Would Psylocke still have become or remained popular without the Asian body switch and Jim Lee costume change?

[Aighthomie]

Is she really ALL THAT more popular than Dazzler though? I mean, if she had headed Greg Pak's X-Treme X-Men instead of Ali with the same alt-universe cast of characters and Sage, would that book have recorded much higher sales? We live in a time when Gambit, Storm and Nightcrawler solos tank and a Longshot mini outsells a Fantomex MAX imprint. With the exceptions of the few obvious cases like Wolverine and Deadpool, what really defines the level of individual popularity of X-characters? Visibility in media? (which is almost always dictated by Marvel or Fox).

I agree with the poster you quoted that without the switch Psylocke would be around Dazzler's popularity. And I do think Psylocke is more popular than Dazzler. She is more mainstream. No, she's not up there with the super A Listers and no she probably couldn't make a comic successful just by her mere presence. But she has been a mainstay of the main books for over 2 decades (3?). The same can't be said for Dazzler. So yeah, I would say she's more popular than Dazzler. At least a grade above Dazzler.

That said, she owes a lot of her popularity, not only on her new body and costume, but because she was part of the early 90s Jim Lee X-Men. Almost all the members of the Blue and Gold teams of that era got a boost in popularity (or retained their former prominence). To many, that roster is still seen as the definitive image of who the X-Men are and Pslocke was a part of that. Those that didn't make the cut, in general, got a downgrade. Some were able to breakthrough afterwards, of course. Kitty, Emma, Illiyana for example.

But I also think that Jim Lee would never have used Psylocke without her ninja form. So it kind of all goes back to her body switch.

[The S0/\/\@7ic Si/\/\[]Dl370n]

no, and I'll give a concrete example.

X-Men: Children of the Atom.

Psylocke made the cut, as did Storm, but Jean Grey and Rogue didn't.

Hell, it was my first experience with the character.

Plus adding physical capabilities, you can now do more with the character.

Plus it sets up multiple options in her rogues gallery that can be exploited for future stories (The Hand for body stealing one of their members, Spiral for doing the bodyswap).

Without it, she's a Jean Grey Expy that is british.

Eh, I'm not sure about this one.

Didn't Spiral also make the cut?

And she was much more conservatively dressed than Psylocke.

[dragonmp93]

Eh, I'm not sure about this one.

Didn't Spiral also make the cut?

And she was much more conservatively dressed than Psylocke.

Who is Spiral ?.

[Perfection/Emma 2]

Psylocke is kawaii desu

[The S0/\/\@7ic Si/\/\[]Dl370n]

Who is Spiral ?.

Whoa, seriously?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_(comics)

[Cadaverine]

I'd say that she would not have become/remained as popular without the body switch/costume change, not because she's "sexier asian" or anything of the sort, but because that's a lot of character development and history to draw interest. Without that she'd have much less of a story.

[BlitheringToot]

Psylocke was cool from the start ... but she became a LOT cooler after the body swap/costume change. Acrobatic ninja chick wielding a psychic knife (and later a katana)? YES, PLEASE. Plus, it was awesome being a kid in the '90s and reading the ever-convoluted explanations for how and why she got body-swapped.

Betsy's original body was pretty well messed up during Fraction's run; I know that's hardly a (pun intended) death sentence in comics, but I think it should stay dead. Pseudo-Asian Betsy is more fun.

[blinkingblah]

I liked her character before and after the swap. I liked when she wore armor because she knew she was useless physically. If they would have developed her more I think before the swap she could have been a powerhouse. Maybe taught her how to fight through hard work and perseverance. Not just given another body and all the knowledge of a ninja.

All you need is a writer to take some interest in a character. An iconic story can make any character iconic or popular.

[Yronheart]

The bodyswap was unnecessary and culturally insensitive. They could have brainwashed her into a Hand agent without swapping bodies and she'd have still became popular.

