Okay, so now she's from Krypton again...
Like clockwork -- agonizingly slow clockwork, but predictable nonetheless -- Wizkids hit another Friday and so another Origin sneak peek. This week it's Supergirl.
Honestly, everything immediately surrounding Superman has seldom excited me, so I have rarely followed the development and re-development of the character over the years. He's essential to the world of superhero-dom as an iconic concept, but as a character who's still hanging around the feel I have is one of a living legend with all of its complications. Legends are best off dead and idealized, as grim and sad as that might seem. Still, he's likely beloved by millions on some level, and it's likely comforting to know he's still out there, somewhere, in some form. As a corporate property, of course, he's as immortal as the will of the shareholders can make him so he's safer than any of us.
Anyway, this isn't about him directly, though it definitely concerns him closely since the designers notes on Supergirl emphasize that the current Supergirl is (once more) both Superman's cousin and, of course, a Kryptonian, too.
So, this week it's Supergirl, and so I'm going to do a quick look at the REV of her. Given that the LE version's a prize item I'm not going to waste my attention on it unless and until such time as one comes to hand. If you're interested in that one you'll find her among the designer's notes linked to above, and can ferret her out in the Origin gallery.
As the designer's notes touch on the comics source rationale behind each of the versions I'll keep my own comments on each more clinical.
First is the rookie Supergirl.
New to Earth, new to her powers and apparently at odds and combative with her new surroundings, she's unaffiliated.
While she possesses ranged attacking abilities, she's probably mostly coming to grips with being able to fly and having superhuman strength and resistance to damage, so she's doing most of her battling by hand. Two clicks of Charge to lead her, perhaps impetuously, into battle, her most common Speed slot power is Flurry, presumably as an early exhibition of her super-speed, enabling her to make two attacks while up close in the time that most could only make one.
Her Attack Values are likely to be unexciting to many players, but I appreciate both the leading 10 and the steadiness of the values -- four clicks of 9, then three of 8 before a final click of 7. Most of her clicks - 6 of the 9 - are Super Strength. Two in the middle are Energy Explosion, presumably as an early expression of her heat vision, and a means of potentially affecting a group of two or more targets. Her final click is enhanced by Psychic Blast, presumably a stronger, desperate hint of her heat vision becoming a more focused, effective weapon. Coming at the end of her rope it's not confidently aimed, hence the AV of 7.
Her Defense Values are similarly steady, despite a one-click dip to 16 in the midst of the run of 17s following an opening high of 18. Two clicks of Invulnerability give way to two of Super Senses, presumably another early early emergence of super-speed heightening her reflexes. Those two clicks are a mixed bag, of course, for while they add an extra 33.3% chance of an attack missing (on top of whatever the odds were based on the attacker's Attack Value) it also means that if there is, ultimately, a hit all of the damage will go through. After that the remainder of her 9-click dial is five clicks of Toughness.
Her Damage Values are reasonably solid. Two of 4, six of 3 and a final click of 2 Damage, which may not be up to the level her staunchest fans might want, but staunch fans are rarely sated by a Heroclix dial. As a flying brick with Super Strength she's best kept supplied with objects to pick up and smash over an opponent's head. That she has an 8 Range may be the strongest argument for using her over, say, someone like Wonder Woman.
Next is the experienced version, now fully part of the Superman legacy and affiliated appropriately, she's received some training and has a better command of her powers.
A leading click of Impervious has her coming out of the gate in a more Kryptonian fashion, she retains a click of Super Senses on this dial, leaving herself a bit more open to a shot, but with the Defense Value rising to 18 for this click she's remaining sharp enough to evade all but the most skillful and lucky of attacks.
Two leading clicks of Running Shot show she's gotten much better control of her heat vision -- also reflected in the Range increase to 10 -- and the coordination with her other powers. Followed by two clicks of Charge, two of Force Blast, a single vanilla click and then two final clicks of Hypersonic Speed, complete with an end-of-dial up-tick in the Attack Value to 10. She's coming to embrace her super speed abilities, but they're still new enough to her that she has to be pushed to get into that mode.
