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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds! (Heavy Mettle! Slapstick Foes! Future Man!)

Post by Jabroniville »

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OMG JUST SAW THIS ONE!!!!
Jabroniville
Posts: 24690
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Ms. Fix

Post by Jabroniville »

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MS. FIX (Felicia Beyer)
Created By:
George Caragonne & Coleen Doran
First Appearance: Captain America Goes To War Against Drugs #2 (1994)
Role: Drug-Loving Malcontent
Group Affiliation: The Drug Lords
PL 7 (85)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+5)
Expertise (Hobo) 5 (+6)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 3 (+5)
Persuasion 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
Speed 7 (250 mph) [7]
Quickness 4 [4]
"Retractable Blades" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Retractable Blades +8 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +2

Complications:
Addition (Drugs)- The Drug Lords were each addicted to Earth drugs previously, but are currently addicted to the powerful pain-killing drugs of the Tzin, forcing them to do their bosses' bidding.

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 14 / Defenses: 8 (85)

-A drug addict living in "filth" before the Tzin recruit her, Ms. Fix acts as the team's leader and "point man". It's she who attempts to recruit Silhouette by telling her the Tzin's M-Generator can fix her crippled legs. She seemed easily the most "together" of her group, hardly like a hardcore junkie at all, but I haven't read the comic in question.

-Ms. Fix is a speedster, and the highest in PL of her group (a mighty PL 6.5), being hard to hit and using apparently cybernetic blades as weapons.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24690
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Crack

Post by Jabroniville »

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CRACK (Frederick Pemberton)
Created By:
George Caragonne & Coleen Doran
First Appearance: Captain America Goes To War Against Drugs #2 (1994)
Role: Drug-Loving Malcontent, Big Dumb Powerhouse
Group Affiliation: The Drug Lords
PL 6 (49)
STRENGTH
8 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS -2 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Expertise (Hobo) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+4)
Perception 4 (+3)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +8, Fortitude +8, Will +0

Complications:
Addition (Drugs)- The Drug Lords were each addicted to Earth drugs previously, but are currently addicted to the powerful pain-killing drugs of the Tzin, forcing them to do their bosses' bidding.

Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 5 (49)

-Crack is... well, the least-crackheady looking guy I've ever seen, instead being a seven-foot monster packed with muscle mass. I mean, the crackheads I see are more like Weed of the Drug Lords, but skinnier- the dead giveaway is the sunken cheekbones. Crack is instead a giant dumbass who says "Crush you! Crush you all!" and "Make alien PAY!"- a lummox, more or less.

-Crack is one of those guys who kind of has to be held back a bit in PL because he sucks and is a one-off villain, but he was apparently strong enough to hold off both Nova & Namorita simultaneously, which would make him ENORMOUSLY beyond his teammates.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24690
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Ice

Post by Jabroniville »

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ICE (Yoshi Nagai)
Created By:
George Caragonne & Coleen Doran
First Appearance: Captain America Goes To War Against Drugs #2 (1994)
Role: Drug-Loving Malcontent
Group Affiliation: The Drug Lords
PL 6 (50)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Expertise (Hobo) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+4)
Perception 4 (+3)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
Cold Blast 6 (Feats: Accurate, Affects Fortitude +0) [13]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Cold Blast +6 (+6 Ranged Fortitude Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2, Fortitude +3, Will +0

Complications:
Addition (Drugs)- The Drug Lords were each addicted to Earth drugs previously, but are currently addicted to the powerful pain-killing drugs of the Tzin, forcing them to do their bosses' bidding.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 13 / Defenses: 7 (50)

-Ice, named for the street name for methamphetamine, is a Japanese kid whose origins are not really detailed- he's just some random addict and shoots "A cold substance" from his hands. He dies with the rest of them.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24690
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Weed

Post by Jabroniville »

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WEED (Jack Wiley)
Created By:
George Caragonne & Coleen Doran
First Appearance: Captain America Goes To War Against Drugs #2 (1994)
Role: Drug-Loving Malcontent
Group Affiliation: The Drug Lords
PL 6 (61)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Expertise (Hobo) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+4)
Perception 4 (+3)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Euphoric Mist" Affliction 6 (Fort; Dazed & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless/Incapacitated & Dying) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cloud +2, Extra Condition) [24]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Euphoric Mist +6 (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2, Fortitude +3, Will +0

Complications:
Addition (Drugs)- The Drug Lords were each addicted to Earth drugs previously, but are currently addicted to the powerful pain-killing drugs of the Tzin, forcing them to do their bosses' bidding.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 7 (61)

-Weed is apparently a pot smoker who ended up destitute, which reminds me of the silliness and misleading nature of Anti-Drug Advertisements, all claiming that pot smoking will leave you a homeless addict. I mean, all the pot addicts I know are just fat guys who work at London Drugs or something, not scrawny, desperate hobos. The most desperate of his gang (there's a reason he was given the most "hobo-like" appearance, with stubble, scraggly hair and jittery looks- he's the "true nutjob" of the gang), he threatened the Tzin commander's life for more drugs, and later offered to save his life for more drugs. In the end, he turned on the Tzin when their drug supply was ruined, leading the attack.

