It’s that time, people! Our annual DC set has launched, and while I’m not a huge DC guy, I can’t help but swoon over this set as I’m sure most of you feel the same way. WizKids finally gave us the Batman set of our dreams with Batman: The Animated Series!

I can’t think of a more beloved set than this one. Everyone I know grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series and it’s a big reason why so many of us are passionate about comics and comic culture. To many, Kevin Conroy IS Batman, likewise with Mark Hamill being the Joker. Nothing has lived up to the overall look and feel of the Animated Series. The amount of love that went into this show is astounding, and it feels like a dream that we’ve finally had this show clixed.

Of course, the set isn’t all one TV show. We also have Batman Beyond, Justice League Unlimited, and Super Friends. It’s a great big DC Animated Universe set with Batman as the poster boy, and I’m hoping that the fantastic sales leads to a follow-up set so we get even more!

Before I get into the full set review, I’ve had a request by a few people to change my rating system to follow Two Clicks From KO. Folks were asking me why I only use a 3 tier system here whereas I give figures a score of 1-5 on the other site. Moving forward, all my reviews will use the same system regardless of what site I’m posting on. I’ll also bring the breakdown of rankings at the end of the review to keep everything parallel.

Lastly, remember that my reviews are based on constructed and that these are purely opinion. Just because I like a figure or don’t like a figure doesn’t mean they’re bad; it’s just how I personally feel about them.

COMMONS

001a Batman – An excellent vanilla dial for Bruce, although it’s a little weird to see Perplex rather than Outwit. To be honest though, I’m kind of glad since the old combo of Stealth/Willpower/Outwit is tiring for him. Great top click here, and the indom + improved movement helps a lot. Score: 4/5

001b Clayface – For our return to Primes, we get a MONSTER support piece that has a 50/50 shot at Shape Change that can’t be countered, Outwit, Smoke Cloud, and goes on ANY theme team. Also, he has to potential to swap over to a BEHEMOTH Clayface to keep him alive. For 45 points?! Score: 5/5

002 Robin – The Boy Wonder doesn’t really have a bad dial these days, and this is no deviation. Solid values, Perplex to make him an actual threat, and a dial chock-full of good power combinations makes me wonder why he’s 35 points rather than 40. Still, those two 9 attack values hurt. Score: 4/5

003 The Joker – Two questions: how is this a common, and how is he only 30 points?! Probability Control with a way to reduce attack values and movement via Smoke Cloud, and a free attack against anyone in his smoke cloud is terrifying for 30. On his last two clicks, he becomes a very formidable lockdown piece. Score: 5/5

004 Poison Ivy – It’s hard to get behind an Ivy after the superb Bombshell last year, and this version isn’t doing anything for me. Sure, there’s value here for 30 points, but she only does one thing; Incap. Score: 3/5

005 Suited Henchman – This set is already breaking rules with point costs. I don’t see how this isn’t a steal at 5 points. Virtually any click is good for 5 points, but the fact that they don’t effect Theme in any way is huge. There’s simply no reason to not own like 5 of these thugs. Score: 5/5

006 Alfred – A killer support piece if you’re running Batman. The three different powers on damage all work nicely and give you a lot of options, however you’ll need to commit to only one if you decide to push. Batman Ally team ability keeps him safe and worth the 20 points. Remember he only places from MOVE, not things like Charge or Running Shot. Score: 4/5

007 Leslie Thompkins – 11 attack on a support piece is pretty good, but it doesn’t quite dethrone Night Nurse who couples that with Defend. If you’re playing a Batman Family team, she’s solid. Otherwise, slightly better than average. Score: 3/5

008 Two-Face – Now we have Mastermind figures that produce their own fodder… Am I dreaming? Harvey is fantastic with great values throughout the dial and two different critical hit rolls. If your opponent doesn’t have an answer against his Mastermind, he’s going to be tough. Score: 5/5

009 Mr. Freeze – Situational Outwit isn’t the best, but if you manage to target someone with two action tokens, Freeze will be a big tipping point. I think he’ll see play mostly as an ID summon to bring in at a crucial moment to just topple a tentpole, especially with 11 Incap and Running Shot. Score: 3/5

010 Ninja – What’s better than a Generic that can pop out 6 damage with Charge? How about one that can pick powers for itself every turn and give them to all other characters like them! The reach and versatility of damage on this figure is nuts. Score: 5/5

