Got two questions I think I have the answers to but which it can't hurt to make sure about. Last night I was playing a couple high point friendly games with a friend. At one point he wanted to push Solomon Grundy but didn't think he could because of Indomitable. I told him I was pretty sure he could option it off. The next game he was playing an all Green Lantern team with the new ATA and I told him I was pretty sure the new ATA's don't replace Team Abilities and that he had both. He then asked if he could option off flight now (since he could option off Indomitable,) and thereby carry his fellow Green Lanterns around. I told him I didn't think so but we checked the rules to be sure and damned if it did seem to indicate it was optional. Thus my two questions:

1. Do the new ATA's allow you to keep TA's you already possess? (seeing as how the word replace has been removed from the wording.)

2. Are combat abilities optional? (Giant and Colossal on the PAC say non-optional which seems to suggest all the rest are optional.)

Bonus Question:: I'm pretty confident about a ruling I made last night, Pulse Wave can't be used if you are adjacent to even friendly characters right? Since it targets them too.

P.S. We also discovered that TK can't be chained anymore. That's new to this rulebook/PAC right?

Thanks for any help!

BN, page 17:

ALTERNATE TEAM ABILITIES
Alternate Team Ability (ATA) cards can be added to your force if the characters on your team meet the prerequisite listed on the card. Each ATA card indicates the cost per character that must be added to your force in order to use it in the game. ATA cards provide either different or additional team abilities to the qualifying characters on your force. These team abilities are possessed by the qualifying characters and can be used by wild cards (unless the ATA specifies otherwise). A force may only include one ATA card.

So, if an ATA doesn't specifically say it replaces the old TA, they can be used in addition to the old TA.

BN, page 15:

Special powers and other game effects might sometimes grant abilities to a character. All abilities are optional unless “non-optional” appears in their descriptions; however, all abilities are assumed to be in effect during an action unless canceled at the beginning of that action. When an ability is canceled, it remains canceled until the end of that turn and resumes effect at the beginning of the next player’s turn.

PW doesn't target any character, actually. You draw LOF, but the word "target" never appears in the description.

And why would adjacent friendly characters prevent PW from functioning? Would you make a character adjacent to friendly character forgo all ranged combat?

If by "chained" you mean Jean Grey can't TK Magneto and then have Magneto TK someone else, you're correct. A character that has been TK'd can't use TK that turn. And this isn't new... FF, page 14:

Moving objects and characters using Telekinesis
(options 1 and 2). To move a target object or character using Telekinesis, the character using Telekinesis must be 8 or fewer squares from the target and have a clear line of fire to the target. When Telekinesis is used to move the target, it can be moved 8 squares in any direction but must end its movement in a square 8 or fewer squares from the character using Telekinesis, and the character using Telekinesis must have a clear line of fire to the square where the movement ends, as shown in Figure 19.
The target being moved does not affect the line of fire. If the target is a friendly character, it must break away from opposing characters before it can be moved. If the target moves into a square adjacent to an opposing character, it must stop its movement; if this would result in the target character ending its movement in a square not allowed by the rules of Telekinesis, it must be moved to a different square if possible or end its movement in the square where it began its movement. A friendly character that has been moved using Telekinesis can’t use Telekinesis to move other characters until the beginning of your next turn.

Thanks a ton Normalview! Especially the Pulse Wave clarification. I think I thought pulse wave would make an adjacent friendly character into an opposing character and would cause the adjacency rule to kick in. You still can't Pulse Wave if you are based to an opposing character right? Since it is a ranged attack. I think I thought it was like mind control, when you MC an opposing character he becomes friendly and thus if he's next to one of his old teammates he can't make a ranged attack since they are now opposing characters. But now that you point it out, I'm not really sure why I thought it worked that way. Thanks.

I gotta say being able to option off flight and duo abilities seems to defeat the point of saying they can't be carried. But at least with flyer's it makes a lot of sense. Never understood how Wasp can carry Hulk but Iron Man couldn't carry Wasp. Is this new by the way? No one at my venue has ever optioned off flight or duo before except Namor's SP flight that I can think of off hand.

Normalview I think missed that part. While the abilities granted by or are optional, the actual symbol does not change. And it's the symbols, not the abilities that prevent a figure from being carried.

Tarnish

Right. His actually question (#2) merely asked if abilities are optional (and they are).

Symbols, though, are always on the dial unless something specifically changes them like Earthbound/Neutralize. And the symbols are what prevents things like carrying.

Okay. That's actually the part that I was wondering. So we did do this wrong last night. Thanks for the clarification.