On Psylocke

The character did start out as somebody’s sister, albeit in a form different from what she’s usually depicted as until recently and when she did adopt the Asian body, that’s due to body-swapping but one where somebody eventually had to undo this. Psylocke might and should be the poster-child for ‘racebending sucks’, but because this was something that’s forced onto the character in canon, rather than a reimagining.

It’s one thing to reimagine let’s say Valentina Vostok into a Yakut, it’s another to have the bodyswapping actually occur in-story where whatever criticism people have of racebending should be applied to what’s been done to Psylocke. There are characters trained as ninjas, but needn’t to be race and bodyswapped for it, but that involves actually care for characters.

Or at least being able to handle it with any real understanding, even if that may not be the right word for it. Elektra may be Greek and trained to be a ninja, she needn’t to be racebent to become one herself whereas this happened to Psylocke against her will. Now that’s different from the usual racebending, which simply reimagines characters.

She may be finally back to being white again, but I still think if there’s any character that does represent the problem with racebending it should be Psylocke first and foremost.

Undoing the Mary Sue

I suspect what makes Kitty Pryde a Mary Sue’s not because she lacks flaws but because writers are hesitant of making her go the logical direction had she been intended as a reader surrogate. But that necessitates allowing Kitty to become her own character and even replace Psylocke in all her entirety. Psylocke wasn’t introduced as an Asian to start with and only became so with the body swapping, along with the ninja skills.

Kitty got brainwashed against her will in becoming a ninja. But her replacing Psylocke for good would’ve been a much more organic or logical direction. I even think Age of Apocaylpse had her become an clawed assassin, maybe way too precise as cats do go through narrow spaces and have retractile claws. (Kitty was supposed to become a catwoman and did become one before.)

I think in order to have Kitty replace Psylocke for good, she should be the mutant version of Catwoman. In the sense of being feline-themed and stealthy, she was on her way really. But that necessitates actually having to go all the way with the cat/panther comparisons right down to the retractile claws. Basically AOA Kitty again but canonical.

Rather than Psylocke becoming a ninja through bodyswapping, Kitty would’ve become a ninja fulltime and perhaps developing a secondary mutation of sorts to become more feline/panther in appearance. Rather than Feral, we’d get werecat Kitty Pryde doing whatever Psylocke does but with the focused totality of her phasing powers and panther nature.

This would’ve been a much less Mary Sue Kitty but one where that necessitates her having to go past fan idealisation and become X-Men’s answer to Catwoman.

She wasn’t supposed to be this way

I actually long suspected that X-Men, for all its multiculturalism, handled characters like Psylocke real badly. I mean the fact that she not only yearned to be white again but also got it back suggests that she wasn’t meant to remain a Japanese ninja for long. The longer she stayed in that body and considering her prior history as a white Englishwoman, the more ridiculous it got much moreso how stereotypical it had been (the ninja thing).

When I think about it, whilst turning the magnetic-powered Cosmic Boy Asian’s arguably not any better either but if/when there aren’t that many non-stereotypical Asians around let alone an actual athlete who’s not a martial artist (Rokk played Magnoball) this might even be a nice break. (If I’m not mistaken, Danny Phantom had an Asian jock and a black nerd.) Not to mention it’s actually Kitty Pryde who got trained by a ninja and should become the character Psylocke ended up as.

(She technically did to some extent in Age of Apocalypse but then again it’s considered apocryphal but because taking her to where she’d logically go’s too damning for some people even if makes much more sense.)

I actually still think it’s much more realistic for Kitty Pryde to commit to becoming a ninja full time than Psylocke did. But that would mean realising that Kitty Pryde’s true potential lies elsewhere whereas Psylocke wasn’t meant to be an Asian ninja to begin with. Not that we should racebend Kitty but that Kitty should’ve been the cutthroat ninja Psylocke ended up as. The fact that Psylocke’s transformation was undone proves my point right.

Developing in an unexpected direction

Like I said, sometimes the real peril with character development’s that the character develops in ways unintended by the author themselves. I even have a feeling should Helga ever have gotten her own programme, there’s a weird chance that she’s going to grow into a melancholic, remorseful and sweet girl. Logically if Stephanie’s biological family were retained and if she bothered caring for them a lot she’s going to nag Tim into helping her out or else throw tantrums when he refuses to.

