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| (2) Cave Troll http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69tK1-g7Pc8 Vs. |
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| (15) Bane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrzvY0JNT0U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ZTqatD2Kw
This is the 2 vs. 15 match for the Region of Torment.
The home-field goes to the 15 seed Bane.
The fight will take place in the underground lair from the movie The Dark Knight Rises (Which can be seen in the first video clip for Bane).
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Oh man, this is a hell of a match-up! Home field is huge for Bane, as he is familiar with his own lair and the location affords him many places to hide. Such tight quarters are not optimal for the cave troll. My analysis of the match works on the assumption that the cave troll enters the fight with his club and chain. But we should take this chance to clarify (both for this match and future ones) exactly what weapons each competitor is permitted to bring into the fight and the reasons for deciding so.
ReplyDeleteOn to the fight. Bane is a smart dude and he will immediately realize that he will not be able to defeat the cave troll by brute strength alone. Cave troll, on the other hand, is dumb and can easily be outsmarted. But let's also not forget that Bane is pretty damn strong, too, and an excellent fighter. His weakness is his face mask, which I seriously doubt the cave troll will think to attack.
Bane begins by ducking back into the shadows while the cave troll starts out by searching for him. At first, the cave troll is sneaky in his efforts, but quickly becomes frustrated and begins thrashing about. As stones from the breaking walls fall about, Bane jumps out of the shadows onto the troll's back, with long chain (from the clip) in his hands. He wraps the chain around the troll's neck several times before the beast has any idea what is going on. Bane then jumps down off his back, still with chain in hand, thus tightening the wrapped chain around the neck. He then begins to viciously bash the back of the cave troll's legs, bringing it to its knees. The troll has abandoned its weapons in a desperate effort to free itself from the chains. But there is nothing it can do and, after breaking its legs, Bane strangles the poor beast to death.
This was the wrong competitor for cave troll, and not the best location either. After all, the cave troll was defeated in LOTR 1 in a similar arena. Bane is smart enough to develop a good plan and just strong enough to inflict some serious damage to the troll.
Bane wins, 6-4.
I'd first like to post a picture of "The Pit" for where this fight will take place (mostly for Ernie Smith) so he can kind of see the layout of the underground lair. The link below shows a production still of the pit:
ReplyDeletehttp://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/screencrush.com/files/2012/08/dark-knight-rises-behind-the-scenes-the-pit.jpg
Now, onto the fight...
The location of the fight certainly offers Bane the biggest advantage to start this whole battle off. He knows the ins and outs of the pit so he has the opportunity to take cover and avoid the Cave Troll head on. Bane is smart enough to not simply rely on his brute strength to try and over power the Cave Troll. Instead, he will try and disappear into the shadows and get up to some higher ground. The Cave Troll will begin smashing his hammer into the walls and stair cases in an attempt to catch Bane. So, I agree with King Hammurabi on how the fight begins, more or less.
I think Bane can really only defeat the Cave Troll by definitely trying to wrap his legs up with the chain and bring him to the ground. Unfortunately, I don't see Bane having the chance to grab a hold of the chain before the Cave Troll lays the hammer down! I can kind of see Bane jumping on his back and slugging the Troll in the back of the head and ears probably, which will do some minimal damage. At this point, the Cave Troll will happen to grab his leg, just enough to throw him to the ground. Now, both opponents are in hand to hand combat. Bane will attempt to reach higher ground again but the Troll will be even more furious and will charge after him, where Bane will be forced to act quickly.
Bane will dodge the Cave Troll and throw some jabs to the knees and thigh muscles. The Cave Troll will not take kindly to this and will grab a hold of Bane at some point and toss him into a wall. Bane will simply be overpowered and will not be able to reach cover again. The Cave Troll will be swinging for the fences, at which point, he will punish Bane and bring him to submission.
Then Bane will have permission to die...
Cave Troll takes the cake, 6-4.
I think we need to address the question of how many weapons each competitor is permitted in the fight and the reasons for thinking so. My working opinion is that each fighter should be allowed a maximum of two weapons, which must be from their movie. It will be a separate question of whether or not we should conflate weapons from several movies and I'm not sure what I think about that yet (I have in mind Predator, who in the original did not use a net or blade-disc). My thought is that we need to agree on a single manifestation of a character from a single movie.
ReplyDeleteIt may go without saying, but I think that items that were found and used by a character in a movie do not qualify because they are not original to the character. In the case of Cave Troll, he grabs a chain from the well in FOTR and uses it. We should not include this among his weapons in the tournament. Of course, a fighter should be allowed to utilize any item that he/she finds IN THE FIGHT LOCATION, but we must agree on what these are. If someone comes forth and argues, "Bane grabs hold of a flame-thrower and torches the Troll," I'm calling bullshit and asking where the flame-thrower came from.
Lastly, I could easily be persuaded that only one weapon should be allowed, or even zero, if the argument is compelling enough. Feel free to give your thoughts on this in the course of your answer. I don't mean to stunt our creative juices by making too many rules, as this would go against the spirit of the tournament. But I do think that getting a little clearer on the weapons question will make for better analyses.
