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C3G Year End Review

IAmBatman

Champ of C3G Con 2020, 2024, and mindless posting
Site Supporter
I posted this on Discord but it was brought up that it might be fun to have the conversation over here as a "historical document". Basically I'd love to ask some questions at the end of every year to kind of reflect on the year that was C3G and look ahead to the next year.

Some overall year stuff for 2024:

1. This was our second full year of 2.0 (woo!) and it's going swimmingly, imo
2. We had some ups and downs figuring out our new release structure but I think it's in a nice place now
3. We had Con V and it was as fun as ever. I'm feeling confident about the future of Con as an annual staple
4. I got a figure (a literal mini) made as a tribute to me and am beyond flattered by it. Pretty sweet to have Nick Batman in the C3G Canon
5. We continued to be productive, with 840 LDs done so far in 2.0, 325 of them in 2024

Here are the questions I'd love to ask annually, starting with 2024:
  1. Favorite LD you did
  2. Favorite design you didn’t LD
  3. Favorite moment
  4. Favorite faction
  5. Biggest challenge
  6. Biggest lesson learned
  7. Resolution for 2025
  8. LD list for 2024
Anyone who can read this is free to answer. No worries about skipping questions that don't interest you or apply to you. :)
 
1. Favorite LD you did

Tough one. I’m going with Sorceress since I really love how she brought the MotU all together (too much so initially). Honorable mentions to Brainiac Skull Ship (Con one done with LV and T and just an easy breezy one that felt fresh and new), the Batmobile (feels like a redemption for the 1.0 mess), Booster Gold (I really like how he plays), and Godzilla (a big slog, but proud of the accomplishment and grateful for the group buy-in!)

2. Favorite design you didn’t LD

I almost put Brainiac Skull Ship here because it felt as much like an Lord Venoc LD to me as anything, but since that’s not technically the full truth, I scoured the rest of the list for last year. So many great ones!

Here’s my short list of contenders:

Bruce (Jaws)
Stormtroopers
Ultron
Rogue
Hellslinger
Robin (Tim Drake)
Doom Slayer (and weapons)
AT-ST
Fighting Chance
Alien Facehugger
Casey Jones
Linda Park
Gorilla Gross (Gorilla City)
Buffy Summers
Nick Batman
Rubber
Mandarin
Lara Croft
Morph (AoA)
Grand Moff Tarkin
The Batman Who Laughs
Deadman
Captain Marvel (Billy Batson)
Beetlejuice
Chameleon
Green Lantern (Kilowog)
John Constantine (JLD)
Roboto
Mindless One

I really considered Nick Batman (definitely my favorite *sculpt* of the year) but given how much of a pain that one was to actually get On Deck … I’m going with Deadman. I just love how that design turned out. Difficult character to translate and I feel like the design just nails him.

3. Favorite moment

I’ve mentioned this one before, but definitely has to be the “crap on a map” game where I felt new levels of geekiness unlocked: throwing down at Con on Kame House with Battle for Grayskull versus Danny the Street with Nobody was peak geekiness and I loved every second.

Honorable mention to getting Nick Batman in the mail!

4. Favorite faction

Justice League Dark, Hulk Family, and Galactic Empire all got consideration here for feeling unique and interesting and having really fun mechanics. Snake Mountain was also on my short-list just due to personal investment, but ultimately I’m most happy with how Gotham Knights grew and developed this year.

5. Biggest challenge

Having to do extensive reevaluations for both MotU and Snake Mountain was a huge challenge. Feeling stuck in the mud for a long time post-Con, especially with Godzilla, was a huge challenge as well. I really want to do more with the Villain system, but it feels pretty daunting to work on.

Probably the biggest challenge of all though was the site migration. I feel like our enthusiasm and morale really took a hit there while we adapted to the new sight and that took a big chunk out of what we could’ve accomplished for the year. I hope that some of the long-time members who dropped off a bit during that time aren’t gone for good

6. Biggest lesson learned

Three here: One is that when it’s an IP that everyone is invested on, slow and steady is a good way to go. I think having one LD at a time with a different LD each time was really fruitful for the Empire stuff.

Second one is to watch power stacking carefully. If I were paying more attention to the raw numbers on the efficiency for the MotU Story Card, I could’ve saved myself a lot of trouble. If I were paying more attention to how resurrection and Magical Defense stack powerfully in Snake Mountain, I could’ve saved myself a lot of trouble.

