how long do you think the tail should be?

fuzzymutant26 · Post by **fuzzymutant26** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:56 pm

well...we can deny it all we want, but, eventually we have to face it...there is no REAL set length to kurt's tail...everyone draws it different lengths and widths...
from 2feet short to 2meters long...from thumbtack thin to kangaroo thick!!!:shocked
well...how about the nightscrawlers themselves decide:D

Garble · Post by **Garble** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:15 am

most bios list his tail as being about 3 feet.

I personally think it should be a bit longer than that because at 5"9' his tail would just barely reach the ground.

My vote is 4 feet.

InterNutter · Post by **InterNutter** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:32 am

I go with 4' too. 3' is too short to be a useful limb, and 5' is long enough to get into major trouble.

As far as drawing him's concerned, though, most people tend to fudge it according to their needs. It's a fake-out, but nobody's shouted about it, yet.

Tracker · Post by **Tracker** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:50 am

Yeah, the new handbook lists his tail at 3 feet, but I voted for four as well.

The Drastic Spastic · Post by **The Drastic Spastic** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 5:48 am

Three AND A HALF feet.

Duh.

:p

Northstars Love · Post by **Northstars Love** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:12 am

Of course I voted four feet long.

darkelf63 · Post by **darkelf63** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:20 pm

3 and half seems right I think..

but how thick is it? I mean it's not like an arm but it has to be failry muscular and strong (he hans from it sometimes) that I dont know..

fuzzymutant26 · Post by **fuzzymutant26** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 6:23 am

Well, I think 5...

As far as width goes...I draw the base of his tail about the width of a skateboard wheel. The end is about the width of a magic marker...just before the fork tip of the tail...

...I know I'm just gonna start everyone up again...but how does everyone else draw their "tail forks"

P.s.: I'll start a new poll...check it out!

LadyErin · Post by **LadyErin** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:13 am

Well, personally I draw his tail much thicker. I try to remember that his tail is part of his spine and contain vertebra, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. So I figure at the base the tail must be the same size or a little smaller than Kurt's lower forearm (the part just below the elbow) and at the end just below the tail spade just a little thicker than one of Kurt's fingers. But that's just me.

NWKurt · Post by **NWKurt** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:34 am

Just thought Id throw in my 2¢ worth:D.....

We had a small relatively close discussion on this a while back over in....
Nightscrawlers » Nightcrawler » A frivolous tail rant.

NWK

CurlyyHairGirl · Post by **CurlyyHairGirl** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 3:11 am

I think 5 is about right, afterall I like odd numbers and 3 would just seem to short and 4 to close to 3, so I choose 5.

SmoothBamf · Post by **SmoothBamf** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:08 am

All the books I've read say it's 3 but I think 5 is a much more appropriate length.

Now on the topic of thickness, I always imagined it to be proportionatly the same size as a spider monkeys.

graemeowen89 · Post by **graemeowen89** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 11:05 am

3 sounds about right because it would assumingly be around the same length as his legs (maybe a teeny bit bigger) considering he uses it like an extra limb. This is just how I imagined it though. I stand at 5"2 and my legs are like 2"something which is about half mybody size. Since Nightcrawler is reportedly 5"8, I would say 3 - 3.5.

Nighton · Post by **Nighton** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:24 pm

I want his tail to be as long as possible, and as thin as possible. It's mycket coolare (much cooler) that way. (Although I have to admit that I didn't really understand the different legnth included in the poll, since vi svenskar (we Swedes) use the metric system. Curse you, Stonecutters! (That's an obscure Simpsons-reference.)

Maelstrom · Post by **Maelstrom** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 5:47 pm

For the movie, they seemed to go with about 4' long. It seemed a fair sight longer than his legs to me. I guess I could deal with the 3'5" they have listed in the "official resources" (Nighton, that's about 130cm or so). But LadyErin has a very valid point about the thickness of his tail. Pencil thin may look interesting, but it's anatomically more unlikely than the fact he's got blue fur. What's the proportionate thickness of a spider monkey's tail? Because it seems to have the same proportionate strength as Nighty's should have, and would be an excellent reference....

Gaz · Post by **Gaz** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:44 pm

I looked up Spidermonkeys for you guys. The tail in this pic looks like a pretty good size in proportion to the body. Here's the best pic I found:

http://www.ofb.net/~epstein/sl/spidermonkey.jpg

Though the base is a little too thick for my taste, the length looks pretty good and the tip before where the spade would be it nice and thin, just like I like it. What do you guys think?

Post by **Saint Kurt** » Fri Aug 13, 2004 9:58 pm

I voted 6 feet because I just got back from looking at the movie costume and trying it on.

I measured the tail. From spade tip to attachment - movie nightcrawler's tail is 73 in. long.

-e

Gaz · Post by **Gaz** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 5:49 am

That's true, his was a pretty good length, but I think more like 4'6" or so would be fine. I don't like the idea of it being too long because it would seem kinda like too much of a hassle. Em, you saw the actual costume?

Dezzy Dragon · Post by **Dezzy Dragon** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 7:52 am

I think 5 feet. It would then be shorter then he is tall yet he would be able to grasp things firmly as he hangs and climbs. Or a pretty young women around her waist and a bit down her leg:naughty

Post by **Saint Kurt** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:46 am

Em, you saw the actual costume?

Saw it? I wore it!

His tail is 73in (I measured it with a tape measure). It's heavy. I'm guessing that it weighed about 25 pounds. (As compared to my tail rig with is 10 in shorter and only weighs about 8 pounds)

-e

Dezzy Dragon · Post by **Dezzy Dragon** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:11 am

How in the world did you get to see it yet alone get your hands on it?:?

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 12:52 pm

Em has connections... :p

that's very cool, Em! how close did you get with your costume to the real deal?

Post by **Saint Kurt** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 1:34 pm

They only had the appliances there, not the cloth costume it turns out. However that's okay, because it's the appliances that I had to do the most guess work with.

The answer is: I got so close that it's a little scary. (With the cloth costume I can tell that I'm pretty much dead on from the pictures.) They cast everything in silicon though rather than latex so it is creepily like real skin.

Alan Cumming is a lot bigger than I am. Even over my baggy pants his tail rig was kind of huge on me and I think the white cotton gloves really add to the look, don't you?

I took around 60 photos of the hands, feet, and tail. And I'm such a dork that I went right home and rebuilt my tail based on the one at the museum. (I'd been meaning to anyway - it got totally trashed at SDCC)

-e

Crawler · Post by **Crawler** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:42 pm

:o That's way too cool, Em!

How did it move? It looks great static, but that pose seems like it would flop around a lot and you'd end up whacking people in the face with it.

And the spade seems to be a lot pointer than I'd expected.

Maelstrom · Post by **Maelstrom** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:42 pm

DAMN, that's long! I knew his movie tail seemed longer than his comic tail, but six feet? WOW! No wonder it seemed so long and whip-like to me during that whole White House opening sequence!

Well, that gives me a 100% accurate measurement for my writing. Thank you.

Lucky Em. Lucky, lucky Em.

Nightscrawlers