Vampires vs Zombies: The Collector's Report

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Collector’s Report. I am Ambedo, an avid variant collector, and I write seasonal op-eds here at Fourth Location focused on the upcoming cosmetics for Snap – mixed with trivia bits, fact-checking and more!

New Feature! The Seasonal Roundup now includes a Day 1 statistical summary tailored for collectors and stat enjoyers alike! Right underneath it is a link to my personal SNAP database where the statistics come from. 

Reworked Feature! Regular readers will notice that the Report's opening section, previously titled Best New Art, has also been rebranded – it is now The Featured Four. While this section will still mostly spotlight the upcoming season’s finest alternate art pieces, this change gives me more flexibility to feature variants for other reasons!

The Featured Four

Let's kick things off with the variants featured above! Here's why I selected them for this Report.

Black Swan, by Max Grecke (Original Art)

Grecke is back in force next season with three new variants! The last time we saw his name pop up in the game was this spring, when his Goose variant was released. The illustrator remains mostly faithful to his style with this new batch, shrinking and stretching volumes at will to generate what I would respectfully call caricatures. Interestingly, it's because his Black Swan strays from his usual approach that it caught my eye. It feels reminiscent of He Tianyou's take, doesn't it? I can't tell which one is better!

Frankie Raye Nova, by Winking Studios (Original Art)

Having released more than 30 variants, the Singaporean studio has proven it is plagued by a studio's most common shortcoming – inconsistency. They are capable of the worst – that truly ludicrous Iron Lad – as well as the best, delivering a distinctive Ares, a fantastic Sasquatch, and the most badass Crossbones out there. Clearly, this Frankie Raye Nova variant was designed on a good day! I selected it because it brings a genuine sense of grace that is sorely lacking in most card art.

• Disambiguation: Frankie Raye shares no connection with the Nova Corps or Richard Rider – the other Nova we're all familiar with – and the first to be given the moniker. As her fiery appearance suggests, she is actually linked to the two Human Torches! Indeed, Frankie gained her latent flame powers after an accidental exposure to the chemicals used to create the original Human Torch, the android Jim Hammond. She later mastered these abilities while dating Johnny Storm – the second official Human Torch – before eventually becoming a herald of Galactus, whose Power Cosmic permanently transformed her into this other Nova!
• Trivia: Connoisseurs will have noticed that Winking's depiction contains a lore inaccuracy shared with no other variant in the card's pool: as Nova, Frankie Raye's hair is gone, replaced entirely by pure cosmic flames.

The Hunger, by Lemon Art Studio (Original Art)

It's not easy to depict hunger – specifically, the insatiable appetite of an undead horde! It's also quite a challenge to design a lot of zombies within the constraints of a skill card's super-limited real estate. Rian Gonzales managed to cram the most characters into that medallion-sized space, but her colorful style just doesn't feel right when the undead are concerned.

What are the other options, then? Ivan Fomin's take is decent, as is Fireball Studio's, and Mooncolony's Chibi version is, like any Chibi, too kid-friendly. None of them truly convey the horror they are supposed to – unlike Horde's base art. In the end, Lemon Art's interpretation is the clear winner for the card's best alternate art. It is menacing, dynamic, and beautifully drawn, even if it doesn't quite capture the hunger of a massive zombie horde either.

Black Panther, by Gabriele Dell'Otto (Catalog Pick)

OK, I’m breaking my own rule here to prove a point – and that's why I kept this one for last. While this variant is nice, the original cover art it was adapted from is the true masterpiece here. So here's a lesson here for the developers: breathtaking cover art does not automatically translate into an equally great variant! 

Zombies vs Vampires: Season Roundup

Next season's connection to comics lore is quite different from the current one, which nods to a specific storyline. Instead, it blends elements from the Zombies alternate universe (Earth-2149) with vampire-related events from the main Marvel universe, Earth-616 – all while taking the usual liberties developers have accustomed us to (out of the eight new cards, Deacon Frost is the only lore-accurate vampire, whereas only Venom and Black Cat were actually turned into the undead in the Zombies alternate universe…). Funnily enough, zombies and vampires have fought each other on a few occasions, though never on the epic "army vs. army" level that this season's title implies. The characters involved – except for Blade – were also completely different.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: For reasons unknown, the number of datamined variants is much lower than usual, which means that many variants that will appear during next season couldn't be featured in this Report.

Statistical Summary

Click here to access my personal database. It is not synced – everything is added manually.

Use filter view options in the top left of any tab to organize the data according to your needs.

Seasonal Showcase

Was this season's showcase just an anomaly? Or some kind of test? It seems like Second Dinner is back on the traditional showcase track, where a single artist or studio handles the duties of designing the Season Pass, Premium Pass, and all Conditional Bundle variants. In October, the honors go to Divebound, a studio based in Jakarta.

