X-Men '97 - continuation of 1992 Animated Series

[Destron D-69]

Loved it... the cameos were fun, somebody might end up figuring out who the shadowy woman on the council of evil is if it's a character that existed before in marvel animation and they went to the trouble to cast the same actress... or it could be somebody new.

I like the guess that was mentioned previously, but it could be anyone. or it might be nobody and the writers are giving us a red herring to chase LOL

unless she was off camera because she didn't want Magneto to know who she was... which slightly narrows the focus.

 

[Glitch]

I got some phalanx vibes from these Prime Sentinels.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

X-Men are getting new clothes tomorrow! Cable is donning (as teased) his mid-90s blue and yellow getup, Morph is getting a late 80s blue and yellow getup with 90s appropriate shoulder pads and the rest? Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue and Wolverine join Storm in the "classic era" costume fashion. I'm a bit surprised at the classic looks, I was expecting Krakoan era costumes to be tapped.

Hopefully with Deadpool and Wolverine, Hasbro is going to bless us with another round of X-Men figures this fall and get a few of these in the mix...

X-Men '97 Episode 9 Promo Clip - The X-Men Get Updated Looks

X-Men '97 Episode 9 Promo Clip - The X-Men Get Updated Looks

marvelousnews.com

 

[Daith]

To be fair Logan and Jean have used those outfits at points in the Krakoan era. Maybe Rogue and Cyke too. Morph's is looking like his late Exiles run version. But do we give Jubes the fangs to go with that outfit?

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I'm... mixed about this. Feels like a digression, rather than progression?

I dunno, their original cartoon outfits are iconic to me, and Cyclops' was my favorite of all his looks.

Wolverine's, I'm sorta okay with. I mean, I remember that from before seeing the yellow and blue.

 

[tec]

Another banger and the the older costume nods where fun
AND wow they did it they really did it

 

[Kalidor]

i've never been a huge fan of X-Men but not only is X-Men 97 really good, it's one of the best animated series I've seen in a decade. I'm shocked at how good it is.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I'm... mixed about this. Feels like a digression, rather than progression?

The costumes bemused me greatly considering the show had used "modern" looks in conjunction with classic arcs (like the Phoenix Sagas and Proteus), and here we are with a more "modern" story arc with characters sporting classic costumes. While they DID justify it, I think somebody just thought the idea was amusing like I do.

Another banger and the the older costume nods where fun
AND wow they did it they really did it

I was surprised at that, especially with another episode left to go!

What I LOVED about this episode (aside from minor spoilers stuff I'll get to) is that...nobody is right, nobody is wrong (well, except Bastion and Sinister). While the original cartoon had to skirt the line given its target demographic, here? They fully embrace the decisions and impacts of events in a way that doesn't answer the question of if someone did the "right thing" or not. It's a level of maturity in the writing being accomplished without bogging down the series with excessive violence or adult language or sexual content. That is a TREMENDOUS feat in today's tv writing landscape, animation or not.
The show also helps in that regard because the writers don't have decades of retcons, rewrites and bullshitery to work around to accomplish anything in this episode. I mean, I was a "casual" X-Men fan in the 90s, but didn't have a clue about stuff like the "Siege Perilous" that spawned Bastion until YEARS later reading various collections.
The cartoon was my first exposure to Days of Future Past, The Phoenix Sagas and the like. I didn't seek out the original versions until later.

Spoiler

This is most action I've EVER seen from Mr Sinister. And it was great.
I couldn't help but smirk at the Rogue/Wolverine fight. My first X-Men comic was an issue of Classic X-Men which reprinted Uncanny 158, which featured a fight between Rogue and Wolverine, Storm and a depowered Carol Danvers.

And it's not just the costumes going retro! The Gold Team use an older X-jet design, while Blue looks to use a slightly off-model (seen in the original series) X-Jet with the Shiar boosters from "Asteroid M".

 

[Fero McPigletron]

I would have screamed if Morph was in blue, darn it.

I'm a bit disappointed to that Operation Zero Tolerance really was over last week with Magneto's emp (unless it isn't? I really don't know how the comic arc ended or what happened to Bastion.) (BTW, I liked that Xavier info about him).

I hate seeing 'Magma' now. Are they cramming all the New Mutant powers into one? But a friend said that the upgrades did happen in the comics. Guess I forgot.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I'll also say that, while I didn't initially care for Matthew Waterson's Magneto early on (the character just came across a bit...slimy?..to me). Post-Mutant Massacre, his work as the angry broken man with the power to destroy everything has been on point!

 

[Daith]

I would have screamed if Morph was in blue, darn it.

I'm a bit disappointed to that Operation Zero Tolerance really was over last week with Magneto's emp (unless it isn't? I really don't know how the comic arc ended or what happened to Bastion.) (BTW, I liked that Xavier info about him).

I hate seeing 'Magma' now. Are they cramming all the New Mutant powers into one? But a friend said that the upgrades did happen in the comics. Guess I forgot.

To be fair OZT in the comics was a cool idea but ended with such a whimper.

Spoiler: Spoilers for the OZT comic event

Pretty much the government pulls their support out from under Bastion and SHIELD comes in with a Helicarrier full of guys and Bastions like "we surrender." And the major part of the story was on two fronts. Iceman protecting a new character at the time from getting killed by the Prime Sentinels and on the run pick up Marrow as an ally against the Prime hordes that come after them. Eventually they get to Bastion's "Mother" and that's when the cavalry comes in with SHIELD.
Meanwhile in the other main X-men book and Wolverines solo title the main team of the time and Jubilee got captured by OZT and have to escape the Hulkbuster base they are imprisoned in. Once out they meet a kind blind man who just got treatment, who obviously turns into a Prime Sentinel but they get him to break free of the programming as the repeal order from Bastion goes though.

