Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

The List?
The List.

A list of pieces, including point cost, for Avengers has begun to make the rounds. It's an odd assortment, with quite a few Ultimates pieces on it, thick on Young Avengers, and at least initially feeling thin on villains... if it's true (and the scan shown below looks reasonably legit) I'm having very mixed reactions.

Well, if you want to know the seemingly likely truth, click below. Otherwise wait until next week. (Updated to include some reported dials and verifying pics.)

As always, click on the image for a larger view.

I'll be happy to finally see a Dragon Man, Guardsman (especially as a common, since the armor was used generically), and several of the Invaders/Invaders-era heroes.

Will Yondu have a special power that's a built-in Trick Shot?

A 29 pt Stingray is dismissive even for that character. He deserves much more than that.

Iron Widow, or at least the front money is indicating it, may be an Ultimates version of the Black Widow with Stark-made armor, though even Ultimates fans are saying she was never called that in the comics. Lionheart is a friggin' Chuck Austen legacy character, as if we needed someone to remind us that he had a stint on Avengers.

It looks as if the Invaders and Young Avengers will be able to field nearly complete teams straight out of this set. It remains to be seen if the super rare Hawkeye is the 616 original or the female Young Avengers version.

Much of the final reaction will depend upon how variant the Ultimates versions of characters are. Ultimates Vision is in a female form, I believe, so it'll be a matter of the dial as to whether or not just the sculpt or the entire piece sits unused. Ultimates Abomination is supposed to be 25 feet tall in the comics, but we'll see -- I'm okay with a Hulk that's technically (in terms of game mechanics) a giant, so this could work, but I don't know what he'll look like. Same goes with the Ultimates version of Namor (though now I know -- see below) -- which, like the Captain America heading the list, is disappointing as I'd like them to be intended as Invaders versions -- especially with a separate Bucky figure in the set, too. And Ultimate Captain Britain. Did we really need Ultimate and 616 versions of Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and Wasp all in the same set?

Interesting that the Captain America and Zemo are each 95 points. That, along with the sculpt we were shown weeks back, would suggest that the Ultimates tag on the list was a mistake.

Well... something to conjure with.

New info:

Well, more verification for the list lies below. Dials and photos for five of the pieces we hadn't seen previously.

Reportedly a small number of boosters were sold somewhere today, location and details being kept hush to avoid getting anyone in trouble.

Taking them alphabetically, we start with Crossbones.
While he may not be a favorite, and those who eschew Mark Gruenwald's lengthy tenure on Captain America may even loathe the guy, he looks fairly cool in clix form. Since he was given the dark honor of being the sniper the world blames for killing Captain America, it's all the more appropriate he be in here somewhere.


Next is the Guardsman, which really does look as if it's the baseline, budget Stark armor sold for use by security guards.
A fairly bland dial, but a nice sculpt and a passably good as a flying generic. At 32 points I could see having a small contingent of these acting as a force in the right game with the proper leadership. Still, sans Armor Piercing, if they're guarding at the Vault and anyone with Invulnerability or Impervious trying to break out will be able to laugh them off.

Hmmm... where exactly is that flight peg protruding from..?

Next is Iron Widow, another of these odd Ultimates universe variants I'm going to have to be verrrry creative to care about:

I'll probably use it (if at all) as some dark henchwoman who received a considerable upgrade.

Then we have quite a disappointment:

Namor reportedly has some sort of "Water Control" special power. The dial has the dolphin symbol, so I guessed this version can't fly... making him essentially useless to me... and the picture confirms it:

Hey, is that one ugly piece of crap or what?

Moving on to the last of this preview series (unless someone comes up with some more soon) it's another member of the Wrecking Crew -- Piledriver.

Who at least fits well enough and looks the part, though his dial and cost isn't likely to see him played much outside of theme teams. The special power is almost silly -- dealing 1 damage to two targets? Why not call it Girly Slap?


Hmmm. On the one hand, the luck of the draw seems to have landed a high percentage of disappointing pieces in this guy's hands, so I'm hoping this is getting a good chunk of the disappointment out of the way. On the other hand, one guy I know who's looking to largely pass on the set will likely be thrilled that there's just a few pieces he'll really want (Dragon Man among them) and another friend who's facing very tight financial times will likely also be happy that a set like this, which he'll have fairly limited interest in, is hitting now.