Prerequisites: Incapacitate or Plasticity

Choose a character.

If an opposing character makes an unsuccessful close combat attack against the character, after the action is resolved give the opposing character an extra action token if it has zero or one action token. If the opposing character already had one action token on it, giving it a second action token deals pushing damage normally.

Ok, so I just want to make sure I have this right now. Before I used to play it where if they had 0 action tokens they would take pushing damage. My friend read closer into it and noticed the bolded area. So, what that's actually saying is if they have 0 action tokens, they would take 2 tokens for a miss, but they wont take pushing for it. Right?

Might be a stupid question, but I've been playing it wrong for awhile now if that's the case.

It works pretty much like Incapacitate. If the attack is unsuccessful, the attack takes an extra token in addition to the one it would've gained normally for making the attack. Thus, the attacker is pushed and would take pushing damage if applicable.

The key thing is that the placement of the extra token occurs after the action resolves. Now let's consider the implications of that:

First, if the character pushed to attack (already had one token) the character would already have two tokens when it came time to assign a TD token (one from the previous turn and one placed at the resolution of this currect, pushing action). So now TD tokens would be placed.

Second, if the character had no tokens and the attack was somehow a free action (like, say, E-2 Supe's 'Leading the Attack'), then there would be 0 tokens at the resolution of the action and a TD token could be placed. With only one token in total now on the character, no pushing damage would result.

Finally, we are in the boat you would see most often... a character is given some kind of non-free action to attack, but they aren't pushing to do so. At the resolution of the action, a token is placed normally (one token is now on the character) and also a TD token is placed since the character only has one token. The character now has two tokens and will take pushing damage normally.

Compare all this to, say, the Terrify feat which can also place an extra token, but that extra token does not cause pushing damage per the feat description.

Short version, it sounds like you were playing it right to begin with.

Another way to get this effect is if the attack was made through a normal (non-free) action and the token was passed to someone else, say through the Warbound feat or Edward Nigma's A Man Reborn Special Power.
The Entangle feat can also prevent the placement of a token, and under the right circumstances it might be possible to trigger both Entangle and Takedown during the same action - say you perform a Flurry or close combat duo attack against a Plasticity figure equipped with both Entangle and Takedown. The first attack does not trigger Entangle, but misses the target and therefore triggers Takedown. The second attack does trigger Entangle, thus preventing the placement of a token...

Yes, Normalview, Rurouni, and Quebbster are all correct. I should know, seeing as how I created the card... lol.