Mad Mods!

I am thinking of having a new Heroclix custom made and, as I have before, I want to seek your input.

How this works is, the Mad Modder Dale can create any custom Heroclix figure I ask for (for a fee). But I need to figure out an appropriate dial from an existing Heroclix figure that can be "borrowed" to use as the custom's dial. By "appropriate" I mean "has powers" that approximate what the customized character is able and likely to do in the comic books.

Ideally, I can find a dial from a figure different from one of the ones we play with. Since we only play with the DC clix at my house (imagine that!), I'm usually scouring the dials of all the Marvel figures to find appropriate dials to use for customs of DC figures. In fact, a lot of what I know about more modern Marvel characters comes from the research I have to do to understand their Heroclix dials for this research! Thus, my love for DC forces me to learn about Marvel: oh, the Comic Book Irony.

Occasionally, I'll use a dial from a figure of a DC character that we seldom (or never) play because, well, we just don't like the character. For example, "Jinx" is a fairly meaningless character to me, being from the Titans lore that I find tedious; however, the dial of the Veteran Jinx is not a bad approximation of the mystic abilities of the Ocean Master, and so my custom Ocean Master sits on the dial of a Veteran Jinx.

So, in contemplating a custom order, I have to decide:

(A) What character would be cool to have a figure of, but isn't likely to get made by Wizkids (the company that makes Heroclix). For example: yes, it would be cool to have some more Doom Patrol figures, but you know darned well there will be more coming from Wizkids. I prefer only to order customs that I don't expect to see as "real figures" (like, say, my Ace the Bathound custom clix).

(B) What character would fit in well with the kinds of figures we usually play. For example: I'm not the world's biggest fan of Green Arrow, so I'm not highly motivated to ask for a Xeen Arrow custom and the Fourth World characters don't see lots of play at my house, so Kanto's not high on the list for possible customizing. Conversely, I already have TWO Vibe customs and a host of Aquaman characters. You know; the real Aquaman.

(C) Whether there's an appropriate dial to put the custom on. Does no good to have a neat-looking Phantom Stranger custom if there's no dial that would let him do the Phantomically Strange things he usually does. In fact, it's just frustrating.


I have a draft list of ideas but I want at least four more. Please express your opinions (minus any threats of violence) of my list and suggest additions. If you do suggest an additional character to be customized, please, if possible, take (A), (B), and (C) into consideration.

My current favorite candidates are:


Angle Man

A long-time Wonder Woman foe, the Angle Man is the suave ladies' man with the mysterious warping device known as the Angler, who is currently seeing so much play in the pages of Catwoman.

Why?: We like to play "the So and So Family versus their Rogues Gallery" games, and Angle Man would help round out Wonder Woman's foes.

The Dial: Veteran Shaman (Armor Wars #051; 74 points). The point range is right: he's less powerful than WW but still hard for her to beat. The rainbow dial lets him do the full range of Angler tricks: disappearing at will (Phasing), confusing people (Perplex), undercutting others' powers (Outwit), hobbling opponents (Incapacitate), attacking people's brains (Psychic Blast), avoiding getting hit (Deflection).


Dr. Polaris

Currently dead Green Lantern villain and famous loon, the original Master of Magnetism, and a fine blogger to boot.

Why?: There are four different GL Heroclix (Hal, Kyle, John, Kilowog), but their Rogues Gallery is represented only by Sinestro and Fatality (oh, and the Manhunter robots, but they're easier to blow up than Red Tornado). And watching Polaris bounce dumpsters off Hal Jordan's head would be about the finest evening one could have without employing marital aids.

The Dial: Unique Xorn (Ulitmates #085, 94 points). Heh; you were expecting Magneto or the X-Man Polaris, weren't you? I don't want to use Magneto because he always has the power "Leadership", and that just ain't Dr. Polaris. Polaris would work for Dr. Polaris (go figure!) but I want to use Xorn. Xorn's got three things that make him perfect: Telekinesis down the dial (that's the power used to represent magnetically throwing crap around; like dumpsters; at Hal's head); Deflection (magnofolk are always deflecting whatever object or force you aim at them); and HEALING (because Dr. Polaris is a REAL PHYSICIAN; that's too cool to ignore).


