Luckily, My Powers Will Protect Me: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I love how in old comics, the superheroes will bust out with some sort of sonic device that has the bad guys doing their best Edvard Munch impressions. They always make some comment like 'Luckily, my earplugs will protect me from the effect!' ...It's like eating a bunch of Chinese food then remarking out loud, 'Luckily, my small intestine will extract the nutrients from that meal!'"''|'''[[Lore Sjoberg]]''', ''[http://www.bookofratings.com/arrows2.html The Book of Ratings]''}}

 

'''Both:''' [[Take a Third Option|LET'S PARTAAAY]]!|''Heroes For Hire #11''}}

 

Comic books are, in general, a serial medium, and you can't rely on someone reading one issue to have read all the previous issues. Thus, there needs to be a way to inform the reader about the characters and the plot up to this point.

 

 

This tends to be even more offputting than regular [[Expospeak]], since the characters are speaking to no one in particular. A less-jarring variation is putting the exposition in thought bubbles, but that's surprisingly uncommon.

* Any old issue of ''The Fantastic Four'' will include early scenes where the characters call each other "Brother-in-law" or the like. Nobody really talks like this, especially when they're in the middle of combat. However, the authors felt the need to explain each character's family relationships to new readers, which resulted in unrealistic and redundant dialogue.

* Something as pervasive and self-explanatory as this probably doesn't need an example, but it's hard to resist pointing out that, for several ''years'', Cyclops managed to say "Only my ruby-quartz visor can contain my optic blasts," in literally every single issue of ''Uncanny [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''... quite possibly the worst [[Catch Phrase]] of all time.

** Another character who seemed compelled to remind the reader of her powers every other issue is Rogue, who would constantly have an internal dialogue about how "Ah cain't touch another human bein', or mah powers'll absorb their thoughts and abilities."

** ''[[New Mutants]]'' used to do this all the time, constantly reminding readers what the kids' powers were. Sunspot: "Careful Bobby, you're strong, not invulnerable!"; Cannonball: "Good thing ah'm invulnerable when ah'm blasting."; Magik griping about Limbo; etc.

*** At least once every issue, Superboy will explicitly state that he's doing something with his tactile telekinesis, and at least once every issue, [[The Flash|Impulse]] will Lampshade the fact that at least once every issue, Superboy will explicitly state that he's doing something with his tactile telekinesis.

** It started in the very first issue:

'''Impulse''': Man, will you stop blabbering about your stupid power?! You act like you're filling in someone who's just met you! }}

* ''[[Star Wars]] Legacy 28'', introducing new readers to the ''Legacy'' series and the ''Vector'' [[Cross Through]] at once, was probably the most egregious example of this in ''[[Star Wars]]'' comics, when almost all characters engaged in this kind of exposition.

* In #17 he talks about how he can slip through the air holes in cement, and how he must quickly slip through.

* From an ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' comic circa the OZT saga:

said by Random while being blasted into a puddle. Who the hell talks like this when they're being ''blasted into a puddle''? }}

* Venom seems to be friends with this trope, as whenever someone pulls out a gun and shoots him, he'll say something along the lines of "Ha! My other protects me from the bullets!"

** Similarly, every time another character takes advantage of one of his main weaknesses, he'll say, "No! My symbiotic other cannot stand fire/loud noises!"

*** Although arguably, that creates a bit of fridge logic because the only time you don't hear the bang of a gun is when you're hit with it, but seeing as the symbiote protects him, it really shouldn't.

* When ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'' included stories about other [[Sega]] games, the magician Xavier in the ''[[Eternal Champions]]'' adaptation was prone to declaring, "Your barbaric weapons are no match for the power... of magick!" or something similar. Unfortunately, [[Narm|his magic never actually seemed to work very well.]]

** However his staff ''was'' sufficient enough to turn brains to jelly.

* The cheesy-yet-strangely-fascinating English dub of the Japanese sci-fi film ''[[Prince of Space]]'' has many examples of the eponymous Prince conspicuously ''not'' being harmed by evil alien laserbeams, and smugly declaring "Your weapons are useless against me!". Though it does seem kind of necessary considering ''they keep shooting at him every single time''. Prince of Space was ''not'' immune to weapons in the original Japanese script, which also explains why he keeps dodging them.

** To quote the riffers, "But they scare the crap out of me anyway".

** “It is my considered advice that you discontinue use of said weapon, ha ha!”

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Satori Komeji of ''[[Touhou]]'' fame will ''not'' shut up about her mind-reading powers. Deconstructed, as this is implied to be part of the reason she's [[Not Good with People|incredibly unpopular with other youkai and humans]].

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Storm's verbal commands were lampshaded during the ''90s [[Spider-Man: The Animated Series|Spider-Man animated series]] in the first X-men crossover episode. Upon witnessing Storm's dramatic "[[Calling Your Attacks|Power of lightning, strike again!]]", Spidey jokingly raised his hand and declared, "Power of webshooters, get... really sticky!"

** Heck, they were lampshaded in the first episode. Rogue's first lines in the series are telling Storm to ease up on it.

** Almost always subverted, in that his wings are exactly like a shield of steel, and most of the thing aimed at Batfink are entirely capable of bypassing steel shields one way or another (say, by being capable of cutting through steel). The villain typically points this out just after Batfink has delivered the line.

* ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]]'':

** A bit ironic use of this trope, because isn't Batman ''not supposed to have powers?''

*** "[[Crimefighting with Cash|Luckily this rare ability I was able to do because I spent my summer in a foreign country on a trip that I paid for likely in small bills as a way to grieve for my parents will protect me!]]" doesn't flow as well, though.

* The ''[[Superfriends]]'' had ''everyone'' narrate what they were doing. For example, when [[Lex Luthor]] blasts Superman with a "molecular disintegrator" and it fails, Superman goes, "Nice try, Luthor. My [[Heat Vision]] will disintegrate your disintegrator!"

 

[[Category:Exposition]]

[[Category:Rule of Perception]]