Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Jabroniville »

L-Space wrote: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.
In several instances, Sam can use the "Blast" effect like a punch, essentially being immobile before doing so. I think it'd come out to around the same damage, anyways (Flight 8 +1 Circumstance Bonus)- I typically never use "Slam" as part of a character's mechanics, though, if only because I either forget about it, or I'd rather just "damage be damage".

Sam CAN still use a Slam Attack anyways- his "Darn Near Invulnerable" status would allow it to be nearly risk-free, and the attack would do similar damage.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Horsenhero wrote: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).
-A note on how art can alter the impression of a character.

Here is how Bob McLeod (himself a good artist) drew the Demon Bear:

Image

Here is how Sal "Well, I'm quick- that's something, right?" Buscema drew the Demon Bear:

Image

This is how Bill Sienkiewicz drew the Demon Bear:

Image


Image
Image

You're gonna call that monstrosity "shite" compared to Bob's "Smokey the Bear" variant? For SHAME, Horsenhero. I mean, you have your opinions... they just remain incorrect and terrible :P.
Shock
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Shock »

Jabroniville wrote: -Here is how Bob McLeod (himself a good artist) drew the Demon Bear:

Image
Wait, the bear was wearing a mask? I have so many questions.
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L-Space
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by L-Space »

Jabroniville wrote: In several instances, Sam can use the "Blast" effect like a punch, essentially being immobile before doing so. I think it'd come out to around the same damage, anyways (Flight 8 +1 Circumstance Bonus)- I typically never use "Slam" as part of a character's mechanics, though, if only because I either forget about it, or I'd rather just "damage be damage".

Sam CAN still use a Slam Attack anyways- his "Darn Near Invulnerable" status would allow it to be nearly risk-free, and the attack would do similar damage.
Ok, didn't know about him being able to to do it while standing still. My actual experience with Cannonball has pretty much been limited to the Vol 1 & 2 of the New Mutants and Spider-man/X-force crossover where they fought Juggernaut.
Shock wrote:
Jabroniville wrote: -Here is how Bob McLeod (himself a good artist) drew the Demon Bear:

Image
Wait, the bear was wearing a mask? I have so many questions.
And he would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddlin' New Mutants!
Image
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Horsenhero
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Horsenhero »

I notice we never got any of the "good" shots of the Demon Bear as Seinkewicz drew him with two different size eyes (one doing the weird hypno-wheel thing that Warlock would adopt later on) and no legs (just built like a big compost heap). All the pics shown here are from BEFORE Seinkewicz broke his arm and was pretty much doing his "normal" excellent style he used on Moon Knight. As I recall, that didn't last long on New Mutants because he BROKE HIS FRIGGIN' ARM and decided to draw left handed (which is where the weird frizzy hair and squared off bodies started) and fans thought it was great! It was not great. It was neo-cubist vomit.

Don't try to fool me Jab. I'm old, but my memory works just fine. :ugeek:
Jabroniville
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Steal This Planet!

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

My GOD this is beautiful. It is inconceivable that we could ever life in a world where there existed a better comic book cover.

LILA CHENEY
Created By:
Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod
First Appearance: New Mutants Annual #1 (Summer 1984)
Role: The Rock Star, The 80s Icon, Teleporter
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, X-Force (associate to both), Her Band
PL 8 (126)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+5)
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Thief) 6 (+6)
Expertise (Music) 10 (+14)
Insight 4 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Stealth 3 (+5)
Technology 6 (+6)
Vehicles 3 (+6)

Advantages: 
Benefit (Fame), Ultimate Music Skill

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Interstellar Teleportation"
Movement 3 (Space Travel 3) (Feats: Change Direction & Velocity, Easy, Increased Mass 7- 3 tons) (Extras: Portal +2, Instantaneous- Instantly Appears) (Flaws: Limited to Areas She's Been Before) [22]
Linked to
Movement 3 (Space Travel 3) (Feats: Change Direction & Velocity, Easy, Increased Mass 7- 3 tons, Ranged 6) (Extras: Attack 8- Res. by Dodge, Instantaneous) (Flaws: Limited to Areas She's Been Before)
[24]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Teleport Attack +8 (+8 Ranged Teleport Attack, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications: 
Prejudice (Mutant)
Reputation (Rock Star/Thief)- Lila is either incredibly famous or incredibly notorious throughout the universe, known for being a bad-girl, thief, rock star, or fallen star. Expect nearly any alien to know who she is.
Relationship (Sam Guthrie)- Lila has an off-and-on hook-up with Cannonball going, as she finds his good-ol'-boy antics cute. 

Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 46 / Defenses: 21 (126)

Steal This Planet- A Rock Fable (aka the greatest title for a story in the history of the world):
-Gotta love Lila. She debuted in one of the most obviously-'80s story in comic book history, a "Rock Fable" (no kidding) where the New Mutants gang saw her play her punk-rock music, Sam & Bobby fell in love with her ("Aw, who am I kidding? I'm in love. With the music and the lady." sez Sam), and much to their surprise (and wannabe lothario Bobby's horror, sadness and disbelief), Lila actually crushes on same immediately, dragging him backstage with her, damn near molesting him on the spot, and dressing him up as a wannabe punk so she can be more into him. Like, how is that NOT every pre-teen boy reading this story's fantasy? Every single part of this is of course hilariously dated today, with exaggerated "punk rock" gear like nose-chains, S&M straps, studded leather, gloves, etc. looking straight out of 1984, with Lila even being English (like many of the famous punk bands, though lacking their political edge). But really, that's the entire charm of stories like this- comics would be BORING if you couldn't pick up a title and immediately guess the decade just from looking at it.

-In any case, because this is a Chris Claremont story in the 1980s, it turns out that she's also an intergalactic thief of the highest order, and has promised to sell the entire planet Earth to some alien slavers. So the gang gets roped into a fight, and end up traveling to an ancient Dyson Sphere in the far end of the universe, which is naturally Lila's home base. Then some stuff happened, the day was saved, and Lila fell in love with the "Aw shucks" persona of Cannonball, setting off a big character arc for the big lug. Was it me, or was her & Sam's whole relationship completely awesome? The intergalactic rock star/thief has a thing for the innocent mama's boy Sam Guthrie, who's as much scared of her as he is in love with her. And then there's poor Sunspot, left to mope because his charm and money didn't give him what he wanted for once. Naturally, they quickly gloss over the fact that Sam's new girlfriend just tried to sell five billion people into slavery ("Why not? The Earth sold me?" "??" "It's my secret, Sam. I'll never tell. Ever."), but that's teenagers for you. Sam is more or less won over entirely by the Power Of Hawtness, even. We only get a slight mention of it in one of Xavier's "Team Bios", where he brings up that he hopes the New Mutants's goodness will rub off on her... but he wishes that Lila would stop sending Sam "Care Packages" of clothing... and that he would "stop wearing them". He even takes the time- in the middle of a mission of dire importance, no less- to chide Sam that "We are not a collection of Ragamuffins". Later, this is paid off in a brilliant joke where Xavier is decked out in the same kind of stuff by the Morlocks- the X-Men & New Mutants get a huge laugh at Xavier's expense, with Nightcrawler begging Sam to re-quote Xavier's line. Sam does so, "but I have to admit- I blushed. He didn't".

-Honestly, though, is there anything more endearing than the way '70s & '80s movies prescribed such magical powers to Rock and/or Roll? The best might still be Rock & Rule, which featured Debbie Harry & Iggy Pop using The Power Of Rock to destroy a giant Eldritch Abomination.

Later Lila Bits:
-The two had a fair bit of interactions (this mostly did away with the Sam/Amara thing, which wasn't going where Sam wanted it to anyways), often with small "tests"- they'd argue a bit when Sam assumed that she'd stolen a gift she'd gotten for him- she hadn't. Later, Lila was about to be introduced to Sam's mother, but to his shock, she was dressed in full Punk Rock gear! However, Sam kind of doubled down, accepted his girl for what she was, and went to get his momma... at which point Lila changed into a nice dress like a "normal girl", and congratulated Sam for passing the "test"- that he would be willing to introduce his mother to his girlfriend's REAL self. Claremont liked this bit enough he actually called it out specifically to me when I met him at a Con.