Third is that it’s more fun when we have two or three people invested in a faction and working on it together. I’m not sure that’s always easy to achieve, though.

7. Resolutions for 2025

I got my 50 LDs in 2024! I’m aiming for a slightly more reasonable 40 in 2025 (though probably with fewer conversions? 12 new unit designs wasn’t much in 2024 – I expect a larger number in that category in 2025)

I want to keep building the Villain system (and hopefully see Villain write ups and maybe even LDs from others!). I owe SW a Gundam design in the early days. I want to do 10 MotU things. I want to do another map competition. I want to keep the Star Wars IP going.

I want to see C3G continue to thrive and continue to be fun. I believe we can and will outproduce, out-quality, and outlast Renegadescape (I know I’m biased).

Obviously can’t wait to have another awesome Con.

8. LD list for 2024

Destructible Objects: War Banner, Ladder, Training Dummy, Weapons Rack, Laser Turret

Hazards: Tornado

Items: Tome of Ancient Secrets, Havoc Staff, Shaping Staff

Maps: End Times, Astral Plane, Castle Grayskull, Last Days of Krypton, Central City Expressway

Story Cards: Masters of the Universe, HYDRA Covert Operations, Battle for Castle Grayskull, Long Halloween, Superman Flyover

Unit Conversions: Zatara, Crazy Quilt, Beast Man, Robin (Dick Grayson), Watcher, Psyche, Psychic Projection, Skeletor, Batman (Occult), Yellow Lantern (Mongul), Robin (Damian), Guardian, Batman (Utility), Alfred, Nightwing (GK), Amahl Farouk, Shadow King, Bat-Hound, Riddler

Units (New): Fire, Ice, Mer-Man, Doctor Light (Kimiyo), Shadow Beasts, Evil-Lyn, Sorceress, Imperial Pilot, Booster Gold, Trap Jaw, Batmobile, Godzilla (villain)
 
Favorite LD you did
Alien Facehugger is my favorite. I’m really happy with how it ended up - it’s a tricky idea, it had to work a very specific way to feel right, and I think we absolutely nailed it.

Gamma 1 & 2 turned out really fun as well, and I’m happy that Doctor Gero rounded them and the other Androids out into a 1000-point team. I’ll throw another honorable mention to Gorilla Grodd (Primate Leader) for giving me another go-to fun testing team.

Also, I LD’d 2 maps this year! That’s absolutely huge for me. I’m really glad I’ve been able to do that and have the testing & encouragement to push those through. Kame House in particular was a bucket lister for me, and I geek out seeing my IRL painted Kame House bungalow on a heroscape map.

Favorite design you didn’t LD
I’m gonna shout out a few as it’s hard to narrow down.

Castle Grayskull - Wild design that truly pushes the limits of the Heroscape system, and is really fun.

Chibodee Crocket and Gundam Maxter - All the G Gundam suits are great but the bursting machine gun punch paired with attack mode is brutal and exactly the sort of big splashy effect I love.

Chameleon - The whole Sin6 is fun, but Chameleon takes the cake for his creative disguise mechanic that can be used in so many different ways.

Favorite moment
Less a single moment and more a recurring thing, but the Tuesday TTS game nights have been awesome. It’s been a lot of fun and a great way to try new stuff and act as another layer of quality control. I really appreciate you putting those on Eric, and I love hanging with you all: Eric, Bats, Shifty, and whoever else we’ve played with!

Favorite faction
I’m gonna list a bunch because I can’t pick just one.

Toa - We got them done!!!!!! And they play well. Was a tricky process getting them there, but it was a true team effort between 4 different people doing LDs alongside the usual collaborative stuff. Definitely a highlight of my C3G time, seeing that faction come together.

Dark Multiverse - really creative synergy, fun designs. I never read anything with these dudes yet I painted all the figures. If that’s not praise for the designs I don’t know what is, haha.

The Sworn - another faction just with really creative synergy. I appreciate the clear mechanical hook this faction has.

Brotherhood of Mutants - a huge accomplishment getting these guys to feel as good as the traditional X-Men. Love the new Magneto and crew.

Age of Apocalypse - The new leaders make this for me. Rogue is so simple to just grab her and a few other Mutants and bam, you got a testing build. And even just the AoA themselves have so much modularity, team building is easy. A great achievement in faction design.

