#polaris ego death

[a-st4rless-sky]

EGO DEATH - PRELUDE - 1 (Next)

OOC: { i'm not sure if i like this as my first post abt this on here ... lotta things i coulda done better. oh well. we're kicking off, folks. }

[starryknight-dragonarts]

All of my Deadly Sin Pokemon team dressed up and ready for a fancy part Baroness Captain Kaida "The Empress of Pirates" Cinnamon Samedi La Croix, The Sin of Greed, Queen of the Sea, Daughter of the Death Loa (Salazzle) Morgan Le Fey LaCroix, "The Magician", Sin of Lust (Sylveon) Garnet Schattenjager, Last Daughter of the Shadow Hunter, "The Strength" Sin of Wrath (Midnight Lycanroc) Dynamosaurus Imperiosus Regina "Dyna" "The Wheel of Fortune" Sin of Envy (Dracozolt) Aella of the Whirlwind "The Hermit" Sin of Sloth (Serperior) Anastasia "Polaris Northstar" Blanche Leacroft "The Star" the Sin of Gluttony (Female Meowstic) Sanguine Naranja and Ego the Shadow "The Devil" Sin of Pride (Weavile and Sneasler)

[singularvoice]

i think i am going to try and heal. out of spite 💙

i suppose i go by pokey again, now? as well as polaris because i like that name. but pokotho isn’t really a deadname. shedding it was a form of attempted ego death.

i think i’m ready to be me again.

time to go hurt people! (^_^)

[salarta]

One of the weirder things to me about at least Marvel comics as I've gotten to know the culture is how very often there's an air of "Complaining about character treatment is not only wrong, but if an editor/writer decides to respond to it by being an asshole, that's well within their rights and in fact you were asking for it."

This seems to be especially common when character fandom runs into franchise or company fandom. By that, I mean when one person is a fan of a particular character, while another person is a fan of everything a company does or everything under a franchise banner.

Fans of a character want what's best for the character. They want to see potential utilized, meaningful history acknowledged and respected, real thought and consideration put into how the character is treated and what that's saying. By contrast, fans of a company or franchise tend to want what they think is best for those things even if it undermines or flat out ruins characters. If they think throwing a character under the bus will boost sales, or draw more attention, they'll be all for it. And criticism ends up being not something to consider and resolve, but something to shoot down as being "invalid."

And where this gets even stickier is that editors, at least at Marvel, often have egos and care only about what satisfies their nostalgia for whole franchises or what they think will draw more attention. Even if it's bad attention, or bad nostalgia, and it treats the characters poorly.

To make clearer, when I say treats characters poorly, I do not mean "bad things happening to them are bad work." Most stories need such things to happen for drama and engagement. They need obstacles to overcome and develop from. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when Aya Brea from Parasite Eve is depicted as a weak scared little girl in a grown woman's body because "amnesia," or Polaris from X-Men has a breakdown over a random mutant's death while her having survived a whole ass genocide has been ignored for decades, or Big Barda and Superman almost getting mind controlled into doing a porno together.

I just do not understand why some people are so eager to defend poor work just because a specific company published it, or a specific writer or editor is responsible for it, or it bears a certain name.

Moreso, I don't understand the impulse to respond to people who just want good work by acting like they're being "unreasonable." Or to act like it's wrong to complain about how an editor behaves, and act like that editor being petty and assholish in response would be perfectly valid. Shouldn't we want good character treatment, and editors and writers that want to do good work instead of balking at anything that doesn't satisfy their nostalgia?

[liquidstar]

Not sure if we can send more than one but #3 and #16 for your ocverse?

YESS OFC ITS OK THANK YOU SM <3

BUT. IM PUTTING THIS UNDER A CUT BC I TYPED SO MUCH LOL SORRY ANON <3

3.) any recurring images/elements?

Since I just answered a looong drabble abt the anthea converse I’ll answer this one for the polaris one lol

The obvious one is a lot of space and star themes, even the characters designs generally have some sort of little cosmic accessories. Different characters will have their own little sub-motifs, not just in the way they dress but just things that will come up in their story a lot. Like, Polaris herself is a navigator so really anything related to directions (In a more abstract way too, like, she’s lost in life and such), for Saiph, his whole thing can veer on being pretty upsetting but you can always look out for this one Spesific Fucking Knife that’s going to pop up constantly, for Al it’s anything related to halves and opposites, I mean, just look at his hair. For Bella it’s partly her sweet tooth, though it’s also not really about that at all. And for Mira you can aaaalways look out for birds and wings and really anything that flies, oh I hope that doesn’t have any possible negative side effects!!

Anyway I could go on with all the characters (Felis and “lives,” Juno and cracks/breaking, Ain and, well, eyes, etc.) but I think I’ll leave it at these for rn! 

Overall though… A huge huge huge huge huge overarching theme, and I think really the entire point of the story I want to tell with them is… Connection! We’re made of stardust, we’re all connected, people need people to survive. People need connection, no man is an island (Polaris), needing help isn’t a weakness (Saiph), it’s okay to be a burden (Al), vulnerability is a necessity for connection (Bella), people continue to live because of the kindness of others (Mira)

There’s totally a flipside of this too! And other character’s different struggles with it! But again I’d be here all day just listing them all (Not that I’d mind. This is fully for your sake LOL). There are a bunch of smaller themes I’d love to get into, like a lot of the characters arcs are sort of about different types of ego death, sometimes taken in strangely literal ways. And of course the theme of “flaws” being power is important here because of the way that all the characters interconnect into something stronger. And the idea that it’s not somekind of moral failing to be imperfect. But it’s also possible to grow, especially with the help of others. 

AND LOVE! The idea that all love that has ever been and ever will be has always been there. Because, again, we are made of stardust, we are part of the universe. Every moment that you have spent loving something, you have been the universe giving love back to itself. So don’t deny yourself that. 

16.) imagine the entire story takes place but in the meantime the characters all also have tumblr. what kind of (terrible) tumblr posts would happen?

OK silly time. I actually think this concept is so funny so I wanna save it for in case I ever wanna ACTUALLY make fake tumblr posts for them...

So in the meantime here's just what I think their tumblrs would look like

Polaris has not changed her blog theme, icon, or even blog title at all. And she only browses and doesn’t post. She doesn’t understand why she keeps getting blocked.

Saiph comments on EVERY SINGLE FUCKING POST that he reblogs. All of them. No matter what. He needs everyone to know his thoughts.

Al doesn’t use Tumblr and if you saw him reblog old emo music at 3am no you didn’t that was someone else. That was a different Al. Stop asking questions. 

Bella has the most decked out “pastel goth” Tumblr theme ever. She’s so meticulous about it as if it matters. She reblogs edgy moodboards and Kuromi edits. Her Caard is a maze filled with so many blinkies you’ll go blind. She also posts cake.

Mira runs a bird themed gimmick blog. She, like, roleplays as a bird who’s a menace to society. She rbs Bella’s cakes with stuff like “Oh  fuck yes. A little cake for me. *pecks at it*” She’s having fun.

Felis has one of those catgirlbodypart urls. Love her for it of course.

[crashhole]

In promethea, the Kabbalist color green is the realm of emotions. The name Netzach means Victory but more specifically it’s about enduring the emotional baggage and trauma of life, letting it pass through you instead of consuming you. I think this is really relatable for a bunch of green villains- there is often a theme of greed, jealously trauma or even psychosis often associated- green goblin, lex Luther, joker, mysterio, scorpion, Etc. Even heroes like Green Lantern and Polaris have an emotionally charged character core. I’ll havta re-read the issue but I’m pretty sure Moore used the word “endure” in his description, and according to the tree, the next stop after Netzach is death- be it ego or literal- implying you need to overcome your emotional baggage to transcend past this Death onto the next sphere of truth and enlightenment.

Doctor Doom and his a grim reaper outfit lol

Hickman gave Doom the ultimate ego death, the most literal fall from grace this sci-fi world has to offer, in order to teach him to live. He moved past the baggage (represented by his face) and revealed it to be beautiful (as beautiful as this artist can make a face at least lol.) Tiferet, the next sphere, literally meaning Beauty

And then if you wanna continue it, blue (the fantastic four) represents fatherly compassion, the duality between isolation and family, and divine intervention. Everything Doom is hung up on is represented by their uniform lol

[axolotlinjammies]

/\ above is the stunning image of Pixie! Sketched by yours truelyyy

OKAY!