011 Commissioner Gordon – Double Incap is neat trick to give the commissioner and you have a decent chance at landing it. I love the Barrier as a way to simulate blockades, and Leadership on a 35 point piece is good. Gordon is slow though, so he’ll take some time to setup. Score: 3/5

012 Harvey Bullock – Not a bad dial at all, but there’s not too much that Harvey really accomplishes that other pieces can’t do better, even at 30 points. Perhaps his best use is to push to Perplex, hide in Stealth, and utilize his Police team ability. Score: 3/5

013 Catwoman – What an interesting concept on this dial. You get a decent melee attacker that can poke 3 squares out and has Perplex, and goes into serious brutality when she hits her last two clicks. What’s nice about that unique trait is that if she’s KO’d and goes to your opponent’s force, you can KO her, neutralize the point deficit, and she’ll revert back to you. Lots of value here. Score: 4/5

014 Harley Quinn – This is a fantastic dial for Harley; wacky and chaotic. There’s some potential here and I love that you can gamble at healing her back to click 1 if she takes some damage. No click on her dial is truly bad either. I wouldn’t take a chance at rolling when she’s healthy though. Score: 4/5

015 Dee Dee – Power-up pieces that have to be next to each other to work properly have never been good in my opinion. There’s too much counterplay to make them sink. If you do manage to keep them together though, you get some serious bang for your buck. Score: 2/5

016 Batman Beyond – Really? Why not just Batman? Anyway, Terry is quite the powerful common with fantastic values, Indom, Flight, good range, Stealth busting, and a fantastic but limited pick-a-power trait. Steal Energy on every click adds a ton of value here, and I like that this dial represents the arsenal that the futuristic bat suit came equipped with. Not quite a Cable from Deadpool and X-Force, but very close. Score: 5/5

UNCOMMONS

017a Riddler – 50 points is a bit steep for Edward, but you do get some wonderful support powers in Outwit and Prob, along with Willpower to keep him mobile. His trait gives him a better version of Super Senses as it’s always 50/50, but your opponent can always Prob the result unlike Super Senses. Score: 3/5

071b Clock King – Looking over this dial, I didn’t really care for him that much, until I saw that he’s only 40 points. This is a steal at that value. Tons of tempo control that’s completely free along with Outwit makes him a powerful support piece. With a smaller pool of truly good Primes in Modern, he’s very playable. Score: 5/5

018 Renee Montoya – Another decent Police figure, but Renee brings both Enhancement for even greater help and a 3-square, I-don’t-care-what-terrain-there-is-I-have-questions radial breakaway. Plus, she has two very good clicks at the end of her dial. Score: 5/5

019 Alfred – A very situational double Perplex piece that requires his target to be hurt (and lucky dice) to work. It’s neat that he can boost his and Batman’s defense, but he’ll most likely turn into easy points. Score: 1/5

020 Commissioner Barbara Gordon – While you lose the breakaway of Renee, for 5 more points you get Toughness, Leadership, Perplex on the later end of the dial, and a big boost for Police figures. It’s a tough call on whether she or Renee are better. Both are stellar for different reasons. Score: 5/5

021 Harvey Dent –Sure, it’s a bit much to pay for a purely support piece (that can take some pot shots), but the Prob up top really helps deliver. The real reason to play Harvey is for his ability to completely null bystanders (or cheap characters) from being used as Mastermind fodder. He’s a niche piece but when he’s needed he will 100% pull his weight. Score: 4/5

022 Mr. Freeze – Finally we get a tanky Freeze! The worst part of this dial is the attack values, and boy do they really hurt. Otherwise, this is a fantastic click. Lots of control here, and his special Incap is very good. I feel like that trait is going to be abused quite a bit. Indom is icing. Score: 4/5

023 Kyodai Ken – Most pieces these days that are actually worth going after are at least 50 points, so Kyodai Ken actually has a decent chance at a 12 attack, or an 11 attack at his lowest. He’s got great damage potential throughout, and the once per game trait is pretty strong. Still, I never like pure Blades pieces as I always tend to roll low, and the minimum on this guy is 1. Score: 4/5

