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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Horsenhero
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Re: The X-Kids

Post by Horsenhero »

Jabroniville wrote:
Disposable Teenagers: The peculiar tendency of Comic Book Characters to have a much greater chance of dying horribly if they're young. You'd think that it'd be older characters dying to make way for new ones, but no- the Old Guard almost always gets to kick around, and it's the SIDEKICKS and teens who are disposable. This basically happens because said Teens are usually created by one guy, never get the MAJOR push to the next level (because the Old Guard are still around), then forgotten once NEW Teens show up, and thus they're seen as acceptable C-List Fodder for the next big event or villain.

This is best shown on the various comic book Teen Teams. The Teen Titans are now almost as famous for DYING as for the awesome Wolfman/Perez arc from the '80s, mostly because of the "crap years" in the early-90s when writers just kept ADDING to them. This gave them a TON of Filler, and thus people were often killed in droves, especially with "Spring Cleaning", better known as "Infinite Crisis", where Superboy-Prime killed three of them in a single page, then crippled nobody character Risk. The later McKeever run on the book was just as bad, as he often intro'd characters, only to off them later on.

Marvel's New Mutants are just as bad, as the characters were either killed or easily-replaced & forgotten. Doug Ramsey & Warlock were killed over the course of the series, as times changed. Magma was ruined by having her life be a lie (Nova Roma was no longer a Roman Colony, but a trick by Selene), and she vanished for a decade. Karma, disposable even to Claremont, vanished again. Moonstar became "evil" and vanished, too. Magik was de-aged, THEN killed. And don't get me started on the freaking HELLIONS, who were wiped out in a single issue, mostly off-panel. Rob Liefeld took over the book, and MANY characters disappeared.

Also check the poor New Warriors, who were easily-disposable by Civil War, offing Night Thrasher, Namorita & Microbe, and turning Speedball into Penance. Other characters also died over the years, because the book meant little in the grand scheme of things.
Don't forget "Avengers Arena" written by Dennis "I'm a waste of skin" Hopeless where he kills off a raft of characters to restore Arcade of all villains to being a legitimate threat. Funny thing is, Arcade was never a legitimate threat to any super-heroes since his first appearance. Anyway, I'm going to stop now before the rant steamrolls.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Don't forget "Avengers Arena" written by Dennis "I'm a waste of skin" Hopeless where he kills off a raft of characters to restore Arcade of all villains to being a legitimate threat. Funny thing is, Arcade was never a legitimate threat to any super-heroes since his first appearance. Anyway, I'm going to stop now before the rant steamrolls.
Haha, yeah, that was written WAY after I wrote that bit... and of course it basically solidified that trope forever. I just wasn't sure how many characters died, so I didn't wanna go ranting about it.

But please... rant away. I've missed you this past month, you old grouch :).

---

Oh yeah, and this first bit is gonna be a large amount of just "Spamming the Builds" out, as these early names were nobodies who haven't changed since the last time I posted them. Then, after that, I start posting the "Kids Who Changed" or require additional info in their builds.

And yes, it occurs to me that I should have re-posted The New Mutants, THEN posted the Young X-Men. But it only did so once it was too late to not go forward with these. So here they are.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Dec 27, 2016 6:12 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Batgirl III wrote: Well, we haven't actually gotten to watch the show yet. Hence my question earlier about where to find it.
Oh, I was asking about MH and EAH, for the most part.
I'm just happy to be living in a time where my kids have a virtual glut of superheroes and superheroines in mass media to choose from. At their age, I pretty much had re-runs of Yvonne Craig's Batgirl and re-runs of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman... or She-Ra.
Yeah, we are basically spoiled for riches at this point. For cartoons, I think we owe a lot to Batman: The Animated Series, and of course the explosion in Marvel movies (which started with X-Men. Both of those sort of started everyone off on a game of "Can You Top This?", and we've been enjoying the spoils over the past decade or so, albeit with a few bone-headed decisions made along the way.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Ares »

I'd agree that Arcade didn't need Avengers Arena to restore his cred, but not because he'd never been a threat to superheroes. On the contrary, Arcade has usually been a very real threat to superheroes since his inception, his capture of guys like Spider-Man, Captain Britain, and the X-Men made for incredibly fun stories.

