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

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

The New Mutants

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE NEW MUTANTS:
Mutants As Metaphor:
-The idea that Mutants were a perfect metaphor for one's Teen Years came to me a little late. Early on, it was a simple metaphor for prejudice- using a fictional minority to show the absurdities and horrors of man's inhumanity for "the others" among them. And of course, it WORKS for that, and will pretty much always stay relevant so long as there is more than one person remaining on the Earth. But eventually, it was like someone went "oh yeah- powers tend to activate in late adolescence" and everything came together on the OTHER metaphor. So like... you're thirteen years old, you suddenly undergo this great physical change, and suddenly you don't know how to control yourself, everyone seems against you, you feel like rebelling against everything, the world no longer makes sense... oh, and there's a whole group of people just like you, so you can belong with THEM. I mean, how is that NOT perfect? Teens going through puberty both dread feeling like outcasts, and yet they both crave and REVEL in being outcasts (so long as there are others like them), so the idea of things like the New Mutants (or the subsequent 900 knock-offs) is beyond perfect. They want to belong... but they also want to go "f*ck you, society- I don't WANT your conformity!"

Possibly Claremont's Finest Work:
-What can be said about this series? I managed to get almost the entire run (missing about 8-10 issues total, which I eventually found) in one go at a local comic shop for around 100 bucks, and MAN was it worth it. It’s hard to describe just what made this book so great. Debuting in the early 1980s, during the peak of the X-books’ creativity, they were the brainchild of Chris Claremont, who basically was forced by Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter to “make Xavier’s a school again”. Chris did his best to avoid having Wolverine & Storm handing in tests and homework by turning that idea into a NEW batch of students, this time straight-up teenagers (way younger than even the early X-Men of the ‘60s).

-Re-using the “Team From Around the World” concept, Claremont introduced (in Marvel’s Graphic Novel series) Sunspot (a Brazilian wannabe lothario), Danielle Moonstar (a smart-mouthed Cheyenne with the stereotypical look but WAY more attitude), Wolfsbane (a good little Christian girl at conflict with her mutancy, her body and her emotions), Cannonball (a good-old Southern Boy who was rather bright and responsible), and Karma (a young girl introduced in Marvel Team-Up a while before- a Vietnamese girl with an evil uncle and two siblings to take care of).

Rookie Heroes Done Right:
-Notice how I didn’t even list their powers there? That’s because their personalities were so much more important to the series. Everyone played against each other PERFECTLY, and is probably the closest comics have ever come to truly capturing the emotions and mental states of teenagers. It had all the self-doubt, angst and random crushes that typify teenager interaction. Fans wrote in early on about how it was PERFECT teen-based storytelling, capturing the real doubts and fears of kids, rather than making them catchphrase-spouting mall-going dipshits like most books did. Compare Johnny Storm in the '60s to these guys (or, God forbid, the "Jive-Talking" Teen Titans)- I don't think the sheer suckiness of going through puberty has ever been done any better than right here.

-Not that their powers weren’t handled very well- what I loved about this book is that their powers SUCKED at first. I mean, this was the worst superhero team in history- Sunspot was super-strong, but only for minutes at a time. Cannonball was near-invulnerable but couldn’t aim to save his life, and his flying was ludicrously bad (he could only travel in one direction). Moonstar could barely control her Fear-Images. Karma could possess one person at a time. Even Magma (who was added later, as the book got weird immediately by giving us a geokinetic girl from a long-lost Ancient Roman civilization… in Brazil) couldn’t handle her powers well. Compare that to the 2000s-take on the New Mutants with the New X-Men: Academy X kids. Every freaking one of them was basically PL 7-8 right out of the gate, doing awesome power stunts and having great control over their powers. You had Wind Dancer using funky Power Feats, Wallflower developing Pheromone control ultra-fast, Prodigy having great strategy in their first fight, etc. Almost no limits or drawbacks at all. The original New Mutants were so bad that common thugs were a danger.

The Darkest Damn Comic Ever:
-The book was also EXTREMELY dark and mature for a comic book, especially one that featured mainly young children. One issue had a secretly-mutant kid get teased by others for being a "Mutie" (they didn’t even know he WAS one- they were just bugging him by using a popular minority to hate- the equivalent of teen boys calling each other "gay" today)- instead of having a happy ending, we see him befriend the New Mutants, accidentally piss them off by sharing some "funny" Anti-Mutie humor to break the ice, and then COMMIT F*CKING SUICIDE after being taunted a little too far by his tormentors. This led to an ultra-sad funeral scene, where the New Mutants discover that he WAS a Mutant all along, allowing Kitty to list off the entire roster of racial & homophobic slurs she knew (a weird recurring trend in the X-books if you read them for long enough) during a eulogy about hate.

