It's Prime Time!

Who would have thought we needed three versions of the Outsider? The designers of the Trinity War set, that's who! Despite being an obscure character, there's a lot of variety to be found! Which Outsider is right for you? Is he doing better with the Crime Syndicate, or in the Flashpoint universe?

Prime Time is a bi-weekly focus on the most exclusive members of any team. How does the A-side compare to the B-side? Should you track down both? Just how well does that Prime justify the green ring? The answers are all inside.


(Despite the image, we won't be looking at the Super Rare. Sorry, P-Box fans!)

One of the enjoyable parts of writing Prime Time is stumbling across figures I'd written off or forgotten about. The Outsider was not a DC figure I was excited about. The Crime Syndicate has never done anything for me, the Secret Society hadn't yet captured my attention, and combined with a sudden inundation of Outsiders, he was dismissed in totality.

So imagine my surprise when I, while wandering through the Units section for an unconventional DC Prime to evaluate, discovered that the Outsider's prime version was not only an entirely different character, but also an entirely different power set!

That has to be the least overlap we've ever seen in a Prime Time Venn Diagram! (I just looked it up and Jubilee actually holds that honor- though if you count Willpower and Indomitable as separate entries, they actually should tie.)

A-Sides: The Outsider
Unique Keywords: 2
Point Allocation: 22%
Role: Hidden Outwit, late-game healing, designated CSA user
Reason for Use: Calling back overextended attackers, letting allies use theme probability control without taking tokens



As this article has made abundantly clear, there is very little overlap between these two figures. This is definitely an instance where the Prime is not intended to be compared to the standard Uncommon. In spite of that, you come to Prime Time to figure out which figure to put your efforts into obtaining, so let's evaluate them!

Outsider (a) provides a game mechanic that's largely unique in the Dimensional Portal. He allows both the Crime Syndicate and Secret Society of Super Villains to employ strategies unique to their keywords. He has a low-ish point cost- which you'd likely be willing to pay for his Outwit and Probability Control alone- and can assist a wide variety of figures thanks to his Wildcard team ability.

Outsider (b) is also unique, in that he levels a map at the start of the match and can attack with Quake every single turn. But at over 100 points, he's not an addition to a team- he's a major commitment. He's also a close combat brawler, which are a dime a dozen in this game. When it comes to choosing a brick for your collection, the most significant consideration is keyword; you'll want to own bricks that can be tossed onto your favorite rosters. Keywords are a weak point for the Outsider. Flashpoint has a small roster, especially in Modern Age, and Rulers have many figures that can fill the same role.

Unless you're wild about Flashpoint, the original Alfred Pennyworth Outsider (a) is the version to own.

The Outsider is the only Prime on the Flashpoint roster, but he does share Prime real estate with a few Rulers.

Ruler
-Power Princess has a bit more going for her than the Outsider. Beginning as a melee piece, she transforms into a ranged attacker after taking a good hit. The extra investment is protected by modest passive healing, and her Flight is just as effective at personally dealing with Elevated terrain as Outsider's Sinkhole. If I needed an ally for a mid-cost Ruler, I'd rather rely on Power Princess.
-Black Witch's 9 range is noteworthy in modern game design, and helps to compensate for her lack of move and attack. With a point cost of 170, she's definitely the focal point of your team; even so, you're likely to put her on the map more often than Outsider. Sorry Outsider, but you're just not interesting enough to build around.
-Blackfire, like Black Witch, is more of a centerpiece. Unlike Black Witch, she's entirely self-sufficient. As the cheapest competition for Outsider, he faces his best chance against Blackfire- and yet, it's hard to argue with her raw efficiency as a heavy hitting ranged attacker. Outsider will have to rely on his Flashpoint keyword to stand out as the Prime of choice for any roster; against any of the Ruler Primes, he's the inferior option.

That's all for this week! Next time, Prime Time wades into Uncanny X-Men- and makes some compromises on the standard format!

I'd have been OK with three if they were Flashpoint, New 52, and Silver Age. That we didn't get the Silver Age one is really upsetting.

I've used both. These are both fun, but both are really hard to fit on teams. the a version really only gets used when I bust out my CSA team, and the b version I've only used in high point games (or that one time I ran a Flashpoint theme team)


That said, both are well worth their points.

Great article! I can't wait to see how the Uncanny Chases really fit in to here with their extra utility.

Once again, I thank you for the hard work on both the analysis and the graphics.

Neither of these figures is one that has me particularly excited to use, but I will add my $0.02.

CSA/non-prime is a case where I would rather see the movement, attack, and damage powers on clicks 1 and 2 shifted to the end of the dial, so as to make his potential for shuffling/healing that much more annoying. It would have to raise his cost (somewhat significantly) or it would be crazy broken. As it is, it will take some serious effort to have him coincidentally be on click 3+ just when one (or two) of his teammates can take advantage of a retreat/heal.

The prime has a decent dial with a very nice bag of supporting tricks. It's almost unfortunate that modern maps frequently have more than two levels of elevation now. I'd still worry about him getting sniped as he tries to get into position to make attacks.

I find it a little strange you don't mention the Prime's strength against one of the strongest defensive powers in the game right now in Shape Change. Personally I think that gives him much more viability.

You get Alfred to click 3 quickly via the CSA TA and his ability to take damage, rather than a token, in place of anyone.

On a CSA team, Evil Alf gets to his back dial very fast if you're using him right unless the dice are so far in your favor that PC is an afterthought. Even eating two tokens thanks to willpower, when you have 4 or more figures able to use PC at the same time it's almost incidental that he reaches click #3/4. Also, you don't HAVE to give him tokens at all. If you simply want him on those clicks, don't bother token chumping and choose to just eat the unavoidable damage. Now you're free to portal, Support, or both. The only thing more evil than Evil Alf is playing two of him in a high point game. I personally use him WAY more than the SR that synergizes with Pandora's Box. Heck, I do so even when utilizing Pandora's Box! It takes a bit more consideration when using Secret Society, but is still comparatively easy.

On the opposite side of the track, the Outsider is as you say easy to overlook. One of these things is that he as "Precision Strike / Battle Fury Lite" all the time thanks to Indian Empire of Crime. He ignores Shape Change (but not MC/Incap) while still being able to be carried, and inability to transfer damage negates opposing Masterminds (admittedly not that prevalent these days). He's not the most meta, but he can be really fun to play just because reasons sometime, Flashpoint or no.

I recently (before this article was posted) played a Flashpoint team and the prime version was my star! It was my first time fielding him and it took me awhile to really understand what I was supposed to be doing with him--I definitely became more aggressive as the match wore on. Now that I've read this article I want to try it again, this time I'll get it right!