Jab’s Builds! (Nightmare Creatures/Circus! Lawnmower Man! Metroid!)

[Jabroniville]

You haven't done P in 4 years? That's got to be uncomfortable.

One more terrible joke out of you, and the next builds will be Sex and the City. Don't test me .

[Jabroniville]

Man, there's nothing you can't turn into another rant like that, is there ?

What can I say, there's very few characters I feel can't be made good with a little tweaking. It's one reason I rage against some of the . . . I'll just say "controversial character decisions" Marvel has made, because a lot of those characters could have been good or worked in their own right with the right effort. I'm pretty certain I could have come up with ways to make even those characters I've ranted and raved against work with just a little tweaking.

I was referring more to the rant against outrage culture, but sure, the other one works, too .

[Jabroniville]

-Tuataras are a rare kind of lizard native to the islands south of Australia. Though they resemble generic lizards, they are mutated so little from their ancient forms that they qualify as "Living Fossils", retaining fish-like attributes in their skeletons. As such, Tuataras are of great interest to evolutionary biologists, representing one of the "branch-off" points where things shift in biology.

Actually, while reptiles, tuataras are not lizards. They generally resemble them, but their legs are anatomically different, and there are other differences. Fascinating creatures, really. And, I'm being a pedant.

Agh, I KNEW THAT from my research, but forgot to go back and change the message about them being lizards. How dare you school me on Animal Facts!

[Ares]

Man, there's nothing you can't turn into another rant like that, is there ?

What can I say, there's very few characters I feel can't be made good with a little tweaking. It's one reason I rage against some of the . . . I'll just say "controversial character decisions" Marvel has made, because a lot of those characters could have been good or worked in their own right with the right effort. I'm pretty certain I could have come up with ways to make even those characters I've ranted and raved against work with just a little tweaking.

I was referring more to the rant against outrage culture, but sure, the other one works, too .

So a whole two sentences of the post you quoted, got it.

[L-Space]

haha, neat! I love it when the obscure loser characters can draw a reaction . Peter inexplicably not using webs is a very strange deal- was it more for comedy?

It's been a while, but I think it had something to do about being retired and either not having time to make more. The whole comic is weird in retrospect because it was Spider-man's "Final" adventure, but didn't seem to want to show Spider-man doing what all Spider-man can do. Plus, since was still Clone Saga era Spider-man, it was like 90% brooding Spidey and 10% wisecracking Spidey.

[Jabroniville]

T.E.S.S.-ONE (Total Elimination of Super-Soldiers)
Created By: Mark Gruenwald & Mike Zeck
First Appearance: Captain America Annual #8 (1986)
Role: Adamantium Robot
Group Affiliations: The American Government
PL 12 (130)
STRENGTH 10 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE --

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Technology 4 (+4)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 10

Powers:
"Kill-O-Bot"
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 18 (Extras: Impervious 17) [35]
Growth 4 (Str & Sta +4, +4 Mass, +2 Intimidation, -2 Dodge/Parry, -4 Stealth) -- (12 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [9]
Flight 7 (250 mph) [14]

Energy Blast 10 (20) -- [21]

• AE: "Machine Guns" Blast 6 (Feats: Accurate 2) (Extras: Multiattack) (20)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Machine Guns +14 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Energy Blast +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +18 (+9 Impervious), Fortitude --, Will --

Complications:
Motivation (Killing Super-Soldiers)- T.E.S.S.-One was built to kill Captain America and other super-humans.

Total: Abilities: 0 / Skills: 6--3 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 109 / Defenses: 8 (130)

-Yet another example of "The Government Is Evil" being an omnipresent trope in comics, T.E.S.S.-One was created in 1945 by the U.S. to bring down Captain America and other super-heroes should they turn rogue. The robot was reactivated in modern times by a Technopathic mutant named Overrider, requiring a team-up of Captain America & Wolverine (before he started teaming with EVERYBODY) to stop him- they managed to cut off its head because the joints were not made of Adamantium (this was when they started REALLY using that a lot), unlike the rest of its body. He was used as a minion by The Super-Adaptoid later on in the Heavy Metal storyline (involving lots of robots), but basically disappeared before the end of the story, having merely been a distraction. In its last appearance, it was easily blown up by a Cosmically-Powered Spider-Man.

