____

DC: Aqualad

Longtime readers will recall that I love the Atlantis theme and keyword, and even you newbies can tell I like ethnic diversity. (If only more people did, maybe I wouldn’t have to write about stuff like this post on my other blog.)

So I was glad to see the new black “Aqualad” on the Young Justice cartoon and, shortly after, in the DC universe proper in “Brightest Day.” I think I prefer the comic version just a tad; I’ve never liked black characters being blond-haired (Storm of the X-Men, I’m thinking of your platinum tresses right now) and I like that the dreadlocked Jackson of the comics is the biological son of Aquaman’s blood enemy Black Manta. I hope he comes back somehow in the new 52.

Clixwise, Aqualad would hopefully bring some cheap Blades/Claws/Fangs to an aqua-team, along with Force Blast tied to water somehow.

_______

Marvel: Daughters of the Dragon

Sword-wielding Collen Wing and robot-armed ex-cop Misty Knight ought to no longer just be underpowered bystander pogs but a full-fledged duo figure. Blades,  Exploit Weakness and Outwit, and Plasticity would well-represent, respectively, Wing’s katana, Knight’s cyborg limb’s strength and hidden functions, and their bondsman business.

Get these Babes Heroes for Hire in the game for real!

____

Finally: Last two. One we should’ve gotten years ago and the other, my pick if I ever somehow became the HeroClix world champion.

Continuing my look ahead to the Top 10 characters I want to see clixed in the future.

Five Marvel. Five DC. No remakes. Here’s the next pair.

____

3.

DC: The Great Ten

OK, so this is actually SIX characters, not one. But I still feel entitled to this whole team, because WE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN TWO APIECE IN EVERY SET SINCE 2007’s JUSTICE LEAGUE. Instead, we got:

Justice League: 1
Crisis: 1
Arkham Asylum: 1 (plus one who isn’t really part of the core team in the pic above)
Brave & Bold: 0
DC 75th: 0
Superman: 1

C’mon. With just two in each set, the team would be complete by now. In these “New 52” days, we might never see China’s superteam done at all.

Anyway, here’s who’s missing and what they should be like:

• Celestial Archer: super bowman whose trick arrows cast magic spells rather than blow up stuff. A standard rainbow dial and multi-targets would suffice.
  
• Thundermind: China’s answer to Superman/Shazam — if they were based on a Buddhist template — would have Running Shot, TK, maybe Mind Control or Stealth and definitely, oh so definitely, a SP called “Bilocation” that’d work a lot like Star Trek Tactics’ U.S.S. Prometheus’ SP “Multi-Vector Assault.”
• Immortal Man In Darkness: pilot of the reverse-engineered living alien fighter jet could be another Vehicle-keyworded piece. A double-based transporter.
• Shaolin Robot: Just like it sounds. Powers would be named after the I-Ching hexagrams.
• Socialist Red Guardsman: Armored radioactive powerhouse with Pulse Wave and special Poison that could hurt foe AND friend.
• Mother of Champions: She’d be a peanut based duo consisting of her and one or two of said “champions,” with a SP or trait forcing her to take a click every time she clears tokens, representing her superpowered offsprings’ ultra-accelerated lifespans. After KO, she returns to the field a la Clown Prince of Crime from Arkham Asylum.

Let’s make this happen, WizKids and DC. Before the Chinese call in their markers!

________

Marvel: Monet St. Croix

When HeroClix got dirtnapped in 2008, this was the first figure I mourned never getting to see ‘clixed.

(Can you blame me? That’s a fantastic figure. But I digress.)

Also known as “M,” she’s a telepath and telekinetic, but those powers frankly take a back seat to her physical powers of super-strength, flight, invulnerability and insufferable know-it-all arrogance.

Oh, you say the last one isn’t a power? She probably thinks so.

She and Layla “Really DOES know it all” Miller are about the only members of the X-Factor team not to be made, and Monet has been around since “Generation X” (remember them?) so it’s high time this awesome Algerian mutant was made a clix.

