
"[Bruford] liked winning his fights with thinking! I just hit 'em 'til they fall to pieces! What use have I got for 'clever'? I carry a sword as tall as a man! None of you will get an easy death!"
— Tarukus, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood
"You may be stronger, but do you even know how to fight?!"
—Knuckles while fighting Enerjak, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)
"He's a dumbass, but strong. Gotta be on my toes in case I bump into him again."
— Goro Majima after defeating a Mr Shakedown, Yakuza 0
