Fairy Tail II: Second Generation Thread Slayers

[Drolyt]

Because it's not real life? It's fiction? Magic doesn't work in real life either.

"It's fiction" is not an excuse for everything stupid a story does. There is a good reason that magic exists in Fairy Tail, that is a large part of the story, but in other respects we expect the rules to be the same. If we are to regard the struggles of the characters in Fairy Tail (or any other manga) as meaningful or inspiring or even entertaining then the conclusion needs to be based on something more than "well I just wanted it more", which is what Gray's bull**** reasoning boils down to. In real life hard work and luck (I'm including things like natural talent in luck) are the only routes to success, "wanting it more" or "believing in yourself" isn't worth a pile of dog **** and when it is used like that in a story it basically destroys all meaning and suspense.

Yes it does. Our max strength is a lot larger then what we can normally access and using that max strength is usually in response to emotion. Or even just being filled with rage which gives you more energy and allows you to ignore pain then the guy who doesn't care.

Only kind of true. Adrenaline and other chemicals can, in an emergency, create physiological changes that make your muscles somewhat more effective. This is not superhuman strength, and as many people who have gotten their ass kicked will tell you doesn't grant you assurance of defeating a bigger, stronger, or more skilled enemy. Besides that the biggest problem is that those physiological reactions are beyond our conscious control and typically are triggered by fear and similar emotions, not just any old emotion. It is the body's reaction in an emergency, and can actually damage your body.

There are stories of mothers who can lift trees off of their babies. Emotion taps into adrenaline, and adrenaline does crazy things.

Which are all anecdotal. Besides, depending on how the tree was lying the mother might of been acting as a lever.

Except when it does.
This happens all the time in sports. Weaker team beats stronger team just because they wanted it more.
Brazilian Soccer Championship, 2009: Fluminense had lost to basically everyone. With 9 games left, there was a 99% probability Fluminense would fall to the 2nd division. The players got together and declared: "we will not lose anymore".
Those last 9 games? They had to face, among others, the 4 top teams in the championship. They won. Those players, with nothing but will behind them, not only achieved something that only had 1% chance of happening, they actually altered the championship completely, because those points the top 4 teams lost allowed the number 5 team to become the champion!
Fluminense kept the same game plan, the same coach and the same players. What changed was the player's attitude, and that was more than enough.
Fluminense is known, since then, as the warrior team. With 5 games to go, they have a 98% chance of winning this year's Brasileirão.

Another example: Mexico winning the soccer gold medal with a team that's mostly nonprofessional, defeating Brazil in the finals, with a team that included players such as Hulk (one of the most expensive players in the world) and Neymar (considered unsellable by his team and considered by and large as good as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo). Neymar's comments at the end of the game? "They wanted it more than us."

Okay, do you honestly think those players weren't any good? A lot of factors (some quite bizarre) go into who wins a sports match, but do you think the only (or even main) thing that mattered is that they wanted it more? I'd give more credit to the extensive training they obviously undertook.