Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Skavenger]

Wasn't the original Star-Lord actually a bad guy? I vaguely remember reading his original story years ago, and I thought he killed someone to take the title of "Star-Lord."

[Jabroniville]

STARLORD (Sinjin Quarrel)
Created By: Timothy Zahn & Dan Lawlis
First Appearance: Starlord #1 (Dec. 1996)
Role: Forgotten Legacy Character
Group Affiliations: None
PL 8 (121)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Space Hero) 2 (+4)
Insight 2 (+5)
Perception 2 (+5)
Technology 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 1 (Space Suit- Limited Life Support), Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Probiti: Low-End Telepathy"
Communication (Mental) 1 (Flaws: Limited to Within Physical Contact) [3]
Mind-Reading 8 (Flaws: Touch Range- 2) [4]
Comprehend 3 (Languages) [6]

"Element Gun" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [26]
Blast 8 (Feats: Variable 2- Earth, Air, Water, Fire) (18)
Create Earth or Water 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Continuous) (25)
-- (43 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Element Gun +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +5, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy (Lawgiver Damyish)- Damyish rules the world that Sinjin now calls home.
Quirk (Element Gun)- The Gun works by teleporting material from a nearby world to his present location- if he uses it too often, he can throw a planet's ecological system out of whack.

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 39 / Defenses: 11 (121)

-This unknown "Starlord" debuted in the '90s, and was written by the Star Wars: Expanded Universe author Timothy Zahn- he's actually a Legacy Character of sorts to Peter Quill (then a COMPLETELY forgotten side character), as his parents taught him from a young age to use "Star-Lord" as a symbol of how one man could make a difference. In the near future (twelve years after Star-Lord's last adventure- then however many years earlier the '70s were from the '90s- like 3-4 maybe?), the alien Sinjin Quarrel was born with golden irises- the sign of a Probiti- a psionically-powerful being who was destined for great things. As a rule, such people were taken from their parents at 7 years old, so his parents did their best to teach him morals before he was sent to the Probiti training school. There, he learned he was low-powered for their kind and thus wouldn't amount to much, so he was sent to a weaker backwater world rather than a position of power.

-At this world, he befriended a crashed sentient ship of Star-Lord's and was hunted by a Probiti-hater who turned out to secretly be Probiti himself (he had hidden his golden eyes), using Star-Lord's "Element Gun" to fight the bad guys off. When the villain, Damyish, hunted him down with some mercenaries, Starlord successfully wrecked his blackmail files on them, and so the mercs arrested Damyish and his secret was revealed to everyone.

-When Starlord ended after three issues, the character completely vanished and was never referred to again, even after Quill became a major character in his own right. Seems like that'd be a fun little "Hey, remember--?" bit, like how the JSA book used a lot of guys like the Jared Stevens "Fate" and stuff. Though I can imagine the vague "kinda/sorta in the future" aspect of the story would make it a little weird.

-Starlord a standard-issue Sci-Fi Protagonist in a few ways, but also has a Sentient Shapeshifting Ship (named "Ship"- X-Factor had one too, but a different ship named "Ship"). He wields an odd "Element Gun" that teleports material from a nearby planet into the present location.

[Jabroniville]

heh- I was on an LGBT-themed Tangled discord and we got talking about Sailor Moon, and someone pointed out how the show's primary director, Ikuhara, went on to take his ideas to his new show, Revolutionary Girl Utena. When I mentioned how I'd heard of it, but it hadn't had much impact in the West, one girl "corrected" me by pointing out its influence... turns out of course the modern generation of LGBT creators (aka Steven Universe/She-Ra & The Princesses of Power's creators) were both huge fans of it, and used it as an influence for their work. To the point of doing shot-for-shot homages in a couple of scenes.




https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/steven-uni ... irl-utena/

So while I don't think just like... two shows count as "a lot of influence", I found it pretty interesting. I only ever really heard of Utena because of its link to Sailor Moon, but never found it airing here, and it hadn't spread around much. But I guess it turns out a lot of folks found it speaking to them around the same time Sailor Moon, DBZ and the other old-school Gateway Animes came out. I really should check out Utena, I think.

[Jabroniville]

So with the posting of the second Starlord, my "Cosmic Builds" are COMPLETE! This finishes off both my "Alien Races" set and my "Cosmic Heroes" one, taking out both groups of Guardians of the Galaxy. My step towards having all the Marvel characters posted on here is one step closer to completion.

