SKJAM!

Up to a point, the matchups should be fairly obvious for this last week.  A female character, a teen character, and the most vote-getting character left over.

1. True.

4. The fire extinguisher arrow, the one that finally convinced Batman to no longer mock Green Arrow's arsenal.

"Young Black Jack" over at the Crunchyroll website.  It's a prequel to the Blackjack manga by Osamu Tezuka, set in the 1960s when our hero was an intern.  Presumably we will get actual character development for Megumi when she appears, before the horrible thing that we know happens.

Cygnia, a lot of your links shrink when you post them, so I can't tell which ones I might already have seen.  Could you also post the title of the article you link to separately, if not perhaps a brief sentence describing the  content? 

New York, Jacksonville, New York again, Carolina, Philadelphia, Oakland, Houston, Kansas City, Cleveland, Green Bay, St. Louis, Minnesota, Dallas.

I am either going to do very badly, or wish that I had bet actual money.

Try the link in Foreign Orchid's posts--see if that will work for you.

Threat Assessment:  Salt of the Earth.

This team is thematically linked to earth, rock and the planet.  Unfortunately, none of the arenas are in the vacuum of space.

The Thing, their leader, is well known for his decades of experience, his willpower, and being a tank.  He is much brighter than his diction would lead the unwary to believe, fully able to understand the operation of high technology if not necessarily the advanced physics involved.  His weaknesses include fluctuating power levels, periodic difficulty dealing with his appearance and how it separates him from common humanity, and a poor temper.  This last is the only one likely to come up in our battles, as none of us can manipulate DNA or use mind control.  His ranged attacks are limited to what he can throw, and a less effective version of the Hulk's clap.  Kenshiro believes he can still target Ben Grimm's pressure points, but this will take extra time for him to move the plates of the Thing's armor aside, during which he will be in arm's reach.  The Thing is also slightly less flexible than a normal human, but has spent years in combat training to deal with the problem.

Sandman has the ability to turn into sand, change shape at will, and absorb sand to become larger.  He apparently also has learned to transform parts of his body to glass for various purposes.  His primary weakness is that he's not a fast thinker---most of his victories have come from figuring out a good plan first (even if that plan is just "strike from behind") while his defeats are usually due to his opponents coming up with new tactics on the fly.  Kenshiro is not sure if his pressure points can be struck except when he has a humanoid shape.

Dust has similar powers to Sandman, but is far less experienced.  She is somewhat resistant to magic and telepathy, but weak against wind and water.  Again, pressure points may be difficult to impossible to press.

Rockslide is also a metamorph, but with rock, rather than sand and thus far less flexible.  His form is similar to a "golem" with great strength and durability.  He can be blown apart, but can then reassemble himself from local materials, which may allow him different properties based on the rock he is composed of.   His primary weakness is emotional, being brash and easy to make overconfident.  He may have a "keystone" that control of will prevent his reforming.

Magma controls/summons magma, and can cause earthquakes by moving magma, even at great depths.  Once the magma is summoned, she is coated in a flaming aura that projects light and heat, and protects her from same.  She may also be immune to poisonous gases while her powers are active.  She has strong recuperative abilities while standing on the Earth; removing her from it slows this down.  She is not, however, made of magma, and her nerve structure should be basically human in nature.  Initially, she had trouble controlling her emotions, but this does not seem to be the case in the current day.

The Warlord is a skilled swordsman and pistol shot, and remarkably fit for his age.  He's familiar with how to defeat mages, and has sometimes used a deadly magical sword.  He is otherwise human.

Green Lantern has powers similar to those of other Green Lanterns, but draws his power from The Green, the lifeforce of the ecosphere, especially plants.  Thus in addition to the usual energy constructs, flight, energy beams, etc., Mr. Scott can also command plants and make them grow at accelerated rates, as well as heal injuries.  He is relatively new to his powers, and may be confusable.  His pressure points appear to be human at this time, unlike some other protectors of the Green.

Toph Bei-Fong is a highly skilled martial artist with the ability to telekinetically control earth, rock and metal.  She is blind, but senses anything touching the ground, making her effective attack and defense range 360 degrees.  She is somewhat weaker against opponents that don't touch the ground, but has learned basic defenses against these.  Her pressure points appear to be normal human.

