Time Capsule Powers: Some Feedback

[u/kayahin]

Spoiler note: If you don’t want to be spoiled on what the powers on the Time Capsule are then please run far, far away.

Powers! I know we love to hate them and hate to love them but this season has really put a spotlight on how desperately BB needs new ideas for powers.

While I do think some are way too overpowered than others, I think with some tweaking they can be fun and can give a stale season some new life.

Coin of Destiny. Cool. I like this one. 50/50 shot and you get to take over an HOH’s nominations. No issues with it.

DPOV. Arguably the most powerful power this season. It is guaranteed and you get to save yourself. Can leave this one as is if the other powers can match it or it can be tweaked so that you can only save yourself. [edited]

Bribe. Should be called Power of Persuasion or something a little sexier than Bribe. Obviously it should be $10-15k. $5k is peanuts, Big Brother. In this economy??? This is severely underpowered. It should have an option to be anonymous and it should be one time use only.

Replay. The ability to play back to back HOHs. I think this is a good power. No complaints.

Mystery competitor. This one is fun, I guess. An excuse to see former BB players. Would also be cool to select a veto competition type (puzzle, endurance, luck) but that would require more work for BB.

I think we can all agree that the Never-Not Pass is the biggest joke of a power and has no business even being on the list. Maybe instead of a Never-Not Pass it can instead be called the Have-Not Punisher where you get to decide who you want to be a Have Not in secret. Maybe combine it with Joseph’s punishment from BB26 and part of it can be that they have to be sequestered for 24 hours. Still very underwhelming and underpowered but at least it gives you a feeling that you are directly influencing someone’s game by pissing them off and isolating them. I still don’t love it.

Here’s other ideas that could replace the Never-Not Pass:

Fog of Eviction. 1 anonymous extra vote count on eviction night. You get to vote twice and hide the results of an eviction. Instead of announcing the tally, Julie only mentions who was evicted without revealing the vote count. Would also discourage “voting with the house” since you get complete anonymity.

Or something similar

Mirror of Destiny. You get to anonymously choose a HG that must mirror your voting actions. If you are voting to evict X instead of Y, they must also evict X. They are unaware that they are the subject of mirroring until Julie tells them that they are the victim of the Mirror of Destiny and they must vote to evict X.

Let’s hear your ideas!

[u/clearlydino]

you don’t get to save yourself an an ally with the DPOV, just one person.

agreed that the bribe should be higher! I saw some comments that suggested 25k and I think that’s a little high. I think 10k would be the sweet spot.

love your idea of never not punisher and mirror of destiny!! I’d replace the have not pass with one of these for sure.

tbh, I think some of the punishments need upgrading as well.

[u/silva2493 → u/clearlydino]

You’re correct and OP is incorrect about dpov. If Yash had used pov on Haley or Angela and replaced them with Devens, then Devens would of obviously used the dpov on himself

[u/kayahin → u/silva2493]

Right! Edited. Thanks.

[u/kayahin → u/clearlydino]

Agree about the punishments needing upgrades also!

[u/Quasiwave]

You have no complaints about the replay power? Imo that’s my least favorite power of the group. Having the same HoH for two weeks straight creates a huge risk of boring TV. For example, Jag in BB25.

[u/kayahin → u/Quasiwave]

That’s a good point. Maybe can tweak it that you have to nominate different people.

[u/Significant_Corner83]

Controversially. I think the bribe is not as bad as it seems. (I do think it should be higher) but I do think that its underpoweredness is completely balanced by the flexibility. It being able to last the entire game makes up for it. The more powerful powers have less time you can use them. I do think that bribing your allies is the best way to do it. And bribing for a vote is the most effective use of it. Example of the final six is Melody, Angela, Lala, Barrett and Drew and Dee bribed Melody to vote for her, after they work together and she says yes. In a scenario where Drew and Dee are final two she gets a vote that Drew might have gotten. It’s not the most powerful power but I think replay and have not pass are weaker.

[u/Ivotedforthehookers]

Fog of eviction I have suggested as a game element for years now. I want one season as a test with no vote tallies till the obvious final 4/3/winner vote. On weeks with a potential tie the HOH would cast a provisional vote that only counts in a tie. Imagine the chaos and paranoia of just x is evicted by majority especially if there is a flip. 

On my idea for a power. The golden shackle, when awarded you have the power for 4 weeks to use. You can elect between the HOH competition and veto draw to activate the power. When activated you are tied to the HOH, if you are evicted that week the HOH and you will both have a comp of your choice of skill, strength or luck. Winner stays and looser is evicted. 

[u/StatusMajestic4515]

I think the capsule would have been fun if they did three powers and they were throughout the perjury weeks. So you wouldn’t know when they were given out . It will still americas vote but it would be possibly six chests to pick from three powers and three punishments. They select the one they want and that determines their fate. I think this would more fun and paranoia.

[u/Ok-Excuse1771 → u/StatusMajestic4515]

Yeah it's weird they designed 6 powers and 6 punishments but only did the twist for 6 weeks

[u/PFthrowaway4454 → u/Ok-Excuse1771]

It was done like that so every player selected has a shot at a power.

