From: jdelisle@udel.edu (J. G. Delisle)
Subject: Re: Dumb post- can't help it...
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Boyz from the Dwarf
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 19:41:00 GMT

In article <29089@optima.cs.arizona.edu>, gln@cs.arizona.edu (Gary L. Newell) writes...
> 
>1) Assuming that the "X_MEN" label  now adays includes anyone and everyone
>who is under the direct or indirect guidance of Professor X, exactly what
>are the active X-men (good guy-mutant) groups in action currently? That is
>who are the members of the "X-MEN", "X-FACTOR"< and other groups...

	The two teams of X-Men are called Blue and Gold (I can never get them
straight, and they're somewhat interchangeable). One team consists of Cyclops
(the leader), Gambit, Wolverine, Rogue, Beast, and Psylocke. The other has
Storm as leader, with Colossus, Jean Grey (the woman without a codename),
Iceman, Archangel, and Bishop as members. The current X-Factor has Havok as
leader, with Wolfsbane, Polaris, Multiple Man, Quicksilver, and Strong Guy
rounding out the team. X-Force... they keep on changing their roster, so
people are always coming and going. The only members who have been with the
team for just about every issue are Cannonball (the current leader), Boom
Boom, Warpath, Feral, and Shatterstar. Members who have come late, already 
gone, or have been replaced by imposters are Cable (their former leader),
Richtor, Sunspot, and Domino.

>2) Is the cartoon intended to be an up-to-date representation of the
>X-MEN with respect to the comic books? That is, should say an X-Man "go bad"
>would this be reflected in the cartoon? (I'm still trying to explain to my
>kids why Wolverine has an Ausie accent in some stupid spiderman video we
>picked up but now talks like a yank by the way...)

	The cartoon is nothing like the comic, and the two are pretty much
seperate in terms of plot and characters. 

>3) Can I expect another dozen "action figures" released every time I
>manage to pick up the "last one" of the previous release? Never mind, I know
>the answer to that one...

	No. You can expect two dozen. :-)

>4) Can Rougue really be built like that? (OK OK that's my question and not
>their's...)

	But is her hair auburn with a white streak, or white with a lot of
red?

>5) What happened to Night Crawler? I'm afraid we "met" him as an X-man and now
>he is gone from the kid's comic books...

	He's the leader of Excalibur (a British super-team). Even thought it's
more expensive than the other X-Books, Excalibur is worth getting.

>6) Is there any sort of source book or history of the X-men available that
>I could pick up to help me look like I know what I am talking about? IF not,
>why not? Seems to me that such a book is ripe for the market now...

	No. I don't think there's anyone who really understands what's going
on. And once people do understand things, the writers go back and retcon
(retroactivally change) past events. People like Wolverine, Mr. Sinister, Jean
Grey and Rachel Summers have had their pasts and/or powers changed so many
times that not even a book could keep up.

>7) Why is it that when I was a kid I knew Spider-man, The Hulk, Iron Man,
>even the Silver Surfer, but I had never even heard of the friggin X-men
>when they've been around for 30 years??!!?? Christ, I feel like I lived
>in  a hole every time my kids ask me how "The Angel" became "Arch-Angel"....

	It could be worse. When I was younger, there was a limited series
called Secret Wars where Spiderman beats up the entire team of X-Men (including
Professor X, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops, and Wolverine).
That was a bad month for X-Fans.


	Joe Delisle

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