Superman: Case Review!

Finally, finally, finally, I got my two cases of Superman Heroclix in yesterday. It was so good to finally crack into some boosters and see what awesomeness lie in store for us. I have to say I am quite satisfied with my pulls and you can feast your eyes on the photos.

It's really my own fault my stuff came so late. I probably should have contacted the company on the website and asked them if they could make sure my shipment arrived by release day, or at least the day after. Lesson learned!

So, what you are seeing is the result of opening two cases. I'm not just collecting for me after all, but my son and two other players (I give them extras and it means having more players in this area too). But even just for my son and myself, we have a lot to collect.

DISTRIBUTION: In one case I have to say I probably had all the commons and all the uncommons. I was pretty close to all the rares too. Not bad for one case. Two cases and I had a lot to spread around to all four people involved. Even the fourth person has just about all the commons, several uncommons and a few rares. For super-rares, I got the one I coveted most of all, Black Adam! As for the rest, I got the same people in each case (Flash, Aquaman, Queen of Fables, Darkseid, Imperiex, and Swamp Thing). My chases were Hoodie Superman and Apokalips Superman. Except for all the duplicate luck (that I really don't mind), distribution was awesome.

MANUFACTURING: The big drawback to these two cases (moreso than I've noticed ever before) was the odor. New plastic can carry an odor with it that comes from being made with petroleum. This odor does wear off, but it made us a little head achey while we opened packs. After sitting in open air it's dissipated. Sculpts look good while faces are hit and miss. No brittle sculpts or missing arms in two whole cases. Sculpts are pretty solid, even Livewire who stands on the dreaded "both legs together" skinny piece of plastic stance. Oh, but what's the big debut for this set? That's right, the new oreo dials!

These dials have a lot going for them. Once you get used to how you have to grab them, you can make them work well for you. You don't have to depend on grabbing a fragile looking sculpt to turn the dial. I still had to fix a few dials, and that involved learning how they work. It's not the same as fixing the other dials, but have no fear; this is a two-blog day. In my next article I will tell you all about how to fix sticking in the new dials! Over all, not bad, Wizkids and NECA, not bad.

GAME MECHANICS: Keywords, I just can't leave them alone. Good things for this set on keywords though. Kryptonians, Metropolis, Flashpoint, Phantom Zone, and Reign of the Supermen all get kudos for having enough people to build teams with. Downers aren't worth much mention in keywords for this set, but I will say that Superman Robot should have Kryptonian and Lobo should have Warrior. On a further plus with keywords, I haven't found one that doesn't have any! YEAH! I may just not have the pieces that are missing keywords, ha ha. Still, I've said it before, all figures should have keywords. It's a mechanic that is now embedded in how people play. Point values are really decent. Consider how you can play Non and Ursa for 300 points flat. Realizing Kryptonians just aren't cheap makes sense here and you have a playable Phantom Zone. The generic Kryptonians are still slightly short dialed, but they make up for it in ability. There are some definite improvements with this set!

The big kudo? Main characters as COMMONS! Superman, Lex, Supergirl, Superwoman, all commons and worth playing. Even if this Superman is based on All Star (see the movie if you haven't already), he's the best Superman statwise since Icons. And let's not forget the whole split dial thing. Having the multi starting areas on these dials is a real innovation. You can drop the detachable objects for all I care, but don't drop this. Wizkids, you are on to something here!

So, my opinion is, if you haven't got any of this set, you are missing out.