DEEP DISH THEMES:

ORIGIN: Alopex was born an ordinary arctic fox outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. She proved herself deadly from an early age, serving as her pack's main hunter. She was both feared and respected by all other creatures in the area, save for a polar bear - the only being Alopex feared.

This life continued until she was captured by a group of scientists attempting an experiment to bring other animals to human-level intelligence. In Alopex's case, the experiment was a success, first granting her human intelligence and then making her fully anthropomorphic . She was rescued from the laboratory by the Foot Clan's leader, Shredder, and became an agent of the Foot Clan, believing it gave her life a purpose again.



PROS: This is a pretty decent version of the Comic Book iteration of Alopex. She kind of skulks around in the shadows for a bit...tracking her foe. When she has the chance, she CHARGES out of the shadows and goes in for the attack like the might hunter that she is. For me, her best click is #3. She has Charge, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Super Senses, and her damage special power called YOUR ARMOR MAKES YOU WEAK which says: When Alopex hits an opposing character with an attack and the damage is reduced, modify that character's attack value by -2 until your next turn. It's the click where she is going to be doing the most potential damage on and will likely have the most impact on an opposing character because if she hits them (Note: Doesn't have to cause damage, just has to hit) she subtracts two from their attack until your next turn. Now even a character that had a 12 attack is going to have to roll at least a seven to make contact (Assuming her Super Senses doesn't evade it all together).

CONS: With her being the deadliest hunter in her pack, I would have hoped she would have had a bit more impressive ability to get around the board and make attacks with...Sidestep is good, but front-loaded Charge would have been nice. I suppose it was probably done this way as a cost-cutting measure, though. In the end I would rather have a figure that is consistently good throughout their dial instead of one that has all of the good stuff top-loaded on their dial, so I suppose this figure is more in fitting with the (IMO) better dial designs of modern times and has more to offer over the course of her dial.

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!



PROS: This here is my pride and joy. I have been playing this game for 16 years, and RARELY have I come across a figure that I enjoy playing as much as this one...much to the chagrin of the players at my venue. She's just the total package...she's fast, she's deadly, and she has tricks up her sleeves that often confound people to no end...especially when you build around them. Let's break it down a bit...she starts out with the ever deadly combination of Hypersonic Speed and Precision Strike. I love this combo so much because you are always doing at least one click of damage no matter the opponent. Defensively she starts out with the one-two punch of Super Senses AND Shape Change. If she can even be targeted to begin with, then she can potentially dodge the attack...this will come up again later. She has this combination of all of these powers for her first couple of clicks and then she starts to transition to the back half of her dial when she picks up Probability Control on click #3. She will keep that power for the rest of her six click dial. On Click #4 she gets a special movement power that gives her both Charge and Flurry...again...important later. I mean, it's important now as those are amazing powers to have together...especially with the Blades/Claws/Fangs that she has on #4-6 as well, but it's especially useful considering what I'm about to say. The dial on this figure is AMAZING...but the biggest thing she has going for her?...her traits.

Her Catch a Tiger by it's tail trait allows her to pick an opposing character whom she gets a +1 to attack against and a +1 to defense from when attacking and being attacked by that character. This is especially useful against less balanced teams like tentpole teams that heavily rely on the powers of only one or two big bruisers because she is inherently going to be more effective against them. However, I've buried the lead completely...the most awesome thing about her is her CURSED BLADES OF VENGEANCE trait. It says: When Alopex hits an opposing character, give them a Curse token. // Characters with one or more Curse tokens modify attack -1, and any attack made by those characters that misses all targets becomes a critical miss. Wow...just wow...As if making cursed characters -1 to attack wasn't enough (Especially if they are the Tiger that she caught by the tail), now they automatically critical miss any attack that would be a miss. This INCLUDES when she makes a successful roll for her Super Senses. It can be absolutely brutal to do to somebody in a game. On more than one occasion my opponent has realized how much they need to get Alopex out of the game, and will push to try to remove her. Then they miss the attack, it becomes a critical miss, AND they have to take pushing damage as well. The curse tokens don't go away either. I would have thought for sure they would be removed once a critical miss happens, but the only thing that gets them to stop being active is the KO of Alopex herself.

