Other What are some of your favorite powers?l

[Rose-Chan]

Through videogames, books, and tv, there are alot of powers, some more intriguing than ithers, im curious of what you guys like?
In my case, i have quite a few i could doscuss but i think i'll keep it simple at one or two.

For one, EXS Lifeblood (Aka, Bloodspike) is the ability of Carmine in Undernight. Carmine manipulates his own blood to dye his hair, eyes, and arms with his own blood, and not only this, manipulates his blood to create sharp spikes, whirling blades, and quite honestly just about anything you can expect. He drains his own blood to attac and leaves it in pools on the ground that he can use later, and whenever he uses ceetain attacks, he can ake the blood on te ground transform and do the same attack or similar. It's rather interesting, especially coming from a fighting game.

Another of mt favorites is Double Chase, the ability of Hibiki Kohaku in Blazblue. It essentially allows him to create shadow doubles that look exactly like him, still deal damage, but also allow him to confuse and mix up opponents. It's simple but it's effective and for roleplay could offer alot of confusing but interesting capabilities. Again, its a power from a fighting game. I know plenty more, most of them are rather generic though. (The non-fighting game ones.)

 

[Idea]

WARNING: The content that follows is pretty much riddled with spoilers. Caution is advised.

I have so many powers I really like, just listing the candidates took quite some time. To pluck out my real favorites, though I'll do a top ten, but first a few ground rules on my selections:
1. The criteria with which I will be choosing "my favorite" is the powers I find most interesting, this is abilities I find the most cool and useful, but also which have the best context, limitations and creativity to them. I will not be choosing them based on which I would like to have or add in my RP characters necessarily, as several of them work within the context of their story best and would probably be impractical to RP.
2. No omnipotence types- While it's not like these powers can't be fun to watch and I certainly would like to have them, they aren't usually the best designed. Plus even when they are, wrapping a good story onto them is hardly possible, and even if you succeed at that it still kind of feels like cheating just cause...omnipotence. So yeah, not going with those.
3. One character per show at most- While there are shows like, say, my hero academia which contain a variety of amazing powers, I will at most bring them up in the honorable mentions, keeping only one at most in my favorites top ten. This is because some shows just have the advantage of being ABOUT the powers, and having a much bigger opportunity in the narrative to properly expand or properly have more diverse powers, some of which possibly land among my favorites by dumb luck. Not that the ones I have in mind would, but you know...
4. I will mostly try to judge powers based on their own nature, rather than any attachment to the particular character that wields them. So if a power I really like is something I really like because of how it plays off the character, I will keep it in the honorable mentions.

My Top Ten Favorite Powers​

10.Mankai (Yuuki Yuuna Wa Yuusha De Aru)

One of the most elementary forms of balancing an ability is to limit it through a price. Usually, this price comes in the sort of getting tired, spending a resource, becoming increasingly evil or, extremely commonly, even risking death. Where Mankai stands out is in this regard.
Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero is an anime about a bunch of girls who go magical girl to save the world. They really are fighting to save the world in this one, however when a certain upgrade is given to their power, they don't immediately realize the consequences of this. The power is called "Mankai" a pretty standard power up, however when you end the Mankai a random part of your body stops working. You might loose an eye. Your legs might not respond anymore. Losing your sense of taste. And if you abuse it enough, I hope you enjoy staying in a hospital bed forever.
The drama writes itself with this one. In some ways, it could almost be seen as a fate worse than death, having to fight on and on until you're eternally paralyzed, and seeing people you call friends and companions doing the same to themselves.

9.Unlimited Blade Works (Archer)(Fate/Stay Night)

Archer's trademark move, the ability to conjure a world of their own mental image, one filled with swords which they can endlessly call upon. The ability also includes the power to copy noble phantasms... to an extent (super weapons pretty much, I won't get into it too much), and even condense them for high-range energy blasts. It's a very versatile ability allowing for a whole bunch of really cool fighting styles. However, the need for Archer's prowess with blades and to be completemented with their other abilities (also a certain price he has to pay) makes this power remain only as number 9.

