Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

I watched X-Men: The Animated Series without knowing Magneto's LONG history. It turned out that the original X-Men was in the 1960s -- meaning Haim Saban's famous TV series was decades after the original. It turned out that Magneto's original group was called the Brotherhood of EVIL Mutants -- a group of mutant supremacists. Magneto was just a dark mirror to Professor Xavier during the earlier days of the X-Men. Magneto existed as a Social Darwinist as well. This was the Silver Age comics when most villains were pretty much one dimensional. It can be noticed that Magneto had his "deepening" with Chris Claremont in the 1980s  It can be noticed that Magneto went from a one-dimensional villain to having a deeper background. Magneto was later revealed ot the survivor of the Holocaust in the Second World War.  Any backstory given to Magneto feels too random at times. For example, the famous revelation (decades later) that he was secretly the father of Quicksilver and S...

Why I don't read comics anymore these days is because of HOW LONG it can take to reveal something. Call it the Peter Pan syndrome. I thought about another long-standing rumor I believed in the 1990s -- that was Polaris was indeed Magneto's daughter. It wasn't officially declared until 2003 via a DNA test. That's what I don't like about the revolving door of writers. The writers tend to come up with a ridiculous retcon vs. a retcon that works. For example, the revelation that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch as Magneto's lost children works vs. the dumb retcon that hit in 2016 . The same could've been done in the 1980s with Polaris is as she should've been Magneto's ELDEST DAUGHTER ANYA. I always thought about the fact that more often than not, Scarlet Witch and Polaris have a certain resemblance. Quicksilver had been drawn to look like Magneto than his ADOPTIVE PARENTS. Sure, not everyone who looks alike is related. What made me think about how to link ...

Back in the 1990s, one of the most intriguing characters was Cable. However, I'd like to spare a thought for a character I thought was at first interesting but ended up as a BADLY WRITTEN TRAGEDY namely Tyler Dayspring. Tyler underwent several identities as Tolliver (a weapons dealer) and later took the alias of Genesis (since Apocalypse literally means revelation or the end of all things). These things were what I'd call a case of tragedy for tragedy's sake. Tyler was Cable's son, Cyclops' grandson, and a tragedy that sadly became the third wheel in the Cable vs. Stryfe conflict. It was a case of a series of badly written and badly unraveled mysteries. Tyler was the son of Cable and Aliya Jenskot. I'd like to say that everything started with a very OOC moment for Cable. For a start, I thought Stryfe's having to hire a mutant named Frisco to brainwash Tyler was unnecessary. Come on, Stryfe is WHAT CABLE COULD'VE BEEN WITHOUT THE TECHNO-ORGANIC VIRUS. Str...

I felt like revisiting an old X-Men comic book plot called "The Twelve" . It was here that Apocalypse recklessly tossed a rather convoluted plan. Apocalypse is known to be a master planner of sorts. It didn't look like he infected Nathan Summers with the TO Virus just out of spite. It looked like Apocalypse wanted to test if Nathan could become his next vessel -- as evidenced in "The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix". As I looked back, there was the HYPE and the INTENDED OUTCOME. Why do I think that "The Twelve" plot was a poorly calculated scheme that gave an unsatisfying outcome Apocalypse's plot in "The Twelve" was a quest for godhood. However, looking at some of Apocalypse's choices, it can be seen that there's A LOT OF BAD CIRCUITRY going on, such as: Magneto was experiencing power fluctuations (probably due to Professor X mind wiping him and the Onslaught crisis), which could poorly balance out with Polaris' geomagnetic...

There will always be creative liberties with adaptations. Saban's X-Men: The Animated Series was an adaptation and alteration of the comics. A lot of stuff from the COMICS couldn't fit into a Saturday Morning Cartoon .  One of the many things that shocked me was that Magneto and Mystique didn't work together in the comics. In fact, Mystique actually took part in ARRESTING Magneto and was never part of the OG Brotherhood of Mutants incarnation. It was because Magneto and Mystique were often portrayed working together. The X-Men arcade game featured Mystique as Magneto's cunning second-in-command. It also had Magneto successfully taking over a Sentinel factory. Juggernaut was portrayed as a mutant instead of a mystically-enhanced superhuman -- something I wish was done in X-Men: The Animated Series . Wendigo was still an odd choice, though -- since Sabertooth would've fit better! The game came out in 1992 -- months before X-Men: The Animated Series . The game was base...

