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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
bsdigitalq
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Griffin! Generic Super-Hero! Great One! Gravity!)

Post by bsdigitalq »

danelsan wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 12:43 pm Hopefully that is not supposed to be a bear in that picture, as they don't such human-like hands...
Pretty sure that's Ursa Major of the Soviet Super-Soldiers/People's Protectorate/Winter Guard.
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Grog

Post by Jabroniville »

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GROG THE GOD-SLAYER
Created By:
Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz
First Appearance: Thor #390 (April 1988)
Role: Godly Jobber
Group Affiliations: The Egyptian Pantheon
PL 10 (148)
STRENGTH
10 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Expertise (God) 6 (+8)
Expertise (History) 4 (+6)
Insight 4 (+6)
Intimidation 8 (+10)
Perception 2 (+4)

Advantages: 
Benefit (Status- God), Diehard, Great Endurance, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Startle

Powers:
"Immortal God"
Regeneration 2 (Feats: Regrowth) [3]
Immunity 9 (Aging, Drowning, Suffocation, Starvation & Thirst, Heat, Cold, Pressure, Poison, Disease) [9]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]

"Power Lance" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [18]
Blast 14 (Feats: Improved Critical 2) (30 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Power Lance +8 (+14 Ranged Damage, DC 29)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +12, Fortitude +12, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Seth's Command)

Total: Abilities: 78 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 33 / Defenses: 13 (148)

-Grog the God-Slayer (who has actually never slain any actual Gods) is a minion of Seth of the Egyptian Pantheon, and an original creation to Marvel's books. He's essentially just an Elite Minion type who can fight Thor for a bit before going down, but he hasn't had much real success- only leading hordes of Minions against small groups of heroes. His powers are pretty basic (PL 11 Blaster, PL 10 Fighter), meaning he's a bit plain altogether. He died as a result of Surtur using a pyramid containing he & his buddies as a Thrown Weapon- Thor smashed the pyramid, crushing Grog and his minions in the rubble.

-Honestly, the most notable thing about him is his name, which is evocative to Canadians of my particular age, since YTV (our "Youth TV" station airing out of Ontario) regularly featured puppets called "Grogs" on many of their programming blocks, including the after-school block called "The Zone" (which featured such luminaries over the years as Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sailor Moon and Powerpuff Girls). At one point, the big fat green one named Warren took over the station, necessitating a big "story arc" with YTV's PJs ("Program Jockeys", of course) teaming up with the other Grogs to unseat him from power. Unfortunately, the whole group was eventually dropped because YTV wanted ownership of the idea over the puppeteers, and so they got replaced by Fuzzpaws, who were much lamer and stupider. Of course, that was right when I got too old to watch lame puppet-sketches on TV. But hey- PJ Fresh Phil, longtime host of The Zone, went on to be the co-creator of The Anti-Gravity Room, an early "Sci-Fi Show" that reviewed video games, comics, upcoming anime releases, and more.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Mar 16, 2022 4:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Goldar
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Great One! Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog!)

Post by Goldar »

Wow, them Grappler Ladies were some Beastie Gals! :lol:
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Gambit

Post by Jabroniville »

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GAMBIT (Remy Etienne LeBeau)
Created By:
Chris Claremont & Jim Lee
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #266 (Aug. 1990)
Role: The Seducer, The Mole (initially- abandoned plotline), Smarmy Guy
Group Affiliations: The X-Men, The Thieves Guild, Clan LeBeau, The Horsemen of Apocalypse, The Marauders, Xavier's Security Enforcers, The Crimson Pirates
PL 10 (193)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 5

Skills:
Acrobatics 10 (+16)
Athletics 12 (+14)
Deception 8 (+13, +15 Attractive)
Expertise (Thief) 15 (+17)
Insight 5 (+8)
Intimidation 1 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 9 (+12)
Persuasion 5 (+10, +12 Attractive)
Ranged Combat (Thrown Objects) 3 (+12)
Sleight of Hand 9 (+14)
Stealth 8 (+14)
Technology 2 (+4)

