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

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

Post by Jabroniville »

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NUTE GUNRAY
Role:
Pointless Villains, Possible Ethnic Stereotypes
Group Affiliations: The Trade Federation
PL 0 (40), PL 2 (40) Saves
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 7 (+10)
Expertise (Business) 9 (+14)
Expertise (Military) 3 (+8)
Insight 3 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Benefit 5 (Wealth, Status), Connected

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

Defenses:
Dodge +0 (DC 10), Parry +0 (DC 10), Toughness +0, Fortitude +0, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed, Libertarianism)- The Trade Federation think taxation sucks, I guess. They're also cheap enough that they control their Droid Army via Remote Control at an orbiting station, rather than using expensive Droid Brains.
Secret (Allied With Darth Sidious)- Gunray is teamed up with some dark folks. He greatly, and correctly, fears Darth Sidious.
Enemy (Padme Amidala)- Gunray is obsessed with killing Padme, believing her responsible for his failure at Naboo.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 0 (40)

-Part of what makes The Phantom Menace so weird is that the initial bad guys are just kind of this forgettable "nothing" bunch. They're a pair of businessmen who dominate entire star systems through commerce and their own private Droid Army, and are blockading the world of Naboo (and its Queen Amidala) because they're fighting... taxation they think is unfair? So... like the American Revolution, but Libertarian Aliens in space with robots? Never mind that they don't even bother to go into much detail over this whole "taxation" thing- we're just supposed to accept that they're the bad guys because they plan on murdering the Jedi who've come to "negotiate" (yes, this is apparently what Telekinetic Death Warriors are for in the Old Republic Era), and consort with royal dickholes like Darths Sidious & Maul. Granted, Star Wars is pretty big on super-obvious "My name is Evil McMurderpants"-type bad guys rather than "shades of grey" type baddies, but it's weird.

-Also, they speak in obviously-Asian accents, have slit eyes, wear Chinese-style robes, and act inscrutably. This would be easily passed-off as an accidental thing, like they kept adding stuff and nobody noticed the link until too late (like when the original Power Rangers made the Black Ranger black and the Yellow Ranger asian)... except they're NOT EVEN THE MOST-OBVIOUS RACIAL STEREOTYPE IN THE PREQUELS.

-This whole thing gets WEIRDER because despite being sort of the reason behind stuff in the first film, they're glossed over even IN THAT VERY MOVIE, being ignored in favor of the barely-seen Darth Sidious, and his apprentice Darth Maul. Later movies barely use them either, even though they're the money behind The Separatists who seek to leave the Republic. Nute Gunray, the forgettable bad guy, is eventually massacred by Anakin Skywalker, alongside various other minions of the newly-crowned Emperor Palpatine, in an almost glossed-over scene that practically calls out how pointless all of these people were. Turns out, they'd been manipulated by Palpatine all along. Why he ever teamed up with him in the FIRST place is beyond me, however...

-There's a degree of "Take THAT" to them as well, as BatgirlIII noted the first time I posted Star Wars builds. His name evokes Newt Gingrich (infamously smug Republican hero who failed to take the nomination agianst Mitt Romney and largely disappeared) and Ronald Reagan (the boogeyman of the left and dominant Republican president of the '80s). The latter was not as much because of his politics, but more because Lucas was PISSED when they named the big Republican plan to bankrupt the Soviets by building great space-tech as "Star Wars". Gingrich, though, was "honored" thusly because of his Contract With America, a plan for tax cuts and corporation-friendly moves that Lucas felt was similar to that of the greedy, heartless Trade Federation. Much as everyone hated the "Personal Politics" introduced into the Sequel Trilogy, it's funny that the most obvious political point of the entire Star Wars Universe takes place offhandedly in the most popular of the Prequels.

-Nute Gunray is no fighter, but has the skill-set and back-up to put any plan into action.
Shock
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Location: Connecticut USA

Re: Jab’s Builds! (Chewbacca! Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando!)

Post by Shock »

They got glossed over because they were patsies. They teamed up with Palpatine because they were greedy patsies.
Nute Gunray and the Trade Federation are the "Phantom Menace". They got set up by Palpatine to be the fall guys for starting the Clone Wars all so he could arrange for himself to take power. Taxation had nothing to do with it. They were using it as a pretext to invade Naboo.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds! (Chewbacca! Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando!)

Post by Jabroniville »

slade the sniper wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 2:53 pm As far as Jar Jar goes...I hate him, my wife hates him...but my kids really like him. For all the people who like Ewoks, I think you would have liked Jar Jar if you were a kid when you first saw him.

I think it really comes down to when you see the movies. My kids love the prequels. I am much less enamored, but then I like one movie per trilogy, so...yeah.

