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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Red Guardian (Petkus)

Post by Jabroniville »

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RED GUARDIAN IV (Josef Petkus, aka Steel Guardian)
Created By:
Mark Gruenwald & Kieron Dwyer
First Appearance: Captain America #352 (April 1989)
Role: Mirror Image Villain/Hero (to Cap), Patriotic Hero, Replaceable Guy
Country of Origin: The Soviet Union/Russia
Group Affiliations: The Supreme Soviets, Soviet Super-Soldiers, The People's Protectorate, The Winter Guard
PL 10 (134)
STRENGTH
4 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10)
Athletics 6 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+12)
Close Combat (Shield) 2 (+12)
Deception 1 (+4)
Expertise (Russian Agent) 8 (+10)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 4 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Shield) 4 (+12)
Stealth 2 (+6)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Improved Critical (Shield), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Leadership, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Teamwork

Powers:
"Red Guardian's Mighty Shield" (Feats: Restricted to Those Trained) (Flaws: Easily Removable) [13]
Enhanced Advantages 2: Evasion, Withstand Damage (2)
"Shield Toss" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Dynamic, Ricochet 3, Split 2) (Extras: Ranged 8) (Diminished Range -1) (15) -- (18)
  • Dynamic AE: "Shield Bash" Strength-Damage +3 (3)
  • Dynamic AE: "Bouncing Shield" Strength-Damage +2 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Shapeable 6, Selective 6) (15)
  • Dynamic AE: Enhanced Dodge 3 & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) Linked to Enhanced Strength 5 (Flaws: Limited to Resisting Movement) (10)
-- (20 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Shield Bash +12 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Shield Toss +12 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Bouncing Shield +7 Area (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +8

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+6 D.Roll), Fortitude +8, Will +6
"With Shield" Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +4 (+6 D.Roll), Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Russian Agent)

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 15 / Powers: 13 / Defenses: 15 (134)

-Josef here is the third Red Guardian of interest, and was around for most of the '90s, and is thus the one I'm most familiar with- he led the People's Protectorate, and was the first Red Guardian to REALLY copy Captain America, now sporting a big, circular shield like Cap's. He debuted in Mark Gruenwald's Captain America run as part of a "Dark Avengers"-type unit that attempted to murder Vanguard, Darkstar, and Ursa Major, who attempted to defect to the United States. Here, a very bloodthirsty Guardian disguised his team as the Avengers in order to frame the heroes for the deaths, but all the heroes survived, and Cap went to Russia and uncovered the trickery.

-Josef then led the Protectorate in that Avengers storyline The Crossing Line, which featured a mass team-up between them, Alpha Flight, The Avengers and some random Atlanteans. He was typically-antagonistic and quick to attack Americans, but a bit calmer than most Soviet heroes tended to be at this point- he was fairly stoic, actually. Though he features little in the story (the only bit I remember was that he remarked that even VOSTOK was getting ornery after weeks of being trapped in the void!), the image of an "Off-Color" Cap kind of stuck with me- like a lot of kids, I thought alternate color schemes were totally awesome, so he stood out. Josef later changed his name to Steel Guardian in a late '90s Iron Man comic, and joined the "Protectorate" as it split off from the Winter Guard, but was killed by Fantasma and her army of Dire Wraiths during the backstory of Darkstar & The Winter Guard. I mean, it was a literal flashback scene in which he didn't even SAY anything or get named- he's just stabbed through the chest by a Dire Wraith!

-This Red Guardian is even more of a mini-Cap than the first one is, with his very own Mighty Shield, making him a PL 10 in a few ways (9.5 with his Shield Bash & Parry, PL 10 with Dodge). He wouldn't BEAT Cap in a fight, but he'd do okay.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

That first picture cracks me up just for the obvious trademark symbols. "Give it up, Avenger™-- You cannot defeat the Supreme Soviets!™" That seems to crop up a lot in old comics.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Davies wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 7:21 pm
Woodclaw wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 4:03 pm It's the fact that Alpha Flight is one of those teams that really seem to lack an identity. Depending on the writer, Alpha Flight swings between being the Canadian version of the Avengers (i.e. goverment sponsored team called in for national emergencies) or the Canadian version of the X-Men (shut-in team, mostly deailing in interal struggles).
I can't disagree with any of this. It probably did not help that almost nobody who's ever written Alpha Flight has ever been all that familiar with Canada as it actually exists. The era when they were based in Edmonton's Sir Winston Churchill Square -- which does really exist -- probably came closest to something like verisimilitude.
Haha, what? That was a thing? Was that a later era?

