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In its final season, FX’s Legion isn’t pulling any punches. To prove it, the X-Men show finally introduced one of the franchise’s most iconic characters in Season 3 Episode 3: Charles Xavier, otherwise known as Professor X. And although the father of the X-Men has been through many iterations, the Charles Xavier we met on Legion was–unsurprisingly–unlike any version of the character that’s come before.

Legion has always been era-agnostic–although the show has a general 1960s aesthetic, its technology is often far beyond what was possible then. With the introduction of time travel in Season 3, Legion’s timeline has become even more muddled. The show places Charles Xavier some time after an era that resembles World War II, but is never referred to in detail as such–an ambiguity that Legion creator and showrunner Noah Hawley said is deliberate.

“When we meet Professor X in this season, he has been a soldier in a war–a war that probably feels a bit like World War II, I guess I would say, though we never commit to what it is,” Hawley told journalists during a recent visit to Legion’s set in Los Angeles. “So there’s something about the timing of it that may not necessarily fit in with the canon.”

But even more significant than the change in setting is the change in actor: Legion’s Professor X is played by Harry Lloyd, perhaps best known for his role as Daenerys Targaryen’s abusive brother Viserys in Season 1 of HBO’s Game of Thrones. On a gut level, the two characters–Viserys Targaryen and Charles Xavier–couldn’t be more different. But the Xavier we met in Legion Season 3, Episode 3 was not the sage, fatherly Professor X portrayed by Patrick Stewart, or James McAvoy’s warm, easygoing version. Lloyd’s Charles is a bit more unhinged–David and Switch find him earlier in his journey, and like every character on Legion, Charles has good and bad qualities.

“One of my favorite things about Legion is that, having watched the X-Men films and seen McAvoy and Stewart on the screen–live-action portrayals of him–and the comics, [you see] things they all had in common,” Lloyd told journalists during the set visit. “But then you look at Legion, and you kind of–it gives you permission to kind of throw that all away, to a certain extent.”

Lloyd said he was offered the part of Professor X back in December 2018, but he didn’t immediately grasp exactly who he’d be playing. “The breakdown was: His name is Charles, he’s a war veteran that believes the good of humanity. I was like, hmmm, sounds about right,” Lloyd said. Later, while chatting with Hawley about the part, the showrunner casually dropped the name “Charles Xavier.”

“And I pretended that I knew,” Lloyd said. “Of course, I didn’t–I hadn’t pieced it together. But then, obviously, that made it even more exciting.”

He said working on Legion is collaborative, playful, and crazy, with plans and scripts sometimes changing on a dime when a bolt of inspiration strikes. Naturally, Legion’s Professor X couldn’t be the same version we’re used to.

“It’s such an irreverent, ridiculous show, and it’s surreal, so I didn’t feel that I had to be in debt to do the straitlaced Charles that we know,” Lloyd said. “The story that we’re telling doesn’t really allow for him to be always in control and very pope-like. He’s actually a young man, and he’s been thrown into his own story before he’s ready because of what’s happening in the future with David. So he’s actually quite lost for most of it. To play someone who is normally quite grounded and thoughtful and deliberate in his actions, to see him before he gets there, to see him as a young man, confused and doubtful and exploring his own powers…that’s been really fun.”

Better Half

Episode 3 didn’t just introduce us to Professor X–we also met Gabrielle Haller, his wife and David’s mother. When Charles realizes that there’s someone out there with powers similar to his–Amahl Farouk, who will come to be known as the Shadow King, as Legion viewers well know–he leaves Gabrielle and baby David behind, abandoning them to what is ultimately a terrible fate.

“True to the comic style, you see them meet in the hospital, and then they fall in love, and they actually have a really beautiful love story,” Stephanie Corneliussen, who plays Gabrielle, told journalists during the set visit. “It’s very easy to fall in love with Harry Lloyd, I’ll say that much.”

“Professor X is a super important character for the whole universe, whether or not you’re kind of playing with your own alternate version. I mean, it’s Professor X!”

Corneliussen said Legion’s version of Gabrielle is very different from what’s in the source material, which shaped her goals for the character. “In the comic, you see this very strong side of Gabrielle Haller. She’s a powerhouse, she works for the embassy, she’s a lawyer, she’s in human rights,” the actress said. “Here you actually get to see the real, frail version of her, and when I read that that was what we were going at, for me, it was just important to make her a real person…For Marvel and for fans of Legion, I thought it was my job to try and give her real life.”

