Illyana Rasputina/Magik Appreciation 2022

[Odd Rödney]

That is beautiful. Though most of Momoko's work is so no surprise there.

Well, that's me pretty much caught up! Here's Illyana! Hope she has a great 2023! I'll try to visit her thread more often next year!

[sunofdarkchild]

File this under 'I need to know what the context is right now.'


illyana vs apocalypse.jpg

[Fokken]

File this under 'I need to know what the context is right now.'


illyana vs apocalypse.jpg

Whatever it is, the image is beautifully done. haha.

[gambitxremy]

C3148BF7-CBCE-4199-BED4-83B135F17676.jpg

451E1B1B-40A6-4EEF-B8DB-638F743372E3.jpg

Zeb answered a question I asked him about Magik 2.0

[sunofdarkchild]

Whatever it is, the image is beautifully done. haha.

This is the opposite of the first image they showed from 'The Labors of Magik.' When the first image they showed from that story was 'the little goblin' without any context I said it was a horrible choice because it would only confuse people and not make anyone who wasn't already going to buy it more inclined to do so. This image will actually draw attention in a good way. Even people who have never heard of Illyana would be curious about who is this child standing up to Apocalypse. Here's hoping they know how to use this image to it's fullest effect for marketing purposes. A simple post on X-Men Mondays will only go so far even with the X-twitterverse.

[Aetherna]

Hey, I loved that stupid Magik Goblin!

I've been playing Midnight Suns because it stars ~Majik~ and good lord they really went full MCU with the writing. Just endless quipping to a level where it almost feels like a parody. Thankfully Magik is treated pretty well though, would recommend if you like X-com and Illyana.

[sunofdarkchild]

The friendship Illyana develops with Captain America in the game was neat. They seem to be the opposite with her preferring darker responses and him lighter responses, but their opinions are actually largely in alignment. They both just want the Hunter to be honest with themselves, and they end up bonding over having the same disagreements with Caretaker.

And Illyana's farewell conversation with the Hunter right before the final mission is so emotional.

[Havok83]

A blast from Magik's past returned today in Dark Web: Black Cat & Mary Jane. It's spoilers:

Belasco

end of spoilers. I wonder if they will cross paths in the main series or X-men mini

[Devaishwarya]

In today's XM Annual I do like how different Illyana's portals are now that she's no longer tethered to Limbo. I thought I would miss the stepping disks as distinctive as they are but these are cool, too.

[BobbysWorld]

I know that narratively shared powersets can make characters feel redundant, but I've always loved the creative flourishes given to different mutants' versions of the same power. Its why I lowkey want Krakoa and Arakko to come up with a Mutant Olympics at some point, because events like teleport-relay marathon or whatever would be an interesting way to showcase all the different mutant teleporters' distinct signatures when doing the same thing.

Alternatively, I would love to see the War Captains start to specialize more in training mutants in styles of combat specifically geared towards their power types. Like Illyana leading a cadre of teleporters in battle after training them in all the ways teleportation can be utilized in combat....as a weapon to shred obstacles with opening teleportation gateways like those created by her discs or Blink's javelins, for a rapid dodge-and-weave style of fighting that keeps enemies off balance as teleporters dart in and out of the battlefield, hitting up a new opponent on each and every jaunt, as a delivery mechanism to teleport weaponizable elements directly onto the field like opening a gate to a volcano and letting magma pour through it, a return-to-sender type of attack that sweeps up an enemy's volley in a teleport and moves it behind them so they get hit by their own firepower....etc, etc.

One of the cool things about mutants is there are no real redundancies, because even mutants with overlapping powers tend to have distinct elements unique to them....and thus there's never really any true one size fits all approach to deploying those powers. Which in turn means no matter how talented a commander like Scott, Illyana or Bishop, the bigger the pool of different power types you're trying to utilize in combat....the more generalized your knowledge of those different power types and how they can be used. For all his familiarity with telepathy, an energy-wielder like Cyclops is never going to be AS knowledgeable in all the ins and outs of combat telepathy and what telekinesis is capable of as a psychic mutant who has been using that powerset most of their lives. Especially not when he's also mapping out strategies for the several dozen other mutant powersets available in mass quantities, y'know?

