Your Character's Favorite Weapon?

The name says it all folks. What is yoiur character's favorite signature weapon, what does it look like? What are its functions?

In the event that you don't have a favorite weapon, list a signature attack unique to your character!

I'll go first...

Favorite Weapon: My signature Scyth. The entire thing is made of a mysterious material which cannot be affected by reality, thus making it indestructable and able to cut through just about anything. (The air compresses around the entire thing, allowing you to grip it, and cut through stuff with it.) The black shaft, which is ten feet tall, has several multi-colored gems in it with various purposes and functions, from force fields, to kinetic shaft blades, flux beams, and so forth. At the top of the shaft is a single fanged skull with glowing purple eyes. The blade of the scyth is five feet long, and has various glowing tribal runes etched into it. The entire scyth glows softly with a blood red aura.

Favorite Attack: Lord H'taed's "Avatar of Cataclysm." He rockets up into the air, and explodes in a giant sun of pure electrical might, this sun then emenates tendrils of electricity from miles around, super accelerateing everything within the radius, which freezes time. He then conjures giant electrical hurricane around himself, accompanied with thousands of arcs of lightning focused around him, topped with a tornado made of energy. He then conjures two of his signature electrical mud bombs, only he makes them the size of large cars. To finish the whole thing off, he conjures the mighty Avatar of Lightning, fuses with it...

And then he descends upon his target with all of that. The second he reaches the target, time unfreezes, and he shouts...

"AVATAR OF CATACLYSM!"

Just before everything explodes and pretty much disintergrates/incinerates/explodes/implodes everything within a considerable radius. He has only used this attack once ever in his entire life.

Those were mine personal favorites, and examples for the rest of you. So anyways...Anybody else?

Oh, I like that!

I'd just like to point out that:

[ QUOTE ]
The entire thing is made of a mysterious material which cannot be affected by reality, thus making it indestructable and able to cut through just about anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's more or less how I view it, as well.

Since I don't have "my character" among the group I have made, I choose my namesake - Samuel Tow to talk about.

His signature weapon is a crystal-bladed katana with a mechanical handle. I'd like to go into a bit of detail about it.

The crystal the blade is made out of is impossibly strong, able to hold the shape of a blade much sharper than any metel could ever acheive. Metal bends and compresses, so there's only so sharp you could make it before the edge of the blade becomes too soft to cut. The crystal is hard enough to sustain an almost perfectly sharp edge. This sharpness and its physical strength allow the blade to cut through any material short of the same crystal.

As an added bonus, the sides of the blade are covered by microscopic spikes and blades, breaking down any surface that comes into contact with the sides of the blade to be shredded into a fine dust. This allows the blade to slip effortlessly through meterial under high pressure without getting stuck. It also makes the blade itself impossible to grab, as it would take the skin off the palm of your hand if you try to touch it.

The handle of the katana has a powerful and calibrated electro magnet, that can be remote activated. Once activated, it can return the sword to Sam's magnetic glove from a considerable distance. That allows him to regain possession of the sword remotely and quickly should he be disarmed in combat. The handle also has a tracking device, allowing him to locate his sword should he ever lose it.

As for a signature attack, this is where physics goes out the window. Through his power, Sam has gained impressive power and incredible speed. By performing a strike just right, he can create a directed shockwave that extends in the arc expanding along the plane of the strike. The shockwave's head is so thinly concentrated that it could cut through most materials you're likely to encounter. The benefit of this is that it expands as it moves, allowing Sam to cut objects (or enemies) far too large to be affected by a direct strike, and it can also strike targets at a considerable range and, most importantly, out of melee range. The bad side is that it's difficult to produce, very exhausting and not nearly as strong as a direct sword attack. It also diminishes in strength the more it expands and the further it travels, so the harder the targer, the closer he has to be to affect it. It also has the tendency to bounce off hard or resonant objects in unpredictable ways.

Does that count?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

It counts. Anything can go here!

...Spikes.

More explanation? Okay.

Experiment 2.0's 'weapons' are spikes created from the same type of experiment, although slightly more 'prototype-y,' of the Paragon Protector project. His main nemesis can be blamed for that. Genius doctor, loves robotics and science, very shiny, yadda yadda. His dark powers kept the formula from taking over his body, but it gave him powers.

