Spidey88

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See? posted by gojira: Only slightly less well-known is the phrase: "Never bet against a Cicilian when death is on the line!" "Hehehehehehehe -" Thud.

Re: Muppet Champions Lew Zealand could have a whole bucket o' fish, much like Hawkeye or Green Arrow: Boxing glove fish Explodofish Bolafish etc. All of which could lead to interesting results if he missed his target. After all: "I throw the fish, and they come back to me!"

Re: Muppet Champions Dibs on Kermit! You see his swordplay and acrobatics in "Muppet Treasure Island"? He could totally be a martial artist/acrobat/Captain America (Captain Swamp? Amphibian Avenger? Marsh-ian Manhunter?) -type guy. He'd probably have some impressive leadership and tactical skills, what with the way he keeps the chaos that is the Muppet Theatre from imploding - but I could see him losing his cool a lot. Bonus to PRE, only while frustrated? Naturally, he'd probably also have: gobs of superleap (frog + radiation accident = BOING!) extra inches of swimming, with LS: extended breathing Increased arc of perception: sight group (ping-pong ball eyes) double-jointed (felt + foam rubber physiology) bonus to STR: only for escapes (slippery, froggy skin) bonus HTH damage: OIF (banjo) Extra limb, inherent (tongue) - not exactly accurate, but frog-themed LS: Safe Environment (Muppet Theatre in general - you can't tell me that place isn't a deathtrap for a non-Muppet!) LS: Longevity (he's what - almost 52 now? Still as healthy and youthful as ever!) VPP: Endless reserves of optimism, (only usable when all the chips are down, requires extra time for introspective soul-searching) Psych Lim: Terrified of French restaurants Dependence: Live insects, every 6 hours DNPC: Robin - or better yet, Robin would be his kid sidekick! Soc Lim: object of Miss Piggy's affection (That's got to be a pain sometimes!) As for the others, this is what feels right to me: Miss Piggy: Martial brick with Find Weakness. Berserk: 14-/8- (when other woman displayes affection for Kermit or steals her spotlight) Fozzie: Gadgeteer with comedy-based utility belt. Pie-launcher, rubber chicken nunchuks, spinning bow tie for helicopter-type flight, Groucho Marx glasses for a universal disguise, etc. Drain EGO: requires incantations (horrible jokes) - or Drain STUN (puts people to sleep) Gonzo: High defenses, Physical and Energy Damage reduction, or regeneration. Can summon swarms of loyal chicken followers. Flight or Superleap, with OIF (cannon or trampoline of opportunity). Mental Defense (as he's a complete Wierdo). Animal: Could he be anything but a berserk Brick? Maybe a powerful bite a la Matter-Eater-Lad too. Bunsen Honeydew would obviously be a Gadgeteer (he already is, anyway), Beaker would be nigh-invulnerable, and Muppet Labs would bestow 6d6 Unluck on anyone in it. Bunsen might be able to summon Gorillas by trying to use the less than functional Gorilla Detector. On the other hand, Bunsen could be a great supervillain! Can you imagine if he broke into Fort Knox and turned all the gold there into cottage cheese? This could be a SERIOUSLY awesome campaign...

Re: Power up a TV or movie character. Throw a few more points into MacGuyver's gadget pool, and you've got yourself a pretty competent superhero! When Ogre goes on a rampage in the parking lot of the Phoenix Foundation, I could totally see him making a powersuit out of his jeep, five packs of Hubba-Bubba, a case of paper clips, 16 rubber bands and a pumpkin. "Mac, he's tearing up Johnson's new Buick!" "Pete - Run to the back room and bring me all the office supplies you can carry! Man, it's lucky Halloween was yesterday, or this plan wouldn't have a chance..." (Man - I think I want to try drawing that sometime...)

Re: VILLAINS, VANDALS, AND VERMIN -- What Would *You* Like To See? In CKC, Thunderbolt I (the electric dude in the Ultimates) and Thunderbolt II (the demi-brick speedster) have exactly that sort of antagonism - though it isn't gone into in great detail.

Re: CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTH -- What Would You Like To See? Hey, Scott! Hope it's not too late to mention, but there is one thing I'd like to point out about my home city (Edmonton) that should get the attention of most of the people on this forum - our official slogan... I dunno. I just enjoy that. I figured I should at least bring it up...

