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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Kala

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image

KALA
Created By:
Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #43 (July 1963)
Role: Evil Queen
PL 3 (68)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 3 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 3 (+7)
Expertise (Military) 4 (+8)
Expertise (Royalty) 4 (+8)
Perception 1 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Benefit 4 (Ruler of Netherworld)

Powers:
"Subterranean" Senses 1 (Low-Light Vision) [1]
Immunity 1 (Aging) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +3 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Power)
Responsibility (Netherworld)- Netherworld, or Netheria, is a small underground city-state.
Involuntary Transformation (Old-Aged)- Netherworlders revert to an elderly state when they hit the Earth's surface.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 2 / Defenses: 7 (68)

-Kala is a very weird, random side-character who is super-important to the Mole Man, but tends to only get involved in his stories before she was unceremoniously dropped from comics. Given that he badly suffers from "Back To Basics Syndrome", she tends to get written out whenever inconvenient to his narrative. Curiously, she debuted in Iron Man's solo feature, largely seeming like a one-off threat that later writers ran with as a recurring concept and excuse for random "Subterranean Stories" with a Love Triangle between her, the Mole Man & Tyrannus (another underworld ruler). Marvunapp points out that Bill Mantlo & Roy Thomas wrote every single appearance of her other than her debut, so clearly once those two lost relevance at Marvel she was done- just two writers with an idea laters ignored, I guess.

-Kala is the Queen of Netheria, an Atlantean city that survived the cataclysm which sank them beneath the waves. She desired highly-advanced weaponry with which to conquer the surface world, and kidnapped Tony Stark for this purpose. Stark wisely accepted her orders, then demanded solitude... at which point he built a new suit of Iron Man Armor, beat up the "Netherworlders", and brought Kala to the surface. She aged rapidly, and, realizing that her people could not survive up there, decided to halt her invasions. She later appeared trying to conquer The Mole Man's Subterranea, pretending to fall in love with him, but fell in love with his rival Tyrannus instead.

-Later on, she appears heading towards a wedding to the Mole Man, with the Thing as her unwitting escort, and Ben discovers that they're planning to destroy the surface world- ultimately, she betrays the Mole Man, but he confesses to still being in love with her. She & Tyrannus capture him and plan to destroy the surface world with volcanic eruptions, but Tyrannus betrays her in turn, imprisoning Kala. Desiring sole rulership of the world, Tyrannus is beaten by the Fantastic Four. Kala later wars against the Mole Man, but marries him "out of desperation" in order to save her kingdom. Later, she goes to the surface world to get Tony Stark and Iron Man (back when the world didn't know they were the same man) to help the Mole Man fight the Deviants- she finally finds that she loves the Mole Man, nearly sacrificing herself to save his life! A couple years later, an FF one-off has him trying to restorer her in a "Rejuvenator" tank, which explodes, leaving their fates unrevealed... but she hadn't appeared since the very early 1990s, and has gone unmentioned since then. Clearly the following writers forgot about her. Until suddenly she shows up at Alicia Masters' bachelorette party, attacking her for getting married before she could get back with the Mole Man!

-Kala is... a pretty generic Bystander in terms of stats, but is a charismatic, capable ruler in her own right, so she can provide a lot of danger. Her and her hordes are easily defeated by even a single superhero on Iron Man's level, however.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Woodclaw wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 11:55 am Apparently, someone tallied all the Thing vs Hulk encounters (because internet). Counting only the main Earth 616 continuity, they traded blows 61 times. Out of all of these Hulk won 10 times, Ben 6, the other 45 times the result was unclear, off-panel or the fight ended prematurely.
Interesting- I finally took the time to dig through this, and for the most part in the early days, the fights are kept to draws or "No Ending"-type stuff, keeping both fighters strong. It's clear that the Hulk is mightier, but Ben's stubbornness and gumption always keep him surviving. It seems like they pulled out this rivalry every other year from the '60s to the '70s, usually with the same ambiguous result.

