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

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Jabroniville
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Ka-Zar & Zabu

Post by Jabroniville »

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KA-ZAR II, LORD OF THE SAVAGE LAND (Kevin Reginald, Lord Plunder)
Created By:
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: The X-Men #10 (March 1965)
Role: Tarzan Rip-Off, Nigh-Forgotten Character
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Tribes
PL 9 (134)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 13 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+8)
Athletics 11 (+14)
Expertise (Survival) 13 (+15)
Expertise (Animal Handling) 6 (+10)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Perception 8 (+10)
Ranged Combat (Bow & Arrow & Slings) 2 (+10)
Stealth 2 (+8)
Treatment 2 (+3)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Attractive, Chokehold, Close Attack, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Equipment (Bowie Knife- Strength-Damage +1, Improved Critical), Fast Grab, Favoured Environment (Jungles), Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Critical 2 (Unarmed, Knives), Move-By Action, Prone Fighting, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 4, Tracking

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Knife +14 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +13 (DC 23), Toughness +5, Fortitude +6, Will +7

Complications:
Phobia (Civilization)- Ka-Zar has little love for human civilization, and prefers the dangers of The Savage Land.
Relationship (Shanna the She-Devil)- Ka-Zar's wife is a close companion. Together they have a son named Matthew.
Relationship (Zabu)- Zabu, a Sabre-Toothed Tiger, is nearly always at Ka-Zar's side, having raised Kevin as a boy.
Responsibility (The Savage Land)- Ka-Zar is a leader in The Savage Land, and thus must contest with various evil tribes, and deal with various good ones. He must also protect the Savage Land from outsiders seeking to exploit its wealth and people.
Enemy (The Plunderer)- Ka-Zar's brother turned into a dick.
Enemy (Kraven the Hunter)- The big-game hunter has occasionally proven to be a rival of Ka-Zar's.

Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 48--24 / Advantages: 21 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 13 (134)

Marvel's SECOND Tarzan Knock-Off Named "Ka-Zar":
-When Stan & Jack needed a story for their third-tier Silver Age title The X-Men, they came up with a new Ka-Zar with a different name, ripping off both Tarzan & Joe Kubert`s '50s Caveman character Tor at the same time. He hailed from the dinosaur-ridden Antarctic continent of The Savage Land, and WOW I had no idea the concept ran back that far until I first did research for a "Ka-Zar" build. Ka-Zar was never a really successful character, though a few writers took a shot at him- he's had four limited runs (3 issues, 20 issues, 34 issues, 20 issues & 5 issues, respectively), the fourth of which was done by Mark Waid in the late 1990s, which I recall because one Editor gave a funny story about it. See, Waid was a top-tier creative talent, then as now, and was basically given carte blanche to write any character in Marvel he wanted, such was his fame. Waid decided that he wanted to do a book about KA-ZAR, and the Editor was like, "....no really, ANY BOOK AT ALL".

-In any case, this guy actually debuted in The Uncanny X-Men, debuting the Savage Land concept that's been a never-ending source of stories for Marvel- how can you have a better set-piece than A JUNGLE FULL OF DINOSAURS? He was initially Tarzan-like in his savage mannerisms and broken English, but shifted into a more articulate guy over time. He is Kevin Reginald, Lord Plunder- his father was an English nobleman who discovered the Savage land, but was killed by the savage Man-Apes found within. Kevin was raised by the sabre-toothed tiger Zabu, who just happened to have near-human intelligence thanks to radioactive mists (SCIENCE!). He found the X-Men when they went to his home, and he later allied with Daredevil and met his evil brother, The Plunderer. Later, he and the X-Men faced the Savage Land Mutates, he romanced Bobbie Morse (the future Mockingbird), and allied with all manner of super-heroes: it became a virtual cliche at one point for a superhero to head to the Savage Land or meet a traveling Ka-Zar and engage in a story with him- Spider-Man, Man-Thing, and more.

