Heroclixin' ...it's all about F.U.N.

No. 5

Muhammad Ali [WizKids DP17-004]

The amazing thing about HeroClix is that any character can be made into a figure and this is a key example. “The Greatest” lives up to the name with extra-Precise punches (dealing 2 through defenses rather than 1 on the first half of his dial), team play with Empower and constant Sidestep and Indom. His lack of early armor keeps him from being un-F.U.N. but he lacks a single bad click — back half yields CCE to edge up his waning stats, Flurry to hedge your attack bets and Toughness to help him survive the shots headed his way.

He works best with a Superman (gaining him semi-optional Battle Fury and easier theme team options beyond his Celebrity and Warrior ones), but that’s not my ideal team for him. I’m not sure what IS, exactly, so he’s not higher on my list.

F.U.N. like a butterfly:

Friendly/Fellowship: Not well armored, stats are pretty human

Useful/Utility: But that Precision-plus and Indom, tho.

Nifty/Nerdcore: He’s the Greatest

[tie]

No. 6

Sand [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 060]

So there was a time when I was a JSA completist. Those days are gone but I still harbored dreams of running this team:

Sand was the last one missing for a VERY long time. We almost got him as a result of the first Fan Vote contest WizKids held in 2011. But he was the runner-up behind Big Barda who, even at the time, was a remake of an already clixed character — as far too many of the contestant characters were. Over the ensuing years and subsequent fan vote contests, Sand remained unmade despite the near miss — until now.

The dial is a bit of a disappointment, though, which is why he’s not higher in my top ten. He’s short-lived and fragile with no armor at all. But his interesting form of moving attack (No-cost Force Blast after Phasing) and late-dial Prob Control combine with his very low cost to make him a hidden gem. Neat sculpt, too.

F.U.N. in a sandbox?

Friendly/Fellowship: Sand is soft

Useful/Utility: But Sand gets everywhere to irritate the foe

Nifty/Nerdcore: I like Sand

This green-clad hero winds up sharing space at this spot with another green fellow:

Hulk [Avengers Defenders War 052]

An early candidate for this list, Amadeus Cho here was briefly forgotten in my first draft. (There have been a LOT of figures released since May.) But this is a piece I frequently want to run for its supreme F.U.N. qualities. He’s a bruiser with Perplex and conditional Outwit, making him quite the Utility piece. What also makes him F.U.N. is a focus on punching up instead of down via his “Battling Monsters” trait that drops action tokens from him when he hits a Monster or any foe with 4 damage. But his other trait that heals him when he lands KOs also helps keep him going.

Totally Awesome F.U.N.

Friendly/Fellowship: Not overwhelmingly smashy for a Hulk

Useful/Utility: But still a Hulk. With Perplex and Outwit. And SMASH

Nifty/Nerdcore: Amadeus, Amadeus … oh oh oh Amadeus (Cho)

No. 7

Bat-Knight [WizKids DP17-006]

I was surprised to receive this one in a Secret Santa exchange over at HCRealms.com. It almost immediately became a new favorite. First, I love giants. I like the Utility that is Sidestep with 8 range, giving the Bat-robot a nice 10-square swing. Bat-Stealth, Indom, KC TA, Outwit protection and Precision round out the 60-point package. Even getting hit to late dial only raises the AV from 11 to 12 with a shot at Regen — and double-target Incap.

With all that, it’s hard to want to use its traited Ram ability when there’s so much use out of the rest of the dial. But maybe the multi-hits could be worth it.

F.U.N.bot

Friendly/Fellowship: Damage, armor aren’t the best

Useful/Utility: Only 60 points for so much

Nifty/Nerdcore: Bat-Knight keeps city under control

NEXT: All tied up

No. 8

Uhura [Star Trek: The Original Series 038]

I was not very interested in the Star Trek set. But then I saw this fantastic figure. Not only did I need it for my Black Box collection, the dial looked good and F.U.N. as well.