I know there’s a ton I’m leaving off for favorite factions or units, but I’ll list everything if I keep going.

Biggest challenge
The site migration was definitely tough.

Yellow Lanterns were a bit of a challenge but folks were a big help there (especially Bats for coming in clutch with some extra tests). I don’t think any of my LDs were especially strenuous though.

Biggest lesson learned
I continue to see certain designs and factions push the limits of the C3G system, expanding into new synergies I never considered before, and that inspires me to try and push those limits too. I mentioned a few specifics in my favorites list above, but seeing those designs/factions work have taught me to consider all those things in my own LDs and has made me a better designer.

I think just the overall C3G group dynamics and collaborative environment has taught me a ton about handling conflict resolution, the value of different opinions (especially when it comes to creativity), the importance of realizing when I need to stop being stubborn and to try a different direction for a problem, that sort of thing. I’m struggling to think of a specific “lesson” from this year, but I feel like that sort of stuff is always helpful.

I suppose one specific thing that I’ve been working on more this year is modular factions, to make team building easy. Seeing that in several other factions, and the ease I can then bring those factions to my table, was eye opening.

Resolution for 2025
I’m rarely one to make resolutions, in C3G or otherwise. I pretty much go with the flow. I want to continue to expand factions I enjoy and come up with mechanically interesting designs. So these are less specific time-sensitive goals and more just a general wishlist.

For 2024, I’m especially happy that the Red Ribbon Army was expanded so much, and the 3 Cells were completed. That was a big bucket lister so that we have the 4 main villains of DBZ represented. With Beerus, Whis, Broly/Gogeta, and the Gammas, I feel like Dragon Ball Super has solid representation as well. (I’m viewing the DBZ designs as sort of a “what would the roster be in a fighting game?” way.) In the future I’d like to design Kid Goku to highlight a character from original Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Daima. But I’m not set on that being in 2025, more just whenever I (or someone else!) comes up with the right design for it.

I’d love to see JSA expanded. Ocean Master is another one that is overdue to get converted. I’d also love to see more of my favorite mangas expanded too: Deku from My Hero Academia, One Piece, Death Note (I’ve struggled to imagine how you could do that design in a balanced way), Fullmetal Alchemist, etc. Master Chief also feels overdue.

LD list for 2024
Gamma 1 & Gamma 2
AT-ST
Doom Slayer + Weapon items: Rocket Launcher, Heavy Machine Gun, BFG 9000, Combat Shotgun, Chainsaw
Kame House map
Alien Facehugger
Linda Park
Gorilla Grodd (primate leader)
Doctor Gero
Gohan (adult)
Atomica
Cell (Imperfect)
Cell (Semi-Perfect)
Cell (Perfect)
Power Ring
Deathstorm
Shadow of the Devil Gundam
Takanuva
Knee-Deep in the Dead map
Melinda May
Beerus

A very productive year. Only 2020 was more productive for me! I’m not counting conversions in this list (even the ones that were basically LDs, like Kilowog), so the number would likely be double that or more if we include conversions.
 
1. Favorite LD you did: Crimson Cowl. It took a full redesign but I really like where it ended up. Totally hit the theme I was looking for.

2. Favorite design you didn’t LD: Gamma 1 and 2. Neat idea and fun to play.

3. Favorite moment: I think it's mostly been keeping the Tuesday night TTS games rolling along. Besides just being fun, I feel like its been a different type of quality control, and great rules and abilities discussions.

4. Favorite faction – Tie between Masters of Evil and Sinister Six. I was really happy to get quite a few factions converted and hopefully improved this year. AIM, SHIELD, MoE, and Sin6 all got off the ground or expanded this year.

5. Biggest challenge – Star Wars

6. Biggest lesson learned – Star Wars

7. Resolution for 2025 – Get Wakanda started. Get a tournament going instead of just talking about it.

8. LD list for 2024 – I did a bunch, 48 by my count if you include maps and items.
 
1. Favorite LD you did:
Steelheart and Batman Who Laughs are definitely contenders since they make their respective factions work, even if they’re not the most exciting members of those factions. Master Asia and his Gundam are fun powerhouses, but I in general enjoy Domon and Shining more. V is very evocative and a great partner for Silverhand. Rubber is ridiculous. Outlaw Bane turned out really fun. Pikachu is a huge iconic add. Really tough. Might just go Steelheart though since she’s been a few years coming and I’ve played her and her faction a ton.


