Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Adam-X

Post by Jabroniville »

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“Adam X was INTENDED to be the illegitimate offspring of D'Ken and Kate Summers. Taken from D'Ken and raised on a farming planet. BUT–and it's a big but–since I never had the opportunity to tell the entire story, what I intended is worth the screen it's printed on."
-Fabian Nicieza


ADAM X, THE X-TREME (Adam Neramani)
Created By:
Fabian Nicieza & Tony Daniel
b]First Appearance:[/b] X-Force Annual #2 (Oct. 1993)
Role: '90s EXTREEEEEEEEEME Hero
Group Affiliations: None
PL 10 (148)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 7
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+15)
Athletics 5 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+12)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 4 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Thet'je Spikes) 4 (+11)
Technology 3 (+4)
Vehicles 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 3, Evasion 2, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Thet'je Blades) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 5, Takedown 2, Tracking, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Flash-Fry Bloodstreams"
"Burn!" Affliction 10 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Limited to Exposed Blood) Linked to Damage 5 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst, Fortitude Damage) (Flaws: Limited to Exposed Blood) [20]

"Human/Shi'Ar Hybrid"
Senses 2 (Extended & Low-Light Vision) [2]
"Hollow Bones" Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]

Equipment:
"Thet'je Spikes" Blast 5 (Feats: Split 2) (12) -- (13)
  • AE: "Large Spike" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Improved Critical) (3)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Thet'je Slash +11 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Thet'je Spikes +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Flash-Fry +10 Area (+10 Affliction & +5 Damage, DC 20 & 20)
Initiative +11

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +5 (+6 D.Roll), Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Finding His Origins)
Reputation (Too 90s For His Own Good)

Total: Abilities: 70 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 27 / Powers: 23 / Defenses: 11 (148)

-This guy... I mean, you want somebody who EXEMPLIFIED the 1990s of comics? Look no further. It took us as a society quite a while to finally nail down the "decade that had everything", but nearly ten years hence, it's become a bit more obvious. With the dying of bubblegum & kiddie stuff, the "Nirvana Era" meant everything had to be cooler, scarier, more bad-ass, and in the realm of comics, full of claws, swords and bleeding. Backwards ball-caps, ponytails, spikes on everyone, etc., were the name of the game.

-Adam X (aka THE X-TREME, just in case his appearance wasn't '90s enough for you) was a character introduced by Fabian Nicieza & Tony Daniel for X-Force- released during a summer-wide sales tactic to have each of Marvel's 1993 Annuals produce a single "Collector's Card" of a brand-new character that would debut in that Annual. The characters are, as a rule, COMPLETELY TERRIBLE, and many were just haphazardly thrown in there to satisfy Marvel's editorial edict. Just think- if that entire crew, Adam X is BY FAR the most famous and notable.

-Adam X had vague Shi'ar traits, and there was evidence that he was the fabled "Third Summers Brother" (before we actually got one in Vulcan). He leapt around, fought X-Force a bit, then turned on his evil employer (a fin-limbed tiny mutant hiding in a super-powered artificial body). Then in a later story he fought Shatterstar (himself among the most '90s characters ever created) on the whims of Arcade (who did his trademark "I act like a goofball and make fun of you while you do stuff", though he used a LOT less of the usual Deathtraps, and instead focused on Mojoworld mooks), before AGAIN turning on the villain in the end. This is pretty much how he spent every story he was in, I think, as the writers were SO desperate to get some of that "Image Vibe" going. He was given some info by Arcade in the end; the name "Milbury" on a piece of paper (this was a hint that Mr. Sinister was involved, and of course we know Sinister's obsession with the Summers Family Tree...). Adam X hadn't made an appearance in over ten years until recent times (which use him as a background nobody), which is a pretty good sign of how well the character went over.

-Adam-X has a fairly good array of Advantages, and is a heavily-themed Accuracy/Defense guy rather than muscling it out or being tough, but he's no slouch in those areas either. His key tactic is to make tiny nicks and cuts on people with his "Thet'je" Spikes, shout "BURN!" while his eyes glow, and "Flash-Fry" them. While this attack seems devastating enough, and was certainly feared by every character who'd seen it before, it only KO'd X-Force for like a minute while he made his escape, so it doesn't seem to be any more powerful than a standard Blast. In game terms, it's a Burst Area Damage/Affliction set-up, Limited to people he's scratched with his blades- note that he doesn't have to hurt them BAD- even little nicks on super-toughies like Warpath was enough to activate it. The trick thing is that it doesn't MISS, and can hit dozens of guys at once once they've been cut. The Affliction part is the only thing that makes him a PL 10- the rest of the time, he's a PL 9.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Magik! Legion! Rictor! Cable! Prosh!)

Post by L-Space »

Horsenhero wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2017 5:19 am I have to wonder if Liefeld got the concept for Shatterstar's swords from his safety razor. He was shaving one day and looked at the dual blade and got a brainstorm. That's right kids, Shatterstar is so old he was created when the average safety razor still had only two blades.
Man, imagined if Liefeld made Shatterstar today with that train of thought. His sword would have 6 blades, a cooling strip, and pulse setting ;).
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2017 5:42 am True story: That's the only comic book cover I ever deliberately copied. Young Jab LOVED Liefeld, and thought his version of the Juggernaut was the most bad-ass, incredible thing he'd ever seen. The only part of Liefeld's style I didn't like back then was how everyone was always pursing their lips in this odd way that made them look like the mummy from the Franklin Expedition. 'Twas only years later that I was like "GOD this guy was half-assed".
I remember thinking how cool it was for Shatterstar to cut Juggernaut and stab in the eye, it was EXTREEME! I also really liked it for Spider-man telling X-force to just let Juggernaut go because he was unstoppable they were too green to handle him. They then ignore Spidey's advice, causing him to pretty much say "Fine, I'll show you how to fight him, but only because you're doing it wrong!"
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Dr. Nemesis

Post by Jabroniville »