I would like to say that while Forget is my oc, the world was made by one of my besties! So this a huge collaboration peice we're working on together!

To give a teeny tiny bit of back background gods lived on a star named Polaris, that star was destroyed by an unknown red light. Shattering it to millions of peices and sending hundreds (to possibly millions) of deities down to earth.

Now to hone in on the baby, the child, Forget!

They have been called many names, little mouse, Ora, Pixie, ect... But the one thing that stayed the same was how they were able to gather the misfits wherever they went. They would provide these people (sometimes even children) a sense of community. They would build these groups up, made them sustainable and then would remember who they are and leave to continue their journey.

Each time they left it would hurt but they would realize very quickly that people would forget their very existence. It would be like they had never spent that time with those people.

Mind you, they don't mind this. It's better then the treatment they had on Polaris. To put it very nicely, they were heavily bullied. Lots of gods have egos and many of them didn't understand why Forget even exsists in the first pace. In comparison to their older siblings? They were left in two large shadows.

Manami, the eldest sister, godess of Life and devotion. (Huge ego, very very gay)

Rayyan, the middle child, God of death and misfortune. (Is an absolute softy)

First image is Manami. Second is Rayyan (excuse the sexy clothes I was doing some drawing practice. He is very shy would never actually wear something like it).

Now for some background on Pixie!

She had a tattoo sleeve of a phenix on her left arm

She actually started off as a barmaid. Helping out and making barely enough to live. Then, she meets a Wayfinder. One that is stationed on a ship ready to cross the sea filled with monsters! That night she listened to his tales, even learning a few shanties. At the end of the night she thanked him for his tales. He ended up offering her to join the crew, they had lost a man on the ship because of a monster they had to fend off and were looking for a hard working fella!

Wouldn't you know!

Next thing they knew they are on a ship setting sail. With that they became taken by the sea herself. Saying that it would be her only love. She would do voyage after successful voyage. Gaining the respect of her crew mates. After some odd years a new sailor was roped into their ranks. Fresh scar across his face. Pixie learning that night, her Name is Ysa. A deity looking for safe passage across the sea.

Little did Pixie know at the time how close the two would come. Hell, even someone her crew mates would joke that they are lovers. Little did they know how true that was. Though, they would never label it until the end of their journey together ❤

I won't spoil that part, so I will end it here!

Sorry if it's a long read! I've just been keeping this info only between me and my bestie! Hope you enjoyed it! Have a free Manami for reading!

SO.. *pours you a drink of your choice*

Tell me about your OCs 😌✨️

[stormbreaker101]

Somehow I have performed the miracle that is drawing 2 things in less than 24 hours. Anyway, presenting, some more content from @wizzycore​‘s godswap AU, godswap!Rat!

[Image ID: a drawing of a character named The Rat. The Rat is an anthropomorphic rat with a long snout, tall rounded ears, and a tail with a small tuft at the end. The Rat’s eyes are blank. He has long, dark, spiky hair and a small beard. He is wearing a segmented breastplate, a long skirt with designs of clouds and stars, a belt with a large gemstone in the center, a scarf around his neck, and a pair of banded gauntlets. His right arm is behind his back, and his left arm is holding a few gemstones suspended in a small whirlwind. On the side there is text:

The Rat

“Warden of the Skies”

Created from Grandfather Spider’s ‘Superiority’, to protect and guard the Sky Anchor in Polaris

Unique abilities include crystalmancy and minor wind manipulation

Has a giant ego, gets better over the course of Arc 3

/end ID]

Some more detailed info about his general character is under the cut!

Rat is the eldest of Grandfather Spider's children. He was born from Spider's superiority. His pride and ego and authority. He is known as the Warden of the Skies, and he was created to guard the Sky Anchor atop Polaris.

Rat, being born from Spider's superiority, has a bit of an ego himself. He's quite proud to have this duty, as opposed to his dear brother Scorpion who's stuck in the sands. He rarely interacts with mortals besides the Luphilim (an order of beings who steward the Auroracle, a prophetic spirit who lived through the death of the First World), though he isn't against checking in on them, from a distance.

Rat’s main ability outside of combat is crystalmancy. He can summon nonmagical crystals of any kind, and special scryig crystals, which can peer anywhere in the world he is in. Some say he can also peer into peoples' minds with these scrying crystals, though the line between truth and hyperbolic legend is incredibly blurry. He uses these crystals to glimpse at the mortal happenings of Polaris every so often. In recent years, he's kept an uncharacteristically close eye on this one boy, Eidolon. Something about that particular mortal just... strikes a chord in him. He's not sure why.

Rat goes by many names, and is whispered as a benevolent figure of Polaris’s local mythos. One name he particularly likes is Vetrovnjak (Vetya for short). In West Serbian folkore, a vetrovnjak is a man whose spirit fights against incoming bad weather, often depicted as a black bird. I figured the term fit for multiple reasons. He’s a guardian, the Warden of the Skies, so he will be associated with weather magic even if that isn’t even his expertise. And the fact that the folklore depicts bad weather as a black bird matched up surprisingly well with how he was created to protect the Sky Anchor from Grandmother Raven, specifically (because Spider believed that only Raven would have reason to destroy the Sky Anchor).

[asktheheirofslytherin]

Ah, all of the people who have found me over time on this platform...well... there are the ones I obviously dislike. Polaris, going around referring to herself as “Lord Black,” as if she has any right to that title. That godawful Auror from the States - Barton. Do you know he bit me once?

Then there are the ones with the animals. More creatures than a person should reasonable associate with. The couple with the acromantulas. The one with the food named pets. The muggle with the dinosaur. The humans are not quite as annoying, perhaps even decent, but their animal entourage. Ugh. No.

There are a couple of oddities I cannot seem to form a particular opinion. Simply X and N, you see. They are so...confusing, yet amusing. I enjoy their inquiries. And Lupa. A talented death eater....but a werewolf. Ugh. 

Then there are Delphini’s friends. Natalie is...tolerable. Talented, a good positive influence on Delphi. Yes, I like her. Nyx is very pleasant as well. Very talented. I do like her. 

Then there is Eagle. A protege, if I ever saw one. I am a bit...fond of her. I view her as a colleague, though she is so young. I do respect her - not that I would ever disclose this to her. Not while she is so young. She may develop an ego. 

[[OOC: Professor Riddle of course enjoys his interactions with Nia. I see the vibe going the same way as Voldy and Eagle. Who knows, maybe in this universe, Nia will become the closest thing he has to a daughter. And of course Tom Riddle has his lil hufflepuff and Luna and Jealous anon. 

I personally don’t want to pick favorites. I like you all for different reasons. I like eagle and nia because they challenge Voldy and require a different style of writing which includes world building of dark magic, deception and lies. I like Natalie and Nyx because they’re fun, and funny, and push voldy out of his comfort zone. I like Simply X because they’re so random. And there are still others that haven't been mentioned - black heart, skull, snake dagger. They have fun plot based adventures. Medusa the basilisk, Clint Barton, and Sirius Black usually provide pure crack, and askmrsmalfoy and purebloodbastard, while not OC’s I feel like I should mention them because the level of absolute PETTY that goes on with them is a joy. And of course all the Bellas that have hopped in the inbox. And I know I haven’t even remembered everybody. There are just so many recurring names and characters and honestly I’m just so glad all of you interact with Voldemort and are writing. It’s truly a pleasure to write with you all.]]

[eurafi]

⟨  𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐀  𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐃.  𝐂𝐈𝐒  𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐄.  𝐇𝐄 / 𝐇𝐈𝐌.  ⟩  though  the  mist  might  prevent  some  from  seeing  it,  𝐑𝐀𝐅𝐈  𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐅𝐀  is  actually  a  descendent  of  H A D E S.   it’s  still  a  question  of  whether  or  not  the  TWENTY-SIX  year  old  𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒  𝐌𝐀𝐉𝐎𝐑  from  CAIRO,  EGYPT  has  taken  after  their  godly  parent  completely,  but  the  demigod  is  still  known  to  be  quite  𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆  &  𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅-𝐀𝐁𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐄𝐃.

