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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Spectrum
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Spectrum »

Bruce Timm does such great good girl pinup art and is always so distinctive.
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sirjolt
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by sirjolt »

Conceptually, I've always loved Wonder Woman. She's always been great in concept but poor in written execution. Growing up in the 70's, I had no access to DC comics. All of my DC knowledge came from the Superfriends, Batman (Adam West), The Adventures of Superman (George Reeves), and Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter). I loved Lynda Carter's WW even though I hadn't hit puberty yet when the show first aired. I liked the power level of her there as well even though her strength was all over the place (going anywhere from Bionic Woman up to She-Ra). But I like that she needed her bracelets, she needed her invisible jet, etc. Offensively, I think she's a powerhouse, but defensively, I think she has more in common with Spiderman than Superman. Spiderman, despite his overall toughness (lots of hit points to use a D&D term) still never wants to get hit; not even by an unnamed thug with a shiv. I think of Wonder Woman more like that as opposed to George Reeve Superman letting the bad guys attack him because he knows they can't do anything to him. In that regard, I think power creep has worked against the development of WW as a character. Making her just a brute tank, IMO, causes her to lose some of her pathos, especially when she gets near to being a tank-mage the way Supes is.
Jabroniville
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I Ching

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

I CHING (aka I-Ching)
Created By:
Denny O'Neil & Mike Sekowsky
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #179 (Nov. 1968)
Role: Stereotypical Asian Mentor
Group Affiliations: None
PL 8 (134)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 1 (+4)
Expertise (Magic) 6 (+9)
Expertise (History) 6 (+9)
Insight 6 (+10)
Investigation 4 (+8)
Perception 8 (+12)
Persuasion 5 (+8)
Stealth 2 (+7)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 5, Ritualist, Takedown 2

Powers:
"Stereotypical Asian Blindness"
Senses 7 (Accurate Spirit Sense, Acute Scent, Magical Awareness- Ranged & Acute) [7]
"Affects Ghosts" Strength-Damage +0 (Feats: Affects Insubstantial) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +8

Complications:
Disabled (Blind)- I Ching is your typical "Blind Master". He cannot differentiate colors.
Relationship (Lu Shan- Daughter)

Total: Abilities: 74 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 17 / Powers: 8 / Defenses: 13 (134)

-I Ching is the mentor of Wonder Woman's from back in her "Depowered Detective" Mod phase- I mean, if she's gonna learn martial arts, you need an Asian person, right? He's so stereotypical he's even BLIND, which was a cliche even back in the late '60s, I guess. And damn, that name- it's from a Chinese philosophical text, but strange for the name of an actual person. It just shows you how callously all this shit was thrown together.

-I Ching is the last surviving member of an ancient sect, hailing from a monastery high in the mountains. Only this sect knew that magic and science were two sides of the same coin- wisdom they sought to pass down. Doctor Cyber sent her agents to raid the temple, killing everyone but I Ching. He escaped to America, where he found Wonder Woman as a powerless fashion store owner, and he trained her to become a living weapon. About five years later, in 1973, Diana's powers and costume are restored, and in that same issue, a murderous sniper starts gunning down innocent civilians- I Ching is one of his victims, shot down while dining with Diana. This is as clear a "Yeah, we hear you- this was stupid and we're done with it" as you're ever going to get, and I love that even in the friggin' 1970s, that kind of "F*CK these stupid characters!" spiteful killing was a thing.

-The character was thus toast, and didn't appear in the Post-Crisis world until much later- he appeared in a handful of Batman-related books, helping Batman, Nightwing & Robin fight Ra's al Ghul. He even returned in the "Rebirth" era helping out others. Oddly enough, it seems he's just a Batman character now. Wonder Woman's fighting capabilities seem to be Amazon-trained rather than "Blind Martial Artist"-trained.

