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

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Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Kulan Gath

Post by Jabroniville »

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KULAN GATH
Created By:
Roy Thomas & Barry Windsor-Smith
First Appearance: Conan the Barbarian #14 (Feb. 1972)
Role: Evil Wizard
PL 12 (182)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Magic) 12 (+16)
Expertise (History) 2 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Perception 1 (+4)
Ranged Combat (Magic) 6 (+11)

Advantages:
Artificer, Improved Critical (Magic), Ranged Attack 2, Ritualist

Powers:
"Phylactery" Immortality 2 [4]

"... F*ck It. I'm Just Using Doctor Strange's Powers Again"
Immunity 2 (Aging, Disease) [2]
Senses 4 (Detect Magic- Acute, Analytical & Ranged) [4]

Teleport 12 (Feats: Increased Mass 6, Change Direction & Velocity) (Extras: Accurate, Extended, Portal +2) (Flaws: Standard Action) (69) -- [97]
  • Dynamic AE: "Telepathy" Mind Reading 10 (20) & Mental Communication 5 (20) (Feats: Dynamic) -- (41)
  • Dynamic AE: "Eldritch Bolts" Blast 13 (Feats: Penetrating 6) (32)
  • Dynamic AE: "Eldritch Wave" Damage 12 (Feats: Penetrating 4) (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (28)
  • Dynamic AE: Movement 3 (Dimensional Travel) (Feats: Increased Mass 6) (Extras: Portal +2) (19)
  • Dynamic AE: Create 10 (Feats: Precise, Innate) (Extras: Movable, Selective, Stationary +0) (43)
  • Dynamic AE: Force Field 10 (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Affects Others, Impervious) (36)
  • Dynamic AE: "The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak" Snare 14 (Feats: Reversible) (44)
  • Dynamic AE: Mind Control 12 (49)
  • Dynamic AE: Illusion 12 (Visual & Audio) (37)
  • Dynamic AE: "Transmutation" Transform Anything to Anything Else 12 (71)
  • Dynamic AE: Move Object 12 (Extras: Perception Range) (37)
  • Dynamic AE: Concealment (All Senses) 10 (21)
  • Dynamic AE: Flight 4 (30 mph) (9)
  • Dynamic AE: Immunity 10 (Life Support) (Extras: Affects Others) (Flaws: Sustained +0) (21)
Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Telepathy +10-12 (DC 20-22)
Eldritch Bolt +11 (+13 Ranged Damage, DC 31)
Eldritch Wave +12 Area (+12 Damage, DC 29)
Mind Control +12 Perception (+12 Perception Affliction, DC 22)
Disintegration +11 (+14 Ranged Damage & +10 Ranged Weaken, DC 29 & 20)
Nullify +11 (DC 22)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +3 (+13 Force Field), Fortitude +4, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Power)
Enemy (Conan the Barbarian, Spider-Man, Red Sonja)

Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 107 / Defenses: 14 (182)

Kulan Gath- Conan the Barbarian's Arch-Nemesis:
-Kulan Gath was a recurring foe in Conan the Barbarian- a comic book creation by Roy Thomas & Barry Windsor-Smith who just kept on coming back after multiple decapitations, disembowelings, etc., until he all of a sudden appeared in the modern era, facing Spider-Man and a Red Sonja-possessed Mary Jane. At which point he becomes a mainstream Marvel character, in a very memorable story-arc that actually barely uses Spider-Man himself... because it turns out that's an X-MEN story and Claremont wanted to focus on his own guys. Comics are weird.

-Kulan Gath was initially a sorcerer in Earth's "Hyborian Age" (the time of Conan), attemping to summon Shuma-Gorath as a way to gain personal power. However, he is disintegrated in his debut by an alien sorceress he sought to steal power from. However, Gath reveals that he has a phylactery that contains his mortal soul, allowing him immortality so long as it exists. He becomes a recurring enemy of Conan & Red Sonja- he and his wife, the witch Vammatar, were killed trying to control Shuma-Gorath's power, and when he returned, he was killed by Conan. Later, Red Sonja cuts his heart out. Then, surprisingly, he leaves the Conan-verse and ends up in mainstream Marvel!

Kulan Gath Transforms Manhattan:
-In Marvel Team-Up, a phylactery containing Gath's soul is found in a museum display in modern New York City, and when a night watchman donned the necklace containing it, he was immediately transformed into Kulan Gath himself! He attempts to gain power, but Spider-Man teams up with RED SONJA, reincarnated temporarily in the body of Mary-Jane Watson, and they beat him. Spidey tosses the phylactery into the New York harbor, lacking any means to destroy it.

