Many of the characters in the Brave and the Bold set have very few keywords. This is a huge disappointment and problem. I noticed that no BatB characters in the gallery have more than THREE keywords. That is ridiculous. Is this NECA's new scheme to save money on ink? I think this will be NECA's 4th cut-cost plan that tears away quality from the game.

Any thought on the matter?



P.S.

I can excuse Batman's lack of Martial Artist keyword, due to the terrible dial.

I think it is a great idea. They are trying to sell us a character that is supposed to represent a character in one point in time in the comic continuum. There is no need for more than 3 key words.

A good argument for the figures that have more than 3 keywords are figures that needed to be made earlier and they are trying to catch up on a figure by adding keywords to make us happy.

I think the new Lack of Keywords is because of the new ATAs which work with Keywords

I don't see how having more than three keywords hurts anybody.

Flash & Green Lantern and Fire & Ice both have four keywords.

Well...does anyone agree that BatB characters have an unusually small amount of keywords?

Out of curiousity, are keywords tied into figure cost?

To heck with the whole "Tied to one period in time" thing. The more keywords, the better - try to make more effective theme teams, I say. Cutting down on generic keywords doesn't seem like a bad idea, but specific ones? Give the theme players more options, not less.

Though I believe that there are an unusually low number of keywords i think that this is better rather than a bad thing. Seeing as how many benifits that theme teams get.

how can you call the dial terrible, its a great piece that is different than all the other batmen we have seen (not having martial artist keyword is weird though)

The thing you have to remember is that keywords are not just fluff, they are game mechanics and have to be balanced as such. Once you've got things like starter FF Mr. F BT'ing scientists for +2, you have to be careful assigning the keyword so that you don't break the game.

You also have to be careful that you're not creating "super keywords", like mutant, that wind up having few limitations compared to other KW's by virtue of the sheer number of figs that have it. Martial Artist was starting to become a go to theme team, so I can see how it might have been expressly scaled back.

As more and more abilities work off of keywords, and with the addition of ATA's that may stack, I can see how the argument for limiting them becomes more compelling.

It also makes re-do's more interesting, different versions of characters can fill different roles. So we have the scientist Batman who created OMAC, the worlds greatest detective, the guy who had his beeeyatch card pulled by Amanda Waller, etc.

The way it stands with keywords is that they are being reigned in from what I've seen and that's great. Scientist, teen, solider, and robot are far to strong right now. Limiting figures keywords to those that matter help a lot more. Team affiliation is more important then function(ie I am a solider. I am a monster. I am a teenager.).

The whole generic keyword mechanic was a bad idea to start with. And I think the less they pop up the better. They should be used on figures that don't have a team affiliation who do frequent guest appearances.

Batman has a terrible dial?

Really?

Keywords...shmeywords. What you should be complaing about is 1. Blackest Night keywords (overall not a big deal...get creative with your builds and not use keywords) 2. Etrigan's dial 3. Nekron and his 2 range! 4. The four new checkmate battlfield promotion figs...there not KO'ing anybody to get promoted sooooo....

I would speculate that this is because keywords are being slightly tweaked to reflect team affiliations to make use of ATA's now instead of feats or sps' that key off of keywords.

Are theme teams using keywords such as future, teen, etc nerfed now along with feats?

I thought that with the emphasis now placed upon ATA's more than anything, that theme teams are gonna get nerfed or are nerfed when the new starter set comes out?


Anyone know?

Good, generic keywords are a bane to HeroClix and should be done away with. I can hear all the crying from the generic keyword cheese monkeys now. LOL! Here's a nappy, wipe your eyes!

Death to generic keywords!!!! Great move NECA / WizKids to reign in the abuse of generic keywords. One of the best moves you've done in years!

And Bat's dial isn't terrible, your tactics and skill as a player will determine how well he is played.

I would say they aren't, because the older figures were retroactively given keywords.