Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Batgirl III]

Damn, I thought I was clever and original when I came up with Killer Queen as a name for a bad guy in my Cape City universe.

I mean, yeah, I was riffing on the Queen song and the main local baddies all had a loose playing card theme (Killer Queen, the Suicide Kings, Jackie O'Lantern, Ace Assassin) but not as strongly themed as the Royal Flush Gang or Chessmen.

It's really, really hard to come up with unique names in this genre!

[Ken]

Damn, I thought I was clever and original when I came up with Killer Queen as a name for a bad guy in my Cape City universe.

It's really, really hard to come up with unique names in this genre!

Yeah, but unlike this chick, your idea was dynamite!!!


With a laser beam.

[Jabroniville]

Hm, not bad, but it's a little busy. I don't think this artist has much of a future in the biz.

THE DREAMQUEEN
Created By: Bill Mantlo & Jim Lee
First Appearance: Alpha Flight #56 (March 1988)
Role: Otherdimensional Baddie
Group Affiliations: Liveworld
PL 14 (457)
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 14 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 7 (+11)
Expertise (History) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Magic) 9 (+12)
Expertise (Demon) 5 (+8)
Insight 6 (+9)
Intimidation 8 (+12)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 7 (+10)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Artificer, Daze (Intimidation), Diehard, Fearless, Improved Critical (Blasts), Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 8, Ritualist, Startle, Well-Informed

Powers:
"Immortal God"
Immunity 16 (Aging, Life Support, Fatigue Effects) [16]
Senses 7 (Detect Magic- Ranged 3, Acute & Analytical, Tracking By Magic) [7]
"Elder Entity" Immunity 20 (Mental Effects) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [10]
"Speaks All Languages" Comprehend 3 (Languages- Speak & Understand) [6]
Movement 1 (Space Travel) [2]
Flight 8 (500 mph) [16]

"Nigh-Unkillable"
Impervious Toughness 13 [13]
Regeneration 10 (Feats: Regrow Limbs) [11]

"Elder God"
Variable 15 (Flaws: Limited to Within Liveworld) (90) -- [94]

• AE: "Demonic Wave" Damage 14 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (Flaws: Limited to Within Liveworld) (14)
• AE: "Demonic Blast" Blast 18 (Feats: Extended Range 4, Penetrating 10) (Flaws: Limited to Within Liveworld) (32)
• AE: Teleport 10 (Extras: Extended) (Flaws: Limited to Within Liveworld) (20)
• AE: "Alter Perceptions" Illusion 12 (Visuals) (24)

Summon 8 (Extras: Horde, 64 Minions +12, Variable +2- Otherwordly Creatures) (Flaws: Limited to Within Liveworld) [128]

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+16 Damage, DC 31)
Blast +10 (+18 Ranged Damage, DC 33)
Area Attacks +14 (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +14 (+8 Impervious), Fortitude +14, Will +9

Complications:
Motivation (Power)
Weakness (Trapped)- The Dreamqueen is usually trapped within Liveworld.

Total: Abilities: 90 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 19 / Powers: 303 / Defenses: 19 (457)

-The Dreamqueen is the daughter of Nightmare and a succubus, and becomes the ruler of her own portion of the "dream dimension", where she confronts Alpha Flight as a would-be "Major Villain". One of Marvel's few high-tier Villainesses, she kind of does a lot of generic "Conniving Evil Person" stuff, but she really only focuses on Laura Dean & her sister Goblyn, which is pretty low-tier stuff. Trapped in her realm for centuries, she was responsible for raising Goblyn from an infant, after Laura had teleported her twin to the Liveworld. When she threatened Laura, the child brought Alpha Flight to fight her- they managed to escape, but brought the Dreamqueen to Earth by doing so. She was only barely forced back by Puck. She then spent a while manipulating the team and trying various things, and Puck, who'd been trapped there for a long time, developed the ability to manipulate the Liveworld as well- she was defeated once more.

Her powers are vague magic stuff (Flight, Blasts, Teleport), and she can pretty much do anything within her own "Liveworld" dimension. Outside of it, she can only cause hallucinations. Even so, her vast power (such as the ability to summon an entire army to fight for her) makes her as costly as Marvel's top Elder Demons. She's PL 14 within her own realm, PL 12 outside of it (with the Illusions).

