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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
User avatar
KorokoMystia
Posts: 1402
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:42 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Chaos! Titi! Zen! Salamander! Teen Titans! Nightwing!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

Funny how that's the complete opposite of how cartoons often inserted annoying kids into the show "because the kids needed someone to relate to" and it never worked.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Hoi! Racheal! Chaos! Titi! Zen! Salamander! Teen Titans!)

Post by Jabroniville »

KorokoMystia wrote: Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:21 pm Also, hum, I just realized that the Doom Patrol would probably be sorta-relevant to this set, given their connection to Gar and The Brain. How many of their members have been statted before?

Also, I thought of a stupid idea yesterday. Imagine someone like say, the Grandmaster bringing the combatants of a whole bunch of the crappy fighting games together and making them fight in some huge battle royale tournament for the the right to..I dunno, suck less?
I've never read a Doom Patrol comic in my life. Given how much time I spend making fun of their ultra-loud fanbase and their low-selling books, I dunno. Obscure DC characters tend to have some REALLY poor bios.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Robin (Jason Todd)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

That dialogue would sound SO WEIRD coming from Batman after 1990.

ROBIN III (Jason Todd, aka The Red Hood)
Created By:
Gerry Conway & Don Newton
First Appearance: Batman #357 (March 1983)
Role: Unpopular Replacement Character, Kid Sidekick
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans
PL 7 (119)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 6
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+11)
Athletics 8 (+9)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+12)
Deception 6 (+8)
Expertise (Streetwise) 5 (+6)
Insight 5 (+7)
Investigation 4 (+6)
Perception 5 (+7)
Persuasion 2 (+4)
Ranged Combat (Batarangs) 4 (+10)
Stealth 6 (+11)
Vehicles 1 (+7)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Daze (Deception), Equipment 9 (Utility Belt), Grab Finesse, Improved Aim, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Set-Up, Takedown, Teamwork

Powers:
"Hits Hard For a Kid" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

Equipment:
"Utility Belt"
Camera, CommLink, Audio Recorder, Handcuffs, Binoculars, Mini-Tracer, Night Vision Goggles, Flashlight, Gas Mask, Multi-Tool, Rebreather, Cutting Torch (12)
"Grapple Gun" Movement 1 (Swinging) (2)

"Choking Gas" Affliction 6 (Fort; Dazed & Vulnerable/Defenseless & Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cloud +2, Ranged, Extra Condition) (Diminished Range -1) (29) -- (32)
  • AE: "Batarangs" Blast 3 (Feats: Homing, Ricochet) (Extras: Multiattack) (Diminished Range -1) (10)
  • AE: "Smoke Pellets" Concealment (Visuals) 2 (Extras: Attack, Area- 30ft. Cloud +2) (10)
-- (45 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Batarangs +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Choking Gas +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +2 (+3 D.Roll), Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Relationship (Batman)
Enemy (Batman's Rogues Gallery)

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 54--27 / Advantages: 21 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 12 (119)

-Annnnnd it's Jason Todd. His Titans run basically amounts to an issue or two when Dick Grayson had left the team for a bit, and he went right back to the Batman later, where his eventual fate awaited him. Todd himself was a poorly-received replacement for Dick Grayson as Robin (since Dick was too old, and really had been focused on the Titans for years), in that they first just cloned Dick to make the guy, then turned Jason into kind of an ungrateful tool later- he was famously killed off during Death in the Family, via THE FANS ACTUALLY PAYING TO PHONE A HOTLINE TO KILL HIM. I mean, unpopular characters have DIED before, but few actually literally got the thumbs-down FROM THE FANS.

-I've gone on this rant already, but I still find it hilarious that the big fat Jim Lee-drawn Hush storyline teased the HUGE Jason Todd Reveal as the secret identity of the new villain, only to go back and reveal the much lamer childhood doctor friend angle instead. This of course was stupid enough, since the fans got their hopes up for nothing, but then they had to go that EXTRA MILE of stupid and bring back Jason ANYWAYS, just MONTHS after it was teased, thus taking the entire impact out of the REAL reveal too! Only in comics, my friends.... oh, and pro wrestling.

