Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Ken
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Darkness! Magdalena! Fathom! Darkchylde!)

Post by Ken »

drkrash wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2020 10:25 pm "Tittyverse." That's funny.
Well, I guess spacetime isn't flat. It's curved. Curved like... like... a ..
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
Jabroniville
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Quasimodo

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image

QUASIMODO (Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organism)
Created By:
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: The Fantastic Four Annual #4 (Nov. 1966)
Role: Evil Computer
Group Affiliations: The Solons
PL 10 (149)
STRENGTH
10 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 7 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 2 (+9)
Intimidation 4 (+4)
Perception 2 (+4)
Technology 6 (+13)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 8

Powers:
"Computer Link" Communication (Technology) 3 [12]
Eye Blast 12 (24) -- [25]
  • AE: "Tech Control" Affliction 8 (Tech Skill of Creator; Entranced/Compelled/Controlled) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception-Ranged +2, Affects Objects Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Technology) (24)
Regeneration 4 (Feats: Regrows Limbs) [5]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Eye Beam +8 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Tech Control -- (+8 Perception-Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +12, Fortitude +12, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Jerk)- Quasimodo tends to just act negatively and aggressively for no particular reason.

Total: Abilities: 78 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 42 / Defenses: 12 (149)

-Quasimodo is one of those minor-league, forgotten Silver Age characters that just kind of got left behind. I mean, Super-Skrull gets taken seriously TO THIS DAY, Mister freakin' HYDE shows up in stories every few years, and they still dust off the Impossible Man every once in a while. But Quasimodo? Quasimodo almost NEVER shows up. I chalk it up to him being kind of a "filler" design- he's just an ugly face on a robot body, lacking iconic elements like the "Computer-Image Face" Arnim Zola or the "Floating Head" M.O.D.O.K. and other goofball Kirby designs.

-Quasimodo is a sentient computer invented by the Mad Thinker, but abandoned as a failed idea. The Silver Sufer, now trapped on Earth by his former master Galactus, feels pity for the poor creature and creates a humanoid body for him. However, Quasi immediately becomes psychotically jealous of his still hideous body compared to the Surfer's perfect one, and attacks. He is promptly rendered immobile once more, and the Surfer takes his leave.

-Quasimodo thus became one of those "Journeyman Villains" traded around- he fought Captain Mar-Vell, The Beast, Spider-Man & Hawkeye, the Fantastic Four and Rom all in various "filler" issues as a one-off threat, until the Vision cast his consciousness into space. The character thus disappears for DECADES, turning up only in Dark Reign, where Norman Osborn gains access to him, and uses his services as an analyst, compiling dossiers on various superhumans so Marvel can sell Bio-Books on them (but I mean, who wants to read BIOS of COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS?). He has turned up very recently in a story involving Arno "Iron Man 2020" Stark.

-Quasimodo is Just Another Kill-O-Bot for the most part, though is a cyborg in this instance. Many times he's literally just an "immobile computer" and not a guy you actually punch to death, though.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Goldar
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Darkness! Magdalena! Fathom! Darkchylde!)

Post by Goldar »

Yay, someone I know!

Quasimodo always seemed an odd character to me, even for the late 1960's.

But I thought that writers would have used him a bit more often since they seemed to like him.
Curbludgeon
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Darkness! Magdalena! Fathom! Darkchylde!)

Post by Curbludgeon »

Ha, the storyline for Iron Man 2020 wasn't much to speak of, but the collecting of at least most Marvel AIs was fun. While I recognized characters like Herbie, the Awesome Android, and Machinesmith, I had to look up Quasimodo.

As someone whose 20th Century Image Comics intake has been intentionally limited to Astro City, The Maxx, and Scud, this recent run has been entertaining. Several of these series I only knew by reputation, and while these builds confirm some of my suspicions I really appreciate the effort, especially when it proved a slog for you to do the research.

I started looking through wikipedia's entry on Image titles just to see what later stuff could even be reasonably statted, and it really seems a mixed bag for which ComicVine didn't seem like it would be a big help. I don't know much about the publisher's history but it seemed to have expanded so much in the last 15 years or so that it would be hard to generalize between different titles.

