Hellions #17 Review *spoilers*

[Rift]

Orphan-Maker is storming a Right compound to get Nanny's robot baby back, calling it his little brother.

Psylocke wants to go on a mission to extract him. Havoc insists on going, and Psylocke has no ill will to him about the daughter situation. While Psylocke was planning to go alone, all of the other Hellions show up to join the mission. But everyone tells Empath to screw off and they leave him behind. They go to the Right's base and start kicking kicking the Right's strike team's asses.

Orphan-Maker busts into the base and starts kicking ass, screaming that he's a good boy, and not worthless or stupid. He finds the robot, and Nanny's ex-husband (the guy who took the baby last issue) is like "here, take it" and hand it over to him. He gives the robot over to Nanny and seeks her praise, but she just dismisses him.

The robot baby keeps saying "mew-mew," which slowly becomes "mew-tant scum." It vomits a laser beam at Nanny's face, killing her. Nanny's ex says that the baby is a self-replicating mutant AI that hates mutants, and then has a good ol' laugh about it. Orphan-Maker snaps his neck and kills the other scientists. He's furious that people are laughing at Nanny's death, so he starts going after the rest of the Right.

After clearing out the base, Orphan-Maker comes out of the building, gun out. The police are like "slow down" and "you're doing illegal **** so put your gun down." In his frenzy, Orphan-Maker shoots them, though he seems to realize what he's done soon after.

The Krakoan at the end says WE ALL FALL DOWN.

Other notes

• Emma wants to spin the Hellions' mission into a positive. The Right base they're storming is for the true believers of the cause, people with mutant blood on their hands. The Right are also unwelcome in Arizona, so the local government might be sympathetic to Krakoa if they take them out. So the plan is to to make it look like they were doing it to help Americans.
• The Right are racist murderers, but diverse racist murderers. I saw a white woman, a black woman, a black(?) man, and a white(?) man with a Hispanic name. I'm glad people from different walks of life can come together and enjoy something they love.
• There's a woman on the Right's strike force who talks in dramatic prose and religious imagery. She interrupts her own team leader to make these weird statements, and it's clear her team are annoyed by her. Her name is Susan.
• This is the 16th issue in a row Hellion has not appeared. But there's still time, true believers.

[Spiderfan001]

Oh my f*cking god I love this book

Really hope they do these characters justice once it ends

[Purplevit]

It was #17 if I am right.

One more awesome issue! Fast brutal and emotional. Art is crazy good and expressive.
Best X book. Sad that it ends soon but at least it is golden. Loooooove it!

[Rift]

**** yeah, it was issue 17. I can't read lmao

[Lady Midnight]

I had a feeling that the baby was trying to say mutant the entire time.

[JB]

AI baby's first words being "mutant scum" was chilling. Poor Nanny. Another great issue!
Damn, Peter made an entire mess. A part of me wonders if out of spite, Empath started controlling Peter hence the murder rampage.

[Devaishwarya]

OMGoddess!!!
This was intense, tragic and heartbreaking. And I absolutely LOVED IT!!!

[Grunty]

AI baby's first words being "mutant scum" was chilling. Poor Nanny. Another great issue!
Damn, Peter made an entire mess. A part of me wonders if out of spite, Empath started controlling Peter hence the murder rampage.

As good as this series is, i keep wondering why X-men writers seem so determinded that AIs are naturaly inclined to hate mutants (more than humans in general seemingly)?

As for the rampage, that might simply be Orphan Maker living up to his name again, especialy when both of his control elements (Nanny's command and his general sense of self worth) are currently not particular present.

Empath always felt more tacked on, seemingly to warrant the name Hellions, than meant to be a true part of the team. So it feels like him being left out is more akin to a running gag regarding his role in the title.

[Kingdom X]

Loved the scene between Psylocke and Havok.

Empath perfectly encapsulates that one friend that's mean all the time and is then surprised when everyone gets tired of them and proceeds to drop them.

[Rev9]

Loved the scene between Psylocke and Havok.

Empath perfectly encapsulates that one friend that's mean all the time and is then surprised when everyone gets tired of them and proceeds to drop them.

Yeah the Psylocke and Havok scene was nice.I can't believe this book is ending. The only plus I can think of is it will be that much more memorable and missed.

[Rev9]

As good as this series is, i keep wondering why X-men writers seem so determinded that AIs are naturaly inclined to hate mutants (more than humans in general seemingly)?

As for the rampage, that might simply be Orphan Maker living up to his name again, especialy when both of his control elements (Nanny's command and his general sense of self worth) are currently not particular present.

Empath always felt more tacked on, seemingly to warrant the name Hellions, than meant to be a true part of the team. So it feels like him being left out is more akin to a running gag regarding his role in the title.

True , at the back of my mind I think isn't AI supposed to be sentient enough to break with core programming? (assuming it is hardwired to hate mutants) I guess it's just writers assuming hate has to come in many flavours

[Pumpkin King]

AI baby's first words being "mutant scum" was chilling. Poor Nanny. Another great issue!
Damn, Peter made an entire mess. A part of me wonders if out of spite, Empath started controlling Peter hence the murder rampage.

I actually wonder if leaving Empath behind, storywise, was a way of showing the opposite - he wasn't controlling Peter because he wasn't there. But then, I think it's also possible for Empath to plant suggestions in people's heads that they continue to act on later without him still being there. Like winding up a toy and letting it go. So he may have given Peter a single push before the team left. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. This has been a really fantastic book!

[ChronoRogue]

As good as this series is, i keep wondering why X-men writers seem so determinded that AIs are naturaly inclined to hate mutants (more than humans in general seemingly)?

As for the rampage, that might simply be Orphan Maker living up to his name again, especialy when both of his control elements (Nanny's command and his general sense of self worth) are currently not particular present.

Empath always felt more tacked on, seemingly to warrant the name Hellions, than meant to be a true part of the team. So it feels like him being left out is more akin to a running gag regarding his role in the title.

Maybe mutants symbolize what irks them about humanity or organic life? Random sparks of mutations and seemingly random adaptations; both dangerous and hard to predict. For beings that are hard-coded to try to make sense of their environment, something so inherently chaotic could be seen as an aberration. that's the best I've got

Anyway interesting issue, though I did find Betsy's insistence to not let them come but then ending up letting them go with her, a bit too annoyingly wholesome.

[Leirus]

AI baby's first words being "mutant scum" was chilling. Poor Nanny. Another great issue!
Damn, Peter made an entire mess. A part of me wonders if out of spite, Empath started controlling Peter hence the murder rampage.

I think that would be a very Empath thing to do.

[Rift]

What it the baby learned hate from Nanny? Like it was programmed to hate mutants, so it was naturally predisposed to that. But seeing how Nanny abused Peter in front of it, it thinks that hurting others is okay. Or maybe it liked Peter because he saved it, and it wanted to avenge its big brother.

I doubt any of this is true, but I want it to be.