In a world where Heroclix is hounded by set after set of DC or Marvel characters, let’s take a moment to stop and dwell on the potential of the Indy sets. We’ve seen Yu-Gi-Oh, we’ve seen lord of the Rings. What could be lurking around the next corner? So many sets from the serious to the wacky remain to be explored! In this edition, the spotlight is on It!

Fair Warning: This article may contain spoilers about the subject it reviews.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, It was originally a novel written by Steven King that was adapted into a 1990 TV miniseries and more recently a full film. The story revolves around a group of seven kids living in the small town of Derry, which has one could say, a problem. A monster lives beneath Derry, a monster that takes on the forms of their worst fears tormenting them to feed of their emotion before finally devouring them. The creature most often takes on the form of true evil, a clown, Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

For this review I do consider elements from both the miniseries and the 2017 film, as the story itself is split between the childhood of the main characters and then their adult lives and how the trauma of It has echoed through to their future. The 21017 film only shows their childhood, but a sequel is planned for the future to show the other half of the story.


What would the set look like? Maybe something like this . . .
common
001 Georgie
002 Bill Denbrough
003 Ben Hanscom
004 Beverly Marsh
005 Richie Tozier
006 Mike Hanlon
007 Eddie Kaspbrak
008 Stanley Uris
009 Henry Bowers
010 Bowers Gang Thug
uncommon
011 Painting Monster
012 Leper Monster
013 Burned Zombies
014 Mummy Monster
rare
015 Pennywise the Dancing Clown
016 It


Seriously though, why would anyone go into a house that looks like this?

Potential powers and Traits: It carries the vast majority of the abilities in this set, and a very wide array of them as well. Considering that It can shapeshift into anything you are afraid of, even relatively abstract concepts such as large amounts of blood. These abilities are probably going to be pretty oriented on control strategies revolving around Perplex and Mind Control as that is what It does, it psychologically tortures its victims to create fear in them that it can feed of.

The children are a little harder to pin down. In many ways I face a similar problem with them that I would have with the kids from Stranger Things and in a more concrete example, the hobbits from the Lord of the Rings sets. They are low point figures that no one is going to expect to be killing a Kryptonian or X-Men, they are kids after all. Their best chance as Heroclix figures is abilities on sticks. They do show an investigative bend so things like Perplex, Outwit and/or Leadership are not out of the potential spectrum. In regards to It specifically, they have the potential of powers like Empower/Enhancement as the entire movie/miniseries revolves around them being stronger together. Alone they are nothing, but when they gang up and help each other they start to function like a whole figure.



Keywords: In unique terms I think the kids could be united with a keyword of Derry, their hometown, and all of It’s forms under It. Generically we see a lot of action in Monster, Future or Past depending on your perspective, and It could be arguably Mystical.

Character Spotlight
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Henry Bowers
Henry is not one of the protagonists, he is instead their bully. A budding sociopath who enjoys torturing the main characters for his own fun with a number of thugs he has pressed into service. Eventually Henry runs into a bigger fish when It finds him. Instead of killing him however It exposes him to the ‘Deadlights’ strange orange points of light that entrap anyone who see them and drive them insane. Instead of dying, Henry becomes It’s pawn. He goes where It cannot go, and affects things It cannot. As a click Henry isn’t particularly special on his own. I could see Charge and Blades/Claws/Fangs as he is very fond of knives, but then pair him with a special ability allowing It or Pennywise to Mind Control him even as a friendly character.










Pennywise the Dancing Clown
While the creature the children call It can take many forms to prey on the fear of its victims it does seem to be particularly fond of a form called Pennywise the Dancing Clown, (probably because everyone is afraid of clowns at least a little). Pennywise is sarcastic, sadistic and fond of going after you where you are the weakest. In the original miniseries he relies much more on mind games, creating illusions to cultivate fear in others. In the newer film there is a more physical element to Pennywise’s nature and he often changes in small ways to grow claws, a mouth filled with rows of fangs or physically distort his own proportions. In terms of abilities Stealth, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Exploit Weakness for his physical side. I could also see Regeneration or a damage reducer as he is pretty hard to kill or injure outright. I could also see a more control focused side to his abilities that relied more heavily on things like Mind control, Steal Energy, Master Mind and Perplex. Either strategy would work on its own though I think as a high pointed blend of both strategies might be more interesting and more representative of Pennywise's formidably.











Georgie
Georgie admittedly does not have the largest role in the film. He dies In the first scene, devoured by Pennywise. However he has quite the busy afterlife as Pennywise uses the innocent looking image of Georgie like a sock puppet to lure more victims and taunt Georgie’s surviving older brother. It is this second portion I am a little more interested in. If It is the angler fish Georgie is the little glowly light. As a click imagine a small thing that is more focused on avoiding attacks with things like Super senses and Shape Change, after all it’s just a child. Then give it Perplex and Outwit to give it a little purpose followed by the special ability to allow Pennywise to jump to Georgie’s location. You throw Georgie out and then when he’s attacked in comes the big bad scary monster.






Why would Wizkids even attempt this?
Why? Well I’m always a fan of horror based clix and will always advocate for their return. Beyond that I think Pennywise’s mutable nature gives him an interesting position as a clix that might be an interesting to see played out through his many forms. It could even become a theme team of one creature just in all its forms.

There is some difficulty in that the biggest draw of the set is It, and to an extent only it. The monster is diverse, but nothing else in the set really comes close. Without one of Its' figures a player could just end up with a bunch of kids on bikes.







Didn't see the set the way you wanted to see it? Have an idea for a set in the future? Then please feel free to relax in the conveniently placed comment section below.

They should make a variant of HeroClix based on horror movies. They could call it HorrorClix.

It wouldn't even need to be a full set. Just a special edition pack with It, a two-sided map (Derry Suburbs/The Sewers), and bystanders to represent both the kids and It's shape-shifted forms.

As for Itself, I could see the dial being set up to represent both Pennywise the Dancing Clown and It. Sort of like I,Vampire or OP kit Blink, a single start line with a line further down you can only cross if you pay the higher point cost. Top half of the dial is Pennywise, while crossing the line it goes into It mode with outwit protection, significantly higher stats, and other bits to represent the cosmic horror aspect.

Also, keywords would be Past, Cosmic, and Monster.

Pennywise needs 0 damage reducers and a long dual. Just to rep him getting his ass whooped lol

They have it was a whole thing a little while ago.

So, here's the deal with Pennywise.

Charge blades, starts the dial with invul. Then slowly proceeds down his long dial until toughness, and for the next two clicks he has no attack or damage buffs.

Star ability allows him to ignore prob con and he has battle fury down his whole dial.

Phase teleport down the lower half and plasticity.

Damage max 3, reduces down the dial. The base is not needed most of the time if you're a good Blades roller.

Hypersonic available at random, and sidestep as well. In fact, Pennywise has a wide range of movement abilities and a plus in hindering, blocking or water.

The best plan of attack to kill a Pennywise is to be heavy at range, attack with a blades figure, hypersonic with a ranged melee weapon or just Hulk. FTFY

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