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

No. 4

Superior Spider-Man [Deadpool 060]

Wait, WHAT? Why him? Especially since he also made an appearance on the Worst of 2014 list?

“Because he is a superior Spider-Man, you dolts! How many OTHER Spider-Man figures start with two clicks of Outwit? Only this one, which has actually bothered to earn its doctorate. Or can’t have their damage dealt reduced below 1 without the benefit of Precision Strike? Only THIS Spider-Man, which shall brook no interference from milksop morality in achieving its superior goals. Or can use their genius to bring in Spider-Bots to increase their capabilities even more?

“Only this Spider-Man. NONE OTHER. And you would do well to appreciate this fact. With additions of Indomitable and Improved Movement: Elevation and Hindering, he can be extremely effective when played with the intelligence required for superiority.

“The mechanical minions in particular are an essential component to this Spider-Man’s plan of attack. Attaching the Mark 1 model enhances his dial-long Super Senses +1 for each and the Mark 2 increases his Outwit range from the usual 6 to a superior 8 — the greatest that any Spider-Man can boast!”

(And you can certainly detect the glee with which I role-play as the super-villain-turned-hero arrogance.)

“Truly. SUPERIOR.”

So why isn’t he “superior” enough to be on the map every week?

“You dare cast aspersions upon this figure? Well, in the interest of dispassionate scientific analysis, we shall be frank — he doesn’t work as well as a character of his cost should. We covered this in the “10 Worst” entry — were you not being even minimally attentive, imbeciles?

“The deeper truth is that we don’t find it particularly pleasant to run him on the best keyword theme for him: Avengers. And again, he’s quite unwieldy for Scientist teams.

“Neither are worthy of him!!!”

What WILL be worthy?

One day he will find the right combination of Spider-Bots and Toyman and his toys to dominate with Tiny Size minion shenanigans. And we fully expect, with this spring and summer’s Avenger-related releases, that we may be able to run a Mighty Avengers team with him.

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No. 3

Angel [Days of Future Past 005]

He’s a longtime favorite, ever since the X-Men guest-starred in that one Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode where an alternately well-spoken and snarling Juggernaut tried to kill Professor X. And yes, I’ve always preferred Warren Worthington III’s natural self to the metal-winged version.

He also makes X-Men teams so much more playable, and F.U.N. for me in a way that X-Men teams usually aren’t. He’s Friendly, being just Angel, after all, the guy who flies. But he brings oh-so-much Utility to teams:

• Allowing X-Men to use Defenders TA and vice versa.
• Functioning as a taxi with Sidestep.
• Improved Movement Charge making him a backup attacker.
• Pushing to Perplex on clicks 2-3.

He’s a most Nifty version of Angel that’s the first piece I reach for when running X-Men or Celebrity teams, and those will be the next teams I play him on.

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Next: Favorite pieces of the year.

No. 6

Nova Corps Officer [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie 004]

I like the Nova Corps. But it’s got a problem or two.

The lower-point members get to use Defend to act as decent meat shields for bigger Novas. They also get to power-action off tokens from Nova Prime. The Centurion carries fellow Novas, can get a +1 damage from adjacent Novas and pushes right to Enhancement.

There’s a LOT of adjacency going on with Nova Corps.

But…

There’s also a lot of Ranged Combat Expert going on, which means a lot of stationary shots. And with the mediocre AVs in the Corps, they REEEEALLY need the boost from their errata’d Share the Worldmind +1 RCE:

“The first sentence of Share Through the Worldmind reads: “Friendly characters with the Nova Corps keyword can use Ranged Combat Expert, but using it modifies their damage value or attack value only by +1.”

Also lacking Willpower means it’s hard to get clear lines of fire to enemies.

Nova Corps Officer addresses all this by granting Improved Targeting: Friendly Characters to the Nova Corps via his STW trait. And just like that, the team’s playability leapt a fair amount…so much so that one wants to just keep him safe in the starting area.