I mean, Byrne's Canadian and he had them in a real West Edmonton Mall when they fought China Force. But even then it kinda felt like "random scenery".
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Davies
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Davies »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 9:53 pmHaha, what? That was a thing? Was that a later era?
Yup.

Image

First appeared in issue 79, this is captured from TOHOTMUDEU89 #4.

I occasionally boggled at the notion that I was fairly close to a superhero headquarters while hanging out at the Milner.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Lol, that's great. Fat lot of good they did- Edmonton's downtown was so sketchy they had to have security & police kick all the homeless people to Strathcona, creating a crime crisis THERE!
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Red Guardian (Granitsky)

Post by Jabroniville »

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RED GUARDIAN V (Krassno Granitsky)
Created By:
Jorge Gonzales & Leo Fernandez
First Appearance: Maverick #10 (June 1998)
Role: Mirror Image Villain/Hero (to Cap), Patriotic Hero, Replaceable Guy
Country of Origin: The Soviet Union/Russia
Group Affiliations: The Winter Guard
PL 8 (109)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10)
Athletics 5 (+8)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Close Combat (Shield) 2 (+10)
Deception 1 (+4)
Expertise (Russian Agent) 5 (+7)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 1 (+4)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Shield) 4 (+10)
Stealth 1 (+5)
Technology 1 (+3)
Vehicles 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Red Guardian's Mighty Shield" (Feats: Restricted to Those Trained) (Flaws: Easily Removable) [13]
Enhanced Advantages 2: Evasion, Withstand Damage (2)
"Shield Toss" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Dynamic, Ricochet 3, Split 2) (Extras: Ranged 8) (Diminished Range -1) (15) -- (18)
  • Dynamic AE: "Shield Bash" Strength-Damage +3 (3)
  • Dynamic AE: "Bouncing Shield" Strength-Damage +2 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Shapeable 6, Selective 6) (15)
  • Dynamic AE: Enhanced Dodge 3 & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) Linked to Enhanced Strength 5 (Flaws: Limited to Resisting Movement) (10)
-- (20 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Shield Bash +12 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Shield Toss +12 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Bouncing Shield +7 Area (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +8

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +5
"With Shield" Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (Russian Agent)

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 13 / Defenses: 12 (109)

-The fifth Red Guardian, Krassno Granitsky, appeared in Maverick's solo book, but never appeared again. I would actually bet money that the writer didn't know the real name of the fourth one, thus accidentally creating a new guy. The name comes from the James Bond novel From Russia With Love. This is the one said to be murdered by Aleksander Lukin in Ed Brubaker's Captain America run. Wikipedia names that one the sixth Guardian, but ComicVine says it's Granitsky. As the guy goes unnamed, there's really no point in it NOT being Granitsky, who of course has never been mentioned again. So my Headcanon, which cannot ignore minor continuity issues surrounding completely-forgotten characters, is that Granitsky died.

-I decided to make Granitsky a PL 8, lesser version of Josef Petkus.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Red Guardian (Anton)

Post by Jabroniville »

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RED GUARDIAN VI (Anton something)
Created By:
Jorge Gonzales & Leo Fernandez
First Appearance: The Hulk #1 (March 2008)
Role: Mirror Image Villain/Hero (to Cap), Patriotic Hero, Replaceable Guy
Country of Origin: Russia
Group Affiliations: The Winter Guard
PL 10 (134)
STRENGTH
6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 6 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10)
Athletics 6 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+12)
Close Combat (Shield) 2 (+12)
Deception 1 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+12)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 4 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Shield) 4 (+12)
Stealth 2 (+6)
Technology 6 (+12)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, Improved Critical (Shield), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Smash, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Teamwork

