Vegeta
As seen above, anger is the easiest emotion to grant a power boost from. Most people can understand when someone gets stronger because they’re pissed off. Holding back is no longer a thing, so one fights with full strength. If you keep pushing, it wouldn’t be surprising to reach a new level. Anger is fuel for heroes, but what about the other emotions?
Sadness
I’m starting here because I’m not sure this one is possible. Guess you could go to full depression, but people don’t want to fight when suffering like this. You really just want to give up. Maybe a person could be so sad/depressed that they develop a kind of power to defend themselves. Telepaths in this state can lose control and release their sadness in a big attack. It’s rather fleeting since an emotional outburst tends to erase sadness and hopefully lead to more positive emotions.
Happiness
This is a tough one to figure out, but I think I know how to do it. You would have to go into a state of bliss. It’s similar to anger transforming into rage, which is really just a higher level of anger. The only challenge is making it believable. High levels of happiness don’t come with aggression, but can be seen as making a person more passive. ‘Make love, not war’ comes to mind . . . Come to think of it:
Love
Love might be a better happiness upgrade than bliss. With love, a person may develop the power upgrade to defend a person. We can all think of pushing ourselves for the people we hold dear. This can create a twinge of anger though if it revolves around seeing them hurt or fearing they will be. Might be onto something there.
Fear
The good old ‘fight or flight’ situation. A person can get scared to the point where logic goes out the window. They’ll dig deep to bring out a power to get them out of the terrifying situation. Kind of self-explanatory to me. Then again, it doesn’t always work. We can think of fear being debilitating because it prevents us from functioning. Too scared to act, so we can only watch things unfold. In order to get power from fear, one might really have to muster courage.
Courage
Not sure if I have to explain this power up. Gaining the courage and willpower to endure can trigger a power boost. One can see it as adrenaline kicking in as you gain control of your fear. You might remain scared, but you know that you have to continue. Courage can be seen as standing up to a scary situation regardless of how you feel. Of course, the greater the fear, the more courage that’s needed, which can lead to a bigger power boost. Imagine if one has to battle against:
Anxiety
This one is a tough emotion to work with and is probably similar to fear. You end up gaining the power boost simply to get through a situation. The difference could be that fear has a more obvious threat while anxiety can be generalized. You simply don’t like a situation or feel trapped, which can trigger an explosion. Maybe this one isn’t as doable as one would imagine. Then again, anxiety can cause an increase in heartrate and trigger a panic mode. Could work for an uncontrollable power boost. The aftermath would be rough since that may lead to being sad or angry about whatever you did.
Final Thought
It’s really hard to use the non-anger emotions for power boosts. I can see how it can be done, but it seems clunky unless properly set up. Wonder if there’s a pattern that can used for this too. 😀
Legends of Windemere 
Really interesting post. I haven’t used power boosts, though this makes me want to write a story with them. I can’t help thinking how rage and his life being threatened were the only ways Aang could access the Avatar state power boost. But once he learned to control his anger (at the end, really), he could enter the Avatar state at will. Korra seemed angry a lot, so that was her access point. Though she did enter it without the anger occasionally.
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Rage is typically the easiest emotion to use. Goes back to mythology too. Samson regained his strength after losing his hair by getting angry and wanting revenge.
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I agree those emotions aren’t going to give you a power boost – except maybe for fear, which does get your adrenaline going, at least for a short time!
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It’s interesting how fiction utilizes all of them though.
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I guess the sadness/anxiety/fear could provoke a power burst in order to prevent some anticipated grief or harm. Like love, where a protective impulse ignites the boost?
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Makes sense.
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An interesting post, Charles. Some of those emotions seem to be the opposite of a power boost, but I guess with a little image, most could be doable.
I used anger in my Wolves of Vimar series as a power booster. One character had developed the ability to transform into a panther due to a disrupted spell. He had no idea until the group was attacked and he involuntarily changed.
Returning to human form was difficult as the panther didn’t know he was human, so he had to be (carefully) talked back. Later, the mage in the group helped him to control his changes.
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Anger seems to be the easiest emotion to use for this.
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Yes, it is, although fear might trigger something.
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I hadn’t considered this method until you started it. You’ve given a good breakdown and some possibilities.
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Thanks.
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