HEROCLIX of Earth..... RISE!

Finally, after weeks of speculation, some solid news on the future of Heroclix.

• Who is NECA?
• When will Hammer of Thor be sold in stores?
• Are the leaked dials real?
• What are mystery cards?
• Will there be approved play?

Click 'full story' below, to find out!

Special thanks to 'realms members Hair10 and Malakim2099 for uploading pictures from the convention. Along with Shellhead's Pal, they've helped gather information used in this article. Thanks to Star226 for compiling the Mystery Cards, GreenLantern73, Armourgeddon2k and thjimmy for compiling and posting news used herein. I'm sure there's plenty of people I've overlooked, so thanks to you as well, may your rep be plentiful!

NEWS at last, but first: some history
After the sudden dissolution of Wizkids in late fall last year, both fans and employees of the game were in shock- how could a top selling collectible miniatures game just vanish overnight?

Thor's Chariot had been announced as the 'brick figure for the next expansion, and pictures of it were released at a trade show last fall, so it came as a shock when Topps pulled the plug on Heroclix in November. The reasons for Topp's dismissal of the Wizkids staff were cloudy at best, and lead to much speculation on internet forums. Former WK Brand Manager Jake Theis immediately spearheaded a movement to Save Heroclix accepting donations from fans to generate start up capital and keep interest in the game alive creating a new game company: Pinata Games.

A deal falls apart

Pinata hoped to head up a possible Heroclix division of another gaming company, should said company acquire the rights from Topps to produce 'clix. The last information heard from the Pinata crew, was not good news as a deal between Topps and Catalyst Game Labs apparently fell through. The Pinata message boards have been quiet since April, and as if it were a final nail in the coffin, a list of spoiled dials (supposedly leaked by a play tester) were unveiled in an HCRealms thread on May 8th.


While the leaked dials were in no way official, it seemed as if the game were in fact finished, further fueled by the announcement that Marvel had sold a license to Upper Deck to produce a collectible miniatures game.

Was this the end?

Things looked bleak until the cryptic posts of Justin Ziran started appearing on HCRealms about a month after the Catalyst deal imploded. Mr. Ziran, now a Topps employee (formerly of WK then the Pinata/SaveHeroclix crew) let some information trickle out about the game's future. How cryptic? Take a look at this post, in which certain letters are Italicized to denote perhaps a hidden meaning:

Reading between the lines, Mr. Ziran tells us that "Mjollnir is what he carries."

San Diego Comic Con
That last bit of news came on June 18th, and nearly a month went by without word, with more fans giving up hope that Heroclix would return every day. That is, until the San Diego Comic Con opened their doors in July when Heroclix fans were thunderstruck as the Chariot of Thor showed up for purchase at the NECA booth.

The sale of the Chariot at the NECA booth (also offered on Amazon.com) caused much speculation about the fate of the game, and generated enough traffic on HCRealms to shut the servers down more than once. Had NECA bought the rights to Heroclix? Were they planning on continuing production of the popular miniature heroes game? Who is Neca anyway? Rumors are rampant, and further fueled by lack of an official word both NECA and Topps (current owners of the 'clix intellectual property after they dissolved Wizkids) as neither company has to date issued a press release stating the nature of the agreement between NECA and Topps.

Fast forward to Gen Con in August, where attendees of one of the largest gaming conventions learned some surprising news about Heroclix.

Here's what we know from 'Realms member's who attended Gen Con:

NECA has purchased or formed a partnership with Topps to produce Heroclix.

Who is NECA exactly? The National Entertainment Collectibles Association is a New Jersey based manufacturer of collectibles including action figures and dolls, with multiple television and movie licenses like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sin City, Resident Evil, Harry Potter, and much more.

This doesn't automatically mean fans will see any 'clix versions of Severus Snape in the near future, though the possibility exists. One of the hurdles Wizkids had in producing miniatures was acquiring licensing rights, a task that proved difficult for the one INDY set produced, as the company had to bargain with multiple creators to secure the rights to Hellboy, Witchblade etc. It made sense then, that the majority of WK sets were DC & Marvel, with the characters used available under one license. With Neca already owning several licenses to many comic friendly characters the chances of running an official TMNT squad on a 'clix map have never been better.

