Tuesday, August 30, 2011
A Brief RvB Interlude for Redefining Epic Female Characters
Marvel, seriously. C'mon. You know you want to hire them.
If the previous Red vs Blue clip posted here wasn't enough to prove how well Monty Oum can handle action, this should do it. Still not convinced? Look up Dead Fantasy.
You can watch new episodes of Red vs Blue every Monday night on Roosterteeth's site.
Monty Oum. Redefining epic since 2007!
Hollywood. Catch up or you'll go extinct.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Hasbro's Marvel Universe X-23 Figure Nearly Released
X-23 is starting to show up on ebay from sellers in China. This usually means the figure is roughly a month and a half or less ready to start hitting store shelves.
Here's the auction. Don't worry, it's nearly time it'll hit store shelves where you'll only have to pay 7.99 if you're in the states, or whatever your normal local stores' prices are.
Special thanks goes out to AndyCR75 of Toyark for the heads up.
Here's the auction. Don't worry, it's nearly time it'll hit store shelves where you'll only have to pay 7.99 if you're in the states, or whatever your normal local stores' prices are.
Special thanks goes out to AndyCR75 of Toyark for the heads up.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Superhero Of the Month: X-23 Edition
Back in May, Superhero of the Month ran a contest on redesigning X-23. Check out the results at the above link.
Should KP Make A More Thorough X-23 Character Dossier?
Should KP throw together a more thorough character dossier about X-23's growth through these storylines to her current presentation or do you feel this is just something better left forgotten solely to focus on Marjorie Liu's comic run? Personally I feel there shouldn't be a distinction. It should all factor into who X-23 is and her past. From Innocence Lost, Target X, NYX, Academy X, the ongoing, and every other comic story she's used in. Including her initial 'feral' behaviour towards the X-Men until Logan calls her on it.
In fact, that's the one thing Alt-Tab and I can agree on now. Marjorie Liu is taking all the stories and using them to emphasize the character growth. She even includes random nods to these stories throughout. Including nods to Target X with Wolverine and X-23 at the same San Francisco amusement park Laura visited with Megan before she met Logan.
I do feel there are some outlying aspects of X-23's appearance in NYX that leave many questions with how it's depicted. They leave much story potential open with how the art depicts what X-23 has been doing while under Zebra Daddy. That being the writer mostly refers to her being a prostitute for weirdos who like pain, never strictly mention if she's sleeping with these Johns, and showing with the art the spots she's marked one up in relative locations that would suggest it was impossible that she slept with the one John we are shown. All the claw marks are on his back, a nod to how fingernails can leave marks during passionate embraces, but X-23's claws aren't fingers. They don't bend, and wrists don't bend that far for her claws to have done it while the client is facing her. Ergo he couldn't have had actual intercourse with her when the marks were made. It's physically and anatomically impossible. If you still aren't sure, hug someone and see for yourself in relation to where the marks are and how your own wrist and elbow bends. You don't need to have sex to prove or disprove this as some fans may use as an excuse to belittle others. Though if that's the case and they are pro-penetration while trying to insult you in this debate, they are revealing their own lack of experience in what they are saying. This doesn't deny other forms of sex though, just the act of penetration itself during when he was marked up. Typically speakng, a person who gets off on pain, would need the cutting to be before and during the act itself. There are also those of fetishes that solely get off on the pain without any form of penetration. The normal position for such a fetish would be for him to lie down on his stomach with the person to do the harm stradling his rear or legs. Yeah that was fun to look up, I'm going to have to set my internet history on fire now as well as my eyes because there's not enough bleach in the world. Either way though, this adds a layer of sexual abuse on top of the already there emotional, physical, and verbal abuse Laura has been through(and why I think any form of moving visual medium she stars in besides motion comics should donate to similiar victim charities).