-Yet ANOTHER Kill-O-Bot in a set of them when I first posted a bunch of random names (I actually didn't even realize it at first, but having decided to build the characters of Heavy Metal from Roger Stern's Avengers run, it was inevitable), T.E.S.S.-One is similarly easy-ish to hit, but REALLY durable, and can only be brought down via a protracted effort. +18 Toughness is remarkably-tough (it IS made of Adamantium), but not so much that a lot of effort can break its joints down.

[Jabroniville]

TERMINUS
Created By: John Byrne
First Appearance: The Fantastic Four #269 (Aug. 1984)
Role: Galactus Lite, Cosmic Destroyer
PL 17 (317)
STRENGTH 20 STAMINA 20 AGILITY -2
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 12 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Science) 7 (+19)
Expertise (History) 2 (+14)
Expertise (Space Traveller) 2 (+14)
Intimidation 10 (+10, +20 Size)
Perception 4 (+4)
Technology 8 (+20)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 7, Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness)

Powers:
"Organic Metal Body"
Growth 24 (Str & Sta +24, +24 Mass, +12 Intimidation, -12 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed, -24 Stealth) -- (500 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [49]
Regeneration 10 (Feats: Regrow Limbs, Diehard) [12]
Immunity 16 (Life Support, Heat Effects, Aging) [16]

"Terminus' Lance" (Flaws: Easily Removable) (Feats: Restricted to Huge Beings) [73]
"Cosmic Beam" Damage 17 (Extras: Area- 250ft. Line +4) (85) -- (88)

• AE: "Planet-Cracker" Blast 24 (Feats: Improved Range 15, Penetrating 13) (76)
• AE: "Atomic Storm" Energy Aura 15 (60)
• AE: "Energy Drain" Affliction 20 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Transformed to Powerless) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (Flaws: Limited to Energy Powers) (40)

Flight 14 (32,000 mph) (28)
Movement 2 (Space Travel 2) (4)
-- (120 points)

"Terminus' Armour" (Flaws: Removable) (Feats: Restricted to Huge Beings) [81]
Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious 19) (24)
Features 10: Summons Lance to His Side From Anywhere (10)
"Human-Sized Antibodies"
Summon 7 (Extras: Horde, Variable +1- Metal Bug Things & Humanoids, 8 Minions +6) (Flaws: Limited to When Armour is Penetrated) (63)
Healing 10 (Flaws: Affects Objects Only +0, Limited to Lance, Distracting) (4)
-- (101 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Atomic Storm +10 (+15 Damage, DC 30)
Blast +10 (+24 Ranged Damage, DC 39)
Cosmic Beam +17 Area (+17 Damage, DC 27)
Energy Drain +10 (+20 Ranged Affliction, DC 30)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +20 (+25 Armour, +10 Impervious), Fortitude +20, Will +8

Complications:
Weakness (Begins to Weaken if Lance is Removed)
Motivation (Greed)- Terminus is out to destroy planets, and sell their materials to the highest bidder. He doesn't care who he kills in the process.

Total: Abilities: 30 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 231 / Defenses: 30 (317)

-Terminus is a John Byrne creation, and ended up becoming a semi-recurring threat over the years- he even got a whole Summer's worth of Avengers Annuals as the main villain. He's basically a less-dangerous version of Galactus- less dangerous meaning he can take on the entire Avengers at once, and it takes the biggest strokes of luck possible to allow them to defeat him. How powerful is he? In his debut, he basically wrote "This planet belongs to me- Terminus" in GIANT FLAMING LETTERS... on EARTH. From 100 light years away! All with his Lance. This makes him a super-duper alpha-level threat, requiring entire teams to stop. Because of this, he doesn't show up often, but when he DOES, it's a big deal.

-Terminus is the result of an alien race that was mostly wiped out by the Celestials- their remnants went through a four-stage life cycle that congealed what were once thousands of "Termini" into a titanic being. His goal- to "scavenge" worlds, destroying them by taking their resources. He claims to have done so to HUNDREDS of worlds upon his debut, but was written very mysteriously- Reed was only able to stop him by driving him into the core of another planet using an "Acceleration Device" and burying him under millions of tons of rock. John Byrne eventually left FF, resulting in many later writers adding their own bits to his mythos (such as the whole "Life Cycle" thing).