024 Lock-Up – Lyle does exactly what he’s meant to; keep people in place. Sidestep will allow him to creep up so that he can be used after a big set of rolls. Unfortunately his attack values are just awful so you can’t count on his Incap or Exploit Weakness passed his first click. Score: 3/5

025 Maxie Zeus – Maximilian generates some nice bystanders with Invulnerability, perfect for Mastermind fodder or clogging areas. You are pretty limited though and in order to make the most of the dial, you need a map with elevation so you aren’t using POWER to pop these suckers out. The dial itself is okay, but nothing to write home about. Enhancement is nice. Score: 3/5

026 Scarecrow – Some nice utility on this Scarecrow, but rather slow. The full dial of Mastermind is nice, but is this a dial that’s realistically worth throwing damage? Giving Battle Fury can be very strong though, so I’m sure there’s a place for Crane. Points for great flavor this go. Score: 3/5

027 Penguin – I would much rather play Two-Face as a character generator. Outwit is nice, but this is a very frail dial for 50 points. For all the undercosted dials we have in the commons section, it’s a wonder why Penguin got the other end of the stick. Score: 2/5

028 Batman – I love that this Batman amplifies the fear that villains have when he’s around thanks to his nifty trait. This is a decent dial with some nice combos, however, the free attack he gets from the mobility dial is weak since his attack values are so awful. Score: 3/5

029 Robin – Another decent dial for Robin, but it pales in comparison to the Uncommon from Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls. Still, it’s not a bad dial for 50 points, and looks good compared to some of the X-Men we got earlier this year. Score: 3/5

030 J-Man – This is a very mediocre dial. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it, but nothing very exciting either. While it might actually do decent on the field, I can’t help but score it low as an unexciting Joker. Score: 2/5

031 Poison Ivy – IF this Ivy can setup and actually start putting down mushrooms, and IF she doesn’t get hit on that 17 Willpower into oblivion, you might actually have a good figure. As-is, she’s extremely slow to start building, and frankly not worth the time or points. The autonomous symbol on the mushrooms is a nice counter, but still; this dial is just not good for constructed. Score: 1/5

032 Roland Daggett – If you really want figure generation, Roland is about the cheapest you can get for true standard character generation where the figures he pops out actually do something (unlike Tribbles). However, Roland doesn’t do anything else aside from Smoke Cloud, so not the best used of 35 points. I’d rather play Penguin so I get some offense. Score: 2/5

RARES

033 Talia Al Ghul – A decent support piece that will honestly stay relatively safe and tough to KO. She’s actually much better than she seems thanks to her trait. Choose a relatively easy to KO, high damage piece, run them out for some damage, and get a fantastic secondary attacker for 45 points. Score: 4/5

034 Ra’s Al Ghul – So much value for 75 points here, as long as you can land Leadership. As-is, you still get a brutal melee piece with great defenses and Indom. While he is rather slow to commit to the fight, he should theoretically spawn out a ton of minions to cause chaos and damage. Combine with a few common Ninja’s, and he’s going to get out of hand quickly. Score: 5/5

035 Wonder Woman – A surprisingly strong Wonder Woman with some honestly great range capability thanks to her Lasso power. The potential for repositioning is great, but shouldn’t be counted on. Perhaps the best part of this dial is the numbers on the actual dial. Score: 5/5

036 Superman – Pretty decent cheap Superman figure, but I can’t help but wish that 11 attack was on his first click. There’s no reason to not pop that Hypersonic on your first attack with him since he never has access to it after his top click. The teammate Mastermind is a neat trick. Score: 3/5

037 Nightwing – Figures that can attack literally every turn are always a big deal in my eyes, so Nightwing is big for me. With his 6 range, it’s pretty easy to Sidestep and throw that Billy club. His last two clicks are very good, and the fact that he never drops that 10 attack is strong. Score: 5/5

038 The Flash – The Flash almost always has a glass jaw, so giving him Probability Control and a 3-square placement evasion is just brutal. My only complaint on this dial is the 9 attack when he gets to Sidestep and Flurry. If you keep him healthy, he’ll be a beast. Score: 4/5

039 Green Lantern – Just like Wally, John suffers from low attack values, but has some real aggression up front. There’s a lot of versatility on this dial, and the Sidestep/Flight combos extremely well with every one of his power choices. However, Flash is the better play as he’ll be harder to deal with. Score: 4/5

