Each week I spend time thinking up a (hopefully) interesting poll question, and I'm always fascinated to see people vote. But why do they vote the way they do? Why wouldn't you automatically pick Firestorm's powers to help you through a post-nuclear-holocaust world -- the guy can make literally anything he can think of!
So starting this week, each Sunday when I put up the new poll, I'll do so in a post like this one, so people can leave comments if they so please on what they think of the various options, why they chose as they did, etc. So here's the first one:
I play poker every week and I've often wondered what super-powers would make for the best gambler. And then I wonder why so few super-heroes ever go to Vegas and actually gamble -- She-Hulk was there in one series I put in the Mashup last week, but she just beat the crap out of stuff. Why not hit the tables, too?! But then, taking the element of chance out of it pretty much ruins the fun, I suppose.
Of course, the actual heroes on the list would never use their powers this way, so that part of it's moot. But that's why the question is not "Which of these characters would you want to see go to Vegas" but rather "YOU have their powers, what would YOU like to be able to do"!
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Flash: Move at super-speed and on one can see you affect the way the dice come up, or where the Roulette ball lands. You're a winner every time, invisibly!
Longshot: Megariffic luck, say no more.
Magneto: Why gamble when you can just rip the door off the safe? Seriously, the safest thing to do with Magneto's powers would be to simply maneuver the levers inside the slot machines to pay off.
Plastic Man: Similarly to Magneto, when inserting coins you could slip your finger into the machine and manually make the slots pay.
Professor Xavier: It's a lot easier to win at poker or blackjack when you can read your opponent's mind to see what they're holding.
Superman: X-Ray Vision for the card games. Super-speed for the dice and roulette games. How unfair is it that he's, like, five different super-heroes all at once? I guess that's why he's Big Blue.
That's what I was thinking, but I'd love to hear why you pick the one you pick. And stay out of my poker game!
I chose Longshots power because it would still leave a tiny element of chance but not enough to make me have to sell my car for money.
PS: I smiled when I saw the Firestorm thing!
The challenge with Longshot, I think, is that his powers aren’t exactly under his control. He just sort of charges up and then wildly unlikely things happen, but it might just be that every single slot machine pays out at once, or that every card in the deck becomes a heart, or some other crazy thing that would make the casino refuse to pay out. He’s not long on subtlety, is our Longshot, and that’s maybe the only drawback to choosing him.
Still, he’s hard to pass up!
I didn’t put Firestorm on this one because, come on, why bother going to Vegas at all when you can transform your tin cans into platinum? He’s right up there with Superman in terms of being impossibly overpowered, but his writers have smartly refused to give into the full potential of his awesometudinousness.
Yeah. The problem I see with the Flash is while he moves super fast and you wouldn’t be able to see him you would be able to feel him. The wind moving and casinos are crowded so it would bump into some one and shatter their bones.
Hmm…I’m now thinking Prof. X because he could read their minds.
Hey Jeff!! Paul and I are sitting here in Taipei and we voted for Longshot. Paul said the uncertainty is just more fun and it’s definitely more democratic. Good question! Site is awesome. Keep it up, bro! Sayanara and Zai Jian (Japanese and Taiwanese for goodbye!) — Your Sister, Denise
Back when I was still reading X-Men, Longshot’s power would only work if his heart was in the right place. Greed is not that place.
Slot machines pay out at set times, and if they pay out at the wrong times (as, for instance, when manipulated by an outside force), the casino will know something is wrong and could have you prosecuted after investigating the issue. If the win was big, and you got a voucher instead of coins, they could refuse to pay at all, like our local Ute casino did when their slots were programmed wrong and paid out too much (it’s still in the courts, so I don’t know if they’ll be forced to pay in the future).
So I had to go with Professor X.
Magneto. It’s not just the levers (although that is an option), but every object has a slight magnetic force to it, due to the dimagnetic and paramagnetic factors. Those could be used to ‘tip’ the dice and balls ever so slightly, were one so inclined. (That’s assuming the dice haven’t been rigged with metallic weights – if they have, it gets so much more interesting!)
And I have to agree with Xstacy – Longshot’s motives have to be pure in order for his power to work. During the Inferno crossover, he didn’t even seem to have any powers (he was one of the X-men being corrupted by conditions surrounding the event), and shortly afterwards, he was specifically called out by Mr. Sinister on that – Longshot was trying to rescue his friends from Sinister, but his -real- motive was to prove he wasn’t scared, not to save them.
Well we are just talking about his power though so you could still use Longshots and Magneto can only manipulate things with a certain AMOUNT of metal.
I’m fairly sure the ‘pure heart’ was an integral part of Longshot’s power; you seem to be thinking of it as an outside trigger. Although I’ll admit you may be right with the Ultimate version…
And if Magneto truly is the ‘Master of Magnetism’ as he claims, he has access to the dimagnetic and paramagnetic properties -everything- has, not simply ferromagnetic metals. That he can manipulate non-ferromagnetic metals is the proof of this. (From what I recall, only Iron, Nickel, Cobalt, and alloys of them are ferromagnetic. I know he’s manipulated others.)
Thus proving that I don’t know very much about Longshot 🙂 But hey, what could be purer than GREED?!
I see the power as sepperate from the trigger. His power is the subconciously manipulate the odds to his favor.
I’ve only ever seen Magneto manipulate metals. If he could manipulate anything with those properties then plastic wouldnt be able to hold him which it has.