Any chance you will do the non-canon Sith Jar Jar as a joke?

-STS
Sorry, I REALLY dislike doing "alt versions" that aren't really real- way too similar to a "Blind Build" of a nothing backgrounder.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24695
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Combat Droids

Post by Jabroniville »

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BATTLE DROIDS
Role:
Most Useless Mooks Ever
Group Affiliations: The Trade Federation
PL 2 (13)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA -- AGILITY -1
FIGHTING 1 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS -2 PRESENCE --

Skills:
Perception 4 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment 3 (Blast 4- Multiattack)

Powers:
"Combat Droid"
Protection 1 [1]
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Features 1: May Be Put Together Easily After Being Dismembered [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +1 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Blasters +0 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Initiative -1

Defenses:
Dodge +1 (DC 11), Parry +1 (DC 11), Toughness +1, Fortitude --, Will --

Complications:
Responsibility (Their Programming)
Weakness (Magnets, Electrical Attacks)- Droids are made entirely of metal, and are thus vulnerable to certain things. They can even be shut down by losing access to their command units in starships floating above planets upon which they are deployed.
Prejudice (Droid)- Droids are not allowed in certain areas, treated like property, often have their MEMORIES WIPED, and even tortured in some weird parts of the world.

Total: Abilities: -26 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 32 / Defenses: 2 (13)

-For the Prequels, the Enemy Mooks were different from the usual Stormtroopers- they were DROIDS. These goofy-voiced ("Roger Roger!"), long-faced, scrawny robots were running all over the place, generally acting like the useless Mooks we'd come to expect from the franchise. And hell, they were EVEN WORSE than Stormtroopers- they pretty much never land a single hit on any named character, and Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan flow through them like water, taking out DOZENS when Luke Skywalker at his best would never have dared do so against an equal number of Stormtroopers. I found it an acceptable plot device- sort of establishing the heroes as "good guys" because they DON'T just hide behind thousands of expendable warriors, as they have the courage and humanity to fight for THEMSELVES. And this focus on "Humans (vs) Machines" helps the Clone Troopers look like the good guys as well, and establishes the weaknesses of Droid-Based Warfare, which explains why we don't see it at all later on.

-The only thing I find odd is that these Droids are relatively quick, lithe and mobile. Compare that to the Original Trilogy, in which every Droid either moves around on wheels, or walks like it's got a stick up its ass. I couldn't imagine ANY Droids in that universe being used to fight. I mean, I get that part of the Original Trilogy was to show off this Golden Age of High Technology, and the wonders that inhabited the galaxy before the Empire destroyed so much of it, but still, it's a weird disconnect, and makes it feel like a different universe. And really, these guys were SO AWFUL at fighting, and treated like such a joke, that it was hard to really care about any battle featuring them. At least Stormtroopers had SOME kind of reputation, even if it was largely given by other characters.

-Combat Droids are comically-worthless at fighting, possessing such bad accuracy that some EU writing has stated that this flaw was a DESIGN FEATURE, as it prevented the Droids from being effectively-turned on their creators.

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DROIDEKA
Role:
Elite Mooks
Group Affiliations: The Trade Federation
PL 6 (56)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA -- AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 1 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS -2 PRESENCE --

Skills:
Perception 4 (+2)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Combat Droid"
Protection 2 [2]
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Features 1: May Roll into a Basketball-Sized Object [1]

"Deflector Shield" Protection 6 (Extras: Impervious 9) [15]
"Twin Blasters" Blast 6 (Extras: Multiattack) [18]
Senses 1 (Infravision) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +1 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Blasters +6 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +2 (+8 Shield, +5 Impervious), Fortitude --, Will --

Complications:
Responsibility (Their Programming)
Weakness (Magnets, Electrical Attacks)- Droids are made entirely of metal, and are thus vulnerable to certain things. They can even be shut down by losing access to their command units in starships floating above planets upon which they are deployed.
Prejudice (Droid)- Droids are not allowed in certain areas, treated like property, often have their MEMORIES WIPED, and even tortured in some weird parts of the world.
Vulnerable (Falling Over)- If Droidekas are knocked onto their sides, their Shield will activate constantly, thinking the floor is a weapon. This will cause them to burn out quickly.
Power Loss (Shields)- Slow, rolling objects can bypass the Droideka's Shield. This includes things like grenades.

Total: Abilities: -20 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 67 / Defenses: 1 (56)

-Droidekas are those "Rolling Ball Robots" with the Energy Shields that make you kind of wonder why they NEVER SHOW UP THAT OFTEN, despite being objectively the greatest thing in the entire universe in a setting comprised almost entirely of Laser Blaster-wielding guys. They's PL 6 fighters, but have some notable weaknesses.

