Team Finished: Beastie Busters

I've been making an effort to get all of my SS4 teams done so that I can play some games a bit more often and build the story of my setting. Of course, nothing is ever this simple and I'm finding that the team stats I thought I'd done have either disappeared or been done pretty badly, so I'm having to do them again or fix them. This is, of course, a little frustrating, but so long as I'm getting more teams done, staying motivated is pretty easy.

The Intergalactic Planetary Beastie Busters 
Formed in the 1980s, at the height of the first Hero boom, by an enigmatic and disgraced scientist, the Beastie Busters were intended to combat the shockingly-frequent alien invasions of Brooklyn at the time. The scientist (Doctor George Clinton) was looking for a trio of teenagers with attitude when he stumbled across Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz opening for Bad Brains and CBGBs and knew he had the right guys. Shouting their battle-cry of "Intergalactic! Planetary!" whilst striking a pose, the Beastie Busters soon became famous for defending Brooklyn, even if they had to forego sleep to do so; even the local government soon issued them with official permission to Intervene Legally at Leisure, or a "License to ILL". When the initial hero boom faded, and with it, the regular alien attacks the Beastie Busters returned to their day-jobs of being an influential Hip-Hop trio, only occasionally returning to the field of battle during some kind of crisis or team-up. 

Outfitted with high-tech battle suits, the Beastie Buster are practically impervious to small arms fire and the special uplink in their helmets delivers real-time intelligence and updates to keep the team ahead. Each member of the team (code-named Sugar, Coffee and Cream when in costume) wields a Laser Blaster, also designed by George Clinton, a reflector shield to repel attacks and a "Restorative Funk Blaster" to heal injuries on the run. When all else fails and the attacking alien has, somehow, become giant, again, the Beastie Busters can come together and summon the Sentient Automaton Buster Of Terrible Alien Genetic Evil, aka, the SABOTAGE, a giant robot that often elicits calls of "Oh my!", "It's a mirage!" and "I'm tellin' y'all, it's the SABOTAGE!". With it's crushing fists and raking claws, the SABOTAGE makes quick work of any alien invaders. 

In the 21st century, the older, semi-retired Beastie Busters still see action on occasion, as they maintain a working relationship with both the Equalisers and European Union Super Soldiers and are seen as the experts on any extraterrestrial threat. 

Sugar, Coffee and Cream, the Intergalactic Planetary Beastie Busters! 

The mighty SABOTAGE! 

Name: Beastie Buster Sugar (Adam Yaunch)

BP: 85

Affiliation: Intergalactic Planetary Beastie Busters

AP: 10

Strike: 6

Strength: 3

Dodge: 5

Sense: 5

Toughness: 3

Mind: 4

Resolve: 6 (1)

Damage: 3/6 (1)

Powers

Sense Weakness – 2AP TN3 Sense Roll, +2D on next Attack against target in LOS

Gadget Pool – 2 AP to swap Slots, 1 Full, 2 Half

- Ranged Attack 6, Super 1 (Full Slot)

- Healing (Half Slot) – 4AP Resolve Roll, 1 Vitality per 2 Goals scored, KO Healing causes Burnout

- Reflection (Half Slot) – 3AP Ranged Strikes missing by 2+ Goals can be reflected to Short Range

Super Resolve 1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

KO

Name: Beastie Buster Coffee (Adam Horovitz)

BP: 85

Affiliation: Intergalactic Planetary Beastie Busters

AP: 10

Strike: 6

Strength: 3

Dodge: 5

Sense: 5

Toughness: 3

Mind: 4

Resolve: 6 (1)

Damage: 3/6 (1)

Powers

Sense Weakness – 2AP TN3 Sense Roll, +2D on next Attack against target in LOS

Gadget Pool – 2 AP to swap Slots, 1 Full, 2 Half

- Ranged Attack 6, Super 1 (Full Slot)

- Healing (Half Slot) – 4AP Resolve Roll, 1 Vitality per 2 Goals scored, KO Healing causes Burnout

- Reflection (Half Slot) – 3AP Ranged Strikes missing by 2+ Goals can be reflected to Short Range

Super Resolve 1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

KO

Name: Beastie Buster Sugar (Mike Diamond)

BP: 85

Affiliation: Intergalactic Planetary Beastie Busters

AP: 10

Strike: 6

Strength: 3

Dodge: 5

Sense: 5

Toughness: 3

Mind: 4

Resolve: 6 (1)

Damage: 3/6 (1)

Powers

Sense Weakness – 2AP TN3 Sense Roll, +2D on next Attack against target in LOS

Gadget Pool – 2 AP to swap Slots, 1 Full, 2 Half

- Ranged Attack 6, Super 1 (Full Slot)

- Healing (Half Slot) – 4AP Resolve Roll, 1 Vitality per 2 Goals scored, KO Healing causes Burnout

- Reflection (Half Slot) – 3AP Ranged Strikes missing by 2+ Goals can be reflected to Short Range

Super Resolve 1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

KO

Name: The Sabotage (Vehicle)

BP: 100

Affiliation: Intergalactic Planetary Beastie Busters

AP: 7

Strike: 6

Strength: 10 (2)

Dodge: 6

Sense: 1

Toughness: 10 (1)

Mind: 1

Resolve: 1

Damage: 10 (2)

Powers

Level 2 Vehicle (10” Handling, 3 Transport Capacity, Requires Operator)

Soulless – Immune to Mind-based attacks and Healing. Automatically fails KO Checks

