Tuesday, November 16, 2010

British Psylocke in 'Age of X'

Mike Carey just confirmed, via Facebook, that the pink-haired lady holding two daggers in the X-Men Legacy #245 cover is indeed Psylocke in her original body!

24 comments:

Rahsaan said...

Woo hoo! Carey is always our hero!

FSaker said...
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FSaker said...

She looks nice! And I don't even like Leinil Yu's work! Her hair looks pink, but maybe in Mann's art it will be either purple or (more likely) lavender.

I wonder why the cover for New Mutants #22 wasn't shown in the Feb. 2011 solicitations. Maybe the image in the cover contains spoilers?

And does anyone think Captain Britain may be dead in Age of X? I don't think Betsy would be inside a fortress, alone, with a bunch of strangers, fighting for her life if Brian were there to protect her from the anti-mutant army...

centurion said...

Interesting. So the British Betsy is still with us. I wonder how - assuming he is at all - Carey intends to develop this "British" Betsy's persona to distinguish her from the Asian Betsy most of us cherish. I'm definitely going to purchase this.

centurion said...

I'm still hoping some version of Betsy appears in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Some boards (reliability varies) rumor she will be one of the last announced characters on the Marvel side; others suggest she may be a DLC for an upcoming "Gold" edition of the game. Whatever the developers intend to do, I hope Psylocke is at least included in the final game.

QKC said...

Oh. My .LAWD!!!! YAYYYY.
Go Carey!!! Thank you Marvel. Finally haha.
This is the title I will be buying now. As long as this arc/alternate world exists/is explored/etc..
Wahoo British Betsy!!

Anonymous said...

Cool! Although, I personally always consider Betsy "British Betsy" whether she's in the caucasian body or the asian body. :D

Alexander said...

That's something I've always wondered: In her original body she was raised in the U.K with British diction so to everyone else's ears she has an accent. Kwannon who was no doubt born & bred in Asia wouldn't have a Brit accent right? So does Betsy still have her accent now? I figure she would have Kwannon's vocals now. Or with the influence of both would she sound like someone who grew up in Asia under a Brit rule like some in Hong Kong?

Unknown said...

Of course she stil has her accent... Her mind/memories didn't change... just her body

Rahsaan said...

Yes, Chris. However, it's sloppy on the part of the writers, because physically our vocal chords adapt over time to how they are used. Also, our tongues also adapt to being positioned in certain ways for speech patters we've used our whole lives. So, while Elisabeth would have her English accent, her voice would be Kwannon's. Thus, Sky is correct! Just another reason to hate Lobdell's retcon of Claremont's "The Key That Breaks The Locke."

Rahsaan said...

It'd be like me, An American speaking in an English accent. I would sound like myself voice-wise as my voice has certain depth and tone. I would not sound like the voice produced by another human body.

Alexander said...

Thanks Rahsaan, I got into a discussion about this at the comic shop. My cashier wondered if she would have to reassert to accent with Kwannon's vocals in a near perfect British accent or would she sound like Emma/Madonna's fauxcent.

K~ said...

Very interesting observation about the accent. I suppose over time, accents can change as well (I know an Englishman who has lived in America for almost 8 years who has really just lost his accent. BUT I also know a Frenchman who has lived here as well, for over a decade, & he still has a very thick accent - though he forgets French words, he tells me)
Of course it may all depend on the person but I'm glad we are talking about it haha
So, she would have Kwannon's vocal chords (obviously) but it's Betsy's mind using those vocal chords, which are accustomed to an entirely different way of speaking, to vocalize.
Gosh where are the speech therapists when you need one.
This is quite long but, speaking of all this: What does anyone think of this with regards to the more recent ways Marvel has said things were done (i.e. basically asserting that Psylocke is Kwannon & Betsy "merged" into one being... even though we've seen her original body so I suppose that would be wrong?)

Rahsaan said...

K~,

I think all the retconning is annoying. It's annoying and unfortunate, because it stems from Scott Lobdell (or was it Fabian Nicieza?) obviously not reading the book before taking over as writer of adjectiveless X-Men. He just assumed that Psylocke's changes were never explained by Claremont and wrote an entirely elaborate story of body swapping and created a superfluous and redundant character in Revanche! Claremont clearly expressed in his run that the Hand used magic and medicine to alter Psylocke and it was implied that Spiral may've been involved. (Although Spiral's presence during the brainwashing could have been Betts' subconscious juxtaposing her current predicament with the prior manipulations of Spiral and Mojo... sure it would've been addressed at some point had Claremont not left). Even after the change Claremont showed her psychologically shutting down and becoming introverted to deal with it, followed by her embracing her "action junkie" cravings. I think he would've eventually done some stuff along the lines of what Yost has done given the chance.

Sorry. I went into pure fanboy mode there. It's just bad writing though, because it shows that the writers didn't do their research (simple reading) and completely changed the personality and backstory of an interesting character for no real good reason.

I'd be so stoked if Psylocke began using her telepathy to cast illusions, psycho-blast and receive random preocog flashes again... all along with the focused totality of her powers. I do like the steps they've taken creatively, like using her powers to mentally augment others', helping Mortis and Warren combat their own damaged psyches and the integration of her telekinetic potential (I feel she always had this since her psycho-blasts could affect physical matter).

Rahsaan said...
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Rahsaan said...
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Anonymous said...

All this talk about accents reminded me of these two English actresses of Asian descent. Enjoy.

Elizabeth Tan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LjPYYd0a9o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0PfLUBTRGM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-Wg6PhpcU

She doesn't say anything in the last one but I just really like that video.

Gemma Chan


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzMCJkUSS-M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lg8fyY9i7M

Anonymous said...

Oh-Yeah!! British Betsy! AWESOME!!

K~ said...

Well said, Rahsaan! Rock on.
Is there a good issue arc you recommend reading (like, right before Fabian - I believe it was Fabian, at least it is in the "Hawk & The Butterfly" two issue arc I have which deals with "what really happened to Psylocke" haha. aka the whole body swap mess)
Awesome.
& I agree about the telekinetic potential. It came in handy many times (the psycho blast) & it would have made sense that attention be turned to it & maybe develop it into actual control over matter. Very cool

jarim77 said...

Thanks psynight. Elisabeth Tan and Gemma Chan would both be great choises to play Psylocke in movie.

Anonymous said...

^You're welcome. :)

FSaker said...

Changing subjects for a bit, wasn't Uncanny X-Force #2 supposed to be released YESTERDAY?? Or was it postponed AGAIN??

Rahsaan said...

FSaker... a la Psylocke... you must have read my mind about issue two!

K~, many of the issues directly following "Acts of Vengeance" show her readjusting to all the changes, including those directly before and after the "X-Tinction Agenda," the return of Prof X. when Lila Cheney takes them into Sh'iar space. Even the first three issues of adjectiveless X-Men. Claremont was writing her as trying to reconcile the fact she got what she wished at such great personal cost. To be a warrior, yet she was literally brainwashed and changed beyond skin deep. Be careful what one wishes for. Tricky Siege Perilous! It would've been cool to see how he'd have reconciled the character if Marvel had allowed him to bring her back in her true form. I think he would've kept her martial arts skills and telekinesis... along with the telepathy. It still seems kind of asinine that he was forced to have Jamie bring her back Asian. You'd think her reality-warping brother would've brought her back as the Elizabeth he knew her as for so many years.

whitephoenix said...

Yay, my British Betsy is back!