The spines themselves are pretty much super strong. They can be altered at will, able to be tipped with poison, acidic substances, or just be very pointy. Experiment prefers the pointy-poison tipped ones. They are definately not indestructible, but they are durable. For instance, they can be used in a sword fight, but they would eventually break.

For example, in the City of Zombies thread, the fact that the zombies are stiff and strong causes the spines to break quickly while battling them. However, he has an infinite supply of the things since they are organic.

A nice feature of the spines is the organic strands that can attach to 2.0's arms to create on-the-spot grapple hooks or auto-tier-uppers. Let's take Leogunner's thread for instance. As Experiment fell, he fired a spine at one of the overlooking ninja. Granted, of course, the thing isn't fullproof, as his miss and following buried-by-rubble state showed, but still...

[Edit] Oh, and since I just read we can use signature attacks...

You know the Tech's origin power, the Taser? Think of that, but then supercharge it and have it take a while to power up. Experiment pulls two wires from his belt, and slides them in and out of his fingers. It only works in the red armoured suit, as it causes static when the tips collide and hit the metal surface.

Once thrown, and if they hit, they send jolts of electricity coursing through the target. Every limb will be paralyzed and the target will be unable to move for almost five seconds if fully powerful.[/Edit]



And, because I want to reveal it because whenever I use Shimmer, either the story dies or he doesn't come out in person, Dr. Shimmer's weapon; An advanced Black Scorpion Mace!

No, he doesn't work for Arachnos. Think of it as a highly advanced technological weapon similar to the one you get from Black Scorpion's PPPs. However, the mace is able to continuously fire beams of energy, smash with energy-powered strength, and use all of the functions that the Robot Mastermind's blaster does.

His faithful servant, the Assault Prototype III, uses said blaster rifle. However, it has a sniper scope, and is known for its amazing ability to... Overheat very quickly.

I will probably think of more later.

I enjoy sharing, especially if people are willing to listen. I really like my main character’s weapons even if its cliché.

Ian, like several good swordsmen, has (or had) two swords. The first is a traditional katana custom made for him so the size, weight, curvature, etc. is perfect for his stature. The composition is not special, just a well made katana constructed through traditional methods. What makes the sword special is what the swordsman puts into the sword. Just as his teacher taught him, Ian created an emotional bond with his sword (which he calls Tiger Fang) so the sword is almost alive and apart of him.

All that is needed to be done is find an emotion you want to share with the sword and the bond can be formed through meditation. Ryjuta, Ian’s teacher, left it up to him to decide what emotion to choose so he naively chose fierce anger. As Ian becomes more angry, the sword feeds on that anger and grows sharper, assuring that his mind isn’t overcome by that anger. Also, if the sword draws blood, even of the wielder, the blade grows hotter which makes it easier to cut through things. Not to mention the sword is as strong as the will and spirit of the person its bonded to, allowing the blade to seem extremely impervious to bending, breaking, dulling or chipping although its still vulnerable.

Ian’s second sword is not really even a sword. His bokken, or wooden sword, has many abilities all its own. Carved from an ancient tree with an arrow in it, the wood has strange properties to feed off of prevalent energies. Having trained with the bokken for years to learn Ryjuta’s techniques, Ian’s chakra is infused with every fiber of the wood so that the bokken looks like wood but is literally solidified spirit energy. It can never be broken unless faced with a foe with stronger spirit energy than himself although he himself could break it easily with two hands. Having focused so long to learn Ryjuta’s elemental techniques, the sword tends to absorb fire, lightning, energy, negative energy, spirit energy, radiation, etc. but ineffective vs. cold, telekinetic and/or sound. With practice, Ian can focus his chakra through the sword to make his sword strike stunningly powerful and capable of cutting through material more cleanly than a traditional sword (far more than what would be expected from a sword of wood).

As far as techniques, all my characters have some kind of ‘technique’ that I simply adore the idea of which is why I keep the characters as concept.

