Is it safe to choose now? lol jk

1. SURGE!
2. Genesis
3. Hellion
4. Quire
5. Oya
6. Armor
7. Blindfold (so she isnt forgot about after Legacy)
8. Pixie

Maybe Eyeboy but i don't think he fits on a action team, and Broo but I forgot him in the shuffle.

@koays: yeah, sorry about that.

nice team, very similar to my picks except that Surge didn't make the top 10 for me. Still, I'm sure I'd enjoy that team just as much.

• Kid Omega (Leader)
• Mercury
• Pixie
• Hellion
• Transonic
• Surge
• Loa

I'm not picking anyone else because 7 is enough and I really don't like anyone else.

Anole, Armor, Dust, Gentle, Hellion, Mercury, Pixie, Rockslide, Surge and Trance. Bringing it down to ten was rough tho.

am loving all the Hellion love.

Hellion

Quire

Oya

Bling

Mercury

Broo

Evan

Anole

Kubark

Rockslide.

Although this is not my dream New Xmen team. Just sticking with rules, I voted:

Surge, Hellion, Dust, Mercury, Pixie, Match, Loa and Armor.

I really wouldn't them cast as clueless students though seeing as how some of the experiences that some have had almost rival the adult Xmen. Plus isnt Surge like 20 now and the others like Hellion, Armor, Mercury and Dust should be up there around 18,19 as well. So im not sure how they are still students but I wont start a tirade on bad writing.

I also happen to like Oya and Transonic, though Im a bit fuzzy at the moment on Transonic's powers- i just like her look. I like Oya too but less so in her recent appearances

me too. :v

and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who voted for Bling!

yeah, one of the reasons that I didn't vote for Surge or Dust, despite that I like them a lot, is that I think they're characters should have moved on to something else now.

I did vote for Quire, Armor, and Hellion, who I also think should be older, but I kind of like how with Quire and seemingly Armor(which is cool) being teaching instructors as well as active X-men, that we really could have a student team that sort of teaches at least partially in the field And have that be more the main team.. or at least their own squad, separate from the staff team.

Who would you have had with no restrictions?

alright, here's how I'll do updates

first update:

Hellion-100%, Pixie-86%

Gallery

Armor, Mercury, Surge-71%

Gallery

Anole, Genesis, Oya, Quire, Rockslide-57%

Gallery

I'm a bit surprised by the Anole love, he never really stuck out much and i kinda thought Young X-Men was generally disliked.

Young X-men wasn't great, but he did have some cool roles in New X-Men.

He was one of my favorites from the later half of that run; he had cool powers, he was a great foil for Rockslide, and he was just generally likable. I always thought that if New X-men had been around when I was a kid, he would have been my favorite, him or Quire.

I picked 11 actually

Armor

Anole

Broo

Dust

Genesis

Hellion

Mercury

Oya

Pixie

Quire

Rockslide

Love these guys, not many from the actual Aaron run dont think any he created really (Quire was from Morrison, Oya one of the 5 lights, Broo first appeared in Astonishing two part thingy, and Evan in X force) But yea these are my favorites and i think its a good diversity the only way i wouldnt want them at the school is if some of them graduated and went to a real team (IE Hellion, Armor, Pixie, rockslide maybe)

"Wait a minute, I don't have any stu-- ohhhhh, JG stands for Jean Grey. Not Joygirl. Or @Jokergeist: . Silly me."

From the poll:

faves: Hellion, Mercury, Surge, Rockslide, Dust, Blindfold (Elixir, X-23 and Prodigy)

OK: Armor, Kubark, Genesis, Transonic, Oya, Anole, Cipher, Pixie, Crosta, Loa, Gentle, Indra (Cuckoos, No-Girl and Face)

unnecessary: QQ, Primal, Velocidad, Broo, Bling, Match, Sprite, Shark, Trance, NG, Greymalkin, Eye-boy, Match (Ernst and Krakoa)

@oldnightcrawler:

Not tying to diss you or something, but how is it different from the original thread? Continuity?

Hellion

Gentle

Surge

Dust

Pixie

Mercury

Trance

Indra

Loa

Anole

@oldnightcrawler:

With no restrictions I would've included X-23. At the moment she's running around with the clueless O5 with Kitty as their mentor. It just feels like she's in the same boat as the school kids. Which I hate how its split up by the way. The Cuckoos would be on my team strictly in the tactical, monitoring communications role. I like Tempus and Oya but feel that they shouldn't be on this team but just at the school as main characters there. I would actually include or at least do big stories with Elixir and Hope though.

