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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Speedball's Foes

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

SPEEDBALL ENEMIES
Created By:
Steve Ditko & Jo Duffy
Role: Loser Villains
PL 3 (32)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Athletics 2 (+3)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2, Fortitude +3, Will +1

Complications: 
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Speedball)

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 4 (32)

-The early run on Speedball is a curiosity, primarily known for being very weird, and rather unpopular. Almost all of his enemies are classic unskilled goofballs with deliberately stupid names (the most deadly of them all is known as "The Sticker"). All of them were mere one-offs, never meant to be seen again... until The New Warriors #66 brought them out of the mothballs, forming the "Speedball Revenge Squad" (a parody of the "Superman Revenge Squad" at DC Comics) in order to vex Robbie Baldwin... who soon came across his old baddies, and made short work of him- the years had seen him "Level Up" over these schmucks.

-Most of the enemies are total Joke Villains, detailed most-effectively by scc in his own Build Thread. I list them here mostly for completion's sake- his builds are probably much more thorough than mine.

THE BASHER (Real Name Unknown)- PL 4 (37): Equipment 2 ("Hard Balls"- Strength-Damage +2, Ranged 3, Diminished Range -1), Ranged Attack +2, Expertise (Bartender) 2 (+2) [5]
-The Basher was a failed Rookie Cop, and worked at a diner that real cops frequented- he lashed out at them out of bitterness, throwing heavy balls at them. Speedball soon got involved, and beat the villain. He was later seen joining the Speedball Revenge Squad, and is said to have been a bartender at one of the "Bar With No Name" franchises.

BONEHEAD- PL 4 (37): FIGHTING +1, "Headbutt" Strength-Damage +2, Parry +1 [5]
-Bonehead is a recidivist criminal with a hard head. He was captured by Speedball, and later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad. He once shrugged off a punch from Squirrel Girl thanks to his super-tough skull, so he may or may not be superhuman.

THE BOUNCER (Real Name Unknown)- PL 6 (40): INT 4, "Bouncing Costume" Leaping 4, Protection 4, Protection 2 (Limited to Bludgeoning) [8]
-A scientist who easily got away when a blow sent him careening away, Bouncer was defeated when Speedball tied him to a fire hydrant.

THE BUG-EYED VOICE (Arthur Bigelow)- PL 3 (39): INT 2, Expertise (Insurance) 4 (+6), Equipment ("Creepy Voice" Intimidation +4) [7]
-An insurance investigator who used inside knowledge to rob people. He disguised his voice in order to startle people with its creepiness, and later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad. Unlike most of these losers, he has a modern appearance, being beaten up by Squirrel Girl on the debut of the New Warriors TV series.

THE GHOST OF SPRINGDALE HIGH (Frank Caskey)- PL 3 (34): Equipment 2 (Cat Burglar Gear) [2]
-A cat burglar who was foiled by Speedball, and mistaken for the ghost of a murder victim at the school. Later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad

HARLEQUIN HIT MAN (Herb & Sheila Hollister)- PL 4 (35): Equipment 3 (Guns- Blast 5 Multiattack) [3]
-A married couple who pose as the same hit man. They were hired to take out some blackmailers, but Speedball beat both of them. One joined the Speedball Revenge Squad.

LEAPER LOGAN (Logan)- PL 4 (35): Equipment 3 (Guns- Blast 5 Multiattack) [3]
-An imprisoned crook who worked in the jail industrial shop, building a pogo-like device that let him leap over the walls and get to freedom. He went on a crime spree in Springdale, but was beaten by Speedball. He later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad.

Image

THE STICKER (Foxworth)- PL 6 (69): "Suit" Strength +2, Protection 4, Snare 8 (Aura +3, Touch Range, Uncontrolled), Dynamic AE: Suffocation 8 (Uncontrolled), "Helmet" Removes Uncontrolled Flaw [37]
-Sticker stole a formula from a scientist he'd murdered, and used it to confound people by sticking to them. When Speedball took off Foxworth's helmet, he could no longer control the "Magno Fluid" and suffocated. However, he later turned up alive on the Speedball Revenge Squad.

TWO-LEGGED RAT- PL 4 (32): Equipment 3 (Rifle- Blast 6) [3]
-A "Cat-Killer" who goes around Springdale killing felines. He eventually targetted Speedball's own cat, but ran away when a police officer nearly shot him. Later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon May 09, 2022 11:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Goldar
Posts: 1229
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 2:10 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Macbeth! The Banshee! Odin! Oberon! Taserface!)