Ka-Zar- Journeyman Hero:
-Five years after his debut, he got his first solo story, and he had black & white features in other books for a time. Marvel would take shots at Pulp-style heroes on occasion, but it'd never really stick- Ka-Zar's stories are cool enough as a "Jungle man fighting dinosaurs and cavemen" kind of a thing, but always comes off kinda low-grade in a comic book to me, owing to all the actual SUPERHEROES in his own universe. Superheroes fighting dinosaurs is rad- some ripped guy with a spear doing it? Boring by contrast.

-So while he had a few books over the years, he hasn't had much of a Rogues Gallery (his evil brother is a pretty lame one), and just sort of whored himself around to whichever villain happened to be in the Savage Land that week, or just fighting Spider-Man & Daredevil due to wacky misunderstandings or something. Comic book stuff. In the Waid series, he even got a win over THANOS of all people (something that Thanos Fanboys were quite annoyed over). Eventually, he hooked up with Shanna the She-Devil, had a kid (whom I've never seen), and ended up being overshadowed by her completely because Frank Cho let out his cavegirl fetish on her and gave her a big push. He doesn't even SHOW UP when she does most of the time these days (though at least the first modern Shanna story is out-of-continuity, and the second MIGHT be). He's pretty much doomed to D-League status now, since... well, he's as obvious a rip-off of another, more-famous character as you're gonna get. But hey- he was one of the "Agents of Wakanda" Black Panther had working for him as Avengers Chairman, and appeared in a one-off during Empyre, so he's still a "thing".

Ka-Zar's Might:
-Ka-Zar is a bad-ass fighter and can hang with many Marvel super-heroes, but isn't worth being PL 10- his schtick is fighting more low-level guys (though he DID foul up Thanos' schemes once). Despite that, you're not gonna find someone with a better "Survival" skill. He's a pretty well-balanced PL 9, actually.

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ZABU
Created By:
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: The X-Men #10 (March 1965)
Role: Animal Sidekick
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Tribes, The Pet Avengers
PL 9 (94)
STRENGTH
6 STAMINA 7 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 3 (+9)
Expertise (Survival) 9 (+10)
Intimidation 10 (+9 Size)
Perception 9 (+10)
Stealth 7 (+7)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Diehard, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Fearless, Follow-Up Strike, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Teeth) 3, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Prone Fighting

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 5 (Low-Light Vision, Acute & Extended Scent, Extended & Ultra-Hearing) [5]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
"Natural Weapons- Claws" Strength-Damage +1 [1]
"Giant Sabre-Teeth" Strength-Damage +1 [1]
"Cold-Based Hunter" Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation- Cold) [2]

"Spotted/Tan Coat" Enhanced Skills 4: Stealth 4 (+11) (Flaws: Limited to Plains & Grassland) [1]

"Natural Size" Growth 3 (Str & Sta +3, +3 Mass, +1 Intimidation, -1 Dodge/Parry, -3 Stealth) -- (10 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [7]
Strength-Damage +1 [1]
Protection 1 [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Claws +9 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Teeth +9 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +7

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +7, Fortitude +9, Will +6

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Cats cannot speak to humans, nor use their paws to easily manipulate objects.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 15 / Powers: 21 / Defenses: 14 (94)

-Zabu raised Ka-Zar from the time he was a lost child, and the two have become lifelong friends. He has "near-human" Intelligence thanks to exposure to some radioactive mists, and is generally a LOT more dangerous than his friend.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Genocide! Olympian! Queen of Fables! Paper Man!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Also, how was there a David Rand and Danny Rand both around, both having "white orphan lost in a foreign land" elements, and Mark Gruenwald didn't take advantage of it?
Sidney369
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Re: Ka-Zar (Golden Age)

Post by Sidney369 »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 10:36 pm There were only three Ka-Zar magazines, each one containing a lead story featuring the hero, but he continued on elsewhere. The last Ka-Zar stories appear in the 1940s- the character did not live on, and it's entirely likely that his stories are non-canon (it'd be a bit hard to explain TWO long-lost Englishmen named "Ka-Zar" who were raised in Jungles and had big cats for companions).
And yet he is canon in the main reality (616). His Handbook profile, and that of Zar from the Marvel Pets one, don't say anything about being from a different one.

