Loki Appreciation 2019

[rpmaluki]

That logo is truly fugly. I hope it's as some of you have said. The different font denoting the different place Loki ends up per episode, and hopefully they won't mix the letters up like what we got now.

[Prof. Aegis]

Raye, Omg, I don't know how, but I completely forgot that yes I do have the Lady Loki statue. However, it's still in its box and I have it stored away as I don't have space to display it currently where I live. Outta sight, outta mind. LOL. Thanks for the reminder.

As for the Loki Disney+ series, I hope that throughout those episodes, which I'm sure will be between 6-10, that we'll see Loki grow in character as well. I know it starts off of 2012 from his time with the Avengers, but hopefully it he won't be causing chaos each episode or trying to figure out how to conquer each episode, but really take it from his escape and have him interactive with others and growing in character due to his new adventures. Putting him in new senarios that he hadn't experienced before and seeing new sides to humans and life. And yeah, would so be thrilled if one episode we get Lady Loki!

And even though the +series is a little over 2 years away, here's hoping leading up to it or with its release, we'll have some great Loki stuff coming out. His MU series will still going as it will be about 24-30 issues by then, and perhaps some other great things may come about, a few minis or one-shots and some other good modern Loki merch. I also hope the soundtrack/score to Loki will set itself apart. Hopefully they'll have a great composer who can truly craft a theme for Loki that stands out and his score is highly memorable.

[Raye]

Hah, i figured that if anyone in this thread had that particular statue, it would be you. I seriously considered it, but i decided to hold out hope for a modern costume, or Kid Loki, since those are my faves, and my patience has finally paid off.

And yeah, it was really unfortunate that all that character development he got between Avengers and Ragnarok was kinda wiped out, so it will be interesting to see where they go with it. On the upside, there was that update to his bio on Marvel's official website that said that during Avengers he was under the influence of the Mind Stone himself, so he's kind of starting off from a less villainous point than he might have been if that wasn't the case.

And i really hope his series can last for 30 issues or more, so it's still going when the Disney+ series starts, fingers crossed! we'll have to see how well the #1 does in the sales charts when they come out. But that it's getting good reviews is encouraging.

speaking of, Kibblesmith just posted a link to this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zyQ...ature=youtu.be

Long, but it sounds like one of the guys there interviewed Kibblesmith, so that should be released sometime soon. Also they seem to like it, which is good. I think it's good that some fairly typical male fans seem to be digging it, because Loki's modern take has a perception from some fans of being a 'girl character' and isn't taken seriously as a result, (stupid, i know) so while it would of course be great if the book does appeal to female fans, to have these fairly typical guys enjoy it and recommend it could really help it appeal to a broader audience, and thus it may sell more, and go on for longer.

anyway, in City of Heroes, i have slowly been leveling Loki (I keep turning XP off for him, because he's become my story character that i want to do alllllll the content with, and i have to rein in his leveling to avoid outleveling content. so going has been slow, cus I care more about the content than rushing to level 50+) and i recently got him his Umbra Beast, his pet, which is a wolf, so i named it Fenris. I also used some of the excess Inf I had (due to the before mentioned turning off XP, he's filthy rich even after tricking him out with fancy enhancements (gear)) to buy him a SNOWMAN! hehehe... also i tweaked one of his costumes to get as close to the Agent of Asgard coat as i could, but they REALLY need furry collars for it to work right...

https://steamcommunity.com/id/RayeGu...36899224478644

Anyway, now that he's got almost all his core powers, he's becoming super effective and fun to play, and I decided to go all in with the 'Sorcery' pool which can be a bit finicky and a little buggy because it was literally thelast set added to the game before it got shut down, so they never got to iron out the bugs, but I've actually found a way to make it very effective, and he's just turning into a beast of a character that can take on pretty much anything... as long as he's not taken by surprise and has to eat an alpha, cus he is a squishy class.

[Prof. Aegis]

Yeah, that's my hope as well with character development. Since we're starting right after 2012 all that growth is gone, but it doesn't mean he can't start from this new place and since he won't be a prisoner, gain new experiences and have growth from there which could do so much more for him as a character in the MCU. And yeah, being that he was under the influence of the stone it just helps his opportunities even more.

