Time for the second half of our review of the Guardians of the Galaxy figs in the Guardians of the Galaxy set.
Angela [Guardians of the Galaxy 033] 94
Here’s a new character for the team, one that only belongs on the current Bendis-era incarnation of the group. She’s devoid of SPs, but does bear one powerful trait allowing her to be placed next to and attack a character who targeted her earlier, all for the cost of one power action. This makes her both a great tie-up fig and lead attacker in one. Her weakness is relatively light defense, given that she might warp herself into the middle of a killbox before she can really tear into her foes with Close Combat Expert. Lack of Willpower makes that harder to do as well. But HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE is that her gimmick may yet be worth the risk of fielding her.
Killraven [Guardians of the Galaxy 035] 76
While he mostly appears to just be an OK close combatant with Charge and 11 AV Precision Strike, his damage SP allowing Outwit and Improved Targeting: Characters makes him a bit more of a fig to use at range, even though it’s a short 4 range. Moreover, the SP allows him to counter a power on multiple foes within 3 squares! So he’s an odd mix of support piece and secondary attacker. Run him directly behind a frontline of melee or tie-up allies for best results. He’s only an occasional member, appearing in a far-future alternate timeline version of the team during the 2008 series run, but HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE is that he need not be occasional on your Guardians teams.
Martyr [Guardians of the Galaxy 040] 160
Longtime Heroclixin’ readers may recall that an earlier version of this character, Phyla-Vell, basically is responsible for me getting interested in the Guardians in the first place. As much as I liked that Hammer of Thor figure, Martyr is better in most every way, with moving attack starting up top lasting most of her dial instead of just a bit mid-dial and armor on most of her dial instead of vice versa. She also has a SP to heal adjacent allies at the cost of a click of life — which could “push” her to her self-healing Regen clicks for a potential second wind.
Really, the only downsides to her are a much higher cost — 160 over 138 — and a much-shortened range of 6 down from 10. But with her Stealth-and-Hypersonic Speed SP, and the ability to see through hindering, it’s really not a downgrade at all. She only served on the 2008 version of the team. HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE: A possible tentpole to build around.
Groot [Guardians of the Galaxy 051] 100
Like most Groots before him, this version (which most fits the current Bendis-helmed run) is a bit slow with Speed topping out at a starting 7 and tapering from there. His AV numbers are also a little anemic down the line, slipping from a decent 10 early on down to just 7. A full dial of Battle Fury at least means he won’t have to contend with being Incapacitated or having attacks denied by Shape Change. But what really makes HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE that he’s a must-try at least is his near-inability to be KO’d if he’s adjacent to a fellow Monster or Guardian of the Galaxy thanks to his trait.
Rocket Raccoon [Guardians of the Galaxy 052] 80
What’s the latest Rocket in the game bring to the HeroClix table? First, he’s an aid to any Groot thanks to his trait boosting both their AVs +1 — not that RR’s natural 11 really needs the help. Second, he has great Improved Targeting enabling him to ignore elevated and adjacent characters for shooting. Third, and probably most key, he is like a super-Prob Controller with his SP allowing him to force a reroll of ANY roll for a character he can see. This includes certain rolls that usually can’t be PC’d, such as Super Senses or Impervious.Once again, he’s Tiny Size and thus easily carted about by allies, and double-arrow Energy Explosion is welcome. HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE: Another great Rocket.
Iron Man [Guardians of the Galaxy 055] 200/150
At home only on the Bendis team, this latest version of Tony Stark isn’t the best Iron Man in the game. But it’s the best you’re gonna have on a Guardians team. At full cost, he’s another HSS fig — though it takes a double power action to do it — with a +2 Speed and Range bonus while using it. Or just take a normal action to use Running Shot with Perplex, 4 damage and Improved Targeting: Hindering and Characters. Either way, he’s Indomitable. At 150 points, he’s starting with Invulnerability instead of Impervious, but he has P/PB to go with the Running Shot/HSS SP.
At either price, he’s got to push to get to his other SP granting Outwit and the ability to make a free ranged attack if he starts a turn with two tokens. It’s too bad; if he started with this power, HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE would be a lot more positive. As it is, Space Tony is only for use on a Bendis-era team.
Star-Lord [Guardians of the Galaxy 209] 115
Finally, here’s one more Star-Lord, again a Bendis team member. This one is an Sharpshooting Indomitable Running Shooter with EE and Force Blast — with two targets, he can ruin formations with a quickness. But his real boon to a team is his SP Outwit with a power action option allowing him to counter the same power on all opponents sharing a keyword. Not bad. HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE is that he’s still about the last version of Star-Lord we’d pick for a GotG team, but that’s more a statement on the quality of Peter Quills in the game than a knock on this one.
That almost does it at last for our slow-running F.U.N. Focus on the Guardians. But there’s one more thing to mention about the team: its ATAs! We’ll look at those in a rare weekend installment of Heroclixin’ next time.