Why haven't any of the Black Male X-men caught on other than Bishop?

[CRaymond]

i don't even know that he's considered to be "black" any more.

Please explain?

[Michael Watkins]

The problem isn't the rarity of power. The X-Men have multiple characters running around with similar power sets. You can't walk two steps without bumping into a psi, or a Wolverine clone.

the number of books is limited. and the teams are established to avoid redundancy. there are a lot of psis at the x-mansion. but they are generally spread out. there's also a lot of variety within the psionic powerset.

[Michael Watkins]

[COLOR="#000080"]Not true at all. With so many duplicate powersets among mutants, how do you differentiate them? By character and motivation.

usually it's just the visual that's different (hairstyle, skin color, uniform, etc). unless they are the favored character, their motivation doesn't matter. their "character" really amounts to one-liners. and i don't think that there are as many duplicate power sets as you envision. who's the other Glob Herman? even with the wolverine types, they made sure to tweak the placement of their claws.

[Michael Watkins]

Please explain?

Claremont, for whatever reason, decided that he was aboriginal (or, at least, the descendant of aboriginals). i think of them as black. but i honestly don't know if that's how they are viewed by the rest of the world.

[JudicatorPrime]

the number of books is limited. and the teams are established to avoid redundancy. there are a lot of psis at the x-mansion. but they are generally spread out. there's also a lot of variety within the psionic powerset.

My point remains that Synch's powers could have been interpreted differently and depicted imaginatively to avoid redundancy. His aura was constantly sampling super powers.

Imagine if you took an audio recorder and walked around in public all day with it, forgetting that you even had it on. Just think of the conversations, sounds, etc., that you'd pick up when you played the recording back to yourself. Now imagine that's Synch's aura instead of an audio recorder and you're strolling downtown NY... by Avengers mansion... by the Fantastic Four's headquarters... on a crowded subway platform with perhaps other super powered beings, including mutants, who decided to live more or less normal lives. My guess is that by the end of the day Synch's aura would have logged a number of different powers, some of which could have been used synergistically.

If you really think about it, Ev could have evolved to the point where those aura synergies created a new and unique form of energy that only he could tap, with properties that he assigned. In that way he'd even be different from Hope Summers.

But alas, the hero's limitations invariably correlate directly to the writer's lack of imagination. I guess we should learn to expect less.

[Havok83]

My point remains that Synch's powers could have been interpreted differently and depicted imaginatively to avoid redundancy. His aura was constantly sampling super powers.

Imagine if you took an audio recorder and walked around in public all day with it, forgetting that you even had it on. Just think of the conversations, sounds, etc., that you'd pick up when you played the recording back to yourself. Now imagine that's Synch's aura instead of an audio recorder and you're strolling downtown NY... by Avengers mansion... by the Fantastic Four's headquarters... on a crowded subway platform with perhaps other super powered beings, including mutants, who decided to live more or less normal lives. My guess is that by the end of the day Synch's aura would have logged a number of different powers, some of which could have been used synergistically.

If you really think about it, Ev could have evolved to the point where those aura synergies created a new and unique form of energy that only he could tap, with properties that he assigned. In that way he'd even be different from Hope Summers.

But alas, the hero's limitations invariably correlate directly to the writer's lack of imagination. I guess we should learn to expect less.

Nah, I wouldnt have been down with that bc that potentially could have made him OP.

[JudicatorPrime]

Nah, I wouldnt have been down with that bc that potentially could have made him OP.

As opposed to the rest of the X-folks, many of whom aren't just potentially OP, but are in fact very much Omega level? Riiiiiiiight. Yeah, no, if there was going to be one African American male that was going to be OP, let it be Synch. He has the character to handle the responsibility that comes with ultimate power, unlike others.

[Havok83]

As opposed to the rest of the X-folks, many of whom aren't just potentially OP, but are in fact very much Omega level? Riiiiiiiight. Yeah, no, if there was going to be one African American male that was going to be OP, let it be Synch. He has the character to handle the responsibility that comes with ultimate power, unlike others.

Being able to just passively collect powers around him and retain them for hours after initiation is not only potentially OP but boring.

[Huntsman Spider]

As opposed to the rest of the X-folks, many of whom aren't just potentially OP, but are in fact very much Omega level? Riiiiiiiight. Yeah, no, if there was going to be one African American male that was going to be OP, let it be Synch. He has the character to handle the responsibility that comes with ultimate power, unlike others.

Nice shout-out to the classic mantra/motto that Spider-Man has lived his (fictional) life by. And yes, I would also support Synch as an Omega-level mutant.

[Marvell2100]

usually it's just the visual that's different (hairstyle, skin color, uniform, etc). unless they are the favored character, their motivation doesn't matter. their "character" really amounts to one-liners. and i don't think that there are as many duplicate power sets as you envision. who's the other Glob Herman? even with the wolverine types, they made sure to tweak the placement of their claws.

Tweak the placement of their claws. Ok, so they all do have claws then.

Telepaths
Elementals
Ferals
Shoots rays(from whatever orifice available).
Strong/invulnerable.

There are at least 3 different characters who have these powersets and these are just a few.

And their motivation does matter. It's why Scott and Alex are different characters even though all they do is shoot beams. It's why Logan is different from Creed who is different from X-23 even though the placement of their claws is different.

[Marvell2100]

That was nothing to be proud of. Id have rather he had been in limbo throughout the Messiah Trilogy than to have had what happened with him happen. H

Same. It says something pretty disturbing about the nature of ongoing comics narratives that a character assassination that resulted in billions upon billions of lives being snuffed out across the timestream can be walked off like it was just a fleeting bad mood, let alone that it was approved or sanctioned at the highest levels of editorial in the first place.

I didn't like what they did either. But more people were talking about and focused on that than anything else Bishop ever did. Famous or infamous, they part that mark on Bishop.

i'd argue that he is one of the greatest X-Men. him being a villain was the first time that he was integral to a story. he was the character to follow during the Age of Apocalypse, for instance. he's a character that is pretty much always doing his own thing instead of waiting for Cyclops or Professor X to give him orders. i don't even know that he's considered to be "black" any more. but he's a popular character.

Not many people would be making that argument based on how much hate he got.

[JudicatorPrime]

Being able to just passively collect powers around him and retain them for hours after initiation is not only potentially OP but boring.

That's not quite what I said, but ok, I'll return volley: Is that more boring and unimaginative than being the only power replicator to get blown up because you have no powers?

[Marvell2100]

That's not quite what I said, but ok, I'll return volley: Is that more boring and unimaginative than being the only power replicator to get blown up because you have no powers?

That was just some dumb isht.

[Havok83]

That's not quite what I said, but ok, I'll return volley: Is that more boring and unimaginative than being the only power replicator to get blown up because you have no powers?

Nah that story wasnt boring.

[JudicatorPrime]

Nah that story wasnt boring.

IMHO, it absolutely was jejune and banal. In the way that watching Black people get killed first in a 1980s horror or action movie is banal. Marvel lost readers that day, and it wasn't because that was such an awesome bang-up good job that they did with that story. Quite the opposite. It's probably why so many here are still calling for Synch or someone like him to be returned to prominence. Disappointment and dissatisfaction tend to do that.