Mind Over Matter: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

Telekinesis: the ability to move stuff just by thinking at it really hard. Although [[Pstandard Psychic Pstance|hand gestures]] can also help.

== Anime & Manga ==

* Kiiko Kawakami, [[Kuttsukiboshi]] is able to use telekinesis, which she gained as the result of an accident.

** According to the novel, and somewhat implied in the anime, she actually has two powers. She can rotate things clockwise... and can rotate them counterclockwise. The bending happens when she does both at once. Also, she completely averts the "harder to move heavier objects" aspect. If she can imagine a fulcrum, she can rotate it.

* ''[[School Rumble]]'''s Tenma Tsukamoto can bend spoons with her mind, though it is not given nearly as much emphasis as her younger sister's, Yakumo's, powers of [[Telepathy]]. Notable in that unlike many other people with [[Psychic Powers]], who tend to have higher-than-usual intelligence as a sort of [[Required Secondary Powers|Required Secondary Power]], Tenma is a complete [[The Ditz|ditz]].

* Miya Alice from ''[[Dangaioh]]'' has [[Psychic Powers]] that allow her to release enormous waves of telekinetic energy.

** Psychic-type Pokémon usually have this power. Some humans do as well.

** [[Physical God|Mewtwo]] takes this [[Up to Eleven]] in the first movie.

* Aries Mu from ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' has this in spades, combined with telepathy, [[Psychic Powers]] and pink hair. He can lift up houses, and his apprentice, Kiki, likes to hurl great big rocks at people with his mind.

* In ''[[Psyren]]'', Telekenesis is the most basic psychic ability of the "Burst" category. Marie and Grana are specialized in this, using it with great precision and power ([[Kill Sat|especially Grana]]).

* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', Chiaotzu has shown telekinetic abilities. Also, Guldo, of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Ginyu Force]], uses this as well. And so do Frieza (lifting the Dragon Balls), Cell (building his arena) and the Kaioshin (making the super hard metal float).

* In ''[[Trigun]]'', Legato often demonstrates that in a world where one has generally pull a trigger to kill someone, the ability to break bones and control people with thoughs is rather potent.

== Comics ==

* This power, while hardly a classic power of [[The Cape]], is nonetheless extremely common in comics.

** The powers of the [[Future Me Scares Me|Superman Conner Kent]] from the [[Bad Future]] of the ''Titans Tomorrow'' story arc are upgraded from tactile telekinesis to full-blown telekinesis in the interim, which pretty much gives him [[Combo-Platter Powers|the combined power of]] [[Superpower Lottery|Superman and Phoenix]].

* The ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'''s Jean Grey is one superhero with general-purpose telekinesis (as are her various [[Superpowerful Genetics|genetic descendants]]). Initially, the Phoenix power was simply this at its highest level -- rearranging any and all matter down to the sub-molecular level.

** Of her descendants it is the [[Tangled Family Tree|various Nate Greys]] who top out the scale. Nate "Cable" Grey once had a fight where he and his opponent repeatedly destroyed an entire city but telekinetically rebuilt it so fast that people watching didn't notice. Cable's powers, though, are usually mostly devoted to stopping the techno-organic virus that would otherwise overtake his body, hence his reliance on [[BFG|BFGs]] for most of his history. Unencumbered, his powers at their height are easily movieverse Phoenix class.

** Also among the X-Men, Psylocke can do it, though her powers are altered so much it had to be ''seriously,'' not [[Lampshade Hanging]]-ly, acknowledged on-panel. She can focus her full power into a blade that can cut through anything, and she can choose to fry the brain of a living victim without cutting them physically (even when her telepathy is explicitly down).

* Using her force fields, Sue Richards of the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' can do it by putting something in a field and then moving the field.

* ''[[Elf Quest]]'' has Rayek, whose telekinesis was at his first appearance more of a party trick. Years of training and some other boosts let him push the limit, far enough to fly while carrying someone else, and/or repel arrows shot at him.<br />There are only two others, Egg and Trof, making telekinesis one of the rarer powers.

 

== Fan Works ==

** Isn't it a good thing he's an [[Actual Pacifist]]?

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* In the movie adaptation of [[Carrie]], Carrie White can lift, turn on objects, and control the movement of objects with her mind.

* The Strangers in ''[[Dark City]]'' possess Telekinesis, as does the hero Murdoch. However, individual Strangers seem limited to levitation and opening apparently nonexistent doors; only by combining their powers and interfacing with special machinery can they perform more [[Reality Warper|impressive feats.]] Only Murdoch and the Stranger Leader Mr. Book have more developed "throw objects and people around with your mind" abilities -- though by the end of the film {{spoiler|Murdoch's powerful enough to [[Reality Warper|warp The City's layout at will]].}}

* The super power/action film ''[[Push]]'' has several characters with this ability, who make creative use of it during gunfights and fistfights.

