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

[Ken]

* One year prior, Green Arrow was a standard-issue blond guy in a generic Robin Hood outfit with red gloves. Now all of a sudden, he's sporting a Van Dyke, his currently-recognizable outfit and a HUGE chip on his shoulder, acting like an asshole to people. Rapid-onset character changes, daddi-o! The Thunderbolt actually calls Dr. Fate "Dude!", then is revealed to be a mere "Grade-Three Sorceror", and beneath Fate's level. The Spectre DIES as a result of trying to keep the Earths apart for his "ultimate peace", which I know was reversed later on.

You think that's something...
The story where Larry dies was in #74. In #75, Superman, Hawkman, Batman, the Atom, and Black Canary are still in the Secret Sanctuary after Dinah's arrival on Earth-One. However, Oliver Queen is shown, wearing a van dyke, losing his fortune, and now wearing the leather outfit. It's unclear exactly how long it has actually been between the two issues, but from Dinah's perspective it seems to be hours, and from Ollie's it seems to be an actual month. By the end, it's the barest hint of the Ollie-Dinah relationship to come. Or what I call "Queen starts hanging with a hottie so he gets his beard".

[Ken]

he gains incredible power from the "Flame of Py'tar" and completely destroys the JLA's Satellite, ending an era of the book, but the Flame is extinguished by Vibe and he's beaten again.

The strangest thing about this was the fact that the JLA satellite had already been destroyed. It was damaged enough in the "Mars-Earth War" that the JLA moved their operations to Detroit. But then what was left of the satellite was destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8. Apparently, DC really wanted the satellite gone, seeing how they kept destroying it, over and over.

-Despero is INCREDIBLY-powerful, able to bring down high-level superheroes with little effort- he can match the Man of Steel or Captain Marvel in a pinch, and uses dreaded things like PL 14 Mind Control and high-end Regeneration and Immortality, meaning keeping him down is nearly-impossible. In Virtue and Vice, he tanks the combined attacks of Supes, Marvel, Wonder Woman & Power Girl- SIMULTANEOUSLY. Which is like a PL 16-17-level feat.

I thought PL 14 looked a little low.



What I never understood is how the Flame of Py'tar changed the direction of the fin growing on his head.

[Orbiter]

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes ... what's the deal with Ayla Ranzz? The three books statting up the DCU left Light(ning) Lass out entirely. They mention her as Garth's twin, in his allies section -- are we supposed to assume identical stats? Even Negative Woman got a "just like Negative Man but make these changes" sidebar.

[Davies]

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes ... what's the deal with Ayla Ranzz? The three books statting up the DCU left Light(ning) Lass out entirely. They mention her as Garth's twin, in his allies section -- are we supposed to assume identical stats?

Well, given that she did make her first appearance pretending to be him ...

[Jabroniville]

PAINTBALL (Paul Deisinger)
Created By: Geoff Johns & Lee Moder
First Appearance: Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. #2 (Sept. 1999)
Role: Joke Villain
PL 9 (80)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 5 (+5)
Expertise (Art) 6 (+6)
Expertise (Teacher) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Paint-Based Powers"
"Color Blast" Blast 7 (Feats: Split) (15) -- [18]

• AE: "Stun Color Beam" Affliction 7 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapictated) (Extras: Ranged) (14)
• AE: "Color Wave" Damage 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (14)
• AE: "Siphon Life Force" Weaken Strength 5 (Extras: Ranged) (10)

"Takes the Form of Paint"
Insubstantial 1 [5]
Elongation 3 [3]
Protection 2 [2]
Regeneration 4 [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Color Blast +6 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Stun Beam +6 (+7 Ranged Affliction, DC 17)
Color Wave +7 Area (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Siphon Life Force +6 (+5 Ranged Weaken, DC 15)
Initiative +2

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

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 28 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 32 / Defenses: 9 (80)

-Paintball was kind of weird. He was VERY briefly in Stargirl's debut series as a one-issue villain, apparently working for the Dragon King alongside most of Blue Valley High's faculty. As an evil ART TEACHER (yes, really), he, with no explanation, turned into a guy who looked like an explosion in a paint factory, assaulting students and turning them in to the Dragon King. He brawled with the Star-Spangled Kid for a while, got squished by S.T.R.I.P.E., but then recovered, blasting away at both of them. He was defeated by Courtney bouncing his Paint Blast back at him, and he scampered away, never to be seen again. That one issue was likely his only appearance in comics. Kinda funny.

