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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (X-Statix! The Hellions! Generation X! Jubilee!)

Post by Jabroniville »

The X-Cutioner's Song- Part Eleven (X-Men #16):
* The penultimate issue starts off with Cable, Bishop & Wolverine fighting the Dark Riders, most of whom aren't named on-screen, and kind of don't do anything. Wolverine is shot down by Barrage (called "Gauntlet" by Bishop), proclaiming a "shattered rib" despite his ribs being, you know, ADAMANTIUM. At this point I realize that Cable, one of the central characters of this crossover, has only interacted with two other characters at this point- only when the cavalry arrives (Storm, Psylocke, Havok, Polaris, Archangel, Iceman, Cannonball... kind of a small crew, really) does he talk to ANYONE ELSE. And the only time Cannonball talks to Cable (his leader & father-figure) are basically Sam moping about how distant Cable is, and Cable scolding him like a kid.

The Dark Riders run off, only to find their weakened, injured former master, Apocalypse. And so it's a massive fight to the death... off-panel. And, in a truly bizarre circumstance, Apocalypse BLEEDS TO DEATH thanks to the wounds sustained, and the Riders freely run off. The mother$*$%ing DARK RIDERS defeat APOCALYPSE. Who only a few issues before completely defeated a whole squad of powerful X-Men. This is INSANE.

Finally, Stryfe abandons his station carrying Scott & Jean, luring Cable to a Last Stand...

Part Twelve (X-Force #18):
* In the conclusion to the story, Stryfe whines a ton more, as Cable & Havok are the only heroes able to get through the force field he's erected, because it's keyed to the "Summers Family Matrix" (at this point, hopefully EVERYONE had figured it out). This helpfully keeps everyone but the most important characters involved (I swear Havok's only here because technically X-Factor was one of the books involved in the crossover). Stryfe & Cable brawl, which is mostly Stryfe kicking Cable's ass. Cable calls him a "son of a bitch!" (censored), which gives Stryfe the "ah, truer words have never been spoken..." line, which seems oddly snarky for such a megalomaniac. However, Havok blasts Stryfe, burning his flesh, and Cable gets Cyclops to activate a vortex that apparently kills the both of them.

In the end of the story, the heroes contemplate what's just happened, while Mr. Sinister's assistant Gordon opens up the "trade" he got from Stryfe over Scott & Jean's capture... only to find nothing. Well, except some nasty cough that the mutant Gordon picks up. This, of course, is the debut of the Legacy Virus, which would continue on in all the X-books for friggin' YEARS, as an AIDS allegory.

Overall:
-It's hard for me to properly judge all of this, even now. I guess overall it's not that well-plotted, but at least the structure is properly done- there's usually little "filler" and most of the stuff leads somewhere. The problems, however, are numerous- the roster is so staggering that many characters only get a panel or two of characterization (Rictor & Wolfsbane, most of X-Force are captured immediately, Madrox, etc.). The villains are so numerous and lose so quickly that they're pathetic- the Dark Riders don't even all get names in this story, and the Horsemen & MLF go down like true jobbers, and look absolutely worthless. Most of the fights, while legendary to Young Jab, are full of characters biffing their first Toughness Save and falling down (I can't imagine how frustrated all the players would be at the table if things went down like this in the fights). A lot of fighting for the sake of fighting... but reading modern comics and all their "quicky" ideas makes me long for the days when characters would actually fight, and the fights would have EFFECTS on things- not just a backdrop to whatever was going on.

Stryfe is one of the bigger "ohhhhh..." moments for me. I always wondered why he never got a big resurrection or anything, being a mega-villain in this story, setting off the Legacy Virus, and more. Well it turns out that he's pretty damn awful. His dialogue is a combination of whining and Poor Man's Claremont wordiness. He comes off like a whiny baby because he was abandoned years ago (he thinks he's Nathan Summers), and he's so powerful, and all he ever does is talk to Zero or insult Scott & Jean... it's tiresome. He really doesn't get to do anything regarding any of the other heroes until the very end. And all of the villains are pretty bad, too- this would be Fabian Nicieza's major failing as a writer. His heroes are pretty good, and tend to interact well... but the baddies are just prone to "Monologuing" at length for pages upon pages, and it's all "filler". They're basically the Bray Wyatt of comics, to use a wrestling comparison.

The giant roster & splitting up of people actually leads to a lot of characters never interacting- Scott & Jean are away from the team for 12 issues. Wolverine, Bishop & Cable are separated from the others for half the story, and Cable doesn't meet anyone else until the eleventh of twelve parts. Also... why did Stryfe shoot Xavier with a T-O Bullet? It seems pointlessly complicated. If he'd just SHOT the guy and killed him, then the heroes would have set off to do the same things. Unless it was specifically to awaken Apocalypse in some roundabout way, since Stryfe also wanted to kill him.