Black Hand

Cliche-spouting energy vampire villain recently revamped in the pages of Green Lantern.

Why?: See above on GL villains. Besides, he's really creepy and the only similar villain is Parasite, but he sucks. Literally.

The Dial: Veteran Rogue (Infinity Challenge #123, 85 points). Rogue has "Steal Energy"; Black Hand is an energy vampire. Nuff said.


Jimmy Olsen

Congenital idiot and avatar of all Superman fanboys.

Why?: Jeepers, Mr. Kent! It's your basic constructive dilemma. If Jimmy Olsen survives a game long enough to be helpful, that'll be pretty funny; if he doesn't, that'll be even funnier. Jimmy in game = funny.
The Dial: Rookie Gotham Undercover Cop (Unleashed #007, 14 points). Tough one. Without having one of his freak accidents, Jimmy has no powers (although a strong argument could be made for Perplex, since there has never been a character more perplexing the Jimmy Olsen). But Jimmy does run around alot avoiding getting attacked and hugging his disguise kit so I picked a low point dial with Stealth and Shape Change. Not only will that increase Jimmy's survival chances, it will also give him a function: he'll actually be able to help protect Superman by standing in front of him and hiding him from opponents!


Max Mercury

The Zen master of speed, mentor of Bart Allen, and Really Cool Character Shafted Into Limbo. I never would have learned to love Bart Allen, without Max to complete the comedy duo.

Why?: There's no use making any of Flash's Rogues as customs; all the cool ones will get made as real clicks. But a medium-point-speedster would be a fun addition to the "Flash Family".

The Dial: Rookie Quicksilver (Armor Wars #052, 52 points). He's go the basic "speedster powers" (Hypersonic Speed, Charge, Flurry, and Supersenses), but runs through them more quickly then the Flash does. A figure with this dial serves as a good "mentor" for the Rookie Impulse but has trouble keeping up with the Veteran Kid Flash.


Prof. Radium

One of our recent faves here at the Absorbascon, who's currently skulking about the pages of Battle for Bludhaven getting cursed at by a robot dog. He needs some love.

Why?: The Batfamily is a great source for teams at my house and they always need lots of enemies. Besides.... He's a Golden Age Batman villain. He's a bald scientist with a Van Dyke. He's green. He can bring dogs back from the dead. He's Prof. Radium, for pity's sake!

The Dial: Veteran Asp (Fantastic Forces #027, 39 points). This dial has the necessary Poison, a ranged attack of Blast for his "radium blasts", and the all-imporant first click of Stealth that keeps him from getting klonked by a batarange before he can get his licks in.


Hugo Strange

Creepy mad doctor who is one of Batman's oldest foes, starring recently in Matt Wagner's Batman and the Monster Men.

Why?: Pretty much for the same reasons as Prof. Radium, except the part about being green.

The Dial: Rookie Psylocke (Armor Wars #055, 45 points). Like a lot of Batman villains, Hugo's abilities are more mental than physical, which calls for a very special dial. This dial has boatloads of Perplex, which allows Strange to influence the battle from a safe distance, protected by Deflection. Plus with the "SHIELD" ability to represent his tactical genius, Hugo can improve the attack of any teammate standing beside him -- or standing in front to protect him!

Heroclix Sunday: Making Customs

Many's the DCU character that's been made into a Heroclix figure, despite obscurity. The Chef at the Themysciran Embassy; Roland Desmond; The Weird; Baby Doll; all made~

Many's the DCU character NOT made, however.  Depending on who it is I may just may (im)patiently, if it seems it's a character there will get around to.  But Heroclix has been around 20 years, so I no longer blindly sit in hope that they are still working on getting to get just the right dial for the Human Flame or Joe Coyne.  

