Wednesday, September 16, 2009

X-Position: X-Editors

The editors of the X-books – all of ‘em – join X-Position to answer your questions about “Necrosha,” “Nation X,” "Astonishing X-Men," thongkinis and more.

Is there any way that Psylocke can get a new costume? Or at least have her current one redesigned or updated? The thongkini is iconic, but needs to go the way of the dodo.

Jeanine Schaefer: Is the thong out? When did that happen?

Daniel Ketchum: For better or worse, the “thongkini” is here to stay for the time being. But that’s not the only thing we’ve seen Psylocke wearing recently. Check out the past few issues of “Uncanny X-Men,” where Terry Dodson loves creating new looks for our favorite psychic ninja. And stay tuned for the upcoming “Psylocke” limited series, which will feature a few peeks at some of your favorite Psylocke costumes from back in the day.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

sigh :(
why do they refuse to change it up? just a little bit at least.

centurion said...

It still looks good on Betsy even after 20 years, though I would like to see a new team uniform. Maybe marketablility is the reason why Marvel wishes to retain the Hand suit. It still is my favorite Psylocke outfit.

Soultapestry said...

I agree with you @centurion; her Hand uniform(like it or not) is iconic Psylocke. I personally like it; however, I do understand the need to update her look.

I would LOVE to see her wearing a variation of the costume that Revanche wore just prior to her reunion w/ Betsy. Examples:

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/2/29735/687890-revanche04.jpg

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/3133/108960-122250-revanche.jpg

The boots definitely need to be changed up, and her hair would need to be free - but I think it has potential.

centurion said...

@Soultapestry - Hey. I liked that outfit. I have a feeling one day an artist is going to devise a concept for a new Betsy outfit that would have a similar impact to Jim-Lee's years ago. Not that I feel the need for a change, but an update would be appreciated. I feel the Hand uniform is iconic and will be that way indefinitely.

best,
centurion

centurion said...

@Soultapestry - The second link is interesting... I remember first seeing that so many years ago. Thanks for posting it! Why do I see this as a potential X-Force costume for Psylocke if she were ever a member?

centurion said...

You know, there are thousands of young, talented artists in the world, and maybe some of them are die hard Psylocke fans. I wonder if some of them would be interested in creating new outfit concepts for Betsy. I have seen some great work online at CBR and various other websites, and these are not even the ones exclusively dedicated to Psylocke. I, for one, would perfer some variant of the Hand uniform. It is still my favorite.

Anonymous said...

I understand why they don't want to change. But we're not asking for a really different design. I think a few tweaks here and there and a X-badger would make most of us happy. I mean, something like AoA Psylocke by Bachalo would be fine by me.

centurion said...

I wonder what Psylocke would look like if she were in Astonishing...

Anonymous said...

few peeks at some of your favorite Psylocke costumes from back in the day.

Hum. Could it be flashbacks or mind games? I can't wait.

Anonymous said...

Why not give her the X-treme costume back? It's still a thong, but a more elegant looking one:D

Mikey said...

@Centurion: i just had the best like bulb because of what you said!!!! Yes there are a huge amount of amazing artist out there! Why don't we have a Psylocke costume contest on Like a Butterfly!!!! We can all vote to see which one we like the best!! WHAT DO YOU SAY LUCKYSTAR!?!?!?!? I would love to see some ideas for a new costume!!

Silverbrock said...

Thats a very cool idea Mikey, see what costumes come from the minds of the die hard fans, i just wish i had some artistic skills now. I'll just chip in with the voting.
Extreme is definately my favorite costume to date, although its a variation on the hand costume, its modern, logoed and makes her look tougher in my opinion.

La Betsy said...

Hand costume is iconic to her, like is to Elektra as well.
But put an X icon in the sash, some actual variations like the Xtreme outfit and you will have the update.
I can understand Marvel when they dont wanna change the Betsy that gave them money, but this little updates are really needed.