So my dream New xmen team is: Surge, Hellion, Dust, X-23, Mercury, Pixie, Match, Armor with the Cuckoos on Cerebro and running communications largely from the base. I'd have large roles and appearances from Elixir and Hope.

pretty much. I actually thought it was more different, or different enough to revisit.

Last time I made a point to include all of Morrison's characters (Quire, Dust, the Cuckoos, Glob Herman, Ernst, and No-girl) that had been confirmed at the school. With Glob gone and the Cuckoos now already on a cool team at the other school, I decided to not bother with any of them except for Quire and Dust. I also didn't include Face or Krakoa, for the same reason that I left some of these characters out, which is that they're more just interesting ideas that populate the background than characters who could be central to a team of X-men.

Quire and Dust, as well as the Cuckoos, are characters that have actually been developed as central characters and even become fan-favorites, but many of his creations (and those of some others, since) just don't even seem like they were meant to be central characters anyway. There are probably other characters that I did include on this list that you could put in this category, but in most of those cases it's only because they're so new and haven't had much chance.

And I added a few other characters I had missed last time around or who have joined since, though more primarily trying to focus just on the characters already at the school as it is now.

Basically I just thought I could do a better one (or at least a more specific one), and was curious to see if it would turn out much different. Maybe some people have changed their minds about some characters, while others may not have done the original poll in the first place. But basically I just wanted to do a more up-to-date version.

A bit off topic but I was wondering if others thought Molly Hayes from the Runaways would/should be recruited by the JGS?

I think I'd support her on a team or lineup of Student X-Men...over say Sprite

Yes please, and she was with them in BOTA so this seems like the perfect time to introduce her into X man continuity

@oldnightcrawler:

I think people are still with the same teams pretty much :) But yeah, I see your point, this is like you said, more up to date possibilities, rather than just a dream team from all the teens, who survived their eXperience lol As for continuity, there still a lot of them, I'm afraid when teams will be determined (by a writer), not everyone will get what they wanted.

oh, absolutely not. That would be pretty near impossible with so many characters to choose from, and especially with so many fans to try to satisfy; even if a writer could somehow do the impossible and come up with a cast that included every character every fan wanted to see, would any one writer be likely to have insightful roles and stories for each of those characters? it's absurd.

I mean, just between the two of us, you say that you think Quire, Broo, Bling, and Eye-boy are "unnecessary", while I actually enjoy all of those characters and count Quire especially as among my favorites.

But almost every team book has some characters we individually see as superfluous and others we wish were on the team instead. I just follow the characters that do interest me, and try to stay open to characters as much as I can. Sometimes a character that's seemed pointless or superfluous for years can become great under the right writer.

Quentin Quire
Oya/Idie
Pixie
Surge
Dust
Anole

Yea, i was thinking they would, considering the Runaways are completely disbanded now. Maybe they will since the new WatX-men seems real tightly connected to battle of the atom

yeah, I guess that does make her another young mutant destined to be a super-villain, doesn't it? hm.

@koays:

They should really do this. Molly should be at JGS or at NXS but at least somewhere with the mutants

@oldnightcrawler:
@hawk2916:

Agreed, i'd rather they bring her into the fold at JGS now, since they seem to be doing a lot with the future of the troubled kids Genesis and Quire....plus Hellion got some shine as well so maybe a theme there. Though Marvel seems to favor new characters over the old ones, I think Molly deserves a spot in one of the books despite her just being background in BotA.

Hellion, Armor, Mercury, Bling, Dust, Surge, Quentin, Oya, Pixie, and Loa in order.

next update:

Pixie-88%, Hellion-82%

Gallery

Armor-71%, Surge-65%

Gallery

Mercury, Dust, and Quentin Quire-59%, Oya-53%

Gallery

Anole and Rockslide-47%

Gallery

@oldnightcrawler: Interesting how the voting is going. By that update looks like if we were doing an 8 person team we'd get: Pixie, Hellion, Surge, Armor, Dust, Mercury, Oya and Quire. That would be a fun and interesting team. If it was set sometime in the future with these being the Xmen and had X-23 I'd be all in.

Im trying my hardest to wrap my head around or at least get a good objective read on Quentin Quire to understand the like for him. How do you assess him as far as his personality and motivations, especially when it comes to the team concept? I remember his role in Warsong and Endsong which coincidentally was my favorite portrayal of him, but that may have been out of character. As much as i love New Xmen, I feel that some focus should have been given to him especially as opposed to say Rockslide, this way at least people could associate him with the Academy X run. For me I almost see him as a different generation since I think he was originally in Grant Morrison's stuff, though I know differently. Its hard to get past the silliness of Aaron's characterizations so that may not be accurate either, at least for me.