-Robin II (or III, if you go OLD-SCHOOL and say the Golden Age version is the first) is a pretty bare-bones, crap version of Dick Grayson's Robin, though he maintains some Streetwise talents and he's still pretty hard to hit. PL 7 overall isn't BAD for a teenage kid, especially since most of Batman's enemies aren't really super-combatants until much later, but it's not enough to handle The Joker or someone. A tolerable sidekick, and he's good to have watching your back, but he's not whupping anybody good.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Chaos! Titi! Zen! Salamander! Teen Titans! Nightwing!)

Post by Jabroniville »

For those unaware, the reason Nightwing has the Advantages he does up top, further elaborating upon the notes in his Complications, is thus:
I can't help but notice that despite you pointing out just how totally hot Nightwing is you didn't actually give him the Attractive advantage. You might want to add that in... Dick Grayson is one of the rare male heroes who pretty much needs to be given that one, he turns heads constantly and when he turns on the charm women just melt.
I USED TO STILL GET COMMENTS LIKE THIS whenever I posted builds of people who are supposed to be hot in-universe, even if they don't do anything of the sort of thing actually implied by the actual abilities of the Advantage "Attractive". I think it took 4-5 years of me ranting about it at every available opportunity to get my literal least-favorite comment: "I really think ____ deserves Attractive. In one comic I have, somebody once said they were hot".

I think I ripped the head off of one poor schmuck (okay, I rarely lose my temper in my thread, but I quoted my ENTIRE "Attractive Rant" from another thing when I responded to him, and he pulled a "Sorry, I'm new here! I had no idea THIS would be the response!"), and I don't know if we ever saw him again. Now I have to put stuff like this in the builds just to prevent it.

I REALLY wish they had changed the wording of that Advantage...
User avatar
KorokoMystia
Posts: 1402
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:42 pm

Re: Robin (Jason Todd)

Post by KorokoMystia »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:55 am ROBIN III (Jason Todd, aka The Red Hood)
Created By:
Gerry Conway & Don Newton
First Appearance: Batman #357 (March 1983)
Role: Unpopular Replacement Character, Kid Sidekick
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans
I heard a rumor once that someone who really didn't like him actually set up an autodialer to kill Jason (since it was set up so that there were two numbers: One you dialed if you wanted him to live, the other if you wanted him to die. They also even wrote and drew two different endings, so there was one of him being badly beaten, but still alive), but I dunno if that's true. Also I dunno if Red Hood would be that interesting a build (He's basically a Gun Guy Vigilante, right? Though he is a skilled martial artist too, as someone trained by Bruce should be), when I read the Bat-Builds back in the day, it struck me as odd that Dick and Tim got their adult versions statted, but Jason did not. He also turned out to be the eponymous Arkham Knight in the Batman: Arkham Knight game, a twist that..pretty much everyone saw coming, even though the devs claimed that "he's totally an original character!"
Image
User avatar
Ken
Posts: 3460
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:40 pm
Location: Sycalb, Madiganistan

Re: Jab’s Builds (Chaos! Titi! Zen! Salamander! Teen Titans! Nightwing!)

Post by Ken »

The thing about the phone-in whether Jason lives or dies is that it wouldn't have made a difference.

Jim Starlin, who was adamant about hating Robin, spent about a year altering Jason's personality, making him more and more unheroic and unlikeable.

If the phone vote had gone the other way, Jason would have lived. He'd also spend months recuperating, and probably being crippled. Starlin wanted rid of Robin. Death or forced retirement, either way Batman would be without Robin.

Starlin stayed on the book exactly one issue after "A Death in the Family".

This was before Tim Burton's 1989 Batman. DC's marketing people weren't ready to license just Batman. DC's marketing people had active licenses for "Batman and Robin". It was the licensing people that necessitated the creation of Jason Todd in the first place. DC couldn't license Robin as part of the Titans, because well, Robin was already licensed as part of the Batman licenses. This is why Jab will be putting up something on the Protector. If it was just comic sales... Robin leading the Titans was the way to go. You want to license Titans, Robin can't be the leader. Bim Bam Boom, Dick becomes Nightwing, Jason becomes Robin.

