Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Thorpocalypse]

Hey, Jab (or anyone else, actually) what site are you using for photo hosting? Me and Photobucket are about to be done-zo. I tried to be loyal but they've burned me for the last time...

Jab and I both use Smugmug.com, which I can't recommend enough.

Thanx!

[Jabroniville]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Though the Cho drawing is still the best one.

TIGRA (Greer Grant-Nelson, aka The Cat)
Created By: Linda Fite, Roy Thomas & Marie Severin (The Cat), Tony Isabella & Don Perlin (Tigra)
First Appearance: Claws of the Cat #1 (Nov. 1972- Cat), Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974- Tigra)
Role: Animal Chick, Miss Fanservice
Group Affiliations: The Avengers West Coast, Avengers Academy
Avengers Grade: C-Level (usually D-Level)
PL 9 (158)
STRENGTH 6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 6 (+12)
Expertise (Survival) 7 (+8)
Expertise (Law Enforcement/S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent) 4 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 8 (+10)
Persuasion 4 (+7, +9 Attractive)
Sleight of Hand 3 (+7)
Stealth 4 (+10)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Attractive, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Equipment (Mystical Amulet- Transforms to Greer & Back), Evasion, Fast Grab, Follow-Up Strike, Improved Critical (Claws), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Hold, Instant Up, Prone Fighting, Startle

Powers:
"Feline Claws"
Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split) [1]
Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling) [2]

"Feline Physiology"
Speed 4 (32 mph) [4]
"Cat Agility" Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]

"Cat Senses" Senses 7 (Low-Light Vision, Infravision, Acute & Extended Scent, Extended & Ultra-Hearing, Tracking- Scent) [7]
"Prehensile Tail" Extra Limb 1 [1]
"Tiger Stripes" Enhanced Skills 4: Stealth 4 (+14) (Flaws: Limited to In Jungles & Forests) [1]

Regeneration 2 [2]
"Animal Mind" Enhanced Will Check 4 (Flaws: Limited to Telepathic Attacks) [2]
"Cat Empathy" Mind-Reading 6 (Flaws: Limited to Emotions, Distracting) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Claws +11 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +6, Fortitude +9, Will +6 (+10 vs. Telepathy)

Complications:
Vulnerable (Hearing)- Tigra is more vulnerable to Audio Dazzles than normal humans.
Motivation (The Next Generation)- Tigra is devoted to training heroes, having joined both The Initiative and The Avengers Academy as an instructor.
Relationship (Hank Pym)- They've hooked up twice (three, if you include Skrull Hank)- apparently Cat People have low standards.
Relationship (William Nelson)- Tigra's child is now the most important person in her life. She is one of three superhuman females to successfully breed.
Responsibility (Cat People)- Tigra was meant to be the protector of The Cat People.
Responsibility (The Call of the Wild)- Tigra often exhibits very feline-like tendencies, such as a desire for freedom, aggressiveness, or an obsession with getting attention.

Total: Abilities: 78 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 25 / Defenses: 14 (158)

Tigra- Miss Fanservice Personified, Yet Also a Side Character:
-I still remember picking up one of the few comics I bought with my own money in Grade 5- Avengers West Coast, looking at the very first page, and going "WOAH! Who is THAT?" Apparently all the cooties-fearing in the world can't make an 11-year old not be impressed by a scantily-clad Catgirl in a conquettish pose, because right then and there, I became a fan of Tigra.

-Tigra made her debut as "The Cat", one of three simultaenous attempts by Marvel to appeal to female readers. All three (including the Night Nurse & Shanna the She-Devil) failed, mostly because they stank (Marvel had banked on several female creators, none of whom had much comics experience). Even Marvel admits to their failure, with this in addition to the dropping of Spider-Woman & the first She-Hulk attempt around this time. Funny how getting women to read comics only worked when they did romance stuff, though Gail Simone's Female Empowerment stuff tends to do okay with that crowd (largely through mostly not sucking). It's a tricky thing to do in comics, what with the obsession with "Strong Women"- too many guys think "strong woman" translates to "reject authority, act like a bitch, and dress like a gigantic whore"- never mind that many of the most-popular male characters are characters with a lot of weaknesses.

"The Cat" to Tigra:
-Greer Grant-Nelson was a normal woman who allowed a scientist friend to experiment upon her after her police officer husband died, and she wanted to do something with her life. After her book died four issues in, the character was quickly turned into something else- some mystical Cat People turned her into their defender, since humans were apparently picking on them (they were the remaining members of a race that was mostly banished to another dimension). Thus she dropped the costume (Patsy Walker would don one years later, becoming "Hellcat"), donned a skimpy black bikini, and became a humanoid Tiger-Girl- the Living Embodiment of Fanservice.