                                             INFO.   /   PLAYLIST.   /   PINTEREST.

gooood  evening  legends,  it’s  hannah  back  again  with  character  two  aka  rafi  ‘most  likely  to  overuse  his  umbrakinesis  to  the  point  he  ceases  to  exist’  mostafa  !   he  is....  the  most  opposite  to  samson  and  i’m  so  excited  to  put  his  chaotic  energy  out  there.   wanted  connections  and  a  few  other  hc’s  are  below,  but  pls  see  the  info  link  for  his  full  bio  🖤 💀

—

𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐅  𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎.

          normally  children  of  hades  are  renowned  for  their  godly  parent  alone,  but  rafi’s  reputation  comes  with  years  of  breaking  out  of  that  stereotype  and  forging  a  legacy  of  his  own.   completely  cutting  ties  with  his  mortal  life  he  completed  his  first  quest  at  barely  10,  and  by  the  time  he  shadow  travels  to  camp  athens  on  a  dare  he’s  got  double  figures  under  his  belt.  he  lives  a  life  of  thrill-seeking,  pushing  the  limits  of  his  powers  in  defiance  of  Death  itself  ;  he’s  good  at  what  he  does  and  it  shows,  burning  bridges  as  he  moves  from  one  camp  to  another  without  a  thought  of  those  left  behind.   

          it’s  his  last  quest  that  this  catches  up  with  him  —  along  with  @eusalej  (  third  quest-mate  rejected  in  favour  of  their  egos  💀  )  the  duo  are  lured  into  a  trap  on  false  information,  no  way  out.   rafi  ends  up  using  the  last  of  his  energy  to  help  create  a  diversion  so  she  can  escape,  his  descent  into  the  underworld  of  his  own  volition  —  hades  gives  him  a  choice  then  :  enrol  at  eonia,  or  relinquish  his  soul.

—

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂  𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒.

he’s  been  at  eonia  for  around  6  months,  and  has  definitely  not  stuck  to  the  shadows.   at  all.

these  all  radiate  rafi  energy  :  x  like  father  like  son  /  x  loki  obv  /  x  he’d  buy  the  pizzas  /  x  rafi  popping  up  behind  Everyone  on  purpose  with  his  shadow  travelling.

is  an  emotionally  stunted  mess  because  he  didn’t  have  a  stable  home  growing  up  and  his  only  parental  figure  has  been  hades.   would  love  friends  but  also  fears  when  people  get  too  close,  so  he  rejects  them  first  before  they  can  figure  out  they  don’t  want  him  around.  is  v  lonely  inside,  but  hides  it  by  surrounding  himself  with  acquaintances  and  one  night  stands.

if  your  muse  has  been  to  a  well-known  camp,  they’ll  probably  have  heard  of  him  —  he’s  racked  up  countless  quests,  and  while  he  doesn’t  look  intimidating  (  and  deliberately  plays  down  his  necromancy  to  save  putting  off  that  aura  ),  he  is  very  proficient  with  his  powers.

has  a  good  heart  beneath  the  ego,  doesn’t  want  power  or  titles  (  while  money’s  nice,  his  new-found  ferrokinesis  keeps  him  comfortably  in  the  green  )  and  can  be  extremely  loyal  —  almost  to  a  fault  —  if  he  considers  you  a  (  rare  )  friend.

has  a  generic  american  accent  thanks  to  him  wanting  to  Blend  In  (  booooo  )  ;  adopted  one  after  watching  american  films  while  he  was  learning  english.   can  speak  fluent  arabic  still,  albeit  a  bit  rusty.

is  a  social  drinker  —  despite  how  much  he  frequents  polaris  and  as  much  of  a  night  owl  as  he  is,  rafi  doesn’t  drink  in  excess  or  do  drugs.   the  reasons  for  this  are  directly  linked  to  his  powers  :  the  less  in  control  he  is  mentally,  the  more  out  of  control  his  necromancy  is,  as  well  as  a  general  lack  of  connect  with  his  umbrakinesis.   he’s  only  ever  been  black-out  drunk  once  before  and  that  was  enough  for  a  lifetime  ;  waking  up  to  news  that  an  entire  mortal  street  had  had  to  have  their  memories  altered  after  witnessing  the  fear-inducing  display  of  countless  ghosts  rendered  visible,  and  the  way  he’d  felt  death  omens  for  the  next  fortnight  afterwards  was  more  than  enough.

—

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃  𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.

the  most  obvious  :  camp mates.   it’s  safe  to  say  rafi’s  been  around  the  world,  so  people  who  knew  him  pre-eonia  !   whether  they  were  friendly  or  not  —  maybe  rafi  went  sightseeing  with  them,  maybe  his  charm  didn’t  work  and  they  were  relieved  when  he  moved  on.   give  me  all  the  possibilities.

friends.   give  me  those  who  see  past  his  facade  and  put  up  with  his  skeleton  puns.   the  ones  rafi  can  no  longer  run  away  from  because  he  made  a  promise  (  and  his  life  depends  on  it  ).

enemies.   self-explanatory  —  rafi  isn’t  for  (  most  people  )  everyone.

fwb  /  past  and  present  one  night  stands.   rafi  finds  comfort  in  the  beds  of  strangers  on  occasion  and  he  isn’t  shy  about  it.

romance ????   based  on  this  post  ( x )  also  this  song  ( x )  —  preferably  male  aligned,  but  more  open  to  muse  chemistry.   now  he’s  being  forced  to  stay  in  one  place,  give  me  the  slow-burn  are  we  friends  ?  something  more  ?  and  rafi  being  absolutely  terrified  because  he  won’t  have  ever  felt  this  way  for  anyone  before  (  or  at  least  not  this  deeply  ).   him  feeling  like  he  belongs  somewhere......  a  new  concept...... 

these  are  very  basic  because  it’s  nearly  1am  but  i’ll  add  more  if  i  think  of  any  !

[a-st4rless-sky]

WARNINGS: CHARACTER DEATH AND HARM.

EGO DEATH - PRELUDE - 3 (Next) - [Beginning] - {Previous}

- A loud, bloodcurdling scream rings throughout the void. Icarus loses one of his wings. - You turned your back on his body. What goes around comes around. OOC: { did you miss me? admit it, you missed me. told you uploading would be inconsistent. also, i am aware the third panel is a bit strange with wording and i tried to fix it but forgot to export the image so. }

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of September 18th, 2019

Best of this Week: House of X #5 - Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles

The X-Men have conquered their greatest enemy: Death.

After the events of the last issue, it was a wonder just how Hickman would write the X-Men out of the predicament that has stopped them so many times before. In the standard Hickman way, he made retcons that enhanced the usefulness of lesser characters and provided a way out that not only makes sense, but can be used for just about anything in regards to all of our favorite dead mutants.

Goldballs had one of the dumbest powers for the longest time; the ability to propel golden balls from his chest, but in this book we learn that these balls were actually non-viable eggs that, with the help of Proteus, could be made usable. After they’re injected with mutant DNA and given life by Elixir, Tempus ages the eggs to maturity and thanks to Hope’s powers, all of them operate at peak efficiency. This allows the mutants to effectively resurrect their dead friends as husks until Xavier implants mind engrams into the bodies with their past memories.

In House of X #1, one of the first things we see is Charles Xavier meeting the reborn forms of Scott Summers and Jean Grey as full adults after they emerge from egg sacs of some kind. Initially, I thought that this was just some sort of strange symbolic rebirth thing and while it still is, it has become far more literal and intriguing because of five mutants - Goldballs, Elixir, Hope Summers, Proteus and Tempus.

Everything about this scene was immaculate and well done to a point where I almost want to cry. What coloring there was felt low and hushed, almost as if we were seeing something miraculous, the gift of light. Camera angles were mostly downwards, to capture the harmony of the group before they began their work. They stood silent and acted on instinct, indicating they'd done this before, showing us that they were absolutely sure of their process. 

Xavier leaning down, cradling his children and asking them to not die again as it kills a part of him every time that they do is heart wrenching, but joyous when he gives them their memories back. There's no hesitation, only love, only care. 

The gravity of the event as it happens and seeing someone like Goldballs become one of the most integral mutants in the revival of the mutant race brought me to an unknown level of joy. There was so much weight to their actions with the excellent narration by Magneto as to what exactly they were doing while talking to Polaris, making the point that when they are apart, they are still strong mutants, but together they are even more powerful than previously imagined. 

I’m almost certain they used the exact same pages from House of X #1 as we watch the resurrection of the dead team, but this time we have a whole new perspective of how we got there. In an absolutely beautiful celebration of life, we see the mutants of Krakoa praise the Five for bringing their mutant family back to life and a confirmation of those mutants by Storm. Under the purple leaves of a tree of Krakoa with a bit of sunlight shining through. Purple usually symbolizes nobility, passion and authenticity and with the use of dynamic angles and heroic posing, we can be absolutely sure that these are the same mutants.

