Sinister Shot
(Updated & Expanded) The original scan was huge and while Blogger downsized that during the upload a somewhat larger view will pop up if you click on the image.
The shot shows in roughly top to bottom, left to right: The Fixer/Techno, Jack O' Lantern, The Wingless Wizard, Beetle, Stiltman, Nighthawk, Swordsman, Hydra Trooper, Speed Demon/Whizzer, Purple Man, Radioactive Man, Arkon, Venom (the clix brick LE, as there's no Venom in the Sinister set itself), Bullseye, Electro, Rhino, Kraven, Paste Pot Pete/The Trapster, the original Deathlok, Hydro-man and Maximus, not bothering to note the repeats of Trapster, Arkon, Radioactive Man and Whizzer used to fill out the shot.
Seeing the Silver Age Swordsman in the mix is another nice boost! I was surprised to see him.
I'm not thrilled with the snapshot of the Trapster's costume they chose - the helmet's like some Byzantine throw-back. Electro still looks stiff and Speed Demon/Whizzer's posed less than dynamically. It took me a few moments to realize that what almost appears to be a staff in front of Bullseye is a speed arc with several playing cards in it, headed our way. I'm presuming this is an early mock-up and the effect will be handled better in the final color & translucency choices.
The split-top flight bases are still in evidence -- almost comically when one looks at what the Fixer/Techno figure's peg is doing to the split. These shots are early ones, though, likely using whatever blank bases were handy.
Word is that the Hydra generics have been nicely split into as REVs into three levels: Footsoldier, Technician, and Officer, which should give us some distinct power combinations/skill sets.
Excellent character choices so far IMHO, I'm very much looking forward to this set.
I am getting the impression that at the character recognition level it's going to receive a reception similar to what Critical Mass did. Some of us thought it was terrific - in terms of character selections it's one of my top two sets - while others chewed on the scenery and kicked at things while shouting "Who?! Who?!"
Offhand it seem's Seth's balanced the selection (compared to CM) with more characters who've gotten recent play, but if someone's not a fan of Thunderbolts then many of those links won't be there and it'll be a sea of unknown faces.
Me? I'm loving it!
While not at all unwelcome it's strange to come this far into the preview season without seeing a single mutant confirmed. Maybe there's some House of M-ish input from Marvel at work here, since that event was intended to drastically reduce the mutant population and this set will be coming out alongside the mutants-only Danger Room starter set.
Below is an irritatingly blurry and watermarked shot from some shitheel gaming site showing one of the promotional posters, including what we're guessing is the New Guy Night Spider-man. They apparently went with a partially armored version the character briefly played around with during the 1990s, hence the confusion with the current, Stark-engineered, armored version. If a better shot shows up within the next 24 hours I'll replace the pic.
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Comments
Can't wait to see some dials now. Thanks for posting this. Ooooh, Nighthawk AND the Swordsman! They have to give them both REVs so they can be villains AND heroes...
Even casually, though, I'm already seeing the hate posts multiplying concerning this set. Between the people whose ignorance prevents them from knowing who almost any of these people are, those who have their lists of mutants that aren't being checked off and those who aren't seeing anyone to rival Icons Superman they're grumbling and lighting their torches.
But... what do we care? I'll admit it does have me a little anxious about whether or not the fall set will be terribly mutant heavy, but I'm expecting that one to have a cosmic theme and very likely (among other things) give us a new shot at the Skrulls, so I suspect they'll come through then even if some of the gametes are a little strange. So far, really, I haven't had a set I have enjoyed more than not.
I'm just hoping they give us a very Taskmaster-esque Swordsman. On the other hand, I'm baffled as to how one goes about making Nighthawk even remotely usable in clix form... I keep thinking he's going to end up as a heroic Killer Shrike. I guess the Vet will have some range strike, but the Nighthawk I'm most familiar with never did anything but fly really fast at Sons of the Serpent and punch them as he went by. So, what, that would be a flight stand, some Charge, maybe a little CCE, perhaps some Toughness... I really can't see the Experienced version (which should have the Defenders TA) having a great deal more than that.
Now, if they did a Unique with the original grey costume (from back in his DAREDEVIL days, pre-Squadron Sinister), he could be an interesting piece... Leap Climb, some Super Strength, some Toughness, maybe a little Perplex or Outwit... but once he got the jetpack, he got really boring really fast.
It doesn't surprise me that there are rumblings of discontent from many voices over the set. The things we like about it are exactly the things that are going to piss Modern Age comics fans off to an extreme. But, you know, boo on them... and as for those looking for an Icons Superman equivalent, well, if WK does Black Bolt right, the power-monkeys may get their wish. If I were doing Black Bolt, he'd have Super Strength, Running Shot, a range of 8 or 10, a 4 damage, and at least Toughness for much of his dial, and on his last click I'd give him Pulse Wave, a very high attack, and a 5 or maybe even 6 damage. (That, of course, is to simulate the last ditch desperation move -- Black Bolt Speaks -- THE WORD!!! Which Jeff Webb always kind of suspected was "SHIT!" or something similar, but never mind that...)
