That Weird Powers That I've Never Got

Markiehoe wrote:

Woodclaw wrote: I'm going to start with one of the elephants in the room: blasters.
The entire concept of a blaster character is really old and I'm always kind of surprised that it lasted so long. I can get the appeal of a character being able to shot fire, lighting or whatever from the eyes/hands, but if that's it then there's something missing. Characters like Cyclops or Lighting Lad are pretty much asking to be shot in the face as soon as they appear, they're often incredibly good at attacking, but they suck so hard of defence.

You could say the same about a :Marksman" character.
"Just shoot em in the pistol"
If you are going to shoot, shoot into the torso where you have the best chance of hitting.

The thing about a character like Cyclops is not only do they have to be aggressive and shoot first they have to be smart to avoid the inevitable counter.

Monty wrote: The. charmed sister's powers were a bit weird, especially Phoebe's premonition thing when she'd sort of freeze up. Piper's power was also a bit strange. How far did her freezing ability stretch to? Did the whole world come to a standstill when she waved her hands?
Prue's powers were probably the coolest, moving things around just by staring intently at them or gesturing towards them - there was a chance of her displaying a kind of superstrength with her power, but it was never explored.

willow wrote:

Markiehoe wrote: In another video which I can not find the guy pointed out how many times a competent marksman could have shot the Rhino and ended the threat.
Watch this video and see for yourself how ridiculous this situation was just so the film maker could show off that Hollywood Star Paul Giamatti was the Rhino.

Ha. That movie was total garbage that made those early Marvel movies from the 70s and early 80s look well written.

Why are the police not desperately trying to get the large crowd of civilians away from a combat zone? Why are a bunch of civilians just hanging around to watch this firefight like its Hollywood production (oh wait, it is)? There is a famous bank robbery from California back in the 90s where the robbers had fully automatic weapons but were caught by the police while leaving the bank. As police and bank robbers have a full blown firefight, every civilian within sight is running for their lives or desperately hiding behind cover. Also, how the hell did he get that thing into downtown without anyone noticing? It's not like it is small enough to fit in a rented U-Haul truck. As for dealing with the Rhino, that suit can only carry so much ammunition that he is using like candy. Not to mention you could also just wait until Paul Giamatti needs to eat, sleep, or use the bathroom. Power armor is great but you can rarely live your entire life in it.

www1969 wrote: This reminds me that a little while back, I was reading an old copy of West Coast Avengers, in which it was mentioned that Mockingbird's costume was essentially bulletproof. You will recall this is how she chose to clothe herself in the bulletproof material back then...

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Markiehoe wrote: Back when I read Spiderman comics the one that got me was Ace.

Apparently his super power was just standing there and looking cool.

Markiehoe wrote: In another video which I can not find the guy pointed out how many times a competent marksman could have shot the Rhino and ended the threat.
Watch this video and see for yourself how ridiculous this situation was just so the film maker could show off that Hollywood Star Paul Giamatti was the Rhino.

AuGoose wrote: Just remember, the second most common power is "Trivialize Guns".

Bullet-proof/Invulnerability
Spider sense/hyper-reflexes/speed force
Regeneration
Phasing/Intangibility
An adamantium shield/cutting bullets out of the air
Magnetic or Telekinetic catch/melt out of the air (spoilers: a couple of molten droplets of brass and lead moving at 2100fps will still kill you dead)

Dodge it, soak it, deflect it. Bullets don't work. It's always going to devolve into fisticuffs and energy beams. Almost every single melee hero there is makes shooting at them pointless AS A GIVEN. I often suspect its to try and head off the fridge logic that every single character that doesn't have offensive powers should be carrying a gun. Though certainly some of it comes from gunfire being visually uninteresting in sequential art.

Shadar wrote: Your comments about bullets got me thinking... yes, those gunfire scenes aren't usually very dramatic compared to punching, and crashing and friggin' eye beams. But that's partially because bullet scenes are hard to do WELL, so they usually are done poorly and are just dull.

But what if the target was getting knocked around by the bullets, hair flying, holes tearing in clothing along with some fabric confetti. And the richocets are all different, based on the angle they strike and how hard the part of the body they hit. Some ping away and others blunt to ground at the shooter's feet. And while the bullets don't really injure her, maybe they hurt like hell, which leads to interesting factial expressions and movements, perhaps trying to stop some of them with her hands.. Perhaps an automatic weapon pulverizes her into a corner, clothing half shot away, head spinning from the impacts, entire body in agony, unable to get up, or covering her head with her arms -- until the poor bastard has to reload.

Then it's a race between her shaking it off and flying over to tackle the shooter before he can fire again, and then bending his rifle in half or crushing his pistol, finger still in the trigger guard, mangled into the crushed steel. Probably would cause her to break her "Don't punch people in the face when you're pissed" rule.

My point is, it could be done dramatically and well, but audiences prefer super Kung Fu and eye beams and good bullet scenes are hard to do.

Shadar