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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by Batgirl III »

Dark Beast ranks pretty high on my list of characters who were super effective in the it first story, but never should have been brought back for others.

I need to come up with a catchy name for it. But you know what I'm talking about: Hush, Elektra, Terra, Trigon, Azrael, and so forth.
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by Jabroniville »

God yes. Someone already coined "Elektra Complex" for someone more famous for dying than anything else. What else is a good name for it? One-Story Wonder? Trigon Syndrome? "First-Bite" Character?
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by Jabroniville »

And that does it for both the Morlocks and Gene Nation! The Morlocks required a bit of new info and some digging, but Gene Nation was recent enough on the old thread to essentially be a bunch of re-posts. But, as most of the Morlocks died years ago, my rants on each character were largely unaffected, hence why I was posting a ridiculous number of builds per day. The only builds that had much new information were: Callisto, Caliban, Marrow & Masque. The only NEW builds are the Morlock Template (where I just went through Wikipedia & The Unofficial Marvel Appendix's full lists and wrote down what I could), which took me more than a day to do, and the Dark Beast, who was probably one of the highest-tier characters I'd left un-statted before now. Just in case you were wondering which ones not to skip :).

The Morlocks are a fun little group to look up, because to me they kind of represent what MOST Mutants should have been- kind of lame powers, weird & deformed appearances, true outcast nature, etc. It could have presented an interesting look at how the "pretty" X-Men seemed deliberately chosen for their popularity to the public. These guys... there was no way they could have hid. And that outcast nature leads to some negative effects as well- the fact that they're easily victimized makes them hard, vicious and sometimes cruel, leading to some true monsters loose in the ranks (like Masque. Or all the times they tried "Forcible Marriage").

I also kinda like that their powers bite, because it lets you see what a superhuman is like without a lot of training. Sunder is okay, and gets by on raw power, while Callisto is also a pro. But guys like Caliban, Annalee, Tar Baby & Ape? They have little chance against real experts of any kind. Contrast them with Gene Nation, who get this big "Darwinian Threat" thing going thanks to the nature of The Hill, and are all these huge, ripped, elite fighters... and yet they're Jobbers to the X-Men. And they come off very "same-y", since they're all basically the same muscular dude, with a few exceptions. All combat powers, too.

Next up... a lil' group that appears in a random Wolverine issue I have, and are essentially glorified Mooks. Then I'll post the various members of Magneto's most terrible team ever (it's NOT the Acolytes!), and then we move onto the next letter of the "Marvel Alphabet"- the Js! Most of the characters are pretty minor and weak (my apologies to Jimmy-6 and John Kowalski's legions of fans), but it'll also give me a chance to scour out more info with giant essays for Jean Grey and The Juggernaut!
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Goldar
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by Goldar »

From what I remember, wasn't Marrow supposed to have 2 hearts? I thought she said something about that a long time ago?
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Goldar wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:52 pm From what I remember, wasn't Marrow supposed to have 2 hearts? I thought she said something about that a long time ago?
Jab mentioned it, how Storm tore out one heart, but fortunately, Marrow had another one. I just see it as a good recovery save after being rendered Dying.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by BriarThrone »

FuzzyBoots wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 4:09 pm
Goldar wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:52 pm From what I remember, wasn't Marrow supposed to have 2 hearts? I thought she said something about that a long time ago?
Jab mentioned it, how Storm tore out one heart, but fortunately, Marrow had another one. I just see it as a good recovery save after being rendered Dying.
Did Storm know there was another heart, or did she just happen to manually uninstall the heart of one of the few people in the Marvel Universe able to survive that?

Without causing damage to the second heart, or enough damage generally, to cause death?
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M4C8
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by M4C8 »

BriarThrone wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 6:20 pm
FuzzyBoots wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 4:09 pm
Goldar wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:52 pm From what I remember, wasn't Marrow supposed to have 2 hearts? I thought she said something about that a long time ago?
Jab mentioned it, how Storm tore out one heart, but fortunately, Marrow had another one. I just see it as a good recovery save after being rendered Dying.
Did Storm know there was another heart, or did she just happen to manually uninstall the heart of one of the few people in the Marvel Universe able to survive that?

Without causing damage to the second heart, or enough damage generally, to cause death?

