Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Ian Turner
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Re: Jab’s Builds (UV Corps! Krona! The Externals! Gideon!)

Post by Ian Turner »

Oh, those Externals... I have the mutant power of telekinesis so advanced I can tweak your molecular structure and give you super-powers! I have the mutant power to duplicate the mutant powers of multiple other mutants at the same time that I will mysteriously never use as effectively as in my morning workout during my introduction! I have spikey bits! I can whip people with my hair for an embarrassingly small amount of damage! I have purple skin because Rob Liefield forgot to give me a mutant power!

What a random grab-bag. At least with Selene or Apocalypse, the two backfitted as 'Externals,' they are kind of badasses.
Jabroniville
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Nicodemus

Post by Jabroniville »

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NICODEMUS (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza & Marc Pacella
First Appearance: X-Force #10 (May 1992)
Role: The Dead One
Group Affiliations: The Externals

-Said to be "As old as the Swiss Alps themselves", Nicodemus looked old, and seemed fairly wizened with age. He helped out the other Externals and let them use his home as a base, but he never got to see action before he died of the Legacy Virus- dying on-panel via incineration. Despite being such a minor guy he never even got into a fight, he returned with the other Externals in modern times, but again died- sacrificed to power the "External Gate" of Apocalypse.
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Burke

Post by Jabroniville »

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BURKE (Real Name Unknown)
Created By:
Rob Liefeld, Fabian Nicieza & Marc Pacella
First Appearance: X-Force #10 (May 1992)
Role: The Dead One
Group Affiliations: The Externals

-Burke was seen along with the other Externals in X-Force #10, being made aware of Cannonball's "birth" as an immortal "High Lord". In the 17th century, he was burned at the stake; in the 18th, he was guillotined; and in the 19th, hanged. He was the first of the Externals to die of the Legacy Virus, and his precognitive abilities sensed that Cannonball was "the architect of our salvation". He returned to life along with the other Externals, at which point they added more backstory- he was tired of living, and sought to rejoin his long-dead loved ones in the afterlife. He gladly met his death at the hands of a future-sent Gideon. Alas, his respite was short, and he was reborn as a baby to a couple in Canada.

-Burke had Precognitive abilities of some kind- it's possible or likely that they work in the more poetic, lyrical kind of "future sight" that is common to fortune-tellers in comics.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Woodclaw
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Re: Nicodemus

Post by Woodclaw »

The X-ternals... until fairly recent times they were my benchmark for poorly thought-out and poorly integrated concept. Not only their existence didn't make sense in the wider continuity, but put a lot of other characters into question. Aside from the aforementioned Apocalypse and Selene, what about people with powers that counteract aging, like Wolverine, Quicksilver or Mystica?
Jabroniville wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 1:44 am -Said to be "As old as the Swiss Alps themselves", Nicodemus looked old, and seemed fairly wizened with age. He helped out the other Externals and let them use his home as a base, but he never got to see action before he died of the Legacy Virus- dying on-panel via incineration. Despite being such a minor guy he never even got into a fight, he returned with the other Externals in modern times, but again died- sacrificed to power the "External Gate" of Apocalypse.
Well, he's comparatively young then. The reason why Alps, the Himalayan range and so on are so tall it's because they're actually fairly recent mountains (in geological terms) :P
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The Zodiac Cartel

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE ZODIAC CARTEL:
-And now for perhaps the WORST team of crappy jobbers in the history of comic books- The Zodiac Cartel!

See, this was a decent enough idea at first. A bunch of crime bosses built around theme-naming, with the intentions to dominate the world via extortion, murder and assorted other criminal behavior. Comics has a good history with that, like DC's Royal Flush Gang, or Marvel's Hellfire Club- all cool themes to go by. The Western Zodiac is actually pretty good as well, as the Chinese one features too many silly or mundane animals (you have to make Rat, Rabbit and Rooster, which kinda counterbalances Dragon and the other cool stuff). Roy Thomas & Sal Buscema created them during Thomas' HUGE, successful run on The Avengers in 1970- Thomas' run is easily the biggest one of the pre-'90s era, and possibly the biggest one ever, depending on how big a fan of Bendis & modern-day Marvel you are. The team was founded by Scorpio- Nick Fury's brother Jake, who seemingly died in the first story- Aries took over his role, but was himself killed and Taurus then became the signature member.

