Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Blackfire

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image
Image

Blackfire being hot and sexy now is so weird.

BLACKFIRE (Princess Komand'r of Tamaran)
Created By:
Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: The New Teen Titans #22 (Aug. 1982)
Role: Rival Princess, Supreme Bitch
PL 11 (176)
STRENGTH
6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+9)
Deception 11 (+12)
Expertise (Bitch) 6 (+8)
Expertise (Military) 5 (+7)
Intimidation 7 (+10)
Perception 5 (+7)
Persuasion 4 (+6)
Stealth 3 (+7)
Technology 4 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+7)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Benefit 4 (Queen), Diehard, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Starbolts) 2, Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 5, Startle

Powers:
"Tamaranean Physiology"
Immunity 2 (Vacuum, Suffocation) [2]
Immunity 2 (Cold, Pressure) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [1]
Comprehend (Speak, Understand & Read All Languages) 3 (Quirks: Requires Physical Contact With Speaker First) [5]

"Starbolts" Blast 12 (Feats: Split, Extended Range) (Extras: Penetrating 6) (32) -- [33]
  • AE: "Starbolt Streak" Damage 11 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (22)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Starbolts +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Starbolt Streak +11 Area (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +6, Fortitude +7, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Tamaran)- Komand'r is one of fairly-few Tamaraneans left in the universe (after their homeworld blew up THREE FRIGGIN' TIMES). She will violently defend her remaining people.
Enemy (Princess Koriand'r- aka Starfire)- Komand'r has a sister- beloved by her parents and the people. She has hated Koriand'r from birth, and has constantly sought to see her suffer- including selling her into slavery and torturing her.
Power Loss (Solar-Powered)- Komand'r's Solar Blasts require solar energy to work- if left without sunlight for too long, her powers will grow weaker.
Disabled (Flightless)- Komand'r lacks the Flight ability of Tamaraneans, a disability which is treated as nearly-abhorent by their society. As such, she feels discriminated against.
Relationship (Vril Dox)- Terrifyingly, Komand'r has decided that Dox's arrogant personality matches her own, and has decided that he is her consort.

Total: Abilities: 82 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 17 / Powers: 41 / Defenses: 11 (176)

-Kori's sister Blackfire is a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE person. Given the "well she didn't have it so great" origin of being disabled (Flightless) and having been born on the same day as a Citadel attack, she grew up grim and isolated herself from others, and ESPECIALLY hated her prettier, more outgoing, more mobile sister Koriand'r (Starfire of the Teen Titans). Since Kori was going to be the next ruler instead of her, Komand'r decided to basically make her innocent sister suffer whenever she could- she murdered her beloved pet, bullied her during their warrior training on Okaara, and even tried to KILL HER during a practise duel! Banished for her duplicity and evil, Komand'r betrayed all of Tamaran to The Citadel, who invaded and nearly genocided the whole race- the subsequent surrender treaty forced poor Kori to go into lifelong slavery, as she was brutalized by a series of cruel masters, all while Komand'r sat and watched, with a sinister smirk permanently etched across her face.

-Komand'r was a Mirror Image Villain in a lot of ways, having the same race, gender and hair as her sister- they even had copied POWERS. The Psions, a cruel race of scientists & experimenters, who had captured both sisters and given them Starbolt powers. But while Starfire was outgoing, happy, and exuberant, Blackfire was cold, merciless, and sinister.

-By the time Kori had freed herself and joined the Titans, Komand'r was a high-powered agent of The Citadel, who soon kidnapped Kori once again and led the Titans on a star-faring Space Opera battle. Kori defeating her ended that situation. Some early '90s Titans comics featured Blackfire working with a guy who loved her- his ultimate sacrifice empowered her to be herself once more- she'd been faltering beforehand, and he wanted to bring back the power in her. But this was largely the end of her until modern times.

