Jab’s Builds! (Sword of Sodan! Nightmare Creatures/Circus! Lawnmower Man!)

[Thorpocalypse]

Dang it, I wanted to get my post on page 666 because I am eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil.

Nemesis Kid is one of my all time favorite villains because he's pretty much just a douche. Some villains I like because of their complexity, others I like because of their simplicity. He's in the last group.

[Ken]

ZYMYR
Created By: Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #320 (May 1964)
Home Planet: Gil'dishpan

One. I doubt the 1964 date and the Levitz and Giffen credit are both accurate.

Two. How does Zymyr manipulate objects? Does he had (Gil)'Dishpan hands?

[Bladewind]

I still love that reference - don't remember the source - where it was suggested they were supposed to be Gil Dishan and a slip had them living down for centuries the name Gil Disphan !

[Jabroniville]

COSMIC KING (Laevar Bolto)
Created By: Jerry Siegel & Curt Swan
First Appearance: Superman #147 (Aug. 1961)
Home Planet: Venus
Origin of Powers: Stepped in Front of an Alchemical Device
Eras: Original only
Role: Not-Quite-Mirror Image Villain, Matter Transmuter
PL 10 (248)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 7 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Science) 9 (+16)
Expertise (Space Villain) 2 (+9)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Perception 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Transmutation) 2 (+10)
Stealth 1 (+5)
Technology 7 (+14)

Advantages:
Inventor, Improved Smash, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Alchemical Power"
Transform 15 (12 tons- Anything to Anything) (Extras: Ranged, Continuous) [105]
"Detect Chemical Make-Up" Senses 3 (Detect Chemicals- Analytical) [3]

"Air to Solid Elements" Create 12 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Continuous) (37) -- [40]

• AE: "Costume/Air to Solids" Snare 8 (24)
• AE: "Robots to Semi-Solid Blobs" Weaken Toughness 10 (Extras: Ranged) (20)
• AE: "Magnetic Powers" Move Object 10 (Flaws: Limited to Metals) (10)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Snare +10 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Weaken Toughness +10 (+10 Ranged Weaken, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Enemy (The Legion of Super-Heroes)

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 148 / Defenses: 14 (248)

-Cosmic King seems to be the least-used of the initial trio of Super-Villains, as Saturn Queen & Lightning Lord get up to a lot more action, and reflect the LOSH better, since they have equivalent powers (Cosmic King is a matter transmuter from a different homeworld than Cosmic Boy, and got his powers by accident). He barely even appears in An Eye For An Eye, typically just standing around the background- his one big use is countering Element Lad's powers once.

-Cosmic King is fundamentally another variant of Element Lad, using eye-rays to transform stuff, making him a bit less useful. He's not actually much good in a fight from what I've seen- Wildfire basically makes SPORT of the poor bastard, flying through transmuted wall after wall, then casually punking him out with an Energy Blast. Granted, it's a PL 13 (vs) a PL 10 who's a Glass Cannon anyways, so it's not a fair fight in the slightest. He's also much brighter than most of his team, having invented an Alchemy Ray which he then inadvertently used upon himself- he was kicked out of his Venusian society because such powers were thought of as evil.

[Jabroniville]

Enemy: Zymyr is being pursued by process servers from the Frank Herbert Estate for gross copyright infringement of the Navigators of Dune.

Wow, there's more than one alien that looks like a morning star crossed with a cancerous dog penis?

[Batgirl III]

Enemy: Zymyr is being pursued by process servers from the Frank Herbert Estate for gross copyright infringement of the Navigators of Dune.

Wow, there's more than one alien that looks like a morning star crossed with a cancerous dog penis?

Nope, the Navigators were human... They still looked like that though.

[Jabroniville]

CALGARY COMIC EXPO- MEETING THE DISNEY PRINCESSES OMG!!!!!:
So yeah, most of why I wanted to come this year was because we were getting THREE Disney Princesses this year. Edmonton last year got Linda Larkin (Jasmine), but this year, we got Belle, Ariel and... Pocahontas.

