Legion Toywatch: Prequel, part 7 (Heroclix, Pocket Heroes)

Presenting the final (for now) in a series looking back at two separate lines of Legion toys, in anticipation of the new animated series. This holiday season, I want a Legion cruiser, and a Legion Headquarters upside-down rocketship playset, and action figures, and bobbleheads, and comics, and an Omnicom, and a Flight Ring....

First up is the Pocket Super-Heroes, which came out in 2002-2003. They were an attempt to provide 3-inch characters similar to other popular ones by Kubrick and other similar lines. DC made two waves of the figures and then stopped. In Wave 1 (Dec. 2002), we got twin-packs of Lightning Lad & Mon-el and Saturn Girl & Cosmic Boy. Wave 2 (Dec. 2003) saw the release of the Phantom Girl & Ultra Boy set. Here's what the Pocket Heroes site on DC's main page looked like back then.

Front and back of the Pocket Super-Heroes




The second line has been continuing since 2003: HeroClix, by WizKids. For those who don't know, HeroClix is a sort of role-playing game but instead of keeping track of stats on paper, the stats are on a click wheel at the base of each figure. The characters have powers and team affiliations that vary with their experience levels: Rookie, Experience, and Veteran (R, E, and V), and you can do more stuff (or do it better) the higher up you are. And some of them even have "Unique" figures, even more powerful. Each experience level comes with its own color (yellow = Rookie, blue = Experienced, red = Veteran, silver = Unique, bronze = Special Edition, gold = Super Rare. Each figure has a dial that lists the attributes so you don't have to remember anything, and you rotate the dial to show hits, etc., Then there's something about teams working together give you extra powers or something. Here are the rules if you want to learn them. Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I just collect them for the Legionnaires. Speaking of whom...

The various series of HeroClix have been released in waves: Legion-related figures have been seen in Cosmic Justice (2003), Unleashed (2004), Legacy (2005), Collateral Damage (2006), and Giants (2006). Over the years, we've seen Legionnaires and their villains in their pre-Zero Hour, post-Zero Hour, and post-Infinite Crisis incarnations. No matter which series, though, they nearly all share a Legion affiliation. Click on a figure to go to that character's HeroClix page.

Pre-Zero Hour:


Post-Zero Hour:


Post-Infinite Crisis:


As with the other action figures, you can take some of the line as unofficial or honorary Legionnaires, including Impulse, Superboy (Connor), Darkseid, Ra's al Ghul, Krypto, Jimmy Olsen, etc. (Supergirl is listed above because she's specifically mentioned as being a Legionnaire).