Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Flambé

Post by Jabroniville »

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FLAMBE (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Peter David & Larry Stroman
First Appearance: X-Factor #80 (July 1992)
Role: Jobber Villain, Blaster
Group Affiliations: Hell's Belles
PL 7 (76)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 3 (+4)
Technology 2 (+2)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Pyrokinesis"
Immunity 5 (Fire Damage) [5]
Fire Blast 8 (Flaws: Source- Fire) (8) -- [10]
  • AE: Damage 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Shapeable) (Flaws: Source- Fire) (7)
  • AE: "Fire Breath" Damage 7 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (Flaws: Source- Fire) (7)
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Pyrokinesis Blast +6 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Shapeable Fire +7 Area (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Hell's Belles are first drug cartel operatives, then just rob banks, even without their powers.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 15 / Defenses: 11 (76)

-Flambé is a Frenchwoman who has that most generic of Mutant Powers: Pyrokinesis. However, like Pyro, she can only control already active flames, using burning rods to ignite larger fires. She is seen torturing a man alongside Cyber to find out Shrew's whereabouts, but when the Belles fight X-Factor, her powers are easily cancelled out by Havok's plasma burst. When she reappears with the other depowered Belles, she is using a flamethrower to mimic her old powers.
Jabroniville
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Briquette

Post by Jabroniville »

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BRIQUETTE (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Peter David & Larry Stroman
First Appearance: X-Factor #80 (July 1992)
Role: Jobber Villain, Powerhouse
Group Affiliations: Hell's Belles
PL 8 (115)
STRENGTH
8 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 3 (+4)
Technology 2 (+2)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Close Attack 2, Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Strong & Super-Heated"
Heat Aura 8 [32]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Heat Aura +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +8, Fortitude +9, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Hell's Belles are first drug cartel operatives, then just rob banks, even without their powers.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 32 / Defenses: 11 (115)

-Briquette is a big, ugly pink lady whose molten-hot skin can melt things on contact. The most powerful of Hell's Belles by far, she leads the fight against X-Factor, where her fight with Strong Guy breaks through the floor and sees them blow up the boiler of the hotel hide-out of Shrew, her old teammate. The resulting explosion sends both teams scurrying, but the rematch saw her only manage to burn Quicksilver before a recovered Strong Guy knocked her down. The whole group is arrested. Briquette is eventually revealed to be the only member of the team to retain her powers after M-Day, but this leads only to a few one-off appearances.

-A full twenty-six years after her last appearance, Briquette shows up in one of those "Support Groups" (I've seen multiple comics use these as a gag, typically involving distinctive-looking backgrounders) for "obvious mutants" led by Nightcrawler & Domino in a Domino Annual. The next year, she's part of a Nightcrawler arc that sees her trapped in Nate Grey's fantasy world, living out a life as an actor while being mind-controlled. She then pops up in Children of the Atom fighting to break her former teammates out of prison- Storm and some other mutants arrive to stop the fight, inviting the whole group to Krakoa. This creates a very odd situation where a villain shows up in a single 1992 arc, then pops up in three different stories between 2018 & 2020. Like, she's a bit visually distinctive but it's REALLY STRANGE, especially as it's all different writers using her.

-Briquette is actually rather powerful- super-strong brawler with the power to super-heat things, melting objects as durable as steel girders. So while she's no great shakes as a fighter, her Aura prevents melee fighters from going undamaged while attacking her.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by Ares »

The "Children of the Atom story is so messed up if you give it even a slightly critical read.

Kids: "Hey X-Men! We're a group of young adults who accept, love and admire you so much that, when given the chance, based our identities around you! We're doing our best to support mutants in both our civilian and superhero lives, and are trying to make the world a better place by following in your example!"

