So here it is…the crud at the bottom of the slop trough. The scum of the sewage runoff. The nasty stuff that grows on that forgotten leftover dish in the back of the fridge.

No. 2

Pepper Potts [Invincible Iron Man 016]
Alter Ego figs are always a bit clunky to field; most of the time, they’re just whiling away rounds, trying push — or get hit — to their transformation clicks. In the meantime, what do you do with them?

In Pepper’s case, nothing. Not unless she’s paired with an Iron Man or Tony Stark, to whom she grants immunity from Mind Control and P/P Blast from 150 points or less. And from whom she gets to switch to AE for free if she’s about to be KO’d next to him.

But by herself? Absolutely useless…until she gets to her AE clicks. Then she’s suddenly a half-decent medic with 14-13 Defend and 7 AV. So…do you use her as a medic, or swap in a Rescue suit and get stuck with a token or two and less healing ability?

She’s called Pepper but she’s not so hot.

BUT…she’s quite the meat shield for an Iron Man or Tony Stark thanks to her trait

No. 1

Mandarin [Iron Man 3 104]
Starting with Stealth, Perplex and Shape Change, Mandarin looks like a stolid supporting piece. But he’s only any good on an A.I.M. team., and only if he’s the beefiest member. When the beefiest member is only leveraging 2 damage and 5 range, all the traited Leadership and Mind Control in the world likely won’t help — especially as his mid-dial Mastermind-only-when-next-to-AIM SP lacks Stealth to guard it. This 100 points is indeed a fraud, only rivaled by his sculptmate…

Mandarin [Iron Man 3 004]
At first he looks so much better, being able to hide within the start zone [via “Terrorist Mastermind” on clicks 1-3] and attack from same [via “Activate the Sleeper Cells”] like certain other figures in years gone by. But the latter’s activated by and through non-free actions by AIM personnel — and, worst of all, it doesn’t even show until click #4 [of six].

His third SP, “Message of Terror,” grants Leadership, Outwit and Perplex along with a super version of the latter two if the Extremis Explosion power ever gets used. Good luck with that: Because he’s stuck in the start zone, until then he’s not going to do much Leading, Outwitting or Perplexing, ever. And even if he self-pushes to mid-dial where he can use his “shoot-from-start-zone” SP, he’s by then lost Message of Terror and only has 8-9AV and 1 damage. 120 points is TWICE as much as this bum is worth.

BUT…well, maybe he can lead an AIM team, maybe? Blegh.

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Next: A dubious bonus round of dishonorable mentions