Dream Team: X-Students

Marvel tried launching the "YOUNG X-MEN" and the cast of characters was one of several reasons the title was not well-received by fans.  So I was curious to see which of the established X-Students would make the cut for an 8-person roster. 

Please select your Top 8 choices from the list below and list them in order from 1 to 8.  For the purposes of this survey, I have excluded Hope & the Five Lights and other young unaffiliated mutants who were not recently students (such as Jubilee) or young mutants not currently active on Utopia (Leech, Artie).

Based on this, I will determine who the "Big 8" of the latest generation of X-Men are!

"The X-Students"

Anole - Armor - Blindfold - Bling! - Cipher - Crosta - Dust - Elixir - Ernst - Gentle/Nezhno - Graymalkin - Hellion - Indra - Ink - Loa - Match - Mercury - No-Girl - Pixie - Prodigy - Rockslide - Stepford Cuckoos - Surge - Trance - X-23

Originally posted by Cable 1. Hellion2. Blindfold3. Stepford Cuckoos4. Pixie5. Elixir6. Rockslide7. Mercury8. X-23

There you go...he took my lineup

Anole - Blindfold - Hellion - Match - Prodigy - Rockslide - Surge - X-23

We really do need one of these books. Marvel has truly dropped the ball on this ginormous roster of new mutants, many of whom became far more interesting than one would have imagined. I would like to see an X-Force On The Road book with these characters, get them away from Utopia and San Francisco, really question what the X-Men's mission is. The X-Men ignored the New Mutants and they went rogue. These guys need to do the same.

Just to be clear: I am not thinking about the most impressive group power-wise, but rather in terms of what in their personalities can be explored. Some characters like Armor and Pixie are being groomed so much for X-Man-dom that I can't see any interesting stories coming from them, and others like Hellion or X-23 make every issue so angsty that I don't think it would be worth it to include them because every story with them becomes either too dark or whiny.


1. Blindfold...this character could be a device for so many adventures. She's incredibly hard to write and easy to write poorly, but there's a ton here. She is the Layla Miller of the group.
2. Anole...strangely, he has become the most well-rounded character, the voice of reason of the group. The Nightcrawler. Impossible to imagine the book without him.
3. Rockslide...or him. I want someone to touch on the fact that he was the kind of teenager who saw turning into a pile of rocks as wish-fulfillment in his teenage years. Eventually, not having human genitalia is going to seem less cool.
4. Elixer...he's been corrupted so much. He must be brought back into the fold. The X-Men will go after him for reasons of utility. His colleagues will defend him for reasons of friendship.
5. Prodigy...it's going to be hard for someone to write Prodigy, because they would have to be as smart as he is. That's why nobody can really write a good Forge story. You'd have to be some kind of genius. I would love to see Brian K. Vaughn write this book and with Prodigy. Good character. Interesting angle in him not being a mutant anymore.
6. The Stepford Cuckoos...there is so much to be done with these guys away from the X-Men. I would love to see them on the road. Besides, they fill half the "Hot Chick" quotient. It's three characters worth exploring for the price of one!

...here's where it gets difficult. I'm going to do process of elimination right here. I don't think that Ernst and No-Girl can work in a straight book, especially considering that Ernst is kinda Cassandra Nova in a human body unless I'm mistaken, which has been kinda forgotten by people. Or it's at least eluded to that that's what she is. Every issue would involve the same non-sequitars with them and it would get old. There really is no need for Cipher with Blindfold as an existing character, and while I'm sure there's something to be done with Greymalkin, I don't know if it needs to be done while other characters are left wanting. Ink is a terrible character. Just terrible. I didn't know that Crosta was a character until now to be honest. Match is rathe generic.

7. Surge...there's a lot to be done with her. She has a wild streak in her that's gone unexplored and I'd like to see the relationship between her and Prodigy explored. And she's powerful. You do need that. Super-speed and electric blasts. Right now, the team has healing, stealth, and strength, and surveillance.

...I want to bring you into my process. As I've been doing this, I've thought about what team do I want to see in a solo series. I realize that what I want to see is a young group of X-Men essentially saying f**k it! and hitting the road or doing something of their own. That fits the profiles of Elixer, Prodigy, Surge, and I think I could see the Cuckoos leaving as well. And after a while, Anole and Rockslide would thirst for a shot for action. Basically, a flip-side to the standard team that would toe the company line, which would include some of the heavier hitters like Armor, Hellion, Pixie, and maybe X-23. In theory, the X-Men don't want the Cuckoos or Elixer just running around. So, what dark horse young X-Men would be down to join them providing an interesting contrast to the established team and wouldn't likely stay on the island...?

8. Gentle...because he's going to die. Nehzno knows that once his vibranium bands wear off, he is going to die. There is something to be done with a character who is this peaceful and willing to embrace death with dignity. We do already have Rockslide as a powerhouse, but he provides something that could be interesting. Bling!, Loa and Trance would occupy a more doe-eyed/along-for-the-ride mentality that we will technically get from one of the Cuckoos in a more interesting way. Dust is a good character but every issue with her is almost exactly the same and her power is brutal. I think she would stay behind on the island too, as would Bling!, Loa, and Trance. They have more Rogue-loyalty. As would Indra, who really isn't that interesting in my opinion and his personality is too similar to Elixer's. I want to see someone do something with Mercury and if I didn't think there was a fantastic team book to be had with The Stepford Cuckoos, she would be in there.

So, basically I'm envisioning a Generation X-style lineup of Anole, Blindfold, Elixer, Gentle, Rockslide, The Stepford Cuckoos, co-led by Prodigy and Surge.