8.One For All (Boku No Hero Academia)

While certain recent develops with the manga leave a lot to be desired, One for All remains an intelligently designed power and one with quite an interesting premisse: A power that condenses power and passes it on to the next person, and so on and so forth. This idea of your power being the ability to give it up is a rather interesting one by itself, though naturally it really depends on how many people have given it up already, plus it carries certain risks. Powers of "pure physical augmentation" (trust me the air quotes are important) aren't usually my thing, but Horikoshi has a way with superpowers most don't.

7.Souji Mitsuka/Tail Red (Ore Twin Tail Ni Narimasu)

Much like everything else in Ore Twin Tail Ni Narimasu, what sells me to this power is the hilarious absurdity of it. For context, in this anime there is an invading race of aliens who obtain energy by feeding off "traits" (basically a list of fetishes, but there isn't actually any sexuality behind it most of the time, just random fantasies the aliens want to live in), and sucking them out has some hazy "people will loose their love for X" thing.

So the main character is given the power to essentially transform into a magical girl, due to his sheer obsession with twintails, and in fact its that very obsession that fuels his power. I am also just a fan of genderbend powers in general (well...in one way at least).

6.Gowther's Mind Abilities (Seven Deadly Sins)

From Seven Deadly Sins, Gowther has an array of pretty fantastical powers, but if I may, I would like to call on these fantastic mind warp powers he has. While they have different names, so it may be a bit cheating here, I do seem to come from the same general power, like they are simply techniques and applications of the same unique power. I like their effectiveness and mind control powers in general, and the way these take the form of lazer/magic arrows.

5.Anime Vampirism

Vampires in anime have really grow on me recently. I like the take that anime has on vampires, often explaining their traits as much more mundane things like in the cases of Demichan Wa Kataritai and Tonari No Kyuketsuki-san or just in altering the concept enough that it becomes extremely fascinating like Shinobu from the Monogatari franchise. While I can't deny part of why I like it is because they are often lolis ( #cutenessisjustice!!!), I do think they are truly an example of anime taking concept that may appear similar at first glance and exploring it in new, interesting and quite often bizarre ways.
As far as powers go, regeneration and slow aging are pretty common, but beyond that they tend to vary a lot. But I like the power of anime vampirism in general.

4.Kagune (Tokyo Ghoul)

Kagunes have to be just about the most creative power design I have ever seen. A kagune is a predatory organ of a ghoul, from the anime Tokyo Ghoul, and these masses of semi-solid blood with something called "RC cells". Ghouls, while seeming human, are only capable of consuming human flesh (and coffee) and thus need the powers conferred to them by their RC cells, like increased physical abilities, resilience and their kagune, to hunt humans. While often taking the form of these tentacle thingies, kagunes come in all shapes and sizes, and four distinct categories, which I won't get into now, because if I even tried to go into a little more detail about how they worked, I would be here all day and write a two page essay. Which is part of what makes these so awesome as a power, in addition to how all that information actually comes together in an organized, and if you'll pardon the pun, organic fashion.

3.Geass (Lelouch Vi Britannia)(Code Geass)

Most Geasses in Code Geass are completely and totally broken abilities. In Lelouch's case, his power of the emperor is to force one person to follow 1 of his commands regardless of what it might be. While this is pretty cool in of itself, the implications of the geass, and it's limitations, are what makes this power truly special.
Lelouch's geass can only be used once per person, and it can only be used by verbally commanding someone you have eye contact with. Right away, he has to arrange a private situation where he can stare at someone directly in the eye and make a single verbal command. Now, there are obvious exploits here which would probably have been very easy to use was this not a political war/rebellion type of anime, but regardless these limitations (and the fact he didn't start out knowing about them) made for quite the interesting power in the end of the day, despite how broken it is.
And the best part? There are even more implications to it.