The After-Effects:
At least the story was IMPORTANT. Though Cable came back only seven issues later, this was the start of the Legacy Virus, which would have major effects on the X-franchise as a whole for years. And it finally made clear to everyone just who Cable was, and made the Summers Family Tree a giant thing. And the story capped off the Mutant Liberation Front (though it later came back under a new leader), ended Stryfe (who never really made a real comeback) and... well, that's about it. Apocalypse returned a few years later, Mr. Sinister was still around and vague as hell, etc.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (X-Statix! The Hellions! Generation X! Jubilee!)

Post by Jabroniville »

I added this bit to M's Stats, by the way:
-M is also a good example of how "Attractive" works, particularly for a "non-flirt" kind of character. Her imperious, insulting, mouthy personality makes her the enemy of every woman she meets, yet it's a recurring trend that several guys in each series will want to date her, fall in love with her, and do anything to defend her- Synch, Strong Guy, Darwin, etc. Essentially, she's just better with men than with women. I would imagine her power would work equally well with women attracted to her- do you have any idea how many women I know online have confessed to massive crushes on Vidia from Disney Fairies? BatgirlIII was only ONE of them- lesbians LOVE her! That "bitchy, snarky-girl with black hair" thing seems like a universal fetish for that particular breed of female, I tell you hwut.
Horsenhero
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Re: Jab's Builds! (X-Statix! The Hellions! Generation X! Jubilee!)

Post by Horsenhero »

Generally speaking, I don't find the Gen-X crew inherently worse than the New Mutants crew. Despite the notes this "such and such a character was one note with boring powers"...ummm almost ALL the New Mutants were one trick ponies at the beginning and not one of the powers was new or original or even a great power, so I think we can all just pass that off as "Jabs pet book vs. NOT Jabs pet book". That being said, Gen-X was handled rather poorly with "characterization" added just for the sake of seeming like a series with developed, complex characters. It's a bad habit of comic writers to try to "short form" character development by creating convoluted, mysterious backstories that actually don't result in any real character development. One the whole I don't think that most Gen-X characters were particularly bad concepts. Husk, M, Chamber Synch and others could have been good characters, but it would have taken more deft writing. Much like the Hellions, I'm inclined to pass Gen-X off as an opportunity missed or at least mishandled.

As for X-Cutioner's Song...wow, I think I'm happier than ever that I was no longer reading "X-books" at the point that story came out.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (X-Statix! The Hellions! Generation X! Jubilee!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Horsenhero? More like HorsenZERO :).
Horsenhero wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:47 am Generally speaking, I don't find the Gen-X crew inherently worse than the New Mutants crew. Despite the notes this "such and such a character was one note with boring powers"...ummm almost ALL the New Mutants were one trick ponies at the beginning and not one of the powers was new or original or even a great power
You misunderstand- if you re-read what I wrote down, you'll see that I was referring to them as one-note CHARACTERS with boring POWERS, not boring characters with one-note powers. For example, the New Mutants' powers were horrible, god-awful, one-note, ridiculously limited powers... but certainly NOT "boring". If Cannonball was a simple Flier, then he'd be boring. But instead he's got a boatload of inadequacies to even his very simple power (even his Darn Near Invulnerability is flawed). Sunspot takes the most generic super-power in history (Super-Strength) and turns it on its head by making it both limited and so one-note that he's not even TOUGH.

The Generation X kids have tons of power, as I noted in my Essay-Length Rant on them- TOO much power. Monet has Flying Brick stuff AND Telepathy. Chamber is Yet Another TK/TP Guy.

The characterization is the major issue- most of the Gen X kids have one-note PERSONALITIES: "I'm Jubilee- I'm a silly pop-culture junkie mall rat!" "I'm Synch- I'm a Generic Nice Guy!" "I'm Skin- I'm a former gang-banger gone good!" "I'm M- I'm a Rich Bitch!" "........." (that's Penance, by the way). The New Mutants, by contrast, have a lot more depth, or develop some quickly- Karma was obviously one-note (which was why she left the book), but even Roberto, the "simplest" of the remainder, had a lot of aspects to him (wildly arrogant and charming, he also failed with the ladies, got obsessive about how others had wronged him, was temperamental and childish, and was a rich ass-clown... yet his best friends were mostly poor, he never lorded his wealth, and he had major issues with his father).

The personalities wouldn't have been a big flaw if they'd developed more as characters, but they never seemed to. M feels the same on Peter David's books as she was in the first issue of Generation X.
so I think we can all just pass that off as "Jabs pet book vs. NOT Jabs pet book".
ASS :P.

