One of my friends gets in fights a lot, and he described an incident where he brought his fist back like he was going to punch a guy, but then swung his leg to trip him while he was focused on my friend's fist.

This troper never clips his fingernails for this reason,once had to use them to get out of a headlock. Also once attacked by a bigot,and I used my hips and swung them into the guys ribs. Don't worry both cases were completely justified. Also don't piss me off in a library,when I'm crocheting,or below you.

This troper has yet to get in a fight, but he knows that "fair fighting" isn't an option if his opponent is pierced, sharp objects including keys or pencils, there's blunt stuff to swing/throw, or this troper still has nails/teeth/a hard head.

This Troper, although White, ascribes to the art of Mexican Judo. Cuz judo know if I gotta knife, judo know if I got a gun...

This troper has taken Kung Fu classes, read up on several martial arts, then decided that they were individually on the right track, but needed each other, so he merged everything he saw into his own combat system, incorporating Wing-Tsun, Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga, Mortal Kombat, and whatever else he sees. One time a skater lunged at him. Cue "Sub Zero's rolling throw", and one drunk skater crashing face first into the curb. Roommate on his back during a wrestling match? Solution: stand up with him still there, walk over to the bed, grab him across the shoulder, and SLAM! This against a guy who weathered being thrown, and in turn threw the troper himself. Also, improvised weapons are very ''very'' good things, if used properly...

This Troper was once attacked by an extremely large, drunk individual. After being grabbed from behind by this man with no provocation, this troper bit him on the hand and then punched him with his keys held between his fingers.

This last bit -- punching someone with your keys -- seems to be a recommended self-defense technique in rough neighborhoods like the nastier parts of Los Angeles. Provided that you don't have an actual pair of brass knuckles on your key ring like this troper's mother did...

Dude(tte), your mom is awesome. I'm guessing you ''listen'' to her?

This Troper seen a 'humorous' scene play out with her giant friend and a skater. Skater started on this huge rant about how bad he was gonna beat the giant up. Said giant took off his steel-toed boot, threw it and hit the little brat square between the eyes with the toe.

This troper, as a semi-joke, created the martial art of "No Kando" (thankyou, Mr Pratchett). It essentially consists of hitting your opponent where it hurts most with whatever comes to hand.

Funny, that's almost exactly like's this troper's made-up kung-fu...only he just uses his hands, feet, and occasionally knee, head, other parts of body, so it's slightly more fair. And pinches, so it's slightly less fair.

The fact, that biting and scrathing are more painfull ways to harm someone than a punch has come very usefull information to ThisTroper. Like Batman said: "When outmatched, cheat."

I was once involved in a lunchroom brawl. After listening to my opponent brag about his fighting skills for a moment, I kicked a chair into his kneecaps and watched him fall over.

This troper was playing a tabletop RPG as a character with a grenade launcher. He used more dismantled grenades than intact grenades. The accuracy was crap for the launcher, but dismantled grenade attacks were usually very effective. Other gems involved causing a heavy vault door to fall off its hinges onto two enemies, crushing them, making a thermite trap to get through heavy armor, and making a distraction machine out of a motorcycle engine and parts from a junkyard to simulate gunfire. Oh, and the remote control grenade (it doesn't explode on impact but it beaned the enemy in the head, which he held while I ran off and detonated it.)

This is pretty much the whole point of the Israeli martial art Krav Maga. It actively encourages (when appropriate) ball shots, finger twists and general dirty tactics up to and including eye gouging. Its underlying principle is "avoid the situation in the first place." Failing that, you "become the aggressor as quickly as possible." A martial art devoted to the combat pragmatist. Needless to say its favoured among police and prison forces.

This troper managed to get bullies off his back during junior high through biting. Bullies think it's just great to punch someone who can't punch back very effectively, but biting ''hurts'' and they are much less enthusiastic about getting close to someone who will give a painful bite that hurts for a while afterwards.

A friend of mine wanted to show off her martial arts training at one point, and told me to try to kick her, and I could see that she was getting ready to catch my leg when I did. So I punched her instead. She got very upset since she wasn't prepared for a punch. Which made me wonder how effective that training really was...

Several people tried to show off holds/strikes/joint locks on this editor. After he wriggled out of them/blocked them they usually offered him exasperated "You weren't supposed to do that!" or "You weren't supposed to be prepared!" Well, sooo sorry, better luck next time. Do I have to add I have exactly zero combat training whatsoever, apart from being a big guy in pretty good shape?

You two aren't the only ones to complain about combat training of that sort.

Meh. Some good stuff in there but a lot of whinging as well; the bit about boxers in particular was hilarious - if they don't practice defending against roundhouses to the head it is because they kinda don't need to worry about them under the ruleset. And straight punches? One-two ring any bells?