When Storm fought Marrow (Who at the time was a murderous mutant terrorist) it was a fight to the death, Storm tore out Marrow's heart to stop her but Marrow actually survived due to having two hearts and a healing ability as part of her mutation (Both aided her enhanced metabolism which allowed her to quickly grow bones and then heal the damage caused by pulling them through her skin)
I don't think it was ever revealed whether her second heart grew back or if she managed with one heart from then on.
Last edited by M4C8 on Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
'A shared universe, like any fictional construct, hinges on suspension of disbelief. When continuity is tossed away, it tatters the construct. Undermines it'
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The Vidkids

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

THE VIDKIDS
Created By:
Fabian Nicieza & Darick Robertson
First Appearance: Wolverine #54 (May 1992)
Role: Jobber Army, One-Off Foes
Group Affiliations: The Vidkids
PL 4 (45)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Expertise (Gang Member) 4 (+4)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 3 (+4)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment 1

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +2, Fortitude +2, Will +0

Complications:
Motivation (Fun & Games)- The Vidkids are out to kill and have fun.

Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 3 (45)

-My hand to God: I LOVED Wolverine #54 back in the day. LOVED it. I thought the team-up of the bad-ass Shatterstar and the bad-ass Wolverine against an army of murderous punk kids was AMAZING, and I was even obsessed with the Vidkids, thinking they'd have made awesome recurring villains.

-This story is a one-off written by X-Force scribe Fabian Nicieza (who was writing a HELL of a lot of books back then- X-Men and New Warriors were his others), who teamed the most EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEME member of X-Force up with the hero who spawned the entire movement- Wolverine. Wolverine was on the hunt for a band of marauding youngsters who tracked down remaining Morlocks and filmed their violent murders- Shatterstar heard of the group, and considered JOINING them. However, after a trademark "Fight Due To Mistaken Circumstances" and Wolvie EASILY defeating his opponent, the two teamed up, and Shatterstar soon became disgusted when he discovered these video warriors were just in it for kicks, instead of honor or freedom.

-Though the issue is pretty much "just fighting", the Vidkids are REALLY well-designed, which is why this issue always stuck with me. Instead of just a gang of leather-jacketed losers, every character has a distinctive appearance, even if they have no lines or a bad-ass feat.

THE VIDKIDS:
CUEBALL- PL 4 (45): Equipment (Pool Cue +1- Reach, Bolos- Improved Trip) [0]
-This chick actually would've made a good supervillain design, but alas, she gets nothing to do. All we get is a big guy behind her going "Cueball- let's rack 'em up!" before they get their asses beat. Shatterstar simply knocks her on the head with the guard of his blade, while he kicks the big dude.

BIG GUY WITH OVERALLS- PL 4 (48): ST 3, STA 3, No Equipment [3]
-Shatterstar KOs him in one kick while hitting Cueball.

WOLVERINE WANNABE- PL 5 (45): Equipment (Clawed Gloves +2- Split) [0]
-This guy oddly dresses like a modified Wolverine, on the worst Cosplay budget ever. He wears brown pants, blue gloves with claws, a torn blue shirt & mask, a yellow vest with black stripes on it. Plus the trademark "Logan Hairstyle". He's seen as part of a group fighting Logan, but we never find out why he dresses like that, or get a reference to the fact.

K-SCOPE- PL 4 (45): Equipment (Unknown) [0]
-A guy with some black lines on his face who stands guard over the Vidkids' assault of a Morlock woman, which gets him beaten first out of the group.

OTHER GUYS: Mask Wearing Guy With Machete, Gas-Mask Wearing Guy With Knife, Guy With Shades, Guy With Mohawk
-All four corner the Morlock woman, but are grabbed by Wolverine & Shatterstar and taken out off-panel. There's also about a dozen of them seen in one panel, as well, though they mostly have generic designs.

THE BEST:
* These guys are the final ones conscious, and claim to be the best of the group.

BALD LEADER GUY- PL 7 (52): FIGHTING 8, Equipment 2 (Sword +2, Gun +5) [7]
-The Spider Jerusalem-looking leader is the chattiest member, making a lot of TV-related jokes and eggs the rest of the team on. Despite being the leader, he just kind of stands there and pouts while Wolvie & Shatterstar wreck their cameras and beat the others. He basically just gives up.