Post by Goldar »

HalloweenJack wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:44 pm I had no idea there was an actual Taserface
Yeah, I remember old Taserface, whats-his-name, from the GoTG.
scc
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2016 11:13 pm

Re: Speedball's Foes

Post by scc »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:35 am Image

SPEEDBALL ENEMIES
Created By:
Steve Ditko & Jo Duffy
Role: Loser Villains
PL 3 (32)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Athletics 2 (+3)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2, Fortitude +3, Will +1

Complications: 
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Speedball)

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 4 (32)

-The early run on Speedball is a curiosity, primarily known for being very weird, and rather unpopular. Almost all of his enemies are classic unskilled goofballs with deliberately stupid names (the most deadly of them all is known as "The Sticker"). All of them were mere one-offs, never meant to be seen again... until The New Warriors #66 brought them out of the mothballs, forming the "Speedball Revenge Squad" (a parody of the "Superman Revenge Squad" at DC Comics) in order to vex Robbie Baldwin... who soon came across his old baddies, and made short work of him- the years had seen him "Level Up" over these schmucks.

-Most of the enemies are total Joke Villains, detailed most-effectively by scc in his own Build Thread. I list them here mostly for completion's sake- his builds are probably much more thorough than mine.

THE BASHER (Real Name Unknown)- PL 4 (37): Equipment 2 ("Hard Balls"- Strength-Damage +2, Ranged 3, Diminished Range -1), Ranged Attack +2, Expertise (Bartender) 2 (+2) [5]
-The Basher was a failed Rookie Cop, and worked at a diner that real cops frequented- he lashed out at them out of bitterness, throwing heavy balls at them. Speedball soon got involved, and beat the villain. He was later seen joining the Speedball Revenge Squad, and is said to have been a bartender at one of the "Bar With No Name" franchises.

BONEHEAD- PL 4 (37): FIGHTING +1, "Headbutt" Strength-Damage +2, Parry +1 [5]
-Bonehead is a recidivist criminal with a hard head. He was captured by Speedball, and later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad. He once shrugged off a punch from Squirrel Girl thanks to his super-tough skull, so he may or may not be superhuman.

THE BOUNCER (Real Name Unknown)- PL 6 (40): INT 4, "Bouncing Costume" Leaping 4, Protection 4, Protection 2 (Limited to Bludgeoning) [8]
-A scientist who easily got away when a blow sent him careening away, Bouncer was defeated when Speedball tied him to a fire hydrant.

THE BUG-EYED VOICE (Arthur Bigelow)- PL 3 (39): INT 2, Expertise (Insurance) 4 (+6), Equipment ("Creepy Voice" Intimidation +4) [7]
-An insurance investigator who used inside knowledge to rob people. He disguised his voice in order to startle people with its creepiness, and later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad. Unlike most of these losers, he has a modern appearance, being beaten up by Squirrel Girl on the debut of the New Warriors TV series.

THE GHOST OF SPRINGDALE HIGH (Frank Caskey)- PL 3 (34): Equipment 2 (Cat Burglar Gear) [2]
-A cat burglar who was foiled by Speedball, and mistaken for the ghost of a murder victim at the school. Later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad

HARLEQUIN HIT MAN (Herb & Sheila Hollister)- PL 4 (35): Equipment 3 (Guns- Blast 5 Multiattack) [3]
-A married couple who pose as the same hit man. They were hired to take out some blackmailers, but Speedball beat both of them. One joined the Speedball Revenge Squad.

LEAPER LOGAN (Logan)- PL 4 (35): Equipment 3 (Guns- Blast 5 Multiattack) [3]
-An imprisoned crook who worked in the jail industrial shop, building a pogo-like device that let him leap over the walls and get to freedom. He went on a crime spree in Springdale, but was beaten by Speedball. He later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad.

Image

THE STICKER (Foxworth)- PL 6 (69): "Suit" Strength +2, Protection 4, Snare 8 (Aura +3, Touch Range, Uncontrolled), Dynamic AE: Suffocation 8 (Uncontrolled), "Helmet" Removes Uncontrolled Flaw [37]
-Sticker stole a formula from a scientist he'd murdered, and used it to confound people by sticking to them. When Speedball took off Foxworth's helmet, he could no longer control the "Magno Fluid" and suffocated. However, he later turned up alive on the Speedball Revenge Squad.

TWO-LEGGED RAT- PL 4 (32): Equipment 3 (Rifle- Blast 6) [3]
-A "Cat-Killer" who goes around Springdale killing felines. He eventually targetted Speedball's own cat, but ran away when a police officer nearly shot him. Later joined the Speedball Revenge Squad.
I am just happy to see these guys on another thread. They need all the publicity that they can get as perhaps the jobbiest team ever.
User avatar
L-Space
Posts: 740
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: Jab's Builds! (Demona! Thailog! Macbeth! The Banshee! Odin!)

Post by L-Space »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:27 am Coming up tomorrow, I'll post a couple of random builds, then get started with OVERWATCH, thanks to the help of L-Train, Woodclaw and Kreuzritter, who were telling me some of the basics of the game mechanics.
Am...am I L-Train? :lol:
Image
Formerly luketheduke86
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Demona! Thailog! Macbeth! The Banshee! Odin!)

