Monday, July 3, 2017

Dial H For Heroclix



Today we talk about Legion-related HeroClix figures, of which there is fittingly a whole legion of. Most Legion fans collect them just for those miniscule figurines, rather than to use in actual game warfare, this writer included. Legion fans who are also HeroClix players are thus twice-blessed, so to speak.


If you don’t know what Heroclix is, let’s use this extract from Wikipedia to explain it: 
"HeroClix is a collectible miniatures game that uses the Clix system which centers on the world of superhero comic books. Players construct teams of heroes, villains, or characters from various video games' series and engage in a turn-by-turn battle on grid maps based on various storyline locations.


"The game utilizes the "combat dial system," which keeps track of a figure's game statistics via a rotating dial in the base. As the figure suffers damage, the dial is turned a required number of "clicks" to reveal new stats and possibly special abilities."


For many, part of the appeal in collecting the figures lies more in the astonishing quality of detail in them than the actual game. And without a doubt, most of the Legion figures are sculpted beautifully. But finding them all can be tricky, because the figures are scattered throughout various HeroClix series, sometimes for no apparent reason. For example, Element Lad and the LSV founding members can be found within the Arkham Asylum set.

Then there are the various figures of Superboy, Superman, and Supergirl which can be found in several DC expansions. Even though Superboy and Supergirl were members of the Legion, it would be impractical to include them as part of a Legion set simply because of that connection, inasmuch as collectors would not attempt to include every appearance of the Kryptonian cousins as part of their Legion comic collection. However, some of the HeroClix models come with character cards which clearly mention an affiliation with the Legion, and some of them even bear Legion symbols on the dials, so these will certainly qualify for inclusion in a Legion set. .

So here’s a list of who you can find in the various HeroClix releases.





(January, 2003) Members of the various DC groups are just a few of the characters that make appearances in Cosmic Justice, the first expansion for the DC HeroClix game. The Legion is represented by the founding members Saturn Girl, Live Wire (not Lightning Lad), and Cosmic Boy, with Limited Edition figures bearing the characters’ civilian names on the dials. (The LE figures have similar sculpts as the commons, but either have different names on the dials or can be bigger in size.)  Among the villains, Mordru is featured. Each series spotlights many  of the heroes and villains in REV (Rookie, Experienced, Veteran) sets, so essentially there are three versions of most common characters.

043-045: Cosmic Boy
046-048: Live Wire
049-051: Saturn Girl
092: Mordru (30th Century version)
215: Rokk Krinn
216: Garth Ranzz
217:Imra Ardeen









(January, 2004)
The second DC HeroClix expansion, Unleashed, brings “the power of the past, present, and future together in one mighty set, where long-awaited villains match wits with the heroes of yore, while the most popular figures return from the pages of Kingdom Come, ready to battle to the bitter end”.

The Legion is represented by generic Science Police officers, Chameleon, Brainiac 5, and Supergirl, while the LE Legion figures are Shvaughn Erin, Querl Dox, and Kara Zor-El. The Supergirl chase figure has the Legion symbol depicted on the dial (unlike the common).

010-012: Science Police
019-021: Brainiac 5
037-039: Chameleon
076-078: Supergirl (no Legion symbol on dial)
204: Shvaughn Erin
207: Querl Dox
218: Kara Zor-el (Legion symbol on dial)




Science Police officer and Shvaughn Erin (LE)


Brainiac 5 and Querl Dox (LE)


Supergirl and Kara Zor-El (note Legion symbol on dial)





(January, 2005)
The Legacy set includes a mix of characters from the DC Universe and Kingdom Come storyline, in addition to popular Batman opponents. The Legion entries are Kid Quantum, Wildfire, Superboy (the Connor Kent version who was a Legion member), and the Persuader, with the LE figures being Drake Burroughs, Connor Kent, and Nyeun Chun Ti.

