Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Psylocke Poll - In which body do you want Psylocke in?

Okay! This past week was not so productive. No Psylocke news at all! So let's do a little poll. It's simple. In which body do you want Psylocke in? I ask it because I see a lot of fans complaing about the British body returning because Asian Psylocke is iconic and popular, and because of her they've became fans. Others complain about the Asian body because they feel this is simply not what Psylocke was supposed to be. It's a travesty! Before a Civil War breaks out in Psylocke fandom, let's all agree that Psylocke rocks in whichever body she's in! Poll is right here, on the right! Vote!

46 comments:

Selene said...

I voted for the Asian body.Don't misunderstand me,I've been a fan of Betsy Braddock since New Mutants:Annual #2,but what attracted me the most to ninja Psylocke was that she could match her telepathic potential with her martial arts.More importantly,she wasn't just a cliche fictional ninja warrior,but a warrior who turned martial arts into a matter of beauty,grace,elegance and style and a warrior who craved to become the best and she sort of became my role-model...As I said,I've been loving Betsy ever since she fried Spiral with that psycho-blast,but if I had to choose between the two bodies,I'd pick the Japanese one. :-)

DANIEL MAINÉ said...

asian body man! british body sucks to much...

Anonymous said...

asian, british body sucks!

Selene said...

*sniffs*That smell...*sniffs*I recognize that smell...*sniffs*

Smells like a flame war...

Rahsaan said...

British body. Both bodies are physically beautiful, but I hated the retcon with Kwannon. It brought in a superfluous character and added way too much baggage. The change to Asian was okay when it was Claremont's original story of the Hand physically altering her. Now it's bizarre with Elizabeth inhabiting someone else's body. It would be cool if she could be in her own body with telepathy (including butterfly power signature), preocognition, psychic knife and fighting skills learned from the Hand.

Giles said...

Ha ha ha, Marvels next Big Event:

Psylocke and Revanche: Mind Wars! (aka Psi-Wars II) ;p

I really don't care, I love both bodies -- but I'm sliding towards British.

Ps. Selene, thanks for the welcome at C-Fan, I was going to respond but I have had some troubles entering the site.

Mr. Hellfire said...

British body by far, not only do I miss that period of time, but I also prefer Betsy as more telepath than ninja.

Anonymous said...

Asian Body rules!

Rahsaan said...

Right on, Hellfire. The roster (including pre-corrupted Madelyne) that died during Fall of the Mutants was one my favorites.

Anonymous said...

asian body because psylocke didn't start being that cool until she got the armor, wolverine taught her to fight, and then jim lee made her gorgeous.

it would be nice if she wore either the australian armor or the lady mandarin armor for fighting, with a billowing cape to blind people with. and even tho she is asian, there is no reason her hair can't be lavendar instead of black (see x-treme).

also, in the graphic novel x-men genesis the asian betsy is just as good with her telepathy as the caucasian. she took out sabretooth and omega red with her mind control powers.

i'd like both bodies to be alive really, my first issue off the news stand was x-men number 20.

Sneaky Ninja said...

Asian.

I felt she fit the mold of being the "pretty telepath" when she was in her British body. But when she became the ninja, she was more physical, even her usage of her telepathy turned more physical (i.e. psychic knife, rather than a mind blast)-- which was a nice change to the old recipe, in my opinion.

PsySpears said...

Honestly im gonna be happy either way.I LOVE british body,looks wise etc etc and i love asian body looks wise etc etc.either way shes still betsy. People saying british sucks/asian sucks should take a step back and realise its the same charater/personality under it.And both are phyically beautiful.

That said i still had to vote.I Voted Asian,mainly because i believe this is the body Betsy wants to be in.Shes dreamed of being a warrior/fighter all her life.in her british body she believed she needed armour because she wasnt physically adapt enough to be the warrior she wanted to be and unable to keep up with the other X-Men physically.Shes felt like a born fighter trapped in a frail body.

In the asian body she was an upfront frontline physical/fighter member of the x-men (what she always wanted),like in X-Men 1 when she was teamed with Gambit and Wolvie and when she was put on the Blue team.She enjoys hand to hand combat more than mental/telepatic conflicts. She is an "Action Junkie" somthing her asian body seems to be more adapted to,and the body that betsy has become accustomed too.

Personally i believe she would pick asian.



My 2 cents :D

Rahsaan said...

PsySpears, your point's valid. However, you're totally ignoring the fact that the caucasian body is no longer frail. It was trained and honed by Kwannon to be as much a physical fighter as the Japanese body. Thus, Betsy could still be an "action junkie" if placed back in it.