To mention a couple of series: The Walking Dead seems to me like it would just be a PL 2-3 zombie with an Incurable Affliction and a whole bunch of PL 2-5or6 biographies that I like to think we've all collectively washed our hands of. I really enjoyed East of West, and was a little disappointed that Amazon decided to not develop a series based on it, even though alternate Civil War fiction is always kinda dicey, particularly when one adds magical Native Americans. If I were going to speculate, I'd say the current show Amazon series Raised by Wolves won that genre fiction slot. Regardless, there's a fair amount of Tell not Show in the books, and so several characters could be anywhere from PL 9-13. Once the last couple of issues of the second series of The Goddamned come out I want to read them back to back with the Noah graphic novel Aronofsky did with Image, both to contrast two very different versions of the same character and to get my Stonepunk on.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Darkness! Magdalena! Fathom! Darkchylde!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Curbludgeon wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:54 am Ha, the storyline for Iron Man 2020 wasn't much to speak of, but the collecting of at least most Marvel AIs was fun. While I recognized characters like Herbie, the Awesome Android, and Machinesmith, I had to look up Quasimodo.
Yeah, it's kinda funny- even going over my old "Cap" builds for re-posting, I came across this "Every AI Ever" story like 3-4 times, which is hilarious. It's become the new "Kraven's son captures every animal-themed villain for a zoo" and "Appears trapped in The Stranger's Lab" :).
To mention a couple of series: The Walking Dead seems to me like it would just be a PL 2-3 zombie with an Incurable Affliction and a whole bunch of PL 2-5or6 biographies that I like to think we've all collectively washed our hands of. I really enjoyed East of West, and was a little disappointed that Amazon decided to not develop a series based on it, even though alternate Civil War fiction is always kinda dicey, particularly when one adds magical Native Americans. If I were going to speculate, I'd say the current show Amazon series Raised by Wolves won that genre fiction slot. Regardless, there's a fair amount of Tell not Show in the books, and so several characters could be anywhere from PL 9-13. Once the last couple of issues of the second series of The Goddamned come out I want to read them back to back with the Noah graphic novel Aronofsky did with Image, both to contrast two very different versions of the same character and to get my Stonepunk on.
Oh yeah, Image is unrecognizable now. If anything, it's turned into a "prestige" brand of all things, effectively replacing Vertigo as the place bloody, sexually-charged "artistic" content goes in the comic book industry. The HBO of comics! The modern stuff has so little to do with the originals (which were largely "how can we make our X-Men stuff more graphic?") that it's essentially two entirely different companies. There's not even a shared world anymore! The only link is that Invincible counts as its own thing but occasionally had a crossover (and even then it was only SuperPatriot, Savage Dragon once, and Pitt one time).

It's not really anything worth statting anymore, but is probably far superior content-wise. Saga is routinely one of the best comics going, but is largely hard to stat (as many characters are either immensely overpowered or utterly useless in combat).
Jabroniville
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Poltergeist

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

POLTERGEIST (Michael Silk)
Created By:
Ann Nocenti & Brian Postman
First Appearance: Spider-Woman #49 (April 1983)
Role: Uncontrolled-Power Kid
Group Affiliations: None
PL 8 (22)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Teen Runaway) 2 (+2)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Psychokinesis"
"Random Events" Damage 8 (Feats: Variable 2- Any Descriptor) (Extras: Perception-Ranged +2) (Flaws: Uncontrolled) (18) -- [19]
  • AE: "Random Wide-Area Events" Damage 8 (Feats: Variable 2- Any Descriptor) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Uncontrolled) (18)
Offense:
Unarmed +0 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Random Events -- (+8 Perception-Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Wide-Area Events +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +0 (DC 10), Parry +0 (DC 10), Toughness +0, Fortitude +1, Will +2

Complications:
Responsibility (Uncontrolled Power)- For years, Poltergeist was unaware that HE was the source of the mysterious explosions that occurred where he went.

Total: Abilities: 0 / Skills: 2--1 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 19 / Defenses: 3 (22)

-Poltergeist is a Bystandery Bystander who has the classic "Uncontrolled Mutant Powers" schtick going on- he appeared in both Spider-Woman and the Dazzle/Beast Beauty and the Beast Mini-Series (and hey- look who wrote both!). He ran away from his foster parents owing to the mysterious circumstances surrounding his powers, and was generally pretty jumpy (as he didn't realize that HE was causing the explosions around him), and usually he ends up in the care of a female superhero (I think there's a male fantasy in there somewhere... one of mine when I was younger, at least). Spider-Woman, Tigra and Dazzler have all appointed themselves his caretakers at various points. When Jessica's spirit left her body at one point to fight Morgan Le Fay, her body temporarily died, and Poltergeist bailed in shock before her spirit could return, writing him out of that book- when he reappeared, he was involved in the underground Mutant Fighting Ring in B&TB, helping out Dazzler and the others. His friend Link rescued him from an aggressive fight promoter, and both decided to travel the world by themselves.

-Poltergeist hasn't appeared since the mid-80s, and was confirmed as de-powered on M-Day.

