#my girl takes on how many omega level mutants???????

[x-mensirens]

[monpalace]

When the telekinetic-telepathic has a mental bond with her soulmate. Teasing from ensues.

So, you're an omega-level mutant, right? You're telepathic-telekinetic? I know we've talked about it before, but it's always interesting to hear things about you, Jean.

There's a laugh from the other side of the link and Ms. Marvel Girl closes her mind off to the bustling students around her. It's a lot easier to deal with when it's only you, she responds. She was working on something for Professor Xavier— his mutant psychology and physiology class from what you could interpret. It's just.. so many things at once. I've recently learned how to shut it all up, but it still takes a lot of effort on my part, y'know?

I can figure, you respond with a fluttery feeling of your own. The softness of her voice and exhausted sincerity in her words made something in you fill with sympathy and pity. It sucks we aren't anywhere near each other. Do you think it'd be any better if we were?

Some part of Jean flusters at your thoughts. The mutant part her tries to recede into the further corners of her mind, but the soulmate part is unable to do the same. While a conversation is with you could never dull to be boring (she found you the most interesting in the world), she could still feel it start to become awkward from her side.

She'd think herself better equipped than this. She'd never probe someone's mind to know their innermost feelings, only figure out what next they wanted to talk about; but she doesn't want to do that to you.

Instead, she goes for (probably) the worst option on the list.

I can feel you're a mutant too. You can— What? What's wrong? What'd I do?

No, no! You didn't do anything. I just forget that you can do that— I didn't expect you to..

I really, truly am sorry! I just— I assumed and I shouldn't have and I— Jean stops herself when she feels you start to calm. The thought of helping your process by sending the feeling of lying down in a soft bed, the sensation of an animal putting their full weight on your lap, the sun beating against your skin while sunbathing on the beach— she quickly stops when she realizes you could hear her thoughts as though she were yelling them at the top of her lungs.

You encourage the train of thought, much to the befuddlement of Jean, and offer some of your own. You can keep going, if you want. I don't mind. You tease, trying to get her mind off of what happened seconds prior. Bringing them back to both of your attentions. Is that how you see me? It's so..

Accurate? Jean finished for you, bashfulness emanating from her. I don't think you'd want to know how..

I have a stalker?

Soulmate, she corrects, but.. yes.

Is it because you looked around with cerebro? You pry, a sly feeling washing over you. Jean was more than in-tuned with your mind, feeling you already knew the answer. Or did you look me up online? I don't recall a connection giving you any clues for your soulmate's looks.

Jean went quiet, lips pressed thin before she jumps out of her thoughts (and you). A rough knock on her door causes whatever subconscious mental gymnastics her mutation was working through, all the items in her dorm drop to the floor, thumps coming from the room beneath her's at all the noise.

Hold on, she grunts as she stands, feeling bruises form all over her body. Scott's here.

You're hurt?

I wasn't entirely mentally present.

Ouch. You reply with an airy noise of amusement. What does he want?

There was no feeling of jealousy in you or your words. Both of you were comfortable with where you stood in your situation-ship.

Another mission, Jean sighs. Putting on a knowing smile, she opens the door and offers a soft greeting to Scott. I have to go and get ready. Think about you later?

There's a hum of confirmation from you, Jean able to sense the adoration and worry as though they were trying to pull her under. Remember to check in every-so often?

Of course.

Then I'll think to you later.

[yuexuan]

Fiction recommendations 18

I have been getting lazy with fic recs for awhile, but I am (hopefully?) slowly making a come back with this blog. Also, because I have this in my draft since forever...so I might as well post it xDD

This time, let’s do a 19 Days fic rec, featuring mainly Tianshan or Hehong or Hedinghong (lol why are there so many pairing names for this two). Note that when I did this recommendation, it was before Lofter started mass-cleaning, so some of the links may not work.

As per usual, fic recs are based on my personal liking and arranged in no particular order. (Note: most of them are ABO AU, what can I say, the Chinese fandom loves portraying them in this trope).

1. 饲狼 by  泊小雨

One day, Mo Guanshan picked up an injured kid, whom he cared for like a younger brother. Little did he know that the kid was the son to one of the cruelest mafias out there.

He Tian escaped from his father in search of the truth behind his mother’s death. But his goal took a tangent when he met Mo Guanshan. Slowly, but surely, he began to care for the red-haired omega and he was willing to do anything to protect Mo Guanshan, even going as far as losing his own memories.

Warning: ABO-universe, R-18. 

2. 失控 by  臣醉卧美人席

An omega going into heat near him almost caused Mo Guanshan to blow his cover. In a military school dominated by alphas, Mo Guanshan makes every effort to disguise his true identity. And He Tian is there to help.

Warning: ABO-universe, R-18. 

3. 唯独 by  吉尔邦颖：）

A slap at the bar followed by a car accident - somehow He Tian and Mo Guanshan’s initial meeting was anything but peaceful. The latter was forced to become a car driver for He Tian as a compensation for the accident. But what if all of these were just part of a plot for He Tian to woo Mo Guanshan?

Warning: ABO-universe, R-18.

4. Gift & Curse by  搓丸子的老卷毛_一匹咕狼

The world was split into three groups: high-level mutants, evolving mutants, and the common folks. Given their powers, the high-level mutants commanded the society. One day, He Tian discovered Mo Guanshan’s unique power, the latter of whom was recruited by He Tian’s father to become a shield for his son.

5. Bull’s Eye-正中红心 by  搓丸子的老卷毛_一匹咕狼

The transfer student Mo Guanshan became popular for his unusual hair color, basketball skills, grades, and most importantly, his omega identity. You see, an omega capable of beating the crap out of alphas and holding back his heat was one-of-a-kind. 

Warning: ABO-universe

6. 契约男友 by  泊小雨

During the new year, Mo Guanshan decided that he wanted to try out a new business venture: boyfriend-for-rent. After all, they seemed to earn a lot. 

But the market is tougher than meets the eye. Just when he was about to give up, He Tian came along with a business offer.

One-shot. Second part: 心想事成

If you are interested in this type of setting, you can also try out:  租聘男友 by  东北大板板

7. 如约而舞 by  泊小雨

Mo Guanshan liked to watch the girl living across his house dance. Many years later, he also became a dancer and teacher. 

One day, his business (a.k.a. students) was ‘robbed’ by another dancing teacher. Now why did this dancer look so familiar?

8. 妥协 by  泊小雨

In the world of Sentinels and Guides, one rule was prioritized above all: the survival of the fittest. Mo Guanshan found an escapee Sentinel from the Tower. Said Sentinel forcefully barged into his life and uncovered Mo’s real identity. A Sentinel-Guide AU.

9. 成为你的兔女郎 by  孤独的老狗

Mo Guanshan agreed to help out for a day at She Li’s nightclub. Yet he wasn’t informed that the theme for that night was ‘rabbit girl’. 

Warning: ABO-universe, R15.

10.  倒霉爱神 by   搓丸子的老卷毛_一匹咕狼

A kiss for you, a kiss for me, and our lucks trade. 

He Tian was a CEO with unimaginable bad luck, it was a wonder how he survived till this age; Mo Guanshan was the lucky mascot of the police force, there is no such thing as an unsolved case when he was involved. 

One day, Mo Guanshan saved He Tian and they accidentally kissed. Then their luck exchanged from thereon. One-shot fluff.