There is an Overconfidence feat card which bears an image of Mordru. In HeroClix-speak, feats are cards that can grant characters additional abilities, if they meet the prerequisites for using it and users pay any associated costs for including it.

043-045: Wildfire
064-066: Superboy
067-069: Persuader
203: Drake Burroughs
210: Connor Kent
211: Nyeun Chun Ti
BF004: Overconfidence card

Wildfire and Drake Burroughs (LE)

Persuader and Nyeun Chun Ti (LE)

Overconfidence feat card with image of Mordru




(January, 2006) Collateral Damage featured some of the most detailed sculpts in the HeroClix line at the time. The Legion figures are Shadow Lass/Umbra and  Emerald Empress, with the latter also represented as an LE collectible as the Emerald Eye of Ekron. There’s also a figure for Kypto, should you wish to consider him as part of a Super-Pets collection.

There was also a collector’s set within the series called Giants, featuring over-sized HeroClix models. Appropriately, the Legion-related characters were Colossal Boy and Validus. Strictly speaking though, the figure is of Micro Lad from the threeboot. If you’re a completist, you’ll probably want to own the two different versions of Gim: the common one with a gold/bronze ring on the dial, and a promotional one which had a purple ring.

034, 036: Shadow Lass
035: Umbra
061-063: Emerald Empress
209: Emerald Eye of Ekron
217: Krypto
G002: Validus
G003: Colossal Boy
Shadow Lass and Umbra

Krypto




Colossal Boy (Micro Lad) .. the promotional figure came with a purple ring on the dial.





(January, 2007)
The solicitation says: “
Origin unveils a new Golden Age of 3D superhero gaming. Relive classic battles or build your own myths in the epic DC Universe—the possibilities are endless! Exploding with cool retro costumes, sharp new looks, and the hottest heroes and villains, Origin brings both the latest characters from the current 52 storyline and the Golden Age appearances of your favorite super-heroes together for the first time on the field of battle.”
So who do we get for the Legion? Triplicate Girl, Supergirl (which you may choose to omit), Mon-El/Valor/M’Onel, and an LE Duo Damsel. If you think you can see a Legion flight ring on Booster Gold, you can include him. A token named Legionnaire depicts a generic hero (a bystander token is a character which does not have a combat dial).

022-24: Mano
052-054: Triplicate Girl
055-057: Supergirl
073: Mon-El
074: Valor
075: M’Onel
204: Duo Damsel
B002: Legionnaire



Mano has a clear plastic "pearl" as his head/helmet



Mon-El, M'Onel and Valor.



The Legionnaire token.


(January, 2007) At the same time as  Origin, a starter kit for the Legion was released, in the form of a box with eight Legionnaires (including a plain dial for Shrinking Violet, implying Vi is so small we can’t see her). Accompanying these are two battle units, a newsbot (which many collectors have assumed to be Quislet in their collections) and a Com Dish. It was made to cash in on the animated Legion series, which had just begun airing on TV.
There are also a couple of feat cards inserted in the pack, which have more connection to the game itself than to the Legion.

001: Lightning Lad
002: Saturn Girl|
003: Cosmic Boy
004: Timber Wolf
005: Phantom Girl
006: Ultra Boy
007: Young Superman
008: Shrinking Violet
S001: Newsbot
S002: Com Dish


News Bot or Quislet?


Can you see Violet?


(January, 2007)
The Justice League set is among the first to introduce character cards with the figures, at the apparent expense of the REV sets. It highlights the friends and foes of the Justice League,  its many versions, and associates. And this of course includes the Legion, but only Dream Girl, Bouncing Boy, and the Time Trapper are included. There’s also a feat card included in this set named Legionnaires.

016: Bouncing Boy
048: Dream Girl
056: Time Trapper
F004: Legionnaires



Bouncing Boy


The Time Trapper


The Legionnaires feat card




(January, 2008)
The annual release of DC characters this time, in Crisis,  includes Legionnaires Dawnstar (original version) and Karate Kid (Threeboot) and villain Mordru. The “common” figure of Supergirl comes with a card mentioning her link with the Legion, while an LE build is included of Superman holding a dying Supergirl as part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. There’s also a token for Matter-Eater Lad.

