In your opinion, how did Robert come up with the idea to put blades in the brim of his original hat?
unprompted asks 【always accepting】
I love getting this type of questions so, first of all, thank you so much for sending it in, Anon!!
As for the question itself, I think the overall idea stemmed mostly from necessity. I'm gonna go a bit into detail here, so I hope you don't mind a bit of a long post!
Robert IS quite good at close range/hand-to-hand combat (whether it involves knives, brass knuckles or just bare fists), however, in a place like Ogre Street, the place we've been told he has lived his entire life in up to the main events of PB at least, sometimes keeping a bit of distance between you and your opponent is the best -and wiser- idea.
And sure, one could argue that that's what guns are for and that one could easily do the work, and that's absolutely correct too. This would actually be the reason why Robert carries his trusty revolver around with him anywhere he goes, after all. However, there are different factors that play into his decision of having more than just one long-range weapon on him at almost all times.
One being his philosophy of always having an ace up his sleeve (and which is a mentality that has saved his ass more than once before, sometimes in life-threatening scenarios)
Another being a very simple but important one: Ammo is not free. And, for someone from the lowest classes like him, it may not always be accessible due to costs. It is worth noting that, due to his role as the boss, he usually has a fairly decent amount of ammo with him as this can make the vital difference in the final outcome of a fight or pretty much any other "unfavorable" situation one can run into in Ogre Street (bit of a side note, but this is also a 'benefit' that he tries to extend to his men). Even then, it would be a foolish mistake on his end to go around wasting bullets, especially in instances where it might not be necessary and other means could be used instead.
Another would be the element of surprise.
Lets be real, how many people would really expect some unsuspecting gay ass bowler hat with pink feathers to also have sharp-blades hidden in the brim?? This revelation tends to make the opponent lower their guard momentarily most of times as they try to make sense of what's going on (this is normally the amount enough for him to land a successful hit, whether it is a deadly one or a highly debilitating one).
And that element of surprise doesn't just stop there. Due to the trajectories the buzzsaw hat can acquire depending on how Speedwagon throws it, it isn't always easy (or possible) for his target to fully read the attack, as opposed to, say, throwing a 'simple' knife.
Though different overall, there's a good example of this previous point in the anime/manga, during that fight between Jonathan and Speedwagon, when Jonathan uses Tattoo's knife as a distraction, sending it flying in a straight line at Speedwagon, and yet, Spw's buzzsaw hat takes a completely different direction effectively avoiding projectile-on-projectile collision and also landing a hit on his target. Needless to mention that the initial and 'instinctive' response of the target would be similar to Jonathan's: Covering yourself with your arms, and which isn't very effective against a blade (adding a bit more to all this, the distraction Jonathan caused was said to have been the reason why that hit Speedwagon landed was not deadly)
As for the very reasonable question some might have about why a hat and not something else, there's a few answers to this, one being (again) the whole element of surprise, and the second being the fact that using the bowler hat as a weapon the way he does requires very little use of the hands. He doesn't have to carry it around like most regular weapons, he just has to wear it instead. Additionally, attacking with it doesn't really require a lot of manipulation either. All this mainly because in a place like London's slums, you have to be ready to fight always (which often includes having your hands free as much as possible).
All of these factors (along with Speedwagon's stubbornness at making his idea come true) eventually led to the creation of that bowler hat we all know.
It is a costly piece overall, but it is worth every single penny he spent on it. It was also specifically made for him by a couple of "friends" (people who owed him some favors, mainly). One of them was a hat maker. The other was a blade-smith. So, in the end, it was costly still, but not as insane expensive as it would have been for the average passerby… if the average passerby ever came up with such a crazy idea for a weapon, that is.
7 notes
·
View notes
Don’t forget the first victims when you go see Oppenheimer this opening weekend. Unforgivable not to include them in the narrative.
We love us some Nolan and Cillian but this is also a story that should never have taken place.
For further reading:
This is what happens when the US government goes nuclear-crazy during the Cold War and mines a shit ton of uranium. Lambs born with three legs and no eyes, and human stillbirths and agonizing deformities for those that survive. For decades it was referred to as a Navajo-specific hereditary illness. No one made the link to the mines and the drinking water.
39K notes
·
View notes
The whole greatsword scabbard discourse gets me because, like, we know the answer to this one. We've got primary sources talking about it. The answer to "how do you carry a weapon that's more than a yard or so long" is:
If you don't think you'll need it on short notice and you're lucky enough to have access to a wagon or other means of transport, you don't carry it at all – you stick it in the wagon.
If you do think you'll need it on short notice or you don't have a wagon, you just carry it in your hands everywhere you go and constantly complain about how dumb and awkward that is, unless you're a professional mercenary and/or independently wealthy, in which case you hire a guy to follow you around carrying it in his hands everywhere you go and he complains about how dumb and awkward that is (though probably not while you're listening).
15K notes
·
View notes
"but if you're pro-union, why are you anti-cop-union?" because cops are not laborers. what cops do is not labor. they are enforcers of the laws that oppress laborers and exist solely to protect capital. don't bother me with stupid questions.
🛑 STOP asking me to make the post rebloggable. i refuse to let a bunch of anticommunists, libertarian anarchists, neoliberal spooks, and other pro-cop fascists pass around their bad-faith additions on a post if i can help it (which i can, by disabling reblogs) while others of you are saying some really misguided, off-topic shit, and it’s pissing me off.
please get your facts straight before embarrassing yourselves on the internet. for fucking ONCE in your lives.
i am not “redefining labor” i SAID that cops are not LABORERS (EXPLOITED WORKERS) unionizing to receive better working conditions for the betterment of their fellow workers. they actually DO participate in collective bargaining, and OTHER, ACTUAL LABOR UNIONS also use collective bargaining power to protect their members! if you argue otherwise, i’m sorry but that is a lie. and also NOT what i was FUCKING SAYING! that's not the point of this!! the derailing and misunderstandings of what a LABOR UNION IS that occurred in the short time this post was rebloggable was too insane not to shut off reblogs!
COP unions, LIKE I SAID IN THE ORIGINAL/ABOVE POST, ARE UNIFIED IN DIAMETRIC OPPOSITION TO THE LIBERATION OF WORKERS, AS IN PEOPLE WHO DO LABOR (WHICH DOES NOT INCLUDE THE LITERAL ARMED PROTECTORS OF CAPITAL)
NO OTHER UNION BASHES, KILLS, OR ARRESTS STRIKING WORKERS LIKE COP (OR PRISON GUARD) UNIONS DO.
if you agree with the post so much that you NEED it on your blog or whatever, post a screenshot of the original post with this part cropped out and leave me the fuck alone! THANK YOUUU!!!!!!!
and to the wiseasses saying screenwriters and actors "aren't laborers, either," are you just fucking stupid actually?
27K notes
·
View notes