Here in the US, Monday is Memorial Day, where we take a moment to remember those men and women who have died while in military service. Men and women like my uncle Marshall, who passed away while in the Army (though not in combat). All Americans owe a huge debt to those who gave their lives to protect our freedoms. So I wanted to take this Sharing Day to share my gratitude for all of our fallen soldiers, and for their surviving families who have had to carry on without them. Thank you all.
So to me, our military service members are like real-life super-heroes. But since we're in the imaginary super-hero business, I want to ask you the following:
If you could have one super-heroic power in real life, what would you choose?
And no "The power to have any super power I wanted" nonsense! Although if that's your play, there are sort of ways around it, as you'll see.
Tempting answers for me are time travel, invulnerability (with the hope that incudes being invulnerable to the ravages of age), flight, hyper-intelligence (Reed Richards or Tony Stark style, so you could invent yourself stuff that would replicate a bunch of other powers), etc. I am not so much tempted by psionics, since I am pretty sure I don't want to know what other people are thinking. I've seen enough of that on Internet comment sites to last a lifetime.
I'm instead going magical. And it's the same power I'd use a Wish for if I could. Namely, I'd want the power to reach into any pocket or container and pull out anything I wanted that would fit in that container. So I could produce a wad of hundred dollar bills, or a vial of immortality serum, or invulnerability cream, or a nice BLT. Because I love me some lunch.
If you like, in return for answering my question to you, you may ask a question of me on any topic and I'll do my best to answer honestly and completely. Just leave your reply (and question, if any) as a comment. The goal is to learn a little more about our community!
So what would you choose as your one real-life super power?
I’ve always been fascinated by fantasy races/species, so I guess it makes sense that I’d go for some sort of transformational ability, limited only by my imagination. And, as you said, there are indirect ways of getting every super power, so, depending on how one interprets “limited only by my imagination,” I could potentially just transform into someone with any given super power.
As for my question, going on the subject of fantasy races and species, what sort of fantasy race would you like to see more of in gaming? By that I don’t mean “What specific race would you like to see used more,” but rather “Describe certain racial traits that you think should be used more.”
The reason I ask is because I’m trying to come up with content for the game I’m making. So far, as races are concerned, I have:
-Humans (of course)
-A race which looks like elves cosmetically, but are commonly merchants, rather than rangers, and otherwise have very little to do with elves
-A group of races of rat-like people with offshoots based on environment
-A race of small, stout geniuses who kind of look like elephants
-A race of minotaur-like people who are almost defined by their fierce loyalty to their loved ones
-A race of dog/kangaroo people who like to muse over beautiful and majestic things
-A race of small bird-like people with serpent tails for lower bodies, inspired by the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl
-A race of extremely tough, but not too bright, insect people
-A race of turtle people who are extremely paranoid of other races
Any ideas?
I think I would go for INVINCIBILITY,because if you’re invincible you can keep on fighting crime (Unless you are a supervillain) And nobody can stop you.
Question:
Since I’m new here,I need to ask one thing:How do you enter in Contests? Please leave your answer as a reply.Thanks.
I choose flight because I hate being stuck in traffic. But shapeshifting sounds good too, just so I could walk into the cafetaria like a celebrity and watch everyone go crazy.
I like the idea of a predator race that has a difficult-to-control hunger for human meat, and yet with which the humans are allied.
I run character design contests every Monday (you can find old ones here) that last a week, and one-day image contests on Saturdays (past ones here). When a contest is active you can enter by posting a link to your submission image as a comment to that post.
To make an image, use the Export button in HeroMachine 3. Then take the resulting JPG or PNG and put it on a public web site somewhere. There are tons of free ones like ImageShack, PhotoBucket, or even right here on HeroMachine.com (use the Forums link in the header and put it in the Hero Gallery forum).
Name your file as [yourname]-[charactername].jpg or png. When you paste the link in make sure it goes right to the image and not to a jump page or whatever. Usually you can get that link by right-clicking on the image while you’re looking at it on the site and choosing “Copy Image URL” from the flyout menu.
Hope that helps, and welcome!
Cyclop’s Eye lazers… xx
Hypnotic mind control…or the “rebranch” power I discussed with Herr D on the forum topic dedicated to this very question: http://www.heromachine.com/forum/super-hero-rpgs/super-powers/
Basically, you can redo a period of time over and over again, either erasing the previous time, or not, so you could either try again if you get something wrong, or be in several places at once.
