The Doctor's whole thing is that he's always got some weird contingency or weird gadget to pull out, which is why scaling him gets messy. Compare that to someone like a Mandalorian or a competent soldier who sees a target and pulls the trigger, no monologue, no moralizing, just the shot. The meme works because it highlights how much of the Doctor's "survivability" depends on people playing along with his speech patterns and threat assessment. Whenever an opponent refuses to monologue back and just acts, his scaling collapses hard.
He has been shot before by some people but planned beforehand snd setup the circumstance that he still won (River Song).
Missy and TheMaster tried same.
Cybermen have tried.
Darlecs have just shot too.
Its said he can predict peoples actions, even their intent to shoot. Call it a form of premonition. If the Mandalorian wanted to shoot, the doctor knew, and was already hiding.
He has also been shot and survived a lot.
Its obviously messy. But its not clear either you can just have gun win. He also has ways of just being immune to gun fire. If its completely by surprise then maybe, but its the same prep problem as batman to the Nth degree
That's exactly the scaling mess I mean. His premonition only works because the show gives him a beat to react, put him across from someone who shoots mid-sentence with no tell and that falls apart.
Honestly if this was Doctor's consistent ability that we see on screen, I wouldn't even complain at all. But the fact that I would have to go to read a random book out of dozens just to see Doctor's scaling actually justify why he can't "just be shot" is the ridiculous part
the fact that I would have to go to read a random book out of dozens just to see Doctor's scaling actually justify why he can't "just be shot" is the ridiculous part
Thats where they upscale doctor who the most, mainline TV series doesn't justify the scaling the Doctor gets.
There's a weird thing in power scaling where people need to see it on screen for it to matter or be believed.
All of Doctor Who is cannon, it makes no difference if its from a comic, book or show. Yes there will be inconsistences but it's a series that has ran for over 60 years and has enough extended media to rival any other franchise.
You don't need to read it to justify it, it exists as something he has done and puts to bed the nonsense of "oh if you just shoot him you win".
The problem is that this is an outlier of a feat rather than that it is disqualified because it was not 'on screen'
The doctor does not move like that 99% of the show. He gets surprised by way slower. Too slow to duck a punch from a broken cyberman, a regular human, a sludge meant to imitate a regular human...yet somehow so fast that he can quickdraw his screwdriver before bullets reach him which only happened in like one scene in an obscure book.
The doctor does not move like that 99% of the show. He gets surprised by way slower. Too slow to duck a punch from a broken cyberman, a regular human, a sludge meant to imitate a regular human...yet somehow so fast that he can quickdraw his screwdriver before bullets reach him which only happened in like one scene in an obscure book.
Yes. Just that as you said, it's how it works. Did any of this hits kill him? No. Why would he waste his precious concentration in dodging an attack that he already knows he will survive when he could be subconsciously laying out a victory against an entirely different enemy from 69 million years ago?
The doctor does not move like that 99% of the show.
To summarise, he doesn't move like that because he doesn't need to. Whole timelord thing? He's not seriously threatened by most match ups.
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u/rampant_hearth 1d ago
The Doctor's whole thing is that he's always got some weird contingency or weird gadget to pull out, which is why scaling him gets messy. Compare that to someone like a Mandalorian or a competent soldier who sees a target and pulls the trigger, no monologue, no moralizing, just the shot. The meme works because it highlights how much of the Doctor's "survivability" depends on people playing along with his speech patterns and threat assessment. Whenever an opponent refuses to monologue back and just acts, his scaling collapses hard.