#next generation thunderbirds

[edutainer2022]

To amuse myself amidst the bleak bombings I did a little fun(ish) thing within the general context of Timey-Wimey, the Future!Tracies crossover, but it could be perceived independently. It may be not the best idea to hack family video archives, while situated in a time paradox.

For more references of the Tracy future ever after in this continuity, see Piano Lessons and Worries. Indefinite thanks go to @janetm74 for inspiration and support.

WIBLY-WOBLY

The holovideo was shaky at first, someone with the camera was, probably, adjusting the hold. There was also a bit of a squabble going on in the background. The holocam tilted, recording a familiar side hallway in the villa. The walls were decorated anew, though, with pictures and paintings they never saw. There was also soft carpeting where previously they were used to hardwood. The frame was finally rectified and an unseen hand pushed the touchpanel of a door. A voice off screen, too jovial to be serious, declared:

"Tracy TV! Would you be amenable to take part in a poll?"

The brothers let out a collective gasp as a tall slim figure turned around to face the camera. Grinning at them against the backdrop of a summer afternoon was Scott. A twenty years old Scott. Upon closer look they could see the shade of meticulously styled hair was darker, so was the blue of the gaze. But the dimples were there, the posture, the bone structure, and the fond smile that could power a sun.

"Shoot, Squidletts!"

There were appalled noises from behind the camera, but a voice pressed on. A girl's, that time.

"Do you believe in love?"

"Oh... that's a good question! I believe..."

The young man stretched and squeezed his eyes dreamily. When they opened back up, the deep blue was brimming with mischief.

"I believe... I'd LOOOOVE a sandwich right about now!"

The young man burst into a hearty laugh and the Tracies hitched a breath in unison again. The resemblance was striking.

The holofeed shimmered in and out of focus some more through the turns and passages of the upper level of the villa. At some point it paused in view of a lanky freckled teen, curled up in a window niche, engrossed in some diagrams on a tablet. Despite the tropical heat, the boy was clad in layers of oversized sweatshirt and a truly hideous cardigan. The attempt of the "Tracy TV crew" to engage him in their poll resulted in a well-aimed trainer gliding their way at an alarming speed. The kid barely even got distracted from reading and the hapless reporters made a hasty retreat, before the canon shoe landed with a thud.

That brought them sprinting to the balcony, overlooking the lounge. The video on screen skipped up and down in time with the running. First only the sound was audible, then the holopicture stabilized. The spacious area was filled with viscous rue of Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" in a velvet female voice, swirling all the way up to the glass ceiling. The pianist concealed by the raised top, but for a streak of red and black flanel, the camera focused on the singer. Thick black curls in a French braid, soft brown eyes, full forms, a green sundress. The girl looked remarkably the way Virgil did when he lost a bet to Gordon that one time. Or rather, if Thunderbird Two were a girl come alive. The voice seemed to reach through the gossamer veil of the holovid and envelope them all in their current strange surroundings. Nobody dared speak, lost for breath with awe.

When the aria ended there was a low whistle off screen. Then followed enthusiastic applause and a resounding "Bravo!", in a voice they knew all too well that time. The camera jumped again and recorded a startled shriek:

"Uncle Scott!!!"

The Tracies exchanged anxious looks. The frame shifted to accomodate a newcomer - too tall to fit he bent slightly to be eyelevel with the 'reporters'. Slim figure as fit as ever, the grey suit made the blue of the eyes stand out. The right shade, this time. But the hair was all steel and silver, much like Dad's. The smile was also different. The brothers hadn't seen that one since when Mom was still alive.

"Now, what are you two up to?"

There were more dimensions of levity in the grin and the lines that flanked bright blue eyes.

"Solemnly up to no good, sir!"

The twin chorus off screen declared eagerly, with audible delight. That was obviously a well practiced routine between them. The Double Trouble scrambled to remember the purpose of their noble endeavor.

"Uncle Scott, do you believe in love?"

The smile deepened the dimples on the man's face, he reached one arm to hug someone, the other lifted up to ruffle some hair, eliciting a universally recognizable sqauck.

"Of course I do! I love your parents and all you lot. More than anything in the world! I love the way your cousin Lucy sings. I love how you're always up to mischief. I love to see how smart and talented you all are. I love to see you grow up happy. And I'd love to make the world safer and kinder for you all!"

The camera dropped the frame again in favor of a brief fierce hug, before the transmission skedaddled to the elevator and down to the hangars.

It was hard to discern the details as the camera was facing the concrete floor for some time. Much as the brothers wouldn't mind a peek into the inevitable changes of the Thunderbirds' roost, the cracks and bumps remained as they remembered. They managed to see a red sign "Restricted Area", usually deployed by Brains, when experiment muse struck. But it definitely didn't deter the intrepid investigators. The video picked up a young ginger woman in lab coveralls, manipulating screenfuls of holodata.

"Hey, Sisi! Do you believe in love?"

Green eyes looked up from shifting datastreams, as the girl seemed to give the question some actual thought.

"Belief presupposes reliance on unverified and uncorroborated data points. Since I am aware of sufficient amount of proof that my synthetic biometrical makeup is not designed to produce chemicals usually associated with emotional affection in mammals, then no, I do not BELIEVE in love. But the complex neural connections I have elaborated over time allow me to experience strong cognitive affinity and preference for the select members of the Tracy family over all other representatives of the same species. And don't call me "Sisi", I am the Dawn!"

The sniggers off screen were drowned in a gasp their side of the holofeed, just as it was shut down forcefully. John was frozen in place, mesmerizing the same red-headed girl, looking not a day older, now frowning at them. Alan  jumped to his feet, indignant.

"You're not Dawn! You're Eos!!!!"

"That is an optimal deduction, yes."

Gordon snorted. John's brow furrowed in return. From behind Eos, the twins, Grant and Sally, were entering back into the room.

"Yo, you hacked our old reels! Neat! Tracy TV was a hoot! Ouch! Hey!"

A cuff up the head stopped the trip down the memory lane, as Kip caught up with the duo.

"You weren't supposed to get exposed to background data. That complicates the time loop, makes it harder to break without consequence."

"Well, duh, Carpenter! No kidding! What do we do now?"

It was time for another dramatic baited breath, as several pairs of eyes trained on the young man, shocked for a different reason their unexpected hosts might have assumed.

[tracyislandinmymind]

WIP Wednesday

Trying to be better about doing this and posting my random writing and drabbles and nonsense as I also attempt to finish up a few chapters of Stress Diamonds. Because that’s how it works, right?

Have a drabble instead 😏 entirely @idontknowreallywhy ‘s fault that this got added to and thus extended.

Scott continues to be a troll in all I write.

— — —

“Is that really a thing?”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. Big thing, like, massive. First appearances and all. Pen’s been planning the outfit for weeks, it’s been to the tailor twice.”

“It’s way too pastel to have been your choice, Gordo.”

“Always thought the blonde clashed a bit with pastel baby blue personally, but lords don’t wear Hawaiian shirts to society afternoon regattas.”

“No?”

“So I’m told. Rule 103 of in the Book of Lord-ship. Anything bolder than sage green, automatic banning from every society event around. Ostracised from Ascot. Excommunicated from Epsom. Boycotted from the Boat Race. Shunned from-”

“Well, Lord Tracy is currently eating sand in his pastel number,” Scott narrated helpfully, unable to keep the snort of amusement to himself as his younger brother swore, before scrambling to retrieve the toddler from his fun, to a wail of disapproval.