Notably, though, The Thing's ONLY wins seem to come from FF assistance (which the site even indicates- frequently, Ben doesn't even score the final blow). I didn't realize Spiky Thing had dominated a first fight against Gray Hulk, but I did quote the Gray one's eventual victory, I suppose.

Another notable thing- the fights were even back in the day. The tally was pretty normal. It wasn't until the 1990s, when TRUE Power Creep set in, that the Hulk permanently pulled away from Ben. In the pre-1990s era, the Hulk was more or less established as similar in "Thing-Tier" at the start, but would slowly creep up over that if enraged- this was part of why the Abomination was dangerous, because his baseline strength was much higher than "Thing-Tier". But in the '90s and beyond, the Hulk just kept getting stronger and stronger, while "Thing-Tier" remained largely the same. Eventually you had stuff like "Warbound Hulk easily defeats groups of superheroes" and that was that.

This was what let Ben's final victory in the Puppet Master struggle "count" and be such a big deal to me. The gulf had widened so much that Ben going into "Aunt May Mode" gave him an epic win.
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Davies
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Davies »

Reading Kala's Official Handbook entry is kind of a hoot.
The Netherworlders' youthful and beautiful Queen Kala intended to use her armies and highly advanced weaponry to conquer the surface world. However, Kala had no means of transporting all of her invasion forces and weaponry to the surface. She demanded that Stark create such a means, or else she would execute him, and two other hostages, and claimed she would activate devices that would devastate the surface world with earthquakes. (It is unclear whether she actually had such devices.) Stark agreed, but actually used the laboratory facilities that Kala assigned him to create a duplicate of his Iron Man armor. Once inside the armor, Stark captured Kala and flew her to Earth's surface. There, as Stark had theorized from unknown evidence, Kala quickly aged into an elderly woman due to the difference in atmospheric conditions between Earth's surface and the Netherworld. Realizing that the Netherworlders could not live on the surface without becoming old and weak, Kala renounced her plans of conquest. Iron Man returned her to the Netherworld, where she regained her youth through unknown means.
All emphasis mine. It reads like Peter Sanderson basically just throwing his hands up in the air and saying 'whatever'.
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Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Davies wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 9:03 pm Reading Kala's Official Handbook entry is kind of a hoot.
The Netherworlders' youthful and beautiful Queen Kala intended to use her armies and highly advanced weaponry to conquer the surface world. However, Kala had no means of transporting all of her invasion forces and weaponry to the surface. She demanded that Stark create such a means, or else she would execute him, and two other hostages, and claimed she would activate devices that would devastate the surface world with earthquakes. (It is unclear whether she actually had such devices.) Stark agreed, but actually used the laboratory facilities that Kala assigned him to create a duplicate of his Iron Man armor. Once inside the armor, Stark captured Kala and flew her to Earth's surface. There, as Stark had theorized from unknown evidence, Kala quickly aged into an elderly woman due to the difference in atmospheric conditions between Earth's surface and the Netherworld. Realizing that the Netherworlders could not live on the surface without becoming old and weak, Kala renounced her plans of conquest. Iron Man returned her to the Netherworld, where she regained her youth through unknown means.
All emphasis mine. It reads like Peter Sanderson basically just throwing his hands up in the air and saying 'whatever'.
That's not even all the insanity from the story. It also had a "magnetically-directed machine gun that fired atomic bullets" and "a pair of transistor-powered hand-held clippers". Then again, pretty much all the early silver stories had stuff that didn't make sense.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Lol, yeah- I loved how the handbook writers knew how to throw shade at unwritten aspects of the stories in a way that comes off as funny- just pointing out the absurdity of the stories sometimes.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Shock »

Since Stan and Jack make appearances in multiple early FF issues, are you going to include them in this set?
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Re: Kala