The problem started with that Young Avengers/Avengers Academy crossover where the writer had Arcade complaining about how he can kill normal people just fine, it's superheroes he has problems with, so he was going to restore his cred by killing some kids. This later got expanded in Avengers Arena where Arcade rips off Battle Royale and the Hunger Games whole hog, gets himself some actual super powers, and talks about how this will finally restore his cred. Only to later undermine him and wind up with him being tortured by other villains who felt he went too far.

See, the problem wasn't that Arcade has never managed to kill a superhero on screen. The problem was that a writer decided to make a big deal out of something that is not unique to Arcade. That being that:

99.99% OF ALL SUPERVILLAINS HAVE NEVER KILLED A SUPERHERO.

I mean, guys like Dr. Doom, Magneto, the Red Skull, Galactus, Thanos, none of them really have killed any A-List heroes and made it stick. Superheroes escape from their death traps, survive their assaults and schemes, etc. Why in the Hell is Arcade being held to ridiculous standards when Bullseye's biggest kill claims are a couple of Daredevil's ex-girlfriends. It's an artificial way to make a villain appear like a joke so you can either continue to make fun of them, or give you an excuse to "fix" them when they aren't broken.

Arcade was a perfect journeyman supervillain, someone who could face any hero or hero team, put them in a unique/fun situation and allow the heroes to prove how formidable/clever they are by escaping the traps while also have Arcade test their limits and escape, proving his own competence. He was never going to be a master villain, but he wasn't suppose to be. He was suppose to be the guy you bring in for a unique challenge for your heroes and then leave alone for a bit.

I mean, Murderworld is a fantastic concept, a theme park of death that can draw on pretty much everything from old carnivals to movies to actual theme parks to video games, etc. There was such much continual fun to be had with Arcade and that concept and they pissed it away to "fix" him for a stupid Hunger Games rip off.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Batgirl III »

Jabroniville wrote:
Batgirl III wrote: Well, we haven't actually gotten to watch the show yet. Hence my question earlier about where to find it.
Oh, I was asking about MH and EAH, for the most part.
Oh... Well, see... (How do I say this without offending Jab?) Those two shows annoy the hell out of me so when they're watching them I develop a sudden urgent need to go wash the dishes or clean the ferret's cage. Whatever will get me out of the room until it's over.

Eldest seems partial to Raven Queen and whatever the name of the fishman with his head in a water-filled helmet is... Youngest really likes Draculaura and Maddie Hatter. Both of them went gaga for the steampunk robot girl when they watched that movie for the first time recently.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Batgirl III wrote:
Jabroniville wrote:
Batgirl III wrote: Well, we haven't actually gotten to watch the show yet. Hence my question earlier about where to find it.
Oh, I was asking about MH and EAH, for the most part.
Oh... Well, see... (How do I say this without offending Jab?) Those two shows annoy the hell out of me so when they're watching them I develop a sudden urgent need to go wash the dishes or clean the ferret's cage. Whatever will get me out of the room until it's over.

Eldest seems partial to Raven Queen and whatever the name of the fishman with his head in a water-filled helmet is... Youngest really likes Draculaura and Maddie Hatter. Both of them went gaga for the steampunk robot girl when they watched that movie for the first time recently.
*GASP*!! HOW DARE Y--

No, no... I am calm. I find it perfectly acceptable that an adult would not find a show based off of high-pitched squealing girls entertaining. After all, I've resisted 9 million attempts on here to get me to give Young Justice another try (I DON'T CARE, ALRIGHT?!? I JUST DON'T BLOODY CARE!!!!), so I can deal with you not liking...


BUT RAVEN QUEEN AND DARLING CHARMING ARE SO COOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.........
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Blindfold

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

I swear she was once flat-chested and young-looking.

