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

[Batgirl III]

I bow to your sage wisdom, oh chomper of cigars

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...

[HalloweenJack]

Embrace the healing power of "and," my friend.

It's not Betty or Veronica, it's Betty and Veronica.

I bow to your sage wisdom, oh chomper of cigars

But yeah, on one hand Rahne had that whole "oooooh I just want to hug you until you realize how special you are, you little perfect snowflake" (and totally not her walking around in Wolf girl form wearing just a t-shirt in X-Factor...no never) while Illyana had the 'cute, but oh you know she's baaaaad' thing going on. And as Jab could tell you from brief conversations we've had about Miss Elizabeth and Sensational Sherri over at HC, I've always had a weakness for the bad girls.

There's a time i'd have slain you for such a horrible opinion, Jack.

Then Miss Elizabeth went bad.

HOLY GOD THOSE EVIL GO-GO BOOTS.

MILF Elizabeth was certainly a sight.

And I got to see her live....

[HalloweenJack]

I bow to your sage wisdom, oh chomper of cigars

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...

ahem...*cough*...quite

[Jabroniville]

GENERAL NGUYEN NGOC COY:

Seriously, how in the bloody hell do you pronounce that?

-This guy is pretty much just "Karma's Jerkass Uncle" in the comics, he almost never appeared in The New Mutants- I don't remember the issue where he did. He was responsible for leading Tran around in controlling the Fantastic Four, and used him to prop up a criminal enterprise in the States. Losing Tran, he later reappeared controlling Karma, promising that he had information about her missing siblings. Less of a character and more of a Plot Device, he was also a bad guy in Wolverine, where Karma was a minor supporting character. There, he was setting up shop in Madripoor, Marvel's crime-ridden answer to Singapore.

[Jabroniville]

CANNONBALL (Samuel Guthrie)
Created By: Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod
First Appearance: Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982)
Role: The Leader, The Country Boy, The Polite One, The Boy Scout
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, X-Force, X-Men, X-Corporation
PL 10 (158)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 1 (+4)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+8)
Close Combat (Blast Field Ram) 3 (+10)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 5 (+7)
Expertise (Farming/Mining) 2 (+4)
Insight 5 (+8)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 3 (+6)
Persuasion 5 (+7)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 5 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Equipment (X-Uniform), Extraordinary Effort, Improved Critical (Blast Field Strike), Improved Initiative, Interpose, Last Stand, Leadership, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Takedown 2, Teamwork, Ultimate Force Field Check, Withstand Damage

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Blast Field"
"Rocket-Powered Flight" Flight 8 (500 mph) (Feats: Subtle) [17]

"Darn Near Invulnerable" Protection 9 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Sustained +0, Impervious 12, Affects Others) (31) -- [37]

• Dynamic AE: "Battering Ram" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (20)
• Dynamic AE: "Single-Target Ram" Damage 10 (10)
• Dynamic AE: "Projected Blast Field" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (20)

"External- Immortality"
Immunity 1 (Aging) [1]
Regeneration 4 [4]

Equipment:
X-Men Uniform (+1 Protection, Communications)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Battering Ram +10 Area (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Single-Target Ram +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Projected Blast +10 Area (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +7

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +4 (+5 Costume, +13 Blast Field), Fortitude +6, Will +8

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Relationship (Guthrie Family)- Sam is the eldest of a huge assortment of children, and feels a tremendous amount of responsibility to protect and/or honour them.
Motivation (The Dream)- Growing up the student of three different schools of thought regarding mutants (Xavier, Magneto, Cable), Sam has the most varied schooling of all the mutants alive, and feels a closeness to "The Dream" as a result. He is easily the New Mutant most-obsessed with it.
Responsibility (The Burden of Leadership)- Sam often struggles with the emotional distance required of a team leader, and obsesses over whether or not his decisions were for the best.
Rivalry (Danielle Moonstar)- They used to be respecting co-leaders, but as adults, they tend to butt heads, as Dani kept her rebelliousness, and Sam became even more of a Boy Scout. They also made out for a bit.
Relationship (Sunspot)- Sam & Roberto are best buddies, though spent a lot of time apart in the 1990s. In modern times, you'd call it a "Bromance", especially nowadays.
Relationship (Izzy Kane, aka Smasher)- Sam & Izzy eventually marry and produce a daughter during a time-skip. I think that's still a thing.

