#old-fashioned-boy-mccoy

[bcnes]

tag dump 001.

[t0ast-ghost]

Episode 23 (Space Seed) it’s kind of funny to me how many of these I’ve made by this point. I think only…62 to go? That seems like accurate math skills.

Let’s just fuckin go:

- “I can’t understand why it always gives you pleasure to see me wrong” already starting this, are we?

- WAIT WHAT isn’t Botany Bay from… eugenics war… khan?? (Thought this was a different episode)

- McCoy and Spock just fight, they’re like two cats who will just attack each other. They just will fight right with Kirk between them.. I feel sorry for whatever poor bastard gets put between them, like take this to another room gentlemen

- “Care to join the landing party, doctor?” “Well if you’re actually giving me a choice-” “I’m not” he’s so salty today

- “Here’s a chance for the historian to do something” lol poor historians

- Who wrote this episode? They’re so sassy today

- “You’re an old fashioned boy, McCoy.” did he know it would rhyme?

- wait… KHAN IS FROM 1990s??? Does he know what a teletubbie is?

- haha Kirk you do not know what you’re unleashing

- What is Spock looking at on that tiny ass screen in his corner of the bridge

- Jim Kirk as a psychologist? Literally just let me suffer

- NONONO DINT GURT MCCOY

- “Well either choke me or cut my throat make up your mind.” No survival instincts, none. What why would you say this Bones?! And then he continues to explain how to kill him “I was just trying to avoid an argument.”

- DO NOT give this man access to your ships blueprints

- Kirk took Spock’s chair so Spock simply sits on the control panel

- MCGIVERS GET OUT OF THERE, do not engage with him

- The way Spock says “whip” with a little extra “whuh”

- Nono Spock is quite right, what the fuck, he was a tyrant don’t admire him

- Can you not leave the bridge from anywhere but the turbo lift? That’s a fire hazard

- “Every person on the bridge will suffocate.” Kirk looks directly at Spock and only Spock

- WHY are you wasting your air on a captains log

- wow historians suck

- “Take Mr Spock next” McCoy looks so worried

- Why would you need this chamber for medical reasons

- Kirk stunt double, I cannot express to you how obvious it looks (cool fight tho)

- That little bell is so stupid, I wouldn’t be able to not laugh

- WAIT they’re letting them go? He’s awful

- McCoy kinda just had to sit there

The credits have a blurry picture of Spock punching Kirk which is… what is that

Masterpost

[doctornota]

PLOTTER / RELATIONSHIP AD.

interested in forming a dynamic with bones? not sure where to go with it? down below you can find some ideas on how to jumpstart an interaction or develop a relationship with him! additionally, this post serves as a permanent starter call; by liking this post, you're basically saying you're cool with me jumping into your inbox on meme days. i may also reach out in dms or on discord to talk about thread ideas or touch base on where you'd like things to go between our muses.

brief cliffnotes: Leonard McCoy is a doctor, and that is the first and most important thing anyone will ever learn about him. he's also a scientist, a whiskey enthusiast, a father, and very, very divorced. he's abrasive, argumentative, and grouchy, with a fiery temper and a persistent anxiety towards most aspects of his life and everybody else's. he's also perhaps the most loyal member of the Enterprise crew and deeply empathetic: the medical work he cares so much about also regularly drives him to tears. get past his act and he's a good old fashioned romantic, a country boy, and very good at dispensing advice or just offering his company when it's needed.

COLLEAGUES & PATIENTS

For now, though he will likely eventually open up a private practice of some sort, McCoy works at one of the hospitals in the Golden Ward. Actually, he practically lives there. He feels the most at home when he's working, and because of his multidisciplinary background is experienced with just about every treatment under the sun. Back home, he spent his free time developing new surgical techniques and vaccines for dozens of different species. This is going to be the easiest way to run into him. Just know that if you bring in a long-term medical mystery he will absolutely take you on as a patient and do his level best to help to the point of being insufferable. He has a tendency to hover. Around other doctors and nurses, specifically, he is much more relaxed ( as relaxed as McCoy ever gets, of course ) as medicine is one of the easiest topics for him to talk about. You will learn more about him if you work with him than if you just try to approach him outside of the job.

FRIENDS

Although McCoy is perpetually grouchy, it's just a well-honed act he's very fond of putting on. Stick around him long enough and within just a week or two it's easy to see that the core of him doesn't lie far beneath the surface at all: he's a man who feels things very deeply and spends a lot of time worrying about the people he cares about. Because of that, he's incredibly loyal. It's difficult to lose his friendship once you've put the work into earning it. You'll need to be able to handle some verbal barbs - he loves arguing and complaining just for the fun of it, but despite all his whining will still willingly allow himself to be dragged around. He also loves a good drink and will hang around bars when he has free time. You can find him in the Golden Ward most frequently, as he lives and works there, but he's also fond of the beach when it's warm enough. If you're trying to take him anywhere, though, just know that it's going to be an uphill battle to get him to step foot into a car. He surprisingly thrives around people who are a little more impulsive, to balance out his tendency to fret and over-think. Spontaneous people who can push him out of his comfort zone and give him plenty of things to really bitch about, though if it leads into thrill-seeking just know you're going to get an earful every time you end up hurt. He's also pretty good at drawing quieter or more introspective people out of their shell and appreciates having someone calmer to turn to.

ENEMIES

Bones tries not to make snap judgments - he's had a low point or two throughout his life - even when people irritate or rub him the wrong way, so it genuinely takes real villainy to earn your way onto his shitlist. He doesn't tolerate purposeful pain being inflicted upon others, and most importantly won't stand for medical malpractice of any sort. He values his oath above just about everything else. He's not above getting into physical fights when he's standing up for something ( or someone ), or even just if someone ticks him off badly enough. However, he will try to avoid killing if at all possible.

RIVALS

As mentioned, Bones loves verbal sparring. Arguing, swapping insults, debating, writing scalding research papers back and forth... you name it, he feels most invigorated when he is engaging in someone that can match his level of intelligence and push back on his viewpoints. When he's interacting with his closest friends, it can be difficult for outsiders to tell if they dislike one another or not. It pushes him to reconsider his opinions and further his own critical thinking and research - this sort of dynamic works out well with other scientists or just headstrong opinionated people.

MENTEES

Bones is arguably one of the best doctors in Starfleet— Chief Medical Officer on the flagship throughout the duration of its entire five year mission. Though he doesn't have the personality of a teacher ( his temper flares too easily ), he's wholly devoted to the art of healing and would be completely invested if someone else wanted to learn medicine, or surgery, or xenobiology... listen, he's got a lot of specializations under his belt. If you can handle a Gordon Ramsay-esque approach to teaching, he's available.

FAMILIAL

Leonard has a complicated relationship with his own family, having cut himself off from most of them following the death of his father ( and being cut off from the other half following his divorce ). Still, he holds fond memories of them and is a family-oriented man - it's just shifted more to found family these days. Back home he has a daughter who he raised to age six, lost custody of, and rekindled a bond with now that she's a teenager: he's got a major soft spot for kids and is much kinder to them than he is to most other people. He was raised in rural Georgia and had a pretty traditional home life, but their doors were open to every neighborhood kid in a ten mile radius, so if you're close to him in a platonic or familial manner you can probably expect him to swing by to bring you dinner or let you crash at his place ( unfortunate news for anyone who might be rooming with him ) when needed.

LOVERS

Bones hasn't officially sworn off long-term commitment following his divorce ( which he swears he's over ), but he struggles deeply with the prospect of dating ( or, god forbid, marriage ). Because of that he'll rarely take that step unless the other person initiates it. He's more open to things on a casual level, though he's objectively terrible at flirting. And pretty bad at navigating that sort of thing in general; he catches deep feelings too easily.

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Spock

By Ames

Last week we highlighted (and lowlighted) James T. Kirk here in our new blog collection, going character by character where no one has gone before. It’s going to be a bit of a trek in and of itself, so join us here on A Star the Steer Her By to learn what we think of all your Starfleet favorites: when are they at their most naughty and most nice. This week, we’re moving on to the best first officer in the fleet and one of our favorite Vulcans, the ever logical Mister Spock!

For the franchise’s first major alien character, he succeeded in teaching humanity to audiences throughout his far-reaching tenure, and that wasn’t always his human half! Credit to Leonard Nimoy for giving us such a well-rounded character even though he couldn’t display emotions in the same fashion as the others (but boy did he find a way!). Follow along below for our thoughts on Spock’s best and worst scenes, and listen to some bonus chatter over on this week’s podcast episode (discussion at 1:05:00). Fascinating.

[Images © CBS/Paramount

Best Moments

Checkmate, Finney It’s been a minute since I released my blogpost about how bad I am at 3D chess (and all chess for that matter), but Spock’s so great at it that he uses his logic and big Vulcan brain to figure out the chess program is busted in “Court Martial” and save the day, which might be the Spockiest thing I’ve ever heard.

