MH Content Discussion, Lore Interpretations, and Theorycrafting

Figured we might as well have a general-purpose thread for random or perhaps even specific thoughts about MH. So many things in MH to talk about, and so many different possible explanations and theories to discuss. Meh - personally, I get a kick out of hearing various theories about games and interpretations of more ambiguous or otherwise subtle lore, and I think MH tends to be underestimated and ignored quite a bit in that regard despite presenting a fairly rich world, some rather interesting quest descriptions and item flavor text, and other such minutia. Plus, MH4U actually has a relatively fleshed-out campaign and extended story compared to previous titles.

But for now, I'll start off with something simple - the age-old issue of hunters flexing when drinking potions. Plenty of people are quick to dismiss this as artificial difficulty and utter nonsense, despite or even because of the fact that it is fairly justified as a gameplay incentive for forcing players to learn effective timing for item use (or perhaps even not get hit in the first place).

My theory/excuse for this mechanic is pretty simple: potions restore health by regrowing and repairing damaged muscle, skin, bones, nerves, &c. in such a way that it is borderline traumatic in and of itself to experience. The characteristic flex is simply an involuntary reaction to the sheer pain and force of undergoing such rapid and significant physical changes. Meh, in any case - it's nothing compared to what plasmids do to your body in Bioshock, yeah?

I've thought that the NANOMACHINES SON was a bit too advanced in the lore. While they have stuff like the bowguns, and explosive axes, I can't fully agree. It would be a reasonable explanation in hindsight, but let's go back to what they're made of. A single herb, and a blue mushroom. Megas add in a single piece of honey. I mean, maybe that mushroom is a pretty hefty fungus with very quick moving properties once mixed in with a herb. And we don't know which herb it is specifically. Just "herb."

To explain the flexing at least, you're going to test out your body after recovering from an injury. You broke your arm and just got your cast off? Swing that thing all over the place! That much seems only natural to me. The effects of the potions are just magnified, somehow healing the damage of a giant fireball from an Alatreon, pushing you further away from being knocked out. So all the pain from being burned alive is gone, enjoy moving that body of yours around. You now feel powerful in comparison.

the herb+shroom thing KINDA makes sense due to a wile variety of herbs and mushrooms do have healing properties in real life. As for the honey thing alot of actual medicine has a sugary substance in it like honey to double the efficiency of which your body heals.

Ohlol. Lost - I wasn't going for nanomachines son (yet/at this point). I was more thinking something along the lines of Harry Potter's Skelegro or more or less purely-biological plasmids.

Of course, you make a good point in bringing up the components of potions - mushrooms and herbs, and other ~stronger~ potions have similar components. Starting off with the basics, I guess it is jumping the gun a bit to begin with theorizing about potions, because herbs by themselves also heal a fair bit and cause a similar ~aftereffect~ (so it also stands to reason that other ingredients are basically just enhancing this base effect). Anyways, herb is kinda generic, and I wouldn't exactly discount the healing properties and overall effects of ingesting something that grows (and rapidly regrows) in a world of monsters.

Meanwhile, there is also the other side of things - and that is the hunters themselves. Sure, a potion is blue mushroom + herb, or just looking at the herb effects, that is obviously just an herb, but the effects of those may be whatever the hunter is/has inside of them + the herb + whatever else. I mean, we've already seen that hunters basically have ridiculous metabolism (or else something inside of them which at least partially consumes and processes things in ways humans might not normally be able to). [On a sidenote - to the vets out there - is MH4U the first MH to officially call hunters humans?]. Meh - I'm still leaning toward the ~involuntary reflex/spontaneous reaction to super-regrowth effects~, although there was a time that I was in the ~just stretching and necessarily testing things out~. On a similar note, which is sort of halfway between the two theories, it could be possible that the ~flex~ isn't entirely involuntary/spontaneous, but the regrowth/healing process does restore the body in such a way that it needs a ~kickstart~ of activity, so to speak, and the characteristic flexing is an obligatory-rather-than-involuntary motion to wake up the new muscles, nerves, &c. and get things working when they would otherwise be numb/inactive - almost on the edge of falling into a pseudo-atrophied state if they aren't put to use.

Plus, I think explaining the flex as at least partially involuntary/obligatory rather than a completely conscious decision on part of the hunter kind of helps fit in with how armor skills and such can interact with that/play a part in those effects, although armor skills are obviously a whole other mess/post well beyond this. So many possibilities, and while I wouldn't necessarily go full nanotech, I don't think we can entirely rule out some basic tech involvement/biotech in MH, especially considering how elemental/status weapons don't need to be ~fueled~ just for those basic effects in most weapon types.

On a sidenote, if anyone was wondering about some of the bits about ~something other than the hunter~ - yeah, I'm not entirely ruling out the possibility that hunters have some sort of relatively mutualistic symbiosis. I mean, humans already have mutualistic bacteria and the likes in their digestive systems that somewhat help to facilitate digestive processes...so now perhaps we're just taking that and slapping a ~monster~ on top of it conceptually. I also briefly considered the possibility that the hunters might have some sort of symbiotic relationship with a fungus of sorts (blue mushrooms kind of had me thinking along those lines - but there are plenty of other mushrooms used as ingredients), but meh...that's probably a little off-base, and regulating the growth/effects of a fungus in a way that would keep it from going into the realm of outright parasitism would probably be pretty difficult, unless we're going to go into ~it's in their brains/hunters are infected with the fungus/virus/parasite/whatever~ realms.

Of course, we could always go into full on nanomachines and cyborgs territory, but I generally save that for Souls games, where it makes a ridiculous amount of sense.

But meh - I'll leave it at that for now.

There's always the possibility that the flexing motion is to stimulate blood flow, allowing the potion to move more quickly through the hunters system. It could also just be a sign to show fellow hunters, cats, coconut children, etc that the hunter is okay and feeling fine again.

I always thought it was a spontaneous "I feel so good now" reflex, I mean, you just drank a potion, even if a raging dragon is charging at you how can you not stop and contemplate how much better you feel now?

I'm actually tempted to pitch this as a Game Theory episode. "Why does the Hunter flex after every item that buffs them?"

Lol - all good responses so far.
As for Game Theory - pretty cool channel - I've watched most of their stuff, and it would be amusing to collaborate with them for...something, especially since I've done a lot of similar criticism/analysis [although most of it is on the backburner, finished-but-unreleased, or released anonymously or otherwise through another account].

Not sure I'd forward any of my MH ideas though.

Did you watch their video where they discussed the Pokemon Delta Episode's massive significance to the series as a whole, or did you skip that one to avoid spoilers? Can't remember if you're ~in the know~ about the Delta Episode, beyond being aware of the fact that Zinnia > May and is also pretty much one of the best Pokemon characters ever, after our previous discussion.