-In another issue, the kids thought Karma was killed (she was written out of the book- Put On A Bus- because her character was rather boring). You had divorce, child abuse, drug abuse, etc. all dealt with, back when that wasn’t as forced as it tends to be today. Later, Dani gains the "Death Sight" of a Valkyrie, and has to engage in an argument with Death, who had come for her childhood friend (a boy she once humiliated by accidentally showing everyone his heart's desire- their wedding day). How many other Teen Hero books feature mature, drawn-out debates with Death? "Tell me child, and I so terrible?" "You CAUSE PAIN!" "And end it."

-Which doesn't even get into their Secret Wars II crossover. In which The Beyonder, trying to comprehend humanity, casually decides to murder the entire team, one after the other. He does so out of piqued curiosity, and immediately resurrects them, satisfied with whatever he's learned. Except he LEFT THEM WITH THE MEMORIES OF THEIR DEATHS. This led to several horrifically-dark issues in which the kids were at their wit's end, so depressed and shattered they won't react emotionally to anything around them, leading the teachers of both the New Mutants AND the Hellions to join forces and try to repair their frayed psyches. This remains quite possibly the most evil thing I've ever seen a writer to do their characters. To YOUNG TEENS.

-Bill Seinkewicz, who took over quite early on the art, was brilliant, even though he tended to use the “Electro-Shock” hair look on too many people (Cannonball, Warlock & Legion especially). It’s the darkest and oddest art I’ve ever seen used regularly in comics, and stands out particularly on a book that featured a roster of kids. In effect, it was rather perfect, as these weird, quirky outsiders now had the bizarre appearances to really show how "off" they were. While other Teen Books were brightly-lit, happy-fun-adventures; these hyper-shaded, too-skinny kids looked borderline inhuman and strange, and yet photorealistic at the same time. Never mind how he drew a certain ursine bad guy.

The Early Years:
-The early years of the book felt a bit different, as the art was more typical, with more standard artists (Bob McLeod & Sal Buscema were both capable, but not spectacular, craftsmen). Things got weird almost right away when the kids went on a trip to visit Roberto's parents in Brazil, only to find a long-lost ROMAN CIVILIZATION in the Amazon Jungle, thus earning them a new teammate and an Ancient Unkillable Witch for an enemy (Selene, the Black Queen). Pretty quickly, Karma was thought killed and vanished from the book. The book went off-the-wall crazy with Warlock, a shape-shifting goofball alien who hid massive firepower, and we got Cypher, who proved once and for all that not every mutant power was awesome- while also proving that the lowest-powered guy on the team will usually be the one to save the day. Plus of course Magik, who was a horribly psychotic and possibly-evil little girl with vast Satanic magical powers. Did I mention that kids revel in being outcasts, while at the same time dreading it? Well guess who ended up being the book's most popular character?

-The Hellions were awesome as well. Linked to Emma Frost (back when she was a villain), they were a classic “Rival School”, except with super-powers, and their initially-violent feud with the Mutants later turned to more casual rivalry, with contests, snark and mutual respect (and mutual hatred of Empath, the dickiest dick who ever dicked it up in comics, who was a Hellion).

-Not enough can be said about the first fifty-some issues of this book (though by the Gods, that three-parter with Cloak & Dagger was and remains a chore to get through). The big #50 issue, where the team confronts The Magus, Warlock’s evil father, and uses a bunch of PL 7-8 level powers to battle a PL 17 star-killing menace, while under Professor X’s guidance in outer space is one of the most underrated books I’ve ever read (seriously, I’ve never heard much praise for it at all). And then when Magneto takes over the school, we get a whole different side of him as he’s forced to deal with kids WAY younger than he has any comfort level talking to, yet he takes the job absolutely seriously. Magneto in The New Mutants was even better when he was leading the X-Men- watching the merciless Master of Magnetism suddenly have to deal with trying to reassure young teens? And sometimes SUCCEEDING? Awesome stuff. There's a fun one where some brutes rough up and nearly sexually assault Dani. The kids plot some sweet, sweet revenge, only to be prevented from doing so by their heartless, uncool teacher. So they sneak over to the frathouse or whatever, hide out... and watch Magneto tear the place apart, putting the fear of God into those assholes.

-One of my favorite conversations is when Magneto is trying to confer with Illyana over her dark nature- Magneto confesses to sometimes wanting to give in and become the monster humanity thinks he is. Illyana talks about wanting to be good... while the art shows a horrible, inhuman smile creeping across her shadow-ridden face.

