kjpepper: (kthxbai)
[personal profile] kjpepper
I am listening to [livejournal.com profile] morlock and [livejournal.com profile] anzovin debate the real world logistics of superheroes. Specifically the plot devices that don't make sense according to real life physics. Pretty much [livejournal.com profile] anzovin's all "THAT'S RIDICULOUS THAT COULD NEVER WORK THAT MAKES NO SENSE" and [livejournal.com profile] morlock's all "actually no here is why it makes sense."

....the GEEKAGE. IT BURNS.

** ALL MY MSTie FANS IN DA HOUSE SAY WHUT WHUT

Date: 2008-08-05 03:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com
WHUT WHUT TOUCH THE LLAMA.

My brother and I do this ALL THE TIME. I maintain that the laws of physics are DIFFERENT in superhero universes.

(Actually, I even wrote a story about that ...)

Date: 2008-08-05 09:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
this was more about biology than physics but yes. science does not work the same way in comics. my point was that if you can give me any bullshit answer for this crazy thing, and apply that in a comic world, then i'll believe it. its a damn comic book. but if you just say "he shoots webs out of his wrists lol" and expect me to just try to figure out why that is on my own, i say fuck you.

i mean hell, theres an old spider-man villain called "the wall". he was helping some dude build a brick wall when there was an EXPLOSION and he as buried. he then emerged as a walking talking wall of red bricks. i'm not shitting you. and not a dude made of brick, which would be awesome. its a slab of brick wall, and he has a face in the middle with arms and legs coming out the side. why can i accept this? in his origin the dude making the wall with him has a lab coat and there are beakers in the back ground. so obviously it was a fucked WALL EXPERIMENT with weird WALL CHEMICALS.

i think you see my point.

Date: 2008-08-05 10:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
You're still nerds, dude.

Date: 2008-08-05 12:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
....i never said i wasn't. i think i just proved i was more nerdy than you first described.

Date: 2008-08-05 12:33 pm (UTC)

Date: 2008-08-05 03:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
What I want to know is whether he's immune to thought control and whether he needs any education.

Date: 2008-08-05 03:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
*SPLORFLE* *GROAN*

well played, Russian. Well played.

Date: 2008-08-05 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
the wall? as far as i know he was just a dick. he showed up at a mets game on spidey's day off to fuck with him.

i think he just sat in front of spider-man during the game... you know. cause hes a big walking wall with an attitude.

Date: 2008-08-05 05:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
*giggle* harinezumi was making a really bad joke.

see below for context.

Edited Date: 2008-08-05 05:48 pm (UTC)

Date: 2008-08-05 08:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 11th-letter.livejournal.com
Bad joke?
That was a FANTASTIC joke!

Date: 2008-08-05 07:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com
Absolutely. If CHEMICALS are involved, then ANYTHING is possible.

Or sparks. Big old arcs of power, you say? No WONDER the sumbitch can shapeshift!

See, if you change the laws of physics SLIGHTLY, then all sorts of things (like biology) may be affected. THIS IS MY THEORY AND I AM STICKING TO IT.

Date: 2008-08-05 07:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
dude not just chemicals. COMIC BOOK CHEMICALS. and FUCKOFF HUGE TESLA COILS. really anyhting involving tesla in any capacity should be thought of as super science.

comic books don't need to be especially scientifically accurate...as long as they use SCIENCE!! instead of *normal* science i'm good. vibranium you say? well of course cap's shield is unbreakable! its full of that crazy vibranium stuff!

how are logans bones unbreakable, but still able to function like normal bones and release blood cells into the body? ADAMANTIUM TOTALLY IS GOOD FOR THAT. as long as you have internal logic that you follow, you can pretty much do anything.

Date: 2008-08-05 08:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 11th-letter.livejournal.com
I call this the 'Just throw me a bone' concept of accepting unnatural things in comic-book land. Just acknowledge that something freaky is going down, give me a token explanation, and I'm happy as a clam.
Beast Boy changing mass when he transforms...fine. Just mention that it's happening, give me a *woosh* or a *pop* of matter transforming to energy through another dimension or whatnot and I won't quibble about the details. (It's a comic book, not Scientific American)

Date: 2008-08-05 08:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
EXACTLY. this is what i was saying last night: in the first spidey movie they explain why he can stick to walls. there are little hairs on his hands. fine. ok. i got that.

he has super reflexes, and thats he doesn't get punched. that was shown too int he locker fight scene. cool we're good to go.

they also show him having better eye sight because he doesn't have to wear glasses anymore. awesome.

BUT WHERE DOES THE WEBBING COME FROM??? they never explain that! it just...shoots out of his arm? why his arm? what fluid is in there? how does it have enough pressure to be forced out of an opening and sprayed like silly string? whats it made out of? i mean...this is obviously his body contrusting some new fluid pretty fast...does he get hungry after expending it? how long does it take to refill his reserves? can it be tested for genetics? i mean he leaves the shit allover the place.

NONE OF THESE HAD ANSWERS. drove me batty.

