Thufir's Third Random Banter #224

[PhyrexianShovel]

The Tier/Anti-Tier Family Powers: They used a device called a Tier Belt which increased their strength and durability. It has a range of Bottom Tier, Low Tier, Middle Tier, High Tier, Top Tier and God Tier.

Why would they ever do anything but god tier ?

[Anonymouswizard]

Why would they ever do anything but god tier ?

It's like Kamen Rider, ever since Agito there's rarely been a case where they explained why the rider doesn't go to stronger forms initially and remains in their default (their are exceptions, like OOO and I believe Build, and back in Kuuga it was established that anything beyond the base three forms could cause a lot of colleteral damage). Or sometimes they'll use their stronger forms for most of the series, but go back to a starting form for the final battle (although Ex-Aid managed to justify that).

As a general rule characters don't automatically go to their strongest modes either due to a lack of control or a unintended consequences. The problem is there don't seem to be any with this TierDriver that these characters use.

[Peelee]

What even is a "tier," in this case? Why are they measuring by tiers instead of just a dial from low to high? And why does that dial not go to 11?

[Anonymouswizard]

What even is a "tier," in this case? Why are they measuring by tiers instead of just a dial from low to high?

I mean, I suppose we have to assume that the TierDriver (yes, I associate all transformation belts with Kamen Rider*) was developed after the creation and categorisation of supers/threats into categories (such as One Punch Man's Tiger/Demon/Dragon/God system).

* Ironically, the one Kamen Rider inspired idea I've had anywhere near developed** used wrist-mounted devices, because I needed them easily accessed during transformation.

And why does that dial not go to 11?

Because we're working in base 8, it goes up to 13 instead.

** Let's detail it!

The working title has been '999: Emergency' due to the use of phone transformation trinkets and the placing of the 'heroes' as police officers. The original prototype ('Emergency Black' in the current treatment) began it's development over ten years before the story starts in 2015, and as such uses a flip top phone, while the more recent prototypes (referred to as Emergency Red and Emergency Blue) use touch screen smartphones (the story introduces later prototypes which go back to buttons, but they don't matter as far as I've worked out). They don't really have a name beyond 'tranformation phones', somewhat intentionally, and the transformation procedure is pretty standard (dial 999, say 'change' into the mouthpiece, attach phone to wristband, and have the armour materialise around you).

The original version used belt mounted devices, and I've also considered having to have the characters attach the phone to a special pistol that served as their main weapon, which I sometimes go back to. One of the things I settled on fairly quickly was that I wanted something that seemed practical and versatile for the heroes (thus the phone interface) while the criminal transformation trinkets tended towards less practical (the current version does go with belt buckles for them, but I'm considering going for canes).

The bad guys are an as yet unspecified group of criminals who got access to experimental transformation technology from an Illuminati-style organisation, who are also the ones who made sure government researchers got on the right track. While the earliest users are petty criminals (as the bosses test a few devices to make sure they're safe) the plot quickly ramps as larger schemes are attempted.

The problem is that I'm a terrible artist, and I'm not sure I could design 3+ visually distinct police-themed forms as well as a large number of 'animal armour' forms, as well as the need to actually design what the transformation devices look like.

As for the people who wear these suits? I've not got much idea yet, except that Black has been doing this for several years, while Red and Blue are supposed to be partners but don't really get on. I've got a firmer grasp on the powersets, a relatively proportionate increase in strength, a firearm weapon and a baton weapon for the police suits, and the ability for the phones to perform simple forensic functions.

[Bartmanhomer]

Hey, at least I explain what their powers are. Don't I get an A+ for effort?

[LaZodiac]

Hey, at least I explain what their powers are. Don't I get an A+ for effort?

With all due respect: you did not. You said what their powers are, but we are not you so when you said the words you said, we do not get the same mental picture as you. An explanation would be detailing what the tiers actually mean, and how they're used, and stuff like that.

I can say "I've written a very good story" and when people ask why and I say "because I wrote a good romance" that is not me explaining why the story is very good, that is just me mentioning a feature of it. While it might evoke feelings in myself and those who have read it, those who have not will not understand and need a more detailed response, like "it's a friends to enemies to lovers style dynamic".

