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

[Jabroniville]

MISTER MAJESTIC (Lord Majestros, aka Jim McArest, Majestic)
Created By: H.K. Proger & Jim Lee
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.s #11 (June 1994)
Role: Supermanalogue
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None (rips off Superman instead)
'90s Ratio: 2/10 (evil Superman is actually more of a 2000s trope)
Group Affiliations: WildC.A.T.s, Khera, Team One, Savant Garde
PL 14 (355)
STRENGTH 17 STAMINA 17 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 8 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (History) 5 (+13)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+12)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 9 (+11)
Investigation 5 (+9)
Perception 9 (+13)
Ranged Combat (Heat Vision/Freeze Breath) 2 (+11)
Technology 4 (+12)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Beginner's Luck, Diehard, Evasion, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Initiative 2, Inventor, Jack-Of-All-Trades, Last Stand, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Takedown, Ultimate Strength Check, Withstand Damage

Powers:
"Superman-Tier Strength" Power-Lifting 4 (200,000 tons) [4]
Impervious Toughness 17 [17]
Immunity 11 (Life Support, Aging) [11]

"Heat Beam" Damage 14 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Line +2) (43) -- [48]

• AE: "Heat Vision" Blast 16 (Feats: Extended Reach 2) (34)
• AE: "Freeze Breath" Affliction 14 (Strength; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless/Paralyzed) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition) (42)
• AE: "Freeze Cone" Affliction 14 (Strength; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless/Paralyzed) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone, Extra Condition) (42)
• AE: "Ground Pound" Affliction 14 (Strength/Athletics; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Burst +3, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Both Must Be Grounded, Instant Recovery) (28)
• AE: "Super-Breath" Affliction 14 (Strength/Athletics; Hindered & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless) (Extras: Area- 120ft. Cone +2, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Both Must Be Grounded, Instant Recovery) Linked to Move Object 11 (Extras: Area- 120ft. Cone +2) (Flaws: Touch Range) (36)

"Faster Than a Speeding Bullet"
Flight 18 (500,000 mph) (Feats: Dynamic) (37) -- [41]
Dynamic AE: Quickness 16 (Feats: Dynamic) (17)
Dynamic AE: Speed 15 (64,000 mph) (Feats: Dynamic) (16)
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [2]

Senses 21 (Extended Vision & Hearing 3, Analytical, Infra, Ultra & Microvision 4, Vision Penetrates Concealment, Ultra-Hearing, Analytical Scent) [21]

"Pouch of Gadgets" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [17]
Variable 4 (Gadgets- Invisibility Suit, Combat Blade for Penetrating Damage, Power Suppressor to Prevent Detection, etc.) (28 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+17 Damage, DC 32)
Heat Vision +11 (+16 Ranged Damage, DC 31)
Heat Beam +14 Area (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Freeze Breath +11 (+14 Ranged Affliction, DC 24)
Freeze Cone/Ground Pound +14 Area (+14 Affliction, DC 24)
Initiative +12

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +17 (+10 Impervious), Fortitude +17, Will +10

Complications:
Motivation (Protecting the Weak)- Majestros considers EVERYONE weaker than he is, and so it's his responsibility to protect them.
Responsibility (Huge Ego)- Majestros sees himself as superior to others, and wants most of them to know about it. Anyone not agreeing with him is typically lectured and/or insulted.
Responsibility (Unemotional)- Majestros does not show much emotion- being an "all-business" sort.
Relationship (Majestrate)- Majestros lost his only son in the crash-landing of their ship on Earth- his rebirth in crystalline form is one of the few times he showed excess emotion.

Total: Abilities: 134 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 24 / Powers: 161 / Defenses: 13 (355)

-uggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh I didn't realize this guy was a WildC.A.T.s member. Or created that long ago.