-She later appeared during the Rann-Thanagar War, where she killed Hawkwoman, and sorta became a Hawkman enemy for a while, also fighting the R.E.B.E.L.S., but decided that leader Vril Dox would be a suitable mate (*shudder*... can you imagine the egotism of the offspring of THAT unholy union?!?). I feel like the Teen Titans cartoon actually did a good job of her (which says something, since I don't enjoy that show), as Blackfire was turned into "Starfire's Cool, Hot Sister", and a TOTAL Bad Girl that enamored all the male Titans, but turned out to be bad news. She had a real "Shego" vibe to her, and was really cool. The comic book version is kind a bit too... Disney Villain to be a proper Comic Book Villain, I think.

-Blackfire is noticeably more powerful than her sister in terms of Blasting, but is less well-rounded (I'LL SAY!!- Ba-dum-tsssshhh!) overall, lacking a lot of social skills aside from lying. But HOLY GOD is she ever evil. I mean, she is nasty enough to arrange her sister's torture for YEARS, kill thousands of her own people, and more, just because she felt slighted as a child! She's like if The Wicked Queen or Lady Tremaine from Disney Films had SUPER-POWERS.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
FuzzyBoots
Posts: 2396
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:20 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Re: Jab’s Builds (Deathstroke! The Fearsome Five! Doctor Light!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:41 pm haha, was that VideoGames Magazine, by any chance? Because I'm very sure I had the same one! They had this conversation about how a developer's girlfriend played the one girl, but they broke up mid-game, and they were delighted that she still came back to finish the shooting :)!
Yup. The soldier guy's actor wanted an oversized sprite, but that made him too overpowering, so it was changed to instead be a temporary state he could induce. I remember them also talking about manually adding shiny spots on his pecs to make him look more muscular. And by the time they did reshoots, he'd grown a beard, and refused to shave off the "soul patch", which means his in-game sprite and his select screen image look a bit different.
greycrusader
Posts: 1179
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:25 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Re: Jab’s Builds (Deathstroke! The Fearsome Five! Doctor Light!)

Post by greycrusader »

Yeah Jab, Komand'r/Blackfire is a character who REALLY changed over the last half of her existence in comics-I mean, she was responsible for the near extermination of her own race and now she's the ruler and protector of the Tamareans?! Even as a ruthlessly pragmatic queen, that is a BIG stretch, though given how many times DC has rebooted, it's tough to say what her current history does or does not include. And yes, other artists have drawn her as MUCH more attractive (getting rid of the ridiculous eyebrows and super-angular face help a lot in that regard).

Blackfire does point up a major weakness with the original villains created for the Titans by Perez and Wolfman-almost NONE of them have any real pathos or even motivating factor in their villainy aside from just "FOR THE LULZ OF EVIL". Trigon is a demon lord, The Fearsome Five are all career criminals driven by greed and power lust except for Psimon (who was immediately corrupted by Trigon's curse/gift), Deathstroke is a merc and assassin for hire, Terra is just a psychopath and borderline psychotic...no real nuance at all.

I suppose Blackfire at least was resentful of her relative disability and being passed over for rulership, though even then it was explicitly stated her parents did NOT favor Koriand'r in any way. And Plasmus of the Brotherhood was just a normal miner before his radiation accident, but again, just portrayed as utterly criminally insane due to his deformities and lethal "condition".

I really like the idea of The Fearsome Five as JOURNEYMEN super-crooks, rather than jobbers-they should be regarded as basically competent and rather dangerous, even by most experienced super-heroes, just not in class of the JLA or even most of the Titans (though some of them could match up well one on one). Tone down the core members as Ares suggests, and have Neutron be the REALLY big gun-just say he fills in when one of the other five are in prison or otherwise unavailable, and sometimes just hangs out with them regardless due to friendships formed while they were all incarcerated together.

All my best.

Oh-and my votes are for either Power Instinct or Thundercats.
User avatar
catsi563
Posts: 4126
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:29 pm
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Contact:

Re: Jab’s Builds (Deathstroke! The Fearsome Five! Doctor Light!)

