Annotated 32-17
Pitch #4 of 10: not sure quite how to classify this one. It’s part superhero, part self-help, and part Sun Tzu. It’s the kind of book Byron the Berserker might everntually write if he were part of the cape-and-mask community. Call it Supertactics.
Supertactics is a set of meditations on how to maximize effective use of every major super-power, from the basics like strength and durability to the real early advantages like super-speed and mind-reading to the oddball powers that may seem next to worthless but can be nurtured into real badassery with practice and creative application. Think your power to change the color of objects is useless? Your enemies sure won’t when you change their transparent corneas to chartreuse.
There are also sections on how best to resolve every major challenge a hero is likely to encounter, from hostage situations to identity exposure to alien invasion to possession by an evil entity to universal destruction (don’t worry too much about that last one: it never sticks). And for the villains… haha, don’t be silly, no responsible publisher would put out a how-to guide for supervillainy! Wait… how did this section on “how to kill every major superhero” get in here? Oh, no! I should have reread the section on getting possessed by an evil entity!
Pretty much any form of kinetic matter manipulation power is usually highly underrated at first. Unless you only have the ability to manipulate einsteinium, chances are there is a stupid amount of the substance you can effect somewhere. And like a butterfly flaps it’s wings, you too can change the world…
I would likely read every page of this. I’m sure lots of folks enjoy the super powers thought experiment, but it’s fun to read the thoughts of others as well.
Does going for realism in application also mean going for realism for the downsides too? Does slapping a ball at mach 5 break your hand? Is someone with super strength, but not super durability useful? I’d like to see such technicalities brought to the mix.
These questions remind me of the book “Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics”. It has bits about Hulk-jumping and Superman, alongside many other movies. It doesn’t go much in-depth about those sort of questions, instead focusing more on the collateral effect of superpowers that never factor in properly.
The opening half-dozen or so of My Hero Acadamia actually does address those better, as the main character gains access to superpowers later in his life (rather than being born with them), and has to deal with the collateral of his body not being acclimated to using the forces now at its disposal. It’s a Shonen-genre anime (the manga might, as often is, be better), so a bit of warning about that.
MHA strikes me as the most forward-looking example of the genre in at least a decade.
Only Frigg can down a whole feast by herself in the less time than it takes her friends to drink a mug or cup.
Sounds like a book anti-Batman would write. Instead of “how to defeat my erstwhile superpowered allies if they go berserk” it would be “how to make my super friends even more super!”
That pitch reminds me of the “which pill?” scenario from some years back.
Basic premise was stolen from a meme, namely that a few humans from our world were offered a choice of pills, the color of which indicated a superpower.
The basic ones were stuff like “Object reading”, “Skill mastery”, “near-Infinite physical strength”, “polymorph into animal”, “Commune with past/future self” etc. etc. and then someone did a huge narrative around them, where each ability (minus a few ones) were milked for all their worth, to really absurd levels.
Found it : https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/02/and-i-show-you-how-deep-the-rabbit-hole-goes/
I remember it being a pretty fun read, but it’s been 6 years, so who knows.
Oh, it’s still plenty fun. SSC (and its new incarnation, Astral Codex Ten) is one of my favorite blogs.
Sorta/kinda related, the pitch reminds me of the book The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios. It discussed how if you were to allow a super power as a factual thing, how does it play with Physics. Despite the big P in the title, it is not that heavy of a read. I enjoyed it, perhaps others might too.
I dunno, I think with comic books colonizing all media, I think something playing with the tired tropes is just more depressing than funny.
My attitude there is kind of like how the creators of Sesame Street responded to their disdain for television’s influence on the young. “It’s not an ideal situation, but let’s make the best of it.” I do feel kind of lucky that the public chose to focus on something I actually know a fair bit about; tomorrow’s obsession du jour will probably be something like YouTube families or TikTok deepfakes or pogs.
I read that, hoping it would explain the value of transforming into a bucket of water.
It makes you wonder, obviously.