In the Aftermath of Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, it was revealed that the love that was shared between Hulk and Caiera on the planet Sakaar culminated in the birth of Skaar, the son of Hulk. Click on "Full Story" for a Deep Dish Review of the characters from: PLANET HULK

Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to a special edition of Deep Dish Themes. As I'm sure you've seen, for the last week or so we here at HCRealms have been doing a series of previews featuring the figures that will be in the upcoming 10 figure Hulk Heroclix Microset (Individual figure boosters MSRP $2.99, avaliable Nov. 30th)

Yesterday, Bill4935 gave us a preview of the Bruce Banner figure in his 4935 Reviews article. In this special edition, I won't be reviewing a single figure like I would normally, but instead I will be reviewing a storyline. Welcome to Deep Dish Themes: Planet Hulk.














































Backstory: Planet Hulk



mu007 E Brood
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 49
Keywords: Brood, Warbound

8 9 16 3

8 9 16 2

7 10 15 2

7 10 15 2

6 9 14 2

7 8 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Pros: A lot of the Warbound have mobility issues. This is not a suprise. The Brood here is a good answer to that. As the only flyer of the group, The Brood will be able to carry less mobile characters into battle while the rest of the team catches up. The Brood also acts as a good tie up piece that can dish out enough damage to earn AT LEAST the points that you are paying to play with it. Without outwit, the Brood can crack invulnerabilty or impervious on three of it's six clicks of life. For only 49 points, you're getting a decent taxi as well as a second-third tier back up attacker/harrassment piece.

Cons: The Brood's attack values are the highest when it's damage is the lowest. Granted, a 10 attack/2 damage flurry isn't bad if you're going up against characters with toughness or less for damage reducers, but it's an unfortunate combo when you are facing big bruisers. The biggest letdown of the character is that there are better choices for the 45-50 point range of character for taxi and/or backup attacker role, but because you're trying to fill a place on a specific theme team, you just have to accept the cost.

Theme: Obviously, most of the figures in this review are going to be recommended for use in a Planet/World War Hulk theme, but I'm going to try to recommend alternative themes for each figure to be placed in as well. For the Brood here, I would play them as replacement for the 'roided up "Firstborn" Brood warriors in a completely Brood theme team. Nothing says swarm team like an actual swarm.

Other players' comments about this figure



mu016 E Miek
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 60
Keywords: Animal, Ruler, Warbound, Warrior

8 9 17 3

7 9 17 2

7 10 16 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 8 14 2

6 7 14 3

6 7 13 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Chemming: Miek can use Charge and Plasticity.

Pros: Miek here has a long dial...and I do mean LONG! It is unprecedented that a 60 point or less character have 8 clicks of life anymore. To make him even better, the majority of those clicks have the Charge power. Now add in the fact that he has three clicks of a natural three damage and still can pack in some damage reducers in there and STILL retain his point cost of 60 points, Miek is a fantastic tie-up and back up attacker. To add even further to his merits as a tie-up piece is his flurry, combat reflexes, and plasticity. He should be able to get some licks in at least once or twice too.

Cons: Just like a lot of the other "Warbound" figures, poor Miek here can get picked off from range fairly easily. One good shot and you don't really have to worry much about him if you are facing him and if you have some decent damage reducers. Two of his clicks where he has a natural three damage come when he has his lowest attack as well. Sure, you'll more than likely be able to keep your opponent nearby to take those wild swings due to his plasticity, but that is only going to happen if the opponent bothers to tries to break away instead of just KO'ing him.

Theme: Another optional team to put this guy on that I've found fun is as part of the Annihilation Wave. For those that don't know it, the Annihilation Wave was just a GIGANTIC swarm of bug creatures from the Negative Zone that Annihilus led across our universe that just destroyed everything in it's path like a swarm of locusts. Miek here fits the bill of a "Big Nasty Bug" very well. The SI Annihilus, Miek x2, and a rookie Brood Queen make a very nice Annihilation wave team that is still "Ruler" keyword based for a 297 point price tag.

