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Guys, I just watched the VCD version of The Secret of The Unicorn and i'm a bit curious about Tintin's style of fighting. The curiousity started when Tintin punched the Bird Brothers to escape from them. Furying Fists! I like that part, it's his image of adventure.

I think Tintin did freestyle; what i meant was he just punched when he got the chance. There's one time I remember that he was struggling with Dr. Muller, who was armed. He did do some wrestling there.

For my question, what do you think is Tintin's normal fighting style and if any, reasons that supports your answer.

Have a good day!

P.S: Tintin, you really rock when you beat the Bird brothers up in the Ellipse-Nelvana version. Tintin rocks!

Tintin rocks...he is "the rock" of the cartoon world...

Tintin only fights for defence against others that might attack him.

I don't think he wants to fight unless it is nesessary like when he saw dr muller in the black island he pretented to have a gun. Rather than going in and punching everybody.

The type of fighting style would be boxing rather than wrestling I guess.

Maybe French Boxing, since he's Belgian?

Well, what is french boxing? I'm just a bit curious.

He has mentioned 'la savate' on one or two occasions (as has Tournesol, with a rather comical demonstration, in Vol 714 Pour Sydney) which my dad said (about 5 years ago) means kickboxing.

Wikipedia says:

"Savate (pronounced /savat/), also known as boxe française (French boxing), French Kickboxing or French Footfighting, is a French martial art which uses both the hands and feet as weapons and contains elements of western boxing, grappling and graceful kicking techniques (only foot kicks are allowed, unlike some systems such as Muay Thai which allow the use of the knees or shins). A practitioner of savate is called a savateur (male) or savateuse (female)."

I've noticed a general trend of Tintin being well-avsersed in arse-kicking; as a person trained in martial arts and a guy whose also just fit and quick on his feet.. well that and the fact that he's the good guy, so he always kicks butt against all odds.

By the way, when he takes out the Loiseau brothers is my favoutite one. ;)

Well, i remembered a frame from Tintin and The Picaros of Tintin doing somesort of a handstand. Another evidence is from The Black Island where Tintin got shot that misses his skull by a molecule. He eventually recovered so quickly that the doctors have no idea wheteher he's fit or not and was discharged only after a day or two.
That could be sufficient evidence saying that he was a strong, athletic young adult with a good, powerful fist.

I'm not sure that Tintin himself mentions savate in the books; I think that's left only to Calculus. And he doesn't do much in the way of martial arts fighting in the books either, nor "arse kicking". And the only time he "takes out" the bird brothers is by tripping them on the stairs with that pikestaff. So I'm guessing Isabel might be refering to the DVD versions (which I don't know well), where maybe his style of fighting is different from in the books.

In the books, he tends to favour straight boxing over any oriental martial arts. In The Black Island, the bearded baddie (is he called Puschov?) does a fancy throw and says something like, "That's a little ju-jitsu, my friend," to which Tintin gives the distainful repost: "And that's a straight sock to the jaw." Actually, I think that sock to the jaw might be a kick from Tintin rather than a punch (hence the pun), but he is lying down, so a departure from the Queensbury Rules is maybe justified. More typical examples of Tintin's fighting style are the uppercut punches he delivers to the obnoxious "I demand a parachute" passenger in The Red Sea Sharks and to the Sondonesian guards in Flight 714. The precision of these punches suggests that Tintin might have had early training in boxing (presumeably along with his childhood driving and flying lessons!)

The handstand that tintinspartan is remembering from Picaros is a yoga move, I think - a more peaceful pursuit than either martial arts or boxing. But, yes, certainly evidence that he keeps himself fit.

Balthazar, it was the VCD version i'm refering during that post. Well, i got a link to the video. [-snip-]
Well, that's a good way to watch Tintin VCDs without buying them. Ha! If you don't know it's adress, here it is, [-snip-]

Well, back to the topic, Balthazar's hypothesis about him learning it during his childhood may make some sense but no one knows Tintin's childhood, so you maybe wrong. The only person to know could possibly be Herge. Maybe, he wants to keep Tintin's childhood secret.

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tintinspartan
I think Balthazars hypothesis carries some weight. Boxing was part of the 7th Olympic Games held in Antwerp in 1920. 25 nations competed in the sport that year which was proof that boxing had become extremely popular - it got its own governing body in 1927 - perfect timing for Herge's young reporter to be given the gift of an uppercut or two. If you look at it from a historical aspect, people boxed for self defence. We don't know Tintins childhood as you say but wouldn't a wannabe worldwide reporter learn how to throw a punch or two? At least to defend himself from Arumbayas, Incas and parachute demanding boors?
Martial arts didn't become really popular until the 1950's after servicemen in Korea started to "bring their training home". They set up schools on their return which, along with the Hong Kong films helped bring these styles to the masses.

good evening Balthazar

In The Black Island, the bearded baddie (is he called Puschov?) does a fancy throw and says something like, "That's a little ju-jitsu, my friend," to which Tintin gives the distainful repost: "And that's a straight sock to the jaw."

In the Finnish edition Tintin replies "and that's savate"

I wonder, how it is in the original album.