The biggest Heroclix set ever is upon us!  While an Avengers set is very typical for the second set in the year, this one is a bit different in that there really aren’t that many typical Avengers.  Let’s dive in to this jumbo-sized set review! 

Every Avengers set, I see quite a lot of folks complaining about the brand new Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk, stating that they’re tired of those characters being in almost every Marvel set, save for X-Men.  While this set does have a version of those characters, there’s a huge liberty here in that this set really isn’t an Avengers set; it’s a cosmic Marvel set.  From Cosmic Abstracts to the Infinity Watch, there’s something for everyone here and the standard Avengers we’re used to seeing are a rarity as opposed to the norm.  I’ll discuss my feelings on repeating characters another time. 

At the time of this writing, the set has been spoiled and the dials coded, but it’s all based on evidence from unboxing videos and other sources, so some numbers may be different upon final release of the set; values in red powers like Super Senses are VERY tough for people to make out in unboxing videos.  I wanted to get this review out as quickly as possible so the casualty here is that the info might not be 100% correct.  More like 99.5%.  I’m sure you’re all okay with that as the overall figure reviews shouldn’t really change that much based on any corrections. 

Keep in mind for these reviews: this is based on constructed play rather than sealed and the ratings here are based solely on my opinions.  These scores don’t reflect anyone else’s viewpoints on the figures, and just because I rate something poorly or highly doesn’t mean that’s how you should feel about the character.  This is a game about comic book characters, so there’s bound to be some scores you disagree with. 

Onward, into the cosmic abyss! 

COMMONS

001 Iron Man – A decent dial for Tony, but nothing too special.  The best part about this figure is that he pushes into Probability Control, but he’s rather easy to put down.  Am I the only person around here who feels Iron Man should always get a single click of Invulnerability on top dial?  The fact that he forces you to make him act first if you want Running Shot is super limiting.  Good in sealed though.  Score: 2/5

002 Black Panther – This is exactly the type of dial I want for Black Panther.  Great values, traited Stealth, crushing through reducers on every click, AND the ability to attack other characters for free if he KO’s someone.  Sure, the top-dial Sidestep is kind of a bummer but this is a very efficient dial.  Score: 4/5

003 Black Widow – A decent Perplex piece if you don’t run her on an Avengers team with a nice 18 defense, but honestly this dial is pretty poor.  I do love that it represents early Natasha though, so it gets flavor points.  Score: 1/5

004 Hawkeye – Clint always seems to get very efficient dials, and this is no exception.  You never want to play him on an Avengers team so that you get that amazing 12 attack and the ability to double target with Precision Strike.  His attack values across the board are staggering.  His only weakness is his horrid defense.  If you don’t have Chase Hawkeye from Avengers/Defenders War, this is a fantastic option.  Score: 4/5

005 Vision – This isn’t a terrible Vision.  Sure his attack values aren’t very good for 100 points, but you get a lot of flexibility with this dial.  However, there’s simply no reason I would play this over the Shifting Focus version we got last year.  That is literally the best Vision we’ve ever gotten and will be for a long time.  Score: 2/5

006 Moondragon – There’s a lot going on in this dial, and I like the fact that Moondragon always has something to do.  Early on, she serves as TK.  Pen/Psy gives her threat at 6 range, and Close Combat Expert gives her even more threat in melee.  Indom and Flight give her a great package to add to her kit.  If she were 50 points, she’d be too good.  Score: 5/5

007a Firefall – Simply put, there’s nothing in this dial that warrants paying 70 points.  The values here are equal to our typical 5 for 50 dial, and with no move-and-attack or Indom, there’s really no reason to pay 20 more points for a dial like this.  Score: 1/5

007b Firefall – For 5 more points, you get Running Shot, PENETRATING Poison and Energy Explosion with two targets, and a MUCH deadlier end dial.  This piece is fantastic and will do some real work when combined with other Spaceknights.  Score: 5/5

008 Pip the Troll – This guy just screams value for Cosmic teams (or any other keyword he can join).  The fact that he has vehicle-like carry is really good, along with the Stealth + Super Senses combo to keep him safe.  If he manages to find someone with two tokens, he’s quite a nice attacker for 40 points.  The fact that he donates Phasing and Passengers: 2 when he’s KO’d just makes him gravy.  Score: 5/5

