I just had a great philosophical epiphany while thinking about SR 2nd edition in a AIM conversation.

Musashi san999: I'm saying that SR has a strong 1980s look and feel.
Musashi san999: Based on artwork and world content.
Musashi san999: It's true they started to get away from that in 3rd ed by making Western corporations also important.
Musashi san999: But, up until then, it was screamingly 80s.
Musashi san999: Even the Amerindian emphasis that appeared in 2nd edition...quite Chuck Norris, quite 80s.
Musashi san999: If Chuck Norris dressed in leathers and mocasins goes up against Tadashi Yamashita wearing a blue suit and swinging a katana, will the universe be unmade?
Musashi san999: That is the question posed to me by SR 2nd editon.

80's ... you mean hair bands and flourescent colours dominate your game?

I guess it is because I started in about 93 ... but I thought shadowrun had a great seattle grunge, goth feel to it, and felt more 90's.

I miss the 80's but the glam silver and synthesizers were not prevalent in the games we played. I must admit ... the 80's move blade runner had an influence on us, but it didn't feel so retro.

It even had flying cars.

But especially the music scene in SR2 is so 80-based. I always imagined Maria Mercurial and all the other famous bands looking like early Mötley Crüe or Bon Jovi. All those Death-Core, Troll Thrash (what a shit) oder Cyber Speed bands remembered me of 80s thrash bands like Anthrax or early Iron Maiden.

Chuck Norris would disarm Yamashita using the double-palm sword grab and then kock him out him with a highly telegraphed jump kick. At least, that is how it would go if it were an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.

Someone seriously needs to make a group Lone Star cops based on Walker and his buddies.

And then someone needs to beat up that group.

Faceless Ninja Thugs?

Or... Drop Bears?

BAH!

Amateurs....

The Foreigner--the comic-book version, anyway-- would eat Norris for lunch.

In the fifth-season episode "The Deadliest Man Alive", Ranger Walker came up against an international assassin, Steven Michael Jameson, a/k/a "The Viper" (Kai Wulff), and just barely managed to defeat him.

And The Foreigner is at least as good as "The Viper".



--Foreigner

For reference, Chuck Norris is only famous because Jackie Chan deigned to kick his ass.

[/returns to vacation]

Wasn't that Bruce Lee in Return of the Dragon?

Quite right. Mistyped meself.

Chuck Norris was rather well knw among martial arts circles before Return of the Dragon. It just helped him cash in on the Hollywood martial arts craze.

Chuck Norris was a great martial artist in his heyday. It is apparent from comparing his preformance in Walker to his preformance in Return of the Dragon that his abilities have degraded over time. It is only natural.

Of course, one souldn't confuse the actor with the characters he plays. The Free Forest Spirit from The Forest Warrior would probably kick major but, being a Free Spirit and all.

Delta Force's Major Scott McCoy has high launch weapon and gunnery skills that would compensate for any shortcomings he has in unarmed combat.

Bah, if I made a free forest spirit, I'd base it on Smokey the Bear.


"Bob, the massive grizzly bear wearing a ranger hat clobbers you with that shovel again. He's screaming:

'ONLY YOU! ONLY YOU!'"

As a trivia aside, Chuck Norris isn't the only Hollywood Martial Artist to have his ass kicked by Bruce Lee in a movie. Jackie Chan played "guard who has his neck broken thus triggering a slow motion ten second Bruce Lee battle cry of victory" in Enter the Dragon.

<M1965 steel helmet - check>
<Shrapnel proof vest - check>
<Erwin Rommel memorial glasses - check>
<Dugout prepared and occupied - check>

I freely admit to being a Chuck Norris fan, at least if he is not "Missing in Action" and I love the "Walker" series for the group-setup

But I also admit that while he might be a great martial artist, he is not a great actor. As they say "Norris or a plank, where's the difference"

Birdy

Mr. T starred in the ever inspiring "Mister T" where he and a band of kid gymnasts fought crime...

Chuck Norris was star of "Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos" which was totally misnamed, because, well he was the only one who knew karate... but it did have a sumo wrestler, and only Chuck Norris could stand up to the nefarious "Super Ninja"...

My IMDB-fu is strong today...

I would like to point out, that at 50 years old, Chuck Norris won the US Full contact Karate championship.

Regardless of his acting ability, the man is bad. He wa also a student of the late great Bruce Lee.

Of course Jet Li could whup them all

IIRC, Norris and Lee sparred on many occaisions, Norris was reputed to hold his own in most fights and win a fair share.

Funny, I always though Jet Li was just an actor, wasn't until later I found out he had a similair past to Bruce Lee, minus the heavy Yakuza ties.

Nikoli:

Wasn't Lee of CHINESE extraction?

The Internet Movie Database says that the former Lee Jun Fan--his birth name-- was three-quarters Chinese and one-quarter German--his father was a singer with the Cantonese Opera, and his mother was of mixed German and Chinese ancestry.

Methinks that he would've had connections with one of the Triads or Tongs, rather than the Yakuza.

--Foreigner

No, he ran up severe debts in a Yakuza controlled gambling establishment when he was young.

Connections meaning he owed them money. The idea of which spawned on of his better movies, Game of Death

Nikoli, Shadow:

I stand corrected.

I wasn't aware of that; I'm afraid that I know next to nothing about him other than what I've read on IMDB and other movie-related Websites.

My apologies if my earlier post offended either of you. That was not my intention.



--Foreigner

rumor has it that he worked for the Yak's to pay off the debts. And not as an actor.

No offense taken, logically it would make more sense if he had gone into debt with the triads or similair organization. It happened when he was working as an extra in Japanese movies. iirc

Foreigner you have offended me, you wanna fight? FIGHT ME!

j/k its a line from Return of the Dragon

Oh man Bruce was the best. Can you imagine the career he could have had if he hadn't died? Enter The Dragon was a huge commercial hit in the US, he would have gone on to make more American movies... sigh. It would have been awesome.

Until he got old, fat and became a pathetic shell of himself. Living out his golden years charging fifty bucks for an autograph at conventions

Somehow I don't think he would have ever gotten fat. And more likely he would have pioneered the transition from Actor to Director.

Technically speaking, he already had `pioneered` that transition... Bruce Lee had a hand in all aspects of filmmaking...

Shadow:

I have only one thing to say with regard to your challenge--

You hit me, an' I'll BLEED ALL OVER YOU!



--Foreigner

Blood? Theres blood when you fight? Ewww. I surrender