Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Ken
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Bat-Mite! Nocturna! Zebra-Man! Mad Hatters!)

Post by Ken »

KorokoMystia wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:51 amThe whole "Imposter Mad Hatter" thing is especially wierd since, as the original Mad Hatter wasn't named Jervis Tetch (his real name hadn't been given yet) in his first (and only) Golden Age appearance, so he was retroactively given the name his imposter had taken.
My best guess is that DC wanted to distance themselves from the character played so wonderfully by David Wayne on TV. I will never accept the Lewis Carroll looking guy as Jervis Tetch. The first Mad Hatter, fine. The ginger guy with the mustache is Jervis Tetch.
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Re: The Wonderland Gang

Post by Arcae »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 9:10 am Image
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THE WONDERLAND GANG
Created By:
Paul Dini & Dustin Nguyen
First Appearance: Detective Comics #841 (April 2008)
Role: Job Squad

-The Wonderland Gang are a band of baddies brought together by Tweedledee & Tweedledum, all based around Lewis Carroll poems and concepts. They consist of The Walrus (Moe Blum- a powerhouse) & The Carpenter (Jenna Duffy- a tool-using thief), The Lion (Lewis Yarnell- a big guy with a maned shirt) & The Unicorn (Skitch Benson- a ripped guy with a horned helmet), and March Harriet (Harriet Graft- a grifter & escord). The Mad Hatter was also brainwashed into joining them. Batman easily defeats them, and the Hatter beats the twins with an oar.
With March Harriet and White Rabbit, that means there are two sexy bunny styled villainess in Batman's Rogue Gallery. So he's got that over Spider-Man.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Bat-Mite! Nocturna! Zebra-Man! Mad Hatters!)

Post by Skavenger »

You're failing to point out that the Carpenter (Jenna) was the Greatest Character Find Of 2008, with her amazing premiere against Batman:

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And all of her follow-up appearances have been just as great:

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Torque

Post by Jabroniville »

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TORQUE (Inspector Dudley "Deadly" Soames)
Created By:
Chuck Dixon & Scott McDaniel
First Appearance: Nightwing #1 (Oct. 1996- Soames), Nightwing #27 (Jan. 1999- Torque)
Role: Dick Tracy Villain
Group Affiliations: The Bludhaven P.D.
PL 8 (110)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Deception 6 (+8)
Expertise (Cop) 5 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+7)
Intimidation 6 (+8)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 4 (+7)
Persuasion 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Guns) 3 (+11)
Stealth 1 (+4)
Vehicles 1 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 (Tommy Gun +5- Multiattack, Mirrored Lenses- Radius Sight), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Tommy Gun), Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 3, Startle

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Tommy Gun +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Prejudice/Disabled (Head on Backwards)- Torque has his head twisted on backwards, and had to re-learn how to move about properly. He cannot pass for a normal person, nor see in front of him without special mirrored glasses.
Enemy (Blockbuster)- Torque's head was twisted 180 degrees by the super-strong crimeboss. Now he's starting a new gang war in Bludhaven over it.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 44--22 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 15 (110)

-ah, I remember this guy! Wizard Magazine was enamored with him- a guy whose head was on backwards, but was still an assassin. Sounds like a Garth Ennis character, but in Nightwing. Honestly though, it's a very "Dick Tracy" kinda deal, only he started out as a basic corrupt cop. So the deal here is that Inspector Soames was the most corrupt man in the uber-corrup Bludhaven Police Department, and was ordered by his chief to execute the vigilante Nightwing as soon as he came into town to clean it up. Soames, however, spared the hero with the intention to pit various Bludhaven factions against each other- he thus served both Chief Redhorn and Blockbuster (the criminal running the town) as a lieutenant, while also feeding information to Nightwing.