-His powers would be set off randomly by his emotional state, and consisted of explosions, fires, and other random events- essentially wide-reaching Damage with a Variable descriptor, on top of no other stats beyond Fortitude & Will (which tend to be higher in Mutants, even inexperienced ones).
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Link (Lorne Lincoln)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

LINK I (Lorne Lincoln)
Created By:
Ann Nocenti & Don Perlin
b]First Appearance:[/b] Beauty & The Beast #2 (Feb. 1985)
Role: Telekinetic Mime
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (50)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Expertise (Street Performer) 5 (+7)
Insight 2 (+3)
Ranged Combat (Telekinesis) 3 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+4)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Telekinesis"
Move Object 7 (Feats: Precise) (Extras: Damaging) [22]

Offense:
Unarmed +0 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
TK Attack +5 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Entertaining People)

Total: Abilities: 16 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 6 (50)

-Link is a pal of Poltergeist's from Ann Nocenti's Beauty and the Beast Limited Series, featuring Dazzle & Hank McCoy. He was a mime and juggler who loved entertaining the crowds, but found himself without a lot of cash. He found a haven for misfit mutants called the Heartbreak Hotel, where he befriended the series' heroes. When Dazzler was kidnapped by an underground gladatorial ring, Link & Poltergeist teamed up to rescue her, and he was kept from killing one of the bad guys by Dazzler. He's never reappeared, even when Nocenti wrote Daredevil for a number of years, and it's not known if he was de-powered on M-Day or not.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ian Turner
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Darkness! Magdalena! Fathom! Darkchylde!)

Post by Ian Turner »

Ooh, those dragons from the McFarlane line, if they'd been tied to a comic property, like the Spirit of the Tao book, which was dragon-themed, IIRC, that would have been synergy gold!

And aw, all done with the Imageverse? No Gen 14? No Weapon Zero, or Ascension or Divine Right, no Spirit of the Tao? No Serge?

I kid. You've endured enough. :)

Thanks for this trip down memory lane, and all the horrible, horrible things I paid perfectly good money for, in my (literally) misspent youth.
Scrollreader
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Darkness! Magdalena! Fathom! Darkchylde!)

Post by Scrollreader »

Dazzler supporting characters? Dear God, Jab. That's commitment (or a need to be Committed). As always, you go above and beyond.

This thread continues to be awesome, and an incredibly fertile ground for reskinned NPCs for my games. (Several interesting but basically undeveloped powersets got grabbed for my Hero High game to fill out the school, and my Prime-8 is basically a loving homage to the Serpent Society (only monkey themed), which I only know of thanks to you).
Jabroniville
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WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

WWF WRESTLEMANIA- THE ARCADE GAME:

Many years ago, HalloweenJack, back when he merely lurked in my Atomic Think Tank thread, asked me to do some builds of the WrestleMania Arcade Game, a Mortal Kombat-style digitized fighting game starring the WWF superstars, in honor of the upcoming WrestleMania 29 Pay-Per-View. And I figured... well, why not? I'd been looking for a way to throw my love of pro wrestling into the Think Tank for years, but was always troubled by how similar all the guys would be to each other (it's like Fighting Games, but with few Special Moves), since they're all "Human-Level Guy With Some Grappling & a Finishing Move". But a Fighting Game featuring said guys throwing down with Blasts & Hammers and stuff? Fits much better.

So yeah, I've been a wrestling fan as long as I've been a comic book fan- there's a lot of similarities, both being homo-erotic power-fantasies directed at a male audience and featuring superhuman adversaries pounding away at each other in a manner that would kill any normal person. Hell, for eons, I would say I was a BIGGER wrestling fan- I can easily hammer out as much wrestling trivia as I could comic book trivia, and until wrestling got REALLY bad in the 2000s, it wasn't even close. Only now am I really into comics on a bigger level. I prefer to think of it on the same level as comics or martial arts cinema- it's a soap opera for dudes, featuring awesome fight scenes. Wrestling has had an influence on pop culture anyhow- aside from a few wrestlers having middling-to-decent success with films (The Rock, Roddy Piper & Hulk Hogan are the only three, really), a lot of anime was inspired by "puroresu" (pro wrestling) in Japan (the whole "arms race" of guys learning new special moves to counter each other is a direct attribute of how wrestling over there works), and vice-versa (with Ultimate Muscle and other things). A lot of people discount it as a white trash hobby (and you could find plenty of evidence supporting that), but some of the business is just AWESOME, and has some great stories going for it.

The Game Itself:
An odd fit, the game came out during a "down time" for the business- The New Generation Era, but right when Diesel left for WCW, meaning it was a transitional era, where a lot of guys would soon be leaving. It wasn't an overly-great game, featuring low-tier "Mortal Kombat"-style gameplay with silly moves. The graphics were quite awesome, though, with giant super-sized sprites. The roster is borderline "Primal Rage" in smallness, but at least it's pretty. It got released to most of the home systems, but it was the transitional era when the ports started looking worse and worse than the arcade versions, so most weren't that good, and omitted characters.

