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Why do ISTPs look epic?

[ISTP] 
21K views 45 replies 20 participants last post by  The red spirit 
#1 ·
Hi! An ENFP here, wondering bout ISTPs.

Whenever I look at ISTP memes, it always say they are "weapon specialists", "badass", "epic", "stare of doom", etc. I have also seen an mbti hunger games joke in which istps won, coz like.. . Why wouldnt they?

So wheber I read their characteristics, I don't understand why theyre portraid as THAT epic. I mean, yes of course, memes are jokes, but where did the epicness come from? My 3 istp friends doesnt seem epic o. O

Tnx!
 
#2 · (Edited)
Seen any of your ISTP friends in a tense situation? or lose it?

For sure just having fun with people you'll never see all sides to them.

ISTP's tend to be one of the few type that cut to the chase with their words, resulting in them being blunt. Also they tend to mean what they say due to how careful they pick their words, they are likely to say nothing in most situations less they know their words have wight, they may get upset when ignored for this same reason. they tend to be ready to back their words up with action or say nothing at all at times and just do the action. for sure this is also a generalization.

oh yes and their not afraid of conflict trait, being action and excitement driven, this can be difficult to deal with when dealing with in immature ISTP
 
#3 ·
It can be a host of things:
- I've sort of noticed that there seem to be roughly three types of ISTP's. The "do awesome physical shit" ISTP's, the "super nerdy" ISTP's, and every other kind of ISTP you can imagine that is some kind of mixture between the two

- your ISTP friends who you may not see doing anything "epic" probably aren't including you in whatever it is they do. Don't take it personally and not to speak for all ISTP's, but at least for me if I'm doing my activities and decide I'd like some company, that company better fucking be an acceptable choice because you're being invited pretty much to participate on my terms because I'm otherwise happily doing them by myself. I take my "me" activities with a certain degree of seriousness (though it may not appear so), and I often have an underlying, if not already obvious expectation of my performance so I don't want anyone slowing me down, bitching, or the like. Now, it's not to say that I will make zero compromises and such, and there definitely are cases where this mentality can be switched out or at least toned down

- energy conservation. A lot of us aren't going to spend more energy than we want or need to, and some of us also tend to go through cycles between spending shit tons of energy till we run ourselves into the ground and burn out and conserving energy to the point where we do nearly fuck-all. Doesn't necessarily have to be that extreme, but you get the point

Oh, and our epicness is just an awesome natural trait consisting of several awesome natural traits ;)
 
#7 ·
lol I see. ISTPs sounds... A bit scary (no offense haha) but I think I get it... My friends do look like the loner type, straight face, will stare at you if you slow them down. But they don't look unfriendly, they're just kinda... Not-really-the-approachable-type of look. But it's not that scary to be friends with them. Maybe I'm just too conscious that I might be bothering them with something.

Lol it's just that, I was so surprised of how overrated you guys are XP like, of all MBTI types, why would you guys win hunger games for a reason that says obviously you'll win haha XD

Btw, me and my ISTJ sister call this type, "the epic type" haha
 
#4 ·
Normality bores ISTP to death and so you'll never see their "epic" side or whatever they called it. Rather you'll find them as being "lazy"...dragging their feet. It's because the ISTP is just plain uninterested in any of the normal, routine, day-to-day stuff. And for good reason they hate small talk. It's during one of those crisis situation, when dull normality takes a back seat, that you'll see them spring back to life. There you'll see another side of them that you never knew existed. It's their 'here and now' driven, action oriented, do-whatever-it-takes behavior. ISTPs have this Machiavellian streak, a strong 'the end justifies the means' inclination. This leads to ISTP testing their limits and pushing their boundaries. ISTPs are also quite blunt in dealings because of the dominant Ti and an inferior Fe. ISTPs are detached, self contained individuals. This makes them fiercely independent. However, the 'here and now', one task at a time, leads to ISTP leaving many loose ends despite doing a good job. This loose ends comes to haunt ISTP back where he is forced to deal with his past. And he does a damn good job at that too. This makes for the perfect character development in action/thriller films for heroes, especially 'anti-heroes'. And action/thriller films are full of crisis with never a dull moment. The ways of ISTP protagonist also allows for the plot to thicken as explained. The writer, of course, may or may not have MBTI or other personality typology in mind during character development but a typical 'badass' hero or anti-hero often corresponds to that of an ISTP in crisis situation...at least it does with their cognitive functional ordering and pairings. That's why they stereotyped ISTP as being "badass" or "epic" as you saw in those memes. Memes are but stereotypical, blunt remark. But it often refers to fictional ISTP characters. As for the "stare of doom" that happens when we are deep in our dominant Ti mode directed at the object of our analysis. It's actually a humorous remark.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the answer. Yeah... You guys are like the action hero type. And then I look at my friends and I'm like... "Ugh... You don't look like an action hero...", although I do admit that they do look like the have their own thing. They DO look lazy (all 3 friends I have) and they value their time alone.
Uhmm... The action oriented, do whatever it takes thing.... It's not necessarily a physical action like sports right? I'm just wondering what you guys are interested in? Like what do you guys usually do so much that you like to do alone?
 