���No, no… c’mon, your mom will kill me. Those shorts probably cost more than my entire year’s snack budget too. Spit it out, kid.”

“Hope you’ve got a spare pair of those adorable buckled shoes. Think that’s seaweed in them. Wouldn’t want him to be shunned, after all. ”

The despairing noise from his younger brother was made inherently more hilarious by his nephew’s comedic timing, as a fistful of sand found the inside of his father’s nose, and Scott was entirely no use to anything sensible after that.

— —

[llamawrites]

Meet Gordon's twin sons William Mars Tracy and Caspian Lee Tracy, they share their father's love of mischief.

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday @jonathansfrakes #jonathanfrakes #actor #director #riker #startrek #thenextgeneration #deepspacenine #voyager #generations #firstcontact #insurrection #nemesis #enterprise #startrekdiscovery #startrekpicard #lowerdecks #Clockstoppers #Thunderbirds #theorville #startrek56

[psychoseal]

Gordy jr: Virgil, my favourite uncle. You look so young today

Virgil: what do you want?

Gordy jr: a new games console

Virgil: how young?

Gordy jr: 27

Virgil: go and get uncle Scott’s wallet

[rei-ismyname]

Xavier saves his loser husband from death

At the end of Messiah Complex Charles Xavier was shot in the head. Exodus and his Acolytes absconded with the body to try and fix him and a depowered Magneto arrived to help. Exodus put his pulped brain together with telekinesis, but it was the sound of his loser husband's voice that woke him up (DW I'll cover that another time.)

While Exodus was off doing weird shit and monologuing, Frenzy decided that Chuck should die for being a bootlicker and collaborator. Mags shot her in the eye with a laser to protect him and earned himself a death sentence. Uh oh!

Chuck woke up just in time to see his loser husband choking to death and decided to stop it. Keep in mind Exodus had to remove Chuck's memories to save his psyche, so Chuck knows next to nothing about himself and his foe knows everything. It's a psychic duel!

Exodus comes in swinging, hammering Chuck with his many shames and failures. He is like 'oh shit, I was a bit of a bastard wasn't I?' Danger, his two sons - all failed in different ways.

He hits him with a failure that doesn't come up very often - completely fumbling the Bolivar Trask situation. A lot of people paid for this one. He adds some fear of persecution and powerlessness on top. It's probably unfair to blame Chuck for every bad thing that happened to mutants, though he positioned himself as the saviour of his people. He seized the narrative and was completely certain his path was the right one.

Woof. Graphic images of the Genosha genocide hit Chuck pretty hard. It's difficult to assign blame to anyone but Cassandra Nova for that, but Chuck would certainly feel guilty for it. If anyone else's actions contributed to it, it's Charles Xavier. Exodus is giving him these memories for what feels like the first time and accusing him of not using his powers proactively enough. It's a valid point. Failure of inaction is a charge that gains more validity each year. Failure to change.

Of course Exodus makes the point in the most ridiculous way. There were plenty of actions Charles could take that didn't involve murder. A very wide middle path between liberal superheroics and supervillainy. Emma senses their battle from across the planet and clues Scott in while the spectators observe worrying biological happenings in both men. This duel could kill them.

More guilt, more failures. The revelations of Deadly Genesis and the death of Moira's wards on Krakoa. Charles' justifications for doing what he does.

More X-Men who died as his soldiers and others who just died. Ilyana from the Legacy virus, Piotr from the cure. Banshee, Thunderbird, Cypher. Not sure who the others are meant to represent. A lot of kids died at the school and Emma's held too many as they breathed their last. Chuck is on the ground in tears.

Exodus thinks he's won, but Chuck just gets up and blows him away. He offers no immediate explanation except to make sure Mags is safe. Then the two of them and Karima leave, after Xavier refuses to lead the Acolytes.

Once they're outside he explains that the man who made those mistakes is dead and he has the chance to be something better. A cynical reading would be that he's very good at dodging accountability and justifying his actions. A generous one would be that he's earnestly approaching his fresh start. The truth is somewhere in the middle, I think. The people he's hurt aren't especially inclined to forgiveness or trust and he doesn't really change his modus operandi at all.

I'm of the opinion that this was a really good opportunity for growth that wasn't taken. As I write this he's willingly in Graymalkin prison, though he's going to escape very soon in X-Manhunt. The amount of trust and love he has from mutants not named Rogue is at an all time low and he torched his position in the human world. It's not a fresh start, but the opportunity to grow is there.

[scramjettracy]

Mr Tracy, there have been questions asked recently about International Rescue’s methods of operation, and rightly some criticism. It appears that often rescues seem unplanned, without oversight or using risky or unproven technologies on the general public.

There are multiple lawsuits in damages against International Rescue slowly moving through the courts. There is rumour that one of your own operatives was killed last year during an operational incident, and there has been footage of Thunderbird One flying damaged with smoke appearing, albeit very unfocused.

How do you respond to these criticisms?

Dear Anon, thank you for your questions which are important ones.

I’m sure you’ll understand I cannot comment on specific ongoing legal proceedings other than to say I am confident that all actions of International Rescue have always been carried out with the best of intent and as well as possible within the circumstances of each rescue and I believe the courts will come to a just decision in each case.

To answer your points more generally:

Rescues seem unplanned

The team spends at least 14 hours a week completing training scenarios for every rescue situation we can think of. Including some that might seem rather far fetched - we try to be as prepared as possible.

It is, you will appreciate, impossible to predict everything and humankind itself is often the most difficult factor. Therefore we try our best to be flexible and think on our feet to do whatever we can to help people in incredibly dangerous circumstances.

I’m sure you will agree that is preferable to only intervening when there is time to create a comprehensive plan of action - indeed, those more routine and unrushed situations may be and are competently dealt with by our colleagues at the GDF.

Without Oversight

This is incorrect. International Rescue provide extensive reports on every rescue activity to a specialist department of the GDF who are responsible for monitoring and advising as appropriate. There is a two-way dialogue with the department about preventative actions and engineering or regulatory improvements which could avoid similar situations arising and you will find that IR’s unseen contribution in this area has saved even more lives than our direct action has.

Risky or unproven technologies

Our technology is engineered for safety with numerous failsafes. It is tested repeatedly in far harsher conditions that it is ever likely to be used in. Its quality is evidenced by the fact people keep trying to steal it.

In addition, every time a new piece of equipment is introduced, further extensive training takes place. Improvements are made. If ever one of our ships or gadgets proves insufficient during a rescue, we seek to remedy this for next time.

Injuries and Damage

I can confirm that on some occasions the Thunderbirds vehicles have suffered damage but each time they have been repaired and are not sent into a rescue situation unless they are in good working order.

I am pleased to confirm that although occasionally our operatives do suffer injuries during the dangerous work they carry out to save others, none of those injuries have been fatal and we all continue to serve the world in every way open to us.

Any further questions

We would be delighted to discuss any further questions or concerns. Please direct them to complaints@internationalrescue.org and they will be forwarded to the best person to address them.

[avengedbiologist]

Thunderbirds 80s style

So turns out my 80s phase I've been having has brought me back to tbirds so here's my 80s au. Info under cut x

Firstly I ain't taking criticism, these designs feel right 2 me and so do the song choices. Sorry there isn't more diversity in the music tastes these r literally just from bands I know.

