He was so ubiquitous at times that my wife and I call him "Generic Bad Guy". He's awesomeBatgirl III wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:42 pm Any character ever played by Brian Thompson is always memorable. The dude is just so damn good at playing bad guys... He’s played like six different bad guys on various Star Treks and too many corrupt sheriffs/detectives/military officers to ever list.
I first remember taking notice of him on the short-lived (and not terribly good) Kindred: The Embraced series as the leader of the Brujah vampire clan, Eddie Fiori. The show was bad, but he was great, so much so to this day that whenever Brian Thompson pops up on screen I immediately think “Eddie!”
Batgirl III's Character Thread (Simon Baz, Lady Shiva)
Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
- Batgirl III
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Newly Human and Strangely Literal
ANYA
Circa BtVS Season Five
Power Level 5 ( 75 PP )
ABILITIESDoppelgängland (S.3 E.16 wrote:Anya: For a thousand years I wielded the powers of the Wish. I brought ruin upon the heads of unfaithful men. I offered destruction and chaos for the pleasure of the Lower Beings. I was feared and worshiped across the mortal globe and now I'm stuck at Sunnydale High! A mortal! A child! And I'm flunking math.
Strength 1 Stamina 2 Agility 2 Dexterity 2
Fighting 2 Intellect 2 Awareness 1 Presence 3
ADVANTAGES
Attractive (1), Benefit [Wealth (1)], Contacts, Connected, Defensive Roll (2), Eidetic Memory, Equipment (1), Improved Defense, Ritualist, Teamwork, Well-Informed
SKILLS
Acrobatics 3 (+5); Close Attack [Archaic Weapons] 3 (+5); Deception 4 (+7); Diplomacy 3 (+5); Expertise [Arcane Lore] 6 (+8); Expertise [Dead Languages*] 3 (+5); Expertise [Magic] 4 (+6); Expertise [Vampires & Demons] 8 (+10); Insight 4 (+5); Persuasion 2 (+5); Technology 1 (+3); Treatment 2 (+4); Vehicles 1 (+3)
EQUIPMENT
• Wooden Stake Damage 1 (Strength-based; E: Feature - Counts as Improvised Weapon) [ 2 EP ]
• AE: Baseball Bat Damage 2 (Strength-based) [ 1 EP ]
DEFENSE
Dodge (4) Base 2
Parry: (4) Base 2
Fortitude: (4) Base 2
Toughness: (2/4) Base -
Will: (6) Base 5
WORKSHEET
Attack 2 Effect 1 Total: 3 (Unarmed)
Attack 2 Effect 2 Total: 4 (Wooden Stake)
Attack 5 Effect 3 Total: 8 (Baseball Bat)
Dodge 4 Tough. 4 Total: 8
Parry 4 Tough. 4 Total: 8
Fort. 4 Will 6 Total: 10
COMPLICATIONS
MOTIVATION (Covetous): Anya has an almost intuitive understanding of finances, becoming a successful e-trader and effective saleswoman almost effortlessly. However, her love of money can be the root of a lot of trouble. Her covetous nature isn't limited solely to money either, Anya can be quite prone to jealously and greed.
PHOBIA (Mortality): Injuries recently sustained helping the Scooby Gang have reminded Anya that she will die in around fifty years, which is frightfully soon for a being over 1,100 years old. This fear can cause her to hesitate to act and she once again struggles with her old instinct to run away instead of fighting against the darkness.
RELATIONSHIPS (Xander): Anya has a deep, if quirky, love for Xander. She tolerates and is tolerated by the rest of the Scooby Gang.
MOTIVATION (Vengeance Is A Dish Best Served As An All-You-Can-Eat Buffet): Although Anya has lost her powers as a Vengeance Demon and has mostly accepted her new life as a mortal, her millennia of life as an agent of the Lower Beings has left its mark. She still has many rivals amongst the forces of darkness, such as the manipulative D’Hoffryn. Anya is also prone to going to very dark places when she feels slighted or scorned.