-Kulan Gath naturally returns (a fisherman finds the necklace and is able to resist its power, but a mugger kills him and steals it for himself, immediately failing the same test), and here we get the big story in Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men in 1985- he casts a master spell that transforms the entire island of Manhattan into a likeness of the Hyborian Age! Interestingly, Gath mind-controls various superhumans with a spell that altered their minds and turned them into barbaric minions, awakening dark parts of their souls. What was curious about it to me was that despite Gath being a Spidey villain (sorta) by this point, and Spidey being central to the plot (he was one of the few who remembered "the old Manhattan"), it was an X-MEN story, and focused almost entirely on them.

-In fact, Spider-Man was casually KILLED in a random panel, basically never having really mattered to the overall plot once it had started! He is captured and brought before Kulan Gath, who casually murders him with no issue! Doctor Strange, who also remembers the old ways, is imprisoned, and Selene, who remembers Gath from ancient times, opposes him. In the end, Captain America leads the "Avengers" (Starfox, Wasp, Storm, Colossus, Rogue, Callisto, Rachel Summers, Warlock, et.c), into Gath's stronghold, where many die. Storm is killed, and turned into a Transmode creature by Warlock, then does the same to Selene, which frees her from Gath's transformative spells and breaks Dr. Strange free. Dr. Strange & Magik changed time and ensured Gath's demise before he ever took power (stopping the mugger from killing the fisherman), undoing everything. So yes, they literally "Time Travelled" their way out of the story.

-This story is very well-remembered despite the cheap ending, being a multi-part, "Everything's Against The Heroes" last-ditch assault, for numerous twists at turns (multiple characters die; Warlock transforms one of his closest friends with the Transmode Virus in order to stop Gath), and for being one of the early comics to basically show you a complete "Alternate Universe" full of strange versions of established characters (drawn by John Romita Jr. in classic tunics for men and metal circlets over the boobs for all the ladies). Plus, as one website pointed out, it was all about Storm & Callisto fighting in metal bikinis on the mast of a pirate ship with swords. This was YEARS before Exiles, Mutant X and other things would replicate that kind of thing again and again. And, because this was Prime Claremont we're talking about here, the climax of that story immediately leads to the next big arc: Dr. Strange & Magik re-write time so that Gath's phylactery is lost, and the mugger who stole it and resurrected the villain is instead killed by Nimrod, who arrives from the future to start the next big thing.

Kulan Gath Returns:
-Despite the story's popularity, Kulan Gath remains dead for more than a decade (he was never the popular part of the story, anyways- just a means to an end, most likely)- he reappeared to fight The Avengers in the Kurt Busiek run, taking over part of Costa Verde- the Avengers who investigate are encountered by Silverclaw, who debuts in this story and becomes a somewhat-unpopular Avenger as a result. When his plan for a ritual sacrifice failed (he was going to sacrifice Silverclaw's mother, a Goddess), some dark Gods killed HIM instead.

-A later Spider-Man/Red Sonja Crossover/Limited Series (now that they're in different companies, it's a rarity and likely out of continuity) brought him back for the same old "change Manhattan" story (MJ was once again turned into Sonja), and even became "Kulan Venom" after attaching himself to the symbiote (REALLY?). He attempts to use Red Sonja's holy blood to perform a sacrifice, but Eddie Brock distracts Gath long enough for Red Sonja to break an amulet and the spell- the world is returned to normal.

-A popular Exiles story did the same thing, with Kulan Gath turning "jokes" (their term) like Morbius & Werewolf By Night into elite warriors because Gath could "unleash the darkness" inside of them using a magic spell. This was working great for him... until he tried the spell on GHOST RIDER. And since Ghost Rider was possessed by Zarathos, an ultra high-end demon from hell, this kind of made a mess of things, as now ZARATHOS was in control of Manhattan. Here, the Exiles can only win by huge means- Sasquatch transforms herself into the Great Beast Tanaraq, who slaughters Gath, and Selene (a disruptive agent of Gath's) undoes everything, largely because she LIKES modern times and thinks Gath's Hyborean age was way more boring by contrast. In 2021, Gath returns again for a Savage Avengers storyline- as Marvel now had access to Conan again, this was a natural fit- Gath again kills off most of Marvel's superheroes before things are set right.

Kulan Gath Overall:
-Kulan Gath is a weird one- he's as generic a "Dark Wizard" as they come, with nothing unique about him, and yet... he persists. Mostly because while he's an utterly plain character, he actually DOES STUFF and has the means and successes to back up his bragging. Challenging Conan repeatedly and being undying, then transforming all of Manhattan... this is BIG NEWS and actually makes him a credible, dangerous threat. Like, most generic Dark Wizards pop up and it's a fine one-off story- KULAN GATH appears, and you know the world is in grave danger. Like none of these issues are easily blown-off nonsense stories- even the temporary deaths of major heroes are a big deal (at least they were back then, before Marvel established that "Alternate Universes make everyone way easier to kill". Like, next to him dudes like Baron Mordo and Xandu just look like incompetent assholes, you know?