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 17 / Powers: 59 / Defenses: 11 (158)

Sam- The Breakout New Mutant:
-Cannonball is really the Breakout Character of the New Mutants series. While most of the characters immediately went into Marvel Limbo as the book bridged right over into the '90s, which needed different kinds of heroes, ol' Sam (who was originally gonna be called "Holocaust" and was hugely-ripped, appearing more like a He-Man character than a New Mutants one) stuck around on X-Force, becoming the temporary leader under Fabian Nicieza's writing. This put in a few new aspects to the character, who'd been the most goody-goody and responsible of the kids (which isn't saying much, but still), and was responsible for the most "fawning over the opposite sex" in the book by a ways- the guy had a major crush on Amara/Magma at first, but that faded in a puppy-love sort of way. Then he had a thing with Firestar in that introduction Mini-Series of hers, and that vanished as she went into Marvel Limbo 'till The New Warriors came out. Then he fell in love with Lila Cheney, ultra-'80s rockstar extraordinaire (which was awesome, and so very '80s), while Wolfsbane got a crush on him, etc. Eventually he & Lila drifted apart (she hardly fit into the '90s), and he hooked up with Boom-Boom, one of the added-on X-Terminators kids.

-Sam was a great subversion of stereotypes because here was this Kentuckian coal miner's son who talked in a thick hillbilly accent (saying "Ah" instead of "I") who was actually very intelligent. He was even the SMARTEST kid on the team (next to possibly Doug), and had the most varied knowledge, not to mention being the least-angsty (again, not saying much)- All HE had to worry about was an entire brood of children without a father who couldn't pay the bills, his various relationships going on at any given time, and the leadership of the entire New Mutants team (shared with Dani). Small beans compared to some of the others.

-As the only two boys on the team, Sam & Roberto got along very well, in spite of their different origins & social classes. Sam also initially had a puppy-love crush on Magma (much to her concern and his embarassment), but he eventually grew out of it after she made it quite clear that it wasn't gonna happen. His big thing, however, was with Lila Cheney- Lila, despite being a good bit older, immediately went for the "aw-shucks" hayseed, and practically started molesting him right out of the gate (poor Bobby was BESIDE himself)- this started a pretty long-term relationship, though they spent months apart thanks to her status as a rock star and an intergalactic thief (God this book was weird). There were occasional moments of tension: Sam though Lila had stolen a gift he intended to give to his mother, but there was another time where he made good by agreeing to take Lila to meet his mother while Lila was dressed in her punkiest '80s gear. Thankfully, this was a test- Lila quickly 'ported away and back in a dressier outfit. Eventually, during the weird "Gosamyr" arc, Lila is thought dead saving the team's lives, and the two are separated- Sam would eventually swing towards new teammate Boom-Boom, a flightier, dumber girl.




Sam Guthrie- X-Force Soldier:
-Surprisingly, as the entire roster got demolished in its last years (Cypher & Warlock died; Karma disappeared; Magik got de-aged; Dani went to Asgard; Bobby took over his father's business; Wolfsbane went to Genosha), Sam was the one to stay on. He and Boom-Boom were the only New Mutants left to join Cable's newer, more militaristic squadron, and were soon joined by '90s icons like Shatterstar and Domino. Sam had be this point ceded field leadership entirely to the experienced Cable, and acted like the perfect subordinate, ending up with a bit of a father-son dynamic with the cybernetic hero. Eventually, when Cable was thought dead, Sam was forced into leading X-Force, growing into the role but being uncomfortable with making the life or death decisions that were required. Sam's brush with leadership in X-Force was cool because he struggled with it in a way few leaders did. He didn't automatically get the answers right, and made a ton of mistakes. Cable eventually returned, and Sam willingly gave up leadership (albeit after an interpersonal struggle between the two), and Sam started showing major signs of maturity.