Other players' comments about this figure




muB006 Native Warrior
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 11

7 9 16 1

KO KO KO KO

Pros: Hey, it only costs 11 points, right? Need a little filler? How about a little bug for tie up? He can take weak shots without dying. Base him next to your opponent's medic if he's trying to run to his healer. Chances are the medic won't be able to take him out due to his toughness. He's very mobile with Leap/Climb and can even dish out a little damage to characters like medics or just general weak support pieces to begin with.

Cons: He is relegated to tie up and picking on the opponent's support pieces. Gone are the days that you can assign bystander pieces the actions for theme team probability control after the most recent player's guide update. 11 points is a bit much to pay for a figure that is KO'd after one hit of 2 damage or more and might be better used elsewhere if you are playing in a game where feats are allowed. I know if the feat option were available to me, I would rather use my 11 points on a Protected and an Alias feat for my biggest hitter.

Theme: The Native Warrior is another great option available as Annihilation Wave fodder and would work really well to fill in some point gaps in a team higher than 300 points. You could always take the suggestion I made in Miek's section and replace one of the Mieks or the Brood Queen with a bunch of these guys if you're looking for more of a "Swarm" effect.

Other players' comments about this figure (NONE)



mu018 E Korg
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 82
Keywords: Warbound

8 9 16 3

8 10 16 3

7 9 16 3

7 8 16 3

7 8 16 2

6 8 16 2

6 7 15 2

6 7 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Pros: Poor Korg gets overlooked all the time. This could be a great advantage for him. Sporting a dial FULL of damage reducers, he will AT WORST be phenomenal tie up. He is capable of busting all damage reducers for all but two of his eight click long dial, and if he has an object, could even put a serious dent in the opponent's character(s). His dial is very consistent with only slight declines as he takes damage.

Cons: There is not a speed power to be found. Not even anything like Plasticity, Leap/Climb, or even flurry. A lot of brick (Pun Intended) pieces nowadays have at least a click or two of charge somewhere on the dial. While still a deal at 82 points, you can't help but feel as if something's missing on his dial. Like Miek, he suffers from his lowest attack value when he is able to deal out some of his highest damage. As I already said, his dial is consistent. Unfortunately, it isn't necessarily consistently high with a defense value that never sees a value over 16.

Theme: Just like his first appearance, I would include Korg in with a few duplicate copies of himself as stand-ins for his brothers as a Kronan invasion team.

Other players' comments about this figure



mu033 U Green Scar
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 230
Keywords: Brute, Ruler, Warbound, Warrior

7 10 18 5

8 11 18 4

9 11 17 4

9 12 17 4

8 12 17 4

7 11 16 4

7 10 16 3

6 9 15 3

6 9 15 3

5 8 14 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Smash: Green Scar can use Leap/Climb. Give Green Scar a power action; move him up to his speed value, and then give him one close combat action as a free action.

Toughest One There Is: Green Scar can use Impervious and Willpower.

Pros: Green Scar was one of the first characters that had a full movement attack power (Not counting Hypersonic Speed) and therefore was placed on a very high pedestal from the start. Recent characters have to make double power actions to do the same thing, so even now he is still something special. With the somewhat recent change to Leadership, Green Scar can now pull tokens off of his teammates which might make characters like Korg who has no move and attack powers even better. His attack and damage output are stellar and he has something great to offer on every click. The point cost of him is high, but he is worth it.

Cons: UGH. Now I have to come up with something bad to say about him. His movement special power is pretty easy for your opponent to factor in if they are even halfway decent at positioning. Since he can't use the leap/climb portion of the "Smash" power in conjunction with the rest of the power, it is easy enough to position your figures so he has to either trudge through it or go around it as well. His defensive special power is awesome, but it is very easy for a cheap outwit piece to take out half of your figure's effectiveness all in one shot by outwitting that one power. Finally, the stats on the latter half of his dial are not up to the standards of some people for a character of his point class.

Theme: Given that this Hulk is representative of a specific chapter of Hulk's history, I would only really recommend him for a Planet Hulk/World War Hulk theme team. Feel free to make your own suggestions if you can think of something else that would work, though.