009 Rocket – Some characters meet the model of 5 for 50 and others like Rocket just break it.  This dial is long and very strong for 60 points.  Without the Guardians, you get a 12 Attack Charge/Blades piece with a fantastic 18 defense, or play him with his buddies for PROTECTED: Outwit.  Every click has some great damage potential.  Score: 5/5

010 Her – Yeah, her top click is pretty good for 90 points, but the lack of Indomitable makes her pretty easy to deal with and damage her into bad clicks.  Her support is conditionally great, but why do I want to pay 90 points for a healer?  As for her +10 trait, there’s no way your opponent is going to let that happen, unless you play her super conservatively and she’s in the back field when she KO’s.  Score: 2/5

011 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent – Not a bad generic.  A little pricey in my opinion.  If you want cheap Energy Explosion, they’re pretty good.  Otherwise pass.  Score: 2/5

012 Ego Anti-Body – We have a lot of cheap Plasticity pieces, and that’s pretty much what you’re paying for with the Anti-Body except with more bite.  Super Strength gives them a surprising amount of damage for 30 points while Toughness keeps them safe from Poison.  Sidestep is kind of a bummer, but the Regen at the end of the dial isn’t.  Score: 3/5

UNCOMMONS

013 Black Panther 2099 – Frankly, there’s simply no reason to run this version over the common.  You get 1 more range, Leadership, and Shape Change, but the damage potential is a LOT lower on this guy.  Score: 2/5

014 Anti-Vision – We’re seeing a LOT of Avengers in Modern, so his trait is quite good.  Combined with Exploit Weakness or Super Strength and you get a pretty menacing guy.  Indom adds to his overall value, and while he does have average defenses, his kit is pretty strong with Charge or Running Shot on every click.  Reverse of the last piece; there’s no reason to play the common Vision if you have this guy.  Score: 4/5

015 Moondragon – Another Moondragon with lots of options!  Mind Control with two targets or Pen/Psy that gives tokens; both are very good.  Shape Change is a nice addition for safety and ES/D is great because she’ll always stay at range.  Late dial is good as well with Perplex and TK to help her team.  Giving Mind Control to an ally on KO is exceptionally good and could turn an entire game in the right play.  Score: 5/5

016 Kismet – Dropping 3 Outwit pogs a game is pretty damn good, and adding in the ability to change them into ranged monsters is even better.  However, you’re paying a LOT for that option, and I use option very loosely.  Luckily, her dial is very strong.  The only ‘bad’ clicks are her last two, which is when she’ll switch any remaining pogs “on”.  I’m curious to try her out.  Score: 4/5

017 Nick Fury – Not a bad dial for Nick Jr. On a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, he’ll be very good.  By himself, he’s okay.  I like the Special attack, but without Running Shot and average numbers, it feels lacking.  Score: 3/5

018 Tigra – This is a really nice dial that gives you a lot of control with how Tigra operates.  That trait for movement is really good, but can backfire with poor rolls.  Still, you can’t complain about this dial for 45 points.  Click 3 is just painful.  Score: 4/5

019a Javelin – This dial might be a little short for 70 points, but it’s very aggressive.  10 Charge with Flight and 11 Blades with Exploit Weakness is a very brutal opening, and his aggression doesn’t stop afterwards with a wonderful Flurry/Blades combo.  Empower is great to help back up anyone he carries in.  If you like all-in characters, Javelin is fantastic.  Score: 5/5

019b Javelin – It seems like the b versions of the Spaceknights take a power and just make it shockingly better.  5-6 on blades?  Have an action token too!  This is another really efficient dial, and every click has something to offer.  With other Spaceknights, he’ll be very strong.  Score: 5/5

020 Gamora – Okay, seriously, how the heck is this dial only 65 points?!  Traited Probability Control should never be taken lightly, and with Gamora you get a 12 attack Charge piece with both Precision Strike and Super Strength meaning she can pretty much destroy anyone she wants.  Just like Gamora should be, her back dial is amazing as well.  The best part?  You have no fear of losing her because she just donates the best power in the game when she dies.  Score: 5/5

021 Star-Lord – Finally we get an element gun that feels good!  Tons of utility with this Star-Lord, and if you don’t play him on a Guardians team, you get a seriously good piece for 75 points with 12 attack.  Like a lot of characters in this set, there isn’t a bad click really anywhere on his dial.  He only scores slightly lower because he’s a glass cannon.  Score: 4/5

022 Nova – While he doesn’t live up to the GotG version, this is a great outing for Sam.  The ability to give any Champion an action after he carries them is legit insane and I would imagine there will be some crazy tech with him.  The fact that walls don’t bother him is icing on the cake, and I’m overjoyed to see the Champions keyword.  Score: 5/5