Ms. Liu has picked up on these nuances before. Most notably mentioned in the third issue where she states that Dr. Kinney used a part of herself to help give birth to X-23 as well as being a live birth. An idea that most audiences overlook, but it is there in the dialogue of the origin issues as well as the inventory practices of high-financed labs. Something every wiki tends to ignore, even Marvel themselves. The story itself in Innocence Lost outright says X-23 is a genetic twin of Wolverine, not really a clone, but Xander Rice continually calls Laura a clone to demean her and make her think she's subhuman since a clone was the original intended target creation. Something Marjorie Liu picked up and ran with in issue 3 of the ongoing. Laura doesn't know the distinction, only what she was called when they raised her. Also made note of in this issue, is that thanks to the files, and letter from her mother, and her own high IQ, that she is aware of how she was created, just not of that subtle difference. Essentially it's a self-image issue. She knows how she was created, but she's also been called a clone all her life and treated as less than human. ("All intents and purposes" suggests there are more DNA differences from how X-23 was created besides even just the genetic twin remark. Which would explain the hair similiarity and eye similiarity to Dr. Sarah Kinney.)
It's these things that make X-23's history and mentalities quite complex moreso than most fans can understand. It's also what leaves X-23 with so much introspective story potential. This is why I feel KP should do a character dossier and go over all these appearances and usages. Even the smallest details all factor into the character and seem to contribute to the ongoing's characterization whether we like the story or not.
In fact, that's the one thing Alt-Tab and I can agree on now. Marjorie Liu is taking all the stories and using them to emphasize the character growth. She even includes random nods to these stories throughout. Including nods to Target X with Wolverine and X-23 at the same San Francisco amusement park Laura visited with Megan before she met Logan.
 |
| The client's back scars from X-23. |
I do feel there are some outlying aspects of X-23's appearance in NYX that leave many questions with how it's depicted. They leave much story potential open with how the art depicts what X-23 has been doing while under Zebra Daddy. That being the writer mostly refers to her being a prostitute for weirdos who like pain, never strictly mention if she's sleeping with these Johns, and showing with the art the spots she's marked one up in relative locations that would suggest it was impossible that she slept with the one John we are shown. All the claw marks are on his back, a nod to how fingernails can leave marks during passionate embraces, but X-23's claws aren't fingers. They don't bend, and wrists don't bend that far for her claws to have done it while the client is facing her. Ergo he couldn't have had actual intercourse with her when the marks were made. It's physically and anatomically impossible. If you still aren't sure, hug someone and see for yourself in relation to where the marks are and how your own wrist and elbow bends. You don't need to have sex to prove or disprove this as some fans may use as an excuse to belittle others. Though if that's the case and they are pro-penetration while trying to insult you in this debate, they are revealing their own lack of experience in what they are saying. This doesn't deny other forms of sex though, just the act of penetration itself during when he was marked up. Typically speakng, a person who gets off on pain, would need the cutting to be before and during the act itself. There are also those of fetishes that solely get off on the pain without any form of penetration. The normal position for such a fetish would be for him to lie down on his stomach with the person to do the harm stradling his rear or legs. Yeah that was fun to look up, I'm going to have to set my internet history on fire now as well as my eyes because there's not enough bleach in the world. Either way though, this adds a layer of sexual abuse on top of the already there emotional, physical, and verbal abuse Laura has been through(and why I think any form of moving visual medium she stars in besides motion comics should donate to similiar victim charities).
 |
| X-23's not a clone? |
It's these things that make X-23's history and mentalities quite complex moreso than most fans can understand. It's also what leaves X-23 with so much introspective story potential. This is why I feel KP should do a character dossier and go over all these appearances and usages. Even the smallest details all factor into the character and seem to contribute to the ongoing's characterization whether we like the story or not.
Academy X - A fan debate.
Previouly here, Alt-Tab has said that Academy X seems like Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost are using it to indulge in nerd high school revenge fantasies.
Personally, I like Academy X. I thought it was a great comic run. At times it does get a bit heavy handed. The same could be said to spots of their X-Force run, but both seem to have story-centric reasonings behind it.