Gordon-

Kiefer Sutherland (specifically him in the movie 1969 with his longer hair) and George michael r my inspo for him, I mean the hair is the main inspo but the vibes from both of them R verryyy Gordon to me. He dresses very typical 80s he's a big big fan of denim.

His playlist:

His favourite bands are Wham and Cinderella, being a big George Michael fan in general. His favourite album is night songs by Cinderella. Not sure why Cinderella is his fave but it feels right ☝️ (everyone listen to Cinderella xxx)

Him and Alan being the lame duo they are, were Wham for Halloween.

Alan-

Alex Winter for this guy, probably because of bill and ted (definitely because of bill and ted and also nose 👃) and I can genuinely get behind Alan having curly hair. Despite this he has long hair in this cause he's a trendy fella, and if I didn't give any of them long hair I would be a fraud and a fake to the 80s cause. He switches his style a lot but he has a lot of inspo from rock bands.

His playlist:

(I am definitely not projecting) (okay maybe I am, be glad my favourite KIX song is from the 90s)

I feel he is more rebellious (very 04 Alan me thinks) so he tends to lean more to the rebellious type music (big glam rock fan) his favourite band is and will forever be KIX, he has seen them live like 50 times. And his favourite album is Midnite Dynamite by KIX. Listen to KIX and u will get it (or not idk).

Scott-

I'm blaming @knyee because of their Tom Selleck thoughts 😩. Older Scott very Tom Selleck, younger Scott very Tommy Lee, and Jason patric is just there cause he's a guy with brown hair and blue eyes, any 70/80s person with brown hair is Scott to me (could Eddie Van Halen be the next Scott Tracy 😮).

His playlist:

I feel Scott's tryna be more cool but hes not as deep with his music as say Alan or Kayo. So he's a very, whatevers popular kinda guy. Big Bon Jovi fan, his favourite album is Bon Jovi, slippery when wet. And he's a big fan of older stuff as well, big Kinks fan.

Ugly ass fashion as per w Scott, I mean it's not bad it's just,,, very Scott 🧍‍♀️.

Virgil-

Now I am about to be controversial,,, I genuinely forget Virgil exists. Like who is he,, U tell me ? So this made someone that vibes w him very hard to find. So this may be weird to people, this may not fit as well as the others, but if U ignore the hair I hope U can see my vision. Paul Stanley. Look at his eyebrows, look at his cheek bones then get back to me Kay x.

His playlist:

Virgil's cool af what can I say, he does like older songs too but alas I didn't focus on them. Tho this au of the Tracy family has no specific like version (weather it's tag tos or 04, tho with me it's never TAG do not speak to me about TAG Alan xx) I will say this, TAG Virgil is a Metallica fan, I get he does classical music but he can do that,, and like Metallica, cause guess what,, he's cool as shit. Despite this is fave album is Lick it up by kiss.

Don't ask me how to dress virgil, I just put him in green and call it a day.

My fun fact about Virgil is his gay awakening was Slash from guns n roses.

John-

Again don't know shit about John, not do I care for him but if I make him look like Billy Idol I begin to care. I'll tell U sommat not only is this inspo, Billy is like a face claim for me, Ur telling me that's not John Tracy. Is Billy wasn't cool af he would be John Tracy. And as well as looking like Billy idol he is a fan of Billy idol, his fave album being Billy idol by (U guessed it) billy idol.

His playlist:

(R we starting to see my love for lost boys, cause if not just wait till kayo xx)

Rolling stones yeah pretty sick, time in a bottle is out there compared to the others but John's an all over guy I think.

Kayo-

Oh look, Jami Gertz, lost boys reference, what a shock.

Kayos cool, like just look at her, holding hands with penny (women in love what can I say) originally her like fave album was gonna be Kill em' all by Metallica but Kayos here for the girls so her fave Album is Vixen by Vixen. Corker of an album (everyone listen to it x)

Her playlist:

I fear Joan Jett would also be on her playlist but idk man. Kayos just like quirked up but in a fun way, she does try to listen to a lot of female artists. She likes spooky music and old music. If I was doing a 90s or later au she would be a fan of the song 'Living dead girl' by Rob Zombie.

She's a lost boys fan (not projecting) and loves horror films and she takes John to see em, only cause Penny does not like horror films.

Penelope:

Janet Gardner (from Vixen) is her celeb inspo, tho I fear there's a lot of blonde 80s celebs that would work, but why go for Madonna when Janet's right there, and her hair is taller. If Penny doesn't have tall hair that ain't Penny.

Her playlist:

Big big big Stacey Q fan, her fave album is Stacey Q better than heaven. Penny is a big fan of 60s music as well, loving Erma Franklin, he favourite song being her cover of 'Hold on I'm comin''. She loves Daughters of Eve, their song 'Hey lover' is her and Kayos 'song'.

She has seen Stacey Q live many times and has (lovingly) dragged Kayo to them. Kayo is also a bit of a fan. They both like a lot of each other's music, if they find a new band or an artist they like has released a new song they always try to listen to it for the first time together.

I am realising now I didn't write Penny's fave films which are: Heathers, Labyrinth and Hairspray.

This is a long ass post oopsies, hope U enjoy my nonsense x

[squidsinashirt]

**Shoving my way through the tabloids and paparazzi**

Mr Tracy, the work you have done for the world's environmental charities is phenomenal, it's amazing that you're so passionate about not only our world's oceans but it's rainforests, it's grasslands and it's human life too.

At times it must be challenging trying to balance your work with humans and your passion for wildlife what with how humans have destroyed the worlds ecosystem.

Tell me, do you see a future with nature and the hustle and bustle of the human world working together in peace? How do you think we could achieve that?

– Nature&Nurture news blog reporter.🌿

Hi there! 👋

Apologies for the delay in replying to this - love your stuff, long time subscriber! Wanted to give you a decent reply so I hope this is okay.

That’s very kind of you to say but I can’t take all the credit. Tracy Industries is committed to all of the green pledges we have made, and our successes with various third party organisations and projects is only thanks to the enthusiastic effort of all of our board, trustees, senior management and of course, our CEO (who is incredibly supportive of all of our projects).

(I just send comms and put up posters and annoy people at the annual galas once they’ve had a drink or two)

Moving to being a zero-waste society has been a huge achievement, but we shouldn’t be stopping there. We’ve spent a lot of time ripping every resources from the planet and doing what we like without much concern for everything else that shares this space with us. We should be actively investing in restoration programmes that prioritise renewal over our own priorities, and vehemently protecting what is already there.

So do I see a future with nature and our very busy society coexisting - it has to! Nothing works if nature doesn’t. We came very close to the brink not so long ago, and we can’t allow that to happen again. We’re the custodians of our little planet, and it’s up to us, and us alone, to do better. Everything around us is relying that, as a population, we pick up that responsibility, including for our own kids and so on.

I had a really great afternoon recently organised with Robby Shelby (co-creator of the Supreme Barrier Reef with his mom, Dr Helen Shelby) with their junior conservation team. They’re all elementary school aged kids, learning to dive and also learning about the work that is ongoing there, why it matters and how to continue it. It’s amazing to see the next generation keen to take the reins - and I had an awesome time getting schooled on turtles and jellyfish.

How to achieve that - that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it. There’s a reason various world bodies have spent so long fighting over it and I guess it’s because it’s complicated, on paper and in practice.