Starlin takes Jason Todd out of the picture, and five months later, Tim Drake is debuting.
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
User avatar
Ken
Posts: 3460
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:40 pm
Location: Sycalb, Madiganistan

Re: Jab’s Builds (Chaos! Titi! Zen! Salamander! Teen Titans! Nightwing!)

Post by Ken »

KorokoMystia wrote: Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:05 am Funny how that's the complete opposite of how cartoons often inserted annoying kids into the show "because the kids needed someone to relate to" and it never worked.
Well, the Super Friends got Wendy, Marvin & Wonder Dog for a different reason. Super heroes had been doing well on Staurday mornings during the 1960s: Space Ghost, Herculoids, Fantastic Four, Spider-man, Superman/Aquaman, Batman/Superman, the Impossibles, Young Samson, SuperPresident, and more.

And they were all chased off the air at the same time because of parent groups and the concern over the violence. Super heroes were gone from Saturday morning, like THAT.

But then... Batman and Robin guest starred on The New Scooby Doo Movies, the iteration of Scooby Doo that had different guest stars every week: Don Knotts, Sandy Duncan, Sonny & Cher, Josie & the Pussycats, et al. And every time either of the 2 Batman & Robin stories aired, the ratings for The New Scooby Doo Movies spiked.

Then, Superman and Wonder Woman each guest-starred in an episode of The Brady Kids, helping the young Bradys solve their problem of the week. And those two episodes got the best ratings for The Brady Kids.

Scooby-Doo, of course, was about Scooby, and Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy soling mysteries. The animated Brady Kids, had Flop Top, a dog, as well as two pandas, and a talking merlin.

Wendy & Marvin weren't added to the Super Friends for audience relating to someone. They were there to be stand-ins for the Scooby gang and the Brady kids.

Also...

The cartoons never added the kids as 'audience relating to someone' well. Robin was every bit heroic as Batman. Bucky was every bit as heroic as Captain America. Younger, and less skilled, sure. And 4 out of 5 times they'd be in danger and have to be rescued. But at least 1 out of 5 times, they got to be the hero. The cartoons never managed to do that.
Last edited by Ken on Wed Jan 09, 2019 7:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
User avatar
Goldar
Posts: 1229
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 2:10 pm

Re: Jab’s Builds (Chaos! Titi! Zen! Salamander! Teen Titans! Nightwing!)

Post by Goldar »

Great cartoon write-up, Ken!

I loved the Brady Kids! Kind of nerdy, like the real show, but Merlin made me laugh. And, it did have the first showing of Wonder Woman on air, in a little episode called "It's All Greek to Me" (if I remember that correctly)!
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Flamebird

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

FLAMEBIRD (Mary Elizabeth "Bette" Kane, aka Bat-Girl I, Plebe, Hawkfire)
Created By:
Bob Kane & Sheldon Moldoff
First Appearance: Batman #139 (April 1961), Secret Origins Annual #3 (1989- as Flamebird)
Role: Annoying Admirer, Bored Little Rich Girl
Group Affiliations: Titans West, The Teen Titans (One-Year Later Era)
PL 7 (105)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+12)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Computers) 2 (+4)
Expertise (Tennis Star) 3 (+8)
Investigation 2 (+3)
Perception 4 (+5)
Sleight of Hand 3 (+7)
Stealth 4 (+9)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Benefit (Wealth), Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Equipment 6 (Utility Belt), Improved Aim, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Equipment:
"Bat-cycle" Motorcycle (Medium, Strength 1, Speed 6- 120 mph, Defense 10, Toughness 8, Remote Control (11)

"Utility Belt"
CommLink, Handcuffs, Medical Kit, Flashlight, Gas Mask, Flares (6)
"Grapple Gun" Movement 1 (Swinging) (2)

