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[jay-ell]

Pedro and I have been watching Heroes on Netflix instant access.  (What?  You haven't gotten it yet?  What did I tell you about getting it?  Go!  Now!)  I don't want to talk about the show, per se -- we're only through season one, no spoilers please -- but we were talking about which of the super powers on the show we'd like to have, which ones suck, which hero we'd most like to be rescued by, etc. 

The gist of the show is that .07% of the human race exhibits random mutations that cause special abilities like telekinesis, telepathy, invulnerability, flight, etc.  The characters are scattered across the country -- indeed, the world -- but their paths ultimately converge in bizarre (and sometimes contrived) ways culminating in a major world event.  (Or trying to avert it, depending.) 

But that's not important.  What I want to know is, if you had a superpower, what would it be (based on your actual life and abilities)?  What would be your weakness, your kryptonite so to speak?  Who would you most want fighting on your team?  If you could choose an ability, would you choose one different from the one you think you'd come by naturally?  What ability would your archenemy have?  Would you use your powers for good, use them for evil, or try not to use them at all?  Is there a power you'd ascribe to another TOUAMBER?  (e.g., Daniel has the power to love every girl.) 

Here's a Handy Reference List if you need ideas. 

My latent superpower would probably be accelerated healing, perhaps combined with a ridiculous tolerance for pain.  My weakness would be extreme heat, I think.  I'd like someone with some sort of mind power on my side, like mind control or telepathy, to balance the ticket, as it were.  I would use my powers for good, and my archenemy would be someone with the same set of powers, but an evil streak -- like Wolverine and Saber-tooth.  That way we could tear into each other like insane crazy wildcat cougars, but neither of us would ever win and the comic books would go on forever. 

If I could choose a power, though, I think I'd most like to be telepathic.  There's so much you can do with that, and most of the damage can be achieved without violence.  It's the kinder, gentler offensive weapon.  Plus, it would make recon work a snap. 

[jay-ell]

Oh, some thoughts on Pedro.  (I haven't discussed this with him, I'm interested to see what he thinks.) 

Pedro would definitely have the Power of Persuasion, AKA Jedi mind tricks.  I've seen him exhibit this in real life -- hell, he got me to marry him, didn't he? -- and it is an awesome power to see in action.  He and I would (and often do) make a great team. 

But his tragic weakness?  Excessive loyalty.  He'd be getting double-crossed by sexy cat-suited villainesses all over the place, because once he's formed a favorable opinion of someone, he has a really hard time seeing that person's flaws.  (He asked me to marry him, didn't he?)  His arch nemesis would be (Andy Huffman) someone who was able to pretend to be on his side, but in reality a double agent for the other team.  But he wouldn't know he had an arch nemesis, so it wouldn't matter much. 

[lprkn]

So, in real life, I tend to repress my anger to the point that even people who I am insanely pissed at aren't even the slightest bit aware.

I guess my power would be that while I sleep, I psychically project an astral presence, energy being, or something, that exacts vengeance upon my enemies. Due to the nature of the power, I would pretty much have to be a bady guy. I am envisioning a Mike Mignola art style, what with ecoplasm and all.

My weakness would be that I'm asleep when my powers are active, so anybody who wanted to take me out could do so, as long as the projection didn't become aware of them.

My archenemy is a private investigator who used to be a detective, but was fired because he started taking the law into his own hands due to the fact that he is mildly telepathic, and could see the unknown evil that people have done. He is a somewhat tortured individual because of his power, and drinks a lot to keep it at bay. I am his Holy Grail, because he caught my avatar(?) killing his former partner one night.

Alternate idea: My power is to royally cock things up, somewhat like William H Macy's character in The Cooler, but on a greater scale. The story is set during WWII, is somewhat of a comedy, and I am enlisted by the OSS to infiltrate the Nazis and fuck their stuff up by simply being there. My weakness is tied directly to my archnemesis, a devilishly handsome German I went to college with who has the superpower of being extremely lucky. So, I basically have to stay two steps ahead of him. My power allows rubs off on the people around me, except for him. So I am able to stymie his flunkies, but not him personally.

[wombat]

Well, superhuman intelligence, naturally. Too bad it's not good for anything.

But seriously... that handy reference list is missing the one I thought of, which is to control animals with my mind. Like, getting a flock of birds to, say, chirp really loud early in the morning in my enemy's backyard, and stuff. And getting animals to poop in places where it's really easy to clean up. Now that would be useful.

