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

Patriot

Once a surprise hit of a team, the Young Avengers are rather thinned out these days, and Patriot’s actually left the team. He and his crew are a decent cautionary tale in HeroClix for “too much, too soon.” We got them too early in both their careers and in the Special Powers era of ‘Clix. The quintet introduced in 2007’s Avengers set are all underpowered and barely playable:

• Giant-girl Stature is both in the wrong costume and lacks even the basic giant-size brick powers of damage reduction (ANY!) and her AV is possibly the worst overall in the game for 50 points. She does have some use as a giant taxi and Plasticity-boosted tie-up, and her dial is long.
• Iron Lad is a design fail, too. While his AV is appropriately low, he ought to have much better damage numbers. That said, Invulnerability + Shape Change is a decent defense.
• Hulking is a hulking mass of powers wasted on horrid combat values. But the Invulnerability + Shape Change is even better on him, allowing him to soak a lot of attacks, and he can deal a lot of damage.
• His BF Wiccan is the useful one — Enhancement super-taxi that pushes to Prob Control (and how they need it) and Support) — but like his mom Scarlet Witch, he’s underpowered.

It’s  their leader Patriot who’s the most in need of a redo, though. His dial is a hot mess like the others’ but, as I’ve recounted above, each of them still brings a strength to the team.

Patriot?

He starts with Battle Fury, representing his short-lived addiction to the Mutant Growth Hormone drug to give himself powers. But the enhanced battle ability is nowhere apparent in the 8 Attack. Moreover, Energy Shield/Deflection on a 15 DV for a character with no range is unfortunate. He can’t even be carried to serve as a meatshield by any of the taxis. He has a single solid click in #2, with improved stats across the board — well, except for damage slipping from 3 to 2. The Leadership he gets is wasted on a team full of free-moving Avengers who also all cost more than him. His DV slides from a good 17 Toughness to a crap 15 and lower to 12 Combat Reflexes…blech.

So, to recap: he’s poor at tie-up. No range. Can’t be carried. Leadership too low. Short-lived with poor DV. Good at nothing, really.

By the end of the initial Young Avengers series, he’s gotten a transfusion of the Super Soldier Serum from his grandfather (Captain America (Secret Invasion 019)) and he’s a much more capable hero.

In fact, a dial a lot like his grandpa’s would be ideal. Toughness from the shield, Charge and Flurry for the fighting skill (the long run of 9 AV being solid, too), some Willpower later with the DV to make it work, and, most of all, some Leadership up front — perhaps a SP version that works better with Young Avengers, to make them the force they can be, and finish the job that Secret Invasion’s Hawkeye started (and to build on what upcoming member Speed in Chaos War may bring to the team).

Bettering the Young Avengers. It’s a worthy goal and is why Patriot is Heroclixin’s #4 Needed Remake.

Captain Cold

I mean, Weather Wiz is a bit of a terror in the comics, and none of the others are pushovers, either. Yet all of them hold a healthy respect for Captain Cold, and it’s time he got a dial that shows why he’s the unquestioned, if unofficial, leader of the Rogues.

• Leadership is a must. A boosted version for Rogues would be key.
• He’s got to have the usual ice powers — Incapacitate, Barrier — but they need to be juiced somehow, or made cheaper. There are plenty of example Special Powers that could be lifted and applied to Mr. Snart here (such as Icicle (Justice League)’s “Copsicles” SP). If WizKids would just go ahead and make Incap worth its points by using my suggestion — that an Incapped character can’t make free actions — it’d be fine. But since they haven’t, maybe Cold should get the first shot at the Incap upgrade. Running Shot is also a must — and it’d be neat if he could use Barrier instead of shooting with it.
• A representation of his “cold field,” a subtle use of his freeze gun that slows molecular movement (including the Flash’s super speed) that could make him a silver bullet to moving attack powers similar to Star Boy or Harry Leland. But it should to be connected to an action instead of being a passive power.
• Finally, he needs excellent combat values. As he’s said, he’s a fellow who tangles with a guy who moves close to the speed of light. Normal-reflexed characters shouldn’t stand much of a chance.

He doesn’t play too well with non-Rogues, so it’s the only keyword he’d need. And no team symbol would save points for all the costly powers he needs to hover around 100 points. A Captain Cold that chills opponents’ hearts across the table is Heroclixin’s #3 Most Needed Remake.

