Making a Splash: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

You attack with the stuff that makes up 60% of your body mass, covers 70% of the Earth's surface, and falls from the sky on an regular basis: '''{{color|navy|water}}'''. Just plain old reliable water. It may not scream "[[Stuff Blowing Up|explosive devastation]]" like fire and lightning does [[Giant Wall of Watery Doom|(until you see the water-mage drop a tsunami on an entire battalion of enemy mooks)]], but you can't trump water's versatility and availability. Flood 'em, drown 'em, frost 'em, steam 'em, wash 'em, whatever. And no, we don't use that water to [[Healing Hands|heal someone]], that's for the [[White Mage]]. Use it to ''kill'' someone!

A water controller's biggest weakness is that they usually [[Elemental Baggage|must be in the vicinity of water to be effective]]. Not a problem in a modern city if they can affect underground plumbing, but if it's not raining and they're nowhere near a source of water, they might be SOL. It's very rarely addressed that they could just sap the water directly from a person's body, killing or weakening them instantly, but this could be an issue of [[Rule of Cool|dramatic license]], since that would result in some very short and uninteresting fight scenes.

 

 

Water is also required for [[Super Drowning Skills]] and [[Hazardous Water]].

 

 

 

May overlap with [[Elemental Shapeshifter]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** There were some [[Our Vampires Are Different|Bount]] twins in the anime arc that used water-based dolls. In a twist that one expects to happen more, they usually created masses of water around the target's head to drown them instead of, say, sweep them away with a torrent. And just to make things as difficult as possible for Ichigo and the others, it was ''raining'' when the twins attacked, neutralizing the [[Elemental Baggage]] and taking the threat level [[Up to Eleven]].

** In the Fake Karukura Town arc, Lieutenant Hisagi fought against a Fracción that used high-pressure water to attack.

** Also, the {{spoiler|Third Espada, Tier Harribel, when she uses Resurrección.}}

* Umi Ryuuzaki of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' uses mostly water magic, although her ultimate one is [[An Ice Person|ice]].

* In the manga/anime ''[[X 1999]]'', Dragon of Earth Yuto Kigai is a water master, able to summon floods and hurl water bolts.

* Any water-based jutsu users in ''[[Naruto]]'', particularly Momochi Zabuza, The Second Hokage, and Kisame. Ice is actually a combination of the wind and water elements and is limited to certain bloodlines. Acid is a combination of fire and water (a burning water). Water can be combined with lightning to make Storm (a quasi-[[Light'Em Up|Light]] thing) and with earth to make Wood.

** Special mention goes to Suigetsu, who can turn himself into water and change body parts.

** In what is arguably Cologne's personal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], very early on, she was able to blast seawater at Ranma in the shape of a great white shark. This, after effortlessly whirling her staff while underwater to create a massive waterspout.

** As well, the antagonist of the first movie utilizes water-based powers.

* Mitarai "Seaman" Kiyoshi of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' has the ability to animate water to attack people with by mixing his blood in it.

* One of the enemies that Taikoubou faced in ''Senkaiden [[Houshin Engi]]'' has a paopei (magic artifact) that controls water. She used it to summon a megatsunami in the desert, create a sticky water dome, and waterspouts. And oh, yes, she did use it to try drowning Taikoubou by ''creating a permanent, inescapable water bubble just large enough to engulf his head''.

** Another used it more epicly. Fugen Shinjin (a deliberate [[Expy]] of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Kaworu Nagisa]]) controls atoms with his paopei. He warns his enemies before blasting them. He used light water mist as the first warning, sharp ice formations as his last warning, and when it didn't work, ''he used the hydrogen atoms to create deuterium and tritium and initiate a nuclear fusion reaction instantly''. Cue [[Stuff Blowing Up]].

** Also, once, when his sword had its water removed or something, he used {{spoiler|his own blood}} to reactivate it.

* One half of Fate Averruncus' abilities in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''.

** {{spoiler|Also the stated elemental abilities of the newly appeared Sextum.}}

* Juvia Loxar from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has water powers as an Elemental Four member. She can turn her [[Elemental Shapeshifter|body into water and prevent physical attacks]] and initially had rain surrounding her constantly, which she can heat up and scald you when she gets angry.

* While no one with the ability to remotely manipulate water has shown up in ''[[One Piece]]'' yet, many of the [[Fish People|Fishmen]] do it the old fashion way - by hand. [[Complete Monster|Arlong]] could fling water with the force of a bullet, while his archerfish underling Chew could spit water with the power of a cannon or the speed of a [[Gatling Good|machine gun]]. Standing above both of them is the whale shark Jinbe, whose mastery of [[Fantastic Fighting Style|Fishman Karate]] lets him manipulate water like cloth, manually throwing waves or lances of water that can blast through battleships at his opponents.