-Okay, so I've never read a story featuring the character- my reaction is based entirely on the fans of the character, many of whom adored him to the point where I decided to hate him out of spite. An old comic book message board populated by Ares, Kreuzritter, HalloweenJack and myself had a TON of fans of this guy, many of whom were basically pleasuring themselves to Power-Geeking and extreme competence shown by the guy in some 2000s runs on his comics. It can get a little much when places you inhabit are inundated with guys firing ropes all over the place because of one character. Can you imagine how annoyed you'd be if *I* kept shilling the same characters all the time?

-Mr. Majestic was created by Jim Lee as a deliberate counter to the old "Why does Superman not simply FIX everything in the world?" argument that's been going around for years. So of course Lee words it like "Why is he afraid to use these powers?" and makes a guy with a different personality entirely. It turns out that this Supermanalogue is Lord Majestros, a high-level Kherubim who was also trapped on Earth for centuries. His backstory contains one human wife, but in general, he views humans as lower beings compared to Kherubim- he has spent centuries fighting for justice, and joined Team One alongside some other Image backstory characters.

-Majestic reforms the WildC.A.T.s when the original team is presumed dead, but the team is a disaster, as most are manipulatled by the evil T.A.O. He learns that teammate Savant is his daughter, having sired her with Zealot centuries ago (fertile Kherubim were commanded to breed back then; Zealot lied and said the child was stillborn). Then, in 2003, Wildstorm published a Mr. Majestic solo book, and he meets his long-dead son (reborn in an automaton's body), then loses him- he is then flung into DC's Metropolis, then later returns home with another solo book, Majestic. He had some philosophical debates with Superman over Majestros's idea of throwing criminals in prison without a trial, and his arguments with DC's heroes, whom he found lacking his obsessive sense of justice. But yeah, I mostly remember everyone on HeroChat going "*fapfapfapfap* UGGGGGHHHH!!! MAJESSSSSTTTIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCC!".

-Majestic has powers equivalent to Superman himself, with his own book featuring Power-Geeking like literally moving planets around (using gear to ensure they didn't fall apart under his strength, to prevent stuff like "Superboy connecting them with a chain" like in Legion of Super-Heroes stories). He has fewer Teamwork-related Advantages like Superman does, and Analytical Scent (he could tell parallel universes apart by how they smelled), but is largely the same as my PL 15 "Modern-Day" Superman build physically. Mentally, he has much greater intelligence (being able to invent and put stuff together at super-speed), while also having a different set of Skills, but he's far less charismatic.

[Goldar]

Well yeah, he does look majestic!

[KorokoMystia]

How many Supermananalogues did Image/Wildstorm have? I count at least 4...and that makes it even more amusing when some of them ended up at DC due to Jim Lee jumping over there, making the characters rather redundant.

[Jabroniville]

A friend's thoughts on WildC.A.T.s:

Jim Lee said he based Gambit on Grifter. He really wanted to create some badass trenchcoat guy and used like 75% of the Grifter design he came up with in high school. Spartan was definitely Cyclops, down to the bland personality until Moore and Casey came along. And Zealot's design was changed, but mostly a pallet swap of Psylocke. Voodoo is a way better character than Jean Grey, but it's pretty clear where her design started. Maul was always a cool twist on Hulk, though.

They even reference the writing from the early books in volume 3. Talking shit about "Why did you used to act this way?"
"Because it was fucking cool"
"It sounds stupid"
"In a fight, you say stuff like this to throw them off their game"
"Why do you hold the gun like that?"
"Because I looked like a badass and could still shoot better than everyone else"

Later we had this exchange:

"Man, do you remember that time when Mr. Majestic was being fapped over DAILY in SHC?"
"A big part of that was to antagonize Jelly and point out his double standards. But Majestic has some good stuff"

The "Jelly" he's referencing was one of the most annoying posters at the site- a weirdly homophobic conspiracy theorist troll who appeared to hate all white people except Superman, lol.

[Jabroniville]

LOL Image. Though I'm not sure how much these pic-choices are me making fun of them or just me ogling hand-drawn smut anymore.