Then Louise Simonson took over:
-And the book started to suck. Bret Blevins on art made everyone look like they were thirteen again, all the dialogue was infantile, Magneto was often out of character (I can’t imagine someone with his grandeur ever stating “What the heck was that!?”), and they started REALLY over-using the “no, let’s not tell the grown-ups and go sneak off to save the day ourselves and get in over our heads” trope to the point of ridiculousness. I mean, in the early issues, the Mutants’ first reaction to EVERY threat was to call the Prof, the X-Men, The Avengers or the FF- but now several arcs in a row featured the kids gallivanting off by themselves.

-The “Bird Brain” story was EPIC in its suck. First off we had way too many drawn-out issues of a gangly "Scrappy-Doo meets Jar-Jar Binks" imbecilic clumsy animal-man teaming up with the Mutants, and then we had a WAY TOO LONG arc featuring the kids on some island with an old, scrawny lumpy man with a Dr. Moreau rip-off concept and really crappy “I’m a crazy villain!” vibe to him. And finally, they killed off Cypher, who was apparently unpopular, but the fans later felt bad about this decision.

-The crap started flowing freely by this point. Magik was de-powered back into Young Illyana Rasputin during Inferno, to the fans’ outright HORROR (she was easily among the most popular mutants- there’s a reason why she was the first victim of the Legacy Virus- fans had been BEGGING for a return of Magik as soon as she was gone, and hadn’t let up). Moonstar picked up some REALLY lame powers that allowed her to physically bring all of her wishes into the real-world (a massive Game-Breaker that led to some horrible story plot-points, like her creating a giant ice-machine to salve her wounds at one point). The team got their own costumes, which are easily among the worst EVER designed, and should never have made it past the drawing board. Magma left to hook up with Empath, who still hadn’t been made to look any more likable. And then we got the X-Terminators kids hooking up with the Mutants, bringing four REALLY lame characters in Rictor, Boom-Boom, Skids and Rusty to a previously-established "all good characters" squad. Finally, even MOONSTAR left, going to Asgard permanently. Remember what I said about fans loving the non-Mall-going stereotypes? Well guess what half the team was NOW? The very embodiment of "Stupid Teen Sitcom" material. We basically went from Degrassi to Sweet Valley High.

The Liefeld Era:
-It was at this point, and with Magneto back to being a bad guy and the school being emptied, that Rob Liefeld took over on art, and eventually he began co-plotting. And you know what? For all we say about him NOWADAYS, he brought a ton of new life to that horribly-dying series. Sure it looks lame nowadays, but at least stuff was HAPPENING again. I'd rather have entertainingly-shitty storytelling than BORINGLY-shitty storytelling any day.

-The fur started flying on the book immediately, and in some pretty bad ways- especially for long-term fans. Cable joined the roster as a new Mentor Character type, since the old ones had all gone, after the X-Editors had seen some Liefeldian scribbles of the guy and been fascinated by the proto-'90s Cyborg dude. The X-Tinction Agenda, which in addition to having the worst comic book art I’ve ever seen published in the X-Factor parts (no exaggeration- go see if you don’t believe me- Jon Bogdanove's art made Liefeld's look like the Sistine Chapel's ceiling) and being way too damn long, was particularly nasty to this team. Warlock was casually killed off early on, being killed by Cameron Hodge, one of the least-enjoyable villains in history. Then Wolfsbane was brainwashed and forced into wolf-form permanently, and shipped off to the new X-Factor book.

-The next batch of issues was pretty ugly. Rusty & Skids got Put On A Bus to the backburner when they were freed from jail by the Mutant Liberation Front, a group of guys basically scribbled in power & personality by Liefeld on the back of a napkin (where I began using the term "Sketchpad Characters". Rictor quit to go find Wolfsbane (with a later reason added in after-the-fact that he’d seen Cable kill his father). Boom-Boom & Cannonball hooked up after the beloved Sam & Lila relationship died down. The Hellions were casually murdered in the largest single waste of good potential characters in COMIC BOOK HISTORY (not an exaggeration either) during Trevor Fitzroy’s debut in comics.

-Finally even SUNSPOT left, leaving Sam as the sole member of the original students left on the book, while we got FOUR new members of the team in succession. Three of them were Liefeldian napkin-sketches: Domino, Shatterstar & Feral (who’d already sorta had her design used for Wildside of the MLF), and the Hellions’ Thunderbird came on as "Warpath". And thus began X-Force.

The Book's Legacy:
-The New Mutants is rarely spoken of in the same sense as Claremont's X-Men, and I think that's a shame. It's not as "big" a book, so it's not as Event-prone, which probably lessens it to some. It has a lot of "quieter" moments, and is a lot more introspective, which is rare and pretty neat for comics. It's pretty well thought-of, but has few "really famous moments"- there's some infamous ones, though (Bird-Brain, Liefeld art, etc.).