-Weed's powers were to create a mist that both choked its victims, and caused a euphoric state that made them unable to properly fight him. Which is kind of amusing, as that's more like opioids like heroin and not like weed- though the choking bit is clearly inspired by the way "deep" potheads end up coughing along while snickering to each other.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24690
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

NARC

Post by Jabroniville »

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This is what New York actually looked like before Guliani.
-YouTube comment


NARC:
Game Type: Side-Scrolling Run & Gun
Release Date: 1988
Developer: Williams Electronics

-This is another video game build derived from the ads I constantly saw in comic books when I was a kid- 1990 saw a lot of NARC advertisements for the NES. In this game (first released to arcades), you play a pair of cops named Max Force and Hit Man, and you gun down a series of junkies, drug dealers, generic thugs and crimelords on your way to punishing everyone who ever lit up a doobie (as the kids say). The game is so old that it was one of the FIRST games criticized for its adult content- in the NES era, you just did not see a lot of games where police officers gunned down people holding drugs.

-The game earned a handful of ports, including for the NES in 1990 and was shockingly brought out of the mothballs 15 years later for the X-Box & PS2- an ultraviolent game that allowed gamers the option to KEEP AND USE the drugs they confiscated (!!!), a staggering addition that brought the series undue attention at the worst possible time, as once again conversation about violent video games had taken the forefront. This of course is in complete contrast to the actual message of the first game (which was "kill anyone with drugs", to be fair), and was a clear way to rip off games like Grand Theft Auto and seem cooler and more rebellious.

MAX FORCE & HIT MAN
Role:
Heroic Cop
PL 7 (96)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+8)
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Police Officer) 6 (+8)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 4 (+7)
Stealth 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Benefit (Police Officer), Equipment 4 (Gun & Rocket Launcher), Improved Critical (Gun), Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 4

Equipment:
"Gun" Blast 5 (Extras: Multiattack) (15)
"Rocket Launcher" Blast 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Unreliable- 5 Uses) (14)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Gun +9 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Rocket Launcher +7 Area (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy (Drug Dealers & Users)- All are good for nothing but being shot.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 10 (96)

-Both Max Power & Hit Man are armed with automatic weapons and limited use ROCKET LAUNCHERS, with which to blow up junkies across the city. These guys would, um, not get along with those who think the war on drugs is best fought with less punitive measures. In the PS2 version of NARC, you instead play narcotics officer Jack Forzenski and DEA agent Marcus Hill.
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KorokoMystia
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Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:42 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds! (Overkiller! Future Man! Futurist! The Drug Lords!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

The final boss of NARC was pretty insanely ludicrous too: After you defeat the drug lord, Mr. Big (who's in a machine gun equipped wheelchair), you're given a message that "MR. BIG LIVES!" and then you're pitted against his giant head (?!) which is reduced to a skull when you shoot him enough, that still keeps fighting until you destroy it. I was also kind of amused at how the criminal drug orginzation was "creatively" named "K.R.A.K."
Jabroniville
Posts: 24690
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Darkhawk

Post by Jabroniville »

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DARKHAWK (Chris Powell)
Created By:
Tom DeFalco & Mark Manley
First Appearance: Marvel Age #97 (Feb. 1991)
Role: The Everyman Hero, Peter Parker Hero, The Failed '90s Hero
Group Affiliations: The Avengers West Coast, The New Warriors, The Loners, Project: Pegasus, The Fraternity of Raptors
Avengers Grade: D-Level
PL 9 (123)
STRENGTH
1/7 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2/5
FIGHTING 3/7 DEXTERITY 0/2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Aerobatics 3 (+8)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 3 (+3)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 5 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Chest Beam) 4 (+9)
Stealth 3 (+5/+8)

