The Mistress of Magnetism: LORNA DANE POLARIS Appreciation

[jmc247]

So, they only used her because of her relationship with he who should not be named? That's what made her interesting? Wow.

That gives me the idea to start asking the legions of casual X-Men fans who watch The Gifted and and don’t even know her relationship to any comic character, but find her compelling why they do.

Then to start asking fans who read the comics semi regularly and watch the show why they consider her compelling and finally leave it to fans here. Its her 50th anniversary this year after all.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

So, they only used her because of her relationship with he who should not be named? That's what made her interesting? Wow.

NO, that's not even close to what I said or meant, my point was that for how much you and others here ATTACK the pairing in the end Lorna had not been damaged as much as most here think in that if she had been that badly damaged by the relationship then she probably wouldn't have been used on the show, so only saying that the pairing didn't hurt her as much as you and others here want to make it out to have...

Every comic relationship has its good and bad moments...so no that's not at all why they used her, and no that's not what makes her interesting...I just find it funny how many here constantly/often refer to Lorna as the daughter of Magneto rather than Lorna, that's like referring to Siryn as the daughter of Banshee often...

[JasonEsta]

Same thing Emma Dumont refers to her as. It's all good.

[jmc247]

Lorna might have been more take charge than Eclipse, but never did either just feel like a supporting character for the other. They both felt like individuals. Nor did we have to endure lame ass scenes where Lorna says dialogue like "All I had to do was ask myself want Marcos would want, and the answer was easy." It's funny how people try to spin stuff.

Yes, they are both individuals with their own distinct views and neither came across to me as simply a supporting character to the other.

I sort of differentiate Lorna's history in the comics in a number of ways, but one of them into eras of thinking. The 60s was a divide between her father's legacy and what she wanted with her life and Bobby as a love interest was apart of that. But, it was still about Lorna and what she wanted even if they short circuited her decision making by dodgy means.

It was nice for the hint of Bobby and Lorna interaction in Phoenix Resurrection 4 as apart of that including her being in her sort of based on her original (though nowhere near as good) outfit on the year of her 50th anniversary. There was a reason why I favored her showing up there, because in the end you had two of Lorna's oldest relationships playing a big role and Jean was there for Lorna at her worst and Lorna was there for Jean in the run up to DPS and I see great potential for their relationship in coming years.

But, to my original point you had 60s mental Lorna's divide. You had from the 1970 to 2000 a new conception of Lorna who doesn't want to be adventurer or help mutants or do anything other then be her boyfriends love muffin and do what her boyfriend wants her to do and be what her boyfriend wants her to be. Lorna in the desert or later fighting for mutants with the government or really anything was ascribed to her boyfriends wants. Lorna on Genosha? Enough contradictory explanations to fill in a comic book all to themselves, but perhaps the most stupid was to find her boyfriend and then leaving because as you said she can't think for herself and its what her boyfriend would have wanted.



Post Genosha genocide was the moment where Lorna started getting agency and stopped blindly making decisions on what others namely her boyfriend thought. After you had a new Lorna with a different view on life as Jean herself said at the time. This Lorna ascribed to what Emma Dumont calls "Polaris logic" that if you have great power and you aren't working to make a world a better place then what are you doing with your life? Its clear The Gifted heavily took from Lorna's post Genosha era thinking not of 'do what your boyfriend tells you'. Not of 'with great power comes great responsibility, but with great power comes an obligation to use it to make a better world.

1970 to 2000 thinking for Lorna infested many of her depictions post Decimation. Certainly RAFOTSE was the pinnacle of that where everything she did was because a man told her to. I am willing to perfectly admit there was too much in early Blue of a question left over why she is there in the first place and too much came off as to save Alex and as a favor to her father to look after the 05 and too little of why does she herself want to train the 05. I had no significant issue with the comic text calling her Havok's ex or Magneto daughter or whatever else and I know some did and differences over that kind of obscured the fact I actually did have issues in not being able to get into Lorna's head and get at her motivations beyond to help in different ways the two most important characters in her long existence in the comics.

