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Force-X are adorable
And a little bit lame. (What? It had to be said!)
So, okay, you may be asking, "Who the Hell are Force-X?" and I don't blame you. For starters, they're nothing whatever to do with X-Force.
No, instead they are a teenage band of superheroes-in-training, assembled and trained by Dame Emma Frost (she's a knight), a charismatic wheelchair-bound telepath who must have a very busy schedule. She's the headmistress of Frost's School for Gifted Youngsters (which, like her core reality's Massachusetts school, has a full student body primarily composed of intelligent, talented human students). She's also the head of Department X, which seems to be the organization for directing the British Empire's super-powered agents.
Yes, the school is in New York. Yes, that'sa part of the capitol of the British Empire. This is a world of Empires, and the current dilemma is that the French are invading. Their Emperor is a Bonaparte. There's also a Chinese Empire (Japan is one of it's provinces). Why is France invading New York, you might wonder, when it's just one part of the British Empire? Well, because the British Queen is there -- a young woman with red hair whose name I haven't learned. I'm pretty sure Bonaparte wants her to abdicate and let him take over, so that, with the Chinese Empire as his allies, he can unite all of mankind in rebelling against their overlords.
You see, in this world, the landfolk are ultimately controlled from the waters. Seems this reality's Atlanteans took a much more proactive approach to curbing the polluting ways of the world above -- and since they control a much larger portion of the surface of the Earth, where the humans can't hope to reach them, and they have huge armies, and all the magical and scientific advancements that the ones in the usual reality didn't bother using against their air-breathing neighbours. Regardless, Atlanteans are the top of the food chain, so to speak. They've set some rules for the landsmen to follow, which some of the invading French troops helpfully talked about. :3 Which was also helpfully translated. ;3
Armand (French commando): Do you believe this madness, Marcel? We fly helicopters, but our navy is restricted to ship designs that are three centuries old! We shouldn't be fighting the English, we should all of us be standing together against humanity's true oppressors, the fish-people!
Sam (French commando): You may resent the Atlanteans, Armand, but they've kept the world at peace 'til now. They provide geo-thermal power for billions. Is that really such a bad thing?
Armand: They treat us like children, Sam.
Sam: Perhaps, my friend, because we insist on acting the part.
Morph (Exile): These guys ain't so tough, Sage -- no super-powers or tech-weapons, just muscles and swords.
Sebastien (French commando): I -- I lost my crossbow, sergeant.
Hell yeah world-wide geo-thermal energy! I betcha this Earth's environment is just generally cleaner than ours.
So, back to Force-X, "the crown's clandestine super-being action team". *snerk* First of all, I will never not be amused by superheroes planning their attack over milk and cookies next to a roaring fire, whilst dressed in school uniforms that include plaid skirts on the girls. X3 SO. ADORABLE.
Here's our line-up:
-Dame Frost, who I talked about above. Clearly our Professor X counterpart, here.
-STARBOLT, aka Summer Scott. Shoots force beams from eyes. Teenage girl Cyclops.
-SUNSPOT, aka John Grey. Telepathy and telekinesis. Teenage boy Phoenix -- no signs of fire powers.
-SPIDER, aka Peter Parker. Same powers as Spider-man, but with Blue Beetle-esque bulging goggle lenses, and opera-length yellow gloves usually seen on Jean Grey over in X-Men: First Class. XD
-PUMA, aka Hank McCoy. Blue and furry cat guy, with a tail and spots and a fightfightfight attitude. Doesn't show the brilliance common to the usual Beast-variant.
-AURION, aka Roberta "Bobby" Drake. Ice powers like whoa. Teenage girl Iceman.
-STORM, aka 'Ro-'Ro. Teenage Storm, with the usual powers. Very British.
Okay, so, obviously the fact that we have yet another partial genderswap AU is why I bought these issues. And just as obviously, the names are where the "lame" comes in. Seriously, "Starbolt"? Summer so clearly chose that when she was like 12 and secretly wanted to be a My Little Pony. As for "Aurion", Bobby seems to have named herself after a Toyota, a Tales of Symphonia character, or a WoW clan. The word also turns up in a lot of company names, mostly to do with various sciences and occasionally financial planning. If someone can tell me what this word is supposed to mean, I'd be most grateful. On the other hand, I suppose it's quite a switch to go from the very obvious -- Iceman -- to the completely obscure.