X-Men: "Cool! We want NOTHING to do with you, except for the one member of your group who is actually a mutant. She's cool and can come hang out. Keep doing what you're doing, don't call us, we'll occasionally feel bad for not calling you!"
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

The current iteration of the X-Men is just messed up in general. Like, the original intent of the X-Men was to be able to get humans and mutants to coexist, but now? "Nah, we'll just bugger off to our own island nation and if you aren't actually a mutant, we want nothing to do with you!"
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drkrash
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by drkrash »

This is the difference between the worldviews of the 60s and 70s that saw unity as one people as a noble goal, whereas now, the concept of one's "identity," distinctive from others, is held as far more important. As such, I think the concept of mutant *superheroes* has pretty much lost its meaning.
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Shock
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by Shock »

To be fair, mutants have gotten nothing but shit from the time they were revealed. I agree that I'd rather see them still trying to work on Professor X's dream but you can't blame them for trying to isolate themselves. No excuse for shunning humans that actually try to support them. That's just shooting themselves in the foot.

Also, naming yourself after cooking charcoal is pretty weak sauce. That dude needs to rebrand.
Jabroniville
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Vague

Post by Jabroniville »

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VAGUE (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Peter David & Larry Stroman
First Appearance: X-Factor #80 (July 1992)
Role: Jobber Villain, Stealth Fighter
Group Affiliations: Hell's Belles
PL 6 (65)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 3 (+4)
Stealth 4 (+6)
Technology 2 (+2)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Invisibility"
Concealment 2 (Vision) [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Hell's Belles are first drug cartel operatives, then just rob banks, even without their powers.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 11 (65)

-Vague is the most useless of Hell's Belles- she had the power to be invisible, but was scented out by Wolfsbane and then fled. And that's it! She popped up with the Belles in their "criminals using gear" phase and went to Krakoa with the others, however. You can tell this one is minor because her Marvunapp profile is shared with the rest of the team, not individualized like the others.
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drkrash
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by drkrash »

Shock wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 9:33 pm To be fair, mutants have gotten nothing but shit from the time they were revealed. I agree that I'd rather see them still trying to work on Professor X's dream but you can't blame them for trying to isolate themselves. No excuse for shunning humans that actually try to support them. That's just shooting themselves in the foot.

Also, naming yourself after cooking charcoal is pretty weak sauce. That dude needs to rebrand.
One can't blame them for isolating themselves...as a "people" numbering in the hundreds or thousands. When the X-books started to be more about a people than about a group of mutant heroes, however, there may have been some interesting stories, but it stopped being what the book was originally meant to be: a superhero book. Sure, stories can evolve, but I'm not interested in a generic sci fi story about an alternate "race." I want to read about superheroes. The X-Men haven't been superheroes in a long, long time. YMMV, IMHO, etc, etc.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by Shock »

drkrash wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 11:03 pm
Shock wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 9:33 pm To be fair, mutants have gotten nothing but shit from the time they were revealed. I agree that I'd rather see them still trying to work on Professor X's dream but you can't blame them for trying to isolate themselves. No excuse for shunning humans that actually try to support them. That's just shooting themselves in the foot.

Also, naming yourself after cooking charcoal is pretty weak sauce. That dude needs to rebrand.
One can't blame them for isolating themselves...as a "people" numbering in the hundreds or thousands. When the X-books started to be more about a people than about a group of mutant heroes, however, there may have been some interesting stories, but it stopped being what the book was originally meant to be: a superhero book. Sure, stories can evolve, but I'm not interested in a generic sci fi story about an alternate "race." I want to read about superheroes. The X-Men haven't been superheroes in a long, long time. YMMV, IMHO, etc, etc.
I agree completely. I have no interest in reading the X books in their current incarnation. The X-Men should be out trying to make things better for mutants (and all of humanity), not hiding them away and generally making the conflict worse.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by catsi563 »

Me as well id love more Xmen as heroes proving mutants and humans can live and be together in peace.

