History Characters / BakiTheGrappler

* LightningBruiser: He matched Baki's own Track and Field records in middle school by completing a 100-meter dash in ten seconds while being a 100kg brick of muscle barefooted[[note]]It is common athletics knowledge and scientifically proven that shoes, and ''especially'' running shoes make a massive difference in the person's time, but ten seconds would be an incredible speed even for a well-trained sprinter in cutting-edge shoes.[[/note]] and launching a baseball for an immeasurable distance in a pitch. These days he's almost two meters tall and 165kg and is even faster and ''far'' stronger.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: He’s actually managed to weaponize his ''gloves'', of all things. It catches Retsu completely off-guard, mainly because gloves were originally introduced into boxing to ''reduce'' the threat of damage. However, Joe takes full advantage of the extra weight they add to his fists in order to give his blows even greater impact.

* EvilBrit: Subverted. He's from the United Kingdom, but he's the least evil of the Five Deathrow Convicts, and given that he describes some Scotch Whiskey as being from his home country, it's more than likely that he's a Scotsman instead.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: The other the two fled the fight after one of them was utterly destroyed by Che.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He's this to Yujiro in terms of raw strength. During their brief confrontation, Pickle actually had Yujiro pressed against a wall. And while Pickle was shown having fun, '''Yujiro was clearly struggling,''' even ultimately having no choice but to finally get the caveman off of him with Aiki ([[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Bare in mind, Yujiro HATES using techniques]]).

* TheBerserker: While Pickle is no stranger to picking up certain attributes that show off his intelligence, albeit to a small degree. Most of his fighting style revolves around maximizing his incredible strength and speed into sheer ferocity due to his primitive nature. This is especially played straight whenever he gets angry and decides to play for keeps, making any fight he's apart of into a bloody mess.

* BloodKnight: He has basically no way of communicating with modern people because he predates the concept of language, but his understanding of "fighting spirit" and such things aren't far from fighters-for-sport of the modern age. Hanayama asserts as much about him after only a single clash with him.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Pickle is too primitive to understand modern morality but still human enough to not be put down like a wild animal. He can appreciate other fighters' spirits but he still tries to attack and sexually assault innocents if he feels like it. He also can't fight his instinct to eat his kills, as he comes from a time where expending calories fighting something and ''not'' eating it could mean starvation. [[spoiler:He cries in sorrow as he eats Retsu's leg, having come to respect the man greatly, but cannot help but eat him]]. Another demonstration is how he assumes that the scientist who shot him wanted to play and rough-house with him, and he attempted to respond in kind by shaking him back and forth and leaving him unharmed, indicating that he does recognize his descendants as fellow people, but isn't above trying to eat the fighters he defeats in spite of this.
* BoringButPractical: One of Pickle's greatest advantages against modern fighters is that his late bipedalism means he has a neck similar in structure to that of a bull or ram, and thus it's incredible stability means that impacts to his head or jaw cannot concuss him. Baki is the only one who figures out who to get around this by specifically striking the miniscule flap of skin attached to the chin to create a whiplash-like effect, forcing Pickle's brain to slam against the walls of his skull repeatedly.
* {{Butterface}}: Inverted. One of the main things that makes him so very odd-looking is that he's got a boyishly handsome face atop his massive, lanky body, emphasising that he's on the precise dividing line between a person and a prehistoric monster.

** Also, despite [[spoiler:Miyamoto Musashi]] beating him badly enough to leave him bleeding and scarred, next time they meet Pickle is genuinely happy of having found a strong friend and offers him crocodile meat and entrails he hunted in the sewer as a gesture of affection.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Given he is from the prehistoric times, his values aren't the same as a modern day person. Best exemplified when he forced himself on a female journalist, not realizing such a thing is regarded as very wrong now. He does seem to understand that he hasn't made a good first impression and for the most part stays out of the public eye afterwards.

* FullFrontalAssault: Pickle apparently predates the idea of ''clothing'' so he usually just waddles around with his stuff hanging out, though he does make enough of an (un)educated guess that clothes are the norm for humans in the modern day, and the scientists taking care of him were eventually kind enough to provide Pickle with a fundoshi while he was sleeping so that Itagaki didn't have to draw and then censor Pickle's junk every time he drew him.