Powers:
"Red Guardian's Mighty Shield" (Feats: Restricted to Those Trained) (Flaws: Easily Removable) [13]
Enhanced Advantages 2: Evasion, Withstand Damage (2)
"Shield Toss" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Dynamic, Ricochet 3, Split 2) (Extras: Ranged 8) (Diminished Range -1) (15) -- (18)
  • Dynamic AE: "Shield Bash" Strength-Damage +3 (3)
  • Dynamic AE: "Bouncing Shield" Strength-Damage +2 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Shapeable 6, Selective 6) (15)
  • Dynamic AE: Enhanced Dodge 3 & Parry 2 (Extras: Sustained +0) Linked to Enhanced Strength 5 (Flaws: Limited to Resisting Movement) (10)
-- (20 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Shield Bash +12 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Shield Toss +12 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Bouncing Shield +7 Area (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +8

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +6, Fortitude +8, Will +6
"With Shield" Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +6, Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Russian Agent)

Total: Abilities: 80 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 13 / Defenses: 15 (149)

-A sixth Red Guardian named Anton appears in Jeph Loeb's Hulk series as a Winter Guard member- he has similar stats, but is a cyborg. He was the grouchy, stoic Team Leader in Darkstar & The Winter Guard series, and he spends time lecturing the female Crimson Dynamo about insubordination and cutting down on team chit-chat. His superiors state that the cybernetic augmentation left him "a jerk". He is badly damaged in the book's final issue, being decapitated by a Dire Wraith and having his still-living head kept in storage. He appears later in a single-panel in the storage locker of the Ultra-Dynamo (the member who constantly got in trouble for disobeying his orders).
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Grenzer
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Grenzer »

Ares wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 6:30 am
Grenzer wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 3:20 am Ah, the Russians. This is another group of builds that interests me because of my own knowledge of Russian culture and history.
I'm actually very curious about what non-US nations tend to think of superheroes, or what kind of superheroes they'd create on their own. Sometimes you get examples of it from the source, where Japan gives us Kamen Rider/Super Sentai/Magic Girl type superheroes, along with anime heroes with superheroic qualities and trappings, with My Hero Academia being the most literal case. Conversely, in a lot of European countries you're more likely to find comics about Donald Duck than traditional superheroes. And there's places like the Middle East where they don't really have time to waste on superheroes.

So knowing what actual Russians would think of superheroes and superheroic fiction would actually be useful when it comes to informing my own setting. Generally speaking I try to have the existing types of heroes be the norm, often just with more superhero trappings. So Japan's superhero community would look like a mix of My Hero Academia, Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball, while Mexican superheroes would have more than a few Lucha Libre inspired heroes. I find it's equally important to include some stereotypes while subverting others.

Then again, even as I say that, one of my Russian heroes is basically Ursa Major meets Captain Atom: a metal werebear with crimson skin and radiation powers.
From a 21st century perspective, Russia's view of superheroes is that they are an 'American' genre. This is not meant to be an insult, but rather they associate superheroes with American culture the way anime and its tropes are seen as a product of Japanese culture, and would be hard to copy. This has no doubt hurt the development of a homegrown Russian comic book industry, but there has been some strides in recent years. BUBBLE Comics is the largest publisher of original Russian superhero comics in the country, and the characters there have managed to gain a degree of recognition and acceptance among young readers. BUBBLE is also trying to adapt its characters into live-action films and translate the comics into English to grow a global audience, although how well this will work out is very much in the air. At the end of the day, BUBBLE would be consider rather small by the standards of most American or even other European comic publishers.

http://bubblecomics.com/

And Russian comics in general tend to follow the European trend of being about adventurers and detectives rather than caped crusaders. I should point out though that Red Fury (Krasnaya Furiya), one of BUBBLE's main characters is essentialy Black Widow if she were written by actual Russians.

I could also write a post about certain Russian literary/movie characters from before 2010 who would or sort of could fit the comic book mold to give an idea of what that country's image of heroism is if anyone is interested.
Last edited by Grenzer on Tue May 19, 2020 2:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Jabroniville »

haha, found a great article on Marvel's notorious inker, Vinnie Colletta: https://www.newsfromme.com/2007/05/05/a ... -colletta/

It's by Mark Evanier, Kirby's assistant & biographer. Some great lines:

* Jack never thought Colletta did anything but poor work but he also believed that everyone has to make a living. He also felt that inking wasn't all that important. Even a bad inker — and Jack had many — usually retained the essentials of the storytelling, which is what Jack felt comics were all about. Being a Depression-era kid, he required a little urging before he felt at ease about taking away a source of income from someone else.