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SUPER BATTLE DROIDS
Role:
Elite Mooks
Group Affiliations: The Trade Federation
PL 6 (57)
STRENGTH
4 STAMINA -- AGILITY -2
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS -2 PRESENCE --

Skills:
Perception 4 (+2)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Combat Droid"
Protection 7 (Extras: Impervious 7) [14]
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Features 1: May Be Put Together Easily After Being Dismembered [1]

"Gun Arm" Blast 7 (Extras: Multiattack) [21]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Blasters +4 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative -2

Defenses:
Dodge +1 (DC 11), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +7 (+4 Impervious), Fortitude --, Will --

Complications:
Responsibility (Their Programming)
Weakness (Magnets, Electrical Attacks)- Droids are made entirely of metal, and are thus vulnerable to certain things. They can even be shut down by losing access to their command units in starships floating above planets upon which they are deployed.
Prejudice (Droid)- Droids are not allowed in certain areas, treated like property, often have their MEMORIES WIPED, and even tortured in some weird parts of the world.

Total: Abilities: -18 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 66 / Defenses: 3 (57)

-Super Battle Droids are meant to be Elites, and are certainly very dangerous (packing a highly-powerful weapon), but still lack the defensive capabilities to go up against heavy artillery, or someone like a Jedi. As Droids, numerous modifications were sometimes seen- Rocket Launchers, Camouflage (Limited Stealth bonus), etc.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Sep 04, 2022 6:01 am, edited 2 times in total.
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Chewbacca! Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

Something odd I noticed is that the Battle Droids got more talkative and chatty as the Prequels went on, and in the Clone Wars cartoon as well. I'm fine with this though, as I prefer Mooks having some semblance of personaltiy rather than just being mindless automatons.
Jabroniville
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Exogorth

Post by Jabroniville »

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I like to think that, during the creation process, someone took a look at the artist's design and said "Does not look enough like a giant, toothy penis. Please redesign."

SPACE SLUG (Exogorth)
Role:
Gigantic Space Penis
Group Affiliations: None
PL 15 (137)
STRENGTH
18 STAMINA 18 AGILITY -4
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+4)
Intimidation 5 (+15 Size)
Perception 4 (+3)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Space Slug"
"Float Through Space" Movement 2 (Space Travel 1, Slithering) [4]
Immunity 7 (Heat, Cold, Radiation, Vacuum, Suffocation 2, Thirst) [7]
"Spacial Awareness" Senses 1 (Direction Sense) [1]

"Spacecraft-Swallowing Size" Growth 20 (Str & Sta +20, +20 Mass, +10 Intimidation, -10 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed, -20 Stealth) -- (250 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [41]
"Huge Size" Strength-Damage +2 [2]
"Big Bite" Strength-Damage +0 (Extras: Area- 120ft. Burst +3 on 15 Ranks) [45]
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 17) [19]

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+20 Damage, DC 35)
Initiative -4

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +20 (+9 Impervious), Fortitude +18, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Survival)- Exogorths survive by eating minerals from comets, and also from swallowing ships that just happen to fly into their open mouths.

Total: Abilities: -20 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 119 / Defenses: 31 (137)

-Like I said before, one of the great things about Star Wars is how distinctive and constantly-active the plot is. Nobody's ever just sitting around doing nothing- STUFF is always going on. I mean, just look at THIS damn thing! Han Solo & Co. manage to survive an Empire attack by flying into a meteor shower, showing off Han's piloting prowess. While hiding inside a tunnel in one large meteor, they discover that there's weird creatures sticking to the Millennium Falcon, and that the ground is strangely sticky. When they start firing laser blasts into the "floor", they discover something. Our heroes haul ass back into the Falcon, take flight, and... see a MOUTH closing in at the opening of the cave! And so the Falcon escapes ANOTHER death trap, as they fly out to reveal that they were inside the stomach of a GIGANTIC WORM the entire time! And this has zero effect on the rest of the plot- it's just another damn THING that happens in a movie full of interesting, weird setpieces.

-Of course, THIS thing has a bunch of "fluff" material set up around it- they're a much-smaller animal normally, but the one in the movie was a freak occurence that grew to KILOMETERS in length! In any case, this one's a PL 15 monstrosity that could easily wreck a whole ship, but is so ponderously-slow that it doesn't even bother to CLOSE ITS MOUTH once a ship is inside its belly!
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L-Space
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Chewbacca! Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando!)

Post by L-Space »

Yea, battle droids are only effective with purely swarm tactics or as a distraction until the super battle droids or droidekas show up. That being said, I do like the scrawny/skeletal design for robots.

