Playing Black Adam

While I was excited to get a common Superman, I was more excited to get my hands on Black Adam. I've missed out on the last time he was made a single super rare. I have the duo with Shazam, but it's just not the same. So, without further ado, let me present to you, my take on playing the multi-level Black Adam from the Superman set.

As general advice, any major pointed piece shouldn't come to more than half your force. So my point scales are going to reflect that strategy for the most part. Of course, I'm also going by keywords.

The first and most obvious team up is Osiris and Isis. I'm not talking about the Brightest Day version for sake of points. Based on what point level you play Black Adam at (100/200/300) you play this team at 300/400/500. They are theme legal under Mystical at 300 points, but not after that. But who cares? Black Adam can handle his own. At 500 points, you can use the other two like you would a minion force. Let them get in the way of everyone going after Black Adam (because you know they will). And, in any force, don't be afraid to push BA while people gang up on him. I've found his lightning regeneration to be fairly lethal.

Goint mystical at 600 so you can use BA at 300? Add Black Alice to the team above. The total force is 589. Have fun.

Seldom was Black Adam a good guy. When he was, he teamed up in the Justice Society.

300 point team with BA at 100 points: Magog (85), Starman (99) for total points of 284. You can raise BA to 200 points for the next tier.

For a 600 raise BA to 300 and add the Atom (50) and Mr. Terrific (59) for a team build of 593. Not bad as teams go. Pretty much any team that can keep people from dog-piling BA is good. He'll make up for about anything the rest can't do.

Injustice Society:

Play at 300 and BA at 100 with Count Vertigo (74), Johnny Sorrow (55) and the Thinker (55) for total of 284 (yep again!). Same as above for moving up to the 400 level, just raise BA to 200.

For a 600 try BA at 300 with Count Vertigo (74), Per Degaton (90), Icicle (72) and Johnny Sorrow (55) for a team of 591.

Rulers are blasted expensive and your best bet is to aim for your best duo and add someone cheap to fill in if possible. 99 point Maxwell Lord is a good filler to stick with an evil theme. For these teams I suggest.

Playing Black Adam at 200 with Mongul for 376.
200 or 300 points to team up with Darkseid for a 467 or 567 point team.

Then there's the duo matches I suggest purely for kicks that I think would really annoy your opponent. Magneto is a ruler so he's good. Since you aren't going to get themed advantage anyway, try teaming him up with Maelstrom. Maelstrom's lockdown abilities and cosmic make him horrifying enough. I know, I've played him.

Sooner or later, they'll make an equivalent SHAZAM! Captain Marvel and you can finally play the whole SHAZAM family! I think that would be a radical team of teams!

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.

Superman: Then and now

I still have to applaud the fact that the new All Star Superman will be a common in the upcoming Superman set of Heroclix. Everyone who collects or plays should get their hands on a Superman. The fact that he has this two levels of play ability is even more awesome. I hope they continue to use this new mechanic, I love it. I think it will add to strategic game play on many levels.

If we look back, we can see how Superman has come with us on our Heroclix journey. If you look at the opening pic you may see a familiar Superman or two. Yes, the one in back to the middle left is the LE "Our worlds at war" Superman. The sculpt is the Superman from Hypertime, the first one they did. There are others too, and I don't have the black suit, Kingdom Come, or robot Supermen. I'm lucky to have the veteran Icon Superman on the far left.

The other two in back are the LE Clark Kent and I have a couple of the Supermen in storage that he's based on. LE Superman on the far right is a favorite of mine with the Batman Team ability.

Then, in the middle is the brick figure World's Finest that definitely isn't worth 500 points.

Some Supermen have been decent and other just pitiable. Still, I don't think Wizkids has ever skipped on giving us a Superman. Now we will have a set boasting Supes in more forms than we can build a force out of (actually, yea we can). We only have about seven days now before Superman hits the shelves and our hot little hands.

What's really funny for me in all of this is that I'm not as much of a DC fan as a Marvel fan, but I will get some Superman and I will do a review too. I thought a trip down the Superman memory lane was just fitting so close to release day.

Happy upcoming release day and keep on clicking!

Heroclix tips for beginners

In this little article I am going to share some general tips in learning to play Heroclix for the beginner. Maybe you've been a collector and feel the need to finally play or maybe you just got your first starter? Either way, these are the things you should start with to get you into the game.

