It is far too common that a movie features two or more characters who's native language isn't english and when they are alone with each other they still speak english.
Why not? My native is Russian, but I still use English when conversing (in PM or via mail) with other Russians in English-dominated parts of the web. Granted, I'm bilingual, so the choice of language makes no difference to me, but non-native characters usually display same level of proficiency.
Likewise I could puke every time I hear a non-native speaker of a certain language acting like they are one, screwing up every line in the language they are supossed to be be speaking natively.
Why not? My native is Russian, but I still use English when conversing (in PM or via mail) with other Russians in English-dominated parts of the web. Granted, I'm bilingual, so the choice of language makes no difference to me, but non-native characters usually display same level of proficiency.
Web =/= real life. How often do you actually speak English with a fellow native Russian-speaking person outside of the internet?
Also, I am refering to the type of scenes where it would be the most logical and natural for the characters in question to speak their native languange, not when other non-native speakers (or characters who don't understand the language at all) are around.
Like, for example, in that Wolverine movie that was set in Japan, yet still the Japanese characters where speaking English with each other at least half of the time.
"Likewise I could puke every time I hear a non-native speaker of a certain language acting like they are one, screwing up every line in the language they are supossed to be be speaking natively."
Guilty pleasure of mine. I LOVE this in movies, but not for reasons the actors would appreciate.
When one or more person ends up swapping bodies as a result of some magic/technology gone haywire, though there seems to be hundreds of variations on how this can occur. I simply dislike it most of the time, because it always halts progress in the story in some way to resolve that stupid situation. I don't like the comedy, drama or any of complications in the story that comes with this trope.
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
Agreed. Those things were also practically screaming out to hackers, as far as the safety protocols being 'tinkered with' goes.
I would definitely agree that the sci-fi body swap is way too commonly used, almost every series with any kind of longevity utilizes it at least once.
Well, it is interesting than in the OG Star Trek holodeck-like stuff is banned. They knew what was up. But then it was legalized (dang hippies!). I like to view a lot of those Star Trek tropes as being victims of us seeing rare events in the show. It's not like everyday something spectacular happens, I'd assume most of the time would just be spent flying through the void filing paperwork and doing routine maintenance - which would get boring in a hurry - besides the holodeck programs. In fact, there's so much routine maintenance it's often an integral plot point even when big important things are happening. The good ol' navy chip and seal lol. Not to mention that the holodeck's power consumption would have to dwarf virtually any other function of the ship since it requires enough energy to turn energy into *lots* of different kind of matter, and on a massive scale, and in real time. Even the replicators (which also turn energy into matter) take a minute to work.
That would be a funny episode though if everybody was all geared up to use the holodeck but the computer was lagged up by routine maintenance and so everything had a 3-4 second delay and everybody kept bumping into unresponsive doors and the actual walls of the holodeck.
As far as spaceships exploding and making a noise - a sufficiently large explosion, which one was right next to, would have *some* sort of shockwave effect as gasses blew out in the vacuum, but you'd have to be super-duper close to get any kind of rumbling because of how quickly the gasses would dissipate. If anything it'd be like Freespace's "Engine wash" where you just get roughed up due to intense radiation streams or outgassing. Flying debris would be a lot more dangerous though lol.
Or you could get around it by the on-board computer simulating the sound of explosions and lasers pew-pewing so as to help the pilot/crew ascertain where attacks are coming from or where something was kersploded. That'd be an easy out to have your "kaboom" cake and eat it too
As far as what I don't like for a trope, I call it, the pitiful villain trope. Or "villain decay" as tv tropes calls it
In modern Western media, there is a real tendency to *tell* the audience that a particular villain is a big bad evil menacing, or maybe even repugnant, entity, without it clearly being demonstrated - then they lose repeatedly, sometimes in especially humiliating fashion that kills the menace of the villain, or completely outweighs whatever repugnant qualities the villain has (where the viewer *wants* to see said villain lose - but you give it me so early, I've already got my TAKE THAT moment). Just for an example of a good build up, Star Wars IV does it well, we see Darth Vader manhandle random soldiers, and kill Obi Wan, before he eventually loses in the end, but his menace holds on through the end of the film. But there are *so* many shows and movies now where the villain shows up almost immediately and is soundly defeated, and only survives the encounter through some sort of trickery that allows them to escape. Then the heroes have to go chase them down again, and probably once more, before the audience can have some resolution - when all you're really doing is wasting my time
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
Roger Zelazny wrote a pair of short stories about self aware cars that went crazy, killed their owners and formed roving packs that killed people and stole gasoline. Most of the owners were killed when the cars re-routed the exhaust fumes into the passenger compartment. Who the hell built that "feature" into the cars? You'd think someone in QA would have caught that.
