>> That could be sympathetic. No one cared about the Mandible at all if everyone cheered when he died. That's... probably because of the kind of person the Mandible was and what he was capable of and willing to do, <<
True.
>> but that just asks the question how that happened and that way lies tragedy. Or possibly he was just one of those people born nasty for reasons we do not know, I suppose, in which case there'd be a lot of tragedy around him and he'd probably be at least somewhat decent at spinning it his way. <<
I think he was just born bent. Certainly he got himself into this mess by trespassing where he had no business being, both when he gained superpowers and when he got himself killed. He seemed to have no sense of empathy or ethics. Most of my supervillains have more human aspects and a background that explains, if not justifies, the way they are; even whackjobs like Haboob. The Mandible was one of those guys who just saw the world as a rotten place and wanted to do away with it.
>> Mmmm. I'd throw in that he'd need a soup with powers like the Muffler's too, just to get past the way his own powers are hurting him and get the self-work to stick. <<
A lot of people would benefit from that, especially while learning control, but there's never enough of it to go around. Power Manipulation is among the rarest categories, so even a single talent like Power Nullification is rare.
That's before you get to the fact that most people don't want someone messing with their powers, and Hector hates soups so wouldn't want to accept help from one. Ironically I can sympathize with his aversion, but that doesn't make it okay for him to be a dick about it.
>> Sounds like he's going to be in constant pain no matter where he lives and that's going to make it still harder for him to accept help. <<
Well, if he stays away from people, it won't do much. I'm not sure it's sensitive enough to react to, say, oppression on TV or in a book. That could be a viable stopgap solution, but is unlikely to work long-term because people need company. Of course, it's worst in a city. If he were with only a few people, it wouldn't be as bad; and if he went to a commune with minimal oppression, that might help too.
>> And that's assuming that his power wouldn't spike up like this were he to try and deal with his issues in a way that could see him improve. If he did have enough of a cluebat to try working on his bigoted self and the pain did reach these levels again... He might never try that approach again. <<
Yeah, that's not good. I don't think the current situation is stable, though. He's too miserable to just lie there and leave it as it is. He will probably try something.
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dancing_serpent
Re: Well...
Date: 2014-11-10 10:07 am (UTC)True.
>> but that just asks the question how that happened and that way lies tragedy. Or possibly he was just one of those people born nasty for reasons we do not know, I suppose, in which case there'd be a lot of tragedy around him and he'd probably be at least somewhat decent at spinning it his way. <<
I think he was just born bent. Certainly he got himself into this mess by trespassing where he had no business being, both when he gained superpowers and when he got himself killed. He seemed to have no sense of empathy or ethics. Most of my supervillains have more human aspects and a background that explains, if not justifies, the way they are; even whackjobs like Haboob. The Mandible was one of those guys who just saw the world as a rotten place and wanted to do away with it.
>> Mmmm. I'd throw in that he'd need a soup with powers like the Muffler's too, just to get past the way his own powers are hurting him and get the self-work to stick. <<
A lot of people would benefit from that, especially while learning control, but there's never enough of it to go around. Power Manipulation is among the rarest categories, so even a single talent like Power Nullification is rare.
That's before you get to the fact that most people don't want someone messing with their powers, and Hector hates soups so wouldn't want to accept help from one. Ironically I can sympathize with his aversion, but that doesn't make it okay for him to be a dick about it.
>> Sounds like he's going to be in constant pain no matter where he lives and that's going to make it still harder for him to accept help. <<
Well, if he stays away from people, it won't do much. I'm not sure it's sensitive enough to react to, say, oppression on TV or in a book. That could be a viable stopgap solution, but is unlikely to work long-term because people need company. Of course, it's worst in a city. If he were with only a few people, it wouldn't be as bad; and if he went to a commune with minimal oppression, that might help too.
>> And that's assuming that his power wouldn't spike up like this were he to try and deal with his issues in a way that could see him improve. If he did have enough of a cluebat to try working on his bigoted self and the pain did reach these levels again... He might never try that approach again. <<
Yeah, that's not good. I don't think the current situation is stable, though. He's too miserable to just lie there and leave it as it is. He will probably try something.