Post by catsi563 »

Blackfire to me is one of the more interesting ideas about how beauty can be different form a different perspective. Komandir for example is by most notes just as beautiful as Starfire in all the ways that matter but among her people she was considered ugly and deformed solely because she CANT FLY. this was her big crime and thus lead to her basically being shuffled aside for her younger"" prettier"" sister.

the resentment lead to her making the types of rash and bad decisions that lead to her being a villain. made all the more tragic because by all stories Kori had no hatred for her sister at all.
Dr. Silverback has wryly observed that this is like trying to teach lolcats about Shakespeare

Showdown at the Litterbox

Catsi stories
User avatar
Goldar
Posts: 1229
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 2:10 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Deathstroke! The Fearsome Five! Doctor Light!)

Post by Goldar »

Ken wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 9:36 pm
Goldar wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 5:00 pm
FuzzyBoots wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 2:07 pm My top three preferences, in order:
  • Power Instinct - There were some really unique ideas in the game
  • Namor Builds - As the first superhero to fly in the comics, deserves more credit than he gets, plus it gives you a chance to stat out his ability to emulate a pufferfish. :-D
  • Way of the Warrior - Never played it, but I have a guilty fascination with it because one of the game magazines I got as a kid had an in-depth interview about the design of the characters and yes, it basically was friends of the developers rather than anyone professional.
Namor never looks puffy-- he is svelt! :P
Never?

Image
Hey! I never saw that pic! Thou shalt not mock the Avenging Son!
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Epsilon

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

EPSILON
Created By:
Jay Faerber & Paul Pelletier
First Appearance: Titans #21 (Dec. 2000)
Role: Infiltrator, Flying Brick
PL 10 (167)
STRENGTH
10 STAMINA 10 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 6 (+9, +11 Attractive)
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+6)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Perception 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Generic Energy) 4 (+10)
Technology 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Attractive, Interpose, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Ranged Attack 4, Withstand Damage

Powers:
"Generic Energy" Blast 10 [20]
"Flies For Some Reason" Flight 8 (500 mph) [16]
Immunity 20 (Magical Effects) [20]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Energy Blasts +9 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +10, Fortitude +10, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Invading The Titans)- Epsilon basically has the same schtick Terra did; he wants to go into the Titans and destroy them from within.

Total: Abilities: 86 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 56 / Defenses: 8 (167)

-Epsilon was part of a LUDICROUSLY-long storyline in Jay Faerber's Titans run- a generic Evil Flying Brick/Blaster who tried to pull a "Terra" with the team, but ended up getting Possessed by one of the D.E.O. Orphans the team sorta adopted, and so he mostly acted like a good guy instead. He hooked up with Argent (who didn't know that a young boy was possessing this big hunk o' man), eventually got revealed, and Argent cursed him out... just as the kid died. Then they kind of dropped the whole thing because it was boring.

-He's a pricey one thanks to his very basic, but big, power-set, and he's got a big Immunity to Magic (neither Dark Angel nor Tempest could hurt him with their powers). He had a girlfriend named Theta who basically has identical powers- they were partners in evil & such, but both would eventually drop to a protracted battle (Argent K.O.'d Theta, and the Possessing Kid took her over and nearly killed Epsilon). Thanks to New Villain Stink, they'd probably be PL 8-9 if ever encountered again.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Brother Blood

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image

BROTHER BLOOD (Sebastian Blood VIII)
Created By:
Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: The New Teen Titans #21 (July 1982)
Role: Cult/National Leader
Group Affiliations: Zandia
PL 9 (158)
STRENGTH
8 STAMINA 10 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 5

Skills:
Athletics 1 (+9)
Deception 8 (+13)
Expertise (History) 6 (+9)
Expertise (Religion) 10 (+13)
Expertise (Dictator) 7 (+10)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 3 (+8)
Perception 3 (+7)
Persuasion 6 (+11)
Technology 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Benefit 5 (Nation/Church Ruler of Zandia), Fascination (Persuasion), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
Immunity 1 (Aging) [1]
Impervious Toughness 13 [13]

"The Shawl of Blood" (Flaws: Removable) [8]
Immunity 10 (Mental Powers) (10 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +10 (+6 Impervious), Fortitude +10, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Power)- Blood wishes to extend the Church of Blood across the world.
Responsibility (Curse)- Blood's family is doomed to be killed by a son before their hundredth year.

