salarta

As expected, CBR deleted my final post on CBR. Before any of what follows, I have to state right away: I asked for the ban. I don’t want anyone to think the ban was a heavy-handed reaction on CBR’s part, they may not have done it at all if I hadn’t asked.

Anyway, here’s the reason for why they deleted the post:

You have been banned for the following reason:
Discussion of warnings and bans are not permitted on the forums. If you don’t want to be here, just leave.
Date the ban will be lifted: 02-05-2015, 10:00 AM

Which just further proves why CBR’s boards do not deserve traffic. Boards that are actually good and worth visiting do not make discussion of warnings entirely off-limits. Admins and mods are not infallible. They make mistakes, they create guidelines that are imperfect, there are cases where their word and power is not sacrosanct and they actually need to be questioned.

But CBR isn’t interested in that. Their current structure does not encourage discussion, it stifles discussion. It gags opinions that are not generally favorable to companies like DC or Marvel and the people that work for them. It results in an atmosphere where unless you have nothing but nice things to say, you’ll be looking over your shoulder, walking on eggshells and worrying that something you said might get you banned because it’s not nice enough.

There’s also one obvious problem with the ban itself: it’s not long enough. As in, it’s only a week when it should be permanent.

Anyway, the text of my final post on CBR (before it was deleted) is below.

We’re a week out from the final issue of All-New X-Factor? Excellent.

It’s time for me to leave CBR, likely forever.

Anyone that knows me and has read my posts knows I can be harsh but
honest with my opinions. I don’t mince words or beat around the bush, I
say what I think needs to be said. I don’t refrain from saying those
things just because someone is a huge fan or because it might be
something someone at Marvel doesn’t want anyone to say. Sometimes, that
leads me to say things that shouldn’t be said, things that might have
even been cruel for me to say. Some spring to mind right now that I wish
I hadn’t said, and they were the reason I didn’t leave sooner: I wanted
to apologize for those cases before I left.

With that in mind, here is why I’m leaving.

At the beginning of this month, I said something negative about Marvel editors and writers in general.
I didn’t name names. I didn’t call out any specific people, or even
offices within Marvel. I could only have been broader if I had just said
Marvel in general (which frankly, I should have; obviously not every
editor and writer at Marvel is bad, otherwise I wouldn’t have read ANXF
and wouldn’t be reading Magneto). I called out the way Marvel as a whole
behaves for exactly how it looks to me. This got me a warning for
“insulting behavior.”

I draw the line when I can’t call out a company’s behavior for what it
is. I could have completely understood the warning if I had aimed what I
said at a specific person, but I didn’t. I see this as no different
than giving someone a warning for calling out Enron for being greedy. If
I can’t call out Marvel’s bad behavior in general as a company, or if I
have to wrap it in words so watered down and ineffectual that they may
as well not be said at all, then there really is no point in saying
them. Which, in turn, means there’s no point in posting.

I’m not going to post on a board that expects me to only post positive
things and never anything critical of Marvel’s behavior and the
corporate culture and attitude that fuels such behavior. I’m not going
to just give Marvel a pass any time they do things that deserve to be
called out, especially things that are insulting to me as a fan and
consumer. I’m going to say something about it, even if what I say isn’t
flattering in the slightest.

I don’t know how many people are going to see this post before it’s
deleted, which I expect to happen. I’m also going to ask an admin to go
ahead and ban me. So if you see “BANNED” under my name, know it was
voluntary and I asked for it.

I just want to say, those that see this message, thanks for the good
times we’ve had. Thanks for being awesome, for sharing thoughts and
ideas on the potential of Marvel or certain characters at Marvel, for
speaking up when you saw something wrong with the way things were being
treated, and for sharing fanart and cosplay. From here on out, you can
reach me on Twitter and Tumblr. Don’t try to reach me by PMs here, I’m
pretty sure I won’t be able to read or respond to you.

I just officially left CBR.

To be honest, I almost didn’t bother to make my final post on the board. Not out of a change of heart, I’d only have a change of heart if CBR wasn’t so overly sensitive you can’t even criticize a company as a whole anymore, but because it started to feel pointless to even bother after a few weeks had passed.

I said all I needed to say. I only stayed as long as I did because I needed to apologize for some of the worst things I said of and about Peter David, since there really were some instances in the past where I was out of line.

From this point on I’ll be posting my thoughts through Tumblr, either as replies to other people or as my own dedicated posts. However, if anyone has a suggestion of a new board to go to that isn’t trying to force everyone to tiptoe around their complaints and wrap criticism in superfluous niceties like CBR is, then let me know. I remember someone suggested a board to me via PM on CBR itself about a year ago, and I made the mistake of deleting that post without thinking about it just to clear some room for more PMs.