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DOCTOR NEMESIS I (James Nicola Bradley)
Created By:
Unknown
First Appearance: Lightning Comics #6 (April 1941)
Role: Forgotten Golden Age Hero
Group Affiliations: The X-Men, X-Club, Battle-Axis
PL 9 (135)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 7 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+11)
Insight 2 (+6)
Investigation 4 (+8)
Perception 2 (+6)
Technology 4 (+11)
Treatment 5 (+12)

Advantages: 
Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Hypodermic Gun), Inventor, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Self-Evolved Intellect"
Enhanced Skills 16: Science 6 (+17), Technology 5 (+16), Treatment 5 (+17) [8]
"Longevity Via Serums" Immunity 2 (Aging, Disease) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [1]
"See Genetic Anomalies" Senses 2 (Analytical Vision, Extended) [2]

"Twin Hypodermic Handguns" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [20]
"Narcotics" Affliction 8 (Fort; Impaired & Vulnerable/Disabled & Helpless/Incapacitated) (Feats: Split) (Extras: Extra Condition, Ranged) Linked to Blast 3 (31) -- (32 points)
AE: "Needles" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed & Fatigued/Compelled & Exhausted/Controlled & Asleep) (Feats: Split) (Extras: Extra Condition, Ranged) (Flaws: Limited to Telling the Truth) Linked to Blast 3 (23)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Hypodermic Guns +10 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Nazi Hunting)- Though he was once an ally of the Third Reich, Dr. Nemesis now hunts Nazis and Nazi Clones.

Total: Abilities: 70 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 31 / Defenses: 14 (135)

-Okay, so THIS is the weird guy I see in the background of all those New Mutants & X-Men comics I have. I was wondering about him. Doctor Nemesis is actually a Golden Age superhero who was retroactively added to Marvel Continuity (he comes from the defunct "Ace Comics" company) to face The Invaders. He turned out to have joined the Nazis, but was now repentant, and eventually Marvel added him to the X-Books, and decided his genius was now because of Mutant Powers. He mostly just looks damned stylish in that white suit and hat of his (I gotta get me some of that) and does Science Stuff behind the scenes, though he can apparently fight. I'd be willing to bet there's a little bit of a "Doctor McNinja" homage going on with him, too, what with that white doctor's mask and the whole outfit.

-Doctor Nemesis is a basic Two-Fisted Adventurer build, but adds some Hypodermic Needle-Shooting Handguns and some Super-Scientist stuff (well into the upper-tiers, though below the Top Tier of Reed/Stark/Doom/etc.). He's invented an "Oscillator" (Earthquake Machine) and something that moved creatures through dimensions, but is generally really smart and can knock people out with his Needles (that are also kind of a Blast, because that would FRICKIN' HURT). The Earthquake Machine & his Middle Name seem to imply an homage to Nicola Tesla.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dr. Nemesis

Post by L-Space »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:00 pm -Doctor Nemesis is a basic Two-Fisted Adventurer build, but adds some Hypodermic Needle-Shooting Handguns and some Super-Scientist stuff (well into the upper-tiers, though below the Top Tier of Reed/Stark/Doom/etc.). He's invented an "Oscillator" (Earthquake Machine) and something that moved creatures through dimensions, but is generally really smart and can knock people out with his Needles (that are also kind of a Blast, because that would FRICKIN' HURT). The Earthquake Machine & his Middle Name seem to imply an homage to Nicola Tesla.
Oh god yes! I'm not adverse to needles (well no more than anyone is of being stabbed by sharp metallic objects), but seeing him shoot anyone with that always makes me flinch a bit. Same way with the Overwatch character, Ana, who shoots nanite filled darts to HEAL people...
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Jabroniville
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Domino

Post by Jabroniville »

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I'm tempted to make whatever the hell her spine is doing its own Power.

DOMINO (Neena Thurman)
Created By:
Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld (concept creator) & Greg Capullo (first artist on "real" Domino)
First Appearance: X-Force #8 (flashback), X-Force #11 (current)
Role: The Gun-Wielder, Action Girl, Spy Chick, Deadpan Snarker
Group Affiliations: X-Force, X-Corporation
PL 9 (158)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 4 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+12)
Deception 8 (+10)
Expertise (Spy/Mercenary) 11 (+13)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 8 (+11)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+10)
Stealth 6 (+12)
Technology 4 (+6)
Vehicles 4 (+10)

Advantages: 
Accurate Attack, Beginner's Luck, Equipment 6 (Arsenal), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Rifle) 2, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-All-Trades, Languages (Various), Move-By Action, Precise Attack 2 (Ranged/Cover & Concealment), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Everything Falls Into Place"
"Enemies Tend to Miss" Enhanced Advantages 11: Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion 2, Luck 5, Uncanny Dodge [11]
"Things Falling Into Place" Luck Control 2 (Prevent HP, Force Re-Rolls) [6]

Equipment:
Uniform (Protection 1) (1)
Assorted Spy Gear (9)
"Automatic Rifle" Blast 6 (Extras: Multiattack) (18) -- (20)
  • AE: "Blaster Rifle" Damage 8 (Quirk: Inaccurate) (15)
  • AE: "Grenades" Blast 6 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (18)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Rifle +12 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Blaster Rifle +10 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Grenades +6 Area (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3 (+4 Uniform, +5 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +7

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Relationship (Cable)- Domino and Cable have kind of an on-again/off-again thing going.
Relationship (Milo Thurman)- The two were married years ago, but they thought each other dead.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 68--34 / Advantages: 24 / Powers: 17 / Defenses: 15 (158)

Domino- Another Mysterious Mutant:
-I've ranted about Rob Liefeld's tendencies as both an artist and as a writer/concept creator a billion times, but it never quite gets old. Domino is a hallmark of his: Patches or things over the eyes (Domino has one circle-thingie; Deadpool and Wildside both have two; Cable & Shatterstar both have eye-stars). Despite being a mutant, she was mainly a "Gun Chick" for years, actually having a metahuman power added either after the fact, or as an afterthought in general (Cable's Telekinesis, Shatterstar's Sword-Blast). Generic mysterious origin with little snippets given here or there, meant to copy Wolverine's famously-hidden beginnings. It's all there.