Pain! Pain! Spock mind melds a lot of critters throughout the shows and movies, but one of our favorites is when he connects with the Horta in “The Devil in the Dark.” Like in our Kirk spotlight when the captain defended the old girl, we’ve gotta credit Spock with communicating with her and treating her like a sentient being. And Nimoy’s acting in this scene! Mwah!

A man of integrity in both universes The Spock in “Mirror, Mirror” isn’t exactly our normal Spock, as his circumstances in the mirror universe have made him a different person in a lot of ways (mostly in the facial hair region). But in even more ways, he’s just like our Spock: someone who sees the illogical nature of the Terran Empire and who will take steps to make it better.

I love you but I hate you I don’t know why, but I’m just thoroughly tickled when Spock outwits the androids in “I, Mudd” with a logical paradox that breaks their computer brains. Sure, he tries a neck pinch first (he is Spock, after all!), but it’s telling the Alice robots, identical in every way, that he loves one but hates the other that causes them to malfunction all over the place.

Trademark Vulcan sass If Vulcans are allowed to express one emotion throughout all of Star Trek, it’s sass, and Leonard Nimoy can deadpan with the best of straightmen. In “The Trouble with Tribbles,” McCoy remarks that tribbles are “nice, they're soft, they're furry, and they make a pleasant sound,” to which Spock quips, “So would an ermine violin, Doctor, yet I see no advantage to having one.” Grade-A Vulcan sass right there.

Gladiatorial mind games “Bread and Circuses” may not be a good episode, but it gets the Spock-McCoy dynamic right. Not only does Spock save McCoy in battle, but that scene in the prison cell… I could write essays about that scene as they’re both so vulnerable and desperate to connect, but Spock, ever the Vulcan, represses that emotion… just barely. And when Spock tells McCoy that they share concern over Kirk’s safety without actually telling him, it’s perfect.

Vulcans are incapable of lying, he lied While we found Kirk’s behavior in “The Enterprise Incident” utterly baffling, Spock’s is thoroughly intriguing. He spends most of the episode seamlessly deceiving the Romulan Commander who’s thirsting after him so hard, and she plays right into his Vulcan-saluting hands because she didn’t anticipate so many loopholes allowing Vulcans to be duplicitous!

The wonders of the universe Am I mostly bringing up Spock mind melding a giant cloud in “One of Our Planets Is Missing” so that I can bring up my TOS fanfiction “Sentient Life”? A little bit.

I have been and always shall be your friend This list would not be complete without the beautiful sacrifice scene in The Wrath of Khan. The needs of the many do indeed outweigh the needs of the few in this perfectly poignant and amazingly acted character death. I can’t think of a better main character death in all of Star Trek and Nimoy crushed it.

Rock out with your Spock out We’ve also got to give credit to Leonard Nimoy for the Vulcan neck pinch, a nonviolent, nonfatal deescalation tactic that is perfectly in character. It is a great inclusion for such a logical people to manage violent conflict in a mostly harmless way, and one of our favorites is neck pinching the punk on the bus since it’s also one of many great comedic moments in The Voyage Home.

They are not the hell your whales Speaking of The Voyage Home, we’ve got more good Spock moments to choose from in that movie! It is such a smorgasbord of quippy, fun moments for our resident Vulcan because so much of the movie is that fish-out-of-water kind of humor, but everything Spock has to do with the whales, George and Gracie, is especially excellent.

Cowboy diplomacy We even get to see a little Spock action in The Next Generation when his plan to reunite Vulcan and Romulus gets revealed in “Unification.” It is such a noble goal from our logical friend (perhaps spurred by his encounter with the Romulan Commander in “The Enterprise Incident”? Nudge nudge!) and we loved seeing his resolve and commitment to helping his square-shouldered cousins.

—

Worst Moments

Beep twice for “NO!” I get that the studio wanted to save time and money by using the footage from “The Cage” in “The Menagerie,” but they had Spock acting fully out of character to make it happen. He kidnaps his disabled old captain against his will, he conspires to steal the ship, he puts the lives of everyone on the Enterprise in danger, he nearly gets Kirk killed in a shuttle, he creates an illusion of a flag officer! It’s a full-on mutiny that sees no consequences!

Life-or-death decisions, but mostly death “Strange. Step by step, I've made the correct and logical decisions – and yet two men have died,” says Spock in “The Galileo Seven.” Somehow, every time we see Spock in charge, everyone has a really bad day. The show would make you believe it’s because Vulcans only act on logic with no emotion or intuition, but they really need to stop leaving the ship in his hands!

Not even a grandfather paradox – just a father paradox Temporal shenanigans abound in “Tomorrow is Yesterday” when the Enterprise is forced to beam up Captain Christopher. Spock assures everyone that the displaced pilot will have no bearing on history, until he is forced to eat those words because this science officer neglected to check if Christopher’s son would be influential. Since when is Spock so careless?

A need-to-know basis We joked throughout The Original Series that Vulcans seemed to attain a new superpower each week. And since Spock just doesn’t seem to tell people things they need to know until they really need to know it, we don’t learn about his inner eyelids until “Operation: Annihilate!”, his parents being onboard until “Journey to Babel,” or his having a half brother until Star Trek V!

This has pon farr enough I’m frankly sick of everything about pon farr, and am dreading revisiting it in Enterprise. It’s yet another one of those Vulcan aspects they won’t tell you about until too late, and in “Amok Time,” it’s way too late. The whole biological circumstance is weird enough, but if Vulcans has told us any of their rituals ahead of time, Spock wouldn’t have had to kill his best friend in the kal-if-fee like a chump.

Heil Spock While it’s mostly a gag on the podcast that Spock loves Nazis, there’s definitely a reason why we think that. In “Patterns of Force,” Spock agrees with Gill when he calls Nazi Germany the most efficient state Earth ever knew, saying: “Quite true, Captain. That tiny country, beaten, bankrupt, defeated, rose in a few years to stand only one step away from global domination.” Does that make Spock a Nazi? Not entirely, but it would explain some things, like how quick to wanting to kill Mitchell he was in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

What a tangled web he weaves Like in “The Galileo Seven,” Spock ends up in command again when Kirk is presumed dead in “The Tholian Web,” and he borks it. The whole episode is about him and McCoy snipping at each other because of the effects of the area of space, but they’re both extremely out of character even without it, with Spock ignoring Doc’s warning about getting stuck in the web, making awful decisions, and generally being terrible at leading a crew.

If only I could forget We found it weirdly nonconsensual when Spock decides to make Kirk forget about his romance with Rayna (and who knows what else?) in “Requiem for Methuselah.” McCoy jabs at Spock that he’ll never understand, and then Spock seems to act just naively when he takes Kirk’s memory in his sleep, as if Spock were taking him literally when Kirk said he’d rather forget.

Behind every good woman… is Spock taking credit We’ll surely bring up “The Lorelei Signal” when we talk about Uhura’s best moments because it’s a rare moment for the women to get the spotlight, but there’s a moment in this episode in which, despite the lady crewmembers having already figured out the ploy themselves, they’ve hatched their plan “in accordance with Mister Spock’s request” and I vomit in my mouth a little.

You have not achieved kolinahr It’s pretty clear that the production team didn’t know they’d have Leonard Nimoy back for The Motion Picture until late in the writing process because his motivation is spotty at best. Since he has not achieved kolinahr, he rather makes his presence in the movie about himself, and to make matters worse, he yeets off to mind meld with V’ger without telling anyone!

I hear he's nutty as a fruitcake As beautiful as the death scene in The Wrath of Khan is, it’s also pretty messed up for Spock to cram his katra into McCoy with no warning and with dire effects. Think about it: none of the humans knew before The Search for Spock that katras were even a thing, and Bones could have gone insane just for the sake of bringing the character back to life, negating that great sacrifice!

They flung their wooden shoes called sabots into the machines We love a good mind meld on Star Trek, but Spock just plain crosses a line in The Undiscovered Country when he mind rapes Valeris to expose her as the saboteur. Considering the mind meld was first created in order to give Spock an alternative to violent action to combat assailants, using it in a way that’s so violating is the most uncomfortable moment we could think of.

—

Keep your medical tricorders scanning here as we continue along through all the main characters from The Original Series! Next week, we’re scanning for Dr. Bones McCoy here on the blog, as well as continuing our watchthrough of Enterprise over on the podcast. You can also send a message over subspace on Facebook and Twitter, and keep your damn katra to yourself. Live long and prosper!

[positivelybeastly]

send TRICKED for a scene from my muse's past in which they misled, tricked, or lied to someone

It's never been a longer walk up Fifth Avenue than this.

