The Glitterati

Beware Pink Kryptonite!

It makes you FABULOUS!

Lex Luthor found out the hard way when he discovered the rare substance...

and it transformed him into a sequin clad glam gangster.

I suppose the pink love is no surprise, Lex has always had a special place in his heart for Superman, even going so far to have Superman's baby...

In truth, these mods were made by my wife, who wanted a super shiny bedazzled fighting force.

Legion of Superman Lovers Roll Call:

LOIS LANE: Superwoman

Lois is rocking fabulous red glitter boots and gloves by Gucci.

LUCY LANE: Superwoman

The general's daughter sports a fabulous cape-hoodie
combo with bright purple bejeweled accents.

Supergirl

The classic Kryptonian fights crime in a pink spangled cape

Livewire

Knee-high boots and shiny unitard accent her purple lightning

Gangbuster

fighting crime never looked so good!

As a 600 point HeroClix fighting force the team has some synergy with Lucy and Supergirl providing a strong initial assault, with Lex and Lois coming into play late game. The Annony-missus is 2-1 with this team in competitive play, and lost one friendly game where (I kid you not) this team was beaten by Ambush Bug.

But that's a whale of a tale best served for another time...

Quick Change! The Dolphin Symbol

I'm calling for a minor rules tweak that I think is in order regarding the Dolphin movement symbol, most commonly referred to as "swimming."

Figures that possess this combat ability are meant to represent strong swimmers, underwater breathers, and otherwise masters of their deep domain. Unfortunately to date the only thing the ability does is not hinder them in water.

It's a little ability to be sure, and those without it are forced to slog through puddles and ponds at the same rate as someone trampling through the underbrush. From that perspective the flipper speed subtype doesn't seem like much of a selling point because as written normal boot movement characters move through water with relative ease.


As a further insult to the aquatic acrobats the water terrain on maps is few and far between unless it is the major feature of a map. I'd like to suggest a possible change or two given the nature of what the speed type is supposed to represent.

For starters, I'd like to let all dolphin speed symbol characters break away for free from non-dolphin speed symbol characters, but only (you guessed it) when they occupy water. Someone like Robin shouldn't be able to tie up Namor or Aquaman in their own element... not while trying to tread water anyway.



Likewise Tiger Shark or Attuma should be able to dive below Hawkeye if not just backstroke past him with ease while he struggles to hold his bow and stay afloat. The purpose of the Dolphin symbol is to be able to swim circles around opponents, and this change helps them do just that.

This tweak gives a little more advantage to swimmers without being completely game breaking. I'd go further to suggest that Dolphin Speed Symbol characters can treat water terrain as hindering terrain for Line of Fire purposes, though that might be too much for players to fathom.


Hopefully the next starter set will make a Quick Change to the Dolphin symbol, effectively giving it a new porpoise.

The Fantastic Neighborhood Spider-Man

WizKids previewed the Alternate F4 flavored Spider-Man yesterday and the complaints started ringing in so fast you'd think the Daily Bugle's editor was running another smear campaign. "Weak Sauce," they said. "F4, or F-Fail" fans cried. Is this figure *really* as bad as they say, or is it just that fans were hoping for more?

Take a look:


The Incredible Hulk expansion's version of Spider-Man is certainly not under-powered. Top dial, while holding a standard heavy object and with proper positioning Spidey can dish out 6 damage with a 12 attack (!) rebuffing the weak sauce comments. Under the right circumstances Spidey can retain that 12 attack for two more clicks.

Even without surprising foes from below or distracting them with witty banter Spidey has very solid attack values retaining a 10 for most of his dial before dropping to 9 on his last two clicks.


Damage values are what you'd expect from the wall crawler - he's capable of feats of Super Strength but doesn't rely on it in the way a Hulk dial has the green attack power the whole dial. Instead Peter has other tricks - with Incapacitate and two targets. Not exactly a failure.

Defensively Spider-Man's got his trademark Spidey (Super) Senses topping at 18 on his second click. The evasion power also helps activate his special banter power. Combat Reflexes rounds out the dial keeping him safe when he's up close and personal. He doesn't have the 50/50 trait of Common Spider-Man from "Web," but he's far from awful.


Perhaps his best feature is the Fantastic Four TA/Spider-Man Ally TA combo that will let him play well with other members of the new FF copying Ghost Rider's Mystic Ability, or borrowing the X-men team ability found among FF members like Storm or Wolverine.

The #38 Spider-Man has also been bashed for its Super Rare status. While the fact that Peter may be harder to find is a downer for his fans, this is a Hulk set after all. Because Spider-Man had a good showing in his own set last year there's probably a good chance that an equal number of Hulk fans would complain if the figure were of a lesser rarity.



This is a Spider-Man pulled from a very specific story - the replacement Fantastic Four from the early 90's (FF#347). He's not meant to be a definitive version, evidenced if not from the limited keywords then by the fact that the sculpt features him clinging to the side of the Baxter Building.

Frustrated critics are more likely upset that this Spider-Man doesn't do everything that they WANT it to do - be highly mobile with move and attack, and better defenses.

It's okay to hate on Spidey though, he's used to it.