The gods help those who help themselves, it's said, so if a character I covet doesn't have a Heroclix figure yet, I will often make one myself. 

Sometimes, it "backfires" and, right after I've gone to the trouble, effort, and expense of making a custom figure for a character (like Wonder Woman's brother, Jason), Wizkids will surprise me by coming out with their own:

Mine

Theirs.

Ah, well.  Usually, though, I am delighted when I create a custom figure. But how?  It's essentially a three-part process: 

1. finding (and acquiring) an appropriate dial to represent the character and its abilities;
2. creating (somehow) an appropriate sculpt to represent the character visually and putting on the chosen dial; and
3. creating a character card to describe the character (especially any special powers or traits, which are not explicated on the dials).

For example: The Wind Pirate (whom Wizkids will NOT be making any time in the foreseeable future, unless he's the villain in the next Aquaman movie), whom we met so memorably in the "Jean Loring's Brain" storyline.

The Wind Pirate's "powers" are the weather-controlling abilities from his Ditko-class spaceship, so I looked for an appropriate "Storm" dial; whenever possible I choose dials from Marvel figures so that the custom figure's dial doesn't duplicate and existing one in my (DC) Heroclix collection.

Sure enough, one was easy to find:

I won't bore you with all the specifics of what the colors etc. mean, but suffice it to say this Storm figure has some key abilities that I thought made it the best choice for representing the Wind Pirate.  Naturally, all Storm figures are going to have abilities to represent weather control. But this one also has the ability to carry several figures along with her (which captures the fact the Wind Pirate has a spaceship) and has a 'leadership' power (which captures the fact that WP is the captain of that spaceship).

Of course, there's no fun having the Wind Pirate on the game board without BOSUN by his side to take abuse, so I looked for a complementary 25 point dial that would make for a 100 point "Wind Pirate & Co." team (or segment of a larger team).  Oddly, I found it in the form of someone named "Lila Cheney":

She has no really aggressive attack powers, but she is designed to move far and carry a lot of other figures; putting Bosun on this dial basically represents the Wind Pirate's ship and crew.  That's perfect, since the Bosun the character has no powers (other than the ability to put up with abuse from his unrequited beloved).

As for creating a sculpt, I could have looked for some appropriately sized pirate figures, but... this is the Wind Pirate and Bosun we're talking about, here!  I felt they deserved something bespoke,  so I designed and ordered some figures from Heroforge.com. It's better for D&Dish figures than comic book characters, but it was all over "pirates".

I was happy to have been able to capture Bosun's "you do realize what we're doing is stupid right?" attitude with this design.  Since I made this figure, Heroforge added scarfs, so an updated version could actually have that jaunty orange neckerchief he's sporting in that panel.

He could use it to wipe away those tears of rejection.

With the dials and sculpts on the way, I used this site to design character cards for each of them:

Making up "flavorful" titles for their powers is the fun part; I'm fond of using appropriate quotes from the characters, if possible.  Usually, I bundle a whole bunch of such cards and get them printed professionally by the nice folks at Print & Play, but I could also just print them out on cardstock at home.

Some of the customs I've made with this process more recently have included:

Nuidis Vulko of Atlantis

Do NOT call him fat.

Aquaman foe The Eel

So stylish!

The Faceless Hunter

They all look alike to me.

and CW Arrow's Wild Dog

*SWOON*

Heroclix Custom of the Week: This One Is For Dean

This is the fourth in my ongoing series about custom figures I make or have made for me for the tabletop game Heroclix.

It's a companion piece for the Giant Robot Bear I shared with you in the second series entry.  This one was made thanks to the special request of commenter "Dean", who asked,

"How about a figure of Green-Hatted Exposition Man, the unsung hero of Apex City? Without him, we'd have no idea what was happening in that sequence!"