[HalfTangible]

Hey, at least I explain what their powers are. Don't I get an A+ for effort?

No you didn't and no you dont.

"Gaining power in tiers" is so vague as to be useless as a descriptor. This is like describing Harry Potter as a story about a teenager. Or saying Lord of the Rings is about a walk through the wilderness.

[Bartmanhomer]

With all due respect: you did not. You said what their powers are, but we are not you so when you said the words you said, we do not get the same mental picture as you. An explanation would be detailing what the tiers actually mean, and how they're used, and stuff like that.

I can say "I've written a very good story" and when people ask why and I say "because I wrote a good romance" that is not me explaining why the story is very good, that is just me mentioning a feature of it. While it might evoke feelings in myself and those who have read it, those who have not will not understand and need a more detailed response, like "it's a friends to enemies to lovers style dynamic".

No you didn't and no you dont.

"Gaining power in tiers" is so vague as to be useless as a descriptor. This is like describing Harry Potter as a story about a teenager. Or saying Lord of the Rings is about a walk through the wilderness.

Awww...I thought I did.

[Tvtyrant]

No you didn't and no you dont.

"Gaining power in tiers" is so vague as to be useless as a descriptor. This is like describing Harry Potter as a story about a teenager. Or saying Lord of the Rings is about a walk through the wilderness.

That is just silly. LotR is a bromance.

[enderlord99]

"it's a friends to enemies to lovers style dynamic".

Having "enemies" be the middle one is... unusual.

Not "bad" just "unusual."

[PhyrexianShovel]

I recently decided to experiment with different kinds of toothpaste. I know this doesn't sound exciting, but bear with me. I went out to the supermarket and purchased a new tube. The tube was labelled Activated Charcoal. I thought it was called that just because they wanted to make it seem exotic or something like that. It wasn't until I got home that I checked the ingredients. There was a bunch of chemicals and Charcoal Powder. Charcoal Powder? I figured it couldn't be that bad. After all, it says it whitens teeth. I opened the tube. Inside, I saw what if I didn't know better I would call black paint. Oh well. May as well try it, right?

As I brushed, I looked in the mirror. My teeth looked very similar to those of a skeleton drawing that I had seen in some sourcebook. I don't know if it's the toothpaste or that I've eaten too many sweets recently, but I suspect it's the toothpaste. Once I finished brushing, I looked again, and my teeth were very clean. I guess I'll keep using that toothpaste for now, anyway.

How are you all doing today?

[Anonymouswizard]

@Bartmanhomer: you'll notice that when I talk about characters' powers I tend to either include some sort of benchmark or specific quality, or otherwise qualify them.

Creating a character is a lot of work. For effort I'd be unlikely to grade you at a U (Unmarkable, the lowest UK grade when I was at school). We had another, possibly more appropriate grade, X, which meant you never sat the exam in the first place.

I'm going to say this now: it can take me weeks to go from coming up with a character to actually writing anything down. While other times I can get basic characters in mere minutes it still tends to be weeks before the kinks are fully worked out.

Now, I understand that you weren't going for fully fleshed out civilian identities, but my point is that a character isn't as simple as a vaguely defined power. We need context, what kind of world does Tier Girl live in? Do higher settings have drawbacks? Does she have a social life? Is her identity public knowledge? What does 'God tier' mean? Ate there any other superheroes in this world.


Like, thinking over the past couple of hours has convinced me to go back to 999: Emergency and streamline everything to focus more on story and characters. Losing some of the sillier elements (phone transformation devices, magical forensic wands) but intentionally adding in more camp (the transformation call going back to '999, emergency' after being removed years ago) and steering the entire project in a more serious direction. On the other hand I suck at superheroes, I can't write stories for them because I'm afraid to be too silly, the villains have jumped between enhanced criminals, terrorists, and interdimensional invaders every couple of weeks every time I've tried to get this down on paper. Maybe I should focus on my more serious science fiction, or Thai fantasy story I've started about six times.