1: Learn what the numbers mean on the dial and how they work. This is a technique used at the conventions to demonstrate Heroclix. You ignore all the powers and just use the numbers and dice. Get a couple of figures on the map and roll dice for combat against each other until one of the figures is KO'd. Mess around with this until you feel comfortable with how the numbers work. Don't forget range and the number of targets you can have in this. It's useful to practice with. This gets you hands on practice and will be the kindling to start your blazing Heroclix skills.

2: Read the PAC and keep it near at all games. If you don't have a Powers and Abilities Card, find a way to get one. Be sure you've read it over before trying to mess with any powers. The best way to learn how powers work, of course, is just to dive in and play. However, in my experience, you pick it up faster if you've read the card. Don't forget team abilities either.

3: The next thing to learn past the dial is the map. You should learn what all the terrain features mean so you don't find yourself lost on the maps your opponent will choose.

4: Start with small point games. Build small teams and base them on the powers you want to practice. Remember good teams will have several powers working in tangent. Just think about your favorite comic book teams and what each member brings. Some great teams available out there are the Secret Warriors (Captain America) and the Warriors Three (Hammer of Thor). If you don't have those, it's okay, there are plenty of combinations that you can use.

5: Don't worry about keywords until you've played a few games. You can pick up on themes later. It's all up to your comfort zone on what you've learned though.

So, what should you put in a team that gives you a chance on the map? Well, here's what each team should have for good chances in play.

Move and attack: Figures that can move and attack in one action. These are thanks to the powers of Charge, Running shot, and Hypersonic Speed. Since Hypersonic is usually expensive (unless you play Rocket Racer from Web of Spiderman) you should get a charger or runner. Running shot is one of my personal favorites but a flyer with charge is also quite useful. More often than not, you can fit two moving attackers into a team. It's a good idea. The fall back is to use telekinesis.

Support powers: A cheap healer to run back to is very useful but you should also make sure you have something of these three; Outwit, Perplex, and Probability Control. You may have a hard time fitting all three on a team, but you should at least have one. Remember that they are there and use them. Forgetting to outwit someones Blades/Claws/Fangs or to perplex damage or defense can cost the game quickly.

Damage dealers: These can often be found with your moving attackers. Psychic Blast and Exploit Weakness are the best, but Pulse Wave is nice too. If you can't deal damage, you won't win, ever. The fastest way around pesky defense powers are these. Super senses can still be a pain but then you need to use it too.

Defense: 17+ are good on defense but make sure you pick powers that either reduce damage or make it harder to hit you. Super senses is a great power because it gives you a saving chance. Same for shape change. Those can save you from any damage or attack (almost).

A couple more pointers for the beginner:

1: A one man army can and will get mobbed. Don't do this until you've played quite a few games.

2: Don't rush into the face of danger. The first person to get close is usually the first person hit (except for those move and attack powers). The flip side to this is called Turtling. Turtling is when a person deliberately takes as long as humanly possible to move up or just spends the whole game running away. Players HATE that.

3: Never put someone in harms way alone unless you intend to use them as bait. Even then, make sure one of your other pieces can try to back them up.

So, there you have it, tips in a nutshell. Above all, no matter what you do, enjoy yourself and have fun. Heroclix is an awesome game with a great following. Keep clicking!

Review on Doomsday: What are they doing?

I have to say that making a Doomsday that can't make an even threat with a same set Superman, seems to be a trend.

Back in DC75th they made a very powerful 259 point Doomsday with a severely underpowered Superman in the same set. This figure had two main failings. First, his movement for someone who can leap like the Hulk (high enough to attack airplanes and far enough to go from county to county) his opening movement was pitiful as a 6. Anyone who can jump that far should have an opener of at least an 8. I could understand a max of 10 and going down from there for game balance too. Thanks to that sad movement Doomsday was and is a sitting duck for ranged psychic blast attacks. His trait was cool, but honestly a bit too much. You pick someone on your opponents team and Doomsday does penetrating damage to that person for the whole game (if he can catch them). It became kind of redundant on half his dial thanks to having exploit weakness. Everything else pretty much rocked on him.

