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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Thorpocalypse
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Vehicles! Avengers Academy!)

Post by Thorpocalypse »

Ares wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 2:55 pm
M4C8 wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 2:40 pm One of the things I've always had trouble suspending disbelief with in superhero comics is people having relationships with non-human/monstrous looking characters, yes I know personality can be a turn on and is something that can lead to love but I still find it weird, and that's not even taking into account some of the physical realities of the situation.
As Henry Kissinger once put it, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac".
Folks, life is WAY stranger than art...

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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Vehicles! Avengers Academy!)

Post by Ares »

As for Hazmat, I just found her completely unlikable. And I like characters who have some pathos and turmoil, folks like Wildfire who is basically Hazmat but even worse off. But Hazmat was just . . . well, for lack of a better word, a real b*tch. I mean, I get it. She's a teenage girl in a really crappy situation that would be difficult for almost anyone to deal with. But she was just such a nasty, hostile person that I get the feeling she was already pretty rotten as a character and her situation just exacerbated what was already there.

There was that stand out scene where she was ranting about how the only guys she could be intimate with were ugly, which hurt Mettle's feelings until she explained that she was talking about Butterball/Boulder, commenting that his ass was "wide enough to show a movie on". I just wondered how in the Hell this was suppose to fix what she said, because all it implies is that she's still very shallow, she just would rather be with a big buff guy with a weird face than a normal looking fat guy.

And believe me, I'm a pretty harsh critic of the "body positivity" and "healthy at any size" movements, but Butterball is someone who literally can't help the way he looks because his powers prevent him from getting into shape. He's not someone like Faith who could actually get into shape with a few months of altering her food intake and exercising. Between being unable to better himself and his limited ability to feel anything Butterball's powers suck almost as much as Hazmat's. Faith is essentially just kind of lazy.

Throw in her casual racism towards Iron Fist, the way she insulted Hank Pym for his mental problems, the way she's just generally rude, condescending and self-righteous to everyone, I can't imagine why anyone liked this character unless you just have a thing for b*tchy women. Which, I mean, some folks do, but they went the extra mile with Hazmat. Just watch her bond with Runaways Nico Minoru.

The only thing that kept her from being completely unlikable was the occasional moments of genuine heroism she had, such as when she decided to stay behind and face the Worthy versions of Titania and Absorbing Man. I can't even give her any props for her relationship with Mettle.

And hey, look, she mastered her powers to where she doesn't need the suit anymore and can have a normal life. Wonder what excuse they'll use for her bad behavior now.
"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."
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Vehicles! Avengers Academy!)

Post by Ares »

Thorpocalypse wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:47 pm
Ares wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 2:55 pm
M4C8 wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 2:40 pm One of the things I've always had trouble suspending disbelief with in superhero comics is people having relationships with non-human/monstrous looking characters, yes I know personality can be a turn on and is something that can lead to love but I still find it weird, and that's not even taking into account some of the physical realities of the situation.
As Henry Kissinger once put it, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac".
Folks, life is WAY stranger than art...

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Spectrum
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Vehicles! Avengers Academy!)

Post by Spectrum »

M4C8 wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 2:40 pm One of the things I've always had trouble suspending disbelief with in superhero comics is people having relationships with non-human/monstrous looking characters, yes I know personality can be a turn on and is something that can lead to love but I still find it weird, and that's not even taking into account some of the physical realities of the situation.
You've not met any furries/otherkin, have you?
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Jabroniville
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Reptil

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

REPTIL (Humberto Lopez)
Created By:
Christos Gage & Steve Uy
First Appearance: Avengers- The Initiative: Featuring Reptil #1 (June 2010)
Role: Animal Morpher
PL 8 (114)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+4)
Deception 6 (+7)
Insight 2 (+4)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"Crystal Medallion" (Flaws: Removable) [48]
"Dino-Morpher"
Shapeshift 6 (48)
Morph 3 (Flaws: Limited to Reptiles) (12)
Senses 3 (Reptile Awareness- Ranged & Acute) (3)
-- (60 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Dinosaur Powers +6-8 (+2-10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Repressed)- Reptil does not express himself openly very often, and it's believed that this repression is causing trouble in controlling his abilities.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 48 / Defenses: 11 (114)

Reptil- From TV to the Funny Books:
-Reptil is one of those age-old ideas- a new character created for an Animated Series who then is transplanted into the comics. Harley Quinn and X-23 both got this treatment, and Reptil was done with extreme speed. The character debuted as part of the cartoonish Marvel Super Hero Squad show, where he was a young Latino hero recruited onto the Avengers, where he became a signature character. Sort of a "Fans' Eye View" guy who had things explained to him. He was a minority hero on a team that's always struggled to find good ones for the supporting media (Avengers: EMH used the Black Panther as a rarely-speaking "Guy Who's Good At Everything"; the MCU threw in a half-dozen Backgrounders onto the team but mainly focused on others; Avengers Assemble awkwardly stuck The Falcon in there as their "Spunky Young Rookie"), and relentlessly "Kid-Focused"- his power was to turn into DINOSAURS.