-Oh yeah, and he became immortal. LONG STORY- Sam was killed by a rampaging Sauron, only to suddenly pop back up as if nothing had happened. He was therefore revealed to be one of the "Externals", a band of "High Lords" (not "Highlanders". They are TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Swear to God) who were unkillable, immortal Mutants who'd gained economic power thanks to their long life-spans. However, as most of the Externals (included in their number were evil industrialist Gideon, lifeforce-vampire Selene the Black Queen, and Fu Manchu stereotype Saul) were giant dicks, as well as being mostly one-off losers, Sam didn't get along with them. Sam's status as an immortal was such a big deal that it was stated to be the sole reason Cable had come to the mainstream timeline! He'd "Bodyslid" back to ten years prior in order to establish a power-base, then entrenched himself with Sam's group. This was a big, big deal to Sam. And so of course Jeph Loeb, eager to drop the storyline, completely wiped out the entire rest of the Externals, and revealed that Sam had "never been one of us at all!", as Selene put it.

-This leads to an interesting point, and one that's occasionally been brought up- Sam is arguably the Mutant with the most "Friends in High Places" in comics- his teachers have included Charles Xavier (master of the "open hand"), Cable (master of the "closed fist"), and of course MAGNETO- all three of the men think highly of Sam, giving him the basis to be one of Marvel's well-respected heroes. HOWEVER...



Sam Guthrie- Plucky Rookie X-Man:
-The next big "moment" for Sam came when he "graduated" to a spot on the X-Men, joining the team drawn by superstar artist Joe Madureira. This was, of course, a HUGE upgrade, and perfect storytelling- that a member of the "Trainee Team" would eventually graduate to the main roster. Unfortunately... it came at the expense of Sam's characterization. See, Sam had matured into a strong, if self-doubting, leader, and was one of the most mature members of his team. He was also a fighter with years of experience, having trained under Professor X, Magneto and Cable- seeing all sides of the "Mutant Question". But no sooner than he joined the X-Men's roster did he suddenly morph into a doofusy, "aw shucks" rookie, prone to pratfalls, embarassments and nerding out like a beginner super-hero. Sure he got that moment where he humiliated Gladiator of all people (he took a one-sided ass-whupping, until he pulled out a "Steal Kinetic Energy" trick and blasted a shocked, now-underconfident Gladiator across New York City).

-Sam would eventually leave the permanent roster to take care of his mother- his relationship with Boomer (always kinda boring, really) had ended, and he eventually rejoined X-Force. However, the book was quickly canceled, and Sam kind of floated around "Marvel Limbo" for years. To the point where he just kind of popped up in random X-groups for the next decade (like that "X-Corporation", which was used 100% as a dumping ground for unwanted characters), never really mattering as a character. It wasn't until recently, with a new New Mutants series that Sam's come into his own again, leading the much older squad, and having to deal with adult-level angst ("My whole team thinks they could do a better job, and one of them wants me dead" Cyclops: "Heh. Welcome to my world.")- once that book ended (and they dropped his possible thing with Dani, which would have been interesting), he showed up on Jon Hickman's 30-person Avengers squad, albeit with barely any showcasing of his personality other than being a joker with his Heterosexual (ish) Life Partner, Sunspot (Hickman really only writes one type of male relationship- they all seem REALLY, REALLY CLOSE, if you know what I mean- nowhere near as extreme as Hyperion & Thor's "Bear Pair", though). Hickman decided to hook him up with teammate Smasher, but of course despite having 900 issues to write his "Magnum Opus", he couldn't friggin' put in the time to have them actually court each other, grow closer, and truly fall in love, so he was all "LOL TIME SKIP" and suddenly they were married and had a baby. Most recently, he will be showing up in Sunspot's U.S. Avengers, written by Al Ewing, one of Marvel's best current writers.

