The Definitive Fantastic Four Customs

[Matt Helm]

As a fan of the FF and one who can no longer wait for the Reinforcements, I have been printing the great customs on this site for use in my army. Unfortunately, I continue to debate myself as to which ones are the best for me as so many of the custom card creators have produced such quality offerings.

I apologize to the creators if it is not cool to compare their work in an open forum as I know their is personal choice involved in the design of their creations. Please accept it as a compliment that I have chosen your card to consider my "official" representation of the character and that I'm asking other players to help me with their opinions.

In choosing my favorites, I consider:
- professional look
- quality of sculpt (to match the one I have chosen)
- character representation in special powers
- accurate stats
- simplicity and playability

And now my choices...
1. Mr. Fantastic by Hi1...


2. Invisible Woman by Monk


3. Thing, I can't decide between Monk,


and Hi1...


4. Human Torch, I'm really torn between Grey Owl,


Whitestuff,


and Hi1...


I understand that the creators themselves likely use their own exclusively. But what about the rest of us? Which do you like to use?

[Cavalier]

You can't link to images directly on your computer (nor would you really want to grant access to your hard drive to the entire world.


How to post images:

The image has to be a supported file type: .jpg, .png, .gif.

If the image is already located online. . .
1. Right click on the image and select Properties
2. Highlight and copy the Addresss
2. In the posting text box, type "[img]" without the quotes.
3. Paste (Ctl+V) to insert that copied image address right after the closing bracket. (You will need to add .jpg to the end of yours because of your image host)
4. Close the img tag by typing "[/img]" without the quotes.

If the image is NOT already located online. . .
1. You need to get it online, if you are a site supporter, you can upload it to our Gallery, if not, you will need to sign up for an account at a hosting site like photobucket.
2. Upload your images using the options in your Gallery account.
3. Once your image is uploaded, follow the steps above

(And since you're simply posting someone elses images, you really only need to copy and paste their images in to your post.)

[Matt Helm]

Thanks for the heads up. I think I just figured out how to do it myself.

[Monk]

Don't want to influence anyones choices but, Ladies, I hear "Monk"
is incredibly handsome....and Uhh, really wealthy, and suave and
debonair....kind of has that fantastic four appeal....well thats what I hear...

[Matt Helm]

As I stated, Hi's Mr. Fantastic is great the way he is and I know what Monk has planned to tighten up the Invisible Woman (get that Vista going already!!!).

As for The Thing, I think both cards need the SUPER STRENGTH symbol. Now for my dilemma, I like Monk's auto shield on the Defense of 6 and the higher cost associated with it (possibly modified to 300 or 310) better than just a straight Defense of 7. But I like the more official wording of the Leap ability on Hi's card and I definitely like Hi's usage of Clobberin' Time. I think it works great with Super Leap. If Benji sees a comrade get attacked... a jumping 5 die roll while screaming out "It's Clobberin' Time" is just down right fun (the -2 and the +2 even each other out when used in tandem). I'm starting to lean Hi but I don't want to give up Rock Skin... and thus, my dilemma.

On the Human Torch, the three cards are so similar it makes me nuts to think what the official plan was for the character. Anyway, I love the simplicity of Grey Owl's (many custom cards seem to get so complicated and wordy) and also the basic stats that make The Torch a competitive hero. Hi's stats seem a tad low for normal attacks possibly holding him back from being the popular piece he should be. I also think that "Flame On" as designed is unnecessary, but would be a great name for the curiously missing heat resistant power that the other cards have. But to Hi's credit, his "Stealth Fying" is a MUST... how could you take an engagement swipe at a fast-flying, flaming blur? Whitestuff seems to have a great balance in basic stats but the Nova power seems too risky as it is immensely powerful and then leaves the Torch defenseless for so long... a great card for a gambler but a nightmare for the cool and calculated player.

What is a fan supposed to do? Has anyone else played with more than one of these cards?

A question for the creators... do the other cards give you ideas for updates?

[hi1hi1hi1hi1]

Yes I noticed that Thing is somehow missing Super Strength? I will fix that.

Actually my whole Fantastic four was in line to be edited, so you, my friend, have just given me an excuse to do so.

[hi1hi1hi1hi1]

Ok here are the updates:

Thing - clarified wording, +1 attack, +1 defense, super strength



Mr. Fantastic - clarified wording



Human Torch - NEW Flame On power to chow how he is always jumping into things without thinking first.

[Matt Helm]

Wow... nice changes to the Thing. With the added attack and defense, he can now face off against the Hulk for a round or two and really do some damage. Then as the Hulk gets stronger, he should be able to take the Thing down... but not until after a classic lengthy showdown. Great job, as now I would chose him over Abomination... but then does that mean his cost should be bumped up even a little more? 300 maybe? Then again, a life of 6 is significantly lower than Abomination's 8. You'd know that better than me.
Bottom line (**** Monk - Don't read this ***), I think I found my Thing.

I'm very happy with the change in Flame On for the Human Torch. Much more fitting. I'd still like to see some sort of Heat/Flame/Lava resistance as I'd hate to have the Human Torch taken out by Mimring's fire. I could always just invoke a House rule for common sense but that should be avoided when possible. I understand that you don't want to crowd the card.

One question on the intent of Nova Blast. When you say he cannot use any special abilities afterward for the rest of the round, should I take it literally meaning that he can not even fly? I'm good either way, I just wanted to know how to use your vision.

[hi1hi1hi1hi1]

Originally Posted by Matt Helm

Wow... nice changes to the Thing. With the added attack and defense, he can now face off against the Hulk for a round or two and really do some damage. Then as the Hulk gets stronger, he should be able to take the Thing down... but not until after a classic lengthy showdown. Great job, as now I would chose him over Abomination... but then does that mean his cost should be bumped up even a little more? 300 maybe? Then again, a life of 6 is significantly lower than Abomination's 8. You'd know that better than me.
Bottom line (**** Monk - Don't read this ***), I think I found my Thing.

I'm very happy with the change in Flame On for the Human Torch. Much more fitting. I'd still like to see some sort of Heat/Flame/Lava resistance as I'd hate to have the Human Torch taken out by Mimring's fire. I could always just invoke a House rule for common sense but that should be avoided when possible. I understand that you don't want to crowd the card.

One question on the intent of Nova Blast. When you say he cannot use any special abilities afterward for the rest of the round, should I take it literally meaning that he can not even fly? I'm good either way, I just wanted to know how to use your vision.

Wow thanks Matt!

And as to your point about heat attacks, it's hard to word. I don't like saying things like, "is not affected by any ability with the word heat, fire, flame, lava, etc." it gets very, I don't know what the right word is, but difficult to word properly.

And finally yes he cannot fly. the thing I went for is that he can be extremely powerful, but then he is out of fuel for awhile.

[Matt Helm]

I hear what you're saying regarding the difficult wording on Heat Resistance. What if it was limited to Terrain aspects which is worded clearly on many official cards? I guess what I'm saying is that I could believe that the Torch could get hurt by a heat/fire attack if I rationalize that the concussive force of the directed attack alone caused the damage, but I still believe he should be unaffected by lava terrain perils (considering that he can super nova).