-Her history with X-Force is rather funny, as the Domino (introduced as an old mercenary partner of Cable's) we saw pop in all of a sudden during the final days of The New Mutants turned out to be an imposter- a Mystique rip-off named Copycat, who was a mole on the team for the crimeboss Mr. Tolliver (a nemesis of Cable's). This was weird storytelling, but it almost seems like a "take THAT" to Liefeld, who was departing for Image Comics at the time, by taking his character and insert some other nonsense to it. A very quick series of events would witness Liefeld's Weapon: P.R.I.M.E. be demolished in a single issue, Copycat Domino being near-fatally stabbed by Deadpool, and the real Domino coming in to kick some ass. At which point she disappeared for a dozen issues (even though Cable told her to "find X-Force!"), arriving to meet X-Force only AFTER Cable returned from the dead.

-Domino was nonetheless a bit fun- she was a Deadpan Snarker type, prone to poking at the stiff, humorless Cable and deriding the X-Force kids for their lack of subtlety. But really, the most notable thing about her was her penchant for crazy, back-bending poses while Tony Daniel drew X-Force- she would do stuff like this while JUMPING and being UPSIDE-DOWN, wearing a tight leather outfit full of carefully-placed holes over the thighs.

Middle & Later Period Domino:
-We would at least get parts of her backstory- she was a government project that was deemed a failure, became a merc, and later married a man named Milo Thurman (an analytical genius hidden away by the government because he was deemed too dangerous to be left free), who later was thought dead (and he thought SHE was dead). While she was held hostage by Tolliver for over a year, an imposter took her place- when Domino was finally freed, she hunted down Copycat and threatened her into helping find information about Cable, fought off a new incarnation of Weapon: P.R.I.M.E., and then joined X-Force for a long period of time. Domino would lead X-Force during one of the book's weakest periods, guest-star in Cable's book (where she'd both kiss him, and end up having to put down her teammate Grizzly once he'd gone insane) and would more or less disappear for years, as most of the '90s characters did.

-Much later, she would get a Limited Series of her very own, find her birth mother (Beatrice; oddly the name her husband came up with for her), discover a half-brother named Lazarus, and had a weird relationship with Cable go south, as she'd try to kill him a couple of times, but they later made up. The Post-2000 era is a long string of "Random Domino Appearances", as she kind of began to be used as the "Black Widow" of the X-Teams- a spy-trained mercenary who could be reasonably slotted into any adventure and have it make sense. She was even part of the initial "Red She-Hulk" story, as one of the potential candidates. After one X-Event, she got a recurring role as a member of Storms' X-Men team, adn would form a relationship with Colossus, before joining one of the updated versions of X-Force. Currently, she is part of the Mercs For Money, a team consisting of Gorilla-Man, Machine Man and Masacre in the Deadpool book.

Domino's Stats:
-Domino has the Mutant Power that allows "Everything to Fall Into Place" for her. This generally means that people miss when aiming for her, she hits just the right button to stop a bomb, and she always finds the easiest exit, etc. Curiously, Probability Control isn't listed in 3e (kind of a rare power, so I get that), but that's OK, because that or Luck Control both handle things like that equally well. Otherwise, I could just use P.C., just transferred directly from 2e to 3e. The way she is now, she just has a stack of Hero Points, plus a ton of Defensive Advantages as part of her Powers, with the Luck Control abilities to screw with her enemies' rolls. As a one-off, she kept some storm clouds over some Sentinels, setting off a lightning bolt on them- it's the only time that sort of thing has happened- the rest of the time she just moves out of the way of stuff, making her a particularly annoying opponent to fight- she once easily stalled a Nimrod unit for several minutes because he could not find a tactical way around her powers.

DOMINO (Neena Thurman)- With Probability Control
Created By:
Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld (concept creator) & Greg Capullo (first artist on "real" Domino)
First Appearance: X-Force #8 (flashback), X-Force #11 (current)
Role: The Gun-Wielder, Action Girl, Spy Chick, Deadpan Snarker
Group Affiliations: X-Force, X-Corporation
PL 9 (172)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 4 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+12)
Deception 8 (+10)
Expertise (Spy/Mercenary) 11 (+13)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 8 (+11)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+10)
Stealth 6 (+12)
Technology 4 (+6)
Vehicles 4 (+10)

Advantages: 
Accurate Attack, Beginner's Luck, Equipment 6 (Arsenal), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Rifle) 2, Improved Initiative, Jack-of-All-Trades, Languages (Various), Move-By Action, Power Attack, Precise Attack 2 (Ranged/Cover & Concealment), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Everything Falls Into Place"
"Enemies Tend to Miss" Enhanced Advantages 11: Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion 2, Luck 5, Uncanny Dodge [11]
"Makes Things Fall Into Place" Probability Control 6 (Flaws: Uncontrolled) [18]

Equipment:
Uniform (Protection 1) (1)
Assorted Spy Gear (9)
"Automatic Rifle" Blast 6 (Extras: Multiattack) (18) -- (20)
  • AE: "Blaster Rifle" Damage 8 (Quirk: Inaccurate) (15)
  • AE: "Grenades" Blast 6 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (18)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Rifle +12 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Blaster Rifle +10 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Grenades +6 Area (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3 (+4 Uniform, +5 D.Roll), Fortitude +7, Will +7

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Relationship (Cable)- Domino and Cable have kind of an on-again/off-again thing going.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 68--34 / Advantages: 25 / Powers: 29 / Defenses: 16 (172)