* Kirby got rid of him. Alex Toth and Neal Adams both demanded that he never darken their pencils again. (Adams took the one job of his Colletta inked and personally retouched about 80% of it without compensation.) That was just in the early seventies, at a time when artists rarely demanded such a thing…but what Vinnie did drove Jack, Alex and Neal to break precedent. And Jack, Alex and Neal were arguably the three best artists then working in comics. Steve Ditko and Gil Kane — who may well qualify as the rest of the Top Five — made similar demands.

* Since then, others have admitted that they would have barred Colletta from embellishing their work if they could have. Just on convention panels I've moderated, we heard that from Gene Colan, John Buscema, Bob Oksner and Marie Severin. At one panel I hosted, someone asked what tool Colletta inked with and instantly, John Romita (yet another great artist) piped up with "A whisk broom," and added that one of the perks of his position as Marvel's Art Director was that he could make certain his work was not inked by you-know-who. Joe Orlando, who was an editor at DC during the same period, told me the same thing. He'd been inked by Colletta before, back when he couldn't prevent it, and wasn't about to let it happen again. Carmine Infantino, another great artist, was then running DC. Infantino didn't pencil much during the period but what he did draw didn't go to Colletta for inking, either.

* And yes, Colletta could be a charming guy. No one's arguing that, either…but hey, I can be a charming guy and I'm not good enough to ink Jack Kirby, either, as I proved on a couple of occasions. Actually, another reason that Colletta is not well-liked within the industry is that he had a tendency to ingratiate himself with the top guy at the company and then to use that clout to put even less effort into his work. When Jim Shooter was ousted as Editor-in-Chief at Marvel in 1987, Colletta found himself simultaneously on the outs with the editorial staff and wrote an infamous open letter denouncing them for what he saw as their disloyalty to Shooter.
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Davies
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Davies »

Grenzer wrote: Mon May 18, 2020 4:58 am
http://bubblecomics.com/

And Russian comics in general tend to follow the European trend of being about adventurers and detectives rather than caped crusaders. I should point out though that Red Fury (Krasnaya Furiya), one of BUBBLE's main characters is essential Black Widow if she were written by actual Russians.
Fascinating. The description there makes her sound more like a take on Modesty Blaise, but I do see the resemblance to the Widow. I'll be checking this out.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Grenzer wrote: Mon May 18, 2020 4:58 am
And Russian comics in general tend to follow the European trend of being about adventurers and detectives rather than caped crusaders. I should point out though that Red Fury (Krasnaya Furiya), one of BUBBLE's main characters is essential Black Widow if she were written by actual Russians.

I could also write a post about certain Russian literary/movie characters from before 2010 who would or sort of could fit the comic book mold to give an idea of what that country's image of heroism is if anyone is interested.
Yeah, that would be cool, thanks :)!
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Vanguard

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image
Image
Image

VANGUARD (Nicolai Krylenko, aka Red Guardian VII)
Created By:
Bill Mantlo & Carmine Infantino
First Appearance: Iron Man #109 (April 1978)
Role: Over-Protective Brother, The Braggart
Country of Origin: Belarus (formerly Russia/The Soviet Union
Group Affiliations: The Exiles (not the world-travelling team), The Winter Guard
PL 10 (134)
STRENGTH
9 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+7)
Close Combat (Hammer & Sickle) 2 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+9)
Deception 2 (+2)
Expertise (Russian Agent) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+4)
Investigation 2 (+2)
Ranged Combat (Blast) 4 (+9)
Vehicles 3 (+3)

Advantages:
Benefit (Russian Agent), Close Combat, Defensive Attack, Equipment (Hammer & Sickle), Improved Critical (Hammer & Sickle), Interpose, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Energy Field- Absorption & Redirection"
Force Field 10 (Feats: Subtle) (Extras: Impervious) [20]
Enhanced Advantages 2: Withstand Damage, Ultimate Toughness Save [2]

"Repulsion Field"
Force Field +0 (Extras: Reflect 11, Redirect 11) (Flaws: Limited to When Using Hammer & Sickle/Shield) (11) -- [12]
  • AE: "Firing Towards the Earth" Flight 5 (60 mph) (Flaws: Limited to When Using Hammer & Sickle/Shield) (5)
"Hammer & Sickle/Shield"
"Hammer/Shield Toss" Strength-Damage +0 (Extras: Ranged 12) (12) -- [13]
  • AE: "Melee Weapons" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split) (Extras: Penetrating 6) (8)
Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Hammer & Sickle +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Hammer Toss +9 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Enhanced Damage +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Reflection +9 (+11 Ranged Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +3 (+13 Force Field), Fortitude +8, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (Russian Agent)- Though Nicolai once defected, he currently serves the Winter Guard again.
Relationship (Sister)- Nicolai is devoted to his sister Darkstar, and will attack anyone he feels is threatening (or hitting on) her.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 47 / Defenses: 15 (134)