Now, in the upcoming Superman set, we have a new Doomsday. The sculpt shows him with one arm tied behind his back as if he just got out of his buried prison. When posted on Facebook, the responses were very mixed. It was a love/hate combination and I could see why. Check out this pic:

So, first of all there's his trait. He uses battle fury (so he can't be carried) and can't be placed by telekinesis. I really wouldn't care about that if it weren't for the rest of his power issues. Like his movement that gives him charge. So long as he's using charge he can ignore hindering terrain and other characters for the move. You know what he doesn't get? That's right, leap/climb. They try to make up for this with his damage power, but it's only any good at the last three clicks of his dial where his defense is crud. Let's not forget that power is only any good if there's only one figure left on your opponents team.

Let's take a look at his opening damage, shall we? It's a 2. Huh? A casual swat from this monster only does a two? You have to wait and use close combat expert to get his real damage. I'm sorry, but yuck! Quake is okay, with the angle they are using (him having an arm tied up and all) but that didn't reduce his damage dealing by that much. Check this out:

Note what Guy looks like and how he says he didn't even have time to fight back. That's how it was for pretty much the whole JLA except Maxima. Even she took a pounding. That brings us to his opening attack value. It's a pitiful 9. For plenty of lesser figures out there a 9 is fine. But this brute stomped a whole team of supers in less than five minutes. It's listed in the book as "moments" or "seconds" and he only has an attack opener of 9? Never mind the fact he did all that with one hand tied behind his back.

DC75th had his reactive adaptation power on board. In this new one they try to use that in form of his stats getting nastier as he goes, except his defense. But if you look at how his power worked, you would see the dial misses the mark. If anything, his defense should go UP as his resistance gets stronger. In all the stories, when he's hurt by something, next time he's practically immune to it. So he should have started with invulnerable and moved up to impervious. If you're going to use combat reflexes, make the opening damage a 3 and have it move up.

As for a trait that would be more useful, try this: All characters must roll breakaway from Doomsday regardless of traits, team abilities, or powers. Anyone with the Superman Team ability, name of Superman, or the Kryptonian keyword is -1 to break away roll.

That makes his slow movement more acceptable. After all, he wants to kill Kryptonians and especially Superman, remember?

Sorry guys, while most of the Superman set looks exciting, this Doomsday is dismal. It's not even Doomsday, it's Mediocre Threat Day at best.

Top Ten best Women of Heroclix

First, let me say this was no easy task. How I made these selections, was to take all the female characters and separate then into "point classes". Then I had to compare what all the figures offered for their perspective points. I also considered how long dials were, traits, some popularity via players, and their stats. Finally I also considered how many ways the character could be played, as in how many versions are out there. Some of this list is obvious, the rest will surprise you. In any case, while opinions vary, you're sure to enjoy playing these beauties:

10: ORACLE: From Legacy, this 27 point gal offers some serious strategic power. The drawback is that you have to play her card with her to get the most of it. That can make her a point sink and a half for most small teams. Still, the access to leadership, outwit or perplex along with altering combat values by +1 is nothing to sneeze at. Being golden age and a bit costly puts Oracle at number ten.

9: GHOST WIDOW: From City of Villains. For 54 points, this spider-lady has a lot to offer. She's basically a mystic with her team ability, she has phasing at 9 spaces, poison, support and an 18 defense. Her points give her perfect room for a feat card, Armor Piercing, to make her poison hit home. She may have a short dial, but if you don't take her down right away, you will get bit.

8: DOMINO: From Giant Sized Xmen for 69 points. Stealth, 8 range, high defense from range, and 3 damage with probability control are what she has to offer. Oh, but lets not forget her special power, Lucky Shot, that increases damage to a critical hit by 3 instead of 1! She's a great background piece that supports her team nicely. When not in hiding, she gets running shot and super senses. Nice arrangement of powers and the Xmen team ability lends it's own support.

7: SPIDER-GIRL: From Secret Invasion for 77 points, this lady is a warrior. Her special powers load her for bear with charge, running shot, and leap climb in a single power. Incap and force blast on another and super senses with combat reflexes together on defense. It would be better if she had super strength on open but she does gain it later along with exploit weakness. The Spider-man team ability helps her use any team ability on your force, making her very team flexible.

6: STORM: Giant Sized Xmen brought us the best Storm ever! For 86 points she has great range and damage that increases on an outdoor area of map. Just click through her dial for a great arrangement of powers to include telekinesis! Storm is epic and fits beautifully into any team arrangement.

