Vakamas Mask

[~Shockwave~]

i have a theory on vakamas mask power.the way it worked always bugged me, as if something's invisible it doesn't have a shadow.so i don't think the mask grants invisibility. at least not in the conventional sense.see, i think it grants a sort of active camo. or at least that's what my highly logical brain wants to think.allowing him to still create a shadow. (in theory) and be "invisible".well what do you think?does that even make sense?backup reasons:if he was actually invisible, light would pass cleanly through him. dictating that he cannot have a shadow.if its active camo-like it would make him a sort of HD screen. and the light would be blocked. in theory.i also checked for dupes.

[Axilus Prime]

That would make sense, but unlike Halo active camo it obviously doesn't give any sort of distortion. (Watched LOMN?) Then again, you never suggested it did. Very interesting way of putting it, though, and I'm eager to see Bonesiii's take on this.

[Nuparu1995]

I did wonder about that. But if it did cast a shadow, I imagine it would have been used as a giveaway for a Huna user at some point. Sounds like a good question for Mr. Farshtey.

[bonesiii]

I think that's a very plausible theory, maybe the correct one. There's strong evidence for it from the name Concealment, isntead of Invisibility, BTW. The idea that there would be a shadow never made much sense to me from the official explanation. I think it was just something that various fiction franchises have seized upon as an easy way to have a downside, without thinking it through really, and somehow it has just become a tradition. In the old days that sort of thing probably worked, but readers nowadays are more able to understand how these things would work in larger numbers.There are ways to make other methods have shadows though. If light either passes through intangibly or bends around, there could be a limit to how many photons the power could affect in these ways, so anything above that would have to be just absorbed, lest it bounce off and reveal the person. Thus a shadow is left. Direct sunlight is far brighter than the light bouncing off rocks, trees, the sky, etc. But this always seemed unlikely to me, especially with bending (the more popular explanation from what I've seen); the amount of light sent through a bending magnetic field in real life makes no difference; it's all affected, so why shouldn't it be in fiction?Active camouflage (assuming it can absorb light, and shine, when needed) by contrast is basically sending out an illusion in all directions of the background. In the case of the shadow, there is no background to show; the shadow is right on the ground, walls, whatever. Theoretically with a very advanced computer camouflage might be able to reach out and guesstimate at how to make an illusion that brightens the ground so there doesn't seem to be a shadow, but that would be a lot harder to do, maybe too hard. So yes, camouflage makes a lot of sense, as long as it's clear we're talking about a camouflaging illusion, not just color-changing paint.Another explanation is that it sends a telepathic illusion so targets' own brains handle imagining the background instead of the person, but I don't think this is likely, as brains are plenty smart enough to imagine no shadow.

Edited July 11, 2012 by bonesiii

[~Shockwave~]

right, not like a chameleon, i was thinking more of like what the Spartans use in halo.

[Katuko]

Yes, due to the shadow I've been thinking of it as some form of camouflage as well. It makes a lot of sense given how the power works otherwise, and it wouldn't stretch into harder-to-explain things like actually bending light.

[~Shockwave~]

i don't think saying it can bend light in any way would be a realistic way of discribing it.if it could bend light, it would essentially be a mask of light. or simaler to a noble version of it.

[Katuko]

Yes, that would be my point.

[~Shockwave~]

I see now.Or maybe I don't... (I couldn't resist...)

[darkslizer]

Ok, so I think that since it is called a mask of concealment instead of invisibility, I assume that it is more of a camouflaged than an invisible being. I don't really know for sure though, but I think some of the confusion is because of the creative liscense in the movie. In conclusion, I believe it is more like the Chameleon Makuta power rather than invisibility. Interesting, though.P.S.I see now.Or maybe I don't... (I couldn't resist...)Har dee har har.

Edited July 14, 2012 by darkslizer

[~Shockwave~]

Concealment, to say the least Is a bit unclear.It can mean anything from: being unseen, to being hidden, to being invisible. Yes, they all mean basically the same thing, but they are differant enough to merit an explanation.

[The Iron Toa]

I like this idea. Too bad there isn't any Story Squad canonization anymore.

[ActivePalpitation]

Has anyone checked if Vakama had a shadow in the last scene in LoMN, that might solve the problem

[Katuko]

He does. Most of the time he's shown only from the torso and up, but when he kneels to fire his disk launcher at the Vahi, his shadow - and not just the launcher's - is visible. Later, without his launcher, he also has a shadow beneath his feet. It's hard to see because the area is already dark, but it's there.

[~Shockwave~]

that's not surprising, it's a part of the masks powers.

[The Nold]

I've actually imagined the EXACT same theory very recently.