One sec, my computer did something weird and I missed a whole page...

OK! Let's try that again :P
Voting for ROUND 1 is over, and who knew which Heroclix lurked in the hearts of nerds...? Shadesmar's The Shadow! Great work!!

Here are your entries for ROUND 2 (1/2):

(2/2):

ROUND 3 - What Is Love?
Like ROUND 1, we're opening this up to anything you'd like, BUT the dial must include Red, Pink and / or White powers. Bonus Point if it ONLY includes these! (Blanks, Traits and SPs are allowed)

Get to it!!

I knew next to nothing about Silver Samurai until I saw him in the YouTube series Death Battle, and now I'm low-key obsessed with him.


Silver Samurai
Real Name: Shingen Harada
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 70
Keywords: Armor, Hydra, Martial Artist, The Hand, Warrior

7 11 18 3

7 11 17 3

7 11 17 3

7 10 17 3

7 10 18 3

6 10 17 3

6 10 16 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Teleportation Ring: Phasing/Teleport, Sidestep. When Silver Samurai uses Sidestep, he has Improved Movement: Blocking, Elevated, Characters
Strike From Nowhere: Charge, Stealth.
Samurai Armor: Combat Reflexes. // When Silver Samurai is attacked by an opposing character with at least one action token, he can use Invincible. Otherwise, he can sue Toughness.
Tachyon-Enhanced Sword: Exploit Weakness. // Perplex, but only to target opposing characters he attacked with a close attack this turn. When he uses it, if he hit the attack, modify the chosen combat value -2 instead.

I still get the bonus without pink powers right?

VOTES

Every week I say that there was an overabundance of incredible dials, but this week, it feels more true than ever. Spoiled for choice, it took me WAY longer than usual to narrow it down to three.

Shadesmar’s Thanos - Not only is this a fantastic back-to-basics dial for Thanos and very creative with its ability placement (tell us which gemssss!), but it also matches the style of Higherground’s Excelsior set, notably with that Kirby Krackle effect.

Brennan4’s Nightmare - Thank you for the nod to my thread! This is a fantastic, wholistic interpretation of my favorite boss from Fusion. He’s got it all— the gravity shenanigans, the mask, the battering ram later portion of the fight. Just fantastic stuff.

Talonknife’s Chris Redfield - I used to be a Resident Evil mega fan (it’s a long story), and I’m impressed as hell that you squeezed multiple versions of Chris into a single dial, especially when RE5 Chris is so different from REmake Chris, and yet this all feels cohesive. Love Tank Controls SP!

Honorable Mentions

2 Gun Kid’s Unknown Soldier - Beyond being honored that you picked one of my threads, holy s***, this is a perfect rendition of the character that interplays with modern official mechanics. I think it could stand to be 45-50 points in today’s game, but I love this dude to death.

LostGaladorian’s Ulysses Bloodstone - My thanks for the nod to my thread! Fun take on this fella! It never occurred to me to dial him, but I like his surprising survivability and supporting role!

Hesster56’s Nightmare - Would’ve been my #1 for rendering the least playable WoV character playable and fun and for having an incredible sculpt. Just needed to have been made for someone else’s thread.

Giving something that you don't have to something that doesn't exist.

How much of WWE Wave 2 did you pre-order, bucko?

Oh, because I forgot to label Hicks with it, he's inspired and based off Squabbler's great Alien vs Predator vs Terminator set.

#ASM90s Man-Eater
Real Name: Malcolm Murphy
Team: Team Player
Range: 0
Points: 55
Keywords: Animal, Brute, Initiative, Intruders, Soldier, Wild Pack

10 11 18 4

9 11 18 3

9 11 18 3

8 11 17 3

8 10 17 2

7 10 17 2

7 10 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Absolutely Bloodthirsty: Stealth. // When an opposing character takes damage, put a Bloodthirsty token on Man-Eater's card. FREE: Remove a Bloodthirsty token and Man-Eater may move up to his Speed value for Free.
Eating Enemy Soldiers: Battle Fury, Exploit Weakness, Combat Reflexes, and Steal Energy.

Another weirdo from Silver Sable's Wild Pack, Man-Eater answers the ancient question of "how long would it take a man spliced with a tiger to start eating everyone around him." Not long, Tex. Not long.

As much as I like the Silver Sable and the Wild Pack series, her Wild Pack cohorts frustrate me. There's a ton of infighting on the team, at least one of them is openly racist and misogynistic, and most of them are thinly characterized.

Still, I love the concept. Superpowered black ops teams are catnip for me. Suicide Squad, Thunderbolts, H.A.R.D. Corps, Wild Pack-- I'm here for all of it! I'd love to see a modern take on the Wild Pack. I think there's potential for fantastic team dynamics and political intrigue.

So hopefully it happens!

Obviously someone missed the reference…

Unique Bullseye
Real Name: Lester
Team: Sinister Syndicate
Range: 5
Points: 60
Keywords: Assassin, Dark Avengers, Martial Artist, Sinister Syndicate, The Hand, Thunderbolts

7 11 17 3

7 11 17 3

6 11 17 2

6 11 16 2

6 11 16 2

6 11 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Targeting: Ignores Hindering, Elevated Terrain, Characters.

I Always Come Back, Matt!: Toughness, Willpower. When Bullseye makes an attack and hits, he may heal 1 click.

I Never Miss!: Probability Control, only to target his own attack rolls. // When Bullseye attacks, targeted characters can't use Shape Change.