Re: CHAMPIONS UNIVERSE: NotW -- Updating Villains Hornet, you say, Steve? Sweeeet. Hope he's got a lot of new tricks up his sleeve and a lot of new info and plot hooks! (I like insects. Sue me.) Anyhoo, my top five "villains I wanna see updated", in no particular order: 1) Foxbat - He's got a lot of lovin' already, but I can't say no to a loon's loon! 2) The Ultimates, if possible (assuming I can squeeze in a group as one choice - I just like them. Sort of offbeat, but still effective. 3) King Cobra - I likes me snakes too. Perfect personality for a great villain, too. 4) Black Paladin - they don't get much more eeeeevilll than him in my opinion. 5) Bulldozer - I'd love to hear about some of the halfwit schemes he's tried (and likely failed at). I have to say - I'd love to read more plot hooks, as well as quotes and roleplaying hints, for just about anybody - not necessarily just these guys.

Re: I've got a train to catch A bit of a threadjack, but my two cents on the whole pulling/pushing things issue: I'm fairly certain I couldn't even lift a quarter of my car's weight (just off the ground, anyway - I might be able to strain and budge it in some sort of controlled leg press scenario), but on level ground I could push it at a decent jogging pace. There are guys who've moved train engines, passenger airliners, etc on level ground (one guy has done both, pulling with his teeth for world record attempts), but those are in ideal conditions, and also very slowly - just inching that engine along is not the same as stopping it when it's about to go over the broken bridge. In excellent conditions, I'd be willing to let PC's get away with moving very heavy things, but the speed they'd be able to move it at would be based on their strength. For super-heavy things, maybe look at their STR as a fraction of what would be needed to lift the object, and multiply their normal running speed by that fraction. Eg. Dr. Jones has a STR 15 and is trying to budge the idle freight car away from the nitroglycerin charge under the tracks. His STR is sufficient to lift about 1/500 the weight of the car, and his running speed is 8", so he can move the car at a blistering (8 x (1/500)) = 0.016". Of course, if the engine is running or if he has to push uphill, he's screwed. Thoughts? Trebuchet: so Amtrak trains go fast enough to activate a flux capacitor? Good to know!

Re: Spatial Awareness I'm of the opinion that spatial awareness requires a PER roll to notice an attack from behind, assuming said attacker is attempting to be sneaky. The description says nothing about it being "automatic" for detection purposes, but I can see the analogy to it being like someone just walking up in front of you. I suppose it boils down to SFX for me too. Someone whose 360 spatial awareness is based on sensing air currents (like a PC in the game I ran) would not necessarily be foiled by someone who stuck to the shadows and stayed quiet - but an assassin with desolidification might be treated as invisible to him (esp. if he's got LS: Doesn't breathe), as the desolid guy shouldn't affect the air (just passes through it without disturbing it). "Invisibility to Spatial Awareness" in this case might be defined as specific breath control techniques, timing one's movements to the ambushee if he needs to stop and focus on the currents every few steps, etc. Another guy whose spatial awareness was based on mystically sensing anything blue would have no issues with any of the above.

Re: The new face of Iron Man I haven't read the "Bullet Points" What-If type series - any chance that this is just a picture from it? I hear Steve Rogers was Iron Man in that story. Someone with Photoshop and an axe to grind with fanboys may be to blame, too... Nah. No one on the internet would want to deliberately mislead someone else! (Gawd. I hope I'm right.)

Re: The downsides of the Iron Age I miss idealism. I miss good guys beating the bad guys not by sinking to their level, but by rising above it. I miss lightheartedness and humor! I think that too many writers today look at the lines that really shouldn't be crossed, and piss on them simply because they want to buck the establishment or create simply for shock value. Show some respect for the characters and the readers, already! I think it's a sad day when Spider-Man has his eye ripped out of his socket and eaten by the bad guy in a mainstream title -"Adult" this is not. If I wanted "Saw: The Comic Book", I'd - hell, I'd probably decide it was time for me to stop reading comics! My two cents.

Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters! I don't deny that those guys have some serious building skills, and saying that they have no science skills whatsoever is a little harsh, I suppose - but I still maintain that they are definitely not scientists. In most of the experiments I see them perform, I end up groaning a little bit when I start to pick them apart. They rarely seem to eliminate all the variables necessary to make it a valid experiment, and their research on the subjects in question is often paper-thin. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the show - but their tests would usually have a lot more scientific merit with some consultants. For example: the episode where they test the myth "are daddy-longlegs poisonous?" The myth is regarding "daddy-longlegs", aka harvestmen - arachnids related to spiders, but not actually spiders. They did all their tests with Pholcus phalangioides, the daddy-longlegs spider. Granted, testing actual daddy-longlegs would have been pointless (they have no venom glands whatsoever), but I don't recall them saying anything like "well, we know already that the daddy-longlegs the myth refers to are totally harmless, so we'll test the other option..." It just so happens that the spiders are more common in California than the harvestmen are, so they didn't really dig any deeper. I realize they have very limited amounts of time to work with, but that's fairly important info that anyone who knows a lick about arachnids could have told them. None of the other episodes stick in my head like that one (my area of expertise, after all), but I've had similar quibbles with many of them. How many times did they tackle the "ice bullet" myth? Each time, they had more feedback to work with that got rid of all sorts of potential problems with their methods. It's great that they paid attention to their fan mail that way and refined the experiments - but I think they could have saved themselves some time if they'd got some educated opinions to start with. My two cents. Admittedly, things would likely be a lot less explodey if they weren't flying by the seat of their pants all the time!

Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters! However they get written up, I'd have to pretty much insist that they have no science skills past the 8- "Everyman" level. Fun show, talented builders, but scientists they are most definitely not.

Re: Star Wars: Canonical Character Write Ups Mattingly: I'd be inclined to boost Luke's INT to at least 13. "He's the brains, sister!" He's supposed to be one of the best natural pilots in the galaxy - I'd be inclined to give his piloting skill a good boost too. My 2 cents.

Re: Best and Worst Costume/Appearance Changes Crosshair Collie: Actually, to say that Spider-Man broke out his "Web Armour" with extreme rarity is a bit of an understatement - he made it, used it once (Web of Spider-Man #100), and decided it cramped his style. Good call, I say. Since when does Spider-Man need armour? (Oh. Right. He's wearing some now. Bleah.) Actually, I don't mind the Iron Spidey outfit too much, but for cripes' sake, give the thing four spider waldoe-arms, not three. 8 limbs, not 7!

Re: The best retcons of all time Catacomb: That particular issue (where Aunt May gives Peter her blessing, then croaks) was Amazing Spider-Man #400. Unfortunately, that touching story was itself retconned a little while afterwards. Supposedly, that wasn't actually Aunt May, but a genetically altered actress hired by Norman Osborn. Arrg. At the very least, things have been good with Aunt May back - she found out Peter's secret ID early in JMS's run on Amazing, and has been a source of support for him in both ID's since. Still, it was irritating to find out that a great story was hogwash.

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards! Ooh - good call on the Blue Beetle thing. I don't read DC at all; but at the time that happened, it felt as if a million fanboys cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced...

Re: AnyBody Out There! Does it seem ironic to anyone else that THeUnknown is having trouble finding Hero players in the place that becomes Millennium city? Just food for thought - best of luck, man!

