Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Origin: A Visual Guide

Someone came up with a case poster for Origin, so I'm taking a look at what we hadn't seen prior to this.

First in this at least roughly alphabetical guide to the hitherto unseen sculpts from Origin, we have The Atom.

While hardly made to scale, it's nonetheless a nice piece from what I can tell; the shot's one of the blurrier ones in the bunch.

The presumption is that the rookie and experienced will be Ray Palmer, while the veteran will be the "All-New" Atom Ryan Choi, but that's not confirmed. Given that Ray Palmer is supposed to be both a brilliant physicist and an effective superhero there's some concern as we look at the point costs for the REV. The rookie Atom is a mere 24 points, exactly half the cost of the rookie Ant-Man.

Of course, it could just mean that Marvel scientists are smarter than DC scientists. Just a thought.

Next are the Blackhawks, adventurous fighter pilots without a country, who entered World War II as independent agents while their home countries were occupied or officially neutral towards the Nazis.

As I understand it the REV will represent completely different characters, though we're only seeing one sculpt.

The pose is done firmly after the style of Howard Chaykin, so protect the virtue of your other clix as the Blackhawks will rush to get someone drunk and have their way with them.

Then we have Booster Gold -- who up-to-date readers of 52 know isn't dead -- along with sidekick Skeets, presumably during a non-homicidal phase. (Okay, I'm three issues behind on 52, so while I know Booster's fine I don't yet know what's really up with Skeets.)

A long-term visitor from the far future, Booster came back to the current era to be a hero, and for much of the time that meant to seek fame and fortune. Given what he's been put through during 52, though, I suspect we're set to see a much more focused, serious Booster.

The first thing I have to say about Copperhead is that based on the photo the sculpt is a brilliant piece of artwork. I'd want extras of this sculpt as a fantastic base for countless mods. From the pose to the muscle work it's a thing of beauty and would be impressive even if it had been sculpted at two or three times the scale.

Secondarily, I'm very interested in seeing the dials attached to this one considering that both thematically and in terms of costume design he's very similar to an old Thor and Daredevil villain - The Cobra. Since Cobra hasn't been made as yet this could be an effective stand-in.

Next, we have a character I was surprised come along as an REV, but then again it's been so many years since I've followed any of the Superman titles that they may have done quite a lot with him: Cyborg Superman.

Presumably the rookie will have the Superman TA, from back when he was pretending to be the real deal. The experienced and veteran will likely have Superman Enemy or some other, similarly villainous association, or perhaps just be unaffiliated. The Superman Enemy TA being one of the more expensive ones (which is all the worse since most players don't consider it worth the cost) it's arguable that an unaffiliated version would be preferable.

Next we have Damage, a legacy character, being the son of Golden Age Atom Al Pratt.

He's one of those characters I think of as being very new and recent, though since he first appeared in 1994 we have to attribute some of that to Old Man's Syndrome. For a great many people buying comics that's the olden days.

Having been a member of Young Justice, the Teen Titans, Freedom Fighters and the JSA they'll have plenty of allegiances to play with over the course of the REV. I do wish they'd gone with the current costume rather than this one, but what's done is done.

I'm interested to see how effective his dial ends up being given the point range. How much of an effective brick can one deliver at 35 points?

Next is a character who spans the Golden Age through the modern one - Alan Scott, the Green Lantern.

Yes, I presented a shot of him before, when he popped up in a magazine, but I've decided to re-present him here not only because it has been a while but because the point costs are shown.

Hopefully he'll be given the JSA TA at all three levels, but given what was done with Hawkman Seth may have decided to make the rookie unaffiliated.

Either way, we're looking at a huge point spread at 85, 158 and 214 points. The sculpt, while strongly based on Golden Age artwork and so unfortunately somewhat disfigured, may not be much to look at facially, but there's room in this REV spread for a Green Lantern to fit significantly different needs.

The current possessor of the magical Thunderbolt - Jakeem Thunder - is up next.

I appreciate that the sculptor shows both beings, and will be interested in seeing how Seth decided to demonstrate the powers of a nearly all-powerful genie.

Will we get a bizarre, rainbow dial? Or will we get a more consistent one with loads of Probability Control? Both?

At 126 pts there's some range to play with, and since I'm not expecting a deep dial -- as powerful is the genie is, he's bound to an all-too-human master's verbal commands -- what we do get could be very powerful.

Coming in at a surprisingly low 77 points for a super speedster -- especially one with something as potent as the Crime Syndicate of Amerika TA -- is Johnny Quick.

