REVIEW: WizKids Games Marvel HeroClix Secret Wars Battleworld Booster Brick & Fast Forces Latest News October 5, 2018 Hey there, Marvel Comics fans and HeroClix players. We’ve got another sneak peek at an upcoming expansion in the form of a review of an entire brick and Fast Forces pack, this time focused on the incredible Marvel HeroClix Secret Wars Battleworld set! Last time we were here WizKids had brought HeroClix onto the small screen with the Batman: The Animated Series expansion, and now for Marvel it’s firmly back to its comic book roots with a set that centers around the explosive 2015 mega crossover event. In it God Emperor Doom rules over the patchwork planet known as Battleworld, the only remaining planet in a multiverse destroyed by incursions. On the beleaguered world are sections corresponding to different realities and times, all held in check by Doom, a system of baronies, and the police force of the Thor Corps. That storyline supplied WizKids with tons of interesting characters including classic and new takes on familiar faces, and that’s exactly what we find in the HeroClix set. It also brings new versions of the beloved Runaways, Shifting Focus Captain America figures, previously unclixed characters, and more. Secret Wars Battleworld is currently available only in exclusive pre-release events at participating venues, while the full set and Fast Forces hit stores on October 17th. Let’s dive in! As always, we’ll first take a look at the packaging for the new expansion, and as usual the new set has distinctive and eye-catching art. In this case the booster packs feature a beautiful painted image of Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America to go with the Secret Wars Battleworld logo. The back panel includes a blurb about all the useful functions of the WizKids Info Network while also revealing some of the rarest figures in the set: chases Black Panther (with Infinity Gauntlet), Sheriff Strange, and Avengers 1,000,000 B.C. Iron Fist and Agamotto! The sides of the pack show off lots more with examples of the themes Spider-Island (Iron Man, Iron Fist, Spider-Queen), Thors (Ultimate, Dino-Thor, Destroyer Thor), 1872 (Sheriff Steve Rogers, Black Widow, Tony Stark), and Weirdworld (Crystar, Arkon, Witch Queen Le Fay). We’re going to leave the unboxing videos to the professionals like Scott Porter and get right to what we do best: awesome photography! Check out the contents of each booster, then keep reading for tons more info and a full photo gallery of all the Secret Wars Battleworld HeroClix figures we pulled. Booster 1 002 Spider-Man 008 Thorus 015 Molly Hayes 030 Stick 057 Nick the Fury Our first booster opened and what do we find? A super rare in the form of the Ultron-controlled Nick the Fury! Also on hand here from Secret Wars are the black suited Spider-Man of Battleworld: Regency and the Thor Corps rookie Thorus, both commons. Joining them are two non-Battleworld characters, the return of Runaways Molly Hayes (common) and the HeroClix debut of Daredevil’s mentor Stick (uncommon)! Booster 2 013 Worldbreaker 015 Molly Hayes 017 Captain America 028 Maestro 040 Spiderling Booster 2 continues to build our collection of characters from Battleworld and new lands while also returning to the standard Marvel 616 universe. Molly Hayes is joined by a generic hulked out Worldbreaker in the common slot, while the uncommons here are Captain America with his light shield from the late 90s and the future Hulk known as Maestro from Secret Wars. The diminutive Spiderling, Anna-May Parker from Battleworld: Regency, is this booster’s rare figure. Booster 3 006 Sheriff Steve Rogers 012 Man-Thing Soldier 023b She-Hulk 031 Alex Wilder 039 Red Wolf We’re starting to see some of the bigger themes emerge in this set with more and more figures from specific Battleworld areas, notably the 1872 era Valley. In this pack that locale gives us the common lawman Sheriff Steve Rogers as well as his avenger the rare Red Wolf! Then there’s a generic Man-Thing Soldier from Weirdworld and the HeroClix debut of Runaways founding member Alex Wilder (uncommon). Also special in this booster is the uncommon Prime She-Hulk, a Baroness of Battleworld! Booster 4 004 Crossbones 006 Sheriff Steve Rogers 023a She-Hulk 032 Karolina Dean 045 Nico Minoru Booster #4 is a perfect companion to the previous one with more Valley inhabitants, Runaways, and She-Hulk! This time another Sheriff Steve faces off against the common Crossbones while the children of supervillains in the Pride include uncommon Karolina Dean and rare Nico Minoru. The other uncommon is She-Hulk, this time the Asgardian version as opposed to the Prime Baroness. Booster 5 003 Iron Man 012 Man-Thing Soldier 025 Crystar 027 Man-Thing Commander 034 Iron Goblin Just like the one above, I love it when a booster has strong themes and #5 continues that trend. Probably the most immediately striking thing is not one but two Man-Things with the common Soldier and the uncommon, darker Man-Thing Commander. Then it’s a pair of power armored characters sharing mostly the same sculpt: common 616 Iron Man and rare Iron Goblin from