i love kallen

A story/setting that involves any number of supernatural/superhuman abilities for any number of characters, with a character notable for being an extremely skilled fighter who DOESN’T have any of these special powers, who all of a sudden gains one of those special powers.

But with a twist that the power they get ISN’T one that actually benefits, synchronizes or even compliments their fighting skills, at least not directly.

Or whatever skill they are already probably the best at.

Basically, the ‘Team Normal’ suddenly gets their own superpower, but NOT one that helps them do what they are already good at.

Simply put, when it comes to this idea of giving the ‘Team Normal’ their own superpower, I feel like the absolute worst, or rather most BORING thing you can do is give them a power that just makes them ‘better’ at what they were ALREADY good at.

At best it can feel entirely redundant and pointless. Like all you’ve done is give this character a ‘Win More’ power that doesn’t change them in any meaningful way.

And at worst it can feel like an outright INSULT to their character. Imagine if a major defining aspect of a character has been that they haven’t NEEDED any special powers and have become one of, if not THE best fighter of a setting through pure skill and training alone… were suddenly slapped with a power that lets them do all that better. Feels like a rather dick move, huh?

Instead, why not give them a power that lets them suddenly be good at something they weren’t actually good at before? Something that suddenly expands what they are capable of in a totally new direction?

For example, what if the resident gruff and stoic martial-artist doesn’t get something like enhanced reflexes or super-speed, but instead TELEPATHY? Specifically, a telepathy that they can’t use in combat because hearing everyone’s thoughts is way too distracting for them in a fight. Instead, suddenly they have a power that could practically force them to be more social with their friends.

To use the example that got me thinking about all this; let’s talk about Code Geass.

Specifically, about series Best-Girl Kallen Kozuki, and the prospect of giving her a Geass of her own.

You see, out of what could be considered the core four or so characters in the series, Kallen is by far the most ‘normal’. The one character who goes the entire series without any kind of Geass or Geass-related power or any other weird ability or enhancement. She really is just a normal teenage girl.

Who just so happens to ALSO basically be THE GODDAMN BEST Knightmare Frame Pilot EVER. To the point that the only other real contender for such a title, her series-long rival Suzaku, ultimately needed metaphysical performance-enhancers via mind-control (long story) just to fight her to a DRAW.

(Seriously, one of the COOLEST damn moments in Code Geass is when Suzaku is utterly flabbergasted to realize that Kallen is somehow matching the capabilities of his ‘Live’ Geass curse through sheer skill and determination.)

So to that end, if we were to seriously consider giving Kallen a Geass of her own (perhaps through a bit of yuri with C.C.? XD), it does feel rather pointless/irrelevant/stupid to give her one like precognition or super-reflexes that just makes her a better pilot, now doesn’t it?

Instead, I imagine it’s far more interesting to give Kallen a Geass that helps her more while out of the cockpit while at most having perhaps very rare/fringe benefits to her while piloting.

Heck, we even have a few precedents for this already in the franchises spinoffs. For example; Orpheus Zevon, one of the two protagonists of the “OZ the Reflection” manga/novel, is a top-tier pilot who happens to have a Geass power that allows him to assume the appearance of others via illusory shapeshifting. Something that gives absolutely NO benefit to his piloting (the story doesn’t even do any expected nuttiness by saying his Geass can extend to his Knightmare), but is instead used in his work out of the cockpit as a spy, terrorist/revolutionary and assassin.

So I feel like it’s interesting to imagine applying a similar premise to Kallen. Something that feels representative of her character, but is also largely if not entirely unrelated to her piloting.

Like right now an idea I’m leaning towards the most for a hypothetical Geass for Kallen would be some kind of ‘Absolute Truth Perception’. Basically the ability to detect and even see through lies, illusions and other falsehoods, potentially with the ability to counter some other Geass’s. I feel like it sticks true to Kallen’s character, gives her a fun ‘wild-card’ ability among all mind-games and deceptions of the CG cast while being largely separate from her piloting (it pretty much can only become relevant when going up against another Geass user).

And there’s also another angle to this in the inverse that I also find rather interesting: characters that specifically aren’t all that skilled in combat, but have some kind of power that indirectly makes them very effective.

To once again use Code Geass as an example, someone who isn’t particularly all that skilled as a pilot, but has a Geass that indirectly becomes quite powerful in Knightmare combat. Like the obvious case here is Rolo, whose actual skills as a pilot don’t seem to be all that special, yet in close-quarters his Geass’s ability to freeze others’ perception of time becomes pretty much an instant-win move.

Or for another example that I’ve admittedly come up with myself since getting back into CG, a character who normally works as a researcher and Knightmare Frame developer and has a Geass that focuses there perception to a singular point. Something that she normally uses to help with her R&D work but also gives a surprising boost to her otherwise middling-to-average piloting skills when she has to fight in a Knightmare.*

Basically I think superpowers getting the ‘not for their intended use’ treatment is fun.

So to sum up; I think it’s cool to give ‘normal’ combatants specifically non-combat powers, and I think it’s fun when normally noncombatants use their non-combat power for combat.

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