I'm expecting that we're not going to get an unbroken grouping of Hypersonic Speed with this one, not only because it can't be afforded and he's going to have some more aggressive elements to his dial -- Flurry, maybe even a click of Blades/Claws/Fangs, possibly some Charge -- but also because he's dependent on a drug to provide his super speed.

Not a bad sculpt, he'll be one of those to test how well the strong-arm packing of some boosters has been reformed.

Reaching back to the Golden Age, we have the predecessor to Jakeem -- written up two spots above -- it's Johnny Thunder.

The differences lie entirely in the controlling humans, since the genie himself -- the Thunderbolt -- is the same one.

Most of what I had to say about Jakeem goes for Johnny, too, save that since Johnny comes from what we're at least painting as either a more genteel and/or whimsical age -- and since he's 17 points less than Jakeem -- I'm expecting Johnny to deal less damage on average.

Seen most recently as part of the Secret Six, we have Knockout.

This is another of those super-strong, grounded bricks with fairly good damage-reduction powers... though I wouldn't be amazed to find that primarily being loads of Toughness and deals damage she herself couldn't take.

A product of Apokolips, a hellish world ruled by Darkseid, she's a committed warrior because that's how she was raised.

The experienced and veteran levels should have the Suicide Squad TA.

We're also getting a new Martian Manhunter in this set, and man-o-man, does this sculpt -- at least in this shot -- look like crap. I know he's a shape-shifter, but I don't know what form he's trying to copy here as I look at his proportions.

I hope this was an early mock-up. If not, I suspect I'll be moving the sculpt from my old Cosmic Justice version onto the new bases when I want to use them.

The range of point costs shown should give us a range, from a basic flying brick up through a Superman-like major player.

On the flip side, this next sculpt is terrific.

It's Mirror Master, and both the pose and the details on the sculpt are extremely promising.

As with fellow Flash rogue Captain Cold I'm expecting the Calculator wildcard TA to show up on one or two of his levels. Indeed, at 40, 68 & 82 points for Captain Cold we're looking at very similar power levels.

However, how his powers are going to be interpreted is the big question. I'm expecting some Phasing up front and at the end, to demonstrate how he uses mirrors to get into and out of seemingly inaccessible spots. Beyond that, though... it's not clear. A little Ranged Combat Expert possibly, and probably some Perplex. It'll be interesting to see.

Now it's time for another one of those sculpts that looks as if it was posted on an amateur's forum. It's Mister Mind.

That's supposed to be a little green caterpillar-like worm.

Good lord, that looks terrible.

Well, we'll presume it couldn't look this bad in final production and consider the dial.

Mister Mind, for those unfamiliar with him, is an old foe of Captain Marvel (Shazam), and his shtick is Mind Control. The character's been reconfigured and relaunched at least once, and at this stage I don't know what to expect in terms of range. Karma taught us that a wonderfully effective Mind Controller can be made for less than 68 points, so here's hoping this little bug will be worth using.

Another escapee from Apokolips is Mister Miracle.

Here we see him flying on those cool Kirbyesque flying discs. That, and the general body sculpt are both solid, but the masked face -- at least in this shot from this angle -- is ugly.

At 64, 98 and 145 points I'm a little surprised at the range here. Mister Miracle's defining gimmick is that he's a Super Escape Artist. So, he's all about evading attack (with the help of a Mother Box) and getting away. Since he's already apparently a flyer I guess we're going to see at least a little Phasing in the mix, as he needs to be able to get out of almost anyone's clutches.

Perplex, maybe Outwit, I'm still not seeing him being a great damage-dealer. It's simply not in keeping with his approach to things.

I'll be interested to see how he pans out at each level.

Someone who's been redone more than once is up next. Indeed, this is the prime suspect to be this Friday's sneak peek, so I'm not going to spend much time speculating on him now. It's Mon-El, M'Onel... or however they choose to spell it on each of the three dials.

I'm expecting that mostly we'll be seeing a Superman-like character, probably with the Legion TA at all three levels. The closest one we have to that is the veteran Supergirl who'll also be in this set.

How far beyond the flying brick stage he'll be at his lower levels will be interesting to see.

Another one we've seen the sculpt of in an earlier post is up next. It's The Question.

Once more, I don't find myself willing to speculate too deeply on his dial.

Outwit and Perplex seem naturals, though not to excess. Perhaps Outwit is even a little too strong, but it has to be in there somewhere. Maybe Probability Control is more his style, as he tilts the odds here or there.

He should be difficult to tag, so I'm expecting Stealth up front and probably some Combat Reflexes down the dial. With only a 21 pt span between rookie and veteran, I'm not sure whether we're going to see a shift in style or simply a modest gain in the same variety of tricks.