Overall:
-Sam's one of my favourites because he's such an unsung hero, and has more depth than almost anybody. It's kind of too bad that he lacks the "extreme" personality types of other characters, as well as relatively un-dynamic powers (he... really just sorta flies around and runs into people), because you could throw him onto almost any team and it would work perfectly. His friendship with Sunspot (which really got forgotten for several years) has ended up paying off, because Marvel's "Minority Push" helped put Bobby into a more prominent role, and thus Sam appears to be along for the ride.

Sam's Stats:
-Statting Cannonball is always a real test of a system's boundaries (a lot of X-Characters are like that, really- Rogue, Warlock, modern Cypher, Magik) because a lot of it is based around a very vague "Blast Field" effect. It functions as a regular Force Field that can aid others he's touching, and is highly Impervious, but AEs Dynamically into three different damage-type effects that have been used fairly regularly over the years. Two are Battering Rams, one of which is a Line Area one, and the other a standard Strike, and the third is a Burst. Now, you could say that they aren't AEs of the Force Field, since they're just projections OF IT, but I figure it makes the Field weaker as it extends further from his body, and he'd only drop the points of Affects Others & Impervious if he used a full-on Blast, since the Field is 30 points at-base. Bare minimum, if he uses a full Battering Ram of 20 points, he's still got a 9-point Force Field up, which is quite good.

-He's also got Subtle Flight, as he learned how to keep his Blasting to a small whisper over the years, and he's partially Immortal- immune to Aging and with light Regenerative capabilities. I would've went with Immortality, but that costs WAY too much for something that's been written out over the years, and he only Res'd exactly once. Adding to it would pop about 20 points onto his build, if you're a stickler for old continuity that people barely follow (though the current writer says he hasn't entirely written out the idea of using it).

-All of this combines to make Sam a slightly more-expensive PL 10, which I think is appropriate. He's smart, Skilled, a decent fighter, and a guy with lots of varied powers, so he deserves a few extra points. For additional Stunts & Alternate Effects, you've got crazy stuff like his "Absorb Gladiator's strongest blow, then throw it back in his face while his confidence is shattered" stunt, protecting TONS of guys from a Base explosion that took out half a mountain, and more- he's quite versatile in the hands of a creative player.



CANNONBALL (Samuel Guthrie)- Late New Mutants Era
Created By: Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod
First Appearance: Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982)
Role: The Leader, The Country Boy, The Polite One, The Boy Scout
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, X-Force, X-Men, X-Corporation
PL 9 (135)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 1 (+3)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+8)
Close Combat (Blast Field Ram) 2 (+9)
Deception 3 (+4)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 5 (+7)
Expertise (Farming/Mining) 2 (+4)
Insight 4 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 3 (+5)
Persuasion 3 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 4 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Uniform), Improved Critical (Blast Field Strike), Improved Initiative, Interpose, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Takedown 2, Teamwork, Ultimate Force Field Check, Withstand Damage

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Blast Field"
"Rocket-Powered Flight" Flight 8 (500 mph) (Feats: Subtle) [17]

"Darn Near Invulnerable" Protection 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Sustained +0, Impervious 11, Affects Others) (28) -- [32]

• Dynamic AE: "Battering Ram" Damage 9 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (18)
• Dynamic AE: "Single-Target Ram" Damage 9 (9)

Equipment:
X-Men Uniform (+1 Protection, Communications)

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Battering Ram +9 Area (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Single-Target Ram +9 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +7