The group vexed the Avengers for a bit, and returned a few times, with the founder Taurus relinquishing leadership to other members during the time of their Astrological dominance. Sadly, this good idea quickly faltered when you considered the sheer amoung of LOSER-OSITY going on with these idiots. A couple of the characters had okay designs, but most of them? Cancer, Leo & Taurus seemed like easy enough costumes to make, but Sal Buscema apparently had a major-league brainfart, and put the three of them in the equivalent of Fursuits, and not even GOOD ones. They weren't even the worst ones- Capricorn was put in a YELLOW SKIRT. Problems with creating a team of TWELVE guys were apparent, as a few of them had completely bland "I am a criminal" personas, and didn't really say or do much of anything. One of their plans involved killing all of the Geminis in New York as a "show of power", which tells you all you need to know about them, I guess. Give Thomas credit for trying, but few writers could create twelve compelling characters all at once.

Members started making good use of the Zodiac Key, a super-powered device that was created for Scorpio. Independent members would show up in varied titles over the 1970s, when Marvel was starting to get REALLY into weird things and off-kilter runs. The '70s could be a bit of a resurgence for Marvel at times, but also a time of great problems- the company almost went out of business (it was saved by the Star Wars series, quite literally), croney-ism and mutual ass-kissing was the name of the game, and more. Are the Zodiac Cartel responsible for this? YES... okay probably not, but I'm off on a tangent here.

Englehart's Run- The Zodiac As Recurring Goons:
Eventually, Steve Englehart (creator of the legendary Mantis/Celestial Madonna mega-storyline) got hold of the group during HIS Avengers run, and had Libra be revealed as the father of his own personal Mary Sue, Mantis. A few members died in other books (Aries & Aquarius)- Englehart was responsible for these as well. Englehart eventually created a SECOND team of Zodiac Members, perhaps realizing how crappy the original team really was- Scorpio was resurrected by the Zodiac Key thanks to some cabal of guys obsessed with conflict and fighting (sort of like comic book Battleboards fans, but in-continuity)... but he brought the remaining Zodiac members in to a meeting, where they are killed by a NEW Zodiac Cartel, made up of androids based off of S.H.I.E.L.D. Life Model Decoys! This storyline (in West Coast Avengers) featured Robo-Clones of Hawkeye & Tigra helping the Zodiac out, and only Taurus & Libra survived from the original group- Taurus would die at the end of the storyline after fighting Moon Knight aboard a plane.

This second Zodiac Cartel was defeated after going to an alternate dimension and then shutting down (apparently they were kept alive by radiation only existing on Earth or something...). The whole "Other Dimensional Fighting-Obsessed Monks" story was completely stupid, and it's funny how this entire band of goons was offed in their fourth issue of existence (by an ass-pull of "oh, they can't survive in this other dimension, so they died the second they teleported everyone there"), but the final issue where Moon Knight does his best Batman impression and hunts down Taurus is actually quite well done- Taurus was desperately hiding from him, trying to recruit a new Zodiac (The Shroud was a target for this, in his anti-hero schtick), and eventually spun into an airplane crash.

The fact that Englehart was so tied to the group (the first LMD team was by David Kraft, however) is weird- what was the fascination there? They're so often just used as one-off goons. And he freely killed many, so it's not like he was using them as "Red Guardian Characters". I wonder if he just kinda looked at this team of twelve dorks and realized they were an easy group to use for "One-Off Adventures" or as a villain who could die at the end of the story and not be a major loss.

