Plain yet oh so powerful

[Doll.S CUBE]

I was reading Touhou WMG at TV tropes and I started thinking about powers at first glance looks plain yet if you start thinking about it and apply a good imagination, it can be quite powerful. So I started thinking what types of powers can fit this description and see if anybody can also think of some.

No OC's just plain abilities and how they can be really powerful.   

[Nobu]

Just a reminder not to turn this in a powerlevel topic. i.e: 'X can totally beat Y because this power can do THIS!' Discussion of the creative and theoretical implications of powers is fine though as long as you aren't arguing about who is stronger than who.


That said, I could imagine Manipulation of Density really useful to aspiring physicists. It's like having an LHC in the palm of your hand. :3

[RainfallYoshi]

Manipulation of jealousy could theoretically be used to start World War III if Parsee felt like it. Imagine what kind of things would happen if every country was Parsee-level jealous of each other.  :V

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

I liked the WMG that Cirno's "manipulation of cold" could be interpreted as control over thermodynamics, making her reality-warping.

Of course, then there's Kogasa ...

[ふねん1]

Nuclear fusion. Creating a legitimate star (as in, as big as those found in nature) would incinerate the planet in a heartbeat. Even smaller ones would tear through everything it touched without resistance.

[VIVItheFujoshi]

i remember a thead in the imageboard who compared the characters from the Nasuniverse (Fate,Tsukihime) with Touhou charas, and the things who will happen in a duel of them. Someone compared the power of Rinnosuke with the power of Shiki-Nanaya Tonho.Well, the only thing in common are who the two are males, the two use glasses and their power is in their eyes, but...
that make me think in, if he would be more trained in his hability, probably will be capable of analise not only objects...maybe animal things (like bones; he actually can?t say from what animal is a bone) even persons...and here is the fun: then can know the name of that person...and THE PURPOSE OF THAT PERSON (OR YOUKAI, OR GOD, WHATEVER). know their motivations of live, talent, THEIR WEAK POINTS. Now add his actual knowledge, his hability with the creation of power focus artifacts (the mini hakkero...his own glasses? after all, the lens are used for correct anormal eye focus... with his glasses, improve his own ability? or maybe suppresed?) And he CAN analise names, at least the very full of meaning youkai names...http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Curiosities_of_Lotus_Asia:_Chapter_25  with only his knowledge and experience.
Happily he is more interested in other things and not danmaku or power.
(he is my dreamed MUST BE in Touhou 12, only because for see the face of the rest when he say "this no is a UFO, not a wood piece, not a snake scale or anything who you will think. This take the shape of the things who your imagination say.Is covered with a power who confuse us. How i can?t see now his true shape,but know who no is this the real thing, meanwhile i will called the Seed of Unknown" and the face of Nue when say who he know who is her and the seed all the time. XD)

[Sapphire Flame]

I imagine that having Touhou characters working in tandem would produce even more catastrophic results.

For instance, take Cirno and Utusho. Utusho is essentially a living sun, implied to be capable of incinerating the earth if she felt like that and producing near unlimited energy. Cirno, as we all know, is the strongest being in all of gensokyo.

So put them together, and what do you get?

Cold fusion.

[Nobu]

Manipulation of Illness + Suika's infinite sake gourd = Party never ends! :toot:

[orinrin]

Manipulation of fate.  Uhh... yeah.  The ability to control every aspect of our lives seems pretty neat.

[shadowbringer]

Luck charm (Tewi) = equivalent of Back To The Future (part 2)'s Sports Almanac
ability to perfom miracles (Sanae) = ability to create deluges, summon plagues.. (actually, the definition of miracle isn't clear enough, to prohibit new miracles, or to define which may not be a miracle. Summoning a Brahmastra or winning against 100,000 celestial warriors, for example.)
ability to make flowers grow (Yuka) = she could (if adverse environments aren't a limiter) reflower or reforest ( slowly, or rather quickly ) areas, making it easier for Minoriko to manipulate plenty and reduce the world's hunger
manipulation of wind (Kanako) = eolic energy, ability to prevent (or help prevent) tornadoes
manipulation of rain (Kanako) = potential source of potable water (after proper treatment)
manipulation of boundaries (Yukari) = could make anime/manga/comics characters real (for better, or worse), or make Lovecraftian deities real as well (for worse, by our irrelevant standards at cosmic scale :V ). I wonder if Deadpool would say that there's a fourth wall that we can't see :p
manipulation of darkness (Rumia) = could be stretched to exhaust the Sun's life

[Alfred F. Jones]

Thinking about it realistically, the power to see things in black and white would be terrifying, and could cause a heck of a lot of chaos and destruction. :ohdear:

[N-Forza]

I liked the WMG that Cirno's "manipulation of cold" could be interpreted as control over thermodynamics, making her reality-warping.