"Bolas" Snare 5 (Diminished Range -1) Linked to Blast 4 (Dim. Range -1) (Flaws: Limited to Snared Victims) (17) -- (20)
  • AE: "Bird-A-Rangs" Blast 3 (Feats: Homing, Ricochet) (Extras: Multiattack) (Diminished Range -1) (10)
  • AE: "Smoke Pellets" Concealment (Visuals) 2 (Extras: Attack, Area- 30ft. Cloud +2) (10)
  • AE: "Blinding Flare" Dazzle Visuals 6 (Extras: Area- Visual Perception) (Flaws: Touch Range) (12)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Blinding Flare +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Bird-A-Rangs +8 (+3 Ranged Damage, DC 18)
Bolas +8 (+5 Ranged Affliction, DC 15)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +2 (+3 D.Roll), Fortitude +4, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Banging Dick Grayson)- Bette has been obsessed with Dick Grayson in his various super-identities for years. She became a superhero for the sole purpose of chasing him down. Dick generally ends up trying to avoid her.
Responsibility (Lonely)- Bette strives for human contact, not being very fulfilled by her debutante lifestyle, nor her tennis career.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 21 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 11 (105)

Bette Kane- Dick Grayson's Beard:
-Betty/Bette Kane is one of the many "victims" of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. She hails from that goofy 1960s Batman run that brought us Batwoman, Bat-Mite, Ace the Bat-Hound and more- as Bat-Girl (note the hyphen- she doesn't count in the lineage of Batgirl for that reason, BECAUSE PUNCTUATION IS IMPORTANT, YO) was a female counterpart to Robin, designed to hit on him and basically act as a "beard" so nobody thought Dick & Bruce were gay lovers (same as her aunt Kathy Kane, "Batwoman"- a beard to prove Bruce wasn't gay who was of course later turned into a LESBIAN because her writers had a sense of humor). However, the yellow-clad Bat-Girl only appeared six times over four years, and they were all retconned away a few years later by Julius Schwartz, who felt the Bat-verse had gotten WAY too silly. They went basically unmentioned until stories in the 1970s pointed out that Batwoman and Bat-Girl had retired from super-heroics.

-However, Bette actually managed to show up in the Titans' "Sister Team/Rival Group" Titans West on four different occasions- since her schtick was always following Robin around as an annoying girl, this made sense. This was during the late '70s run of that book, however, and so she didn't make any mark on the Wolfman/Perez Era. However, the Crisis on Infinite Earths had removed Batwoman and Bat-Girl from continuity (along with many other silly Bat-stories)... which required a change, as Bette had made these Teen Titans appearances- she was given the moniker Flamebird, a gag on the fact that Nightwing was created from the superheroic identity Clark Kent used while in the Bottle City of Kandor (Flamebird, of course, was JIMMY OLSEN'S superhero codename).

Flamebird:
-The Post-Crisis Bette was now shown as a driven and spoiled debutante who grew obsessed with the cute Robin, and so she decided to put her hard work into becoming a superhero. Robin was a bit flustered at the attention, and more or less avoided her- a disappointed Flamebird quickly hung up the cape and moved on for a while. She would later try to reunite the Titans West many times, but was always unsuccessful. She didn't appear in the Nightwing book, and was little more than a bump in Dick's history, except for the JLA/Titans miniseries, and a one-off in a Titans anthology, featuring her and Beast Boy forming a NEW Titans West, called "Titans LA". However, the team never reappeared. Bette only showed up in one-offs after that point, where Infinite Crisis suggested that Bat-Girl was on Earth-Two, and Flamebird was her Earth-One counterpart. She was also said to have briefly joined the ACTUAL Titans during their One-Year Later stage.

-The Post-Infinite Crisis showed her in Batwoman, as the adoring younger cousin of Kate "Batwoman" Kane. She attempts to act as Flamebird again (the series largely ignores her silly backstory and more or less treats her like a newbie, but doesn't SAY the past was retconned), but is brutalized by a serial killer. Kate agrees to train her as a sidekick when Bette figures out her identity, but names her "Plebe" to start with- she later grabs the moniker Hawkfire and uses pyrokinetic stuff. Some recent stuff indicates that the original Bat-Girl form is now back in continuity, but nobody's touched it- she's now reduced to an off-panel character again.

