The Tease of Things I Don't Need

Heroclix at the End of the Week

(Sales, space, a demigod and dark denizens of next spring)

A few items on the Heroclix front for this week.

A quick note on business to start: Several of my Heroclix auctions have already concluded, thanks to the Buy It Now option, which was a new twist for me. A time-plucked trio of Captain Americas are accompanying Orion to a spot in Brazil, for instance, while Nimrod's apparently found a target in Indiana. A little over two days left to go, and I'm obviously hoping for much more action as the weekend proceeds -- preferably more sudden purchases from those who don't want to wait for an auction to run down. (Not that I don't appreciate the several bids currently in place.)

Okay, I probably should talk about the upcoming space-themed map meant to accompany Supernova's release.

It's a very cool set-up, its coolness likely in direct proportion to how fondly one remembers Jim Starlin's cosmic space operas. (This applies especially to the giant skulls surrounding the temple.) If that describes you, you'll likely eventually get around to feeling the absence of Gamora, Pip and perhaps even Starfox/Eros and Mentor from the list, too. Still, all of them can eventually pop up as uniques in future sets.

There's some speculation that Starfox/Eros may have been tainted by a recent She-Hulk storyline in which he may have used his powers to essentially effect a rape, but given the lead time on these sets it's unlikely that had an impact on whether or not he was chosen here. He's a largely peripheral character and if they tried to work him and the others into this set it would have been too strongly themed. As it was there were enough Clix fans who weren't familiar with the cosmic characters, and they had to be appeased by the inclusion of some New Warriors, X-Men, Squadron Supreme, etc. characters.

Aside from saying that I'm looking forward to trying it out - particularly with the special rules that simulate all the characters moving around in a microgravity environment - I'm thinking I'll want to appreciate this more in the context of the full set, and even if I were to open the gates and look at all the info that's out there (and I'm not going to, at least not yet) it's not all out there to be seen. With the pre-release coming up in just over two weeks, though, I suspect they'll be spilling beans at a faster rate soon, so I'll be tested more fully soon enough.

I was a little disappointed to see that the full-size pdf version of it doesn't automatically print out at the proper scale. I printed it out and was chagrined to find that the second sweep of four pages (5 through 8) printed out with a smaller grid. I trimmed the edges and then went to lay it out for a full assembly... and those pages wouldn't line up because the squares were much smaller. So, I'll need to play with printing those pages and trying to get them to the same scale. I'll take a stab at ironing that out later this weekend.

Next is notice of my making an exception today concerning looking at Supernova sneak peeks. The character unveiled today is a favorite of a comics fan who's close at hand (I work with him) so I knew his head would eventually blow if he wasn't able to talk about the piece, so I gave it a look. Since I was treating myself, I decided to give it a good looking over.

At the end of the set, in spot #96, it's the Mad Titan: Thanos.

Reappearing -- once again as a unique only -- for the first time since spring of 2002 and his Infinity Challenge version, he's back and ready to take on a considerable force.

While not crazy about the sculpt's pose, I've come to realize that it fits both his earliest appearances and mony of his late ones. Certainly, something more dramatic would have been, well... more dramatic, but if someone with this power level doesn't have the confidence to stand calmly, then who does?

While his Infinity Challenge dial (his first appearance, over four years gone) was impressive -- including the madness of an attack value that peaked at 15 -- I have to give Seth credit for doing a generally nice job on capturing him more accurately than his predecessor did. This is a much more suitably formidable Thanos.

The write-up that accompanies the piece doesn't suggest that the single target shown is a mistake, so that's one spot where this new version lacks something the earlier one had. Two targets certainly would have made him more useful, but this is still something I can deal with. He still remains a strongly improved representation.


One tool Seth had that Jon L. didn't, though, was the Power Cosmic TA, which not only builds in Willpower, so Thanos can act in two consecutive turns without taking pushing damage, but also grants immunity from Outwit. Another tool he didn't have was Impervious -- that didn't pop up until the end of summer when DC's first set (Hypertime) debuted.

Packing more, sheer, raw Damage is also nice to see, as his Damage rises as high as 5, and only drops to 3 at two points on his 10 click dial. The IC version had a single peak of 4, and was a measly, can't-even-break-a-wall 2 for over half of his dial. As with his predecessor he ends his dial with Regeneration, but in the case of the new version he does it on two clicks rather than one -- making it more likely to see use -- and he still has respectable Defense values, with his final two clicks being 16 & 15.

While his 10 click dial is one shorter than his predecessor, he's far more effective throughout. If this set or some future one brings us a Feat card that grants move and attack abilities to Phasing/Teleport pieces, we might even see his get better.

Four leading clicks of Outwit, followed by two of Probability Control and two more of Close Combat Expert demonstrate how he's most likely to keep the combat distant at first, but that he's ready to take a more hands-on approach if matters heat up. With two leading clicks of Psychic Blast (which also returns for his 7th and 8th clicks) he's free to use his Outwit on something other than the damage reducing powers of a target, instead being able to neuter a potential threat (an opponent's Psychic Blast or Exploit Weakness, perhaps) or simply open another target up for an ally.

Of course, at 267 points, unless one's building well beyond the 300 pt mark, he's not likely to have room for much in the way of allies. I suspect that outside of a marquee build I won't be working Thanos into teams smaller than 500 pts anyway, so it's not a concern. The remainder of the set can only broaden the options.

Probably the element that sits worst on me is that he's made into arch enemies with the Silver Surfer -- especially since Drax is also in the set. As I knew this was coming -- that info's been floating around for awhile -- the edge was blunted on that, so it wasn't an immediate concern given today's unveiling.

Five weeks from now I expect to have the entire set laid out in front of me.

Finally, we have an announcement that hit later in the day concerning another Action Pack: Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.

Aside from getting a new version of Hellboy -- we'll have to see what's done with him first before we can determine the merits of the remake. That we'll get more mem bers of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is something to look forward to, but what's more fully interesting to me is that it's being packaged as a sort of bridging set between Heroclix and Horrorclix. As the March release approaches and we get more info, I'll be interested in seeing this fleshed out.

And... that's quite enough of that for today.

Tags: B.P.R.D., cosmic, Hellboy, Heroclix, Horrorclix, Supernova, Thanos