I would say my own philosophy is that we ought to be leaving the world a better place than it was when we stepped into it. Everyone has an equal individual responsibility to do what they can. Food choices you make (hi fellow vegan gang 🌱), where you spend your money if you can, and educating other people. Treating the planet and everything that lives here kindly (including each other so, y’know, be excellent to each other!)

I guess I’m just very lucky that I can access resources that mean we can do a lot more.

For the bigger stuff, there are obviously the three main goals of the World Ecological Summit (not going to have time to go into the other 47 sub points):

1. Move to entirely emission free fuels and technology for all transport, which we’re making really good strides in, which is super exciting. As a bit of a side note, International Rescue has ⅖ of our ‘birds totally clean (see, nobody is perfect except Thunderbird Four). My aim over the next 12 months is to try and get to a point where we have a 95% sustainable fuel option ready to trial for each of them - currently sitting at 75% average, which is good but… we don’t do ‘good��� at iR, we do better. We use three different fuels because of the differing technologies each of our ships carries and the environments they work in so it’s a little more complicated. But that’s one of my pet projects (along with our incredible engineering department) so check in with me in the fall!

2. Our largest industrial leaders taking responsibility in being proactive, investing in green technologies and processes, and using their corporate responsibility for good. I think my previous answer about Tracy Industries kind of covers this one, but it’s important that those with the biggest weight to throw around do it in a way that benefits the most vulnerable in our society. Which leads nicely into point three…

3. Protecting the most vulnerable ecosystems, territories and people. It’s really easy to point the finger at humans for the environmental concerns we all share, but that’s completely unfair toward the most vulnerable populations amongst us, who are usually the ones who have had the most impact from what we’ve caused. We should be improving our environment, whilst also addressing the inequalities in food hunger, poverty, ill health, education that still exist. They aren’t necessarily two separate issues and we are an incredibly advanced society, - there’s no reason people should still be living with such huge levels of difference.

So I guess the summary of all of this is - people need to lift their head and care a bit more, and not be afraid to take on the responsibility of being better to environment and to each other.

Thanks again for the query - always happy to ramble to you guys! If you’d like to come along to the next visit to our rainforest project on the Bolivian border, we’re due to be out there early May and you’d be more than welcome! You can get me on g.tracy@tracyindustries.org 🫶🏻

[s10127470]

The Story of X-Men: The Next Mutation (Part 1)

@ariel-seagull-wings, @rei-ismyname, @soviet-supersoldier, @black-but-mildly-sunny, @kazunewolfwood-blog, @scarletwitching, @wildpaws62, @seiryuuchan, @justfuckthegarbagedisposal, @nightcrawlersimpblog, @alternaterobin2336, @silver-bells-and-cockle-shells, @reinedeselfes, @su-alteza-emia, @roisegold314, @seccruz,@cryptid-moone, @please-ignore-me-in-general, @mochalep, @yofrogsstuff, @zeldaspellmaniswife,@atrociousssssss, @valepgogoo, @patientstriderart, @chips4lays, @lilly-does-stuff, @andrewmoocow, @cheesecakeluvrs, @amethystpaladin999-blog

Can you guys actually believe it?

This month marks an entire year since I started my fanfic series, "X-Men: The Next Mutation"!

It's been a wild ride doing this series!

And I couldn't be more thankful for all of you who read it sticking with me through eight action-packed episodes!

You've seen the mutant teens face against an unstoppable foe from the past, a ravenous race of aliens, an animal-morphing hunter, a disgraced geneticist, a crazed religious zealot, and a fun-loving madman.

And there's certainly more to come!

So in honor of my series officially turning 1-year old, I wanted to share with you all the story of Next Mutation.

How i came up with the idea, my reasons for a lot of the choices made in this series, my ideal vision if it was an actual animated series, and even plans for the future of the series!

So sit back, grab a snack, and follow me as I take you all on a journey into the making of X-Men: The Next Mutation!

The Premise, The Team, Tone and Style:

The concept for X-Men: The Next Mutation dated all the way back to 2023.

I initially worked on the series in order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of The X-Men.

When coming up with the concept, my biggest inspiration was Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Which saw the titular heroes getting special new powers and becoming the most powerful we've seen them before.

I've always been fascinated by what that series did and I wanted to see something similar to that done with other famous fictional characters.

And among those characters were The X-Men.

And how would they become more powerful?

SECONDARY MUTATIONS!

And so, I decided to have Secondary Mutations, in stark contrast to the comics, be FAR more common among mutants.

Another aspect about this version of The X-Men was to have them in a world where mutants were far more socially accepted.

Not only because I felt that it would allow for the focus on the new powers to truly flourish, but also because let's be real, I think we're all starting to get burned out by seeing The X-Men being hated by all humanity and on the verge of extinction for the umpteenth time.

And after coming up with those aspects, I immediately came up with my roster.

This version of The X-Men would've consisted Cyclops, Jean Grey (who would be going under an actual codename: Psyche), Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Lockheed, Rogue, Iceman, Beast, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Angel, Thunderbird, Sunfire, Emma Frost, Psylocke, Banshee, and Xavier.

And I had already had their Secondary Mutations in mind.

And so, with all my basics down, I realized something....

I wasn't able to come up with any stories or episode ideas.

So I decided to scrap the project.

But with the impending release of X-Men '97, it gave me the encouragement to do my own X-Men series.

So I decided to revive the project, but with some changes.

I decided to scale down the roster, only keeping Cyclops, Psyche, Beast, Storm, Angel, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Iceman, Wolverine, Shadowcat, Lockheed and Xavier.

I wanted the starting roster to be a mix between the First Class and Giant-Sized cast.

I also decided to age down the cast as well.

They were originally gonna be around the same ages as in the comics.

But I aged them down to be teenagers and young adults instead.

And this ties into the main reason why I couldn’t think of any episodes for the original version.

The X-Men were already gonna have their Secondary Mutations from the start of the series.

And I felt that wasn't a good idea, as it would essentially make the series feel pointless.

So I figured it would be best to focus on The X-Men getting their new Mutations and seeing them gradually get use to them.

Hence why I made them so young.

As for the depictions of the X-Men themselves, there are two members I specifically want to highlight: Angel and Xavier.

Angel because in contrast to the comics, adaptations and even most fanfictions......he's a female here.

This was heavily inspired by the artist oni18064, who in his Marvel AU, had made Angel a female by the name of Wren Worthington.

I found the concept rather intriguing and I'd decided to adapt the idea into my series.

I had this idea in mind even for the original version of Next Mutation.

As for Xavier, I kinda wanted to help him out.

I've already gone on record about this, but it does bare repeating.

The comics have not been kind to this man for the last 20 years.

Constantly revealing tons of shady and terrible things he's done.

Going so far as to RETCON them during major events in The X-Men's early years!

I get that Xavier is not suppose to be perfect, but this movement of just tearing him down and revealing that he's a horrible person has become OVERKILL!

And having The X-Men (or anyone as a matter of fact) gradually wanting nothing to do with him anymore.

And they're still doing it to this day!

I swear to God.

90% of the horrible things that happened (or have happened) to The X-Men, Xavier is usually somehow involved in it.

And this has done so much damage how many people view him.

So many fans tend to view Xavier in an incredibly negative light and see him as a let's be real, the fucking Anti-Christ!

And I don't know why the comics became so obsessed with making Xavier into the true villain of this entire series!

But from what I've heard, this can largely be blamed on the original Ultimate Universe.