My applications of that would be: obviously correcting any mistakes I make, but also multitasking by going to school, then rebranching back to 8am (the time I leave in the morning) and spending a day at home as well.
Of course, mind control would be fun as well… 😀
i’m hesitating between Mary Poppins cleaning powers , cause honestly, who likes cleaning? and long distance teleportation.
That’s a pretty tough question. I think I’m inclined to go with the Stark/Richards intelligence since they can invent devices to simulate or provide a broad range of capabilities. Iron Man type armor has its appeal.
The first thing I would build would be a device to take control of the cell phones of other drivers. You know the type, the ones who can’t drive when they’re not talking and are worse when they are. It would hang up, then set all of their contacts to call the Fran Drescher soundboard (which I would create), and replace all sounds with Rebecca Black’s Friday including all ringtones and notifications. Anyone who called them would hear dubstep while waiting and be seen as a collection agency.
Every time this question is posed, telekinesis is the most popular. I still go with flight if only to get over my acrophobia. For a more unique super-power, I would want the ability to crush lame Hollywood remakes with impunity.
Question… anyone else watch DC Nation on Cartoon Network? Interested in feedback on the Young Justice story arc. It seems to have potential. The “Wonder Woman / Batgirl / Supergirl” shorts are hilarious. Thoughts?
Safe Memorial Day Weekend to all. Never forget.
I do tend to do this one often, don’t I. Bad Jeff! But, we have had some new readers lately so maybe someone won’t have noticed …
I am not watching Young Justice, no. Just haven’t really had a chance to catch it.
I would go with telepathy (like Professor X level where you can make people think stuff) or Invisibility because it would be fun to pretend to be a ghost and mess with people (which I guess isn’t very heroic).
I watch Young Justice and I really like it. For me it’s the best superhero cartoon since Justice League Unlimited.
My choice would be the ability to transform into any RPG character that I construct, maybe using a character sheet as focus. That would be the kind of blanket ability that gave me access to all powers and an added bonus it would give me an instant comprehension of what could be done with character’s abilities as they are always applications of rules systems involved. A shapeshifting to “anything you can think of” is rather nice, but it’d require more practise and concentration to get what you want – and realise how to use received abilities properly. RPG character bypasses this lack-of-familiarity problem.
Other candidates that appeal to me, but are more limited include:
-Psionic ability to travel to parallel universes, possibly using existing works of fiction as homing foci. Ahh, to visit all those worlds I’ve read about in fiction or seen in movies. A dream come true.
-Mind editing touch, for acquiring an army of loyal minions to fulfill all my needs. Might get boring after a while, though.
-Time stop, the variant that allows moving objects while in stop time. I’d never have to worry about running out of time. I could get some serious reading done.
-Mastery of bones. Not as useful as other three, but it’s cool and versatile ability to start a career as supervillain with. Think of possibilities: Growing bone armor, shooting bone darts, enslaving via bone puppetry, flight via bone levitation, attacking with bone snapping or cranial spike, stealth with bone anjustments as disguise and absolutely terrifying de-boning gaze etc. Plus I’d never have to worry about cavities in my teeth as I could simply grow new ones.
I’ve always thought that the superpower I’d want would be teleportation, if only because it would let me get straight home from school instead of waiting nearly an hour for the bus. And I just think that it would be cool to get wherever I want instantaneously. But, I’d probably need to unconsciously know where to reappear so I don’t reappear in mid-air or something.
So Jeff, my question: When Hollywood adapts a TV show into a big-budget movie, what do you think is essential to making it a good adaptation of the original but without alienating other audiences?
That’s a good question. I’d say the most essential thing is to understand the story of the main character. Darwyn Cook talked about this from his time plotting “New Frontier”. Dark Knight works in part because Nolan understands that Batman has always straddled the line between madness and sanity, with a foot in both worlds. He and the Joker are flip sides of a coin, arguably both insane but expressing it in vastly different ways. And yet both are outside the law, both are violent, both dress up in costumes.
