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Post by Jessica Jane on Sept 12, 2011 0:46:28 GMT
Over the past few days, I've been thinking through the ramifications of this world, and I'm wondering about the possibility of anti-henshin sentiment. There's always two sides to every coin and I can't quite help but wonder about those people of the HH world who simply don't like having people in powered armor running around or wonder why these people have such long leashes. Sure, to us on the outside Riders and Sentai are heroes we can get behind, but what about those helpless people in this world. What do they feel? How do they respond? How do they cope with turning so much security over to a few rogues? Are they organized into a political movement?
It seems like an interesting idea to explore or mess around with... Especially since the bulk of Riders are pretty much glorified vigilantes, which means that the anti-henshin forces actually have a legitimate point to their arguments... Sure, some are sanctioned like the SPD, but what about those that aren't? How do people feel about that?
So, yeah, I'm wondering what can be done with such a concept and what fun we can have with it. Maybe if we kick some ideas or thoughts around we can congeal them into an RP... I'd be game for it. What do you all think?
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Post by Kasumi Cooley on Sept 12, 2011 3:05:49 GMT
We could possibly have a Civil War type event...
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Post by Ziggy on Sept 12, 2011 3:11:16 GMT
This is the kind of conflict that is bound to come up in any Superhero or Modern Fantasy setting. One of the ideas I like with this subject is that to the ordinary people who don't know the inner workings of the heroes' lives the line between Hero and villain is much thinner. To them one destructive super being is like any other, all they know is that armoured thing was fighting some monster and that fight destroyed their home.
We also have to consider the political implications of superheroism, it generally gets a pass in Toku due the villains rarely being humans and therefore not having the same legal or sometimes even spiritual rights but superheroism is in all of it's non legally authorized forms is essentially the philosophical location where fascism meets altruism making it hard to pin point on a regular spectrum. The fascist act of taking the law out of the hands of the people as a whole and into the position of a single individual runs through out all forms of action based fiction but is particularly prevalent in superheroes where the main heroes rarely have any form of legal authority and in many of the cases that they do that authority does not extend to the use of their powers (See Kamen Rider Accel for a perfect Toku example, as a police officer he has the legal authority to confront Dopants but not to employ his Rider powers in that confrontation). The altruism angle comes in with the time old "With great power comes great responsibility" concept popularized by Stan Lee with Spider-Man but it runs through out all superheroes, they could employ their powers for purely selfish goals to make their own lives better or to even in some cases take control of the world if they so chose. Instead they choose to use their abilities to take care of others with similar abilities from using their powers in "irresponsible" and criminal ways.
Those points along with the idea that superpowers are essentially weapons and the law requires that dangerous weapons be registered and used properly are the main points behind ideas like Marvel's former Superhuman Registration Act or Watchmen's Keene act. The problem with this is enforcement. Supervillians, the superhumans who already do not recognize the law as applying to them are not going to heed this new law anymore than they heeded the old ones and it's almost impossible for a non-powered force of law enforcement to make those who posses powers and do not want to comply do so. Law enforcement works because at the very minimum police are at the same level as the criminals they deal with but when superhumans are those criminals you need to be superhuman yourself for the same level of law enforcement to exist to them.
There are generally three levels of Superhuman laws they are as follows:
1) Zero tollerance on powers: This one is rare outside of dystopian futures but it essentially means that using any form of superpower is grounds for anything from depowering and imprisonment to execution.
2) Registration: Heroes are forced to register their real names and powers to the government if they want to be allowed to operate. Generally more paranoid heroes will reject this idea. Heroes who don't comply are usually subject to either depowering and/or imprisonment if they remain active as heroes.
3) Public Registration: Heroes are forced to register their real names and powers to a public database run by the government. Even the less paranoid heroes are less likely to comply to this one since it puts their friends and loved ones at risk from those who would do them harm to get to the hero. As above heroes who don't comply will be depowered/imprisoned.
It's midnight and I just typed this all off the top of my head so I'm not sure if this will help or will make things more complicated but I am very interested in this idea and will gladly lend any of my characters to this kind of plot.
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Post by Kasumi Cooley on Sept 12, 2011 3:36:52 GMT
Again, in the Marvel Universe, this is what caused the Civil War between Pro-Registration and Anti-Registration heroes.
