The Atomic Think Tank

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 1:43 am

CAPTAIN PLANET
Played By: David Coburn
Role: The Clean-Up Crew, Flying Brick
PL 12 (251)- Minion Rank 17
STRENGTH 14 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Expertise (Environmentalist) 12 (+14)
Insight 4 (+7)
Intimidation 4 (+7)
Persuasion 4 (+7)

Advantages:
Great Endurance, Fearless, Fast Grab, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 9) [11]
Immunity 11 (Aging, Life Support) [11]

Flight 9 (1,000 mph) [18]
Movement 1 (Space Travel) [2]
Communication (Mental) 2 [10]
"Earth Spirit" Immunity 10 (Natural Ecological Damage- Fire, Magma, Lightning, etc.) [10]
Regeneration 10 (Flaws: Source- Natural Ecological Substances- Magma, Lightning, Leaves, etc.) [5]

Transform Objects into Recyclying-Themed Stuff 11 (Feats: Increased Mass 10- 50,000 tons) (Extras: Continuous) (43) -- [57]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Flaming Aura +8 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Blasts +8 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Area Damage +12 (+12 Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +14, Fortitude +12, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Save the World)
Power Loss (All Powers), Vulnerable, Weakness- If exposed to pollution, radiation or even sheer human hatred (has to be pretty epic- like Hitler levels), Captain Planet will lose all of his powers, and quickly begin to die. Stuff like oil, smog and radioactivity are anathema to him.

Total: Abilities: 94 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 124 / Defenses: 10 (251)

-Captain Planet; he of the blue skin, green mullet, and HORRIBLE puns so bad that even eight-year-olds thought they were stupid. Cap has virtually any power he wants in some episodes (the show was generally "The Planeteers try to save the day by talking, then Summon Cap to beat the snot out of the bad guys and turn their polluters into recycling plants), but tends to only show up for about five seconds to solve a problem in the beginning and the end of an episode (Much like the Incredible Hulk TV series). As such, his entire character is basically a big, dumb happy guy who smarts off. It's the actual Planeteers themselves who have all the characterization, flaws and interesting bits that make a cartoon work.

-For his stats, Cap is a low-end Flying Brick, modified with absolute craploads of Element-based powers, Super-Strength, etc. He can do just about anything, though without his Burst Area powers, he'd be a 'mere' PL 11, since his accuracy & defense bonuses aren't that high. Hey, the guy's sole opponents are guys with guns and out-of-shape super-villains, you think he needs Iron Fist-like fighting skills? His offense consists of grabbing villains who can't hurt him physically, and tying them up in recyclable wrap or something, then throwing their polluting factory into outer space. His stats advantage over the other Planeteers make me question just why they didn't keep him around ALL the time, but I think there was a Time Limit on his summoning.

Also, the show would rule much more with this redesign:

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 1:48 am

"Let our powers combine!"

KWAME
Played By: LeVar Burton
Role: The De Facto Leader
PL 7 (122)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 2 (+6)
Athletics 4 (+6)
Expertise (Environmentalism) 4 (+6)
Insight 5 (+8)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 4 (+7)
Persuasion 7 (+10)
Stealth 3 (+7)
Vehicles 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Beginner's Luck, Leadership, Ranged Attack 4, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"Planeteer Ring of Earth" (Flaws: Removable) (Feats: Indestructible, Restricted 2- Only Kwame) [28]
"Bonds of Stone" Snare 8 (24) -- (31 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Snare & Trip +7 Area (+7 Ranged Affliction, DC 17)
Earth Blast +6 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Earthquake +7 Area (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3, Fortitude +6, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Save the World)
Power Loss (All Powers)- Planeteer Rings are rendered powerless if they are covered with or surrounded by pollutants. They must be cleaned before use. The Rings also don't work if the Planeteer hurts their Ring hand. Gaia hates Left-Handed People.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 28 / Defenses: 14 (122)

-Kwame is the unofficial 'leader' of the Planeteers, and usually performs "Strongman" duty with Wheeler, the only other reasonably strong kid in the group. Voiced by LeVar "Reading Rainbow/Geordie LaForge" Burton (is it odd that I am FAR more impressed with the former than the latter?), he's the most level-headed, non-impetuous Planeteer, but also the most boring. His one episode of note was when he got too sick of watching people mess up their homes, and so he quit the Planeteers and played "Achilles in his Tent" for a while, contemplating whether or not the fight was worth it. He was probably my favourite of the group, since he wasn't a giant retard like some of the others tended to be, and I've always liked the more rare Earth-based powers compared to common stuff like Telepathy and Fire.