023 Venom, Space Knight – Yes he’s a little expensive, but holy crap look at that dial!  We see the return of the Symbiote trait, and when combined with his defenses, it makes him really buff.  I love seeing Perplex on an already excellent opening 2 clicks meaning Venom can dish pain however he thinks is best.  Indom furthers his value and makes that 125 not so expensive, while the Wild Card TA really brings him home.  Even his middle and end dial are strong considering the click numbers.  Score: 4/5

024 She-Hulk – I like that we keep getting little 50 and 60 point Avengers in sets, and this sculpt makes me super happy.  Jen is excellent with tons of pain for that cost.  Great reducers and lots of damage, along with reducing her targets numbers and Indom make her a great value.  Score: 4/5

G01 Giant Girl – Meta.  Completely and utterly Meta.  We have a dial that has very good values and powers in a cycle that can be played at whatever point value you want, heal as much as she wants, and Colossal Retaliation traited.  She’s the end-all, be-all finisher for any Avengers team.  Score: 5/5

G02 S.H.I.E.L.D. Flying Car – Paying 100 or 40 points for Sidestep and reducers isn’t really worth it.  It’s neat that it turns into terrain after it’s KO’d, but it’s simply not worth the points.  As terrain, it’s pretty good.  Exploding after a few hits and dishing 3 damage can easily be played around.  But why is it not red?  Why does Tony get the red version?  Score: As A Vehicle 1/5, As Terrain 4/5

G03 Kree Sentry – This is a really unique piece in that it’s 4 characters in one, and each of them is actually very strong.  I’m not going to go into each of them as that would take quite a long time, but I can summarize.  The ranged version is decently strong with great potential on every click, but low defenses for a colossal.  The melee version is very deadly and has good reducers, but again has low defense.  The tie-up piece is fantastic and super tough to deal with.  Finally the containment version is probably the strongest with a super Incap, 7 range Barrier that sees over everything, and Outwit.  If played together, they do a pretty good job buffing each other and could actually be a decent 300 point team.  Pound for pound, they’re incredibly versatile for a single figure.  Score: 5/5

G04 Hulk – Looks like Hulk got upgraded to a Green Lantern as he has the old Will trait!  This is seriously a very good Hulk and he’s a beaut.  At any point level, this guy is incredible and will do a great job of smashing your opponent’s face.  His damage is a little low in the tail end of his dial along with his defenses, but this Hulk is meant to just rush in and stay there.  If you play him right, he’ll give the Age of Ultron Movie Hulk a run for his money.  Score: 5/5

G05 Dune Buggy – A lot of people are upset by a generic vehicle, but they shouldn’t be.  This thing is fantastic.  For 30 points, you give a character 6 extra clicks and Charge, and later in the dial it flat reduces attack values by -1.  That’s terribly efficient.  It also turns into special terrain that generates the same -1 attack value, so you can throw a melee character in, Charge to their backline and stay there until the buggy dies, and bail out giving their team a big debuff.  For 30 points.  Score: 5/5

G06 Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl – What’s better than a giant Charge/Blades piece with a huge dial?  How about one that can change out to an Outwit tank once it charges in and then pop a FREE Incap!  Sure, Devil’s attack values are pretty low, but you get a very tough dial on the Lunella end.  Score: 4/5

G07 – Giganto – Thankfully Giganto has the Mass Destruction trait allowing him to use Quake at no cost after a MOVE action, otherwise this dial would be very lackluster.  It’s still not outstanding for 200 or 100 points, though you do get a ton of health for those values.  My big complaint about Giganto is that he really doesn’t DO anything other than tie people up and use Quake.  Since he only has a total of 4 (or 2) clicks of Impervious and Toughness the rest of the dial, his colossal size will make him an easy target.  Score: 2/5

G08 – Nebula – At first glance, Nebula has a very powerful dial, but once you really take a second look at it, you’re not getting a whole lot for the points.  Sure, she has an amazing top click and a really good Perplex power that’s borderline busted, but once she’s hit into her 300 point line which is pretty easy, she becomes remarkably overcosted.  Nebula’s best line is her 125 point start with a big field of engagement, good defenses and offense, and a dial chock-full of Steal Energy.  She’ll be a nuisance to put down and then once she does bite the bullet, she’ll just supercharge one of you allies.  Score: 3/5

