Deconstruction of Teens Gaining Superpowers

Why not have an insane wannabe antagonist, who people would think was the real Big Bad, but instead, the real Big Bad is a perfectly composed character who was more of a manipulative type?

hey

hey guys

guess what

if kids started killing each other the minute they got powers

i'm pretty certain that we would see a lot more stabbings, shootings, etc.

than we actually do.

The point is that irrational != homicidal sociopaths. You can expect them to show it off, sure, even when that would be a really stupid thing to do. Maybe they would rob a store. Yeah, maybe some of them would undergo emotional breakdowns. The ones who start torching others for shits n' giggles would have been messed up in the first place.

You know you can deconstruct something without everyone being a complete arse.

Of course. You know how some kids would show off their powers in front of that hot group of girls? Beat up that mugger.

And hell some people might even have genuinely good intentions.

Deconstruction just means picking apart the more ridiculous aspects of teenage superpowers, like the fancy costumes, the superhero academy, the military just turning away, the "social life is so much harder to deal with than being able to make things explode with my mind mindset that's going on"...

Then you should see some of these.

Teens killing themselves in bloody ways had been done quite terrifically.

The point is that irrational != homicidal sociopaths. You can expect them to show it off, sure, even when that would be a really stupid thing to do. Maybe they would rob a store. Yeah, maybe some of them would undergo emotional breakdowns. The ones who start torching others for shits n' giggles would have been messed up in the first place.

Of course. You know how some kids would show off their powers in front of that hot group of girls? Beat up that mugger.

And hell some people might even have genuinely good intentions. - Chubert

Agreed. This is more or less what I meant. But let me ask you this question: Why didn't you kill anyone who was on your bad side? Is it because you think it is wrong or because you don't want to go to prison? Teens tend to pick the second answer. What will stop you if you are emotionally immature and powerful as Darkseid? You won't become a homicidal maniac overnight but will you as a 15 year old kid be able to resist the temptation not to abuse your powers for shoplifting or toasting the Jerk Jock or anyone who bullied you or had the audacity to say that what you are doing is wrong? I think not. To quote the Chaos Lord from Dawn Of War 2: "Small steps corrupt." The characters might not become complete douchebags overnight but step by step without realizing it. Spiderman once said that with great power Comes Great Responsibility which in turn requires maturity that generally kids lack of. Remember that puberty is an emotionally chaotic period where you are usually self-centered and don't have high regards for authority figures. Nobody can say for sure what impact superpowers would have but I for example would certainly not entrust a 15 year old kid a Kalashnikov or a large amount of cash.

For a lighter deconstruction you can make your characters older, say in their late teens or early 20s. "You know it’s awesome that I have Pyrokinesis and can zapp people but I'm too busy learning for my college exams and playing Crysis 2".

edited 3rd Apr '11 5:00:23 AM by AdeptusAlpharius

Well, killing people never really occurred to me as an option to seriously consider, but yeah, I don't speak for the teeming hordes of hormonally confused fuckers, and the rest of your point stands.

I don't know if I'd gradually turn in to an omnnicidal maniac, but I would not hesitate to do serious harm to anyone who pisses me off, or hurts anyone I care about.

What if while some teens get superpowers, another teen just has a motorcycle and knows Kung Fu and becomes their version of Batman?

You know what you need to do?

Look up kids who win the lottery.

That might provide semi-good comparisonness.

I have to say, isn't this genre pretty well deconstructed as it is?

I'd almost want to suggest that you write a Reconstruction... but like Adeptus Alpharius I hate the Improbable Age and am just fine with this genre in ruins; I simply fail to see why it needs yet another deconstruction.

How they react to their powers depends on who they are. Take super strength.

Someone abused to the extent that they are broken might never lash out and just follow who ever orders them around.

Someone who enjoys hurting others now has more options and can abuse even more people.

Someone who is depressed will look at how hard it is to function with their powers.

Someone who is a show off will continue to show off.

Someone who is paranoid might try to hide it.

Basically who the character is defines how they would use their powers.

I guess it depends on the type of kid, if he's the psycho school-shooty type you can expect a massacre of epic proportions, just nothing but torturing and murdering every person in their school and killing anyone who tries to intervene. If they're the perverted protagonist of a nerd-sploitation movie type and they got invisibility powers you can expect lots of spying on girls in locker rooms and mysterious protein stains. But if they're a pot-head slacker type you probably won't see a whole lot of change expect now they can fly to Denny's instead of driving.

Make it so the character personality isn't so much changed by their powers but accentuated by their new powers.Have them show how their use of their powers shows who they really are. In other words,I agree with Dead Man

edited 19th Apr '11 6:49:29 AM by utahann

Following along with the group, build personalities first, then apply superpowers and see how those personalities interact with them. Switch around as needed until you get a good combination for your story.

Play with expectations too. What if the Jerk Jock turns out to get say, "can breathe underwater?" And he's not on the swim team?