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Pojo's HeroClix "Click of the Day"
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WildWill |
Name: Dr. Fate
Set: Unleashed
Numbers: 70-72, 216
Rarities: 3-5, LE
Costs: 85, 113, 155, 112
Health: 8, 9, 10, 9
SSADD: 8/8/16/2, 8/9/17/3, 9/9/17/3, 8/9/17/3
Powers: Phasing/Teleport, Psychic Blast, Energy Shield/Deflection, Barrier,
Probability Control
Exp, adds no new powers
Vet adds Defend
LE adds Energy Explosion, Pulse Wave, Smoke Cloud, Leadership, Outwit &
Support
Ranged Attacks: 1 Range 6, 1 Range 6, 1 Range 6, 1 Range 6
Team: None, Justice Society, Mystics, Mystics
Like most of DC’s characters, there have been a few different people behind
the face of Dr. Fate. The first was Kent Nelson, the son of a famous
archeologist. Kent’s dad was excavating the tomb of the Lord of Order Nabu,
and upon opening the sarcophagus was killed instantly by the gas he
released. Kent, who was nearby was then confronted by the spirit of Nabu,
who decided that the lad was perfect to be Dr. Fate, and gave him the mystic
Helmet and Amulet that Dr. Fate uses.
Now Kent had a fine career adventuring as Dr. Fate, starting in, oh, say the
early 40’s up until the 80’s. He had even gotten married to a fine young
lass named Inza, and they lived happily ever after in their weird tower,
helping all kinds of DC Heroes, most notably as a member of the Justice
Society and the Justice League.
Inza couldn’t take the strain of being married to an immortal god, which
Kent basically was, and she committed suicide round about 1987. Kent,
devastated, wanted to join her in the afterlife, but Nabu, that sneaky Lord
of Order, wouldn’t let him until he found a new body for Dr. Fate…since
basically, Kent was a host body for Nabu, which he did in the form of young
Eric Strauss. But at this point Kent discovered that Dr. Fate was supposed
to be not, two identities (i.e. Kent and Nabu), but actually THREE! So the
new Dr. Fate ended up being an amalgamation of Eric Strauss, his lover
Linda, and Nabu.
Confused? It gets worse. Eric/Linda/Nabu Fate didn’t last all that long, and
events conspired to resurrect Kent and Inza Nelson, and THEY became the
THIRD Dr. Fate.
At this point it gets REALLY REALLY confusing, because during Zero Hour, all
of that went away, and a NEW Fate was born, and this guy didn’t even have
the same costume as before. Fortunately DC discovered the error of their way
and went back to the classical image of Fate, but now he’s Hector Hall, who
has some history with Hypolita Hall and the amazons, but also was a major
character in the Neil Gaiman Sandman series. As a matter of fact, if I’m not
mistaken (and I could easily be), Hector Hall was one of the pre-Gaiman
Sandmen, and is also the father (albeit he was dead at the time) of the
current incarnation of Morpheus, Daniel. If you’d like a better explanation
of Dr. Fate’s origins, up to just before the newest incarnation, click here:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/HERORPG/Kent.html
Now that I’ve really confused everyone reading this, I’ll look at his
Heroclix. See the thing is, I LOVE Dr. Fate, and always have. I have a thing
for all the DCU Mystics, which is why I love the fact that they have their
own TA. Now if we just got some Endless Heroclix…no what am I saying, they
wouldn’t translate well. I can see it now, a Death Heroclix. What’s her
power? Well…you die. End of game.
Taking a look at the Rookie Version of Dr. Fate, I see a really expensive
figure with not a lot to offer. Sure, a 16 Defense is nice, and Psychic
Blast is a killer ranged attack (though the Rookie only has a 2 damage…it
gets MUCH better in all the higher levels), but 85 points is just way too
high for this bad boy.
The Exp and Vet versions are much easier to take, although, they are both
too expensive. Of the REV the Vet is the best version (naturally), with a 17
Defense and Defend, plus the aforementioned Psychic Blast for 3 damage, AND
the Mystics ability.
Now the best of the lot, is the LE…with all it’s pretty dial colors, and a
point cost that is not crippling. Again, another broken figure, if not for
it’s extreme rarity. And if you’re lucky enough to win one, good on ye…now
go make a team for him toot sweet.
