View Full Version : The Trophy Room The Trophy Room: King Hyperion!
http://www.hcrealms.com/units/sv213.jpg
The King isn’t dead, baby. He’s alive. And although he’s only an inch tall and lives in a blue cardboard box, he’s still got plots and schemes for taking over the world. After many years of waiting, the Squadron Supreme’s biggest gun has finally arrived on the scene, providing us with four terrific versions of Hype to field – ranging from the nice to the very, very nasty. And it’s that nasty man that’s getting most of our attention today as we set our sights on King Hyperion. Come on in! Goofy green goggles are optional.
Here’s how King Hyperion looks.
King Hyperion #213
Type: E Different
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8 /
Points: 187
m-winga-normald-normalg-normal12111751110183101017310916389153810153811143712143713144KOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKO
King Hyperion’s Gains vs. E Hyperion
The King’s most immediately noticeable addition is his opening shot of Hypersonic Speed coupled with a robust five (5) damage. This King isn’t going to love anybody tender. If somebody steps on his blue suede shoes, they’re going down. And since he has so many darned heroes and mutants to wipe out, the rest of his movement track is full of Flurry for when he’s in position to bring the pain, and Charge for when he’s got to walk the hurtin’ around a little bit. From an attack perspective, the King gets the highly exciting Psychic Blast enabling him to zip through damage reducers, and the mostly ho-hum and likely rarely to be used mid-dial Quake. The King gains a little bit of ground defensively as well, seeing his defense climb to 18 on his second click, and a lonely click of Regeneration appearing all the way down on his ninth and final click. Things get a bit more interesting for him on the damage end of things as well. Most importantly the King receives two clicks of Exploit Weakness that line up nicely with his last two Charge clicks in the middle of his dial, and then there’s the rather irritating but worth the mention four clicks of Battle Fury that close out his dial. For four fewer points than E Hyperion that’s a lot of new territory. It’s very good to be the King, indeed.
King Hyperion’s Losses vs. E Hyperion
In keeping with most other LE’s that are a departure from their REV counterparts, the King discards a good deal of what we’ve come to know and love about just plain old regular pleb Hyperion. Gone is the Running Shot, the Force Blast and the Super Strength. So too are the numerous clicks of Ranged Combat Expert and Close Combat Expert. Also missing is the Defenders TA, rightfully so, and that opening click of Leadership which wouldn’t make sense on his dial since the King is more of one man band. Smaller losses appear in the form of two fewer clicks of Invulnerable, one less of Toughness and two less of four (4) damage.
Cards that Work
King Hyperion is a tank and he’s pretty well-built and ready for action as he stands. As such there are not many Feats that make a ton of sense for him. If he has any legitimate failing it’s that the attack numbers in the middle of his dial are a bit droopy. Some of his damage numbers may also need help on occasion. While this could be solved via the can’t-be-retired-soon-enough In Contact With Oracle, it’s probably better to address the issue by adding a competent and capable Perplexer to the team to give the King the mid-dial enhancement that he needs. Because the King is going to need servants, err, support more than he needs to add to his own already prodigious point cost.
Since he is void of Super Strength, it may be wise to eliminate any and all objects from the opposition’s arsenal so that the King doesn’t get completely jacked up by another Charging or HSS brick. Damage Control takes those objects out of the game and thereby limits the damage dealing potential of others which is all well and good because no one should do more damage than the King.
If ol_Dut had to Choose
King Hyperion vs. E Hyperion? E Hyperion is nice guy. Maybe not to the point where he’s helping old ladies cross the street and rescuing kittens from trees, but his Squadron Supreme was trying to save the world in their own way. And as far as good-aligned flying bricks go, you could do a lot worse than E Hyperion. But when you’re looking for the mirror image, King Hyperion is a solid choice.
