X-Men: The Pryde Before the Fall of '89 - Pryde of the X-Men

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Sneaky Adventure by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.fi...
License: filmmusic.io/s...
Michael looks back with the help of Clobberin' Times into the mutant blip that was the one-episode wonder, Pryde of the X-Men!
#Xmen #PrydeoftheXMen #Marvel #Konami

[@J-T-A]

You could always tell there was an X-Men cab in any arcade because you could hear that Colossus power yell from across the room, even over all the other noise.

[@mechamanblade8465]

My sister used to love to play as Colossus!

[@JnEricsonx]

The fact that they used that same sound in the Marvel Heroes Online game....god I miss it.

[@floppytnarwal1641]

I was a wolverine fan until I used Colossus in the game. Then he became my favourite. Great character

[@myronaustin]

Yup! No question. . . That yell told you it was time to cash in a five and get in line😆😎😎 To me the next best one after the Turtles was Marvel Super Heroes. . . "America Needs your Help!!"

[@grantblair3337]

Sinistar was even louder.. Especially that bellowing howl.

[@andrewquick4176]

I ABSOLUTELY ADORE PRYDE OF THE X-MEN... Would have been a fantastic 80s Saturday morning cartoon

[@swartstudio]

YES! YES! YES!

[@McMahonHater]

Yep!!!

[@ronzilla8821]

back then i would dream that they also made a secret wars cartoon series or a marvel super heroes series like gi joe

[@justinblessing6119]

My Pryde of the X-men VHS tape is one of two reasons why I still own my VCR.

[@demoskunk]

And the other?

[@justinblessing6119]

@@demoskunk Batman ‘89....Can’t watch a Warner Brothers movie without a Warner Brothers ballcap!

[@mandocalrissian6454]

Y'know, if your VCR ever stops working, I've got a couple of guys who can help repair it. The business they work for has a reputation of being... lightning fast.📼🔨 Ironically, they've been working on a senior citizen's VCR forever, but it looks like he enjoys their service. Besides, he's been alive for about a century, so what harm will come from a few more years of waiting?🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@doomedhuh]

I like Storm's original costume best too

[@yoshikitakaya7871]

Shit was CLASSIC 🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯

[@demoskunk]

Aesthetically, this is the best version. Also, Marvel was very smart to give the animation work in the 80s to a great Japanese studio.

[@theOGkuma]

Imagine that animation studio doing the 90's cartoon...die hard pryde of the x-men fans could only wish for.

[@theOGkuma]

@@dartheverstar9564 I agree with the the key points of the video. Now that you mentioned it, I think I stumbled on this episode by chance in the early 90's on a random Sunday morning on a local channel. Sure it had its faults, but I still prefer this art/animation style over the fox cartoon. With that said, I enjoyed watching the fox series as a kid as well. If you really want to lmao, check out the honest trailer for the fox Xmen series. Spot on.

[@alanguages]

@@theOGkuma The animation was top notch, as it was the same studio, that did the first two seasons of Transformers named Toei Animation. Coincidentally, the 3rd Season of Transformers, which had the worse animation of the series, was done by the very same company that did the X-Men 90's series called AKOM. Albeit AKOM did improve, but still not in the same league as Toei Animation. The last six episodes of the X-men series was even less quality, than AKOM for money saving purposes. It was done by Philippine Animation Studio.

[@DeletedMediaYoutube]

@@dartheverstar9564 the animation was exceptional. Look at that episode vs. X-Men tas. Kids like me would rewatch it all the time on that famous vhs. Also, don't be a dick

[@DeletedMediaYoutube]

@Shin Shaman everything about that statement is incorrect. The animation is infinitely better than X-Men tas.

[@ivane5110]

The X-Men was yet another reason I feel lucky to have been a 70's kid.

[@Vichedges]

Yeah because every other decade didn’t have the XMen. The XMen were almost canceled in the 70s because they were so unpopular. I think they even stopped printing new stories at one point.

[@ivane5110]

@@Vichedges No, I meant I was lucky to have the memories of being excited each week as the Phoenix saga (from "death", rebirth, Hellfire club membership, on into the Dark Phoenix & death the moon-at start of 80's) all unfolded . The fact that the X-Men were unpopular was part of the fun. Watching them grow and rise and seeing it as it happened and not just a given. I can remember when they were cameo/reprint has beens and saw them themselves rise like a phoenix (appropriately enough). Good times.

