#anti genesis

[chorus-the-mutate]

In another instance of fuck it, we ball this year I am here to drop one of my most nuclear marvel takes: I hate the direction the newest X Men comics have taken all of the X Men characters in. Once the theme of coexisting with humanity and the struggles the X Men faced to integrate with the world at large was abandoned in favor of self segregation on Krakoa I gave up on their comics. This defining theme is not only what the X Men were built on but was the biggest, defining theme that has kept them relevant for half a century when the Inhumans failed to do the same. While finding community is important, especially for all marginalized people, self segregation just isn't feasible because every marginalized group is so large and diverse that they'll eventually divide into subcategories and fall into conflict after conflict until there is no group at all. Just look at how often mutant kind fights each other and that even with Krakoa there's still a Brotherhood. Then look back into your life and your community of choice to see if this same kind of division and subcategorization is happening there. The X Men and every real life rights activist group they've ever paralleled showed that when we as people are struggling to protect ourselves we take a stand, we reach out to the world around us and reaffirm our right to exist. Sure, there are people that will never understand, people that fall into supremacy groups or people that maliciously co-opt these causes for the benefit of themselves. But you know what we do with them? We leave them behind and face tomorrow together, no matter how long it takes to shake off the bad actors. Self segregation might protect you in the short term, but you won't always be able to protect the people you care about. The bad actors, the people in power that instate policies to strip away our human rights count on us to lay down and die or in fight until we give up all of our own. And when you or I are alone, when there is no community, the bad actors will know that their war has been won. The X Men themselves, all of their recent writers and the world at large has seemingly forgotten that. But we shouldn't. Facing the world and reaffirming our right to exist is the only way forward.

And with that serious discussion of why I hate the current state of Krakoa as a concept out of the way, I'm just gonna discuss everything I know about the X Men comics currently and what I dislike about them.

Fair Warning there will be discussions of crimes ahead, including discussions of sexual assault, enslavement, eugenics and murder, lots of murder

. I hate the recent trend marvel has had of babyfying a lot of mutant villains but it is especially egregious with villains like Apocalypse, Sabretooth and Omega Red. Apocalypse's farce of a redemption arc is so bad it deserves its own bullet point later on but Sabretooth and Omega Red aren't getting away so soon. Even if Sabretooth is literally one of the only mutants being punished for the plethora of crimes he's committed he is still a serial killer/mass murderer/terrorist/rapist and in spite of the efforts he has made to change he still doesn't take responsibility for his past when he is judged by the council on Krakoa. The sheer amount of destruction he has caused is just something that cannot be undone and if Sabretooth has made as much progress as certain writers want us to believe he should face imprisonment or execution with acceptance. And if writers want us to believe that Sabretooth is as irredeemable and cutthroat as always why is he being promised any sort of amnesty by people who know that he will do even more reprehensible things? Then we have Omega Red who's somehow more of a muddled mixed bag than Sabretooth is. His edgy death powers, his presentation as a character in general and his mix of good and bad deeds seem to set him up as a prime example of an anti villain/anti hero character. But then you have the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Volume 1, Issue 8 that mentions how Omega Red was killing and assaulting children which is a huge crime that needs to be addressed and retconned if writers want to redeem him. And if writers don't want to redeem him, especially if he is a confirmed child murderer/predator then why are the X Men so cooperative with him? Why are the members of the quiet council willing to prosecute Sabretooth (even if his punishment is lacking) but not prosecute villains like Omega Red or Mister Sinister for the severe past crimes they have committed and still need to be held accountable for? Because they agreed to follow three laws??? That's not enough of a reason to give these people a pass, hell it's not enough of a reason to give people like Professor X or Cyclops a pass for their worst crimes that they still refuse to take accountability for. Also before anyone brings up the point of rehabilitative justice vs punitive justice I'm just gonna say that rehabilitative justice is for people that have committed minor crimes like drug crimes and theft or for people that have committed murder under extenuating circumstances like self defense, the defense of others, revenge for extreme injustices against someone's loved ones/an innocent party and murders committed under duress. Not for people committing war crimes, organized crime, sex crimes or murder for the fun of it. Sabretooth and Omega Red definitely fall into the latter category.