-I Ching has a lot of "Blind Master" Powers, such as senses that make up for his inability to see- he can apparently smell poison at the tips of arrowheads, force ghosts to become corporeal, and detect magic. He's a moderate PL 7-8 Martial Artist, able to goonsweep but not take on true elites.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Fri Aug 26, 2022 4:38 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Davies
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Davies »

In his appearance in the Kryptonite No More storyline, I Ching also demonstrated a facility with ritual magic, using an invocation of Cthulhu, and should have Ritualist. Also, Doctor Cyber is a woman.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Davies wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:47 pm In his appearance in the Kryptonite No More storyline, I Ching also demonstrated a facility with ritual magic, using an invocation of Cthulhu, and should have Ritualist. Also, Doctor Cyber is a woman.
What's Kryptonite No More and when did that come out? This build more represents the 1960s character as opposed to anything more recent. And I wrote this one before doing a bio on Doctor Cyber, so I didn't know that one yet :).
Jabroniville
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Tim Trench

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

TIM TRENCH
Created By:
Denny O'Neil
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #179 (Nov. 1968)
Role: Noir Detective
Group Affiliations: The Croatoan Society
PL 7 (94)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Deception 7 (+10)
Expertise (Streetwise) 6 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 7 (+9)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+8)
Stealth 3 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Daze (Deception), Equipment 2 ("Lulu"- Pistol, or Twin Magnums), Improved Disarm, Ranged Combat 4

Equipment:
"Pistol" Blast 5 (10)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Pistol +8 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Trench seems to work for money, and swiped riches from a villain.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 11 (94)

-Tim Trench is an ally of the Silver Age Wonder Woman, probably added because writer Denny O'Neil is a noir fetishist and wanted to add all the stuff he liked to a character he apparently had no interest in, lol. A knock-off of Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon, he was a hard-bitten, middle-aged tough guy with a favorite gun he called "Lulu". He spoke like Spade (calling hoodlums "gunsels" and mentioning his late partner Archie Miles- named for Miles Archer in Falcon), and helped Wonder Woman & I Ching fight Doctor Cyber. He left a year later, taking a box of gems stolen from Cyber. Seven years later, Trench showed up again, this time as a back-up feature in Detective Comics, and then shows up twenty years later with the super-team "Hero Hotline", dressing up in a green jacket and a shirt with a red "T" on it. He was absent from the action in his one appearance there, having getting caught in traffic. I have no idea what they were doing there. He was shown in 52 as having died- a member of the Croatoan Society of detectives, his corpse was wearing the Helm of Doctor Fate, and turned to liquid when it was touched. He had apparently attempted to assume the mantle of Fate without paying "due sacrifice" first, and so was killed. But then it turns out that was a fake by Felix Faust, who had murdered Trench in order to lead Ralph Dibney on a quest.

-Trench is PL 7 with his gun- dangerous enough, but no match for real super-heroes or villains.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Fri Aug 26, 2022 4:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Davies
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Davies »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:12 pm
Davies wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:47 pm In his appearance in the Kryptonite No More storyline, I Ching also demonstrated a facility with ritual magic, using an invocation of Cthulhu, and should have Ritualist. Also, Doctor Cyber is a woman.
What's Kryptonite No More and when did that come out? This build more represents the 1960s character as opposed to anything more recent. And I wrote this one before doing a bio on Doctor Cyber, so I didn't know that one yet :).
Kryptonite Nevermore (sorry) was a series of stories by O'Neil in Superman, in 1971, that depowered Supes a bit. Wonder Woman and I-Ching show up towards the end of it. It was also the start of Clark Kent's career as a TV reporter.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Sidney369 »

I Ching also appeared in New Superman, where he was more powerful.
Always ask before you use someone's Original Character.
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Ken
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Ken »

When I finally got around to reading the "Mod" Wonder Woman stories, I kept wanting Diana to say something like "Hmm, Kung Fu reminds me of Pankration."
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Also,
Image
Always ask before you use someone's Original Character.
Never ever use them without permission. Only Villains do that.
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Ken
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Ken »

Sidney369 wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:26 am Also,
Image
Where is this from?
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Sidney369 »

.
Last edited by Sidney369 on Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Always ask before you use someone's Original Character.
Never ever use them without permission. Only Villains do that.
Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Ken wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:06 am
Sidney369 wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:26 am Also,
Image
Where is this from?
pm
It's from a fan-made book called "Xum's Who, Xum Yukinori’s Addendum to the Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, Volume 1.” You can find out more about it here https://maxreadscomics.wordpress.com/20 ... -thats-who It's also the source of the Silver Age WW profile I posted before. Unfornately, Mr. Yukinori has pasted away, and only a limited number of physical copies were made, but a download of it can be found here, near the bottom http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/wwll15gallery/
Always ask before you use someone's Original Character.
Never ever use them without permission. Only Villains do that.
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Ken
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Wonder Woman- Every Era! Kangas! Superwoman!)

