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

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

Gene & Alice Hayes

Post by Jabroniville »

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GENE HAYES
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: Mutants
Group Affiliations: The Pride
PL 8 (116)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 6 (+9)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Perception 2 (+5)
Treatment 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (Wealth & Status), Ranged Attack 2, Startle

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Telepathy"
"Sedation" Affliction 8 (Will; Dazed/Exhausted/Asleep) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception-Ranged +2) (32) -- [35]
  • AE: "Memory Removal" Affliction 8 (Will; Impaired/Disabled Memory/Transformed Memories) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception-Ranged +2) (Flaws: Limited to Memory Loss) (24)
  • AE: Mind-Reading 8 (16)
  • AE: Communication 2 (Mental) (8)
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Mental Powers -- (+8 Perception-Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed & Power)- The Hayeses are willing to sacrifice anything for power.
Hatred (Humans)- Gene & Alice have been on the receiving end of bigotry over their Mutant Powers for years. They despise humans, and would gladly sacrifice all of their human teammates to ensure their own survival.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 35 / Defenses: 11 (116)

---

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ALICE HAYES
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: Mutants
Group Affiliations: The Pride
PL 8 (116)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Speech Therapist) 4 (+7)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Perception 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (Wealth & Status), Ranged Attack 2, Startle

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Telepathy"
"Sedation" Affliction 8 (Will; Dazed/Exhausted/Asleep) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception-Ranged +2) (32) -- [35]
  • AE: "Memory Removal" Affliction 8 (Will; Impaired/Disabled Memory/Transformed Memories) (Extras: Cumulative, Perception-Ranged +2) (Flaws: Limited to Memory Loss) (24)
  • AE: Mind-Reading 8 (16)
  • AE: Communication 2 (Mental) (8)
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Mental Powers -- (+8 Perception-Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed & Power)- The Hayeses are willing to sacrifice anything for power.
Hatred (Humans)- Gene & Alice have been on the receiving end of bigotry over their Mutant Powers for years. They despise humans, and would gladly sacrifice all of their human teammates to ensure their own survival.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 35 / Defenses: 11 (116)

-The Hayeses are pretty lazy, even by the low standards of The Pride- they're a pair of Mutants with identical powers. They manage to brainwash Cloak into forgetting about the Runaways until a blow to the head reminds him. They seem to have raised a rather innocent, dopey daughter, and don't appear to have been as abusive as many of the other Pride members. They take the longest of the Pride to conceive (Alice was at first unaware she could- this made her hesitant to accept the offer of the Gibborim). They had conspired secretly with the Deans to kill off the rest of the Pride and their children, retaining life for the six of them only.

-After their death against the Gibborim, Gene & Alice were revealed to possibly being the most-sadistic of the parents, having killed and tortured dozens of people for almost no reason for years- an old enemy of theirs kidnaps and nearly kills Molly (but not before revealing the depths of her parents' evil). Wolverine manages to defeat him, and reassures Molly that though her parents were evil people, they clearly must have at least loved HER.

-It's unclear just how powerful Gene & Alice are, but apparently one story features the two of them combining their powers to hold off Professor X. They didn't have a long run, so they could be anywhere from PL 7-10.
FuzzyBoots
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Re: Jab’s Builds (Alex! Gertrude! Old Lace! Chase Stein! Molly!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

And the truly depraved will have no issues, of course. I'm reminded of a scene from Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain where the person with a cuteness power tries to use it on Jagged Bones only to have said villain begin to throttle then because they think her skeleton is too cute to pass up having.
Ian Turner
Posts: 220
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:54 pm

Re: Molly Hayes

Post by Ian Turner »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 3:32 am -Molly has shown up in a few other books, mainly in one "Future X-Men come back in time and start stuff" storyline in the Bendis X-Books- here, she appears as a smoking-hot amazon who's like eight feet tall (SWOONZ) and packs Thundra's build.
I'm so torn, because I love big brawny women like her, or Man-Killer, but at the same time, I also love the idea of someone who has super-strength and totally does not look it. No bulgy muscles at all. It's *a super-power,* not a thyroid condition (and, in her case, generally assumed to be telekinetic in nature).

I did think the future Molly/Bruiser looked very cool, and it was fun to see a female hero who didn't look like a pinup girl, but I also love the idea of her staying slender and being the unsuspecting brute, similar to the blonde, Kristin, from Southern Knights, or Buffy.

