Exploring an old cliche: what super power would you most like to have? The least?
Imagine that I'm a genie willing to grant you a single wish regarding one fantastic power you can have from any genre. Flight? Invulnerability? Immortality? The catch is that I'll also grant you another power you don't want. What would that be? Vomiting slugs? Hearing ants chatter at each other? Being irresistibly attractive to the wrong gender?
Tell us a little bit about yourself by describing your best fantasy and your worst nightmare.
8 years ago by spaceghoti
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I'd most likely want the ability to acquire the "experience of reading" contained by books through touch. I'd go to libraries and touch every book on subjects that I want to improve on and move on to the next library until I'm practically a master of those subjects.
Least? Not being able to shut it off. Any time I pick up a book that I want to read for enjoyment, it will feel as if I'm rereading a book that I'm already familiar with.
i have always thought about this very same power. i briefly considered adding the caveat that i would absorb all knowledge in the book rather than just having the same knowledge as if i had read it, but i actually think it would be perhaps a bit better to just have the experience of reading the book, that way you can forget some of the books you have read years ago and reexperience the good ones. still... i would run down the halls of a library with my hands running across the spines of every book at least once or twice.
I've thought about absorbing all knowledge, but it seems a bit too implausible. I feel like if I allowed myself that, my mind would function more like an encyclopedia than memory. I suppose you could recall the information when prompted (ex. a test), but your daily life would overall be the same. Instead of stumbling onto a previous memory, I'd feel like you'd have to search up a keyword in your brain to think of something and rather than abstractly thinking of an idea, you'd be basically reciting the words.
I, too, would run down libraries, but only in the sections that I'm interested in. I have no desire to clutter my brain about subjects I do not care for.
I'm imagining the skill downloads from Matrix.
"Do you know how to fly that thing?"
"I do now."
Alas I would only have book knowledge on a particular subject and not actual experience. I guess I'm only cut out to be a super-researcher.
We'd have to make your superhero name "The Know-It-All."
Any language barriers, or would you automatically understand the text regardless of the language it was written in?
Wouldn't matter either way, I could just absorb language textbooks.
That depends on whether or not you could get your hands on a text book for translating Sumerian-to-English. ;)
Thats what I though when I read it too!
TELEPORTATION. I mean why would you want to run fast or fly when you can just teleport there? Telekinesis? Yeah that's cool but for most things I can just teleport there and grab it. Mind reading? No thanks, too much responsibility.
What's the power you would least like to have? A power with more downsides than upsides?
Superhuman hearing but only when you are trying to sleep.
Or
You're way too strong all of the time. You can't hug anyone or even shake anyone's hand for fear of crushing them
So almost like a chimp :)
I'd like to subconsciously know whats about to happen in the area around me about 3 seconds in the future. I'd know a knock to the door was coming just a bit earlier, I could wake up just before my alarm actually goes off, react to things about to fall etc.
As for the least, plant control? I could tell that tree to fall on you but it would take years for the roots to decay on one side while it grows extra branches to weigh enough to topple. "COME MY PLANT ARMY WE WILL CONTROL THIS PARK BY THE TIME I'M 90 MWHAHAHA"
So you want Jedi reflexes.
I'm reminded of a Piers Anthony Xanth novel in which a ring held by someone who can talk to inanimate objects claims to be magical and grant any wish you can name. It just takes a while....
Yes! I was thinking of it as a more general form of spider-sense
I suppose if there was no upper limits on how many plants you could control you could set some events into place that would outlast you and possibly improve the world. Using human and plant cooperation to achieve long term goals.
And that's a power you don't want?
I was thinking short-term! I want to do cool stuff now
So your negative power is one you already possess: impatience. ;)
I suppose super impatience and knowing what's coming in three seconds could drive a man little crazy too
Well shit, I have this super power now. My brain is terrified of that stupid alarm clock!
Well I already had the power to come back from the dead. That didn't work out so well. People kept killing each other over me.
I want to be able to move matter with my mind. With that power I can have virtually any other superpower.
