So after looking at how my favorites improved (or don’t) with the 2021 rules overhaul, here’s a new look at some pieces — now retired but still playable in Silver Age — that Heroclixin’ panned in the past.
We’ll start with 2020’s trash.
Dr. Traci Simmons (Justice League Unlimited 024) 20 points
screenshot from Clixnexus.com
She still has to get too close to use her trait to nerf enemy fliers and that little 3-click dial won’t live long. Worse, Perplex isn’t quite as useful as before, and she’s not doing enough to get any use out of her Willpower, either. So she’s EVEN WORSE
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Dr. Emil Hamilton (Justice League Unlimited 023) 25 points
screenshot from Clixnexus.com
He rates a bit higher now that generic themed teams are a better play and Empower is a more important power. SOMEWHAT BETTER
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Aaron Davis (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 017) 30 points
screenshot from Clixnexus.com
He’s still just 30 points of Perplex that opponents can even more safely ignore. He can’t even push himself to his Secret ID. Unless you can force the opponent to not ignore him, he’s EVEN WORSE.
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Hawkgirl (Justice League Unlimited 100) 50 points
screenshot from Clixnexus.com
Still bad for the -1 DV her special power deals to allies with no reward for this risk. Steal Energy’s healing puts you back on that click 1 over and over again — IF she’s doing well. EVEN WORSE because Super Strength is worse (now that knock back damage is history).
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Iron Man (Avengers Vs Masters of Evil Battlegrounds 102b) 75 points
Just five clicks for 75 points? I mean, 11AV Penetrating Blast with Prob isn’t bad, but this remains an Iron Man with no armor on its top clicks that can get one-shot (thanks to the missing STOP power seen on the front of his card). But he gets A LITTLE BETTER with those three clicks of Ranged Combat Expert boosting his attack and damage for shooting.
———
Superman (Justice League Unlimited 001) 100 points
screenshot from Clixnexus.com
So the no Indomitable aspect is no longer a problem, and his ending Willpower could actually be beneficial. A LITTLE BETTER but still bad.
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Singularity (Captain America and the Avengers ) 100 points
Screenshot from HCRealms.com
Her points are still a waste for no move+attack ability until well into her dial when she’s lost her armor, but Power Cosmic Willpower might be enough to make up for the weakness sometimes. It’s too bad the nerfing of Pulse Wave causes a mid-dial sag in her potential even as the Hypersonic + Penetrating Blast combo makes for an end-dial spike. BETTER though still mediocre.
———
Zeke Stane (Captain America and the Avengers 029) 100 points
Screenshot from HCRealms.com
Pushing is no longer a problem, though that means he can’t get to his SPs at will. (Perplex isn’t as good on him anyway.) Once he’s in middial, though, he’s got a lot he can do — attacking with two tokens, FREE drop of an action token, or Willpower. MARKEDLY BETTER.
———
Static (Justice League Unlimited 043) 100 points
Screenshot from HCRealms.com
He was a mess before because TK on a 100-point piece was not a good value in build or action efficiency — and that’s worse now that the power doesn’t attack. But not having to worry about pushing damage to capitalize on his debris trait, and being able to Chain Lightning with close attacks — or triple target Precision Strike — he’s MARKEDLY BETTER if still not great.
———
Martian Manhunter (WizKids M19-004) 120 points
Screenshot from HCRealms.com
- At the beginning of each turn, he’s takes a click if there’s any Choco on the board. So he’s on click 2 ALREADY. That doesn’t change.
- He MIGHT heal 2 clicks if he can pick one up (moving) or hits an enemy holding one (likely via HSS), but by then he’s already acted and will take another click of damage on his next turn, so … BACK to Click 2. Also the same
- He can’t use range because he’s got Battle Fury which means he’ll have to venture deep in enemy territory to get Chocos. Same.
- He doesn’t even have WILLPOWER to help keep himself going. Now here things improve. He could stay very active in a non-pushing game to at least stay on click 2 more often. Still…
- There are 5 of these Chocos out there, which means 5 straight rounds of MM not being able to use his own Click 1 on his own turn. Ugh.