His opening click is very impressive – HSS with 12 move, 11 attack, a 17 Impervious defense and a natural 5 damage. After that wonderful click he changes gears, but don't be too quick to dismiss him due to his damage numbers hanging out at three (3) for most of the rest of his dial. On his next four clicks he can cut through defenses from near and far thanks to Psychic Blast which gives way to Exploit Weakness. That's three (3) clicks of penetrating damage every time he hits. And once he passes those powers he picks up Flurry which will allow him to do six (6) clicks of damage in a round. Pesky Stealthed snipers got you down? A quick Charging Quake will help the team by knocking them out into the open – or better still, off buildings. When he hits Quake, his attack numbers do falter. But putting them in context they’re a pair of nines, and they’re his lowest attack values on his nine click dial. Not too bad for 187 points. As he begins to take more damage (or push) his attack values climb their way up from those nines to a jaw-dropping 13 with four (4) damage. How may other figures out there start let alone end with those kind of numbers? And when he’s not busy crushing the life out of the enemy with that big 13 attack, he can pause to Regenerate where a good roll puts him back on Flurry with a 10 attack. With his multitude of powers King Hyperion provides a great number of strategic options and lots of opportunities for entertaining game play. E Hyperion is just going to run and shoot, Charge and smash, and repeat. In comparison, as nice as he may be, E Hyperion comes off as a solid but boring old piece of white bread, while King Hyperion is the full-on peanut butter and banana sandwich and he’s my pick of the two.
Quick and Dirty Price Tag
Royalty has its price, and in this case it’s about $15 bucks. If you didn’t get him at the marquee and haven’t had any luck going the trade route, for the price of two boosters he’s a pretty good deal.
Thanks for reading. Next week? More Supernova!
Especially if you compare him to the Rookie. Yeesh! For the extra 10 points you get a world of better.
fastcat99
11/30/2006, 14:55
He is loads of fun to play, too. I've had to work hard to squelch the feeling that I'm being cheesy by playing him with that initial super click. But somehow I managed. to have those kinds of late dial numbers and eight range. It's good times.
Jakgotbak
11/30/2006, 14:56
Great review, as always.
And maybe the best avatar.... ever.
Great review. Loved the Elvis references.
zeppelined
11/30/2006, 16:52
...and Charge for when he’s got to walk the hurtin’ around a little bit.
Best line in a figure review. Ever.
mr_moneypenny
11/30/2006, 17:06
Awesome review for an awesome piece! I think a nifty BFC to play might be 'Power Dampening Field', where his full dial of 3 damage (except for that beaut of a first click, which would lose a bit of its luster... But it would also remove the hesitancy to push off of it, too...) can be used to devastating effect, while his damage reducers help him hang around a while.
For 187, an amazing and FUN piece. I look forward to trying it out this weekend...
Thanks as always for the great reviews, Dut. We're wearing your ring. You're our teddy bear. (I'll stop now)
-jason
Awesome review for an awesome piece! I think a nifty BFC to play might be 'Power Dampening Field', where his full dial of 3 damage (except for that beaut of a first click, which would lose a bit of its luster... But it would also remove the hesitancy to push off of it, too...) can be used to devastating effect, while his damage reducers help him hang around a while.
For 187, an amazing and FUN piece. I look forward to trying it out this weekend...
Thanks as always for the great reviews, Dut. We're wearing your ring. You're our teddy bear. (I'll stop now)
-jason
You know, I'd thought very hard about PDF and it's an interesting idea, but two things stopped me:
1 - I didn't want to suck any of the fun out of click #1; it's just too pretty, and
2 - I had a bad experience with that feat at WWC that ruined it for me forever. PDF is dead to me.
adamical
11/30/2006, 17:34
Well now you've got to share!
Good review, btw.
UltraSuperGuy
11/30/2006, 17:42
Good review, Dut. I have to say I don't think the King is worth his points, though. A nice starting click, sure, but by his fourth click he's got pretty mediocre stats and is going to be little more than easy target practice for your opposing team, especially when he loses his range attack on his last four clicks and has basically zero defense.
Once you damage the King for a few clicks, he's going to go down faster than Elvis on a box of Krispy Kremes.
That being said, you're still the pimpiest pimp daddy around.