But that’s a bad idea, because he brings a little more much-needed Running Shot (remember that mobility issue) and Enhancement and Police TA to help those ranged shots hit. That last bit really works well with the trait.

I’ll never, never, never play a Nova Corps team without this Officer.

But…

So much of the Nova Corps is retired, and the AVs are weak by modern standards. So it’s not a team I break out very often at all.

Still…

I’ll never, never, never play a Nova Corps team without this Officer. And I’ll run the team again as soon as I can get an Irani Rael to see how SHE works with the keyword.

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No. 5

[tie]

Wildfire [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 021]
Timber Wolf [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 013]
Chameleon Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 031]
Triplicate Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 206]

“A FOUR-WAY TIE, Heroclixin’? You’re not even trying.”

I know, I know. (You’ll note that we didn’t call it the “Top Ten” this year.) But really, I did try to only have one Legionnaire on the Top Ten. In an earlier draft, Triplicate Girl was the lone Legionnaire on the entire list, being the most obviously F.U.N. Legion fig and carving a slot early in the year.

A funny thing happened, though. As the year wore on and I considered Legion teams, other figures began to clamor for a spot on EVERY Legion team I built. And these names consistently rose to the top as must-plays on Legion teams — even MORE so than Triplicate Girl, the original fave from the set! In the end, these others, which individually weren’t enough to carve solo spots on the list, collectively dragged Trip into this catch-all slot.

So why do I want to run them whenever I want to field a Legion team…but don’t?

Wildfire is the first high-point Legion member I think about running on a LSH team. He fits their futuristic flavor better than the more teamworthy Heroclixin’ Top Ten piece Superboy. He’s also nigh-unkillable with not one, but TWO “stop” clicks that double as armor and SP Regen. BUT…he’s the most expensive Legionnaire (180) in Modern Age to not have Indomitable. He’s also wasting some points if not paired with a Dawnstar.

Timber Wolf, OTOH, is Indomitable and awesome. Love his late dial Regen that works automatically when he’s fighting.  BUT…he’s a little soft and a little short-lived and a tad pricey (97).

Chameleon Girl’s size and shape shiftings make her a nice little swissblade that I’m always a little sad I can’t fit onto every Legion force. BUT…I don’t like running her without her man, Colossal Boy, who missed making the list. Her 115 cost and his 150-plus make it a problem.

Triplicate Girl: Such a neat bystander mechanic. Her single-digit AV keeps her from being too unFriendly under normal circumstances. BUT…it’s also her big problem. I need more for 87 points without having to add stupid resources…or her terrible 71-point sister from the main set who’s made a fair degree less terrible when played along with her.

And, of course, because the Legion is sooooo huge, I never get the chance to run as many as I’d really like, so I often don’t run any at all.

Fine, then. So when will they hit the board again?

Outside of the Legion, who knows? Because as many ties as the No. 5 slot wound up having, I could have easily added Shadow Lass, the aforementioned Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy [SLOSH 201] and Sensor Girl — and almost did. Even as I’m writing this, I want to sneak on Polar Boy and XS and Gates, too…I better stop now.

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Next: A character that appeared on one of the other Top Ten lists.

2014’s movie-based sets delivered two of our favorite pieces, including:

Black Widow [Captain America: The Winter Soldier 003]

Why she sneaks onto the list:

Duh, she’s Black Widow, one of my favorite Marvel femmes. (The current comic starring her is excellent.) This version is the one Heroclixin’ likes best because

• She’s got the trifecta of 1) Stealth, 2) move+attack options and 3) ability to ignore hindering terrain that a Black Widow figure should always have. She’s actually the FIRST to get this.
• The Espionage trait is pure F.U.N.: She takes from the enemy’s Themed Team Probability Control pool instead of her team’s and she doesn’t get an action token for using TTPC.

But there’s red in her ledger:

At 114, she’s heavy for her shortish dial and really, really short range. She almost HAS to be run with SHIELD to get that 3 up to anything decent.

