WizKids Look To Produce Unpainted Marvel HeroClix Figures
November 13, 2019 by brennon
WizKids look to be producing a new range of Unpainted figures for their exceptionally well-loved game, HeroClix. The site Figures.com looked at one of these new sets for the X-Men which is coming out soon which uses the new Deep Cut and Pre-Primed method we've seen WizKids use for both Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder already.
The range follows the same format as their traditional HeroClix releases in premise but of course, you now have primed plastic (and clear plastic) miniatures which you can paint up however you like. We've been talking about how bad the pre-paints are for HeroClix over the years and whilst they have improved in part they are still no match to some of the work hobbyists could do themselves. So, it's nice to see them offering up an entirely different option for fans of the HeroClix game.
Scott Rubin has shown off a lot of the figures in more detail over on Figures.com and it's interesting to see the way they've come to life when someone has added their own take on colour schemes and the like. There are still a few issues here and there as Scott Rubin points out in his lengthy run-down on the product like mould lines and such but nothing that you can't clean up with a good sharp knife.
Of course, the detail isn't going to be as sharp as on some other miniatures out there in various scales but if you're interested in painting up your own HeroClix models to suit your image of particular superheroes and mutants this seems like a good move from WizKids.
I would be fascinated to see what a very talented painter could do with these and if there's enough detail there for someone to make them seriously pop.
What do you think of the idea?
"I would be fascinated to see what a very talented painter could do with these..."
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They are great.
If its Wizkids, it is garbage.
I don’t think that’s fair. The D&D and Pathfinder miniatures, whilst not incredibly detailed, have been really fun to paint up – at least from my perspective and had enough detail for me as an adequate painter to bring them to life. So, just dismissing these HeroClix miniatures out of hand feels a bit brash. Yes, they don’t look as good as others from their range but it would be nice to take a closer look at them.
WK’s production of its D&D Adventure System game (Assault Against the Giants?) was a drop in miniature quality, and I have a Deep Cuts miniature with a huge gash down its leg and its arm glued on in the wrong position. Reviews of one of their terrain sets (Gypsy Wagon?) consistently reported broken pieces. I’ve heard good things about the WK figures, but I’d look at them closely in the store before buying.
A few years ago, WizKids introduced a “sketch variant” to HeroClix which were essentially the models in either a black or dark grey base coat with a dry brushing of white over them. I wonder if those led to the decision to take their biggest seller and cross it over with another of their lines. It is certainly a possible way to get either side to the other by either getting their HeroClix only players interested in the hobby side of things or getting their hobbyists-only crowd into a potential game. I mean, if you buy the range and paint… Read more »
This was done to support their latest set of models which are about a clash between the X-Men. That would probably be why they chose the models they have.
I did see that mentioned before, which makes sense. I don’t know if I’d have selected those particular characters, then. Maybe something more akin to the line up for the animated series of Jim Lee X-Men run. How fun would it have been to paint Xavier in that amazing hover chair?