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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
User avatar
Arkrite
Posts: 3828
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 9:16 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Jab's Builds! (Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino! Feral!)

Post by Arkrite »

I always find it funny when Jab gets to Nate Grey because I always hear the "too OP"/"God Mode Am I" rant.

This is funny to me because apparently I read the only three comics with him that were A) Interesting and B) Involved him getting knocked around thus not seeming so OP.

Based on what Jab's been saying... I should buy a lottery ticket ;~)
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino! Feral!)

Post by Jabroniville »

X-Cutioner's Song- Part Five (Uncanny X-Men #295):
* Hey, this one's slightly less fighty! In that there's only TWO big fight scenes. In one, a revived Apocalypse, weak and barely able to stand, is confronted by Storm's band of X-Men (War appears defeated alongside Caliban & Famine, despite not appearing in the last issue- communication issues?). And promptly whups their asses. He sends a shockwave up Iceman's ice beam (Jesus, give him a Hero Point for THAT), backhands Beast hard enough to knock him into Storm and take them both out (given Beast's durability, I'm thinking that should skoosh Storm), then turns around and one-punches QUICKSILVER, bragging that his molecular control trumps Super-Speed (HOW, exactly?). Colossus & Archangel tackle him to the ground, at which point he activates something in his base (or his own body, since the art & writing seem to disagree here) and fries the both of them. This gives us the infamous line "Six X-Men in sixty seconds? And to think I felt I'd passed my prime several hundred years ago!" The goofy, scrawny, swirling-skin-tagged Apocalypse here, drawn by Brandon Peterson, is so awful I'd be biased against this character for years (actually... for all time).

Meanwhile, the gang is all "oh, Stryfe is responsible for this", while X-Force lies in the Danger Room prison and Stryfe confronts Jean in her prison cell. Cannonball is offered a chance to help the heroes find Stryfe, while Wolverine & Bishop (ie. the two "Cool X-Men") go running around for information on Cable (mowing down armored Mooks), encountering the man himself! 

Once again, this issue is full of "one-hit-KOs", as even Beast & Colossus go down to a single hit each.

Part Six (X-Factor #85):
* So it's a trifecta of the most '90s X-Men ever, as Wolverine & Bishop fight Cable (this always irked me a bit, even as a kid. I KNEW these guys were teamed up only because they were the most "extreme" guys around- claws, guns and MOAR GUNS being the operative stuff here). Meanwhile, a coalition of X-Men & X-Factor faces down the Mutant Liberation Front, in the most one-sided battle in history! Dragoness manages to tag Cannonball when he slows down enough and his Blast Field drops (... that's not usually a thing), but she's thumped by three X-ladies (Storm, Polaris & Rogue). Quicksilver is hit by Tempo's "Time Distortion Field", which is actually a neat use of her powers- she can slow him down, but claims that it's "Taking everything I've got to slow him down to ten miles per hour! Quick! TAKE HIM!"). Curiously, there's a lot of Mooks around- one thing about the MLF is that from time to time they actually had gun-toting human minions as part of the group. Why a team of seventeen friggin' people needs MOOKS is beyond me, but here they are. However, a Psychic Knife wipes out Tempo (without the trademark "Awourg"- what kind of writer are you, David?!?) before any harm can befall him.

Archangel and Forearm brawl, giving me the quote for Forearm's build "Back in my younger days, during a rare bout of depression, I would occasionally wonder if there was a mutant power any DUMBER than just having wings and flapping around. Thanks for providing it, Forearm." And MLF member Kamikaze dies in the most hilariously half-assed way ever, as he tries to sneak up behind Warren while he's turning, and the combination of his speed and those techno-organic wings of Archangel gets the MLF member DECAPITATED. They promise in the next issue to talk about this happening... but it's glossed over so quickly by all that's going on that poor Kamikaze is never referred to again.

And then, in a huge shocker, WILDSIDE of all people is able to easily dodge Gambit's card attack, and then ONE-SHOTS him! When Quicksilver gets involved and KOs Wildside from behind, gloats about it, and is then slices through the leg by Reaper (Himself coming in from behind), who then readies his blade for the cliffhanger!

I can't say enough about Jae Lee's art here. It's obviously a bit dated and '90s (SO MUCH SHADING), but when people like Forearm and Wildside look AWESOME, you know you've got a good hand on deck. Gaming-wise, it's a curious thing- Kamikaze biffed his Toughness save HARD. So did Tempo (despite using her powers pretty smartly- to take out the speedster and set him up for the Mooks to kill). But then Gambit loses to Wildside of all people (it's PL 10 versus PL 8- not impossible, but still embarrassing for the hero), and Quicksilver then jobs to Reaper.

(Roster: MLF/Kamikaze, Tempo, Wildside; Lukas- some guy in the X-Factor storyline running behind this, allying with Prodigal) (Total: 54)
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino! Feral!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Arkrite wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2017 4:32 am I always find it funny when Jab gets to Nate Grey because I always hear the "too OP"/"God Mode Am I" rant.

This is funny to me because apparently I read the only three comics with him that were A) Interesting and B) Involved him getting knocked around thus not seeming so OP.

Based on what Jab's been saying... I should buy a lottery ticket ;~)
HE'S SO O.P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Sorry. Sorry. I am calm. What issues were those? What went down in them?
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino! Feral!)

Post by Jabroniville »

And that's it for the X-Force/New Mutants builds! What was supposed to be a 4-day "Spam-Fest" in the planning stages soon led to me increasing the post-load ("oh yeah, Nate Grey was on that new team, and I guess I'll throw in Doctor Nemesis, too"), and realizing that so many of the characters deserved longer bios, leading to my new-style "Essays With Headers"-style descriptions of characters and their history (to prevent sheer walls of indiscriminate rambling- now the indiscriminate rambling is ORGANIZED).