Now, I'm not going to give you a play-by-play of the fighting, especially as there's a lot of it. However, I am going to say I'm impressed that Bobby can freeze the entire harbor. The kids are cute, and earnest, and some of them have interesting costumes. Seems like a pretty cool world.
There were also some other super-being around, working for the French, some of whom had pretty familiar powers attached to different names.
-SALVO, fires powerful green energy blasts from his hands.
-PURGE, evil bald telepath. I'd like to point out that the surname "Xavier" is Basque in origin, and thus falls squarely in the French Empire's domain.
-GIGANTOR, grows very large at will, and seems to have formidible mass/superstrength at normal size. I'm pretty sure he's this reality's Henry Pym. Or Henri, in this case, possibly.
-GAROTTE, shows prodigious balance, strength, and aim with a whip thing, and looks a lot like Batroc the Leaper.
-WOLFTRAP, manifests wolves of energy that become real, but faster, stronger, and meaner than real wolves.
-LEGION, can produce numerous multiples of himself at will, but the duplicates vanish when the originator is knocked unconscious. He's masked and cowled, so I couldn't say for sure how much he might look like Jamie Madrox.
-HAVOK was mentioned as having been a concern before the issues I picked up, but I have no idea what he can do.
In other news, Morph continues to be delightful (he disguised himself as a cricket poster of himself!) and I continue to be fascinated by Mystiq. *snugs him* Apparently there's also an awesome good guy Sabretooth in these books. >_>
Someone should probably stop me before I commit scads of fanfic and generate way too much fanon... >_>
So, okay, you may be asking, "Who the Hell are Force-X?" and I don't blame you. For starters, they're nothing whatever to do with X-Force.
No, instead they are a teenage band of superheroes-in-training, assembled and trained by Dame Emma Frost (she's a knight), a charismatic wheelchair-bound telepath who must have a very busy schedule. She's the headmistress of Frost's School for Gifted Youngsters (which, like her core reality's Massachusetts school, has a full student body primarily composed of intelligent, talented human students). She's also the head of Department X, which seems to be the organization for directing the British Empire's super-powered agents.
Yes, the school is in New York. Yes, that's
You see, in this world, the landfolk are ultimately controlled from the waters. Seems this reality's Atlanteans took a much more proactive approach to curbing the polluting ways of the world above -- and since they control a much larger portion of the surface of the Earth, where the humans can't hope to reach them, and they have huge armies, and all the magical and scientific advancements that the ones in the usual reality didn't bother using against their air-breathing neighbours. Regardless, Atlanteans are the top of the food chain, so to speak. They've set some rules for the landsmen to follow, which some of the invading French troops helpfully talked about. :3 Which was also helpfully translated. ;3
Armand (French commando): Do you believe this madness, Marcel? We fly helicopters, but our navy is restricted to ship designs that are three centuries old! We shouldn't be fighting the English, we should all of us be standing together against humanity's true oppressors, the fish-people!
Sam (French commando): You may resent the Atlanteans, Armand, but they've kept the world at peace 'til now. They provide geo-thermal power for billions. Is that really such a bad thing?
Armand: They treat us like children, Sam.
Sam: Perhaps, my friend, because we insist on acting the part.
Morph (Exile): These guys ain't so tough, Sage -- no super-powers or tech-weapons, just muscles and swords.
Sebastien (French commando): I -- I lost my crossbow, sergeant.
Hell yeah world-wide geo-thermal energy! I betcha this Earth's environment is just generally cleaner than ours.
So, back to Force-X, "the crown's clandestine super-being action team". *snerk* First of all, I will never not be amused by superheroes planning their attack over milk and cookies next to a roaring fire, whilst dressed in school uniforms that include plaid skirts on the girls. X3 SO. ADORABLE.