Flamebird's Stats:
-Bette's a standard much-weaker version of a good Costumed Detective archetype, with mostly valley-girl skills in spite of her good intelligence, and only PL 6 on offense. She can Power Attack, though, which is unusual for small girl fighty types. As a supremely minor heroine, though, she's not kicking anyone's ass- she actually feels like she DOWNGRADED when she became her cousin's partner again, since she was back to jobbing handily. In "JLA/Titans", she was actually doing pretty well against HUNTRESS.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Shock
Posts: 2978
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:27 pm
Location: Connecticut USA

Re: Jab’s Builds (Titi! Salamander! Teen Titans! Nightwing! Flamebird!)

Post by Shock »

Nightwing is one of the heroes I've been following the most recently. It's nice that the book has been mostly self-contained. Up until the newest arc (unfortunately) which had Dick getting shot in the head in another comic. Now, in an awful story so far, he's got amnesia and has been going by Ric Grayson and is trying like hell to leave the superhero life behind. It's really terrible and I'm close to taking a break from collecting it after getting all 50+ issues of the Rebirth era so far.
User avatar
Ken
Posts: 3460
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:40 pm
Location: Sycalb, Madiganistan

Re: Flamebird

Post by Ken »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:30 pm -However, Bette actually managed to show up in the Titans' "Sister Team/Rival Group" Titans West on four different occasions- since her schtick was always following Robin around as an annoying girl, this made sense. This was during the late '70s run of that book, however, and so she didn't make any mark on the Wolfman/Perez Era. However, the Crisis on Infinite Earths had removed Batwoman and Bat-Girl from continuity (along with many other silly Bat-stories)... which required a change, as Bette had made these Teen Titans appearances- she was given the moniker Flamebird, a gag on the fact that Nightwing was created from the superheroic identity Clark Kent used while in the Bottle City of Kandor (Flamebird, of course, was JIMMY OLSEN'S superhero codename).
Four different occasions? What the----? The whole Titans East/Titans West thing first appeared in Teen Titans #50 (vol. 1), and finished in #52. Yes, the Titans East/Titans West was such a momentous event they needed 51 pages to tell it. And then vol. 1 ended with issue 53. Any other appearances of the 'Titans West' had Bette as Flamebird. And, well, Betty (as Bat-Girl spelled it) appeared as a civilian at Donna Troy's wedding before the Crisis. But still, it wasn't four.
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Starfire

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
ImageImageImage
Image

STARFIRE IV (Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, aka Kory Anders)
Created By:
Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980)
Role: Funny-Skinned Space Babe, Hot Amazon, Hot-Blooded Warrior, Miss Fanservice, The Good Girl
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans, The Titans, The Royal Family of Tamaran, The Outsiders
PL 10 (190)
STRENGTH
7 STAMINA 7 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+10)
Expertise (Space Princess) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Soldier) 5 (+7)
Expertise (Model) 2 (+6, +11 Attractive)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Perception 5 (+7)
Persuasion 2 (+6, +11 Attractive)
Stealth 3 (+7)
Technology 2 (+4)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Animal Empathy, Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attractive 2, Diehard, Evasion, Great Endurance, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Starbolts), Improved Defense, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Startle, Teamwork

Powers:
"Tamaranean Physiology"
Immunity 2 (Vacuum, Suffocation) [2]
Immunity 2 (Cold, Pressure) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [1]
Comprehend (Speak, Understand & Read All Languages) 3 (Quirks: Requires Physical Contact With Speaker First) [5]

"Solar Absorption"
Flight 9 (1,000 mph) [18]
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [2]

"Starbolts" Blast 10 (Feats: Split, Extended Range) (Extras: Penetrating 6) (28) -- [29]
  • AE: "Starbolt Streak" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (20)
Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Starbolts +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Starbolt Streak +10 Area (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +16