-Blockbuster wasn't aware of Soames' deception, at least, but decided to kill him when his plan to have Scarecrow kill Nightwing "failed disastrously". Soames, however, was very cunning, holding Blockbuster's invalid mother hostage- Nightwing had to save innocent bystands, leaving Soames at Blockbuster's mercy- he twisted the dirty cop's head 180 degrees, surely killing him. BUT WAIT! Soames survived owing to a "breakthrough" medical technique, and learned to move around with his head on backwards, using mirrored lenses on his glasses to see in front of him. Going a bit nuts, he renamed himself "Torque", killed the doctor who saved his life, and became an associate of Intergang, working against Blockbuster & Nightwing as part of a new gang war. He was ultimately arrested by Nightwing and jailed, but broke out with the crazed vigilante Nite-Wing. However, when Nite-Wing realized that Torque was just an insane criminal who wanted to rule, his zero tolerance policy on crime resulted in him attacking his partner. In a "Mexican stand-off" the two went at it, and Torque was killed. Since the whole Nightwing-verse was nuked anyways, the character pretty much only existed inside of that little zone.

-Torque is a pretty solid PL 8 Gunfighter-type character. A bit limited otherwise, but some versatile skills owing to his "Corrupt Cop" background.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Bat-Mite! Nocturna! Zebra-Man! Mad Hatters!)

Post by Shock »

catsi563 wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:54 am
Skavenger wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:14 am The Mad Hatter was also the mastermind of one of the absolute best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, "Perchance To Dream," where he doesn't try to kill Batman or destroy him, he tries to give him the world of his dreams instead just to keep Batman out of his own life. His brief appearance in Knightfall also showed off some of his intelligence, as he realized all the villains were freed for a reason, and sent Film Freak (RIP, Film Freak) to track down Bane to try to figure out what Bane's master plan was.

Honestly, the Jervis Tetch I like is the malformed victim of bullying, not a child murderer or someone with a fixation on children (unless, I think there was one version where he wanted to keep them safe from how horrible Gotham was? I could be misremembering that.) He also doesn't just randomly kill (that one subway car full of people lingers like a bad taste), he's a manipulator, not someone trying to out-corpse people like Pyg, Zsasz, or the Joker. His portrayal in the Secret Six was great, as he seemed immune to most of the craziness the other members brought to the team, while also stuck in his own madness, and while it seemed impractical and hasn't really been mentioned again, his abilities against the Doom Patrol and Psycho were an interesting step up.

But overall, I like him the same way I like Dr. Doom. He views himself as the ultimate victim, and the fact others won't let him have what he wants is proof that the world is against him.
Me as well I prefer the portrayal of Tetch as one of the trully sympathetic villains in Batmans rogues gallery. a man who is just looking for a friends but has no idea how to get one or how once he has one to keep them so he resorts to the mad hatter schemes because he wants his friend to be happy and him to be happy but it invariably goes wrong and he ends up in the worst situation because of it
I don't find anything sympathetic about a man who takes away your free will simply because he can't make friends. Pathetic is more accurate
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Blockbuster (Roland Desmond)

Post by Jabroniville »

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Comics and its vague heights, lol. Seven feet tall! Ten feet tall! Eight feet tall! It's all the same.

BLOCKBUSTER II (Roland Desmond)
Created By:
Roger Stern & Tom Lyle
First Appearance: Starman #9 (April 1989)
Role: Powerhouse, Crimeboss
Group Affiliations: The Secret Society of Super-Villains
PL 10 (133)
STRENGTH
11 STAMINA 11 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 8 (+12)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 8 (+11)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 4 (+7)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Benefit 3 (Wealth), Connected, Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3, Startle

Powers:
Impervious Toughness 7 [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +11 (+4 Impervious), Fortitude +11, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Greed & Power)- Blockbuster wishes to create an empire that extends all over the East Coast.
Enemy (Nightwing)
Relationship (Mark- Brother)- Roland manipulates Mark into committing crimes.
Enemy (Netflix)

Total: Abilities: 86 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 7 / Defenses: 13 (133)

-Interestingly, the 1990s/2000s Nightwing series chose a random Legacy Villain introduced in Starman a decade prior as its big Mega-Villain. Blockbuster was a bit unusual- taking the Big Dumb Powerhouse stereotype (like his brother, the original Blockbuster, who was killed in the first mission of Jon Ostrander's Suicide Squad) and instead making him a smart, savvy criminal genius- a true threat in Blüdhaven. His origin was pretty typical- he had experimental steroids given to him due to a severe illness, and mutated into a child-minded powerhouse like his brother had been. Batman & Will "Starman" Payton (then a new hero) halted his rampage across the Midwest. Roland, hating his stupidity, made a deal with the demon Neron to have greater intelligence, and he became a true crimeboss, but in the pages of Impulse. Finally, he ended up in Blüdhaven, as the chosen enemy of Nightwing. Using various city establishment characters as pawns and proxies, he was building a criminal empire he intended to let him oversee the entire East Coast.

