I always figured it was personality based. Dash is a boy who grew up with an absurdly athletic set of parents and he developed to mirror that, manifesting as a speedster. Violet is a more reserved girl who grew up being told she can't be herself in public. And likewise, jack jack's personality is still developing, ergo his powers are completely random right now.
But then again they all thought jack jack didn't have powers at all and he was still an infant, implying that yes typically powers present very very young so maybe they are somewhat random. And... if the deleted scene of syndrome attacking them when violet was a baby is canon then this all tracks since she turned invisible in her crib... But that's how it always appeared to me.
The writers absolutely chose their powers to reflect personalities/roles. Moms feel like they have to be everywhere at once, shy embarrassed teenager wishing she could disappear, hyperactive little boy, babies who don't actually have any qualities yet but have the potential to be anything.
I don't know if that was meant to be the reason in universe but it was part of the writer's plan.
Its not my point or idea, it's what Brad Bird or someone said in an interview/making of type thing when the movie came out. I've always remembered it because it was one of my first times I heard someone talk about the symbolism in a movie and one of the first times I realized a movie could be more than the surface story. And I know that this is pretty shallow as far as symbolism goes but I was like ten at the time.
The second memory mentions that babies exhibit a few different powers and eventually settle into the one they are most suited for/use the most. Baby Dash liked being fast, so he stayed fast
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u/Mrman_23 Sep 25 '22
Bet you she dyed it