DEEP DISH THEMES:

ORIGIN: Originally, Adam Warlock was simply known as Him. He is an artificial being created by the hand of several mad scientists whom formed an elite scientific cadre, The Enclave, and whom based their work in a scientific complex called The Beehive. Adam Warlock was created by these men. He was formed in and born from a cocoon. The goal of his creators was to create the perfect human for their own gain. The Fantastic Four would eventually investigate the creation of Him, the Enclave escaped when the complex was set to self destruct. After Him was born, he immediately sensed how corrupt his creators were and promptly abandoned them to leave for space for the purpose of gathering his thoughts. However he doesn’t get far, as he is caught in an asteroid shower and is saved by the being known as Uatu, The Watcher, who sends him back to Earth. Years later, the Enclave attempt to create another perfect artificial human, resulting in the birth of Kismet.

While performing his duties and enduring his trials upon Earth, Him discovers the existence of the Asgardian goddess Sif and decides he wants her to be his mate. This, of course, inspires the wrath of Thor, Asagrdian God of Thunder. Him and Thor battle and when, after a short time, it becomes apparent he cannot beat the Thunder God, Him passively escapes the confrontation/altercation by creating a cocoon around himself. Him later met the person that changed his life, The High Evolutionary, who gave him his now known name: Adam – for being the first of his kind, Warlock – because men would fear his power, and gave him the Soul gem that would apparently change his life.



PROS: That is an incredibly long dial for only 61 points. You get eight full clicks of life for that cost. The first three clicks of that dial you get Toughness to reduce damage so he works pretty well as a Taxi piece that can also be Mastermind fodder and add actions to your action pool. Since the change to Leadership recently, a cheap leader with the Cosmic keyword could be useful these days. the only one of less points than him is the Colossal Groot on his Colossal Retaliation click. It might be more points than you're willing to pay for that ability, but pulling tokens off of behemoth pieces with astronomical point values for only 61 points might be worth something beyond what you're paying for Warlock alone. It's something to consider if anything. I find that it helps to think about a piece like this as an extension in points to a larger figure than a figure that I'm playing to act on it's own. He's not the worst figure in the world if you need a ranged shot from time to time either. An eight range with a 10 attack and three base damage is enough to get a nice hit in on occasion and that's pretty serviceable numbers to boost if you have an unused Perplex or two laying around as well.

CONS: I'm not really sure who this figure is, but it doesn't seem a bit like Adam Warlock to me. Nothing to represent his Karmic Staff or the Soul Gem. Sure, there is an eight range on the dial, but nothing that shows what either of those tools can do. Leadership seems like an odd choice, because I've never really seen Warlock as a good leader...let alone somebody who deserves multiple clicks of it. Toughness and Outwit seem to be the only real things on the dial that say Warlock to me, and the Outwit is clear at the end of a nearly useless dial. The chances of getting to use it are not good...speaking of not good...since when was Adam Warlock's skin peach/pink in hue? I was so disappointed by this figure that I would never use it...even if I wanted to...It was a long wait until the Secret Invasion version.

THEME: Since this really doesn't do anything for me as an Adam Warlock piece, and since he seems best used for Mastermind/Leadership purposes on a Cosmic theme team, that's where I will find a home for him. He has some use on such a team whereas I think he was never actually useful on an Infinity Watch team.



PROS: This was my go-to Adam Warlock for many years. Now...that's partially because he was the only figure that represented Warlock for me in the game, but it's also because I got a LOT of mileage out of him. I thought he was awesome. I would get players telling me all the time that he's overcosted and bloated for what he can do, but my results always spoke volumes for what the investment cost me. Top dial you had the threat of Mind Control with an eight range as well as a 10 attack and a three printed damage. His biggest attribute is his damage special power that allows him to use Perplex, Leadership, and Support. Those are some great support powers to have...to compound on his value, he could use Perplex normally or could use it to increase/decrease a value by +/- 2 instead of the normal amount. This really made for a solid figurehead of a team in my opinion. There were a lot of times that I would mind control a piece to come stand next to one of my big bruisers, Perplex said bruiser's attack up by +2, and then that bruiser would smash a heavy object over that characters head with an attack of 12-14 and a damage of 6-7. At the end of his dial he has such things as a LONG string of Outwit, Regeneration, and Steal Energy. This could get him back to his sweet top dial pretty well. Phasing/Teleport really helped if you weren't in a safe spot to heal him. You could evacuate and get to a calmer area.