-With Probability Control (probably the same cost as in 2e), she can now roll a minimum of 6 on any given roll, but it's Uncontrolled (since it's always been a minor aspect of her character and her powers in the comics). You could really give it almost ANY kind of Rank and have it be half-way accurate to the comic, but this is about as much as you need, I think. It boosts the cost of the character by a FAIR ways, so I would probably not go by this method.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Copycat

Post by Jabroniville »

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COPYCAT (Vanessa Geraldine Carlysle)
Created By:
Fabian Nicieza & Rob Liefeld
First Appearance: New Mutants #98 (Feb. 1991)
Role: The Gun-Wielder, Action Girl, Spy Chick, The Mole, Mystique Rip-Off
Group Affiliations: X-Force, Tolliver's Organization
PL 9 (152)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11)
Athletics 4 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 11 (+15)
Expertise (Spy/Mercenary) 9 (+10)
Insight 3 (+5)
Investigation 4 (+6)
Perception 6 (+8)
Sleight of Hand 3 (+7)
Stealth 6 (+11)
Technology 4 (+5)
Vehicles 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Equipment 6 (Arsenal), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Rifle), Jack-of-All-Trades, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Shapeshifting"
Mimic 4 [20]
Shapeshift 2 (Flaws: Limited to Subjects She's Touched) [14]

Equipment:
Uniform (Protection 1) (1)
Assorted Spy Gear (9)
"Automatic Rifle" Blast 6 (Extras: Multiattack) (18) -- (20)
  • AE: "Blaster Rifle" Damage 8 (Quirk: Inaccurate) (15)
  • AE: "Grenades" Blast 6 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (18)
Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Rifle +10 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Blaster Rifle +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Grenades +6 Area (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +2 (+3 Uniform), Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Secret- Vanessa is usually deep in disguise, and must keep her true origins secret.
Relationship (Deadpool)- Vanessa has dated the Merc With A Mouth in the past, and the two are in a love/hate kind of thing.
Relationship (Garrison Kane)- She has a thing for Liefeld characters, I guess.
Relationship (Tina)- Vanessa's best pal is a smokin'-hot brunette Bostonian who hangs out at a certain bar, and is an ex of a certain failed baseball player.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 62--31 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 34 / Defenses: 13 (152)

-One of the curious parts of the Post-Liefeld run on X-Force was that Cable's semi-lover/partner Domino was revealed to have been a mole- a traitor loyal only to Cable's enemy, Mr. Tolliver! However, it was quickly revealed that this Domino was actually a fake- Domino had never even joined X-Force in the first place! "Domino" was actually Vanessa "Copycat" Carlysle, a shapeshifter who was hired by Tolliver to mimic Domino and give away their base's location. She was also revealed to have been a past lover of Deadpool, who was by this point growing in popularity as a "funny villain".

-Copycat was later caught up in stuff involving Domino (who was QUITE annoyed to have been held captive for over a year while Vanessa took her place, to put it mildly) and Deadpool, but it was really minor to the book. That said, it did produce a Marvel Comics appearance of the gang from Cheers (no, really- I didn't pick up on it as a kid, but it's definitely obvious as an adult, right down to Cliff's Bah-ston accent and Sam hitting on her friend). She got more play in Deadpool's own series, where she hooked up with Garrison Kane, but she was eventually killed by Sabretooth. Honestly, I think the whole "reveal" was a weird plot twist, not entirely great, and the character is basically "Mystique, But Nicer", so I'm not a big fan. Obviously she wasn't that important overall, as despite being an X-Force member, she's been forgotten to history, doesn't appear much, despite her BF being a major Marvel character.

-Of course, she got played by Morena Baccarin in the Deadpool movie (I can't remember whether or not I made that connection- she didn't have powers, but the first name is the same), so her star is probably on the rise- she's since reappeared, having survived thanks to some of Deadpool's blood being poured into the wounds Sabretooth caused.

-Copycat's a tricky one, as her Mimic power is apparently powerful enough to copy superhuman powers, in addition to morphing her mind and body to fool even the closest allies (Cable was very familiar with Domino, and was fooled for months; even telepaths can usually not tell Copycat from the original... this is of course comics, where Deception ALMOST ALWAYS WORKS, which doesn't quite fit in an RPG where you roll off to see who believes what). This leaves her a PL 8 baseline character, but she can boost her traits up to allow a PL 9 fighter (she was PL 9 as the fake Domino). As a Flaw, she needs to actually have touched anyone she full-on mimics, though she can still adopt the appearances just by looking at pictures.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rictor! Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino!)

Post by Jabroniville »

X-Cutioner's Song- Part Four (X-Force #16):
* This one is all about the fight scene, as the X-Men/X-Factor alliance comes down on the weakened, tired X-Force kids. Cannonball tries the peaceful approach, but IMMEDIATELY Feral attacks, refusing to turn herself in. I LOVED this one as a kid- just a beautiful, full-issue brawl between rival superhero groups. Though in retrospect, it's way too one-sided, as X-Force is dramatically outnumbered. They pair off immediately- Psylocke was KO'd last issue by Sunspot in a surprise attack, Sam one-shots Havok, and Feral slashes Gambit. Rogue easily one-punches Boomer, ignoring the Time Bombs like they're not even there (man, this series gave Tabitha NO credit! And this is actually her own book!). Warpath and Strong Guy pair off, as both are... the team strong guys... but in a moment that infuriated Young Jab, Strong Guy easily absorbs a pair of super-powered punches, then casuall backhands Warpath into unconsciousness while cracking a joke.

Rictor takes out his ex-girlfriend Wolfsbane while Wolverine spears Shatterstar with his claws (!! He doesn't even know that Shatterstar can heal that!), and then X-Force decides to squirrel away again, but not before a stunned, downed Havok manages to nail Rictor with a plasma burst. Wolverine brags about his hunting skills as he tracks down the X-Force kids, and things finally turn completely on the younger mutants- Psylocke sneaks up behind Siryn and Psychic Knifes her down, Wolverine does the "double-claw" thing around Feral's neck... and Cannonball & Sunspot wisely decide to give themselves up.