Up next: A random Marvel character I neglected to transfer over, plus one of the most obscure fighting games ever- a precursor to Primal Rage in the "Stop-Motion Animated Dinosaur-Themed Fighting Games" genre, no less- Dino Rex!

[Davies]

So while I don't think just like... two shows count as "a lot of influence", I found it pretty interesting. I only ever really heard of Utena because of its link to Sailor Moon, but never found it airing here, and it hadn't spread around much. But I guess it turns out a lot of folks found it speaking to them around the same time Sailor Moon, DBZ and the other old-school Gateway Animes came out. I really should check out Utena, I think.

Yes. And the entire series is available for free on Nozomi Entertainment's YouTube channel.

[Jabroniville]

RED LOTUS (Paul Hark)
Created By: Chris Claremont & Salvador Larocca
First Appearance: X-Treme X-Men #5 (Nov. 2001)
Role: Super-Martial Artist
Group Affiliations: The Hellfire Club, The Triads
PL 8 (100)
STRENGTH 6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 6 (+12)
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+5)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Trip, Power Attack

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Super-Physicality"
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Speed 1 (4 mph) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +6, Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Responsibility (The Chinese Triads)

Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 2 / Defenses: 9 (100)

-Red Lotus is a bi-racial kid (Chinese/Australian) who is the heir apparent to the Sydney Chinese Triad run by his now-dead grandfather. Led to believe that Gambit had murdered this "Father Gow", Red Lotus went against the X-Men. When he learned the truth, he teamed up with the X-Treme X-Men (the Claremont-written "Guys Claremont Wants To Write" team) against Sebastian Shaw & Lady Mastermind. Left to his own devices, he joined up with Viper, but was saved from Selene by Rachel Summers. He later helps out the Sunspot-led Hellfire Club, but hasn't been seen since M-Day. He uses Super-Martial-Arts, but I really have no idea what his real level is- he apparently needs to be saved a lot, so I don't imagine he's that powerful.

[Jabroniville]

So while I don't think just like... two shows count as "a lot of influence", I found it pretty interesting. I only ever really heard of Utena because of its link to Sailor Moon, but never found it airing here, and it hadn't spread around much. But I guess it turns out a lot of folks found it speaking to them around the same time Sailor Moon, DBZ and the other old-school Gateway Animes came out. I really should check out Utena, I think.

Yes. And the entire series is available for free on Nozomi Entertainment's YouTube channel.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnggggggg. *adds show to tally of ridiculously huge list of things to watch*

[Goldar]

RED LOTUS (Paul Hark)
Created By: Chris Claremont & Salvador Larocca
First Appearance: X-Treme X-Men #5 (Nov. 2001)
Role: Super-Martial Artist
Group Affiliations: The Hellfire Club, The Triads
PL 8 (100)
STRENGTH 6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 6 (+12)
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+5)
Perception 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Trip, Power Attack

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Super-Physicality"
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Speed 1 (4 mph) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +6

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +6, Fortitude +7, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Responsibility (The Chinese Triads)

Total: Abilities: 72 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 2 / Defenses: 9 (100)

-Red Lotus is a bi-racial kid (Chinese/Australian) who is the heir apparent to the Sydney Chinese Triad run by his now-dead grandfather. Led to believe that Gambit had murdered this "Father Gow", Red Lotus went against the X-Men. When he learned the truth, he teamed up with the X-Treme X-Men (the Claremont-written "Guys Claremont Wants To Write" team) against Sebastian Shaw & Lady Mastermind. Left to his own devices, he joined up with Viper, but was saved from Selene by Rachel Summers. He later helps out the Sunspot-led Hellfire Club, but hasn't been seen since M-Day. He uses Super-Martial-Arts, but I really have no idea what his real level is- he apparently needs to be saved a lot, so I don't imagine he's that powerful.

Wait...Speed1 (4 mph). Is he able to move super-slow? Average person walking is 3-4 mph. Although many people choose to walk faster like 5-7 mph.

[Ares]

From what I remember, Red Lotus' biggest feat was fighting Sebastian Shaw one-on-one . . .