Of course, then there's Kogasa ...

Maybe it's more like "manipulation of removal of heat"

[Esifex]

If Utsuho were to focus her ability properly, do you think she could release electromagnetic furies?

I mean, the sun pumps out loads of radiation of all different varieties, electromagnetic being one of them. If she practiced, refined, and focused her power, she should be able to pick and choose what kind of radiation she emits.



And then you can kiss Hatate's cellphone 'goodbye'. :smug:

[shadowbringer]

If Utsuho were to focus her ability properly, do you think she could release electromagnetic furies?

I mean, the sun pumps out loads of radiation of all different varieties, electromagnetic being one of them. If she practiced, refined, and focused her power, she should be able to pick and choose what kind of radiation she emits.



And then you can kiss Hatate's cellphone 'goodbye'. :smug:

this makes me remember Escape from L. A.'s ending

[Sabino]

manipulation of wind (Kanako) = eolic energy, ability to prevent (or help prevent) tornadoes
manipulation of rain (Kanako) = potential source of potable water (after proper treatment)

Thing about Kanako's ability is that it's not "manipulation of" but rather the "creation of" sky.
In that sort of aspect, Kanako and Suwako's abilities of creating something by mere will just punches law of conservation of mass/energy in the face as well as everything else that's connected to it.
(...All of physics... pretty much)
One ability that I find is also very interesting is Shikieiki's "Ability to decide right or wrong".
Does this mean that she can instantly decide between anything? If so, can she "decide the boundaries between the boundaries that others -mainly Yukari- messes with?"
If so, I can understand why Yukari chooses not to oppose -let alone be anywhere near- Shikieiki.
In a similar sense, I'm also very interested at Nue's "ability to hide the true form"...

[orinrin]

One ability that I find is also very interesting is Shikieiki's "Ability to decide right or wrong".
Does this mean that she can instantly decide between anything? If so, can she "decide the boundaries between the boundaries that others -mainly Yukari- messes with?"
If so, I can understand why Yukari chooses not to oppose -let alone be anywhere near- Shikieiki.
In a similar sense, I'm also very interested at Nue's "ability to hide the true form"...

I remember reading in one of the official works that Shikieiki is one of a few people that Yukari won't stand up against.  It kind of makes sense when you think about it now.

[Demonbman]

Using the Prismrivers music could do a number of great things, such as using Merlin could use her music to make the enemy so excited they spazz out and hurt themselves
Lyrica's Illusion notes could be used in the same way
Lunasa's Depressing notes could be used to make the opponent defeat his/her self

EDIT: Fixed I read the OP wrong

[Doll.S CUBE]

Suwako's ability to create earth can be seen as the ability to create solid matter and since she can shape it as she like's, she can, with a lot of studying, create any and all physical objects as well as the solid state of all matter. (think I'm stretching it to much with the last one)

[Demonbman]

If Kanako and Suwacko wanted to, they could Create a whole-nother World! the only problem would be getting water there. Suwacko could also use her Earth creation to make Meteors that could crash into things

[CK Crash]

The gods are all powered by faith, so they're limited in that aspect :V

-Nazrin could probably find non-physical things like happiness, power, and the meaning of life.
-Hina collects curses, so she would be quite powerful if allowed to store them up long enough. One curse is dangerous enough, but hundreds?
-Remilia's manipulation of fate. If she willed it strongly enough, she could just say "you will lose", and that automatically becomes the outcome.
-Kaguya's manipulation of eternity and temporality means doing things instantly, or making things end instantly.
-Supposedly nothing is history until Keine declares it so. This is basically the opposite of Sakuya, allowing her to manipulate everything BUT the present.

[Phlegeth]

Shizuha could probably wipe out an entire forest by doing nothing.  Leaves fall off so trees can "hibernate" if the leaves don't die and fall off, they'd be taking nutrient from the trees in the dead of winter when they need it most.