5: BLACK ALICE: From DC75th for 94 points. Black Alice is truly dangerous. She has the probability control with 3 damage to start her off, like Domino. But she has a nasty special power. She can outwit any standard power and then use it for herself! Phasing gets her into position to do this really fast and her defense at range is 19! Add that to being a mystic and it hurts to hurt her! Black Alice is a thorny adversary and worthy of the mid spot on this list.

4: MOON DRAGON: From Hammer of Thor for 134 points. Mind control, 10 range, psychic blast and super senses, start out this cosmic lady of the Infinity Watch. If that's not enough for you, she changes mid dial into a giant dragon with powers to match. That includes running shot, 3 damage, and an 18 defense with toughness. She also has perplex and telekinesis along the way. Well stocked for her points, though an extra click of life or two would be nice. Still, that's a lot of power in just 8 clicks.

3: SUPERGIRL: For this, I chose the 178 point version from Crisis. You could just as easily play the 200 point version Legion of Superheroes and do just as much damage if not more. They both have hypersonic speed, super strength, and impervious with some shooting range for heat vision. And which is better, the Superman team ability or ability to copy it for just 22 points more? Mystic opponent? She'll smack them with a dumpster, take her click and probably knock out the mystic in the process. And she'll still be dangerous.

2: WONDER WOMAN: You can pretty much take your pick of all the current versions of Wonder Woman, they're all mean. Arkham Asylum gave us a Wonder Woman for 248 points with charge, super strength, a 12 attack, 5 damage, impervious and indomitable (built in willpower). The fact she can also incap two figures adjacent to each other is just cake. Of course, she would rather just crush them. Just about any Wonder Woman you can play today, can hold her own in point value on this list and win. Yes, range is her enemy, but at 10 opening movement with charge, it won't take her long to close the gap. Her 12 attack laughs at your 19 defense and her incap works at a range of 6. Heck, play the white lantern and don't worry about the range. Feel like being brutal today? Wonder Woman is the way to go.

1: PHOENIX: I'm not talking about a colossal, but you have to admit, she's the only woman with a colossal figure out there. Two of them actually. Giant Sized Xmen gives us a Phoenix for 297 points with a trait, hypersonic speed, 10 range, 3 targets, telekinesis, impervious, and 5 damage just to kick things off. Her trait will save her life once per game and her ability to heal when she uses support on someone else is just awesome. She can stand alone against 300 points and I've seen her do it. Down her dial she gains psychic blast while still at 4 damage and perplex. Not only that, but the Power Cosmic team ability gives her willpower and protects her from outwit. It's this combination and all the ways that Jean Grey can be played, along with being a Colossal in two forms, that make this the most powerful woman in heroclix. It's why she's HOT and NUMBER ONE.

New scale of power in Superman set

I've been checking out the spoilers for the new upcoming Superman (slated to come out in September) set with awe. There's a new game mechanic that's going to shake up the game in a major way.

As a prime example we look at Superman and Black Adam. This mechanic involves a choice of starting zones on the dial, a first for standard sized dials. Each starting click has a point value to incorporate into your team. Based on the point level you choose, that's where you start on the dial and play through to KO (if he gets KO'd, that is).

I think this is amazing. This gives some major playability to pieces that wouldn't often hit the table. Talk about options! Another thing this kind of brings back to me, is the old days of rookies, experts, and veterans. Just look at those lines on Black Adam's dial below! Just click on a pic to see it bigger.

Now for a little review. First, Superman; a one man army in a 300 point game is always a risk. I don't care what you put on that dial. The kicker is, I think Superman could actually pull it off! For the first time in a long time, I think we're getting a Superman worthy of his name! Just look at what he can do. His dial is loaded with hypersonic speed, charge, and running shot. They way it's arranged means you don't know what he's going to do if and when you do hit him. This can make him hard to track for the guy playing him too, so get to know Supe's dial. He starts out awesome. 11 movement with hypersonic? Check! High attack value of 12? Check! Impervious defense of 18? You know it! Deals five damage with outwit? HUH? Yeah, Superman starts with outwit. I'll take it! This is based on the "All Star Superman". You know, the one who got over radiated and died from being too freaking powerful.

Then turn him to that second starting line to play him for half his points and build a good team around him. He's still worth half the 300 point team, but very playable with a new keyword, Scientist. Now let's just wait and see how accessible he's going to be.