CONS: Though I definitely got more mileage out of him than most of the people that I know, I can see what their problems with him were. He's 160 points and has no Willpower...not through Power Cosmic, Indomitable, or just by having it on his dial until a point where it's not nearly as effective. Also keep in mind that Mind Control caused you to take damage back then. Since this piece has come out that power has undergone two major revisions. When he first debuted you would take a click of damage for each 100 points that the target cost. You could Mind Control an expensive piece, but chances are you'd be dealing yourself at least 2-3 clicks of damage for doing it. Combined with a lack of Willpower that was a 1-2 punch of no thanks for most players. Looking at his dial you see a large sea of mostly average numbers. Sure, you could use his Perplex to help himself out, but that 160 point cost shouldn't need to be helped out as much as it did if you put him into too many combat situations. I got a lot of mileage out of him, but I know that I'm an outlier in that case and I only did as well with him as I did because I didn't try to get more out of him than he was capable of and love for a character goes a long way when playing them in my experience.

THEME: I played him on a LOT of Infinity Watch teams back in the day. Appropriately enough, a great three man/300 point team was him, SI Gamora (A legendary beast if there ever was one), and Pip the troll worked really well together. If you're looking for something that was significantly higher in points to play, remove Pip the Troll and put in the Unique Thanos from Supernova. People wouldn't have the time to go after Warlock because that Thanos was just tearing them limb from with the bonuses provided to him by Warlock.



PROS: Welcome to the PAC given form! Well, not really, but there are not a lot of powers that this guy DOESN'T have! He has a grand total of FOURTEEN different powers on his dial, and with the Power Cosmic team ability to back him up, you're not using Outwit to get rid of a SINGLE ONE! He has a MASSIVE 10 range with THREE targets to use, so there isn't many places one can go to avoid his wrath. His stats could be higher for an omnipotent being, but they are pretty massively high as they are. With the aid of some of the plethora of powers that he has, he is able to stay relatively safe from your average attacker.

CONS: Such a wonderful idea and one of the costliest single based figures of all time (only Slattern from Pacific Rim beats his cost). I was so excited to get him and try him out when the Infinity Gauntlet tournament series was going on. Then I got and played him and realized what everybody else did...that he is a bloated, overcosted figure that is DEFINITELY going to be out-actioned if you play him no matter if you play him at 250 or 450 points. He has so many things that you're just not likely ever going to use when he's more than likely going to be most of if not your whole team. To top it off, he often gets those powers in weird places. For example, his movement special power only appears anywhere near top dial if you play him at 450 points. If you don't, you only get it on the last two clicks of his life. It's not reliable in the slightest. His damage special provides a bit of extra defense with the Shape Change that it provides, but you won't be seeing it until he's deep in his dial. He only has it on clicks #6-10. He gets his attack special a few clicks in, but it has arguably useless powers attached to it. Incapacitate and Telekinesis? Who is going to use those on what is likely to be a one man army?! Overall he is almost a complete and total model of inefficiency and that saddens me like you wouldn't believe.

THEME: (Pushes up glasses with tape over the bridge) Well, actually...he shouldn't even HAVE the Infinity Watch keyword since the Watch wasn't even formed until after the Living Tribunal ruled that the gems would never again be allowed to function in unison and he gave each of his friends one to safeguard AFTER giving up godhood. He also just seems really out of place on an Infinity Watch team and much more at home in a Cosmic team filled with Cosmic level players. It is going to cost you an arm and a leg to play a piece that isn't that good to begin with, but he might actually fly under the radar with pieces like Galactus, Ziran, Eternity, and others who out-size him by at least 2-3 times the height. I find that a lot of players are intimidated by "What is on the cover of the book" than what merits that book brings to the battlefield.



