Jab's Builds!

[Jabroniville]

MS. DEMEANOR (Stephanie Demeanor)
Role: Burly Lady
Played by: Paulina Gillis
PL 7 (64)
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS -1 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+8)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+9)
Deception 4 (+3)
Expertise (Criminal) 4 (+3)
Intimidation 9 (+8)
Stealth 1 (+2)
Technology 1 (+0)
Vehicles 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Startle

Powers:
"Throws a Car" Power-Lifting 1 (3,200 lbs.) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +5, Fortitude +6, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Temper ("I'm a lady!")- Ms. Demeanor is very quick to anger, and will FREAK OUT if somebody suggests she is anything but a beautiful lady.

Total: Abilities: 30 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 10 (64)

-Ms. Demeanor is another cast member with one of the most brilliant names ever- how do you not love a pun that horrible? Though as a kid, I always thought Bulletproof was calling her "Mister Meaner" during his "Roll Call" during the Credit Sequence- it confused me. She was one of the least-used Crooks, as the show got more mileage out of the big, stupid MALE idiots on the squad (most of whom were more-easily humiliated with physical humor). Ms. Demeanor is a big, ugly Goon like the others, and as strong as Rock Krusher (she helps him flip the car across the street in the Opening Sequence), but thinks herself a delicate, beautiful woman- when she found out that Big Boss had overlooked her for Nightshade in a Beauty Pageant, she FREAKED OUT, with her room-destroying rage frightening even HIM.

-Ms. Demeanor is a big, strong grappler, but her lack of other gimmicks makes her one of the cheapest Crooks in terms of points. She's dangerous in a scrap, but still only PL 7.

[Jabroniville]

ADDICTEM (Real Name Unknown)
Role: 1980s Aggressive Drug Dealer
Played by: John Stocker
PL 5 (81)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 7
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+8)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Drug Dealer) 7 (+10)
Insight 3 (+6)
Perception 3 (+6)

Advantages:
Connected (Crystal Twist Manufacturers), Great Endurance

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Reputation (Drug Dealer)- Even other criminals despise Addictem for his drug-dealing ways.

Total: Abilities: 62 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 5 (81)

-One of the many recurring concepts you found in TV shows from the 1980s and '90s was that Drug Dealing, BY FAR, was the most evil crime in the world. There were episodes of cartoons where even the VILLAINS- ACTUAL MURDERERS- were horrified at the concept of dealing drugs- there was an episode of G.I. Joe where GODDAMNED COBRA allies with the Joes to bring down an evil druggie (the comic book series followed suit, with a drug-dealer infiltrating a Cobra-controlled town and dealing drugs because they couldn't go to the police or feds... Cobra Commander hijacked a G.I. Joe Laser Satellite to blow up the dealer's base of operations FROM OUTER SPACE. The Joes never found out why Cobra fired off only one shot of their satellite and then left). In Jem, a recent orphan was taken in by a charismatic boy who turned out to be a drug dealer (who funneled like a ton of the stuff for free into her just to get her hooked, because in the '80s, all drug dealers were SUPER-AGGRESSIVE).

-And such was the episode The Lowest Crime, where Big Boss refuses to ally with the new villain "Addictem" (really), despising drugs because "Drugs KILL". This is in spite of Big Boss ACTIVELY TRYING TO MURDER THE C.O.P.S. ON A DAILY BASIS. And so Addictem tries to peddle his "Crystal Twist" anyways, but a shipment of it spilled onto Berserko, resulting in him nearly dying and being stuck in a coma. Enraged, Big Boss then ALLIED with the C.O.P.S. in order to bring down the evil operation- one Crook teamed up with one C.O.P. (Rock Krusher/LongArm, Buttons/Mace, Nightshade/Bullseye, Bulletproof/Big Boss), and Berserko eventually recovered, catching Addictem himself. Naturally, the Crooks went right back to stealing things as Bulletproof sighed. The writer of the episode, Bob Forward, would write many great episodes of Transformers: Beast Wars. Funniest part may be John Stocker using his "Beastly" voice from Care Bears to represent the evil drug dealer. Or Buttons McBoomBoom declaring that crime is his anti-drug.

-Despite sounding outlandish that Big Boss would reject drugs as immoral, but continue to commit murders and grand larceny, this actually has a basis in historical fact. In the 1920s & '30s, the drug trade was increasingly-lucrative... but the big-name crime bosses actually REJECTED it, feeling that it was unseemly, destroyed the customer base, and brought too much heat on them. However, their successors (Lucky Luciano and his crew in the Mafia's case) didn't see it that way, and after a long, bloody war, Luciano & Co. dove headlong into the drug trade. This is shown a bit in The Godfather, Part One where the Corleones, being protagonists, are themselves shown as morally superior to their evil Mafia rivals because they oppose drugs at first (and when they capitulate to the others, they make demands like "nowhere near schools"). And though drugs would bring more money than ever into organized crime, it also brought longer sentencing, which allowed law enforcement to bribe many high-level Mafia guys into rolling over on their bosses (something unheard-of in the old days).

-Addictem, despite being a high-level Drug Dealer, apparently does all his dealing by HIMSELF, and only has two henchmen. He's not even freaking ARMED! Very amateurish drug dealer. Also he's dark grey for some reason. His response to being hunted by the C.O.P.S. & Crooks is simply to run fast, which he's pretty good at. But really, you'd think he'd buy a gun or something.

