Finding a use for a seemingly useless superpower

[Tigmafuzz]

Post a seemingly useless superpower, or try to figure out how to make use of a superpower that someone else has posted.

Solar-powered night vision.

[Loony BoB]

Solar power actually doesn't disappear the moment the sun goes down, so this could still be effective. This is why solar powered torches exist. With that said, the obvious use is to see in the dark.

As for a seemingly useless device... submarine windscreen wiper.

[Skyblade]

Perfect for cleaning condensation that builds up on windows due to temperature differentials between the ocean and your vessel's controlled environment. You just place them inside the windows, not outside.

Also, Dazzler has a great power, she was just too stupid to ever use it effectively (at least in her original incarnation). The ability to convert sound into light? Pair with Banshee, and you have a perfectly sustainable, extremely high power laser. And that's a simple use. Heck, she's practically Captain America's shield (sounds are vibrations, after all, so nullifying vibratory energy is certainly something she can do), and that's just her defense. Explosives typically work via overpressure waves, which means that she could probably absorb/redirect those as well. The term "bomb-pumped laser" comes to mind.

[Tigmafuzz]

submarine windscreen wiper.

For when you slam into fish underwater and need to wipe their guts off the screen.

Also, Dazzler has a great power, she was just too stupid to ever use it effectively (at least in her original incarnation). The ability to convert sound into light? Pair with Banshee, and you have a perfectly sustainable, extremely high power laser. And that's a simple use. Heck, she's practically Captain America's shield (sounds are vibrations, after all, so nullifying vibratory energy is certainly something she can do), and that's just her defense. Explosives typically work via overpressure waves, which means that she could probably absorb/redirect those as well. The term "bomb-pumped laser" comes to mind.

...Okay. I guess that goes in this thread.


Anyway: the ability to fly at Mach 1, but only downwards.

[Jiro]

You'd make a great tactical nuke.EDIT: and besides, downwards is relative, so you could probably function alright in space.

[Loony BoB]

Without the power to survive an impact while traveling at mach one, let alone the power to fly, I would say there is exactly no purpose whatsoever given that you couldn't control it in any way whatsoever.

Jiro, you have to come up with another seemingly useless power! And I just realised that it's power, not device, so my one was rather pointless. Oops. I'll come up with another one, then: The ability to grow your hair exactly 25% faster than normal.

[Skyblade]

Without the power to survive an impact while traveling at mach one, let alone the power to fly, I would say there is exactly no purpose whatsoever given that you couldn't control it in any way whatsoever.

Actually, Jiro did state fly at Mach 1. Also, depending on which definition you use, flight can easily refer to controlled travel (versus gliding or other means of air conveyance).

However, the incredible restrictions do make it difficult to use. If that is the exact limit of your power, engaging it would either break the universe or kill you instantly. Or both. Since you can only fly at Mach 1, there could be no other speeds used for acceleration purposes.

Of course, if we assume that the power itself is controlled, depending on how it worked, it could save your life. You fall off a cliff and immediately turn the power on. When the power stops (either from you turning it off, or if it is automatically cancelled once you hit the ground, as "flight" is only possible through air) it could restore your pre-power speed, which means you'd hit the ground at a much more leisurely pace.

Jiro, you have to come up with another seemingly useless power!

Actually, the thread said post one or find use for one someone else posted. Not both. And I'm way better at thinking up uses than I am useless powers.

And I just realised that it's power, not device, so my one was rather pointless. Oops. I'll come up with another one, then: The ability to grow your hair exactly 25% faster than normal.

Define "normal". If you mean 25% faster than average, there are plenty of people with such growth rates already, which means it hardly even qualifies it as a power.

As for a use, well, if you're ever stuck on a desert island and need to make a rope of human hair to lash together a couple of sea turtles to escape... That power will make it easier, even if only a little.

[Shauna]

The thread doesn't really work if you don't post up useless powers. Pretty sure it's meant to be make the useless power useful and then post another for the next poster to deal with.

The ability to see exactly 30 seconds into the past.

[LocoColt04]

Is it anyone's past, or only the user's?
If it's the user's, is it from a first-person perspective or a third-person perspective?

If the latter, and then the former, that's EFFIN USELESS MAN, but if the latter and latter again? Could be cool. Definitely situational.


The ability to dictate faster than an auctioneer.

[Mirage]

Without the power to survive an impact while traveling at mach one, let alone the power to fly, I would say there is exactly no purpose whatsoever given that you couldn't control it in any way whatsoever.

Jiro, you have to come up with another seemingly useless power! And I just realised that it's power, not device, so my one was rather pointless. Oops. I'll come up with another one, then: The ability to grow your hair exactly 25% faster than normal.

Assuming you change this to a rate that is actually superhuman (25% faster than average/median growth rates is within human parameters, and therefore not superhuman. Powers that regular humans can possess are by definition not superpowers, just powers), rapid hair growth could earn you some extra money, as you could sell it to people who make hair extensions out of real hair.

[Tigmafuzz]

The ability to grow your hair exactly 25% faster than normal.

I would've gone the Jesus route with "turning water into hair."

[Yerushalmi]

If the latter, and then the former, that's EFFIN USELESS MAN

Guy runs you over, and you managed to glimpse his license plate and memorize the first three digits, so you see through your own eyes thirty seconds ago so you can remember the OTHER three digits. Especially if you can grab a pad and paper and write it down while you're looking at the past.

Heck, that power's good for quite a hell of a lot of witness situations. Guy mugs you on the street? Scrutinize his face carefully at your leisure thirty seconds after he's no longer paying attention to you, so you can better describe it to the cops.

[Mirage]

That is brilliant, actually.

[Loony BoB]

The passive ability to 'hear' the thoughts of every living thing you are within a one mile radius of. That includes dustmites.

[Yerushalmi]

As long as it's accompanied by the ability to focus on a given thought (just like you can focus on a person talking in a crowded, noisy room), that's only slightly weaker than general mind reading. Particularly as dust mites' thoughts aren't very well formed (they do have a brain with a limited capacity for learning from experience, but not much more than that; and yes, dust mites are arachnids).