HeroClix 10th Anniversary: Identity Crisis

Now that the HeroClix 10^th Anniversary sets are upon us we have a new influx of popular characters in various guises. Many are highlights of past dials and/or past themes. They’re all spruced up with spiffy new sculpts and a lot of cool things are going on here. I haven’t gotten to try out the Battlefield Promotion mechanic yet, but you can bet it’s on my short list of things to do.

That being said, I think one of the unintentional callbacks from this set are poorly assigned keywords and team abilities (or sculpts that don’t reflect the dial that they’re attached to). This would appear to be a direct result of basing “prime world” versions on alternate reality versions of the characters, and just not making the necessary adjustments to match with the sculpt or vice-versa.

We’ll start on the DC side of things since their infractions aren’t nearly as bad. The first is the Earth 2 version of Catwoman which was based on the Halle Berry movie version of the character. I don’t believe the dial is that odd of an approximation for the classic character, but it is still somewhat of an odd match. Unlike on the Marvel side of things, her keywords are at least well aligned to the character.

The next one we’ll look at is Golden Age Lex Luthor who’s dial is based on the Cosmic Justice “Rock of Ages” version of the character. Again, the dial isn’t that out of sorts for the character. However, both the keywords and named powers suggest it’s still the Rock of Ages version of the character, instead of the earlier version that the sculpt is supposed to reflect.

The last one we’ll look at on the DC side of things is Superman, who is based on the Kingdom Come version of the character from Unleashed. It’s a great dial to base any Superman on, and honestly the Hypertime team ability doesn’t even seem all that out of place on a Superman character. However, like Lex, but the keywords and the named powers suggest that this is still KC Supes even though the sculpt is clearly a modern day version of the character.

Now on to Marvel where the real “fun” (translated: inconsistencies) begins. Apparently, WizKids really likes the Ultimates set, with Captain America, Hulk, and Thor all being based off of their Ultimates versions. However, how they were updated to fit in as 616 Avengers are wildly inconsistent. Hulk got both the Avengers keyword and team ability (which makes sense). Cap and Thor both translated their Ultimates team abilities into the newer flasher version, the Avengers Initiative give out to the movie Avengers (which makes little to no sense). Cap at least got the Avengers keyword even though the sculpt looks like a version of WWII Cap (from the Ultimates line) sporting that green Army helmet. Meanwhile Thor gets a classic 616 sculpt and scores neither the Asgardian nor Avengers keyword, and keeps the Celebrity keyword which also seems an odd fit.

Next we’ll look at Weapon X, who is based on the brown suit version of Wolverine from Sinister. This for the most part makes sense. So why add him to the list? His name and sculpt are Weapon X, yet he doesn’t get the Weapon X keyword even though his Skrull version does!!! Are you kidding me?

Then we have Magneto based on his House of M version from Armor Wars, but sculpted in his classic New Mutants uniform. This version has the Brotherhood team ability like the figure he’s based on, and gains the Acolytes, Brotherhood, and X-Men keywords. Unfortunately, unlike his promoted version he does not have the New Mutants keyword, which would make the most sense for this version of the character.

Ultimately, none of these are HUGE issues, but they do seem like careless oversights in an otherwise cool set. Personally, I even like the Skrulls and Black Lanterns. I just hope I don’t have too much trouble tracking them down.