So yeah, things built into a ten-day posting fest- I kinda wanted to "break in" the newer thread with some established, memorable characters to get a bit more attention than the usual "minor Marvel characters" thing I like doing. And it worked, too- I was routinely shocked by how many comments I got for the various NM kids, though things trickled down around the "X-Force" crew (perhaps understandable, but I figured even as targets of HATE they'd draw some attention).

However, as one thing with Marvel's Mutants soon leads to another, I ended up piling other things onto this set, thus preventing me from getting to the Hulk Builds AGAIN, as I discovered an ever-larger group of guys that I felt needed re-posts and re-rants. Spectrum brought up Generation X, as they're especially on-theme (New Mutants begat Gen X, which begat The New X-Men: Academy X), and I haven't posted those characters since 2013, when Ronin Army's site was new. So they'll be up shortly. The Hellions are builds I'd done much more recently, but continue on the theme, so I'll be reposting them here as well. And I'd wanted to re-do the Morlocks, so you'll see them as well. After THAT, I'm mostly finished with the Mutants for the time being, at least.

After that set I'll do a bit of "Spam-Reposting" for certain forgettable characters like Mutant Force & the Savage Land Mutates (it'll only take a little bit), then I'll hit the "J" names of Marvel (only a six-day set!), and then, FINALLY, I'll be statting up the Incredible Hulk and his friends & foes, which I've had on the docket for literally years, pushing it back from what I wanted to do repeatedly, always coming up with new ideas. Now, FINALLY, I'm interested enough to continue forward!

But first, I'll do one of Marvel's more notorious forgotten series, which is ALSO on-theme to these current builds. In that they happened to SHARE the name of "X-Force"... for a while.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

X-Statix

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

X-STATIX:
-Among Marvel's sillier but more inventive ideas, the concept for this group came about when they were attempting to get some "Indie Cred", and so got Madman! creator Mike Allred involved with a revamp of the low-selling X-Force title. The book followed a group of goofy heroes who usually failed at everything, projected as a kind of Reality Show/Celebrity Culture parody, where the team was super-famous, but prone to failure, death and humiliation. It had a very "deliberately-silly" vibe, as you might imagine, and drew some attention in the early going for attempting to make Princess Diana into an undead superhero. Black comedy abounded, as the team members all had weird appearances, undead natures, tremendous personal problems, and more- The Orphan was actually a suicidal teen who only engaged in superheroics as a way to get killed in battle, for instance. Plus everyone kept getting killed in fights.

-I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATED this idea when I first heard about it. Despite not having read X-Force in eons, I was offended at them taking a book I used to like and turning it into this goofy thing with weirdly-drawn superheroes doing silly stuff. I was also NOT a fan of Mike Allred's art style- even today, he is polarizing. I must say I've grown to love it over the years (I've heard the observation in the past that "only artists" seem to enjoy his art- non-artists are the biggest detractors. Perhaps there's something to it). Though his people stand in bizarre, awkward poses at all times, they have just enough human proportion to "ground them", and his women are nothing less than gorgeous.

-But in any case, the book was not terribly popular. It lasted a handful of issues as X-Force before shifting names to X-Statix, perhaps to avoid comparisons to a book that'd come to define the '90s in comics (not a terribly beloved era, even by 2001). From there, it lasted another twenty-six issues.

-The original team is mostly killed in their first appearance, having been gunned down by an enemy helicopter while attempting to save a boy band from hostage takers. They were mentored by an evil, one-armed bastard named Coach- he had the first batch of kids killed, but then tried to rape U-Go Girl, who killed him. By the end of the series, the ENTIRE TEAM was shot and killed, giving this group of weirdos a send-off that was typical "black comedy" for the series. I've never read the book nor have I heard anyone ever praise OR hate it, though I know people talk of Doop as if he's a "memetic bad-ass", which is kind of the intention of his character.

X-STATIX CAST MEMBER
Created By:
Peter Milligan & Mike Allred
b]First Appearance:[/b] X-Force #116 (July 2001)
Role: Goofball Failed Heroes
Group Affiliations: X-Force (2nd group), X-Statix
PL 4 (41)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 5 (+5)
Perception 2 (+2)
Stealth 1 (+3)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Various"

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2, Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Prejudice (Mutants)
Motivation (Fame)

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 8 (41)

-The members of X-Statix are, as a rule, pretty terrible superheroes. They're rather famous for causing fatalities among enemies, civilians and themselves, in fact. An enormous number of these characters can float, and I would bet actual money that's because Mike Allred likes to draw people floating around in weird, random poses. Look at his art long enough, and you notice SO MANY PEOPLE doing that.

X-Force Members (deceased):
* This was the early team- all six of them were killed in X-Force #116, the debut of the team. Only U-Go Girl, The Anarchist and Doop survived.
SLUK (Byron Spencer)- PL 5 (49): ST 4 [8]
-Sluk kills himself and the soldier he was trying to attack by setting off a landmine. His face is made of tentacles, but they don't appear to extend very far.
LA NUIT (Pierre Truffaut)- PL 4 (54): "Darkforce" Move Object 6, AE: Concealment (Visuals) 2 (Extras: Attack, Area) [13]
-La Nuit was a Frenchman. I don't know how he died.
BATTERING RAM- PL 6 (60): ST 6, STA 6, "Ram Horns" Strength-Damage +1 [19]
-A purple ram guy. Died while interrogating Zeitgeist as to his role on the team- a helicopter fired on him, blowing him to pieces. He lasted two issues longer than most of the others, though.
GIN GENIE (Rebecca "Beckah" Parker)- PL 8 (45): "Seismic Energy" Affliction 8 (Hindered & Vulnerable/Prone & Defenseless) (Extra Condition, Area- 30ft. Burst) (Flaws: Source- Alcohol, Limited Degree, Both Must Be Grounded) [4]
-Gin Genie could only use her powers if she'd drank alcohol beforehand.
PLAZM- PL 6 (83): "Living Liquid" Insubstantial 1, Flight 10, "Control Metabolic Functions" Affliction 6 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Reach 4, Cumulative), AE: Affliction 6 (Entranced/Compelled/Controlled) (Limited to Emotions) [42]
-Plazm could either stun people, or make others less sad using his powers. He could also sorta become liquid.
ZEITGEIST II (Axel Cluney)- PL 7 (78): ST 2, STA 3, "Acid Vomit" Blast 5 (Secondary Effect) Linked to Weaken Toughness 6 (Ranged, Affects Objects), Ranged Combat (Acid) 4 (+8) [37]
-The Team Leader. He conspired with Coach to have everyone killed in the massacre, but was caught in the crossfire and killed as well.

