More Heroclix coming too

Via Gamers Daily News comes word of a new Heroclix expansion set, coming in September:

The DC HeroClix: Superman expansion will feature more than 50 figures in standard five-figure boosters.  Celebrating over 70 years of history, Superman brings all of the action and amazing power that only the Last Son of Krypton can deliver, and where Superman treads his greatest villains and allies cannot be far behind!  Popular sub-themes in the set will include: All-Star Superman, the World of New Krypton, the Legion of Super Heroes, the exciting and pivotal Flashpoint mini-series and more!

Wizard World Texas 2008

I forgot that Wizard World Texas was this weekend, and was just up the road a piece (as they say in Texas) in Dallas. Here's the relevant commentary:

Via Newsarama:
Friday's DC Nation panel:

Satller [sic] did say that Legion of 3 Worlds is a VERY important book in the DCU for the next three years of story-telling.

Saturday's DCU: Crisis and Beyond panel:

Sattler admitted that he did not know if Jim Shooter will stick with DC after his Legion of Super Heroes run is complete.

(After his parting shots, I'd think not.)

Also, on Monday, the day after the convention, a press release came out saying that "The Topps Company announced today that WizKids will immediately cease operations and discontinue its product lines." Looks like they're going to try to sell the line off: "Topps will immediately pursue strategic alternatives so that viable brands and properties, including HeroClix, can continue without noticeable disruption."

New Heroclix

Here are the Legion-related figures from the new "Arkham Asylum" set of Heroclix.

Interestingly, the three villains are in their "Absolute Power" costumes, from the out-of-continuity arc of the same name in "Superman/Batman" #14-18 (and reprinted in the Superman/Batman Vol. 3: Absolute Power hardcover) rather than their regular costumes as seen in L3W.

032 LIGHTNING LORD (veteran)


037 ELEMENT LAD (rookie)


039 COSMIC KING (veteran)


057 SATURN QUEEN (veteran)

More Heroclix on the way

Scipio at The Absorbascon has the list of the new figures in the upcoming Heroclix wave, "Arkham Asylum". Here are the Legion-related figures:

032 LIGHTNING LORD
037 ELEMENT LAD
039 COSMIC KING
057 SATURN QUEEN

Superman Prime has a figure too, but I don't know if you'd consider him Legion-related or not due to his role in "Legion of 3 Worlds".

No pictures yet, so who knows which costumes they'll be wearing.

Dawnstar, Mordru in Crisis

There's another new wave of Heroclix figures coming soon, in the "Crisis" set. The two Legion-related figures seen so far are Dawnstar (Pre-Crisis costume) and Mordru (Post-Zero Hour costume, as seen in the JSA series). The figure set includes the original Crisis on Infinite Earths and the recent Infinite Crisis and 52. See the Dawnstar and Mordru discussions on the HCRealms message board, with this article on Mordru.

More to come soon. The Crisis wave is due in late February.

Heroclix

Hmmm. Apparently I previewed the Justice League Heroclix set back in August but never followed up.

Here are the new figures that came out in September in the Justice League set - the Silver Age Bouncing Boy, the current Dream Girl, the Glorithverse Tharok, and the post-Zero Hour Time Trapper (complete with their comic cover inspiration where I have found them).

Is that picture of the Time Trapper holding the cube with the different "L" symbols on it an interior picture? I couldn't find it on any cover. Looks like the Time Trapper picture is from a panel in LSH v4 #105, on which they also based the Vs. card. Thanks to Scott for the heads-up, I knew it was familiar but I thought it was on a cover.

And I'm not sure where the image of Bouncing Boy might have come from - he didn't get many covers, and the only recent one I could find was LSH v2 #304 (but he was completely round when drawn by Giffen, not a ball with a head, arms, and legs).

Plus a Legionnaires card that I'm sure lets you do something cool with it:

Heroclix next wave sneak peek

Here are some sneak peek pics of Bouncing Boy, Time Trapper, Tharok, and Dream Girl from the next wave of Heroclix (JLA, coming next month; at HCRealms, here and here; via Scott at Legion Clubhouse):

More Heroclix on the way

Only a month removed from the last set of Heroclix figures starring the Legion, comes word that the next set starring the Justice League will have even more Legion figures:

• Bouncing Boy (common)
  
• Tharok (uncommon)
  
• Dream Girl (rare)
  
• Time Trapper (super rare)

There's also a "Feat" card that features the Legion somehow.

