Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Ares]

-The Blob has an obvious mutation, and like a lot of '60s villains, was born ugly and turned into a miscreant. Performing in a circus sideshow, he is contacted by Charles Xavier and asked to join the X-Men. However, his obnoxious behavior makes him an outcast, and he declines the invitation, saying he's better than all the other X-Men. Xavier then tries to ERASE HIS MEMORIES of this event (because even SIXTIES Xavier is a giant dick), but the Blob escapes and leads the circusfolk against the X-Mansion. Ultimately, the X-Men are captured, but sprung by Marvel Girl's telekinesis, and the entire circus gets brainwashed into forgetting. Keep in mind, this is like 35 years before the whole "Zatanna" thing in the DC books, and nobody stops to consider the ethics of such things in this story at all- it's simply that these guys are douches, and the X-Men's secret must be protected- basic as that.

I've got to admit, there are certain aspects of mind wiping that I find more acceptable than others. If a supervillain uncovers your secret identity and you have the means to erase that knowledge from his mind? You damn well do it.

Here it's a bit more muddy, but since the X-Men do act in secret, the memories being erased are from clearly antagonistic individuals, and the only things being removed are relevant to protecting the X-Men's location and identities, I'm also not really against it. I also doubt that Xavier would mind-wipe everyone who decided not to join. In the Blob's case, he's clearly antagonistic, and if it had been done then it would have spared them some grief.

My issue with mind-wipes are when it's done to innocent people for petty reasons. There's an issue where the Stepford Trio of psychics are approached by a young man, wearing a cocky grin on his face. He starts to introduce himself, but suddenly he realizes he doesn't know his own name. The girls then say "That's right. We made you forget all knowledge of your own name. Think thoughts about us again like the ones you were just thinking, and we'll make you forget much more than that."

THAT is a horrible abuse of power. Those girls had no right being inside that kid's head, and they erased all knowledge OF HIS OWN NAME from his brain, apparently because he was imagining having a foursome with the trio. I'm not saying those thoughts are classy, but they literally thought policed him and screwed with his head because he thought they were hot.

Likewise, I REALLY hated the Ultimate versions of Prof. X and Jean Grey, because they were constantly reading other people's minds and violating their thoughts. It turns out Iceman had a girlfriend, and when he took a vacation home he told her pretty much everything about his life as an X-Man. So Prof. X completely erase all of that knowledge from her mind, and then erases THEIR ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP as well. Bobby doesn't even recall having a girlfriend once Xavier is done with him.

Similarly, I hate it when these mind wipes are used to cover up "guilt". Prof. X mind-wiping Spider-Man during the Secret War or the Justice League mind-wiping Batman are two especially bad examples. These are people erasing memories from their friends because they got caught doing something and it's easier to just make the problem go away than deal with it.

Lastly, I consider what the League did to Dr. Light I very different from a "mind-wipe". They didn't just erase his memory, they completely butchered his brain and re-wrote his personality. That is just . . . evil. You keep a villain from knowing some crucial information, okay, I can understand that. You start messing with their character, with the fundamentals of who they are as a person, and you've done a terrible thing, IMO.

[Jabroniville]

Complications:
Motivation (Boning T'Challa)

Okay, I know that's a template goof, but that's harious.

URGH!!!

You're just lucky that pointing such things out doesn't drive me into a homicidal rage any longer .

[Jabroniville]

BRASS (Sean Watanabe)
Created By: Howard Mackie & Mark Texiera
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents #65 (Dec. 1990)
Role: Forgotten Hero
Group Affiliations: The Navy SEALs
PL 8 (109)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8/12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+7)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (SEAL) 4 (+6)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Perception 3 (+6)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Great Endurance, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Mutant Powers: Surface Thought-Reading"
Mind-Reading 4 [8]
Enhanced Fighting 4 [8]
Enhanced Dodge 4 [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Mind-Reading Fighting +12 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Killing Super-Villains)- Brass's girlfriend was killed during a fight between The Mandarin and The Avengers. He's thus sworn vengeance upon all villains, starting with the Mandarin.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 20 / Defenses: 5 (109)

-Brass is a martial artist, trained in the Navy, and the son of the man who taught Danny Ketch karate. When his girlfriend was killed during Acts of Vengeance, he swore a vendetta against all the bad guys who took part, particularly The Mandarin (whose attack on the Avengers cost his girl her life). He teamed up with Wolverine and Ghost Rider in order to save his father's other pupil from Deathwatch. He lost his mutant powers on M-Day.