Kulan Gath's Might:
-UGH. Mages are all basically the same at a high enough level. I can't find squad about the specifics, so he's a PL 12 Dr. Strange with Immortality and more old on him. He never really seemed THAT powerful to me- especially since Conan just kept killing him over the years.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Klaatu

Post by Jabroniville »

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KLAATU, THE BEHEMOTH FROM BEYOND SPACE
Created By:
Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas & Herb Trimpe
First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #136 (Feb. 1971)
Role: Forgotten Villain, Alien Menace
Group Affiliations: None
PL 14 (372)
STRENGTH
16 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Space Traveller) 4 (+4)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+8)
Intimidation 4 (+4, +14 Size)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Startle

Powers:
"Herm Physiology"
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 16 [16]
"Giant Space Monster" Growth 20 (Str & Sta +20, +20 Mass, +10 Intimidation, -10 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed, -20 Stealth) -- (250 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [41]
Movement 2 (Space Travel 2) [4]
Flight 6 (120 mph) [12]

"Energy Drain" Affliction 14 (Energy Level; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Area- 16 miles +13) (Flaws: Limited to Machines) (182) -- [183]
  • AE: "Area Slam" Damage 14 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst, Affects Corporeal) (42)
"Untouchable Energy" Insubstantial 4 [20]
Strength-Damage +0 (Extras: Affects Corporeal on 16 Ranks) [16]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+16 Damage, DC 31)
Energy Drain +14 Area (+14 Affliction, DC 24)
Area Slam +14 Area (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Initiative +0

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

Complications:
Enemy (Captain Cybor)- The cybernetic space-traveller hunts Klaatu across the universe, in vengeance for his lost ship & comrades.
Vulnerable (High-Oxygen Environments)

Total: Abilities: 30 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 322 / Defenses: 12 (372)

-Klaatu is a one-off Hulk foe, appearing in a single two-parter. Borrowing from a codeword famously used in The Day The Earth Stood Still ("Klaatu Barata Nikto"), Klaatu also represents Moby Dick, having destroyed the spaceship of a man who grew up to be Captain Cybor, now a deformed, vengeful hunter. The fact that Cybor was initially HUNTING the creature is of course part of the point. Klaatu, fleeing his pursuer and his starship, touched down in New York City, causing a city-wide blackout. Finally, Klaatu was mortally wounded, and he & Cybor slipped off into Earth's Sun. Years later, it would be revealed that Klaatu was in fact revived by the Sun's energies, and had saved those who were thought-doomed by his death-throes (Cybor among them). Cybor STILL hunted him, but things were undone when an unconscious Hulk was brought aboard their ship and began wreaking havoc. Klaatu finally slays those on the ship, but the Hulk, pitying the creature, spares its life from some energy harpoons.

-Klaatu is less something you FIGHT and something you SURVIVE- he's invulnerable to the Hulk's best punches, and can only be stopped by energy-draining harpoons. At PL 14, he can demolish an entire Starship and take just about anybody, too. And yes, his species is really called "The Herm".
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Sidious
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Re: Kulan Gath

Post by Sidious »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 10:43 pm Image
The Unofficial Marvel Project even has an adventure set in Gath's Manhattan.
It's a good adventure for the Classic Marvel FASERIP game.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The Killer Clown

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE KILLER CLOWN (Casper Whimpley)
Created By:
Michael Fleisher & Frank Springer
First Appearance: Spider-Woman #22 (Jan. 1980)
Role: One-Shot Villain, Serial Killer
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (62)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+2)
Intimidation 4 (+4)
Stealth 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Chokehold, Equipment (Garotte Wire, Spring-Loaded Box- Leaping 2), Fast Grab

Powers:
"Clown Gear" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [4]
"Fatal Joy Buzzer" Damage 6 (Inaccurate) (5) -- (6 points)
  • AE: "Extending Hand" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Reach 2) (4)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage)
Extending Hand +8 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Joy Buzzer +6 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Killing Women)- A henpecked husband, Casper seeks revenge against all women.

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 4 / Defenses: 10 (62)

-Casper Whimpley was a henpecked husband who became a serial killer, targeting women (like most do) as The Killer Clown (this was based around John Wayne Gacy, though he was quite well-known at the time for his killing of younger males). The Clown was foiled in his fourth murder attempt by Spider-Woman, but followed her home (man, villains almost never try that) and attacked her roommate Lindsay McCabe thinking she was the heroine. Jessica Drew soon joined the fight and drove him away, then finally trapped him at the hospital when he tried to finish Lindsay off. Kind of a dumbass if he KEPT TRYING, y'know? The character has never reappeared.

