DEEP DISH THEMES:

ORIGIN: Mole Man was once a normal person who was an American nuclear engineer and explorer, but society cast him out when he made ridiculous claims that the Earth was hollow. He was also shunned for his odd size and appearance.

He acquired his monsters from an island called none other than Monster Island. He found this island by following a group that called themselves the Monster Hunters. He later fell down a cave into a place called Subterranea. While underground, he suffered a permanent loss of vision, having stared at a brightly shining group of diamonds. This blindness forced him to wear a pair of goggles to negate the sensitivity on his eyes to bright light. Considering himself an outcast to the surface world, he began exploring the depths of Subterranea and began calling himself the Mole Man.



PROS: There's a lot of positive things going on with this dial. It hasn't aged very well, but there is enough here to work with even in a modern day game if you want to play with a Mole Man. His opening click of Stealth is a nice thing to have these days as we've gotten back to a point where every other figure isn't a Stealth Busting monster. The amount of Incapacitate is going to help you get your Moloid army into position...and speaking of Moloids, he's going to be able get a lot of use out of his Mastermind with those little buggers running around. That takes us back to my initial point about the Stealth. With that in play, it's not going to be nearly as easy to use Outwit to get rid of that Mastermind, and there will always be a plethora of Mastermind fodder around when I'm playing with good old Mole Man.

CONS: Though there is use in this dial, it still has obvious age issues...or are they issues with the fact that Mole Man isn't that powerful of a character to begin with? Honestly?...I want to think that it's the latter. Sure, there may be some superfluous clicks on the dial that he's not going to get much use out of or even blown right beyond them, but compared to some of the other figures of it's time and even some of the ones in modern age?...Mole Man may actually be a little TOO good for what he's capable of. These old versions obviously don't have any kind of fancy special powers, traits, or other things that help to add subtle nuances to characters in modern clix, but even one this old is still not a bad option if you want a cheap Mole Man.

THEME: There's not usually a tremendous need for Leadership on a Scientist team as there are a good chunk of them that already have it, but if you do happen to have a need for it, this Mole Man could be your answer. 55 points isn't a terrible price to pay for such a useful power. He also offers other things to the team as well, but in a Scientist team, his Leadership is going to likely be his most useful asset. It's his only keyword, so unless you're going "Off Book" with him, that's the role that he's likely going to be playing on your theme team.



PROS: As with most golden age/pre-carded figures, their stats and powers remain largely the same from version to version. It was almost a cookie cutter design for most REV figures back in the day. Add a click of life or two, double up on some of the powers, increase a stat or two, and cash the paycheck. Unless you need a keyword that any one specific version had or trying to fill in/shave off points, you weren't likely anguishing over which version to play as they were largely the same from figure to figure. That isn't to say that this version is necessarily bad, though. If you liked the rookie version at all and wanted the ruler keyword or wanted a figure that could be pushed but still remain just as effective as it's less experienced counterpart, this might be the answer you're looking for. Whether or not you want to pay the 14 more points that he costs over the rookie is a judgement call that's yours to make, though.

CONS: When these Mole Men came out, keywords weren't a thing. You could play the Mole Man and his Moloids without a worry about "Breaking Theme" as it wasn't part of the game at the time. I've personally been playing theme since well before keywords were a thing and did so very happily. I was not so happy once they came out with Keywords and went back and assigned them to golden age figures...because now my perfectly acceptable theme team was no longer a theme team as determined by WizKids. I don't know a single judge that wouldn't have granted my theme status in local venues, but since Moloids didn't have any of the keywords that any Mole Man at the time had, I was just out of luck in any other kind of setting...not that it would have been competitive enough to even GET me to other settings, but my point is still valid. I shouldn't HAVE to get special exceptions to play something 100% comic accurate.

THEME: Like I said, the only keyword difference between he and the rookie version is the addition of the "Ruler" keyword. It's another one that is rife with the Leadership power as well it should be. Sure, you can be a Joffrey Baratheon and be a "Ruler" by title, but still suck at it so as not to merit any real leadership abilities, but more than likely a good percentage of characters with said Keyword will have that power somewhere on their dials. It's not a bad power to have a back-up of, though. You're not getting any additional actions these days as a result of having more, but the ability to potentially pull action tokens off of characters regardless of point value that you share a keyword with makes cheap Leadership golden.