[@orphenocou4742]

I’ll say as an 80s kid, the video game for this was one of the highlights of my childhood. If not for that I think Pryde of the X-men may have been forgotten. Sure games like Spider-Man X-Men arcades revenge used similar designs (but the boxart matched the cartoon I grew up with as did most other games of this era like sega’s x-men) but this game literally was Pryde and helped preserve it.

[@paulparker1360]

Wolverine was originally "Australian" in the Spiderman and his Amazing friends episode, "A Firestar is born"

[@boblowes]

Good grief. Yet he's always Canadian in the comic books. Wonder why the change?

[@paulparker1360]

@@boblowes there's no telling...🤣🤣🤣

[@Azizopolis]

@@boblowes maybe the writers felt that the polite reputation of Canadians was antithetical to Wolverine's gruff persona. I'm just speculating.

[@theronmitchell3073]

One of my favorite episodes

[@GangstaMojo]

@@boblowes Paul is correct Wolverine didn't lose his Australian accent until X-Men the Animated Series. in a Stan Lee documentary where he talks about the X-Men Stan Lee says that he had always intended for Wolverine to be Australian. This was before Wolverine's origin was fleshed out in the Wolverine Saga in the comic books. Also in the original print of Incredible Hulk 181 you'll see that at the beginning and ending in the word bubble when Wolverine is speaking there's a "less than" and "greater than" symbols that surround the words that indicates a character having an accent another sign in comics the words inside the word bubble are slanted that also indicates the character has an accent.

[@starsiegeplayer]

Cyclops' space helmet had a faceplate made out of Ruby Quartz, the same material as his visor, so he could shoot through it. They did this in comics as well.

[@DerekEvans1013]

Except the face shield on his space helmet is obviously CLEAR...not ruby quartz

[@JONNYSORENSEN_AU]

In comics perhaps, nothing in the the one off show to mansplain it.

[@acadrengberg]

The arcade game was SO fun. This and Simpsons and TMNT were the best.

[@Clay3613]

I have a "comic" called the X-Men Animation Special , basically high-quality stills from the pilot laid out into comic panel form.

[@paulwatson3194]

Weird irony. Hugh Jackman is Australian. Most of of his Wolvie film input was filmed in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.

[@vicetube]

Would've killed to see 2 or 3 seasons of this style. Imagine the stories and cameos.

[@neoblakkrstal9865]

My favorite Wolverine moment of all time Cyclops: "Where is Leland" Wolverine: "Don't ask"

[@darrenhood4033]

X-Men 134 part of a classic story!

[@MrSake]

The addition of dazzler seems logical to me. They wanted another grown woman on the team. But Rogue's powers carry a lot of complicated back story, and has a bit of plot hole problem where you have to explain why she doesn't just fly in and knock every villian out with a single touch, plus she's another melee heavy person in a team that already had several. Psylocke's power at the time were just being a weaker version of Xavier, so she would have too much concept bleed over with Xavier and the white queen. So they picked Dazzler who could just be put in the background shooting laser beams for a lot of action scenes. And they used the blue outfit since it was *slightly* less dated than the disco suit.

[@WretchinWilson]

She was also a big member of the team at the time.

[@Junketsuadidas]

Disco suit rules

[@madbart214yomother7]

I agree with this. Although not the most well known X-Men, she was just there to be the ranged fighter along with cyclops and storm is the air support. Dazzler wasn't half bad in the arcade game either. Better than cyclops if you ask me.

[@mechamanblade8465]

Pryde of the X-Men and the arcade game based on it were my introduction to the X-Men.

[@emancoy]

Yeah, when the uncanny X-men series came out, the only disappointment i had was Dazzler wasn't on the seriea, just a one episode cameo.

[@ajclements4627]

My first introduction to the X-Men was issue 143. I was hooked and I’m still enjoying their adventures.

[@JONNYSORENSEN_AU]

Now the arcade game i played so much makes more sense for its roster and themes. Konami's other big [multiplayer] arcade games such as tmnt and simpsons were also animated tie ins. I always found it so random this great xmen game just came out of nowhere and seemingly with an old roster that made little sense to me on release.

[@twenty1stpilot]

Same!

[@Jiterdomer]

My first introduction to X-Men was the Capcom fighting game X-Men vs Street Fighter.