BUT WE'RE NOT DONE WITH THE FIGHTING!! Storm's Gold Team (plus Beast & Quicksilver, since Beast thinks Apocalypse is involved and has experience against him, and his last base was one the Moon, where Quicksilver's in-laws live) arrives at a known Apocalypse hang-out, and are immediately attacked by two Horsemen- Famine one-shots The Beast with her "Dessication" power, and Caliban knocks Colossus over with a surprise attack. Iceman & Archangel easily take out Caliban in return (off-panel, oddly-enough- we just hear him scream from Warren's Neuro-Darts), while Quicksilver one-shots Famine. And then MORE fighting, as Bishop blasts a hole through Sinister's head, but he only jokes about it, then one-shots Bishop AND Jubilee, then tells them he's going to help them along and defeat the villain at the heart of everything, because that will only help HIM out in the future!

So yeah, this entire comic is pretty much 100% fighting. The Sinister stuff is particularly pointless, because he comes in strangling and hitting people, but he's HELPING them?? And the Horseman stuff is just to get those two out of the way (we never see what happened to War, and he never shows up in the story again). Almost the entirety of X-Force cease to mean anything to the story after this point as well.

Looking at this issue from an RPG standpoint is funny, because almost every character lasts about one or two hits before going down- they are REALLY rolling crappily on their Toughness Saves. Cannonball takes out Havok in one shot; Strong Guy does the same to Warpath (after tanking the Apache's punches). Psylocke eventually recovers from Sunspot's Energy Blast, and takes out Siryn in one guy with a Surprise Round. The only multi-hit scraps seem to be Rictor/Wolfsbane (the former lovebirds) and Wolverine/Shatterstar. The X-Men/Horsemen fight goes pretty much the same way.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rictor! Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino!)

Post by Ken »

My eyes!!!! My eyes!!!!

I get back after an extended bread due to technical issues, and... all this 90s-Image-esque art. Gyahh.
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Feral

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image
Image

FERAL (Maria Collasantos)
Created By:
Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza
First Appearance: The New Mutants #99 (March 1991)
Role: The Bad Girl, The Judas, The Psycho, The Animalistic One
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants/X-Force, The Mutant Liberation Front, The Morlocks, X-Corporation
PL 9 (115)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+8)
Athletics 4 (+10)
Close Combat (Claws) 3 (+11)
Deception 6 (+5)
Expertise (Sewer Dweller) 6 (+6)
Intimidation 9 (+7)
Perception 8 (+8)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+4)
Stealth 2 (+8)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Diehard, Evasion, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Claws), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Startle, Takedown

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Animalistic Form"
"Claws" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split) [2]
"Tail" Extra Limbs 1 [1]
Movement 1 (Sure-Footed) [2]
"Healing Factor" Regeneration 4 [4]
Speed 2 [2]
Leaping 2 [2]

"Animal Senses" Senses 6 (Extended & Acute Scent, Extended & Low-Light Vision, Extended Hearing, Tracking- Scent) [6]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Claws +11 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +6, Fortitude +8, Will +5

Complications:
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Orange-furred and possessing a tail, Feral cannot be mistaken for a normal human.
Reputation (Psycho)- Feral is quite literally insane, and enjoys both violence and causing pain. She is barely restrained at the best of times, and has badly injured teammates during training excercises.
Secret (Murdered Her Family)- Maria's past involves four deaths: She murdered her mother's abusive boyfriend when he tried to rape her sister, possibly pushed one sibling down the stairs, possibly refused to help another who was about to fall to their death, and willingly murdered her own mother for killing her beloved pigeons.
Relationship (Thornn- Sister)- Thornn allied with the evil Masque and his Morlocks at first, but turned out to be the "good one".

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 19 / Defenses: 14 (115)

Feral: The Most '90s Character Ever:
-Curiously, despite Cable and Shatterstar being far more iconic symbols of '90s comics, I think FERAL may be the most emblematic character of that particular decade. See, while Cable & Shatterstar are super-goofy and drove a thousand wannabes out of hiding, they were both decently-rounded characters with something to them (not as much as they SHOULD have had, but the effort was made by writers). Feral? Nobody even TRIED to make her dynamic. And that's what makes her define the era- a thoughtless rip-off with claws & murderous intentions. About fifty percent of the output of Image Comics was just like this- Wolverine might be the single most ripped-off hero in history (unless you count Timber Wolf as the originator). Feral was an awful, awful character- just a bargain-basement design (she has claws! And wears GLOVES! Over the claws! Which somehow works!) and a one-note "Animalistic Clawed Fighter" approach.

-Feral debuted as a Morlock on the run from their current leader, Masque. He, her sister Thornn, and a pair of strong goons were following her for going AWOL, and so Cable's team beat them back. As a result, Feral ended up joining the paramilitary X-Force unit, which formed two issues after her debut. She had... basically EVERYTHING that '90s "Claw-Themed" characters had- an Animalistic Personality. Growled all the time. Looked monstrous. Was uncontrollable at times. Basically the "Wolverine Suite" of complications. While all the ex-New Mutants and other newbies were undergoing all this character growth on X-Force (Cable & Shatterstar became more than '90s stereotypes, for example), Feral was basically undiluted, raw aggression, doing all sorts of horrible things, and trying to kill nearly every enemy the team made ("One enemy I leave alive today, is one more than might kill me tomorrow!").

-Perhaps most-curiously, she had an identical hairstyle (an extended "Wolverine-Spired" haircut that went a couple feet high) to both Rob Liefeld's version of Wolfsbane (which was well-established at that point, even before he got on the book, but got even taller) and his Mutant Liberation Front member Wildside. In fact, Feral & Wildside looked so similar that they could be twins- they were both monstrous, animalistic Claw Fighters with similar builds (though Feral was a curvy woman, both were thin and wiry, and about the same height) and the exact same- EXACT SAME- haircut!

