#great ring

[rei-ismyname]

X-MEN RED Highlights 2

Part 1 ended with Vulcan challenging Tarn the Uncaring for the Seat of Loss. They waste no time getting into it.

Importantly, almost everyone HATES Tarn. Isca the Unbeaten is a rare exception. After they depower each other, Tarn grabs the advantage with his face tentacles and beats Vulcan to death.

Tarn gloats, asking 'who would dare challenge me now?' Motherfucking Magneto, that's who.

Isca, whose power is to never lose, is shocked as Sunspot introduces sophistry to Arakko. Then she snaps his neck. That's two dead Krakoans.

Fortunately, Mags doesn't fuck around, using his helmet to block Tarn's ability.

He brings the hammer down and Arakko has a new hero. The crowd goes wild for this hot old man in a cape. His retirement is over.

Mags' first Great Ring meeting is an eventful one. The first half boils down to a fundamental difference between Krakoa and Arakko - resurrection. To represent a people you need to live with the same risk they do. Mags and Storm agree and blow up their Cerebro backups. No extra lives for them.

The second half of the meeting is unfortunately the announcement of Judgement Day, as Uranos the Undying comes to kill them all. Worse, Isca's power forces her to switch sides - she cannot lose. She decapitates Idyll and Nightcrawler teleports her into the ocean.

Storm is away on Krakoa so they're down to 6 Omega Mutants plus various allies.

They slow Uranos down a bit but it's not enough. Hundreds of thousands die and Magneto has his heart torn out. Yikes, he even had a pun to go with it.

Uranos leaves but his machines of death remain. Mags is probably regretting torching his Cerebro backup, but the old man has one trick left - stimulating the iron in his blood to keep oxygen flowing to his brain for a little while. Long enough to make sure Arakko survives. Next time, 🔥🚨🚨THE HOUR OF MAGNETO BEGINS🚨🚨🔥

[evilhorse]

Kind of a death donut.

(X-Men Red #12)

[rei-ismyname]

X-MEN RED Highlights 1

Continuing the story from SWORD (2020), Al Ewing's masterpiece might just be my favourite book of all time. As such, it's going to be difficult to narrow down highlights - because every panel is a banger. I'm going to indulge myself here.

Flashback to Ororo fighting for her seat on the Great Ring - Arakko's Quiet Council equivalent. Thematically it sets up that Ororo's greatest enemy is herself - taking on too much responsibility and spreading herself thin. She's incredibly powerful but she can't be everywhere at once.

Meanwhile, Magneto has quit the Quiet Council and retired to Arakko to die. He makes a new friend - the Fisher King, and shares his pain and failures. He monologues while building a fucking *castle* mind you, so the dramatic bitch is in there somewhere.

A third Omega Mutant - Vulcan - is also a bit lost. Tbh the poor guy could seriously use some therapy but instead he's wandering around starting fights. Thunderbird is ... unsympathetic. In the guise of helping, Agent Brand (also working with ORCHIS) gives him a job in X-Men Red - after Storm rejects the same offer.

You can't keep a secret from Sunspot. As he strolls into Mags' house he slips back into headmaster mode. 'How many names do you have? 'Too many.'

Unable to get a moment's peace, Ororo wanders into his (secluded) house as well. She knows how what words to use though - the Brotherhood rides again!

Vulcan hates Chuck. His reaction to non-consensual telepathy is to blow up the Summers House on the moon, with all inside.

Brand fills out the rest of her X-Men Red squad with her direct employees. Manifold objects to the paternalistic premise and quits on the spot. As an Indigenous Australian, he knows first hand where this kind of colonial bullshit leads and he's not having it.

On that note, Brand wants a man on the Great Ring. To take a seat you have to challenge the current holder. Vulcan vs Tarn the Uncaring!

This concerns pretty much everyone. Magneto is really feeling the gravity of consequence pulling him away from retirement.

He resists for now, wallowing in grief, but how long will he be able to stand against his nature and comic book inertia? (Spoiler - not long. Find out in part 2! It's Magneto.)

[rei-ismyname]

Ororo, how did you get here?

I wonder if we'll get a solid, in character explanation for why Storm would become a cop (Avenger) again. I'm writing an analysis on From The Ashes (so far) and while I'm clear-eyed about where most characters and books are at, I really need to know if they're even going to bother explaining why Storm would leave Arakko (oh yeah, there's still a million mutants on the red planet) and if they do to what degree. Sure she can just bail off screen but it'd be deeply out of character. She's a member of the Great Ring (or at least she was, occupying Magneto's empty Seat of Loss after she yielded the Regency to Lodus Logos.) She's the most impactful political and cultural figure in a generation. She was the leader of the winning faction in the Genesis War. She had a lover, who was caring for two orphans. I think they were living together. She was happy. I can't recall any ties to Atlanta, but it doesn't really matter. Without serious explanation she's going to look fickle, like she's shirking her duty. A duty she chose, too. Fought multiple wars over. She's getting a solo book, there's totally room to do it properly.