Re: The 2006 Mopee Awards! Ooog - though I admit my own opinion on the subject is rather byassed/narrow in scope, I'd have to go with "The Other" storyline in Spider-Man (that continued through 2006, right? I've tried to block it out. Forgive me if I'm mistaken on the time of the storyarc.) Not only do we see Spidey get brutally maimed and basically killed (tell me that Spidey isn't THE LAST Marvel character that should happen to - don't kids read this comic too?) by a throwaway enemy with no real resonance to his relationship with Spidey (no offense to JMS, but Morlun was intended for his original run only) who had a pretty concrete death (whose baffling ressurection was never explained), and gets killed again (under, admittedly, very extreme circumstances) by the guy with one of the most ironclad CVK's in all of comicdom? God forbid Spider-Man be put on the ropes by someone that actually MEANS something to us comic fans - but considering Morlun's "dead" again, maybe that's a good thing. Good gravy, don't even get me started on what happened after. You know, I'm a reasonable guy. I can forgive a lot of pseudoscience and mumbo-jumbo. Hey, these are comics, right? Give me an explanation for wierdness that makes some sort of sense in the context of the story, and I'm happy. The writers are dealing with things entirely beyond the scope of reality, after all. The Fantastic Four"s costumes never get wrecked? Unstable molecules - works for me. Spider-Man's web cartridges actually hold enough fluid to allow him to swing around town all day without carrying a huge tank of web fluid on his back? Sure. I'm fine with that. But I have to say - writers who don't do their research (in any media format) about real-world subject matter (particularly those subjects I take an interest in) really irritate me. I'm a biologist who specializes primarily in spiders, cephalopods, reptiles, and amphibians - so let me tell you, I think it says a lot when I say that a single element of "The Other" made me shoot steam out my ears, after years of reading Spidey comics. For the record: spiders do not shed their skins only once in a lifetime. They moult every time they grow - many times over the course of their lives, generally stopping with most species once they reach adulthood. They said that supposed "once in a lifetime" fact so many times over the course of "The Other" I thought I was going to gouge my eyes out. It was irritating enough when a random teacher said it - it got to me more and more the more they said it. Tony Stark, super-genius saying basically "Oh, yeah - spiders shed their skins only once in a lifetime. Doesn't everyone know that?" ARRRGGGH! To quote Handy off The Tick: "READ A BOOK!" Just say something like: "When spiders shed their exoskeletons, they can regenerate serious damage to their bodies - even missing limbs". It's accurate, and fits the story too. I know it seems petty, but wouldn't a lot of people here be a little miffed if Larry King interviewed some sci-fi guru who repeatedly said "Han Solods was my favorite Star Trek character", and thought he was right? That's what I went through reading this drek. (Ahem) Anyway... Back on topic (sort of), did anyone really think Spider-Man needed a power-up? I sure didn't. What he needed was for someone to stop writing him as if he was some third-rate punk. (I think ol' Bendis may have some part in influencing that whole schtick. Utimate Spidey has a win/loss ratio of like 1/4). To paraphrase Captain America when he was recruiting for the New Avengers: "You're frickin' Spider-Man. You've been everywhere. You've done everyting. You've fought every villain on the planet." For cryin' out loud, he's not invincible, but he's no pushover either! Give him the credit (and competence) he is due, that's all. That's not to say I think that the new nightvision and enhanced sense of touch are a bad thing - they totally fit spiders to a tee. But saying things like "My Spider-sense is instinctual now"? It always was! He had to conciously ignore it to go against the instictive defensive urges it gave him. Cripes, learn a little about the character you're writing, goon! And the stingers? What the heck? We don't need another Wolverine. The only thing that's prevented an anuerysm for me is Peter's affirmation of my own thoughts on numerous occasions - "Spiders don't have stingers!" And that's why I think "The Other" should be forgotten as fast as "Spider-Man: Chapter One". Another waste of paper, as far as I'm concerned. Spidey's continuity is pretty organized compared to say, the X-Men - it didn't need cleaning up. By the way, I never did find the article on the original link. What DC story were you referring to?

Re: HERO figure contest update, and a question. I'm still struggling to come up with a camera that can take any sort of decent photo of a mini; so while I'd still love to participate, I think it's fairly unlikely that I'll be able to post something, even with an extra month. Sorry!

Re: Which characters would you enjoy playing? I think I speak for everyone when I say "Huh?" Seems I'll have to do some searching for the context of this post, though - anything talking about "Stinger's research gone mad" grabs my attention pretty quick! (Bugs! Yay! More bugs, Please!)

Re: WIYCT: What is your character's theme? My current Champions character, Phidippus, is a thinly-veiled Spider-Man homage who generally bounds around the landscape via vast amounts of Superleap (his name comes from a genus of jumping spider); so Van Halen's "Jump" comes to mind - at least on a bright, sunny day when he's out on patrol and in a good mood. On the other hand, if the poop hits the fan and he's got to "take out the trash" (particularly if the trash in question is serious scum that really deserves a butt-whoopin' and has offended his moral sensibilities), the song that pops into my head is "Smack my B%$# Up", by the Prodigy - not for any questionable lyrics (it's mostly instrumental anyway), but for the whole feel I get from it of someone just sort of warming up, throwing some flashy moves to show his skill, and testing his opponent; then really cutting loose with high-speed righteous fury when the bass kicks in. For when the stakes are high and the world depends on him, I think "The Wicker Man" or "Aces High" by Iron Maiden. The former feels right to me for something of really epic stakes, the latter more for a race against the clock when things get desperate. If the other players are in need of some brevity and I feel like being a goof, then I'd toss "Captain Vegetable" from Sesame Street into the CD player. Holy crud - I speak from experience when I say that nothing cuts tension like this one, though it doesn't really fit Phidippus all that well. He's a wiseacre, but not a loon! Foxbat, on the other hand... To tell you the truth, aside from the first choice, the songs I've listed don't feel all that attached to this character, but feel appropriate for hypothetical situations to me - Phidippus just happens to be the character that those situations would arise with at the moment. By the way, AmadanNaBriona, are you sure you didn't mean the cover of "Stone Cold Crazy" that Metallica did? Correct me if I'm wrong - I just never thought the Crue covered that one.