All in all, a very formidable team unless you can get them into a zero-gravity environment. 

Try using the link I have in my sig. Maybe my doc will work better. If not, try using a different browser and see if that helps. I was having issues before, too.

 

That worked, thanks!

Hmm.  I've been unable to access Google Docs--what are the match rules this week?

It was pretty obvious who the captain of Team Justice Force had to be.  Of the members who had leadership experience, Magneto was best known for leading highly dysfunctional teams, and Ant-Man was relatively new at the job.  So it was down to Nightwing, who had led the Teen Titans, Titans and Justice League.

If Magneto minded, he kept it to himself, going into the aloof pose he pulled at these meetings.

Kenshiro and Karate Kid were freshly showered after a sparring match, each learning new techniques from the other.  Of course, Kenshiro's most deadly skills were a secret of North Star Style, but there were less fatal moves in his repertoire.

Spinnerette and Mary Marvel had hit it off, though Spinny was still a bit annoyed that a fifteen year old was the old hand while she got stuck with the rookie slot.  Blue Beetle had taken up residence on the ceiling.

"Thanks, everyone, for a good first week.  We didn't win the majority of our battles, but I hope we all learned something from the defeats, and our manager promises to spring for at least some END juice this week.  Spinnerette, I hope you're prepared, because the way the schedule looks, you'll be going out solo.  If we can out think, out fight and out-popular vote the opponents, I'm sure we'll all do fine.  Each and every one of you is a winner, and you'll be able to show that."

First, a trick arrow-- the classic boxing glove arrow!

Perhaps I relied too much on popularity power.

Male author claims women can't write "Space Opera":

http://www.themarysue.com/dark-beyond-the-stars-review/

Let's go wacky for our last contestant:

Heather Brown, aka Spinnerette! http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/Spinnerette

Much as I'd like to go obscure, that kicked me in the teeth repeatedly last go-round.

So for a combination of power, versatility and popularity, I pick:

Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle!

I imagine that the fact that it's her adversary's dreamworld is also a bad sign.

Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron which I am now glad I didn't try to read when I was twelve, because I never would have "gotten" it.  Media celebrity goes up against a billionaire obsessed with immortality, and has to reach deep down for that last scrap of integrity he never thought he had.  Some scenes are in fact pornographic.

See more at http://www.skjam.com/2015/09/10/book-review-bug-jack-barron/

For the "normals" round, I pick another perennial favorite, Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing.

This character was introduced in 1983.  He has no ninjitsu training, but that hardly matters.

The man known as The Fist of the North Star, Kenshiro!

For my youth pick, I will go with an old favorite of mine who was busy elsewhere previously==

Val Armorr, the Karate Kid!

For my team, we'll go with a female powerhouse with the wisdom to use her gifts judiciously,

Mary Marvel!

Round 1.5 Pick for Team Justice Force!

Mr. Revolving Heel-Face Door himself, Magneto!  (At the moment in his own book, he seems to be doing the antihero thing.)

Also with transportation--cross-country buses are still very popular, and stop at every small town, so the bus depot will be big.  City buses less so, but they run downtown often enough to be available for tossing during fights.

In addition to the big two newspapers, there's a lot of low-circulation weeklies for the various neighborhoods, ethnic groups and special interest groups.  Including the local pinkos, although admitting you're on their subscriber list can cause Social Limitation.  An investigative-minded hero might spot useful information in the weeklies that's under the major media radar.

Since he proved surprisingly effective last round, I'll be keeping the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man.

Birthright: Book 1 of the Temujin Saga by Adam J. Whitlatch

Iowa farm boy and his cool allies battle a clone of Genghis Khan (who has alien superpowers).  Young adult boys' adventure/wish fulfillment.  The hero has a twin brother who exists because the alien scientist who created him tried to cram too much awesome into one body.  Seriously, that's the twin's origin story.

http://www.skjam.com/2015/08/26/book-review-birthright-book-1-of-the-temujin-saga/

Cowman's Jack-Pot  by Frank C. Robertson.  As you might guess from the title, it's a Western.  Chet Calder returns from years in the East to take over his father's ranch.  Unfortunately, his head is up his nether regions, and he makes some very bad choices.  Once he finally realizes how deep the hole is, can he dig his way out?

http://www.skjam.com/2015/08/15/book-review-cowmans-jack-pot/