More recently, in the Nat Geo series Mars there was...
a door that opened, from the pressurized hab out to hard vacuum, with the touch of a button.
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
Roger Zelazny wrote a pair of short stories about self aware cars that went crazy, killed their owners and formed roving packs that killed people and stole gasoline. Most of the owners were killed when the cars re-routed the exhaust fumes into the passenger compartment. Who the hell built that "feature" into the cars? You'd think someone in QA would have caught that.
More recently, in the Nat Geo series Mars there was...
a door that opened, from the pressurized hab out to hard vacuum, with the touch of a button.
Just no. No one would ever allow that to exist.
I have been imagining the possibilities for...er, uhm, some ppl , 'tinkering' with self -driving cars since the ideas and prototypes started showing up. It just seems like an idea that is just 'RIPE' for a hackers playground or a terrorist's new toy.
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
Roger Zelazny wrote a pair of short stories about self aware cars that went crazy, killed their owners and formed roving packs that killed people and stole gasoline. Most of the owners were killed when the cars re-routed the exhaust fumes into the passenger compartment. Who the hell built that "feature" into the cars? You'd think someone in QA would have caught that.
More recently, in the Nat Geo series Mars there was...
a door that opened, from the pressurized hab out to hard vacuum, with the touch of a button.
Just no. No one would ever allow that to exist.
I have been imagining the possibilities for...er, uhm, some ppl , 'tinkering' with self -driving cars since the ideas and prototypes started showing up. It just seems like an idea that is just 'RIPE' for a hackers playground or a terrorist's new toy.
Actually I don't even understand why it would be designed with the possibility of bringing danger to the user... the last time I checked my TV didn't have a switch that would make it explode if there was an explosion in the movie I'm watching...
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
Roger Zelazny wrote a pair of short stories about self aware cars that went crazy, killed their owners and formed roving packs that killed people and stole gasoline. Most of the owners were killed when the cars re-routed the exhaust fumes into the passenger compartment. Who the hell built that "feature" into the cars? You'd think someone in QA would have caught that.
More recently, in the Nat Geo series Mars there was...
a door that opened, from the pressurized hab out to hard vacuum, with the touch of a button.
Just no. No one would ever allow that to exist.
I have been imagining the possibilities for...er, uhm, some ppl , 'tinkering' with self -driving cars since the ideas and prototypes started showing up. It just seems like an idea that is just 'RIPE' for a hackers playground or a terrorist's new toy.
Actually I don't even understand why it would be designed with the possibility of bringing danger to the user... the last time I checked my TV didn't have a switch that would make it explode if there was an explosion in the movie I'm watching...
The how could something like this ever happen to us or who would do such a thing...
I hear this so much in TV and Movies (RL as well), the surprise and the shock ppl have at some of the terrible things that ppl do to other ppl (or even nature in some instances). I see it also in the much of the public at large as well. I actually think role-players, fantasy, and science & fiction lovers have a better imagination and ability to imagine the unimaginable. The worst is getting through to a large bureaucracy, mainly to to the fact one has to go through all the 'proper' channels to reach someone who cares or is open enough to an idea to consider it.
My research and study of the psychology of terrorism and practical experience with epidemiology in the design of test scenarios for an emergency planning department has left me remembering the quote at the beginning of BG:
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." — Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
It may just be not only my research and study with, but also a mindset, but it is very easy to see terrorism from the viewpoint of the terrorist. This has been a great asset but at the same time it is somewhat draining as it is not something I would do. The hardest part about this is trying to help other professionals have at least the basic framework for an understanding of the possibilities that exist. It is tough, it is almost like they DO NOT WANT to imagine these situations so ignore them. Ebola was one of the last ones I worked on back in 2014. The more I know of what is out there and what is not widely reported the more convinced I am that ppl are not ready for what can happen. When our own CDC could not at first realize that Ebola would make it to the US really destroyed my faith (at last) in the ability of our govt. to take the best steps to be prepared.