If by "Pet Book" you mean "probably kinda/sorta favorite book" (it's that, X-Men or JSA), then sure. But I have REASONS for why I consider it such- I didn't read it until I was in my late 20s, so it ain't nostalgia. Most of the X-Force characters I was familiar with weren't in it until the very end (when it was awful). I didn't just, like, randomly decide that the book was the one I would defend against all accusers before I'd read it or anything (God knows even Claremont didn't bat .1000- his & Sienkiewicz's "Cloak & Dagger" crossover was excruciating and way too long).
That being said, Gen-X was handled rather poorly with "characterization" added just for the sake of seeming like a series with developed, complex characters. It's a bad habit of comic writers to try to "short form" character development by creating convoluted, mysterious backstories that actually don't result in any real character development. One the whole I don't think that most Gen-X characters were particularly bad concepts. Husk, M, Chamber Synch and others could have been good characters, but it would have taken more deft writing. Much like the Hellions, I'm inclined to pass Gen-X off as an opportunity missed or at least mishandled.
I agree with this part. Most of their personalities were a perfectly-fine basis for a series ("My powers SUCK!" "My powers are awesome so I'm better than you" "I'm boastful about my history with the X-Men because I'm insecure and need my peers to think I'm important"), but never went anywhere.
As for X-Cutioner's Song...wow, I think I'm happier than ever that I was no longer reading "X-books" at the point that story came out.
You got something against 12-part, 60-character books with Claremont-Lite villains?
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Builds! (X-Statix! The Hellions! Generation X! Jubilee!)

Post by Ares »

Horsenhero wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:47 am Generally speaking, I don't find the Gen-X crew inherently worse than the New Mutants crew. Despite the notes this "such and such a character was one note with boring powers"...ummm almost ALL the New Mutants were one trick ponies at the beginning and not one of the powers was new or original or even a great power, so I think we can all just pass that off as "Jabs pet book vs. NOT Jabs pet book". That being said, Gen-X was handled rather poorly with "characterization" added just for the sake of seeming like a series with developed, complex characters. It's a bad habit of comic writers to try to "short form" character development by creating convoluted, mysterious backstories that actually don't result in any real character development. One the whole I don't think that most Gen-X characters were particularly bad concepts. Husk, M, Chamber Synch and others could have been good characters, but it would have taken more deft writing. Much like the Hellions, I'm inclined to pass Gen-X off as an opportunity missed or at least mishandled.

As for X-Cutioner's Song...wow, I think I'm happier than ever that I was no longer reading "X-books" at the point that story came out.
I think you missed something at some point during the reading.

When Jab talks about the New Mutants powers, he rarely talks about how cool and original said powers were, and more about how it was interesting that the characters all had limitations on said powers and trouble controlling them. In Generation X, the characters had equally original powers, but were often complete masters of them and taking on superhero threats immediately, rather than having a learning curve. None of the New Mutants were taking on alien invasions from the get go or candidates for "Omega Level Mutant" status. Meanwhile at least half of Generation X were candidates for "Potentially Most Powerful Mutant Ever". Jab even admits that Husk's powers were pretty original.

When Jab talks about New Mutants being better, it's based on the characterization and storytelling of the first 50 issues, elements you yourself said were lacking in Generation X. So it's less "Jab has a pet book" and more "Jab can read well enough to recognize when a writer is and isn't doing a good job".
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Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The White Queen

Post by Jabroniville »

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Some characters just have more... APPEAL to Pin-Up artists, ya know?

THE WHITE QUEEN (Emma Frost)
Created By:
Chris Claremont & John Byrne
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #129 (Jan. 1980)
Role: Miss Fanservice, The Queen Bitch, The Repentant Villain, The Brat
Group Affiliations: The Hellfire Club, The Hellions, Generation-X, The X-Men, The Cabal
PL 12 (200)
STRENGTH
1/11 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 6

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 3 (+4)
Deception 5 (+11, +16 Attractive)
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+7)
Expertise (Teacher) 3 (+8)
Expertise (Business) 7 (+12)
Expertise (Behavioral Sciences) 6 (+11)
Insight 5 (+10)
Perception 5 (+10)
Persuasion 6 (+12, +17 Attractive)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Assessment, Attractive 2, Beginner's Luck, Benefit 2 (Wealth), Daze (Persuasion), Fascinate (Persuasion), Interpose, Languages (Various), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Telepathy & Diamond Body"

Mind-Reading 12 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Sensory Link) Linked to Mental Communication 4 (Feats: Subtle) (Extras: Area, Selective) (62) -- [76]
  • Dynamic AE: "Psionic Blast" Blast 12 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range, Alternate Save- Will) (49)
  • Dynamic AE: "Focused Control" Mind Control 12 (Feats: Dynamic) (49)
  • Dynamic AE: "Mass Control" Mind Control 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (41)
  • Dynamic AE: "Astral Form" Remote Sensing 15 (Visuals & Hearing) (Feats: Dynamic, Dimensional) (Flaws: Physical Body is Defenseless) (32)
  • Dynamic AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 12 (Will; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Will Save) (49)
  • Dynamic AE: "Mental Illusions" Illusion (All Senses) 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Selective) (Flaws: Resisted by Will) (40)
  • AE: "Brainwashing" Affliction 12 (Will; Dazed/Compelled/Transformed Mentally) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Cumulative) (Flaws: Distracting) (36)
  • AE: "Diamond Form" (46)
"Diamond Form" (46 points)
Enhanced Strength 10 (20)
Protection 10 (Extras: Impervious 9) (Drawbacks: Weak Point) (18)
Immunity 4 (Heat, Cold, Pressure, Starvation & Thirst) (4)
"Mind Shield" Enhanced Will Check 4 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Attacks) (2)
Features 2: Increased Mass 2 (2)

