Thin Man

Melee
RV 10
Coordination
RV 20
Brawn
RV 10
Fortitude
RV 30
Intellect
RV 30
Awareness
RV 20
Willpower
RV 30
Lifestyle
RV 30
Repute
RV +20

Health:
Fortune:
70
80

Origin:

Doctor Bruce Dickson, the uncanny Thin Man, is a polymath explorer that was transformed into something more than human by the power of the people of Kalahia. Altered beyond mere mortal limits, he can expand and contract his physical dimensions at his leisure!

Known Powers:

Natural Psionics (Metapsi Powers):

Armor (t): the pliable nature of Bruce's body allows him to shrug off large amounts of damage. If attacked, his form will usually distort as it absorbs a large portion of it, before rebounding back into his original shape. His rank value 20 body armor offers this protection:

RV 20 / RV 6 / RV 2 / RV 0 / RV 0

Elongation (t): in addition to his body's pliable, plastic state, Bruce can extend his physical dimensions far beyond what his volume would indicate is possible. He may do so with rank value 10 ability, reaching anywhere within four sectors with relative ease.

Personal Weaponry (a): one of the more recent abilities Bruce has demonstrated, he can transform his limbs into brutal implements, either rendering them exceedingly sharp or striking with more surface area, inflicting +1 RS Bashing or Slashing damage in melee.

Plasticity (t): Bruce has the ability to force his body into a highly pliable state. In this condition, he can stretch, deform, compress, or expand his body (or any part of it) as he sees fit, molding it into virtually any shape. He can do this with rank value 40 ability.

One of Bruce's favorite tricks with this power is making his body extremely thin (hence his heroic identity), which allows him to slip his body through any cracks or seams. He can make himself as thin as a slice of paper, though he cannot actually achieve a two-dimensional state.

Super Senses (s): wielding tricks involving the stretching of various sensory organs, Bruce can easily gain enhanced sensory input from them, whether it's his fingertips or his nose. He can physically bolster his senses with rank value 20 skill.

Natural Psionics (Psimotive Powers):

Dimensional Transit (a): one skill he mastered after discovering that Agent Axis had destroyed Kalahia, this psimotive art allows Doctor Dickson to slip between the borders of dimensions, roaming the multiverse at will. He can shift into other universes with rank value 20 skill.

Teleportation (a): simple boundaries of geography no longer seem to hold any sway over Bruce. Having mastered the more advanced Kalahian skills, he can seemingly shift his body with ease. He can teleport with rank value 75 ability and range (approximately 10,000 miles).

Limitations / Enhancements:

(none)

Equipment:

Stratoplane: an artifact of Kalahia that Bruce brought with him to the 'real' world, this aircraft is built from Duragen steel, which apparently has the ability to resist corrosion for over one hundred years. Advanced years beyond its contemporaries, it has these capabilities:

Handling
RV 10
Velocity
RV 100
Durability
RV 30
Protection
RV 6

* Bombs: in addition to the Stratoplane's cannons, it is also armed with powerful bombs with which to pelt less mobile foes. Dropped on a target from above, these huge explosives detonate on impact to inflict rank value 40 Slashing damage to all within the sector they strike.

* Machine Guns: the Stratoplane is armed with twin machine guns, one mounted beneath each wing of the aircraft. These weapons can fire bursts of lead that inflict rank value 20 Piercing damage individually, raised by +1 RS when both are wielded in tandem.

* Viewer: a more advanced example of Kalahian technology, this high tech device can be used to spy upon anything occurring within five miles of the Stratoplane, as long as it is in a direct line-of-sight; it can't see through objects but its visual acuity is of rank value 30.

Quirks:

(none)

Skills:

Detective / Espionage: after the War, Bruce joined up with the CIA, using his skills and inherent powers to track down war criminals that had, so far, evaded justice. As such, add a +1 RS to all ACT rolls Bruce must make concerning investigative matters.

Engineering: one of several sciences Bruce had mastered before his fateful rediscovery of Kalahia, this skill describes his ability to design and build things. When attempting to perform such ACTs, Bruce may make the applicable dice rolls at his Intellect value +1 RS.

Martial Arts styles A and B: Bruce has received extensive coaching by both Miss America and the Patriot in melee combat. He may add a +1 RS to unarmed attacks, and may inflict Pound or Concuss results on an opponent regardless of their relative Brawn or Fortitude traits.