** Pickle proves capable of ''fully realigning his joints'' to a crooked stance that allows him to throw his punches with a range of motion downright impossible for Homo Sapiens without literally tearing their muscles and ligaments apart. It's so hard to describe that even the fighters are stumped for a conclusive explanation to this day, but Retsu thinks it's something humans lost the moment they began to consider the idea of external weapons as an option.

* IAmAHumanitarian: Pickle eats anything he kills, humans, his genetic descendants, included.

** On a lesser note, one of the first scenes that demonstrates that he's more than just a prehistoric brute is when he's convinced a scientist that shot him in self-defense due to being startled by him wanted to play and rough-house with him, indicating that he's intelligent enough to have a concept of play. He also fleeces a man pissing in an alleyway for his clothes because he figured that since everyone wears them, he would have to to fit in.

* NighInvulnerability: Pickle is, to put it quite simply and accurately, built different. He's so ungodly tough that his only reaction to getting ran over by a cold-storage truck is to immediately get back up and ram the truck with a tackle for so rudely getting in his way, before [[BigEater going through the truck's entire contents in a matter of minutes]] before wandering off, completely unharmed. Jack's jaw-shattering uppercut that manages to send his huge body flying is barely even a nuisance to him, and Musashi taking his katana to him and cutting at his joints only inconveniences him enough to run off, [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity seemingly immune to infection as well as he proceeds to hide in the sewers afterwards]].

* NobleDemon: Despite living entirely by killing and eating, having no concept of language or manners and being largely ruled by his instincts, he's still not ''inhuman'', and is able to communicate with people of the modern day (not without certain caveats, of course). When Katsumi offers him his ruined arm, he goes on his knees with his hands folded as if in prayer because he recognizes the great value of the "gift" presented to him as food.

* ReligiousBruiser: It's not really in question ''whether'' Pickle is capable of the concept of a 'higher being', merely whether his idea of {{God}} resembles ours in any way; His way of giving thanks to Katsumi for offering his shredded arm, after fighting for his own higher purpose of taking Karate to the next level, is identical to the way humans have recorded themselves doing since before antiquity; [[https://i.imgur.com/71AWQ47.png Going on his knees, bowing his head, and folding his hands.]]

* RunningGag: Him getting hit in the groin by most of the characters who fight him during his arc. He gets hit down there by Baki, Retsu, and Katsumi, which is mostly a product of him towering over all of them and not thinking to defend his groin, making it an easy target.

* SuperStrength: Actually surpassed Yujiro in a test of strength, forcing him to use a technique to get him off. It's so extreme that Pickle snaps the spine of an oversized Siberian Tiger with little more than a tight hug, and in one panel detailing his exploits, he's shown '''shoulder-throwing a charging Triceratops''' Judo-style by grappling two of its horns and throwing it over himself mid-charge.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Due to him coming from a society based around cooperative hunting and grouping together in tribes to survive, Pickle has no incentive to fight his fellow man except for entertainment, to play with others from his tribe and mark territory, thus the very idea of martial arts is inconceivable to him. Due to this, he'll become overwhelmed with fear and immediately flee to safety if his opponent proves to be a genuine threat to his life, due to being a hunter and a survivor first and foremost, as shown with Jack and Musashi.

* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Justified somewhat, since the "name" is more of a nickname the scientists who dug him out and began testing on him gave him for convenience, though it ends up sticking due to fitting rather well since Pickle was, well, pickled by the saline rock formation; Perfectly preserving him in a dense layer of salt to ensure he wouldn't hit an "expiration date" and decompose.

** PlayedForLaughs in the Baki Domoe parody strips, as he winds up receiving the same knifehand chop that Yuujiro used to kill Yuu Amanai, courtesy of a VERY pissed off Kozue as part of the running gag of her recreating Yuujiro's scenes with her in the place of the ogre when Baki chose the caveman over her when she, Jyaku Kaioh, Doyle, as well as Hanayama, Doppo, and Retsu were playing a blind date game hosted by Tokugawa.

* PoisonousPerson: Downplayed, but he does a painful procedure of dipping his right hand into a mixture of sand and extremely lethal toxins from various animals like centipedes and starfish among others, then dipping it in an antidote mixed into another pot full of sand, before rotating back, etc. This infuses the toxins it into his hand without killing him outright, making it capable of poisoning his opponents lethally in a single strike.

