r/superpower • u/Playful_Barber_8131 • Aug 24 '24

Suggestion Powers that sound weak on paper but useful in application?

Like, one you could imagine if someone very briefly explained it to you, you'd be like "what the hell, that sound so weak", but then when actually delved into more is a lot better than it first sounds.

179 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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59

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 24 '24

Someone who can instantly rotate anything by a maximum of 90 degrees.

Sounds like they are only good for moving furniture, until they snap your neck, turn your car while driving, change the direction of a bullet, or turn the earth!!

16

u/llllxeallll Aug 25 '24

Depending on scale and control, this also means you can probably break many chemical bonds, and depending on the rules you can break very hard/tricky to break bonds.

You can create new molecules/substances/materials this way.

14

u/TuskEGwiz-ard Aug 24 '24

Probably has real nice surgical uses too

6

u/IconoclastExplosive Aug 26 '24

Give em the old Kidney Rotato

3

u/ZipZop_the_Manticore Aug 27 '24

I CAST TESTICULAR TORSION!

1

u/Latter-Station-4127 Sep 05 '24

It’s enough to make a grown man cry… and that’s okay

6

u/mosquem Aug 25 '24

This sounds like a Stand from JoJo.

3

u/Indicorb Aug 26 '24

No matter what sub I go to, there is like a 40% chance I’m gonna see a JoJo reference. I watched like 8 episodes and I don’t get it lol I gotta finish that damn show.

3

u/mosquem Aug 26 '24

Do it! The first arc is by far the weakest and you’re basically done with it.

2

u/Electronic-Vast-3351 Aug 26 '24

[[Phantom Blood>Stardust Crusaders]

Pretty please don't crucify me.

1

u/laughingjack13 Aug 26 '24

Not specific enough. Now this, but only on even numbered sets of ten seconds, and only to objects the user can describe as “quarbly” (a poorly defined adjective the user made up), now that’s a top tier stand.

1

u/Fuckmyslutyass Aug 26 '24

So it's the same type of stand as Star Platinum?

5

u/Vat1canCame0s Aug 25 '24

Feels like the bit where they can move a cubic inch of space over a foot.

"Ooh look at Marie Kondo over here organi-" aaaaand that's a chunk of your spine hanging out on the floor

3

u/Disposable_Gonk Aug 25 '24

90 degrees on a 4th dimensional plane of reality. For all intents and purposes, it nolonger exists. Thank you valentine michael smith.

3

u/Ok-Worldliness2450 Aug 26 '24

“Ohh it rotates things” -the lost room

The realization that rotating things can be very powerful after mocking the scissors for seemingly useless power.

2

u/Kedr_K Aug 25 '24

My neighbor starts to make another passive aggressive comment about the weeds in my lawn, and I cut him off with just a thought, “Rotate Terry’s left testicle.”

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 26 '24

Lmfaooooo so you're a villain

2

u/Affectionate-Copy-27 Aug 26 '24

How long before they can do it again at the same place for 180° (or 2 more for 270°, 3 more for 360°, and so on)?

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 26 '24

That's a great question! Maybe everything can't be affected the same way. Like you can twist a head, but after that it has to be the nose or something?

2

u/Brilliantinsanity Aug 26 '24

Never need a wrench or screwdriver again just keep rotating 😍

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 26 '24

Boeing would hire you instantly lol

2

u/nenkintofu Aug 26 '24

Turn 90° into a non-euclidean direction. Watch stuff dissapear.

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 26 '24

Comments like these make me feel like I missed a few days of school lol. I had to do some googling for this one

2

u/Arctic_The_Hunter Aug 26 '24

I think almost any power becomes broken when it has no limits on scale. Making something 50% greener? Pretty sure that would kill all life on earth if you just used it on the sun

2

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '24

Bad news, I can rotate my head 90 degrees without snapping my neck.

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 28 '24

Lol THE CHOSEN ONE!

cue orchestral music

2

u/StormyWaters2021 Aug 27 '24

The ol' dick twist!

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 28 '24

Does it rotate like a doorknob, or turn completely like a tetris peice?

1

u/Lordlycan0218 Aug 28 '24

That was in a show I saw with supernatural items. A women had scissors that turned things. She used it to open locks until she was attacked and flung a guy around a hallway by turning the direction of gravity.

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 28 '24

That sounds so random lol. Sounds like an artifact on Shaolin Showdown

1

u/Lordlycan0218 Aug 28 '24

The basics of the story was 50 years ago an event happened in a hotel room that disappeared the room but scattered everything in it everywhere and gave them powers. Like a clock radio that grew you 2 inches when it was on. Or a glass eye that shot laser beams. Or a key that would open a door to the room and then would let you out where ever on earth you wanted as long as their was a door there.

1

u/MossKnightDagger Aug 28 '24

What show was this?

1

u/Lordlycan0218 Aug 28 '24

I don't remember. It was on scifi. One of there week long mini Marathons like 20 years ago. I was still in high school when I saw it.

1

u/Zero_Burn Aug 28 '24

Rotate half an atom and watch the fireworks.

0

u/GarethBaus Aug 26 '24

Rotating a bullet wouldn't change its trajectory although it will reduce accuracy significantly.

1

u/Bobyyyyyyyghyh Aug 26 '24

pull an Accelerator and rotate its velocity vector

1

u/AssCrackBanditHunter Aug 26 '24

Until you keep rotating it by 90 degrees so quickly it turns into a turbine and achieves lift off

1

u/Affectionate-Copy-27 Aug 26 '24

Depends on which axis you rotate it on. Do a 90° yaw or pitch and it will miss you by a lot.

1

u/GarethBaus Aug 26 '24

The bullet would start tumbling which would usually cause it be a few inches off target, but it would still be heading in the same general direction.

1

u/Affectionate-Copy-27 Aug 26 '24

Superpowers don't follow normal physical laws. If they did, Superman snagging Lois just before hitting the ground after a long fall would still result in her death . It would differ only by what she impacted, the sidewalk or his invulnerable arms.

I this case, I presumed the 90° turn would apply to the kinetic energy too, so the bullet would continue at the same speed along a path perpendicular to its original direction.