I think that’s the most egregious fault with Ang Lee’s “Hulk”. He grafted on this weird Daddy-issues dynamic onto a character who never had that at his core. The Hulk is about the struggle between the id and the super-ego, between the beast inside all of us and the rational mind. And smashing stuff, that’s important too. Lee completely ignored the story of the character so he could tell the story he wanted.
“Captain America” is another one they got right, by not trying to “grit-up” or “modernize” or “darken” a character that is at core the total opposite of those things. Cap is a genuine, sincere, down-to-the-bones straight arrow who really does believe what he says he believes. Mess with that and you no longer have a Captain America movie.
What about you, what’s your essential?
I would take Gambit’s hypnotic charm. I already have an undue amount of luck, so the charm can really only help after that. At the very least, it would help dating. It would also help my career get started which is something I sorely need.
Jeff (everyone else): What 4 powers would you like to see added to any list of heroes or villains? Since I’m creating a comic universe, I need extra folks with powers and abilities. Not in the main cast, but just so my heroes aren’t always just matched up against the same people time and again.
For as long as I can remember I’ve always had trouble with my masculinity….I always felt more feminine then anything else….I remember playing with make up as a kid instead of trucks like the stereotypical boy did. In high school people made fun of me because they thought since I was a sensitive male, I was obviously gay. This of course was not true. I’m very attracted to women and even married. After years of struggling with these feelings of femininity, I came to a conclusion this past January: I am transgender. For those who don’t know what that is; it basically means that even though I was genetically born male, I identify myself as a woman. So to the question: What superpower would I want…..the answer is simple…..I would choose shapeshifting so I could change my form to how I feel on the inside. And of course the days that I do feel for masculent, I could change back to the male gender.
Jeff my question for you is, if you had to join one military branch, which would it be? I myself was in the navy
My dad always said, “Son, if you have to go military –” And I’d interrupt with “Navy, like you, right Dad?” To which he’d reply “Hell no, go Air Force, those ass-holes never have to work!”
Of course that was inter-branch rivalry, but I’d still follow it. I like all the tech and gadgetry.
Definitely telekinesis, since, at high enough powers, it can substitute for just about any other power. Strength? Enhance each blow with telekinesis. Invisibility? Use the same tactic as the scientists are, move the photons around your body. Flight? Raise your clothes or whatever, really could raise your whole body since science has nothing against that, unlike plot power. The list goes on, though shapeshifting is probably impossible.
I’ve said it before on my Power Use Profile, and I stand by it. I’d probably be best off if I could see into the future. There’s about a dozen powers that would make my job easier to do, but if I knew what the winning lottery numbers were, I wouldn’t have to worry about my job anyway. I end up constantly hurting myself, but if I could forsee that something was a bad idea, then I could change my course of action and hopefully avoid it. I’d probably have to put some limits on it, so I don’t get irrationally tempted to see how I end up dying, unless it was something completely avoidable from my immediate actions, but otherwise that’s what I’d want. And frankly, being surprised is overrated in my mind.
No question at the moment, maybe later.
Hmm… just one power seems a bit… dangerous to me. After all a lot of the coolest powers mean nothing without the secondary powersets that support their use.
Flight-would suck without the ability to withstand high altitudes and (cold temperatures and low oxygen levels) and high speeds (goggles! and the bugs! Ah the bugs!
Superspeed- moving at those speeds would tear you to pieces/burn you to death without anyway to protect yourself from the friction.
Superstrength- You would just punch your hands through everything and everyone unless you had the John Byrne established biokinetic aura that Superman extends to everything he touches (which is incidentally how they established how he can pick up massive objects without them collapsing in on themselves
I’d go with reality manipulation. Bam. All of your problems solved. I could alter my own body to mimic other abilities and alter my environment to fit my needs. I know it’s a copout, but it is one power! 😀
I can’t really think of any questions, so I yield my question to the floor.
I’d agree that they should stay true to the core story of the character, and also that the core concept should be kept the same.
As an example, Thunderbirds was about a secret organisation rescuing people from various disasters using cool vehicles. The 2004 film dropped that until the last few minutes of the film. A lot of people said it was going for a ‘Spy Kids’ angle, and had hardly anything to do with what the TV show was about.
At the same time, it’s okay to be a bit different to the source material. If it’s too similar, it can get criticised for not being original enough. I think that taking the the concept of a series and telling your own story with it can work, but there does seem to be a thin line between, ‘too different’ and ‘not different enough’- some films can pull it off, but some don’t.