The thing is, and the possibilities increase as our technology and research outpaces ppl's ability to responsibly control those and use these.
I am glad to see younger folks that are looking at some of this , at least with regards to autonomous vehicles, esp. since terrorists have finally learned that a bomb or a gun is not the only thing they can use. As ppl recently learned in western NC end eastern TN, a few rags and some matches is all one needs.
This was a recent video some high school students made that shows some of it. Very basic but interesting. 7&1/5 min video but the most interesting part starts at about 4:45m. into it.
I didn't mean to get into it in such a serious fashion but can't help when the imagination starts going into warpspeed I am sure many on this board know what I mean, be they artists, writers, or modders/game designers. Oh, and thanks go out to @BillyYank and Zelazny (I need a smoke AND a drink NOW,hehheh) https://www.c-span.org/video/?426553-1/live-let-drive
The how could something like this ever happen to us or who would do such a thing...
I hear this so much in TV and Movies (RL as well), the surprise and the shock ppl have at some of the terrible things that ppl do to other ppl (or even nature in some instances). I see it also in the much of the public at large as well. I actually think role-players, fantasy, and science & fiction lovers have a better imagination and ability to imagine the unimaginable. The worst is getting through to a large bureaucracy, mainly to to the fact one has to go through all the 'proper' channels to reach someone who cares or is open enough to an idea to consider it.
My research and study of the psychology of terrorism and practical experience with epidemiology in the design of test scenarios for an emergency planning department has left me remembering the quote at the beginning of BG:
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." — Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
It may just be not only my research and study with, but also a mindset, but it is very easy to see terrorism from the viewpoint of the terrorist. This has been a great asset but at the same time it is somewhat draining as it is not something I would do. The hardest part about this is trying to help other professionals have at least the basic framework for an understanding of the possibilities that exist. It is tough, it is almost like they DO NOT WANT to imagine these situations so ignore them. Ebola was one of the last ones I worked on back in 2014. The more I know of what is out there and what is not widely reported the more convinced I am that ppl are not ready for what can happen. When our own CDC could not at first realize that Ebola would make it to the US really destroyed my faith (at last) in the ability of our govt. to take the best steps to be prepared.
The thing is, and the possibilities increase as our technology and research outpaces ppl's ability to responsibly control those and use these.
I am glad to see younger folks that are looking at some of this , at least with regards to autonomous vehicles, esp. since terrorists have finally learned that a bomb or a gun is not the only thing they can use. As ppl recently learned in western NC end eastern TN, a few rags and some matches is all one needs.
This was a recent video some high school students made that shows some of it. Very basic but interesting. 7&1/5 min video but the most interesting part starts at about 4:45m. into it.
I didn't mean to get into it in such a serious fashion but can't help when the imagination starts going into warpspeed I am sure many on this board know what I mean, be they artists, writers, or modders/game designers. Oh, and thanks go out to @BillyYank and Zelazny (I need a smoke AND a drink NOW,hehheh) https://www.c-span.org/video/?426553-1/live-let-drive
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
I'm sure Holodecks were invented on TNG just so that the writers wouldn't get bored.
What? That prophecy everyone's been reciting is about me?!?
No sheep, Sherlock. The rest of us figured it out in first chapter. I swear I wanted to strangle that kid in The Belgariad. Then I read the Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon. The first time one of the main characters mentions the prophecy at the heart of the story, she says something like: "That prophecy everyone talks about, I'm pretty sure it's about me and my friends." I nearly did my happy dance.
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...
I'm sure Holodecks were invented on TNG just so that the writers wouldn't get bored.
Actually, the holodeck was invented on the animated series, in the episode, "The Practical Joker". And yes, it was a "Go to the Holodeck and Get Murdered" episode. Except it was the main computer that went mad, and it was trying to kill people all over the ship. McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura went to the holodeck and got locked in there before everyone found out that the ship malfunctions (only minor ones at that point) were being caused by a crazed main computer.