[@brendanhaley3668]

Lol a "pretty woman costume". So true, and I remember playing TMNT, Simpsons and Xmen on the arcades. Thanks for this lil trip down memory lane!

[@AllysonA8281]

Michael, I had a similar childhood experience as you did when it comes to the Spider-Man cartoons. I fell out of a second story window when I was about 3 1/2 while playing Spider-Man in my bedroom. You really hit the nail on the head talking about how much influence those shows had by providing people our age such impactful memories from before we loved Star Wars. Pryde of the X-Men and the cabinet arcade they made definitely had the same impact on me and are the reason I love the X-Men to this day. I even named my oldest son Logan after Wolverine. Thank you for the excellent video. Cheers!

[@dannycruz5446]

The 1980 roster was most likely still relevant in the later 80s because of the Classic X-Men reprint series.

[@twenty1stpilot]

Pryde of the X-Men team will always be my X-Men and the arcade game will forever be my favorite Marvel game of all time.. great video!

[@dougjames4972]

I'm right there with you.. loved Spiderman and his amazing friends, loved that the X-Men appearances on that show! Was so excited when Prude of X-Men came out...and then heartbroken when nothing ever became of it. Great video!

[@goldenage]

Not an X-Men fan, but always liked Pryde of the X-Men. Sunbow's heyday had already passed by '89 , so it was like a return to glory days when this 20 minute cartoon aired. It maintained the style of other Sunbow cartoons, but clearly done on a higher budget matching closer to Transformers and Gi Joe animated movies. Also, it very smartly used the Stan Lee narration that some other Marvel cartoons had used prior.

[@mwc1707]

I was a big Colossus player. He was my favorite X-Man at the time and was sad when he wasn't part of the 90's cartoon team. That bellowing yell when he used his "Mutant Power" just worked so well.

[@wharfrat74]

Claremont will always be the king of XMEN writing

[@IStandForTJandTAW]

Hell yeah.

[@sblyde1]

@@IStandForTJandTAW Claremont for the win, dude.

[@josesarango3408]

Hell yeah. Hickman my ass

[@tobiasbaumgartner8629]

@@josesarango3408 Hickman is also good why diss him?

[@kruppecauthon3475]

Claremont built the X-Men up from mediocrity. No denying it. But he and Louise Simonson not the only good writers that the mutant franchise have ever had. Hickman's great at long form storytelling and I've been stuck on everything in the current mutant books (except that basketball story that Ayala wrote; don't know why they finally released it)

[@GungraveFreak]

As awesome as the 90s X-Men animated series intro is, I cannot get the Pryde intro out of my head

[@andrewwylie8735]

I loved this version of the team. Was my introduction to the franchise. The 90s cartoon cemented my love for the franchise, but that arcade cab started it all. I love it so much that decades later I recreated it in a custom 2 Player standup cabinet.

[@DeFactoLeader]

It's interesting to me how far back the trope of 'new, unsure Mutant, often female enters the Xavier institute' actually goes for these adaptations. In the 80's it was Kitty, in the 90's it was Jubilee, and in the 2000's it was Rogue (who they reinvented in a fair few different things). They also did this with a game called X-Men: Legends and a character called Magma. If it ain't broke don't fix it, I suppose.

[@JohnAquariusPodcast]

I feel like Olivia Newton John from The Xanadu days would have made a great Dazzler

[@JohnAquariusPodcast]

The bandana, the short leather jacket and blue the leotard design to me resembles The look from the let's get physical video.

[@LatinSith]

I can imagine Kitty and Illyana karaoke the Olivia Newton John song " Magic".

[@booksmartthealicorn3219]

*Really?! In my honest opinion and book,I purely think Celina Carajaval(Lena Hall) would be a perfect candidate to play as iconic mutant superheroine Alison Blaire aka Dazzler in future MCU films! She was awesome in season 5 Of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic TAS!!* ;D ^-^

[@scottknudsen6611]

Well worth the wait!!! Clobberin' Times is spot on about when Wolverine blew up; it's not often you can point to a single panel and say "here's where this character broke out" but Wolverine in that sewer declaring "now it's my turn!" made us all lose our minds when it hit the racks.

[@kevinthomas4239]

That and the fact that he straight up murdered those Hellfire goons. (Maybe the only Marvel hero at the time to do so?) I loved the way they would just drop snippets of information about his background, leading you to kind of piece it together. The Weapon X story was great, but I thought Origin gave too much away.