Post by Jabroniville »

L-Space wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:59 am
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:27 am Coming up tomorrow, I'll post a couple of random builds, then get started with OVERWATCH, thanks to the help of L-Train, Woodclaw and Kreuzritter, who were telling me some of the basics of the game mechanics.
Am...am I L-Train? :lol:
Haha, right. Forgot your new name :).
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Overwaifu

Post by Jabroniville »

OVERWATCH:
-So a couple of years ago, a little gaming company called Blizzard released a game that more or less hit like a goddamn freight train and became an industry-wide obsession. Through a canny advertising campaign, some EXTREMELY good character design, and an extraordinarily competitive "Teamwork"-based gaming system, they had a monstrous hit on their hands with Overwatch.

The backstory is so stupidly simple that the plot is barely perfunctory- some robots called Omnics nearly took over the world, and a global conflict resulted, and after the conflict, the group known as "Overwatch" (formed to fight Omnics) was disbanded. Now, many years later, Overwatch is reborn... so that members can jump into indiscriminate battles with random teammates and fight each other in battles to the death where you can die seventy times. That's it. That's the entire story.

To be honest, most of these guys have backstories that could be written on a napkin. The game is... First-Person Shooter. Which is EASILY my least-favorite game genre of ALL TIME, and would probably be the one thing that killed my love of video games the fastest. Watching clips of actual gameplay is essentially "you run around in random patterns and shoot at vague stuff, until you are killed by something you didn't see". It's KIND of "Comic-Booky" in nature, given that there's a Talking Ape and stuff, but most of the powers are more "Video Game", with standardized Tanks, DPS, Melee & Healer/Support characters, in addition to the fact that almost everyone uses guns & hardware instead of self-generating stuff. And really, comics almost NEVER has characters that specialize in Healing or Buffing others- in all my years of doing these threads, I think I've come across less than five.

The game is said to have a truly toxic gamer community, with a combination of competitiveness, character-shaming (Hanzo "Mains" are a particularly tasty target for internet snarkers and meme-designers), and vicious insulting of teammates who've failed. Basically the kinds of things that make me happy I no longer game.

But really... this is all about CHARACTER. Simply put, these character designs are AMAZING. While some are just total bullshit "we threw completely generic armor on a random body type" (TORBJORN. LUCARIO.), and everyone has "armor that's too stupidly-complicated to draw properly, because that's the style of the times", others are incredibly inventive. The Official Art Book goes into how they went out of their way to create interesting and unique "Silhouettes" (an animation term that indicates that good character design should allow all of the characters to be recognizable by their silhouettes)- in this case, Ana is triangular (because of her cape), Torbjorn is short and squad, My Waifu Zarya has a wide bottom half and a huge gun, Mei is corpulent, and Mercy has wings. EVERYONE stands out.

The Cast Diversity is terrific as well- rather than just be A Legion Of Armored Douches (like Halo), you can play Armored Douches, GIANT Armored Douches, a Great Ape, a rail thin assassin-skank, a skinny girl with her ass spraypainted orange, a Muscle-Goddess, a curvy girl with big boobs, an old lady with a sniper rifle, and more. There's a goddamn cowboy, a ninja, a samurai and other Standard Video-Game Standards, in addition to a girl dressed like an angel, and a chick in bad-ass Falcon Power Armor. Almost ANY ONE of these characters could headline their own comic book series just by virtue of how awesome they look, and that, more than anything, will sell a game. "Character" is EVERYTHING.

Naturally, the fetish-tastic nature of the game was lost on nobody. Tracer was obviously supposed to be the "Main Character", given that she's on the game box, got one of the first "Introduction Videos" and more. She seemed to be the most "Standard-Issue Attractive", given her shiny butt and cute, wide-eyed face. But the fans kind of ran away with the options they had available to them- Widowmaker is blue and is openly hyper-sexualized, targeting the sort who's into "Bad Girls". Mercy is more of a "Perfect 10"- a woman with idealized everything. D.Va is there if you're into jailbait- she's obviously a teenager, yet has been made "eighteen" just so the perverts won't feel TOO perverse for lusting after her. You into fitness girls, or exotic types? Pharah's your gal. Girls with a ton of MEAT on their curvy, busty frames? Go for Mei. Big, BEEFY girls who'll use you for Snu-Snu while mocking your lack of physique? ZARYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Like, if you're a pervert, then there's a girl in this game for you. Or a guy. I won't judge. I don't lust for Hanzo. Shut up, I don't.

Of course, I will be up to my usual standards of good behavior and not make any lewd comments targeted at any of the lovely characters of this game.








HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Just kidding. Wanted to see if you were paying attention there.

Overwatch Stats:
So yeah, the game is pretty much an "FPS" standard with a lot of stuff that shows up in video games, and almost never in comics. Things like "Super Moves" that you can only do rarely, Weapons that are obviously Easily Removable (people just carry them around) yet are never removed in the game, "Buffs" that can alter the stats of everyone around you (thus breaking Power Level), gorillas and ballerinas do the same amount of melee damage, and everyone's using either guns as Equipment or Devices. How will I stat them? Well, given that I hate the genre and have never played the game (nor will I ever), I guess we'll have to see...
Last edited by Jabroniville on Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Macbeth! The Banshee! Odin! Oberon! Taserface!)