Angel, Husk, Mystique, Monet, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Cyclops and Jean Grey all died to ensure that the Mother Mold didn’t come online and destroy the mutant race. In two nine panel grids, Storm greets hew newly reborn friends, questioning how she knows that it’s truly them. After they give their answers from the somber to the cocky to the… Monet, Storm asks what they are and the crowd answers with one word: Mutant. 

This message also acts as a bit of foreshadowing for the end of the book and as the theme for this issue as a whole; the idea of togetherness, something that the human race has denied mutants for all of their existence. 

The level of solidarity among the mutants is inspiring, the love and pride they have in themselves in infections and makes me want to see them do nothing but succeed. However, I do have something of a concern with the level of reverence they seem to be getting. As they walk naked down the stairs to interact with their fellow mutants, the other mutants reach their hands out at them as the sun shines brightly behind them. They seem as saviors, messiahs, people standing above their fellows and that’s a potentially dangerous path for them to go down, especially since Krakoa is performing so well and don’t need egos to ruin it.

On top of their resurrections, Xavier and Emma Frost are also trying to get the world's governments to accept Krakoa's pharmaceuticals and accept the Mutant Utopia as an independent nation. With a few notable exceptions from Russia, Latveria and Wakanda (among a few other countries that also would not accept Mutants or their cure alls) most of the world is very into the prospect of life giving drugs in exchange for giving mutants diplomatic immunity and recognition.

In many ways, this is the progress that they have always strived for. Some people aren't reticent to their acts of kindness out of ideological differences, but others see the benefit of siding with the new Nation as long as they can see the benefits. They may be alliances of necessity or fear, but the point still stands that their autonomy is being recognized. They're not being actively hunted, at least since Orchis was stopped from activating the Mother Mold and with their population in the cusp of becoming what it was in the past, they are flourishing and don't NEED human support, but they find it better that they receive it.

With the world coming together for mutants, there's only one more group left to truly unite the houses: The Villains. In my opinion, most of House of X has been leading up to this, the day when even mutant villains will come in full support of Xavier's new mission to save the race and there are some nasty ones here: Mister Sinister, Lady Mastermind, Mesmero, Selene, Sebastian Shaw, Emplate, Exodus, Gorgon, Black Tom Cassidy and Azazel.

But these villains pale in comparison to the final arrival in Apocalypse. In more than one way, Apocalypse's dream has finally come to fruition as well. Mutants have risen above and finally become the dominant species that he always believed they could be. They have evolved past their petty and weak natures and embraced their strength in both numbers and power. With Krakoa welcoming him with some lovely birds, Apocalypse speaks on behalf of all of the evil mutants when he says that they will obey the laws of Krakoa as they are written and cements this new alliance with a handshake with Charles Xavier.

This blew my mind. Apocalypse's whole deal was that he would absolutely destroy the weakness in the mutant gene pool and was only able to do so with Charles Xavier dead in the Age of Apocalypse timeline. He tore the world asunder, but as we learned from one of Moira MacTaggert's past lives, even this would not have lasted. If Moira's been in contact with Apocalypse, then he too knows that following Xavier right now is the only true path to mutant evolution and supremacy.

I have never been so elated, surprised and anticipating of a comic in so long. 

Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia are a match made in heaven and this book has a cinematic quality through and through. Larraz allows the characters to appear overjoyed, happy and proud with beautiful facial expressions. With faraway shots and ever changing angles in the panels, there's such a grandeur in the story being told. The sun is always shining in this particular issue, much like it was in House of X #1, signaling a brand new day and bright future for mutantkind.

Gracia's colors are bright and vibrant, emanating with a hopeful glow. Their lighting effects are on JJ Abrams levels of shiny and somehow The Five characters stand out apart from the clothes that they used to wear. Tempus' blue pops out perfectly against Goldballs gold and black. The purple of the tree leaves in the Confirmation is absolutely beautiful and awe-inspiring and the darkness during Apocalypse's arrival set against the shining God rays is the perfect contrast.

I have never been more proud to be a fan of the X-Men. Knowing their history of death and rebirth, it's relieving to see that they now have the means to finally conquer their mortal enemy. There's so many that can be brought back to life (provided their deaths haven't already been retconned). John Proudstar, the original Thunderbird, Jamie Madrox, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Sean Cassidy, Blindfold and many others that either died so long ago or died at the hands of Matthew Rosenberg's Uncanny X-Men.

House of X has gone above and beyond and rejuvenated a portion of the Marvel Universe that has been a chaotic mess for the better part of almost 20 years by this point. There's finally unity amongst all of the mutants in the Universe, from 90s villains to even recent ones from Brian Michael Bendis' run. 

Jonathan Hickman is proving that almost anything he touches turns to gold as he's crafted an amazing tale in only nine issues, counting Powers of X as well. I find myself, for the first time in a long time, not just going through the motions. I feel as though I'm witnessing a revolution occurring, an actual brand new era for some of my favorite super people. 

The series is set to conclude in about three weeks for X-Men #1 and I am already so very excited. Highest of recommends.

What are we? Mutants.

[polarishq]

Meet LENORA BAKER. They are SEVENTY-THREE years old and hail from SZEGED, HUNGARY. Lenora embodies the constellation, CYGNUS. They use she/her pronouns. Their faceclaim is FLORENCE PUGH.

Cygnus reminds me of high heels click-clacking on hardwood floors, perfectly pretty tiaras atop perfectly curled hair, lifting half your body through the sun roof of a car as it speeds down an open road, baby pink lipstick, the weight of a family name you never asked to bear, black coffee simply for the aesthetic, rumpled bedsheets, winged eyeliner so sharp it could cut glass, and the sheer, unbridled anger of an interrupted youth.

BIOGRAPHY

(Trigger Warnings for abuse and talk of arranged marriages)

The concept of kingship has largely died down in Western magical culture, but among those who reside in Europe and can trace their roots back far past the witch trials of old, there is still a small yet prevalent society of royals. Nowadays, the terms King and Queen, Prince and Princess, only mean something in terms of social standing. In their hay day though, magic folk practically ruled Central and Eastern Europe from behind the scenes. The Péks clan had a strong hold in Hungary that faded as more and more of their kind died out, but their aristocratic role in magical society is still strong to this day. When Eleonóra Péks was born alongside her twin brother only a few years after the end of the seven and world war, every witch and wizard in Szeged shares in the family’s joy.

Eleonóra was as much of a princess as one could hope to find. With her money and status, she never wanted for anything material. And people often remarked that even if she wasn’t their princess, her looks would be enough to warrant the royal treatment all on its own. And Eleonóra ate that attention up. It was better than the treatment she received behind closed doors. Her father Irme Péks, who was the main reason Szeged held steadfast to it’s magical monarchy to this day, vividly recalled a time where their people had lived openly and freely, only to later be persecuted by the mortals who feared rather than respected them. He wanted nothing more than to return to those ways, and made it known to his children that their mission was to help make that happen. Her brother was raised to eventually be ruler, and Eleonóra was raised to some day marry one of the few remaining “princes” still around to strengthen their family. When her constellation mark took the form of the Swan, she was viewed as even more of a prize. Irma was very clear that he viewed his children as chess pawns more than anything else, and any hint of falling out of line was met with physical disciple as he saw fit. On the other hand, their mother was everything Eleonóra feared becoming: cold and disengaged, complicit in their father’s abuse.

instead, Eleonóra turned angry. At her parents, at the people who treated them like they were on some sort of pedestal rather than in pain, at herself for being so goddamn ready to just take everything that was doled out to her. She could play nice in front of the public eye, but once home, she was constantly throwing harsh words at her extended family (never her parents — an insult at her father was a death wish waiting to happen). To know your existence is just a trophy for someone else is a horrible way to live, and it’s the only thing Eleonóra knew for decades. The breaking point came in the early 2000s, when her father’s increasing age made him more volatile than ever. So when he came to Eleonóra one day, still a child for all of her fifty plus years, to tell her she was to be married, things escalated quickly. One angry, uncontrollable comment fueled by her anger, and that was it. The altercation that followed between Eleonóra, Irme, and her brother who came to his sister’s aide was loud, painful, and ended with Eleonóra and her brother quite literally fleeing the home. Eleonóra’s years of anger overflowed and she told her brother, in tears, that she refused to go back. So they didn’t

In the Péks family, and truly among the magical society in Szeged overall, their abilties were viewed as power. Magic wasn’t a gift, and while the “children” had been given the best education possible, it was based in history and combat and control rather than respecting it. When the Péks left Szeged, it took a few months of making their way through Europe before they considered Polaris. They’d heard of it, of course. It was one of the best training grounds for magical being in their world. But Irme had always insisted that his children could be taught the best at home; they didn’t need anything else. More than word of Polaris’ renown, they had also heard whispers of the current Ursas — strong and kind, willing to open their doors to anyone. Eleonóra was hesitant at first. Going to Polaris would mean following their rules and ideologies. Why should she run from one prison to what may very well be another? Eventually though, with her brother’s urging and the realization that they had nowhere else to go, the Péks headed towards Vermont.