G09 Jakar – Jarka’s big draw is his TK power that allows him to use it 3 times a turn, and dish free damage if he moves opponents.  Aside from that, he doesn’t REALLY have anything special going for him.  At his higher values, he’s a point sink that’s frankly not worth it.  However, at his 75 point level, he’s pretty amazing with buff defenses and some clicks of Pulse Wave.  As a retaliator, he’s decent.  The issue is that he has to actually hit, whereas a lot of others with similar effects don’t.  Score: 4/5

G010 Kronos – The best part of Kronos is his Prob on literally every single click.  Like Jakar, he’s not really worth playing at full points as he only does 4 damage, but his lower starting lines aren’t really that great either to warrant running him.  I don’t really want to pay 60 or 125 points for a glorified Probability Control piece.. His Abstract power is kind of cool, but it’s not really all that useful or reliable.  Score: 2/5

RARES

025 Thor – This is a really solid dial.  Not only are the powers and values good throughout, you get almost two identical modes for Thor, save the 10 attacks on his last two clicks.  Three clicks of Invincible is really strong, and Thor brings a lot of pain to the table.  The Avengers Infinity trait will really help make him a good power piece moreso than most in the set.  The Storm mechanic is really neat, but probably will only actually trigger once or twice a game.  Score: 4/5

026 Jack of Hearts – Running Shot + Pulse Wave almost always earns characters a high score, but is Jack of Hearts really worth it?  He hurts quite a bit after just 1 click and while he does have a special Pulse Wave that repositions him, you’re forcing your ranged attacker to be based.  The latter half of his dial does NOT want to be based.  Score: 3/5

027 Starfox – aaand the good scores come to a grinding halt here.  Seriously, Starfox has a bad dial.  There’s nothing good here that either of the less rare Moondragon’s can’t do better.  Score: 1/5

028 Maxam – I’m not a fan of hulk-out dials as you can easily be knocked passed your best clicks, but Maxam has a long enough dial that it probably isn’t a concern.  What’s even better is that if you play him with a gem wielder, you’re adding a LOT of health back to this guy thanks to those reducers.  My only real complaint about the dial is that when he’s most powerful, he’s pitifully slow with no move-and-attack and Giant Size to make him an easy target.  Score: 3/5

029 Drax – Like Gamora, Drax has a pretty absurd dial for the points.  Free Close Combat Expert is nothing to sneeze at which makes Drax a very deadly figure.  Add on PROTECTED: Outwit and Opposing Perplex and he’s very tough to deal with.  Drax doesn’t have any bad clicks, again like Gamora, and while 100 points is a lot, his gem trait alone and passing a smaller version down is worth it.  Score: 5/5

030 Mantis – What a fantastic outing for Mantis we have!  A long dial for the points, great stats and power combinations, potential Outwit protection, and the ability to neutralize Battle Fury on your characters.  She’s a great little package.  Score: 5/5

031a Terminator – This is honestly one hell of a dial.  Three targets with Incap is really fantastic for 90 points, but add in the Enhancement with a character that wants to be next to similar pieces and you get some great damage output.  Defense is the only weak point of this dial, but it’s solid all the way around otherwise.  Score: 5/5

031b Terminator – While he isn’t as strong as the other two “prime” Spaceknights, he’s an auto include on that team with the fantastic ability to pull tokens from them.  Yeah, he can do that with any friendly character, but a Spaceknight has a huge chance of that happening.  His dial really isn’t bad either.  His first clicks aren’t great, but those last two clicks are very strong.  Score: 4/5

032 Nova – The last version we got of Rich in Avengers Assemble was awful, and this dial completely redeems him.  Huge mobility, Indom, protection from Outwit, traited ES/D on large movement (which is always), and a highly mobile dial with TONS of pain on every click make Richard one of the better tentpoles in the set.  Sure his attack drops to a 10 after his first click, but that’s manageable.  Score: 5/5

033 Captain America – There’s a lot more bite to this dial than it would seem.  Impervious + reducing penetrating damage makes Danielle potentially the hardest figure ever to punch damage through without Outwit, and her Shield ability gives her a potential 6 damage along with Running Shot and Flight.  She really doesn’t have bad clicks at the end of her dial either.  She’s remarkably solid.  Score: 5/5

034 Iron Patriot – Pure support dials are always neat, and I do honestly like how Toni is built.  She has a really interesting dial and a great trait to keep your allies safe.  That said, her cost is just too staggeringly high.  If she was 50 points and had 1 less click, she would be fantastic.  At 80, I would never run her.  Score: 2/5

G11 Wasp, Heart of the Avengers – A colossal Title Character.  Craziness.  Dial-wise, every starting line is great, but she’ll probably never see play at 300.  Her powers work very well with her kit, and the Close Combat Expert makes up for the 9 attack values.  Regardless, she’s incredibly healthy with tons of clicks at any point level. 