CYBERNARY (Katrina Cupertino)
Created By: Steve Gerber & Nick Manabat
First Appearance: Deathblow #1 (April 1993)
Role: Cyborg Red Sonja, Action Sexbot
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Red Sonja (JESUS CHRIST, she's basically a palette swap but with robo-arms)
'90s Ratio: 10/10 (LITERAL GODDAMN SEXBOT cyborg nudist with swords and a bad attitude, plus an outfit smaller than Red Sonja's)
Group Affiliations: WildC.A.T.s, The Savant Garde
PL 10 (182)
STRENGTH 6 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+15)
Athletics 10 (+14)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+17)
Deception 6 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+8)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 4 (+8)
Investigation 3 (+7)
Perception 8 (+12)
Ranged Combat (Blades) 4 (+14)
Stealth 3 (+10)
Technology 2 (+5)
Vehicles 1 (+6)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Equipment 4 (Guns & Swords), Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Swords) 2, Improved Critical (Guns), Improved Initiative, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Ranged Attack 5, Startle, Takedown 2, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
"Killer Cyborg Sexbot"
"Tactical Probability Powers"
Enhanced Advantages 2: Assessment, Uncanny Dodge [2]
Senses 4 (Precognition) (Flaws: Limited to Enemy Attacks & Tactics) [2]

Senses 3 (Extended Hearing & Vision, Low-Light Vision) [3]
Immunity 1 (Poison) [1]

"Nanotech Weapons"
"Bladed Body" Spike Aura 4 (16) -- [19]

• AE: "Laser" Blast 6 (12)
• AE: "Whip Sword" Strength-Damage +3 (Feats: Reach 4) (7)
• AE: "Sexbot Pheromones" Affliction 8 (Fort; Entranced/Compelled/Controlled) (Extras: Area- Scent Perception) (16)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Swords +10 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Guns +10 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Pheromones +8 Area (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +8, Fortitude +8, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (Other Minds)- Katrina has the minds and programming of Dr. Gamorra's daughter and a sex-toy robot within her body as well, and she can always hear those voices.

Total: Abilities: 82 / Skills: 80--40 / Advantages: 23 / Powers: 27 / Defenses: 10 (182)

-oh my god this one is SERIOUSLY embarrassing- just the most '90s compilation of character traits ever- a nudist Sexbot with swords and guns, but also swords and guns INSIDE HER, plus a dark criminal past and remarkable killing abilities.

-Katrina Cupertino was an ordinary crook who was captured by the very people she and her boyfriend were trying to rob- dangerous "Hunter Killers" from Gamorra (?) who specialized in cybernetic enhancements. She had attempted to save her boyfriend's life by sacrificing her own, but both were transformed into Killer Cyborgs- now looking EXACTLY like Red Sonja but with bits from Spawn's Angela, she had cybernetic arms and a chainmail bikini, looking like one of Image's biggest copycats- but made even MORE '90s.

-Cybernary was broken out of Gamorra by Deathblow (this being his own solo book), and went off to kill other cyborgs created by Dr. Kaizen Gamorra, the evil dude who made her one. She was given her own memories back by an island full of dwarves (ah, that old cliche), but was still forced to kill her old boyfriend. She downloaded his mind into another robot, though, saving his essence. The two characters were placed on Savant's new "Savant Garde" team after this, after first squabbling with them.

-Ultimately, she was transformed into "Cybernary 2.0" after being re-captured by Gamorrans- now with the personality of the evil Yumiko, daughter of Dr. Gamorra. Yumiko!Cybernary took over Gamorra, but was unseated and relpaced by Dr. Gamorra, but rescued by "Mother Cybernary" (which had Katrina's original personality). They thus founded "New Gamorra", but Cybernary went off with Dr. Gamorra during the World's End event that ended WildStorm continuity, rising above the world. They later attacked the Authority, but she was defeated by the Engineer.