-Brass has similar abilities to Mr. X of Wolverine's Rogues Gallery, in that he possesses rapid-fire, low-level Mind Reading that allows him to anticipate the moves of opponents.

[Jabroniville]

This set proves interesting to me for a few reasons:
* Looking through the "B" names, I took a look at Bouncer, one of Speedball's enemies, and figured I'd just build all of his, since scc's thread did so earlier .

* A lot of foreigners & minorities were on this list, so the numbers shrank by a lot once I did those in November- Black Crow, Bantam, etc.

* The list contains three X-Men and one notable X-villain (The Blob), which reminds me of when I first started my Ronin Army thread, and spammed the X-Men out HORRIBLY, which I still regret, as it killed a lot of conversation about the characters. I still wish I'd have staggered them out a little bit more.

* Some of these names have been bugging me for AGES, but I just kept putting them off- Baroness Zemo, The Bloated Bandit and others. SO happy to be done those now .

* Almost everyone on the list is a super-villain- not only do they outnumber super-heroes in the comics, but a lot of the names I haven't touched end up being obscure one-off types. The only new build that's a super-hero is Brass.

* The list included some of the oldest 3rd Edition builds I'd yet to transfer over from the Atomic Think Tank message board- mostly Scourge victims like Blowtorch Brand, Basilisk & Black Abbott- I had no idea that set was over six years old at this point.

* I've heard of perilously few of these guys before I started statting. Some names, like Blaquesmith, has popped up when reading X-books & bios, but I've never seen the character before. It actually took some doing to make sure someone "notable" was ready to be posted on each day! And even STILL some days are stuck with Basilisk or Black Swan as the most important character .

[MacynSnow]

Now everyone here know's i like me some low-tier,high-character reward NPC's/PC's and our boy Brass certainly fits that bill.Just give back his powers or give him a minor suit of Armor(Uncle Sam could always re-forge Conquestador's) and you have your hero......

[BriarThrone]

<awesome Ares post full of good points>

This is why I love the Laws of Magic in the Dresden Files setting. Once you exert your power to change someone's mind, you become someone who can rationalize doing so in the future, because that's how the mind works - the more you resort to something questionable, the easier it is to navigate the moral objections. Do it enough, and you stop even considering the implications. But messing with the mind is awful, and causes a lot of problems for the victim, so you're steadily becoming someone who thinks getting your way is more important than someone else's sanity.

[Spectrum]

And then we get the mindf-ckery like- "Bobby you're gay".

[Jabroniville]

Seriously, though- why copy Electro's costume so closely?

BLACKOUT I (Marcus Daniels)
Created By: Marv Wolfman, Carmine Infantino & Tom Palmer
First Appearance: Nova #19 (May 1978)
Role: Forgotten Villain, Darkforce User
Group Affiliations: The New Men/Knights of Wundagore, Masters of Evil, The Thunderbolts
PL 10 (131)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 3 (+3)
Intimidation 4 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 4 (+7)
Perception 2 (+2)
Ranged Combat (Darkforce) 3 (+8)
Technology 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment (Costume, Protection +1), Improved Aim, Power Attack, Precise Attack 2 (Ranged/Cover, Close/Concealment), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Darkforce Powers"
Create 14 (Feats: Dynamic, Increased Mass 2- 64,000 cubic feet) (Extras: Impervious, Movable) (59) -- [67]

• Dynamic AE: Flight 5 (60 mph) (Flaws: Platform) (5)
• Dynamic AE: "Darkforce Tether" Snare 12 (Feats: Reversible, Chokehold) (39)
• Dynamic AE: "Darkforce Bolt" Blast 10 (Feats: Split) (22)
• AE: "Darkforce Teleport" Movement 1 (Dimensional Travel- Darkforce Dimension) (Extras: Attack 10, Area- 30ft. Burst 10) (22)
• AE: Movement 1 (Dimensional Travel- Darkforce Dimension) (Extras: Portal +2) (4)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+1 Damage, DC 17)
Darkforce Bolt +8 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Darkforce Teleport +10 Area (+10 Teleport, DC 20)
Darkforce Tether +8 (+12 Ranged Affliction, DC 22)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3 (+4 Costume), Fortitude +5, Will +2

Complications:
Involuntary Transformation (Comatose or Insane)- Blackout is unstable mentally, and often goes completely catatonic, refusing to react to the world around him. Oftentimes, he is very easy to control, either by machines (Baron Zemo) or manipulation (Moonstone).