-The book lasted for one-hundred issues, ending and turning into X-Force with pretty much an all-new roster- the original characters other than Cannonball had left. Sunspot would rejoin in just under two years, but most of the others would NOT have a good decade in the 1990s- Moonstar went into X-Limbo, returning as a villain and then as the leader of a book that was WAY on Marvel's bottom tier at that point. Karma & Magma disappeared. Magik wouldn't return, and Illyana would in fact DIE- a victim of the Legacy Virus. Wolfsbane was on the lower-selling X-Factor book, and wouldn't do well without Peter David being around. The post-2000 era has been much better, at least, with multiple characters getting numerous chances- a new New Mutants series came about in the 2010s, and was actually REALLY fantastic in parts- Zeb Wells did a very good job, though I felt it lost steam badly near the end. Dani Moonstar showed up in The Fearless Defenders (a short-lived "All Girls" Title). Karma was on a low-tier X-Men book. Magik got a pretty big role in one of the two big X-Men titles, under Bendis. Cannonball & Sunspot became Avengers, then Sunspot became the central character of Al Ewing's Avengers title, taking over A.I.M. and turning it good. Warlock & Cypher returned, but remain minor characters. The gang are still well below many characters that debuted as X-Men... but they're more important than most people who debuted before 1983.

This build-set will include stats for the New Mutants characters in their various eras (Debut, Early Years, Middle Years, Later Years, X-Force, Modern), with any one-off modifications included (Moonstar gets a shitload of builds). The commentary will be updated and expanded, which, given how much I love most of these characters, will produce a lot of essays. Also, after I put down most of them, I'll throw down builds for X-Force's luminaries, because that's always fun.
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StarGuard
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rasputin! Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants!)

Post by StarGuard »

I'm going to say thanks ahead of time. I was reading your synopsis of the New Mutant history and was just nodding my head all way down the page. Cannonball and Sunspot were a great buddy combo for a minute or two, and I while who wouldn't love Danielle, Karma was always on the cusp of greatness. It's one of the few times I questioned whether race inhibited a characters 'push'.

Liefeld ... ya give credit where it's due (damn pulled a tooth).

Oh, and while I thought Magneto was awesome as a mentor, my personal favorite combination of story and art ... Asgardian Wars 8-)
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rasputin! Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

I didn't really grow up with New Mutants in any reasonable way. My exposure to comic books was very occasional, when my brothers would get ones from their friends (and a brief subscription to G.I. Joe as a kid, of the which all I can really remember was puzzling through how to pronounce "Now, mow them all down" as a kid who was still figuring out English phonetics), which for New Mutants was the really trippy issue where they get transported to a world based on pop culture. Where I grew to love them was fanfic, whether it was Kid Dynamo (self-insert character that somehow manages to avoid becoming a Mary Sue despite all the indicators during the time period when Magneto was running the team) or Go West (Cypher and Warlock come back from their deaths, and decide they don't want to be child soldiers anymore, so they and a few of the other New Mutants go out and live in California), or the many other well-written stories out there... they became my canon to the point that I have difficulty remembering which parts actually happened in the comics.
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rasputin! Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

About your Toshinden builds. Apparently the Sega Saturn versions of 1 and 2 had exclusive characters called Cupido and Ripper, that only appear in those versions of 1 and 2, respectively.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Rasputin! Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants!)

Post by Jabroniville »

KorokoMystia wrote:About your Toshinden builds. Apparently the Sega Saturn versions of 1 and 2 had exclusive characters called Cupido and Ripper, that only appear in those versions of 1 and 2, respectively.
Yeah, I was just intending to build the characters I remembered in this case. I'm not normally so lazy with a game, but Toshinden had a LOT of unmemorable characters.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Karma

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

KARMA (Xi'an "Shan" Coy Manh)
Created By:
Chris Claremont & Frank Miller
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #100 (Dec. 1980)
Role: The Mature One, The Boring One, The One Who Gets Written Out Alot
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants, X-Corporation
PL 10 (152)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7)
Athletics 4 (+5)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (History) 2 (+5)
Expertise (Hunting) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Teaching) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Philosophy/Theology) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Treatment/Medicine) 2 (+5)
Insight 5 (+9)
Investigation 2 (+6)
Perception 4 (+8)
Persuasion 2 (+3)
Stealth 3 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Men Uniform), Languages (Vietnamese, English, French), Set-Up 2, Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Possession"
Mind Control 10 (Extras: Concentration Duration) (Flaws: Feedback) (40) -- [42]
  • AE: "Multiple Possessions" Mind Control 6 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (24)
  • AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 10 (Will; Entranced/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception Range +2) (40)
"See Through Their Eyes" Mind Reading 5 (Extras: Sensory Link) (Flaws: Limited to Possessed Targets) [10]
"Psi-Defenses" Impervious Will 8 [8]

