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Wrapping up our Black History Month-themed countdown of the Top Ten Black Characters in ‘Clix with the #2 piece:

Gotham City Detective (#006 Arkham Asylum)

Cheap Enhancement is always good, and this is the best value for the power  thanks in part to the PD Team Ability allowing him to also boost his Enhanced partner’s chances of hitting as long as he can see the target, too. Starting 9 AV is good for the 27-point cost.

Push GCD a bit to gain Plasticity to be one mother of a tie-up piece with Willpower, or stay put to keep Enhancing shooters while throwing out a ranged attack himself.

So many roles almost make this mere generic the best black piece in the game.

And the #1 Black fig is:

Bronze Tiger (#032 Justice League)

He’s got the Charge and 11 AV to move in for immediate attack; he’s got the DV to survive the counterattack and the Willpower to push to deal extra damage with Close Combat Expert; he’s got self-healing potential with his Suicide Squade TA and the ability to hide from shooters with the League of Assassins ATA (thus addressing his lone weakness against ranged attacks. Lunge and/or Loner are two feats that make him a lot better for minimal extra cost.

For just 60 points, Bronze Tiger is one of the better characters in the game. And so he takes Heroclixin’s top spot among the best Black Characters in ‘Clix.

Hope you enjoyed this month’s Top Ten countdown. Be here Monday for another Custom Mod. Until then, happy heroclixin’ this weekend!

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is the oldest figure on the list yet…

Fatality (#053 Cosmic Justice)

With TK, she offers mobility for the team. With RCE, she offers big damage. At 68 points, you can’t beat that. The pricey Trick Shot or Elite Sniper feats might pump her cost too high, but with the right shields and/or tie-up, hey, why not use ’em?

Like most older figures, her DV is pretty sad (even with Super Senses) and her late dial stinks. But she’s still one of the most solid black characters in HeroClix.

 

#5 brings us a tie between

Nick Fury (#091 Sinister / #2-11 Classics)

and

Storm (#057 Mutations and Monsters)

Fury is pushable for sure, with the ability to do a fair amount of hurt for relatively few points. All that Stealth up front helps keep him safe, and his fine attack stats and powers (Psychic Blast, Willpower AND Outwit) make him a serious threat. But his end half isn’t nearly as threatening as the front, and pushing him to click #2 (because you will push him) takes him closer to that end, so he’s on the bottom half of the list.

Conversely, Storm is all about long-ranged power (especially on her second click). A slight weakness to being based is mitigated by her “Goddess” SP that grants Force Blast and Quake in addition to Energy Explosion and Smoke Cloud.  She’s a little high-priced to be so fragile, but she’s still worth every point.

On the home stretch, now. Be here tomorrow for #4 and #3 on the Black List! 🙂

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I’m interrupting my usual weekly features to start a new regular monthly one — Top Ten Countdowns! (I had such a blast doing the various Top Tens of 2010 that I didn’t want to stop.)

It’s February, a.k.a. “Black History Month.” In its honor, I’m counting down the Top Ten Black Characters in Heroclix.

For the purposes of this countdown, here’s my definition of “black character”:

  1. A character of African descent.
  2. A character visually indistinguishable from such, regardless of origin.

In years past, I used to include Egyptians such as Asp in this category, simply because there weren’t many good Black characters to go around. And while I’ll still put M+M Apocalypse on my afro-teams, I no longer strictly count him. Similarly, I won’t be including Little Sure Shot; his sculpt is African, but the character is Native American.

Introductions are done. Who’s #10? Be here Monday to find that out. Until then, here’s the Honorable Mention foreshadowed by the art up top:

Captain America (#019 Secret Invasion)

At a svelte 49 points, black Cap here buys you a long dial of tie-up. Very similar to the barely-cheaper Guardian from Collateral Damage, he loses the older piece’s three clicks of Toughness for just one but gets much better numbers (especially in DV, though, in practice, they fare just about the same). A good filler for Soldier themes, too.