She starts Stealthy to protect her soft 17 Senses until she can base her foe. If said target is 100 points or less, she can turn off its defense as FREE then vivisect with Blades, possibly with Flurry. She also has the new Mirror Universe team ability: Mystics without being Mystics to get around the occasional immunity to the TA.

How F.U.N. is she?

Friendly/Fellowship: Zero moving attack or Willpower hurt her cause.

Useful/Utility: But nixing defense and Mystics-y and Blade tho.

Nifty/Nerdcore: Uhura in a belly shirt? Sign me up

NEXT: Vision of another dark future

No. 9

Peace Machine [What If 0043]

In addition to being one of our top figures of the year, alternate timeline James Rhodes squeaks onto my list of favorites. Aside from his fitting a couple of themes I collect (black characters, Stark armors), Peace Machine is a figure who very squarely fits my meta play style, which is to plan to get punched in the mouth. PM allows that to happen thanks to his trait limiting to 3 the damage a single strike can do. The Utility of TK, Outwit, Support, 3-range Force Blast and high DV got him onto the top figs list.

Peace Machine, along with 2016 Top Ten pick Jakeem Thunder, Taylor’s No. 3 F.U.N. fig Iron Heart and Captain America [Avengers Defenders War 069] allowed me to at last fulfill a HeroClix dream I’ve had since joining the game back in 2005: to build a top-flight team of nothing but black characters. And for that, he makes my list of top favorites.

Call him F.U.N. Machine cuz:

Friendly/Fellowship: Fewer one-shots is better for everyone

Useful/Utility: C’mon, he was Heroclixin’s No. 8 Top Fig

Nifty/Nerdcore: GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

NEXT: Reflections of … the way she used to be

No. 10

Robin [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 030]

I was thoroughly uninterested in the Thrillkiller subtheme of the Harley Quinn set. But this one eked his way onto my radar. For one thing, I like Robin figures (as far back as 2011). But more than that, I found this dial to be solid as a rock. 11 AV Charge with 3 damage and 18 Reflexes for close combat and Batman Ally with 2 targets for 5 range shooting. There’s also his Thrillkiller ’62 trait that drops tokens off him when attack KOs occur, which can make up somewhat for his lack of Willpower, and his other trait that throws tokens ONTO foes within 6 squares if HE is KO’d. At a cheap 40 points, I don’t mind so much when this triggers.

I will look forward to using him on another all-Robin force and on a meta team.

F.U.N.killer? NO!

Friendly/Fellowship: He’s kind of a throwaway piece

Useful/Utility: So use him with abandon. Or use him for wildcard or whatever

Nifty/Nerdcore: Two gun kid Robin!

NEXT: Nobody dies!

Newbie TBT essentially took care of the F.U.N. list for me this year. I was kind of dreading it because there were so many hundreds of clix released in this 15th Anniversary year of HeroClix. But while some of his picks weren’t exactly what I would have selected, most of them absolutely were, and all of them were spot on.

It’s freed me up to list my favorites — which also happen to be FUN figs as well. (Full disclosure: Both Sceritz and TBT chose figures that would have made my favorite and FUN lists, so I’ve left them off my top 10 for more variation between the three of us.)

As is my custom, I open this look back with an example of an older figure from the previous year that I got too late to count among my favorite then:

Donatello [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Heroes In A Half-Shell 025]

I didn’t get this piece until well into 2017. At 100 points, he’s very much the most expensive version of this character available in the game. But I like him because, similar to Black Panther [Age of Ultron 045] from a few years back, he’s the version that feels most complete. He’s got the mobility (IM:Hindering/Elevated). The Stealth of a ninja, the Toughness of a turtle (both via trait, freeing up those slots for other powers). The range of his bo (3) and the repositioning ability other versions have sported (another trait). And the pit crew powers that we’ve come to expect from the smartest of the quartet: Outwit, Perplex and Support.

But there’s a FUN. catch here: he can only use one per turn, and he’s got to select it at turn’s start. I love the balance.