-PL 7 (120) seems about right for the 3rd Edition Kwame, and I think that'll be the standard for the group. None of the Planeteers were particularly tough or strong, and their rings weren't anywhere near what a standard comic book super-hero was capable of. As you can see, he contains only part of the Summon necessary to raise Captain Planet, so it requires the entire team banding together. The combined total of 246 pp requires Summon Minion 17, so it gets devided into four sets of 4, and one of Summon 5 (leaving some uncecessary points). Notably, he can't use the other powers when Captain Planet is out and about, because it's an Alt-Effect, which automatically cancels out the Summon nature if he tries using something else. Kwame's kind of all-around decent otherwise.

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 1:58 am

Gazman wrote:That's uh...that's a lot of aliens. Great work, Jab. You did all that in only an hour?

Somehow missed this comment before. Thanks, Gaz! I'm not sure exactly how long it took (I can lose track of time easily while building), and I did a few of the last guys after a while (I did a Foom build before putting the Makluans in), but a lot of cut & paste made it easier (lots of guys with the same stats). Plust I can type pretty fast.

by **Murkglow** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:43 am

I actually really like your idea of splitting the Captain Planet Summon cost between the five rings, very well done. If I had one question though it would be regarding the "Controlled" extra. Is he really under their control (ie afflicted with the Compelled condition) in any meaningful way? He is certainly friendly to them and more then willing to help them to the best of his abilities but I don't think he'd just do what he was ordered to do if he really didn't want to. Nor is he helpless without their commands, he is able to take the situation in and decide the best course of action on his own from what I remember so he isn't mindless or lacking in initiative (a fact which gets him in trouble at times). Just a nitpick, and maybe I'm wrong, but that's just what came to mind.

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:02 am

I took it more of a guarantee of loyalty, but you might be right. The rules say you have to take Move Actions to direct minions, but Controlled is a little different from that- I think the Heroic Extra covers that after all.

by **FuzzyBoots** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:53 pm

Jabroniville wrote:Voiced by LeVar "Reading Rainbow/Geordie LaForge" Burton (is it odd that I am FAR more impressed with the former than the latter?)

And, little thing called Roots... :-P

I've had a few people remind me of that when I refer to him entirely in the role of Reading Rainbow.

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:55 pm

Meh, he was only in "Roots" for the first episode. They aged him up into a totally different guy by Episode 2.

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:22 pm

"Hello. My name is Gi. I am relatively without flaws, which means I don't get to do or say much compared to the others."

GI
Played By: Janice Kawaye
Role: The Scientist
PL 7 (127)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7)
Athletics 4 (+7)
Athletics 4 (+11) -- Flaws: Limited to Swimming
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Animal Handling) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Environmentalism) 8 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 3 (+6)
Insight 5 (+8)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 4 (+7)
Persuasion 7 (+10)
Search 4 (+7)
Stealth 4 (+7)
Technology 4 (+7)
Vehicles 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Inspire, Luck, Ranged Attack 4, Set-Up 2, Teamwork

Powers:
"Planeteer Ring of Water" (Flaws: Removable) (Feats: Indestructible, Restricted 2- Only Gi) [24]
"Let Our Powers Combine!" Summon 4 (50 pp of Captain Planet) (Extras: Heroic +2, Continuous) (20) -- (26 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Trip +7 Area (+7 Ranged Affliction, DC 17)
Water Blast +6 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Water Attacks +7 Area (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2, Fortitude +5, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Save the World)
Power Loss (All Powers)- Planeteer Rings are rendered powerless if they are covered with or surrounded by pollutants. They must be cleaned before use. The Rings also don't work if the Planeteer hurts their Ring hand. Gaia hates Left-Handed People.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 60--30 / Advantages: 12 / Powers: 24 / Defenses: 15 (127)

-Gi is pretty much the most dull Planeteer for me. Kwame is cool because he's kind of the leader, and he's the Team Muscle, alongside Wheeler, who has both the most interesting (ie. flawed) personality, and the crush on Linka. Linka's got the Wheeler thing, as well as her nasty temper. Ma-Ti is just "The Heart Ring Kid", and is fascinating on that level alone. Gi, who has very few flaws (aside from the occasional naiivete towards a handsome scientist in one episode, and going overboard with desire for revenge one time), usually ends up as a boring "voice of reason", which is never that interesting. A lack of focus on her home life or personality doesn't help much. She seems more like 'filler' to me.

