This week's Poll Position is all about the gear:
Discussion after the jump.
The two key aspects to this in my opinion are that first, the item is for your exclusive use, meaning you can't manufacture more of it for sale. So picking something hoping to strike it rich as an inventor/industrialist is out, as is hoping to mass-produce something beneficial for the great unwashed masses. And second, you can't make more of whatever it is, so if you use it all up or break it, you're up the creek.
With that in mind, let's take a look at each option in turn.
- Batman's utility belt: Chock full of interesting bits, you get a lot of bang for your buck with this choice. We'll stipulate that you get to pick which of the thousands of devices ol' Bats has whipped out of that thing over the years in all the variety of media, so you've got some latitude. Unfortunately a lot of what he uses is skill-dependent; batarangs are neat, but not much use if you don't know how to throw them.
- Excalibur: Again, we'll stipulate that you get to decide which version of the legendary sword you get. As arguably the mightiest weapon in history, this has a lot of appeal, although in a world without kings I don't know how useful it'd be on a day to day basis.
- Iron Man's armor: This is the reflex choice because with it, you basically become an instant super-hero. But one thing keeps me back -- what's it plug into? ...
- Legion flight ring: I don't believe the flight rings need any power source, so unlike the Tony Stark wannabes out there, you're not going to come falling out of the sky doing your best impression of Galileo's rocks. And being able to fly with just your body as your vehicle would be awesome. For sheer unadulterated joy, this one's got to be right at the top.
- Night Owl's airship (from Watchmen): You can fly, which is great, and it's stealthy, which is even better, and it shoots fire, which is best of all. And from what I remember it runs on either compressed hydrogen or plain old electricity, ubiquitous thanks to Dr. Manhattan's intervention. But again, if it breaks you're SOL, and there's no guarantee you'd be able to find a compatible fuel source. So, a risky choice. Plus you have to know how to pilot it, which could get a bit dicey.
- Silver Surfer's surfboard: We'll assume that you don't get the full Power Cosmic, just the ability to fly around in any environment without getting harmed. This is better than the Legion Flight Ring in that sense, because you could go literally anywhere. But on the downside, you're flying around on a fricking surf board.
- Wonder Woman's magic lasso: Compel anyone to tell the absolute truth? Sign me up!
Looking over the list, I think I'd probably go with the flight ring. I've always thought it would be incredible to actually get to do that, to fly without any vehicle or big strapped-on jet-pack, just you and the sky ... man, that would be awesome. If you wanted to go into the super-hero trade, you could rig up a flight suit for high-altitude work, even probably a space suit to give NASA a hand getting us into outer space. Which would also be neat.
I'm tempted by the magic lasso, too, but you don't get to pick bugs out of your teeth when you're tying people up. Flight, that's for me baby!
Which would you choose?