X-Statix Members:
ANARCHIST (Tike Alicar)- PL 7 (78): ST 2, "Acid Vomit" Blast 5 (Secondary Effect) Linked to Weaken Toughness 6 (Ranged, Affects Objects), Ranged Combat (Acid) 4 (+8) [37]
-Token "Black Canadian", who actually survives the first mission. He had severe OCD (constantly washing his hands) and dates U-Go Girl briefly until her death. He then dated Dead Girl, but his gunned down during the team's last mission. He allies with some deceased supervillains (Kraven, Mysterio & others) in order to return from the dead while led by the Pitiful Ones. They failed, but he found romance with the dead Miss America.

BLOKE (Mickey Tork, aka Curtis "Old Don" Aston)- PL 6 (64): ST & STA 6 (if Pink), AE: Morph 1 (Any Color), Concealment (Visuals, Blending), Expertise (Gay Stereotype) 8 (+8) [23]
-A lot of jokes were made of his apparent homosexuality- he knows a lot about interior decorating and musical theatre. He is shot dead while protecting the team's informant during a mission in South America.

DEAD GIRL (Moonbeam)- PL 5 (104): No STA, Protection 4, Immunity (Fort. Effects), Regeneration 8, Claws +2, Insubstantial 4, Comprehend 2 (The Dead), "Control Body Parts" Summon 1 (Extras: Horde, 8 Minions +6) [63]
-Dead Girl's mutant genes activated when she was killed (perhaps by a jealous lover; a co-star in a performance she was doing). She can speak to the dead, and do all sorts of weird things. Since she was so hard to kill, she kind of acted as a very non-durable "tank". She died in the team's last mission, of "natural causes", and even got her own Limited Series for a brief while!

EL GUAPO (Robert Rodriguez)- PL 5 (52): AGI 4, Expertise (Stuntman) 4 (+4), Attractive, Sidekick 4 (Sentient Flying Skateboard) [11]
-A sexy stuntman who performed in an X-Statix movie, and was asked to join the team for PR. He tried to be faithful to his girlfriend, but his fame brought a lot of female attention, and he cheated on her. His skateboard gave him a beating for it, as he liked the girlfriend. He later loses his legs in a Taliban attack, using the skateboard as a wheelchair. Finally, he is murdered by the spirit of Henrietta Hunter, who gets his skateboard to impale him.

Image

HENRIETTA HUNTER- PL 6 (75): ST 5, STA 5, PRE 3, Singing 4 (+7), "Empathy" Mind Reading 8 (Emotions Only), Comprehend 2 (Spirits) [34]
-A reanimated woman who was intended to be the undead body of Diana, Princess of Wales. This was rather soon after Diana's death, and provoked a BIG outcry in English papers, so this was nixed and she was changed to a generic pop-star. She died once, but immediately came back as an evil Zombie. For a while, she committed hauntings in that anyone who sung her song would die horribly (this killed teammate El Guapo).

MYSTERIOUS FAN BOY (Arnold "Arnie" Lundberg)- PL 8 (124): Illusion (All Senses) 8, AE: Healing 8, Burst Damage 8, Transform Anything to Anything Else 5 (Continuous), "Animate the Dead" Summon 2 (Extras: Horde, 8 Minions +6) (Source- Dead Bodies) [83]
-A huge fan of U-Go Girl, he put images of her into Orphan's mind to force Orphan to attack him, and used his powers to control an entire town. Orphan nominated him for the team in order to keep an eye on him. He had a ton of powers, but died of a heart attack during a mission intended to prove himself to the public, once he was recognized for his earlier transgressions.

Image

ORPHAN (Guy Smith, aka Mister Sensitive)- PL 7 (73): ST 2, FIGHTING 10, Senses 6 ("Radar" Accurate Radius Ranged Radio Sense, Detect Vulnerability- Ranged & Radius, Analytical Touch & Taste), "Nerve Point Strikes" Affliction 4 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed), Speed 3 & FIGHTING +2 (Source- Vulnerability), Flight 2 (Low Ceiling) [32]
-A suicidal purple mutant with two antennae. He joined X-Force/X-Statix hoping that their high casualty rate would end his a quick death for him. Despite his mental problems, he was the most heroic member of the team, and placed great value on human life (well, OTHER human life). He dated U-Go Girl until her death, then dated Venus Dee Milo, but lingering guilty over his first relationship made them troubled. He died with the rest of the team, on what was supposed to be their retirement mission. In Dead Girl, he appeared in Heaven, but U-Go Girl could not commit to one man for all eternity- she changed her mind after he found a new level of sensitivity, and began leading a bunch of dead heroes.

PHAT (William Robert Reilly)- PL 6 (54): "Soft Body" Immunity to Bludgeoning Damage 20 (Half-Effect), AE: "Hard Skin" Protection 6, AE: "Hard Fist" Strength-Damage +3, AE: Growth 4 (Flaws: Limited to Certain Body Parts At A Time) [13]
-Eventually comes out of the closet, though still breaks up with Vivisector when they realize they just aren't attracted to each other. Could harden, soften or increase the size of any part of his body. He dies enlarging himself to absorb a bomb's blast during a disastrous mission.

SAINT ANNA- PL 6 (67): Healing 8 (Extras: Energizing), AE: Move Object 6, AE: Insubstantial 2 (Mist Form) [26]
-An Irish/Argentinian Mutant who was worshiped by people for her powers. She joins X-Statix for altruistic reasons, but is shot in the stomach and disintegrates during her first mission.