-Gi is less of a combat monster than Wheeler or Kwame, but her wide bursts of water can wash away the bad guys pretty well. Her major flaw is that she can ONLY use her damage effects if she's next to water, which is a problem the others usually don't face (there's always earth & air around, and Wheeler can just shoot fire like normal). Otherwise, she's basically a Skillmonkey for the team, having rudimentary training in a large number of skills (even a couple sciences, being a Marine Biologist). She's 10 points more expensive than Kwame thanks to her kinda being the "Smart One" on the team.

Also, this is easily the best picture of Gi I've ever seen.

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:26 pm

"Face it, Vheeler. Russian accents vill ALWAYS bring stiffness to the pants of Americans, da?"

LINKA
Played By: Kath Soucie
Role: The Sex Appeal, Team Bitch
PL 7 (124)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7)
Athletics 8 (+8)
Deception 4 (+6, +8 Attractive)
Expertise (Animal Handling) 7 (+9)
Expertise (Science) 2 (+4)
Expertise (Computers) 7 (+9)
Expertise (Environmentalism) 7 (+9)
Insight 4 (+6)
Perception 6 (+8)
Persuasion 6 (+8, +10 Attractive)
Stealth 6 (+9)
Vehicles 5 (+7)

Advantages:
Attractive, Defensive Roll, Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Luck, Ranged Attack 4, Set-Up, Teamwork

Powers:
"Planeteer Ring of Wind" (Flaws: Removable) (Feats: Indestructible, Restricted 2- Only Linka) [26]
"Let Our Powers Combine!" Summon 4 (50 pp of Captain Planet) (Extras: Heroic +2, Continuous) (20) -- (28 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Wind Storm +7 Area (+7 Ranged Affliction, DC 17)
Tornado +5 Area (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2 (+3 D.Roll), Fortitude +5, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Save the World)
Relationship (Wheeler)- Linka tires of his constant come-ons, and is constantly in a rage over his irresponsibility and stupidity. Of course, the second some OTHER floozy shows him some interest, out come the claws...
Power Loss (All Powers)- Planeteer Rings are rendered powerless if they are covered with or surrounded by pollutants. They must be cleaned before use. The Rings also don't work if the Planeteer hurts their Ring hand. Gaia hates Left-Handed People.

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 66--33 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 26 / Defenses: 16 (124)

-Linka counts as one of my early proto-girlfriends among the animation crowd (sharing space with April O'Neil, The Baroness, Gadget from Rescue Rangers, and a few others I'm forgetting), so she'll always have a spot in my heart. The resident Bitchy Russian with an attitude problem, Linka tends to act like a Chris Claremont heroine at times, minus the egregious displays of power (or butch tendencies). She's usually cursing out Wheeler for being retarded or non-left wing, throwing the villains around with her "Vind" attacks, or steaming with jealousy over any chick who shows the slightest bit of interest at the boy she claims to dislike. And of course, as one of the show's more flawed (and thus, interesting) characters, Linka is one of the most remarkable people on the series, along with Wheeler.

-Linka has a Tornado Blast that's actually quite useful, but lacks the Blasts of the other Planeteers. Lots of Move Object effects, Tripping, Deflecting, etc. Like Gi, though, she REALLY needs the ring to be effective. Wheeler & Kwame might actually hold their own for a second or two without them, but Linka's screwed.

by **Jabroniville** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:29 pm

"ah-ah-ah, Wheeler! Once again you have moved without thinking!"
"Aw, I THOUGHT about it!"
-Wheeler, after getting hands-y with Linka

WHEELER
Played By: Joey Dedio
Role: The Exposition-Repository (ie. everyone has to explain crap to him), The Interesting One, Commander Contrarian
PL 7 (118)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7)
Athletics 5 (+7)
Deception 6 (+7)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 8 (+8)
Expertise (Streetwise) 6 (+6)
Intimidation 6 (+7)
Perception 5 (+5)
Persuasion 4 (+5)
Stealth 4 (+7)
Vehicles 4 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Daze (Deception), Defensive Roll, Fascination (Deception), Improved Critical (Fire), Improved Defense, Improved Smash, Luck, Ranged Attack 5, Power Attack, Taunt, Teamwork