Hank slept on the coach, but even though the trip from Westchester back to the Big Apple gave him enough time to get a good few quality zees in, he still feels heavy and lethargic as he drags himself towards the Avengers Mansion. He's sure that at least part of it is down to the thick, rubber mask he's wearing, that he'd forgotten to take off after leaving the -

After - vacating the Xavier Mansion, premises.

It's not something he really needs to wear out and about. Why would he? What does he have to hide? He's Hank McCoy, the bouncing baby blue Beast, Avenger extraordinaire, howyadoin', want an autograph, watch me swing offa that chandelier - but he feels too tired to pull it off.

And maybe there's something about looking in glass, in looking in mirrors, in looking at the puddles left by last night's rainfall, and seeing actual, old Hank McCoy reflecting back at him, that makes him feel good.

Maybe there's something about seeing the face that met Jean Grey for the first time reflecting back at him that makes him feel like she's still here, in some way, in some fashion.

But all too soon, he reaches 890 Fifth Avenue, and even though the gates are as well maintained and as welcoming as ever, there's something about them that feels wrong at the moment. Maybe he feels a bit more X-Man than Avenger right now, but whatever it is, it throws him off enough that he doesn't realise the gates aren't opening and the defences are on the verge of triggering until he hears Jarvis' voice over the intercom.

" - I say again, sir, if you don't state your name and your business here, then I shall simply have to detain you until you feel more conversational - "

Hank lets out a heavy sigh and pulls off the rubber mask. Even without the sweat and the matted down fur, he looks like hell, his eyes sunken in and lacking their usual lustre as he stares into the camera. "Hey, Jarv. It's me."

He can practically feel Jarvis' jump of alarm, that momentary shock of good heavens, that's master Hank, how could I have been so foolish?! The gates swing open, and he walks down the path to the big ol' double doors he's gone bounding right through so many times that he's surprised the hinges have stayed on.

Jarvis is there, opening the doors and looking concerned in his way. It's not like Hank to look quite so small and see him move so slow, and he's right to be concerned, especially considering that the last thing he knew, Hank was MIA - on monitor duty the same night that a special alert had come in, direct from the President. And here he is, walking up the front lawn like someone's died.

His rubber gloved hands come out of his pockets and he offers them up, as if to say, well, give it to me, both barrels. Edwin Jarvis doesn't have the heart to give him even a single one, and instead, he just moves down the steps to hurry Hank inside, out of the cold.

"Master Beast, where have you been? I was worried sick!"

Hank gives him a humourless little smile. "Would you believe the moon?"

Jarvis tuts. If that's meant to be a joke, it's really not very funny at all, and Hank lowers his head, knowing he's screwed up, that he's going to get a talking to when Cap and Iron Man get back. If they had to get an earful from the President, then by god, Hank's going to get an earful from them.

"Sorry, Jarv. Not very funny, I know. Off my game a bit at the moment. I'll soon cheer up, don't you worry. Nothing can keep Mama McCoy's bouncing baby boy down for long."

It's a torrent of cliches and Jarvis feels like he should be calling someone, but he has the distinct impression that whoever he should be calling, Hank's been with them, and it hasn't exactly made things better, so what else is there to do? He decides to squeeze Hank's shoulders, in a rare show of physical concern, and the Beast brings his hands up to squeeze at Jarvis' wrists softly, thanking him for the concern.

"You are going to be all right, Master Beast?"

Hank forces out a laugh and starts to move up the stairs to his room.

"Me? 'Course I am, Jarv. Hank McCoy doesn't stay blue for long, you know that."

[bcnes-archived]

@finalfronticr chose to ask on a date

Maybe Jim was right, and Leonard really is something of an old-fashioned boy, at least when it comes to romance. Their usual routine is a little less traditional than this, what with their constantly-busy and often-conflicting schedules ( and the well-worn familiarity with which they engage with one another, as if they've been doing this their whole lives rather than just a matter of months ).

So, yes, he is a little thrilled by the notion of being asked on a date, and that's nobody's damn business but his own.

"Depends," he says anyways, because Leonard McCoy is nothing if not Difficult On Purpose. He glances up very briefly from the tools he's sanitizing, eyebrow arched and smile poorly suppressed. "On what you've got in mind, Kirk. It'll have to be mighty impressive to be more enticing than these laser scalpels."

[sofiamantegafan110]

NEW X-MEN EPISODE 2

EPISODE 2: PILOT, PART 2

WE OPEN ON A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY AT XAVIER’S. SLOWLY, CESSILY GETS OUT OF BED WHILE THE SONG “CALL ME IRRESPONSIBLE” STARTS TO PLAY. CESSILY EXCITEDLY DANCES AROUND THE ROOM WITH SOFIA PAYING IT NO MIND. DURING HER ROMP, CESSILY THROWS A PILLOW AROUND, BRUSHES HER TEETH, REMOVES HER PJ’S TO PUT ON NEW CLOTHES, AND BRUSHES HER HAIR. SHE THEN BURSTS OUT THE DOOR, CONTINUING TO DANCE. SHE KNOCKS ON SEVERAL DOORS FOR RHYTHM, CAUSING MANY AN AGGRAVATED STUDENT TO POKE THEIR HEADS OUT. CESSILY THEN BUMPS INTO A STERN-LOOKING EMMA FROST AND SHE IMMEDIATELY DASHES BACK TO HER ROOM.

CUE INTRO AND CREDITS

WE PAN AROUND THE SCHOOL WHILE ANOTHER SONG PLAYS. DURING THIS, WE FOCUS ON SEVERAL TIMES WHEN OUR MAIN STUDENTS INTERACT. CLARICE AND LAURIE PASS SOFIA AND CESSILY IN THE HALLWAY, SANTO SITS NEXT TO JULIAN IN ART, LAURA WATCHES SOFIA LISTEN TO MUSIC DURING ENGLISH, JAY AND CLARICE ARE ASSIGNED AS LAB PARTNERS IN BIOLOGY, SANTO WATCHES CESSILY READ A BOOK IN THE LIBRARY, JULIAN WINKS AT AN OBLIVIOUS SOFIA, WHO SITS ACROSS FROM HIM IN GEOGRAPHY, AND LAURA LIGHTLY BUMPS INTO JAY WHILE GETTING TO HER NEXT CLASS.

DURING LUNCH, CESSILY AND SOFIA ENTHUSE ABOUT THEIR EXCITEMENT SO FAR. SOFIA GUSHES OVER THE FACT THAT MR. MCCOY, THE BIOLOGY TEACHER, WAS CLINGING TO THE CEILING HALF THE TIME, AND CESSILY, IN TURN, TALKS ABOUT HOW SUAVE MR. LEBEAU WAS DURING SEX ED. SOFIA THEN WAVES TO CLARICE, WHO WALKS PAST WITH LAURIE.

LAURIE IMMEDIATELY NOTICES SOFIA WAVING AND ASKS CLARICE IF SHE WANTS TO SIT WITH THEM. CLARICE SAYS NO. SHE’S NOT A PEOPLE PERSON. LAURIE SAYS THAT SHE COULD’VE FOOLED HER BEFORE LOOKING OVER AT A GOTH KID WAVING AT THEM FROM A TABLE. LAURIE IMMEDIATELY DRAGS CLARICE OVER TO THE TABLE AND INTRODUCES THE KID AS KEVIN FORD. THEY MET OVER THE SUMMER, AND HE’S PRETTY COOL.

CLARICE THEN ASKS IF HIS CHOICE OF LATEX ALL OVER HIS BODY IS A MISGUIDED FASHION STATEMENT, AND KEVIN RESPONDS BY REMOVING HIS GLOVE AND THEN TOUCHING HIS LUNCH TRAY. IT IMMEDIATELY CRUMBLES TO DUST, MUCH TO CLARICE’S AMAZEMENT. EVENTUALLY, LAURA SITS DOWN AT THE TABLE, EATING HER FOOD. CLARICE ASKS WHAT HER STORY IS AND SHE DOESN’T RESPOND. CLARICE THEN ASKS IF THIS IS WHERE ALL THE WEIRD KIDS EAT LUNCH.

LAURIE: SOCIAL OUTCASTS, PARTY OF FOUR.

CLARICE LAUGHS AT LAURIE’S JOKE BEFORE THEN NOTICING THE BLONDE LOOKING OVER AT WHERE JOSH AND JAY ARE SITTING ALONGSIDE A GUY WITH A LIZARD APPEARANCE AND A PUERTO RICAN BOY WITH DREADLOCKS. JOSH INTRODUCES THEM AS VIC AND BRIAN AND JAY WAVES BEFORE SITTING DOWN. BRIAN SAYS THAT HE REMEMBERS SEEING JAY IN ALGEBRA. HE REALLY KEEPS TO HIMSELF. JAY NODS BEFORE JOSH ASKS HIM IF HE WANTS TO JOIN THE FOOTBALL TEAM. JAY SAYS THAT HE DOESN’T REALLY PLAY SPORTS, MUCH TO JOSH’S DISAPPOINTMENT.