-After his debut, he appears next in the Savage Land, confronting the X-Men- after that, he's seen in a few scattered books, such as Captain America, where he's being controlled by A.I.M.'s scientists. Looking into it, it seems that Mark Gruenwald took charge in most of his later appearances. A large number of "Termini" merge into a SECOND Terminus, resulting in a massive brawl between the two giants- the original was victorious, and consumed his foe to become the ultra-rare ULTERMINUS (so silly...)- it takes the arrival of two teams of Avengers as well as the Great Lakes Avengers team to stop him, as they cast him into space without his Lance. After this, he appears only in his original form, where he's shown up a couple more times, but in smaller stories. Most-notably, he faced the Justice League of America in the early parts of JLA/Avengers. He also got taken down by the "Avengers" version of Hyperion, who fought him alongside Thor.

-Ultimately, it seems like Terminus is essentially the large-scale version of the "Journeyman Villain"- he doesn't have any one arch-nemesis, just a series of heroes in other books. Since he lacks a real personality beyond "Conquering Stuff", he has no depth of character, so he's free to just hassle anyone. His size and power means that he's a threat to any foe, and his credibility remains intact enough that he's still worth using as an "unstoppable villain", even though Hyperione basically one-shotted him by the old "Fly Through The Head" bad-ass modern-day-Supermanalogue trick.

-Terminus is PL 17, and with +25 Toughness and Withstand Damage, he can be nearly impossible to injure- he requires entire TEAMS of guys just to handle him, from The Avengers to The Justice League of America, and according to John Byrne's hyperbole in the guy's debut, his raw might rivals that of Galactus. He has antibodies living inside his armour, a Blast so powerful it can hit things from outer space and do +24 damage, he Regenerates from damage, and he can Fly. Your best hope is to disarm the Lance and break it (though he can still Summon it using his Armour, which I stuck as "Features" instead of some weird Affects Others Limited to Lance Reverse-Teleport because it's easier and neater that way) or use overwhelming force to crack the armour enough to get some better shots in. Quasar & Captain Universe-Powered Spider-Man once beat him via the age-old "Throw Him Into Space" trick, though I'm not sure why he didn't just fly back.

[HalloweenJack]

I was at the Chicago WIzardCon where the announcements were made for those female centric titles-Witches Three, AKA Charmed, Bloodstone the Monster Hunter, alias Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a Dark Angel rip-off whose name and title character I would have to research which I don't really care to do. Not sure why they'd do the third, since it wasn't that popular, but I remember Bendis talking about how ga-ga hot Jessica Alba was at another event, so that likely explains it.

Topaz' appearance likely was changed because she just looked too much like Kale, Clea, Dansen Macabre, and a bunch of other skinny, long blond haired, twenty-something "magic chicks"-Marvel was kind of lousy with that type, having a bunch left over from when magic/horror character briefly had a resurgence.

All my best.

was the third title Nightside by any chance?

Just looked it up, and yes, you're correct.

Oh, and I think there was another Thunderbolt, Jab:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbo ... el_Comics)

All my best.

cool beans

[Jabroniville]

TAPPING TOMMY
Created By: Bill Mantlo & Sam Grainger
First Appearance: The Defenders #30 (Dec. 1975)
Role: "WTF?" Mafia Don
Group Affiliations: The Maggia
PL 8 (79)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+8)
Athletics 6 (+8)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Dancing) 4 (+7)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+5)
Perception 2 (+4)

Advantages: 
Equipment 5, Fascination (Dancing), Improved Critical (Cane)

Powers:
"Expert Tapdancer" Quickness 2 (Flaws: Limited to Feet) [1]

Equipment:
"Bladed Tapdancing Cane" Strength-Damage +2 (2)
"Gas Grenades" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed/Exhausted/Asleep) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cloud +2, Ranged) (Diminished Range -1) (23)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Cane +7 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +9

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

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Tommy also needs money in order to buy his way out of the Maggia.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 4 (79)

-Tapping Tommy is a former Maggia member who decided to become a professional kidnapper. Who tap-dances. He kidnapped Kyle Richmond, and ends up sending his ransom note to DOCTOR STRANGE. Shockingly, Tommy beats The Defenders (who've come to rescue Kyle, who's actually Nighthawk) using GAS BOMBS and Robot Tapdancers (REALLY?). Hulk then headbutts Tommy into unconsciousness. He's never been seen since, despite being so entertainingly-horrible that he'd fit right alongside Turner D. Century.