Hey, you want to lose some friends? Play her and one/both of Trelane from the Star Trek set or the Mr. Mxyzptlk super rares. Curse some opponents and then use their ability to alter dice rolls to ensure that nearly every attack is a critical miss. I did it once...once...I swear to never do that kind of thing to my venue ever again. I felt terrible. I just cannot say enough good things about this piece. She is a little fur-ball of murder, and I don't ever see myself growing tired of her.

CONS: Nope...moving on... ...but in all seriousness, the two things that I always seem to regret not having with her is Willpower and damage reducers. Adding either would probably skyrocket her point value out of the very nice and healthy 90 points to something that I wouldn't even consider very playable, though...the lack of armor keeps her fast, though, and I can just make sure to keep her as guarded as possible when I play her...stick to my own mantra of not trying to make figures be something that they're not.

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)

Animal: If memory serves correctly, this is the exact animal team that I played Alopex on. It was a somewhat randomly cobbled together Animal team that featured some things that I had been meaning to get to the table. I remember one of the Tribbles actually disabling a Gamma Bomb which was amazing. This team also features one of my favorite pieces that I NEVER get to play...Man-Spider. I'm the judge so I only get to play bye rounds, and WITHOUT FAIL I have put this guy on at least a half-dozen teams and there ALWAYS seems to be an even number of players when he finds his way on the team. I think that's why this team sticks out to me so much...it was my first and only time ever getting to play him!

Force Build 9070192 0
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
TMNT4	033	Alopex		90	SELL
WKM	MP16-002	Man-Spider		100	SELL
WKM	MP18-005	Lockjaw		75	SELL
AI	039	Cosmo		70	SELL
AI	G016R	Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy		75	SELL
AI	G006E	Devil Dinosaur & Moon Girl		75	SELL
TREKOS	012	Tribbles		5	SELL
TREKOS	012	Tribbles		5	SELL
TREKOS	012	Tribbles		5	SELL
Force Total:				500	$0.00

Foot Clan: There's two different kinds of Foot Clan teams that I generally like to play. One type has Shredder, Krang, and a bunch of Foot Soldiers on it, and the other one is usually just filled with mutants and other side characters from the series. This is the latter. There's no real rhyme or reason to it either other than just featuring the random side-characters/mutants that share that same keyword.

Force Build 9070192 1
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
TMNT2	020	Alopex		50	SELL
WK	TP17-003	Bebop And Rocksteady		125	SELL
TMNT4	028	Ha'ntaan The Rat King		50	SELL
TMNT4	026	Karai		75	SELL
Force Total:				300	$0.00

Martial Artist: This team is all about deadly Martial Artist ladies. Thankfully, Moondragon is one of the few Martial Artist characters in the game to have Telekinesis, because this team could use some help in mobility. A lot of them do have move and attack abilities, but they need help closing the gap between them and their opponents who will likely have more range to work with. One of the first things I try to do with a team like this is get that Alopex out there asap and then get those Curse tokens flowing. Once you start doing that, mobilize the rest of the troops...they'll want to attack, but with some high defenses, they'll be scared of missing...but you will just keep pouring on the offense.

Force Build 9070192 2
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
TMNT4	033	Alopex		90	SELL
GOTG	029	Moondragon		85	SELL
JW	043	Lady Shiva		50	SELL
SI	054	Gamora		73	$4.98
Force Total:				298	$4.98

TMNT Ally: The Ninja Turtles have been captured! It's up to some of their allies to band together and help rescue them! I really like using this April O'neil and Casey Jones together...she really can't be healed much but she can make him go that much further than what you're paying for. Fugitoid is the pit crew of the team having both Telekinesis and Probability Control. It's a good and cheap mixture of support pieces, attack pieces, and low point pieces. I have not played with it personally, but I think it could perform admirably.

Force Build 9070192 3
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
TMNT2	020	Alopex		50	SELL
TMNT2	029	Renet Tilley		55	SELL
WK	TP16-001	Casey Jones		75	SELL
FFTMNT2	005	April		25	SELL
TMNT3	006	Fugitoid		65	SELL
TMNT3	012	Splinter		25	SELL
Force Total:				295	$0.00

TMNT Villain: VERY similar to the concept that I had with the Foot Clan keyword, but with this keyword there is more options and variety of characters to use. You're able to go much deeper into the Turtles' catalog of rogues, and it also gives you the option to use Pizza Face...which I highly recommend doing ANY chance you get! and this is what I came up with.

