Can you really consider someone in a powersuit badass?

[The Sandvich]

I usually don't think power armor is badass at all, now yes, in a the case of Metroid or something that takes place in the vacuum of space they are nessisary. BUT if you're like Master Chief and the ONLY reason you're super powerful is because of your suit then you are far less of a badass. Like you said guys like Batman are badasses BECAUSE they do not need special armor (Most of the time at least)

I understand what you're saying, but like I said earlier, Master Chief was a badass way before he even joined the military

Master Chief has zero (zip) personality, no powers outside of a robot suit, and his pimp is a series of ones and zeros.

He is nothing.

*cough*FallOfReach*cough*

Did we read different books or something? He didn't 'join' anything, he was practically kidnapped when he was like 5, and the ONLY thing we see him do before that is win a game of king of the hill (Or what ever the hell they called it). How low are your standards if a 5 year-old winning a school yard game is badass? After that it was all genetic manipulation and power armor.

I was using "join" as a general term. I'm fully aware that he didn't choose to be a Spartan or be in the military. Maybe it was a mistake on my part to use the word "join", but you don't have to get all angry about it

And that's not what I was referring to when I said he was a badass in that scene, I was talking about his personality. Maybe we have different definitions of badass, but I considered those witty quips he was making at least somewhat cool and badass. Badassery isn't just a person's actions, but their personality

 

[zaiggs]

I sorta feel like power armor is the mythic weapon of this decades video games. It can be badass as anything else I think. In the past, the hero has often been given some mystical weapon or tool to be used to defeat his enemies. It's just another step in games; riffing on the past in different ways.

Sure Master Chief and Samus may be the only ones prancing around in power armor, but you didn't really see anyone other than link with the Master Sword.

Badassery doesn't always come in the armor you wear or the weapons you wield.

It comes in this too:

My point is: badassery lies in the characterization in the characters involved. I'd easily say that a badass character needs a good premise (story) as much as a believable personality.

 

[Terminate421]

What makes the chief Badass is how he gets things done. He doesn't fuck around, even with out the armor.

 

[Nouw]

It's the attitude that counts. Just look at Space Marines.

Does that mean Imperial Guards are?

To me, powersuits on characters don't really detract from "badassery"... not only because of fighting in vacuum or toxic environments mean death without some form of environment-sealed suit, but also because in most cases, the enemies that character faces still manage to outstrip him in strength, speed, et cetera...
Warhammer 40k is the perfect example of this. The imperial guard could be considered most "badass", because they're just grunts fighting the horrors of an insane universe with (often) 20th-century-level armour and a laser pointer. Ten again, they die in the millions more than half the time. You could say, on the other extreme, that the grey knights/deathwatch are the most "badass", they do what the Guard do, only, without dying and with far less of them to start with, but they get fancy powersuits and machine-gun-rpg-launcher-hybrids. And that's the basic Marine.
I take 40k because it has examples of both powersuit and standard-guy "badassery" but the point is made. That greyknight in his fancy terminator armour can still overcome a daemon capable of turning him into sludge by looking at him, armour or no armour. That is still badass. But it doesn't detract from the guardsman who stood his ground against the same daemon, died instantly but bougth the GK enough time to land his killing blow... both badass.

Tl:dr powersuits don't count, it's what you're up against and your willingness to fight it that does... in my opinion anyway...

Fantastic post. Welcome to the Escapist.

This is all irrelevant, because everyone knows that Duke Nukem is the badassiest badass of all time.

I said it once and I'll say it again.

HAIL TO THE KING BABY!

 

[Joseph Crawford]

By the logic you're using, the biggest bad-ass around would be a 5 year old girl that can beat up grown men with the kind of build that Arnold Schwarzenegger is famous for...

(wait... I'm seeing the plot to about 20 different anime series now... XD)

So, careful what you wish for really.

Thing is, your argument implies that the definition of a bad-ass is someone who can fight, and defeat, something that should be well out of their league.

Technology doesn't change anything unless is gives you an obvious, and overwhelming advantage over someone in the same context who does not.

Samus and the Master Chief for instance, are both powerful, but neither is really that strong in context of the kind of things they fight against.

 

[Valkyrie101]

Real men fight in the Imperial Guard! Space Marines are nothing but pussies in heavy armor!

Try telling that to the Astartes. They could rip humans apart naked and unarmed. The power armour is just a bonus.