- He’ll be taking fire while trying to get Chocos. Uggh.
- Sometimes stuck with two tokens, having pushed, while taking fire AND the unavoidable Choco click. Ugggh.
- The enemy can ensure there’s ALWAYS a Choco out there even after the initial five are gone. Uggggh.
- His stats are mediocre without the Choco bonus.
screenshot from Clixnexus.com
Top Ten WORST HeroClix of 2019?
Hydra 011 [Earth X 011] 25 points
THEN: Taylor gave me an argument on this one because he loves Incapacitate and I …….. do not. But this Hydra chick ranks among the worst because she’s so much less effective than her Hydra 010 counterpart.
NOW: Incap is worse than ever and Plasticity is still a bad pairing with RCE. But the Willpower does improve her, so … MARGINALLY BETTER
———
Spiders Man [Earth X 013] 30 points
THEN: I rather like the SP. It’s half of what Incapacitate SHOULD be. But that short range and low DV and too-brief life are all problematic.
NOW: Not being able to push to the better second click might outweigh the benefit of no pushing damage. He’s unlikely to see any of his Perplex clicks and even late Willpower may not be enough. PRETTY MUCH JUST AS BAD
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Winter Soldier [Avengers Black Panther Illuminati 016] 45 points
THEN: While his opening stats are good, him being vulnerable to Mind Control from being based is doubly bad due to him being a range piece. Especially with the chance of it being permanent. He’s just not good enough with just 6 range to make running him worth the risk.
NOW: The midlife Willpower and RCE could defray a little of that drawback, but he’s still PRETTY MUCH JUST AS BAD
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Spider-Girl [Earth X 001] 50 points
THEN: I hate Incap in general, and in particular when the range isn’t great and the Running Shot is missing. Maybe if she had Willpower to make up for the lack of first-strike capability, she wouldn’t be on this list, because the AV and 2x targets is what you want in an Incap piece and CCE thrives on pushability.
NOW: Her CCE makes her MARKEDLY BETTER even though Incap isn’t as good. But the two combo to make the Incap more effective as a melee option, especially with multiple targets.
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Starfleet Admiral [Star Trek To Boldly Go 007] 50 points
THEN: Outwit puts her too close to the action while using Mastermind frankly hurts more valuable figs than her. Sure, she has Leadership-plus, but the conditions attached to it makes it not much of a bonus.
NOW: She will almost never see her second click with the Prob (being unable to push) and likely end up on the less-useful Perplex. MARKEDLY WORSE.
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Jessica Cruz [Rebirth 056] 65 points
THEN: No move+attack and just 6 range both mean she’s just a taxi (and her “Leading the Charge” trait is likely wasted). But the no-cost TK is likely hindered by the fact that her lines of fire are blocked by her many passengers. Plus she’ll need to set up objects in prescient fashion to be able to use them well.
NOW: That TK is no good for attacks at all, making it basically impossible to Lead the Charge. Add to that her back-dial RCE she might not see because she’s a soft but ignorable target, and you have a MARKEDLY WORSE piece.
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Bumblebee [Rebirth 039] 75 / 50 points
THEN: She just doesn’t mesh together. Her SP offers a nice HSS option, but drops her damage to 2. Also, her 2 targets don’t work with Precision Strike and 10 AV is a little underwhelming at her full cost. So what about her 50 point line? Her AV jumps to 11 and she swaps the Precision for Incap, but her damage drops to 2 which means her HSS is wasted on the -1 damage penalty. Outwit isn’t on either top click.
NOW: Precision and 2 targets play VERY well together, HSS works with Incap, as does her end-dial RCE (again, with multi-bolts). All this and no pushing? She’s MARKEDLY BETTER.
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Deathstroke [Rebirth 017] 75 points
Incap works well with his Defiance trait that lets him maybe heal after hitting. What’s wrong is that his first and second clicks should be swapped to make him actually useful for his cost.