[@ajclements4627]

I wanted the films to include that scene so badly lol.

[@Raytheman581]

@@kevinthomas4239 murdered before they went and retconned it because they didn't want wolverine to be a killer at the time. So the next time wolverine enountered the hellfire club they just had that one grunt arms fucked up.

[@nate1066pollock]

That arcade game was a staple of my childhood. My friends and I knew where in the area it was, and when we could get our parents to take us there, we always played it. I played as Colossus.

[@JoeChillton]

Iceman and his slide is one of my favorite early 90s memories.

[@jasonknight8581]

I remember there was some kerfluffle at Marvel regarding the romance between Colossus and Kitty Pryde, seeing how she was 13 and he was 18 at the beginning of the comics story. They even had Colossus fall in love with someone else during Secret Wars, but eventually they bought the two characters back together.

[@ajclements4627]

I really never thought twice about it back then, they were written well (most of the time) and made me want to keep reading to see how their relationship progressed.

[@bane666au]

I first started reading the x-men in the earlier 80's as a kid, and I remember being excited when I first heard about "pryde of the x-men". Although many years later when I eventually saw it I was incredibly disappointed. On a side note due to lockdowns etc from last year and having to spend more time at home, I started to reread old x-men comics starting with giant sized x-men 1, I'm presently up to the issues from 1990. Chis clairmont did some amazing writing on his incredibly long run, I'm enjoying those issues now almost as much as when I was a kid, and in some ways maybe even more.

[@josesarango3408]

all Claremont's stuff after Days of Future Past is vastly underrated IMO. Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, X-tinction Agenda, X-men 1-3 aren't short of awesome. Even the stories after Claremont like X-cutioner Song and Fatal attractions were great

[@b.lloydreese2030]

Xmen comics in the 90s were.2 teams Uncanny xmen - gold team - storm, colossus, iceman, jean grey, archangel, and bishop. The early issues.of the split were drawn by john romita jr. Xmen - drawn by jim lee, the blue team, Cyclops, beast, gambit, rogue, psylocke, wolverine

[@shathriel]

Well, they had four titles really, the brand new Xmen, the newish Xforce, Uncanny Xmen and of course Xfactor, not including Excalibur. The X-cutioners song was one of the first cross titles stories of the rebranded titles.

[@sidearmsalpha]

I thought Marc Silvestri was still doing Uncanny during the split up until he left to form Image Comics.

[@jamesleblanc7437]

@@sidearmsalpha nah, he moved over to Wolverine in ‘90 with writer Larry Hama. He stayed on for two years, then left for Cyberforce.

[@DeviHyuga]

Me being a 90s kid, the X-Men cartoon was my first exposure to the characters and will always be my favorite. But I can see why this version of X-Men is still cool.

[@mrlexbland88]

Magneto bringing a comet to Earth that sounds like the plot the marvel zombies, but I got this tape for Christmas I was stoked about it, it came out the same time you could get the Pizza hut X-Men tapes, other than watching it on Fox in the mornings that was the only way you could watch it for my memory anyway

[@mkproductions2.042]

I remember that!

[@karlrudy4241]

Brilliant production Michael, thank you 🙏

[@shadowdramon01]

Man, that X-Men arcade was awesome. I liked Nightcrawler since his mutant power attack pretty much cleared the screen. I think the furthest I’ve gotten was, I think it was the Savage Land, (either that or Krakao, because there are little monsters that look like mini-Krakaos). If I remember, Blob is the first boss, Pyro is the second and Wendigo is the third, and I remember getting all the way to Wendigo at least.

[@bkjbearcat78]

BTW. I remember when the X Men: The Last Stand was being made. The rumor was that Dazzler was going to be in it. And the person the studio was trying to play her was either Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson. With Simpson as the front runner. I don't know why the character never showed up. But your review reminded me of that.

[@Chrismw81]

Now I'm imagining a modern X-Men film full of millennials and Gen Zers with Billie Eilish as Dazzler

[@bkjbearcat78]

@@Chrismw81 Ya, if they had Dazzler in a X Men movie it would be someone like Eilish. Or Ariana Grande, Halsey or Camila Cabello.

[@johnwayne7383]

Idk if you just incepted me but reading that it started sounding very familiar...