I also envision a team of young X-Men lackeys that go after them consisting of Armor, Dust, Hellion, Indra, Mercury, Pixie, Trance, and if she's around X-23.

1.) Elixir
2.) Hellion
3.) Dust
4.) X-23
5.) Armor
6.) Surge
7.) Cipher
8.) Rockslide


Edited by Mummudrai - 31-Mar-2011 at 8:39am

I say thank you, sir.

1. Prodigy - Team Leader
2. Surge - as Ciel put it, "the B*tch" and I think this would make Prodigy & Surge the new Scott & Emma :)
3. Dust - Good Powerset, Good Team Player, Interesting Backstory
4. Hellion - The A$$hole/Loose Cannon - every team needs one
5. No-Girl - She & Prodigy would work well together as tacticians and I think it would be interesting to pair her with...
6. Rockslide - Another guy without a body, technically, but he can make one for himself. And it brings a little more depth to him; could he actually like a girl for her personality, not her body?
7. Anole - Great Team player, works well off of Rockslide
8. Indra - showed GREAT potential in the Legacy arc, and I think he needs some more spotlight. I'd also like something to be brought up about how young he is as it was revealed that he was the youngest post MDay mutant before Hope was born.

Anole - Armor - Blindfold - Bling! - Cipher - Crosta - Dust - Elixir - Ernst - Gentle/Nezhno - Graymalkin - Hellion - Indra - Ink - Loa - Match - Mercury - No-Girl - Pixie - Rockslide - Stepford Cuckoos

These characters could easily be their own rotating cast, but still would need to sorta put forth some kinda actual group dynamics.

For a more grounded, non-lethal team, I'd have Prodigy in charge of setting missions and determining the best people for it in a group that's sorta like the combined functions and purposes of X-Factor Investigations and Force Works.  Proactively getting involved in helping out the little guy, in ways not solely expressed by how hard they can beat people up.

X-23 would put in some community service here, along with Mercury to allow them to rekindle their friendship on panel.  Add in Trance for the astral side, and between these three, there's effectively no place that would be off-limits to them.  Ink would be utilized for his connection to the streets, as ham-fisted an attempt at "street" as he is he at least tries.  Also because really I'm trying to put males on this team that's built for investigations and espionage, and Prodigy and Ink are the only males available who don't have some physical characteristic about them that would otherwise make them stand out in the typical urban setting.  Think about it.

Then there's the proactive attack team, going and fighting the people who need to be fought, even if they're not supervillains.  Especially in the non-glamorous places that people don't really bother to do anything about anyway, your destitute environments and your foreign countries that aren't on the level of the U.S. in terms of technology.

I'd give Dust and Bling co-leadership of this group, as together they're understanding of the need to use force at times but not willing to do it lightly and even when having to be lethal they're not proud about it.  This would separate them from most of the X-Men, who at this point have amassed a heavy body count of enemies and even innocents at times without batting an eyelash anymore, except when the young mutants do it and then it's a problem.

Hellion and Surge would be put to use in this team, as well as Rockslide and Loa.  They all are very well capable of defending themselves and can follow orders when need be.  Rockslide and Loa would keep things light and calm as best as possible, while Hellion and Surge have issues but would not harm their friends on this team.

----------------------

Anole should move into a main X-Men team.  I'd love to see Cannonball have to deal with him as a teammate, being an equal and not just some kid he can order around like it's nothing.  The tension between those two would be awesome.

Armor wouldn't be on a team because she's already been associated with an actual adult X-Men squad, and after that I doubt she'd listen to anybody else.

Others would not be included because they don't really do "teams" or because I'd still have them be training.

Originally posted by Blackcyclops Don't know about the body count thing but otherwise nice...

Your average arc of New Mutants has as much death as X-Force these days.  Funny, then, that one is actually there as a kill squad and the other just can't avoid it in the process of normal operations.

IIRC, Warlock killed everybody there, not just Hodge.  And that was after Karma was seen using the smileys' guns on each other.  We never did see how effective those guns were, but if they weren't going to work then why use them?  (For that matter, the Legion personalities that Magik and Karma killed... I suppose they kinda count.)  And then don't forget Dani shooting that one girl in the face with an arrow.  Sam didn't kill all of them herself (can't remember if Shan had Face kill anybody...  there was certainly a bit of damage done).

1) Pixie

If I had to pick 8 I'd go with:

1.  Hellion  - Shoe-in for most compelling character for his generation.  Bully who made good but is slipping back into being voted 'Most Likely to Lead the Next Brotherhood'. 
2.  Stepford Cuckoos  -  No Phoenix should mean no more robo-Cuckoos.  I've had a soft spot for the girls since their introduction and would love to see them in a more active role. 
3.  Anole - As some others said, it's hard to imagine a team without him there. 
4.  Rockslide - Same.   These two are forever destined to hang together.
5.  Pixie - Team transport and a good addition to the lighter Anole/Rockslide dynamic.  Of the three kid flavors du jour, I like Pixie the best.  Armor's soured on me a bit.
6.  Surge - Team bitch.  Well, so are the Cuckoos, but they're mostly just snarky.  Nori is out there rage-crazy and there is a nice potential for fireworks with the other team hothead, Hellion. 
7.  Dust - Soft spot for the New X-Men students.  I really like how she's been portrayed, and she has a pretty cool power set.  She beat out Mercury mostly because she has a developed personality. 
8.  Bling! - I dropped X-23 to keep Roxy even though I have Rockslide already.  Why?  Laura can hold her own book (and she currently is).  Let's not saturate the teams with her like her father.  Easily the winner of Standout Background Character who could really use some more development.  And hey, with two LBGT characters means there's no longer a token and we can try to move past it.