I would have said Flight in the past but now I’m leaning toward Teleportation. Going anywhere instantly is just too practical to pass up.
If you could be one of the gods of any Earth mythology who would it be and why? And a second optional question that you can answer if so inclined: How would you adapt to the modern age if you were that god? Like play for a professional sports team while keeping your godhood hidden.
It would depend on the team you were playing for. I mean, you couldn’t be any good and play for a team like the Detroit Lions. There’d be too many people wondering how they got a winning streak beyond 3 games.
I wanted to say thanks to all the veterans such as myself and honor the fallen. I have already said a power I would of liked to have in my PUP, but another one would of been the power over the elements. I could control Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water. Kinda like the avatar I guess. Hey Jeff, do you know when, where, and cost of the next Comicon or anything like that, I would like to take my son. If I have asked this before I apologize.
Telekinesis or possibly Aerokinesis for a few simple reasons. One, they’re awesome and two, they have so many versatile uses. I could use my telekinesis to fly, to protect me from bullets, to give me superstrength or manipulate other elements. Aerokinesis, if powerful and controlled enough has the same results.
My question goes back to this week’s poll question. If you could scrub one movie out of existence entirely, what would it be and why?
Thread Hijack
I have started up the Item Voting Machine Poll again. Three choices of boot and the top vote getter becomes a Hero Machine art asset. For the new folk, you may have enjoyed using cyber arm, hightop sneaks, and even devilish wings. These all originally sprung from the Item Voting Machine Poll. What you decide now will have an impact on future art assets for Hero Machine so stop by and vote for your favorite boot.
Link below. Right there beneath this sentence. I’m pointing at it right now.
Item Voting Machine Poll 21: http://forums.ugo.com/showthread.php?t=42334
Hijack Over
The Phantom Menace. This would work like a domino and take out Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Then maybe we would have a chance, a new hope if you will, of a better series of prequels.
@DBlade, it wont let me vote but the Armored Boots are pretty cool
Ability to comprehensively understand/manipulate the energy of the electromagnetic spectrum, as long as said ability came with a dimmer switch.
The first, and most obvious, use for this would be light manipulation – invisibility, light shows, holographic illusions, etc. Branching further out, this would also include heat manipulation (infrared light, after all), and manipulation of the ultraviolet. Beyond that, though, you eventually get into the seriously damaging branches…or into the level used by radio transmissions, which could theoretically be hijacked or impersonated this way. Fun times.
The ‘dimmer switch’ portion is because I can’t see this as something you could really turn off, but while I’d like to have it, I’d hate to have it at 100% power all the time.
Jeff – in the spirit of your own question, I ask this: If you were told you were getting a super power – an actual one, not the joke ones so many characters seem to pick up – which one would you least want, and why?
Though there are tons of powers I’d like to have, in the end I think I’d choose being able to assume animal form (provided I kept my intellect, of course).
A salute to our armed forces!
Hey, the Lions actually made the playoffs last year. Try the Buffalo Bills or the Cleveland Browns. Those teams have been stinking it up for a while.
Maybe this sounds a little corny, but I’ve always wanted to be able to fly. Doesn’t have to be fast and I don’t care about how high, I just want to be able to coast around like Superman. Something about being able to lift myself off the ground and shoot up into the sky is very appealing to me. It would be the ultimate high (so to speak).
Sure, it would be tough to fight crime if all you could do was fly, but let’s all be honest with ourselves. Few if any of us would really be interested in fighting crime even if we had superpowers. Okay, maybe we’d use our powers to perform occasional random acts of kindness or stop a mugging if we happened to see it, but mostly we’d use them to screw around and make our lives easier. (Don’t bother denying it, you all know it’s true.)
In fact, I’m sure more than a few of us would probably use our powers for, shall we say, less than legal purposes.
Okay, this one will seem a little offbeat, but I’m going with Loki. Then I’ll use my magical trickster powers to create a line of practical joke gags to sell. Think along the line of the stuff the Weasley twins were selling in the 5th and 6th books of Harry Potter.
Not terribly ambitious, mind you, but it would amuse me.
*rassum-frassum* I always forget to include my question.
Okay, I’m interested in everybody’s answer here not just Jeff’s.