On a related note, the Pet Avengers series is not set in Reality-616, which explains why the members all have human level intelligence.
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Ares
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Re: Ka-Zar & Zabu

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 1:30 am He was initially Tarzan-like in his savage mannerisms and broken English, but shifted into a more articulate guy over time.
Which tells me a lot of writers who know of Tarzan have never actually read Tarzan, because he was speaking perfectly articulate English by the end of the first book. Tarzan was remarkably intelligent and mastered several languages over a relatively short period of time. And there were 24 novels, so his inability to speak English was a small part of his history.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Ka-Zar & Zabu

Post by Jabroniville »

Ares wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:38 am
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 1:30 am He was initially Tarzan-like in his savage mannerisms and broken English, but shifted into a more articulate guy over time.
Which tells me a lot of writers who know of Tarzan have never actually read Tarzan, because he was speaking perfectly articulate English by the end of the first book. Tarzan was remarkably intelligent and mastered several languages over a relatively short period of time. And there were 24 novels, so his inability to speak English was a small part of his history.
By FAR the most famous incarnation of Tarzan to most of the writers of the '60s was probably the "Me Tarzan, you Jane" stuff in movies, and those tended to keep the rougher dialogue intact. And since the original novel is all 99% of the public is even aware of, and was everyone's introduction to the character (since most films are remakes of that), that's the one that "stuck".

oh, PS: I disagreed with my PL for The Olympian and downgraded him in Toughness to make PL 14, lol. It was irking me that it was so high. I also realized I built him for my "Outsiders" builds and forgot about it (I was wondering why the elephant was so familiar), but this one has a lot more powers added in (likely a bio was updated with more information that I didn't have the first time around). So this is like the third or fourth time I've accidentally built a character twice, lol.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Olympian! Queen of Fables! Paper Man! Ka-Zar!)

Post by greycrusader »

I think (not definite on this one) the original Ka-Zar has been consigned to an alternate Earth by Marvel editorial.

At some point in his adventuring career, David Rand was give a potion which granted him minor super-strength as well.

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Shanna the She-Devil

Post by Jabroniville »

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I mean, like I was gonna not use a ton of Frank Cho pics.

SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL (Shanna O'Hara)
Created By:
Carole Seuling & George Tuska
First Appearance: Shanna the She-Devil #1 (Dec. 1972)
Role: Tarzan Rip-Off, Nigh-Forgotten Character
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Tribes
PL 9 (136)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 13 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+10)
Athletics 10 (+13)
Deception 1 (+4, +6 Attractive)
Expertise (Survival) 10 (+13)
Expertise (Animal Handling) 8 (+11)
Expertise (Veterinary Medicine) 3 (+6)
Intimidation 1 (+4)
Perception 6 (+9)
Ranged Combat (Spears/Bow & Arrow/Slings) 2 (+10)
Stealth 5 (+11)
Treatment 2 (+5)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Attractive, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Equipment (Jungle Arsenal), Fast Grab, Favoured Environment (Jungles), Great Endurance, Improved Critical 2 (Unarmed, Spears), Move-By Action, Prone Fighting, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 4, Tracking

Equipment:
"Spear" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Reach) (3)
"Knife" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Improved Critical) (2)

Offense:
Unarmed +13 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Knife +13 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Spear +13 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Prejudice (Firearms)- Shanna despises firearms, ever since her father accidentally killed her mother.
Relationship (Ka-Zar & Matthew)- Though Shanna is often seen without either, she IS in fact married.

