Fans of mutants and tabletop gaming rejoice, for the first full expansion set of Marvel HeroClix in 2018 is X-Men: Xavier’s School!  Coming February 14 (with exclusive pre-release events leading up to that date), this new set is bringing back tons of fan-favorite X-Men, their allies and enemies, and plenty of characters that have never before appeared in the game.  With the “school” theme comes multiple generations of the X-Men as youths and students (including generics), along with headmasters to lead them plus characters in groups like Blue Team, Gold Team, Magneto’s X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Generation X, Hellions, and more!  Along with unboxing a full brick of 10 boosters we’re also going to look at the X-Men Xavier’s School Fast Forces set (featuring classic X-Factor) and the X-Men Xavier’s School Dice & Token Pack (Time Displaced).

Heading into your local comic book or game store you’ll definitely see the Xavier’s School boosters with their artwork of the original X-Men leaping into the fray on the front of the boxes.  Both sides of the booster box show off sub-themes and 3D renders of figures: original X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Professor X), original X-Factor (Angel, Beast, Iceman), school headmasters (Magneto, Emma Frost, Wolverine), and Age of Apocalypse (Iceman, Cyclops, Jean Grey).  The back panel advertises the return of ID Cards in this set, specifically those for faculty and student X-Men!  Check out our video unboxing the brick, and scroll down for a full breakdown of the figures, photography, and lots more information.

The figures!

Here’s the full breakdown of the figures in this brick (your results will vary of course):

COMMONS (including duplicates)

• 001 Cyclops
• 003 Beast
• 004 Iceman
• 005 X-Trainee
• 006 X-Student
• 007a Moira MacTaggert
• 008 Artie
• 009 Husk
• 010b Mindee Cuckoo
• 010c Phoebe Cuckoo
• 011 Synch
• 012 Anole
• 013 Hellion
• 014 Rusty
• 015 Skids
• 016 Mystique

UNCOMMONS (including duplicates)

• 017 Beast
• 019 Cyclops
• 020 Jean Grey
• 021 Cypher
• 022 Karma
• 023a Magneto
• 024 Leech
• 025 Mercury
• 026 Jubilee
• 027 Mondo
• 028 Penance
• 029 Skin
• 030 Surge
• 031 Oya
• 032 Kitty Pryde

RARES

• 039 Sprite
• 041 Chamber
• 042 M
• 043 Icarus
• 044 Rockslide
• 046 Goldballs
• 048 Phat

SUPER RARES

• 053 Wolverine
• 057 Kid Gladiator
• 059b White Queen

ID CARDS

• XID-004 Rusty (Student)
• XID-009 Prodigy (Student)
• XID-022 Shadowcat (Faculty)

Going through what we pulled at a high level, we got all but two of the commons (#002 and #010a, not including the Prime), 15 uncommons, 7 rares, 3 super rares including a Prime, and three ID Cards.  All in all not too shabby!  Let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

The commons naturally have a bunch of X-Men, starting with First Class Cyclops then the generic X-Trainee and X-Student, mutant ally and brilliant scientist Moira MacTaggert, Morlock Artie, two thirds of the Three-In-One Cuckoos Mindee and Phoebe, and reptilian Anole.  Classic X-Factor is represented here by Beast and Iceman plus the young mutants rescued by them Rusty and Skids with her protective field.  Husk and Synch are here from Generation X, Hellion of the Hellions (natch), and there’s even a bad guy in disguise with the morphing Mystique/”Foxx.”

The uncommons switch up the team lineups with First Class Beast and X-Factor Cyclops and Jean Grey, while the X-Men recruit the Morlock Leech, Surge with her gauntlets, Oya, and the X-Men/All-New X-Men Headmaster Kitty Pryde phasing as projectiles shoot through her.  The silver Mercury of the Hellions is here along with Generation X members Jubilee, Mondo, Penance, and Skin while the New Mutants swell their ranks with a new Cypher, Karma, and Headmaster Magneto in a snazzy purple costume.

Things get really interesting in the rares starting with a unique appearance of Kitty Pryde in her colorful Sprite persona!  Chamber and M join Generation X and the winged Icarus and blocky Rockslide the Hellions, and then there are two odd characters with Goldballs and X-Statix member Phat.

We’ve seen from other previews that the super rares in this set include a fair number of Headmaster characters, and in line with that we pulled X-Men leader Wolverine slicing through the air and the Prime White Queen of Generation X unleashing a psychic attack along with the powerful Shi’Ar X-Men known as Kid Gladiator firing off his heat vision!  Last but not least we found three ID Cards in this brick, the 3 point students Rusty and Prodigy plus the full 5 point Shadowcat (including “Other Identities” and an Inspiration ability).