If you had exactly the superpower you’ve always wanted (let’s assume you also have all the required secondary powers to make it practical) what would you ACTUALLY do with it?
Be honest, now. No judgment, I promise. What would you really use your new superpower(s) for? I don’t mean to imply that everyone here would turn into criminals. I’m just saying, you can’t spend all your time fighting crime. And I’m sure some of you would rather not have to deal with such a weighty responsibility (I know I wouldn’t). So what would you do with your powers?
Like, if you had powerful telekinesis or super-strength would you rent yourself out to construction companies for cash? Or would you smash stuff up for fun?
And yeah, let’s confront the elephant in the room. If you could turn invisible or see through walls, would you use it to look at nekkid girls?
Doppleganger powers always make for some nice confusion. A power-parasite is good too (drain and mimic, like Rogue) so the mains get a taste of their own medicine. Power nullifiers are handy — no one in an x radius uses powers, folks! And I was always a sucker for luck powers, for good or ill. You never know what the hell is going to happen around those guys, it makes for fun.
Hm, good question … let’s see. I’m most familiar with the Greek and Norse gods thanks to comics, so I’ll probably stick to them. Though there’s probably some really nifty Polynesian monkey god that would rock, it’s my loss.
I’d probably go Apollo. He has a nice steady “day” job (get it?!), plus he’s an archer which I always thought was cool. Plus he’s the god of music and the arts, so I’d get to keep being creative.
Finally, the Greek gods didn’t really have much in the way of responsibilities and heavy duties, the kind of stuff that made being a Norse god such a drag most of the time. You could drink, get laid, party on down, or play chess if that’s more your thing. Kind of cool.
In real life I’d use my musical abilities to meet all the most awesome musicians around and hang out with them. That seems like a nifty lifestyle.
Ah, that’s where you’re living in the past, my friend! The Lions were pretty darn good last year, particularly QB Matt Stafford, who led my pretend fantasy football team (The Gotham Dark Knights) to the championship. I also had primary WR Calvin Johnson for most of the season as well. So I got lots of love for the boys in silver from Motor City.
I’m not really plugged into the con scene at all, I’m sorry. But there are tons of them, mostly small local ones. I’d get in touch with your local comics shop, they ought to know.
I’ll go with Superman III. That movie was an abomination and an affront. The only super-hero movie I ever walked out on … just awful.
I’m just not a Detroit fan, but I’m a fan of Stafford because he was QB for UGA which I’m also a fan of. Sorry to be a little out of touch, but I’ve been far too busy with school and trying to get my comic made to follow pro football in the last few years. I catch a college game once in a while, but other than that I don’t have much time to watch.
Out of the “serious” standard sorts of powers, I’d least want the ability to mind control people. That is just too fraught with danger. I could see totally losing any sense of yourself, what’s real, and that other people matter.
Honestly, I’d use mine to make a comfortable, safe life for myself and my loved ones first. Once that was set, I’d see about increasing the health and happiness of others, first in my state, then my country, then the world. But I’m not really brave enough to go out there and fight crimes and wars and stuff … I’d get financially secure, then make everything around me as safe and stable as possible from interference. Then with that, I could do other stuff, but only after.
That sounds like a good idea, the other one I thought of was shape-shifting and how it seems to largely be used for villains especially in Marvel. DC seems to be the only one using the power for good, with Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian and Chameleon Boy (and Chameleon Girl) as the only heroic examples I can think of. I sort of want a few Batman/Nightwing-like characters in there as well. I have a Deadpool-like character with Batman’s detective skills, but I want just a normal dude in there too. How’s that sound?
Myro: Forgot to show you last time, the Canadian Colossus-like character as mentioned, Yukon Jackhammer. http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/035/7/4/commission_for_heinz57xc_by_blumoonx06x-d4op4lz.jpg
I always think of teleportation, since my people have an annoying tendency to be far-flung. But then I thought, multi-animal shapeshifting would be a good alternate solution to that problem. Sure, it’s not instant, but the non-travel applications are more varied, and it does avoid that pesky “accidentally teleport into a wall” problem.
I think an *interesting* power to have would be an empathic skill. I’m imagining both the ability to know exactly what someone was feeling (handy in guessing someone’s motives, or whether they are lying), and the ability to influence what they are feeling. Of course, if you couldn’t *avoid* picking up on what everyone around you is feeling, that would get old fast. There’s the downside of that power.