Advantages:
Evasion, Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Darkhawk Replacement Body" (Activation -1) [-1]
Enhanced Strength 6 [12]
Enhanced Agility 3 [6]
Enhanced Fighting 4 [8]
Enhanced Dexterity 2 [4]
Enhanced Advantages 5: Close Attack 2, Ranged Attack 3 [5]
"Armor" Protection 5 [5]
Senses 2 (Extended & Infravision) [2]
"Teleport Back to Ship" Healing 16 (Flaws: Limited to Self) (Quirks: Must Appear as Chris Powell for Two Rounds) [7]

Flight 7 (250 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [7]

"Chest Beam" Blast 8 (16) -- [17]
  • AE: "Shield Generator" Enhanced Dodge & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) (4)
"Grappling Claw"
Movement 1 (Swinging) (2) -- [3]
  • AE: Strength-Damage +1 (1)
Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Claw +9 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Chest Beam +9 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3 (+5 Armor)

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (+10 Shield, DC 18-20), Parry +7 (+9 Shield, DC 17-19), Toughness +3 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Family)
Reputation (D-League Hero)- Darkhawk often has jokes made at his expense, thanks to being a rather forgotten hero.
Responsibility (Anger)- Chris Powell's Amulet was not designed to work with human beings. As a result, he often has intense anger issues.
Involuntary Transformation (Razor)- Powell was once taken over by the "Razor" persona at the hands of Talon, another member of The Fraternity of Raptors.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 72 / Defenses: 11 (123)

Darkhawk- A New Teen Hero For The '90s!:
-Darkhawk is the result of an honest attempt in the early '90s to replicate the success of Spider-Man- something that Marvel had previously done with both Speedball and Nova. Chris Powell was every bit a Peter Parker-knockoff: an everyday kid with everyday problems, like trying to make up for his crooked-cop father after donning a random alien suit of armor he found in a carnival (man, abandoned carnivals are such a crapshoot in comics- you either find a bitching Powersuit or the goddamned Joker living there). He had his own series that went on for a while, and part of his run included meeting up with the West Coast Avengers, hanging around in that "provisional member" status (aka "Marvel didn't want me on the team, but the writer probably did"), earning him enough points with the team to actually get mentioned from time to time. Truth be told, my old roommate was a HUGE fan of Darkhawk, mainly because he happened to have a bunch of his comics as a kid, but it was mostly a series of team-ups. Almost every other issue had him teaming up with Spider-Man, Ghost Rider or Moon Knight or someone, doing superhero stuff against minor-league villains- usually enemies of OTHER HEROES. It was classic "the writer has no ideas" territory, living off of the characters in other books for a focus.

The Darkhawk Solo Book:
-The Darkhawk series lasted for 50 issues, between March of 1991-95, and was written by Danny Fingeroth, though Tom DeFalco, Marvel's Editor In Chief, created the character, likely because he thought he had a good idea but no time in which to carry it out. In the book, he finds his father accepting bribes from a crime-boss, and ends up finding a mysterious amulet that transforms him into Darkhawk- a superpowered flying guy with Edgelord aspects (claws, razor-edged wings, a mask that obscures his face), though Chris Powell himself is an ordinary teen. His first official villain? The Hobgoblin, whom he fights alongside Spider-Man. Later villains include minor-leaguers like Savage Steel, Portal & Lodestone, most of whom would have pathetic careers. His worst villain? EVILHAWK, a bad-guy Mirror Image Villain with the silliest name of the '90s. I mean, when the best they can do for your "Big Bad" is EVILHAWK, you know you're a third-stringer.

-Along the way, he teamed up with the New Warriors for the culmination of the "Folding Circle" story-arc, though he didn't remain with the team. A later story involved him being on Avengers West Coast in a provisional manner. Chris would soon discover that his "Armor" is actually an alien cyborg, merely CONTROLLED by him- he actually switches places with it from its location in "Null Space". An alien crimelord had commissioned five of these empowering amulets, and the scientists who'd worked for him bailed and created the sixth, which Darkhawk uses. He and Darkhawk soon split into separate beings, though each had Chris's memories, as Fingeroth seemed to be trying ANYTHING to make this book work, and later, they re-merged so it WAS Chris simply empowering himself. Eventually, the book's slowing sales resulted in a newer, more badass costume that also got forgotten the second the book was cancelled with its fiftieth issue, a victim of the Great Comics Crash of the mid-90s (partially caused BECAUSE Marvel was flooding the market with endless books at the time- giving amateur writers and over-worked creative teams these assignments).

