Post 9 updated with Enchantress. Meh.

Updated post 3 with the Enchantress. This is going to be a figure I'm going to love playing and hate playing against.

Post 9 with Volstagg!

Updated 3 with the big V yo yo yo.














I'm so unhip.

Post 2 finally updated with Volstagg.

Updated with reviews on a lot of the preview figs, but I've omitted those we don't have an exact definition of all the SP's, so we can see exactly what they do before alloting a rating.

Really excited so far. There's a lot of very solid dials in this set. They seem to me to be built for long-haul fighting. There's a lot of figs who don't ever lose a lot of AV or DV and can fight all the way down. I certainly prefer that to top-loaded monsters who are useless after a shot.

Bumping this, as we have quite a few more dials, complete with SPs (or strongly suspected ones, as in the case of Phalanx Soldier and the mystery card-spoiled SP "Hive Mind").

This thread has been significantly harder for me to get into with so few "official" previews. True you could review the dials somewhat on speculation, but between it being second hand information, and with no cards included, you making a lot of guesses during reviews.

Late to the party, to be sure, but the time hasn't been there and we've had relatively few official reveals, given that so much of what's out there is via preview pieces sent to venues sans cards.

So, for now, I'll stick with the pieces that have made it to the Units section here at HCR:

010 M-11 9.5
011 Enchantress - 8.5
020 Karnilla - 7.5
022 Moonstone - 8.75
035 Loki - 7.5
037 Songbird - 8.5
042 Phyla-Vell 7.5
059 Volstagg - 7.5
061 Thor's Mighty Chariot - 7.75

General Excite-O-Meter rating (average): 8.1

I expect this will go up; the luck of the revealing draw has been mostly towards characters I was lukewarm towards.

010 M-11 Oh, excellent. I know, the lack of damage-reducers will be a major issue for some, but a figure with three opening clicks of 18 Defense, an 8-click dial and three closing clicks of Regeneration, a great and steady AV (10 for all but the final click) and a steel-steady 3 Damage down the length of the active dial all for 59 points (!) gets across the durability of a robot. The lack of move-and-attack powers is helped considerably by the first five clicks of Willpower, too. Four clicks of Psychic Blast starting at click #4 and a reasonable 6 range adds some versatility. I'm very interested in not only seeing how he works alongside his Agents of Atlas teammates, but am almost ecstatic that they were wise enough to make him a Common and not make him a unique, as a robot is a terrible thing to waste. I consider this to be the seventh generic in this set's Commons. I expect to be thrilled to see this one in a booster's tray almost no matter how many I pull.

011 Enchantress - I was looking forward to a new version of Amora and in general this one works well for me as she uses her magically-augmented charms to get others to do her bidding and to take a blow or bullet for her. The reduced damage-taking from Mind Control is welcomed. TK was an interesting choice to give her, but given that it's mostly used in this game to get an ally into an immediate combat situation I'm reasonably pleased that this works thematically for her. The stats are reasonable, and steady, as she tends to be an indirect combatant, as she tends to be someone who has gotten what she wanted through something other than direct conflict. Mystics is reasonably appropriate here, as this is definitely a woman who will not take scorn lightly. All that said, she really only loses points for losing her main defensive powers late in the dial and for being quite as pricey as 141 points.

020 Karnilla - I'm torn on the sculpt, as the sculptor was specifically told to make her head somewhat larger -- presumably as an hommage to Jack Kirby's approach - rather than going for later, more proportionate and comely interpretations. Here, at 64 points, we get a reasonably good interpretation and value for the Queen of the Norns, though I'm not in full agreement with her sole Defense for the first three clicks being Shape Change. These Asgardians are fairly sturdy beings and should have some Toughness. Honestly, a Special Power combining Shape Change and Probability Control would have been welcome and reasonably appropriate, given how she's so often been one of those characters who has switched alliances and influenced the outcome of conflicts. The three clicks of Enhancement in the mid-dial and PC coming in only on the final two clicks is a rough attempt at this. Three clicks of Psychic Blast followed by three of Incapacitate is welcome, and reasonably useful at an 8 range, albeit with just one target; as she was one to cast magicks from afar, mystically observing a target in a mystic pool or cauldron, I'd agree with the single target but would have either given her greater range or an early SP to allow her to ignore characters and terrain for determining line of fire... but that's irrelevant now.

022 Moonstone: (I'm taking a little leap here, as I haven't seen the sculpt nor the list of keywords.) 76 points for 6 clicks, two opening with Running Shot, the rest with Phasing/Teleport, three opening with Psychic Blast, ESD on all but the first click, Shape Change on the first three clicks, and Outwit on the next two. Three slots of 3 Damage followed by three of 2. An 8 range and a single target combines with the above to giver her an effective reach of 13 on her first three clicks, wherein she can deal 3 clicks of penetrating damage; as the first two clicks have an AV of 10, she's likely to do it, too. Again, I know this will be one of the figures some will decry as comics-inaccurate, citing some of the fights she's been in and noting the lack of damage-reducers, but I'm reasonably happy with her and have been waiting for a new version for a long while.