It makes it seem like most people basically want the New X-Men more than they're interested in seeing any of the newer characters, which isn't really that surprising considering how beloved that book was to many fans on this site. The only notable exceptions being Quentin Quire (who was established as a central character before that book/team existed) and Oya, who's popularity seems more surprising to me only because most of her ranking compared to characters who were more central to New X-men (though, in Oya's case it almost seems like she's become so central because she's such a good foil for Quire).

Armor's consistently high ranking surprised me because she wasn't very central to the New X-men, as well, but it still makes sense to me in that I feel like most people associate her with Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, which is at least as beloved by fans (if not more). Given her popularity, I was actually a bit surprised to not see more love for Blindfold, who was not only great in Astonishing', but has had several other interesting, central roles (including New X-men) besides.

That said, with an 8-10 member team that included the most popular New X-men as well as the star-pupil of Whedon's run and the star trouble-maker of Morrison's, it seems like that could really just be the main X-men team. It certainly seems to represent the best, most distinct X-men characters of this century, at any rate (even if we assume that some new characters/members being introduced is an inevitability for any X-men book).

Quire did get his start in Morrison's New X-Men (vol.1, 2001), but I don't think that makes him of a different generation than the New X-Men (vol.2, 2004) so much as it makes him one of the older kids like Dust or the Cuckoos (who also first appeared in Morrison's run, actually before Quire). I guess it's in that way that it makes sense that he's now been promoted to teaching instructor, since he should be old enough to graduate, but isn't really allowed to just leave because of Wolverine's deal with Cap' following Schism.

Basically, everything you need to know to understand Quire's character comes from his origin in Morrison's run (New X-Men #134 - Kid Ω and issues 135-138, which are all collected in the New X-Men: Riot at Xavier's trade). Originally Quire is introduced as a very Peter Parker-like character (smart, sensitive, unpopular, and bitter, he's even drawn to look like Peter), who learns that he was adopted*. Tired of being overlooked by the world, he starts taking drugs and starting trouble at school, which culminates in his forming "the New X-men" (a gang of drugged-up mutant teens that beat up mutant-hating bullies) and subsequently starting the infamous riot.

Though he starts his career as an "X-man" as basically a super-villain, Morrison writes the character's motivations to be easily identifiable and ultimately more human than most of the characters he introduced in that period. And though subsequent writers (most notably Aaron) have simplified the character in some ways, it's his unique perspective and relationship with the senior X-men that has mostly made him stand out among all of the characters who have come since. That he is an outsider even among the New X-men, in a way, gives his character an appealing edge that most of that group never really attained.

Besides being an outsider and a bit of a bad-ass (having taken down both Wolverine and Xavier during the riot, as well as helping rekindle the Phoenix and his most notorious prank on the UN), Quire appeals to us for his ultimately human motives, which reveal a smart but stubborn kid who really just wants to belong. His motivation for the riot is revealed to be his desire to impress and thereby connect to Sophie Cuckoo; his motivation in the Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega mini series (another classic Quire story, by the way) seems to be to impress Bling! in much the same way. Even his actions in Schism are more on the level of a kid acting out for attention than because he intends any actual malice.

To me it's not so surprising that Quire's as popular as he is, as it is that he's become more popular since being in Aaron's book.

*(meaning that since Quire doesn't know who his parents are, it's been speculated that it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to find out he's actually related to a character we may have already seen, such as another unknown child of Xavier or Mastermind.)

@oldnightcrawler: Nice. I admit I havent read Grant Morrison in a while probably since it came out so Im a bit fuzzy on the details. I dont read Aaron so I dont know much about him in that series. How would you see fitting in a team dynamic such as these 8-10 vote leaders?

I still think Morrison's story was the measure of the character, but Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega (which was a mini series written by Brian Wood, not Aaron) was pretty good too, if a little by-the-book. They probably would have been better served by just releasing the series as 5 issues of WatX-men (instead of those 8 issues of AvsX tie-ins).

Aaron basically stayed true to Quire's characterization as a mostly self-absorbed rebel, but developed the character to actually save the day -despite himself- more often than cause any real trouble. This has caused Quire to question his identity as a rebel on more than one occasion, especially in light of being voted class president and subsequently an assistant teacher.

It was Wolverine's intention to try to reform Quire, giving him a second chance after the events of Schism, and despite Wolverine feeling that he's failed his students as much as helped them (and despite WatX-men being not a very good book), Quire has actually lived up to and even surpassed the expectations of the senior X-men, saving them, the school, and the fellow students in his care on several occasions.