"Mental Detection" Senses 7 (Mental Awareness- Ranged, Radius, Acute, Detect Mutants- Ranged & Radius) [7]
"Mind Shield" Enhanced Will Check 4 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Attacks) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Diamond Form +6 (+11 Damage, DC 27)
Psionic Blast +12 Perception (+12 Perception Damage, DC 27)
Mind Control & Stun +8-12 Area/Perception (+8-12 Affliction, DC 18-22)
Brainwashing +12 Perception (+12 Perception Affliction, DC 22)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +2 (+12 Diamond Form, +5 Impervious), Fortitude +5, Will +9 (+13-17 Mental Effects)

Complications:
Motivation (Herself)- Emma is in it for Emma. She wanted money & power, and still enjoys the finer things in life, despite her newfound role as a mutant leader.
Reputation (Bad Deeds)- Emma is responsible for a HELLLLLL of a lot of death & destruction in her "bad days", up to and including first-degree murder, manslaughter, brain-washing, rape, accessory to rape, and more. Some of this haunts her, some of it she finds merely amusing. Few people who know anything about Emma Frost trust her all of the time. Even with the boobs.
Rivalry (Kitty Pryde)- Kitty was kidnapped on orders of Emma Frost when she was thirteen years old. Kitty has never forgotten, nor forgiven Emma for this, and trusts her the least out of all the X-Men.
Enemy (Sebastian Shaw)- Emma made a powerful enemy when she betrayed Shaw.
Relationship (Scott Summers, Namor, Sebastian Shaw)- Emma has shared a bed with these men and many others. She has some feelings/lust for Namor and his green undies, but it is Cyclops that owns her heart now.
Guilt (The Hellions)- Emma Frost's initial heroic turn was because of the loss of her students, The Hellions. Despite being a stern, overbearing teacher who was flat-out Neutral Evil, she did love her charges, and went into a near-permanent mental shock when they were slain by Trevor Fitzroy. The guilt from this caused her to join Xavier's cause and help a new generation of teenagers deal with their powers (Generation-X), and eventually led to a full teaching job once Xavier's turned back into a school.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 48--24 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 85 / Defenses: 14 (200)

Emma the Villain:
-Where to start with Emma Frost? Initially tossed into the group of Hellfire Club members as a lingerie-clad Mind Controller, her particularly stand-out appearance led to her being used more and more, eventually eclipsing Sebastian Shaw, the group's leader. She kidnapped a young Kitty Pryde in order to forcibly recruit her to the Hellfire Club, scarring her for life ("I learned more about good and evil in that one moment than I have in my entire life" says Kitty, many years later). She became a major focal point of the New Mutants series, leading the Rival School of Hellions. It was here that she showed a more human side as well, growing to like her students, and even feel for the New Mutants themselves when she manipulated Magneto into placing them in her care. Some of the neater bits of the series are when Emma was reading the minds of the children, and being astonished at things like Rahne's sheer passion, in contrast to her inward personality.

-Emma even admitted some fault when she found she was unable to cure them of their mental trauma (brought on by their deaths & resurrections when fighting the Beyonder). And she proved herself a genius as well- when she discovered that Magneto was heading towards her school, she realized that her troops "would be slaughtered", and that the New Mutants couldn't be tested against their own mentor so quickly... so instead, she just phones the police and goes "The evil terrorist Magneto is coming for me- please send the Avengers". All the effectiveness; none of the work. Also, one time she nearly snapped Empath's neck because he used his powers to try to rape her (she was deriding his failures in keeping Firestar with the Hellions, so he tried to make her lust for him in revenge; her powers were MUCH mightier than his, however). One of my favorite moments in the series is when he got so badly humiliated- and he never got even, despite swearing too!

Emma the Hero:
-Her relationship with the Hellions is what led to her Face Turn, as she was put into a coma following her students' murders at the hands of Trevor Fitzroy, and when she came out of it YEARS later, she decided to make good, leading Generation-X. Though that team ended up being yet another "Disposable Teen Hero" franchise, it set the stage for her to become an official X-Man under Grant Morrison (who retconned her into being British to go along with her snottiness... which is still kind of weird, when I think about it. And he made her super-strong, because he wasn't allowed to use Colossus and I guess he NEEDED a super-strong character), later perfected under Joss Whedon. So here we have a pretty solid hero out of weird origins- her past is humorously not glossed over, and is instead FOCUSED on, making her come off like a "Possibly Evil Teammate", but in that weird way where you know she's murder her enemies. This also produces some entertaining conflicts with the team, as she supports killing their foes, and constantly argues with Kitty Pryde (who for some reason hasn't gotten over the whole "kidnapped me at age thirteen" thing). Plus, it's fun to have a REALLY dirty-minded woman around- it's an extremely interesting character in that she's technically a hero, but you know that "Emma Frost" is ALWAYS first in her mind.