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Next are a pair that sorta proxy for their whole crew but happen to be the one most in need of remake for one reason or another.

Chameleon Boy

The Legion of Super-Heroes roster somewhat resists calls for remakes, in that there are so many Legionnaires yet to be made at all (Ferro Lad, White Witch, Blok, Quislet, Chemical King, Comet Queen, to name just a few)!

Still, there have been a number of misfires on the team described as “The Justice League of the future.” The three founders — Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl — were little more than one-trick-pony wildcards in the set they appeared in, Cosmic Justice. That unfortunate trend extended to the next DC set, Unleashed, and its key Legionnaire representative, Chameleon.

Chameleon is a Durlan, an alien race of shapeshifters like Skrulls but even better at it. Cham is one of the most powerful and deserves a dial with the following abilities:

• Shape Change, and a lot of it. Preferably, he’d have a double dip of it like many Skrulls do. Better yet, he ought to have a version that’s not actually called Shape Change to make him a minor silver bullet to Battle Fury and WoS Bullseye. 🙂 Another idea: When targeted by the same character since last turn, he gets a +1 to one of his quasi-Shape Change rolls.
• Chameleon Boy can transform to hulking brontopoids or miniscule alien insects. It’d be nice to see his extreme shapeshifting powers reflected in an ability to pick Great Size or Tiny Size for a round.
• In fact, it might be interesting to see a new Cham with a “pick-the-click-you-want” ability like Xavin (Galactic Guardians 022). In any case, he ought to have a rainbow dial or one loaded with Special Powers to represent his extreme adaptability.

As leader of the Legion Espionage Squad, Cham would have the Spy keyword in addition to the usual Future, Legion of Super-Heroes, and maybe Teen keywords. He’s the #6 most-needed remake.

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It’s not just Marvel and DC where remakes are needed. In fact, just about EVERY Indy character could stand to have a new dial, as they have not aged well at all.

But truth be told, a majority of the Indy set characters aren’t even in print any more. CrossGen, 2000 A.D., Danger Girls are all in limbo to various degrees and reasons.

But one Indy line has continued for a good long run and could use a massive upgrade:

Invincible

The Mark Grayson we got back in 2007 was quite decent for the time and point in the rookie hero’s career. He was a lite Hypersonic brick who couldn’t put up much of a real fight against his much more powerful and seasoned dad, Omni-Man.

But now, Invincible has tangled with world-beaters on the same level as his father and come out on top (though always, ALWAYS the worse for wear). So Invincible deserves a proper upgrade around 200 points, with the following key design points:

• A full-speed Charge rather than top-dial Hypersonic Speed. Better to bury the latter a few clicks in, IMO.
• Battle Fury. It’s in his blood.

Of course, it wouldn’t make any sense to just redo ‘Vince when there’s a whole vibrant universe of great characters to share a set with. Whether a six- or seven-piece Fast Forces or a full-blown 60-figure set, Invincible ought to have friends (and foes). He’s the #5 most needed remake in Heroclixin’s book.

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Tomorrow, two more who top the list of characters in their keyword needing another look.

Next round, goes to characters who’ve gotten some useful versions, but have evolved well past their  do-one-thing-well origins. Again, one from each of the Big Two:

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Captain Atom

The Legacy versions did one thing well: Running Shot while being Impervious. Just like, y’know, several other dials in the game. But that’s not what makes Captain Atom unique. In addition to being a flying, blasting machine, he has the ability to absorb the energy of, say, a detonating nuclear bomb, then later release it in a self-detonation of his own that tends to fling him through time. (There was a sort-of version of him as a villain, Monarch (Crisis 043), but the less said of that, the better.)

So give him a Trait that reflects that, something like this:

When Captain Atom is hit with Pulse Wave, or takes 3 or greater damage from a ranged attack, roll a d6 and subtract the damage he’d take from the result and put that many Detonation tokens on his card. At the beginning of each turn, remove a Detonation token; when the last is removed, he must immediately use Pulse Wave as a free action and is removed from the battlefield. Replace each of the Detonation tokens and place him on his card and remove a token at the end of each round. When the last token is removed, place him in his starting area. If the game ends before he returns, victory points are scored by the opponent.

Short version: When he takes a big blast, he explodes with the excess energy and is transported to the future.

Needed keywords: Justice League International, Soldier, Super Buddies. Because he’s a mainstay of those named keywords in particular and has never quite gotten a dial that really nails him, he’s Heroclixin’s #8 Most Needed Remake.