** It turns out that this is the principle to Fishman Karate. By controlling all the water around them, as well in the atmosphere and even in the bodies of living things, Jinbe is able to hurt even [[Rubber Man|Luffy]].

** Whitebeard uses his quake powers to trigger two [[Giant Wall of Watery Doom|giant tidal waves]].

** In ''[[One Piece Strong World]]'', [[Big Bad|Shiki]] can do the remote aspect with his levitation powers, entrapping Luffy in a ball of water to incapacitate him. Remember, [[Super Drowning Skills|being submerged in water renders a Devil Fruit user powerless]].

** From the second movie, [[Ms. Fanservice|Honey Queen]] ate a [[Elemental Shapeshifter|Logia Devil Fruit]] that lets her turn into a pink liquid, and she always [[Power Perversion Potential|takes her clothes off when doing so]].

* Mew Lettuce of ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' can control water and breathe underwater. She doesn't use the latter ability much, however.

* Mio Mizumori from ''[[Ten Yori Mo Hoshi Yori Mo]]''.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

** The [[Tangent Comics]] version of Aquaman was a [[Diabolical Mastermind]] turned sentient ''ocean'', as well.

** [[Silver Age]] Aquaman ''did'' have the ability to gather seawater into a hard ball and hurl it at his underwater foes. It could knock them off their seahorses.

* The Bill Willingham's ''Elementals'' had Fathom, who could shoot, control, [[Elemental Shapeshifter|turn into]], or breathe water (and the vampires of that 'Verse were the water-killed variety too). The newer but unrelated [[Top Cow]] ''Fathom'' is part of a whole race with similar powers.

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Waters of Mars", {{spoiler|a flood of water controlling viruses from the planet Mars infected the water supply of a human base. In a rare example, they could take over a human's body, making them akin to zombies.}}

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Water Lily, aka Jane Doe, in ''[[Wild Cards]]'' is able to control water {{spoiler|in lethal ways. She once sucks out the water out of a person.}}

* There was a short Sci-Fi story where a worker at a salvage yard used a portable [[wikipedia:Water cutter|Water Jet Cutter]] to dismember his attacker.

* The ''[[Elemental Masters]]'' series by [[Mercedes Lackey]] has several Water Masters/mages, the main ones being Peter Scott, Lord Peter Almsley, and Marina Roeswood.

* In ''[[Shadow Ops]]'', hydromancers can control water. They can also either heat up or cool down water, allowing them to generate ice or steam as needed, which makes them useful as medics for burn victims, or as breachers for knocking down doors or walls.

 

== [[Myth and Legend]] ==

** Incidentally, he's also a god of earthquakes. So he doesn't just kill you with water.

* Many other gods, obviously, both of the sea and freshwater bodies. Examples include Oceanus (also from [[Classical Mythology]]), [[Celtic Mythology|Mannan Mac Lir]], [[Norse Mythology|Njord]], and [[Egyptian Mythology|Sobek]], as well as the many kinds of nymphs and fairies and the like.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** A student mage in the Kamigawa novels tries to explain the strength of water by talking about the strength of a ''tsunami'' breaking apart a ship.

* ''[[Rifts]]'' features an optional (and somewhat underwhelming) Psychic Character class called the Soaker, a character with hydrokinetic powers.

 

== [[Toys]] ==

** Don't forget the tidal wave she summoned against [[The Starscream|Icarax]] when he pissed her off...

*** That was the same incident. Icarax beat down the five other members of Gali's team, and when he started [[Evil Gloating|gloating on top of that]], she took the opportunity to charge up her [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Nova Blast]]. That is, she drew in every bit of moisture within a radius of several kilometers, then unleashed it all as a giant tidal wave. Icarax escaped with the [[MacGuffin]] because Gali couldn't control the wave well enough to wring it from his grasp (most likely due to already having spent all her [[Magic Points|elemental energy]] on creating the wave in the first place), but at least the six Toa survived.

 

== Video Games ==

* Sougetsu Kazama of ''[[Samurai Shodown]]''.

* Tytti Noorbuck, herald of Water Elemental Lord, in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''

* [[Metal Gear]] Ray can shoot a high-pressure stream of water from it's "mouth", and it's a devastating attack [[Power Glows|that even looks like a laser.]]

