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

[Davies]

1) Dead or Alive
2) Iron Man
3) Fire Emblem
...
-200) Archie

[Jabroniville]

THE RED BEE II (Jenna Raleigh)
Created By: Toni Blum & Charles Nicholas
First Appearance: Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #5 (Jan. 2007)
Role: The Original Shrinking Hero
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, The All-Star Squadron

-Rick's grandneice Jenna takes up the mantle of the Red Bee in the 2006 series- she's a Powersuit fighter using two robotic Electricity-shooting Bees as minions. She's later turned into an insect hybrid by an alien insect colony (giving her pheromone production and antennae), but is eventually cured. She gives up superheroics thereafter.

[Jabroniville]

NEON THE UNKNOWN (Tom Corbet)
Created By: Jerry Iger & Lou Fine
First Appearance: Hit Comics #1 (July 1940)
Role: Forgotten Golden Age Character, Flying Blaster
PL 7 (87)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 4 (+5)
Intimidation 3 (+4)
Expertise (Soldier) 5 (+5)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Improved Aim, Ranged Attack 5

Powers:
Flight 5 [10]
"Neonic Energy" Blast 7 [14]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Neonic Energy Blast +6 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +3

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

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 12 (87)

-... okay, WTF? When looking up this guy's Hit Comics run, I noticed something weird- almost EVERY COVER of his run features a guy in the same kind of outfit- a loose, heavily-ruffled sleeves overshirt with tights. Both the Red Bee and Neon the Unknown (who seems to have replaced him) are just palette swaps, just about! Neon only adds a bandana and makes the shirt blue. Neon the Unknown was a short-lived character in Hit Comics (from the comic gods of weird ideas at Quality), lasting for 17 issues. Not a great run, but certainly not the shortest- he only lasts from 1940-1941 before he's dropped.

-Neon was a Foreign Legion soldier who was part of a platoon that got caught out in the desert- the entire unit died of dehydration, but Tom Corbet managed to drink some glowing water he found in a magical oasis, and turned into Neon the Unknown (Neon being a relatively-unknown element at this time, and had a "Super-Science" sound to it). Neon shot energy blasts at a time when "Blaster" had yet to become one of the key archetypes is comics, but that's about all he gets credit for, as he vanished until a retroactive story placed him with the Freedom Fighters at Pearl Harbor, where he was killed alongside the others. However, most of the later team save for him and Magno the Magnetic Man failed to turn up alive at a later date. That pretty much makes him the least-respected Golden Age hero ever, as even in his re-debut after 40 years, he couldn't catch a break. However, in a REALLY REALLY LATE Retcon, he was revealed alive in a 2008 Freedom Fighters storyline. He's revealed to have been living in the same Magical Oasis for all that time.

-Imagine a PL 6 Blaster archetype, and you've got Neon. Few feats or skills, and a low-level blast. Hey, the guy didn't outlive freaking Red Bee, he ain't getting PL 8 stats, y'know?

[Shock]

Neon the Unknown is a great hero name.

[Goldar]

Neon the Unknown is aptly named as he is unknown to me!

[Goldar]

It’s time for another hot, pleasing poll! I wanna gauge interest in what follows the JSA/JLA set.

Iron Man Builds: the last of the big Marvel sets! Only took me six years!

Watchmen: This actually did well on a poll that was literally from 2017, and I never got around to it, lol.

Fire Emblem: I even had this planned around the Shinig Force set! Just lost track of doing it.

Dead or Alive: One of the last big fighting game franchises to do.

Archie Comics: It’s actually been a bit since I did these!

2D Fighting Games: I have a bunch completed and ready to post, and others yet to stat. Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty, Savage Reign, Ultra Vortek, and even Tongue of the Fatman!

Oops! Sorry, missed the poll. Iron Man

[Davies]

-Imagine a PL 6 Blaster archetype, and you've got Neon. Few feats or skills, and a low-level blast. Hey, the guy didn't outlive freaking Red Bee, he ain't getting PL 8 stats, y'know?

Guy sounds like a real space cadet.

[Jabroniville]

1) Dead or Alive
2) Iron Man
3) Fire Emblem
...
-200) Archie

BOO- what’chou got against Archie and the gang? This is like when you didn’t wanna see For Better Or For Worse builds!

