Who! Is! Deadliest?! (Deadliest Warrior Back for Blood)

[Thanas]

So we have one guy wearing armor, has a large shield and weapons designed for melee combat vs a guy with....what, exactly?

[Stuart]

I've watched a couple of these and they're fit only for laughs. The IRA vs Taliban was pathetic - they gave the IRA a flamethrower as one of their standard weapons and there is just one - one - recorded case of the IRA using one. Didn't give the IRA a sniper rifle when that was one of their primary weapons.

As for the SS vs Vietcong, that was beneath contempt. Firstly, with the weapons set in question, that wasn't the Vietcong, that was the Viet Minh. And we know what happened when the SS met the Viet Minh, the jungle floor got wiped with German ass.

Yuch, a waste of perfectly good electrons.

[Elfdart]

I've watched a couple of these and they're fit only for laughs. The IRA vs Taliban was pathetic - they gave the IRA a flamethrower as one of their standard weapons and there is just one - one - recorded case of the IRA using one. Didn't give the IRA a sniper rifle when that was one of their primary weapons.

As for the SS vs Vietcong, that was beneath contempt. Firstly, with the weapons set in question, that wasn't the Vietcong, that was the Viet Minh. And we know what happened when the SS met the Viet Minh, the jungle floor got wiped with German ass.

Yuch, a waste of perfectly good electrons.

My dad had a photo of an MG-34 (what was left of it) being used by a VC (what was left of him). I always assumed the weapon was somehow obtained by the VC via the black market or possibly the Russians or Chinese. Did the French use them in the early 50s?

[Elfdart]

So we have one guy wearing armor, has a large shield and weapons designed for melee combat vs a guy with....what, exactly?

A guy with armor, shield and weapons designed for melee. Oh and a killer Frisbee, so naturally he won.

[Marcus Aurelius]

It was. The MP40 was only ever issued to elite units, paratroopers, tank crews and assault infantry. The SS, which was equipped with second-rate stuff due to the Wehrmacht hating them and thinking them unprofessional rabble (an assesment which generally was true, though it changed later on), likely only used the MP40 in very limited numbers. Note that this however changed, you can see pics of the battle of warsow with whole squads of SS men having MP40s, but for the vast majority of SS men, the MP28 is a far better representative.

That said, why anybody would pick the SS and make it the subject of a glorified "TOUGH GUYS" competition is beyond me. Far better to have picked elite Wehrmacht formations like the Panzer-Lehr or the Grossdeutschland division.

The MP40 was manufactured in much larger numbers than the MP28, and once the Waffen SS was moved up on the weapons priority list due to Hitler's increasing mistrust of the Wehrmacht after Stalingrad, it started to receive more MP40s. So before 1943 the Waffen SS would not have many MP38/40s, but in 1944 the situations would be quite different already. Of course this upgrading of weaponry included primarily the small numbered Waffen SS divisions, many of which were also refitted to full Panzer Divisions in 1943. The new Waffen SS Divisions formed in late 1942 and 1943 also received good equipment, but the higher numbered divisions formed in 1944 and 1945 were equipped with anything that was available at the moment. Many of them had mostly non-German enlisted men and were often issued with captured weapons.

As for why the SS was picked: "everybody" knows that German WW2 elite force = Waffen SS. Shows like the one in question are not made for people with more than skin deep knowledge of history.

[Stuart]

My dad had a photo of an MG-34 (what was left of it) being used by a VC (what was left of him). I always assumed the weapon was somehow obtained by the VC via the black market or possibly the Russians or Chinese. Did the French use them in the early 50s?

Most likely was war-captured MG-34s from Russia. Second would be MG-34s from China; pre WW2 the Chinese had (IIRC) eight divisions trained and equipped by the Germans. It's just slightly possible they came from Thailand; the Thais intended to manufacture the MG-34 under license but only a handful were ever made. Postwar, they made some chambered for 7.62x51 NATO but they had M60s foisted off on them instead.

Most likely Russian war-capture and then shipped out as aid.

[Stargate Nerd]

I love how the Spartan won both his bouts because his opponents couldn't get past his shields, yet the Roman Centurion didn't even get to use his shield. So much for consistency.

[Elfdart]

I love how the Spartan won both his bouts because his opponents couldn't get past his shields, yet the Roman Centurion didn't even get to use his shield. So much for consistency.

That's because Romans are soooo old school 1950s oh-so-subtle Cinemascope homoerotic (Ben-Hur, Spartacus), where thanks to 300 the Spartans represent the kind of full-blown Frank Miller gay porn that fat guys in comic stores can really embrace.

