oHOTmu or NOT Ep.88: Primus to Psycho-Man

Arnim Zola's pet project. A serpentine circus performer. A teacher of gifted youngsters. An energy research facility. A negative Nelly. Which are Hot? Which are Not? Find out, as the Hot Squad continues its coverage of OHOTMU's 10th issue and reveals how datable its characters are.

Featuring permanent panelists Elyse, Isabel, Nathalie, and Shotgun.

Listen to Episode 88 below (the usual mature language warnings apply), or subscribe to oHOTmu OR NOT? on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Relevant images and further credits at: oHOTmu or NOT ep.88 Supplemental

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16 responses to “oHOTmu or NOT Ep.88: Primus to Psycho-Man

  1. I just wanted to let you know your show is incredibly fun to listen to. It also saved my life! A few months ago I was driving home from a long trip (it was a 7 hour car drive) and it was late at night. I was driving through rural Pennsylvanian mountains on a country road (stupid gps) at night. There were trees on one side and a cliff on the other winding up and down, you get the idea. I was getting super tired. I kept awake by listening to podcasts. I went through at least a dozen and they were not helping. Yours however did! I think because there was so much sharp laughter it kept me awake. The show calmed my nerves and I got home alive and intact. So thank you for the show you truly are actual heroes!

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  2. What a great way to spend a few hours on my last day before Christmas break! Thanks Hot Squad (and Siskoid, of course)!

    Primus: Love the needle drops! Zola’s troops did turn into doughboy like creatures. It was actually kind of gross and quite frightening, despite the absurd visual!

    Princess Python: I always thought she had more potential. She made an impression on me in the reprint of her first appearance when I read it in Marvel Tales in the early 80s. I agree the heels being like her stockings is weird. She needs at least little ankle boots, maybe the same shade of green as her bodice?

    Professor X: If the girls need a less…benign Professor X to find interesting, you can always go with the creeper version of Chuck who secretly longed to hook up with his much younger student Jean Grey WAY back in the original X-Men #1. Thankfully, writers for the next 30 years ignored this, but it came roaring back when Charles’ pent-up “bad feelings” resulted in the creation of the monstrous Onslaught, who begat the even more monstrous “Heroes Reborn” era of comics. I’m sure he’s done even ickier things since then, because modern comic writers love dragging these characters through the mud.

    Project Pegasus: As a person who works in marketing (Director of Design and Branding at the college that employs me), I have to say the idea of someone in our field working at a top secret military installation is kind of cool! Some of the prior Directors of Marketing I worked under could be catergorized as meglomaniacs.

    Psycho Man: Ah, his iPad of evil! You gotta love Kirby. Always ahead of the curve. I love his design because it is PURE Kirby with all those tubes. But it is very odd.

    1. I’ll add to the toxicity of Charles Xavier by mentioning another of his early assholishness. When he needed a few months of vacation to prepare for an alien invasion he faked his own death. (That’s when Cyclops had his too short run as a radio host.) So be prepared that if he ever needs a few week away from the relationship he might fake his own death too.

  3. Another fun-filled episode!

    To answer the question of whether Princess Python’s snake had a name: As I recall, she always called it “Precious.” As for her having multiple snakes, her snake was killed when it fell into a vat of acid during her battle with Iron Man. She was so distraught that she tried to jump into the vat after it, but Iron Man rescued her. While her reaction was extreme, Iron Man’s thoughts on the situation were pretty cringe-inducing, as he expressed disbelief that anyone could be so attached to “a cold, unfeeling animal” (I might be misremembering the exact words). Evidently, Tony Stark never had any pets…

    Although she did get a new snake by the time she next appeared, it’s clear that she regards each snake as a beloved pet/companion, and not just an easily replaceable “tool” for her circus act and criminal activities.

  4. Primus – A lot more “sword” talk that I expected, so I apparently forgot who was on this podcast. 😉

    Princess Python – Yeah, the lower legs are a bit odd with the tights going right into the same color shoes. Boots, of the darker green, would have certainly be better. That might make her look like a fully-covered Poison Ivy, though. All that being said, definitely hot.

