It's Not Easy Being Blue: Nightcrawler Appreciation

[March Hare]

I've never been sure whether I can see it being Kurt who was making Bamf dolls for everyone... It doesn't seem quite right to me, but then, I'm not sure who else would have done it, either... Suggestions?

I think it was Sundowhn who said Kurt must be a good tailor since he had to alter all of his trousers to fit in his tail .

I really wanted Terry Shoemaker to take over art duties. I always liked his clean style. I think it would have been a good fit after Davis to alternate with Ken Lashley.

Yes, he's one of those efficient humble artists (e.g., Ron Wagner, Bob McLeod) valued by few, but clearly superior to most of "star artists" who don't know a damn about drawing (e.g., Liefeld and all that rubbish).

later in the story she was trolling Moira and stealing her cigarettes and slapping her around, lol.

Ha! It recalls me when Storm switched her body with White Queen's in UXM #151. It was great watching Ororo smoking and showing her wonderful legs!

She really should have had at least as much reaction to his death as Logan, if not more, since the two of them were consistently close for so many years whereas he and Logan were on again off again, friendship wise, for quite some time. Oh well, Kitty's angst just doesn't have the same selling power as Wolverine's, I suppose.

I really missed her reaction so much, I was waiting for it. Her crash with AoA Crawler relieved me a bit, but still...

[Sundowhn]

I've never been sure whether I can see it being Kurt who was making Bamf dolls for everyone... It doesn't seem quite right to me, but then, I'm not sure who else would have done it, either... Suggestions?

I think it was Kurt who made them. As we talked about before, he would almost have to know how to sew(given his necessary clothing modifications), and he's just vain(?) enough to make a toy of himself and spread it around to interested parties. And I mean the vanity thing in the nicest possible way. Wasn't he also shown to have posters of himself on his walls from the circus days? Let's also not forget "N-Men".

[M.Hammerman]

No. As Kurt said "I don't normally make you jump like that." This was the beginning of her being influenced by the soulsword at the time. The soulsword was probably influencing and magnifying the bad parts of herself and making her revert to former attitudes. later in the story she was trolling Moira and stealing her cigarettes and slapping her around, lol.

I like your reading of it--that makes sense. Though I think it would probably also make sense that she was just spaced out, and then kind of ironically joking with herself after that. In any case, to have her still be scared of Kurt in that way would obviously have been a huge character regression (though of course I never put such things past almost any comics...). Man, I just miss them hanging out together so much...

Re: Bamf dolls... It does seem like it would have to be Kurt that made them, but I like how it's up-in-the-air--it adds to the weird, unspoken mystery of the whole thing :P I guess I've been hesitant to attribute them to Kurt because of how not-thrilled he was by the Bamfs in Kitty's fairytale, and then within the context of his later fears about being the X-Men's mascot and all that. But early on when the dolls first appeared, when he seemed so concerned with being liked... Yeah, I can see him distributing plushie versions of himself to any and all takers, lol.

[March Hare]

I think it was Kurt who made them. As we talked about before, he would almost have to know how to sew(given his necessary clothing modifications), and he's just vain(?) enough to make a toy of himself and spread it around to interested parties. And I mean the vanity thing in the nicest possible way. Wasn't he also shown to have posters of himself on his walls from the circus days? Let's also not forget "N-Men".

He´s an adorable show-off. He acts without malice, but sometimes he may be exasperating. X-colleagues used to mess him around because of this, but I think only Judith Rassendyll dared to scold him in UXM #204-205.

[Sundowhn]

Now wouldn't it be cute if Logan and Piotr both have a bamf doll stashed away somewhere? (You know they do!) Seriously though, he seemed to give them to people he really cared about. Amanda was the first to be shown with one, though Kitty, Illyana and Nocturne all had one as well. Kitty apparently loaned hers to Jubilee for awhile. As far as him not liking the bamfs in Kitty's story, he seemed more embarrassed than anything, if I recall right. I'll see if I can dig up some scans.

Paty Cockrum had said one time, when she (yes she :)) came up with the idea for Kurt's fur, that it translated so well into something to help Kitty get over her fear of Kurt's appearance -thus the nickname "Fuzzy Elf". Then Kitty came up with her fairy tale to allay Illyana's fears over all the chaos that had happened, if I'm not mistaken.

[Blue_Collar_Nerd]

She really should have had at least as much reaction to his death as Logan, if not more, since the two of them were consistently close for so many years whereas he and Logan were on again off again, friendship wise, for quite some time. Oh well, Kitty's angst just doesn't have the same selling power as Wolverine's, I suppose.

I suspect that a large part of it is that there is not enough panel space to flesh out every characters' behavior, especially when you are dealinging with an huge cast of characters in such an enourmous and bloated shared universe. I wouldn't be in favor of a reboot - we already had that in the form ofthe Ultimate universe - I would certainly be in favor of a continuity house-cleaning that, amongst over things, would put thet franchise into their own universes.