[@scorpiOHscorpiHO]

@@bkjbearcat78 They had an actual actress play her in Dark Phoenix and just had Banks doing the singing

[@kieronball8962]

The voice actor choices for this X-Men cartoon killed it. And Broken Vader tells me his first name is " Burt! " 😁

[@TheUKMikey]

Kath (Rugrats) Soucie emoted the hell out of Kitty i her performace, lol

[@joshuagarcia9538]

Pryde of the X-Men is the first time I saw Dazzler not knowing who she was at the time.

[@redvitaminblue]

Also, by '89 the Uncanny X-Men wasn't really a team book. The entire group was functionally dissolved and the main characters were scattered across the globe, stripped of their concept of self. The comic became a kind of "Where In the World Are the X-Men?" scavenger hunt for about two years, with a rotating cast of ancillary characters (except for Wolverine) taking on the narrative weight of the series. Personally, I thought it was a brilliant idea, told by a writer who had a keen understanding of myth and liminal phenomena, but I can certainly understand why it didn't exactly provide a strong contemporary foundation for a studio trying to get a children's animated series off the ground. Anyway, I'm 16 minutes in. Such a great job so far, Michael -- you've earned a 'like' from this X-Men fan. Carry on...

[@darthgarn8819]

And Uncanny X-Men was still always in the top 5 selling comics each month (and X-Men related titles made up half of the top ten- only competition was Batman title at the height of 1989 Bat-mania). The guest comics expert made it sound like X-Men wasn't still a sales juggernaut (pun intended) by the late 80's. One sales snapshot: in June 1989, 9 of the Top 15 selling comics were X-Men or X-related (3 were Wolverine)

[@benjaminbernal4729]

i remember watching that episode back in 89 i was amazed after it was done i was repeating saying saturday 10 am saturday 10 am next week next week came no more x men cartoons thank you retroblasting now i know why

[@noneed4me2n7]

Thanks Michael really enjoyed revisiting my X-men fandom beginnings.

[@willthebeast8002]

Artwork and design for 'Pryde of the X-Men was and still is GORGEOUS.

[@JohnDoe-tm9wz]

I keep coming back to this video over and over, it's brilliant, this whole channel rules! 🙌🏻

[@retroblasting]

Thanks!

[@timfoerst6348]

Hello, video game dork here! My best guess as to the reason the arcade game was based on the one-off show has to do with development time. Generally speaking, in the late 80s/early 90s, developing an arcade game from concept to reality took roughly 2 years. Konami probably got promotional material from Marvel back in September 89 to develope the game, when Marvel thought it was still going to be a series. The game debuted in February 92, so it tracks.

[@MisaelCastilloBrenes]

Interesting story, and I'm glad you got your collection from the cartoon/game complete. That's somehow how I feel with the Transformers cartoon. It doesn't make sense most of the time, has a lot of animation errors and continuity issues, but is my most beloved geek memory from my childhood. So I have the DVDs and the Masterpiece version of my favorite characters, and the rest of my collections can go (figuratively, I still like the other stuff I have). Thanks for taking the time to do this, I know it took a lot of hard work and care. Amazing video. :)

[@badape3620]

The programmers of the Xmen video game identify has never been made public because their lives are still in danger. That was priceless

[@charlespetrie5757]

Wolverine being Australian is the only bad part of this failed pilot.

[@riz82k97]

He sounds Scottish not Australian

[@Thabosshoss]

Agreee. Besides that it’s fine as far as cartoons of that era go, and I would go as far as saying it was great.

[@matthewparker235]

As a kid I always imagined his accent being Australian because of this cartoon

[@charlesphillips331]

Such a great video. Between Patreon and KZbin I’ve watched it 3 times so far. Always appreciate all the work you put into the videos. I’ve been an obsessive X-Men fan since I turned 11 in 1991 so this one really resonated with me.

[@andrewflashchannelgibbs5384]

Haven’t watched the channel for a while. What a great video. Lots of facts, in-depth information and great clips. Thanks. 👍

[@arctrooper999]

Oh that X-Men arcade game! I played it in the arcade with my pals. I bought it for my smartphone ten years ago for a buck, but yeah that cabinet.

[@brentandrew2419]

You said you were right on the cusp- when were you born, or how old were you in 1989? I was in that sweet spot of being a kid in the mid-90s, so the animated superhero series were my bread and butter. Ironically, between Batman, Superman, X-Men and Spider-Man, I probably got more new superhero content per week than I ever could now with all the endless movies...