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 67 / Defenses: 11 (131)

-I'd never even heard of the first Blackout until I did a Wiki-search of the Ghost Rider villain I was familiar with- I'd always assumed THAT guy was the "Blackout" listed on the Masters of Evil Marvel Card's roster, but nope- it's this dude. This guy's a complete jobber, more noteable for going nuts on a regular basis than for his powers, which are basic Darkforcey stuff, albeit on a MUCH higher level than most Marvel characters. And the fact that his outfit looks like someone decided to make Electro's outfit more badass (ie. black), but forgot how to design a decent mask.

-Marcus Daniels was an incompetent lab assistant who gained his powers in a lab accident, and reveled in them, happy to endanger his abusive boss. He encountered Richard "Nova" Rider, and easily defeated him. He killed his boss by sending him to the Darkforce Dimension, but vanished into it himself when Nova reappeared. He was freed at Project Pegasus (the science group who's only job was to bring back things only Mark Gruenwald remembered), and manipulated by the villainess Moonstone into springing her, Electro and The Rhino.

-Now decidedly insane, Blackout was continuously manipulated by Moonstone, and both were defeated by Dazzler and the Inhumans. They both showed up as part of Baron Zemo's new Masters of Evil in the famous Under Siege story-arc, in which an insane Blackout covered Avengers Mansion with Darkforce, preventing anyone else from entering the building. Doctor Druid was able to short out the device Zemo & Moonstone were using to control the by-now-cataonic Daniels, but his resistance to the machine caused a cerebral hemmorhage.

-The character largely disappeared after this, particularly since by this point the popular Ghost Rider book had its own villain named Blackout (a vampire-ish Lilin). Years later, he showed up again in Thunderbolts, being controlled by Zemo again (it was actually The Smuggler controlling his body). In this sense, the character is really more of an almost literal Plot Device- not even really a character. A character looking like him has shown up in some background scenes (like part of The Hood's army), and then as a married man who joins Baron Zemo's "Army of Evil" in Secret Empire- Maria Hill shoots him in the head, dropping the Darkforce dome he'd created around Manhattan.

-Some pretty standard Darkforce-based powers with nothing fancy, Blackout can Snare, Create Objects and Blast, but also teleport people into the Darkforce Dimension. He needs his costume to avoid going bonkers with his powers, but ultimately he's just another PL 9 jobber-type villain (note the very low defense), but with a PL 10 Snare. Of primary interest, however, is the INSANE power of his Darkforce Creation ability, which lets him cover massive structures.

[Jack of Spades]

There's a Ghost Rider villain?

[Jabroniville]

BAAL
Created By: Terry Kavanagh & Adam Pollina
First Appearance: The Rise of Apocalypse #1 (Oct. 1996)
Role: The Father of Apocalypse
Group Affiliations: The Sandstormers

-Baal is a character given a handful of backstory, and relations to more important characters- he and his band of raiders found and rescued a young Kang the Conqueror when he crashed in Ancient Egypt, allowing him to become the Pharaoh Rama-Tut. Many of his men were killed when Rama-Tut returned for the things they'd taken from him. Years later, Baal encountered an orphaned En Sabah Nur, protecting the child (even killing his own men in the process) and teaching him his philosophy of "survival of the fittest". The child would of course eventually grow up to become Apocalypse. He was eventually killed by Rama-Tut's men, living just long enough to tell En Sabah Nur about their backstory.

[Jabroniville]

THE BLOATED BANDIT (Judson Croker)
Created By: Douglas Enefer, A. Tyson or John Elliott & M.K. Powell, K. Leeder or P. Limbert
First Appearance: The Marvel Story Book Annual (1967)
Role: Off-Brand Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (64)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+5)
Expertise (Transportation Secretary) 4 (+7)
Insight 2 (+2)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages: 
Inventor, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Jaundiced Michelin Man Suit" (Flaws: Removable) [24]
Protection 8 (8)
Immunity 20 (Bludgeoning Damage) (20)
Enhanced Advantages 1: Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness) (1)
-- (29 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2 (+10 Costume), Fortitude +2, Will +2

Complications:
Power Loss (Suit)- The Bloated Bandit's suit will not work if hit by negative particles of ionic energy. Thankfully, most superheroes don't have such things. Unless the writer yanks one out of the hero's ass in the story.

Total: Abilities: 26 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 6 (64)

-This character came about due to a "Story Book Annual" released in 1967 in the UK- it featured a series of 4-5 page stories, each of which was accompanied by some illustrations. The Bloated Bandit was a secretary in the Transportation Bureau who used his inside information to steal shipments belonging to Stark International. This drew the attention of Iron Man, who was confounded by an enemy that was wrapped in green tubing that made him nearly impervious to harm. However, Iron Man soon shot some "negative particles of ionic energy", which neutralized The Bandit's protective suit, and soon used a "Reverser Ray" (???) that deflected some "stupefying gas" right back at the villain. Iron Man thus handcuffed the bad guy, and he was never seen again.