-Emma began a major X-Man immediately, but when Scott "Psionically Cheated" on Jean with her, things were set in motion. Once Jean was dead, Scott wasted little time in hopping into bed with Emma (pissing off Wolverine to no limit), and she more or less became a co-leader of the entire X-Men squad, leading Mutants into new eras and such. Storm was still in charge of her OWN team, but Emma was Headmistress of the school and had a lot of sway over Cyclops (for obvious reasons). The fall-out from A vs. X led to her brief possession by the Phoenix Force, which left her powers a bit altered, and her relationship with Scott in tatters (after he forcibly took the remaining Phoenix powers from her)- they were separated by the time Bendis took over the book, and he left her in a somewhat weird place of still being his #2, but being less dominant compared to her old ways. She is currently still a powerful Mutant Leader.

Emma Overall:
-Overall, I find Emma a very fun character under the proper writer- she's vicious, selfish, looks-focused, horribly mean and possibly evil... but a SUPER-HERO. It's kind of entertaining when her dialogue is actually funny (like the time Joss Whedon got away with her calling someone a "Berk"- Cockney Rhyming Slang for "cunt"). Also, she's one of the only super-characters who has that body because she PAID for it (a welcome difference from the hordes of curiously-similar balloon-bodied women in comics. AND she's one of the few sexily-dressed women in comics that even the most ardent Feminists, SJWs and "comics are EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL even though I don't read them" Tumblr warriors agree actually MAKES SENSE- because Emma IS the kind of person who would dress in such a clearly lascivious nature.

Emma's Stats:
-Emma's pretty easy to figure out once you get where the Alternate Form fits... since her Telepathy is inconsistently shown as working while she's doing it (a general consensus now is that it doesn't), I just took the Telepathy Array, and put them all with the Diamond Body Alternate Form as an Alternate Effect. If you prefer that she can use her powers with the Diamond Form, just make that power Dynamic too- that way her psionic abilities are still lessened while using it.

-Emma is extremely powerful and dangerous, even for the X-Men, being a PL 12 Mind Controller archetype (a bit below the PL 14 Charles Xavier, but much mightier than any other X-Men- even Jean Grey is only PL 11) with an Alternate Form that turns her into a Mini-Brick instead. She rivals Rogue in Strength in that form, but Emma is NOT a melee fighter, and has only baseline capabilities in close combat as a result (Kitty Pryde once effortlessly beat the CRAP out of her using her Ninja Skillz). She's more effective at screwing with the minds of people. She can also do some Brainwashing (usually only to minions, and that's relegated to "you will vomit uncontrollably for hours if you ever hear the following words:), but that's also outside the Dynamic part of her array.

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THE WHITE QUEEN (Emma Frost)- Pre-Diamond Form
Created By:
Chris Claremont & John Byrne
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #129 (Jan. 1980)
Role: Miss Fanservice, The Queen Bitch, The Repentant Villain, The Brat
Group Affiliations: The Hellfire Club, The Hellions, Generation-X, The X-Men, The Cabal
PL 12 (199)
STRENGTH
1/11 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 6

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+5)
Athletics 3 (+4)
Deception 5 (+11, +16 Attractive)
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+7)
Expertise (Teacher) 3 (+8)
Expertise (Business) 7 (+12)
Expertise (Behavioral Sciences) 6 (+11)
Insight 5 (+10)
Perception 5 (+10)
Persuasion 6 (+12, +17 Attractive)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Assessment, Attractive 2, Beginner's Luck, Benefit 2 (Wealth), Daze (Persuasion), Fascinate (Persuasion), Interpose, Languages (Various), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Telepathy & Diamond Body"

Mind-Reading 12 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Sensory Link) Linked to Mental Communication 4 (Feats: Subtle) (Extras: Area, Selective) (62) -- [75]
  • Dynamic AE: "Psionic Blast" Blast 12 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range, Alternate Save- Will) (49)
  • Dynamic AE: "Focused Control" Mind Control 12 (Feats: Dynamic) (49)
  • Dynamic AE: "Mass Control" Mind Control 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2, Selective) (Flaws: Touch Range -2) (41)
  • Dynamic AE: "Astral Form" Remote Sensing 15 (Visuals & Hearing) (Feats: Dynamic, Dimensional) (Flaws: Physical Body is Defenseless) (32)
  • Dynamic AE: "Mental Stun" Affliction 12 (Will; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Will Save) (49)
  • Dynamic AE: "Mental Illusions" Illusion (All Senses) 8 (Feats: Dynamic) (Extras: Selective) (Flaws: Resisted by Will) (40)
  • AE: "Brainwashing" Affliction 12 (Will; Dazed/Compelled/Transformed Mentally) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Cumulative) (Flaws: Distracting) (36)
"Mental Detection" Senses 7 (Mental Awareness- Ranged, Radius, Acute, Detect Mutants- Ranged & Radius) [7]
"Mind Shield" Enhanced Will Check 4 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Attacks) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Psionic Blast +12 Perception (+12 Perception Damage, DC 27)
Mind Control & Stun +8-12 Area/Perception (+8-12 Affliction, DC 18-22)
Brainwashing +12 Perception (+12 Perception Affliction, DC 22)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +9 (+13 Mental Effects)