. Everything from Apocalypse's farce of a redemption to his farce of a wife in these recent runs are poorly written disservices for Apocalypse's character as well as a disservice to the characters around him. Apocalypse has been made to be irredeemable from the jump because he is a mutant supremacist that constantly commits mass murder and enslaves others to commit mass murder at his side. Angel's most iconic storyline as a character is about how Apocalypse emotionally manipulates him after the loss of his wings and kidnaps him for the expressed purpose of brainwashing him into the horsemen of death. And this is brainwashing that Angel has been battling on and off with for years. Hell his entire goal as shown through every iteration of the Age of Apocalypse storyline is to create a mutant supremacist ethnostate where he puts mutants in breeding camps and forcibly conscripts them into his armies to kill or subjugate any dissidents he finds. And now that Genesis is around we're supposed to believe that this goal of creating this mutant supremacist ethnostate where his own people are systematically enslaved, abused, bred and killed off is for the greater good??? HELL NO. Apocalypse's goal in and of itself is too harmful for the world at large to ever feasibly be implemented and hand waving that fact off by having Genesis instruct Apocalypse to "make mutants stronger to fight Annihilation," isn't gonna cut it. Genesis herself ain't gonna cut it because she is an arrogant, self righteous war monger who beat her own children to "make them stronger" and dragged half of her people, including her own children, into thousands of years worth of warfare against an alternate dimension of demons because she couldn't handle losing. But the worst part of this all is that the writers don't have the balls to make Genesis look bad. They hand wave her actions away and play up how much Annihilation is influencing her actions in the present, then give her a slap on the wrist by having her exiled somewhere. Hell even Storm, who should know that someone like Genesis is full of shit, voted not to exile her after taking over Arrako and got outvoted. The writers could've saved her character by being honest with the fact that she's a bad person and actually exploring that by discussing if surviving Annihilation's invasion at all costs is worth the price of everyone's humanity and quality of life. That way, when it's revealed that Genesis plunged her own people into war when there was an out it could actually fucking mean something. Looking back on Apocalypse and thinking of his lost loves I am reminded of Autumn Rolfson, another very good reason Apocalypse never deserved a fucking redemption arc. He met her and hired her to become his horseman of famine as a teenager. And then he has a kid with her. At best this is a blatant abuse of power on Apocalypse's part, at worst it's grooming. You could even make an argument that Apocalypse is also guilty of rape by proxy because Angel had sex with Ichisumi, a horseman of pestilence, while he was brainwashed and Apocalypse is responsible for taking away Angel's ability to consent because he brainwashed him.

. Also there is no way in hell I am supposed to sit here and believe that Genesis didn't take Apocalypse with her to Amenth because he wasn't strong enough. That motherfucker is one of the most blatantly overpowered and competent characters in Marvel and all she can do is control plants. While I'd usually admire someone's creativity with their powers there is no way in hell that Genesis is more powerful or capable than he is when she is dumber than a sack of bricks and only controls plants. Hell she's so underpowered in comparison that all of their kids are underpowered. How the fuck was she even able to do that???

. Also also Genesis is beautiful but her main outfit is very unflattering on her, her shoulder pauldrons are extremely bulky and gaudy looking which makes the rest of her outfit look unnecessarily clunky. But even if you removed the shoulder pauldrons her outfit isn't well constructed because the shirt has weird embellishments that don't add anything and her skirt can range from normal to unnecessarily bulky depending on whoever's drawing her. If anything Genesis should've stayed in her Annihilation outfit because at least it actually flattered her and seems to pay more homage to her Egyptian heritage than her main outfit does.

. On another note I feel like the original Horsemen of Apocalypse need to be reworked. None of them make me angry like their parents but I feel like their power sets are lacking, especially in comparison to the other horsemen, and it feels like a wasted opportunity that the writers mainly focused on Genesis instead of them. It also feels like a massive waste of potential for the original Horsemen of Apocalypse to go with their mom to Amenth. I feel like it would've been more interesting to see the original horsemen focus on the goal of making earth stronger, setting a real example for all horsemen to come, and really explore their relationship with Apocalypse, especially since Death seems like a relatively good aligned character all things considered. Them being gone until now could've been explained by having the original horsemen being put into stasis after a devastating defeat and Apocalypse secretly protecting them this whole time because he loves them so much. Plus the emotional reunion of Apocalypse finally seeing his children awaken from stasis and truly being ok after thousands of years would be so much better than what we got.