Post by Jabroniville »

BriarThrone wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:26 pm Re: Demona and Evil

The Sunk Cost Fallacy is deeply, deeply ingrained into the human psyche, and motivates way more of our behavior than anyone would really care to admit. It doesn't help that often there are major choices in life that shape a lot of your habits and your socialization. If you start questioning those, you quickly start to realize that your entire life is built on sand, and you're dicking with the levy.

Re: Overkill

D'you reckon his tailor took the client's name as design instruction?
An ASTONISHING amount of World History is because of "well, we're already half-in- we have to go all the way now". Think of how much war is because of that.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Macbeth! The Banshee! Odin! Oberon! Taserface!)

Post by Jabroniville »

HalloweenJack wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:44 pm I had no idea there was an actual Taserface
Haha, I remember watching the movie and only knowing that name because I'd built him before, under his "Overkill" name (he was in the "O" section on the RA forum). I knew I had to re-post him because of that, but I kept forgetting in between "sets"- one of the things that's unfortunate about my thread (vs) Thorp's or Kreuzritter's is that I'm basically stuck in certain sets until I'm finished, and if I forget to post the "filler" in between them, then I'm stuck for another week or two.

The reason Speedball's Rogues are on here is because I was working on the "B" builds while the Gargoyles & Dinosaurs ones were in operation, as those are largely re-posts with new commentary and thus much easier. So it was fun to "Authentically" build some new guys. And the Bug-Eyed Voice has been on the list for ages. Realizing that he was part of the Speedball Rogues that scc posted, I figured I'd go with my old plan, and use a "Template" for the lot of them. SCC and Marvunapp doing the research work made this a lot easier. But since they didn't fit the "B"s any longer, I figured I'd post them separately, and the gap between Gargoyles and Overwatch made this possible.

[url=viewtopic.php?f=14&t=51]Here's scc's thread[/i], for those who want to check out the more full bios of these goofs.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Widowmaker

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image
Image

WIDOWMAKER (Amélie Lacroix (née Guillard)
Role:
Miss Fanservice, Sexy Assassin Girl, Glass Cannon
Fetish Targets: Skanky Dresser, Blue-Skinned, Emotionless Killer, Scrawny, Hyper-Sexualized
Group Affiliations: Talon
PL 10 (153)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 12 (+13)
Deception 6 (+6)
Expertise (Assassin) 11 (+13)
Expertise (Ballerina) 10 (+10)
Insight 4 (+7)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 9 (+12)
Ranged Combat (Guns) 2 (+12)
Stealth 8 (+14)
Technology 6 (+8)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, First One to Suggest She Needs "Attractive" Dies, Chokehold, Equipment 1 (Goggles- Extended Sight & Infravision, Grappling Hook- Swinging 2, Assassin Gear), Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Guns) 2, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Quick Draw, Power Attack, Precise Attack (Ranged/Cover), Ranged Attack 4, Tracking, Ultimate Aim

Powers:
"Widow's Kiss- Giant Sniper Rifle" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [14]
"Scope Mode" Blast 8 (Feats: Extended Range 3, Improved Critical +1) (Extras: Penetrating) (Flaws: Distracting) (20) -- (22 points)
  • AE: "Semi-Automatic Mode" Blast 6 (Feats: Extended Range) (Extras: Multiattack) (19)
  • AE: "Venom Mine" Damage 8 (Features: Triggered- Proximity) (Extras: Area- 15ft. Cloud) (17)
"Neural Dampening" Immunity 5 (Emotion-Based Effects) [5]
"Infra-Sight" Senses 2 (Vision Penetrates Concealment) (Extras: Affects Others, Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Source- Goggles) (Quirks: Unreliable- 5/day for Each Ally -1) [5]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Semi-Automatic Fire +12 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 18)
Scope Mode +12 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Venom Mine +8 Area (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +10

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Power Loss (Ammo)- Widowmaker can run out of ammo and need time to reload, especially with her "Scope" shot. All of her gear requires a one-round "Cooldown".
Weakness (Best Counters)- Winston and another Widowmaker, thanks to her vulnerability.
Motivation (Killing)- Widowmaker seems to truly enjoy killing.
Relationship (Gérard Lacroix- Husband)- Widowmaker has absolutely no emotions at all. No way. None. She just hangs out at her dead husband's grave because... reasons. That's right.
Enemy (Ana Amari)- Widowmaker once shot Ana through the right eye- Ana managed to get a glimpse of Widowmaker's visorless face, however, and bears a grudge.
Enemy (Tracer)- Widowmaker killed a target Tracer was attempting to protect.
Responsibility (Talon)- Widowmaker is a loyal Talon agent, and frequently works with killers like Sombra, Doomfist and Reaper.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 72--36 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 13 (153)

-Widowmaker is a ruthless, emotionless assassin who runs around in a shiny skinsuit with uber-cleavage, being that weird kind of hyper-sexualization like Bayonetta where she doesn't even really look sexy to me- just TOO back-archingly skankalicious. I mean, I'd get with the old lady before Widowmaker. She was one of the first three characters made for the game, originally having been designed for a cancelled project as a "Sniper" option.