TheProphecy212
11/30/2006, 17:56
Here's E Hyperion:
#074 E Hyperion
Team: Defenders
Range: 8 /
Points: 191
m-winga-normald-normalg-normal1211174121117410101731010163101016299153991539814388144KOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKO
Nice review!
zero_cochrane
11/30/2006, 17:59
I'd be quite concerned about those late-dial defences. If I play him, I'll consider using Protected not to keep him safe at the top of his dial, but to prevent him from being taken down easily once the defence slot goes white.
Automatic Regeneration might be a bit of a Hail Mary to be worth using.
The King appeals to me as one of the best pieces to use in a "lop-sided" 300/400 point theme team. Allow me to expand my thoughts: I like playing theme teams, either same TA, or a comic-book roster; my preference is to build reasonably balanced (in points) teams without trying to work around a single high-costed figure. Teams like Excalibur have always been nixed by the pricey Captain Britain, and my Brotherhood of Evil Mutants rarely have a Magneto above the IC Rookie. The New Mutants must fly without Cannonball. Ultimates? Superman Family? Fuhgetaboutit, unless the game is 500+ points.
But King Hyperion will be an absolutely brutal member/tentpole of an Exiles team...especially with Blink/Clarice to TK him into position for a first-strike...and the rest of the team can be salted to taste with many types of support...and HSS-hit-and-run is such a nasty tactic, King Hyperion is the ONLY one of these flying nasties that I'd feel comfortable playing like and absolute r@t-b@st@rd.
Wolverine_Hulk
11/30/2006, 19:53
I love the King, and I won him luckily.
tyroclix
11/30/2006, 21:19
King Hyperion is superior to all the versions. The Vet has some impressive numbers - but he's not roughly 40 points better.
If not for the TA, I'd dump all Hyperion versions other than the LE. Outside of needing that TA, though, I don't see myself ever choosing the REV over the LE...
I wasn't lucky enough to get this one (a Thanos was pulled at all 3 marquees I entered), but I have played against him. I found out the hard way that a flyer with Charge, Quake, and Exploit Weakness is a recipe for pain.
CagedCrado
12/01/2006, 02:30
Kudos to the king. I love the King although I don't play him very often. He is really fun, and yes for 187 points or whatever it was you can field a whole team of better pieces, but he is still a fun dial to play with and is definitely the better of any pieces in the price range except for possibly the exp surfer.
GreenMonster
12/01/2006, 02:48
King Hyperion is superior to all the versions. The Vet has some impressive numbers - but he's not roughly 40 points better.
If not for the TA, I'd dump all Hyperion versions other than the LE. Outside of needing that TA, though, I don't see myself ever choosing the REV over the LE...
The Vet Hype ruined my chances for "the Don" at the Marquis (they jacked it up to 400, but everyone agreed, and it was funner).
I played a team with the following:
E Kang (mvp in 2 games)
U Captain Mar-vell (mvp 1 time--did about 20 clicks to a vet silver surfer)
R Vision
Kree nub
I beat all comers and only lost the Vision and the nub once.
Some lady that plays every so often pulled the Vet Hype, and the Meteorite, and literally mopped the floor with everyone--Max points.
In the last game, a real good player (he was at max points before that game, too) in the area faced her with a Vet Thor team; I was two turns into it my game when I heard "game over" across the room. I turned and saw the guy shaking his head.
5+ 4 (meteorite-she rolled the 6) + 1 (perplex)
No imp roll to Thor--8 CLIX.
No help from my fellow players, I walked empty handed. Mad props to the Vet Hype.
Thanosworld
12/01/2006, 04:21
Great review. I really like the king. Only real flaw I see is no team ability. His second and third click flurry for 3 is pretty good. Lets you choose to pb (range) for 3 when they have reducers or flurry (close cobmbat) 6 with no reducers.
JamesJTC13
12/01/2006, 07:10
he is great! I've used him quite often after I won him.
I made a squadron supreme team when playing my friend once with him speed demon, and Dr.Spectrum ...I haven't gotten skymax yet or he'd find his place in the team too.