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +7, Fortitude +7, Will +8

Complications:
Relationship (Dick Grayson)- Kori & Dick were desperately in love during their run on the Titans. Though Kori's bloodthirsty attitude often frightened Dick, and duty often kept them apart, they were nearly married. Things... happened, they split up, and they did that thing in comics where they just TEASE the relationship endlessly and never really get back together.
Relationship (The Royal Family)- Kori loved her parents (now deceased), and remains close with her brother Ryand'r of The Omega Men.
Relationship (The Titans)- The main group of Teen Titans (Dick, Donna, Wally, Raven, Cyborg, Changeling) are Kori's best friends in the entire world. She would do anything for any of them.
Responsibility (Tamaran)- Kori is one of fairly-few Tamaraneans left in the universe (after their homeworld blew up THREE FRIGGIN' TIMES). She will violently defend her remaining people.
Responsibility (Passionate)- Kori, like most Tamaraneans, is a creature of passion- she falls into love quickly, and cares with all of her heart for her friends; yet she will fight an enemy with all the bloodthirsty rage of a psychopath if crossed. Her forthrightness often irks others, or causes social discomfort.
Responsibility (Alien)- In addition to her Tamaranean ways, Kori took a long time to comprehend many Earth customs. She was unable to properly digest why people took drugs to feel better ("if drugs are bad, then why do people take them?"), and could not understand the concept of South African Apartheid. She also has a need to fight to the death, and barely allows herself to be controlled by Earth's laws over murder.
Enemy (Komand'r, aka Blackfire)- Kori's elder sister is one of the most evil people alive- a vicious, jealous woman who envied Kori from her birth, sold her into physical & sexual slavery, and tried to have her killed multiple times.
Power Loss (Solar-Powered)- Kori's Solar Blasts and Flight require solar energy to work- if left without sunlight for too long, her powers will grow weaker.

Total: Abilities: 84 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 20 / Powers: 57 / Defenses: 14 (190)

Starfire- The Fun Titan (and also the murderous one):
-Princess Koriand'r, aka Starfire, is one of the most popular members of the 1980s Titans crew, the obvious reasons for which are on her chest. Wolfman & Perez were good enough at their craft, however, to make her infinitely likeable, but not a totally naiive goofball, as she was also a deadly warrior with nothing in the sense of mercy. It was just fun seeing Kori be totally "TEE HEE Earth culture is so confusing!" and more or less being free with her love for others (she didn't sleep around; she was just pretty easy and casual with one guy at a time) and then the next minute go screaming out of a hospital room to go murder some drug dealers because she got pissed off. It made her unpredictable and interesting. Which is why she was such a good pairing with Nightwing, who was a stodgy, boring type all about responsibility and honoring Batman and all that.

-Kori debuted as the "Naive Alien" girl on the Titans, but soon showed more and more backstory- she was trained by the Warlord of Okaara into becoming a deadly combatant. And it turned out that her weak-willed father (literally named "meander", as Wolfman points out: My'ander) sold her into slavery to their arch-enemies, the Gordanians, to spare Tamaran from their destruction. Kori was tortured by scientists, given super-powers more or less as a test (after AGONIZING procedures), subjected to all sorts of abuse (some of which is strongly believed to be sexual in nature)... but as soon as she was free, she was suddenly charming and happy again.

-Kori was in a lot of stories that capitalized on her naivete, as she'd do things like need to have the Drug War explained to her, or fly into South Africa and be all "WTF is Apartheid?" (one fan confessed he assumed Cyborg was the natural for this story arc, but Starfire's reaction basically made the whole thing work- it seems WAY more absurd when you have to actually spell it out to a complete outsider). And, of course, after a quick relationship with a guy who was executed by the H.I.V.E., she hooked up with Dick Grayson, forming one of the backbones of the Titans. Her wild, fun-loving nature was PERFECT for Dick, as it turned out, and her love gave him a passion that his intellectual ass really needed.

