History Headscratchers / Empowered

** The supervillains caring way more about following the "unwritten rule" more than the superheroes actually works rather well. The supervillains are the ones who define themselves in opposition to law and order, the ones who have to find a way to continue their operations without not just the supers coming for them but the local government coming for them. Therefore, it's believably enough that barring the likes of Willy Pete the supervillains would do all they could to follow "Da Rule" amongst themselves so that the superheroes are content to just smack them around and lock them up rather than splatter them against the pavement for killing their friends.

** I have a really good grasp (I think) on why she doesn't: Remember Series/MacGyver? WHAT'S THE ONE THING HE WON'T USE? Guns. EVER. The only time he does is to... Shoot. Down. A. DOOR. I would swear to God that's the same reason. She's noble, honest and incorruptibly pure. She's a [[FriendToAllLivingThings Friend to everything]] determinator who will take NO CRAP from anything even remotely hostile.

** We may also consider that outsiders may not be aware of the complete group dynamics within the Superhomies; villains probably don't know that Emp ranks ridiculously low in the pecking order.

** Right, but it seems like it's just him, Maidman, Syndablokk and maybe now Sistah Spooky that care about Emp, the rest seem apathetic towards her. Hell, when Willy Pete murdered a bunch of heroes, i remember two heroines(The one with the huge helmet and the one that looks like a mummy), gloating about and even saying that they deserved to die. It just comes of as if the thugs shouldn't worry about it so much since the heroes are so heartless with each other. There was also the incident with Emp and Ocelotina, where it didn't seem like Sistah Spooky cared that Emp was almost molested by Pre-Ocelotina.

** I'm pretty sure that Emp just doens't want to kick a man who's lying down, and that's why he doesn't call her on what counts as "serious crimes". Anglerfish himself just doesn't like to regard his son as a bad person. I's kind of how people always say that "h's in bad company" -- it's always the company that's bad.

** I have a really good grasp (I think) on why she doesn't: Remember MacGyver? WHAT'S THE ONE THING HE WON'T USE? Guns. EVER. The only time he does is to... Shoot. Down. A. DOOR. I would swear to God that's the same reason. She's noble, honest and incorruptibly pure. She's a [[FriendToAllLivingThings Friend to everything]] determinator who will take NO CRAP from anything even remotely hostile.

*** Right, but it's seems like it's just him, Maidman, Syndablokk and maybe now Sistah Spooky that care about Emp, the rest seem apathetic towards her. Hell, when Willy Pete murdered a bunch of heroes, i remember two heroines(The one with the huge helmet and the one that looks like a mummy), gloating about and even saying that they deserved to die. It just comes of as if the thugs shouldn't worry about it so much since the heroes are so heartless with each other. There was also the incident with Emp and Ocelotina, where it didn't seem like Sistah Spooky cared that Emp was almost molested by Pre-Ocelotina.
** Speaking of Captain Rivet, if he's a good person, why doesn't he try to stop the others from picking Empowered? Especially with Havoc, who has gotten worse in volume 7 and 8.

*** Right, but it's seems just him, Maidman, Syndablokk and maybe now Sistah Spooky that care about Emp, the rest seem apathetic towards her. Hell, when Willy Pete murdered a bunch of heroes, i remember two heroines(The one with the huge helmet and the one that looks like a mummy), gloating about and even saying that they deserved to die. It just comes of as if the thugs shouldn't worry about it so much since the heroes are so heartless with each other. There was also the incident with Emp and Ocelotina, where it didn't seem like Sistah Spooky cared that Emp was almost molested by Pre-Ocelotina.

*** Right, but that's just one guy. Hell, when Willy Pete murdered a bunch of heroes, i remember two heroines(The one with the huge helmet and the one that looks like a mummy), gloating about and even seeing that they deserved to die. It just comes of as if the thugs shouldn't worry about it so much since the heroes are so heartless with each other. There was also the incident with Emp and Ocelotina, where it didn't seem like Sistah Spooky cared that Emp was almost molested by Pre-Ocelotina.

* Considering how most heroes have such a low opinion of Emp, why are the Thugs and villains so scared of a possible reprisal if she's harm? Even volumes also imply that Havoc wouldn't care if something happened to Emp. No obviously i would hope nothing bad ever happened to Emp, but with the complete apathy Emp's peers have towards her, why are the villains so worried?

*** Seriously. The only one with an ability to see the future is Sistah Spooky, and even she couldn't get anything more than "three seconds too late." Not to mention that Mindf██k was already ready to die. Cut Emp some slack, will you?
*** Let's also not forget that if Sistah Spooky had let the whole 'Flaxen-haired Aryan Conspiracy' go, and been a good teammate and positive force of support for Emp, then Emp would have believed in herself much more and Mindf██k would have jumped through the portal, no arguments made.
*** There is also the 'unescapable prophecy' aspect of the situation. Sister Spooky was always going to be 'three seconds too late' because that's what her prediction had told her.