Her next mission:

She’s a fixture on one of Heroclixin’s very favorite theme teams, Secret Avengers as originally written by Ed Brubaker. And she’s a natural with her other “Espionage” trait-mates: Agent 13, Nick Fury, and Captain America 001, all from the Winter Soldier set.

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Drax The Destroyer [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie 013]

Heroclixin’ readers know we’re big fans of Guardians of the Galaxy here. Yet only this one makes the Top Ten of 2014.

Why? Why THIS Drax? Well, we need only to look back at Heroclixin’s F.U.N. Focus on the Guardians from late summer:

“… he’s got serious pros: Charge+Flurry+Precision Strike as an early combo. Later, a SP packages Close Combat Expert+Combat Reflexes. And then there are his stop clicks — yes, CLICKS — with Regeneration (free if he has any action tokens). Granted, these clicks aren’t guaranteed stop clicks: they only work on a 5-6 roll. But he’s got three of them and he gets to roll for each one. We like those odds. HEROCLIXIN’S TAKE: Our first choice as for the Drax role in ANY Guardians team.”

He has the best mix of capability and affordable point cost of all the Drax versions in the game. And he’s F.U.N.: The Battle Fury, Toughness and lack of Willpower hold him back from being just grossly good for the points [Friendly] but he’s still a fearsome, hard to KO melee specialist [Useful] that’s a staple member of the GotG [Nerdcore].

Next seen on:

Guardians teams, of course. He won’t make all of them, but he’ll be on many of them.

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Next installment: A legion of corpsmen. Or is a corps of legionnaires?

No. 10

Swamp Thing [War of Light 053]

Overall, I was not a big fan of War of Light because I’m about as not a fan of Green Lantern as you’ll find. I don’t dislike the Lanterns; I’m just aggressively indifferent to them. But the set still delivered a surprise hit in Swampy here.

Why him? He’s so F.U.N. Starting with just 10 AV, he’s Friendly despite both a very Useful moving attack ability and a Special Power offering him his choice of TK, Barrier, EE or Shape Change. There’s also the Niftyness of having another Swamp Thing in the game after a number of years.

Why I consider running him weekly: I don’t really. At 150, he’s just a bit too heavy to field, and his one keyword, White Lantern Corps, isn’t one I’m likely to play. It’s a bit of a miracle that he makes the list at all.

He’s fielded next: On any White Lantern Corps team I play or I’m not playing it.

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The next on the list is also from War of Light, but fights for the black instead the white:

No. 9

Aquaman [War of Light 029]

Why it’s a favorite that I want to play: It’s Aquaman, and a never-before-made variant of the Sea King, so there’s that. But aside from that?

It’s all about those Undead Sharks. Man, what a F.U.N. idea! — Friendly due to their once-per-game / one-per-foe restriction and inability to live beyond turn’s end, Useful for the extra actions and attackers they offer, and Nifty, of course — they’re frickin’ SHARKS!

Why I don’t play it all the time: It’s a rare Aquaman lacking the Atlantis keyword, so he breaks the usual teams that a swimmer like him belongs to. He actually needs map choice to best sic his Sharks on foes.

When and how I’m planning to play it next: Though I’m not a fan of Monster teams, necessarily, it might be awesome to team him up in Golden/Silver games with the Kaijus from Pacific Rim. Barring that, he’ll be a force on the next all-Aquaman team I field.

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Next are a couple of 2014 movie stars.

The Top Ten list is done. So is the slog through the 10 WORST. Now it’s time to close out the look back with our favorites!

Typically, I intro this annual feature with a look back at a figure that came out too late in the previous year to play much that later emerged as a favorite. But there was nothing that fit the bill from the November and December sets that didn’t make the 2013 Faves list proper.

