Acrobatics

Dick Grayson doing casual acrobatic stunts.

Background

Acrobatics is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. It is used to describe the execution of various complex and skilled movements in physical performances such as in circus acts, gymnastics, acro dance, and martial arts. While it typically involves the human body, acrobatics can also encompass extreme feats of physical prowess and even defy conventional physical limitations in fiction. Acrobatics in fictional settings often extends beyond normal human capabilities, allowing characters to perform extraordinary stunts and movements that challenge the laws of physics.

These feats could include mid-air flips, parkour maneuvers, complex balance acts, and other athletic actions that go beyond standard human physical limits. Within many stories, acrobatics may be enhanced by other abilities like superhuman strength, speed, or manipulation of physics, pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved physically.

Also Called

• Physical Feats
• Agility Performance
• Motor Coordination Mastery
• Gymnastics Mastery

Possible Applications

• Enhanced Condition: The ability to perform acrobatic feats with superhuman athleticism, such as scaling buildings, leaping vast distances, or performing rapid, precise movements that would be impossible for normal humans. This enhanced athleticism often comes with increased stamina, agility, and reflexes, allowing users to maintain peak performance during complex maneuvers.
• Hypermobility: The user can perform contortions or extreme physical actions without the typical pain or injury that would occur for an average person. This includes bending, twisting, or stretching the body in ways that go beyond normal human limitations, such as performing split jumps or twisting the body mid-air.
• All-Terrain Mobility: The user can perform acrobatic maneuvers on a wide variety of surfaces, including slippery, wet, or unstable ground, as well as through constricting spaces. They maintain their agility, balance, and speed, even under challenging conditions, allowing them to navigate almost any environment with ease.
• Physics Defying Acrobatics: Acrobatics that break or circumvent the natural laws of physics. This includes performing impossible jumps, floating in mid-air, or moving in ways that would be impossible for normal human beings due to gravitational forces, inertia, or friction.
  • Mid-Air Jump: The user can perform additional jumps or leaps while in mid-air, almost as if standing on solid ground. These jumps can allow for sustained aerial movement and in some cases, may be extended indefinitely, giving the user pseudo-flight capabilities.
  • Inertia Manipulation: The user can manipulate their own inertia, allowing them to accelerate or decelerate their movements instantaneously, giving them the ability to dodge attacks, move in ways that should be physically impossible, and make impossible acrobatic maneuvers.
• Surface Running: The user is capable of running or scaling surfaces that would normally be impossible for ordinary humans, such as vertical walls, smooth glass, or other surfaces. This requires the user to maintain a high level of speed and momentum to keep moving across the surface. If the user loses momentum, they risk falling.
• Aquabatics: A form of acrobatics performed while underwater or in aquatic environments. The user can execute flips, spins, barrel rolls, and other acrobatic maneuvers while swimming or submerged, showcasing a high degree of control over their movements in water.

Variations

• Human Acrobatics: Standard acrobatic feats that are achievable by normal humans with extensive training, such as somersaults, balance feats, flips, or parkour maneuvers. These actions require high levels of coordination, strength, and flexibility.
• Superhuman Acrobatics: Acrobatics performed at a level beyond human capacity. These include feats like scaling walls effortlessly, making impossible leaps, and dodging attacks with extreme speed and precision. This category is typically linked with enhanced physical attributes such as superhuman reflexes, strength, and stamina.
• Physics Defying Acrobatics: Acrobatics that disregard the laws of physics entirely. These could involve floating mid-air, making multiple jumps in one leap, or defying gravity entirely in ways that cannot be explained by physical science.
• Aquatic Acrobatics: Acrobatic stunts performed in water, often in extreme environments like underwater caves or while swimming at high speeds. This form of acrobatics requires specialized training and the ability to control one's body in an environment where the usual gravitational forces do not apply.

Possible Limitations

• Physical Exhaustion: Performing acrobatic feats, especially at superhuman levels, can be extremely taxing on the body. While superhuman acrobats may endure for longer periods than a regular human, fatigue can still set in, especially if the acrobat is performing extremely high-level feats.
• Environmental Constraints: Certain environments may limit the effectiveness of acrobatics. For example, performing acrobatics in environments with low oxygen, high gravity, or unstable surfaces could pose a risk to the user's performance.
• Precision Required: Advanced acrobatic feats often require extreme levels of precision. If even a small mistake is made, it could result in injury or failure of the maneuver. This means that users must have perfect control over their movements, and one wrong move can be disastrous.
• Need for Momentum: Some types of acrobatics, especially surface running or scaling, require the user to maintain speed or momentum to perform successfully. If the user loses momentum, they could risk falling or failing to complete the acrobatic feat.

Users

• Cal Kestis (Star Wars): Jedis such as Cal Kestis use various different parkour tricks to traverse around different planets, including the jedi flip, a patented double jump.
• Hat Kid (A Hat In Time): Hat Kid uses various platforming tricks to traverse around each level, including wall jumping, dive jumping, double jumping, etcetera.
• Mario (Super Mario Bros.): Mario is known for his superhuman jumping abilities, allowing him to traverse large scale levels with spin jumps, triple jumps, long jumps, dive jumps, wall jumps, summersaults, etcetera.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog): Sonic along with his speed has various different parkour abilities he can use it for, such as running up walls, gaining great jumping height, etcetera.