Medicine: one of several areas of scientific expertise that Bruce has mastered, this skill represents his advanced knowledge of physiology - both in human and other species. This gives him a +1 RS on medical ACT rolls, and lets him try to resuscitate the recently dead.

Piloting: Bruce has proven to be an accomplished pilot, handling his Stratoplane with ease - quite a feat, especially considering his is so much more advanced that standard human equivalents. He can likely handle those built by his own society just as easily.

Psychology / Philosophy: one of several sciences Bruce mastered before encountering Kalahia, this skill represents his ability to think critically about existence. His Intellect should be considered +1 RS when systematically thinking through problems of society or behavior.

Contacts:

Bruce was a member of the Liberty Legion, and as a result can rely upon most of his Golden Age heroic contemporaries for aid; he had recruited many of these individuals into his New Invaders team. In addition, he has multiple contacts in international intelligence circles.

Costume:

When he first left Kalahia to bring Enlightenment to the human race, Bruce wore a costume that consisted of a tight, collared blue jacket over a green T-shirt, yellow gloves, a yellow belt, red trunks over blue stretch fabric pants, blue and yellow boots, and a blue and yellow cap.

By the time he met Red Raven, he'd switched to a similar costume in different hues. His second costume includes a tight green jacket with an oversized yellow collar, yellow gloves, yellow boots, yellow trunks over green stretch fabric pants, and a green and yellow cap.

Bruce's third costume incorporated Kalahian elements. It includes a green and yellow stretch fabric shirt with a high green collar, green and yellow gloves, green leather boots, baggy green trousers, and a green face mask with yellow, angular markings above and below the eyes.

Sometimes, when going more 'incognito', Bruce will add a brown fedora, a brown leather trench coat, and more conventional accessories such as pistols and a machete, both of which include the appropriate belts and holsters / sheathes.

Personality:

Having grown much more acquainted with the darkness of the world after the Nazis destroyed Kalahia, Doctor Bruce Dickson has become a much more grim, foreboding man of action. He's still glib in and out of combat, but he rarely forgives - and never forgets.

Real Name: Dr. Bruce Dickson, PhD.
Occupation: adventurer, scientist
Legal Status: U.S. citizen with a criminal record
Marital Status: married
Alias(es), if any: none known
Group Affiliation: occasional CIA associate, former leader of the New Invaders, former member of the Liberty Legion

Height: 6'
Hair: blond, later light brown, then gray
Eyes: blue
Weight: 170 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: none

Story:

Shortly after receiving his multiple degrees, Doctor Bruce Dickson set off on an expedition to the Himalayan mountains, attempting to conquer Mount Kalpurthia. Upon his being hit by a powerful blizzard, he sought shelter in a cave, where he discovered something fantastic!

He found a hidden utopia within the mountain, though he fell unconscious upon the beginning of his exploration of the place. When he awoke, Doctor Dickson discovered the mysterious denizens of this secret land, called Kalahia by the natives, and their incredible secret.

All of the locals possessed the power to make their bodies pliable, and they'd granted him this amazing ability. Staying for a time, he eventually fell in love with the Elder Chief's daughter, Olalla, who became his apparent paramour during their time together.

While there, the Kalahians demonstrated their technological superiority to Doctor Dickson, showing how they can communicate with the spider-like beings that were apparently living on Mars at the time, and their technique for entering the 7th Dimension.

Further, it would seem that the Kalahians shared Bruce's desire to combat evil, as they demonstrate a crime in progress on their long distance viewer thingermabob. This crime is the drive-by shooting by mobsters against some taxi cabbie (perhaps Taxi Taylor).

Seeing this crime taking place, Dickson and Olalla leave Kalahia for the United States, intent on stamping out the evil that they have witnessed in action. They bust into the city they viewed and gunned down several of the criminals with the plane's heat bullets.

Of course, several folks noticed this, and as such, Dickson and Olalla decided to operate at night from then on, so they wouldn't attract too much attention to themselves. That night, in fact, the duo tracked down and went to work on the mobsters killing cabbies.

Thin Man worked them on a personal level, while Olalla gunned them all down with the Stratoplane. The two then tied up their leader, leaving him for the cops, and went looking for new crimes to bust up, the first of which involved a plane-full of German infiltrators.