PROS: This was a very powerful yet very all-around good Warlock...he became the new go-to for a while himself. He's still pretty costly by today's standard, but 165 points isn't bank-breaking by ANY means...plus he has the Magus dial that he can use if you choose to as well. He has a pretty long eight click dial that is full of support powers in the form of Perplex for half the dial and is followed up by Probability Control for the other half. Offensively he has Running Shot with Penetrating/Psychic Blast to start out with. That gives way to a couple of clicks of Hypersonic Speed, and finally he ends his dial with Pulse Wave. He is (In my opinion) the most offensively capable Adam Warlock that they've ever made...perhaps even a little TOO offensively capable for what the character is usually portrayed as! Defensively he has a bunch of damage reducers and can use Regeneration on the last couple clicks of his life making him slightly harder to put down than the other Adam Warlocks as well. He also has the Defenders team ability...not because he is a Defender, but because the dial design team back then used some team abilities to represent multiple different teams. A lot of the Guardians of the Galaxy pieces were given Defenders, Alpha Flight pieces were given Avengers team ability for a while, etc.

CONS: I wish I knew how much the Magus dial cost this figure to have as an option. Adam Warlock's trait says this: After an action resolves during which Adam Warlock took damage from an opposing character, you may replace him with #020 GG Magus on the same click number. Which means that you have access to a whole other dial worth of powers conditionally. It's an awesome thing to have at your disposal, but most of the time I am going to want to stick to Warlock's dial anyway. It is the far superior dial of the two. That's why I'm wondering if it's costing him anything extra for that option that I'm not likely to use. Aside from that, about the only other thing that I don't care for about this figure is the likely-hood that you're going to have to use his own support powers to make him worth all 165 points. His damage value doesn't go above a four unless assisted by his or somebody else's Perplex and that's a revoltin' development for a character of 165 points. They just got done putting out a Molly Hayes figure for 25 points that has not one but TWO clicks of a four damage for 25 points. His attack never drops below a printed nine, but with dials these days you're likely going to find yourself using that Probability Control to give yourself a hand more often than not as well. He's got the basis for an amazing figure, but there's something about him that has always just fallen just a TAD short for me.

THEME: Since he is the only Adam Warlock that they've ever acknowledged his stint on the Guardians of the Galaxy with, I'd remiss if I were not to play him with that team...his tenure on the team was short-lived, but it's a shame that he's never gotten the keyword since. I'd actually play him and the Rocket & Groot Convention exclusive for a decent 2-man 300 point team that can get a third man out on the field. Counting the evil version of Warlock inside of his head, that's practically a four man team for the cost of two!



PROS: It honestly took me a bit to see how good this figure actually was. I was fairly new to judging when Galactic Guardians came out, and one of my players would bring him almost every week. I finally asked him one day why he kept bringing him, and he laid out for me all the reasons he did so...he was placing in the top three every week, so clearly it must be working for him. He showed me the Soul Gem trait that allows him to heal a click every time he KO's an opposing character (heal 2 clicks if the character is 100 points or more). He showed me his end-dial defense power that gave him Impervious with a VERY large defense value and Regeneration when he activates it with a double power action. Then he showed me that damage power...oh, that damage power. It's called COSMICALLY UNKNOWABLE and this is what it says: Adam Warlock can use Outwit, and he may use it to counter team abilities. If he uses it to counter the Power Cosmic team ability, he can use Outwit again after actions resolve to counter a power on the same character. He was one of the only, if not THE only figure at the time that could do anything about taking away opponent's team abilities (Not counting Pulse Wave since this power counters team abilities for the whole turn instead of for just the one attack). One of the best features is being able to Outwit the Power Cosmic team ability (Really prevalent at the time and in that set) and then get to use Outwit AGAIN on that same character! He was a Cosmic silver bullet! His dial is fairly deep for his cost, and he's not without offensive capabilities either. He has a good sized chunk of Penetrating/Psychic Blast as well as a few clicks of Close Combat Expert. He has both powers on a few of the same clicks so he's a threat from both melee and range. Oh, yeah...and he has the Power Cosmic team ability himself...so no Outwitting his Outwit (Among other things).

CONS: This figure got nerfed a LOT when the range limit was set on the Outwit power to be your your printed range or a minimum of six. For those that may not have been playing back then, Outwit used to have a range of 10 regardless of what your range was. The change that was made to it was necessary and one of the biggest changes to hit the game in a long time, but characters like this were hit HARD by it. He can still do his trick, but the amount of squares away that he can do it FROM were greatly reduced. I wonder what his point cost would be with that bit of information had been applied to him at creation. He's not a bad figure otherwise, though...he may be a bit overcosted by today's standards, but he has a lot of fun things that he can do including a lot of healing and Outwitting.