-The character has a sad backstory- she was an innocent woman kidnapped by the "Talon" terrorist organization, and brainwashed into killing her own husband- an Overwatch member. She then became a full Talon agent- her neural conditioning turning her blue (because that's what a secretive assassin needs to be- utterly recognizable and different from every single other member of society). The character is now said to be the greatest assassin alive, and feel no emotion whatsoever ("One shot. One Kill." is her catchphrase), but can still be seen staring at her dead husband's grave...

-Widowmaker is meant to be a speedy, quick-loading character, firing at great range and then getting out of dodge with her Grappling Hook. She's way too fragile to take heavy damage, as indicated by her lower toughness and relatively-weak Defenses (she's PL 8 to Dodge!). She's PL 9 with her Semi-Automatic fire (Multiattack), but at the great range and accuracy of her Sniper Scope, she can hit for PL 10 damage. Her accuracy seems a little low for an assassin, but I don't imagine most Overwatch characters are terribly difficult to hit. A typical tactic is to find a good "perch", and lay Venom Mines around it- once you notice them going off, you know the enemy has caught up to you, and it's time to leave. These are standard "Triggered Devices" that are always tricky in games like M&M- it's set off by proximity.

-Widowmaker is a "High Skill; High Reward" character who is deadly in the right hands, but unforgiving to weaker players- a good player still misses at least 50% of their shots, but a headshot from Widowmaker is nearly an insta-kill to any other character. The only issue is, it's her ONLY good quality- everything else about her is sub-par. Her "Ultimate" allows her and her teammates to see through walls with Infravision- I went with Ranged and Unreliable instead of "Area- Miles" and "whatever an Ultimate" is, just for simplicity's sake. And I made the Sniper Rifle a Device, just because. I really have no idea what the difference really should be between a lot of these things. It's got a name and it's definitive to the character, so I'm calling it a Device- it implies durability.

Comic Book-izing Widowmaker: Actually, she doesn't really need anything changed. Sniper-types are generally built like this in comics, too. Affects others Infravision would probably be out, though- it's too weird.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Odin! Oberon! Taserface! Overwatch- Widowmaker!)

Post by Jabroniville »

So a Couple Things About Overwatch in M&M:
* Special Weapons are Devices if they have rare & unusual powers, or are especially distinctive. Equipment if not. "Device" implies some durability, but there's one hell of a gray area here, given that this is a "future time" where certain gear may be very standard.

* Toughness is generally quite low- a few hits from some guys' best weapons will annihilate almost any character. The "baseline" Health is 200, which isn't that high in M&M terms (most characters go unarmored).

* I'm going with "PL 9-ish" as a general Power Level, with many characters having upgrades or buffs to a higher level. More fragile characters may hit harder (Widowmaker snipes at PL 10). Some guys can buff their power or toughness to PL 10, and push their teammates even further. Almost NOBODY is a "pure" PL 10. I use this Power Level because the story indicates that these are the best of the best- elite warriors who can take on dozens of robots at a time, and are people I wouldn't mind seeing alongside Marvel's characters. In this regard, I can see a lot of these people as contemporaries of experience fighters like Daredevil, Batman or Wolverine. But their general lack of versatility and toughness (almost everyone in the game is a Glass Cannon) would put them on the losing end, most likely.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Odin! Oberon! Taserface! Overwatch- Widowmaker!)

Post by Jabroniville »

One last stretch of Gargoyles episodes:

-Some Native American legends about Raven the Trickster/Shapeshifter (because if there's one thing "Gargoyles" needs more of, it's shapeshifting Tricksters), and another thing about how Natives have to leave the modern world behind and go back to buckskins, rain-dances and magic. That always comes across as ultra-liberal pandering about "the old ways are best" that tries to bring Natives back to the stone age, and comes across as a bit condescending, too. I mean, not many races basically get told "hey, you fail at modern culture- go back to your old ways". Do you see TV shows recommending Christians go back to worshipping Zeus or Muslims go back to Ra, because "the ancient ways are strong"? What about all the Natives who DON'T worship the trees and the rains and Raven & Coyote? Plus this is like the only story that ever gets told about Natives, anywhere. I wonder what actual Natives think of every story telling them to start doing rain dances again.

-The Loch Ness Monster one is kind of entertaining for the whole fact that I'm a Cryptozoology nut (I don't actually believe in the stuff- I just find it fascinating to read about), but it's a pretty generic "There's a big rare creature and an evil scientist wants to kidnap it" story. This could really fit into almost ANY cartoon series you could possibly think of, by changing nothing. Interesting to see Sevarius on his own, and we finally get the official word on Angela's parentage (not that it was a big mystery- they all but said it on "Avalon").