[@markmartinez2933]

Oh my gosh, I seriously thought that I would never see a 1990's dazzler action figure let alone a Classic Storm! I guess good things come to pass, though it was a 25 year wait.Thanks for the great episode on Pryde of the X men, I would have liked to have seen a 13 episode season of this version of the team. Though there may have been a fall out of older readers during this time, I was one who truly appreciated the fall of the mutants storyline and that team . Again thanks for the amount of work and detail you put into this episode.

[@mrdontknowhatguy3607]

Who’s one of those people who like the brown suit but then you like the yellow suit at the same time

[@raulzavala9061]

First time I saw Wolverine was in the brown costume, his original yellow with shoulder pads looks too 70's.

[@josesarango3408]

@@raulzavala9061 agreed

[@ajclements4627]

Anyone else remember the costume he grabbed from Fang, one of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard for an issue or two? How about his ‘disguise’ as Patch? Like no one noticed it was Logan with an eyepatch.

[@josesarango3408]

@@ajclements4627 LOL that Patch "disguise" was something. Also the one he brought from Shiar

[@KnowledgeLost]

Always a good day when new Retroblasting content is out!

[@t00lnin]

Awesome video! I was born at the end of 81 and your point about being on the cusp of some pop culture trends really resonated with me.

[@MonkeyboysToys]

Yet again what a quality piece of content from RetroBlasting. You gotta respect the time and effort Michael takes in bringing us these excellent videos. God I love this channel.

[@MordiganE6]

The Xmen Pilot on VHS was the only thing I ever asked for in a catalogue from grade school. Ended up watching it dozens of times.

[@ArtGcollection]

Loved the video man! Definitely gave me more clarity as I proudly owned the VHS and as a kid enjoyed it

[@randyping6036]

Dazzler was fun. I always liked that she was a musician who didn't want to necessarily be a big hero.

[@willie_the_monkey_king]

oh man i love this video. you cover my favorite video game, loved the Toy Biz line of X-Men, the cartoon... thank you Retroblasting.

[@skyhighwayvintagetoys4286]

Been waiting for this all day. Edit: Well worth the wait! great video as always.

[@LucLightWolf121]

An outstanding video, Michael. Thank you for making it.

[@retroblasting]

Thank you, sir.

[@LucLightWolf121]

@@retroblasting You're welcome.

[@CHASEMARC]

to be fair to Kitty - she was 13 years old and Nightcrawler looks like a freaking DEMON, and it also took place in the comics as well, her growing to like and even love him was part of her arc and by the time of them forming Excaliber they acted more like brother and sister.

[@paxhumana2015]

I honestly loved the X-Men arcade outfit of White Queen. A beautiful woman that wears that outfit in real life does things to me that make me happy to know that women exist.

[@talesfromthebutchside5613]

Fantastic video! This version of the team is by far one of my favorites!

[@Jexel999]

Love all the old school X-men.. they were like a family . Great video .. made me reminisce.

[@Darkglobe1977]

I think this might be your best video to date.

[@brucemcclelland1919]

there is a real life musician who would've made a great Dazzler. You may have heard of her, Kylie Minogue?

[@gishmoe3088]

Kylie Minogue would've made a great anything.

[@heyokaikaggen6288]

Don't undermine my Beth Behrs campaign.

[@AWW8472]

I'd always thought this cartoon was made in 1985 or early 1986, got shelved because finances weren't available to complete a 13 episode season, then dropped into Marvel Action Universe block because it was something else unique to Marvel and not a licensed property. It has the look of mid1980s and a campy comic book plot. I never knew it was made in 1989, just thought it aired then.

[@krono5el]

this was a cherished vhs of my childhood

[@dadcrafted]

We that that VHS tape and man, my brother and I wore that thing out. Seeing the clips brought it all back and I even remembered the lines. Thanks for this.

[@mlseries2553]

Nuts! Michael, you absolutely blew my mind today. Thank you.

[@geoffmarker9799]

Love this video! Pryde of the X-Men is such a great to watch every so often. I love introducing it to people who never knew it existed. Can’t wait for that HIGHLY anticipated Arcade1up X-Men cabinet for come out.