12.  娱乐圈大奇葩 by  头顶小驴驴的阿瞬

The 19 days Boy Band welcomes a new edition, a member whose foul mouth and equally foul temper runs him into bad press. Some consider him a rotten apple in the band, others love his straightforwardness. But little did they know, the new member and one of the original members had been lovers for a decade. One-shot idol AU

13.  Galaxy by  那些。

He Tian visited a museum showcasing the sleeping body of last century’s famous omega - Mo Guanshan - the omega was the only one thus far capable of using a mecha. It was love at first sight, and He Tian spends the next 20 years conversing to his ‘sleeping beauty’. 

Warning: ABO-universe, R18, futuristic AU

14. 颠倒的性别 by  今天XX宠我了吗

An arranged marriage brought the two together. Mo Guanshan had never seen an omega as tough as He Tian, and He Tian had never encountered an alpha as domestic as Guanshan. But what if gender differences were just a hoax propagated by the government? 

Warning: ABO-universe., R18

15. 莫关山才不会哭 by  点尽苍苔

School bully that he is, Mo Guanshan surprisingly cries a lot. And the last person that needs to know about this is He Tian, who immediately takes advantage of his little discovery. One-shot fluff.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Justicar Verse au (part 3)

N/A: As I mentioned before. I want to make this in 5 parts IF possible. I want to move the plot further and see if I can do this in 5 pieces. I want to show more of this world and its character.

@dannybagpipesarecalling @djinmer4 @bamfoftheundead @everykurt @muninandhugin

Brian wears the Justicar uniform and is not a demotion on his part as the Justicar uniform and Captain Britain are almost similar to the point of being a meme-maybe, it is a meme. Brian recalls how Steve Rogers not so subtle mentions this little and even suggests changes to Brian´s uniforms and is politely rejected as Brian points out ''Captain Britain exists way before Captain US" and even points out how Captain Brazil doesn´t seem to even want to wear a uniform and is doing better than the rest- and right now, all Brian can do is put his poker face and march on this area.

"Halt, who are you?" the voice of a fellow Justicar only makes Brian clench his fist hard enough to the point is getting white now. The man comes closer and asks for identification. Brian hands the ID and the man reads the paper and snaps his eyes to Brian´s face. "Something is not right here...I´ll ask you to leave"

Brian sighs and only nods saying. "And I´ll have to ask sorry for this" and he punches the Justicar knocking him out- thankfully of his medical background is easy to testify the man is not in real harm and this makes Brian sigh in relief- and Brian continues to walk around the area. "I´m sorry" he speaks one last time to the man. "But my sister is hiding something and I´m Captain Britain and I´m here to protect everyone...not a few" and with this, the man looks to the orange place.

And only closes his eyes as he witnesses the discrepancy in her sister´s story. Brian took a photo from his pocket and read the description. "a nice place for all the magical creatures to stay while Justicars protect them" and Brian looks to the cruel reality. "Oh my God..."

"Yeah...Oh My God" a feminine voice speaks and Brian only had time to see a blonde woman lifting her arms and shooting an energy attack knocking Brian out. "I can´t believe it works...Brian, you´re a fool" Meggan Puceanu states and takes his body without breaking a sweat. As she flies away from the now devastated camp- not wanting to remember bad memories of this place nor want to give leads of her whereabouts, Meggan cast the spell but with one problem- and Meggan has to bite her lips for a moment.

"Damn...how Wanda uses that spell?" and finally it comes to her mind. "Oh right. Do not reveal the truth...let them still think the prisoners are still on death row" and now that the prison looks full again with prisoners waiting for death. Meggan can leave.

The Justicar that was knocked down wakes up and snaps his eyes open and using his telekinesis summon the telephone to his hand. "This is Justicar 444. We have a problem...Captain Brittain was here" and the person on the other side give an order. "no, all the prisoners are still on the place...understood. Time to kill them...and Captain Britain? I see...Understood, All glory for Justicar and our leader"

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Justicar Bull is not strange to mix work with pleasure- there´s a rumor she tried to slept with Captain Britain and no one ever denies this claim- but, even so, Justicar Bull knows the difference in an innocent flirt and whatever Kurt Cadbury does when Kitty Pryde is around. Again, what one does in their private life is entirely on them and Justicar Bull knows people love a man or woman in uniform, but, again...it has limits that no one should cross.

Justicar Bull crosses her arms and even though she´s using her helmet is possible to feel her cold stare. Kurt Cadbury finishes his task- talking with the survivors and getting leads about U Go Girl and what will happen to the cure- and now walks bravely to his boss. "Justicar Bull"

"Cadbury...we got another video of you doing sexual role play with that cute woman" Justicar Bull didn´t let him speak "Look, I get it. She´s cute and who can say no to a man in uniform...but this is getting ridiculous. You can´t go around accusing anyone to be Shadowcat" and now her tone is tired. "I know you want to catch her ...but you´re not helping the cause by being so obvious"

Kurt Cadbury. "I´m not ...wait, people think me and Kitty are a thing?" and Justicar Bull shows her phone showing how social media show the famous bachelor is head over feels for the normal human, Kitty Pryde.

"Wait...am I a meme?!"

"Yes"

Human? You´re that good...or am I that bad?

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Prof Charles Xavier can walk- there´s an old rumor going around that Magneto did cripple him and how convenient this rumor did spread when Magneto tried to join the politic life of Justicar- and offers his smile that shines as much his bald hair. Magneto is present as well and can play the game as his mouth twists into a smile mimicking Prof X nicely.

"It seems we´re here again, my old friend" Magneto´s tone is sharp but not impolite. "Still believe in your vision of humans and mutants co-existing?" Magneto asked in his dubious tone.

Prof X drops the smile. "Yes, and you´re still holding on old wounds, my old friend?" Xavier asked in a forlon tone full of pity and sadness for Magneto.

Elisabeth Braddock enters in the room-asking permission as any proper British lady should- and has great news for them. "New Mutants were located in the asteroid M and we have proof those mutants are Omega level or better saying" Betsy looks impressed for a moment as she took her time to speak. "above omega level"

And she bows her head in respect as the two men nod at her information and let her leave as now the two powerful mutants on this planet have to talk what´s the best course to follow here. In the end, it was agreed they must leave as soon as it is possible and no one needs to know about mutants above omega level.

No one notices Betsy Braddock smiling as she gives messages to her Justicar. "You know what to do next"

And Wanda Maximoff was drinking her tea when the TV announces the explosion of the ship where Magneto and Prof X were. Scarlet Witch has no feelings for her abusive father, while, Wanda is not entirely happy with his death.  "If he´s truly dead...who will be the next ruler?" and Quicksilver enters in her house for once is too late to give a piece of information to his twin.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Kitty Pryde watches the news with a serious look on her face. Yana is on her side-still looking adorable and evil at the same time and Kitty wonders how powerful and scary an adult Yana would be- analyzing the situation. "The real boss is moving fast...no more Magneto or Prof X...means this person has total control over everything...meaning...every mutant or human must play her game or else..." Yana has a macabre tone and is fitting for such a revelation. No pretense of being a cutesy girl now.

"And this only means one thing..." Kitty trails off as her mind is already thinking in many scenarios and possibilities. Yet,  she didn't conclude her sentence as someone else does.

"We know who is behind this..." Gloriana says to the tied up Brian Braddock who is without his powers thanks to Meggan have taken his medallion. The man´s face scream resignation as he completes for Meggan.

"My sister, Elisabeth Braddock is behind this..."