Tharok is the last of the Fatal Five to appear in a Heroclix.

No images as yet, but as the sneak peeks are released, you'll see them here on the Heroclix site. Here is the figure gallery for those specified to be affiliated with the Legion. The Justice League set comes out Sept. 7th.

Odds 'n' ends

Stuff that I haven't gotten around to posting plus some hot-off-the-press news, and I want to put it out here before it gets too obsolete. I just deleted all my unused links to reviews of various issues of S/LSH, JLA, JSA, LSH31C, Action, the Showcase volume, and Countdown. (It's too bad that I didn't get to write up Waid's last issue.)

• As mentioned earlier, Mattel won the master license from DC. What does that mean? From a July 2 press release:
  

  Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded Mattel, Inc., with the master toy license for complete DC Comics Universe of characters and properties. In addition to the rights to existing DC Comics characters/animation/movies, the multi-year pact provides Mattel with the rights to produce toys based on future DC Universe film and animation projects that are developed and produced during the term of the agreement. Mattel will support the DC Universe characters across all of its key brands including Hot Wheels, Radica, Fisher-Price, Tyco and Mattel Games. The financial terms of the deal were not released.

  
  Nothing specifically mentions the Legion here, of course, but Mattel now has the license to make any toys of any DC property. How about Saturn Girl Barbie? Legion Cruiser Hot Wheels? An Omnicom by Radica? See this article on Action Figure Insider for a little more, and this article for an interview with some folks at DC Direct who discuss what the differences are between Mattel's license and DC's in-house line.
  
  
• Canada's YTV recently announced their fall schedule, which includes the Legion. It says that the show "premieres Saturday, September 8 at 11 a.m. ET/PT", so I don't know if that means Season 1 or Season 2. Any Canadians want to chime in?
  
  
• Newsarama today has the first teaser for "Final Crisis". That's what we're counting down to, but we already knew that because the Lightning Saga Legion mentioned that. The image has Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal), Flash, and Hawkman. The tag line - "Heroes Die. Legends live forever."
  
  
• Newsarama also has a hero history of Karate Kid (all of them). They note that Supergirl #22 will somehow apparently have the Lighting Saga Karate Kid (left in the present) and the Waid/Kitson/Bedard Karate Kid (from the future) meeting up. Maybe it's a leftover from when Batman meets the Legion in Brave & Bold? In a recent Newsarama interview, Dan DiDio noted that "Whoever owns that ring [seen in the Countdown preview image] is going to be in a world of danger that they just might not survive." Let's see, a Legionnaire in trouble, Keith Giffen is there... can he kill off Karate Kid a third time?
  
  
• Next week's TV Guide is the Sci-Fi spectacular (or something like that). Of particular importance is an image of the Legion - but they're updated. Thanks to the Legion Clubhouse for the tip, go there to read a transcript. Click the picture to enlarge.
  
  Basically, a more grown-up Superman returns to the 31st century just in time to be recruited with the Legion by a group from the 41st century - led by a clone of Superman - to fight Imperiex. According to producer James Tucker, ""The comic-book purists are probably going to balk at first, but I think we've done a really good job of combining some aspects of DC Comics characters they know into this character." It sounds like this clone is closer to Kon-el.
  
  
  
• Legion Clubhouse also points out that the Legion makes another Vs. System card appearance in the new World's Finest set (which covers the Superman and Batman families of characters). The new cards:
  DWF-008 - Kara Zor-El <> Supergirl, Claire Connors
  DWF-219 - Matter-Eater Lad, Tenzil Kem
  There may be more, but it's tough to tell until the pictures are released. Here's where you'll find them whenever the images are out.
  