Darkhawk's Later Career & Failed Re-Push:
-After the cancellation of his series, Darkhawk just became "one of those guys"- characters who existed in Marvel Limbo, running out for a guest-shot here or there. Finally, he was used as one of many un-used heroes in the group Excelsior (later called "The Loners" because Stan Lee sued). He underwent anger issues in the Darkhawk form, but eventually the team started doing rather well, defeating Ultron and forming a more traditional hero squad. However, they later get rewritten into being AGAINST the idea of superheroes following Civil War, and try to be a "support group" for others, as low sales kill the Loners book. In a totally random-ass movement, he's declared the new security chief at Project PEGASUS, then becomes a supporting character in Nova.

-Finally, Darkhawk was apparently ready for his "Next Big Push"- in Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's THIRD big "Space Crossover", Darkhawk was chosen as one of the major characters during War of Kings, a battle between Black Bolt and the Kree, and Vulcan and the Shi'ar. Here, Chris discovers that his armor comes from a group called "The Fraternity of Raptors", as a guy named Talon explains to him that they arer "the curators of history, and the custodians of the future", ie. clandestine, murderous jerks. And now, he found himself exiled from his armor, which publicly executed EMPRESS LILANDRA, thus throwing the galaxy into turmoil and rendering him a universal fugitive.

-Here, controversially, Abnett & Lanning pop in with the idea that possibly his entire comic book series was a LIE, leading to my least-favorite of story types: "Everything You Know Is Wrong". Here, they decide that the fight against Evilhawk, and the origins of the Darkhawk armor, were all a lie created by his armor. Chris is horrified at everything, but fights back alongside Nova, especially as more "Raptors" appear to be reawakening. However, plans for a big "Darkhawk" push (every previous "Space Crossover" had led to a renewed, successful push for under-used characters, first for Nova, and then for the Guardians of the Galaxy) ultimately went nowhere- a Darkhawk book never materialized, and instead he was badly injured and sent back to Earth as the Space Comics line folded.

Avengers Arena & Infinity Countdown:
-Darkhawk returned in Avengers Arena of all things, alongside mostly teenage characters, in the infamous book that featured Arcade as the murderous scumbag who was ripping off Battle Royale with superhumans, most of them Avengers Academy kids or forgotten teen heroes. He is thought to be one of the first people killed, his amulet ripped off by Death Locket under the control of Apex, but he later turned up alive, helping defeat Arcade before being re-injured.

-He resurfaces a while later in Infinity Countdown, now a police officer engaged to a woman named Miranda. Shockingly, two Fraternity of Raptors agents appear before him and tear off his amulet, the one who grabs it transforms into Razor, who slays the other and declares that Chris's heroic personality had imprinted upon him, and now he wants to fight the Raptors- he and Chris merge once more, becoming a complete, more powerful form. But they end up fighting the Raptors alongside Death's Head, and it turns out that the Shi'ar want the Raptors to form the "Dark Starhawk" (some writing mentions "Dark Darkhawk", which I think is a typo), which is to be the hunter and killer of The Phoenix Force. Here, he has his "special amulet" (as Raptors don't generally betray orders) ripped out by Gyre, who now leads the Fraternity, but re-merges with the Razor armor, appearing AGAIN with more power. Dark Starhawk, which has possessed Robbie Rider, the younger brother of Richard "Nova-Prime" Rider, ends up killing Gyre because he wants to bring order to the universe by himself. Death's Head kills most of the Raptors by rigging their ship to explode, but Dark Starhawk escaped, infuriating Richard. Finally, at story's end, Chris (warned to stay away from Earth by Rider) is awoken by Sleepwalker, who tells him they must team up for something. We never saw that story, however, and he since reappeared in Guardians of the Galaxy, and at last sight was aged into a childhood form.

Darkhawk Overall:
-Jesus Christ, his story is a convoluted MESS. I mean, that's pretty normal with comic books, but I can barely keep the Wikpedia summary straight- it involves so many hands messing about with his origins that the whole thing just ends up overrly convoluted and DUMB. Like, the guy was created in 19-frickin'-91, but in less than thirty years has been utterly buggered like this? I mean, the original Origin Story was kinda dumb, too, but the Fraternity of Raptors just seems like a cosmic assassination order of conspiracy theorists, and none of the other characters are particularly compelling. Worst still, most of them look pretty well the same. Not that Darkhawk himself is something I find all that interesting in the first place- his old series comes off as the definition of "Half-Assed" (Danny Fingeroth mostly wrote Spider-Man books, so had more important stuff to do), with bottom-tier villains and other stuff. And now all this other baggage was added to the guy, combining a handful of power-ups with the personality of "Razor" (who merges with Chris... twice? After turning good all of a sudden?). It's just bizarre for someone only half as old as the original X-Men or Spidey to have an origin story so weird.

