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REVIEW: WizKids Marvel HeroClix Guardians Of The Galaxy Expansion Set
Marvel Cosmic, Guardians Of All Eras, And More Zombies...
This summer and fall have been momentous times for HeroClix, with the epic War of Light Storyline OP event and one incredible expansion set after another. Outside of that big DC tournament series the Marvel HeroClix have really been knocking it out of the park with everyone’s favorite Merc with a Mouth Deadpool and the Guardians of the Galaxy set based on this year’s #1 blockbuster film. But why stop there? WizKids followed up on that set with even more Guardians, this time coming from the comics! Released right before Gen Con (and featuring prominently in the Marvel battle royales there), the Guardians of the Galaxy HeroClix expansion features fan-favorite characters from that team across the generations from classic lineups to the current members plus heroes and villains from Marvel’s “cosmic” stories, Inhumans, and lots more. This set also bookends the previous Deadpool set by offering a new batch of Marvel Zombie Villains as the chases! With great new versions of previously clixed figures, characters brand new to HeroClix, and innovative dials, traits, and powers, the currently available Guardians of the Galaxy set is highly popular with players and collectors.
With so many great cosmic characters to choose from, WizKids had to narrow down the selection to fit in the standard HeroClix product scheme very similar to what we saw with the previous full Deadpool expansion. However, there are some new features like an expanded array of alternate versions of characters which provide lots of generics and leaders. The centerpiece of Guardians of the Galaxy is the five-figure booster set in bricks of ten which have all of the rarity levels including the zombie chases. Then there are separate products like the ten-figure Primer Gravity Feed with single-figure packs featuring re-used sculpts with new dials as well as the Inhumans Fast Forces pack with six figures and new maps. Finally there’s a great reason to play HeroClix at your local comic book/game store in the Guardians Organized Play kit with limited edition prizes. We’ll start off as usual with the full booster set which contains 25 commons, 18 uncommons, 17 rares, 13 super rares, and 8 chases.
There are so many commons in Guardians of the Galaxy that you may actually have to hunt down some of them, even though they’re going to represent the bulk of what you pull in your boosters. That’s because there are no fewer than eight alternate version pairs of figures, and that’s not even including the Prime! The set starts out with several Guardians, naturally, with modern Gamora and Drax the Destroyer alongside more retro characters Mantis, Starhawk, and Major Victory. On the villainous side Nebula makes a new appearance after her movie version this summer, and the Inhumans sub-theme starts with Triton. The alternate versions feature two uses of the same sculpt but with different paint jobs, dials, and identities. There are generic Chitauri (regular and Warleader), Raptor/Darkhawk, generic Spaceknight and Ikon, generic Dire Wraith and Dire Wraith Queen, generic Spartoi Elite and Jason of Sparta (Star-Lord’s dad!), generic Rigellian Colonizer and Tana Nile, generic Recorder and Recorder #451, and generic Badoon and Brother Royal! Not to be outdone, the Kree have a major presence in this set and provide the first Prime with a regular Kree Private and the green-ringed Captain Marvel.
Remember what I said about the Kree being dominant in this set? They start out the uncommons with one more alternate dial pairing featuring generic Kree Lieutenant and Kree General. This rarity level also has their Alpha Primitive underclass, heroes Ronan the Accuser and Korath the Pursuer, and Captain Marvel with her Dr. Minerva Prime! Each rarity level has Guardians of the Galaxy, and this one brings modern (but not quite current) Star-Lord with old-timers Talon, Yondu, Aleta, and Moondragon. The Inhumans continue here as well with new versions of previously clixed Crystal, Gorgon, and Karnak. Cosmic characters among the uncommons include the current Nova Sam Alexander and Starfox, while Thanos’ minions of the Black Order start with Ebony Maw.
The rares of this set really get crazy with arguably the most interesting character selection we’ve seen in a long time. Let’s start with the continuation of themes with Guardians Angela (making her debut!), classic Killraven, and Martyr (a different version of Phyla-Vell whom we saw in Hammer of Thor). Meanwhile the Inhumans bolster their ranks with Black Bolt, Lockjaw, Maximus, and Medusa, and the Black Order with Supergiant, Black Dwarf, and Thanos himself. The rest of the group include cosmic characters and mostly villains Collector (Elder of the Universe), Deathurge (herald of Oblivion and member of the Great Lakes Avengers), Gorr the God Butcher (a recent foe of Thor), Sphinx, I.S.A.A.C. (Integral Synaptic Anti+/Anionic Computer from Titan), and the Thanosi (doppelganger minions created by Thanos and the Prime of the very same). Lastly, there’s a former Modern Age World Champion-created figure in the form of Spider-Man villain Shriek!
