Anything you're leaning towards?

Superman Returns had such an ugly financial load on its back before it shot its first frame, as the cost of the litigation with Brando's estate along with the development costs of the one or two times in the interim when they'd started to spend more money on reviving the franchise were all part of their initial accounting*. That's why the production budget for the film was a still-staggering $270 million (though as with all things Hollywood one will find reports of this varying widely).

Definitely, though, what passes muster in scripts has often baffled me. Whoever approved the move of making Lois' son actually Superman's wasn't thinking long-term, though he probably thought he was.




* On a barely-related note, if you get the chance to see 2002's Lost in La Mancha, a documentary concerning the failed attempts to shoot The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, you'll see another case of a film that's ultimately doomed because anyone who attempts to pick it up and complete or remake it also has to buy all of the previous debt.

No --- I'm wide open to ideas and suggestions, as evidenced by the fact that I've had a week to put something together and haven't done it yet.

I keep them coming but this should help. I hope you have this guy. He should go a long way against madri.

aa013 R Human Bomb
Team: Justice Society
Range: 4
Points: 45
Keywords: Bludhaven, Freedom Fighters

8 9 17 3

8 9 17 2

8 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

7 8 16 3

7 8 16 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

(Attack) Trying To Keep It Under Control...: Human Bomb can use Energy Explosion and Quake.

(Damage) No...NO!: When the Human Bomb uses Pulse Wave and targets two or more characters, you can choose not to replace his damage value (using his unmodified damage value for the attack); if you do, after the attack is resolved deal Human Bomb unavoidable damage equal to his unmodified damage value.

Looking for pieces that are 45 points or less with some Leap/Climb (especially front-loaded) would lend itself to using Pounce for some quick strikes. These could be made much more effective with an Outwitter or two to shut down defensive powers before one or more of these rush in to (usually) lay down 3 clicks of smack.

Apologies if I'm mixing your venue up with someone else's, but yours at least usually restricts the use of a Feat to a single one per team -- I believe you told me this was a big part of the reason you didn't run teams with henchmen on it because you were no longer allowed to put Armor Piercing on multiple pieces that are only dealing 1 or 2 clicks. Have they waived this rule for this event, or would you only be allowed to use a single Pounce on your entire team?

Here are a couple more options. The HSS speed should give you some breathing room from any madri and let you pick at them from a safe distance. The options beast boy gives you should help against any team.

an016 R Beast Boy (Cheetah)
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 60
Keywords: Animal

10 9 17 2

10 9 16 2

10 9 15 1

10 8 15 2

9 8 16 1

9 8 15 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

(Special) Morph: Beast Boy Give Beast Boy a move action that deals no pushing damage. After the action resolves, replace him with any character with this trait on the same click number. Existing action tokens and action tokens for the action are applied to the replacement.

an010 R Johnny Quick
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 50
Keywords: All Star Squadron, Reporter

6 8 15 1

13 10 17 2

12 9 16 2

11 9 15 2

10 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

The early flurry on these guys would make madri sorry to even get close. I say early because it's on the second click rather than the last two or three. You can charge in with captain america and push onto flurry for some clean up rounds later on. The combat reflexes should give him the legs to pull that off. Leap lets ronin get to the action and again you would need to push onto the second click. I find it pays to be aggressive though so I don't have much trouble with pushing. Maybe you could feel differently.

si019 R Captain America
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 49
Keywords: Soldier

8 9 18 3

8 9 17 3

8 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 8 15 2

6 8 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

av031 R Ronin
Team: Avengers
Range: 4
Points: 55
Keywords: Avengers, Martial Artist

8 10 16 3

7 10 16 3

7 10 15 2

6 9 15 2

6 9 14 2

6 8 14 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

You do indeed have a fine memory, sir.

That house rule -- making most feats, such as Armor Piercing, unique -- had been the case at the other venue where I play. It had been done largely in reaction to people playing multiple copies of Fortitude and Protected. But the longtime judge responsible for imposing that restriction has abdicated. His successor -- and interim replacement who had been a judge under the old WK -- lifted the restriction on Armor Piercing but he recently moved out of state. So, who knows what the rules are now...

Anyway...I'm actually unsure about this venue where I'll be playing today, since I haven't been playing there all that long, but I'm guessing I could play multiples of Pounce or Armor Piercing.