Darkhawk's Powers:
-Darkhawk is a funny mish-mash of powers, but comes out like a PL 8.5 everywhere but his Dodge Defense, and even with that, he can make that or his Chest Beam at a time. This puts him around the levels of the New Warriors, which I think is right. It's a bit weird to do a big "body switch" concept (especialy since it's gone now, and he's always Darkhawk), but I chose to make it just Activation-based and giving him some low-level Strength boosts. Teleporting to his base for quick super-healing was tough to figure out at first, but since it's something he has to consciously do (whereas Regeneration is deliberately permanent and automatic), so Healing (Limited to Self) is best, plus a Quirk that shows Powell showing up for a round or two. He's also got a Chest Beam, a Shield Generator, a Grappling Claw that doubles as a Wolverine rip-off set of Claws, etc. So he's pretty versatile, just not very powerful.

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DARKHAWK (Chris Powell)- Modern Stories
Created By:
Tom DeFalco & Mark Manley
First Appearance: Marvel Age #97 (Feb. 1991)
Role: The Everyman Hero, Peter Parker Hero, The Failed '90s Hero
Group Affiliations: The Avengers West Coast, The New Warriors, The Loners, Project: Pegasus, The Fraternity of Raptors
Avengers Grade: D-Level
PL 10 (183)
STRENGTH
1/8 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2/5
FIGHTING 5/9 DEXTERITY 0/2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Aerobatics 3 (+8)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 3 (+4)
Intimidation 4 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 5 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Chest Beam) 4 (+9)
Stealth 3 (+5/+8)

Advantages:
Evasion, Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Darkhawk Replacement Body" (Activation -1) [-1]
Enhanced Strength 7 [14]
Enhanced Agility 3 [6]
Enhanced Fighting 4 [8]
Enhanced Dexterity 2 [4]
Enhanced Advantages 5: Close Attack 2, Ranged Attack 3 [5]
"Armor" Protection 6 [6]
Senses 2 (Extended & Infravision) [2]
"Teleport Back to Null Space" Healing 16 (Flaws: Limited to Self) (Quirks: Must Appear as Chris Powell for Two Rounds) [7]

Flight 7 (250 mph) (Flaws: Winged) (7) -- [9]
  • AE: Movement 2 (Space Travel 2) (4)
  • AE: Movement 2 (Dimensional Travel 2) (4)
"Chest Beam" Blast 11 (22) -- [24]
  • AE: "Shield Generator" Enhanced Dodge & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) (4)
  • AE: "Datasong Boost" Mind Control 4 (16)
"Grappling Claw"
Movement 1 (Swinging) (2) -- [3]
  • AE: Strength-Damage +1 (1)
"Alternate Forms" Variable 2 (Various Mechanical Abilities) [17]
(Examples: "Strike Suit" +2 to Blast & Protection, "Warflight Mode" +2 to Defenses, "Rescue Mode" Enhances Sensors & Power-Lifting)

"The Datasong"
Communication (Mental) 5 (Extras: Area) (Flaws: Limited to Fraternity of Raptors Members) [20]
Enhanced Advantages 1: Eidetic Memory [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Claw +11 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Chest Beam +9 (+11 Ranged Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +3 (+5 Armor)

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (+11 Shield, DC 19-21), Parry +9 (+11 Shield, DC 19-21), Toughness +3 (+9 Armor), Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Relationship (Family)
Reputation (D-League Hero)- Darkhawk often has jokes made at his expense, thanks to being a rather forgotten hero.
Responsibility (Anger)- Chris Powell's Amulet was not designed to work with human beings. As a result, he often has intense anger issues.
Involuntary Transformation (Razor)- Powell was once taken over by the "Razor" persona at the hands of Talon, another member of The Fraternity of Raptors.

Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 112 / Defenses: 12 (183)

-Darkhawk's modern incarnation has been Power-Geeked out tremendously, giving him access to the "Datasong" (effectively a universal storage system of information) and Variable Forms, allowing the artists to go nuts with different suit styles, sometimes increasing defenses, hitting power, etc., probably by shortening other stats so he doesn't break PL 10, though he just might- modern Marvel's a bit crazy like that. This ends up a huge 62-point point boost between versions.

-The War of Kings version of the character lacked the Datasong powers and much of the boosts, but could teleport weapons into his own hands.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Future Man! Futurist! The Drug Lords! Darkhawk!)

