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You are able to get one of these TWO super powers. Which would you choose, why, and what would you do with it?

I'm not interested in being undetectable. I suppose if I were an investigator or had a personality that wanted really badly to be a fly on the wall for some events, invisibility might make sense, but I'm not and it holds little interest.

Honestly I'm not sure what value I would gain from flight, other than simply having fun with it, and no longer worrying about falling. If it were fast flight, travel would be much easier, but if it wasn't faster than running, even if it was less tiring, I don't think it would really change my transportation decisions.

Things might change if the powers required no energy, could be used indefinitely, and enhanced other physical aspects, such as speed.

Possibly NSFW:

Every time this question comes up, I always answer the same. There is no "negotiation" phase, it's just:
Q: "Which power would you..."
A: (interrupts) "Flight. Wrap it up, I'll take it to go."

I still have two households that are about 150 miles apart and plenty of stuff to move, and my commute to work is almost 40 miles one-way. I will take Flight, thenkyouvermuch.

--Patrick

Flight, because of the inherent freedom that is implied. Just be careful if you are flying over a Red State, somebody will confuse you for a Drone.

I think flight would be all depending on how fast you fly and if it tired you out. I mean, if I had to fly at 5 mph and I arrived tired (like having to flap my arms or some such) I'd definitely be unseen.

No bank or Porky's style female locker room would be safe.

That video I posted argues why both powers suck by themselves without other powers to compliment them.

If it had to be between those two I would go with flight. But if I was allowed to choose my own power I would go with the ability to adsorb knowledge from books by touching them. I figure that would have relatively little downside while also being something that I could deploy in my every day life. Plus with all the information I adsorb I could design technology to give me other abilities or at least to augment mine.

I wasn't even considering whether I would get tired, I just know it'd be cold up there.

Invisibility. Too much can go wrong with flight.

Dave said:

I mean, if I had to fly at 5 mph and I arrived tired (like having to flap my arms or some such)

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But think of the comedy routines!

Wait, are you always invisible or just when you want to be?

I listened to that episode this morning. I started with flight because it would just feel amazing. I finished with invisibility because you could actually make the world a better place by getting into certain places and outing corruption. Also I could steal.

ed: oh wait flight would get rid of my fear of heights. Going with flying. Sorry world.

ed2: Oh yeah and everyone here should listen to the last story by Glenn Washington about Superman. It's pretty amazing.

Necronic said:

ed: oh wait flight would get rid of my fear of heights. Going with flying. Sorry world.

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What if it didn't? You'd have a super power you'd forever be afraid to use.

You know what they say...

source

--Patrick

"You're welcome."

If those are my only two choices, I'd take flight, even if it's slow glorified levitation. I can get a helmet to deal with the wind and a jetpack to be my maneuvering thrusters.

Neither of those are my first choice of powers, though.

Hylian said:

But if I was allowed to choose my own power...

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... I would choose the ability to edit reality like object oriented computer code, recompiling on the fly. I think we had this discussion in a thread once before, actually. It led to somebody sending me usenet porn.

I like invisibility, but lack the exciting spy lifestyle to really do anything with it. I hovered on the choice for a good while before I chose the actually practical option.

Invisibility. Flight is good for transport but not all that much else I think, while being undetectable or at least immune to visual detection might have quite a number of interesting applications. I'd probably use the power for information gathering, to try and make myself something of a power behind the scenes.

If I had invisibility, I'd probably get hit by a bus.

I used to go with invisibility, since you can achieve some really gret results with it. But now I mostly think that if you're not going to use it to either fight crime or turn to a life of crime yourself, there's little practical value for my daily life.

Flight would be awesome if it came with some speed, I'd use it to travel around the world. But even if it's simple levitation, I could use it to take marvelous pictures or something.

So flight it is

Flight. I already see way more stuff than I want to see that isn't naked ladies, and the internet is for porn.

I can think of more uses for invisibility than I can for flight, but then again I have people I want to assassinate, so...

Flight. Even running-speed flight. There were so many nights walking across the soccer field between the dorms and the apartments at my campus that I just wanted to take off from the ground and look at the stars, pass over the valley. Same with my backyard when I was a kid.

From a practical standpoint, invisibility is only good for espionage, murder, and eye-raping people. I'll go with the one that will get me to work fast without a car.

It all depends on variables. As has been stated - flight as glorified levitation is meh as a "power", though it could definitely still be great fun (thinking back to H2G2). Invisibility by itself is quite limited - does it cover clothes as well? Having to be naked and not being able to carry anything makes it almost useless; still making sounds makes it fairly hard to use, etc.

Invisibility just for being a fly on the wall, both in dressing rooms and in social situations (I'm not the only one who wanders what people say about them when they leave the room ); for becoming the best burglar ever, for just hopping flights/trains/busses/cars as you please.
Flight for having fun and sex in the clouds, for tanning/relaxing/smoking a joint on top of the clouds, being able to get away from it all - like scuba diving but better.

If flight's at high speed and practical as a means of transport, it would be great for vacations and such, but it all really depends.

And my power of choice? Gah. Possibly not reading minds (as I suspect other people's minds are as much of a mess and a jumble all the time as mine), but reading/feeling/influencing feelings. Accurately knowing/feeling how another person feels and exactly what you can do to make them feel different is way more powerful than knowing what they think. Even if it's not "you're now happy despite just watching your parents die - poof!" style influence but you just "know" what to say to make people feel better/sympathize/love you/care/be happy - it'd still be incredibly powerful. Just think - a superpower that would actually help you cheer people around you up when things go badly. Easier than trying to prevent all misfortune from happenign to anyone you care about.

I once decided my power of choice would be "being able to copy the powers of any fictional character."

So, for example, if I get hurt, I'd copy Wolverine's powers and heal up. Then if I need to be somewhere in a hurry, I'd copy Superman and fly there. And then if I want to seduce someone I'd copy Prince Xizor and start releasing pheromones.

bhamv3 said:

I once decided my power of choice would be "being able to copy the powers of any fictional character."

So, for example, I'd copy Superman and do anything and everything oh a whim.

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FTFY

Gilgamesh said:

FTFY

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Well, yes, but sometimes I'd want variety too. Unless I pick a character who's immune to boredom.

Captain Everything's superpower was to create whatever new superpower the plot needed.

DarkAudit said:

Captain Everything's superpower was to create whatever new superpower the plot needed.

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That is still Superman.

sixpackshaker said:

That is still Superman.

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Correct. That's Silver Age Superman.

At least Superman in more recent years is generally restricted to his specific power set. Silver Age Superman was more like Captain Everything, with Silver Age Martian Manhunter even moreso.

filmfanatic said:

Correct. That's Silver Age Superman.

At least Superman in more recent years is generally restricted to his specific power set. Silver Age Superman was more like Captain Everything, with Silver Age Martian Manhunter even moreso.

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He's had a lot of powers creep since his death/rebirth.

Invisibility. Not for the 'crime' aspect, but because I generally wish to be left alone. It would be nice to do this at will.

Krisken said:

Invisibility. Not for the 'crime' aspect, but because I generally wish to be left alone. It would be nice to do this at will.

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That's not going to stop the phone from ringing, or the knocks on the door. Even if they can't see you, they'll still bug you.

DarkAudit said:

That's not going to stop the phone from ringing, or the knocks on the door. Even if they can't see you, they'll still bug you.

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Heh, I had to look up the song just to make sure it was the one I was thinking of. Love that song!