Vanguard- Stereotypical Foreign Douche:
-Vanguard was one of those fairly-common stereotypes in comics, when someone from a "rival nation" also has to be a superhero- instead of being a villain like your average America-hating Snidley Whiplash would be, the character is instead a smug, brash asshole who also kind of sucks. This happened a LOT back in those days, as you had guys who could theoretically be good guys, but were still able to let American readers feel good about themselves as these smirking douchebags would get routinely humiliated and saved by American superheroes. The Arabian Knight, Vanguard and others were all kind of like this.

-So Vanguard was a brash braggart who ran around telling everyone how awesome he was in most of the appearances I've read- particularly Contest of Champions (in which he was an egomaniacal jackass who faced The Thing, knocking him around with his "Reversing Attacks" power before Benjy just TKO'd him with a haymaker, embarrassing him completely). He's RIDICULOUSLY "old school comics" in his appearance, with his hair-showing mask, gigantic cape, Russian symbols (the Hammer & Sickle) as weapons, etc., so he was particularly dated by the 1990s. It was like Marvel was attempting to make him a great character, but he ended up just being some nobody.

Vanguard's History:
-Vanguard debuted as the twin brother of Darkstar, and was your typical antagonistic butthole foreigner who was patriotic and openly-hostile towards the United States. Generally, the Soviet Super-Soldiers would be sent by their government against American super-heroes- they'd been recruited for being young Mutants as children (instead of being culled, like most Russian Mutants had been). Eventually, they were set against The Defenders (along with Russian expat Tania "Red Guardian" Belinsky) for trying to carry out an assignment to assassinate The Presence... who turned out to be their own FATHER! This caused them to quit the Soviet regime and become free agents.

-After this, the trio of Soviets were turned over to the state in a political move to smooth things over between the U.S. and conflicted Russia, but were freed by Blind Faith and recruited into his "Siberforce"- they next appeared in Quasar, but Vanguard was killed by the alien Starblasters. However, he was only MOSTLY-dead, and was swiftly-resurrected by his father, who re-ignited the one "spark" of life left within him. He tried to force America to become Communist after this (an odd character shift, given his more heroic turn), but when that failed and his co-conspirator turned out to be evil, he turned on his masters AGAIN. He ended up a member of the newly-formed Winter Guard, but freaked when his sister was killed and replaced with a newbie who shared the name. He hooked up with Starlight (Ms. Belinsky under a new identity), and led the team against the Dire Wraiths in the Winter Guard Limited Series, and then his sister was resurrected (seriously, even D & E-League characters can't stay dead for more than three years anymore!). Happy once more, he abandoned the "Vanguard" identity to become the new Red Guardian, an identity he's shockingly kept for several years- Jason Aaron actually remembered this!

Vanguard's Powers:
-PL 10 all-around, Vanguard has a VERY strong reflective field that allows him to repel almost any attack, unless guys like The Thing go all "Power Attack- Extra Effort" on him and put him out. I'm not quite sure on his exact strength, however, as he's been shown going hand-to-hand with Ben Grimm himself (and not doing too badly), in addition to using his Force Field, so I'll give him minimal ranks (12 tons' worth) and call it even. Curiously, Wikipedia doesn't even mention that bit. And like almost everyone on his team, he fails to meet his PL caps for points spent.

-I originally had him use all of his powers like an Easily-Removable Device, but I've switched gears and left the Device only exist for hitting & throwing damage- his ACTUAL Powers are simple a Repelling Force Field with a twist- Limited to When Using Specialized Weapons. He adds Reflect & Redirect to a +0 Field (which he has active regardless of whether or not he's armed)- ordinarily things that go with the "Deflect" Power, but work just as well here. I used Force Field instead of Deflect since it's basically literally a Force Field- Deflect implies he's using defenses or physically doing things, but his power is more about tanking damage and then sending it back- it's overwhelmed by greater force (The Thing & Hyperion have both accomplished this), not by greater accuracy.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Red Guardians! Vanguard!)