Her KO effect is VERY easy to mitigate, so it’s almost a non-issue which is good because her other FOUR abilities are insane.  At +1, she punishes repeat hits for a turn very hard which is good, but it’s her second +1 ability that makes this dial.  Janet has the ability to ‘retaliate’ (it’s not called that, which is good) for FREE, and it doesn’t check to see if anyone else retaliated earlier in the turn.  That means Janet can dish out a TON of damage, AND she gets more plot points.  At -3, she can change hers and her adjacent allies sizes until your next turn which is really clutch and can be a game changer.  Her ultimate is insane on an Avengers team and basically gives you a huge advantage over your opponent.  Oh, it’s 10 plot points?  Man, it’s a good thing she doesn’t have a really good +1 ability and/or Colossal Stamina.  Oh wait…

She WILL be Meta.  Mark my words.  Score: 5/5

G12 Tony Stark’s Car – While the SHIELD car wasn’t great, Tony’s car is basically a 180.  Giving a character Running Shot and a way to remove tokens is very good and even though it’s 75 points to do so, it’s worth it taking on 6 clicks of health to their dial.  The real kicker is that the car can give its passengers actions after carry and we’ve seen what that can do.  Once it turns into terrain (or played as terrain in general), it grants your allies ES/D which is CRAZY for just 10 points, AND you can move it around the field.  Score: 5/5

G13 Kree Sentry #459 – I don’t know about you, but I dig a colossal that doesn’t take stamina damage.  The named Sentry is much more vicious than the Uncommon generic and is actually very good at it’s 150 point value with Running Shot, Pulse Wave, and Outwit.  If you have Kree on your team (hey Thugs), you can move this dude around the map for free.  His values are strong (sans defense) and he’s actually got a pretty brutal top end for an expensive dial.  Score: 4/5

G14 Red Hulk – He’s not as good as the regular jade giant, but he’s still very tough.  At 100 points, you get a very long dial with plenty of aggression.  His FREE Quake will play a lot better than it looks.  At 200 or 175, he’s probably not worth it.  Score: 3/5

G15 Spider-Mobile – The Spidey Buggy wins the award for most efficient vehicle; a suite full of powers with Charge up front and 6 clicks for an ally for 50 points is just fantastic.  Tack on the anti-Stealth/Shape Change FREE action and you have a seriously good piece.  As terrain, it’s pretty standard, but can be a great sabotage in the right situation.  Score: 5/5

G16 – Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy – Plain and simple, this is a very mediocre dial.  The values and dial length aren’t worth their points, and the free attack from Moon Boy is very weak.  It’s a wonder how this is the rare and the Lunella piece is the uncommon.  Score: 1/5

G17 – Giganto and Namor – If you like tanky dials, Giganto and Namor will do you proud.  At any point level, they’re a handful to burn through, but they’re really only worth playing at 50 or as a retaliator.  And that’s fine because the 50 point dial is very good.  It matches the 5 for 50 formula, but they’re super tanky, lock up a ton of squares, and can use Quake as FREE after moving, AND they have a STOP click.  Their retaliation dial is good, except for the 9 attack value.  Still, it’s a pretty decent piece.  Score: 3/5

G18 Thanos – It’s tough to judge this Thanos.  He’s extremely expensive for the stats and powers he has, he’s slow, and he’s a giant making him easy to target.  However, he does have two extremely good traits that can be paid for.  The first punishes opponents for rolling 2’s with penetrating damage for 25 points while the second gives Thanos a once-per-turn chance to reflect an attack back at his aggressor.  My big problem with Thanos is again his values.  With a majority of 10 attack and 3 damage, this isn’t a Thanos that’s utilizing the Gauntlet, but his third trait says otherwise.  Perhaps Thanos’ best value is playing him at 100 and then passing the Gauntlet to your primary attacker for +1 to all their combat values.  Score: 3/5