Equipment:
X-Men Uniform (+1 Protection, Communications)

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Possession +10 (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Possess Group +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Mental Stun +10 (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3 (+4 Costume), Fortitude +5, Will +9

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Prejudice (Lesbian)- She even fell in love with Kitty Pryde for a bit there! I like to think that Kitty's magnificence is able to alter people's sexuality, myself...
Enemy (General Nguyen Ngoc Coy)- Karma's uncle is an evil General, lording over the island nation of Singapore. They have come into conflict many times.
Relationship (Leong & Nga)- Karma's younger twin siblings are a primary focus in her life, and they have disappeared or been targetted more than once.
Flashback- Karma and her mother were raped (long before it was popular for comic book heroines too) by pirates during her family's escape from Vietnam, and her mother died shortly thereafter. This memory still haunts her periodically.
Disabled (Cyborg)- Karma lost a leg to Cameron Hodge, but seems mostly untraumatized by it. Nonetheless, her leg is large, bulky and inhuman looking, and leaves her slightly more vulnerable to magnetic and electrical attacks.
Power Loss (Possession)- Karma's powers are psionic in nature, which leaves them weak in situations where her concentration or emotional state is hampered in some way.
Weakness- Karma's powers leave victims a little wobbly at first- they will be unable to use full abilities of any kind on the turn they are taken over.
Weakness (Tainted)- If Karma retains Possession of a target for too long, she will begin to adopt some of their personality traits or attitudes.

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 60 / Defenses: 15 (152)

Karma- The Forgotten New Mutant:
-Poor Karma. So many characters on this team received SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT over the years, and she just kind of got stuck in the lurch. She debuted a bit earlier than the other kids, in a Claremont-written Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man going up against a possessed Fantastic Four (providing an AMAZING fight scene, and great showing for ol' Spidey, as he barely survives against all four experienced super-heroes), and got added to the New Mutants' team with the newly-created kids. She was initially a REALLY ugly duckling, being flat-chested (like most of the girls on the team), pig-nosed and short-haired, and had a bit of a hair-trigger temper thanks to the assaults she received at the end of the Vietnam War (Xi'an and her family were refugees- she and her mother were routinely brutalized by River Pirates- and they didn't shy away from the implications of what that meant). Orphaned during the flight to America, she quickly turned into the "Mature One" though, being the least-likely of the team to start crying (Rahne), moping (Sam), hitting (Bobby), lording over others (Amara), or being a rebellious brat (Dani- this was a screwed-up team).

Karma = Uninteresting:
-Problematically, this made "Shan" the LEAST INTERESTING character- while the others got all sorts of '80s-level angst and fascinating stuff going on with them, Karma just kind of sat there and tut-tutted them, which resulted in her being rapidly written-out- she vanished at the end of a Viper/Silver Samurai fight in the sixth issue, and missed out on a ton of character-building adventures (really, these were the formative years of the book, and the ones with the most focus by Bill Siekiewicz's art). Twenty-three issues later, they eventually found her, under the control of the Shadow King (Amal Farouk), who'd turned her into a relentless fatty-fatty-boombalatty (P.C. Version: Person of Gravity), but she got better after an Annual Two-Parter in Asgard- she'd been contemplating just laying down and dying in her disgusting body, but when she realized that a small child had been trapped in the wilderness with her, she forced herself to protect the child, and lost the weight over the months they spent living there.

-That STILL wasn't enough to make her interesting, however, so after the Mutant Massacre (where Psylocke effortlessly one-upped her Possession powers, which was bizarre since that's Karma's ONLY TRICK), her Plot Devices... I mean younger siblings (the ever-unseen Leong & Nga- how the frig do you pronounce that last one anyhow?) were kidnapped and she went off in search of them, pretty much leaving the team for the entire rest of the run! She found them with her evil Uncle Nguyen and did some stuff in Singapore (she became an occasional Wolverine supporting character around this time) but rarely interacted with the New Mutants- or X-Force- again. She was briefly in the X-Force/New Warriors crossover Child's Play, but again took a backseat to her comrades.

Modern Karma:
-Modern times saw her come out of the closet (well, she hadn't been interested in any dudes yet, so it was hardly out of character... though most New Mutants fans had suspected OTHER characters on that book, to say the least), start teaching the REALLY young X-students, then vanish, then come back to the modern New Mutants series, which has seen her take a life (one of Legion's personalities) and lose a leg (to Cameron Hodge). Her new cyber-leg is pretty damn ugly, so hopefully they'll copy some of Forge's stuff to make her look more human. Karma's an interesting case overall, as writers have CONSTANTLY struggled for something interesting for her to do. But her siblings are really boring plot devices, she's kind of a Flat Character, and even making her a lesbian hasn't made her that much more interesting. She was rather funny on the new NM book, but that's it- she ended up mothering the surviving Limbo Baby "Face" and mostly disappeared from the book AGAIN. She eventually became a major cast member of one of five (or six or seven) recurring X-Books, where she met a half-sister who ran a company, but was then killed by their father, making Karma a Billionnaire.