PROS: Ordinarily I wouldn't tout this as THE Mole Man to use out of the REV set, but there is one small, almost unnoticeable difference that puts this one above the other two in my eyes...the multiple targets. Multiple targets and Incapacitate is one of my favorite things in this game. Add in the Leadership that he still has access to, and you get a game concept that a lot of people (In my own experience) don't pay a lot of attention to...pacing. If you can add an action to your action pool, potentially REMOVE an action token from a teammate, and then go on to potentially take two of your opponent's pieces out of the fight on their next turn for the sake of needing to rest? You have just potentially pulled off a four action swing at the cost of only one of your actions. In a 300 point game, you've put one of your own pieces that had an action token on it back in the game, added an action to your total. You've now got three more actions and a fresh character that can put the hurt on the opponent's team who just had up to two characters that were hobbled, and in a 300 point game, that could be their whole team. It's definitely something to think about in your next game.

CONS: The point still remains, even at Veteran level, that he is squishy. He might have Mastermind fodder available or might be able to roll Super Senses should he land on those clicks and not get knocked right passed them, but he isn't going to be nearly as useful after only one or two low level hits. He might even be KO'd should one of those hits be especially nasty. He shouldn't BE able to take a hit, really, so it's accurate at least, but for game play purposes, he's not holding his own in that arena. At almost 80 points, he's still a little more than 25% of your team, and that four range isn't going to be amazing at catching opponents unaware. It's not terrible...especially in modern HeroClix where ranges have been stymied a bit as it is, but it's going to be a bit of a dark spot on an otherwise very usable figure. Unfortunately there are characters like Chaos War Wasp or Civil War Songbird that just outclass him in every area for things like this and for less points, but this is Deep Dish Themes, after all. Those characters don't fit the theme that you're going for, and that's the point. He is good for what you need and for the theme that you're going for.

THEME: When it comes to Martial Artists, I'm not really picturing Mole Man. He is actually really proficient at using his staff in combat, though, and the Martial Artist keyword is unique to this particular version of Harvey, so let's roll with that. It's not a keyword that is overflowing with powers like Leadership, so he could actually be a strong asset to such a team. In fact, after a quick search of the units section, there have only been 80 characters EVER made that have both Leadership and the Martial Artist keyword...considering how many figures have been made over the last 16 years, I'd still call that a short supply.



PROS: There is only one word to describe Rupert here...SUPERSTAR! He's 15 years old, and I'd STILL reach for him happily in a modern game. He does all that stuff that the REV Mole Men did, but he does it all SO much better. His stats are REALLY good for a Mole Man...or for just about anybody for that matter. It's fair to say that they are TOO good for a Mole Man, in fact. Remember that thing that I was talking about with the Veteran that I loved so much (I hope you remember...it was only a couple of paragraphs ago)? He can do that and can do it even BETTER. He has added not only two more range and has been bumped up to a six range, but he also now has THREE targets. Simply put, he just does EVERYTHING better than his REV counterparts.

CONS: I only have two complaints about this figure, and they are really kind of dumb complaints. Complaint the first...His name is Harvey Rupert Elder. Rupert is his middle name so I'm not sure why WizKids went with Rupert as the name of this LE. Complaint: Part 2: The Reckoning: This guy was and still is one of the hardest to obtain Heroclix pieces...EVER. If you're a completist like me and have to have everything...there's a chance that you still need this piece. Critical Mass is a set that has been out for 15 years as of this November (According to the Units section) and I did an e-bay search for this piece right before typing this. There are ZERO completed auctions that I could find in recently sold auctions, and there are only two available to bid on at the moment...one is for $30 and one is for $50 (Both Buy it nows). That is insane for a piece this old...now granted, when I bought mine, it was getting WAY more than that...I think I paid $80 for mine (My all-time record for a single clix figure) but that is a piece that has held it's value like crazy considering it's age...and has confounded collectors like crazy.