SPIKE I (Darian Elliott)- PL 6 (65): ST 2, STA 3, FIGHTING 7, Spike Blast 5 (Accurate 2, Multiattack), AE: Spike Stab +3 [24]
-A nasty guy who was black, and made fun of Anarchist for being "white" inside. Also a homophobic ass, he rubs pretty much everyone on his team the wrong way, and becomes the most murderous member of the team, killing great numbers of people. He is eventually killed by an imposter, who is then himself killed.

Image

U-GO GIRL (Edie Sawyer)- PL 5 (91): Teleport 10 (Easy, Accurate, Portal +2) (Tiring) [50]
-The only member of the team whose name I know, other than Doop. She has blue skin & red hair, and is narcoleptic, as well as having a young daughter whom she'd tried to avoid seeing. She is later killed on a publicity stunt mission on a space station.

Image

VENUS DEE MILO- PL 7 (58): Blast 8 (Accurate), AE: Teleport 8, AE: Healing 5 [19]
-Made of "Kirby Krackle".

VIVISECTOR (Myles Alfred)- PL 6 (70): ST 4, STA 5, INT 2, Expertise (Literature) 8 (+10), Senses 5 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision, Ultra & Extended Hearing), Claws +2, Speed 2 [29]
-A bookish scholar who looks like a wolf. He survived the early missions as the new "X-Force", and briefly starts up a relationship with Phat. He suffers when Phat dies (though they'd broken up by that point), and when El Guapo rejects his advances. He lost his powers temporarily, but they later returned, and he died with the rest of the team on their final mission. Despite having been with the team for ages, Myles's death was off-panel, as he was shot by gunmen who'd been lying in waiting for the team.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino! Feral!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Horsenhero had a good rant the first time I posted Nate:
I never really cared for Nate Grey simply because he was a male retread of the Rachel Summers story, brought about at a point in time where the X-books were so messed up, with so many "alternate future" characters running around it wasn't even funny.

The "Jean Grey/Phoenix" powerset was becoming as common as the Superman powerset over at DC and led to a parade of characters I now despise for the most part. The plotlines for these characters inevitably revolved around this dynamic: "I must use my awesome powers to save the world from (insert all-powerful megalomaniac here), but if I unleash my full potential I could be corrupted into becoming the very threat I'm battling against." *angst* angst* angst*. Which is all well and good the first 4 or 5 hundred times, but at some point it just becomes boring, since the characters themselves have no personality development beyond a pendulum swing between overbearing whining and overbearing arrogance.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing this powerset and all characters possessed of it given a Pete Rose style "lifetime ban".

Aaaannnd that's the end of my rant.
User avatar
Goldar
Posts: 1229
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 2:10 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Rictor! Cable! Prosh! Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino!)

Post by Goldar »

Ken wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:27 am
I wasn't. My Marvel reading has always been on the Avengers/Defenders side of the company.
Yay, the Defenders! I really liked the original series!
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Doop

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

DOOP
Created By:
Peter Milligan & Mike Allred
First Appearance: X-Force #116 (July 2001)
Role: Memetic Bad-Ass
Group Affiliations: X-Force (2nd group), X-Statix
PL 9 (144)
STRENGTH
6 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+12)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (History) 5 (+6)
Expertise (Cameraman) 4 (+5)
Insight 7 (+10)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Investigation 6 (+9)
Perception 5 (+8)
Stealth 5 (+8)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2, Startle

Powers:
"Doop Physiology"
Flight 4 (30 mph) [8]
Regeneration 8 (Feats: Regrows Limbs) [9]
Elongation 2 [2]
"Replicate Objects" Create 4 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Continuous) [13]
"Storage Space" Features 1: Hides Large Objects Within Mouth [1]

"Warp Time And/Or Space" Movement 4 (Time & Space Travel 2) (Flaws: Uncontrolled) (4) -- [5]
  • AE: "Cushion" Movemenet 1 (Safe Fall) (Extras: Affects Others) (3)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +8, Fortitude +10, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Helping Mutantkind)

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 38 / Defenses: 12 (144)

-Doop is the only X-Statix cast member to appear in every issue- he's a floating cameraman who speaks in his own language ("Doopspeak"), and pretty much the entire running gag with him is just how important he is to the world, while also being fairly ridiculous- he was "instrumental" in America's victory in the Cold War, is a longterm friend of Wolverine, and more. At one point, his brains exploded, and his remaining body (acting via the back-up brain in his butt) allies with the heroes to collect the pieces. He once had an affair with a beautiful married woman, but when her jealous husband had him followed, Doop ditched her to have an affair with the detective sent to observe him! Doop is later seemingly killed along with the rest of the team in the series finale, but later reappears with no explanation. He joins Wolverine and the X-Men as a floating, rarely-seen staff member who doesn't get up to much, but did get one "Focus Issue" which reveals a love for Kitty Pryde, and a number of important, silly roles, incongruous to his silly appearance.

-The intention of Doop seems to be to create a "Memetic Bad-Ass" without actually having to show him BEING a bad-ass- just have characters talking about him like he IS one, which again goes to the "incongruously-silly appearance" thing.

-Doop's powers are multiple and rather mysterious- he's done a lot of "one-off" stuff like controlling his body via his ass-brain, inhaling his entire team after popping a pimple, spit out multiple hammers at Thor after being struck by Mjolnir, and more. He's strong, durable and hard to finish off, and can apparently "Warp Time & Space".
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
danelsan
Posts: 273
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:31 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Shatterstar! The X-Treme! Domino! Feral! X-Man! X-Statix!)

