Talk:List of abilities

Controllable/Uncontrollable

I think we need to designate between controllable and uncontrollable powers. For instance, Claire can't control her regeneration, and Matt's uncontrollable mind-reading has actually been the topic of one episode. Niki is possibly the best example of an uncontrollable power - and the cause of much of her consternation.

On the other hand, Nathan can very much control his flying, as can D.L. his phasing, and the Haitian's memory manipulation.

And then we have an unusual category that includes Peter Petrelli (who can't control his absorption, but can control some of the powers he absorbs), Isaac (who may only be able to control his power while under the influence), and Hiro (who is still learning to have control over his time warping).

I know this is not an exhaustive list ... Does anybody have any ideas on the best way to include this information? Ryangibsonstewart 19:06, 21 November 2006 (EST)

Maybe we should have two lists, one which is controlled powers and the other uncontrolled.Heroe 19:54, 1 December 2006 (EST)

Subpowers of Telepathy

• Should we put Matt's, The Haitian's and Eden's powers all under "telepathy"? They are sometimes considered subpowers of telepathy, so should we classify them as such, or leave them as distinct powers?Heroe 19:54, 1 December 2006 (EST)
  • Go head and reorganize it, but keep in mind that many pages out there reference the headers using Powers#PowerName, so keep the headers of the subsections the same... --Orne 19:58, 1 December 2006 (EST)
    • I don't think there's any need to reorganize the list. I think their powers (some of which are still pretty vaguely defined), are distinct enough that we don't need to group them quite yet. It's a good note, though. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 23:39, 1 December 2006 (EST)

Formatting

Something about the formatting of this article drives me crazy. The sections are so short that, with the horizontal lines, it looks like ruled paper. The TOC is too long, but without it there's no whitespace. I'm really not sure what we can do to fix it up, though. We need the section headings for links; otherwise, I'd suggest we just bung the whole thing into a table and call it a day. Maybe a layout more like Season One, with the image next to each power, would make it a little less jarring. Anybody have any ideas?--Hardvice (talk) 05:14, 2 December 2006 (EST)

• Yes, that's exactly what we should do. If we add the pictures next to the powers, it will look great: less "text booky", more user-friendly, and just all-around prettier. A table, my first thought also, is not a good idea for the exact reason you stated. The only other suggestion I have is to change the == heading leveling to === - that would get rid of the lines. You know, computer paper instead of ruled paper ... I say go for the pics side-by-side with the power. Not every power will have a pic, perhaps, but it'll help tons. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 07:04, 2 December 2006 (EST)
• I agree that it looks weird... and maybe putting the images in there would help break things up a bit. But I tend to see this as a symptom of a bigger... I dunno if I would call it a "problem", but the thing is that we, as viewers, don't know enough about how the powers work to describe them in more detail than "can fly" or "can control technology with the power of mind." I mean, I'm working on a theory on how time travel, prophecy and the possibility of predestination work on this show, but at this point, ninety percent is speculative and belongs on the Fan Theories page. (Which is fine; that's how good science fiction operates. The audience is playing along with the characters, trying to figure out how the world works.) At the end of the season we'll presumably know more about how these things work and we might be able to put together enough material on how (say) Sylar's initial power works to give it its own page, but right now one-sentence descriptions seem to be what we're stuck with. --drl909 07:31, 2 December 2006 (EST)
  • We will eventually move towards a page per power (Prophecy was just created), but right now, they are just blurbs. I do think, however, that we can add a little more info to each power. Additionally, I feel we should put some note as to whether or not the power is able to be controlled by the hero. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 08:14, 2 December 2006 (EST)
• I think it would look good with === like RyanGibsonStewart suggested. At least for now Powers is a sort of glossary of powers with straightforward descriptions of the powers. We refer to powers such as "spontaneous regeneration", but someone not familiar with the term needs a definition of that. Whether we'll ever need a single page per power I'm not sure, but until then I like to think of this page as a glossary. But a glossary with pictures is a very nice glossary indeed. :) (Admin 08:55, 2 December 2006 (EST))