Ian has a lot of techniques and combination techniques but my favorite, although not his most powerful, is the combination technique Hidden Dragon Strike. First performed in a thread was in 24 Hour Virus, it combines Gambler’s Cut and [/i]Soaring Dragon[/i]. Gambler’s Cut creates spirit projections of Ian, completely indistinguishable by any sensory instruments or senses but smell, touch or taste(not even telethapy could distinguish them) although they cannot affect anything, around the target. It’s a gamble because you only have time to attack or block one or two of them(as an AoE attack would be too slow to execute and trying to escape would simply leave you open from all sides) if you pick the right one, the attack is thwarted but if you fail the attack will hit dead on. Ian then performs a Soaring Dragon which is a powerful upward slash that knocks the enemy into the air.

Then Magitech Maiden MKI has an interesting technique that I haven’t posted but will be her signature attack. The Super Pinball Blast Zone technique combines her barrier creating capabilities and her energy orbs. She starts off by making an enormous orb of energy, about 10x the size of her body, then throws it up. Just as the orb leaves her hands, she crouches down and barriers of elastic energy surround and entrap her enemy or enemies(usually about 20 yards around the enemy). After enclosing the enemy, she then begins creating tubes and walls to bounce the orb she threw up into the contained area. When the orb finally enters the contained area and explodes, the barriers stretch to contain the blast. They stretch and stretch and stretch and stretch until finally the force is bounced back, causing something like an implosion which then reverberates through the ground which pretty much does away with the force barrier and uplifts the ground in huge chunks.

Then Jase has…oh and Hyun-ki has…don’t forget about MSMKII and Ian still has like three other really cool ones and and and….

Ah, weaponry!
I'll start small, with my oft-unused Nicholas Sarder.
He carried a weapon I wish they'd add to the game: a single pistol, a modified Desert Eagle called "Harbinger". It's specially designed with electromagnets and, given his power, he doesn't need a battery.

Asuka Tendou's (Sacred East Wind) katana, Rensai, is your typical demon-possessed Katana, except it feeds on demonic energy. The blade is made from steel, but is reinforced by ward spells to keep the demon from escaping.

Reishi's blade Kamui is immensely powerful, as well as being very large. It's about the size of a surfboard, and very sharp with hook-like indentions along the blade. She likes the weapon mostly because it can be dissolved into pure energy (Kamui means "Power of God") and absorbed into her body, increasing her strength, speed, and regenerative abilities. She doesn't use it very often, however, given she prefers to use her fists. The cumbersome size of the blade makes it less than ideal for anything short of slaying giant monsters.

El Guapo Grande's invulnerable underpants. Nuff said.

Helshezag buys hideously low quality $20-40 swords out of catalogs, by the dozen. With the number of blades he's broken fighting robots and other menaces that swords are generally not designed to contend with, he decided that expendability was more important to him than quality. His own abilities make up the difference long enough to get the job done, usually. After all, while cliche holds that crime doesn't pay, stopping it isn't the most lucrative activity, either, and he's a very long way from being made of money.

Claws's weapon is pretty obvious, the devil is in the details. His claws are made of an advanced ceramic/titanium alloy, with electrodes running along the back of the blades, which he uses to launch electrical arcs from them. They are sheathed in the forearms of his cybernetic arms and are just over a foot long. If they are damaged in any way(not too likely to happen)he can resheathe them and let the nano-machines in his arms get to work repairing them. He designed the claws himself, modeling them after those of a certain comic book character after realizing the efficiency of the design. His arms are made out of the same material as the claws, so far he has not encountered anything capable of penetrating them, or the small shields he installed on the back of his forearms. The only downside to his claws(aside from possible copyright and patent issues)is the fact that if the motors in his arms were to ever be shorted out the claws will be stuck in whatever position they were in at the time. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but have you ever tried eating with 15 inch long claws jutting out of your hands?

((As soon as I have more time I'll use him in a RP, but my current schedule would cause me to fall way behind the thread, I've tried already and thats exactly what happened))

Epiyon’s favorite “weapons” are a pair of energy manifested swords. He prefers to use these twin swords over his ranged abilities. They are manifested to appear like your standard katana in size and shape.

Epiyon charges his opponent and does a soccer style bicycle kick. The kick is enhanced with his energy manipulation powers and thus his foot glows. He connects with his opponent with such tremendous force that they are rocketed into the air.

Epiyon then teleports directly up to them and manifest his swords. Using his energy powers, he propels himself in a serious of strikes on his enemy. He usually hits his enemy 10-12 times before he’s done.

