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Post by Paradox on Dec 20, 2014 4:52:04 GMT -5
Countdown timers on things there was no reasonable reason for there to be. Biggest offenders: Aquaman and (one of my faves) Hourman. Aquaman would DIE if he was out of water for an hour. To the second. We'll even begin a countdown, but ignore the concept that the air environment is going to dehydrate him in different ways under different conditions. Always gave me a chuckle and made me shake my head. Hourman the same way. He's taking a pill, and it lasts EXACTLY one hour from the second he swallows. Uh, no, I'm afraid that is NOT how pills work, Rex. What niggling little detail of comics always stuck in your craw a little, even though it wasn't enough to "ruin the experience"?
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Post by justicefreak on Dec 20, 2014 7:09:20 GMT -5
Besides the Aquaman out of water....
The Green Lantern power ring charge of 24 hrs. Let's face it things will retain a charge longer depending on how much usage that they have.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 20, 2014 9:20:45 GMT -5
Both of those are big ones for me, too. Especially since they tend to come and go, depending on the needs of the story. Manufactured weaknesses in general tend to get old quickly... like EVERYTHING being yellow in old Green Lantern comics.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 20, 2014 14:08:47 GMT -5
Besides the Aquaman out of water.... The Green Lantern power ring charge of 24 hrs. Let's face it things will retain a charge longer depending on how much usage that they have. I think that has been addressed in more recent comics, or at least in was in the Justice League cartoon.
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Post by Randle-El on Dec 20, 2014 14:18:10 GMT -5
It always bothered me when people talk about Batman being a "normal guy without powers", and thus is more appealing or requires less suspension of disbelief than superpowered heroes. As if unparalleled fighting skills, PhD-level intellect and knowledge in multiple disciplines, enormous wealth, advanced preparation for every possible scenario that would be classified as delusional or paranoid in our world, and enough will power to fuel a dozen power rings is any less fantastical.
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Post by Phil Maurice on Dec 20, 2014 14:58:02 GMT -5
Manufactured weaknesses in general tend to get old quickly... Not comics, but the first Ultraman series had an uber frustrating weakness built in. Ultraman had a color timer on his chest that began as solid blue and would then blink red, indicating that his power reserves were dangerously low. If his energy level were to reach total exhaustion, we are told, "Ultraman will never rise again." Fair enough, but that stupid light would begin flashing red immediately upon Ultraman joining the battle. Every time. Guaranteeing a very abbreviated fight scene before Ultraman flew off to recharge. This drove me bananas because Ultraman was easily the coolest thing I had ever seen up to that time.
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Post by chadwilliam on Dec 20, 2014 22:26:58 GMT -5
Not fully understanding the nuances of artistic license, I could never figure out how Peter Parker could maintain a secret identity when every time his spider-sense went off, half of his face would turn into that of Spider-Man's with little lightning bolts blazing away. I honestly couldn't understand how he could be having a conversation with J Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, whoever and none of these people thinking it important enough to ask Peter Parker just what was going on with half of his face - like it was the most natural thing in the world.
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Post by hondobrode on Dec 21, 2014 1:11:56 GMT -5
I always dug the Peter / tingly Spidey sense scenes.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Dec 21, 2014 4:39:45 GMT -5
It always bothered me when people talk about Batman being a "normal guy without powers", and thus is more appealing or requires less suspension of disbelief than superpowered heroes. As if unparalleled fighting skills, PhD-level intellect and knowledge in multiple disciplines, enormous wealth, advanced preparation for every possible scenario that would be classified as delusional or paranoid in our world, and enough will power to fuel a dozen power rings is any less fantastical. I've always thought the same thing. Batman is my favorite DC character, but he is in many ways less realistic and harder to believe than Superman. Superman is plausible since he's superhuman in a reality where superhuman powers exist. His speed alone would allow him to be far more productive than a mere mortal. Batman, on the other hand, couldn't be who he is in reality simply because of time restraints. Even if someone had the capacity to be Batman, the training needed to master each of the fields of knowledge that he's mastered would each take a lifetime. It makes much more sense that a character like Ra's al Ghul, who's lived for centuries, would have all those skills.
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Post by starscape on Dec 21, 2014 6:01:26 GMT -5
Johnny Storm, Hank Pym, Clint Barton, Don Blake, Steve Rogers. They all looked exactly the same!
Also, Atlantis. How come everyone is walking about rather than swimming? All the buildings etc, are all basically for living in the surface. For instance, if the Lady Dorma is knocked unconscious for some reason, what would they do? Put her in bed. The covers would be absolutely soaking! They're living at the bottom of the sea anyway. Being cold isn't an issue.