More Feral Sucking:
-In Feral's first X-Force issue, she effortlessly defeats Wildside, grabbing him by the cheeks and snapping his jaw. However, she was so wild and out of control that she gutted Cannonball- her TEAMMATE- during a friggin' training excercise! Cable blasted her with a rifle in response ("Cable, did you--?" "No- but maybe I SHOULD have."), but she pretty much just got to stick around with few repercussions. While the entire rest of the team got new aspects added to them (Cable's paternal responses to the kids, Sam's coming of age, Roberto's guilt, Rictor's dealings with his family, Shatterstar's confusion over daily life), Feral stayed in exactly the same holding pattern, usually just being used as an excuse to set off a fight scene. In the fight against Weapon: P.R.I.M.E., she maimed The Yeti (a Wendigo under government control); in The X-Cutioner's Song she sparked off the fight that got X-Force captured (and ended the fight, as Wolverine did the "one claw on each side" thing around her throat, threatening to pop the middle one; X-Force's two remaining conscious members then gave up); on Cable's ship Graymalkin, she got blasted by G.W. Bridge's explosive charge, resulting in a short haircut being her norm from then on.

-So Feral was altogether unpleasant and horrible, usually getting beaten or setting off scraps- her hideous appearance probably earned her few fans (as I say again and again, making lady characters unattractive seems to turn off fans of both sexes), though sometimes an effort was made to just have her be a Fuzzy Hot Chick. It says something when her insanely stripperific costumes didn't help her as a character. And, ultimately, the character betrayed the team- when she came to help spring Henry Gyrich from the new M.L.F.'s jail-cell, she was easily turned around by the villainous Reignfire, who used Gyrich's awful personality as an impetus to get Feral to attempt to execute him- Cable blasts her and curses out Reignfire for "turning her around!", and that's the last we saw of her on the side of the angels.

The End of Feral:
-After this, Feral was seen with the M.L.F., still being uncontrollable. She was hunted down by X-Force (and her sister Thornn) over the death of the girls' stepfather and mother- Feral had murdered their stepfather for molesting them; and when the mother killed Feral's beloved pet pigeons in response, Feral killed HER as well. It was also implied that she was responsible for the deaths of her young siblings. Like many minor characters nobody was using, she was revealed to have the Legacy VirusLater, she assaulted X-Force with her teammates on the New Hellions, and tore out part of Siryn's throat, taking her off the team and muting her Sonic Screams. Then Feral kind of went into X-Limbo, doing nothing until all of a sudden her & Thornn ended up on the Mumbai branch of the X-Corporation, probably because the writer didn't realize she was a villain and HATED her sister at this point.

-Feral & Thornn were both De-Powered on M-Day, and appeared in a Wolverine arc alongside other animal-looking heroes, and genetically altered back by the villain Romulus. Despite that, Feral was slaughtered by an animalistic, vicious Sabretooth- it turned out that their transformation was largely appearance-based. She was then seen in Undead Form in both Necrosha (being defeated by having her arm severed and thrown off of a rooftop- she instinctively went for it and fell to her doom) and an X-Factor arc (brought in as a revenant spirit by some Animal-Themed Gods after Wolfsbane's unborn child).

In Summation- Feral Sucks:
-All in all, it's pretty clear that most writers had no idea how to handle her character- a one-note Wolverine knock-off at heart, and all the murder-mystery-backstory in the world wasn't gonna make her interesting. Fabian Nicieza just never bothered to make her anything other than the snide, animalistic fighter who was grouchy all the time and repeatedly used excessive force. All the crap with her joining the M.L.F., The Hellions and contracting the Legacy Virus just screams of "well, we have to do SOMETHING with her"- the Virus in particular was notorious for only affecting less-important and under-utilized characters, effectively being the "No More Mutants" of its time. Ultimately, Feral is just a wannabe- not as notorious as Cable & Shatterstar, but a worse character than either.

Feral's Stats:
-Feral's your everyday PL 8.5 Scrapper build, using a bunch of Animal-based powers (Claws, Senses, etc.), but not really getting up to too much great stuff. She's notably not very balanced defensively, ESPECIALLY because she virtually always uses All-Out Attack at full ranks, which is kind of her Achilles Heel in the books. She's portrayed as a lethal, all-out kind of fighter, one whom most would rather not fight, but not really super-capable or anything. Notably, Wolfsbane beat the living CRAP out of her in a fight during the X-Cutioner's Song (Peter David may've been using it as a "take that" to Rob Liefeld, who merely created his OWN Wolfsbane when the original left the New Mutants), and she was generally the first member of her team taken out of the fight most of the time- her only big win in the comics was against Weapon: P.R.I.M.E.'s Yeti. So she's decent, but limited.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Feral

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2017 9:32 pm All the crap with her joining the M.L.F.
She didn't. She's too young, and unless you're into Furries...
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rictor! Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Ken wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2017 6:51 pm My eyes!!!! My eyes!!!!

I get back after an extended bread due to technical issues, and... all this 90s-Image-esque art. Gyahh.
Good to see both you and your horrible puns back, Ken :). So I passed most of the "original" New Mutants a while ago- what'd you think of that book, if you were reading it at the time?
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino! Feral!)