Total: Abilities: 78 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 19 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 13 (136)

Shanna- Failed Idea With The Occasional "Fetish Push":
-Shanna the She-Devil was created as part of a trio of "Girl Focus" books in the 1970s, as Stan Lee envisioned opening up avenues for a new fanbase for Marvel's super-heroes- she joined The Cat & Night Nurse, all debuting (and dying) within a very short period of time. Now, this idea was pretty much doomed to failure from day one, as Marvel: The Untold Story pretty much sums up- all the books were written by women, but since there weren't any major female writers in comics, Marvel pretty much gave the job to random amateurs and company staffers. ALSO, they debuted three out-of-nowhere books all at once, none having much to do with the mainstream Marvel Universe. This is pretty much a death knell to ANY character created after the 1960s, regardless of whether or not they are women (almost any major hero debuted in the book of another, or was part of a team at least- Image Comics is one of the few times were this wasn't the case that I can think of). It'd be years before Marvel would actually have a bit of success with the idea (surprisingly, the secret is "hire a good writer, and have lots of cross-overs to include them as part of the universe").

-Shanna is pretty much a knock-off of the Jungle Girl characters of a prior age (basically chick versions of all the Tarzan knock-offs that followed his success in the pulps, but focusing mostly on Fanservice... this might help explain why the Shanna book didn't do well with women. It'd be like advertising Shirtless Smouldering He-Men Talking About Their Feelings to straight men. She was the daughter of a diamond miner, growing up in the jungles of Zaire- when her father accidentally killed her mother while hunting for a leopard, she gained a lifelong hatred of firearms. She moved back to the U.S., becoming an Olympic athlete (not just the generic "Olympic Level Athlete" that Marvel Bios give all their athletic characters, but an ACTUAL competitor in swimming and track) and a veterinarian. Eventually, a zoo guard shoots and kills a leopard she'd raised since it was a cub- dejected, she brought the leopard's cubs- Ina & Biri- to Africa, intending to raise them in the wild. Wearing the leopard's pelt to help raise the cubs, she fights poachers and becomes more at home than ever before in the jungle.

Shanna Becomes a Side-Character:
-After her book failed after a couple months, she became one of those mercenary "Guest Star" characters. Her supporting cast was offed to "free her up" for Ka-Zar- a love interest and both of her leopard sidekicks (SEE?!? SEE?!? Refrigerator stuffing doesn't just happen to wimminfolk!!!), and even her father was revealed to have been killed by the Mandrill. She teams up with Daredevil & Black Widow against Nekra & the Mandrill's attempts at controlling the U.S. government. The man who killed Ina & Biri is fed to a python by Shanna, then she finally moves to the Savage Land and was hooked up with Ka-Zar by writer Gerry Conway in Savage Tales, one of those mid-70s anthologies. This starts the next big "story" for her character- she was briefly married some other guy first, but he died in a hunting accident while with Ka-Zar, and the two got married despite interference from Belasco. She becomes permanently linked to him as a "Jungle Queen" type... until Frank Cho came to Marvel and got his own book.

-Frank Cho's "Shanna" was an alternate-universe version (which went from an adults-only to a merely fanservicey version partway through, necessitating some art changes) that had little to do with the original, being a Nazi super-weapon, but it raised her profile enough that she appeared in the first arc of The Savage Wolverine (a sort of Elseworlds-y "Wolverine Anthology" kind of thing). Adding a suddenly-aged Amadeus Cho (Korean creators love that guy for some unexplained reason- ya ever notice that? :)) to the festivities, it had a bunch of stuff that only barely fits Marvel Continuity (no mention of Shanna's family if I recall correctly), but the story is really just there so a hot blonde chick can tromp around in a bikini made of animal skins. Which... well, it's Frank Cho drawing a comic featuring a muscular woman with child-birthin' hips in an animal-print bikini. It sells itself.

-Though after that, the character kind of fell by the wayside again, as Cho worked on his own projects, and Ka-Zar appeared to be a big more prominent again. Her status as a "Fetish Character" in this case may have started to hurt her given the politics going on at Marvel, though really, her and Ka-Zar really only fit one or two kinds of stories- "Something is Going Wrong in the Savage Land", and "The Heroes Are Searching For Something in the Savage Land".