He finishes up by channeling a massive energy power burst style attack and unleashes on his opponent. The burst launches his opponent back towards the ground. When they impact, the force of the impact creates a large crater and a sock wave is released from the impact site damages anything in the near vicinity.

Epiyon then teleports back to the ground to survey his opponent.

My favorite weapon is.... PITY !!

(Otherwise known as "Taunt", but I add lots of comments and wise-cracks-full-of-pity to my Taunts.)


<grin!>

The weaponn im Gonna talk about is Gideon's sword Nazarene

To start Nazarene was Made with Christs' essence. It is an unknown metal that is unbreakable. The sword only appears when Gideon summons it and no evil can hold it. The sword Can cut ethereal creatures and shoots bolts of lightning. Another special property it has is that it can heal or ressurect a person. after all it was made with christs essence. The sword basically has the power of creation in it. which is why it can heal or resssurect.

Never could show it off in CoH, but The Speeding Skull's original weapons were a three foot length of chain and a sharpened crowbar he'd wield from the back of his motorcycle. Always thought the image of a guy dressed in an armored skeleton costume charging at you form atop a motorcycle with a crowbar raised above him, ready to hook you with it would be a damn terrifying sight to behold.

And yeah, this is my *hero* toon!

-Skull

The Emerald Claymore's Emerald Claymore

The sword itself dates at least 800 years (I’m trying to remember my Scot’s history). The metal is not a ‘natural’ metal and has been imbued by a combination of druidic magic, early Christian blessings, and faerie seelie magic. It is semi-intelligent and chooses its own master. It likes the MacBain blood (the early Christian priest who blessed it was THE first MacBain – the MacBains descended from priests. The first wielder was his son.)

Over the years, many different members of the MacBain family has been chosen by the Emerald Claymore. One fought beside Robert the Bruce; another by Bonnie Prince Charlie. The most recent fought against Germany in World War II.

The Current wielder is Ross MacBain. Normal high school student from Zamata, MN. Went to Scotland during junior year. Went to where the MacBains come from. In the crypt of an old church, a door opens for him, and there he finds the ancient clan claymore – the Emerald Claymore. Gifted him with various auras, armor, instinctive fighting abilities, and the ability to leap long distances. It is a magical transformation: he stores the sword in his spine – merely touching it to the back of his neck. When he draws it out, he can choose when his costume looks like/or mend it, and when he replaces it, he can choose what civilian clothes he is wearing.

He's now a Junior at Paragon University.

Pyrotenix's Will of the Phoenix

The attack starts off with Pyrotenix increasing the temperatrue of the surrounding area (around 200 feet), any foes caught in the area will have their essence, in the form of a blue flame, taken from them and enters his body, which adds a bonus to his damage.

He then takes flight into the sky (50 feet into the air), concentrating his body's energy into his attack, his body erupts with intense heat, and fireballs (depending on how many enemies there are) fly from his body and impact on the enemies desinigrating them to dust.

Well, since none of my CoH based characters use actual weapons per se, I'll go off my character in the D&D based story I'm writing *rustles around papers looking for the character sheet, here we go...*

Weapon "Keorin": Dual edged crystal bastar.d (stupid censored) sword. The blade is made of a deep violet crystal, with an inset diamond edge. It's as hard as any metal, but the crystal allows for easier channeling of psionic powers. The blade is attached to a "X" shaped guard. The points of the "X" are sharpened and pointed towards the end of the blade. Not only does it help in defense, it also works for offense too. Continuing down is a leather wrapped handle, ending in a pommel carved into the likeness of a demons claw, grasping a black sapphire.

She doesn't have a signature attack, but being a Psionic Warrior, she compliments her swordmanship with psionic powers, her favorite being Burrowing Bonds (look it up if you don't know )

Hm... Randall Grey's favorite weapons are his BARE HANDS!

They are composed of bone, skin, muscle, arteries, capillaries, veins, that material fingernails are made of, a little fat, and hair. Each hand has five fingers, each with three flex joints, which he uses to bend bars, lift cars, and they curl up into face-sized fists which he uses to smash through said faces when they belong to people who are seriously aggravating him. The fingers are roughly "Sausage" thick, and he's been known to bore through robot faceplates with his thumb (well, physics disagrees, the faceplates tend to crinkle around the thumb, as his collection of broken Fake Nemesis masks can attest to...).

hmm, I'd have to chose 2 RP characters:
-----
Lilly Amanda Powers(very young villian child):

Primary Weapon: Cuteness..
She uses it to lure common street thugs into fighting for her protection and the whims of childish yet deadly games with other creatures she encounters.