* On Friday, Pocahontas actually seemed to have the longest line for the few hours I was there. I was surprised, and happy that she didn't just have to sit there while the other two OBVIOUSLY more popular Princesses got all the fans. But then I came in on Saturday... yeah, she basically sat there with one or two fans in line, or just chatted with her "Expo Handler" person, while the other two had person after person. For HOURS it looked like that. It REALLY looked kind of sad and weird, but to be expected, given how much more popular Ariel & Belle are. Hell, Irene Bedard didn't even do the singing (that was Judy Kuhn); never mind that Pocahontas is disliked by practically everyone, hated by every Native I've ever met (and any I've seen interviewed), and is openly considered to be the film that ended the Disney Renaissance). And really, she was charging the same as the other two. If I was her, I'd cut that price in half or something.

* Meeting Paige O'Hara was great. Three women ahead of me were dressed like Belle (though tats COMPLETELY ruin that outfit, in my opinion), and people kept getting all teary-eyed and stunned on meeting her. I mean, she's BELLE, possibly the most-liked "official" Disney Princess (Anna & Elsa ain't in the running). When it was my turn, I was probably the only guy not there with his wife or something, so she's immediately like "you know, I read a study where it says Belle is the most popular one with MEN". DAMN, HOW DID SHE KNOW??? I was immediately all "Yeah, guys like nerdy girls", then of course gushed about the movie being Disney's best. Someone added "guys like smart girls", and I also emphasized that Belle was awesome, because she "didn't put up with a lot of nonsense from anyone!", pointing out how every time the Beast or someone acted up, she was just all "NO! You settle down!".

The girl in front of her mentioning Disneyland made me ask her if she ever went to the parks and like, messed with the "Belles" or let them know it was her. She pointed out they all already knew her (the "Disney Legends" get into all the parks for free), and one "had to keep character, but her hands were just SHAKING...!"). Great stuff.

* Jodi Benson was great, too. She still actually sounds like Ariel (shocking considering it's been 27 years). All I really had to talk about was how iconic and great A Part of Your World was ("it's STILL one of the greatest, most-repeated Disney scenes!"), which is probably what she's heard a million times before, but she treated it like a great compliment anyhow . Celebs asking ME questions always throws me off my game-plan, so when she's all "So what do YOU do?" I was taken aback and was like "Uh, just a cashier". To which she replied "Oh, you're not JUST a cashier" and went into something about how doing what you love is important and stuff- very "Disney Princess". Given how she says "God bless you!" to everyone, even signing that, I'm guessing she's very religious.

And then she had her PANEL. Which was more of a quick interview, Q&A session, then her singing. It was actually advertised as a "Sing-Along", but she apologized for that and was basically confessing "it's just me singing". Which is good, because I was all "Mehhhhhhh dunno if I want to see this" if it's a crowd of people expected to sing.

The interview part was good. Basically going into the backstory of how she was working with Howard Ashman on a quickly-closed Broadway play, and he offered the girls a consolation prize to come audition for the role of "The Little Mermaid", the star of a new movie he was a part of. Since she was always wanting to be an actress, but a "non-famous one", she'd promised her mother, she was just expecting to be a Broadway performer all the time. But then a year later, while looking for another role, she got the call that she was this "Ariel" character. And when she told her mom, she was just "... well, better luck next time!". "See, back then, Disney hadn't had a hit in a really long time! And voice acting was something actors did in the BACK half of their career! It wasn't like TODAY!". So after everyone made fun of her or shrugged their shoulders, she just hid the role from everyone.

She did her recordings, made quick friends with people, then never saw most of them until she suddenly got the call to do a 20-day tour for the premiere... and then everything changed. She credits the ENTIRE Disney Renaissance to "Howard" (first name only), mentioning his writing partner Alan Menken only once (to be fair, there's a HUGE gap between the Ashman/Menken stuff and the Menken-only stuff. I See The Light and Hellfire are great, but compared to the string of hits in the ASHMAN films?). Someone asked her about Don Bluth and Thumbelina, and she pointed out her respect for guys like him & Ashman, who "are total perfectionists. I mean, *I'M* a perfectionist, but these guys are on another level."