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When I first heard of the 50-points-and-below requirement for this tournament, I aimed to field the 43-point Molly Hayes and a few other favorites.
But then I had the mother of all dice-rolling meltdowns. I decided my next team shouldn’t miss so much and opted for high attacks over anything else.
Warlord 50
The Holiday Killer 43
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
Peter Parker (Web of Spider-Man) 50
Harbinger 50
Impulse (DC 75th Anniversary) 49
 = 292 points.
THE STRAT
With two wildcards, this team centers around Batman Enemy Holiday Killer to leech his high AV. The fact that he’s stealthy and a Willpower’d Outwitter with 8 range also helps. Harbinger ferries him around to position while Parker pushes to Perplex. Then, and only then, do my chief fighters Warlord and Spidey get into the fray, with Impulse making hit-and-runs as opportunity presents. As needed, Harbinger would shoot or use her swap-places SP to get the others into or out of trouble zones.
FIRST ROUND was a truncated one, as I’d been delayed about half the match. No KOs were made and I won the roll-off. But I was well on my way to clobber the team, so I think it was a deserved win.
SECOND ROUND was against a Soldier theme of Captain Metropolis (Watchmen) leading a pair Thunderers of Qward and Easy Company Soldiers (DC 75th Anniversary) on the Graveyard. Holiday Killer  blocked LOF and took opportunistic shots to stop the Thunderers, leaving the rest of the team little threat to me.
FINAL ROUND saw me stuck on the Web of Spider-Man Bridge against a bunch of shooting X-Men. In an effort to get some offense going, I used Harbinger to taxi Holiday Killer close enough to bring it. But she was improbably KOed in just two attacks (thanks Cyclops from Danger Room) and HK critcally missed past his key 2nd click. That left Spidey, Parker and Warlord easy, easy kills for Vet Havok and I was down to just Impulse against Havok, Rookie Nightcrawler, Rookie Jean Grey, Vet Psylocke (X-Plosion), and Exp. Pyro.
Impulse proceeded to last nearly the remaining game, KOing Havok, Cyclops and Pyro before finally getting beaten. I must’ve made 9 of 10 Shape Change rolls, keeping my assailants tied down and blocking each other’s LOF.

It was pretty much this cover, except featuring X-Men instead of high-schoolers.

A lot of people will think of Johnny Quick (DC75th Anniversary) when considering speedsters 50 points or less. Me? I’ll always look to Impulse first. 🙂

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Every time a scenario is announced, the first thing I do is try to fit an Aquaman to it. Thus, I built and played three different Atlantis/Aqua team builds for three different scenarios.

SCENARIO ONE: 600 point Modern Age DC only

BD Aquaman 105
AN Aquaman 106
AN Mera 85
Ocean Master 65
Tempest 116
Starro Aquaman 70
Aqualad 40
= 587 points.

I faced a Titans team of Red Arrow, White Lantern Superboy, Bart Allen, Liberty Belle, Beast Boy, Donna Troy and Miss Martian on the constricted Sciencells map. Despite some early failure to roll that cost Starro Aquaman his life and the utter difficulty in mobility this map presents for non-flyers,the turning point saw the remaining Aquamen double-teaming Superboy for the big KO of the game. Lost Tempest, StarroAqua and Aqualad but wiped the enemy. FAIL moment(s): Thoroughly forgetting to use BD Aquaman’s Undead Sea trait to punish enemies.

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SCENARIO TWO: Six Degrees of (Keyword) Separation. Each character must have a keyword, and share that keyword with one other character, who must share a different keyword with a different keyword…and so on until both six characters and 600 points are reached.

BD Aquaman 105
Tempest 116
Zauriel 117
AN Aquaman 106
Starro Aquaman 70
AN Mera 85
=599 points. Atlantis to Mystical to JLA to Justice League of America to Ruler.

Narrowly beat a team led by AV Iron Man and WS Deadpool (KOing the former along with WS Wolverine and M+M Archangel) but got absolutely SKUNKED by a team led by Skrulluminati, CL Nick Fury and HoT Cap.

Both games I tried to TK Zauriel out to Pulse Wave, failed, and got him KOed less than a turn later. In the second, not only did I have a total range and mobility disadvantage, no objects (due to the Damage Control feat), but, worst of all, I had a very poor plan of addressing these issues that vitally depended on me hitting my rolls and my opponent missing his.