(I also have a feeling that a certain mangaka might reuse his characters for certain, more wholesome stories.)

It could be down due to new experiences and interests, which inevitably happens. But there are also cases where the logical solution’s the more unexpected/unintended one especially when it seems like it to readers/viewers and sometimes authors themselves. Something like Tim becoming a bumbling, lazy man whenever he refuses to help Steph care for her family and do chores if because that seems too realistic for some.

Or Kitty Pryde being an assassin, which makes the most sense though sadly only occuring in the Age of Apocalypse apocryphal stories never mind there’s ample canonical evidence for those tendencies. (And I think Kitty Pryde should’ve been the character Psylocke ended up as.) In Psylocke’s case, the unintentional direction’s actually the worst the more her actual ethnicity’s brought up though that’s been undone.

Things like those are something future writers should take note of.

Solving the problem

I actually think the least Mary Sue Kitty Pryde could be’s found in Age of Apocalypse and X-Men Forever to some extent. But given she’s sometimes shown to be a deadly clawed assassin or even clawed with a seriously bad temper (at least in X-Men Forever), that’d mean considering the more realistic or logical option. She’s trained a lot with Wolverine and actually did have claws from time to time.

She’s also trained to be a ninja. It’d be much more realistic for Kitty Pryde to become the character Psylocke ended up as. She’d also make X-23 redundant. But that would involve seriously considering the logically realistic option (at least within the context of her trajectory) to the point where rather than being a highly idealised character, she’d probably be X-Men’s most formidable hitwoman.

The very fact that Psylocke’s transformation was literally undone suggests she wasn’t meant to become this. Kitty could’ve easily become this and that would’ve stuck. Keep in mind that realism in here means going where the character would naturally go/become. Though that would be realising that either Kitty has real flaws or that writers would have to develop guts to do so.

If Age of Apocalypse’s any indication.

Goes to show you

I actually suspected that Kitty Pryde would’ve made a better Psylocke than Psylocke ever was and will ever be in hindsight. She even had the training for it. What Psylocke got, in order to get those skills, was to get bodyswapped with somebody else and this eventually had to be undone. It’s as if Psylocke wasn’t meant to be this character, whilst Kitty could evidently become one (she’s even an assassin in Age of Apocalypse, ironically the most realistic portrayal she ever got).

If that’s the case, that’s realising how badly written X-Men comics are. It’s one thing to give characters flaws, it’s another however to not go where one would logically go (Kitty Pryde would’ve the character Psylocke ironically became) and mess another’s potential. Psylocke certainly had combat training before and shown to be athletic but she wasn’t really much of a ninja and not really trained as such early on. The fact that she got bodyswapped (which got undone) suggests that they really screwed her up.

Kitty Pryde could’ve easily become the X-Men’s resident murderous hitwoman when you think about it. She evidently has a a serious temper (which landed her in therapy) and doesn’t shy away from beating up and even killing people. She readily lashes out and loses her cool. If Age of Apocalypse’s any indication, she could easily be an assassin but it’s something that’s not even done in canon if because the logical conclusion’s the ugliest for her.

(That’s what you get from going to the late Kiotr website.)

Even if turning her into a murderous assassin’s the very thing needed to keep her from becoming too much of a Mary Sue. Given the racebending got undone, however overdue, it makes you wonder just how convoluted Psylocke got and why it look so long to address the problem. Conversely speaking, turning Kitty Pryde into a murderous assassin’s the best thing to happen to her in the sense of keeping her from being too much of a Mary Sue.

Kind of bad in hindsight

Like I said about Kitty Pryde and Psylocke’s that Kitty would easily do the things Psylocke ended up doing and had the training and temperament for it whilst what Psylocke got’s really convoluted. It’s like if Age of Apocalypse’s any indication, if Kitty did become an assassin it’d be that easy. Psylocke, on the other hand, in order for her to have similar skills she ended up getting body-swapped with somebody else and this got undone recently.

