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View Full Version : When was Psylocke at her best?


Jill Monroe
06-04-2008, 01:20 PM
A pilot, a super model, Captain Britain, supporting and eventually full fledged member of the X-men. Telepathic psycho blaster, deadly martial artist, maiden of the Crimson Dawn with teleporting powers, dead...alive again, and now a member of the Exiles.

Elisabeth "Betsy" Braddock has had a twisting and turning path since her earliest days in print at Marvel comics. Some of her phases have been better than others, but Psylocke still remains one of the most enduring and now confusing characters of Marvel.

Which phase of her's did you enjoy the most?

Personally, i found her to be at her best when she was the telepathic psycho blaster. At that time, Psylocke was a DIFFERENT breed of telepath. Established and regarded as a "major league telepath" , she had no qualms about using her psi powers against unprotected minds or anyone else. her psycho blast (a move that no one else had before) laid out such targets as wolverine, sabretooth and even juggernaut. She doned the high tech armour which gave her a more intimidating, mysterious look and a high level of protection against physical attacks and she became a critical asset of the X-men, even regarded by Havok and Wolverine as "intimidating". She famously humiliated Jean in the Inferno and often remarked on Jean's "poor mental capabilities" ...of course this was BEFORE they dumbed Psylocke down to make Jean look like a more capable telepath.

the quality of her character declined for several years after "Acts of vengence" when she was transformed by Spiral into Lady Mandarin...this was due to writers and artists who were more interested in having her look like a hyper sexualized ninja rather than to be the intimidating telepath she once was. But the Crimson dawn brought her back up a bit, giving her teleporting power, increasing her psi powers again and by the time "Psi Wars" happened, she definately was at the top of her game again.

I'm not at all happy with her being a "telekinetic" and since she was taken away to Exiles, I havent followed her, but I will always have a fond memory for the days when she was at her best.

Jacob Black
01-20-2009, 12:54 AM
Pyslocke has always been one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe. She was one of the first Telepaths who had TRADEMARKS! The purple hair, the butterfly. She was an ex-supermodel, but they just fucked her UP over the years...

I don't like the whole japanese ninja swap thing. They had some karate type theme in the 80's.. (Didn't Dazzler sport some type of Dojo look with a headband and some shit like that?).

My PERSONAL favorite is when she was all bad ass with the Crimson Dawn, in fact I drew a little inspiration for BRENTHON from her with her shadow powers and when she fought the Shadow King, sealing off her telepathy to keep him trapped in the Astral Plane. Kick Ass.

Ultimates however, she sucked ass and I hated it. I just want Betsy Braddock back in full form... :(

Jill Monroe
02-21-2009, 01:26 AM
i gotta say, i wasnt thrilled about Psylocke as the 90's wore on. Like ive always maintained...they dumbed her down as a telepath to make Jean look good. back in tue 80's during Claremont's reign, Jean couldnt touch her. even Xavier was dismayed by her psi powers and the willingness to use it. she was a "psycho blaster" and at that time...it was unique.

Now telepaths are dead common and Psylocke...she just isnt what she used to be.

now, the crimson dawn era was one that i had to warm up to. my problem for a while was that the artists handling her after she gained that red mark on her face made her look more like a frickin GOBLIN than a woman and i hated that. but during the Psi Wars storyline, the artist who was drawing her THEN had her looking more like her OLD british self (which gave me hope). and i LOVED the teleporting power she gained. Cannonball even compared her teleporting power to that of Magik's! She could teleport on a global scale, had started to use more of her psi powers again (even commenting that her "psychic knife" routine had gotten OLD and it wasnt elegant like SHE was). But then...just when i thought this would be a good thing...a telepathic teleporter who could fight like a demon....they fucked her up AGAIN.

NOW she's a telekinetic on par with Madelynne Pryor, still a martial artist (and officially documented as a MASTER martial artist)...but she seems LESS intelligent than she was in decades past. It's almost like they think she needs to be more "brawler" and less "thinker".