Attacking their plane as soon as he found it, Bruce liberated a captured Red Raven, and the two heroes defeated their German foes. The two then answered a call for help from Captain America's side kick, Bucky, and eventually joined up with the Liberty Legion.

This team freed the Invaders from mind control at the hands of the Red Skull and his Nulla-Rays, and decided to stick together to defend the nation from threats that arose from within. Over time, though, the two groups eventually blurred into one big association of heroes.

Towards the end of the war, Bruce and Captain America had an encounter with Agent Axis. A diabolical fascist who was in fact three men in one, Axis was formed in a freak accident from the components of a German, Italian and Japanese operative - all merged into a singular terror.

During the ensuing fight, Agent Axis noted that he'd found Kalahia and intended to visit it after the war. Almost killing him in a rage, Bruce was stopped by the Captain, a deed which turned out to be the doom of his adopted home, although neither hero knew this at the time.

Returning to Kalahia just weeks later, Bruce found the place decimated, his wife and every other man, woman and child within slain. Overwhelmed with grief and rage, he vowed to hunt down Agent Axis, and any other villains of his ilk, and end their threat permanently.

And very painfully. Dreaming daily of Axis' fate at his hands, Bruce began seeking out every escaped Nazi criminal he could find, and would brutally kill them. Some of these feats he accomplished alone, and some he did with the aid of the CIA, for whom he occasionally worked.

During this time Bruce apparently mastered more advanced Kalahian arts, teaching himself how to make playthings of the dimensions, slipping in and out of our space at his leisure. He kept this knowledge to himself though, the better to hunt evildoers with.

Eventually, Bruce tracked down Agent Axis in New York City of all things, having been brought there under the auspices of the U.S. government in an exchange of freedom for advanced Nazi know-how. Putting his plan into action, Bruce summoned Captain America.

He did this because, believing the hero responsible for the fate of Kalahia, he wanted the man to see him end the life of Agent Axis in person. When the hero had arrived, he fought with the tripled agent of evil, and personally slew him in hand-to-hand combat.

Mortified by this, Captain America hauled Bruce off to jail, where he was convicted of the murder of all three men that composed Agent Axis. Flung into jail, Bruce finally found peace with the world - at least for a time - making prey of his new neighbors now and then.

He could have escaped at any time, but found it fulfilling to simply kill deserving criminals as they quite literally came to him. This arrangement lasted until he was approached by Dell Rusk, then the Secretary of State, who had an offer for Bruce that he couldn't refuse.

He revealed the existence of a group called Axis Mundi, who were attempting to Conquer the World! To fight them he needed a powerful team to oppose them, a New team of Invaders, and they would need advanced, powerful technology that Bruce was known to have a handle on.

As John Walker, another recruit assembled the team, Bruce built their equipment, which included not only several Stratoplanes, but the Infiltrator, a powerful battleship that could slip between dimensions and anchor virtually unseen anywhere on the earth.

In time it was revealed that Dell Rusk was actually the Red Skull in disguise, and that he was simply stealing Bruce's Kalahian technology to power his android Pterrorists. But, having built the Infiltrator, Bruce went ahead with the plan anyway, and put the New Invaders into action.

This group wound up including the likes of U.S. Agent, Union Jack, Spitfire, the Blazing Skull, the Destroyer, the Fin, Namor, Tara the Android, and the Human Torch. After months of action against the Axis Mundi though, Captain America showed up to 'shut Bruce down'.

This was bad timing, as the team was about to face down Merrano as he attempted to melt the polar ice caps for the Axis Mundi. Leaving Bruce on the ship, the team let the Captain lead them into the fight, but things went bad when Tara, their android, turned out to be an Axis plant.

In order to save the day, Bruce rammed the Infiltrator into Merrano's thermonuclear trident, and it appeared he died to save the world. Of course, not all of the team believed this... and Bruce himself turned up days later in Mexico, resuming his hunt of depraved evildoers.

He apparently continues in this capacity to this very day, though occasionally he is consulted by various intelligence operatives from SHIELD and such when they need help. So presumably the authorities know what Bruce is up to - but they're not about to stop him!

Extra Goodies:

Thin Man 4C System: Edition 13 Text File Download

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