And we didn't get Bastions origin until a bit after the event happened in a mixed Cable and Machine Man duo of Annual issues.

But man today's episode ended up about where I was predicting it was headed. For those calling for AoA we gotta remember that even though One Mans Worth came after airing, AoA technically was based on it. They were the original in creation. Which might explain how some of the designs were shared between the two. But then again we are kind of repeating an already used storyline that the original series had used already today. And I think it might be headed more to another mid 90's event instead.

 

[Shadewing]

Finally able to post again.

So... Tolerance is Extinction pt 2:

Spoiler

Well things are escalating quickly. The X-men are trying to make sense of what happened, Xavier is having issues holding the team together. Magneto makes an offer to join him and some take it. As posted we see the “return” to classic looks; having been stored among other things in a back up base on Muir Island. We get the first use of Blue and Gold teams acknowledge in this story. Blue Team is basically Pryde of the X-men. Gold team goes to stop Bastion. I’m kinda disappointed that Morph isn’t with Jean fighting Sinister. But his gaining control of Cable wasn’t something I was expecting either. But Blue is imo where all the interesting stuff really happens... Onslaught is coming. The stuff they are referencing here were the seeds that eventually lead to his coming into being and they just feels like too big of an event for them to not do a version of.

This feels like they are very much shaking up the status quo, something the original series never really did. It feels like Season 2 is going to be a very interesting and different season if they go down the paths they seems to be going down. It will be interesting to see what they do for next week's finale.

 

[Shadewing]

I hate seeing 'Magma' now. Are they cramming all the New Mutant powers into one? But a friend said that the upgrades did happen in the comics. Guess I forgot.

Not sure what you're talking about, but Sunspot has always had a full body look:

 

[Steevy Maximus]

But man today's episode ended up about where I was predicting it was headed. For those calling for AoA we gotta remember that even though One Mans Worth came after airing, AoA technically was based on it. They were the original in creation. Which might explain how some of the designs were shared between the two. But then again we are kind of repeating an already used storyline that the original series had used already today. And I think it might be headed more to another mid 90's event instead.

Yeah, I don't know who is asking for Age of Apocalypse, again, given they already "did it". I feel like the original Asteroid M arc was oriented to a mix of X-Men 91 #1-3 with a bit of Fatal Attractions, while this one is far more a blend of OZT with more direct Fatal Attractions pulled in.

I fully expect season 2 (I've seen/read enough to feel VERY confident on another season by the end of the year or early next) will blend Onslaught with a bit The Twelve to bring Apocalypse into the fold. After all the events this season, there is NO WAY Apocalypse wouldn't re-emerge after this chaos.

 

[Shadewing]

Yeah, sorry I don't see OMW as AOA. It provides lip service at best to the concept.

 

[Daith]

The point is OMW is what inspired AoA. The show was working on it before the comics went and ran with the idea before it aired.

X-Men: the Animated Series creators pick their favorite episodes

Eric and Julia Lewald look back at the making of their seminal cartoon

www.polygon.com

Eric: We worked for five years to come up with these stories and maybe a couple dozen of them really were exactly the kind of story we wanted to tell. And the other two thirds, we do the best we can, they’re good. Some of them are a little weaker, but there were at least a dozen, were we said: “We got it right this time.” I discovered “One Man’s Worth” was one because Bob Harris, our advisor at Marvel, and who was in charge of all the X-Men books, said that a little over a year later, Marvel built the Age of Apocalypse series off of that idea. We’d taken all these cool stories from them and used them in our show. The fact that they would take a story we came up with for the show that was original to the show and, you know, 18 months later, build this massive series of six or seven different books out of it was just amazing.

 

[Fero McPigletron]

That's real? That's amazing!

Wait, who came up with Shard, Bishop's sister first? The comics or the cartoon?

 

[Echowarrior]

That's real? That's amazing!

Wait, who came up with Shard, Bishop's sister first? The comics or the cartoon?

Probably the comics, though I suspect the show did more with her than the comics did.

 

[Echowarrior]

Okay, so, some thoughts on the latest episode.

Spoiler

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that Rogue ended up siding with Magneto, nor Sunspot doing the same. Both of them have been emotionally beaten up over the course of this season, and what Xavier's selling doesn't sound like much of a deal right now. I don't agree with it objectively, but I do see where they're coming from.

Magneto's actions...I get them, but I'm not about to defend them. The show's acknowledged that Magneto wasn't wrong, but this episode's made clear that his actions aren't right. He's not the protector of mutants that he's tried to paint himself as right now. He's an angry, bitter, broken man, lashing out at a world that has hurt him far too much and far too often, and he doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. As bad as what's happened to him has been, what he's done here? Far worse.

Of course, Bastion's no saint either. He's deluded himself into thinking that he's doing humanity a favor. Couple that with working alongside the likes of Sinister and it's hard to root for him. All three need to be taken down, but I doubt very much that it'll be permanent. At least with Magneto or Sinister.

It's gonna be a long wait until Wednesday, that's for sure.

 

[Daith]

Probably the comics, though I suspect the show did more with her than the comics did.

It’s one of those where I would say the show and the comic writers may have collaborated a bit but I would give it to the comics which dates her first full appearance to July of 94 over a year before she showed up in One Man’s Worth. Unless she had an earlier appearance.

As far as the comics the true Shard died in the future before Bishop came back and was later recreated as a hologram kinda like The Doctor on Star Trek Voyager with the mobile emitter. Somehow she also came back in time and was a decent part of the Late Havok led X-Factor team until it disbanded. She later would sacrifice herself to save Bishop from Fitzroy in a future timeline near the end of Bishops first ongoing series.