PsySpears said...

yeah i took that into consideration aswell,but i meant that betsy is more comfortable and knows how the asian bosy "works".Shes comfortable wearing her hand costume opposed to the full body armour.

And Kwannon was trained in the british body not betsy,betsy would need to train from the begining again,its mind and body that trains symbiotically Betsy dosent know how to "work" her british body to the extent she does her asian

.maybe that wouldnt be a bad thing character buildind wise tho,getting used to a whole new (old) body.

but as i said i will be really happy either way,just wish we could have both haha

Rahsaan said...

The mind-body connection is a valid point. However, if she can adjust to using psychokinesis and to being in a different body and training to become a ninja, then it should be doable in her original incarnation. Also, since the caucasian body would have the muscle memory from training with Kwannon, it should be fairly easy to learn. Also, her mind may find it easy to connect with her old body, since it did inhabit taht body for the 20+ years that Betsy grew up in it. (In comic years, Betsy has only probably been in the Asian body a few years tops). That being said, the armor is not necessary unless she wants it for added protection.

Anonymous said...

I think its hypocritical to say you want her to return to British yet you still want her to have ninjitsu skills, that wasnt british Betsy's style at all.

The Phoenix King said...

Honestly, I'm perfectly content to have Betsy in her Asian body. Yeah, the way they did it was ham-fisted and the retcons were sure annoying, but there's no point in bringing that all up over again just to appease a few fanboys. Psylocke's current powerset (TK katana, blasts and physical agumentation) are cool as is (if painfully underutilized), an Asian body interjects some additional diversity into the X-Men. Moreover, as PsySpears so excellently puts it, she's content to be a warrior in this form anyways. Why bother fixiing what ain't broken?

FSaker said...

Fraction could get inspired in Land's UXM #509 cover and have Spiral merging both bodies, leaving Psylocke's left side of the body as British and Psylocke's right side of the body as Asian (or vice-versa)... Wouldn't it be great?? Haha, I know, it wouldn't...

Seriously now, I like the British body slightly better, but I'm fine with whatever body she gets. As long as Betsy gets well written, good panel time and gets rid of the ninja buttfloss bathing suit, she'll be welcome in whatever body she's in!

Anonymous said...

British body definitely!

Chicken Tetrizinni said...

British. The Asian body is not and never will be the real Psylocke no matter how many fans of the slut suit try to say otherwise. The 90s are dead, go wank to Emma's t&a now because that's all anybody really liked KWANNON for.

Selene said...

To Giles:
It's okay. :-)

Well,true,Elizabeth can be a ninja warrior in her British body,but remember that she's not only accepted what Spiral did to her,she's acctually embraced.Betsy has come to terms with becoming an Asian woman and she currently views herself as an Asian woman,besides,that's why Jamie didn't resurrect her in her old body.By the way,I half disagree with The Phoenix King;the power swap with Jean was the worst thing that happened to Betsy.

Anonymous said...

Betsy embraced what Spiral did to her, because there wasn't any other way. Either she had to accept it ou she would freak out. But now, she has a choice. I'm certain she would be happier in her own body, than in someone else's.

Selene said...

No.Jamie resurrected her in Kwannon's body and not in her original body,because that's how she viewed herself now;it was her heart's desire.If by the end of the arc she chooses her British body instead of her Japanese one,then Fraction will retcon the choices she's been making for 20 years.

Anonymous said...

you know none of this is real right Selene? Jamie only resurrected her in Kwannon's body because Marvel knows she's more marketable as an asian showing her ass.

Selene said...

Um,well,if we start putting the blame on Marvel or on the writers for what happened,then this isn't going to lead us anywhere.In addition,earlier,in the beginning,Psylocke could have threatened Kwannon in order to retrieve her old body,but she didn't.

Anonymous said...

Asian all the way,

I think t would be even more confusing to make her british body with ninja skills. I beleive that she has now been asian longer than not. She always seemed frail as british and seemed to reval in the power of her new body, she became a true warrior that did not need armor to protect herself.

Plus I think she would just become the weakest x-telepath again once Jean and Xavier get back. It even seems because of emmas popularity that even she is now a stronger telepath than Betsy was.

Giles said...

Plus I think she would just become the weakest x-telepath again once Jean and Xavier get back. It even seems because of emmas popularity that even she is now a stronger telepath than Betsy was.But that was the beauty of earlier British Betsy (up until the body-switch); she wasn't the most powerful psi on the planet, but she was smart and had a strategic and creative mind.

Besides, she was never that weak; she did fight Sabertooth even though she was both mentally and physically tired - she did have some broken ribs after all.

Selene: it's okay, see you in CBR? ,)

Anonymous said...

