DEEP DISH THEMES:
By The Slice:

ORIGIN: Madison Jeffries and his brother Lionel are Canadian mutants with psionic transmutative powers. Madison's powers enable him to manipulate metal, glass and plastic psionically while his brother Lionel could psionically alter and manipulate organic substances. Madison hated his powers for making him different from other people, although they aided him in becoming a highly skilled mechanic and builder of machinery. Lionel, on the other hand, accepted his own powers and used them in his work as a surgeon.

Like many other Canadians, the Jeffries brothers enlisted in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Madison, became a mechanic first class in the army he enlisted in hope that it would let him forget about his power, but Lionel, became a army medic he hoped to use his powers to heal the Casualties of the War .

The brothers Served in the same squad on a mission when most of the squad were killed in an explosion. The blast scattered the parts of the soldiers' corpses. Horrified, Lionel Jeffries desperately tried to use his powers to rejoin the pieces of the corpses together again in hope that it would bring the soldiers back to life. But he wasn't powerful enough and failed to a Accomplish what he had set out to do, Because of this Lionel descended into Madness and his brother Madison was forced to use his power to manipulate metal and create bonds to restrain his now insane brother. Lionel's sanity did not return, and he became the menace known as Scramble, the Mixed-Up Man. Eventually Madison had Scramble confined to a padded cell in Montreal General Hospital. To prevent Scramble from using his powers, he was placed in a special helmet and a straitjacket, fed intravenously, and denied any human contact. Meanwhile Madison left the army after this ordeal.



PROS: I remember back to November of 2007 when this figure came out. I was going down-state to the pre-release being held there (Back then there were MAYBE a few per state). I was probably the only one there that was just DYING to get my hands on this piece...okay, let's be realistic. I was probably one of the few people ANYWHERE that was dying to get my hands on this piece. I had been wanting Box for a long time in the game, and I was finally getting him...and he's not bad! I didn't pull him, and I specifically remember trading about $5 worth of figures to get him. People gave me a funny look, but I didn't care...I'm a TRUE Alpha Flight fan and I HAD TO HAVE HIM RIGHT THEN! At the time (And still a little to this day) I would argue that he is actually really pretty good, in fact. He has a nice large movement with Charge, a six range, Perplex, and a nice opening defense stat of 18. Super Strength helps his damage value out. His flight is helpful to get those grounded teammates around and to get him in and out of hindering terrain and up and down from elevation. One of my favorite tricks of his has always been his "Assimilation" power...It says: "Box can use Toughness. Once per round, when Box is adjacent to an object, as a free action you can remove the object from the game and heal Box of 2 damage."
This has always been useful, but now that he can carry objects and then drop them later on, he is much more likely to be around an object when he needs one. He has four clicks of ending Plasticity which is far more useful than it used to be. On a few of those Plasticity clicks he also has Pulse Wave and Close Combat Expert. This is a fantastic combo of powers as he can hold you down and either punch you really hard or just Pulse Wave your face off while he's hanging on for dear life. It would be nice if his attack values would have been higher at the time, but they don't call them Hail Mary shots for nothing!

CONS: The downfal of this piece is almost ALWAYS it's low end of average attack values. What I tend to like to do with him is to use his Perplex on his defense value until I am able to get a clear shot at something and then once I'm ready to go I'll Perplex up my attack value, do my damage, and then rinse and repeat as often as I can, but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to dedicate that Perplex to his attack values to make sure I can hit something. I have a hard enough time rolling what I need to anyway without needing to worry about hitting an average defense. His damage special power almost is an inconvenience at times. It's not optional, so if you are trying to lay low and get some cover from some hindering terrain, you're going to end up literally becoming a giant target. You'll still get the hindering bonus being in the hindering, but the amount of characters that will be able to target you has just grown as much as he has.

Other Players' Comments/Reviews: Using the Inline dial system, just click on the word bubble next to the character's name and it will take you to the units section comments!

KEYWORD THEMES: (Named Keywords are in bold)

Alpha Flight: This is my big team for the article. I can never reign myself in when Alpha Flight is concerned so I will play them as big as I can. In this case, this is an 900 point team that I would very likely actually play. It has pretty much all the classic characters that you would want on the team with the exception of a few of the characters that have rotated in and out over the years. I am always reluctant to play Wolverine on an Alpha Flight team since I don't personally consider him to be a member of the team and instead an occasional ally. I had points to fill, though, and they haven't given me an updated Marrina, Wildchild, or Diamond Lil, or any some of the other members. This is what I was able to come up with.

Force Build 8811968 0
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
MU	008	Box		125	$1.00
WKM	M16-013	Vindicator		100	SELL
IIM	011	Guardian		100	$0.25
IIM	040	Shaman		92	$8.89
IIM	209	Aurora		80	$1.48
IIM	210	Northstar		80	$2.19
IIM	018	Snowbird		92	$0.49
IIM	207	Puck		40	$1.98
IIM	019A	Sasquatch		95	$0.49
UXM	006	Wolverine		50	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
ATA	005	Alpha Flight		4	SELL
Force Total:				894	$16.77

Armor: Playing any team that is going to have Box on it (At least until he gets a newer version) is going to almost require me to play Jocasta on it to shore up some of his weaknesses. It's not ABSOLUTELY necessary, but I would prefer to get a little more out of him, and if I just add this little 25 point attachment to him, he gets a needed boost. I don't play generic keywords very often, so I tend to like to play around with concepts when I do. In this one, Madison Jeffries exists in the Pacific Rim universe and is the chief designer and builder of Jaegers. The Box armor is his own personal Jaeger. Hey, it looks the part, and it gets me to use some of the Pacific Rim figures that would otherwise just collect dust. This is a simple 300 point team, but it could easily be added onto in order to fit higher point builds as the Pacific Rim pieces tended to have complimentary point totals.

