Betsy Braddock: Psylocke Appreciation 2018

[MutantFanboy]

The more I think about it,the more I find the entire premise of it worthless and shameful.Even if the consequences are explored in a mini,I expect Psylocke's presence to diminish further without her most recognisable look.

To be fair, she hasn't had much of a presence in the last two decades. On most teams, she is either the resident telepath or the resident combatant. Nothing else about her has been explored beyond that in the last two decades.

[Angrel-San]

She is not and has not been an action junkie for years. it was always stupid that she was some dumb action junkie who spent time getting knocked around because she didn't think before acting.
It's also not stupid to have her relearn her skills again.

Not relearn her skills but regain her muscle memory for the new body.

The knowledge for her skills are there. She just needs conditioning which shouldn't be a problem with her dedication to the training room.

[Havok83]

To be fair, she hasn't had much of a presence in the last two decades. On most teams, she is either the resident telepath or the resident combatant. Nothing else about her has been explored beyond that in the last two decades.

Not true. Psylocke was pretty hot during the Utopia era and continued to be utilized up through IvX. I would say her stock decreased in ResurrXion bc she was primarily islanded off to Astonishing X-men which was largely inconsequential

[Angrel-San]

Psylocke is nuance and grace. Not a Brute.

She's a Butterfly, not a Bull. Lol.

Disagree.

Psylocke is both. That's why I love her. (Vol 1. Uncanny 328 vs. Sabretooth, Uncanny X-Force run among others)

She can be a meathead but she is a pretty damn awesome meathead. Nothing wrong with that.

Luckily, she knows how to mix it up.

[Tazirai]

Yes, muscle memory is a real thing, but I don't entirely agree about her OG body not being able to retain her fighting prowess. Due to the nature of the Psylocke/Revanche storyline, both bodies were superior at martial arts. They were complete mirror images of each other. When Psylocke regained her OG form in Sisterhood, she did not lose her martial arts and was still a physical fighter.

Many posters say that current Psylocke's body was recreated by Jamie. If so, then that's a new body that's a couple of years old by now that has managed to keep the martial arts and didn't have to be trained. So if Psylocke recreates her OG body, then why all of a sudden after all the back and forth with the bodies or a new body from Jamie would she not keep the martial arts this time?

I think many are bringing a little too much of real world comparisons to a medium where characters can pretty much defy the rules of reality. We've seen the future teasers, she has the psychic knives and the butterfly effect. The psychic knives represent her physical prowess, IMO.

Although I really don't want to mention this, but Chris Claremont did retcon in some fighting skills in Psylocke's past history when she was part of S.T.R.I.K.E. in X-treme X-men #4.

I'm glad you pointed this out. This is the part Claremont should have left out, and luckily most writers ignored it. If she was this kick ass fighter from Jump, why make her a ninja? Lol.

The Psi-Division at Strike were BARELY field agents. At best, they were remote viewers, interrogators, etc. Slaymaster SLAUGHTERED them. If these guys were badasses, the group would have demolished dude, just by sticking together.

They had a Clairvoyant/Telepath, Kevin Mulhearn
A Telekinetic, Tom Lennox.
A Pre-cog (With full control of her powers and Moderate Telepathy) Betsy
A full-fledged Telepath, Alison Double.
Limited Range Telepath, Vicki Reppion
Minor Telepaths, all the others he killed.

Hell Slaymaster was manhandling Brian for a bit lol.

[Tazirai]

To be fair, she hasn't had much of a presence in the last two decades. On most teams, she is either the resident telepath or the resident combatant. Nothing else about her has been explored beyond that in the last two decades.

Agreed. She really started to become something to look at under Remenders pen, then other writers, except Humphries followed it up pretty well.

Not relearn her skills but regain her muscle memory for the new body.

The knowledge for her skills are there. She just needs conditioning which shouldn't be a problem with her dedication to the training room.

That's what I meant, just came out differently.

Disagree.

Psylocke is both. That's why I love her. (Vol 1. Uncanny 328 vs. Sabretooth, Uncanny X-Force run among others)

She can be a meathead but she is a pretty damn awesome meathead. Nothing wrong with that.

Luckily, she knows how to mix it up.

To a degree yeah. Even in her former Body she sometimes tried take on more than she could chew..
She could be a lunkhead at times.
Remember this lil doozy, when she got dominated and decided the ONE X-men she should fight is Wolverine?
Her being an idiot isn't limited to body type lol.

[Psyknight]

The more I think about it,the more I find the entire premise of it worthless and shameful.Even if the consequences are explored in a mini,I expect Psylocke's presence to diminish further without her most recognisable look.