She’ll tell you that changing her name was a means of creating her own identity. — Eleonóra to Lenora, Péks to it’‘s anglicized form Baker, all of it a new version of her that she had control of. That’s not entirely true, though. In reality, Lenora changed her name because she was scared. If her father found her, she knew that he could very well kill her or overpower her. His fire magic, although not based in a zodiac, was fueled by rage she’d long since learned to fear. Changing her name didn’t guarantee she’d be safe forever, but it gave her some sense of security. At the very least, it put some distance between her and her life back in Hungary.

Although she’s been at Polaris for decades now, Lenora is still slow to warm. By now, it’s more out of habit than any prior need to protect herself. The hardest adjustment has been in how she views magic. Back...well, not back home, but back in Szeged, her status as Cygnus (always a beauty) was more prevalent than her actual abilities. Here, she’s come to learn what she’s truly capable of. Lenora can often be found up in one of Caeli’s towers, sat beside an open window and feeling the wind on her face. Her element may be air, but Lenora feels as if that has always been misplaced. Air is meant to be wide-open and freeing, always circulating. But Lenora has never quite felt that level of freedom. Even now, she still can’t help but feel trapped. In her anger, in her fear, in her memories. She won’t admit to that, though. It’s easier to pretend to not care rather than admit how much there is to you.

INCLINATION

Much like the swan that symbolizes them, Cygnus possesses a charm unlike few others. Some have described them as ethereal, others simply find themselves at a loss for words in their presence. While physical beauty does tend to be a common trait among it’s sponsees, their natural ability to entice and entrance can be chalked up to the stars as well. Their magic tends to reflect this, with a knack for glamor spells and charms. This can lead to an inflated ego which may or may not be warranted, but Cygnus rarely cares about that aspect. In addition, as the air that commands them and the swan that embodies them, Cygnus tend to be able to learn levitation much easier than others — they just need to be aware of keeping their heads out of the clouds.

CONNECTIONS

Twin Brother: Lenora’s anchor, truly. This is the only person who Lenora trust completely, because he’s the only one she’s ever felt cared for her without any ulterior motives. He’s also the only person who can get away with calling Lenora out on her nonsense, and likewise, he gets a version of her that’s as close to nice as she’s capable of.

Jilted Fiance: Another member of the small, old-school aristocracy that still lives sprinkled throughout Europe. In the early 2000s, Lenora was told that her father had promised her hand to this character (or rather, this character’s family), and she quickly fucked away after that. Maybe they never met prior to this, maybe he and Lenora had been childhood friends. Either way, he was left dealing with the fallout of their broken engagement while Lenora seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet.

Calming Presence: Lenora isn’t kind to anyone other than her brother, but this person does have a somewhat uncanny ability to ease some of her typical frustration. And Lenora, for all of her arrogance and short-tempter, can’t find it in herself to be a true bitch to them. She’s blunt, yes. Tactless, sure. But somewhere in the little black box that is her emotional storage container, she holds some care for them.

Filling the role of Eloise Delaurentis’s polarizing force.

Penned by Jeanne ★

[save-the-spiral]

InkWizTober Day Twenty-Six: Dark + Revolution

Welcome to day twenty-six of Inktober! Totally not day thirty! I’m back home from evacuating wildfires and such, finally can write again! This is a continuation of these two fics! Warnings for arachnophobia/spider stuff (paragraph right after ‘butterflies’ if you wanna skip), torture, and death mentions.

(link to prompt lists) (link to inktober tag)

Queen felt something wretched and crawling inside her abdominal cavity. For a moment she was concerned for her internal machinery, only to remember a human phrase.

Butterflies.

This nervousness, this dread, felt more like awful, hairy tarantulas like deep in the jungles of Skull Island, with far too many legs to be okay, all creepy and scrabbling through her wiring and gears. Queen shivered in fear and disgust, hoping to never encounter one in person. She might just scream and run the other way.

She drew herself out of her thoughts as Captain Avery began speaking again, his monologue wandering and so animated she wondered if he would bring out the puppets, as was pirate tradition. It would be more entertaining than his recalling of Queen and the young pirate captain’s past adventures, both stories she was very knowledgeable of.

It was only when he got to Valencia in his story that the faux heartbeat created by gears and pistons inside her began to almost audibly tick, and she was glad for the layers of muffling fabric and armor. The way Captain Avery grinned with several shining golden teeth, the way he savagely barked out his words, the glee as he described Kane and his court’s demise- her demise- it made her fingers twitch for her sword, to protect herself.

Her crew mate and fellow ex-armada soldier, Zircon, was standing even stiffer as she listened to Captain Avery’s words. She was almost creaking with the force of her tension, fingers gripping her mace too tightly, that Queen tried to settle her. One of her delicate gloved hands rested on Zircon’s slightly sturdier one that was already on Queen’s shoulder protectively. 

“While this tale is entertaining, Captain, I am sure we all could recite the story. I have informants from Valencia who told me as much.” Queen spoke up, glad she had modified her vocal systems after going pirate. It would be a shame if the young pirate recognized her within the minute and summarily killed her, especially when she just started lying and getting to the point.

“Of course, Captain.” Avery’s sly grin and sparkling eyes set Queen on edge in a way Kane and his lapdogs never could. There’s something so human about it, so mischievous for the sake of it. “Maybe proper names are in order, then. ‘Course, the young pirate has one, but everyone calls ‘em young pirate anyway. What about you? You have worked for over a year with too much mystery in a business so full of reputation.”

“I...” Queen wished desperately she had thought this far. Planning was more Sterling’s forte, she just edited the ideas into fun adventures. “Ferro. Captain Reyna Ferro.” 

I am. The stupidest creation in the Spiral. I just named myself something that translates to Queen Iron. Goodness, I wish I could be concussed just to slam my head into the table and forget this.

Captain Avery looked delighted, and the young pirate was exchanging wide eyes with their companion. 

“Well met, Captain Ferro.” The young pirate’s companion, a goose in Mooshu attire, spoke for the pair. “I am Egg Shen. We are fascinated by what you’ve accomplished.”

“Yes!” Captain Avery spoke again, putting down a gaudy tea cup on the table- without a saucer or a coaster, the monster. “Especially your work in Polaris and Marleybone. They’ve been beneficial for all pirates, guaranteeing that the two worlds will blame deserters from the other’s army! Ingenious.” 

“It was quite simple, really.” Queen demurred. “I am sure it pales in comparison to your own dealings with Marleybone, having created this haven, Captain Avery. I simply implied some things, made some people disappear who needed disappearing regardless.” 

“Still, Ferro. Not since my glory days have I heard of such an efficient and thorough plan executed with no mishaps- you must run the tightest ship this side of the Spiral!” Avery was eager, showing his hand. He was leaning too far into flattery, not getting to the point. It must be dangerous. 

Thankfully, Queen isn’t some man who needs their ego stroked. She knows what she is capable of, doesn’t need someone to compliment her when her work speaks for itself.

“It’s simply a matter of trust and similar circumstance, Captain.” Queen let her gloved finger trail around the rim of the wide, squat teacup in front of her, as if she weren’t thinking about her words. “I only hope my crew can be of assistance- I had come simply to meet you, but I am glad you seem to have a job that needs done. I’d love to prove that we have a place here in Skull Island.”

Goodness, playing the competent but in need of guidance pirate captain would grow old rather quickly. Luckily, Captain Avery was too determined to impress her more, the old washed up pirate he was. 

“Of course! We’re going to wipe out the rest of the Armada and their influence, as simple as that.” Avery stood tall now, chair almost tumbling on his thick decorative rugs. “We will finally rid the Spiral of their influence, my fellow captains! Together, we can pick off large fleets into bite sized pieces, chew them up, and spit out the cogs. Horrible for digestion.” He chuckled at his own joke, as if the young pirate and ‘Captain Ferro’ were not staring at him.