First off, Quire's actually in the top 5 (tied with Mercury and Dust), and though WatX-men was maligned by many, some of the best issues were the ones that focused on Quire as the main character. So he certainly seems to have at least as much star/staying power as most of the New X-men.

As we saw somewhat in that series, as well as recent issues of X-Men and Wolverine & the X-Men (vol.2)#1, Quire's still a kid who doesn't really get along well with others, being both socially awkward and arrogant. He knows how to push people's buttons, and he seems to love doing it, and the members of the New X-men are no exception.

I think this could make him a really interesting addition as a member of the New X-men, especially if they got more into his rivalry with Hellion (the former cocky trouble-maker of the group) or Armor (who's Wolverine's other top student, but who actually trained for the spot) or Dust(one of the few students who would have been around for Quire's riot). We've already seen that some of the New X-men, especially Hellion, have very little patience for Quire, but since he was tied for the position of class president, it seems like at least some of them must have voted for him (even over their trusted teammate Anole). Basically, I think he'd be a great fit.

Surge, Dust, Hellion, Armor, Blindfold, Pixie, Trance, Loa, Oya, Rockslide. These are the one I like most Ha.

10 is way too much. Transonic, Anole, Match, Gentle and Quentin Quire are more than enough.

I basically just went with 10 because it was a nice round number (hence saying that people should pick as many or as few as they like), but I don't really think 10 is too many.

The classic New Mutants had 9 members, Generation X had around 8 (plus Banshee, Emma, and an extended supporting cast), New Mutants (vol.2) had two main squads of six each, and the New X-Men had more than a dozen characters that were central at some point in their run before settling on 10 main characters.

1. Anole

2. Bling

3. Surge

4. Rockslide

5. Oya

6 Nature Girl

7. Kid Omega

That is true, but I'll explain to you where my "antagonism" for QQ comes from. I think Morrison created him as a kind of parody (did he create something that wasn't?) on these all-powerful TK/TP characters, that their true place was not just here, in this plane of existence. Which was done to him and to Jean in the end, either with different explanations, yet kinda the same for us. Anyway, the idea was better developed with Mr. M, who was also this type of overpowered character that could actually end all of hostilities, and for this he was killed off. How is that similar? Pretty obvious, just as Jean and QQ haven't really die, same was hinted with him.

So if this was the message behind QQ's existence as a character, can't help myself finding him unnecessary to exist without actually hating, but especially with so many others TP/TK held back characters.

Even if Morrison did create Quire as some kind of meta-commentary, it doesn't change how much I enjoy him as a character.

Sure, he's maybe just another twist on the idea of a telepathic character but I don't think that makes his powers any less interesting than the kids who are made out of rocks/metal/sand/ice/always-on-fire/etc..

Wow Surge is in 3rd place.....i'm genuinely surprised despite my loyalty to the character, since it's been like 6 years since she had any major face time. Still...yes!!

Also I think the larger the team is the more difficult it will be to blend these characters, since alot of the older characters were written with a much more serious and dramatic tone then the current ones. I mean what writer could get Kid Gladiator and Hellion on the same team and have them written in character?

But isn't that a valid criticism of the franchise, especially at the point Morrison started his run on? Not only had Jean's story been regurgitated several times (and this was before it was regurgitated several times more after Morrison's run ended), but there are concepts that characters love that they never want to see progress or end. Marvel keeps producing diluting versions of our favorite stories because that's what fandom seemingly requests. Their product is now more a product of a brand than that of quality output.

What TK/TP characters are being held back? That just makes it sound like Quire hit the nail on the head.

Ok, but do you find his character evolution accurate and natural? I mean, don't you feel like he kinda not the same character or that's just me?

This was a convenient criticism, but when he did regurgitate almost every classic X-story himself, that might indicate for only two suggestions, either if he has problems with new ideas and creativity (which he doesn't), or he is just preparing a parody. What do you choose? I do agree, the most central books with the central lineup don't look good from time to time, yet I can enjoy many satellite books. I also agree that X-fans can be both, the best and the worst in the same time, yet it doesn't make him right mocking the whole franchise in his smartass ways, so afterwards a group of his fans will exalt his name declaring a new X-messiah, when actually most of his ideas were pretty facile and sketchy with franchise still recovering from his brave new world.

Jean Grey
Rachel Grey
Charles Xavier
Nate Grey
Exodus
and even Cable

Have been stripped off their powers or removed from the narrative because the writers have seemingly been afraid to say they can't do something. Xavier was absent from most of the Utopia period partly because if he said "I can't get a reading" as much as Emma did during that period it would mess up the perception of him as an all powerful psychic.