"Yes...we know this for years now...and now, you finally know too"

[racefortheironthrone]

Thoughts on House of X #4

Over the halfway mark!

Look At What They’ve Done Infographic:

Suprisingly for an issue that, in retrospect is the climax of the standard superheroics part of House of X, this issue starts with an infographic, which turns out to be one of the more controversial in HoX/PoX.

Foreshadowing what’s going to come at the end of the issue, the tone is already different from the pseudo-academic objectivity of earlier infographics, although the term “mutant erasure” evokes the activist-inspired, post-cultural turn work of critical race/gender/sexuality studies, which is something of a stepping-stone. 

By contrast, describing Wanda Maximoff as both “the pretender” (does this mean “not-really-a-mutant” or “not-really-Magneto’s-daughter” or both?) and as associated with the Avengers is incredibly politically pointed, which speak to a particular kind of mutant nationalist identity that bears a good deal of grievance towards even benevolent human institutions.

Similarly, the term “human-on-mutant violence” is way too evocative of real world debates over racism and police violence to be accidental on the author’s point. It’s a depressing thought, but the 616 probably sees a lot of “what about mutant-on-mutant violence?” derailings, maybe as many as creep up in threads about HoX/Pox here...

So let’s get at the controversy: can Bolivar Trask be blamed for the Genoshan genocide? Contrary to a few voices in the fandom, I would argue strongly for the affirmative. As we see from his initial appearance, Trask created the Sentinels entirely out of racial paranoia/hatred; moreover, Sentinels have no purpose other than A. destroying all mutants and B. subjugating the human race along the way. Cassandra Nova’s actions on Genosha absolutely followed the Trask playbook of both father and son, and indeed relied on Larry Trask’s assistance to carry it out, making it a Trask affair from beginning to end. 

On a final meta note, this infographic really speaks to the outsized impact that Morrison’s New X-Men and Bendis’ House of M had on the X-line for the last 15-20 years. 

Observation-Analysis-Invocation-Connection:

But before we get to the punching, we get one burst of Hickman’s fascination with singularities and transhumanism, where for the first time we really get an example of how the Krakoan biological approach is going to work, showing us a surprisingly complicated biomachine:

Trinity (who runs the Secondary/External Systems part of Krakoa) uses her technopathy to gather intelligence from human mechanical systems: the Aracibo Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, “re-tasked SETI radio telescopes," both of which are real things, and the “Dyson solar observatory,” which isn’t. 

Beast (who runs the Overwatch/Data Analysis part of Krakoa) uses Krakoan biocomputers and his own scientific genius to “extrapolate that data into an actionable forecast,” to deal with the delay caused by the immense distances between Krakoa and Sol’s Forge.

Professor X and Cerebro handle the direct Connection between Krakoa and the away team, while the Cuckoos link Trinity, Beast, Storm into a psychic link with Xavier, which means all of the parts of the system work seamlessly even as Storm handles the Invocation of visually representing Jean Grey’s thoughts.

If you step back and think about it, this is an astonishing technological feat: with minimal reliance on machine technology, Krakoa has established a NASA “KASA Mission Control” that can send data across half a solar system almost(?) instantly. 

That’s before we even get to the whole secondary purpose of the system, which is to allow Professor X and the Five to resurrect an up-to-date version of anyone who dies on the mission, which is one hell of a life-rope. 

Thematically, we see a really sharp distinction between biological and mechanical transhumanism/singularity: “KASA Mission Control” is described in biological terms, “function[ing] as a singular organism,” and also in religious terms, with “eight of us acting as one” explicitly labelled as “Communion.” And yet...the eight people involved retain their separate personalities and identities and no separate, artificial intelligence is created. 

Should We Fear the Worst?

 And across five hundred million miles, all Krakoa gets is bad news. Archangel and Husk, the redshirt’s redshirts on this mission, are dead before they do anything; Nightcrawler has some level of “internal injury,” and Wolverine almost had his arm blown off.

Incidentally, page 7 is where something of a problem crops up with Jean Grey’s characterization. As people have noted, Jean Grey starts off in the passive communications role (indeed, she’s even reliant on Monet to do that job) and doesn’t really improve from there. With the added context of her wearing her Silver Age miniskirt costume, it’s all a bit sus, especially if you’ve been reading a much more self-possessed, confident, and all-around more powerful version of Jean Grey in X-Men: Red. For a while, many of us were thinking that Jean is a younger backup, but that seems to have been Jossed by the resurrection ceremony in House of X #5. 

Better characterization abounds for the men: following their conversation from the previous issue, Cyclops and Wolverine have different perspectives about the question of whether to continue on with the mission (another key element of the special ops/espionage thriller genre). Cyclops emphasizes pushing on to make Warren and Paige’s sacrifice meaningful, Logan agrees but rather because of the existential stakes of the mission. There’s an interesting parallel there between Xavier and Magneto and means vs. ends. 

Following the catastrophe, Nightcrawler successfully inserts the struje team, while “Jean and Monet will stay to maintain our connection with Krakoa;”we know know that part was crucial in more than one way, but it is a continuation of some troubling gender dynamics.

Meanwhile, despite being “technically...just an observer” (and doesn’t that ring of all kinds of Cold War proxy wars), Omega Sentinel takes action to prompt Dr. Gregor into retaliation, similarly playing to the nationalistic theme of “if you don’t, he will have died for nothing.” 

Orchis’ retaliation doesn’t go so well, as we see Wolverine carving his way through an AIM securtiy team and Nightcrawler bloodlessly tying up two scientists (note the further emphasis on differing personalities and values; whoever these X-Men might be, they’re not mindless followers) towards popping two of the four constraint collars.

Unfortunately, this is followed up by a couple pages of more Jean Grey being awfully Damselly: yes, she’s holding open the connection, but she’s coded as way more helpless and indecisive than Monet (who gets to go out like a badass defending the shuttle), and the line “I dunno what to say, Marvel Girl. Try harder” really sums it all up. So far, this is reading a lot more like Stan Lee’s Jean Grey (but not Jack Kirby’s) than Chris Claremont’s. 

With the tension ratcheting ever-higher, we see Cyclops succeeding at his mission, while Mystique...doesn’t and then gets promptly blown out an airlock. The “habitat” connection and the odd business with her getting “turned around” despite having the plans for the base in her head like everyone else is highly suspicious (it might suggest the use of a Krakoa flower, but no one’s ever suggested what her motivation would be for doing so), but it’ll have to go on the list of plot threads that weren’t resolved in House of X.

In a development that really ought to be troubling to more people, Dr. Gregor throws away whatever moral compunctions she has about waking up a potentially violently insane A.I because “I don’t let them stop us. No matter what,” a potentially existential downside to Omega’s strategy. 

Do Whatever It Takes:

Having reached the “darkest moment” in the story diagram, Professor X orders his students to “do whatever it takes” to prevent Mother Mold from coming on line. This prompts Cyclops to give the order to Nightcrawler and Wolverine to jump out into unprotected space to sever the last constraint collar. All in all, we’re following the traditional beats of the special ops/espionage genre pretty closely, down to the team leader’s moral anguish moment.

Appropriately, we then get a quiet moment where Kurt and Logan contemplate whether or what will be “waiting for us on the other side.” Even knowing what we know now about the resurrection system, there’s still a good deal of weight to this moment, because in a way this Kurt and this Logan are going to die and whether they’re the same Kurt and Logan who will be reborn is a matter I’ll take up in Powers of X #5 along with the difficult topic of the philosophy of identity. (I’m going to leave aside the question of them having gone to literal Heaven and Hell in the past, because my Doylist position is that those story threads were probably a bad idea and my Watsonian No Prize is that you can’t remember the afterlife once returned to earth.)

