The thing is I'm merging to trim things downn. So personalities never really factored into my ideas. Its more about getting rid of redundancy
The thing is I'm merging to trim things downn. So personalities never really factored into my ideas. Its more about getting rid of redundancy
Well Ill say this...I didnt realize until you mentioned it but I've never felt Kitty was very necessary. Absolutely love giving the spots to Rogue and Rachel. In that same vein I feel that way about Jubilee as well. Lol its probably controversial and debatable but Gambit is enough for detonations and explosions. Boom Boom and Jubilee can go away....lol at least in my continuity.
It’s interesting you have such antipathy for Boom Boom and Jubilee.
The X-Men seem to thrive when professionals have an ingenue to protect and teach. For a long time that was Kitty’s role, and when she outgrew it, she sidestepped to Excalibur. Jubilee was similar a decade later, but instead of sidestepping, she stepped back and found a peer group. It suggested an acknowledgement that the X-Men were beyond her personal expectations. Jubilee may never have Kitty’s intelligence or ferocity, but she’s got wisdom that being an X-Men isn’t right for everyone. That’s a missing element in almost every classic cast member, aside from maybe Beast and obviously Emma. Jubilee should be central just for that alone.
It’s also why I like Gambit as a mission-specific ally, and not a full member. He’s far more important to the world as a part timer who’s a professional thief.
Ehhh I get what youre saying. More likely I would merge Jubilee and Boom Boom because I've always felt there was no need for both of them. But still from the standpoint of abilities and how they work. I typically agree when it comes to Gambit but Im not opposed to him being a member. The role of someone deciding that the Xmen is not necessarily for them or is not for everyone has always in my mind gone to Bobby or Beast. I even like the idea of Cecelia Reyes portraying that mind set
Belasco/Azazel works well. It'd create a great character overlap and allow for further character dynamics.
Proteus/Legion. I genuinely used to confuse the two characters, as the respective sons of Xavier. Their shared daddy issues and omega power levels make their merge logical, and this would elevate Moira's importance to the X-Men if their respective stories were shared.
Mikhail/Omega Red. Makes a lot of sense to me. Brings in a more personal level in having a villain who's been a thorn in Logan's side revealed as the brother of fellow of X-Men Piotr & Illyana. It gives Colossus & Magik their own antagonist too. I'm all for it.
I mean, I wouldn't want to change the lovable ones though. I'd happily just forget Quentin, Cipher, Graymalkin, Velocidad, Tempus, Oya, Match, Primal, Morph, Zero, Hijack, Triage, Sprite and Eye-Boy existed if it meant the others got more exposure.
Lets see clean up
Gambit & Longshot-Two charisma heavy acrobatic white males who throw stuff. Seems like a easy merge
Storm & Polaris- Polaris in X-men history holds the spot they would probably rather Storm in that place . This merge isn't about common things but more just clean up. Magneto being Storm father adds in the classic X-men messiness and would explain the hair color. Also both Storm and Polaris wear capes and headpieces.
Jubilee & Dazzler- These guys powers together kinda makes sense and Jubilee could be become a K-pop star or something.
Hellion and Quentin. We don't need two male teen psychic shit-stirring jerkasses with hearts of gold. Quentin's "rebel against all forms of authority" nonsense got old a long time ago, and Hellion has been irrelevant for nearly as long. Julian once even wore the same Jumbo Carnation sweater that Quentin did during his Riot. Combining them could get you the best of both: a rebel who actually has a cause and convictions and a character who the editors and writers are actually interested in using.
Surge and Armor. We don't need two teenage Japanese girls in leadership positions for the same group of kids, who both have a problem with the adult X-Men treating them all like children. Plus you can
Rockslide and Glob Herman. They've already stolen a bunch of Santo's traits and given them to Glob, I say go all the way and fuse them into a single somewhat douchey lug.
Bling! and Mercury. They both have the same "my physical mutation means that I can't find love or a life outside of mutant drama and the X-Men" issues.
Loa and Cipher. Part of why Loa never really caught on is that she's pretty OP, she can't use her powers on a person without instantly killing them. No one has really bothered using Cipher since Guggenheim, and he didn't even bother revisiting her in Gold.
Transonic and Sharkgirl. Skyshark, that is all
Velocidad and Tempus. We don't need two time manipulators, and the way Tempus does it makes it hard to use her in regular stories. So limiting her with Gabriel's unique version could help make them a more viable team member
Oya and Match. Match has done very little to stand out over the years. His one claim to fame is being used as a campfire a few times.
Primal and Morph. I've never really cared for Teon's Fight/Flight/Mate schtick, and I don't think that last part is something that will fly in a post #MeToo era. But the fact that he can instinctually adapt his intelligence to his circumstances was the most interesting thing about him, he is what he needs to be. Combine that with Ben's empathic mimicry, and you get an interesting powerset
Zero and Hijack. I mostly just want to steal Hijack's appearance for Kenji. It just kinda sucks that Zero had a fascinating personality and a unique powerset, but he looked like someone left an action figure in the microwave.
