recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Episode 208 - The X-Patriots

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which nobody wears the pants in the X-Plain family; Havok is a remarkably okay boss; Polaris may want to find a new doctor; Quicksilver has no time for your nonsense; we are very conditionally okay with resurrections; and if you spoil Season 5 of *Steven Universe* for Miles, we will never ever ever forgive you.

## X-Plained

* Jay & Miles at FlameCon
* Advantages of recording remotely
* *X-Factor* #81-83
* What Genosha’s been up to
* Prodigal
* An impassioned speech
* An unfortunate accident
* Yet another return(ish) of Sauron
* Chain of command
* Lukas
* Pirouette
* Yet another justification for the name of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
* Phantazia (again)
* *Immovable* vs. *unstoppable*
* What you do on a boat
* Taylor
* When Havok still cared
* “The Mutant Rap”
* Adventures in New York
* How to bond with Quicksilver
* An angry mob
* A derailed storyline
* The ignominious death of Rick Chalker
* Our opinions on the revolving door of death
* X-Men vs. electronics
* Superheroes from the Balkans
* Theoretical X-Men and *Steven Universe* team-ups

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 156 - Genosha Strikes Back

## Episode Description

In which we hit the *Empire Strikes Back* of X-Tinction Agenda; it’s hard to be Laura Kinney; the psychic knife makes its debut; Evil!Sexy Moira retains some moral high ground; if your society is built on slavery, your society deserves to crumble; words mean things; Havok would be a terrible housecat; the mutants do not have the patent on stupidity; the opposite of blades is cotton; we give Cameron Hodge’s severed head a pep talk; and Cyclops goes full Peralta.

## X-Plained

* *Uncanny X-Men* #271, *New Mutants* #96, *X-Factor* #61
* Laura Kinney’s brief babysitting career
* Our upcoming hiatus
* Dramatis personae
* A figurative battering ram
* Focused totality
* Best insults of the 1990s
* A debate
* Ethics of rhetoric
* Housecat Havok
* Skittering
* Mutate numbering systems
* *The Prisoner* vs. *Les Miserables*
* The slow disintegration of reality as we know it
* Sneaking with Cable
* A singularly anticlimactic cover
* A lushly illustrated report
* Increasingly petty revenge
* S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most advanced bald cap
* A rising storm
* Art teams
* What we’d like to see out of an X-Men cinematic reboot

## Listener Questions

* Could you please explain the roles of pencils and artists and inkers and colorists? Are they all different jobs to speed up production? Does the artist dictate the colors? Is it a collaborative relationship like writer and artist? I love Andrea Sorrentino from the 2015 X-Men annuals, and I will point out from most of the *Old Man Logan* ongoing series, and the ways panels have blocked green and red colors, but is that actually the responsibility of colorist Marcello Maiolo? Do you have a favorite artist and colorist team?
* Assuming we are on the verge of an X-Movie reboot (I sincerely hope) what would be your ideal approach to this? Start with another building the team movie with a new lineup? Or more of an in medias res approach where they dive right in to adapting a classic X-Storyline? Personally, I'd love it if more superhero movies skipped past the origin story. What would you like to see out of an X-Reboot, more story wise than character wise?
Episode 209 - To Me, My X-Books; feat. Jordan D. White

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we welcome Marvel editor Jordan D. White to the podcast to talk about the current state of the X-Universe!

## X-Plained

* The cosmic luck balance
* Mr. Dapples
* A remarkable concurrence of luck
* Our FlameCon live show lineup
* What an X-Men group editor does
* How X-books happen
* *Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe*
* *Shatterstar*
* Jordan’s history with X-Men
* *Uncanny X-Men: First Class*
* *Wolverine: First Class*
* Whether Deadpool is an X-Man (No.)
* Mercurial mutancy
* What defines the X-Men
* Queer X-characters (and their absence)
* Problematic namesakes
* Sailors X
* Drawing lines on social media
* Why to read modern X-Men
* *Uncanny X-Men*

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 199 - Space, Geeks, and Gaveedra Seven

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which *Shattershot* is definitely better than the Cold War; Beast X-plains the X-teams; Cyclops is a tired babysitter; sustenance is not frivolous; Jim Henson is the hero that Mojoworld needs; Shatterstar is not a great head of state; it’s hard to be Val Cooper; and Cable has definitely figured out how to take you (yes, YOU) out.

CORRECTION: BonziBuddy was not released until 1999. We regret the error.

## X-Plained:

* Astra
* Content-to-story ratio
* The Mojoverse (more) (again)
* Longshot
* Shatterstar (Gaveedra Seven)
* Spiral (Ricochet Rita)
* Arize
* *X-Men* Annual #1
* *Uncanny X-Men* Annual #16
* *X-Factor* Annual ~~#10~~ #7
* *X-Force* Annual #1
* A pivotal battle
* Mujahideen
* A callback
* Several denizens of Mojoworld
* X-Team disambiguation
* The Death Sponsors
* A dubious solution to the Kobayashi Maru scenario
* Whether Arize is a mutant
* Telepathic favoritism
* Spiral’s origin story
* A new regime
* Earth-84309
* Powerpax (Frankie Power)
* Darkchild
* Cyberlock
* A metasingularity
* A large number of back-up features
* The X-Men’s top ten enemies
* Amalgam (but not that one)
* Darick Robertson’s juvenilia
* The return of Taki
* The Cable Protocols
* Brazilian Marvel characters
* Our feelings about Laura Kinney’s backstory

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 045 - A Woman Who Could Fly

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we discard our regularly scheduled programming to focus on Storm and Lifedeath II; no one draws motion like Barry Windsor-Smith; Storm goes up to eleven; and we really wish we had the frame of reference to place this story in the larger context of diaspora literature.