So I looked back further. And not one, but three lady figs emerged as clear late-blooming favorites in 2014:

Mirage [Wolverine and the X-Men 004], Magik [Wolverine and the X-Men 034]  and Magma [Wolverine and the X-Men 073]

When I run the New Mutants, these three have to be on the team or I don’t play the theme at all. Each is F.U.N. to the max:

FRIENDLY — None are very mean (though Magik’s Mystics TA and Magma’s superPoison both push that threshold a bit)

USEFUL — Both Mirage and Magma make good use of Sidestep. And ultra-taxi/attacker Magik definitely maxes out this portion of the acrostic

NIFTY — Mirage fits my Archery and Valkyrie theme teams, Magik is my favorite of the New Mutants characters, and Magma is just neat to play.

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It’s not the last time in 2014 that a crowd made enough of an impression to make what’s called the “Top Ten” but will actually contain a good deal more with ties and whatnot. Hang out the rest of the week to see how things shook out!

No. 2

Kryb [War of Light 039]

IF you can totally block lines of fire to her, you can use her to run up to a 100-or-lower cost foe and snatch it and take a shot at it. Hope it works, because it’s almost certainly the only chance she’s getting. Without Willpower and having just the sole click of 17 Impervious, she’s not doing much else. Beyond that first slot, she’s down to Toughness. Her 5 range is exactly counter to her trait. Sure, she has the SP Perplex that tokens cleared targets under 100 points, but 155 is a lot to spend on this. 

So don’t.

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No. 1

Triplicate Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 006]

Heroclixin’ actually almost overlooked this Legionnaire until hearing her name mentioned as a nominee for worst. And really, she doesn’t seem a candidate because despite her anemic 9 AV, she’s the only fig in the game that can roll three dice in attacks and get an effective +1, +2 or +3 to her DV. And she’s a flying wild card with Willpower and Empower. Not great but not terrible for 71 points. 

But wait…she’s NOT 71 points. She’s really 213. Or 158. Or, at the very cheapest (and in Golden Age only), 141. That’s because she has to be adjacent to TWO other Triplicate Girls (Energy Explosion is her worst nightmare) to use the trait. And suddenly the 71 points she costs seems even LESS economical. 

Why’s she even cost that much with her mostly cheap powers? It’s because of the hefty run of Incapacitate on clicks 2-4…Incap she’ll NEVER USE. Not when she’s got Flurry to use with the double Empower she should have backing her up in Modern Age. Losing the Incap on that dial gets her down to costing less than 60 points, I figure. 

So…

1. Individually, she’s the hands-down worst HeroClix fig of 2014.
2. Collectively, she’s about the most overcosted as a unit.
3. Which crowds her off even the Legion of Super-Heroes teams she belongs on.

Triple trash.

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OK, that’s enough of this look at the losers. Next week, Heroclixin’ wraps up the retrospective with the 10* figs we love.

*(or more)

No. 4

[tie]

Spartoi Elite [Guardians of the Galaxy 011a] and Korath The Pursuer [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie 015e]

Remember STAR Labs Tech and Weasel? A pair of 3-click figs that made it to the Top Ten?

Yeah, these two are 3-click figs that tank, hard.

First, Spartoi Elite. He wants so hard to be an indispensable supporting fig like the above, by having Defend that gives an additional +1 to Shi’ar and Spartoi key worded figs, both of which absolutely LITTER the meta right now. (Wait, they don’t.)

OK, so maybe he can use his Perplex on characters in hindering terrain. Which means he might need to use his Smoke Cloud on himself and pals. But man, you sure better not push him…he’s not long-lived. He’s just too limited to bother using most of any of the time.

Then there’s the bargain version of Korath. He’s a flier with Charge and Toughness and Outwit and 5 range. And that looks kinda OK. But there’s that full run of Incap, and the fact that the warp-to-attackers trait that makes him so good at 100 points is MIA at 50. That Outwit might as well be a bull’s eye on his face, because at only 3 clicks, it’s BYE FELICIA FIFTY POINTS.

