Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Take the box! Take the box!

A tip o' the ancient katana to Mike Norton, who, in a flashback to bleaker times when all I had to keep me sane was packages from my friends, sent me a box o' clix last week which showed up yesterday.

Not being as organized as Tigerlike Tony Collett, I didn't record each individual figure as it came out of the box, and as they're all now distributed on various shelves, I have to rely on treacherous middle aged memory, a weak reed indeed. Nonetheless, if I cudgel my wits enough, they reluctantly yield the data that within this latest box of stuff from Sinister, there was (doubtless among others I won't remember) --

a rookie Daredevil, with the cool red and yellow costume -- I'm thinking of snapping the fig & cross off the dial, then separating the fig from the cross and gluing it back on to the dial, as DD's losing his mind and reverting to the Catholic faith of his youth has been one of my least favorite character developments of the Modern Age of Comics

a rookie Spider-Man, in the not terribly cool black costume, but this particular REV of Spidey has a very good dial, so I'm okay with having some

a rookie and Experienced Mockingbird, to buttress my SHIELD forces and fill out my original West Coast Avengers roster

an Experienced Hydro-Man, filling in the REV for me

a rookie Deathlok, the first of any sort of Deathlok I've seen

An Experienced Falcon, which is an improvement on the rookie I had in my Avengers line up prior to the box arriving, although I still very much doubt any power in heaven or Earth will ever move me to include Sam the Sham in any conceivable team roster

An Experienced Nighthawk, which goes into my Defenders roster for now until I get the Vet Version with the actual TA, and nicely replaces the rookie, which I moved to my DD villains group

an Experienced Jack O'Lantern, about whom I know nothing, but what the hell

a rookie Wingless Wizard, the only one of the REV with multiple ranged targets -- now if only Seth had seen fit to give him a usable attack value, instead of defining him largely as a flying mannequin

rookie Rhino

Experienced Electro - like the rookie Rhino, a wondefully sculpted representation of the character's Silver Age version, and a fig I'm very pleased to have

a rookie Valkyrie

and, as I say, probably a few more I can't recall right now

I should note, while I'm noting, that in recent days or weeks I've also acquired --

a Morgana le Fay Unique (not a Sinister piece, just one I picked up from the singles bin at Great Escape -- her stats kinda suck, but she's a triple Mind Controller with Shape Shift, and under my House Rules, that combination has potential)

The Armor Wars Mystique

Vet Kraven (Sinister)
Vet Mary Marvel
Vet Geo Force
Vet Wizard

Unique Ka-Zar
Unique Maximus

Experienced Speed Demon
SHIELD Agent (the jet packed flying Veteran of Sinister's SHIELD fodder REV)

This means that to date, out of the 10 standard Uniques from Sinister, I've gotten my hands on 6 -- Ka-Zar, Baron Strucker, Maximus, the Ultimates Nick Fury, Wolverine, and Forge. The first three I'm delighted to have (although Ka-Zar, like Adam Strange and Jonah Hex, baffles me as to what group I should display him with on my shelves); the last three I've traded. This leaves only Black Bolt, Purple-Man, and Stilt-Man left on my want list out of the Uniques in the set, and, well, any number of Vets still to pick up... and as Mike Norton has noted on his own blog, since WK changed their distribution around, the Vets are often harder to get hold of than the Uniques. (Took me forever to get a Vet Captain America and Ultron from ARMOR WARS; I finally had to offer an extra Krypto before I could get anyone out there to even break cover enough that they'd admit they HAD spares... the shops NEVER had those figs, and if they had, they wanted $15 to $20 each for them.)

It's always nice, when you're still early enough in acquiring figs from a new expansion that every booster you open holds something you haven't seen before.

So I thank Mike Norton greatly for his generosity, and wish there was something I could do in return. Well... I'll think of something...

2 comments:

  1. Nothing, really. I was mostly concerned that what you might imagine was in the box was more special than the extras I pulled together, so that it was going to be a disappointment.

    The assortment (as with those for Tony) was hastily pulled together with the intention of dropping them on both of you the Saturday of the Superman Returns weekend get-together, but it wasn't to be.

    Morgan Le Fay, yeah, that's a solid piece especially since the rules change for Shape Change. She'
    s definitely one I want to put on a team of female powerhouses with that 12 Range and 3 targets. I't difficult for me to think of that set (Critical Mass) having come out late in 2003.

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  2. I have a hard time calling anything with a top attack value of 9 'a solid piece'. However, since under my House Rules the Shape Change power has an offensive function as well as a defensive one (roll a d6 for each attack, on a 5-6 target opponent reduces their defense value to 0). With a 1/3 chance that any enemy is going think Morgana is a harmless fluffy-bunny until she gets up close enough to throw her whammy, I find the piece worth playing. Otherwise, well, I'd want to team her with the Enchantress at the very least, so I could get her attack up to a 10. In fact, that's not a bad idea...

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