Lorna Dane: Polaris Appreciation 2018

[juan678]

[AbnormallyNormal]

Aside from that, earlier today my mind decided to imagine what could have been if Dreamer had been kept around like she should've been. Lorna, leading Hellfire Club or one of its queens, with a single trusted confidant she knows wouldn't stab her in the back in a moment of weakness. Able to tear things up, knowing Dreamer's ready with a backup plan to get out of there if the baby's coming. And if the Cuckoos try to use Lorna as a puppet, Dreamer could recognize it's happening and theoretically use her powers to counteract it. Then the baby comes and Lorna has someone she can safely keep the baby with while she goes out and does her thing. All while Dreamer acts as a "good angel" in balance with the darker impulses the Hellfire Club pushes Lorna toward indulging, not letting the power consume her. So, a "power behind the power" situation so to speak.

But of course, things are what they are.

Yes I agree Dreamer was a lot more morally ambiguous of a character. She was ready and willing to use her memory implantation power to accomplish missions, which other characters found dubious if not wrong. Although of course there were exceptions like Shatter, essentially goading her to just keep using it even more even against the wishes of Thunderbird.

That's why I do feel like Dreamer probably could have gone with Lorna and basically either replaced Sage or been alongside Sage.

Would have been cool...

But I think they're going to basically have an intra-Cuckoos split occur with Esme becoming Lorna's confidant that you imagined Dreamer being.

Which to me is fine. Of course it's all in the details.

[AbnormallyNormal]

Episode #8: threat of eXtinction

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In this scene, Marcos is trying to reconcile with a Lorna who is now sleeping on the couch as opposed to their shared bed

She is using her power to levitate a knife and catch it, almost daring herself to allow it to fall and hurt her

He goes into a spiel about how he had to work with the Cartel and Carmen it was all for her and their baby blah blah

Lorna isn't having it, tells him to go away, and there is a little bit of an interesting drama when Lorna basically says protecting their baby might not be possible anymore

Indicating her growing pessimism about the way the Understand is handling the overall situation

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A hound has been captured and caged at the Underground, and Lorna decides to bring along her best friend Dreamer to try to interrogate it/her

Her method of choice? Obviously, to levitate knives and aim them at the Hound, backing it into a space where Dreamer could blow her memory smoke

WHen that fails Lorna grows impatient and begins to make wild threats to the speedy Hound that she can't outrun the knives forever and needs to start talking

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Now comes in Marcos to start whining that Lorna is "being too rough" on the prisoner... sighs

Forcing her to reluctantly relent but she points out he is perfectly OK with such methods when it comes to helping out his precious friend Carmen and the Cartel

They bicker until Catlin Strucker tells them both to shut it, they're acting like kids, and remember we're trying to build a world where everyone can get along (are we though?)

[AbnormallyNormal]

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Lorna helps to lock down the speedy Hound by firmly affixing bars as restraints

While they wait for the new mysterious refugee mutant they found to help access her memories (why couldn't Dreamer do this? I don't remember if any explanation was even provided)

Esme is there to recount the Hound's life story some, it is quite tragic, and also glean precious information about Trask Industries being the culprit for these Hounds... right before the Hound passes away in front of everyone

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After watching this happen right in front of them, Lorna is overcome with grief and embraces Marcos

The two return to their shared bed and embrace lovingly again, apparently all is well once more in House Diaz-Dane

This episode... not particularly Lorna-centric. For that matter, neither will be the next two. There is this 3-episode stretch 8-9-10 where basically a lot does happen for the show broadly but Lorna herself somewhat recedes into the background (notably in episode 10 which barely features her at all, despite being one of if not the most action packed and intense episodes of the entire season).

Essentially the most interesting part of the episode for Lorna was just her speech to Marcos where she begins to cry and choke up about her despair at how the Underground can't protect anyone it seems... which is a good foreshadowing for her later "turn"

And her willingness to use threats of injury to compel prisoners to obey, showing her wild and more feral side coming out

Other than that... shrug

[juan678]

[Soulsword323]

That's really cool. Hope we get to see her do something like that on the show eventually.

[salarta]

I went into a long thread on Twitter about artificial hierarchies at Marvel. Specifically, I went into how how the various "lists," artificial role restrictions, and power grids hold back characters - and that it tends to disadvantage female characters, Lorna in particular.