The other big ting for me is Magneto. The First Krakoan age put him through the ringer - his character arc was objectively given the most attention and subjectively the most satisfying. Even without Uncanny X-Men #700 he was poised to shake up the status quo but when you include his chat with Charles that's a promise. A promise that needs to be paid off. Not just any old promise either - it's an ideological breakthrough five decades in the making! He's been kept in the background so far and I haven't really been able to judge whether that promise is being kept or not. I hope so but my expectations are low. It would be such tonal whiplash I can't even think of an analogy.

Interestingly both Max and Ororo were Of Arakko last time we got a close look. Magneto died defending Arakko, he has friends there. He is literally one of the society's heroes for slaying Tarn the Uncaring and The Hour Of Magneto/Judgement Day.

Yeah, that's right. *AIR HORN* *PUMPS FIST* He cares about the Arakki and they care about him. He'd want to pay his respects to the Fisher King and generally see how it's going. He lost his place on the Great Ring when he died and Vulcan blew up his house, but neither are especially important. Both planet and culture are dear to him. After X of Swords, in that brief period when the Arakki were on Earth, it was Magneto meeting with Isca about teething problems. 'Twas Magneto who spearheaded the Terraforming Operation, handling the communication/logistics and harvesting enough iron to bring the planet to life from the Khyber Belt. While he was doing that, Ororo was fighting Nameless to the death for the Noontide Seat.

I could honestly go on, but my point is these two especially are invested. (Roberto Da Costa too, but it seems the New Mutants are represented by Magik alone and Cypher looking like an idiot.) If that continuity is disregarded I'm going to have a problem with it. Honestly, if Arakko is there and not being used in any stories I'll be scratching my head. How do you go from terraforming planets to hated and feared on Earth as anything other than a regression? The geopolitical implications of it being there pretty much break the world they're selling us. They're telling us it's so dangerous for mutants that they're developing secret hand signals and Underground Railroad'ing. At least some mutants would move to fucking Mars. All countries would be at Defcon 1. Did the entire galactic council just forget Sol exists?

I'll stop there, save some for the actual essay instead of the rant lol. If you're enjoying it I couldn't be happier for you. I am struggling to, though, and I'm very wary of heartbreak. Maybe that's on me for how I manage my expectations. We shall see.

[lord-tungsten-rings-blog]

Actual Love Wedding Rings

I bought this ring because my actual wedding ring is white gold. It is so soft that it started getting small scuffs and scratches right away, but at first these marks just gave it character. Recently, though (after about two years) it's started looking a bit dull and worn. I was told by a jeweler that polishing a white ceramic ring is a complicated process that involves actually applying more metal, and that it would take some time. Honestly, I don't like the idea of not wearing my Celtic Tungsten Carbide Ring for a few days (it just feels weird) so I decided to get a substitute to wear while it was gone. I also had an opportunity to start a new job which may involve using my hands a bit more, and I realized that this would damage the cheap Ceramic wedding Ring even faster, and at the same time I started worrying about possibly losing the Noblest tungsten ring altogether.

Long story short, I decided on this Ceramic celebration ring because it was attractive, the same color as my real love ring, and much more resistant to damage. I decided to start wearing this Celtic Knot Tungsten Wedding Ring day-to-day and saving the original tungsten ring for special occasions. I've been wearing the new tungsten steel ring for a few months now, and it's been fantastic. First of all the great ceramic ring is gorgeous. It catches the light brilliantly on its polished surfaces, and it is so strong that it doesn't have a single scratch to dim the dazzle. I should clarify that I am pretty rough on my jewelry, so the fact that it hasn't scratched or chipped or bent (even a little) is a minor miracle. It has a satisfying weight to it, and is slightly wider than my ceramic wedding ring, so it feels really substantial.

My only real complaint is the matte area. It is matte because of a "brushed" texture, which means that it is very rough to the touch. At first I assumed that this would smooth out a bit over time, but since the metal is so hard it still feels the same as it did the first day. I suspect you could use this part of the ring as a fine-grit sandpaper if you wanted to. So far it has not injured my other fingers, but I am still very conscious of the signet ring when I hold my baby (6 months) or do anything else that requires a gentle touch. Not a deal-breaker, but something to consider.

All-in-all, a great ring. If you want something good looking and durable, you need look no further.

For more read: Tungsten Jewelry Shop