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1

Initial_E t1_iyba43u wrote

500 megatons of good soup is still 500 megatons

56

imakesawdust t1_iybc6ef wrote

In his book What If?, the XKCD guy analyzed what would happen if you condensed all the rain from a thunderstorm into one giant drop. The results weren't pretty.

Still, the superhero in this story ought to find soulmate with the superpower of being able to turn anything into the perfect grilled cheese.

30

MyMomSaysIAmCool t1_iybg2g1 wrote

In Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, a couple of the characters calculate the damage that would happen if the planet was hit by a cubic mile of hot fudge sundae. Basically, it doesn't matter what it is, at that speed it's going to cause global catastrophe.

16

Mage_914 t1_iyesleo wrote

I read that as Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer at first and started wondering what wizards in pajamas had to do with this.

2

OakenHug t1_iybhapt wrote

Really, really cooked soup. Bisque even.

Turns into steam in the atmosphere, and we have toasty clouds for a while

8

R3D3-1 t1_iyc2blu wrote

The bowl of soup seems to imply that the volume and mass of the target is not preserved.

Now imagine that power being turned... Downwards.

8

Zenvarix t1_iydp617 wrote

Imagine if our hero could also undo it.

There you find a warm bowl of soup... And the next, a very angry and hungry bear, or a grenade with it's pin missing.

Or use it to "dodge" a giant green lasers. Sure, millions will still scream, for that brief moment of laser blazing past a bowl of soup (and any poor unfortunate soul also in that path) before getting smacked with planet.

Imagine the technicians and everyone else on the "moon" that just saw the planet disappear and then reappear. How flabbergasted they would be? Even the princess would be beyond confused, even if she would be relieved.

3

DragonSlayersz t1_iybdx9s wrote

True, but soup is not going to hit nearly as hard as rock.

3

Artanthos t1_iyd8av0 wrote

It would.

A comet is basically just a large chunk of water, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia.

4

Herbert-Quain t1_iyctw0u wrote

I wonder what the optimal timing would look like. I mean, if you transform it into soup at the moment of impact, you have gained next to nothing. If you do it too far out in space it'll just refreeze. So probably at the moment it enters the atmosphere so it is dispersed by air resistance? Or, if you can fly alongside it in space, perhaps you can re-heat it constantly and keep it up long enough to shrink the giant ball of soup via evaporation...

1

HelloWorld1352 t1_iybl0s6 wrote

This superpower is insanely strong. It doesn’t matter what power your opponent has: super strength, telekinesis, invulnerability. Turn them into soup and they’re dead. The other heroes are just jealous.

26

brickmaster32000 t1_iyc0gzj wrote

That is how many of these prompts work. So many are just variations of, "You are the most special person alive but everyone is too stupid to see it until one day you prove that you are the bestist person ever!"

27

HelloWorld1352 t1_iyc0l7y wrote

I agree. The few prompts that aren’t clichés are just about subverting them and that eventually becomes a cliché of its own.

10

Gru-some t1_iyc24ef wrote

“everyone made fun of you but your superpower is actually really broken because of a loophole in the wording”

12

flyingtrucky t1_iycsrih wrote

Loophole? Dude can basically destroy anything he can see, this thing is stupidly OP from the get go.

11

Logout123 t1_iyc4mrg wrote

Feels like prompts like this are 1 sentence too long. Probably would have made sense to just end it at the superpower reveal, why cage writers into basically only being allowed to write a limited outcome to some scenario they could have set up on their own?

11

Comtesse_Kamilia t1_iyd2jv7 wrote

There's a lot of these "weird and weak" powers actually being super OP prompts. And most of the time, the OP part is so obvious that the whole world has to be dumbed down to not see it. This prompt also falls into that category since, y'know, the ability to turn anyone and anything into something harmless (and dead if they use it on a living being) is a terrifying power.

But I'll be honest, the imagry of a dude just happily holding up a soup bowl as a meteor barrels towards the earth is funny enough that this prompt gets a pass in my books.

7

Eine_Kartoffel t1_iycjbas wrote

Most powers containing the syllable "any" in their description are ultimately horrifying.

3

threyon t1_iydhww6 wrote

“Yer gonna need a bigger bowl…”

2

Mr__Perry t1_iyc3ug1 wrote

It's a better superpower than farting away jupiters gas.

>!OPM is still amazing though!<

1

Clementea t1_iydv633 wrote

Wouldn't people be horrified by this superpower instead?...

1

MTGO_Duderino t1_iye7yh5 wrote

This is an insanely strong power. While you aren't omega level, you can turn omega level mutants into soup. Turn walls into soup. Bad guys. Meteors. Documents. Bamk vaults. Cash registers. Restraints.

Perfectly cooked also means you can control the temperature. Stop guys like iceman ny making hot soup. Stop guys like human torch by making cold soup.

1

Soup0rMan t1_iyegj9u wrote

I can't believe you'd out me like this OP. There will be a reckoning! Hot, savory, delicious reckoning!

1