Age gaps between couples can be disturbing -- especially if it's between humans -- homo sapiens or homo superiors! One of the strangest X-Men pairings comes in the form of Magneto x Rogue. The two had a brief romance in the Savage Island. Magneto is a recurring enemy of the X-Men while Rogue is a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants under Mystique. Mystique gets often retconned or remade into Magneto's second-in-command -- depending on the writer! Yeah, that's why I usually don't update on comics these days. Now, it's time to look into this May-December Affair. Yeah, this is coming from me who'd shipped Wolverine with other women such as Jubilee (which is pedophilia), Psylocke, or Emma Frost! The Age of Apocalypse storyline presents a different view. Rogue's loneliness comes from the fact she can't control her absorption powers. It should be F*CKED UP that she absorbed her would-be stepdaughter Polaris' powers permanently. AOA Scarlet Wit...

  It's easy to be extremely biased when comparing X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men Evolution . There are also comic book purists who simply bash any form of adaptation whatsoever. X-Men: The Animated Series had a considerable departure from the comics. It was because this was TV-Y7-FV . That means brutal scenes like Angel's wings getting mutilated would never get past the censors. I was thinking about the missing potential of an otherwise beloved series. Yes, I'm kinda nitpicky so DEAL. WITH. IT. I learned to be nitpicky after I wrote some bad stories. Somehow, being nitpicky can be fun as well. Apocalypse showed up too soon IMHO Some people think X-Men: Evolution was too much of a radical departure. However, that series had some better stuff done like slowly introducing the core team. Saban's version rushed everything for a reason -- something that was a common trend in the 1980s to 1990s. Who can remember the 1980s Transformers cartoon introduced almost everyone a...

I remember playing Marvel Super Heroes and Psylocke was my main character. Psylocke was my top pick either due to the Smurfette Principle or was it because she had cool moves? I didn't care too much about X-Men: Children of the Atom due to its monstrous difficulty. However, Marvel Super Heroes was far more appealing to me. It had better graphics and more reasonable difficulty. I find Doctor Doom and Thanos reasonably difficult compared to how Juggernaut and Magneto were in X-Men: COTA . It turns out Psylocke wasn't popular with the animators but only in the comics. Psylocke was probably an odd choice because she wasn't a regular in Saban's X-Men: The Animated Series . Marvel Super Heroes also featured other villains that were too oddball like Shuma Gorath, Blackheart, and the final boss Thanos. Thanos wasn't featured in any more animated variants aside from the Silver Surfer cartoon. Meanwhile, Magneto, Juggernaut, and Doctor Doom (a boss) are the easily recognizabl...

  Before all the games from X-Men: Children of the Atom up to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite were coined under the Marvel vs. Capcom series -- we had X-Men vs. Street Fighter as the first official crossover. Apocalypse was also the sub-boss of Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (criticized for being a cash cow rather than a well-thought game) since Cyber Akuma was the final boss. In X-Men vs. Street Fighter -- he was the second to the last opponent. The final opponent was one's tag team partner. So yeah, a Cyclops vs. Ryu match was always a friendly battle! I could remember the intimidation factor Apocalypse had. Most fighting game bosses were human-sized and difficult to defeat. Apocalypse would grow giant and his life bar was found at the bottom. I remember seeing people trying to beat Apocalypse in the arcade during the late 1990s. I was always intimidated by how huge Apocalypse was. One of Apocalypse's most devastating moves is his drill attack (where one should do a super...

  I confess I hated X-Men Mutant Academy's first entry. Was it because I still think X-Men: Children of the Atom was still better? Okay, the PSX version of X-Men: Children of the Atom lacked the character endings in full for some reason. Fortunately, Marvel Super Heroes did a better job porting the game with the endings. I didn't like the first X-Men: Mutant Academy game but the second game worked wonders. I never played X-Men: The Next Dimension so I'll just review a PSX classic. Yes, that ONLY X-Men   Mutant Academy game that I got to enjoy. The first game started with six characters and unlocked the other four. The second game has no such nonsense. Instead, it's because every character has a different final opponent like in the first two Street Fighter Alpha games. Cyclops has Havok as the final opponent (and vice-versa) and Wolverine has his final battle with Sabertooth. There were also unlockables such as Spider-Man and Professor X (who had very limited gameplay). ...