A character who understands and speaks every language only after a listening to a few words. Wait… that’s one of my characters. Nyah, run with it. I like the concept for a spy or a devious manipulator.
An absorber who nullifies or redirects energy. This can also limited to someone who can only absorb fire or fire-based attacks, kinetic energy, microwaves, etc.
A “time-stepper” is the term that I use for someone who is able to slow perception. The hero who sees bullets flying and dodges them, saves the child from being ran over, etc.
For a fourth, a character who is able to flatten himself into a two-dimensional shadow. A great cat burglar and master escape artist.
The last two sound pretty cool. I think I’ll give them a shot.
First power that comes to mind is mind control. However, I don’t see that as being a very heroic power. So if I had to pick a power with more heroic applications, I would go with the ability to make things into real versions of themselves. This sounds confusing, but basically, it’s like this. I have a nerf sword, now it’s a real sword. Or, I’m wearing an Iron Man cosplay, now it’s really his suit. I mainly would want this power because last year for Halloween I went as Ichigo Kurosaki in his bankai form. So for those of you who don’t know, if I could make that costume real, I could run through the air at superspeed and hurl sword lasers. No question for you.
Do you have a forum account with UGO? You can only vote if you are logged in to the forums.
@DBlade, no I don’t, I keep meaning to get an account there, but honestly I never go on the forums really. If it were more like a chat room I might. I just post and read stuff here on the main pages.
my power will be to make anything i think of become either illusions or real (almost like green lanterns powers… almost)
It would be silly of me, but I would prefer one strange super-power – to be able to clean anything with the power of thought. Clean and make something old be like a new. Like, you see old crappy dirty thing, you make POW! And there’s this new shiny thing. Silly, eh? I mean, I’m not really a fighting guy. And it really bores me to clean something.
Can’t think of any question right now, so I’ll go without it, ok?
Omnipotence is a power, right? Or how about something absurdly broad like the assorted reality warpers from Marvel such as Franklin Richards, Mephisto, or Scarlet Witch?
Failing that, there are so many to choose from. Super intelligence is nice, for, as you said, duplicating a wide range of powers. However, at the same time, in a conversation like this, you have the opportunity to bend the laws of the universe for you whereas super intelligence just allows you to exploit the laws of physics to their fullest, which very well could be way short of, say, Iron Man. There may simply not be a way to make a set of power armor like that no matter what degree of skill you hold and so no matter how smart you are you can never get there. The laws of physics be a harsh mistress.
There are other good ones to choose as well from the psychic school. Charles Xavier level telepathy would be useful, reading minds, freezing minds, suggestion, etc. Not a lot of elaboration required on these. Mind reaping would be an excellent power, to be able to copy the knowledge and abilities of anyone. You could walk into a room full of quantum physicists one moment thinking quarks plug wine bottles and and the next be the foremost expert on the planet. It probably wouldn’t give you the depth of knowledge supergenius would, but it would probably give you a broader array of talents and skills.
Charles Xavier level telepathy would be useful, reading minds, freezing minds, suggestion, etc. Not a lot of elaboration required on these.
As pointed out earlier, telekinesis can substitute for any and all mastery over X type skills, also flight, strength, invulnerability, etc.
Taking it down another tier, voluntary ethereriality (etherealness?) would be useful. Transparency, walking through walls, maybe even possession, etc. Basically your standard ghost skill set.
Unlimited shapeshifting would be useful, way more so if you could change your body mass. If you’ve played Prototype you have a good idea of the offensive and defensive capabilities and the stealth capabilities of being anyone or anything are virtually endless. Couple that with shafeshifting closed any and all nonlethal wounds and even age damage and you have a very powerful power.
Last but not least of the ones I want to touch on is energy projection ala Green Lantern. Very versatile, can fit almost any situation, and comparable to telekinesis if not a bit flashier.
My first criteria is going to be utility. As cool as energy projection would be, or telekinesis, they are of limited use in our world. There is no market for superheroes which means if you go that route you are just going to be flattening petty criminals and other individuals who pose no challenge. Your career path would be essentially be a circus act or maybe crushing plant matter into diamonds for sale, but that would draw attention. I suppose you could go into supervillainy, the world domination route, but that, like most overt displays of the power, would result in assassination/dissection.