I do wish the writers had been a bit less lazy with the parents. Having Alice focus on memory-altering/reading/psychometric type powers, and Gene be a dream-viewer/thief/traveler/sculptor could have put them in slightly different niches than just 'generic telepath A' and 'generic telepath B.'

Same for all the parents, though. It would have been neat for instance if Pa Wilder was a crook and Ma Wilder was originally his public defender, and after the Gibborim turned their Bonny & Clyde story around she was a DA and he was an ex-con philanthropist, or the time-travelling duo included one from the future and one that was recruited from an excursion to the past, making them a bit different.

I kind of feel like that about the Runaways as a concept. There's a lot of great ideas, but it seems like they're half-developed, at best. Weird little ideas are seeded around, like that Tina Minoru studied under the Ancient One, back in the day, and that the Staff of One might have been stolen from there when she left (and that Dormammu knows about it, and possibly even fears it?), but it's never really been followed up on or explored meaningfully.
Shock
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:27 pm
Location: Connecticut USA

Re: Molly Hayes

Post by Shock »

Ian Turner wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:03 pm
I kind of feel like that about the Runaways as a concept. There's a lot of great ideas, but it seems like they're half-developed, at best. Weird little ideas are seeded around, like that Tina Minoru studied under the Ancient One, back in the day, and that the Staff of One might have been stolen from there when she left (and that Dormammu knows about it, and possibly even fears it?), but it's never really been followed up on or explored meaningfully.
I think that's at least partially because it was written to be a one-shot and was popular enough that it got expanded beyond what Vaughn had ideas for. And then other writers took the characters completely off the rails.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Nico Minoru

Post by Jabroniville »

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Shockingly, the tall, slender Asian Goth has by far the most pictures on ComicVine of this team.

NICO MINORU (aka Sister Grimm)
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: The Overly-Powerful One, Unofficial Leader
Horrible Fate I Wish Upon This Character: All of her future appearances will be written and drawn by Rob Liefeld.
Group Affiliations: The Runaways
PL 12 (144)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Deception 3 (+6)
Expertise (Magic) 4 (+6)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 2 (+4)
Ranged Combat (Magic) 3 (+8)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Magical Attacks), Set-Up, Ranged Attack 1, Ritualist, Teamwork

Powers:
"The Staff Of One" (Extras: Summonable) (Flaws: Easily-Removable) [72]
Variable 15 (Any Power, Ever) (Flaws: Limited to Once Per Power- Creates Random Effect Otherwise) (Quirks: Must Be Bleeding to Summon the Staff) (89 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Magic Stuff +8 (+16 Ranged Effects, DC 31 & 26)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +7

Complications:
Relationship (The Runaways)- Nico is very close with her teammates, considering many of them extremely-close friends. She is protective of the group, and emotionally-needy with their friendship. Her closest friend was Gert, but she also misses Karolina terribly whenever she leaves Earth.
Relationship (Chase Stein)- Nico mothers the impulsive, rule-breaking Chase, but they've shown an attraction at various times as well.
Power Loss (Magic)- If she steps into the path of the ashes of dead wizards, her powers will cease to work. And she can never raise the dead.
Relationship (Alex Wilder)- Nico initially had feelings for Alex, the leader of the group. But then he turned out to be a douche.
Relationship (Victor Mancha)- The two get together after he saves her life against the Gibborim, but he eventually falls for another woman in the past, and Nico stands aside (even when she remains in 1907).
Responsibility (Clingy & Emotional)- Nico tends to act out emotionally, and in a manner which occasionally confuses her.
Responsibility (Damsel Syndrome)- Twice, Nico has decided to enter relationships with men who save her life. This is a side-effect her her being emotionally-clingy during times of stress.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 72 / Defenses: 13 (144)

-Nico Minoru is the kind of girl seemingly created for nerdy teen males to drool over: a thin Asian girl dressing in gothic lolita fashions, and wielding a strong personality and huge power. This is probably deliberate by Vaughan, as she's made the love interest of the most-nerdy character of the first run. Her power is also the most insanely-Gamebreaking of the series, as she basically has Every Power Ever- to an even greater extent than Doctor Strange! Her "Staff of One" allows her to cast any spell she wants, but only once, and with a specific sort of instruction- it sometimes gives her a different effect than she'd necessarily wanted (saying "Zombie Not" to get rid of zombies ended up forming a Zombie KNOT). She also has to be bleeding for it to work (usually just making small cuts on her body (you have to wonder Vaughan's intentions in giving the GOTH character the ability to gain super-powers from SELF-HARM, though ); and any kind of bleeding will do the trick (as revealed in a pretty funny scene when another character says "hey, but I thought you had to be bleeding." "*stern glare*" "Ah."). Generally, her power acts as a writer's trick to get the team out of ANY situation, but with enough caveats that it's not a GIANT Ass-Pull to do so. Just... well... a pretty big one.