Complications:
Motivation (Herself)- Emma is in it for Emma. She wanted money & power, and still enjoys the finer things in life, despite her newfound role as a mutant leader.
Reputation (Bad Deeds)- Emma is responsible for a HELLLLLL of a lot of death & destruction in her "bad days", up to and including first-degree murder, manslaughter, brain-washing, rape, accessory to rape, and more. Some of this haunts her, some of it she finds merely amusing. Few people who know anything about Emma Frost trust her all of the time. Even with the boobs.
Rivalry (Kitty Pryde)- Kitty was kidnapped on orders of Emma Frost when she was thirteen years old. Kitty has never forgotten, nor forgiven Emma for this, and trusts her the least out of all the X-Men.
Enemy (Sebastian Shaw)- Emma made a powerful enemy when she betrayed Shaw.
Relationship (Scott Summers, Namor, Sebastian Shaw)- Emma has shared a bed with these men and many others. She has some feelings/lust for Namor and his green undies, but it is Cyclops that owns her heart now.
Guilt (The Hellions)- Emma Frost's initial heroic turn was because of the loss of her students, The Hellions. Despite being a stern, overbearing teacher who was flat-out Neutral Evil, she did love her charges, and went into a near-permanent mental shock when they were slain by Trevor Fitzroy. The guilt from this caused her to join Xavier's cause and help a new generation of teenagers deal with their powers (Generation-X), and eventually led to a full teaching job once Xavier's turned back into a school.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 48--24 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 84 / Defenses: 14 (199)

-Emma's only one point less expensive in this form (she's been pretty consistent except for the whole "Diamond" thing, which was later retconned away as Cassandra Nova giving her a Secondary Mutation to make her more survivable).
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Hellions! Gen X! Jubilee! M! The White Queen!)

Post by Ares »

To this day I still think Emma's diamond form power is insanely stupid. I mean, I get it Grant, you wanted to have Colossus on the team and they wouldn't let you. So why not either make up a new superstrong guy or use any of the other really strong mutants to fit the bill? Especially when it's clear you wanted a powerset and not a character? Hell, why not just use Husk and get creative with her abilities, you Silver Age loving nutjob?
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Hellions! Gen X! Jubilee! M! The White Queen!)

Post by Batgirl III »

Ares wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2017 6:10 am To this day I still think Emma's diamond form power is insanely stupid. I mean, I get it Grant, you wanted to have Colossus on the team and they wouldn't let you. So why not either make up a new superstrong guy or use any of the other really strong mutants to fit the bill? Especially when it's clear you wanted a powerset and not a character? Hell, why not just use Husk and get creative with her abilities, you Silver Age loving nutjob?
If I should ever find myself in the writer's seat of the X-Books, the first thing I do is reveal that Emma never had a "diamond form," there was some other super-strong mutant in all of those scenes and Emma mind-wiped all the witnesses into thinking she was doing it... Because of Reasons.

Yeah, it's an asspull retcon, but not nearly as dumb as the actual canon.

Beaides, a petty and prolonged mind-wipe is exactly the sort of thing Emma would do.

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

Post by L-Space »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2017 7:26 am Yeah, I dug that aspect of the book. One of my favorite things about superhero comics is the "take one power and see what you can do with it" effect. My major issue with the LOSH is the amount of dominance from Mon-El (who can't be taken out easily, like Ultra-Boy can)- the Superpower Lottery affecting only a couple members of the team can be a hindrance.
That was one of the reasons I liked Dynamo 5 so much. You had Superman-esque powers, but they were split up among the team so each one had to use the powers in new ways.
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Skin

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

Half his teammates won the Superpower Lottery. Skin got the power to look like this.

SKIN (Angelo Espinosa)
Created By:
Scott Lobdell & Chris Bachalo
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #316 (Sept. 1994)
Role: Mr. Fantastic Lite, The Bad Boy
Group Affiliations: Generation X
PL 8 (104)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Athletics 4 (+7)
Deception 6 (+7)
Expertise (Gang Member) 6 (+7)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 5 (+6)
Perception 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Equipment (X-Men Uniform- Protection & Communications), Evasion, Fast Grab, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Hold, Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 2, Startle, Takedown, Taunt

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Extra Six Feet of Skin"
Elongation 1 [1]
Enhanced Strength 3 (Flaws: Limited to Grapples) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Grapples +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +8

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

Complications:
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Skin has very droopy skin that is usually out of his control. Plus he's grey.
Responsibility (Ex-Gang Member)- Angelo was a pretty bad guy early on, and his past comes back to haunt him once in a while- his old gang wanted him dead, and The X-Cutioner assumed that the mutant Skin had murdered Angelo Espinosa (Angelo had faked his death).