the main issue seems to be the writers have written them into a corner with their main Big Bag Evil guy

aka Human bigotry and prejudice

on the one hand it drives me nuts that the x books cant seem to show humanity as anything but hide bound biggots who lynch anything even remotely non human looking. god forbid you have green hair or something. Humanity should grow and slowly move towards acceptamce

on the other though if humanity does that means the xmen are down a big bad and become just another hero group though perhaps occasionally brings down ""evil mutants"" because without the age old struggle of oppression what story do they have?
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by greycrusader »

drkrash wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 8:54 pm This is the difference between the worldviews of the 60s and 70s that saw unity as one people as a noble goal, whereas now, the concept of one's "identity," distinctive from others, is held as far more important. As such, I think the concept of mutant *superheroes* has pretty much lost its meaning.
I'm...not entirely sure this is the case. I mean, most people who belong to a minority group (be it POC, LBGTQ people, religious minorities) aren't interested in segregating themselves from American society, or retreating to enclaves where only the same types of people live, though there's definitely more of that on certain campuses and in professional societies. The last group is probably the most likely to do so, with communities of Ultra-Orthodox Jews, fundamentalist Muslims, etc., but there really aren't THAT many. There obviously IS a lot more insistence that these differences be recognized and taken into account, rather than just an attitude of taking pride in one's heritage but still wanting to be treated no differently than the majority population.

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

catsi563 wrote: Sun Aug 28, 2022 1:11 am Me as well id love more Xmen as heroes proving mutants and humans can live and be together in peace.

the main issue seems to be the writers have written them into a corner with their main Big Bag Evil guy

aka Human bigotry and prejudice

on the one hand it drives me nuts that the x books cant seem to show humanity as anything but hide bound biggots who lynch anything even remotely non human looking. god forbid you have green hair or something. Humanity should grow and slowly move towards acceptamce

on the other though if humanity does that means the xmen are down a big bad and become just another hero group though perhaps occasionally brings down ""evil mutants"" because without the age old struggle of oppression what story do they have?
That is the problem with continually writing the X-Men as a superhero team. Their ultimate goal in that incarnation can't be achieved without breaking their basic concept. It's tough to fight for a world that hates and fears you if it...doesn't, anymore. So they really can't make any overall progress toward that goal, and comic writers have no goddamn subtlety. So the Xavier school got blown up a lot, we've had at least half a dozen massacres by literal terrorists (even after 9/11!), and what did Marvel's other superheroes do about it? Big heaps of nothing? Yeah.

X-stories were basically them as a hamster on the wheel. If they're fighting regular supervillains instead of evil mutants or anti-mutant terrorists, they're essentially just another Avengers team with a slightly different gimmick. If they're battling evil mutants all the time, then the anti-mutant bigots kind of have a point. And like I just said, they can't permanently get rid of or even really deescalate the threat of the anti-mutant terrorists, because then their unique hook is gone and they might as well be just another Avengers team. There is only so many times that "The X-Men perserve despite yet another massive setback in human-mutant relations" can be told before you start losing portions of the audience because it's the same thing over and over and over again. Some of y'all are satisfied with the same thing over and over and over again, but bluntly? I'm not. The Bad Future well is tapped dry. The Sentinels Are Trying To Kill Us well is empty. Space Adventures With The Shi'ar doesn't have much left in it, either. Time for something completely different.

Krakoa may not be perfect, but my goodness has it ever been a breath of fresh air. A shot of new life into a franchise that was slowly stagnating to death. Marvel's mutants are interesting again for the first time in at least a decade, probably longer. Kate Pryde has actually evolved as a character since entering the vague "young adult" zone many former teen heroes occupy. Numerous forgotten mutants are getting a periodic spotlight on them. Charles Xavier isn't a bald guy in a wheelchair. It's honestly kind of cathartic, as a long time fan. No, they're not pure heroes anymore. But they haven't gone full villain either. Except when as usual comic writers have no subtlety. What they're doing, if you'll pardon the wrestling terminology, is getting their heat back. The world stepped on them. And stepped on them. And stepped on them. All they did was take it, because they were trying to get along and coexist with the world. This is like when the babyface finally snaps and starts beating the piss out of the heel in the middle of the ring. Jumping him backstage. You know, doing bad guy stuff, except it's against the despicable heel after enduring more abuse than most would ever tolerate. But the babyface always remembers that this is about evening the score, not bloody revenge, and doesn't go too far. Well. That's how I see it, anyway. Because there's enough powerful mutants on Krakoa to conquer the world tomorrow and exact that bloody revenge if they wanted to, and they're not even close to doing that. They're just getting their heat back. Evening that score.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Dr. Manhattan! Ozymandias! Hell's Belles!)