The 1990s- Kori Becomes Nothing:
-Of course, comics being comics, All Relationships Are Doomed- Dick & Kori's relationship trailed on for a bit, having some wrinkles. She was engaged to Prince Karras to seal a peace treaty on Tamaran (he conveniently died in battle), and later to General Phy'zzon, whom she actually loved (he died trying to stop a Sun-Eater from destroying New Tamaran). Wolfman FINALLY split them up to with this last one, and then they never really hooked back up- The Bat-Editors are notoriously grabby, and once Dick was back into the fold (after 15 years of Wolfman controlling his fate), it was all Sexual Tension with Barbara Gordon and about a dozen other tights-wearing females for him. He & Kori have a somewhat-uncomfortable relationship after that, but remained friends.

-All of the potential Starfire had acquired was basically squandered in the 1990s- her repeat break-ups with Dick finally split them for good, and the Titans books floundered. She more or less disappeared for the entirety of the '90s, and then was a more minor character in The Titans, as Devin Grayson never really let her do anything interesting- the biggest story was when she helped the Titans attack a Gordanian colony that turned out to be a refugee outpost of civilians- the others were like "WTF?" when they learned this, and Starfire got scolded. She & Dick kind of talked about their past, but he was mostly roped up with Oracle at that time, so it never went anywhere.

-It's kind of sad that writing for her fell apart in the '90s, as Tamaran and it's subsequent replacement worlds got blown up AGAIN AND AGAIN (three times in total!! I mean, what the FRICK!! This is, by the way, proof that not just women fall victim to Refrigerator Stuffing- it can happen to supporting cast PLANETS, too!), simply because people couldn't think of stuff to do, and she vanished for years until the Titans reboot circa 2000 and so. Brief runs on The Outsiders and whatever Space War storyline DC has going on at any given time have helped bring her back into the limelight as well, and she seemed on her way to being one of DC's top heroines at times.

The 2000s- Starfire is a Thing Again:
-The rise of the Teen Titans cartoon led to Starfire moving off into DC's "Space Stuff" (getting lost in space with Animal Man and Adam Strange) before getting back with the Titans... occasionally. She was on the big Geoff Johns reboot team, but wasn't a major factor. She briefly joined the Justice League under the female Doctor Light, but that went nowhere. It seems like writers clearly just didn't know how to use her, which was only exacerbated under the "New 52", where they turned her into a giant space-skank. Which is funny, as her most popular characterization was now the cartoon, where she was depicted as the Spacey Dumb Girl more than anything, playing up her naivete for laughs.

-As the 2000s drew on, it turned out that many modern writers just COMPLETELY SUCK at writing her. Nu52 issues basically turned her into a constantly-nude bag of fanservice with no real character attributes (Jim Shooter called it "Porn for 13 year olds"), and her passion was written instead to involve her just walking up to dudes and going "Do you want to have sex with me?" Fan blowback was extremely harsh, and the character was turned into a cheery version for her 2015 series, which lasted for about a year before being cancelled- one of many books created in the wake of the successful "Batgirl of Burnside" arc of Barbara Gordon's solo book. Here, Starfire was sort of between her '80s self and her cartoon self, being clueless and naive, but in that cute, funny way. Less deadly than her '90s self, but still in a REALLY sexy costume- honestly, the "big top with hot pants" look might be my favorite incarnation EVER, with the cute art only making it even better.

Starfire- Hard to Write... if you suck at writing:
-Ugh, that "do you want to have sex with me?" line, though. THAT IS NOT HOW STARFIRE FREAKING ACTS!!! Starfire is a creature of PASSION- yes, she takes lovers and junk, and she's obviously a sexual being (an early Titans issue would feature her & Dick in bed together, which did NOT happen a lot back in that era), but she doesn't just bang ANY DUDE- at worst, she's easy (as in, she falls in love quickly and lets loose from there). Never mind that both Nightwing and Jericho have a THOUSAND times as many bedmates as Kori ever did. This also reflects her warrior nature- of all the Titans, she was the one most likely to fight for the kill (a realist trained in actual warfare, she didn't "get" the whole "letting your enemies live" thing, and had to be restrained by Dick)- quick to love, quick to anger. Kori was a devoted, somewhat "innocent" character, but was often extremely dangerous as well.

