Siskoid's Rolodex #155 ... Siskoid ... [4/19/99 06:22]

[Siskoid's Rolodex offers spot reviews of all the cards judging them by their less tangible qualities, searching for the elusive perfect card: their picture/graphics, lore, Trek sense and stockability. Each on 5 points (so on a total of 20). Mondays, I do Premiere. Tuesdays, AU. Wednesdays, Q-Continuum. Thursdays, First Contact. Fridays, DS9. Saturdays, The Dominion. And Sundays, Premium cards. Comments always welcome.]

#155-Ba'el, Personnel, Klingon
"½ Klingon, ½ Romulan. Romantically involved with Lieutenant Worf. Born in Romulan prison camp in Carraya system."
-CIVILIAN, Anthropology, Youth
-INTEGRITY: 6, CUNNING: 6, STRENGTH: 4

PICTURE: Pretty good. The trapped animal look in her eyes is a nice look for a prison camp inmate, and the weaponry on the wall for well for a Klingon. The green moss growing towards her in the lower left-hand corner speak of her Romulan half. Great design, even if possibly due to serendipity. A clean 4.4.

LORE: Not as good. We get species (always do) and a little back story. Strange that her parents' names aren't mentioned. All in all... yawn... a 2.8.

TREK SENSE: Clearly a Civilian, and turned towards her Klingon heritage enough not to be either fully or partly Romulan. She undeniably has Youth. The attributes work, I agree she was a pretty average character is all respects. My only real problem is Anthropology. Where does this come from? How would someone who's lived all her life cut off from the universe be an expert in anthropology? Even the Romulan and Klingon cultures she knows are partial fabrications on her father's part. A 2.1.

STOCKABILITY: I admit the Klingons don't have many Civilians, but she's the very worse one (except maybe her mom, Gi`ral). She's one of only two Klingon anthropologists, but again, not the better of the two. I'll give her this: she'll breeze a small Klingon away team through Primitive Culture. Not a big boost though. She's also one of few Klingon youths, one of few females... she's a rare one, but never even close to the best in any category. And since there are no Romulan-species support cards (like there are Klingon), her split heritage serves little purpose. A 2.

TOTAL: 11.3 (56.5%) I'm even surprised she went as high as this.

COMPARISON CHART

Adapt: Negate Obstruction - 18.4 (92%)
Blended - 17.4 (87%)
[...]
Anara - 11.6 (58%)
Arbiter of Succession - 11.6 (58%)
Drag Net - 11.6 (58%)
Barber Pole - 11.5 (57.5%)
Ensign Tuvok - 11.5 (57.5%)
Assimilate Starship - 11.33 (55.67%)
Avert Disaster - 11.3 (56.5%)
Ba'el - 11.3 (56.5%)
Varel - 11.3 (56.5%)
Warp Core Breach - 11.3 (56.5%)
Anti-Time Anomaly - 11.1 (55.5%)
Brute Force - 11.1 (55.5%)
Yridian Shuttle - 11.1 (55.5%)
[...]
Zibalian Transport - 7.1 (35.5%)
Door to the Fajo Collection - 3.47 (17.35%)

Siskoid (bawling away)