The writers are definitely afraid to write about the same characters they keep super charging and painting as invincible. Which is a shame really that a writers inability to tell a story where Jean Grey doesn't juggles buildings and blow up planets means she'll forever sit on the bench.

This

I think that's a good point, because in some ways they seem to fill similar roles, but in another way it could really make both of them that much more distinct because of the comparison..

For me, I guess I don't really think of them as the same type of characters. While I've really enjoyed Gladiator's story being introduced into the X-men's mythos, he just feels more like a character who has his own story that more than he's really a central character to the X-men, like Doop, Warbird, Deathlok, Namor, Gambit, Longshot, Captain Marvel, etc.. a character who's cooler because of his association with the team more than a central character that helps define it.

Whereas Hellion just seems more like his whole story is of being an X-man and is in every way meant to be a definitive, central character, substantially effecting the group dynamic of whichever team he's on.

Gladiator may bring a similar cockiness and swagger to a group, but as a less definitive character, he doesn't seem to offer the same depth and seems more like a supporting cast member who's own story is a bit outside of the team's story. Basically, I'm saying I think there's room for both, or for all of the characters, as long as each are cast in the roles that best utilize their strengths.

It just seems a little awkward to me. And not just with Kid Gladiator, I mean I like Broo(against all odds) but i don't know if he'd fit on a team with mostly Armor, Dust and Hellion. It's sort of like the New X-Men class is "Days of Future Past" and the newer kids are "Mojo World". You can't really mix and match the two without it being glaring that they don't fit.

I think some of the New X-Men are just to gritty to share a book with the newer kids. Kid Gladiator is cocky and arrogant like Hellion use to be but is still a much lighter character, but a Hellion story needs to expand on his problem child status within the X-Men. It's hard to pick my favorites from both groups without it seeming impossible.

It will be hard too see any New X-man on another team, they were truly definitive together I think, and extremely protective towards each other.

I think it just depends on what sort of focus you put on each character. Though I'm not a fan of Aaron's WatX-men, I feel like a big part of the book was more about showing that the school itself had it's own diverse character; with the exception of Quire and Oya (who were meant to be main/pov characters), most of the characters introduced in the book seemed like they were there to give the new school a connection to the diverse history of the X-men more than to be central to the stories themselves.

It's like when your reading X-men comics from the 80's and you realize that stories like Days of Future Past and God Loves, Man Kills are set at a school who's inhabitants include Warlock, Lockheed, and Moonstar's Asgardian flying horse. These curious and colorful elements add a layer of wonder and texture to the world the characters live in, even if they aren't especially central to the stories themselves. To me, this is the kind of environment Aaron seemed to be trying to create with the inclusion of characters like Broo, Gladiator, Warbird, Krakoa, Doop, Glob Herman, Deathlok, or the Bamfs, characters who exist in the background to evoke the diverse history associated with the school more than to be the central characters, or even part of any actual team.

I absolutely agree about this distinction between a character like Hellion and one like Gladiator.

But I still think the characters can co-exist. That the X-men could become so gritty and human during a time when characters like Lockheed, Warlock, or Longshot (who are all basically cartoon characters) were at the school is a classic example of this type of coexistence. Is there really any X-man character grittier than Karma? She was on the same team as Warlock. Or Rachel Grey? who went on to help found Excalibur?

I feel like this was probably a reason why Aaron chose to focus on primarily Quire and Oya as the main characters in his book, as they both seem like they could be part of either silly or more serious stories, and thus bridge the gap between the background flavor characters and those characters that seem more central, even if he did focus more on the silly side himself.

Thats my thought too. They went through so much that only they can really support eachother, so it's kind of hard to see where the new kids would fit in with that dynamic. And would be a crime to leave it out just so the Newer kids aren't on the outside.

@koays:

I'm afraid the WATXM relaunch and XX-men will damage their bonds with unappropriated usage of them. Damn, everything will damage them besides K/Y's NXM relaunch. I'm living in the past lol

@oldnightcrawler: Now that you bring it up, the most recent New Mutants run sort of showed how silly elements like Warlock could be mixed with a dark and edgy setting. Necrosha for example saw the return of Warlock. And their parts in Second Coming didnt damage the story.

Still I'm not sure there's many writers who can keep the grittier aspects balanced with the more cartoonish side in the same way. I agree Oya and Quentin as well as Genesis, would fit easier with the old New X-Men group. But i'm not sure if that's fair to the rest of the JGS students that were introduced.

It's my favorite run so i'm trying not to be biased against the newer kids....but the NXM group deserve a spot in the X-books and alot more focus.