-Nico eventually becomes the group's leader after Alex betrays the team and is killed, leading them through numerous crises- at one point, she is captured and tortured by a powerful mystic who seeks to train her to take more pain, and thus gain more power. When Runaways is cancelled, she's one of the few to keep seeing use, as she's one of the abductees in Avengers Arena, with her powers CONVENTIENTLY lessened just so she can't Magic her way out of everything (literally mentioned on Wikipedia as "for an unexplained reason"). She is actually KILLED by her teammate Chase (wielding the Darkhawk Armor and being brainwashed), but her bleeding-out causes the Staff to resurrect her and wipe the floor with numerous bad guys- the Darkhawk armor is destroyed, Deathlocket is disarmed, and Apex is trapped underground). So basically despite her Magic being lessened to prevent Ass-Pulls, she STILL Ass-Pulls the victory! Because Magic.

-Nico reappears in Avengers Undercover, frequently arguing with Chase- her relationship with Chase developed into a bit of a love/hate one, as she often has to rein in his worse impulses, but there's definitely an attraction there. She and her castmates are blackmailed into joining Baron Zemo or else face justice for murdering Arcade (Hazmat, who was also trapped on Murderworld, did the deed), but Nico comes up with a "third option"- joining Zemo's organization to destroy it from within. When the Arcade killed is revealed to have been a body double, the kids are cleared.

-Nico then shows up in A-Force, the short-lived all-female super-book, in Secret Wars and then in a "real" 616 version of the book. It doesn't last that long, but she makes good with teammates She-Hulk, Singularity and others. During Civil War II she runs from Carol Danvers when Nico is earmarked as a "future murderer" (god that story was dumb)- Carol chases Nico down, but after a confrontation the circumstances are revealed- they're trying to stop an infestation of bugs that create a plague, and Nico is forced to kill a woman to stop it. The woman then reappears in her "final form", explaining that being killed allowed her to resurrect with greater control over her powers, thus saving the day. Finally, as the rebooted Runaways book winds down, Nico reveals a homosexual attraction to Karolina after all, and the two start a relationship.

-Nico is INSANELY-powerful, being able to do things even beyond the limits of regular ol' Mages- there's a handful of caveats in there, but nothing that bad. At one point, she one-offs The Wrecker simply by turning him into a pile of sliced-up deli meat (he gets better later on). At another point, she Teleports some aliens all over the planet. Essentially, she gets 75 points with which to do whatever she wants, but can only use each unique spell once. She's also a minor-level mystic otherwise, being able to use Ritualist. The specifics of what she can do without her Staff are pretty vague, and she doesn't appear to be a great fighter outside of using high-end powers (enough to make her a PL 12 character). The Staff on One is Easily-Removable, but she can also put it into her soul and summon it (an Extra).

Nico gets an upgrade at one point, gaining the following additions:

"The Staff Of One" (Feats: Restricted 2) (Extras: Summonable) (Flaws: Easily-Removable) [74]
Variable 15 (Any Power, Ever) (Flaws: Limited to Once Per Power- Creates Random Effect Otherwise) (Quirks: Must Be Bleeding to Summon the Staff) (89) -- (90 points)
  • AE: "Attacks Anyone Who Wields It" Damage 10 (Feats: Triggered- Attempts to Use the Staff) (Extras: Reaction +3) (41)
Flight 2 (8 mph) (Flaws: Low Ceiling) [2]
Jabroniville
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Re: Molly Hayes

Post by Jabroniville »

Shock wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:01 pm
Ian Turner wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:03 pm
I kind of feel like that about the Runaways as a concept. There's a lot of great ideas, but it seems like they're half-developed, at best. Weird little ideas are seeded around, like that Tina Minoru studied under the Ancient One, back in the day, and that the Staff of One might have been stolen from there when she left (and that Dormammu knows about it, and possibly even fears it?), but it's never really been followed up on or explored meaningfully.
I think that's at least partially because it was written to be a one-shot and was popular enough that it got expanded beyond what Vaughn had ideas for. And then other writers took the characters completely off the rails.
When was it supposed to end? When Gert dies? Or after Alex's sacrifice?
Shock
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Location: Connecticut USA

