Let’s take a look at what you can potentially win and/or purchase at the various conventions through 2017. This doesn’t include the NEWLY revealed LE’s as of 1/24/17 that haven’t had their dials/cards spoiled.

What are these pieces, you might ask? How do I get them? Unlike Monthly OP Kits, which we haven’t had for quite some time now, these LE’s are only obtainable from different conventions that take place throughout the year. These range from San Diego Comic-Con here in my home town to Dragon-Con in Atlanta. Few of them are purchasable whereas the majority can only be won from playing in events like Battle Royale’s. Either way, they’re fairly rare.

Let’s get started!

First up is Bat-Knight, a beautiful new Kingdom Come piece representing the sentries that Batman setup throughout Gotham to protect it (Hey, I finally read Kingdom Come!). This thing is nuts. With Outwit and Number’s protection via the We Will Make Things Right Again trait, this thing is an incredibly efficient secondary or tertiary attacker. It’s also got the Ram ability, meaning that Bat-Knight can deal 3 damage to as many characters as it can line-up with. That’s like the Uncanny X-Men Juggernaut on crack! With Precision Strike, you’re guaranteed to deal at least 1 damage to each of those pieces as well. His powers are astounding, too. Sidestep to line up the ram, Toughness to keep safe, and Empower to help your team (oh yeah, he’s a giant so he can taxi someone WHILE he rams and give them +1 to damage the following turn). Plasticity with Incap is on the later half of his dial which is totally disgusting and will serve to be a complete pain in the ass. Regen is icing on the cake since any roll other than a 1 or 2 will be beneficial thanks to his solid dial. This thing also has the Batman Ally team ability granting Stealth. On top of all this, it’s got your typical KC-stupid-level-values with 11 attack being the weakest value. Oh, and you get all this for 60 freaking points.

Bottom Line: While the Mirage turtles set the standard for 50 points, this guy breaks the mold again. There’s simply no better value for 60 points. Extremely solid and efficient. Score: 5/5

Earth X Captain America clocks in at just 5 points more than Bat-Knight and he’s got an additional click of health, so we’re already ahead on the point value. He’s got two traits and a Special Power. His first trait grants him immunity to Mind Control and Knock back which is pretty nice, and it also buffs your teams’ defense by +2 when they’re targeted by the power. A lot of people tend to forget about Mind Control and how powerful it can be (Rat King says hello), so I really like this trait. His second trait allows him to run around and take any special equipment (NOT possession) and horde them, picking one each turn to use. That’s nice, but somewhat limited as it only comes into play if your opponent is running Special Equipment. The real bread and butter to this Cap is his nutso special power. Never before have we seen a Leadership quite like this. Being able to remove tokens from a cumulative amount of points anywhere on the board is overkill and if he lands this power, he will have a drastic effect on the match. Keep in mind that all bystanders are 0 points, meaning that Cap here can effectively clear all of Devil Dinosaur’s and Penguins pogs while still having his complete 150 points to remove. Think about that. Nick Fury on your field? Yep, take his token off too, regardless of where he is. The amount of change this Cap can have on the game is going to be crazy and I can’t wait to see what people do with him. His dial is okay too with some really nice attack values, but no damage reducers and mediocre defense. With a possessor or Hulkbuster Torso, this cap is going to be nasty. Heck, you can just leave him in the back field and defend your support with him so he doesn’t take hits!

Bottom Line: Get him. If you have the chance, do not hesitate here. There is simply no better competitive piece from the con LE’s this year and this guy will be a total play-maker. Score: 5/5

Samurai Spider-Gwen is a bit more of a fun piece than she is competitive, which is totally okay. Not all Con LE’s need to be overpowered (he said after showing two incredibly OP dials). What I like about Spider-Gwen is that she’s a fun Spider piece but without the lack of damage reductions. I’m always conflicted with Spider pieces because their dials are so good, but I always fail Shape Change/Super Senses rolls, so I feel like I’m just donating points. Gwen here has Invulnerability on top dial and two clicks of Toughness to help her through that, while still having Combat Reflexes and Super Senses traited. That’s a lot of buffing and her defense is going to be solid since she wants to stay close. Her special attack is neato giving her Blades and when she uses it and hits, she gets to Sidestep ignoring characters and destroying blocking terrain. If you’ve played Heroes of the Storm, this reminds me of Samuro’s Heroic Ability, Blade Storm. She just goes flying willy-nilly and breaks everything in her path. That’s fun! I like fun. Her numbers are okay, although her defense does get a little shallow, and the 9 attack on last click is a bummer, but expected. 5 clicks is a little low for her 65 point cost, but she feels a lot more balanced than the previous LE’s. The good news is that she probably won’t run for much on the secondary market meaning I can probably get one!