-Paintball's interesting as a big mix of various gimmicks- as a semi-solid guy with some PL 7-level Blasts, Stuns and a Weaken effect, he's ALMOST not bad, but is pretty much at the "Joke Villian" level, where someone who lost in Star-Spangled Kid's first supervillain adventure kinda deserves to be. This was mostly surreal because it's maybe the last time I will ever have to translate a super-powered 2nd Edition build to 3e- he might be the final un-translated build on my old thread next to stuff about non-powered people like The Office or something.

[Davies]

-Paintball was kind of weird. He was VERY briefly in Stargirl's debut series as a one-issue villain, apparently working for the Dragon King alongside most of Blue Valley High's faculty. As an evil ART TEACHER (yes, really),

<considers art teachers of acquaintance> I can see it.

[Jabroniville]

HAPPY CHAOS (aka The Original)
First Appearance: Guilty Gear Strive (2021)
Game Appearances: Guilty Gear Strive only
Home Country: The Backyard
Weapon: Twin Revolvers
Role: The Big Bad, The Manipulator, Shit-Disturber
PL 10 (218), PL 12 (218) with Steady Aim
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 14 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 6 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+13)
Athletics 10 (+15)
Deception 7 (+7)
Expertise (History) 8 (+11)
Intimidation 10 (+10)
Perception 8 (+11)

Advantages:
Close Attack 1, Improved Critical (Fire), Improved Initiative 2, Ranged Attack 8

Guilty Gear Fighting Style: Accurate Attack (Speed Mode), All-Out Attack, Defensive Roll, Extraordinary Effort (Overdrive), Fast Grab (Grab), Improved Critical (Chosen Weapon), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Hold, Improved Trip (Throw), Power Attack (Power Mode), Withstand Damage (Block)

Powers:
"At One With The Universe/Master of Magic" Immunity 1 (Aging) [1]
Regeneration 6 (Feats: Regrows Limbs) [7]

"Stance- At The Ready" Enhanced Advantages 5: Improved Aim, Ranged Attack 2 (Reduced Defenses -1) [1]
"Stance- Steady Aim" Enhanced Advantages 7: Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Fire) 2, Ranged Attack 4 (Reduced Defenses -2) [3]

"Guns" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [10]
"Fire" Blast 8 (Flaws: Ranks 7-8 Limited to With Steady Aim) (14)
Immunity 2 (Reflect Extras) (2)
-- (16 points)

"Brainwashing" Affliction 10 (Will; Entranced/Compelled/Transformed Body & Mind) (Extras: Continuous +3) (40) -- [45]

• AE: "Manifest Objects" Create 7 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Movable) (22)
• AE: Mind Control 8 (32)
• AE: Teleport 8 (Extras: Easy, Extended) (32)
• AE: "Curse" Affliction 8 (Dodge; Vulnerable/Defenseless) (Extras: Ranged) (Flaws: Limited to Dodge, Limited Degree) (4)
• AE: "Scapegoat" Enhanced Defenses 2 (Flaws: Limited to 1 Round) (2)

Offense:
Unarmed +15 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Fire +12 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
At the Ready +14 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Steady Aim +16 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +14

Defenses:
Dodge +14 (DC 24), Parry +14 (DC 24), Toughness +5 (+6 D.Roll), Fortitude +8, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Disturbing Shit)- Driven insane by discovering the true nature of the universe, Happy Chaos gains total power and now just seeks to have new experiences. This is accomplished by pitting individuals against each other, or doing things for inexplicable reasons. He is capricious, and doesn't plan things out ahead of time, prefering to act almost randomly.
Power Loss (Regeneration)- Happy Chaos can regenerate damage to anything except his right hand.
Power Loss (Guns)- Happy Chaos's guns will run out of ammunition. He can use it six times before needing to spend a round reloading (unless he has used Scapegoat beforehand). He also spends Concentration by using either of his stances- either one will eventually depower him if used too much in a row.
Weakness (Predictability)- These fighters cannot simply "spam" out the same attack over and over again, as the opponent will expect the attacks, and be ready for them (and a counterattack). The third time they try the same technique (or same combo of techniques) in a short span, they will be at -2 to Accuracy, AND to their Active Defenses in that round. All will decrease by 2 every successive round the same move is done.