. . . and actually doing a pretty decent job. Naturally Shaw tanks the earlier hits, but it looks like Red switched up to indirect strikes to joints and pressure points, which actually seemed to work. I believe that Red beat a retreat after that last panel, but still, not a bad showing for a D-List character. He's no Iron Fist or Shang Chi, but he seems like a decent goon sweeper. That outfit and hair though. Yikes.

[Tattooedman]

That red & green color scheme is horrible I must say.

[Jabroniville]

DINO REX:
Created By: Taito
Release Date: 1992

-Okay, WOW. How in the world have I never heard about THIS one before? Two years before Primal Rage, here was a shit Fighting Game featuring stop-motion animated DINOSAURS fighting each other? This should have at least shown up in my research for PR!

In any case, this primitive fighter was made by Taito, and involves the backstory of some people finding clay figurines of people riding dinosaurs. Turns out that the nation of "Amazones" was ruled by a warrior queen, and men were able to fight to win her hand using dinosaurs. Prove that your dinosaur is strongest, and you get to rule as "Dino Rex" for a year.

That is the most amazing story concept for a game I've ever heard. "Train the best dinosaur and you get to rule as a king for a year and get surrounded by bikini-clad barbarian maidens? HELL YES. Before the final stage, she even says "my nethers tremble with excitement". Okay she says "nevers" but I'm pretty sure that's what she meant.

The game is very, very simple. Stiffly-animated dinosaurs (with several re-using the animation model and adding or taking off stuff to make a whole new character) fight each other using basic mechanics (kick, upper-body attack, jump, roar)- literally only two buttons for attacks, and you have to hold a direction and the attack button to do different kinds of moves (such as tail sweeps, etc.). The character models are very strange, with upper body, head and legs all being different parts, with this being made obvious every time they move and some parts of their bodies remain immobile. They're also notably "faded", not matching the animation style of the backgrounds or human characters, so they look like they were shot by entirely different cameras. Never mind the hilarious vision of a Triceratops getting up and running ON TWO LEGS. Characters will dash against each other, have throws, and you can even smash a downed opponent (this was NOT common in Fighters at the time). Characters start the match with three "Power" bars, and spending one allows you to do a knockdown attack for extra damage. You have to re-build the meter by roaring (the equivalent of a Taunt).

There are a few more complexities here- you can do damage to the stages (again, a VERY rare thing for 1992), and this can unlock weapons, like bones or logs you can use as weapons. 35 seconds into a round, a Pteranodon will appear with an egg- if you eat it (oddly, two of the dinos- Pachycephalosaurus & Stygimoloch- cannot eat the egg). White eggs restore 25% health, Red eggs allow you to shoot a single blast of fire, and Orange eggs freeze the enemy for ten seconds. At the end of the stage, the Pteranodon will fly off with or eat the losing "controller". Also, between some matches, there are extra rounds where you play your dino ripping apart humans in the modern world, tearing down the military and wiping out revelers. Like, if this game were better-made, it would be LEGENDARY.

The game is just... strange in many ways. It's a button-masher with less strategy, and wildly disparate characters. Some have attacks that do nothing to certain characters, or miss them entirely. For example, the T-Rex has an attack that only knocks down other Theropods, but will miss the Ceratopsians completely.

The Roster:
* There are two dinosaurs for each appearance, meaning there's really only three models used in this game.
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Allosaurus
Ceratosaurus- Literally the above but with a nose-horn.
Triceratops
Monoclonius- The above with no upper horns.
Pachycephalosaurus
Stygimoloch- The above with long horns.

The Stats:
-Characters are well-trained, elite fighting dinosaurs, but to make them balanced, I have to upgrade them all to fit the T-Rex's statline, so they're all PL 11s. They're a bit different than standard dinos, having good basic attacks, more damaging "Special Moves", a multiattack, and a move that utilizes the "POWER Bar" (you start with three, but can build them back with roaring)- a combo attack that will leave the enemy knocked down. I figured an Affliction was as good as anything to represent this- Impaired & Disabled. It doesn't seem to do any extra damage.

[Jabroniville]

Wait...Speed1 (4 mph). Is he able to move super-slow? Average person walking is 3-4 mph. Although many people choose to walk faster like 5-7 mph.

Baseline human speed in M&M is 2 mph. You can use Athletics to raise it one higher (an easy thing for guys with high enough athletics), and Extra Effort to get a notch higher. So natural speeds in M&M are always kind of a bit low. So 4 mph is technically super-speed because they kinda do it weird .

