2018-04-14
Posted on 2018-04-16 by Aaron

21 thoughts on “2018-04-14”

  1. Segev

    Interesting that his powers fail to work on something the “chaos orb” created. That suggests more that his limit on “balance” is in play than a true immunity. He isn’t allowed to use his powers to undo a balance-backlash.

    I still question whether the grabbers are “chaos” effects, since if they were, Toby should be able to make them as counters to any “order” stuff he does.

    1. Prairie Son

      I’m fairly certain about half of what we ‘know’ about Toby’s powers is wrong. The question is which half.

      1. Rockphed

        “Interesting. Every word in that sentence is wrong.”

      2. Kytheros

        I’m pretty sure it’s less a matter of being wrong about his baseline/original powers, though the details on those are kind of fuzzy, so much as the Order/Chaos alterations/riders to his powers.

    2. Faust

      He can’t control how the backlash is directed or the form it takes. The life in the metal limbs may be a constant effect and thus beyond his control.
      A second point – if he can keep undoing an unwanted backlash until it takes an acceptable form then it’s no longer chaotic. That would probably be limited if not fully blocked.

      1. Zer-author

        It’s worth noting that it was implied (if never actually stated) that Toby has already undone a ‘chaotic side effect’. I don’t remember the chapter, but the PS238 students ended up writing creative stories for a class assignment (shortly after Zodon’s return from Vegas). Toby’s story was about some quote, unquote random kid who gave super powers to his brother, only this ended up giving super powers to every formerly ‘normal’ person, and stripping the powers from all the original meta-humans.
        Apparently the world was on the verge of exploding before he hit the reset button.
        Again, it’s never actually stated that Toby pulled this off, but his comments definitely imply the possiblity.

  2. Nobody

    I wonder if the “I will get you powers” thing was actually Toby planned to give Tyler the powers from the orb, making him the Yang to Tobys Yin, the Black to his white the Chaos to his Order. :p

    1. Faust

      He likes his brother and that would mean they would need to keep apart probably. I doubt he would do that.

      1. Segev

        Malphast’s parents are able to see each other pretty frequently. What I don’t think Toby’d do to Tyler – at least, not on purpose – is give him the “uncontrollable” side of his powers.

        Also, he’s tried to give Tyler powers, before. He mentioned why he had to reset reality afterwards. Apparently, Tyler with powers creates that huge an imbalance in Order/Chaos.

        It’s possible that the creation of the backlash-absorbing orb is a side-effect of that misadventure, now that I think about it. It’s more likely it’s many-eyes’s work, but…who knows? Well, aside from the author.

        1. Kytheros

          More specifically, Toby tried to use his powers (with the attendant Order/Chaos alterations and backlash) to give Tyler powers.

          If Toby’s figured out an alternative means of getting Tyler powers, such as through Power and Glory (or any other means than by directly employing his superpowers to give Tyler powers), there shouldn’t be an associated backlash that would require a reset of reality, though there may well be other costs and consequences associated with giving Tyler powers. Toby might’ve made a deal with Power and Glory to swap them the Chaos Orb in exchange for empowering Tyler, or Toby might have an alternative method – ie, Toby might be smart enough to use his powers to create a chain of events that result in Tyler getting powers, or enable Tyler to develop powers or provide Tyler the undeveloped and untrained potential for powers/magic/etc without straight up giving him fully fledged superpowers. And the Order/Chaos backlash would probably be significantly less severe for an indirect and/or incomplete empowering of Tyler, or at least, the backlash, however severe, might not warrant a reality reset and might be within the range of outcomes Toby would consider acceptable for Tyler getting powers.

        2. Segev

          Oh, sure. I mean, if he’s not using his powers to give Tyler powers, that won’t trigger a backlash.

          I thought you meant using the Chaos Orb to give Tyler powers.

          I wonder what would have happened if he’d given Tyler powers now that his backlashes are “contained….”

      2. Nobody

        Faust, not really, if the reason he has to stay away from it is it is trying to rebond with him, and Tyler is “close enough” to absorb it and get chaos powers. Then the powers would be bonded to a “Toby” and wouldn’t be trying to get to him anymore.

  3. HEB807

    Why did she call Toby “Quantum” I thought that his hero name was Absolute Powers or Kid Powers untill he was a little older?

    1. TheGalator

      Option One: It’s a nickname.
      Option Two: Aaron made a mistake.

      1. Jon S.

        Can’t cite the page offhand, but I do seem to recall his being called “Quantum Powers” before…

    2. Kytheros

      After learning more about his powers, especially the backlash component, the parents might’ve gotten Toby a Hero-Name change from Absolute Powers to Quantum Powers.

      Or it’s a screwup. Or it’s a retcon, and the pages with “Absolute Powers” weren’t changed.

    3. TemperaryObsessor

      I think they changed his name for now, or gave him a second name. Possibly because they heard that the phrase isn’t, Absolute power makes you absolutely awesome.

  4. Nobody

    Given how many people have called him “quantum” this arc, “Absolute” may be the mistake.

    1. Prairie Son

      Absolute is what his parents called him after knowing him about three hours. Actually, since the name was already registered, that’s probably what they planned to name Tyler.

      Toby may well have renamed himself as part of establishing his own identity (much like replacing the ‘Tyler’ with ‘Toby’)

  5. Merlin

    Hm. Discharging the orb at stuff might actually be a safe way of containing it as it builds – the problem in containment is that it keps getting stroger as Quantum uses his powers, however the backlash is usable in that form, if you have the smarts to do it.

    My feeling is that Quantum ideally should seek to use the action and reaction of both his power ‘sides’ so that both sides create the effect wanted together. However, if Aaron intends for them to be by definition irreconcilable, then we might never see that.

  6. Dragons'Mom

    Pistonic may have a terribly hero name, but she has a terrific costume.

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