Where everyone was literally the worst versions of themselves.

Xavier in The Ultimate Universe was incredibly manipulative and was clearly shown to use his powers to get what he wants.

Also, he had the hots for Jean.

Apparently the reason why he's like that is because the Ultimate Universe had the basis of taking the negative traits that many of these characters briefly had and just made that their entire personality.

And Xavier did display a few moments of manipulation and having an interest in Jean in the past.

So they basically made that his entire personality.

Though I must ask why they decided to bring that over from the Ultimate Universe?

If they did that, why didn't they bring any of this as well?

(P.S.: Firestar in that panel is about 15 years old)

So for this series, I wanted to......not do that.

I wanted show while he may not be perfect, Xavier is a genuinely good person.

Along with that, I wanted to fix many of the major criticisms levied against him

In the comics, it's been shown that Xavier has used his powers to manipulate and tamper with the minds of others, specifically the original five.

Here, while not shown yet, The X-Men all joined Xavier by their own free will.

I really want his relationship with The X-Men, especially Cyclops, to feel much more genuine.

Not only being someone they can truly look up to and look to during their tough times, but also being someone that is truly their friend.

Another major complaint is that he never really helps out, using sitting on the sidelines while his band of child soldiers basically risk their lives for his goal.

So I decided to make him a more active player in The X-Men's adventures!

This aspect was heavily inspired by, of all characters, Joe Swanson from Family Guy!

Before he became a total joke, Joe was portrayed as not only a very competent cop, but also a surprisingly tough fighter, in spite of the fact he was stuck in wheelchair.

And So, I decided to have Xavier's fighting style being a mix between his psionic powers and his combat prowess.

Remember, the guy is canonically an Army veteran.

One thing to note about this version of Xavier is his ideology.

It's essentially the same as Cyclops' in the comics.

He believes that while mutants and humans can peacefully co-exist, but he knows that not all of them are willing to.

And that mutants should be allowed to have rights and defend themselves from prejudice.

One last thing to note about Xavier is his racial background.

In contrast to most other iteration, Xavier is of mixed heritage.

With his father being Caucasian, and his mother being African-American.

This was heavily inspired by lot a recent fan interpretations of the characters.

Which themselves were inspired by the popular fan casting of Giancarlo Esposito as Xavier.

So I decided to adapt that aspect into my fanfic and made Giancarlo the voice of the character.

Sidenote: I'm actually kinda surprised that none of readers have made any Breaking Bad jokes yet.....

Speaking of voices, when casting The X-Men, I already had who I wanted in mind.

And the choices I had were already recurring VAs for the characters.

Scott Porter as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Danielle Nicolet as Storm, Liam O'Brien as Nightcrawler, Chris Cox as Colossus, and of course, Steve Blum as Wolverine.

But for the others, this where things get interesting.

For Angel, I already had Grey Griffin in mind for her.

Same goes for Dee Bradley Baker as Lockheed.

As for the other three X-Men.....

I choose Jason Marsden for Iceman, as I felt that he would make for a pretty solid new voice for the character.

Plus, he's actually voiced Iceman before!

That being in the video game, X-Men Destiny.

It was admittedly a little tough to find a voice for a younger Beast.

But in the end, I settled on Yuri Lowenthal.

The reason why is actually an Easter Egg.

One of Yuri's most famous roles is of course, Ben Tennyson.

And several times in the series, we've met future versions of Ben, going by the alias Ben 10,000.

And the in the original series, Ben 10,000 was voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who's basically been the penultimate voice for Beast since Wolverine and the X-Men.

So basically, Fred is gonna be how Beast will sound like when he gets older.

But the hardest character for me to find a voice for was Shadowcat.

Since I wanted to give her a new VA.

But it was so damn hard.

So much so that I even considered giving her one of the prior VAs like Danielle Judovits or Kath Soucie.

But in the end, I settled on Jennie Kwan, who you'll know best as Chun Li in Street Fighter 6 and Suki in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

For the team's outfits, I used the exact same ones done by TheScarletMercenary.

I wanted to give the team for this first season matching uniforms.

And essentially, these outfits are like a modernized version of the original, First Class outfits.

The only exception with this is Wolverine, who's wearing the same outfit also done by TheScarletMercenary.

Which itself is pretty much a modified version of his classic outfit.

For the tone and style of this series, I wanted it to be a callback to a lot of the teen-focused action shows a lot us grew up with.

Teen Titans, Alpha Teens on Machines, Ben 10, Totally Spies, Danny Phantom, and even X-Men Evolution.

With a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of comedy, and most importantly, a lot of heart.

One thing to note is how this series isn't really as heavy with the themes like most other X-Men series.

That's because I kinda wanted to avoid that.

Sort of....

I know how important they are to the identity of the brand, but I've always kinda had the fear that The X-Men could only be used as just for allegory and commentary and.......literally nothing else.

But even then, those themes are still there, just little more low-key.

In episode 3, "The Beast Within", we get to see Beast's childhood and the struggles he faced due to his animalistic appearance.

And in episode 5, "Flight of The Thunderbird: Part 2", we find out how Edwin Martynec's experiment had turned the residents of Camp Verde into anthropomorphic animals.

Another thing to note is how you hardly see The X-Men in their uniforms.

Like, they've only been in the damn things for two episodes.

This essentially ties into the more slice-of-life approach to this series.

Given that's something we hardly see from The X-Men nowadays.

Hell, in the little downtime they get, they're always usually still in their uniforms.

It reminds you that in spite of their extraordinary powers, they're still just normal people with their own hobbies, dreams and interests.

But real talk though, this might be the X-Men fanfic version of Regular Show.

Like, we usually start off with these guys doing normal, everyday stuff and then BAM!

They suddenly find themselves thrusted into a world of insanity with whatever villain of the week they're facing.

Though they haven't reached this level yet.....

One major aspect of this series is its world building.

Particularly when it comes to Mutations.

I already mentioned how Secondary Mutations in this world are far more common.

But I also gave the Mutations their own system.

As stated in the series, Mutations are divided into six classes.

Energy: The mutants in this class possess the ability to manipulate some form of energy.

Mental: The mutants in this class possess various psychic capabilities.

Feral: The mutants in this class have Mutations that involve the transformation into or the obtaining of physical traits of members of the animal kingdom.

Elemental: The mutants in this class possess some kind of manipulation over the forces of nature.

Molecular: The mutants in this class have the ability to manipulate and alter their own bodies in some way.

Hybrid: The mutants in this class possess a set of Mutations that don't exactly fit into one specific class.

This system, along with the Mutations having actual names, was inspired by the Quirk system from My Hero Academia.

I also wanted to fix a major issue that's been plaguing X-Men stories for a long time....

Being that they've kinda made mutants a lot less interesting.

One thing that was cool about them was that not all of them were connected to The X-Men and many of them were doing their own thing in other parts of the world.

But with everything that's happened to them, they've unfortunately been reduced to being huddled and grouped together.

So for this series, I wanted The X-Men to have allies who while mutants, are usually off doing their own thing.

Like with Thunderbird, who's based down in Arizona.

And lastly, I want to talk about what this series would be like it if was animated.

The character designs would be Jeff Matsuda, who's famous for his work in comics and animation, especially the latter!

He did the character designs for Jackie Chan Adventures.....

The Batman....

And TMNT.

And he already has experience with The X-Men thanks to their comics.