Using good equipment doesn't make a character a pussy. In fact, not using it if it's available makes them a fucktard. Power armour does not preclude skill and general badassery.

By the way, to the OP, Batman sort of does wear an armoured suit.

 

[David Bray]

Maybe they're badass for reasons other than being able to kill shit.

You shouldn't judge what other people consider badass.

That. Maybe badass is that moment in Fables when you realise Bigby Wolf has a heart. Varying degrees of badass dude.
Oh, and people in powersuits, like Chief, generally have to be hard to begin with, just to operate the suit. Look at the broken bones in the Mjolnir program. And do you really think Samus wouldn't kill you three times over without her suit (stupid new Other M retcon not counting)

 

[Booze Zombie]

Gordon Freeman is a badass and he wears power-armour.
It doesn't matter how a person reaches "badass", it's that they can reach that level at all that makes them as such.

Armour, skills, guns and whatever else they may need, it doesn't matter.

 

[KarumaK]

Someone like Big Boss/Solid Snake, Batman, Auron, Kratos (debatable) are badass because they do their thing with nothing but their own badassery

Do you agree? If not why?

Gadgets, gadegets/cash, magic, demi-god.

I have issues with your argument.

 

[StarStruckStrumpets]

Badassery, to me, is defined by attitude and character. My defintion of a badass?

Sam Fisher. I think it's the voice though...

To be honest I consider lots of game characters badass. If they're a silent protagonist with a "get the job done" attitude, I'm going to love them. Riku for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days would be an example of that.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

Going by that logic, having any kind of advantage makes you less "badass". I don't like using that word...
You could argue that Sephiroth is only as cool as he is because he's got a 700 foot sword to back him up. Sticking to the theory, the most "badass" person in the world would probably be some wrestler who's long abandoned the need for clothes.

Feel the need to point out I don't think Sephiroth's cool, I think he's a knobhead. He was just an example.

Give Tifa his sword and lets see what she can do with it. Sure Batman and Snake have gadgets but who else do you know tha can throw a batarang from extreme distances and hit the exact point he was aiming for or take down a group of hostile soldiers with CQC?

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

Someone like Big Boss/Solid Snake, Batman, Auron, Kratos (debatable) are badass because they do their thing with nothing but their own badassery

Do you agree? If not why?

Gadgets, gadegets/cash, magic, demi-god.

I have issues with your argument.

Like I said to other people, that fact that you have a batarang doesn't gfive you the ability to use it to knock out a group of thugs with a perfect throw. Batman could still be badass with out his gadgets because he actually has skill. He doesn't have a powersuit that gives him super speed, lightning fast reflexes and the power to crush someones head with his barehands. Auron can use magic but so can practically all his enemies. Where is the advantage there? Plus he fights with only one arm. Demi god vs actually god(S), big advantage to the demi god right? I fail to see your logic.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

To be fair, Master Chief did.... you know what? Just read Fall of Reach

I did. He wins games vs other kidnapped kids his age and then goes through some sort of experiment that only makes about 33(I think) survive but it gives he survivors super reflexes strength etc.. Someone like Snake and Batman are normal human beings who can survive vs the most powerful of foes without having to rely on a powersuit that gives the owner even more super strength, super durability, super speed, etc..

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

1. Do not take credit for a word I made up. You owe me a quarter. Don't try to take credit for Awesomegasm either.
2. People like Batman yes, people like Kratos, no. It's easy to be badass when you're divine. That's less badass than being a normal who through a tin can becomes incredibly badass.
People like Snake cannot be badass as they are entirely reliant on stealth which is the opposite of badass.

Snake is not a badass? Ask Otacon what he thinks....

 

[Thedayrecker]

To be fair, Master Chief did.... you know what? Just read Fall of Reach

I did. He wins games vs other kidnapped kids his age and then goes through some sort of experiment that only makes about 33(I think) survive but it gives he survivors super reflexes strength etc.. Someone like Snake and Batman are normal human beings who can survive vs the most powerful of foes without having to rely on a powersuit that gives the owner even more super strength, super durability, super speed, etc..

Well then, you'll know that before he got his armor he fought in regular combat gear, and still was a "badass"

 

[orangebandguy]

40k Marines are already hulking monsters.

 

[Joe Matsuda]

lol Snake vs. Tank

I still don't know how he pulled off that one...

...now I want to see Snake Fight a Tank from L4D...well just Solid Snake being in L4D would be badass