* PoisonousPerson: Downplayed, but he does a painful procedure of dipping his right hand into a mixture of sand and extremely lethal toxins from various animals like centipedes and starfish among others, then dipping it in an antidote mixture before rotating back, etc. This infuses the toxins it into his hand without killing him outright, making it capable of poisoning his opponents lethally in a single strike.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Defied. As he's primarily focused on mastering his emphasis on pure technique, '''and he's had 100 years to do so,''' he stands out above many other masters in the series, '''and to a pretty scary degree.''' [[spoiler:He's officially one of the only people in the series who gave Yujiro a hard time in a fight, and even '''spooked''' him for a bit.]]
* HorrifyingTheHorror: [[spoiler:Once he starts showing the true depth of his abilities, he actually becomes the first and ONLY character in the series to EVER briefly and very VISIBLY spook [[TheDreaded YUJ]][[WorldsStrongestMan IRO]], and even leaves him with no other choice than to, of all things, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness DODGE AND BLOCK some of his attacks.]]]]

A biological clone of the swordsman who brought low sixty men in a duel, Musashi was reborn to see how he'd stack up to the best fighters of modern times through an altogether irresponsible scientific experiment Tokugawa funded starting in the 1980's to bring the "Strongest under the Heavens" from 1584-1645 back into the modern day.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: [[AvertedTrope A big heaping helping of "HELL NO!", served with a massive side of "Anything BUT the case!"]] As he's primarily focused on mastering his emphasis on pure technique, '''and he's had 100 years to do so,''' he stands out above many other masters in the series, '''and to a pretty scary degree.''' [[spoiler:He's officially one of the only people in the series who gave Yujiro a hard time in a fight, and even '''spooked''' him for a bit.]]
* HorrifyingTheHorror: [[spoiler:Once he starts showing the true depth of his abilities, he actually becomes the first and ONLY character in the series to EVER briefly and very VISIBLY spook [[TheDreaded YUJ]][[WorldsStrongestMan IRO]], and even leaves him with no other choice than to, of all things, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness DODGE AND BLOCK some of his attacks.]] Let that sink in for a moment. '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis THIS. MAN. MADE. YUJIRO. FEEL. FEAR.]]''']]

* WakeUpCallBoss: He's the first and only boxer who actually gives Retsu a serious run for his money, unlike the previous opponents who were more or less defeated in a single punch. After a hard-fought battle, Retsu eventually hits him with a [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique knuckle-strike to a vital]] PressurePoint on the face he'd normally never consider to use on someone who doesn't know of it, which finally shuts Crazier's lights off.

* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Befitting his position as the exposition-spouting, unknown narrator, we never see him on screen, none of the characters hear him, and they don’t know he exists.

* StageMagician: His fighting style is inspired by the stories of magicians willing to mutilate themselves for their tricks, complete with [[HiddenWeapons spring-loaded blades in his elbows and knees activated via small-joint manipulation and hand gestures,]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and a one-way explosive charge in his chest cavity]]. He is also very good at hedisappearing act and pulling tricks out of his sleeves such as a BoozeFlamethrower. His picture is similar to a magician pose.

* StageMagician: His fighting style is inspired by the stories of magicians willing to mutilate themselves for their tricks, complete with [[HiddenWeapons spring-loaded blades in his elbow activated via small-joint manipulation and hand gestures,]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and a one-way explosive charge in his chest cavity]]. He is also very good at hedisappearing act and pulling tricks out of his sleeves such as a BoozeFlamethrower. His picture is similar to a magician pose.

* StageMagician: His fighting style is inspired by the stories of magicians willing to mutilate themselves for their tricks. He is pretty good at disappearing act and pulling tricks out of his sleeves himself. His picture is similar to a magician pose.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: It would be no exaggeration to call him the [[OldMaster Orochi Doppo]] of underground Kenpo and even Yujiro uses Ron as an example to give Baki a lesson on [[IaijutsuPractitioner Iajutsu]] and it's benefits. He gives Oliva, one of the strongest men in world, a serious run for his money. Despite this, he's never shown up again since the Raitai Tournament, though his Hand Pocket technique is brought up as a ChekhovsGun in Baki and Yujiro's fight.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/BinShimada (JP, Netflix ONA), Creator/VicMignogna (EN, Netflix ONA Season 1), Creator/KyleMcCarley (EN, Netflix ONA Season 2)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakuyaEguchi (JP, ONA), Creator/KyleHebert (EN, anime), Creator/GregChun (EN, Netflix ONA)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/RikiyaKoyama (JP, anime), Creator/KaijiTang (EN, anime)