-However, Nightwing halted him at every turn. Blockbuster had a legion of goons, all limited to the Nightwing book, but Lady Vic, Stallion, Brutale, The Trigger Twins & Shrike all failed repeatedly, becoming recurring jobbers for the series. His "cop on the take" in the Blüdhaven PD eventually turned on him, and Blockbuster turned his head around, snapping his neck. But this just drove the man insane, and so he became the gun-toting Torque- another thorn in Blockbuster's side. His condition ended up giving him a heart defect, but just as he went on the mend and tried to take back his empire (using the heart of one of Gorilla City's talking apes as a transplant), he was murdered by Catalina "Tarantula II" Flores. And in the end the Nightwing book ended and Blüdhaven was destroyed by Chemo. So in the end, Blockbuster was only ever a major character in one book.

-Blockbuster is a basic PL 10 Powerhouse, but that's pretty horrifying in a world where his top threat does like +3-4 damage in general. He's also a very smarty, savvy criminal mind with a lot of connections.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Bat-Mite! Nocturna! Zebra-Man! Mad Hatters!)

Post by catsi563 »

Shock wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:36 pm
catsi563 wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 4:54 am
Skavenger wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:14 am The Mad Hatter was also the mastermind of one of the absolute best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, "Perchance To Dream," where he doesn't try to kill Batman or destroy him, he tries to give him the world of his dreams instead just to keep Batman out of his own life. His brief appearance in Knightfall also showed off some of his intelligence, as he realized all the villains were freed for a reason, and sent Film Freak (RIP, Film Freak) to track down Bane to try to figure out what Bane's master plan was.

Honestly, the Jervis Tetch I like is the malformed victim of bullying, not a child murderer or someone with a fixation on children (unless, I think there was one version where he wanted to keep them safe from how horrible Gotham was? I could be misremembering that.) He also doesn't just randomly kill (that one subway car full of people lingers like a bad taste), he's a manipulator, not someone trying to out-corpse people like Pyg, Zsasz, or the Joker. His portrayal in the Secret Six was great, as he seemed immune to most of the craziness the other members brought to the team, while also stuck in his own madness, and while it seemed impractical and hasn't really been mentioned again, his abilities against the Doom Patrol and Psycho were an interesting step up.

But overall, I like him the same way I like Dr. Doom. He views himself as the ultimate victim, and the fact others won't let him have what he wants is proof that the world is against him.
Me as well I prefer the portrayal of Tetch as one of the trully sympathetic villains in Batmans rogues gallery. a man who is just looking for a friends but has no idea how to get one or how once he has one to keep them so he resorts to the mad hatter schemes because he wants his friend to be happy and him to be happy but it invariably goes wrong and he ends up in the worst situation because of it
I don't find anything sympathetic about a man who takes away your free will simply because he can't make friends. Pathetic is more accurate
It very much is. thats as much a part of the character as the pity
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Sidney369
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Nocturna! The Mad Hatter! Torque! Blockbuster!)

Post by Sidney369 »

Actually, Roland Desmond (who first appeared in Detective Comics #345) originally maintained his intellect when he transformed into Blockbuster in his first few appearances (Starman and the final few issues of Suicide Squad). He was no scientist, but he wasn't child-minded either. In fact, if I remember correctly, he was only like that in the Underworld Unleashed book.
Always ask before you use someone's Original Character.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Nocturna! The Mad Hatter! Torque! Blockbuster!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Sidney369 wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:48 am Actually, Roland Desmond (who first appeared in Detective Comics #345) originally maintained his intellect when he transformed into Blockbuster in his first few appearances (Starman and the final few issues of Suicide Squad). He was no scientist, but he wasn't child-minded either. In fact, if I remember correctly, he was only like that in the Underworld Unleashed book.
That's annoying- Wikipedia lied! And I just donated five bucks to those assholes! For shame!
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Tarantula (Catalina Flores)

Post by Jabroniville »

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How to destroy your new Pet Character in one easy step!