What? That prophecy everyone's been reciting is about me?!?
No sheep, Sherlock. The rest of us figured it out in first chapter. I swear I wanted to strangle that kid in The Belgariad. Then I read the Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon. The first time one of the main characters mentions the prophecy at the heart of the story, she says something like: "That prophecy everyone talks about, I'm pretty sure it's about me and my friends." I nearly did my happy dance.
Well, in fairness to my grandson, Polgara and I tried to shelter him from all the Prophecy business until he could have a normal childhood and adolescence. We thought it would better prepare him to cope with the coming conflicts.
What? That prophecy everyone's been reciting is about me?!?
No sheep, Sherlock. The rest of us figured it out in first chapter. I swear I wanted to strangle that kid in The Belgariad. Then I read the Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon. The first time one of the main characters mentions the prophecy at the heart of the story, she says something like: "That prophecy everyone talks about, I'm pretty sure it's about me and my friends." I nearly did my happy dance.
Well, in fairness to my grandson, Polgara and I tried to shelter him from all the Prophecy business until he could have a normal childhood and adolescence. We thought it would better prepare him to cope with the coming conflicts.
Until the Prophecy decided to talk to him directly
What? That prophecy everyone's been reciting is about me?!?
No sheep, Sherlock. The rest of us figured it out in first chapter. I swear I wanted to strangle that kid in The Belgariad. Then I read the Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon. The first time one of the main characters mentions the prophecy at the heart of the story, she says something like: "That prophecy everyone talks about, I'm pretty sure it's about me and my friends." I nearly did my happy dance.
Well, in fairness to my grandson, Polgara and I tried to shelter him from all the Prophecy business until he could have a normal childhood and adolescence. We thought it would better prepare him to cope with the coming conflicts.
I understand why he didn't get it at first, but his obtuseness went on far too long, to the point where it was ruining my suspension of disbelief.
@BillyYank , I found Garion's initial goofiness rather appealing and charming, and for me, it made his slow evolution into an epic badarse Hero all the more compelling. I guess it's just differences between us in individual taste as far as what we find attractive in other people.
Rand al Thor in "Wheel of Time" followed the same trope, starting out clueless and being led around on a leash by the women in his life, and evolving very slowly (three or four books at a time slowly) into the classic Hero. In Rand's case, he went from goofy youngster to dark and brooding.
And then there's Richard Cypher in "Sword of Truth". And Luke Skywalker.
It kind of goes with the genre, and is why I was so into reading these books and into Star Wars. I've always identified with this kind of male hero, or the wise mentor who goes with him. I usually play all my Charnames to type in BG.
I could list so many tropes about medieval films that they always get wrong, but instead I'm going to go with the one that has always bugged me since the dawn of time:
The katana is the best sword in the world, ever!
It was folded 80 billion times and can cut through anything! In fact the reason they keep them on display stands is because if they were to drop one, it'd drill right through to the Earth's core and cause a major rift in space and time to appear, opening a portal to the Warp, from which would spill forth all the demons of the four Chaos gods! Meanwhile, Europeans don't know how to make swords, and just hit a metal bar until it looks like a blade, then grunt and flail around with no skill because only the Japanese had martial arts, and we're all morons in medieval Europe.
Meanwhile, Europeans don't know how to make swords, and just hit a metal bar until it looks like a blade, then grunt and flail around with no skill because only the Japanese had martial arts, and we're all morons in medieval Europe.
Both bulat and damascus steel are eastern techniques just like katana, so... yeah. Also note that katana is a slashing weapon, like sabre, while a sword mostly does cutting.
I could list so many tropes about medieval films that they always get wrong, but instead I'm going to go with the one that has always bugged me since the dawn of time:
The katana is the best sword in the world, ever!
It was folded 80 billion times and can cut through anything! In fact the reason they keep them on display stands is because if they were to drop one, it'd drill right through to the Earth's core and cause a major rift in space and time to appear, opening a portal to the Warp, from which would spill forth all the demons of the four Chaos gods! Meanwhile, Europeans don't know how to make swords, and just hit a metal bar until it looks like a blade, then grunt and flail around with no skill because only the Japanese had martial arts, and we're all morons in medieval Europe.