Academy X is relatable in many ways because of this heavy handedness. It uses elements of school shootings within the confines of the Xavier institute. Yes it uses a wide array of school character cliches like the guitar playing spiritual Guthrie kid, and has many others scattered about, but they aren't there as cliches because of lackluster writing, or forms of revenge fantasies. They are there because of how universal these characters are to all schools. What makes them stereotypes or cliches, is exactly what works in their favor by being universal to a wide range of people who experienced the same. You know, that's how stereotypes and cliches start. Traits being widely common among a set group of experiences for many even if they may not remain true forever.
I could do a character by character break down to show what I mean, but this entire debate just leaves me too drained to put that much energy into it as yet.
On one side you have people like me, who see the whys they were used as they were, and how the events unfolded similiarly to how many people can relate whether in highschool or graduated thanks to these tried and true student stereotypes.
On the other you have people like Alt-Tab who feel something more original was needed with less crutches and that writers shouldn't take the lazy way out to create that relatability. (Paraprhased, but her words, not mine.)
While I did enjoy their run on X-Force with X-23, I can see her point too on how often it feels like they make X-23 'talk back to her elders' and repeatedly be 'put in her place' for doing so. Both of which typically support her argument that they aren't exactly the best towards female characters. I really don't have a defense against that argument other than X-23 was becoming more assertive through killing people, which is the opposite of what Logan had wanted which is why he lashes out at her so much within the comic trying to teach her how to channel the monster Cyclops is forcing him to create. This comes across in the issues where he emphasizes it's the innocent like Rahne Sinclair that they are fighting to protect. They get their hands dirty so that the innocent can remain so and have freedom. Something that may start arising in Schism it seems too as it doesn't seem like Cyclops graspes that concept at all. Well Summers does, but it's more complex than that, and typically most consider it naive to try and preserve innocence. Though honestly it could be considered more naive of Cyclops to think this, as he's yet to experience the considerably large experiences of war that Logan has. Logan is of the mentality that this is what a warrior does to preserve the freedoms and innocence of those that should remain untainted from taking lives themselves. Cyclops feels in an hour of need, they should all step up no matter what to be a soldier drafted to protect all of their kind. ( Small tanget: I'm saying warrior for Logan and soldier for Scott because of many reasons. Though to be fair, there isn't much of a distinction other than the fact a warrior may not follow orders but will protect those they need to protect, and a soldier must follow orders unquestioningly in a time of war. With both, there can be a sense of honor they follow, and there may not. It's a person to person thing. There are many more distinctions between warriors, soldiers, assassins, and spies, but that'd be getting off point for this entry. It is a distinction that I am glad is made in the Captain America movie though. "Not just a soldier, but a good man." Being a soldier doesn't and never will automaticly make you a good person that deserves respect. The reasons why you are one, and what you're doing while one is what determines that. Those that are good people don't proclaim it, and don't demand respect for doing what they feel is right. Something modern arrogance, and global statements don't want you to realize. For the record, I applaud our true unsung heroes within the troops, but never ask me to make a global statement to praise them all. Just as I won't praise or condemn all Priests either. Some are great benefits to their communities, and some are monsters. Praise the good, condemn the bad. Global statements create false bravado, hides the hypocrites, and is outright dangerous.)
There are many ways you can look at these issues with the character building and commentary it makes on becoming a killer, as well as Wolverine's agitation about X-23 even being on that X-Force team entirely. He was adamantly against it, but Cyclops made him keep Laura on the team. In many ways this is the source of his anger towards Laura in the title's run. He brought her to the school to protect the kids, and for her to learn to be a kid herself, and now Cyclops has turned and made her back into the weapon she once was like the Facility had intended. The exact thing Logan has been trying to not do and prevent as stated in both Target X and Academy X, but Cyclops isn't giving him a choice in the matter since X-23 is willing to do this. Logan takes his frustrations out on X-23 for choosing this as she's supposed to choose her own path and just say no. At this point it's something the character still hasn't learned. As Logan says in his heated argument with Cyclops about it, she can't say no to a mission. Something Marjorie Liu shows Laura growing out of in her issues, as this being the reason Logan kicked her off the team. Liu takes the character and has her grow and gain her own voice. Logan in the X-23 ongoing while talking to Gambit doesn't know how to defend this choice of having her on the kill squad either, as it really wasn't his choice but he's not the kind of man to put the blame on others. In many ways he knows he should have kicked her off the team sooner so he would blame himself for this as much as her, and Cyclops. He'd rather keep it to himself, and take the blame for it than at the time add another person to the list of those questioning Cyclops' judgement.