[Bartmanhomer]

@Bartmanhomer: you'll notice that when I talk about characters' powers I tend to either include some sort of benchmark or specific quality, or otherwise qualify them.

Creating a character is a lot of work. For effort I'd be unlikely to grade you at a U (Unmarkable, the lowest UK grade when I was at school). We had another, possibly more appropriate grade, X, which meant you never sat the exam in the first place.

I'm going to say this now: it can take me weeks to go from coming up with a character to actually writing anything down. While other times I can get basic characters in mere minutes it still tends to be weeks before the kinks are fully worked out.

Now, I understand that you weren't going for fully fleshed out civilian identities, but my point is that a character isn't as simple as a vaguely defined power. We need context, what kind of world does Tier Girl live in? Do higher settings have drawbacks? Does she have a social life? Is her identity public knowledge? What does 'God tier' mean? Ate there any other superheroes in this world.


Like, thinking over the past couple of hours has convinced me to go back to 999: Emergency and streamline everything to focus more on story and characters. Losing some of the sillier elements (phone transformation devices, magical forensic wands) but intentionally adding in more camp (the transformation call going back to '999, emergency' after being removed years ago) and steering the entire project in a more serious direction. On the other hand I suck at superheroes, I can't write stories for them because I'm afraid to be too silly, the villains have jumped between enhanced criminals, terrorists, and interdimensional invaders every couple of weeks every time I've tried to get this down on paper. Maybe I should focus on my more serious science fiction, or Thai fantasy story I've started about six times.

Well back to the old drawing board.

[PhyrexianShovel]

Well back to the old drawing board.

You don't have to go back to the drawing board if you like your first idea, just flesh it out! If you're having trouble coming up with inspiration, plenty of us have already given you places to start and ways to develop your characters.

That being said, if you find that you don't like this idea, then by all means go back to the drawing board. It just seemed to me from your post that that was in reaction to what Anonymouswizard was saying (as well as others on the forums) and not something that you want to do or would do on your own.

[Bartmanhomer]

You don't have to go back to the drawing board if you like your first idea, just flesh it out! If you're having trouble coming up with inspiration, plenty of us have already given you places to start and ways to develop your characters.

That being said, if you find that you don't like this idea, then by all means go back to the drawing board. It just seemed to me from your post that that was in reaction to what Anonymouswizard was saying (as well as others on the forums) and not something that you want to do or would do on your own.

Ok. Thank you. I'm going to work more on the heroes and villains.

[Peelee]

I recently decided to experiment with different kinds of toothpaste. I know this doesn't sound exciting, but bear with me. I went out to the supermarket and purchased a new tube. The tube was labelled Activated Charcoal. I thought it was called that just because they wanted to make it seem exotic or something like that. It wasn't until I got home that I checked the ingredients. There was a bunch of chemicals and Charcoal Powder. Charcoal Powder? I figured it couldn't be that bad. After all, it says it whitens teeth. I opened the tube. Inside, I saw what if I didn't know better I would call black paint. Oh well. May as well try it, right?

As I brushed, I looked in the mirror. My teeth looked very similar to those of a skeleton drawing that I had seen in some sourcebook. I don't know if it's the toothpaste or that I've eaten too many sweets recently, but I suspect it's the toothpaste. Once I finished brushing, I looked again, and my teeth were very clean. I guess I'll keep using that toothpaste for now, anyway.

How are you all doing today?

Crest still has not re-continued their Citrus Splash flavor, and my stockpile is running low. As I dislike mint.... I am in the same state of constant seething rage I have been in ever since they discontinued it.

Other than that, pretty good!

[enderlord99]

I was going to link LMGTFY, but apparently, location-specific non-mint toothpaste data is only available for the UK.

Have you considered moving to England purely for toothpaste{,} or maybe ordering off Amazon?

[Peelee]

I was going to link LMGTFY, but apparently, location-specific non-mint toothpaste data is only available for the UK.

Have you considered moving to England purely for toothpaste{,} or maybe ordering off Amazon?