Lorna's motivations matter big time and the success of early 2000s Lorna and now The Gifted Lorna is built primarily on her fighting for others because she wants to do it not because it is what her boyfriend wants or what her father might have wanted. They textually changed her lines in the finale of The Gifted to make clear she isn't acting for anyone outside of her own beliefs and what she believes is good for the world.

Emma Dumont: We actually had a line in the scene with the airplane, where instead of saying “this is what I was meant to be,” she said “this is what I was born to do.” So, it was very much referencing her legacy, but then we decided to take that out because legacy means nothing to her. She doesn’t care. She understands that friendship is thicker than blood, and the family you choose is your family, despite who you’re related to. So if she didn’t do this because of the legacy, because of her ancestry, she did this because this is what she believes in.

https://www.inverse.com/article/4025...le-emma-dumont

Emma textually pushed against lines and ideas she is does things for reasons beyond its what she believes.

Emma Dumont: This is actually something I talked to one of our writers the other day. It just affected me in a weird way. I just was like, “Why are we creating a character that just does rash things based on what the men in her life do?” She’s always like… I don’t know. There was just a moment where I was like, “Oh, she’s always doing something because of her father, doing something because of Marcos.” I just had a day where I was like, I don’t know, just kind of upset because I just felt for one episode, things were like really… but also it was like you’re shooting out of order, so I was kind of just like being a grumpy pants. But then what I actually thought about, I was like, “Actually, compared to original mythology, we’re doing a great job and she’s totally her own person and represents a human.” I just feel like sometimes women on TV aren’t their own people. They’re just accessories to other people and so I really appreciate that we give her her own… she’s just her own person which is cool.

Yeah, I mean, she obviously has a really difficult and complex relationship with her father. I mean, being a minority in a world where minorities are hated and tortured and abused and sometimes killed and hunted, it’s not a good time. It’s pretty tragic. So she obviously has some inner anger in her already from all of that. I mean, she just gets messed- and it’s not even about herself because Lorna’s the kind of person that would go out in flames, like would die if she was saving people’s lives. She doesn’t even care. She puts herself and her unborn child in danger everyday risking both their lives to save people, so it’s not even about herself. It’s just about the wrong thing just makes her so angry.

When it’s so clearly the wrong thing, it infuriates her and she gets so livid, she can’t even control her powers. Having that underlying thing where everything she does she knows is compared to her father, everything she does. Even though no one would say it to her face, every single thing she does is compared to her father and how her father was, and what he did, and if he was a bad guy, and how he was a villain, and how he hurt humans, and how he was stubborn and thought he was right about everything. He turned on the mutant race and decided to do his own thing, but was he wrong? It’s difficult when… it’s like Marcos’ questions sometimes. If Lorna’s too happy, he’ll be like, “Are you having a manic episode?” which is super offensive. It’s like the same thing for when she’s making decisions for the Mutant Underground. She’s like, “We have to fight for ourselves.”

She knows people are thinking, “Oh, she’s just saying that because she’s Magneto’s daughter or she’s saying that because she actually believes it.” I mean, it’s a catch-22 because if she does it because she believes in it, they’re going to say it’s because of her father. If she doesn’t do it, they’re going to be like, “Oh, you don’t want to do it because of your father.” I mean, she can never win. So she kind of is at the point where she has to be like, “Forget everything. I’m going to do what I believe in no matter what people say,” because who cares what people say if you’re helping people, if you’re saving people’s lives?

https://comicsverse.com/episode-98-e...ont-interview/

There is of course no problem with Lorna showing up and doing things be it on Phoenix Resurrection or Blue because she wants to help others close to her, but there is a difference between helping others close to her and having no thoughts or motivations or world view of her own. One has to be more careful with it in regard to Lorna then other characters, because for so long she was written as having no real agency at all be it mind controlled or when she wasn't.

