Clix Conundrum

A leak via a Spanish Heroclix site gave us the seven bystanders from the upcoming set. I'll have something to say connected to the slot they fill in the set, but I'll do that as part of another post when I get around to it. These are really all simply for my amusement anyway.

For now, it's onto Seth's sometimes curious choices for beings with not long to live in most games unless they stay out of the way.

First, we have Val Cooper, a government operative whose specialty has been mutant relations of one stripe or another since Claremont and John Romita jr. created her almost 25 years ago. Seven points for a Stealthed character with a 6 range and 9 Attack Value -- albeit with a 1 Damage, so who really cares about that? -- could be useful. I expect her to mostly be carried around as a stealth shield. As a normal human she's reasonable game for being a bystander.

Next, at 6 points, is Lila Cheney, she's a musician, thief and mutant, using her teleportation powers for personal gain. So, it's another bystander with a power, Phasing/Teleport, and a Speed of 10, so she can get places if you need her to.

Another Claremont creation, she's been around almost as long as Val has. Not likely to be any good as an attacker, unable to take a punch and likely to be hit if one's thrown, her main utility appears to be as a highly mobile blocking or tie-up piece or simply as bait. Either way, she's going to be a sacrifice piece on a team. Still, if she can do any of those things with the right pieces, she'll have been worth more than her 6 pts. I have no doubt that fans will be irritated that she received such shoddy treatment, especially when another mutant musician she sometimes played with - Dazzler - will be getting a sculpt and more than one click of life.

One last note: While bragging about one's own ignorance is generally not a good trait, I must confess that I'm feeling good about not even recognizing that despite the name and powers being Lila Cheney that the image is, in fact, Jubilee from her Age of Apocalypse incarnation.
The third bystander's a strange choice. Swarm is a composite being, a human intelligence that was essentially consumed by mutated bees and whose intelligence now controls them. Hardly a major villain, but to be fair he gave both the Champions and Spider-man some grief, so this is a sad state to find him in. Leap/Climb allows him mobility and Super Senses potentially helps him avoid being hit, so he's potentially a tie-up piece, but for 11 points his 8 AV, 6 range and 1 Damage he's hardly a shoo-in. Still, I suppose one could play multiple Swarms as a composite being... if you happen to pull more than one. (There's that element I'll be doing a separate post on sometime soon.)
In the fourth spot we have Jarella, once-beloved of the Hulk when he was shifted to that microverse and magic imbued him with Banner's intelligence. She's long dead, and looking at her bystander token there doesn't seem to be a great deal of life either. Need 5 points for Mastermind fodder or as a meat shield, well, here it is. I can't even get myself to bother working up a Hulk scenario for using her.
Recent comics star (at least over in the Hulk line) Amadeus Cho, teenage supergenius. Well, that way everyone can hate him. A recently-created addition to the Marvel universe, Reed Richards tagged Cho as the "seventh smartest person in the world." Basically, revive all your loathing for Wesley Crusher, plug that in and multiply it by some random whole number and you'll have the right attitude for him.

What makes Cho stand out a little is that he's the first bystander with a special power. Well. See? Now you can die in peace and fulfillment. It grants him Outwit as a Power Action, so he has to get into place and then Outwit on a separate turn. Certainly, one can potentially make it work, but he's ultimately going to be an easy 11 points for one's opponent in most teams.

Next we have a Native Warrior, and by this we mean an insect-like native of the planet Sakaar. Again, we're looking at an 11 pt pog. Leap/Climb and Toughness, I suppose these could be useful, but that 1 Damage... Really, would it have been terrible to make them 20-25 pt, full-sculpt commons in the set? Finally, remembering that the Marvel Zombie plague is also part of this set, we have what remains of that world's Janet Pym: A zombie head in a protective bubble atop a robotic body. Apparently a fairly crappy robot body. Only six points and at least she can't infect anyone. To paraphrase another dead guy, "She's dead already."

Anything especially inspiring? No, not really. Some bits of potential here and there, but I'd be in favor of not making any more bystanders.