    Professor X – I’ve read my share of X-Men and once I saw what he thought in Issue #3 I have NEVER been on Xavier’s side in pretty much anything. Sorry, Stan, but an adult man, and a TEACHER, thinking that the new, female student at his school was “the one I love” was WAY too far to go. With all the “I’m going to make this person forget they saw us” stuff he pulled, I’m really thankful that he never manipulated Jean into something improper. (Does this mean he’s problematic enough now?)

    Project Pegasus – Here we go, the second act in Quasar’s hero journey! It did start out as a “good” place, but the idea of experimenting on those with powers got pretty dark after awhile. That’s one of the reasons that Quasar left, after all. They’ve gone back and forth between good and bad in the comics, with the last time I’m familiar with them being good during Quasar’s own series (1989-1994).

    Psycho-Man – I don’t have much experience with this guy other than the John Byrne run on FF. I don’t think he had his “iPad of Doom” in that, though.

  5. Professor Xavier is a jerk!

    So, does this mean that there are Potential Energy Groups (Alternate Sources) in other countries? Is there a Pegasc in Canada? Pegasm in Mexico? Pegasuk? Pegassu?

  6. Another great episode covering characters (outside of Prof X) that I know little about.

    Princess Python – She could be mega-hot. But there is something about the one color and the scales that just seems off. She looks like a low-key cosplay of the Jolly Green Giant mascot. Ho ho ho? I think yellow legs would have saved the whole thing.

    Prof X – I have to say that I find it sort of noble that he remains in the chair. Certainly he could use his mind powers to telekinetically move his legs to have him ‘walk’. But somehow staying in the chair helps the image of someone overcoming something for greatness. I always forget about the ‘mental blocks’ he put in Jean. I suppose trying to save the universe and not actively hurting her makes it somewhat less egregious although still creepy. It is all about consent. My guess is he could have asked Jean if he could place them and she might have agreed!

    Project Pegasus – the pony-tail, glasses hot woman scientist is indeed ubiquitous in comics and truly all media. I think it is always there because it always works. HOT!

  7. Regarding professor X and the “psychic circuit breakers” he placed? affixed? imparted? gave? put? in Jean/Phoenix’s mind. First, disregard almost every story written about Xavier after about 1980. In the event that transformed Jean into Phoenix, she suddenly had tremendous power for which she had no instruction manual. Charles quickly put a damper on that power with the idea that he and Jean could work together to learn how to best harness that power. Within a few months, Charles thought that Jean and all the X-Men were dead and he left Earth. Jean, not dead, believed the rest of the X-Men were dead and effectively stopped training. The course for tragedy was set.
    I work with students who are non-neural typical. The teachers who work with them directly every day are super heroes. These teachers also sometimes have to physically restrain some of these students to prevent them from harming themselves or others. Their collective repsonse to those incidents is both frightening and admirable. It is in this light that I see the Professor X/Phoenix situation. He, having greater experience and authority, did what he needed to do to prevent harm to Jean and to others. I have no interest in stories after that that play up any other motivation.
    I love this podcast!

  8. This was a fantastic show and the Hot Squad’s laughter is exactly what I needed today. I enjoyed the whole show from top to bottom!

    Primus – That’s a “Come at me, bro!” pose. The entire discussion about Primus, “Is he the shape of my uterus?” “He looks like the Oscar statue.” was fantastic. I will never look at Primus the same again.

    Princess Python – She must be hella strong to be holding up that snake like that!

    Professor X – Okay, I’m just going to say it. Every time I’ve read the Prof, he really seemed like a jerk to his students. A definite NOT from me.

    Project Pegasus – “Bulge adjacent”. Well, yeah, that happens to guys sometimes.

    Psycho-Man – He carries around the worst kid’s board book of all time.

    What a compliment, “I am memory foam!” That’s what it will say on my business card from now on. Though, joke is on you, my memory is terrible, whoever you people are!

    Well done again, everyone! Keep up the great work!

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