MEANWHILE, CESSILY LOOKS OVER TO SEE THE FAIRY GIRL FROM THE PREVIOUS EPISODE WAVING AT HER. SHE’S WITH THE PURPLE DIAMOND GIRL AND A PINK-SKINNED GIRL WITH POINTY EARS. CESS AND SOFIA SIT AT THEIR TABLE AND THE GIRL INTRODUCES HERSELF AS MEGAN, WITH THE OTHERS BEING ROXY AND CALLIE. MEGAN SAYS THEY WERE ALL NEW LAST YEAR, SO THEY KNOW HOW IT SEEMS, BUT THEY SEEM LIKE CHEERLEADER MATERIAL. CESSILY SQUEALS, SAYING THAT SHE WAS A CHEERLEADER AT HER OLD SCHOOL. CONFUSED, SOFIA ASKS WHAT A CHEERLEADER IS, PROMPTING CESSILY TO LAUNCH INTO A FULL EXPLANATION. CALLIE GRINS AND TELLS THEM THAT TRYOUTS ARE AFTER SCHOOL. THEY’LL REALLY NEED TO BRING THEIR A-GAME, AND THEY’LL ESPECIALLY NEED TO IMPRESS THE TEAM CAPTAIN.

CUE ‘MILKSHAKE’ BY KELIS AS MONET ST. CROIX WALKS INTO THE CAFETERIA. SHE GIVES A SULTRY FLIP OF HER HAIR BEFORE DRINKING OUT OF HER SODA CAN. (I WAS INSPIRED BY VEROSIKA MAYDAY FROM HELLUVA BOSS HERE) SOFIA AND CESSILY WATCH AS MONET SITS DOWN AT A TABLE AS A GRAY-SKINNED LATINO BOY TRIES TO ASK HER OUT. SHE GIVES HIM A LOOK AND HE WALKS BACK TO HIS TABLE BEFORE HE CAN EVEN GET A WORD OUT.

ROXY: SHE’S ALWAYS ON TOP OF THE LATEST FASHION TRENDS. SHE EXCELS AT EVERY SUBJECT AND SHE HAS A BILLION STUDENTS FOLLOWING HER. SHE’S XAVIER’S ROYALTY.

MEGAN: LAST YEAR, SHE DATED THE MOST POPULAR GUY HERE, JULIAN KELLER. BUT THEY BROKE UP ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. REASON; UNKNOWN.

CALLIE: I HEARD SHE’S AUTISTIC AND THAT’S WHY SHE DUMPED HIM.

CESSILY STARES AT MONET IN AMAZEMENT, TELLING THEM THAT THEY’LL BE AT TRYOUTS. MEGAN SMILES AND ROXY SAYS THAT SHE KNOWS CESSILY WILL LOOK GREAT IN THE UNIFORM, PROMPTING A GIGGLE FROM CESS. SOFIA SMILES, SAYING THAT SHE ALWAYS LOVED DANCING IN HER HOMETOWN OF VENEZUELA. IT’S EXCITING TO FIND A NEW WAY TO DO THAT.

MEANWHILE, JULIAN WATCHES THE GIRLS TALK. HE IMMEDIATELY TELLS SANTO THAT HE’S GOING FOR IT, PROMPTING A GROAN FROM THE ROCKY TEEN. JULIAN SAUNTERS UP TO SOFIA, ASKING HER NAME. WHEN SHE RESPONDS, HE ASKS HER IF SHE KNOWS HER NAME MEANS ‘WISDOM’. IT’S A PRETTY NAME FOR A PRETTY FACE. CALLIE GROANS, TELLING JULIAN THAT IT SEEMS A BIT EARLY FOR THIS WHILE SOFIA LOOKS AT HIM IN CONFUSION.

CLARICE WATCHES THE WHOLE ORDEAL BEFORE WALKING OVER, CALLING JULIAN ‘FUCKFACE’ AND SAYING THAT HE NEEDS TO TAKE A HINT; SOFIA’S NOT INTERESTED. JULIAN CALLS HER ‘FIRECRACKER’ AND TELLS HER TO MOVE ALONG. HE’S BUSY. CLARICE IS HAVING NONE OF IT, TELLING HIM THAT IF SHE WANTED TO BE SWAMPED WITH TESTOSTERONE AND WHITE PRIVILEGE, SHE’D HAVE STAYED IN JUVIE. JULIAN JUST STARES AT HER, ASKING IF HE KNOWS HER. IF NOT, THEN SHE SHOULD COME BACK WHEN SHE’S SOMEONE WHO MATTERS. SOFIA JUST LOOKS AT HIM IN DISMAY.

ANGERED, CLARICE GRABS A NEARBY SLICE OF PIE, SHOVING IT IN JULIAN’S FACE. HE IMMEDIATELY RETALIATES, THROWING A BOWL OF SPAGHETTI AT HER. SHE SMIRKS, CREATING A PORTAL IN FRONT OF HER AND ANOTHER ABOVE JULIAN AS THE SPAGHETTI HITS HIM IN THE HEAD. SUDDENLY, A BOWL OF FRO-YO HITS CLARICE IN THE SIDE OF THE HEAD. SHE LOOKS OVER AT SANTO AND GRABS SOME OATMEAL, THROWING IT AT HIM. HE DUCKS AND THE BOWL HITS JAY INSTEAD, CAUSING HIM TO THROW HIS SALAD AT HER.

JULIAN TAKES THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THROW MORE FOOD AT CLARICE, BUT IS PELTED BY A BURGER THROWN BY SOFIA, WHO CONDESCENDS HERSELF FOR FALLING FOR HIS PELVIC SORCERY. SHE THEN FINDS HERSELF PELTED BY A BURRITO FROM LAURA, WHO IS THEN HIT WITH A SANDWICH FROM SANTO. CESSILY GRINS, STANDING ON THE TABLE.

CESSILY: FOOD FIGHT!!!!!

IT’S THEN THAT EVERYONE JOINS IN, THROWING FOOD AT EACH OTHER. THIS LASTS FOR A WHILE AND DURING THIS, MONET SITS AT HER TABLE, BONE DRY, OBLIVIOUS TO WHAT’S GOING ON. SANTO THEN THROWS A SLICE OF CHERRY PIE AT CLARICE, WHO DUCKS, CAUSING THE PIE TO HIT EMMA FROST IN THE CLEAVAGE JUST AS SHE WALKS IN. SHE DEMANDS TO KNOW WHO DID THIS, CAUSING ALL THE STUDENTS TO STEP ASIDE AND POINT AT THE SEVEN INSTIGATORS.

A FEW MINUTES LATER, THEY ALL FIND THEMSELVES IN DETENTION. JULIAN SNAPS AT CLARICE, SAYING IT WAS HER FAULT. SHE THREW FOOD FIRST. SOFIA YELLS AT HIM, SAYING THAT THIS ALL COULD’VE BEEN AVOIDED IF HE WASN’T SUCH A PENDEJO. SHE THEN SNAPS AT LAURA FOR THROWING FOOD AT HER FOR NO REASON AT ALL. JULIAN AGREES, SAYING THAT A FREAK LIKE HER SHOULD SERIOUSLY CHECK HER FACTS BEFORE BEING SUCH A LOOSE CANNON. CESSILY GRINS, SAYING THAT IT WAS KINDA FUN, BUT JAY ASKS HER IF SHE’S INSANE.

MEANWHILE, EMMA WATCHES THE ARGUING TEENS WITH A SIGH, UPSET THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENED ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. SCOTT TELLS HER THAT IT’S NOT THAT BAD. AT LEAST THEY HAVE THE FIRST SEVEN VOLUNTEERS FOR A TRAINING SQUAD. EMMA SIGHS, AGREEING TO TAKE THEM UNDER HER WING, BUT A NEW FIGURE STEPS IN, SAYING THAT SHE’LL DO IT. SHE DOESN’T TRUST EMMA NOT TO CONFORM ANOTHER GROUP.

BACK IN DETENTION, EVERYONE IS ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER UNTIL A DOOR OPENS AND DANI MOONSTAR STEPS OUT. SHE INTRODUCES HERSELF AND EXPLAINS THAT SHE HEARD WHAT HAPPENED. CLEARLY, THEY ALL HAVE NO METHOD OF COOPERATION. SHE THEN SAYS THAT THE FACULTY OF XAVIER’S IS PLANNING ON SPLITTING STUDENTS INTO SQUADS. SEVEN STUDENTS, ALL TRAINED BY ONE X-MEN MENTOR FOR THE REST OF THE SEMESTER.

