Created by: Bill Dickson
Current author: Bill Dickson
Email: pickle@awenet.com
Golden Grunion Awards:
Students and aficionados of superguys, when analyzing the Awesome Force's original lineup, often argue about what Ramrod brought to the team. He was an incredible shot with a .38, but Miche had been nearly as accurate with a much more powerful weapon. He was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but wasn't quite as good as the much faster High Jinx, and was no match for Andy Awesome himself. He was durable, with a bulletproof trenchcoat and a high tolerance for pain, but Miche and the She-Devil were both naturally bulletproof.Some say that his mix of redundant skills and equipment provided a versatility that the team needed, allowing him to back up any talent that was lacking in a given situation. Others say that he possessed some hidden mental ability that the team used, but did not publicize.
Both of these analyses are correct, but not deciding factors. The most important and unique talent that Ramrod brought to the Awesome Force was his uncanny ability, when his back was against the wall and his life on the line, to send his conscience on extended vacation and turn into a completely ruthless bastard. It was this ability, long unused, that now surfaced smoothly as Ramrod calmly picked up his silenced .38 and shot Walters through the head.
Status: Active and founding member of Team Cynical.
Notes: Ramrod first appeared in the Dangerousman series before becoming one of the original Awesome Force members. He starred in a two-episode solo mini-series, then left the Awesome Force after the Battle of Akron, appearing next in the Ramrod solo series. After the Cyrebrax affair (to date still largely untold), he returned to Earth and became the biggest insipid teen-pop icon of all time in "Ramrod: Media Darling," before disappearing for some time. Surfacing in Seattle after a year and a half, he is now appearing in Team Cynical.
Known Powers: Ramrod has excellent hand-to-hand capabilities, usually fighting with an unbreakable baseball bat given to him (along with his other equipment) by Andy Awesome. He is also a crack shot with his self-cleaning .38 semi-automatic pistol. Radiation from the Dangerousman blast that created the Awesome Force granted him remarkable intuition, particularly in dangerous situations when he becomes so sensitive he can begin reacting to an opponent's move before it is begun. He is magic-neutral, rendering him completely invulnerable and invisible to magic. He can sometimes exert total muscle control during an attack, increasing his strength tremendously for just a moment. His bulletproof trenchcoat includes capacitors that give him a limited electrical discharge capability; discharging them completely at a single opponent could well cause coma or death. His bulletproof glasses include two-way radio, infrared, light amplification, and targeting system for his pistol, and expand his field of vision significantly.
Description: Ramrod is 6'0", and a slim but fit 155 lbs. He has short black hair and dark blue eyes, with very pale skin. When in costume, he slicks his hair back and wears black shoes, black slacks, a black oxford shirt, his black trenchcoat, and gold wraparound sunglasses; his pronounced widow's peak makes him look somewhat vampiric. The trenchcoat is usually cinched tight around his waist, but because of its ingenious design he can easily get his baseball bat out of it. He has a bad attitude and tends to be deliberately rude when in costume, and sometimes at other times. Due to some bizarre twist of nature, he developed a total dependency on Kit Kat bars; without consuming at least two every day, he would eventually weaken and die. He took his name from the title of one of his favorite songs by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel; he takes his trademark phrase from the lyrics of the song: "Say what you mean, and say it mean."
Note: Ramrod is one of those characters we authors modelled after ourselves in a fit of fantasy several years ago. This is now rather embarrassing to the Author in question, but since Ramrod has turned out to be one of his most enduring and popular characters, there isn't much to be done at this point. Kindly try to overlook Ramrod's real name, which is now only used when absolutely dictated by the context of the story.