The Ray is one of those characters I'm more familiar with from the Golden Age version and that era of stories, which DC reprinted quite a lot of some decades back.

A flying character with energy creation and manipulation powers, we have a range of 45 points spanning his rookie to the veteran versions. Presumably we'll have some Running Shot in the mix and he shouldn't be an easy target to hit, especially at range.

Beyond that... we'll see.

Now we have Robotman.

Based on what we saw on the JSA Museum map, I'm wondering if this is meant to represent both the Freedom Force version and the Doom Patrol one. I'd previously expected it to simply be the Doom Patrol one -- Cliff Steele -- but they each had the same hero name.

The rookie might be the Robert Crane of the Golden Age, while the experienced and veteran would be Cliff Steele. The rookie might be gray, while the Steele versions would definitely be gold.

Another one who's definitely a Doom Patrol member is Negative Woman.

Why we're getting Negative Woman ahead of Negative Man is a little confusing, but this is the way it happens some times in Heroclix. The female version of the character was one of those latterday attempts to oh, I don't know what it was an attempt to do.

In both cases it's a person wrapped in special, leaded bandages who can release a flying energy being that can move at high speeds and... I don't know, do scary things. There's a short time limit the being can be separated from the host body, but how that element would play out in a Heroclix dial isn't clear to me.

Since we have a new REV of Hawkman, getting one of his long-time foes makes sense.

So it is that we have the Shadow Thief.

Stealthy and difficult to tag is a given. Beyond that, I'm fine with waiting to find out.

I'm very, very interested in seeing what this looks like in person.

The photo makes it look almost ludicrously fragile, and it's too easy to imagine squashed, mangled versions emerging from boosters.

Another of the pieces being remade is Steel.

One of the characters first made in Hypertime, the very first DC set, we're obviously getting an amped version in this set. The Hypertime veteran was only 74 points, 38 points lower than the upcoming rookie version.

An armored, attempted replacement for Superman (created during the time he was officially dead) we can expect him to have a dial that's almost a mix of Iron Man and Thor.

The pose isn't bad, and the detail looks good, but the face is... unfortunate. There's something prognathic about the lower portion of the face.

Partner of the Star-Spangled Kid (who has since gone on to become Star Girl), STRIPE is another man in an exo-skeleton.

How Seth decided to spend the 111 points isn't something I'm going to spend time speculating about. I have no real attachment to the character, and this already strikes me as one of those characters I'm not going to be in a rush to play. It could be an excellent piece, but at the moment I can't find any excitement for it.

The Golden Age Superman from his earliest appearances is also part of this set, and an image we've seen before. I'm including it here primarily because of the point cost.

At 93 points, we're going to have a Super Strong, Leap/Climbing (and probably Charging) piece. How if at all he's going to be distinguished from other bricks is what remains to be seen.

Oh, and whether or not the sculpt really will look as if he colored his hair with shoe polish and it's starting to melt down his forehead.

The last of the Legion of Superheroes characters to be made in this set is Triplicate Girl.

As a Legion of Super-heroes member her club ring makes her a flier.

I'm presuming that Seth's intent will be to have people play her REV as a set (add them up to get 150 -- half of a 300 pt team) much as was the approach taken with Madrox the Multiple Man in Sinister.

What other skills will be evident on her dial I have no idea.

One old villain - prehistorically old -- who is finally being realized in clix form is Vandal Savage.

At 133 points I'm presuming we're going to have very tough and wily character, and probably the character most likely to have almost as much Regeneration as The General.

Then again, since he's returned to Earth recently he's had some problems in that direction... so being unsure when Seth worked on the dial and how much the people at DC leaked to him... we have another case of wait and see.

Two-fisted fury, the Golden Age Wildcat -- who through some tricks of time is rejuvenated and active still -- is also finally seeing clix form in this set.

A little Toughness is in order, and some Close Combat Expert makes sense.

He's one of those difficult cases to interpret because he's supposed to be a definite threat in a fight, but a very human-level one. He's a gifted pugilist, but the idea that he might be able to harm Superman seems silly. Still, that's nothing new in this game.

With just a 20-point spread between his rookie and veteran I'm not expecting much variation, just a matter of degrees.

Finally, at least on this little tour, we have Wonder Girl.

Presumably this will be the kinda sorta protege' of Wonder Woman seen currently in the comics, as a member of the Teen Titans.

And that is as much as I'm up to for this subject for tonight.

If more occurs to me a little later I'll expand this a touch, but as this was mostly just a visual tour for the curious I'll likely just let it stand.