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Scarlet Witch

I had a nice long treatise written on how Scarlet Witch deserves to be more than a cheapo boot speed Probability Control specialist that might be able to toss up a Barrier sometimes. I also wrote about how powerful a flying, reality-warping Switchie would be… too powerful, probably, for the game even in today’s power creep leap atmosphere. I mean, how do you balance a character who can say a sentence and permanently counter a whole keyword?

Anyway, it was a great entry, until WordPress “No more mutants’d” it and it was lost forever. 🙁

Hence, this short version.

The Scarlet Witch we need is still a Prob specialist, but with a bit more offensive focus. Her version of PC should only work on enemies’ rolls, and when she forces a miss, she can counter a power or ability the attacker used during the action, including team abilities (and regardless of team abilities).

That accurately reflects her “hex-bolts” or “chaos magic” more than basic PC. Meanwhile, solid range and offensive numbers (at least 10 AV and 3 damage at range) should suffice for her skills on the battlefield.

Because this longtime Avenger needs a definitive version, she’s Heroclixin’s #7 Most Needed Remake. Maybe the soon-to-release Chaos War version(s?) will do justice to Marvel’s biggest sometime-chaos magician?

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Tomorrow and Thursday, the countdown moves to characters that sorta proxy for their whole crew but happen to be the one most in need of remake for one reason or another.

These are characters that have at least one full dial (not counting bystanders) in the game but are somehow inadequate and need to be redone, STAT. We’re starting with a pair from both mainstream universes that have some dials that are playable, but are woefully outdated both power-wise and character/keyword/teamwise.

Moon Knight

The white-clad nocturnal crimefighter has gotten a pair of lightweight renditions (REV in Critical Mass and an Uncommon in 2007’s Avengers) that don’t properly represent his “Marvel’s Batman if he had Super Strength and was insane, sometimes” level of ability.  The 2007 Avengers version made a go at it, but severely failed due to a poorly written, three-fold Special Power that can only be 2/3 used. (He can use Close and Ranged Combat Expert or self-Perplex but takes a click of damage right after. The trouble is that Perplex’s effects go away after taking damage, so he could never — EVER! — use his Perplex.)

Moon Knight’s profile has also risen a little bit in the Marvel U. since his last clix incarnation, having helmed a pair of solo series and won a place in the Secret Avengers. So since his erroneous SP was never given an errata and he needs the Avengers keyword proper, Moon Knight is Heroclixin’s #10 Most Needed Remake.

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Power Girl

“Peegee” had a decent-for-the-time trio of versions made in 2005’s Legacy set, with the Vet starting with Charge, Quake and Impervious for  just 120 points. But like most every figure of the time as well, she dropped fast, sinking to sad lows by mid-dial. What good is Super Strength’s appearance with Attack Values of just 8 and 7 and no Charge or anything and utter dependence on the Justice Society team ability to prop up defenses of 15, 14 and 13?

2010’s Brave and the Bold set brought us a much beefier Power Girl at 199 points, sporting the same JSA team ability as the older REV (but with better DVs), the appearance of Hypersonic Speed, nonstop, uncounterable Super Strength and a nifty Special Power granting Exploit Weakness against non-Robot, non-Willpowered foes.

But in the end, this Power Girl is still not right.

• Her Attack Values are almost exactly as bad as her Legacy incarnation. How does that happen in this stage of the game? She’s the most expensive Modern figure in the game to have a click of 7 AV on her dial — one of just nine costing 150 or more points — and one of the only three that have 2 clicks of it. The other two are human Ms. Marvel and Psycho-Man, both of Secret Invasion and costing 31 and 48 points less, respectively.
• Her Super Strength trait had to be added via errata. Though I don’t doubt it’s built into her cost — how else to explain it? — one wonders if some of those points are again wasted on her inability to hit many targets literally half her weight class for literally half her dial.
• Where’s the range? She’s a Kryptonian, with the heat-ray optics to match. I know she likes to tangle in close, but it’d be nice to have the option.

Add to it all her poor sculpt, which totally fails to capture the spirit of the cover art that inspired it, and you have a character who deserves much better. Let’s hope there’s a shot at the classic, pre-New-52 version of Power Girl, Heroclixin’s #9 Most Needed Remake.

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Next round, goes to characters who’ve gotten some useful versions, but have evolved well past their  do-one-thing-well origins.