BLINDFOLD (Ruth Aldine)
Created By:
Joss Whedon & John Cassaday
First Appearance: Astonishing X-Men #7 (Dec. 2005)
Group Affiliations: X-Students, Young X-Men
Status: Alive
Role: Weird Girl, Future-Seer, Walking Plot Device
PL 7 (97)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Deception 6 (+5)
Perception 4 (+7)
Insight 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Student Uniform- Communications, Protection +1), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Clairvoyance & Telepathy"
"Telepathy" Communication (Mental) 3 (Extras: Area, Selective) Linked to Mind-Reading 7 (32) -- [33]
  • AE: "ESP" Remote Sensing 6 (Visuals & Hearing) (Flaws: Physical Body is Defenselss) (16)
Senses 8 (Postcognition, Precognition) [8]
"Spatial Awareness" Senses 5 (Spatial Sense- Ranged, Accurate, Radius) [5]
"Mind in Flux" Immunity 20 (Mental Attacks) (Flaws: Limited to Control & Reading) [10]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Mind-Reading -- (+7 Mind-Reading, DC 17)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1 (+2 Costume), Fortitude +3, Will +5

Complications:
Disabled (Blind)- Though her powers entirely counter-act this.
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Blindfold has no eyes.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 56 / Defenses: 7 (97)

-Blindfold is a curious little "obvious mutant" created by Joss Whedon for his Astonishing run. Without any eyes, she's a precog (aka "Walking Plot Device Character") with some telepathic abilities and a weird manner of speaking (randomly inserting words like "thank you" and "yes" into sentences- it's later revealed she's talking to later-introduced character Cipher). Despite this seeming uselessness in combat, she's officially one of the Young X-Men, though she was a very background character, not getting much play.

-Blindfold, however, became a MAJOR character in a big Legion-centric arc, as she fell in love with David Haller, the now orphaned son of Professor X. The two grew close, but Legion sacrificed himself to avoid absorbing every Mutant alive into himself- inner strength he only discovered through his relationship with her. This arc is like 97 paragraphs long on Wikipedia (jesus, who EDITS this crap?), so I kind of had to skip to the ending. Needless to say, as few people care about Legion or Blindfold, and it was easily the lowest-tier X-Book of the time, with the classic "Nobody else was using these guys" roster, it wasn't a major deal and I don't think anybody even read it.

-Blindfold is pretty simple- a Telepath who can also displace her "Vision" elsewhere as an Alt-Effect, and possesses the two big "Past & Future" detection Senses, as well as Spatial Awareness to counteract her blindness (essentially cancelling it out).
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:11 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Batgirl III »

The problem I have with these shows — and given your summaries of them it may be inaccurate and is only based on the briefest of snippets — is that sooo many "girls shows" don't have any sort of meaningful conflict in their plots. They all seem to have only the same two episodes, repeating themselves enough times to make a single season that gets cancelled because no one likes them:

• Girl A is mean to Girl B, Girl B stews in her jealousy for a bit and is petty, the Sacred Circle of Freinds is in danger of falling apart, until the mutual freinds of A and B can show it was all a Big Misunderstanding*.

• Girl A, Girl B, and their Circle of Mutual Ethnically Diverse Freinds encounter Girl X during their rehearsal or practice for Feminine Activity. Girl X is better/worse than Girl A and Girl B. Girl X is also somehow different from A, B, or any current member of the Circle of Mutual Ethnically Diverse Freinds — she's a new color, she speaks random words en espanol, she's in a wheelchair, she has diabetes* — and a montage sequence helps A, B, and X learn to Appreciate Each Others Differences. X is then added to the Circle of Mutual Ethnically Diverse Freinds... and never gets another unique character trait. Ever.

Now, I have only seen the briefest snippets of EAH and MH. The shows might not follow this formula, but man, do they present themselves as being exactly the kind of girly-girl pablum that causede to spend the Eighties embracing G.I.Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Most Eighties "boys shows" had their formulas, their ham-handed Aesop's Morals, and the like... But they also had real stories, with real conflicts to resolve, real dangers to be overcome, and real problems to solve. Skeletor was a foppish moron and had a laugh that rendered him about as scary as a baby pygmy goat that had breathed too much helium, but he looks like Hannibal Lectre compared to the Purple Pieman.


* All of these examples are culled from the pages of 'The Babysitters' Club,' BTW.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Yeah, with the Webisodes, you're not too far off, particularly with Monster High. Apple & Raven have more of a thing going on that's about embracing destiny, and the MOVIES get a little more hardcore, but the Webisodes are more or less three-minute commercials of "Buy this toy!" or "Buy this new outfit!" The conflict tends to be a bit glossed-over, or under-explained at times, as well.