. Isca the Unbeaten, Bei the Blood Moon, White Sword and Gorgon have all just been wasted in this run because their characters are interesting but are being used in service of Apocalypse's shitty new lore made to help "redeem him". Isca especially shines above the rest because her power of literally being unbeatable is extremely well crafted. Not only has it been explained in a way where she still has tangible, realistic weaknesses but it also shapes her personality and leads to interesting developments where her flaws are acknowledged. I just wish she stayed red. She is perfect and needs to stay when better writers start retconning this entire run. Bei the Blood Moon is also quite nice, she's well designed, has a good personality and her efforts to make her marriage with Cypher is quite sweet. I just hate that they killed Cypher and just turned him into Apocalypse's successor with making mutant kind better but that's not a her problem. White Sword has a really cool power where he just summons an army of champions he's killed with said sword and his temporary dissent into madness where he was trying to defend this one stronghold for ages is quite intriguing, he just needs more content. And our boy Tomi Shishido aka Gorgon has always been an interesting villain, one I always thought was most interesting as a member of the HYDRA Council, but he falls into the redemption arc trap every other mutant in fucking existence fell into. The reason he gets a pass is because compared to the likes of Sabretooth, Omega Red and Apocalypse his redemption isn't as egregious and I respect him for not becoming one White Sword's champions even when White Sword proceeded to kill him. Hopefully when he eventually comes back he'll just go back to working for HYDRA and getting into drama there.

. These recent X Men comics have been very bad at exploring their own allegories relating to mutants as marginalized people. Not only have they had the X Men and mutant kind as a whole self segregate on Krakoa they have also redeemed every goddamn mutant in existence because marginalized mutant = good. This kind of behavior is how we get people being shielded from the consequences of their racism, sexism, anti LGBT sentiments or other forms of bigotry because they're part of a different marginalized group. This behavior is how we get predators, abusers and animal abusers co-opting LGBT spaces for their own benefits. And this sentiment of all mutants being good hasn't even been working in their own comics, sure poor baby Apocalypse has been going through his "redemption arc" but Mister Sinister is actively fucking over other people and using his position on Krakoa as cover for his research even though he knows it's wrong. The X Men, especially the Quiet Council, come off as immoral cowards because they've bent over backwards to shield war criminals, mass murderers and creeps just because they're mutants that are capable of following three basic ass rules (or capable of lying about following those rules like Mister Sinister). But the worst part is that there are enough writers saying that it's moral to shield and babify terrible people just because those terrible people happen to be marginalized. It's the coward's way of writing diversity and I'm tired of seeing this babyification everywhere I look. They also take their own allegory too literally by reincorporating Orchis as the human supremacist opposition to the X Men and fully diving into this conflict, hoping to reflect real life struggles people face against bigotry. But all of these mutants have superpowers and Orchis, a human organization where some people randomly gained powers at some point, are trying to make sure that humanity isn't overtaken by mutants population wise because they're worried about the consequences it'll have on humanity. And yes, I know it's supposed to reflect the fear white Americans have of any minority group out populating them but that fear doesn't make any sense and Orchis' fear does to an extent. X Men stories like these fail all the time because bigotry against super powered mutants can be rationalized to an extent while real life prejudices can't. X Men stories revolving around anti mutant sentiments are at their best when they focus on the mutant characters feelings and the social ramifications this bigotry has on their lives. Nightcrawler running away from his home because people fear him for nothing more than his appearance is impactful. Angel's anguish at having his wings amputated by his own father because his father couldn't stand the sight of them is impactful. This story where a bunch of extraordinarily powerful people bicker and fistfight over who should inherit the earth in 20 years time isn't. Plus characters like Abigail Brand, MODOK and Fenris (Andreas and Andrea von Strucker) have more interesting things to do with their time, why are they here?

. These X Men comics are also structurally horrible. The writers not only eliminated most of their compelling villains by going out of their way to redeem every mutant they could but the pacing is so fast that even I can't keep up with what's happening anymore. The breakneck pace is a trap all marvel comics have fallen into recently in the quest to make the next big event™ but now these writers have to scramble and find things for the X Men to do because they intentionally handicapped themselves by eliminating so many goddamn villains. There's no longevity that gives the readers time to breathe and there are no real stakes to keep readers invested because conflicts are solved so quickly in favor of creating the next big conflict. Pair all of this with how Krakoa functions and the fact that basically any mutant character can be resurrected any time a writer wants them back, nothing matters to the audience reading these comics because every single problem can be solved with ease.