## X-Plained

* Forge
* The Adversary
* Uncanny X-Men #198 (Lifedeath II)
* Storm
* The narrative impact of sexualization
* Barry Windsor-Smith
* Extreme weather in comics
* Hallucinatory X-Men
* Storm in adaptation
* The Storm elevator pitch
* Our Storm dream casting
* Mjnari
* Artist editions
* Colonialism
* Storm as a liminal figure

## Listener Questions

* Black history month seems like a good time to ask: What the hell is with the X-Men's diversity issue? It seems like every time they get a woman of color on the team who isn't Storm, she vanishes. I started reading in the 90s and I remember how excited I was to see Cecilia Reyes on comic covers because she looked like me. But after a few issues she was suddenly gone. The closest the team has come to diverse females might be Marjorie Liu's*Astonishing,* but that that's only if you count Warbird as a person of color.
* Has there been an X-Men story that contemplated the merits of the "solution" that Storm found to her existence before Xavier recruited her? It was sort of the inverse of the superstitious mob pursuing Kurt - use human superstition in a more benign way, and set yourself to be regarded as a goddess instead of a demon.
* So Ororo was the finest beggar in Cairo at six-and-a-half years old. Has she ever run a con or otherwise used these skills since? I want grifter Storm so bad! Also, is this involved in her taking on the goddess identity? That whole transition from successful, self-reliant criminal to agreeing at some level you're a divine being is kind of nuts unless it's a scam.
Episode 225 - Class Reunion (feat. Austin Gorton)

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we check in on Firestar and the New Warriors; superheroes often celebrate Bring Your Mom To The Amazon Day; Fabian Nicieza employs only the finest of lampshades; and Emma Frost still doesn’t apologize for blowing up that pony.

## X-Plained

* Vance Astro(vik)
* Penance (but not that one)
* Austin Gorton’s *X-Aminations*
* *New Warriors* #10
* Firestar (Angelica Jones)
* The New Warriors
* Visual representations of invisible mutant powers
* The Hellions (more) (again)
* Tarot and her Morrisonian powers
* Bevatrons
* Oxy-cution
* The inevitably increasing complexity of superhero origins
* The Miracle of Microwaves
* *New Warriors* #31
* Nova Roma
* Magma (Amara Aquilla) (or Allison Crestmere, I guess)
* A brief and futile attempt at Roman soldier disambiguation
* Empath and his large collection of red flags
* Gender-based intuition
* A massive, stupid, and quickly undone retcon
* Super-nature versus super-nurture
* The hypothetical psychological roots of Emma Frost’s fashion phases

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 092 – Living in Ship

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which X-Factor loves press conferences, Archangel provides many opportunities for terrible puns, Cyclops gets to be happy for a whole five pages, X-Factor learns how doors work, the X-kids are generous (except Boom Boom), Infectia makes monsters to fight the patriarchy, Ship is your cool aunt, and Destiny accidentally predicts Cable.

## X-plained

* Apocalypse versus Ed Wood
* X-Factor #27-31
* Superhero mortality
* Star-crossed mugger romance
* Marvel Girl as, and not as, Team Mom
* The greatest line in all of X-Factor
* Ship’s anatomical resemblances
* Combat and relationship discussion multitasking
* X-Men Evolution Syndrome
* Iceman as joker-by-necessity
* Infectia and the Anti-Bodies
* Rambo Nukes Commando In Nicaragua
* Wacky sitcom humor
* Warren Worthington, PI
* Earth 13122 and LEGO optic blasts
* Musical careers of the X-Men

## Listener Questions

* Would you care to comment on the Lego Marvel Super Heroes video game and how it represents the X-Men?
* What would be your lineup of X-Men for a band? Style of music is up to you - ska, metal, Oasis cover band, etc. Hard mode: no Dazzler.
Tanning Fluid

Tanning Fluid is used with a Tanning Tub to turn hides into leather.

To create Tanning Fluid, you need 1 full bucket of water and 1 tree bark, equip the full bucket in 1 hand and an empty bucket in the other then when you craft the tanning fluid, it will go into the empty bucket.

Craft > Processing & Materials > Tanning Fluid
Episode 223 - Live at Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Dracula probably doesn’t drink his blood from a World’s Greatest Dad mug; Miles massively underestimates the cultural ubiquity of Sexy Dracula; Bill Sienkiewicz may or may not have ever seen a bat; Kitty gets possessed; and Dazzler is singularly well suited to a Vegas residency.

## X-Plained

* Dracula’s ungrateful children
* Marvel Dracula
* A fortuitously named writer
* Rachel Van Helsing
* *X-Men* #159 (again) (briefly)
* Sexy Dracula
* The secret origin of sexy Draculas
* Fastball Special body mechanics
* *X-Men* Annual #6
* A nightmare
* “Bats”
* Yet another Castle Dracula
* The Montesi Formula
* Sound effects, spoken or otherwise
* Lilith
* Chairs
* The relative efficacy of holy symbols against Dracula
* X-Vegas
* Characters we have grown to love as a result of the podcast

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 195 - Johnny Got His Robot Arm

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Jay may have Stockholm syndrome; Nick Fury is objectively sillier than G. W. Bridge; we get a brief artistic reprieve; Cable’s legal expertise does not extend to trademarks; our favorite Ship returns; Miles’s grandmother calls it like it is; Sauron is bad at taxonomy; and Garrison Kane is basically a very violent Inspector Gadget.

## X-Plained:

* Brother Mutant
* *X-Force* #8-10
* X-Force (again)
* A protracted flashback
* The Wild and/or Six Pack
* A heist
* A trap
* Yet more Ed Wood references
* A future
* The Professor (Ship)
* Gratuitous face shadows
* A mystery
* Cable casting
* Several misplaced word balloons
* The logistics of tentacle arms
* The High Lords (Externals)
* Michael Bay’s *Johnny Got His Gun*
* General Clark and his diving suit
* Good Magneto stories
* How to get your dad into X-Men

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 167 - Full Circle

## Episode Description

In which things are not as they were; “yaybopunk” is definitely our aesthetic; Cable is officially foreshadowed; and the NYCC live show did in fact go really well!