__________

Next: Even MORE black people. I’m such a racist.

After spending the first three MONTHS of Heroclixin’s 2012 looking back, it’s time to look ahead to the Top 10 characters I want to see clixed in the future.

Five Marvel. Five DC. No remakes. Here’s the next pair.

DC: Shilo Norman, Mister Miracle

We’ve gotten a few renditions of the New God Mister Miracle of New Genesis/Apokolips, several of them quite good. But we’ve never gotten his Earth-born protegé Shilo Norman. Although seemingly a pale shadow of the original, Scott Free, Shilo has shown himself to be his mentor’s equal in his way as the last human link to the Fourth World in both his Seven Soldiers series and as an instrumental part of the last fight against Darkseid in Final Crisis.

I also wouldn’t mind seeing the black Shilo Norman outshine the white Scott Free (at least until the New Gods make their triumphant return to DC and clix). C’mon, you know Scott Free would cheer louder than anyone.

The dial would be escape- and evasion-oriented, with high defense numbers including a Special Power Super Senses that allows immediate movement like WoS Nightcrawler’s. There’d be Smoke Cloud, a bit of armor in Toughness (he wore a bulletproof vest in Final Crisis) and, most of all, a SP to “Escape the Life Trap” that brings him back from KO after a few turns to represent his ability to thwart the grave itself.

If it seems like it’s overpowered, fret not: offensive powers would be nonexistent beyond maybe some Incap. Damage shouldn’t top 2, attack values would be 9s and 8s. He’d be more like a 100-point tie-up piece with a short dial. But man, I’d play the heck out of it.

___________

Marvel: Rescue

Tony’s girl friday Pepper Potts got her own repulsor-run suit of armor, but with the stipulation that it not be a personalized WMD. Outfitted with powerful electromagnetic and repulsor tech, her suit’s designed to save people — especially the woman inside it — instead of fighting.

So let’s see that: an armor with Defend and powerful defenses but low, low AV and damage. The ability to carry multiple pals out of harm’s way. The curious presence of Battle Fury to keep her from using the suit’s Super Strength to toss rock — and to represent the ability of the suit’s onboard A.I. to handle things regardless of enemy Mind Control.

(I also just want a new suit for my Stark Armory collection.)

_____

The next two on the wish list hail from places that are not America. (And one is a bit of a cheat.)

(But it’s MY list.)

After spending the first three MONTHS of Heroclixin’s 2012 looking back, it’s time to look ahead to the Top 10 characters I want to see clixed in the future.

Five Marvel. Five DC. No remakes.

That’s what I want to say, anyway. But I’ll warn you right now: there will be a few sort-of remakes on my list. But you’ll understand why in the end.

Let’s get started.

5.

DC: Ferro Lad

Actually, I want all the unmade members of the Legion of Super Heroes to take this slot (Blok, Quislet, White Witch, Tyroc, Light Lass, Gates, Shikari, Monstress and about a half-dozen more I can’t recall at the moment) but this perpetually masked, long-ago-slain member of the team is the longest shot and a personal favorite.

Befitting his ability to transform into solid organic iron and his Legion membership (and flight ring), he’d be a fairly inexpensive Invulnerable, Super-Strong flying wildcard, but with a twist via an opening-click Special Power: fellow characters with Super Strength or Telekinesis could use him as a heavy object in battle. I’d also like to see an end-dial SP reflecting the self-sacrificial streak that’s shown up in every version of the character.

___________

On the Marvel side, more heavy metal: Iron Man Stealth Armor.

There have been a lot of versions of Tony Stark’s signature invention made in HeroClix, but this iconic black suit has yet to make an appearance. Being largely undetectable but low on raw power, the Stealth suit would appropriately have a Stealth-and-Energy Shield/Deflection trait but decidedly average numbers and not much in the way of offensive powers. In fact, I’d go so far as to not even give it any keywords to show just HOW invisible and under-the-radar (so to speak) Iron Man’s really trying to be here.