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

[Jabroniville]

LETHA (Helena Feliciano)
Created By: Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio & John Byrne
First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One #54 (Aug. 1979)
Role: D-League Villain, Powerhouse, Hot Amazon
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers
PL 8 (83)
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 7 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills: 
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+8)
Deception 3 (+4)
Intimidation 6 (+7)

Advantages: 
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Chokehold, Equipment 2 (Weapons Harness), Evasion, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
Power-Lifting 1 (12 tons) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Weapons +6 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +5

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

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 7 (83)

-Letha is one of the first Titania's allies on The Grapplers, and lasted about as long. Just a minor henchwoman, she didn't do a whole lot other than show she was a bit more athletic than the other girls. When Titania was killed by Scourge, Letha joined the group of eighteen villains who planned to do something about the guy, and fell victim to the vigilante with the rest of them. With Titania (now Lascivious), Letha was resurrected by The Hood to fight The Punisher, but failed. They re-formed the Grapplers, and she went on to become a bit of a Background Villainess, allying with Max Fury's Masters of Evil, and fought Nadia Pym.

-Like most super-strong villain types, she's not a half-bad character in terms of Power Level, but she doesn't cost a whole lot of points since she's so limited. She's slightly different from Titania in that she's weaker but more accurate, and has a few Athletic-type Advantages in fighting. She lacks the specialized Devices, though, and instead just has some weapons on her costume.

[Jabroniville]

POUNDCAKES (Maureen Pouncy)
Created By: Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio & John Byrne
First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One #54 (Aug. 1979)
Role: D-League Villain, Powerhouse
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers
PL 8 (90)
STRENGTH 9 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 1 (+4)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+7)
Deception 3 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 6 (+7)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
Power-Lifting 1 (25 tons) [1]

"Seismatic Boots" (Flaws: Removable) [13]
"Groundstrike" Affliction 8 (Strength; Hindered & Vulnerable/Prone & Defenseless) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Both Must Be Grounded, Limited Degree) (8)
Linked to
"Shockwave" Damage 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Both Must Be Grounded) (8)
-- (16 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Seismatic Boots +8 Area (+8 Damage & Affliction, DC 23 & 18)
Initiative +2

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

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 14 / Defenses: 8 (90)

-Poundcakes was another member of The Grapplers, and was there in the Superia Stratagem with all the other Jobber Ladies. Generic power-fighter, stealing a gimmick from Stompa of DC's Female Furies (until Marvunapp.com made the connection, I didn't realize that ALL the Grapplers were meant as a riff on the Female Furies- Titania/Barda, Mimi/Mad Harriet & Letha/Lashina), where she can create big Shockwaves with her Seismatic Boots. The Grapplers lost to Giant-Man in one of their early fights, after leaving temporary teammate Thundra and running off to do their own thing.

-Poundcakes bullied Dazzler in her "Women In Prison" issue, but was taken out when Screaming Mimi joined in- Dazzler converted the sonic scream into light, taking out all of the Grapplers. Curiously, she & Screaming Mimi were the only survivors of the team- Titania I & Letha were both shot by The Scourge of the Underworld, but the other two were never targetted for some reason (it surely can't have been because they were too awesome- Mimi was a DECADE away from becoming Songbird). 

-Another nothing character with a goofy name and a lame costume, she nonetheless appeared alongside many other Jobbers created by Mark Gruenwald, hanging around in background shots and being kinda tough. She was also there to try and mess up Diamondback's date with Captain America in a fun issue of his book- she got KO'd (along with Jackhammer of the legendary POWER TOOLS) by Asp and her Bio-Stings. She's since rejoined the Grapplers once her dead teammates came back to life, and has been seen in a lot of background scenes since then- she has most recently been defeated by Nadia "Wasp" Pym.