## X-Plained

* Cable’s childhood
* Some ECCC plans
* *X-Factor* #65-68
* The Riders of the Storm
* “Riders on the Storm”
* Some X-Factors that might have been
* Babies as drawn by Whilce Portacio
* Medieval cats
* Yaybohunk vs. yaybopunk
* A red herring
* Jen Askani
* A kidnapping
* Visual representations of hacking
* How to effectively evoke the Dark Phoenix Saga
* The plural of “Apocalypse”
* Rad fights on the moon
* Something you should definitely cosplay
* Cyclops narration
* A psychic duel
* A choice
* Resets vs. returns
* The Apocalypse Manifesto
* The Crafters of Apocalypse
Episode 117 - How to Pee Like a Supervillain

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Gossamyr definitely probably doesn’t get blown up; we engage in a long and surprisingly canon-based exploration of Hellfire Club bathroom etiquette; the New Mutants break up with Magneto; you should probably never go swimming in the Marvel Universe; and it is *possible* (but unlikely) that Jay yells “IMPERIUS REX” more than is strictly necessary.

## X-Plained

* New Son/New Sun
* Post-Inferno New Mutants
* *New Mutants* #74-76
* Babies
* Ship shipping
* Inanimate objects Warlock has attempted to befriend
* Hellfire Club bathroom etiquette
* A long-anticipated showdown
* Magneto’s on-again-off-again children
* The Mutant Wars
* The Grey King (but not *The Grey King*)
* Undersea creatures that have no business near New York
* An Atlantean artifact of dubious provenance
* How to deter a giant and possibly supernatural octopus
* Recycled powers
* Friendly sentinels

## Note

*The Dispossessed*is in fact by Ursula K. Le Guin.

## Listener Questions

* Why do the X-Factor kids mostly have the same powers as the Brotherhood of Mutants? Rusty and Pyro, Rictor and Avalanche, Skids and Unus the Untouchable are all obvious. Also, arguably, Leech and Rogue, and Artie and Mastermind. Only Boom Boom is really not a copy of a Brotherhood member.
* With the recent addition of Cerebra to the team, and you guys discussing Nimrod, I've been thinking about Sentinels being used for heroic purposes (see Tom Skylark and Rover, Karima Shapandar, Sentinel Squad O\*N\*E\* and Juston Seyfert), or as a sometimes metaphor for gun control. I wanted to know what you thought of machines made specifically to hunt mutants being used for good. I know the mutant metaphor isn't perfect, but would the idea of heroic Sentinels be a problem to most mutants?
Episode 059 – X is for Xtinction

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Chris and Chad teach us to stop worrying and love the ‘90s; the line between parody and homage is thin and flexible; everything happens at the mall; no one wants to play volleyball with Cyclops; and we totally fail to resolve the question, “Does a mall babe eat chili fries?”

## X-Plained

* The Westchester Wars
* Battleworld
* X-Men ’92 #1
* Digital vs. print pacing
* A continuity error
* Narrative restrictions of Battleworld
* The actual X-Men of 1992 (and the post-Claremont X-Universe)
* X-Men Adventures
* X-Men Collector’s Edition
* Mutatant Genesis
* X-Cutioner’s Song
* Early Deadpool
* Piecing together the Marvel Universe from trading cards
* The X-Men animated series
* Concurrent and complimentary adaptation
* Cassandra Nova ‘92
* The fine line between homage and parody
* Definitive story arcs of the 1990s

## Note

**WARNING: This episode contains minor spoilers for X-Men ’92 #1.**

## Listener Questions

* Four or five different people wondered if Chris Sims and Chad Bowers do the animated series voices while they're writing
* Besides scorpions, what's something else you'd like to see Wolverine covered in?
* What I'd like to know is if the last issue of *X-Men '92*will be weirdly written and have a different art style like the last season of the animated series? Will it feel out of place, and will Xavier leave for space for a really stupid reason?
* How difficult is it to write Cyclops considering his personality in the cartoon and the not-so-much-love Chris has for him?
* I haven't read much from the 90s X-Men. Are there any story arcs from that era that you would suggest as background reading for your series?
Bear Meat

Bear meat is a byproduct of the corpse of a bear after being butchered. It can be roasted over a fire or used for Bear Salami or Big Bear Banger. All of food created by bear meat grants enormous Strength FEP points. Like most raw meat, eating raw bear meat will give you black FEP which damage your HHP if it triggers. Because of the high quality of bear products, eating raw bear meat is dangerous.

## How to aquire

Butcher the corpse of a bear. The task of slaying a bear is potentially dangerous though.
Elisabeth Allie

## External links

Twitter: @Elisabethf

**Elisabeth Allie** is a comic fan and the brains behind GeekCraft Expo. She has guest-hosted several times on *Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men*, usually filling in for Jay, and also co-hosts *THOR: The Lightning and the Storm* with Miles. Elisabeth lives in Portland, Oregon.

## X-Plain appearances

* Episode 047 – The Price of Power
* Episode 094 – WELCOME TO DIE!
* Episode 119 - Red Night of the Soul (feat. Elisabeth Allie)
* Episode 146 - Asshole Factor (feat. Elisabeth Allie)

## Mentions

* Rachel and Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 28

## Other appearances

* *Comic Book Cover Story* Episode 25 - Happy Anniversary!
* *MultiversalQ* Asgard As You Make It: Featuring: Thor The Lightning and the Storm
Episode 041 - Hated and Feared

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Nimrod is probably an honorary Summers by this point; Claremont hits a centennial; it’s probably pretty hard to get an unconscious person into tight leather pants; the X-Men finally encounter a world that actually hates and fears them; and the Power Pack fits somewhat uneasily with the grown-up Marvel Universe.

