Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Some more for the menagerie

While I have serious reservations about Wizkids' recent business decisions - ranging from cutting from 15 distributors for North America to a single one, to an increased emphasis on gaming events and rarity = "collectible" - and am in the midst of making some tough hobbyist decisions concerning how I'll move forward as a collector, I'm nonetheless still interested in upcoming sets. After all, if I wasn't it would all be a non-issue.

So, I want to look at what we've seen recently in the way of upcoming clix.

Up top is the latest revelation, the colossal figure that will be on sale at select conventions this year: Fin Fang Foom.

Here's one more shot of the "most fearsome menace of them all!"

... to which I say "cool." Hardly a piece I was clamoring for, but depending on the mechanics of "the chance" (see the article I've linked to above) to get our hands on it, I won't mind buying this one as the majority of my climb towards the $100 I'll need to spend at their booth to get the other convention exclusives.

Dial info, etc. isn't being shown just yet, so I've nothing more to say on it now. I won't be seeing this guy until the middle of June.

The next set is the DC one Origin, which I've written about a few times in the past month or so. Brand Manager Mark Tuttle is continuing to release the official information -- sculpts and dials in particular -- at a very slow pace, which at least provides time to consider each in turn.

This week sees the second of the sneak peeks from the set, so I'll start there and work backwards.

Today, though, we were shown the REV for a character that went from a minor, also-ran, to a has-been, almost joke and finally to a rejuvenated, serious player: Catman.

The rookie is a Batman enemy, which fits completely since that's how he started out. This TA allows him to share an Attack Value with another, adjacent Batman enemy (or wildcard), so he's potentially a team player.

A world-famous trapper of jungle cats, who had grown bored of his profession, He had the gimmick of at least a personal belief in having nine lives -- something reflected in the single, end-of-dial click of Regeneration -- which he attributed to the ancient African cloth he made the costume out of. He modeled his costume and modus operandi on that of Catwoman. While predominantly a close combatant the rookie does have a 6 range, representing the cat-o-nine-tails he used at the time. Yeah, he was one of those wacky Bat-villains, alright, pulling "themed" crimes. No wonder even Catwoman couldn't stand him and actually helped Batman bring him down.
So, we have a mobile, primarily close combat fighter - seen in everything from the Close Combat Expert on his first two clicks, the Combat Reflexes on all but his last two clicks, and the Battle Fury combined with Flurry dominating the latter half of his dial. Nice, steady stats, he appears to both be competently and fairly accurately designed and costed at 47 points for his seven-click dial.

The experienced finds Catman at the nadir of his career, and I must give set designer Seth additional kudos for not being afraid to cost him appropriately at 10 points less than the rookie. This may not seem like much, but it does break a previously rigid pattern of insisting that the experienced is more points than the rookie, and the veteran more than the experienced.
An overall less confident figure, he lacks a TA and starts with is best stats, failing to rally. Still, he's a more agile piece, represented by the early and late Charge, some early/middle Leap Climb, and two leading clicks of Energy Shield to show that he's a difficult, moving target while he's closing in on an opponent. No regeneration on this one, though -- when he gets down to the end he's plainly on his way out. I don't know what to make of the end of that dial, specifically whether or not that 7th click is really a conscious one; plainly something's wrong with it.

The veteran Catman is the lean, mean, physically and spiritually reborn character we've seen in the past two years. Now he even has a knife and a much more confident dial.

Sporting the Suicide Squad TA, he's technically a team player but nonetheless an opportunistic one able to turn a fallen teammate to a personal advantage.

A single, leading click and three concluding clicks of Willpower indicate the newfound determination the character's found. Three clicks of Blades/Claws/Fangs show that he's become a serious player. The defensive powers indicate some degree of recklessness, though. Two leading clicks of Charge give him a dynamic attitude, though a complete lack of any Leap/Climb limits his mobility somewhat. He's become something more of a stand-your-ground, dare to hit me and I'll bury you sort. The combination will make him a ranged target, so hopefully Deadshot and some others will be watching out for him.

I'm generally pleased with all three levels, seeing situations where I would choose each of them for a given team.

I see that now Seth's posted his notes on Catman.

Last Friday we were given the first sneak peek from the set, and they decided to start with one of the uniques: The original (Golden Age) Starman.

Plainly a ranged combat piece, there has been some disgruntlement from some of the fans over the 106 pts and the general power level. That he was given an opening click of Leadership rubbed some the wrong way, too, especially in conjunction with the write-up the designer gave him as it cites him as one of the founders of the JSA. I can't help but be amused by this fan reaction as it underscores how many fans have been lulled into thinking that DC has some magical, unbroken, nearly 70 year history of in-continuity stories that allows them to revisit stories reprinted from the early 1940s and think of them as canonical. It's good for a laugh. I want to listen for some heads to explode when they check and find that Wonder Woman was in the JSA as their secretary.

Getting back to the piece, while I'm not entirely sure it's worth breaking the 100 pt mark, it is a nice ranged combat piece, with the Running Shot and Energy Shield combination up front, along with the mobility and utility of being a flying character. While the stats aren't, well, stellar, they're steady. Also, with over half the dial given over to Perplex and the solid back half having Barrier -- a power not tied to the Attack Values -- he's useful on every single click.

He's a natural for Force Field, which would give him a built-in Toughness (a -1 to any Damage he takes) over his entire dial as it applies to both Energy Shield and Barrier. Of course, with that he's a 116 pt piece. If he can avoid Outwitters, though, he could be worth his points.

Prior to this revelation, Wizkids showed us the first two pieces connected with the set. One is the New Guy Night give-away, the other the clix brick-associated mail-away piece.

An interesting choice for New Guy Night, we're to be presented with what's a first appearance version of Wonder Woman, complete with a lovely, Golden Age sculpt.
She's grounded because she was years away from being able to fly without her invisible jet. She gets a click of Super Strength up front before she shifts between the option of punching or using her magic lasso to incapacitate a target.

In the end we're left with a fairly economical 51 point, 8-click dial that should make a fairly good tie-up piece. A potentially useful, themed curiosity. I doubt any gamers will find the piece indispensible, and may be much more inclined to go for the Legacy Wonder Woman, who is much more what many would expect of a World War II era version of the amazon. Speaking for myself, this will be a nice piece to add to the collection.

Definitely drawing the most ire and fire is the odd version of Dr. Fate that has been previewed as the clix brick mail-away piece for Origin.
Being at least nominally drawn from a period when Kent Nelson was wearing a helmet other than that of Nabu, and so was reduced to a mere shadow of the sorcerous powers that the helmet of Nabu granted him. In the original arc he was essentially reduced to a second rate Superman -- strong, tough and able to fly -- and had done this because he was worried that Nabu had been too much in control of his body while he was in action. However, while the set of powers wasn't (to the best of my knowledge) altered, All-Star Squadron #27 retroactively changed the story, eliminating the paranoia about Nabu and blaming the helmet switch on a villain who stole the original helmet. Maybe the Dr. Fate Lite power set seen in this dial is based on information DC gave Wizkids, which in turn is based on some upcoming bit of ret-con. Aside from this Fate having two targets instead of one, 9 out of 10 clix players interested in the character say they intend to stick with the Unleashed experienced version until something more appropriate comes along.

Tags: Heroclix