Total: Abilities: 86 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 12 + 12 / Powers: 67 / Defenses: 16 (218)

-A brand new character, Happy Chaos is at the core of Guilty Gear Strive, being drawn from Ariels into I-No, who becomes the Final Boss in a new, empowered form. His backstory is quite vague, as things in Guilty Gear tend to be- during the Crusades, he was "The Original"- the founder of magic and the discoverer of The Backyard, a parallel world that formed the rules of the real world. He found I-No in the Backyard and took half of her power to prevent her from transcending time, because that could threaten existence. It was then that the Universal Will fused with him- he was overwhelmed by "complete knowledge of the universe", turning him into a pure being with no interest in good or evil. Caring only for more experiences, he naturally just became a huge shit-disturber, pitting people against each other and creating dramatic situations just for his own amusement. He did things like massacre Baiken's friends & family, then forced the vampire Nagoriyuki to do his bidding. Many things he did were wrongfully misattributed to That Man, making him appear as an even bigger villain.

-Happy Chaos is then absorbed into Ariels (controlled by The Universal Will), who is then imprisoned. I-No then absorbs Chaos into herself- something he's pleased with, as he believes his destiny is to make her a god. Chaos toys with various human figures, including Sol Badguy and the American President, but the before-now unimportant European King, Daryl (yes, in a game with Ky Kiske, Goldlewis Dickinson, Dr. Baldhead, and Leo Whitefang, an important character goes by the name "King Daryl") outsmarts him, and That Man battles Chaos, his former mentor. Ultimately, I-No is destroyed, and That Man is victorious. But Chaos simply materializes elsewhere, on a beach. And that's where the story leaves off after Strive, with Chaos still at large.

-Aaaaaaaand of course she's announced for the game very shortly, so in a month or two I'll probably have to re-do this with a real build, lol.

-And here it is! Happy Chaos is a mid-range "Shooter"-type character, using various stances to gain different abilities. "Steady Aim" stance restricts his mobility but provides more accuracy and power to his shots. "At the Ready" enables more movement. And his bullets don't have any of the features of projectiles- they cannot be Reflected, blocked by other projectiles, or anything! He has to "Cancel Aim" to be able to block, however- this makes him a fairly complex character where you have to be ready to switch gears as a moment's notice. Oh, and his ammunition is finite! He is apparently rather frail, also, requiring even more caution. His "Curse" move makes the targetting even MORE effective, so he can be quite lethal. Overall, Happy Chaos is PL 9 with Fire at basic, PL 10 with Fire at "At the Ready", and PL 12 with Fire at "Steady Aim"- the entire gameplay sort of gets based around making that gun threat active the entire time (in-game, you're to use pokes and such, with the threat of "Fire" keeping people from counterattacking). This will render him vulnerable to attack, however.

-He also has a boatload of side powers not involved in the actual game, but in story mode- stuff like possessing people, altering others (Nagoriyuki is changed in this way), and more.

[Jabroniville]

MERU THE MIND-BENDER
Created By: J.M. DeMatteis & Herb Trimpe
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #115 (March 1982)
Role: Forgotten Villain, Mind-Controller

-Meru the Mind-Bender is a classic Marvel Team-Up one-off tale- he hails from the planet Cherron, where the world is split into two sects- the Haifs and the Haif-Nas (wait... oh god that's so lame, lol). The Haifs possess telepathy and assorted powers, and dominate the Haif-Nas- the latter eventually set up a revolt, and when the Haifs still wouldn't take them seriously, they plotted to destroy all of Cherron, succeeding in doing so! The only survivors were Meru and Dalia, who had abandoned Cherron to show their love outside of their world's prejudices (he was a Haif; she a Half-Nas). However, Meru was furious to discover that Dalia had been aware of the plan of her people and did nothing to stop it- she fled to Earth, with him in pursuit. She was injured during a shootout between cops & criminals and ended up being operated on by Dr. Donald Blake (then Thor's human identity)- Meru tracked her down and attacked. Naturally, Spider-Man was there watching the operating theater, but Meru knocked out his sense of responsibility and he wandered off- Thor had to fight Meru himself.