** A good example of how powerful a Force-sensitive individual can be is Starkiller in ''[[The Force Unleashed]]'', who manages to pull a ''Star Destroyer'' out of the sky and crash it.

* The terrible direct-to-video horror movie ''[[Letters 2 Numbers|5ive Girls]]'' gives the eponymous girls bizarre "powers", one of them being telekinesis.

* In ''[[Dreamscape]]'', limited telekinetic abilities are displayed by the protagonist, Alex, though his primary abilities seem to be [[Telepathy|telepathic]] in nature.

 

== Gamebooks ==

* In an unusual inversion of [[Puberty Superpower]], everyone on the world of [[Timothy Zahn]]'s ''A Coming of Age'' has telekinesis ''[[Growing Up Sucks|until]]'' [[Growing Up Sucks|they hit puberty]].

* In Christopher Stasheff's ''[[Warlock of Gramaraye|Warlock]]'' series, all the [[Gender Restricted Ability|female witches]] on Gramarye have telekinesis (their male counterparts have [[Flight]] and [[Teleporters and Transporters|teleportation]] instead).

* In [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s ''[[Darkover]]'' series, this is one of the expressions of [[Psychic Powers|"laran"]], which is possessed by the highly-evolved alien [[Our Elves Are Different|Chieri]], some humans and their [[Half-Human Hybrid]] descendents. Very few humans can manifest this kind of power without the aid of natural or artificial [[Amplifier Artifact|"matrix crystals"]] (aka. "starstones"). However, a group of "laran"-gifted humans working with a powerful enough (usually artificial) matrix can level entire cities.

* In ''[[Wild Cards]]'', minor telekinesis is one of the most common powers, but most can only levitate small items such as coins and paper clips. The Great And Powerful Turtle can lift ''battleships''. But [[Weaksauce Weakness|only in the safety]] of his [[Magic Feather|armored "shell"]] does he feel comfortable enough to do so.

* So very many times in ''[[Roswell High]]''. It appears to be the basis of most of the aliens' powers. It's all about manipulating molecules -- moving them, shifting them. Of course, it doesn't show itself like telekinesis all the time, but there are examples -- like when they shove the molecules of a non-working car forward so that it moves.

* Many Adepts in Jean Lorrah's Savage Empire are telekinetic.

* Largely ''averted'' in the [[Lensmen]] universe - for all the Lensmen's other psionic talents and all the other cranking up to eleven this universe does, this is one capability they specifically do NOT have. On the other hand, the Arisians - their ultimate benefactors - have it in spades, and it's implied that the eventual goal of the Galactic Patrol (long after the canon events are complete) will be to develop independence of the need for physical weapons.

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

*** [[Magnificent Bastard|Bester]] expresses doubt about her TK abilities, although this is reasonable because he knows about all of Psi Corps' failed attempts in this area. Lyta does however use her powers openly in front of Girabaldi (smashing a security camera) and G'kar (shattering the wrist restraints station security had her in).

** The [[Magic From Technology|Technomages]] use {{spoiler|Shadow technology}} to mimic these abilities. ''The Passing of the Techno-mages'' trilogy describes them in great detail.

* In ''[[The Secret World of Alex Mack]]'', the title character has this as one of her powers, and was the one used most often.

* Courtney Cox's character on ''[[Misfits of Science]]'' had this as her superpower.

** Sylar also manages to display a version of telekinesis [[Fan Nickname|known in some corners]] as "microscale TK" -- using telekinesis as a cutting weapon.

** Sylar actually uses his telekinesis in an unusually diverse number of ways. Practical applications include personal levitation, augmenting his physical strength (like Vader, he's fond of the one-armed throat choke), [[Deflector Shields|shielding his body against physical attacks]], a [[Barehanded Blade Block]], and a ranged slashing attack (which can actually miss and hit further away objects)

* Uncle Martin on ''[[My Favorite Martian]]'' could move objects [[Special Effects Failure|on incredibly obvious strings]] by pointing at them.

* In ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'', Kerovians have telekinetic powers. Andros seems to think the skill can be learned by any human (despite clearly being an alien, Andros considers himself "human": in the [[Power Rangers]] universe, "human" seems to be a generic term for non-monstrous sentient bipeds), though his sister Karone never shows any evidence of possessing them outside of a flashback to her youth.