What is with all this buttfloss bitching all the damn time, its a leotard GET OVER IT thousands upon thousands of female super heroes wear them yet you never here people bad mouthing Wonder Woman or Storm or Elektra or Ms Marvel or...

Anyways the Jim Lee outfit when drawn correctly with the long sash and the non symmetrical leg straps looks awesome and is iconic and the X-treme outfit looked brilliant.

There were numerous Betsy gets naked scenes BEFORE Asian invasion and she hadn't even been in x-men 5 minutes, doesn't anyone remember the bath scene, or swimming with Rogue, naked with Doug, or shedding all her armour to jump in that river or posing nude for colossus yeah sure she's always been a shrinking violet. No one notice the playboy bunny in the x-treme x-men flashback to her modelling days? Psylocke's always been slighty naughty its part of her character.

Anonymous said...

Selene, are you seriously implying that Psylocke feels more comfortable in someone else's body?

Please. Psylocke doesn't see herself as an Asian woman. Her inner desire was to be a Warrior, not a Japanese woman. And now she can be a warrior in her own body.

Jamie brought her back as a telekinetic too. Does that mean Psylocke sees herself as a telekinetic rather than a telepath too? If so, then why don't you like like her TK powers? It's how Psylocke prefer them. *rolls eyes*

Selene said...

I am not implying anything.I'm openly saying what I believe that is true. :-)

And,why not,she may be also seeing herself as a telekinetic,I just don't approve of that.We are free to voice our opinions and we don't *necessarily* disrespect Psylocke by opposing to the choices she makes.If Betsy can be a warrior in her original body,then fine by me,but,like I said,she's already made her choice and her choice was to keep Kwannon's body(even though she DID have the option to reclaim her old body twice)and reverting her to her old body would mess with her continuity.

Giles:
Okay,would you like me to contact with the moderator of Comixfan and tell him that there's something wrong with your account?

Delf said...

For me, I like Psylocke as Asian, simply because she brings diversity into the comics, not JUST as an asian woman, but a british asian.
This is important to me because I'm british asian myself and that's why i started liking her in the first place. So if she returns to just being british british, then the diversity is gone and nobody will be representing me, so to speak!

Anonymous said...

Uh... It doesn't matter that she's in a Asian body. She will never be an Asian woman per se. In fact, I think Asian Psylocke is kinda racist and stereotypical. If Marvel wants a character to reprsent the Asian, then create a real Asian character. Psylocke is not, and never will be.

Anonymous said...

selene i love your positivity and responses whenever someone is mean to you :)

i almost don't care anymore about any of the body switch. i feel the whole thing was a very careless thing to do every time it's been in the comics over the years. it's dividing the fans the same way it's divided the bodies. i'm interested to see how they characterize Betsy after all of this. i bet money she's still Asian so it's really pointless to argue about it. she's wearing the Jim Lee costume on future issues. Even if she's not exactly Asian she'll be the way people have drawn her (Caucasian ninja wearing the thong) any way it turns out. even in CC's Sword of the Braddocks, She didn't look Asian AT ALL. her face was totally white. so it doesn't matter i guess. i'd like this whole issue to just go away forever though, it's so frivolous of Fraction to revisit all of the drama of this probably just to rile people up and have no changed outcome whatsoever. He even said "don't kill me until it's over" so that probably means "I'm going to switch her back but don't worry she'll be Asian again in the end and this was all a stupid tactic to get more people to wank over it all again." the british body shouldn't have been brought back by anyone unless they want to retcon the entire Kwannon switch story and that's something they'll never do because Asian Betsy sells.

and does this blog get that many people to vote or is it just the same people voting over and over lol?

centurion said...

Hi. It is my first post on this blog. I am glad to be here! I have an affinity for both the Asian and British Psylocke, but it was the Asian Psylocke from the 1990's X-Men comic series under Jim-Lee et al. that caused me to fall in love with the X-Men and Betsy's character in general. The early 90s period of the X-Men was memorable in my childhood, so naturally this Psylocke would be my favorite. However on the contrary, now that I am in my late 20's, I find myself re-reading much of Claremont's work on Uncanny from the late 80s, and British Psylocke at that time was a compelling character, too. Silvestri has some nice depictions of British Psylocke as well in his run on Uncanny. Suffice to say, I like both Betsys, but I just want her to regain the luster today that she had during the late 80s throughout the 90s.

I pray Betsy is given a recurring role in season two of Wolverine and the X-Men, and perhaps Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. We should find out if we can contact someone to find out if this can become a reality, assuming it hasn't already been considered.

Best,
centurion

Selene said...