Ninety percent of my attack attempts (either by Skrull roll, or, more often, ice-cold rolls) failed and nearly that proportion of his attempts succeeded. So…so much for that. Lesson Learned: Move to minimize the opponent’s advantages instead of making it easier for him!

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SCENARIO THREE: No Fly Zone: No fliers allowed. Transporters OK.

This is my home venue, and these guys can’t stand it when I play Atlantis or Aquaman. But…they allowed transporters, and I wanted to try out the new Atlantis ATA.

AN Aquaman 106
BD Aquaman 105
V Icons Aquaman 71
JL Starro Aquaman 70
JL Aquaman 68
E Icons Aquaman 56
V HT Aquaman 41
R Icons Aquaman 39
R HT Aquaman 27
+ Atlantis ATA 16
=599 points.

But I was under the impression that feats and BFCs were banned this tournament. Upon learning they weren’t, I dropped the ATA and added Submerged to E Icons Aquaman and Armor Piercing to the Brightest Day version for an actual final cost of 598 points.

I chose the Aruna Temple map, which is about 60% water. My opponent’s largely ranged team of WS Bullseye, AN Green Arrow, AN Deadshot, Barry Allen, Lt. Marcus Stone and about a half-dozen PD generics stayed way on the other side, forcing my wide-open Aquamen to take fire on the way there.

No problem; my cheaper Aquamen had deep enough dials to make it to them, tying up the Sharpshooters long enough for the heavier-hitting fishmen to score KOs. Additionally, my fodder took so many attacks to put down that the Undead Sea trait racked up a fair amount of damage, too. I took out Green Arrow, Bullseye, Deadshot and a couple of cops, losing only my HT Rookie and Vet.

Next, I got stuck on the Graveyard against HoT Cap, Green Scar, Gamora, WS Nightcrawler and V Psylocke (Armor Wars) but washed it out with Atlantis Rising. Took a lot more damage in this game and handed out a lot more via the Undead Sea as well, knocking Nightcrawler off his kidnapping clicks.

Keeping Scar and Gamora tied up with HT Vet gave me a shot, but an ill-timed double-target critical hit on E Icons and R HT Aquaman by Cap knocked me out of position, possibly costing me an improbable victory as I was forced to waste bigger attackers on Nightcrawler instead of being able to focus on Green Scar.

It didn’t help that all those attackers couldn’t hit Nighty’s simple 17 DV in five straight attacks.

A final positioning FAIL allowed the otherwise tied-up Gamora to Outwit BD Aquaman just in time for a last-second KO by Green Scar. Also lost Starro, E Icons, R Icons, AN Aquaman for a crushing defeat, only KOing Psylocke. Lesson Learned: Don’t let frustrating dice failures shake me out of decent tactics…such as staying out of Outwitters’ sight!

Final round was on the Bridge map against the new Ares, Warlord and BN Flash times TWO. I perched JL Aquaman on the tower to Perplex everyone, kept my crew in the water so no one could reach them, and did hit & run attacks until I’d wiped them all out. Lost Starro, and R HT.

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With that game, I’ve been pretty much done with Atlantis/Aquaman-centric teams, having run just about every iteration possible. I even got a shot at using the Atlantis ATA. So it appears that my Aqua-holism is cured!

(Until I reacquire one of the Fantastic Forces Sub-Mariner pieces to use the ATA on. …ugh…starting to get the shakes…!)

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One of my favorite things to do in this game is pull out a F.U.N. (Friendly, Useful, Neat-o) team of clones. And with at least one version in the past 5 DC sets, Robin fits the need.

Robin 79 (Crisis veteran)

AKA: "Emo" Robin

The Outwit for this team, Emo Robin is crucial for getting past damage reducers. If necessary, he’s only one push away from Perplex, Willpower and Incap.

Robin 66 (Arkham Asylum)

My repaint.

While Crisis Robin supplies the Outwit, this version provides Perplex to start. Though it seems counterintuitive to use the high-cost figures for support, it’s absolutely worth it.

Robin (The Brave and the Bold)

"Lil'" Robin.

This is one of the front-line attackers. Totally built for close-fighting (as evidenced by  Combat Reflexes and 0 range), Lil’ Robin ties up the enemy for the others.

