[Discussion] Cutscene Powers

[Venia Silente]

As many of us can likely confirm, there is a large difference between fiction and real life:

"Fiction has to make sense".

(Whoever said this, I'll hunt you down and eat you)
​

And yet, sometimes happens in interactive media such as videogames, but also in mediums such as television or *gasp* fanfiction writing, that a character who has shown a given level of skill or availability of techniques, suddenly finds themselves pinned down by a judo move with no immediate chance or escape, or $4.33 short from being able to pay the mortgage.

Then... something happens. These characters unlock a power or a resource that they don't otherwise use even in other similar situations. A special three-palms death thumb counter grip. A niece that works as a city council. A Kamehameha fired from the foot. The day is won in a short scene where most other characters don't have much agency, and then we get back to our everyday programme where the heroic character... forgot how to counter a judo lock or has issues paying the mortgage again.

These kind of weird events are called "Cutscene Powers" because they are not available to the characters during their normal narrative. Of note, they are not Deus ex Machina: they are not solutions to the overriding conflict of a story that come out of nowhere, but instead are powers or resources that are (informedly and) clearly within the character's reach and history, it's just they are somehow shelved off for 99% of the story.

Amusingly, Pokémon is a heavy sufferer from this: Ponyta in the games nor in the anime can jump across a hill, the world still exists despite Gardevoir being able to create black holes, and I can just easily apply a berry to cure my Pokémon from a Houndoom's supposedly never-ending burn wound.

So, now that we mentioned Pokémon, let's talk about yours! What do you think of Pokémon's Cutscene Powers in stories you have read? How about the ones you are writing, have you given your characters Cutscene Powers specifically and if so why?

I'm going to start by mentioning that back in my RPing days (offsite), Shahinne, one of my characters' Starly, had a definitively broken Double Team, capable of creating persisting clones that would sometimes fight for the position of the "top" (or even the "only"...) clone, and essentially giving Shahinne +12 Evasion because it was simply unworkable to find and hit the real one among the mess of clones. Was this ever used in combat when the main party was in trouble, the team's Starter was kidnapped, one of the other Pokémon was captured by the Hell MAFIAA or any other time the plot mattered? Nope, it was used to...

...deliver mailing notifications to the other player characters across the region regarding a few important plot developments they had to be present for.

(And to take over Fallarbor Town all on her own, but that's another story)

 

[gimmepie]

I, as a general rule, don't like this and consider it pretty bad writing under most circumstances (although the Starly sounds freaking hilarious). So I avoid it. In my fic my Pokedex entries tend to be a lot more "realistic" for the setting. Another method around it I like for Pokemon specifically is treating the dex descriptions as hyperbole taken from an unreliable source.

 

[Vragon2.0]

I follow the rule of thumb that the story should follow its internal world logic or sensibility rather than having to be realistic per se. That being said, these scenes can be hit or miss for me. A lot of it sometimes depends on how it is explored after the fact or something that can clue some sort of mystery, but generally if they aren't explained or delved into it kind of just diminishes tension or makes me wonder why it happened the way it did.

I think it's bad writing when you use something like this to get out of a corner you've written yourself in and do nothing else with it since it comes off as a pretty larger cop-out. In all fairness though (to realism as well), these situations can happen. Sometimes there are off days, but generally, they exist in people for reasons. If you don't give the reasons, don't be surprised if the reader feels like it just sort of is there to make up for having to do the extra work in making it work with the rules of the world and logic of the scene.

 

[moon]

I like it better if it's an idea the character gets in the critical situation, of how to use an existing power in a new way, or if it is a power they have kept hidden for one reason or another up until then and only now uses because there's no other way.

 

[CiCi]

I find it to be bad writing. I think things need to be set up, regardless of if your writing is realistic or not. I can't really call your Starly using double team differently as "cutscene powers", more so just your own canon of how the move works. So it's less of an asspull and more of just how it is in your own Pokemon universe.

But I've seen people try to use Chekhov's gun without having established a gun in first place; in that way, it comes from nowhere, not necessarily as a deus ex machina, but as something the writer should've set up earlier.

 

[Palamon]

Well, with Pokemon, honestly, it's Pokemon, So I'd excuse it since you have to be more creative with how to portray moves in writing, anyway. But, I think that having powers out of nowhere and not explaining it is just...nah.

I can think of one example where there was this dire situation in an officially written Pokemon manga. Ruby in the Adventures manga hiding a Celebi after all those years to save everyone from dying. Kept that secret sixth Pokemon hidden until the end of the manga... or is that an example of Deux ex Machina and not the cutscene power thing?

 

[Venia Silente]

I'm pretty sure something in the grade of Celebi is *literal* Deus Ex Machina, and I'm also pretty sure Celebi-in-a-hat was never explained, justified or even further explored, so, yeah it's either that or the Chekov's "Finger Gun" that CiCi mentions earlier.

 

[Bay]

As everyone else said, I prefer if there's a set up to when powers suddenly appeared. Otherwise, also similar thoughts to Riki/Skywalker.

For a Pokemon fic I think the closest I have to a "cutscene power" is it's revealed that one of Grimsley's Pokemon is revealed to be able to Mega Evolve but Grimsley stopped using it for a while. The Mega Stones and such were a gift from an ex that he still holds a grudge towards LOL. He had his Pokemon use Mega Evolution once more when he got himself into a battle and his Pokemon urge him to let her Mega Evolve.

For a non-Pokemon example, I did a fic where the world setting powers get passed down each generation. The main child character is unable to control his powers well, which frustrates him and causes him to run away. His parents find him go against a monster, and when they got hurt the main child's powers activated and he manages to land a good hit, only for him to still get hurt and his parents needing to save him haha.

 

[CiCi]

Chekov's "Finger Gun"

I love this and I'm going to start using it for poorly set-up/not at all set-up plot devices.