Of course, I know, they're looking for an Impervious, HyperSonicSpeeding super bruiser, and Black Bolt won't be that, so, no, they probably won't be happy.
I'm just wondering what kind of dial Maximus is going to have...
Yeah, I spotted Cyke and was pleased with almost every aspect of him save for his Buzz Lightyearish jawline. The complaints came mostly from those who wanted him to have at least one click of Running Shot and/or were bugged by his lack of Leadership and only having a single target. For 40 points he'll be a nice piece to field and bodes well for the rest of the Danger Room set. The big mutant fans have known for a while though that these are the only new versions of these characters they're going to get at least until the closing months of the year.
As I understand it we shouldn't expect any more Sinister sneak peaks until they've unveiled the Danger Room pieces, which they're at least starting off as a Wednesday thing. Six pieces will land us three weeks into April, roughly two months before the set's release. I'm guessing they'll toss in the 3D objects as a gimme along the way and might even rush through the last two pieces along with them in the middle of the month, just before Easter. That should leave them the 8 weeks for Sinister sneak peaks... with ample sneak peaks being dumped all during that period because the info's going to be getting out anyway and they're going to need to try for more info in order to entice some of the grumblers.
One enterprising fella took Cyke's point cost and all the information we were given about the possible team combinations and came up with the following, fairly reasonable stab at the way it'll break down:
Cyclops 40
Jean 30
Storm 40
Colossus 100
Angel 30
Beast 60
This fits the whole five possible 100pt teams:-
1.Colossus
2.Cyclops/Jean/Angel
3.Storm/Jean/Angel
4.Beast/Storm
5.Beast/Cyclops
and five possible 200pt teams
1. Colossus/Cyclops/Jean/Angel
2. Colossus/Storm/Jean/Angel
3. Colossus/Beast/Storm
4. Colossus/Beast/Cyclops
5. Cyclops/Jean/Angel/Beast/Storm
Nighthawk, Nighthawk... yeah, I'm not sure about him. I'm expecting him to be tightly covered in an REV, with whatever TA they opt to give Squadron Sinister types (probably MOE, since they'll be giving us the new version at the same time), Defenders for the exp and -- depending upon how far in advance Marvel tipped them off -- mayyyybe an Avengers TA for the vet since he's hanging out with the Thunderbolts of late. I wouldn't expect a separate, pre-SS version since that was a single appearance (DD #62, which I readily remember), and he just didn't know he'd been tapped on the shoulder by the Grandmaster yet.
The rookie at least, is, as you say, definitely a leap/climb piece, probably with Combat Reflexes. They could give him some CCE or Exploit Weakness, too, and early in his career he sometimes used smoke capsules -- though I may be layering that in -- so a little smoke cloud might be okay. Once he starts flying though, yeah... it gets tricker. Maybe Perplex to demonstrate him through wads of bills at problems? Likely some ES/D to demonstrate that as a flying target he's tougher to hit. As you say, some Charge is likely.
In order to do him properly, of course, they'd need a special Feat card for him to allow him to do his full damage at his full range when he uses that end-dial Pulse Wave without it causing any push damage.
The rest of his dial... it's tricky. Here's someone who draws on electrons in the air and can use them not only as a weapon but to increase his density and his strength. So, should he lead with the Impervious or build up to that and his best stats mid-dial once the battle's on and he's geared up? I suppose you can guess by the above I'd be in favor of the latter. Earlier on give him a decent Defense with a flyer's ES/D.
I guess they could give him Enhancement. He makes cool stuff for other people sometimes, when he's feeling all grovely.
Pretty much everything aside from his defense is likely to be a supporting power. Enhance, as you note, would make sense, too.
Where I'm a little thrown is that we're all presuming he's going to be Archenemy with Black Bolt, and one would expect that there'd be some dial selections that will allow Maximus a shot at killing his brother. It's difficult to think of him having much that's directly aggressive. Poison and Exploit Weakness is a possible combination, but he's not going to take anyone down quickly like that.
tgaatz!
I had forgotten about the TA limitation on Brilliant Tactician. I guess it never troubled me that much, since I tend to run theme teams. Still, I could see them giving Maximus a Minions of Doom TA, as he has worked with other villains on occasion in the past. Do the Minions of Doom have a Brilliant Tactician candidate besides Doom himself? Ahhh... Veteran Taskmaster and Loki qualify. Okay... well, I wouldn't mind another one.
dktglttp! Well, maybe if Artie Simek lettered it...
Giving him the MOD TA would work for me, too.
Looking over the Brilliant Tactician candidates in general (among the known sets recently) I realized (re-realized? I probably saw it earlier but haven't thought about B.T. for a while) that Giganta will be able to offer that to her Injustice Society buddies for three, mid-dial clicks. Also - and I think I didn't notice this simply because I don't own one and wasn't aggressively pursuing one - that the Atom is terrific for it under the official rules (I don't recall if you limit the range for Perplex to the dial's stated range or if you allow the 10) between the front-loaded 2 clicks of Perplex, the 20 Defense and Stealth. He seems well worth the 70 points he'd be on a 400+ pt JLA team.
lzbxk... sounds almost like a last name Steve Ditko made up.