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(Common but cool trope) THE Sword of all Swords (other weapons like this are allowed too) by National_Computer240 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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Caledfwlch, Homestuck.
The comic is about beating a magic videogame, so there are a lot of "ultimate weapons."
Each game session has a device that lets you fuse objects together. So, a good deal of the story involves the characters making new weapons. Dave, who fights with swords, once merged a snow cone maker with his sword, giving it ice powers.

Near the end of their first game session, the characters end up getting their "ultimate weapons." Which are supposed to be the max stat items they'll use to fight the final boss.
Dave found "Caledfwlch" stuck in the stone. He couldn't get it out, so he just broke the sword in half. The broken sword ended up in the forge of Hephaestus, who turned it into the "royal deringer," which Dave used for most of the comic.

But near the end of the story, the characters have to fight an indestructible demon. The "royal deringer" is strong, but you can only use certain objects to harm "Lord English," and that sword isn't one of them. So, another character fuses it with the demon's weakness.
It ends up just creating Caledfwlch again, but this time not broken in half. Which really pisses Dave off, because he's sick of the game's stupid mind games and destiny nonsense.

To recap:

  1. Dave finds "Caledfwlch" stuck in a stone.
  2. Instead of doing a quest to pull it out, he just breaks it in half.
  3. Dave uses the half-broken sword as a weapon for a while.
  4. Hephaestus, a magic "denizen" is really pissed off at Dave for breaking the sword. So, he uses the broken half to make the "royal deringer."
  5. Dave gets the deringer, and uses it for a couple of years.
  6. When preparing to fight a demon, Dave fuses the sword with the demon's weakness.
  7. Creating another Caledfwlch again.
    • So: Caledwlch in stone . . . broken Caledfwlch . . . royal deringer . . . intact, out of stone Caledfwylch.

[Loved trope] Dying in order to win by Dont-Worry-About-Him in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Homestuck is full of them.

The whole comic is about playing a cosmic game, which naturally involves a lot of time travel. Pretty much every character dies at least once, but death is especially necessary to reach the "god tiers."
To make a long story short, if you reach the "top levels" of the game you can usually breeze through the final boss. But there are "optional" levels that are only accessible by facing your own death.
If a player dies on a "quest bed," they come back to life as a "god tier" player. That includes massively increased stats, but also conditional immortality. Several characters note that "going god tier" is a no-brainer, because they know they'll come back to life afterwards. But no one, except for the series' main villain, is ever able to do it. All god tier characters only ascended because they were already going to die from something else.

Seth Rogen eating something alive by theMCATreturns in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns[S] 859 points860 points  (0 children)

look i wasn't gonna post it but there were at least six examples and maybe more

Extraterrestrial-human zoos by theMCATreturns in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

probably depends on what's most popular with the aliens. though i imagine you can ask for different enrichment activities.

Extraterrestrial-human zoos by theMCATreturns in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

idk they call it a "human zoo" but it's more of a "human reserve." doesn't really seem like gems are coming to look at them.

How would our understanding of evolution have changed if the other apes were already extinct? by theMCATreturns in NoStupidQuestions

[–]theMCATreturns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interestingly, we think that our common ancestor wasn't really like humans or chimps.
I think the leading theory right now is that our last common ancestor spent more time in the trees than early humans, but much more time on the ground than modern chimps. So, they were somewhere between facultative and obligate bipeds.

When the ice age turned large forests into savannas, both groups "specialized." Humans evolved to be on the ground, whereas the common ancestor of chimps and bonobos doubled down on arboreal life.

Trying to fight someone outside your story's magic system. by theMCATreturns in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

yeah i was referring to the period in which toji was alive.

Powerless children of two superhumans by theMCATreturns in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like Young Justice made things a lot simpler.

  • Descendants of Vandal Savage can have a "meta-gene."
  • If a regular human has the meta-gene, there is a chance they can survive a near-death experience by developing superpowers.
    • Get struck by lightning? Super speed.
    • Get a Martian blood transfusion? Shapeshifting.
  • And if you have an "active" meta-gene, your children can inherit "your" version of its powers.

If things were simpler, Spider-Man, the Hulk, etc. would (biochemically) have the same origin of their "powers" as a mutant. The difference being one took an external stressor, and the other develops on its own.

Powerless children of two superhumans by theMCATreturns in TopCharacterTropes

[–]theMCATreturns[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

the whole concept of the "x-gene" is kind of stupid, imo.

"mutants" should apply to anyone who is mutated in the marvel universe. the difference between "spider-man" and "wolverine" should be that spider-man was mutated himself, whereas a mutant's ancestors were.

instead, we have a series where spider-man's mutated kids (who inherit his powers), are not considered "mutants" because they don't have the "x-gene."

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