So, is Gardener's converting of Clear Terrain to Hindering Terrain limited by the Rule of Three?

I am so sick of the ridiculous bias that Wizkids shows to Elektra. She is not that cool or good.

Why do so many want to jump the gun here and ignore what we have seen?

We have seen rare Gems? Do you think that they would make some Gems rare and some Gems SR if they were all packed with SRs?

I am still firmly in the "Equipment is included with select figures" camp.
Scott just has yet to pull a "select figure".

That seems possible given the wording.

The point denial comes from removing her from the map, but replacing her is optional.
You just have to set aside sideline space for the rare Elektra so that you have the option.

I Would not be surprised if Wizkids erratad/clarified this however to require replacement if you choose removal. We'll see.

I'm fine with the dial, I just think that the "super hero" figures, that is to say non-generic characters that are legitimately super-powered should have other options.

Not every version of every character needs to be the most powerful possible version, but I think that a 75 point starting line with a couple of extra clicks would add a lot of value to this figure.

Anyway, to continue on with my unsolicited, and possibly unwanted, opinions on these pieces...


***

Winter Soldier looks okay.
This is a budget piece that works as a strictly budget piece to me.

Not the most powerful version of Winter Soldier, but it's him. It plays like him, I think.

The reprogramming trait is a nice touch. If someone rolls a 10 it should hit, at least if you are using a reasonably new figure, but the odds of rolling a 10 at just the right time are pretty long.
I am sure that a whole lot of people would rather just attack him out than mind control him anyway.

Granted, they still get the benefit of mind control if they hit, but I don't expect Winter Soldier here to be switching sides too often.

And don't forget, you can always try to reprogram him yourself if the opponent does get him.

***

AIM Red is pretty good filler.

Get a few of them together and their empower/flurry can bring some pain to more expensive figures.

Combined with AIM Blue on a theme team they can offer enhancement to a ranged figure within 3 squares, so one of them can tie someone up for a turn or two and still provide a boost to a ranged figure.

AIM White should bring at least support, as that is the only power missing from AIM Blue's list of powers that he improves; Blue covers leadership, and Red has enhancement and empower.

***

These two Elektras go well with the other one. All in all a very nice triumvirate.

I think that I prefer the red dial more than the black, as the healing potential will help keep her on the top half of her dial and I really like the front half of the red dial.

Having the ability to bring in the white dial in case of emergency is just icing on the cake.

She has a total of seven different keywords appearing on these three versions, with some sharing one or more keywords, so there are plenty of options to make a theme team and still being able to use the dial that you like most if you are willing to possibly forego her being able to use theme PC.

Not the world's biggest Elektra fan, but I can absolutely see these three having a space in my keeper boxes going forward, maybe along with the ADW pair as a more budget option.

***

Don't care about the Wakandans here; Aneka, Nakia, or Shuri.
Never read those stories, the characters do not matter to me.

Still, even without seeing the dial, the +5 point investment for Malice seems like it will be a good deal for Nakia.

***

Gardener. Yay! Finally a non-SR Elder, and a budget figure.

The Time Gem will give him a range boost, so even though I still don't think it makes sense it will help him out, and PC is always nice.
Of course, Gardener doesn't actually include the Time Gem, so happy hunting.

Between Watch My Garden Grow and My Plants Have a Calming Effect... Or The Opposite If I Desire Gardener has some potentially nasty tricks up his sleeve.

Smoke cloud from his attack special is there as a defensive option, but he can use his trait to generate the terrain he needs to make the free action attack that it allows.

No LoF needed for WMGG, so he can plant some hindering underneath any character within range and make an attack against that character using his attack special.

And since that attack is a free action, he is still available to take an attack action, including against that same character if they are within LoF.

All in all I am happy with this Gardener.

The usual complaints exist; Elders are very durable, very hard to take down, so I would have liked to have seen some more clicks and/or better defense powers, but Gardener is one of the more non-combative Elders, so this isn't too bad here.

I do wish that he would have come with the Time Gem, though.
That is one of the revealed Gems that remains a mystery to me.

=============

I can place every other Gem with a character. I may be right, I may be wrong, I may be a little of both, but I have no clue who the Time Gem comes with.

Namor is the only other revealed rare bearer, but I am guessing that he comes with the Power Gem and I do not think that anyone will come with more than one equipment item.

But if the Power Gem comes with Namor, if the Soul Gem comes with Dr. Strange, if the Space Gem comes with the SR Iron Man, and those are my guesses, then so far I am putting Gems with Illuminati members.

So who can tell me which other Illuminati members were bearers of the Time, Mind, and Reality Gems?

It may not be the case, but right now that is where my guesses would be going.

I didn't think Elektra needed a SF trait. I didn't like the one in ADW, but this is done better, even thought it doesn't fit the themes of the set, unless one of them turns out to be a Skrull.

The rule of three applies to combat values.

In what way would Gardener try to break that?

Sorry, thought it applied to all in-game modifications.
My Ultron-1 caps at 3 Upgrade tokens(I cap him at 2 as a courtesy),
but I was thinking rule of three applied because it was three changes, not because each Upgrade modifies his combat values +1.

Thanks for setting me straight.

Seems like a no-brainer considering Kobik is in the set. But then again, we're talking about WK here. JLU Martian Manhunter was a no-brainer, too...

While the NFaAoS version of WS was good, I'm eager to see some variations. Not likely to get my favorite iteration, Bucky Cap, but still...

So Kobik gets T bolts but not Winter Soldier?

Classic Wizkids

Good move, despite the fact that I'm failing hard on this myself.

In fairness, soda is delicious!

So i've probably missed this but is it known how the objects will come out? With certain figures? Random in boosters? Tournament giveaways?

Know what WK could have done as a way to print money?

Object pack with versions (maybe not identical) of the gems, cubes, and Gauntlets in the set.

Smart? Simple?

That Winter Soldier is definately suppose to be first apperance WS, but the sculpt looks designed off of Zub-Bolts WS, with just a off color swap. Seeing how most of the commons in this set have sculpt reuses, gonna wager and say Thunderbolts Bucky is in this set and programmed assassin Bucky is just sculpt reuse filler.

Speaking of this Bucky though, should he have the Hydra keyword? Thought that was just a MCU thing and Soviets were the ones freezing and reusing him over the years in 616.

It seems likely that the Ultra Chase will be Rune.

If S011 is an ultra chase object (I hope not), it will be the 7th gem from the crossover story with Rune (I didn't read it).