G19 Stranger – This is a very interesting dial.  Once again, he’s not really worth playing at full points.  At 250, you get an extremely durable piece but poor attack values.  At 100, you get good values, but lose Power Cosmic.  However, at the 100 point line, you still get his incredible ability to pick two powers your opponent’s pieces can use, and you get his fantastic abstract power that gives a +3 range bonus to Outwit, Perplex, or Prob.  That’s a great effect to persist after KO.  Score: 3/5

G20 Ego Prime – Ego is a really great pog generator and is quite formidable on each of his starting values.  At 150 or 75, he’s very playable and will do a great job of generating a ton of pogs during the game.  He’ll also dish a pretty generous amount of damage at those values.  He gets a big plus from me for generating pogs with the same opening click as the common Ego Anti-Body.  Score: 4/5

SUPER RARES

035 Captain America, Principled – I need to get something out of the way: I hate this sculpt.  Not because it’s ugly; it’s not.  It’s the fact that Cap in a spacesuit is not really a title worthy version of him.  Now, sculpt aside, this is a VERY good title character.  I’ll try and keep this brief. 

Dial-wise, he carries the legacy of super-efficient with fantastic numbers and powers (seriously, that attack value for 65 points).  For his Title abilities, his +1 is pretty remarkable when played correctly and really pumps these powers up.  His -2 ability is easily the main reason to play him.  Free Barrier is already overpowered, but change it to 8 squares and it’s super overpowered.  His ultimate is easy to get to and is really strong in that it basically freezes the game state until your next turn.  Cap also has a KO effect that honestly isn’t all that bad since it gives your team immunity to Mind Control, Incap, and Shape Change through Battle Fury.  This is a very strong outing for Cap, and it feels like what Cap should be as a Title character.  I’ll get him and swap the sculpt.  Score: 5/5

036 Photon – The downside to this dial is the 10 attack and that’s it.  Every other aspect is exceptional from incredible defenses and powers, a placement effect, and the ability to go toe-to-toe with higher point characters.  Late in the dial, she’s a bit easier to deal with, but Prob makes her a valuable asset.  Score: 4/5

037 Quasar – 125 is steep, but man oh man is this dial crazy.  Strong numbers and powers and huge range along with Indom and Flight make Wendell a very strong primary attacker.  Remember how I said Free Barrier is overpowered?  Yep, Wendell gets it whenever he hits.  Late in his dial, he’s still a big threat and he heals from ranged attacks.  Plus the Barrier ability is a trait.  Holy cow!  Score: 5/5

038 Adam Warlock – He’s pretty good, but that Toughness up front REALLY hurts him, along with his best power hitting with an early 10 attack on click 2.  The Leadership feels out of place on his top click as it stops him from really excelling at what this dial does.  The special Steal Energy is really good however, and donating it to another character is strong.  Still, I feel like Adam will weigh you down more than Quasar will for the same points.  Score: 3/5

039 Cosmo – Kicking things off as a heck of a team player with TK and Outwit, Cosmo becomes a monster with his complete domination of opposing characters every turn along with a terrifying 12 attack Mind Control on click two if he targets two characters.  Without the Guardians, he’s even scarier with Outwit protection so you can’t stop him from ruining your dreams.  Score: 5/5

040 Golden Skull – The Skull is slow to move up, as are his bots, but he’ll punish you quite heavily once he and his minions get in range for an attack.  There’s a surprising amount of damage here for 50 points.  My only grievance is that he can’t generate more bots once they’re down.  Score: 4/5

041a Starshine – Starshine is pretty good.  She’s got some nice opening numbers and pretty awesome power combinations for just 90 points.  Like a lot of dials, there really isn’t a bad click in the bunch.  My only complaint with Starshine is that I don’t really want to pull her as a Super Rare as there are so many other cool and great options.  For playability though, she’s solid.  Score: 4/5

041b Starshine – This is a pretty solid dial with a lot of good options.  On a Spaceknight team, you get a fantastic taxi with a stunning 19 defense.  By herself, you get a pretty brutal Shape Change counter.  Still, I can’t help that I don’t get excited about this dial.  There isn’t anything here that pushes me to drop 100 points on her.  Score: 3/5

042 Supremor – A perfect case study for characters who costs too much.  At 200, Supremor is slow and frankly just not worth the cost of 2/3rds of your force.  At 100, he’s more manageable, but with only 5 clicks of health and average values, he feels like you’re getting ripped off.  The best thing I could see him used for would be using him at 100, knocking him to his last clicks, and then Pulse Waving your team to buff their stats.  Even then, that’s an awful lot of work.  Score: 2/5

