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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by Jabroniville »

greycrusader wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:05 am Kristen Ritter actually is unrelated to the late John Ritter; she grew up on a farm, and got her big break as a teen model.

Pretty plays variations of the same character over and over (type-acting) but she's really good at that type.

All my best.
Oh dammit- that's nothing I would have said without fact-checking first- I must have ASSUMED I did, then went ahead with posting it.

I also raised Jessica's Investigation skill- it was at a paltry-ish +9, owing to her "Minor Background Character" detective skills, but they've since ramped her up a fair bit, so I went with +13 overall.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by Ares »

MacynSnow wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:27 am
Ares wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:24 am
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:21 am She was also Faith on Buffy,The Vampire Slayer and reprised it briefly for Angel.
That was Eliza Dushku, not Krysten Ritter.
You sure?They look an Aweful lot alike to me...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_(Bu ... re_Slayer)
Faith is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Played by actress Eliza Dushku, Faith was introduced in the third season of Buffy and was a focus of that season's overarching plot.
Or to put it simply:

Jessica Jones

Image


Faith

Image
"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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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by Batgirl III »

Krysten Ritter is 5-6” taller and has green eyes. Noticeably fairer skin tone as well.
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Jabroniville
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Steeplejack (Mallard)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

STEEPLEJACK I (Jake Mallard)
Created By:
Len Wein & George Tuska
First Appearance: Luke Cage, Power Man #18 (April 1974)
Role: One-Shot Vigilante
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (73)
STRENGTH
4 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Athletics 3 (+6)
Expertise (Construction Worker) 6 (+6)
Intimidation 5 (+5)
Technology 6 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+2)

Advantages: 
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"Sheer Power" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

"Rivet-Gun" (Flaws: Easily Removable -2) [15]
"Red-Hot Rivets" Blast 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (24) -- (25 points)
AE: "Acetylene Super-Torch" Damage 6 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (12)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Rivet-Gun +4 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Torch +6 Area (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +5, Fortitude +7, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Revenge)- Mallard's two brothers were killed thanks to the cost-cutting measures of Maxwell Plumm. Mallard has vowed revenge.
Power Loss (Rivet-Gun)- Mallard's gun has a fuel supply attached to his back. 

Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 16 / Defenses: 9 (73)

-You find the most interesting things in the backlogs of Marvel Comics, and on the Wikipedia & Handbook Appendix pages they inspire. Steeplejack here never met Scourge- he only lasted one single story, dying at the end. The wording I've read online made the character out to be HIGHLY tragic, so imagine my surprise to actually read the original story, and see that the character's purpose wasn't actually treated with that much sympathy- the book features no indication as to whether or not Steeplejack's accusations are correct!

-Jake Mallard (no relation to Drake, the Terror That Flaps in the Night, I presume) lost his two brothers in a construction site accident that he believes is caused by the sub-standard safety measures implemented by their boss. Vowing revenge, Mallard constructs his "life's work", a super-torch/Rivet-Gun combo, and starts calling himself Steeplejack (a 19th-century term for construction workers). He tries to kill Plumm, who hires Luke Cage to protect him. Cage, being a frequent benefactor of evil people (his weird luck, I guess), fights Steeplejack, but is kept on the ropes by his Super-Torch. Luke eventually chucks the guy into a girder, but tragically, it has been pre-melted by the torch, and Steeplejack falls to his death.

-Reading it a certain way makes Steeplejack out to be the THIRD victim of Plumm's, which is one hell of an unhappy ending. HOWEVER... having read the issue in question now, it's never made clear that Plumm WAS using substandard methods at all! In fact, Plumm is treated like a bit of a victim, and never acts rudely- he denies Steeplejack's charges, and quickly hires Cage as a bodyguard. Cage never questions things one way or the other, and we never see what becomes of Plumm under his creators.