HAMMER OF THOR will be released in November.



According to the promotional poster (pictured above) displayed at Gen Con, the first new Heroclix expansion will arrive appropriately one year after the WK shutdown. The poster features a Wizkids logo, suggesting that the WK brand will be sold or transferred to NECA as part of the deal acquiring the rights to the Heroclix IP. Among the game pieces pictured are Thor's arch-foe Loki, the Runaways 'raptor wrangler Gert (with Old Lace) and most surprisingly of all: "Smokey feet" Captain America!

For the uninitiated, "Smokey foot" Captain America was one of the most controversial 'clix ever produced. A photo of the figure was accidentally leaked several years ago and when questioned Mark Tuttle (then BM for Heroclix) noted that the figure was a paint master that was a one of a kind.

Fans already upset with Mr. Tuttle for implementing Chase figures in Heroclix (starting with Supernova's Zombies), and the CoG/AoS buy in events had more reason to be dismayed with the brand manager as he claimed he kept the figure on his desk with no intention of releasing it in an expansion. Instead of this quality sculpt, fans of the character were left with the inferior Ultimate Captain America from the Avengers expansion, with his grossly misshapen body and disproportionate head. The rumor that Mr. Tuttle took the prototype Cap when he left WK (as a job perk) has finally been disproved.


What about DC Heroclix fans?

While there's no official promotional material stating as such, a picture of the Batmobile prototype showed up at Gen Con, and convention attendees report that NECA plans to produce the Brave and the Bold a DC themed set that was originally slated for production by WK as the next DC expansion after HoT. It is assumed that NECA would continue to produce both DC and Marvel Heroclix, and word has it that Brave and the Bold will see retailers shelves as early as February 2010.

Are the HoT dials leaked on HCRealms for real?


Pictures of other figures from Gen Con attendees started showing up in HCRealms photo albums, including Daredevil, Surtur, Volstagg and a certain god of Thunder wearing armor from J. Michael Straczynski's run on Thor. So far this seems to match 'Realms member Boneyard's list. Boneyard, an HCRealms member since 2002 had a long standing tradition of running speculative set list spoilers that were extremely accurate, weeks and months before the final set list was revealed. Some even suggested Boneyard had a source inside WK giving him information. This was somewhat disproved with the Justice League set where Boneyard had about a 50% accuracy rate of predicting the set's contents. Given this previous success rate it's probably too early to tell if in fact the list is 100% accurate, though the sculpts shown lend credibility to the list.

MYSTERY CARDS!
As for the dials leaked by 'Realms member Sensualninja, long term fans feared HoT would create a new paradigm for the game, making older figures obsolete, specifically the Runaways figures. However, the accuracy of the leaked dials is now in question as the Mystery Cards began to surface. Another treat Gen Con attendees have discovered are several "Mystery Cards," a card containing the Special Powers of a figure to be produced in an upcoming Heroclix expansion were included with each Chariot of Thor sold at the convention.

For instance, a card containing the text:

has lead some to speculate that Deflection Trajectory represents Daredevil's "radar" or Captain America's shield throwing abilities. Another card contains text similar to Chase Stein's "Leapfrog" SP, but curbs the power somewhat as it was listed in Sensualninja's thread, limiting the ability to carry friendly figures.

This discrepancy likely means that the dials originally leaked are not 100% accurate, but rather an earlier version that was in beta-testing. This may be good news for some Heroclix fans who were dreading the "power-creep" found in the HoT dials, specifically a number of figures that at a glance seemed to disregard any point formula used for design.

Further reports reveal that the dial on the Daredevil in NECA's showcase has a Special Power slot, something the leaked dial does not have. This could be because the figure was assembled with a random dial as a placeholder as often happens with paint masters, and is no indication of any change to the dial. Players will have to wait until November (or for some sneak peaks) before the validity of leaked dials will truly be determined.