It would be interesting to see if he shows up in Thor 4 or for that matter, if he would gain his own movie a few years down. Yeah, I know both are doubtful, but depending upon what happens to the Disney+ series and interest after, with his ability to travel through time, it could open many possibilities for his character.

I'm hoping as well the Loki series by Kibblesmith reaches a wide audience to help with longevity and to show the greatness of the character. Time will tell.

Raye you are doing amazing building up your character in that game. Wow, way to go!

[Raye]

The thing about them doing Jane Thor is that it might kind of lead into WotR... They can't use Malekith tho, cus we have already had a (dreadfully boring) version of him in the MCU, but they could do the same basic beats with a different character. And mif they do WotR, they could also do Loki trying to play double agent there, if he does manage to jump to the main MCU universe.

And yeah, I hope the book can have broad appeal, though I have to admit some continuing frustration at reading the comments (or listening, one of the guys in the above podcast falls into this category) of people who haven't been following his story super close and they still think his intentions are bad, etc. But hopefully the book will win them over if they stick with it. But it's just that he hasnt been the villain in close to 10 years, when is it going to finally sink in?

[Prof. Aegis]

I think this is one of the downfalls of comics. They're history has been very simplistic...Hero vs. Villain. And for that matter, the hero is the hero, and the villain is the villain. Yet with novels and movies, characters have such depth. They aren't necessarily one or the other, but some of both. However, when long time readers and followers of comics and characters get involved they see and want the simplistic aspects of their characters and stories and can't or won't see past those old stereotypes.

It worked for what it was supposed to be for in the 1940's through the 80's. But during the 80's there started to be a shift. And over the next 30 years more characters have had more dimensions to them and development and growth. Plus they connect to more people for that reason. If Loki was started today in the current mold he is, no one would question it. They would see the trickster and god of chaos, stories, and character who doesn't want to be one-dimensional and no one would question that, people would embrace that as someone they can relate to. But because for so much of his past in comics he's been portrayed as the villain only, that's what "old" readers still see and want. The readers that have started within the past 10 years are the ones who love and embrace and want more of the current growth. The old guard are the ones with podcasts preaching their history and beliefs and how the current climate goes against all the want and know. Welcome to the world. Lol

I think this new series, if it continues on the good ground the first issue established will continue to grow and prosper and you'll have more voices and even sales for that matter that will showcase the great character, writing and stories and it will continue on for 30 issues and more. Sales drive it. And Fandom of the current Loki drive it as well. So there's hope.

[Raye]

Yeah, you're probably right about that. I do mostly see that sort of thing from fans of old school stuff, who seem to really want a very black and white take on things, and find the rigid and simple framework of the old stories comforting and familiar. Me, I am more interested in shades of gray.

I went looking and that interview HAS been posted:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caSpI3fvZYU

it is 45 minutes long, but the last 20 minutes are just the two hosts chatting about stuff. And some of it is just general stuff about Kibblesmith, (which is fine, he seems like a really nice guy) so... I but here are some relevant/new points tat stood out to me:

Sometime down the line, he'd like to have Loki and Lockjaw team up, but not for a long time, because he doesn't want people to like think he's just repeating himself. But he likes Lockjaw and there are things from that mini that never made it on the page that he can use.

Says he found Loki and Thor's voices easy to get into, even though he wasn't really a 'Thor guy' and found that side fo things hard to get into (and I can empathize, as someone who got into Marvel with the mutants, and worked my way from there, the Thor side of things seemed so removed from the rest of things for a long time there, that it was difficult to get into, and i personally found the faux-old timey speak offputting) because he thought Loki's goals, motivations and point of view were so strong that it makes him a really good gateway to the Thor stuff (agree again, he is how i got into the Thor stuff) and it lent itself well to getting his voice right because it was easy to understand where he was coming from. (though clearly, other writers do have problems, so i guess Loki just clicked with him. also that would require actually paying attention and not applying old and outdated notions of what he's trying to accomplish to him) and then trying to merge that with the sort of personality and charisma the actors in the MCU brought to the roles.