TARANTULA II (Catalina Flores)
Created By:
Devin Grayson
First Appearance: Nightwing #71 (Sept. 2002)
Role: Legacy Character, Psycho Chick
PL 8 (117)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Streetwise) 5 (+7)
Insight 2 (+4)
Investigation 4 (+6)
Perception 3 (+5)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Stealth 1 (+6)
Vehicles 1 (+6)

Advantages:
Defensive Attack, Equipment 6 (Wirepoon- Swinging, Knives & Spiked Knuckles +1- Split, Improved Critical, Gun +4, Blowgun- Ranged Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed +6 Inaccurate), Fast Grab, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Ranged Attack 5, Takedown

Equipment:
"Knives" Strength-Damage +1 (Improved Critical, Split) (3)
"Spiked Knuckles" Unarmed Damage +1 (counts as punches) (Split) (2)
"Gun" Blast 5 (10)
"Blowgun" Affliction 6 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Extras: Ranged, Progressive +2) (Inaccurate -1) (23)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Knives +12 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Gun +10 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Blowgun +8 (+6 Ranged Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Nightwing)- Tarantula has the hots for Nightwing, and this kind of makes her jump his bones at... possibly an inopportune moment.
Motivation (Cleaing Up Blüdhaven)- Hearing that her hometown is falling apart thanks to corruption from the top down, Catalina decides to fix things.
Relationship (John "Tarantula" Law)- Catalina deeply respects John Law, having red his autobiography and patterned her superheroic identity after his.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (117)

Tarantula- "Dating Catwoman" Arc Turned... Woah:
-SO, uh, yeah. This character, like Hank Pym, stands as a lesson to future writers and editors: be careful what you let get published, less your entire run get derailed and people won't shut up about you for generations.

-The second Tarantula has a lot of the traits of Legacy Characters created decades later- she's a minority female replacing a male character, acted kinda "dangerous" and/or rebellious, and started off as a supporting character. She's from that era of comics when the name "Devin Grayson" was attached to a LOT of stuff. Getting a job more or less by calling up DC and asking for "the guy in charge of Batman", she literally talked her way into a job, and stuck around comics for several years. She wrote one of the best comics I've ever read (JLA/Titans) yet also some of the worst (much of her later Titans run, though Jay Faerber was noticeably worse). She was somewhat notorious at points- a relationship with Mark Waid from what I've heard, and accusations of writing Tarantula here as a self-insert "Mary Sue" because Devin herself lusted after Nightwing (JOIN THE CLU-- I mean, weirdo). I couldn't confirm any of this, of course- all I read was her Titans-related stuff. But HOO BOY, was this a notorious run.

Tarantula II:
-ANYWAYS, so the new Tarantula was a Latina hailing from Blüdhaven- with FBI training and a brother who was acting as Assistant District Attorney, she returned to Blüdhaven to try and fix things. When the Golden Age Tarantula arrived for his social security check, she revealed she was a fan, and asked a lot about him, having read his autobiography. Later, she joins a self-defense class taught by Dick Grayson and surprises him by being able to deliver a single blow- she asks for more help in fighting, just as she begins to act as the second "Tarantula"- here, she encounters Nightwing in his superheroic guise, and he lectures her about her extreme vigilante methods and told her to leave the 'Haven. Eventually, he figured her responsible for killing the corrupt chief of police, and had her arrested- her brother helped spring her, and she joined Blockbuster's revenge campaign against Nightwing, whose identity he knew. However, when ordered to kill his girlfriend (Barbara Gordon!), she instead manipulated a dinner date so that she broke up with him instead.

-However, Tarantula regretted her part in things when Blockbuster had Dick's apartment building blown up, killing the original Tarantula in the process. Guilt-ridden, she shoots Nightwing foe Lady Vic and later gets involved in the final battle between Nightwing & Blockbuster, shooting the villain. Nightwing, broken by weeks of Blockbuster tearing apart his personal life, merely sat by and watched it happen, either unable or unwilling to make a move. And then, in the BIG moment that shifted thoughts on this character, Tarantula took a mentally-beaten and stunned Nightwing and had sex with him against his weak protests. Cuz, I dunno, she was hot for Dick.