The Ecliptic Zodiac:
-A third Cartel debuted a full TWELVE years later, a group of poorly-drawn animal-men meant to test Alpha Flight in battle. This one-note team was casually murdered by Weapon-X in another book, and replaced by a Fourth Zodiac many MORE years later, and they fought the Young Avengers. And then THEY were killed in one fell swoop- yes, this actually happened to FOUR SEPARATE ZODIAC TEAMS.

So at least four variations of a TWELVE-MAN group, and almost none of the characters were any good. So ridiculously perfect for my builds! I'll build the original, Life Model Decoy (usually shortened to LMD) and Ecliptic (the Alpha Flight one) generations of the team. The Power Levels with be low. Low as in "As Low as Rob Liefeld's Talent" low. LOW. The originals are almost all "fairly tough humans" with moderate fighting skill, and none of them are particularly effective in combat. To say nothing of the Life Model Decoy Zodiacs, who took on Hawkeye 12-to-1 in one of those West Coaster issues (got 'em at a Comic Con), and he managed to bring down FIVE of them before he was overwhelmed by a Sagittarius that was an exact clone of himself. And those weaksauce LMD Zodiacs KILLED the original crew!

The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac:
1) Taurus- The Bull
2) Sagittarius- The (Centaur) Archer
3) Libra- The Scales
4) Gemini- The Twins
5) Aries- The Goat
6) Virgo- The Maiden
7) Leo- The Lion
8) Pisces- The Fish
9) Aquarius- The Water-Bearer
10) Capricorn- The Sea-Goat
11) Cancer- The Crab
12) Scorpio- The Scorpion

-Most of the early Zodiac members are just generic criminals who are good fighters, hitting PL 7-8 for the most part. The LMDs have all the Robot-y goodness of regular 'bots, low Skills & Advantages, etc., but they each have a few theme-based things. They're largely on the same level, though. In general, most Zodiac members were easily-beaten by pro superheroes.

Note: I think the stereotypes about Zodiac symbolic personality types are basically a giant load of hooey (I was once told by a surprised friend; "You don't ACT like a Libra!", which to me sounds sorta like saying "you don't ACT like someone with brown hair!" or "You don't ACT like an Asian person!", or something equally asinine- how the frig could the TIME OF YEAR YOU WERE BORN make a difference as to your temperment?), but I'll toss in the general stereotypes anyways, especially as Englehart seemed to make the LMD Zodiac VERY severe representations of each symbol.
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Spam
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Re: Nicodemus

Post by Spam »

Woodclaw wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 11:29 am The X-ternals... until fairly recent times they were my benchmark for poorly thought-out and poorly integrated concept. Not only their existence didn't make sense in the wider continuity, but put a lot of other characters into question. Aside from the aforementioned Apocalypse and Selene, what about people with powers that counteract aging, like Wolverine, Quicksilver or Mystica?
Jabroniville wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 1:44 am -Said to be "As old as the Swiss Alps themselves", Nicodemus looked old, and seemed fairly wizened with age. He helped out the other Externals and let them use his home as a base, but he never got to see action before he died of the Legacy Virus- dying on-panel via incineration. Despite being such a minor guy he never even got into a fight, he returned with the other Externals in modern times, but again died- sacrificed to power the "External Gate" of Apocalypse.
Well, he's comparatively young then. The reason why Alps, the Himalayan range and so on are so tall it's because they're actually fairly recent mountains (in geological terms) :P
Still, the birth of the Alps began 65 million years ago, so if he's the same age as them, he's likely to have seen a dinosaur or two in his younger years.
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SCORPIO

Post by Jabroniville »

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SCORPIO
Stereotypes:
Sexual, Slutty, Possessive, Mysterious, Resentful, Gossiper

-There are more Scorpios than any other member of the Cartel, and for good reason- it’s an AWESOME NAME. Because it’s linked to an earlier Nick Fury character who formed the first Cartel, they’re often associated with leaders of the group, or involve people not part of the Cartel at all.
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Scorpio (Jake Fury)

Post by Jabroniville »

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Still one of the greatest covers of all time.

