Year One: The Reckoning The first public showing arrived at a night market under sodium lamps. An old radio played jazz; rain traced the edges of awnings. People gathered, not out of duty but curiosity—an appetite for the uncommon. Xxcel’s inaugural lineup moved like living things under the lights: articulations that remembered gestures, panels that opened as if in conversation. Critics called them “models,” collectors called them “objects of devotion,” and the designers—half amused, half terrified—kept refining.