022: Dawnstar
024: Karate Kid
042: Mordru (21st Century version)
B001: Matter-Eater Lad


The Threeboot Karate Kid.



The Supergirl card mentions the Legion.

The Matter-Eater Lad token.



(October, 2008)
Arkham Asylum pits Batman against his most psychotic foes, and lets players re-wage the wars of their favorite comic, film, and television story-lines. So naturally … NOT … the set includes Element Lad (Threeboot), Cosmic King, Saturn Queen, and Lightning Lord. Lyssa Drak is also there, if you wish to include this character from Shadow Lass’ home planet.

032: Lightning Lord
037: Element Lad
039: Cosmic King
057: Saturn Queen

Threeboot Element Lad.


Cosmic King.
Lightning Lord


Saturn Queen






(October, 2010)
To mark DC’s 75th year in 2010, HeroClix released the expansion set DC Comics filled to the brim with classic and current characters from throughout the ages. You might think this would allow for several Legion characters to be included, but not so .. only a couple of different caste Dominators and Superboy are included, the latter making it only because of the Legion affiliation mentioned on his card.

003: Dominator
019: Ruling class Dominator
026: Superboy
Dominators of different castes.


Superboy's card mentions the Legion.


(January, 2011)
Now we’re getting somewhere. 
The Superman expansion featured more than 50 figures in standard five-figure boosters, celebrating over 70 years of history.  Popular sub-themes in the set included the Legion,  All-Star Superman, the World of New Krypton, and Flashpoint.

This set included more Legion characters than any previous one, including a beardless Star Boy and a bearded Star Man. Joining them were Brainiac 5, Supergirl (with Legion membership mentioned on card), Sun Boy, Earthman, Invisible Kid, Matter-Eater Lad,  Princess Projectra, and Wildfire, while one of the villains was the Legion-related Composite Superman.

007: Star Boy
008: Brainiac 5
010: Supergirl (LSH link on card)
022: Sun Boy
023: Earth Man
024: Invisible Kid II
025: Matter-Eater Lad
036: Composite Superman
038: Princess Projectra
039: Wildfire
041: Starman


Supergirl with Legion link mentioned on card

Sun Boy

Earthman

Invisible Kid

Composite Superman


(SUPERMAN FACT FORCES: November, 2011)
The Fast Forces series was basically released as starters for new players, consisting of groups of figures assembled in blister packs. This set included both Superman and Supergirl, which both came with character cards which listed Legion affiliation and also bore Legion symbols on their dials.


001: Superman
002: Supergirl

Supergirl with card mentioning the Legion


Superman with card mentioning the Legion


(May, 2013) The Teen Titans received their own dedicated set in 2013, which included a couple of characters with Legion links.  These were Terror Titans members Sun Girl and Persuader, believed to be connected to Sun Boy and the Fatal Five member, but never expanded upon in the comics. The female Persuader wields an atomic axe (just like her male counterpart), while Sun Girl is from the future and shares Sun Boy's surname.

058: Sun Girl
060: Persuader

Sun Girl

Persuader


(February, 2014)
With Legion fans’ appetite whetted by the 2011 Superman release, they got a full smorgasbord with this series, which consisted of more Legionnaires than ever, but with some odd side dishes thrown in (such as Solomon Grundy, Toyman, Big Barda and Takion).  By now the figures were getting more intricate in detail and all the characters were beautifully sculpted.