#008 Sir Sonic the Hedgehog
Real Name: Sonic the Hedgehog
Team: Storybook Series
Range: 0
Points: 100
Keywords: Team Sonic, Knights of the Round Table, Warrior, Ruler, Speedster, Mystical

12 10 17 2

12 10 17 2

11 11 18 3

11 11 18 3

10 11 18 3

10 9 17 3

8 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Soul Gauge: Charge. // When Sir Sonic the Hedgehog KOs an opposing character, modify his attack value by +2 the next time he makes a CLOSE attack.
It Was Never About Chivalry For Me!: Willpower. // Sir Sonic the Hedgehog cannot have his combat values modified by opposing characters. // When Sir Sonic the Hedgehog is first KO'd, roll a D6. [1-3], nothing happens. [4-6], heal Sir Sonic the Hedgehog three clicks. This ability can only be used once per game.
Defensive Swordplay: Combat Reflexes, Super Senses. // On a successful Super Senses roll, Sir Sonic the Hedgehog can immediately make a CLOSE attack as if it were your own turn, at no cost.

Team Ability - Storybook Series: Team Player TA.

(Sidestep) Fancy Footwork
(Blades/Claws/Fangs) Sword Spin-Attack
(Precision Strike) Trained Swordsman
(Super Senses) High-Speed Athletics
(Empower) Is That The Best That Chivalry Of Yours Can Do?

Significant Appearance: Sonic and The Black Knight, (Nintendo Wii, 2009)

I was spoiled for choice when it came to flavor text this week, and that's all thanks to the superb writing for this game. Anyone in the Sonic community would either tell you the game has the best writing in the series, or they're sick of people saying it does - I'm firmly in the first camp, myself.
After Sonic Colors dropped, and especially after Archie's Sonic run was rebooted and later cancelled, I can't help but feel like Sonic's personality and characterization has taken a little bit of a nosedive - something the latest game tries to fix a little, I think, but it definitely feels like baby steps back to the peak it reached prior.

Between Sonic Adventure in 1999 and Sonic and The Black Knight in 2009, there was a clear characterization for Sonic and his cast of friends and enemies. The simple 'too cool for school' 90s kid take had slowly evolved into a cross between that previous self and a more anime-inspired 'shonen' protagonist - bold, willing to fight, but ultimately an undeniable force for good.
While the 2000s are generally remembered these takes for their 'gritty and edgy' revisions of otherwise simple or tonally different series, I always appreciated when Sonic tried that route. Not just the Shadow the Hedgehog route of including guns and motorcycles, but attempts to give Sonic and his adventures real stakes, less clear-cut moral choices, or absolutely lethal gauntlets (mostly in the comics, that last one). The world felt a little more fleshed out, both in the games and the comics, and you could generally track not only the setting's progression but the characters' progressions across the games, at least until the soft reboot that was Sonic Colors in 2010.

Which brings us back to Sonic and The Black Knight, the final game of this era and the last to star its Sonic voice actor, Jason Griffith (and if you couldn't tell, he's my favorite Sonic VA, though I still love Roger, Ryan, Jaleel and all the rest). He, along with his 'generation' of VAs really hit their peak stride here, and luckily they were given a decently long and emotionally charged script to read.
Here, all those themes of the era and Sonic's values are put front and center. Sonic is made to kill an evil King Arthur, but slaying the ruler of the realm isn't smiled upon in these lands. He was once a good man, but was corrupted by his sword in this version of the story. Instead of respecting the law of the land, Sonic merely says he can't be 'the hero every time', takes up the sword Caliburn, and gets to work cutting and slicing his way to King Arthur in the hopes of taking the corrupted king out.

The whole game centers around this, the difference between being lawful and being right, even if that means making life difficult for yourself. On top of that, it tackles the subjects of mortality and tradition. None of it feels too forced, in my opinion anyway. I think that might summarize why it's such a great Sonic story - it's still somewhat simple, no one gives an argumentative essay on why their life philosophy is superior, though one or two come close. Yet it's not dumb, and it has merit. Sonic is allowed to be a little questionable, and the lessons addressed, despite the rather absurd setting, are relevant to most, from childhood on up. I don't know if I could see the current incarnations of Sonic the Hedgehog proudly professing to not being the hero of this story, or be wiling to kill for his beliefs if it comes to it.


Anyway, dial itself - the progression of clicks is supposed to represent his rising skill with his sword Caliburn, and eventually helping the members of the Round Table break free of their moral binding to the crown and their king's dark wishes in the name of serving the people directly through Empower. (Not leadership, I never felt that represented his style as well - he's not a strategist or too much of a tactician, he's more so about inspiring others to become better for themselves). He stops doing his typical moves in favor of using the sword more intricately, before dragging out his clicks in a stubborn refusal to give up.

1. Buckwheat - Nightwing
2. RockyRaccoon - Godzilla
3. Shadesmar - Thanos

HM - Talonknife - Chris Redfield
HM - brennan4 - Nightmare

Deathstroke
Real Name: Slade Wilson
Team: Team Player
Range: 6
Points: 95
Keywords: Assassin, HIVE, Martial Artist, Society, Soldier, Suicide Squad

6 11 19 3

6 11 19 3

7 11 18 4

7 11 18 4

6 10 18 3

6 10 18 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Targeting: OO>

IKON SUIT: Steal Energy. Damage dealt to Deathstroke by close attacks is halved (he can also reduce this damage).

GUERRILLA WARFARE: Stealth. Once per turn, Outwit or Perplex.