by Jason Collins
My Predictions for the first WWE Heroclix set!
On September 7th, 2018, Wizkids Games made an announcement that rocked the Heroclix world. An agreement had been signed between Wizkids games and the WWE allowing Wizkids to, add their characters into Dice Masters, create games based on their properties, and most importantly, add those very same characters and intellectual property, to the game of Heroclix. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Upon that announcement the reaction has been enthusiastic. Very few people have made it through their lives without being touched in some way by the WWF/WWE, and many would be surprised to discover the large number of players who are both, Heroclix players AND fans of professional wrestling.
Once this announcement was made, speculation RAN WILD BROTHER!!!!!! What are we predicting will be in the sets? What will the figures be like? Well, what better time to start speculation than when we first heard of the signing! Before we EVEN have a chance to make an informed guess! So today I thought I would share my predictions for the upcoming introduction of the WWE into our game Heroclix.
Please note that these predictions will be based on what I think the first set will be and won’t be covering sets pass the first. AND THAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE!
The Obvious Predictions
Before we get started here are the easy ones
These will be gravity feed sets and a lot(but not all) of the figures will be fairly close combat focused. They’re wrestlers, it’s what they do and single pack gravity feeds have never made more sense than with this product.
Okay the REAL predictions
The First Set will be based on the Attitude Era!
I’m predicting that the first set will focus on the Attitude Era of the WWE. For those who may be unfamiliar, this era of wrestling was the period between roughly 1995 and 2002. Some of the most popular wrestlers were part of this era and it gives Wizkids the chance to make the transition of the WWE into Heroclix an easy one sales-wise. This isn’t to say the WHOLE set will be based around the Attitude Era of the WWE, in fact the next prediction will cover my thoughts on characters external of this. What is most important though is that all the characters in this era lack a number of complications that make designing these characters tricky and helps to make a fairly safe choice as the first WWE set.
The First Chases will be Classic wrestlers
A lot of wrestling fans will immediately think that Hulk Hogan and the Macho Man will be littered throughout this set, but I’m going to predict that the chases in this set will be those classic wrestlers. I’ll go as far as to predict the first four as Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, and Rowdy Roddy Piper. No wrestlers in history are more iconic, and no 4 wrestlers are more different from that classic era, and that’s exactly why I think they would make the ideal choice. As well it will keep players, and wrestling fans alike, peeling open those packs to get those elusive chase stars.
Where they are on the show = how rare they are in the set
Wrestlers in the WWE are often defined by where in the show their matches occur. “Low-card” wrestlers would be featured in your first matches while the most popular/best go on last. Without banging on about too many details here, if a wrestler would be considered a low – mid card wrestler, expect them to be a common/uncommon, and expect your favorite Main Eventer to be rare or super rare. This is really just how Heroclix works in general but I felt this prediction was ideal for wrestling fans so they can get excited for their favorite mid-low card wrestlers, while preparing to hunt for their BIG favorites.
The First Competitive piece will likely be a ‘Manager’ or ‘Ring announcer’ character
Let’s not kid ourselves, the first figure to be considered competitive in almost every instance is a support character and Pro-Wrestling is not without its fair share of characters worthy of that position. To add to this prediction, the ‘Attitude Era’ set will likely feature, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, and Paul Bearer as they are some of the most iconic managers/announcers of the era. These are the characters likely to boost stats and generally keep their teammates in working order!
The first characters in the WWE to have Range will be Undertaker and/or Kane
I mean….. They shoot lightning AND FIRE…….
Seriously…. LIGHTNING!!!! FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Bonus prediction Kane: Rare, Undertaker: Super Rare)
Tag teams will follow the new Duo Figure design.
I mean, this one should be academic since in Pro-Wrestling tag team wrestlers wrestle one at a time. Of course this isn’t to say that there isn’t going to be some sort of a twist on that same mechanic. There may be some ability to use a power from the other side to be that attack from behind kind of effect!
But seriously imagine the Dudley Boys, Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, or the New Age Outlaws sitting on the top of a heroclix base? I’m pumped!
No NEW Team ABILITIES but new Team SYMBOLS.
There are probably a few faction based symbols that can make their way into a WWE set, BUT this set is very likely to be a gateway set attracting new players while also selling to established players so it’s very likely that the team symbols will be doing things we are already familiar with, just with a new coat of WWE themed paint.
Mankind/Cactus Jack/Dude Love shifting focus
Pro-wrestler Mick Foley, was known for several different characters, all three at some point making an appearance in the WWE and all three with different styles of wrestling. This would be a great piece in order to introduce fans of wrestling to this mechanic and I doubt even Wizkids will pass on this character opportunity.
Generic Keyword: Celebrity
Remember the Undead set where 100% of the figures in the set had the Monster keyword? Well, wrestlers are probably the best chance to give Celebrity a massive boost. I’m not saying other generic keywords won’t find their way to the set but there’s a good chance this set will give all the characters the Celebrity keyword as we all know wrestlers to be larger than life celebrities.
No Special Objects BUT extra object effects for Hardcore Wrestlers
For those of you unfamiliar, Hardcore wrestling is when the ‘rules’ of wrestling are thrown out the window and wrestlers use everything they can get their hands on. And yes on one particular instance, it did involve a kitchen sink. While a lot of players are excited at the prospect of special object of tables, ladders, and chairs, what I think we’re more likely to see is effects similar to those, attached to figures that would use those items.
Well those are my predictions for the first set of WWE Heroclix. There’s a lot of cool potential in the world of WWE and if managed in a way that doesn’t take it too seriously or realistically we can definitely believe the idea of our favorite WWE superstars going toe to toe with our favorite superheros.
Am I going to be right?
IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU THINK I’M RIGHT!