2.Steal/Copy Abilities

Steal and copy abilities have always been some of my favorite types of abilities, and anime certainly doesn't disappoint. Because they create a variety of possible scenarios, with all the different powers they give access to, they can stay fresh for a long time and keep you on your feet- if your MC is the one with the power, then they make you wonder what abilities they might acquire in the future. They are quite powerful abilities, cumulatively speaking, and sometimes they allow mixes and matches of abilities that can be quite impressive. Examples include All for One from Boku No Hero Academia, Yuu Otosaka's Plunder from Charlotte (which comes with the bonus of 1 time body switch) and Rimuru Tempest's Predator skill from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
However, I don't just mean stealing and copying abilities here (though I mostly mean that), the ability to take someone else's power and making it your own is something I just find really amazing, even as a slow or impartial drain, because I like irony. So stealing one's physical power like Ban from Seven Deadly Sins or one's "power level" so to speak, such as Vali's divide ability from Highschool DxD is part of this category as well.

1.Infinite Deception of Words (Magame Chikujouin) (Re:Creators)

And so we get to my top favorite power, Magame's Infinite Deception of Words! How does this power work, you might ask? Well, first she tells a lie. If anyone denies that lie, in any way, she says her motto "A lie within a lie turns inside and out", snaps her fingers and her lie becomes reality. While dependent on other's to trigger it, thus not being quite omnipotent, it is certainly immensely powerful. The deception and strategy at work here are quite fascinating as well. I like how interactive the ability is despite its power, and how it requires an intelectual push in that interaction. I like the way it plays off the strengths and weaknesses of others, and the great creativity of the concept.

Spoiler: Honorable Mentions

*Shapeshifting Powers. I just love shapeshifting.

*Corona Timil from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: Vivid- Corona's basic ability is a magic that lets her create golems or golem parts and manipulate those. That in itself is fun, but not particular exciting. What's great about this power, is how the character applies it. She uses the magic she uses to control the golems on her own body, to force herself to fight even when her limbs are broken, and to give her automatic responses to her opponent's movements. It's one example of the powers being used by the character being what makes them great.

*Altair's Meme powers from Re:Creators- If not for my rule about not having omnipotent powers, I would have probably had this one as my favorite. This ability is the power to condense every version of herself through every fan work of hers into an actual power she has. She gives her a whole array of utterly broken abilities against other characters especially, such as creating copies of them, turning their stuff to roses, removing their character development-earned powers and...wait for it...destroying the plot. Literally. Oh and she also creates a couple of universes, but oh well...

*Kotarou Tennouji's Rewrite ability from Rewrite- While at first it is said to be the ability to "rewrite his body", this ability comes to display way more to it than that. Includin the power to rewrite the past.

*Issei's Red Dragon Emperor from Highschool DxD- A power with copying and enhancing abilities, it might seem like it would stand on its own, but the reality is that the biggest factor that makes me like this ability, the fact that it straight up gets stronger with the MC's libido, is inherently attached to the fact the main character is a huge open pervert, and so their "will" is connected to their libido.

*Kurumi's Zafkiel from Date a Live- Kurumi's angel has a pretty badass ability, that allows her to steal time from people's lifespan and create clones of herself using that time, then transport herself and her clones across space time. She has a few more abilities from her angel, and a really edgy and fun aspect to them, is that a lot of them involve shooting herself in the head with a gun.

*Other My Hero Powers- Bakugou's "Explosion", and Sun Eater's "Manifestation" for instance, are two others powers I love from my hero academia. That said, rule of only 1 per show.

*Lubock's Cross Tail from Akame Ga Kill- I love "string" type powers in general, and this was a prime example of one.

*Mao's contract power from Darker than Black- He had the power to switch bodies with people, and he got stuck in a cat's body when his original body was killed. Its a fun power, but what really makes it great is the character's circumstances.

*Companion Type Powers- a type of power that is literally just having this uber-powerful follower person. They tend to be semi-pricks in anime, but nonetheless I think it might be a fun power, depending.

*Swallow Cratsvalley from Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Seneki- The power to exploit the power of any object he touches to the utmost limit, then that object crumbling to pieces. I liked the creativity of the idea, more even than I really understand why, and also the fact that even if he doesn't use it, the objects he touches still fall apart.

*Sakamoto's "being perfect" from Don't you know, I'm Sakamoto- This isn't explicitly stated as a power, but with the things he displays it HAS to be a power. This is the power to just do everything stylish, cool, magnificent, solving every problem perfectly and beyond.