Shanna's Powers:
-Shanna is more or less equal to her husband, not being as good at fighting, but having more brains and Skills behind her (having been raised in civilization and being good at medicine). In the recent Wolvie story, she gained Super-Strength (the "Strength of ten men", Speed (52 mph, about Speed 4-5) and the ability to know all the Languages & History of the Savage Land (Skills & an Advantage). This boosts her to PL 10 pretty handily since she's probably Strength 6 or so, and more durable.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Queen of Fables! Paper Man! Ka-Zar! Shanna the She-Devil!)

Post by Shock »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 7:08 am Her supporting cast was offed to "free her up" for Ka-Zar- a love interest and both of her leopard sidekicks (SEE?!? SEE?!? Refrigerator stuffing doesn't just happen to wimminfolk!!!)
Oh yeah? Were the leopards female?

:mrgreen:
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Queen of Fables! Paper Man! Ka-Zar! Shanna the She-Devil!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 7:08 am Her supporting cast was offed to "free her up" for Ka-Zar- a love interest and both of her leopard sidekicks (SEE?!? SEE?!? Refrigerator stuffing doesn't just happen to wimminfolk!!!)
Poor Ina and Biri. And they died when Shanna destroyed the statue their souls were animating. Comics are weird.
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Re: Shanna the She-Devil

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 7:08 am Image

-Shanna is pretty much a knock-off of the Jungle Girl characters of a prior age (basically chick versions of all the Tarzan knock-offs that followed his success in the pulps, but focusing mostly on Fanservice)...
She's not just a knock off "jungle girl characters", she is a knock off of THE most popular of jungle girl characters: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle

The name, the costume (pre-Cho), the fanservice, it's all Sheena.

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The Plunderer

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE PLUNDERER (Parnival Plunderer)
Created By:
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Daredevil #12 (Feb. 1966)
Role: Jobber Villain
Group Affiliations: The Savage Land Tribes
PL 8 (143), PL 12 (143) to Metallic-Based Foes
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+7)
Athletics 7 (+10)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+10)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 2 (+5)
Technology 6 (+11)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Benefit 4 (Wealth), Equipment 3 (Villainous Gear), Improved Smash, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Vibra-Ray Blaster" (Flaws: Easily-Removable) [26]
Weaken Toughness 14 (Extras: Ranged, Affects Objects Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Metals) Linked to Blast 14 (Extras: Secondary Effect) (Flaws: Limited to Metals) (42 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Vibra-Ray +10 (+14 Ranged Damage & Weaken, DC 29 & 24)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- His name is THE PLUNDERER. What do you expect?
Enemy (Ka-Zar & Shanna)- Parnival hates his brother, and often seeks to control the Savage Land's supply of Anti-Metal.

Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 26 / Defenses: 11 (143)

-Weird- I've never statted this character until only five years ago. Given that I'd statted his brother Ka-Zar, and the fact that I did a big "Daredevil" run featuring a big look through all of his early issues, that's rather surprising. Parnival Plunder is the brother of the man who would become Ka-Zar, and, imagining his brother to be dead (he was at this point lost in the Savage Land), set up a criminal empire based around Castle Plunder, their family's ancestral home. He clashed with Daredevil, and soon got revealed as Ka-Zar's brother- he was a rather minor villain, however, and pretty much just became "one of those guys", a Journeyman Villain who paraded himself around other books without much direction. He'd get most of his use any time Ka-Zar got his own book (he was the recurring major villain, teaming up with a clone of Thanos and The Rhino), and otherwise typically only showed up every 4-5 years or so. Between 1984 and 1997, he failed to appear in ANY comics!

-Many times, Parnival had proven obsessed with gaining the "Anti-Metal" of Antarctic Vibranium. Eventually, however, Marvel had seemingly-tired of him, and he was comically-shot in the head by The Punisher in an afterthought "gag ending" during Civil War (Frank was on the Anti-Registration side, but refused to team up with villains and instead executed two of them). However, he would naturally reappear later, explaining that this dead Plunderer was in fact "my American representative". Sure thing. He appeared as part of a group in Heroes For Hire, being stopped by the Superior Spider-Man (Doc Ock in Peter's body), and later shows up during AXIS, having turned good and now becoming a "Robin Hood"-style thief who gives to "starving orphans", but this is eventually undone and he's casually beaten by the New Avengers later on.

