"Wait, why did that happen?" and other fridge logic questions

[Mordar]

Hello all -

So, I watched Conan (1982, not Momoa) for the eightieth bijillion time last night, and a question popped up (for about the seventieth bijillion time).

Why does Red Hair use an axe to cut the chain and free his slave (Conan) when he could have...you know...used the key? His slave, his chain, his wagon...his key?

Was something cut from the film that would have explained it? Was it just a barbarian kind of thing to do (assuming Red Hair is a "reformed barbarian")? I suppose it is secondary to why Red Hair decides to do it that night in the middle of a gathering storm (I suspect alcohol fueled the decision), but even so, it struck me as a "Wait, why did that happen that way?" moment.

What are your thoughts on the "Why"?

What are some of your "Wait, why did that happen?" moments from movies that you enjoyed?

- M

[Tvtyrant]

Dramatic tension and symbolism. Striking the chains is a time honored symbol of freedom.

How Tien and the other Z fighters went from powerlevel 1000 to 1,000,000 in four years from fighting the saiyans to fighting the androids.

[Lord Raziere]

How Tien and the other Z fighters went from powerlevel 1000 to 1,000,000 in four years from fighting the saiyans to fighting the androids.

The humans actually advance faster in training than Saiyans. its just that Saiyans have hax workarounds. Tien and such got more power out of Kami's training than Goku did, who when he trained with Kami for five years, only got to the hundreds.

[Kyrell1978]

Hello all -

So, I watched Conan (1982, not Momoa) for the eightieth bijillion time last night, and a question popped up (for about the seventieth bijillion time).

Why does Red Hair use an axe to cut the chain and free his slave (Conan) when he could have...you know...used the key? His slave, his chain, his wagon...his key?

Was something cut from the film that would have explained it? Was it just a barbarian kind of thing to do (assuming Red Hair is a "reformed barbarian")? I suppose it is secondary to why Red Hair decides to do it that night in the middle of a gathering storm (I suspect alcohol fueled the decision), but even so, it struck me as a "Wait, why did that happen that way?" moment.

What are your thoughts on the "Why"?

What are some of your "Wait, why did that happen?" moments from movies that you enjoyed?

- M

I'm relatively sure that the storm was symbolic as well. He's releasing a violent force of nature (Conan) upon the world or some such.

[Rynjin]

The humans actually advance faster in training than Saiyans. its just that Saiyans have hax workarounds. Tien and such got more power out of Kami's training than Goku did, who when he trained with Kami for five years, only got to the hundreds.

Yeah, if you look at when they spar, the other characters tend to fight pretty evenly with Goku in his base form. He's still ahead, but not insurmountably distant, and the amount he's ahead pretty much comes down to him doin literally nothing but train all day every day while the others (besides Tien, but Toriyama hates him so he's destined to suck forever no matter how hard he tries) have lives. Piccolo (at least in the Cell saga) is stronger than any of the Saiyans in their base forms by a pretty wide margin too.

Its just that Super Saiyan forms are too big of a boost to keep them narratively relevant. When they all progress at roughly the same speed, but some of the characters can instantly multiply their power to 50 times (or 100 for SSJ2, or 400 for SSJ3, with an incalculable boost for God/Blue) their normal, you have to either stretch disbelief to its breaking point for the others to keep up, or throw them by the wayside.

TL;DR: Super Saiyan was a mistake, its nothing but trash.

[Mystic Muse]

I wouldn't say Super Saiyan was a mistake.

Having Goku live, and everybody with any saiyan blood being able to go super saiyan was a mistake.

The event itself made sense narratively.

Otherwise I agree.:smallbiggrin:

[Peelee]

Krillin also got a power boost from the Grand Elder Guru unlocking his potential.

I wouldn't say Super Saiyan was a mistake.

Having Goku live, and everybody with any saiyan blood being able to go super saiyan was a mistake.

The event itself made sense narratively.

Whole heartedly agree. It ended up becoming Power Creep: The Show.

[Rodin]

Krillin also got a power boost from the Grand Elder Guru unlocking his potential.



Which is of course another bizarre thing with the show. Krillin and Gohan have their true potential unlocked by Guru...and then both become massively more powerful AFTER that point. And then Gohan still has his potential locked until Cell forces it out...and then his potential is locked AGAIN until he unlocks it a third time in the Buu saga.

Honestly, the show needed to end after the Freeza saga.

[Peelee]

Clearly Gohan had a lot of potential.:smalltongue:

Also, you can take Great Saiyaman from my cold, dead hands!

[DataNinja]

The truth is Power Levels are just something made up by the company that makes the Scouters in order to make people keep buying something they don't need. :smallwink:

[Peelee]

The truth is Power Levels are just something made up by the company that makes the Scouters in order to make people keep buying something they don't need. :smallwink:

New theory: Frieza was part of a multi-level-marketing scam with the Scouter Company, and just kept conquering and selling planets to finance his buy-ins. He forced all his employees to use the crappy products.

[No brains]

I once heard that the scouters were originally sort of a cultural joke that got out of hand.

The idea was that these ridiculous, food-named aliens would have something that measured someone's ki. Supposedly the idea of one person's ki being measurably different from another's was supposed to sound as ridiculous as "I am Vegetable from the planet Vegetable!"

I'm not sure if this happened in translation, but at one point people took the idea of ki meaning 'a measurable power level' seriously and that's what eventually led into Power Creep: The Animated Series.

Of course I have no way to verify this info I think I heard in a YouTube I watched years ago, so take with grain of salt.

[Saintheart]

Hello all -

So, I watched Conan (1982, not Momoa) for the eightieth bijillion time last night, and a question popped up (for about the seventieth bijillion time).

Why does Red Hair use an axe to cut the chain and free his slave (Conan) when he could have...you know...used the key? His slave, his chain, his wagon...his key?

Was something cut from the film that would have explained it? Was it just a barbarian kind of thing to do (assuming Red Hair is a "reformed barbarian")? I suppose it is secondary to why Red Hair decides to do it that night in the middle of a gathering storm (I suspect alcohol fueled the decision), but even so, it struck me as a "Wait, why did that happen that way?" moment.

I think it lies in something unspoken about the relationship between the Eastern Masters and Red Hair. Red Hair's symbol of ownership seems to be the 'tiara' he wears and which Red Hair removes. But because they're in the East, it might well be the chains and the locks on the chains are the property of the Masters, who are quite impressed with Conan's abilities and might argue with or talk Red Hair out of releasing Conan. Red Hair knows the Masters won't let Conan go, therefore he doesn't ask them: instead he breaks the chains himself.