Well chuck did make spidey forget why he was going to snitch on the xmen for deciding to side with Magneto. So chuck got the last laugh in.
I think Nightcrawler is almost as agile as spidey but to quite. Over the years the xmen have been amped up, back then they were a better book in my opinion. It used to take wolverine minutes of rest to heal, nowadays he heals up during combat and can even come back from nothing but just his skeleton, if you aske me thats lame writting, I prefer the wolverine of the Chris Claremont era, a soldier/loose cannon with the code of a Samurai who struggles with a beserker rage. Nowadays he sometimes is played up like a killer who happens to be a good guy. But to each his own.

Quoted for truth.

NECA should errata that the first two clicks of Shape Change are actually Leadership, and the dial would be slightly more balanced for the cost.

For some characters, I believe firmly in taking 'interpretation snapshots'. Spider-Man figures are best when they choose angles to approach from. This is partially due to Spider-Man being so recurrent, and partially due to everyone having their own ideal of what he should be.

For other characters (and Nightcrawler's one of those), they've had a small number of individual appearances that have taken 'angles' at them, but are mostly consistent and presented the same to everyone, in large part because they are part of a team and therefore defined in relation to the others.

These are the CORE elements, in my opinion, of Nightcrawler's role in comics for the past 5 years:
-Transportation.
-Ambush on opponents.
-Opening step of an elaborate tactic by Cyclops.
-A tool of the team that opponents have finally learned to plan around, because they know he needs special tactics to overcome.
-Hard to hit; protective (I would have given Defend); but punked in one hit by those who are prepped to deal with him.
-Confident and experienced. He never doubts his own capabilities any longer, and spends little time 'training' anymore, more involved in philosophical issues of the X-men.

This Nightcrawler captures ALL of that. It leaves out many other elements that would have crossed the line into 'comprehensive' territory, such as Leadership, Enhancement, constant move+attack ability, more prominent Blades, Perplex, or Smoke Cloud (seriously iffy ability that folks have occasionally brought up conceptually). Shape Change is the ONLY ability I probably wouldn't have seen as essential.

As for 'passenger strain', this is a common element that people associate from old stories and isn't true to current Nightcrawler. In Second Coming, Nightcrawler covered entire states (repeated jumps) while teleporting allies, and THAT was what it took to finally see him overwhelm himself. To me, that's repeated pushing, not a sideffect of taking one action.

I am completely happy that there exists a Nightcrawler that meets the current interpretation of the character. I am not concerned with the repercussions this figure's existance will have on the tourney scene, as he's accurate and that's really what I hope to get from all new figures. Every set gives someone everyone's jaw drops for, and they join the tourney standards. If it wasn't him, it'd be someone else.

After playing Nightcrawler, I'd say he *does* play like he should. I think for balance (and accuracy) I'd have given him a click of damage for transporting, and for accuracy I'd probably lose the late-dial blades (he finds a sword during battle?).

In casual play I don't think he'll be an issue, but he certainly will be a part of some abusive combos.

Rep rep reppity rep.

I don't think I commented on this thread yet, so I wanted to throw in my 10 cents.

I think Nightcrawler is a very well made figure and applaud you for it. Although I may completely agree with his powers selections and slightly disagree with some stats, I feel that overall he is comic accurate.

He's plays as you would expect of any X-Men. Simply annoying on his own, but truly a threat when in a team.

I love this figure Mostly because hes my favourite character ever but also because he brings somthing new and more powerful to the -men team in general.Im hoping for more tourny competitve x-men.

Meh, I've seen good, well-written stories where characters with reach/speed similar to Wolverine have given Peter a lot of trouble, so that's where my view of a competitive match comes in. If other characters like that can keep up, then Wolverine definitely can.

Thank you for your post. People have given me feedback about HCRealms in general, even nicknaming it "HCGripe". Your post has inspired me to respond to the rest of the postive posts, so here goes ...

Thank you for your thoughts. Having designed one figure, I can appreciate what the WKG design team needs to do to create 70 figures. It is not an easy activity, but it is a creative and rewarding one.

You can please some of the people all of the time,
you can please all of the people some of the time,
but you can never please all of the people all of the time.

Well stated. Thank you.

Mephisto comes to mind.

Thanks for your post. This made me think of the fact that some people only play & collect DC, and others only Marvel. Everyone has their favorite figures and teams, mine are the X-Men. While this can cause problems and complaints, I think this is also one of Heroclix's strengths. Every Heroclix figure that gets created has distinct personality, a story to tell, and a history. It gives the game of Heroclix character and contributes to its success.

Thank you for your post. I think Wizkidsgames should let World Champions choose to have their own image sculpted and turned into a figure instead of a Marvel/DC figure of their choice. They would have a "civilian" dial (e.g. Code Blue Officer, Researcher, Nurse).

Thanks for your thought. Actually, his move value was picked against other figures which has similar teleport/HSS movement powers. I should have mentioned that. The scaling was in response to line-of-sight questions.

It is posts like yours that keep me writing. I'll take the bad if it reveals the good. A hearty Thank you to you.

Thank you for your post. I came across the X-Men as a child and loved the concept of Nightcrawler. I like all of the X-Men actually. Something about their struggle to make a difference in the face of harsh criticism resonates. ... hm. [metatag]not sure why[/ metatag].