The various "lists" (A-list, B-list, Z-list, etc) are basically some dude's perception of how famous or meaningful a character is. This ends up affecting usage of characters, like how Lorna was excluded from family moments in Avengers vs X-Men under the argument that "she's not A-list or B-list." So, it's hurting characters who have valid story reasons for being in a story just because some guy thinks they're not "good enough" to be in the story.

Artificial role restrictions tend to affect women more, too. Like there's three Summers brothers (Scott, Alex, Gabriel), but somehow it's a problem to some people for Magneto to have two daughters - Lorna and Wanda. As if it's not possible for Magneto to have different dynamics with each daughter, or for those two to have good moments together as sisters.

And then the power grids. If you look at Lorna's entry on wikia, it claims her Intelligence is a 2, or Normal, with a Master's degree. Yet Havok is somehow a 3 with the same education, and Jean is a 3 with some college. There were also complaints over an IGN card back in May this year over ranking Captain Marvel's Intelligence and Strength too low. Again, the power grids tend to be some dude's perception of a character rather than any actual measure. Yet setting it up in this manner tries to make it look more objective and formal than it actually is.

Those are just three things Marvel's comics do or have done which muck up real usage of what they have to offer. And Lorna, of course, suffers from all of them.

[The_Greatest_Username]

Can’t anyone change those wiki entries?
I would consider Lorna to be one of the more intelligent X-Men since she actually went to school.

[jmc247]

CanÂ’t anyone change those wiki entries?
I would consider Lorna to be one of the more intelligent X-Men since she actually went to school.

A lot of it comes down to runs people read. On paper yes if one read Lorna in the 70s and 80s she was doing things intelligent people do yes, but that often doesn't equal intelligence to readers. Talking in scientific jargon (like in The Gifted her talking about the Magnetosphere and the Northern Lights), building stuff or demonstrating ones intelligence some way more equals intelligence to readers or viewers.

Actually Lorna's rather in-depth knowledge of literature was one of the more clear ways her intelligence was shown in two runs in her history.



Lorna's debating Xavier on Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience in their famous back and forth sticks out. Xavier was quoting him on and off and Lorna was more then aware. That is some dry and obscure reading reading.



The A list, B list, C list problem is real for Lorna. We all know when the MCU reboots things Lorna won't be a A x-woman when she shows up and likely there will be no 'reserve' team. But, she is quite workable as a bridging character between the world of the militant mutants who will appear (almost certainly including Magneto) and the X-Men and possibly even the Avengers if they fix the family issue.

Mutant issues are also a bridge for the comic character if they want to rise her up to the level she was at early to mid last decade because it won't happen just by sticking her on an x-book. A character needs to gain a critical mass of hard core comic fan, writer and editorial interest. Its not the 90s (though one might not know it from some of the solicits) the market is fundamentally different.

Lorna on a title really has about a year to sell herself before resets invariably happens and then the question is was the run and the character well received enough that writers and editors are salivating over picking up the character? Say what you will about Fox's marketing department they understand that viewers are much more interested in conflict and contention then cooperation.

[jmc247]

[Soulsword323]

A baby Polaris shows up in the X-Men Blue preview as one of Mojo's X-babies.

[juan678]

[jmc247]

A baby Polaris shows up in the X-Men Blue preview as one of Mojo's X-babies.

Marcus To's art delivers, he really likes Emma D. and seems to like Polaris. That is the best we have seen from Marvel comics in regard to the character this Summer... though that doesn't say much. Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps it does much like Marvel commissioned print for sale to commemorate the X-Men.



Anyway the last 20 minutes of the season finale are airing right now on Fox. I want to see if they have a new ad at the end like they have often been having for the repeats of late.

[Soulsword323]

So.......they have the O5 plus Havok, and no Lorna? The disrespect. No one needs to see Doop represented.

[jmc247]

So.......they have the O5 plus Havok, and no Lorna? The disrespect. No one needs to see Doop represented.

Its disrespectful yes, but its also the reality of the situation where one could be forgiven in believing a character boycott is going on. Its not, but there is no pretty obvious standing directives to promote her like other A and B list X-Men. These days its who they get ordered to promote and then a few of the writer or artists favorites.

The character has alot of rebuilding to do to get back to where she was in the X-Men mythos and in terms of the overall perception of her 'tier' then were she was at on say her 35th anniversary.