They're also another example of expanded materials outside the movies. In Clone Wars they introduced the commando droids that gave clone troopers trouble. And in the Aftermath novels there was a heavily modified battle droid, called Bones, that was extremely dangerous.
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Jabroniville
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Princess Leia

Post by Jabroniville »

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PRINCESS LEIA (Leia Organa)
Role:
Bitchy Princess, War Leader
Group Affiliations: The Rebel Alliance
PL 9 (112)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+5)
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Military Leader) 9 (+12)
Expertise (Politics) 7 (+10)
Insight 2 (+6)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 4 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Blasters) 6 (+13)
Stealth 3 (+7)
Technology 2 (+5)
Treatment 1 (+5)
Vehicles 2 (+7)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Benefit 1 (Rank), Equipment 3 (Blaster +5- Multiattack), Fearless, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Blaster), Inspire, Languages (Various), Leadership, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 2, Set-Up, Taunt

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Laser Blaster +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +8

Complications:
Responsibility (The Rebel Alliance)
Relationship (Han Solo)- The two of them argue from the moment they meet, and are constantly at each other's throats. Naturally, they're in love.

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 17 (112)

Leia- Warrior Princess:
-"Rescuing The Princess" is such an old trope, that it's existed as long as there's been writing- SO MANY old-school mytholigical stories play up the aspect of the brave, clever hero saving a female (often a Princess- this gives even the non-noble heroes "status" through marrying them, as these old tales were often propaganda to explain the origins of one's own town- "SEE? Our town was founded by the brave slayer of The Medusa, who married some hot Princess lady, so we have royal AND heroic blood in us!"). And as Star Wars was inspired by mythology and greater purpose, there had to be a Princess Rescue in there somewhere. But, in a trope we're so used to now but probably came out of nowhere and felt crazy-new back then, this "Princess" (who's... the daughter of a Senator? How's THAT work? Because we needed a PRINCESS, dammit! That's why!) turns out to not only be a giant bitch ("You came in THAT thing? You're braver than I thought!"), but she impatiently grabs a Blaster and starts mowing down assholes during her OWN RESCUE, taking command of the entire operation as soon as she's out of her prison cell!

-Leia is a high-ranking Rebel official, and ends up taking charge in later films as well- she's good in a fight, but can't take the lead position the way Admiral Ackbar or Luke can. But she's clever, brave and spirited- and she'll kill all the Mooks she needs to in order to win. There's a brief flirtation with Luke Skywalker that was SO obviously written before they'd figured out her parentage (god I hope so...), but really she does the "Sam & Diane" thing with that scruffy-looking nerfherder Han Solo instead. And also gave a million little boys their first idea that these funny-shaped human beings with the long hair may have had SOME worth after all, owing to the infamous "Go-Go Enslavement" outfit as Slave Girl Leia, when she was captured by Jabba the Hutt. And I mean, Carrie Fisher isn't really a giga-hottie or anything (by Hollywood standards, especially), and she's admitted she had to starve down like nuts to even FIT the silly outfit, but credit where credit is due- that costume is fetish-tastic. And she murders the guy who forces her to wear it.

Leia- Series Icon:
-Leia, unfortunately, tends to get the lion's share of the bad dialogue in the Original Trilogy. Her insults are a bit strange, and her imperious nature means she can't smirk and snark like Han or even Luke can- she's just gotta stand there and bellow stuff. Fisher doesn't really set the world on fire with the character (her career notably went down in flames post-Star Wars thanks in part to drugs, too), but she's a great case of something that is mentioned in "How To Write Novels/Screenplays/Etc." books- GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS A TRADEMARK. Anything that makes someone more recognizable is imperative for any proper narrative involving characters. A character this distinctive still needs that extra "push" beyond Some Hot Chick, after all... and then you have THAT HAIR. Those iconic, stand-outish Hair Buns just MAKE the character, and render someone who was already gonna stand out for being a Bossy Action Princess into an unforgettable character. Fisher was, by the way, a very accomplished writer before her death, working on a ton of screenplays as a "Screenplay Doctor" (ie. the people who are supposed to save movies in careful editing pre-shooting).

-I don't really thinks he needed to be Luke's sister, though. It's a bit of an odd aside, as they kinda just dump it out there, and it makes rewatching the time she kissed him right in front of Han a OH GOD NO WHY kind of moment. I guess the whole "Star Wars is modern mythology" thing makes "Long-Lost Relatives" a kind of inevitable trope, but they ALREADY DID THAT with Vader. It ends up becoming a huge factor in the Expanded Universe, as her & Han have a bevy of Jedi-powered children, and she herself starts toting around a Lightsaber (which I think is totes dumb, but there it is).