Post by Ares »

Darkhawk is a good example of a simple but awesome character design basically falling to Donna Troy syndrome. I actually thought the original origin for Darkhawk worked perfectly fine. An intergalactic crime boss wanted an elite group of individuals that could be replaceable at a moments notice, so he coerced a group of scientists to build androids that could be controlled by anyone using the transformation amulet, their mortal bodies would be safe, the android bodies could be repaired during down-time, and the amulets could be passed around to his most loyal soldiers, who be swapped out when they retired or died. It's not that bad a concept and it was kind of nice to have a new hero who didn't have some grand destiny or was part of some galactic conspiracy. He just lucked into a bit of alien gear that had been intended for evil, but showed that what matters is the intent of the person using it.

It was kind of silly how quickly everyone would go for the gem on his chest. I realize it's where his energy blasts and shield came from, but it seems like everyone tried to rip that gem out of his chest, expecting it to be the source of his power. It'd be like if everyone kept trying to rip the Uni-Beam projector out of the Iron Man armor back before they made it into the housing for the ARC reactor. It was even funnier because by removing the amulet from the Darkhawk body, you basically rendered it worthless because it needed to be in the body to swap them out. The only way to get any use out of the amulet was to take it from Chris before he transformed.

The whole "Fraternity of Raptors" thing is just a pointless retcon that is very much "trying too hard". Making Nova a cosmic character worked because that was actually built into the character concept. Trying to turn Darkhark into a cosmic hero was just silly. All they've basically done is over complicate the character to the point no one is going to want to use him unless they do some massive ret-conning.

I'd honestly want to see if I couldn't combine the original origin with the Fraternity of Raptors stuff, maybe in a way that keeps them both and is less stupid. All of the new powers for Darkhark are kind of dumb, even though it looked like they were going for a Kamen Rider kind of approach, which I approve of to an extent. Chalk Darkhawk as being another one of those obscure characters I'd want to work on.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Future Man! Futurist! The Drug Lords! Darkhawk!)

Post by Woodclaw »

I'm a sucker for Darkhawk, mostly because I really loved the design, but I can see how the character was pretty much tossed around from the start.
Ares wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 5:24 am Darkhawk is a good example of a simple but awesome character design basically falling to Donna Troy syndrome. I actually thought the original origin for Darkhawk worked perfectly fine. An intergalactic crime boss wanted an elite group of individuals that could be replaceable at a moments notice, so he coerced a group of scientists to build androids that could be controlled by anyone using the transformation amulet, their mortal bodies would be safe, the android bodies could be repaired during down-time, and the amulets could be passed around to his most loyal soldiers, who be swapped out when they retired or died. It's not that bad a concept and it was kind of nice to have a new hero who didn't have some grand destiny or was part of some galactic conspiracy. He just lucked into a bit of alien gear that had been intended for evil, but showed that what matters is the intent of the person using it.
The big problem of DH's origin was that the entire storyline was more or less dropped before his solo series reached issue #10. After Evilhawk (i.e. the guy who commissioned the amulets in the first place) died fighting Chris and the scientist who developed the technology kicked the bucket even earlier, the storyline was more or less dead in the water.
Ares wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 5:24 am The whole "Fraternity of Raptors" thing is just a pointless retcon that is very much "trying too hard". Making Nova a cosmic character worked because that was actually built into the character concept. Trying to turn Darkhark into a cosmic hero was just silly. All they've basically done is over complicate the character to the point no one is going to want to use him unless they do some massive ret-conning.
Well, I think that having the body of ana alien android kind of put you into the cosmic neighbourhood, but I see your point. Despite my undying admiration for Abnett & Lanning, I think that they were simply working with the wrong premises here.

Given that, there was a precedent for DH'a wonky new powers. As Jab briefly mentioned, during the final stretch of his solo series, after discovering many elements about his alien counterpart, Darkhawk obtained an "evolved form" of his original android body with enhanced powers. The new version could fly under his own power (whereas the first version tended to glide), had a much more powerful force field, could fire heat beams from the visor, turn invisible, self-repair on the field and so on. Unfortunately, this version was featured so little that by DH's next appearance he was switched back to his original design and even the likes of Busiek and Perez went for the classic version.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Future Man! Futurist! The Drug Lords! Darkhawk!)