-Cybernary has a whole ton of Power-Geeking attached to her, giving her superhuman fighting capabilities (due to "predictive technology"), enhanced physiology, and various Cyborg tricks. She's been said to have killed tons of Coda Assassins (this is presumably after their own push was done), tons of Kill-O-Bots at a time, and more, and was nearly always a bad-ass. Fairly low mental stats and Will Save, though, as she's just some random crook who is usually quickly unseated from positions of power.

-Sometime later, Cybernary could broadcast herself along electrical beams, and could control other machine.

[Ares]

How many Supermananalogues did Image/Wildstorm have? I count at least 4...and that makes it even more amusing when some of them ended up at DC due to Jim Lee jumping over there, making the characters rather redundant.

Well, early on you had Supreme, and then you had Majestic. Both of them were built with the idea of "what if Superman was a jerk", only with Majestic that means "Namor with Superman's powers" and with Supreme that means "raging narcissist, violent psychopath, villain protagonist".

Then later when Warren Ellis re-vamped Stormwatch we got The High as an analogy to Golden Age/Pre-Crisis Superman and Apollo as a nod to more modern Superman.

Then later Image got Omni-Man from Invincible, and depending on how flexible you are, Captain Dynamo from the Dynamo 5.

Image also had Mighty Man as a Captain Marvel analogy, and later Wildstorm also gave us Maximum Man in Welcome to Tranquility as another one.

It's important to remember that even though they tried to be a shared universe, Image was founded on the idea of each studio being their own entity, with the idea of letting other people play with each others toys to create a shared setting. This eventually evolved into each studio basically having their own "Image Universe" rather than an overall shared universe. While you might see Officer Dragon or Youngblood in Invincible, you're seeing "The Invincible-verse" version of those characters, and it might or might not have any bearing on Erik Larsen's version of Image or Liefeld's version of Image.

Still, by itself Wildstorm basically had 3 Superman knock offs and one Captain Marvel knock off. Taken as a whole, that total comes to 5 or 6 Superman and 2 Captain Marvels.

[Ares]

Created By: Steve Gerber & Nick Manabat

That explains a lot.

[Jabroniville]

MET-L (Multi-Environmental Transformation-Laborer Class, based on mind of Albert Kaplan)
Created By: Barbara Kesel & Ryan Odagawa
First Appearance: Savant Garde #1 (March 1997)
Role: Kill-O-Bot, Forgotten Character
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Every Kill-O-Bot Ever
'90s Ratio: 8/10 (cyborg "hunter-killer" gladiator put into a deadly robot's body)
Group Affiliations: WildC.A.T.s, Savant Garde

-Another "Savant Garde" member, Met-L was a "degenerate" criminal who was arrested and placed in a facility that was manufacturing "hunter killers"- his girlfriend gave her life for his freedom, but he was still transformed, becoming an animal-themed "hunter-killer cyborg" for gladatorial purposes... and she was transformed into Cybernary. She was forced to kill him in battle, but downloaded a hard-copy of his personality into an automoton, called "Met-L". He's a super-strong robot with gadgets. And of course Savant put an insane Kill-O-Bot on her squad.

[Jabroniville]

MIRANDA
Created By: Steve Gerber & Jeff Rebner
First Appearance: Cybernary #1 (Nov. 1995)
Role: Cyber-Shrink
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None
'90s Ratio: 0/10 (not enough to go on)
Group Affiliations: Savant Garde

-Miranda is a "Cyber-Shrink" who helped Katrina/Yumiko get through their gestalt identity crisis. She escaped Gamorra alongside Cybernary during its civil war, then acted as Met-L's caretaker and pilot. She's said to accompany Met-L wherever he goes, "hidden in a secret compartment in the back of his armor".

[Jabroniville]

DISPERSE (Capri Toriamo)
Created By: Barbara Kesel & Ryan Odagawa
First Appearance: Savant Garde #1 (March 1997)
Role: Shapeshifter, Forgotten Character
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: Morph from X-Men: The Animated Series (I dunno- generic shapeshifter guy with Jim Lee hair-showing-mask, I guess)
'90s Ratio: 4/10 ('90s Hair & Face-Showing Mask)
Group Affiliations: WildC.A.T.s, Savant Garde

-Disperse is Capri Toriamo (Kesel a big fan of Winter or something?), a Shapeshifter who was raised on an alternate Earth with magical-centered technology. He took part in the violent overthrow of Lord Necros, who ruled his world, but left his world at the urging of his stepmother, who wanted a safer world for him.

