Quote from: Tubecity on Jul 22, 2019, 08:34:42 PM
Old One- thanks!
Voodoo- ha ha, well, I'm grateful for your consideration. I see your points. But... Isn't impracticality one of the defining characteristics of the Predator character? Isn't that what makes him seem powerful and alien at the same time? He makes all kinds of impractical stuff work... somehow?
Wrist-blades- pretty impractical.
Extendo-spear- fantastically impractical.
Shoulder-mounted firearm- largely impractical.
P2 Murder frisbee- very impractical unless you explain it as some kind of semi-autonomous self-propelled drone
Storing hand weapons of any kind on one's back- intensely impractical (AVP spears, various swords in the expanded universe, etc)
I like the 2010 hounds because somehow it felt like the design flowed with the essence of the Predator character, while also being quite new (and not just a repacking of the same old basic beats)- they seemed like a believeable development of the mythology.
Funny thing is that the Predator's weapons do have counterparts in the real world. The combi-stick collapses for ease of storage, but they are used as throwing spears and stabbing tools. Spears are literally so practical that in older wars (before firearms became common) was the go-to weapon. And when you don't have access to projectiles, that is what you'd use to hunt because it's aerodynamic to throw.
The wrist-blades are a modern take on the gauntlet sword. The gauntlet sword's biggest issue was its center of mass and being awkward to carry around, no longer a problem when it just retracts.
The Smart-disk is basically a high-tech chakram
And even the shoulder cannon (while it's still unlikely we can get plasma to fire like that) is practical since the whole point was to be hands free. Hell, there was a guy who did an airsoft version of it.
The Predator's arsenal (most of it) is based on weapons and gadgets you'd find in the real world. It's part of how it's so believable, we to an extent know what the Predator's using. And while we wouldn't use a chakram to hunt a deer, they would because part of the point isn't just to hunt and kill it, it's the bragging rights of not only what you killed but how you did it.