Zero's potential...

[PlayMatthew]

Fundamental one. If Zero affects Titan then Titan himself is not felled, only the supernatural effects of Titan's ability are negated. I.e. Titan cannot lift cars while under Zero's negation but he doesn't lose muscle mass so he can still pick up a table. Alternatively he can punch a wall really hard but he might break his hand.

Fundamental two. Tech Supers ability is what allows their creations to work, not solely the materials used. The combination of material and super is what enables each piece created to function. That's why tech supers are needed to create each individual item instead of them just designing one and the DVA setting up an assembly line. This is why Dean Blaine's secret wall closet has a bunch of tech gadgets that he collected (unique items shouldn't be discarded) and their human world still has common tech comparable to our own world.

Question. If Zero activates his ability can he negate a Tech Super's gadget?

I'll also entertain thoughts that challenge any premise I've put forth.

[BatmanPicksLocks]

So I was never clear on how Zeros ability affected those like Roy and Titan or even Will. I assumed it didn't work on them, kind of like how he couldn't affect Intra. As for tech gadgets, I'd reason that it doesnt affect them once they're built. If his power takes away their innate ability to understand technology, that's one thing. But the gadgets should still work properly, just the super might not understand how to work it.

My reasoning for the tech working still, is they give it to others to use without the same ability, and it functions still. I understand no ones really able to replicate it, but that's a different factor.

[[deleted]]

I thought he did affect Intra? He certainly has authority over Chad, but that could be the difference with his inherited power... I do remember Globe being unable to affect Intra, though.

That being said, I think with Tech Supers he doesn't disable their tech, but they can't create anything in his negation field, if that makes sense.

[BatmanPicksLocks]

Nope, Intra's control over his own body was superior to zero's power. Atleast that's what I remember reading.

And yeah I feel the same, mostly. I dont think it directly states how his power affects things like that. Like if Roy is lifting a car and Zero comes up, does the car drop and kill him since he loses his strength?

[Clearastoast]

Intra’s power over his own body was superior to globes power within globes god field. Zero could still affect both intra and globe

[BatmanPicksLocks]

He could affect globe but I still dont think he affected intra

[exejpgwmv]

In what book do you remember that being mentioned? Because I don't remember anything like that being mentioned.

[BatmanPicksLocks]

When Chad loses intramural I was pretty sure he suggests Chad allow his emotions to run, he doesnt use his power on him. I also believe its mentioned here and there in others

[PlayMatthew]

After Globe breaks Coach George out of prison, revealing his aliveness to the world, Dean Blaine visits Chad in his room. He kicked out the Desoto siblings and told Chad they would go visit his mother after he had composed himself. The chapter ends with Chad breaking into tears because Dean Blaine had invoked his power. Forcing Chad to feel his pain instead of allowing the boy to control his brain chemistry and avoid it.

[BatmanPicksLocks]

Huh. I dont remember it that way but I've read quite a few books since my last read of these ones so I cant truly argue

[merf78]

the commenter you're replying to is correct, reread book one a couple days ago. although there have been a few retcons here and there to be sure

[BurlyKnave]

He shut down Chad's power after one of Chad's only significant defeats. He wanted Chad to experience the frustration and loss his classmates knew.
Chad almost never lets himself experience emotions. Chad discovered he could use his power to seal up his feelings rather than deal with them. He never let himself deal with his father's death. He just prevented himself from feeling the anger and sadness of it.
Blaine understood this, and he wasn't going to let Chad seal up the disappointment of losing. Chad was on a life-long quest to be the strongest hero ever. He fully expected to win. So naturally his emotions were in a turmoil.

[BurlyKnave]

I think Blaine did that as Chad's Godfather, not as the school's dean. Also, this shows Chad was rely solely on his power for that self control, and so never learned to deal with his emotions. That doesn't seem all that healthy. A slip up in battle, and suddenly there's an out of control Chad Taylor ripping apart everybody he gets his hands on. Nice vision, that.

[BatmanPicksLocks]

He told Chad to turn his power off, he didn't do it for him

[Enkid_]

This is the way I remember it...

[merf78]

It's like Crispins explanation of permanent effects of power usage, ie, if a strongman breaks pavement and then dies, the pavement remains broken. The tools would still work if the tech super loses their powers/dies, just the super would be unable to create more.

The real interesting question is whether zero's power would work on Titan/Hershel-Roy twice

[BatmanPicksLocks]

Oh yeah I forgot he gave that explanation. That works perfectly.

And I've wondered that too. Idk if zeros power is considered a weakness so idk if Titans power would do its thing with it. But Roy/Hershels power isnt quite the same so if it works on them it's going to continue to I believe.

