Wolverine & The Xmen: Forge

Quick question. In the new animated show, Wolverine & The Xmen - is Forge supposed to be Native American? I've a friend currently fangirling him really hard and she sent me to the show's site.

So I'm watching Ep 5, because the character drawing for Forge showed a beard and didn't mention anything at all about him being NDN. Now I'm aware it's not true for the whole group /obviously not for those who are mixed, but in general First Nations Peoples of the Americas aren't hairy folk. And Forge is supposed to be Cheyenne.

Then again, a quick peek in Wikipedia shows him with a moustache.

So does anyone know whether or not this new Forge is white?

I saw Amara's now blonde with a slight accent I couldn't place. And she didn't seem to look non-white to me.

Do I even want to know what happened with Sooryaa (Dust)? Cause her bio pic shows her hands clasped as if for prayer, making me think of a nun in an all black habit instead of a modest Muslim woman wearing abaya and niqab.

So far this isn't making me want to watch the show.

PS: In Evolutions, while he wasn't used much, when he did show up, Forge looked plenty First Nations to me. And Amara was brown.

On Batman (and then some other things)

I need to get my hands on JLA: Divided We Fall. I've seen scans of it, and read fic of it (Jen-in-Japan). I know I'll enjoy it.

But I need to get my hands on it and own it for the simple reason that I think it likely canonizes My Batman.

Separated (due to shenanigans from 6th dimensional aliens) it's Bruce who has all the rage and passion, frustration, fear and more and it's Batman who is an empty shell.

I've role-played Batman in RPG's and I've ended up defending my choice to make Batman the outfit that hides the identity within Bruce himself. I've defended my decision to make Bruce the Playboy the mask, but only because underneath it was Bruce the Champion of Justice and Batman was merely a costume, a way of protecting his identity.

I don't know where it came from, this concept of Batman, cloak and ears and skills being the true persona, the real thing. - that Batman overwhelmed Bruce himself. Maybe it was Dark Knight with its comparisons to Harvey Dent.

But I always thought that it was Bruce's pain and Bruce's loss , therefore Bruce was the one with the passion and that his true self had been born the night his parents died; with the decision that this was unjust, unfair and unneeded and he would find a way to make sure no other child ever felt the loss and despair he was feeling.

Maybe that's why it's always been easy for me to see Bruce in AU's, as a government agent or in some RPG's where he was a Presidential candidate. All that changes for me, when it comes to Bruce in these alternate universes, are his tools and his teachers.

Perhaps that's also why I could so readily call Terry McGinnis Batman and not feel like I was cheering on a replacement; because to me, Terry was seeded with the same loss, the same crack across the face from and about bullies, and might equals right and horrendous loss and he used Batman to try to balance the scales. More-over he used Batman as a way to make-up for the little losses and little pains he'd caused others in his mindless trip down 'the wrong path'.

Maybe Amanda Waller had it right, Batman is formed by pain but more- over he's formed by the decision to protect rather than avenge. And so the minute Terry made that turn over, he stopped being a wanna-be-Jason in a possible future.

And I think that's why I also cherish good Batman - Jim Gordon interaction. Because between the two of them, there's a whole hefty weight of 'To Protect & Serve'.

*blinks*

Batman, Wolverine, Smax - To Protect & Serve.

Oh yes, Wolverine's a savage, ravage son of a b*tch etc - secret agent blah blah blah. But even look at the movies, when did Hugh Jackson become the Wolverine for you? For me it was the moment he let Rogue into the cab.

Why do I like him in the comics? When do I like him in the comics? When he protects, when he continually faces the choice to destroy and avenge or to protect and serve and he chooses to protect.

Yes, I need to own JLA: Divided We Fall and I probably need to give the new Wolverine animated series a chance too.

Got the name.