DANI: AND GUESS WHO JUST VOLUNTEERED FOR A SQUAD?

JULIAN IMMEDIATELY BURSTS OUT, ASKING IF SHE’S CRAZY. THERE’S NO WAY HE’S PAIRING UP WITH A FREAKY WOLVERINE KNOCKOFF AND A DEPRESSED HOOD RAT. HE THEN DEMANDS TO AT LEAST PUT CLARICE AND LAURA IN DIFFERENT SQUADS AND LEAVE THE REST THE WAY THEY ARE. SOFIA THEN SAYS THAT IF THAT’S THE CASE, THEN SHE’D LIKE TO TRANSFER TO ANOTHER GROUP AS WELL. DANI TELLS THEM THAT THE DECISION IS FINAL. AND THEY SHOULD’VE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE THEY DECIDED TO CAUSE TROUBLE IN THE LUNCHROOM.

UPSET, CLARICE STORMS OUT OF THE ROOM AND DANI SIGHS, SAYING THAT SHE GUESSES DETENTION IS OVER. JULIAN THEN STANDS UP AND BRUSHES SOME FOOD OFF HIS SHIRT BEFORE WALKING OUT, FOLLOWED BY SANTO. SOFIA WALKS OUT THE ROOM AS WELL FOLLOWED BY EVERYONE ELSE, WITH DANI WATCHING THEM, SAYING THAT THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL.

SOFIA FINDS CLARICE CROUCHED DOWN BY THE GIRL’S BATHROOM AND SHE ASKS HER IF SHE’S OKAY. CLARICE NODS, SAYING THAT SHE JUST CAN’T STAND PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY’RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. SOFIA TELLS HER THAT SHE KNOWS HOW SHE FEELS, BUT WITH ANY LUCK, JULIAN COULD CHANGE. SHE’LL SEE. THERE’S GOOD IN PEOPLE WHETHER THEY WANT TO ADMIT IT OR NOT.

CESSILY WALKS UP TO THEM, TELLING SOFIA THAT THEY’RE GONNA MISS CHEERLEADING TRYOUTS. SOFIA NODS AND ASKS CLARICE IF SHE WANTS TO COME WITH THEM. SHE SAYS NO, BUT HOPEFULLY SHE’LL SEE HER AROUND. SOFIA SMILES, SAYING THAT THEY DEFINITELY WILL NOW THAT THEY’RE ON THE SAME TEAM. SHE THEN WALKS OFF WITH CESSILY, LEAVING CLARICE TO STARE AT HER DREAMILY.

MEANWHILE, LAURA DECIDES TO TRY TO TALK TO JULIAN AND TELL HIM THAT SHE DIDN’T APPRECIATE HOW HE TALKED ABOUT HER. WHILE SHE DOES, SHE OVERHEARS JULIAN COMPLAINING TO SANTO ABOUT HIS LUCK. HE’S BEEN DENIED ACCESS TO SOFIA’S HEART, AND NOW HE’S ON A SQUAD WITH A FREAK MINI-WOLVERINE.

SANTO TELLS HIM THAT IT’S NOT OVER YET. HE STILL HAS A CHANCE TO BE CAPTAIN OF THE FOOTBALL TEAM. JULIAN NODS, SAYING THAT THERE’S STILL A WAY TO TURN THIS AROUND. A WAY TO COME OUT ON TOP. AND NO FREAKY GOTH GIRL WILL STAND IN HIS WAY. OVERHEARING THIS, LAURA’S EYES FILL WITH TEARS AND SHE TURNS AROUND, SLOWLY WALKING AWAY FROM SANTO AND JULIAN IN DISMAY.

[hummingbird-of-light]

Against All Odds

Part 237

McCoy

McCoy couldn’t help but feel a sting of disappointment as Robbie told them he and Spock would share the guest room and Jim would bunk with Scotty. Francine thought she was doing what was best, he was sure, keeping him near Spock’s protection.

Or he wondered, was Francine following old fashioned ways? He sighed as he unpacked his bag. It was Francine’s home and he would follow her wishes. He chuckled quietly as he thought of Jim. The boy often had no regard for rules; how often was McCoy going to wake and find a third roommate in the room?

“Everything tastes wonderful, Francine,” McCoy said.

He smiled as Scotty’s mother flushed light pink.

“Thank ye. I’m sure you’re used to much better—”

McCoy shook his head. “No, no, a home cooked meal is always best.”

Francine looked flustered and pleased.

“What was the palace like?” Robbie was asking Jim.

Jim’s eyes lit up as he began telling Robbie. McCoy let his gaze wander around the room. The Scott’s home was small but comfortable. The happy family pictures on the walls and shelves, the little things significant to their family. McCoy’s eyes stopped on a picture across the room. A man looked out of the frame with a very familiar smile. It must be Scotty and Robbie’s father. McCoy bumped his knee into Scotty’s and the same smile flashed at him from his boyfriend’s face.

“How can we help?” McCoy asked after everyone had finished eating.

Francine had stood and begun to collect empty dishes.

“Oh! Ye needn’t…”

“I insist,” McCoy smiled. He stood and moved to take the stack of dishes from her.

“But…” Francine tried to protest. “I can’t have a prince come to my home and make him do work!”

McCoy chuckled. “You aren’t making me, I’m choosing. I do know how to do things for myself, Francine.”

She let the dishes be taken from her hands and sat down again, flustered and flushed. “Monty…,” she tried to appeal to her son, but Scotty just shrugged.

“You made it all Mum,” he said standing. “We can clean up.” He walked over and hugged her from behind. “Come on lads,” he said to Robbie, Jim, and Spock.

Francine looked at Scotty’s granddad. He looked approvingly at the boys heading for the kitchen.

“What now?” McCoy asked Scotty.

They had finished cleaning up from dinner and were standing alone in the kitchen.

“I could show ye the back garden,” Scotty said. “It isn’t even as big as your grove, but it can be private and quiet.”

“That sounds nice,” McCoy nodded. He followed Scotty out the back door.

Scotty wasn’t lying when he said it wasn’t even as big as the grove. But it was laid out nicely with flower beds and a path.

“There’s a sort of bench at the back by the birdbath,” Scotty said.

“Sounds perfect,” McCoy said, taking Scotty’s hand. He leaned in and kissed him before letting Scotty lead him to the bench.

Part 238

Scotty

They sat down and looked up at the stars which slowly started to shine. They weren’t nearly as big as the ones on Georgiares. Scotty would miss them a lot now that he was back on Earth.

“I… have nothing,” Scotty quietly whispered. Compared to Leonard’s home, this place was just… unspectacular. So was the town. And everything else.

When Leonard squeezed his hand, Scott looked aside to see the prince shaking his head.

“Don’t say that Scotty. You have everything you need. A warm nice home. A great family. Friends. Weren’t you the one who always said that wealth doesn’t matter?”

Scotty let out a sigh mixed with a chuckle.

“Aye, I know.”

He had always preached that money didn’t matter. And now? Look at him… he was feeling insecure about his own surroundings.

“I’m sorry. Ye’re right. I have everything.”

Scotty leaned over to kiss Leonard before he rested his head on the boy’s shoulder.

“After all… I have ye mo gràdh.”

Leonard was everything he needed. Of course the palace and Georgiares II had been breathtaking and amazing. But nothing could ever make his heart beat like Leonard being close to him.

“Unfortunately though your mum won’t let us share all of our time together, huh?” Leonard whispered and Scotty laughed, snuggling closer.

“Well… She doesn’t have to know. I could sneak over to the guest room and change places with Spock.”

Scott felt Leonard running a hand through his hair before he pressed a kiss to the top of the Scotsman’s head.

“But I wouldn’t want to get on Francine’s bad side on my first night.”

Scotty just shrugged. He knew his mother. She would never be angry with a prince. Or with any other boy than her own sons as a matter of fact.

“Dinnae worry, I’ll take the blame.”

Scotty lifted his head up to smile at Leonard cheekily. The prince looked as amused as him.

“You’re my hero, Montgomery Scott.”

With that Leonard crushed their lips together and Scotty really had to pull himself together so that he didn’t fall over his boyfriend right there and then.

They had to wait until later that night.

When it got too cold to sit outside, the boys eventually made their way back inside.

Though it was summer, nights at Scotland could still get quite chilly. But that had never bothered Scotty very much. After all, he’d grown up in that place. It was only natural to him.

They were about to walk upstairs when a voice stopped them.

“Montgomery.”

Scotty stopped in his tracks and looked into the living room. His grandfather was resting in his armchair. He was all alone. Francine had already left for bed earlier and the other boys were up in Scotty’s room, playing games.

“Aye?”

His grandfather seemed to stare right through Scotty at the person standing behind him.

“I’d like to talk to yer boyfriend.”