I actually had heard a bit of the backstory behind the film (Glen Keane, "the best living animator in the world today", designed Ariel off of his wife, a picture of Alyssa Milano, and a girl they hired to swim around in a tank so they could look at her hair move), but she added a few bits, like how the character didn't "Come ALIVE" for Keane until she'd been recorded, since you have to base things off of the voice. She also pointed out the greatness of Ashman, in that if he felt you weren't getting it just right, he had a way of getting it- she was having trouble visualizing Ariel's underwater world and getting into the character, so he shut off all the lights.

She made fun of how Mattel didn't want Barbie in Toy Story, but once that movie became a smash, they were only TOO happy to offer Barbie a role in the film. She was not only the voice for THAT Barbie, but her first acting role was a Claymation Barbie in a "Kids' Work-Out Video" in the early '80s. On seeing the Little Mermaid on Broadway, she says she got there opening night as a special guest... and pretty much just cried through the whole thing, realizing this little world she'd had a hand in creating.

Unusually, she is STILL the voice of Ariel (Paige O'Hara was replaced as Belle a long time ago, as her voice changed), and told a funny story about how she bought an Ariel Singing thing from a store, and on Christmas morning, her daughter was horrified when she pushed the button, and SOMEONE ELSE'S VOICE came out of the thing, saying some asinine thing like "I'm SO HAPPY you're with my friends under the sea!". "THAT'S NOT YOU, MOM!!!!!" So she IMMEDIATELY called her agent, played the voice, and was like "What is THIS?". She points out that since she's still the voice, she's supposed to be the voice in EVERYTHING- toys, dolls, videos, etc. And she considers herself very protective of Ariel and what she represents- sort of the last line of defense, I guess, if they want her to do or say REALLY dumb things.

Most of the Princesses are appearing in Wreck-It Ralph 2, probably in a cameo- she indicates that she at last saw all of them during that recording, "expect Elsa", and that Mulan wasn't there, but she'd met Ming Na another time. I guess they got all the living ones- she points out that she's "The Elder Princess" since so much time (33 years, I think) passed between Sleeping Beauty (she said Cinderella) and The Little Mermaid, though I checked, and Mary "Aurora" Costa is still alive. Maybe she meant of the ones who still voice the characters.

But yeah, she sang. Part of Your World, no less! And hell, she still SOUNDS THE SAME! The only real indication of her voice changing over 27 years is when she hits the power notes, which definitely won't sound the same in your 50s). She even joked when she came up to the panel speaker/representative "Haha, I made her CRY!".

[Jabroniville]

Also, LOL at page "666" of my thread only having a single build on it, and it's ZYMYR of all characters.

[RainOnTheSun]

It's funny, but Ariel isn't the first thing I think of for Jodi Benson's voice:



Millenia, the Wings of Valmar. Oh, Dreamcast, you died too soon...

[Jabroniville]

It's funny, but Ariel isn't the first thing I think of for Jodi Benson's voice:

Millenia, the Wings of Valmar. Oh, Dreamcast, you died too soon...

Haha, wow- small world. I was JUST talking to an artist I know, and he said that one of his biggest clients considered her his favorite character, and would have been SO hyped to have seen Benson live.

[Jabroniville]

OL-VIR
Created By: Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
First Appearance: The Legion of Super-Heroes #294 (Dec. 1982)
Home Planet: Daxam
Origin of Powers: Racial Abilities
Eras: Original only
Role: Asshole Teenager
PL 14 (227)
STRENGTH 17 STAMINA 15 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Intimidation 4 (+4)
Perception 6 (+6)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5

Powers:
"Daxamite Power" Power-Lifting 7 (250,000 tons) [7]
"Daxamite Skin" Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 17) [19]
Immunity 11 (Life Support, Aging) [11]