Re: Conversions...City of heroes? My current character, Phidippus, is a conversion of my City of Heroes Character - but only a loose translation. I was more concerned with capturing the theme and feel of the character than with the specifics - attributes would have to be based entirely on assumptions, for example. I made some minor additions, such as some extra arms, but I wasn't worried about such things as "how far can he jump in-game, and what would that convert to in Hero terms?". Going that far would not be worth my time, but hey - I could see how others might be interested in such things. I also converted my roommates' characters (in a similar fashion) in the event they wanted to join in on the game - one of them has on a couple of occasions. I know of at least one other person here who's done similar things... Paging Great Beyond - Great Beyond, do you read? You have a call on line two...

Re: Which characters would you enjoy playing? Heroes: Hmmm. Maybe Kinetik, old-school Fast Forward (I've got a thing fer speedsters), or Nighthawk. Villains: King Cobra, Taipan, Hornet or his old-school self Stinger, or El Salto. On both sides: Foxbat. Most definitely Foxbat. He'd be too much fun to pass up.

Re: Wwycd: Doom!!!! Phidippus probably wouldn't be able to speak for a few minutes - first from shock, then from seething, murderous rage. He was in Detroit when Destroyer leveled it - as a matter of fact, it was a major factor in his decision to devote his life to superheroics. He's got a total CVK, but if there was ever a reason to break it, it's sitting right in front of him. Seriously - this would probably be the biggest test of his character he'd ever face. If you met Hitler face to face, wouldn't the best of us consider sending him to his maker? I suspect, though, that his first words would be something along the lines of: "BULL#$%&!" "How stupid do you think I am? There is no way in hell that you're Destroyer. You are a fake. A sick, disgusting, pathetic fake. You deserve nothing less than my absolute and utter contempt for simply wearing the armour of that MOSTROSITY." "Oh, you're the real deal, you say? Well forgive me if I still don't believe you. I have nothing to offer you that you couldn't find in greater quantities from any number of other metahumans - why aren't any of them involved? I'm proud of who I am and what I've accomplished, but I'm not so much of an egomaniac to think I'm the best person for the job. I'm smart, but there's much smarter. I'm strong, but there are tons of people who outclass me in that regard. I'm fast, sure - but I can think of dozens faster than me. I mean, about the only thing I'm even remotely world-class in is acrobatics and evasiveness - and you mean to tell me that there aren't at least a dozen other beings across the world who could match me in that department, AND would certainly be less repelled by you? Right. Kinetic? Vector? Hummingbird? Hornet? Any of these names ring a bell? All equally hard to hit, I'm sure. How about these ones? (followed by a KS: Superhuman world roll, for more names) Not to mention all the folks who could go desolid and avoid damage altogether!" (Hopefully, the old danger sense will act as a bit of a guide to the real threat level here! Frankly, he'd suspect this was all a VIPER plot to lure him into a trap. A very odd one, though, considering his emnity towards Destroyer - but there are reasons they might have chosen this guy as a decoy...) "Let's say, for argument's sake, that I'm the hardest target on the planet one-on-one. What good will that do me? All it takes is one bad step and BAM! I'm done for. More importantly - what good is it to you? I'm sure you'd put me to shame in the firepower, brains and brawn department. You've got an infinite amout of lackeys and robots that would provide as much, if not better distraction than me; which is honestly about all I'd be good for. Honestly - what can I offer you? I'll tell you this much - nothing that I'll willingly give without a MUCH better explanation, bucko." "You've got one minute to give me a the real story. One minute to tell me why I shouldn't send you on a one-way trip to Hell."