Black Adam! Oh boy. You can play him at three levels; point costs of 300, 200 or 100. Even his lowest level of play isn't particularly weak. This figure is a monster and well worth the ranking of a super rare. Sadly, I haven't been able to land my hands on a Black Adam (solo, as I have the duo of Shazam/Black Adam) since he first came out. I have the veteran of that figure. Ever since then, I've coveted a new Black Adam. Now this one moves up on the want list past the previous one. I'm afraid his secondary market value is going to be ridiculous however.

Let's take a look at those white powers. His movement power allows him to charge a full ten spaces so long as he has no tokens on him. He also can't carry an object or person with him. This is actually an excellent "killing move" power. Past that, he has a ton of charge. I think he actually has too much charge. Take a look at his third click in from the 300 point start. It's an 11 movement with charge. This is redundant since he can use charge with his white power. He really should have started out with Hypersonic speed or that third click should have been hypersonic. Still, his numbers are amazing.

There's an important point to these numbers on the first two start lines that make those number hurt. It's his defense power that allows him to drop 3 damage instead of 2 (if being hit for four or more). But that's not the clincher for this power. It also says his powers cannot be outwitted (except his outwit power). And with a 19 defense to clear, he's not an easy hit. This makes his movement power as an opener a little silly. Who, in their right mind, wants to take pushing damage off of a defense like that? Unless it's the winning move, I would never do it. He's lethal with that defense power so I would hold it as long as possible.

Now for his attack power of Regenerative Lightning. It only comes up twice in his dial (like his defense power) but it will seriously hurt. Since Black Adam is mainly a close up fighter, you can be sure that he's going to be mobbed. So this click pops up and he can regenerate while dealing a penetrating damage to everyone in two spaces of him. That's like having a short range pulse wave while healing! Basically, he shouts, "SHAZAM!" and POW! This combination could make Black Adam a decent one man army in a 300 point match.

Now the really cool thing about this piece is the sculpt. For the first time ever, you see a sculpt of the person who designed this piece, being held by the throat. That's a sculpt of the designer of this piece, George Massu, 2010 Heroclix World Champion. So, if you really don't like this piece, or maybe he beat you in the championship; you can look at this and say "Take that George Massu!" (just kidding, George! Congrats on the big win!).

So this set, so far, is looking like a powermonger's dream. I'm not so sure that's a good thing. I hope to see some more balance coming to it soon. Till then, keep clixing!

Moving and new play.

So we're finally all moved and sorting out where things go at our new home. And yes, driving that far did make me feel like a zombie. Amazingly, after a bumpy truck ride, my clix collection came out in good shape. The truck sucked because it didn't hold speed well, had to be floored at times to go 50 and couldn't go the speed limit very often unless we went downhill.

After two expensive gas fill ups for the 55 gallon diesel tank, my bank card got blocked. I had to call them up and explain that I was indeed the person using the card for what they called "excessive purchases of gas". I guess it's a good security measure, but it was pretty inconvenient when I had gas to pay for.

Then there was this interesting area of highway in Arkansas. The speed limit was posted at 60. Sounds okay right? Especially since my sick truck could barely pull that off, I was fine. Well, some wonder-wizard highway developer decided there needed to be three giant speed bump things on this stretch of highway with no warning of any kind. Seriously, I might have been going 55 and the whole mess was tossed up in the air and I could hear the whole load coming down hard. Furniture did break. Why did they want us to go 60? Is it some cruel joke? I don't get it. Even seeing the third one coming (barely) I couldn't slow down any more in time to make it matter. Diesels aren't known for their "stop on a dime" powers.

So, furniture broke and had to be tossed, but we did make it safely within a couple days drive. Now things are put together to a fairly livable state.

Unfortunately, there's really no one here who sells my favorite game. There are people who play though, I got them involved some time ago. I am talking to a local store to see if they might consider carrying heroclix, so wish me luck!

Great fan films

Well, I'm a week away from loading up a big truck to move across states. A new adventure awaits. So, with all the major movies coming up, I thought I would use this blog post to pay homage to some of the greatest (in my opinion) of those vids every made. I hope you enjoy them!

There's no knocking great CGI and this vid on some popular Marvel heroes proves it:



But what really impresses me is live action filming. This may not be top of the mark, but it is enjoyable.



