I remember as a little person way back in the 1980s watching Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. To be quite honest, I wasn’t really impressed with Spider-Man back then and didn’t fall in love with the character until the second season of the 90s animated series. But I liked his Amazing friends. Back then, I didn’t know what a mutant or an X-Man was, but I knew Iceman and Firestar were more interesting to me than Spider-Man.

Then came the X-Men episode. It was love at first sight. I didn’t see the X-Men again until The Pride of the X-Men came out on VHS in the early 90s, but that one episode had me hooked!!! And one X-Man in particular always stuck with me.

Nightcrawler.

That one small appearance in that short episode started a lifelong love for the character. I remember as a kid sticking jump ropes down the back of my pants and pretending to have a tail, but I don’t remember if it was because of him, or my young soul’s anticipation of a character like him.

Fast forward.

Nightcrawler has been an inspiration to me in my life, in my art, and now, in my first cosplay.

It seems fitting that the character that brought out so much joy and imagination in me as a kid would do the same for me as an adult.

As I’m piecing together my parts and outfit to bring the character to life for Hero Gala, I can’t help but feel excited, anxious,  and extremely validated.

Nightcrawler has indeed, been an Amazing lifelong friend.