043 Unseen – We lose Watcher’s Eyes Nick this year, but it looks like we’re just replacing him with this guy.  For just over half the points, you get an almost equal counter piece but without the offense.  However, he can move through all terrain and hide literally anywhere he wants.  Even better, he counters Colossal Retaliation pretty hard and although some retaliators do get around this, that’s a very powerful secondary ability.  Seems like Nick doesn’t want to leave the Meta any time soon.  Score: 5/5

044 Wasp – Another Champion, woohoo!  Nadia is quite the Wasp with a fantastic Shape Change that really makes her opponent second guess gunning for her 18 Super Senses and tiny size.  Outwit up top is solid, but it’s Nadia’s Special Damage on click 2 that will really make her shine.  Buffing everyone’s stats is a really great secondary feature on her and while she won’t pull a lot of damage while utilizing it, she becomes a powerful secondary attacker/support piece.  Also, 10 attack the whole dial!  Score: 5/5

G21 Lord Chaos and Master Order – For how cool this piece looks, they’re honestly pretty lacking.  Their abstract trait while extremely accurate just isn’t that good and won’t trigger very often.  Their free Mind Control is entirely too situational.  Their Pulse Wave really isn’t that great since you have to devote a giant portion of your force to do anything with it.  Still, they’re incredibly durable, have Perplex on every click, and if they do manage to get you in their sights for a Pulse Wave, it’s going to suck.  It’s unfortunate that they really aren’t worth playing.  Score: 2/5

G22 Infinity – The abstract ability alone is worth playing Infinity and will make her a very big power player.  She’s incredible at higher values, but really shines at 75 points.  You get a 12 range Barrier that can see over everything, four clicks of Outwit (again at 12 range), and the ability to move your characters around her for free giving your team basically a Sidestep: 3.  She’ll be a big deal.  Score: 5/5

G23 Eternity – Eternity wins as probably the best colossal to play on a higher value and actually do well.  His 250 line is actually very good and the fact that he NEVER gets action tokens is pretty insane.  His ability to potentially resurrect any of your allies anytime they die is potentially game-breaking and hot dice could make you unbeatable, and the fact that it continues after his death is frankly insane.  Lastly, the ability to jump next to people that KO your allies can really be brutal.  Even at 100 points he’s significant with a full suite of the best support powers in the game and 12 range Incap.  I almost forgot the best part; this dude has every keyword on your force.  Yeah, mic drop.  Score: 5/5

G24 Living Tribunal – As the most expensive figure in the set, LT brings a lot to the table.  He has the biggest ‘low-end’ point value as well meaning you either play him as a primary attacker or not at all.  But that’s okay because he.  Is.  BRUTAL.  At 150, his dial is actually quite insane with Outwit and Prob along with very good values and powers and a whopping 13 range with three targets (hello Energy Explosion). 

The verdict system is going to be tough to actually land, but if you do get to assign one of these, you pretty much win the game.  As for his abstract trait, it’s okay but nothing like Infinity.  But I suppose if they gave him the best abstract trait, he would be supremely overpowered.  Score: 5/5

G25 Groot – Simply put, Groot is monstrous and is a solid investment at any point level.  Without the Guardians, he has incredible values and his tanky defense powers are amongst the strongest runs in the game.  At any point level, Groot plays extremely well.  The highlight of this dial is his retaliation line since he gets to spawn two Flurry/Plasticity/Sidestep pogs that have Toughness and Shape Change as well.  The scientist you can spawn for your opponent probably won’t ever be used, but it’s a neat and flavorful addition.  I would expect to see him in the competitive scene.  Score: 5/5

CHASES

Like the Age of Apocalypse Traits, each of these chases have a similar shared trait in the Virtues of Life.  They’re each a little different, so I’ll review the entire dials, but keep in mind they have the same type of gimmick where something happens if they attack and a certain number is showing on a die along with Flurry.  Plus they all have the Cosmic Entity trait, preventing them from multiple target attacks (like Pulse Wave!).  This will help cut down on text. 