Post by Spectrum »

Sounds like DC later went on to remake Dark Hawk and change his name to Jaime Reyes?
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Future Man! Futurist! The Drug Lords! Darkhawk!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Spectrum wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:22 pm Sounds like DC later went on to remake Dark Hawk and change his name to Jaime Reyes?
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Future Man! Futurist! The Drug Lords! Darkhawk!)

Post by Ares »

Woodclaw wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:03 am I'm a sucker for Darkhawk, mostly because I really loved the design, but I can see how the character was pretty much tossed around from the start.
Ares wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 5:24 am Darkhawk is a good example of a simple but awesome character design basically falling to Donna Troy syndrome. I actually thought the original origin for Darkhawk worked perfectly fine. An intergalactic crime boss wanted an elite group of individuals that could be replaceable at a moments notice, so he coerced a group of scientists to build androids that could be controlled by anyone using the transformation amulet, their mortal bodies would be safe, the android bodies could be repaired during down-time, and the amulets could be passed around to his most loyal soldiers, who be swapped out when they retired or died. It's not that bad a concept and it was kind of nice to have a new hero who didn't have some grand destiny or was part of some galactic conspiracy. He just lucked into a bit of alien gear that had been intended for evil, but showed that what matters is the intent of the person using it.
The big problem of DH's origin was that the entire storyline was more or less dropped before his solo series reached issue #10. After Evilhawk (i.e. the guy who commissioned the amulets in the first place) died fighting Chris and the scientist who developed the technology kicked the bucket even earlier, the storyline was more or less dead in the water.
Evilhawk didn't show up properly until issue 24, with a full origin explanation in issue 25, which was about the half-way point for Darkhawk's original series. In some ways it's fairly impressive they managed to drag out the secret behind DH's origin for that long. And Evilhawk did return in the storyline that ended up with Chris and Darkhawk split for a time, and DH getting an upgrade. They could have done more with that plot line, but between splitting Chris and Darkhawk (which feels similar to what happened in Valiant's Solar at the time), sending Darkhawk into space/the multiverse, it was clear after a certain point that the series was kind of just floundering for ideas. Heck, for a chunk of the later part of the series the book didn't even really focus on Darkhawk, it was more about Portal.

As others have mentioned, the original Jaime Reyes storyline that ran for a similar amount of issues did a better job of the whole thing.
Ares wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 5:24 am The whole "Fraternity of Raptors" thing is just a pointless retcon that is very much "trying too hard". Making Nova a cosmic character worked because that was actually built into the character concept. Trying to turn Darkhark into a cosmic hero was just silly. All they've basically done is over complicate the character to the point no one is going to want to use him unless they do some massive ret-conning.
Well, I think that having the body of ana alien android kind of put you into the cosmic neighbourhood, but I see your point. Despite my undying admiration for Abnett & Lanning, I think that they were simply working with the wrong premises here.

Given that, there was a precedent for DH'a wonky new powers. As Jab briefly mentioned, during the final stretch of his solo series, after discovering many elements about his alien counterpart, Darkhawk obtained an "evolved form" of his original android body with enhanced powers. The new version could fly under his own power (whereas the first version tended to glide), had a much more powerful force field, could fire heat beams from the visor, turn invisible, self-repair on the field and so on. Unfortunately, this version was featured so little that by DH's next appearance he was switched back to his original design and even the likes of Busiek and Perez went for the classic version.
Darkhawk winds up going back to some variation of this original look for much the same reason I think most folks' idea of the New Warriors is the classic team plus Silhouette, with maybe Rage and Turbo being included. The first 25 issues or so are the ones everyone really remembered, so those are the versions everyone returns to. Plus the original look was somewhat more iconic, so it winds up getting modified slightly rather than sticking with the newer look.

And while Darkhawk's powers are alien in origin, that doesn't automatically translate into being a cosmic hero.Both Venom and the Savage Dragon are technically alien in origin, but they stuck mostly to street level shenanigans. When I think Cosmic Heroes, I tend to think Green Lantern, the Silver Surfer, and so on. To me, Darkhawk fits better either on a hero team or doing mostly street level/Spider-Man style things, but with the alien origin occasionally being this unwelcome thing he has to deal with.

I think if I were going to try and "fix" Darkhawk, I'd try to do something that would try to incorporate both origins rather than go the "it was all a hallucination" thing that they tried to pull with his original series. The original Darkhawk series actually would work as a decent TV series, given the angst, dealings with street crime and the like. Wouldn't make a half-bad CW-style show.

