let's review
7:49 PM 5/4/07 · It should be appreciated, especially for those of us that don't watch the show online, that Heroes repeats every week; literally. Monday night's episode on NBC comes on again Fridays on the SciFi channel. There's probably another channel as well but I don't know it offhand. When the series first started it came on NBC, SciFi, and USA...
...but that's neither here nor there.
A little over a month ago I did a breakdown analysis of all the major Emo·Sapiens the series has displayed. Admittedly, I skipped over DL, Candace, The Melter (he wasn't around long enough for me to remember a name), and a couple others. There's two more I'd like to touch on now, possibly more as the weekend drags on (the joys of not having a home connection), because I really don't think people are on the same page where they're concerned.
Sylar: I've touched on this guy before, many many times; he's my favorite rant topic. It all started before I even had a clear idea who he was when I heard someone say he got others powers from eating brains. Even though I didn't have much clue who he was at the time that didn't make any sense. After they did that episode where it popped six months back I knew it wasn't true. Sylar's power is to intuit, to understand how things work and enhance them. If his power had been to eat things and take on their properties that would've made more sense but that's now how his power works.
It's just I haven't quite worked out exactly how he does what he does. I understand the broad strokes but not the minute details. For example, it's clear after a study of his victim's brain (as all their powers are localized in the brain) he makes alterations to his own but how he's doing that is unclear. While he gets access to their brains through a seemingly sonic ability, telekinesis is the popular theory but it doesn't explain that high pitched whining noise, he clearly didn't have this ability the whole time; can only imagine how he managed it with his first victim. How he accesses his own brain to make alterations on himself without any external damage to his cranium is also something I'm clueless about...
...but he's not eating brains. The death of Isaac was the final nail in that coffin. Afterwards we get a sweeping look at Isaac's dead body. His head's open and there's a trail of blood from there but no brain anywhere to be seen. Sylar is using the power he just got and his hands are bloody and dripping but there's no blood anywhere on his face or near his mouth. Clearly Sylar's not all that tidy or squeamish about blood so if he were eating people's brains there should've been blood on his face...
...but not a drop to be seen.
Still, this doesn't quite clear up one little problem. Where do the brains go? I'm firm in my theory but until I can work out how he's accessing his own brain I'm entertaining alternatives. Is he stuffing them through his ears? Direct absorbtion through his bellybutton? Does he have a little trap door or something?
Doubtful.
Candace: Been largely thinking of her as "Bad Girl" as much from her outfits as her attitude. That little line she said about being able to tear Bennet's mind apart by showing him some really freaky shit (pardon my French) make me wonder if her ability has a slightly telepathic edge to it. However, the main thrust of her ability is what I wanna focus on here...
...because despite everybody's willingness to jump on the bandwagon, she is not a shapeshifter.
Of this I am 100% certain. Well, maybe 99.9% but still.
It's actually a fairly simple thing to prove given the visual evidence we've all seen. Think about it: everytime Candace alters her appearance there is a significant amount of distortion in the area around her. Since the newer episodes have started up this distortion has been more perceived as a sudden shift in the light spectrum but that doesn't change the facts.
She's not a shapeshifter.
Candace is an illusionist.
Further proof of this was evident when she took on Simone's form. Keeping in mind that the actual Simone was dead on a bed behind Candace...did you notice that when the cops were still there how that dead body completely disappeared from view? You see "Simone" standing there and the bed behind her is empty and when she turns back to her normal form the dead Simone is on the bed again.
A shapeshifter couldn't effect all that, they can only due stuff to themselves. Sometimes stuff they're in contact with as well but there was a good 10 feet between them.
She manipulates the perception of reality...which makes her an illusionist.
The really wonky aspect of this is that Candace may not be what she appears to be. To use an actual shapeshifter as an example, the mutant Mystique is actually 89 years old but uses her abilities to appear in her mid to late 30's regardless of what form (she has 4 or 5 that are common aliases she uses regularly) she's wearing at the time. Candace could be projecting an image of her supposedly normal form, being that bad girl we all know and pant over (yes even the fangirls...you don't fool me for a second), when she could actually look like a hermit crab for all we know.
That'll do for now. I'm toying with a little chatter on Peter and Ted but I may not. It's Friday now and I'm not planning on posting this till Monday so there's time.
7:40 PM 5/6/07 · In a lot of different genres that deal with mutants, much like the Emo·Sapiens on Heroes, they have a tendency to be immune to their own powers. I don't think Peter has any chance of exploding, on his own, unless he gets ahold of someone who has that kind of power. Ted seems the most likely candidate but I really don't think his blowing up is as fatal to himself as everyone assumes.