Surprisingly, things get only more metaphysically weird when the two teleport outside and Wolverine starts chopping his way through the last arm. Mother Mold wakes up and immdiately starts talking about Greek mythology. Mother Mold’s interpretation of the Titanomachy is a little choppy (as we might expect from an insane A.I): on the one hand, if humanity are the Olympian gods as the creator of the Sentinels and the mutants are the Titans because of “their spoiled lineage” (this doesn’t quite work, because the Titans preceded the Olympians), then the Sentinels being “Man” makes sense. And as someone who’s written his share of college papers about omniscience/predestination/free will in Greek myth and drama, there’s a plausible anti-theist position whereby human beings might “judge and find you both wanting.” (Although that language is too Book of Daniel for the Greeks.) On the other hand, if the Sentinels are man, them having “stolen your fire” doesn’t work either - humanity was given fire by the Titan Prometheus - unless the argument is that Wolverine is Prometheus because he yeets Mother Mold into the sun?

Regardless, it’s a very ominous note for Mother Mold to go out on, because the consistent anti-human/Olympian tone suggests this insane A.I might hate humans way more than it hates mutants. 

With the day seemingly saved, we transition into the Rogue One scenario where Cyclops is murdered by a vengeful Dr. Gregor and Jean is torn apart by Sentinel drones. 

As gruesome as all of this is, I think it does play a very important role in explaining a good deal of Charles Xavier’s change of mind with regard to human-mutant harmony and assimilation. While this incident didn’t prompt any of the decisions that he’s made along the way - this mission is happening post-Xavier’s announcement and a day before the U.N vote, making it quite late in the X^1 timeline - I think it does a good job of showing us the kind of thought patterns that have led Xavier to this conclusion. In addition to everything he’s seen from Moira’s past nine lives, which only lend a greater sense of urgency and the fear of inevitability, Xavier himself has experienced the deaths of “our children” over and over again as the founder of the X-Men, and clearly both the direct trauma (keep in mind, he’s hooked into the minds of all of his X-Men as they die) and the pain he feels at humanity’s apathy/atrocity fatigue, goes a long way to explaining why he’ll make the decision that integration and assimilation are no longer viable options.

For all the crap that people sometime sling at Hickman over his use of charts, I will say that the way that “NO MORE” weaponizes them by extra-textually demonstrating the breakdown of the facade of calm objectivity is incredibly effective.

[atomkrp-blog]

WELCOME TO XAVIER’S, CHAE MIYOUNG !

… loading statistics. currently aged twenty-five, entering first semester of xavier’s in seoul, south korea. decrypting files… mutant has the following records: strength +7, durability +7, agility +3, dexterity +4, intelligence +4. currently, she is classified under tier omega.

BACKGROUND.

her childhood is a lonely one, from what she can remember. there’s no mother’s embrace, no bicycles ridden along a street lined with white picket fences and emerald green grass, no comfort in the touch of a friend. she’s isolated from the beginning, because she’s different. strangeness thrums through her dna and makes her special; that’s what her father always told her, anyway.

he calls himself her father but she could never quite be sure. from what she knows of fathers they’re supposed to love and care for their children - hold their hand as they ride their first bike and talk to them about their woes and troubles of school and love and general anxieties and worry.

“do you love me?” she queried once, her tiny voice almost lost amidst a sea of beeping and humming machines.

“i am your father,” was his reply. “i made you. therefore i love you the same way a genius loves all of his best creations. and you, my little flower, are the best creation of all.”

her father is a professor and a scientist, a brilliant man with a penchant for studying the unusual and the abnormal. the city knows him as a renowned professor of biology and an all-around upstanding citizen; a man who lost his wife to childbirth and is left raising his sickly daughter all alone whilst also undergoing research to further stretch the knowledge of the human body and it’s capabilities. to the people of seoul, he’s a hero. they coo over his ideologies whilst his daughter waits in his laboratory, tinkering with a homemade toy she made from a small beaker and a crude set of eyes drawn in marker pen, the back of her mind fixated and ready for the dreaded sound of the lab door unlocking and the experiments to begin again.

“what do these machines do?” she questioned one day, flexing her fingers and watching the wires move.

“they study you, flower. you are special, just like your mother was. i find that incredibly interesting.”

she finds out that she’s what’s known as a ‘mutant’ - the word seems odd, both reassuring and scathing. her body is wired differently and acts to protect her when danger is conceived nearby. he straps her to the wall, wires still very much in place, and he runs tests - not like the biological tests in tubes as he once did, but tests of strength, and how much her body can withstand. she’s older now, he tells her one day, and she is ready for the next step. bullets, fire, assaults of any known strength and frequency… it turns out her organically metal body is rather good at absorbing them all and keeping her safe.

(electricity, not so much. the screams filling the laboratory were harrowing that day, or so her father told her. it also became apparent that she was too dense to be able to swim, and she can no longer look at a body of water without her lungs feeling as if to be on the brink of collapse.)

when her father learns of a school for people just like her, he’s hesitant. he can see how much his daughter’s heart cries out for normality, to feel connected to other people like herself, but there’s a running risk in letting her free and he knows it. one day he sits down in front of her, eyes steely and sincere, and hands her a mug of tea.

“you want to go to school, don’t you, flower?”

she nods and stares into her tea. “yes.”

“you have to promise me something, then.”

“okay.”

“everything i did here, i did for you. you know that, right? i helped you understand your powers because i love you. there are lots of people out there who don’t love you, who wouldn’t, couldn’t, love you, because of the way that you are. you understand?”

he’s met with silence.

“you’re different, flower. beautifully, wonderfully different, like your mother was. and there are other people who are different like you, too. but they can’t know about what we did here, how i made you stronger, how i helped you. not everyone would see it the way that we see it.”

he smiles and strokes her cheek. the touch makes her stomach turn and she resists the urge to flinch away from him.

“you have to promise not to tell anyone what went on here. if you do, i’ll find out about it.”

“…i promise.”

so she stands at the gates of the academy, knuckles white and heart engorged with expectation. she’s changed her name to sever all ties with the renowned professor and begin her life anew as a new person - chae miyoung, the girl of steel.

MUTATION.

miyoung can change her skin’s physical properties into that of metal at her own will. this power grants her impeccable strength and durability, and makes her almost completely impervious to most types of physical damage.

STRENGTHS.

INCREASED DURABILITY AND STRENGTH - when her powers are active, miyoung can withstand most forms of physical assault and she is able to lift up to 200kg in weight. she has a much lower pain threshold than normal (though it isn’t gone completely - most things that would render her unconscious, like a strong blow to the abdomen for example, leaves her lightly winded, and it would take a very strong force for a punch to have any effect on her whilst in her mutant form).

BULLETPROOF - her metallic skin is impervious to weak-caliber bullets (a .50cal would probably rip right through her, but bullets from handguns tend to bounce off of her, though sometimes they may leave a dent or a mark in her skin).

FLAME RESISTANT - it has been shown that her metallic skin is also resistant to fire and fire-based mutant powers. her skin is conductive, however, and absorbs the heat rather than deflecting it, though for the most part this seems to leave no damage on her human form (not always, anyway). it’s also hinted that she has a slight resistant to magic-based powers, but not much testing has been done.

