Re: What to buy now ???
I see where you're coming from. I often wind up writing up the characters players want to create just because the character creation system is so time-consuming and mind-exploding. I have a rule that if you have to spend too long figuring out how to make a power work, it's not a very good power in the 1st place. I think superheroes should have concepts and powers that you can explain to anyone in one sentence.
I'm going back to Champions 2nd edition, Champions II, and Champions III. Everything after that I haven't really cared for, it just seems to be catering to power munchkins now.