Force Build 9070192 4
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
TMNT2	020	Alopex		50	SELL
WK	TP17-002	Pizza Face		60	SELL
TMNT4	027	Baxter Stockman		80	SELL
TMNT3	030	Savanti Romero		100	SELL
TMNT2	014	Chien Khan		75	SELL
TMNT	016	Slash		80	SELL
TMNT4	028	Ha'ntaan The Rat King		50	SELL
Force Total:				495	$0.00

Assassin: I played this EXACT team for one of my store's HeroClix league games. It always performed admirably. Talia would be out there using Defend to help out people defensively, Ra's would both generate an Ubu bystander and make more Ninjas whenever possible, and Alopex would do what she does best...tear through faces. Gamora would be there to put down some extra hurt, provide Probability Control, and even get to pass it on if she were to get KO'd. It was a quite effective 300 point squad and one that I would highly recommend playing.

Force Build 9070192 5
Set	#	Name	Team	Pts	Value
TMNT4	033	Alopex		90	SELL
AI	020	Gamora		65	SELL
BTAS	033	Talia Al Ghul		45	SELL
BTAS	034	Ra's Al Ghul		75	SELL
BTAS	010	Ninja		25	SELL
Force Total:				300	$0.00

NON-KEYWORD THEMES:

There are not any that I am aware of or that I could find with a few searches on the internet. If you know of any, please help me out by letting us all know what they are!

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.

#077 Alopex
Real Name: Alopex
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 75
Keywords: Animal, Foot Clan, Martial Artist, TMNT Ally, TMNT Villain

10 11 18 3

10 11 18 2

9 10 17 2

9 10 17 2

8 9 17 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Movement: Hindering Terrain
In the Thrall of Kitsune: Friendly characters that can use Mind Control can use it to target Alopex. Opposing characters get a +1 to attack when targeting Alopex with Mind Control
Sly like a Fox: Stealth. If there are no opposing characters within four squares of Alopex, lines of fire cannot be drawn to her
The Best Hunter: Blades/Claw/Fangs, Precision Strike. When Alopex moves at least two squares and uses it and hits, friendly characters get a +1 to attack when targeting that same character this turn.

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 and my apologies to my players at my venue for using the SR Alopex so often! 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 next time when teleport across the galaxy to party with some trolls...and thus become one in Deep Dish Themes: By the Slice: PIP THE TROLL!

two figures I love the most! I've played the IDW the most. Really need chances to break out the Nicktoons one... it'll come i hope!

The Nicktoons one is just...insane

i've toyed with giving her Scarface so she has some range, and EE to spread the curse tokens out!

That Nicktoon Alopex needs a good dose of Pulse Wave.
But really, l love the character in the comics.

I really want the new one to use on an animal team I am working on, I want to use her with throg that plus two to her defence will really make people think twice before attacking her

Good combo, i dig it!

No Throg? Come on, +2 perplex on Alopex is awesome. These two are a must on an Animal theme team

Typo on the link for the SR. It's 033, not 043.

That said, I'd put a mere 10 attack as a con for the SR. I just don't see her hitting much at 10. She needs a Perplex or two for me to feel like I can rely on her. Like you said, lack of Willpower is an issue as well, but if you can land a couple of initial hits quickly, it's worth the push. I'd be ok giving her range with the Hulkbuster Right Arm or Scarface. Of course, anyone gets vastly better with the Book of the Skull, but while Angrir's Hammer is the meme of choice for improving anything, I'd argue Nul's Hammer benefits her more. You completely neglected that she can move through hindering terrain or elevation (unless I'm blind), which can make for some truly sinister strikes.

The rare is fine. I never did play her much, but she's got plenty of use. I'd say her top click is still her best, since she can work with the Stealth, Combat Reflexes (I'd rather rely on that than Super Senses), and Battle Fury against the increasingly common Shape Change. She makes a fine piece to go after the support pieces.

Thanks for the catch...it bothered me that there was no dial there...didn't even think to check to see if I put the number in correctly!

As far as things that I left of the SR review? I felt that I had gushed enough