-The next day, Meru appeared in Times Square, again searching for Dalia. Thor attacked and was nearly beaten (Meru switching his Thor & Don Blake personas, leaving the inexperienced Blake unable to fight properly even in Thor's body). Meru promising to blow up Manhattan with his power-pack to show that he was serious, but Spider-Man overcame his new, selfish emotions and joined the fray again. Meru was confronted by Dalia once the fight turned his way, and the two battled each other, Meru's pack disintegrating both of them. However, in the very next issue (Spider-Man & Valkyrie being the theme), their merged energies floated about, taking possession of Valkyrie (via Dragonfang, her blade, which they sensed was enchanted) so they could gain revenge on Spidey & Thor, whom they blamed for their plight. Val attacked both heroes, but Spider-Man disarmed her and Thor cast them out with his space-warp powers.

-Neither character ever appeared again... of course until that Quasar issue where he ends up on the Stranger's Laboratory World- only Meru was seen, and in his original form. It's unknown what happened between him & Dalia thereafter. The story was a two-parter that reads like a pretty bizarre tale and an over-complicated origin story given DeMatteis never used this character again in the hundreds of comics he wrote for Marvel between 1982 and today.

-Meru is a powerful psychic, able to surpass even Spider-Man & Thor's defenses- he calls his power "Drawing forth their inner shadow", as he simply brings one aspect of their personality to the forefront, usually causing people to give up responsibility (and thus avoid the fight entirely). In people with two personalities, he can make one become the other. He had a hovercraft, as well as a power-pack to amplify his powers- they seemed to run out sometimes (he could only affect a hospital guard and Spider-Man, not Thor at first). He also had some kind of blaster. The Mind Control is likely PL 12 or so, but Fades.

[Jabroniville]

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE
Created By: Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman & Rich Buckler
First Appearance: Giant-Sized Fantastic Four #3 (Nov. 1974)
Role: Elite Goon Squad
Group Affiliations: The Axi-Tun

-Long before Apocalypse came on the scene, an earlier "Four Horsemen" had shown up, said to be eons old, always answering the powerful race, the Axi-Tun. The Axi-Tun wished to conquer much of the galaxy, and decided to start with Earth, but the Horsemen lost it after hundreds of years, having failed against some invaders. Exiled by the Axi-Tun for their failure, they have spent thousands of years traversing the cosmos, watching worlds live and die, and sometimes breaking worlds through misuse of their own powers.

-Desiring a return to their homeworld, and to redeem themselves, these Four Horsemen arrived on modern-day Earth, hoping to re-conquer it. Pestilence put all of mankind to sleep with "Coma-Pox", but the Fantastic Four, with their Cosmic-Ray-addled physiology, were able to awaken. One by one, the FF (Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Thing & Medusa) faced the Horsemen, figuring out their weaknesses and exiling them via an ancient "curse" the race that had beaten the Horsemen had left behind on Earth. That seems very "Deux Ex Machina" (common in '70s druggie Marvel stories), so let's see how that comes off. Death was able to summon their "Deaths", but they sent one back at him, cancelling him out. Famine was easily beaten and the "curse" activated just by him fighting Reed. Pestilence & War were beaten by the heroes opposing them as well. So like... they KINDA earned those wins, but only by standing up to powerful opponents. But the "curse" was left a mystery- the Marvunapp writer calls out the story for lacking. The race that defeated the Four Horsemen millennia ago has never been revealed.

-Naturally, Mark Gruenwald was the only person who remembered them- the Horsemen were found on The Stranger's Laboratory World- all four of them battle Quasar, who actually places them and himself in a bubble and defeats them one by one.

The Roster:
-Each was ancient and could easily survive the rigors of space, with a mount that could cross interstellar distances easily. They are powerful enough to oppose members of the FF in their debut, but are handily beaten by a 4-on-1 Quasar in the '90s.



DEATH: The featureless white being Death had the power to summon someone's "death"- a skull-faced version of thesmelves that could cancel them out, like matter & anti-matter. Reed wisely has the FF fight EACH OTHER'S deaths instead, handily defeating them. Medusa tossed one "death" back to Death, which cancelled him out via activating the "curse".



FAMINE: Famine, who had Gideon's hairstyle, could make food invisible, or just disintegrate it. He mind controls some starving Cambodians to fight the FF, but the "curse" is activated by Reed fighting him, and he is exiled.




PESTILENCE: The winged Pestilence could create any disease, physical or psychological. He could also summon plague-carrying vermin. He nearly felled the Thing with disease, but Ben rallied and the "curse" activated.