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +3 (+4 Costume, +11 Blast Field), Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Relationship (Guthrie Family)- Sam is the eldest of a huge assortment of children, and feels a tremendous amount of responsibility to protect and/or honour them.
Motivation (The Dream)- Growing up the student of three different schools of thought regarding mutants (Xavier, Magneto, Cable), Sam has the most varied schooling of all the mutants alive, and feels a closeness to "The Dream" as a result. He is easily the New Mutant most-obsessed with it.
Relationship (Tabitha Smith)- Sam is quite close to teammate Tabitha Smith, aka "Boom-Boom", and will jump to defend her.
Relationship (Sunspot)- Sam & Roberto are best buddies, though spent a lot of time apart in the 1990s. In modern times, you'd call it a "Bromance", especially nowadays.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 49 / Defenses: 11 (135)

-This is a slightly weaker Sam at the tail-end of the New Mutants book, and probably right when it became X-Force. All that Immortality stuff was a bit beyond him (ie. he hadn't spent the XP on it yet), and he was just the plucky "yessir" type of follower that Cable wanted.




CANNONBALL (Samuel Guthrie)- Middle New Mutants Era
Created By: Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod
First Appearance: Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982)
Role: The Leader, The Country Boy, The Polite One, The Boy Scout
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants
PL 8 (110)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+6)
Close Combat (Blast Field Ram) 2 (+7)
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 5 (+7)
Expertise (Farming/Mining) 2 (+4)
Insight 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)
Persuasion 3 (+3)
Technology 1 (+2)
Vehicles 2 (+3)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Uniform), Improved Initiative, Interpose, Power Attack, Set-Up, Takedown 2, Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Blast Field"
"Rocket-Powered Flight" Flight 8 (500 mph) (Drawbacks: Noticeable) [15]

"Darn Near Invulnerable" Protection 9 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Sustained +0, Impervious 11, Affects Others) (30) -- [34]

• Dynamic AE: "Battering Ram" Damage 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (16)
• Dynamic AE: "Single-Target Ram" Damage 9 (9)

Equipment:
X-Men Uniform (+1 Protection, Communications)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Battering Ram +8 Area (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Single-Target Ram +7 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +2 (+3 Costume, +11 Blast Field), Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Relationship (Guthrie Family)- Sam is the eldest of a huge assortment of children, and feels a tremendous amount of responsibility to protect and/or honour them.
Relationship (Lila Cheney)- Sam is obsessed with musician/intergalactic thief Lila Cheney, and she is quite fond of him as well.
Relationship (Sunspot)- Sam & Roberto are best buddies, though spent a lot of time apart in the 1990s.

Total: Abilities: 28 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 49 / Defenses: 11 (110)

-Circa issue #50 or so, Sam's actually a PL 8, mainly through sheer power and durability than actual skill. Note that his power is responsible for more Toughness than his own Stamina at this point, and that his "Blasting" is now EXTREMELY loud, to the point where people could hear him from a mile away.



CANNONBALL (Samuel Guthrie)- Debut
Created By: Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod
First Appearance: Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982)
Role: The Leader, The Country Boy, The Polite One, The Boy Scout
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants
PL 8 (86)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 3 (+5)
Expertise (Farming/Mining) 2 (+4)
Insight 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)
Persuasion 3 (+3)
Vehicles 2 (+3)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Uniform), Improved Initiative, Interpose, Power Attack, Takedown 2

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Blast Field"
"Rocket-Powered Flight" Flight 8 (500 mph) (Flaws: Limited to One Direction) (Drawbacks: Noticeable) [7]

"Darn Near Invulnerable" Protection 9 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Sustained +0, Impervious 11, Affects Others) (30) -- [34]

• Dynamic AE: "Battering Ram" Damage 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (Flaws: Unreliable) (8)
• Dynamic AE: "Single-Target Ram" Damage 8 (8)

Equipment:
X-Men Uniform (+1 Protection, Communications)

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Battering Ram +8 Area (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Single-Target Ram +2 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +2 (+3 Costume, +11 Blast Field), Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Relationship (Guthrie Family)- Sam is the eldest of a huge assortment of children, and feels a tremendous amount of responsibility to protect and/or honour them.
Relationship (Amara Aquila)- Sam has a big-league schoolboy crush on teammate Magma, seeing as how she's so elegant and beautiful. She does not feel the same towards him.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 41 / Defenses: 8 (86)

-Here's Sam way back in the early days- he lacks combat skill, can't aim his Flight (part of what I loved about this series- his powers had some HEAVY drawbacks on them), etc., but is the highest-level of his team by far because of the sheer power of his Area Damage. He's also still just as tough as he is when he's older, packing PL 6.5 defensive capabilities, despite being as easy to hit as can be (a five-point trade-off, which is HUGE for someone at PL 7-ish levels).

