CU Villains Analyzed and Classified

[Lord Liaden]

I'm rather surprised the Champions Villains trilogy has that many aliens. I was under the impression that 5E/6E Champions Earth was rather skimpy in that regard compared to earlier incarnations of the setting, at least until the publication of Champions Beyond. But I do see that your criteria are rather broad.

 

Your characterizing Ape-Plus as an alien makes me kind of uncomfortable, though. Yes, he's non-human, but he's not the product of a non-human society and civilization. He's a unique creature, an animal mutated to sapience, and taught and trained, by a human scientist.

 

Now, if an official Champions hero or villain had come from the subterranean Kingdom of the Apes hidden in Africa, or been born and raised in the secret town of Gornyj Zver ("beast mountain")  where Dr. Moreau had his first lab, I could see an argument for calling them an alien. In fact there is a villain from the second category mentioned in Hidden Lands as working in Los Angeles, called "Snake." Also, another expat from Gornyj Zver known as "Ram" is the bouncer for The Minefield nightclub in Vibora Bay. (And their fellow citizen, a cat-girl named "Lynx," has become a singing sensation in Japan.)

[Lord Liaden]

On 12/27/2022 at 2:20 PM, DShomshak said:

Where's the character like Marvell's Bullseye, who can turn any throwable object into a deadly weapon?

 

AFAICT there's never been an explanation for how Bullseye is able to do that. Who's to say it isn't a mutation, on the order of Taskmaster's "photographic reflexes?" In which case Arrowhead would be a valid CU analogue.

[DShomshak]

20 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Your characterizing Ape-Plus as an alien makes me kind of uncomfortable, though. Yes, he's non-human, but he's not the product of a non-human society and civilization. He's a unique creature, an animal mutated to sapience, and taught and trained, by a human scientist.

 

Oh, the Brain Trust has more than one hard-to-classify character. I classified Ape-Plus as "Alien" in that he's not human, altered human, or a supernatural creature, but if you want to file him under "Other," I understand. That's what I did with the Overbrain, who might have been a cyborg if he'd been stuck in the jar with waldoes and sensors plugged in -- but the text says that sometimes he just levitates around as a disembodied brain. At a stretch, developing super-powers after loosing the encumbrance of a body might be considered especially Weird Science, but in the end I just shook my head and labeled him as "Other." And there's Lynx: Surgical modification there, but other stuff too, mostly unspecified; I settled on Weird Science, but maybe the restructuring included enough artificial stuff to make her a subtle cyborg? Induced mutation beyond making her grow fur? She could have been another "Other."

 

Most of the "Other" characters, though, are in that category because their entries list their origins as unknown.

 

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

\Now let's get to the MASTERMINDS. I added a couple since beginning this project as I noticed that some villains had institutional support that wasn't listed on their character sheets, such as the Overbrain's mentally enslaved scientists and labs, or Borealis's admirers. Other people are on the list for their ability to Summon minions -- I just recently noticed that Black Paladin gained this in his CV iteration. I may still be missing a few.

 

Brick: 5 characters; 18%

Energy Projector: 12 characters; 43%

Martial Artist: 2 characters; 7%

Mentalist: 7 characters; 25%

Other: 7 characters; 25%

Complex: 9 characters; 32%

 

Male: 23 characters; 82%

Female: 4 characters; 14%

Other: 1 character; 4%

 

The relatively low proportion of bricks is misleading: IIRC at least 4 of the Complex characters have the requisite degree of super-strength. Actually, only 6 characters have only one class of Powers (including Franklin Stone, the sole "pure" Mastermind he has no "powers" except for being smart, rich and ruthless).

 

But this is not the only worthwhile way to analyze Masterminds...

 

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

...Because Mastermind is a "meta-origin" that usually adds to other origins. What are the most popular *other* origin types for CV masterminds?