Anonymous said...

some of you guys act like Psylocke is paying the bills for Marvel. in reality she's B-list and hasn't been in the main book before this year for a really long time. she's definitely not relevant in Fraction's world and he admittedly stated that only Cyclops, Emma, Magneto and Beast will be the focus of the future storyline. it's not her "iconic" look, it's a look that just stuck because people were too lazy and uninterested in her to change it early on so they just stuck her in it for 20 years. especially during the 90s many of the writers and artists didn't like Psylocke at all.

centurion said...

@Mikey - Hi. Thanks. It was just an idea. Who knows what concepts artists could devise?

@Anonymous 9:34AM - Hi. There is some truth to what you are saying presently about Psylocke, but in the 90s, she was definitely A-List. I'm not sure how many artits liked or disliked Psylocke in those days. It certainly seemed like many did like her, and I am sure they did.

Sometimes, a character's potential is not fully utilized in a comic book by the writers, and that can be mistaken for the writer thinking that character is unpopular. Psylocke has been quite popular with Marvel fans in general over the years. Yes, her fame has ebbed and flowed over the years, but she isn't the only character to experience this. If Betsy were that unpopular, I doubt she would have been resurrected after the Vargas incident. This is clearly not the case. The executives at Marvel had to sanction that resurrection, not the writers or artists advocating the resurrection like Claremont. So then why bring her back? Maybe "iconic" is not the right word for Betsy's uniform, maybe "signature" is? I'm not sure... The point is that out of the entire series of Psylocke uniforms, the Hand is the most indelible and recognizable with Psylocke... Why?

Best,
centurion

FSaker said...

So, Betsy will get no changes in her outfit, not even a "X" tag in it... Am I wrong or is she the only x-member nowadays who doesn't have a "X" tag in her uniform? Even Namor, Cloak and Dagger got their tags, and they aren't even going to be X-Men for a long term...

It sucks, but at least she's with the X-Men now, instead of stuck in a wall in the Panoptichron. And hey, they talked about the third Messiah saga; unless Betsy gets killed or kidnapped to another dimension by the end of the Nation X story arc, this time she'll be taking part of another huge X-saga (and she may be written by Carey, Wells and Kyle & Yost - nothing against Fraction, but it's nice to see Betsy through the eyes of other writters as well)!!

centurion said...

@Fsaker - Alas... This is true. I don't understand it either... Life can be so unfair at times.

centurion said...

@Fsaker - Hey. And you know, Namor is not even a mutant, more like a meta-human.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I'm sorry but you're being a little bit delusional here. The ninja suit IS her iconic suit. It's how most people think of Psylocke. But yeah, a few updates here and there wouldn't hurt.

FSaker said...

Yup Centurion, I know. The same applies to Cloak & Dagger. The three of them were never confirmed as mutants before Utopia (although they were never confirmed as not being mutants as well).

And come on, how hard can it be to stick a X tag in her outfit? They don't even have to change her outfit, just to add a X tag to it...

Well, the X-Men did change outfits after Messiah CompleX, so maybe after the third Messiah saga (and the X-editors seem to imply it will happen soon) everyone - INCLUDING PSYLOCKE - will change outfits again...

Anonymous said...

no, you're delusional. that's like saying Gambit's outfit is iconic. no... it's just that no one created a new look that lasted long enough because the writers and artists didn't care enough about him. it's only considered her iconic look because people were too lazy to change it. same with being Asian. she's been stuck in the body so long that's who she has to be now. i'm sure if she wore something different she'd still be very recognizable because of her purple hair. even some people change the texture of superman and batman's iconic outfits, so they can definitely change hers up.

Anonymous said...

You're really contraditory. Jim Lee's Gambit is iconic too. All of Jim Lee's designs are iconic (the only exception being Jean Grey, I'm sure her Phoenix outfit is more popular). Not only they are the costumes all of the X-Men have worn the most, but they are also the costumes they were wearing when the X-Men popularity skyrocketed in the early 90s. They are the ones used in video games, cartoons, toys, etc. It's considered iconic because it IS iconic. There's no arguing here. And I don't even like the bathing suit.

Why do you think they put Rogue in green and yellow in "Wolverine and the X-Men" whereas she hasn't been wearing this particular outfit in comics anymore? Because it's iconic. Simple as that.