That 10 is still the upper bound of her Attack Values may, once again, be a problem for some fans, but it's still a solid stat and on this dial it's there in four out of the nine slots. A mix of Super Strength and Energy Explosion follows through from start to finish.
The Damage Values remain extremely similar to those of the rookie -- even losing the second slot of 4 Damage the rookie had for a one-point reduction - but with two clicks of Ranged Combat Expert and then two of Close Combat Expert we're seeing that when she puts her mind to it she can now be more destructive without even picking up an object.
Finally, we have the veteran from the far future, where she's truly a living legend and a member of the Legion of Superheroes. Appropriately enough, she has the highly useful and adaptive, wildcard Legion TA.
An interesting mix of the rookie and experienced, we see that she's sufficiently in command of her powers that she brings her "A" game fairly early on. The consequence of this is that beyond a warble or two in her powers within the first half of the dial most of her stats go into a steady decline in the latter half to third of her dial. There's no late-dial rally, save perhaps for the final two clicks of Super Senses to help the 15 Defense she's leveled off to allow her to avoid being hit.
The Legion TA, allowing her to copy any copyable TA on her team, will make this version more versatile and could be enough to make her a star on teams as this combination is unique one among Superman-like figures. It remains to be seen whether or not any or all levels of the Mon-El/ Valor/ M'Onel REV (#s 73-75 in this set) will surpass this, giving us a more powerful, wildcarding figure in the Superman mold.
Chances are that with Wizkids' Brand Manager Mark Tuttle's decision to stay the course on this drastically-reduced preview schedule we won't know the answer to that and most questions about the set before the March 3rd Pre-release events.
Origin is set for street-level release March 7.
Tags: Heroclix, Origin, Supergirl
Like clockwork -- agonizingly slow clockwork, but predictable nonetheless -- Wizkids hit another Friday and so another Origin sneak peek. This week it's Supergirl.
Honestly, everything immediately surrounding Superman has seldom excited me, so I have rarely followed the development and re-development of the character over the years. He's essential to the world of superhero-dom as an iconic concept, but as a character who's still hanging around the feel I have is one of a living legend with all of its complications. Legends are best off dead and idealized, as grim and sad as that might seem. Still, he's likely beloved by millions on some level, and it's likely comforting to know he's still out there, somewhere, in some form. As a corporate property, of course, he's as immortal as the will of the shareholders can make him so he's safer than any of us.
Anyway, this isn't about him directly, though it definitely concerns him closely since the designers notes on Supergirl emphasize that the current Supergirl is (once more) both Superman's cousin and, of course, a Kryptonian, too.
So, this week it's Supergirl, and so I'm going to do a quick look at the REV of her. Given that the LE version's a prize item I'm not going to waste my attention on it unless and until such time as one comes to hand. If you're interested in that one you'll find her among the designer's notes linked to above, and can ferret her out in the Origin gallery.
As the designer's notes touch on the comics source rationale behind each of the versions I'll keep my own comments on each more clinical.
First is the rookie Supergirl.
New to Earth, new to her powers and apparently at odds and combative with her new surroundings, she's unaffiliated.While she possesses ranged attacking abilities, she's probably mostly coming to grips with being able to fly and having superhuman strength and resistance to damage, so she's doing most of her battling by hand. Two clicks of Charge to lead her, perhaps impetuously, into battle, her most common Speed slot power is Flurry, presumably as an early exhibition of her super-speed, enabling her to make two attacks while up close in the time that most could only make one.
Her Attack Values are likely to be unexciting to many players, but I appreciate both the leading 10 and the steadiness of the values -- four clicks of 9, then three of 8 before a final click of 7. Most of her clicks - 6 of the 9 - are Super Strength. Two in the middle are Energy Explosion, presumably as an early expression of her heat vision, and a means of potentially affecting a group of two or more targets. Her final click is enhanced by Psychic Blast, presumably a stronger, desperate hint of her heat vision becoming a more focused, effective weapon. Coming at the end of her rope it's not confidently aimed, hence the AV of 7.