. I also hate how Broo became the Brood King. I love my boy Broo but him becoming Brood King was a contrived solution to the Brood conflict and it detracts from his character since being king of the brood keeps him from exploring his own scientific interests and completing his own goals. I want my boy to cure cancer, not take the Brood out of the equation when we are desperately in need of a sustainable, reliable source of conflict. If the writers wanted to explore Broo's relationship with the Brood more he should've had an adventure where he finds kinship with more Brood mutants and has to decide if he should bring them to earth or not.

. Also while we're talking about space I hate how the X Men just terraformed Mars for Arrako. It feels tacky to mess with Mars and like a waste of potential to do something cool with Mars if someone did want to mess with it.

Tl;dr: These recent runs of X Men comics ruin almost everything good about the X Men and I hope the reception to MCU X Men movies that follow the formula that works for them forcibly retcons the X Men comics back to their roots

[please-attend-carefully]

Chiming in to say that I find it deeply weird to have a Kaled named Elrond! Granted, I'm a massive Lord of the Rings nerd, but I reckon there's probably a fair amount of overlap between Big Finish listeners and LotR fans. Very strange choice, to my mind.

Huh, okay then! There are probably a lot of staff in Big Finish team who are LotR fans, so perhaps they just wanted to sneak it in. Ciarán feels validated that it's not just him who thought it was odd. Chiming in is always encouraged, thank you!

[kkbardd]

An old western romance 🌵

Cool beauty bartender!Rei x Lone Ranger!Asuka

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Why is it that fandoms that are based around inclusive or wholesome content turn out to be toxic AF? I’ve seen this with so many children’s fandoms like SU, TOH, Jedi apologist etc where people become extremely hateful for disagreeing. Meanwhile, the least toxic fandom I’ve been in is the Shinji/Rei fandom on discord and Reddit despite the pairing’s controversial nature. Possibly because the people there are mature adults who understand nuance. This is not to give a free pass to dudebros who watch Family Guy and South Park but why is it always the “progressive” fandoms that are the most toxic and puritanical?

[sjbattleangel]

Me whenever hacks like Lily Orchard go after Steven Universe, She-Ra, The Owl House, The Legend Of Korra, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Moon Girl, Star Wars, Dungeon Meshi, ect.

(P.S: I am a massive fan of the media mentioned above) (P.S: Yes. I will fight to the end defending Steven Universe, She-Ra, The Owl House, Utena, Evangelion, Sailor Moon and The Last Jedi.)

[rapemydeadbody]

.・✙。Rei.'*✭・

[unusualstimboards]

evangelion condoms stimboard!

[adamworu]

I know how we’re familiar with the kit and kaboodle of Kaworu misconceptions, but there’s another one that flies around every so often we should address too. Kaworu’s attraction by critics under a certain lens is sometimes argued as him being attracted to ‘broken people’ which in and of itself holds other troubling implications. It vilifies the neurodivergent. It damns the people with deep mental scars and emotional baggage, because we often hold the fear that there’s no way we can be loved. Should be loved. That we’re too high maintenance. That our trauma doesn’t exist on anyone’s timetable and that we aren’t people but walking burdens. 

Evangelion’s audience is suffused with people during critical periods. People processing grief. People still in abusive environments. What idea are you trying to convey when you argue that if you’re deeply traumatized that people who love you aren’t truly able to? That in a world where abuse does happen and people often get away with proverbial murder, that no one exists for you out there? Even though this is the very same material that tells you that anywhere can be paradise?  That even the little things can change someone’s world completely? That empathy is integral?  That love is a powerful thing held by anyone?  

Did we not watch the same show?

[toxicsludgeyaoi]

Toxic Sludge Yaoi Tournament: Goncharov/Andrey (Goncharov) Vs Kawoshin (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

(No image provided for Goncharov/Andrey. Vote for whichever ship you like more.)

Propaganda under cut. Note: spoilers for these medias may be below.

Goncharov/Andrey propaganda

"It's like the original toxic yaoi sludge??????? They're obsessed with eachother but they're literally enemies. It's perfect."

Kawoshin propaganda

"One of the most iconic toxic yaois. They can't both live. Either Kaworu kills Shinji and the rest of humanity, or Shinji kills Kaworu and saves the rest of humanity. Shinji is so thoroughly affected by the loss of Kaworu. He regrets it, he wants to go back and let Kaworu kill him. It's the last straw for Shinji in all honesty."

[frauliaowo]

I’m gonna cry if my teacher doesn’t give me a 90 on my present

[vertigoartgore]

Darkseid and his sons Orion & Kalibak by artist Walt Simonson. Done in 1982, when he drew the Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans story and way before his excellent Orion series (from the early 2000's).