[Grenzer]

So while I don't think just like... two shows count as "a lot of influence", I found it pretty interesting. I only ever really heard of Utena because of its link to Sailor Moon, but never found it airing here, and it hadn't spread around much. But I guess it turns out a lot of folks found it speaking to them around the same time Sailor Moon, DBZ and the other old-school Gateway Animes came out. I really should check out Utena, I think.

Yes. And the entire series is available for free on Nozomi Entertainment's YouTube channel.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnggggggg. *adds show to tally of ridiculously huge list of things to watch*

Yes, I think you will like Utena. I watched it through my college's anime club many moon ago and it was a darling of the old school otaku crowd in those days before online video websites were a thing. The heavy LGBT themes running through the show would have made it DOA for a TV run circa 2000, but for those who had access to the VHS/DVD releases coming out during that time period, Utena had a lot of influence. These modern American cartoon creators who already come from a very insular community seem to have run in those circles and been heavily influenced by it.

As a show, it is very heavy into symbolism and allegory, which was a major trend for anime from that time period; that five to seven years after Neon Genesis Evangelion premiered on Japanese TV and really shook up how other anime studios presented their own works. The movie version of Utena is even a bigger trip, and may have turned off some fans of the TV series who liked the deeper characterization and occasional lighthearted comedy there.

[Jabroniville]

TYRANNOSAURUS REX
Pronunciation: tie-RAN-oh-saurus REX ("tyrant lizard king")
Role: Huge-Sized Theropod, Prehistoric Nightmare Fuel
PL 11 (125)- Minion Rank 8, Sidekick Rank 22
Normal Version: PL 9-10
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+10)
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+6)
Intimidation 15 (+15 Size)
Perception 6 (+7)
Stealth 6 (+0 Size)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Bite) 2, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Improvsied Weapon, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 5 (Low-Light Vision, Acute Scent & Extended Scent 3) [5]
Speed 3 (16 mph) [3]

"Dino-Sized" Growth 6 (Str & Sta +6, +6 Mass, +3 Intimidation, -3 Dodge/Parry, -6 Stealth) -- (21 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [13]
Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Reach) [3]
Impervious Toughness 7 [7]

"POWER Move" Strength-Damage +3 (Feats: Penetrating 7) Linked to Affliction 13 (Toughness; Impaired/Disabled Attacks) (Flaws: Limited Degree, Unreliable- 5 Uses) (13) -- [15]

• AE: "Theropod Bite" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Penetrating 7) (Inaccurate -1) (8)
• AE: "Masticator" Strength-Damage +0 (Extras: Multiattack 11) (Reduced Defenses -1) (9)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Bite +9 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
POWER Move +9 (+13 Damage & Affliction, DC 28 & 23)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +12 (+4 Impervious), Fortitude +13, Will +8

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Dinosaurs cannot speak to humans, nor use their limbs to easily manipulate objects.
Weakness (Cold Climates)- The Age of Reptiles 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: 26 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 46 / Defenses: 22 (125)

Era: Cretaceous
Range: North America
Size: Up to 43 feet long (7 tons)
Encounter Groups: Unknown
Tactics: Ambush predator, pouncing and tearing into flesh with sharp teeth, also crushing bone
Same Stats As: Tarbosaurus ("the Asian T-Rex")

-Oh man, what an indignity to T-Rex. Naturally, the game uses one, but to differentiate him from the other two theropod characters, he is now an absolute CHONK. Comically obese, T-Rex has a belly scraping along the ground- I had to check to make sure they didn't just add fat to the model for the other two (they did not- he appears to be a unique thing entirely). He can either be purple, more violet, or gold (CPU)- in the Story Mode, he is the Final Boss, controlled by a very large fat man, whom you will battle in the end (you can defeat him in a small handful of moves).

[Goldar]

Wait...Speed1 (4 mph). Is he able to move super-slow? Average person walking is 3-4 mph. Although many people choose to walk faster like 5-7 mph.

Baseline human speed in M&M is 2 mph. You can use Athletics to raise it one higher (an easy thing for guys with high enough athletics), and Extra Effort to get a notch higher. So natural speeds in M&M are always kind of a bit low. So 4 mph is technically super-speed because they kinda do it weird .

Ah so, thanks. I knew it had to be something like that.