"Hunter's Moon, Part One": Oh man, it's been years since I've seen this. Three NEW Hunters (the clan that's been chasing Demona across the centuries) debut, nearly killing Angela, and BY TOTAL COINCIDENCE, three new people arrive in the lives of the cast- a girl working for Demona, one working as Elisa's new partner, and a reporter talking to Xanatos and borrowing Stone Skin left at the Eyrie Building. There's a bit that Weisman hated in retrospect, where Brooklyn is facing a laser blast powerful enough to go straight through a van... and picks up a car door and uses it as a shield to block the laser bolts. This is really just the pre-amble (though it's fun to see the subtleties where Elisa is embarassed at how much she likes her new partner, and a little guilty, while Goliath is at first excited, then concerned when he notices her guilt), but oh man, when Goliath looks at his injured daughter and says "On my daughter's life, I swear I will find these hunters... and I WILL KILL THEM..." That's just awesome vengeful stuff.

"Part Two": Elisa & the new guy kiss, but she reveals that "there's someone I care for deeply, but it would be impossible to get involved with him". Meanwhile, Angela recovers, and Goliath is out for revenge still. LOL at Brooklyn being the stoic voice of reason against the boss- "Isn't this being a LITTLE bit reckless?" *FIERCE STARE, Brooklyn backs down* They're captured (Alongside Demona), BUT OF COURSE they're just locked up instead of... you know... killed, which is the Hunters' entire game. "All THREE of us should be here for that". Yeah, really. "Part Three" ends what is basically the full continuity of the series- John does a face turn, but his little bro (who was the most merciful- even sparing the Clan when he realized they cared for each other) goes full-on Demona with his "What have I... what have THEY done?", cripples John and becomes a genocidal monster. And @#*$# YEAAAAAHHHH Elisa and Goliath FINALLY reveal their emotions to each other, and totally make with teh kisses.

Oh man, they're showing some Goliath Chronicles stuff: The first episode has some BUTT-UGLY animation, but is actually relatively in-continuity, since Greg Weisman wrote it. Vinnie of all people saves Goliath's life at the last minute, holding off the leader of the Quarrymen, while Goliath's wing is damaged. Of course, Goliath later flies away ON THE INJURED WING, but that's more of an animation error than him no-selling the injury (that kind of stuff happens all the time in pro wrestling).

"Sanctuary" is a good one for characterization- as our World Tourists come across Demona seducing Macbeth in her human form, Thailog being behind it (hooking up with Demona), and Angela having issues with seeing a female ex-lover of Goliath's who looks a LOT like her. Some nice moments as well, when Goliath tells Macbeth that the whole thing really PROVES that finding love again is possible for the Tired Old Man (loveloveLOVE the bit where he says "But next time- get a good look at her at night!" and Macbeth just smirks, despite his pain). And in his schpiel, Goliath says "search for your true love, Macbeth" and he TURNS TO ELISA, "she's out there somewhere." 'Course, Elisa dropped the "most romantic city in the world, and I can't even share it with Goliath" bomb while he's asleep. It's pretty shocking that Elisa KILLS Demona to save the day (also, that Shock Blaster thingie can kill Gargoyles, despite Brooklyn taking it like a mere Stun attack once). And then we get a sad moment when Angela gets the answer she was dreading regarding her parentage. Both Weisman & I noted the odd pictures of Elisa on Macbeth's wall- were the animators making an in-joke?
User avatar
Woodclaw
Posts: 1462
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:05 pm
Location: Como, Italy

Re: Widowmaker

Post by Woodclaw »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:46 am WIDOWMAKER (Amélie Lacroix (née Guillard)
Role:
Miss Fanservice, Sexy Assassin Girl, Glass Cannon
Fetish Targets: Skanky Dresser, Blue-Skinned, Emotionless Killer, Scrawny, Hyper-Sexualized

-Widowmaker is a ruthless, emotionless assassin who runs around in a shiny skinsuit with uber-cleavage, being that weird kind of hyper-sexualization like Bayonetta where she doesn't even really look sexy to me- just TOO back-archingly skankalicious. I mean, I'd get with the old lady before Widowmaker. She was one of the first three characters made for the game, originally having been designed for a cancelled project as a "Sniper" option.
Sigh, Windowmaker, how I love to hate her. When I tried the Overwatch beta I just loved her skillset, it just worked for me ... but her design pushed me away. The general feeeling was that the design team was trying way too hard to gave her the most uber-sexualized design possible. It works ... kind of ... but always rubs me the wrong way.

Also, I've played way too many hours with Pharah not to wish all the worst to those pesky snipers :P
Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:02 am So a Couple Things About Overwatch in M&M:
* Special Weapons are Devices if they have rare & unusual powers, or are especially distinctive. Equipment if not. "Device" implies some durability, but there's one hell of a gray area here, given that this is a "future time" where certain gear may be very standard.

* Toughness is generally quite low- a few hits from some guys' best weapons will annihilate almost any character. The "baseline" Health is 200, which isn't that high in M&M terms (most characters go unarmored).