THEME: I've always loved this Warlock on Infinity Watch teams. I love it when I have a Warlock to use that has a bit of a bite himself but acts more as the brains behind the operation while his teammates provide the attack prowess. This Warlock does a really good job of providing that and does so in a way that is unlike any of the other Adam Warlock figures that they've made before or since. His point value is very easy to work with given the number of Gamora, Drax, and Moondragon figures that we've had over the years. I might just have to dig him out of the bins to give him another chance at play soon. I honestly forgot all of the things that I like about him!



PROS: Holy Cow...When I saw we were getting a new Adam Warlock I was very happy. We were quite due for a new one. When I saw his dial and what he could do I was even MORE elated. I got by for years on Warlocks that all seemed to get at least one thing right about what he should be able to do. For the most part, every one of them had something to offer, but finally we have one that I consider to be the DEFINITIVE Adam Warlock! Let's start with the Trait: Soul Gem Chooses it's bearer: Steal Energy with close or range attacks. // When Adam Warlock is KO'd by an opponent's attack, choose a friendly character. For the rest of the game, that character can use Steal Energy. So this version of Warlock gets to steal people's souls with his Soul Gem from both ranged and close attacks...which is awesome...Even BETTER is that after he is KO'd, he can pass his gem on to a friendly character and that character now has Steal Energy for the rest of the game. THAT'S a lot of potential healing that your team will be able to do! The teammate only gets to use it normally, but that's a heck of a boon for a figure that wouldn't ordinarily be able to do that! Now look at his attack power: Karmic Blast. It says: Penetrating/Psychic Blast. When Adam Warlock uses it and hits, give the hit character a Karma token. // When an opposing character with a Karma token makes an attack, after resolutions remove all Karma tokens from its card and deal it penetrating damage equal to the number of tokens removed. Not only is he dealing a nice amount of penetrating damage from range, but he also builds up tokens on them that deal even MORE damage when they make an attack. If it's a while before they get to do so and Warlock has hit them a bunch, the very act of attacking could be the death of them! NOTE: The attack DOESN'T have to be a HIT even! Finally he has a damage special power that's called OUTSIDE OF ETERNITY, CHAOS AND ORDER that says: Outwit. FREE: Choose a target opposing character within range and line of fire. Until your next turn, that character can't use PROTECTED: Outwit and its powers lose Protected: Outwit. It's very similar to what the Galactic Guardians rare Warlock could do, and I LOVE that about him! You get all of this and the Power Cosmic team ability for only 125 points! Plain and simple, Warlock is a threat that you HAVE to deal with. If you don't, he's going to catch you by surprise and ruin your plans with many ways to deal and to heal damage.

CONS: Despite my love for this figure it DOES have some things to watch out for. First and primarily, he is kind of squishy. His top dial defense numbers are sturdy enough, but with only two clicks of Toughness to absorb damage, he's going to be a tempting target for opponents. To be able to score a piece that is 125 points and have the kind of impact that he can have on a map at the same time is very tempting and almost necessary so make sure to keep him well guarded/supported. The plus side is that he can potentially evade attacks completely with his Super Senses and his Regeneration and Steal Energy should go a long way to keeping him healthy, but it's none of those things are as reliable as good old fashioned damage reducers.

THEME: If you haven't had the opportunity to do so, I HIGHLY recommend using him on an Infinity Watch theme team...use all of the ones from Avengers Infinity that have the "Gem chooses it's bearer" trait at 400 points, and if you have the points left to do so, include Maxam into your force. Maxam LOVES being given the Watch's gems after they get KO'd, but he might like Warlock's Soul Gem the most of all! It's a very competent and cohesive team that is not overly powered to the point of frustrating your opponent upon looking at it, but it keeps up and is a great type of team to play in a local, non-competitive environment.