-She didn't get up to much in the late '70s aside from some random team-ups with other heroes and one-shots in low-selling books, but was on the Avengers for a short while- though she single-handedly saved the world from the Molecule Man (by convincing him to spare the Earth, and seek therapy), she resigned after realizing how much weaker she was than the other heroes. She was more successful of Steve Englehart's West Coast Avengers team, where she was a character member for a long time. Unfortunately, Englehart started it off with a run as "Slutty Tigra", as her cat nature overpowered her and caused her to basically jump the bones of absolutely every male in her presence! In this form, she slept with both Wonder Man and Hank Pym (leading to a HILARIOUS panel where Wonder Man does a "do dee do-do" walk by a window featuring Tigra cheating on him with Pym), then found herself desperate for affection from GRAVITON, of all people! Now, this was meant to be a TEMPORARY thing, and show the mercurial nature of cats (she was also more savage at this time), but unfortunately, Slutty Tigra became the Iconic Tigra. Something about a sexually-aggressive Catgirl in a bikini strangely APPEALS to certain readers, I guess!

-She went through some more stuff with the Cat People (they de-powered her when she refused to kill their enemy Master Pandemonium, but the attempted to free her "Tigra soul" to confuse her ended up re-empowering her), gained a tail to go with her fuzzy self, and got a power upgrade. And thankfully later artists drew her better than hideous Al Milgrom design used in WCA, with a weird overbite and muzzle. She left the West Coast several times over the years- a dispute over their "no-killing" policy, her going wild and turning into a housecat-sized creature then escaping, then her being injured and living wild among Aborigines in Australia following the "Pacific Overlords" arc that introduced me to her. But once Roy Thomas wrote her off the team, she disappeared for a REALLY long time.

Post-1990 Tigra:
-Tigra briefly appeared in Avengers Infinity with some space-themed characters, helping save the universe from the Infinites. More than a DECADE after her WCA departure, she was Tony Stark's "Mole" in Captain America's forces during Civil War (Cap learned about it from his own mole, and fed her disinformation), and then she became a central character in the Initiative plotline. She got badly beaten by The Hood in a rather-uncomfortable story bit, and she was a major trainer at Camp Hammond and slept with Pym AGAIN, but this time it was a Skrull, resulting in a baby (with a comic book trademark "Super-Fast Pregnancy", explained away by her cat-like nature). She led the Arkansas Initiative team, but quit to form the Avengers Resistance when Norman Osborn took over.

-She became one of the teachers in Avengers Academy, continuing a long run of responsibility for the once-flighty character. Despite all of that, she's still relatively... MINOR- she doesn't get the major storylines, and is usually way down the list of importance for characters in each cast of Teachers. Her biggest story sees her enraged when the kids get revenge over her beating by assaulting the Hood and airing it online- she expels them all for this (despite she herself savagely beating many of the Hood's associates in the same manner, though she didn't film them).

-Subsequent stories have been mere cameos, though she got back into a relationship with Pym before he died, and then joined the brief West Coast Avengers revamp, temoprarily becoming a feral giantess (YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!).

Tigra's Powers:
-Tigra is a good, over-pointed PL 9, being a very capable fighter, but not quite as powerful as a lof of Avengers are- it was actually a plot point in the WCA days that she was WAY-underpowered as a superhero, and really struggled to pull her own weight. She lacks the raw power or accuracy needed to breach the cusp, and she's a bit too easily injured by human-level opponents. She best fits that "Domino/Black Cat" stage of low-level superheroics and goonsweeping, as opposed to straight-up beating the hell out of people. For her, guys like the Brothers Grimm, The Mandrill and others are decent physical threats, whereas Spider-Man would trounce them (though oddly, she was shown EASILY defeating Vermin in a background scene- "Cat versus mouse. What do you think?"- despite Vermin being considered a dangerous opponent for Spidey or Captain America). She can still modify many of her caps, though, so be warned against taking her lightly.

[Scots Dragon]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Though the Cho drawing is still the best one.

I dig the Amanda Conner personally. She does a good job of combining sexy heroines with some fun personality.

[catsi563]

Tigre tigra is my personal favorite. they merged her with her cat side and made her a full heroine. I did like the overbearing catgirl they made her into a but ill dmit they over did it after a certain point. sexually strong doesn't mean jump anything that moves and has parts. they really goofed that up with her

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[Jabroniville]

Hey, Jab (or anyone else, actually) what site are you using for photo hosting? Me and Photobucket are about to be done-zo. I tried to be loyal but they've burned me for the last time...

