Summary
An Outlier is an event or incident that is considered to be completely and irreconcilably inconsistent with a character, entity, group, or series' normal displayed level of power. Outliers are often regarded as unusable in forum debates. However, efforts should be made to try to reconcile outliers with other canon information, and only very extreme examples should be classed as completely unusable. There are often disagreements regarding exactly what constitutes an outlier, and things that are considered as outliers by some might not be considered as such by everyone. Careful judgement should be used in all cases.
Specific Examples
- Black Panther restraining the Silver Surfer (See the image to the right above).
- Cyclops or Frankenstein's Monster harming Dormammu.
- Gambit defeating Gladiator.
- Captain America hurting Onslaught.
- The Hulk being defeated by an ordinary python snake, or severely harmed by a gorilla.
- Thor being rendered unconscious by a shot from a handgun.
General Examples
It is common within fiction that the Powerscaling is extremely incoherent and often out of context with other reliable information. This can often make it extremely difficult to decide how to properly handle the scaling in question. Characters recurrently put a great amount of effort into attacks with much lesser destructive results than casual ones that they have performed on other occasions, and the same principle applies when avoiding projectiles or other speed feats.
Some examples:
- Marvel and DC Comics have been in business for over 80 years and have had several hundreds of writers who constantly contradict each other in terms of continuity, characterisation, raw power levels, and how the characters compare to each other during confrontations. The same characters have recurrently ranged between struggling with low-level feats, such as cracking walls, lifting small boulders, or withstanding regular handgun fire, to causing a universal scale of destruction or fighting cosmic entities. As such, we have tried to find a balance between each of the extremes by estimating considerably higher than average, but not outrageous, statistics backed up by consistent feats of this scale, which has been very difficult to do, and it is still a work in progress. See the Power-scaling Rules for Marvel and DC Comics page for more information regarding the topic.
- Several of the most iconic force wielders in the Star Wars series have repeatedly been shown as not having very different physical statistics than regular marines and bounty hunters who cannot use The Force, as well as having problems fighting smaller vehicles and ships. However, the same Jedi and Sith also have feats that far surpass any Tier 9 or 8 machines and soldiers, and Jedi masters have effortlessly overpowered the strongest non-force users on other occasions. It is also important to note that Jedi have a code of honor that forbids them from using their more extreme powers except in dire emergencies. On the other hand, there have still been many occurrences of Jedi being killed by very low-level attacks, despite that there would be little to no logical justification for this to be the case.
- In a lot of video games, such as the Mario Bros and Kirby franchises, even the most low-level flunkies and mini-bosses tend to be able to defeat the protagonists with just a few basic hits during game play, or to be treated as being on an almost level playing field during sports events. It is also common that the protagonists can be killed or knocked out by comparatively very minor impacts, despite that the lore and cutscenes have displayed numerous planetary and interstellar feats. However, the regular fodder enemies have very poor feats and combat records compared to the main characters, so scaling the former to the latter should not be an accepted practice.
- Most verses tend to be extremely inconsistent regarding conventional firearms. Characters with reaction speed and durability feats that enormously surpass those of any man-made weapon, have often been blitzed and severely harmed by regular bullets. Although piercing damage is a legitimate part of real world physics, that we have unfortunately not been able to properly incorporate into our system for practical reasons, it is often exaggerated in fiction to the point that almost any character without some form of metallic body protection will usually treat lead bullets as a lethal threat. This should also not be taken seriously for scaling purposes.
Guidelines
Here are some guidelines for how to recognise outliers. Fulfilling all 5 of the requirements at once should not be necessary in order to qualify, and our members should try to use their common sense regarding what seems reasonable in each specific case, depending on to how extreme degree the respective categories have been fulfilled in combination.
1) Is it a big jump or drop in power? If a character with several city destruction feats is shown to be able to destroy a mountain, we cannot necessarily consider it as an outlier, for the reason that the jump between tiers is not extreme enough to be so, despite the jump between energy values we attribute to them. If the character has very few feats, we can likely ignore this point.
2) Is it a unique or exceptional incident? If incidents of a similar level are repeated consistently over time, they are unlikely to be outliers. Usually, from the third incident onwards. If the character has very few feats, we can also likely skip this point.
3) Is the event unexplained and unjustified? If an extreme incident is not accompanied by any kind of explanation that justifies it, it is probably an outlier. But if it can be explained by means of some power-up, vulnerability, or limiter, it is likely not. If Superman is wounded by a bullet, it's probably an outlier. But if Superman was under the influence of red sunlight or was previously weakened with Kryptonite, it is not.
4) Does the event break the previously established power-scaling? Here we must take into account a number of factors, such as comparable characters possessing feats or statements of a similar level to the hypothetical outlier, the outlier not being supported by fights that might suggest a similar level, or subsequent events or statements that contradict it in some way.
5) Does the event break with the narrative of the work? Many times an outlier breaks with what has been previously established or shown in a work, creating inconsistencies that are difficult to resolve unless we invalidate one of the two events. If, for example, a character claims not to be able to dodge bullets, even though he was previously seen dodging them explicitly, we are faced with a contradiction where we will probably have to resort to using the more reliable evidence.