Post by brothersale »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 8:31 pm -Later on, she appears heading towards a wedding to the Mole Man, with the Thing as her unwitting escort, and Ben discovers that they're planning to destroy the surface world- ultimately, she betrays the Mole Man, but he confesses to still being in love with her. She & Tyrannus capture him and plan to destroy the surface world with volcanic eruptions, but Tyrannus betrays her in turn, imprisoning Kala. Desiring sole rulership of the world, Tyrannus is beaten by the Fantastic Four. Kala later wars against the Mole Man, but marries him "out of desperation" in order to save her kingdom. Later, she goes to the surface world to get Tony Stark and Iron Man (back when the world didn't know they were the same man) to help the Mole Man fight the Deviants- she finally finds that she loves the Mole Man, nearly sacrificing herself to save his life! A couple years later, an FF one-off has him trying to restorer her in a "Rejuvenator" tank, which explodes, leaving their fates unrevealed... but she hasn't appeared since the very early 1990s, and has gone unmentioned since then. Clearly the following writers forgot about her.
She has appeared after that point ((Fantastic Four: Wedding Special #1) where she attacked Alicia at her bachelorette party under the moniker of "Mole Woman." Her aim was that no foe of her beloved mole man would be able to marry and find happiness before she was able to. The assault ended when mole man interupted it, rejecting her once more.
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Ken
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Ken »

Mole Man's betrothed shares a name with Tarzan's adoptive mother.... Go figure.
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Jabroniville
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The Outcasts

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE OUTCASTS:
Created By:
Mark Gruenwald & Herb Trimpe
First Appearance: The Fantastic Four Annual #13 (1978)

-The Outcasts are a foursome of ugly, deformed people who live in Subterranea, under the Mole Man's rule. Outcast from human society and being sensitive to light, they appear on the surface as hooded agents of their ruler. He gave some of them powers somehow, and they all appeared in Rom, tyring to help the people of a small town fight the Dire Wraiths. Rom, Torpedo & Starshine all helped out (after the mandatory fight against the Outcasts until everyone made good), but in the final battle, Starshine was killed saving Rom from one of the few surviving Wraiths. They appeared in a couple more stories as minions of the Mole Man before quietly disappearing- their last appearance was in 1991 (where they attempted to force Kala to return to Subterranea, as they were under orders to not let her leave, even though she was trying to find and rescue the Mole Man), and they've never been mentioned since.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Water Witch

Post by Jabroniville »

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WATER WITCH (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Mark Gruenwald & Herb Trimpe
First Appearance: Marvel Treasury Edition #25 (1980)
Role: Jobber Villain, Elementalist
Group Affiliations: The Outcasts
PL 7 (68)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+4)
Deception 3 (+2)
Expertise (Subeterranean) 6 (+6)
Insight 2 (+3)
Perception 2 (+3)
Ranged Combat (Water) 3 (+7)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Water Attacks), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Dowsing Rod" (Flaws: Easily Removable) (Feats: Restricted 2- Only Water Witch) [22]
"Block of Ice" Affliction 7 (Strength; Hindered & Vulnerable/Prone & Defenseless/Paralyzed) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative, Extra Condition) (Quirks: Requires Water -1) (27) -- (33 points)
  • AE: "Water Spout" Damage 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (Quirks: Requires Water -1) (13)
  • AE: "Water Blast" Blast 7 (Quirks: Requires Water -1) (13)
  • AE: "Wave" Blast 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) (Quirks: Requires Water -1) (20)
  • AE: Water Control 7 (14)
  • AE: "Bonk With Rod" Strength-Damage +2 (2)
  • AE: "Wet Environment" Environment 3 (Hamper Movement 2) (6)
Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Dowsing Rod +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Block of Ice +7 (+7 Ranged Affliction, DC 17)
Water Attacks +7 Area (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Water Blast +7 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Protection)- One of the Mole Man's people, Water Witch feels the need to protect Subterranea.
Responsibility (The Mole Man)- As the ruler of all Subterranea, the Mole Man has total power over The Outcasts.
Disabled (Bright Lights)- Living in Subterranea, the Outcasts are extremely sensitive to bright lights, and can be easily disabled if their hoods are taken off. Unless the artist forgets to draw them on.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 11 (68)

