Welcome to HeroClix A to Z figure reviews for DC – Legacy, and thanks for reading!

Bottom of the Barrel Figure Reviews
Featuring:
Speedy / Arsenal
Kid Quantum
& Spoiler


Shooting stuff… my anti-drug.

This is where I review a figure’s stats, cost, and overall playability.
Typically these reviews are intended to discuss a figure’s use in competitive play, but even the best sets have a few duds.
In this article I’ll take the shotgun approach and review several of the duds in the otherwise excellent Legacy set.

Click below to read the review.

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This article and content are property of the Author and is not to be redistributed or reposted in whole or in part without the Author's approval. However, feel free to link to the list page here. Thank you.

On every great team, there are those less than stellar members. In every great HeroClix set, there are inevitably disappointments.
Legacy has been billed by fans as “All Killer and No filler” but it seems they may have simply overlooked this filler. The figures ‘picked last for kickball,’ and eternally relegated to the bottom of our tackle boxes, I present to you–

HeroClix A to Z – The Legacy Bottom of the Barrel figure review.
Featuring:

Speedy / Arsenal
Kid Quantum
Spoiler

(Whoclix: Who are these people?!?)


Speedy / Arsenal
28 – Titans – 6 /
44 – Titans – 8 //
62 – Outsiders – 8 //

One of the founding members of the original Teen Titans, and more recently the man responsible for bringing together the new Outsiders, Arsenal (aka: Speedy) has a long a sordid history in the DC universe. He started out as the teen sidekick to Green Arrow, but in a much acclaimed storyline (especially for the times), it was revealed that Speedy lived up to his namesake by being addicted to smack! Kicking the habit and getting more hardcore, he changed his name to Arsenal and fell in with Checkmate (DC’s version of Shield). He hooked up with villainess Cheshire and had a kid. Recently he took 6 slugs from a .45 in the chest and lived. Basically he’s had a hard life.

Things aren’t looking up for him with his Clix version either. Relegated to ‘scrub’ status in his 28 point rookie, he barely lives up to the image of his mentor. His starting AV of 9 is actually ok for the points, but the fact that it drops to a 7 on the second click is awful. Energy Explosion is a fairly useful power, but he’ll almost have to rely on his exploding trick arrows because his base damage of 1 isn’t going to do much except possibly annoy your enemy. Even loading him up with Armor Piercing is a waste for a figure that is only 5 clicks deep with just an average defense value. His Titans Team ability makes him more of a damage sponge than anything else. You may use it once in a while to keep him on his starting 9 AV, but if he takes a hit or two, let him soak up his teammates’ clicks and die an unceremonious death so that they may live.

Upgrading his arsenal, Experienced Arsenal sports a better range, damage, AV, and even adds an extra target. He drops the trick arrows for straight damage which helps him in close combat. He’s also learned to walk and chew gum at the same time, which translates to a single click of Running Shot, with a fair movement of 8. Unfortunately he’s no longer lived than his Rookie, and his defense hasn’t gotten much help either. So he’s still a fairly easy target, and in this version he’s a juicier 44 points.

Speaking of 44 points, one can’t help but draw a comparison to Veteran Havok from Mutant Mayhem, for the same 44 points. Doubtless to spawn arguments of supposed “power creep” one has to wonder how E Arsenal can justify a cost of 44 points when compared to the far superior Veteran Havok. For starters, they both have a similar AV and Range, and their Team Ability is the same ability under a different banner. Arsenal’s sole advantages are a single click of Running Shot and a second target. Havok on the other hand has a dial full of super powers, and and extra click of life.
Defies logic.

Moving on to a similarly logic defying figure, Vet Arsenal gets a much deserved 6th click of life, but little else to warrant the hefty price increase; which seems to be centered almost entirely around the Outsider’s Team Ability. However useful this TA may be, it’s not worth 62 points for a figure that has 1 click of Running Shot followed by a single click of Stealth. Functionally this may work so Arsenal can push to Running Shot into hindering terrain and then be protected, but his minimum of powers and usefulness isn’t made up for with one a semi-useful power combo.