SCORPIO I (Jacob "Jake" Fury)
Created By:
Jim Steranko
First Appearance: Strange Tales #159 (Aug. 1967- as Fury), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (June 1968- as Scorpio)
Role: The Evil Relative
Group Affiliations: The Zodiac Cartel, The Great Wheel
PL 11 (181)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 6 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 5

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 9 (+14)
Expertise (Business) 4 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+12)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+12)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 3 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+8)
Perception 4 (+8)
Technology 4 (+11)
Vehicles 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Benefit 3 (Wealth), Connected, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2 (Various Gear), Improved Critical (Zodiac Key), Jack-of-All-Trades, Leadership, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"The Zodiac Key" (Flaws: Easily Removable) (Feats: Restricted 2- Only Scorpio) [29]
Transform (Anything to Anything Else) 8 (40) -- (45 points)
  • AE: Teleport 8 (Extras: Affects Others, Selective) (32)
  • AE: Blast 12 (Feats: Variable Descriptor 2, Penetrating 10) (34)
  • AE: Force Field 8 (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Affects Others) (21)
  • AE: Move Object 10 (20)
  • AE: Variable 5 (Flaws: Uncontrolled) (30)
"Scorpio Costume" (Flaws: Removable) [16]
"Sleep Gas" Sleep 5 (Extras: Area-Cloud) (20 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Zodiac Key +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +7, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Greed & Power)- Already greedy, Scorpio also wishes global dominance.
Enemy (Nick Fury)

Total: Abilities: 76 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 45 / Defenses: 17 (181)

-Scorpio got his start in a very strange way- he was a Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos one-off character, introduced as Nick Fury's anti-war brother- the two came to blows over Nick's service record in WWII, but Jake was so inspired by a fight (Nick was brainwashed by a German foe who'd tracked him to America when he was on leave) that he himself enlisted. That was it for him until Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. renovated the Fury character into a modern-day (for 1960s) spy- his first recurring nemesis was a lethal villain named "Scorpio". He seemed to die, struck by a wild bullet as he was fleeing capture, but turned up issues later to scheme to take Fury's place- it was here that Nick learned that Scorpio was actually his own brother! He is possibly shot by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents this time, but no body is recovered. The character does not show up in Jim Steranko's run on Fury.

-Scorpio misses out on the initial Zodiac Cartel story, and we later get some retcons- he WAS a member at first, and HAD died in the first Agent story, but was reborn by a "Zodiac Key" he carried. And he was kicked out of the Cartel and replaced for his failure against Nick, which is why he wasn't in their debut. He shows up in The Defenders, building a Life Model Decoy version of the team, but it's a huge failure, and the villain is made out to be a total flake- he builds a "Virgo" to be his lover, but when she is stillborn, he shoots himself in the head. A decade later, the Key revives him as an LMD with the same memories, and "fixes" them (translation: retcons past stories)- he leads the new LMD Cartel against the living one, and slaughters ten of the twelve (Libra was missing, and Taurus fled). The team is again a failure- he tries to replace Tigra with a new "Leo", but is attacked and torn apart by her... then the Key revives him again, but he and the rest of the team are disabled upon entering an alternate dimension.

-Shockingly, after this, and despite being NICK FURY'S BROTHER, Scorpio did not reappear until the "Bendis Era". All the stories involving Nick Fury and dumb S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff and not once had Jake Fury returned... until a Secret Warriors book. They revealed that Jake's turn towards evil was a long-term plan of Nick's, where Jake was duplicated by ancient technology (the basis for the LMD program), and an evil Jake went on to become Scorpio. The real Jake apparently went deep undercover within HYDRA, co-opting an agent named Kraken. There, he helped Nick destroy HYDRA. Well that's stupid. Never mind all the times HYDRA infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. from within or was revealed as the originators of it in the first place- all of this was discarded as soon as "HYDRA-Cap" was a thing anyways.

-Scorpio's the team's resident Leader and Blaster, being a fairly high-level version of both, and that Zodiac Key makes him a nasty villain to face. A high-powered Blast, a Force Field that can protect his entire team, plus it can do multiple weird other things, best described with a Variable Alt-Effect and a Transform base power at high levels.