[Kreuzritter]

this can also be seen in goodfellas

everything's more or less going henry hill's way, then drugs enter the picture and it all goes downhill for him

[Jabroniville]

Yeah, I remember that. His boss said no because of the heat it draws, but Henry gets dollar signs in his eyes and pretty soon he's an addicted mess. The whole last part of that movie, Henry looks like crap, nearly gets himself whacked, and then sells his friends out for a deal.

[Jabroniville]

HAH. Eighties hair.

NIGHTSHADE (Raffaela Diamond)
Role: Cat Burglar, Femme Fatale
Played by: Jane Schoettle
PL 7 (109)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 6
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 7
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12)
Athletics 8 (+10)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+10)
Deception 4 (+7, +9 Attractive)
Expertise (Criminal) 8 (+10)
Insight 2 (+5)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 3 (+6, +8 Attractive)
Sleight of Hand 5 (+12)
Stealth 4 (+10)
Technology 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Attractive, Equipment 2 (Robber Gear), Improved Defense, Ranged Attack 1

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Relationship (Mace)- Nightshade & Mace have a flirtacious relationship, despite being on opposite sides of the law.
Relationship (Kathleen, Sister)- Nightshade's sister Kathleen is near and dear to her heart, despite Nightshade having been disowned years ago.

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 54--27 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 9 (109)

-Nightshade wins out a bit from being the only pretty girl on her team- despite being a Crook, she was shown as having more morals than the others, was much more common, and much less prone to humiliating failures. She also had the "Dating Catwoman" thing going on, with the C.O.P.S.'s Mace having a thing for her, and she one for him. By the end of the series, I believe she had reformed (at least that's what the bios say). In one notable episode, she refused Big Boss' order to steal money from a charity for HOMELESS PEOPLE, and he threatened her sister Kathleen in order to force her into it. Oddly, she STAYED with him after that, still robbing bank vaults and the like.

-Also, she's vaguely ethnic-looking, which is unusual for cartoons. Super-Villainy was typically as monochromatic as humanly-possible, as execs were terrified of offending somebody.

[Jabroniville]

"Mahhh- you call this a build, you brain-addled imbecile!?! A man like BIG BOSS oughta be at least a PL 11, SEE??"

BIG BOSS (Brandon Babel)
Role: Kingpin Knock-Off, Edward G. Robinson Impersonator
Played by: John Stocker
PL 7 (91)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+6)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+9)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Criminal) 11 (+14)
Insight 1 (+5)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Benefit 3 (Wealth), Equipment (Metallic Hand/Hand Covering +1), Ranged Attack 3

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Metal Hand +9 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +5, Fortitude +6, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Relationship (Mother)- Big Boss's mother Big Momma thinks he's a philanthropist, leading him to do things like GIVE AWAY MONEY to people when she's around!
Relationship (Berserko, Nephew)- Big Boss' nephew is the idiotic Berserko- rather than give in to nepotism, Berserko is his biggest punching bag. However, when Berserko is nearly-killed by a forced drug overdose, Big Boss is enraged and swears revenge.
Responsibility (Arrogance)- Big Boss once awarded himself the "Criminal Of The Year" award.

Total: Abilities: 58 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 11 (91)

-Of all the popular Tropes in crime fiction, the one I think I love perhaps the most is the "Edward G. Robinson Impersonation". Robinson was known for a pretty nasal, quick voice, sometimes puncuated by ending his sentences with "SEE?" in an affected Italian accent (he was actually a Romanian Jew). Comedians, even in his own era, took to this accent and started twisting it even further (adding little "maahhh" noises as a verbal tic), creating the popular image of a 1930s hood going "You're NEVER GOT GET ME COPPAH, see? I'm way to smart for ya, see?... mahh..." and stuff like that. It got so common at one point that a great comedy routine featuring the act was invaded by ROBINSON HIMSELF, who began hooting and hollering about everyone exaggerating and twisting his accent into a "horrible parody". Funny stuff. The accent lives on today in the voice of Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons.

-C.O.P.S.' main villain, Big Boss is also heavily-inspired by Marvel's Kingpin, owing to his obese frame and white suit (buttoned up by what look like Police badges). With one metal hand, a pet Weasel, and a penchant for exaggerating Robinson's accent constantly ("mahhh..."), Big Boss is tempermental and vicious, frequently berating his henchmen for their stupidity. He still ends up springing them by the next episode, however- good help is apparently VERY hard to find. Despite being an avowed Crook with blatant disregard for the law, Big Boss is teflon-like in his ability to avoid punishment himself (in the comics, they nail him in the final issue by using unpaid parking tickets, inspired by how the government brought down Al Capone with tax evasion).

-Short and squat, Big Boss is nonetheless rather adequate physically. His main advantage, however, is his craftiness. He masterminds nearly all of the schemes in the show, but never gets arrested- his goons are stupid, but they're loyal, and don't give him up (it probably helps that they're broken out of prison too quickly to ever be afraid of long sentences).

[Unbeliever]

And though drugs would bring more money than ever into organized crime, it also brought longer sentencing, which allowed law enforcement to bribe many high-level Mafia guys into rolling over on their bosses (something unheard-of in the old days).

Well, that and RICO, which meant that you could charge people much higher up the chain of command with a crime with a serious penalty attached to it.

[Spectrum]

Thank you Jab, I did get my story fix in!

It took me a while to figure out why Addictem looked so familiar. I suspect that it's that he looks a lot like Cal from Agents of SHIELD.

[Devastation Bob]

Now do Bionic Six!

[Jabroniville]

Now do Bionic Six!

Never seen it. Ever, actually. Instead I'm gonna repost Jem! With tons of new commentary! And beer! And hookers! In fact, forget the builds!