OK, Sceritz has his favorites. Me, I had a much harder time picking faves this past year. Almost nothing leapt to the fore in 2016, not the way they usually happen. I also wasn’t inspired to just list the latest versions of my favorite superheroes and super-villains like usual, especially because these new dials didn’t blow me away.
I had to boil it down to this question:
“When I see this figure in my storage box, do I immediately wish I had a team it could be a good fit on?”
That cleared up the fog considerably. So by that simple measure, here’s my Top Ten FAVORITE pieces released in 2016
NO. 10
Cyclops [Uncanny X-Men 033]
He took a hit in playability when WizKids ruled that his SP Leadership was only a little special (being able to remove tokens from X-Men in range). But I don’t care. He’s a longtime favorite character of mine and a version in his latest (last?) costume with a solid dial. I don’t often field X-Men teams, which is why he hasn’t gotten much play. But he’ll be the first I consider when I do go with a Modern X-Men squad. No. 10 favorite of 2016.
NO. 9
Frog-Man [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 048]
He made the F.U.N. list for good reason, and that alone makes him a favorite. The Spider-Man Fam keyword is so loaded now that he gets crowded out a lot. But he’s still No. 9 on my list of faves.
NO. 8
Batman [Batman and His Greatest Foes Fast Forces 001]
I don’t usually like running Gotham teams, which is why Heroclixin’s No. 10 F.U.N. fig stays off the map for me most of the time. There are also much stronger Batman figures in Modern Age. But I want to run this version a lot, so he’s my No. 8 favorite of 2016.
NO. 7
Luke Cage [Civil War Storyline 011]
I played the heck out this piece during the Civil War OP events and he led to many a top finish for my Anti-Reg teams. If he had Indomitable, he’d be on so many more teams. No. 7 among my favorites.
NO. 6
Alloy [World’s Finest 058]
I almost added all the Metal Men because of Alloy’s ability to split into the whole team, one that is surprisingly solid. In fact, these figures almost took a slot on the F.U.N. list., but I wanted to avoid the eight-way tie.
The more I looked at the team, when considering my favorite list, the more I realized that I mainly want to play Alloy, whether I plan for the end-dial split or not. So the big robot amalgam is my No. 6 favorite.
NO. 5
Spider-Punk [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 062]
I dithered about adding this piece. It’s a little too meta for my F.U.N. tastes yet rather glass-jawed in that context. I don’t have an especial affinity for the character, either, outside of its being another strong addition to the Black Box.
But when I asked the question, it was undeniable: I always want to play this piece, even if I don’t. And so Hobart Brown wall-crawls high onto my list of favorites of 2016.
NO. 4
Element Man [World’s Finest 040]
A late addition, even though he appeared in the first set of the year. But when I saw how doggone F.U.N. hewas, I knew he had to be high among my faves.
NO. 3
Goliath [Civil War Storyline 029]
I paid a pretty penny to acquire this piece rather early in Civil War OP’s life cycle. As a dial, he’s less than great: a big target and a lot of points for what he does (he works like Luke Cage but 20 points more with less survivability. I hate to see it fail and so rarely field it. But he scores so high on the “do I want to play this” scale that he’s my No. 3 favorite of the year.
NO. 2
Jakeem Thunder [Joker’s Wild 053b]
So super meta that I’ll almost never run it — I can’t be That Guy — but that doesn’t stop the desire to always run it. Also the most expensive figure by far I’ve ever bought; had to sell another high-dollar piece to raise the money. Once I get a proper JSA again, it’s on. No. 2 favorite of the year.
NO. 1
Grace [Joker’s Wild 046]
Out of nowhere, this Outsider I didn’t care one whit about sprang to be my favorite piece of 2016 for all the F.U.N. reasons I noted on the Top Ten F.U.N. list of that year. She’s going on every Outsiders team I’ll ever build of 300 points or more. She’ll make any Amazons team (that’s not a Diana’s Wardobe all-Wonder Woman theme). I may need to build a new “ginger gals” squad.