Polaris Appreciation III

[blanchett]

Of late I have realized virtually everything is about nostalgia regarding Lorna consciously or otherwise and the character. It was sad realization and unless I felt better about things I had no intention of posting and spreading negativity. But, Blanchett decided for whatever reason to resurrect a four year old discussion I had.

Needless to say I have had to revise what I am saying right now about a dozen times to make it nicer as right now I am feel like burning my Marvel comic collection and taking every Marvel comic off my pull list.

I posted it because this is the Polaris' appreciation thread and it was an interesting article about Polaris' history that I hadn't read four years(didn't post here four years ago) and I thought other people may not have read it either. It had nothing to do with you. I just happened to notice after reading it that you had posted in the comments.

[Siena Blaze]

Lorna's costume should (1) remind readers that this is one of the most powerful female characters that Marvel has period as she controls one of the four basic forces in the universe. Lorna being in a street level costume or standard super hero costume doesn't do that. She also needs a costume that (2) reminds readers that she historically straddles the philosophical divide of mutant community. She needs a costume that (3) reminds the readers that she is mutant royalty. Finally she needs a costume that (4) looks great on her and works with her hair color.

I love your reasoning here and I definitely agree. While I am no fan of the green costumes, you made excellent points on why it is preferable to a standard team uniform.

[alf_to_the_rescue]

She isn't really mutant royalty. I liked the X-Factor costumes.

[blanchett]

She isn't really mutant royalty. I liked the X-Factor costumes.

The whole joke that's she's a african princess is true. Technically speaking Magneto is still the king of the wasteland that Genosha now is and Polaris is his heir.

[alf_to_the_rescue]

The whole joke that's she's a african princess is true. Technically speaking Magneto is still the king of the wasteland that Genosha now is and Polaris is his heir.

Polaris is a lucky gal.

[blanchett]

Polaris is a lucky gal.

Jesus I'm not sure I would ever characterize Polaris as a lucky gal, more of a really fucking unfortunate gal.

[blanchett]

Polaris fan art I came across on tumblr by someone called Lee JJ. I think she looks more like Wanda but cool shading.
http://leejj.deviantart.com/art/Polaris-279101584

[jmc247]

That looks like brown hair not green hair.

As for Lorna and being a princess yes Genosha counts, even though it seems Marvel has seems to have forgotten about it/replaced it with Utopia.

[salarta]

So far, at least on here it's becoming apparent that people who are happy about Lorna's return to X-Factor didn't read David's original run when it was first published, only retroactively and thought it was the best Polaris. You can't be nostalgic for something that wasn't in the past. My past with Lorna is really Dark Seduction.

I disagree that such a blanket claim can be made. There are many factors involved in who does and does not post. You may be able to say that your suggestion is accurate when restricted to replies made in this thread so far, but otherwise, it does not work. It would be much like if I said most Lorna fans hate a particular writer, or most Lorna fans loved the Carey arc. It is even possible that many of the people that say they did not read X-Factor when it was first coming out did, in fact, read X-Factor back then but simply forgot they did, or opted to handwave reading it back then as insignificant because they only read a comic or two here and there.

What I will say is that it's not absolutely guaranteed that someone's very first exposure to a character will forever define their perception of the character. If first exposure was critical, I would be a huge fan of the space arc, and I assume I would hate all the great development she received in the early 00s, when in reality I detest the space arc and I'm greatly disappointed at Marvel wasting her massive potential and presently showing no signs of changing that in any way.

But nostalgia does play a big factor that cannot be ignored. For example, my very first exposure to Lorna was the space arc, but the most critical bits of my first reading involved all her best moments of the past decade, from called off wedding to pulling her out of the wreckage of Genosha to challenging Professor X's view about human-mutant coexistence and more. I suspect that my openness and desire to see more done based around her time as Pestilence has a lot to do with having read those issues early on; most other fans I've talked with seem to loathe that she became Pestilence at all.

She isn't really mutant royalty.

The whole joke that's she's a african princess is true. Technically speaking Magneto is still the king of the wasteland that Genosha now is and Polaris is his heir.

Polaris is a lucky gal.

... What.

