Episode #69 - Bloodlines
Original Airdate - 26th October, 1996

When Nightcrawler recieves a letter threatning his Birthmother, he asks The X-Men for help. Will Nightcrawler finally find why his Mother abandoned him?

Credits
Written By: Len Wein
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy
Animation Services By: AKOM

Review: A loose adaptation of an issue of [i]X-Men Unlimited[/i], this episode sees the return of Nightcrawler, and the absurd complications that come with it. On Halloween, Nightcrawler appears at the X-Mansion, looking for help to solve the mystery of his mother’s identity.

This episode takes heavy cues from the comic series but manages to keep cartoon viewers inline as to what’s actually happening. We have a lot of reveals here but the episode unravels them at a steady pace, including a great callback to a previous revelation about Graydon Creed’s past. Wait? Why is he in here?

Well...for those who don’t like spoilers, turn away now.

It turns out that Graydon’s Creed is not only the son of Sabretooth, but the son of Mystique as well. Mystique, as we all know, is the foster-mother of Rogue. Mystique...also happens to be the mother of Nightcrawler. We don’t discover the father’s identity, but we don’t need to know. Got that all straight? It is a bit complicated, but when streamlined it doesn’t look all that bad.

But anyways, Graydon Creed is sent on a mission by the Friends of Humanity, a mutant hate group, to kill off his mutant relatives. This all builds up to a spectacular climax and a brilliant epilogue.

While the episode is no where near as powerful as Nightcrawler’s first appearance, this is another highlight to the X-Men cartoon. A solid script and some great animation really sells this misshapen family reunion. Another episode I can easily recommend.

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