Academy X: New X-Men Appreciation 2022

[Sutekh]

Nowadays Devon seems to be operating solo....so he needs a workaround, to keep the people he switches with from doing stuff in his own body while he's doing stuff in theirs. And I think he's using Rockslide as that workaround. Spike described feeling cold and alone and unable to see....that could have been him not knowing how to process things from inside Rockslide's body/mind....if say, what Devon's doing is switching first with Rockslide, so that Rockslide's mind is in Devon's body....and then from within Rockslide's body, switching with Spike, so that Devon was in Spike's body and Spike was in Rockslide's body. (Its also been established that Devon can multi-switch....his power remains with his mind/brainwaves, no matter what body he's switching FROM, as he's partially a psychic entity independent of what body he's in at any given moment).

But yeah, bottom line....I don't think Rockslide's presence in this particular story is just a random throwaway thing or incidental. I think its gonna prove to be crucial to the Skinjacker storyline, and when combined with Zsen's presence in this story and her powers, I think it might finally lead to the 'true' Rockslide being brought back.

That makes sense that Devon would switch with Rockslide, and sort of lurk there inside Rockslide, and switch again to whomever shows up to graffiti Rockslide. Since Rockslide, who is more or less catatonic, would be in Devon's real body, he could use Rockslide's body to just go stash it in some bushes or something and then go stand back where Rockslide usually stands and wait for victims to come to him...

Although exactly why Devon is doing this is beyond me. I could see him being popular with people who want to do some switch-a-roo shenanigans for fun, like a pair of lovers who want to swap into each others bodies for a time, to see how the other half lives, or someone swapping temporarily into the body of an aquatic mutant or a flier, to enjoy those unique experiences.

[BobbysWorld]

That makes sense that Devon would switch with Rockslide, and sort of lurk there inside Rockslide, and switch again to whomever shows up to graffiti Rockslide. Since Rockslide, who is more or less catatonic, would be in Devon's real body, he could use Rockslide's body to just go stash it in some bushes or something and then go stand back where Rockslide usually stands and wait for victims to come to him...

Although exactly why Devon is doing this is beyond me. I could see him being popular with people who want to do some switch-a-roo shenanigans for fun, like a pair of lovers who want to swap into each others bodies for a time, to see how the other half lives, or someone swapping temporarily into the body of an aquatic mutant or a flier, to enjoy those unique experiences.

Well who knows what his endgame is CURRENTLY, but the solicits to Legion of X #5 made mention of the Skinjacker being loose in the Qortex Complex or whatever its called, where Legion keeps all of his alternate personalities.....and given that the Altar lets things have physical form within Legion's headspace, those personalities now presumably all have physical bodies within the Altar....that Devon could switch among at will. Potentially giving him access to Legion's many powers. But we'll see.

[Paragon]

This was so adorable!
Come on, Marvel, give us a mini or at least an Unlimited series!

The trap I put myself into has finally been sprung. I finished my collection of every appearance Mercury has ever made a couple weeks ago, and this was the first comic I wasn't planning on getting to force my hand to keep that statement true.

[BobbysWorld]

So now that the X-books have started finally focusing on Arakko and fleshing out the Arakkii as a people, there's one significant part of their society we've yet to see even a glimpse of: their youngest generations.

I would LOVE a series or miniseries starring the Academy X kids - led by Hellion and Surge - doing some kind of cultural exchange program with teens from Arakko. Kinda a 'see how the other side lives' kinda thing in an effort to foster bonds between the two nations, maybe something Storm suggested and got people on board with.

The Academy kids would be perfect for that kind of thing because with all the **** they went through since the Decimation, their generation is likely the closest to being considered relatable to Arakkii teens who grew up in Amenth.

Idk, I just think that there's some really interesting developments that could come out of juxtaposing the Academy X kids with their Arakkii counterparts. Given how tense things often are between the older generations of both societies and how they kinda keep circling each other, not really knowing what to make of their 'cousins'....the Academy X generation of characters being the ones to truly break the ice between their two cultures and start establishing actual ties and connections with Arakko teens....THAT would give this group of characters a real niche in the current era, something that could be built upon in a whole bunch of different ways.

[Sutekh]

I would LOVE a series or miniseries starring the Academy X kids - led by Hellion and Surge - doing some kind of cultural exchange program with teens from Arakko. Kinda a 'see how the other side lives' kinda thing in an effort to foster bonds between the two nations, maybe something Storm suggested and got people on board with.

It does seem like all of the Arakki are in their 30s and above (in some cases, immortal and millenia old). So it would be interesting to see what an Arakki teenager (or even child) looks like. It currently seems like they just pop out of the ground in their early 30s or something...

(To be fair, the same can be said about Inhumans, Deviants, Atlanteans, Skrulls, New Men, etc. for many years after their introduction. As an element of 'societies,' the presence of children or youth or a 'next generation' often seems to be overlooked, until one of the adult characters has a kid.)

[Outburstz]

It does seem like all of the Arakki are in their 30s and above (in some cases, immortal and millenia old). So it would be interesting to see what an Arakki teenager (or even child) looks like. It currently seems like they just pop out of the ground in their early 30s or something...

(To be fair, the same can be said about Inhumans, Deviants, Atlanteans, Skrulls, New Men, etc. for many years after their introduction. As an element of 'societies,' the presence of children or youth or a 'next generation' often seems to be overlooked, until one of the adult characters has a kid.)

Khora of the Burning heart doesn't look to old teenager or early 20s max

[Alex.]

Steve Orlando teased academy x kids appearing in X-men Green in this week's episode of Cerebro for John Proudstar. If you want to hear for yourself, skip to 1:30 mark.