JESTER- PL 5 (48): Ranged Attack 3, Equipment (Throwing Balls- Blast 3- Reduced Range) [3]
-Jester (he wears a jacket with that name, but someone calls him "Cueball" earlier- it seems clearly the above woman's name later, though) looks a bit similar to The Joker from The Batman cartoon series, with a big spikey green haircut. He's also got a smiley-face t-shirt. He throws a ball at Wolverine that "actually hurt", but Logan one-punches him shortly thereafter.

BIG GUY WITH CAMERA- PL 4 (49): ST 3, STA 3, Equipment (Camera) [4]
-Wolverine disarms (well, dis-cameras) him, and he gives up.

GIANT DUDE WITH CLUB- PL 5 (53): ST 4, STA 4, Equipment (Club +1) [8]
-The biggest of the Vidkids, but is seen behind Wolverine doing little other than brandishing his club, and isn't seen again.

CAMERA KID- PL 4 (45): Equipment (Camera) [0]
-The smallest Vidkid, who dresses like a Golf caddy and doesn't seem to use any weapons. Wolverine takes out his camera, and he just looks shocked.

KNUCKLES- PL 4 (45): Equipment (Brass Knuckles +1, Split) [0]
-He wears a pink shirt with "Knuckles" on the front. He gets knocked down while Logan takes a shot from Jester.

SWORD GIRL- PL 7 (57): FIGHTING 9, Equipment (Sword +3) [8]
-This chick is actually a serious fighter- she spends quite a few rounds whupping on Shatterstar before he finally gets pissed off at their "killing for kicks" game, smashes her Katana with his double-bladed sword, and nearly kills her. Wolverine has to stop him from shoving the blade through the crying, terrified woman's throat.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Fri Jul 07, 2017 7:56 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by Jabroniville »

BriarThrone wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 6:20 pm
FuzzyBoots wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 4:09 pm
Goldar wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 3:52 pm From what I remember, wasn't Marrow supposed to have 2 hearts? I thought she said something about that a long time ago?
Jab mentioned it, how Storm tore out one heart, but fortunately, Marrow had another one. I just see it as a good recovery save after being rendered Dying.
Did Storm know there was another heart, or did she just happen to manually uninstall the heart of one of the few people in the Marvel Universe able to survive that?

Without causing damage to the second heart, or enough damage generally, to cause death?
Storm had no idea- Marrow had somehow stuck a bomb ONTO her heart, so Storm felt that this fatal move was the only way to save people. It just so happened that Marrow had a second one.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by BriarThrone »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:24 pmStorm had no idea- Marrow had somehow stuck a bomb ONTO her heart, so Storm felt that this fatal move was the only way to save people. It just so happened that Marrow had a second one.
...
Really, comics?

REALLY?!
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by Jabroniville »

BriarThrone wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:41 pm
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:24 pmStorm had no idea- Marrow had somehow stuck a bomb ONTO her heart, so Storm felt that this fatal move was the only way to save people. It just so happened that Marrow had a second one.
...
Really, comics?

REALLY?!
What'd you think- I was exaggerating when I called Lobdell a hack?
BriarThrone
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by BriarThrone »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 11:14 pm
BriarThrone wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:41 pm
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:24 pmStorm had no idea- Marrow had somehow stuck a bomb ONTO her heart, so Storm felt that this fatal move was the only way to save people. It just so happened that Marrow had a second one.
...
Really, comics?

REALLY?!
What'd you think- I was exaggerating when I called Lobdell a hack?
There's bad writing, and then there's writing that sounds like the writer was taking dictation from a guy in a bar who was trying to convince random passerby that he's a genius. This bit in particular is worse than the lead-in to my last bar fight.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Caliban! Masque! Gene Nation! Marrow! The Dark Beast!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

Man, the Vidkids..You know these guys are obscure when a lot of them don't even have names!
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Mutant Force

Post by Jabroniville »

MUTANT FORCE/THE RESISTANTS:

-Just doing a handful of re-postings of stuff from my own thread- it was bothering me that four Brotherhood members still had "ATT" links, making the Brotherhood section of my Master List look weird. These guys were Magneto's secondary gang of Brotherhood guys, created by Jack Kirby upon his return to Marvel. He did some various stuff, including a Captain America Annual where Magneto (then an unused villain, since the X-Men book had been cancelled... think about that) scrounged together a team of mutant scrubs. 