[sysboxes]

[ Text; This System's comfort media is Neon Genesis Evangelion]

[marcysdreamydays11]

RANT - I hate those stupid anti aging tiktoks like bitch you know damn well them chemicals and products and shit will just make you worse. Like what do you mean you have to reduce the use of your facial muscles to look younger?? LIKE ITS OKAY TO BE 41 AND LOOK 41. especially these little girls who do this skincare I honestly feel like its the parents making them do that giving them these 38 step skincare routines.

I also hate the shit with acne. having acne doesn't make you less attractive everyone goes through it. It's okay to have acne its okay to pick at your face..well not for your skin but everyone does it like no you do not need to put on 50 something products to get clear skin sometimes these products just make it worse.

Also a tip.. do NOT buy any skin products or things that are made by YOUTUBERS OR TIKTOKERS OR ANY INFLUENCERS LMAO like you know that shit is gonna give you like 73 different bacterial illnesses. Y'all know what happened with pink sauce,Mr beast lunchables(Im not calling them lunchlys they are legit lunchables with Mr beast branding THATS ALL) and prime and shit

SHINJI JUMPSCARE

[asurei-nisshoku]

no need to "fix" rei: aplatonic and loveless interpretation of her character

I have been reading about aplatonism and lovelessness and I think it's cute to interpret rei not only as aromantic, which I have seen more often, but also as aplatonic and loveless. in her specific case, I think she cares and appreciates others and it's plato neutral about how others view or treat her. she just doesn't feel platonic attraction nor love.

like yeah she doesn't feel platonic attraction but she doesn't mind if people is nice to her and want to talk a little bit, like shinji. she also doesn't mind helping someone, as when she tried to advice asuka about connecting with the eva in the elevator scene. in the original series, she doesn't express the desire to have friendships nor to feel love. I mean, she doesn't say "I love you" to anyone and I think that's awesome. and, most importantly, she doesn't express desire to change this and accept it just as a part of her. and none of this things I mentioned are mutually exclusive. she can look after others and have feeling but she doesn't need to nor is she required to call that "love" or "friendship". she is nice just because she is. she is empathetic because that's her way to understand the world. she comprehends others and human relationships in general because she has a lot of emotional intelligence. she cares about others because it's just kind of her thing. she can feel lonely (as she says in her conversation with armisael) and connect with others in alterous ways, through her own ways, to feel more accompanied. she can feel a connection with humanity as a whole (as bounds) and don't call it "love".

I think in the fandom we interpret rei's unwillingness to form typical/expected relationships with others and her not showing emotions as a trauma response, as her childhood was pretty isolating and abusive. and that can be truth and it's still fine that she is interpreted as loveless and aplatonic. everyone is the way they are because of their live experiences anyways. and if rei's well being, as she definitizes it, doesn't relay in love or platonic relationships, that's fully okay. that doesn't mean no one has to care about her or that people should leave her alone because she doesn't want to be alone. but others shouldn't pressure her to form friendships or feel love if she doesn't want to. she doesn't own it to anyone.

I think interpretations of evangelion imply that's the way for her to being "more human" (as if she already wasn't, even taking lilith's soul into account) or to be actually happy are ableist, sanist, amatonormative and platonormative, even if that isn't the intention. because they hold the belief that there's a "right way" to be human or to feel and that other ways are incorrect or ill. at the end of the day, that's oppressive because it leads to force people to change, adapt, conform and surrender their autonomy.

yeah, I know anno has said that he wanted to create a character that has traits taken from the definition of schizoid personality disorders. but personality disorders are just the psychiatrist way to pathologize certain ways of being, feel and responses to life and trauma. yeah maybe rei is like she is because she was abused all her life, but if the way she is now doesn't cause her trouble and it protects her, then why try to "heal" her as if something is wrong with her? because she makes others uncomfortable and it's "not normal"? if it works with her, then it's fine. her arc is literally about how she doesn't exist to please others. she is not a doll that others are allowed to control. she has the right to take her own decisions guided by her own values and priorities. she feels and thinks on her own. and she has the right to label or not label her own feelings as she wants to, even if others don't like it. after all, she is her own person.

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Neon Genesis Evangelion is something everyone needs to watch after the election.

[proshippers-against-censorship]

Ah.

I now see why antis hate nge so much now.

I, however, am quite enjoying this.