whew plenty to dig into!! thanks
after they finally just fixed this mess...no thanks. It's just not very tasteful imo and making them their own separate entities was the right step
loll this is killing me
Last edited by houndsofluv; 04-09-2020 at 07:06 AM.
Betsy is one of those characters that actually isn't as deep a character as we sometimes make it seem. There are moments here and there throughout her years (all of the fabulous people here mentioned those specific issues and arcs), but nothing that really pierced the depth that some other characters have received.
The Outback was probably the run with strongest characterization for her. There are also a few instances of good characterization in the mid-2000s, but it wasn't until Second Coming and after Second Coming up to now where she received great emotional depth. Aka Remender's run and the following X-Force runs after that.
A lot of who she is is more reader implied characterization. She's a lot like Colossus and Iceman (up until recent years for the latter) in which she has very surface-level characterization. Which is sometimes unfortunate when it feels like the readers care more for and have a better understanding of a character than the office does. In other media, she is an A-listing X-Man, but in comics, she's still riding on B-List and there is still a lot of literary growth she needs to have to be considered an A-Lister with character-defining stories.
Last edited by gifted; 04-09-2020 at 09:44 AM.
“Have courage and be kind. Where there is kindness there is goodness, and where there is goodness there is magic.” ― Cinderella
If you consider her transformation to have been nothing but a cycle of abuse, manipulation, control and trauma, it seems to me you don't understand her character. Keep telling others what they should like and why they do in that attitude if you must, but I can say for myself that I wouldn't have been a Psylocke fan, if those stories hadn't given her unique character development.
You can't spam stuff like she is written as the real Betsy Braddock because she returned to her birth body and people who see things differently are only interested in aesthetics, without seeing the contradiction in that.
She no longer had the butterfly when she became a telekinetic.betsy also lost her butterfly for the majority of her ninja days btw...
It was very much present during the ninja days.
but IT WAS a cycle, she wasnt an active player or agent in her narrative, just thrown around like a rag doll by the mandarin, spiral, jaimie, the red queen, archangel, everyone had a hand in manipulating and causing her damage, damage that only started to show in uncanny x-force, she was nothing more than a punching bag for constant manipulation and trauma.
None of that "development" was organic since kwannons influence was a canonicall presence in her personality and actions until the sisterhood arc where we got the true comfirmation she was completly gone, only when writers understood that it was Betsy Braddock stuck in a nightmarish scenario did she start to get good writting
While being locked away in isolation I've been doing bits and pieces to keep my brain busy. One of those things is making a sort of digital museum of my Betsy collection on Instagram. I'm a pretty die-hard stan so it's been fun. If you guys wanna check it out its @Psychic_Butterfly
LINK:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-xEZOeg...=1wssu73h190g6
Let's see...
1. Pre-X Betsy, job-hopping twin Sister Britain of Marvel UK.
then Mojo happened
2. New-X Betsy, fearless cradle-robbing novice telepath
then Adversary happened
3. Outback Betsy, cloaked and armorclad psychic lieutenant
then Siege Perilous happened
4. Asian Betsy, freshly minted ninja and melee action junkie
then Kwannon happened
5. Worthington Betsy, Archangel paramour and reckless badass
then Crimson Dawn happened
6. Creepy Betsy, teleport-via-shadows ninja telepath
then Revolution happens
7. Telekinetic Betsy, loved by Shaara and killed by Vargas
then Reload happens
8. Jamie Betsy, resurrected with Jean powers
then ?
9. Exiles Betsy, I know very little about
then ?
10. X-Force Betsy, murder addict
then ?
11. X-Women Betsy, finally some great costumes
then Sapphire Styx happened
12. Disassembled Betsy, traumatized cocoa drinker with a pink jumpsuit and a psychic sword & board
then Hickman happened
13. Captain Betsy
We've had 13 "Betsy"s. Some people have favorites. Some were more successful than others. I'm interested in the character throughline, the character arc: is there one?
To Ferro's point, a majority of these character changes aren't Betsy's choice, but reactions to others' actions upon her body and mind. I'd wage that 3 is sorta her choice, 5 definitely is, 9 might be, 10 & 11 could be, and 13 should have been, but so far hasn't really been digested.
Last edited by CRaymond; 04-09-2020 at 11:26 AM.
How so?
She was purged of Kwannon's influence way back in Adjectiveless #32. Have the writers now established Kwannon having not only been present but also influenced her actions?
That's the short story Mike Carey wrote in which her loss of the butterfly effect paralleled her lack of 'finesse' with her telekinesis. The butterfly respresents finesse, whereas the blade raw power.
I always like during the Outback era how she was always kind of mysterious. This was a great moment for her
5ED777A9-4F30-4F0F-A10B-8F5D75A8E44A.jpg
071C998C-6D68-4AC9-BE4D-EC761CADBD11.jpg
864D0781-B844-4F61-8409-714E15A13443.jpg
The last few moments before the Siege Perilous along with the Psi War story are Psylocke in a nutshell for me. I can't decide which one I like best.