[Dthirds3]

Steve Orlando teased academy x kids appearing in X-men Green in this week's episode of Cerebro for John Proudstar. If you want to hear for yourself, skip to 1:30 mark.

Nature girl is going eat hellion ?

[Rift]

Once again Bobby, you have fantastic ideas. It'd be cool to see how the younger generations interact. And would the Arakkii kids hate their elders for their upbringing? Respect them? Fear them? Though I hope such a scenario wouldn't be used to make the Academy X kids go, "You know, maybe we DIDN'T have it so bad." Like what they did with the kids in X-Men Disassembled.

Steve Orlando teased academy x kids appearing in X-men Green in this week's episode of Cerebro for John Proudstar. If you want to hear for yourself, skip to 1:30 mark.

Nature girl is going eat hellion ?

Considering he dated Shark-Girl and Laura, I wouldn't be surprised if he was attracted to girls that could kill him. At any rate, it wouldn't be the first time a girl's eaten Hellion.

[Milici]

Dryad better sweeps the floor with Nature Girl, but I am afraid this will continue to be a mess.

[The Big G]

Nature girl is going eat hellion ?

Don't threaten him with a good time

Considering he dated Shark-Girl and Laura, I wouldn't be surprised if he was attracted to girls that could kill him. At any rate, it wouldn't be the first time a girl's eaten Hellion.

He admitted in SMATXM to be into "savage warrior babes".

Which is funny considering here are his types"

Clones: X-23, Wind Dancer, The Cuckoos

Claws &/Or Teeth : X-23, Shark Girl

Latina: Shark Girl & Wind Dancer

The really only outlier is that one reality where he married Surge.

[Ambaryerno]

Don't threaten him with a good time



He admitted in SMATXM to be into "savage warrior babes".

Which is funny considering here are his types"

Clones: X-23, Wind Dancer, The Cuckoos

Claws &/Or Teeth : X-23, Shark Girl

Latina: Shark Girl & Wind Dancer

The really only outlier is that one reality where he married Surge.

Now we need Hellion to appear alongside Daf-23 in an X-Men movie and we can tick the Latina box off for X, too. She'd be a perfect 3-for-3.

[Ulysian_Thracs]

I stumbled on this thread and just…WOW! You guys really made my day. These were the X-men I started reading as a kid, and I stopped reading X-men comics entirely because the characters I grew to love didn’t just get completely sh!t on, which would’ve been okay if they got great stories to make me excited to read and feel for them, but they got pushed aside and ignored. Glad to see there are other people who felt that way, too.

Particularly glad to see the love for Hellion. He was my favorite growing up because he was so nuanced, the outer shell vs. the inner turmoil. I really connected to that in HS because I was a jock who also had shitty parents and low self-esteem despite everything looking perfect from the outside. I was the arrogant rich kid with low self-esteem and abandonment issues compensating by being a jerk. (But Hellion wasn’t really a jerk. He was really the guy who would spend hours with his best friend when she was sad with absolutely no ulterior romantic motives. Though he probably told everyone he was trying to get her to make out with him so no one would find out he actually had feelings.)

He was so much more nuanced than a Scott Summers, who JUST MY OPINION, but I find Scott Summers to be the blandest character in comics. He’s just written to be so perfect and always doing the right thing, or when he does actually get his hands dirty they just handwaves any responsibility for his actions. It’s wish fulfillment that he is a brilliant strapping jock who everything goes right for. Most issues his biggest catastrophe is that he boned the blonde bombshell on the night he should’ve picked the redhead knockout.

And don’t get me started on Kid Omega! He actually had so much potential, but they write him as wish fulfillment of every nerdy, scrawny awkward kid who didn’t get the cheerleader and got bullied by the bigger kids suddenly getting the power to take out his rage on the world. There’s some little bit of amusing irony in how he’s always been the Machine he pretends to Rage Against, but quite frankly I find him just a walking trope. And there’s no nuance in that. There’s no inner conflict of trying to rise above what he’s suffered for the reader to get caught up in. I find it lazy writing that Wolverine is off saving the world with someone who is clearly a psychotic supervillain-in-training while he purposely destroyed a maimed 16yrold child (who lost his hands heroically defending his peers) and clearly suffering from PTSD because why…his daughter had a crush on the guy?

And in my mind that’s what makes Hellion the better hero than Cyke and Logan. It’s easy for them to be heroes because everyone adores them. But Hellion (when he is ever written) always shows up to the fight and defends people who so obviously despise him. In a fair world, he would take one look at the deadly situation of the day, tell the X-men to ‘Go eat a d!ck’ because they won’t put him and a team and it’s not his problem, then go troll the Krokoan beaches for tail in his hot pants if he’s not already dating Celeste Cuckoo, who if I recall correctly always had a crush on him.

Sidenote: I thought they did an even better job on this inner struggle with Monet in X-factor, though I find her backstory way too kooky to really get into. But I would love this pairing! Maybe Psylocke sets them up? But Julian would be the loyal, accepting confidant he always is, and Monet is the exotic strong, but damaged HBIC-type Julian typically goes for. And their powers synch up the same way Hellion and X-23s did. In all, I think it would be the Helix relationship we should’ve seen if they didn’t sloppily age Laura to the ‘adult table’ while leaving Julian behind with the other kiddies. Seriously? I read somewhere that she’s now supposed to magically be 21ish and he’s still a senior in X-high school? What’s up with that?

[Rift]

I have a feeling we'll get along nicely.

[CGAR]

They deserves a maxi series.