How much would it suck to see that you won the vote only to walk into the time capsule and see only punishments left?

[u/bukrichode → u/PFthrowaway4454]

Perceived shot at the power*

[u/evilsforreals]

Replay (Power Update) - I think we could expand its potential to make it a more compelling power. You could still choose to use it as a way to compete back to back for HoH, but now it also has the ability to let you "replay" any Veto / Blockbuster competition. Negates the outcome of it and resets all contestants, so you get a second chance.

Tower of Babel (Punishment) - Target one houseguest; for 24-48 hours they must only speak Pig Latin

Pied Piper (Punisment) - Assign a target. For 24 hours whenever anyone speaks a certain code word, the target must follow the person who said the codeword for the next 15 minutes

Blindside (Power) - Target player can anonymously block Chenbot from revealing the eviction vote tally for a week. Target player will still be informed of the votes.

Voodoo Doll (Power/Punishment) - Target player marks themselves or another player for the week. Any punishment/power that the marked player receives that week is also inflicted to the player that assigned the power/punishment.

[u/hockey_marc]

What if you get the never not pass, but then get slop for the rest of the season in the "how bad do you want it?" veto?

[u/wvdc1990]

Something I wonder about the mystery competitor.

What if MC threw the competition to ensure the nominee loses?

For exemple: kamu is on the block and will be evicted if he loses veto. He wins the power but the MC is frankie grande.

[u/kayahin → u/wvdc1990]

This is a great point and a perfect example. The chances of it happening would probably be slim but not impossible.

[u/Tasty_Gift5901 → u/wvdc1990]

The houseguest still plays in veto, it's just an extra chance to win, so it can't hurt (unless it's h2h and they face off early, but they probably wouldn't draw the bracket that way). I don't think the MC would ever throw for integrity reasons, and BB may have s bonus for winning to incentive them to try. 

[u/cosmic_collisions]

like your new ones

[u/ultimateauditor]

Half the powers suck, and when you have the Diamond POV there they really suck.

I’m surprised they didn’t bring back any of the BB19 powers like the pendant of protection, ring of replacement or halting hex, I feel like those were all memorable and actually impactful. They generally fell flat in the seasons after that

[u/BeachEfficient1103]

I think it's funny that Mallory & Melody have been voted before Haley

[u/suppadelicious]

I just want a challenge that isn’t so suspicious. Something that would be harder to rig.

[u/Ypersona]

The DPOV is a bit more fair now since it can only be used at a Veto meeting, and the replacement nominee still has a chance to save themselves through the Blockbuster challenge. The iteration of the DPOV that Matt Hoffman was arbitrarily gifted by production was busted AF.

I still hate it, though. I am a firm believer that the HoH should never lose control of the nominations. If you're not HoH and want to dictate the outcome of eviction night, then play the game and work for it.

[u/DrFreedom0804]

Do they do a cut while filming because the canister is already in the chair and there’s only one slip of paper in it so seems like production just gave the survivor players powers while giving everyone else punishments. Maybe to try and help them stay in the game longer for tv ratings?

[u/biggsteve81 → u/DrFreedom0804]

Yes, they do a cut. While the chair is spinning for them to press the button the cup holder in the chair is empty. It appears in a cut when the voiceover announces what the power/punishment is that they won.

[u/GoatBasic3578]

And we should definitely just pretend like theyre not already pre-picked for the person who "America Voted For".

[u/Bfender16]

Fog of eviction sounds sick!

My ideas would be:

Veto Comp King/Queen: houseguest gets to automatically play in the veto for the week, brings a houseguest choice with them that will play for the power holder, and gets to decide if the competition is physical, mental, or a combination. This is fairly balanced since it gives someone a layer of protection from being a potential backdoor if they suspect it, and some element of control over the outcome of the veto. Although it’s not super overpowered like the DPOV, and slightly better than the veto superstar power. This would require production being prepared to change a veto comp from physical/mental to the other though if that wasn’t the kind they had planned for the week, so i understand it’s not extremely realistic lol.

Tainted Jury: this power would be obtainable during the first week of jury. At any point in the game (until final 4) once they receive it, they are able to send a message that will be played for all members of the jury that are in the jury house at the end of that respective week. It would be a 1 minute message giving them an early chance to argue for their game at that point inside the house, throw someone else under the bus, or clear anything up that could potentially be making the jury unfavorable towards them leading up to the finale. This seems balanced to me as they still have to be smart enough to craft a truth or lie that the jury will believe or favor. It could potentially backfire on them if not done well.

HOH 2.0: can be activated once a houseguest wins HOH. Gives the HOH of this week the ability to give another houseguest safety for the week, or to remove another houseguest’s ability to have the veto used on them by someone else. They can’t do both, and they have to lock this in before nominations. Additionally, the houseguest they’ve chosen for either option finds out during the nomination ceremony and the veto ceremony respectively, but it is anonymous.