Post by Ares »

Man I hated Feral. I just wondered why X-Force even kept her around when most of the time all she did was be grouchy, piss people off, and start fights. And it says something when that second to last pic Jab posted of her apparently being a ghost is the only time she ever looked attractive. But yeah, she was just another dime a dozen Wolverine clones, save that she was an animalistic girl instead of an animalistic guy. It says something when Shatterstar got more character development than she did.
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Thorn (Collasantos)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

THORNN II (Lucia Collasantos)
Created By:
Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza
First Appearance: X-Force #6 (Jan. 1992)
Role: Dark Mirror Image Villain, The Sudden Face Turn
Group Affiliations: X-Corporation, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, The Morlocks
PL 9 (114)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+8)
Athletics 3 (+9)
Close Combat (Claws) 3 (+11)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Sewer Dweller) 6 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Perception 8 (+8)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+4)
Stealth 2 (+8)

Advantages: 
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Evasion, Fast Grab, Follow-Up Strike, Improved Critical (Claws), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Startle, Takedown

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Animalistic Form"
"Claws" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split) [2]
"Tail" Extra Limbs 1 [1]
Movement 1 (Sure-Footed) [2]
"Healing Factor" Regeneration 4 [4]
Speed 2 [2]
Leaping 2 [2]

"Animal Senses" Senses 6 (Extended & Acute Scent, Extended & Low-Light Vision, Extended Hearing, Tracking- Scent) [6]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Claws +11 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +6, Fortitude +8, Will +5

Complications:
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Orange-furred and possessing a tail, Thornn cannot be mistaken for a normal human.
Rivalry (Feral)- Lucia has a bizarre relationship with her sister, at first trying to hunt her down maliciously, then later trying to bring her to justice.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 19 / Defenses: 14 (114)

-Thornn (sharing a name with a member of Salem's Seven) is Feral's sister, and was first an antagonist, joining the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to hunt her & X-Force down for harboring her hated sister, but later suddenly becoming this benevolent nice person, trying to bring Feral to justice for the deaths of their younger siblings and mother. For some reason, this later turned to them being on the SAME TEAM, as an X-Corporation squad. She was de-powered on M-Day, but didn't die like Feral for some reason. Was there actually somebody who wanted this sub-minor character still around? She has not been seen since.

-For stats, she's basically identical to Feral in every way, but a bit less of a nasty fighter so she loses some Advantages, but gains a bit of Awareness. 
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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X-Man

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

Hey look- a Jeph Loeb character that reeks of garbage Power Geeking. Who'd have thunk it?

X-MAN (Nathaniel "Nate" Grey)
Created By:
Jeph Loeb & Steve Skroce
First Appearance: X-Man #1 (1995)
Group Affiliations: The X-Men, The Brotherhood of Mutants, The New Mutants
Status: Alive
Role: The Mary Sue of the X-Men, Power Geek's Fetish Dream
PL 16 (312)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 3 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 5 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Telekinesis) 2 (+9)
Stealth 1 (+4)
Technology 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Critical (Telekinetic Attacks) 3, Improved Disarm, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3, Ultimate Effort (Lifting with Telekinesis)

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Omega-Level Telepathy & Telekinesis"
Flight 10 (2,000 mph) [20]
Senses 4 (Precognition) (Flaws: Uncontrolled) [2]
Features 1: May Spend 2 Hero Points and get to Double Area Effects (ie. 250ft. Bursts) [1]

Mind-Reading 16 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Effortless) Linked to Mental Communication 5 (Feats: Subtle) (Extras: Area, Selective) (80) -- [93]
  • Dynamic AE: "Focused Mind Control" Mind Control 14 (Feats: Dynamic) (57)
  • Dynamic AE: "Group Mind Control" Mind Control 10 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 250ft. Burst +4) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (71)
  • Dynamic AE: "Astral Form" Remote Sensing 20 (Visuals & Hearing) (Feats: Dynamic, Dimensional) (62)
  • Dynamic AE: "Mental Blast" Damage 16 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Will Save) (65)
  • Dynamic AE: "Telelocation" Senses 6 (Mental Awareness- Ranged 4, Tracking) (Feats: Dynamic) (7)
  • AE: Illusion (Hearing & Vision) 12 (36)
  • AE: "Psychometry" Mind-Reading 10 (Flaws: Medium- Requires Items Subject Has Touched) (10)
  • AE: "Drag Out of the Psionic Plane" Teleport 12 (Extras: Extended, Accurate, Attack Only) (Flaws: Limited to Telepaths on the Astral Plane) (48)
Force Field 12 (Extras: Impervious 13) [25]
"Mind Shield" Enhanced Will Save 6 (Flaws: Limited to vs. Mental Attacks) [3]

"TK Wave" Damage 16 (Feats: Dynamic, Penetrating 10) (Extras: Area- 250ft. Cone +2) (75) -- [88]
  • Dynamic AE: "TK Burst" Damage 16 (Feats: Dynamic, Penetrating 10) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Burst +2) (75)
  • Dynamic AE: "TK Ram" Damage 16 (Feats: Dynamic, Penetrating 10) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Line +2) (75)
  • Dynamic AE: "Enhanced Field" Force Field +4 (Feats: Dynamic, Increased Mass 4) (Extras: Affects Others 12, Impervious 13) (34)
  • Dynamic AE: "TK Attack" Blast 20 (Feats: Dynamic, Variable- TK or Electromagnetic) (Extras: Penetrating 10) (52)
  • Dynamic AE: "Telekinesis" Move Object 16 (Feats: Dynamic, Precise) (Extras: Perception Range) (50)
  • Dynamic AE: Deflect 14 (Feats: Dynamic) (15)
  • AE: "Move Molecular Structures Around Him" Movement 2 (Permeate 2) (4)
Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Mind-Reading -- (+16 Mind-Reading, DC 26)
Focused Mind Control -- (+14 Perception-Ranged Affliction, DC 24)
Group Mind Control +10 Area (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Mental Blast -- (+16 Perception-Ranged Damage, DC 31)
TK Area Attacks +16 (+16 Damage, DC 31)
TK Blast +9 (+20 Ranged Damage, DC 35)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3 (+15 Force Field, +19 Full Field), Fortitude +5, Will +6 (+12 vs. Mental Attacks)

Complications:
Responsibility (Outsider)- Nate is a denizen of an alternate universe from the main Marvel Universe- the biological son of Scott Summers & Jean Grey. He was transported to another world along with Apocalypse's son Holocaust when the M'Kraan Crystal did some whacky stuff. Nate wanders the world, searching for his place in it.
Accident (Uncontrollable Power)- Nate's powers often go out of control, destroying a ton of stuff, or resurrecting someone by accident (!!).
Relationship (Threnody, Madelyne Pryor)- Nate was close to both women for a time, often protecting them or working with them.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 232 / Defenses: 15 (312)