 

Supernatural Being: 7 characters; 25%

Mutant/Mutate: 3 characters; 11%

Robot: 1 character; 4%

Enchantment: 3 characters; 11%

Weird Science: 1 character; 4%

Cyborg: 1 character; 4%

Sorcerer: 10 characters; 36%

Inventor: 4 characters; 14%

Training: 1 character; 4%

Weapon: 3 characters; 11%

Alien: 2 characters; 7%

Other: 1 character; 4%

Complex: --

No Other Origin Type: 1 character; 4%

 

The CV lineup of masterminds leans pretty heavily toward the mystical. In part this is because so many of the supernatural bad guys, such as Tyrannon, Takofanes, and Tezcatlipoca, are also sorcerers. Conversely, some characters count as masterminds because they Summonj minions as needed. But it's still a pretty heavy tilt that I genuinely did not expect.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

2 hours ago, DShomshak said:

.The CV lineup of masterminds leans pretty heavily toward the mystical. In part this is because so many of the supernatural bad guys, such as Tyrannon, Takofanes, and Tezcatlipoca, are also sorcerers. Conversely, some characters count as masterminds because they Summon minions as needed. But it's still a pretty heavy tilt that I genuinely did not expect.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

Well, part of that was contributed to by Cryptic Studios for Champions Online. Shadow Destroyer is their original creation, while Kigatilik was just a background reference in Champions Of The North until Cryptic statted him out. BTW where do you fit Shadow Destroyer? He's both a scientist and a sorcerer, and has formidable powers derived from both sources.

 

I also have to say, if you want to look at all the contributing reasons why the CU Master Villains skew toward the mystical, you kinda have to look in the mirror.

 

But several of the "solo" villains listed in CV3 are described as "second-tier" or "quasi" Master Villains. I mean, if you're going to count Black Paladin because he can summon a demon (whose master is actually Baphomet), wouldn't you also include the Engineer who can create servant robots out of spare parts? Or Thorn who can animate plants as giant monsters? Or Syzygy who can release his Attack Orbs? Maybe even Cadaver who's noted to use his "zombiefied" minions to do his dirty work?

 

Mind you, broadening the categories that way would also open the door to more mystical villains from CV3, such as Bromion and Cairngorm. So the balance issue doesn't disappear.

[DShomshak]

12 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

BTW where do you fit Shadow Destroyer? He's both a scientist and a sorcerer, and has formidable powers derived from both sources.

Just sorcerer. At first I thought both sorcerer and inventor, but -- even though he has the tech skills, his Powers and minions all seem very mystical. The tech aspects seem just, well, fglavor to make him "a different kind of sorcerer." Possibly the way he's used in Champions Online shows more of his tech aspect, but I don't see it in his CV1 description.

 

I do include the Engineer as a "minions on demand" Mastermind. I didn't think of Cadaver, treating him just as a tech-based Mentalist, but since his whole schtick is "horde on demand," he might qualify. I should also take another look at Cairngorm to see how much institutional support he gets -- but if Martika duQuesne counts as a Mastermind for leading a Circle of the Scarlet Moon cell, I don't see why Cairngorm should not for leading the Dark Druids.

 

I didn't think of Thorn's plant monsters, either, but that qualifies. But Syzygy does not because the attack orbs are actually part of it, Duplicates, not minions.

 

Bromion is very much on my list of Masterminds, as he has a whole dimension's worth of minion support! The Millworks could be greatly expanded in detail to emphasize this.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

[DShomshak]

On 12/29/2022 at 9:49 PM, Lord Liaden said:

I also have to say, if you want to look at all the contributing reasons why the CU Master Villains skew toward the mystical, you kinda have to look in the mirror.

 

Well, yes, but I thought it unseemly to bring it up. 

 

If DOJ had been able to pay me in a timely manner for the UMY Trilogy, I might have rebalanced things by writing The Ultimate Gadgeteer with a new set of High Tech Enemies. 😇

 

Dean Shomshak

[steriaca]

15 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

Well, yes, but I thought it unseemly to bring it up. 

 

If DOJ had been able to pay me in a timely manner for the UMY Trilogy, I might have rebalanced things by writing The Ultimate Gadgeteer with a new set of High Tech Enemies. 😇

 

Dean Shomshak

You mean DOJ PAYS you? I'm still waiting for my payment for my Superhero Martial Arts article for Digital Hero (but not going to hold my breath for it...).

[Lord Liaden]

On 12/30/2022 at 1:28 PM, DShomshak said:

Just sorcerer. At first I thought both sorcerer and inventor, but -- even though he has the tech skills, his Powers and minions all seem very mystical. The tech aspects seem just, well, fglavor to make him "a different kind of sorcerer." Possibly the way he's used in Champions Online shows more of his tech aspect, but I don't see it in his CV1 description.