*** Most likely, the suit regenerates from the portions remaining on Emp herself.

*** None of which answers the question of why Thugboy, who's a crack-shot verging on the superhuman, doesn't give Emp some lessons in markmanship. Combine literal point-and-shoot non-ballistic attacks with enhanced vision, and if she ever thinks to ask for it, probably a targeting reticule, and she'll finally be hitting her targets reliably. This would be very good for her self-esteem.
*** I have a really good grasp (I think) on why she doesn't: Remember MacGyver? WHAT'S THE ONE THING HE WON'T USE? Guns. EVER. The only time he does is to... Shoot. Down. A. DOOR. I would swear to God that's the same reason. She's noble, honest and incorruptibly pure. She's a [[FriendToAllLivingThings Friend to everything]] determinator who will take NO CRAP from anything even remotely hostile.
**** There's a couple reasons, better than just a no-gun policy. Becoming an expert sniper would both take a lot of time and practice, and she wouldn't be able to use any of her other powers when doing so. She *has* saved the day and taken out plenty of tough foes with her super strength, and sniping puts her out of range to use any of that. Also it's not very on-the-fly, it requires retreating to a sniper's perch, not so go when needing to rescue someone inside the villain's lair or otherwise do door-busting action, which is likely common. Sure, it's a useful skill to have but it requires carrying around a rifle and is situational. For close in work she'd require pistols, which is quite a bit more training. Also she'd probably lose all benefit of villains or thugs not trying to kill her. Emp doesn't have a no-kill policy, but she limits her kills to those who do likewise, all those thugs and such she takes out en mass end up with plasma burns and a trip to the prison hospital. So, lots of training requires to get good at it, losing options, doesn't complement her existing abilities, and sets a take-no-prisoners situation for both sides.

*** All of this is true, but none of it answers the question of why Thugboy doesn't try tho give her marksmanship lessons. Not sniping, marksmanship. There is a great deal of difference.
*** Because it'd be completely wasted on her? Emp is not going to use guns, she doesn't have anywhere to store those guns on her suit, it's a purely lethal option which wouldn't fit with Emp's fighting style, and it would raise questions that Thugboy would rather not answer (like how a "Witless minion" got to be so good with guns). Plus he chewed Ninjette out (albiety more jokingly) about how making criminals think Emp was more dangerous than she really was could result in them being rougher and put her life in danger. If she pulls out a gun there's a chance that someone might decide that it's better to break one of the unwritten rules than end up with a bullet in the face.
***** Let's try this again. Marksmanship does not require the use of firearms; it is the skill of precise targeting with a ranged weapon. One can be an expert marksman with a gun, or a bow, or a crossbow, or one's hypermembrane-generated energy blasts. How can it be bad for Emp to be able to hit her targets reliably?
***** ... Let's try this again: Learning how to shoot well does not ADD to Emp's hero efficiency in the short term, and even if she reaches Thugboy's competency level (aka super-sniper), will STILL NOT ADD to Emp's hero efficiency level in at least about half the cases she comes across. Also, even at super-sniper levels, (a) she can still accidentally kill, something she really don't want to do except for certain, rare cases (remember, she's a HERO, not an ANTI-HERO), and (b) she really don't want to DIE, and having a gun means the other guy will be so much more willing to "off" her. On top of that, (c) learning how to fire energy blasts is different from learning how to shoot anti-material sniper weapons (Thugboy's supposed specialty) as much as said sniper weapon is different from pistols. Now that you understand this... please remove this natter.

* 1. Ninjette has already worked on marksmanship with EMP. Since EMP primary uses hand fired beam weapons, Thugboy's experience with shooting doesn't apply as much. 2. Remember what happened when Thugby tried sniping in a heavy hitter battle? He took out three grunt targets, then got incapacitated. A .50 cal sniper rifle certainly wouldn't have helped EMP out when she took out Deathmonger or Dwarf. 3. Sniping tactics would work best on thugs and low level capes...the thugs and low level cape who predominantly stick to the "unspoken rules". Even for a regular cape, wantonly killing off those guys would be bad mojo in terms of super heroics, and would bring about an escalation of violence from villain capes. That last bit is a LUDICROUSLY big deal for EMP, as low level thugs and bad guy capes constantly capture her. What do you think they'd do if they knew she'd been sniping and killing off thugs and capes? I think we can reasonably conclude that "Sniper EMP" is a bad idea.