#5 ·
Hi! An ENFP here, wondering bout ISTPs.

Whenever I look at ISTP memes, it always say they are "weapon specialists"

It's not for nothing that ISTPs are nicknamed the "Mechanic". We learn better with hands on experience. Rather than the theory, the description or the blueprint, we like to learn with a screwdriver, a pliers and a torque wrench taking the object of interest apart piece by piece, watching it work in real time in an uncovered cross section. And for good reasons we know and understand better than a theoretical learner. As such when it comes to weapons, like any other, we know better. Therefore, the memes dubbing an ISTP as "weapons specialist".
 
#6 ·
@Zen Gecko

Ah yes you're probably right. I don't think I've seen them in tough situations so I'd have to observe that. But you were right about ISTPs choosing your words wisely. They do tend to be like... The people of few words but their words are concise. o.o
Thanks! :D
 
#8 ·
Might I suggest you just do not see your friends in their element.

I am an everyday person around my friends generally speaking. That sort of mad dash masked man thing comes out usually in work or recreation or sport or competition. For me specifically it comes out at work (I do not usually invite my friends to work with me-do you follow your friends to work or sport?)
 
#10 ·
Sadly 2 of my friends don't have work right now. Haha but one of them was my sister's co-worker before. I have to ask her about that.
The last one is actually our house maid who is also my friend. To be honest, I think she's getting lazier with her daily chores. Sadly, my family often have fights because of her not doing what she has to do... You know, basic expectations like cleaning dishes, doing laundry, mopping the floor, etc are not met nowadays. She also tends to lock her room for a long time and just comes out when she needs to serve the food. Sadly, we've been having a hard time with her :(
 
#19 ·
I dont know why but I seem to have a good grasp of weaponry and practical skills, so maybe that aspect makes ISTPs more likely to be 'badass'? Im not sure if it's being ISTP, but I can figure out systems quite fast i.e. learning to drive, I worked out on the first circuit how to judge the distances between cars, how to flick the indicator with the least movement, the best position for my feet to be in etc which led to my instructor saying I should be ready to pass the test in a few months even though Ive never driven before. Maybe being connected to our bodies and aware of things while being able to focus on one area easier than an Se dom?
 
#29 ·
I do? How flattering. I guess out-of-shape is the new fad right now? :p
 
#32 ·
Bada$$ ISTP checking in.

That is all.
 
#35 ·
Lol hi ^_^ cool picture
 
#33 ·
I think I just answered this question from you before. ahahaha You must ask your ISTP tio.. but he'll definitely deny his awesomeness... or.. try to be humble about it. HAHAHA Though an INFP like me just naturally notice his in-denial-lets-just-not-make-me-uncomfortable state. hahaha
 
#34 ·
Yeah you had a good answer but I want a better one XD
He's almost always gone. I'll do it next time
 
#40 ·
Stereotypical ISTPs= real life ISTJs
Stereotypical INFJs= real life INFPs

Most of the ISTPs I've met in real life are just like INTPs without the imagination, honestly.
 
#41 ·
Those must have been some quite shallow ISTPs then. It's very easy to classify ISTPs as INTPs without imagination based on all of the descriptions that get thrown around everywhere, but I'd say that that's far away from the truth. It's not that ISTPs lack the imagination, nothing like that. The "amount" of imagination is not a factor in this case, the "kind" is. ISTPs are stereotypically more practical in nature, while INTPs are more theoretical. You could argue that imagination is theoretical in and of itself, but I feel it would be a pretty weak argument.
 
#46 ·
I know one idiot ISTP, who always gets into trouble for his cheating at all possible tests. I know one INTP, who isn't dumb, but lower ability person than me, also he doesn't shave his ugly teen beard and often has bad smell (he was my best friend at one time, but we fighted too much, even physically). I truly want to laught, when stereotypes are perceived as truth and person imagines ITPs as badass people. Some of them truly are badasses, but it's rarity. All of them, that I have met weren't neither badass, nor cool people. Actual badass people, that I have seen had those types: ENTJ, ESTJ, ENTP, ESTP, ESFP, ISTP (remembered one lol).
 
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