-Disperse can take both the form, thoughts AND personality of the person he's mimicking for his power, though I've got no idea how powerful he really was. He can become animals and objects of many different sizes.

[HalloweenJack]

The issue with alot of anime is that with the long-running ones, it can be hard to get into becuase of the sheer amount of episodes (as well as having to figure out which ones are filler and which aren't, if you care about that.) It's one of the reasons why, while I like the Naruto and One Piece video games, I don't dare try to watch the anime given how huge and daunting their episode lists are, and the sheer amount of filler.

it was just the movie though. I watched it and was "meh."

Oh, the movie is a terrible introduction to Fist of the North Star, rocking animation aside. It tried to compress about 100 episodes of story into two hours with predictable results. Dropped characters, oversimplified plot resolutions, and a very disjointed narrative. You should try watching the TV series, as it is online and 100% free. The show is long at 152 episodes, but not so overwhelming compared to some other shonen like Dragonball, Naruto, One Piece, or Bleach. You could finish it in a few months if you watched semi-regularly.

I think still the show's influence on the whole genre of action cartoons is greatly underestimated. It was FotNS's runaway success that nudged Akira Toriyama to make Dragonball more focused on martial arts battles, and the chain reaction from that is being felt down to the present day. And it directly inspired Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, which was a major trendsetter in terms of character design for many video game designers in the 1990's.

Fun fact of the day: Akuma from SF was inspired by the character of Zodd the Immortal from Berserk, who in turn was a thinly veiled ripoff of Raoh from FotNS. Remember how I mentioned in another post that Ryu's design was altered to make him look darker? It was to make him look more like Guts, the protagonist of Berserk, who was heavily inspired by Kenshiro. Modern Street Fighter can therefore be considered a 'grandson' of FotNS by extension.

neato

[Ian Turner]

Wow, I'd never heard of any of these Cybernary-related characters!

Gives me hope to see other less-common Image folk like Taboo and Serge and the DV8 kids in the future, tho!

[drkrash]

I liked DV8!

[Jabroniville]

T.A.O. (aka "Tao", Tactically Agumented Organism)
Created By: Alan Moore & Travis Charest
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.s #21 (July 1995)
Role: The Mole, Misanthropic Robot
Marvel Character Most Ripped Off: None (evil robot guy)
'90s Ratio: 4/10 (misanthropic and with actions that are convoluted and don't make much sense)
Group Affiliations: WildC.A.T.s, The Syndicate
PL 10 (275), PL 12 (275) Mind-Reading
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA -- AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 12 AWARENESS 6 PRESENCE 6

Skills:
Deception 8 (+14)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+16)
Insight 8 (+14)
Intimidation 4 (+10)
Investigation 6 (+10)
Perception 6 (+12)
Persuasion 10 (+16)
Technology 4 (+16)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Assessment, Benefit 4 (Leads the Syndicate), Contacts, Eidetic Memory, Ranged Attack 4, Well-Informed

Powers:
"Android Physiology"
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 8 [8]
Quickness 16 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Actions) [8]

"Supreme Intellect"
"Knows Everything" Variable 5 (Skills & Knowledge) [35]
"Knows What You're Going To Do" Enhanced Advantages 4: Improved Initiative 4 [4]

"Super-Charisma" Mind Control 10 (Extras: Resisted By Insight, Area- Audio Perception) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (40) -- [42]

• AE: "See Your Secrets and Flaws" Mind-Reading 12 (Feats: Subtle 2) (Extras: Cumulative, Effortless) (Flaws: Limited to Secrets & Weaknesses, Hearing-Dependent) (26)
• AE: "Pressure Point Strike" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Extras: Cumulative) (16)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Pressure Point Strike +12 (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Super-Charisma +10 Area (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
See Secrets -- (DC 22)
Initiative +20