Of course the overexposer of Wolverine and a few other characters hasn't helped.

Was also interesting how he went into shock about the missed teleport.

I had thought it was the psychological shock of having materialized inside a granite wall. If you were a teleporter that relied on line-of-sight or the memory of a location, the idea of "bamfing" into a solid object would be horrorfying. It would be interesting to see Kurt deal with the trauma resulting from his encounter with Bastion.

[Sundowhn]

I suspect that a large part of it is that there is not enough panel space to flesh out every characters' behavior, especially when you are dealinging with an huge cast of characters in such an enourmous and bloated shared universe. I wouldn't be in favor of a reboot - we already had that in the form ofthe Ultimate universe - I would certainly be in favor of a continuity house-cleaning that, amongst over things, would put thet franchise into their own universes.

Good point.

I had thought it was the psychological shock of having materialized inside a granite wall. If you were a teleporter that relied on line-of-sight or the memory of a location, the idea of "bamfing" into a solid object would be horrorfying. It would be interesting to see Kurt deal with the trauma resulting from his encounter with Bastion.

Definitely would be a psychological shock, I would say. He's been shown as almost phobic about it over the years, and with good reason. As far as dealing with the trauma after Bastion, somehow I think he'd have more trouble with getting over the trauma of having been dead.

spoilers:

You'd think Darkholme might have had a similar reaction (shock) to materializing around EVA's blade, but then again, he has had different experiences and may have dealt with such a thing before.

end of spoilers

[Blue_Collar_Nerd]

I've never been sure whether I can see it being Kurt who was making Bamf dolls for everyone... It doesn't seem quite right to me, but then, I'm not sure who else would have done it, either... Suggestions?

I had just assumed that the Bamf dolls were sold at the circus Wagner performed at and he pilfered a bunch before he left for the States.

[M.Hammerman]

Paty Cockrum had said one time, when she (yes she :)) came up with the idea for Kurt's fur, that it translated so well into something to help Kitty get over her fear of Kurt's appearance -thus the nickname "Fuzzy Elf".

That's why her obvious, best character progression is to finally conquer her fears by getting up-close-and-personal with that fur. Because, you know, sleeping together is always great for friendships... But whatever, I guess my fantasies don't hurt anyone ;)

I had thought it was the psychological shock of having materialized inside a granite wall. If you were a teleporter that relied on line-of-sight or the memory of a location, the idea of "bamfing" into a solid object would be horrorfying. It would be interesting to see Kurt deal with the trauma resulting from his encounter with Bastion.

Sort of like a literal "bad trip." I figure if the ability to teleport was just something you could do "naturally," not being able to rely on it would be like reality disintegrating around you. If you had the instinctual sense of distances, objects, etc. that would have to accompany teleporation, not materializing where you planned would be more than scary--it would be like you'd suddenly doubt which way is up. Sort of like reaching out and expecting to touch a wooden table, but instead feeling water, or something like that. That's my reading of it, anyway--part of why I liked the scene I posted so much was because Kurt's shock and horror reaction made so much sense to me.

[M.Hammerman]

Also, just to balance out my Kurtty shipping with some Logurt... I love Kurt and Logan's clothing choices here: pirate shirt and no-shirt, lol.

[TheMutantJinx]

Also, just to balance out my Kurtty shipping with some Logurt... I love Kurt and Logan's clothing choices here: pirate shirt and no-shirt, lol.

Kurt should just wear pirate shirts all the time. All. The. Time.

[cottonmouth]

I love how the doll is strategically placed lol

[TheMutantJinx]

I love how the doll is strategically placed lol

Haha, I was just about to point that out! Covertly naughty Kurt. lol

[March Hare]

I love how the doll is strategically placed lol

The doll? And what about the position of his tail?! High hopes this night, dear Jimaine.

[March Hare]

Sort of like a literal "bad trip." I figure if the ability to teleport was just something you could do "naturally," not being able to rely on it would be like reality disintegrating around you. If you had the instinctual sense of distances, objects, etc. that would have to accompany teleporation, not materializing where you planned would be more than scary--it would be like you'd suddenly doubt which way is up. Sort of like reaching out and expecting to touch a wooden table, but instead feeling water, or something like that. That's my reading of it, anyway--part of why I liked the scene I posted so much was because Kurt's shock and horror reaction made so much sense to me.

I had a dream of that kind long ago. Banshee was team leader and warned Kurt not to throw himself into the sea to rescue I don't remember whom, but he (me, I suppose, in Freudian terms) did it anyway and then the water turned into something thick and impenetrable, crossed by strong noise bursts, and he (me) began to suffocate. It was horrible .