Leia in the New Trilogy:
-Leia is chosen to have the biggest role of the Original Characters in the new movies- probably a direct attempt by the creators to be "Woke" by turning the least-capable of the originals into "General Leia"- the organizer of The Resistance, and having her toss orders around and occasionally dress down the male Poe Dameron. Here, Carrie Fisher did a heck of a job, but famously and tragically died as filming wrapped on the second movie of the trilogy. So they scrambled and threw some scenes together in the third one, featuring the character's death after "projecting" her essence across the galaxy to distract her son Ben during his big Lightsaber Battle. Along the way, a lot of controversy followed- she revealed Force Powers in a complete one-off that many saw as an Ass-Pull, when she yoinked herself across a dozen meters of the vacuum in outer space. This was one of MANY things that annoyed people about The Last Jedi, but really... she had like forty years to learn stuff, and was already mentioned as having Force Potential in the Original Trilogy. She can do stuff off-camera, y'know? And sure enough, The Rise of Skywalker has the flashback showing that exact thing. But really, she was wiped out for most of the rest of the movie because of it- the definition of a Power Stunt that can still write a character out for a while.

Leia's Capabilities
-Princess Leia is surprisingly bad-ass, and is one of the best shooters in the franchise- she rarely misses. In fact, she's got one of the better skill-sets in the series, and is a quality military commander. Her Inspire & Leadership, as well as teamwork skills, make her a great addition to the squad. She's not as good in a fistfight as some of the others (Jabba easily overpowers her), but she's smart and can swing things in her favor when only the slightest opportunity presents itself (soon as she can, she grabs her Slave Chains and chokes Jabba to death).
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 24, 2022 12:42 am, edited 3 times in total.
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando! Princess Leia!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Sad thing I learned recently... they made her lose weight for the sequel trilogy too. The heart failure she suffered has a higher correlation with rapid weight loss than it does in any drug use she might have done in the past.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando! Princess Leia!)

Post by M4C8 »

A few years ago Disney announced that no new merchandise featuring Leia in the slave outfit would be produced (presumably because of pressure from outraged feminist types), the funny thing is that for the decade or two prior to that decision, the only time I ever personally saw the outfit was when female SW fans wore it as cosplay.

Oh and I know Leia is Carrie's most iconic role but to me she'll always be the crazy chick with the machine gun in Blues Brothers.
'A shared universe, like any fictional construct, hinges on suspension of disbelief. When continuity is tossed away, it tatters the construct. Undermines it'
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Re: Princess Leia

Post by slade the sniper »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:43 am PRINCESS LEIA (Leia Organa)
Role:
Bitchy Princess, War Leader
Group Affiliations: The Rebel Alliance
PL 9 (112)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+5)
Deception 4 (+8)
Expertise (Military Leader) 9 (+12)
Expertise (Politics) 7 (+10)
Insight 2 (+6)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 4 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Blasters) 6 (+13)
Stealth 3 (+7)
Technology 2 (+5)
Treatment 1 (+5)
Vehicles 2 (+7)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Benefit 1 (Rank), Equipment 3 (Blaster +5- Multiattack), Fearless, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Blaster), Inspire, Languages (Various), Leadership, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 2, Set-Up, Taunt

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Laser Blaster +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +8

Complications:
Responsibility (The Rebel Alliance)
Relationship (Han Solo)- The two of them argue from the moment they meet, and are constantly at each other's throats. Naturally, they're in love.

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 16 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 17 (112)
1. There was a like a billion better pieces of art you could have used...
2. This "Laser Blaster +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)" should be a +13 right? Her lightsaber would be a +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)?
3. Wouldn't her Benefit (Rank) be about 3 or 4 since she is a Princess, a Senator and then a General...
4. Leia is #1, Ripley is #1.95 of movie heroines...and she should have Attractive (at the least).

-STS
Jabroniville
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Padme Amidala

Post by Jabroniville »

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Oh MY but she is purty, though.

