Notebook Rambles - Tumblr Posts

Wolverine is an interesting name for Logan.

While he is somewhat feral and hairy, yes, that’s not enough to go off of when Scott and the Professor stumble on him in those woods. Another trait of a wolverine is that they are easily domesticable. Easily tamed, in a way. Xavier took one look at Logan, who was broken and scared, invaded his mind to shape it how he saw fit, and named him after one of the most tamable wild species. And even still in the X-Men, he is shamed for his animalistic instincts. He is expected to be tame and civilized, is expected to be domesticated like many wild animals people bring into their homes. And when he acts on these less desirable instincts, he is cast out, in a way. When he lashes out, whether in some sort of courtship- much like a wolverine- or because of overstimulation, he is scorned and tosses aside until he is ‘presentable’ or docile. He is fundamentally deprived of the pack activities from the very animal he is named after, and is just expected to be okay. He is expected to discard these instincts, and yet he is named after the very thing these instincts resemble. He is used as a work animal, sent into dangerous situations like a canary in a cave, only to be retrieved and saved if someone may be fond of him- like someone may be fond of a pet. Logan is presented as an animal, and is yet expected to act like a man.

Anyways, Scott/Storm/Wade is the white lady who takes one look at a traumatized fight dog, goes ‘oh, buppy’, and has that thing spoiled in a week.

Cyclops seems like a good name for Scott, on the surface.

He tends to his flock of people in his care, lashes out against outsiders who threaten them, and that whole one-eye thing with his uniform. And yet, if you read the Odyssey- the story which features a cyclops the most- the cyclops is injured. He loses control of his greatest strength and would require great help to even grasp at that again. And when he cries out to the other cyclopes who scorn him, he is shunned for being injured and tricked, and is left to fend for himself. Even with only the eye being struck, there would’ve likely been at least a little bit of brain damage. And after the plane crash, Scott was basically left blind, burdened with having to cover his eyes so his mutation wouldn’t hurt others as migraines ravaged his senses. And he lost his brother as well, not for scorn, but simply because he was undesirable to potential adoptees. And here Xavier comes along, injured like Scott. He promises Scott a home and a way to improve- which, to his credit, he did. And in exchange, he made Scott a child soldier, his prototype, his test. A test to see whether or not he could take these children and make them into war. And Scott, poor, injured, love-starved Scott, went along with it because Xavier showed him the smallest bit of consideration. He believed that Xavier truly wanted the best for him and to help, and in return he was made into a soldier and named something that reminded him of the very accident that started him on this trail.

He is close to Jean because she can enter his mind and understand, and he is close to Logan because he has been through the same.

Why would the X-Men name Hank Beast?

Why would the X-Men name Hank Beast? Sure, he’s big, blue, and hairy, but a ‘beast’ is usually something that is uncivilized and brutish. While he may be ‘scary’ to some, he is anything but uncivilized. He regularly quotes novels like Dante’s Inferno, and isn’t just spitballing something that sounds smart. He has the ability to discern decent interpretation of the texts and use them at his discretion in fitting scenarios. The speedo might be a bit weird, but shoving that much fur into clothes must be uncomfortable. The chafing would be horrible, with constricting materials not necessarily being made to fit him. And a lot of anti-mutant organizations like the ‘Friends of Humanity’ call many mutants beasts. So why would Xavier take one of his most ‘monstrous’ mutants and let him be called Beast? It’s almost like he’s attempting to ‘reclaim’ the term like the IRL LGBTQ+ community reclaimed the word ‘queer’ for themselves. But it’s more akin to some trying to reclaim the f-slur- I’d expect ‘mutie’ to become something to reclaim, not something that has such heavy connotations with ‘monsters’. Xavier found Hank after the deaths of his team and made him forget. He turned him into this icon of ‘beasts’ unwittingly, and surrounded him with ‘more palatable’ mutants like he was some sort of diversity hire.

Maybe that’s why Hank clings to humanity so much, he wants so desperately to not be seen as a ‘beast’.

Edit: this was me being a dumbass again and not checking my sources while sleep deprived and in the middle of a lecture, I was wrong lol

Honestly, I love how most artists depict Ares as mostly bare, not even a chestplate, and yet his face and hair is usually completely covered.

You'd take a look at his body and assume he was boasting his invulnerability and strength, and then you take a look at his face and you see nothingness incased in gold and a blood red plume matching the cloak around his shoulders. He is literally depicted as an Everyman, someone for soldiers to strive to be, and yet is faceless so he could be anybody. He's faceless in the war of the gods, a soldier's pawn in the games of his generals. And sure, he is somewhat shown to have his own will in myths, the Net and Jar ones for example, those both ended with him being bound and either mocked or forgotten about. He is the perfect image of the perfect soldier, faceless and yet intimidating, able to survive battle and yet follows orders to the tee because he knows what happens when he doesn't. And the cloak around his shoulders and neck paired with the golden protections around his wrists, forearms, and shins mostly have always screamed a bit 'shackle' to me with its placement. Like he's constantly being reminded of his failures by the very armor he's wearing- though it is limited. An aggressive figure to send into battle, and yet cowed at its master's beck and call with chains of its very own reliance. One that is dehumanized by the very thing that keeps it safe, and yet is shown off by the lack of safety almost everywhere else. The blood red on its plume and cloak reminding those around it of what it is capable of, and that it's not doing that to them because the master has not willed it.

But, maybe I'm just tired

(I wrote this at like 3 in the morning, I’m sort of its bad)

Honestly, it makes me so sad thinking about the first few seasons of Supernatural

These two dumbass brothers being codependent because of a shitty dad but it's okay because they know what they're doing is right because what they're killing is evil

And then when you look at Season 9, where I'm at right now, Dean's still codependent to all hell and Sam's just tired. He pushes Dean away because he tried to save him even though he's barely done the same any time Dean's been almost dead

Bobby's dead, that old house is gone, monsters are good it turns out, and the brothers aren't really acting like brothers, because Dean couldn't live without Sam

But Sam could always live without Dean, so the rift just grows

‘Nightcrawler’ seems to be feeding into the demonic stigma that Kurt faces.

In personal experiences, demons have always been creatures of the night. They ‘fear the light of the Lord’, as is said in the Bible. Their dealings are shadowed in darkness, and they are coated in flames of righteous fury in Hell. They stench of sulfur and brimstone, associating them with a putrid yellow and a furious red. They have been depicted as having pointed tails and horns in media, also sometimes possessing anthropomorphic qualities like a goat’s eyes or legs. Kurt may not have horns, but he has the tail, often the anthropomorphic hands, feet, and legs, and those pure yellow eyes. His main color is blue, yes but there’s also that red and yellow- both colors associated with something vile and evil. And many monsters in literate media are described to be clambering or ‘crawling’ towards unsuspecting humans. And when Kurt fights, he often ‘crawls’ towards his enemies when he’s not ‘banf’ing around. And the white gloves and shoes come off as him trying to ‘purify’ his touch, like a priest or the Pope who both wear white. The color is associated with purity and beauty, and Heaven in some Christian beliefs, and Kurt is catholic. He seems to be attempting to distance himself from demonic imagery and his father Azazel as much as he can, considering what the man has done and how he seems even more like a demon than Kurt both in name and appearance, turning to God and religion in the process. And yet, Xavier turns all that away and keeps that name given to him by the circus and gives him a uniform that feed more into that demonic imagery.

Though the name didn’t originate with Xavier, his choice to keep it for Kurt has always felt a bit off and almost capitalizing off the imagery to maintain control.