Advantages: 
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Attractive, Daze (Deception), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2 (Thief's Gear, Staff, etc.), Evasion 2, Fascinate (Deception), Improved Aim, Improved Critical 3 (Staff, Cards 2), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 7, Skill Mastery (Thief), Takedown 2, Throwing Mastery, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Kinetic Charging of Matter"
"Large Objects" Blast 8 (Extras: Area- 15ft. Burst +1/2) (Diminished Range, Quirk: Requires Large Objects -1) (18) -- [19]
  • AE: "Multiple Cards" Blast 6 (Feats: Accurate) (Extras: Multiattack) (Diminished Range, Quirk: Requires Small Objects -1) (17)
"Hard to Read" Immunity 2 (Mind Reading) [2]

Equipment:
"Staff" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split, Reach) (4)
"Playing Cards" (like five billion of them- he never runs out)
"Body Armour" Protection 1 (1)
"Thief Stuff" Lock picks, rope, etc.

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Staff +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Playing Cards +14 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Large Objects +8 Area (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +15 (DC 25), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +3 (+4 Armour, +5 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +7

Complications:
Relationship (Rogue)- The two flirted at first (Gambit mostly), but it turns out he really liked her, but they couldn't be together because of her powers. Then they kinda split, then stuff happened, and now... it's complicated.
Guilt (Led the Marauders to the Morlocks)- This was a retcon, and the X-Men kind of thought he was a dick for it, on account of hundreds of people being murdered. He did it as payment for Mister Sinister saving him from his own powers, but STILL... Eventually he just rejoined the team.
Enemy (Mister Sinister)- Gambit used to owe Sinister a favour, and still ends up tied in with the evil geneticist.
Responsibility (The Thieves Guild)- Gambit is the member of this clandestine organization in New Orleans' underworld, and is often forced into situations involving them or their rivals, The Assassins Guild.
Relationship (Belladonna Boudreaux)- Remy & Belladonna were engaged to be married, as part of some alliance between the two aforementioned Guilds. Instead, he killed her brother in a duel and went on the run, and Belladonna died killing a Brood that was infecting Ghost Rider.
Involuntary Transformation (Death)- Having once been turned into a Horseman of Apocalypse, Gambit occasionally has to worry about transforming back during moments of anger.

Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 90--45 / Advantages: 33 / Powers: 21 / Defenses: 18 (193)

Gambit- An X-Man For The Nineties:
-Gambit's one of those guys that just can't live past his reputation as "man of the '90s". Bringing the trenchcoat to the forefront of super-hero costume design is now practically considered a mortal sin, and it's only by virtue of his characterization since that point that he's allowed some semblance of pride; whereas someone like The X-Treme or Night Thrasher are not. They handled his "cool bad-ass" thing pretty well I guess, as he still has fans to this day, though I always found it a bit over the top (he smokes, has a trenchcoat, is a criminal, flirts with everyone, rides a motorbike, etc.). I'm still not seeing how they made him LEADER of his own team (though by that point, nearly every single member of both teams had been Team Leader at some point- part of the problem with a SUPER long-running series), not to mention gave him his OWN SERIES, but that was the peak of Marvel's "X-Books are the only thing we sell now" period. Except Marvel's tried to give him an ongoing THREE TIMES.

Gambit's Debut:
-Gambit was originally a mysterious thief that rescued a young, depowered Storm from The Shadow King, Nanny & Orphan-Maker, and brought her back to the X-Men, whom he soon joined. He was a newbie during The X-Tinction Agenda, but eventually became a trusted guy- his bad-ass long jacket, funky pink armour and unique powers made him an instant fan-favourite, and he'd become a fashion plate for the entire comic book industry. Funnily enough, he was gonna be the "Terra" of the X-Men. That's right- Claremont & Lee originally created him to eventually BETRAY the entire team to a villain, something that got used years later when it was revealed that he led the Marauders to the Morlocks, setting off the Mutant Massacre. You could tell he was gonna become a good guy, because he got more handsome with each passing issue, until he was the smirking bad boy we all know and love, instead of the kinda scrawny, ugly dude we saw in the early days.