We've come to know the company through its contributions to the ubiquitous Fantasy series – as of now, they don't have a single non-Fantasy variant to their name! This partly explains why they have now designed more variants of that type than fellow studio ADIA (Magik is officially credited to Joshua Raphael, but it's really a Divebound piece: Raphael is the studio's co-founder and Art Director).

In fact, it looks like Divebound has become the new dominant purveyor of Fantasy variants, effectively replacing ADIA, which hasn't had a variant of that type released since the Arcane Assembly album dropped in January. This change is to the players' benefit: overall, Divebound's work is more consistent, rich, and evocative than their Boston-by-way-of-China counterpart. 

They've done great work so far, and the season's theme is right up their alley! See for yourself!

New Blood

I’m afraid we aren't getting a single new artist in October. Let's hope this is just an isolated occurrence…

Conquest Reward

What a great idea to extend the depth of next season's theme by featuring the OG Deathlok Luther Manning – a character whose corpse was the foundation for a cyborg killer – as the Conquest reward! It follows a similar move made in July's Brand New Day season, where Matt Dixon's chubby Spider-Ham was the special mode's reward. It's a nice touch!

If you're into Marco Itri's Steampunk variants, you are in for a treat, as this one is certainly one of the series' best pieces. This comes as a relief, as the previous and current Conquest rewards were sub-par prizes, to say the least. I guess I'll have to set time aside for Conquest this October! And hunt another infinity avatar frame while I'm at it.

New Albums

Fangs for the Memories

Original Art | Dardo Studios | 11 Super Rare variants (New releases only) | 13,200 gold

After going full color spectrum with their gorgeous, lore-inspired Dark Dimension series and dedicated album this season, Dardo is back at it next season with a much darker 12-piece Shadowborn series without ties to comics lore. Nine of them are gathered in this album (it's too bad that the final reward is a Mysterio variant – a card that fell out of favor hard following his rework). I've said it about the American studio's Fractured Frontier series, and it's just as true with this one: working with such a restricted color palette is really tricky. It makes for an absolutely cohesive series, but if that palette hinders contrast, as is very much the case here, the works are ultimately doomed to lack impact and generate limited interest. This is exactly the kind of art that would have made a great Rare Variants-only album.

Eat, Prey, Love

Original Art | Fireball Studio | 9 Super Rare variants (New releases only) | 10,800 gold

Here's an eclectic album! Zombies meet Sinister Six characters meet Morbius… and Spider-Man! This is the first time pieces from an album aren't tied together by a common aesthetic or a specific character. (Character-specific albums need to make a comeback, right?) This isn't an issue per se, but such eclectic albums would make more sense and generate way more interest if they were reserved for popular individual artists, rather than studios with a conventional approach to variants like Parisian studio Fireball.

Aesthetics aside, what about the variants themselves? Their Sandman really stands out as the most imaginative variant for the card (Nikola Čižmešija's variant, arguably its main competition, is great but it would benefit – yet again! – from enhanced contrast). I also love the studio's Zombie Sentry, which shares a striking aesthetic thread with the studio's previously released Zombie Scarlet Witch – a variant I really love!

New Ultimate Variants

Howard the Duck, by Pandart Studio (Original Art)

Pandart goes Noir! However, because Patrick Piazzalunga has already drawn a Noir Howard, this new offering immediately feels a bit redundant right off the bat. But what really matters is... is it better than the original? I have to admit, it is! While Pandart's signature glossy finish inevitably sacrifices some grittiness, the final result feels more shadowy and less… brown than Piazzalunga's overly luminous take. Speaking of brightness, the classic "dim light through the blinds" trope used by the Californian studio – albeit unoriginal (Spider-Man Noir, Professor X) – is always a nice touch. This is a clear win for a studio otherwise known for its over-polished variants!

Medusa, by Anastasia (Original Art)

Just like with Phil Saunders and Bosi Art Studio in August, Second Dinner is giving prestige and visibility to a newcomer this October by giving Anastasia's Medusa the Ultimate treatment. I wouldn't mind such a bold move if the art itself was a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind creation, akin to Kevin Sidharta's first variant – a Fantasy Merlin released last June or Tan Zhi Hui's Anti-Venom a few months before that. 

Yet, here we are with a completely banal design. 

Admittedly, Medusa is neglected in terms of highly desirable variants, but I would have given the Ultimate treatment to Creative House Pocket or even Meghan Hetrick takes many times over before considering this one. It is a puzzling decision from Second Dinner – though, at this point, we shouldn't be surprised by the developers' choices, especially where Ultimate variants are concerned!

Upcoming Snap Packs

It's even more tempting to invest in Snap Packs now that Character Mastery is getting some much-deserved love! Here's what's on the menu in October:

Brotherhood Evil Mutants

14 variants | 1,200 tokens to open | alongside: Ultimate Fantasy Magneto and Spotlight Elixir

The variant pool for this Brotherhood-themed Snap Pack is an eclectic, baffling mix. The lineup includes a Venomized variant, two Chibis, a 3099 Sauron, and Peach Momoko’s Nightmare Rogue – though the latter will likely be moved to the Nightmare Packs (see below). 