EAH gets more of a pass from me because several of the episodes are straight-up hilarious, especially if they involve Cupid or Dexter being weird crush-having kids. Plus the movies use real villains.

Image

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Elsa-653079071

PS Oh my GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Daekazu's Elsa picture!!!
Jabroniville
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Cipher

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

CIPHER (Alisa Tager)
Created By:
Mark Guggenheim & Rafa Sandoval
First Appearance: Young X-Men #8 (Nov. 2008)
Group Affiliations: The Young X-Men
Role: Team Spy
Status: Mostly-Unseen Background Character
PL 3 (85), PL 4 (85) Defenses
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 5 (+5)
Insight 4 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+6)
Vehicles 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Student Uniform- Communications, Protection +1), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Full-Spectrum Invisibility & Stealth"
Concealment 11 (All Sense Types, Mental Senses) (Feats: Precise) [22]
Insubstantial 4 [20]
Flight 1 (Flaws: Limited to While Phased) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1 (+2 Uniform), Fortitude +3, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility ("He")- Cipher fears when "he" will come for her, now that she has revealed herself. She is uneasy in dealing with people who can communicate with her.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 43 / Defenses: 10 (85)

-Cipher is a weird one. Having a near-same name as Doug Ramsey, she's a totally invisible character who was retroactively added into the Young X-Men roster, having been recruited by Cyclops years ago as a spy. She has the fairly unique power of being totally immune to ALL forms of detection, which made the retcon pretty easy (she's the one talking to Blindfold in all those scenes where it looks like she's muttering to herself). Now that Cypher has returned, we'll see where this character goes... which is basically nowhere, since she was just a nobody at Wolverine's new school.

-Precise Total Concealment (plus from Mental Senses, which I figure makes sense to add in there), plus Intangibility. Not much else to her other than some minor Spy skills- I'm not even sure if she can really fight.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:11 am, edited 2 times in total.
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The D's

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

D.J. (Mark Sheppard)
Created By:
Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
First Appearance: New X-Men: Academy X #2 (2004)
Group Affiliations: X-Students
Status: De-Powered & Killed after M-Day
Role: Funny-Powered Kid
PL 6 (55)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 6 (+6)
Expertise (Dancing) 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Student Uniform- Communications, Protection +1, MP-3 Player), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Varying Powers Based Off of Music"
"Nauseate" Affliction 6 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (Flaws: Limited to While Country Music is Playing) (12) -- [20]
  • AE: Energy Blast 7 (Flaws: Limited to While Rock Music is Playing) (7)
  • AE: Force Field 6 (Extras: Affects Others) (Flaws: Limited to While Classical Music is Playing) (6)
  • AE: Flight 5 (60 mph) (Flaws: Limited to While Gospel Music is Playing) (5)
  • AE: "Gat!"Energy Blast 5 (Extras: Multiattack) (Flaws: Limited to While Rap/Hip-Hop Music is Playing) (10)
  • AE: "Disco Party!" Environment 3 (Light) (Flaws: Limited to While Dance Music is Playing) (3)
  • AE: Comprehend 2 (Languages) (Flaws: Limited to While World Music is Playing) (2)
  • AE: "Plant Control" Move Object 5 (Extras: Perception Range) (Flaws: Limited to Plants, Limited to While Folk Music is Playing) (5)
  • AE: "Plant Snare" Snare 6 (Flaws: Limited to While Folk Music is Playing) (12)
Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Energy Blast +4 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Gat! +4 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Plant Snare +4 (+6 Ranged Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +3 (DC 13), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +2

Complications:
None

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 20 / Defenses: 5 (55)

-DJ's got an interesting little power set, though it's really goofy and looks more like something out of the Silver or Bronze Ages (like Tyroc from the LOSH with his variable powers based off of the types of "Screams" he shouts)- he has a different power based off of what genre of music he's listening to. And of course he got blowed up.

-The first four Alternate-Effects are all that's listed for his powers so far, as he was a background character who wasn't shown fighting. The Rap (Multiattack like an automatic weapon, see?), Country (what else but Nauseate?), World & Folk Music-based powers (he has to be listening to the music, so he has an MP-3 Player) are all ones I made up, because sometimes you just gotta be a completist, y'know?