[Jabroniville]

Alpha Flight strikes me as having the same issue "1970s Daredevil", Power Man & Iron Fist, and other "low-tier" acts had for years- they were just too "unimportant" to the line, and so they had rookie writers, guys on the downswing of their careers, or just lower-level talent on them. Going through the "To-Do" list I have, a LOT of forgotten villains somehow end up fighting DD, Danny or Luke- pretty much any terrible Jobber who isn't a Marvel Team-Up original showed up in one of those guys' books.

Naturally, all those books have things in common- they all randomly hit huge when one of those "rookie creators" jumped in and basically revolutionized everything. Witness the revamping of Iron Fist in the 2010s, DD by Frank Miller, and more. Just goes to show you... pretty much any silly, low-tier act can be saved if you hit the right creator at the right time.

---

hah- going through my Marvel "To-Do" list and seeing if there were names that were unimportant enough to drop (or just put on the "Mage List"), I ended up only dropping a tiny handful, and of course ADDING NAMES. Because I gotta be me.

So once these Alpha Flight Enemies builds are done in a couple of days, I'll switch to two more DC SuperHero Girls characters, then a couple of Animated Movie Princesses (well, Animated Movie Grand Duchess and Chief's Daughter, I guess if you wanna be specific). Then I'll move on to the New Mutants, followed by re-posting the Morlocks (and maybe detailing more of the forgotten ones), then Marvel's "J" names (only six days! I'll almost be halfway through!), and then some Hulk builds (a LOT of names on my "To-Do" list have been Hulk characters I'd skipped over- Flux, Tyrannus, Amphibion, Jarella... there's a lot there). I also think I'll throw Ghost Rider-related builds into one, since I kind of wanted to search through the Lilin and figure out what they were about (I know I said I didn't WANT to do GR... and I STILL don't... but it's a handy way to get rid of some re-posts and add in a few new names).

[KorokoMystia]

By the by, if you're looking for characters you haven't statted yet there's some of Deadpool's friends and foes, like Weasel (Deadpool's buddy),Black Swan (a mutant mercenary) and T-Ray (who is apparently Deadpool's archnemesis even though I've never heard of him, and claims to be the real Wade Wilson (smells like a weird retcon to me..on the other hand, his claim is never proven to be true), and is a mercenary who also knows magic. I understand how much you hate doing magic guys, though.) ..Yeah, Deadpool fights other mercenaries a lot, doesn't he? Makes sense.

Also, man, the Chess Set are some of the worst jobbers I've ever seen. Shame, because the chess theme could actually be used to make some pretty cool villains. Have you done the Chessmen yet? Because there's never enough chess-themed jobbers.

[Thorpocalypse]

Great stuff, Jab. But I have to admit, I never thought I'd see a Samantha 38G reference on the boards. Not that I have ANY idea who she is...

[Jabroniville]

Great stuff, Jab. But I have to admit, I never thought I'd see a Samantha 38G reference on the boards. Not that I have ANY idea who she is...

SHE'S THE GATEWAY FATTIE!!! I swear I was never into that until I saw her!!!

uh, I mean- I'm not into that at all. She's... the only exception. Yeah.

[Jabroniville]

PESTILENCE III (Francis R. Crozier)
Created By: Bill Mantlo & David Ross
First Appearance: Alpha Flight #36 (July 1986)
Role: Short-Lived Threat
PL 12 (454)
STRENGTH -- STAMINA -- AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Sailor/Explorer) 2 (+7)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+10)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Perception 4 (+7)
Stealth 2 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Affliction) 4 (+12)
Technology 1 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Startle

Powers:
"Between Life and Death" Immunity 11 (Life Support, Aging) [11]
"Mimic Those Living or Dead" Morph 2 (Humanoids) [10]
Summon Maggots & Flies 2 [4]
"Control the Spirits of the Dead" Summon 18 (Extras: Heroic +2, 4 Minions +4, Variable- Great Beasts & Any Dead Beings +2) (Flaws: Limited to the Dead) [162]
"Afflict With Disease & Age" Affliction 12 (Fort; Impaired & Fatigued/Disabled & Exhausted/Transformed to Aged & Incapacitated) (Extras: Affects Corporeal, Ranged, Extra Condition) Linked to Weaken Stamina 12 (Extras: Affects Corporeal, Ranged, Progressive +2) [108]