-Lila's final "old" appearance was in one of Louise Simonson's issues, where she deals with it abruptly by having Lila seemingly sacrifice herself to stop Gosamyr's race of giant monsters from killing the team. This pretty much sets up Sam to date his teammate Boom-Boom instead, as Lila suddenly shifts to being an X-Men supporting character- having hung out with Dazzler once Alison left the X-Men, Lila shows up in Longshot-related stories. My only experiences reading about Lila as a kid were her '90s stuff fighting Mojo with Longshot & Dazzler, and a few snippets here and there- like when she sang at Cyclops & Jean Grey's wedding, joking about how badly her career was going (by this time, she was dressing more or less like a normal person, and not a leather fetishist), or when she congratulated Boom-Boom on snapping up Sammy, pointing out that "I'm too busy. He's too young." to the jealous Tabitha Smith.

-So with Fabian Nicieza & Scott Lobdell never using her in their '90s books, Lila kind of disappeared until naturally Claremont remembered she existed for his X-Treme X-Men run. This is really the last use of her in any kind of important context- her unique status as a mutant who's never been on an X-team, a fad-related character (Punk has shifted rapidly from what it was in her day), and someone who only interacted with lower-end X-people... it adds up to make her rather under-utilized. The fact that her powers are a huge potential plot-ruiner probably don't help.

Lila's Teleportation:
-Lila is easier to figure out once M&M added an "Instantaneous" Extra to its DC Adventures build of the Indigo Tribe. I sorta wonder why they never had a real concrete way of building Interstellar Transporters before this point, but I guess nobody checked and tried to make a list of "Weird-ass characters to build" before they released the books- statting out Deadman, Lila Cheney, and a few Acolytes ahead of time would've worked wonders :). She can use her powers as a Ranged Attack as well- this can be used involuntarily, resulting in a Linked Power since she can use both effects at once, teleporting friendlies and enemies. 
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Jan 18, 2017 5:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Horsenhero wrote:I notice we never got any of the "good" shots of the Demon Bear as Seinkewicz drew him with two different size eyes (one doing the weird hypno-wheel thing that Warlock would adopt later on) and no legs (just built like a big compost heap). All the pics shown here are from BEFORE Seinkewicz broke his arm and was pretty much doing his "normal" excellent style he used on Moon Knight. As I recall, that didn't last long on New Mutants because he BROKE HIS FRIGGIN' ARM and decided to draw left handed (which is where the weird frizzy hair and squared off bodies started) and fans thought it was great! It was not great. It was neo-cubist vomit.

Don't try to fool me Jab. I'm old, but my memory works just fine. :ugeek:
That's a new story to me- he doesn't mention it in a retrospective I've read- just that he received the Artist's Lament: "Your old stuff was better".

I can see how it wouldn't appeal to your more pedestrian tastes, though- only elitist snobs such as myself get it :p.

This reminds me of when I got in trouble for hating on the anime "Tareme Eyes" at Ronin Army (I said "they look like they're legitimately retarded"- APPARENTLY that's not cool for some reason :))- few things inspire such passion as perceived shitty art. Look at the reactions Mike Allred gets.
Jabroniville
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Rusty

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

RUSTY (Russell Collins)
Created By:
Bob Layton & Jackson Guice
First Appearance: X-Factor #1 (Feb. 1986)
Role: The Expendable Loser, Blaster
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, The X-Terminators, The Mutant Liberation Front, The Acolytes
PL 8 (118)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 2 (+4)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+8)
Deception 2 (+3)
Expertise (Naval Recruit) 4 (+4)
Expertise (Survival) 2 (+3)
Insight 4 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 4 (+5)
Persuasion 3 (+4)
Ranged Combat (Fireball) 5 (+8)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages: 
Improved Critical (Fire Aura)

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Fire Creation"
"Fireball" Blast 7 (Reduced Range -3: 3/5/10 feet) [11]
Fire Aura 7 [28]
Immunity 10 (Fire Effects) [10]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Fire Aura +8 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Fireball +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications: 
Prejudice (Mutant)
Motivation (Outcast)- Rusty is an outcast, rarely sticking around in one place for long. He's been around far more mutant teams than most D-League characters.