## X-Plained

* Nimrod
* Uncanny X-Men #193-195
* Thunderbird II (James Proudstar)
* Situation-inappropriate attire
* The worst Hellions
* Firestar (Angelica Jones)
* Why you call ahead before breaking into NORAD
* Leadership
* Public opinion
* Juggernaut fights
* How the X-Men wake up
* Nazgûl
* Tyranny of the Masses: The Robot
* The Voltron Special
* The Power Pack
* Navigating crossovers

## Listener Questions

* Started reading the X-Men in March of last year, and am coming to the end of Claremont's run, just about hitting the Inferno story. My question is: Do you think it's important for people to read all of the crossover titles (i.e in Inferno all the Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Avenger titles) in X-Men crossovers? If yes, what if I'm only interested in the X storylines? Will I miss important points?
* Hey Rachel and Miles, love the podcast! What would you say the definitive version of Magneto is? Scene chewing silver age Dick Dastardly, the more antagonistic foil to Xavier like in God Loves Man Kills, the New Mutants teacher, the separatist leader of the Acolytes, every X-fans source of alcoholism Xorn, or some other iteration?
Episode 204 - Naughty By Nurture

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Jay runs away to Latveria (but Hub is here to save the day!); you shouldn’t eat the brown promethium; Magneto and Cap fight over the world’s tiniest man; Rom is somewhat set in his ways; all anyone in the 616 really wants out of a disguise is plausible deniability; and Hub was inside your heart all along (and you might want to see a doctor about that).

Special thanks to Emergency Back-Up Cohost Hub of Titan Up the Defense!

## X-Plained

* Several Limbos
* *Captain America Annual* #4
* Captain America vs. Magneto
* The return of the theoretical Magnetostache
* The Great Mutant Massacre (but not that one)
* Drunk-at-a-wedding Magneto
* Mister One
* Mister Two
* *Ghost Writer*
* Peeper
* Lifter
* Burner
* Slither
* Shocker
* Skin suffocation
* *Rom* #17-18
* *The Toy Collector*
* Dick Warlock, revisited, more, again
* Bill Mantlo
* Rom: Spaceknight
* Dire Wraiths
* The secret lives of inanimate objects
* Brandy Clark and Steve Jackson
* Jacob the Dire Wraith and His No-Good Son Jimmy
* The smell of evil
* Swiss army eyeballs
* Sidekicks for the Transformers

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 180 - Lawful Badass

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Jay is deeply invested in *The Gifted*; Trevor Fitzroy is generally inexcusable; there are a lot of reasons to be uncomfortable in the Hellfire Club; the mix just got altered in this little clambake; Jean Grey (kind of) dies (again); Earth-1191 gives the Age of Apocalypse some glam competition; Lucas Bishop is a pretty decent metaphor for fan culture; everyone is probably Kang the Conqueror; and now Miles really has no excuse for not watching *The Prisoner*.

## X-Plained:

* The Chronomancer and his Chronobots
* *The Gifted*
* Lucas Bishop’s creative origins
* Trevor Fitzroy
* Goatee Theory
* *X-Factor* #67
* *Uncanny X-Men* #281-283
* Dapper Lesbian Shinobi Shaw
* A briefly useful mnemonic
* Cybernetic fuckboys
* The return of Warren Kenneth Worthington III’s hair
* Beef and Bevatron
* The deaths of the Hellions
* Warhammer
* Some of the challenges of X-Plaining the ’90s
* Bringing a knife to a Sentinel fight
* Bantam
* A bunch of bad guys from the future
* Bishop
* Randall
* Malcolm
* Earth-1191
* The Gamemaster
* X-Men we’d like to see come out as trans (revisited)
* Whether either or both of us are Kang the Conquerer

## Listener Questions

* I was interested in your answers to listener questions about which X characters you'd like to see represented as trans, notably because all your examples were retconning existing characters to say that the gender they presently identify as is trans, i.e. Logan is a trans man and always has been. You didn't mention any characters you'd like to see go through transition which would be my preference if we're going to change older characters to be trans. Any idea? Kitty or Rachel maybe? - Anonymous on Tumblr
* Are either or both of you Kang the Conqueror? And if so, when will your labyrinthine machinations come to light?- Anonymous on Tumblr
Hafen Wiki

## Welcome to the Hafen Wiki

Welcome to a fan-made Hafen, or Haven and Hearth 2, wiki page! Everyone's free to contribute to this wiki with their ingame experience.

Official Website

Official IRC

## Templates

Use those if you want to add an page:

Curiosity: Template:CuriosityInfobox

## Latest activity

Photos and videos are a great way to add visuals to your wiki. Find videos about your topic by exploring Wikia's Video Library.
Episode 162 - Naked in Canada

## Episode Description

In which almost everyone is better than Romulus; Barry Windsor-Smith continues to draw the best naked X-Men; Jay has strong feelings about Wolverine’s origins; Miles *still*hasn’t seen *The Prisoner*; when in doubt, it’s probably Kang the Conqueror and/or Mystique; we remain unqualified to give bear-fighting advice; you should not hide out in a nuclear reactor; and the Coffee-a-Go-Go has probably been turned into a new-wave sushi bar or something.

## X-Plained

* The Professor (Truett Hudson)
* Romulus
* Jay & Miles at Rose City Comic Con
* *Marvel Comics Presents* #72-84
* “Weapon X”
* Backstory attrition
* A really good opening montage
* Some very effective use of color
* Healing hair
* The original villain behind Weapon X
* A retconned origin of Wolverine’s claws
* Dr. Abraham Cornelius
* Carol Hines
* Terry Gilliam’s *Weapon X*
* Audio vs. text-based mind control
* An action figure in dubious taste
* The Milgram Experiment
* An adaptation we’d like to see
* A bad place to hide
* Subsequent “Weapon X” retcons
* How Cyclops’s powers have (and haven’t) developed
* Jay’s general failure at X-tourism
Bobby Roberts

**Bobby Roberts** was producer for *Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men* for its first 57 episodes. He was succeeded by Kyle Yount.