Based on Jab's write-up and what I remember from the whole "Frat of Rap' thing, they were basically this Shi'Ar offshoot of assassins and spies. Dargin Bokk was a crime lord who wanted expendable super soldiers. I'd probably work it so that there was some third party that came up with the original idea for the amulets, used Dargin Bokk to supply some of the resources while the Raptors were used to find who they'd need to make the project happen. As payment for helping, the Raptors received their own amulets, and they modified them to create their own versions of Darkhawk. Maybe the amulets had always been designed to contain the android body in a subspace pocket within them, and Bokk went the route of using the space ship to give him more control over his people. If he could threaten to kill their mortal bodies while on the ship, it'd give him more leverage over them.

So Bokk has his amulets, the Raptors get theirs, and a third faction has their own set. Chris winds up getting his own during the course of his original series, with the upgrades being more of a natural evolution of his bodies powers. The Raptors eventually find out about him and try to recruit him, and basically use their technology to implant that Talon personality to gain control of him. They play some head games with Chris, implying his solo series was a lie to make him easier to manipulate. So you have the Raptors as a group of fanatics that want Chris to join them, and then a mysterious third party that can be a bigger threat once the Raptors are dealt with.
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Evilhawk

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image

EVILHAWK (Dargin Bokk)
Created By:
Danny Fingeroth & Mike Manley
First Appearance: Darkhawk #20 (Oct. 1992)
Role: Mirror Image Villain
Group Affiliations: Some Alien Mob
PL 9 (150)
STRENGTH
2/7 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 2/5
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Aerobatics 3 (+8)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Space Criminal) 4 (+8)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Perception 5 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Chest Beam) 3 (+10)
Stealth 3 (+5/+8)

Advantages:
Benefit 4 (Space-Wealth), Evasion, Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Darkhawk Replacement Body" (Activation -1) [-1]
Enhanced Strength 5 [10]
Enhanced Agility 3 [6]
Enhanced Advantages 4: Close Attack, Ranged Attack 3 [4]
"Armour" Protection 5 [5]
Senses 2 (Extended & Infravision) [2]

Flight 7 (250 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [7]

"Chest Beam" Blast 8 (16) -- [17]
  • AE: "Shield Generator" Enhanced Dodge & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) (4)
"Grappling Claw"
Movement 1 (Swinging) (2) -- [3]
  • AE: Strength-Damage +1 (1)
Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Claw +9 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Chest Beam +11 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3 (+5 Armor)

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (+10 Shield, DC 18-20), Parry +8 (+10 Shield, DC 18-20), Toughness +3 (+8 Armour), Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Darkhawk)

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 56 / Defenses: 10 (150)

-A sure sign of half-assed writing? Making a Mirror Image Villain with the same powers and look as the hero... and just putting the word "evil" in his name. Evilhawk is an Alien Crimelord, creating Darkhawk androids for some scheme. When the scientists doing the work turned on him, he took control of one and watched as his original body died, trapping himself in "Evilhawk". When he learns that Chris Powell got some of the same tech, he came to Earth and fought the kid- he was destroyed in the ensuing battle. He appeared later on the Astral Plane, but was unable to resurrect himself, and has never reappeared, with later comics indicating that the whole "Dargin Bokk" thing was a psychosomatic creation of the Darkhawk suit in the first place, meaning it's questionable as to whether or not Evilhawk even EXISTS now. But Darkhawk has a whole group of Mirror Image Villains anyways, so he doesn't need this guy.

-Evilhawk is just a copy of Darkhawk with "Space Crimeboss" traits.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Jul 23, 2022 11:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Future Man! Futurist! The Drug Lords! Darkhawk!)

Post by M4C8 »

Woodclaw wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:03 am

Given that, there was a precedent for DH'a wonky new powers. As Jab briefly mentioned, during the final stretch of his solo series, after discovering many elements about his alien counterpart, Darkhawk obtained an "evolved form" of his original android body with enhanced powers. The new version could fly under his own power (whereas the first version tended to glide), had a much more powerful force field, could fire heat beams from the visor, turn invisible, self-repair on the field and so on. Unfortunately, this version was featured so little that by DH's next appearance he was switched back to his original design and even the likes of Busiek and Perez went for the classic version.
I liked the 'evolved form', it's the form the character had when I first read a comic featuring him (it was team up with Spider-Man, Nova and Speedball IIRC). Everytime I see him drawn wearing what looks like an earlier model it kind of dissapoints me, I never liked the wings, the box shaped helmet etc. The more modern designs are slightly better in that they seem to combine aspects of both (the look of the evolved armour with the wings of the earlier designs)

Also despite the whole 'everything you know was a lie' retcon, the character Portal is still active.
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