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):

Cosmic: ai038 Adam Warlock
Infinity Watch: ai038 Adam Warlock
Guardians of the Galaxy: gg010 Adam Warlock
Mystical: gg010 Adam Warlock

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:

Comic Vine had things listed for him like Avengers or Defenders which I have never heard of him being a part of. I think it has more to do with him being an integral part of storylines such as Infinity Gauntlet, War, and Crusade and him teaming up with those characters. Essentially it's like an honorary status type of thing. To my knowledge he has never been a card carrying member of those groups. They also listed things like "Great Powers of the Universe" which is pretty much handled under the "Cosmic" keyword. When I was first starting to fill out the section of which keywords he has, I was a bit upset that his six versions have so few keywords...but upon further inspection?...it's pretty accurate.

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 next time when I go visit the BIG BOSS and bring you Deep Dish Themes Maria Hill!

Once again, well done! I didnt remember all of him we had, still kinda like the first one, played him alot.

The SI one could have been amazing. You could Perplex up the defense to a 20! Amazing even now. Yet all it would take is an Outwit to remove that Perplex and he would be an easy hit. I can see why he was both loved and hated.

Great article, and a great character. I didn't realize there was a GotG KW fig of him. Must get! The Guardians are one of my all time favorite teams to play (and read about), and the chance to play him with Vance, Aleta, Rocket, Groot, et al will be mondo fun.

Also I am still peeved that Warlock is one of 3 non-chases I didn't hit out of AI, and as soon as I get him I WILL play that Infinity Watch team.

BTW, you said Warlock didn't even have to hit to give the karma token, I believe you "meant" he doesn't even have to deal dmg. The wording on the power says to "give the hit character....not give the attacked character"

::edit:: Ohhhh, you were talking about THEIR attack hitting, not Warlock's, gotcha. Sometimes I'm a little thick.

You misread... it should be read as the character that has any tokens on them doesn't have to hit with the attack they are attempting... it just checks to see if an attack was attempted

Also, it seems there a few other Guardians w/Defenders TA with a 18 def at some point on their dial. Charlie-27 and the Keeper from the main GotG set and Groot from Web of Spider-Man. However, I just usually use GotG Star-Lord to give the whole team an 18 or 19 def. After all the awesome Peter Quill dials that one is still my go-to. Matter of a fact Star-Lord himself might be a good subject for one of your articles.

I also thought for sure a couple of Moon Dragon's dials w/the Guardians KW had the Defenders TA, but alas....

I loveeee Warlock by Starlin and right now Im reading it complete for first time

I'm a huge Jim Starlin fan, Warlock and Thanos as his yin and yang, his avatars of life and death and that will always be their best portrayal for me.

Best of frenemies indeed, each utterly alone in their own way.

I know that many would say Dreadstar ( Oh I'd love some Dreadstar clix, especially Syzygy Darklock! ) was his penultimate work, but his Adam Warlock will always have a special place in my heart.

I still haven't managed to get the Avengers Infinity Warlock yet but I've played against him several times and he doesn't disappoint.

I'm not the veteran player you are, when I discovered the GG Warlock who could turn off Power Cosmic, I loved it. But I was probably 3 years too late. He was showing his age. Thankfully we have the AI Warlock now!

One of my most prized possessions is Iron Man #55 (First appearance of Thanos, Drax, and the Blood Brothers for those that don't know) and I met Jim Starlin in person and had it autographed by him

It's kind of a bummer that I had to Google it, but dang, is that new Adam Warlock a cool friggin' sculpt!

That is cool, I have an unsigned copy ( from years ago, back when no one cared about Iron Man comics! ) myself and its fun to look back on Thanos in that earliest appearance and see how far Starlin would take him in just a few short years.

Also how often does the fact that the Blood Brothers are "Galactic Vampires" come up? Twice maybe? Man that just makes me wants some new Blood Brothers clix. We've gotten all these great henchmen of Thanos, we need modern versions of his classic goons.

Oh and that giant ape-cyborg with the visible brain dome from Sanctuary 1 that freaked out the Beast so bad during Thanos's first attempt to snuff out half the life in the universe ( with just one infinity gem, because Thanos rolls like that! ). Hmm, maybe a mod from Titano?

I know its popular for everyone to unfavorably compare Thanos to Darkseid, but I've always found that Thanos is far more morally complex than Darkseid.

Funnily it looks like Thanos is set to be a far more popular character to the vast majority of comic movie viewers than Darkseid...heheh.

Awesome read!