My apologies if this has been done before, and especially if it's been done recently. I guess I was bored, or more likely procrastinating as I often do, so the stats-nerd in me thought it would be interesting to search the Units section to see which keywords have been used most often in the entire history of keywords in HeroClix. I just did the simplest of searches: search on a keyword -- how many results do I get?

Yes, yes, I know.... all those figures with multiple starting lines have skewed the numbers somewhat. But I'm figuring that it all balances out in the end, and we’re close enough. So, as Scottie P would say.....without further ado……

TOP 25 MOST POPULAR KEYWORDS IN ALL OF HEROCLIX HISTORY !!!
(followed by # of search results)
1. Scientist (1,228)
2. Soldier (1,205)
3. Avengers (1,132)
4. Warrior (1,065)
5. Mystical (1,058)
6. Ruler (914)
7. Martial Artist (912)
8. X-Men (872)
9. Monster (834)
10. Cosmic (795)
11. Brute (692)
12. Armor (673)
13. Robot (624)
14. Future (525)
15. Spy (524)
16. Animal (518)
17. Deity (500)
18. Celebrity (491)
19. Gotham City (489)
19. Justice League (489)
21. Past (445)
22. SHIELD (408)
22. Asgardian (408)
24. Police (364)
25. Detective (316)
26. Fantastic Four (313) **

**Ok, so Top 26. F4 was so close, and was the only other keyword used more than 300 times, I had to list them. Plus, they’ll probably pass Detective by the end of the year anyway.

Some observations:
Not surprising that the first DC keywords barely crack the Top 20, given the distribution of sets each year.
Little surprised that Ruler ranked so high; I thought Robot would have ranked higher.
Also surprised to see Celebrity in the Top 20.
And WizKids obviously looks more to the Future than into the Past !!

Post your own observations, particularly if you’re a stats-nerd like me.

[Disclaimer: I did not do a full quality control check on my findings, so I’m not guaranteeing that I didn’t miss a keyword. Pointing out any omissions is welcomed.]

Two questions:

1. Why is there two nineteens and no twenty?

2. Do the stats after the name mean how many figures have that keyword, or how many times they've been used? It sounds like you meant the second one, but I can't fathom how you'd find that out...

1. 19th place is a tie, which takes up spots 19 and 20. 22nd place is also a tie, which takes up spots 22 and 23.

2. The number after each name is simply the number of results I got when I did the very simplified search in Units section. Chose a keyword, hit Search, noted the number of results. So, it's how many times that keyword has been used on figures. Certainly not scientific accuracy, as many figures have multiple starting lines, and are counted for each starting line. But, close enough for comparison purposes.

Wow.

Is every Marvel character an Avenger?
Just asking.

Also, if there are as many Gothamites as Justice Leaguers, I assume all those clix are Batman, right?

I was surprised "scientist" is the most common keyword, even though it's one of my favorite. I guess I just assumed Avengers would be the most common.

Huh. Kinda thought Mystical would rank above Soldier, somehow. Guess ten years of “a Captain America in every pack” will do that. Also surprised to see Warrior so high; wonder how much of that is LOTR.

Counting multiple starting lines each as an individual “figure” for this purpose makes sense (if only from a “no one’s paying for this work” perspective). Of course, it tends to skew the results towards keywords that tend to show up on characters with multiple starting lines…

That, in turn pretty much means keywords that tend to show up on higher-point characters. I’d guess Ruler, Cosmic, and Deity all benefit disproportionately from the methodology.

Scientist probably gets a little boost from it, with all the split-dial Iron Mans and whatnot. Maybe Armor and Robot, too? Maybe I should do my own analysis, haha.

Fun to see SHIELD and Asgardian holding down the bottom of the top-25. Those keywords were my JAM back in the MCU Phase Two years. Still faves, tbh.

Fun list to look through. Thanks for the post.

Wait, you mean Gen13 and Spaceknights aren't in the top 26?????

I jest. Intriguing findings!

I think what's most fascinating about this is that it demonstrates in no uncertain terms how much more prevalent Marvel is in this game than DC. The Avengers outnumber the Justice League by nearly triple, and the X-Men very nearly double them at that.