-A generic Maggia goon, but with Gas Bombs that can apparently take out THE INCREDIBLE HULK? See, this is why I keep Fortitude Saves lower- guys are always going down to friggin' Knock-Out Gas. Unless the hero has a gas mask, that stuff has a 100% success rate. Barely PL 6 on offense otherwise, that gas apparently packs a punch.

[RUSCHE]

TERMINUS
Created By: John Byrne
First Appearance: The Fantastic Four #269 (Aug. 1984)
Role: Galactus Lite, Cosmic Destroyer
PL 17 (317)
STRENGTH 20 STAMINA 20 AGILITY -2
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 12 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Science) 7 (+19)
Expertise (History) 2 (+14)
Expertise (Space Traveller) 2 (+14)
Intimidation 10 (+10, +20 Size)
Perception 4 (+4)
Technology 8 (+20)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 7, Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness)

Powers:
"Organic Metal Body"
Growth 24 (Str & Sta +24, +24 Mass, +12 Intimidation, -12 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed, -24 Stealth) -- (500 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [49]
Regeneration 10 (Feats: Regrow Limbs, Diehard) [12]
Immunity 16 (Life Support, Heat Effects, Aging) [16]

"Terminus' Lance" (Flaws: Easily Removable) (Feats: Restricted to Huge Beings) [73]
"Cosmic Beam" Damage 17 (Extras: Area- 250ft. Line +4) (85) -- (88)

• AE: "Planet-Cracker" Blast 24 (Feats: Improved Range 15, Penetrating 13) (76)
• AE: "Atomic Storm" Energy Aura 15 (60)
• AE: "Energy Drain" Affliction 20 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Transformed to Powerless) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (Flaws: Limited to Energy Powers) (40)

Flight 14 (32,000 mph) (28)
Movement 2 (Space Travel 2) (4)
-- (120 points)

"Terminus' Armour" (Flaws: Removable) (Feats: Restricted to Huge Beings) [81]
Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious 19) (24)
Features 10: Summons Lance to His Side From Anywhere (10)
"Human-Sized Antibodies"
Summon 7 (Extras: Horde, Variable +1- Metal Bug Things & Humanoids, 8 Minions +6) (Flaws: Limited to When Armour is Penetrated) (63)
Healing 10 (Flaws: Affects Objects Only +0, Limited to Lance, Distracting) (4)
-- (101 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Atomic Storm +10 (+15 Damage, DC 30)
Blast +10 (+24 Ranged Damage, DC 39)
Cosmic Beam +17 Area (+17 Damage, DC 27)
Energy Drain +10 (+20 Ranged Affliction, DC 30)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +20 (+25 Armour, +10 Impervious), Fortitude +20, Will +8

Complications:
Weakness (Begins to Weaken if Lance is Removed)
Motivation (Greed)- Terminus is out to destroy planets, and sell their materials to the highest bidder. He doesn't care who he kills in the process.

Total: Abilities: 30 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 231 / Defenses: 30 (317)

-Terminus is a John Byrne creation, and ended up becoming a semi-recurring threat over the years- he even got a whole Summer's worth of Avengers Annuals as the main villain. He's basically a less-dangerous version of Galactus- less dangerous meaning he can take on the entire Avengers at once, and it takes the biggest strokes of luck possible to allow them to defeat him. How powerful is he? In his debut, he basically wrote "This planet belongs to me- Terminus" in GIANT FLAMING LETTERS... on EARTH. From 100 light years away! All with his Lance. This makes him a super-duper alpha-level threat, requiring entire teams to stop. Because of this, he doesn't show up often, but when he DOES, it's a big deal.

-Terminus is the result of an alien race that was mostly wiped out by the Celestials- their remnants went through a four-stage life cycle that congealed what were once thousands of "Termini" into a titanic being. His goal- to "scavenge" worlds, destroying them by taking their resources. He claims to have done so to HUNDREDS of worlds upon his debut, but was written very mysteriously- Reed was only able to stop him by driving him into the core of another planet using an "Acceleration Device" and burying him under millions of tons of rock. John Byrne eventually left FF, resulting in many later writers adding their own bits to his mythos (such as the whole "Life Cycle" thing).