ABILITIES [ 30 pp ] +
SKILLS [ 19 pp ] +
ADVANTAGES [ 12 pp ] +
POWERS [ 3 pp ] +
DEFENSES [ 11 pp ] =
75 PP TOTAL
BACKGROUND
Real Name: Anyanka / Aud
Alias: Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins
Occupation: Saleswoman, The Magic Box
Base of Operations: The Magic Box, Main Street, Sunnydale CA
Date of Birth: Born on the 4th of July and absolutely not born in 879 AD
Height: Puny mortal
Weight: It's rude to ask
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Blonde
Notable Relatives: Both a mother and a father!
Identity: Secret
Status: Patriotic citizen of the good old U.S. of A!
So, a favorite pastime amongst my circle of nerdy friends is taking large ensemble casts and mapping them to ourselves. For the first couple of seasons of BtVS, it was decided universally that yours truly was our Giles... And then they added Anya to the cast as a recurring character. My friends split into two camps: half insisted that I was still our Giles, the other vociferously claimed I was our Anya. Given that they were my two favorite characters on the show, I was quite happy with either.
Anya's character basically got added to the cast in order to replace Cordelia as the show's sarcastic Greek Chorus. The one who pulled no punches, held nothing back, and basically cut through all of the show's melodramatic tension like a scalpel. Emma Caulfield had impeccable comic timing and gift for physical comedy, and that Whedon-trademarked stunning appearance despite not being a conventionally Hollywood babe. She hasn't seemed to have had much of a breakout career since, but if you're in the mood for a quirky-yet-charming, scifi-but-romcom film, try to track down a movie she stars in called TiMER. Totally worth it. Make it a "it's not a date, we're just gonna hang out and watch a movie" pick for that nerdy girl you want to date but are too shy to ask on a proper date. Trust me.
Mechanically, Anya's build is pretty simple. She has a lot of exposition related skills and abilities, as benefits a woman over a thousand years old with extensive experience dealing with the Lower Beings and other spooky things... She no longer wields the innate magical ability she had as a Vengeance Demon, but is still a fairly advanced ritual spellcaster (probably better than Willow was prior to Season Four, but behind her now. Willow kept growing in this sphere, Anya seems to have plateaued). But minimal combat ability. By man-on-the-street standards, she's not a bad fighter, able to hold her own against vampire minions and other low key threats, at least long enough for the other Scoobies or the Slayer to finish them off. As with all the Scoobies, teamwork and fighting smart are her key to survival.
Anya does eventually return to the ranks of the Vengeance Demons. But, because D'Hoffryn is an incredibly vindictive sumbitch — he is the patron Lower Being of vengeance after all— when he restores her power he does not remove her human soul. This causes her to be unable to live with the death, devastation, and destruction she now causes that she used to revel in. This is quite in keeping with D'Hoffryn's methods: never go for the kill when you can go for the pain. Anyaka's demonic powers aren't precisely defined in the series, but seem to include teleportation, superhuman strength on par or exceeding Buffy's, superhuman stamina and rapid regeneration, limited shapeshifting between her human and inhuman guise, and (making all the others seem trivial) the power of The Wish. The last power is clearly in the realm of PL X / GM Fiat... If you decide to add a re-demonized Anya to a game (to make her a little more balanced compared to the more powerful cast members) you're going to want to leave this off her sheet. For obvious reasons.
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
I hated how they killed off Anya, but left Andrew alive in that last season. After everything the "Legion of Doom()Andrew,Tucker & Warren)" did to Buffy and Co.(the death of Tara, Mind-Controlling the Gang for TWO MONTHS, killing multiple people, etc.) and he get's to live at the end? Meanwhile, Anya has done everything she can to make-up for being a Demon, her past actions even had Concequences show up in her current life(Olaf the Troll & The Wedding disaster). She did everything to make amends,she even got back together with Xander. So after all that, Joss(being the Douché that he is) decides that SHE die instead.
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Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
I feel they really needed to make the finale a two-parter (or a two-hour special episode that could be chopped into two parts for syndicated reruns) so that we could have had proper closure and reactions to the death of Anya and the other Slayers who died in the big final battle... and narratively, somebody from the main cast had to die in that final fight in order to make it feel like a Big Gorram Deal and not just another season finale.