Triage and Elixir. Rosenberg kinda hung a lampshade on this, you don't really need both of them. But I really like Chris's design, and you don't get a lot of black men with healing powers.
Sprite and Nature Girl. The name Sprite fits Lin's powers better. And she could use more than antlers in her design. Maybe together they'll both get a real personality.
Hindsight and Eye Boy. Combine Eye Boy's seemingly endless number of sight based abilities with the power to actually see the past.
I’d ditch both Hellion & QQ. Quite was Morrison retelling the DPS, and there was no point in bringing him back, except that in itself is the joke. In any case, we don’t need psychic jerks, unless you want to add some sass to Chamber.
I’m always going to lean toward the minority mutant with the redundant powers. Didn’t Elixir die? Shoulda stayed dead.
****
I’m STILL reeling from the idea of making Storm Magneto’s daughter. Magneto’s Jewishness would be tricky and controversial to update —much less alter completely. Storm’s African heritage is so similarly important that to actually build the bridge —someone’s going to lose something.
Last edited by CRaymond; 08-04-2019 at 12:10 PM.
Go off I guess, Bot.
Anyway!
I've been sitting on this concept and thinking about it a lot and the one that I keep coming back to is: Rachel Grey-Summers and Hope Summers.
I'm a huge fan of both of these characters when they're written properly but it's been a huge thing since who knows when about how there are way too many Jean Grey derivative characters, with Rachel being the original and Hope being the most recent of them. Now, I wouldn't say to inherently get rid of either them, the stories that were told about these characters would still exist... to a point. So, you're wondering - Harpiskord, how would you swing this one? Well. What I would do is permanently cement the idea that Rachel is the "child" of Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and the Phoenix Force. Jean Grey died a few years prior to Messiah Complex, and that's also around the time that Rachel came back and sort of lost her purpose - and there's always been the question of her true origin, and in Endsong it was defined that the Phoenix Force had an affinity for Scott just like Jean did. So, when the Phoenix reacts to M-Day and the Decimation and creates it's ideal mutant child, with input from Jean in the White Hot Room... It's Rachel. Cable would know that it is his sister when he meets her and he would take her into the future to raise her like the Askani Mother took care of him when he was growing up, and he'd make sure that she had the right name, etc, etc, etc. Upon coming into contact with the teenage Rachel of 616 after Second Coming and getting home from Space, the two versions of the character (DoFP Rachel and 616 Rachel) would merge, thus giving Rachel all of the memories of both Days of Future Past and the memories that 616 Rachel would have from being raised by Cable. (Effectively, Hope's memories.)
This also gives Rachel the added benefit of relevancy. Rachel has had an issue with being relevant since she returned from space as well as a lack of edge and personality, and making her the mutant messiah as well as having her raised on the run from Bishop in multiple different timelines resolves that. If the two Rachel's meet after Second Coming and during Avengers vs X-Men it also removes the redundancy of people being worried about Hope getting the Phoenix while an established host is already there because Rachel is the established host and it would end up being defined as Wolverine (and the other Avengers) just being worried over nothing. Rachel could be concerned about getting the Phoenix back because the last time the full force was on Earth, her mother died, etc, etc, etc or she could just be running for her life in an effort to survive long enough for the Phoenix to come and for her to take it over.
She'd maintain the powers that she normally had, the tp/tk and etc, but they may manifest differently.
"We come into this world alone and we leave the same way. The time we spent in between - time spent alive, sharing, learning together... is all that makes life worth living." - Jean Grey
I’m going to have to chew on that one Harp. You know I care about Rachel, but I always think “messiahs” are dangerous and ultimately bad ideas. Still I’m into it I just need time to get on your page.
Well, it's less messiah and more "messiah." I struggle to call Hope an actual Mutant Messiah now, it's only in context of her reactivating the X-Gene. And in context of this Hope/Rachel amalgamation, the messianic traits would exclusively be that she ends up hosting the Phoenix and working with Wanda to restore the X-Gene... which she'd do through some power-amplifying Phoenix mumbo jumbo as opposed to Hope's power mimicry.
"We come into this world alone and we leave the same way. The time we spent in between - time spent alive, sharing, learning together... is all that makes life worth living." - Jean Grey
Yeah I get that. You’re peppering Rachel with the best Hope bits, which is certainly the best way to go. Using Rachel as a significant player in AvX would’ve been interesting, I just can’t with gun-toting surly kids y’know?
And then all the trash with Cable and Bishop. I don’t know if I’ll have energy to rehab that. I want to excise most of the last two decades. I’m so old.