[Jabroniville]

Sadly, I was much too old when I first read the New Mutants series to find any of them attractive- none of 'em are particularly comely when you're 25 years old. Knowing about Young Jab's preferences, I would have liked anyone with long black hair- which would be Dani. If Magik had black hair, she would have been my "Veronica Lodge" (I was into Ronnie as a lad). By my teen years, I was way into Psylocke, Siryn and Shadowcat- ultimately, Kitty was always my "Ideal Girlfriend", however.

I had a thing for redheads, but not overpowering- Rahne's short hair would have been a dealbreaker anyways.

[FuzzyBoots]

GENERAL NGUYEN NGOC COY:

Seriously, how in the bloody hell do you pronounce that?

General Nguyen Ngọc Coy.

I had a roommate by the name of Dr. Quoc Nguyen. For both of our sakes, I just called him Doc Quoc. Here's a more general list of how to pronounce the names. The "ng" sound is so tricky because that phoneme doesn't exist in English, which means our brains literally skip over it unless retrained to hear it.

[HalloweenJack]

Sadly, I was much too old when I first read the New Mutants series to find any of them attractive- none of 'em are particularly comely when you're 25 years old. Knowing about Young Jab's preferences, I would have liked anyone with long black hair- which would be Dani. If Magik had black hair, she would have been my "Veronica Lodge" (I was into Ronnie as a lad). By my teen years, I was way into Psylocke, Siryn and Shadowcat- ultimately, Kitty was always my "Ideal Girlfriend", however.

I had a thing for redheads, but not overpowering- Rahne's short hair would have been a dealbreaker anyways.

all depends on who's wearing it my friend. I myself plan on adding amber rose, brianna hildebrand, and bex taylor-klaus to my harem when I conquer the world


so a short haired redhead being hot to me is absolutely not out of the question

[Jabroniville]

Sadly, I was much too old when I first read the New Mutants series to find any of them attractive- none of 'em are particularly comely when you're 25 years old. Knowing about Young Jab's preferences, I would have liked anyone with long black hair- which would be Dani. If Magik had black hair, she would have been my "Veronica Lodge" (I was into Ronnie as a lad). By my teen years, I was way into Psylocke, Siryn and Shadowcat- ultimately, Kitty was always my "Ideal Girlfriend", however.

I had a thing for redheads, but not overpowering- Rahne's short hair would have been a dealbreaker anyways.

all depends on who's wearing it my friend. I myself plan on adding amber rose, brianna hildebrand, and bex taylor-klaus to my harem when I conquer the world


so a short haired redhead being hot to me is absolutely not out of the question

Well I said "WOULD HAVE", not "Still Would", since I totes joined the "short hair" train once I saw Anne Heche (a whole lot of Anne Heche, actually) in a bunch of things. I mean, I think very few women look better with short hair than long... but there remain plenty.

mmmm.... Lady Jaye...

[FuzzyBoots]

Rahne was also generally portrayed as being relatively undeveloped (which would make sense given her background, probably being underfed and discouraged from proper exercise during her growing years), which makes her seem younger than the rest. Which is its attraction for some, of course. And, depending on your point of view, her piety could be a turn-on in a few ways whether it's the prospect of "educating" her, or the idea that she'd help keep you in line.