Great wrestling video games are easy to come by, so it's a bit odd that I'd focus on a mediocre one. The "WCW vs. nWo Revenge" WCW game was PHENOMENAL, as were several WWF-based games in the '90s ("WrestleFest" is a legend). Even today there are good games being released- they're basically like longer-lasting Fighting Games, with different kinds of strategies.

The Roster:
Bam Bam Bigelow- A Monster Heel who turned good later on, but would be de-pushed soon enough.
Bret "Hit Man" Hart- An old-school technical wrestler and Canadian hero, who was a Main Eventer who often got screwed around.
Doink the Clown- A midcard heel act turned into a generic pranking Babyface. He became notorious for being annoying, but his initial character was pretty rad.
Lex Luger- An American Patriot character with a body most bodybuilders would kill for. His massive main event push never panned out.
Razor Ramon- A big-time Intercontinental Title holder (it's the secondary belt), who would oddly debut in WCW BEFORE Diesel/Kevin Nash, making his inclusion odd.
Shawn Michaels- A World Champion who had finally hit the peak, doing a "sexy boy" gimmick, but as a good guy.
The Undertaker- A top-tier Gimmick of an undead warrior, and one of the most enduring acts in wrestling history.
Yokozuna- A former World Champion Monster Heel who was on his way down. His 600-lb. bulk was his most notable feature.

A sequel, In Your House (named after a PPV series that would take place between major Pay-Per-Views), came out a year later, and would drop everyone but Bret, Shawn & Undertaker (most of the others had left the company by that point already). It would boast a ten-man roster, though. The game was pretty awful, and some drastic money issues at Acclaim (it was misrepresenting its profits by hiding the money it set aside for when retailers returned unsold games; this resulted in legal action from shareholders) put the kibosh on advertising. This came out during the PEAK of my fandom, and yet I'd never heard of it until much later.

It added:
The Ultimate Warrior- One of the great 1980s/early 90s gimmicks, the Warrior would return for a short-lived run in the mid-90s, before his craziness and unprofessionalism would take over behind the scenes.
Vader- A WCW star turned potential Monster Heel.
"The British Bulldog" Davey-Boy Smith- A powerhouse who could be carried to great matches, but was always a mid-tier guy who could only KIND OF grapple with top-tier names.
Goldust- A modern-day "Gorgeous George", playing it up that he's legitimately gay for his opponents.
Owen Hart- Bret's younger brother, turned into a snotty, whiny Heel.
Hunter Hearst-Helmsley- A midcard Heel doing a prissy snob Gimmick.
Ahmed Johnson- A huge black guy powerhouse who was tearing it up with the Intercontinental Title, but flamed out quickly.

All-in-all, it's fifteen builds, mostly set up like Fighting Game characters (like Martial Artists, but with some small Super-Powers). And lots of my trademark rants, but about the wrestlers' history and abilities and junk. I'll also use my favourite Wrestler Rating System that Bret Hart introduced in his masterpiece Autobiography. He would rate guys in their Look ("looking tough is more important than BEING tough"), Skill (ability to have good matches), and Charisma (ability to get the crowds into him, or cut Promos).
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Wrestling Terminology

Post by Jabroniville »

WRESTLING TERMINOLOGY:
* some of this stuff just generally needs to be learned to know what I'm talking about sometimes. Some of it's just me going on & on like I tend to do.