Scotty felt Leonard tense next to him. The Scotsman glanced over his shoulder to look at him. His love looked very nervous suddenly. And Scotty felt the same racing of his own heart.

“Uhm… aye, of course.”

Scott stepped aside so that Leonard could walk into the living room.

“Alone.”

Scotty nodded slowly. What did his grandfather want to talk about? Why couldn’t he stay?

“Of course… I’ll be up in my room. Just… join us when ye’re ready.”

The Scotsman gave Leonard’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze and then headed upstairs.

Hopefully everything was alright.

[comicsforyall]

The Original X-Men: Mutants Before the Metaphor

Marvel’s Merry Mutants

The Silver Age of comic books was picking up steam in the latter half of 1963. With the immense success from Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and other recent creations, Marvel was looking to add titles to their roster. Establishing a universe and core audience for their comics was seemingly at the forefront of the company’s minds. With perhaps a bit of a peak over at DC’s Doom Patrol, Kirby and Lee debuted the X-Men, a team of the ‘strangest’ superheroes of all. However a glance at the group would not necessarily back up the claim.

Looking at the new teen team, there’s not a lot of strangeness on the surface. Four teen white boys, with identical hairstyles of varying shades of blonde and brown, alongside one red headed teen girl isn’t exactly a circus act. However the makeup of the team showcases two major points for the series. First, the idea of secretly being different, of not outwardly displaying differences is a distinct theme for this era of X-Men. This is in slight contention with the development of the idea of the mutant metaphor in the ensuing many years, but that has not taken hold yet. The second implication of the included roster is a bit simpler, it’s just demographics.

Marvel as a company tends to be comics made by and for young white guys, often not for the better. The modern understanding is that the X-Men’s mutant metaphor is applicable to various oppressed groups, but that’s not really the case in 1963. The goal of this team seems to be much more for young boys to project themselves and their friends onto the teen superheroes, and their related drama. The series is not a progressive social commentary at this point, if it ever truly is.

Understanding the approach of the creator’s at this point is essential in enjoying these classic comics with the current and long running context of the X-Men. The story is light, the plots are relatively simple, and the character’s are consistently inconsistent. This has to be taken in stride with a story over 60 years old, and under the surface there are actually more persisting elements in the first nineteen issues than it may seem.

Meet the Original Five

Warren Worthington the Third, aka The Angel

Blonde haired, with white feathery wings, Warren Worthington is exactly what’s expected from someone with his code name. Besides being a bit of an overconfident rich boy, there’s not too much depth to the Angel. He spends about half his time dodging airborne projectiles, and the other half hitting on his younger teammate Jean Grey. The unfortunate side for Warren is that his haughty advances mostly serve as a foil to the reserved Scott Summers, and his own pursuit of Jean. Warren’s passes often result in Jean’s admonishment, and her thoughts indicate she is much more interested in Scott.

He’ll be more fleshed out and overly complicated down the road, though he won’t ever completely shake his womanizing behaviors. The flying X-Men comes out a bit boring in the debut run, but is certainly fun to see swoop around when drawn by Jack Kirby.

Hank McCoy, aka The Beast

Everyone’s favorite bouncing blue beast makes his start in a decidedly paler than expected fashion. The transformation of Hank into the hairy version of himself is so iconic across other media, it is a stark realization that the character does not begin with this in mind. Besides his outward appearance though, it is remarkable how much of Beast’s personality is already shaping up in the Silver Age.

A central point of Hank’s character is that his brain is as useful, if not moreso, than his mutation. Whether he looks like a regular teen, ape, or cat monster, he keeps the mind of a genius. Even as a normal looking guy, Hank is already insecure about others not recognizing this trait. Early on he adopts an overly verbose way of talking, clearly meant to showcase his smarts to those around him. It’s charming to read, but would almost certainly be unbearable in regular conversation. As seen in issue eight however, the way he uses his words may be the least concerning aspect of Hank.

Professor X leaves the team for a short while to battle the elusive Lucifer, after surprisingly graduating the team from the school. This progression, along with a traumatic incident involving an angry mob of humans, pushes Beast to exit the X-Men. The harshness of what happens and the speed at which Beast turns are compelling lines when connected to the long term moral failings that will besiege him. Even when he returns, the methods Hank employs are ramped up in intensity.

Since Unus the Untouchable (a mutant enclosed in a personal force field) easily defeats the X-Men in combat, Hank turns to his brain in an attempt to take down the villain. What he devises is questionable and borderline sinister. He whips up a device that increases Unus’s mutation, extending the force field that covers him further outward. This creates the practical issue of Unus being completely unable to touch anything, and he cannot manage to eat or drink. The X-Men use this as leverage, and tell him that should he ever try to join Magneto they will zap him with the ray again, and force him to die of malnourishment.

It sounds bad for Beast and the others, but to be completely fair Unus is a man trying to murder a bunch of teens so that he can join a madman in conquering the world. Still, with the long term arcs of Beast, and the idea that he always is willing to go a little further than other mutants in order to secure safety is cool to see established so early on.

Bobby Drake, aka Iceman

The youngest of the original five teens, Bobby Drake/Iceman, will face a continued character struggle that is exemplified in his uncreative name. For the vast majority of his publication history the threat of being generic or shallow will haunt the quickly named superhero. A consistent jokester, Bobby often falls into the trap of being just comedic relief in lieu of any personal depth. Arguably that is true even in the genesis of the series, but a couple of creative decisions boost the coolest X-Men up a couple of tiers.

First and largely unimportantly, the costume. Iceman’s costume is essentially just a pair of boots he slides on over his completely snowy exterior. It’s a charming and simple gag that goes with Bobby well. The most interesting aspect of his getup is the frozen layer he manifests for himself.

At the start of the series, Bobby is covered in a layer of fluffy snow. Kirby draws him with lots of curved lines, creating a rounded pile effect that is reminiscent of The Thing with a softer exterior. It’s a distinct look that may be unfamiliar, as it is not the typical look that Bobby will sport for the rest of his career. A bit unceremoniously in issue eight, Cyclops suggests to Iceman that he try and ‘harden’ his snow form into a harder ice material, and he is quickly successful. This quick but lasting development points to major themes for the character, including his vast capacities power wise, and his stark lack of self-awareness.

For the duration of the run, Kirby essentially utilizes Bobby’s ice as an artistic outlet and convenient plot device. It’s apparent that Iceman can essentially create anything with his ice, and this intense versatility helps to push the story. From teleportation via water, to revitalizing an entire planet, the throughline of being naively wielding great power will continue to come up. As he gains abilities though he doesn’t always develop personally, which results in a character with too much power and too little motivation. It’s funny that this potential flaw could be due in part to Kirby and Lee simply having fun with their character, and the trend continuing.

Some of Bobby’s displays of strength are done when he himself is not even in control of his body. As outlined by Taylor Lancaster for Screen Rant, when Emma Frost inhabits Bobby’s body in Uncanny X-Men 314 she unlocks levels of the powers that were previously unknown. He’s embarrassed and upset after the realization that she immediately was able to master and utilize his own mutation better than he had any conceived.

This characteristic of lacking self introspection is expanded on by Brian Michael Bendis later on in reference to the character’s sexuality. It is a neat throughline to track, since Iceman will be woefully relegated to a banter-fueled powerhouse of a plot convenience for large stints of his publication.

Scott Summers aka Cyclops

The fourth member of the starting five falls into a similar pattern with the rest of being relatively well established. Though these are dated comics, and in some senses shallow, there is still an undeniable kernel for the character of Cyclops that is already present. Perhaps due to superhero comic’s tendencies to reset characters to their established base, Scott feels firmly on track to fulfill his future roles. Even today when the character has evolved ten times over, there is still a likely chance that any adaptation of the character will mirror the personality seen in these pages.

The first highlight of Cyclops is slight, and that is his mutant ability, and in some instances disability. Laser eyes themselves may be one of the most run of the mill power sets, right up there with angel wings. However Scott is unable to control his optic blasts, and that decision from the creators alone adds a lot of complexity to him. Throughout the issues, all of his teammates are ‘mastering’ their mutations and generally expanding their capabilities, but Scott is never able to do this.

Cyclops remains reliant on his glasses or visor lest he unleash destruction. It’s a simple setup, but for fans it works time and again. He has a rollercoaster of a story ahead of him, but the concept of having to be so careful all the time and never truly being in control remains as an undercurrent and terminal anxiety. Ironically being in control is exactly something that Cyclops is known for, again just not of himself.

Many times over Scott will be touted as a ‘natural leader’ and will consistently be handed the reins of the X-Men, at least in the field. On the other hand, the leader role will just as often be stripped from Scott and given to someone with more experience, capabilities, or trust from peers. It’s a mix of character developments and the ever present editorial pull to reset the original five, coming together to create a somber scenario.