2. Favorite design you didn’t LD:
Oof there’s too many. Darth Vader is solid and I use him a lot. Doom Slayer is super evocative and fun. The Merciless is my favorite member of that faction. I could prob list about 20 more but picking three from the top of my head seems more doable so there you go.


3. Favorite moment:
Con 2024 of course. Hanging with ya’ll in person is the best and I wish we could do it more often. But otherwise I think making progress on a lot of tough factions is also great.


4. Favorite faction:
I really like the Red Ribbon army. Pretty straight forward but I just keep reaching for them. Really enjoying how the Sworn turned out and I think they’ll be an ongoing staple for me too. The Tormentors got a ton of new stuff this year and its such a wild faction that I have to mention it.


5. Biggest challenge –
Dark Multiverse! Started from way too weak, then got to be way too strong, and back and forth and back and forth. Had just a ton of testing and I think it turned out all right after a while.


6. Biggest lesson learned –
Soft synergize factions; that makes them feel good to play. But also if all the members of the faction shore up the weaknesses of other ones, it gets too strong really fast sometimes, so keep an eye on it.


7. Resolution for 2025 –
I’ve done a ton of focusing on factions I’m working directly on this year, and I want to help brainstorm with others on their factions more. I don’t have any huge grand factions planne for this year! (Yet)

I plan to expand the Sworn some more, make use of all those mods I did. A few more Cyberpunk pieces. Would love to get back into Gundam designing, haven’t done much in a while and I always enjoy those. Maybe another Pokemon or two. Oh, and get a start on the Street Sharks. Jawsome!


8. LD list for 2024 –
5- 531 - Master Asia - Bandai
6- 532 - Master Gundam - Bandai
7- 533 - The Murder Machine - DC
8- 534 - The Devastator - DC
9- 535 - War Angel - Coffin
10- 576 - Hellslinger - Coffin
11- 617 - Fighting Chance One Shot - C3G
12- 639 - Tiva Steelheart - Coffin
13- 705 - Rubber - REALITISM FILMS
14- 739 - Catman - DC
15- 741 - The Batman Who Laughs - DC
16- 749 - Laughing Robins - DC
17- 750 - V - CD PROJEKT RED
18- ??? - Bane - DC
19- 817 - Kerry Eurodyne - CD PROJEKT RED
20- 784 - The Commissioner - DC
21- 824 - Wargoth - Coffin
22- ??? - Imperial Inquisitors - Lucasfilm
23- ??? - Pikachu - Nintendo

Pretty cool spread of stuff. Happy with all I got done. Looking forward to finishing up the Secret Six very soon here, which is the last faction I’m personally working on that need an “endcap”. Everything else past this is more casual which is cool.
 
FAVORITE LD BY NOBODY
I'm tempted to cheat a bit and say the redone Immortal Hulk, since he's been a constant torment on my life the past year and I'm really happy with where he's at. But I think I have to go with either Constantine or Buffy. Both really felt like collaborative efforts in different ways and I'm proud of how we captured such iconic characters.

FAVORITE LD BY SOMEBODY ELSE
Wow, we've done a lot this year!I love the 9th Doctor. Was really fun to see another LD capture a character I love so much in ways I couldn't come up with in a million years, and he plays great.
Honorable mentions; Herbert West, Stormtroopers, Ultron, Hydra Covert Operations. That's hardly an exhaustive list though!

FAVORITE MOMENT
Maybe having some new blood at the Con this year, alongside so many familiar faces. Getting to see LordVenoc again was great, but so was meeting KidA and Gibby. Now we just need to drag Archie back for 2025!

FAVORITE FACTION
Toa - Woohoo!
Gotham Knights - Still a work in progress, but I'm happy with what we've built while not feeling like we "lost" a ton from 1.0.
Sworn - Haven't dug in a ton here, but everything I've played has been really unique.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE
I'll echo Archie - definitely the new site.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED
Recognizing when I'm in a bad mood and being a tool...but that's hardly isolated to 2024!

2025 RESOLUTION
Being in even worse moods so I can be even more of a tool.

Jk, I really want to focus on being more consistent and speedy with LDs. I have 2 factions I'm really excited to work on (Defenders and Black Order) teed up, and if I can look back at the end of 2025 and feel like I accomplished those, I think it'll be a good year!
 
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