-Water Witch is from some team of Mole Man subjects- a band of Jobbers known as The Outcasts. She's another Gruenwald creation, which is probably why he remembered her well enough to throw her into the "Femizon" group in The Superior Stratagem. She never threw a single shot in that whole story as far as I can recall, and she looked a whole lot younger than she does in earlier pictures (where she looks like a stereotypical haggard old witch). I figure someone who was as one-shot as this lady was should be a PL 7 Jobber, basically a Poor Man's Water Wizard. If you can get poorer than HIM, anyways.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
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Digger

Post by Jabroniville »

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DIGGER (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Mark Gruenwald & Herb Trimpe
First Appearance: Marvel Treasury Edition #25 (1980)
Role: Jobber Villain, Burrower
Group Affiliations: The Outcasts
PL 7 (66)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+4)
Deception 2 (+1)
Expertise (Subeterranean) 6 (+6)
Insight 2 (+3)
Perception 2 (+3)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Claws), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Giant Clawed Hands"
Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split) [3]
Burrowing 4 [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Claws +7 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Protection)- One of the Mole Man's people, Digger feels the need to protect Subterranea.
Responsibility (The Mole Man)- As the ruler of all Subterranea, the Mole Man has total power over The Outcasts.
Disabled (Bright Lights)- Living in Subterranea, the Outcasts are extremely sensitive to bright lights, and can be easily disabled if their hoods are taken off. Unless the artist forgets to draw them on.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 7 / Defenses: 8 (66)

-Digger is a sharp-clawed, digging member of the Outcasts. He's PL 6.5 with his hands, but is pretty hopeless overall. He is, however, one of very few comic book characters to make use of the "Burrowing" power. His claws apparently once scratched up Iron Man's armor pretty badly.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Aug 29, 2022 5:31 am, edited 2 times in total.
Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Actually, the four super powered outcasts first appeared in Marvel Treasury #25. While a number of people who were considered ugly did join with the Mole Man in FF Annual #13, none of them had any powers.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (The Thing! Alicia! Puppet Master! Mole Man!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Sidney369 wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 2:20 am Actually, the four super powered outcasts first appeared in Marvel Treasury #25. While a number of people who were considered ugly did join with the Mole Man in FF Annual #13, none of them had any powers.
Ah, ok- Marvunapp includes both. I might have just glossed that over.
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Ken
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Re: The Mole Man

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 1:38 am THE MOLE MAN (Harvey Rupert Elder)

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (King of Subterranea), Evasion, Improved Critical (Staff) 2, Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Low-Level Radar Sense" Senses 5 (Ranged Accurate Radius Radio Sense) [5]
Senses 2 (Extended Hearing & Scent) [2]

"Blaster Staff" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [21]
Blast 8 (Feats: Variable 2- Fire, Electricity, Vibro-Charge, Laser) (18) -- (19)
  • AE: "Staff Strike" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Reach) (3)
    Damage 8 (Extras: Reaction +3) (Flaws: Limited to Those Who Pick Up His Staves -2) (16)
-- (35 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Staff +11 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Staff Blast +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

The Mole Man's Skills:
-Mole Man's no elite fighter on his own, despite being pretty handy with a Staff. He's pretty much a Monster Leader and that's it, because most of his enemies (the FF in particular) are way, WAY beyond him physically.
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Maybe Mole Man was using Power Attack since Simon was letting himself get hit.
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Ken
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Re: The Mole Man's Monsters

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 11:02 am THE MOLE MAN'S MONSTERS
Role:
Giant Monster
PL 12 (88)

-The Mole Man's Monsters are nearly always team-level threats, requiring the entire FF or X-Men to bring them down. Sometimes he gets caught up using more minor-league ones, so feel free to downgrade these to PL 11 or even PL 10 if you need weaker mooks- just reduce Strength (their Defensive PLs are usually rather low).
Unless the team in question is the JLA. Then you need at least 3 of the Mole Man Monsters to slow down half the League for a few pages.
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When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
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