The Trouble With Karma:
-Part of the issue with Karma isn't just her blank personality (on a team of extremes), but her powers- Possession is usually an All-Or-Nothing power (at worst, the enemy is a bit stunned if it only "kinda" works). If she hits her Possession on the bad guy... that's it. Her team wins. So they had to stick numerous weaknesses on it, to the point where she couldn't possess anyone who was a decent character, nor could she possess people in large numbers- so her powers ended up being pretty useless. Then of course there's Leong & Nga- a pair of albatrosses around her neck, constantly drawing her attention away. Having dependents is rare for a super-hero, so could be a nice thing... but Claremont never wanted to even SHOW the kids- it seems he'd already created them (for Marvel Team-Up- they were being held captive to force Karma's obedience), and so was more or less stuck using them. Most writers would hesitate to create dependents like that if they could plan ahead.

Karma's Stats:
-Karma is a pretty good Mind Controller archetype, though suffers Feedback if her targets are damaged horribly. She's in pretty good shape (but is highly vulnerable if you hit her), and has learned to fight really well over the years, but is still rather one-note. She has limited Mind Reading (with Remote Sensing as an Extra) and Impervious Will, but can't hold a candle to the more elaborate or heavily-Alt-Effecting Psionics like Emma Frost, Psylocke or Jean Grey. Her Possession is only at PL 10 levels because she rarely can possess the REALLY hardcore villains (there's either something preventing her from doing so, or they just plain out-will her), and it's usually just something she does to Mooks. She's only slightly over the "standard" PL 10 points cost for such an experienced character, being very low on Advantages.

Image

KARMA (Xi'an "Shan" Coy Manh)- Post-Asgard Visit
Created By:
Chris Claremont & Frank Miller
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #100 (Dec. 1980)
Role: The Mature One, The Boring One, The One Who Gets Written Out Alot
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants
PL 9 (133)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7)
Athletics 4 (+5)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (History) 2 (+5)
Expertise (Hunting) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Philosophy/Theology) 2 (+5)
Expertise (Treatment/Medicine) 2 (+5)
Insight 5 (+9)
Investigation 2 (+6)
Perception 4 (+8)
Persuasion 2 (+3)
Stealth 3 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment (X-Men Uniform), Languages (Vietnamese, English, French), Set-Up 2, Teamwork

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Possession"
Mind Control 9 (Extras: Concentration Duration) (Flaws: Feedback) (36) -- [38]
  • AE: "Multiple Possessions" Mind Control 5 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (20)
  • AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 8 (Will; Entranced/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception Range +2) (32)

"See Through Their Eyes" Mind Reading 4 (Extras: Sensory Link) (Flaws: Limited to Possessed Targets) [8]
"Psi-Defenses" Impervious Will 3 [3]

Equipment:
X-Men Uniform (+1 Protection, Communications)

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Possession +9 (+9 Affliction, DC 19)
Possess Group +5 Area (+5 Affliction, DC 15)
Mental Stun +9 (+9 Affliction, DC 19)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3 (+4 Costume), Fortitude +5, Will +7

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Enemy (General Nguyen Ngoc Coy)- Karma's uncle is an evil General, lording over the island nation of Singapore. They have come into conflict many times.
Relationship (Leong & Nga)- Karma's younger twin siblings are a primary focus in her life, and they have disappeared or been targetted more than once.
Flashback- Karma and her mother were raped (long before it was popular for comic book heroines too) by pirates during her family's escape from Vietnam, and her mother died shortly thereafter. This memory still haunts her periodically.
Power Loss (Possession)- Karma's powers are psionic in nature, which leaves them weak in situations where her concentration or emotional state is hampered in some way.
Weakness- Karma's powers leave victims a little wobbly at first- they will be unable to use full abilities of any kind on the turn they are taken over.
Weakness (Tainted)- If Karma retains Possession of a target for too long, she will begin to adopt some of their personality traits or attitudes.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 49 / Defenses: 14 (133)

-Karma's post-Asgard (a set of Annuals showed the New Mutants and Storm get separated into different parts of Asgard, where each one got a little boost or a personal storyline- it was really quite good, actually) self has just gotten through a TON of on-the-spot survival training (though it certainly helps when you can just POSSESS the target and make them sit there while you calmly kill them), and is in the shape of her "Modern" self, but a bit weaker on the Possession side, with a few ranks less in everything, and a tad less Awareness. Still a fairly good character at PL 9 (135), but like most Psionics, she doesn't even approach her Defensive caps.