From the future episode "Five Years Gone" we know that Peter did explode, although that was an alternate history so things may not go along the same path. The general belief is that because he had Claire's power it was enough to enable him to survive exploding. However, what if he didn't need Claire's power? What if Ted's power is equally destructive to those around him as it is protective of himself? It seems unlikely that the explosive power would be in any way dangerous to the one who wields it.
Hiro's power is a little more complicated than I initially surmised. He does jump through time and space and he can alter the path of history but he doesn't rewrite the timelines so much as branch them. "Five Years Gone" has shown this complication by revealing there are 3 timelines. In the original timeline Hiro tried to kill Sylar but couldn't because he had Claire's healing ability. Hiro went back in time and warned Peter that he needed to save the cheerleader, which Peter did when he prevented Sylar from killing her. Hiro went back into his present, the future, but upon discovering that it was the same as he left it he assumed Peter had failed...until his past self, the Hiro we all know and love, informed him that Claire was alive. Two distinct timelines right there. The third is when our Hiro goes back to his present and whatever results from his actions...
...which I'm a bit sketchy on seeing as in the preview he closed his eyes when he slashed at Sylar. Plus...frozen in time or not Sylar still seems capable of movement.
There's been a lot of theories and speculations what is the driving force behind The Haitian's ability. I've maintained that his ability is to "physically" manipulate the mind and I feel strengthed in this belief by what happens in the last episode. His ability to block the powers of Hiro as well, when prior it seemed he largely only blocked the powers of those with psychic based powers, convinces me of it. The Haitian can map the human mind and as all of their powers are localized in their brains he knows exactly how to counter all of their powers; he might even be able to neutralize himself. I would think he can literally see the brain through the skull, after a fashion, and senses what parts he needs to apply pressure to for the desired function. Either to suppress someone's power or block off a memory.
And now we come full circle back to Sylar. One thing about him that has really been tripping people out is his voice; they think he got a part of Eden's power. My memory of the earlier episodes is fairly sketchy, course I've seen all the others at least twice, so I'm not positive if Sylar could do that thing with his voice before Eden died. She blew her brains out in hopes that he wouldn't be able to work out how her power works from whatever was left of her gray matter. I'm pretty sure she was right seeing as while he can do that special little thing with his voice...it doesn't seem able to actually control anybody. I think Sylar does it just to freak people out. There's been no indication, other than folks getting a little jumpy, that his special voice is actually capable of doing anything to anyone.
Okay, now that's it.
...but that's neither here nor there.
A little over a month ago I did a breakdown analysis of all the major Emo·Sapiens the series has displayed. Admittedly, I skipped over DL, Candace, The Melter (he wasn't around long enough for me to remember a name), and a couple others. There's two more I'd like to touch on now, possibly more as the weekend drags on (the joys of not having a home connection), because I really don't think people are on the same page where they're concerned.
Sylar: I've touched on this guy before, many many times; he's my favorite rant topic. It all started before I even had a clear idea who he was when I heard someone say he got others powers from eating brains. Even though I didn't have much clue who he was at the time that didn't make any sense. After they did that episode where it popped six months back I knew it wasn't true. Sylar's power is to intuit, to understand how things work and enhance them. If his power had been to eat things and take on their properties that would've made more sense but that's now how his power works.
It's just I haven't quite worked out exactly how he does what he does. I understand the broad strokes but not the minute details. For example, it's clear after a study of his victim's brain (as all their powers are localized in the brain) he makes alterations to his own but how he's doing that is unclear. While he gets access to their brains through a seemingly sonic ability, telekinesis is the popular theory but it doesn't explain that high pitched whining noise, he clearly didn't have this ability the whole time; can only imagine how he managed it with his first victim. How he accesses his own brain to make alterations on himself without any external damage to his cranium is also something I'm clueless about...
...but he's not eating brains. The death of Isaac was the final nail in that coffin. Afterwards we get a sweeping look at Isaac's dead body. His head's open and there's a trail of blood from there but no brain anywhere to be seen. Sylar is using the power he just got and his hands are bloody and dripping but there's no blood anywhere on his face or near his mouth. Clearly Sylar's not all that tidy or squeamish about blood so if he were eating people's brains there should've been blood on his face...
...but not a drop to be seen.
Still, this doesn't quite clear up one little problem. Where do the brains go? I'm firm in my theory but until I can work out how he's accessing his own brain I'm entertaining alternatives. Is he stuffing them through his ears? Direct absorbtion through his bellybutton? Does he have a little trap door or something?
Doubtful.