-His look at powers were unique for comics- he eschewed traditional powers and fought using a Bo Staff. His powers manifested as energizing regular objects, which in his case were usually playing cards- this gave him a great visual "look"- a trenchcoated guy with a staff and glowing weapons, but with the "bad-ass rebel" addition of playing cards (symbols of gambling and somewhat-dark criminality).

-Gambit's backstory was initially that of the "Mysterious Loner" type- much like Wolverine, almost nothing was known of him. The character didn't even have a REAL NAME for a considerable length of time- one Marvel Card listed him as "Remy Boudreaux". The guy proved popular, though- with Jim Lee shattering minds with his cutting-edge art style in the early '90s, his favorite son appeared to be ol' Remy. When he got to put all of his favorite characters on one team, we had the X-Men Blue Strike Force, consisting of Cyclops as the leader, Psylocke as Fanservice, Wolverine as the bad-ass, Beast as the smart guy, and Jubilee & Gambit taking up the Trenchcoat Brigade. The success of this book led to Gambit being a central character on the X-Men Animated Series, which was a tremendous hit that only furthered his popularity.

Remy & Rogue:
-In X-Men, Gambit got a bit more development. We'd discover his past as a member of the Thieves' Guild, and his marriage to Bella Donna of the Assassins' Guild- Remy was supposed to bring the two Guilds together (New Orleans having this weird, pseudo-mystical backstory that was oddly fitting, given its real-world status as a bridge between cultures- where else do you get exiled Eastern Canadians merging with African immigrants, freed slaves and Native cultures to form its own "Creole"?). He married Bella Donna, but was exiled from New Orleans after killing her brother Julien in a duel- this led him to work for Mr. Sinister, where he helped form the Marauders, who were sent against the Morlocks- this made Gambit complicit in the Mutant Massacre. We'd all discover that years later, which threw a wrench into his relationship with Rogue.

-Gambit & Rogue were paired off in the "Jim Lee" era, owing to his love of their jackets and the fact that most of the other members were tied down somehow (Scott/Jean had a wrench thrown in thanks to Psylocke's open flirting). This first started off as a simple flirtation, with Remy looking all cool and being all suave and distant, but soon he came to develop real feelings for her. An ongoing feud with Bishop developed (Bishop suspected Remy was the "traitor" who would murder all the X-Men- the true killer was Charles Xavier himself, as Onslaught), Jim Lee would leave Marvel (and recreate Gambit's look with Grifter on WildCATS), and Rogue would eventually leave him after his complicity in the Mutant Massacre was revealed. The X-Men also banished him, leading to his solo book.

Seriously- GAMBIT Had a Solo Book:
-Gambit, for some insane reason, got his own ongoing series in 1999, lasting about two years (25 issues). This drove me NUTS at the time, as I wasn't a big Gambit fan, and it insanely dilutes a book like X-Men to have so many guys with ongoing titles. And really... he didn't deserve it. His backstory isn't that fascinating, his Rogues Gallery not that impressive, and... he's friggin' GAMBIT, okay? In a world of Storm, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Colossus and more, HE gets his own comic? The absurdity of it drove me nuts, and reminds me today of how much more seriously I took my comics.

-Gambit would re-join the X-Men, coming in as the leader of one of the squads during Chris Claremont's return to the books. However, Claremont's run was considered an unmitigated failure, and Gambit never led another team. He was part of X-Treme X-Men for a while, but disappeared with Rogue when both were de-powered.

Gambit Falls Apart:
-Gambit's star faded when his solo book got the axe, and X-Treme X-Men was little more than a Claremont Vanity Project- this led Gambit down a road he'd never actually been on- an obscure one. This is a guy who debuted on the biggest book in the industry in 1990, and came to help define a decade. Shockingly, Gambit got ANOTHER chance to fail in 2004, this book lasting twelve issues. This led to him joining Apocalypse, intending to betray him... but the transformation into the Horseman of Death warped him completely, so he actually became legitimately evil. He led the Marauders for a time, but eventually turned back to good.

