We’re doing it differently this year: We’re not ranking them. We’re just listing them. Then YOU rank them.

We’re still using our F.U.N. acrostic, though:

• Is the figure FRIENDLY and FAIR? That is, if your opponents see this figure on your team, will their hearts utterly sink at the prospect of dealing with it? If so, it’s not F.U.N.
• Is this figure still USEFUL and full of UTILITY anyway? If so, it may be F.U.N. But it shouldn’t run TOO high on this scale, or it may overwhelm the Friendly portion!
• Does this figure have a NEATO or NIFTY or NICHE or NERDCORE appeal that goes beyond its just having good stats and powers? Does it have a special place on a team outside of the usual keywords? And does this clix capture the character’s appeal? If so, it may be F.U.N. But the answer can’t JUST be, “I like this character.”

Here we GOOOOO (in alphabetical order)

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Apache Chief [Batman: The Animated Series 070]

Of all the Troubalert trait Superfriends, Apache Chief is the most F.U.N. He’s fair in that he’s only got printed 10 AV at best (contrast with most of the others who get at least one 11) and lowish Speed. But his Usefulness and Nifty aspects are wrapped in his “Inuk Chuk” trait. Gaining Great Reach helps out his poor Charge swing and once he grows beyond colossal size, he gets bonuses to AV and damage. Though his “Occasional Weakness” is Tiny figs, how often are they going to be a major problem? And the weakness is superNifty as well. Big Man is big F.U.N.

Batman [Batman: The Animated Series 040]

At full points, maybe Bats’ 12 AV isn’t the most welcoming, but lacking opening Charge or Running Shot at all — or even natural range — makes him quite fair at 125 points. Now he sort of gets range with his Nifty auto-equipped Batarang Special Object granting Improved Targeting: Everything But Blocking but with a 2 damage. Still, not a scary Batman. But with that Batarang being FREE instead of RANGE? That’s pretty Useful. You can also get Utility from his Outwit and later his Perplex along with Flurry, Exploit, and his DV SP that thwarts Mastermind on his close attacks.

Dust [X-Men: Xavier’s School 056]

Low range and total lack of armor make Dust a fair piece, if only barely: Smoke Cloud as FREE is always Useful. Hers is better still because it doubles as offense:

At the end of each opponent’s turn, deal 1 damage to each opposing character occupying or adjacent to a Smoke Cloud marker placed by Dust.

That almost looks like no fun at all for the opponent (and, if in a Battle Royal game, she’s meta-level broken). But her 17 and lower DV needs bolstering by her SP to +1 that stat for each SC token next to her, making it harder to use that offense-minded trait. It’s a balance that keeps her as Friendly as a 50-point fig with 11 AV and 3 damage can be, even with just a 4 range. Finally, you can’t overlook the “X-Student” trait that nerfs enemy defense when she rolls a 5 on a d6 in attacks.

Her F.U.N. factor is nothing to sneeze at….even if she is Dust. 😉

Giant-Girl [Avengers Infinity G001]

Coming in at anywhere between 10 to 250 points, this big gal is about as F.U.N. a figure as you can face or field in HeroClix. With a damage value that never tops printed 3, she’s not titanically strong. Her ability to use Colossal Retaliation through her dial is tied to a POWER action, so she can’t do the double-tap attack that many of her colossal fellows can. But being able to squeeze into any build makes her super Useful, if only as an extra taxi. And that trait is also extra Nifty. She’s a rare F.U.N. fig that also became a meta piece.

Golden Skull [Avengers Infinity 040]

With just 4 range and 10AV and lower and only Mastermind as a defense, no one’s worried about this 50-pointer for a high Friendly level. But his Utility level is also strong, with his SP packing Leadership for that +1 action, Perplex for that +/-1 stat you need, and an auto +1 AV for adjacent pals. Oh, and we can’t forget two of those pals: autonomous Deathbot pogs generated at game’s start with Sidestep, P/PB and Toughness for him to either Mastermind to or take shots with.

The pogs are the Nifty element that rate him F.U.N. on Heroclixin’s scale this year.

Magma Man [Secret Wars: Battleworld 011]

Sceritz got me to add this generic to the list.

Being a generic, Magma Man isn’t great shakes: 10 AV, mediocre 7 Speed, 0 Range, Toughness. He’s perfectly fair. But then he gets close and is suddenly a Poison + Quake threat. Who, again, has Toughness. But so many pieces have Toughness or better, so who cares about Poison? But then he pushes to hit with 3 damage. And now hes on a click with Exploit Weakness. And the Poison never goes away, not even in his late dial, which piles on with Plasticity. Add the fact that his “Untamed Weirdness” trait keeps modifications from working against him and you’ve got a figure that’s more useful than expected. And of course Sceritz noticed.

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Next time: The rest of the F.U.N.