Dr. Fate is one of the sweetest sculpt/paint jobs I’ve seen awhile. I love
the fact that they actually got Gold on his mask. REV sets are selling for
an average of $6 right now on Ebay, with a high of $16.50 and a low of $1.80
sans shipping. The LE Version is not available quite yet, but since he’s got
so many freakin’ pretty colors on his dial, and if I’m not mistaken, he’s
the harder of the two LE’s to get (i.e. he’s not the Fellowship reward),
he’ll be in the $50-75 range.
My ratings – playability first, then Collectability.
Rookie – 3,3
Exp – 3,3
Vet – 4,4
LE – 5,NA
Next time – Even MORE Unleashed…Yup, it’s all Unleashed All the TIME Now!
Well for the next couple weeks anyway. Enjoy it while you can kiddies!
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Monger |
Doctor Fate
DC Unleashed #072
When you pull this figure from a booster, you would expect an incredibly
strong figure – being Dr. Fate and all 155 points of glory! A nice gold
mask, a pretty yellow cape…yep, it’s all flashy and catches your eye. It’s
just too bad that he’ll be catching eyes from the bottom of a trade box. I
have to say it now, to get it off my chest – they really ruined this guy.
His point total seems about right, but his abilities just don’t seem to gel
as well as they should of.
Speed / Range: Why does Dr. Fate only have a 6 range? I’m still somewhat
stunned by this value. Give this figure an 8 range and his play time would
probably double in my area. Speed wise, I was impressed. There’s nothing
wrong with seven clicks of phasing, and I really expected nothing else in
this area. However, I wish they would have cut back on a few clicks of
phasing in order to boost his next area – attack!
Attack: Not bad, not bad at all actually, for a DC figure. If this character
was in Marvel, he’d probably be overlooked (why am I saying probably, he
WOULD)! In order for this guy to be productive, he needs some perplex…badly!
All-in-all he’s a pretty strong figure when it comes to fighting. Six clicks
of Psychic Blast is king - being able to overlook any form of defense wins
games, no matter how serious.
Defense: Starts off the game with two clicks of defend and a base 17
defense. Not to shabby…this will help a lot if Dr. Fate ever needs to taxi
around a medic or a heavy hitter. With all the lower defensive figures in
DC, defend will come in handy more then you might think! On Dr. Fates 3rd
thru 5th click, he becomes more of a fighter, being able to stand six spaces
away from battle and hold up a solid 18 defense. If your opponent is able to
get any hits in, Dr. Fate drops to barrier on his 6th thru 8th click. This
ability gives your team time to either run away or regroup, whatever need
be. After I take a closer look at this defense, I see they have positioned
everything just about right.
Damage: Nobody can complain about a base three damage. But eight clicks of
probability control? This could have been MUCH better - if this had been
perplex! Oh, the horror this figure could have dealt if he was given
perplex…
Overall: Just …not worth the 155 points. The attack value and range of this
figure is to low for this point total. He does have a nice array of
abilities, but I feel he is lacking the ones he truly needed in order to
become tournament playable.
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The
Honey
Duke |
V Dr. Fate
Two new elements comes to DC's version of the game: Defend and Probability
Control. Dr. Fate has both, but Defend is a bit of a bigger deal, as he's
the only non-Unique character with it. He probably won't impress Marvel
players accustomed to fielding a Defend character like R Invisible Girl for
37 points, but he'll still be a spectacle because of the other abilities he
offers.
Fate's Defend clicks each sport a 17 Defense value. Most folks should
capitalize on this by teaming him with characters with Energy
Shield/Deflection, thus reaping the benefits of a 19 DV. In DC, not many
characters have the power on their first clicks, so this is going to mean
dusting off characters that haven't had much use before now. We're talking
about Zatanna, the Manhunters, R Circe and the likely overlooked Science
Police. The latter should probably get a good look, thanks to the Police PD,
which is needed to boost Dr. Fate's 9 attack value.
To make the most of V Dr. Fate in a 300-point team, you'll want to keep your
squad in close quarters. Go with no more than three other characters, with
at least one of them a flyer to make sure you can travel in a pack with
Fate. Take advantage of hindering terrain if you can, too.
Make Fate's teammates your primary attackers and protect Fate as long as you
can, as he doesn't have any damage reduction. Even if your opponent can get
to Fate, that shouldn't be too bad. Your opponent will likely send his top
attacker after Fate, and if he does make a hit, that figure will likely lose
that AV because of Fate's Mystic team ability. Fate will still be a tough
hit, because of Probability Control.
TheHoneyDuke
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