040 Batman – It might look a little clunky, but this is actually a very good dial for Bruce. Attack values are huge for 125 points, defenses with Batman Ally rock, and the Batarang is a fantastic option which he can use as FREE! The single click of Outwit is a little bit of a bummer, and you have to pay the full 125 to get it, but you get a lot of Bats for that. Score: 4/5

041 Robin – Tim is actually pretty decent with good values and some nice Probability Control. My only issue with him is the lack of improved movement for hindering, pushing you to leave him in the open rather than taking advantage of the Batman Ally TA. Heck of a dial at 40 points though. Score: 4/5

042 The Joker – Talk about hard to kill…. This Joker has so many defensive options that he’s going to be a total pain to deal with. Shape Change, Super Senses, and Mastermind, along with his own mechanic to generate Mastermind fodder makes him a very big nuisance. The only problem is that his offense isn’t all that great. If you want an annoying Joker that isn’t broken, he’s a good choice. Score: 4/5

043 Poison Ivy – I’m always a fan of FREE Smoke Cloud, and Ivy has a nice mechanic to deal free damage when she’s close to foes… but this is an exact rip from XXS 056 Dust but with 1 less marker. Even her defense is the same as Dust, but Ivy costs 15 more points and has a lower attack value. The fact that this dial is so unoriginal makes her go from good to crap in my opinion. Score: 1/5

044 Lex Luthor – Yet another character in the set that is fantastic if he’s next to another character. Lex provides three powerful damage powers, but if he’s pushed away from allies (or they’re taken out from under him), he drops easily. Score: 3/5

045 Jervis Tetch – The Mad Hatter feels like a much less powerful Purple Man from Avengers/Defenders War. The printed 11 attack values are nice though. I feel like if he had been 10 points less, lost 1 click of health, and dropped to 10 on click 3, he’d have been better. Score: 2/5

046 Zeta – Interesting mix of styles on this dial. I like how durable he is and the Indom with Giant Reach: 3 will make him a threat almost all the time, not to mention the traited Shape Change for protection. Very nice touch with a ‘can’t use’ on attack powers, and he has a great way to make sure he can hit. Not super exciting, but I have a feeling he’ll play better than he looks. Score: 4/5

047a Killer Croc – Top dial isn’t all that great for Croc, but that mid-dial is just disgusting and can easily be overpowered. The key to this dial is getting him to his third or fourth click and sticking there. With the right team, Croc is just low enough in points to be a dangerous threat. Score: 4/5

047b Batman – You get a nice offensive dial with a huge 4-6 Shape Change, but it’s unfortunate that his ability to generate objects doesn’t flow with the rest of his dial. Also, his stats aren’t very high which is odd for a Prime. This is a very middle-of-the-road Prime. Score: 3/5

048 Bruce Wayne – The Old Man still has some tricks up his sleeve and will be very good as a control piece. Having a permanent source of Probability Control/Outwit in your starting area all game, as long as his apprentice is out, makes him a solid 40 points, especially with Stealth all game. The STOP with Ace is a great addition and makes the dial very strong. Score: 5/5

SUPER RARES

049 Baby Doll – A decent support piece, but if your opponent takes out her Kindered Spirit, she becomes very useless very fast. The anti-Super Senses Energy Explosion is quite good, but with only 1 click of 10 attack, chances are she won’t be hitting her targets. Score: 2/5

050 Bane – We finally get a Bane that can kick ass and has a brilliant intellect. His dial is quite good and efficient, and once he hits those end clicks, Bane really starts to throw big damage. But the best part about Bane is his FANTASTIC harness that comes with him. This thing will be a very big deal. Score: 5/5

051 The Phantasm – LOTS of free movement in this dial and the Stealth/Super Senses/Mystics combo will make her a nightmare to actually deal damage to. Like Carnage from 2 years ago, she excels at hitting figures lower points than her, and the Exploit with Blades is brutal. If you can deal with the 10 attack against bigger targets, she’s fantastic. Score: 4/5

052 Batgirl, Shadow of the Bat – I don’t think any Title Character has this much utility. Free movement, Outwit, Perplex, Probability Control, Stealth, Super Senses… there’s so much value here! Her ultimate ability is the cheapest yet and it’s a fantastic lockdown option for everyone she can see in 4 squares. There’s not a lot of damage here, but that’s okay. The only down side is her KO effect as +1 to attack on your opponent’s force will probably spell certain doom. Score: 5/5

