Here is a link to part one and two of the article in case you missed them. At the beginning of the first article is the special dedication to daemiendrake. Please read it if you haven't already. I want to let everybody know how awesome this person is.

PART ONE OF DEEP DISH THEMES: HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD
PART TWO OF DEEP DISH THEMES: HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD

Origin: Barbara Morse graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. in biology and passed her Civil Service examination so she could work with her biology professor, Dr. Wilma Calvin, on the government-sponsored project to rediscover the Super-Soldier formula that created Captain America. While in the government's employ, Morse's exemplary record came to the attention of SHIELD and she was invited to undertake training in her spare time. A champion gymnast in high school, Morse excelled at both the physical regimen and arts of espionage taught to all field agents. When Dr. Theodore Sallis, a maverick scientist also working on the Super-Soldier project, disappeared, Morse was given her first field assignment: to accompany SHIELD agent Paul Allen, suspected of being a traitor, to the Antarctic paradise known as the Savage Land in order to enlist the services of the hero Ka-Zar to find Sallis. Allen and Morse succeeded in contacting Ka-Zar and took him to the Florida Everglades. Although Sallis was never found (unbeknownst to them, he had been transformed into the Man-Thing), Ka-Zar and Morse flushed out a splinter group of the subversive organization AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) who were attempting to steal the Super-Soldier formula, and revealed Allen to be a member. SHIELD director Nick Fury assigned Morse as an escort to Ka-Zar during his stay in civilization, and the two managed to thwart yet another attempt by AIM to seize the Super-Soldier formula. Though Barbara Morse became romantically involved with Ka-Zar, she could not convince him to forsake the Savage Land. Preferring field work over biology, Morse was given another assignment: to trail the subversive El Tigre in South America. Coincidentally, this mission also took her to the Savage Land, where she renewed her acquaintance of Ka-Zar. Completing the assignment with the Jungle Lord's aid, she returned to SHIELD.


sn016 R Mockingbird
Team: S.H.I.E.L.D.
Range: 0
Points: 19
Keywords: S.H.I.E.L.D., Spy

8 8 16 1

7 8 15 1

7 7 15 1

6 6 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

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: There is a lot to love on this dial. For a mere 19 points you get some pretty great options. She is one of the queens of tie-up with her 18 defense from close combat and leap/climb to get into battle. She can even make a dent in even the heaviest of damage reducers given a lucky shot. Lastly, she has the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability. With it's fairly recent bump in effectiveness, it's hard to find it cheaply in modern age. In a golden age game you can load your team with it since the point cost of those figures were calculated based on it's old wording. Had this version of mockingbird existed in a more recent set, she would probably cost closer to 30-40 points (Estimated of course). One of my favorite tricks to do with her is dropping her off adjacent to an enemy with a flying figure but still keeping her off to the side so as not to disrupt line of fire from the flyer. In a future turn the flyer can now make a ranged combat attack utilizing her damage bump with the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability while still being tie-up.

CONS: I know it's hard to complain about much of anything since she costs a measely 19 points, but I would have loved if her first click could have had a nine attack. She could have been so much more effective if she only would have had a little more of a chance of actually hitting something. I would have given up that whole fourth click for just that little bump to her attack. That fourth click might be instrumental in her staying alive long enough to be considered a sucessful tie-up, but that won't always be the case. A lot of inexperienced players will see that close combat expert and will try to use her as something she's not too.

THEME: At this experience level she is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent through and through. If there is anything that S.H.I.E.L.D. loves, it's a ranged combat game, so some good tie-up piece could be just enough to tip the scales in your favor. The same could technically be said for a Spy team as well, but I would venture to say that her skills wouldn't be as useful. Spy teams tend to be more about slinking around in the shadows. This girl loves to get up in your face and dare you to try and hit an 18 defense on a 19 point piece.

Other players' comments/ratings


sn017 E Mockingbird
Team: Avengers
Range: 2
Points: 27
Keywords: Avengers, West Coast Avengers

8 9 16 2

8 8 16 1

7 8 15 2

7 7 15 1

6 6 14 1

KO KO KO KO

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: So much was improved for only nine points more than the cost of the rookie. That nine attack that I wanted is there. She even got a bump to he initial damage. She was a tie-up piece that had some teeth before...Now she is a tie-up piece that is nearly impossible to ignore. It's not likely to come up, but that mid-dial click of flurry is nice in case you have some perplext to up attack and/or damage on her or whether she is "Batting Cleanup" for your team's heavier hitters. One of the oft forgotten about things on her dial that your opponent is likely to forget about or ignore is that two range. Is it going to win games?...Almost definitely no. Will it suprise your opponent when you position yourself in a way that you get a cheap shot off?...DEFINITELY! Positioning is fairly easy, too with the combo of leap/climb and the Avengers team ability.

