Non Cliche Reactions To Super Powered People.

Basically, in a middle of the field in terms of size town, everyone falls into a coma. Everyone who enters the town suffers the same affect. And twenty six hours later everyone wakes up... But all women of childbearing age are pregnant (yes I know, Village Of The Dammed springs to mind) and nine months later they all give birth to children, who's paternal DNA matches no known man. Long story short all the children turn out to possess superhuman abilities. Sound interesting? I want to make a story that doesen't fall into the standard Fantastic Racism (especially from religious people, how come it's always a Church Of Humanity or some weird super worship thing?) and "Government manipulates innocent superhuman children" tropes. So for the sake of argument let's say there's eight thousand of these "blackout babies" and their abilities became apparent at around eight to ten. Anyone have any thoughts?

Of course the government will get involved. What would you do if you are running a government and a few thousand or so superheroes are born? Wouldn't you want to adopt them to use as weapons against foreign countries?

It doesn't have to be the main focus though, maybe several different factions gain their own share of the babies.

Ever read The Umbrella Academy? It begins in a similar way, with several woman all over the world giving birth at once with no previous signs of pregnancy, with seven of them being adopted and raised as a Superhero team.

EDIT: Even if their powers aren't shown during birth, a lot of them would be put up for adoption, so the government would seize a lot of them anyways.

edited 19th Mar '11 9:23:08 AM by chihuahua0

Imagine the reactions from the significant others of the mothers of these kid's. And what might be some difficulties the government might have regarding the upbringing and education of these children?

Well, the spouses and boyfriends will have mixed responses, from "Yay, we finally had a baby!" from an infertile couple to "How dare you have a baby!" from an abusive boyfriend.

Also, the sudden baby boom would be a huge event in the United States, since several thousand babies at one is a large number. There could be minor economic impact as the government gives relief to the mothers, and adopt others. Maybe there might be special orphanages.

It happens in Australia, which only increases the effects since eight thousand children is even more to us. And any reactions religious organizations might have? And what could the media dub these kid's?

Religious institutions would certainly be involved. In fact, a new one might form, preaching how the birth of these children precedes the final battle between good and evil. Also, scientists would get involved, as they would like to know how the sudden baby boom happened.

How about the Blackout Boom Babies? Or just the Blackout Babies?

^^ About religious organizations, keep in mind that they're not all entity. Some of them will, of course, call the event the work of the Devil, while others will preach that it is the work of God. Some will say they need to be destroyed and others will say that they have a destiny and will do great things. Nearly everyone though would declare it as a sign of the end of times.

My belief is that the big churches would side with the worldly view, whatever it is, in their constant attempt to be appealing to as wide an audience as possible. They'd likely say that the powered children are blessings and should be treated no differently than any other kids.

So any issues the mothers might have?

Even more problems than the men. Not only they will have their problems, they have to deal with the trauma of suddenly having a baby, espeically the younger mothers (for the readers' sake, make the lower age limit sixteen).

Also, are the children the focus of the story (making it a superhero story), or the people around them (more like a drama or a mystery)?

The children and their families are the focus of the story, although they don get up to superheroing. And any thoughts on de constructing Superhero School?

edited 20th Mar '11 2:47:44 AM by Zolnier

Superhero School had been deconstructed at least a few times. Maybe the Super Power Lottery decides the social structure of the student body. Maybe a lot of them are troubled. Maybe the princibal wants to turn them into supervillains to use for his Evil Plan. Maybe the government wants to use them.

Think about the stresses of being a teenager with superpowers, and throw in the ways they would use them against each other in school.

edited 19th Mar '11 6:44:01 PM by chihuahua0

So any theories the kid's themselves could come up with for their origins? And any issues the kid's might have growing up?

And what policies might the Govermant have regarding families of black out babies that didn't put them up for adoption?

In regards to the government taking up the babies, I'm fairly sure that in most countries there would be some public objection to that. Maybe not large, but you don't need a large group to be vocal about it. That, and eight thousand is kind of a lot for the government to actively control. Are you really going with that many? That seems a tad excessive to me, unless you're going to have most of them have low level superpowers.

I can also imagine there would be quite a bit of trauma for the younger teenagers, since you said "every woman of childbearing age". Remember, not every female capable of carrying a child is actually an adult. In fact, what happens if a young girl ends up miscarrying one of these wonder babies or has other complications?