Re: Molly Hayes

Post by Shock »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 11:04 pm
Shock wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:01 pm
Ian Turner wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:03 pm
I kind of feel like that about the Runaways as a concept. There's a lot of great ideas, but it seems like they're half-developed, at best. Weird little ideas are seeded around, like that Tina Minoru studied under the Ancient One, back in the day, and that the Staff of One might have been stolen from there when she left (and that Dormammu knows about it, and possibly even fears it?), but it's never really been followed up on or explored meaningfully.
I think that's at least partially because it was written to be a one-shot and was popular enough that it got expanded beyond what Vaughn had ideas for. And then other writers took the characters completely off the rails.
When was it supposed to end? When Gert dies? Or after Alex's sacrifice?
It's just supposition but I have a feeling he only really had planned up to the confrontation with the Gibborim. It started getting aimless right after that.
Curbludgeon
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Old Lace! Chase Stein! Molly Hayes! Nico Minoru!)

Post by Curbludgeon »

The tv show wasn't terrible, being about as unnecessary as Cloak and Dagger, and fitting in between the other Hulu Marvel series Helstrom and Hit Monkey on one side, and M.O.D.O.K. on the other.
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Davies
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Re: Nico Minoru

Post by Davies »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:28 pm Horrible Fate I Wish Upon This Character: All of her future appearances will be written and drawn by Rob Liefeld.
Okay, there's horrible fates and there's 'no crime could ever merit such a punishment'.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Shock
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Re: Nico Minoru

Post by Shock »

Davies wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:47 am
Jabroniville wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:28 pm Horrible Fate I Wish Upon This Character: All of her future appearances will be written and drawn by Rob Liefeld.
Okay, there's horrible fates and there's 'no crime could ever merit such a punishment'.
He gets vindictive when he has to stat up magic characters
Skavenger
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Old Lace! Chase Stein! Molly Hayes! Nico Minoru!)

Post by Skavenger »

I really wonder how Nico's power would work in a game setting, since the GM would have to a) keep a constant running list of every 'command' the player ever used, b) keep the player from thinking too hard about what command to use during the heat of the moment, and c) figure out what any possible command might do in the scenario.

It might be easier to just have there be a straight die roll to see if the player thinks of a command Nico hasn't used yet, on a success they can pick an appropriate power, on a failure it all goes wrong.
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Goldar
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Re: Molly Hayes

Post by Goldar »

Ian Turner wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:03 pm
Jabroniville wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 3:32 am -Molly has shown up in a few other books, mainly in one "Future X-Men come back in time and start stuff" storyline in the Bendis X-Books- here, she appears as a smoking-hot amazon who's like eight feet tall (SWOONZ) and packs Thundra's build.
I'm so torn, because I love big brawny women like her, or Man-Killer, but at the same time, I also love the idea of someone who has super-strength and totally does not look it. No bulgy muscles at all. It's *a super-power,* not a thyroid condition (and, in her case, generally assumed to be telekinetic in nature).

I did think the future Molly/Bruiser looked very cool, and it was fun to see a female hero who didn't look like a pinup girl, but I also love the idea of her staying slender and being the unsuspecting brute, similar to the blonde, Kristin, from Southern Knights, or Buffy.
This is like the Barbara Norriss Valkyrie. She was like 5'9" 145 pounds with slim arms that could lift a car or rip open a steel door! And while she was beautiful, the costume and one-eye-hidden-behind-the-pigtail often prevented the majority of people seeing her that way.

Then when Val came into possession of her real Asgardian body, she grew to 6'3" and 475 pounds with lots of muscles.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Richard & Tina Minoru

Post by Jabroniville »

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RICHARD MINORU
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: Dark Wizards
Group Affiliations: The Pride
PL 9 (124)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Magic) 6 (+10)
Perception 2 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Magic) 4 (+10)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Magical Attacks), Ranged Attack 2, Ritualist