Total: Abilities: 90 / Skills: 60--30 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 8 (158)

-I always detested stories like Brother Blood's, even back when I was a kid. Not him SPECIFICALLY, but... this kind of tale. I'm still trying to figure out why I hate it, but I have the same kind of visceral hate for Mojo stories, The X-Tinction Agenda, the "Five Years Later" Legion of Super-Heroes run, and the Brother Blood arc in the Teen Titans. And the only thing all four have in common (only two have Wacky Cartoonish Ass villains) is this ultra-bleak sense of hopelessness- the heroes trapped in a foreign land, completely at the mercy of an entire government. Maybe because... it's boring? The heroes spend the whole time in stealth mode or in chains. Maybe the hopelessness of the situation (a nation against them)? I dunno- Latveria-based stories never do this to me. Possibly because the heroes feel more HEROIC in those cases- Doom's an evil ruler, but it's not the FF fighting an entire country or always being in jail- they usually show up, kick ass, and go home. I'm starting to think it's just how depressing every one of these stories feels, almost until the end (and even then, usually the villain's still in charge of their country).

-So yeah, Brother Blood is the ruler of the nation of Zandia- an infamous haven for criminals. Conceptually, it feels more like an Eastern European nation, though feels more "regular European" in culture aside from the whole "Ruled by a Blood Cult" thing. He's basically a combination of religious icon (ruling the "Church of Blood") and President-For-Life, and tries to pass off his country as desiring the freedom to practice their religion... while said religion involves secret blood sacrifices.

-The origin of the Blood family is that one Priest slew another to gain possession of Christ's prayer shawl. The shawl made him invincible and ageless, but he was also cursed to be slain by his own son before his hundredth birthday. And so his son slew him, and so on, until seven-hundred years later, we have THIS asshole. The leader of a "Filler Arc" set right before The Judas Contract, Blood wished to extend the Church of Blood beyond Zandia's borders. A snotty reporter named Bethany Snow made the Titans' attempts to stall the cult difficult, because she herself was a member of the Church, and played up the Titans as bigots against religious tradition in her reports.

-Brother Blood captured and brainwashed Dick Grayson in an attempt to gain control of Raven's power. Dick was very nearly forced to execute the entire captured Titans team, but Starfire's labored shrieks of "I LOVE YOU!!! I LOVE YOU!!!" while she screamed and cried for him broke the brainwashing, and we had a good old-fashioned ass-kicking. Raven's power seemingly destroyed Blood's mind, and his wife later birthed a girl, suggesting the end of the curse.

-This was, surprisingly, the END of Brother Blood. Which shocks me, because nearly every subsequent Teen Titans Reunion Special or whatever has them reminisce about their past adventures, and always lists Brother Blood among their enemies like it's "Trigon, Deathstroke, or Brother Blood" as if they were all frequent adversaries, and this guy was just a one-off. In fact, the character then went TWENTY-FOUR YEARS without appearing, and at that point did so (having recovered his sanity) only to be slain by a young boy, Sebastian, who proclaimed himself to be the NEW Brother Blood.

-Brother Blood is quite physically-powerful and durable- it's hard to say just how much, given he lived for just one story arc.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Jab’s Builds (Deathstroke! The Fearsome Five! Doctor Light!)

Post by Ares »

Heh, yeah, this dope gets a major artifact and Dr. Doom-style control of a nation. Wow. The Teen Titans cartoon actually did a better job, making him the headmaster of HIVE's supervillain academy, training the next generation of villains, often using mind control.