053a Batman, Caped Crusader – There’s some early dissatisfaction with this dial and I can see it with the HORRIBLE KO effect of basically screwing you, but I think this dial is a lot better than he seems. LOTS of mobility, Stealth whenever he wants it, very hard to hit without improved targeting, and some fantastic healing capability gives Bruce a very strong dial. Sure, he slumps in mid-dial (sort of), and he’s probably 25 points overcosted, but he’s still pretty darn good. Score: 4/5

053b H.A.R.D.A.C. Batman – What’s better than a Batman that gets to pick support powers? How about one that costs 75 points and always has access to said powers! While there is a lot of flavor in this dial, it’s still exceptionally costed (like all Super Rare Primes really) and does a ton for the points. He’s a little worse once he hits his STOP, but there’s so much to like on this dial that I’m completely okay with that. If he can stay healthy on click one, which shouldn’t be too difficult, he’ll be amazing. Score: 5/5

054 The Joker – It seems WizKids wants to keep pumping out supremely good Joker Super Rares. While the lack of any true defense is a little scary, this Joker brings so much to the table for just 75 points. You get so much support with him too thanks to his 9 range Outwit and Perplex. Every click on this dial is good, so add him to the list of must-have Joker’s. The present is a wonderful addition to potentially make an already strong dial that much better. Score: 5/5

055 Robot Minotaur – Okay, yes the attack values are rather poor, but look at the tank dial you get for 60 freaking points, and with Indomitable! Thanks to Blades and Exploit Weakness, the Minotaur can actually do a ton of damage, and while he may be slow, you aren’t risking much thanks to his points. The downside is the opportunity to token him for free, which will be very easy thanks to his size, and his values aren’t the best. Score: 3/5

056 Clayface – A lot of folks have said this dial is too expensive, but look at all of the steps you have to get through in order to hit Clayface. If he succeeds on just one Shape Change, this turns into an extremely uphill battle that most players will need to avoid to actually score points. Which means Clayface is free to plug damage all game. He’s slow, but he’s incredible. Score: 5/5

057 Man-Bat – A HUGE upgrade from the last Man-Bat we got! Sure, he’s not quite Bencrawler, but my god there’s a ton of potential with this guy. With some movement modifications to make him super quick, Man-Bat will be a bane. Animal, Monster, and Scientist are all good keywords, and I think Man-Bat could see some fringe competitive play. Score: 5/5

058 The Ventriloquist – Not bad at just 40 points, but realistically the reason for getting him is for Scarface. Giving a character Energy Explosion, Ranged Combat Expert, and a minimum range of 4 is stellar for just 10 points. Unfortunately the dial on the Super Rare just… isn’t that good. Score: 2/5 (Scarface is a 5/5)

059 The Gray Ghost – There’s absolutely some nice tech here in Gray Ghost. He’s a wonderful silver bullet to Carnage and Groot (or even Devil Dinosaur), and his Outwit/Perplex/Stealth combo will make him a pretty decent support piece. However, at 75 points, his values aren’t that terrific, and at 40 points you don’t get his support power. If he started with the Outwit/Perplex on 40 points, he would be competitive. His first trait is neat, but forcing you to play a Batman to use it hurts some. Score: 4/5

060 Hawkman & Hawkgirl – Realistically, you’re getting 12 clicks of health for 125 points which is very good. Tack on a 3-square Sidestep (traited so you get it even after one of the pair is “KO’d”), and some fantastic combat values and aggression against non-fliers and you have a killer dial. Score: 5/5

061 Zatanna – Wow, this is a ton of value. At 75, you get a very good hyper support piece with Sidestep, TK, Perplex, Prob, Mystics, and some bats that help her out with Enhancement. At 50, you lose the TK, but you get a decent cannon with 10 Pen/Psy. Either way, she’ll be a big player in Mystical teams. Score: 5/5

062 Inque – Inque might not do a lot of damage from Hypersonic Speed since none of the pick-a-power selections pair well (sans the Giant Reach), but she can easily pick defensive powers and shell up until she’s in range to use her Close Combat Expert from 2 squares out. Absolutely a finesse piece that will require a lot of careful planning or she’ll go down quickly. Score: 4/5