  
• Speaking of toys and games, the Legion Heroclix Starter Game set finally came out. It looks pretty cool and even contains a surprise - Shrinking Violet, sort of. They have a Clix disc with her stats on it, but it's just a "puck", there's no figure, since she's shrunken. They've got maps and a couple of movable artifacts (a comm dish and a news-bot). Jon Hex and Poptown review the set. There's a map from a 31st century battle and one from the 21st century. The future map has interlac writing, I'll have to decipher it later (I just got the set this past weekend). Jeff at Kneel Before Blog built a 3-D version of the map.
  

San Diego Legion programming

Legion-centric programming for the San Diego Comic Con coming up in a couple weeks:

Thursday 7/26

12:15-1:15 DC Countdown . . . to the End? — The DC Universe survived 52, but will it survive Countdown? This can’t-miss panel looks at the new year-long adventure and the ramifications of a DCU with 52 universes. The Monitors are watching closely as Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and Jimmy Olsen are joined by a cast of hundreds! Hosted by senior VP/executive editor DCU Dan DiDio and senior group editor Mike Carlin, the panel includes Countdown writers Paul Dini (Detective Comics), Tony Bedard (Supergirl and The Legion of Super-heroes), Adam Beechen (Robin), Sean McKeever (Teen Titans), Justin Gray (Jonah Hex), Jimmy Palmiotti (Superman Confidential), and more. Room 6B

The first of three DCU forums at the con. Karate Kid is supposed to be one of the central characters in Countdown.

5:00-6:00 Action Figure Times Toymaker Q&A — Ever wanted to know why your favorite character figure was limited, or just what toy companies are thinking? How about the recent movement of toy licenses from one manufacturer to another? Here's your chance to ask the manufacturers (both big and small) about their favorite figures and statues. What questions have been burning in your mind? Panelists include Eric Mayes, 4 Horsemen; Jamie Wilson, Weta; Jeremy Atkins, director of publicity for Dark Horse; Mark Tuttle, HeroClix brand manager; Guang Yang, CEO, SOTA Toys, Inc.; Frank Supiot, Kotobukiya; and Chuck Terceira, director of Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles. Room 4

Voice your opinion on the new Legion Heroclix Starter set and ask for more.

6:00-7:00 DC Group Therapy: Leagues, Legions, Societies, and Teens! — The DCU is home to the world’s greatest super-heroes, and they have banded together in teams with one common goal in mind: justice. Whether they’re rambunctious teenagers from the future, WWII veterans teaching a new generation, the super-powered elite, or the sidekicks who have forged their own way, they are among the DCU’s greatest assets. Don’t miss this important panel featuring the best teams that define heroism in the DC universe. Geoff Johns (Teen Titans, Justice Society of America), Sean McKeever (Teen Titans), Gail Simone (Birds of Prey) and Tony Bedard (Supergirl and The Legion of Superheroes) will be teamed with senior VP/executive editor DCU Dan DiDio, group editor Eddie Berganza, senior editor Mike Marts and editor Mike Siglain to bring you teamwork as you have never experienced before. Room 6A

Not bad, given equal billing with the JLA, JSA, and Titans.

8:30-10:30 World Premiere! Superman Doomsday — Superman is dead—or is he? All will be revealed at Comic-Con’s world premiere of DC Comics, Warner Bros. Home Video, and Warner Bros. Animation’s Superman Doomsday. It’s the highly anticipated first DC Universe made-for-DVD release presented by Warner Premiere and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Inspired by the best-selling graphic novel of all time, Superman Doomsday is an epic tale of heroism and tragedy, sacrifice and redemption. The film is rated PG-13 for action violence. The voice cast is led by Adam Baldwin (Serenity, Chuck) as Superman, Anne Heche (Men in Trees) as Lois Lane, and James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Lex Luthor. DC Comics’ Gregory Novek will moderate the post-premiere panel that includes executive producer/director/writer Bruce Timm (Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Animated Series), directors Brandon Vietti (Legion of Super Heroes) and Lauren Montgomery (Legion of Super Heroes), writer Duane Capizzi (The Batman), and, quite possibly, members of the voice cast. And stay ’til the end—there might just be a glimpse of future DC Universe films. Ballroom 20

Director Vietti is new on the show this year, while Montgomery was a directory on Season 1. Wonder what the future films might be? Lots of people want to see the Great Darkness Saga, which is rumored (or at least hoped for).