* I'm going with "PL 9-ish" as a general Power Level, with many characters having upgrades or buffs to a higher level. More fragile characters may hit harder (Widowmaker snipes at PL 10). Some guys can buff their power or toughness to PL 10, and push their teammates even further. Almost NOBODY is a "pure" PL 10. I use this Power Level because the story indicates that these are the best of the best- elite warriors who can take on dozens of robots at a time, and are people I wouldn't mind seeing alongside Marvel's characters. In this regard, I can see a lot of these people as contemporaries of experience fighters like Daredevil, Batman or Wolverine. But their general lack of versatility and toughness (almost everyone in the game is a Glass Cannon) would put them on the losing end, most likely.
These are pretty much the reasons that pushed me to put the general PL at 8: we have a massive cast of characters that are superhuman in many ways, but not invincible. In actual fact many of them are extremely vulnerable.
"You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.”

WareHouse W (main build thread for M&M)
DominusExMachina
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:37 pm

Re: Jab's Builds!

Post by DominusExMachina »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Dec 30, 2017 9:24 pmI know I statted up those Teen Titans, at least. There should be links on the front page.
Yeah, my bad. Followed the links to your old thread on the archived Atomic Think Tank forums, and found them there. (Of course, like Wizards of the Coast, it's possible Green Ronin may give that forum the axe...so it wouldn't be a bad idea to transfer them here before it's too late.)
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Dec 30, 2017 9:24 pmThe League of Ancients look to be one-off-story characters with no information about them. Honestly, almost all obscure DC characters are like this- no bio, no descriptions or anything. Maybe only suggest guys that have real information about them online? It's discouraging when I check bios and find absolutely NOTHING about these characters.
Well, the DC Comics Database isn't the only place to look up info on DC's characters: there's Comicvine, among others.

That said, point taken.
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:24 amDoing the Gargoyles builds reminds me of why I don't do builds for cartoons I've never seen - it's basically impossible to do the research unless you've actually seen every single episode. And even THEN there are mistakes - I needed help for Hyena & Jackal's gear years ago because I hadn't seen those episodes in a while (it was before the show was released on DVD), and just recently I found out that the Labyrinth Clan lost their tails and could fly normally. And this is for a show where I have seen EVERY SINGLE EPISODE multiple times.
I agree: it wouldn't hurt to have an anal-retentive (if not straight-up eidetic) memory on par with that of The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper, either...

...but then again, to quote (to the best of my ability) Ben Affleck's Bartleby and Matt Damon's Loki from the 1999 film Dogma:

Loki: Let it never be said that your anal-retentive attention to detail never yielded positive results.
Bartleby: Well, you can't be anal-retentive if you don't have an anus.
Loki: (high-fives Bartleby) Outstanding work!


That being said, you never did stats for Elisa's Gargoyle form in The Mirror (which, had they kept it around, could have taken the show in a unique direction, as Elisa would have been forced to learn how to balance her duties as a NYPD detective with her new life as a Gargoyle, not to mention the growing romance between her and Goliath)...or for that matter, the Faerie Queen Titania...
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:24 amSo yeah, there's no way in hell I could ever do Bionic Six (I haven't just never seen it; I don't even know what it IS)...
Nor have I...although they are the subject of a particular Robot Chicken sketch...
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:24 am...EXO-Squad (watched one episode a thousand years ago)...
I could probably count the number of complete EXO-Squad episodes I've actually seen on one hand, but I did like the idea of the various E-Frames (both Terran and Neosapien) having a neural interface that pilots had to physically plug themselves into, via a socket implanted in the back of the pilot's neck (a la Maj. Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell or Neo & Co. from the Matrix franchise), in order to even control them. (The now-long-defunct Alternity sci-fi RPG from TSR/Wizards of the Coast had rules for a similar interface, known as a Neural Interface Jack, or "NIJack".)

Speaking of the lovely Maj. Kusanagi & Co., have you ever thought about doing any Ghost in the Shell builds?
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:24 am...or Rick & Morty (no interest in watching "Another Asshole Protagonist" show #9587, especially now that it's one of those "nerd things" that is just EVERYWHERE, no matter where you go).
Except this particular Asshole Protagonist has an effin' Portal Gun capable of both interstellar AND inter-dimensional travel...

...and is one of infinite versions of himself, each with their own Morty, Beth, Jerry (except for those from realities where Beth divorced Jerry and remarried) and Summer (except for those from realities where Beth had an abortion prior to having Morty).
Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:09 amOVERWATCH:
-So a couple of years ago, a little gaming company called Blizzard released a game that more or less hit like a goddamn freight train and became an industry-wide obsession. Through a canny advertising campaign, some EXTREMELY good character design, and an extraordinarily competitive "Teamwork"-based gaming system, they had a monstrous hit on their hands with Overwatch.

The backstory is so stupidly simple that the plot is barely perfunctory- some robots called Omnics nearly took over the world, and a global conflict resulted, in which the group known as "Overwatch" was disbanded. Now, many years later, Overwatch is reborn... so that members can jump into indiscriminate battles with random teammates and fight each other in battles to the death where you can die seventy times. That's it. That's the entire story.