While Viktor Farro’s Daken and Flaviano Armentaro’s Havok are the only clear standouts, spending a few thousand tokens here to progress your Character Mastery tracks could still be a wise investment depending on your goals.

• Lore: Sauron was a member, yet he's not a mutant himself!
• Fact-checking: Neither Selene nor Marrow have ever actually been members of this team. Take them out, SD! While you're at it, replace Selene on Team Clash's Brotherhood roster – there are plenty of lore-accurate alternatives available! (Selene was historically a member of the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants. Both groups share similarities, yet they are completely separate entities.)

Nightmare

20 variants | 1,700 tokens to open | alongside : Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Knullified Black Cat

The lineup for these packs consists mostly of pieces from Peach Momoko's Nightmare and Horror series, with two Ultimate Venomized variants and Skan Srisuwan’s Ultimate Misery thrown into the mix for good measure. Why not! However, such premium inclusions are certainly responsible for the packs' higher cost.

Just like the recent Noir Packs, this one is a make-or-break affair: if you enjoy Momoko or those two specific series in particular, the Nightmare Packs represent a great opportunity to complete your collection or finish the dedicated album (though the latter isn't very generous); if you don't, it's an easy skip!

• Fact-checking: All five variants tagged as Horror should actually be labeled Nightmare, as every single one of them belongs to the 26-piece Nightmare Variant Covers initiative Momoko painted for Marvel back in December 2023. There is also a variant that is out of place in this pack. Even though Momoko's Ms. Marvel carries an undeniably nightmarish vibe, her sick appearance can be explained by the central conflict within the comic from which it was repurposed: her newly awakened Mutant X-gene and her existing Inhuman DNA are actively waging a painful war inside her body.

Anything Else?

A First Gold Star for System Studios!

Are you one of those players that have a hard time appreciating System Studios' work for Snap? I definitely am! Beyond the fact that they are profoundly unoriginal, there is often something off about their variants that I can't quite put my finger on – Namorita, Lady Bullseye and Champion Black Panther immediately come to mind.

That new Shadowlands Daredevil, though! It's actually giving me hope – which comes in handy, because Second Dinner has already released 50+ pieces in just eight months, indicating a major partnership. The composition is great, making excellent use of space and depth. Everything seems to be in the right place, thanks to the overall symmetry. Of course, it just had to be gate-kept behind an expensive real-currency bundle!

A Wave of "Framed" Variants

Thanks to the generous Draft mode, many of you rushed to pick up a handful of Antique Gold borders from the dedicated shop. Good move – we don't know when the cosmetics will come back! I've really enjoyed seeing which cards you are pairing them with. You might think such a massive, detailed border would be hard to match, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all! If you're looking for inspiration, try it out on portraits or variants that feature genuine paint, like those by Viktor Farro, Peach Momoko, or David Mack. It also looks incredible on Fantasy variants such as Angela or Typhoid Mary! 

I thought I'd share some of my pairings for additional inspiration!

The Laufey Variant Saga Continues!

Laufey belongs to a select group of Series 4 cards that are over a year old and still have zero variants, sitting alongside Mad Thinker, the First Ghost Rider, and the Fantasticar. The Montreal-based Leo Chiola actually designed an excellent variant for the King of the Frost Giants a while ago but that piece has yet to be released… Instead, it appears the Armenian studio Grafit is jumping the line next month with an alternate art of their own. Have a look at them side by side. While Grafit's piece is arguably not as spectacular as Chiola's, it is definitely a welcome addition!

The studio's take comes with its own MOBA Style tag. The acronym stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, a popular subgenre of strategy video games. Games falling under this umbrella don't share a single, unified aesthetic, making it hard to decipher exactly what the developers mean – and as we know, they don't bother to clarify such matters.

• Trivia: On the trivia side of things, Snap has nodded to at least one specific game in the past: ADIA's 23-piece Pantheon series pays homage to the iconic art direction of the Hades franchise (databases all show 22 variants because ADIA's Annihilus isn't tagged as Pantheon, despite being featured in the studio's dedicated album).

Conclusion

Overall, I feel good about next season's cosmetics! It features few home-runs, sure, but just as few disappointments. It is definitely sad that, as per the latest datamining, no new artists will join Snap's roster next season, and only two new Ultimate variants will be added to the shop rotation. Yet, such unpredictable tweaks to the usual are, at the end of the day, a good thing.

I'm monitoring Second Dinner's move toward fewer catalog picks and more studios closely, and there is no cause for alarm just yet. I suspect that the developers are encouraging the studios they're working with to be bolder as a way to compensate for the diminishing share of independent illustrators. Content for November adds weight to this theory – you'll see!

That's all for now, folks. Thank you for your time, and see you in a month!

Have something to tell me? Find me on Fourth Location's Discord server (ambedo0432), on Facebook (Joel Ambedo Lelièvre) or drop me a good old fashioned email (joel.c.lelievre@gmail.com)!

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