Date: 2008-08-05 11:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 11th-letter.livejournal.com
Even worse, all these people started obsessing about whether or not there were holes in his costumes to let the web-stuff shoot out of. And the movie-makers-that-be solemnly assured us that there were...WITHOUT EXPLAINING WHERE THE DAMNED WEB JUICE CAME FROM IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Date: 2008-08-06 11:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
if he moves, then the holes would move TOO. then he would just fill his suit with webbing like an over excited teenager at a drive in.

Date: 2008-08-05 10:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com
Well, we all know the rules are different in those universes--as long as they stay INTERNALLY consistent, I'm good.

Also, don't talk to [livejournal.com profile] lycheetwist about Logan or she may fill your head with LIES about how one day I sat her down and explained to her exactly how a chestburster could get through his ribcage despite the adamantium,* and how I listed all the possible scenarios I had come up with, and how this led to all sorts of tangents about what I would do with Logan if I were Hank McCoy and unscrupulous.


*To this date, "Wolverine vs. Alien" remains the greatest comic we never wrote.

Date: 2008-08-06 11:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
i assume that if the alien actually survived being in his system and not getting destroid by his anti-bodies on crack, it could burst out because the sternum and rib cage aren't connected to anyhting else except for a few ligaments.

unbreakable bones? yeah sure. but that doesn't mean they aren't DETACHABLE.

Date: 2008-08-06 06:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anzovin.livejournal.com
You know, I always wondered about that. His tendons and cartilage aren't unbreakable, right? So how come his arms don't routinely get ripped clean off?

Date: 2008-08-06 07:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
happened in ultimate x-men. Apocalypse rips his arm off then beats him with it.

also, in ultimate hulk vs wolverine, hulk rips the lower part of his body off (hips/legs) and throws them for a few miles.

this isn't cannon marvel, this is ultimate...but still.

Date: 2008-08-07 11:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com
Has happened in the comics, which was why I could tell her that. I always wondered if he could grow back kidneys and things--if he could, Hank should routinely steal his to sell on the organ black market--assuming the antibodies of the organs don't kill the recipient, I s'pose. Also, if I were Hank I'd infect Logan with a new disease every Friday, drain a bit of his blood when he's made some antibodies, and have the cure by Sunday. Wolvie's sitting at breakfast going "I always wake up so light-headed on Sundays" and Hank walking in whistling like, "I found the cure for rabies!"

(In ours he does wind up with a big gaping hole in his chest at the end of the scene, and has to push his ribs back in one by one like they're on hinges.)

(Oh, and the alien? He flushed that down the toilet. Or he TRIED to ...)

Date: 2008-08-05 03:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] masteradept.livejournal.com
Now that I have been in a Harry potter Roleplay group I argue the logic and muggle end of things to everyone elses Majick is the end all to be all mentality.

Date: 2008-08-05 03:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nekosensei.livejournal.com
That's funny. I'm writing a super-hero type story now, and I'm trying to make some of my descriptions as realistic as possible. I just sent in a bunch of questions to [livejournal.com profile] little_details because I'm having a hard time finding answers to some of the questions I've been having on Google. It looks like the moderators have to read it and approve it first. I hope they post it soon.

Of course, my questions are more, how would the police act in this situation and what information would they legally be allowed to release...not physics. I figure that I can always ask my husband those questions since he's the one with a ph.D in engineering.
Edited Date: 2008-08-05 03:56 am (UTC)

Date: 2008-08-05 02:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] austingoddess.livejournal.com
Whut whut and all that shnizzle.

*cringes* That speak just gives me the jibblies. Lemme try again:

Put the men's room in the tower....what was I thinking??

Date: 2008-08-05 03:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
Heh, it gets even worse when you start arguing anime vs. comic book logistics, using TV Tropes, evil overlords lists, 4chan memes, and several different RPG and wargaming systems to support your argument.

Date: 2008-08-05 03:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
Once again I find myself thankful that you're all the way on THAT end of the country. ;)

Date: 2008-08-05 03:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
Get three CMU-grade nerds into the same house, and you end up with levels of nerdery that stand out even against the already significant background of Seattle's East Side.

Date: 2008-08-05 04:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
And how are Elusive and Mr. Perfect?

Date: 2008-08-05 05:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
Doing quite well. Still fighting a losing battle trying to get the former a driver's license (speaking of which, make any progress towards yours?), since I'm still stuck playing chauffeur every time we get together for D&D or anime (not that I mind, but still). The latter's wrestling the dread demons of writer's block, doing a gazillionth rewrite of his third book, and is still working at MS. Job-wise everyone seems to be doing great. Money really does seem to grow on trees around here, though the trees are binary search. Even I'm currently in the process of making the leap from humble Desksider to l33d sys0p of |)00m.

Date: 2008-08-05 05:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
huh. Maybe I should move out there. ;)

Date: 2008-08-05 05:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
I could get you recommendations at Amazon, MS, and Nintendo if you do.