Bobby is a podcast host and producer, freelance critic and columnist, and self-proclaimed "murderer of pop-culture memories". He writes for the *Portland Mercury*, and created the *Geek: Remixed* trilogy of nerdy mashup albums. He is also co-host of the *Star Wars* podcast *Full of Sith*.

## Appears in:

* Episode 037 - Giant-Size Special 1
* Episode 057 – Apocalypse Soon

## External links:

* Bobby's work at the Portland Mercury
* The *Geek: Remixed* albums
* The *Geek: Remixed* podcast
* The *Star Wars* podcast *Full of Sith*
Episode 093 – The Discreet Charm of the Brood

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which airplanes are really dangerous if you’re a mutant, Magik remembers that time she dreamed about remembering a dream, those who live by mystically bad judgment die by mystically bad judgment, It’s Always Mystique (TM), and everything leads to Inferno.

## X-plained

* Forge’s moral compass
* New Mutants #62-63 and #65-66
* Empath and irredeemable vs. sympathetic villains
* Magical postal eagles
* Nova Roma
* Jag-u-ars
* Art as era signifier
* Time travel nightmare logic
* Sharpiemancy
* The “last” Brood
* Jerk headmasters who won’t even let you commit murder
* A long-awaited roomie reunion
* Bret Blevins’s mad Limbo skillz
* Claremont / Simonson character maturity equilibrium
* Astrally furry pants
* Loyalty to the living versus loyalty to the dead
* The Ultimate Darkchilde
* Wolverine’s surprisingly non-metallic teeth
* Partying with the New Mutants

## Listener Questions

* I'm really curious why Wolverine's teeth aren't adamantium? Is it a bone marrow thing, or is to preserve his brilliant and bestial smile?
* Which of The New Mutants do you think would be best to have at a party, both from the original team and the 2003 team?
Episode 171 - Badly Punctuated Equilibrium

## Episode Description

In which 1991 runs right into 2010, X-Factor: Endgame (and everything after it) never happened, Jay covets the hell out of Cyclops’s *X-Factor: Forever* jacket, Apocalypse’s alternative universe motives are actually pretty fascinating, and Miles will never call his junk Traitorous Unit.

## X-Plained

* The Strucker siblings (and the Strucker siblings)
* *X-Factor Forever* #1-5
* Earth-TRN237
* What makes a good *Forever* comic
* The best jacket in the X-universe (and some other redesigns)
* MaXimum pants
* Ship the ship
* The Celestial Host
* Dan Panosian’s Smug Apocalypse
* The Master Meld variations
* Force versus heat (and art versus word balloons)
* En Sabah Nur, thoughtful employer
* Gammenon the Gatherer and honey-related implements
* Combat (and podcasting) maneuver names
* The Apocalypse Journal
* Eternals versus Deviants versus Inferior, Shitty Humans
* Slow, crappy science and adorable mutant rats
* Mutant fertility
* Arishem the Judge and his magic space-thumb
* Definitive versions of characters and their relationships
* En Sabah Nur and Your Changing Body
* That time X-Factor threw a baby at a robot to save the world
* DC Comics’s Hellfire Club
* Trans X-Men
* But no seriously that jacket

## Listener Questions

* Who would be in the DC version of the Hellfire Club?
* So as has been discussed, X-Men has pretty non-existent trans representation. If/when Marvel introduces a trans X-Man, would you rather they introduced a new character or outed an existed character as trans? Why? If the latter, who?
Episode 023 - Meet the New Mutants

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Rachel and Miles return triumphant, the X-Men get a second ongoing series, we hit peak Moira MacTaggert, R-A-H-N-E is definitely pronounced “rain,” Sam Guthrie is the nicest henchman, Claremont is hit-and-miss on cultural diversity, and Bobby da Costa is the teenageriest teenager of them all.

## X-Plained

* Nova Roma
* The New Mutants and The New Mutants
* Marvel Graphic Novels
* Greenberg the Vampire
* call-backs
* Karma
* Wolfsbane
* Sunspot
* Cannonball
* Mirage
* Whitewashing in superhero comics
* The mercurial Guthrie family
* Xi’an the Obscure
* The Dr. Claw Effect (and why Dr. Doom and Arcade are exceptions)
* Donald Pierce
* Eras of New Mutants
* Lila Cheney
* The Hellions

## Listener Questions

* Karma of the New Mutants: Groundbreaking lesbian superhero of color, or chronically narratively punished cluster of overlapping stereotypes about refugees, abuse survivors, and queer people?
* While the New Mutants don't have as many notable supporting characters as the X-Men, they do have a whole host of interesting recurring characters, both good and bad. Who's your favorite recurring character that's not a member of the team itself? (ex: Lila Cheney, one of the Hellions, Xi'an's siblings, etc.)
Episode 294 - The Infernal Gallop

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which a whole lot of things burn; Nightcrawler gets gritty; it’s hard to be Dead Man Wade; Apocalypse’s IT department has some explaining to do; Mystique is the most mom of all moms; Doug Ramsey dies (again); and Jay will fight anyone who says comics can’t be “real” literature.