-The biggest issue I had with him was that his name sounds kinda dumb. "Reptil" is just Spanish for "Reptile", but I find it sounds weird.

Reptil in Avengers Academy:
-The comic book version is a teenager, and joined Avengers Academy instead of the main Avengers rosters. He's the child of two paleontologists who found a crystalized bone with magic powers- wearing it as a medallion, Humberto Lopez can transform into any reptile. His parents later disappeared on a dig, and he became a hero in hopes of finding them. He joins the Initiative, but has bad luck on his first mission, losing his temper against Stegron and putting his team at risk, but regroups and is instrumental in beating the villain and rescuing Moon-Boy and seeing him home.

-Reptil is then placed on the Avengers Academy book, which sees him finally gain more control over his abilities- instead of merely adopted Dinosaurian traits (wings, claws, etc.), he can now fully transform. However, an early fight against Michael Korvac's super-powered Cosmic Bride, Carina, sees the team replaced with potential adult versions of themselves from the future- while most of the team are returned to normal (and have to deal with what their future selves are like), Reptil is actually stuck as an adult! However, he eventually returns to normal, and shows great leadership abilities, until his future self takes control of his body, and starts trying to ensure that his future comes to pass. In the end, he can't bring himself to kill his fellow students, and leaves current Reptil to his fate.

-By the end of Avengers Academy, Reptil has entered into a relationship with White Tiger, but soon they're on different books- he is abducted into Arcade's Murderworld island with the rest of his team. He doesn't actually get up to much in the book, which largely focuses on other characters from the looks of things (though he saves everyone from an exploding Hazmat), and in the end, he doesn't join them in subsequent stories- he joins Leonardo da Vinci's attempt at a replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Reptil's Powers:
-Reptil has the AMAZING (and hard-to-draw, which is probably why he's written out of later stuff) ability to transform into reptiles, primarily dinosaurs, though he can do crocodiles and stuff, too. This makes him one of comics' rare Animal Shapeshifter-types, which enables him to be very versatile- flying like a pterosaur, running like an ostrich mimic, attacking like a raptor, or throwing down like a T-Rex or Triceratops. He's one of the only people on the team with a legit win over a solo super-villain, as he manages to overpower and K.O. The Rhino of all people during a fight against the Sinister Six. This brings up one of those funny things in comics, where a guy can lift fifty tons, but a mere animal (who under no circumstances could lift such a weight) can still overpower them.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:59 am, edited 3 times in total.
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Vehicles! Avengers Academy!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

I could make a Beast Boy comparison but..I couldn’t think of a joke.
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kreuzritter
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Hazmat! Reptil!)

Post by kreuzritter »

Oh good. Arena had very strongly implied that Reptil'd died in trying to save everyone from Hazmat's meltdown. nice to know somebody used that ambiguity to put him back in the toybox
Jabroniville
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Striker

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

STRIKER (Brandon Sharpe)
Created By:
Christos Gage & Mike McKone
First Appearance: Avengers Academy #1 (June 2010)
Role: Blaster, Fame-Seeker, Mandatory Gay Teenage Hero
PL 8 (94)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Acting) 3 (+6)
Insight 2 (+4)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Electricity) 3 (+8)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
Electrical Blast 8 (Feats: Split) (17) -- [18]
  • AE: "Short Out" Affliction 8 (Fort/Tech Skill of Creator; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged) (16)
Electrical Force Field 4 [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Blast +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Short Out +8 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3 (+7 Force Field), Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Prejudice (Gay)
Responsibility (Rape Victim)- Striker was subjected to molestation when he was younger.

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 12 (94)

-Striker (was that REALLY the best they could do for a code-name? I think I came up with that when I could literally think of nothing interesting) is an interesting case- a look into the rarely-tred ground of "Superhero As Celebrity". For whatever reason, comics doesn't touch on this aspect so much, but in Striker, we had a criticism of the "Child Star" phenomenon, complete with a pushy, clingy "Star Mom" character. Striker even had a history that included one of those unspoken dirty aspects of the "Child Star" thing- that of predatory managers who lust after these kids, and use their positions of high power to take advantage of their young victims, hungry for fame. Both of the "Coreys" of the '80s mentioned being victimized by this mentality, and there's a lot of dark stuff out there about just how common this was in Hollywood, and how it was covered up.