-The Plunderer is a pretty simple Gear-Based Villain, lacking much beyond a douchey costume and some high-tech gear that can vary based on the adventure. His best equipment is easily the "Vibra-Ray", using Antarctic Vibranium to destroy pretty much any metal in existence.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Savage Land

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE SAVAGE LAND:
-The Savage Land is a super old-school element introduced in the 1960s X-Men run, way back at issue #10. Its origins are complicated- aliens & nigh-omnipotent beings are involved. The Nuwalians formed it at the whim of the Beyonders, who were forming "pockets" of game preserves on various worlds, and had the Nuwalians take animals from various strata of time over the millennia, placing it in a controlled environment in Antarctica, leaving these massive engines to keep the climate hot. But then the aliens all got bored and bailed, leaving this giant batch of cavemen, humans, ice age creatures and dinosaurs all inhabiting the same region. Some Atlanteans landed there after the continent sank beneath the seas, and they genetically engineered many animal-people races to serve them, until their slaves revolted and formed their own tribes.

So the origins are complicated, yet also pointless- it's basically a Big Cool Land of Dinosaurs on OUR OWN EARTH, which leads to numerous dinosaur-fightin' adventures, and thus awesomeness. However, not that many GOOD Savage Land stories have ever really been produced- it's just kind of a generic backdrop for generic stories (often involving Evil Tribes or Evil Corporations ruining the environment). Ka-Zar lives there, but as he's just a Tarzan rip-off that nobody wants to read about, he doesn't matter. His wife, Shanna the She-Devil, was more of a background character, but ended up more popular than her husband for a bit thanks to the nature of her "Good Girl" art and people like Frank Cho drawing her.

Its "Created by Aliens" origin means that it doesn't have to make any kind of sense- humans, animal men and dinosaurs from all eras all exist at the same time (T-Rex & Stegosaurus are separated by more time than T-Rex and HUMANS, for example). It's in Antarctica, but is hot year-round. The evil alien Terminus destroyed a lot of what makes it function, but this was reversed/ignored in recent years. Moon Boy & Devil Dinosaur came to live here, Sauron often uses it as his base of operations, etc.

I think the most-unrealistic part of the Savage Land is that it's not treated like it's a bigger deal. I mean, this place is known to the GENERAL PUBLIC, and yet "there's a land out there that has EVERY DINOSAUR EVER IN IT" is not making it the most-popular destination in the entire world. Seriously, super-villains and giant aliens be damned- that would be a HUGE, HUGE DEAL. And yet it only occasionally gets touched on, and is often treated as a rather mundane thing ("oh, they went to that land where there's friggin' 800 races of Animal Men and some Dinosaurs. Guess we'd better go.").
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Queen of Fables! Paper Man! Ka-Zar! Shanna the She-Devil!)

Post by Davies »

It got turned into a tourist trap in one of the Squirrel-Girl series.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Queen of Fables! Paper Man! Ka-Zar! Shanna the She-Devil!)

Post by Spectrum »

Davies wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 12:27 am It got turned into a tourist trap in one of the Squirrel-Girl series.
It was one of the settings for the cheesecake Summer specials.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Savage Land Races

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

SAVAGE LAND RACES
Created By:
Various
Role: Mooks
Group Affiliations: Various Tribes
PL 4 (39)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 3 (+3)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment 2 (Spears & Junk), Ranged Attack 2

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Weapons +4 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +3, Fortitude +3, Will +0

Total: Abilities: 26 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 3 (39)

-There's about nine million of these things in existence, largely because writers don't fact-check and instead usually just come up with their own race for any particular story. This creates a LOT of redundancy, as most of these take up the same kind of role. There are so many that you'd think the Savage Land would be larger than all of Asia, but no- there's just a LOT of little tribes of these people running around, at varying levels of technology.
-And the fact that the Land has so many races on it is kind of a waste anyways, when you consider that the ENTIRE POINT of the Savage Land is to give superheroes a reason to fight DINOSAURS. Who the frig cares about "Saurian Race #53" when you can have an army of Utahraptors, a pod of Mamenchisaurs, or a whole flight of Ornithocheiruses?