-After his debut, he appears next in the Savage Land, confronting the X-Men- after that, he's seen in a few scattered books, such as Captain America, where he's being controlled by A.I.M.'s scientists. Looking into it, it seems that Mark Gruenwald took charge in most of his later appearances. A large number of "Termini" merge into a SECOND Terminus, resulting in a massive brawl between the two giants- the original was victorious, and consumed his foe to become the ultra-rare ULTERMINUS (so silly...)- it takes the arrival of two teams of Avengers as well as the Great Lakes Avengers team to stop him, as they cast him into space without his Lance. After this, he appears only in his original form, where he's shown up a couple more times, but in smaller stories. Most-notably, he faced the Justice League of America in the early parts of JLA/Avengers. He also got taken down by the "Avengers" version of Hyperion, who fought him alongside Thor.

-Ultimately, it seems like Terminus is essentially the large-scale version of the "Journeyman Villain"- he doesn't have any one arch-nemesis, just a series of heroes in other books. Since he lacks a real personality beyond "Conquering Stuff", he has no depth of character, so he's free to just hassle anyone. His size and power means that he's a threat to any foe, and his credibility remains intact enough that he's still worth using as an "unstoppable villain", even though Hyperione basically one-shotted him by the old "Fly Through The Head" bad-ass modern-day-Supermanalogue trick.

-Terminus is PL 17, and with +25 Toughness and Withstand Damage, he can be nearly impossible to injure- he requires entire TEAMS of guys just to handle him, from The Avengers to The Justice League of America, and according to John Byrne's hyperbole in the guy's debut, his raw might rivals that of Galactus. He has antibodies living inside his armour, a Blast so powerful it can hit things from outer space and do +24 damage, he Regenerates from damage, and he can Fly. Your best hope is to disarm the Lance and break it (though he can still Summon it using his Armour, which I stuck as "Features" instead of some weird Affects Others Limited to Lance Reverse-Teleport because it's easier and neater that way) or use overwhelming force to crack the armour enough to get some better shots in. Quasar & Captain Universe-Powered Spider-Man once beat him via the age-old "Throw Him Into Space" trick, though I'm not sure why he didn't just fly back.

As tough as he is, Hercules tore his armor with his bare hands during th savage land fight with the Avengers. Je was left to die on the snow. Is tha a plot device or utter toughness failure?

[Ken]

Terminus also has an Immunity to Mind Reading. Maybe it was only vs DC characters, but J'onn couldn't read Terminus' mind.

[Shock]

-A generic Maggia goon, but with Gas Bombs that can apparently take out THE INCREDIBLE HULK? See, this is why I keep Fortitude Saves lower- guys are always going down to friggin' Knock-Out Gas. Unless the hero has a gas mask, that stuff has a 100% success rate. Barely PL 6 on offense otherwise, that gas apparently packs a punch.

That's usually GM Fiat. "You're all knocked out and now in a death trap. Here's a Hero Point." It's always a fight ender. You don't usually see some characters drop and others stay up. And it's always a one-time thing.

[Ares]

As tough as he is, Hercules tore his armor with his bare hands during th savage land fight with the Avengers. Je was left to die on the snow. Is tha a plot device or utter toughness failure?

They revealed later that Terminus was an imposter, mimicking the original Terminus for shock value. When Her tried that against the real Terminus, he bounced off without harming the big T at all.

[Jabroniville]

Goldar said thus about Tapping Tommy:

The thing about Tapping Tommy, and I remember he was in ish #30, is that I think they tried to make him very suave and debonair, almost a Fred Astaire villain type! However, if you look at the inset pic, he doesn't look quite as handsome as his tapping pic! But it does look a little more like Fred A than the tapping pic.

[RUSCHE]

As tough as he is, Hercules tore his armor with his bare hands during th savage land fight with the Avengers. Je was left to die on the snow. Is tha a plot device or utter toughness failure?

They revealed later that Terminus was an imposter, mimicking the original Terminus for shock value. When Her tried that against the real Terminus, he bounced off without harming the big T at all.

Thanks for the correction, it has been a long time since I took this issues out and read them.