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 49 / Defenses: 11 (118)

-Rusty has got to go down as EASILY one of the worst runs of a mutant character in history. Especially for one who debuted in the pre-90s era (where you'd expect most forgettable, easily-discarded characters to come from). He came about in X-Factor, during that bizarre run where they were pretending to be mutant-hunters as a cover for their mutant-helping, a stupid idea that backfired in-series pretty spectacularly. Honestly, I never saw the point of having X-Factor around when Claremont was still tearing things up with his two X-books: It just seemed like the lame duck of the franchise. So Rusty got trained by X-Factor, having one of those Blessed With Suck powers that made him set fire to everything, and eventually his "X-Terminators" team was merged into Louise Simonson's crappy New Mutants run, replacing several beloved characters (Magma, Magik) with lame one-note fools like Rusty, Skids, Rictor & Boom-Boom. Most of them got better characterization later on (Boomer especially, until modern books made her a Valley Girl idiot again), but not Rusty. He was pretty much "Generic Protagonist #401", doing nothing of interest and generally being dull the entire time.

-He barely even got a run on the book before he & Skids were captured, then defected to the Mutant Liberation Front when threatened by humans. Brainwashed to be evil by Stryfe, they didn't get up to much, and Rusty was casually decimated by Cannonball during the big X-Cutioner's Song fight. Freed from the Friend of Humanity by X-Force, the duo was cured of their brainwashing by Magneto during his "Avalon" period, and so joined the Acolytes, making them among the few characters to be a part of TWO terrible teams of Morts. Skids got to move on as a minor X-character, but El Generico (heh- I nicknamed him that before a pro wrestler took the name and became a superstar) here was murdered casually by Holocaust upon his induction to the mainstream Marvel U. And thus endeth the terrible run of Rusty Collins.

-A slightly-cheap PL 8, Rusty is a generic, weak Blaster (Reduced Range means he can only shoot a little ways out at maximum distance) with no AEs or anything- just an Aura. It's quite powerful, but he's so one-note that nearly anyone can kick his ass once they weather his storm of pyrotechnics. He's almost full points-cost for his PL in 3e thanks to the excessive cost for Skills (I have a very recent 2e Rusty build that I near-directly converted from one system to the other, and he gained about 10 points in the process before I scaled some stuff back upon further revelations regarding his powers), but hardly an ideal PC.

RUSTY (Russell Collins)- New Mutants Era
Created By:
Bob Layton & Jackson Guice
First Appearance: X-Factor #1 (Feb. 1986)
Role: The Expendable Loser, Blaster
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, The X-Terminators
PL 6 (93)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 2 (+4)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+6)
Deception 2 (+3)
Expertise (Naval Recruit) 4 (+4)
Expertise (Survival) 2 (+3)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 2 (+2)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages: 
None

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Fire Creation"
Fire Aura 6 [24]
Immunity 10 (Fire Effects) [10]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Fire Aura +6 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications: 
Prejudice (Mutant)
Motivation (Outcast)- Rusty is an outcast, rarely sticking around in one place for long. He's been around far more mutant teams than most D-League characters.

Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 34 / Defenses: 15 (93)

-Younger Rusty is a PL 6 weakling with no Blast and lowered abilities most of the way across the board.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Horsenhero
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Horsenhero »

Rusty...ugh!

First off, his original plotline: "I just want to live a normal life!" is kind of dumb for a character who A) doesn't look monstrous and B) has complete control of their powers.

Second, he's yet another example of how the lack of a cool codename will absolutely sink a character, unless like Guido aka Strong Guy, the lack of a cool codename is on purpose. At least Strong Guy had an appropriately odd look to go with his name. Rusty's got no codename, weak powers and a boring costume.

Seriously, Deadpool movie aside, if you're going to wear brown pants as part of your costume, you better be bringing your "A" game everywhere else.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Batgirl III »

The impetus for the original X-Factor book made sense to me: The original X-Men hadn't been big sellers in the Sixties, but the all-new all-different "Giant Size" version of the team had become a hot ticket in the Seventies. Marvel Editorial probably didn't want to mess with whatever alchemy had made that book work but they obviously wanted to have another X-Book out there to make more money. So, hey, why not center a new book around the five guys in the x-pajamas we've already got?

Why they decided to go with the "mutants pretending to be mutant-hunters" storyline is something that I will never understand.