Other players' comments about this figure



hulk039 R Caiera
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 3
Points: 139
Keywords: Ruler, Warbound, Warrior

10 11 17 3

10 11 16 3

9 10 16 2

9 10 16 2

8 10 15 3

8 9 15 2

8 9 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Imperial Bodygaurd: At the beginning of the game, choose a friendly character. When that character is adjacent to Caiera, that character's defense value becomes 18.

Blade of my People, Power of Sakaar: Caiera can use Blades/Claws/Fangs and Super Strength. When she uses Blades/Claws/Fangs while holding an object, add 1 to the d6 roll, then remove that object from the game.

Pros: If the actual sculpt it even HALF as awesome as the 3D model, it is perhaps one of the coolest looking sculpts in the game (IMO). The dial isn't half bad either. The ability to give any chosen character adjacent to her an 18 defense is nothing short of awesome. The fact that it's a trait and isn't outwittable is even cooler and perfectly represents a bodyguard type of power. Her attack special power is a nice new take on that kind of power as well. She is a good team player and is good solid attacker on her own. She sports a full seven clicks of top notch damage reducers, so she's going to stick around a while. Steal Energy is a great power already, but it's even better when you can crack even the toughest damage reducers and in conjunction with indomitable.

Cons: She's unfortunately TOO GOOD at her job of being a body guard, because while she's giving someone else an 18 defense, her own defense is only on the higher end of dismal. Another disappointment is that her point cost isn't complimentary to the Red King's so you can't play both of them at 300 points as a pair.

Theme: Since she only existed as a character for a short time, the only theme she really fits into is the Planet Hulk theme. She could be either played as the Red King's bodyguard or as Hulk's wife though, so you can decide whether to play her as good or evil.

Other players' comments about this figure



hulk044 R Red King
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 186
Keywords: Armor, Ruler

8 11 19 3

8 10 18 3

8 10 17 3

8 10 18 4

7 9 17 4

7 10 16 3

7 9 17 3

7 9 16 3

6 8 15 2

6 8 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Gigantic Reach: When this character is given an action that includes a close combat attack, all squares within a range of 3 and line of fire are considered adjacent.

Swat: All damage dealt by Red King causes knock back. When the knock back path of a character knocked back in this way is stopped by another character, deal both characters 2 knock back damage.

Pros: I love all of his powers that effect the battlefield. Mix his high opening stats with his "Gigantic Reach" trait and his "Swat" special power and he has the potential to really mess up battle formations and figures that are being protected by a line of scrub figures. He has a great mixture of standard powers and should prove fun to play with.

Cons: He earns most of his points top dial, so if he gets knocked down a peg or two you are now paying almost 200 points for a character that is only worth about half of that. I love the fact that they represented the obedience disks, but it should have been via a special power that didn't cause feedback damage. His mind control is not at a great place if there is a chance of taking feedback damage. As with Caiera, his point cost could have been more complimentary to her so you could play with both in a 300 point team.

Theme: Once again, he was only around for a short while, so a Planet Hulk theme team would be about the only choice for a comic accurate theme team.

Other players' comments about this figure



hulk015 R Skaar
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 2
Points: 104
Keywords: Brute, Savage Land, Warrior

9 10 16 3

8 9 16 3

8 9 17 3

8 9 17 3

8 9 16 2

7 10 16 2

7 11 17 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Parental Duo: When a friendly character named Hulk or Caiera is adjacent to Skaar, they all modify their attack values by +1 if not already modified by this effect.

Power of the Oldstrong: When Skaar is adjacent to a square of blocking terrain, if he possesses Invulnerability, he can use Impervious instead, and if he possesses Toughness, he can use Invulnerability instead.

Pros: I really love the characters that get bonuses due to terrain and/or other figures that you play with. The regular Hulk set's Skaar has both of these things as options. He is fully functional without proper placing or other characters, but when everything is going his way, he has massive damage reducers and awesome attack values. I really like the split charge on his dial since you really have more of a chance to use it if it isn't all bunched together as a front loaded power. The switch between blades/claws/fangs to Super Strength and then back to B/C/F provides for great synnergy opportunities for your teams as well.