However, I have no idea what's the big deal with Psylocke. She has her purple hair, like you said. And she's not even an A-Lister character. Why not update her costume?

centurion said...
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centurion said...
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centurion said...

@Anonymous 3:40PM - I couldn't agree more with the first paragraph of your response. Whether a character retains a particular outfit or not seems to be invariably linked with profitability. The 90s did lead to the big X-Men boom, especially with the memorable X-Men Blue Team, and characters such as Psylocke were extremely popular at that time.

One bit of evidence in support of Psylocke's strong 90s popularity was that she was the sole female character in Capcom's "Marvel Super Heroes" fighting game. She had an appearance in X-Men Children of the Atom a year or two before MSH was released in the arcade, then another appearance in Marvel Super Heroes. Out of all of the renowned female Marvel fighters at the time, why choose Psylocke? I myself wondered why she was selected over so many others? I think it was due to her popularity and that 90s affinity for ninjas.

best,
centurion

FSaker said...

That's a funny thing, actually... Psylocke is one of the least popular X-Men when we consider the highly popular animated series (even Dazzler managed to be a main character in Pryde of the X-Men, as bad as that cartoon was), yet when we talk about videogames the situation is exactly the opposite, with Betsy having appeared in more games than even Rogue or Jean Grey (not only the fighting games; she was also a playable character in Sega Genesis's X-Men II: Clone Wars, and in SNES's X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse).

I wonder if there is a reason why she's so popular in one kind of entertainment and so forgotten in other kind of entertainment...

centurion said...

Fsaker - Hi. A good point. Remember we discussed why Betsy was only a two or three time cameo guest in X-Men: The Animated Series? You're right. It's weird.

best,
centurion

centurion said...

@Fsaker - Hey. Dazzler was in the X-Men (1990) game made by Konami. I remember playing it in the 4th grade when arcades were in vogue. Perhaps the answer to our question lies in the fact that the majority of videogames from the 1990s were "hack and slash" and "Beat em up while you scroll to the right" button mashers, especially in the Action/Adventure genre. I actually have the original X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse cart. Thanks for mentioning it.

Psylocke, although a complex character within the comic books, who possesses many advanced psychic abilities, seems to have been relegated to the "ninja babe" heroine in these games. Assuming this is the reason why Psylocke was included in so many games of the era, then that aspect of her character would have fit quite well into that popularized hack and slash model that so many of us craved back then.

best,
centurion

Anonymous said...

I can offer some suggestions to Betsy's popularity in videogames.

1. A lot of the first X-men games were made in the late 80's early 90's when Jim Lee's Psylocke was huge.

2. The Ninja babe, not only is she sort of perfectly suited to hack and slash/platform fighting games but you have to consider that Storm, Rogue and Jean could all fly and incorporating their power sets into games would have been far more complex.

3. Japanese developers? Not sure if this one has any weight to it. I read an article on kotaku that the Japanese actually dont like the portrayal of asian girls to look too fierce with small eyes and angry faces. Jim Lees beautiful Psylocke looked very asian and had a nice sexy snarl. You notice this in anime too the heroines always have very large eyes but the bad girls (even if you dont know they are bad yet) have much smaller eyes.

It always seemed so stupid to me that Marvel didnt really push Psylocke when Kill Bill frenzy hit. Shes perfect for high action type comics.

Anonymous said...

With regards to the non X on the costume I kinda like it, it makes her unique. She has been Captain Britain, a Strike agent and an Excalibur and Exiles member so she can be considered a hero whilst not under the X.

centurion said...

Anonymous 11:04. You are right and make interesting points. Psylocke was (is) extremely popular in Japan. Another good point you made was the complexity of programming characters such as Rogue and Storm, who are aerial mutants. I guess this is true for many of the X-Men games of the era.

centurion said...

The limitations of a gaming console's hardware can also invariably determine which characters are selected for the roster. In most of the "hack and slash" games I have played that had Psylocke, her martial arts skills were more prominent than her telepathic skills.