No. 3

Tornado Twins [The Flash 036]

• They’re Legionnaires who can’t fly or be carried.
• So they need mobility to gain the vital Speed Tokens that they need.
• Oh look! They only have an 11 Speed with Charge, by far the lowest moving attack swing of all the Speed Force-traited characters in the set.
• Better hope they hit with just a 10 AV, because it might be a while before they get another good shot: They lack the Willpower or Improved Movement to make adding STs a simple task.
• If they DO get a ST, they’re likely to spin off a Tornado to offset the attack disadvantage…remember that lack of Willpower.
• But the Tornado does not grant extra STs.
• Tornado Twins can’t use Duo Attack to get more STs because Duo Attack can’t be used with the moving attacks required to GET the STs.
• And it takes two to four STs to get any of the goods offered by their damage SP…
• …that appears three clicks in. One benefits their Duo Attack (which, we’ve established, doesn’t help at all in the ST matter) and the other, their combat values (which, at 9 AV and 16 DV and 2 damage, need the help a lot).
• Fortunately, there’s a set of stop clicks….that only have a 50% chance of working, along with a 33% chance of taking one more click anyway…and a 15% chance of instant self-KO. But you get to spend STs to redo this single roll. Good thing you were able to save up so many Speed Tokens.
• Oh…wait. That’s the whole problem. You really can’t save up many Speed Tokens.
• THAT’S the way to spend 115 points, don’t you think?

Double down dead duds.

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Next: The two (or more) worst of last year’s clix.

No. 6

Professor X [Days of Future Past 022]

He sees all.

He targets through characters. Through hindering. Over rooftops. Even through WALLS. All at a nice 8 range, good for his Outwit and Perplex SP. He also has a great trait enabling him to get allies out of trouble and back to his side (for possible benefits of Leadership next turn) and his powers can’t be countered or ignored, at least for his early dial.

Yet he’s still one of the worst figs of the year. HOW?!?

• The same SP that gives him Outwit/Perplex/Leadership keeps his stats from being boosted. That’s a problem when
• his damage starts and stays at just 2 or lower until his last click, when his AV slides to 8.
• His DV is also completely bare which is downright dangerous if he’s doing any fighting at all — and, at 150 points, he really ought to be.
• But that 2 damage, though. Even with a full dial of Penetrating/Psychic Blast, it’s just so useless without Willpower or something to increase the frequency at least.

Though it’s an asset, his 8 range is liable to make his trait useless, or vice versa. If he’s near enough the action to affect friends or foes with his powers, he’s too close to evac those pals. If he’s too far away, that’s the rest of the team overextending a good bit.

150 points shouldn’t be an easy KO or sitting way out of the action. But this Prof does both.

Totally gonna happen if you use him.

No. 5

Glorith [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 036]

For the really cheap cost of 83 points, you can field this 5-click character with Probability Control+Perplex and 9-8 AV. That’s TOP TIER, yo, especially since Chaos War Scarlet Witch retired.

<.<

>.>

Nope, no one’s buying. Not even with her Toughness defense. Not with just 16 DV.

She’s spending a lot of points on her wildcard TA and the trait to use Super Senses (which, we’ve established, isn’t the defense it used to be) and to copy a second TA from a fellow Mystical keyword ally.

But those Mysticals are almost always going to only have one TA for her to copy in the first place, and it’s almost always going to be Mystics. She can’t even use this ability on Legion of Super-Heroes teams.

Despite her Phasing and eventual run of Pulse Wave, there’s just no reason to play her over a half-dozen other better, cheaper Mysticals or support figs.

Our words exactly, little girl

No. 8

Controller [War of Light 010]

Starting with Invulnerability and shifting to Invincible, this generic is unusually well-armored for such. Too bad it’s unremarkable in nearly every other manner.