CONS: I realize this is supposed to represent her early Avengers/West Coast Avengers days, but I really miss the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability on her. It wouldn't be accurate at all for the time frame that she's based on so it's more of a gameplay thing than an actual gripe. I would have given up that last click of life to shave a couple of points off her cost. We've all built teams that could have used one or two more points available. Other than that, there isn't really anything too bad to say about her. She is actually a very solid piece.

THEME: She will be some of the best 27 points you've ever used on a filler piece. Given the somewhat limited amount of actual characters that have the West Coast Avengers team ability, you will probably need the extra points from somewhere due to just a sheer lack of options when compared to the "Older Brother" Avengers keyword, and if you're anything like me and other players that I know you would prefer to fill points with an actual character instead of one of the other multitude of ways to do it. In summation, she is certainly an option amongst the Avengers, but her talents will be TRULY appreciated in a West Coast Avengers team.

Other players' comments/ratings


sn018 V Mockingbird
Team: Avengers
Range: 2
Points: 34
Keywords: Avengers

9 9 17 2

8 9 16 2

8 8 16 2

7 7 15 1

7 7 15 1

6 6 14 1

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: The third and final version of the original Mockingbird figure just continues to build upon excellence. For starters, there isn't a single modern age figure that has six clicks of life for her point cost. She is one of the last of a dying breed in that respect. You'd be even harder pressed to find one as useful as she is. Basically take everything that I said was good about the rookie or experienced versions (Minus the part about the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA on the rookie) and that applies to her. Before taking that all in, make sure to pump her full of steroids, though. She has an effective 19 defense from close combat making her extremely hard to hit. This will allow her to likely get a good shot off at least once before she is KO'd. One of the things I like most about her is that her dial is intelligently designed. She's likely going to hit a bit, and should she take what is give or take the average amount of damage (3) she will probably land on her next spot of close combat expert and will be ready to swing again!

CONS: In a dial that is meant to swing the balance of a melee fight they give her a two range. As I said before, that COULD come in handy under the right circumstances, however, the extra target that she has at this experience level is just completely superfluous. I've never once heard anybody sporting a two range say "At least I had that extra target" in a game before. In a dial that is as about as efficient as they come, this sure strikes me as very inefficient. Probably the WORST thing about her is that she seems to have been lost to time and only the old vets like me remember her as a dominating click. Time for all of us to break her out when using Split/Merge with the chase duo and show them youngsters what for!

THEME: Her only keyword option is Avengers which is absolutely fine with me. I honestly don't know why a single version of her didn't have the martial artist keyword, but that's a discussion for another time. It's funny how well she works with Hawkeye, though. She gets them into position and he picks them off. The same basic principles can be applied to any ranged attacker plus her, though. If you need cheap and effective filler, you should seriously consider her on your next Avengers team. If you play her right, you won't be disappointed.

Other players' comments/ratings


ffcw005r R Mockingbird
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 2
Points: 25
Keywords: Avengers, Martial Artist, Spy, S.H.I.E.L.D.

7 9 16 1

7 9 16 2

6 9 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

October 12th: When a friendly character named Hawkeye is adjacent to Mockingbird, they both modify their attack values by +1 if not already modified by this effect.

PROS: I decided to break the Fast Forces Mockingbird into two seperate reviews because depending on your playstyle, you might play each dial in a completely different way. The 25 point rookie version of her is very reminiscent of her old Sinister versions. It was almost as if they averaged out all of her values and powers and came up with this version. The few key differences are the opening willpower and the two clicks of quake. I always assume that martial artist characters that have quake as a way to represent a leg sweep or a round house kick to several opponents. Any other way to think about it and it seems kind of goofy. She has a nine attack down the dial which is a nice change. She can get in quick with leap/climb and then start doing her thing in consecutive turns. There aren't many figures in modern age that have this low of a point cost anymore, so it's nice to have a low point option to wedge into the vacant space that can be found on teams at times.

CONS: It's hard to see willpower as a bad thing, but she isn't as effective as a tie-up piece as her predecessors because of that opening click of it. Sure, you could opt to push her instead of using the willpower, but what's the point of even having it then? She is just one good hit away from being 25 victory points for your opponent. That 4th and 5th click on the old versions may not have been that effective, but they did at least keep her around a turn longer than this version more than likely. This piece has a lot of attack options, but it would be very hard to bank on them. It's kind of unfortunate that she is likely going to be relegated to being filler and something that exists on your team to make Hawkeye better.

THEME: I would hate to waste the points that she is spending on having that trait, so I would feel obligated to play her on a team with Hawkeye. Keep in mind that ANY figure named Hawkeye will work with the trait so if you have an old favorite that could use the bump in attack, try it out and see if you like it. Of course my favorite keyword to use both on would probably be the Avengers keyword just due to it's variety and overwhelming amount of options. You could use the Chaos War Hawkeye and this Mockingbird and still have more than half of your build total left in a standard 300 point game.