I do fear her presence could diminish but not because of that.

Purple hair - check
Psy Knife - check
Butterfly - check

I'd say she's still pretty recognisable. Her hair shade and pink outfit might not be to everyone's taste, but that's not as set in stone as ethnicity is.

She is pretty recognizable with all those things regardless of her body. I always felt like she was one of those characters who didn’t really need a default costume because her coloring and power signatures are so distinctive.

Can we just talk about muscle memory and how it's a REAL thing. No the body didn't make her a fighter. It DID get her on the path to it and any training she did would belong to the Eurasian body. Now unless it's written in that she retains it. Beyond that, no, logically her English body would not be able to do what her Eurasian body could. That's not how it works. Her English body and muscles would need the training first.

You are absolutely right. It makes way more real world sense and it is definitely possible. I just think it’s just as likely she will still have her fighting skills after the body reswapping/ transformation, no matter how nosensical, simply because the comics are nonsensical in general and there is precedent for it. It really does seem like it could go either way.

Betsy's new look for X-men Dissasembled



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That’s been discussed for several pages now.

Not true. Psylocke was pretty hot during the Utopia era and continued to be utilized up through IvX. I would say her stock decreased in ResurrXion bc she was primarily islanded off to Astonishing X-men which was largely inconsequential

Agreed.

[Rnap22]

She doesn't have her original body. That's dead and half the face blown off.

[sublimeclown]

Purple hair - check
Psy Knife - check
Butterfly - check

I'd say she's still pretty recognisable. Her hair shade and pink outfit might not be to everyone's taste, but that's not as set in stone as ethnicity is.

Plus, let's be honest, right now they are highlighting the differences between the two bodies by coloring the hair different and having the outfit be pink. Once the dust settles, I'm sure artists will start rendering her more like her Asian body. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future her hair is darker purple and she ends up back in some kind of black bodysuit.

[The_Greatest_Username]

I feel like somewhere down the road they’ll retcon her to being at least half-Japanese. When she gets used in outside media (games and film) she will have an Asian body, and I think they’ll want her comic appearance to reflect that. Even in shows like Wolverine and the X-Men, she was just a regular telepath (seemingly not a ninja), but she was still Asian.

[Havok83]

I feel like somewhere down the road they’ll retcon her to being at least half-Japanese. When she gets used in outside media (games and film) she will have an Asian body, and I think they’ll want her comic appearance to reflect that. Even in shows like Wolverine and the X-Men, she was just a regular telepath (seemingly not a ninja), but she was still Asian.

WATX came out 10 years ago when that is what she was in the books. She's changed. Marvel is very protective of their character. I think this change will decrease her chances of being used outside the books but if she is, she will have whatever appearance Marvel approves of. This British body will be in the games and future cartoons. Thats what makes the most sense

[The_Greatest_Username]

WATX came out 10 years ago when that is what she was in the books. She's changed. Marvel is very protective of their character. I think this change will decrease her chances of being used outside the books but if she is, she will have whatever appearance Marvel approves of. This British body will be in the games and future cartoons. Thats what makes the most sense

The bolded section is sort of why I’m not happy with this change. Visually, in the comics, I don’t expect there to be much of a difference. I just expect some new story beats on that front.
I just feel like with the current push to increase racial diversity and inclusiveness in all media forms, reverting her to a Caucasian body will make her even less likely to see use over other telepaths like Jean and Emma. Obviously, I hope that’s not the case, but I feel like it will be.
If she sees usage in the MCU, I almost feel like it would be more problematic for her to not be portrayed by an Asian actress since that’s most casual fans recognize her (she’s been Asian longer than I’ve been alive).

[Triniking1234]

Say goodbye to the sweet figurines they do for her in Japan.

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[Havok83]

Say goodbye to the sweet figurines they do for her in Japan.

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People will still make figurines and art for the old body

[Kurolegacy]

I feel like somewhere down the road they’ll retcon her to being at least half-Japanese. When she gets used in outside media (games and film) she will have an Asian body, and I think they’ll want her comic appearance to reflect that. Even in shows like Wolverine and the X-Men, she was just a regular telepath (seemingly not a ninja), but she was still Asian.

Not only in the cartoon, but in nearly every alternate universe that she's appeared in, she's in an Asian body with only a few having her in a Caucasian one. Even in the movies they had her portrayed as Asian, with her actress being half Asian in X-Men Apocalypse. At the end of the day, that's her at her most recognizable.