fandom bog

Okay obviously I'm big on the Morpherine thing so everyone calling out Morph for being gay as hell for Wolverine was fantastic for me in particular. You have Yuriko all but saying 'I have feelings for this guy too and it's a terrible experience, 0/10, do not recommend' and Sabertooth either being homophobic in an incredibly gay way, trying to cuck Logan by hitting on Morph, or both.

And the ending ooooof oh my god. I love the way this conflict is positioned. Logan thinks he can only ever be one thing, that getting his adamantium back was intrinsic to who he is, and because he's an idiot who makes bad decisions that means he put people at risk to do it. But now Morph is clearly upset with him, things are tense between them, and the thing that their conversation does so well is set up the question for Wolverine. Who does he want to be. What he was before or what he could become? An animal with claws or the person Morph thinks he is?

He ends the episode still thinking about it, and that shot of him staring at his own claws while Morph looks back at him is so. It's setting it up perfectly, he's got two paths here, one is regressive and one moves forward. Does he follow his history or the person that believes in him?

I think the Jean transformation thing is part of that too, even if I wasn't a Huge fan of it because I don't fully buy into the idea that Morph doesn't hit that same instinctive button in Logan's brain after Everything he did to get them back. But I do see what it's going for. Wolverine regressed through this whole episode, he went back to who he was because he thinks it's the only path he has. His obsession with Jean is part of that history, part of that regressive slide, and part of him not being able to move forward.

For the dear X-Men fans that came in through 97 (or the movies) and are confused as to where to start the comics! Don't let the internet fool you, there is only one way and it is by starting with Giant size X-Men #1 (1975). No I am not kidding, it truly is the only right way to get the full story😭 (unless you want to go ALL THE WAY to 1963, I don't necessarily think it's that vital)

This is me trying to keep ppl from making the same mistake I did, starting with wheadon's astonishing X-Men ☠️

Here is a very useful pic of what to read next 💞 good luck!

This is to get ALL the context and major story arcs still referenced today. So I believe it to be vital for the other eras. (I don't know how you can fully understand jean and Scott's relationship today without having read inferno or dark phoenix for example)

Now, If you just wanna read for one specific character, that's a different story! Character specific reading guides that concentrate on the important issues across time exist! Look for those they're very useful <3

Guide made by: https://www.reddit.com/r/xmen/s/z1xNhqPXtv

The complete absence of sopranos with the chorus made up entirely of grown men set up against Jack, who is still unmistakably a boy in contrast, is so, sooooo haunting. It's just the omen of what Jack believes he must become: A man... that is also the product of privilege, western indoctrination, rigid gender roles, and neoimperialism.

He becomes the man he both hates and loves the most: his father.

And what makes the transformation so forboding is that Jack spends the entire episode unconsciously resisting it. He is afraid, openly so, when he relies on Roger and Maurice for help after climbing a cliff far too large for him to conquer. He let's Simon paint his face and gives in to the worried warrior for a little while during that private, intimate moment between them. He later (after the hunt) adorns his face with makeup and inadvertently undermines the binary belief that strength must equal the traditional masculine appearance.

Then the fire goes out.

And Ralph, almost before saying anything else or even truly scolding him, asks Jack, "What on earth are you wearing?"

And in that moment Jack realizes the man he's made and had originally been proud of is not enough. He'd stacked the wood high enough so the fire wouldn't go out, he caught a pig for everyone to eat, he found clean clothes and toothpaste to share. He had good intentions. But clearly that isn't sufficient , and that's not the kind of man that is appreciated or wanted. That's not the kind of man people will respect. That kind of man is asked to explain himself.

So Jack destroys him.

He sheds the makeup first and in its place, Jack later adopts something uglier but safer. The blue eyeshadow is replaced with paint scraped from the earth, becomes something dirty and crude. It makes his less readable, less human, less vulnerable. It hides the boy in him completely, and his face becomes that of a jaded tyrant.

Down the line he also sheds Simon, and even without knowing it was him, he still revels in the severing. It is Jack finally ridding himself of his only witness, the gentle mirror. The only one who knows what they did during Christmas leave. Simon’s death clears the last space where Jack could have remained ambiguous and tender and unformed.

This is the man Jack chooses to be. He shows no weakness and no empathy. He doesn’t ask for help, he commands it, and savors when those around him say please. He rages and shouts, and the only time he ever cries is from fury.

In becoming him, Jack finally fulfills the prophecy the chorus sings over him.

He becomes a man. He becomes his father. And in doing so, he kills the very last version of himself that might have survived.

He was ready to die here. He wanted to die here.

Oh... but why didn't he?

Why couldn't he just die here?

Also I do hope this series does touch on Charles' passively suicidal tendencies. He does get very depressed and passively suicidal in the comics, where he wasn't going to directly kill himself, but he did often wish to be killed.

Charles is DONE. Clearly the whole mutant MLK gimmick ain’t working, so time to switch it up. I’m sat af for his revenge tour/likely transformation into onslaught. Apocalypse sparing him with Magneto’s words is a nice touch too.