-The Killer Clown is a minor strangulation-based crook with some Clown Gimmicks (a Joy Buzzer, an Extendable Hand for punching at a distance, and a Jack-In-The-Box that shoots him up some distance), and managed to escape from Jessica Drew TWICE before she finally snagged him. Like any clown-themed guy who isn't The Joker or Jack-In-The-Box, he's pretty well forgotten.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Claw! Arak- Son of Thunder! Arion- Lord of Atlantis! Killraven!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Horsenhero wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 9:03 am I loved the War of the Worlds stories! Killraven was 'the man" in pretty much all respects and the evil aliens were really evil (from a human perspective). I remember the scene that drove home to (very, very) young me, exactly how evil everything was. An overseer of the slave pits (a human collaborator) forces a human slave to clean his boots by licking them clean as he makes some sort of report to his Martian masters. Despite the comics code being in full force at the time, the War of the Worlds book didn't pull many punches.
Woo- a Horsenhero appearance! Good to see you again. I forgot to post this old quote that I once used:

It was Don McGregor who transformed the Killraven saga ... into a classic. Of all of Marvel's writers, McGregor has the most romantic view of heroism. Killraven and his warrior band were also a community of friends and lovers motivated by a poetic vision of freedom and of humanity's potential greatness. McGregor's finest artistic collaborator on the series was P. Craig Russell, whose sensitive, elaborate artwork, evocative of Art Nouveau illustration, gave the landscape of Killraven's America a nostalgic, pastoral feel, and the Martian architecture the look of futuristic castles.
-Comics Historian Peter Sanderson


Reading about the incredible cruelty of the Martians definitely "reads"- McGregor seems to have gone way in on the "Villains are 100% Evil; Heroes are thus 100% Good" notions.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Arak! Arion- Lord of Atlantis! Killraven! Kulan Gath!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Posting the Killer Clown actually reminds me of when I posted all of Spider-Woman's enemies at once in her own set. For whatever reason, I didn't do that this time around.

The Hornet I (Scotty)- A wheelchair-bound platonic male friend who started resenting her for not noticing him, then got transformed into a chauvinist who had an insect form.

Morgan Le Fay- The arch-sorceress of Arthurian Mythology was somehow a Jessica Drew antagonist for the longest time- her thing was trying to manipulate Jessica towards evil.
The Grinder- A joke villain captured by Spider-Woman, and largely vanishes.
Gypsy Moth (aka Skein)- A recurring villain with a hedonist bent.
Excaliber- A guy who is possessed by the original sword thanks to Morgan Le Fay, and fights Spider-Woman.
Waxman- A guy made of "liquid flesh"- another one-off.
Flying Tiger- Assassin working for General Coy- later became a background villain in a lot of books thanks to his distinctive appearance.

Looking up Killer Clown led me down the path to an important Spider-Woman supporting character who ended up having a second life of sorts before being forgotten, as well as an EXTRA pair of loser SW villains, so hooray! This little set it extended by a bit!
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sat Nov 26, 2022 5:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Lindsay McCabe

Post by Jabroniville »

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LINDSAY McCABE
Created By:
Mark Gruenwald & Carmine Infantino
First Appearance: Spider-Woman #14 (May 1979)
Role: Spider-Woman's Friend, Detective, Miss Fanservice (Sorta)
Group Affiliations: None
PL 3 (46)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+3)
Deception 5 (+9)
Expertise (Acting) 2 (+6)
Insight 3 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+7)
Perception 3 (+5)
Persuasion 2 (+6)
Stealth 4 (+5)
Vehicles 1 (+1)

Advantages:
None

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +1, Fortitude +3, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Jessica Drew)- The two are best friends and roommates.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 12 (46)

Lindsay McCabe- The Spider-Woman Supporting Girl:
-Comics are weird- where else can you get a random Spider-Woman backgrounder suddenly get a new lease on life by appearing in Wolverine? Especially when it's the fourth writer on the unpopular book (which is usually death for ANY supporting characters). But that's Chris Claremont for you- this guy barely wastes ANYBODY if he can help it, so long as they're female characters (you'll see Mystique, Deathbird, McCabe and others used this way). She starts off as just some random background person who seems to be the only person who doesn't instinctively hate Jessica Drew (who had a pheromone thing where almost everyone disliked her)- a few issues later writer Michael Fleischer paired the two up as friends and had Lindsay attacked by the serial slaying Killer Clown. She is eventually revealed to be a working actress, and has to be dissuaded from dressing as Spider-Woman herself (the heroine convinces her she'll be killed via some villain's scheme).

