ORIGIN: Karla Sofen was born in Van Nuys, California. She grew up in the mansion of Hollywood producer Charles Stockbridge, as the child of Karl Sofen (Who was Stockbridge's butler). After her father died, her mother (Marion Sofen) worked three jobs to put her daughter through college, and Karla vowed never to end up like her mother, to never put another's needs before her own. Despite building a successful practice as a psychologist and psychiatrist, Karla so disliked being dependent on her patients for income that she entered the super-criminal world as an aide to Doctor Faustus. Learning of the original Moonstone (Lloyd Bloch) she became his psychologist and manipulated him into rejecting the source of his powers, an extraterrestrial gem of considerable power, which she then acquired and absorbed to gain the powers of Moonstone.




cm055 R Moonstone
Team: Master of Evil
Range: 6
Points: 68
Keywords: Femizons, Masters of Evil

9 8 15 2

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 6 13 2

6 6 13 2

6 5 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: She is a figure with many options. She can be a good close quarters brawler if you can get her an object to hold. Add in the fact that she has phasing and she can get out of tight situations that she might get into if she gets locked into combat. She can also be a decent ranged attacker with her Ranged Combat expert. Her toughness should allow her to take a hit or two and survive. Even if you only use her as a secon/third tier attacker while most of the time using her as a taxi that can't be tied down, you should be able to get your point value out of her. Add in these options and the Masters of Evil team ability that she brings to the mix and she should be an asset to your team.

CONS: As with many figures of her age, she is just suffering in the area of attack and defense. If her attack value was just slightly higher she could be a very solid secondary attacker. With a starting and highest attack value of eight she's probably never going to be given a second look if one has the option to pay only eight more points for the Hammer of Thor version of the character. If you really want to play her and have the option to do so, you could always have her pick up the desk or the tombstone object to give her defense a temporary boost, but otherwise her value there is absyssmal as well. On an aesthetic note, I really wish this figure would have been in her original yellow and white costume instead of her Meteorite costume from her time in the Thunderbolts.

THEME: Where keywords are concerned, she has two options...Femizons or Masters of Evil. Either team would be good for her, but I think I would get more mileage out of her in a Femizons team. She would be a good taxi to get some of the more close combat brawlers in that theme team around and would provide some decent enough cover fire to get in a lucky shot or two.

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cm056 E Meteorite
Team: Avengers
Range: 6
Points: 75
Keywords: Masters of Evil, Thunderbolts

9 9 16 2

9 8 15 2

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 6 13 2

6 6 13 2

6 5 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: She is now officially meteorite which fits the sculpt. I don't know if that is a big deal for anybody else, but it is important to me, so I know at least a FEW other players have to feel the same way. The experienced version takes the foundation that was set up by the rookie and builds upon that idea in the way that most REV figures did in this era of figures. She got a little bit of a bump in both attack and defense that makes her just that much more playable than her rookie version. She has also gained the Thunderbolts keyword which opens her up to the ATA option and we are all painfully aware of it's applications.

CONS: It's not as bad as the rookie version, but it's a shame that she has several clicks of life at the end of her dial that are adding to a point cost but not to her effectiveness and overly inflate her point cost. She got a nice bump in attack and defense as I said, but it's unfortunate that her range didn't jump up a bit as well. It's not a huge complaint as a lot of modern age figures are getting a little bit of a range handicap and the average range has decreased by a bit making this Meteorite's range closer to the current average.

THEME: The experienced Meteorite couldn't have represented the beginnings of the character's career or the beginnings of the Thunderbolts with her having both the Thunderbolts and the M.O.E. keywords. It's as if she has one foot out the door and one foot still in the house. It's due to this that she could be really beneficial and would work for either team. Given the sculpt, the name change, and the fact that most people will play with the ATA on her, she is just slightly more likely to be put on a Thunderbolts team by me.

Other players' comments/reviews


cm057 V Meteorite
Team: Avengers
Range: 8
Points: 85
Keywords: Thunderbolts

10 10 16 2

9 9 16 2

9 8 15 2

8 7 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 6 14 2

7 6 13 2

6 5 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: The veteran Meteorite continues to get the stat bump that was typical of figures of this era. With additional bumps to her movement, attack, and range she is a figure that I would consider playing with even in modern day games. Get her an object so she can defend herself in close quarters while she continues to blast opponent's for four damage when RCE is included into the mix. The extra range is where this version shines over the other versions, though. Six is nice, but why not enjoy the extra area of effect that eight gets you?

