The next review is the big blue furball we all have come to know and love as Beast.  Only this figure being reviewed is the Beast from the Ultimate X-Men so I am quite unfamiliar with his exploits in the comic universe.   Lets see what his Heroclix figure has to offer.

For 41 points Rookie Beast starting off doesn’t have all the same powers as his Experienced and Vet version and is the only one without the Ultimate X-Men team ability.    His movement of 9 with Leap / Climb is solid and helps him easily get around the board.  Leap / Climb is also a great power because it means you never have to roll to break away (even against Incapacitate).  His starting Attack of 8 is par for a figure of this point cost, but it drops every click until it reaches 5 on the last 2.  So it’s best to try to keep him as healthy as possible.   He keeps his starting Damage of 2 for 4 clicks so he has the potential to wound figures with Toughness for most of his dial, which may help as the game progresses.  His starting Defense of 15 is also par for a figure of his point cost and combined with 2 clicks of Toughness makes him able to withstand some damage if he is hit.   After he loses Toughness he gains Willpower for 2 clicks.   As with Captain Britain be careful with Willpower.  You may feel like using him like Tasmanian Devil and go crazy, but with a low defense and a weak attack you may be KO’d before you can land a hit. Use Leap Climb to break away and get healed to his starting clicks because that is where Beast belongs.  What makes this character useful is his starting two clicks of Outwit.  Try to keep Beast out of trouble and use Outwit to soften your opponents for your other figures to attack. Use Beast to attack only if the game is on the line near the end. Otherwise just have him dangle on the rooftops and stay away from trouble.

The Experienced Beast jumps up 20 points to 61. He gains the Ultimate X-Men team ability, which is nice. I like it better then the 2000AD ability because each separate figure can target a different opponent to have his attack increased by +1.   This makes it a lot more versatile without having to have every figure target the same figure or team. The other changes with Experienced Beast is his Speed goes up to 10 and he starts with Charge followed by two clicks of Flurry before he gets Leap Climb.  Charge with a speed of 10 is always nice and helps give you a clear-cut edge to attack first.  His starting Attack doesn’t go up, but he keeps 8 for 2 clicks.  If you get on the second click all of the sudden with Flurry you can try to land two separate close combat attacks.  This is useful for Beast because with only an 8 attack you will need 2 attacks to try to land at least one of them.   The other major difference is that Beast starts with Super Senses on Defense before he gets 2 clicks of Toughness. This is interesting because now he has a 1in 3 chance to avoid taking any damage, however if you don’t get that roll of 5, or 6 you have no way to soften the blow.  I’m not sure I like this since you only have Outwit for 2 clicks and a mundane figure with 2 damage can knock Beast off his Outwit clicks.   Then his usefulness drops real fast and experienced players will know this.

The Veteran Beast goes up only 7 points to 68.   The major difference is he starts with one click of Perplex followed by 2 clicks of Outwit.  His dial is now 7 clicks deep and his starting Attack and Defense goes up 1, but otherwise he is the same as the Experienced.  The click of Perplex is handy.  I find that Outwit is usually most deadly when it comes up after the starting click especially against newer players.   Perplex is annoying, but an opponent won’t focus his attention on getting rid of Perplex like he does with Outwit. He will shy away from Beast if he doesn’t know that he gets Outwit later.  This gives you an opportunity to either absorb some damage and have Outwit suddenly appear or push Beast off of the Perplex dial to get Outwit. This in theory allows you to use Perplex and Outwit on the same turn (but not at the exact same time).

Overall I like the Ultimate version of Beast, but I am not ecstatic about him. I should note that I think his sculpt is simply cool (although at least my Rookie has no Blue Fur. What gives?), but this character seems to suffer an identity crisis.  With powers like Charge and Flurry you would think he is a close combat figure, but with a low attack and a damage that never gets above 2 he isn’t going to lay the smack down on opponents. Getting into a brawl is even worse because his best ability Outwit is lost after only a few clicks.   On large point teams I think he would work well to hang back and be annoying with Outwit.  As the game wears on you can bring him up for support as a secondary attacker.  In a tournament though I’m not sure he would stand up.   Who knows, maybe he would surprise me.   He is also an interesting comparison to his Xplosion Beast version.  Their attacks are similar and both Veterans start with Charge, but the Xplosion Beast has a Damage of 3 as well as 2 clicks of Perplex. He doesn’t have Outwit, but those two clicks of Support at the end of his dial could make things interesting.  Overall I think I like the Xplosion version a tad more since cheaper Outwitters are easier to find now then they used to be.

Overall Score: (Out of 10.  Score of: 4 = horrible, 5 = below average, 6 = slightly above average, 7 = great, 8 = outstanding)

Rookie Beast – 6.32
Experienced Beast – 6.68
Veteran Beast – 6.79