What they honestly should have done is use him as some foreshadowing for the Trigon arc, making his religion actually a Cult of Trigon with him being a high priest of Trigon. Go for a very Lovecraft vibe where he's channeling all this dark magic of his god through him and be a major threat, maybe with only Raven realizing where his powers are coming from but keeping quiet about it, as a kind of foreshadowing of her fall to darkness.

In my own personal head cannon, the Bloodlines aliens are more like the Lovecraftian nightmares they appear to be, the main parasites being the weakest mortal forms of the elder gods they eventually create, and Brother Blood's cult actually worships them. Their worship is part of why the parasites wind up on Earth, where they'd infect a small town in a very Shadow Over Innsmuth sort of way, with a normal population being controlled by evil Bloodlines types, ruled over by Brother Blood's representative, Cardinal Sin. Make it much more of a Lovecraft horror style event with some slasher/Aliens style horror thrown in for fun.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Epsilon

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 2:33 am Image

EPSILON
Created By:
Jay Faerber & Paul Pelletier
First Appearance: Titans #21 (Dec. 2000)
Role: Infiltrator, Flying Brick
PL 10 (167)

-Epsilon was part of a LUDICROUSLY-long storyline in Jay Faerber's Titans run- a generic Evil Flying Brick/Blaster who tried to pull a "Terra" with the team, but ended up getting Possessed by one of the D.E.O. Orphans the team sorta adopted, and so he mostly acted like a good guy instead. He hooked up with Argent (who didn't know that a young boy was possessing this big hunk o' man), eventually got revealed, and Argent cursed him out... just as the kid died. Then they kind of dropped the whole thing because it was boring.

-He's a pricey one thanks to his very basic, but big, power-set, and he's got a big Immunity to Magic (neither Dark Angel nor Tempest could hurt him with their powers). He had a girlfriend named Theta who basically has identical powers- they were partners in evil & such, but both would eventually drop to a protracted battle (Argent K.O.'d Theta, and the Possessing Kid took her over and nearly killed Epsilon). Thanks to New Villain Stink, they'd probably be PL 8-9 if ever encountered again.
I feel kind of bad for Jay Faerber, as most of the problems with his run apparently weren't his fault, but the editor actively not knowing or liking the Titans and hoping to actually make the DEO Orphans into the main stars of the book. I just . . . what?

I also don't know why, but I've always like "Epsilon" as a code name. No idea why, it just sounded cool.

And I have to admit, the set up for this whole story and what Faerber wanted was kind of cool. There were two ideas for Epsilon, either of which could have worked. First was that he was a multiversal serial killer, and when he encountered Donna Troy (who at the time had been erased from everyone's memories magically) he recognized her because he was from outside this dimension.

The second idea was that an older Titan's villain had captured Danny Chase's soul and created the Epsilon body for it, and was using Epsilon and Danny as advanced agents for his own revenge on the Titans. It would be a reverse Terra situation where you had a hero under control of a villain infiltrate the heroes, betray them against his will, but break free and become a hero again. What Jay wanted to do was make Danny a villain, thus satisfying the folks that rightly hate the little brat, but also redeem him and show that any character can be good with the right effort put into them, essentially wanting to Catman or Immortal Iron Fist Danny (heh) before those books were a thing. And you know, that might have actually worked. Danny Chase's big problems was that he was portrayed as a big deal without backing it up, went around without a costume because he was too cool for it, was a snarky, mean-spirited little asshole without justification or comeuppance, and was Marv Wolfman's pet character.

Here, he's given a decent outfit, an actual code name, his powers are turned into a kind of Tactcile Telekinesis, he's given legitimate angst and trauma, and he's got a chance for redemption as he fights against an evil controlling him. This could have potentially been either the story to make Danny Chase a decent character . . . or an eye-roller where the most hated Titan is brought back, forgiven and made awesome.