Mutants are by their very nature extremely varied in their looks, as we’ve seen over the years in X-Men and other comics.  It made sense then that in a HeroClix set based on children of the atom we’d see a wide range of sculpts and poses, and indeed we do!  Students and teachers run the gamut from crazed berserkers to quiet pacifists, rocky brutes (on the outside), and those who can pass among humans.  Some of my favorite sculpts just among the figures pulled here include the X-Trainee/Karma with her neat retro hairdo, the diminutive but fully realized Artie/Leech, Anole crouched and ready to spring into action, New Mutants style Magneto unleashing his powers with a rad cape flapping in the air, the elongated appendages of Skin, Kitty Pryde as she phases through projectiles that would otherwise have made her a pincushion, an incredible new Chamber with the fires of his psionic furnace, the awesomely well-rounded Goldballs striking a pose as his namesakes float around him, the somewhat more disturbing Phat and his rolls of flesh, and of course the epic super rare Wolverine slashing through the air.

Alongside those are neat poses like Beast showing off in a one-handed handstand, Moira MacTaggert ready to dish out a lecture, Hellion showing off with his telekinetic powers, M readying a devastating punch, and Kid Gladiator blasting away as he flies through the air.  Finally there are some nicely sculpted textures including Mondo’s “giant earthen fist,” Icarus’ wonderfully feathered wings, and the uneven skin of Rockslide.

While there are tons of unique sculpts and bodies, the Xavier’s School set is actually not quite as varied as I expected when it comes to paint, and that’s simply because there are so many figures in “uniform” costumes whether that’s the black and yellow of the First Class X-Men and New Mutants, the red and white of the Hellions, or the red and yellow of Generation X, etc.  Of course there are tons of variations even on those figures with regard to skin, hair, and visible powers, and not everyone wears those costumes.

There are great paint applications all over this set, and just some of the paint jobs that stood out to me include the crisp lines and perfectly painted eyes on the X-Trainee (and plenty of others!), Mystique with her half-and-half reveal paint job, Oya in her stark white and black costume offset perfectly by the two different colored energy effects, the eye-watering colors and patterns of Sprite’s early costume, and the super rares with their interesting dark washes (looks especially good on Wolverine).  As always translucent plastic is used on things like energy and flight effects, and in this set you can see it on the nearly clear Iceman, the force field surrounding Skids, Magneto’s power manifestation, energy erupting from Surge’s gauntlets, Oya’s elemental powers, the motion trails on the projectiles going through Kitty Pryde, Chamber’s fire, Wolverine’s base and claw slashes, Kid Gladiator’s heat vision and flying effect, and White Queen’s pink power attack.  Meanwhile the shiny metallic paints come out for Mercury’s silvery skin, the aforementioned gauntlets on Surge and Kitty Pryde’s projectiles, and the marvelous floating balls of Goldballs.

Much of this set has already been revealed in the various previews, but I think I’ve got a few surprises for folks in this brick.  Let’s start with the third of the “Three-In-One” Cuckoos and the one who prefers green, 010c Phoebe Cuckoo!  At 50 points she shares the #10 common slot with her two sisters, along with the X-Men team ability, the “X-Student” trait (lowers an enemy’s defense when an attack roll includes a 5), and another trait that goes by the name of their shared power (self Perplex if a sister is nearby).  She also shares with Mindee, at least, stats on their dials, a final “Flawless Diamond Form” stop click, and some powers.  Phoebe here focuses on getting her sisters into position early in the game with starting Telekinesis to go with her Willpower, and mid-dial she switches to Mind Control attacks and Super Senses for defense.  She obviously plays best with Celeste and Mindee, and with figures sharing her Phoenix Force and X-Men keywords.

Another fan-favorite to return in this set is the classic New Mutant Cypher, popping up among the uncommons at #021.  Doug Ramsey was a mutant with the ability to understand languages, including verbal, machine, and more esoteric, though he’s famous for his friendship and later melding with the techno-organic alien known as Warlock (becoming “Douglock”).  A previous HeroClix figure captured those abilities pretty perfectly, so it’s interesting to see what WizKids did with the character this time around.  Cypher by himself (keep reading) is 35 points which gets you a purely support piece with two clicks of Sidestep, Energy Shield/Deflection, 0 attack and damage, the shared New Mutants trait offering free healing, and a special power that lets Doug protect his nearby friends from being Outwitted.  However, if you field him at 70 points he transforms into Douglock at a STOP click on #3, becoming a close-combat powerhouse!  Stats get a huge boost and rise all the way until his last click, and he gets some Plasticity, Poison, Invincible, Shape Change, and Close Combat Expert.  With the STOP click you don’t have to worry (much) about getting knocked past the Douglock clicks, and at both point values Cypher can do a lot for your team whether you play him with other New Mutants (recommended), Hellions, Excalibur members, or Robots.