[@stuartortiz4137]

Great video, Michael. I had expected a more by the numbers analysis of the early toy-biz figures, but this was actually way more interesting. I loved the cartoon series as a kid, but had no idea there a one-off pilot made before it, and how the cartoon series was shaped by other media outside of the contemporary comic. Well done, good sir!

[@kailryu]

Made me so happy to watch this, thank you! ♥️

[@ARCWuLF]

Wolverine is also Australian in "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" which as you've already stated predates POTXM by about 7 or 8 years.

[@WarriorSmurf]

Actually, in the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends episode "A Firestar is Born", Wolverine also has the Australian accent (you can find/watch it on Dailymotion). According to Stan Lee, an ongoing show was hard to schedule. There was an attempt to get it on in primetime on ABC. Had it made it in that slot (possibly Thursday nights), it would have featured a different team. Also, Hasbro planned to make a toyline.

[@JD-jt7vg]

Phenomenal Doc. I was born in 87 and this was my first experience w/ Xmen so I understand that small window of time where even though it didn’t garner the success it deserved, it still served as a launch point for what we got in the 90s and 2000s.

[@Chasing80sToys]

Excellent video Michael 👍🙌

[@MegaGearX]

This particular cartoon made me a huge X-Men fan! After watching it, I gave ZERO FUCKS what number the comic was at! Issue #242?! Classic X-Men #30?! The X-Men were in the middle of Inferno? Who was Jean? Who was Mr. Sinister? Why were demons invading New York? I did not care. That Saturday, I went to the comic book store and brought every X-Men issue they had on the stands. New Mutants (Colossus was in it) and Excalibur too. (Kitty and Nightcrawler) I would catch up. All that mattered when I was 12 was getting more X-Men stories! As for the whole Dazzler thing, I think it's the whole rotating "Sixth Ranger" syndrome that Claremont and Byrne/Cockrum's X-Men have going on. Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Colossus were the mainstays of that legendary run, but the sixth member was usually a rotating slot after Banshee left. Beast, Iceman, Jean and Angel were basically interchangeable guest members who rounded out the team. Pryde chose Dazzler, the LJN X-Men game does this with Iceman and Toybiz did this with Archangel who was a pretty hot character at the time (the line would also have Apocaylpse in it's first wave too).

[@jmatseas]

Another great vid and one I will watch over and over

[@JoseFlores-xc7wu]

The pilot episode reminded me of the X-men arcade game

[@JAYBARTON1981]

I wish they had done the ongoing X-Men series in this style of animation. It was always soo much more crisp, the lines were more defined, and the movements were smoother.

[@edwardburek1717]

You do know, I'm not going to get "Here he comes, here he comes, here he comes, Anakin Skywalker in the house" out of my head every time I hear the Imperial March...

[@ClonePilotSwoop]

That ToyBiz Wolverine in the tan and yellow. I had that figure and actually found it on the side of the road. I was walking home from school one day when I was probably 8-ish, and there it was on the side with no houses. So, yeah, I took it home and he joined my other figures. Probably why the tan costume is my preferred Wolverine costume.

[@paulydee5106]

This was a great vid! I remember it all! Thanks for putting out such great content. I always wondered why Wolvie was portrayed as an Aussie in Pryde of the X-Men. The animation was awesome but I remember the story also being very weak. I had all those X-Men figures which my Dad bought me from Child's World!

[@alanrussette2819]

I had high hopes for the X-Men after watching Pryde, but as a Canadian, I hated that they made Wolverine Australian. I vaguely remember him being Australian in the Amazing Friends episode, as well.

[@Summertimeblues28]

Yes Logan’s from Alberta, it always threw me off as well that he sounded like an Aussie

[@ChrisConnolly-Mr.C-Dives-In]

As a kid watching it, I didn’t know it was an Aussie accent, but I did know it sounded out of sorts.

[@GobelPaul]

As an Aussie I really dislike the accent Wolverine has because it is not even close to an Australian accent lol I've never heard an American do justice to an Aussie accent...

[@ChrisConnolly-Mr.C-Dives-In]

@@GobelPaul so glad you said that because my friend in the US who was born in Russia, didn’t like the accent on Colossus. It all makes sense, any accent was trouble.

[@drozwalker9]

1989 was a year where life as I knew it changed forever. I was on the tail of collecting GI Joe but was a huge fan of X Men through reading the comics. Then got glued to my TV on Saturday mornings for another reason. I love that intro with good ol Broken Vader aka Maurice.