WEAKNESSES.

SPEED - miyoung greatly sacrifices her speed for strength with her powers. even in normal form she is unnaturally dense and heavy for her size, so she finds it incredibly difficult to pick up speed or momentum. she also lacks agility and flexibility, but is doing yoga and martial arts to try and counteract that.

ELECTRICITY - as her skin is a noted conductor, her greatest weakness in her mutant form is electricity. the currents run through her metal body and can cause serious harm that can transfer over to her ‘normal’ form.

WATER - miyoung is terrified of water and tends to stay very far away from it in both forms. she jokes that it’s because she’s afraid of rusting over, but the fact is that due to her increased heaviness and density, she cannot swim - she simply sinks to the bottom of the water like a rock.

PSYCHE - although she is a powerhouse when faced with physical assault, mental and psychic based powers and manipulations are still effective against her mind. she can be manipulated, have her mind read and controlled, and feel mental pain though psychic assaults.

TRANSFER - if the damage done to her metal skin is great enough, sometimes it may transfer over to her human body. this can come in many forms, from a dent in her metal skin blooming into a bruise on her human skin, to full blown scarring and scorch marks that lay there permanent. this is mostly caused through high-level fire attacks or physical attacks (ie. bullets) that are strong enough to harm her metallic form.

COVERAGE - as of yet, miyoung hasn’t quite worked out how to use her power on one part of her body as opposed to the whole thing. it’s either an all-or-nothing kind of power, and it can take up to ten seconds for her skin to transform completely, so it may not be an instantaneous transition but it is worth the wait.

[bidrums]

Something about episode 4 that bothered me that I really need to get off my chest

So @strangesurvivals​  has really good posts about this that honestly made me realize that was exactly what bothered me and they are very put-together posts, so if you want something that’s not as rambling as mine, go check it out. Check it out regardless of what I put on here, because it’s a great blog and they deserve love and attention.

Here’s what rubbed me the wrong way: the stupid Warlock school subplot and the concept of the Alpha.

In a post I made with my general thoughts on the episode, I mentioned that I thought it was interesting about the concept of Supreme vs Alpha but followed it with saying I wasn’t about to start discourse.

Well, I retract that statement and am going to start discourse.

I’ll probably be crucified for saying that Coven wasn’t my favorite season, but it wasn’t. I love the concept and absolutely adore the characters and agree that the season kicked some serious ass, but I couldn’t really jam with the plot. I don’t know why, since I’ve watched and read very similar things, but I just couldn’t really get into it. Sorry. Even though it wasn’t my favorite season, I definitely screamed when they appeared and loved all the scenes they were in. Because they're characters that I love and actresses that I love, and I knew that would up the stakes more than they were already upped.

And then the plot happened.

I make fun of the fact that it started out like Harry Potter with Michael being recruited, but then Ryan took the Chosen One concept a bit too far and decided to call it the Alpha. And I just, no. Just no. No, don’t do that. Don’t do that to Michael. He’s already the Antichrist. That’s more than enough of a role to fill, and he doesn't need some Harry Potter/Star Wars magic Chosen One that’s destined to defeat the Ultimate Evil (TM) on top of being the Antichrist. It’s unnecessary and it took away from that subplot for me. It felt lazy, it felt forced, it felt contradictory, it just lessened the impact of the Antichrist plot and Michael’s harnessing of his powers. At least, the way Ryan did it. I’ll get back to that.

So Michael Potter Skywalker is taken to a magic school to develop his Amazing Magic Powers because something happens that tells The Powers That Be that he’s Super Powerful- more than any of them. Only one of those Authorities is suspicious and hesitant to take this person is because he can smell Big Trouble because This Kid Ain’t Right. But everyone laughs off Cheyanne Yoda Jackson because holy fuck he pulled some Exorcist shit then curled up in a ball crying on the floor he must be The One With The Ultimate Power (TM) we must take this emotionally unstable child in and harness his magic because absolutely nothing will go wrong with taking him in and teaching him to control his crazy strong magic that manifests himself in murder. Cheyanne Yoda Jackson is just being paranoid, he only impaled a guy with multiple knives and blew a guys head up. He may have Much Anger In Him and acts in a way that looks like he’s Demon Possessed, but have you seen his Midichlorian count? We have to bring him in because he might be able to destroy the Sith and bring Balance to the Force and finally dismantle the ever-present fear of Voldemort’s Reign of Terror! Stop being a spoilsport and train him like the rest of us, it’ll be fine! Oh, and we won’t help him adjust to his power gradually in order to make up for the years of training he lost in order to give him the same foundation everyone else has and the skills and trust of the System to not be reigned by his unstable emotions and Much Anger In Him. Nah, throw him in the deep end headfirst, he’ll be fine. In fact, we’ll raise our expectations and push him harder than everyone else and tell him his Destiny from the beginning so he has all this pressure on him. There’s no way he’ll lash out and have a sense of entitlement.

Now, who are The-Sith-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that oppress the poor, defenseless Warlocks? The rest of humanity? That was in Coven, and it would be interesting to have a Magneto-type background that ties into his disgust at humanity and proves his “evil motherfuckers” point. Is it the Humans? It’s not? Who is it?

The Witches, of course! Those Nasty, Horrible Women who use their Superior Woman Magic to press the poor defenseless Warlocks who just want to Be Equals and not be molotov cocktailed after those Stupid Women didn’t have the foresight to the potential consequences of trying to foster good relations with the Muggle World and being open about their Mutant status because they’re Mutants, and they’re Proud! We need an Alpha Male to save us from the Uterus! A Level Four! The Manliest Man in all of Manhood who will put those women in their place and take them down from their High and Mighty Egos. In Coven they had thinly-veiled metaphors for racism by having European vs Voodoo magic fights that tried to make us see that the Poor White Girls are just Misunderstood and Blissfully Ignorant that the Voodoo Community is just as Powerful and Valid as the rest of them! And they still have that in Apocalypse, but now they also have Gender Inequality in it, too! But like, not showing the tired, traditional Oppressed Women narrative that a lot of feminists tell. No, it’s the Refreshing alternate view that maybe, there are areas of life where Men are not on top? And that’s bad for them? It’s daring and bold and no one has ever proposed this idea ever! I’m so creative and revolutionary!!!

The Supreme title was interesting to me because there’s always the Head Witch or something like that. But Ryan gave her the title of Supreme, because the one to master all fundamental areas of magic has Supreme Magic that is more powerful. Which makes sense and is pretty refreshing to me, because it felt like an acknowledgement while over-glorifying the title. Because Supreme also sounds like a threat and a title everyone would fight over, so whoever has that title has to constantly watch her back because other people will try to take that for themselves. The title was forged in blood, and it’s a constant reminder of that. And the show does a great job showing how hard and how dangerous that title is. It shows work, it shows strength, it shows earning the title.