This was brought to my attention yesterday, and I’m only now really getting a chance to address it: MAGNETO Counts Down His LAST DAYS As SECRET WARS Approaches & Reunites With His Daughter. There are two important parts for me to discuss. I’ll do the awful one first because I just now realized I have a bad habit of briefly mentioning the good, then ranting long about the bad. I want to reverse that here.

Out of the article, we get this about the future of Magneto.

Newsarama has learned that the ongoing Magneto series will be one of the titles included in the Last Days umbrella of titles tying into the overarching Secret Wars event. Marvel SVP of Publishing and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort told Newsarama Monday that series under this umbrella will feature “the final stories” of these characters within the current continuity.

I translate this to mean “Magneto is going to be killed off.” If this is true, it ticks me off. It’s killing off yet another of Lorna’s family relationships, and as a Lorna fan it annoys me to see her robbed of her potential. Even if she remains Magneto’s daughter as she should be, she can’t interact with him if he’s dead. I strongly suspect this is part of a bigger goal of Disney and Marvel to hurt the X-Men franchise like they’ve done to the Fantastic Four franchise, all because they think they’re somehow “sticking it” to Fox by doing so. I also suspect this is all Brevoort’s idea, and he’s abusing his editorial power for personal gain in the process, rather than approaching any of this with the story in mind.

I also want to note really fast that Bunn did not confirm or deny Magneto would end after Secret Wars. That is very important to keep in mind, because all of the above may be moot if the book continues.

Okay, so that’s the negative. Here’s the positive.

“Polaris will have a big part to play in the series,” Bunn reveals. “There will be some other key players, too, but I don’t want to reveal too much about them just yet. Suffice it to say, Magneto may need help in his mission.”

I am obviously VERY much looking forward to this. The Magneto solo has been great, and I think Bunn’s shown that he’ll do the best he can with what Disney and Marvel allow him to do. The story is going to involve Genosha, and Genosha is definitely a place where Lorna and Magneto have a lot to do and talk about.

I’m fully aware this won’t happen because I know what Disney, Marvel and especially Brevoort are like, but it would be interesting if this led to Lorna getting her own solo. If the Magneto solo ended, then Lorna getting involved in it would be a good launchpad for Lorna to finally shine on her own merits.

She has a lot to work with. Decades, almost as much time as Magneto and the core 5 even if she hasn’t been allowed to be as involved as all of them. She has Genosha. She has her history with Malice. I’ve always felt that Zaladane would be a good archvillain for Lorna, specifically because of how their dynamic was written by Claremont. Claremont never had respect for Lorna, but how he wrote Zaladane overpowering and manipulating Lorna means we know Zaladane is an actual threat with a personal ax to grind with Lorna.

There’s also the anti-Apocalypse cult, and Lorna’s time as a Horseman of Apocalypse. I still want to see Lorna deal with that cult. It was a good potential storyline.

Lastly, there’s Lorna interacting with her family, Wanda and Pietro. I don’t care what bullshit Disney and Marvel are trying to force down everyone’s throats, they are still family. And if a writer wants to, they could still stay within the stupid retcon with the reason of “They may not technically be family, but they still feel like family and they want to interact with each other as if they are.” Let them call each other brother and sister, or sister and sister, and if anyone says “But you’re not blood related anymore,” just say “We feel like we are anyway.”

That’s all I’ve got for now, I’m hoping we hear some great things in the near future. 🙂

kurt-banged-her:

golden-horses-like-pears:

maxximoffed:

maxximoffed:

Prayer circle that the show will be at least as diverse as the x-comics

I mean I heard it was going to be based on X-factor so they have literally no excuse if the give us some kinda Remender’s -Alex Summers bullshit

Alex Summers should be fucking dead from minute one of the pilot.

Alex Summers shows up and dies for Lorna’s character development.

and Lorna and Bobby have a relationship with Lorna educating Bobby on how to get rid of all the little sexist things he says and in turn he becomes a feminist too.

If Lorna is treated respectfully then I won’t mind, but I will be disappointed to an extent. The comics have spent way too much time focused on Lorna and Alex as a couple as it is. And to be honest, I think Disney and Marvel are just shitty enough that they would do comics of Lorna and Alex as a couple again and make sure those comics are absolutely horrible just to try to hurt Fox in a roundabout way.

My personal opinion on what would make for a good X-Men TV show is something focused on the Magnus family. Magneto’s the father, you can have Wanda and Pietro in high school or college, and Lorna can be the youngest in junior high or high school. Lots of opportunity for balancing nighttime mutant justice fights with regular civilian life. Magneto could possibly go all megalomania at some point too, and I’m sure Genosha would eventually become a thing once their covers are “blown” (probably last season or two).