Robin (Crisis rookie)

Being a Robin without the Bat Ally TA, this one seems a weak link. But on a team this numerous, his Leadership can be key in the early game. And if you put Lunge on him, he suddenly becomes a dangerous puncher with a push or other light damage thanks to his Willpower and SP Flurry. He also draws attacks away from the others, being one of the non-Stealthed targets beyond his first click.

Robin (Batman Alpha)

Pretty long-lived for his cost, this Robin is made for Pounce and is, so equipped, the secret weapon of this team. Even without it, he’s good and consistent and will draw heat away from the really dangerous members of the team.

Robin 22 (Icons starter)

or, ol' Short Pants.

Only there to fill out points, toss an occasional Smoke Cloud and, most importantly, absorb themed team PC tokens. ‘Cause yeah…this is a themed team (Gotham City).

Here’s the team I built:

Robin 79 (Crisis veteran)
Robin 66 (Arkham Asylum)
Robin 43 (The Brave and the Bold) + Lunge 5
Robin 35 (Crisis rookie) + Lunge 5
Robin 30 (Batman Alpha) + Pounce 15
Robin 22 (Icons starter)

= 300 points (25 in feats). For a Modern Age version, I’ll drop the Icons piece and the feats for the 40-point Boy Wonder LE from Crisis:

Boy Wonder (Crisis LE)

This representation of the second and short-lived Robin Jason Todd can either be a Willpowered source of Smoke Cloud or join Damian Robin on the front lines with his Charge.

Look for a future New Comic Day battle report to, well, report on how this team fared. (But not this Wednesday…I have something different planned.) Happy clixing this weekend!

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Formerly called “Wednesday Battle Reports,” the name change represents a shift in how I do these. They just take way too long to read and write. So instead of a play-by-play description of the games, I’m going to follow this basic format:

  • The inspiration of the team
  • The actual build
  • My basic strategy
  • And, per round:
  1. Highlights
  2. Turning Point(s)
  3. MVPs

Hopefully, I can handle this format a bit more easily and you’ll find it smoother reading. Let me know what you think?

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Superfriends

This cartoon, in retrospect, was terribly lame. Heck, Aquaman, now my favorite hero, is still fighting the bad rep he gained from this show nearly FORTY YEARS LATER.
But because he’s my favorite character, when a venue held a scenario requiring that all characters had to appear in an animated series, the original Superfriends line-up was the first to come to mind:

Come on, I don’t care how lame you thought Aquaman was, that sound effect for his power rocked.

Anyway, here’s the team (in order of appearance in the clip):

Man of Steel (Collateral Damage) 200 + Alias 3
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary) 127
Batman & Robin 138 + Lunge 5
Aquaman (DC 75th Anniversary) + Contingency Plan 12
Marvin & Wendy 9
+ Opened Hydrant
+ Eleha’al Vine
+ Generator
= 600 points.

Far from being just mere flavor for the team, the pog Marvin & Wendy were a crucial blocker thanks to two characters with 18 Defend. Their Energy Shield/Deflection then gave them a staggering 20-21 DV at range, protecting my very soft-shelled fighters until they could get into the fight.

First Round I faced young Zach’s Teen Titans: Bart Allen (DC 75th Anniversary), Superboy (DC 75th Anniversary), Donna Troy (DC 75th Anniversary), Beast Boy (DC 75th Anniversary), Robin (Arkham Asylum) and Red Arrow.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Nearly lost the game when I shot Robin instead of punching him with Man of Steel because A) I easily could’ve punched for a one-hit-KO and run back to where I was and B) I should’ve moved him further back so Superboy couldn’t Charge him for 6 clicks, neutering him quite handily.
  • I rolled pretty poorly, and Donna Troy’s PC made it worse. The first 40 minutes of the game I barely hit anything. Fortunately, Wonder Woman’s 18 Defend (and my opponent’s insistence on battling Man of Steel instead of her) kept Man of Steel alive long enough to for my rolls to turn just enough for a comeback.

TURNING POINTS

Hitting Superboy — at LAST! — for enough damage to send him running to Bart Allen for Titans TA healing. That freed Wonder Woman to Charge Donna Troy out of the game. Superboy came back to fight Man of Steel, but that only allowed me to double-team him into KO to seal the win.