That actually makes you wonder how badly written the X-Men stories are and why they don’t hold up well. Whilst all the other stories do have their own faults, X-Men comics are actually this ridiculously badly written. You’ve got Kitty who became a Mary Sue partly because most writers are too scared to go where she’d realistically become (which was attempted in AOA).

And Psylocke, whose trajectory’s really convoluted. That’s really, really bad writing when you think about it. It’s being addressed but that’s realising just how bad the X-Men stories can get.

Assassins’ Creed With Teeth

Like I said about Kitty Pryde being a vicious assassin’s that it does deconstruct the other problems with turning Psylocke into a Japanese ninja as the latter wasn’t supposed to be this character whereas the former, considering her temperament and training, would easily pull off that one. In fact it’s Kitty who should be the go-for X-Men assassin in canon as Age of Apocalypse gives an idea of how it can be done and why it’s useful in de-Mary Sueing her (in the sense of taking her to where she’d logically go).

The Ring stories had no problem with another phasing character who kills people out of anger. Heroes had no problem with a phasing character who’s a criminal (though it’s also unfortunate that he had to be black, which’s stereotypical and not enlightening at times). Even in Excalibur and other comics, Kitty Pryde often lost her temper to the point of lashing out in violence and killing people.

Thus turning Kitty into an assassin would be much easier and more seamless than what’s been done to Psylocke. No wonder why the racebending had to be undone because Psylocke wasn’t meant to be this character. Though that’s also realising how badly written X-Men is.

Only good as a plot device

I do think it does seem unfair to say that one of the better things Carol Danvers did for Rogue’s to give her powers whenever she’s not absorbing others’. But that’s also reducing the former to a plot device. (To be fair, she does have a history of dressing modestly and/or having shorter hair before.) That’s the same problem with what’s been done to both Kwannon and Psylocke where both women got body-swapped but the latter got stuck in the former’s body that it’s eventually undone.

(Especially where Psylocke takes over somebody else’s body and changes it to resemble her old one as opposed to being forced to possess someone else’s.)

Who knows who’s ever going to do Kwannon justice. But that does show the real reason why Women in Refrigerators exist is that their ordeal’s used to motivate others into action. That Kwannon and Carol Danvers have been treated as serious plot devices does show why this is bad. In Carol’s case, she’s got a history before putting on elastane and getting powers. In Kwannon’s case, she’s got the potential to be developed into more than that.

That it’s about time Psylocke returned to her original body and Carol the spotlight she very much needed after being mistreated for so long. I may not have read enough comics but I do believe characters like her and Tigra deserve better. (In Tigra’s case, she does deserve a redesign but in the sense of omitting that body paint in favour of giving her actual body hair and paws.)

She’s a werewolf now

I still think turning Caitlin Snow into a werewolf to be worse than making Iris West black if because the damage’s significantly greater than just changing the character’s ethnicity when you think about it. It actually makes more sense when you start comparing her to Starfire who actually does look and dress like her comics counterpart. It would be so drastic that you’d realise it’s Starfire who’s better off.

I mean if Nick Fury’s any indication, though it does take time getting used to his original presentation generally the characters’ personalities and roles don’t change much (though budget might also factor in things). At least in many cases. Whereas changing the character’s powers would in that it results in entirely different stories because the mechanics are different.

It’s like changing Bart Allen’s powers from super speed to absorbing light and then converting it into shadowy force fields and bombs because when the latter happens, that’s when he starts becoming much more calculating and careful with what he does. (I mean super speed’s useful for escapology but bombs are always offensive and the opposite’s true for force fields.)

Admittedly this isn’t always exactly the case for Psylocke but the fact that her ability seemed to have changed from merely creating illusory butterflies to this weird energy blade thing (somebody on another forum thought it made sense for Cyblade to do it if because she uses electromagnetism) suggests such damning consequences.

(Actually she’s a better case for why racebending sucks since racebending other characters don’t involve changing their personalities and abilities much and if these happened, it’s either that temporary or apocryphal.)

It would be even worse for Caitlin that once she becomes a werewolf on the Flash, inevitably Barry’s her Red Riding Hood thus making it harder to undo or downplay the damage done to her when it happens at all.