Hey guys!

Long time no see actually, it's been QUITE a while since being on these boards, please feel free to either a) move my thread to a different catagory and/or refer me to a topic that already addresses this question.

I'm sure you've had this question pop up before in your head... "What would I have?" in regards to a superpower. What would happen if we were put in a situation that unlocked our mutation and caused us to have our powers?

From the TV show Heroes as well as every in other superhero story/series, the power one possesses is dependent primarily on their personality (and in given situations, it is also chosen to be used as a useful tool for a circumstance of that person's life).

How on earth would I figure out what I could have??


Does anyone have any thoughts as to how I could go about figuring this out and/or any idea what power they would get?

Have a great day!
-SeanZiii

I suppose it'd be tied to your most prominent personality feature or something.

I think it is more along the lines of something that reflects a large aspect of your personality.

When you think about yourself, what stands out the most? What is your biggest goal, your biggest obstacle. What makes you, uh, you know. 'Unique'.

Like Peter was extremely empathic to start. Parkman was dyslexic and self conscious and he could read mines.

Like, obviously it hasn't always followed that formula but pretty much there is some reason behind it.

So just think about what is one thing that a power could hinge on for you.

Concise but very helpful, thanks!

Another way of thinking is to go opposite what would be expected.

When I auditioned for Season 2 of Who Wants To Be A Superhero?, I was faced with that exact question.

I have a significant hearing loss (50% left ear, 30% right ear) since birth. I don't talk much mostly because I have to focus to listen, even with hearing aids.

So I came up with sonic based powers, but wanted to add a twist to them. Rather then have a sound cone travel from my mouth to my target, I throw a sound bubble at them and the sonic screams I generate only resonate within the bubbles, kinda like a ventriloquist throwing his voice.

Thus I created...

Kryhavoc, The Deaf Master of Sound.

Cheesy, I know, but very superhero from the 60's or 70's.

I had that same problem when making my hero, I was caught between shock waves and wind manipulation. Just think of what type of power suits you best, offensive, defensive, sly, and so on. More so think of what power would make your hero more of him/her self.

Aaahahaha... I made a mock super-hero comic book starring my co-workers and myself a few years back. And we stumbled upon this issue accidentally. As it turns out, it wasn't that difficult actually. Our team was Omega 3 (basically, there were 3 of us, all shift leaders who were supposed to replace 1 assistant manager. This is not from the book, this is our real situation. LOL)
So Lee, the guy, he was one of these schmoozers right? Like, all the little girls would come in and go straight to him for help. So obviously he had the power of manipulation. He could control any female within an unspecified radius around him with a single wink. haha... memories.
Amber, she dyes her hair crazy colours all the time, so her power was hypnotizing people with her hair. Super cool.
And me, well I do impressions of people. So I was known as "the drama queen" and I was a shape-shifter. Personally, I'd rather have the manipulation power like Eden, but hey. I got to appear as Princess Leia, Trinity AND Lara Croft. Can't complain.
So like others said, All you ahve to do is take a piece of you that seems like it's nothing and magnify it. A quark you do, habit you have, anything like that.

Good times... Omega 3... sigh. lol

Your power(s) don't necessarily have to be logically extracted from what you do. You could have a power that is totally opposite from your favorite hobby/job/friends/etc. Now logically, you will probably have an easier time with things that may relate to your possibly latent power and may have developed hobbies (or have a job/friends) that "fit right in" with them, but you could have had a bad experience with things similar to your power when growing up and be totally at odds with it.

It would help if you had a power to begin with and expand/contract it from there.

IE: All of my dreams come true. However I rarely remember any of them at all and I wonder if I ever actually have dreams these days.

This is a form of precognition, similar to Angela Petrellis', but less powerful because the dreams are not remembered. It could be expanded with some help, possibly a researcher who specializes in sleep disorders, dream research, etc. Just say what you have or make something up that sounds interesting, even if it doesn't sound very powerful at all. It can always be expanded upon by other people if you're interested.