Bottom Line: Spider-Gwen is a fun mix of dainty spider and armored close combatant. She’s nothing to write home about and I like her SR from Superior Foes of Spider-Man more, but she’s a fun piece and pretty creative. Score: 4/5

We do get one TMNT LE this year, and thats’a Pizza Face. Give it up for that mold; so cool! Anyway, Pizza Face has a single trait and a special power on his 2nd through 5th clicks. His trait gives you a Living Pizza bystander for every non-bystander your opponent starts the game with. That’s wonderful as he’s probably going to give you more pogs on a single use than Devil Dinosaur will, and we all know how effective Devil has been (bystander teams in general). These little Pizza’s have Plasticity, Poison, Support, Flight, and are tiny, meaning they can get wherever they need and will do a decent job at locking someone down. Support is nice, but with an 8 attack, it’s rare that they’ll pull it off. Still though, they’re free Support pieces! As for Pizza’s dial, his first click isn’t very interesting with just Sidestep, Willpower, and Empower with mediocre values. However, when you push him, you get a nice movement power that gives him an 8 range Mind Control with +3 attack. Who doesn’t like a 13 attack Mind Control? You do end up healing your target after actions resolve, but still, that’s pretty sweet and I’m sure you can dish more damage to counteract that 1 click of health. The rest of his dial is pretty bland with low stats to really make use of Exploit Weakness and a low attack to heal him back to better clicks via Steal Energy. At least his low defense value will be somewhat easier to hit for the Living Pizza’s to heal him.

Bottom Line: He’s kind of gimmicky but can produce a metric ton of bystanders depending on who you fight. Still, I think Penguin is a better piece to play. Score: 3/5

Hooray, Marvel gets their first real Colossal Retaliation piece! Although his Retaliation power isn’t the greatest, it’s worth nothing that he’s only 15 points and there’s (currently in modern) an ID card for him via the Original Avengers Fast Forces set, which will probably rotate in June. Still, look how much impact The Atom has had in the meta thanks to that ID card! Anyway, his regular dial is decent depending on point costs. I’m going to separate this out a little bit.

Looking at this 200 point dial, you get 19 clicks of health. That’s pretty terrific, and he has reducers on 6 of those clicks, albeit only Toughness which is a little scary. However, with a 19 defense and Energy Shield/Deflection, Giant-Man is going to be tough to hit. His attack value is a little low for my tastes, and he only keeps that 11 attack for 2 measly clicks. With only 4 damage and no Super Strength, this version of Giant-Man is a bit too high in cost for my tastes. The only real benefit to him is the Special attack he gets that gives him Quake but with Giant Reach equal to his current click number. I would kill for Quake with a area of effect of 6 squares! That’s so awesome! Still, he’s just too expensive to warrant that.

At 125 points, Hank is a little more realistic. with 13 clicks, that’s a lot of bang for your point buck, and he’s got a STOP click at the end.His values do suffer a bit with a 10 attack on his first click and immediately dropping to a 9, but he does have Super Strength with Exploit Weakness, so you have a potential 7 clicks of penetrating damage to deal. His numbers to climb a bit down the dial, and he keeps Super Strength and Combat Reflexes for quite a long time. The end of his dial is pretty meh, so you’re really paying for the absurd amount of health for his point cost.

Bottom Line: He’s okay. I love the 15 point Retaliator dial, but I don’t think I personally would play him other than that. Score: 3/5

Giant-Man may be so-so, but his tank certainly isn’t! I’m going to look at each of these individually rather than clump them together like I did with Hank’s point costs.

Pym Particle Tank – You want a tank in clix, you got one! With uncounterable defense powers and very good ones at that, this thing isn’t dying any time soon. It’s got two different modes; regular pilot mode and autopilot mode which you have to choose between during force construction as they don’t swap in-game. It’s pilot version has three point values you can play it at; 150, 100, or 50. At 150, it’s got 11 clicks which go a lot longer since you can’t counter it’s reducers. While it can’t attack adjacent characters except via Ram and it can’t take the pilot’s attack/damage/range, it’s still pretty strong. With 4 damage down it’s entire dial, it’s going to hit hard all the time. What’s really neat about the tank is that when it misses an attack, it deals damage to the target and all adjacent pieces. That’s awesome and totally conveys the deadly shells.It’s totally solid for any point cost. The autopilot dial is a little more risky in that it can’t have a pilot, it doesn’t get that sweet attack power, it doesn’t keep 4 damage, it’s powers can be countered, and it’s attack values fall pretty hard. However, you’re still getting 7 clicks of health with tons of reducers and Sidestep for the entire dial for only 100 points. It’s also got rege on it’s last two clicks meaning it can heal itself back up and continue to tie up a ton of characters thanks to it’s large base. It’s also got 3 passengers like the regular version, so it can be a wonderful little taxi.

