Well-Actually War Trall Cairo Jim Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I'm surprised no one has mentioned Shaping as a super power yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall A less presumptuous name. Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Shaping is a teachable art more than a super power. I would love to be able to do it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall The Ratt Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Oh, then could you teach me how to shape a fyora? I've been wanting one of those as a pet for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Ceiling Durkheim Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 @Slarty: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeartIsAnAwesomePower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Duck in a Top Hat Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Quote: Ralph Bakshi's Wizards shows what happens when magic faces technology. In the end magic wins out over technology. This topic reminds me of a book I read by Ian Tregillis called Bitter Seeds. Basically it's World War II, the Nazis have supermen and the British have demons. The drawback is that the supermen are powered by batteries and the demons demand a steadily increasing blood sacrifice. It's actually a really cool alternate history. I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora Blue Summer Sky Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 The ability to go back on any moment in my life while still retaining all my knowledge. I'd go back and live a few lives as a child prodigy, or maybe be an Olympic athlete, or I'd cut my eyes out and see what it would be like to live life as a blind person. The beautiful part would be I could go back at any moment and undo it. I could experience every single life imaginable, or I could just keep going back over and over again and be a child/teenager/grandparent for a few hundred years. The only problem is I'd only be able to experience a few dozen years of the worlds history, I'd never get to be a Roman Legionary, or a bank robber in the wild west, or a villager in ancient China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dintiradan Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Off-topic rant on Harry Potter: Click to reveal.. Yeah, to borrow terminology from science fiction, Harry Potter is soft fantasy, not hard fantasy. Don't look at the series for continuity, or internal consistency. We are talking about a series that used a time machine as a deus ex machina for one book, and then never used it again. Voldemort was controlling the Ministry later on, he should have retroactively won the war right then and there. I've always been a little biased against Harry Potter. It's partly because I'm a few years older than the target demographic. It's mostly because I just don't care for what I call "magic school" fantasy. When I'm tired of attending school, doing assignments, and going to detention, I don't want to read about characters attending magic school, doing magic assignments, and going to magic detention. What really turned me off from the setting was a little snippet early on in Book One. Hagrid is telling Harry that magic has been kept a secret from the magically mundane. Otherwise, they'd be bothering the mages "magical cures". Well, excuse us for trying to cure cancer and AIDS and other terminal illnesses! I know, I know, the series is just Roald Dahl for teenagers, but I don't see the setting's secret society as all that benevolent. Wizards are the 1%. #occupyhogwarts @Slarty: Don Cheadle's Funny or Die is also great, but I won't link it here. Anyway, from what I can tell, Heart is the strongest of the five powers, but only when it's misused. I'm noticing a trend in this topic. Pretty much everyone is picking either powers that they're personally interested in, or powers that would make them virtually omnipotent. Which is fine, that's what the OP asked. But a separate question is what superpower(s) make characters interesting? What do superheroes need in order to make for a good story? Or is it something different -- are superheroes nothing more than yet another adolescent power fantasy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Necris Omega Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Eh, superheroes are most interesting when they as CHARACTERS are interesting. Powers only have limited appeal, unless they're open to a wide range of creative uses and variations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Quote: @Slarty: What kind of lame power is Heart, anyway? That is a really, really bad dub job, and they didn't even bother to make the voices sound like the originals -- last time I checked, LeVar Burton was not from India. That makes me rather skeptical that this clip is actually the origin of the "what kind of a lame power is heart anyway" phrase. Quote: what superpower(s) make characters interesting? I would take NO's answer one step further and say it is superpowers that are relevant to the characters-as-characters. This allows them to deepen the story as well as connect the story with the superhero trappings in a meaningful way. I'm thinking here of...Rogue: Her powers allow her to absorb the powers, life force, and psyches of others; they are strong and help her to survive when she deals with other people, but directly and dramatically prevent her from being close to anyone. Helloooo, trauma victim with boundary issues. Cloak: He contains a dark pocket universe into which he can absorb his enemies, and he is also the victim of a terrible hunger eased mainly by the presence of Dagger. The Cloak & Dagger storylines often deal with drugs, addiction, and drug dealers. (Also a terribly creative power in its own right. See: when Cloak attempts to engulf Thanos-cum-Infinity-Gauntlet.) The Hulk: A timid, introverted physicist, as the result of his introverted profession, develops the trait of turning into a strong (but irrational and emotional) monster, whose power increases as his anger and other emotions increase, at times when he becomes emotional. Doctor Doom: He developed his iron mask and suit because of a scar he had from a failed experiment, and he developed his skill with sorcery to avenge the deaths of his parents. Bent on world domination. Pretty much the incarnation of narcissistic injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Student of Trinity Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I'd agree with calling Harry Potter 'soft fantasy' by analogy with the hard-soft distinction for science fiction. Hard sci-fi tries to explain everything; soft sci-fi decides it doesn't have to, because the great prophet Arthur C. Clarke has revealed that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I like both kinds, but on the whole I prefer soft sci-fi because I think it's more realistic. When Jules Verne wrote about launching people to the moon in a shell fired from an immense cannon, that was hard sci-fi. I think it's unfair to accuse Rowling of inconsistency, though, because she just doesn't give enough details to establish what ought to be possible in her world. Perhaps that time-turner device only works at Hogwarts, for instance. Or only for girls with big teeth. Lots of things in Rowling's world obey arbitrary rules like that; arbitrariness is consistency in her case. Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Originally Posted By: Blue Summer Sky The only problem is I'd only be able to experience a few dozen years of the worlds history, I'd never get to be a Roman Legionary, or a bank robber in the wild west, or a villager in ancient China. Then be greedy, and go for overall time travel, particularly if it's paradox free (thus allowing you to counsel your former self and redo moments). I admit, the type of time travel you've described really appeals to me. But I'd trade that for the ability to see my home before it was settled, or Lascuax when it was fresh, or sit in on a performance by Liszt. You might want to invest in invulnerability, for yours, though. Legionaries, bank robbers, and even Chinese villagers* all have relatively high fatality rates. (*Although mostly from malnurishment or disease, which would kill you slowly enough for you to time travel back to a modern hospital.) Oh, and if we're allowing sci-fi elements, give me the Tardis. Teleportation, time travel, and the ability to speak and understand any language? Yes please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan Vicheron Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Probably some vague power with wide ranging implications like energy manipulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Originally Posted By: HOUSE of S [*]Doctor Doom: He developed his iron mask and suit because of a scar he had from a failed experiment, and he developed his skill with sorcery to avenge the deaths of his parents. Bent on world domination. Pretty much the incarnation of narcissistic injury. You left out from the origin story paranoid and meglomania. Reed Richards was Victor von Doom's roommate until Doom found Richards reading his notes on what was to be the failed experiment. Doom accused Richards of planning to steal his ideas. He also didn't want to hear that Richards had found a mistake in the notes and we all know how that turned out. Some people can't believe that they could ever be wrong. Thus Richards moved across the hall and roomed with Benjamin Grimm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 This topic needs more Edguy. Most topics need more Edguy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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