What is the future of approved play?

Perhaps the most asked question is also the one with the least information available. Sources report that approved play WILL likely continue with an envoy system similar to the old, though it appears the details have yet to be ironed out as the sale of WK property is finalized. According to convention attendee and 'Realms member Hair10 who talked with the NECA/WK crew: "...AP is up in the air as far as how it will be run. They are going to take a look at what worked and what didn't and go from there."

Players can likely expect some other changes to Heroclix as well. For instance, with the release of the Chariot of Thor, there's no guarantee it will be the "brick" figure for HoT. In fact, there is no guarantee there WILL be a "brick" figure, as NECA may decide on another sales and marketing strategy altogether.

Likewise many other questions still need to be answered. Fans are clamoring for more information including details on the game design team, the distribution model (will boosters still have 5 figures? Will feats, bystanders, and other mechanics like event dials still be a part of the game model?) and sculpt quality. Judging from the pictures released at GenCon, the sculpts for HoT have never looked better. The fire giant Surtur for one, appears to have intricately detailed flames, as pictured in the NECA/WK display case.


Expect an official announcement from NECA/WK and Topps in the near future regarding the future of Heroclix, as HCRealms brings you the news you want to hear regarding Heroclix's rebirth. In the meantime, join Volstagg and raise a flagon, goblet, or mug high and rejoice:

Thanks again to all 'Realms members for providing the information I compiled in this report.

Sad that there's not a bigger pic of the poster... or is there somewhere else and I just haven't sought it out.

Thanks for all the info and pics!! This is grand news indeed!

Swell report, 'm0use! I especially enjoyed the bit about the "grossly misshapen body and disproportionate head" on poor ole' Avengers Cap. I still can't believe we'll actually have the legendary "Smokey Foot Cap" in November!

And hey, thanks for the mention! Tweren't nuthin'.

im crying right now... the only thing i couldnt find was, will the chariot still be the BiBtB piece? or is amazon the only way? and DAMN those clix look AWESOME!!! hope that raptor piece is like 149 so him and devil dino can run wild!!

Personally, I'm partial to the design of the original HoT promotional poster.

i need that loki figure ASAP!! it's such a classic pose!! smokey feel cap should have that shield trajectory power as well. man i'm so glad new figs are coming out. i might just try to be a judge this time too!!

woohoo! yay my game is back! me happy camper. well, i'm not actually camping, hard to get computer hookups when camping, but me still happy! ah, good to see Smokey Feet Cap come to light. I was the one who originally scanned the cap off of a flyer that was to be used to promote Avengers. I got it at GAMA the year that Avengers came out. i wish i kept the flyer, i'll have to look around to see if i still have it.

Awesome! It's Alive!! Alive!!

Thanks forthe great article. One important part of the recent history that is "missing" (or I missed it) was the shutdown of the WK forums/website/gallery.

Rep to you for putting that article together.

This is great news! I knew we had to have something at GenCon 2009, because if we didn't, it would probably mean the final nail in the coffin.

I usually buy only 1 case with each Marvel release (I'm not a DC fan), but to show support for the new owners and the game, I'll be purchasing 2 cases. Many of my friends will be buying bricks and cases as well, and we'll sit around a table and trade.

It is very nice to know that one of the greatest games of all time (across all genres/platforms, be it video, tabletop, board, rpg, or whatever) is going to continue on. I was prepared to play for many years to come with just the figures I have, but now I can add to my collection and expand my options.

I just hope we see future sets release a lot of unreleased figures we haven't seen yet.. Such as ROM the Space Knight, the New Universe line, maybe the Great Lake Avengers, etc.

Let's get our game on!

Besides being overjoyed that Heroclix is back.

The only downer I see was the thread saying that my 2nd favorite clix game was not bought and with that announcement it looks the final nail in Mechwarriors' coffin was put in place.

Great news, and it looks like there's a possibility of Horrorclix finally being 100% compatible too. Thanks for the article mouse!