Image

DUMMY (Dean Boswell)
Created By:
Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
First Appearance: New X-Men #135 (Feb. 2003)
Group Affiliations: X-Students
Status: Presumably Dispersed & Deceased
Role: Funny-Powered Kid
PL 2 (55)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
None

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Gaseous Form"
Insubstantial 4 (Flaws: Permanent +0) [20]
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +3 (DC 13), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +0, Fortitude --, Will +0

Complications:
Involuntary Transformation/Weakness (Gas-Filled Suit)- Dummy wears a containment suit to prevent his gaseous body from simply dissipating away. If pierced, he's dead unless someone seals his suit back up- simple as that.

Total: Abilities: -10 / Skills: 00--0 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 50 / Defenses: 6 (55)

-While I really disliked alot about the Morrison/Quitely run on X-Men (terrible, ugly-looking people, ludicrous Character Derailment of Magneto, stupid editorial decisions), they did some neat stuff- like implementing the student concept again, and creating more "obvious mutants". Previously, most physical mutations in the Marvel Universe seemed to include either perma-stubble or DD-cup breasts (thankfully not both at the same time), but now we had guys like Dummy and that gelatin-kid. Dummy here was basically some floating gas in a Containment Suit. He died like how you'd expect, and didn't return the way guys like Wildfire tend to- he got his suit torn in a riot by Quentin Quire & his goons, and we never saw him again. Worst. Mutant Power. Ever.

-A pretty simple little build once you figure out that he's a gas being with No Stamina score, and a Containment Suit allowing him to interact with the real world (like Wildfire of the Legion). He's not a PC or anything- just some poor background character with a crappy super-power that brings with it more weaknesses than advantages. He's also AUTISTIC, which makes his stats even WORSE.

Image

DRYAD (Callie Betto)
Created By:
Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
First Appearance: New X-Men: Academy X #1 (2004)
Group Affiliations: X-Students
Status: Background Character
Role: De-Powered & Killed
PL 5 (57)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 2 (+2)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Student Uniform- Communications, Protection +1), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Chlorokinesis"
Plant Snare 6 (Diminished Range -1) (17) -- [20]
  • AE: "Plant Control" Move Object 7 (Extras: Perception Range) (Flaws: Limited to Plants) (14)
  • AE: "Plant Growth" Growth 6 (Extras: Affects Others +0) (Flaws: Limited to Plants) (12)
  • AE: "Plant Perception" Remote Sensing 4 (Visuals) (Flaws: Medium- Plants) (4)
Comprehend 2 (Plants) [4]
Movement 1 (Swinging) (Flaws: Limited to Planted Areas) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Snare +3 (+6 Ranged Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1, Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
None

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 25 / Defenses: 7 (57)

-If there's one thing I'd never want to be in comics, it's a teenage character superhero. Think about it: your options are the Teen Titans or the New Mutants/Young X-Men Students. Guess which two teams have the highest death-toll in all of comics (that isn't a Golden Age team)? Poor Dryad was one of the MANY characters needlessly killed off by William Stryker's missile attack on a bus of DEPOWERED mutants after M-Day, just to get rid of the "too many mutants" problem that people perceived at Marvel Comics. Well gee jolly jeepers guys, ya could've just said after the Sentinel Attack of Genosha that there was a lot less left! Dryad got a bit of background play using her unique powers (Plant Control), but ultimately went nowhere.

-Plant Control, ESP, Comprehend & Swinging (just guessing on the second & last ones there) makes for a pretty simple, non-powerful build. Sadly, someone with this power-set could be truly unique and powerful with more training, but we'll never see it. As one of the Corsairs (Cyclops' Squad), she's a bit better-trained than some, but is still only a PL 5.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl!)

Post by Jabroniville »

ahhhhhhh this old bit, from when I last posted some of these characters:

The sad thing about the whole Academy X whatever, is that a Superhero School is one of my favourite ideas EVER (and I very rarely used to see it done). Yet I always find a flaw or something in the concept when it's done in the media- M&M's is pretty decent, but the school is full of one-noters since they just kind of threw a team together from the looks of it. "Sky High" gets an immediate pass for putting Kelly Preston in tights, but was a pretty mediocre movie all things considered, not really going far enough with the concept. I've heard great things about "PS 238" or whatever it's called, but the art is absolutely eye-meltingly bad and I've never been impressed by anything I've read about it. So watching the new New Mutants have a promising start, but then kind of just drop the scholastic aspect entirely (I mean, I'm kind of curious just WHAT they learn in these classes, y'know? Superhero history? Combating certain power-types?), then lose all of the background characters and a few major ones? Kind of annoying.