Force Build 8811968 1
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
MU	008	Box		125	$1.00
AOU	039P	Jocasta		25	SELL
PR	004R	Crimson Typhoon		150	SELL
Force Total:				300	$1.00

Robot: I used to love running the team of Box, M&M Danger, and rookie Deathlok as a three person robot squad. It actually did more damage than any team like this really had any right to. It helped that back then generic keywords got to use theme team Probability Control, but it rarely needed it. I loved that Danger had Earthbound/Neutralized on her top click so Box could carry her around with him. Looking at ways to update the team a little bit, I still kept the team the same at it's core, but the support has gotten a lot better. Jocasta goes on Box in this team because he could use a little boost in effectiveness:

Force Build 8811968 2
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
MU	008	Box		125	$1.00
AOU	039P	Jocasta		25	SELL
MU	039	Danger		124	$0.75
SMWW	G004P	Solaris		25	SELL
Force Total:				299	$1.75

NON-KEYWORD THEMES:

Brotherhood of Chaos (Age of Apocalypse)
Weapon X Program
X-Club
X-Men
Zodiac

DEEP DISH DO-IT-YOURSELF:

In this section, I share with you my own homemade dials for these poor characters that have only ever had one or two versions of themselves realized. I'll try not to get too fanboyish with them, but I'm not making any promises! I also invite any of you who like to make fan dials to please share your versions of these characters as well by using the DIAL GENERATOR in the units section on HCRealms.

#053 Unique Box
Real Name: Madison Jeffries
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6
Points: 150
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Armor, Robot, Scientist, X-Club, Zodiac

10 10 17 3

10 10 17 3

9 10 17 3

9 9 17 3

9 9 17 3

9 9 17 3

5 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Technoformer: Box can use Perplex. He can use it normally or if he is within 3 squares of a figure that has the Armor or Robot keyword, he can use it to modify any one combat value by +/-2
Deus Ex Machina: Box Can use Super Strength. If he occupies or is adjacent to hindering terrain, he may be given a free action to use one of the following:
1.) Remove an adjacent object from the game. Choose any standard attack or damage power. Box can use that power until the beginning of the next turn.
2.) Box can use the giant or colossal damage symbol until the beginning of your next turn. If you choose the colossal damage symbol modify all of his combat values by +1 and at the beginning of your next turn deal Box one unavoidable damage.
3.) Heal Box by one damage. You may give Box a power action to heal two clicks of damage.

This wraps it up for this installment of Deep Dish Themes: By the Slice. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to read it! Feel free to post what you think about the article and just like regular Deep Dish Themes, feel free to nominate a character for an upcoming edition of Deep Dish Themes: By the Slice! Join me on 3/8 when I hang out with my simian friends in Deep Dish Themes: By the Slice: Red Ghost!

Your homemade Box dial is very very on track with Box's powers (and well priced, too). Nicely done.

Way to think about the box, instead just what is outside of it.

I want the other version of Box now. The blue one.

We need a new Box. And Talisman. And Nemesis. And...

See the link to my first attempt at creating dials for the original Omega Flight.

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showth...=571422&page=3

When I was a kid I got an issue of Alpha Flight, 63 I think? It was my only one for ages, but I read it repeatedly, and it was a Box solo issue. I've always had a fondness for the character and I like his figure, but have rarely had a chance to play with him. Alpha Flight in general I need to play more of.

I love the character and the original figure. Played the hell out of him when he was new.

Truly great seeing one of my all-time favorite alphans, in fact overall marvel character getting this much focus

Jeffries is a gentleman and a fighter and deserving of a new clix, despite the old one being very funtional and fun.

Since the introduction of vehicles I've felt that Jeffries should have some awesome transmutation power regarding that. He was both a prominent member AS WELL AS the team's transportation.

Thank you for this article.
Until Manikin gets himself and his three genetic relatives in shifting focus clix - make mine MARVEL!

That's not a bad idea. I love playing with the WaTX Warlock, which can change into a vehicle when he wants.

Thanks for everybody that has responded with all the Deadpool hype being crazy right now!

So what's this Deadpool I hear everyone talking about?

It's nice to see you write an article about a member of your favorite team.
I liked Box when he first came out but I'd still like to see a Roger Bochs version.
Maybe one day we'll get a set that has Alpha Flight, Beta Flight, Omega Flight, and Weapon X sub-themes. (And throw in a new Wendigo while you're at it, Wizkids.)

Fun article and a nice trip down memory lane. Looking forward to the next installment, buddy.

Nice article!
I love the personality and look of Jeffries, but his power level in Flight verges on the worshipful-fanboyish. I always preferred the Bochs version.

I have never brought the MM Box out to play, because of the AV issue you mentioned. The fig looks great, though.

Reminds me Rocket Red.

I also remember liking Box more than other players when he came out, though I admit it doesn't come from Alpha Flight fandom (sowwy). With his AV being the only real downside to using him, I always was able to make better use than expected and surprise opponents. Though it is hard to argue with Perplex + PC making figures better xP