## X-Plained

* Damask
* *X-Calibre* #1-4
* Switchback
* Cain Marko of Earth-295
* Avalon
* Destiny of Earth-295
* Nightcrawler of Earth-295
* Ghost Dance (actual)
* Ghost Dance (fictional)
* John Proudstar of Earth-295
* The Infernal Gallop vs. the Infernal Galop
* Moonstar of Earth-295
* Dead Man Wade
* The Pale Riders
* Videoconferencing software of Earth-295
* The Excalibur
* Walter Newell
* Callisto of Earth-295
* A lot of murders
* A really dark historical precedent
* Parenthood
* Death by existential crisis
* The worst plan
* Variations on the death of Doug Ramsey
* Geography of the Age of Apocalypse
* The rest of the Marvel books during the Age of Apocalypse
* Jay vs. Western canon

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Earth-441

Earth X-Plain

**Earth-441** is the unofficial designation of the universe where Jay & Miles are benevolent omnipotent gods and everything they say about the X-Men is true. It takes its number from the 44.1kHz sample rate that is used to record the podcast.

## Canon on Earth-441

With episode references, where available

* Apocalypse is a friendly middle-manager
* Shinobi Shaw *definitely* knows how to sex
* Gambit has a speech impediment that makes everything he says out loud sound sexy. (145)
* Apocalypse sends all of his new horsemen to elocution lesson and improv classes. (147)
* College friends Demarco and Heacock joined SHIELD directly after finishing college where they had studied complementary majors. Together they were unbeatable at squash. (173)
* Warren Kenneth Worthington III does *everything* like a hawk (212)
* Inflatable body pillows in the likeness of Namor are available for sale and Magneto has one. (235)
* The grounds of the Xavier School in Westchester are home to a swarm of mutant butterflies that are extremely durable and have a preference for perching on sharp points. (236)
* The Phalanx of Earth lay eggs. (273)
* Shinar is a very good boy. (273)
* Kylun and Micromax left Excalibur to train in the woods. (236)
* The multiversal guardian Jahf chooses to go by the name Jeff. (295)
* Warpath has to legally be registered as a car. (327)
* Keith Richards can no longer be killed by conventional weaponry. (327)

## How to make Earth X-Plain canon

* Here’s where to send your strongly worded letter about why Marvel should give Jay & Miles Earth-441:

Marvel Entertainment, LLC
135 W. 50th Street
New York, NY 10020
* You can also tweet at them with the hashtag #EarthXPlain!
* Or e-mail the X-office directly at officex@marvel.com!
Episode 123 – Mojo Mayhem

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Jay and Miles return to Rose City Comic Con; “Having a Wild Weekend” is the mash-up t-shirt of Excalibur stories; swears are for everyone; Arcade is not a subtle villain; we love Art Adams a lot; Minor-Domo is the Harvey and/or Janet of the Mojoverse; Kitty gets another new costume; and the X-Babies carjack their creators.

## X-plained

* The Agent
* Jay and Miles at Rose City Comic Con 2016
* What Excalibur has instead of annuals
* Competing theories of Eriks Larsen
* “Having a Wild Weekend” (Marvel Comics Presents #31-38)
* The Community reference that keeps on giving
* How to fight on the Internet without being a dick
* A large number of thinly veiled TV references
* The X-Babies
* *Excalibur: Mojo Mayhe*
* Ricochet Rita (again)
* Psychonauts
* Exploding children (more) (again)
* The House of Ideas
* The New Universe
* Major Domo
* Minor Domo
* Jay’s dream vacation
* Cats Laughing (more) (again)
* Cosplay you should totally do
* Why you should always read the EULA
* The classic X-Men spirit
* Some of our favorite cameos
* The return of Judith Rassendyll
* One fairly specific way to ruin a wedding
* Where to find Havok in comics
* X-Men we’d like to see as wizards

## Listener Questions

* In all the years I've read X-Men comics, a very few of them involve Alex Summers in any significant capacity. Are there any Havok comics you guys would recommend besides *Meltdown*?
* You have now mentioned Iceman in his ice wizard incarnation, and the Morlock healer as a wizard. And who could forget Dick Warlock? What other X-characters would you like to see transcend mere mortality to ascend to wizard status?
Episode 259 - Kwannon Leap

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which fix-it fic goes canon (or vice versa); Psylocke is a complicated individual and/or individuals; assassins have complicated personal lives; it is probably ethical to tell your teammates about your camera eyes; Beast takes over Blue Team; we get our first tease of Generation X; Sabretooth is a surprisingly fun narrator; that Hickman fellow seems to know what he’s doing; and you should totally come see us at FlameCon!

## X-Plained

* *X-Men* #31-33
* What Forge does in his downtime
* Several retcons, including a metaretcon
* Psylocke (Betsy Braddock)
* Revanche (Kwannon)
* What we are not wearing
* Hawks
* Digital Chameleon
* Assassin romance
* What actually (probably) (mostly) happened to Betsy and Kwannon
* The Eye Fairy
* The death of Kwannon
* The future of the Xavier School
* The last will and testament of Emma Grace Frost
* Rogue and Gambit’s breakfast-cereal habits
* All the eyes you’ve been given
* Nyorin’s “diary”
* A murder cliché
* Genevieve Darceneaux
* BabyGoth Gambit
* Henri LeBeau and his majestic mustache
* Our (very early) thoughts on *HoX/PoX*

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 048 – Guitar Solos of the Gods

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Asgardian Wars occupies the precise intersection of Miles’s favorite things; Marvel Asgard is your favorite metal album; no one appreciates Cypher; Wolfsbane gets some action; Warlock gets meta; Cannonball is a catch; Rachel Summers gets a new costume; Loki does Shakespeare; and Rachel overthinks Leverage.