** Water-type specialty Trainers include Misty, Wallace, Juan, Crasher Wake, and Cress.

** One of the available starters for any generation of ''Pokémon'' games is always a Water-type. They are generally ''very'' useful in the early game - in three of the five generations, the first Gym Leader is a Rock-type specialist - but not so much against the Elite Four/Champion.

** Somewhat played straight (by name) yet subverted.

But nothing happened! }}

** Stardroid Neptune yields the Salt Water weapon, allowing Mega Man to short out and corrode robots with globs of ionised saline solution.

** Also, Bubble Man in ''II''.

* Cagnazzo the Drowned King of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]''. When he gathers water for his Tsunami attack, he can absorb ice attacks (but zap him with a Thunder spell and he won't be able to use it). In the DS version, Tsunami has a chance of [[One-Hit Kill|killing your party members instantly, regardless of HP]]. Oh, and you can get said Tsunami as an Augment move after beating the boss.

** In later installments, player characters can learn various Water spells, from the high-pressure Aqua Rake to the Tsunami and Clean Sweep spells; [[Summon Magic|Summoners]] can even call Leviathan and other summoned monsters to deliver such water-elemental attacks.

** Ice is not considered its own element in the game, and so all ice attacks do water damage (which means that Marle, who is the healer/[[An Ice Person|ice user]] of the team, is given a water element).

* Carlo Belfrond, Psychiccer of Water from ''[[Psychic Force]] 2'' and second-in-command of the [[An Ice Person|Psychiccer of Ice, Keith]].

* The Chrono Cryo soldiers cleanse with water. By freezing their enemies to death.

* Frost Mages in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' have the ability to summon water elementals (not ice, for some reason) to fight by their side for a little while. Shamans also use water to restore their mana and help them heal. The graphic of their final healing spell, Riptide, looks pretty much like you just dumped a bucket of water on the target.

* The spitball in ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Baseball]]'' is more this than an actual spitball.

* Kraken from ''[[Heroes of Newerth]]'' uses this trope: his abilities include tsunami-powered running, summoning whirlpools, and actually making a splash, with which he delivers splash damage to everyone around his target.

** Let's not forget resident kappa Nitori Kawashiro, with the power to control water.

** There's also [[Squishy Wizard|Patchouli Knowledge]], who has it as one of the 7 elements she uses, and [[Physical God|Suwako Moriya]], who has a few water-based attacks (mainly in the fighting games, which is why the term spellcard is not used - she has a water based spellcard in her [[Bonus Boss|first appearance]], though.)

 

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Strangely, only Sabella in ''[[Trinton Chronicles]]'' has any water-based powers. She also has one [[Shock and Awe|ability]] that she tends to mix with her hydroblasts to make them especially deadly. Aside from her liquid control, she also has the added gift of [[An Ice Person|freezing water]].

* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', there's Vulnapyezdka ("Wave Rider" in Russian), who can [[Elemental Shapeshifter|turn into water,]] blast it from his hands, and survive underwater; Saraswati, an Indian superheroine who cannot generate water, but can telekinetically manipulate water in the environment (including pulling it out of a human body, if absolutely necessary); River, another [[Whatevermancy|Whatevermancer]]. Archdruid could control water telekinetically as well, as part of his [[Elemental Powers|overall control of the four classic elements]]. Maelstrom and Typhoon, who both could generate and control storms, could exercise some control over water, but their use of this power wasn't very precise, to say the least.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Downpour, the character based on him from ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', actually makes it look badass by, among other things, attempting to drown Max Lord, sweeping a few dozen lava monsters off an oil rig, and turning himself into a tsunami. [[Shooting Superman|And then he tries to drown Aquaman.]]

* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' gives us the Liquidator.

* Aquamaria of ''[[Static Shock]]''. She actually does well against Static (he's prone to shorts) until he realizes, hey, electrolysis!

* Subverted in ''[[Winx Club]]'': while Layla comes from an ocean-based realm, and seems connected to water, her powers come from plasma, which appears in the show to be shiny, pink clay. This is very evident in the 4th season when, twice, the girls had to stop a housefire and Layla could not use her powers to douse it. Her Sophix seems to give her this power, though.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Super Soakers...What?

** Hey, it works for the [[wikipedia:Archerfish|archerfish]].

** High pressure water (or other liquids) can also have a nasty effect on human flesh. This is particularly a problem for submarines and machinery that involved liquids at high pressure (engine fuel injection systems can be nasty in this respect), where a leak can cause serious injuries.

** And when they need to take the paint off roads, they use sandblasting: high pressure water and sand.

[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]