Booker- The guy who writes the storylines, sometimes the boss of the company. Vince McMahon is the owner and Head Booker of WWE, even though he really just okays most storylines. He's the boss, in any case.
Jobbing/Jobber- Losing a match in a scripted manner was colloquially-known as "doing the job", since it was a wrestler's job to do what he was told. It soon got verbed into "Jobbing", and guys who ONLY do jobs are called "Jobbers" (you know them as Barry Horowitz, The Brooklyn Brawler and what Jim Powers turned into- they're guys who are usually local boys who lose to up & coming stars on TV). A "Jobber To The Stars" is more common these days, and is a guy who will beat Jobbers, but still lose to any reasonable star. Examples include Koko B. Ware in the WWF, and guys like Freddie Joe Floyd, Bob Holly (before he got a push), and others.
Going Over- Winning. "Shawn Michaels went over Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII", for example.
A Work- Carny-speak for "fake" or "con". Wrestlers aren't REALLY fighting, so the fight is "a work". A guy who bites down on a blood capsule to look like he's bleeding is using "worked blood", etc.
A Shoot- A real thing. A guy who throws a legit punch that actually hurts threw a "Shoot punch". A few wrestlers over the years have done "shoots" for real, legitimately grappling their foes and winning (very rare nowadays), while others can "shoot" in interviews, throwing out legitimate points or grievances (this got REALLY COMMON in the 1990s).
A Worked-Shoot- Basically taking a legit grievance but using it in the storyline. Very popular in the '90s again- guys would often complain about getting held back by others, or guys who legitimately didn't like each other would be programmed against each other, thus getting fans "in the know" into it. X-Pac made his big return to the WWF by ripping on his old bosses at WCW ("Eric Bischoff is shoved so far up Hulk Hogan's ass, he knows what he had for BREAKFAST!!").
Shooter- A legitimate wrestler who could defend himself. NWA World Champions often had to be Shooters to protect themselves in case an opponent decided to start "shooting" and winning for real, because you can't very well tell the fans that it's fake and that's why they fired some guy who just beat their champion.
Carrying- A good worker can "Carry" a bad worker to a good match. Ric Flair had the fabled "Broomstick" reputation- he could carry a broomstick to a good match (*** out of five potential stars in the fan-termed "rating scale"), and the true measure of a guy's skill was how much HIGHER than *** he could get if he wrestled Flair.
Promo- Interview. Guys eventually came to be cheered for and pushed based off of their Promos as their in-ring work, as Hulk Hogan will attest.
Mark- A fan not "in the know", who thinks it's all real.
Smart- A "Smart" fan knows it's fake.
Smart Mark- A derogatory remark of workers to modern-day fans (who ALL generally know the con)- basically they act like they're in the know, when they really know nothing. Wrestlers REALLY hate it when fans use a lot of "insider terminology" and use wrestler's real names, and get this remark tossed at them.
Kayfabe- A carney term (means "Fake" in Pig Latin, sorta) to refer to the general fakeness of the business. Like "keeping kayfabe" is keeping the illusion that it's all real. "Breaking kayfabe" means revealing the con to an outsider.

Babyface- Rarely shortened to "Face" except on the internet, these are the good guys. Often called "Fan Favourites" on TV. "Technico" in Mexico.
Heel- The villains. A "Tweener" is rarely-seen, but usually picks one or the other. In the 1990s, guys kind of dropped the distinctions and everyone started cheating and being nasty, but there were still obvious fan-favourites and bad guys. "Rudo" in Mexico.
Worker- Wrestling-code for "a wrestler who is going with the script", ie. a fake wrestler. They usually call themselves workers. A "Good Worker" is a guy who can have good matches, make others look good, and not hurt anyone legitimately. A "Bad Worker" often botches moves, hurts his opponent legitimately, or makes guys look bad. A lot of smaller, faster guys are good workers, while larger guys can struggle.
Selling- Pretending you are hurt (this is an acting term as well). Some guys "No-Sell" (Undertaker & Kane) as part of their Gimmick, other guys are just really bad at it or intentionally don't act hurt to make themselves look better (too many guys to name), some guys OVER-sell (Shawn Michaels often did full-on backrolls and flips upon being struck), and others can sell realistically, or just forget that certain body parts are supposed to be hurt after a while. I consider Bret Hart the best seller ever, because he always looked LEGITIMATELY hurt. Most other guys are just really good at making all of his opponent's offense look great- Ricky Steamboat was terrific at this.
Push- Guys being trotted out and winning extensively are said to be getting "pushed". This obviously fits comic books as well (ie. Jeph Loeb pushed Red Hulk, DC always pushes Superman and de-pushes Captain Marvel, etc.). Pushes come and go, and some guys NEVER stop getting pushed.
The Cyclical Nature of the Business- an old cliche (often trotted out by guys on top during eras that aren't so popular to come up with a reason why they don't suck) that the business goes through various fads. Each territory would tend to do this, so there's some truth to it, though it's largely because companies often don't replace their tired acts soon enough, and so the fans don't have anyone new to cheer for. Generally doesn't happen so much anymore now that there's a steady revenue stream going, but it used to ax companies ALL THE TIME.