## X-Plained

* Various Mjolnirs and their attendant powers
* Asgardian Wars
* New Mutants Special Edition #1
* X-Men Annual #9
* The Surtwar
* Art Adams
* Amora the Enchantress
* Lorelei
* Several pop culture cameos
* A really dubious beach party
* The Viking Sorceress Asgardian Portrait of Dorian Grey
* Ed Grimley
* Hrimhari
* Wolf makeouts
* The Marvel version of Norse mythology
* The Warriors Three
* Rule #1 of dealing with fairies
* A hawk ‘hawk
* Valkyries
* Einherjar
* A costume in somewhat questionable taste
* Interdimensional lightning-bolt mixology
* Our favorite Thor story, ever
* How to get your friends and neighbors into comics
* Asgardian mutants (or lack thereof)
* X-Leverage cross-casting

## Listener Questions

* We know there are non-humans with active X genes. Are there any Asgardians who are mutants?
* Listening to you talk about Storm as a con artist last episode got me thinking: What's your ideal X-Men *Leverage*team?
Episode 224 - Fix the Future

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Alan Davis performs his pièce de résistance; the personification of Death is surprisingly supportive; Rachel Summers is the One True Phoenix; Kitty Pryde goes full ’90s; syntax saves the world; and the first Excalibur series should really have ended with #67.

## X-Plained

* Origins of Phoenix mythology
* *Excalibur* #61-67
* The Phoenix Force (more) (again)
* Rachel Summers (more) (again)
* Earth-811 (more) (again)
* Phoenix vs. Galactus
* A pep talk from Death
* The One True Phoenix
* The dark, distant future of 2013
* The dark, even more distant future of 2015
* The extremely complicated future of Kate Pryde
* Rory Campbell / Ahab
* What may or may not be Ahab’s theme song
* *Moby Dick*, kind of
* That one time Widget was a car
* Resistance Coordination Executive
* Dark Angel
* Killpower
* Albion
* Grace
* Tangerine
* Arthur
* An *Excalibur* #54 callback
* Excalibur (the gun)
* Kitty’s new image
* How to hack the robot apocalypse
* S*aved by the Bell: The College Years*
* Where *Excalibur* should have ended
* Tactical use of Magneto’s hat
* Anti-assimilation stories in X-Men

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 286 - Family Before Continuity

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Sunspot is a bad enough dude to save the president; Black Air is nowhere near as fun as WHO; we reach the end of Fabian Nicieza’s *X-Force* run; Rictor and Shatterstar talk about feelings; Gambit does not go gently into that good night; Scott and Jean choose family over continuity; Legion Quest comes to a close, along with Earth-616; the heart of Dawn of X is its margins; you should come see us at ECCC; and we announce a new schedule.

## X-Plained

* The Maker (Reed Richards of Earth-1610)
* Jay & Miles at ECCC and FlameCon 2020
* Stuff Jay writes
* *Excalibur* #86
* *X-Force* #43
* *Cable* #20
* Black Air
* Pete Wisdom
* What’s been up in Genosha
* The Midnight Runner
* Navigating Kitty Pryde’s age in *Excalibur*
* A very abrupt ending
* The ongoing evolution of X-Force
* Locus’s new look
* Clubbing with Rictor and Shatterstar
* Legion Quest so far
* Complicated feelings at the end of the world
* A reunion
* Where it all started
* Vague power sets
* Complicated feelings about Dawn of X
* The new podcast schedule

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 247 - The Butt-Kick Scale

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which the Hand probably doesn’t even offer dental; literally everyone is less creepy than the Joker and Harley Quinn; toxic masculinity is Sabretooth’s adamantium; Mark Trail is a wild ride; Wolverine trashes the dress code and gets funky; Larry Hama is your god now; and *Sabretooth: Death Hunt* scores a solid six on the butt-kick scale.

## X-Plained

* Mark Trail vs. X-Men
* Sabretooth (Victor Creed)
* Clones of Sabretooth
* Birthday traditions
* *Sabretooth: Death Hunt* #1-4
* Ps[i don’t remember; that one guy]
* Low-context ninjas
* A somewhat tasteful omission, I guess
* The glow (and its counterintuitive sound effect)
* Turbo Sabretooth
* Tribune (Graydon Creed)
* *Mark Trail*
* Affirmations with Sabretooth
* “Leni Zauber”
* Dress codes
* The butt-kick scale
* A tearaway tuxedo
* Dubious grenade handling
* Parenting with Mystique
* One thing Wolverine knows
* The CHK-LIT gun
* Comics bankers
* A very qualified recommendation
* Our preferred versions of Sabretooth’s origin
* Relative redeemability

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 218 - Careful What You Lick

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which X-Cutioner’s Song may be over, but its repercussions continue; *Uncanny X-Men* hits a major milestone; superhero comics are and always have been political; Bishop learns to banter; the X-Men gain an unlikely ally; and Magneto remains exceptionally difficult to kill.

## X-Plained

* Jay & Miles at VVCBF
* *Uncanny X-Men* #298-300
* The Acolytes (more) (again)
* The Upstarts (more) (again)
* Several important lessons
* A very fancy room
* A very fancy brain
* The unpleasant fate of Sharon Friedlander
* The all-new, all-different Acolytes
* Carmella Unuscione
* The return of one of our favorite antagonists
* A sick burn
* The fate of Asteroid M
* Molting
* A debate
* Graydon Creed (more) (again)
* The tentative redemption of Robert Kelly
* How to lose a debate with Joe Biden
* A large number of prescient political references
* Friends of Humanity
* How to engage with a fascist in a televised debate
* Noah DuBois
* Fatale
* A generic rural mob
* Milan
* A narratively convenient superpower
* Amelia Voght
* Seamus Mellencamp
* Neophyte
* The gospel of Magneto
* A joyous reunion
* The helmet that wouldn’t die
* Ponytail ethics
* Timelust
* Several accents
* The current state of Rogue’s powers

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 248 - Destructo Woman

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Tom Cassidy and Cain Marko may be the most stable couple in the Marvel Universe; Rory Campbell is no Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau; Siena Blaze remains a big jerk; the Cassidy family has some issues; and we are dismayed by an inexplicable dearth of leprechauns.