-Poundcakes is PL 8 like her buddies, merging melee fighting (the Grapplers and Battleaxe are all kinda hard to place- they're all CLEARLY PL 8s, but their strength seems to vary between Spidey-level and just below The Thing- I finally settled on Class 25 strength, with some requiring Power Lifting to hit the full level. All have Power Attack, in any case), being one of the more inaccurate Grapplers. She's ridiculously cheap, even by Jobber Villain standards, but that's because Powerhouses really never cost a lot, and all her powers come from a Device she wears. And I figure any Brick who loses in one shot to Asp isn't all that tough in the first place. Her main gimmick aside from being strong is a powerful Groundstrike set off by her boots.

[L-Space]

Hehehe...Poundcakes!

[Ares]

Ouch. I don't know what's worse: being named "Poundcakes" or losing to someone who doesn't understand that "Girls In Action Research Labs" doesn't acronym into G.I.R.L. That only works if ifs "Girls Inaction Research Labs" . . . which would actually work better, given the book.

[Spectrum]

Were there any other interesting characters from Thing's time in wrestling?

[Jabroniville]

THE GRAPPLERS
-The rest of the squad of women from The Thing's own book, The Grapplers' secondary ranks are made up of one-note gimmicks with super-strength, making them essentially powerful Mooks- PL 6 Powerhouses (mostly Strength 8, though a couple are skinnier and faster), lacking Power Attack (none of them seemed quite "up to" doing +13 damage), but attacking en masse they're rather dangerous. But man... a hairy chick, a "fat" chick, a cowgirl, an Asian stereotype and a hottie- they're just hilariously goofy. Sadly, after Ben Grimm's short stint in the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, these characters were all dropped, and the main Grapplers fell apart- Letha & Titania (the first one) were killed by The Scourge of the Underworld for sucking, and Battleaxe & Poundcakes became generic Background Villains for Hire, kinda disappearing for the entirety of the post-Gruenwald '90s (since WHO ELSE would remember them?) until the modern era. 



BUTTERBALL (Vivian Dolan)
Created By: Mike Carlin & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: The Thing #33 (March 1986)
Role: Jobber Villain, Background Character, Powerhouse
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers, Power Broker Inc.
PL 6 (59)
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Acrobatics 2 (+2)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Pro Wrestler) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 6 (+6)

Advantages: 
Fast Grab, Improved Hold

Powers:
Impervious Toughness +3 [3]
Features 1: Extra Mass [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +9 (+2 Impervious), Fortitude +8, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 6 (59)

-Butterball is supposedly "The Fat One", though she's really more "Plump" by my estimation, and in one John Byrne pic, she has a perfectly normal face, which is weird. Her special move is the Body Slam.



COWGIRL (Deb Lowry)
Created By: Mike Carlin & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: The Thing #33 (March 1986)
Role: Jobber Villain, Background Character, Powerhouse
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers, Power Broker Inc.
PL 7 (66)
STRENGTH 7 STAMINA 7 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Pro Wrestler) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 6 (+6)

Advantages: 
Equipment 2 (Pistol +5), Fast Grab, Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
Impervious Toughness +3 [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Pistol +5 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +7 (+2 Impervious), Fortitude +8, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 3 / Defenses: 4 (66)

-Cowgirl is pretty decent-looking for a character with zero personality- a cowgirl gimmick on a giant female pro wrestler is pretty cool, but they never went anywhere with it. She's not as good at Grappling as Butterball, but she's faster and has a gun (OK, a holster's a part of her costume, but whatever, I figure she's got a gun).



MAGILLA (Sandy Stalmaster)
Created By: Mike Carlin & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: The Thing #33 (March 1986)
Role: Jobber Villain, Background Character, Powerhouse, The Ugly One
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers, Power Broker Inc.
PL 6 (65)
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Pro Wrestler) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 6 (+6)

Advantages: 
Fast Grab, Improved Hold

Powers:
Impervious Toughness +3 [3]
"Super-Gross Body Hair" Immunity 1 (Cold) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +8 (+2 Impervious), Fortitude +8, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 4 (65)

-Oh WOW were Carlin & Wilson on drugs when they made up this squad. Magilla's gimmick is that she's bulky... and covered in hair.