045 Thor – Thor is a big boy with huge attack and damage values, along with Super Strength for even more damage, and a way to make his attack even higher if he misses his targets.  With his 8 range, Thor will deal a ton of damage either from sniping or moving in close, which makes him a versatile Chase.  His virtue is very strong, granting your allies Power Cosmic until your next turn and if they have two tokens, they heal 1 click.  While you don’t want a 1 on your roll, this is one of the top virtues based on the sheer power it brings.  On his last clicks, Thor is quite remarkable with Precision Strike and Close Combat Expert, and you’ll actually want someone in the thick of battle with him to Mastermind onto.  Score: 4/5

046 Moondragon – Thor might be good at range, but Moondragon is outstanding.  With a huge threat of 12 Pen/Psy, and the ability to boost her own damage, or anyone else’s anywhere on the map, Heather is quite scary.  Sidestep is a bit stronger on her, and her virtue is very conditional since there’s a fair change your opponent is running any of those powers.  Her final two clicks are amazing with Pulse Wave and Probability Control. “ But AJ, she can’t use Mastermind if she wants to use Pulse Wave and single target!”  Yes that’s true, but you can easily maneuver people around her with Taxi’s or Sidestep.  Her kit is extremely strong, and the fact that her buffing can turn your own dials is tech as hell.  Score: 5/5

047 Tigra – I’m honestly not a fan of this dial.  Four clicks with one STOP and no Charge is not something you really want out of a Chase with Blades.  While it’s true that the Empower is nice since she will go in deep with allies, there’s just nothing here to really stop Tigra from being gunned down quickly without pulling her weight.  Giving your team Charge and Blades is fantastic, but it’s not reliable enough to build a team around.  You have to commit to characters that benefit from Charge to really make this useful because ranged characters are not going to want to run in and become based.  She’s very mediocre.  Score: 2/5

048 Starfox – Eros may be the toughest character in modern to KO.  While he only has one STOP click, having Steal Energy on every click but his first AND a virtue ability that heals on 4’s, AND Probability Control at the end of his dial makes him very tough to actually take out.  His special Perplex is crazy.  He can either keep himself at a 20 defense every turn, or ensure that he hits with a huge 14 attack.  Super Perplexers are awesome, but even more so when they can do a ton of work themselves.  The amount of time that will be needed to KO him just isn’t worth it.  Score: 5/5

049 Photon – Of all the Chases, Photon is probably in the best position to be Meta.  While her first click isn’t all that great, Photon gets disgusting on click 2 with 11 Pulse Wave and 3 damage.  Once she hits her STOP clicks, she has Ranged Combat Expert to remain a consistent threat, and it’s an easy dial to keep someone next to for Mastermind.  Her virtue power is broken as hell as she can max out defenses on your entire team just for rolling a 5.  Her special damage power might not do much in a majority of games, but against Bystander teams, it’s going to make them cry.  Score: 5/5

050 Quasar – Quasar had an amazing SR dial, but his Chase is just garbage.  This dial doesn’t know what it wants to do.  Paying 100 points for TK is absurd, and he doesn’t get any better after that with Incap and Leadership.  His placement ability had potential, until you keep reading as find out that they can’t have taken ANY action before or given ANY action afterwards.  So he basically makes someone a target which is terrible.  His virtue is absolutely the worst as the odds of triggering anything are astoundingly low, and his last two clicks are pretty useless.  He’s a big sack of “pray you don’t pull me in your brick”.  Score: 1/5

WHEW, that was a big one this time!  Maybe I should have reviewed the colossal on their own!  Once the Fast Forces is spoiled, I’ll go ahead and review that (and the release OP figure) on Clix Fix, hopefully next week.  Let’s take a look at how the set scored:

Poor (score of 1): 5, one of which is a chase. 

Okay (score of 2): 11

Average (score of 3): 11

Good (score of 4): 19

Excellent (score of 5): A whopping 33

This is through and through a fantastic set and it stacks up remarkably well to The Mighty Thor.  Again, keep in mind that these are my viewpoints, so it certainly doesn’t mean that half the set is excellent for everyone.  I see a lot of value here and there are a ton of very good dials.  A lot of the big scores come from the fantastic portrayal of the Abstracts.  That and almost anytime you get a Title Character (unless it’s Xavier) or colossal retaliator, it’s tough to not give them a 5/5.  Still, going back and looking at the lower tiers like commons, uncommons, and rares, WizKids is really knocking it out of the park with this set.  There aren’t a lot of duds and that’s a good thing. 

What are your thoughts on this new set?  What are you hunting for the most?  Are you going sealed and aiming at paying the higher costs, or are you cherry picking singles to avoid the overage?  Let us know in the comments section! 

I hope you enjoyed this colossal set review!  I’ll see you guys next week on Clix Fix and here again in two weeks.  Until then, remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!