Then stuff like Hellion losing his hands happens. The boy X-23 is crushing on can't touch her. According to Alt-Tab, a symbolic gesture that shows they don't want anyone to touch X-23. Whereas I see it as taking an arrogant spoiled borderline womanizing character and giving him something new to deal with in how he copes. It's not just X-23 he can't touch, it's all tactile sensations he may have enjoyed. Sadly, it's not an argument that works, as they weren't the ones who wrote the issues of him coping. It is a point that does come up briefly in the first issues of X-23's ongoing though. This includes his lack of trust in X-23, a woman who has time and again put her life on the line for him and yet he doesn't believe or trust her. Something that rings true to the character and outright shows Laura needs to get away from him for awhile for her own sake.
You could go on and on about how well done the first 3 issues are in this regard towards how the characters treat Laura and her lack of not taking responsibility for her choices until issue 3 of the ongoing. Something that's not her fault and yet is at the same time. She had yet to grow out of her conditioning and life experiences, but she's also still got that edge of defiance she shows in X-Force and previous appearances too.
In the end, it's up to the fans to decide how they want to view it and what they take away from it.
So with this left to the fans, how do you feel about these story runs(X-23's time in Academy X and X-Force)?
What's your opinion of them?
Personally, I like Academy X. I thought it was a great comic run. At times it does get a bit heavy handed. The same could be said to spots of their X-Force run, but both seem to have story-centric reasonings behind it.
Academy X is relatable in many ways because of this heavy handedness. It uses elements of school shootings within the confines of the Xavier institute. Yes it uses a wide array of school character cliches like the guitar playing spiritual Guthrie kid, and has many others scattered about, but they aren't there as cliches because of lackluster writing, or forms of revenge fantasies. They are there because of how universal these characters are to all schools. What makes them stereotypes or cliches, is exactly what works in their favor by being universal to a wide range of people who experienced the same. You know, that's how stereotypes and cliches start. Traits being widely common among a set group of experiences for many even if they may not remain true forever.
I could do a character by character break down to show what I mean, but this entire debate just leaves me too drained to put that much energy into it as yet.
On one side you have people like me, who see the whys they were used as they were, and how the events unfolded similiarly to how many people can relate whether in highschool or graduated thanks to these tried and true student stereotypes.
On the other you have people like Alt-Tab who feel something more original was needed with less crutches and that writers shouldn't take the lazy way out to create that relatability. (Paraprhased, but her words, not mine.)