“Living Spirit”
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 10 [10]
Insubstantial 4 [20]
Mind Control 14 (Flaws: Touch Range, Possession) [28]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Possession +10 (+18 Affliction, DC 28)
Affliction +8 (+12 Ranged Affliction & Weaken, DC 22 & 22)
Initiative +8

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +10, Fortitude +8, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Power)

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 403 / Defenses: 16 (454)

-Pestilence is actually based off of a real person- Francis Crozier, the second-in-command of the famous "Franklin's Lost Expedition", a ship that was lost trying to find the Northwest Passage after Crozier took command from the deceased Franklin. A real-life horror story, two ships lost all hands after being stuck in the Arctic waters, and the crews were lost to exposure. The comic book version used alchemical means to retain his life, however; he was buried by his unsuspecting crewmen, and therefore trapped under ice for 140 years, the experience driving him insane.

-He was reanimated during the birth of Snowbird's child, thanks to the intervention of Talisman, who put the infant's life at risk to prove herself that she could one-up her father (Shaman) and save the day. Instead, Crozier's spirit took control of the baby, and he was impervious to her control, since he was not a "spirit" at all, but a semi-living man. Summoning the spirits of the Great Beasts in a battle with Alpha Flight, he also tore the circlet from Talisman's head (an incredibly hard feat to accomplish) and could only be driven off by Shaman assuming the role of "Talisman" instead. Pestilence would later return, giving Snowbird's husband a fatal plague, and then he took control of Snowbird in her Sasquatch form, and forced her to kill him. He quickly found a new host body, and Snowbird was herself killed. Vindicator was only able to stop him by trapping him within Shaman's mystical pouch. He has never reappeared.

-This story comes off as REALLY convoluted, and more than a little like the stories of Proteus. It also Refrigerators both Snowbird's husband and son, then finishes off her own character, which seems rather short-sighted of Bill Mantlo.

-Pestilence is incredibly powerful, and can Summon the spirits of the dead, which includes crazy things like the Great Beasts. Aside from that, he can make people very ill and weak, live for a long time, transform himself, and more. He's also got the Proteus-like ability to possess people.

[Jabroniville]

By the by, if you're looking for characters you haven't statted yet there's some of Deadpool's friends and foes, like Weasel (Deadpool's buddy),Black Swan (a mutant mercenary) and T-Ray (who is apparently Deadpool's archnemesis even though I've never heard of him, and claims to be the real Wade Wilson (smells like a weird retcon to me..on the other hand, his claim is never proven to be true), and is a mercenary who also knows magic. I understand how much you hate doing magic guys, though.) ..Yeah, Deadpool fights other mercenaries a lot, doesn't he? Makes sense.

Also, man, the Chess Set are some of the worst jobbers I've ever seen. Shame, because the chess theme could actually be used to make some pretty cool villains. Have you done the Chessmen yet? Because there's never enough chess-themed jobbers.

T-Ray's on my To-Do List, but I didn't put the other ones in yet. I wasn't sure if Weasel had any defining stats, but I guess "kind of super-geniusy" is a thing. Maybe I'll do a "Deadpool Set" along with the "Wolverine" set I'm planning on. "Guy-Specific" sets are actually one of my favorite things to do here.

And nope- never statted the Chessmen- are they just goons in basic gear?

[danelsan]

SHE'S THE GATEWAY FATTIE!!! I swear I was never into that until I saw her!!!

Looked her up. Doesn't do anything for me. I guess I stop at Siri, as far as chubby pornstars go...

Anyway, I don't really care about Alpha Flight, aside from Guadian/Vindicator and Snowbird having good character designs, but I'll agree that any character might become something in the hands of the right writer or creative team at the right time. Sometimes it takes discarding/ignoring a lot of awful garbage, though, which would be Alpha Flight's case. And all the suck might resurface over time as creators insist in addressing it, trying to fix it, give it new spins or whatever so it can be pretty hard to maintain any gained popularity.