I've considered moving to England for a variety of other reasons, but I can now count toothpaste among them, apparently. Unless you mean a non-Crest Citrus Splash. I've tried other brands. Hello is the best so far, but even those pale in comparison.

[enderlord99]

I've considered moving to England for a variety of other reasons, but I can now count toothpaste among them, apparently. Unless you mean a non-Crest Citrus Splash. I've tried other brands. Hello is the best so far, but even those pale in comparison.

I did not specify brand in the Googling attempts.

[Algeh]

Crest still has not re-continued their Citrus Splash flavor, and my stockpile is running low. As I dislike mint.... I am in the same state of constant seething rage I have been in ever since they discontinued it.

Other than that, pretty good!

I've considered moving to England for a variety of other reasons, but I can now count toothpaste among them, apparently. Unless you mean a non-Crest Citrus Splash. I've tried other brands. Hello is the best so far, but even those pale in comparison.

I'm a big fan of Tom's of Maine's Cinnamon Clove toothpaste, and by "big fan" I mostly mean "I'm still cranky they stopped having a ginger flavored one, but at least it's not mint." My toothpaste-shopping algorithm is pretty much (a) not mint and (b) least sweet-tasting thing that fulfills (a). (I used to buy children's bubblegum-flavored toothpaste before I found Tom's of Maine.) I get the Tom's of Maine children's Silly Strawberry toothpaste when I can't find the Cinnamon Clove one. (Assuming you want fluoride, you do have to double-check that you're buying the kind that has fluoride in it since they sell both kinds. Since I'm not brushing my teeth recreationally, I buy the fluoride kind.)

I am sad that I never had the chance to try citrus toothpaste. It sounds like the kind of thing I would have liked.

I am also sad that I've been going to the same dentist for over 35 years and they're still surprised every 6 months that I don't like mint and say they'll remember that for next time, but that's a bit less on-topic.

[PhyrexianShovel]

I'm a big fan of Tom's of Maine's Cinnamon Clove toothpaste, and by "big fan" I mostly mean "I'm still cranky they stopped having a ginger flavored one, but at least it's not mint." My toothpaste-shopping algorithm is pretty much (a) not mint and (b) least sweet-tasting thing that fulfills (a). (I used to buy children's bubblegum-flavored toothpaste before I found Tom's of Maine.) I get the Tom's of Maine children's Silly Strawberry toothpaste when I can't find the Cinnamon Clove one. (Assuming you want fluoride, you do have to double-check that you're buying the kind that has fluoride in it since they sell both kinds. Since I'm not brushing my teeth recreationally, I buy the fluoride kind.)

The Activated Charcoal toothpaste was Tom's, actually. I don't recommend it, though, because it seems to be staining my toothbrush.

I am sad that I never had the chance to try citrus toothpaste. It sounds like the kind of thing I would have liked.

I got to try it. It was pretty good.

I am also sad that I've been going to the same dentist for over 35 years and they're still surprised every 6 months that I don't like mint and say they'll remember that for next time, but that's a bit less on-topic.

This is Random Banter, there is no topic .

[factotum]

Do higher settings have drawbacks?

Realistically I'd have to say that higher settings *must* have some sort of drawback, or else you'd simply always stay in that setting and never drop down to a lower one. It could be like the One Ring in LOTR, where the more you use it the more corrupt and power-hungry you become, or it could be a simple matter of how much "charge" the item has--you can run at top tier for 5 minutes, but middle tier for 24 hours before having to do some sort of recharging operation, for instance.

[Tvtyrant]

Realistically I'd have to say that higher settings *must* have some sort of drawback, or else you'd simply always stay in that setting and never drop down to a lower one. It could be like the One Ring in LOTR, where the more you use it the more corrupt and power-hungry you become, or it could be a simple matter of how much "charge" the item has--you can run at top tier for 5 minutes, but middle tier for 24 hours before having to do some sort of recharging operation, for instance.

One thing you could do is, since they all have the same power, they can only have one individual on each tier at a time. If you grab a higher tier you take it from that person, risking their life. The tiers are strong, medium, weak and powerless. So if you are powerless and you are attacked you can save yourself, but you risk Mom falling to her death.

