Hundreds of Years of Experience: Although I have to award major nerd-points to the people who remembered just how old the Manhattan Gargoyles really are its important to remember that their experience is primarily in dealing with brute force and military combatants. Ninjitsu as a form of martial arts and as such was SPECIFICALLY developed by smaller weaker people for fighting larger stronger opponents. The Gargoyles would be able to easily rend steel with their bare claws and rent through hordes of Scottish Soldiers their combat style relies wholly on their brute strength and overpowering their foes. The Turtles are much more skilled than THE PACK who though skilled, seemed careless and inexperienced when dealing with super-human opponents. If kept off balance and at weapons reach than the Gargoyle's fighting style is effectively disarmed. Again this can be overcome by damaging their weapons or the Gargoyles propensity to cause mass-collateral damage but these are not tactics that their hundreds years of experience would make them adept at handling.
In conclusion:Although I believe that it would be a MUCH more interesting crossover than a head-to-head if it were to turn into a combat I believe that the ultimate victors would be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I am yet to see a reallyconvincing argument otherwise--either in this thread--or in the Gargoyles TV series.
I wanted to address this sentiment specifically because it's pretty prevalent in this thread as a whole. This isn't entirely addressed at you but at this concept I keep seeing on the battle forum that really bugs me.
No, Scottish fighting styles aren't entirely brute force. No, the gargoyles are NOT unskilled. No, ninjistu isn't an inherently better fighting style than what the western world has.
Every method of fighting is a martial art. Scottish swordplay is just as much a martial art as ninjitsu. It isn't based on using raw strength to overpower your opponent but on precise timing and swift strikes to score a critical hit on your opponent through feints and skilled footwork to bypass your opponent's guard. It involves every bit as much skill to perform as the Japanese equivalent does because, no matter where in the world you come from, all humans want to achieve victory by using the most efficient way possible.
In fact if we actually look at the turtles and how they fight objectively they are TERRIBLE fighters. Constantly employing flips and mid-strike spins that serve no purpose but to lower your guard and let your opponent hit you. Yet for whatever reason people seem to equate flipping with skill, and then accuse characters who don't flip enough as being unskilled. That's ridiculous to me.
Granted the turtles ARE definitely very skilled within the context of their universe where combat is "spiced up" to make it more engaging to watch. I understand that completely. But it's frustrating when people dismiss the combat skill of other characters solely on their lack of spins and flips.
The Gargoyles have hundreds of years of combat experience fighting in wars. Granted for MOST of those fights they were fighting people far beneath them stat wise, but that's really no different than the turtles fighting the Foot Clan all the time. The gargoyle's fighting style IS more feral and brutal than what the turtles use, but that's just playing into their strengths. If you're an eight foot tall giant with wings you don't adopt a fighting style that revolves around doing evasive jumps and flips. But that doesn't mean the gargoyles aren't as proficient in their style as the turtles are in theirs.
Instead of trying to judge which fighter LOOKS more skilled we should look at what they've accomplished in combat. In that capacity the two groups aren't that dissimilar. They both go up against cybernetic warriors, mutant monsters, and reality warping gods all the time and come out on top through sheer intelligence and tactical skill.
That said, depending on the incarnation we're using (the OP's pics didn't load for me) I would give the edge in skill to the turtles. But based on ACHIEVEMENTS. They've competed in inter-dimensional gladiatorial combat on more than one occasion and proven themselves as some of the best fighters in their universe. I just object to the idea that the gargoyles are poor martial artists just because they don't use a Japanese fighting style.
I still feel the garoyles would win however. They do have a massive stat advantage and the ability to "glide" with gives them an advantage in mobility. Unfortunately I can't find any clips of their fights on youtube to debate with. Just a lot of AMVs that show them mostly talking.
I agree that this would make an AWESOME crossover though. I love both these franchises. Plus who wouldn't love to see David Xanatos team up with the Shredder?
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