In sum:

Friendly/Fellowship: 100 points is kind of a lot

Useful/Utility: All sorts of little tricks here tho

Nifty/Nerdcore: Donny is my favorite turtle

So! On to my Top Ten F.U.N. Favorites of 2017 to wrap up our extended look back!

Thor Odinson [The Mighty Thor 049]

“I am Thor, Son of Odin…”

We’ve had a lot of Thors in the past, and many of them filled different roles that always seemed to leave him lacking in some respect. Whether that downfall came in the form of a short dial or lack of sufficient defense, it always bothered me just a little bit. I prefer characters to cost what they are worth.

With that being said, I am hardly upset about this dial being a hefty 175 points for the potential that it brings to the table. It feels almost wrong at this point not to play an him on an Asgardian theme because what he brings to the potential is just that staggering. His dial starts with a 19 Invincible, worthy of a god of thunder and when you think he’s finally down and out, his dial ends with another 19! You aren’t going to be safe with a few good hits. If you’re going after him, you need to go hard.

At the same time, I think his dial is fair. It isn’t exactly easy to build around 175 points in most formats, and you’ll have to make sure you back him up with some pretty decent support. So it’s likely he will be your main attacker. Either that, or you’re going to forgo some of your other utility for the sake of raw aggression with the use of his “Bring the Lightning” for extra attacks or “Restore the Lost Asgardians” to bring in others Asgardians to attack for you.

But here’s the other deal… if you choose to play the long game, as Odinson’s deep dial is surely capable of, then you may have a chance to trade in 8 plot points for “God of Thunder,” which forces opponents to gain two action tokens whenever they would receive action tokens, severely hindering their game. If you can land this with enough time left on the clock, you just might have that match in the bag.

With the ability to deal massive damage, bring other Asgardians into the fray and a dial that make opponents think twice about attacking, I think this is the Thor I was waiting for.

Wiz Kid [Deadpool & X-Force 0059b]

I’ll be honest. Comics-wise, I have very little sentimental for this character. I saw him once in the Inferno storyline that I happened to be reading only because it featured my beloved Illyana Rasputin. What I actually care about is that super Enhancement for 25 points. Do I need say more? He’s a prime, yes. And no, he can’t be carried in most cases because of his Wing symbol and no, he can’t carry others. But he’s bumping adjacent friendly characters’ attack, range and damage up for just those 25 points. There have already been many occasions where this decimated opponents and other than his being a prime and lacking several keywords, he’s not hard to fit on a team at all. In fact, if you don’t have a prime on your non-theme team, go for it.

He starts with 18 defense and Toughness so that at least  he can avoid getting too easily one shotted. But his sweet spot is on click 2: He gains Sidestep. Ever had a good enhancer with Sidestep? It’s like a drug, it’s so good. Given that Enhancement and Empower are my favorite powers in the game, it’s no wonder I’m so excited about what this piece brings to the table.

—————

Doctor Strange, Earth’s Guardian [Avengers Defenders War 051]

Oh hey look how Strange, another Doctor…

It is very hard not to fall in love with most of these title characters. They are built like primes, very cost effective and tend to do things that lend a major helping hand to your team. Doctor Strange, Earth’s Guardian is another of these fascinating pieces. I’ve already droned on about my love for Doctor Strange, but I must say this feels like a very definitive version.

He isn’t built like a primary attacker, but his 7 range with Probability Control and Penetrating/Psychic Blast make him a strong secondary with support features that grant him or his allies an extra bump in damage. When it comes time for the inevitable enemy onslaught, depending on the situation he can spend plot points to give all adjacent friendly characters the Mystics team ability (which he has naturally). I find his utility to be quite pervasive. And there isn’t a bad click on his dial. Personally I prefer to turn in 4 plot points for a super Prob, as that is always useful.

Furthermore, the sculpt is excellent, mimicing the cover of “Doctor Strange: Last Days of Magic.” All-in-all it is one of my favorites of last year, and an easy go-to figure.