Friday 7/27

11:30-12:30 Mattel and DC Comics: A Heroic Partnership — You’ve been a fan of Mattel’s popular DC toy lines, now find out the latest news, sneak peaks, and behind-the-scenes scoop on your favorite Mattel/DC action figures, including DC Super Heroes, Justice League Unlimited, The Batman, and DC Superfriends, plus exciting new lines and never-before-released information. Join Mattel toy designers, and Warner Brothers and DC Comic representatives for an insightful Q&A. Room 10

Mattel now has the license for the entire DC line of heroes, not just the animated ones. In addition to that, look for a preview of the Legion figures coming out next spring-ish.

4:15-5:45 Warner Bros. Animation: The Batman/Legion of Super-Heroes — This action-packed 90 minutes is split between two Warner Bros. Animation standouts: The Batman and Legion of Super Heroes. The Caped Crusader crew just picked up its fourth Emmy Award heading into a season that promises even more punch, courtesy of guest appearances from some Justice League pals. Supervising producer Alan Burnett (The Batman), producer-director Michael Goguen (Batman: The Animated Series), renowned voice director Andrea Romano, and the voice of Batman himself, Rino Romano, will discuss the upcoming surprises. LOSH enters its second season with double the action as the group adds new members—and a new ally from across the space-time continuum—just in time to face a daunting new villain. Producer James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited), director Brandon Vietti (Superman Doomsday), and story editor/writer Michael Jelenic (The Batman) will be joined on the panel by cast members Yuri Lowenthal (Superman on LOSH), Phil Morris (Seinfeld, Smallville), and Alex Polinsky (Charles in Charge). TV Guide senior editor Rich Sands will moderate both halves of the panel. Room 6B

Phil Morris is new to the show, and this is the first I've heard of his involvement. The only new character I know of is Chameleon Boy, but who knows if that's him or not. Polinsky voiced Matter-Eater Lad and Chlorophyll Kid on the show.

6:00-7:00 DC Nation — Come one, come all, rise up and join the DC Nation! Meet Dan DiDio, senior VP/executive editor DCU, as he invites you to be part of the revolution! Discuss surviving 52, living in a multiverse guarded by Monitors, and trying to discover the secret of the cosmic chess game as the DCU counts down. Rise up and shout—The Nation is waiting! Room 6A

The second of three DCU panels.

Saturday 7/28

1:30-2:45 DCU: New Worlds Order — The crisis is over, isn’t it? With 52 finished, the DCU is counting down and the Monitors are watching closely. Come play catch-up, have your questions answered, and learn what lies ahead for the DCU in this extensive slide show presentation moderated by Dan DiDio (senior VP/executive editor DCU) and Bob Wayne (VP, sales). Joining them will be coordinating editor Jann Jones, senior group editor Mike Carlin, group editor Eddie Berganza, plus Tony Bedard (Birds of Prey,), Adam Beechen (Robin), Paul Dini (Detective Comics), Justin Gray (Countdown), Geoff Johns (The All New Booster Gold), Dan Jurgens (Booster Gold), Sean McKeever (Teen Titans), Jesus Merino (Superman), Carlos Pacheco (Superman), Jimmy Palmiotti (Countdown), Grant Morrison (Batman), Ivan Reis (Green Lantern), and Gail Simone (The All-New Atom). Room 6B

The final DCU panel.

Sunday 7/29

12:30-2:00 Pro/Fan Trivia Match: The Multiverse — The Purple Pros (Len Wein, creator of Wolverine; Mark Waid, writer of 52, and two versions from parallel worlds to be named later) take on the Black Ink Irregulars (Tom Galloway, Terence Chua, David Oakes, and Hal Shipman) in a contest of trivia about the Multiverses of both DC and Marvel, moderated by Keith DeCandido (Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Deathless). Room 4

Not necessarily Legion-related, but it's got Waid and potential questions about the Legionverses. You think my trivia is hard, you should listen to these guys. It's a lot of fun - I was on the Black Ink Irregulars one year (in which we lost) and at least one of the regular commenters here has also been on the team a few times.