Personally, I’d have had Xander be the one to go. He’d been part of the series as long as anyone, he was the heart of the team... He needed to dive in front of Anya, saving her life, redeeming himself for the whole “left at the altar” nonsense and so forth.
But, y’know, hindsight is 20/20. At the time, there was a lot of buzz about a third spin-off happening and I think Mutant Enemy wanted to “hedge their bets” and keep the core cast of the three main Scoobies and Giles alive for a spin-off and/or cameos in that spin-off or Angel.
Personally, I’d have had Xander be the one to go. He’d been part of the series as long as anyone, he was the heart of the team... He needed to dive in front of Anya, saving her life, redeeming himself for the whole “left at the altar” nonsense and so forth.
But, y’know, hindsight is 20/20. At the time, there was a lot of buzz about a third spin-off happening and I think Mutant Enemy wanted to “hedge their bets” and keep the core cast of the three main Scoobies and Giles alive for a spin-off and/or cameos in that spin-off or Angel.
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
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Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
I got into Buffy quite late, and never even got into the legendary first seasons, but when I started watching, it was during the "Anya Years" and she quickly became my favorite. With nerds everywhere gushing over Willow, I was always the rebel who picked the road less travelled, and I though she was the cutest member of the cast. And she had an adorably quirky way of being angry and snarky that just ALWAYS works- that kind of "petulant child but a cute girl" thing was like candy. I think I caught an episode where she and Xander broke up and that's when I figured I was done with the show- the increasingly "No, ONLY sad endings!" nature of the plot just got too much for me and came off like Sadness Porn.
Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
I remember first seeing him in that Fox show Werewolf. He played the new big bad (Nicholas Remy) replacing Chuck Conners.Batgirl III wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:42 pm Any character ever played by Brian Thompson is always memorable. The dude is just so damn good at playing bad guys... He’s played like six different bad guys on various Star Treks and too many corrupt sheriffs/detectives/military officers to ever list.
I first remember taking notice of him on the short-lived (and not terribly good) Kindred: The Embraced series as the leader of the Brujah vampire clan, Eddie Fiori. The show was bad, but he was great, so much so to this day that whenever Brian Thompson pops up on screen I immediately think “Eddie!”
- Batgirl III
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- Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:17 am
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Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
Seasons One through Three are the best, hands down. Season One has a bit of growing pains for the first few episodes as the actors find their characters and the writers figure out the tone, but that’s typical of every show and BtVS finds its footing remarkably quickly, but the time the season finale rolls around everything is five by five; Season Two brings us the the evil Angel and the Spike/Drusilla power couple of evil; and, lastly, Season Three has the Scoobies confront probably the greatest Big Bad Evil Guy in the entire franchise, the Mayor, and one of the greatest villainous henchmen ever, Faith...I got into Buffy quite late, and never even got into the legendary first seasons, but when I started watching, it was during the "Anya Years" and she quickly became my favorite.
Honestly, if they had ended things here, the show would have felt complete. Later seasons are good and have some great episodes (even the rocky Season Four brings us Tara, Anya, and the wonderful episode “Hush”) and I’ll happily binge watch my way through all of them... But Seasons One through Three are all that I’d consider “mandatory nerd viewing.”
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
BtVS dropped the ball rather badly in Season Six(AKA:Season Sux to fan's) and just hobbled across the finishline of Seven. In addition to the writers missing the point of the show for some reason(it's not about JUST Buffy, you Gorram Heathen idjits!), Whedon almost seem to become an Addict in wanting Dark Endings & Angst in the show all the time(though that be more a product of the Era than him, he didn't stop it either).
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Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
Even Whedon admitted eventually that he pulled a John Hammond there (you know, “your [writers, in this specific example] were so preoccupied with whether they could [add angsty twists], they didn't stop to think if they SHOULD.”)
- Batgirl III
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Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
Last edited by Batgirl III on Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
Sadly, the above Image isn't wrong.....
