heh, the Crisis Tentpole

i have smited and been smited in the Adam situation.

using him i got smashed and then laughably enough the following week got revenge on teh guy who killed mine by killing his lol.

I agree with this 90%. I am 110% against feats, and would rather special powers ruled the game (feats are Triassic, special powers are Jurassic), however...

many people use feats, and when considering whether or not to use a figure they consider feats. A quality many people look for is how well a feat works with said figure, and how easily feats can be added (and keep the point total within the framework of the game).

While I agree a figure with a feat is better than a figure without a feat, that's only looking at it in black and white terms. Rarely is the game played with figures going one on one, and in your article you use examples of how pogs can tie up Darkseid, and two Thorettes and feats are better than Ultimate Thor. In other words, you are looking at how the Overrated Figure fits on teams, and how other teams do against them. Since feats are a large part of the game, I do think that you should take them into account when saying whether or not a figure is overrated.

If everyone is saying Fig A + Feat B is a beast, and everyone is playing Fig A + Feat B in their games, you can't come along and say Fig A is overrated...but I'm ignoring Feat B.

Of course, I'm holding out for the day when Feats are officially extinct, and this argument is moot.

I would lean more on calling him over-costed as opposed to over-rated.

Because unfortunately we all know he isn't any good now, SI Namor could take him down for 100 points less.

I wish they'd given him Indomitable.

Not quite. I said "No thanks, I’ll save 105 points and take the Secret Invasion Thor Girl instead (Heck, at 81 points, I’ll take two Thor Girls, leaving me 24 points left over for some feats)". I am perfectly fine with just one Thor Girl, which saves me 105 points for something else like Crisis Nightwing -- my overall point is that there is a great deal of points is saved by taking a good lower point figure.

When reviewing, you have to look at things in black + white terms for your final ratings. If I said "Green Scar is great with Protected" and gave him 5 stars because of it -- is that really fair to all those who don't own Protected?

If feats are so critical, then reviewers should always talk about figures with Protected and Fortitude, since those feats are slapped onto anything over 200 points anyway. Imagine that -- every single review assumes that Protected and Fortitude is applied. Why not? People seem to use that as a counter argument anyway.

If that's the case, then you have to apply those feats to every single character. A reviewer cannot say "Green Scar + Protected is way better than E2 Superman!" Now you have to compare "Green Scar + Protected vs E2 Superman + Protected". And that just gets messy. By adding feats to reviews, you upset the balance of all the figures and it totally messes up your reference points.

Core reviews should be based on the naked dial. One can always add a paragraph that says "Here are some feats that works well with this figure". With that in mind, I wouldn't be opposed to two ratings for each figure: one with feats and one without.

-The Le

This is truly the crowning regalia of your article. You just made your whole list totally irrelevant to 99% of HeroClix players.

Now, some fiction:
As I read your article and responses I cannot help but imagining a lonely, naked and obese man, covered in half-eaten cheetos, snickering to himself as he meticiously types out the words he knows will bring the hammer down on the argument the ingrates keep besmirching his magnum opus with. "I knew it paid off to pen my evaluations based on criteria I left out of the article to fool these simpletons!" he growls, ecstatic with his own genius, almost to the point of climaxing. With one shaking finger he clicks "Submit Reply", commiting his scathing text to the Internet for all to witness, tears of joy streaming down his greasy chin. "It is done!" he bellows, and mere seconds later a 63 year old woman pokes her head in and announces that his internet allowance is now formally withdrawn on grounds of neighbours complaining of the shouting again.

Both Player 3 AND Player 3's teams are illegal as they bypass the 10% feat cap.

I can just imagine it now: A HeroClix player is meticulously reading my article, but clearly doesn't doesn't like it....

He reads my comments on Darkseid and says, "That's bogus! Darkseid is great with Protected and Fortitude!"

He continues with Thor and says, "That's unfair! Thor is unbeatable with Protected and Fortitude!"

He continues to Apocalypse and says, "This guy is stupid! Apacalypse rules with Protected and Fortitude!"

He continues to Green Scar and says, "Does this guy even play HeroClix? Green Scar can't be stopped with Protected and Fortitude!"

And finally he gets to Batman and says, "We haven't seen a good writer since November. Lamppost is just too good with Protected, Fortitude, Armor Piercing, and Brilliant Tactician!"

Then he gets on and clicks Reply Button, and tells me that my article is irrelevant to 99% of the readers out there because I didn't tell them that Protected and Fortitude is l33t and just so cool dude.

-The Le

That all depends -- how many points is your game?

-The LE

WHY MUST YOU SHOW MY NAKED LIFE TO THE INTERNET?!? [not capped]

I'm pretty sure the reviews that are given out on here (the realms) include a section of which feats work well with the figure, if they're worth it or not, and which feats to avoid. I could be wrong on this, though.

To clarify, I thought that your article was an opinion piece on which figures you consider to be overrated. I did not at all take your article as a review. Is it a review?

I am glad that you grasped my point so well and replied so eloquently. If everyone used the same feats on every character, your way of judging the figures would actually make sense. Just to make sure you didn't take my previous post as a personal attack: I don't imagine you to actually be like that, but your posts would really be hilarious (and slightly tragic) if you were.

I get the overrated part, but how would any character without Power Cosmic/Quintessence or stealth be worth over 200 points in a 300 point game (if that's even your standard of measurement - you sure don't tell us) without feats in todays game where outwit is so prevalent? Also, I'm not really sure if all of your entries have that high a hype factor. When people rate a character they have wildly different criterias of what makes them good and you do not even present these supposedly numerous arguments for these figures before telling us that they suck in so many words.

you are correct, it is not a review. As such, it is just a list of figures without feats. It's not right, it's not wrong. It's just one man's opinion, and I stand by it!

Doctor Diesel & wintremute, I apologize if I sounded snarky.

I appreciate all comments and responses.

-The Le

The Le-

I think reviews should always consider both the likely feats and the likely teammates a figure is going to have. Otherwise, you might as well discount every Support figure, every Wildcard, etc. In this case, simply saying "this character is easily Outwitted and taken down" ignores the likely scenario.

Granted, it's a bit repetitive in the review, particularly for tentpoles (80% of your list)-- but then again, that's how they are played.

If you mean to say that tentpoles are lousy without any feats-- well, that's generally true. Before feats, darned few characters over 150 points were competitive.

You have my most sincere apology, dear sir. Also, I too like to post while naked.