Post by danelsan »

Allred's work on Silver Surfer is good, but what I'm seeing here tells me I'd hate his X-run
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Fallen Angels

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

-Fallen Angels is a somewhat-obscure, VERY dated 1987 Limited Series that went on for an eight-issue run. A curious thing, it was written by Jo Duffy (a one-time Marvel Editor that moved on to writing some minor books, but left the industry entirely around the 2000s), and featured a few supporting X-Characters as cast members. Originally going to be called Misfits (their songs, you see, are better), it's centered around a group of young superhuman pickpockets living in the slummy 1980s New York (GOD did that city ever change itself over the decades), and working for Telford "The Vanisher" Porter.

The cast is a bunch of weirdos- a pair of cybernetic lobsters are part of the cast, for example. The lobsters Bill & Don hang out alongside Gomi the cyborg, Ariel the alien teleporter, and Chance- a power-modifier. They soon recruit X-Factor character Boom-Boom and New Mutants characters Warlock & Sunspot (who left the team in shame after injuring Cannonball and being berated by his teammates). Following Sunspot are then-tangential X-Characters The Multiple Man and Siryn from the "Muir Island X-Men" (where all the side-characters ended up). The two adults try to restrain the kids and their risk-taking, but soon, even Moon-Boy & Devil Dinosaur are added to their ranks.

I actually OWN this series (picked it up for semi-cheap, as I recall), but I barely remember anything about it besides the fact that I found it a bit pointless and a little overly-goofy. Having read it again thanks to these builds... it's very un-good. Like, PARTS of it are okay, but it's this weird mix- it's clear that Duffy has issues writing expository dialogue and inner monologues- it just comes off as screamingly-pretentious, with Sunspot doing this intense diatribe about how he's doomed to become evil and all that. Like, he's all of fourteen years old, and he's just going ON AND ON with the kind of stuff a first-year writing student does when they want a character to sound brilliant, and with words no 14-year old should be using. Combining that with the deliberate-goofiness of the book just comes off like Faux-Claremont. And when CLAREMONT HIMSELF was then the writer of the X-Men line, coming off as Faux-Claremont is especially noticeable. You can't mix deep, inner-thoughts and the intensity of being an outcast with sentient, cybernetic lobsters.

It's also DECOMPRESSED in the worst way, too. The entire first issue is spent setting up Bobby accidentally hurting Cannonball, running away, and confronting some muggers. The entire second is just Bobby going off on his own, Siryn & Madrox chasing him, and some brief pages of Gomi and some mysterious partners. Issue #3 finally introduces Gomi's Origin Story, and introduces the full cast. But that's all that happens in a FULL ISSUE (and this is back in the '80s, where it would take you twice as long to read an ordinary comic as today). Issue #4 spends the entire time farting around in some Primeval World, and literally all that happens is one dinosaur attacks them, and we meet Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy at the end. The fifth issue is everyone hanging out and arguing, then two groups splitting off an arguing (though one Lobster dies at the end). The next issue is just more of that! Only the last two of EIGHT ISSUES actually moves the plot forward in any particular manner!

What's worse is that most of the cast doesn't even DO anything in these decompressed "talking" issues- CLAREMONT could make that kind of stuff fun and interesting, but DUFFY? Hellz no. Cripes, they even spend 80% of the series not explaining Chance & Angel's powers, having them be the big reveal in the penultimate issue. The ENTIRE POINT of the story is for Angel to lure them to her homeworld, where they'll get dissected, and they only arrive their in the sixth issue's finale page. There's about ELEVEN recurring cast members, and most of them don't have much of a purpose to the overall story (Boom-Boom appears to only be there to fit the '80s motif; Siryn to be the befuddled leader). We're meant to identify somewhat with Chance & Ariel, yet none get enough true panel time and important stuff to do until the end. Even The Vanisher, the "Fagin" of this group of thieves, actually doesn't matter in the slightest- he gets no comeuppance for his cowardice, and he isn't even seen doing anything particularly BAD. In fact, for a group of runaways who steal, they engage in very little thievery (you only see it twice- Chance stealing from a member of her old cult, and Ariel "convincing" a grocer to give her free food).

It's VERY dated in the best way (all the '80s clothing is at full-force- I wonder how the comics of the 2000s will date themselves, aside from Pop Culture references? Comic characters don't really dress for the trends as much these days- otherwise you'd see a lot of half-shaved female heads and guys in skinny jeans), but nothing really HAPPENED. The team was kidnapped by Ariel's people (a hedonistic cult called The Coconut Grove), but escaped thanks to her unexplained-until-the-end abilities. The whole bit in the Coconut Grove is CLASSIC '80s (how many movies, cartoons & comics in that era featured people ending up in alien worlds where everyone dresses in New Wave fashion and has giant hedonistic parties all the time?). 

Fallen Angels's influence on later comics is almost zero- all it added was Siryn's attraction to Jamie Madrox, which was off-handedly written out in a Fabian Nicieza issue YEARS later (Jamie explains that, DUH, it was a Duplicate in the story who fell in love with Siryn, not himself- he's only aware of the love like he was watching it in a movie), but then became a thing in Peter David's X-Factor. Sunspot & Warlock returned to the New Mutants, while Boom-Boom rejoined X-Factor's sub-group the X-Terminators, before joining the NM herself along with Rictor. Moon-Boy & Devil Dinosaur went to the Savage Land. Madrox became Peter David's Pet Character in a few years, and shows up sporadically only when David is writing. Siryn would join X-Force (along with Sunspot & Boom-Boom) and get a LOT more character development than she'd had up till that point, and carry the torch for Jamie for years. The Vanisher just continued his brand of cowardly douchery. Gomi & Bill disappeared into comics history, as did Chance & Ariel. Don the Lobster was killed in the story.

