Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

A little pick-me-up

As part of a random selection of people who'd posted on Wizkids' boards recently I was sent an advance booster of their upcoming Justice League set, which I otherwise wouldn't have had a serious shot at before September 5th. I wasn't able to spare the time for an entry here Wednesday night, so one this morning will have to suffice. I will likely get around to updating this with some pictures, but I'm not sure when.

Obviously, this post is labeled with s Spoilers warning, though it's nothing one can't see over at one of the fan sites, particularly in this thread. (Update: I'll be adding some pics to the post, and have already appended the two best shots of the Batman & Robin duo I'd seen posted.)

Having a booster dropped into my hands found me getting into the details of the set sooner than I'd expected and even than I'd wanted to, wanting to save as much as I could for the reveal as I moved through boosters.

Still, they were nice enough to do it and their intent is to generate buzz about the set ("...make sure to briong these pieces into your store and get everybody buzzing about the set" is part of the note from Mark Tuttle that came with the booster.)

First, here's the complete list of actual clix for the set (C= Common, U= Uncommon, R = Rare, SR = Super Rare):
Batman C
Aquaman C
Creeper C
Firehawk C
Mento C
Heat Wave C
Icicle C
Lex Luthor C
The Joker C
Bulleteer C
Black Canary C
Crimson Fox C
Dr. Light C
Green Arrow C
Gypsy C
Bouncing Boy C
Parasite U
Firestorm U
Merlyn U
Black Hand U
King Shark U
Professor Ivo U
Toyman U
Chronos U
Dr. Alchemy U
Captain Boomerang U
The Flash U
Zatanna U
Zauriel U
Plastic Man U
Tharok U
Bronze Tiger U
Vigilante R
August General in Iron R
Deadman R
Granny Goodness R
Wonder Woman R
Batman and Robin R
Batzarro R
Hector Hammond R
Mr. Mxyzptlk R
Abra Kadabra R
Dr. Polaris R
Major Disaster R
Aztek R
Superman R
Hourman R
Dream Girl R
Shining Knight SR
Power Ring SR
Lobo SR
Amazo SR
Big Barda and Mister Miracle SR
Doomsday SR
Green Lantern SR
Time Trapper SR
The Flash SR
Batman SR
Wonder Woman SR
Superman SR

Now, as to what came out of my booster. I'm going to lift the dial write-ups from a thread over on HCRealms, especially as I contributed a few pieces of the information in the thread. It's the easiest way to get the dials in place.

The character cards, I want to note, are larger than those seen in Avengers and have rounded corners. They're the same as we saw for the four heralds.

Taking them by piece number, I happen to start with the first piece in the set -- Batman.
I'm going to wait on an official interpretation of Batman's special power, though it does appear to make him work well on a map with ample hindering terrain. Will that be sufficient to counter the lack of Leap/Climb, Incapacitate and a single target? Only time will tell. I have to say that since it appears that the lowest-point Superman in the set is 226 points I was disappointed to see Batman was 1 point too expensive for a Superman-Batman team in a 300 pt structure. One would think that's the kind of natural team-up they'd be aiming for.

Next, we have one of the Flash's Rogues -- Heatwave.
Then we have one of the two pieces in the booster which have already been previewed by Wizkids -- an old foe of the Atom's -- Chronos.
Next is the other already-previewed piece -- Zatanna.
I have to note that there's a blunder in the paint on Zatanna, as her eyes have blobs of white seemingly pierced by a pinhead. The result is a grotesque, cartoon expression of surprise.

Finally, we have one of the rares (I didn't luck out and get a booster with a Super Rare, but free & early is free & early) -- We have Mr. Mxyzptlk.
Mr. M is definitely proving to be a disappointment to better than half of the people who've reacted to him so far. The min/max player hates everything about him, and even the theme players lament his short dial (5 clicks), his high cost (107 pts) his expensive TA (Superman Enemy, which feels wasted on a piece where 3 of his 5 clicks already have Outwit), and/or that while is 18 Defense with Super Senses can be intimidating, it's not as high as it should be; he's not a character who really takes damage.

Here are a couple shots:



Prior to taking a picture, here's how I described Mr. M's sculpt:

Mr. M himself is fairly tiny, and his hat is a small thing perched atop and just off center of his head. It's roughly the size of one of his fists -- were he making a fist. It would be too small to be a serious hat on a standard-sized heroclix sculpts head. White hair sweeps out and backwards from his head in a wedge, issuing from the sides above his ears and on back.

Mr. M is floating, cross-legged, with his left hand resting on/gripping his left thigh and his right hand - both hands gloved - up at his eye level, mostly balled into a fist and with his index finger raised. The hand's tilted slightly back, as if he's mildly winding up to point it at someone or something.

His expression is one of irritation, brows knit, as it appears something annoying off to his left has just gotten his attention.

As mentioned before, this is neither the Silver Age version nor the Golden Age one which was used for the latterday Superman cartoons put out by Warner. This reminds me mostly of John Byrne's version from the '80s.

Again, especially considering the artist worked at this scale, it's a remarkably expressive little sculpt.

Also in the booster was a Battlefield Condition.

BF003 SHRUNK
All characters with the {giant} symbol have the {standard Damage} symbol instead. All range value are halved, as is the range of all effects that have a range.

I'm reading that as a card that affects everyone, while some won't let go of the first statement referencing giants. So, as with so much in each set, there'll need to be an official clarification.

Images and commentary may be coming by the weekend.

Update: I'm going to start putting some of the better pics I come across for various pieces. It won't be much at first, but we'll see how it goes. After this upcoming weekend pics will be easy to find, since they're holding a pre-release event for the set in Indianapolis.

I'll start with a couple pics of the Batman & Robin duo piece.


(Layout/formatting is likely to get a little crazy, especially varying with browser and browser settings, so if I start pumping out more superfluous text you'll understand that at least in part it's a little excelsior to pad the pics.)

Next is the same piece as part of a posed assortment shot one of the other booster recipients set up and took a day or two ago.

The Joker's on the left, then there's the Firestorm with perhaps the most embarrassing (or boastful) flight peg so far, then there's the Batman & Robin due with the new Gypsy in the foreground, and finally, bringing up the rear, is Aquaman.