IREZUMI (Kayama Inouye, aka Tattoo)
Created By: Roy & Dann Thomas, David Ross
First Appearance: The Avengers West Coast #72 (July 1991)
Role: Odd-Powered Guy, Yakuza Villain
Group Affiliations: The Pacific Overlords
PL 10 (136)
STRENGTH 3
STAMINA 4
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 0
AWARENESS 0
PRESENCE 1
Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Athletics 2 (+5)
Deception 3 (+4)
Intimidation 5 (+6)
Expertise (Yakuza) 6 (+6)
Perception 3 (+3)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Advantages:
Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Essence Blast) 2, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 3
Powers:
"Lifestone-Given Powers: Tattoo-Based Essence Reflection"
Power Drawbacks: Standard Action -2, Requires New Action For Each Opponent [-3]
Protection 8 (Extras: Impervious 11) (Flaws: Limited to One Opponent At a Time) [11]
"Paralysis" Affliction 8 (Fort; Fatigued/Stunned/Paralyzed) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst, Sustained +2) [32]
"Reflecting Essence" Blast 13 (Feats: Penetrating 10) (Flaws: Requires Absorbing An Attack) (23) -- [24]
- AE: "Reflecting Multiple Essences" Blast 10 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone, Penetrating 10) (Flaws: Requires Absorbing An Attack) (20)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Paralysis +8 Area (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Essense Reflection +6 (+13 Ranged Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +4 (+12 Stolen Essences), Fortitude +5, Will +3
Complications:
Prejudice (Yakuza)- Japanese Society has a large prejudice against Tattoos, owing to its history with the Yakuza gangs- Irezumi's full-body tattoos and snake-facial tattoo will get him odd looks even in other countries.
Power Loss (Double or Triple the Essence)- Irezumi's Blast has limits- he can only double or triple the intensity of the attack initially lodged against him- if someone were to attack him with puny attacks, he'd be able to do little damage in return.
Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 64 / Defenses: 9 (136)
-Irezumi is probably my favourite of the Pacific Overlords, by virtue of his totally unique power. His name means "Tattoo" in English (which he helpfully describes to the heroes, pre-asskicking, because villains are often polite and informative that way- he even describes his powers to them! Of course, he IS Japanese...), and he looks like a Yakuza gangster, with tattoos covering his entire body. This probably doesn't make him any given artist's favourite guy to draw- I mean, drawing ONE guy is bad enough, but then having to learn to draw tigers, snakes, women & dragons all on his body, in the exact same poses and positions on his anatomy? I mean, that scares the CRAP out of me as an artist- there's a reason almost no comic book characters EVER have had tattoos, despite their recurrence in real life these days. He uses these tattoos to "Capture" the life essences of the people he's fighting- their images suddenly appear on his chest in a cool visual. This allows him to reflect attacks back at his aggressors, or (in a later issue) slow people down as he steals their Essence away. He appeared and died with the rest of the Overlords, but this is the one guy on this team of Morts I wouldn't mind seeing coming back. I'm sure the artist would kill the writer for suggesting it, though.
-There are a LOT of ways to potentially build this power- advanced Deflect, Protection with the Reflection Extra (in this case, that's sorta what he's doing- combining invulnerability with a Reflective Blast), etc., but I ended up going with three different powers at once. All of them are based off of his Tattoos, and he can apparently only really do this to two people at once, maximum. After taking a Standard Action to shift his Tattoos to his present target(s), he can do one of three things: On one level, he can slow people down and Paralyze them by stealing their image (and this is likely independent of his other powers, since it's Sustained). Then he can protect himself from their attacks (he implies he's immune to stuff, though I only ever saw him no-sell Iron Man & Wasp's Blasts- likely Tigra's claws, had she attacked him as well) to a high degree. THEN he can take the energy from their attacks, double (or perhaps triple it), and throw 'em straight back.
-This is rather complicated set-up (especially for a nobody), but I think this works better than the other options- he's not Reflecting the attacks, because it's stated that he's doing MORE damage than the original hits (also, Deflect doesn't work against Area or Perception stuff, and Irezumi's powers probably would). I chose not to go with the "Free Action" part of Deflect/Reflection either, because he seemed to be pretty chatty between attack/response, and had to consciously toss the attacks back at Iron Man & Wasp, so I don't think it's a near-automatic thing. Granted it's tough to say because he only used the power ONCE (the other time he tried, Scarlet Witch cancelled both their powers out and it turned into a physical fight- Spider-Woman did a run-in and took him out). I went with simple Protection to show how he's fairly immune to the attacks of others- I'm assuming that he has limits and isn't just totally invincible to everything, as that's a REALLY high Immunity To Everything with a Limit on it (80 points!).
-Despite this scary amount of power, its weaknesses certainly caused him some pain in battle, as he's focused on U.S. Agent, but then Morning Star hits him. When he does it to Morning Star, KLAW hits him. He's totally vulnerable to people he's not actively targetted, and he's not that elite a fighter without his powers- Scarlet Witch tossed him, and when he recovered by grabbing her cape, Julia Carpenter easily beat him (granted, she's like Class 10 in Strength).