*SIGH* Boubou master, I guess I'll have to school you. The class is called Nova Prime 101.
Lesson 1) Never, and I mean NEVER, pay attention to what the OG WM said regarding combat. Richard almost never did. Any Nova fan knows that the WM as was configured at that time was always bitching about Richard getting into fights and overexagerrating every threat level situation. Why? Because it was only interested in one thing, self preservation. Period. A prime example, WM bitching about being doomed on the planet that Galactus was about to consume. Richard said hell no, and went up one of Galactus's energy siphons (nice durability feat btw) and survived. Had he listened to WM he would've been dead.
Lesson 2) When Rich say's "What I'd like is full gravimetric" it isn't the same as using full power. What it means is that he wants full access to his gravimetric power so he can use it with as much force as he deems appropriate. So for example, he could use it with say, 300 tons of force. He did the same thing to Xenith when he knocked her ass out. Or when he sealed a door with 200 tons of gravimetric force. Since his access to the Nova Force is unlimited, he can use as much as he wants. Hence the term "gravimetric".
And lastly lesson 3)
Any Nova fan knows that Richard Rider plays the reluctant hero all too often. It's become a ridiculously predictable and annoying trait of the character that Nova fans complain about. Whenever he's about to fight someone powerful we all know he's going to go through his usual panel or 2 of whinning "Stop", "no", or my personal favorite,"please, we don't have to do this", before he opens up the whoopass. It's just a part of the character now. His CIS factor if you will. The only time we've ever seen him cut loose was during annihilation just after he got his amp and somewhat during the Drax stomp when infected with phalanax.
So I hope that helps you to understand the character a bit better.