So it could be really interesting to see the War Captains in particular like, embrace the possibilities created by specialized combat training in different powersets, WHILE still not losing focus on having a general grasp of as many powersets as possible, and the ways they can be combined.

It could give a lot more structure and purpose to the War Captains and their roles if say, there were occasional mentions of a new sub-level, like War Lieutenants, each specializing in a different kind of powerset and combat options for mutants with that powerset.....a War Lieutenant for Combat Teleporters, one for Combat Speedsters, one for Combat Telepaths, one for Combat Shapeshifters, etc. Each War Captain could have oversight of several different War Lieutenants, who each report to their designated Captain and keep them apprised of all the latest techniques being taught for fighting on the Astral Plane, new elemental attacks, etc.

And then its the War Captains' role to strategize on the best way to coordinate different types of mutant warriors, map out weaponizable circuits that could arise from combining this new teleportation combat technique with what the Technopath War Lieutenant said her division has been working on to disrupt AI networks, etc. So that specialization never comes at the cost of generalized knowledge and a broad overview of the wide range of things diverse mutant powersets can do.

And thus its not just four War Captains running around barking orders, but instead each War Captain has oversight of several different types of combative mutants and are prepared to coordinate between themselves on how to combine and deploy their respective divisions. With the Captain Commander then being best utilized off the field, somewhere they can keep oversight of the entire battle even while two different War Captains are leading a combined assault and another Captain is defending on another front, that sort of thing.

Illyana of course would make sense to have overview of all the divisions geared around transportation, long-range assaults, rapid actions, etc - as well as magic. So she's fielding the various teleporters, speedsters, chronokinetics, phasers....all the mutants who can get past most defenses before anyone sees them coming and strike hard and fast, ideal for infiltration/extraction ops, stealth missions, long-range surveillance and recon. Meanwhile Kwannon's the Captain in charge of the psychic divisions, the telepaths, precogs, telekinetics, technopaths, illusionists, etc.

[Fokken]

Lovely post, BobbysWorld. You've always got such carefully mapped out grand ideas!

Your post reminded me that Bishop has his War College book incoming, and that stirred up my memory of when Rogue took on mentoring/fostering/training duty during the Utopia era, which leads me to my final epiphany of SYNCH.
Since his the moment he was revealed to tap into other mutants' powers and understand them and finesse them and even master them, way back in the Generation X days of yore, I've felt HE should be the one training mutants on their powers. His aura allows him intuitive understanding of any gift he's borrowed, and that just seems like the most appropriate tutor for any mutant. He's the catch all expert. Not to suggest he should be eating Bishop's lunch, because Lucas could sure use some focus in the Krakoan era, but SYNCH feels like THE uniquely qualified individual mutant for training others. ESPECIALLY after his centuries of Vault life under his belt.
But of course, with the many many mutants on Krakoa, it only makes sense that (as you proposed) the leading top tier mutants lend their knowledge and experience in guiding those with similar gifts. I know that Xavier's being a telepath was supposed to be part of his whole "I can teach" because he can get into people's heads but reading thoughts and emotions, albeit important, feels like a first step in helping mutants figure their **** out.

If Bishop is to be War College Drill Instructor, I would LOVE to see him invite Synch, Rogue, and Hope to lend their talents. A multi-generational cadre of mimics with vastly different life experience and training styles, but all uniquely suited to really navigating the hills and valleys of "How to" when it comes to powers. They all have very unique perspectives on their OWN powers too, with Synch having always been comfortable with his, Rogue previously afraid and impeded by hers, and Hope previously rejecting hers.

[sunofdarkchild]

Planet of the Apes variant cover the the New Mutants mini starting in March. The Greg Land cver from a few ages ago is also going to be a variant for this book. It doesn't mean she'll be in the book since covers lie and variant covers especially often have nothing to do with anything. 99% she's not in it.

[sunofdarkchild]

Midnight Suns #4 preview. Logan likes Illyana's leadership.

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[Toxin45]

Like how illyanna letters miles over Peter during their team up in the dark web event