*** But running (or maybe even walking) would. Think about the kind of wear and tear an average pair of running shoes go through from constant use and abuse. Now imagine if those running shoes had the consistency of soap-bubble-latex.
*** Aha ha, but what about the constant suggestion that Emp's suit and its powers are based on her self-esteem and what she's thinking about at the time? She doesn't even consider that the suit might tear at the bottom and her feet wouldn't be protected, so it doesn't, everything else, the blasting powers, sticking to things, showing every inch of skin it can, she worries and obsesses over, so it feeds off that.
*** Maybe, but that assumes the self-esteem hypothesis is actually true. At the moment, we have no idea if it is. All we know is the suit tears at the slightest provocation, yet for some inexplicable reason this does not apply to her feet. And even if the self-esteem hypothesis were true, why would her feet be exempt? Why would she be concerned about showing skin everywhere except her feet? We've seen the suit get ripped up on her calves, her forearms, her hands, and her fingers. If the suit gets ripped up in places where she is most self-conscious about, wouldn't that imply that she's self-conscious about her goddamn ''fingers''? Why on Earth would that be?
*** As seen in volume 7, if she isn't aware of the tearing and missing fabric, she doesn't lose the powers. Before anyone brings up the weightlifting or wall-climbing instances where she "couldn't" have been aware of the ripping, they are both accompanied by an audible ripping sound. While, logistically, the bottom of her costumes feet should tear, if she isn't aware of the tearing, it doesn't affect her powers.
* Okay, so the Witless Minions tried to do their usual scam by pretending to be Willy Pete's minons, and it didn't work out so well. But here's my question; why did Willy even ''need'' minions? From what we've seen of him, he doesn't really do any "super crime," he just rapes people to death and eats them. He's more a super powered serial killer than a regular super villain. So what did he need a gang for?

*** Actually, the fact that he can't handle anything without incinerating it is the perfect reason to hire minions, if you think about it. Someone has to physically manipulate things for him.
*** In the flashback Willy Pete does say he was using them for Superhero bait.

*** That wasn't the Capitan in the superhero STD group, it was a totally different robot-like hero. Reread the "Love Changes Everything" chapter, the guy doesn't look ANYTHING like Rivet.

*** If such a thing existed, it would be rape under the current law. Consent given under mind-altering effects isn't valid.
*** Not necessarily. In most jurisdictions, at least in the United States, there would be a serious question of how mind-altering the effect was. For example, someone who is completely drunk is usually considered legally unable to consent, but a person who has had a glass of wine, which would be a mind-altering effect, is able. Moreover, plenty of people engage in very drunken sex with no rape charges ever being filed or even contemplated; this happens all the time, in fact. For that matter, a jury is free to say, yes, the two of you clearly had sex, and you were clearly drunk, but we are not going to convict the defendant of rape because of whatever circumstances we think are relevant. If Anglerfish's powers are just to create illusions, a jury might conclude that a person who had sex with whom was tricked into doing so, but that that does not amount to rape.

*** "Not as bad" is not the same as "good". Thugboy sees the good in some capes, like Emp and Maidman (and maybe Ninjette, depending on whether he considers her a cape). The rest can go take a long walk off a short pier as far as he's concerned. They are all, to a man, arrogant power-mad assholes in his opinion. The Superhomeys are just the worst of the lot.

*** Or that Emp hadn't worked out the specifics yet, since it was also early in her career with the Superhomies. Perhaps at some point she decided to go with the embarassment visible underwear instead of the [[IncrediblyLamePun em-bare-ass-ment]] of being naked when her suit gets ripped up, only to find out the hard way that her suit powers isn't compatible with underwear.
*** Or on the flipside, why not wear clothing *over* the suit? If the suit gives her powers only when its in contact with her skin, why not wear it as an inner leotard to a far less form-fitting outfit?
**** She can't. The suit fails when it's covered.

*** [[spoiler: Agnosticism isn't a rejection of God. If it's a rejection of anything, it's of organized religion. It just means generally having an "I don't know" stance and mostly leaving it at that. The ISP seemed to be very clear on the whole "eternity" aspect of it, especially in regards to his own situation, so this isn't likely the temporary kind of Hell. I suppose it is possible, if horrifically depressing, that Mindf██k chose this destination for herself since she sees herself as a bad person. But considering the ISP's plan REQUIRED her, it seems he wouldn't leave that to chance. Perhaps he forced her soul's destination somehow. There are a lot of veriables to consider. Of course there ''is'' the chance that the Mindf██k at the end is another copy, but the way the scene is framed makes that doubtful. Though I definitely ''prefer'' to think of it that way, given the alternative is just awful.]]
* Why does whoever edited most of Mindf██k's entries consider her to be seemingly as bad as her brother? I'm sure I've seen a handful that state she 'edited' herself to be better, but that's '''never''' stated in the book as being because she was actually ''as bad'' as her brother, more that she was ''afraid of becoming'' like him, so she edited out anything in her that could lead to that possibility. This is pretty much confirmed in Volume 8.
** It's a wiki. If you disagree with how an entry is written, just fix it.

* Considering how most heroes have such a low opinion of Emp, why are the Thungs and villains so scared of a possible reprisal if she's harm? Even volumes also imply that Havoc wouldn't care if something happened to Emp. No obviously i would hope nothing bad ever happened to Emp, but with the complete apathy Emp's peers have towards her, why are the villains so worried?

** [[spoiler:Given she used Phallik's spear to try to kill [=DeathMonger=] (er, again) in a surprise attack, then left him to die in a nuclear explosion, I'd say her code against killing has been amended to 'only in the case of {{Complete Monster}}s'. She could keep the spear.]]