As for the animation, it would be done by Flying Bark Studios, the animation studios behind Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Glitch Techs and LEGO Monkie Kid.

Like, you’re telling me you wouldn’t want a X-Men series animated like this?

Well that was part 1!

Part 2 will be going into detail on the X-Men’s Secondary Mutations and the inspirations for them, their supporting cast, and even their villains!

So stay tuned!

But until then, let me know what you guys think about this behind the scenes feature.

Also, let me know what you guys think makes my fanfic work in general.

[edutainer2022]

I may... be slightly embarrassed by this story, but definitely NOT sorry. I had lots of fun writing. The FlashFiction "PORTAL" prompt @janetm74 brought up was too good to pass up. I typically don't do OCs. I am nearly dialogue-impared and attempts at humor are admittedly not stellar. But hey... we all have that pet sandbox of headcanons about "Next Generation Thunderbirds" or "What if Timetravel", right? I was thoroughly entertained to play in mine with this piece. Hope, you're all somewhat amuzed reading too.

TIMEY-WIMEY

The young man and woman reached for the sidearms in unison, barely stepping through a hissing door, before freezing in wide-eyed wonder. About the same hight, blond, hazel eyes that belied an unmistakable resemblance of fraternal twins, they moved as one. Scott was faster, however, stepping to shield the rest of his brothers, hands thrown up, palms open in a universal gesture of "We mean no harm!" Before he could say a word, however, the young man had already holstered a gun - a glossy futuristic model they never saw GDF carry - and tutted them all to keep quiet. The woman next to him tapped her ear, activating a mic:

- Listen up, everyone! We have a situation! Butterfly effect. Repeat, possible butterfly effect.

They were obviously in some kind of crew quarters or an officer lounge - sleek, clean lines, but comfortable seats in different areas. The space was lived in too - the holo photos on the walls displayed young men and women laughing, hugging, leaning against unfamiliar sleek aircrafts. Some groups contained the pair present - both in civilian clothes and in uniform none of the Tracies could place. It would be fascinating to ponder, except they were supposed to be in a different lounge altogether. In fact, they were - a minute ago. On their own island, going through a mission debrief that was headed into a pleasant family evening all together, even John, once they wrapped up and changed out of uniform. There were no palm trees or the sky outside the huge port windows now. As far as the eye could see the view displayed only the infinite dark and the stars. They were in space.

Virgil and Alan were gawking, stunned by that realization. John was scanning the room for some clues or a comm. Their own comm units were, conspicuously, dead. Scott was still processing the fact that he was effectively shut up by a stranger with a gun. Gordon turned his attention back at the holo pictures on the wall for some suitable intel. Following his eyes movement, the woman by the door tapped a quick command on the wrist and the holos turned off simultaneously.

- Sorry about that. Mandatory Paradox protocol - the fewer details you know the better. 

Five pairs of eyes were trained on her. John found his voice first:

- Paradox protocol?

The blond man shrugged noncommittaly in a manner unnervingly familiar:

- The butterfly effect. You know, Bradbury? How in time travel you can't interact with stuff or it'll change the timeline? Sometimes the Delta-drive gets the timey-wimey all confused and it creates a temporary paradox. Like a portal.

- But no worries! - his, sister (apparently), chimed in, clearly amused. - Our Brain Trust will sort it out and get you out of here in no time. See what I did here?

They shared a Look, sniggered, and high fived.

Of all the details and questions, snowballing around, Alan, for some reason, latched onto the term:

- The Delta-drive? Like the T-drive?

The blond siblings shared a confused look again, before the man answered:

-Yeah, kinda. But at some point B... they ran out of Latin alphabet.

At that moment Scott's indignation and thinly veiled worry breached containment and, fists clenched, he almost screamed:

- Where is HERE?! Who are you?! How did we get here?!!!

Virgil switched his own imploding anxiety from the twinkling unfamiliar stars to a more immediate target and placed a calming hand on his big brother's shoulder.

The young woman rolled her eyes in a manner that too, was unnervingly recognizable, if hard to place:

- In reverse order: 1) We don't know how you got here, but, hopefully, will figure it out soon. You can't stay long. 2) You can't have too much information on who we are, but if it helps - I'm Sally, this is Grant, my twin brother and the bane of my existence (Grant made a point to give her a Look with a dramatic flourish); 3) "Here" is in Oort Cloud, strictly speaking. Welcome to the Lighthouse.

The collective audible gasp was swallowed by another door hissing, at the opposite wall. A group of four walked in - all young, an age bracket indistinguishable from that of the Tracy brothers. Two guys  and two girls. All looking rather disheveled and yawning, eyes bleary from lack of sleep. One of the girls had a screwdriver holding up a messy bun of black hair. A tattatered flannel shirt was wrapped around her waist -  more oil stains and burn marks, than fabric. There were grease stains on her forearm too, over an elaborate wreathe of flowers and wings, tattooed there. The guy walking next to her, dark haired and broad, sported a similar state of attire, except his flannel shirt was on. There was soot smeared on his forehead and cheek, covered in overnight shadow. The taller young man in the party was poking at holograms of some specs on the go, paying little attention to his surroundings. Dark auburn hair was curling every which way, one lock falling on the forhead to his obvious annoyance. He was clad in a cardigan that would have promoted Brains to the fashion icon of the Nerd community. That made three of them looking in disarray. The fourth young woman was rather prim and put together, if pale, looking around stiffly. The gaze of green eyes landed on the Tracy brothers, still standing back to back in the middle of the room, and she froze.

The rest of the newcomers effectively bumped into her, shifting attention to the present party. More audible gasps passed around, from the hosts this time.

Scott took the opportunity to take the initiative again:

- Hi, I'm Scott Tracy, these are my brothers. We're International Rescue...

The flannel clad big guy heaved a sigh, but smiled warmly:

- We know who you are. How? - his question was directed at the blond duo, still guarding the other exit.

- We were kinda hoping you guys will shed some light on that. Timey-wimey is your area.

It was the tall guy's cue to huff in exasperation, a slight accent hard to place:

- For the thousand's time! It's not timey-wimey, it's quantum physics!

- You say tomAIto... - his blond counterpart was grinning sunnily. All Tracies had a distinct feeling they had already witnessed this conversation on multiple occasions.

- Technically, it was the eight hundred seventy fifth time.

All eyes were on the girl speaking, but she just smoothed a non existent wrinkle on a crisp pant leg and clasped her hands awkwardly. John's eyes widened. Gordon's squinted.

- Anyhow... - the bigger man coughed discretely, to switch the conversation back on track. - Nice to meet you! I'm Kip. (Virgil yelped from an unexpected elbow in the ribs from Gordon). Tweedledum and Tweedledee there yonder probably told you we can't volunteer too much information. This is my little sister Kyra (he gestured to the girl with a screwdriver, currently in a hushed conversation with the auburn nerd), that's Lee over there and... Dawn.

The visible stumble in introductions had John squint too, then hitch a breath.

- The Delta-drive is offline after the last... mission. - That was Lee speaking again, surrounded by even more holograms, Dawn at his side sifting through data streams with uncanny speed. - We spent the night cycle rewiring and reconnecting everything manually (that was supported by enthusiastic groans from Kip and Kyra, now busy distributing generous cups of coffee around). - So whatever caused the Paradox is, likely, on their side.

That shifted all gazes in the room back to the Tracies again. In the spotlight, they looked utterly baffled.