Post by Ken »

Sidney369 wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:23 am
Ken wrote: Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:06 am Where is this from?
pm
It's from a fan-made book called "Xum's Who, Xum Yukinori’s Addendum to the Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, Volume 1.” You can find out more about it here https://maxreadscomics.wordpress.com/20 ... -thats-who It's also the source of the Silver Age WW profile I posted before. Unfornately, Mr. Yukinori has pasted away, and only a limited number of physical copies were made, but a download of it can be found here, near the bottom http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/wwll15gallery/
Thank you.
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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Steve Trevor (Golden Age)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

STEVE TREVOR I (Golden Age)
Created By:
William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter
First Appearance: All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941)
Role: The Love Interest, Dude In Distress
Group Affiliations: The U.S. Armed Forces
PL 7 (95)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Military) 5 (+8)
Insight 4 (+7)
Perception 4 (+7)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Technology 2 (+5)
Treatment 1 (+4)
Vehicles 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Benefit (Role- U.S. Army), Equipment 4 (Gun & Stuff), Ranged Attack 4

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Guns +8 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +8

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

Complications:
Relationship (Wonder Woman)- Steve openly pines for the superheroine, ignoring the meek nurse Diana Prince. Eventually, the two were married.
Relationship (Hippolyta Trevor- Daughter)- Steve's daughter becomes the heroine Fury.
Responsibility (The U.S. Army)- Steve is an intelligence officer.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (95)

-Steve Trevor has a curious role in comics, owing to his status as the only iconic "Superheroine's Boyfriend" in comic book history- while few non-comics fans ever really cared who Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Storm or whomever were dating, Steve Trevor was FAMOUS, and dates all the way back to Wonder Woman's debut. In fact, her whole origin story is tied to him. He's so important to the character that nearly every other media interpretation of the character features Steve in some way. Which makes it all the funnier than he's been discarded SEVERAL TIMES since continuity began, with several writers practically openly hating him, treating him like an "albatross" around Diana's neck for years.

-Steve Trevor in the Golden Age seemed equal parts Man of Action and Dude in Distress, needing to be saved, yet being a somewhat vital, heroic man in his own right. It led to a lot of interesting things, where this supposed he-man type is rescued by his much stronger girlfriend- it could easily have been emasculating, but Marston wasn't really interested in the humiliation of Steve, I think. He is tied directly to Wonder Woman's Origin Story- he was a U.S. intelligence officer who crash-landed on Paradise Island during World War II- Diana found him, rescued him, and helped heal him, and when he returned to "Man's World", she went with him. Humorously, he was deliberately made blond because Marston believed that this was the best romantic combination, since he believed light-haired men were more submissive to dark-haired women!

-The Wonder Woman comic featured Steve often needed to be rescued by WW, and he's pine over the heroine while failing to recognize her similarities to his meek, bespectacled coworker, the nurse Diana Prince. When Marston died, various creative teams played with the character further. And when Wonder Woman was split off into her "Earth-One" and "Earth-Two" variations, so was Steve, but the old one pretty well disappeared. He was, however, married to his Diana, and the two had a daughter- Hippolyta Trevor, the Fury of Infinity Inc. And following Crisis on Infinite Earths, the two ascended to Godhood, residing on Mount Olympus in the new continuity, but hidden away and never appearing.

-The Golden Age Steve Trevor is a pretty capable character in his own right, but is very "human". Certainly no match for his occasional girlfriend and later wife.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Fri Aug 26, 2022 4:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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