Massive 2  - +2D to hit this Model

Giant Robot – May make Close Combat Attacks and make Combat Mauvers

Enclosed – Passengers get +2D Dodge whilst mounted

Hyper Move (Warp, One-Shot), Reach 4” , Super Strength 2

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

KO

 

Superhero Media: Planet Hulk (2010)

I picked this up on DVD a number of years back, well before I read the comic of the same name, and I remember really enjoying it. When I got around to watching it again for "Superhero Media", I was actually a little excited, because sometimes it seems that all I'm doing is re-watching crap like Transformers Revenge of the Fallen and Green Lantern rather than anything good. So I put Planet Hulk in the DVD player and... was frankly disappointed. Maybe I've been spoiled by the MCU and DCAU, but Planet Hulk looks really crummy, the acting is barely passable and some of the best parts of the comic are glossed over. The most fun I had watching were all of the Guardians of the Galaxy cameos and the revised Korg backstory featuring Beta-Ray Bill, as Lionsgate didn't have the rights to Silver Surfer for the production. Though, why aren't Starlord, Adam Warlock and Gamora helping their old pal Hulk out of bondage? 

So let's talk about the gamma-irradiated elephant in the room, the fan "demand" for an MCU Planet Hulk film that pops up every now and then. Evidently, there was a "backlash" that portions of the Planet Hulk narrative and imagery found their way into Thor Ragnarok, rather than being its own film. Now, I wasn't regularly reading new comics when the Planet Hulk story-line was running, so I'm not sure how "big" it was, but it is certainly one of the classic Hulk stories and a really fun read. That said, I'm really not sure how well it would translate into a film. There's a reason the Iron Man film franchise didn't do direct adaptations of "Demon in a Bottle", "Extremis" and "Five Nightmares", but rather amalgamated the parts of the stories that worked in the MCU milieu to create interesting cinema. I really don't think that the MCU Hulk, as much fun as he is, could carry a film that would primarily be CGI and motion-capture, like Avatar, and have it be to the same level of Marvel Studios efforts like... pick anything from Civil War onward, really.

If you have to be a completionist, check out Planet Hulk, but I really don't recommend it over the comics or Thor Ragnarok, especially as both are now really easy to get your hands on. I can't even say that this works for children, as the amount of blood and fighting ups the rating to M 15+ here in Australia, so, again, you may as well slap Thor Ragnarok in the DVD player or cue it up on demand. Also, because I know someone's thinking it, Taika Waititi is the best Korg, don't even at me, nerds. Maybe one day, when the MCU has rebooted, we'll get a "proper" Planet Hulk film, but don't hold your breath for Mark Ruffalo to be signing up for it anytime soon. Also, Red King is just kind of a crummy villain, I think people forget that because the rest of the characters work so well. Food for thought.

Minitaures Finished: Latverian Paratroopers

I finally got around to digging out some of my Secrets of the Third Reich [SOTR] Latverians and finishing them off. Rumors of a 2nd edition of SOTR keep bubbling away, but even if this never happens, I'd like to get back to the game at some point. These units represent the basis of my "Drop Armour Platoon" a variation of the German list which relies heavily on power armour and paratroop deployment. 

 The "full" platoon (missing scouts and vehicle support), all miniatures modified Dust Americans. 

 Command Squad with Medic, Engineer and Lieutenant, according to the rules, the squad leaders have the radio in the squad. 

 Each squad has a mix of Packed LMGs and Anti-Tank Rifles. 

 Although the Dust minis came in boxes of three, it ended up working in my favour for the full platoon of fifteen. 

Once I get my Sci-Fi stuff ready for the upcoming club campaign, I should be able to finish up the Latverians and maybe even get a few games in. Stay tuned. 

Superhero Media: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Is this the one everyone hates, or is that the next one? All I remembered was the giant Decepticon with the wrecking ball testicles, and that didn't bode well. I held out some hope during the first act of the film, as Revenge of the Fallen opens with a joint US Army/Autobot task force taking down Decepticons across the globe, which really should have been the entire damn film, as Josh Duhamel makes a much better protagonist than actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf. Before too long, Optimus Prime is dead, Megatron is alive and there's some kind of global chase for the Matrix of Leadership which can either destroy the planet or resurrect Optimus, or something like that, I wasn't really paying close attention. There's just something about Revenge of the Fallen that glosses past the mind's eye without really registering, like eating chips, you don't realise how much you've had until it's gone. 

The last act of Revenge of the Fallen is probably the most interesting to take a look at, with military forces and Autobots protecting the corpse of Optimus Prime whilst Sam races to them. The sequence is fun to watch, Bay can shoot the hell out of an action scene and has a particular eye for soldiers and military equipment, but there are some really distracting elements. Firstly, the USMC flies into Egyptian air-space without permission, shooting at an army of alien robots that have been covered up for years. When the Egyptians twig to what's happening, their own military flies in to "help", or presumably tell the Americans to get the fuck out of their national borders, but they get shot down by Decepticons so that the white people can save the day. Also, I swear Sam is running for a good forty minutes, the film just takes forever to end, I was sick of seeing Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf fall into the sand. 

Revenge of the Fallen is not a good film, but whereas the first Transformers was enjoyable despite it's flaws, this one is really hard to get anything out of. The only parts I can remember liking were the old Prime talking about the Autobot/Decepicon divide being a political one and Optimus rocking that sweet jetpack, but similar scenes in Transformers Prime are much better if that's what you're after. Despite the flaws, problematic characters and terrible dialogue, there is something to these films that makes them somewhat compelling; for me, I think it's how well they defy traditional analysis, but if they're really that bad, how are they still making more of them? I'm not sure why this series is a big as it is, but I will keep watching them, so long as I can do so without paying money.