** The Goa'uld have experimented with creating Hok'tar - humans with some Ancient abilities to use as hosts. Cassandra, at one point, is able to manipulate EM fields enough to levitate a magnetic chess piece. Nirrti's experiments with an Ancient DNA sequencer result in several mutants, some of which use telekinesis ({{spoiler|one uses it to kill her}}). One of the best examples is Kalek, an artificial human created by Anubis. His telekinetic abilities are very advanced, and he uses them to deflect bullets. For bonus points, he's played by Neil Jackson, who went on to play Victor, the "evil" telekinetic in ''[[Push]]''.

* There are a half-dozen examples in ''[[Star Trek]]''.

* Prue and Paige Halliwell in ''[[Charmed]]'' as well as some of their ancestors and descendants. People that are half-whitelighter, i.e. Paige, have telekinetic orbing, a combination of the orbing and telekinesis powers.

** Billie Jenkins also has this as a power. It had also become very common power in the later seasons for most witches.

{{quote| '''Angel:'''What do we know about telekinesis? <br />

'''Wesley:''' Ah. Yes. The power of moving things with one's mind. ([[Beat]]) That's... pretty much it. The power of... moving... I-I'm better with demons, really. }}

* Cally from ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]'', a telepath in canon, manifested it once under conditions of EXTREME stress, and (as far as this troper can recall) not entirely voluntarily.

* As if [[Doctor Who]]'s [[Paranoia Fuel|Weeping Angels]] didn't have enough powers, they also can apparently use a version of telekinesis to short out lights. While this might not sound very deadly, you have to remember that being unable to see an Angel even for a split second easily gives it enough time to kill you (and if there isn't a light source, you're going to be blind for longer than a split second). They can reach a person standing several feet away and kill them in the time it takes for someone to blink, after all...

** Possiblly this is 'just' their ability to feed of various forms of energy in the local environment.

 

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** There's a fifth level arcane spell simply called "Telekinesis", and a bunch of more specialized versions.

** The psionic powers, present from the first edition but more formalized in the second with ''The Complete Psionics Handbook'', has "psychokinesis" as a whole discipline, one of the most versatile.

* ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' gives psykers a telekinesis discipline. This being ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'', it doesn't just allow one to move items with their mind, it allows players to catch projectiles out of mid-air ala Neo from the Matrix, form improvised armour, crush the life out of enemies, create and use a melee weapon "as little as a molecule thick" in addition to the more mundane magic missile-esque force barrage and the usual moving stuff around.

** Rogue Trader's basic Telekinesis technique is even called Mind Over Matter.

* ''Starblazers Adventures'', based on the 1970s-80s British science fiction [[Comic Book]]. Telekinesis is a specific type of Psionic skill available to aliens and mutants. Characters must spend a Fate point each time they affect a different object. Since the game occurs in a star travel setting, the rules note that telekinesis is easier in zero gravity.

* ''[[Exalted]]'': She Who Lives In Her Name has an entire Charm tree branching off Mind-Hand Manipulation. It starts as the ability to hold people with your mind and eventually goes through the creation of whirling death zones of random debris around you to the power to ''crush souls''.

 

== Video Games ==

* Likewise, you get telekinesis in ''[[Second Sight]]''. At first, you can only move small objects with it. Once you upgrade it, though, you can force choke and throw enemies around like rag dolls. Another power involves throwing Mind Bullets, which may be a separate form of TK.

** Many of the psychics in the setting have telekinesis. Notably, the 13-year-old Mikhail uses it to restrain a local bully and keep him in mid-air. He also somewhat graphically describes the nasty stuff he can do to bodies of people held this way...

* Biotics in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. Enemies with biotic powers will actually [[Most Annoying Sound|shout this]] at you during combat.

** The sequel upgrades this, with level three working on smaller enemies.

* Psycho Mantis in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' and ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''.

** Whether or not she has any psychic ability of her own is debatable, but his successor Screaming Mantis also makes heavy use of it. {{spoiler|Using the Mantis Doll gained during the fight, Snake can also use a weaker version of it to damage enemies and steal items}}.

* Silver the Hedgehog from the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series.

* The Telekinetic Grab spell in ''[[Runescape]]'', which lets the player take objects that are visible but not necessarily accessible (e.g. behind an [[Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence]]). The [[Dishing Out Dirt|Earth spells]] also resemble telekinesis by magicking up boulders out of the ground and hurtling them at opponents.

* In ''[[Ghost Trick]]'' Sissel uses the titular tricks to move inanimate objects. {{spoiler|Yomiel can control living beings like [[People Puppets|puppets]] with a similar technique}}

** In ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep]]'' Aqua has a Command Style, which is vaguely similar to Drive Forms in that it's a powerup that grants new powers, called Spellweaver which allows her to wield her Keyblade telekinetically as well.