Pym Pocket Tank – Holy moly, this thing is crazy-good. For 8 points, you get to place this tank next to a character and regardless of Super Strength, it just follows them around as if they were carrying it (I’m hoping this comes with a single-square miniature mold?). When an adjacent figure attacks, you can take a -1 to attack and if you hit, you replace the tank with the Pym Particle Tank on it’s orange starting line (yellow if a version of Hank swung it) and displace everyone in the squares it lands in, dealing them 2 penetrating damage and destroying walls. How is that not brutal and awesome?! It gets better; remember that special attack power that deals penetrating damage to anything the tank misses, as well as adjacent targets? Yeah, you get that power with an 8 attack when you replace with that huge 4 damage and Enhancement. This thing is incredible for it’s tiny 8 points! This will be the reason folks look for this set.

Bottom Line: While the tank itself if pretty good and can be devastating with it’s long dial and uncounterable reducers, the object version is where it gets it’s value. Hank may be so-so, but the tank is simply amazing. Score: 5/5

And the award for best sculpt of the Con LE’s goes to…. Spirit of Vengeance Red Hulk! Seriously, how cool is this thing?! Okay, let’s look at his dial and card. Like the SFoSM symbiotes, he gets that same cool trait with Plasticity, Shape Change, and auto break away. Cool. I like Plasticity on a peanut-base. He does ignore elevated, hindering, and characters for movement meaning there is simply no stopping this guy. At his 250 point line, he gets Charge, Super Strength, and Invicible, all with decent numbers. I mean decent because 11 attack for your entire freaking build (okay, yeah, you get 50 more points) is pretty lame and in all honestly, this should have been a 12 at least on top click. With Mystics and 10 clicks, he’s going to be a pain to put down. Or is he? With no Outwit protection, his defense power can simply be countered and if he fails Shape Change, he takes a big hit. That’s dangerous for his points. His 200 point line is a little better in my opinion with Hypersonic, a Special attack power, and Impervious. Now you two chances to roll out of damage completely, and Hypersonic feels a bit more in-character for a Ghost Rider than Charge. His special attack gives him a 5 range with double targets and when he hits with a ranged attack, he deals 1 penetrating damage instead of normal to each target and gives them an action token. I like that. It feels like he has more options rather than just HULK SMASH. I like HULK SMASH, but I like options too. The real joy of this piece are those last 4 clicks with Flurry, Poison, Invul, and a Special damage that deals penetrating damage to his targets based on their action tokens. With the Plasticity he’s got traited and double base, this guy is going to hurt when he rolls up into the enemy team and decides to just sit there.

Bottom Line: He’s just too expensive for what he does and his combat values. While I really dig those last four clicks, I can’t see myself spending 200 points to get there. Score: 2/5

What’s this? Special Bystander tokens from WizKids? Yep, that’s exactly what those are. Some of these, we know exactly what they’re for. while others we have to wait and find out. We know that Jester Bot is for the CW Jester, the Robo Penguin is for JW Penguin, The Tiger is for WF The Wizard, and the Jack-In-The-Box is for WF Harlequin (why didn’t they use the KC art?), but what about the other three? We can tell by their set symbols that these are all for Deadpool and X-Force, and it looks like E.V.A. is part of the Fast Forces. I know based on my Marvel knowledge that E.V.A. is for a new Fantomex, Python is more likely than not for Princess Python, and Parrot Bob is for Deadpool, 99% for Pirate Deadpool which makes me pretty happy. What’s weird is that E.V.A. has almost identical powers and layout to her original version of Wolverine and the X-Men. That led me to believe that an early showing of these were fake, but these were revealed on WizKids Twitter account, so they’re legit. What’s also weird is the different colors for the different bystanders. Why is the Penguin blue? Why are the Tiger and Jack-In-The-Box black? It’s probably to help distinguish what set they’re from, but why not keep them green like all bystanders have been? Unification for a game element is a lot better, especially when Heroclix is already a pretty complicated game.

Bottom Line: It’s not really fair to give these a score since they aren’t really brand new elements. My overall opinion is that they aren’t great and I would be pretty bummed if these are winnable meaning that you might get them instead of any of the other LE’s above, even Red Hulk.

The 2017 Con LE’s are looking decent and I’m excited to see what else we have in store once the new LE’s dials are revealed (Spider-Carnage??? YEAH!). What pieces are you looking to get out of these? Are you attending one of the bigger shows in the summer which will have all of these and want to hook up your favorite Heroclix blogger? Drop a line below!

I’ll catch you crazy Clixer’s on Thursday!