Hey, I liked it alot and wish they would have made more. Of course that is a costly endeavor. So let's look at another one:



That's a production of Bat in the Sun and you should take some time to watch the shows on their youtube channel HERE. This most recent is the longest of their works and a little stiff in places. It's still very enjoyable work as fan films go.

NEXT:



Now this stomps the snot out of the five minute Grayson Film that circulated some years ago. It's about as old, but the effects and makeup are super, especially for a fan film. That's not to put down Grayson, because it totally rocked too. And people do need to remember that these are FAN films, not full budget productions, so what they did really was over the top.

I hope you enjoy these films and the pro ones opening up in theaters this summer. I'm sure I will!

Heroclix picture puzzle: Bank Chaos

Have you ever read those I Spy books with the picture puzzles? You know, the ones where you have to do a "where's Waldo" with a varied list of things in a clustered photo? Well, here's a little challenge for you and I may do more. Click on the image to see it larger (you may have to copy it to your computer so you can zoom in on it better. Future ones will be a bit smaller. Try to answer the trivia questions below. I'll come back with answers in the next blog I write. So, with that, good luck!

1: How many custom figures are there? Can you name them?

2: What do the custom duo figures have in common?

3: How many little red dice are there?

4: How many Multiple-man's are there?

5: Which figure has no dial?

6: How many Assassin's League figures are there?

7: How may Wolverine's are there?

8: How many "spider" characters are there?

9: How many "archer" characters are there?

10: How many sentinel fists are there?

11: What is Shadowcat doing?

12: What is Robin doing?

Making Heroes

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Frank Miller; well respected names of the comic industry and creators of heroes and villains alike. If it weren't for them, the industry wouldn't be what it is today. You wouldn't have Spiderman for one. Their work has inspired countless artists and writers in comics, movies and of course, the gaming industry.

So when I read that Giant Sized X-men for Heroclix has sold out at manufacturing level world wide, I took it as one more part of the legacy started way back then. I don't mean to take kudos away from the marketing team behind Heroclix, by the way.

Making heroes has inspired me too, more than I may be able to explain. I really have a great deal of respect for the industry and there's good reason I'm so opinionated on the subject and its variations.

My first comic book was an issue of Spiderman against a silver dragon and I was five or six years old. Not long after that I went through some serious changes in life and hard times ensued well into my teens. I grew up with undiagnosed autism (Asperger's Syndrome)and survived an abusive step parent and, well, my escape became the heroes. Finally it came to creating my own. Yes, I created my own universe of characters.

I wrote a role playing game and documented histories of over 200 alien races and 400 characters. I've done a hundred illustrations and now I work on novels with my own hopes of publishing. My heroes were my escape and I got to know every trivial things about them for the times I grew up in. I was a comic book junkie in the truest sense of the word.

So, I'm pretty opinionated on the making and stats of those favorite characters and even a few others. I like to believe I have a solid understanding of character development and powers.

I'm currently considering creating a Facebook page to share my universe with my friends and who knows, maybe more will come of it. I've even done custom heroclix of over 70 of my characters. So, I may be sharing my passion and universe upcoming, who knows, but until then, I'll be waiting to get my hands on a case of X-men!

I do want to add that I have great, great appreciation for the work that they've done with heroclix. There are good people working in the company and I can thank them a lot for all they've done. Not only for the great characters that have done so much for me, but also:

My godson, Zach, in Lincoln, Nebraska was on his way to a tournament in late 2007 (or was it early 2008?- hard to remember clearly) when he was in a car accident. He was 19 and a great kid. He was a hardcore player too. My playing group contacted Wizkids and told them of the loss of a great player, who was gone before he could finish his last collection from the set out at the time. Do you know what they did for him? They sent his mother an entire factory set. So know this, Wizkids and all working with them... you're okay in my book.

Now my son's 9th birthday is the 15th... guess what he's getting for his birthday? Ha ha, that's right. X-men here we come. Hope this one wasn't too heavy for any of you. Hope your draws are awesome! Keep clixing!

DC 75th, least favorite five

So, I've done my top ten favorites of DC 75th and now I'm going to show my top five choices for greatest disappointments of the set. This doesn't mean I think they're totally unplayable or gawd awful trash. Just that they were the least of the set for me and some of you may agree. I'm certain opinions may vary. So, without further ado, here they are from "best to worst".