- Batgirl III
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- Location: Portland, Oregon
Princess Grace
WESLEY
Circa Angel Season Two
Power Level 5 ( 75 PP )
ABILITIESLineage (Angel S.5 E.7) wrote:Wesley: The perception is I'm weak. That's why they went for me.
Angel:They're wrong. You do what you have to do to protect the people around you. To do what you know is right, regardless of the cost. You know, I never really understood that. You're the guy who makes all the hard decisions, even if you have to make 'em alone.
Strength 1
Stamina 2
Agility 2
Dexterity 2
Fighting 4
Intellect 3
Awareness 3
Presence 3
ADVANTAGES
Assessment, Benefit [Wealth (1)], Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll (2), Equipment (4), Improvised Weapon (1), Ritualist, Well-Informed
SKILLS
Close Combat [Archaic Weapons] 1 (+5); Close Combat [Unarmed] 1 (+5); Deception 5 (+8); Expertise [Arcane Lore] 5 (+8); Expertise [Dead Languages*] 3 (+6); Expertise [Vampires & Demons] 5 (+8); Insight 2 (+5); Persuasion 2 (+5); Ranged Combat [Firearms] 4 (+6); Vehicles 2 (+4)
EQUIPMENT
Cabinet Full of Weapons (Array; 10 EP)
• Dual Hold-Out Pistols Damage 4 (E: Ranged, Split [1]; F: Diminished Range [-2]) [ 7 EP ]
• AE: Wooden Stake Damage 1 (Strength-based; E: Feature - Counts as Improvised Weapon) [ 1 EP ]
• AE: Holy Water Vials Affliction 4 (Resist: Dodge; Recover: Fortitude; Conditions: Impaired, Disabled; E: Cumulative, Ranged; F: Limited to Two Degress, Limited to Vampires) [ 1 PP ]
• AE: Holy Cross Affliction 4 (Resist/Recover: Will; Conditions: Entranced, Compelled; E: Ranged, Progressive; F: Limited to Two Degress, Limited to Repulsion, Limited to Vampires) [ 1 PP ]
Touring Bike (10 EP)
Size: Medium [ 0 EP ]
Strength: 1 [ 1 EP ]
Speed: 6 [ 6 EP ]
Defense: 10 [ 0 EP ]
Toughness: 8 [ 3 EP ]
DEFENSE
Dodge (4) Base 2
Parry: (4) Base 0
Fortitude: (4) Base 2
Toughness: (2/4) Base -
Will: (6) Base 3
WORKSHEET
Attack 5 Effect 1 Total: 6 (Unarmed)
Attack 5 Effect 3 Total: 8 (Wooden Stake)
Attack 6 Effect 4 Total: 10 (Dual Pistols)
Dodge 4 Tough. 4 Total: 8
Parry 4 Tough. 4 Total: 8
Fort. 4 Will 6 Total: 10
COMPLICATIONS
Adversary: As a former Watcher and now freelance demon hunter, means every supernatural force of evil in the multiverse considers him an enemy.
Responsibility: Wesley still feels a deep sense of responsibility to the Watcher's Council, despite having been sacked. Wesley has never given up his mission of fighting the forces of evil.
ABILITIES [ 40 pp ] +
SKILLS [ 15 pp ] +
ADVANTAGES [ 13 pp ] +
POWERS [ 0 pp ] +
DEFENSES [ 7 pp ] =
75 PP TOTAL
BACKGROUND
Real Name: Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
Occupation: Rogue Demon Hunter
Base of Operations: Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles CA
Date of Birth: Not as old as Giles, but still totally Old
Height: Tallish
Weight: Lanky
Eyes: Pierce Brosnan-y
Hair: Well Coifed
Notable Relatives: Estranged Father
Identity: Secret
Status: Subject of the United Kingdom, Resident Alien in the United States
Wesley debuted in Buffy's Season Three, as the replacement Watcher for Faith in-universe and as a replacement for Giles as "disapproving authority figure" for the show's writers. Alexis Denisof's willingness to make an absolute buffoon of himself — he personally requested that he fold like a wet napkin in the big final fight against the Mayor — was loved by the writers and he became the comic relief. Recognizing his acting chops were just as good for drama as for laughs, Whedon and Company added him to Angel's spin-off series. Over on Angel, his character grew exponentially over the run of that series. I will totally admit having a crush on him back in high school...