[Hello Purvis]

If Shizuha's connection to autumn to include metaphorical autumn, she becomes rather frightful. What does it mean to inflict autumn upon someone's mind or body, for instance? What is the autumn of an era?

Also: Za Warudo + Manipulation of the Eternal and the Instant

[game2011]

And that is why I prefer more canonical and realistic portrayals  of Touhou characters (if such portrayals even exist) in order to keep this whole power level business under control...

[Hello Purvis]

Well, the major presumption that they have enough power to actually pull anything off. It's kinda a Tellah situation; you know Meteo but lack the MP for it.

About the only ones with enough dakka to do that kind of thing might be the Devas, Yuka and Yukari; and that's if you accept the Yukari is the almighty god of everything interpretation as opposed to just wily and skillful.

[OkashiiKisei]

All the matter that the Earth is made of originates from the sun. Even now our sun is creating new molecules and forms of matter within its blazing bowels. So, in theory, Utsuho could create any type of matter or convert one type of matter into another one. Utsuho is a walking Philosopher's Stone!

Rumia could cover the entire world in a veil of eternal darkness, eradicating all life. Alternatively, she can pull the darkness away to make something shine brightly. In hot areas she could cause a heat wave by merely removing all the shadows from the vicinity, leaving no salvation from the sun's heat (making her and Utsuho also a powerful match up).

Cirno can remove the cold of something or someone to make it/them spontaneously combust.

Patchouli, like Utsuho, could use her wood, earth and metal manipulation to create almost any kind of matter. No wonder Remi keeps her around: Patchy's the one who makes all the furniture and money!

Meiling could stop or remove your chi (life force) to immediately kill you.

Wriggle. Swarm of locusts. 'Nuff said.

Yamame. Black plague/AIDS. 'Nuff said. (Alternatively she could be the world's one and only cure-all by removing any kind of illness.)

Since alcohol is a type of poison Medicine could make you really, really smashed very easily.

Yuugi could summon extra terrestrial beings, undead, mythological creatures or even miracles with her power over the supernatural.

Suika could become bigger than the Earth...

[Hello Purvis]

All the matter that the Earth is made of originates from the sun. Even now our sun is creating new molecules and forms of matter within its blazing bowels. So, in theory, Utsuho could create any type of matter or convert one type of matter into another one. Utsuho is a walking Philosopher's Stone!

Depends, actually. With Fusion as we understand it, it wouldn't be anything heavier than iron, so a lot of the periodic table is beyond her. And if she's making a star from scratch, she'd be limited to only a few elements. Heavier elements came from stars that were form from the elements of previous stars.

Cirno can remove the cold of something or someone to make it/them spontaneously combust.

COLD DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY GOOD DAY!

Just joshing you, but cold's an absence of heat. You can't remove cold any more than you can remove dryness.

Since alcohol is a type of poison Medicine could make you really, really smashed very easily.

Know what else is a poison? Chili Sauce. Chili Peppers are a kind of nightshade. So are potatoes. (you'd have to eat a whole raw potatoes, or like 8 cooked ones to poison yourself) So she could make you some bitchin' hot fries, too.

[Sabino]

A bit off topic but...

Lyrica's Illusion notes could be used in the same way

If I'm not mistaken, Lyrica music and sounds are those that do not naturally exist in the world/sound that have become "extinct" -Thus they are illusions.
Also, on the contrary, Lyrica's music is the only "safe" one out of the three sisters.
(i.e. you won't be going "AHAHAHAH I CAN FLY!" or "...So depressing...I wanna die...")

Yuugi could summon extra terrestrial beings, undead, mythological creatures or even miracles with her power over the supernatural.

Yuugi's ability " to manipulate 怪力乱神", is as far as the word is concerned, phenomena that not even the word can can describe...
So, by saying aliens and mythological creatures and all, those are stuff that her ability doesn't do.

...To think of the chaos that over goes that... actually Yuugi's ability might probably be one of the scariest.
Also, going back to the "Knowing Meteor but not having enough MP" expression, scary thing is that Yuugi will probably have plentiful MP to use such a thing.
...Thankfully, knowing her she'd probably stick with either controlled danmaku or fist fights.

[Nobu]

[theshirn]

ohgod Satori saying Heart

ohgod

[Helepolis]

Nobu, what have you done.