I'd say that was fair.

I think it came down to a few things: They were feeling the pressure to make money on their crown jewel character - especially as Marvel's characters were scoring hits. It was natural that the studio thought to go back to the beginning of the film franchise and what most seemed to think was the ideal -- the 1978 Superman -- something that was reinforced because Bryan Singer (who was seeing genre success with the X-Men films at the time) came up with the "Superman returns to Earth after a 5-year absence" idea and passed it to Richard Donner (the director of the first Superman) for general artistic (non-binding) approval.

The thinking at the time was that Donner had the magic formule - the right touch - for Superman, and the studio's decision to fire him during the production of Superman II (and turning it over to a hack for reshoots and completion) had been where the franchise had gone off the rails. This is also seen in Warner allowing Donner to recut all existing footage from the Superman II shoot to come up with the Donner Cut of the film, which is arguably much better than the Superman II we saw in the theaters, though it was still lacking because some footage had been lost and it was far, far, far too late to do any reshoots.

I understand where the idea for making the son Kal-El and Lois' -- it was meant to validate the consummation of their relationship when the de-powered Clark and Lois finally got to sleep together in the Fortress of Solitude -- but they let that override what should have been common sense about the ramifications to the larger story and where it would leave the studio in effectively following up. Having him return to the screen after all that time... to make him Super Dad?

Here is the beginnings of a team. I threw in hawkeye for some good range options. Tabitha's special should be brutal on just about any teams you face and the energy explosion and pulse wave won't hurt either. EE and pulse wave are where chamber should come in helpful as well.

45 MU026 Chamber
58 GX015 Tabitha Smith
49 SI019 Captain America
55 AV031 Ronin
57 SI023 Hawkeye
60 AN016 Beast Boy (Cheetah)
50 AN010 Johnny Quick
45 AA013 Human Bomb
419

WoS X-23 is another great piece for a game like that.

I have to try to accomplish a great deal in work today so as to make tomorrow's schedule clear enough that I'll feel better about taking the day off to head to the convention. I'm going to take the day off either way, but if I get more done today the impulse to drop by the lab for part of the day Sunday will be lessened.

Soxolas: It seems you're going to get plenty of good suggestions. The only broad ones I have would be:

• Consider the utility of pieces with "free" movement TAs (Avengers, Brotherhood and JLA, of course) as this could be very important as your force is obviously going to be 10+ characters.
• You'll have to decide whether or not getting the two PCs per game will be worth the restriction of sticking to one keyword or not. There are a several (and many more if this isn't Modern Age) pieces in that point range with PC.
• This may be just the right time to field several of the Alter Ego pieces. Jason Blood, for instance.

Holy Crow...you guys have already given me some great possibilities!

Some, like Beast Boy/Cheetah and Johnny Quick, were already in my head (I also have the LE Impulse, to add to the HSS, as an option).

But others, like Human Bomb, I wouldn't have come up with on my own. I've never played that figure, but in looking at the dial (thanks, Killer!) suddenly see his value in something like this!

He's one many of us wrote off largely because the original Pulse Wave rules nerfed him. Now that PW can be used while in adjacency he definitely deserves a second look.

Okay, if you want to win, use this:
AN Ragdoll 51
w/ Secret Six ATA 6
SI Gee 40
AN Johnny Quick 50 x 2
SI Spider-man 50 x 2
IC Mary Jane Watson-Parker POG 5 x 60

You may be banned fromt he venue just for putting that on the table.

If you want non-cheese, but competitive, here are others:

Amazons
CR Wonder Girl 60
OR Wonder Woman 51
BB Amazon 50 x 9
BB Amazon of Bana-Mighdall 19 x 2

Soldier
SI Captain America 49
HA Bug 44
AN The Atom 50
AN Warlord 50
CR Thunderer of Qward 50
BB0 Checkmate Knight (Black) 35 x 3
AV Citizen V 58
WM Captain Metropolis 40
AN Easy Company Soldier 30 x 5

Charge, running shot, RCE, lots of close combat damage, 4 guys to trigger Easy Company Soldiers' special power, Captain Metropolis boosting the team's defense & damage.

I have played a number of these over the last 6 months. If you don't want to go theme I would suggest you concentrate on Johnny Quick, SI Spiderman, Puma and X-23.