A Touch of GrayWizkids has let us see the mail-away Armor Wars LE Clix brick buyers will be able to send for, based on the first appearance of Iron Man. Not a bad looking piece, though a little less bulky in the torso than I'd expected -- but while I read all of the Don Heck issues in Tales of Suspense, too, I tend to more fondly remember the Jack Kirby rendition of Iron Man from the first few issues of The Avengers when I think of early Iron Man.
For this earliest version of the character I think that all in all they've done a nice job.
If they buy a brick of boosters (12 boosters, shrinkwrapped) and send a store recipt for them in with the coupon, a check or money order for shipping & handling ($2 down here in the states)... in the end the press release is mainly there to show us the sculpt, assure us it will never, ever be distributed via a different program (ironically, this in the same press release that reminds us we'll also be able to buy the 2005 convention exclusive --?! -- Dark Phoenix, too), pretend they have their act together to keep it all on the up and up, but most importantly to show us the stats for this 100 pt exclusive Iron Man (click on either image for a larger view):
Not a spectacular dial, but he wasn't that spectacular at first, either. The 9 Attack
Value is nicely steady - holding the line for those first three clicks - with a Damage of 3 for the first four. Some Force Blast for three clicks for his early repulsor rays, some Ranged Combat Expert to boost his damage at range late in the dial, and some Outwit at both ends to remind us that it's Tony Stark inside the shell. Super Strength for the first 5 clicks, too, which you need if Wong Chu shoves a filing cabinet filled with rocks at you down a flight of stairs. (What do you think? Was Stan drunk or high, or was ol' Wong a huge geology buff?) Even a blast of Pulse Wave at the end, along with a spike in the Attack Value. Sure, there's no Charge or Running Shot, but for 100 points they've given us fairly playable version -- better than I'd expected.I still believe that the average retailer (well, among those I've spoken with or otherwise heard from, so perhaps I'm being presumptuous) is looking for some assurance - some committment - that if they pre-sell bricks to their customers that they won't be telling most of them come release day that they'll have to wait a week or two for the "second wave."
While I'm here, I may as well tack on the update for my Icons collection. (Items in red are pending trades.) With a few more boosters picked up my Icons collection is:
The six from the starter (Batman, Robin, Hawkgirl, Joker, Harley Quinn & Man0Bat)
Scarecrow R,E
Beast Boy E
Robin R
Cheetah V
Blackfire REV
Starfire R,V
Aquaman V
Raven V
Wonder Woman REV
Bizarro R,E, V
Joker E
Batman R,E
Darkseid R,V
Superman REV
Cyborg U
So, only one unique out of ten boosters, which is just on the shadowy side of the 1:6 odds. I won't pretend I wouldn't have been happier with a Flash or Braniac, but it's still early.
My extras are already running deep, with I believe two others at home beyond this list:
Beast Boy E (3!)
Bizarro R (2)
Blackfire E,V
Cheetah V (2)
Darkseid R
Raven V
Scarecrow R, E (2)
Starfire V
...so, between those and some extras from earlier sets, I should be able to trade for most to all of the REV remainder. I'll have a marquee or two, not to mention some other sealed events coming up, so I still have some shots at other uniques, too. There's no rush. I may be arranging some trades before the weekend's out, and I'm sure that if I make it to the local venue Monday night there'll be plenty of trades going on.
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Comments
Out of the booster, I picked up a vet Robin and a vet Scarecrow, as well as a few more extras I put in the SuperKids' room for them.
The Vet Robin has a wonderful dial, which is badly screwed by the idiotic Titans TA necessitating wasting a click of Stealth in his first movement slot. Given that the Tim Drake LE has the Titans TA and Leadership, you'd think they could have let all three figs in the REV have the vastly superior Batman TA, so we could actually play a Vet version of something from this set, rather than simply ignoring all the vets because their TAs either suck or are nonexistent.
Okay, okay, the Vet Superman has the good TA, but apparently they only made one of that fig and I'm not likely to be the one guy who gets him, so it's hard to care.
At this point, with the starter set and seven boosters in hand, I'm very nearly over this set. I'd still like to pick up about 18 Swinglines, and there are a few Uniques I'm kind of interested in, but, in all honesty, my heart has mainly moved on to Armor Wars.
And that Iron Man sculpt looks awesome. Did they mention anywhere if it has an Avengers TA? I'd imagine not, but it would be cool if it did.
I like the color lines to help pin down terrain types -- it takes some of the guesswork and ruling out of it -- though it seems a little cruel to give Aquaman an invitation to swim in chemical vats, doesn't it? Ah, well, it's just Aquaman... Maybe it's time to get out some paints and have a "What If It Was Aquaman Who Became The Joker?"
The way they're trying to adjust things between the REVs and the LEs is a tricky matter, I suspect. They're trying to make the LEs unique in some particulars without necessarily making them so in a way that some might find essential. They wanted to let the REV people have a Titans version on hand, I'm guessing. With Super Rares out of the way it's a trickier issue again. Handling the LE dials the way Kurt Wagner, Sue Storm or Cain Marko were would likely anger more people than it would excite. Consequently, they by and large made the vet Robin a more effective piece, but they let Tim Drake have the Leadership and one more click of life, leaving his Outwit for the end of his dial. Potentially critical differences, but not crushing ones that would make the LE a must-have for most people.
On a related note, I thought it was cool the way they gave the Starter Robin a click of Smoke Cloud up front so that he could use the Infiltration card despite not formally having Stealth. I don't know that he's likely to be used, but it was a nice touch.
The Iron Man LE is unaffiliated, which makes sense. Looking over the list to the extent that we know it so far, it seems clear that the main set will have a golden version of the same sculpt as unique, and I'd bet that one will have the Avengers TA. In the long term I suspect the LE will be more a completist's urge than anything else. It certainly isn't a game-breaking piece, but I again have to note that I was impressed with the economy of the dial -- or such mathematical bending as they did to fit a fairly effective piece in at 100 pts.
Oh, one more thing about Icons that I keep forgetting to mention: It was obviously produced at the old factory. The finish on the pieces and dials is as nice/the same as seen on Fantastic Forces, the cases I saw were the old style (FF cases were taller and thinner, with the boosters stacked differently, and marked clearly with "Fantastic Forces" on each carton -- Icons looks like any of the earlier ones), which also fits with all the bent cards and truly crappy collation. As I read the case pulls from so many people I'm doubly bad I cancelled my order. Getting 12-14 of a given level of a given figure and none of the other two levels? Sure, I ran into some bad imbalances in FF, but it sounds worse with Icons -- all the moreso considering that one's looking at a 54 piece set with a case being a 192 piece grab.
So... I have a little more ground to cover with Icons, but, yeah, my focus has shifted largely to Armor Wars.