That is the complete opposite of the Alpha role. Level Four. Honestly I hate the fact that they rank the students with 4 levels because it’s honestly unhealthy competition in my opinion. But we’re focusing on the Alpha. It’s a stupid concept, it’s a stupid plot device, it’s a stupid mentality, it’s a stupid rank, it’s a stupid title. “But you’re a Christian, isn’t that hypocritical of you because you’re okay with calling God the Alpha?” Actually, that’s not His full title. The full title is the Alpha and the Omega- which is FUCKING GREEK FOR THE BEGINNING AND THE END AND IS A PRETTY ACCURATE TITLE FOR THE FUCKING CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE AND DON’T BRING MY RELIGION INTO THIS I AM NOT GOING TO SAY THAT AGAIN

Anyways, the Alpha thing and why it’s hella problematic. Its real-life counterpart is a hideous mentality that really messed-up men have that leads to entitlement issues that lead to violence- usually against women whose bodies they feel they are owed and believe that their superior “Alpha Male” status demands. Just, it doesn’t matter if that’s what he was imagining- which I doubt given the context- or not, the fictional Alpha Male trope and the real-word damage the Alpha Male mentality causes make this fictional title undesirable and uncomfortable. It also doesn’t imply the hard work that the Supreme title does. Like I referenced in my sarcastic rant, it’s why people hated the Midichlorian thing in Star Wars. I actually asked my dad if they were mad because it wasn’t referenced in the original trilogy. He said, and I paraphrase, “Partly. It’s the implications of them not mentioning it in the original trilogy that we have a problem with. When it first came out, the Force was something that everyone had and that some people were more in tune with than others. But it was in everyone, so everyone with the right training could become a Jedi. You might not be as powerful as the other Jedi, but you can be a Jedi or at the very worst, someone with cool Force abilities that can use the Force. Just not at the level of the Jedi. That was awesome because me and everyone else was saying, “I could be a Jedi! I could learn how to master the Force! Then Episode 1 came out and it said, nah, you can’t. It’s twitch muscles. You have it, or you don’t. Your DNA determines wether or not you can actually use the Force. Everyone has the Force, but you can’t be trained to tap into that power. It was like a slap in the face to the people who spent decades with the fantasy of training to be a Jedi. Since you haven’t had the time gap between movies, it’s less of an issue. But to us, it hurts a lot.” And that’s exactly what the Alpha does. It’s not that Michael is powerful and gradually shows the potential to be the Alpha then proves himself to be able to survive the grueling process to earn that status. It’s just that they see that he’s powerful (which I have no idea how impressive that footage is since we don’t have a great example of how weak everyone else’s magic is in comparison, imo) and assume that because he’s super powerful he’s The One. It just wasn’t as compelling to me as finding out about the Supreme. And yes, the witches do inherently have more magic and yes, the Supreme inherently has more magic, but it’s still like the Jedi. Not everyone is Force-Sensitive, so not everyone can be a Jedi; by extension, not all the Jedi can have the highest rank and there are many nuances and strengths of the people’s Force abilities. That’s something that I thought was interesting in Coven and was a bit disappointed that they didn’t play around with it more, but that’s not what this is about. I’m just showing how the Warlocks could have a similar Nuance even with their ranking system and could’ve had more of a parallel with the Witches.

But they didn’t.

Instead Ryan decided to have some weird social commentary about how women could be as bad as men and whenever they have some area where they’re better than men, they abuse that area and twist the narrative to make themselves the victims; in these areas, the men are now the ones who have to fight tooth and claw to get equal treatment. This is the standard “Women can be just as bad as men given the opportunity!” narrative that hurts legitimate activism to get men the same treatment in areas such as domestic abuse, where the statistics of male victims and the numbers of how they receive justice for it are much different than for women. There was a social study where two actors pretended to be a couple having an argument in public that gets violent, with one partner starting to get more and more physical and the other partner getting more and more in danger of being seriously hurt. When the woman was the victim, people rushed to her aid and got in between them and called him out on his behavior. When the man was the victim, a significantly less number of people did that, and most people laughed it off as the male being “whipped”- or, not filling the male role in the relationship. The power balance is suddenly funny when the woman has more power over the women. Now, I’m not going to go into that discourse, and you have my word on that. Domestic abuse is a horrific epidemic that both men and women face, and statistically women are the victims much more than men. But that doesn’t mean that when men are abused, it’s not that bad as when women are. And so when activist groups push for more awareness of this epidemic and trying to change the narrative of what domestic abuse looks like, we should listen and treat it seriously. But when narratives like the Witch oppression of the Warlocks being used to bring attention to “reverse sexism”- which is bullshit, btw- it lessons actual legit activism and make both activism for male issues and activism for female issues seem less important. Less serious. They become more of a joke and people overreacting than things of actual importance. And it’s just bad writing. There are way better ways to have a Warlock vs Witch narrative that Michael is involved in. Way better ways. Way better ways than “oppressed men might have someone who can overthrow the oppressive women because he’s more powerful and men might be able to reclaim their position of power”.

Honestly, I was mostly annoyed by this is that not only was Ryan- consciously or no- even doing it, but he was doing it where the men were just being whiny and had no real argument. They gloated at Cordelia and tried to provoke her by dangling Michael as “The One (TM) who would overthrow the Witches’ power over them” in front of her to try to get her angry. They act like her refusing to put him through the Seven Wonders is proof that she’s scared of being overthrown. Because cowards act like that. And that when she uses Misty and Queenie as examples of how she isn’t all powerful like they believe and to give examples of how dangerous the world of magic is and how just recklessly going forward can land them in trouble, they just scoff like she’s not really worthy of being the All Powerful and can you believe this chick? She walks around like she owns the place but she can’t even save one of her own kind from being perpetually held in Limbo for eternity with possibly thousands of other souls being held captive and suffering unimaginable things. Some Supreme. She can’t possibly think that’s a good reason to not do the test of the Seven Wonders.

Just- it’s really bad. It’s not a good way to even make this lazy writing a passable attempt. Cordelia telling them about how she tried to save Queenie once she found out she was dead in order- this is what I interpreted from that sequence- to help her pass on or come back to life was a great way to show her character. She’s empathetic, she’s protective, she actually cares about the people she’s supposed to be the authority over. And her regret over not being able to save Queenie hurts because she was supposed to watch over her and be able to protect her from something like that, but she couldn’t. And she is heartbroken because people she loves and cares about are casualties of a dangerous world and she’s helpless to stop those casualties. And when she refuses to let Michael do the Seven Wonders, it’s because she doesn’t want an innocent party that is being put on a pedestal to get killed. She fucking says that she doesn’t want to risk him dying and the fuckwads act like that’s a pathetic excuse!!!!! That was so infuriating for me because it was treated like Cordelia was being unreasonable by the characters and Ryan. I mean, in Coven the Seven Wonders was constantly hammered in as dangerous at every level, and as the stakes are raised, the more it’s hammered in, and the more people get hurt. There are actual consequences, and Cordelia witnessed it from the beginning to the end. So she knows that there’s an 87% chance that Michael will die, and she doesn’t want someone else to die in the process that killed her friends. And she gets more and more angry about people talking over her and ignoring all of her very solid arguments against this until she has no choice other than to give into their provocations and get angry, having to firmly shutting it down and ending it before someone gets hurt and when she gets questioned again, she snaps one of the greatest lines in the season and the show: “BECAUSE I’M THE FUCKING SUPREME!” And the men just look at each other like, “I fucking knew this bitch was too scared of being usurped to agree to our very reasonable proposal to take a vulnerable youngster who’s only just started to control his powerful and unstable magic and force him to go through a dangerous test he has a high chance of dying from just to soothe our wounded egos that we’re grooming several impressionable young men to emulate, women are so unreasonable” and I wanted to punch everyone in the face. 