---

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SCORPIO I (Life Model Decoy of Jacob "Jake" Fury)
Created By:
Jim Steranko
First Appearance: Strange Tales #159 (Aug. 1967- as Fury), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (June 1968- as Scorpio)
Role: The Evil Relative
Group Affiliations: The Zodiac Cartel, The Great Wheel
PL 11 (254)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA -- AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 6 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 5

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 9 (+14)
Expertise (Business) 4 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+12)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+12)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 3 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+8)
Perception 4 (+8)
Technology 4 (+11)
Vehicles 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Benefit 3 (Wealth), Connected, Defensive Roll, Equipment 2 (Various Gear), Improved Critical (Zodiac Key), Jack-of-All-Trades, Leadership, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"Life Model Decoy"
Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]
Protection 4 [4]

"The Zodiac Key" (Flaws: Easily Removable) (Feats: Restricted 2- Only Scorpio) [81]
Transform (Anything to Anything Else) 8 (40) -- (47)
  • AE: Teleport 8 (Extras: Affects Others, Selective) (32)
  • AE: Blast 12 (Feats: Variable Descriptor 2, Penetrating 10) (34)
  • AE: Force Field 8 (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Affects Others) (21)
  • AE: Dimensional Travel 1 (Ankh Dimension) (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Affects Others, Selective) (9)
  • AE: Move Object 10 (20)
  • AE: Healing 10 (20)
  • AE: Variable 5 (Flaws: Uncontrolled) (30)
Summon 7 (Extras: Heroic +2, 12 Minions +7, Variable +2- Androids) (Flaws: Indifferent) (84)
-- (131 points)

"Scorpio Costume" (Flaws: Removable) [21]
"Venom Blast" Weaken Stamina 6 (Extras: Ranged, Progressive +2) (24) -- (26 points)
  • AE: "Neurotoxin" Affliction 10 (Fort; Fatigued/Exhausted/Paralyzed) (Extras: Cumulative) (20)
  • AE: Burrowing 8 (4 mph) (8)

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Zodiac Key +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +7, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Greed & Power)- Already greedy, Scorpio also wishes global dominance.
Vulnerable (Magnetic Attacks)- As LMDs, the Zodiac are made of metal, and are prone to magnetic assault.
Weakness (Outside Their Dimension)- The LMDs will shut down without access to Zodiacal Energy from our dimension- inter-dimensional travel will shut most of them down.
Responsibility (The Zodiac Key)- The sentient Key often gives Scorpio orders, and will not do things that end the conflict.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 18 / Powers: 136 / Defenses: 17 (254)

-The Android Scorpio would actually heal & create other Life Model Decoys, making him MUCH more expensive. He's still Jake Fury, but as an LMD himself, so he's also more dangerous overall. Problem is, the Key won't follow his orders if it'll end the conflict.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Mon Jul 19, 2021 3:27 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (UV Corps! Krona! The Externals! Gideon!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Ian Turner wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:46 pm Oh, those Externals... I have the mutant power of telekinesis so advanced I can tweak your molecular structure and give you super-powers! I have the mutant power to duplicate the mutant powers of multiple other mutants at the same time that I will mysteriously never use as effectively as in my morning workout during my introduction! I have spikey bits! I can whip people with my hair for an embarrassingly small amount of damage! I have purple skin because Rob Liefield forgot to give me a mutant power!

What a random grab-bag. At least with Selene or Apocalypse, the two backfitted as 'Externals,' they are kind of badasses.
yeah, like I said, there was a lot of weirdness with them. I got the distinct impression they were one of like 90 groups of Sketchpad Characters Liefeld created that Fabian was forced to deal with, and despite having Gideon acting like a bad-ass at first, both guys got rapidly tired of him. Rob did the scene where Black Tom one-shotted Gideon with ease, and Fabian later wrote the "X-Force easily bashes down Gideon's door and taking him by surprise despite using A TANK" beat-down.