Getting Over- Becoming popular or drawing a reaction. A match can "get over", as can a wrestler. A loud crowd reaction is called a "Pop".
Heat- is the bad-guy alternative- if the crowd boos, the Heel is doing his job.
X-Pac Heat- Termed for the heat a bad guy gets that he perhaps SHOULDN'T be getting. Basically, the fans legitimately hate the person and don't want to see him, not just "hey he's a bad guy- BOOOOO!" So named for X-Pac, who's weasely attitude and over-pushed nature caused him to draw MAJOR heat from the fans, chanting "X-Pac Sucks" even when he was supposed to be the GOOD GUY! TV Tropes kind of modified this over time, but basically it's short for "the wrong kind of heat". Fans tune out, rather than tune in to see him geat beaten up.
Angle- A storyline or event that occurs. Like a "Contract Signing Angle" (contract signings always lead to beat-downs), or a long-running plotline.
Gimmick- A character with some kind of schtick, like how Big Boss Man had a cop/prison guard Gimmick, or Henry O. Godwinn was a hog farmer. Many of these are rather goofy & cartoonish, especially in Vince McMahon's WWF.
Blading- How guys bleed on TV- they take little razorblades from their wrist tape and cut their foreheads quickly. Some are more obvious with it (I've seen referees get caught handing the wrestlers the "gig" on-camera), while others are zen masters (Shawn Michaels can cut himself in mid-jump without anyone noticing).
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Wrestling History

Post by Jabroniville »

A BRIEF HISTORY OF WRESTLING:

THE BEFORE TIME (in the long, long-ago):

Opinions vary on exactly WHEN wrestling became "fake", but generally it stems from the old Carnival shows (wrestling uses a lot of Carney terminology), where they'd trot out Strongmen to take on village boys in their travelling shows. And also from legit wrestlers who discovered that they could fake a fight that would be more popular and exciting than a real one (watch some of the early UFC shows of Severn & Shamrock circling each other for half an hour if you disbelieve that). In the end, pretty much all professional wrestling would become a mixture of sports and showmanship, taking legitimate athletes (Ed "Strangler" Lewis & Lou Thesz were TOUGH men) and pretty-boy actors and making a fictional show out of it. Guys would start adding Gimmicks once Gorgeous George performed his flagrantly-effeminate act to homophobic audiences, and pockets of wrestling showed up all over the world.

In America, the Territory system sprouted up, with the National Wrestling Alliance being the overall "governing body". Essentially, each territory (taking up a few states) would have it's own shows, acts and workers, but a "World Champion" would be voted for amongst all the governing members, and he would go between territories to drum up business. The Champion often had to be a Shooter in case someone tried to pull a double-cross (happened more than once), so you tended to get long runs of certain guys (like Thesz especially). Certain territories would be bigger than others, and often went through cycles in business, as their hot acts would fade out or get less popular. The various big companies included WCCW in Texas (the Von Erichs territory), Mid-South (Bill Watts'), Georgia (where Ric Flair hit his peak, and what became WCW came from), New York (the McMahons), Memphis (Jerry Lawler's) and the AWA (much of the Northern areas with Verne Gagne's company).

The World Wide Wrestling Federation (which would drop a "W" at some point) split off, as did the AWA, when both companies figured their Champions would be better-served as World Champions, and various double-crosses took place. So we had The Big Three with the NWA, AWA (with owner Verne Gagne as Head Booker & Champion) and WWWF (with ethnic champions like Bruno Sammartino & Pedro Morales tearing it up in the heavily-immigrantish New York area). The companies were rivals, but also worked together (many Champion vs. Champion matches took place).

THE ROCK & WRESTLING ERA:
When Vince McMahon Jr. bought the business out from his ailing father, he soon forged a path of innovation, going national (a big faux pas in those days). He invaded other territories' biggest stars (the AWA lost Bobby Heenan and an up & comer named Hulk Hogan, for instance) and formed a SUPER-territory with the WWF, which then went national on the newfangled cable & syndicated shows, directly threatening other territories' programming. The NWA & AWA responded in kind, but were less-successful (the AWA would never recover from Hogan's leaving, and folded in the early-90s), and soon Vince would hit up on a great idea, mixing the then-famous Cyndi Lauper & Mr. T in with his superstars, and forging The Rock & Wrestling Era. Wrestling became a HUGE fad with Hulk Hogan as the dominant star of the era, and he would beat countless Heel opposition for years, making millions in the process. "WrestleMania" would become synonymous with the business, and make huge Pay-Per-View numbers, and Vince's obsession with muscular physiques ("he ain't gay, but he missed a hell of an opportunity"- sez Jim Cornette) led to a proliferation of steroids, and drug & painkiller use became the name of the game.

Hogan's enemies included Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, a snivelling weasel of a manager, King Kong Bundy, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (a super-charismatic asshole who had manic drug-induced interviews), Andre the Giant (a Hogan buddy who turned on him, jealous of his success. The ULTIMATE Monster Heel), "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (the ULTIMATE Rich Asshole. Lex Luthor WISHES he was as awesome as Ted), and "Macho Man" Randy Savage (a Hogan friend who got jealous of Hogan's relationship with his manager Miss Elizabeth, turning on him). All superstars- Savage in particular is my favourite wrestler ever, and perfected every aspect of the business- Hogan was nobody's idea of a "Good Worker", but Savage could make ANYBODY look good.