->Voiced by: Creator/{{Chafurin}} (JP, Netflix ONA), Creator/KyleHebert (EN, Netflix ONA), Alex Montiel ([=LatAm=], Netflix ONA)

->Voiced by: Creator/TakehitoKoyasu (JP, Netflix ONA), Creator/JohnnyYongBosch (EN, Netflix ONA), Idzi Dutkiewicz ([=LatAm=], Netflix ONA)

->Voiced by: Issei Futamata (JP, Netflix ONA), Chris Edgerly (EN, Netflix ONA)

* MadeOfIron: Survives [[spoiler:having his face ripped off.]]

* EdibleThemeNaming: Speck has the same name of a particular type of Italian smoked ham.

* FluffyTheTerrible: The most psychotic and dangerous of the five death row convicts... and he's named Speck.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Muhammad Ali ''does'' have a son named Ali Jr. (born 1972), but he was hardly an only child, being the fourth of nine children, and took up making films and a museum about his father's legacy instead of boxing professionally.

* WorldsStrongestMan: Was this during the Jurassic era, and is likely this for the modern age as well, given his brief spar with Yujiro.

* BaritoneOfStrength: He has a ''very'' deep and intense tone of voice, courtesy of Koyama Rikiya and he's regarded as one of the strongest fighters in the series.

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine:
** Speck gets bulldozed by Hanayama, someone who outstrips him in both strength and endurance [[{{Determinator}} that never lets up.]] Not only does his arm get shredded by Hanayama's monstrous grip, he then proceeds to get a piece of his thigh torn off before getting choked into unconsciousness, which pretty much all but says that [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll he's not as tough as he claims to be]].
** Dorian relies on underhanded tactics and cheap shots, and once all that goes out the window, he doesn't stand a chance against Doppo [[spoiler:who had just had his hand reattached.]] Then he gets frightened into admitting defeat by a half-conscious Katou, ''then'' he gets a wake-up call from Retsu who admonishes him for wanting to taste defeat despite having never experienced a real victory before. [[HeelRealization The shock of it all makes him mentally regress back into a child.]]
** Sikorsky, a [[CombatPragmatist dirty fighter]] who believes that rules and honor soil the spirit of a fight, not only suffers a ruthless beatdown by Baki at least half a dozen times, but also gets absolutely manhandled by Jack (who [[NoSell shrugs off all of his attacks]] and pummels him senseless) and defeated at his own game by Gaia (who also fights pragmatically and relies on underhanded tactics, albeit much more effectively) who psychs Sikorsky out so much that he starts begging for his life.
** Doyle suffers one by Retsu who decided to play his game when the rule book is thrown out the window, gets the living shit kicked out of by Doppo, and gets pounded into humility by Katsumi.
** Yanagi gets handed a sound loss by Motobe, a vastly superior weapons master, before [[spoiler:getting all the teeth in one half of his face knocked out by Yujiro for his troubles]].

* {{Determinator}}: He keeps getting back up even after horrible punishment. This is {{Deconstructed}} as his inability to know when to give up makes him come across less as valiant and awe-inspiring and more like an arrogant asshole. After all, the people he goes up against are individuals who fight to the death on a routine basis- failing to admit defeat against them when they ''willingly spare you'' is basically spitting in the face of their mercy.

* ImmuneToBullets: Oliva [[NoSell no sells]] a shotgun blast to his stomach. The shotgun pellets fail to penetrate his abs and he squeezes the pellets out of his body by flexing.

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: PlayedForLaughs in a Baki Domoe strip. When Kozue and Baki go to a clothes store he owns in the strip for a date at a restaurant, he reveals that one of the selling points of his stores products is that they're able to be easily flexed off, as Baki demonstrates, causing an [[AdaptationalBadass enraged Kozue]] to headbutt him in the face in the exact same manner he did to Ron Shobun out of pure fury at the idiocy of it all.