5: The Wonder Twins: They are actually a cool collector's piece and I'm glad to see them get made. Still, it's unlikely that I'll ever play them. My first problem with them is keywords. They get just one keyword and that's "teen". Sure, that makes for plenty of teams they can play in, but how often were they actually teamed up with teens in the stories? Usually they were hanging out with the JLA as junior members. I think they should have had the keyword for JLA at least, if not the team ability. The second problem I have with them is the same issue I have with any dual figure. The duo attack ability is horribly watered down. For having two figures take a swing, it's a weak power. This may depend on the figures in some cases (and it should), but in this case it's a good example. The duo attack ability is a power action and cannot be used with most powers. It also weakens on the second attack with a nice minus one to damage. So, while there's plenty of cool powers for the twins to use, a dual figure is usually just as slow as a single figure and you won't see accurate team usage of those powers thanks to how dual attack works. That's why very few dual figures see gameplay. Two pieces are usually better than one every time.

4: Wonder Woman: I know, she's actually more useful than the twins, but still a disappointment to me for one major reason. Her defense power. I think she should have had defend as a trait. It would have had better strategic use and she wouldn't have the risk of getting knocked right past her invulnerability on the first hit she takes. Wonder Woman is a front line fighter, always has been. She needs her hardened defense first. If she lends anyone defense, it should be a secondary issue. On top of that, an 18 defense just isn't that hard to hit anymore, so you really can't count on it in opening combat. Another good power for her to have had for up close would have been combat reflexes. She is an Amazon warrior after all and one of the best. Sorry, but her defense just isn't character accurate. What are some other tactics that could be arranged for Wonder Woman? Well, for one, give her a power for that lasso that allows her to pull someone to her from about 6 range or so. That's what lassos have been used for with people you know. With Wonder Woman's strength that would be a cinch power. It could also be used for limited telekinesis to grab an object and whip it at someone.

3: Superman: Poor sad Superman. He looks like Lois turned him down for a date with Aquaman or the Flash. But really, he has good reason to look sad and worried because his chances of standing up to his main nemesis in this set is practically zilch. Who's that, you ask? Why Doomsday of course! I'm not the first person to mention this either, it's a pretty common opinion. While Superman's dial is "good", it's not Superman accurate at all. All he has on Doomsday is movement. He still has to hit a 19 defense with a 10 attack. Good luck, Supes, you'll need it. So what else is wrong with this figure? How about NO hypersonic speed? A Superman without hypersonic is like a Hershey bar without any chocolate in it. Just an empty wrapper. As for what he doesn't have, it's little use to have him using flurry or defend. His defense drops badly in that area and he has to stay up close and personal. At this point on his dial he's in desperate shape, for being Superman that is. As for defend, he does have a 17 defense for it, but again, not hard to hit at all. When you consider his points versus what size of a team he'll likely be in, Superman needs major back up and that's not accurate either. Just two hits from Doomsday is "bye bye" for Superman. Heck, most of the Green Lanterns are tougher than he is.

2: Aquaman: The one from the Brightest Day set is pretty cool. The one from the 75th... not so much. I gotta give props though, it's hard to make a good Aquaman. In this case, he should have had most of the powers from Supes' dial. Charge, super strength and flurry are all good ones for him. He should also start with invulnerability and go to toughness after that. He is, at least that strong. Past that, for all his tricks, his usefulness is limited. He needs to be in the water and against other Atlantis characters to be of the most use. Yes, he has the transporter ability, but let me tell you how much I value that. Not very much. First of all, a "transporter" (especially one that can fly) should not suffer the minus 2 penalty for carrying someone. It just doesn't sound right. Also, the minus two on attack with the move and attack ability isn't strategically sound when it drops your attack below a 9. I only use this ability out of desperation or to try and get in an early hit at a distance. Yes, it's a nice option, but just doesn't do much for me. A minus one for the attack value makes more sense than 2, honestly. Yes, it is cool that he can transport while he's grounded, but it's not enough for this piece in my opinion.

