He says as Spider-Man waits in the wings...

Oh Spidey's out for sure, 3 in a row is just too much and too soon. Now if House of X were to get delayed some...

Great analysis as always. Glad to see we agree on the Skrull, Trapster and Doombot. I only had a differing opinion in a few cases...

01-04 The 40 point FF do not wow me at all. I give Reed 1 star, Sue 3 stars and the rest just 2. So many better options for only 10 points more in this set. Is it the CAAV set that has made me so jaded?

08 I give the Moloid 3 stars. It's a sidestepping Empower character that anyone can carry, and you can fill up your points with him. If they waste a turn on smacking him, he's done what I needed. The only downside is having to explain Tiny-Plasticity to people.

10 I'm not a fan of the Red Hulk character, but the dial is chock full o' nuts. That's a LOT of damage absorbing for 75. I see a stellar dial with great keywords affiliated with a D-list character, and I think he's going to surprise a lot of people. Maybe he falls just short of being your primary attacker, but he's a secondary with style.

13 Black Panther IS the auto-play Common. His only weakness is Ultimates TA or losing map choice. Give him light objects to throw and he'll be an excellent leader, with lifelong Outwit and a support piece's greatest pre-requisite: longevity. Do not Charge out of hindering terrain, no matter how much you want to.


I really, really hope that I'll get to try Sealed with this set someday. It's the kind of set that I'll play sealed just for fun, even if I own everything I wanted from the set.

I spend 2 or more actions getting Moloid out of my starting area and into the fight and they spend 1 action KO'ing him. I used 2 actions and scored 0 points. They used 1 and scored 10 points.

1 Moloid is wasting the wrong player's actions

I get the idea - but consider the following:

First Click Toughness is "protected by" Shape Change. If he rolls the SC, it doesn't matter what his defensive power is.

His STOP is nasty. No matter what the opponent does*, as they easily blow through his Toughness, he will land on that STOP click (assuming he is within 4 of an F4 member) and gain Unoutwittable Impervious which lets him reduce Pulse-Wave damage.

Up top, he can be a so-so tie up you can't ignore. But eventually he becomes a real pain - and if an F4 TA Ally is KO'd, he will gain a click of life to activate use the STOP again.

Is he great? No. But for 40 points, he can be a stealth buster and clear out all those low-cost tie-ups running around and force the opponent to use a figure a lot more than 40 points to KO him.

Why not have somebody on your force larger than Tiny size just Carry the Moloid?

I want my fighters getting a ride, not giving one out to a figure I don't expect to deal damage

Great kick off gents with this primer! Really love the new addition of award for X! If I may be so BOLD, perhaps a color that pops a bit more in a nice Golden hue so awards aren't glanced over. A few times skimming straight to your comments I said, damn, that figs solid and look up and then see it has an award.

I didn't get through reading this all yet because I had to comment on something...the common Human Torch... You said you don't see him as a ranged fighter?! 99% of the time I see him doing drive by fireballs and fire blasts. In desperation he does his Nova Burst...

How is he NOT a ranged fighter?!

6 range + ES/D is a dangerous combination if you want to last longer than 3 turns but the 40 points and a likely 11 attack all dial is pretty sweet.

The 40 point version for all of them make it possible to get them collectively or individually on any team.

It's a personal take that's not based on extensive Fan. 4 reading. It's just my impression. My ideal Human Torch would have a short range, but range-based attack powers, and high mobility.

One the one hand, Red Hulk can do a HUGE amount of damage. Between Poison and holding a light object he can one-shot KO a lot of figures. And that's on all of his first THREE clicks.
On the other hand, he doesn't have Indomitable, and his maximum damage output strategy is "Uh, just stay there for a few turns and let me whomp you." He's the cheap/compact/powerful 2020 Red Hulk, but he plays like bricks did in the olden days - Keep him at range and make him waste turns moving into position.