-I don't know what's funnier- that somebody created a villain called THE BLOATED BANDIT, or that they gave this guy the ability to be invincible except for one tiny thing... that the hero just happened to have on him, only for this story. Like, who writes a Deus Ex Machian ending for THE BLOATED BANDIT?

-The Bloated Bandit is hard to hurt by the standards of 1960s Iron Man, and is apparently able to steal stuff, despite looking like a jaundiced version of Bib, the Michelin Man.

[MacynSnow]

And then we get the mindf-ckery like- "Bobby you're gay".

I always thought that came way to far out of left field,so i promptly ignored it for any of my games and kept with the old Bobby Drake.....
As an intresting aside, i personally detest it when Marvel decides to do that junk.....
Aside number 2:personal oppinion,young Jean just did that to not be the only "female" in the bunch and i hope the writer's have shown the ramifications of doing this type of junk.....

[Ares]

And then we get the mindf-ckery like- "Bobby you're gay".

I always thought that came way to far out of left field,so i promptly ignored it for any of my games and kept with the old Bobby Drake.....
As an intresting aside, i personally detest it when Marvel decides to do that junk.....
Aside number 2:personal oppinion,young Jean just did that to not be the only "female" in the bunch and i hope the writer's have shown the ramifications of doing this type of junk.....

I honestly can't read that scene without it coming off as Jean imprinting on young Bobby. I'd pay folding money for it to come out that Jean was just some yaoi fangirl and did that she just wanted to see Bobby and Warren make out. I really want her to face some kind of punishment for it.

[scc]

THE BLOATED BANDIT (Judson Croker)
Created By: Douglas Enefer, A. Tyson or John Elliott & M.K. Powell, K. Leeder or P. Limbert
First Appearance: The Marvel Story Book Annual (1967)
Role: Off-Brand Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (64)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Expertise (Criminal) 2 (+5)
Expertise (Transportation Secretary) 4 (+7)
Insight 2 (+2)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages: 
Inventor, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Jaundiced Michelin Man Suit" (Flaws: Removable) [24]
Protection 8 (8)
Immunity 20 (Bludgeoning Damage) (20)
Enhanced Advantages 1: Withstand Damage (Trade Defenses For Toughness) (1)
-- (29 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2 (+10 Costume), Fortitude +2, Will +2

Complications:
Power Loss (Suit)- The Bloated Bandit's suit will not work if hit by negative particles of ionic energy. Thankfully, most superheroes don't have such things. Unless the writer yanks one out of the hero's ass in the story.

Total: Abilities: 26 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 6 (64)

-This character came about due to a "Story Book Annual" released in 1967 in the UK- it featured a series of 4-5 page stories, each of which was accompanied by some illustrations. The Bloated Bandit was a secretary in the Transportation Bureau who used his inside information to steal shipments belonging to Stark International. This drew the attention of Iron Man, who was confounded by an enemy that was wrapped in green tubing that made him nearly impervious to harm. However, Iron Man soon shot some "negative particles of ionic energy", which neutralized The Bandit's protective suit, and soon used a "Reverser Ray" (???) that deflected some "stupefying gas" right back at the villain. Iron Man thus handcuffed the bad guy, and he was never seen again.

-I don't know what's funnier- that somebody created a villain called THE BLOATED BANDIT, or that they gave this guy the ability to be invincible except for one tiny thing... that the hero just happened to have on him, only for this story. Like, who writes a Deus Ex Machian ending for THE BLOATED BANDIT?

-The Bloated Bandit is hard to hurt by the standards of 1960s Iron Man, and is apparently able to steal stuff, despite looking like a jaundiced version of Bib, the Michelin Man.

Wow I never heard of this guy. Nice job! He needs to make a comeback.

[Ares]

THE BLOATED BANDIT (Judson Croker)
Created By: Douglas Enefer, A. Tyson or John Elliott & M.K. Powell, K. Leeder or P. Limbert
First Appearance: The Marvel Story Book Annual (1967)
Role: Off-Brand Villain
Group Affiliations: None

Haha, so delightfully jobbery. God I miss old school names like that.

Honestly, I don't understand why Tony didn't just . . . you know . . . grab the guy. The suit doean't make him any stronger, just grab him.