Powers:
"Magical Senses" Senses 5 (Detect Magic- Acute, Analytical & Ranged) [5]
"Whatever Powers The Write Tought Of- I Dunno, F*** Off" Variable 7 [49]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Magic Stuff +8 (+10 Ranged Damage, Probably Ranged, DC 25)
Other Magic Stuff +8 (+10 Ranged Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (Probably Has a Force Field or Something Dumb), Fortitude +4, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Power)- The Minorus are willing to sacrifice nearly anything for power.
Relationship (Nico Minoru- Daughter)- They are apparently pretty-shitty parents- Nico declares in a dream "I liked you better DEAD!" However, they DID plan on saving a space for her in the world the Gibborim would have created.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 54 / Defenses: 13 (124)

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TINA MINORU
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: Dark Wizards
Group Affiliations: The Pride
PL 9 (124)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Magic) 6 (+10)
Perception 2 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Magic) 4 (+10)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Magical Attacks), Ranged Attack 2, Ritualist

Powers:
"Magical Senses" Senses 5 (Detect Magic- Acute, Analytical & Ranged) [5]
"Whatever Powers The Write Tought Of- I Dunno, F*** Off" Variable 7 [49]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Magic Stuff +8 (+10 Ranged Damage, Probably Ranged, DC 25)
Other Magic Stuff +8 (+10 Ranged Affliction, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (Probably Has a Force Field or Something Dumb), Fortitude +4, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Power)- The Minorus are willing to sacrifice nearly anything for power.
Relationship (Nico Minoru- Daughter)- They are apparently pretty-shitty parents- Nico declares in a dream "I liked you better DEAD!" However, they DID plan on saving a space for her in the world the Gibborim would have created.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 54 / Defenses: 13 (124)

-The Minorus are Dark Wizards who pose as an average church-going couple and wear very plain red robes & masks. Despite their versatility, they are the least-liked of the Pride- the Steins and Yorkeses consider them unstable due to their magical powers, and the Deans & Hayeses hate them because they're humans.

-Their powers consist of standard Magic Stuff: summoning a swarm of Bats, Teleportation, Water Spouts, Magical Blasts, Freezing in Time, etc. Tina Minoru was actually the original wielder of the Staff of One, but when she attempted to stab Nico with it, it absorbed itself into Nico's body. So basically the "Every Magic Villain Ever" template, adjusted to about PL 9- they're versatile, but aren't seen as being terribly-powerful.
Jabroniville
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Karolina Dean

Post by Jabroniville »

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KAROLINA DEAN (aka Lucy in the Sky)
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: Alien Girl, Flying Blaster, Mandatory Post-2000 Teen Team Gay Character
Horrible Fate I Wish Upon This Character: ... meh. Karolina looks cool- she gets a pass.
Group Affiliations: The Runaways
PL 8 (115)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Space Hero) 2 (+2)
Insight 2 (+3)
Perception 2 (+3)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Light Blast) 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Improved Aim, Power Attack, Seize Inititive

Powers:
"Majesdanean Physiology"
Flight 7 (250 mph) [14]
Immunity 3 (Heat, Majesdanean Powers) [3]
Environment 1 (Light) [1]

Snare 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (32) -- [34]
  • AE: Blast 8 (Feats: Precise) (17)
  • AE: Create 8 (16)
Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Light Blast +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Snare +8 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Prejudice (Lesbian)- Karolina is exclusively attracted to females. The guilt over this led her down a dark path at first, as she considered her life worthless and gained a death wish.
Relationship (Xavin)- Karolina quickly falls in love with the gender-fluid Skrull Prince (er, Princess).
Power Loss (All Powers)- Karolina's powers fade the longer she keeps using them, and she needs the sun's rays to recharge.
Power Loss (All Powers)- Majesdanians lose their powers if they're touching a specific kind of (unnamed) alien metal.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 52 / Defenses: 14 (115)

-As the Pride had a bunch of varied origins as part of their concept, "Alien Physiology" was a natural explanation for at least one of the Runaways' powers. Karolina Dean is the most "classically-pretty" (ie: blonde, thin) member of the team, and the daughter of publicity-seeking Hollywood actors... who are secretly aliens exiled from Majesdane. Probably the most kind-hearted member of the team at first (and the least-likely to argue with the others), Karolina had some pretty strong hints of homosexuality almost immediately, to the point where she was openly-mooning over teammate Nico Minoru. And it turns out that her special "MedicAlert Bracelet" is actually a power-limiter that keeps her looking human.