I've heard that the "Young X-Men" book by Marc Guggenheim kind of stank, and it's low sales got it canceled, resulting in the "New Mutants" run being restarted. That book (by Zeb Wells) was actually really good, and those are some of my favourite comic book characters EVER, so I'm not sad they returned, but it's unfortunate that the New/Young X-Men had to be thrown into Marvel Limbo for it to happen.

The Generation Hope kids replacing them, then getting the same treatment, just adds to the weirdness. Hell, I didn't even realize the Young X-Men appeared in "Wolverine & The X-Men" until I read their Wikipedia entries and checked my own back-issues! I actually LIKE that book, but Jason Aaron uses them so rarely that once-major X-characters like Rockslide & Anole are literally just unspeaking background characters, allowing his favourites like Idie, Broo and the teachers to come to the forefront.

Just goes to show you- you do NOT want to be a teenage super-character in Marvel Comics. Not only are your chances of a quick death REALLY REALLY high (even by the standards of a superhero), but since Marvel creates a new team of teenage heroes literally every couple of years, there's also a huge likelihood that you're going to get dumped into Marvel Limbo and forgotten by the NEXT group of kids (Avengers Academy even had a fan writing in complaining about this happening constantly, and the writers basically told him it's all about sales- if they books had sold well, they'd have been around longer).
Then BriarThorne & Arkite posted these:
Ouch. I'll grant that Aaron Williams has his own distinctive style that isn't much like modern comic books, and might not be to everyone's tastes, but I'm pretty shocked to hear it described as bad, let alone 'eye-melting.' His drawing is extremely consistent and effectively conveys the actions and emotions of the characters. His character designs are unique and interesting. It's great art for a webcomic, or, as he was known for previously, strips in roleplaying publications. It's just not comic book art, and it's not trying to be.

And the writing is so much fun. I love PS238 even more than I loved Nodwick. And Nodwick was excellent.

It's only when the blog posts on the front page of his website delve into politics that I can't stand Aaron Williams.
Yeah, I got to say that blew my mind.

I'm not sure I'd say PS238 is great art, but it's nowhere near as bad as half the stuff I used to see in superhero comics back in the day!

The comic is a lot of fun, and I'd honestly suggest it to anybody who'd be willing to listen... but yeah, if you're hating the art I guess I'll hold off on that. The art is pretty consistant so if you didn't like the first issue you won't like anything that comes after it.
And yeah, looking at the website: http://ps238.nodwick.com/... I think this art still licks butt. Everyone's all squat and weird, and the costumes reek, and the faces scarcely react with any kind of emotion beyond "dull surprise". I've heard some good things about this series, but the art more or less permanently keeps me away.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Ernst & Eye Boy

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

Like Cassandra Nova, a perfect chance for Frank Quitely to utilize his inability to draw anyone under the age of sixty as a POSITIVE.

ERNST (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
First Appearance: New X-Men #135 (Feb. 2003)
Group Affiliations: X-Students
Status: Alive
Role: Background Character
PL 6 (50)
STRENGTH
10 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+2)
Deception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Student Uniform- Communications, Protection +1), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Super-Strength in Diminutive Body"
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 3) [5]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +7, Fortitude +5, Will +2

Complications:
Prejudice (Looks Like a Little Old Lady)- Ernst resembles an elderly woman instead of a teenage girl, and will thus be treated differently by everyone around her.
Relationship (No-Girl)- Ernst is quite close her the Brain-In-A-Jar.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 5 / Defenses: 4 (50)

-Ernst is another classic "Frank Quitely is a weirdo" character design, and an ingenious one. Think- someone drawn by Quitely who is actually SUPPOSED to look like they're ninety years old! Normally he just does that by accident! Other than that, we know little about her, other than the fact that she's still living at the Institute, having not been de-powered. She's probably got the least characterization (mainly because you can't write Shipping-heavy stories about an old geezer... Rule 34 aside) of the entire X-Students class, though. Spider-Man and the X-Men (a very funny, short-lived series that was essentially Spider-Man & X-Men Villain Team-Up, featuring odd pairings) had her "betray" the team to Mister Sinister because he promised to help out her bodiless friend No-Girl, however. The others forgave her in the end.