See, you can tell she's a martial artist because she's holding her hands like that.

SUSHI (Susan Hayakawa)
Created By: Mike Carlin & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: The Thing #33 (March 1986)
Role: Jobber Villain, Background Character, Powerhouse, Melee Fighter
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers, Power Broker Inc.
PL 6 (60)
STRENGTH 6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Pro Wrestler) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 5 (+5)

Advantages: 
Accurate Attack, Improved Trip

Powers:
Power-Lifting 1 (6 tons) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +6, Fortitude +7, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 5 (60)

-This one just makes me uncomfortable... I mean, SUSHI is her name? Well it's not any more weird than any of pro wrestling's ideas for Japanese wrestlers. She is (of course) a martial artist who fights using Karate, and is a bit weaker than her teammates, but more accurate (a full-on PL 6 with her Unarmed Damage & Parry Defense). Still, they missed the boat- everyone knows Japanese professional wrestlers can spray Blinding Mist.



VAVAVOOM (Dawn Middlebury)
Created By: Mike Carlin & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: The Thing #33 (March 1986)
Role: Jobber Villain, Background Character, Powerhouse, The Hot One
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers, Power Broker Inc.
PL 6 (66)
STRENGTH 7 STAMINA 7 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 2

Skills: 
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Deception 2 (+4, +6 Attractive)
Expertise (Pro Wrestler) 3 (+3)
Persuasion 3 (+5, +7 Attractive)

Advantages: 
Attractive, Fast Grab

Powers:
Impervious Toughness +3 [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +7 (+2 Impervious), Fortitude +7, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 10--6 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 3 / Defenses: 5 (66)

-Vavavoom is the petite, beautiful member of the team. Presumably she's a little bit weaker, but a slightly better fighter without all the bulk.

[Jabroniville]

Were there any other interesting characters from Thing's time in wrestling?

Most prominent is Marvel Boy, aka Justice. Them there's Ms. Marvel II, aka She-Thing.

[Shock]

Magilla, Butterball and Poundcakes? All have to be in the top 5 of worst nicknames for a woman ever, wrestler or no

[RainOnTheSun]

-The original four Grapplers were Titania (the original one, not the more famous one), Letha, Screaming Mimi and Poundcakes- they were drafted by Roxxon Oil to invade Project: Pegasus (Marvel's source of every boring 1980s storyline).

Makes sense. You want to infiltrate a top-secret government research facility? You hire pro wrestlers. Who else would you use?

[Ken]

See, you can tell she's a martial artist because she's holding her hands like that.
SUSHI (Susan Hayakawa)

-This one just makes me uncomfortable... I mean, SUSHI is her name? Well it's not any more weird than any of pro wrestling's ideas for Japanese wrestlers. She is (of course) a martial artist who fights using Karate, and is a bit weaker than her teammates, but more accurate (a full-on PL 6 with her Unarmed Damage & Parry Defense). Still, they missed the boat- everyone knows Japanese professional wrestlers can spray Blinding Mist.

And yes, she does smell of raw fish....

[Jabroniville]

BATTLEAXE (Anita Ehren)
Created By: Michael Carlin & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: The Thing #33 (March 1986)
Role: Dumb Brute, Powerhouse, Rare Ugly Girl in Comics
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers
PL 9 (94)
STRENGTH 9 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+7)
Deception 2 (+2)
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 8 (+8)
Perception 1 (+1)
Ranged Combat (Axe) 3 (+7)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Daze (Intimidation), Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Axe), Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
Power-Lifting 1 (25 tons) [1]
Impervious Toughness 5 [5]

"Twin Battle Axes" (Flaws: Easily Removable -2) [5]
Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split) (Extras: Penetrating 5) (8 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Axe +6 (+11 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +1

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

Complications:
Motivation (Glory & Pride)- Battleaxe wanted leadership of The Grapplers, and beat Titania I for the rights. She was also humiliated when Ben Grimm threw a fight against her.
Prejudice (Men)- Anita hates and distrusts men.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 11 / Defenses: 13 (94)

