Thread 150011992

99% of the time writers can’t do anything significant with it because you can’t show a character actually getting permanent damaged or burned alive by fire. How many mainstream superheroes use fire as their ability? In Avatar, everyone is allowed to hit other people except fire benders. Even the Naruto fanbase makes fun of fire jutsus since they’re so useless.

>>150011992 (OP)
fire is kind of the most useless anyway. water, air and earth are elements you can do no end of practical day to day shit with.

>>150011992 (OP)

In the serialized novel I've been writing, one of the very minor characters really bemoans that she lost the superpower lottery and got fire powers. It really is the worst common superpower. The last FF run even addressed it, with Human Torch unable to do anything to a normal guy because the guy knew that Torch wouldn't ever burn someone. Johnny had to win by clocking the guy with his mundane fists.

>>150011992 (OP)
I know it's one of THOSE threads , but it's more like it works as power blasts like dragon ball for obvious reasons.
this is a show where people get element blasted into walls and leave craters without a scratch in them

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Human_Torch

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Zuko

>power is bad because the people who write about the power aren't allowed to show the gruesome side of it
If anything, it should prove why it's the strongest power. They literally need to sandbag the whole element just to keep it on par with the others.

>>150012013
And Heart?

>>150011992 (OP)
I feel like fire isn't effectively utilized. There's lots of creative ways to use it.

>superheat the air and create a powerful haze that melts projectiles or hides you
>adjust ambient temperature and fool thermal imaging
>flashbang the enemy
>raise the temperature to intimidate others or make the floor so hot, no one can stand on it (or turn it into glass)
>make a smokescreen
>remove fog or generate wind currents
>create a controlled flame to suck up the oxygen in a room

>>150012160
>https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Zuko
>25 tons
Damn my boy Zuko be hitting the GYM

>>150011992 (OP)
>In Avatar, everyone is allowed to hit other people except fire benders.
Zuko actually got lucky that his father wasn't an earth bender, otherwise he would be blind or brain damaged

>>150012210
Heart is the most practical. It's the element of kindness, love, empathy, compassion, and human connection. You can fight people with Air/Earth/Water/Fire but you drive out the hate and anti-social actions with Heart, stopping the problem at its source.

>>150012349
>the timeline where Zuko's from the Earth Kingdom, he's just got an eyepatch now

>>150011992 (OP)
The most recurring thing I've heard regarding this topic is that fire and the way it burns people is gory as fuck, so here's a way to get to the root of the issue: how do you solve the "gore" problem?

>>150012367
Have the character using fire powers be fully aware of this, so they avoid using fire in a directly combative way unless there's no other option.

>raise the room temperature and make the grunts leave the room or get overheated and have to be sent home
>if you're being chased, heat up the floor or turn it into glass
>flashbang and use smokescreens if caught
>create small wind currents to prevent the enemy from making a fire or to keep them occupied with their shit flying around

A spy or thief using fire powers would have the advantage.

>>150011992 (OP)
>Even the Naruto fanbase makes fun of fire jutsus since they’re so useless.

That's because amateursu was way to op to keep around. Having characters having instant kills by literally just looking at them was way to much of a detriment to the plot, it HAD to be nerfed

>>150011992 (OP)
Watch/read Fire Force

>>150011992 (OP)
>In Avatar, everyone is allowed to hit other people except fire benders.

I mean ozai was outright pressuring aang before his avatar state with just one element. Katara just by getting indirectly hit with fire by aang was enough to severely injure her and zuko screaming bloody murder just getting hit on the eye by his father.

I know what you mean anon but I dont think these kinds of show can show the full consequences of getting fried since it is for kids.

Mortal kombat scorpion and ghost rider are the only ones I know that show the full consequences of getting hit by fire.

>>150012261
This. A lot of properties about fire and combustion seem to get overlooked by the vast, vast majority of writers.

>>150012367
A cheat code seems to be letting a fire technique just obliterate someone all at once
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oTGPu3Q7VI
https://youtu.be/7cYTTC4YorM?si=ePUtzTV6V4KPF4mt&t=108

>>150011992 (OP)
Heatblast and Swampfire are used in a good way

>>150011992 (OP)
It's almost as useless as having swords in a series where no one can die or be meaningfully injured.

>>150012642
It's very useful.

>give enemies heat exhaustion
>heat up door handles and the inside of rooms to make people think a fire is happening
>gradually raise the local temperature and sabotage equipment by melting things - they'll assume it was just the sun
>literally turn up the heat during an interrogation
>burn the enemy's food and clothes

>>150012510
I don't know how Itachi was able to spawn fire on top of second stage curse mark sasuke. But sasuke and later on Itachi, always "shoot" their fire. Kinda ass to change the mechanics of amaterasu like that. Plus, didn't itachi implant an amaterasu in sasuke to nuke obito? How the fuck could the raikage dodge amaterasu but not obito who knows how amaterasu works and has a sharingan?