WAR: War, the swordsman, could control others into acts of aggression and violence. He could appear with the face of his attacker, a symbolic way of telling them that war was the result of people's own actions and thoughts. He faced Medusa and the Torch, beating the former but was overpowered by the latter. They were startled by seeing their own faces in his maskless image, but as he laughed about this, the "curse" activated.

[Jabroniville]

THE AXI-TUN
Created By: Roy Thomas & Frank Robbins
First Appearance: The Invaders #1 (Aug. 1975)
Role: Powerful Alien Race
Group Affiliations: The Axi-Tun

-The Axi-Tun debuted in The Invaders (a retcon book set in the 1940s), and were initially depicted as "Star-Gods" discovered by a World War II German soldier they'd accidentally killed. They saved his brain and placed it in a cyborg body, but thinking him no threat, showed him their ship's power source that could enhance any technology- he used it on himself and became the villainous Brain Drain. He tried to force the female Star-God into being his bride, but she refused. He nonetheless set them up as beings named after German Gods (the female became Brunnhilda the Valkyrie) and sent them against the Invaders. They were more powerful than the heroes, but failed to kill them, and "Hilda" allied with Captain America. When she realized her origins, she convinced her fellow Space-Gods to join her in death, and they immolated themselves using their own spaceship, rather than let it fall into the hands of "lesser beings" like humans. This all took place in like an issue or two of The Invaders. Brain Drain remained as an active villain, but the Space-Gods spent two decades on the shelf.

-However, the previous year's Giant-Size Fantastic Four had featured the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who had worked for beings called the Axi-Tun, who had ancient designs on Earth. Eventually, a 1995-96 series of space books (Starmasters and Cosmic Powers Unlimited) married these two concepts together, and it was stated that the Space-Gods were Axi-Tun, who were either conquerors or universal travellers, both of whom considered themselves to be racially superior to everyone else. They were a frequent nuisance in those books, with various named agents planning schemes- eventually, their goal was revealed: the genocide of every non-Axi-Tun race in the cosmos, leaving only them! The hero Quasar was framed for this, resulting in him being attacked by other aliens. Quasar, the Silver Surfer, Xenith (a female of Gladiator's species) & Beta-Ray Bill combined their powers to destroy the plague they were creating, calling themselves the "Starmasters". The evil Votan was arrested and tried, and his brother Landar took over the Axi-Tun, promising to change things for the better, despite still admitting frankly that he considered his people superior to all others (he even apologizes to Beta-Ray Bill for the slaughter of his people, while admitting he considered them inferior beings!).

-This was the end of the Axi-Tun ever mattering, though- being created during a nadir of Marvel's creativity, and by Mark Gruenwald (who would die within the year), they had little chance of being memorable. Their final mention was in Maximum Security, as one of the "Council" races agreeing to let Earth stand as an alien penitentiary.

Named Axi-Tun:
The "Star-Gods":



BRUNNHILDE (Mcm-Xli): The female commander of the "Star-Gods" ship. A mate of the three males, but resisted Brain Drain's attempts at forcing himself upon her. She was left amnesiac as "Hilda", but later realized her true origins and committed suicide with her fellows. She could fly and use "energy" by some means. MCMXLI is Roman numerals for "1941".



DONAR- God of the Raging Thunder: Also brainwashed- appeared to be Namor-tier in strength and wielded an axe.



FROH: Also brainwashed- used a shield that could fend off the Torches' fire, and could fire lightning.



LOGA- God of Fire: Also brainwashed. Shot fire.

Later Axi-Tun:



My God- it's ALL THE '90S VILLAIN DESIGN TROPES!

LORD VOTAN: Evil king of the Axi-Tun, who wished to exterminate every other race in the galaxy with a plague. He had vast psychic powers. He has a BAD case of "1990s Villain" syndrome, with spiked pauldrons, long hair, a giant flowing red cape, eyebeams and a skull on his dick. He was eventually captured by the heroes (Tana Nile focused the Starmasters' willpower into Quasar, who was able to surpass Votan's psionic might) and usurped by Landar, his brother. The Charter worlds (essentially an alien coalition) then imprisoned him.



LANDAR: Votan's brother, who had been usurped. Takes back control in the end and apologizes for his brother's behavior.

WRITGRIG: A member of Votan's mercenary army, he nonetheless sacrificed himself when he realized Quasar was necessary to save his homeworld. He flew in the path of some missiles ready to kill the defenseless hero.