* [[Pokémon]] has the Psychic elemental type, but in game it's never really clarified if certain moves involve telekinesis, or just a [[Mind Rape|direct psychic attack.]] However, there is a move called "Kinesis" which lowers opponent's accuracy (presumably by deflecting attacks coming at the user)

* Telekinesis is a spell in ''[[Diablo]]''. It can be used to push back monsters, but is mostly useful for opening doors and chests that may be booby-trapped.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', at least three mages have psychokinesis among their magical repertoire: Kuja and Queen Stella restrict it to taking items from Zidane, while [[The Man Behind the Man|Garland]] puts it to better use in his boss battle.

* The Combine Advisors use extremely powerful telekinesis as a weapon in ''Half-Life 2: Episode 2''. They are so good at this they can even fly.

** On one occasion, a resting Advisor was disturbed by humans upon which it broke the containment shell and lifted the two offenders, a corpse and a metal barrel into the air to see what's going on. First it examined the barrel then crushed it and threw it aside. Next it examined the corpse and probed its brain before snapping its spine and throwing it aside as well. The protagonist was to be the next but an explosion injured the Advisor, causing it to blow out the roof and fly away. Keep in mind that Advisors are essentially giant slugs without limbs: the sucker did all these with telekinesis alone!

* In ''[[Vindictus]]'' levitating things this way is one of [[Black Magician Girl|Evie's]] three main powers, along with [[Fireballs|Firebolt]] and [[Boring but Practical|Magic Arrow]]. It's implied that she's actually more a [[Gravity Master]] than a straight-up psychokinetic.

* In ''[[Starcraft]]'' the more powerful [[Space Elves|Protoss]] possess telekinetic abilities. High Templars use it to levitate themselves indefinitely. While not present in the game, the novels do show that some powerful human telepaths are capable of this as well. Sarah Kerrigan, after becoming a Zerg in the novelization of Episode II, uses her telekinesis to reflect bullets back at the firing soldiers. Nova's power is several orders of magnitude higher. For instance, after she witnesses her parents being killed by rebels, she unconsciously emits a telekinetic wave that kills every human being in the vicinity and shatters a transparent dome that is meant to withstand direct nuclear strikes. She later learns to levitate herself using telekinesis, although this requires a lot of effort and concentration.

* In ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'', this is Ermac's signature power, and he's one of [[Big Bad|Shao Kahn's]] most powerful cronies. In ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'', it's revealed that he was the one who ripped off Jax's arms. He is one of the most blatant cases of [[Fridge Logic]], seeing as how he's evil and nothing is stopping him from simply decapitating enemies in seconds.

* The aptly-named Dr. Kinesis in ''[[Evil Plan the Webcomic]]''.

* One of Nanashi's pool of powers in ''[[Earthsong]]''.

** Grace can do this, with efficiency depending on [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|her current form]], up to exploding stuff when she's really upset, but she isn't all that good at controls and used it only in critical situations. On the other hand, in some forms she can and do use it for flying.

** Elliot's [[Kamehame Hadoken]] appears to be a short-range nondirectional telekinetic impact. {{spoiler|[[Just Eat Him|Swallowing]] him whole is a [[Ludicrous Gibs|bad idea]].}}

== Western Animation ==

* Used in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', where the school of Cyber-Ninjutsu that Prowl and Jazz practice features mastery of "processor over matter" as its ultimate technique. [[Captain Obvious|It's used by mechanical beings]].

* ''[[Family Guy]]'': Stewie after [[I Love Nuclear Power|being exposed to nuclear waste]].

* In ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'', Pinky once makes some paperclips fly in the air. When an astonished Brain asks about it, Pinky just casually says "Comes and goes."

** To some extent they can create objects from nothing, as seen when Trixie conjures up flowers during her show. Sure, they might not be real (she performs ''tricks'' after all), but the freaking '''storm cloud''' she uses to embarrass Rainbow Dash certainly was.

* Yumi of ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' can perform telekinesis while in the virtual world of Lyoko, most often using it offensively to crush XANA's monsters under boulders. She can also use it to levitate her teammates on occasion.

** In the short pilot ''Garage Kids'', unlike in the main series, Yumi can use this power while in the real world.

* In an episode of ''[[Almost Naked Animals]]'', Howie gets a remote control stuck to his head. He gains telekinetic powers after it gets wet while he tries to remove it.

* Used in its original meaning in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', when a villain turns out to be nigh-invulnerable purely by ''convincing himself that he is''. Apparently, all you need when you're falling from a high-rise is to imagine that you can't get hurt, and you'll be fine. Bruce utters this trope's title.

** [[Psychic Powers]] are involved as well as [[90% of Your Brain]].

 

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