In the end my personal view on what has made Lorna so captivating to so many people in the modern era has a variety of factors, but 'Polaris logic and the window into her thinking, her actions and her vision of the world' is well above all the rest. What is the difference between Polaris logic as I see it and her father's logic? Well there are a few, the biggest is probably old time Magneto logic was somewhat more tinged with a desire for vengeance.

I mean, she isn't actually Magneto, but the lady with the same power in The Gifted is compelling as hell.

https://twitter.com/YoungerPope/stat...30415133057025

[Purplevit]

Not a long time ago we were speaking about new Polaris costume and how it should look like.
Decided to make fanart how Lorna will look as X-Men RED team member.
I hope you will like it

[Soulsword323]

Not a long time ago we were speaking about new Polaris costume and how it should look like.
Decided to make fanart how Lorna will look as X-Men RED team member.
I hope you will like it

Very nice! Love the design and color you went with here.

[jmc247]

Not a long time ago we were speaking about new Polaris costume and how it should look like.
Decided to make fanart how Lorna will look as X-Men RED team member.
I hope you will like it

Very nice Purplevit.

[jmc247]

Very nice! Love the design and color you went with here.

Soulsword, what is your opinion now a few days later in regard to her new Blue outfit has it changed any or about the upcoming plotline in Cry Havok?

Also if you were wondering, the L + 3 numbers for the top 25 shows of week 17 are out. We don't know exactly what the increase was from live, but we do know it was under .8 up. The last time it was over .7 was for ep 4 the big escape when the show managed a .9 increase L + 3.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/dvr...an-15-21-2018/

By the end of the week we will know the full L + 7 numbers, my realistic hopes at this point are 1.9 if things stay rock solid as they have been for DVR since episode 5 or if there is a slight boost from normal DVR a 2.0. Next season will have to work on retaining viewers throughout episodes and the must watch feel to the show throughout not just the end and I think Hellfire can help with that.

[jmc247]

I see Paniccia commented on Purplevit's art.

WOW!!! That's really cool!!! There were no plans for Polaris to be on RED but maybe there's an X-MEN GREEN in our future (kidding!). I would love to find her a permanent team home but you can find her doing kick ass stuff in @cullenbunn's #XMENBLUE

https://twitter.com/MarkPaniccia/sta...14810192515074

Also, to read between the lines of that Blue is still her sort of temporary guest star home which might get the reboot this Summer.

I also really wonder how Lorna would actually fit into an X-Men and Avengers crossover post retcon assuming they do a crossover. There is a reason they have kept Lorna and Magneto as far apart from Wanda and Pietro as possible.

I am sort of divided between wanting Lorna to interact with them and annoyed she has had no contact since pre-retcon and wanting to wait for Marvel to decide to fix it first which could happen sooner rather then later. Though in some ways its not much of a revel to Lorna given she was never apart of the original retcon nor did we see her dealing with it.

[Soulsword323]

Soulsword, what is your opinion now a few days later in regard to her new Blue outfit has it changed any or about the upcoming plotline in Cry Havok?

Also if you were wondering, the L + 3 numbers for the top 25 shows of week 17 are out. We don't know exactly what the increase was from live, but we do know it was under .8 up. The last time it was over .7 was for ep 4 the big escape when the show managed a .9 increase L + 3.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/dvr...an-15-21-2018/

By the end of the week we will know the full L + 7 numbers, my realistic hopes at this point are 1.9 if things stay rock solid as they have been for DVR since episode 5 or if there is a slight boost from normal DVR a 2.0. Next season will have to work on retaining viewers throughout episodes and the must watch feel to the show throughout not just the end and I think Hellfire can help with that.

I've grown to really like the costume. It's really well designed, but I still feel its missing those personal touches to really elevate it, and make it be something I'd like to see for the long haul. It works for this situation, but I don't think it would translate well if Polaris was to be moved somewhere else. As for the upcoming arc, I'm more excited than I was, but still have some of the same reservations about it. Malice, and mind control in general has been done to death, and those panels by R.B. seem to indicate that Lorna getting hurt might be what turns a certain someone back onto the side of good. Not really looking for Polaris to be a damsel in distress, and getting rescued. None of this has been confirmed, its just the feeling I got when I saw those panels by R.B.