CHASES & RELEASE FIGURE

063 Batman – Bats is very solid to kick off our chases. You get great values and powers on either dial, and even though his pick-a-power is clunky to actually pull off, the chances that he’ll be left alone to actually use it is pretty high. At 60 points, this is an incredibly good dial with fantastic stats. As it should be, Batman is one of the strongest chases in the set. Score: 5/5

064 Robin – As a Sidelined character, Robin is pretty sweet in that you get a free Perplex, even if he goes down in two turns from free damage. Either way, Robin has a tenacity for continually coming back to life via “capture”. The bad news is that he’s scored each time, but the good news is that if you want Perplex, he’s almost a permanent source. He’s a weird Chase, and I don’t know how to feel about him. Score: 2/5

065 Aquaman – He has the WORST occasional weakness, but Aquaman has the amazing ability to generate 6 squares of water terrain, making characters like King Shark shine. Thankfully, this ability actually lets him counteract his weakness trait quite a bit, which ups his usefulness. He’s actually quite decent at both point values, and dropping free Force Blasting fish that don’t use your actions is a fantastic little trick, even if it’s only against Tiny characters. Score: 3/5

066 Superman – Neither of these dials is really worth their points as you get a standard Superman dial with no glaring strengths. Perhaps his best trick is being able to maybe destroy a bunch of blocking terrain and exposing a character (unless they have Stealth… or they have people near them). His ‘weakness’ trait is actually okay for him because he’s most likely going to be going in for melee attacks, and it doesn’t really help them if Superman is making a ranged attack since they can only have a +3 max to defense. Superman is super bland. Score: 2/5

067 Wonder Woman – Both the 70 point dial and the 30 point dial are good here. At 70, you get a fantastic Hypersonic Speed piece that can also give out action tokens FOR FREE, and good defenses. At 30, you get a decent melee piece that can still hand out action tokens, and Leadership. The best part about Wonder Woman is her ‘weakness’ trait is pretty much nothing. Score: 4/5

068 The Flash – Wait, how is this guy so cheap? At 60 points, you get a very strong Hypersonic piece with all the right powers so everything works together, and a huge Probability Control. At 30, you lose a number on each stat, but you still get a fantastic opening click that can cause some trouble. Flash is actually a steal if you bring him in from his trait at 30 points as he damages himself into Pulse Wave adding more utility to this dial. Score: 5/5

069 Green Lantern – Forget about the 70 point cost as it’s pretty pointless. Instead, look at just how much value you get at 30 points. Sidestep with Flight, TK, Barrier, and Enhancement. That’s a crazy good dial. Need a taxi? He can do that. TK for an alpha strike or equip on first turn? Yep. Wall off on a tight map? Sure, that too. Keep up with your primary attacker for more damage? Got it! The fact that he pushes into Running Shot + Pulse Wave furthers how good he is, even if it’s only a 9 attack. Score: 5/5

70 Apache Chief – The downside to Apache Chief is that his Occasional Weakness hurts thanks to competitive pieces like Mini Shredder. However, this is a great dial for the points. Sure, his values aren’t staggering, but Apache Chief is very cheap for what he does and can eventually hit people anywhere on the map, including using Quake! (Giant Reach isn’t a combat value, so it isn’t subject to the rule of 3) That map-wide possibility of hitting any and everyone with Quake raises his score pretty heavily. Score: 4/5

071 The Atom – 20 Points for Super Strength and Battle Fury seems good, but I question this dial overall. The 50 point line seems to be where the value is with 3 exceptional support powers and Pulse Wave if someone closes the gap on him. As a Sideline character, Atom is perhaps one of the weakest options. Score: 3/5

072 Firestorm – Aside from the +2 or -2 Perplex, this dial isn’t anything to write home about. Firestorm has mediocre values, even for the points he clocks in at, and he’s incredibly easy to hit. His Occasional Weakness is actually quite the weakness since Outwit was buffed and more characters with the power are seeing play (hello Ape Batman). His best play is at 40 points for a taxi with Probability Control, but I’d rather play Ironheart for less. Score: 2/5

073 Hawkgirl – This is a hell of a dial for 50 points, but keep in mind that Hawkgirl is probably going to go down fast thanks to her weakness trait. Still, you get some nice damage and some free pogs with Flurry so you get 3 attacks out of her at least. My only problem with Hawkgirl is that at both values, she does one thing; punch. That’s not too exciting and makes her a passable Chase in my eyes. Score: 3/5