When following Scott it adds a lot to know that he will go through so much, and he will ever so slowly change, but eventually he will become fleshed out, with relatable ideals and flaws alike. He has a much more explicit arc in long running comics than a lot of characters, even more so than his preceding teammates.

These issues see the birth of the golden boy, and he does ascend to be the official leader. Of course it is taken from him in the end, and he never is able to match his teammates in mastery and scope of their mutations. Scott Summers has a lot to learn, and his lessons will be much more enjoyable for the reader than to him.

Jean Grey aka Marvel Girl

The last and certainly least well written of the original five is unsurprisingly the only girl on the team, Jean Grey. Pretty and stereotypical, while Jean is initially introduced as almost a viewpoint character for the reader, she is quickly relegated to girl to pine after for each of her boy teammates. Marvel’s overall writing of women is a well known weakness in almost all eras of the company, due in large part to their refusal to hire them to write. Setting the more antiquated bits aside, there is plenty to be appreciated around the growth of Marvel Girl.

Much like her chilly teammate, Jean Grey’s powers will only grow and grow over the years, to the point she will serve as the ultimate plot convenience when written poorly. She will be able to do essentially anything that is needed to move the story, but that is still far in her future. To begin, she can only lift small objects for a short time, though over the course of these issues that drastically changes.

As early as issue six Jean is lifting Hank in the air, demonstrating a marked increase in power since her recruitment. This continues with her establishing a patented technique of defeating the super speedster, Quicksilver, by simply lifting and spinning him in the air. In the tenth issue Jean is able to disassemble and rebuild a rifle, and a couple of issues later she shows that she can lift herself off the ground, in the introductory battle against the Juggernaut.

The seventeenth issue gives the first indication that Jean’s mutant ability is akin to the likes of Magneto, meaning it can essentially do anything. In a rush to return to the mansion, she utilizes her telekinesis powers to run and leap over obstacles for miles, alongside Beast. It’s a unique usage that shows just how versatile being a telekinetic can be. Altogether her gradual growth is another early indicator of later significant developments. Dealing with immense power in all facets, physically, emotionally, morally, etc, will be a massive recurring theme for Jean. Besides her capabilities though, there is little beyond her basic relationships that will define her personality in the long run.

The Mutant Metaphor or Lack Thereof

For the original team, there are plenty of character points that are long running and get their start in the opening run. However the underlying thematic framing of the mutant metaphor is simply not present in the way it will be for the majority of the series. Applying the analogy of mutants to most any oppressed groups doesn’t really work beyond surface examination, and isn’t explored by the narrative.

Take for example the famously inaccurate casting of Professor Xavier as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto as Malcolm X. At this point in the series, Magneto is a cartoonish, over the top villain who can only be rationalized as a deeply traumatized person. He does not have a cogent ideology and to relate him to any real world person is simply silly. Xavier and MLK though are a bit more comparable, but far from similar.

In the eyes of the public, Xavier is a non mutant expert on genetics, evolution, and human mutations. He advocates for assimilation and nonviolent compliance from the mutants, so they can integrate into society. MLK obviously never presented as a white man, and openly called for radical change and equality. Xavier is the white moderate, and anyone unaware of MLK’s opinion on the white moderate shouldn’t be.

Community of Freaks

Alongside the lack of metaphor, the story structure itself is distinct from that which will come to define the series. Long running plots, multiple threads weaving through each other, heaps of melodrama, and other staples of the X-Men universe are not seen in these issues. Instead and in line with the times, the stories are mostly self-contained, starting and wrapping up in a single issue or two. Though to say ‘story’ may be a bit of a stretch in some instances.

The experience of the first nineteen issues is not so much a singular narrative experience as it is a wild tour through a wacky corner of a wacky universe. Characters and concepts are introduced quickly and often, making the pace change depending on how thorough of a reader one is. There’s a lot of fluff in the dialogue, but also a lot of wit to make it worth it. At no point does there seem to be a logical endpoint, and through the whole run there is a palpable focus on building out the mutant community and filling its ranks. The universe feels poised to facilitate a much larger ensemble for a longer time than other superhero comics, with more of a focus on community and relationships.

Ironically it will be one of the few canceled comics started by Lee and Kirby a bit down the road, though when it comes back it will double down on pretty much all the melodrama and worldbuilding. It is genuinely impossible to gauge accurately how much of the heart of the X-Men comes from Lee and Kirby directly, or how much their work has inspired other creators on the title. While other authors will completely recontextualize it, these beginning issues lay the foundation for the community of muties that will attract readers for generations.

Y’all Seen This Jack Kirby Fella?

Very little feels as close to reinventing the wheel as analyzing and praising Jack Kirby’s artwork. It’s pure fun, but that’s no revelation. It’s remarkable how characters such as Magneto, Cyclops, Iceman, many of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants alongside others, are already iconically designed, and won’t have a ton of true changes in their looks for years. It is a bit disappointing and surprising that through all the many mutants introduced, they are consistently just normal looking dudes with powers. The costumes are more striking than any of the physical mutations that are introduced. There is surely some missed potential, given how the mutants will be portrayed later on it would have been interesting to see Kirby’s takes on some really radical looking mutants.

It’s clean, simple, and borderline tells the story itself. Some may feel it’s dated obviously given the limitations at the time, but honestly it holds up really well. The bold art even works pretty well when the comic is read on something as small as a phone. There is a real staying power to Kirby’s drawing that gives the issues lasting worth even in the modern context.

Graduating to Greater Things

They are the X-Men we know, not necessarily the ones we love. With less than twenty issues, Lee and Kirby leave a lot on the table. The heart of the series will captivate readers in masses, but that’s arguably not quite here. What is present is foundational groundwork that continues to influence the X-Men and the Marvel comics universe as a whole. Of course that is to be expected with these two creators, but nonetheless is impressive. While it may not resonate as strongly as it did once, the wit and pace of the story both in art and writing create a timeless good time.

Score: 65/100

Citation Station

The Cover Original Article

Emma Frost Proved Iceman's Powers Can Make Him a Mutant God, by Taylor Lancaster

Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe

X-Men, Issues 1-19

1-19 written by Stan Lee

1-17 art by Jack Kirby

12 art by Alex Toth

13-19 art by Werner Roth

[twilightguardian]

X-Men Comic Journey/Fake Geek Reads Comics

Issues 1-10 (November 10th 1963-March 10th, 1965)

I don’t know why I’m doing this.

Well, I do. I’m a fake geek girl and I need to not be fake shit anymore. But I don’t know why I started now when for years I’ve been thinking of getting into comics and just never have. But when I get into something, I go hard. I doubt that it’s really novel or unheard of to have read the old issues or whatever. I suppose I wanted to document my journey as I go along. Voice my thoughts.

Also hey, it took them a whole year to even get 8 issues out. Now I don’t feel quite as bad for my own comic’s lack of progress!

I’ve been a fan of the X-Men since I was little, having a kid’s channel continuously on or flipping between the channels and would occasionally catch the 90′s X-Men cartoon. Rogue (hated Gambit, she was too good for him in my mind) was my favourite character, but I also liked Cyclops. I also have fond memories of X-Men Evolution and the live action movies. But I only ever consumed visual media of the series, and for a long time knew that the comics ran much longer. I heard tales of the kinds of storylines going on in them, how crazy they got and how you pretty much have to follow the series to understand them. Why not start at the beginning?

I had already watched Atop the Fourth Wall’s episode of the first 1963 issue, but I read it anyways and it’s... interesting.

From the first few pages I can already tell there’s going to be some growing pains for me; things I need to get used to. I grew up primarily reading manga, you see. It’s pretty minimalist most of the time with the dialogue barring certain exposition or explanations, and a lot of the time the art is flowing. The words keep to itself, for the most part, allowing the pictures to tell the story. Of course, that’s modern manga to 50-year-old American comic books. Still, this is the kind of cultural shift I have to deal with.

We meet the main cast of characters. Professor X, Iceman, Beast, THE Angel, and Cyclops, also known as Charles Xavier, Bobby Drake, Hank McCoy, Warren Worthington the Third (I’m sorry for your name dude), and... Slim? Summers. Wow, okay. So these characters aren’t quite who I know them as, for sure. Especially poor Hank.

Hank looks relatively normal, which is something I’m not used to since I’m more naturalized to his more blue, fuzzy appearance. Really, the only thing different about him is his large Hobbit feet and thick, stout build. His intellect is missing and while being rather polite overall, still gives off a sense of brutishness likely reminiscent of a gorilla.

Scott isn’t really a thing. Instead, he’s referred to as Slim, and he jokes around with the other three.