Secondary Weapon: A pair of modified .50 Desert Eagles...
Gifts from her overprotective Aunt Dorothy. They are a bit big for her, knocking her down when used. Also very heavy and hard to aim, but full auto helps with that a bit.

-------

Nathan Stone aka HCA 01(hero):

He carries a big double bit axe. One side is dulled and rounded to not cut targets. This allows him to simply bludgeon them into submission without too permanent of injury. The other side is a specially hardened alloy that requires a diamond file to resharpen. He keeps a very keen edge on it for slicing through machines and especially resilient or undead biologicals.

Hah! I added statistics to Will of the Phoenix.

[u]Will of the Phoenix[u]
PBAoE, +Damage Extreme Damage, Very Long Recharge

Thats easy: My energy absorbing power suit...<cough>...err..ok fine:


Sense I am a guy that shoots pure energy out of my hands and stuff i need something to store it in and let it out in bursts. But occasionally i let it all out in one giant beam: "Ion Beam" Its impossible to see because it would blind you if you stared at it (i wear special sun glasses) thus it looks like everything goes White but its just a single beam that turns anything it touches into...nothing.. dust is too big so lets say atomic particles. ^.^

Autonomous Prime has a new ability he did not have in the late 1970's. When with certain allies((those who have given him at least 3 buffs)), he can call upon a super mode known as the Omega Savior Form. This golden power not only makes him look cooler, it also exudes Awesome Energy, a type of energy given off by Awesome Beings, such as:
Metatron, Yahweh's giant robot/scribe from whom Autonomous Prime recieved his power...
Thor, the tough-as-nails Norse thunder god...
...and Bruce Campbell, B-movie actor extraordinaire.

I'll lead with.. Cav.

Cav uses a pair of pistols that were crafted by himself, in a moment of divine inspiration and the dictates of an unknowable muse. His dual weapons are actually somewhat more famous than he is, though their carrier is quite skilled with them. They serve a dual purpose: a focus for his combat magics, and exquisite magical weapons. The names for this pair of weapons (Tragedy and Comedy) come from Cav's taste for Shakespearean literature.

He is right hand dominant, and favors Comedy's nickle-plated form in that hand. Known to some as a philosophical manifestation of life, some as Mind's Weapon, and some as 'owhurtee!'. Comedy does, in fact, represent life, the mind, and the spirit, and is used as a focus for those magics (Heartbreaker (aka Weaken), Soul Shell (aka Alkaloid), and The Wakeup (aka Antidote)). As a weapon, Comedy, when fired as a weapon alone, inflicts pain. When fired with Tragedy, it prevents death, while sapping the target's strength. Someone struck with Comedy will recover from any wounds inflicted by the twin pistols, even if the shot would normally be fatal. Comedy inflicts no physical damage - the bullet turns to kinetic energy on impact and deals a significant amount of crushing damage, without penetration.

Tragedy is his other weapon. Known to some as Deathbringer, some as Heartseeker, and some as 'OH **** STOP SHOOTING ME', Tragedy is decidedly more lethal than Comedy. Done in ebony gunmetal, Tragedy is the death to Comedy's life, the flesh to Comedy's spirit, and the instinct to Comedy's mind. As a focus, Cav uses it for magics that attack the body (Heartstopper (aka Paralytic Poison), Armor Breaker (aka Envenom)). As a weapon, Tragedy is lethal. Alone, it is a fiercely lethal weapon - it will literally burrow into the flesh of those it strikes, seeking their center, in order to cause the most damage possible. Paired with Comedy, the weapon is nonlethal, but wickedly painful, burrowing straight through, even if armor would usually stop its advance. Tragedy's shells have, on occasion, been known to explode into a blast of electrical agony..

The weapons are keyed to Cav in a huge array of ways - they will not function in the hands of another, except as well-made Berettas with extended magazines. The weapons must be kept together, or they will not function... and they have been known to fight hard against the idea of being touched by those who keep darkness close to their heart..