"Heat Beam" Damage 13 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Line +2) (39) -- [44]

• AE: "Heat Vision" Blast 16 (Feats: Extended Reach 2) (34)
• AE: "Freeze Breath" Affliction 13 (Strength; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless/Paralyzed) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition) (39)
• AE: "Freeze Cone" Affliction 13 (Strength; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless/Paralyzed) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone, Extra Condition) (39)
• AE: "Ground Pound" Affliction 13 (Strength/Athletics; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Burst +3, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Both Must Be Grounded, Instant Recovery) (26)
• AE: "Super-Breath" Affliction 13 (Strength/Athletics; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Cone +2, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Both Must Be Grounded, Instant Recovery) Linked to Move Object 11 (Extras: Area- 120ft. Cone +2) (Flaws: Touch Range) (35)

"Faster Than a Speeding Bullet"
Flight 17 (250,000 mph) (Feats: Dynamic) (34) -- [38]

• Dynamic AE: Quickness 14 (Feats: Dynamic) (15)
• Dynamic AE: Speed 13 (16,000 mph) (Feats: Dynamic) (14)

Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [2]

Senses 22 (Extended Vision & Hearing 4, Analytical, Low-Light, Infra, Ultra & Microvision 4, Vision Penetrates Concealment, Ultra-Hearing) [22]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+17 Damage, DC 32)
Heat Vision +7 (+16 Ranged Damage, DC 31)
Heat Beam +14 Area (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Freeze Breath +7 (+13 Ranged Affliction, DC 23)
Freeze Cone/Ground Pound +13 Area (+13 Affliction, DC 23)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +17, Fortitude +15, Will +4

Complications:
Power Loss/Vulnerable (Lead)- Lead is INCREDIBLY-poisonous to Daxamites, and will quickly begin to kill them. Even the trace amounts of lead in atmospheres (such as Earth's) will cause fatal exposure.
Power Loss/Vulnerable (Red Sun Radiation)- Earth's Yellow Sun empowers Ol-Vir- without it, he will soon lose his powers. Red Sun-based energies will do much more damage to him.
Power Loss (X-Ray Vision)- Daxamite X-Ray Vision cannot penetrate lead.

Total: Abilities: 86 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 121 / Defenses: 9 (227)

-When Darkseid brainwashed the entirety of the planet of Daxam into his personal deavastating army, one in particular got some focus- Ol-Vir, a teenage prick who flew around the prison world of Takron-Galtos and tried to destroy it. Freeing the criminals imprisoned there, he tried to squash Chameleon Boy, but was thrown into the prison cell of one VALIDUS, one of the few beings more powerful than any Daxamite. He subsequently showed up as one of the Legion of Super-Villains (turns out, he was a dick EVEN WITHOUT mind control being involved), used basically as a super-powerful goon. Powerful as hell but a stupid teen, he would usually just kind of pair off with Mon-El or Ultra-Boy or somebody (he DID manage to beat Ultra Boy, though- he got caught with a surprise punch, but Heat Visioned UB when he flew off to turn off a machine), and got undone when Element Lad turned his clothing into lead- anathema to Daxamites.

-Ol-Vir acts as Darkseid's minion once more, attacking Saturn Girl & Lightning Lad when they discover that their infant son was stolen away and turned into Validus by the villainous God. However, he fails in his mission, and Darkseid disintegrates him out of disgust. Impressed by Saturn Girl's willpower, he returns her son to normalcy. Ol-Vir showed up once more in The Legion of Three Worlds, which kind of ignored what became of the original continuity anyways.

-Ol-Vir is a dangerous threat, carrying the full Daxamite Power Package, making him a PL 12.5 only thanks to semi-low accuracy (being both younger and far less experienced than Mon-El, he isn't as tough as a professional superhero, nor as good at fighting). Being young, he's still not very well-rounded, but ANYONE packing +17 damage punches and +17 toughness is a bad dude.