Post by M4C8 »

Personally I'd have Nikolai keep his own identity as Vanguard than to be yet another Red Guardian.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Ares »

I wound up reading several appearances by Vanguard and the old school Soviet Super Soldier crew.

There was an old Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and the Hulk, where the Soviets kidnapped some scientist who had created the formula for an anti-matter bomb. This issue had Reed heavily compliment Peter Parker's intelligence, citing that Pete was one of the few people in the nation smart enough to not only figure out what the formula meant, but it's implications. There, Vanguard wound up taking on the Hulk, and despite holding his own decently well for a time, eventually it went the way most encounters with the Hulk go: the Hulk eventually got too mad for Vanguard's power to compensate.

There was another instance where the Soviets were trying to bring Magneto in for trial during a time when Magneto was leading the X-Men. This was part of an Avengers vs X-Men limited series written by Roger Stern, who actually did a solid job of presenting most of the parties as reasonable with a few bad apples. The Soviets had legitimate grievances with Magneto, who had murdered a submarine full of men and destroyed one of their cities. At the same time, Crimson Dynamo was under orders by the KGB to bring Magneto in, and went too far in places to do so. This lead to some interesting fights between the X-Men, the Avengers and the Soviets, sometimes even a three way melee. There was a nice bit where Magneto had created this advanced technology that let him completely control human beings, and tried to use it to purge all anti-mutant sentiment from Captain America. Only Cap, being Cap, didn't have any anti-mutant sentiment to begin with, and Magneto had to admit that these people had problems with his actions rather than his species.

Vanguard was kind of a heavy hitter in that story, where even Rogue flying at him full-tilt just wound up bouncing off of his field . . . but at the same time Vanguard hadn't braced himself properly and wound up embedded in a wall.

Then there was the Captain America story where the Soviets tried to defect, only for the People's Protectorate to disguise themselves as the Avengers and beat the Soviets nearly to death. In that instance, it was kind of weird as Red Guardsman managed to basically beat Vanguard almost to death, first with Vanguard's own weapons, ending with a bare handed beat down.

As with a lot of comics characters with relatively few appearances, his powers aren't super consistent. Sometimes he needs his weapons to make them work, sometimes they just help him focus his power more effectively, sometimes they aren't needed at all.

Making Vanguard the new Red Guardians actually makes a lot of sense, as I've likely stated before. He really was, for the longest time, the Russian patriotic hero, and his powers working in conjunction with a shield makes a lot more thematic sense than the irony of a hammer/sickle wielder having a defensive power. Given how often the Red Guardians get swapped out because they don't matter, having someone who does matter to some degree in the outfit might mean that he won't get killed off so easily.

Maybe it's just me tho, but I prefer the outfit without the black additions.
"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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Spectrum
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Black Widow! Yelena Belova! Red Guardians!)

Post by Spectrum »

Grenzer wrote: Mon May 18, 2020 4:58 am From a 21st century perspective, Russia's view of superheroes is that they are an 'American' genre. This is not meant to be an insult, but rather they associate superheroes with American culture the way anime and its tropes are seen as a product of Japanese culture, and would be hard to copy. This has no doubt hurt the development of a homegrown Russian comic book industry, but there has been some strides in recent years. BUBBLE Comics is the largest publisher of original Russian superhero comics in the country, and the characters there have managed to gain a degree of recognition and acceptance among young readers. BUBBLE is also trying to adapt its characters into live-action films and translate the comics into English to grow a global audience, although how well this will work out is very much in the air. At the end of the day, BUBBLE would be consider rather small by the standards of most American or even other European comic publishers.

http://bubblecomics.com/

And Russian comics in general tend to follow the European trend of being about adventurers and detectives rather than caped crusaders. I should point out though that Red Fury (Krasnaya Furiya), one of BUBBLE's main characters is essential Black Widow if she were written by actual Russians.

I could also write a post about certain Russian literary/movie characters from before 2010 who would or sort of could fit the comic book mold to give an idea of what that country's image of heroism is if anyone is interested.
I looked over the website and really cool stuff. I'm glad to see that they are over on Comixology- another reason that I'll have to look at subscribing.

And yes, I would love to hear a post. I've really enjoyed Woodclaw's series on comics from an Italian perspective.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
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