MVP

  • Wonder Woman. 18 Defend. Also, her Lasso SP got the penetrating damage on Donna Troy right when I finally needed it.
  • Opened Hydrant. Though I never got to use Aquaman’s “Rise From the Deep” SP with the Hydrant’s water zone (got blasted off those clicks by Starfire), the water kept Red Arrow from making a last-second Running Shot to threaten Man of Steel.

Second Round: Bill ran Doomsday (DC 75th Anniversary), LOSH Cosmic Boy, Phantom Girl, V Batman (Legacy), Mr. Mind and Jason Blood.

HIGHLIGHT

I won map roll and got the BPRD water map. From then on, I proceeded to roll at least one less than what I needed to land any given hit.

TURNING POINT

  • After a failed Hypersonic Speed run, I again failed to move Man of Steel far enough away. Doomsday, having been flown by Cosmic Boy, got a line of fire on Man of Steel to counter my HSS, then tied him down with Phantom Girl — who destroyed both the Generator I was holding and the Vine next to me for good measure.
  • I thought my 200-point character was safe from Doomsday, since Cosmic Boy had no line of fire to TK the monster. I was unaware that Doomsday was feated with Lunge, giving him a free shot after that TK which I would have certainly thwarted by blocking Cos’s line of fire.
  • In the end, I’d lost my whole team, only KOing Batman.

MVP

No one. Wonder Woman missed Jason Blood’s 16 DV with her 11 AV. That’s how bad it was. Not even Contingency Plan helped.
Third Round: James had Batman (Arkham Asylum chase #99), SR Batman(DC 75th Anniversary), Darkseid (Crisis), Ultron (Hammer of Thor) + Nova Blast.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • I made sure that Nova Blast would NOT occur, pushing to Outwit Ultron with Batman & Robin, then beating him with Aquaman’s RFTD. The evil robot never recovered.
  • Also one-shot Watchtower Batman with Man of Steel (having learned from the first round not to waste the chance) and ran him and Marvin & Wendy (who’d survived Bats’ Flurry thanks to Man of Steel’s Defend) to the far end of the map.

TURNING POINT

Darkseid phased in, then pushed to hit Man of Steel hard. To save Supes from a relatively easy KO, I used Aquaman to water-warp and smash blocking terrain to open Batman & Robin’s line of fire to Outwit Darkseid’s Impervious. Marvin & Wendy Flurried Darkseid for 1 (knocking him off Impervious), then Wonder Woman Charged to knock him onto his 16 DV click. That left Darkseid easy pickings for a KO, and my opponent thoroughly conceded at this point.

MVP

Everyone. Seriously, like a good comic book (or Superfriends episode), EVERYBODY got their moments.

FINAL RECORD: 2-1. A very fun team that’s surprisingly effective.

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Been quite a while, eh? Other features took over the site for a while, but now My Custom Mods is back! And it just so happens that this is one of my most ambitious mods of the series yet:

BLACK WIDOW custom

Normally, this is where I put a pic of the original figure — the “Before” shot. But this time, I wasn’t just modifying a sculpt. Instead, I was trying to substitute a whole character, dial, sculpt and all.

THIS is what I want.

Black Widow is a character who’s never been done right in HeroClix. This is what she does:

  1. Wall-crawling and swingline action (Leap/Climb);
  2. Blasting multiple targets, whether via her trademark “Widow’s Bite” bracelets (Incapacitate) or standard firearms, and often on the move (Running Shot);
  3. Good combat values because she’s a spy extraordinaire;
  4. And, because she’s a spy extraordinaire, Stealth;
  5. Preferably all at once, kinda like this spread from Mighty Avengers #1. Or this sequence<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzO9nPS3_4A&feature=related> from Iron Man 2.

Nearly all versions of her are really good at #4 and part of #2, but not #1 and certainly all fail terribly at #3.

Well, it turns out that Gambit (Mutations & Monsters) is quite good at all those things:

  • Running Shot? Check.
  • Stealth? Check.
  • Leap/Climb? Check.
  • Decent Defense Value? Check.
  • All of the above, at the same time? QUADRUPLE-CHECK. 🙂
  • The Energy Explosion fits well (see her multi-barrelled bracelets).
  • His Ranged Combat Expert and Penetrating/Psychic Blast are tougher, but not outside her capabilities, given that she’s a top agent of SHIELD with access to all sorts of weaponry and expert with most of it.
  • Quake is the toughest sell, but she’s a great martial artist. There’s plenty of precedent for this power on such types.