1: Ganthet: I know what you're thinking; "why are you bagging on Ganthet? He's awesome!" Sure he is. Except if he's in a 300 point match, he's alone. In a 400 point match he can have cheapo minions. A good 300 or 400 point team will annihilate him. In a bigger match, he gets better, but it takes a lot. And his Green Lantern team ability is virtually useless in those low point tournies that almost no one will play him in anyway. Now, he is powerful, I'll give him that. He can't be outwitted and has built in willpower, also very nice. But he's also slow. Putting him in range to do anything makes him and instant target. For his kind of power, an 18 defense is too easy to hit. It's another matter of accuracy in a way. For the kind of cosmic power we are talking about and to be worthy of a 299 point value, his stats need to be better. To me, he's worth 200 points and no more. Even with regen mid dial. One five click punch from Doomsday takes him right past that. So, too point heavy for the arrangement of his dial, his stats, and accuracy, puts Ganthet at number one for my least favorite, and least likely to use pieces of 75th.

Now I will give honorable mention to the one figure I've given the most credit in this posting, Doomsday. Why bag on Doomsday? For his six space opening movement, that's why. He can leap like the Hulk but only for six spaces? Well, I will give him this after playing him against Supes and Ganthet; he's still deadly. I guess the six space opener can be forgiven.

The mechanics of a set

While anticipating a new set, like DC 75 for this December, I often find myself musing about how sets are planned out. I've read before that there really is no set method of assigning points based on powers, team abilities, or anything else. I've read it's more of a rule of thumb or gut feeling that is applied to each figure. I think that practice has put out a lot of overpriced or under-priced figures.

I understand the need to keep things new and fresh in order to keep people interested. This is a business after all. I do think that a standard mechanic or two would make set planning easier and take some guesswork out of remaking characters in future sets.

You might argue, that with so many characters, such a feat is nearly impossible. I disagree, thanks to the age of the database. If they set up a DC database and apply some standards, they can change some subtle things as they go, but points would easier to apply and might even give people the why or how they are often looking for. Just how much is hypersonic speed worth anyway, right?

To get more in depth, here are some things they could apply for this idea:

Health: The number of clicks a figure has is pretty much it's health. I don't think Superman should ever drop below 9. Superboy could be 8 and some other worlds versions that are way powerful, well, they'd be maxed out likely. But Superman could set the bar on the higher side easily. Past that I think you could agree that a 6 click Superman would be pretty sad. I think Batman should hover around 7 with no higher than 8 for his other versions. That includes vampire batman.

Because of the variations, no format is perfect, but may help to keep that lower than low Superman from happening.

Point values: This is a big one. Establish a minimum and maximum cost for figures and stick to it. Take Cosmic Spiderman for example. I've played him and he's not infallible or unstoppable. He can be beaten by a 300 point force. I've seen it happen. The extra 19 points that basically make him unplayable in anything less than a 400 point game were just unnecessary. As it is, he can't even get good use of his extra team ability unless you go to 400. So he could have been valued at 300 and been just fine. Even out the points to make team building easier. That would be nice also. A database could help organize the average points that any character should cost. Looking at Superman again, I don't think he should ever be higher than 200. I think that's plenty of point cost and makes him rare enough for small games as is.

Numbers of the dial: Once again, using Superman, he should never be lower than an 18 defense to start out. He's a fair combatant so never below a 10 to start. A set of basic stats is another area that could be established to help with planning. Characters that are combat masters, like Wolverine, should never be less than an 11. He's a fighting animal after all. I remember the Superman figures that came out with 15 and 16 defenses and thought, "no way". Some characters should lose their numbers as fast as they do either. Consider Veteran Superman from Icons. His points were way out there and his defense drops to pitiful levels quickly. He starts out as a monster, but drops quickly to a whimpering kitten, then he's gone. No, I liked that Supes too, so don't kill me here. I'm just trying to make a point. It's just that it would and should be easy to give characters a numeric grade on the existing scale. On defense no one goes higher than a 20 (for most base characters) so you now have a scale of even 10 to 20 with most key figures scoring from 16-20.

Another argument against this idea could be that it takes some surprise out of what to expect in character development. That may be, but the power lineups are still pretty loose and with the new arrangements of white powers coming out left and right, I think you'll get plenty of cool surprises where you know that Superman starts with an 18 defense or not. Then there's the Rookie, Experience, and Veteran idea that's pretty much just colors on the cards now. Even those are pretty out of control and not that organized.

Well, just my thoughts. I'm still looking forward to DC 75th and a whole slew of cool figs to collect. I'm sure you are too.