-Ernst is a bit odd for a Super-Strong type, since she's got a +10 Strength damage bonus, but is very small. Given that she's never seen fighting, I can't imagine she's any good at it, so she's a mere PL 6 Powerhouse build on a little old lady's body. She's a borderline case of "Shrinking", but since it has very little effect on her character and it'd be a HUGE pain in the ass to stat up (I'd have to increase her other abilities), I left it out.

Image

EYE BOY (Trevor Hawkins)
Created By:
Jason Aaron & Nick Bradshaw
First Appearance: Wolverine and the X-Men #9 (Dec. 2012)
Group Affiliations: X-Students
Status: Alive
Role: Goofy-Powered Kid, Obvious Freak
PL 3 (53)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Deception 2 (+2)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Student Uniform- Communications, Protection +1), Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Ranged Attack 7, Second Chance (Failing Visual Dazzle Check)

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Numerous Eyes"
Senses 18 (Extended Vision 2, Analytical & Microscopic Vision 4, Counters Concealment & Vision, Detect Magic, Darkvision, Infravision & Ultravision, Radius Sight) [18]
"Too Many Eyes To Dazzle" Immunity 2 (Visual Dazzles) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +3 (DC 13), Toughness +1 (+2 Uniform), Fortitude +2, Will +4

Complications:
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- He is covered in eyes.

Total: Abilities: 16 / Skills: 6--3 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 17 / Defenses: 7 (53)

-Eye Boy is one of the goofy new characters created for the new Wolverine & The X-Men series, and is predictably covered entirely in eyes. This lets him see into various spectrums, see Magic (he saw snakes & stuff twirling through the air), and more, which is fairly expensive, but as yet he's a mostly-untrained student, so his Power Level is ultra-low. Also, humorously enough, I forgot I built someone with almost the same damn powers in Argus Panoptles, thus meaning I couldn't be lazy and just Cut & Paste my way to the build! I had to read all those Senses all over again!
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:15 am, edited 2 times in total.
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M4C8
Posts: 759
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2016 10:17 pm
Location: South-East England

Re: Template

Post by M4C8 »

Jabroniville wrote:GENERIC X-STUDENT TEMPLATE
Created By:
Various
First Appearance: Various
Group Affiliations: X-Students
Status: xxxxxx
Role: xxxxxxx
PL 3 (24)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 1
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+2)
Deception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Student Uniform- Communications, Protection +1), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: xxxxxxxx"

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1, Fortitude +1, Will +2

Complications:
xxxxxxxx

Total: Abilities: 14 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 5 (24)

Other Various X-Students:

AERO (Melody Guthrie)
AMBER- Unknown.
AUDIO (Raymond Keyes)- Wide-frequency hearing.
---
BECKY PATRIKSEN- Flight-related.
BOGGART (Robert Wise)- Super-Strength.
BUTTERFLY (Lucy Priest)- Insect wings.
---
CAPUT (Abraham Verne)- Living energy- animating skeleton.
CARTER GHAZIKHANIAN- Telepathy & Telekinesis- his mom was Annie, the love interest of Havok during Chuck Austen's much-maligned run on the book- both left when he did, as they were felt to be Mary Sue characters (and Austen used Annie as his wife to Havok- his own self-insert).
CARTER SPENCER- Unknown.
CEPHALOPOD (Molly Stanwick)- Tentacled lower half.
CHOIR (Irina Clayton)- Unknown
COLLIDER (Jim Louis Pringle)- Alchemical transmutator. Used powers to accumulate wealth, which he then lost after M-Day.
CONTACT (Frida Rivera)- Psychometry.
CRATER (Erik Hallgrimsson)- Durability.
CRYPTID (Andy Hartnell)- Cryptid appearance.
CUDGEL (Liam Bremner)- Arms turn into metallic mallets.
---
DEVON AMBROSE- Unknown
ELEANOR SANDFORD- Spotted body.
ELF (Natalie Wood)- Solid-photon objects.
ELL (Eleanor Sanford)- Unknown
ELSEWHERE (Jaime Vanderwall)- Teleportation.
EOSIMIAS (Hong Lianje)- Tiger appearance
EVE SETTER- Unknown.
---
FLOOD (Eugene Walker)- Hydrokinesis.
FOREARM II (Marcus Tucker)- Unknown
---
GELATIN (Carlo Brewster)- Gelatin form.
---
HITCH-HIKER (Connor Laughlin)- Psionic Posession- he also had an immunodeficiency (ie. Boy in a Bubble).
HOTHEAD (Germaine Caruso)- Flame powers- killed during a riot at Salem Center.
HYDRO (Noah Crichton)- Probably swimming related- he died of drowning after M-Day.
---
IMP (Anders Nobel)- Horned appearance.
IOLANTHE (Katie Atkinson)- Fairy wings.
---
JANE HOLTEN- Unknown.
JEB GUTHRIE- Unknown.
JENNA JOAN- Unknown.
JOSETTE FRANCKS- Unknown.
JULIE LYONS- Flight-related.
---
KATO ANISHIWA- Imperial Guardsman posing as a student.
KERATIN (Dave Finn)- Clawed fingers.
KOREN JERROD- Unknown.
---
LIPID (Anne Moore)- Creates liquid.
LONGNECK (William Hanover)- Unknown.
---
MARIA JENNIFER D'ACANTO- Human who joined the Institute after her family died.
MELISSA LA ROUX- Unknown.
MENTAT (Robert Zepheniah)- Telepath.
---
NAIAD (Aurelie Sabayon)
NANCY OWELS- Flight-related.
---
OVERLAY (Zach Halliwell)- Could merge aspects of one animal onto another.
---
PAKO (Cirlio Crisologo)- Plant body.
PINOCCHIO (Frank Ludlum)- Wooden form.
PINPOINT (Gerard Cooper)- Extended Vision.
POLYMER (Dana Holmes)- Telepath, sprays viscous liquid.
PROTOZOA (Linus Sinker)- Amorphous Blob.
---
RUTH DURIE- Small tail.
---
SAURUS (Jorge Lukas)- Reptilian form.
SETH WALKER- Human student with Magical powers.
SKYLARK (Greg Carlson)- Arms turn into wings.
SKYWALKER- Flight-related.
SPENCER BRONSON- Three-eyed and could use Mind Control.
SPIKE (Gary Walsh)- Spikes on his skin.
SPIRIT (Jacob Pace)- Air-Transformation Powers progressed out of control until he vanished- he spent his last few hours watching the sunrise with Kitty Pryde.
SQUID BOY (Samuel Pare)- Aquatic. Sammy got by FAR the most characterization out of this group, being one of the few things about Chuck Austen's run that people liked.
STALWART (Adewale Ekoku)- Unknown.
SUSAN BEFERGY- Unknown.
---
TITO BOHUSK- The only child of Beak & Angel to retain his powers after M-Day.
TOMMY WALTERS- Unknown.
TROVAO (Pedro de Noli)- Vibration Wave/Sonic Booms.
---
UMBRA (Patrick Nesbitt)- Shadow Control.
UPDRAFT (Johan Schumann)- Flight.
---
VIEW (Winston Frankowski)- UV & Infrared Vision.
VISKID (Adrain DeFoe)- Sticky liquid form.
---
WALTER LAMBERT- Unknown- wheelchair-bound.
---
XENON (Shaun Kennedy)- Light control.
Amber was a shape-shifter whose base form was green and reptilian.
Choir has several mouths on her neck and could throw her voice.
Eleanor Sandford just had spotted skin.
Forearm had long arms.
Jeb Guthrie could shoot beams/blasts of electric fire from his eyes.
Longneck had a slightly longer than normal neck.
Walter Lambert was a baseline human.
'A shared universe, like any fictional construct, hinges on suspension of disbelief. When continuity is tossed away, it tatters the construct. Undermines it'
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Harley Quinn! Starfire! Batgirl! The Young X-Men!)

Post by Spectrum »

So Jab, speaking of girl-centric tv shows- did you ever get around to watching RWBY?
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
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