To be honest, most of these guys have backstories that could be written on a napkin. The game is... First-Person Shooter. Which is EASILY my least-favorite game genre of ALL TIME, and would probably be the one thing that killed my love of video games the fastest. Watching clips of actual gameplay is essentially "you run around in random patterns and shoot at vague stuff, until you are killed by something you didn't see". It's KIND of "Comic-Booky" in nature, given that there's a Talking Ape and stuff, but most of the powers are more "Video Game", with standardized Tanks, DPS, Melee & Healer/Support characters, in addition to the fact that almost everyone uses guns & hardware instead of self-generating stuff. And really, comics almost NEVER has characters that specialize in Healing or Buffing others- in all my years of doing these threads, I think I've come across less than five.

The game is said to have a truly toxic gamer community, with a combination of competitiveness, character-shaming (Hanzo "Mains" are a particularly tasty target for internet snarkers and meme-designers), and vicious insulting of teammates who've failed. Basically the kinds of things that make me happy I no longer game.

But really... this is all about CHARACTER. Simply put, these character designs are AMAZING. While some are just total bullshit "we threw completely generic armor on a random body type" (TORBJORN. LUCARIO.), and every has "armor that's too stupidly-complicated to draw properly, because that's the style of the times", others are incredibly inventive. The Official Art Book goes into how they went out of their way to create interesting and unique "Silhouettes" (an animation term that indicates that good character design should allow all of the characters to be recognizable by their silhouettes)- in this case, Ana is triangular (because of her cape), Torbjorn is short and squad, My Waifu Zarya has a wide bottom half and a huge gun, Mei is corpulent, and Mercy has wings. EVERYONE stands out.

The Cast Diversity is terrific as well- rather than just be A Legion Of Armored Douches (like Halo), you can play Armored Douches, GIANT Armored Douches, a Great Ape, a rail thin assassin-skank, a skinny girl with her ass spraypainted orange, a Muscle-Goddess, a curvy girl with big boobs, an old lady with a sniper rifle, and more. There's a goddamn cowboy, a ninja, a samurai and other Standard Video-Game Standards, in addition to a girl dressed like an angel, and a chick in bad-ass Falcon Power Armor. Almost ANY ONE of these characters could headline their own comic book series just by virtue of how awesome they look, and that, more than anything, will sell a game. "Character" is EVERYTHING.

Naturally, the fetish-tastic nature of the game was lost on nobody. Tracer was obviously supposed to be the "Main Character", given that she's on the game box, got one of the first "Introduction Videos" and more. She seemed to be the most "Standard-Issue Attractive", given her shiny butt and cute, wide-eyed face. But the fans kind of ran away with the options they had available to them- Widowmaker is blue and is openly hyper-sexualized, targeting the sort who's into "Bad Girls". Mercy is more of a "Perfect 10"- a woman with idealized everything. D.Va is there if you're into jailbait- she's obviously a teenager, yet has been made "eighteen" just so the perverts won't feel TOO perverse for lusting after her. You into fitness girls, or exotic types? Pharah's your gal. Girls with a ton of MEAT on their curvy, busty frames? Go for Mei. Big, BEEFY girls who'll use you for Snu-Snu while mocking your lack of physique? ZARYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Like, if you're a pervert, then there's a girl in this game for you. Or a guy. I won't judge. I don't lust for Hanzo. Shut up, I don't.

Of course, I will be up to my usual standards of good behavior and not make any lewd comments targeted at any of the lovely characters of this game.








HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Just kidding. Wanted to see if you were paying attention there.

Overwatch Stats:
So yeah, the game is pretty much an "FPS" standard with a lot of stuff that shows up in video games, and almost never in comics. Things like "Super Moves" that you can only do rarely, Weapons that are obviously Easily Removable (people just carry them around) yet are never removed in the game, "Buffs" that can alter the stats of everyone around you (thus breaking Power Level), gorillas and ballerinas do the same amount of melee damage, and everyone's using either guns as Equipment or Devices. How will I stat them? Well, given that I hate the genre and have never played the game (nor will I ever), I guess we'll have to see...
It's pretty clear from the inaccuracies in the Overwatch origin story you presented (assuming that it can even be labeled as such) that you have a raging hate-boner for the FPS genre of video gaming. My advice to you is the same that anyone else on these forums would: keep it in your pants.

Nevertheless, we, the followers of this thread (and the character builds contained therein), appreciate that you will strive to be on your absolute best behavior when doing these posts.
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Re: Jab's Builds!

Post by Spectrum »

DominusExMachina wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 4:10 pm origin story you presented (assuming that it can even be labeled as such) that you have a raging hate-boner for the FPS genre of video gaming. My advice to you is the same that anyone else on these forums would: keep it in your pants.
Some of us come here and are greatly amused by Jab's raging boners- hate or otherwise.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
User avatar
Ken
Posts: 3460
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:40 pm
Location: Sycalb, Madiganistan

Re: Widowmaker

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:46 am Image
Image
Image
Image

First One to Suggest She Needs "Attractive" Dies
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
Post Reply