I can also imagine many Jesus comparisons, given active sex is not a factor.

Weird thought but what about women who were already pregnant during the event? How might the school system try to cope?

So likely controversies there'd be from the public? And pretty much everyone of these kid's can fly and share a minor mental link. Does that effect anything?

edited 19th Mar '11 11:10:19 PM by Zolnier

Being able to telepathically talk with a group of people would go a long way in making them feel separate from anyone they can't talk to that way. To feel isolated and confused by anyone that's not "them".

So what do you think would be America's reaction to the Aussies getting a few thousand super children?

Shit, as a public or as a government? Likely the government would freak out. Religious fervor would flare up both for and against them. That loud group championing those kids civil rights? Would happen here. Doctors would volunteer to study them, because that would be the thing careers are made of. (Particularly geneticists.) That last part probably applies to doctors all over the world. And I imagine that a lot of those Aussie parents would want to make use of the best medical care they could find, even if they had to leave. If you're going to use the superhero school, then the Australian government would probably hire those doctors to work there.

The better question is would any of these people be able to do anything? Does this story view the American government as the bad guy? And even if they are, can they do anything about the kids without damaging America's public image? (For that matter, what are relations between our countries like now? Because as far as I can tell, we're pretty much not bothered by you. Mildly amused by bad stereotypes, mostly, but I'm not well educated on the political relations.)

I'm not sure who'll be the "bad guy" at the moment. And any one have any thoughts on the "what happened to the women already pregnant?" issue? And what do you think the situation would've been like before the kid's turned out to have powers? And what do you think would be some likely opinions from the public, about the kids?

I would think that there would be a lot of scrutiny of the kids. For one, it's damn weird that women who showed no signs of being pregnant suddenly were. So yeah, that alone would have the public looking at these children for pretty much their entire lives. (Possibly with rumors/conspiracy theories about them being aliens or some other thing. This situation couldn't not give rise to nutjob conspiracists.) As for those already pregnant.... I would feel uncomfortable making anything bad happen to them, such as replacing their babies with wonder baby fetuses. Perhaps whatever causes this just rules out those already pregnant?

I had this idea for a bit of background, one of the kid's tried super heroism when they were ten, stuff that would've gone bad? His powers were extremely powerful water control and and flight. And what would be likely reactions the kids would have when they noticed they had powers?

Yeah, you're going to have to go with the cliche there. Because many, many children would love to be able to fly. Don't try to be so original that you forget that you would have loved to have superpowers. Particularly if there were no obvious downsides. Now, some of the scarier and harder to control powers would probably scare the children the first time. Like say, fire control. If they accidentally set their house on fire with it they'll have some baggage. But if they do something like accidentally throw a fireball at a target (they were shooting beebee guns or throwing water balloons, some game with a target) then they're far more likely to be "Whoa, cool! Do it again!"

And any public controversies these kid's might cause? What would be the leftist and Right Wing responses? No strawmaning if it can be avoided. And this is my little rule for the powers the kid's have, they can range wildly in power but they are all useful.

edited 20th Mar '11 12:21:03 AM by Zolnier

Well, I can't really comment on what "left" and "right" are in Australia, but the American right would probably be very much for confining the kids. Hell, if the kid's powers are outright dangerous, a lot of people would be for confining them. It'd go along with a religious cries of "devil children!" and such, with varying extremes. As for the left... well, if the kids really were dangerous I can't help but think they wouldn't have much objection either. In a situation like this, it's really easy to imagine what the right would do, but not so much the left. I mean, the extreme opposite reaction would be to let the kids free. But if they're dangerous, or have health problems, that's just not wise. And then it comes down to how much observation they require or how long they should be confined. And that situation is probably where you'll get your non straw manning.

Basically, from the information you've given me, it falls down to a public safety versus the children's (probably the family's as well) civil rights. And if their powers are useful, will they be forcefully conscripted into government work? Or will they be free to find out what they can do with it on their own? What happens if a high powered kid grows up and decides to blast their way out? What happens if a low powered kid they mostly ignored finds out as an adult a very effective way to use their power? There might be problems in dealing with them as an adult that didn't happen when dealing with them as a child.

For fun value, would these powers be useful in space exploration? Because superhero astronauts would be cool. And also a very good public promotion for Australia. But that's just a random thought I had.