It's like the Romans are Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity while the Spartans are Shannon Tweed in <insert name of late-night erotic thriller skin flick here>. Sure Stanwyck was a better actress and Double Indemnity a better movie than Indecent Behavior 3, but guess which one masturbating fanboys want to watch?

[Imperial528]

I wanted to vomit after the Alexander the Great V. Attila the Hun episode.
For the Hun bow, they get a world class horse archer. Yet the Greek crossbow is fired by some dude who doesn't even know how to load a crossbow correctly, let alone aim or fire any weapon of that size. Although, (I doubt they got this correct though) having to load it the way they did it would be a drawback.

But that's why they know that people get prepared before they try to kill each other, right?

I stopped watching after a few more episodes, since they will compare two weapons in one field, not considering the fact that one of those weapons may not have even been designed for that purpose. (Swords designed to slash being different from those meant to stab being something they apparently can't fathom.)

Anyone else notice they used Microsoft Excel 07 to run their "1000 wank-tastic battles"?

[Elfdart]

The show is a trainwreck, but entertaining in its badness -like a Steven Seagal movie. I'd like to see a parody version where it's some wanked-out fighting man (past or present) vs a fat slob in a wife-beater T-shirt. The slob wins every time by simply kicking the Mighty Warrior in the nuts, throwing sand or flour in his eyes or telling him his shoelaces are untied, then kneeing him in the face. Then the slob flexes his muscles rolls of flab.

[Vympel]

I'm not sure how much longer this show can last, really, given the matchups they've already had. There's not really that many 'warriors' you can pit against each other before you run out.

[Superman]

I'm not sure how much longer this show can last, really, given the matchups they've already had. There's not really that many 'warriors' you can pit against each other before you run out.

I think I read it's currently the highest rated show on the network. That pretty much means it isn't going anywhere, at least not for a while. But you're right, it will be interesting to see how the writers try to keep the show fresh.

[LaCroix]

They will start ST vs SW comparisons, and then branch out to all other SF Merchandises...

[The Spartan]

Or they could take some of their past winners and start matching them up. Knight (or was it the Pirate?) vs Spartan for example.

[aieeegrunt]

We could get some epic stupidity here, like Pirates verses Waffen SS

[spaceviking]

I would actually like to see that just to hear the reasoning from the pirate guys who I’m sure would still argue in favour of the pirates. The pirates would just sidestep the machine gun fire.

[Oscar Wilde]

I just wish they weren't too afraid of internet backlash to do Pirate vs Ninja, though the wank would drive me crazy again.

[Meest]

I don't even think it's that, they just seem inept. Their website this week wasn't even changed to show it was a repeat, just simple things like that. Their blogs on the site are sloppy and sometimes shows how dumb these "experts" are. It's a bunch of young guys that got a hit show and want to milk it or it's them acting to please the low common denominator audience. The biomedical guy especially is acting dumbed down this season.

[Night_stalker]

Spetznaz vs Green Berets.

Green Berets. Instead of using Delta, Rangers, Force Rec, or even SEALS, they pick Green Berets? WTF is wrong with the producers? Why bother comparing sniper rifles if you ARENT EVEN GOING TO HAVE THEM BE BLOODY USED?

[PeZook]

Green Berets. Instead of using Delta, Rangers, Force Rec, or even SEALS, they pick Green Berets? WTF is wrong with the producers? Why bother comparing sniper rifles if you ARENT EVEN GOING TO HAVE THEM BE BLOODY USED?

Uh...what exactly is the problem with using Green Berets?

[Questor]

Green Berets. Instead of using Delta, Rangers, Force Rec, or even SEALS, they pick Green Berets? WTF is wrong with the producers? Why bother comparing sniper rifles if you ARENT EVEN GOING TO HAVE THEM BE BLOODY USED?

Uh...what exactly is the problem with using Green Berets?

My understanding is that the Green Berets are known more for their original job of training guerrillas in occupied countries. Almost everything I've read about them has been in that role.

[PeZook]

My understanding is that the Green Berets are known more for their original job of training guerrillas in occupied countries. Almost everything I've read about them has been in that role.

That's one of their primary jobs, but they're quite good at killing people by themselves, too. I'd have a bigger problem with facing off a specific unit (1st Special Forces) against an unspecified Spetznaz formation - since Spetznaz simply means "special force", and there's a fuckload of various units with different missions and equipment, you can have anything from units geared for anti-terrorism to full-blown nuclear sabotage. Lots of people forget that Spetznaz is not a specific formation.

[Night_stalker]

That's my point, they didn't do a whole lot of research about their subjects prior to filming.