A THIRD solo book came out in 2012, humorously promising tons of fanservice for people who wanna see his Louisianan buttocks, but this also failed to set the world on fire, resulting in a cancellation at seventeen issues. The writer's plan to make Gambit bisexual was kiboshed by editorial. His appearance in a Peter David X-Factor book also failed, as that book only lasted twenty issues- David publicly mentioned that Marvel will probably wait some time before making Gambit the lead in a book again, given his persistent failures.

-All of this led to a permanent break in the Rogue/Gambit duo, as neither was being used much for a time, and they'd gone through the "Will They/Won't They" thing so many times that fans got sick of it, pretty much killing the X-Men's OTHER Power Couple. Eventually, Rogue was just hanging around on the Uncanny Avengers book/s, while Gambit languished in obscurity.

Gambit As A Whole:
-To me, Gambit means one thing- "Dated". He is absolutely the relic of an earlier time, and may be best-left there. The guy's whole "Longcoat/Bo Staff/Smartass Personality" thing is SO "1990s" that it's hard to take him seriously in modern comics, and the repeated failures to get any kind of a Gambit series going since 2004 have pretty much poisoned the character. It doesn't help that was once a happy-go-lucky type of character has been shaken by tons of angst and depression, much like the rest of the X-Men by this point- he used to be the ONE GUY on that team who seemed to be having a good time with life (which is probably what made him so cool to people), but now he's just one of the group. If there's one kind of character who could justify a "Comics Needs a Reboot" plan, it'd be a guy like Gambit- someone who once had a certain style about him, but retcon after angst-session after overly-complicated storyline has just left him this withered shell.

Gambit's Stats:
-Gambit's another weird X-Man to stat up, but it's easier in 3e that it was in 2nd Edition. He has a Diminished Range Multiattack Blast (quite accurate; +14 in total), and a short-range Area Blast. He "Requires Objects" for obvious reasons, and generally his cards give him an unlimited supply of ways to use his attack. The power level isn't so dramatic, but then Gambit has always been a finesse guy, more accurate than damaging. Even so, he has Power Attack, for those days when he needs a REALLY big Blast (which would need a correspondingly large object- those aren't really in rare supply during super-fights, though.

-For one card, use Accurate Attack, for a whole bunch of them, use the regular damage, and for a big object like a chair, throw Power Attack on. My old Gambit build used Disintigrate on the objects he was blowing up (I'd use Drain Toughness nowadays), but really, if the object is at the epicenter of the Damage, it doesn't need it, as it just takes the full damage as "fluff" expository dialogue. It's an accurate way to blow up the objects he's "charging", but in the end, you're just making him spend points on something that's really just a side-effect descriptor of his powers.

-Physically & Skill-wise, he's very good, having a TON of Skills (Master Thief brings a bunch of benefits), and he's quite good all-around. Wiki says he's as strong as any human could be, but I call shenanigans on that, because I don't think I've ever seen Gambit straight up K.O. major characters with one punch- Wikipedia is ENORMOUSLY bad for giving everyone "Peak Human" capabilities, and throws "enhanced reflexes" on absolutely everybody in comics as well. Gambit is set-up as a close-range Blaster who's very good at avoiding hits, as well as being the team's resident Skillmonkey. At PL 10 (190), he's one of the pricier guys, but it fits- Daredevil is 10 points more expensive, and he's equivalent to Elektra or the Black Widow, which makes sense.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Mar 16, 2022 4:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Goldar
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by Goldar »

In the he 1990's, didn't they also give Remy the ability to subtly influence others to do what he wanted?

