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they tried to fix it and made it worse somehow?? go team!

proud of morpherine nation for coming out of nowhere and holding steady in the top 3

slightly less proud of whatever happened at AO3 to make that the primary tag

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I love my blorbos I want to see them suffer

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Jubes & Wolvie!

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I hope you don’t mind a bit of note comparing because it’s really fascinating to me to see where other people fell off this series.

If I’m being honest, the first episode was probably the only one I truly liked all the way through, but my hopes and expectations were high throughout the first half of the season. (In hindsight it’s really funny that my enjoyment of ‘97 plummeted with DeMayo’s return to Twitter; his comments on episode 5 doused my interest in ice water and it only ever got worse from there.)

But yeah, the things highlighted here are great examples of problems that plagued the show through its whole run. The writing simply cannot keep track of all these characters in fight scenes so everyone helpfully cycles through time-out mode until it’s their designated turn to contribute. It’s a lesson the show never learns, either; action scenes continue to kick off with this unruly sprawl of characters to the point where I have to assume in any given showdown, there are X-Men standing off to the side with buckets of popcorn watching their friends get the shit beat out of them. (Say what you will about TAS’s “such and such is off on a mission” handwaving, at least there was some effort there to limit the number of players.)

What’s even more egregious is the way the characters weightlessly bounce from plot beat to plot beat as if they’ve been given copies of the script. Thanks again to DeMayo’s constant tweeting, we have a pretty good idea of how often basic character motivations were deemed as unimportant and left on the cutting room floor. And instead of that essential connective tissue we got… what, exactly? Recreations of comic panels jarringly removed from their original tone and context? A line or two that seems cool in isolation, right up until we remember it was neither set up nor paid off? Sometimes I genuinely don’t know how to describe ‘97 other than as a show that’s more interested in creating GIF-able moments than cohesive, watchable episodes.

After finally finishing X-Men TAS a little over a week ago, yesterday I wrote a review of each season and my overall opinion on the series as a whole--a review which unintentionally spiraled out into a lot of my complaints about X-Men '97, a show that only seemed to get worse the more I thought about it and the more of its predecessor I had to compare it to. However, I prefer to keep my interactions with fandom positive and most people seemed to really like X97 so I doubt anyone would want to read my bitching anyway. That review will probably just stay in my drafts, or appear in a severely edited form at some point with all the X97 references cut out.

THAT BEING SAID I'm super anxious for no reason, my sleep schedule is fucked and I'm gonna be up all night anyway, so I am declaring it The Bitching Hour (disclaimer: may last more than an hour). If anyone reading this right now IS interested in my thoughts about X97, from now until I run out of stuff to talk about (or just decide to stop) each reply to this post will get a hopefully brief rant about a different thing I hated about X97. Feel free to suggest topics.

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After finally finishing X-Men TAS a little over a week ago, yesterday I wrote a review of each season and my overall opinion on the series as a whole--a review which unintentionally spiraled out into a lot of my complaints about X-Men '97, a show that only seemed to get worse the more I thought about it and the more of its predecessor I had to compare it to. However, I prefer to keep my interactions with fandom positive and most people seemed to really like X97 so I doubt anyone would want to read my bitching anyway. That review will probably just stay in my drafts, or appear in a severely edited form at some point with all the X97 references cut out.

THAT BEING SAID I'm super anxious for no reason, my sleep schedule is fucked and I'm gonna be up all night anyway, so I am declaring it The Bitching Hour (disclaimer: may last more than an hour). If anyone reading this right now IS interested in my thoughts about X97, from now until I run out of stuff to talk about (or just decide to stop) each reply to this post will get a hopefully brief rant about a different thing I hated about X97. Feel free to suggest topics.

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Your morph is so cute,, could you draw their human form also :3 ? They mean so much to me

Morf upon ye.

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The way you draw Morph is so beautiful. This little guy brings me so much joy.

Could you please draw him and Logan hugging. Thank you so much ❤️

Swings them.

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proud of morpherine nation for coming out of nowhere and holding steady in the top 3

slightly less proud of whatever happened at AO3 to make that the primary tag

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WHERE DID THEY GO.

(+transparent version for meme purposes.)

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Based off a convo with @asexual-slut-society from my last post

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stop being a creep, morph

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I just like them a lot ok?

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I mean, lopsided intensity in his relationships is kind of Wolverine's thing in that series. Jean is the obvious example, but he's also still holding a torch for his Tragic Past Exes in ways they clearly aren't. When he's with Storm, their romance is built on that classic dichotomy: he'd let the world burn to be with her, but she won't put her personal happiness above doing the right thing.

(It's enough to make you wonder what kind of messy dynamic we'd get if someone ever loved him back in that same selfish, all-consuming way--oops, there goes that monkey's paw curling. Anyway.)

Then there's Morph. It's Logan who chases Morph across the globe, vowing to save them and getting taunted with lines about how no one could ever love him for his trouble. It's Logan who's immediately delighted to see them again, who becomes the happiest version of himself when they're around. It's Logan who's grabbing Morph for a mission the second they're back on the team, Logan who leaps to verbally defend them when they don't want or need it, Logan who struggles every time he watches them leave. The show could have easily put distance in the relationship by framing Logan's desire to help them as the typical tough guyism of being haunted by a guilty conscience and a sense of responsibility for Morph's death, but we get more than that. Logan explicitly roots his actions in his care for Morph as a person. Morph is his friend; Morph is the only one who could ever make him laugh.

Morph is close to Wolverine, to be sure, but the way they interact with him is not radically different from how they are with any teammate they're friendly with. Not compared to the shift in Logan, who treats Morph like they're in a category all their own.

I can buy it as mutual and I can buy it as the dynamic changing over time, but to circle all the way around to Morph having a case of tragic queer pining for their totally straight and deeply oblivious bestie who doesn't reciprocate even a tiny little bit? Rolling with that is a big ask from a series that's fundamentally disinterested in explaining literally anything about Morph and their current status quo.

all right, but let's be real. If Morpherine must be one-sided then TAS makes a much more compelling case for Wolverine to be the pining one 💅

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Back again with Morph and Logan.

I love the ship even if it's one side. Tho im hopeful it'll become something cuz Morph gets Logan, and they share the same vibes where they're comfortable to be themselves with all the shit going on.

i know logan isn't the one to be in relationships cuz they all ended up... not pretty, but it'll be nice for him to get some love for a change. also morph cuz my man was just born for the sideline, and he needs some sugar too 😂

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all right, but let's be real. If Morpherine must be one-sided then TAS makes a much more compelling case for Wolverine to be the pining one 💅

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Wolverine, when people ask him why he would go to the ends of the earth for Morph: