Markup View

Author: hszmv1

May 2nd 2017 at 4:56:37 AM

There probably should be a clarification to this.  A contrail is a physical pressense of some kind being emitted by the engine of the motion as exhaust (in real life, contrails are the condensation of water exhaust products from burning jet fuel that condense with other particulate exhaust products to form a cloud.  You do not see it at ground level because the air temperatures are to warm for this to occur).

I think the defining principle here that would keep it from being motion blur is that a blur is not physically there, but is supposed to be an optical illusion for depicting a LudicrousSpeed, where as this is a direct product of the cause of motion (such as jet engine exhaust) or used to depict a power or ability that would cause such motion (like depicting a BarrierWarrior's force field as being used as a propellent, ala Jean Grey's psychic aura) OR when it cannot be determined if it is one or the other (The page image of the PowerPuffGirls and Rainbow Dash would fit this category... the former clearly seems to have a flight at speeds thing component, though I'm unaware of any occasion where the girl's were shown that it has a physical presence.  In the latter's case, while it could be argued that it's part of the character's motion blur, it has also been weaponized, with the Sonic Rainboom and Sonic Nuclear Boom thingy).

I would argue that the "Stars Elongating because of FTL" is not this, nor would the Smallville and Flash (and related heroes) have this, as they are clearly depicting the fast movement.

Some examples:

*Karoline Dean of Comics/Runaways would often leave blurs of light as she flew.  She and Julie Powers even suspended their fight to compliment each other's ColorfulContrails
* Cannonball of Comics/Xmen can produce a biochemical reaction similar to a jet engine that allows him to fly.  Unique because the contrail obscures his body from the waist down.
* In Avatar, Firebenders can use their ability to fly.  Special mention goes to Azula who was able to produce a blue flame to achieve this.  Airbenders can create tornadoes to ride in (not sure if that would count, but a "RideTheWhirlwind" trope seems to not have enough examples to make a dedicated page about).