His rookie form would have. In his vet form he is able to easily taxi two people. Examples of things that strain him now are teleporting Blob (Brotherhood of Mutants) #199, and 30 children at once #445. I mention this in my post. There are many examples of him taxing 2 or 3 people without strain in his veteran form. If you read through my reference descriptions you'll see the vet Nightcrawler also developing some really interesting tactics with teleport as well, including the teleport-fastball-special (#501), and the partial-field evacuate (#192, #194)

These are only a few examples of Kurt teleporting with 2 or more people ...
+Uncanny X-Men #199 p. 19 - An amazing feat of his carry/evacuate ability is demonstrated by Nightcrawler when he teleport-evacuates Blob (Brotherhood of Mutants) from the National Holocaust Museum to the top of the Washington Monument about a quarter-mile away.
+Uncanny X-Men #445 p. 4 "Death, and the Maiden" - He evacuates 30 children in one teleport.
+Uncanny X-Men #473 p. 4 "Family Lies" - Nightcrawler teleports four adults simultaneously, with strain. But only because of the great distance involved from Xavier's mansion to Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park, Manhattan.
+Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 "I Dream of Africa" - Nightcrawler teleports four adults(Bishop, Rachel, Psylocke, and Cannonball) simultaneously without any strain.
+Uncanny X-Men #453 p. 3 "Cardinal Betrayal" - Nightcrawler simultaneously teleports 23m vert x 191.7m lat (633 feet) three passengers (Bishop, Wolverine, and Storm) without even a second thought. No strain, no stress. no fuss.
+Uncanny X-Men #449 p. 19 - "To Slay a Queen" - My favorite teleport evacuation sequence occurs in this issue. Kurt teleport evacuates 3 people: Bamf! Ella, Bamf! Jean, and Bamf! Storm in rapid succession to save London from a nuclear bomb. The sequence ends with the final simultaneous teleport of Ella around his neck with Jean and Storm under his arms. Nightcrawler is not even winded in the slightest, and calls for assistance for Jean and Storm.


I fielded my Nightcrawler many times now, to me he feels like the comic book character come to life. I hope others will discover that as well. I disagree that his vet form should take damage for taxing, if I had designed his rookie form, yes. BTW, It was a pleasure meeting you in person, I hope to make it back out there some time.

One of my good friends is a die-hard Spider-man fan. Spider-man stories ring true with many people because they describe the trials and tribulations of one person. X-Men stories have always been about team-work and working together to struggle against the odds. A lot of the inspiring dialogue in the books also revolves around teamwork.

Thank you for your post. this reminds me, I also had a dialogue and had influence over whether the figure was a unique, and the rarity that it would appear in the set. I've updated the main post to reflect this. Thanks again.

Thank you for your well-thought out post. Beautiful exposition. Nightcrawler definitely evolves over time. I agree, in his rookie form he strains to teleport with one passenger. However, in his veteran form, he is able to easily carry 2 or 3 people without strain. In Uncanny #199, he teleport-evacuates the Blob a quarter mile away! In Uncanny #445, he evacuates 30 children in one go (escaping an explosion). There are many comic books where their figures remain static, but not the X-Men. A hallmark of the X-Men stories is that Professor Xavier is helping his students to come to grips with their powers, to learn to control them better, become more adept at using their powers, and to use them for good.

Uncanny #417 p.20 "X-Men are believed to be giving, caring, protective, evolved. Noble goals we should all strive for."

Good luck, Have fun,
-Ben Cheung
2008 Heroclix World Champion
http://www.interzone.com/~cheung/Heroclix

I've play-tested Nightcrawler a bit at home, and I have to say that the only change I would have made to the dial is to give Nightcrawler shape change on his back clicks instead of his first clicks. That aside, it's Ben's champion piece of his favorite character. I can accept that it's a great piece for the points and be happy for him, so Ben: Congrats. It's nice to have a figure of Nightcrawler that's a versatile threat instead of yet another dial of hypersonic speed and super-senses. It feels like Kurt when I play it/play against it.

There are plenty of Heroclix figures with bladed weapons that only have BCF on parts of their dials.

I like the figure a lot. The dial seems to represent him well. His price seems low, but that's not your fault. Looking at the sculpt I can't help thinking the tail looks too long, but it DOES seem to match the source picture. About the only thing I would change (other than the points) is the costume. I am old school, and prefer the black/red/white to this costume. But it's a minor quibble.

Thanks for the write-up. Repped you.

Alright, I know I'm a bit late but I figured I'd at least put my opinions where they belong.

I do like the figure, though I feel he's a bit top heavy. I might have put the Image inducer (Shape Change) a little further down the dial and put blades in the mid dial a bit, but the differences are definitely personal preference. It's definitely an accurate figure, and I can appreciate the actual process of making a dial (I di make a dial generator after all).

I can only imagine how interesting it was to have to wait on WK R&D between takes, seeing as I usually run a dial through twenty or thirty versions before I'm happy.

As far as the actual Nightcrawler, I like him quite a bit as a single figure. His abilities and stats feel like the Nightcrawler I remember from years back.

Unfortunately, as part of a team (with or without the dreaded Martial Artist Keyword) He's easily abusable, as I've been shown first hand at my venue four or five times already.

Still, Ben was there for my first day and my first four years of clix, so it's important to say this: Congratulations Ben! You got your prize! Hopefully you can kick my can with him one day!

Oh god not this again.