Wow, what'd they do this time? I'm annoyed I can't even log in to see my pics directly- thankfully, clicking on the PB images in my "Build Dump" thread means I can see the full pic on their site, though. Just a complicated workaround .

Jab, I love all your builds, so port-or-post all of them if you wish! Not too many for me!

I never find the posting is too much to comment on--I will squeeze into the conversation somewhere! Especially on fav characters.

The Avengers and their enemies are always great to see, and there are so many. Would any of them require updating for their powers, increases, etc?

I don't think so, overall- Most of them seem to be on similar "tiers" these days. Though many of the new characters are incredibly powerful.

[Thorpocalypse]

Hey, Jab (or anyone else, actually) what site are you using for photo hosting? Me and Photobucket are about to be done-zo. I tried to be loyal but they've burned me for the last time...

Wow, what'd they do this time? I'm annoyed I can't even log in to see my pics directly- thankfully, clicking on the PB images in my "Build Dump" thread means I can see the full pic on their site, though. Just a complicated workaround .

I tried to stick with them and upgrade my plan. I tried several times and it would not take my payment. I tried again a week later and it looked like my plan upgrade went through and pics started working again. But I never got a confirmation e-mail. Then last week, my pics went down again and it said I was still on the "free" plan. I tried emailing them several times, never got a response. I checked my card statement, no charge last month so I'm bailing while I still can. I don't know what really happened since you really trust the net news, but they've fallen apart.

[scc]

Nice Tigra post. But not enough pictures. Though I appreciate the giantess pics.

[Jabroniville]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Though the Cho drawing is still the best one.

I dig the Amanda Conner personally. She does a good job of combining sexy heroines with some fun personality.

Oh, absolutely. Power Girl was an amazing book for being like "Yeah, you bought this for boobs- aren't boobs grand?" Just unpretentious, glorious fanservice, lol.

[Scots Dragon]

I consider the Pre-New-52 Power Girl as being a pretty damn good example of how you can have fanservice and sexy stuff without being shitty about it. It's got fanservice, yeah, but it's also got a good sense of humour and some cool storytelling and really fun old fashioned superhero stuff.

I literally don't know a single person who's complained about it.

Hell, my only complaint is that they left after the first twelve issues, though the Judd Winnick run wasn't too bad. It was better than whatever the hell you'd call that post-New 52 'World's Finest' book.

[Jabroniville]

OH GOD IT'S A FURPILE!!




THE CAT PEOPLE
Created By: Steve Gerber & Gil Kane
First Appearance: Adventure Into Fear #21 (April 1974)
Role: Isolated Society, Furries

-The Cat People are part of the backstory of Tigra, but were actually first feuding with Morbius in his own feature (Adventure Into Fear), and were once ordinary cats. A mage named Ebrok created them via transformative spells, making them intelligent humanoid cat-people, which then multiplied naturally. Rebelling against their wizard-y masters, they were exiled to "The Land Within", which was actually Hell (!!). They warred with each other at first, but eventualy found peace, and created an artificial sun to sustain them. Ebrok was eventually killed on Earth, and the Cat People threw a blade that caused the Black Plague in response (!!). They were nearly wiped out by rival wizards, but managed to forge a cat soul to a human being- "The Tigra". The Tigra slaughtered the evil wizards, and the Cat People cured the Plague. The Cat People then decided to stay on Earth as well as the Land Within, and both the Balkatar (a being meant to answer magical summons) and the Tigra fostered a new generation of Cat People.

-The Cat People soon grew too populous, and their leaders attempted to use Morbius to thin out their numbers, but he was tossed into a river and they were forced to deal with their own problems. Later, a woman named Greer Grant sacrificed her life to save one of Earth's Cat People, and was rewarded with a resurrection, so long as she transformed into one of them. Thus, she became the new "Tigra". She helped them against one of the New Men (the cat-like Tabur), then sought their help when she started become more cat-like. They demanded she kill Master Pandemonium, but when she spared the helpless villain after the Avengers West Coast defeated him, they stole her "Tigra" powers and attacked the WCA- when the heroes won, Tigra became more powerful than ever, having fully merged with the "Tigra" part of her soul. Having seen that she was the TRUE "Tigra", the Cat People let the heroes go.

-The Cat People ceased to matter after that, for the most part- the Fantastic Four met them and it was revealed that they were worshippers of Belasco (one of the old wizards who banished them generations ago), but the heroes escaped. Tabur returned and defeated the Cat King, becoming the new "Balkatar", and attempted to mate with Tigra to legitimize his rule. She refused and defeated him, turning him into a housecat. Later, a Cat People safehouse was used by Tigra to hide the Avengers Resistance, and they helped watch over her son William.