Making her debut in Xavier’s School at #030 is Noriko Ashida, the X-Woman known as Surge!  She became a member of the “New Mutants” squad at the Xavier Institute and put her electrical powers to use against anti-mutant threats.  Surge is 40 points with the X-Men team ability and the X-Student trait modifying an enemy’s defense by -1 when she rolls a 5.  Her abilities come in the form of a starting special power letting her choose each turn between using Hypersonic Speed or getting a 6 range and tacking an action token onto every character she hits with an attack!  Nori pairs that with Willpower for two clicks, then switches things up for Charge and Combat Reflexes.  She has the New Mutants and X-Men keywords for team building and will make for a nice third string attacker/support piece hunter on your squad of mutants.

Goldballs!  That’s the catchphrase of one of the more unique mutants to appear in the pages of X-Men (and Spider-Man) books in recent history.  Fabio Medina has the odd ability to generate and shoot gold-colored balls from his body, which he can use to make attacks or fend off enemies.  046 Goldballs is a rare figure in the new set with a fantastic sculpt taken right out of the comics and a glamor shot of the hero reaching for the sky and launching balls into the air behind him.  He’s 45 points with a 5 range and two targets, the X-Student trait (see above), and the “Goldballs!” trait that debuffs opponents’ defenses when they’re adjacent to, in the same square as, or holding a Gold Ball object.  Where do these Gold Balls come from, you may be asking?  Along with Force Blast Fabio’s entire dial is graced with the special power “POINK!” that generates a light object called “Gold Ball” in the square of a character he hits with a ranged attack!  He also has Energy Shield/Deflection on his first three clicks.  Goldballs may not be fast or particularly hard-hitting, but his attack values are solid and he has the potential to tie up and hinder bad guys all day, plus generate light objects that his friends can use without penalty.  His keywords are limited to X-Men and Spider-Man Family, so make sure to pair Goldballs with like-minded friends.

As always, a new booster set brings with it some other cool items, and so we’re also taking a look at the X-Men Xavier’s School Fast Forces pack!  This standalone box set features characters from the classic, original X-Factor run when the first X-Men left the mansion for New York City to save mutants in a new way.  I was a little sad to see that this set left out my favorite character from that series, Angel, but it does bring you unique versions of Beast, Iceman, Cyclops, and Jean Grey along with the young mutants Rusty and Skids!

All of these figures share sculpts with game pieces from the main booster set but have new and different dials with point totals lined up for easy team building right out of the box.  And while most Fast Forces figures look exactly like their main set counterparts, this time around the figures feature some differences in colors that make them unique!  Beast’s costume is brown and yellow (vs. main set blue and red), Cyclops’ is blue and white (vs. blue and yellow), Jean Grey’s is red and yellow (vs. green and yellow), Rusty’s is all red and yellow (no black and brown), Skids wears red and orange with tiger stripe pants (vs. blue and yellow), and Iceman rocks his old power-dampening belt he wore after Loki upgraded his powers!

The four X-Factor founders are each 75 points with the option to play at 50 as well, while the youngsters are 50 or 25 points.  As you can see, this lets you build various straightforward 300 point teams like Beast, Iceman, Cyclops, and Jean at full points, three of those at 75 with Rusty and Skids (one at 50 and one at 25), the full six figures with everyone on their 50 point dials, etc.  The Fast Forces packs are great for new players to get a whole team in one shot, and of course once you’ve dived fully into the game or are a longtime veteran you can mix and match figures from this set with any others for unlimited team options.

Also releasing alongside the booster set and the Fast Forces is the X-Men Xavier’s School Dice & Token Pack (Time Displaced).  This accessory focuses on the young generation of the original X-Men with six black and yellow poker chip-style action tokens featuring comic book artwork of Professor X, Beast, Angel, Iceman, Cyclops, and Jean Grey.  Also included are two dice in the same color scheme with a stylized italics X-Men symbol on the six side.

That’s been our unboxing of a Marvel HeroClix X-Men Xavier’s School booster brick, plus a look at the corresponding Fast Forces and Dice & Token Pack.  Hopefully like us you’ve seen a ton of cool figures you want to collect and play whether you’re new to HeroClix or have been playing for years.  All of these items will be available for sale on February 14th, but at participating locations you can get a hold of Xavier’s dream a bit early during the exclusive set pre-release events starting on January 31st!  Check to see if your local venue is on the list on the WizKids Info Network.  As always, have fun and good luck with your pulls!

Visit the brand new and improved HeroClix.com for even more info as well as downloads of rules and maps, and stay tuned to Figures.com as we continue our reviews of new HeroClix!

Review and photos by Scott Rubin.

Review samples courtesy of WizKids Games

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