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The strain?

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:46 am
by love_of_bob
Has the strain Kurt experiences when using his powers to a high degree ever been completely defined? I understand that it's potentially lethal, but that it's also something the body can get used to, right?
Is it simply a matter of his body using up a lot of energy so he's spent? Does his blood pressure go through the roof?
When Rogue used his powers to teleport Nimrod's arm off, didn't she say the strain would have ripped her apart if she hadn't absorbed Colossus' metal form? I seem to recall Kurt describing it that way at some other point too - that it almost ripped him apart. Does that mean that it's an actual force tearing through him and not just him spending energy? What kind of physical damage does it create? Can it cause internal bleeding? Is it comparable to any strain or stress a human body can experience in real life?

Does anyone know or can anyone make a good guess? Has this been answered somewhere?

The strain?

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:00 am
by Bamfing_Bob
I can honestly say I have no real theories on the subject. I don't believe it has ever been defined; all I know is Kurt only feels a great deal of fatigue after a large display of power. I think of it as lifting weights. Small weights can be lifted easily and with little strain. Heavy weights require much effort and concentration and the strain is great. But this doesn't take any noticable toll on the body besides exhaustion. Now if you over do it, I suppose you could rip something but no such instance has occured with a teleport. Also, Kurt has been Bamfing since his teens; comparable to a professional body builder. If you get someone not accustomed to the force acting upon them, of course they wouldn't be able to handle it.

The strain?

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:44 am
by love_of_bob
Originally posted by Bamfing_Bob
I can honestly say I have no real theories on the subject. I don't believe it has ever been defined; all I know is Kurt only feels a great deal of fatigue after a large display of power. I think of it as lifting weights. Small weights can be lifted easily and with little strain. Heavy weights require much effort and concentration and the strain is great. But this doesn't take any noticable toll on the body besides exhaustion. Now if you over do it, I suppose you could rip something but no such instance has occured with a teleport. Also, Kurt has been Bamfing since his teens; comparable to a professional body builder. If you get someone not accustomed to the force acting upon them, of course they wouldn't be able to handle it.
I really wish they would define it better, though. One would think Hank would be all over him, having him teleport with an x-ray device or something, to find out the nature of the strain, at least out of scientific curiosity. As it is, it's so...vague. It's supposed to be something that can kill Kurt, but too often Kurt seems to be fine after just some rest. Take the instance in the First Foursaken arc of Uncanny as an example - Kurt teleports and the Watcher's presence amplifies the distance of the teleport, causing Kurt to collapse. Betsy remarks how the strain "almost killed" him. However, he doesn't exactly LOOK like someone who just almost died and after some rest, he's his usual sunny self. If Kurt can heal up that quickly from it, I'm not sure I feel the threat of the strain much.

The strain?

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:00 am
by Bamfing_Bob
Yeah, they are quite vague about it. It would be a cool science investigation. But I am just glad he does it. I'll leave it as an unsolved mystery.

The strain?

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:33 am
by JSherlock
Well, a quick trip to Wikipedia, gave me some information:

"He has been shown to be able to teleport distances of up to two kilometers, although it is at his extreme limit, and he can become severely fatigued if he tries to teleport that distance."

and

"The process of teleportation places a tremendous strain on his endurance...usually are weakened or even pass out from the strain."

and

"feel weakened and ill, to the point of exhaustion."

So, basically - it makes him tired. So I looked up exhaustion on Wiki and I got this:

"manifests as an overall, bodily or systemic, sense of energy deprivation."

and

"...be a protective mechanism to prevent organ failure ..."

Basically boiled down - fatigue exists so we don't kill ourselves - but if we're at the point of fatgiue we could die, since exaustion and fatigue are telling us to stop before it's too late.

I hope this has helped.

[Edited on 5/2/2007 by JSherlock]

The strain?

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:08 pm
by NachtcGleiskette
You rock JS :kiss

The strain?

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:01 am
by love_of_bob
Originally posted by JSherlock
(...)
Basically boiled down - fatigue exists so we don't kill ourselves - but if we're at the point of fatgiue we could die, since exaustion and fatigue are telling us to stop before it's too late.

I hope this has helped.

[Edited on 5/2/2007 by JSherlock]
You do, indeed, rock. Thank you! I guess that DOES settle it.

The strain?

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:28 am
by JSherlock
You're quite welcome! Yeah - he basically will die because it stresses his organs to the point that they shut down since they have used up all the energy that is available.

The strain?

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 9:00 pm
by BlueVelvet14
I can't tell you why he becomes tired, but I can tell you why people become sick after teleporting with him...

Kurt's teleports have the strong smell of fire and brimstone. Brimstone (or sulfur) has a smell reminicent to rotting eggs. When sulfur burns, the scent becomes extremly unbearable to the nasal passages and triggers a near vomitting reaction to the body and causes physical weariness. Burning sulfur can also kill you through asphyxiation(choking).
Why the scent does not affect Nightie: 1) He's gotten used to it over the years 2) IDK...

The strain?

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:15 pm
by Wish-I-Had-A-Tail
lol i guess for 2) its just... maybe his nasal physiology and olfactory senses are mutated as well :P it could happen, right?
also, does he have advanced hearing?

The strain?

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:44 pm
by Angelique
Brimstone and sulfur might not actually smell all that bad. Ever been in a hot spring?

The strain?

Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:26 pm
by Elfdame
I always assumed it had something to do with passing through another dimension, to which he was accustomed or even attracted (like, um, gravity or magnetism attracts), but that wouldn't "click" with anyone else. Of course, I stink at physics.

Forgot if they mentioned it in The Science Of The X-Men, but I think they did. Durn it. I read the Crawler section several times, too. But I've blinked since then.

The strain?

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:50 pm
by Garble
It makes sense Kurt is exhausting himself since he's the one opening the portal (2 portals actually since there's one to leave and one to come back), but the strain that others experience must be from actually passing through the portal(s).

I've always thought that the stress that Kurt's passengers experience is a kind of physical pressure and disorientation. If you ride with Kurt, you're actually squeezing through a hole in the universe into another dimension, traveling an undefined distance, and then squeezing back in. The closest real-world comparison I could imagine is what deep-sea divers go through when they experience extreme pressure changes, or when astronauts and fighter pilots experience strong g-forces.