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Super Powers

Mourne Kransky

03:04 / 10.10.04

Which would you rather have: Invisibility or Flight?

I would have opted for invisiblity because of my voyeuristic and intensely curious nature but I have so many dreams where I'm flying and that would be swimmingly cool. All unconscious expressions of illicit sexual desire though.

I am undecided. In Saturday's Guardian they said this debate was the new parlour game for sophisticated New Yorkers.

lekvar

05:38 / 10.10.04

This American Life posited the same question, and suggested the reply could reveal insights into the mind respondent, or at least show whether one was introverted (invisibility) or extroverted (flight).

This is, of course, to be taken with a grain of salt.

Me? Flight. I'm terrified of traveling via airplanes, primarily because of control and trust issues. But self-powered flight? Hell yes.

sleazenation

08:00 / 10.10.04

So does this make you 'going to Paris man' ?

Tezcatlipoca

09:17 / 10.10.04

Are we talking being permanently invisible here, or the ability to go invisible when desired? If the latter, I'd go for invisibility over flight. Crime pays, and invisible crime promises to pay even more.

■

09:27 / 10.10.04

I thought (for straight boys, at least) the debate over flight or invisibility generally ended when the main reason for wanting to be invisible (ie. wanting to go into the girls' changing rooms at school) ended when you became sexually active. Flight for me every time, you sneaky pervs. Get out more!

Jack Vincennes

10:27 / 10.10.04

Flight, because I'd be so much more motivated to get proper exercise if I could do so by flying around in my lunch hour. Also, I'm so clumsy that invisibility would be useless to me anyway. People would just have to follow the trail of broken stuff in order to find me.

w1rebaby

10:42 / 10.10.04

Would flying be exercise though? Or would you end up flying everywhere, never use your muscles and become extremely fat? This is something that I don't think has been addressed in the comics.

Flight for me every time, you sneaky pervs. Get out more!

You could peek in through windows if you could fly, anyway.

Cherielabombe

11:17 / 10.10.04

Yes my man Ira Glass from Chicago's "This American Life" originally carried the story about flight v. invisibility in the the very funny TAL about Superheroes. If you want to listen to it go to the This American Life website, click on "favorites" and the name of the show is "Superpowers."

Everyone knows that really everyone wants invisibility to ogle hotties, sneak onto flights and spy on their boss...

Tezcatlipoca

21:09 / 10.10.04

the main reason for wanting to be invisible (ie. wanting to go into the girls' changing rooms at school) ended when you became sexually active.

and

Everyone knows that really everyone wants invisibility to ogle hotties

I can't believe that this is the fullest extent of imagination here on the 'lith. Invisibility offers so much more than simply oggling women.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:28 / 10.10.04

Flight. Invisibility's easy- you just have to be very, very boring. Flight, on the other hand... that'd SO rock.

And you wouldn't have to keep your voice down.

Brigade du jour

21:37 / 10.10.04

Flight all the way. Incidentally, the first film I ever saw in the cinema was Superman.

Brigade du jour

21:47 / 10.10.04

Of course, I'd need to clarify the actual nature of 'flight' first. Are we talking about hollow bones, decreased body mass and massive flapping arms, or are we talking about Superman-style defiance of gravity whereby you can hover and walk on water and stuff.

Or indeed, as Stoatie suggested, are we talking about the super power of simply running away?

Saint Keggers

21:58 / 10.10.04

Flight...there are just so many people who's screams I want to hear as I drop them from 10000 ft. I also want to see what they've written on their sign that everyone has when they fall.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

22:14 / 10.10.04

Invisibilty.

You could sneak onto planes, thus giving you the power of free flight anyway (according to strict timetables and delays, of course).

Plus, and this was the deciding factor for me, imagine the fun to be had invisibly offering a wavering lighter to someone about to spark up in a bar. Or just sneaking behind the bar and pouring yourself a quadruple Maker's Mark.

Or giving invisible wedgies. Cooooool!

Pants Payroll

23:06 / 10.10.04

Is the invisibility contingent on one's being naked, or is clothing affected too? It just wouldnt be worth it in the winter. I'm going with flight.

Brigade du jour

23:07 / 10.10.04

'Invisible wedgies'? That borders on evil, dude.

I don't want to sit on an aeroplane though, I want to fly free, wherever I want, whenever I want. No more waiting at bus stops at one a.m. for me, mateybob. I'll fly all over the world, land in a pub for a while, then fly somewhere else. I'll be the perpetual itinerant stranger that people talk about, preferably in hushed whispers and with a sense of menace.

Then I'll find a girl, a special lady, take her flying with me and listen to her girlish, random thoughts above the clouds because yes, I can read her mind.

Baz Auckland

23:24 / 10.10.04

I'm no extrovert, but I'd have to go with flight... that would be so cool... ultimate mobility! And everything looks so great from up above..

unheimlich manoeuvre

23:34 / 10.10.04

invisibility, then i'd finally be able to get into that base in northwood.

the Fool

04:34 / 11.10.04

If it was invisibilty in the sense of the invisible girls powers I'd choose that. Cause then you could make invisible things and fly as well as going invisible!!!

the Fool

04:36 / 11.10.04

But otherwise I'd choose flight... and I'd be off to europe tomorrow!!!

lekvar

05:14 / 11.10.04

Yes, if you were invisible you could scope out the cuties, but you could actually score with flight...

"Hey there, wanna spend the evening in Cairo? Private jets are for wimps."

Hey, it worked for Arthur Dent...

No star here laces

06:11 / 11.10.04

Flight because you can still escape from rabid dogs, whereas if you're invisible they'll sniff you out. Similarly, the invisible man was always getting caught out by paint or dust on the floor and suchlike. No such problems for flying man!

madfigs #32, now with wasabi

07:25 / 11.10.04

So adamantium claws aren't an option? Well, then I'd go with flight as long as my ass wouldn't have to light on fire or something.

Tezcatlipoca

09:23 / 11.10.04

Pah! Freedom nothing. You're subject to tracking by various air traffic controllers (and probably liable to being shot down for entering various airspaces), and you have to contest with turbulence, thinner air, cold, etc.

Invisibility's where it's at...

Saint Keggers

17:27 / 11.10.04

Im still gonna choose flight, but make a costume from the skin of the person who chose invisibility.

unheimlich manoeuvre

22:43 / 11.10.04

cheers Keggers, now I have an image of Leatherface flying in my mind.

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