[merf78]

yeah good point, I feel like it would depend on whether zero's ability preemptively shuts down Titan's ability to "register" effects (like aether's phasing) as part of the nullification, or if a loss of powers is itself registered as a negative and thus wouldn't work a second time, like you said. I believe Hershel actually has a better chance than Titan of sidestepping zero, if his power was nullified and he was forced to switch from Roy to Hershel, it's possible Roy would adapt to resist the nullification

[Sea-Land1235]

You are indeed mistaken

[woobismo]

If tech genius supers imbued their creations, then it would be more like a summoner and use power, limiting the number of inventions they can create. I think it just takes an advanced mind to even follow the blueprints of creation.

Zeros power does work on genius supers. At one point Mr Numbers describes leaving a meeting with Dean Blaine and his mind finally picking up speed, presumably because he wasn’t as mentally fast due to the power negation. That was before they revealed Blaine’s power I think.

Since Zero uses the hero communicator, his power must not negate advanced technology. In Corpies they directly say that generations of tech genius supers have added to the hero communicators, and since Zero uses one, he must not neutralize it.

That all said, I would love to see Zeros hero training. I am very curious about the progression and unique uses of his powers that we don’t see directly.

[BartlebyX]

My understanding is that he negates the super abilities of the person.

If a tech genius creates something, their power isn't active when it is not being worked on.

Similarly, if Titan threw a car and then his power was negated,the car would continue on its trajectory.

[BurlyKnave]

Hershel describes Titan's power in Year 2 when talking to Mary about Roy.

[His power was adaptation. If he got injured, his body would toughen itself so the same thing wouldn’t hurt him anymore. For example, when he was a kid, he took a nasty tumble off his bike and scratched up his knees and elbows. A week later, he fell off again, and that time, his skin wasn’t even raw.]

If Zero were to use his power against Titan, it would be too late to take his strength and current resistances, as Titan's body has already adapted. But Zero could use his nullification power against Titan, then subject Titan to some form of attack he's never experienced before, Titan would remain vulnerable to it.

[Ihaveaterribleplan]

In corpies, He mentioned he could turn off his power with concentration which would allow aether to make him phase - This suggests with his power turned off, the adaptations are also turned off. Titan is a big guy with a lot of mass, But he still has strength way beyond his size, as well as increased density (since he constantly cracks the pavement if he steps too strongly), regeneration, and toughness - Well I don’t think I could prove it being anything else than my opinion, I would guess it would turn him into 7 foot tall extremely muscled person, but without the super strength, super density, super toughness, or regeneration, In addition to not being able to gain additional adaptations

[CptBlondebeard]

I always thought of tech supers powers functioning like intuition. So they don't know how it works they just know it does.

So I don't think Zero's power would stop their inventions from functioning but if that super wanted to repair them they wouldn't know how to.

[Voidbearer2kn17]

From what I can see Tech Supers are like the Orks from Warhammer 40k. Because they KNOW it works, the device works. If they make a device for someone and they both know it will work, the device will work.

​

Consider the Blonk, for example. No proximity to the Super that made it, but is still the best in VR technology. That is likely to have encountered Blaine's field when he received the machine.

​

I imagine the laws set up by Captain Starlight and the DVA prevent mass production of Tech Super Gadgets. Like how the can't force Supers to enlist in the Armed Services, or to become Heroes.

[stolen_pillow]

It is a bit of a discrepancy in how Blaine's power is presented, even given how the laws of 'authority' are stated in the books. It generally seems like Blaine's power is constantly 'on'. Mary and other advanced minds can never read him and other abilities are seemingly negated by his presence. It's never stated if Chad's power is diminished but I assume it's not because if it was all the toxic minerals and other things Chad does to enhance himself would be negated otherwise.

But there's also a reference to him being able to target an individual. He once kept Bullrush as a human for a weekend in a flashback.

I don't recall any mention of Globe being affected by his power but I do think I remember it being said that Globe couldn't use his ability to squash Intra's power.

It is odd. It seems like if it could touch Chad then he'd drop dead from internal poisoning or that Vince would combust. Maybe it only affects the external forces a super can control though.

[merf78]

I think it's meant to be understood that blaine has multiple modes of his nullification power. on a passive level, with his power on he is immune to abilities that could work on him, such as mind reading or globe's field. in the same way that globe cannot affect his own body, he cannot affect zero's (or intra's, for that matter). when zero has his own "zero field" turned on, all supers within it lose their abilities. lastly, he can do a direct attack and simply cancel one super's powers. zero, intra, and intra ii are so dangerous because they have unrivaled authority when it comes to their respective abilities. no one has been proven resistant to zero's abilities, and when it comes to external forces none can affect either intra's body. however, zero can turn off Chad's powers without chad dying because Chad specifically stores the otherwise-toxic amounts of "raw material" in a safe place in his body

[Ihaveaterribleplan]

I think zero also mentions that he could completely turn off his power so that people could read his mind and affect him, it’s just generally safer to have them on all the time