-That said, neither that nor his eventual announcement of his homosexuality were dwelled upon overly much- it was more his issues with his domineering mother (who once paid the supervillain Whirlwind to attack the Academy kids and feign defeat against Striker to help "put him over", in wrestling terms), his own desires for fame, and the fact that he electrically-tortured The Hood for his torturing of the Academy kids' teacher, Tigra. He was expelled for this, but later brought back in. He even stages a press conference to reveal his sexuality to the world, showing his own fame-hungry side. However, for whatever reason (fear over the "Bury Your Gays" trope?), he is not included in the subsequent sequel books, unlike most of his team- he misses out on Arcade's Murderworld, and is only briefly involved in Avengers Undercover. He was last seen joining Reptil in Leonardo da Vinci's replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D.

-Striker is a pretty generic Blaster character, albeit he has a Force Field, making him one of the more defensively-balanced members of his team.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Ares
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Hazmat! Reptil!)

Post by Ares »

Yeah, Striker seems more like a name for either a martial artist, a commando type, or some kind of brick. Heck, Striker is so generic I figure it'd be combined with something like Crimson Striker or Striker One or something. Then again, I'm guessing a lot of the really good electrical hero code names are taken.

The Superheroes as Celebrities thing is something that's popped up here and there, but rarely been something that's had a whole book dedicated to it. Arrowette over in Young Justice had the "Star Mom" syndrome, with her mom eventually realizing what she'd done and tried to make amends. The comic WildGuard had a slightly less jaded look at the phenomenon, while that one really crappy volume of New Warriors tried to combine that with a Reality TV Show. Booster Gold had that as his whole character, though he got Flanderized to hell and back as being an idiot and a jerk when his solo book really had him as more straightforward and a little clueless at times. Supposedly a lot of Image heroes had tried the Celebrity Superhero route, especially Youngblood, but in practice it was more about doing big government sponsored super fights.

The Netflix adaptation of The Boys is a much more straightforward of "Superheroes as Celebrities" and goes into full deconstruction mode, though it's more a criticism of the sports star lifestyle than of superheroes.

So it has come up every now and then, but I get the feeling we rarely see books centered around it for a couple of reasons. For one, it's a deconstruction of superheroes to some extent, and I've rarely seen a deconstruction that didn't work better as a limited series than as an ongoing. For another, it's not a very fun topic, being a depressing examination of what some people will do for fame, including abusing their own children. It works better when it's one character as part of a group where that's their subplot rather than being the focus of the book, so it doesn't drag the entire team down into really depressing territory.
"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)

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Jabroniville
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Finesse

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image

FINESSE (Jeanne Foucault)
Created By:
Christos Gage & Mike McKone
First Appearance: Avengers Academy #1 (June 2010)
Role: Skill Mimic, The Sociopath
PL 8 (157)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 10 (+12)
Deception 8 (+7)
Insight 9 (+13)
Intimidation 4 (+3)
Investigation 3 (+7)
Perception 8 (+12)
Stealth 1 (+7)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Eidetic Memory, Expertise (Batons +2- Split), Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Ranged Attack 6, Takedown 2

Powers:
"Photographic Reflexes"
"Powers of Observation" Enhanced Advantages 3: Assessment, Beginner's Luck, Jack-of-All-Trades [3]
Variable (Skills or Advantages She's Seen) 4 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Continuous, Move Action) [37]

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Batons +12 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Sociopath)- Finesse is utterly emotionless and distant at the best of times, and appears to care nothing for the feelings or thoughts of others.
Relationship (X-23)- Finesse befriended Laura over their mutual lack of emotions, but was distraught when X-23 ended the friendship over Finesse using Laura's own claws to murder a man.
Responsibility (Vanishing Memories)- Finesse's possible father, the Taskmaster, as well as her future self, both suffer from memory loss, as their rapid-picking-up of skills is "overwriting" things they should recall. Finesse fears this might happen to her.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 40 / Defenses: 10 (157)

-Finesse was probably the most interesting of the Avengers Academy kids to me, and the one with the most direct line to "villain"- she was a polymath whose parents trained under the Taskmaster, and ended up with similar "Move Copying" powers to him, she was also a complete sociopath who seemed to care nothing for anyone but herself. An emotionless young woman, she blackmailed her teacher Quicksilver into teaching her the tricks of the villainous trade that he learned from his own father, Magneto. She attempts to uncover whether or not the Taskmaster is her birth father, but to her frustration, even he appears to not know- wishing her no ill will, he schools her on some superheroic tactics (even using Golden Age heroes' attacks & weapons), and confesses that he's unaware of most of his own past- something that she herself is afraid of happening to her. She also enters into a loveless, physical relationship with teammate Reptil (this is common among sociopaths, who are able to gain their own pleasure while never being emotionally involved). Despite that, she tried to sacrifice herself during Fear Itself- a rare act for a sociopath.