-Her looks is crazy-awesome as well, and REALLY unusual when you think about it. I mean, orange skin and PURPLE armour? With a giant batch of hair that was quite often the size of her whole body? And yet it actually WORKED- in part because Perez made her Part-Fanservice/Part-Innocense, giving her cleavage and a ton of skin (the outfit actually looks uglier when covered up- like in the Grayson-era Titans, but looks worse when it goes Full-Bore Streetwalker, like in the "Nu52"), but also gave her huge eyes, a wide smile, rounded features (GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER I MEANT HER FACE... but also she earned the "so round, so firm, so fully-packed" comment from Changeling, now that I mention it), and more. Perez even went as far as to use her frontal-bangs to curl up over top of her eyes, obscuring her eyebrows- these curls meant that she always looked like her eyebrows were always up in child-like innocense. Comparatively, she could still bring them DOWN when angry, giving her a much more fearsome appearance.

Starfire's Stats:
-Kory's the long-range powerhouse of the team, usually modifying her +10 Starbolts with Power Attack and doing unholy amounts of damage with them. She's also great in melee, can fly in space, and, in one of the great forgotten powers of comics, is remarkably strong. She's listed as superhuman officially, but she barely EVER showcases it- despite me having read something like 150 comics featuring Kori, I've seen her use actual Super-Strength MAYBE twice. I mean, how does that even HAPPEN? There's actually a Strength-Feat back in the day (when she picked up a giant Spear and slew a Giant with it), but another was never seen until the Modern Era- her Who's Who bio AND the Technis Imperative bio both left it out! At PL 10, Starfire is even with her teammates, though seems stronger off-and-on after the 2000s- she was clearly the same as everyone else in The Titans, but all of a sudden she seemed PL 11-12-ish in other books. DC is weird that way.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:09 am, edited 5 times in total.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24689
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Flamebird

Post by Jabroniville »

Ken wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:30 am
Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:30 pm -However, Bette actually managed to show up in the Titans' "Sister Team/Rival Group" Titans West on four different occasions- since her schtick was always following Robin around as an annoying girl, this made sense. This was during the late '70s run of that book, however, and so she didn't make any mark on the Wolfman/Perez Era. However, the Crisis on Infinite Earths had removed Batwoman and Bat-Girl from continuity (along with many other silly Bat-stories)... which required a change, as Bette had made these Teen Titans appearances- she was given the moniker Flamebird, a gag on the fact that Nightwing was created from the superheroic identity Clark Kent used while in the Bottle City of Kandor (Flamebird, of course, was JIMMY OLSEN'S superhero codename).
Four different occasions? What the----? The whole Titans East/Titans West thing first appeared in Teen Titans #50 (vol. 1), and finished in #52. Yes, the Titans East/Titans West was such a momentous event they needed 51 pages to tell it. And then vol. 1 ended with issue 53. Any other appearances of the 'Titans West' had Bette as Flamebird. And, well, Betty (as Bat-Girl spelled it) appeared as a civilian at Donna Troy's wedding before the Crisis. But still, it wasn't four.
Four overall, not just during the ‘70s, Korrective Ken.
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Re: Flamebird

Post by Spectrum »

Jabroniville wrote: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:30 pm she was given the moniker Flamebird, a gag on the fact that Nightwing was created from the superheroic identity Clark Kent used while in the Bottle City of Kandor (Flamebird, of course, was JIMMY OLSEN'S superhero codename).
I actually have this story, such great fun. Superman being powerless and intentionally becoming a Kryptonian Batman with his kid sidekick becoming a Kryptonian Robin.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
User avatar
Bladewind
Posts: 3234
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:26 pm

Re: Starfire

Post by Bladewind »

Jabroniville wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:59 am Image
OMG ! That is TOOOO funny !

My favourite iteration of Kory is from the Justice League vs Teen Titans animated movie recently... The more mature version, leader...

Image
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
Post Reply