THEME: The only other ding on his record is that he's back down to just Ruler and Scientist for keywords. They're a few of the better generic keywords out there, but I bet his value would be even higher had he had a keyword that works with Giganto or the Moloids...not that I want his value to be HIGHER for the sake of those still looking for him, but it would have been an even stronger case for how well this figure holds up over the years. Given that he only has those two keywords, though, I would most likely use him on a Scientist team...Ruler teams are often unruly to build because the pieces tend to be higher in point cost, and though I love this figure, 85 points for it is borderline at 1/3 of your build total. I generally prefer to play with more characters on my teams than playing with just one or two higher point ones.



PROS: The ONLY thing that I really count as a feather in the cap of this Mole Man is that they FINALLY gave him a keyword that would allow him to work well with his Moloids or the eventual Giganto that they would make in Galactic Guardians. He does have some good support powers in the form of the ever present Leadership and the new gained Perplex, but I question their placement on his dial in terms of game effectiveness. At the point he came out he was the cheapest Mole Man that we had available to us, and he did seem at least a little bit more accurate to the comics in term of combat prowess, but accuracy is sometimes not all it's cracked up to be.

CONS: Personally, I feel this is the worst Mole Man that has been made to date. If he would have had some kind of ability to carry Moloids with him when he moved, I might have ranked him a bit higher, but all he really does is move around really well and hides when he gets there. That's useful for when you need to get his Leadership or Perplex into position, but that's about it. There's no real attack potential here, and the things that he does provide your team with can be found both cheaper and better. Had his Perplex been top-dial he might have been a better figure in my opinion, but I'm much more likely to reach for that LE Rupert (And have) on just about every occasion.

THEME: Him having the Monster keyword is about the only reason I've ever reached for him. In that rare instance where I'm not allowed to "Break Theme" to play one of the better Mole Men, he has been there as a disappointing back up piece. He has a role to play on the team, but too often it's the role of "Last man standing because nobody cared enough to KO him up until this point."



PROS: Point for point this Mole Man remains arguably the best Mole Man that they have ever made. Speaking of points, he's the lowest point Mole Man that exists as well. His best trick is his Mind Control. He could not even have this power and I'd still consider him worth his points...but he DOES have this power and it's amazing. In fact, it's one of the major reasons that the damage depletion modifier was even invented! It's gone now, though, so PLAY ON! It says: Mole Man can use Mind Control only to target characters with the Monster keyword, including friendly ones. When using this Mind Control, Mole Man is not dealt unavoidable damage and modifies his attack value by +3. Though Mind Control isn't as effective as it once was, it's still REALLY GOOD, and this gives you the ability to get so much mileage out of your big ol' beasties. What's even more fun is using Mole Man's Outwit on a target that his allies may be about to attack. His attack when using this special power is going to be able to hit most things in the game with even an average dice roll since he gets that +3 to attack when he does it. He can get in and out of places pretty quickly to do it with his opening and closing Phasing (Especially when Willpower is showing). He even has a splash of mid-dial Close Combat Expert with which to do a little fighting himself. There is something useful on this dial on every click...even MORE useful when there are Monsters around...it's almost criminal how good he is and what a difference he can make to a Monster team.

CONS: The ONLY thing that I really see wrong with him is that his range is a printed zero. You still get the built in four range for the purposes of Mind Control, but it's not stellar. If I'm being honest with myself, though, it's necessary to have something on this dial to hamstring him at least a little bit. This is already a piece that many have deemed overpowered, and for him to have a printed six range or higher would have not only been inaccurate, it would have been uncalled for. To have ANY Mole Man figure be considered for meta teams seems almost unthinkable...yet here we are...

THEME: If you haven't figured out from the subtle review above, he will almost 99% of the time be used EXCLUSIVELY on Monster Theme teams...even if he isn't on that team, I'm going to do what I can to have him on a team that ALSO features a monster for the sake of getting the most out of him. Back when it was legal to do so, I even saw people that would daisy-chain Mole Men to Mind Control each other on down a line and eventually have something like a Hulk or Dracula at the end of the chain doing the heavy lifting. It wasn't uncommon to see multiple copies of him on any Monster team.