074 Hawkman – Another solid bruiser dial, and he pairs nicely with Hawkgirl for an even 100 points. Great values on this dial, and the ability to drop free tokens on characters is quite good. However, how many figures are there with flight compared to those without? With no way of getting around a Wing Symbol, Hawkman will have a VERY tough time pulling his weight. Combat Reflexes? Against most characters, he’s just a 17 defense, or 15 from range! At 30 points, he’s a fantastic taxi with a neat trick of giving out action tokens. Score: 2/5

100 The Penguin – It’s nice that Oswald creates his own Mastermind fodder on a MOVE, but you have get that penguin to him since they start in the square he began movement in, kind of wasting the fact that they’re autonomous. His trait doesn’t work well with his Quake at all, and while the Outwit is nice, there’s no flow to this dial. It’s clunky and odd, and I’m really starting to not like release dials (sans Rocket from last set). Score: 2/5

STARTER SET

101 Batman – Looks like Bruce has been working out; look at those attack values! There’s some great aspects of this dial from the 3 clicks of Outwit, to the free movement on maps with elevation (and a free attack!), and ending on some seriously brutal ranged clicks. This is a great budget Bats. Score: 5/5

102 Robin – Just like Batman, this is a great Robin dial, but he’s a little more conditional to being on a map with elevation to make him truly worthwhile. Still, you get some nice damage out of this dial, and the Indomitable helps pull his weight. Score: 3/5

103 The Joker – You know how there’s always at least one character from a Starter or Fast Forces that’s insanely good? Here he is! Huge damage mitigation with free healing built in, Probability Control, three very good distinct modes of annoyance on his dial, and an incredible burst potential on doubles makes this a terrifying Joker. Trelane and some equipment will boost him to huge heights. Score: 5/5

104 Poison Ivy – Wow, yet another defense bonus next to hindering for Ivy, and this one requires two squares for +1 to defense. Thankfully, this Ivy actually has quite a lot of damage built in thanks to her ability to pop plants with Flurry and Giant Reach in squares within 10 spaces of her. You’ll need some serious number boosting to make her or her plants hit, but there’s potential. Score: 3/5

105 Catwoman – Selina has a lot of poke with this dial thanks to the Sidestep + Charge and Giant Reach combo. Stealth will keep her safe, and the Exploit Weakness will peel through bigger targets. Her last click might be terrible, but her 3rd and 4th clicks are actually quite good for a melee piece to fall onto. Score: 4/5

106 Harley Quinn – Joker might be fantastic, but Harley is a big pass. She really needs to be on her second click to be useful, and her Peplex is so convoluted and specific that I’d rather just pay for a regular Perplex piece. Score: 1/5

5,700 words later and we’re finally done! Good lord, 12 chases makes this a gigantic set review. I’m honestly hoping that Secret Wars is a fairly mellow size so the next review isn’t so big. Anyway, let’s see how the set broke down in score:

Poor (score of 1): only 4?!

Okay (score of 2): 12

Average (score of 3): 20

Good (score of 4): 23

Excellent (score of 5): 26

As I expected, this set did really well, both because it’s a beloved idea and because it’s a DC set. 49 pieces in the set weigh in at Good or better whereas only 36 are average or lower. Even more impressive is that only 16 figures in the set are meager; even though a score of 3 seems bad, that’s an average figure, so this set has a healthy supply of above-average dials.

I think this set will be fantastic for sealed as well since there aren’t very many large-value figures when it comes to points or dial length. There’s also been reports that cases are putting out 2-4 chases each, so this set seems to be a great option to purchase sealed product from. The Starter set is a must-have since it comes with the updated rules which were tough to get last year (along with some small fixes they made), and some great dials.

What are your thoughts on this set? Are you excited to finally get some Animated Batman, or do you feel that there’s too many non-Batman related pieces? Let me know in the comments section!

This will be my last article until August since things are going into overdrive this week and there’s no signs of stopping for the rest of the month. I wish you all luck on your pulls and on any events you’re attending. If you’re in Southern California, come to our Majestix ROC event on Saturday, September 28th at Crazy Fred’s Comics and Cards in La Mesa! You can find the event on the WIN.

See you guys soon!