If anything, a far more logical thing would have been to pretend to be "normal" superheroes: Cyclops could pretend his optic blasts were technology; Beast and Iceman could claim to be aliens; Jean Grey could say she was a wizard; and Angel could say he was an actual angel. The general public had zero problems accepting a rogue military science experiment, a rich guy's power armored bodyguard, a god, and an overly enthusiastic entomology researcher and his girlfriend.
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Horsenhero
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by Horsenhero »

Batgirl III wrote:The impetus for the original X-Factor book made sense to me: The original X-Men hadn't been big sellers in the Sixties, but the all-new all-different "Giant Size" version of the team had become a hot ticket in the Seventies. Marvel Editorial probably didn't want to mess with whatever alchemy had made that book work but they obviously wanted to have another X-Book out there to make more money. So, hey, why not center a new book around the five guys in the x-pajamas we've already got?

Why they decided to go with the "mutants pretending to be mutant-hunters" storyline is something that I will never understand.
Well, it was supposed to be some sort of weird "underground railroad" thing, but that got derailed in a hot minute.

Of course from what I've heard X-Factor's creation also had something to do with the X-Editors not wanting to lose control of any of their stockpile of characters like in the days when Angel & Iceman were off being Champions or Beast was an Avenger or all three were Defenders. Editors at Marvel and DC can get pretty territorial (and incredible petty about it) at times.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Maui! Tamatoa! TThe New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball!)

Post by danelsan »

The art on New Mutants is definitely not my thing. Also, I fucking hated Warlock as a kid.
Jabroniville
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Skids

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

SKIDS (Sally Blevins)
Created By:
Louise Simonson & Jackson Guice
First Appearance: X-Factor #7 (Aug. 1986)
Role: The Expendable Loser, Barrier Warrior
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, The X-Terminators, The Mutant Liberation Front, The Acolytes, S.H.I.E.L.D., X-Corporation
PL 10 (116)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Close Combat 2 (+8)
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent) 2 (+2)
Insight 1 (+2)
Perception 4 (+5)
Persuasion 4 (+4)
Stealth 4 (+7)

Advantages: 
Defensive Attack, Interpose, Withstand Damage

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Force Fields"
Protection 12 (Feats: Reach 6) (Extras: Sustained +0, Continuous, Affects Others, Impervious 20) [62]
Immunity 5 (Entrapment Effects) [5]
"Skating" Speed 2 [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +1 (+13 Force Field), Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications: 
Prejudice (Mutant)
Motivation (Outcast)- Skids is an outcast, rarely sticking around in one place for long. She's been around far more mutant teams than most D-League characters.
Relationship (Rusty Collins)- Rusty & Skids were an inseparable pair for a long time, but he was eventually killed when Holocaust entered the 616-Universe.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 69 / Defenses: 10 (116)

-Skids was basically the latter half of "Rusty and..." for years, hanging around with the X-Terminators, New Mutants and eventually the Mutant Liberation Front & the Acolytes. She's as brutally generic as Rusty is as a character (having no real discernible personality traits beyond "I hate being a mutant!"), but has a more unique power and actually outlived him. She debuted as one of the Morlocks, albeit not deformed like most are, as it turned out that most of their deformities were caused by the face-sculptor Masque, in order to "cement" them as outcasts. Skids's Force Field prevented her from such an affliction, thus leading to resentment from the other Morlocks. She encountered Rusty while he was being pursued by Freedom Force, but they were eventually rescued by X-Factor, who took them in as trainees.

-Later on, Rusty & Skids joined the New Mutants along with the other "X-Terminator" trainees, at which point they became the most generic, forgettable characters on the book- I can't tell you a single thing they did other than that time Rusty fought The Vulture during Acts of Vengeance. The pair were eventually recaptured by Freedom Force, but soon sprung by Stryfe's Mutant Liberation Front during the "Rob Liefeld Era"- this would go completely ignored for months and months of time, until suddenly Fabian Nicieza revealed that they were hardcore Stryfe-worshipers, utterly brainwashed by the group- Skids even broke Boom-Boom's jaw with a martial arts-style kick! She was held off by Boomer's threat of a "point-blank" Time Bomb and subsequently arrested. However, the sycophantic kids were still brainwashed when they were sprung from execution at the hands of the Friends of Humanity by X-Force, at which point they were de-brainwashed by Magneto and sent to live on his "Avalon" fortress as Acolytes.

-Rusty of course died fighting Holocaust, which left Skids joining X-Force on a later date- this was the first time in literally years that any writer had cared enough to really use either character- all of this "they're kidnapped/they're in jail/they're brainwashed/they're Acolytes now" stuff is absolutely a sign that the writers did NOT care about them one way or the other- Fabian Nicieza might as well have had "I don't give a crap about Rusty & Skids" written on his forehead by this point, as there was ALWAYS an excuse to dump them off the book.