[greycrusader]

Yeah, I think the CORRECT decision was made in the New-52 to pick and choose what happened to the original LSH following the end of Great Darkness Saga...because the title carried on fairly well for awhile (but I'd ignore the death of Karate Kid, since it wasn't how Nemesis Kid's powers worked before, AND was driven my Giffen just not liking the character), then hit the wall HARD. Going from a best-selling title to the dreary (yet often hard to take seriously) 5-YR Gap version, then getting rebooted shortly thereafter pretty much confirms that.

Giffen...so odd, I really enjoyed his JL/JLI work, and his pairing with Levitz, but his later, solo Legions stuff, and the Ambush Bug book...it was all either drab and kind of sad WITHOUT any inspiring payoff (most of the "adult Legion" run, with such hits as the traitorous Sunboy who tried to redeem himself, fails, dies, and then has his scarred corpse inhabited by Wildfire) or all "these characters are so ridiculous! How could be we take them seriously, HA-HA-HA!!! (he killed the credibility of the Subs-they had been clever with the use of their powers previously, learned little tricks to make them effective, weren't all that bad-Fire Lad was a human short-range flamethrower, not a wielding torch-, were respected, etc.), seemed to want to throw out random stuff...But when he did Doom Patrol and Justice League 3000 later (with DeMatteis), the books were pretty good. It just seems like he needs a solid writing partner or strong editor to make his work shine.

Sadly, I think the LSH needs a long rest comics-wise before DC revives it again; the last THREE series (if we count Legion Lost separately) ended abruptly, and it REALLY showed. The finales were rushed and didn't even make a lot of consistent sense, plot or character wise. Multiple reboots and cancellations give the title an aura of failure, and makes fans reluctant to pick up any updated series. The huge cast and bland costumes don't help, especially because too many of them also LOOK ALIKE.

Ah, well. Let it go man...it's a DC team book not named Justice League.

All my best.

[Jabroniville]

GHAHAHAHAAHHA!!! PIGTAILS!!!

THE HUNTER (Adam Orion)
Created By: Carey Bates & Dave Cockrum
First Appearance: Superboy #199 (Nov. 1973)
Home Planet: Simballi
Origin of Powers: Unknown
Eras: Original only
Role: Bounty Hunter
PL 8 (131)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 8 (+12)
Expertise (Hunter & Tracker) 10 (+13)
Intimidation 5 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 6 (+9)
Stealth 5 (+9)
Technology 5 (+8)
Vehicles 2 (+8)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Equipment 8 (Space Gear, Weapons), Fast Grab, Favored Environment (Wilderness), Great Endurance, Improved Aim, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Concealment), Prone Fighting, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 4, Tracking

Equipment:
"Hunter's Arsenal"
"Paired Blasters" Blast 6 (Extras: Multiattack) (18) -- (19)

• AE: "Knives" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split, Improved Critical) (3)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Knives +11 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Blasters +10 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +5, Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Enemy (The Legion of Super-Heroes)
Motivation (Revenge)- Adam's father was killed while fighting the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Adam has sworn revenge.

Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 22 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 11 (131)

-BWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Look at that due's hair!! A grown man with pigtails! This is like 30 years before Brave came out, too! And this guy ISN'T EVEN A JOKE!!! Adam Orion's just some generic villain with a generic motivation ("My name is Adam Orion. You killed my father. Prepare to die. Also, give me my scrunchie back."). He joined the Legion of Super-Villains as part of his revenge scheme- his father Otto died trying to hunt the Legion. He's not overly tough (Lightning Lass basically housed him and three other people simultaneously), but is a solid "Hunter/Tracker" type of villain, good for searching the heroes out. I don't see how he EVER planned on actually taking out the team with his lack of hitting power, though.

[Ken]

I thought,with Ol-Vir, it was a twist that was just the dickens, in making him naturally inclined to be some kind of criminal and not some misunderstood orphan or urchin.

[Batgirl III]

Man, the Hunter looks like he’d have been considered too lame to be a Hostess Fruit Pie villain... and those guys had a mob boss who’s only “power” was that he really enjoyed eating peaches.