Tempest in a teacup

Well, I had Totaltoyz make me a Tempest custom heroclix sculpt; purdy, ain't he?

No one really can make sense out of Tempest's powers, and having just read the original Tempest miniseries, I can understand why. The more Phil Jimenez explains things, the less comprehensible they become.

He can make water hot or cold (like Celsius from the Larsen Doom Patrol) and he's got your basic aqua-toughness; that's pretty straightforward.

Unfortunately, somebody (hi, Phil!) couldn't leave well enough alone...

As a result, Tempest also shoots ill-defined energy blasts from his eyes (purple-colored, naturally).

He's also got some sort of hydrokinesis that lets him make whirlpools and waves, I think (but not "hard water powers"). He'd be fun at a water-park, I bet!

Like most "mages", he can also do whatever silly magick-trick the plot requires (like, say, turning himself into a fish with the infamous and oh-so-useful "Henry Limpet" spell).

How do you represent that on a heroclix dial? Wizkids hasn't given us "Ranged Bungling Expert" or "Halfwit" as powers yet....

I gave him the dial of the Veteran Pyro from the Marvel Universe Set (ui111). Range of 8 with double targeting, because I've seen him go zappy-zap with both hands at a distance in the comics. Three clicks of Ranged Combat Expert and five of Energy Explosion (Ka-zap! Ka-zow!). Nice solid defense to start, with two clicks of Barrier (from hydrokinesis and freezing the water, I suppose). And Flight, not because he really flies but because it lets you take someone with you when you go somewhere; he does that a lot, from what I can tell.

All of this presupposes playing him on a water-map or with the "Atlantis Rising" battlefield condition, of course. And naturally I gave him the Aquatic Ability for free.

You might think the 42 point Vet Pyro doesn't do justice to "Garth's powerful mystic abilities", whatever the heck those are. Yes, I could have justified giving him some dial with TK or even the Mystic ability. But there was no way in god's blue ocean I was going to make him a higher point figure than Aquaman. No matter how many writers keep re-emphasizing, "no, Aqualad's powerful now, really; no, we mean it, really!', I remain committed to NOT having him be worth more points than the Experienced Aquaman from the Icons set (56 points).

Unless someone can suggest a better dial option, that's my choice and I'll stick to it.