[Davies]

1) Dead or Alive
2) Iron Man
3) Fire Emblem
...
-200) Archie

BOO- what’chou got against Archie and the gang? This is like when you didn’t wanna see For Better Or For Worse builds!

Yes, it's exactly like that. Well-spotted.

[Jabroniville]

You got something against spending time on a superhero build thread statting up comedy characters, or do you just hate comedy and joy ?

[Davies]

You got something against spending time on a superhero build thread statting up comedy characters, or do you just hate comedy and joy ?

Por que no los dos?

[Sidney369]

I think Roy Thomas killed off the original Invisible Hood, Magno, Neon, and Red Torpedo, though Neon got brought back like thirty years later for a one-issue appearance in a revived Freedom Fighters mini. Of course they all got legacies (though the Invisible Hood's got killed in his first adventure!).

The Red Torpedo was reveal to have survived in Starman and Aquaman.

And it may be hard to believe, but there are sillier heroes than Red Bee. The Golden Age was an odd time.

[Ken]

Modifying my vote.

Archie
Iron Man
Archie
Watchmen
Archie

[Jabroniville]

THE INVISIBLE HOOD I (Kent Thurston)
Created By: Art Pinajian
First Appearance: Smash Comics #1 (Aug. 1939)
Role: Forgotten Golden Age Hero
Group Affiliations: The Freedom Fighters, The All-Star Squadron
PL 6 (91)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 6 (+7)
Expertise (Streetwise) 4 (+5)
Insight 4 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+6)
Investigation 7 (+8)
Perception 4 (+5)
Stealth 6 (+8)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Trip, Precise Attack (Close/Concealment), Second Chance (Being Spotted)

Powers:
"Invisible Hood" (Flaws: Removable) [7]
Concealment 4 (Visual Senses) (8 points)

"Two-Fisted Adventurer" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +4

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

Complications:
Motivation (Justice)

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 8 / Defenses: 13 (91)

-The Invisible Hood's yet ANOTHER Quality Comics character, drawn out of the woodwork and killed in the Pearl Harbor attack. But actually (like everyone but Magno apparently), he survived, only to be murdered retroactively a SECOND time by The Icicle & The Mist (for all he seemed to love the Golden Age, James Robinson sure loved retroactive bad ends for these dudes). Don't cry for him, though- he got a short-lived successor in the new Freedom Fighters, who again got offed by an evil Ray.

-The Hood's Golden Age books were apparently pretty crappy and similar- he would follow some generic criminals to their base while invisible, then beat them up. Every time. The guy didn't even get an origin (though one of the images above seems to show one?)- he just showed up, fighting in a hood that made him invisible! Despite this, he lasted 32 issues- the feature was first called Hooded Justice, and then Invisible Justice.

-Standard "two-fisted detective" type hero, dependent largely on his invisibility hood, which allows him to boost his PL a bit by making the enemies unaware of his exact position. Otherwise, he's screwed, and no match for any real powered enemy.

[Ken]

1) Learning to fly because you're a human being raised by condors is infinitely sillier than using bees as a weapon against criminals. Flying may be cooler, but I've watched enough people panic at the sight of just one bee that I can accept that using a swarm of them as a weapon might work.

2) Red Bee had some other equipment besides the buzz gun. He had a bright red roadster with an automatic driving device; he had a red motorcycle with a side car. He even briefly had an auto-gyro.

3) Red Bee was an excellent swimmer. There were more than a few covers where he was seen either in the water, wrestling swordfish, or climbing up an anchor chain. This was alluded to in the issue of All-Star Squadron when he swam to Catalina Island from a Japanese ship off the coast of Santa Barbera.

4) There was a sort of Red Bee knock-off, or at least a second hero with a variation of the same gimmick. He was called Yellowjacket, no relation to Jab's favourite Avenger. He was published by the Frank Communale Company which would become Charlton Comics with the tenth (and final) issue of Yellowjacket Comics. Yes, Yellowjacket was the headliner, and got most of the covers. His costume was yellow and black, which is more yellowjacket or bee like. Of course a yellowjacket is a variey of wasp, and Yellowjacket didn't use wasps, he used bees, but hey. He also appeared in Jack-in-the Box #11 (they changed the comics name), and TNT Comics #1. He also didn't train his pet bees. They just obeyed. And they wouldn't sting him.