What was true THEN is truer NOW: He can’t even push to the better click. At least his late CCE is better. BUT STILL BAD
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Maximus [Avengers Black Panther Illuminati 060] 90 points
THEN: His plusses (mass Perplex of friendlies if you build same-name teams, incapacitating Mind Control, TK) are dragged down by his non-optional trait that has a 33% chance of Battle Fury-ing him (so much for that 6 range), or keeping him from costed actions.
NOW: That 3-4 result might be so much worse going forward. And both TK and Pulse Wave took a hit. So he’s WORSE going forward.
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Professor X [X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga 035] 100 points
THEN: I want to like him (ranged Leadership and being able to shoot/Outwit through walls is good) but losing his Influence upon clearing hurts him too much in early game and his dial’s so short.
NOW: His ability to self-clear is a double-edge sword, as he loses Influence! But being able to shift his Influence around if he frees up tokens OR opt to use old-school Colossal Stamina to press his Influence —and— manipulate his dial in a way most characters can’t anymore could be interesting. STILL BAD but maybe not worse.
———
But how about 2018’s worst?
No. 10
Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy [Avengers Infinity 016]
THEN: Not terrible, just not good for the cost at any point. You’re paying nearly 300 for base 3 damage, needing Blades/Claws/Fangs to get them to pull their considerable weight in a fight? Or worse, only 3 clicks of 3 damage at 175? Or worse, a whole dial of 2 damage at 75 points?
NOW: BETTER because of CCE working with more stuff, even though the above problems are still problems
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No. 9 (tie)
Green Lantern [Batman The Animated Series 039]
THEN:
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GREEN LANTERN POWER RING: FREE: Choose one: [Improved Targeting: Destroy Blocking, Close Combat Expert, Ranged Combat Expert, Giant Reach: 3, -or- Barrier. Green Lantern can use the chosen power or ability until your next turn. |
Looks good, right? Until you realize he — a GREEN LANTERN! — lacks the Willpower to actually leverage it. Nice to bolster his 10 AV with RCE or CCE but having to push off his 3 damage to then use, say, Barrier next turn is poor. And when pushed, the FREE action is totally useless as all five options require costed actions. Then his back half is 9 AV and 2 damage, requiring self-Perplex for middling results.
NOW: The pushing issue is a non-concern, making him WAY BETTER on his top dial. No longer a worst fig!
Speed Demon [WizKids M17-017]
Hypersonic Speed and 2 damage is not the worst, given his trait:
TURBO-CHARGED THIEF: When Speed Demon hits an opposing character and his attack total is at least 3 higher than that character’s defense value, anything equipped to that character that began the game as an object is KO’d.
Nice idea. Too bad his AV is just 10 so good luck rolling that 20 or higher to jank Exospex or whatever from anyone with 17+ DV.
Too bad it can’t also work on built-in equipment like Mjolnir on Thor [The Mighty Thor 061].
Too bad there might not even BE equipment in a given game, meaning you just wasted 65 points on this weak-HSS fool.
NOW: Nothing improved, really. JUST AS BAD, STILL A WORST FIG
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No. 8
Vision [Avengers Infinity Fast Forces 005]
The Impervious-lite combo of Invulnerability + trait Super Senses is killed by a starting 10 AV that drops to 8, then 7. 125 points for this? Nope. This vision is blurred or something.
NOW: Despite some late-dial CCE to aid his punching some, he’s still JUST AS BAD.
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No. 7
Catwoman [Batman The Animated Series 013]
Cheap Stealth Perplex that goes to Flurry Blades is OK. But she’s only 4 clicks long and then her “Playing Both Sides” trait comes up and suddenly you’re fighting her cheap Stealth Perplex and Flurry Blades. She’s just awkward to use, which seems the case for nearly every Catwoman ever made. (Might be a future article in that)
NOW: Perplex is less useful so SHE is less useful. WORSE.
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No. 6
Magik [X-Men Xavier’s School 038]
THEN: So the point of playing her is to turn her into her Super Rare form. She does it by being a taxi and by damaging foes. But…
She’s a taxi so completely inferior to fellow New Mutant Lila Cheney [WizKids M17-015], with only Passengers: 3 and 11 Speed or lower, that WHY WOULD YOU EVER. She also can’t Carry fliers. No Willpower and 10 AV or lower and just 2 damage (so that her Blades has a strong chance at failure to damage) make it very difficult to raise the Corrupted tokens to MAYBE transform into her much better Darkchylde form.