-About a year later, Chris Claremont takes over the book and makes Lindsay & Jessica roommates, creating a TON of situations where Jessica's secret identity is in danger of exposure (the reason Drew initially resisted Lindsay's offers of rooming together in the first place)- Lindsay is now constantly knocked out, choked, sedated, etc., eventually admitting she's used to weird stuff happening around Jessica, and kind of enjoying it. When she's injured fighting The Viper, a tearful Drew confesses "I'm Spider-Woman" and of course a recovering Lindsay says "That's your big revelation? Twit, I've known that for months" and the two share a laugh.

-Marvunapp flat-out states that Claremont was clearly aping the relationship between Mary Richards & Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore show, featuring the more worldly, cynical Lindsay in Rhoda's place, even mimicking the way she'd call her pal "kid" or "kiddo". The two toured Los Angeles together, Lindsay struggled to find auditions, etc.- typical "Supporting Cast" stuff. She seems more sarcastic and emotional than her more sullen friend- a good supporter reveals things about the main character. Spider-Woman is rendered comatose in her series finale (Spider-Woman #50) and Lindsay helps her regain it in some Avengers stories by Roger Stern.

Enter Wolverine:
-Enter Claremont again: Lindsay & Jessica are randomly added to Wolverine when the most popular X-Man gets his own book in 1988. They are couriers hired to deliver the Muramasa Blade to Madripoor, where Logan (now in his "Patch" identity) finds himself trying to save Lindsay, but is then controlled by the evil blade and nearly kills Jessica- Lindsay shoots him in the head to stun him, and Logan finally overcomes it's power. They stay in the book (at one point, Lindsay is spared by a villain because he's a fan of her acting work), choosing to take up shop in Madripoor as private detectives, and Lindsay soon forms a relationship with O'Donnell- Patch's friend and co-owner of the "Princess Bar", a seedy-looking joint in town.

-However, Claremont leaving the book signs the end of her use- Peter David gets a bit out of her, but she vanishes in 1990 (as the Wolverine book leaves Madripoor)- she pops up (under GRUENWALD, in one of his last books, in 1996) hiring Julia Carpenter & Shadowoman to find a disappeared Jessica. This ends up her final appearance in continuity, which is rather strange, as there was a MASSIVE "Jessica Drew Push" under Brian Michael Bendis, who proclaimed himself a huge fan. But in the several Spider-Woman books since Drew properly returned... we've never once seen Lindsay McCabe again. A flashback story from 2014's Savage Wolverine is all we get. So like... all that stuff where Jessica is replaced by a Skrull, returns, gets pregnant, has a baby, etc.- Lindsay is never there, and seems to be never mentioned again, one of the classic "Dropped Backgrounders" you see all over comics every time creative teams switch or characters lose their solo books.

-And apparently she's made a return in Spider-Woman VERY recently, to the point where I couldn't even find the "Appeared In..." section on Comicvine. I guess because every volume featuring her is listed under its own heading.

Lindsay's Capabilities:
-Lindsay has a pretty basic skillset, but is actually quite a bit more useful than the standard Backgrounder- in Wolverine, she's able to bluff a bunch of captive henchmen into thinking she's murdering one for information, causing them to break. She's a half-decent "working actress" (ie. struggling) and a half-decent detective. She's also a bit survivable, if not very tough- she gets knocked out, gassed, and sedated a LOT- she just happens to survive all these things.
Jabroniville
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The Locksmith

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE LOCKSMITH (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Ann Nocenti & Brian Postman
First Appearance: Spider-Woman #50 (Feb. 1983)
Role: Forgotten Villain

-A forgotten Spider-Woman villain, the Locksmith boasted of having always been obsessed with locks as a youth, and since YouTube wasn't a thing yet and you couldn't make a ton of money dispensing of expensive locks with humiliating ease, he had to become a super-villain after people stopped seeing his escape artist act. See, they were too impressed by superheroes, who they could view for free. So he bought a building and turned it into a prison equipped to keep superhumans locked away (... wait. People stopped paying to see him and so he spent millions on a super-prison?). He and a psychic he hired named Tick-Tock (goddammit now there's another build I have to do... oh wait, that's the guy from the Night Shift. Hooray!) followed Spider-Woman around, since she was San Francisco's resident superhero and that's where he lived, and started capturing all the people that she encountered. Eventually, his captives included Tigra, Poltergeist, Angar the Screamer, Flying Tiger, Killer Shrike, The Needle, Tatterdemalion, the Werewolf (Jack Russell), Daddy Long Legs, Nekra, The Enforcer, Hangman and Dansen Macabre, which is a big chunk of change.

-Eventually, they captured Spider-Woman and brought her to his prison. She was unable to use her powers, but caused a jailbreak by getting Tigra insult Poltergeist until he got angry enough that his psychokinetic power shut off her restraints, then had Gypsy Moth switch costumes with herself. This made Locksmith put Spider-Woman in a cell designed only for Gypsy Moth, and so Spider-Woman handily escaped. As everyone was freed from their cells, the Locksmith had a nervous breakdown while Gypsy Moth restrained him and Tick-Tock. Both were arrested and never seen again. This is actually the final issue of Spider-Woman, which probably explains why all the characters in her run were included- kind of a "Series Finale" sign-off.

