Deadliest Warrior on Spike TV

[ILikeDeathNote]

I'll take up your suggestion to watch the Aftermath portions, but it really does seem like the "Deadliest Warrior" is whoever racks up the most kills in their little Monte Carlo (read: Excel) simulation, and that that is based directly on the precieved "deadliness" of a weapon.

The reason it says 0 is because the black eggs themselves didn't kill anyone. They're just meant to temporarily blind someone. Let's say the ninja, in one particular simulation, throws the black egg at the Spartan. The Spartan is temporarily blinded allowing the Ninja stabs him to death.

The results from that simulation will read:

Black Egg: 0
Knife: 1

See?

Can we really be sure of that? We don't know what the simulation is, except that Wikipedia says it's based off a Monte Carlo simulation model and that it appears that they're using some sort of spreadsheet program (and we probably only know that thanks to some sloppy and lazy editing on their part as they seem to really want us to believe that we're watching a computer-assisted "simulation" instead of a cheesy reenactment with awful choreographing). I don't think we can really be sure whether incapacitating weapons add to the kill columns for other weapons or if they're just automatic "0" spots, unless someone comes out and says so like in the Aftermath segments (which I still need to watch).

I'm frankly inclined to lean towards the former since every opponent with a non-lethal weapon has ended up with very lopsided results against them when the final "kill" tallies are shown, and the guys have always preferred the lethal weapon matched up against the non-lethal weapon in their in-show analysis.

Heck I'm surprised they awarded the slingshot two kills in the IRA vs Taliban episode.

[l33telboi]

Can we really be sure of that?

They've point-blank stated it twice, when people asked: "Why didn't the black eggs/poison get any kills"? during the aftermath. So yes. We can be 100% sure.

[Mr. Oragahn]

I'll take up your suggestion to watch the Aftermath portions, but it really does seem like the "Deadliest Warrior" is whoever racks up the most kills in their little Monte Carlo (read: Excel) simulation, and that that is based directly on the precieved "deadliness" of a weapon.

The reason it says 0 is because the black eggs themselves didn't kill anyone. They're just meant to temporarily blind someone. Let's say the ninja, in one particular simulation, throws the black egg at the Spartan. The Spartan is temporarily blinded allowing the Ninja stabs him to death.

The results from that simulation will read:

Black Egg: 0
Knife: 1

See?

Why not test a wet toilet roll against a sharpened commando knife then?
It's apples and oranges. One is supposed to be a lethal weapon, the other is not.
Of course, with enough speed, that black egg could...

Like, what's more lethal between a shopping cart and a M-1 Abrams, or a kite and a F-35 fighter.

[l33telboi]

Why not test a wet toilet roll against a sharpened commando knife then?

Judging by your post, I'm guessing you don't know what a black egg is?

Throwing a wet rag at a person is likely to do nothing, while throwing shards of glass into his eyes is quite likely to disable him. That's also probably why the Ninja side considered black eggs a very good weapon - because it is. It's just not designed to insta-kill the other guy, like say, a knife.

[Mike DiCenso]

The Japanse word for the black egg is "Metsubushi" , which properly translates to "eye closer" . It's a throwing weapon that is about the same size and weight as a chicken egg and is usually painted black. One kind is a powder made up of ashes, ground up pepper, mud, flour, dirt, for severe damage fine glass or salt, and other small powders. It was kept in hollowed-out eggs, bamboo tubes or other small container and when confronted by an attacker, a person would throw metsubushi in the attacker's eyes, blinding him, while the victim ran off or hid himself. This practice is what brought about the legends of ninjas disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Some metsubushi were filled with poison, which could add to the de-habilitative effects.

Certainly while the weapon was not fatal, at least not immediately, it was intended to provide a means of defensse and distraction. Either the ninja escapes, or dehabilitates his opponent enough to slip in and get the kill.
-Mike

[ILikeDeathNote]

Can we really be sure of that?

They've point-blank stated it twice, when people asked: "Why didn't the black eggs/poison get any kills"? during the aftermath. So yes. We can be 100% sure.

Fair enough, but the frustrating thing is that we only have their word that it was factored in, we don't know what kind of tactical considerations were placed. The whole Spartan vs. Ninja thing is a flake to begin with because a Ninja wouldn't walk into a brawl with a Spartan, or anyone, in the first place. Ninja were assassins, and when Ninja actually fought someone in 1-on-1 combat, it was because the Ninja royally screwed up their assassination ploy. Hence, their lack of armor and use of distraction weapons to provide a clean getaway. Naturally the Spartan would win since a Spartan actually did fight 1-v-1.

[ILikeDeathNote]

The Japanse word for the black egg is "Metsubushi" , which properly translates to "eye closer" . It's a throwing weapon that is about the same size and weight as a chicken egg and is usually painted black. One kind is a powder made up of ashes, ground up pepper, mud, flour, dirt, for severe damage fine glass or salt, and other small powders. It was kept in hollowed-out eggs, bamboo tubes or other small container and when confronted by an attacker, a person would throw metsubushi in the attacker's eyes, blinding him, while the victim ran off or hid himself. This practice is what brought about the legends of ninjas disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Some metsubushi were filled with poison, which could add to the de-habilitative effects.

If they were about the same size as eggs, and made from eggs, that would be kinda redundant wouldn't it?;)

Certainly while the weapon was not fatal, at least not immediately, it was intended to provide a means of defensse and distraction. Either the ninja escapes, or dehabilitates his opponent enough to slip in and get the kill.

The episode in question did mention the different varieties, and tested two, but seemed to focus mostly on one that was made from shards of glass since that would do the most physical lasting damage against the eye.

[Mike DiCenso]

The problem with the show is the assumptions they went with in what weapon to test and how it would be used in battle. For the most part a black egg is a disabling and distraction device. But in some cases it can be potentially leathal, if it is filled with poison. Of course there's no real way they can test that. But the show fails to look at the whole in the individual warrior's combat styles and methods. Instead they got fixated on cool toys, and other nonsense.
-Mike

[ILikeDeathNote]

But in some cases it can be potentially leathal, if it is filled with poison. Of course there's no real way they can test that.

Actually there is, and they've done it on the show.

When they were testing the poison black egg against the spartan's armored helmet, they saw how well the poison distribution pattern worked against the spartan's eye slots and how well the poison would be sprayed into the spartan's eyes (against a dummy head, of course). As for the lethality of the poison, well we know enough about the lethality of poison through scientific research to not even have to test that. That's one of the reasons why they have the doctor on the show (well, whatever usefulness a UFC doctor has on the show, other than for his main purpose - to promote Spike's sponsorship of the UFC).