QUEEN PADME AMIDALA
Role:
Teenage Leader
Group Affiliations: The Galactic Republic, Naboo
PL 8 (101)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Athletics 5 (+6)
Deception 3 (+7)
Expertise (Military Leader) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Politics) 7 (+10)
Insight 2 (+6)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 4 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Blasters) 6 (+10)
Stealth 2 (+6)
Technology 2 (+5)
Vehicles 1 (+6)

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (Rank), Equipment 3 (Blaster +5- Multiattack), Fearless, Inspire, Languages (Various), Leadership, Set-Up

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Laser Blaster +10 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +2, Fortitude +4, Will +8

Complications:
Responsibility (Naboo)- Padme was elected (??) Queen, and treats the people of Naboo as her responsibility.
Relationship (Anakin Skywalker)- Though she met him when he was a young boy, Padme grew to love the dangerous young hero. Eventually, the two were married in secret, and she started yammering about love to him all the time.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 15 (101)

Natalie Portman's Worst Role, Probably:
-It's really funny that an Oscar-winning actress gave one of the worst performances I've ever seen in my life in the three Prequel movies. Natalie Portman's career has only gotten bigger since the Prequels (she was known, but not THAT known), especially for legit artsy stuff, but let's just say that MERYL STREEP couldn't spin the shit dialogue she got in the Prequels into gold, y'know? Her fake English Accent didn't help matters, either. So like... it's not really her fault. The only reason she's not more hated is that Hayden Christensen was actually WORSE, and got notably worse dialog (her "I love you like a loving river of loving-love" shit has NOTHING on "I hate sand"). Her role in the narrative, in any case, is to be the mother of Luke & Leia, and therefore the future wife of Darth Vader himself. And so she's a Queen to justify Leia being a Princess, but also has this kabuki outfit until she drops it for "looking like Natalie Portman".

-Also, she's a Queen, but like... and elected official? The Hell is that all about? Padme starts off as rather "take charge" in Episode I, then gets the Prequel Vesrion of the "Gold Bikini" in the "sexy torn white outfit in the arena" bit, but by the third movie, she's essentially a pregnant pile of useless, running around ranting about the rivers of her flowing love for Anakin or whatever the hell. Given that her relationship with Anakin was utterly-bungled in the series, the fact that it was supposed to be the CENTER of it is a bit of a tragedy. A TON of the advertising went into the "Star-Crossed Lovers" bit, but given that Natalie could have been acting up against a log cabin and gotten more chemistry than she got with Hayden Christensen, it was pretty well doomed. And then she like... falls over and dies of heartbreak, with the friggin' doctor explaining that "she has lost the will... to live" (which the Robot Chicken parody hilariously spoofed with "WHAT'S YOUR DEGREE IN- POETRY!?!"

And I Just Go Off On A Rant Here...:
-Natalie is TINY, too (having seen one of the travelling Star Wars memorabilia shows that let you see the costumes, you realize she's the size of a child, especially since Star Wars actually uses rather tall male actors most of the time)- you never realize stuff like that about female celebrities until you see them for real. Most Hollywood MEN are under six feet, so for them to be "appropriately tall", the Leading Ladies tend to be itty-bitty. For every 5'10" Gwyneth Paltrow, there are a dozen 5'0" Natalie types. Directors also LOVE actresses like her because she's got these gigantic eyes- it makes her acting "pop" more than somebody else.

-AND she's got small breasts- Hollywood's become pretty Breast-Phobic over the years (which combines with their fear of women over a certain dress size), feeling that anything with lots of cleavage would just distract audiences from the scene, and so the "Miss Fanservice" role in movies tends to go to very thin model-types these days, when back in the '70s and '80s it consistently went to the types of women who appeared in Russ Meyer movies. It's probably why Christina Hendricks has had basically no good roles other than Mad Men, in spite of being closer to the "Every Man's Ideal Fantasy" than the armada of thin girls Hollywood pedals could ever hope to be. So itty-bitty Natalie with her giant eyes is EXACTLY what most directors want. It's not for nothing that her clone Kiera Knightley (who actually appeared in Episode I as Fake Amidala and gets blown up- the two girls looked so similar that one of their mothers legitimately got confused) is ALSO one of the most-desired actresses in Hollywood, even though she's got the build of an anorexic 12-year old boy.

Amidala's Stats:
-You can probably tell that there's nothing to this particular character by the fact that I instead went on a giant tangent about casting in Hollywood. Because really, Padme was just some bland chick. Cool outfit in the first one, though. Padme's basically Leia Lite otherwise- her daughter (who somehow is able to recall her mother looking "very sad", despite only seeing her for a second when she was a baby...) is much more capable by contrast.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 24, 2022 12:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando! Princess Leia!)

Post by Ares »

According to sfDebris, the reason Leia was made Luke's sister was to tie up a line from The Empire Strikes Back. Yoda mentioning that there was another hope as Luke left to confront Vader was meant to raise the stakes. If Luke was the only hope for the galaxy, then no matter what happened, he would survive the film. If there was the possibility of another Jedi rising up to save the day, then there was a real risk Luke could die. And given the ass kicking Vader gave him and his near death earlier, it really felt like Luke could have died there.

