201 – Pump Up the Jam
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In which we begin our third podcast century; Cyclops is bi-inclusive; we have high standards for Mojoworld; Dazzler can survive your big-budget horror show; Jim Lee makes his exit; video games that involve Protomen are better than video games that don’t; and plasma is the new magnetism.
X-PLAINED:
- Carter Ryking and his Very Durable Underpants
- Fontanelle
- Jay & Miles Town Cry ye X-Men
- An upcoming event
- X-Men #10-13
- A somewhat disappointing Wizard of Oz pastiche
- Those who like to go both ways
- A mysterious, shadowy figure; revealed
- Several of Cyclops’s uncoolest Dad moments
- Zima
- Moist Alley
- Mojo II: The Sequel
- The Image exodus
- Mojoniumâ„¢
- An announcement
- Longshot in the Mojoverse vs. Longshot in the 616
- A Maverick adventure
- Alexander Ryking
- The other Xavier File
- Warhawk
- The Ryking Hospital for Paranormal Research
- A poorly defined power set
- Technicolor skeletons
- When and where paper was invented
- A likely-irrelevant pattern
- The devil who haunts Stryfe’s dreams
- Some non-X Marvel recommendations
- Rusty Collins’s codename
NEXT EPISODE: A musical interlude with X-Factor!
Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!
Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!
We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)
Mutant, Trans, and Proud
We sold out of the pins at ECCC, but this seemed like the right month to put this design on t-shirts (and notebooks, and phone cases, and a bunch of other stuff):
That said, we feel pretty strongly that this is a design that should be in everybody’s hands. You’re of course welcome to buy our merch above; but if you want to DIY your own, you can download a high-resolution stencil below. This stencil is free for use for any non-commercial projects.
It is ALSO free for use on specific commercial projects, with one major caveat (on the honor system):
If your business is not trans-owned, any proceeds from merchandise you sell with this design should go to Trans Lifeline or another trans advocacy organization.
(Also, we’d love to see anything folks make with this, private or commercial!)
Thanks to Dylan Meconis for design and file-formatting assistance!
“How A Podcast Came To Lead the Mutant Resistance”
Yesterday was a really big day in the X-Cave. Not only did we drop our 200th episode, but over at the Daily Beast, the very rad Spencer Ackerman took a break from reporting on national security to profile this one podcast by a possibly recognizable pair of nerds…
Click through for the full article, including a lot of mutant metaphor talk and some incredibly blush-inducing quotes from some Very Important People in the X-universe.
As Mentioned in Episode 200 – Lightning in a Bottle, with Louise Simonson
Listen to the episode here.
LINKS & FURTHER LISTENING:
- For the beginning of Louise Simonson’s X-Factor run, check out Episode 64 – Ski Lodge of Apocalypse.
- We started covering Simonson’s New Mutants run in Episode 82 – Birds and Boys.
- Hear about the aftermath of Doug Ramsey’s death in Episode 91 – The Saddest Story Ever Told.
- For a close look at Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown, click over to Episode 114 – Meltdown.
- You can learn more about the Judgment War arc in Episode 128 – A Stupid Way to Die, and Episode 133 – Feisty Little Fellow from the Stars.
- Louise previously appeared on the show–along with Chris Claremont–in Episode 168 – Live at NYCC.
- (We interviewed Chris at more length in Episode 100 – Unexpected Wonder.)
- And we talked a lot about the mutant metaphor and current politics in Episode 164 – This Is the Mutant Revolution: Live at Rose City Comic Con.
- The new Power Pack podcast we mentioned this episode is Unpacking the Power Pack. Go give ’em a listen!
200 – Lightning in a Bottle, with Louise Simonson
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In which we celebrate a major milestone with the coolest person ever to work on the X-books and look back at the last four-plus years of the podcast; and nobody ends up on trial at the Hague.
NEXT WEEK: Jay & Miles take a much-needed vacation.
NEXT EPISODE: The X-Men take the fight to Mojoworld!
Check out our blog for links to the stuff we discussed in this episode!
Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!
We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)
As Mentioned in Episode 199 – Space, Geeks, and Gaveedra Seven
Listen to the episode here.
LINKS & FURTHER READING:
- For more background on Longshot and Mojoworld, listen to Episode 49 – Of Mullets and Miracles.
- Get Bishop’s backstory in Episode 180 – Lawful Badass.
- The Kobayashi Maru is a really fun book, if you like that kind of thing (which Jay does).
- If you happen to end up in New York, the Jim Henson exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image is AMAZING.
- “Send the Marines” is Tom Lehrer’s tribute to American interventionism, and also a very catchy song.
- Aside from this Onion article, I could find no information about the alleged Stretch Armstrong recall, so I suspect that story may in fact be apocryphal. -J
199 – Space, Geeks, and Gaveedra Seven
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | RSS
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.
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
- 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
NEXT EPISODE: Louise Simonson
CORRECTION: BonziBuddy was not released until 1999. We regret the error.
Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!
Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!
We’re in the process of migrating our official shop to TeePublic! Click over to check it out! (You can still find the designs we haven’t moved yet at Redbubble.)
The Mutant Fifth Column: Seanan McGuire on Her X-Men: Gold Annual
Jay here!
One of my very favorite humans and authors–as well as a long-time friend of the show–Seanan McGuire was just announced as the writer of the upcoming X-Men: Gold Annual #2 (cover above). I caught up with Seanan on Discord for an x-clusive chat about her history with the X-Men and what it’s like to write your childhood favorites.
Keep going for the full interview, as well as the cover to X-Men: Gold Annual #2 (WITH BUNNIES)!
As Mentioned in Episode 198 – How to Destroy the Universe Without Really Trying
Listen to the episode here!
LINKS & FURTHER READING:
- How to Snakes is one of the best things on YouTube. Watch, listen, and learn.
- Our RoboCop Remake is amazing and ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK. You’ve been warned.
- This Monty Python sketch may clarify a few of Jay’s more bizarre moments in this episode.
- To learn all about Honkers, listen to Episode 197 – Wolverine and the Honker of Doom.