Repulsor rage
12/01/2006, 19:12
5+ 4 (meteorite-she rolled the 6) + 1 (perplex)
That illeagel, meteor is unmodified.
My King Hyperion took on Donald, Graviton and sum other heavy hitter.
He rocks.
Wolverine_Hulk
12/01/2006, 22:50
That illeagel, meteor is unmodified.
My King Hyperion took on Donald, Graviton and sum other heavy hitter.
He rocks.
It depends on the Judge because there has been no official FAQ, so it is the judge's call.
It depends on the Judge because there has been no official FAQ, so it is the judge's call.
Um...I don't see how it's a judge's call. It says RIGHT on the card that you can't modify the damage when you use Meteorite. Why would a FAQ be needed for that?
Great review dut! I hope to play with King Hyperion soon, he should be lots of fun. How about THREE perplexers on a team with him? ;) AND it's thematic!
61 V Gambit w/ Armor Piercing
195 LE King Hyperion w/ Protected
154 U Warbird w/ Thunderbolts and Trick Shot
65 V Colossus w/ Lucky Break
102 U Carnage w/ Pounce and Nanobots
113 E Vision w/ Thunderbolts
700 points
Exile's Weapon X team! Should be a fun team to play...you could always take Trick Shot and Lucky Break off for Fortitude or Repulsor Shield on King Hyperion....
Mar-vell
12/02/2006, 07:41
Although the King of Rock and Roll is vastly superior to the greatest rock and roll band ever, I've got to admit I thought your Stones review was funnier. Maybe its just because Elvis puns seem to be done to death.
Great review nonetheless.
Wolverine_Hulk
12/02/2006, 09:33
Um...I don't see how it's a judge's call. It says RIGHT on the card that you can't modify the damage when you use Meteorite. Why would a FAQ be needed for that?
Well my judge has interpreted it that the Rule of 3 doesn't apply because it is added to damaged dealt.
Back to the topic at hand, I think the one thing that really hurts him is being unable to deal with Mystics because he will take a click of damage which puts him on Flurry.
Repulsor rage
12/02/2006, 16:34
Continual. When this object is used in a successful close combat attack, roll one six-sided die and subtract 2 from the result, minimum result 1. Add the result to the attacker’s unmodified damage value for the attack. The damage dealt can’t otherwise be modified.
XStreme that sounds like a really fun team. I had the thought of throwing a double or a single perplex with oracle on him. I always wanted, but for sum odd reason never tried, bumping up sum1 with 3 damage flurry and solid attack; vet Sub-Mariner, Man of Steel, King Hyperion, Colonal Logan, 2099 Hulk to name a few. Flurry 5 damage or 6 for that matter, sumthing about that just seems unholy
Well my judge has interpreted it that the Rule of 3 doesn't apply because it is added to damaged dealt.
But the Rule of 3 doesn't have anything to do with it. The card that Meteorite comes on states that you cannot modify the damage any further when you use Meteorite. I really don't think we'll even see an errata for this. It's pretty self explanatory.
Back to the topic at hand, I think the one thing that really hurts him is being unable to deal with Mystics because he will take a click of damage which puts him on Flurry.
The one good thing about that situation though is that he doesn't rely on a TA at all so Disbanded is a great choice that can help him out against Mystic teams.
XStreme that sounds like a really fun team. I had the thought of throwing a double or a single perplex with oracle on him. I always wanted, but for sum odd reason never tried, bumping up sum1 with 3 damage flurry and solid attack; vet Sub-Mariner, Man of Steel, King Hyperion, Colonal Logan, 2099 Hulk to name a few. Flurry 5 damage or 6 for that matter, sumthing about that just seems unholy
Thanks! I think it would be a pretty fun team to play. I'm making my friend attempt to make a 700 point Exiles team so we can play them against each other. I've used ICWO on V Sub-Mariner plenty of times. It's hard to pass up when I play him because he has that 3 damage and Flurry...Flurry lets you get double use out of ICWO or Perplex which is such a great boost.
vBulletin® v3.7.0, Copyright ©2000-2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.