Quote Originally Posted by Loki
Okay, part of this is the type of power grid we now use, and part of it is that it seems Puck's power levels have faded since he intially got shrunk back into a dwarf.
Well technically the writer for Alpha Flight vol.2 even admited he was going to ignore the upgrade and return Puck just to a regular atheletic dwarf and ignored the upgrade all together.

Quote Originally Posted by Loki
On the former, the Master Edition grids had different levels, and they don't always equate. We've had people look at Punisher having a fighting skills level of 7 while Iron Fist has a level of 6, and concluding that we are claiming Punisher could take Iron Fist in hand-to-hand combat, missing the point that the fighting skills grid becomes non-linear at the top end (e.g. 6 is not always less than 7). 6 means expert in many types of combat, 7 means expert in all. Iron Fist (the current one, rather than his recently introduced predecessor) isn't skilled with guns, for example, so he can't be a 7; Punisher is a jack-of-all-trades, expert in pretty much everything, so he gets a 7 - but there are different levels of expertise, and if he entered a fair hand-to-hand, no dirty tactics or weapons, fight with Iron Fist, the Fist would hand him his head (of course, the Punisher wouldn't fight fair, or without weapons if he can help it). Its the difference between being a Black Belt and being a fifth dan Black Belt; both are experts, one's more of an expert than the other.
In the same way, the durability grid isn't as defined as it used to be. Someone with 3, enhanced durability can be much tougher and harder to hurt than Wolverine, who was 4 (regenerative) on the scale; its the healing that gives you the 4. "Enhanced" covers a potentially huge range, and covers anything up to the point where bullets and other penetrative attacks can't penetrate.[/quote]

I understand how the fighting skills could generate abit of controvesy, but durability isn't a broad topic. Especially how the old handbook laid out the different sections. If the new handbook conducted a proper definition of enhanced that would be far more benefical and clear up possible confusions

Quote Originally Posted by Loki
On the latter, power fading. Can you provide me examples of where he was bulletproof (where did bullets bounce off him), the fire and the fall? As I said, I could have missed those, but re-reading, I didn't spot any of them in Alpha Flight. Shortly after his becoming a dwarf again he is seen venturing near flames alongside Diamond Lil, and he does take blasts from an alien spaceship around #100, but we don't really know just how powerful those blasts are. We are told he is incredibly tough, but there's surprisingly little evidence to back it up. However, subsequent to this (e.g. as soon as writers other than the one who gave Puck the enhanced powers), we get little indication of Puck having such durability. In fact, during the second Alpha Flight run, he gets blasted unconscious time and again - and notably he gets knocked out by a punch from a non-superpowered Department H agent in Alpha Flight II #1. His durability seems to have lessened, perhaps dropping closer to human levels over time.
I don't agree with the fading as that was never addressed just some writers tend to ignore it as I explain in the last paragraph. Below is the various durability feats and statements. Well that's because the writer wanted to ignore the Razer and rubber density, which he said in an interview. He just wanted to go back to Puck as a dwarf nothing more but never explained why.

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Durability
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The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe - Master Edition #1: Puck (Upgraded)
After reading this even I have really underated the little guy. After the experiments by The Master he really turned into a formiable opponent even matching stats with Spider-Man. If you want to view them, [Click here!]. I'm even tempted to make a Puck vs. Spider-Man thread after this. In case your wondering what the areas mean here is the list [Click Here!]

1. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...n-01-PuckA.jpg
2. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...n-01-PuckB.jpg
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Avengers #322 (Vol.1): Puck (Upgraded)
Puck mentions his new body is “nearly indestructible”

1. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...13_rougher.jpg
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Avengers #324 (Vol.1): Puck (Upgraded)
Puck makes mention of his “invulnerable” body and blocks from the Combine

1. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...11_rougher.jpg
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Alpha Flight #100 (Vol.1): Puck (Upgraded)
Only half of the story, the other is the Avengers and Alpha Flight do battle against Galactus. Half of the heroes still have to deal with the Consortium invasion of Toronto. Puck shows off his new found durability

1. http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...ight100-03.jpg
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Alpha Flight #100 (Vol.1): Puck (Upgraded)
Puck can survive a several story drop, in reality the ship was over 1000 feet in the air

1. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ama/AFS-22.jpg
2. http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...ight100-30.jpg
3. http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...ight100-34.jpg
4. http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e5...ight100-37.jpg
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Alpha Flight #96 (Vol.1): Puck (Upgrade)
Thanks to his upgrade, Puck's immune to fire as he was in a blaze on an oil tanker

1. http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...light96-13.jpg



Quote Originally Posted by Loki
Is this something I like, that a writer seems to have forgotten the level he used to be at? Not really. But equally I can't ignore it, because there's regular evidence of this lower power level. It's exactly the same as the Union Jack entry I wrote for A-Z #12. Joey Chapman is empowered by the Green Knight with the Pendragon spirit, and used to be around the 90 ton range, but now, despite writers mentioning he still has the Pendragon power, we see that Master Man can shrug off Joey's punches but not those of Captain America. Hence, I can include what Joey's power level used to be, hoping another writer might use that, but have to conclude that he has powered down somewhat at the moment. Puck is still tougher than your average person by a fair way, but no longer as tough as he was depicted in the first ten or so issues after he became a dwarf again.
Well Cap tends to make everyone job to him, just recently he hurt Onslaught...yesh!. Also it's a common occurance of Alpha Flight's powers being completly ignored and they tend to "job". Such as Maverick beating Vindicator II and Puck with ease, and Juggernaut smacking around Guardian and Vindicator. Not once did they use their blasts and writer forgot about their shields. Then there is Northstar beating Guardian, and writer forgot Mac has a shield and the fact Mac doesn't wear the suit. He is the suit being a cyborg, so removing the clothing as Northstar did would not depower him. I can name off dozen more instances were other writers "dumb" down Alpha Flight to make their characters look good.