The initial five Brotherhood members were Burner, Lifter, Paralyzer, Slither and Peeper. The Resistants added Mentallo (now called "Think Tank"), plus a group of scrubs with no real personality or variability to them- Quill (one of FIVE quill-shooting Marvel characters), Rust (basically a Rust Monster in human form) and Mist Mistress. Pretty much every single one of them was De-Powered after M-Day (personally, I'm shocked none were killed by The Legacy Virus), save Mentallo and Peeper (who was killed and eaten by a Predator X).

-This group of losers is a batch of guys Magneto grabbed to form a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants back before he had much credibility, and the X-Men hadn't become the biggest team in comics yet. See, in 1977, Jack Kirby was back at Marvel, running short of great ideas, and needed some "filler" for a Captain America Annual. And so, he brought back the discontinued X-Men's big villain, Magneto, who was now fighting Cap alongside a band of Jobber Villains- Kirby being such a great innovator that he was using Sketchpad Characters as Jobbers YEARS before it was cool! And I mean, these guys were AWFUL- so bad that Mags left them right after this story, and they ended up being goons of The Mandrill of all people, in a battle against The Defenders. Here, they were renamed "Mutant Force"- eventually, the Brotherhood name would be stolen by Mystique, who'd form a team of NON-Jobbers out of it!

-They also appeared under the leadership of Mad Dog, and the U.S. government. Years later, they became The Resistants, opposing Mutant Registration and fighting John Walker when he was Captain America (in actuality, they were being funded by the Red Skull in order to foment chaos and destruction, along with numerous other operatives, such as the Watchdogs and the new Scourge of the Underworld). Walker could easily demolish one or two of them, but his own inexperience and hot temper nearly ruined the mission. In this appearance, the original group had some new members, and the whole squad had distinctive, horrible Team Costumes- big yellow numbers with blue "R" logos on them. About a dozen Resistants were shown at one time, but none but three ever named, described, or even really SHOWN aside from being part of a big group.

-Pepper has since been killed by a Predator-X creature, while most the others were most recently seen fighting the most recent New Warriors team. Paralyzer was de-powered on M-Day after showing up in the most extracurricular stuff of his team. The Resistants have not appeared since the John Walker Becomes Cap storyline, and Rust is likely dead. 

Membership:
1) Burner (generic fire guy)- aka Crucible
2) Lifter (telekinesis)- aka Meteorite
3) Shocker (electrical power)
4) Slither (snake-man)- later joins The Serpent Society briefly
5) Peeper (vision powers)- aka Occult

Resistants Additions:
6) Mist Mistress (turns into mist)
7) Quill (quills)
8) Rust (rusts stuff)
9) Think Tank (aka Mentallo)
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Burner

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

Now THAT is an eyesore of a costume- Liefeldian pouches everywhere, a big bullet-head visored helmet, and it's YELLOW AND PURPLE?

BURNER (Byron Calley, aka Crucible I)
Created By:
Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Captain American Annual #4 (1977)
Role: Forgotten Villain, Elementalist
Group Affiliations: The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Mutant Force/The Resistants
PL 7 (92)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills: 
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Pyrokinesis"
Immunity 10 (Flame Effects) [10]

"Set Things Aflame" Damage 7 (Feats: Reversible) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Secondary Effect) (29) -- [33]
  • AE: "Fire Control" Move Object 8 (Extras: Perception Ranged) (Flaws: Limited to Fire- Use Volume Instead of Mass) (16)
  • AE: Fire Blast 8 (16)
  • AE: "Flamethrower Hands" Damage 7 (Feats: Split) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (15)
  • AE: Nullify (All Fire Effects) 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Touch Range) (20)
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Fire Blast +6 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Fire Area Effects +7 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Set Aflame +7 Perception (+7 Perception Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +2

Complications: 
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 43 / Defenses: 12 (92)

-Burner's about as generic as they get for the most part, but has a Perception-Ranged Fire Attack (that causes Secondary Damage, since guys are actually set ON FIRE) to make him a little bit different. Still not INTERESTING, mind you, as he's just a PL 7 Fire Elementalist, but it's something. He's pretty much just "That guy in the Resistants" and has no real character of his own.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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