MetaChat - if you could have one superpower, what would it be?

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03 September 2006

if you could have one superpower, what would it be? just thought I'd ask...
as for me, it would be psychokinesis (a la "Carrie")... I wouldn't hurt anybody, but I would love to sit in public places & just fuck with people by moving things around with my mind... heh heh heh... I would also use it to clean the house...

post by: recovering iowan at: 16:11 | 25 comments

I want to talk to animals a la Dr. Doolittle and thus be kind of like Aquaman and be able to always get animals to come to my rescue and do my bidding and shit. Yeah. I want to be the Aquagirl of the animal kingdom; ride elephants, summon eagles and banish mice from my kitchen in a kind and understanding and even gently humorous way, in that inimitable 19th century British vein just like Dr. Doolittle, the original, not the Eddy Murphy version.

Flying, also good. Flying carpet, perhaps even better.

posted by mygothlaundry 03 September | 16:16

I wish to possess a devastating elevator eyebrow with which I would distribute shame throughout the Universe.

posted by saf 03 September | 16:25

I'd like to read minds, if I could turn it off. Not that I can't read minds now... I just can't turn it off.

Hi, saf!

posted by taz 03 September | 16:28

I want to be able to turn into water-related things. Like a bucket of water or an ice ape. Why? Because it is the lamest power ever and it's very existence will perplex and vex people for generations.

posted by jrossi4r 03 September | 16:32

Having given this not a small amount of thought, I couldn't have only one. Flight would be great, until you're 500 miles from nowhere over the Pacific and lost. There has to be a way of psychically 'tagging' areas so you can get there-and-back. I'm sure things look much different from 20,000 feet, and sure, you could take a laptop with Google Earth with you, but then there's always the issue of cloud cover. With little oxygen. In a thunderstorm. And the higher you go, the colder it gets. So I'd have to be able to withstand those conditions too.
Why stop at Earth? I want to be able to hover 70,000 kilometres above Jupiter's Great Red Spot and awe at the sheer power of it and fly through the The Star Pillars of Sharpless 171 [link]. And get back (in my lifetime) - thus the 'tagging'. Flight, speed, invulnerability, I'm so greedy.

posted by Zack_Replica 03 September | 16:38

Seanbaby's take - ancient in the internets, yet wise. And funny as hell, particularly on Aquaman; I've read that like 20 times and it still makes me laugh hysterically.

posted by mygothlaundry 03 September | 16:44

I'd either love to turn invisible, or be able to stop time, and walk around everyone while they're being statues.

Of course, I'd do absolutely nothing positive with these powers; I'd actually be a weasely villain, if anything. A very minor one, too; I'd need a charisma implant to be anything more.

posted by deadcowdan 03 September | 16:49

I know this sounds silly, but I've always wanted powers like Samantha on "Bewitched". Wiggle my nose, and all the household chores would be done. And I'm quite sure my husband wouldn't mind at all, unlike Darrin. And talk to the animals; move items by telepathy; and look fabulous in a spandex suit.

posted by redvixen 03 September | 16:50

Give me a curse that I could use for evil but I mostly use for good. Something dark and nasty from the Amazon or Hell or the '50's that my pure spirit would constantly be at battle with, but which I needed and used in those times of need. Like The Hulk, or maybe, ermmm, The Hulk?

posted by seanyboy 03 September | 17:06

I would like the power to instantly bring peace and calm into any situation, Ultimate Empathy.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 03 September | 17:07

I would like the power to make heads explode.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 03 September | 17:09

Zack_Replica doesn't just want powers, he wants powers with extra tagging web 2.0 goodness. Dude, that's just greedy.

What next. The power to use folksonomies, the Creative Commons and podsafe music to destroy evil. Maybe using the rounded boxes of doom and the AJAX enabled pastel colouring of Flickr to spread peace.

*I call on the powers of doctorow to save us all*

/geek off.

posted by seanyboy 03 September | 17:13

Hey, I said I was greedy. I just want to be able to get home, ya know. Home good. The last thing I want is to be winging my way across the globe and
"Hey! Look it's...
Antarctica.
great.
well, at least I know which way's North. gaaah."

posted by Zack_Replica 03 September | 17:22

Let's start a Superheros gang & take over the world... no, the universe! Anyone who disagrees with us will first be compared to Nazi sympathizers... then fluffy battle kitten can make their heads explode... woo-hoo!!

posted by recovering iowan 03 September | 17:26

This is probably going to sound lame but I'd like the power to heal people, both inside and out: heal their wounds and make them beautiful spirits, then war and killing would stop. Aahhh. I feel calm just thinking about it... but of course I would also want to have the power to rip the heads off the people I can't stand and disembowel them whilst they are still conscious so they can feel my nails piercing their organs and squelching their plasma into the garbage. Mmmm.

posted by angiebabes 03 September | 17:35

I'd like to be able to reach out and bitch slap anyone, anywhere, anytime.

posted by viachicago 03 September | 17:49

*I call on the powers of doctorow to save us all*

Hahaha! I had just finished reading yet another DRM update on the Boing^.

As for a superpower, I have a sneaking suspicion being able to turn water into wine would suit me :P

posted by funmonkey1 03 September | 18:05

I've always dreamed about flying, so that would be cool.

posted by tommasz 03 September | 19:12

I'd like to be able to develop superpowers as and when required.

posted by dg 03 September | 19:15

oh, yeah.. now that's greedy.

posted by Zack_Replica 03 September | 19:32

Forcefield projection a la Violet Parr would be pretty neat--use one to fly around without worrying about atmospheric conditions, generate one inside someone's head to make it explode...

posted by casarkos 03 September | 19:34

All I want is a prehensile tail and an eyeball in the palm of my hand. Is that too much to ask?

posted by trondant 03 September | 22:20

mgl, seanbaby's site is great! Here's his take on the many sidekicks in superherodom:

Flash finished marking off all the boxes on his superhero checklist when he got a teen sidekick named Kid Flash. I don't know how the public accepted all these heroes' infant sidekicks. Besides the Catholic church, no other organization hires 10 year old assistants.

To answer the original question, my AskMe comment still stands. What can I say — I'm a grump.

posted by rob511 03 September | 23:47

I would like the power to make TV shows that used to be great but began to suck, great again. And I would also like the power to make great TV shows that were cancelled before their natural end come back.

posted by matildaben 04 September | 12:59

Teleportation.

posted by Miko 05 September | 11:44

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