By now you can probably guess some of the themes we’ll find in the Guardians super rares, and you wouldn’t be mistaken. The Black Order rounds out its membership with Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight while the Guardians get everyone’s favorite Groot and Rocket Raccoon along with the recent space version of the Iron Man armor! Then we bring on the cosmic with more cool and interesting characters like Annihilus (ruler of the Negative Zone), Tyrant (a former herald of Galactus), Beyonder (mastermind behind Secret Wars), Mentor, and Thane son of Thanos. There’s a special addition in this rarity level too with the Marvel HeroClix Fan Vote Winner Sleepwalker, and this set continues the super rare Prime pairing of Squadron Sinister/Supreme members from Invincible Iron Man and Deadpool with two versions of Doctor Spectrum!
As noted, the Guardians of the Galaxy set continues the series of Marvel Zombie Villains chases that began with Deadpool, and here are eight more great characters made even cooler by turning them into the undead. This time around there’s even a generic with a standard Skrull along with his more famous brethren Super Skrull, Mole Man, Morbius (a zombie AND a vampire), Gladiator, Red Skull, Magneto, and Dr. Doom! The new zombies match the old with their distinctive brown bases, not to mention their desiccated and decomposing appearances, and all of them are SwitchClix and so can join the Marvel Zombie Villains Team Base (read on to the OP Kit section for more on this).
Due to the eclectic mix of characters in Guardians of the Galaxy, especially from different time periods and the notoriously strange cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe, it’s no wonder that the set has some very unique looking figures. There’s a huge range from modern sci-fi types like Star-Lord and Gamora of the Guardians to the over the top and zany like Tyrant and Beyonder. The many Kree soldiers give you solid alien army builder options while the Badoon, Chitauri, Dire Wraiths, Rigellians, and more continue the space theme. Some killer poses in this set include Drax charging into battle with his energy axe and sword held high, the hovering Moondragon, sword-swinging Killraven, Maximus who you can just tell is plotting something wicked, and the ferocious energy-enhanced Thanos/Thanosi. Awesome sculpted elements too appear on the metal-winged Raptor/Darkhawk, Triton with his detailed aquatic skin texture, the high flying and energy blasting Captain Marvel, the cool Egyptian-inspired look of Sphinx, Groot’s intricate root structure, and both versions of the hovering Doctor Spectrum. It’s interesting to note that both of the “winner” figures in this set, Shriek and Sleepwalker, include two characters for even more fun, and the latter is a masterpiece with the Mindscaper hovering over the sleeping form of Rick Sheridan. As always a lot of work has gone into making the chases highly detailed with tons of rotting flesh and exposed bone so they’re all good, but a real standout is Gladiator with great zombie effects and a killer pose.
WizKids always tries to raise the bar when it comes to paint work and details in each expansion set, and looking at the whole of Guardians of the Galaxy I’d say they succeeded. Even with the relatively cool sci-fi looks of a lot of the figures there’s a big palette of bright colors and figures that look really good. As always metallic paints are used to great effect on weapons, robotic and cybernetic parts, etc., and translucent parts serve as energy blasts, glow effects, flight bases, and more. Some particular examples of those include Starhawk with his dynamic flight launchpad, Nova whose entire lower body is blasting energy, and Lockjaw the teleporting dog appearing through a 2D “doorway” of energy. Exemplary paint jobs we found on Guardians of the Galaxy figures were the Spartoi Elite/Jason of Sparta with their fancy uniforms, facial hair, and painted eyes, the patchwork cyborg Nebula, Ronan with his bright metallic armor, Black Bolt in his black and white patterned costume, the understated elegance of Martyr, and Thane with his contrasting bright gold armor, black suit, and glowing translucent yellow and purple energy effects. Again, you won’t find a bad paint job among the zombies, with Dr. Doom and Red Skull being some of the best, especially with the Latverian ruler’s creepy face staring out of his shadowed hood and the reveal of his muscles and ribs along his right side. Lastly, we’d be remiss if we didn’t note the sheer awesomeness that is Beyonder in his fancy white duds and translucent blue energy portal (though the silver robot in black and red lounge suit that is I.S.A.A.C. isn’t far behind)!
While Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty revolutionary when it comes to the character selection, it’s not one of those sets that introduces a lot of new mechanics and complex changes to the game. Instead, we see lots of the recent additions like Improved Movement and Targeting, the Tiny size (on Rocket Raccoon naturally), team base SwitchClix with the zombies, and the like. With so many generics and army builders there are of course many neat Minion powers to capitalize on their leaders and make them more effective. There are lots of interesting traits (we’ll touch on a few particular ones below), including a couple that are notable for giving figures keywords when you build your force; Jason of Sparta gives Shi’ar to Spartoi while Ronan the Accuser gives Inhumans to Kree opening up a lot of options with the Inhumanity trait. A couple of figures have traits that key off of and help friends like Dr. Minerva who boosts and is boosted by being next to Captain Atlas or Captain Marvel and Rocket Raccoon who makes Groot and himself harder to hit. Finally, we’ve seen figure-swapping abilities before, and they return in Guardians with Starhawk and Aleta who can switch when hurt.