-Battleaxe was a minor enemy of The Thing -- appearing in his own series as one of those Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation characters (it was a brief thing at Marvel- capitalizing on the huge 1980s-era WWF). She feuded with Titania (not the famous one), then tried to avenge her "death"- the Thing willingly jobs to her (a WRESTLER? PRETENDING TO LOSE? What the FRIG??) once he realizes she's lashing out at him due to anger. She disappears for years until The Superia Stratagem, appearing as a drooling, ugly broad trying to kill our hero plagued Captain America, because Mark Gruenwald NEVER forgets D-Level villains. A pretty minor character, but a rather unique concept- a super-strong chick with axes, WHO IS ACTUALLY UGLY? Far out for comics.

-Her modern appearances are much more sparse than the other Grapplers or UCWF women- she lost to Carol Danvers in her book, and was one of four women (along with Thundra, Titania and someone else) to have their powers copied by a giant "God-Killer" Super-Skrull in Thor during the Secret Invasion- she beat the living HELL out of Beta-Ray Bill and the Warriors Three before Thor & Bill dropped the floating city of Asgard on her.

-Battleaxe is best set up as a low-pointed PL 9- she's strong as hell and VERY mean (in addition to being a decent wrestler), but she'll fall well short of any major super-hero. She's not super-accurate in combat, but with her Axes she's doing almost as much melee damage as The Thing, so it's rather unnecessary. She's tough, but not so tough that Captain America can't stagger her with a one-armed shot to the face. Hell, even Impala is able to hurt her a little bit with her staves- she's not even in the Wrecking Crew's league, really.

[Jabroniville]

GLADIATRIX (Robin Braxton)
Created By: Mike Carlin & Ron Wilson
First Appearance: The Thing #33 (March 1986)
Role: Jobber Villain, Powerhouse
Group Affiliations: The Grapplers, Power Broker Inc.
PL 8 (91)
STRENGTH 10 STAMINA 9 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 8 (+8)
Perception 1 (+1)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2, Seize Initiative, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
Protection 1 (Extras: Impervious 3) [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +10, Fortitude +9, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 7 (91)

-Gladiatrix rounds out the ranks of The Grapplers- the WWF/GLOW-inspired lady wrestlers that were background characters in The Thing's own book, way back in the '80s. She didn't appear as much as the other Grapplers (she wasn't actually on the main team, as far as I can tell- she's just a chick in the same company), and she's a mohawked 6'4" Powerhouse (*ppffffftttt* what kind of weirdo would create a character like THAT?). She was last seen during Civil War, ending up imprisoned in the Negative Zone after resisting Registration.

-The Grapplers tend to hover around the PL 8-9 area, but someone who's literally appeared in about six individual comic books in her entire life (including the background of the Superia Stratagem story) would be a PL 8 at-best. This makes her about equivalent to the Femme Fatales' Knockout, but she's a better grappler, having been a wrestler and all.

[danelsan]

Hopefully that is not supposed to be a bear in that picture, as they don't such human-like hands...

Also, I wonder if Letha ever fought Valkyrie, as she looks like she is doing a Valkyrie cosplay ^_^

[M4C8]

See, you can tell she's a martial artist because she's holding her hands like that.
SUSHI (Susan Hayakawa)

-This one just makes me uncomfortable... I mean, SUSHI is her name? Well it's not any more weird than any of pro wrestling's ideas for Japanese wrestlers. She is (of course) a martial artist who fights using Karate, and is a bit weaker than her teammates, but more accurate (a full-on PL 6 with her Unarmed Damage & Parry Defense). Still, they missed the boat- everyone knows Japanese professional wrestlers can spray Blinding Mist.

And yes, she does smell of raw fish....

I'm surprised her name isn't actually 'Sue Shi'

[Goldar]

Hopefully that is not supposed to be a bear in that picture, as they don't such human-like hands...

Also, I wonder if Letha ever fought Valkyrie, as she looks like she is doing a Valkyrie cosplay ^_^

No, Letha has never fought Valkyrie.