This troper is not above biting, pinching or using her nails to protect herself. She also carries around a homemade pepper spray. In one extreme case, she deliberately sneezed until her whole face was full of snot so her attackers would be too grossed out to come close to her. It worked!

troper's partially made up martial art consists of this, Ba Gua Zhuang, Tai Chi, and long years of studying pressure points and training myself to have a resistance to them. I have not lost one fight yet.

For this troper, combine nearly inhuman flexibility, five years of studying the orbits of human joints, gobs of pain tolerance, and a whopping dose of combat sociopathy make for a nightmare during sparring. Bites are a particular specialty, being that they're painful and extremely demoralizing. Admittedly I do go for the throat...

same troper as before above post, and there are only 2 things I do not use. one is biting, because of exceptionally sharp teeth (though I would use it if I had to), and use of other people as shields or weapons.

This troper has a friend who is completely uncoordinated, cannot fight and has no self defense training. His sole approach to combat is "kick 'em in the nuts and run".

Whenever I get attacked, I apparently just stare at my attacker with a blank look on my face, so they get thrown off for a bit wondering what's wrong with me. They don't expect me to then scream like a banshee and hit them hard. Slightly subverted in the case that I don't really have any control over this...

This Troper has ''no'' continuum of force or concept of fighting fair.

This troper is squeamish and hates the idea of coming into physical harm at the hands of another. So much so that he'll use his knee to bust your balls without a second thought, fair play schmair play. This is mainly because he ''would not last long'' in a straight fight with ''anyone'' and follows a philosophy of disabling your opponent as quickly as possible, no matter what the cost. Once, when he was nine, some big kid grabbed him in a headlock in the schoolyard. Said big kid promptly got his arm bit down hard on and was hospitalised. Yeah.

This troper has developed an actual philosophy around it. The very concept of a fair fight is the tyranny of the strong over the clever. If you win by being clever, then they can say that you didn't fight fair. However, if they can use their physical gifts to their advantage, what is unfair about using your mental? To this end, I have won fights using monkeybars, headphone cords, high proof alcohol, and a no parking sign. Not at the same time.

Which sounds a lot like one of philosophical tenets of capoeira which (as this editor found out recently) can be a delightfully dirty style in its own right.

Instructions from my karate master in the event of a real fight:

1. Avoid the fight.

2. If that's not possible, scream for backup.

3. Don't aim for the groin - that takes a few seconds too long to be disabling. Instead, aim for the eyes; stomp down on their feet; hit them in the throat; or bite if they get that close.

I happen to be one of these, I WouldHitAGirl, often do GroinAttacks, and generally fight unfair. It helps that I think "honor" is completely stupid.

This troper pulled off a bit of combat pragmatism during her second degree ''black belt'' testing. She was doing her reaction drill (a self defense technique she had to make up) but the kid was stubborn and wouldn't drop. So she bit him on the neck and dropped him like a fly. She's now a full supporter of combat pragmatism.

This Troper got his reputation as someone who "cheats in a fight" when he got into a fistfight with someone in high school. It was on the beach volleyball courts, and This Troper threw sand in his opponent's eye before tackling him. And then finishing the fight by stomping on the dude's elbow. (It should be known though, That This Troper does not like to fight, and is kind of a wimp)

This troper's fight principle is that fighting fair is for suckas. When he was picked on fight, his response: throw shits at him, including chairs and desks. I had to fight on street, he rushed toward the opponent, yell at him to distract him, and just bodyslammed the guy and when he lost balance, GroinAttack. Let's just say no body picks a fight at me, or shows me respect.

This troper maintains that biting and scratching is a perfectly valid way to fight because they cause the most pain. And because this troper is scrawny and wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight.

This editor blames the MusclesAreMeaningless trope for making people think that a fight in which one of the opponents is bigger and stronger is somehow "fair." There are weight classes in combat sports FOR A REASON! Also if the fight is mutually agreed upon contest of skill (i. e. sport) you BETTER fight honorably. If somebody comes swinging at you out of the blue it's not mutually agreed upon so everything is fair game.

This troper's Seikido teacher embraces combat pragmatism as his favourite philosophy. The first thing you do, he says, is give up your wallet and avoid the fight. If that doesn't work, then you start fighting dirty. His favorite techniques include: ripping out the attacker's earring, if he or she has one; biting and gouging the opponent's eyes out, especially when you're a lady with nice, long nails.

I tell the boys I babysit never to hit anybody unless they hit you first for no reason. Girls included.

Wrong trope.

Zero, from a Naruto RP on fanfiction.net. He is definitely not afraid to kill you when your back is turned, is definitely proud of it, claiming sneak attacks and dirty tactics is what being a ninja is all about. He is right, you know.

This troper actually recognizes that using extreme force in a situation where someone isn't likely to kill you can very quickly make people want to kill you. Punches are fine for handing it out, but you stick your thumb in someone's eye and use the leverage to bounce their head off the pavement a few times they're gonna take it kinda personal. Assuming of course you don't kill them. *shrug*

There is no such thing as excessive force. The purpose of combat pragmatism is to leave a person incapable of harming you-- and what better way of incapacitating a person than beating him/her up so hard s/he'll have to be taken to the hospital or the morgue? It's self-defense, and everything is approvable in self-defense. Including kicking assailants while they're down.