“Really?” The young pirate spoke for the first time, looking eager. 

“Really.” Avery was getting far too into this, considering his age. Queen hoped his heart didn’t give out, that would be annoying. “Currently they are leaderless- and we have all the connections in Valencia thanks to you, young pirate. We can do it all, and finally take them out. Valencia gets to set up a competent- a caring- government, pirates get to move far more freely through the Spiral, and we get credit for doing it!” 

Egg Shen was nodding. “We certainly have the resources. Our own crew is almost too many for our ship, and we’re owed favors from almost everyone important who’s worth knowing. That, plus Captain Ferro’s innovative plans and skilled crew, we could do it in a matter of months. We’ve already severed the snake’s head, this is just burning the body, ending it properly.”

Zircon’s hand on her shoulder was in danger of denting her metal plating. Queen stood, just so that her crew mate would release her, and so Queen would have level ground here. “I have terms.” 

“State them.” Avery said right away, slowly settling into his own chair, likely from aching joints.

“No one inquires as to the identities of my crew. We all have secrets, I am sure, and my crew’s faces happen to be ours. Also.” Queen felt something wrenching and awful in her gut, something wrong about just slaughtering beings that were like her, that bled oil and never slept, that had potential to feel but could not yet. “We capture as many as possible. My crew deals with them. I know that the Armada tend to die before accepting defeat, but-”

“No, no. I understand.” Avery cut her off. It pissed her off. “We all have grudges, the Armada’s likely effected you and yours as well. Just do your torturin’ and killin’ on your own time after battles.” He waved her off, and it made Queen wish she could cut that hand off. 

Having a man act as if she needed his permission made her furious. It made her feel helpless, like she was just waiting for Kane’s next order again, was just a puppet, a doll, a thing, existing only for the Armada, the cause-

Zircon’s free hand caught hers, held it- and goodness that gesture was just so alive, needing comfort was so alive, it helped snap Queen out of her rage, her flashbacks. She sat back down. 

“Of course. We are professionals.” Queen finally said, voice firm. Zircon finally sat beside her, no longer looming over the room. 

“Not too professional, I hope. Would be dreadfully boring, wouldn’t it, Captain Ferro?” Avery grinned.

“Oh no, Captain. I assure you, we know how to have fun.” Queen’s lilting tone was light, playful, coy. She tilted her head, masked face blank but the gesture full of an almost childish air. “I am sure there will be plenty of opportunity to show you while we decimate the Armada, no?” 

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Dark Phoenix (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the weekend after the movie is released worldwide, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie do not read on until you have or check out my non-spoiler review for a general overview.

Retelling Mistakes:

Alright so this is a Simon Kinberg movie first and an X-Men movie second, by which I mean I don’t think it should be judged as an X-Men movie before being judged as the brainchild of Simon Kinberg who is writer, producer and director of the movie.

Kinberg famously also wrote the script for X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 which was the first cinematic attempt for him to tell the Dark Phoenix story. I want oit also to be noteworthy that The Last Stand is definitely a poorer movie in terms of story flow by trying to combine the Phoenix story with the Mutant Cure story and also for practically zero character development and an ending that felt as if the original trilogy fizzled.

However, despite Dark Phoenix being a slightly better movie overall than The Last Stand, it is almost as if Kinberg simply rehashed the same script but modified it to fit with the current group of characters who are somewhat different to those from the original trilogy.

Much like Mary Poppins Returns, Dark Phoenix has almost exactly the same scenes just told in a different way.

Starting with Jean in the mansion’s medical lab, just as she was after being found by Wolverine and Storm in X3. The only differences are Jean is there of her own accord after returning from seemingly absorbing a solar flare, Xavier and Logan aren’t examining her instead Hank is and the scene doesn’t end with a steamy romp on the table and instead Jean says she feels great and is dismissed.

Then there’s Jean’s home battle death in the first act. During X3 this is the scene almost immediately after the medical lab scene where Jean returns to her old home in a very fragile state. Xavier, Storm and Wolverine arrive to help Jean while Magneto and his new Brotherhood arrive to acquire her. It results in a couple of separate fights ending in Phoenix destroying Xavier.

In this movie though, Jean returns home and is hit with a bombshell about her past, leading the Phoenix to take over and be the sole combatant against the X-Men who arrive to help her. However, Mystique is the one who dies at the telekinetic hands of Phoenix via impalement rather than disintegration.

The ending scenes of the movie begin with shots of the X-Mansion before going on to Magneto playing chess. Here the shots are of the newly named Jean Grey School which go on to Xavier and Magneto playing chess in France while in X3 the shots of the mansion are of Storm welcoming new students and Magneto is later shown playing chess in the park.

It’s annoying when movies rehash the same scenes from popular movies but X3 is critically hated and mostly mocked by fans as potentially the worst X-Men movie aside from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Also these scenes did not contribute to the original Dark Phoenix story and even to die-hard X-Men fans who remember these scenes from the animated series, you can’t help but compare to X3.

Characters:

Alright so now my big grumble with the movie is over, I am going to be talking about these characters in order of importance for the movie and in part my favourites the franchise as a whole.

Jean Grey:

Sophie Turner does a brilliant job here and is definitely the star of the movie, it could be argued Jean Grey has become the first X-Men character aside from Wolverine to get her own solo movie as “Dark Phoenix” is centric to her character.

But it is a fact that Sophie Turner did a fantastic job at brilliantly portraying the inner struggle that Jean had in this movie both physically and mentally. My favourite scene from her is probably when she is sat in the rain trying to scrub Mystique’s blood off while questioning her inner demon otherwise known as Phoenix as to why it made her do it. It was a short scene and if yo have seen it in the trailers you’ve pretty much seen it, but something about it in context works really well in the movie.

Also Jean as a child was also rather well portrayed, again we have a scene with Jean as a child opening X3 but while that scene is rather played down and strictly about Jean demonstrating the extent of her powers at that age, this one shows that her powers were in fact instrumental in her childhood trauma as she supposedly was responsible for killing her parents while her powers protected her from the debris.

This was of course proven later to only be partly true as her father somehow survived the accident while her mother didn’t, but then her father effectively disowned her and gave her to Xavier.

Either way Summer Fontana does an okay job at portraying young Jean as an almost three-dimensional child dealing with what she has dealt with and feeling she is broken despite Xavier claiming she isn’t.

I really enjoyed seeing a better, more diverse, use of the Phoenix powers. Not only in the explanation that Jessica Chastain’s Vuk gave to the extent of the Phoenix power which felt very Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with Ego’s demonstration of his powers, but also in the way that Jean took control of Xavier’s body and made him walk up the stairs.

It wasn’t just simply a case of Phoenix being able to make things disintegrate and float as opposed to how it was in X3. I also really loved the pink energy that Jean had when using the Phoenix powers. I know in the comics this is Jean’s standard colour for using her powers like Scarlet Witch is red and Polaris is green but they never established Jean’s powers using pink energy before and the almost pink fire that accompanied the Phoenix powers made for a rather nice effect.

Jean’s relationship with Scott never felt as forced as I thought it would. It was pretty much the same set up as the Bruce/Natasha relationship in the MCU. I didn’t hate it there and I didn’t hate it here, I simply didn’t focus too much on it.

Although I will agree that in those early scenes at the mansion and that party that the way Jean was acting when with Scott was very Bella Swan from the hair to the almost socially awkward posture and movement.

However, I did love that the first official intimate moment between the two was after Jean was enhanced by the Phoenix which heightened all of her emotions, so you could say it was a three-way relationship at that point.

I did think the added development of her father being alive and Jean discovering that he had effectively disowned her added to her further decline to succumb to the Phoenix power.

Also seeing a fully-powered Jean explored here was fun to watch. From seeing her fly to using her telekinesis to operate a helicopter and even when she was Phoenix and dismantled Magneto’s Helmet, all of it was an impressive display of power.

We all know the timeline is slightly screwed in this universe but we are supposed to believe that in 1975 Jean Grey is 8 years old and with the present day events here being set in 1992 that would make the character 25 years old...there is little to no age difference between Jean here and in Apocalypse maybe aside from hair and fashion and that was set in the 80s.

I thought Jean’s sacrifice at the end was both obvious and poignant. Obvious because Jean is meant to die at the end of the Dark Phoenix story but poignant because it was quite an emotional sacrifice more so than in The Last Stand.