The problem with Sketchpad Characters is that if you don't lay in the groundwork to make them interesting, then you yourself will stop caring about your new toys, and you will tire of them and discard them.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Gideon! Candra! The Zodiac Cartel! Scorpio!)

Post by Curbludgeon »

Maybe it's just from reading the OHOTMU in the bathtub as a kid, but I always had a real soft spot for the Zodiac Cartel, which is only slightly tempered by that terrible introduction page above. I'm not the biggest fan of CCGs, but think a good idea for one would involve player decks representing various marvel jobber teams. Would the Circus of Crime defeat the Death-Throws? How about the Serpent Society versus the Zodiac Cartel? Could the Maggia eliminate the Hand if they hired the Night Shift?
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Scorpio (Jaques LaPoint)

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

SCORPIO II (Jacques LaPoint)
Created By:
Steve Englehart & Don Heck
First Appearance: The Avengers #120 (1974)
Role: Generic Thug
Group Affiliations: The Zodiac Cartel
PL 6 (95)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+9)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Business) 6 (+8)
Expertise (Crime Boss) 6 (+8)
Insight 5 (+7)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Investigation 5 (+7)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Technology 1 (+3)
Vehicles 4 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Benefit 2 (Wealth), Defensive Roll, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Ranged Attack 5, Set-Up, Teamwork

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3 (+4 D.Roll), Fortitude +4, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed & Power)- Already greedy, Scorpio also wishes global dominance.

Total: Abilities: 52 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 8 (95)

-Scorpio II was hired on after Jake Fury's disappearance and death, simply because Taurus HAD TO have another Scorpio on the team to suit his plans (he once insisted that The Shroud change his name to Gemini during a recruiting drive). He's exactly like Aquarius- a simple human with some fighting skill. He was a nothing backgrounder, and died with the rest of the team when Scorpio I returned as a Life Model Decoy.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Gideon! Candra! The Zodiac Cartel! Scorpio!)

Post by Davies »

According to TOHOTMUDEU89, Jacques LaPoint was always the Jake Fury LMD operating under an alias. That may have been true, or it may not. I suppose it depends on how long Englehart was planning this thing ...
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Gideon! Candra! The Zodiac Cartel! Scorpio!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Davies wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 3:50 am According to TOHOTMUDEU89, Jacques LaPoint was always the Jake Fury LMD operating under an alias. That may have been true, or it may not. I suppose it depends on how long Englehart was planning this thing ...
Oh, that's interesting. I had to double-check, and it's buried on the Unofficial Appendix page:
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition and Master Edition's entries for the Zodiac and Scorpio (ME only) claimed that Jake Fury (or his LMD) had always been LaPoint, but Fury never claimed to have always been LaPoint in WCA II#26; also, the Official Marvel Index to the Avengers and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition Scorpio entry both consider LaPoint to have been killed and replaced by Fury. Besides this, Jake was supposed to have spent the time inbetween Nick Fury I#5 and Defenders I#46 creating the Theater of Genetics, sinking into depression, and viewing the Zodiac from the outside-- it hardly fits for him to have assumed the guise of LaPoint then.
So basically another continuity nerd is disregarding THAT continuity nerd's attempt to handily wrap that plot point up, lol.
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Re: Jab’s Builds (Gideon! Candra! The Zodiac Cartel! Scorpio!)

Post by Ian Turner »

Where did that Zodiac Key come from? It's just an awesome McGuffin level item, like the Cosmic Cube or an Infinity Stone, and yet it just sort of appeared, as far as I can remember...

Ah, and LMDs. Love those guys, particularly the 'Deltas' that attempted to take over SHIELD from within!