Post by Jabroniville »

lol I was not expecting the random jobber squad I forgot about would provoke yet another debate about the X-Men arc. I dunno- I'd be more for an "isolated society cuz fuck y'all" arc if it was by anyone other than Hickman, who always seems to just invent new personalities for every character he touches, or has people undergo ass-tons of Moral Event Horizons that threaten the integrity of those characters. Granted a lot of writers have these issues nowadays but Hickman lost my trust after the Infinity arc, much as Secret Wars was kinda okay and had some good moments.
Jabroniville
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Shrew

Post by Jabroniville »

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SHREW (Marilyn Maycroft)
Created By:
Peter David & Larry Stroman
First Appearance: X-Factor #80 (July 1992)
Role: Jobber Villain, State's Witness
Group Affiliations: Hell's Belles
PL 7 (80)
STRENGTH
2/4 STAMINA 3/5 AGILITY 2/4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Perception 3 (+4)
Technology 2 (+2)
Vehicles 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Shrew Woman"
Enhanced Strength 2 [4]
Enhanced Stamina 2 [4]
Enhanced Agility 2 [4]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Senses 3 (Acute & Extended Scent- Tracking) [3]
"Claws" Strength-Damage +1 (Feats: Split) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Claws +8 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (+9 Shrew, DC 17-19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3 (+5 Shrew Form), Fortitude +4 (+6 Shrew), Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Hell's Belles are first drug cartel operatives, then just rob banks, even without their powers.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 18 / Defenses: 10 (80)

-Shrew is the reason for the mini-Hell's Belles arc on X-Factor- a former member of the team, she has turned on them and is a state's witness, testifying against them. Hell's Belles thus seek her out to either kill her or bring her back, requiring X-Factor to protect her. She is confronted by Tremolo, but refuses to go back with the Belles, and in the subsequent fight, she finds the courage to knock Cyber- her former boss- into the path of an oncoming subway train, defeating him. The character has never appeared again, and it's not even known if she kept her powers after M-Day.
Jabroniville
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Conscience

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

Just a pic of the issue, because I can't find any images online save what's on Marvunapp, which never has images that save properly. Here's there bio with some pics: http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/consciencecyc.htm.

CONSCIENCE
Created By:
Bob Harras & Ron Lim
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents #20 (May 1989)
Role: Insane Robot
Group Affiliation: None

-Conscience was an A.I. robot created by Master Mold to ease his own loneliness- programmed with Stephen Lang's emotions and memories (contrasting Master Mold, who had Lang's intellect), he appeared in a Cyclops-themed solo story in Marvel Comics Presents, leading a band of robots to attack Muir Island to capture Moira MacTaggert. Cyclops & Callisto fought them, but were captured with Moira, who was hypnotized into creating the "Retribution Virus"- a plague that infected only mutants. I... wait a second. BOB HARRAS, Editor of the entire X-Men line for most of the '90s, created a virus that ONLY INFECTS MUTANTS, and centers it around Moira MacTaggert? Well blow me down- this is a prelude for the "Legacy Virus" storyline!

-In any case, Conscience appears to adore humanity and its culture, but discovers that the Virus has mutated and is now capable of infecting humans. Master Mold, seeing a desire only to kill mutants, is prepared to unleash the Virus anyways, and Conscience sees no alternative but to free the heroes. Moira makes an antivirus very quickly while Master Mold blasts Conscience & injures Cyclops, but Conscience tells Scott his backstory, making Scott realize that Conscience HIMSELF can act as a "virus", infecting Master Mold- it didn't quite work, but the heroes destroyed Master Mold and stopped the Virus. Conscience assured the heroes that he had changed for the better and would ensure the Virus's destruction... and so he flew into orbit and self-destructed the base, killing himself. So this was largely a one-off storyline based around a newbie who died in a sacrifice ploy. Doesn't seem like the worst story, but it barely seems to involve Cyclops at all.

-For stats, Conscience appeared intelligent and extremely durable, taking Scott's optic blasts like they were nothing. He carried around a shockstick staff but otherwise didn't do much fighting, relying on the "Servobot" robo-mooks.
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