My guess as to how powers are determined is a bit different.
My guess would be about a single, glaring moment of frustration. You try and you try at something ,but just can't seem to get it. The frustration builds up until the point that it's all unleashed in one moment of fury - and in that moment your power is defined.
Daphne is frustrated that she can't run. She gets a running power. Hiro is frustrated that he's wasting his time in a dead-end job. He gets a power that lets him manipulate time. Ando is frustrated because he can't help out. He gets a power that literally helps other powers. Parkman is frustrated because he's dyslexic and can't pass the police exam. He gets a power that would allow him to pass the exam without reading anything.
Judging from my life, I'd probably get a power which would involve building things and/or holding things together (it's very frustrating when you are halfway through building something and it falls apart).

Actually Daphne was upset that she couldn't even WALK, much less run. And Hiro was trying to manipulate time in Episode 1 (2?) when he managed to do it. And he wasn't in a "dead-end job". His father OWNED the company and he was working there to "get a feel" for the business so he would know how to run the company when his father eventually retired/died.

Hiro didn't find out that he was in line to run the company until after he'd already left, and his father came to the US to pick him up. He thought that his role as a normal office worker was just because his father didn't respect him.

No argument about the walk/run thing.

I'd say there are multiple ways a power can be determined.

1. The power relates to the person's core personality. Example: Peter.

2. The power fixes one of the person's major problems in their life or makes up for something they lack. Examples: Daphne, Emma.

3. The power fulfills a want or need of the person, conscious or subconscious. Sometimes this need can be more urgent and sudden (i.e. Adam healing after being shot full of arrows). Example: Hiro. Daphne could also qualify, depending on how you see it.

4. The power relates to or helps with the person's hobbies or makes their job/life easier. Examples: Micah, Charlie.

5. The power is completely random and is determined by genetics/luck/a higher power/etc. Examples: Nathan, Maya.

In the end, it really depends on when the power decides to manifest. A person who loves to swim might eventually obtain the ability to breathe underwater (#4), but their power could suddenly manifest when they get injured severely and they get healing instead (#3).

I'd say that there are 3 factors to get an ability:

1. Family: As seen in many heroes, the ability you'll have might be the one that your father, mother or a sibling had, or a different variable of the ability.
Ex: Maury and Matt Parkman, Arthur and Peter Petrelli's similarity, Maya and Alejandro Herrera's ability sinbiosis, Valerie and Victor's ability sinbiosis, Emma and Chris Coolidge, Julien Dumont and his son's similar ability according to Micah, Edward and Santiago's accelerated probability, Usutu and his ancestry, Richard Drucker and Hana Gitelman, the bowman family, Gabriel and Samson Gray, Abu Aswan and his ancestry, Meredith and flint gordon Jr.'s same ability, Aviv and Jack,.

2. Personality and needs: Mnay abilities have been seen according to the person´s personality or needs in their lives to achieve their desired goals.
Ex: Flint Gordon Jr., Micah Sanders, Gabriel Gray, Matt Parkman, Tom Miller, Elle Bishop, Peter Petrelli, Hiro Nakamura, Niki Sanders, Daniel Linderman, Betty aka Candice Willmer, Rebeca Taylor, Eden McCain, Maya Herrera, Alejandro Herrera, Claire Bennet/Petrelli, James Martin, Rachel Mills, Daphne Millbrook.

3. Randomly: If your parents don't have abilities you still can get one and even if they have, you may not get one. If the above don´t decide your ability, it actually comes to you randomly and with no specific purpose.
Ex: The Best Example is Ida May, James and Molly Walker, 3 generations whose powers come with no purpose, they acquire them thanks to their ancestry, and don't have even the slightest thing in common. Then there are the rest of the evolved humans not mentioned, whose abilities didn´t come for any special reason, and for some have been more like a burden.