If you managed to get the whole set, you’d own Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lord, Saturn Girl, Mon-El, Triplicate Girl, Shrinking Violet, Phantom Girl, Polar Boy, Sensor Girl, Tyroc, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy,  Blok, Wildfire, Gates, Dawnstar, Chameleon Girl, Colossal Boy,  Shadow Lass,  Glorith, Superboy (with Legion symbol on belt),  White Witch, Black Witch, and Tellus.
Related characters were a Science Police Officer and a Daxamite, while representing the villains were a Blight member,  the Fatal Five members, an exquisite Computo, Universo, and Darkseid and his servants of darkness.
A handful of common Legionnaires were also made available as part of the gravity feed releases, with the only difference being numbers assigned to each character. If you are truly completist, you will probably want to collect both versions.
There was an organized play (OP) set which included a map of Legion HQ to play the game on, which also came with an oversized figure of Mordru and a flight ring token.
   ***NOTE: All the characters in this set, including those not affiliated with the Legion in any way, were all mounted on dials which bore the logo for this series: a belt with the Legion symbol. For this writer, an unashamed Legion completist, the non-Legion "outsiders" do not fall within the parameters for collectability.*** 

001: Cosmic Boy
002: Saturn Girl
003: Lightning Lad
004: Science Police Officer
005a: Daxamite
005b: Mon-El
006: Triplicate Girl
007: Shrinking Violet
008: Phantom Girl
009: Blight
010: Polar Boy
011: Sensor Girl
012: Tyroc
015: Timber Wolf
018: Ultra-Boy (sic)
020: Blok
021: Wildfire
022: Gates
025: Mano
029: Tharok
030: Dawnstar
031: Chameleon Girl
032: Colossal Boy (Threeboot)
035: Shadow Lass
036: Glorith
The Blight

Tyroc

Glorith
040: Emerald Empress
041: Universo
044: Darkseid
045: Computo
046: Superboy
047a: White Witch
047b: Black Witch
048: Tellus
054: Persuader
055: Validus
056: Mordru
Emerald Empress


White and Black Witch

Computo

057: Lydea Mallor (dark servant)
058: Kalibak (dark servant)
059: Guardian (dark servant)
060: Orion (dark servant)
061: Superman (dark servant)
101: Mordru
102: Mon-El (as GL)
103: Shrinking Violet (dial only)
S101: Legion flight ring token

Gravity Feed figures (same as commons)

201: Cosmic Boy
202: Saturn Girl
203: Lightning Lad
204: Ultra-Boy
206: Triplicate Girl
207: Shrinking Violet
208: Phantom Girl
209: Science Police officer
210: Daxamite



The OP map

The Triplicate Girl token






(June, 2014)
This Green Lantern set War of Light came in two waves, but really all that concerns Legion collectors are the Legion-related figures:  Rond Vidar and a couple of different Controller constructs.  Completists may also want to include the figure of Sodam Yat, the GL from Mon-El’s home planet. And there’s a token for Daxamites.

009: Controller construct
010: Controller
026: Sodam Yat
103: Rond Vidar
H005: Daxamite token



A Controller "construct"

A Controller

Rond Vidar

The Daxamite token




November, 2014
After a GL set naturally  comes one for the Flash. In this set, look out for XS and the Tornado Twins.

004: XS
036: The Tornado Twins

XS

The Tornado Twins





July, 2015
As the name suggests, the set focuses on DC Comics’ power couple — their past, present, and even alternate universe versions — as well as their supporting cast of characters. Legion-related characters to look out for here are Superboy, Supergirl, Lana Lang and Jimmy Olsen.  Why? Because they come with character cards which confirm Legion affiliation, with Lana’s bio in particular mentioning Insect Queen. And there’s another figure for Krypto to collect.

027: Jimmy Olsen
029: Lana Lang
031: Superboy
050: Krypto
053a: Supergirl


Jimmy Olsen and card citing Legion link


Lana Lang and card citing Insect Queen and Legion link


Superboy and card citing Legion link



October, 2016 There was an unusually long period between the  release of this World's Finest set and the previous one (more than a year).  This set does not feature any Legionnaires, but is notable for the inclusion of Streaky the super cat.


