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In the film Pacific Rim, the primary weapon of Jaegers seem to be fists. Granted, we don't see them at their best, but the only victories were because of Gipsy Danger's weaponry - first, a hand-mounted plasma cannon, and then second, a wrist-mounted sword.

Why wasn't such weaponry standard-issue on ALL Jaegers?

Omegacron
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  • Similar, but not exactly duplicate question: Why do Jaegers have swords? – Mario Mar 24 '17 at 07:18
  • hmmm.. variety. if every jaeger was equipped in the same way as Gypsy Danger it would make it much, much easier for the monsters to adapt faster. – Cherubel Mar 24 '17 at 07:36
  • I would assume an energy weapon on that scale would have huge energy requirements, so perhaps they're not armed with plasma cannons in order to reduce energy requirements and therefore reduce weight. As for swords, well a sword big enough for a Jaeger to effectively wield would have its own problems, both in effectively casting such a large weapon, but also the possibility of swinging it causing the Jaeger to lose its balance. I'm guessing learning to punch with a Jaeger is much easier than learning to use a sword. – delinear Mar 24 '17 at 08:29
  • TBF: all the other jaegers were existing units. GD has been rebuilt. we know that the sword, at least, is a brand new addition. – phantom42 Mar 24 '17 at 15:20

1 Answers1

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The following is only speculation from me watching the movie and I don't have any other sources. There might be more materials or information somewhere, so if anyone knows more, feel free to post. It's been a while since I've seen it, so feel free to correct me, if I remember anything wrong.

To me this actually made sense, but you'll have to consider the whole picture to understand.

  • Kaiju blood (and probably body liquids in general) his highly toxic.
  • Humankind is on the edge of extinction.
  • The last human survivors are in densely populated, fortified cities.
  • While hard, it seems to be perfectly possible to beat a Kaiju to death.

So why not shoot or hack and slice Kaiju? Simple: You don't want a mess.

  • Using any kind of ranged weaponry you'd typically apply as much force as possible in a relatively small area to penetrate your target.
  • Same applies to slicing or impaling melee weapons.
  • First of all, this impact energy would also be applied to any body parts separated in that hit (think of the cannon balls depicted in The Patriot). You don't want Kaiju parts to fly all over the place.
  • In a similar vein, the more open wounds you add to the Kaiju, the more blood and other body liquids will be spilled all over the place, without necessarily killing it right away.
  • They could have made blades (like the sword) immediately cauterize open wounds to not spill blood – and to look even more awesome on screen–, but then again this would defeat it's actual purpose (especially considering Kaiju seem to be fine continue fighting with body parts missing).

As such one of the possibly best options to kill a Kaiju is to use blunt force (like fists) to try to beat it to death causing internal wounds rather than external ones.

Gipsy Danger kills the first Kaiju (of the movie) in the open sea. Considering this happens early on and they're not fighting in a densely populated area, the plasma gun seems to be a good and valid choice.

But what about the sword scene? Pretty simple: They're at very high altitude (and pretty much out of other options, the guns aren't working), so using the sword is their best option. Most (if not all) of the blood would be gone and not reach the ground.

As such I wouldn't ask whether actual weapons would be part of all Jaegers, it's probably been the case at some point. The bigger question is, why don't they continue using them. But you'll also have to remember that there once were a lot more Jaegers around. These are just the remaining forces and they probably ran out of replacement parts and supplies long ago (or otherwise they could probably rebuild more as well).

Mario
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    Good answer. Another point to consider would be The Drift. Two people operate the Jaeger using some kind of "mind merge" technology that isn't 100% explained. However, it's clear that two operators need to be "in sync." Perhaps this "synchronicity" also extends to their fighting style, to wit: the Jaeger needed to use weapons the operators were BOTH familiar with, enough so that they could fight "in sync" with each other. Fists are simply the easiest "weapons" everyone is familiar with, though obviously they CAN use other weapons if the pilots are appropriately trained in tandem. – Steve-O Mar 24 '17 at 13:45
  • I agree with the jist of the answer, sounds logical. The biggest flaw, though, is that even while using fists, the Kaiju's blood is splattering around for blocks. The Jaeger also routinely rips parts off and slings them away, potentially leaving a trail of toxic blood for several kilometers around. – Omegacron Mar 24 '17 at 14:13
  • @Omegacron Yeah, I think they had to go a very thin line there. Melee only doesn't necessarily make any sense, but guns blazing wouldn't have been that great either. – Mario Mar 24 '17 at 16:33
  • Don't the kaiju also improve with each death so that they can't be killed that easily the same way or do I misremember there? – Thomas Mar 24 '17 at 20:27
  • @Thomas They're essentially evolving, right, which is probably the reason normal weapons are ineffective at the time of the movie. – Mario Mar 24 '17 at 23:21
  • @mario that would also mean that most ranged weapons will be ineffective quite fast. Pure physical damage though can only be migated so much until it "comes through". – Thomas Mar 25 '17 at 07:01