The Roster:
The Vanisher: For the "Fagin" of the group, their leader really does nothing. He's a classic coward, blinking out the second there's trouble, but he actually matters very little to the overall plot, not even driving it forward in any particular way.
Gomi: A young cyborg with two Cybernetic Lobster pals, with whom only he can communicate. Acts like an easily-led, comically-naive tool, but doesn't matter much after his introduction. Basically spends the middle issues doing nothing, and only helps out at the end.
Ariel: Your classic '80s stereotypical New Wave alien being. Is shown early on "convincing" people to do things against their nature, and is revealed to be a Mutant in the end, and is forced to help the teammates she'd betrayed. She spends SIX ISSUES denying that she has Mutant Powers before that.
Chance: '80s Knife-Wielding Tomboy. Acts tough, but is kind of a basket case- a small Character Study is done. Among the few who might be interesting with enough of a focus.
Siryn: Sort of the befuddled leader, attempting to reign in all the kids, but failing. Only worthwhile as "The Mature One", which is funny, given how X-Force portrayed her as a passionate Irish stereotype (right down to the drinking problem).
Sunspot: Gets a HUGE character study throughout the thing, but it's largely all angsting over the fact that he's now doomed to be evil. This sticks out like a sore thumb given that his teammates are a primitive proto-human, a red T-Rex, two lobsters and a pack of '80s Stereotypes.
Warlock: Does little, aside from being Sunspot's "Morality Pet", keeping him on the straight-and-narrow and acting as a sounding board for his whining.
Madrox, The Multiple Man: His only real effect on the plot is to have a minor subplot involving a Dupe who wants to split off and live his own life. Jamie appears cool with it, but they're forced to merge at the end in order to maximize his effectiveness (New Jamie's ribs are too-badly injured to help in a fight, and only merging can make this better).
Boom-Boom/Meltdown: Arguably the most-pointless member, seemingly only there to fit the '80s motif of the book. Just kind of flirts with Madrox (much to his chagrin) and blows a couple things up. More often just used to establish Chance's mystery power.
Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy: They feature somewhat-heavily in one issue, and then sit in the background and do nothing to move the plot forward. NOTHING. Most of it's just Moon Boy pontificating to Devil, since he cannot communicate with the others.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Ariel

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

ARIEL
Created By:
Jo Duffy & Kerry Gammill
First Appearance: Fallen Angels #2 (May 1987)
Role: Space Teen
Group Affiliation: The Fallen Angels, The Coconut Grove
PL 5 (156)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+5)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Street Rat) 5 (+5)
Expertise (Alien Wanderer) 2 (+2)
Perception 3 (+3)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+6)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Coconut Grove Physiology"
Teleport 15 (Extras: Extended, Easy, Accurate, Portal +2) (Flaws: Medium- Doorways) (90) -- [91]
  • AE: "Interstellar Travel" Movement 3 (Space Travel 3) (Extras: Instantaneous) (Flaws: Medium- Doorways) (6)
"Mutant Powers: Persuasion"
Enhanced Skills 12: Deception 4 (+9), Persuasion 8 (+13) [6]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +1

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

Complications:
Responsibility/Secret (The Coconut Grove)- Ariel is on a mission to study Mutants.
Secret (A Mutant)- Ariel is actually a Mutant herself, but doesn't want others to know about this.
Relationship (Chance)- Ariel is close with her teammate Chance, sharing with her some of her most-important secrets.

Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 97 / Defenses: 14 (156)

-Ariel is an alien girl from a hedonistic space-cult called The Coconut Grove. She was sent to Earth to observe mutations in other species, as her own people had stopped evolving. Eventually, she leads the Fallen Angels into a trap, and they are captured by the Grove. However, she is shocked to find her friend Chance (a hidden Mutant) among them, and then gets imprisoned HERSELF, as she has now revealed Mutant Powers! Eventually, she and Devil Dinosaur convince her leaders to let them return to Earth (by threatening them, naturally). She saw little use after Fallen Angels, taking more than twenty years to reappear in some issues of X-Men: Legacy, where she aided the X-Men against the Dark Avengers. Of the group, she is BY FAR the most '80s, sporting a New Wave haircut, giant sunglasses, and being covered in sparkles.

-Not really a fighter, Ariel is an Interstellar Transporter (much like Lila Cheney), requiring actual doorways to create portals of sorts (though how she found a DOOR in the primeval world of Moon Boy & Devil Dinosaur is beyond me). She also has the Mutant Power to be extra-persuasive to others, making them believe or do what she says- this appears in some somewhat funny ways over the course of the SEVEN ISSUES it takes to make the big reveal, as Vanisher will complain about her taking his seat ("Hey Ariel, you're in my seat." "But I should sit here. You can sit over there on that box." "Oh, right. *thinking to self* That makes sense."). This isn't actually Mind Control, but an EXTRA-strong version of Deception & Persuasion- people simply listen to her as if she had this tremendous force of personality. It COULD be done like Mind Control (after all, The Force gives Jedi similar abilities), but this way was more distinctive and seems to fit better.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Gomi

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

GOMI (Alphonsus Lefszycic)
Created By:
Jo Duffy & Kerry Gammill
First Appearance: Fallen Angels #2 (May 1987)
Role: Cyborg
Group Affiliation: The Fallen Angels
PL 7 (53)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+2)
Expertise (Street Rat) 2 (+3)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Cyborg Enhancements"
"Telekinetic Force Pillar" Damage 6 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) [12]

Senses 1 (Communication Link- Bill & Don) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
TK Pillar +6 Area (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2, Fortitude +3, Will +4

Complications:
Relationship (Don & Bill)- Gomi is rather protective of his cybernetic lobster companions.
Quirk (Full Power)- Gomi cannot control the amount of power his TK Force Pillar uses.
Responsibility (Naive)- Gomi is often totally-unaware of just how poor others treat him, and seems to cheerfully put up with any kind of rotten treatment.

Total: Abilities: 28 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 13 / Defenses: 8 (53)

-Gomi is a cyborg, modified by two cruel, lazy douchebags (one of them was his cousin), and named for the Japanese word for "garbage". His origin story takes several pages, and is basically about how clueless and comically-naive he was about the cruelty of their behavior (he describes them in glowing terms and talks about how good they were- their actual panels depict them as unshaven, manipulative dicks). They end up giving him Telekinesis due to their fanboy love of Marvel Girl- being horrified by her transformation into Phoenix, they decide to make ANOTHER girl match "their beloved"- but not wanting to "waste a perfectly-good girl", they experiment on Gomi instead.