Psykera's favorite weapon is her right foot. She has had her boots reinforced, and uses them to kick people. In the nuts.

Her signature attack is to stride into a room, force field deflecting all manner of projectiles flying at her, and unleash a psionic torrent. It pretty much turns anyone in her line of sight into a vegetable. I envision this looking like Terrify, but much bigger, and probably tinged red. Psy would only use this attack in dire circumstances, or if she was unimaginably angry.

Major Hellsborough's weapons of choice are a pair of dartguns of his own design. They can be wielded like dual pistols, and can be loaded with various types of poison darts. Choice posions include neurotoxin to severely disable the target's offensive abilities (Weaken) and an acidic compound that eats through armor and shields (Envenom). He also possesses a large weapon similar to a flamethrower or an N2 cannon, which mists a canister of neurotoxin to spray a large group of enemies.

For a "signature attack" I'd have to envision the Major headshotting an armored Rikti with an acid capsule, and then ordering his sniper, Sgt. Menchez, to put a few rounds through the weakened helmet.

Blazing Gunn prefers his military issue MP5. Not much to add there.

Rensa Dorei's weapons are his robotic arms, which have extendable claws able to slice clean through bone. His AS move is to sneak up behind someone, gently place his hand an inch from his target's vital organs, then extend the claws just as he puts his other hand over his target's mouth to muffle the scream. His taser darts are fired from the slits between the claws and RP-wise doubles as his 'placate'.

Angekettet has a katana that Dr. Vahzilok gave her that came from a rookie hero who stepped inside the sewers and never came out except as a Cadaver. It's only special property is that it never dulls or rusts.

October Raven's weapon is his psychic vampirism. He uses dark tendrils to drain people's lifeforce and keep him healthy. When not in combat, the lifeforce drain is minimal, but in combat he takes much more, enough to knock out his targets for some time. When facing creatures without lifeforce (Zombies and robots) he corporealizes shadows and uses them like a set of claws.

Joey Sporgenza has a pair of Walter PPKs.

Not a CoH character YET, but my Champions character Shift has a prototype pistol given to him from a millionaire who's daughters life Shift saved. The weapon has acid bullets, grenades, armor piercing bullets, laser guided bullets, a five-round burst mode, a five-round burst of rubber bullets, webbing bullets, nitroglycerin bullets, and two others that I forgot what they do and the GM has my character sheet.

EDIT- I think in CoH/V I'll make Shift a Martial Artist instead to keep with the original character concept. I made him a gunslinger in Champions as we have a guy who has melee more than covered in the team.

Cedric Grey's favorite weapon is his Praetorian's Axe. Why his Praetorian's Axe? Because Cedric the Gray's soul (that is, the soul of the Praetorian) is trapped inside the axe, and he seems to feel pain whenever the blade hits something. However, the axe never suffers damage. Cedric doesn't knwo the reason for this, but he doesn't really care.

Incidentally, Cedric the Gray's soul wound up inside the axe because he decided (wrongly so) to duel Battle Maiden. Needless to say, it ended poorly for him, and she executed him with his own axe. At the time, it was little more than a SOul Drinker type cursed weapon. When it absorbed the full brunt of Cedric the Gray's magically charged being (Cedric uses natural training and technology to improve himself; Cedric the Gray used sorcery, especially to combat the effects of the SOul Drinker axe), it lost it's Soul Drinker capabilities (too much magic rolled into one enchanted object, plus, it was finally full *burp*).

Cedric got the weapon when he sucker punched a Warrior on his way through Atlas Park on the way to the Hollows. The curse on the weapon was determined by MAGI to be too light to be a major threat (a mild drain on the hero's energy levels... at first...) and Cedric found himself with a weapon and a calling ("I'm an invulnerable tanker with an axe! Whoo!"). It's believed that the axe may have been left behind when Battle Maiden was driven from this plane by another of Paragon's heroes.

When the weapon's true nature was discovered, Cedric was relieved of it briefly so MAGI could determine a way to safely remove Cedric the Gray's soul. However, during an emergency, Cedric Grey wound up destroying his replacement axe, and no other suitable weapon could be found. Cedric now resumes wielding the weapon his opposite's soul is trapped in. Cedric the Gray attempts to dominate the hero's mind, but Cedric knows he's there now. The chances of him being overwhelmed are slim to nil.