CONS: The rookie starts with toughness, the experienced version has a bit more toughness, and I would have hoped and thougt that the veteran Meteorite would have enjoyed at least one click of invulnerability and a value above 16. She's very easily hittable and can't take a lot of damage before her mostly front loaded dial turns into an overly priced tie-up piece. She might get lucky and incapacitate somebody near the end of her dial, but with those attack numbers, she's not likely to incap the person you'll want slowed down the most and with those defensive numbers, your opponent is going to probably just go ahead and score the easy 85 points.

THEME: Thunderbolts is her only keyword, so if you're looking for bonuses, that is the only team you'll be able to play her on barring a judge that is looser with theme bonuses. Given that she is the most powerful and playable version of Meteorite, I would play her on an Original Thunderbolts line-up team.

Other players' comments/reviews


cm219 LE Dr. Karla Sofen
Team: Master of Evil
Range: 6
Points: 73
Keywords: Psychic, Scientist

9 9 15 2

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

7 7 14 2

7 6 13 2

6 6 13 2

6 5 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

PROS: I really like how they split up her phasing/teleport so that she can get away from her enemies easier whether you planned on just getting to safety or whether you plan on hoofing it to a medic. She is a nice version if you are not wanting a version of Moonstone/Meteorite that is more powerful than the rookie and is still one of the Masters of Evil, but is not quite as powerful as the Thunderbolts version of the experienced version. If you happen to be one of the lucky few to own this figure, that is enough of a PRO that you can rest easy knowing that and don't even have to ever use her.

CONS: As far as her playability goes, I find it very disappointing that she has neither the Masters of Evil or the Thunderbolts keywords. In fact, it looks as if they figured that the combo of Psychic and Scientist automatically combines to make "Therapist." It just doesn't work that way, and I don't think that any of her keywords make sense. The biggest thing I don't like about this figure is the fact that it's one of only two figures not counting recent releases that I don't own. She is probably in the top 5 most difficult pieces in all of HeroClix to get. I have seen far more zombie chases than I have of her. Her very existence confounds me. That doesn't have any bearing on her playability, but I felt the need to say that out loud.

THEME: I'm not too thrilled with either of her keywords as I alluded to above, but if I had to pick out her most appropriate one, I would probably play her on a Scientist team. If I was going to go off the cuff and play one of the options from the "Who Needs Keywords" section, I think I would probably play her on a Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. team.

Other players' comments/reviews


ha022 E Moonstone
Team: Avengers
Range: 8
Points: 76
Keywords: Celebrity, Masters of Evil, Thunderbolts

10 10 17 3

10 10 17 3

9 9 16 3

9 9 16 2

9 9 16 2

8 8 15 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: At just a one more point than the Critical Mass experienced Meteorite, you have a figure that can bring twice as much pain. Even addind in the Thunderbolts ATA, she is still less points than the veteran Meteorite. She gains the mobility of running shot as well that can't be found on any previous incarnation. She also trades the RCE for Penetrating/Psychic Blast which to me is a better trade-off. One of the best things about this Moonstone is how incredibly pushable she is. Pushing off of her first click is recommended as she just gets BETTER. She is very economical for what she can do and is incredibly easy to build a very effective team around her as a main striker and still have plenty of points left over to build a superbly effective team.

CONS: She is so abusable that you might hear that groan that your opponents let out sometimes when they see a figure across from them that has earned a reputation over the years. The ATA certainly doesn't help matters any. I usually won't dog on a character because of an optional ATA, but it's rare that you see one without the other so they practically run hand-in-hand. As far as her dial is concerned, I would have liked to see at least some kind of damage reducer, but that would have made her more expensive to play with and I think part of her charm is her lower point value.

THEME: This is the Moonstone from the Norman Osborn era and on through most of the modern issues of the Thunderbolts. If I'm going to play veteran Meteorite to represent the original Thunderbolts then THIS is the version that I will use to represent every other version of the team (Minus that weird fight-club thing they did there for a while. ) Given that a lot of Masters of Evil figures are higher points, she would help to give another attacker while keeping the team to a lower cost so this is the version that I'd most likely use for that team too.

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wkM-001 Moonstone
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8
Points: 135
Keywords: Celebrity, Dark Avengers, Thunderbolts

11 10 17 3

9 10 17 2

10 11 17 3

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 8 16 2

10 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Intangible Attack: Moonstone ignores blocking terrain for movement purposes.

PROS: This Moonstone is offense on every click. She comes in swinging and preferably with an object to increase effectiveness, switches to ranged attacks to deal some penetrating damage, and finally ends with pulse wave to play clean-up to the carnage that she's already started. Over half of her dial has move and attack powers, and she even adds support powers on top of all of that. Under the right circumstances, her trait will allow her to get at opponents who may be hiding behind a wall thinking that they're safe. Moonstone just goes and proves that theory wrong.