Powers:
"Planeteer Ring of Fire" (Flaws: Removable) (Feats: Indestructible, Restricted 2- Only Wheeler) [22]
"Let Our Powers Combine!" Summon 4 (50 pp of Captain Planet) (Extras: Heroic +2, Continuous) (20) -- (23 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Fire Blast +7 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Fire Wave +7 Area (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3 (+4 D.Roll), Fortitude +5, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Save the World)
Relationship (Wheeler)- Linka tires of his constant come-ons, and is constantly in a rage over his irresponsibility and stupidity. Of course, the second some OTHER floozy shows him some interest, out come the claws...
Power Loss (All Powers)- Planeteer Rings are rendered powerless if they are covered with or surrounded by pollutants. They must be cleaned before use. The Rings also don't work if the Planeteer hurts their Ring hand. Gaia hates Left-Handed People.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 17 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 17 (118)

-Wheeler is pretty much the main character of the Captain Planet cartoon, by virtue of pertaining to the stereotype of the Stupid American, who constantly needs to be corrected and updated on the 'correct', liberal, way of thinking by our fellow left-wingers in the Planeteers. Funny how the show was written BY Americans, but that's liberalism for you

(for the record, I'm fairly liberal and eco-friendly myself, but HOLY CRAP this show put to to the max). And of course he hails from an America that resembles an industrial wasteland of homeless people, compared to the pristine nations of China and Russia.

-I do recall several times where Wheeler WOULD be correct in something ("Why can't any of these homeless people go to a shelter or get a job!?"), but be chided for his offensiveness. Of course, his perceived stupidity and headstrong nature would be the catalyst for someone in the know to correct him by explaining the fullness of the situation, a narrative device that is pretty effective, if over-used here. He'd start clueing in later, and he'd always see it right (or left, as it were) by the end of the episode.

-The most fascinating things about the show were Wheeler's long running crush on Linka (and her hatred/caring for him), and the time he went back in time and broke up the Planeteers to save his own life. The former led to many funny instances, where his repeated come-ons would be rejected harshly by Miss Commie, only to have her visibly get upset every time he scored some action from the Eco-Victim of the Week. And when he almost died, and she came running in to hug him right away. The latter instance showed just how horrible things would be without him (in an "It's a Wonderful Life" kind of way), and showed just how much more in-depth a character Wheeler was than the others (who were all born eco-dorks with few, if any, character flaws at all).

-Wheeler has lower mental stats than ANY of the other Planeteers, but he's probably the best fighter, which should be obvious given his FIRE RING. Pretty much all the other Planeteers just trapped people or whatever, but Wheeler would shoot that sucker out and blow something up if he needed to. It can control fire, shoot it in two different ways (Regular & Cone), and he also gets part of Cap's summoning powers. Note also his greater instance of Combat Advantages, gaining Power Attack, Daze, Fascinate and Taunt over his buddies. The least skillful, but the best warrior of the team, which is showcased in the show fairly often.

by **Jabroniville** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:01 am

Found a blog explaining the AIDS episode: http://tooncrap.blogspot.ca/2010/08/cap ... -hate.html

by **Skavenger** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:34 am

Oh man. I remember the HIV/AIDS episode. Awareness of something like that is something that has to be handled carefully...and Captain Planet really didn't do it. A better example is the Nick News special with Magic Johnson. It came out two years before and was informative to kids and adults alike.

by **catsi563** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:38 am

Yeah its a rare tv show thats aimed at kids that was willing to take on an issue like that. Gargoyles had the courage to take on the problem of irresponsible gun use.

by **Gazman** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:32 pm

Terrible characterization and nonsensical villainous plots aside, what really made me mad at Captain Planet as a kid was the fact that Wheeler was such a moron. I was a red headed American boy from the major New York metropolitan area and I resented the implications. I still know the theme song by heart though.

by **JetstreamGW** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:49 pm

Gazman wrote:Terrible characterization and nonsensical villainous plots aside, what really made me mad at Captain Planet as a kid was the fact that Wheeler was such a moron. I was a red headed American boy from the major New York metropolitan area and I resented the implications. I still know the theme song by heart though.

Meh. Americans are always depicted as idiots in media. I'm honestly comfortable with that. Best way to combat negative stereotyping is to disregard it entirely. Or laugh at it.

And really, that's nowhere near as egregious as a much, MUCH funnier example from Japan

Who's seen G-Gundam?

http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Chibodee_Crocket

Then again this is the show that has a main character with a primary attack that sounds like some kind of horrible STD. "Erupting Burning Finger" indeed.

The Atomic Think Tank

Jab's Builds: Cassidy, Herr Starr, The Saint of Killers

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Re: Jab's Builds: Fin Fang Foom, Captain Planet & The Planeteers

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Re: Jab's Builds: Fin Fang Foom, Captain Planet & The Planeteers

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