-She was able to figure out Jeremy Brigg's lies, then befriended X-23 over their mutual lack of emotions when Laura joined the Academy, but this becomes strained when she uses X-23's own claws to fatally stab Briggs. Unfortunately, she is not used during Avengers Arena, instead appearing nonchalant about the disappearance of her teammates, and vanishes from comics for the most part.

-Finesse has a Taskmaster-like ability to copy anything she's seen before, but is also perceptive enough to pick up on the tiny facial movements that indicate mistruths- just by looking at Jeremy Briggs, she was able to determine that he was trying to manipulate the Academy kids to quit and join his own group.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:59 am, edited 3 times in total.
greycrusader
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Hazmat! Reptil!)

Post by greycrusader »

I genuinely enjoyed Avengers Academy-I'll second the comment about the series being consistently good, though not outstanding. It was just a travesty to murder off so much of the cast, especially given that SO much out of character writing had to be done, with all the adult mentors being handed the Idiot Ball off-panel to just blithely accept the disappearance of their students and sidekicks.

Ares-I think one of the reasons I DID enjoy the book is the writer stayed on point with the original team being more potential VILLAINS who had to be steered away from that life-Striker was perpetually angry, Finesse had a high degree of sociopathy, and HazMat was just mostly a selfish and shallow person, even BEFORE her condition exacerbated these traits. And given they were teenagers, it kind of makes sense such an individual would resent what she saw as undesirable dating choices, because she also had a lot of self-loathing.

And Jab-the Reptil/Rhino thing-well, yeah, it IS one of those comic book tropes, such as wild animals being dangerous to characters like Daredevil and Batman, despite such heroes being able to defeat half a dozen armed men, when groups of hunters can slaughter big cats, bears, etc. with relative ease. However, in the illustration its a straight charge-against-charge thing-and Reptil's form as a triceratops would win against the (relatively) human-sized Rhino every time, assuming comparable speeds, because of momentum-it doesn't matter how STRONG someone is, the more massive object knocks back the smaller one; I still remember coming across this in the first Wild Cards universe book by George Martin, when Golden Boy (with Golden Age Superman level powers) tries to stop a speeding car by just standing in front of it-and is sent flying, despite being strong enough to military press a tank. Of course, comics normally disregards this ALL THE TIME, so suddenly applying real-life physics is kind of a weird thing in this case.

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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Leoric! Darkstorm! Mettle! Hazmat! Reptil! Finesse!)

Post by Woodclaw »

I've read a few issues of Avengers Academy, but I really enjoyed them. In particular I really liked the first fight between Taskmaster and Finesse, when he was actually trying to see if he could pick something in her fighting style that would make a possible link apparent. In the end, Taskmaster was kind of depressed by the fact that both he and Finesse were "only copies of other people" making the entire thing pointless.

I was less fond of the idea of "friendship over a lack of emotions", but I've come to know some people like that.
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Jabroniville
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Veil

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

VEIL (Madeline Berry)
Created By:
Christos Gage & Mike McKone
First Appearance: Avengers Academy #1 (June 2010)
Role: "Blessed With Sucky Powers" Character
PL 8 (127)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Deception 4 (+5)
Insight 2 (+4)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"Gaseous State" Insubstantial 3 (Feats: Selective) [16]
Flight 2 (8 mph) [4]
"Dangerous Gases" Weaken Stamina 8 (Extras: Affects Corporeal, Area- 30ft. Cloud +2, Selective) [40]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Dangerous Gases +8 Area (+8 Weaken, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (Dying)- Veil is discorporating, and even Hank Pym couldn't figure out a solution. Ultimately, she had to save herself.

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 60 / Defenses: 13 (127)

-Veil was another "Sympathetic Through Sucky Powers" character, as like Hazmat, her powers were constantly active- she was able to dissolve into a gaseous state, and had been tortured under Norman Osborn's directives, hoping to figure out more about her abilities. Initially a shy young wallflower, she became rather daring and reckless as Veil, as her powers are seen as a ticking-time-bomb that may soon result in her discorporating entirely- she joins missions to kill Norman Osborn and bring back The Wasp, but fails at both. She even develops a crush on Justice, one of the team's mentors, and helps torture The Hood! She finally cured herself of her lethal condition when fighting Michael Korvac- she rejects his and Carina's promise of enabling her to control her powers, and accepts that only SHE can do such a thing, and absorbs some Korvac Cosmic Power to stabilize herself.