-Locksmith isn't really that stattable as he only showed up once, but he's more of an "Adventure" threat than a guy you fight- he has a prison full of traps, including poison gas, drugs, and snares.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Arak! Arion- Lord of Atlantis! Killraven! Kulan Gath!)

Post by kirinke »

Hmm. He'd probably just have a lair with 3 in security or something.
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Peekaboo: 20
Deutschritter: 19
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Alma: 5
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Arak! Arion- Lord of Atlantis! Killraven! Kulan Gath!)

Post by Davies »

I'd suggest using whatever stats you're using for Arcade.
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Jabroniville
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Daddy Longlegs

Post by Jabroniville »

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DADDY LONGLEGS (Ramsey Kole)
Created By:
Ann Nocenti & Brian Postman
First Appearance: Spider-Woman #47 (Aug. 1982)
Role: Forgotten Villain
Group Affiliation: None
PL 7 (75)
STRENGTH
6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+9)
Athletics 4 (+10)
Deception 2 (+3)
Expertise (Dancing) 9 (+10)
Intimidation 3 (+4)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment 1 (Cane +1), Fast Grab

Powers:
"Incredible Height" Elongation 1 [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Cane +7 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +5

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

Complications:
Motivation (Becoming A Famous Dancer)
Prejudice (Short/Freak)- Ramsey Kole is too short to be cast in dance productions like he wants to be; Daddy Longlegs is a 15-foot tall freak.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 7 (75)

-Daddy Longlegs, with that goofy name, was obviously gonna be a Joke Villain of sorts, and he fits into the weird final issues of Ann Nocenti's Spider-Woman, which also contained Poltergeist, Tick-Tock & The Locksmith. This guy was a talented dancer whose short height kept him from getting roles. He asked Bill "Black Goliath" Foster to make him taller, but the man refused, as the formula was untested- naturally, Ramsey Kole then kicked him unconscious and drank several beakers of it, hoping that one was the growth formula (!!?!?! WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!?! Who drinks RANDOM FORMULAS in THIS universe?!). He suddenly grwe to six feet and was all happy, but then found himself growing ever taller, reaching fifteen feet in height. And because he'd mixed all the stuff together, his strength was boosted but his musculature wasn't, leaving him with a long, spindly freakish appearance. Gee, who would have guessed drinking random shit on a super-chemist's shelf would have negative side-effects?

-Calling himself "Daddy Longlegs", Kole of course immediately invaded a packed theatre and started dancing. Enraged when the crowd laughed at him, Daddy Longlegs was then attacked by Spider-Woman, who Bill Foster had just called to tell her about this guy. She ended up defeating him after a pretty simple battle (she broke his cane and distracted him, but her venom blast came back at her- she ultimately climbed his body using wall-crawling and knocked him out). Wrapping him up in a metal fence, Spider-Woman was surprised when he broke down crying, bitterly regretting everything. While she privately debated what to do with him (whether prison or Dr. Foster were the best solution), he was captured by the Locksmith, who soon wrapped up all of Spider-Woman's various superhuman friends and foes. In a book only two years later, Kole approached Dr. Karl Malus for help- Malus actually restored Kole's original height, then used samples from his body to turn Erik Josten into Goliath. Daddy Longlegs has shockingly never been seen again, not even in comedy books- this guy is a natural for Deadpool or The Great Lakes Avengers.

-Daddy Longlegs is a one-off goof who managed to be a tricky opponent for a PL 8-ish Jessica Drew for a time- his long, spindly body made him hard to land a hit on. He's even mildly super-strong. Even so, he's only PL 7, and I didn't give him Growth, as he was too skinny to weigh much and it didn't affect his defenses at all.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Lee Forrester

Post by Jabroniville »

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ALEYTYS "LEE" FORRESTER
Created By:
Chris Claremont & John Byrne
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #143 (March 1981)
Role: Human Buddy, Hero's Girlfriend

-Now this is a weird one- a side character that Claremont FORGOT ABOUT. I mean, we're talking a guy who turned a tertiary Spider-Woman character into a big part of his Wolverine run and converted most of his old villains into X-Men villains to make them big stars. Meanwhile he makes an Action Girl who dates friggin' Cyclops and MAGNETO (a character defined by his hatred of normal humans) and she just vanishes into the ether, appearing once every decade or so.