This era would last from the mid-1980s to the early-1990s, as Hogan's star appeal faded, many pushes petered out, and the company failed to replace the Hulkster as the top star. The Ultimate Warrior was a solid shot, but he never really connected the way Hogan did, and the Heels he wrestled failed to capure the star of Andre, DiBiase or Savage. Therefore, business faltered. The NWA was doing pretty well at this time with Ric Flair, Lex Luger & Sting as it's top stars (the Georgia territory became WCW and went national itself, eventually dropping the dead NWA concept), but was an obvious #2, despite generally having better Workers on top (the WWF had more cartoony Monsters who were much slower).

THE NEW GENERATION:
With business on a downturn, Vince turned to Randy Savage for a while as the top dog (Hogan had retired to do some acting), then switched to Bret Hart (a tag team wrestler during the Rock & Wrestling Era with the great Hart Foundation), bringing some great workers to the forefront. But business never really took up, even with Hogan returning, Bret dropping to guys like Shawn Michaels, the push of WCW guy Lex Luger as a wannabe Hulk Hogan, and more. He called the new era "The New Generation", and began to mock WCW's attempts at recapturing WWF's old success, but things took years to get better. Despite better Workers on top, things were crappy.

WCW AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER:
Meanwhile, WCW suddenly hit a HUGE surge, and started kicking ass. Though Hulk Hogan jumping ship failed to set the world on fire, copying an Angle he saw in Japanese wrestling, Eric Bischoff started an "invasion" angle- the concept was a bunch of invaders from another company would come into WCW and try to "take over" (in New Japan Pro Wrestling, a bunch of guys from a dead company would enter and do the same thing, and it did huge business over there), while in WCW, it was the ex-WWF guys Hogan, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash. This New World Order was the EXACT shot in the arm WCW needed, and soon fans were wearing "nWo" t-shirts all over the place, and getting into the cool promos and weird imagery the stable of guys used- as the nWo's ranks grew, they took over nearly all WCW programming, while at the same time tons of new acts were produced on Ted Turner's dime (Turner owned WCW), such as Cruiserweights, guys who threw out a high-tempo, athletic style.

WCW kicked the WWF's ASS for a few years, while Vince desperately struggled. But they would rise like Lazarus soon enough...

THE ATTITUDE ERA:
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a former NWA affiliate that became a huge indie sensation in the mid-90s, taking the Grunge Era of music's anarchic sentiment and making adult-themed (ie. boobs & blood) angles and setting the stage for huge brawls, Cruiserweight wrestling, and insanely awesome stuff. It's big star Raven would wrestle The Sandman and both seduce his wife and brainwash his young son against him, and crucify him, among other things. It would never really attain national fame, but the "Riotous College Mayhem" (as I call it) would be used by the richer WWF to stage it's comeback- a similar style would create the biggest peak in business since the 1980s.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a WCW reject and a Heel character, would light the spark with his bitter, angry, swear-filled Promos (swearing soon became standard-issue in the WWF thanks to ECW's influence), and he soon became a mega-star after a year straight of solid pushing. He had one of wrestling's greatest matches with Bret Hart where they switched positions- Bret was a Babyface but was enraged into doing excessive harm, and Austin came across as a crazy bad-ass for refusing to tap out to Bret's Sharpshooter submission hold, creating the iconic image of Austin's bloodied, pained face as he refused to give in. When Vince McMahon did a hugely douchebaggy thing by publically-screwing Bret Hart out of the WWF Title (the "Montreal Screwjob") by ordering the ref to ring the bell, and would set the Heat he'd get off of that into becoming the Evil Corporate Heel to Austin's "Everyman Ass-Kicker".

Adding in new faces like The Rock (a young athlete who embodied arrogance and charisma), Mankind (nerdy Mick Foley, who turned a goofy everyman character who was nonetheless crazy, obsessive and a vicious brawler while at the same time being sweet and endearing to fans), Sable (a breast-implanted Playboy cover girl who "wrestled" in poor matches but showed lots of skin), Triple-H (a former New Generation midcard act who got a REALLY huge push from McMahon, who loved him, as a bad-ass Corporate Heel) and more, and you had the next big Boom Period, even bigger than the last. This would stick around for YEARS, until eventually some acts got tired, The Rock moved on to acting in movies, Austin & Mankind retired, Triple-H got over-pushed, and fans tuned out.

WCW, for all it brought to the business, was run by incompetents who couldn't counter-act Vince's risen WWF. Though they had hot acts like Bill Goldberg, the nWo got tired (this happens OVER AND OVER AGAIN and nobody ever learns), and the guys on top got old and lazy, and WCW would soon be dead, which was UNTHINKABLE only a couple years earlier. The WWF eventually bought WCW and all of it's contracts and video libraries, becoming the Sole Company in North America worth a damn.