-Karolina kind of mulls around in the background, often showing a bit of a death wish (she attempts to sacrifice herself to a vampire, but her sunlight-based powers kill him), but recovers almost as soon as the Skrull Prince Xavin shows up, telling her the two are betrothed, helpfully switching gender to suit Karolina's, uh, needs. She runs off REALLY quickly given that he was taking her to another STAR SYSTEM and all... I mean, even by the standards of lesbians (I figure she was looking for a place to crash after embarrassing herself with Nico, after trying to kiss her). The two pretty much appear 100% happy and inseparable (kinda like their fellow "Young Gay Superhero" pair, Wiccan & Hulkling), though had a few minor hiccups (like Karolina's feelings for Nico lingering for a while, and fights over just what WAS Xavin's "base gender")- they soon end up back on Earth when their respective homeworlds renew hostilities.

-After the Runaways book ends, Karolina shows up in S.W.O.R.D. as one of the aliens H.P. Gyrich kidnaps for his "Aliens go home" policy- she is among those rescued by Abigal Brand. Xavin disappears with most of their people after some space-thing, leaving her to hook up with Julie Power, whom she'd first noticed as "pretty" many years before. She initially rejects her teammates' desire to reform the Runaways, as she points out they were never really a "team" so much as some kids bound together to try and stay alive, and feeling like she was making a life for herself in college. However, when Gert & Molly are nearly killed, she rejoins the squad- this of course leads Julie to break up with her, as she both gets annoyed at the Runaways' non-plans in battle and how Karolina was putting the team first over the relationship. This leads to Karolina ending up with NICO, who has decided she has gay feelings after all. I'd make fun of her being in three serious relationships in only twenty years, but I think that's actually pretty common in comics, even back in the day- heroes have relationship troubles and new writers a lot.

-Karolina is one of the more "Standard Superheroes" of The Runaways, packing a Flying Blaster power-set that includes low-level Green Lantern-ish powers. Her race all appears to possess these abilities in some amount. Quite often, you'll see her get the first shot, and she's actually one of the more-effective battlefield fighters (Molly lacks range and endurance; Chase is rather weak; Nico's a Glass Cannon and sometimes limited). Still, like most of the kids, she's rather vulnerable to One-Hit-KOs.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Frank & Leslie Dean

Post by Jabroniville »

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FRANK DEAN
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: Evil Parents, Aliens
Group Affiliations: The Runaways
PL 8 (138)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Alien Warriors) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Acting) 2 (+6)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Perception 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Blasts) 2 (+8)

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (Wealth & Power), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Blast), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Majesdanean Physiology"
Flight 7 (250 mph) [14]
Immunity 3 (Heat, Majesdanean Powers) [3]
Environment 1 (Light) [1]

Snare 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (32) -- [34]
  • AE: Blast 8 (Feats: Precise) (17)
  • AE: Create 8 (16)
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Light Blast +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Snare +8 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +4

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

Complications:
Motivation (Power)
Power Loss (All Powers)- Majesdanians lose their powers if they're touching a specific kind of (unnamed) alien metal.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 52 / Defenses: 11 (138)

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Image

LESLIE DEAN
Created By:
Brian K. Vaughan & Adrian Alphona
First Appearance: The Runaways #1 (July 2003)
Role: Evil Parents, Aliens
Group Affiliations: The Runaways
PL 8 (138)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Alien Warriors) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Acting) 2 (+6)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Perception 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Blasts) 2 (+8)

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (Wealth & Power), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Blast), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Majesdanean Physiology"
Flight 7 (250 mph) [14]
Immunity 3 (Heat, Majesdanean Powers) [3]
Environment 1 (Light) [1]

Snare 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (32) -- [34]
  • AE: Blast 8 (Feats: Precise) (17)
  • AE: Create 8 (16)
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Light Blast +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Snare +8 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +4

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

Complications:
Motivation (Power)
Power Loss (All Powers)- Majesdanians lose their powers if they're touching a specific kind of (unnamed) alien metal.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 52 / Defenses: 11 (138)

-The Deans are Majesdanians, a race that act as arms dealers for the Skrulls. Both lead a double life as Hollywood Actors, and push their daughter Karolina into it as well. The Deans themselves were exiled from their homeworld for criminal activities, and possess violent tempers- Frank in particular will freak out and attack other members of the Pride at a moment's notice, and Leslie was one of the most-dangerous members in a fight with the children. They're killed along with the rest of the Pride, but we see their influence later- when some Skrulls plan on invading Earth, the Deans offer up their home planet as a sacrifice instead- as proof of loyalty, they offer up their daughter's hand in marriage to the Skrull Prince's son, Xavin. This has an effect later on.
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