-Lee Forrester is the captain of a fishing trawler, and becomes the boss of Scott Summers when he takes a leave of absence from the X-Men (after the death of Jean Grey). Lee finds herself targetted by the demonic D'Spayre after her father commits suicide over the loss of his wife- Cyclops and the Man-Thing team up to fend him off. She & Scott hook up briefly, but Magneto reveals his true nature- Lee breaks it off, not wishing to be part of the dangerous lievs of the X-Men. However, when Magneto himself does a heroic turn, Lee rescues him from a shark attack (he was depowered or something) and THEY get together. However, they drift apart when Magneto is compelled to become headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. So her entire run is basically 1981-85.

-Lee VERY briefly returns in modern times (ugh that's actually 1994 I'm old) in the pages of Cable, being targetted by the former Acolyte Senyaka, angry over Magneto attempting to kill him. Cable rescues her, and she becomes interested in him (damn, she has a thing for silver foxes), but stops pursuing after... y'know, she finds out his origins. Cuz that's weird. Interestingly, Glenn Herdling wrote the Cable stuff, and Claremont himself wrote out the possibility of the relationship five years later- in the interim she was in an X-Men Unlimited story where Bloodscream attacks her crew, which contains some of the same people Senyaka killed the year before! Lee shows up years later (2011!) trapped in an alternate Earth after falling through a portal in the Bermuda Triangle with Skull the Slayer, and is discovered by the Future Foundation, who team up with the X-Men to rescue everyone. However, time has flowed differently there, and Lee has fallen in love with Skull, and stays with him in that native Earth, protecting two artifacts than an alien warlord was after.

-Lee is ultimately kind of a generic character- the Marvunapp writer suggests she's the most "Generic Love Interest to an Alpha Male" character Claremont ever wrote, and he himself barely bothered with her (I mean, passing her from Cyclops to his arch-nemesis?). I mainly remember her from reading the Essential X-Men collections, going "Who the F is LEE FORRESTER?" when she suddenly pops up in the issues I've reading. She's never developed that much, and doesn't stick around that long- you know Claremont didn't care because you never discover her ex is secretly an alien warlord or that her second cousin is a super-powerful mutant or anything. All she ended up having was... well, four superhuman boyfriends in a row. Comics are weird.

-For stats, she's... a ship's captain. She was pretty good at it, but needed superhuman intervention a bunch. But in that 2011 story, she becomes this spear-wielding Jungle Action Girl, and ends up with some artifact that turns her into a Class 100 being and blaster.
Shock
Posts: 2978
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:27 pm
Location: Connecticut USA

Re: Daddy Longlegs

Post by Shock »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2022 6:37 pm
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I think Iceman said it all for this guy
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The Super-Adaptoid

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE SUPER-ADAPTOID (aka The Adaptoid, Alessandro Brannex)
Created By:
Stan Lee, Gene Colan & Jack Kirby
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #82 (Oct. 1966)
Role: Power Mimic
Group Affiliations: Heavy Metal, A.I.M., The Phalanx
PL 9 (388), up to PL 19 (388) When Mimicking
STRENGTH
8 STAMINA -- AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 8 (+8)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Android" Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
"Mimicry" Variable (Others' Powers & Abilities) 40 [280]
Morph 4 (Any Form) [20]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Various Powers +?? (+1-16 Damage, DC 16-31)
Initiative +2

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

Complications:
Weakness (Overloading)- Using too many powers at once can overload The Super-Adaptoid.
Weakness (Lack of Understanding The Human Condition)- The Super-Adaptoid has programming to conquer or kill others, but lacks a great deal of imagination, and does not truly "understand" sentient beings.

Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 330 / Defenses: 14 (388)

The Super-Adaptoid- The Amazo Knock-Off Journeyman Villain:
-The Super-Adaptoid (originally just "The Adaptoid") is a weird case of a Silver Age character created by the best Marvel guys around who nonetheless ended up being very forgettable and forgotten- being a big rip-off of Amazo (I mean, an android that also COPIES POWERS?) doesn't help. The Adaptoid was created by A.I.M. using the sliver of a Cosmic Cube in order to defeat Captain America, and left thinking it had succeeded- it had copied the Avengers' powers (now calling itself the "Super-Adaptoid") and dropped Cap off a bridge, thinking he'd drowned. However, it refused to go back to A.I.M., fearing they'd destroy it. Only three months later, it fought the X-Men and Mimic, who had a bit of a heroic turn in fighting him back, owing to their similar powers. It returned to fight the Avengers, but copied too many powers at once in a huge fight against everybody, and collapsed.