Candace: Been largely thinking of her as "Bad Girl" as much from her outfits as her attitude. That little line she said about being able to tear Bennet's mind apart by showing him some really freaky shit (pardon my French) make me wonder if her ability has a slightly telepathic edge to it. However, the main thrust of her ability is what I wanna focus on here...
...because despite everybody's willingness to jump on the bandwagon, she is not a shapeshifter.
Of this I am 100% certain. Well, maybe 99.9% but still.
It's actually a fairly simple thing to prove given the visual evidence we've all seen. Think about it: everytime Candace alters her appearance there is a significant amount of distortion in the area around her. Since the newer episodes have started up this distortion has been more perceived as a sudden shift in the light spectrum but that doesn't change the facts.
She's not a shapeshifter.
Candace is an illusionist.
Further proof of this was evident when she took on Simone's form. Keeping in mind that the actual Simone was dead on a bed behind Candace...did you notice that when the cops were still there how that dead body completely disappeared from view? You see "Simone" standing there and the bed behind her is empty and when she turns back to her normal form the dead Simone is on the bed again.
A shapeshifter couldn't effect all that, they can only due stuff to themselves. Sometimes stuff they're in contact with as well but there was a good 10 feet between them.
She manipulates the perception of reality...which makes her an illusionist.
The really wonky aspect of this is that Candace may not be what she appears to be. To use an actual shapeshifter as an example, the mutant Mystique is actually 89 years old but uses her abilities to appear in her mid to late 30's regardless of what form (she has 4 or 5 that are common aliases she uses regularly) she's wearing at the time. Candace could be projecting an image of her supposedly normal form, being that bad girl we all know and pant over (yes even the fangirls...you don't fool me for a second), when she could actually look like a hermit crab for all we know.
That'll do for now. I'm toying with a little chatter on Peter and Ted but I may not. It's Friday now and I'm not planning on posting this till Monday so there's time.
7:40 PM 5/6/07 · In a lot of different genres that deal with mutants, much like the Emo·Sapiens on Heroes, they have a tendency to be immune to their own powers. I don't think Peter has any chance of exploding, on his own, unless he gets ahold of someone who has that kind of power. Ted seems the most likely candidate but I really don't think his blowing up is as fatal to himself as everyone assumes.
From the future episode "Five Years Gone" we know that Peter did explode, although that was an alternate history so things may not go along the same path. The general belief is that because he had Claire's power it was enough to enable him to survive exploding. However, what if he didn't need Claire's power? What if Ted's power is equally destructive to those around him as it is protective of himself? It seems unlikely that the explosive power would be in any way dangerous to the one who wields it.
Hiro's power is a little more complicated than I initially surmised. He does jump through time and space and he can alter the path of history but he doesn't rewrite the timelines so much as branch them. "Five Years Gone" has shown this complication by revealing there are 3 timelines. In the original timeline Hiro tried to kill Sylar but couldn't because he had Claire's healing ability. Hiro went back in time and warned Peter that he needed to save the cheerleader, which Peter did when he prevented Sylar from killing her. Hiro went back into his present, the future, but upon discovering that it was the same as he left it he assumed Peter had failed...until his past self, the Hiro we all know and love, informed him that Claire was alive. Two distinct timelines right there. The third is when our Hiro goes back to his present and whatever results from his actions...
...which I'm a bit sketchy on seeing as in the preview he closed his eyes when he slashed at Sylar. Plus...frozen in time or not Sylar still seems capable of movement.
There's been a lot of theories and speculations what is the driving force behind The Haitian's ability. I've maintained that his ability is to "physically" manipulate the mind and I feel strengthed in this belief by what happens in the last episode. His ability to block the powers of Hiro as well, when prior it seemed he largely only blocked the powers of those with psychic based powers, convinces me of it. The Haitian can map the human mind and as all of their powers are localized in their brains he knows exactly how to counter all of their powers; he might even be able to neutralize himself. I would think he can literally see the brain through the skull, after a fashion, and senses what parts he needs to apply pressure to for the desired function. Either to suppress someone's power or block off a memory.
And now we come full circle back to Sylar. One thing about him that has really been tripping people out is his voice; they think he got a part of Eden's power. My memory of the earlier episodes is fairly sketchy, course I've seen all the others at least twice, so I'm not positive if Sylar could do that thing with his voice before Eden died. She blew her brains out in hopes that he wouldn't be able to work out how her power works from whatever was left of her gray matter. I'm pretty sure she was right seeing as while he can do that special little thing with his voice...it doesn't seem able to actually control anybody. I think Sylar does it just to freak people out. There's been no indication, other than folks getting a little jumpy, that his special voice is actually capable of doing anything to anyone.
Okay, now that's it.