I agree with your comment on how the Cave Troll acquires the chain from the mines of Moria, so in that case I think it would be acceptable to remove that item from him. However, I feel that will give Bane a far greater disadvantage because he cannot utilize that weapon to bring down the Cave Troll necessarily. So, if we allow the Cave Troll his hammer then I still he him taking this fight with even a better chance than before.
ReplyDeleteI'd still give the fight 6-4 odds, and remain with my decision on the Cave Troll winning this one.
There is a long hanging chain in the underground lair from the Dark Knight Rises clip. That's the one I was referring to when I envisioned Bane strangling the Cave Troll. Watch the Bane clip again; he climbs down it to get to Batman. It would even be easier for him to wrap this chain around the neck of CT because it is already hanging and all he would have to do is loop it once and then jump down and yank it hard so that all the slack is gone. It would be tough for CT to free himself.
DeleteOh ok. I stand corrected on my initial thoughts on where this fight was taking place. I thought it was going to be fought in the pit located in India from the film. But if this fight is in the underground lair in Gotham, that does change some aspects of the fight. There will be more dark corners and open space for Bane to hide and set a plan of attack. Bane is certainly a strategist when it comes to handling his enemies, and yes I agree he is a very intelligent character, but he'd still have some trouble thinking fast on his feet against the Cave Troll.
DeleteThe big difference I'd see from my first thoughts on the fight would be that Bane would have even a harder time trying to jump on the Cave Troll's back and wrap him up with the chain. Plus, the chain was hanging from rafters in the ceiling so I kind of doubt that Bane could pull it down and use it as a weapon or a way to wrap up the Cave Troll somehow, given that it's basically 20-30 feet long too. Don't get me wrong, I do like the thought of him using that as his #1 advantage to bring down the beast. However, I still see the Cave Troll getting one hit on Bane and causing him some serious damage.
Bane is a hell of a fighter and a great addition to this tournament. It is unfortunate, but I see him slightly outmatched in terms of size and strength. So I still have no choice but to hand this one over to the Cave Troll.
I just realized that the confusion resulted from my first post, where I said that the Cave Troll had a club and chain, and then went on to say no chain. I meant to say that I thought he would have a club and SPEAR, not a chain. WHOOPS! But now that I think about it, was the spear originally his or did he take it from someone? I think it's his. Since Bane is the loser here, this will matter for future CT fights.
DeleteOK, let's get all of the facts on the table. First of all, Bain is nothing more than a WWF want-to-be. He believes that he can overpower someone with brute strength but in this match he is clearly over matched, and I don't think he realizes it. I agree with King H. that the Cave Troll is pretty dumb but I totally disagree with his reference that Bain is a "Smart Dude" - no way! I also take exception to the underground lair being a big advantage for Bain. Are you kidding? He may feel comfortable for a short while in his home field until he gets a good taste of hammer food, but let's not forget the fact that the Cave Troll lives in the underground mines of Moria and is quite comfortable in this setting as well. One last thing - King H's reference to the number of weapons a combatant is allowed is well taken, but in this case, it plays no part since one hammer is one too many for Bain to handle.
ReplyDeleteSo..... Here's the real deal as it unfolds. The Cave Troll has no problem finding his adversary since Bain is too macho for his own good and presents himself rather easily. The two go at it furiously for a short while, with Bain trying incessantly to get the Troll off of his feet and the Cave Troll lashing out viciously with his hammer. This goes on for a brief time until the Cave troll inevitably lands a sideways "Hammer Tong" across Bain's skull. The power of this blow dazes the "Bainster" and leaves him briefly incapacitated. That is all the Cave Troll needs to land the second and third finishing blows which puts Bain to sleep for good - dreaming about the good old days of Gotham City!
No match at all. The Cave Troll wins this one 9-1.
Before I get to the fight, I would first like to discuss the weapons situation. I didn't really make any rules regarding the number of weapons a competitor can have but I'm thinking the maximum would be two, assuming they are standard gear for the character.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I just wanted to say that the fight takes place in the underground lair from Bane's first video clip not The Pit, which is seen later in The Dark Knight Rises.
I see the fight happening a lot like how Hammurabi does. Bane will know that he is physically no match for the Cave Troll and so he is going to use his League of Shadows training to his advantage. He will stick to hiding in the shadows and use his stealth, which will frustrate the Cave Troll. The Cave Troll will become very angry and annoyed that he can't find Bane and begin swinging his hammer destroying and smashing everything in an attempt to lure Bane out. Bane will finally attack using the dangling chains which he will wrap around the Cave Trolls neck. Bane will now have the upper hand and continue to tighten the chains around the Trolls neck cutting off his air supply. However, in a final desperate attempt to escape I see the Troll landing a vicious hit on Bane which will send him flying away and severely hurt. Bane will now have nowhere to hide and will be too injured to escape. Now free from the chains, the Cave Troll will finish Bane off with a hammer strike.
A very close fight, Bane will come close to pulling off the upset but will fall just short.
Cave Troll 6-4.
Looks like the Cave Troll moves on.
ReplyDelete