No. 6

Nova Corps Officer [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie 004]

I like the Nova Corps. But it’s got a problem or two.

The lower-point members get to use Defend to act as decent meat shields for bigger Novas. They also get to power-action off tokens from Nova Prime. The Centurion carries fellow Novas, can get a +1 damage from adjacent Novas and pushes right to Enhancement.

There’s a LOT of adjacency going on with Nova Corps.

But…

There’s also a lot of Ranged Combat Expert going on, which means a lot of stationary shots. And with the mediocre AVs in the Corps, they REEEEALLY need the boost from their errata’d Share the Worldmind +1 RCE:

“The first sentence of Share Through the Worldmind reads: “Friendly characters with the Nova Corps keyword can use Ranged Combat Expert, but using it modifies their damage value or attack value only by +1.”

Also lacking Willpower means it’s hard to get clear lines of fire to enemies.

Nova Corps Officer addresses all this by granting Improved Targeting: Friendly Characters to the Nova Corps via his STW trait. And just like that, the team’s playability leapt a fair amount…so much so that one wants to just keep him safe in the starting area.

But that’s a bad idea, because he brings a little more much-needed Running Shot (remember that mobility issue) and Enhancement and Police TA to help those ranged shots hit. That last bit really works well with the trait.

I’ll never, never, never play a Nova Corps team without this Officer.

But…

So much of the Nova Corps is retired, and the AVs are weak by modern standards. So it’s not a team I break out very often at all.

Still…

I’ll never, never, never play a Nova Corps team without this Officer. And I’ll run the team again as soon as I can get an Irani Rael to see how SHE works with the keyword.

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No. 5

   

[tie]

Wildfire [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 021]
Timber Wolf [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 013]
Chameleon Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 031]
Triplicate Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 206]

 

“A FOUR-WAY TIE, Heroclixin’? You’re not even trying.”

I know, I know. (You’ll note that we didn’t call it the “Top Ten” this year.) But really, I did try to only have one Legionnaire on the Top Ten. In an earlier draft, Triplicate Girl was the lone Legionnaire on the entire list, being the most obviously F.U.N. Legion fig and carving a slot early in the year.

A funny thing happened, though. As the year wore on and I considered Legion teams, other figures began to clamor for a spot on EVERY Legion team I built. And these names consistently rose to the top as must-plays on Legion teams — even MORE so than Triplicate Girl, the original fave from the set! In the end, these others, which individually weren’t enough to carve solo spots on the list, collectively dragged Trip into this catch-all slot.

So why do I want to run them whenever I want to field a Legion team…but don’t?

Wildfire is the first high-point Legion member I think about running on a LSH team. He fits their futuristic flavor better than the more teamworthy Heroclixin’ Top Ten piece Superboy. He’s also nigh-unkillable with not one, but TWO “stop” clicks that double as armor and SP Regen. BUT…he’s the most expensive Legionnaire (180) in Modern Age to not have Indomitable. He’s also wasting some points if not paired with a Dawnstar.

Timber Wolf, OTOH, is Indomitable and awesome. Love his late dial Regen that works automatically when he’s fighting.  BUT…he’s a little soft and a little short-lived and a tad pricey (97).

Chameleon Girl’s size and shape shiftings make her a nice little swissblade that I’m always a little sad I can’t fit onto every Legion force. BUT…I don’t like running her without her man, Colossal Boy, who missed making the list. Her 115 cost and his 150-plus make it a problem.

Triplicate Girl: Such a neat bystander mechanic. Her single-digit AV keeps her from being too unFriendly under normal circumstances. BUT…it’s also her big problem. I need more for 87 points without having to add stupid resources…or her terrible 71-point sister from the main set who’s made a fair degree less terrible when played along with her.

And, of course, because the Legion is sooooo huge, I never get the chance to run as many as I’d really like, so I often don’t run any at all.

Fine, then. So when will they hit the board again?

Outside of the Legion, who knows? Because as many ties as the No. 5 slot wound up having, I could have easily added Shadow Lass, the aforementioned Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy [SLOSH 201] and Sensor Girl — and almost did. Even as I’m writing this, I want to sneak on Polar Boy and XS and Gates, too…I better stop now.

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Next: A character that appeared on one of the other Top Ten lists.