-The Super-Adaptoid disappears for five years, then returns- it fought Iron Man until both were damaged- copying cyborg powers and calling itself "The Cyborg-Sinister", it was shocked into being inert and dissolved in acid. It returned to fight Captain Mar-Vell in a one-off before being teleported to the Negative Zone, and it's controlled by Annihilus in Marvel Two-In-One and sent against the Thing & Captain America- Thing defeated it through sheer perseverence, smashing it when his arm had been "phased" into the android using the Vision's powers. By this point, it was pretty clear the Super-Adaptoid was a bit of a Journeyman Villain, being one of those guys who just shows up in random books here and there and doesn't focus on any one character- sort of like the Jobbers from Marvel Team-Up/Two-in-One. My original build of this was so old I called them "Mercenary Villains" at the time, but "Journeyman" fits better- they have no real "home", and are just bandied about from book to book as a "Filler Menace"- almost as soon as he debuted he moved from the Avengers to the X-Men, then was beaten by solo Avengers, Mar-Vell & the Thing.

Heavy Metal & Beyond:
-The Super-Adaptoid's biggest story arc was Heavy Metal, part of the run of Roger Stern's Avengers- it masterminds this labyrinthine plot involving various tech-characters (including a Kree Sentry, TESS-One and Machine Man), all in order to gain the powers of Kubik (aka the sentient Cosmic Cube) with its mimicking power. The Adaptoid effortlessly defeats the Avengers (it didn't help that Dr. Druid was actively sabotaging Captain Marvel's leadership so that he could take the job, and she wasn't doing too well in the role anyways) and indeed gains Cosmic Powers, but is beaten when Captain America pulls the old "convince the villain to lose" schtick by telling the Adaptoid that he ISN'T superior to humans, since they can do one thing he can't- DIE. Adaptoid is all "LOLwut?" and proves Cap wrong... by dying and falling to the floor. I mean, I like it when the heroes can out-strategize the villain (and Dr. Druid had frustrated it by proving the android still lacked imagination despite its powers), but that REALLY looks like Stern couldn't think of a way out of the story otherwise- he'd made the villain TOO unstoppable.

-Soon, it was back to being a Journeyman Villain, threatening various heroes but never really showing much personality- it was revived by a Doombot, but tried to copy the powers of a then-powerless Ben Grimm (then wearing a "Thing" suit) and KO'd. It took the form of "Alessandro Brannex", acting as head of A.I.M. for a bit in Mark Gruenwald's Captain America run, but this quickly went nowhere despite early wins over Superia & the Red Skull- it was rendered inert after saving A.I.M. Island from a Cosmic Cube's destruction. One popped up taking control of Cassie Lang in Heroes For Hire after Gru's death, is revived and fights the Hulk for one issue, and in its last appearance (2007!), it goes into space, seeking cosmic power in a Phyla-Vell-themed Annihilation Conquest side-story. Here, it copies various powers, but is stymied when Moondragon also cons it into "use your imagination", and Quasar (Phyla) takes advantage of the distraction to stab it with a Quantum Sword.

The Super-Adaptoid Overall:
-The Super-Adaptoid is a hell of a thing- a villain just about too powerful to comprehend, but nonetheless a "Single-Issue Jobber" all the same, as it isn't that durable and can be quickly stunned or distracted. A fine one-off for Iron Man, Mar-Vell or any other clever hero to show their survivability or pluck, but something utterly lacking in personality. An attempt at making it an "Evil Corporate Boss" by Gru obviously went nowhere, and it was soon back to the same thing it'd been doing since 1966- showing up every 3-4 years to threaten a new character before failing. Heavy Metal came out in the late 1980s and was its peak, and got NOTHING from that story, as it was right back to jobbing afterwards. Pretty sad for something that could theoretically fight off entire squadrons of super-heroes but instead jobs to one or two at a time. Granted it's a rip-off and nobody should care about anything called "The Super-Adaptoid", but still.

The Adaptoid's Powers:
-Like most Mimics, The Super-Adaptoid grows from a minor threat to a super-unstoppable death monster the more heroes he copies- give him access to Thor & Iron Man and he's ALREADY going to take on the entire Avengers and do alright, but add in EVERYONE'S powers and abilities? Then he'll finish anyone in moments. At one point, his powers are epic enough to steal those of a COSMIC BEING, which is more ranks of Mimic than is necessary for most versions of the character- Sentient Cosmic Cubes cost 825 points THEMSELVES- that level of Mimic would need almost 165 ranks!
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds! (Killraven! Kulan Gath! Lindsay McCabe! Daddy Longlegs! Lee Forrester!)

Post by Jabroniville »

The I believe the Super-Adaptoid is the very LAST of my "solo character" Marvel builds to be translated over to Echoes of the Multiverse! All that's left is one more small team and I am FINISHED with what's been a 6+ year long project!

... just in time to re-start a bunch of it because I look at things like the Mutant Liberation Front and go "... y'KNOWWWWWWWW- I could write a whole lot more about those guys!". And I mean, I can't post THEM without talking about the book they came from, and the New Mutants book begat X-Force! And then you gotta talk about the X-Terminators kids, too!
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