Shapeshifting could produce a lucrative career in modeling, espionage, blackmail, etc. Interesting but somewhat underwhelming. Also, a good chance of getting caught, dissected, etc. Etheriality is the same way, sans the modeling.
That leaves, aside from reality warping, telepathy/mind reaping and supergenius. It is clear how supergenius can be used to advance yourself through the Tony Stark path, and, you can get some pretty cool toys, but in the end, I just don’t think it has the power or versatility of the super-telepath so that is my final pick.
Some notes on other powers; first, Jeff, I have to call shenanigans on your choice. Being able to pull out of any container any item you wanted, including items that grant superpowers (like immortality) is pretty much the definition of “the power to have any super power I wanted”.
Also, time powers, at first glance they seem pretty cool, but they have major, major downsides. First, unless you can move in space as well as time, any noteworthy leap in the fourth dimension will leave you stranded in space. Planets/stars/galaxies move over time and unless you move with them, you are hosed. Also, most of history would end badly for most people. It sounds cool to visit ancient Rome, then you remember you don’t speak Latin, you have no survival skills relevant to living 2000 years ago, and you will probably catch smallpox or something equally horrible. Also, slowing time around you kind of implies you will age normally, which means if you use the power alot you will age much, much faster than everyone around you. You might be able to loot cool stuff from the future and sell it in the past, but just as probably, you’ll get caught by security systems you’ve never dreamed of and put in cryogenic storage until the sun explodes. Or you’ll appear in a city hit by a nuclear or biological weapon and bad things happen.
Yah, Jeff. I gotta go with ‘rebranch’ or, as discussed with Kaylin, ‘polywicking.’ Learning from mistakes without cost means you get all the value from the journey and the destination. Knowing when to step left instead of right will keep me from post-injury pain and unforeseen accident recovery. Overlapping myself gets me more fun.
To answer ‘what would you do?’ — if stuck with flight or phase, I’d probably become a notary public and record crimes I discovered to have them prosecuted. Then I’d try to make people think I was traveling EVERYWHERE. This is merely a magnification of how I have fought crime in the past. Criminals are, in the majority, afraid of surprise witnesses.
Jeff? How would you get to where you are now if your life had you loving twelve different media and hating them too? You do seem to be a model of success–perhaps those of us with goal problems could learn from you.
Yeah, I’ve made no attempt to conceal the fact I chose my power solely for personal gain, and maybe the benefit of my friends and family. I’d predict the future to make money in the lottery, betting on sports, playing cards, whatever. And also to avoid accidents or other injuries. In fact, since I’m using my power to avoid danger, crimefighting is not in the cards. I mean, sure, if I manage to foresee a crime before it happens, I’d tip the police off, but that’s the extent of it.
That’s a fine looking custom piece you have there. I still hate you for making a cheesy Canadian character. :P. J/k (mostly)
I’d choose something related to money-making rather than a super-power which can only be used tactically against someone else. Perhaps biologically creating clean energy sources – then i’d probably be the richest man alive. and then i could FUND superheroes, which would be a lot more effective than being one guy on the street. Just notice how many times heroes were equipped with Stark-tech/Wayne-tech/Luthorcorp items.
My question to you, Jeff, is have you ever considered taking HM to the tablet/smartphone app market? It might be a good idea now that HM is independent from UGO, isn’t it?
Ooops, I forgot my question. Oh well. I think I’ll answer other people’s:
I’d use it to make my life a lot nicer, and a lot more fun. I might also fight crime, but I probably wouldn’t bother most of the time.
I’d probably say flight, because I’m scared of heights! Or anything really obvious and hard to hide, like superstrength, shrinking or stretchy arms. Anything you can only really use for one thing, like laser vision. Because it’s just not that useful, is it?
I’d want to be Athena from the Greek mythology, because GIRL POWER! And I’d probably be an author and write stories about Greek myths…and an artist, and an architect, and design my own house…YEAH!
I would probably want time control, particularly the ability to pause time. When you’re a procrastinating student such as myself, that would be a godsend. Either that, or omniscience.
My question to you, Jeff: do you play any musical instruments? If not, what would you like to learn?