So the thing I mentioned waaaaay earlier in this super-long post: the way Ryan was doing this lessened Michael’s character was done really badly.  Here’s an idea on how to go through a less-sexist conflict between the two covens that actually makes him more powerful:

Michael is powerful- more powerful than they’ve seen. Cheyanne Yoda Jackson still gets to be suspicious, and they are inclined to agree. After some debate, everyone except Warlock Yoda agrees that it’s probably powerful, unstable magic that is being handled by a teen with anger issues and an obvious propensity for violence. They can teach him to handle the magic and maybe to control his emotions. Everything’s the same until they do their tests. It’s still after a month or two, but this time it’s after he’s had time to adjust and had some basic rudimentary training that everyone has when they first start. They explain that everyone is evaluated at the beginning to get a feel for their magic, and Michael already seems to have some control of his powers. Not much, but it’s impressive considering how insane they are. They start with the mirror. He does it, and they share shocked glances. That’s something that a lot of people have trouble with after years of training. So they hesitantly do the teleporting. Flawless passing, more shock. Then they ask him to waterbed snow, and they have their happy moment before they almost freeze to death. They see how freaked out Michael is and tell him that he has super strong magic and when you push yourself like he did, it’ll get a bit out of hand. Just be more careful and they’ll talk about where to put him then get back to him, okay? Then they talk about how freaky it is that he can do this with little training, Magic Yoda is suspicious, they shoot him down with a lot of irony because Antichrist. Then one of them suggests that maybe, just maybe, they might be seeing a Male Supreme. Use the phrase, “Male Supreme”. It’s less stupid and worrying. There’s banter about how there hasn’t been a male version, it’s only been a woman, you know how many powerful Warlocks have died trying to do the Seven Wonders, he can barely control snow, you think he can come back from the dead? But then they agree and call the Council.

Most of the Warlocks’ bitterness towards the Witches stems from two places: 1) Fiona was a bitch and took her Supreme status to exert absolute control of the Council and 2) Cordelia just announced the existence of Mutants Witches and Warlocks without consulting the Council, a decision that they feel should have been unanimous. So there’s some banter about the Seven Wonders and Michael and she doesn’t want to hurt him because of how many powerful Witches and Warlocks have died and he sounds like he’s emotionally and magically unstable and he most likely will die. It also makes more sense for them to be snarky at her because of the above two reasons, and they can invoke Fiona’s name which will make those of us who are familiar with Coven squeal at the mention of Fiona and remember that yeah, that sounds in character, as well as having Cordelia react to the implication that she’s being the same sort of Supreme her mother was. Like, that has waaaaayyyyy less sexism and provides a great conflict between the two schools. It also has a less cliche Chosen One story arc shoved into Michael’s already-established “I’m the Antichrist” story arc and still shows just how powerful and scary he is.

Again, that’s my idea on how it could’ve been better. I just hate that the potential badassery of rivals schools was ignored to have Ryan Murphy pretend to be revolutionary and critical and thinking outside of the box when he’s really condoning a dangerous and sexist narrative that puts characters that are both potentially awesome and badass and established to be awesome and badass into weak storylines that destroy a lot of great character arcs and characteristics of everyone.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[billyggruff]

LGBT Representation: Where Marvel Comics Fails and Cartoons like Steven Universe Succeed

I grew up reading comics as a kid. My father was quite the aficionado, collecting decades worth of issues, ranging from Batman to Spider-Man to everything in between. My dad is also a quite the religious man, so he’s not exactly one too appreciate lgbt themes in comics. He also didn’t appreciate me coming out of the closet which resulted in me being homeless for a few years, but that’s for another story. Bottom line, if there WERE lgbt characters in comics before recent years, I didn’t really run into it growing up, as my access to the medium was through my dads collection. I think my closeted self at the time would have appreciated the representation, but then again seeing how they are handling it nowadays, maybe not. 

See, My dad probably would dislike the turn Marvel’s taken in recent years just cause of the fact that there is a lot of gay characters and more progressive themes. I love my dad to death but good lord the man is homophobic af.  MY issue with Marvel’s relatively recent turn is they are doing those things, and they SUCK at it. Quite honestly, Marvel trying to be pro lgbt right now is like the equivalent of that one girl who becomes so excited after they meet you, because the only gay people they know of are on television, and they think that your ass has magic fashion powers just because you like penis.

While my love for their comics has SEVERELY waned with the advent of marvel’s direction with their universe, my love for western cartoons has been rekindled with shows like Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, and Star vs The Forces of Evil. All three of these cartoons have lgbt themes and representation in them, and they do it far better than Marvel Comics on even their worst episodes. 

So what’s the difference between the two? Why does One medium suck at what they are trying to do in my opinion, while the other one has glowing praise from me for their representation? Well I’ll tell you! 

THE CARTOON CHARACTERS HAVE THEIR OWN PERSONALITIES AND MOTIVATIONS:  Much of Marvel’s problems right now is they are taking existing characters like Ice-Man and retooling them into gay characters. In the process, they completely erase their personalities that they’ve developed over decades of lore and insert cliche gay guy personality Number 867 into them instead. I’m not even kidding either.

Here is Ice-Man in his first issue of his own series. They decide to establish who he is by showing him with a Latte’, sassily talking to himself, while he makes an online dating profile on a gay dating site. 

This is obnoxiously bad on a number of levels. Not only is this utterly cliche, it also doesn’t make sense in the realm of Marvel comics. Bobby here is a Mutant, a type of super powered character known for getting hunted down on a regular basis by gigantic robots called Sentinels, as well as anti mutant hate groups and government programs alike. You can’t exactly chill at the local starbucks when you need to be aware of LITERAL DEATH SQUADS out for your head. This whole setup is bad from the outset because it completely disregards who he is in the scheme of the Marvel Universe and boils his character down to a caricature of a cliche gay man, redundancy intended. 

It is made blisteringly obvious from just this first page that the writer doesn’t care who he is as a person, or writing an interesting story. The only thing this writer cares about is pointing out that he’s gay, and isn’t that just great you guys? Look how gay he is, he’s got his little Latte’ and everything! 

Gag me. 

Meanwhile, here is Ruby and Sapphire, aka Garnet.

Much like Bobby, Ruby and Sapphire are also quite familiar with being hunted down for who they are, both as rebel gems and as a taboo fusion who, by homeworld standards, deserve death by shattering. Ruby is a hot headed individual who was taught from the second she emerged from her hole that she was disposable and worthless in comparison to the gems she was tasked to protect. She is just one of many Rubies to Homeworld, their individual personalities and wants be damned. Sapphire meanwhile was taught that her purpose was to only see into the future and give the most favorable intel to her diamond. While she was considered worth more than Ruby and held a higher status, her individuality and her personality was just as disregarded. She was willing to live out her days seeing into the future, never changing, until Ruby changed everything. Although they are hiding out on a remote planet, in danger of being shattered by gem forces at every turn, they continue to fight for the place where they can both be themselves, and where they can exist as the fusion Garnet, who is quite literally a manifestation and allegory of their deep and stable relationship. 

Do you see how much more interesting these children show characters are than mister latte’ sipping Bobby over there? One takes into account who they are in the scheme of the story, has developed personalities for them as individuals, and has motivations that are deeply rooted in the plot of the show. Bobby is making a dating profile cause he’s gay and what else would he be doing in his NUMBER ONE ISSUE, ESTABLISHING WHO HE IS AS A PERSON/SUPER HERO?

“BillyGGruff,” you cry out to your screen “you are just showing two panels for Bobby while giving way more info about Ruby and Sapphire, that’s not fair!” 

Okay then, Here’s two more pages, lets see what this writer conveys about him. 