Corneliussen said they didn’t take the inclusion of these beloved characters lightly. “I feel like Noah [Hawley] made a point of going to depth with carving out these two characters,” she said. “Obviously, Professor X is a super important character for the whole universe, whether or not you’re kind of playing with your own alternate version. I mean, it’s Professor X! And I think they’re actually being done justice, for what it is. It’s a fun season, you know what I mean?”

For his part, Hawley said he was excited by the idea of showing Charles as a younger man than we’re used to seeing.

“I think my goal is to look at Charles Xavier as a father, and a new father at that–someone who falls in love under circumstances that echo his son’s love story, of meeting his love after the war in a sanitarium, and helping her get back to a healthy place,” the showrunner said. “And so the context of the story of Charles Xavier is really through that. It’s very early in his development of discovering his own powers and what he can do with it, and discovering that there are other people out there like him.”

Lauren Shuler Donner, who in addition to being executive producer on all three seasons of Legion has produced all the X-Men movies under Fox, told journalists she’s especially aware of how important the character is to fans. Doing Professor X in a way that fans don’t recognize–or worse, don’t like–could potentially be disastrous.

“I’m cognizant of his legacy,” Donner said. “Personally it’s kind of a thrill for me, because I remember the day on ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ when we had both Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy in the scene that Charles was in, and everybody was thrilled–not just James and Patrick. So, to me, it keeps the legacy going. It is within the canon to show a younger Charles, a young, naïve, just-finding-his-powers Charles. So I think it sort of finishes a story, a Charles Xavier story, at the right time, in that Fox is now moving to Disney and there’ll be a whole new iteration. So [these] universes have synced in a wonderful coincidence.”

Like Father, Like Son

Legion is, of course, centered not around Charles Xavier, but on his son, Dan Stevens’ David Haller. The two characters have plenty in common–not just their strong psychic powers, but also their tendency to act selfishly when presented with hard choices. David never knew his father, but he blames him for his lifelong problems–and not without reason. During the set visit, Stevens teased some of the duo’s future scenes.

“Those scenes that I have with him, you know, David playing opposite his father at a very similar age–it’s trippy stuff, and it’s a nice resolution to that relationship, I think,” Stevens said. “There’s a lot of confusion and hurt, obviously, in that direction, and so, yeah–there’s a few episodes towards the end where we see that sort of harmony and a discussion of that whole thing, which is really lovely.”

“Whenever Legion shows up, things get really weird, really quickly, and a lot of worlds are turned upside-down–sometimes literally.”

Legion has never really felt like an X-Men show. Tonally, aesthetically, and in every other way, it’s very different from the live-action X-Men movies that most fans are used to. Stevens said it’s nice to have Professor X in Legion’s final season, as the beloved character anchors the series to the main franchise in a way that hasn’t been done before.

“The bubble of Legion, I mean even in the comics, is quite tangential to a lot of the main X-Men narrative, and whenever Legion shows up, things get really weird, really quickly, and like, a lot of worlds are turned upside-down–sometimes literally. And we have always been quite comfortable in this sort of odd pocket, in a way,” Stevens said. “But it is nice to finally, in this three-season structure, to have this–I guess a string that ties our crazy balloon to the main raft of the X-men stories. I think that will be satisfying for people who know and love X-men and Legion.

“There are quite a few people who have watched this show who have no knowledge of the Marvel of it all, and hopefully that will make them curious, you know–might cause them to go and watch some other X-Men-y type things,” Stevens continued. “But yeah, I guess having surprised so many people with this sort of unique look and style of the show, to bring it back to that universe is quite fun.”

The fun promises to continue as Legion’s third and final season airs Mondays on FX.

Nintendo has announced the latest free NES games for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, along with a brand-new feature for all NES games.

The new titles are Donkey Kong 3 and The Wrecking Crew, which will become available starting July 17. As for the new feature, the “Rewind” feature is exactly what it sounds like. You can hold the ZL + ZR buttons to rewind gameplay for all of the games in the NES library on Switch.

It sounds like how it works in the Forza Horizon series. Bungle a section or just want to try again? You can press the buttons to rewind the gameplay and have another go. It sounds like a handy feature that could be most useful in more challenging titles.