Legion Heroclix stuff

Now that WizKids have released the final image (Ultra Boy), I went back and updated the entry here to show all of the new figures.

The May issue of Game Trade Magazine (#87) has a preview of the Legion set in its final retail configuration.

I'm not sure what those things are on the top right or to Superman's left. M. J. Norton at Miraclo Miles isn't sure either, but he's got a scan of the article (which appears to be an ad, not an article) in which WizKids is trying to assuage HeroClix fans that this new set, which is the first with some new playing capabilities, won't make all their old figures obsolete. I'm sure Scipio at the Absorbascon could tell you more if you were so inclined.

Meanwhile, Darren at The Miserable Annals of the Earth reviews how they translated Ultra Boy's powers into HeroClix (apparently not all that well) and discusses Timber Wolf at length.

New Heroclix revealed

Update 5/1: Added Lightning Lad, waiting for Ultra Boy
Update 5/13: Added Ultra Boy

---

WizKids now has five six all of the seven Legionnaire figures up on their site. Click each figure to go to their page with more stats. The set comes out in June.




1. Lightning Lad
2. Saturn Girl
3. Cosmic Boy
4. Timber Wolf
5. Phantom Girl
6. Ultra Boy
7. Young Superman

Here is the whole roster of Legionnaire Heroclix, though they've left a few off that should be. For my version of the whole list, see the Legion Wiki article.

LSH Heroclix update

M. J. Norton's Miraclo Miles has an update on the Legion HeroClix Starter Set. As expected, it's the lineup of the cartoon, with one tweak:

Oh, I've also just seen that an article in Game Trade magazine (#87, May 2007) has listed the roll call for the Legion of Superheroes starter set: Superman, Cosmic Boy, Phantom Girl, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Timber Wolf, and Ultra Boy.

Bouncing Boy gets no respect. He's a series regular AND the team leader.

Apparently, these are new sculpts of the figures. We've already had Post-Zero Hour versions of Cosmic Boy, Live Wire, and Saturn Girl, plus numerous sculpts of Superman.

They've also got these things called "Powers and Abilities Cards" which probably mean a lot to those who play the game. This page shows the Phantom Girl and Saturn Girl cards.

LSH HeroClix Starter Set - now with Spider Lad and Wolverine Boy!

HCRealms points out that the Legion HeroClix Starter Set coming in a couple months might be misidentified slightly in this Wizard Universe advance order:

Playable out of the box, the DC HeroClix: Legion of Super Heroes Starter Game contains seven exclusive new sculpts with character cards...

...Includes the Hulk, Spider-Man, Magneto, Captain America, Wolverine, Hobgoblin, Elektra, Sabretooth, and more of your favorites.

These figures, from the ad, must be Elektra Girl and Hulk Lad.

HeroClix Origin figures

Hey, the new HeroClix series, "Origin", is out. Here are the Legion figures:

#22-24 Mano (pre-Crisis costume)


#52-54 Triplicate Girl (post-Infinite Crisis costume)


#55-57 Supergirl (modern version)


#73-75 Mon-El/Valor/M'Onel (in post-Zero Hour M'Onel costume)


These are the ones we knew about. There's also a "Unique" figure #204 Duo Damsel (whose archenemy, by the way, is Triplicate Girl) with the same figure as above, and a "Bystander" pog B002 of a generic Legionnaire.

HeroClix Starter Set & Origin update

Scott at Legion Clubhouse points out that two images of the new Legion HeroClix Starter Set have been sneak-peeked: Phantom Girl and Timber Wolf. But they're in their post-Infinite Crisis (current) costumes, not the cartoon version, so maybe it's a rights thing -- maybe resculpts of Brainiac 5, Superman, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and a new Bouncing Boy in their current costumes. Oh, wait, there is no Bouncing Boy in current continuity yet.

Here's the thread at the HCRealms message board discussing the set, along with the new Phantom Girl and Timber Wolf figures. The starter set comes out in June.