100: Streaky
Streaky, the original grumpy cat

And as of now, that’s it for Legion-related HeroClix characters. There’s no denying that the group has had a good run, with many of its members from its various incarnations featured. 

In due course, we may see the likes of the deceased Ferro Lad and Chemical King, and 5YL members such as Devlin, Catspaw, Dragonmage, Monstress and Kinetix.

The next Heroclix release to look out for is the DC Comics 15th Anniversary Elseworlds series, due out this July. As the name suggests, it will include alternate versions of the iconic characters shown in the comics. One can only wonder which interpretation of the Legion, if any, will make it. 
  


*This blog depicts some of the Heroclix figures from the lists. To see full images of every character, visit this page.*

Bits Boy runs the comprehensive Legion completists’ site Bits of Legionnaire Business.

Editor's Note: 
announcing.....
The Legion of Super-Bloggers HeroClix Contest! 
The LSB is giving away a MIB never-played-with Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Game Box (as shown below) to one lucky winner! 



All you have to do for a chance to win is send an email to legionbloggers at gmail dot com and tell us which out of all of the Legion-related HeroClix is your favorite, and why. 

We'll take all of the entries and put them into a Science Police helmet and pull out one lucky winner. 

One entry per real name, please. 

And let's face it, it doesn't take Dream Girl's precognitive abilities to guess that we'll print the most interesting emails here when we announce the winner. So feel free to wax poetically about your choice, but remember: quality writing doesn't guarantee winning the box of 7 Legionnaires (or is it 9?). 

Note: for some odd reason, this set is missing the Phantom Girl card. I think I must have given it to a friend when I bought the set on clearance. It is otherwise just as it was when I bought it. 

Rules: 
1. Send an email to legionbloggers at gmail dot com telling us which is your favorite Legion-related HeroClix and why. You can be as brief or as long-winded as you like, but if you write a Brainiac-5 related treatise you know we aren't going to read the whole thing. 
2. Provide your real name and home town. This information will not be shared publicly, but is required to pseudo-verify that entrants are not robots like Pulsar Stargrave.  
3. Send one entry only, please. 
4. This contest is open to any sentient being residing in the United Planets. At this time the USPS will not deliver to Khund-controlled areas. 
5. Entries must be in our IN box by midnight on Monday, July 10 (EST). 
6. Entrants will not be notified that entries have been received. So type carefully. 
7. Well written, entertaining entries will be put together in a follow-up post. If you choose to write something to be considered for publication and you would prefer we not use your real name, you may provide a Pen Name/Legion Name as well as your real name (for condition #2). 
8. All of the entrants' names will be put into a Science Police helmet and one name will be picked at random. 
9. The winner will be notified via email on or before July 24. 
10. The winner will be announced publicly on this page on or before July 24. 

All emails should be received by legionbloggers at gmail dot com by midnight on July 10, 2017 (EST). 
So you have a week, Reservists!  

Long Live the HeroClix Legion! 




2 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot for this article! I'd missed the Lana Lang & Pete Ross figs.

    I also included these four from Reboot continuity in my collection. Lori Morning's "Chiller" is on the H-Dial card...

    024: Chronos - Justice League set
    E005: The Dial H for Hero H-Dial - Crisis set
    035: Impulse - The Flash set
    021: Ra's al Ghul - The Joker's Wild set

    ReplyDelete
  2. By my count, the only team members from original/New 52 continuity not yet 'Clixed are:

    • Invisible Kid I
    • Element Lad (I'm not counting the caped 3-boot version...I guess the same argument could be made for Karate Kid)
    • Light/Lightning Lass
    • Ferro Lad
    • Chemical King
    • Magnetic Kid
    • Quislet
    • Night Girl (dreaming of a Subs set)
    • Karate Kid II
    • Comet Queen
    • Chemical Kid
    • Dragonwing
    • Harmonia

    ...and Comet, Beppo & Proty, too (II?)!

    ReplyDelete