[KorokoMystia]

By the by, if you're looking for characters you haven't statted yet there's some of Deadpool's friends and foes, like Weasel (Deadpool's buddy),Black Swan (a mutant mercenary) and T-Ray (who is apparently Deadpool's archnemesis even though I've never heard of him, and claims to be the real Wade Wilson (smells like a weird retcon to me..on the other hand, his claim is never proven to be true), and is a mercenary who also knows magic. I understand how much you hate doing magic guys, though.) ..Yeah, Deadpool fights other mercenaries a lot, doesn't he? Makes sense.

Also, man, the Chess Set are some of the worst jobbers I've ever seen. Shame, because the chess theme could actually be used to make some pretty cool villains. Have you done the Chessmen yet? Because there's never enough chess-themed jobbers.

T-Ray's on my To-Do List, but I didn't put the other ones in yet. I wasn't sure if Weasel had any defining stats, but I guess "kind of super-geniusy" is a thing. Maybe I'll do a "Deadpool Set" along with the "Wolverine" set I'm planning on. "Guy-Specific" sets are actually one of my favorite things to do here.

And nope- never statted the Chessmen- are they just goons in basic gear?

The Chessmen are pretty much goons in gear (though it's not too bad gear - The Knights could go at super-speed on their flying mechanical horse while homing in on large objects, and had a energy lance that could shoot blasts, and the Bishops had a hat that "emitted a low-wave electromagnetic signal. This signal affected a target's mid-brain enabling the wielder to manipulate an opponent's motor functions". When used on Tony, it basically made him a worse fighter and unable to concentrate properly on the fight. They also had a staff that could emit an electricity aura around it, and also allowed them to fly. I think they could also shoot blasts? The first Bishop broke through a wall with his staff, and both Bishops smacked Tony pretty good with it, too.), and only the Knight and Bishop (though there's two Bishops and three Knights) are fighters (though the first Rook was able to stop Rhodey from escaping, and was apparently well-built despite his bulk). Both Rooks used a castle full of traps instead of fighting, Queen manipulated and attracted Tony Stark (She apparently had some kind of pheromones), and Pawn was pretty much just a servant as far as I've seen. King was Obadiah Stane, who later became Iron Monger.

[greycrusader]

Great stuff, Jab. But I have to admit, I never thought I'd see a Samantha 38G reference on the boards. Not that I have ANY idea who she is...

SHE'S THE GATEWAY FATTIE!!! I swear I was never into that until I saw her!!!

uh, I mean- I'm not into that at all. She's... the only exception. Yeah.

Well, I have NO idea who Ms. 38G is, and I'm an unabashed admirer of big women-and have likely been so since my 8th grade crush on my rotund French class teacher, though that was something I kept to myself. So I dunno, Jab...seems as if maybe you haven't been shy about frequenting the far corners of the internet.



Actually, I tend to agree with an earlier statement of yours that preferences are only a problem when one gets a big TOO narrow; I can certainly appreciate the comeliness of the "great beasts" you posted earlier, particularly one Ms. Hayek (MUY CALIENTE!), and even agree with Goldar about how fetching Ms. Benoist is, though she's honestly a decade too young for me to think of in that fashion-even if I wasn't married, any romantic attraction to an under-35 woman would just make me feel eminently foolish, even if she technically fulfills the "half your age plus seven years rule". And yes, alas poor Pink Pearl is a couple hundred pounds out of my league as well, so even a better dressed and coiffed version wouldn't make me long to see her again on a comic book cover.

All my best.

[Batgirl III]

I wonder if the best way to "redeem" Alpha Flight might be to put together a team featuring most of the iconic membership on a team that isn't Alpha Flight. Making the team the umpteenth relaunch of Alpha Flight necessarily means some connection to the past baggage: Department H, Weapon X, the Great Beasts, "Oh my god, he Alpha Flight'd them!" and so forth.

A new superhero team, with say, just Squatch, Puck, Box, and the twins deciding to "go their own" as Canada's equivalent to the Avengers instead of Canada's equivalent to S.H.I.E.L.D. would make for a fresh start. Toss in Guardian/Vindicator as a recurring character trying to get them back under the Department H ageis and the obligatory Wolverine cameo as he tries to get Northstar and Aurora to help out with some mutant menace.