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Post by Adam Jonas on Sept 12, 2011 6:38:25 GMT
A civil war event would segway nicely into the K.E.E.P. event we had planned.
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Post by Jessica Jane on Sept 12, 2011 12:01:30 GMT
Mmm... Mind if I ask for a link to this K.E.E.P. event? If it can segue, then it opens up a lot of possibilities...
Looking at the Civil War's TvTropes page... Marvel's take seems pretty messy. But I like the scenario and it does have a lot of potential. But maybe for simplicity's sake there should be a big bad manipulating things (behind the scenes, of course) so that a convenient public confession can be arranged? Something like this'd have pretty reaching consequences, so how much do we need to preserve the status quo?
(I'm not proposing radically changing the face of the RP, just pointing out that if it happens in, say, Europe, it logically follows that RPs following in Europe would be impacted. That sort of thing.)
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Post by Kiba Izumi on Sept 12, 2011 12:08:54 GMT
Hmmm, I think we need the Admins to weigh in on that....
Because honestly, we come here to do this for fun. Place too many bureaucratic hurdles on things and this place might become like the US government.
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Post by Jessica Jane on Sept 12, 2011 13:07:03 GMT
That's my concern, yes. There needs to be a way to work it out so that it doesn't become a viral plot tumor of headache.
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Post by Adam Jonas on Sept 12, 2011 13:31:26 GMT
Mmm... Mind if I ask for a link to this K.E.E.P. event? If it can segue, then it opens up a lot of possibilities... You ask, and I provide. |
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Post by Suzie Miyazaki on Sept 12, 2011 19:11:28 GMT
I love stuff like that (Hence why I don't mind Miracle day lasting aaaaaaaaaaaaaages xP)
Anyway, the idea that I kind of thought was that most governments are willing to look the other way because their regular police forces don't have the powers to take them down. Hence why Japan's police force made G1 and G2, so they can actually go up against them.
But yeah, Kyle doesn't like killing people.
I can see people proposing ideas like this but in the HH universe there's too many people to keep tabs on and a lot who can just hide their powers. So it may not get very far? I dunno, just babbling mainly.
(Which might eliminate the problems with getting a huge plot tumour?.
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Post by Jessica Jane on Sept 12, 2011 21:21:24 GMT
... It might, actually. Between that tidbit of information and KEEP I feel like I'm close to an idea that won't cause headaches. Let me stew on it some more.
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Post by Suzie Miyazaki on Sept 12, 2011 21:42:07 GMT
Sure, looking forward to it.
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Post by Jessica Jane on Sept 13, 2011 11:49:56 GMT
Which might help even more.
Here's what I'm thinking, instead of going for an all out Civil War, we do a flashpoint, a small something that can further plans, but doesn't change the landscape. I'm thinking that a young girl ends up recruiting a few Rangers/Riders to help rescue her parents. Said parents are being held captive off in a forest someplace by a 'Militia Survival Group'-- the type that takes their guns and holds boot camp in the middle of nowhere in preparation for some great cataclysm.
The Group, if AJ doesn't mind, could very well be a strawman front for KEEP. KEEP does have several prisoners there for our dashing heroes to find and rescue. Unfortunately, said prisoners are kaijin that have already been driven mad. When the Ranger Riders show up, the Group releases the Kaijin, forcing the Riders into battle while the young girl mysteriously vanishes.
Once the battle with the Kaijin ends, another set of Riders (possibly the Dark Riders) shows up and blindsides the good guys, forcing them into a prolonged battle that causes a fair amount of damage to the retreat.
The purpose for all of this? Video. The man behind the man has been videotaping everything and will present a carefully doctored version of his recording to the world with the intent to stir up anti-henshin sentiment. And nothing gets an outcry going like a filmed disaster.
That's what I'm thinking at this stage of the game. It's still pretty rough and needs refined, but I like the direction that this is heading. KEEP really could help this out by providing a Big Bad and it could really get KEEP's plans established in the RP. Let me know what you think, AJ.
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Post by Suzie Miyazaki on Sept 13, 2011 17:25:33 GMT
I like it, sounds nifty. =)
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Post by Adam Jonas on Sept 13, 2011 17:31:45 GMT
It sounds good, and won't give me too much of a plot headache.
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