Spider-Island! Sandwiched in the middle of all that is uncommon Crystar of Weirdworld making his HeroClix debut. Booster 6 003 Iron Man 011 Magma Man 016 Klara Prast 029 Erik Killmonger 046 Chase Stein Iron Man pops up here again, joined in the common slots by the generic Weirdworld Magma Man and Runaways team member from the past Klara Prast. Erik Killmonger (known to many from the version of him in the Black Panther film) is an uncommon, and the Runaways son of super scientists Chase Stein is this booster’s rare. Both Klara and Erik are brand new to the world of HeroClix! Booster 7 009 Thor 011 Magma Man 018 Spider-Man 020 Tony Stark, Inventor 044 Witch Hunter Angela A few familiar faces show up in this booster, but things aren’t exactly as they seem. First up, along with another Magma Man in the commons is Thor, but on closer examination this is actually a generic “Thor” of the Corps! In the uncommons are Spider-Man and Iron Man, the Baron of Spider-Island and Tony Stark, Inventor from the Valley respectively. In the rare slot is 1602’s witchbreed nemesis Witch Hunter Angela. Booster 8 001 Captain America 013 Worldbreaker 019 Iron Man 043 Arkon 049 Hulk With only a few boosters left I was hoping to see some big and rare things, and in this one I got both! There are no fewer than three classic Avengers characters in this pack, though only common Captain America appears in his standard form. After another Worldbreaker there’s an uncommon Iron Man from Spider-Island, fully embracing his arachnid self with a unique head. Meanwhile, rare Arkon of Weirdworld is another HeroClix debut. Last but not least this pack had our second super rare, a six-armed Hulk from Spider-Island! Booster 9 002 Spider-Man 005 Gunslinger 009 Thor 021 Black Widow 037a Captain Marvel Booster #9 grows our collection of common Spider-Man and Thor figures while introducing two different versions of the same sculpt with the Valley’s common female Gunslinger and her doppelganger the uncommon Black Widow. Those ladies are joined by the rare Captain Marvel, her “a” version representing the heroine from the Spider-Island storyline. Booster 10 007a Thanos Duplicate 010 Crystal Warrior 014 Outrider 024 Boar Thor 060 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace Oftentimes the last booster of your brick will present you with at least one double of a figure you already pulled, but here in #10 I found five new figures. Perfect for army builders, the commons here are the generics Thanos Duplicate (an “a” version with the Prime representing the villain), a Crystal Warrior of Weirdworld, and one of Thanos’ Outriders. Law and order gets a porcine cop with uncommon Boar Thor, and this booster seemingly completes my Runaways collection with super rare Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace! Here’s the full breakdown of the figures in this brick (your results will vary of course): Commons (including duplicates) 001 Captain America (616 Avengers) 002 Spider-Man (Battleworld: Regency) 003 Iron Man (616 Avengers) 004 Crossbones (Battleworld: The Valley) 005 Gunslinger (Battleworld: The Valley) 006 Sheriff Steve Rogers (Battleworld: The Valley) 007a Thanos Duplicate (Battleworld: Other) 008 Thorus (Battleworld: Asgard) 009 Thor (Battleworld: Asgard) 010 Crystal Warrior (Battleworld: Weirdworld) 011 Magma Man (Battleworld: Weirdworld) 012 Man-Thing Soldier (Battleworld: Weirdworld) 013 Worldbreaker (Battleworld: Other) 014 Outrider 015 Molly Hayes (616 Runaways) 016 Klara Prast (616 Runaways) Uncommons 017 Captain America (616 S.H.I.E.L.D.) 018 Spider-Man (Battleworld: Spider-Island) 019 Iron Man (Battleworld: Spider-Island) 020 Tony Stark, Inventor (Battleworld: The Valley) 021 Black Widow (Battleworld: The Valley) 023a She-Hulk (Asgardian, Battleworld: Other) 023b She-Hulk (Avengers, Battleworld: Other) 024 Boar Thor (Battleworld: Asgard) 025 Crystar (Battleworld: Weirdworld) 027 Man-Thing Commander (Battleworld: Weirdworld) 028 Maestro (Battleworld: Other) 029 Erik Killmonger (616 Wakanda) 030 Stick (616 Marvel Knights) 031 Alex Wilder (616 Runaways) 032 Karolina Dean (616 Runaways) Rares 034 Iron Goblin (Battleworld: Spider-Island) 037a Captain Marvel (Battleworld: Spider-Island) 039 Red Wolf (Battleworld: The Valley) 040 Spiderling (Battleworld: Regency) 043 Arkon (Battleworld: Weirdworld) 044 Witch Hunter Angela (Battleworld: Other) 045 Nico Minoru (616 Runaways) 046 Chase Stein (616 Runaways) Super Rares 049 Hulk (Battleworld: Spider-Island) 057 Nick the Fury (Battleworld: Other) 060 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace Alright, here’s where I discuss collation. I’d say we did pretty well in this brick, though of course I didn’t pull a chase (I’m not super into the chase theme on this one so that’s fine). What did I get? Well, let’s start with at least one of all sixteen commons, not including the Prime. They break down by theme into generics (Gunslinger, Thanos Duplicate, Thor, Crystal Warrior, Magma Man, Man-Thing Soldier, Worldbreaker, and Outrider), Runaways Molly Hayes and Klara Prast, and Valley people (Crossbones and Sheriff Steve Rogers). They’re joined by