This troper was a huge NeverwinterNights player back in the day, and I trained one of my friends how to be really good at it too (good as in, I invented some of the tactics the community would later use.) At one point we hung around on a pvp-centric server for a while and absolutely dominated every battle we were in with ease - we lost a grand total of twice in several weeks of play. To make things more interesting, we continually played weaker and weaker characters... and eventually wound up winning against six enemy players at once, as a duo of BARDS.

Back when ''Mobile Suit GundamSEEDDestiny'' was on air, as part of a none-too-well thought-through reaction to the sheer ability gap between the named characters and the faceless grunts, this troper attempted to write a fanfic where the protagonist, for all intents and purposes just an average {{Mook}}, put himself through TrainingFromHell both in and out of the cockpit. This led to said protagonist being able to hold his own with a grunt suit against "true" recognized {{Ace Pilot}}s who were using {{Super Prototype}}s or Ace Customs. However, it was found via FridgeLogic that this trope became self-subverting, as eventually the protagonist had trained to the point where he was reacting faster than the grunt suit could and was making twitch maneuvers the grunt suit could not replicate closely enough, making said suit prove inadequate for the task when combined with enemies pulling out increasingly {{Bigger Stick}}s. Fortunately for the protagonist, he had a friend who pulled strings and got him an Ace Custom of his own.

That's just what an Ace Custom pilot is, even most of Char Aznable's early mobile suits weren't ''that'' much better than what was mass produced. You also have to consider, the {{Super Prototype}}s are usually limited to the major characters because they're too difficult for anyone but a skilled Ace or superhuman to pilot, at least that's what they say within the context of the show, some of the Gundams from Wing and SEED Destiny are just walking Death Stars that rarely need to show off any of the pilot's alleged "skill".

No, non, nein, I think what he's trying to say is that the character's skill got to a point where his mech's lack of so-to-speak power ends up holding him back and hampering him. Ergo, the need to progress in power too.

Yeah. No matter how good a pilot you are, there will eventually come the point where the machine cannot keep up and the machine will need to be changed (via upgraded parts or a full replacement) to something that can. Amura in the RX-78 had this problem.

This troper has met several skilled martial artists who are fairly small and physically unimposing. How well they do in an actual fight is up for debate.

As a compact sized martial artist, I assert that we tend not to fight in the first place. If we do, though, it depends a lot on what style we go for. A small Muay Thai dude can do serious damage but a small Judoka will probably be at a disadvantage. The best all-around choice tends to be the traditional Chinese styles that emphasize internal force (Pakuazhang, Hsing-i, Taijiquan, Liuhebafa, and some Shaolin variants). Incidentally, these styles are also a good option elderly martial artists. Mind you, these take longer to get good at than most "harder" styles and are absolutely useless unless taught properly.

This troper knew a guy in her capoeira class who was fairly short and extremely skinny (I could easily pick him up - and for the record, I'm a 107-lb female), but was also the most skilled and dangerous fighter in the class when he was being serious. MusclesAreMeaningless?

In my karate class, they specifically told me I was doing a certain technique wrong, saying that the way I was doing it, it would only work on someone smaller than me (like the skinny teenage black belt I was practicing it on) but the way it's supposed to be done, size doesn't matter much.

This troper is one of these... if by 'skilled' you mean 'an endless fount of completely useless trivia'.

This troper knows a guy from his judo class who can barely bench press 30kg, but has perfected the art of getting under people's feet and ''surviving a head-on impact with a car''.

This troper tends towards being weaker due to a lack of mass, but picks up a lot of varied skills.

This troper weighs 150 pounds, and can personally attest that it is completely possible to fling someone over twice your weight like a ragdoll with enough practice and good technique. Stereotypical as it sounds, it's all leverage. You'll never do it against someone just standing there, and the classic Judo over the shoulder throw is strongly contraindicated, but once anyone's off balance, it takes very little to topple them, regardless of size.

This troper has done martial arts for over a decade, and has competed in plenty of tournaments. She can attest that it's the scrawny ones you have to watch out for. If they're sparring in her division, they're usually incredibly well-trained, and they're almost always ''angry.'' Little spitfucks.

This troper can attest that in boxing, people like this can be a pain to go up against. However, it's almost as bad being on the other end. At extreme levels of this trope, every single opponent you will ever have will seem like a MightyGlacier or LightningBruiser, and it takes precisely one mistake to end up floored. Oh, and you're probably going to be exhausted after the first few minutes. Scenarios like this are why this troper just gave up and went into fencing.

This troper, a former competitive swimmer, is ''very'' short and has the worst possible proportions for a swimmer. Additionally, I am completely talentless when it comes to sports. Even so, I became one of the best butterfly swimmers in the London region by putting myself through TrainingFromHell and perfecting my technique as much as possible. (Compare to my competition, who were all highly talented and trained half as much as I did, or less.)

This troper is, sort of, not when compared to the average, standing 6'3" and 240lbs, and I am naturally strong, but I would be, if I were slim, only about 160lbs, and as a sometime Boxer and Judoka, those in my weight class have usually about 70lbs of actual muscle on me, but I was still quite successful, I have done Martial Arts of one form or another since I was 4, My arms are incredibly long, the only person to have equaled my reach was 6' 8", and as I am essentially a wiry bugger in a fat-suit, I have outlasted and out-sped my opponents, and beat them on points, whilst still, due to my mass, having the ability to hit fairly hard, and also have the ability to soak up a lot of damage.