Fortunately Arsenal was partially redeemed with his far far superior ‘Roy Harper’ Limited Edition version that takes the little bit of good his REV has, strips it of the bafflingly inflated cost, and adds the Police Team Ability. This REV / LE reversal is reminiscent of Viper / Madame Hydra from Xplosion. So if you’re looking to fill out your theme team, seek out Roy Harper, and leave Speedy in rehab.


Kid Quantum
49 – Legion – 4 //
61 – Legion – 6 ///
80 – Legion – 6 ///

Unlike some of her predecessors, Cosmic Boy, Livewire, and Saturn Girl – Kid Quantum has both a cool name and a cool sculpt. Unfortunately she’s not going to rate in any other way compared to other Legionaries.

In concept, a Wildcard figure with Running Shot, Incapacitate and Multiple Targets should be much cooler than Kid Quantum came out to be. Maybe it’s the hefty cost of Incapacitate and Multiple targets that weighs her down, or maybe it’s the customarily shallow dial that comes with being a Legion member (exception for Wildfire) that holds her back. Whatever the case, Kid Quantum flops.

Rookie KQ starts off at a heavy 49 points for a figure with a 4 range and 4 clicks of life. When so many other figures around 50 points can take you out in a single hit, maybe its time to hang up the Legion flight ring and join the cosmic circus instead. Cost / Life ratio aside, KQ’s super short 4 range belies the usefulness of Running Shot / Multiple Target Incapacitate. In order to make any use of her, you have build a team that supplements the Wildcard TA, which means adding to your team just to make her useful. But with a short 4 range, any time she hits someone, in all likelihood she’s going to get smacked back, hard, and probably won’t live to tell the tale.

The Exp steps it up quite a bit with an extended range and an additional target, making her a useful 6 with an impressive 3 targets for her Incapacitate. AV is also up to a semi-useful 9, and she adds a click of life (thankfully.) Even so, she’s still an easy 61 points with basically no defense. She can maximize her Wildcard TA by copying Stealth for a little defense, but with so much anti-stealth in the game, most opponents will gun for the easy points and eliminate one of your fliers in the process.
She is functionally imbalanced, the offensive benefit she can bring to a team with triple target Incapacitate is offset by the ease in which she’ll fall, and then your team will have to fight to make up a fair chunk of points.
The Vet just makes matters worse by adding practically nothing worthwhile to the figure besides a price increase of nearly *20 points*! The massive cost of Incapacitate rears its ugly head here with 5 clicks of the pricey blue power that doesn’t add anything to KQ’s PQ (Playability Quotient.) Ditch her PDQ, and check out VGA (Vet Green Arrow) and Vet Nightwing for multi-target Incapacitate, or Vet Black Widow for anti-Stealth Incapacitate.


Spoiler
15 – 0 /
17 – 4 /
22 – Batman Ally – 4 /

Here’s a spoiler, this character dies at the end of the Gang War storyline.

Here’s another spoiler, this figure stinks.

The previous two figures in this review suffered largely because they were far too expensive for their usefulness. At 15 – 22 points, Spoiler has no such excuse; she just stinks no matter how cheap she is. The Rookie offers practically no strategic advantage whatsoever to any team. As a tie-up piece, she’ll be shot dead before she even moves into position. If she does make it to her intended target, she’ll be shot dead shortly thereafter. And with the introduction of bystander tokens, and Feat cards, most teams are looking for 15 points to trim from their team, not add.

Experienced Spoiler doesn’t add much to her dial, but she is at least an improvement over the rookie. For two points more, the Exp offers you a ranged attack and an extra click of Leap / Climb. Not bad for 2 points, still not any good for 17.

The Veteran is the only version of any merit thanks to her Batman Ally Team Ability. Now at least she won’t get picked off at range before she even gets into the fray. More to the point though, she can lend this team ability to her wildcard pals. Her AV is up, and she’s slightly longer lived. However, no matter how good she is in comparison to her R & E, the sad fact is that she costs exactly the same as Vet Robin (from Hypertime) who is one of the most efficient figures in the game. And against his 6 range and more consistent Stats; HeroClix Spoiler echoes Comic Book Spoiler as just a shadow of what Robin truly is.