some unique characters who will see friends pop up in later rarities with regular 616 Avengers Captain America and Iron Man, Battleworld: Asgard Thorus, and Battleworld: Regency black suit Spider-Man. We are missing a couple of the uncommons, though we did pull both versions of She-Hulk including the rarer Prime! Spider-Island gets a few more arachnid inhabitants here with Baron Spider-Man and Iron Man, while Tony Stark, Inventor and Black Widow head to the old west of the Valley. Weirdworld leaders arrive here to take control of their common soldiers with Crystar and Man-Thing Commander, and similar is Maestro to the Worldbreakers from Battleworld: Other. Boar Thor supports the common generic Thor and Thorus, and Alex Wilder and Karolina Dean join the Runaways roster. Captain America is a theme unto himself in this set with several different versions that you can swap out during the game thanks to his Shifting Focus trait, and the uncommon incarnation is equipped with the light shield from the late 90s run. The uncommons wrap up with a couple of long-awaited characters premiering in HeroClix: Stick and Erik Killmonger. If you expected the rares to follow the same sorts of themes… you’d be right! Aside from two more Runaways, Chase Stein and Nico Minoru, all of the figures here are from Battleworld. Iron Goblin (Tony Stark) and the homo arachnus Captain Marvel hail from Spider-Island, Red Wolf is an outlaw in the Valley, Spiderling became a heroine in Battleworld: Regency, Arkon couldn’t be from anywhere but Weirdworld, and Witch Hunter Angela eliminates supernatural menaces in 1602. And then there are our three super rares, the highest rarity we pulled. Spider-Island rears its ugly head once more with the awesome, eight-limbed Hulk, while the cybernetic Nick the Fury is a Battleworld: Other fellow from Ultron’s realm of Perfection. The Runaways team extends to the SRs as well with everyone’s favorite snarky girl and her pet dinosaur Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace (note that this is the pair’s third appearance in HeroClix, each time as a super rare). If there’s one thing Secret Wars offered, it was a plethora of unique-looking characters from different worlds, all smashed together into the same overarching story. I’m happy to report that the Secret Wars Battleworld HeroClix set looks great with very fine renditions of those superheroes and villains. As you can see in the photos there are some truly tremendous sculpts in this brick alone. Some of my favorites include the Gunslinger/Black Widow ready to draw down, Thor/Boar Thor crouching before an attack with armor and a flowing cloak, the similarly attired Thorus, tiny but powerful Molly Hayes in her casual outfit and Pokémon-like hat, the heavily muscled fantasy warrior Crystar, the harsh mentor Stick whose pose and body language ooze contempt, Red Wolf with his intricately detailed old west outfit, the tiny Spiderling flying through the air with a complex pose and costume, Witch Hunter Angela spinning to bring her blade to bear while her outfit flutters around her, the muscled bulk of Hulk with six mighty arms, and of course the fantastic dinosaur on the pairing of Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace. There are some really fun and character-appropriate poses like the Captains America swinging his shield, Sheriff Steve Rogers standing tall against outlaws with one hand on his firearm, the traitor Alex Wilder leading his unwitting team forward, Arkon leaping into the fray with abandon, and Chase Stein doing the same. It’s always interesting, too, to see the detail WizKids can bring out in miniature textures; you’ll find that quality in the overlapping scales of Captain America’s costume, the vegetation of the Man-Things, Karolina Dean’s incredible hair, and Old Lace’s rough dino skin. Similarly, the Secret Wars Battleworld set is full of interestingly painted minis, with bright colors, metal armor, translucent energy effects, etc. A few of the ones that really stuck out to me in this brick were some of my favorite sculpts too (always nice when they’re made and painted well) like Thorus with a detailed symbol painted on his chest, Molly Hayes with great eyes and clothing details, uncommon Spider-Man’s perfectly rendered costume, Stick with the yin/yang on his pant leg, all of the little accents and face paint on Red Wolf, and the incredibly cool look of Witch Hunter Angela right down to the markings on her face. As usual metallic paints appear on weapons, armor, and the like on figures like the multiple Iron Man incarnations (including the really fantastic Iron Goblin armor), Worldbreaker and Maestro’s armor, Erik Killmonger’s bracers and belt, Captain Marvel’s costume, Spiderling’s reinforced armor, and the exo-skeleton of Nick the Fury. Lastly translucent plastic isn’t just limited to energy effects (though those do appear on figures like Captain Marvel, Nico Minoru, and Nick the Fury). Uncommon Captain America has the translucent light shield, Karolina Dean’s colorful light body is translated via translucent plastic, and the Crystal Warrior and Crystar are almost completely