Of course Psylocke does not represent the Asian,for all we know,her physical transformation into an Asian woman intended to give Psylocke what she wanted in a twisted kind of way and(possibly)to turn her into the eye candy of the X-Men. :-)

By the way,Betsy's face in the Sword of the Braddocks story was correctly coloured,considering that after Spiral merged the two bodies,Betsy gained both Asian and Caucasian lineaments(same with Kwannon).And I don't think that the previous poster was being mean to me...But thanks. :-)

PsySpears said...

I Love You Guys haha

Giles said...

Oh no, Psylocke is winning over Psylocke in the polls!

This has to be the first poll ever where there is only a win-win situation (for me at least). ;)

Anonymous said...

British

ai kd a Revanche ela que arrasaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Anonymous said...

the Asian Betsy on #510 just looks kinda creepy to me....looks like she has snake eyes....NOT the best Asian Betsy by far

I am surprised that Marvel is keeping it so hush hush which body she will be in....usually someone leaks information before hand.

Anonymous said...

what if she is able to shapeshift between forms? BOTH are ninjas (obviously) but one is psychic/knife and the other psychokinetic/kitana? her meditations would show her the future in both forms like they do now and over time she could have TP and TK because her identities would merge and the artists would have a reason to forget or remember when she's asian randomly like they do all the time anyway....or maybe she could split into two women?

i think she needs to use her TK in battle to kick across rooms and stick to walls while at the same time just stabbing opponents with her astral projection wielding the knife or something. a psionic ninja that moves like the matrix. i appreciate the return of the british body, and i love the superimposed Chinese/English images in her memory.


whatever they do should take all her continuity into account....Kwannon has been around for eighteen years now, so lets just accept that there are two Psylocke's, eh? figures that maddie pryor, the queen of clones would want to control her.

Anonymous said...

the different form thing seems redundant because Angel can now be Archangel whenever it's convenient just like Emma can change to a diamond form. i don't think they'd ever do that for betsy for many reasons, but particularly because most artists can't even draw her Asian to begin with and people wouldn't be able to tell anyways. honestly, i really believe the only reason Fraction did all of this is because he wanted Asian Betsy to have her telepathy back. to be honest, i liked the teke for her. it gave her a cool powerset. yeah, i love the butterfly and psychic knife, but she's just another telepathy who will never be Jean or Emma to these writers and artists. they have to keep her Asian to be different to the mass audience out there and make her a ninja to be different :/

X said...

They're both great, but give the gal a change...I'd go for British!

Rogue said...

British all the way!!!! I loved Asian Betsy when she first came up and was written by Claremont, but after he left, her character was butchered...I especially want wll - written Betsy back!!!!

PMB said...

Hey there! Lisbon calling! (OMG, that sounded so Eurovision!...) My vote goes to the British body!

Rahsaan said...

Right on, Pedro!

I too am hoping that Elizabeth has been put back in her original body and for good. In fact, I've been hoping for this ever since the whole retcon with Kwannon. (For some reason, I was more okay with "Asian Betsy" when it was originally written by Claremont that the Hand had mystically and medicinally changed her appearance while brainwashing her by undoing all her ties to loved ones. Uncanny # 256, "The Key That Breaks The Locke" is one of my all-time favorite issues of Uncanny.)

Anyway, that being said. I see no reason at all why Fraction can't have "British Betsy" keep her fighting skills and adventurousness. She always had the latter (despite the prim, proper facade) and Revanche did hone her the original body to be a weapon, like the assassin body, so much so that she was a match for the assassin body and for the likes of Gambit, Rogue and Jubilee during a Danger Room session.

In fact, it'd be awesome to see the model-beautiful, British Psylocke kicking ass physically while simultaneously using her telepathy for psi-tricks, like messing with enemies' perceptions. Hell, she could even keep the psychic knife and a more realistically powered form of telekinesis (please though, get rid of the pychic katana. Hate it!)

As for the argument that British Psylocke wasn't glamorous... I beg to differ. I think a lot of the women were drawn pretty goofy in the late 80s. That wasn't any great period for any of the X-ladies. However, Silvestri and Davis always drew her beautifully. Even Jim Lee (who artistically created "Asian Psylocke") drew her as a beautiful, British woman in his very first issue of Uncanny (#248) (the one where Longshot leaves the team, Wolverine goes on hiatus, the Orphan Maker and Nanny attack the X-Men in the Outback and Storm "dies."

Though, I do hope that if we get my wish and Psylocke is permanently restored to her original body that she will get a great new uniform that reflects her persona as an elegant, yet deadly warrior.

Unknown said...

Definitely asian