Picked Nightmare as an antagonist on suggestion from his editor Wil Moss, because they wanted a very 'Loki like' villain, and they felt Nightmare mirrored Loki in a lot of ways, he's kind of Dr Strange's Loki, says Nightmare is Labyrinth Bowie, and Loki is Ziggy Stardust Bowie, heh. He also said that Nightmare was a villain he felt had a lot of untapped potential and was close to breaking into the big leagues, because he thought he would be a logical choice for the next Dr Strange movie, so like, he called that one. Also, of course, they already have fought

Says he is trying to build a rogues gallery for Loki, starting with Nightmare, so that goes back to discussions we had earlier in the thread. That they are starting with characters familiar to fans of the character and widening the circle from there

Sounds like there will be flashbacks to Loki as a child, where they explore how things went wrong. That it ties into that letter at the end, where Loki as a child is him trying his best and being punished for it.

[Prof. Aegis]

The interview beats sound good. I connect with both you and Kibblesmith on it being difficult to connect with Thor before. I could never do so. Tried several times. Not until JMS did I finally enjoy the character and stories, but he moved away from the Shakespearean speech and brought the stories down to earth (so to speak). Even with Loki, this is where I connected with him as he/she wasn't some simple villain. I love all the shades of grey and getting into the core of the characters.

Kibblesmith seems to have a good understanding of Loki and I'm glad he clicked with the voices.

I'd have no problem with Lockjaw guesting in the series. Especially if Kibblesmith has stories he wants to tell. Good stories is what its about. Also, I like how he's working to build a rogues. And Nightmare is a good one to start with. He seems to have a good vision for him as an antagonist. But could we do one small thing?...Change Nightmare's outfit. (I admit, it superficial) Ugh, it looks like some grown up in a onesie with footies. I can't take him seriously dressed like that. I do agree that Nightmare has great potential. There's much you can do with a character like that.

And flashbacks will be fantastic to see and see more of Loki's life as a child and his perspective on interactions with Thor and Odin, and perhaps Freya. More depth and stories like that could help really cement his new core as a character that isn't really a villain, but someone who just has always been looked down on or considered to be the one always messing up, because he didn't do it like expected or wanted. This could be really good.

Thanks Raye for taking the time to listen to this and summarize it. Whew!

[Raye]

Oh, that reminds me of more he said about Loki as a child. he said that ideally, someone in a position like that wouldn't turn to villainy, and most people won't, or we'd have a lot more bad guys running around in real life. but, because it is a fairly universal experience to be blamed for something you didn't do or you thought you were doing right, that it could make it easy to empathize with him and see where he was coming from.

and yes, Nightmare's costume is pretty awful. We may have to wait to see what the next Dr Strange movie does with him, since the comics will more than likely take some inspiration from that. He's a bit tricky though because his whole deal being nightmares, it would be really easy to fall into grimdark edgelord cliche.

I really think Mephisto would be the perfect crown jewel in a hypothetical Loki rogues gallery, but he seems to be pretty busy at the moment, so that may have to wait.

But I think Loki also needs some rogues he can have more or less all to himself rather than sharing them with other characters, but new characters are really hard to have catch on.

I think flashbacks could be fun, it wasn't quite clear if he was talking about flashbacks that had already happened and what they showed or ones he had planned, but considering the comics flashbacks have been few and far between and pretty inconsistent when they do happen, I think he was talking about in his book. We got a hint of where things started to go wrong recently in his spotlight issue in Thor, but there has to be more there.

And I really hope Loki's book does well, his first issue did crack the advance reorder list. That was before Marvel announced they were increasing the orders (not sure what happens with the advance reorders in that case) but that it was getting reorders before that is a good sign.

[Prof. Aegis]

It sounds like Kibblesmith has a good take and direction to go with on the character of Loki. Getting in to some deeper understanding and psyche of him. I like that, and I'm looking forward the stories he creates.

Yeah, I know Nightmare might not get any clothing change until the Dr. Strange movie, but that's okay. Hopefully some small artist alterations will slowly go through. Mephisto is great, and he and Loki have had plenty of run-ins, but I'm not sure how effective it would be to make him the main antagonist to Loki since yeah Mephisto has his connections in to so many in the MU. But he should be popping up from time to time.

I agree, Loki does need his own rogues, and where it would difficult to create new ones, if Kibblesmith is able to mix in established with new one, it should work out overall.

Here's the link to the CBR article on Loki 1. They bring up several points we discussed here about the future "Thor", the UnFather, where the future figure was trying to appear and if it could be Loki along with more. It definitely discusses the issue as a strong issue that brings up lots of questions setting the future storylines.

https://www.cbr.com/marvel-loki-warning-future-thor/

[Snoop Dogg]

LIST OF OTHER GOOD FOILS FOR LOKI

-Superior Spider-Man
-Maximus
-Mysterio
-Absorbing Man
-Kang
-Thanos
-Baron Zemo
-Super Skrull
-Gladiator (Shi'ar)

[Rosebunse]

I really like rogues who are unexpected. Nightmare has strong ties to Loki's past stories, which works well. Add into that Loki's probable trauma from all the terribly traumatic stuff he's gone through and there you go. Loki will be weaker against Nightmare and he won't even know it, while Nightmare will be in his element. Scary stuff for our guy.

Also, I really do hate how "girl" comics are treated like they aren't "real" comics or they aren't valid. Comic geeks need to accept that fangirls are not only valid geeks, but we have money to burn and we want to spend it on our interests. If comics are to survive, we need flesh blood.

[Raye]

Well, that one is closer to the mark than some of the ideas I have seen floated about the future stuff. But I think it's fairly likely that the future Asgardian is Loki. I know it may be unlikely if this was happening in Thor's book, especially if you weren't totally up to speed on all Loki had been up to in the past several years, but the context of the fact that this is Loki's book, and the fact that the final page appeared just after Loki looked at the end of his own story in that book, implying that this is what he read, makes this way more likely that is Loki. Plus, this character had dark hair which none of the other male Asgardian royals have. sure Balder USED to have dark hair, but it's gone white. Odin has white/gray hair, Thor is blond. Yet this guy has dark hair. It's not quite jet black, it may be graying, but still.

Also, my money is still on Balder having caused the bad future. Thor may be to blame in that he didn't nip it in the bud sooner, missed the signs, but then the same could be said of Loki and everyone else if that's the case. But I don't think Thor will be doing a heel turn.

As for potential rogues, absorbing Man has turned face, and I don't want that undone. otherwise, yeah, i could see that, maybe they could work out some kind of misunderstanding leading to a teamup thing, same with SpOck. Kang could be fun, if likely a bit confusing, as is Kang's way, Maximus would be like fighting a clone of himself in a lot of ways, but he's a lot less powerful than Loki in raw power, so something would be needed to level the playing field, but that could tie into the Lockjaw thing. I think Mystique could work, or Doom. (I may not like that they undid his turn, but it's done so may as well work with it)

I was playing city tonight, and I ran into someone familiar looking:



Luckily i was with a friend who took some screenshots where I didn't have to be dead center of the frame. He also took screenies of my other costumes, though i forgot to turn off my powers and was flying so a little wonky, but you can see them at this album:

https://imgur.com/a/Fwq4USA

But relevant to this discussion, I made this one:



and for you:

[Rosebunse]

Raye, that is a fine Lady Loki!

I didn't think about the dark hair, but that pretty much means it has to be Loki. That being said, we haven't really had it confirmed that Loki even can age, so if he changed appearances this much, then it must really be the role effecting him.

While Maximus vs Loki would be fun, it would be real annoying trying to tell them apart.

[Raye]

Thanks! they didn't have a big furry cape costume piece so i went for more of a suggestion of Lady Loki. (also, they really need a fur collar costume piece for his other costumes)

I guess there is one brother that has dark hair, Tyr, but he's dead, so.... And I think Loki can age. I mean, clearly he did before, and Thor ages, so why shouldn't Loki?