So the lithe Russian gal I've coveted all this time is a really a dude with permanent 5:00 shadow? ...When did HeroClix start mimicking my personal life? ...Wait. Did I just type that out loud? OMG...

Anyway, I decided to replace his sculpt with Black Widow.

However.

Not only did I not want to dismantle my actual Black Widow (if I even had one at the time), but since this was going to be an unofficial version, I wanted to mod an entirely different sculpt to match.

Sharon Carter filled the bill.

So here’s what I did:

  • Removed GAMBIT figure from base.
  • Removed SHARON CARTER figure from her base and glued it to GAMBIT’s.
  • Repainted SHARON CARTER’s white clothes with glossy black enamel.
  • Repainted blonde hair with red acrylics.
  • Painted on silver bracelets and belt (with red detail).

Completed late-2009. But more than a year later, I’ve still not played her in a game.

(Maybe it’s because I know that “she” is really a “he.” Just like…oh, I almost did it again.)

NEXT WEEK: Another white girl going black…sort of…

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I’ve never done one of these lists before for this site (or on my previous one, Pojo.com). I tend to be a glass-half-full type who can find a solid use out of any piece.

But…y’know. Sometimes a piece is just bad. It might do something neat, but requires so much extra support or such situational serendipity that it might as well be wasted points.

Here we go, then…the worst of the mediocre.

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#10: Max Mercury (The Brave and the Bold #023)

Look! I'm running with such SPEED I look like I'm standing still!!!

How can a character with Hypersonic Speed, the best standard power in the game, make a “worst of” list? When said character costs over 70 points and only has one click of damage greater than 1. And then gets Perplex…that only affects speed! BARF!!! Sure, he could make Charge figures really good, but he’s spending SEVENTY POINTS to do that and little else. Hell to the no. Probably my least favorite piece of Brave and Bold, even if he’s not the worst.

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#9: The Burglar (Web of Spider-Man #105)

Unforgettably bad.

His hyped-up AV and damage against cheaper characters is only good against pogs and, oh, about 5 characters in Modern Age games. And they’ll all be in the backfield where he’ll never get to without concerted effort on your part. Wouldn’t you rather be, y’know, trying to win the game? Keep The Burglar locked up.

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#8: Ocean Master (DC 75th Anniversary #027)

He’s not a master of much of anything but sucking. His 3 range is almost worthless and his SP stands a 33% chance of both not cracking Invulnerability and causing him unavoidable damage. If he’s caught without water terrain, his Probability Control — the only reason to play him — dries up like a beached jellyfish. Give him about as wide a berth as you would that thing while on your vacation.

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#7: Clark Kent (The Brave and the Bold #002)

For a guy who’s secretly Superman, he’s sure sorry. Nearly 50 points for a little bit of Toughness and Perplex? Not hot. Even if he somehow survives to switch to AE Superman, he’s only got one click of Charge (so no pushing to switch) and only 3 clicks of life.

He should have Superman Ally TA at least…x-ray vision is the one power he can and does use inconspicuously as Clark Kent and it’d almost make him worth the price. As he is, though, he’s a hack.

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#6: Extant (The Brave and the Bold #037)

At first he looks like every generic army’s nightmare with his SP that hits them all at once. Then you realize the horrible truth.

  • It doesn’t show until his 3rd click…
  • …which you’ll never see willingly because A) he doesn’t push (both due to Quintessence and the fact that his 10 AV is then history)…
  • …and B) is likely to get hit past (thanks, no damage reduction!)
  • …and will probably miss the target anyway as he’s swinging with 8 or even 7 AV.

He’s a little hard to hit (at first) and has solid 10 range and a lot of 3 damage, yes. All that goes for pieces wayyyyy under his 169 points. Extant need not exist in your team-building plans.

Yesssss.