Traits and special powers run rampant in the figures of Guardians of the Galaxy with interesting, powerful, and sometimes plainly game-breaking effects among them. A handful of the standouts include “Cull Obsidian” on the Black Order figures which blasts feedback damage back on their attacker when they’re KO’d, Rigellian Colonizer’s “Colonize and Terraform Atmosphere” that can potentially damage any/everyone, Recorder #451’s ability to engineer a Scientist ally with bonuses and crazy upgrades through powers, the ubiquitous “Inhumanity” on the Inhumans that lets them Perplex friends, Ebony Maw’s perfectly titled “Words, Words, Words” letting him use support powers after enemies do, Thanos’ “Choose - the Gauntlet or the Tribute” that forces your foe to damage his figures, Groot’s immortality through “Regrow from a Rescued Sprig,” and the sheer insanity that is Beyonder. Just a couple of the fun special powers in this set include Mantis’ ability to Mind Control other Guardians of the Galaxy on her team and buff them at the same time, Maximus’ “Putting the ‘Mad’ in Mad Scientist” that sometimes gives him double Outwit and sometimes takes it away, the “Godbomb” of Gorr blasting an enhanced Pulse Wave doing up to 4 damage, Thane’s “Hand” powers of Living Death and Black Obliteration, and one of the most powerful powers of all in Annihilus’ “The Living Death that Walks” that turns off other characters’ Power Cosmic!
Beyond the full booster set with everything above and more, Guardians of the Galaxy offers even more fun with its other core products, the Primer Gravity Feed and Fast Forces pack. The former offers affordable single-figure blind boosters in equal rarity bringing you ten sculpts from the main set with new dials. These feature Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Chitauri, Spaceknight, Badoon Hunter, Kree Major, Captain Marvel, Ronan the Accuser, Star-Lord, and Nova. Options are the name of the game with these alternate versions with different point costs, keywords, etc. And while most of the time Gravity Feed figures have the exact same paint as their main set brethren, it’s interesting to note that the Kree Major is unique with his orange-accented uniform. The only non-blind product in this batch of releases is the Inhumans Fast Forces pack bringing you alternate versions of Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, Gorgon, and the dual-based Lockjaw. Like the GF figures, these have the same sculpts found in the main set but with different dials. As always the Fast Forces figures are easy to build around with complementary powers and costs. That pack also comes with a double-sided map featuring two iconic locations for the Inhumans city/spaceship of Attilan: North Atlantic Ocean and Blue Area of the Moon.
There’s just one more piece to the Guardians of the Galaxy experience, and that’s the one that requires you to go out and play with other people (what HeroClix is all about!). The set’s Organized Play kit is available only to brick and mortar stores and has prize support in the form of four different figures, two special objects, maps, and more. The Limited Edition characters are Captain Atlas and Colonel Yon-Rogg of the Kree, Talon of the Fraternity of Raptors, and Recorder #211. All four figures are repaints of sculpts in the main set with new dials featuring these unique characters. The 3D objects in this set are really cool with the Cosmic Control Rod that grants Power Cosmic (or stat boosts if you already have it) and a Terrigen Crystal that boosts a random stat each turn! The double-sided map here brings you interesting battlefields on Titan, home to Thanos, and Star-Lord’s Ship that’s full of alien artifacts and weapons. Finally, the OP kit contains the Zombies Team Base, a broken landscape full of debris and body parts that can bring together six zombies into a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude! Playable at 370, 270, or 170 points, “Zombies” has two traits utilizing the “Food” and “Virus” mechanics in new ways and a couple of unique special powers on top of solid stats.
It’s no wonder that this Guardians of the Galaxy set is so popular, what with the great character selection, fun pieces, and of course the zombie chases. Anyone who’s into Guardians or the overall “Cosmic” section of Marvel stories should check out this set (if they haven’t already), and if you’re a zombie fan then you need to hunt those chases and play local to get your mitts on a team base. Guardians of the Galaxy is in stores everywhere with five figure boosters, single-figure Gravity Feed, and the Inhumans Fast Forces pack.
Visit HeroClix.com for even more info as well as downloads of rules and maps, and check Figures.com regularly as we continue our reviews of new HeroClix!
Review and photos by Scott Rubin
Review Samples Courtesy of WizKids Games
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