While I did enjoy their run on X-Force with X-23, I can see her point too on how often it feels like they make X-23 'talk back to her elders' and repeatedly be 'put in her place' for doing so. Both of which typically support her argument that they aren't exactly the best towards female characters. I really don't have a defense against that argument other than X-23 was becoming more assertive through killing people, which is the opposite of what Logan had wanted which is why he lashes out at her so much within the comic trying to teach her how to channel the monster Cyclops is forcing him to create. This comes across in the issues where he emphasizes it's the innocent like Rahne Sinclair that they are fighting to protect. They get their hands dirty so that the innocent can remain so and have freedom. Something that may start arising in Schism it seems too as it doesn't seem like Cyclops graspes that concept at all. Well Summers does, but it's more complex than that, and typically most consider it naive to try and preserve innocence. Though honestly it could be considered more naive of Cyclops to think this, as he's yet to experience the considerably large experiences of war that Logan has. Logan is of the mentality that this is what a warrior does to preserve the freedoms and innocence of those that should remain untainted from taking lives themselves. Cyclops feels in an hour of need, they should all step up no matter what to be a soldier drafted to protect all of their kind. ( Small tanget: I'm saying warrior for Logan and soldier for Scott because of many reasons. Though to be fair, there isn't much of a distinction other than the fact a warrior may not follow orders but will protect those they need to protect, and a soldier must follow orders unquestioningly in a time of war. With both, there can be a sense of honor they follow, and there may not. It's a person to person thing. There are many more distinctions between warriors, soldiers, assassins, and spies, but that'd be getting off point for this entry. It is a distinction that I am glad is made in the Captain America movie though. "Not just a soldier, but a good man." Being a soldier doesn't and never will automaticly make you a good person that deserves respect. The reasons why you are one, and what you're doing while one is what determines that. Those that are good people don't proclaim it, and don't demand respect for doing what they feel is right. Something modern arrogance, and global statements don't want you to realize. For the record, I applaud our true unsung heroes within the troops, but never ask me to make a global statement to praise them all. Just as I won't praise or condemn all Priests either. Some are great benefits to their communities, and some are monsters. Praise the good, condemn the bad. Global statements create false bravado, hides the hypocrites, and is outright dangerous.)
There are many ways you can look at these issues with the character building and commentary it makes on becoming a killer, as well as Wolverine's agitation about X-23 even being on that X-Force team entirely. He was adamantly against it, but Cyclops made him keep Laura on the team. In many ways this is the source of his anger towards Laura in the title's run. He brought her to the school to protect the kids, and for her to learn to be a kid herself, and now Cyclops has turned and made her back into the weapon she once was like the Facility had intended. The exact thing Logan has been trying to not do and prevent as stated in both Target X and Academy X, but Cyclops isn't giving him a choice in the matter since X-23 is willing to do this. Logan takes his frustrations out on X-23 for choosing this as she's supposed to choose her own path and just say no. At this point it's something the character still hasn't learned. As Logan says in his heated argument with Cyclops about it, she can't say no to a mission. Something Marjorie Liu shows Laura growing out of in her issues, as this being the reason Logan kicked her off the team. Liu takes the character and has her grow and gain her own voice. Logan in the X-23 ongoing while talking to Gambit doesn't know how to defend this choice of having her on the kill squad either, as it really wasn't his choice but he's not the kind of man to put the blame on others. In many ways he knows he should have kicked her off the team sooner so he would blame himself for this as much as her, and Cyclops. He'd rather keep it to himself, and take the blame for it than at the time add another person to the list of those questioning Cyclops' judgement.
Then stuff like Hellion losing his hands happens. The boy X-23 is crushing on can't touch her. According to Alt-Tab, a symbolic gesture that shows they don't want anyone to touch X-23. Whereas I see it as taking an arrogant spoiled borderline womanizing character and giving him something new to deal with in how he copes. It's not just X-23 he can't touch, it's all tactile sensations he may have enjoyed. Sadly, it's not an argument that works, as they weren't the ones who wrote the issues of him coping. It is a point that does come up briefly in the first issues of X-23's ongoing though. This includes his lack of trust in X-23, a woman who has time and again put her life on the line for him and yet he doesn't believe or trust her. Something that rings true to the character and outright shows Laura needs to get away from him for awhile for her own sake.
You could go on and on about how well done the first 3 issues are in this regard towards how the characters treat Laura and her lack of not taking responsibility for her choices until issue 3 of the ongoing. Something that's not her fault and yet is at the same time. She had yet to grow out of her conditioning and life experiences, but she's also still got that edge of defiance she shows in X-Force and previous appearances too.
In the end, it's up to the fans to decide how they want to view it and what they take away from it.
So with this left to the fans, how do you feel about these story runs(X-23's time in Academy X and X-Force)?
What's your opinion of them?
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