---

Meanwhile, Buddyhoss over at HCRealms got the poster with images of each figure and photographed each one. Legion figures from this set are Mano, Triplicate Girl, Supergirl (modern), and M'Onel/Valor/Mon-El. Here's the set, along with the discussion thread. M. J. Norton's Miraclo Miles discusses of many of them, and an earlier post discusses the Supergirl figure. The Origin set comes out in March.




(Updated with info from Scott's comment below)

Toywatch: Not action figures, but how about Heroclix?

I'll leave all of the analysis to our resident Heroclix expert (Scipio at the Absorbascon), but at least three people emailed me tonight to tell me that WizKids is coming out with a special Heroclix "starter set".

DC HeroClix Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Game Announced!

This Summer, WizKids takes DC HeroClix into the distant future with the DC HeroClix: Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Game!

The DC HeroClix: Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Game features:
· 7 all-new sculpts
· 2 exclusive new 3D objects
· 3'x3' full-color, 2-sided HeroClix map
· The most up-to-date HeroClix rulebook and PAC card
· 1 Feat card, 1 Battlefield Condition and terrain and object tokens
· 1 HeroClix base turning ring and 2 dice

The Legion of Super-Heroes is set in the 30th Century where a young Superman has been thrust forward in time and agrees to join a young team of adventurers in a universe that faces threats of unimaginable proportion!

The DC HeroClix: Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Game is featured in a windowed display box and is playable right out of the box. Combined with previous HeroClix releases such as DC HeroClix: Origin and DC HeroClix: Giants you can recreate some of the Legion's most spectacular adventures!

And don't forget, 2007 is the 5th Anniversary of HeroClix. Expect ANYTHING!

The DC HeroClix: Legion of Super-Heroes Starter Game is slated for release in June 2007.

I suspect that the 7 all-new sculpts are likely to be the 7 core characters of the TV show - I think that's too much of a coincidence. And I have no idea what the rest of the items in the box are, but as long as they're included, cool! (Not that I'm going to play the game, though.)

Here's a list of all the Legion-related HeroClix figures that I put together for the Legion Wiki.

New Heroclix coming

As I mentioned the other day, WizKids is coming out with a new line of Heroclix in the Spring. Scipio, the comicsblogosphere's resident expert on Clix weighs in on the figures over at the Absorbascon, including these Legionnaires:

#22-24 Mano
#52-54 Triplicate Girl
#55-57 Supergirl (modern version)
#73-75 Mon-El/Valor/M'Onel

Notice that they've added one Pre-Crisis figure, one post-Zero Hour figure, and one post-Infinite Crisis figure. Sheesh! Here's a list of who's who in the Legion of Super-Heroclix. (Mano pretty much had the same costume both pre-Crisis and post-Zero Hour.)

The news never stops

Just because I'm not posting doesn't mean there's not stuff going on in the Legion-centric world:

• Comics Continuum reported that although official word on a second season of the Legion cartoon show has not appeared yet, "an announcement about the show's future is expected in the next month or so. However, ... scripts are being worked on for a new season."
  
  
• The new Heroclix expansion set, coming in March, is confirmed or strongly rumored to have the following Legion-related figures, according to those in the know:
  - Confirmed: Supergirl (current version)
  - Strongly Rumored: "Legion of Superhero members (Valor/M'On-El?, Timber Wolf?, Tripicate Girl/Duo Damsel?, Bouncing Boy?), LSH villains (Mano? Tharok?)", new JSA Starman
  - Rumored: Proty (as a bystander)
  
  
• In addition to the 120 or so Legion-related cards in the latest Vs. System CCG set (plus the same cards as foil), there is yet another set that appears to be foil only. These are the "stacker" cards, which when laid side by side produce a triptych, as they don't have the regular borders (or aren't supposed to). There's one stacker set here, featuring Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Live Wire.
  
  
  
  Compare this to the non-stacker cards:
  
  
  
  Carlos at vs-blog.com found a Live Wire stacker card that has a border (which it's not supposed to have). Don't know if that's a misprint or what.
  
  
  
  

Finally, a holiday treat. The Invincible Super-Blog reviewed the Superboy and the Legion story in which the team tries to find the Christmas star, from DC Special Series #21. It's awesome.