Link vs Cloud

Lightning falls under energy attacks.

I've seen fiction where characters get struck by a constant stream of lightningy stuff and then then push it back with their shield or weapon as well.

We've no proof of anything from the picture. Too many dubious elements. If only there was a canon comic where Link lightning times or something.

I'm not inventing scenarios to denounce the feat. I've tried to advocate it here for as long as you have, unfortunately I can't keep going with a lie. I try to be as objective as possible. For this reason I can't in good conscience give Kratos the 'lightning timer' moniker either. Not anymore.

I can still allow Cloud his 'bullet timing in blocking only' speed, but only because its far too common a trope to simply ignore the intended meaning of. 'lightning timing in blocking only' is not remotely comparable in that respect.

You mean like the canon instances where he does so in the games? 😐 Shit, this argument could be made solely on consistency, CC. Ganondorf's been hurling it at Link since the late 80's, the monsters joined in during the 90's, it's frequent in boss fights and we have the OoT instance of them playing Dead Man's Volley with it, and official art of Link intercepting it with his sword from aLttP.

The only 'dubious' element is the fact that the controller rests in the player's hands, but if it wasn't it could hardly be called a game. I'm not one for playing movies.

I try to be objective as well, CC, but I legitimately can't convince myself that this isn't a feat. I've looked at it over and over, I legitimately believe that this is what it is. Short of speculating 'well, it's possible, but not actually suggested, that maybe _____' there's no other conclusion I can come to with the consistency of it and the plainly laid out instances from the art and boss fights.

Ganon has been using lightning forever.

What of it?

Doesn't mean Link has been lightning timing for the same amount of time. No concrete proof. Look at all the other examples of his speed, and he doesn't seem to have anything resembling super-reflexes, just heightened ones that you'd expect a trained warrior to have anyway.

It's not like Link exists in the DCU or MU where there're hundreds of superhumans meeting each other with varying powers at all times and somehow managing, and everyone jobs at some point, or fights are drawn closer than they should be. LoZ is a standalone verse and for a long while Ganon was the only big bad in the series.

He has consistently used lightning against Link with no success. As have the minions and boss monsters. Some of it can be chalked up to aim dodging and luck, but at a certain point, no, somehow this guy in green is dealing with it.

And then aLttP gives us a concrete image of Link doing so, stopping a lightning strike with his sword, an unambiguous strike of lightning.

And then OoT gives us a 3rd dimension, and it's populated with monsters like Barinade who use it as well, and Ganondorf with whom Link uses a lightning bolt as a tennis ball. And then that same Link goes on in MM to fight Goht, and trump him and his electricity as well.

Did Link lightning time in 1986? Eh, probably not, it's possible but I won't argue it. In 1991 he did, Nintendo gave us the art to show it. And in 1998 he did it again. Possibly again in 2000. In 2003 and 2006 it becomes less clear cut again, but in 1998 it's pretty much indisputable.