  I may no longer like Marvel because of how New Disney screwed it up. However, I'd like to share some moments of Cable and Stryfe. Cable is the son of Cyclops and the Jean Grey clone, Madelyne Pryor. Unlike Saban's X-Men: The Animated Series , the comics don't shy away from brutal violence. Apocalypse was awakened when Cyclops' and Madelyne's son, Nathan Christopher Charles Pryor Summers, was born. Nathan's powers manifested since infancy.  Apocalypse would have the right to be amazed and fear the child. Apocalypse kidnaps the infant Nathan and infects him with the Techno-Organic Virus (TOV). Did Apocalypse do it so he could kill Nathan? Nonsense! Instead, it was looking for a new body that would give Apocalypse the longevity to do so.  The decision was painful. Cyclops makes a tough love decision to leave Cable to the mysterious Mother Askani. Mother Askani is actually Rachel Summers - an alternate-reality daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey. Okay, I'm still...

Before Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - Saban Entertainment took the challenge of a  creating a TV-Y7-FV version of the X-Men . Hence, X-Men: The Animated Series (X-Men: TAS) was born as a result of that. Before that, there was the FAILED pilot called Pryde of the X-Men  which an arcade came was made LOOSELY based on it . This was one of my favorite shows. I remember throwing tantrums whenever I missed an episode because of a brownout, storm, or those damn days when I had to study. It was aired on Friday evenings on ABS-CBN . It was also when Batman: The Animated Series and Conan the Adventurer were aired on the same network. Yeah, all shows were in 1992. Then in 1993 - Toei Ltd. gave Saban Entertainment the green light to launch the once-monster hit Mighty Morphin' .  I felt that toning down Super Sentai and creating Power Rangers based on it can be challenging. Though, I still think that X-Men TAS was probably a harder challenge. One needs to read the comics which contai...

In January 1981, the X-Men franchise featured the alternate reality daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey known as Rachel Summers. The word of Rachel was practically devastated by Sentinels and it's a world caused by what if former villain Senator Kelly was assassinated. The setting in itself is very dark and dystopian. Later on, a few years later, Toei Ltd's Akira Torimaya may have read some Marvel Comics, probably decided to make his own version of Cable with Future Trunks, and mix the Days Of Future Past storyline into Cable with Future Trunks! A look at Future Trunks' timeline shows how humanity managed to succumb to a mechanical menace. The Androids practically rule the future and destroy it for fun. Future Trunks tries to go to a time machine to undo the future - pretty similar to Cable except nobody serves as the role of Mother Askani. Future Trunks goes into the present timeline, meets his alternate reality father (like how Rachel meets Cyclops), and discusses how his d...

Way back when Capcom was still cool - I remembered some of the classic crossovers. Such was the Marvel vs. Capcom series which actually started with X-Men vs. Street Fighter followed up with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 series, and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite . So far, I hear MVCI sucks so I wonder if I should even buy it just to play as Megaman X and Zero? I thought about how characters from the Street Fighter series were revamped when they were brought over to the MVC universe.  I remembered Street Fighter started adding Super Combos which were super moves that required at least ONE LEVEL of the Super Bar. They could be performed up to three levels while others were strictly Level 3 only. One level determined the strength of the Super. However, these Street Fighter characters that were added to the Marvel vs. Capcom non-canon universe were not given just aesthetic changes but a serious boost. Some projectil...

; I keep hearing that the Legacy Virus was supposed to be a metaphor for AIDS. Sadly, Marvel subscribed to the woke stupidity. However, there was a time when Marvel was more focused on real issues such as racial discrimination. Did Stan Lee have Asian Americans in mind when he wrote about mutant discrimination? Maybe, maybe not but mutants were humans born with the x-gene. Mutants are humans too but why are they discriminated against? It's almost like the issue of racism in the United States of America (USA) and how whites discriminated against Asian Americans and African Americans as if they weren't truly American. American is a nationality - Asian and African are ethnicities. It's like how the mutants are unfairly discriminated against even though they too are still part of the human race. In the X-Force  comics, Stryfe took the Legacy Virus and decided to use it to create a human-mutant war. The trick was to give Gordon Lefferts, an assistant of Mr. Sinister, an empty ...