And later, red eyes? Sometimes they make them red all the time, while at others, only when using his powers.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by L-Space »

I'll admit, as a kid Gambit was my favorite X-men for pretty much all the reasons Jab thought he was over the top. In my defense I was extremely shy and self-conscious as kid, so someone who was all 'devil may care' and smooth talking was pretty cool to me.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by Davies »

And then there's the big reveal of Gambit's "true nature" in Claremont's X-Men: The End ... or as I like to call it, Claremont's Eat Crap and Die, Grant Morrison.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by BriarThrone »

Davies wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2017 3:44 am And then there's the big reveal of Gambit's "true nature" in Claremont's X-Men: The End ... or as I like to call it, Claremont's Eat Crap and Die, Grant Morrison.
I'm not familiar with that one, but I'm curious.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by Davies »

BriarThrone wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:28 am I'm not familiar with that one, but I'm curious.
Summary here.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by BriarThrone »

Davies wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2017 5:09 am
BriarThrone wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2017 4:28 am I'm not familiar with that one, but I'm curious.
Summary here.
... Yeah, that's exactly the addition every element of that needed. :x
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Huh- weird:
Gambit is revealed to be a clone of Mr. Sinister. He is also shown to have the DNA of Scott Summers (DNA to give him mutant abilities) spliced in with his original unaltered human DNA, making him the clone son of one of the X-Men's most persistent enemies (and genetic brother of Scott and Alex Summers).
L-Space wrote:I'll admit, as a kid Gambit was my favorite X-men for pretty much all the reasons Jab thought he was over the top. In my defense I was extremely shy and self-conscious as kid, so someone who was all 'devil may care' and smooth talking was pretty cool to me.
I can see that. Same reason I was always into the biggest, strongest guy of every team :).
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Bella Donna

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image
Image

BELLADONNA (Bella Donna Boudreaux)
Created By:
Jim Lee & Scott Lobdell
First Appearance: X-Men #8 (May 1992)
Role: Mysterious Long-Lost Wife
Group Affiliation: The Assassins' Guild of New Orleans
PL 9 (133)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 7
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13)
Athletics 9 (+11)
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Assassin) 7 (+8)
Intimidation 1 (+4)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 3 (+6)
Stealth 3 (+8)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Equipment 2 (Assassin's Gear), Evasion, Grab Finesse, Improved Critical (Blasts), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 1, Tracking

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Vague Psychic Stuff"
Plasma Blast 10 (Feats: Split) (21) -- [22]
  • AE: "Astral Projection" Remote Sensing (Vision & Hearing) 2 (6)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Weapons +11 (+4-5 Damage, DC 19-20)
Blast +8 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Gambit)- Belladonna and Gambit were married as part of a peace offering between the warring Thieves & Assassins Guilds of New Orleans. She still loves him, but is often angry because he often runs off to do his own thing, abandoning her.
Responsibility (The Guilds)- Keeping peace between the Guilds is not always easy.

Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 10 (133)

-A peculiar bit of X-Men History is the short-lived era in which Chris Claremont had just left the books as his successful Uncanny series was split into two teams as the original five X-Men rejoined the full squad at the time. With the artists drawing more and more acclaim, Marvel appeased them more and more (appeasement NEVER WORKS, dammit! Don't they know their World History?), and so Whilce Portacio & Jim Lee were soon calling ALL the shots on what was now two X-Books. And when Artists call all the shots, certain specific things happen: New characters suddenly start springing up in huge numbers, costume changes are frequent, and the plot and character development takes a backseat to big action poses and the artist showing off. When a WRITER calls all the shots, you tend towards boring entropy, endless repetition and plenty fo "Talking Heads" issues (the Bendis Effect). The trick is to balance BOTH aspects, which is why creative teams like Wolfman/Perez and Claremont & Byrne/Cockrum/Romita work so well.

-Take Jim Lee's X-Men. With Lee in total control of his very own book to placate the superstar artist (pretty much the most-popular and most-copied in the industry at that time), you suddenly saw all of his favorites put onto one team (The Blue Strike Force consisted of all the "Cool" members- Wolverine, Psylocke, Gambit & Rogue, combined with the cool-looking Beast and the "trendy" Jubilee, plus Cyclops as team leader), and a big stream of characters showing up in each issue, often overwhelming the plot as Lord Nyoirin, Matsu'o Tsurayaba, The Fenris Twins, Sabretooth, Birdie, The Hand, Omega Red (debuting) and countless others were jumping all over each other for prominence. Lee Originals like Omega Red got big pushes, and then we ALSO had a big Cross-Over with the popular Ghost Rider character.