Here's our line-up:
-Dame Frost, who I talked about above. Clearly our Professor X counterpart, here.
-STARBOLT, aka Summer Scott. Shoots force beams from eyes. Teenage girl Cyclops.
-SUNSPOT, aka John Grey. Telepathy and telekinesis. Teenage boy Phoenix -- no signs of fire powers.
-SPIDER, aka Peter Parker. Same powers as Spider-man, but with Blue Beetle-esque bulging goggle lenses, and opera-length yellow gloves usually seen on Jean Grey over in X-Men: First Class. XD
-PUMA, aka Hank McCoy. Blue and furry cat guy, with a tail and spots and a fightfightfight attitude. Doesn't show the brilliance common to the usual Beast-variant.
-AURION, aka Roberta "Bobby" Drake. Ice powers like whoa. Teenage girl Iceman.
-STORM, aka 'Ro-'Ro. Teenage Storm, with the usual powers. Very British.
Okay, so, obviously the fact that we have yet another partial genderswap AU is why I bought these issues. And just as obviously, the names are where the "lame" comes in. Seriously, "Starbolt"? Summer so clearly chose that when she was like 12 and secretly wanted to be a My Little Pony. As for "Aurion", Bobby seems to have named herself after a Toyota, a Tales of Symphonia character, or a WoW clan. The word also turns up in a lot of company names, mostly to do with various sciences and occasionally financial planning. If someone can tell me what this word is supposed to mean, I'd be most grateful. On the other hand, I suppose it's quite a switch to go from the very obvious -- Iceman -- to the completely obscure.
Now, I'm not going to give you a play-by-play of the fighting, especially as there's a lot of it. However, I am going to say I'm impressed that Bobby can freeze the entire harbor. The kids are cute, and earnest, and some of them have interesting costumes. Seems like a pretty cool world.
There were also some other super-being around, working for the French, some of whom had pretty familiar powers attached to different names.
-SALVO, fires powerful green energy blasts from his hands.
-PURGE, evil bald telepath. I'd like to point out that the surname "Xavier" is Basque in origin, and thus falls squarely in the French Empire's domain.
-GIGANTOR, grows very large at will, and seems to have formidible mass/superstrength at normal size. I'm pretty sure he's this reality's Henry Pym. Or Henri, in this case, possibly.
-GAROTTE, shows prodigious balance, strength, and aim with a whip thing, and looks a lot like Batroc the Leaper.
-WOLFTRAP, manifests wolves of energy that become real, but faster, stronger, and meaner than real wolves.
-LEGION, can produce numerous multiples of himself at will, but the duplicates vanish when the originator is knocked unconscious. He's masked and cowled, so I couldn't say for sure how much he might look like Jamie Madrox.
-HAVOK was mentioned as having been a concern before the issues I picked up, but I have no idea what he can do.
In other news, Morph continues to be delightful (he disguised himself as a cricket poster of himself!) and I continue to be fascinated by Mystiq. *snugs him* Apparently there's also an awesome good guy Sabretooth in these books. >_>
Someone should probably stop me before I commit scads of fanfic and generate way too much fanon... >_>
lack of panicking means I can complain again!
Sure it's been done before, but the timing is rather interesting.
Re: lack of panicking means I can complain again!
Oh, man, does that make Bonaparte Lelouche? ;D They never give us his personal name...
Re: lack of panicking means I can complain again!
Geass is Geass because Bonaparte invaded the Britannian Empire. Britanna just lost parts and then ate half the world --
And with the British queen (Empress, if these are all empires?) being over in North America -- well that's pretty damn Geass too --
Re: lack of panicking means I can complain again!
The timing is rather cute. ;3
And with the British queen (Empress, if these are all empires?) being over in North America -- well that's pretty damn Geass too --
Strangely, they do call her the Queen. And apparently NYC is the capital of the Empire, which, yeah, that's very Britannian.
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Also the world where Magneto was a woman, and her kids were the Scarlet Warlock and a female Quicksilver.
One of the other team members is a male Mystique. (Mystiq)