[@simplysteve68]

Eartha Kitt as the voice of Emma Frost/White Queen.

[@SuperWolsey]

Oh shit!!

[@alanguages]

The voice fit and some of the others also. The animation was awesome.

[@Dizzy247365plus]

Eartha Kitt was ABSOLUTELY NOT the voice of The White Queen. It was veteran voice actress JENNIFER DARLING who was used quite often as the go-to voice for a "seductive evil villainess." She was the voice of "Madame O" in Bionic Six and the voice of "Pythona" in G.I. Joe The Movie just as two examples of this. The White Queen's "voice" --that exact sounding voice...was everywhere in 80s cartoons!!

[@alanguages]

@@Dizzy247365plus I looked it up, and it was NOT Eartha Kitt, nor Jennifer Darling. The one that I found who voiced the White Queen was SUSAN SILO. A voice over actress. The op was obviously wrong and you were also. The voice actress still fit the role. Multiple sites, like IMDB, Marvel Fandom and Behind the Voice actors verify it to be Susan Silo.

[@vblogeoIntenso]

Wow 🤩 what a great piece of history, thank you Michael 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@TheDevilinThePaleMoonlight]

A broken Vader intro should be a prerequisite for EVERY video. BV is a goddamn American treasure at this point

[@trippin_ninja]

I remember finding this on vhs as a kid after the Fox show came out and being really confused. Thanks for the awesome trip down memory lane. Your situation with your age and X-men reminds me of mine with Star Wars, I was too young for the original trilogy and aging out by the time the prequels hit. The Kotor games and Star Wars Galaxies are what ended up pulling me into the hardcore fanbase.

[@CartoonManWhoo]

Thanks, Michael! I've been waiting on this one.

[@suziwolf4830]

If you're going to mention Emma's inclusion despite never being part of the Brotherhood, it's also worth mentioning Juggernaut, who (at the time and still unless I missed a retcon somewhere) isn't a mutant at all...

[@johnni]

All this happened in one episode? Wow! The dual screen 6 player arcade cabinet blew my mind when I saw it at the first arcade I walked into when my family moved to Canada from Asia. But because I played Colossus most of the time, I preferred the 4 player cabinet simply because his mutant power blast filled the whole screen on the 4 player cab. Oh man, I miss walking into arcades hearing Colossus' explosion scream, Hadoukens and the announcer voice from Killer Instinct cutting through the soundscape. Great memories. Thanks Michael.

[@D21BeastReviews]

Fantastic, Michael. Thank you for sharing your story. Even though I was introduced to the X-Men through the 90's cartoon, when I actually started reading the comics it was Claremont's legendary run. And those are the X-Men I always think of first when some mentions the team.

[@anionhero]

Great video! I have always loved the X-Men since the Giant-sized X-Men comic. I saw them in the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon and the Pryde of to the X-Men cartoon, but the Giant Sized X-Men comic was where I truly got interested in them.

[@CapricornNJ]

I can understand your frustration at the lack of a Dazzler figure. As a fan of The Super Friends, I often wondered if I would ever get figures of Black Vulcan, Samurai, Apache Chief, El Dorado, and the Wonder Twins. I own them all now, of course. I remember seeing this toon, and I may have owned the VHS tape back in the day. As for Dazzler's appearance in the cartoon, it was always my opinion that they used the female character with the least amount of 'baggage'. Jean Grey had the whole Dark Phoenix saga, as well as her relationship with Cyclops. Rogue used her mutant powers to strip Carol Danvers of hers, and took all of her memories and emotional connections to her past life. Psylocke could've been used, but at that time, she was the one who sent the X-Men through the Siege Perilous, basically sending the team everywhere, including herself, which, if I'm remembering correctly, resulted in Psylocke becoming an Asian ninja assassin. This leaves Dazzler, a character with no baggage, and a power set that could easily be animated. You didn't mention this, so I'm not sure if you know about it, but there was a graphic novel released using the art from the cartoon. It's called "X-Men - Animation Special" and you can find it on Amazon. www.amazon.com/Men-Animation-Special-Marvel-Graphic/dp/0871356945

[@nigeldreiner]

EXCELLENT episode. I remember finding PRYDE OF THE X-MEN on clearance on VHS at Target. I was used to the 90's X-Men show but couldn't help but see despite it's flaws, the animation was stellar and way above the Fox Kids show.