This troper practices with a boken outside on a regular basis and developed a reputation for being a KnightInShiningArmor because of it. Some local toughs thought it would be a good idea to rough me up to show that that they were the biggest and baddest around. Multiple and assorted dirty tricks later they remembered a forgotten appointment.

This troper, in a fight in high school, once pressed a guy against the wall/blackboard with his knee, immobilized him, grabbed him by the hair and knocked the back of his head against the blackboard thrice.

This troper all the way. First fight she got in, she grabbed the hand mirror next to her, shattered it, threw the shards at the attacker and then presumed to grab the nearest hair spray bottle and beat the attacker in the head with it. It ended with her forcing his arm behind his back. It was awesome.

This troper has a simple rule on conflicts: If talking, be polite, respectful, honor reason and reason being used and all that stuff any sane discussion needs. If not talking, kick in the groins, wrench limbs, break fingers, make ones foe's face contact with hard surfaces and all that stuff.

You still discuss things? Don't you just skip to the beating shit up part?

This trooper is a somewhat scrawny fellow, leading to great suprise from onlookers when he ended a fight with his opponent against a wall and teeth on the opponent's windpipe. Pull back wih pen still jabbing kidneys, "I think, I win. You okay?"

this troper is setting himself up for this. He currently , whenever a situation starts looking ugly, reaches for his pocketknife. That motion alone shuts people up. When he reaches 21 He'll be getting his concealed weapons permit, a Sig-Sauer p229, and a hip holster. ''Then'' we all know what he'll be reaching for.....

Rule 1 of my life: "Preemptive strikes-My way of saying "No thanks""

Rule 2: "Always take Coca-Cola over Pepsi."

{{Nintendo}}. After going through two console generations with only moderate success compared to their contemporaries, they come out swinging with the Wii, a console attempting to cross the lines of the "traditional" video game market. Up to now, Nintendo has been playing by the rules, marketing their wares only to the "hardcore" gamer as their competition has but with the Wii, the console has been made for EVERYONE. Sony and Microsoft persist in selling the [=PS3=] and Xbox 360 to the traditional video gamer but Nintendo branches out and appeals to a new breed, known as the "casual gamer"; a type of player who doesn't seek complex mechanics or long periods of play. Instead this new console utilizes a motion-sensitive controller that the player must simply wave to generate input for the game, making the console usable by those put off by the complex controllers the competition offers. The result? Nintendo burns up the competition by a wide margin and secures a first place victory in the home console market for the first time in well over a decade. Sure they had to create a new audience that normally wouldn't bat an eye at this "video game" thing or had stopped playing years ago but fair's fair and Nintendo is the seventh generation champion. Only now do Microsoft and Sony try to bolt on the same kind of accessible gameplay to their consoles in an attempt to generate a similar market for themselves but the damage has already been done.

Back when I was a child, I generally adhered to this philosophy. I would go for the throat and pick on people my own size or smaller. The only problem was that I was a total butthole with a HairTriggerTemper.

I got better as I matured, however.

{{@/Night}} has a workable knowledge of boxing, picked up some Marine Corps CQC stuff from my coworkers, and a little bit from eastern systems. My preferred tactic remains to go directly for trying to gouge an opponent's eyes out preferably combined with knocking them over, because I've never met a person that won't completely forget about fighting back when they're trying to protect their face.

Despite me being {{TheBigGuy}}, standing at 6"6, I'm aware of the possible fact of people being able to take me out despite my size, mostly by the knees, and the fact that I'm not very fast, so my size is irrelevant. My solution in an actual street fight: joint locks, throat strikes, pressure points, eye gouging,, and attacking below the belt. Of course, this makes me look like a coward, but I did say, "in an actual street fight".

I have a simple approach to a fight wherein I have no weapons, run. Being a big guy I was known in school to, once, use a desk as a bludgeoning device. If you catch me with nothing at hand to hit you with, I tend to just jab your throat, kick your crotch, then knee your face. If you go down, then god help you.

I played a game in karate where the two opponents would have a strip of cloth in their belts. The goal was to take it while defending yours. I grabbed my opponents headband and threw it away, and while he was distracted, grabbed the cloth.

Screen peeking: When your playing a shooting game and you look at your opponents half of the screen so you know where he is. my cousin gets pissed when i do this, but for me its practically involuntary

A particularly common character this troper RPs, called Sangou. He will refrain from using his HealingFactor until the enemy is not looking at him, he poisons his weapons, he runs away if he has the slightest disadvantage, only to plot ahead for the next encounter, and is certainly not above going for the loved ones. He very commonly guns for TheHero, and usually has a sister or brother who was a victim of the hero's fight with a villain. He is also fairly AxCrazy. Go back to CombatPragmatist, you dirty stinking cheater.