Bobby is supposed to be a younger teenager, while it’s presumed that the others are older. He has no interest in gazing at the new recruit, Jean Gray. Apparently these days Bobby is gay in the comics, though I doubt that’s the actual explanation in the first issue and not just... showing the general teenage immaturity of this otherwise 30-year-old looking cartoon doodle. His immaturity is further elaborated on both in dialogue several times and his general demeanor. He’s also depicted as just some human-shaped mass of loose snow.

None of them really have any defined personality to speak of. They’re all rough-housy boys who (aside from the child) all topple over each other for the new (female) recruit to pay them notice.

Jean herself is what I’d expect for a female character written in the day. Generic pretty and someone whom all the menfolk get stupid about and into fashion. Also, her powers are made so that she doesn’t have to do physical activity because that’s unladylike.

This is also the first appearance of Magneto and whoo-boy. He’s nothing but your typical moustache-twirling villain. Ouch. He doesn’t so much hate humans because they’re dicks, but more he’s the dick who thinks that evolution is a step-laddar and humanity is the old thing that needs to make way for the new hotness known as “superior”. Because that’s not pretentious or anything. 

It’s kind of eye-rolling if you even have any passing actual knowledge of evolution. Personally, I wouldn’t treat humans as a separate species, but I mention this because I know this is a running theme to this day. Creatures are classified as separate species when they are no longer to produce viable offspring with each other. The genetic differences become so great, the genes can no longer intermingle. It’s like saying your child has autism, or they were born with red hair while yours and your husbands’ hair is blonde. They’re suddenly a different species of human being!

Magneto is just fucking racist and so far in the comic there’s literally no reason for it other than he’s an evil dick. Especially not when, as we see, there’s a rather Fantastic Four-ish feel to the X-Men. They’re ‘public figures’ as a superhero group. They’re also rather well liked. The whole mutant persecution thing actually doesn’t even show hints of showing up until at least issue 5.

Whenever I talk about this, I get a lot of apologetics, which frustrates the hell out of me. ‘Oh, it’s the 60′s, what do you expect?’

I expect a modern-day grasp of how writing and storytelling works. I don’t care that silly things like the gang having a Journey to the Center of the Earth episodic moment. I don’t care that they have prat falls and their actual fight scenes are lacklustre and boring. I’m talking about consistency and other quite basic writing things that just aren’t there. Writing didn’t get perfected in the 21st century or even 20 years later. I am reading a comic from the 60′s. I’m expecting a bit of silliness. I expect also at least some decent storytelling and not... making shit up on the fly.

[bcnes]

@starfleetsxvulcan sent 27 ( queen - good old-fashioned lover boy ) for the spotify wrapped meme

"Alright, what about... there." McCoy lifts two fingers from his glass to point over near the bar, where Jim has just wandered off to in order to get a couple of refills (supposedly; in actuality McCoy can see him hitting on a tall Andorian fellow). "The redhead with the vest."

He'd been admittedly surprised when Spock had agreed to join he and Jim at the bar this evening - though perhaps he shouldn't have been, because disinclined as the Vulcan is when it comes to taking shore leave in the first place, McCoy's not sure what else he would have done otherwise anyhow. Still, he fails to see what the first officer is getting out of being here.

So. You know. Obviously McCoy's got to do all the legwork to hook the damn Vulcan up with somebody, anybody. That's half the point of shore leave: romantic entanglements without the awkward problem of having to work on the same starship as them afterwards. Trouble is the man seems to hold absolutely no real opinions on any of the patrons McCoy has been pointing out.

"Come on, Spock, work with me, here! Everybody's got a type. Even you."

[lenievi]

yeah, that, and also during sex or right after...

it’s kinda interesting how some “used only once” things get picked up and everyone starts using them, and some just don’t get picked up at all. I’d like to see Kirk telling McCoy what an old-fashioned boy he is more often LMAO /jk

Reading Star Trek fanfic and its like what have y'all got against the name Leonard??!??!

But also in what world is Len a significantly better/cooler name???

[weroyals]

♛:: @old-fashioned-boy-mccoy  said,    ❛   of all lives, you had to butt in on mine .   ❜           ―angst starters // accepting

           Captain Kirk has a certain sideways smile for him, the one that he keeps for moments like this, when he knows Bones is frustrated with him, or sometimes Spock. Those times when he’s been a real pain in the ass, but for all his responsibility and his reputation, he just can’t be much else. It’s why he has that reputation in the first place.  He wouldn’t be who he is without that proclivity toward the dangerous.

            Of all lives, indeed.

           ❝ Thanks for putting up with me, ❞    he says, putting his hand on the good doctor’s shoulder, shameless with that smile showing no signs of going anywhere anytime soon.

[irascibledoctor]

Okay but for real. If another Bones blog you know is ever looking for a doubles friendly twin with no suspicious nature/drama. SEND THEM TO ME. I adore doubles. The last time I asked a Bones blog if they were cool with doubles they said as long as I didn’t steal from them---which I felt was a really judgmental way to start a conversation. SO HEY. Send me your Bones friends for a no hassle pal. I love gushing about my muse with people who love him as much as I do. AOS/TOS/Mirror there are plenty of options for threads too!

[goodheartedfool]

old-fashioned-boy-mccoy replied to your post: The look you don’t want to get from Nat:Another...

Back off son I got pepper spray :P

Try me!

[lenievi]

Oh, I think we actually mostly see it the same expect for a few details (one being that I don't think Kirk was in charge of Genesis (in TWOK; I know TSFS makes him read what the Genesis is...) - I believe that all admiralty knew about it, but he wasn't in charge - the captain in command of the Reliant literally said he never even met Admiral Kirk. Khan brought him in; but that honestly doesn't matter, I'm fine with both, but it's just not my reading atm)

Because I don't think Carol and Jim met recently because of:

McCOY: It never rains but it pours. KIRK: As a physician you of all people should appreciate the danger of re-opening old wounds.

I believe that every person who knows TOS/TWOK will have their own opinion about Carol and Kirk (after all, there is so many people who think that Kirk only met David in TWOK and prior to that didn't even know about his existence, and I think the novelization of the film says the exact same thing). What I said above was mainly my headcanon that I've had for a very long time and it was entirely based on TOS (La'an is actually irrelevant to my reading). SNW just managed to (for now) introduce things that work almost perfectly with it.

Because Memory Alpha listed David's year of birth as 2261, I went with it because it was as good a year as any. (Now it will be moved to 2260.) The thing though is that in 2261, Kirk was in a relationship with Janet (Wallace), so that's why my headcanon always included that Kirk and Carol were not in a serious relationship. I tend to see Kirk and Janet's relationship on a serious side (especially from Kirk's side), until she decided she was gonna marry someone else, and Kirk got bitter about it. Areel, a year later, was just someone more casual. But obviously most people won't care about a one-off character, and Carol is more interesting from storytelling POV.

And the quote can definitely be about their early years (I do believe that Carol asked Kirk to stay away from the very early age), but I also often use "Remember that overgrown Boy Scout you used to hang around with?" to mean that at one point in time, typically after TMP, Kirk and Carol were "hanging out" again (but never really contemplating getting together). And so "Were we together? Were we going to be?" could also possibly be about that time period, because it was a period where David was old enough to be told about who his father was. And Carol didn't want to tell him because Kirk could influence David and "take him away" (as in he would influence him and David would enter Starfleet, I didn't mean that literally, hence the quotation marks in the previous reblog).

This got long again :D I've always wanted Carol to show up in SNW, I expected they would make her this very important woman in Kirk's life (and completely destroy my "their relationship was more casual than the fandom assumes" hc), and I was looking forward to it because it would mean they would NOT introduce another romance for Kirk into this time period. Yeah... LOL

I think we see it similarly, I just work with some other assumptions (and they are just assumptions on my part).

And no, I like talking about stuff! It sometimes makes me find holes in my assumptions, or find different possibilities for exploration - like the one I mentioned above that maybe Kirk wanted to have a child because he wanted to make his own father proud - since Kirk Sr. has old-fashioned ideas what a successful life looks like and that convo between Sam and Jim didn't make sense unless Jim was in a relationship too

And I'm glad you enjoy following me :) I sometimes wonder why people would lmao

just because Kirk had a child with Carol doesn't mean she was more important than any of his other gfs - and SNW made it clear they always used to have a "sometimes relationship" (the baby is definitely unexpected) and TWOK made it clear that there was never a time where they planned to get together "Were we together? Were we going to be?"

his behaviour around Janet in Deadly Years feels more like a behaviour around a woman who broke his heart

the way he acted around Areel feels very casual no hard feelings

just because the fandom for some reason decided that Carol was supposed to be the woman Kirk almost married, doesn't mean it's true

For one, if Carol was that woman, it would make her character a HUGE disservice. That woman was never serious about Kirk. Everything was orchestrated by Mitchell. That line about Kirk's almost marriage should stay buried and never revisited.