I loved the inferno of pink fire that surrounded Phoenix and later Vuk as Jean kills them both essentially, it made for a more interesting climax than just Jean standing there disintegrating everything.

Overall Sophie Turner was definitely the best thing about the movie, I do think she maybe could have been a little bit more diverse in her acting as mostly she delivered lines on the same monotonic level but other than that I have no complaints...except maybe wanting to see her in the Dark Phoenix costume.

Beast:

I will continue to say this, people do not give Nicholas Hoult enough credit as Hank McCoy/Beast.

Considering how he, McAvoy, Fassbender and J-Law are the only ones left from First Class, I think Hoult has played an under the radar performance but still one of notoriety.

I will say my only negative for this version of the character is I feel the way the fan-favourite character is portrayed is affected in the same way as Mystique has been portrayed in that the actors (Hoult and Lawrence) do not want to be in the blue make-up all the time and want to be able to be themselves for parts of the movie.

Now whereas Mystique can easily shapeshift and that is how they get away with that, to my knowledge once Beast’s mutation accelerated and turned McCoy into Beast, it was not irreversible in the comics but because of Hank’s serum he was able to shift between the two during Days of Future Past and Apocalypse.

Here though there didn’t really seem to be any explanation as to why he was able to shift so easily and rather than it being a case of a serum injection, it seemed to be more Hulk-like. I’m not complaining at seeing Nicholas Hoult in all his glory, but Beast being my favourite X-Man I want him to be treated with the respect he deserves.

In the positives, I really liked seeing a darker side of Beast. But it wasn’t a straightforward Dark Beast as everyone believed it would be and simply Hank deciding that Xavier was not the answer in this situation and that Magneto was. I was fully on Beast’s side in this movie because not only did Jean accidentally murder his lover, but Xavier had such an incompetent attitude to the whole thing for fear of ruining their recent claim to fame that he had set aside the original morals he intended for the X-Men.

It is a testament to Hank’s morals though that after Xavier made his half-arsed apology that Beast decided to protect Jean because that is what Mystique would have done.

I am unsure how I feel about Beast now being the headmaster of the school, now called the Jean Grey School. I am all for the fact that Xavier decided to retire after the complete hash he made of “protecting his students” and I get that Hank is now the longest-serving member of the X-Men...but I do wish we had another movie to see him as a teacher/headteacher for me to decide fully.

I would like to see Beast in the MCU at some point either as Nicholas Hoult or Kelsey Grammar, but overall I just want Beast to return at some point as he is my favourite and I feel he needs more of a chance to shine.

Professor X:

I am thrilled with this movie for showing the darker side of Xavier, the only problem is rather than hinting at his darker side as they did in The Last Stand, they went down a hubris egotistical route before even starting to hint at his darker side which made what he did to Jean seem more like it was feeding into his hubris than actually doing the wrong thing for what he believed to be the right reason.

Also, as I said with Beast, Xavier simply came across as incompetent a lot in this movie and most of it seemed to be because he thought he was above reproach. When he agreed to send the X-Men into space to save those astronauts he was called out on his reason why by Mystique and yet played it off as him keeping the peace between humans and mutants so that they don’t go back to being hated.

When the team try and detain Jean, he is fine letting everyone put their lives at risk to try and stop her but when Beast has a taser ready to shoot, Xavier stops him and the cops in order for Mystique to talk her down which leads to her death...why not just let Beast taser her and then let Mystique talk to her back at the mansion?

Then when Hank and Xavier are having that talk, Xavier simply talks about how Mystique was in First Class rather than taking responsibility or apologising for not letting Beast take the shot, and even tries to turn it around on him for making him feel bad after burying his foster sister...bullshit!

I don’t know why or how the X-Men are suddenly public superheroes because Xavier was the one during First Class who stated that anonymity was their first line of defence and now the President has an X-Phone, it just seems like something the Avengers or Justice League would be but not the X-Men.

Also I loved it when he got talked down by Storm and Nightcrawler, it was simply the last straw that he had lost the respect of his students and team.

Don’t get me wrong, James McAvoy did a great job in the role as always, he like Hoult is one of those actors I will watch a film for regardless, but there was just something that didn’t feel as organic as the Xavier he had built up for the past 8 years.

I know McAvoy was filming Glass around the same time as this and you can tell because of the weight that he put on for the Beast role in that, but while McAvoy got the look of Xavier down with his fashion it was just something about the character’s motives that seemed really off.

Mystique:

This was a straightforward character assassination for a great X-Men villain, particularly with what Rebecca Romijn did with the character in the original trilogy to have it being so desecrated in the 30-45 minutes that she is in here is such a shame.

For one thing, she is never called Mystique once in this movie. Secondly, the make-up has gone from lizard-like to fancy dress. Third, as much as I liked Jennifer Lawrence’s delivery in this movie I detest the fact she died a hero, and that she was eulogised as “doing what she did best, dying trying to protect her friends”...

Mystique is a villain, she has moments of anti-heroism and her soft spots are often shown for her kids, but other than that she is manipulating, cold and calculated. She would definitely not die and be eulogised as “being the spirit of the X-Men”.

Also I say in the comics she has a soft-spot for her children, that’s great but in seven movies they have not established any familial connections between her, Rogue or Nightcrawler...despite many opportunities.

I do have positives though, as I said I did like Jennifer Lawrence’s delivery. I thought her line about how it usually being the women saving the men and changing the team name to X-Women was a good line, even though Mystique, Storm and Jean are really the only female members of the team they’ve shown in the First Class trilogy but they are still the more interesting ones, aside from Quicksilver and Beast.

I also liked it when she suggested to Hank that they leave the X-Men and run away together. I understand why Hank said no but I do agree that if they had done so it would have saved both of them.

Her duration in this movie simply felt like J-Law waiting to be released from her contract, you could tell that from her opening delivery to Nightcrawler as she exasperatingly says “Yes Kurt, we’re going into space” and the scene when the other rocket explodes and Mystique looks like she’s waiting for the inferno to take her.

Overall I am saddened that this is how Mystique ends in the movie universe, but at least there is still some good takeaway from her in the movie.

Magneto:

Could Magneto just pick a side and stick with it?! For one thing Genosha just seemed like a wilderness estate rather than a Mutant safe-haven. But while he was trying to be the peacekeeper here as soon as he hears of Mystique’s death he is right back into being a bad guy, but then a pep talk from Xavier and he is back being a good guy again.

I wouldn’t mind but he berates Xavier by saying “you’re always sorry and there’s always a speech but it never matters”, yet after Xavier gives a speech in the train he is somehow won over.

I really enjoyed the display of his powers in the movie, as always. The fact he and Jean battled to control a helicopter and both actors didn’t oversell it or make it look memeable is a testament to them both.

But I loved it in that street battle when he pulled up that underground train from the subway and managed to use it as a barricade between the building and the outside. Then later he equipped the SWAT agents’ guns in a full-on firing brigade against Vuk...yes it didn’t work but it was awesome.

I’m not too happy with where his story ended in this movie, the fact that he is now being Xavier’s saving grace seems a little bit against type for the character and also the fact he would either abandon Genosha or welcome his ethical enemy to Genosha just doesn’t sit right.

Cyclops:

I still enjoyed this version of Scott Summers than James Marsden’s performance, but I do agree that Cyclops’ visor really prohibits the actor wearing it from getting across much emotion in the scenes.

To be fair, Tye Sheridan does try and succeeds a lot here, but I still didn’t feel bad or empathetic for him most of the way through this movie.

I think his optic blast power is one of the best the X-Men has both visually and from a power stand point, and I loved how the Blackbird has apparently become equipped with a blaster pod for Cyclops’ optic blast. I did want to see more of that but really Cyclops is the only member with that kind of power. Storm can easily carry out her powers regardless and the rest need to be within a certain distance.

Nightcrawler:

I felt myself very confused by Nightcrawler towards the end of this movie. When he tried saving that one SWAT agent whose son was a fan of his but was too late and so got angry, it just seemed very out of character to me.

Yes Nightcrawler has been involved in conflict in the comics but in the original trilogy he was very much the religious pacifist type of character. Going full demon could have been an interesting pathway for the character considering his father is Azazel, but literally slotting it in for five minutes of the final film does seem a bit like a throwaway plot point.

Also, despite it still being Kodi Smit-McPhee, I felt a lot of the freshness he brought to the character in Apocalypse was gone here, maybe because they didn’t show him as much but a lot of the humour from the last movie he had was gone here.