An excellent idea, Dean! Why, without functional ancillary characters like Green-Hatted Exposition Man telling us out loud what was happening, blind readers would be completely lost!  Our hats are off to those unnamed men with hats who spend their literary lives wandering around the danger-filled streets of their fictionoplises, waiting for the opportunity to tell us what's going on.  And so I give you:

GREEN-HATTED EXPOSITION MAN

You can imagine him saying whatever you want 
(within the confines of the Comics Code Authority).

For his dial I used the 15-point version of a Jessica Jones clix, mostly because it's cheap, can't do any damage and has a wonderful special power that cancels Stealth on nearby opponents.  And what is Exposition Man for if not for pointing out things like "THERE'S A BAD GUY RIGHT OVER THERE!"?

If you stare too long into the plot, 
the plot stares back into you.

Do you like Green-Hatted Exposition Man? And are there other such nameless characters from standard comic book story tropes that deserve their own custom figures...?

Heroclix Custom of the Week: Snapper Carr

This is latest in my ongoing series featuring custom figures I use in the tabletop miniatures game, Heroclix.  In the last entry, I shared my custom for Apex City's GIANT ROBOT BEAR.  It's not easy to match that for absurdity, unless of course today's figure is...

SNAPPER CARR.

The more you think about the fact that Justice League gave Snapper Carr a flying jalopy,
the more reasonable Lex Luthor seems.

For Snapper Carr I chose a dial that's short (so he can die really quickly) but still annoying (Snapper's defining characteristic).  It's the one-slot dial of some silly concept from Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D., an A.I. monkey named "HENRY".  I'm sure that's an acronym, because Marvel, but I don't care of what (also because Marvel).

This dials gives Snapper 'teleportation', a power he developed after his Justice League days during the "Invasion" crossover.  He has 'super senses', which makes some sense because his hypersensitive observational skills were part of what brought him to the JLA's attention.  

These panels show both his teleportation and his keen awareness of his surroundings <Batman eyeroll>.

The special damage power gives him both 'Empower' and 'Enhancement'; GREAT advantages in any sidekick, that let him help others attack without making him a good attacker himself.

I didn't have enough time to find a panel of Snapper actually being helpful.
But this is a great representation of not-being-a-good-attacker.

He's got the 'Tiny" size symbol which requires some special interpretation, since for all his faults, Snapper is NOT tiny.  

That's a pretty safe assumption.

Since the main effects of "Tiny" size are being harder to hit from afar and being able to be carried by normal size figures, I just re-interpreted those effects with some special traits:

If you are wondering why Green Arrow isn't in that list there are two reasons:
1. Green Arrow isn't an original member of the Justice League and wasn't there when they 'adopted' Snapper; and
2.  Green Arrow pretty consistently couldn't stand Snapper.

And here's his actual sculpt (a repainted Rick Jones):

I thought the fluorescent base might make him an easier target.

Heroclix Custom of the Week: The Giant Robot Bear

This is second in our series showcasing custom figures that I cobble together to add to my Heroclix games.  Last week, we featured Ollie Queen's ridiculous Arrowcar.  How do you outdo the ridiculousness of Green Arrow?  By visiting the Martian Manhunter in Apex City, of course, which brings us to THE GIANT ROBOT BEAR (as seen in the classic Detective Comics #306 tale, "The Last Days of J'onn J'onzz")

Picking a dial and a sculpt for the Giant Robot Bear was easy, because Yugio (always a font of ridiculousness) already has a giant bear figure (Figure #ygo011 Mother Grizzly), which I simply painted brown.

The real question is, will I ever go to the lengths of making custom Heroclix figures of the Giant Robot Crocodile, Giant Robot Buzzard, Giant Robot Gorilla, Giant Robot Elephant, or Giant Robot Rhino (not pictured)?

Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Heroclix Pal

There are only two kinds of people in the world of DC comics fans:

1. Those who hate Jimmy Olsen.
2. Those who hate Jimmy Olsen less.

Therefore this is the perfect Heroclix custom, desirable to all:


Jimmy Olsen was the winner of our most recent poll on which Custom Heroclix I should have made by Totaltoyz. Heroclix made a Jimmy Olsen pog (spelled wrong!) but that's hardly the same as the figure he deserves.

You, too, can have your own Jimmy Olsen Custom Clix, with "Daily Planet" Team Ability (equivalent to the valuable Police Team Ability).

And what good is he, other than his incomparable aesthetic value? Jimmy has the dial of a Rookie Undercover Gotham Cop, which makes him a perfect complement to Superman. Why...?

Well, Superman's a powerful attack piece but in that circus outfit he's not exactly 'stealthy'. Plus he's always "the Gorilla on the Board"; that is, the powerful threatening piece that immediately becomes the primary target of your opponents sniping and dogpiling. If only we had a way to hide him without feeling cowardly...

Ah! Jimmy Olsen! Jimmy starts with two clicks of Stealth, from all that sneaking around taking pics surreptitiously in his green suit and red bow tie. So Superman can carry Jimmy Olsen up to some hindering terrain -- a tree or phone booth -- to get a better vantage point for his photography. And if Superman just happens to be behind him, where enemies can't target him, well, so much the better. Then Superman can make a heroic high-speed charge out from behind Jimmy to clobber any one who threatens his "boy pal".

Gets better. Thanks to the, ahem, "Daily Planet" Team Ability, Jimmy increases the Attack Value of any adjacent friendly piece against any opponent piece they both can see. You know how alert Jimmy is: "Superman, look out! It's a giant superpowered Nazi gorilla! And it's carrying a kryptonite machine gun!" Gee, thanks, Jimmy; without you, my super-vision would have missed that completely.

If Jimmy takes a little damage -- like, from a falliing brick -- his last click still holds a suprise: Shape Change, giving Jimmy a one-in-three chance of avoiding being a target of any attack. Who says a Disguise Kit doesn't come in handy?

At only 14 points, Jimmy Olsen is an indispensible part of any Superman team.

Or extremely dispensible. Either way works.

Sims 4: Boring Bruce, Clark, & Diana

You'd think that "The Trinity", the DCU's three biggest stars, would be as exciting as Sims as they are as superheroes. Alas. 

Meanwhile, in Metropolis...

Clark is boring because he's perfect. He doesn't have superpowers, but the version I downloaded of him has most relevant skills maxed out, so there is nothing for him to learn.

When and where and why did he have time to learn archaeology?

DJ mixing and dancing? No; MC Kent I will not buy.

Gourmet cooking? The man who eats rocks and puts ketchup on boeuf bourguignon?

Parenting? ORLY? Does Supergirl get a vote on this?

Granted, Kal got a very early start on the Rocket Science thing.

Does Clark even know that videogames exist,
let alone take the time to master Road Rival Alpha and Genie's Curse?

He doesn't have any career ambitions because he's already as high as he needs to be in the (custom) journalism career; I have to expend effort to prevent him from being promoted to on on-air newsreader.

Because how ridiculous would that be?

Not even the 'naughty mod' spices him up little because you can't let him really be 'naughty' with anyone except someone he's properly dating and whom he loves and respects because... he's Superman. And, Silver Age notwithstanding, that's pretty much one person at a time. Because as much as I love the idea of creating Lana Lang in Smallville (as I have renamed the Sims' rural world) and giving her beehives so that like a proper Insect Queen she can train the swarms to go attack Lois, the fact is, Lois lives in an apartment in the big city and bees don't take elevators.

"Jimmy, are you sure you don't want some--"
"I already ate, Clark, thanks."

Mostly Clark makes dinner for other people, spends his time on the street befriending people, making them feel better, mentoring them in skills (because he has all of them), and visiting Smallville and doing errands for the townsfolk. It makes him happy.  Once he builds up some money, maybe I'll buy him a weekend place there, so he can marry Lois and get her to raise some kids there, or at least just get her away from Barry.