*Skill Restructure- in a game-like isekai world, this ability was given to a certain MC, which allowed him to swap words from the description of skills. This is obviously extremely broken, but imagining all the combinations this could lead to, especially the whacky ones like "dealing a lot of damage to architecture" is really the gold here XD

*Being a HOT SPRING- Yeah, this is a thing in a certain isekai anime. Other whacky examples include a magical girl wand and a vending machine.

*Most of the Mekaku City Actors Cast- such unique powers!

*Venom- The only non-anime power here, I like the idea of the symbiotes.

 

[Zombocalypse]

Let's see...

Generally speaking, I love super strength. However, super strength comes in many forms. The purest form of super strength without weird pretensions is that of the Hulk and Superman. They lift stuff and throw heavy stuff, period. Nothing bizarre like things magically exploding when they punch them.

Other forms of super strength, which make less sense but I still love, would be Akuma literally sinking an island with a punch, Yujiro Hanma stopping an earthquake with a punch, and Tien (the weakest character in Dragon Ball Z) demolishing a boulder with ONE PUNCH. Imagine that. Weakest character in Dragon Ball Z destroying a friggin boulder with one punch.

Let me think...

I also like super speed, simply because speed is an extension of strength. Only strong people can move fast. Usain Bolt would never be able to hit those world records unless he has strong legs, and most powerlifters and Olympic lifters can run decent speeds even though it's not their specialty. So as far as speed is concerned, Dragon Ball Z. I don't need to explain it. Just watch DBZ and you'll know what I'm talking about. lol

 

[Onmyoji]

Unlimited Blade Works is one of my favs for sure.



And since BlazBlue was mentioned, I like Amane's power to make drills out of clothes XD

Spoiler

 

[entropic]

The coolest power I've ever seen in any form of media is that of Alchemy as in in the Full Metal Alchemist universe. It's so amazingly creative, with such a nice foundation and logic. It's the most convincing form of magical science I've ever seen!
We can go from something as simple as:

to something as spectacular as:

How cool is that!?

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

So I pretty much have two criteria for powers that I really love. One is how much thought they provoke. The other is how versatile they are in terms of how creatively they can be used by the author to tell a story.

Actually, the third is just how much they make me laugh, lol.

These are just off the top of my head:

Cyborg powers
Users - Astro Boy, Major Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell), Cyborg (DC)

There's a sort of body horror aspect, which I love, to cyborgs: They can full on lose limbs and have them replaced or even upgraded with new ones. There's really no upper limit to how powerful they can be, provided they trade in how much they look human.

And then there's the existential question of: How much of my body do I have to lose before I'm no longer human? And does simply having human memories make me human, even if my body is synthetic?

Spoiler

Luck / Probability manipulation
Users - Domino (X-Force)

The idea of being able to increase your own luck and basically making other people's suck is just so goddamn funny to me.

Spoiler

Power mimicry, Nullification
Users - John Doe (UnOrdinary), Leech (X-Men)

Speaking of dick moves. These're both kind of a trump card that renders other powers useless no matter how overpowered they are, or even uses someone's power level against them.

Spoiler

Verbal control / Brainwashing
Users - Kilgrave (Jessica Jones), Hitoshi Shinso (My Hero Academia)

The idea of being able to force anyone to do anything is terrifying and a fantastic power for a supervillain like Kilgrave.

Which is why I love that My Hero Academia gave this power to a kid who desperately wants to be a superhero. Shinso is best boy.

Spoiler

Psychic parasitism
Users - The Shadow King (Legion)

This is the scariest power I think I've ever seen, right up there next to The Snap. Imagine a guy who can get into your mind and change all of your memories. Who can control your body. Who can insert thoughts, compulsions, and delusions into your head. Who can make you doubt the things you've seen, heard, felt, remembered. Who can create psychic copies of you using only your memories and use them (you) as he pleases.

What I'm saying is you should watch Legion, lol.

Spoiler

Honorable mentions
The power to tell when someone is lying - Lying Cat (Saga)
A demon that comes out of your arm and just eats people sometimes because, you know - (Monstress)
The power to know the history of an object by eating or licking it - (Chew)

 

[Truff]

Luck / Probability manipulation
Users - Domino (X-Force)

Came here solely to talk about Domino. I had never even thought of this power before encountering her and it is just so cool.