translucent. Alongside the main booster set will be a couple more cool items to build out your Secret Wars Battleworld collection including a sweet Dice & Token Pack with Spider-Island characters action tokens. Today we’ll also check out the Runaways Fast Forces pack! Within the clamshell packaging (featuring artwork from the current run of the comic as well as 3D renders of the figures) you’ll find Runaways members Princess Powerful, Rose Red, Alex Wilder, Lucy in the Sky, Sister Grimm, and Talkback. As I’ve noted I’ve been a fan of the Runaways since their debut in 2003 and was very excited to check out this Fast Forces. It’s really interesting for a couple of different reasons. First, it gives us a whole second set of these characters for team building options. Remember that Fast Forces figures are the same sculpts as their main set counterparts but with entirely different dials that bring with them different point values, powers, play styles, etc. It’s noteworthy that four of the five characters here have different names as well, their “codenames” rather than their real names as they’re labeled in the main set (Nico Minoru/Sister Grimm, for example). There are also some very specific storylines and issues referenced on their cards and indeed power sets, most notably with Sister Grimm and Talkback relating to their time in Avengers Arena. Team building is super easy with this Runaways set. Talkback, Sister Grimm, Alex Wilder, and Princess Powerful are all 50 points each, with Lucy in the Sky 60 and Rose Red 40. You guessed it, that all adds up to an even 300! While they’re all very close to each other in terms of power level, they vary when put up against their main set counterparts; some of them are more powerful there, others are more powerful here in the Fast Forces (Klara and Rose Red are the same!). No matter what the difference, all have unique power sets, special abilities, and/or traits. Let’s take a look at a couple examples, my favorite Runaways Molly and Chase! Molly Hayes may be a young girl, but she’s a bruiser with super strength and toughness! As Princess Powerful she clocks in at 50 points with a very straightforward 6-click dial. Every odd numbered click is a super powered one with Charge, Invulnerability, and a special power combining Super Strength with the ability to generate standard light objects for free! Then on the even clicks she gets a little tired, with a decrease in stats and a switch to Sidestep and Toughness. While a bit squishy on those sleepy clicks the Princess here can potentially deal a ton of damage on her strong clicks, punching way about her weight just like in the comics. Princess Powerful costs twice as much as her main set version, which has fewer clicks of life, better raw damage output, starting Super Strength that doesn’t last the whole dial, and a penalty in not being able to push. I really like having both options! Talkback, better known as Chase Stein, is the jock son of two evil super scientists, though while he appears dumb he is actually quite intelligent and inventive. Chase in the main set is 35 points with powers representing both his high tech Fistigons weapons and the Leapfrog craft he pilots to transport the team. Here in the Fast Forces Talkback is 50 points with an interesting split dial. For two clicks he’s “normal” Chase with Sidestep, Precision Strike, and Perplex. Then, as depicted in Avengers Arena, he gets hold of the Darkhawk Amulet and gets supercharged! For the remainder of the dial he gets Blades/Claws/Fangs, Toughness, and a special power combining Charge, Flight, and the ability to heal after successful charges. This is a pretty radical departure in powers and utility for a Chase Stein figure, and another welcome addition to the Runaways lineup of options. So there you have it, another cool HeroClix expansion from WizKids with a super fun Fast Forces to boot. You can get your hands on boosters right now at special Secret Wars Battleworld pre-release events at participating venues (now through October 16th), with the full release happening on October 17th. That’s also when the Fast Forces and Dice & Token Pack will be available. Whether you read Secret Wars or not this set is guaranteed to have some figures you’ll love whether those are alternate versions of your favorite heroes and villains, great looking figures, or fun game pieces. Check to see if your local venue is on the list on the WizKids Info Network. As always, have fun and good luck with your pulls! Scroll down to check out a photo gallery of all the figures from this brick. Visit the brand new and improved HeroClix.com for even more info as well as downloads of rules and maps, and stay tuned to Figures.com as we continue our reviews of new HeroClix! Review and photos by Scott Rubin. Review samples courtesy of WizKids Games. [See image gallery at www.figures.com] Keep up with all the latest toy news by following Figures.com on Facebook and Twitter! To buy action figures, take a look at Hobby Link Japan, BigBadToyStore.com, TheToySource.com, Toynk.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, and EntertainmentEarth.com.