Her Defense Values are similarly steady, despite a one-click dip to 16 in the midst of the run of 17s following an opening high of 18. Two clicks of Invulnerability give way to two of Super Senses, presumably another early early emergence of super-speed heightening her reflexes. Those two clicks are a mixed bag, of course, for while they add an extra 33.3% chance of an attack missing (on top of whatever the odds were based on the attacker's Attack Value) it also means that if there is, ultimately, a hit all of the damage will go through. After that the remainder of her 9-click dial is five clicks of Toughness.
Her Damage Values are reasonably solid. Two of 4, six of 3 and a final click of 2 Damage, which may not be up to the level her staunchest fans might want, but staunch fans are rarely sated by a Heroclix dial. As a flying brick with Super Strength she's best kept supplied with objects to pick up and smash over an opponent's head. That she has an 8 Range may be the strongest argument for using her over, say, someone like Wonder Woman.
Next is the experienced version, now fully part of the Superman legacy and affiliated appropriately, she's received some training and has a better command of her powers.
A leading click of Impervious has her coming out of the gate in a more Kryptonian fashion, she retains a click of Super Senses on this dial, leaving herself a bit more open to a shot, but with the Defense Value rising to 18 for this click she's remaining sharp enough to evade all but the most skillful and lucky of attacks.Two leading clicks of Running Shot show she's gotten much better control of her heat vision -- also reflected in the Range increase to 10 -- and the coordination with her other powers. Followed by two clicks of Charge, two of Force Blast, a single vanilla click and then two final clicks of Hypersonic Speed, complete with an end-of-dial up-tick in the Attack Value to 10. She's coming to embrace her super speed abilities, but they're still new enough to her that she has to be pushed to get into that mode.
That 10 is still the upper bound of her Attack Values may, once again, be a problem for some fans, but it's still a solid stat and on this dial it's there in four out of the nine slots. A mix of Super Strength and Energy Explosion follows through from start to finish.
The Damage Values remain extremely similar to those of the rookie -- even losing the second slot of 4 Damage the rookie had for a one-point reduction - but with two clicks of Ranged Combat Expert and then two of Close Combat Expert we're seeing that when she puts her mind to it she can now be more destructive without even picking up an object.
Finally, we have the veteran from the far future, where she's truly a living legend and a member of the Legion of Superheroes. Appropriately enough, she has the highly useful and adaptive, wildcard Legion TA.
An interesting mix of the rookie and experienced, we see that she's sufficiently in command of her powers that she brings her "A" game fairly early on. The consequence of this is that beyond a warble or two in her powers within the first half of the dial most of her stats go into a steady decline in the latter half to third of her dial. There's no late-dial rally, save perhaps for the final two clicks of Super Senses to help the 15 Defense she's leveled off to allow her to avoid being hit.The Legion TA, allowing her to copy any copyable TA on her team, will make this version more versatile and could be enough to make her a star on teams as this combination is unique one among Superman-like figures. It remains to be seen whether or not any or all levels of the Mon-El/ Valor/ M'Onel REV (#s 73-75 in this set) will surpass this, giving us a more powerful, wildcarding figure in the Superman mold.
Chances are that with Wizkids' Brand Manager Mark Tuttle's decision to stay the course on this drastically-reduced preview schedule we won't know the answer to that and most questions about the set before the March 3rd Pre-release events.
Origin is set for street-level release March 7.
Tags: Heroclix, Origin, Supergirl
Comments
She's one of the pieces in the set which on the one hand will undoubtedly bring new options to teams but on the other I cannot muster any excitement over.
I'm much more anxious to see what's done with Alan Scott and Robotman -- especially the latter, as he's down in the 7-9 slot; I'm hoping that's not an indication of a low-point piece. While I don't think of him as being in the same strength class as Ben Grimm, he was fulfilling the same role in the original D.P. and I'd like to see him receive some respect. Seeing him in the same slot that, under Seth, brought us the Shi'ar, Swordsman, Lorelei, and Vixen has me a little nervous. Which era of design they went with for the sculpt is also of some importance. Which TA he receives is also a big issue, as we've each noted from time to time as we looked toward the rest of the D.P. being made.