Two pin-ups from the Summer Special I mentioned before:

[scc]

I loved the early New Mutants comic. Especially the Demon Bear, Magus, and Asgard crossover stuff. You are right they weren't that powerful but I remember in the Marvel FASERIP RPG they were very powerful. Well at least some of them like Magma, Karma and Mirage. Not saying that was right just an observation. Grant you you would see that sometimes like Magma creating a huge volcano or Karma possessing Magus briefly. Maybe some hidden potential. Extra effort and hero points in M&M. I know a lot of times when Cannonball hit someone he would carry them off. Perhaps fast grab with a strength boost to grappling. I remember reading somewhere that Cannonball created enough thrust to carry a ton. Just wondering what you think.

[Batgirl III]

GENERAL NGUYEN NGOC COY:

Seriously, how in the bloody hell do you pronounce that?

Nguyễn Ngọc Coy

[ŋʷǐˀən] [ŋɔkˀ˧˨˧] [kɔɪ]

I won't claim to even pretend to be good at pronunciation of Vietnamese; But working in the industry that I do, I run into a lot of men (and the occasional woman) from Southeast Asia. That means a lot of Vietnamese and Nguyễn is the single most common surname in Vietnam. Seriously, it's like "Jones" to the Welsh.

It's pronounced as one syllable, so never "ngu-yen," but more like "ngweeean." You kinda gotta blend the "ng" at the front together like you would when saying "Idina Menzel is a good singer." It sorta ends up sounding, to my ears and those of a lot of Americans, like a cross between "Wayne" and "When."

The good news is that a lot of Vietnamese are aware that English speakers have trouble with the leading "ng" sound. They mostly seem unperturbed when people call them "new-yen" or "g'nu-yen." Many of them seem to also enjoy playing up the "Wayne" pronunciation. I have a pair of business contacts who have adopted English first names for business: John and Bruce.

This has been your random Bat-Fact of the Day.

[Horsenhero]

Ha!! So, here I am, late to the discussion (I had a comic page to finish...sue me) and I feel bad because I am late being the "cold shower" on the love parade. I guess it doesn't help that I was already in my 20's when New Mutants debuted, because while there's stuff I liked about the series, for much of it...I couldn't stand it.

To wit: I loved, loved LOVED Bob McCleod's character designs, but I knew his time on the book was limited, because never in his career did he consistently make deadline. Never.

I loathed, loathed, LOATHED and still loathe) Bill Seinkewicz's "I broke my dominant arm but I'm not missing a paycheck" art style for this series. I lot of people loved it and thought it was new and edgy, but I'd been reading Indie (Underground is what we called 'em then) comics for years and I thought it was shite.

Demon Bear? Story good. Art? Shite.

Warlock? Shite. Magus? More shite.

Magik? God Claremont, how many times are you going to retread the "good girl gone bad" trope? So she was shite. Belasco was shite too, so that pretty summed up what I think of that...and we're not even going to get into S'ym or Nastirrh.

And Bird-Boy...the shitin', shiteiest shite that ever shited on shite. Only Shite-y Kofi or Kofey or My Little Pony or whatever over in Power Pack came close. Seriously.

For me, personally New Mutants represents the biggest, "comic that grabbed my interest then devolved into crap in a hot minute" series of it's era. Still, it held my interest longer than Liefeld's X-Force relaunch, which I think I read up until the "Juggernaut" issue, which was a team up with Spider-Man, which just happened to have been under Todd MacFarlane's control at the time (this was the place where Image comics was born I believe).

[L-Space]

I bought the first couple New Mutants trades when I first saw your builds Jab and ended up liking them quite a bit. I've been meaning to rebuy them (I sold them and other comics when I under some financial strain) and the later volumes, but haven't had the chance to yet.

Speaking on the builds themselves, is there a particular reason you went with Damage instead of a Slam attack? I mean it pretty much amounts to the same thing, but I've seen a couple other builders do the same thing and I've always been curious of the reasoning.

[Jabroniville]

AHHHHHHHHH, so the guy from Hey Arnold!, whose name kinda sounded like that ("Mr. Wwen" is a close approximation to how others said it), is the correct way to say it. Good to know- thanks, everyone!