What part of the body is the bejesus?

Totally agree, seems as though the reviewer is a big Spider-man fan

I am in fact, not. I always base my ratings on play-ability of the figure in the sealed environment. Some of the SR/Chases have just really good values and abilities. Most of the SR/Chases also have the Spider-verse trait and work with others in the set so that also added a higher rating for them as well.

I actually have never heard of any of the Spider-man chases before this set, and some of the other figures in the set I had never heard of either!

Now Venom, I'm a huge fan of his, but I think he was well worth the 4 shields.

Some figures IMO missed the mark PLAY-ABILITY wise, Doctor Octopus is one that I feel doesn't do much good, but under the right circumstances he can indeed be totally brutal.

That's fair. And I agree that the Chases/SRs are, on the whole, a very effective bunch. But I feel some could use a differentiation from each other. Is Zemo as good as Spidey? Or Morlun? At this level, it's unlikely you'll have to choose between two of them, but it makes for a more engaging read if the ratings have some note of differentiation.

People tend to critique me for giving good figures 2 ratings, but 2 is an average figure for the environment. If the average for the set is above average (your average is 3.09), the baseline should be adjusted. And yes, that will upset fans of Norman Osborn and Hobgoblin, but I've always felt it was unreasonable to get mad at a 2 rating anyway.

(Just did my average for UXM to be sure I wasn't a hypocrite: 2.76)

There are more than a few that are really great, but compared to others can fall flat/aren't worth the extra shield. Mind you I'm offering suggestions IF YOU WERE TO CHANGE as opposed to saying that you should change these characters.

The two 'revival' guys, Gwen and Kraven Prime could probably afford to lose some, Kraven more than Gwen. Kraven's a steal but really super bland, and his focus on penetrating damage in a SS set doesn't do him favors in most instances. If you can pull off pushing to full heal should probably change to if your opponent lets you; the new figures have that back dial thing now so your opponent should know well about that trick. Same for Spider-Gwen, though she is a bit better thanks to her Indom. She's cool, but has nothing on the other Spider-verse SRs (Minus 2211. Totally earned his two shields).

Power Man and Iron Fist, again, are really neat, but like Kraven Prime are just kind of point and shoot without as much going for it as other 4 Shields. Maybe a three shield.

You might also add a caveat for Zemo in that his dial value goes down if you don't have good Masters or TBolts to work with, which is entirely possible.

Also, don't forget that at the end of the day it's all subjective and your opinion is just as valid as anyone elses. Keep up the good work

Remember that those dial spoilers are not open information. Your opponent cannot check out Kraven's dial.

The SR/Chases seem to be good to me, minus a few exceptions which others have stated I might be incorrect on. Sure the average should amount to about 2.5, but I felt this set knocked it out of the park with the SR/Chases stats and abilities. Does this mean if you pull one you're on an auto-streak to win town? Nope not at all. Does it mean you SHOULD play that figure, to a certain extent, but you also have to figure out what else the boosters have produced for you.

There are a some that I figured I would get dinged on rating a little higher than I should have, but when you look at the points per click of a figure or points per abilities, some of these characters you are getting a TON of abilities for low points now. The biggest thing this set is lacking is Willpower/Indomitable/Power Cosmic, which we've seen a recent reduction in (which is good) which makes those pieces that do have it even more powerful.

The chases I were originally going to rate 3 shields, but when you start looking at their stats and the abilities some of them bring, it's hard not to make them a 4 star.

The Cyborg Spider-man at being half your build total could be argued as a 3 star for the 150 point. You really don't want your "beat stick" to be running around without Willpower so I might have been incorrect on him, but his stats and being the 2nd highest range in the set seemed to offset that.

I do feel that Spidey vs Zemo vs Morlun is a fair question. Are they all 4 star figures? Yes. Will you be hard up to choose which one of those too take if you happen to pull two SR? You bet you are! That's when the other part of your boosters will determine who you bring to the table.

Solid answer. Your thought process is valuable insight.

Perhaps it is in the other rarities that deductions would be given, to bring the set as a whole toward average.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this set in Sealed is the difficulty players will face narrowing down their options with so many great figures. How do you weigh each exceptional ability?

After careful review of figures in a non drowsy state.. as well as some of the comments I have changed a few figures.

Otto went up to a 3, I still worry that he's not going to prove his entire weight, but I can see his usefulness more clearly.

Cyborg Spidey at 150 is a 3, I think without indom you're putting yourself down a peg running him at that level.

Zemo is a fan favorite, and if you are able to pull other MOE/TBolts he does become a 4, but if you don't then you're paying for that extra trait with no benefits.

Zemo IS a favorite. Awesome character.

Something I'm surprised no one brought up in regards to Doc Ock is the predominance of non-damage reduction defenses. Sure, Invul basically stops his arm attacks cold(Outwit not withstanding), but your dice must be really hot to avoid 4 attacks from an 11 attack.

This is one of those sets that is a really hard choice, even going in with all the knowledge of the abilities (which there are a FREAKING ton) you'll still need to base your result off of the 10 figures you get from your boosters.

Does that mean that a figure that is rated at a 3 should always be chosen over a 2? No it doesn't. It all depends on what else is pulled.

As far as deciding, with all the traits and "pieces of flare" that everyone has, you'll need to maximize your team based on who you have. Did you get more Sinister Syndicate pieces over Spider-verse pieces? Heck did you only get one Spider-Verse character but all the rest MoE? Was your only Spider-verse a chase and the other all just support pieces?

Those are all things that can happen.

One thing that is nice with the new cards is we don't need to "click" through dials we can compare those to others on the fly really quickly so building your teams is easier from that standpoint. Now you still have to rely heavily on reading a wall of text on certain characters, that's for sure.

When I was doing the reviews one thing I tried not to influence my rating was the Spider-verse, but the more I thought about it, the 66% of getting another friendly up there just made those figures much more potent. Now of course if you don't pull a second one, you're paying for that trait without any outcome possible.

Sometimes you get lucky and you get the god luck of the pack gods and you get the Spider-man Common, MJ, JJJ, Mysterio, and Baron Zemo. That would be a heck of a pack, then there is the potential for you to get Officer, Thug, Green Goblin, Overdrive and Cloak. All great support pieces but you don't really want to see all five of those in a booster.

Phew hope this isn't too long winded!! I'll try to make the next set of primers if I do it, a little more diverse where I can.

Don't worry about it. This set had a ton of power/role overlap going on. There were 9 figures in the SR/Chase area that had both the 'Call in Help' and 'Spider's Web', with more 'Call in Help' in the CUR area. This set's higher eschelon was no where near as dynamic and varied as, say, UXM

Yeah, this guy is so good.
Real close to a "perfect" Spiderman.

If he also had:
Improved Movement - Ignore Characters
After successful Supersense roll you may choose to place Spiderman 1 square away within LOF
Indom
Combat Reflexes on every click

And cost 120 points for those additions,
it would be hard for me to design a better Spidey.