Other players' comments/ratings


ffcw005 E Mockingbird
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 2
Points: 50
Keywords: Avengers, Martial Artist, Spy, S.H.I.E.L.D.

8 10 17 2

8 10 16 2

7 9 16 1

7 9 16 2

6 9 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

October 12th: When a friendly character named Hawkeye is adjacent to Mockingbird, they both modify their attack values by +1 if not already modified by this effect.

PROS: A good mobile attacker with a myriad of attack options is not a bad investment for 50 points. The fact that she can enhance herself as well as another character with her trait is just icing on the cake. Given her slightly higher defense on the experienced dial's opening click, I'm not so adverse to giving her opening willpower. The exploit weakness that accompanies it really helps to sway my mind too. She is once again a piece that can't really be ignored.

CONS: I'm really disappointed that she doesn't have any team ability. Even the Avengers team ability would have been greatly welcome. The S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability would have put her over the top on the usefulness scale. She doesn't have one, though, and I guess I just have to get over it. I guess that's what ATA's are for. I'm not sure when this dial was designed, but I would have liked to have seen a little more of her current capabilities in the comics to have been portrayed in the dial. Recently she was hospitalized and was able to live due to the use of experimental combination of a Super Soldier serum and Nick Fury's infinity formula. Since this version is so similar to older versions, it doesn't appear that the change in her abilities has been taken into account.

THEME: Pretty much everything I said about her in the review of her rookie dial remains the same here. The only major change is that she's a little more capable as a standalone character now as opposed to her rookie dial. She would be a very good fit for a Martial Artist or Spy team. Those kind of teams tend to thrive on good and cheap figures that are versatile and offensively capable like she is.

Other players' comments/ratings


cw054 U Hawkeye and Mockingbird
Team: Avengers|S.H.I.E.L.D.
Range: 8
Points: 148
Keywords: Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., Spy

8 12 17 3

8 11 16 3

8 11 16 3

7 10 16 3

7 10 18 3

7 10 17 2

7 10 16 2

6 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

The Sharpest: Hawkeye and Mockingbird can use the Sharpshooter ability. Opposing characters within 8 squares can't use the Sharpshooter ability.

Trick Arrows and Battle Staves: Hawkeye and Mockingbird can use Energy Explosion, Incapaciatate, and Smoke Cloud. They can use these powers normally, or use them as free actions instead of ranged combat attacks when using the Duo Attack ability.

Watch Each Other's Back: Hawkeye and Mockingbird can use Combat Reflexes and Super Senses.

PROS: This is definitely a case of the sum being greater than the parts that it's made out of. I have yet to attempt the split/merge mechanic, but I see it as a mechanic that could be super useful when used properly and this duo in particular has great options when it comes time to split. I'm not entirely sure why they have the transporter ability, but I'm not going to complain about it. With their high attack values, they will get a lot of mileage out of it for more than just the carry ability. I also love that they not only can use the sharpshooter ability, but they can shut down any opposing character's usage of it as well. I would like to see the attack special power of theirs become a trend in more duo figures. The duo ability doesn't allow many powers at all to be used in conjunction with it, so the fact that they have these options that other characters don't is a quite nice. I could probably go on and on about how awesome this figure is. It's nice to have duo figures be relevant in the game.

CONS: As I said, their sum is better than the parts that comprise them. This is one of those figures that is so good as a duo that I can't see many reasons why I would want to ever split them apart. About the only reason that I can see is the trick you can do where you split them apart and then heal one of them to full health and when you re-merge them the duo is back to full health. Since they only have one click where their defense is higher than any of the parts you could split into, though, the point is largely lost on me. I invite anybody to explain why it's a good option in this case, though. Other than that, about the only other detriment to the dial is the fact that it can sometimes be hard to position a duo piece. It can be especially hard to do so to get the piece positioned correctly to utilize their stealth.

THEME: One of my favorite things about this piece is that it has both potential to be a character that you could could build around as it's centerpiece or you could just as easily have it as one of the several featured players in a slightly larger point game. I love this piece so much that They are my number one pick for all three of their keywords. This is mostly because they bring all kinds of potential with them. Not just in the form of their own dial, but in the forms of what they have the potential to split into. I would love to have them on my team in a large Avengers team or as the centerpiece for the Spy or Martial Artist team.

Other players' comments/ratings

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

In this section I will list all of the different keywords that are available to both Hawkeye and Mockingbird and choose which of the figures I would most likely use on a theme team centered around each of the keywords. This section doesn't take into account the duo figure. As I had already said, if I was going to use them, every keyword they have is an extremely good choice for them, so in this section it will just be the two characters considered individually.