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 10 (104)

-Skin is another "Deformed Mutant" character, and appears shockingly weak for a book that was focused on uber-mutant teens- he's basically Mister Fantastic Lite, but worse in every possible way- he's an ex-gang member (he faked his death to leave that part of his life behind) who has six extra feet of skin, meaning he can't even really elongate his bone structure or do all the cool things Mr. Fantastic can- he just kinda grabs guys and holds on real tight. The kind of thing you might have been able to use in a "hero uses a lame power in a cool way" kind of thing, with a modified fighting style... but they didn't. As probably the most-forgettable member of the team, Skin was killed off in a laughably-casual manner by The Friends of Humanity (a token anti-mutant bigot group), who crucified him alongside Magma, Jesse Bedlam and a bunch of nameless background characters- everyone recovered BUT SKIN, leaving Jubilee (herself a minor background nobody by that point) to mourn his death. And after that, we pretty much never heard a word about him, aside from some deal where he got dug up & cremated because it was against a graveyard's religion to inter a mutant.

-It's actually a little tough to figure out how tough Skin is supposed to be, or how exactly he's supposed to be reaching any kind of Power Level- he's just kind of a weak guy who can stretch a bit (costing only a single point). I figure he's better at grapples because of his powers, which is the only PL 8 aspect of the character. He's also the best fighter of his team, save Penance.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Hellions! Gen X! Jubilee! M! The White Queen!)

Post by Goldar »

Before they killed off the real Jean Grey of E-616, don't you think she was superior mentally to Emma? She was shown to do things Emma could not in NXM, while in Charles' mind.

At this point, Jean was communicating telepathically with the Cuckoo's from around the world and was showing her Omega mutant status. The JG of this time (just before her death) should have much higher stats than any other Jean Grey.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Hellions! Gen X! Jubilee! M! The White Queen!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

Jean is certainly the sacred cow...
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Hellions! Gen X! Jubilee! M! The White Queen!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Goldar wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2017 10:31 pm Before they killed off the real Jean Grey of E-616, don't you think she was superior mentally to Emma? She was shown to do things Emma could not in NXM, while in Charles' mind.

At this point, Jean was communicating telepathically with the Cuckoo's from around the world and was showing her Omega mutant status. The JG of this time (just before her death) should have much higher stats than any other Jean Grey.
I think that was her Phoenix powers returning- by that point, she was probably way more powerful. Of course, it didn’t last.
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Chamber

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

CHAMBER (Jonothon "Jono" Starsmore)
Created By:
Scott Lobdell & Chris Bachalo
First Appearance: Generation X #1 (Nov. 1994)
Role: The Uber-Powered Guy, Yet Another X-Men Psionic Blaster, Deformed Mutant, The Team Outsider
Group Affiliations: Generation X, The X-Men, Clan Akkaba, The New Warriors
PL 10 (174)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+4)
Deception 4 (+3)
Expertise (Computers) 2 (+3)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 4 (+5)
Expertise (Guitar) 7 (+6)
Intimidation 8 (+7)
Perception 4 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Psionics) 2 (+8)
Vehicles 3 (+6)

Advantages: 
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Daze (Intimidation), Equipment (X-Men Uniform- Protection & Communications), Fascination (Intimidation), Improved Aim, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3, Startle, Taunt

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Psionic Powers" 
Communication 3 (Mental) [12]

"Psionic Energy" Blast 12 (Feats: Improved Critical 2, Precise, Split, Penetrating 8) (36) -- [37]
  • AE: "Psionic Burst" Damage 10 (Feats: Penetrating 8) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (28)
"Psionic Being" Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Immortality 8 (Flaws: Uncontrolled) [8]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Psionic Blast +8 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Psionic Burst +10 Area (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +2

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

Complications:
Disabled (Mute)- Jono can technically not speak without the use of his psionic powers.
Relationship (Paige Guthrie)- The two grew close, but Jono constantly pushed her away, fearful that he could not provide the normal life that he believed she wanted.
Guilt (Injured His First Girlfriend)
Prejudice (Visible Mutant)- Jono is missing the lower part of his face, and the upper part of his torso. This leaves him quite grumpy, and so he avoids interacting with most people.