-Skids's run on X-Force was short-lived, as the book was in its dying years, and soon she became just "one of those faces"- an unused X-Character floating around in "Comics Limbo", occasionally being seen in big group shots (like being one of the Mutant Refugees post-M-Day or things like the X-Corporation), but never getting much to do. She later turned up as an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent investigating Masque's activities with the Morlocks- this has been her last appearance.

-Overall, Skids reads like a giant example of what happens when you DON'T kill off an unpopular character that nobody likes- instead of just dying as another wasted opportunity, they float around aimlessly in limbo... being another wasted opportunity. As her "S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent" thing has been done by other mutants already (Dazzler, Kitty Pryde), her powers aren't that interesting, and her personality has been, at-best, vague ("Generic Girl" is the closest thing I can pin on her). But as long as Rusty exists, she'll never be the lowest of the low. I've heard that Rusty & Skids were an attempt at copying the personality traits of Scott Summers & Jean Grey in their early incarnations, as if you recapture what they had way back then. It didn't work, if you didn't notice.

-Skids is another cheap-o build, but a higher PL than most characters of her level thanks to her EXTREMELY effective Force Field. It makes her an effective team player, being able to guard nearly every team member she's got with a powerful Impervious Field that only shuts down when SHE wants it to. She has a couple other feats (Immunity to Grapples and Speed) associated with it, but is rather limited to being defensive. She's pretty much useless offensively, for example. Most Force Fields are Sustained, but hers explicitly holds while she's Unconscious, meaning it's basically a Continuous Effect that she can turn off, adding to it's cost.

Image

SKIDS (Sally Blevins)- New Mutants Era
Created By:
Louise Simonson & Jackson Guice
First Appearance: X-Factor #7 (Aug. 1986)
Role: The Expendable Loser, Barrier Warrior
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, The X-Terminators, The Mutant Liberation Front, The Acolytes, SHIELD, X-Corporation
PL 8 (102)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Close Combat 2 (+4)
Deception 4 (+4)
Insight 1 (+2)
Perception 4 (+5)
Persuasion 4 (+4)
Stealth 4 (+7)

Advantages: 
Interpose, Withstand Damage

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Force Fields"
Protection 12 (Feats: Reach 2) (Extras: Sustained +0, Continuous, Affects Others, Impervious 20) [58]
Immunity 5 (Entrapment Effects) [5]
"Skating" Speed 2 [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +3 (DC 13), Parry +3 (DC 13), Toughness +1 (+13 Force Field), Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications: 
Prejudice (Mutant)
Motivation (Outcast)- Skids is an outcast, rarely sticking around in one place for long. She's been around far more mutant teams than most D-League characters.
Relationship (Rusty Collins)- Rusty & Skids were an inseparable pair for a long time, but he was eventually killed when Holocaust entered the 616-Universe.

Total: Abilities: 14 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 67 / Defenses: 8 (102)

-Young Skids is pretty similar to the old one, but lacks some Reach on her Force Field and is REALLY REALLY easy to hit.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:32 am, edited 3 times in total.
Horsenhero
Posts: 941
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 9:01 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (The New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball! Lila Cheney!)

Post by Horsenhero »

Do you know when a D-list character has a credibility problem? When I can't manage to find any affection for them.

I mean I like Razorback! I think Komodo is criminally under used! I liked the concept of Woodgod! Hell, I'm still waiting for somebody to do something with Prima Dona!

But Skids and even moreso Rusty leave me...empty. It's a sad, sad day when I can't manage even the slightest fondness for a D-list character.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (The New Mutants! Karma! Cannonball! Lila Cheney!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Horsenhero wrote:Do you know when a D-list character has a credibility problem? When I can't manage to find any affection for them.

I mean I like Razorback! I think Komodo is criminally under used! I liked the concept of Woodgod! Hell, I'm still waiting for somebody to do something with Prima Dona!

But Skids and even moreso Rusty leave me...empty. It's a sad, sad day when I can't manage even the slightest fondness for a D-list character.
That's because Louise Simonson is a bad writer. She legitimately did not seem to know how to make likable characters, and it ruined a lot of potential ideas.
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