Lord of the Heroclix!!!

Yesterday, WizKids/NECA announced that they were coming out with a couple games based on the Lord of the Rings franchise. But I only (at this point) care about the first one- you know, the one that is Heroclix compatible!!!

I'm so excited about this announcement. I mean, I was very excited when WizKids/NECA announced the Watchmen Heroclix set (which, BTWs, having the gift of future-telling I knew would begat cooler new licenses)...

because I loved the graphic novel and liked the movie...but this is Lord of the Rings. Freakin' Lord of the freakin' Rings freakin'!!!

Now, as hard as this may be to believe, not everyone agrees that this is the best thing to ever happen to humanity. Some people feel that the inclusion of Lord of the Rings into Heroclix (combined with some of the other Clix-based games that WizKids/NECA is introducing, such as Street Fighter) is going to have a negatively profound impact on the game of Heroclix, which is currently based on comic book superheroes.

I suppose I can see this- but it's a little frustrating that there is a tone of doom in gloom in their assessment. For one thing- just because the game is Heroclix compatible does not mean that the primary focus of the game is to be involved in Heroclix. I feel like the compatability factor is a latent function of the figures- that is, that they are being designed and marketed as a part of their own, independent game. The fact that they can be used as a part of Heroclix, while an awesome secondary function, is not their primary intent.

It's like Legos. Each Lego set is primarily designed to interact with other sets within any given genre. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Ninjas- they have designs and certain pieces to go along with that theme. And yet, because they are Legos, you can use them with any other Lego set and have the pieces fit together. It opens up the option to create a myriad of creative and complex worlds. Options are not a bad thing.

Tying into the Lego concept is my second thought, which is that there is a contingent of people, of whom I am a part, that enjoy the crossing of universes. Games like Marvel vs. Capcom or Mortal Kombat vs. DC really appeal to us, because we have a flair for the creative. Our imaginations cannot be contained by the borders of one realms- not when there are other realms to explore. Now, I'm not saying that people that are against this sort of mixing are not creative- but they aren't very creative. Just kidding. I think.

I know that this is just the initial announcement, so there is still a lot of directions that this might go in. But for now- I'm very excited at the possibilities- Legolas and Bullseye squaring off, Aragorn grappling with Spider-man, or even Frodo trying to hide from Batman.

Capitalism of Earth....RISE

Okay, so just one night after I blogged about not wanting to blog about things so close to their point of origin because I was afraid of letting my emotions get in the way, I am reneging on my word and blogging about something just because I am experiencing emotion about it. If you're just tuning in to my blog for the first time, you probably missed the part where I established my penchant for hypocrisy. So this isn't anything new. It's how I roll.

Also, this blog pertains to Heroclix. If you don't care at all about Heroclix, you may want to stop reading. Or, you may want to continue reading, because you were just so intrigued by the introductory paragraph. Or maybe the first paragraph was kind of 'blah', but you made it this far, and figured 'well, I can't get that time back- might as well keep pressing on'. Whatever the case, I'm not responsible for what happens from here.

First of all, let me give you some history.

Yes, that is a creepy man groping Bruce Wayne's tombstone like 50 Cent in da club. It isn't called 'The Blackest Night' for nothing.

I suppose technically, I should warn you at this point that there are spoilers...potentially.But I feel like in life, theoretically there could always be spoilers. Shouldn't everything have a spoiler alert? I mean, anytime you are getting information that you didn't already have before- spoiler!. Take the health care bill, for example. My teacher didn't say "Oh, spoiler alert- the health care bill passed" before she told us that the health care bill passed. She just told us. Thanks a lot teacher. Thanks a lot.

Back to the Blackest Night story. Rather then sum it up for you, I'm going to hyperlink it here. And pretty much everywhere in this whole paragraph. It's not that I don't want to take the time to break it down for you- it's just that ever since I found out how to hyperlink, I have been able to share information much more efficiently. I don't have to waste time digesting it and then trying to figure out how I'm going to relate it to you- I just take the hard work that others have done, and link to it. It saves me all the work and they get the free pub. So anyways, just click anywhere on this paragraph (but here) and you will magically be able to read all about the Blackest Night story, or to be able to ignore it but at least acknowledge that I provided you with the information that you then rejected out of your own free will.

Anyways, this whole thing is masterminded by this dude Nekron, who is kind of like this bad ass C or D list Green Lantern villain. Well, up until January of 2010, when he officially became the baddest mofo in the DCU.


Moving on (and I'm painfully aware that I could be studying right now) to Heroclix, my favorite game in the whole wide world. It's based on comic books. I gushed about it here. I make it make sense here.

The game was pretty much dead for all of 2009, then this company came in and bought Wizkids, and presto! Heroclix is back again. And I fell in love with NECA/Wizkids. I loved them for bringing the game back to life, and for releasing Hammer of Thor. I loved that their sculpts were great, and that they did previews on Facebook, and that they sent figures to stores as a way of saying thanks. I loved that they decided to do a Blackest Night starter, and that they were able to score a Watchmen Heroclix set (completely with non-naked Dr. Manhattan colossal!). If NECA/Wizkids was a girl, and we were really good friends, I was just about to ask her out because I thought she was the woman of my dreams.

And then today happened. And that selfish whore took my heart and ripped it out of my chest.

Which, I suppose, is completely appropriate.

I guess that it's inevitable in a capitalist society that this sort of thing would happen. You try to have allegiance to a company, which sometimes teeters on the edge of blind loyalty and love, but the company only has allegiance to money and the making of money. So eventually, they will do something that makes you mad because it makes them money. I found out today that NECA/Wizkids did that to me.

They released some pictures of two key characters from the Blackest Night story arc- Black Hand and Nekron. Ordinarily this would be cause for a celebratory blog. But instead, NECA/Wizkids decided to pierce my heart with that big scythe thingy.

Hmmmm....good thing I have an extra couple hundred dollars laying around. Oh wait. I DON'T.

Well, at least Nekron's herald, the Black Hand, isn't a chase figure. Oh wait. HE IS.

I missed out on the World's Finest fiasco. I came back to Heroclix on the coattails of chase Supermen. I was willing to overlook the crap that was Secret Invasion sculpts. I was willing to overlook those slight blemishes for the game I love. And NECA/Wizkids was faithful to me. For a while.

But to take two of the key pieces, from one of my favorite story arcs on comicdom (definitely the one I am most financially invested in) and take two of the key players in that story, and make them chase pieces- which will each individually go for more than I am paying for my 10-booster brick of the set- and then possibly (because Black Hand is #56 in the set and Nekron is #59) have two more chase pieces in this set on top of that!!!! I don't even dare to imagine what #57 and #58 are. Because that horrible imagining will most likely manifest as reality, and then I will rue the day that NECA/Wizkids glanced my way.

I honestly thought that we were past all that capitalist crap. I felt like this new company cared. And maybe they do. Maybe there will be redemption in the wings. Maybe if I complain long enough and loud enough, they will send me free chase figures to shut me up. But until then- NECA/Wizkids, you're sleeping on the couch.

PICS: Black Hand (comics)- http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5600000/Blackest-Night-Bruce-Wayne-dc-comics-5688328-700-1059.jpg
Nekron (comics)- http://afghanant.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/blackest-night-5.jpg
Nekron and Black Hand (heroclix)- www.hcrealms.com
Other picture- http://www.anti-everything.info/aefiles/bn_titan_2.jpg