Alright, let's get one thing straight: I'm well aware that, tragically, my boy Kurt's probably *way* down the list of characters Hasbro wants to get to in the Maximum Series. So far the line has only used the absolute *most popular* of the popular characters, and that's unlikely to change any time soon. That said, personally I think Nightcrawler is *far* more in need of a Maximum figure than some of the most likely candidates, at least when talking about the number of previous figures, necessary accessories, and range of articulation. Being the resident acrobat of the X-Men, Kurt sort of *needs* the absolute most amount of articulation possible, including all the bells and whistles we only ever seem to get in the Maximum Series like ball-jointed neck, toe bend, etc. On top of that, Kurt's most popular power, that being his teleportation, has somehow *never* been depicted in Marvel Legends form, even going back to the Toybiz days. It's something that, unfortunately, could only ever be properly realized with the higher budget of a Maximum figure.

When designing the concept for this thing, there was pretty much no other artist I could have based it on than Dave Cockrum. The man is arguably the single most important creative to ever do anything with the character, from creating him at DC to saving him at Marvel to illustrating many of his earliest and most important stories to writing *and* illustrating his first solo series (which I actually read for the first time while drawing this, and lemme tell ya, it's a *weird* trip). Cockrum created a design so iconic and timeless that it's *still* barely been changed in the modern day. How many costumes do Cyclops and Wolverine have again?

The one deviation you may have noticed already is the shading on his face; it's *such* an iconic part of the comic design, and something Cockrum in particular was adamant about including, but it's a bit more complicated in three dimensions. To be clear, I definitely wouldn't *mind* if it was included, but typically speaking, I generally don't like painted-on shading. These are 3D objects, they naturally pick up shading from whatever lighting they're in, and baking it into the figure itself runs the risk of actively sabotaging more intentional lighting setups. Comics are a *very* different medium from toy design, and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for the other. And while the 97 figure proves the shading on Nightcrawler's face *can* look good, personally I think it'd be easier to p*aint it on* if you wanted than to take it off if you don't. (Also, not including it in the art made it easier for me to actually design the sculpted details without it being lost in shadow.)

The other potentially... *controversial* decision would be the ab hinge. Look, I'm *well* aware that ball-jointed waists look better and add more side-to-side articulation than a hinge ever could, but between BND Hulk and the Box BAF, it's clear that Hasbro still has yet to consistently *nail* the forward crunch on a ball joint. Nightcrawler is one of Marvel's most athletic and flexible characters, he needs the absolute *most* forward crunch possible, and unfortunately I just don't trust Hasbro to pull that off with a ball-jointed waist at the moment. That said, I'd *love* to see them continue experimenting with it on bulkier characters that don't necessarily *need* as much forward crunch, at least until they can much more consistently get the range of something like Gamerverse Wolverine.

As far as accessories go, there were some that were just non-negotiable. Between the aforementioned Cockrum miniseries and *that scene* from X-Men '97, there was no *way* I wasn't including three swords, which then also necessitated the use of a bendy-wire for his tail. It's something Hasbro hasn't done yet but I'd *love* to see; the previous figures have all had rigid tails that don't do much in the way of posing and it makes me sad. The alternate heads were all ripped *straight* from different comic panels, including that "kinda sad" look which may or may not be pulled from the "You dare call *that thing* human?!" panel. I also thought it'd be fun to include a small "mascot character" similar to Doop coming with Deadpool, and one of the Bamfs seemed like one of those things we would *never, ever* get in the mainline but could *absolutely* justify doing with Maximum. Of course, the star of the show is definitely the teleporting effect; I wanted to make it big and bombastic, and I *really* wanted to create multiple ways to use it in a display. It splits into two parts; the bottom chunk is more for vertical teleportation effects, something to give Kurt a bit more height in a display. The top chunk, a separate cloud of smoke all on its own, can either plug into the top of that stand at an angle or hang on a wall using a hole in the back. It's not the most well-drawn, but the idea is that the top part would have clips similar to what you'd see on any other flight stand that you could use to hold Kurt in place, just with a little more smoke sculpted in to make it seem like part of the effect.

So that's my Maximum Nightcrawler pitch! I know we won't see him in the line for a long while, if at all, but I had a *ton* of ideas for this one that I was really excited about and wanted to share. I have a lot more ideas for other figures that I wanna get to soon, I'm really thinking about doing Doom, Ms. Marvel, or Taskmaster next so we'll see!

Maximum Nightcrawler concept art!