Vuk:

Everyone is simply calling her Jessica Chastain and to be fair it makes no difference what you call her because she’s barely developed as is.

Firstly this massive mystery role of hers is revealed to be the leader of a D’Bari army who seek the Phoenix power that destroyed their homeworld to help them remake Earth into their new homeworld. That’s great, and the D’Bari were in the original Dark Phoenix saga story, but nothing else is done to make Vuk menacing or threatening or even interesting.

I don’t understand the stomach twisting power they seemed to have, because it seemed like the biggest threat these aliens offer is to give their victims the worst stomach cramps imaginable, but the most laughable trait of theirs was literally charging at Jean as the Phoenix during the end of the film...even Vuk did.

I’m not saying they were bad as villains, they certainly filled that role, but they didn’t offer anything new or threatening and they certainly didn’t exceed what Apocalypse did.

Quicksilver:

Quicksilver was shelved in this movie. Not only was he in the movie all together for probably 3 minutes less than Mystique, but also they cut everything about him that made him such a likeable character in the previous two movies.

The humour was barely there, there was no brilliant slow motion speed scene, they still didn’t establish the relationship between him and Magneto despite Apocalypse seemingly teasing it would be explored. I know he got injured during the confrontation between the X-Men and Jean but to not even be mentioned for the rest of the movie except for a 5 second appearance right at the end?

Storm:

I will give Storm credit for being the only character in this movie to be called by their moniker, but Storm is only called by her moniker. Mystique calls Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Quicksilver Scott, Kurt and Peter on mission but also calls Storm Storm. Why not Ororo?

Also her powerset, particularly with Alexandra Shipp, seem very limited. The younger version of Storm only really seems to produce lightning and electrical attacks with the occasional heavy breeze. Here though she seems to also produce ice cubes for parties...because that’s a good use for one of the strongest X-Men?

Future:

I am unsure about the future of the X-Men now, while I cannot wait to see what the MCU does with them, Feige has stated that it won’t happen for a while at least.

I am hoping they start drip-feeding them in soon, say with Storm in Black Panther II and maybe Professor X in Doctor Strange II if they introduce the Illuminati.

I have loved these past 19 years of X-Men movies, yes there have been bumps in the road but it is a great comfort to watch and I don’t ever feel like they’re a guilty pleasure.

Overall I rate this movie a 7/10, it’s not an offensive movie like X-Men Origins or The Last Stand but it isn’t as strong as X2, First Class or Days of Future Past. I would still love to see a faithful Dark Phoenix saga movie maybe over the course of a couple of movies rather than just rammed into the one but I cannot really mark it down too much because it gave me the nostalgia I have whenever I watch an X-Men movie.

So that’s my review of Dark Phoenix, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Marvel Movie Reviews as well as other movie reviews and posts.

[frstbiitten]

Interesting stuff I found in Frost’s gear

So, we all know that certain objects have interesting names that can give some info about the characters. And I found more stuff that are really amusing. Under ‘read more’ of course because is gonna be kind of long.

Daughter of Arctika: at first glance, let’s be honest, is not one of her most interesting masks she has (Lin Kuei Renegade, Speak No Evil and Chosen Destiny are my favorites so far, also Diamondteeth, it quite reminds of an ice cave). Arctika is the place where the Lin Kuei temple is, so it’s quite amusing seeing how this important place is mentioned in her gear. Plus using the word daughter could refer to her commitment with the clan, symbolically, obviously, and how important of a figure she was for them before being kicked out.

Deathmatch Champion: in the MKX comics, Cassie fights against Frost in a cage, but it’s actually a deathmatch, so one of them should be finish by the end (none of them die that night, thanks Cass). When Frost is dominating the encounter, she says she has earned her spot, and by looking at the name of this masks, it looks like our cold gal was really good fighter (maybe was like a WWE but with death at the end, and at some point she won a season… maybe?).

There are other masks that refer to what is her current state, specially when it comes to the clan since she went against Sub-Zero, there are names like: Defiant One, Lost Cause, Kronika’s Apprentice, Frost 2.0, Chosen Destiny, Korruption. And her no-mask gear is called Metal Fetishist… I don’t know what that came from and I’m intrigued.

Now the power array. An addition to her that I love, and is my favorite piece of her gear.

Quaestor: this is actually a political position that became official in Ancient Rome, but it had many functions depending of the era. Most of the times it was related to the investigation of topics related to murder, economy and laws, but in the Roman Empire, they have a higher position given by the Emperor, which was being the lead of the imperial council. 

Polaris, Andromeda, Corona Borealis and Gemma: these names now they kind of sound more familiar, well, they all related to astronomy. Andromeda, as we know, is the name of a galaxy, and is the nearest galaxy and even visible with the naked eye. Andromeda also is the name of an important figure for the greek mythology, and because of Cassiopea’s hubris, Andromeda is chained to a rock and saved by Perseus, but as we know, Frost is not a damsel in distress, but what could relate these two is the meaning of Andromeda’s, is actually latinized (andrós=man, medos=ruler), which means “Ruler of Men”, again, we could see a relation between the etymology and Frost’s position in the Lin Kuei, brought by Sub-Zero in an intro with Sonya in MKX, in which he mentions that Frost is a chief among the clan, and in MK11 is mentioned that she was one of his best students, so “Ruler of Men” could be more related to her past as a leader but also about her true intentions of becoming Grandmaster. Now, the other names refer to the Ursa Major Moving Group, Corona Borealis is known for looking like a “broken ring” but also the word “Corona” is spanish for the word “crown” in english (royalty stuff, no need to dig deeper to take more conclusions), plus Borealis is also related to the Greek God Boreas, who is the god of the winter wind from the north, and in Frost’s gear there are lots of names related to deities,so this quite fits. Also, Gemma is one of the stars that form that constellation. Polaris is another star, an important one, because is also known as The North Star, the brightest star of the constellation of Ursa Minor. There are more names in her gear related to astronomy, like the star Vega, which also relates to another name of her power array, since it has a mythological back ground for Chinese culture, Zhinü.

Chang’e, Xihe, Zhinü, Hepit, Khione and Skathi: all of these names belong to different deities of different cultures. Chang’e, Xihe and Zhinü belong to the Chinese folklore, and the three of them have a relation (again) with astronomy: Chang’e with the moon, Xihe with the sun, and Zhinü, in her story, she belongs to the constellation of Lyra, and the brightest star of said constellation is (surprise) Vega. Hepit is the name of a Hurrain goddess, and she is supposed to be also a warrior goddess as well. Khione is the name of the Greek god Boreas' (who I mentioned before) daughter, and is no other than the goddess of snow. And last but not least, Skathi. Skathi actually is more like a former name for Skadi, which was the goddess of winter and hunting (rumored to be also a goddess of destruction).

Birka Viking and Ringkvinna; first, Birka Viking, for what I found in my research, could be a reference to the archaeological discovery of a viking female warrior found in Birka, at first, it was thought to be a male, but after a deeper research is proven to be a woman, judging by the artifacts that were found with her bones, she was a high-ranked professional warrior, and is known that there were female viking warriors (plus, we have the mythological identities called Valkyries, and in Frost’s gear there is a power array called Ice Valkyrie). Now, Ringkvinna is also interesting because is an old term of unmarried women with no children who inherit the position of the head of the family, also this term is used in the viking era. This last name could be a hint to Frost’s true destiny if had chosen the right path, in the dialogues with Sub-Zero, we know that she was his heir, and would have become the Grandmaster if had waited a little bit more (congratulations Frost, you played yourself).

There are other power arrays with names that have a relation close to canon, specially one that is called after the Jin Sei chamber, and also to Fujin too.

So far, this are different pieces I found that had a lot of relation to Frost as a character and her previous position in the clan, the frozen core has names that are give us a hint more of her present self, her relation with Kronika, the Jin Sei, the Axiom (a computer algebra system). The name of her skins also vary and have different type of subjects: cryomancy (Thermal Shock, Endothermic, Frazil, Cryomistress, etc), related to Kronika (Kronika’s Temporal Reactor, Borrowed Time, Future Real, New Era, Temporal Grandmistress, etc), and her being the next Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei (True Sub-Zero, New Grandmaster, Lin Kuei Upgrade, Future Lin Kuei, Coming Greatness, etc), and of course, her charming attitude (Intractable Ego, Smug Insolence, Headstrong, Proudly Insubordinate, Black-Hearted, Ungovernable, Seditious Student, etc).