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#5: Quentin Turnbull (Jonah Hex #003)

Hard to use Mastermind when you’re only 40 points with a 14 DV. I mean, the peons are likely to have a higher DV, and yet you’re making it easier for opponents to KO them! Perplex and Outwit can be had cheaper…especially with the latter buried on click 3 of his 4-click life.

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#4: Knot Top Leader (Watchmen #016)

Maybe if there were, oh, I don’t know…more than ONE WHOLE OTHER FIGURE IN THE GAME that benefitted from his having the Knot Top keyword and higher cost, this waste of 37 points (which, again, you’ll only ever play because you want to use one or more copies of that one whole other figure in the game) might not be among the worst figures of the year. But there isn’t, and so he is.

I don't even have anything cute to say here.

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#3 Bruce Wayne (The Brave and the Bold #101)

Did I say it was hard to use Mastermind on a 40-point piece? Try 33 points! I suppose one could get some short-range Mind Control use out of him if you made sure he had some pogs to shuffle attacks off to. Otherwise, leave this playboy passed out in the hotel room where he belongs.

It's full of money...MONOPOLY MONEY.

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#2 Mary Jane Watson (Web of Spider-Man #030)

IF you’re playing a Spider-Man, she can be a Willpower’d wild card. That means spending a minimum of 50 extra points in Modern Age just to make her worth considering. If you want a themed team you’ll have to go up to 90 points to field Brick Spidey.

That’s not hitting the jackpot, BTW.

15 points of a pointless HeroClix figure just to say she’s been made into a figure. Let’s never do this again, OK, WizKids?

...even if it IS a fantastic figure ^ (if you catch my drift.)

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And Heroclixin’s number one worst HeroClix figure of 2010 is:

Spider-Man (Web of Spider-Man #100)

At first, Brick Spidey looks OK, with a neat SP and an even better trait. Then you realize that huge 4-square base ruins him utterly, making him too big a target for enemies, restricting his attack abilities via his Transporter Move And Attack, and generally offering him no benefit whatsoever. AND he dies from just 6 clicks? He’s a brick, all right…a brick of FECES!!!

Um, actually? We're STILL laughing at you.

That does it for the Top Tens of 2010. Hopefully, we’ll all be around next January to recount the most memorable ‘Clix of 2011 (and the recently revealed Magneto already looks like a lock for Heroclixin’s list, let me tell you)!

I’m going to take a short break from posts (I think) and will be back Monday with resumption of My Custom Mods series! Til then, happy clixin’!

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Continuing the countdown of my Ten FAVORITE pieces released in 2010:

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#6 are those eternal super-buddies…

Super Buddies are better than the slackers they appear to be.

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold (The Brave and The Bold #052)

WHY I WANT TO PLAY THEM EVERY WEEK:
It’s Blue and Gold! The funnest duo in comics, bar none, hearkening to a more innocent time in comics, when the body count wasn’t so relentless.

I DONT PLAY THEM EVERY WEEK BECAUSE:
As with Cookie Manhunter yesterday, I don’t consider JLI that often. And also like him, Booster and Beetle are so essential to the theme — both in spirit and in playability, thanks to one of their SPs — that I simply won’t play it without them.

I’M PLAYING THEM AGAIN:
On the next JLI team. I also need to consider them the next time I play a duo, as their Super Buddies SP benefits the double-fisted ability.

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5 is his royal majesty, monarch of Planet X…

"I AM GROOT!!!"

Groot!!

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK:

HE IS GROOT!
(Translation: I love the Guardians of the Galaxy, as a simple term search of this blog will reveal. He’s literally the biggest member and the last to be made. He’s powerful and effective and great fun to play shouting his trademark “I AM GROOT” catchphrase with his every action.)

I DON’T PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK BECAUSE:
HE IS GROOT!!!!
(Translation: His point value throws off the Guardians’ build totals on many point levels, especially in Modern Age with the new — and, IMO, essential — Alternate Team Ability. And I really hate to leave characters off simply to make room for Groot, or vice versa.)

I’M PLAYING HIM AGAIN BECAUSE:
HE IS GROOT!!!!!!
(Translation: I’ll fit him onto smaller — or larger — GotG builds anyway, as well as Ruler and Monster teams.)

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Tomorrow: Two more ridiculous Spider-Man-related pieces from my youth.