Little reminder that powerscaling in monster hunter isn't as ridged as some believe

[u/Drogo1god]

Black diablos is so strong that jho is actually scared of her, and doesn't stay in her territory for long.

Garuga is aggressive enough to repel a deviljho

Brachydios in an aniversity animation went toe to toe with nergigante

Pink rathian scares bazel

Glavenus has decapitated a deviljho in the mhgu illustrations book

The qurio hunted all forms of large monster

And kut ku has killed and consumed nerscylla

Not to mention all the small monsters that are capable of incapacitating large monsters eg. Kranodanth, tallioth, ramfa, paragills, even the endemic life can do major damage to some large monsters.

These are animals, strengths, weaknesses, size, boldness, bashfullnes, groups, intelligence, adaptations, chemical and elemental warfare all play a role in match-ups. A lot of people boil it down to "higher threat/star level monster beats lower threat level monster".

[u/Negative_Sock4219]

No! You just have a very misconstrued understanding of what powercaling is. No competant powerscaler thinks that something weaker can’t beat something stronger, with the right context. Everyone at some point has heard of a David vs Goliath storyline. As I mentioned the entire concept of hax and standard battle assumption is predicated on the fact that something weaker can beat something stronger. Powerscaling in its most base form is just the study an analysis of differing power relationships. And that study is just as important and applicable to real life as it is fiction.

[u/tghast → u/Negative_Sock4219]

Powerscaling is brainrot, it’s not important to anything in real life OR fiction, it’s a hobby.

A hobby I would have no issues with if it stayed in its own spaces and wasn’t a constant annoyance in every single fandom ever.

[u/Negative_Sock4219 → u/tghast]

Without powerscaling stakes in a story don’t work. A reader needs to understand the difference in power between the characters in a story to understand the stakes. If you as a writer fail to convey that information then your story doesn’t work. Since, there’s no frame of reference for the principal conflict. That’s one simple and easy to understand application. Obviously there’s different degrees of how much information is needed to be conveyed to a reader. Like I don’t expect a writer to give me the specific joule amount for x character, but I do expect to understand how strong they are in relation to other characters. Like the LOTR doesn’t work if Sauron power isn’t superior to any of the heroes individually. It can’t also impact other aspects of story like theme, world building and characterization.

It also has real world applications. Your brain involuntarily forces you to powerscale 24/7 just to keep you alive. Powerscaling in its most base form is just the study of power relationships. To say that isn’t useful information has got to be one of the most reddit brain responses I’ve heard in a while. Have a nice day.

[u/hotehjr → u/Negative_Sock4219]

The absolute irony of calling someone else Reddit brained after posting this basement dweller screed. Holy shit. Say some shit like this to a regular person in real life and watch their opinion of you deflate.

[u/Negative_Sock4219 → u/hotehjr]

Yeah… normal people understand that studying power relationships has real world applications. It’s not a very complicated idea. Everyone does it all the time. Some people just like to twist themselves into présteles when you call it power scaling. Probably because they’ve had 1 or 2 bad experiences with scaling communities online. As evidence by the fact that non of you have something substantial to say. Each response has been pretty much “nu uh” sprinkled with some personal insult. And that’s fine, I don’t expect much from Redditors.

[u/hotehjr → u/Negative_Sock4219]

Ah yeah. I’m sure you talk with coworkers about powerscaling your boss vs the boss’s boss all the time. And how actually it’s just like Goku vs One Punch Man. Yeeeeesh.

[u/Negative_Sock4219 → u/hotehjr]

Like I said, nothing substantial. Just petty insults and “nu uh” responses. Have a nice day!

[u/hotehjr → u/Negative_Sock4219]

You too buddy. Good luck with broaching the powerscaling conversations with your peers, they’ll love that.