Thanks for this and all the other figure reviews. As a relatively new player, I was wondering why I couldn't see the play applications of these figures, which are all blessed with decent names and good sculpts.

Good review!

I find it necessary to echo the sentiments about KQ's short dial... In the Legacy Marquee I played in Beckley, WV Ma Hunkle ended up KOing my rookie KQ.

to paraphrase AZS "Running shot means Arsenal can walk and chew gum at the same time." Hysterical!

"Bottom of the Barrel Figure Reviews"

I love it!!

I gotta disagree on one thing, Spoiler is good for the cheapest pounce ever. 37 points to smack a guy with a 10 AV and 3 damage. And you can't say you care about the damage she'll take back. If nothing else, sit a medic behind her and let her Combat Reflex into her. If you want an easy 8 square charge, here she is.
Otherwise, ya, I'm with you on the rest.

I also loved today's format. Great job.

Luke B.

I agree with moth of the above comments (particularly Arsenal). But I have found Kid Quantum to be rather useful when you add Stunning Blow to her. But then I guess any fig could be great when you add enough feat cards to them.

Wow, harsh (but true).

I have made use of Speedy in sealed as a click-battery (plus, in Legacy sealed, it's hard to round out the points). But that's a pretty lame use of a figure.

E Kid Quantum is the only one marginally worthwhile-- and even then I only managed to really get use out of her on a high-point extreme wildcard abuse team (although she *was* very effective there).

@ Saturnflight -
Vet Robin works just as well as Vet Spoiler for Pounce.

@ Poet1971 -
Someone thought the same thing in a recent tournament, but it turned out that he misunderstood what Stunning Blow did (as I'm guessing you may be, since I really don't see the benifit of the card on her in particular).

Stunning Blow allows you to deal your natural damage in addition to Incapacitate. (As opposed to normal where you can only do one or the other.)
In KQ's case, her natural damage is only 1. And when you use multiple targets with regular damage, you split up the damage among all targets hit. So with her, you'll get to Incapacitate 2 targets and deal 0 damage, and Incapacitate the third and deal her base damage of 1.
That's hardly impressive, and certainly not worth the extra 10 points.
(The player who used her mininterpreted the card to say that she got to deal her 1 damage to all targets, but that was not correct.)

Legacy has some great scuplts.
It just seems the LE's are the most playable vertion of most of the characters.

I like the change actually showing people why these figures are not playable. Now if only the designers read your reviews...

Sorry to say it, but I have to agree on most of these. I was initially really excited about Kid Quantum, but while she looks good on paper, she just doesn't quite seem to live up to her potential. Speedy/Arsenal's V version might get better depending on how Outsiders ends up getting clarified to work (if it stops not only Perplex, but all the other powers and feats that change stats, his usefulness will go WAY up), but for me I'll take Roy Harper over any of the others any time. I still have a special fondness for Spoiler, but it's hard to justify V Spoiler over V Robin. So I'd probably just use both

Good article. The V Spolier is okay, if only for Batman TA and for copying purposes as stated.

I was wondering if I there was some magical use of Kid Quantum, but I guess not. :P Maybe somewhere, someone will figure out some way to make her useful. I can believe Ma Hunkle could knock her out.

Every time I've tried to put a Legion theme team together, there is a point in the game when the Legionairres simply can't cause damage to the opposing clix. Livewire and Wildfire seem to do the most damage, but their dials are shallow, and run out of steam early. The Legion works well with others, but within the team, they need some offense, and defense for that matter.

Synthezoid

well, this might change with the new team abilities. throw is invinsible woman (invinsible kid) and all your legion-members have a defense of 19.

then add superboy or supergirl with the superman team-ability.

and finaly: wasp (shrinking violet) with the thunderbolts team-abitliy and depending on the enemy, choose the most fitting ability (batman / mystic / ultimate x-men)