035 Loki - The female version of Loki is one I gradually warmed to. Wily and manipulative, I soon saw that the guise is really just a convenient mask for this trickster god(dess.) The dial appears to be built a bit more for combat purposes than character accuracy, as this version of Loki should be less likely to move immediately into deadly combat. At 122 points, though, leaving her the role of manipulator may have been too risky, and there's nothing to say that she couldn't muster deadly force immediately.

037 Songbird - While initially I was a little cool towards a 6-click, 83 pt. Songbird with no damage-reducers, I've come to find that I'm still looking forward to her. She'll provide a versatile option, and if I want a lower cost one and/or one with TK, I can always pull out one of the REV set from Fantastic Forces. The first three clicks are where most of the versatility is in play, as she has both Speed and Damage slot Special Powers. One allows her both Running Shot and Force Blast, with the other allows her to not only use Barrier, but if one chooses she can dismantle an opponent's barrier piece by piece as she places hers, allowing her to Punch Through a defense and allow one of her comrades to make an attack. Besides that, we have her as a flying, twin-targeted piece who opens with two clicks of Incapacitate - one of my favorite power combinations - followed by two of Pulse Wave and then two final ones of Psychic Blast. Granted, she only has Running Shot on the first three clicks, and her sixth/final click sees her AV drop to 7, but she remains useful throughout her dial. I'm very interested in seeing how she works dynamically with fellow Thunderbolts Venom, Moonstone and Penance, also in this set. (I'm still waiting on confirmation of Penance's actual points, though if he's been drawn down to 68 pts or less the four of them will fit on a 300 pt team and should make an effective, themed force.)

042 Phyla-Vell - An odd, mixed bag for a fairly loosely-defined character. This version seems to be one of those that tries to chart her abilities over a stretch of her career, apparently choosing to interpret both super strength and the quantum band-derived powers largely via fairly high Damage values and the 10 range. At 138 points she's extremely inexpensive for the Power Cosmic TA. With only three clicks of Toughness, just past the mid-dial, Phyla-Vell's mainly depending upon not getting hit. I am definitely interested in trying this dial out, though; while each game will be its own, I'm hopeful she'll play better than my first impression indicated; being able to move, Perplexing her already solid 18 Defense to a 19 and still be free to move or attack the following turn without pushing makes for a good combination. The shots I've seen of her sculpt, especially if one puts her on her back - with limbs somewhat stiff and her head slightly raised and turned to one's side... the phrase "...and think of England" came straight to mind.

059 Volstagg - A potent, mostly close combat, damage-dealing package. I'm awaiting the dials for Fandral and Hogun to see how effective the Warriors Three will end up being. If one were to knock the Speed down a little and ditch the Warrior's Three SP I'd say this would be a high-end dial for The Blob, which is appropriate. A familiar character, much like his fellows in the Three, I haven't really been awaiting a Clix version of him. If I happen to pull him I'll likely keep him and try to play him, but I can't say I'm excited about him. He could be fun, though.

061 Thor's Mighty Chariot - For me, it's largely a novelty piece I'm only likely to use in some special, obviously high-point game scenarios -- scenarios that are much more likely with Surtur, Fire Demons, Ulik, Rock Trolls, etc. on the way. Definitely of more interest to me than World's Finest ever was, this piece at least makes sense. That it can carry two characters is an excellent move, too.

True, but quite a few dials with no special powers have shown up, and a couple with special powers have corroborating reveals of their SPs among the Mystery Cards. Barring any hidden traits and sans actual keywords, these characters are pretty much totally revealed:

Bug
Hand Ninja
Phalanx Soldier*
M-11
Karnilla
Moonstone
Enchantress
Loki (female)
Star-Lord*
Gorilla Man
Songbird
Venom
Phyla-Vell
Volstagg
Kurse

Bold are complete with card, keywords and all.
*SPs gotten from Mystery Cards

Co-sign. The whole point of the thread is the review of complete figures. An incomplete picture leads to a speculative review...well, more speculative anyway.

Post #24 updated with M-11, Moonstone and Songbird -- taking a little liberty with covering the first two as I don't have all the card info and so don't have the keywords.

So far I'm getting more interested in the set as I start to consider it more pointedly.

Updated through Gorilla Man. Been crazy at home lately so I'll get to the others later.

Alright, finished updating with all the known dials - even if they are missing information - with the exception of Heimdall who looks broken as all get out (but I really like him anyways).

I just quoted myself, hmmmmmm.