Hoping that the L+7 numbers will be impressive, or at least consistent. With a bigger live audience, I'm hopeful the numbers will get a bit of a boost.

[jmc247]

I've grown to really like the costume. It's really well designed, but I still feel its missing those personal touches to really elevate it, and make it be something I'd like to see for the long haul. It works for this situation, but I don't think it would translate well if Polaris was to be moved somewhere else. As for the upcoming arc, I'm more excited than I was, but still have some of the same reservations about it. Malice, and mind control in general has been done to death, and those panels by R.B. seem to indicate that Lorna getting hurt might be what turns a certain someone back onto the side of good. Not really looking for Polaris to be a damsel in distress, and getting rescued. None of this has been confirmed, its just the feeling I got when I saw those panels by R.B.

Hoping that the L+7 numbers will be impressive, or at least consistent. With a bigger live audience, I'm hopeful the numbers will get a bit of a boost.

For the most part agreed in terms of the costume. As to the arc I haven't shaken off many similar worries at this point.

I would not be at all surprised if love turns a certain someone against Baston at least in the short term before he might switch again for some reason. There are ways this story could turn that I wouldn't want to see like a certain someone and her father butting heads and at times working together with a 'empowerment moment' at the end in regard to Lorna breaking free of control and being unhappy with both of them or siding with one against the other.

That is now how I want it to end up of course and there is no telling at this point it will.

Cry Havok Part 3

• MAGNETO comes face-to-face with HAVOK, with the fate of mutantkind hanging in the balance.

• EMMA FROST, MISS SINISTER and BASTION have formed an unholy alliance, and now is the time for them to unleash Project: Mothervine!

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/X-Men:_Blue_Vol_1_25

In the end the point of my a bit long winded post today was real empowerment comes from Lorna having a set of views and mind of her own and being willing to stand up for her beliefs and fight for them even if it means losing everything.

In regard to the ratings for The Gifted finale the one thing that will be interesting to see in regard to the plus 7 numbers is that typically the level of post episode discussion dies off on twitter and online 2-3 days after. For the finale it continued in such a way as I hadn't seen since the first episode and I would argue it surpassed that in terms of online talk. If it manages a 2.0 or 2.1 in +7 it will have been due to that.

Then again a fair number of people mid season removed it from their DVR list so I plan on watching the On Demand numbers as well which hasn't been in the top 20 since very early December or around the top 10 since late October/early November. The show lost alot of momentum thematically which played out in the ratings after episode 5 and it regained it towards the end, but late in the game.

[AbnormallyNormal]

Not a long time ago we were speaking about new Polaris costume and how it should look like.
Decided to make fanart how Lorna will look as X-Men RED team member.
I hope you will like it

Wow you're really good thanks

[jmc247]

In terms of the live ratings big one million viewer boost for the finale, I figure a chunk of them are DVR watchers motivated to watch live which makes the +7 numbers more interesting then usual.

Rereading ANXF there was a number of missed opportunities and things that could have amounted to something, it’s had it’s good moments certainly as well.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Okay though jmc, how do you see the views on things that you want Lorna to have as being different than Magneto's on the same subject...as far as I see it right now the two views seem awfully close to being identical...which I don't see as a good thing, wanting to protect mutants and all but she should in some way view Magneto as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when you give oneself over totally to a certain cause, to where the cause is more important to you than anything or anyone else...

As for the show it has a chance but a whole lot can happen for any show going into its second season, both good and bad, we'll see...

[jmc247]

Comic Lorna has no cause nor consistent beliefs greater then her very tiny life and suffers mightily for it. She left things off in 2017 with no real friends other then a robot and having an ex and a father.

The only reason she might get some finally again finally and is showing up again on various comics is The Gifted well before the finale personified Lorna’s potential in a way the comics for various reasons tend to fail hard at.

There was little chance she would be out of limbo without the success of the show and none her appearing outside Blue.