James Howlett: Punk Ass B*tch

I loved Wolverine. Maybe not as much as I love Batman, but he's always been a close second. As close as second could be when I'm a loyal servant of the Dark Prince of Gotham. *sigh*

Growing up as I did, with a past I rarely talk about, but which involves physical, emotional and other abuse, endless confrontations between adults, people purposefully driving their cars into cliff-side walls and other such craziness, there was always going to be something appealing to me about the heroic figures who took it on the chin and kept pressing on.

"Wounds heal. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever."

Maybe I didn't think that in so many words. But I believed it. And believing it, I could believe in Wolverine. He lived in the now.

"Now lasts forever. The future is not promised. And the past cannot be changed."

Wolverine found a way to be who he was, without a past, without memories and without all the little things that a whole bunch of psychologists believe make a human being human. He was instinct, trained and honed for a purpose. He made himself more than a weapon for his own sake in dealing with his environment. He made the best of his circumstances. He lived.

I adored him.

The first time I realized how much I liked him and why I liked him 'SNIKT' became something to get excited about. I can take or leave 'Bub'. He can quit smoking if he likes. And the cowboy hat? Depending on the artist it can be kind of dumb. But that sound said that the time for civilized conversation was over. A line had been crossed. Rules had been broken. Somebody was going to pay.

I had a hero. His name was Logan. His codename was Wolverine.

As a little girl in a very turbulent world, I could read Wolverine and feel protected. Not just by his character. But by the knowledge that a character existed who turned his past into fuel to protect his present. Just like Batman, only with a lot more violence and some government conspiracy and brain-washing.

Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Only I Will Remain. I. Logan. Wolverine.

Not. James, The Effing Pansy Howlett.

There is no WTF loud enough, effusive enough to describe my need to physically tear open someone's chest for coming up with this idea.

Wolverine creating his past, out of memories, real and imagined, meant he created himself. James Howlett, the pussy, was created and lost his memories not because some force beyond imagination tried to break him, but because someone was hurting his Mommy.

Suddenly he wasn't a hero anymore. He was just another little kid with a hard life. It shot Wolverine down to being ordinary so fast, my head is still spinning. My 'hero' was laid low by everyday stuff. Normal BS. The sort of stuff that I fought through day after day and week after week.

Where was the inspiration in that?

Wolverine scared of himself and what he was capable of, disgusted me. Where was the edge? Where was the acceptance that actions have consequences but some actions need to be taken and some people were meant to take them?

Wolverine not in touch with his instincts and emotions, repulsed me. It was one thing for him not to express what he was feeling, but I'd never doubt that he felt it. It was simply a matter of control. But to have his origins stem from bullying? Adultery? A mother held captive? For those ordinary fears to have become the emotions he'd repressed as necessary for survival? This was a hero?

To have him not know himself as strong enough to survive no matter what, from the very start? It shattered the pillar, broke the pedestal and just made me wonder who hated him so much they had to do this to his character.

A definitive past?

Why?

Why was it necessary?

Who was Wolverine to these people that they thought he needed a definitive past? How could they not see he'd gone beyond that. Above that. That his past wasn't who he was anymore. Who he was would always be grounded in the present and the problem he currently faced; determining whether or not he had the skills or the strength for it.

All the various 'past lives' had ever been were experiences that exposed silvers and varied sides to his personality. Couldn't they see that? Didn't they know that? Were they blind? Stupid? Knocked in the head?

What the hell was wrong with: Self Made Man, Wounded Samurai, Frontier Ethics ?

Why wasn't that good enough for them?

I still don't know. What I do know is that ever since I found it about it, I haven't been able to look at him anymore. I don't read him, I don't follow him. Hell, for a while I latched onto Victor Creed, because he was still left without excuses and explanations.

I miss Wolverine. I miss my hero.

Batman's a love I have from afar. After all, I don't live in Gotham. But my Wolverine love was visceral, because I know what it's like to live in my head, to not trust, to not share and to wonder if something inside me was going to come out at any second and ruin it all.

Dear Logan. They finally broke you. RIP.