How about sweats?

[Lupin]

It would have been interesting to see Bill breaking in "in the name of the law" in an emergency scenario just when Ralph was doing his laundry, with our Counsellor stopping the washing m/c to quickly dry the jammies by torsion.

[The J-Man]

Clearly the suit provides some degree of protection to body parts that it doesn't cover; at the end of "ToT" his head has been pushed clear through a brick wall. However, as we have seen, head trauma has also left him with amnesia once, and unconscious more than once. I imagine that his head and hands would be completely invulnerable if he had the instruction book.

As far as being able to use his powers with street clothes covering the suit, it seems to me that that was something he couldn't do voluntarily at the begining. Remember, he did involuntarily turn invisible with all his street clothes on at the end of "HLaY,K". Generally, he had to uncover the suit to use it's powers, or at the very least expose part of it: "200MaHFB", "TJnA", "Dreams". By "Desperado", Ralph was kicking some major badguy butt without exposing any of the suit! Again, I have to assume that if he had the instruction book, he would've been able to use all the suit's powers without removing any of his street clothes from the get-go. (not to mention the previously cited dialog from "L,MM")

[spcglider]

Just an interjection here:

Perhaps the suit is an extension of the will or even the personality of the wearer?

Ralph didn't necessarily believe that he could do all that stuff when he first started, but as he grew in confidence, the power of the suit's abilities did too.

I hate to use the term, but maybe it was more an issue of faith?

It could very well be that Ralph simply could not get over the idea that he could stop a bullet with his face... which means that he would have to do it some other way (like sheilding with his ams), but by the same token, he was perfectly able to accept that his hands were much more capable of sper abilities (don't we all envision ourselves bending steel with our bare hands or deflecting bullets with our hands like Superman?). It was a matter of his trust in himself to actually be able to USE the powers of the suit. thus the ever sliding scale of ability.

An odd situation, that, since it was Bill Maxwell who was SO overconfident in his abillities that he often ended up overreaching and looking like a fool. But conversely, Ralph actually HAD the powers to do all that stuff but didn't always have the confidence to make it stick.

I know, a little esoteric, but just a thought.

Gordon (a newbie here)

[greenguy]

spcglider said:

Just an interjection here:

Perhaps the suit is an extension of the will or even the personality of the wearer?

Ralph didn't necessarily believe that he could do all that stuff when he first started, but as he grew in confidence, the power of the suit's abilities did too.

I hate to use the term, but maybe it was more an issue of faith?

It could very well be that Ralph simply could not get over the idea that he could stop a bullet with his face... which means that he would have to do it some other way (like sheilding with his ams), but by the same token, he was perfectly able to accept that his hands were much more capable of sper abilities (don't we all envision ourselves bending steel with our bare hands or deflecting bullets with our hands like Superman?). It was a matter of his trust in himself to actually be able to USE the powers of the suit. thus the ever sliding scale of ability.

An odd situation, that, since it was Bill Maxwell who was SO overconfident in his abillities that he often ended up overreaching and looking like a fool. But conversely, Ralph actually HAD the powers to do all that stuff but didn't always have the confidence to make it stick.

I know, a little esoteric, but just a thought.

Gordon (a newbie here)

Good point. Nothing was made of this in the show, as the whole covering his head, or the possiblity of getting hurt as in Train of Thought was just a whole other way to make Ralph not a run of the mill super-hero. Also it allowed the writers a certain freedom of putting the character in jeporady, or to add a little bit of humor. Topics like this usually become pretty popular, and generate some good thoughts as to how the suit might have worked.

[jasonrobertyates]

Vanguard said:

Was it ever established that the suit doesn't work unless Ralph takes off his street clothes first?

in my fan fiction comics i am working on, the suit acts as a solar battery. it cannot work to its FULL capacity unless fully exposed. it ofcourse works at night....but you never know if the 'cells' are full. so why take the chance.....time to strip.

[spcglider]

Jason, you need to pick up the new INCREDIBLES DVD. There's a section where they have "files" about all the heroes in the Incredibles world. One of them has a solar powered suit and she complains horribly about it. Its REALLY pretty funny.

-Gordon

[jasonrobertyates]

Ha I just bought it last night. You must be talking about disc 2. I will have to check it out.