He’s in the middle of a literal sparring match with a displaced time clone of his, talking about Omega level mutants, and his mind is on how he’s “X-tra hilarious.” How he’d let himself be called Bobert if the dude was hot enough and how he’s never been on a dating site before. 

Do you see how the wrong things are being focused on here? What are Omega level mutants? Why is there a past version of himself here? Someone who hasn’t read comics before wouldn’t have a clue what any of this is about, yet the writer sees fit to gloss over this info, because its not important too their story. That’s not what you should be focusing on, what you should be focusing on is Bobby wants to meet a guy from a gay dating site that he’d let call him Bobert. 

The writing is awful, the characterization is awful, and there is nothing engaging about what is going on in a comic involving a member of a persecuted group of super humans who happens to have god tier ice powers. That is what Omega level mutants are by the way; Mutants who do not have measurable limits to what they can do with their abilities. Not that this will play ANY factor in his story, because who cares about things like that in a superhero comic amirite? 

Steven Universe has lgbt characters looking for a date too actually. Lets see how they handle that. 

 This is Pearl as she appears in the episode Last One Out OF Beach City. Pearl’s personal character arc before this episode is quite an interesting one. Pearl was deeply in love with a gem by the name of Rose. She even left everything of her previous life and became a renegade Pearl, fighting with Rose side by side in a thousand year rebellion, all because she loved Rose that much. Rose did not feel the same way in return however, no matter how much Pearl tried to rationalize this fact away. Eventually Rose got into a relationship with a man name Greg, something that Pearl was intensely jealous over, and that jealousy turned into grief and resentment after this relationship ended up resulting in Rose giving up her physical form so Steven, her son, could live. Pearl, for the longest time, has had a hard time coping with both coming to grips that she wasn’t the one for Rose, and that Rose is gone now, typified with a passionate song of hers called It’s Over Isn’t It. 

Her complex feelings over this one sided love, pining over a relationship that she wasn’t able to have, berating herself for not being able to move on, this is something that someone of any age could understand and feel empathy for. By the time this episode shows up, Pearl has finally let herself move past her grief and loss and try her luck with a night on the town with Steven and Amethyst.

She didn’t go out with the purpose of meeting someone to date mind you, she’s not all of a sudden making a dating profile, she just was going out to have a nice time and be a bit rebellious relative to her usual personality. Its during this road trip that she runs into someone who happens to look a lot like Rose, her former love interest.

Now THIS has some interesting things that relate to Pearl and her personal character development! Is she interested in this woman because she likes a certain look, or is she subconsciously trying to replace Rose with someone who looks like her? Would a relationship between them even work out if her baggage from her previous love seeps into that one? How would she react if this woman has a different personality with different interests than Rose? They don’t have her instantly start a relationship with this woman either, they just introduce her, and they eventually exchange phone numbers. Its an interesting step for her character given how devoted she was to Rose, and I’m looking forward to seeing this mystery woman in the show again, along with all the potential conflict and character development it could bring.

This little side plot with Pearl is so much more interesting and engaging than anything that Iceman comic brings to the table because it is built around Pearl’s character and where she is development wise in the series. Before, Pearl was not ready for dating anyone, but now she has developed and matured enough that maybe, down the line, she could think about seeing someone again, and now she has someones number to maybe make that happen. That is real, that is organic, that is more nuanced than “lol a hot guy could call me Bobert if he wanted too, I’m so X-tra funny and random.”

This children’s show handles lgbt themes with care, respect, and integrates them into the plot seamlessly. The characters have way more motivations than just dating. They have character arcs and flaws that they learn to mature from during the course of the series. They have problems, worries, and motivations that are so much more than some gay stereotype making a dating profile, that it shows how Marvels “representation” is severely tone deaf at best and disingenuous and cynical at worst, because it just says that they think the only thing lgbt care about is that there is a gay person on the page, not what the quality of that character is.

I’m using this Ice-Man comic as an example, but there are many more just like it with very little in the way of conflict, completely ignoring who they are as characters and what they mean in the scheme of the marvel universe, and devolving them down into cookie cutter, sitcom, paper thin versions of what they THINK an lgbt person is, probably just so they can point at these trash comics and brag about how progressive they are, and how they are representing gay people like me.

They aren’t though. The only thing they are representing is how little they actually care about writing an interesting story, and how they only seem to want to use these comics as a means of patting themselves on the back for how progressive they are for showing a stereotype gay man making a dating profile. Thankfully there are people like Rebecca Sugar in the world to show these hacks how LGBT representation is really done. 

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Jonathan Hickman’s ‘House of X’ Begins a New X-Men Chapter

My mileage varies when it comes to X-Men comics. As a Marvel Unlimited subscriber, I’ve always intended to dive into them from the beginning, but I decided to do that with Spider-Man first, and it’s been a slow process, to say the least. With so much history, there’s always something to read. That makes it hard to know where to begin, too, unless you do go back to the very beginning. Jonathan Hickman’s House of X is a new chapter for the X-Men, so if you’ve been looking for a jumping-on point, you can start here. Just go into it knowing that this first issue is a lot to take in. Charles Xavier has a plan for mutantkind, and it’s forming epically. Another thing to know going into the comic is that Powers of X will run alongside it. Hickman himself explained it on Twitter, so check out his thread before diving in. HOUSE OF X is out tomorrow, and following that a new issue of HOUSE OF X or POWERS OF X comes out every week for the next three months. Here are a few important things that haven't been mentioned anywhere, but you might want to be aware of… I/X — Jonathan Hickman (@JHickman) July 23, 2019 I haven’t read a ton of Hickman’s work, but I did start Manhattan Projects and The Black Monday Murders. What I noticed right away was how in-depth he goes with his stories. They might be hard to follow at times, but when you look back on them, you understand why. I feel the same way about House of X after reading the first issue. I have no idea what to expect from the remainder of the story, but I'm expecting it to be big. With issues coming out every week (that includes Powers of X) from now until early October, there’s a lot of story that can unfold in 11 more issues. House of X gives us a look at Krakoa and plants the mutants as superiors who can help humans if the humans let them. The problem is that humans have never been able to accept the mutants and all of their abilities, many of which can be used for good. Just because this focuses on the X-Men, you can still expect appearances from other characters. The Fantastic Four show up, and Reed makes his stance known on how the X-Men are choosing to handle things. Instead of things escalating, Cyclops concedes because he knows that his issue is not with the Fantastic Four. The tension is evident there, and I imagine that won't be the last we see of them. If you've ever wondered which mutants are the most powerful, the page on Omega level mutants gives a good glimpse at that. Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), David Haller (Legion), and Erik Lehnsherr (Magento) make a list, among others. While many won't be a surprise, there were a few on the list who I didn't realize were quite that powerful. While the writing is dense and you're getting a lot of information, the art does an excellent job of keeping up with the story. You have the informational pages, but once you return to the various settings, you know right away how vast this world is going to be. Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia, and VC's Clayton Cowles deserve just as much credit for taking this giant issue and engrossing you in the world. Without the artist, colorist, and letterer, this story wouldn't have come across in quite the same way. Lifelong X-Men fans might not be instantly sold on this series, but as someone who has struggled with where I should dive in, I'm planning on giving this a shot. The first issue blends in the science fiction in a way that isn't immediately overbearing, while still getting to the real, core issues that these characters face. Find House of X #1 at your local comic book shop. --- Please consider supporting us so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/features/articles/jonathan-hickmans-house-of-x-begins-a-new-x-men-chapter/