But now instead of regular tiny spiders, there is giant spiders the size of cars that can move at 100 miles per hour. I'd still crush them with my superpower but I'd be uneasy going about my day knowing they are out there, waiting to strike.
So, no limits on how much you can move or lift? As long as it's composed of matter you can shift it?
Is this a consequence of using your power? Every time you use it a car-sized spider moving at NASCAR speeds appears to attack you? But to defend yourself with your power you create more of them. That'd be exhausting.
Oh I didn't know it was a per use basis. In that case, a giant spider appears some where on earth for every time I use my power.. so the more I use it, the more dangerous (for everyone) the world becomes. This means that the world itself can kill off the spiders as I create them but they better have a lot of bazookas. I of course can help, but there is no point if I use my power to easily stop each one, since a new one will appear somewhere else.
I don't either, I'm just attempting to clarify. How did you initially envision this power to work?
I'd like to be able to change shape, Mystique style. I could be anyone I wanted.
And what power would I inflict on you to go with it? Uncontrollable magnetism? Uncontrollable animal magnetism?
Ever seen the show Misfits? Someone gets a power like the second one. I'd never wish uncontrollable animal magentism on anybody.
Misfits of Science? Yes, I loved that show (don't judge me, I was young). And yes I remember the episode where Johnny's electric powers turn into electromagnetism. I was disappointed that they pulled a deus ex machina and made the problem go away at the end without explaining how.
Oh no, different Misfits. This one is about a bunch of juvenile delinquents in the projects in Britain who get superpowers. If you like superheroes you should definitely check this out!
Luck manipulation would love to have that ability. It could really help out in almost anything without being a showy power. Having a bad if you actually have one recieve a call you just won the lottery, having a test answer randomly probably going to do really well. And no need for insurance of any kind
Good one. Subtle powers are usually the most effective. What about a power you would least like to have?
super strength getting angry would be horrible got laid off out of anger you hit the table and it would break. I mean as powers go it could be really helpful but it could be really dangerous if i got angry, or just accidentally break things without thinking.
Ooh, uncontrolled super strength. But of course with the power to influence probability you'd never break anything that didn't need breaking even if you didn't realize it at the time.
Yep if i had both powers it wouldn't really be a problem since as you said luck would protect me from breaking stuff
The power to have everyone laugh at my jokes no matter how bad they are.
LOL that was hilarious! ;)
telekinetically separate objects into their individual basic atomic elements. i would use this to master the art of recycling.
Tree huggers would love you!
The ability to spawn any item at any time.*
I wouldn't really like any shapeshifting superpower, it might be hard to adapt!
*only 1 item is allowed at a time
Me and a good buddy debated this endlessly for a long time years ago. After debating, we finally settled on this one:
"The ability to convince anyone, of anything at any time".
Want to fly? Walk into any airport and you're on the next plane to where you want to go. No teleportation, but it does have comfy seats. Want to be invisible? Tell the people in the room that you're invisible, and you are. Need money? 5 minutes of walking around chatting and you have a stack of cash. Sex? All the women of the world are yours- just walk up and introduce yourself.
It's effectively the closest-to-godlike power that we could come up with.
My superpower would let me teleport anywhere I want, but every time I use my superpower (within 30 sec of teleporting) I leave a blast of energy that takes out a 20 meter square area and shuts down all electrical devices within 1.5 kms.
Demolition companies would love you.
I guess so!
Hmm...I had a thought. Would that destructive blast also destroy the air around you on arrival? Or just a concussion blast that would level 20 square meters of wilderness? Either way it would make your arrival pretty loud.
It happens after 30 seconds so I have a chance to get the hell out of there too.
Prepare to never own a cellphone, unless you can run 1.5 km in 30 seconds. Also hopefully you're legs are never injured and you need to teleport to safety, or worse to a hospital.
Yep I thought about that. Would be hell in most situations.
The ability to safely teleport, but ONLY to a place that I can see with my naked eye. So if I see a mountain, I can instantly appear on a side of it that I can see.