Given the mess the later half of the Titans book became and how nonsensical the whole mess with the DEO Orphans and Epsilon's story became, I would have been willing to take my chances with the Danny Chase story.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
User avatar
KorokoMystia
Posts: 1402
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:42 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Psimon! Doctor Light! Blackfire! Brother Blood!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

Greek letters just seem to make cool codenames, it seems. Alpha, Gamma, Beta, Omega, Epsilon, Sigma, ect. Though are are quite a bit rarer.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Psimon! Doctor Light! Blackfire! Brother Blood!)

Post by Jabroniville »

KorokoMystia wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 5:21 am Greek letters just seem to make cool codenames, it seems. Alpha, Gamma, Beta, Omega, Epsilon, Sigma, ect. Though are are quite a bit rarer.
Upsilon sucks, though :).
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Jab’s Builds (Psimon! Doctor Light! Blackfire! Brother Blood!)

Post by Ares »

KorokoMystia wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 5:21 am Greek letters just seem to make cool codenames, it seems. Alpha, Gamma, Beta, Omega, Epsilon, Sigma, ect. Though are are quite a bit rarer.
Lets not forget Psi and Chi. :mrgreen:
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Deathstroke! The Fearsome Five! Doctor Light!)

Post by Jabroniville »

greycrusader wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 12:00 am Yeah Jab, Komand'r/Blackfire is a character who REALLY changed over the last half of her existence in comics-I mean, she was responsible for the near extermination of her own race and now she's the ruler and protector of the Tamareans?! Even as a ruthlessly pragmatic queen, that is a BIG stretch, though given how many times DC has rebooted, it's tough to say what her current history does or does not include. And yes, other artists have drawn her as MUCH more attractive (getting rid of the ridiculous eyebrows and super-angular face help a lot in that regard).
It's really weird, but it DOES feel very "Disney Villain"- like instead of being a standard hot chick she's all freaky and angular like Maleficent. Her over-the-top evil (basically being a genocidal traitor, a heartless slayer of innocents, and constantly preying on her innocent sister) just adds to it. Which is funny because recent history more or less ignores that and makes her just a "Selfish Bitch Queen" type.
Blackfire does point up a major weakness with the original villains created for the Titans by Perez and Wolfman-almost NONE of them have any real pathos or even motivating factor in their villainy aside from just "FOR THE LULZ OF EVIL". Trigon is a demon lord, The Fearsome Five are all career criminals driven by greed and power lust except for Psimon (who was immediately corrupted by Trigon's curse/gift), Deathstroke is a merc and assassin for hire, Terra is just a psychopath and borderline psychotic...no real nuance at all.
This is a good point. While the X-Men had guys like that (Proteus was more or less 100% evil), Claremont was MUCH better about making sure his villains were at least a little bit understandable. Obviously Magneto is the best example for that in the entire genre, but still.
Horsenhero
Posts: 941
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 9:01 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Psimon! Doctor Light! Blackfire! Brother Blood!)

Post by Horsenhero »

Ares wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 6:07 am
KorokoMystia wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 5:21 am Greek letters just seem to make cool codenames, it seems. Alpha, Gamma, Beta, Omega, Epsilon, Sigma, ect. Though are are quite a bit rarer.
Lets not forget Psi and Chi. :mrgreen:
Yeah, but if you use Psi Chi on the same character then they sound like a psionic martial arts dude...which doesn't suck as a concept. 8-)
User avatar
KorokoMystia
Posts: 1402
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:42 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Psimon! Doctor Light! Blackfire! Brother Blood!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

Horsenhero wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 6:48 am
Ares wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 6:07 am
KorokoMystia wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 5:21 am Greek letters just seem to make cool codenames, it seems. Alpha, Gamma, Beta, Omega, Epsilon, Sigma, ect. Though are are quite a bit rarer.
Lets not forget Psi and Chi. :mrgreen:
Yeah, but if you use Psi Chi on the same character then they sound like a psionic martial arts dude...which doesn't suck as a concept. 8-)
Is there a character that uses that concept? I mean, I guess Mantis kinda counts.
Post Reply