-Steeplejack is a PL 6 one-shot guy who did OK against the rookie Luke Cage, but mainly because of his ranged weapons (the Rivet-Gun was useless, but the Torch did OK- Cage was apparently more vulnerable to heat), but when you're a one-shotter, you're not gonna have a high PL. He's got those two options, but is ALSO incredibly strong (he DENTED A GIRDER with Luke's head), doing more damage than is possible for most people- he's at Captain America's level of unarmed damage (but I didn't want him to be able to lift 1,600 lbs.- therefore he has a boosted-damage Power instead of just raw Strength). He's apparently an 8th-grade drop-out, but knows enough about technology to build his own equipment, so his Intelligence isn't hampered at all (in actuality, this was Claremont's assertion- not the creators). He's a big tough guy, but wouldn't have lasted in the Marvel Universe long, even if he had survived his first battle.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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catsi563
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by catsi563 »

Swear he was offed at the Bar with no name.
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MacynSnow
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by MacynSnow »

catsi563 wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 7:11 pm Swear he was offed at the Bar with no name.
Your thinking Steeplejack II,the dude with the Claw on his wrists...
Jabroniville
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Steeplejack (Plumm)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

STEEPLEJACK II (Maxwell Plumm)
Created By:
Len Wein & George Tuska
First Appearance: Luke Cage, Power Man #18 (April 1974), Ms. Marvel #18 (as Steeplejack)
Role: Corrupt Businessman
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (48)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills: 
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Businessman) 1 (+2)
Vehicles 1 (+1)

Advantages: 
Equipment (Padded Costume- +3 Toughness), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Rivet-Gun" (Flaws: Easily Removable -2) [15]
"Red-Hot Rivets" Blast 8 (Extras: Multiattack) (24) -- (25 points)
  • AE: "Acetylene Super-Torch" Damage 6 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (12)
Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Rivet-Gun +3 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Torch +6 Area (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +2 (+5 Costume), Fortitude +3, Will +0

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- A pure scumbag, Plumm will do anything and cost any cost for a quick buck.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 6--3 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 15 / Defenses: 4 (48)

-Again, reading these bios the first time made it seem like Chris Claremont had read the initial story, saw a grave injustice in the REAL villain getting away with it, and "fixed" it. However, as I read the first issue, it's never clear that the original Steeplejack was RIGHT- just that he SUSPECTED it. So in his Ms. Marvel series, Claremont simply points out that Mallard was CORRECT about Plumm's sub-standard safety precautions and shoddy building materials, as Carol Danvers has to save her own father from a collapsing structure! Therefore, it makes the whole Mallard story into an even BIGGER tragedy, and Chris seeks for a more uplifting ending.

-It's bizarre, though- a one-shot Luke Cage character is brought back four years later for a Claremont story in another book? Maybe Chris figured that Mallard WAS correct, and that this makes the story's ending ridiculously unhappy- an evil bastard got away with murder. In this story, it turns out that Plumm steals Mallard's Steeplejack designs for profits to make up his mob debts, and fights Ms. Marvel, but the fight's over in seconds- Plumm can only fire wildly and sets everything on fire, and is easily beaten. His very next appearance was in "The Bar With No Name" in a certain Captain America, as this one-shot villain introduces himself to the others and is immediately gunned-down by the Scourge of the Underworld. So Jake Mallard gets sweet justice after all.

-A third Steeplejack appeared as one of the Hobgoblin's "Villain Franchises", but was quickly slaughtered by the Goblin Knight, Phil Urich.

-This Steeplejack is actually WORSE than the first one, losing accuracy and damage across the board except for his weapons. He's not even much smarter- he was a poor businessman and a giant wuss (+0 Will Save is NOT a good thing). He didn't last two seconds with Ms. Marvel, and he went down like a jobber in the end, too.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:47 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by Batgirl III »

“Steeplejack” is a really cool name though. I’m definitely going to file it away for that Edwardian / Victorian Superhero campaign I’ve always wanted to do, but have never bothered to actually do.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by Goldar »

I have been away for a few weeks, but caught up today. Some really nice posts, Jab!!

I like Luke Cage of the '70's. He was cool, smart and cracked good jokes. I liked his "Sweet Christmas" saying too. He did appear in the original Defenders run early on several different times. Initially, he was weaker than the watered-down Barbara Norriss Valkyrie, but over time he did become stronger. I think I once saw stats for Luke from back then: 3 tons, then much later went up to10 tons, although not sure how he beat the other Power Man at only 3 tons strength. In the 2000, I think he got another dose of the chemicals that turned him into a super and get leveled up to 25 tons.

