Little things hitting each other

NOW UPDATED, BELOW

Either I or Mike Norton have almost certainly used that tagline prior to this, but what the hell.

Yesterday saw a small cardboard receptable arrive in the mail from WizKids. I was at work at the time, but SuperGirlfriend confided to me on the phone that she was pretty sure it was my Krypto, mostly because the edge of the mailing box was taped shut with a seal that had 'KRYPTO' printed on it. I had her open it up and sure enough, it was The Last Dog Of Doomed Krypton, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, anyway.

I'm delighted to have a Krypto, although I admit I'm still baffled as to why he gets Psychic Blast on his final click of life. Still, it's wonderful to have a click of Superboy's canine companion. For 100 points he's a decent beat stick; 10 movement with Charge, 9 attack with Super Strength, 17 Defense with Invulnerability, and 3 damage give him a reasonable chance of getting over to an opponent, nailing it for some damage, and not getting hit back, assuming he's not fighting too far out of his league.

Give him a Large Object feat card so he can trade off the damage done with an object for a plus to his attack, and let him seize up a dumpster or something similarly large and heavy in his mighty jaws to use as a weapon, and he can get that attack up to an 11, which is pretty formidable. Charge adds 1 to damage done by successful Close Combat attacks under my House Rules, so with that Large Object in his jaws, Krypto has a pretty good chance of getting to someone and laying 5 solid clicks of damage on them early in the game... which is enough, even under my House Rule augmented definitions of Invulnerability and Impervious, to leave a mark on even the most imperturbable of potential opponents.

Krypto holds his number pretty well down the length of his 7 click dial, including a quick pop up to a 10 attack (still with Super Strength) and a 17 defense (now only with Toughness) on his fifth click. He's only doing 2 damage at that point, but he's picked up Flurry, so he can hammer targets twice in close combat at that point, and with a 10 attack, he'll most likely hit. At that point, he's probably best tasked to clearing the board of more weenie-ish targets like... well... like this other fellow I picked up yesterday...


Dr. Psycho. Rescued from obscurity as an old time, long unused Wonder Woman villain by last year's Villains United mini series, this is a piece already largely held in contempt by most HeroClix power gamers. These mix n' match team builders, who care nothing for what the plastic fig represents but only about what powers it brings to the table, will whine and bluster for hours about how Dr. Psycho, at 100 points, is far less usable than the prison-bitch Professor Xavier from the Fantastic Forces, who gets the same number of targets and much the same powers (Mind Control and Incapacitate) as Dr. Psycho, with a higher Attack Value, for only 99 points.


One could argue with them -- Professor Punk has a somewhat lower speed, a vastly lower defense, and only one click of Mastermind to shrug damage off on to a minion with, while Dr. Psycho has a full four clicks, plus he can do a click of damage to someone if they're, you know, a wimp. But none of that is the point. I only play Professor X in teams where he can sensibly show up; those teams are not likely to welcome a psychotic midget from across the dimensional divide. Dr. Psycho, on the other hand, completes my Society Board of Directors team, and I'm anxious to play them.

Oddly, while Collateral Damage gave us a plug in TA for The Society (Lex Luthor's Modern Age version of the Silver Age Secret Society of Supervillains), it requires an Injustice League TA already be on the fig's base to work. None of the Society Board of Directors figs we have already -- Lex himself, Deathstroke, Talia, Black Adam, and Dr. Psycho -- have Injustice League TAs on them, which makes the Society TA pretty useless. In fact, the only TAs in the whole group are Lex Luthor's Superman Enemies alliance, and Dr. Psycho's Calculator TA. This will, at least, let Dr. Psycho stand next to Luthor and get some Outwit, which the group could certainly use, but all told, the Society TA seems like a big bust to me.

I want to note that I certainly did not get Dr. Psycho out of a booster; I paid $10 for the ugly little gnome, after finding him in the Great Escape's singles box. Buying boosters since Armor Wars and Collateral Damage came out has largely been a waste of time; you rarely get much of anything when you only buy a couple of boosters at a shot. In fact, with Collateral Damage, it seems to have become so easy to cherry pick the boosters with the Uniques out of the cases, that buying whatever a store decides to put out as single boosters on their shelves is pretty much an exercise in futility. I've probably bought close to a case by now of CD, between my initial brick and the boosters I've bought since, and I've yet to see even a single OMAC, much less any of the higher numbered chase figures that continue to elude me. Armor Wars is much the same. And because these figures are so difficult for everyone to find, you can't trade for them or get them out of singles cases, either. It's truly aggravating. Apparently, the only way I'm going to be able to get a Veteran Ultron, a Veteran Captain America, or any of the many many Vets I still need from CD, is to buy a frickin' case -- at which point, I'll be swimming in unwanted extra figs of the lower numbered, more common REVs.

And, you know, it's not like the $400 I need to order two different cases of clix is exactly dropping from trees around here these days, either...

Ah, well. Billions of other people have much worse problems.

UPDATE: I GOT OMACS!!!

SuperGirlfriend has been scheming something to put in my Easter Basket for a while. Actually, a few things. I knew what one was (a DVD set I've been looking forward to for many years) but all I knew about the other was that it was most likely a HeroClix of some sort. I kinda figured it must be the Reverse Flash, since Mike Norton was selling one at an EBay auction a while back and I wanted it badly.

So today she mentioned she'd accidentally left a package out in the car, and I better not go snooping around after she brought it in or I'd ruin the surprise. I, being all mature and manly and shit, whined like a 7 year old about having to wait, and she said if I wanted it now I could have it, but I'd have less in my Easter Basket, and what the hell, I'm an 'instant gratification takes too long' kinda fella anyway, and besides, all I need in my Easter Basket is a great deal of chocolate. So I said "gimme gimme gimme" and she gave me gave me gave me... a small cardboard box that I know from long experience is the sort HeroClix come in the mail in, and when I opened it, I found -- a complete REV of OMACs!!!!

Whoo Hoo!

I have the finest girlfriend of all time. AND a Krypto. AND a Dr. Psycho. AND a complete REV of OMACs!!!!