Clearly a self-appointed morale officer - Grant supplied a consolation:

- Could be worse, right?

Kip pinched his nose, in a familiar attempt to stave off a headache after an all-nighter with busted equipment:

- Speaking of things getting worse... Where's our Intrepid Leader?

The question was directed at the Twins. It was Sally's turn to shrug:

- We were on perimeter patrol when Phoenix One left. Skye is off planetside for a Joint Chiefs meeting with the World President. The... last mission report and debriefing.

There was a snort from the general direction of the coffee table:

- I'd sell tickets to THAT show. Do we have GDF on standby? International Rescue notified for the possible fallout? Do we even still HAVE a World President?

Another mechanical hiss of the doors was an answer to that. The Twins shifted to attention imperceptibly, as a young woman in black space grade uniform strode in with urgency and determination. Lithe, runway model tall and as beautiful, blue eyes intense and dark in fluorescent light, assessing the scene in fraction of seconds, dark curls sleeked back in a bun.

- As you were.

The next words were directed at Kip and Kyra, still beaming in astonishment:

- I'll let you know that yes, we, in fact, still have a World President. I may not be on speaking terms with the man, but I draw a line at patricide.

Blue eyes glanced over the Tracies, but pointedly didn't linger, directing the unvoiced question at, obviously, the science team of the group - Lee and Dawn. They shifted several holograms her way immediately. There was something harsh about the young commanding officer, a shadow of pain etched in every feature.

Kip gulped down a mouthful of hot coffee:

- I was thinking more along the lines of a heart attack or a stroke. But good to know. Why are you back so soon? Didn't you have a report to deliver?

- I did. I delivered the report, encrypted, for President's eyes only. Then I left.

Grant and Sally whistled in unison as they, apparently, did many things in life:

- Sooooo... how long till the cavalry arrives? And all the king's Thund...

An elbow to the ribs put a halt to Grant's babbling, just as Gordon sported a cartoonish light bulb expression - jaw dropping and all. The confused gargle at the back of his throat was, however, muffled by John's palm over his mouth. Scott stood uncharacteristically still, thunderstruck.

Kyra broke the precarious moment with a splash of another helping of coffee (third since they arrived) into the mug:

- No need to worry. We're all due at the Met tonight for Lucy's recital anyway. We're gonna get the full dressing down there. That's including Gramps. We're gonna get such an earful from... everyone - we might not hear her sing.

In that moment Lee punched the air and released what could only be described as a war cry:

- That's it! The recital! That's what triggered the Paradox!

The Tracies were mostly reduced to speechless perplexity by that point, but Virgil couldn't let that one go, brows furrowing:

- How can music trigger time travel?

Lee rolled his eyes again in a gesture that had Alan inch closer to the light bulb moment too. Kip took it upon himself to be the pillar of patience (maybe not for the first time in present company) and explained:

- Music doesn't trigger time travel. Space-time context does. You're all here. And you're all due to be present at one of my sister's recital at the Metropolitan Opera tonight. It's a memorial concert, the World President will be in attendance. Well, not the you you, but the other you. The today you. Does it make sense?

A cacophony of "no"s in all Tracy voices filled the room. Gordon chimed in, voicing general confusion:

- Why would we ALL attend with the President? And how many sisters do you have?

- As... International Rescue you're guests of honor and four. Val is a lead neurosurgeon at Tracy Memorial, Casey is currently Deputy Chief of Communications at the World President Office, Kyra here, is, obviously, an engineer of the Lighthouse, and the eldest one, Lucy, is a world class opera singer, mezzo soprano. Does that answer your question?

Gordon squinted again, not willing to let the bone go:

- Why are you attending then? You guests of honor too?

Kyra stepped forth, pointing at the mourning tattoo on her arm:

- It's a memorial recital for one of our own. We lost...Commander Skye's brother in an... experimental equipment test. A Cognitive drive malfunction. It is his birthday.

The Commander in question landed her scrutiny, finally, from the holograms and formulas back on the Tracies, deep in thought. Then to Lee again:

- This doesn't add up. There are all five of them pulled in by the Paradox. Only four would be present tonight.

This time the Tracies erupted in a more than worried "why"s.

Dawn, mostly quiet heretofore and engrossed in the datastream, spoke up:

- This may explain it. A dispatch from orbital patrol is just in: USS ZXL CJT made a Delta-drive jump back into the solar system.

Gasps of surprise were summarized by Skye's hoarse wisper:

- What happened? They were not due back another three years! Not after what happened to J... (under her breath). Can you rise the Captain?

- Negative. Not from this range.

Lee clicked his fingers and pumped the air again:

- That's our trigger! We'll have to jump the Lighthouse from Oort Cloud back to Earth now, to investigate. That's how the Paradox would assemble!

Alan snapped his head from one person talking to the other and finally burst out a question:

- What's ZXL CJT?

Dawn paused, seemingly, choosing words. Skye, suddenly grim and somber, gave her a slight nod to proceed:

- A Zero-XL class deep space recon and rescue vehicle "Colonel Jeff Tracy". Captain on board - Alan Sheppard Tracy.

[xplainthexmen]

In which a lot has happened in the Six Month Gap (and we even get to learn about some of it); we’d missed Claremontian narration; Miles has questions about Colossus’s ponytail; the Soulsword is basically a Poké Ball; the Shadow Pope is cooler than the regular Pope; and Magik has a secret.

X-PLAINED:

Some big news

X-Men: Black Sun #1-5

Phoenix and Psylocke’s sorta-power-swap

Implied continuity

The N’Garai

Belasco

Limbo

Magik (Illyana Rasputin)

New costumes

Priests vs blood magic

An impressively overcomplicated evil plot

Chekhov’s skeleton

Body swaps and/or possession

Thunderbird (Neal Sharra)

Pilgrimm and the Ru’tai (again, surprisingly)

Astral meetups

Confusing bloodstone math

A Triple-Tech

Magik (Amanda Sefton)

Counting X-generations

Our favorite X-decades

NEXT EPISODE: More Magik!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog.

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Buy rad swag at our Dashery shop!

[llamawrites]

next generation Wip

You know that big jump at the end of the dirt bike trail,” Joy said sheepishly, with her free hand she scratched the back of her head. “Well, I didn’t land that jump.”

“I see,” replied Fermat, head still in the first aid kit. He finally found what he was looking for: an alcohol pad. He grabbed it. Then he glanced at the bloody Kleenex that Joy had pressed against her leg, he grabbed a few more pads. Setting the alcohol pads down on the table, he picked one of the packs of alcohol pads off the table.

“May I see your left leg,” asked Fermat 

[raurquiz]

#happybirthday @jonathansfrakes #jonathanfrakes #actor #director #riker #startrek #thenextgeneration #deepspacenine #voyager #generations #firstcontact #insurrection #nemesis #enterprise #startrekdiscovery #startrekpicard #lowerdecks #Clockstoppers #Thunderbirds #theorville #Roswell

[sailing-on-a-puddle]

General X - Chapter 1

I've decided to write a multi-chapter fic. This one follows on from my TAG Secret Santa fic, and is a crossover between Thunderbirds Are Go and Wallace and Gromit. There's a TOS Easter Egg coming later as you might have guessed from the title :-) I also posted the very first bit earlier this week.