*Named keywords are in bold. Keywords that are available to the duo are in BLUE

Hawkeye:

Avengers: cw039 Hawkeye
West Coast Avengers: ff011 Hawkeye
Thunderbolts: cw039 Hawkeye
S.H.I.E.L.D: cw039 Hawkeye
Ultimates: ul212 Clint Barton
Defenders: ff011 Hawkeye
Great Lakes Avengers: cw039 Hawkeye
Spy: ul212 Clint Barton
Martial Artist: avm208 Hawkeye

Mockingbird:

S.H.I.E.L.D: ffcw005 Mockingbird
Avengers: sn018 Mockingbird
Avengers West Coast: sn017 Mockingbird
Spy: ffcw005 Mockingbird
Martial Artist: ffcw005 Mockingbird

WHO NEEDS KEYWORDS?!

In this section, I will list some theme teams that you could play either Hawkeye or Mockingbird on that aren't official keywords to build around. You aren't going to be getting any theme team bonuses for them, but you may get to appeal to a judge to allow you some leeway at a tournament. I will use comic vine to link to more information about the theme concepts should you want to learn more about them.

Hawkeye:

Avengers Academy
Avenging Host
Captain America's Resistance
Secret War/Cosmic Champions
Force Works
The Human Council
Secret Avengers
New Avengers
The Galactic Avenger Battalion/Avengers Forever
The Light Brigade
W.C.A.
Circus Folk

Mockingbird:

Legion of the Unliving
W.C.A.
New Avengers
Great Lakes Avengers/Initiative

This wraps it up for Deep Dish Themes: Hawkeye & Mockingbird (Part 3). Once again a HUGE thank you to daemiendrake for the kindness and the inspiration! Feel free to post what you think about the article and feel free to nominate a character for an upcoming edition of Deep Dish Themes. Join me in two weeks when I get back to my normal schedule and back to the TASK at hand. I'll have to sharpen those photgraphic reflexes as I review the Headmaster of the school of supervillainy and professional henching: Taskmaster.

Proof that Heroclix didn't evolve from a lower species of tabletop game!

Talk to the cat for my official response:

Attached Images

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No love for ff012 Hawkeye? You be crazy. Him and avm208 Hawkeye would be my picks for Hawkeye over the new one any day. The new CW Hawkeye just seems like 'too much' for the character, both in points and values (IMO)

Also, no love for av031 Ronin? That was Clint Barton too ya know and a very solid dial (w/ Not So Special downright deadly).

I should add though that these three articles have been great reads. Thanks for writing them up.

I think I like any of the old Mockingbirds better than the new FF one.

Ronin was ALSO Echo and at the time that set was made, it was based on the ECHO Ronin and not the Clint Ronin

Great article series! I hope to get the duo Hawkeye & Mockingbird so I can give them a try.

Good read. Thanks! I have yet to use split/merge myself, but these two seem made for it.. literally.

These articles are great you have such a knack for seeing things i miss and making me do a double take on some figs. Would u be willing to do an article on punisher? Have you already and i missed it? Or you could do a really in depth fantastic four article. They have so many options nowadays i dont even know where to start half the time. You also have my permission to ignore all of my suggestions in favor of better suggestions.

thanks for the article. fun finish to this series

I have not done a punisher yet. I might be able to do that. I try to shy away from characters that have too many versions of them. The Fantastic Four intrigues me, but at this point there are a TON of them!

Don't forget the best trick Hawkingbird can pull off: Duo Incapacitate! The can lock down any figure in the game that doesn't ignore that power. That is IMMENSELY powerful. I've seen them take figures out of the game before, without even trying. They can push somebody from clear, for a single action.

In Golden Age, this gets even more brutal. Stunning Blow, and they can push a figure and deal them five clicks for a single action.
Ambidexterous? They can push TWO opposing clear figures with a single action.

It's... kinda insane.

I grew up reading and following these 2 heroes thru out most of the comics of the 80's and 90's . I totally loved your articles about them. Both of them to me are true heroes in that they never possessed actual super powers and yet time and again were able to help those that did defeat or thwart the super powered villians of their time. When I saw that they made a new Hawkeye I was pumped but seeing the chase made me absolutely ecstatic. I traded heavily for it , which included a sentry&void chase if that tells you how much I wanted this duo chase instead lol.

I used the duo last week, and they did pretty well. Game 1 I left the duo in play. Game 2 it was more advantageous to split, so I did that first turn, then carried Hawkeye into position. Game 3 they took a couple of hits, so I didn't feel it would be of any use to split them.

I can see the advantages of having each in play, and I want to try the duo out with cw030 Wasp for some crazy incap time.

I do wonder, with the cw and cwff pair seeming to be made for the duo, if they each have Willpower, why doesn't the duo have indomitable?

Anyways, I feel Mock-Eye are the best Chaos War duo!