The Rewind feature arrives on July 17 alongside the release of The Wrecking Crew and Donkey Kong 3. Those titles join the 40+ others in the library of freebies for Switch Online members. Classics like The Legend of Zelda and the original Donkey King are also included.

A Nintendo Switch Online membership also provides access to online play and cloud saves, while the battle royale game Tetris 99 is also included with the membership.

Nintendo Switch Online has more than 10 million subscribers. Looking ahead, Nintendo plans to grow and “enhance” Nintendo Switch Online, but no other details are available yet.

Ahead of World of Warcraft Classic’s release in August, Blizzard has now confirmed that there will be local servers for Australia and other parts of the Oceanic region, which is great news.

The Oceanic realms will be available for players in Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of Southeast Asia. The servers are physically located in Australia, and they’ll be available at launch on August 27. The specific names of the servers will be announced soon, coming sometime before character name reservations begin on August 13.

Blizzard has also confirmed that the final stress test for WoW Classic will be held July 26 and 27. The test is global, and the aim is to give Blizzard one more opportunity to test the game at scale before its public release. The version of WoW Classic available in the testing period features a number of fixes and changes; Blizzard says testers have filed some 17,000 bug reports from the closed beta. That closed beta is ending on July 13.

“We agree with the many WoW Classic enthusiasts in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia that it will be a very good thing for players in that part of the world to connect to realms that are hosted in that part of the world,” Blizzard said in a statement. “Planned it all along!”

WoW Classic is just what it sounds like: it’s the base game, in the state it was more than a decade ago before the release of the Burning Crusade expansion. The game operates alongside the regular WoW. Access to WoW Classic is available through the standard $15 USD/month regular WoW subscription price.

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Natalie “Wattson” Paquette has joined Apex Legends as the battle royale game’s tenth playable character. Added as part of Season 2, you’ll need to drop 750 Apex Coins or 12,000 Legend Tokens to unlock her. The electrifying defender is well worth the price though if you’re not the type of person who’s gung-ho to chase after enemy squads.

In the following guide, we go over all of Wattson’s skills, explain how you can get the best out of her character, and offer strategies for overcoming her weaknesses. If you haven’t grabbed Apex Legends yet, you should. The game is free and one of the best battle royales of 2019 so far. In GameSpot’s Apex Legends review, Phil Hornshaw wrote, “Apex Legends is a mix of smart shooter ideas that makes for a competitive, team-based game that gets at all the best parts of battle royale while addressing a lot of the weaknesses. Respawn’s intense focus on team play makes Apex more than just a worthy addition to the genre; it’s an indicator of where battle royale should go in the future.”

Other Character Guides

Wattson’s General Overview

If you listen to Wattson’s dialogue, you’ll hear that she’s not terribly excited about killing people with firearms, preferring to play electricity-based pranks and make lightning-based puns to annoy her opponents. All of Wattson’s skills reflect this mindset. Though she is a defender like Gibraltar and Caustic, Wattson possesses zero offensive-driven skills. She’s Apex Legends’ first true defender character, solely specializing in reinforcing her squad’s position and outlasting any who would dare try and attack.

As such, if you’re going to try and use Wattson offensively, you’re best bet is to stop thinking like a hunter and more like a trapper who sits and waits for their prey to come to you. Wattson is not for everyone, and given how offensive-focused Apex Legends has become since its launch, it also means she’s not a necessary character to own if your squad likes speed-based teams involving Octane, Pathfinder, and Wraith. That said, if you do master Wattson’s defensive skills, you’ll find plenty of new ways to counter the other Legends when you meet them in the arena.

Wattson’s Abilities

Passive Ability: Spark of Genius – Ultimate Accelerants fully charge your Ultimate Ability, and standing near interception pylons boosts your Tactical Ability recharge.

Move over Lifeline, there’s a new Ultimate Accelerant queen who now needs those items more than you. Wattson has a wonderful Ultimate Ability that can save a squad in a pinch once the perimeter ring starts getting pretty small. As such, Wattson should always have her Ult at the ready (you never know when you might need it) and a spare Ultimate Accelerant on hand just in case. After your team’s Wattson is loaded up, pass your remaining Ultimate Accelerants to Lifeline and the rest of the squad.

Tactical Ability: Perimeter Security – Connect nodes to create electrified fences that damage and slow enemies.