There will be a bit more drama in this than my usual fluff, but it's suitable for all Thunderbirds Are Go/Wallace and Gromit levels of peril.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Massive thanks to @coco9728 who was my Secret Santa recipient and requested a crossover which got me writing this.

------------------

Virgil walked into the lounge to find everything was quiet. Gordon was relaxing on a sofa with a strange neon yellow drink in one hand and looking at a green toy that was still sealed in a box. Nobody else seemed to be around.

“Still buying junk from trash mines online Fish?” Virgil asked with an arched eyebrow.

“This is not junk! It's still in the box. These trousers were amazing, made by NASA. The toys were really popular in the 1990s, it's an antique.”

Virgil sighed, then prodded a couple of buttons on the remote and brought up his holographic call with Wallace and Gromit. It was evening on Tracy Island, so morning in the UK which made it a good time for a call.

“Hi Wallace. Hi Gromit, great to see you again. This is my brother Gordon” Virgil said, gesturing in Gordon's direction.

“Hi” Gordon replied, waving. Since one hand was occupied with the boxed toy and the other with the open neon drink, Gordon sensibly chose to wave the hand with the toy.

“So I thought …” Virgil trailed off as Gromit was anxiously getting Wallace's attention and pointing at something. It took both Virgil and Wallace some time to realise he was pointing at the toy Gordon had.

“Gordon, what is that?” Virgil asked.

“Oh so now you’re interested in Squid Shopping” Gordon said, putting down the drink and showcasing the boxed toy. “They’re Techno Trousers in amazing condition! Look!”

“Oh you keep those Techno Trousers right in their box Mr Tracy” Wallace replied. “Those things are more trouble than they’re worth!”

“I intend to” Gordon smiled. “They’re very collectable.”

Gromit was looking at Gordon incredulously.

“Anyway” Virgil said, changing the topic. He didn’t want to probe what Wallace or Gromit might have against the Techno Trousers, for fear that it was as bizarre as the moon rocket. “Wallace, you wanted help with the Autochef.”

“Ah yes” Wallace responded. “Never quite got that cooking robot working right, have we lad? We managed to have a whole automated bakery running at one point, but we've never got the Autochef to make a decent bolognese.”

Gromit looked doubtful at the word ‘automated’. Virgil suspected some of the alleged automation might have been Gromit himself working.

Gromit then looked over at a calendar on the wall, pointed at the door and waved to Wallace, then to Virgil and Gordon.

“Ah, heading off are you lad?” Gromit nodded. “Ah, cinema trip with Fluffles” Wallace said, reading the calendar. Gromit nodded and left the room. “He has a better social life than I do” Wallace said, leaning his chin on his hand and looking forlorn.

Virgil brought him back to the woes of the Autochef. Apparently the Autochef was an old invention, one Wallace had never quite perfected.

Virgil knew Brains would have the Autochef working in no time, since Max could already cook and far more besides, but this was something Virgil wanted to work on with Wallace. He was rather enjoying the new found friendship with the eccentric inventor.

The pair chatted through some adjustments and Wallace adjusted some settings but still the Autochef was struggling. Food seemed to be under or over done, though Gordon glanced up to suggest it was still more appetising than Grandma’s cooking.

Virgil agreed.

Suddenly Kayo leapt into the lounge, appearing from nowhere. “He’s moving! John are you there? John? We need tracking!”

John’s hologram appeared next to the scene in Wallace’s house in the middle of the lounge.

“John, we need to track … sorry Virgil, we need to terminate this for security. Wallace, I'm very sorry, another time.”

“That's OK, Ms.. . Er…”

“Kayo” Virgil finished. “We'll speak soon Wallace.”

“Excellent Virgil. It's just gone very dark you know, I'd better put some lights …”

Wallace's hologram and the scene in his house disappeared when Kayo pressed a button.

“OK, Kayo, who needs tracking?” John asked.

“The Hood John! He's launched from an abandoned quarry in Horton in Ribblesdale, England. I'm launching Shadow but I need you to track him.”

“Kayo, is this the point where Scott would tell you the Hood is the GDF's problem?” Gordon objected. “Nobody needs rescuing.”

“And I would point out to Scott that we stop the Hood before anybody needs rescuing. The GDF failed to keep him in prison” Kayo replied, before sitting in her launch seat and disappearing to begin her launch sequence.

John was watching the tracking display, moving some items round the holographic projection, which showed the Hood moving at speed.

"I don't think this is showing correctly. It looks like there's a bug in the system that's delaying his tracking.” John opened another holographic screen and started typing some code. “Kayo, does he know you're tracking him?”

“He's probably guessed. I thought it was too easy getting that tracking device on him even if it didn’t work underground. Thunderbird Shadow is go!” Kayo announced. Her hologram appeared next to John’s in the lounge.

Gordon and Virgil looked at each other. Neither knew Kayo had a tracking device on the Hood, though given the circumstances it had proven warranted. When Kayo said he’d been underground she had evidently meant literally, as he had been inside the disused quarry.

“Got it!” John announced. “OK Kayo, he's stopped moving. He’s moved approximately 50 miles from the quarry and he's hovering above a street in the town of Wigan. The coordinates are …”

“John, what's the name of the street he's hovering above?” Virgil interupted, speaking higher and quicker than usual.

“Do you know anybody in Wigan?” Gordon asked, looking confused.

“Just one, and he said it had suddenly gone dark,” Virgil answered.

Gordon’s eyes widened as he realised what Virgil meant, and John replied “He’s hovering above 62 West Wallaby Street.”

Virgil sighed. “Thunderbird 2 is go.”

[emtb319]

My submission for day 1 of Fishtank week. Not sure now much I like it, but I'm sharing anyway.

Day 1 - Wingman

‘Gords, it’s about time you did something,’ Virgil said as Gordon tried to walk away from him.

‘Virgil, not now.  Ok?’  Gordon was not ready for this conversation.  This wasn’t the place nor the time.  He had to think, had to plan.  Virgil caught up to him and swung him around by his shoulders.

‘If not now, when?’, he asked.  ‘It’s obvious that you two love each other and want to be together, but you won’t make the move.’  Gordon sighed.

‘You don’t get it, do you?’  He waited for Virgil to respond, but he didn’t.  ‘Love only goes so far.  What about our homes, our families, our jobs, huh?  Don’t you get it?’  This time Virgil sighed.

‘You think that the next step means her leaving England forever or you the island forever, and neither of you like those options.’  Gordon paused, then he nodded his head.

‘What kind of wingman would I be if I didn’t think of any of that?’

‘Wait what?,’ said Gordon confused.

‘Gordon, what if I told you that Thunderbird 4 could be stationed in England if you want.’

‘How?  We need 2 to transport her.’

‘We need my bird to transport her with a fully stocked pod.  Brains and I have been working on something for you.’  Virgil took out a tablet from his jacket and opened up some schematics for Gordon to see.  ‘Now, do you get it?  You don’t have to give up anything.  You can still man your bird.  You’d be able to fly her anywhere too, and if Penny decides that she wants to relocate to the island instead,’ Virgil paused, bringing up another file on his tablet, ‘we can do this.  There’s plenty of room on the island for everyone.  You guys could have your own home.’  Gordon took the tablet from Virgil’s hands to look it all over.

‘Virgil, I don’t know what to say.’

‘Here,’ Virgil pushed a small box into his hand.  ‘Go get your lady and bring me back a sister in law.’  With that, he shoved Gordon in Penelope’s general direction and watched him walk towards her.