PROS: Zombie Mole Man is no slouch. He's not the hardest hitting of the Z-Virus brigade, but he is certainly a tricksy hobbitses. He can be given a power action to give every other character with the Monster Keyword on your team the use of Side Step as well allows them to ignore walls when using it. Given the right map and an opponent that doesn't know what's going on, that could prove to be a fatal strategy if employed correctly. Side Step is a power that some underestimate until an opponent is surrounded by figures that were just a couple squares away a minute ago. The movement special is pretty good even if he doesn't use the carry aspect of the power, but what the nicest part for that power is to me is that he sets down his own hindering terrain when he gets done moving. There is almost no good reason for him to ever be out of hindering terrain. That terrain doesn't go away either, so you can effect the battlefield conditions as you move about the board. I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention the zombie infection and zombie hunger traits as well. The hunger trait can give him a much longer lived dial than you will ever pay for by constantly stopping him from dying, and the Infection tokens will make it so your opponent will possibly be adding to your team's numbers as their team dwindles. Both are scary and both can be far too much for a team to deal with if not dealt with swiftly and methodically.

CONS: Again we have the problem of a super squishy figure. It's still just as comic accurate as it was before when I mentioned it (If not more because he's literally rotting on the battlefield) but he had better hope that he can build uup a Hunger token or two before getting into trouble or else he's REALLY going to be in trouble. In my opinion, I would rather play with a Zombie Venom for a few more points or a Zombie Skrull for a few less points a lot of the time. Mole Man definitely has his uses, but he's usually more of a thinking piece than one usually needs on this kind of team.

THEME: Though this Mole Man is definitely more of an ACTUAL Monster than the Galactic Guardians one, I still narrowly give the crown of king of the monsters to that other one, though I would still definitely use this version on a Monster team. Primarily, I would use him on the team that he was mostly designed to work with, and that is the Z-Virus crew. He is definitely not the BEST character that the keyword has to offer, but what he does offer can potentially be game changing. As I understand it (Having never actually used a team base for all of it's purposes) he is ESSENTIAL for the team base purposes...something to consider.

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Now that we have had a little glimpse into the aspects of all the different versions of this figure, let's take a quick look at their keywords and I will tell you my number one picks to use for each keyword theme available (Named keywords are bolded):

Scientist: cm217 Rupert
Ruler: cm217 Rupert
Martial Artist: cm051 Mole Man
Monster: gg026 Mole Man
Infinity Watch: gg026 Mole Man
Z-Virus: gotg063 Mole Man

WHO NEEDS KEYWORDS?!

In this section, I'm going to list some possible theme teams that you could play this figure on that are definitely comic accurate but don't require keywords and provides links using Comic Vine and/or Wikipedia to tell you more about them. Unfortunately, using these teams mean you are going to forego keyword bonuses, but every once in a while Judges might let you slip by with one of these teams:

Intelligencia
Legion Accursed (Secret Wars II)

This wraps it up for this edition of Deep Dish Themes! Thank you for reading! Feel free to post what you think about the article and feel free to nominate a character for an upcoming edition of Deep Dish Themes. Join me on 5/16 when I finally get around to bringing you that long-promised Deep Dish Themes: Oracle!

Edit:

Forget I said anything.

I won't post anything anymore.

Guess i should have specified "carry multiples"

Mole-man has a great clix track record, with numerous pieces that hold up really well today.

Also, I love the picture you chose for the thumbnail

Is that you dressed as mole man? Wait , its the real thing! Head for the hills.......great article though, one of my favorite characters!

Been getting a lot of positive feedback about the cosplay picture. It's not me... it is one of my best friends, though. His name is Eric. Screen name is Griff5813. If anybody has ever seen me talk about the awesome teacher and that I know that runs a heroclix club after school program, that's him.

Once for kicks and giggles I ran that SI Mole Man with a couple of these guys:


I'm pretty sure I didn't win, but the map was definitely interesting by the time the game was done.

I still have flashbacks of facing GG Mole Man/ASM Drac teams. That Mole Man ALWAYS made his first Senses roll against me. Always. And the opponent would usually push him onto click #2 to prevent Outwitting.

I had a lot of fun in the early days of Clix trying to work out effective combos with the CM Mole Man REVs. That sculpt is quite cool, too.

I give the designers credit -- many versions of Mole Man have felt appropriately like sneaky, smart, non-bruiser, monster-loving leaders.

If I was him, I would never not wear that costume. That would be my outfit 24/7. I'd shower in it. Sleep in it. Conquer the surface world in it...

That's the dream!