So, uh, she's a Rapist, Huh?:
-And HOO BOY were fans pissed. When they pointed out that Tarantula raped Nightwing, Grayson offered up some seriously bizarre counters ("For the record, I’ve never used the word 'rape', I just said it was non-consensual"), which I would translate as "Oh fuck- I didn't realize anyone would be pissed about this and now I want to backtrack but not be SEEN as backtracking, so I'll try to re-word this so it's less bad". Like, I can ALMOST see where she was coming from (the two were legit attracted to each other, maintained a relationship after, and she was either just really turned on or trying to help Nightwing through it, and Grayson didn't think about the situation until later). Grayson apologized like a decade later, but this still pretty much shows up ANY TIME someone mentions her name- it's stuck to her career like glue.

-This naturally derailed the shit out of a plot Grayson was writing where Nightwing just gladly enters a relationship with her and they consider making it long-term, with the suggestion of marriage. The writing here seems to indicate that Tarantula was just acting on some mutual attraction and that "Nightwing liked it so it was okay" (which is some "1980s Sex Comedy" logic), but when all this went down, it just wasn't gonna happen- Nightwing later "comes to his senses" and turns both of them in for executing Blockbuster. He was acquitted and she imprisoned. Notably, this issue was written in 2004, and by 2006, Grayson had effectively permanently left the comic book industry. All that's on her bibliography these days is one-offs after that point. I do not think that is a coincidence at all.

-When Nightwing was planned to be killed by Dan DiDio during Infinite Crisis, all of Blüdhaven was destroyed by Chemo, wiping out his entire supporting cast in one moment. It wasn't until a bit later that we revealed she survived, and was still in jail. She escapes from Alcatraz and in Gail Simone's Secret Six, wins the "Get Out of Hell Free" card forged by Neron, and sacrifices herself by pulling Ragdoll's insane sister Junior and herself in front of a combined attack of supervillains. Give credit to Simone for giving her a somewhat smart-assed way out of everything. I don't even remember that end to the story at all, despite remember a LOT of Ragdoll, Junior, and the rest of that arc.

Tarantula's Stats:
-Catalina is a good fighter without being a real pro- PL 7.5, she fits a lot of amateurs who are "starting to get good" but are way underpowered to be taking on real competition. Her only big wins are against Lady Vic & Blockbuster (the latter of whom was fighting someone else at the time), and she was only around for a couple of years. So better that a rank amateur, but her main thing was "Wow, she actually tagged Nightwing one time", ya know?
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Mad Hatter! Torque! Blockbuster! Tarantula II!)

Post by Skavenger »

So, it's interesting you mention Hank Pym in that. I somehow seriously doubt the attitude towards "non-consensual sex is not okay" will change any time soon, but the fact that Hank Pym's breakdown happened when it did, when mental health still wasn't talked about much, is more tragic than anything. Comics writers STILL don't know how to have Hank get any support from any of his "friends" regarding his mental health, and they're always ready to have someone throw "wife-slapper" in his face at the drop of a hat.

Meanwhile, Unstoppable Wasp did a really similar arc where Nadia, suffering from the same bi-polar disorder and reaching a real manic state due to lack of sleep and obsessing over making everything "okay" for her friends, snapped at them, hurt one, and then, distraught, shrank herself down and contemplated suicide until one of her friends brought her back from the brink, but it had a really honest look at what she was (would be, if she was real) dealing with, and really treated the situation with respect.

Whereas, if they ever bring back Hank, I'm pretty sure somebody's going to put him back in an Avengers line-up one day and immediately have someone say "So, punch Jan lately?"

But more to the point, I was just thinking the other day how quickly Devin Grayson vanished from comics. I remember something about her being part of a "crew" that popped up around the same time but were essentially drummed out of comics as a group, but that could just be my misremembering things?
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Re: Tarantula (Catalina Flores)

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 2:05 am ("For the record, I’ve never used the word 'rape', I just said it was non-consensual"),
This is known as "a distinction without a difference". Also known as "a writer should understand what words mean".
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Mad Hatter! Torque! Blockbuster! Tarantula II!)