-Ugh, Ugh, Ugh, Ugh, UGH. HATE THIS GUY. HATE HIM. Nate Grey has always stood out as a piece of crap to me. Bad enough Cable had this power-set (and it would start increasing by this point), but his Age of Apocalypse version, a ridiculously "extreme"-looking cool kid with punker hair and jacket for a costume (very '90s), was even worse. He wasn't just powerful, he was INSANELY powerful, too- to the point where almost nobody could really threaten him (they'd boost up Electro temporarily just to do it), and it was basically pandering to the Power-Geeks. I don't think such a group of people (ie. Feat-hungry fans obsessed with greater and greater showings of power) even existed before this time period in comics, but HOO BOY was Nate Grey made for them. An Omega-Level Telekinetic & Telepathic, he was stated to be equivalent in power to the PHOENIX FORCE-bestowed Jean Grey, and he resurrected Madelyne Pryor BY ACCIDENT because he was so mighty. Who's responsible for this Power Geek Abortion: Jeph Loeb, the man who would create another one, The Red Hulk, over a decade later, doing much the same stuff.

-Another thing I remember about Nate was how he became iconic as a "Powerful Character" in his time, so much so that when a bunch of amateur writers I knew on the old WizardWorld banded together on a "Something Unique" writing project, requiring us to invent super-characters to fight each other, Grey was used as both the "Hard Limit" on Power Levels (the first story was a battle-royal bout between all the characters), and the basis for at least a couple of them. Two writers would create guys that were basically just Nate Grey with different personalities- we had Alex Stevens (a Tenchi-knockoff with a Light Sword and a girlfriend based off of his creator's ideal female type) and Michael Smith (a Columbine Kid-turned-superpowered city-destroyer), with all the same powers, even stated to be "at Nate Grey level". Both turned into pretty decent characters eventually, but this character has ALWAYS irked me. It doesn't help that SO MANY MUTANTS have this exact same power-set. Having so many of these guys around basically broke the TK/Telepathic archetype for me forever- it's as broken as the Generic Flying Brick.

-Nate's comic also looked very, VERY boring to me- the few issues I bothered to read were utterly dull and overly-full of '90s Pop Psychology, and often featured Nate walking around as some kind of Urban Shaman debating his purpose in life, which is not the kind of thing a superhero book should be about. Hell, it's just boring in ANY genre. Wikipedia has a massive description of his series, and MAN does it look like a big bunch of nothing.

-I figure PL 16 is good enough for Nate- below most Cosmic Beings, but WAYYYYY above most anyone who hangs around Marvel Earth with any regularity. He lacks a certain degree of precision compared to many Marvel Psionics, but hits like a super-jackhammer. TK Area Attacks, Mental Blasts and Mind-Reading are all at +16 (Area & Perception Effects), while his TK Blast is a paltry PL 14.5 (owing to weaker accuracy but Thor/Hulk levels of damage). And as you can imagine, he's perversely expensive- he's the most powerful telepath on Earth.

Image

X-MAN (Nathaniel "Nate" Grey)
Created By:
Jeph Loeb & Steve Skroce
First Appearance: X-Man #1 (1995)
Group Affiliations: The X-Men, The Brotherhood of Mutants, The New Mutants
Status: Alive
Role: Lower-Powered Guy
PL 9 (114)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 3 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 5 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Telekinesis) 2 (+9)
Stealth 1 (+4)
Technology 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Improved Critical (Telekinetic Attacks), Improved Disarm, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Lowered Telepathy & Telekinesis"
"Telelocation" Senses 2 (Mental Awareness- Ranged) [2]
"Mind Shield" Enhanced Will Save 4 (Flaws: Limited to vs. Mental Attacks) [2]
"Low-Level Flight" Flight 1 [2]

"TK X-Attack" Blast 9 (18) -- [19]
  • AE: "Telekinesis" Move Object 4 (8)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
TK Blast +9 (+9 Ranged Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +7 (+11 vs. Mental Attacks)

Complications:
Responsibility (Outsider)- Nate is a denizen of an alternate universe from the main Marvel Universe- the biological son of Scott Summers & Jean Grey. He was transported to another world along with Apocalypse's son Holocaust when the M'Kraan Crystal did some whacky stuff. Nate wanders the world, searching for his place in it.
Accident (Uncontrollable Power)- Nate's powers often go out of control, destroying a ton of stuff, or resurrecting someone by accident (!!).
Relationship (Threnody, Madelyne Pryor)- Nate was close to both women for a time, often protecting them or working with them.
Relationship (Dani Moonstar)- The two sorta-hooked up during the latter part of "New Mutants".

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 25 / Defenses: 16 (114)

-Nate returned to fight Norman Osborn's "Dark X-Men", and got mostly-depowered and showed up in the Abnett & Lanning New Mutants series, joining the team on their somewhat-comedic adventures amongst the lower-end parts of the Marvel Mutant Universe. Some fans complained about his lower powers (he was just a Telekinetic Blaster), but they probably just wanted "MOAR TELEKINETIC FEATZ!!!!" He had a brief thing where it was clear that he liked Dani Moonstar, but of course so did Cannonball, and so did Cypher (though Sam soon stuck around on Utopia after the X-split because he went through a mental breakdown at the end of the last arc). Nate has not appeared since this brief run in the dying days of the book.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:56 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Ken
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rictor! Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino!)

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2017 9:47 pm
Ken wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2017 6:51 pm My eyes!!!! My eyes!!!!

I get back after an extended bread due to technical issues, and... all this 90s-Image-esque art. Gyahh.
Good to see both you and your horrible puns back, Ken :). So I passed most of the "original" New Mutants a while ago- what'd you think of that book, if you were reading it at the time?
I wasn't. My Marvel reading has always been on the Avengers/Defenders side of the company.
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
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