Wednesday, December 15, 2010

DC 75th case review


So I got my case of DC 75th today and after school my son and I had a little pack party. I have to say that the claim of getting "at least" one white lantern per brick held true. Two bricks are in a case and we did indeed get two white lanterns. We got White Lantern Wonder Woman and Bart Allen. Not bad. As for the rest of the pulls we got:

COMMONS: All of them, yep, all of the commons nearly twice over. That's good for my son's collection.
Easy Company Soldier x 4
Zamaron
Dominator x 2
Gorilla City Warrior x3
Deadshot
Donna Troy
Ice
Crimson Avenger
Bart Allen
Johnny Quick
Mr. Terrific
The Atom
Green Arrow
Beast Boy with Cheetah and Bear versions

UNCOMMONS: Got all of these too with a few extras nearly completing my son's set once again.
SGT Rock
Queen Aga'Po
Ruling Caste Dominator
Solovar
Warlord
Nightmaster
Osiris
Detective Chimp
Sargon the Sorcerer
Superboy
Ocean Master
Mera
Aquaman
Wonder Woman
Batman
Superman

RARES: Missing a few yet but,
Isis
Animal Man
Captain Comet
Kyle Rayner
Guy Gardner
Saint Walker
Indigo-1
Atrocitus
Larfleeze
Mongul
Scar
John Stewart
Carol Ferris
Ganthet

SUPER RARES: Got seven of them with no duplicates.
Green Lantern
Batman
Hal Jordan
Barry Allen
Doomsday
Wonder Twins
Sinestro

I see three great theme teams in this that are easily built in the 300 to 400 point circuits; All Star Squadron, Teen Titans, and Mystical. Those are pretty much the most flexible and I think strongest teams that can be made from this set. The Animal keyword gets honorable mention thanks to Beast Boy, lots of Gorillas, and Animal Man.

The rest are pretty much power pieces that only fit themes for this set in 400 or better without looking at recent sets that help with filling out. Not to say I'm not impressed with the powers and arrangements in this set because I am. I can get to some opinions on those pieces a bit later right now I'm going to address something else.

Game mechanics do get a "A" because of how many stand alone teams are doable in this set within reasonable points.

Next lets look at the sculpts. There are some great sculpts in this and manufacturing managed not to destroy that on most of them. Unfortunately there are some downright shoddy sculpts too. Take Ice for example. Her face and detail just don't match up to the other pieces. Details aren't as sharp as they were in Web of Spiderman overall. I've seen them change how pieces are made to shave costs in the past and the result is typically a minus in craftsmanship. Carol Ferris has the same problem. Figures that turned out awesome are Doomsday and Sinestro. At least mine were. Zamaron and her Queen counterpart are the absolute worst. You can't even turn her dial without almost twisting the figure off. You have to be too careful.

Fortunately, I had only one or two dials that didn't want to turn and those were of Wonder Woman. she's also a very thin figure and bends too easily. You shouldn't have to try and grasp that moon shaped base they stand on with your knuckles to turn the dial. It's not as easy as it looks. I'm more critical on manufacturing than almost anything because it directly affects how long pieces will last, how well they can handle just being played for that matter. I'm paying top dollar for my game and if I can't count on the piece to hold together it's not worth the money. C- toward a D+ for sculpts and manufacturing. It looks like we pay more for the flashy laminated cards than the figures we twist and tug on and actually play with.

Packaging is my next area of fun and games. The way they keep coming up with extra shapes on figures makes it a real puzzle to get them out of the plastic holders. Yeah, I know, not that big a deal, but still. The plastic holder is built for the ease of packing the figures, not unpacking them. That's for sure. I realize there may not be much of a solution for this, but if they are going to keep getting crazy with the shapes, capes and poses; they may want to think about it. I hate most commercial packaging anyway.

In a final note, while I am happy with my pieces and will play them assuredly, why does Superman look so freaking sad? He looks seriously depressed, people. Just look at him. He looks like he wants to take a giant leap and hug some kryptonite on the way. Even his shoulders are drooping. Oh well. Hope you all enjoy your pulls!

3 comments:

  1. I've been waiting for this review all day. I want to see Isis. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You gots it. I'll bring some with me then.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's important to note, while I poke fun at Superman and mention sculpts, it's important to remember: It's not bad artwork that's the problem with a lot of sculpts. It's the translation from the artwork to manufacturing. Sometimes you just can't be sure how a sculpt will work out when that translation comes into effect. There's definitely some trial and error that comes into play.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.