But is Darkchylde actually better? Assuming you got the 2 or more Corrupted tokens needed to MAYBE transform (it’s a one-time d6 roll that requires a final result of 8 or better), she goes to click 5: That’s just 9 AV and Super Senses and Prob. She’s an easy kill despite Mystics and 17 DV which could just as easily surrender an additional 40 points.
NOW: She can build up Corruption much more efficiently as a taxi — now carrying fliers! — even if her fighting ability is still poor. Her other form is just as bad on click #5 as ever, though. Marginally BETTER … but still not really.
No. 5
Lock-Up [Batman The Animated Series 024]
THEN: A thoroughly confused design. He’s a Barrier piece with 0 range and trait Plasticity. So wait: Is he playing “keep away” or “stay here?”
And look at that Barrier SP.
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With only 4 range on his Barrier, that speed penalty is almost totally useless. He also has Incapacitate along with Exploit Weakness. Um, I know which one of those powers I’m using in close. So why even give him Incap? All it and that SP do is inflate his cost, which even at just 40, is too much.
NOW: Barrier now having a minimum 6 range makes his SP much better against Charge pieces. Incap being worse now makes it an even bigger point sink. And Plasticity got a bit of a nerf. STILL BAD
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No. 4
Black Widow [Avengers Infinity 003]
THEN: Stealthy Perplex is good if you can do something more. She does NOTHING more. So you have to push her. But then you lose the Perplex and she’s a Mind Control medic. So not useless, but not great. And so she’s not great. At all.
NOW: Perplex is way less useful than it was, and she can’t push to another role. She’s possibly now the worst figure of 2018. Maybe of all of Silver Age!
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No. 3
Starfox [Avengers Infinity 027]
THEN: No armor. No mobility. Poor damage and AV, needing his trait to punch up at pricier foes, WHO WILL JUST KILL HIM AND TAKE THOSE POINTS. Mind Control is trash without great AV.
NOW: Being able to use both Force Blast and Mind Control at better range improves him considerably. STILL BAD but no longer maybe Top 5 bad
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No. 2
Artie [X-Men Xavier’s School 008]
THEN: 9 AV and 1 damage Shape Change means all he’s good for is Mind Control. 4 range Mind Control for 25 points. (If you’re going to pay that price, use the X-Student for a MC with a real chance of hitting). He’s junk. Not even worth running as an ID character — for FREE
NOW: Mind Control is markedly improved, so he’s SLIGHTLY BETTER.
———
No. 1
Professor X, Dreamer [X-Men Xavier’s School 049]
THEN: Title Characters usually have powerful effects and long dials. He has neither. For +1 Plot Points, “Violence is Not the Answer” gives a DV boost to the team, but Prof needs to attack or take self-damage. With 7 range, 10 AV and 2 damage, he’s not good at it (though you can use his out-of-character TK to hurl a heavy). -4 Plot Points grants “Freeze Motor Functions” to immobilize and -2 DV a target in range/LoF. But you never want to use it because the -9 “Dream of Peaceful Coexistence” is the real one … that you can’t use until Turn 8 at the earliest — and that’s if you take the damage every turn he doesn’t have an attack opportunity, which is likely. But by the time he gets it, he’s on his last click and if he dies, it’s wasted. Worse than wasted: the team loses the quasi-armor “Dream” gives AND the enemy gets +1 damage.
And anyway, he’s likely using TK early on. So the chances of the Prof using any of these abilities are low. At 50 points, maybe you could build in X-Men batteries to build him up. But … why?
NOW: He can’t even use TK to attack anymore. Not even the improved Willpower mid-dial helps him And by the time he gets Mind Control, his stats won’t let it be great. WORSE.
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BY THE NUMBERS:
12
are improved
9
are … not
10
are even worse