-Veil ultimately quits Avengers Academy, resenting having being shoved into war zones (like against the weapon-users in Fear Itself) where innocents die. She ends up meeting Jeremy Briggs, a billionaire who promises to depower people. When Veil is told that Briggs intends to depower ALL superhumans, she teams up with the Academy kids to defeat him. Like Striker, she misses out on Avengers Arena and the follow-up books, as her powers have never returned.

-Veil is the worst member of her team defensively... except she has the uber-power "Affects Corporeal", weakening others in large groups with an Area Attack while herself being unable to be damaged. This makes her one of the priciest members of her team.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Jeremy Briggs

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

JEREMY BRIGGS
Created By:
Christos Gage & Sean Chen
First Appearance: Avengers Academy #14 (Aug. 2011)
Role: Evil Rich Guy

-Jeremy Briggs was another kid abducted and experimented upon by Norman Osborn- he gained the ability to transmute things into other substances. He used this for his own benefit, becoming a billionaire- when the Avengers Academy kids met up with him, he explained that he could restore them to their original selves, causing a few to split off with him (Mettle gains a new skin over his metal underbody). Finesse, however, realized through his body language that he had ulterior motives- he turned out to be attempting to de-power all the heroes on Earth. Mettle lost his new skin during the fight against Briggs, and Finesse allowed X-23 to fatally stab him, then watched as he died.

-Briggs had Transmutation powers that could let him drown others, choke them, etc.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Cindarr! Leoric! Darkstorm! Hazmat! Reptil!)

Post by Jabroniville »

greycrusader wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:52 pm I genuinely enjoyed Avengers Academy-I'll second the comment about the series being consistently good, though not outstanding. It was just a travesty to murder off so much of the cast, especially given that SO much out of character writing had to be done, with all the adult mentors being handed the Idiot Ball off-panel to just blithely accept the disappearance of their students and sidekicks.

Ares-I think one of the reasons I DID enjoy the book is the writer stayed on point with the original team being more potential VILLAINS who had to be steered away from that life-Striker was perpetually angry, Finesse had a high degree of sociopathy, and HazMat was just mostly a selfish and shallow person, even BEFORE her condition exacerbated these traits. And given they were teenagers, it kind of makes sense such an individual would resent what she saw as undesirable dating choices, because she also had a lot of self-loathing.
Yeah, that's a good point- there's a REASON why the Avengers were suspecting that the kids could turn into villains at some point. Finesse in particular had a natural psychological trait towards villainy, Hazmat & Mettle had reasons to hate the world, and more. Also... they're teenagers. Being hostile assbags who are nasty, short-sighted and intolerant of everybody is kind of par for the course. There's a reason why I love the "Teenage Superhero" trope so much, and why I can easily wave off terrible behavior when the characters are young.

Their "Potential Villains" thing, which I'm not sure if it got developed much once they tripled the students at the Academy, made it a lot more interesting when they did amoral things, like hunt down The Hood for the specific purpose of torturing him. When the New Mutants did the same thing to Empath, most of them just felt dirty for sinking so low, and never did it again- I'm not sure if the same guilt was shared by the Academy kids. Similarly, their attempt at executing Norman Osborn, and Finesse getting Jeremy Briggs killed- not the typical actions of teen heroes. Mettle and others were more naturally heroic, but there was this dark nature to a lot of decisions.
And Jab-the Reptil/Rhino thing-well, yeah, it IS one of those comic book tropes, such as wild animals being dangerous to characters like Daredevil and Batman, despite such heroes being able to defeat half a dozen armed men, when groups of hunters can slaughter big cats, bears, etc. with relative ease. However, in the illustration its a straight charge-against-charge thing-and Reptil's form as a triceratops would win against the (relatively) human-sized Rhino every time, assuming comparable speeds, because of momentum-it doesn't matter how STRONG someone is, the more massive object knocks back the smaller one; I still remember coming across this in the first Wild Cards universe book by George Martin, when Golden Boy (with Golden Age Superman level powers) tries to stop a speeding car by just standing in front of it-and is sent flying, despite being strong enough to military press a tank. Of course, comics normally disregards this ALL THE TIME, so suddenly applying real-life physics is kind of a weird thing in this case.
All my best.
Oh he can outweigh the Rhino, sure, but I think he also beat him down and KO'd him in that fight, if I recall correctly. I would have imagined their power levels were a tad far apart for that.
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