And while we're at it...Earth and America. Now I know these are necessary in a business but I always found it difficult to accept that, for instance, when there was only one all-powerful Green Lantern ring (under Kyle Rayner), it would somehow go to an American on Earth. Or that the Kree/Skrulls/Galactus could destroy planets with little thought but not little Earth. As I say, I know why but still...
And Bucky. Captain America and his indestructible shield against the Nazis. Young teenage Bucky with nothin'. Little bit unfair of ol'Winghead there. Cannon fodder Barnes is what he should be called.
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Post by foxley on Dec 21, 2014 6:56:21 GMT -5
Rick Jones! What the hell is so special about Rick Jones that apparently a superhero cannot lay eyes on him without wanting to make him his sidekick?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 7:15:16 GMT -5
1.Johnny Storm, Hank Pym, Clint Barton, Don Blake, Steve Rogers. They all looked exactly the same! 2.Also, Atlantis. How come everyone is walking about rather than swimming? All the buildings etc, are all basically for living in the surface. For instance, if the Lady Dorma is knocked unconscious for some reason, what would they do? Put her in bed. The covers would be absolutely soaking! They're living at the bottom of the sea anyway. Being cold isn't an issue. 1. It bugs the piss out of me that so many damn superheroes are blonde haired and blue-eyed because of the time the characters were created/whatever reason. At least DC gives some of their characters dark hair which is not often seen on a Marvel character (at least not most of their main ones). 2. Ever since becoming a Namor fan, I have always wondered how living under water worked.
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Dec 21, 2014 7:21:16 GMT -5
Besides the Aquaman out of water.... The Green Lantern power ring charge of 24 hrs. Let's face it things will retain a charge longer depending on how much usage that they have. It's one of those things that doesn't really make sense but I also think is kind of cool. The lantern doesn't function in the third dimension (matter) but in the fourth (time). It always bothered me when people talk about Batman being a "normal guy without powers", and thus is more appealing or requires less suspension of disbelief than superpowered heroes. As if unparalleled fighting skills, PhD-level intellect and knowledge in multiple disciplines, enormous wealth, advanced preparation for every possible scenario that would be classified as delusional or paranoid in our world, and enough will power to fuel a dozen power rings is any less fantastical. I think at the end of the day where a story carries the most power is in the immediate, uncritical reaction. Before you have a chance to think about how goofy it is the emotional impact of the story claws at you. Suspension of disbelief. If you lay it all out like that then it comes off as ridiculous, but the immediate impact I get when I see Batman do something is the impact of seeing a mortal man elevating himself to the level of a God, while no matter how much they try to emphasize Superman's humanity I always see him first as an alien, and thus distinct from me and much less impressive. Theres also the matter of the character profile you've outlined not being impossible. Superman defying gravity is impossible. Completely incompatible with physics, the core language of the universe. But a guy who is a martial arts master, a genius, a polymath, a billionaire, paranoid and exceptionally strong-willed is possible. Incredibly unlikely, but possible. Most of the things you've listed are all linked to each other. If someone is a genius and exceptionally strong-willed then odds are they'll be able to learn martial arts and multiple sciences and be able to acquire wealth. To say that Batman, as a person, is impossible is to say that genius, star athlete and business magnate are all mutually exclusive, which is of course untrue. I think it helps that in most media, such as the animated series and the Nolan movies, Batman's intelligence is reigned in. He's a brilliant detective and he's smart but he's not a multi-disciplinary genius. To most people Batman really is just a guy with some genetic gifts and expansive resources. And in the end, as exceptional as he is, he is mortal. He can be shot and killed, just like us, which makes everything spectacular he does much more impressive. And the fact that he doesn't have powers, that he doesn't (as Uncle Ben would say) have great power and thus great responsibility, yet he does it anyway because it's the right thing to do, that's just extraordinary. When a character is a man who is forcing himself to be a God it's very hard not to empathize with him.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 21, 2014 12:30:42 GMT -5
As I've said for years, Super-hero comics are inherently silly. And trying to make them super serious and work in the "real world" just highlights how silly they are. Now I like a bit of balance between the "oh so serious" and Batman fighting aliens...but that's me.
That's one of the reasons I hate the Nolan Bat movies. They're every bit as silly as Batman '66 but desperately, pretentiously want to think they aren't.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,200
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Post by Confessor on Dec 21, 2014 12:35:02 GMT -5
That's one of the reasons I hate the Nolan Bat movies. They're every bit as silly as Batman '66 but desperately, pretentiously want to think they aren't. So true.
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