THE MODERN ERA:
Things are still OKAY, but not at the peak they once were. With a new name change thanks to a badly-fought lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund, the WWE's new acts like John Cena (a physical specimen unlike any other- basically Matt Damon on HGH who has a light sweat worked up after ONE HOUR MATCHES), Dave Batista (who played Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy), Brock Lesnar (a God Among Men who left quickly after failing to have a real love of the business and becoming a UFC star) and others would be popular, but lacked the edge of old names. Triple-H would marry Vince McMahon's daughter and push himself EPICALLY, ruining countless careers in the process before finally losing to a series of up & comers, so the internet fans don't like him, and neither do a lot of the Attitude Era big stars. He's now the heir apparent to the WWF, but is semi-retired. A series of high-profile wrestler deaths (and the murder-suicide of Chris Benoit) has left a bad taste in a LOT of people's mouths, and I can't even bring myself to watch anymore, despite the average in-ring talent level actually being the best in a long time. The stories & angles are just too poorly-thought-out, and every wrestler is the same bland ripped guy, compared to the more diverse roster in days past.

The only real competition to the WWF was TNA (Total Nonstop Action), which is an indie fed that's no REAL competition, but can put out some good stuff. It'll never scratch WWE, though. AEW has provided a true modern comparison, with Indie-riffic wrestling and guys who left WWE's control to perfect their art elsewhere.

WRESTLING IN OTHER LANDS:
Mexico: Called "Lucha Libre" (free fighting), it's based around machismo, and features Grizzled Tough Guy Veterans and Masked High-Fliers in equal number. The rival companies bounce back and forth, but the West just sees the goofy masked heroes. The mega-star of Mexico was El Santo, a HUGE star and ethnic hero who was considered a national hero, and was buried with his mask on. Some high-fliers came to the States and revolutionized the Cruiserweight style.

England & Europe: Smaller business, but often has some legit grapplers. I don't know too much about them.

Japan: Forged a more "legit" style like the old NWA style of the 1960s & 70s, though New Japan's Antonio Inoki (the same guy who sat on his back and kicked at Muhammed Ali's knees one time) would merge a lot of martial arts into a fake MMA-type style (Japan would popularize it first, then the States would take over). New Japan was more flash and faux martial arts and submissions, All Japan was more "legit strong guys" who would hit each other with ever-increasing super-moves and neck-breaking holds (culminating with the death of Mitsuharu Misawa a couple years ago from a bad fall in the ring). Japan generally favours Good Workers over interviews, and long segments of chain-wrestling and submissions, as well as starting the popularization of high-flying stuff (the legendary Tiger Mask against the British Dynamite Kid sparked it off). Generally speaking, Japan innovates moves and styles first (often with the WOMEN pro wrestlers first, oddly enough- "Joshi Puroresu" can be just as good as the men's stuff, though the girls are more fragile and have shorter careers- The Crush Gals were a pop cultural PHENOMENON in 1980s Japan), then the American Indie scene (small territories) picks them up, and then the Big American Companies start hiring some of those guys (watch modern-day C.M. Punk and his New & All Japan-inspired offense, or Samoa Joe in TNA).
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Sep 26, 2020 3:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ian Turner
Posts: 220
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:54 pm

Re: Quasimodo

Post by Ian Turner »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 1:55 am Image
Seeing *that* after posts on Darkchylde, Avengelyne, Fathom, etc. I was like 'worst... fanservice... ever.'
User avatar
Spam
Posts: 147
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 12:17 am

Re: Jab’s Builds! (Fathom! Darkchylde! WWF WrestleMania!)

Post by Spam »

I remember watching the old AWA matches way back when (George the Animal Steele, Baron Zhukov... oh, the memories). I followed it on and off till the late 90s, when my mom and I would watch WCW Monday Nitro at dinner after work (we lived in Alaska, so all the stuff that was on at 8 or 9 PM in the lower 48 would come on at around 5), and drive my dad crazy pretending that it was real. After WCW petered out I never really followed over to the WWE. And since my all time favorite wrestler ever was a guy named Chris Benoit, the enthusiasm to get back into just isn't there anymore. Although I did love Lucha Underground.
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HalloweenJack
Posts: 1270
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 8:50 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds! (Fathom! Darkchylde! WWF WrestleMania!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

Jab, Jab, Jabareeno...I look forward to this just so we can cross swords on Goldust.


Also, you neglected to mention Ahmed Johnson was the scariest mofo you've ever seen.
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