-Eventually, their funding is revoked and they abandon shop, leaving Gomi to go off with their only other cybernetic creations, Don & Bill the Lobsters. Alas, Don is squashed by Devil Dinosaur by accident. He's still treated badly by the group, but the lobsters will violently-snip anyone who mistreats him. Despite his stupidity, he is oddly-philosophical, pointing out to the surviving Lobster that Don was always walking underfoot, and that revenge is a pointless excercise. He has never been seen outside of Fallen Angels, as far as I can tell, and honestly barely-mattered to the book. He gets this big debut in the second issue, but after his origin is explained, he does almost nothing to effect the plot, and helps out only in the last issue. Even his crush on Siryn is a one-off- he falls in love (sharing the family passion for redheads) when she showers him with affection following Don's death (well, she's a gorgeous Irish redhead, and he's a nerdy teenage boy- it was bound to happen), but this is never mentioned later on. Given that they had SEVEN ISSUES to run some kind of subplot like that, it's a bit silly.

Image

BILL & DON
Role:
Semi-Sentient Lobsters
PL 5 (37)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Close Combat (Claws) 2 (+5)
Perception 4 (+3)
Stealth 0 (+8 Small Size)

Advantages:
Close Attack 3, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Claws), Improved Hold

Powers:
"Aquatic Mud-Spiders" Immunity 2 (Drowning, Pressure) [2]
"Claws" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split) (Extras: Penetrating 3) [5]
Senses 1 (Communication Link- Gomi) [1]

"Natural Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Flaws: Permanent +0) [17]
(-2 Strength, Speed -1, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation)

Offense:
Unarmed +3 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Claws +5 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +1, Fortitude +3, Will +2

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Bill & Don, despite having sentience, cannot speak, nor can they use their claws to easily-manipulate objects.
Responsibility (Each Other, Gomi)- The Lobsters are devoted to each other and Gomi- either will attack anyone who mistreats one of the others. Bill swears vengeance against a multi-ton Dinosaur for accidentally crushing Don.
Reputation (Delicious)

Total: Abilities: -2 / Skills: 6--3 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 25 / Defenses: 5 (37)

-Bill (green) and Don (blue) are a pair of cybernetically-enhanced Lobsters who are intensely-loyal to Gomi. It's quite clear they're smarter than the average crustacean- when Don is crushed accidentally by Devil Dinosaur, Bill is obsessed with revenge, and snaps down on Moon-Boy's foot- he also helps his team escape, and is capable of communicating with Gomi and understand the language of others. So probably a bit smarter than Rin-Tin-Tin, and even possibly Canada's Littlest Hobo ("Maybe tomorrow, I'll wanna settle down..."). The Lobsters are strong enough to toss people around, trip them, and cause a great deal of pain by clamping down (Moon-Boy is disabled by such an attack), but aren't super-elite, and are notably vulnerable- Gomi is concerned by them walking underfoot of PEOPLE, much less dinosaurs.[/SIZE]
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Chance

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

CHANCE II (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Jo Duffy & Kerry Gammill
First Appearance: Fallen Angels #2 (May 1987)
Role: Boyish Girl, Riff-Raff, Street Rat
Group Affiliation: The Fallen Angels
PL 10 (82)
STRENGTH
-1 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 3 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+3)
Expertise (Street Rat) 5 (+5)
Perception 3 (+3)
Sleight of Hand 4 (+8)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment (Knife)

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Double or Nothing"
"Double" Variable 6 (Increased Powers of Others) (Feats: Subtle 2) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst, Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Mutants, Uncontrolled) (44) -- [45]
  • AE: "Nothing" Affliction 10 (Feats: Subtle 2) (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Transformed to Powerless) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst, Reaction +3) (Flaws: Limited to Mutants, Uncontrolled) (32)
Offense:
Unarmed +3 (-1 Damage, DC 14)
Knife +3 (+1 Damage, DC 15)
Remove Powers +10 Area (+10 Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +3 (DC 13), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Thrills & Taking Chances)
Enemy (The Glorification Church)- The Church forces its worshippers to do labor for no pay- Chance fled after being forced to sell nudie calendars on the streets, giving all the proceeds to Reverend Park.
Responsibility (Tomboy)- Chance does not like to show off her feminine side, and acts tough around others.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 45 / Defenses: 7 (82)

-Coming only a year after the introduction of Steve Ditko's Chance (a Spider-Man villain), Chance II is your everyday Young Runaway, dressing like a street kid and being hostile to others. She's a runaway from the corrupt Glorification Church of Reverend Yune Kim Park, which used its worshippers as glorified slave labor. She was harrassed by some goons, but got rescued by Sunspot, and fled while he was being beaten down (her powers had caused his to flare out). This didn't make them friendly towards each other- a bit attracted, Chance dealt with it by teasing him and playing jokes. Sunspot retaliated with hurtful comments and anger. Like the other new characters, she hasn't appeared since- she wasn't even mentioned following M-Day (regarding whether or not she still retained her powers).

-It would turn out that Chance herself was a Mutant- she had the power to "Double or Nothing" the powers of other Mutants in the surrounding area- their powers would either increase (often to uncontrollable levels- Boom-Boom once caused a MUCH larger explosion than she intended), or decrease (Sunspot was rendered helpless against a pair of dangerous thugs). She's not a fighter by any means, but is a stealthy punk kid with some remarkable powers, should she have been able to control them. As it stands, they're Uncontrolled, which can be problematic if, say, one of your teammates is a member of the Technarch, and their "Mutant Power" is the ability to have empathy and a good nature- turning that power OFF is not a good idea.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Devil Dino & Moon Boy

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

An ape-man and a guy with radioactive spider-powers riding a gigantic red dinosaur while he fights other, FIRE-BREATHING dinosaurs! Now THIS is why I read comics!