And I so love themed jobber teams. I can't believe we haven't had a Tarot/major arcana-themed super-crook jobber organization, with like Grim Reaper and Nekra as Death and the High Priestess, Hellstrom (in one of Heel turns) as the Magician, Tower as Tower (hah), Hangman as the Hanged Man, Madcap as the Fool, etc.
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Scorpio (Mikel Fury)

Post by Jabroniville »

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SCORPIO III (Mikel Fury)
Created By:
Archie Goodwin & Howard Chaykin
First Appearance: Wolverine & Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989)
Role: The Evil Relative
Group Affiliations: The Zodiac Cartel, The Great Wheel
PL 10 (133)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Special Agent) 7 (+8)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 4 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Guns) 2 (+10)
Technology 4 (+5)
Vehicles 4 (+8)

Advantages:
Benefit 1 (Position- Agent), Defensive Roll, Equipment 4 (Various Gear), Ranged Attack 4

Powers:
"The Scorpio Key" (Flaws: Easily Removable) (Feats: Restricted 2- Only Scorpio) [29]
Transform (Anything to Anything Else) 8 (40) -- (45 points)
  • AE: Teleport 8 (Extras: Affects Others, Selective) (32)
  • AE: Blast 12 (Feats: Variable Descriptor 2, Penetrating 10) (34)
  • AE: Force Field 8 (Feats: Increased Mass 5) (Extras: Affects Others) (21)
  • AE: Move Object 10 (20)
  • AE: Variable 5 (Flaws: Uncontrolled) (30)
Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Scorpio Key +8 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Guns +10 (+4-6 Ranged Damage, DC 19-21)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +6, Will +6

Complications:
Enemy/Relationship (Nick Fury)- Mikel was brainwashed by his mother to hate Nick Fury, whom he thought was his uncle. When he discovers the truth, they eventually form a father/son duo.

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 29 / Defenses: 15 (133)

-Hoo boy, a THIRD Scorpio- this one is the son of Nick Fury himself! He was born to a European royal named Alexis of Carpasia, who'd been seduced and then betrayed by Nick ages ago. Furious, she raised her son to think that Jake Fury was his father instead, training him to become the new Scorpio and enact revenge upon Nick. Nick & Wolverine were hunted by him, but in the final battle, it was clear Mikel's mother was just using him as a means to an end when she nearly sacrificed him to kill Nick- Wolverine skewered her with his claws, and Mikel went off with Nick, who promised to undo a lifetime of brainwashing.

-Mikel returned five years later, written by Howard Chaykin, the artist of the previous tale, in another one-shot where Nick gives him "tough love" training- he ultimately rejects HYDRA and a Life Model Decoy of his mother, and becomes the president of Carpasia, promising to rule and allow freedom for all. The next year, Chaykin writes a miniseries about Mikel & Nick, where they finally form a familial relationship, Nick showing him around his old Hell's Kitchen home and Mikel abandoning his country because corruption is too baked into it. A couple of years later, John Ostrander writes a strange Punisher arc in which Frank goes insane with psychoactive drugs and is framed for the murder of Nick Fury (who was actually an LMD at this point)- Mikel is tortured by him (Frank thinks that Nick killed his family at this point), and becomes revenge-obsessed, leading rogue agents to nearly kill Frank- he is caught and expelled from S.H.I.E.L.D.

-The character is largely forgotten after this point, reappearing in a big way only in 2009's Secret Warriors book, in which he is recruited by his father to lead another agent team in a secret mission. Mikel ultimately sacrifices himself in order to stop HYDRA. So yeah, this whole story seems very weird- I've never even HEARD of this character, but he seems like a "Pet Project" of Chaykin's, who brought the guy through two Graphic Novels AND a Miniseries in a desperate attempt to "make Mikel Fury a thing", but ultimately Ostrander writes him out of Fury's group and then he's forgotten save for a couple one-offs and then he dies in another story-arc. Possibly to wipe the board clean so Nick Fury Jr. can come in and "replace" Nick since he actually looks kinda like the Fury of the movies. Because COMICS. ARE. WEIRD.

-Mikel is a trained agent like Nick was, but is obviously far less experienced. And he wields the Scorpio Key, which might be the Zodiac Key, because comics writers got mixed up at some point and it's terribly unclear. Just read this bio, I don't feel like sorting through it.
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