CONS: Her trait, which I think adds to much of the cost of the figure, is far less effective than I think it was given credit for. On an outdoor map she can fly over just about anything that she could also fly through making it mostly only effective on indoor maps. Even then it's not usually very effective since a studied opponent will know the tricks that she can do and plan accordingly. Granted, not everybody is a studied opponent, but you should always act as if they are. Her dial design seems a little backwards to me too. First she charges in to make close combat attacks and then she switches to ranged combat. It would make more sense to me in reverse, but maybe that's just me.

THEME: Moonstone wore this outfit when she was a member of Norman Osborn's DARK AVENGERS team as Ms. Marvel so that is the team that I would use her for. She still has the Thunderbolts keyword to show that she was working on both teams at the time, and because of that little bit of double-dipping you can also play the Thunderbolts ATA on her.

Other players' comments/reviews

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Now that we have had a little glimpse into the aspects of all the different Moonstone figures, let's take a quick look at their keywords and I will tell you my number one picks to use for each keyword theme available:

Femizons: cm055 R Moonstone
Masters of Evil: ha022 E Moonstone
Thunderbolts: ha022 E Moonstone
Dark Avengers: wkM-001 V Moonstone
Psychic: cm219 LE Dr. Karla Sofen
Scientist: cm219 LE Dr. Karla Sofen
Celebrity: ha022 E Moonstone

WHO NEEDS KEYWORDS?!

In this section, I'm going to list some possible theme teams that you could play that are definitely comic accurate but don't require keywords and provide links using Comic Vine and Wikipedia to tell you more about them. Unfortunately, using these teams means you are going to forego keyword bonuses, but every once in a while, Judges might let you slip by with one of these teams:

Brand Corporation
Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.
The Avengers Initiative

This about wraps it up for Deep Dish Themes: Moonstone edition. Feel free to post what you think about the article and feel free to nominate a DC Hero and a Marvel Hero to be parts three and four of the "Player Request" article series. Join me in two weeks when I shift things around a bit to do the part 2 player's request review. It appears that Thugit, Inc. is going to be making a road trip to my venue next month (Details in my signature line) and as a result, I will be doing some "Back-breaking work" when I bring you PART 2 in my "Player's Request" series...Deep Dish Themes: BANE.

Hi SLVR, do you keep a database of your articles anywhere?

Informative! I still need a Karla Sofen.....one day!

Personally, I prefer the Con LE for her offensive capabilities and her damage reducers. That and the killer sculpt that actually looks decent. The Hammer of Thor version is a very close second, but I think having damage reducers for a higher cost would go a long way in boosting her already high playability.

I just want to say that it blows my mind how many versions we have of this villain and we don't have her 1st appearance (please Chaos War, deliver us a classic!).

Also, I am boggled by how many versions we have of her, period.

"The experienced Meteorite couldn't have represented the beginnings of the character's career or the beginnings of the Thunderbolts with her having both the Thunderbolts and the M.O.E. keywords. It's as if she has one foot out the door and one foot still in the house."

Well, that's just not entirely true, because in the beginning, the Thunderbolts WERE the Masters of Evil. It wasn't until later that the team truly made the split when they were outed.

I almost made a trade for the Con LE at C2E2 but beefed up what I had to offer for a GG Chase Doom instead. I'm 2 figs away from a complete Dark Avengers team. I need LE Daken and this babe here. Lol. Rob, where do we post requests? Here? If so...how about Hulk? Haha. Or would that just be TOO much? I mean how many versions are there to discuss there?

Great review. I am actually one of the few to own a Dr. Karla Sofen LE, but I have to say, she has not seen much combat. I would love one of the con LE's though.

I've used the LE Karla Sofen on many forces that were built around the MoE team ability. I think the last time I used her was (years ago, but in the era of the new MoE TA) in a 200-point game with a member of the Wrecking Crew. The Phasing/TAXI/Super Strength was always IMO the best part about the older figure.

Too bad the con LE is the only one that actually fights like Moonstone. Didn't they say there was going to be some easier way to get the con exclusives?

Love this lady. I've pretty much abandoned the old REV, and I never had the LE. Now I stick to the HoT version for the MoE and Thunderbolts, and the Con LE for Dark Avengers.

I would love to see Moonstone in her original costume and a remake of her in her Meteorite suit. Heck, I'd love to see remakes of most of the original Thunderbolts. Atlas/Goliath, Beetle/Mach(anything but IV), Screaming Mimi/Songbird, and Techno. Zemo is the only one that I'm 100% satisfied with since we have 1 Citizen V, 2 Zemos, and another Zemo coming up in Chaos War.

The Con Exclusive Moonstone would be amazing on the GG Death Map.

I second this question?

The Con LE was available through HCO tourneys and is currently available through the Supremacy League in your store if they choose to run it. Both are easier ways to get the figure.