Image

KARMA (Xi'an "Shan" Coy Manh)- Debut
Created By:
Chris Claremont & Frank Miller
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #100 (Dec. 1980)
Role: The Mature One, The Boring One, The One Who Gets Written Out Alot
Group Affiliations: The New Mutants
PL 9 (79)
STRENGTH
-1 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+3)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (History) 2 (+3)
Expertise (Philosophy/Theology) 2 (+3)
Expertise (Treatment/Medicine) 2 (+3)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+2)
Stealth 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Languages (Vietnamese, English, French)

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Possession"
Mind Control 8 (Extras: Concentration Duration) (Flaws: Feedback) (32) -- [33]
  • AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 6 (Will; Entranced/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception Range +2) (24)

Equipment:
X-Men Uniform (+1 Protection, Communications)

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (-1 Damage, DC 14)
Possession +8 (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Mental Stun +6 (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +1, Fortitude +3, Will +6

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutant)
Enemy (General Nguyen Ngoc Coy)- Karma's uncle is an evil General, lording over the island nation of Singapore. They have come into conflict many times.
Relationship (Leong & Nga)- Karma's younger twin siblings are a primary focus in her life, and they have disappeared or been targetted more than once.
Flashback- Karma and her mother were raped (long before it was popular for comic book heroines too) by pirates during her family's escape from Vietnam, and her mother died shortly thereafter. This memory still haunts her periodically.
Power Loss (Possession)- Karma's powers are psionic in nature, which leaves them weak in situations where her concentration or emotional state is hampered in some way.
Weakness- Karma's powers leave victims a little wobbly at first- they will be unable to use full abilities of any kind on the turn they are taken over.
Weakness (Tainted)- If Karma retains Possession of a target for too long, she will begin to adopt some of their personality traits or attitudes.

Total: Abilities: 18 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 33 / Defenses: 17 (79)

-Karma as a rookie is the highest-PL member of the New Mutants BY FAR (she's able to Possess guys like Spider-Man in her first appearance- even without the standard "first appearance" boost to stats every character ever gets, that's pretty high up there for a PL 5 group), but still very weak and easy to hurt. She's basically a normal teenage girl with some toughness, smarts and a really good Possession power.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
Spectrum
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by Spectrum »

To put things in perspective:

Image
Image
Image
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by Spectrum »

I've been looking through pictures of New Mutants, bringing back fond memories. Every once in awhile, I come across something like this and... yeah, some of the artists were not kind to the kids.
Image
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

My 8th grade year was a pretty formative one.

My immediate family (me, my mom, and my dad) had moved from Kentucky to El Paso, Texas. In particular Fort Bliss. See my dad was taking a course on becoming a Sgt. Major. It was roughly 9 months long, so for the better part of a year we had gone from small town folks to living in a fairly big city. I wasn't thrilled at the time, but looking back (and now knowing how craptacular high school would be when we moved back to KY) it was one of the best years of my life.

I discovered alot in Texas. Final Fantasy III. Chrono Trigger. MST3K. It was the year of Marvel vs DC, which as an adult I realize isn't very good, but it was downright mind blowing as a kid. I discovered Dungeons and Dragons. And just a week or two before we moved back to KY this guy came out on Nitro and stated "You wanted a war? You GOT one.".

Then there were the old comics.

See, my mom had a friend on base and that lady's husband was a massive comics fan. I can't even remember their names but the guy let me borrow a HUGE box of comics for like four months.

It was mostly Marvel stuff. There was some Red Sonja which cheesecake aside I thought was pretty boring. You had some Secret Wars 1 and 2 in there. As my favorite character at the time was the Hulk, seeing that "Beneath 150 Billion tons stands the Hulk....AND HE'S NOT HAPPY"...well nerdgasm.

Then there was ALOT....ALOOOOT of Claremont Era X-Men stuff. I mean all the things there. Magneto's trial, fighting Dracula, Kulan Gath's two parter, Professor Xavier being a jerk, etc.

And there were the New Mutants. Now I knew some of the characters because I had read other more current books like PAD's X-Factor and Niecza's X-Force, but here they were in their original book. And I loved it. Absolutely loved it. So much good stuff in there. So much.

And admittedly, as a young lad hitting 14 at the time (oh God I'll be 35 Wednesday) I felt a deep conflict. The ultimate conflict: Wolfesbane or Magik?

21 years later...I have no answer
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by Spectrum »

The Kulan Gath event stands out as one of the coolest I've come across in comics. Ever. It probably doesn't hold up very well, but wow... casting all these heroes in their sword and sorcery form? It probably helped that at the time, multiple versions of characters wasn't as overused. Really cool stuff at the time.