>>150012367
I could be wrong, but I'd like to think you could get away with severe discoloration, missing cloth (if/when applicable), smoking flesh, etc. as long as you don't show too gruesome of texture changes like flesh actually melting off, shriveled skin, detailing muscle tissue, bones, internal organs etc..
>>150012695
This should also work.
>>150012805
I really wish fire's ability to deplete oxygen got more attention. Not only is it a tactic with variable lethality depending on duration, but it's apparently one of the more notable traits of real life use of incendiary weaponry, or at least flame throwers.

>>150012321
>as the Fire Prince, I can feel the burn.

>>150012805
Or just heat up your food, clothes and environment enough to kill bacteria and viruses and watch how other societies and civilizations die out from diseases and colonize their lands.

>>150011992 (OP)
The most useless power is anything obviously/immediately lethal in media where you're often expected to fight humans. Bladed weapons get the same treatment in stuff like Ninja Turtles, He-Man, ATLA, etc.

Objectively, though, fire would be awesome to have. There's a reason it's considered so extremely dangerous in real life, to the point where you've got to be careful even if you're just lighting a campfire or using a zippo or something. Honestly, the toughest thing about it would be that you'd be *too* destructive and would need to really practice your control.

>>150012013
Being able to start a fire anywhere, on command, is insanely useful. Hell, even ATLA showed off its utility by having a nation in a world that was otherwise at, like, 1300 AD levels of tech start to industrialize. It just came off as a little lame in combat because it wasn't allowed to actually behave like fire.

>>150012876

>suck up all the oxygen from a room
>(looks inside)
>everyone is on the verge of death
>"yay, I win!"

>>150011992 (OP)
You wanna know what the weird part is? Lightning is several magnitudes hotter than fire, but isn't treated as being anywhere as deadly in most elemental systems

>>150011992 (OP)
bump for interest

>>150011992 (OP)
Make all your character's enemies robots or ice demons or something so you can still have the power be used offensively but not have to worry about any of the grisly effects like burning someone.

>>150011992 (OP)
Fire is only energy. Of course earth is the strongest element.

>>150012695
Disintegrating people is pretty gruesome too though.

>>150011992 (OP)
It's useless when in a cartoon where no one is allowed to hurt anybody.

Like a sword in a cartoon, it can only harm robots. Otherwise the sword guy can only ever cut chandelier cables. Totally useless for any other application.

>>150011992 (OP)
Fire is too OP, it has to be nerfed.

in general I feel like fire, ice, and lightning is such a weirdly "extreme" trio of elements despite how common it is, you'd think stuff like wind, water, earth, etc. would be more common starting points

>>150011992 (OP)
In comics and westem media*

>>150011992 (OP)
In pro bending fire is basically a blunt object that pushes people

>>150013007
Wasn't that how Aang's friend/Dad killed a shitton of firebenders and himself?

>>150017113
Fire and ice and lightning are a lot more "violent" if that makes any sense. Fire and lightning and ice were some of the earliest fears to manifest among living creatures. They can be considered primal and innate sources of panic and dread, especially among humans.

People aren't afraid of water or wind or earth per se, they're afraid of drowning or their home being torn apart by a tornado or hurricane or earthquake. You just need to stay away from the ocean, large bodies of water, or areas with hurricanes and tornadoes.

>>150017677
Yeah. Wind, water and earth can be dangerous in extreme situations. But fire, freezing cold and lightning are all things that are inherently dangerous by default.

>>150012013
If we're talking practicality then I actually think the worst element is air. Earth has Metal and Lava as sub elements and obviously that's very useful. Water is inherently so useful on its own that the impracticality of Blood and Ice don't really matter. Fire industrialized an entire nation, and eventually bending Lightning became common enough that it pushed them even further technologically. Air doesn't have a sub element, and on its own it can't do much besides bolster transportation

>>150011992 (OP)
Nigga go watch Flames of Rekka. You will see some cool uses of fire. Also lightning can be brutal. Watch this Baoh clip.
https://youtu.be/W6wzkOjjTAQ?si=ow0nkqQHRYNx36ui

Even when you can't hit other people, you can still burn entire buildings and structure sand whole parts of land down
Yeah they can't show someone being burnt alive but the fact that Fire Nation is a massive empire with a genocide under their belt says enough, even if earthbending is good enough to beat them back for a century