I do strongly recommend getting your license before moving to the west coast, though. Even in the hippie northwest, we're still stuck with just buses for mass transit.

Date: 2008-08-05 05:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
not in my journal you ain't. Take that shit outside.

Date: 2008-08-05 08:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
oh after a couple responses you won't see a thing.

Date: 2008-08-05 07:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com
...

YOU ARE INSIDE MY HEAD.

I WOULD LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR NEWSLETTER BE YOUR FRIEND.

Date: 2008-08-06 12:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
Brains... brains...

Date: 2008-08-05 04:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 11th-letter.livejournal.com
For really impressive displays of suspension of disbelief/geektastic 'explanations' of how things work, the Blue has no peer.
We'll be watching a movie, and we're all screaming "Murphy, it's just a plot hole' while he bends reality out of shape to make sense out of it.

Date: 2008-08-05 04:38 pm (UTC)
nounsandverbs: (gears)
From: [personal profile] nounsandverbs
According to Einstein's Theory of General Geekativity, a high concentration of geeks will create an area of high-density geekiness which will bend the trajectory of trivia. At especially high concentrations, the density will become infinite, and no trivia can escape. This is a Geek Hole. Scientists postulate there may be thousands of Geek Holes out there, but they can't be detected because they never leave the house.

Date: 2008-08-05 04:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kjpepper.livejournal.com
That would explain why collective reality gets a little warped around E3/Comic-con season. The concentration of that many geeks in one spot can't be good for the space-time-reality continuum, and probably should be banned for the safety of the universe at large.

Date: 2008-08-05 10:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anzovin.livejournal.com
Just for the record, here's my argument as to why organic web shooters make more sense. Actually, they make no sense at all, but at least they're explained as being part of a fantastic element they're we've already accepted as being part of the story ie. being bit by a spider can give you superpowers. It's not really any more ridiculous then anything else he does (I mean, where does spider sense come from?).

On the other hand, if you have him invent them then you're piling two extraordinary things on top of each other, and they have no connection at all. Apparently, this teenager who was accidentally gifted with spider powers ALSO, completely coincidentally, happens to invent a magic adhesive fluid that does insane things, costs nothing, and looks like a spider web. Even in a superhero universe, the inexplicable proximity of those two things strains credulity.

The whole Spiderman vs a Brick Wall thing came up in a discussion of how other things Spiderman does are just as biologically weird as having organic webshooters. For instance, Spiderman is supposed to be tough, but not so tough that he can take a bullet. But he's routinely thrown or punched through solid objects such as brick walls. This happens all the time in the comics, but the moment I'm thinking of particularly is at the end of the first movie where he's hurled from the goblin glider and through a wall. Now, there is quite literally no living creature on earth that could survive that (whereas people survive getting shot by small arms fire all the time).

What this indicates is that Spiderman's body is denser and harder then a brick wall. Not just his muscles, but his entire body, since he has no torn tendons or ruptured organs, and in fact he gets up right afterword to fight GG with nothing but some scrapes and costume damage. If his entire body is that dense, how come he doesn't weigh a ton? Unless, I guess, he's made out of something inorganic, in which case he's a robot. I think it's been pretty well established at this point that Peter Parker, while sometimes a clone, is not a robot. Although I suppose you can never be too sure.

Now, have you ever tried to shoot a brick wall with small arms fire? Well, I haven't, so I actually have no idea what would happen, but I suspect that the most you'd do would be to chip the bricks a bit and do no real structural damage to the wall. Spiderman is apparently tougher then a brick wall, so why is he worried about getting shot? For that matter, being punched by the Hulk is a lot worse then getting shot, and that's happened too.

When you consider that Spiderman is tougher then a brick wall, has muscle density in his legs that I don't think could even fit in there, and is just generally biologically impossible from the get-go, I think that organic wenshooters start looking at least like something no crazier then the rest of it.

And I came up with that example before I'd even heard of The Wall, so apparently Spiderman actually DID fight a brick wall. And I bet he won, too. See?

Date: 2008-08-05 11:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
Who knows, maybe he has tiny little portals to the ParaQuasiDemiElemental Plane of Web (whose natural pressure is significantly greater than 1 atmosphere) embedded in his wrists which he opens and closes at will. How did he get them? Lolth did it. For the lulz.

Date: 2008-08-06 07:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] morlock.livejournal.com
you ever wonder if cyclops' eyes are a two way portal to the punch dimension, of if its just one?

Date: 2008-08-05 11:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 11th-letter.livejournal.com
Kinetic impact damage simply doesn't exist in comic books/movies. Witness Ironman. Or the latest Indiana Jones movie. People fall out of the sky/smash into things all the time and provided they're super-strong (like that would have anything to do with it) or are in a container of some kind they are never hurt.

Date: 2008-08-06 12:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harinezumi.livejournal.com
The first prerequisite for becoming a superhero is the ability to control one's ki well enough to smash through inanimate objects. Heroes without such ability get scraped off the walls by the Scenery Repair Demons halfway through the origin arc.

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