[Anonymouswizard]

Realistically I'd have to say that higher settings *must* have some sort of drawback, or else you'd simply always stay in that setting and never drop down to a lower one. It could be like the One Ring in LOTR, where the more you use it the more corrupt and power-hungry you become, or it could be a simple matter of how much "charge" the item has--you can run at top tier for 5 minutes, but middle tier for 24 hours before having to do some sort of recharging operation, for instance.

That was one of the things I was trying to get at, a reason not to always be, God Tier. As I said earlier, it could simply be that more power=more collateral damage.


So I've been listening to the rerun of The Quanderhorn Xperimentations rerun on Radio 4, and it struck me that it's clearly written to be exactly one series long, although I wouldn't be shocked if there's a continuation or spiritual successor down the line. But it's compact, moves quickly, and there's no wasted space, it's very funny and appeals to my interest in classic SF.

Guess that means I should read the book.

[SZbNAhL]

I recently decided to experiment with different kinds of toothpaste. I know this doesn't sound exciting, but bear with me. I went out to the supermarket and purchased a new tube. The tube was labelled Activated Charcoal. I thought it was called that just because they wanted to make it seem exotic or something like that. It wasn't until I got home that I checked the ingredients. There was a bunch of chemicals and Charcoal Powder. Charcoal Powder? I figured it couldn't be that bad. After all, it says it whitens teeth. I opened the tube. Inside, I saw what if I didn't know better I would call black paint. Oh well. May as well try it, right?

As I brushed, I looked in the mirror. My teeth looked very similar to those of a skeleton drawing that I had seen in some sourcebook. I don't know if it's the toothpaste or that I've eaten too many sweets recently, but I suspect it's the toothpaste. Once I finished brushing, I looked again, and my teeth were very clean. I guess I'll keep using that toothpaste for now, anyway.

How are you all doing today?

Interesting. I've only ever come across activated charcoal is the context of toxicology, where it's sometimes used to absorb poisons after ingestion (the "activation" is a process of heating that creates small pores in order to maximise surface area). I'm not quite sure how that would whiten teeth, though; if anything it would stain them further.

As to the great toothpaste debate, I used to use Colgate Oxygen - the "pure oxygen bubbles" was a pure gimmick, but it tasted surprisingly good. Ever since they discontinued it I've been using a local company that does completely unflavoured toothpaste.

[Peelee]

As to the great toothpaste debate, I used to use Colgate Oxygen - the "pure oxygen bubbles" was a pure gimmick, but it tasted surprisingly good. Ever since they discontinued it I've been using a local company that does completely unflavoured toothpaste.

Tell them to start selling in Alabama. I am intrigued.

[LaZodiac]

Having "enemies" be the middle one is... unusual.

Not "bad" just "unusual."

It's not actually that uncommon, and it's emblematic of the two having a period in time when they were friends, but something happened to drive them apart and make them dislike each other. Which makes it even juicier when they realize they actually love each other! It's natural drama, especially if you're able to present it properly.

[FinnLassie]

My city's mental health care unit offers a free gym and swimming group for its adult clients. Went to my first swimming session today, it's mostly water running. Which I don't mind at all, it's a damn good core work out, and being in the water is gentle enough for my knee that I injured... sheesh, 13 years ago. I feel proud of myself.

[LaZodiac]

My city's mental health care unit offers a free gym and swimming group for its adult clients. Went to my first swimming session today, it's mostly water running. Which I don't mind at all, it's a damn good core work out, and being in the water is gentle enough for my knee that I injured... sheesh, 13 years ago. I feel proud of myself.

You should feel proud, that's awesome!

[SZbNAhL]

Tell them to start selling in Alabama. I am intrigued.

Looking around the website a bit, it seems they sell in the US through Lighthouse Health Products. I don't know if that's in all states, but you can get it online.

Obligatory disclaimer: I recommend this product purely on the basis that it tastes decent and has yet to do any perceptible damage to my mouth. I am not a dental professional. I cannot speak for the efficacy of any toothpaste.