-Hence Bella Donna Boudreaux- she debuts more or less out of NOWHERE, arriving at the X-Mansion and starting a big fight during a "Hang Out in Swimsuits At a River" issue that existed solely so Jim Lee could draw the X-Women in ultra-skimpy bikinis (I... cannot complain about that. Young Pubescent Jab must have re-read that issue 900 times :)). Bella Donna, it turns out, is Gambit's WIFE- the two were married as part of a peace offering between Remy's Thieves Guild and Bella Donna's Assassins Guild, but Gambit had killed her brother Julien in a duel immediately after the wedding, and was banished from New Orleans. Pissed-off, Bella Donna finally seeks him out to help save both Guilds from The Brood, who are now hanging out in New Orleans and turning people in bad Cajun accents into Brood Monsters. Oh, and Bella Donna has super energy powers, which Gambit never knew about. Because it's not a '90s comic without giant Energy Blasts everywhere. Rogues, as you might imagine, is just DELIGHTED that the roguish man who's been flirting with her for the past year-plus in the X-Books is actually MARRIED.

-Things take a wrong turn when freaking GHOST RIDER shows up all Brooded-out, with a giant Sleazoid Head and everything! He stomps house on the X-Men, but Psylocke & Bella Donna jump into his head, combat the Brood creature, and a massive energy blast kills the Queen growing inside Danny Ketch's psyche. The energy output "took everyt'ing I had" according to Bella Donna, who dies in Gambit's arms. This actually doesn't really get brought up much after this, until MUCH later, when it turns out that she was merely comatose and nobody told Gambit- Remy grabs the Elixir of Life from the External New Orleans native Candra, but Bella Donna awakens with no memory, thanks to having touched Rogue by accident. Enraged once her memories come back, Bella Donna murders Rogue's comatose first boyfriend Cody (the one who'd been KO'd by her first usage of her powers). Later, she & Gambit meet and come to terms, with him leaving her in charge of both Guilds in his absense, and her still loving him. She has only showed up in cameos since then (Gambit's star having faded, there's little use for his sorta-wife), in that vaguely-antagonistic role she's usually in, as despite her links to established Marvel characters, she's still the leader of, you know, the ASSASSINS GUILD. Later adversaries include Domino and (of all people) Kaine, the Scarlet Spider.

-All of that for a character that really doesn't matter much, and has super-vague powers. A lot of '90s characters were like that- barely-explained stuff that shot off a lot of energy, but was rarely discussed in much detail. She's PL 9-ish, not being a major fighter- killing a Brood Queen nearly kills her from over-doing it.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Mar 16, 2022 4:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Great One! Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Goldar wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:23 pm Wow, them Grappler Ladies were some Beastie Gals! :lol:
You and your gals :).

And thanks! Always fun to stat up the jobbers. I find those characters getting more play today than they ever did in their original era- it's like someone realized that distinctive-looking, silly-named female jobbers were actually perfect for superhero comics :).
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Gravity! The Grapplers! Grog! Gambit!)

Post by Horsenhero »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Aug 24, 2017 8:06 am Huh- weird:
Gambit is revealed to be a clone of Mr. Sinister. He is also shown to have the DNA of Scott Summers (DNA to give him mutant abilities) spliced in with his original unaltered human DNA, making him the clone son of one of the X-Men's most persistent enemies (and genetic brother of Scott and Alex Summers).
L-Space wrote:I'll admit, as a kid Gambit was my favorite X-men for pretty much all the reasons Jab thought he was over the top. In my defense I was extremely shy and self-conscious as kid, so someone who was all 'devil may care' and smooth talking was pretty cool to me.
I can see that. Same reason I was always into the biggest, strongest guy of every team :).
Sigh. When I was a kid I always identified with the D-League characters or really non-human looking ones. Favorite hero teams: (Marvel) Defenders, Champions, Inhumans (DC) JSA, LSH, Freedom Fighters. Favorite individual heroes: (Marvel) The Thing, Doc Samson, Sunfire, Ajak, Jack of Hearts, Vision, Adam Warlock, Yellowjacket, Goliath (any version) (DC) Hourman, Dr. Fate, Captain Atom, Hawkman, OMAC, Ferro lad, Wildfire, Timber Wolf, Kid Flash, Orion (specifically his short-lived 1977 design).