Give me a Claymore instead anytime. There can be only one! (and it won't be the katana pansy)
Come on people they even named an explosive after it...
@Balrog99 Hehheh, maybe we need an NPC named Kurgan, hehheh. I have to admit though, when I was into Iaido, my heavy ol claymore probably would not have worked for that artform, where the quick draw and one shot 'cut something off', then re-sheath the katana , was basically the goal.
Still, I wouldn't want to go up against a bunch of highlanders comin at me welding claymores and hollerin, with a bagpiper droning out a tune behind them.
Comments
Granted, I'm bilingual, so the choice of language makes no difference to me, but non-native characters usually display same level of proficiency.
How often do you actually speak English with a fellow native Russian-speaking person outside of the internet?
Also, I am refering to the type of scenes where it would be the most logical and natural for the characters in question to speak their native languange, not when other non-native speakers (or characters who don't understand the language at all) are around.
Like, for example, in that Wolverine movie that was set in Japan, yet still the Japanese characters where speaking English with each other at least half of the time.
Guilty pleasure of mine. I LOVE this in movies, but not for reasons the actors would appreciate.
The Body Swap
When one or more person ends up swapping bodies as a result of some magic/technology gone haywire, though there seems to be hundreds of variations on how this can occur. I simply dislike it most of the time, because it always halts progress in the story in some way to resolve that stupid situation. I don't like the comedy, drama or any of complications in the story that comes with this trope.Let's go to the holodeck... get murdered
Not only the holodeck... any advanced technology that keeps murdering people and is still used... If I was a captain in the Star Trek Universe, my first command would be to deactivate ALL holodecks and have the holo emitters recycled...Well, it is interesting than in the OG Star Trek holodeck-like stuff is banned. They knew what was up. But then it was legalized (dang hippies!). I like to view a lot of those Star Trek tropes as being victims of us seeing rare events in the show. It's not like everyday something spectacular happens, I'd assume most of the time would just be spent flying through the void filing paperwork and doing routine maintenance - which would get boring in a hurry - besides the holodeck programs. In fact, there's so much routine maintenance it's often an integral plot point even when big important things are happening. The good ol' navy chip and seal lol. Not to mention that the holodeck's power consumption would have to dwarf virtually any other function of the ship since it requires enough energy to turn energy into *lots* of different kind of matter, and on a massive scale, and in real time. Even the replicators (which also turn energy into matter) take a minute to work.
That would be a funny episode though if everybody was all geared up to use the holodeck but the computer was lagged up by routine maintenance and so everything had a 3-4 second delay and everybody kept bumping into unresponsive doors and the actual walls of the holodeck.
As far as spaceships exploding and making a noise - a sufficiently large explosion, which one was right next to, would have *some* sort of shockwave effect as gasses blew out in the vacuum, but you'd have to be super-duper close to get any kind of rumbling because of how quickly the gasses would dissipate. If anything it'd be like Freespace's "Engine wash" where you just get roughed up due to intense radiation streams or outgassing. Flying debris would be a lot more dangerous though lol.
Or you could get around it by the on-board computer simulating the sound of explosions and lasers pew-pewing so as to help the pilot/crew ascertain where attacks are coming from or where something was kersploded. That'd be an easy out to have your "kaboom" cake and eat it too
As far as what I don't like for a trope, I call it, the pitiful villain trope. Or "villain decay" as tv tropes calls it
In modern Western media, there is a real tendency to *tell* the audience that a particular villain is a big bad evil menacing, or maybe even repugnant, entity, without it clearly being demonstrated - then they lose repeatedly, sometimes in especially humiliating fashion that kills the menace of the villain, or completely outweighs whatever repugnant qualities the villain has (where the viewer *wants* to see said villain lose - but you give it me so early, I've already got my TAKE THAT moment). Just for an example of a good build up, Star Wars IV does it well, we see Darth Vader manhandle random soldiers, and kill Obi Wan, before he eventually loses in the end, but his menace holds on through the end of the film. But there are *so* many shows and movies now where the villain shows up almost immediately and is soundly defeated, and only survives the encounter through some sort of trickery that allows them to escape. Then the heroes have to go chase them down again, and probably once more, before the audience can have some resolution - when all you're really doing is wasting my time
For those of you who haven't seen it, it was quite special.
