Polaris-Xcub
So hey, I just had a fascinating observation about the forced retcon to make Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver suddenly not Magneto’s kids anymore. I think it’s also an observation that’s safe to say publicly.
Nobody cares about whatever new bullshit Disney and Marvel come up with.
I mean, obviously people CARE insofar as that some people accept the forced retcon just because it’s Marvel, some accept it because they like how Marvel is incentivizing accepting it by doing things with one character, and a lot of people absolutely hate it (for good reason).
But that’s all just fluff to what’s really telling. We’re 8 months off from the forced retcon. What are people talking about? Where’s the focus?
Contrary to what many people think, the forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro was the worst thing Marvel possibly could have done to them just before Age of Ultron short of making the incest elements of the Ultimates line into 616 canon. Thanks to Axis and the forced retcon, any excitement to be had in discovering who the characters are has been lost in who they suddenly are not.
Not only that, it’s actively split fandom for both characters. You have some fans that accept the retcon because they hate Magneto, or because they think it’s going to give them more exposure, or whatever else. You have other fans who won’t accept it because it instantly destroys mutually beneficial relationships, silently bins many major storylines, and severs any reason they had to be considered relevant to the X-Men franchise.
This is a Base Breaker effect, what I sometimes like to call the Soul Calibur V effect due to what I learned from personal experience there. Before Soul Calibur V, you had fans who hated Sophitia, but begrudgingly accepted her to get at characters they like. After, many of those people insisted they would never touch another Soul Calibur game if Sophitia returned… while fans of Sophitia refuse to play any future game until she DOES return. Today, Soul Calibur is reduced to a free to play microtransaction game called Lost Swords, with no future beyond that in sight.
The longer the retcon remains in place, the more damage it will inflict on Wanda and Pietro. It was a costly mistake. Not even the term “Pyrrhic victory” applies because a Pyrrhic victory suggests equal losses. This is just the equivalent of an army decimating itself to the enemy army’s benefit.
Polaris piece I commissioned from Dwight Sanchez during his $25 flash sale last weekend. I think it turned out great. 🙂
I have a few more ideas for commissions, but it all depends on if I feel I have that money to spend and what art style seems best for whatever idea I have in mind.
I literally wanna fight alex summers for everything he’s done to my precious sunflower lorna dane
I think Alex is typically a case of both the character and many of the people who have written their relationship thinking he’s good for her, completely oblivious to how he’s held her back and made things worse. There’s especially a certain level of possessiveness. “It’s my DUTY to save her even from HERSELF! She may not like it, but I know what’s best for MY woman.”
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m really hoping they stay apart for at least a decade, and if they do get back together again, Lorna’s given her due respect and they’re presented as equals in the relationship. I could be zealous and say Lorna should get to be dominant over Alex, but I’m willing to concede on that since Lorna treated well and getting the respect long overdue to her is all I really want.
Tony Stark: He manipulated Madam Masque a woman dealing with her disfigurement. She would reject him and he would pursue her against her will, then reject her. It was clear she was suffering due to her disfigurement (in one of the old comics it mentioned he was responsible, been retconned) he exploited that for his own gains. He knew she was suffering from mental health issues.
Alex Summers: Was repeatedly mentally abusive towards Lorna Dane. How? He public humiliated her after she witnessed a mass genocide, and she believed her biological father had died. This death affected her massively and she had to be found days later among the dead bodies. Then he openly humiliates her for having a mental illness, making her ashamed of herself; pushing her into dangerous circumstances. When the woman he left her for eventually leaves him, he pursues her relentlessly after she tries to move forward. After House of M which she is the centre off, her family is thrown into free fall, she loses her powers, a large part of her identity, he exploits this as a way to get back with her. When she finds out about how her parents died, he does not support her in fact he makes her feel guilty for her breakdown. Her teammates recognise the way he treats her. Then when she finally breaks free, he uses his position in the Avengers (which he only got as an FU to Scott) to exploit her again, using her family against her. He sends her brother to spy on her for him, even using Pietro’s desire to be part of the only team he knows and help his sister against him. He does not give up control of her life, yet again saying disgusting things about her having mental illness. When her brother says that he wants to stay with his sister, to support her because he feels she needs him he tries to convince him to abandon her. He does the best he can to make her feel abandoned with no support system other than himself.
Don’t forget space. Not long after her big Pestilence storyline where she regained her powers, she took off on her own… only to wind up having a whole potential storyline, Lorna dealing with the anti-Apocalypse cult, used as an excuse for Alex to rescue her, and as leverage to get Lorna to feel like she needs to go into space with him.
From there, she was stuck. Havok is leader of the Starjammers and has control over where they go, and Havok and Rachel Grey are the only two people familiar to her. She’s isolated, lightyears away from everything and everyone she knows and loves, the threat of dying any day in that war is always hanging over her head, and Alex is the only familiar man around. She was more or less forced back into relationship with him against her will because all real freedom and options were taken away from her, and Alex just went along with it.
This is why I don’t want Lorna and Alex to get back together for a full decade at least. There are people who insist Lorna and Alex’s relationship is great, but any redeeming qualities it may have are completely lost in all the horrible treatment toward Lorna it normally spawns.
The relationship up to this point has been damaging to Lorna’s opportunities as a character AND her representation. When Alex went to the Avengers, it certainly didn’t lead to Lorna appearing anywhere he did even as a cameo… but Alex got to appear on All-New X-Factor. She didn’t get a chance to lead her own team until he was out of the picture. She didn’t get to spend time with her family either, until they split up. She only finally got restored as Magneto’s daughter after a story arc that only came thanks to Havok appearing to have died.
I’m not saying there’s absolutely no potential to their relationship. There’s potential in everything. But the relationship has largely been crap, and Lorna has a hell of a lot of catching up to do for being respected as her own character first.
That’s why I figure a decade apart is fine. I think it’ll mean the next time they get back together, if they do, it has an actual chance of being somewhat good. They’d have a chance of being equals in the relationship, with thoughts and concerns and disagreements you would expect out of two characters that exist in their own right.
Clever is my middle name.
Really?
No, it’s Sally, actually.
Your initials are LSD?
Explains a lot, doesn’t it?
i never played Parasite Eve so i couldn’t tell you
And that’s the disappointing part. A lot of people that post 3rd Birthday and seem to suggest “Aya” was in any way Aya seem to be people that either never played Parasite Eve and saw the real Aya, or played those games after 3rd Birthday and can’t seem to grasp how terrible 3rd Birthday was outside of gameplay.
salarta 