Wattson can set up four nodes the second the game begins, allowing you to immediately create a wall, angled wall, or (provided the final node is close enough to the first node) a triangle or quadrilateral. After placing a node, Wattson’s Tactical begins to recharge, allowing her to place up to 12 at one time.

The electrified fences that Wattson creates is the only ability she can use to damage people and it does not do much–only 10 damage per tick. However, Wattson is alerted when someone passes through one of her fences. Any enemy passing through her gate will also slow, even if sprinting.

This makes Perimeter Security, above all else, a deterrent and nothing more. Enemies either need to suffer minor damage and a speed decrease to go through them or waste ammo shooting the nodes. Either way, you’ll be alerted. Enemy squads know this so it’s in their best interest to avoid fences. With this in mind, you can create choke points or buy your team precious time to retreat from a firefight, heal, and regroup.

Ultimate Ability: Interception Pylon – Place an electrified pylon that destroys incoming ordnance and repairs damaged shields as long as it stands.

Interception Pylon is great for bunkering down, as it will heal your squad’s shields and vastly increase the recharge rate on Wattson’s tactical ability so she can put down more fences. The ability to knock out all incoming ordnance isn’t too bad a perk either, but be warned as it will affect friendly ordnance as well. Though Wattson’s Ultimate Ability can only place one pylon per charge, she can put down three of them at once.

Tips To Play As Wattson

Wattson is one of the few characters in Apex Legends whose utility exponentially increases as the game goes on and the perimeter ring shrinks. Granted, as stated before, Wattson is at her best while bunkering down. Use the early rings to grab Ultimate Accelerants and your favorite weapons and ordnance, engaging enemies as they find you.

Once the ring gets small enough, find a spot in the center to bunker down. If you have a Pathfinder with you, all the better, as they’ll be able to tell you where the following ring location will be to better set up. Don’t bother trying to hide. Just start constructing fences, and throw out an Interception Pylon or two so that you can put up a perimeter more quickly and not have to worry about incoming grenades. Remember to place your pylons in a way where they’re difficult to reach. You don’t want an enemy squad to easily destroy all your hard work.

After that, it’s just a matter of your team holding the position. Make sure everyone has plenty of healing items and at least one good close-range weapon like an EVA-8, Mastiff, Peacekeeper, or Wingman. You can either spread out Wattson’s three pylons to cover a wide area in anti-ordnance cover or put them closer together so your squad can quickly replenish shields without having to use items. Regardless, your strategy at that point is staying put and letting the enemy come to you. Again, Wattson is not an offensive defender. She is completely devoted to holding the line and scaring off other squads from rushing forward and overwhelming you and your teammates. It’s not a glorious role, but if you set up your fence and pylons just right, your team should be able to hold off more than one squad at a time through careful collaboration.

Unfortunately, until these final moments of the match, Wattson’s Abilities are essentially useless. She can deter enemy squads from easily following her or set up a cage to stop downed enemies from crawling away, but she doesn’t excel in the wide-open firefights that typically occur in the first few minutes of each round. If you or a teammate picks Wattson, it’s in your best interest to avoid fights at the start. Consider looting on the outskirts before carefully making your way to the center of the ring. You can use Pathfinder or Octane’s Ultimate Ability to make the trek a little faster.

How To Counter Wattson’s Weaknesses

Wattson’s fences can be grappled over via Pathfinder’s Grappling Hook or phased through via Wraith’s Into the Void. Mirage can get the drop on her by sending a decoy through her fence, alerting him to her location. Octane is the best counter to Wattson by far. Not only does the speedy Legend have no ordnance Abilities to be stopped by Wattson’s pylon, but Octane can use Stim to overcome the speed decrease from the fence, rely on Swift Mend to patch up any minor damage he takes from the fence, and use Launch Pad to leap over any chokepoints.

There’s very little Wattson can do to counter these Legends, as her defensive abilities rely on the enemy approaching from a horizontal plane. Your best bet is to play as the aforementioned Legends and learn how you use their abilities to overcome enemy Wattsons. Take that knowledge and apply it when you do eventually play as the static defender. If you know how an enemy might move to overcome your fences, then you know where you can wait and hide to shotgun them in the face the second they come back down to earth. Be sure to communicate this knowledge to your squad so that they can help you respond to any attacking Pathfinders, Wraiths, Mirages, or Octanes.