Assorted Races & Tribes:
* Some use the above Template, others use the Alien Templates, being advanced civilizations.

Assorted Humans: Cliff Forest People, Durammi, The Fall People (look & act like Native Americans- their leader Tongah was Ka-Zar's best friend, but most were killed by the Sun People & alien Quarlians), Gondorans (led by a rogue scientist using technology. Most were killed), Gwundas, Hill-Forest People, Kantos, Karems, Lemurans (not Lemurians; live like Medieval England and swear fealty to Kings. Ally with the Pterans), Lizard People (offshoot of the Zebra People who followed an evil witch until she died; wore lizard armor), The Locot, Nowek, Palandorians (kind of evil, have a lot of land), Snowmen, Sun People (usually Zaladane's minions; sometimes have green skin thanks to an editing mistake in a Handbook that showed another race), Sylandans (Atlantean descendants with high technology and waters that can heal sickness), Tandar-Kaans (boat-based river people), Tokchis (never seen; use walkie-talkies), Tordon-Naans (possibly an offshoot of Indian culture), Zebra People (white ones wear black stripes; black ones wear white stripes), The Tribe of Fire, Water People (live on the water)

Aerians: Winged humanoids of various colours.
Ape-Men: Assorted races and tribes. Some use the Neanderthal build, as these are the most advanced.
Awakilius: Pygmies. Greatly-primitive.
Bhadwuans: Advanced race with Magic, Flight and technology. They wanted to change the planet's environment, but were stopped by Ka-Zar. Said to be the descendants of the Atlanteans.
Cat People: Nomads and cat-worshippers. Unrelated to Tigra's Cat People.
Dissians: Yellow-skinned, live beneath the Earth and live in a city named after Belasco. Some shoot Eye Beams.
Ethereals: Advanced humanoids created by the aliens that founded the Savage Land. Arrogant and hostile to others.
Golden People: Yellow-skinned descendants of Subterraneans. Allies of Ka-Zar.
Gorankians: Gray-skinned ape-like people.
Hau'kas: Saurian people. Evolved from dinosaurs like we did from primates, and have human-level civilization and technology.
Jeriens: Pterosaur-People.
Klantorrs: Pterosaur-People who eat humans.
Lizard Men: Different from the Subterranean Lizard Men, and the Lizard Men from the Microverse. The Lizardmen of Vala Kuri are peaceful, while Queen Iranda's are mystically-altered humans who fight Ka-Zar.
Neo-Men: Humans mutated by the Nuwali.
Man-Apes: Not much different from the Ape-Men. At one point, all the males of one tribe save their chief were killed by Ka-Zar. Possibly the sole remaining humanoid species on Earth not to have had their genonme tampered with.
N'Galans: Humanoid Dinosaurs.
Nhu'Gari: Mutated humans with wings. They once allied with Magneto, but their city was destroyed by volcanic eruptions.
Pterons: MORE Pterosaur-People. Many died in a cave-in trying to attack the Aerians.
Reptile Men: Different from Lizard Men, I guess.
Rock Tribe: Stone-like people.
Saurians: Created by atomic testing in New Mexico. They met Ms. Marvel & Rom, and then moved to the Savage Land.
Snow Men: Yeti-like creatures.
Swamp Men: Hairy men with Dark Age technology and giant riding birds. Constant enemies of Ka-Zar. The Savage Land Mutates are originally Swamp Men before Magneto mutated them.
Tree People: Look like humans with tails. One of their members was married to Shanna for a brief period of time.
Tubanti: Fish people. Once worshipped Belasco.
Uruburians: Fanged humanoids. Ka-Zar settled their feud with the Gorankians by having them play baseball.
Waidians: Green-skinned peaceful Saurians.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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