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +8, Fortitude --, Will +12

Complications:
Motivation (Destroying Humanity)- Tao was built to be super-intelligent, but all of his knowledge of history and humanity led him to believe that humans were a stupid bunch of cattle that should be destroyed. So he creates chaos all over the world, engaging in things for his own ends.
Enemy (John Lynch)- Lynch, of International Operations, is a specific enemy of Tao, having been manipulated by him in the past. He sent a mole to spy on the Syndicate, and later had Tao arrested.
Power Loss (Super-Charisma)- Tao cannot use his powers on those who are incredibly stupid, like Grunge & Freefall.

Total: Abilities: 96 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 127 / Defenses: 14 (275)

-T.A.O., later written as "Tao", is an android created by a subsidiary of Lord Emp's "Halo Corporation"- he grew from a childlike form very rapidly, and learned even more quickly, sneaking out to do so on his own. However, scouring secret government databases and reading human history led him to develop a misanthropic personality, feeling nothing but contempt for mankind (so... he's teenage me?). Despite showing no super-powers, T.A.O.'s intelligence and manipulative personality proved him quite useful to the WildC.A.T.s team that recruited him. He organized the team to start a war on crime, but manipulated things to get even worse- he was fomenting chaos deliberately so that more people would die. He arranged to have much of the team maimed (Savant, who loved T.A.O., was nearly killed by bullets meant for Grifter), and Mr. Majestic disintegrated him with his heat-vision.

-He revealed later that he had escaped, having hypnotized someone else into thinking that he was T.A.O. He joined a secret society that was manipuating humanity from behind the scenes, but in a funny bit, decides that they're ALSO beset by human frailties, and was disappointed- he'd wanted to find PEERS! So he builds "The Syndicate", a rival organization that does the same stuff. He now goes by "Tao". He was confounded in a mission involving Gen-13 because Grunge & Freefall were too stupid to comprehend his manipulations (this sounds like a derailing comedy issue), setting him up against their mentor, John Lynch. The Syndicate was thus attacked repeatedly, but Tao pitted Grifter against Lynch, nearly getting them both killed. A guy sent to spy on the Syndicate, named Carver, was left on his own when Lynch was put in a coma, and Tao revealed he'd known the whole time that he was a mole- this forced Carver to actually join them FOR REAL!

-Later, with The Authority controlling the U.S. government, Lynch went against Tao once more, and Carver finally turned against Tao for good- Grifter helped wipe out the remains of the Syndicate- Tao was imprisoned by Lynch's people. He later escaped, and used new powers to control the world's most powerful heroes and steal the "Creation Matrix" to attain Godhood, and nearly destroyed the whole planet before being stopped in a mega-battle where Lynch and Max Faraday led the WildC.A.T.s and Mister Majestic against Tao. Finally, Spartan convinces him to relinquish some power, as his love of chaos goes against what the Matrix stands for- finally, Grifter took advantage of his monologuing and shot him in the head, ending the threat- he disappears, giving his powers back to those who originally had them.

-Tao has a whole mess of abilities that actually make him very unique and dangerous- his brain works so quickly, and he is so insightful, that he effectively has a non-Psionic version of Mind Control and Mind-Reading, able to tell people's innermost secrets and control their actions just via his words! This is actually used by Sherlock's sister on Sherlock, humorously enough, but this is the first time I've built powers like that. This is effectively a really good, Subtle 2 version of Mind-Reading with some big Flaws (one of which is actually listed in the M&M rulebook- he needs to hear them to use the power), plus Mind Control that's resisted by INSIGHT, not a Will Save. In combat, he's not that great, and most of us stuff is geared towards being a PL 10 guy, but his entire gimmick is being too smart for you to catch, so the GM is being an asshole the entire time, and giving him chance after chance to escape.

[drkrash]

All these builds are confirming my decision to not bother looking at WildCATs past the first series.