ALDEBRON: Pinked-skinned female who ran off with Sidereus, hoping to take the Axi-Tun throne for herself some day.



SIDEREUS: Mad scientist of sorts- worked as Votan's press-secretary to spread misinformation and use the Cauldron to slay billions. When the plan failed, he was to commit suicide, but joined Aldebron in fleeing.

RAMROG: Ship captain who failed to destroy the Earth, and was ordered by Votan to commit suicide for it.



STENTH: One of the Cosmic Commandos sent to capture Quasar. Failed, but threw Morfex, their leader, out of airlock when he revealed that he was a Skrull. Presumably arrested afterwards.



THROK: A giant, powerful agent sent to capture some Rigellians who investigated a slaughter of their people by Axi-Tun. He battled Xenith (the cousin of Gladiator), showing equal strength and an ability to make someone more numb the more they touched him (Reaction Paralysis). This resulted in Xenith's capture, but he then disarmed Beta-Ray Bill and tried to use Stormbreaker against him. Despite Bill's warnings, he refused to drop the weapon, and was disintegrated by it.



DAMPYRE: Throk's ally. Had mouth-tentacles that could absorb someone's life essence and place it into himself. He used these powers to defeat the SILVER SURFER (!), but was unable to do the same thing to Quasar issues later (REALLY?), as the Quantum powers were too much for him. He collapsed, and was likely disintegrated when Votan ordered his ship to self-destruct.

[Davies]

LORD VOTAN: Evil king of the Axi-Tun, who wished to exterminate every other race in the galaxy with a plague. He had vast psychic powers. He has a BAD case of "1990s Villain" syndrome, with spiked pauldrons, long hair, a giant flowing red cape, eyebeams and a skull on his dick. He was eventually captured by the heroes (Tana Nile focused the Starmasters' willpower into Quasar, who was able to surpass Votan's psionic might) and usurped by Landar, his brother. The Charter worlds (essentially an alien coalition) then imprisoned him.

... now there's a name I haven't heard in quite a while. This would be the same Charter that featured in the last few issues of Shogun Warriors, then ...

[Jabroniville]

THE POWER PLATOON (aka The Elect)
Created By: Mark Gruenwald & Mike Manley
First Appearance: Quasar #4 (Dec. 1989)
Role: Weird Backstory Guys
Group Affiliations: The Dakkamites

-The Power Platoon (initially called "The Elect") were a band of ten Dakkamites like Wundarr the Aquarian and Quantum, whom only Mark Gruenwald really remembered. They had been sent to Earth's solar system by their race when it was discovered that Wundarr had gained super-powers from being on Earth, close to Earth's sun. They were left in stasis much closer to the sun than Wundarr had been, but all but one were abducted by The Stranger. The remaining one gained vast powers and became known as Quantum, joining Graviton, Half-Life & Zzzax as part of a "fundamental forces of the universe" team that attacked the Avengers West Coast. The Elect were instead placed on the Laboratory World, where they were found by Quasar and freed, at which point they attacked him and his allies and eventually escaped.

-They reappear four years later in Avengers West Coast, now called the Power Platoon, where they fight Moondragon, Clint "Goliath" Barton and War Machine before Clint's smoke arrow blocks out the sun, causing their powers to fade and the heroes to capture them. But Wundarr, mind-controlled by Quantum, breaks them free- in the resulting scrap, they abandon the fight and leave when ordered to kill the Avengers, as they had only sought out Quantum and didn't want to actually hurt anyone unnecessarily. They disappeared until being seen years later in Maximum Security, apparently having been arrested and sent to a space-prison. On Earth, they were seen battling Nate "X-Man" Grey.

-Each member of the Power Platoon had super-strength, but each possessed a single unique power- Durability, Growth, Stretching, Re-Directing Attacks & "Opti-Force" Blasts were shown. Despite their supposedly being ten of them, only eight other than Quantum are ever seen active at once.

[KorokoMystia]

I'm still amazed by "Dakkamite". like, REALLY, Marvel? Replacing an X with two Ks doesn't make it different..

[Sidney369]

Eventually, a 1995-96 series of space books (Starmasters and Cosmic Powers Unlimited) married these two concepts together,

It was the 5th issue of the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe where the alien Four Horsemen were established as being Axi-Tun.

[EternalPhoenix]

My god, those designs are jobber-tastic. Big beefy guys who look like they got dressed in the dark. In virtually identical costumes. Somehow.