Controller’s worth is all about racking up Sun Eater tokens to blow up in someone’s face. But with

• no moving attack powers
• no Willpower
• and AV under 10 for most of the seven-click dial

it’s going to take forever to land enough successful hits for damage to gain the EIGHT tokens needed. Not unless you run two or more.

But who really wants to double up on this sort of mediocrity for more than 90 points each?

This controller’s busted.

No. 7

Darkhawk [Guardians of the Galaxy 008b]

At first, he looks OK. A flying, Charging 10 AV wild card, maybe a little soft and short-lived at six clicks and 90 points with only Toughness to armor him. Then you look at his trait that can heal him from even his last click all the way back up to click #2 and you see where the points went.

And were wasted.

“BODY SWITCH IN NULL SPACE: Give Darkhawk a free action. When you do, he modifies his defense value by -2 and can use Shape Change, but can’t use any other powers or abilities until your next turn. At the beginning of your next turn, heal him to click #2.”

Suddenly, a fig that, on its last click, had a 17 DV from range and could wild card a TA to help its defensive capabilities is now just 13 DV with Shape Change. He can’t copy team abilities anymore, he can’t fly away anymore, he can’t Perplex his DV. He can’t even get taxied away by a fellow flier, because even though he can’t use his Flight ability, he still has the Wing symbol and thus can’t be carried.

He’s GOING TO BE KILLED before he heals.

Sure, there are going to be some corner cases where this trait will be golden. Defend helps. As does Barrier. Or TK. But for the most part, it’s just bloating his cost from a likely zone of 70 or lower and making him bad.

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Next: Pieces with crippling weaknesses.

No. 10

Superior Spider-Man [Deadpool 060]

With Improved Movement Charge, Super Strength, Outwit and damage that can’t be reduced below 1, this figure doesn’t seem to belong on the worst list, even here as the best of the worst.

But he does. Oh, how he does, for a lot of reasons.

1. He’s more than half your standard team. At 160 points, he’s got to be able to handle the heavy lifting. But as the intro made plain, he’s capable enough here. Or would be, if he weren’t…
2. …so dependent on his Spider-Bots. Attaching a Mark 1 bot boosts his Super Senses rolls, and attaching a Mark 2 model beefs his Outwit range to 8. But A) it takes a power action to attach either — actions he ought to be using for attacks — and B) that’s 10-20 MORE points you risk when fielding him, because…
3. ...his only defense is a dialful of Super Senses. And there’s this little pink attack power that combos with every single method of attacking and ignores SSenses completely. Precision Strike EATS HIS SOUL.

Those Spider-Bots aren’t so hot, either. Both have neat abilities that only work when three or more can swarm a foe. Their 4 Speed and 0 range means that will never happen — not when each is easily destroyed thanks to having just 15 DV. Sure, you could attach two and carry a third via Tiny Size. But the attached ones don’t count toward those three and they can’t DEtach once on. Anyway, it’ll take three turns of sitting around burning power actions to do it, leaving OttoSpidey a sitting duck for that PStrike attack that’s totally coming his way, what with some 250 characters possessing the power.

At 120 points, he’d be fine, I think. But as he is?

NOT Superior.

No. 9

Cheetah [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 017a] and [Legion of Doom Fast Forces 003]

So the main set one’s got this trait that grants +1 to all her stats when she picks a foe to hate. Which would be great if her starting AV, DV and damage weren’t an anemic 9, 16 and 1, respectively.

This also puts the player in a bind. Do you select an opposing character she can kill easily, but then lose the bonuses, or is it better to choose an enemy who’ll be around long enough to make use of the +1s?

Does it matter? Even with the buffs, she’s a decidedly mediocre 5-click fig, even for just 50 points.

Then Heroclixin’ looked at her version in the Fast Forces that released at the same time for the same number of points and wondered why we left her off the list: She has similar stats (pre-boost, mind you) and lack of even the Charge that the other Cheetah at least has. And she loses a click of life because she’s got to make room for the terrible Injustice League team ability.

BAD KITTIES.

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More tomorrow.