I also loved the Black Mariah of the '70's--a real gagsta lady! Didn't she beat up Danny? She has a little of that big-girl strength, as you accurately list as 3. Then she seemed to disappear.
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Ares
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Re: Steeplejack (Plumm)

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:15 pm -Again, reading these bios the first time made it seem like Chris Claremont had read the initial story, saw a grave injustice in the REAL villain getting away with it, and "fixed" it. However, as I read the first issue, it's never clear that the original Steeplejack was RIGHT- just that he SUSPECTED it. So in his Ms. Marvel series, Claremont simply points out that Mallard was CORRECT about Plumm's sub-standard safety precautions and shoddy building materials, as Carol Danvers has to save her own father from a collapsing structure! Therefore, it makes the whole Mallard story into an even BIGGER tragedy, and Chris seeks for a more uplifting ending.

-It's bizarre, though- a one-shot Luke Cage character is brought back four years later for a Claremont story in another book? Maybe Chris figured that Mallard WAS correct, and that this makes the story's ending ridiculously unhappy- an evil bastard got away with murder. In this story, it turns out that Plumm steals Mallard's Steeplejack designs for profits to make up his mob debts, and fights Ms. Marvel, but the fight's over in seconds- Plumm can only fire wildly and sets everything on fire, and is easily beaten.
This actually kind of disappoints me. I think I liked the ambiguity of the original story, and perhaps the idea that the brother was just someone looking for someone to blame for a genuine accident. It would have worked out well as showing that dealing with your grief by grabbing some special weapons and trying to kill someone is not a healthy way to process grief. This makes it seem that Luke Cage was in the wrong for doing his job, and actually removes some of the tragedy for me, because then it's just a case of "evil business man being evil". The first story is more tragic because there is no villain, it's just one guy who did everything by the book being attacked by someone who couldn't process his grief.

But then, I can imagine Claremont as one of those "big business = automatically evil" writers.
"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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MacynSnow
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by MacynSnow »

Batgirl III wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 8:19 pm “Steeplejack” is a really cool name though. I’m definitely going to file it away for that Edwardian / Victorian Superhero campaign I’ve always wanted to do, but have never bothered to actually do.
Then may i reccomend my FANTASTIC VICTORIANA:BLACK SAILS Recruitment Thread? ;)
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

so yeah, I think due to this thread I had a Luke Cage dream last night.


It was very clearly the Netflix Luke, and there was some villain that looked pretty similar to Steeplejack to be honest only black, siccing some goons on Luke who of course went right though them. Then he sent this more martial arts like guy to fight Luke and it went all first person with the M.A. breaking his fist and ankle at attacking Luke.

Luke fought the villain and tanked some energy blasts before punching the guy....which made the villain's skin rip to reveal he was actually an old white man. Luke was about to finish him off when the guy revealed he had Luke's dead wife and a load of other people in suspended animation for his experiments. See this guy had worked for Hydra and wants to keep his work going, which sucks for him because Coulson and SHIELD just showed up to shut the place down and confiscate everything, but if Luke were to help him out against SHIELD he'd get Reva back.....

And then I woke up on that cliffhanger. Probably the closest we'll get to a crossover between the ABC shows and the Netflix shows....at least for now.
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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by Batgirl III »

HalloweenJack wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:04 pm so yeah, I think due to this thread I had a Luke Cage dream last night.

It was very clearly the Netflix Luke[.]
Yeah, sure, Jabroniville is the reason you’re having dreams about Mike Colter. Stick to that story. We totally believe you.
HalloweenJack wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:04 pm And then I woke up on that cliffhanger. Probably the closest we'll get to a crossover between the ABC shows and the Netflix shows....at least for now.
I had a dream about a crossover that involved Colleen Wing and Melinda May having an extended fight. The mud they were wrestling in was symbolic of their internal struggles. Yeah. That’s it.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by Goldar »

HalloweenJack wrote: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:04 pm so yeah, I think due to this thread I had a Luke Cage dream last night.
Naw, that's not why. :lol:
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Shades! Power Man! Hardcore! Jessica Jones!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

c'mon now guys, I'm not Brian Michael Bendis


...people actually fought in my dream.
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