 

 

In CO SD co-opted a lot of the real Dr. Destroyer's robots, but as far as his personal powers go, I agree that his style is more magician than technologist. I never used the character as presented, anyway. I did use some of his minions as creatures of Takofanes -- Corundum and Oubliette, the Shadow Colossi, and the Karkaradons (which are almost exactly like the Sharthak from the Turakian Age).

 

I did have a plan to repurpose Shadow D as a mechanism to introduce the Church of the Infinite Dark, from Hero's sci-fi source book Scourges Of The Galaxy. My concept was to make him a Malvan who studied his people's war with the Elder Worm, and became obsessed with their interactions with the Qliphoth. One day his mind pierced the barriers to contact with the Kings of Edom, and he was enthralled.

 

My version of SD, whom I called the Hierophant, destroyed a small Malvan colony for the power to summon other pawns of the Kings -- the Void Messiahs of the Church of the Infinite Dark -- across time and dimensions to the present day. He covertly guides their mad attempts to alter planets to create the keys that will free the Kings.

 

Never got to use the concept, though.

[DShomshak]

On 12/31/2022 at 9:47 AM, steriaca said:

You mean DOJ PAYS you? I'm still waiting for my payment for my Superhero Martial Arts article for Digital Hero (but not going to hold my breath for it...).

It took many years of nagging and a few threats of legal action to get paid for the "Mystic" trilogy. (And since I wrote far more than contracted, DOJ effectively got a free book.) To be fair, it took DOJ so long because they weren't being paid by distributors.

 

At one point they offered me partial  payment in product or office furniture. My father, who ran several small businesses in his lifetime, was not impressed.

 

The bulk of payment came only when Cryptic bought out DOJ.

 

For my Digital Hero articles presenting the Dark Champions hero Repairman and villain Bloodmoney, I gave up and said I'd accept payment in kind -- a CD-ROM of the complete run of Digital Hero, to that point.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

I was compensated for my article on Prof. Muerte in DH, but I heard that at least one of the artists for it was not paid. That ended his association with Hero Games, which was a loss all around.

 

[DShomshak]

Is it worth parsing the CV roster the other way? I'll try it first for BRICKS.

 

Supernatural: 9 characters; 12%

Mutant/Mutate: 14 characters; 18%

Robot/Construct: 3 characters; 4%

Enchantment: 14 characters; 18%

Weird Science: 17 characters; 22%

Cyborg: 1 character; 1%

Sorcerer: 1 character; 1%

Inventor: 7 characters; 9%

Training: --

Weapon: 7 characters; 9%

Alien: 6 characters; 8%

Other: 2 characters; 3%

Complex: --

 

Male: 64 characters; 84%

Female: 10 characters; 13%

Other: 2 characters; 3%

 

TOTAL: 76 characters

 

Nothing here surprises me much, given the general shortage of cyborgs and heavy emphasis on magical characters. This time, I took the trouble to not count origins that don't contribute to super-strength, such as Herculan's space armor or the Shadow Queen's sorcery. The Inventors and Weapon users can be combined, as powered armor wielders. Though I would hope a future edition could include more super-strong women.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

[DShomshak]

mentalists are the other well-defined class of Powers. I'm not sure there's any point to analyzing Energy Projectors, Martial Artists, or Others.

 

Supernatural: 7 characters; 16%

Mutant/Mutate: 18 characters; 40%

Robot: --

Enchantment: 2 characters; 4%

Weird Science: 4 characters; 9%

Cyborg: --

Sorcerer: 11 characters; 24%

Inventor: 2 characters; 4%

Training: --

Weapon: 1 character; 2%

Alien: 4 characters; 9%

Other: 1 character; 2%

Complex: --

 

Male: 31 characters; 69%

Female: 14 characters; 31%

Other: --

 

TOTAL: 45 characters

 

That there would be lots of mutant mentalists did not surprise me. Neither did the sorcerers, since doing things to people's minds is classic magic. But I am surprised at how few sci/tech-based mentalists there are. This seems like a good area for introducing new characters.

 

Dean Shomshak