-All in all, this story seems TOTALLY NUTS, and has never been referenced in any comics I've read. It's an odd mix of too convoluted to make sense, too weird to accept, and too random- they're a "Secret Society" that's both on Earth AND in Hell, are both evil and manipulative & kindly protectors, and too numerous and too rare.

[kreuzritter]

re: Wonder Man, he really only ever comes to mind for me when I recall the forum Jab, Ares and I first met, where we had this pretentious douchebag who was a huge WM mark, before getting repeatedly banned for being an out-and-out Nazi

also, the aforementioned page of Simon's lot in life

[RainOnTheSun]

God, the artist must have loved drawing that. He's really power-walking.

[squirrelly-sama]

Tony was always weird in that his individual suits of armor are generally considered to be massive upgrades over the previous ones, to the point where if he has to fight a new suit in an old suit, the old suit is at a massive disadvantage.

Which could be simulated by including Favored Enemy (older model Iron Man suit) among the advantages that the suits give him.

So weird that Favored Enemy only gives you social bonuses and favored environment gives combat modifiers. Never did get that.

A bit late but it's a DnD holdover, from the Ranger iirc who has Favored Foe which only gives tracking and interaction bonuses and favored environment which gives a host of benefits that are actually more similar to Environmental Adaption movement than the advantage, honestly those two should have been switched.

[Spectrum]

I find your collection of Tigra pictures acceptable.. barely.

[Goldar]

OH GOD IT'S A FURPILE!!




THE CAT PEOPLE
Created By: Steve Gerber & Gil Kane
First Appearance: Adventure Into Fear #21 (April 1974)
Role: Isolated Society, Furries

-The Cat People are part of the backstory of Tigra, but were actually first feuding with Morbius in his own feature (Adventure Into Fear), and were once ordinary cats. A mage named Ebrok created them via transformative spells, making them intelligent humanoid cat-people, which then multiplied naturally. Rebelling against their wizard-y masters, they were exiled to "The Land Within", which was actually Hell (!!). They warred with each other at first, but eventualy found peace, and created an artificial sun to sustain them. Ebrok was eventually killed on Earth, and the Cat People threw a blade that caused the Black Plague in response (!!). They were nearly wiped out by rival wizards, but managed to forge a cat soul to a human being- "The Tigra". The Tigra slaughtered the evil wizards, and the Cat People cured the Plague. The Cat People then decided to stay on Earth as well as the Land Within, and both the Balkatar (a being meant to answer magical summons) and the Tigra fostered a new generation of Cat People.

-The Cat People soon grew too populous, and their leaders attempted to use Morbius to thin out their numbers, but he was tossed into a river and they were forced to deal with their own problems. Later, a woman named Greer Grant sacrificed her life to save one of Earth's Cat People, and was rewarded with a resurrection, so long as she transformed into one of them. Thus, she became the new "Tigra". She helped them against one of the New Men (the cat-like Tabur), then sought their help when she started become more cat-like. They demanded she kill Master Pandemonium, but when she spared the helpless villain after the Avengers West Coast defeated him, they stole her "Tigra" powers and attacked the WCA- when the heroes won, Tigra became more powerful than ever, having fully merged with the "Tigra" part of her soul. Having seen that she was the TRUE "Tigra", the Cat People let the heroes go.

-The Cat People ceased to matterr after that, for the most part- the Fantastic Four met them and it was revealed that they were worshippers of Belasco (one of the old wizards who banished them generations ago),b ut the heroes escaped. Tabur returned and defeated the Cat King, becoming the new "Balkatar", and attempted to mate with Tigra to legitimize his rule. She refused and defeated him, turning him into a housecat. Later, a Cat People safehouse was used by Tigra to hide the Avengers Resistance, and they helped watch over her son William.

-All in all, this story seems TOTALLY NUTS, and has never been referenced in any comics I've read. It's an odd mix of too convoluted to make sense, too weird to accept, and too random- they're a "Secret Society" that's both on Earth AND in Hell, are both evil and manipulative & kindly protectors, and too numerous and too rare.

I think there also could be more to the story....

"The Land Within" was a hel, but not thee Hell. It was hot, stinky and with no real sunlight. These were after all, Cat-creatures. Some of them chose to live in the "Outside" World, but hidden, like Dr Tumolo. There were others.

The story may seem odd, because more detail is needed to complete our understanding of these mysterious creatures.

Much the "Cold People" of the Himalayas...