I'm new to the game. Can someone help me understand what makes one character a taxi? Or a good taxi? How do I know how many characters a character can carry (I know some explicitly state x amount)?

A taxi is a fig that can carry another fig.a great taxi is cheap and can carry multiple figs. Unless it says otherwise a flyer can carry one non flyer.

According to the rules, a character has the carry ability if it possesses any of the following symbols:
, , , .

Or, if a character doesn't possess any of those symbols but it is a larger size than an adjacent friendly character, it can carry the smaller character.

The sizes are, from smallest to largest (left to right):
, , ,

"tiny", "standard", "giant", "colossal"

Is there a difference between a regular flyer and transport flying symbol?

Yes. The transporter symbol means that, in addition to the carry ability, the character can use the "move-and-attack" ability. That means that, if they do not begin their turn adjacent to an opposing character, then they can us Hypersonic speed, with -2 to the attack value.

some of the commonly used modern taxi's depending on build or budget

Thank you.

While this is generally true - characters who have been granted flight throught other means than or can still be carried. Thus this guy


Can carry his army of


one at a time...

Also, you can carry 1 smaller character without taking the -2 speed penalty for carrying. The smaller character can still be carried even if it can use the carry ability itself.

If you want to add a character to your "free" carry of a smaller character, you will take a -2 to your speed for that move.

The basics of the taxi have been covered already by earlier posts and there are of course several characters, many already mentioned whose Special powers give carry a boost others improve on carry by making it easier to use through free action move e.g. Sidestep or other methods. One example I like for this is Swift


and while not given out that often the Green Lantern team ability is big taxi boost.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS - When using the Carry ability, characters using the Green Lantern Corps team ability may carry up to 8 friendly characters.

Some of the best taxis though can be low point figures who can just give your main character some increased mobility.
Perhaps the original example of this was the old Wasp who wasn't really bringing much to the table but the taxi.


But with recent sets that's starting to look expensive compared to something like the recent Hawkman who is in a similar point bracket and gives you some offensive ability as well.


There are loads of examples of good taxis out there now you know what your looking for but You might find this article in the practically tactical series a useful read, it covers a bit about taxi, but also the use of tk and vehicles for improving team mobility.
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=562922

Kloen makes a good point but just be aware the converse is also true so to hijack his example although the flash in question would gain the flight ability and still be able to be carried it hasn't got the so can fly but not carry. You would need to acquire either the carry ability or the relevant symbol etc, for that.
For example.