[Jabroniville]

THE COLLECTIVE (Michael Pointer, aka Omega, Weapon Omega, Captain Canada)
Created By: Brian Michael Bendis & Steve McNiven
First Appearance: New Avengers #16 (April 2006)
Role: Walking Plot Device
Group Affiliations: Omega Flight, The Dark X-Men
PL 15 (376)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Postman) 2 (+2)

Advantages: 
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Power Mimic"
Mimic 30 (Flaws: Source- Mutants) [210]
Linked to
Affliction 12 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Transformed to Powerless) (Extras: Reaction +3, Area- 250ft. Burst +4) (Flaws: Limited to Mutants) [84]

"Focus Suit" (Flaws: Removable) [38]
Protection 7 (7)
Energy Blast 12 (24)
Flight 8 (500 mph) (16)
-- (47 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Atonement)- Michael killed an enormous number of people when his powers first manifested, and is often atoning for it, and then re-atoning when the next writer forgets he atoned for it already.

Total: Abilities: 30 / Skills: 2--1 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 332 / Defenses: 8 (376)

-Michael Pointer was one of the random elements thrown into Bendis's triumphant (sales-wise) New Avengers series- while I have my misgivings over that run and Bendis's writing style, I'll give him this- it came off as BIG. Stuff was important, and it mattered. Something that's missing from plenty of books these days. Pointer ends up with the combined powers of all of the de-powered Mutants on Earth- Bendis utilizing the plot thread from the end of Decimation where the Scarlet Witch reduced the numbers of Mutants on Earth to a mere 198.

-Pointer, a postman from Alaska, went on a rampage after the spirit of Xorn infected him, and he killed thousands of people, followed by the combined roster of Alpha Flight at the time. He & Magneto fought the Avengers, and eventually it was figured out what was going on. After Bendis was done with him, however, he kind of just... ambled around, with various writers seemingly not knowing what to do with the guy. He joined Omega Flight when it was a Civil War-era concept of American ex-pats fighting Canadian crime, all acting out of penance for his actions while under Xorn's control. This kind of gave him the "redemption" arc, by the means of having surviving Alpha Flight members openly forgive him for his actions and commenting on his penitence. And naturally he is more easily forgiven for killing thousands than the New Warriors were for INDIRECTLY killing dozens.

-Pointer later appeared as Weapon Omega in a short-lived Marvel Comics Presents series- it turned out that the criminals he & Omega Flight captured were being amped-up by the Canadian government into fueling Michael's flagging powers- a disgusted Michael then quit. He was next seen in the "Dark X-Men" allied with Norman Osborn, attempting to atone (yet again) for killing people- Michael gets addicted to the energy from a device Osborn was giving him. In the end, he found himself going crazy and losing power, and so he willingly got placed into a coma by his "only friend", Mimic, and hasn't been seen since.

-Honestly... this seems like a half-decent idea Bendis cooked up ("What would happen if all that Mutant power that was released ended up somewhere?"), but kind of snowballed into one of those things that annoys me about modern comics- new characters with half-formed personalities & power-sets blasting out all over the place, Power-Geeking like nuts (he has ALL THE POWERS), and just... sort of showing up randomly in odd places. Seriously, this guy was a one-off Avengers foe before suddenly being central to Omega Flight, then MCP, and then suddenly he's on the Dark X-Men because I guess Bendis remembered him and wanted to put him somewhere. Reminds me of Grant Morrison's weird Marvel Boy, who keeps popping up in these kind of roles as well. Just a big ball of "We don't know what to do with him", so of course they did the lazy thing and put him to sleep.

-As The Collective, Michael was powerful enough to kill all of Alpha Flight in one guy, and required tons of heroes to effectively de-power. Later, he wore a suit that turned him into a Flying Blaster, and he could also use the Mimic power quite effectively. As expected, he's INSANELY expensive- his inexperience and low stats hold him back, but he can essentially do just about anything.

[Horsenhero]

The big problem with characters like the Collective is they're really only good for one plot arc...at the end of which they need to be eliminated (not necessarily killed but a nail needs to be put in the coffin of their single story). The unwillingness of writers to let this crap go is why the Phoenix Force keeps coming back, Thanos won't just freaking die and we keep having to retread the "X-Men dystopian future" again and again. Honestly, the best thing to happen to Dr. Doom was when he was "killed" in FF #200 and by editorial decree he couldn't be used by any writer until Marvel editorial finally lifted the curtain during John Byrne's FF run and let him resurrect him. Some characters just need to be one shots...or very limited in their use otherwise they lose their story value.