More recently, in the Nat Geo series Mars there was...
The how could something like this ever happen to us or who would do such a thing...
I hear this so much in TV and Movies (RL as well), the surprise and the shock ppl have at some of the terrible things that ppl do to other ppl (or even nature in some instances).I see it also in the much of the public at large as well. I actually think role-players, fantasy, and science & fiction lovers have a better imagination and ability to imagine the unimaginable.
The worst is getting through to a large bureaucracy, mainly to to the fact one has to go through all the 'proper' channels to reach someone who cares or is open enough to an idea to consider it.
My research and study of the psychology of terrorism and practical experience with epidemiology in the design of test scenarios for an emergency planning department has left me remembering the quote at the beginning of BG:
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
It may just be not only my research and study with, but also a mindset, but it is very easy to see terrorism from the viewpoint of the terrorist. This has been a great asset but at the same time it is somewhat draining as it is not something I would do.
The hardest part about this is trying to help other professionals have at least the basic framework for an understanding of the possibilities that exist. It is tough, it is almost like they DO NOT WANT to imagine these situations so ignore them.
Ebola was one of the last ones I worked on back in 2014.
The more I know of what is out there and what is not widely reported the more convinced I am that ppl are not ready for what can happen.
When our own CDC could not at first realize that Ebola would make it to the US really destroyed my faith (at last) in the ability of our govt. to take the best steps to be prepared.
The thing is, and the possibilities increase as our technology and research outpaces ppl's ability to responsibly control those and use these.
I am glad to see younger folks that are looking at some of this , at least with regards to autonomous vehicles, esp. since terrorists have finally learned that a bomb or a gun is not the only thing they can use. As ppl recently learned in western NC end eastern TN, a few rags and some matches is all one needs.
This was a recent video some high school students made that shows some of it. Very basic but interesting. 7&1/5 min video but the most interesting part starts at about 4:45m. into it.
I didn't mean to get into it in such a serious fashion but can't help when the imagination starts going into warpspeed
https://www.c-span.org/video/?426553-1/live-let-drive
Sudden blood relation reveals
Been interesting for the first few times. Stopped being so long ago, though.Japanese seem particularly guilty of abusing this dead corpse.
What? That prophecy everyone's been reciting is about me?!?
No sheep, Sherlock. The rest of us figured it out in first chapter. I swear I wanted to strangle that kid in The Belgariad. Then I read the Symphony of Ages series by Elizabeth Haydon. The first time one of the main characters mentions the prophecy at the heart of the story, she says something like: "That prophecy everyone talks about, I'm pretty sure it's about me and my friends." I nearly did my happy dance.Rand al Thor in "Wheel of Time" followed the same trope, starting out clueless and being led around on a leash by the women in his life, and evolving very slowly (three or four books at a time slowly) into the classic Hero. In Rand's case, he went from goofy youngster to dark and brooding.
And then there's Richard Cypher in "Sword of Truth". And Luke Skywalker.
It kind of goes with the genre, and is why I was so into reading these books and into Star Wars. I've always identified with this kind of male hero, or the wise mentor who goes with him. I usually play all my Charnames to type in BG.
The katana is the best sword in the world, ever!
It was folded 80 billion times and can cut through anything! In fact the reason they keep them on display stands is because if they were to drop one, it'd drill right through to the Earth's core and cause a major rift in space and time to appear, opening a portal to the Warp, from which would spill forth all the demons of the four Chaos gods! Meanwhile, Europeans don't know how to make swords, and just hit a metal bar until it looks like a blade, then grunt and flail around with no skill because only the Japanese had martial arts, and we're all morons in medieval Europe.
Also note that katana is a slashing weapon, like sabre, while a sword mostly does cutting.
Come on people they even named an explosive after it...
I have to admit though, when I was into Iaido, my heavy ol claymore probably would not have worked for that artform, where the quick draw and one shot 'cut something off', then re-sheath the katana , was basically the goal.
Still, I wouldn't want to go up against a bunch of highlanders comin at me welding claymores and hollerin, with a bagpiper droning out a tune behind them.