More on that later.

Meanwhile, in Gotham City,

"Forgotten Hollow" to regular Sims players

Bruce is Brucing. He's comedically rich, so he needs no job.  Alfred does all the domestic work. That's a lie, of course, because they have a maid service, Alfred mostly cooks and looks after the Orphan Bruce adopted when I wasn't looking because of course he did.

"Alfred, to really complete our Depressing Decor we need an Orphan.
And don't FEED this one so much. Ruins the effect."

That's also a lie, because they have a regular nanny service. Alfred mostly looks after Bruce. I should have Bruce spend time tom-catting around but you know his heart's not really in it, because that would be FUN.  I don't feel the need to have him 'propagate' when you know he just wants to adopt orphans. At some point I should send him some of Barry's excess kids.  But more on that later.

From a storytelling perspective, I AM interested for Bruce's sake in this custom career, because I am capable of fixing so that it's available not just for adults but for teens and children, too. Even orphans.

Wayne & Co. live in the neighborhood where it's always night-time because it's designed for vampires, although I got rid of all those because you certainly can't have a bunch of bat-people running around Gotham City. It's logistically hard to play Bruce because he lives in a big weird mansion and Sims tend to get lost in those.  Perhaps I'll have him get a dog named Ace, train him to attack, and then roam around the worlds looking for people who are being mean so he can sic the dog on them. That seems like something he'd enjoy.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC,

Diana lives with her twin brother, Jason, her pal Etta, and Etta's adopted son, whose name (Demetrius?) always escapes me because I didn't pick it, and Etta's dog, Caramel, which I remember because "Caramel Candy" is funny.

And adorable.

Diana works in the (custom) International Relations career, which uses the language barriers mod (one of my favorites!), so she spends a lot of time studying foreign languages and reading Classical literature (which fortunately I created for her). She's a career-gal, so rather than dating per se, she has FWBs, mostly Cisco Ramon's older brother, Dante, the concert pianist, because he's (1) straight; (2) vaguely Themysciran-looking; and (3) without any other narrative function in the game.  

Just do whatever she tells you to, Dante, and you probably won't get hurt, much.

Oh and Lex, of all people, because, even though I created him as an evil rich scientific genius who lives in a penthouse in Metropolis, he's decided he'd rather paint and hang out in downtown coffee shops hawking his paintings and hitting on anyone pretty who shows interest in them, which is how they met.  Diana likes the sensitive artistic type. 

"That's to GO, please. I have art to create.
And Kryptonians to kill."

As I said, the Sims far outnumber me and I can barely control one of them at a time.  Maybe I should have made Steve Trevor. Or Trevor Barnes. Or BOTH.  Then they could fight over Diana's affections. 

But knowing the Sims, who are notoriously omnisexual, they'd probably wind up falling for each other when I was in some other world and I'd come back to find them living in a household named "Trevor Trevor" and Diana attending their wedding in Tartosa and hooking up with one (or more) of the Ramon Brothers at the reception (like that time at the bowling alley disco that I refuse to talk about). And the less said about the thing with her and Barry the better.

Etta, at least, has some verve; she's a college gal, getting her culinary degree, meaning she visits bizarre recipes upon the household regularly and grows vegetables out back. 

I like her style, though.

I was going to set her up with an active lesbian love life and make her the leader of a sorority (since the Sims can create those), but she went and nonsensically adopted a child before I could get that going and it's all a bit too much for me to juggle.

So smart they sweat lightbulbs.

Jason has no job; he's a stay-at-home brother.  He's Greek, so he just makes pottery, works out, plays the lyre, plays chess or spars with Diana when she asks, and has sex with townies of any gender or life-state whenever they ask. I should probably just download the custom olive trees for him to complete the picture. 

In case you thought I was a liar.

So, as you can see...

these guys are the boring ones.