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.
Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
Reminds me of Sandy Rivers from Metro News 1.
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.
When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
Re: Batgirl III's Character Thread (Buffy, Faith)
Hey Bg, where's the Dude's Awesome Fold-out Sword? I know he had it in Season One...
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No, it’s not a VF-1J Valkyrie!
Artist: Anthony Scroggins
Wasp WSP-1A
BattleTech Light BattleMech
Power Level 8 ( 95 PP )
ABILITIES
Strength: 10
Stamina: ——
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 0
Fighting: 0
Intellect: ——
Awareness: 0
Presence: ——
SKILLS
Close Combat [Unarmed] 4 (+4), Perception 2 (+2), Ranged Combat [Weapon Systems] 8 (+8)
ADVANTAGES
Agile Feint, Evasion (1), Move-By Attack
POWERS
• Armor Plating Impervious Toughness 9 [ 9 PP ]
• Construct Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [ 30 PP ]
• 20 Ton ‘Mech Growth 10 (+10 Strength, +10 Toughness; +10 Mass; +5 Intimidate, -10 Stealth; -5 Dodge and Parry; Size Rank 1; +1 Speed; Extras: Innate [1], Permanent) [ 21 PP ]
• Jump Jets Leaping 6 (500’) [ 6 PP ]
• AE: Speed 3 (30 MPH) [ 1 PP ]
► The Wasp WSP-1A's fixed weapon systems consist of:
• SRM-2 Damage 8 (Extra: Area [Burst 30’, 6 Ranks], Ranged; Flaws: Diminished Range [1]) [ 21 PP ]
• AE: Medium Laser Damage 8 (Extra: Ranged) [ 1 PP ]
DEFENSE
Dodge (8) Base 11
Parry: (8) Base 13
Fortitude: —— ——
Toughness: (10) ——
Will: —— ——
WORKSHEET
Attack: 4 Effect: 10 Total: 14 (Unarmed)
Attack: 8 Effect: 8 Total: 16 (SRM-2)
Attack: 8 Effect: 8 Total: 16 (Medium Laser)
Dodge: 8 Tough.: 10 Total: 18
Parry: 8 Tough.: 10 Total: 18
Fort.: —— Will: —— Total: ——
ABILITIES [ -26 pp ] +
SKILLS [ 7 pp ] +
ADVANTAGES [ 3 pp ] +
POWERS [ 89 pp ] +
DEFENSES [ 22 pp ] =
95 PP TOTAL
BUILD NOTES
One of the iconic original BattleMechs from the beginning of the game, the Wasp has been around for as long as BattleTech - longer, actually, once you take into account BattleDroids (the “zero-th edition” that got its named changed once FASA found out LucasFilm was protective of their copyright on the word “droid.”) Even longer still if you count the design being made on artwork licensed from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross.
The Wasp has been around for a long time within the Battletech universe, too, dating back to the original primitive model WSP-1 Wasp, which debuted in 2464. The WSP-1A debuted later that same year, perfecting the design, although numerous prototypes followed over the centuries. In the “present day” of the BattleTech universe, the year is 3151 (or thereabouts) and the Wasp remains the single most common and single most produced, BattleMech in the entire Inner Sphere. It's been so common, and churn on the battlefields have been so common, that the joke is the SLDF classified it as a "unit of ammunition" rather than a BattleMech.
The Wasp is a scout unit, meant for reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, raiding enemy bases, and defending against raider operations. She’ll crumple like wet paper against anything that hits her hard, but hitting her is the tricky part. If you’re piloting one, keep moving. Stand still, you’re dead. If you’re fighting one, just shoot the bug and keep shooting until you get lucky.
BARON wrote:I'm talking batgirl with batgirl. I love you internet.