[Darrin Kelley]

As an Asian myself, while I always loved her appearance and even attitude, I always hated the fact that she was a "Twinky", yellow outside, white inside, it's insulting and offensive, it's like saying that a true Oriental female character, even fanservice, isn't good enough for the books, she has to be really Occidental. Personally, I wish that she would die and Betsy Braddock's spirit would depart her body and it would be revived with a Life Seed like with Archangel, so she would be a brand-new soul in what was Kwannon's body originally. I mean, apart from her use of upper-class British terms, she doesn't sound particularly British (though I would imagine hearing a real-life Psylocke would be as shocking as listening to the obviously Oriental Cho Chang from Harry Potter speak with a super Scottish accent in the movies), and as has been pointed out, you wouldn't know that she is supposed to be originally English unless you knew her backstory, which already eliminates most people except her die-hard fanboys...

I always found the body-switched Psylocke to be the product of major racism. Straight up offensive.

I like the look. Yes.

But what would have been wrong with having a naturally asian woman being shown as a sex kitten?

[Tazirai]

Confident prediction: Tazirai will come in here and kick the ass of anyone who says 'no'. :P

So I'm gonna say 'yes', natch. I don't know if she'd be as popular with the hormonal crowd as she was, but if she'd stayed Caucasian during the '90s she'd still have gotten sexed-up pretty heavily, because, hell, everyone did. She might not have been all thong'd up like a sleazy apartment fantasy wrestler*, but she'd get a new, more 'daring' outfit and get stuck in broken-spine Liefeld poses and her cheekbones would be sharp enough to cut granite, etc. Plus, classic Psylocke often had a certain...fascination with her own body, and was in no way shy about it. That point of character would likely be exploited in less than savoury ways by the writers of the time, and would make her a big deal for the teenage boy market.


* - Not that I'd know what that sort of woman would dress like, of course, cough cough

I'm good. I would just say. She would have become what Emma Frost became to the X-men. That's all. I'm not arguing her popularity anymore. I want white Psylocke, I'll draw and write her that way. So I'm good.

I also don't think she should be further retconned to being Asian from the beginning, regardless of popularity. Because if you do, she's not the same character anymore. Those of us who appreciate her past would like it to still be there.

[Tazirai]

I think it did make her more popular. She went from someone that was wearing body armor to protect herself after taking a serious beating to wearing no armor and adopting a aggresive and visually stunning fighting style.You have to admit that The Kwannon appearance really catches the eye along with the Psyblade. I wonder how she would have turned out if they went the female James Bond route?

Body armour keeps people alive though. Even great fighters wear armour, Batman and his whole crew, Captain America, Daredevil, Moon knight, Black knight, most of Iron man, and Spider mans foes, Angela, Gamora, Dani Moonstar, SIF, Frigga, etc.
I've never understood how when men wear armour it's okay.
Put a female in armour and omg the world ends. Is it because penis? Or just you need women to be amazingly sexy, and not wear protection, unless it's mid riff baring?

[Mundungus]

Question, and this may have been answered already, but what were Kwannon's powers? I assumed the x-gene being genetic that just because her mind swapped, her powers wouldn't carry over.

[JustAnotherFan]

Question, and this may have been answered already, but what were Kwannon's powers? I assumed the x-gene being genetic that just because her mind swapped, her powers wouldn't carry over.

It's never been thoroughly explained but it seems that she had very low level empathic abilities before the body swap so she could sense the emotions of others mentally but that was probably pretty much it. And since she never appeared in her original body again or in the body of Psylocke for long before her death her abilities and what she might have been able to do had she trained with her powers remain a mystery. SO maybe if she had never swapped bodies with Betsy and had remained in her own body and trained herself in the use of her powers maybe she could have become able to manipulate the emotions of others. Maybe even something more, but we'll probably never know for sure what the extent of her potential might have been.

[Jdsm24]

In the Age of Apocalypse 10th Anniversary Limited Series (2005) by Akira Yoshida and Christ Bachalo which features an obviously-Asian Psylocke i.e. Kwannon (because the idea of the bodyswitch also happening in the AoA is just too absurd), she can also still create a psi-blade that can undo brainwashing...