New Format

Okay, I made the changes, and I think it looks a ton better, and much more user-friendly. However, now it's glaring clear that we need some more pictures:

• Dream manipulation (can we get a screencap of Sanjog holding the ball, or beckoning to Mohinder?)
• Eidetic memory (I have no idea - maybe a picture of Charlie reading a book or speaking Japanese - maybe a screencap with captions?)
• Enhanced reflexes (I personally don't think this is really confirmed as a legit power, and I can't think of any examples from the show. Any suggestions?)
  • The enhanced reflexes part always bugged me too since there's never been a clear instance of it. It's even more speculative than Sylar's identifying-flaws-in-complex-systems power that we don't have up. It's gone. --Fcphantom 12:18, 2 December 2006 (EST)
• Enhanced strength (anything with Jessica bullying - maybe the shot of her heel on the hotel thug's temple, or anything from the fight with D.L.?)
• Mental Power Suppression (Another tough one - um, a picture of the Haitian just standing there?)
• Suggestion (Geez, I don't know, maybe the shot of Eden whispering to Isaac? Can we imbed an audio clip (or YouTube clip like Lostpedia does) with that cool vocal thing she does)
• And finally, all of Hiro's powers. Do we have a shot of all of them? I'm not sure I like them in subcategories, but so be it. Let's at least start with the other pictures.

- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 10:01, 2 December 2006 (EST) One more note: I don't like the picture of Matt's telepathy. Maybe it's good because it's just something different, but maybe that's why I don't like it. I don't know - I would love something from the convenience store when he was feeling overwhelmed, or maybe a shot of him kind of touching/cupping his ear. Okay, and one final note: I love that Power mimicry and Precognition are so close alphabetically because Peter Painting and Isaac Painting right above each other look great - and makes power mimicry all that more clear. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 10:04, 2 December 2006 (EST)

I'd suggest making sure all powers line up vertically regardless of whether we have an image for them already or not. Using a table maybe? If this is already a problem solved elsewhere on the wiki, then great we can just incorporate it. (Admin 11:04, 2 December 2006 (EST))

• The enhanced reflexes part always bugged me too since there's never been a clear instance of it. It's even more speculative than Sylar's identifying-flaws-in-complex-systems power that we don't have up. --Fcphantom 12:17, 2 December 2006 (EST)

Hiding Contents Bar

• Is there a way to hide the contents bar by default? All that white space at the top of the page is really bugging me. --Fcphantom 12:35, 2 December 2006 (EST)
  • There is: __NOTOC__ will do it ... but I think if we're keeping this as a glossary-style page, we need a TOC. But I agree with the annoying space - maybe we could have the powers start right away, or fill in the white space with text or images? I don't have any concrete ideas. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 13:08, 2 December 2006 (EST)
    • I think there's all that white space because of the break-clear-all tags, which is counteracting the table-of-contents-right wiki command. They are not normally required. --Orne 13:30, 2 December 2006 (EST)
      • Right. But if the <br clear="all"> tags aren't there, it gets really jumbled, and the pictures begin to "step" like this:

Enhanced strength

• The ability to exert greater than normal physical force. (Niki/Jessica Sanders)

Flight

• The ability to defy gravity. (Nathan Petrelli)

Induced radioactivity

• The ability to induce radioactive properties into objects. (Theodore Sprague, The Engineer)

File:Powers mysterious man.jpg

Memory Modification

• The ability to remove and possibly modify memories. (The Haitian)

The problem doesn't lie with the tags, it's what to do with the white space, or whether or include the TOC at all. I vote for leaving the TOC, and either leaving white space, or filling it in with images/text. No easy way around it. - RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 13:51, 2 December 2006 (EST)

• • • • • All better. Used clear="left" instead of clear="all". That way, the text flows around the TOC, but the left-aligned images stack.--Hardvice (talk) 13:54, 2 December 2006 (EST)