I think over all, I’d like to have the ability to create energy within my body and direct it at will. It’s a power that has a variety of uses and if the energy is generated by movement then you might not run out. I mean off the top of my head I could use the energy to enhance nearly any physical aspect (save strength) or project it as a blast/into an object a la Gambit. If I ever did get a power/s I probably would do a lot to help my own life before I really considered helping others.
The flaw with this ability though I believe comes from the fact that it could pretty well screw up your metabolism, making it work faster most likely or perhaps running out of stored power at a vital time.
I would have to go for hyper regen/adaptation, akin to Doomsday. That gives me the semi-immortality that he enjoyed, and also the ability to withstand most anything, once I’ve dealt with it before.
A model of success, I wish!
I have so not had a plan all along. I did learn doing tech support at Dell that life is too short to spend it doing something you hate. So if you’re miserable, do something different. Otherwise, do what brings you joy. If you love to draw, draw, and be open to opportunities. If you have an idea, try it even if other people think it’s stupid.
Decide you’re going to be happy, then go and make it happen. If things make you unhappy or sad, change them. The rest is just details.
I’d love to, but HM is all written in Flash, which is not usable on any iOS device. I’d have to rewrite HM completely using HTML5 type stuff, and that’s an enormous undertaking.
I only play the radio, sadly. I’d love to learn how to play the banjo, oddly enough. I think I’m just a Steve Martin wanna-be, ultimately 🙂
I’d say…the ability to conjure items from fiction, like snapping my fingers and getting a phaser, or the death star, or the cake. That would open a whole range of possibilities.
My power would be Super-Sorcery, comic book level spellcasting. It’s an “everything” power that is by definition not limited by the laws of science, which can make many powers less fun.
“If you had exactly the superpower you’ve always wanted (let’s assume you also have all the required secondary powers to make it practical) what would you ACTUALLY do with it?”
I would use it to mess with the 1%’ers, and make myself comfortable in the process. Imagine adapting the Cornucopia enchantment (the spell that makes an object continuously self-refilling) to the electrical wiring in your house, or to the gas tank in your car. That’s one expense that I would never have to budget for again. Now, imagine how much money an independent gas station could make if they bought or leased the same enchantment for their pumps? No more getting gouged by the oil companies, and they could undercut the chains and steal all of their business. And pay me a flat rate of, oh, $1000 a week. No, make that $100 a week. I only need to get ten stations to sign up to be making $52,000 per year. Bye bye 9-5 job! (Well, 9-6 technically, at least this shift bid.) And if I could learn to attach spells to emails, I could sell similar enchantments over the Internet, allowing increasing numbers of people to go off the grid. Slowly, oil companies would see a drop in profits, and when they jacked up prices to make it up, they would drive more and more customers to me. As well as creating an even larger backlash against all of the subsidies they get. And then there are the self-repair enchantments, maintenance contracts that should work on any device they were applied to, once I figured out how to make the recipient able to apply them. Another opportunity would be protective enchantments, developed by experimenting on applying my enchantments first to endangered animals. Then made available to ordinary people, and endangered groups (such as women in Sharia-dominated lands, or homosexuals in primitive barbarian lands).
There is just something cool about making a living selling superpowerful spells over the Internet. And messing with those who have all the power now along the way.
YES!!!! I would love that device!!!
My superpower would be definitly have to be to have ever power XD just playing I would actually prefer Captian Americans Super-soldier abilities, plus I love the shield lol.
My question to you Jeff is have you ever considered doing small computor games? like a simple RPG using you’re designs on here, because that would be awesome to play, being able to literally design every aspect of your character.
Hulk-like super strength and durability, because then I could surf on cars, leap across buildings in a single jump, and contort any item I find in the environment into a weapon or tool (i.e. a lamppost into nunchucks, a car into a skateboard, etc.)
Fir me, it would be the ability to manipulate and type of matter in any way I wished. So, for example, I could produce a Death Star and the entire imperial fleet whenever I wanted to!
If you could be any Lord of the rings charecters (this includes the silmarilion-is that spelled right?-and other prequels) who would it be?
“fighting for petroleum” sound better.
Which super-power would I choose?
Tough choice.
I think I would probably choose boundary (both literal and metaphorical) manipulation, Yukari-Yakumo-style (Touhou games). If one had that, s/he could probably do just about anything s/he wanted.