It's worth noting that Star Wars wasn't originally envisioned as a trilogy. The studios were thinking it would be a franchise series like Star Trek, Rocky, Friday the 13th and so on. Instead, Lucas wanted to end Star Wars with a third film to prevent him from getting burnt out on the series. So they needed to wrap up everything, including the identity of the mysterious other hope for the galaxy. There wasn't time to introduce a completely new character, so it had to be someone the audience already knew. Of them, Leia made the most sense, so they made her his sister with similar potential in the Force.

I actually liked how some of the EU portrayed their relationship. Their brother/sister connection gave them a loving connection as strong but different from her romantic connection with Han. In the EU she was trained as a Jedi, but her diplomatic duties prevented her from focusing on them the way Luke did. She wound up being more like Kanan and Ezra from REBELS, where they had lightsabers, but they also carried blasters a lot of the time.

Leia's also a fine example of Star Wars always having strong female characters from the word go. She was always capable, and the fact that she was captured had nothing to do with being a woman or a princess. Sometimes the good guys just get captured despite their best efforts. Heck, Han, Leia and Luke ALL get captured at various points in the trilogy, so clearly it wasn't a sexist thing. And she proves herself to be every bit as capable as the guys, grabbing a blaster and helping fight her way out of the Death Star, at one point having to supply an escape route to the people who showed up to help her escape.

Leia's character arc actually seems to be about learning to let down her defenses and accept people into her life. While Luke is the starry-eyed dreamer and Han is the scoundrel turned hero, Leia is the person who has been fighting in the Rebellion for years, is a true believer in the cause, and has dedicated herself to it. She's kind of like Peggy Carter from the Captain America film, only the guy that wins her heart isn't the boy scout, it's the smuggler who reveals a soft spot and who actually approaches her as a woman and not a commanding officer.

Leia learns to let people into her life when before, you get the idea she might have resisted doing so because everyone in the Rebellion was potentially expendable. While the Rebels are heroes who would rescue anyone they could, Leia likely resigned herself that she was dead when taken aboard the Death Star. She didn't have any hope of rescue. So when Han and Luke do rescue her, a lot of her initial bluster might have been to deal with the fact of how grateful she was for being rescued despite the danger. It would explain why all of them became so close after the end of the first film.

As for her being a princess and a senator, that's easy enough. The Republic was a galactic organization with hundreds of worlds, each with their own form of government. Every planet thus had to have a senator who represented their own government in the galactic senate. As such, Leia was a adopted by Biel Organa, who was part of the ruling nobility of his own world, likely a prince of his own territory, and also a senator. Royal family doing diplomatic duties was fairly common, so him being some lower brother to the king of the world and having senate duties could easily make sense.
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Jabroniville
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Re: Princess Leia

Post by Jabroniville »

slade the sniper wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:15 am 1. There was a like a billion better pieces of art you could have used...
Ottley is one of the most popular artists of his time and I think the pic is fine, and I didn't want it COMPLETELY awash in Fanservice- like 99% of the art on ComicVine for Leia is of the Slave Bikini. Now that I'm home, I found a few more pics overall.
2. This "Laser Blaster +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)" should be a +13 right? Her lightsaber would be a +6 (+8 Damage, DC 23)?
Yeah, it should be +13- it's included in her PL 9 status. A Lightsaber adds +6, so she'd be +7 damage overall- moreso if she actually got training and upgraded in strength.
3. Wouldn't her Benefit (Rank) be about 3 or 4 since she is a Princess, a Senator and then a General...
Leia's "rank" appears to be a bit random in Star Wars- in the Original Trilogy it seems both Mon Mothma & Admiral Ackbar outrank her, and her adpoptive father Bail Organa might have, as well. The "General Leia" of the Sequel Trilogy would probably be Rank 4-5, but I didn't stat that version, obviously.
4. Leia is #1, Ripley is #1.95 of movie heroines...and she should have Attractive (at the least).
-STS
Leia's first interaction with pretty much every male character in the original Trilogy is to insult them. That's not somebody using "Attractive" to their advantage.
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Re: Jab’s Builds! (Boba Fett! Jabba the Hutt! Lando! Princess Leia!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:43 am Leia- Warrior Princess:
-"Rescuing The Princess" is such an old trope, that it's existed as long as there's been writing- SO MANY old-school mytholigical stories play up the aspect of the brave, clever hero saving a female (often a Princess- this gives even the non-noble heroes "status" through marrying them, as these old tales were often propaganda to explain the origins of one's own town- "SEE? Our town was founded by the brave slayer of The Medusa, who married some hot Princess lady, so we have royal AND heroic blood in us!"). And as Star Wars was inspired by mythology and greater purpose, there had to be a Princess Rescue in there somewhere. But, in a trope we're so used to now but probably came out of nowhere and felt crazy-new back then, this "Princess" (who's... the daughter of a Senator? How's THAT work? Because we needed a PRINCESS, dammit! That's why!) turns out to not only be a giant bitch ("You came in THAT thing? You're braver than I thought!"), but she impatiently grabs a Blaster and starts mowing down assholes during her OWN RESCUE, taking command of the entire operation as soon as she's out of her prison cell!
Ares wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:49 am Leia's also a fine example of Star Wars always having strong female characters from the word go. She was always capable, and the fact that she was captured had nothing to do with being a woman or a princess. Sometimes the good guys just get captured despite their best efforts. Heck, Han, Leia and Luke ALL get captured at various points in the trilogy, so clearly it wasn't a sexist thing. And she proves herself to be every bit as capable as the guys, grabbing a blaster and helping fight her way out of the Death Star, at one point having to supply an escape route to the people who showed up to help her escape.