I'm sure I didn't make this one up, it must be in fiction somewhere.

My weakness would probably be chocolate, making me comically easy to distract and defeat unless I hurried up and had the animals going at it before anyone could pull a candy bar out of their pocket.

[littlefallsmets]

When I was a kid, I thought that I'd grow up with the power to control the wind.

Dunno why, guess I just liked the feeling of a strong wind on my body and the knowledge that I was growing into a large person and large people don't get knocked down by wind... can just enjoy the feeling of it.

My weakness would be my anxiety, same as in real life. haha.

[Carlos del Vaca]

The superpower I've always thought would be awesome would be the ability to shape-change into any animal, a la one of the Wonder Twins.

Dropped into the ocean?  Change into a shark.
Need to escape through the air?  Change into an eagle.
Need to hide?  Change into a flea.
Need to knock down that wall over there?  Change into a rhino.
Confronting your arch-enemy?  Change into a tiger and maul him.

The downside, of course, would be the vulnerabilities of whatever you're changed into.  Say you change into a fly in order to hang out on the wall and spy on someone, but then they see you and get the flyswatter... oops.

[jay-ell]

And if your archenemy had mind control, he could make you change into something really detrimental.  Like, you're fighting in the desert, and he makes you change into a giraffe. 

[Pedro Picasso]

The downside, of course, would be the vulnerabilities of whatever you're changed into.  Say you change into a fly in order to hang out on the wall and spy on someone, but then they see you and get the flyswatter... oops.

Let's make it more interesting.  Let's say you can only change once per day.  So you have to choose carefully, because you'll be stuck with it until the sun comes back around.

[wombat]

Let's make it more interesting.  Let's say you can only change once per day.  So you have to choose carefully, because you'll be stuck with it until the sun comes back around.

Don't forget to think about mealtimes, then. You might have to have bugs or carrion for dinner if you don't watch out.

[jaydub]

Don't forget to think about mealtimes, then. You might have to have bugs or carrion for dinner if you don't watch out.

On the upside, they would be entirely delicious to you.  But what would happen if you changed back to human with a belly full of fly-blown roadkill?  Hmmm.

[Drygioni]

Invisibility. I mean, come on. As a field agent for Her Majesty's Secret Service this would not only be highly useful, but is also highly representative of my work.

My weakness would be the fact that if I got an erection in the middle of the street a driver might not see it and swerve into me and knock my cock off.

Of course my powers would be for the health of the country, so that's obviously good.

[Pedro Picasso]

Invisibility. I mean, come on. As a field agent for Her Majesty's Secret Service this would not only be highly useful, but is also highly representative of my work.

My weakness would be the fact that if I got an erection in the middle of the street a driver might not see it and swerve into me and knock my cock off.

Of course my powers would be for the health of the country, so that's obviously good.

Mine would be the opposite.  Jamie was very kind to say that I have persuasive powers, but I'm afraid she is confused.  I don't have the power to make people think what I want them to me.  I merely have the ability to draw their attention.  I am the visible man.  When I direct my power at an individual or group, that individual or group can see me.  No matter how dark it is in the room, how far away I am, or how much crap is in between, those people can see me and will have difficulty ignoring me.  It's the middle-child power.

The weakness is simply that a person who embarasses himself as much as I do should not necessarily be drawing that much attention in the first place.  I am my own arch-nemesis.  Also Andy Huffman.

Also, why is invisibility always about having an erection?

[theinevitable]

there was a Larry Niven story I loved when I read it about a guy whose power was to never be noticed. he wasn't invisible, people just... didn't notice he was there.

[Doc]

I just started playing a super hero RPG recently and my character can slow down time so appears to have super speed but is also morbidly obese because he doesn't need to move very quickly. It's just occurred to me that he shouldn't be allowed to slow down time to the point that he moves faster than the speed of light but then if I start down that road then there's the question of how easily he can see things when time is slowed down to that level etc. etc.

I don't know what a good power would be based on my actual personality, probably some mental thing like above, the ability to comprehend things very quickly maybe? That doesn't sound so super.

If I could choose a power it would definitely be a time-related thing or teleportation. Bamf! That would be useful.

[theinevitable]

lately it seems like my weakness is that people will always think I am being Completely Serious when I jokingly say mean or offensive things.
Also, that people who are doing some kind of service for me (serving my dinner, bagging my groceries) will misunderstand something I say and think I'm insulting them, or failing to tip, etc. Normally I am just being paranoid, but I have gotten some major Dirty Looks this week.