Post by Arcae »

Even if she hadn't done this rape thing, any sympathy you could have for this character is kinda ruined by her manipulating Nightwing into a breakup. Like, that's pretty damn abusive.
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Nite-Wing

Post by Jabroniville »

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NITE-WING (Tad Ryerstad)
Created By:
Chuck Dixon & Scott McDaniel
First Appearance: Nightwing #8 (May 1997- as Tad), Nightwing #21 (June 1998- as Nite-Wing)
Role: Insane Vigilante
Mental Problems: Delusional, Sociopathic
PL 8 (85)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+7)
Expertise (Streetwise) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 5 (+4)
Stealth 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment (Club +2, Billiard Balls +1), Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Club), Startle

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Billiard Balls +10 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Club +10 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Being a Hero)- A sociopath who based his morality on comic books and screwed it up, Tad is convinced that he is a hero, and is bewildered that people take issue with him just randomly murdering people because he mistakes them for criminals.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 18 / Defenses: 10 (85)

-Nite-Wing became a kind of attempted "Mirror Image Villain" in the Nightwing solo book- Chuck Dixon stated "I wanted to show, without the proper upbringing and the wrong motivations, what would happen if a guy tried to become a vigilante. Tad's a guy who just gets everything wrong that Dick Grayson gets right, and he doesn't even necessarily have good in his heart...He wanted the bragging rights of being a hero without having anything to recommend him as a hero, except that he got a buzz off the danger." He is a sociopathic orphan who had to self-teach himself (doing a poor job of it, too- he just watched movies and stole books), and is prone to violent outbursts. Later we would learn that his "origin story" was a fake- his parents were merely disinterested addicts, and Tad framed his own father for snitching to the cops, and got him killed.

-Becoming a vigilante for the fun of it, he does "good" by beating people senseless for all manner of crimes great or small, often striking bystanders because he mistook them for criminals. Meeting the original Tarantula, he decides to become a "superhero"- he takes his name from an all-night wing restaurant he passes by- showing you his mental state. On his first mission, he was shot by Blockbuster's gang, and since he shared Nightwing's name (if you heard it out loud, that is), Blockbuster kept sending guys to the hospital to finish the job, and poor Dick Grayson got stuck backing him up.

-Eventually released from the hospital, Tad found the gang and murdered them all, and continued going after Blockbuster's men. Nightwing offered to train him, not realizing how insane Tad was- Tad soon murdered an FBI agent, not knowing he was undercover. Nightwing thus arrested him. His cellmate turned out to be Torque- a villain he'd fought before, and the two escaped jail, Nite-Wing killing Torque soon after. Again hunted by Blockbuster, he gets Nightwing to clear his name, and is soon re-arrested.

-For stats, Nite-Wing is a tolerable fighter but nothing more than a nuisance to an elite like Nightwing or Blockbuster. He's PL 7-7.5 overall, but only with his club. After all, a REGULAR GANG managed to nearly kill him- putting him in ignominious territory with Boomslang of the Serpent Society!
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds (The Mad Hatter! Torque! Blockbuster! Tarantula II!)

Post by Ares »

Characters like Nite-Wing are good to showcase that not everyone is meant to be a superhero. There's a genuine difference between Nite-Wing and guy Gardner, even when Guy is at his absolute worst. Both of them are arrogant meat-heads who are glory hounds and who enjoy beating people up. The main difference is that Guy, for all his faults, is still a hero. He likes beating people up, but he makes sure they deserve it first. He's genuinely concerned with protecting the innocent, and seeing innocent people hurt is the fastest way to prove you deserve a butt whooping. Guy is also actually introspective when he wants to be, can be honest with himself about his own faults, and has a soft spot for kids. guy is also a man of his word and is never one to shirk responsibility for his actions. And as badly as Guy might beat someone up, killing is never his first response to a situation.

Nite-Wing is the kind of guy who doesn't actually care about protecting people. In many ways he's a superhero version of a lot of internet slacktivists who don't actually care about a cause, they just want to know who they're allowed to hurt so they can try to ruin them, and don't really care if someone innocent gets caught in the crossfire. Nite-Wing just wants acceptable targets he can brutalize and be glorified for doing so. He's like some hybrid of the worst aspects of Guy Gardner, the Punisher, Booster Gold and USAgent, but with none of their redeeming qualities.

The really sad thing is that more than a few modern comic writers actually write their heroes this way unironically. They're more than happy to use lethal force, it's primarily about their own emotional validation and self-aggrandizement, and they're perfectly okay with attacking someone so long as they're the right kind of bad guy. I miss the old school writers who at least had a modicum of self-awareness.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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