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 87 / Defenses: 19 (174)

-Chamber's a "my being a mutant destroyed my physical body" character (the first outburst of his power blew off half his face and badly scarred his girlfriend, who later returned as a villain), which always has its place in the one realm of comics where being a freak is a positive. He was grouchy and nasty to everyone, but harbored feelings for country bumpkin Paige "Husk" Guthrie, and took a while to stop being snarky and English to everyone. He was YET ANOTHER Psionic/Telekinetic character, which was beyond tired even by 1994 (never mind when X-Man came out a short while later), and also said to have vast untapped potential. He repeatedly sabotaged his relationship with Paige, insisting that she deserved better than someone like him. He was one of the first Generation X members to get upgraded to the X-Men, becoming a supporting character in one of the books, chafing at being treated like a rookie.

-He went through some weirdness, as he joined Weapon X as a mole, but was brainwashed into loyalty anyways, and had his face fixed. But then, in Runaways, he appeared with other former teen heroes in "Excelsior", having re-damaged it somehow- it was later revealed that this was Geoffrey Wilder in a disguise. Then he reappeared with his face damaged AGAIN, after having be de-powered on M-Day. He was briefly upgraded by Clan Akkaba, as he was apparently a descendent of Apocalypse, but this went nowhere- he later showed up with Jubilee on the new New Warriors book, using tech to replace his missing powers (he could create Solid Sound constructs). Most recently, he seems to have his powers again, but has been a background nobody for a decade by this point.

-I've read little of Chamber, but this is what I've gleaned from a few appearances, Wikipedia, and Taliesin's 2e build (part of my building strategy in the 2e days tended to involve reading his versions at the last minute to see if I missed anything- he tends to include a ton of Feats & stuff that I avoid using except for stunts, but the guy is THOROUGH and good for little things :)). He's actually a full-on Psionic being in many ways, being invulnerable to drowning, suffocation, Omega Red's Life Drain (which is the only way he could EVER hope to defeat Arkady Russovitch), etc., in addition to having a high-powered Blast. He's VERY one-sided, to be sure, being a generic Blaster (with a Cone variant and a regular +12 Feat-themed version) with not a lot of durability (aside from Resurrecting himself if he gets blown up, but only out of luck rather than an innate power he'll always use). He's Mute because of his deformity, but makes up for it with Mental Communication, so it comes out to +0 cost. The rest of him is themed to be kinda in-shape, but very much an Intimidate type of guy.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Skin

Post by M4C8 »

Jabroniville wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2017 9:27 pm Image
Image

Half his teammates won the Superpower Lottery. Skin got the power to look like this.

SKIN (Angelo Espinosa)
Created By:
Scott Lobdell & Chris Bachalo
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #316 (Sept. 1994)
Role: Mr. Fantastic Lite, The Bad Boy
Group Affiliations: Generation X
PL 8 (104)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Athletics 4 (+7)
Deception 6 (+7)
Expertise (Gang Member) 6 (+7)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 5 (+6)
Perception 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Equipment (X-Men Uniform- Protection & Communications), Evasion, Fast Grab, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Hold, Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 2, Startle, Takedown, Taunt

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Extra Six Feet of Skin"
Elongation 1 [1]
Enhanced Strength 3 (Flaws: Limited to Grapples) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Grapples +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +8

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

Complications:
Prejudice (Obvious Mutant)- Skin has very droopy skin that is usually out of his control. Plus he's grey.
Responsibility (Ex-Gang Member)- Angelo was a pretty bad guy early on, and his past comes back to haunt him once in a while- his old gang wanted him dead, and The X-Cutioner assumed that the mutant Skin had murdered Angelo Espinosa (Angelo had faked his death).

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 10 (104)

-Skin is another "Deformed Mutant" character, and appears shockingly weak for a book that was focused on uber-mutant teens- he's basically Mister Fantastic Lite, but worse in every possible way- he's an ex-gang member (he faked his death to leave that part of his life behind) who has six extra feet of skin, meaning he can't even really elongate his bone structure or do all the cool things Mr. Fantastic can- he just kinda grabs guys and holds on real tight. The kind of thing you might have been able to use in a "hero uses a lame power in a cool way" kind of thing, with a modified fighting style... but they didn't. As probably the most-forgettable member of the team, Skin was killed off in a laughably-casual manner by The Friends of Humanity (a token anti-mutant bigot group), who crucified him alongside Magma, Jesse Bedlam and a bunch of nameless background characters- everyone recovered BUT SKIN, leaving Jubilee (herself a minor background nobody by that point) to mourn his death. And after that, we pretty much never heard a word about him, aside from some deal where he got dug up & cremated because it was against a graveyard's religion to inter a mutant.

-It's actually a little tough to figure out how tough Skin is supposed to be, or how exactly he's supposed to be reaching any kind of Power Level- he's just kind of a weak guy who can stretch a bit (costing only a single point). I figure he's better at grapples because of his powers, which is the only PL 8 aspect of the character. He's also the best fighter of his team, save Penance.
Ah yes Skin, not only did he have a crappy power he got nosebleeds and migraines when he used them.
'A shared universe, like any fictional construct, hinges on suspension of disbelief. When continuity is tossed away, it tatters the construct. Undermines it'
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