In Your End, Oh!

First off, let me say that this is paraphrased from a post that I did on HCRealms that I didn't realize until after the fact was steeped with innuendo. And if you know the character/HeroClix I'm talking about, it makes it even funnier. For those that are unaware (and if you are, you came here by accident, or you're my Mom), the character I'm talking about in the comic is Megan Fox's character in the new Jonah Hex movie that comes out next weekend.

The character of Lilah is a prostitute and the corresponding HeroClix that comes out in August is based on a figure from one of the earliest sets called the "Con Artist." Now HeroClix is a game that's aimed at a demographic where parents wouldn't like to see a figure named "Prostitute" but that's basically what the Con Artists looked like, and that's what some Clixers call them.

Anyway, if you didn't catch the innuendo the first time around, go back and re-read the comic with all that in mind. It's much funnier when you look at it completely wrong. Anyway, all that being said, I'm really looking forward to the Jonah Hex movie, although I doubt I'll catch it in a first-run theater. Much like Wolverine last year, I'll probably wait for it to hit the cheap seats and go with one of my guy friends.

Ring of Emotions

It's kind of ironic how these comics come about sometimes. I had the idea for this one the other day, because I've really been into the previews that WizKids has been doing for this Starter Set. The sculpts look fantastic! And the one dial that we've seen over on icv2, for The Flash looks great too. I am very excited about this set, and I can't believe how long we're going to have to wait to get our hands on it. There was also a call to action by WizKids to get word out about this set. I think it's cool that they're trying to mobilize the fan base to get the word out, and this is a heck of a product to do it with.

Unfortunately the previews for the starter are so good that they're really overshadowing The Brave and the Bold which is an expansion set that comes out a month before the starter. Part of the reason I'm personally not all that excited about that set has partly to do with disliking the Duo mechanic and it's application to some figures. Particularly ones that are vastly different in power sets. However, only time will tell if the set will actually be good or not. I'm hoping they preview the new Alter Ego mechanic soon, because that'll be another make or break mechanic seeing as it will contribute to 10 slots in the set (I think). I'm sure I'll post more on that as more information becomes available.

With that, here are the images of the awesome sculpts from the upcoming Blackest Night starter, releasing on May 12, 2010.

HoT God Box

Disclaimer: Those that aren't into HeroClix, or at the very least collectible gaming of some sort will likely be very lost trying to read the blog ahead. However, trying to make it accessible to everyone would require it to be overly explained and ultimately alienate the target audience for this blog.

And now that, that's out of the way, I didn't actually pull that configuration from a booster, however, that COULD be a configuration under the current model since it has 1 common, 2 uncommons, 1 rare, and 1 super rare. That said, I'm ecstatic that HeroClix is back! And I'm even more ecstatic that as an early Christmas present my awesome wife and daughter got me a case of Hammer of Thor.

And what a case it was! I didn't get a God Box, or a chase for that matter. But I did pull 6 Super Rares and all but 1 of the CUR set. The only one I'm missing is Air-Walker (which I was bummed about) but hopefully I'll have him by the end of next week. Then I just have 6 SRs to track down, and I've got what matters out of the set.

So back to the topic at hand, God Boxes. Originally when I heard about it, I thought it was a neat idea, when I didn't know that there was a Chase figure in with the Super Rares, and before I fully realized the rest of the implications on the brick/case distribution of SRs. Others on HCRealms have mentioned plenty of better ideas on implementation of the God Boxes if NECA decides to try it again in the future. I'm skeptical they will. It's ultimately been more polarizing then it needs to be. That said, I'm hoping people don't chastise NECA for something that could be a legacy idea from Topps.

HoT Conspiracy Theory

And yes, the punchline for today's comic is entirely true. I probably have committed why too many minutes to trying to prove that with the new WizKids release, that we've been waiting for, for a year, that they've decided to finally move from the L shaped dial slots to the "pie-shaped" ones that allow them to have more then one power in a particular slot without having to actually give the character a special power to accomplish said task.

Personally I'm hoping that they are moving to these dials which will give them a little more design freedom, while bringing the dials closer to running straight from the PAC again. It's a smart move, and I think most players will catch on to the change with little to no learning curve. And lets face it, the less we need white blocks on the dial, the better.

I LOVE special powers, but they were getting a little out of hand. I'd personally like to see HeroClix "go back to basics" more anyway. I think Feats have run there course, and I personally like the feel of event dials over Battlefield Conditions, but I know I'm also in the minority on that one.

Ultimately, I love where NECA seems to be going with the product, and I'm interested to see how it grows and changes over the next year.