Leia's character arc actually seems to be about learning to let down her defenses and accept people into her life. While Luke is the starry-eyed dreamer and Han is the scoundrel turned hero, Leia is the person who has been fighting in the Rebellion for years, is a true believer in the cause, and has dedicated herself to it. She's kind of like Peggy Carter from the Captain America film, only the guy that wins her heart isn't the boy scout, it's the smuggler who reveals a soft spot and who actually approaches her as a woman and not a commanding officer.
According to some interviews with Carrie Fisher, Lucas literally told her that Leia was the only character from the old power trio who really understand what was going on. Luke and Han might have come to her rescue, but neither had any real clue about what was really going on at the time. Also, according to Mark Hamill, in real life Carrie was more or less "Hollywood Royalty" (her biological parents were pretty damn famous in their own right and her step-mother was Elizabeth Taylor) and quite protective of the idea that her character was the "boss".
On the subject of Leia being captured at the beginning of the first movie... well, she didn't exactly go down without a fight. After uploading the plans into R2, the first thing she did was blasting two stormtroopers.
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:43 am -Leia is chosen to have the biggest role of the Original Characters in the new movies- probably a direct attempt by the creators to be "Woke" by turning the least-capable of the originals into "General Leia"- the organizer of The Resistance, and having her toss orders around and occasionally dress down the male Poe Dameron. Here, Carrie Fisher did a heck of a job, but famously and tragically died as filming wrapped on the second movie of the trilogy. So they scrambled and threw some scenes together in the third one, featuring the character's death after "projecting" her essence across the galaxy to distract her son Ben during his big Lightsaber Battle. Along the way, a lot of controversy followed- she revealed Force Powers in a complete one-off that many saw as an Ass-Pull, when she yoinked herself across a dozen meters of the vacuum in outer space. This was one of MANY things that annoyed people about The Last Jedi, but really... she had like forty years to learn stuff, and was already mentioned as having Force Potential in the Original Trilogy. She can do stuff off-camera, y'know? And sure enough, The Rise of Skywalker has the flashback showing that exact thing. But really, she was wiped out for most of the rest of the movie because of it- the definition of a Power Stunt that can still write a character out for a while.
I was one of those who cried fault when I saw that scene from Last Jedi, but not for the reason you might imagine. I'm totally fine with the idea of Leia being Force-trained off-camera, in fact I would have been surprised if she wasn't. What made me really cringe inside was that it really felt like the movie was cheating on both the audience and it's own mythology.
One of the great things about how the Force was showcased in the original trilogy is that we really didn't get that many new powers and abilities over the course of the three movies. From what Obi-Wan explains in A New Hope, we knew that:
  • The Force links and bind together the entire universe ---> You can sense... stuff through the Force.
  • The Force guides your actions, but answer your command---> It makes you better in what you know how to do.
  • The Force has a great influence on weak minds ---> Jedi Mind Trick.
During the entire movie the only time we see something that might not gel with these definitions is the Force-choke, which might on might not be a different application of the Mind Trick.
When Empire Strike Back rolled around we got one new ability, telekinesis, which was the only real novelty of the entire movie, other bits (like Yoda attempting to see the future) were more or less extension of what we already knew. This situation continues until the final battle of Return of the Jedi when Palpatine started firing lighting out of his hands. This last one might be considered an ass-pull as well, but it's an "in-character" ass-pull: Palpatine is the "final boss", the warlock at the top of the tower, so we (as the audience) are willing to accept the idea that he had a trump card, one signature power that none else knew, even is right-hand man, Vader.
By contrast, the "Force Flight" and the ability to survive in the void of space (both featured in some parts of the EU) were two new powers, not only introduced in the same scene, but also in a way that looked absolutely forced and out of the blue.
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