Conversely, the more popular a character got the less I liked them, so yeah...Superman, Batman, Wolverine, Spider-Man... pretty much my least favorite characters.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The Gladiators

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE GLADIATORS
Created By:
Ann Nocenti & Don Perlin
First Appearance: Beauty and the Beast #1 (December 1984)
Role: Mooks
Group Affiliations: The Gladiators
PL 6 (60)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+7)
Deception 2 (+3)
Expertise (Streetwise) 5 (+5)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
None

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +2

Complications:
Enemy (Alexander Flynn, The Shadow King)- Both attempted to control the Gladiators for their own ends.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 5 (60)

-The Gladiators showed up in Beauty and the Beast, a Limited Series featuring Dazzler and Hank "The Beast" McCoy- they were guys who staged fights in a gladatorial arena in Hollywood, California, for a guy named Hugo Longride, who was killed by his Mutant partner Flynn, who mind-controlled several Mutant Gladiators to do away with the boss (who turned out to be a Doombot). Flynn wanted to use the Gladiators to help him conquer the nation of Latveria, ruled by the man he claimed to be his "father", Doctor Doom. However, he lost command of the Gladiators to Max Rocker, one of the band. Later, the Shadow King took control of the Gladiators while in the body of Xi'an Coy Manh of the New Mutants- here was where the team found the Mind-Controlled Sunspot & Magik fighting.

Members:
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THE HIGHTOWERS (Skottie, Terry & Buford Hightower)- PL 7 (64): ST 4, STA 5 [4]
-The Hightower brothers could let out a guttural roar (it was unclear if this was one of those "Sibling-Required" powers or not), and were all pretty big guys. Terry, known as "Bouncer", was particularly large- probably ST 5.

HORNS (Jon Morse)- PL 6 (62): Strength-Damage +1 (Improved Critical) [2]
-Jon had a rhino-like horn on his head, and was Dazzler's first opponent.

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This is the same character, I guess. Bill Sienkeiwicz is WEIRD.

IVICH WILLIAMSON- PL 7 (65): Sword +3, Dodge +9, Parry +9 [5]
-So THAT's who this was! Ivich looked like Frankenstein's Monster, but as an ugly Punker (I hate punkers) chick, because Claremont was involved somehow, I bet. Ivich was a good swordswoman, and became good friends with Dazzler, worrying about the bosses' plans for her.

LEXI- PL 6 (65): Flight 5 (Winged) [5]
-Lexi appeared in New Mutants, helping Dazzler after Sunspot tossed her. He had wings and looked rather demonic.

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Holy shit, that BraveStar guy looks BADASS.

MAX ROCKER- PL 7 (64): ST 4, STA 5 [4]
-Max was a huge Horse-like dude who went along with Flynn at first, but realized the boss was a little too much like Hitler in his idea to create a "master race" of Mutants to take over Latveria, and helped spring Dazzler and The Beast.

SHOCKMAN (Shawn Key)- PL 6 (73): Blast 6 (Accurate) [13]
-Shockman had electrical powers, and used them to stun the Beast once.

SNAKETONGUE (Terra Poole)- PL 6 (62): Strength-Damage +2 [2]
-Terra's forked tongue could break solid objects.

RAY- PL 6 (69): ST 4, STA 5, FIGHTING 6, Movement 1 (Slithering), Senses 2 (Infravision, Scent), Chokehold, Fast Grab, Improved Hold [9]
-Ray could turn into an extremely-large, constricting snake with fangs. He was just a backgrounder, appearing in New Mutants.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Mar 16, 2022 4:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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