... and the answer is Dani.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
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Spam
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by Spam »

If I was 14, the answer would be Magik. At 48, the answer has to be Rahne. Evil blondes seem fun when you're young, but now...not so much.
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Tran

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image

TRAN COY MANH
Created By:
Chris Claremont & Frank Miller
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #100 (Dec. 1980)
Role: Evil Mind Controller
Group Affiliations: None
PL 10 (128)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+5)
Insight 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+5)

Advantages: 
Languages (Vietnamese, English, French)

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Possession"
Mind Control 10 (Extras: Concentration Duration) (Flaws: Feedback) (40) -- [42]
  • AE: "Multiple Possessions" Mind Control 6 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (24)
  • AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 10 (Will; Entranced/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception Range +2) (40)
"See Through Their Eyes" Mind Reading 5 (Extras: Sensory Link) (Flaws: Limited to Possessed Targets) [10]
"Psi-Defenses" Impervious Will 8 [8]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Possession +10 (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Possess Group +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Mental Stun +10 (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications: 
Relationship (General Nguyen Ngoc Coy)- Tran looks up to his Uncle, and is doted upon.
Enemy (Karma)- Tran's sister is a bleeding-heart good guy, and he despises her for her weakness.
Power Loss (Possession)- Tran's powers are psionic in nature, which leaves them weak in situations where his concentration or emotional state is hampered in some way.
Weakness (Tainted)- If Tran retains Possession of a target for too long, he will begin to adopt some of their personality traits or attitudes.

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 60 / Defenses: 9 (128)

-Tran Coy Manh debuted alongside his more virtuous sister, with the same powers, but a much different mindset. Early in their lives, they were confronted by a Viet Cong soldier- Karma possessed him and was able to save the two... but Tran took control of the man's mind again, and forced him to bash his own head in repeatedly. A horrified Karma could only watch as Tran laughed while he gloried in his murderous power. He would later hook up with his uncle, General Nguyen Noc Coy, and the two would run off to America and become criminals. When Karma's remaining family finally arrived in America, Nguyen kidnapped them to force Karma to work for him as well- in so doing, they took control of the minds of the Fantastic Four, and sent them against Spider-Man. The solitary hero had the fight of his life, only barely avoiding the lethal force of the entire FF's attacks. Spidey was doomed, but Karma then took control of her brother's mind- though his powers were stronger (he had led a life of luxury and was well-fed compared to the starvation-dieted refugee Karma), her determination beat out his- Karma ended up absorbing Tran's entire body and soul, thus boosting her own powers to the point they'd be at the start of the New Mutants title.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Apr 17, 2022 3:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by Batgirl III »

HalloweenJack wrote: I felt a deep conflict. The ultimate conflict: Wolfesbane or Magik?

21 years later...I have no answer
Embrace the healing power of "and," my friend.

It's not Betty or Veronica, it's Betty and Veronica.
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

Batgirl III wrote:
HalloweenJack wrote: I felt a deep conflict. The ultimate conflict: Wolfesbane or Magik?

21 years later...I have no answer
Embrace the healing power of "and," my friend.

It's not Betty or Veronica, it's Betty and Veronica.
I bow to your sage wisdom, oh chomper of cigars

But yeah, on one hand Rahne had that whole "oooooh I just want to hug you until you realize how special you are, you little perfect snowflake" (and totally not her walking around in Wolf girl form wearing just a t-shirt in X-Factor...no never) while Illyana had the 'cute, but oh you know she's baaaaad' thing going on. And as Jab could tell you from brief conversations we've had about Miss Elizabeth and Sensational Sherri over at HC, I've always had a weakness for the bad girls.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Moana! Maui! Tamatoa! Te Ka! The New Mutants! Karma!)

Post by Jabroniville »

HalloweenJack wrote:
Batgirl III wrote:
HalloweenJack wrote: I felt a deep conflict. The ultimate conflict: Wolfesbane or Magik?

21 years later...I have no answer
Embrace the healing power of "and," my friend.

It's not Betty or Veronica, it's Betty and Veronica.
I bow to your sage wisdom, oh chomper of cigars

But yeah, on one hand Rahne had that whole "oooooh I just want to hug you until you realize how special you are, you little perfect snowflake" (and totally not her walking around in Wolf girl form wearing just a t-shirt in X-Factor...no never) while Illyana had the 'cute, but oh you know she's baaaaad' thing going on. And as Jab could tell you from brief conversations we've had about Miss Elizabeth and Sensational Sherri over at HC, I've always had a weakness for the bad girls.
There's a time i'd have slain you for such a horrible opinion, Jack.

Then Miss Elizabeth went bad.

HOLY GOD THOSE EVIL GO-GO BOOTS.
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