Cons: Though his point cost isn't overly inflated, if he doesn't have the benefit of the proper terrain or characters (Especially in sealed play) you're really not going to get all of his value out of him that was packed into the dial design. Also, his powers and stats won't be horrible without those benefits, but you can't help but feel that you're not getting what you paid for points-wise.

Theme: Knowing that a Shanna the She-Devil and new Ka-Zar are on the horizon, I can't wait to play a Savage Land theme team with my Niece Isabelle as I am forced to fight through swarms upon swarms of her dinosaur army.

Other players' comments about this figure

HCREALMS EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW

#207 Skaar
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 125
Keywords: Brute, Warrior

7 10 17 4

7 10 16 3

6 11 16 3

6 10 17 3

7 9 16 3

7 9 15 2

5 8 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

- Swords are More Fun: Skaar can use Blades/Claws/Fangs. When using Blades/Claws/Fangs, if the d6 roll is less than Skaar's printed damage value, use his printed damage value as the result of the roll instead.

Pros: That b/c/f power is something that speaks to me on so many levels. It's an amazing power to have as you NEVER have to fear rolling less than your printed damage value. It gives you a guarantee to a random thing where the worst case scenario is what your damage value would be without the power to begin with. Also, as you may have noticed, he is the first character from the set to have Hypersonic Speed. On the end of the dial his special power returns with flurry to boot. Now he will be able to use his awesome special power twice per turn! It's all in a neat little 125 point package.

Cons: What's with that last completely bare click? It's too bad that's there because he would probably be a few less points without it. It's also unfortunate that he lost his "Savage Land" keyword as well.

Theme: Despite the loss of the keyword I would STILL play him with Savage Land characters becuase he just fits in so well there. He was also recently approached by Norman Osborn in the pages of Avengers to join the "New Dark Avengers."

This pretty much wraps up this special addition of Deep Dish Themes. Join us here at HCRealms for tomorrow's preview when Ol' Dut goes "Head to Head" with a Gamma Gal that could take down any rules lawyer in the courtroom.

The last bare click is because he could turn back into his "Normal" Non Powered form which was a small trembling Child...Surprised it even has 2 damage.

Comic Theme ThougH?
Run him with GF Banner and have him "Run The Gauntlet" Against Brutes like The Thing, Armies f "Moloids", Juggernaut, And Daken.


Dial Wise: I'm DIGGING The Short Movement Hypersonic Speed. The Attack power is nice. I like teh Short Dial with the end Dial Weak Click

http://pics.livejournal.com/pyrotwilight/pic/001110kp
And an homage to a classic cover

http://pics.livejournal.com/pyrotwilight/pic/0010xpy0

Interesting. HSS on a Hulk-centric-figure is a first. But is that the shortest natural HSS ever? Regardless, that BCF should have been in the main set one as well, but I guess WK reserved it for this one. Not a bad fig, IMHO, and certainly a nice addition to the Brutes and Warriors theme. But no Savage Land keyword, pfft.

You might want to re-read Smash. Unless you were talking about L/C not being compatible with Smash.

I was talking about them not being compatible with each other, but thanks for trying to make my article as accurate as possible

I'll edit it real quick to make my intent more obvious.

Thanks for the awesome article and review!

The bare click would represent when he turns into a little kid.

Really nice dial! Looks amazing. That GF is a must buy!

This Skaar may be the best Hulk-esque character in any of the Hulk themed sets. Well designed, character accurate, and effective point cost. I wish the effort put into this was put into the main set.

I smelt what you were steppin in. Nice read, thanks.

Korg got short-changed...big time.

The only time I have seen him be worth his points is when he was used as Mastermind fodder.

Someone want to explain Skaar's HSS to me? I stopped reading after World War Hulk...

I like GF Skaar dial better then the one from the main set.

So far, this is the only GF clix that I really want. Punisher is pretty awesome, but this guy is a high want.

Hey, this set has Hypersonic after all. Weird.

Ok, that's a cool Skaar, but both are still weak for him. The Gravity feed is so much better for me than the regular set.