I did buy the LOD starter. The overwhelming reason was to get the map, which is all kinds of fun for two reasons.

1. Side A is the inside of the Hall of Doom, complete with the classic conference room and chairs in the middle.

2. Side B is indeed "Deep in the middle of their Swamp". The map is a wonderful amount of hindering and water terrain. You might need to field some characters with stealth to provide some mobile blocking terrain. Yeah, this will be fun.

As for the pieces, I will have to run them to see how they work. I am already sold on the main set versions of everyone except Giganta (her point cost of 110 makes her harder to fit in a build when all of her allies point costs are divisible by 50).

Posted by: superfriend on 3/24/2014 9:33:34 AM

Wondering how many people have bought this and if they feel it is worth it for the alternate dials. I have been lucky enough to pull or trade for all the regular set dials for these characters and like them a lot. So is it worth picking up for the alternate dials? Is there anything special about the map? Maybe lots of water/hindering for Grundy and Manta to make use of?

Posted by: superfriend on 3/17/2014 7:35:06 AM

@Mr J - I agree they are unlikely. You will need to look to other sets for some lackeys. This set already has not only Blight for generics, but Daemonites, Daxamites and Science Police. I doubt we are getting more generics than that although I'd like to see some Khunds and Parademons as well.

Don't be afraid to reach into other sets for lackeys though. The Batman set has Joker Thugs and Archam Guards which have a 'corrupt' version. I think the Nowhere grunts from the Teen Titans set might make nice minions as well.

Posted by: superfriend on 2/17/2014 7:03:20 AM

@ Mr J. Doubt it. They decided to go with Blight. Because that story was so great. (Sarcasm)

Posted by: HeroclixHater on 2/14/2014 7:20:27 PM

hey I wonder if this set will have black manta goons

Posted by: Mr J on 2/10/2014 3:15:16 PM

Did anyone else notice the map (on page 7) is labelled "Hall of Doom"? Awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qpkqJtL6PM

Posted by: superfriend on 2/7/2014 9:44:09 AM

#Manta

Really looking at the dial, I have to agree that 4 natural damage damage does feel a bit high for this character. I could see him with some RCE up front and some CCE at the end.

And something to represent just how cool is helmet really is. Not just perplex or shapechange, but something that makes you kind of stop in awe of the greatness of how he looks. A "Presense" modifier, similar to how the KC team ability was supposed to represent other characters being intimidated by these legends.

Posted by: superfriend on 2/7/2014 6:48:52 AM

#Manta
If they are using the phase/teleport to represent his ship, then the ship has been shown to fly, although I can see your point.

Looking at Manta's dial more, the first five clicks could be his ship and the last 2 could be Manta after his ship is destroyed.

Mantas ship goes up to the #1 slot for DC vehicles the next time WK decides to make them.

Posted by: superfriend on 2/7/2014 6:38:40 AM

shouldn't black manta's phasing/teleport only work in the water and the 4 damage seems to high even for a 125 pointer.
the other stats are believable and his regeneration is well done.

Posted by: plowshares on 2/6/2014 1:10:16 PM

So we get 6 members here and we've seen Riddler and Toyman in the main set. That's 8. I wonder how many more of the 13 villains featured on the Super Friends TV show we will get. Could we hope to get them all?

I could see holding off on Sinestro because of the upcoming War of Light set, or Scarecrow because we got one in Streets of Gotham. I guess we got 2 versions of Brainiac in DC 10th, but we also got 2 Lex Luthor's in that set. Both Lex and Bizarro were in Superman.

That really marks Captain Cold and Grodd as the two missing that we could really use updates of. Grodd was in Arkham Assylum with Grundy, Riddler and Black Manta. And I think Grodd was an LE in DC75. But for Captain Cold you have to go back to the era before cards to find his only pieces in the game. Definitely time for a new Captain Cold.

Maybe its time for a Flash Rogues subtheme in a set...

Posted by: superfriend on 1/31/2014 3:28:25 PM

And finally, points to WK for making Bizarro so backwards. Note that the FF version his dial and point costs for the REV are reversed with the yellow starting line coming first and being the most expensive.

Posted by: superfriend on 1/29/2014 7:15:08 AM

The other component of many FF sets is one or two pieces which are really good. Chaos War FF Scarlet Witch is a great example. So is Justice League FF Flash. Looking forward to seeing which piece or pieces from this FF set shine.

@LE, I really like the fact that you included the main set pieces we have already seen in this article for comparison. A nice touch.

Posted by: superfriend on 1/29/2014 7:11:29 AM

One of the key components of FF sets over the past few years has been the inclusion of characters not available in the main set.

Galactic Guardians pulled sculpts from prior sets like Captain America. Chaos War included sculpts of Scarlet Witch and Mockingbird which only appeared in the main set as parts of duo figures (which were also chase pieces). Streets of Gotham FF set included Oracle which was a sculpt from the DC 10th Anniversary set.

I really wonder if Giganta could be that sculpt in this set which is only an FF piece.

Posted by: superfriend on 1/29/2014 7:08:38 AM