DEVIL DINOSAUR
Created By:
Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Devil Dinosaur #1 (April 1978)
Role: Giant Red Dinosaur
Group Affiliations: The Fallen Angels
PL 11 (111)
STRENGTH
8 STAMINA 11 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+10)
Close Combat (Bite) 1 (+9)
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+6)
Intimidation 15 (+15 Size)
Perception 6 (+7)
Stealth 9 (+2 Size)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Bite) 3, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 5 (Low-Light Vision, Acute Scent & Extended Scent 3) [5]
Speed 3 (16 mph) [3]
"Theropod Bite" Strength-Damage +3 (Feats: Penetrating 7) [10]

"Dino-Sized" Growth 7 (Str & Sta +7, +7 Mass, +3 Intimidation, -3 Dodge/Parry, -7 Stealth) -- (21 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [15]
Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Reach) [3]
Impervious Toughness 7 [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Bite +9 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +11 (+4 Impervious), Fortitude +12, Will +8

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Dinosaurs cannot speak to humans, nor use their limbs to easily manipulate objects. Only Moon-Boy can understand Devil Dinosaur's grunts and growls.
Weakness (Cold Climates)- The Age of Reptiles (or "Dinosaur World") was a much hotter time period than our own. Creatures from that era will be more susceptible to Cold and Ice-based attacks.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 43 / Defenses: 18 (111)

-Devil Dinosaur was created during the weird third era of Jack Kirby at Marvel Comics, where he created characters like The Eternals and their whole world, plus this book- an attempt at one-upping DC's Kamandi when Marvel heard that DC was optioning the animated rights to Kirby's DC creation. Since Dinosaurs were big, Marvel wanted another kid-focused thing to aim at animation studios. Of course, nothing came of the project, and the book was cancelled after nine issues. Devil Dinosaur and his rider, Moon-Boy, were from the alternate "Dinosaur World", but some writers forgot that and made him from Earth's past. They disappeared for almost a decade after the book died, and generally only come about for one-off joke appearances, since they're rather silly characters- appearances include the Fallen Angels Limited Series (a very '80s mess of a book. Very odd), Ka-Zar (where they helped the Tarzan-copycat against the Roxxon Oil Company), the Godzilla comic Marvel did, and more.

-I particularly remember him most for a bit one of Marvel's artists did regarding how artists have to do research for characters. He said he had to buy a bunch of back-issues featuring the character to learn how to draw him for a What If? story. He bought the issues, drew a bunch of sketches, drew some thumbnails for the book itself... only to have the writer change his mind about Devil Dinosaur being in the story after all, so all the work was for nothing. This was treated like a pretty typical experience. This was, of course, years before Wikipedia, Comic Vine, and numerous other comic book-focused sites that would have cut the time by a huge amount.

-Devil Dinosaur is basically a normal Tyrannosaurus (though apparently has some semi-normal Intelligence), which means that he's INSANELY strong and tough.

Image

MOON-BOY
Created By:
Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Devil Dinosaur #1 (April 1978)
Role: Little Monkey-Man
Group Affiliations: The Fallen Angels
PL 6 (111)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -2

Skills:
Athletics 8 (+10)
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+7)
Intimidation 4 (+2)
Perception 4 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 2 (Low-Light Vision, Acute Scent) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +3

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

Complications:
Responsibility (Outsider)- Moon-Boy is clearly not human, and doesn't understand a lot of human culture. Or their language.
Relationship (Devil Dinosaur)- Moon-Boy saved Devil's life years ago, and they are close companions.

Total: Abilities: 30 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 2 / Defenses: 11 (111)

-Moon-Boy saved Devil Dinosaur's life when a rival tribe tried to burn him alive, and they've been inseparable ever since (except when writers just want to write a cool dinosaur instead of a dumb ape-man). He's oddly-philosophical at times, and cannot communicate easily with people.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Vanisher

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

THE VANISHER (Telford Porter)
Created By:
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: The X-Men #2 (Nov. 1963)
Role: Cowardly Villain
PL 7 (167)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Insight 2 (+3)
Perception 2 (+3)
Stealth 1 (+4)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 (Guns- Shoot Blast 6 or Sleep Gas 6- Fatigued/Exhausted/Asleep- Cloud Area), Evasion 2, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Teleportation"
Teleport 20 (Feats: Change Velocity & Direction, Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Accurate, Easy, Extended) [107]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Guns +8 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Sleep Gas +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +2, Fortitude +3, Will +4

Complications:
Responsibility (Coward)- The Vanisher's key stock in trade is to flee at a moment's notice, the second things get rough.

Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 107 / Defenses: 10 (167)

-Can't believe I missed building this guy before- he just slipped right through the cracks! Very apt for a guy named THE VANISHER, in fact. The Vanisher, coincidentally named TELford PORTER is one of the X-Men's very first foes (their second, in fact), and was brainwashed by Professor X to prevent him from selling U.S. military secrets to the Commies (oh, SILVER AGE- Communism-bashing and immoral acts by supposed super-heroes all in one issue!). He later appears in Factor Three, a group of losers in the forgotten X-era. He became one of those guys that kind of shows up from time to time in the '80s (fighting The Champions & The Fantastic Four), before being a central character in Marvel's bizarre Fallen Angels title that really didn't do anything for any of its stars.

-He actually got the biggest "push" of his career in recent years, being forced to team up with the new X-Force (Elixir gave him an inoperable brain tumor to blackmail him into helping them). He's frequently injured and assaulted, but Elixir DOES cure him of the tumor (but then reveals that he's deep into Stage 4 Syphilis). He is nonetheless targeted (along with many other Teleporters) by a group of bad guys, and is later revealed as a brainwashed member of The Marauders.

-A loser with no real combat ability, The Vanisher is primarily a thief and a coward, using his expensive, far-reaching Teleport ability to get in and out of places. He will disappear at the first sign of trouble.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply