Psylocke II appreciation 2020

[CRaymond]

I wish Fallen Angels had given us a backstory, an identity, a personality beyond silent action girl.

[houndsofluv]

the introduction of her daughter was really interesting but I have a sinking suspicion that's going to be buried and forgotten

So much of the backstory it gave us was vague, I think Hill really hoped to build on it over future arcs beyond the initial limited series billing. Can't blame him for needing to drop it though, he really did have a lot going on

[Rnap22]

I wish Fallen Angels had given us a backstory, an identity, a personality beyond silent action girl.

Yeah he really didn’t flesh her out at all. We didn’t need Cable or Laura. Flashbacks of her training and all that didn’t flesh out who she was. It’s was generic.

[Will Evans]

In what age range is Kwannon compared to the other X-men?

[CRaymond]

Yeah he really didn’t flesh her out at all. We didn’t need Cable or Laura. Flashbacks of her training and all that didn’t flesh out who she was. It’s was generic.

It was so weird. Inventing relationships wholesale rather than working with givens and allowing the character work to dominate. That's kinda what was needed. Not a child-eating nightmare god, a forgettable daughter, and Mr. Sinister.

[houndsofluv]

Yeah he really didn’t flesh her out at all. We didn’t need Cable or Laura. Flashbacks of her training and all that didn’t flesh out who she was. It’s was generic.

yeah they were just there to sell units and it showed. Kwannon's mentorship of Laura was an interesting angle but probably would've been a better fit with another character
The full team was a really odd lineup, I wish we'd been able to see more of them together. actually interacting and stuff

[CRaymond]

yeah they were just there to sell units and it showed.

They were terrible characters to use!

If you want to sell units, you should have banked on Psylocke's best era, and cast it with X-Men Blue 90, and had them track Kwannon to Madripoor! Imagine a six issue arc that featured Betsy, Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine and Jubilee with Beast and Cyclops monitoring action from the Krakoa. Could feature the Hand, Matsuo, Mandarin maybe... ROLL AROUND IN THE NOSTALGIA... and end with Wolverine taking Psylocke to join X-Force, and the rest following codename-less Betsy to Britain, where her brother needs help against Morgan Le Fey. $$$

**** now I'm thinking of an X-Force under Jean's leadership with Domino, Psylocke and Wolverine as intense strikeforce agents, and Beast, Forge, and Trinary on intel/comms.

[Shadowcat]

Fallen Angels should have been Kwannon, the Femme Fatales, especially Sapphire Styx, the Hand, and ended with the resurrection of Matsu’o. Maybe throw in some mentions of Mojo, and the Body Shoppe.

[CRaymond]

Sapphire Styx

It would've been terribly interesting to discover that the raw material Betsy used to create herself a new body was Sapphire Styx' corpse.

[Shadowcat]

It would've been terribly interesting to discover that the raw material Betsy used to create herself a new body was Sapphire Styx' corpse.

I’d like to see Sapphire become an entity like the Shadow King, or Malice, where every time we see her, it’s because her vampiric essence jumped bodies.

[CRaymond]

I’d like to see Sapphire become an entity like the Shadow King, or Malice, where every time we see her, it’s because her vampiric essence jumped bodies.

ooof that's a lot of bodyjumping. Were you the one i was talking to about a past body of Kay Cera of the Clan Destine being revealed to be the Braddock twins' mother? And that THAT is where a bit of their magic came from?

[Rnap22]

yeah they were just there to sell units and it showed. Kwannon's mentorship of Laura was an interesting angle but probably would've been a better fit with another character
The full team was a really odd lineup, I wish we'd been able to see more of them together. actually interacting and stuff

I feel like the “relationship” with Laura was way too forced and still kind of taking an aspect that was Betsy’s into the book for Kwannon. Trying too hard to brand Kwannon as Psylocke instead of letting it happen on its own. The butterfly. The psi-blade. The exact same power set now. The admiration of Psylocke by Laura. Remember how Laura had such an infatuation with Betsy when Betsy first came back. There was a cute admiration in their scenes with Laura trying to act like Betsy.

[Shadowcat]

ooof that's a lot of bodyjumping. Were you the one i was talking to about a past body of Kay Cera of the Clan Destine being revealed to be the Braddock twins' mother? And that THAT is where a bit of their magic came from?

Is it though? How many times has Sapphire been completely destroyed like that?

I don't think so, but I love the thought. Kay is the best character from Clan Destine.

[houndsofluv]

They were terrible characters to use!

I mean, I can follow their thinking. Cable (albeit not in his current form) and Laura are some of the few characters in the x-office's repertoire to sell solo. Toss them into the "re-establishing a new character (oxymoron?)" stew and season it with a vaguely x-force vibe readers are used to w/ the Psylocke character and, on paper, they should've been off to the races. Problem is , whoops, none of it really feels natural

If you want to sell units, you should have banked on Psylocke's best era, and cast it with X-Men Blue 90, and had them track Kwannon to Madripoor! Imagine a six issue arc that featured Betsy, Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine and Jubilee with Beast and Cyclops monitoring action from the Krakoa. Could feature the Hand, Matsuo, Mandarin maybe... ROLL AROUND IN THE NOSTALGIA... and end with Wolverine taking Psylocke to join X-Force, and the rest following codename-less Betsy to Britain, where her brother needs help against Morgan Le Fey. $$$

**** now I'm thinking of an X-Force under Jean's leadership with Domino, Psylocke and Wolverine as intense strikeforce agents, and Beast, Forge, and Trinary on intel/comms.

I'm honestly sure how a 90s-inspired jaunt would fare...it certainly sounds like fun, I'd read it hands down . Is the nostalgia enough of a draw? Would Kwannon be able to "break out" as her own character in readers' eyes or would it confuse things more?

As for your x-force take - yes. emphatically so.

Fallen Angels should have been Kwannon, the Femme Fatales, especially Sapphire Styx, the Hand, and ended with the resurrection of Matsu’o. Maybe throw in some mentions of Mojo, and the Body Shoppe.

I like this - It kind of postures the new Psylocke as the face of the obscure corners of x-men lore. It feels fitting to the "Fallen Angels" title . Interesting as a more solo venture for sure, maybe give her a breather from the centre of the x-mythos for a bit, a couple arcs/years to establish an identity before pulling her back in

Or, completely contrarily, it could work like PAD's X-Factor Investigations - an assemblage of C-and-below listers operating thru a series of strange locales + concepts based in continuity, giving both significant panel time and development. Either of these would be dope

I feel like the “relationship” with Laura was way too forced and still kind of taking an aspect that was Betsy’s into the book for Kwannon. Trying too hard to brand Kwannon as Psylocke instead of letting it happen on its own. The butterfly. The psi-blade. The exact same power set now. The admiration of Psylocke by Laura. Remember how Laura had such an infatuation with Betsy when Betsy first came back. There was a cute admiration in their scenes with Laura trying to act like Betsy.

I've gotta be honest, I like that Kwannon's Psylocke kept these abilities/attributes. I feel like Betsy kind of needs to re-forge an identity for herself after this decades-long debacle as well, and the CB title is great for that - unfortunately the butterflies and blades fit much better with the "Psylocke" moniker than CB. I do wish there was more effort to distinguish Kwannon's power signature from Betsy's , even if it retains the same shape....and I hope her initial empathic abilities are touched on and put to use

[Alexi]

I felt younger Laura at the time saw Betsylocke has an older sister or role model figure, at least under Claremont. After he was removed from Uncanny & sent to Exiles no other writer touched on it. The beats we got with Kwanlocke & Laura seem to be more sensei/seito. This Laura was obviously older & more experienced by this point but I know a lot of X-23 fans where pissed that she was taking orders from Kwannon in FA.

In terms of the power sigs, I think Betsy should've kept the butterfly but I don't mind Kwannon with the psi-knife. They both welded knives when the body swap happened, even though Kwannons was an elaborate sword. I don't mind Kwannon showing TK now alongside the TP cause she was wielding TP after the swap & since Marvel has hinted for years that all psionics have the same potential (similar to accessing the speed or dark force) it can make some sense that she's using the same powers Betsy did in her body.

My only issue is the butterfly signature has been Betsy's so long it kinda reminds me of how Jean's Phoenix signature has been passed around the Marvel universe so much it feels diluted at times & rarely works in the long run.

I'd say that while I'm happy her hair's not purple anymore, beyond that cosmetic change they should've given her another costume. I know, marketing & sales are the only reasons she's back in the floss. Also I wouldn't have minded a new energy signature for her but considering Marvel, they'd give her a dragon or something.