## X-Plained

* Birthday presents
* What Excalibur has been up to
* *Excalibur* #72-74
* *X-Force* #31
* How to be mysterious
* The Proteus Room
* The continually terrible choices of Moira MacTaggert
* Porridge ghosts
* An unnatural disaster
* Chekhov’s solid rock
* Rory Campbell
* Destructo Woman
* Limitations of CD-ROMs
* Siryn (Theresa Cassidy)
* The Cassidy family
* How not to treat a gunshot wound
* Kelvin Donaghann and his fancy hair
* An intervention
* The future of the New Mutants feature film
* Underwear

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 283 - Legion Quest Quest

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Jay is writing a Cyclops one-shot; It is honestly truly *almost* Legion Quest; Mystique plays the long game; sometimes filler is a good thing; Havok is a geophysicist, not a geographer; Lila definitely stole it; and more stories should be set in space junkyards.

## X-Plained

* How Betsy Braddock got her original body back
* *Marvel Snapshots: X-Men*
* The lead-up to Legion Quest
* *X-Factor* #108-111
* Mystique’s skill set
* Legion (David Haller) (more) (again)
* Freedom Force
* The most powerful of devices
* A dream about a dream
* An intersection of unreliable narrators
* The narrative justification for Legion Quest
* A rock monster
* Jornick
* Lila Cheney (more) (again)
* A Kurt Vonnegut reference
* The K’Lanti
* A space junkyard
* The end of X-Factor’s second iconic era
* Our favorite male/female X-friendships
* Pros and cons of line cohesiveness

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 052 – Previously on Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which we recap a year’s worth of podcasts–and 23 years’ worth of X-Men–in under an hour.

## X-Plained

* Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men, Episodes 1-51
* Uncanny X-Men #1-200 & assorted annuals
* Giant-Size X-Men #1
* The New Mutants
* New Mutants #1-35 & assorted annuals and specials
* The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans
* God Loves, Man Kills
* Wolverine vol. 1
* X-Men/Micronauts
* Storm and Illyana: Magik
* Kitty Pryde and Wolverine
* Dazzler: The Movie
* Beauty and the Beast
* Firestar
* Secret Wars vol. 1
* Secret Wars vol. 2
* Longshot
* Several other assorted X and X-relevant stories
* Our pipe-dream pitches
* Multiversal designations

## Listener Questions

* If you guys were offered a chance to write an X-Men book, would you take it? Or would you want to keep criticism/x-plaining and writing separate?
* I was wondering: who assigns numbers to the various Marvel timelines? I understand that the 616 designation was first referred to in Captain Britain. What about the other timelines? When we refer, for example, to the Askani Clan timeline as Marvel-4935, where do we find that designation? Do the Marvel editors assign the number after the fact, or is it referred to in the actual story or in a comic?
Episode 221 - Better Than LEGO

*Art by David Wynne*

## Episode Description

In which Miles stops worrying and learns to love *X-Force*; you should absolutely not google the phrase “face jam”; the kids take a field trip to Graymalkin; Jay reverse-engineers Shatterstar’s hair; Donald Pierce gets a new job; Sam Guthrie is the most trustworthy man in the Marvel Universe; Cable is your guns grandma; Professor earns its name; X-Force really only has one setting; and not every Sluggo is lit.

## X-Plained

* A bunch of stuff Quicksilver did
* Several cats
* *X-Force* #20-23
* The Externals (more) (again)
* A deeply unlikely hairstyle
* Graymalkin / Ship / Professor
* A somewhat one-sided reunion
* Yahoos
* Inaccurate arithmetic
* Why Feral sounds like that
* Neither Tom, Dick, nor Harry
* War Machine (James Rhodes)
* Salvage
* Sam Guthrie’s long trail of dead father figures
* *Shatterstar*
* How to fight an External
* The seventh plague
* What Domino’s been up to
* Hammer’s mom
* Tigerstryke (more) (again)
* Sluggo (but not that Sluggo)
* Learning to appreciate the ’90s

## Listener Questions

This article needs a transcription of the episode questions.
Episode 017 - The Island of Dr. Corbeau

## Episode Description

In which we make our Comics Alliance debut, Cyclops makes a startling discovery, Carol Danvers joins the team (sort of), Chris Claremont calls out some bullshit, Havok still has terrible taste in hats, and Peter Corbeau gets his own theme music.

## Content Note

In this episode, we spend a lot of time talking about a rape that occurs in a previous Avengers arc, the community and narrative response thereto, and the larger landscape and ethics of portrayals of sexual violence in superhero comics.

## X-Plained

* Mystique’s mercurial alliances
* Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men
* Uncanny X-Men #154-158
* Avengers Annual #10
* Bollywood Starjammers
* The dread Psi-Scream
* Shi’ar Fashion Technology
* Dr. Peter Corbeau (more) (again)
* Rogue
* Carol Danvers
* The Whole Marcus Thing
* Chris Claremont vs. rape culture
* Computers
* Gender politics of the Dark Phoenix Saga
* Next week: Dracula!

## Clarification

Since we neglected to specify in the episode: Avengers #200 was written by James Shooter, George Pérez, Bob Layton, and David Michelinie; Avengers Annual #10 was written by Chris Claremont.

## Listener Questions

* Question about Rogue's powers: When she touches someone and gains an ability she didn't have before, say for instance kung­fu, when that wears off will she continue to have that kung fu knowledge or would that go away too? I understand if absorbing another mutant's power would go away but if she learns kung­ fu or how to build car after touching someone and uses that knowledge shortly after, should not she be able to keep that knowledge?
* Several of the defining Bronze Age stories have a major moment that involves the death of a prominent female character. Gwen Stacy in Spider­Man, Supergirl in Crisis on Infinite Earths. These events often typified the Woman in Refrigerators trope. Do you think that the death of Jean/Phoenix in 137 is another of these moments or is there something intrinsically different?