You know what, screw this. You know several users including myself loved her as part of Genosha and having a huge presence there, and still like to see her as a part of that. There's a HUGE goddamn difference between "I think she's no longer mutant royalty" and "lol let's bash an aspect of her history other fans like that I don't by saying what they like doesn't count anymore!" If you don't like her being mutant royalty then fine, that's your thing, you have the right to view that part of her life however you want. But don't go around pretending that part in her life never happened or that fans of that period in her life don't matter, then openly mock the very ideas those fans love right in front of them. Don't spit in my face and pretend it's just a raindrop.

If we're going to start bashing what we each like, then let's just stop pretending this is a fan thread at all and get it deleted. And no, I'm not exaggerating. I'd rather see this thread outright gone than put up with having to come back to a thread filled with people that go out of their way to bash the things I like in a mean-spirited way and think they're being cool and funny about it.

[blanchett]

I disagree that such a blanket claim can be made. There are many factors involved in who does and does not post. You may be able to say that your suggestion is accurate when restricted to replies made in this thread so far, but otherwise, it does not work. It would be much like if I said most Lorna fans hate a particular writer, or most Lorna fans loved the Carey arc. It is even possible that many of the people that say they did not read X-Factor when it was first coming out did, in fact, read X-Factor back then but simply forgot they did, or opted to handwave reading it back then as insignificant because they only read a comic or two here and there.

I mispoke, I was actually talking about this specific thread.

You know what, screw this. You know several users including myself loved her as part of Genosha and having a huge presence there, and still like to see her as a part of that. There's a HUGE goddamn difference between "I think she's no longer mutant royalty" and "lol let's bash an aspect of her history other fans like that I don't by saying what they like doesn't count anymore!" If you don't like her being mutant royalty then fine, that's your thing, you have the right to view that part of her life however you want. But don't go around pretending that part in her life never happened or that fans of that period in her life don't matter, then openly mock the very ideas those fans love right in front of them. Don't spit in my face and pretend it's just a raindrop.

If we're going to start bashing what we each like, then let's just stop pretending this is a fan thread at all and get it deleted. And no, I'm not exaggerating. I'd rather see this thread outright gone than put up with having to come back to a thread filled with people that go out of their way to bash the things I like in a mean-spirited way and think they're being cool and funny about it.

I loved the Genosha era too. As I understood it, it was a pre existing joke on cbr that Polaris was the first african american X-Woman. I don't get it, I don't claim to. The princess part got attached later on, as far as I'm aware.

[jmc247]

Regarding X-Factor of the early 90s I did very much like it. The issue today about it is as it relates to Lorna is I never connected to Lorna back then. In fact I don't recall ever memorizing her name. She was Havok's green haired girlfriend to me back then and that was it. Now I was young and certainly missed a number of the subtleties of her characterization that were there as older me re-read those issues. But, it tought me a lesson that Lorna needs a stronger personality then she had in the early 90s to be viewed by the masses of comic fans as more then the girl with green hair that sometimes dates Alex and sometimes is related to Magneto.

[salarta]

I mispoke, I was actually talking about this specific thread.

Thanks for clarifying. So far, I would agree with you when it comes to this thread. To be honest, sometimes I worry that something I say concerning a partisan thing like fans' interest in Lorna and Wanda doing things together may sound like I'm claiming everyone wants that, even when I try to use less generalizing phrases like "from what I've personally seen so far."

I loved the Genosha era too. As I understood it, it was a pre existing joke on cbr that Polaris was the first african american X-Woman. I don't get it, I don't claim to. The princess part got attached later on, as far as I'm aware.

I don't remember those "first african american X-Woman" jokes, I may not have even been here for those, but it does sound like it could make for a good joke. Because of alf's post, I read yours as the two of you trying to belittle and diminish her time as mutant royalty on Genosha, trying to make it sound like she doesn't "deserve" to be considered part of it. It came off as insulting that part of her history to me, like if someone badmouthed Wanda and Pietro by saying they didn't count as Magneto's children, and even tried to use Magneto not personally raising them as an excuse to say it. Thank you for setting me straight on what you actually meant by the post.

[jmc247]

A DnA interview.



They are doing some fine work now on New Mutants by the way and Marvel says they are resurrecting the cosmic universe in some way in the next year so they might have work there as well.

Great analysis on the costume! I didn't quite think of things that way, but it totally makes sense.

Take for example her original costume revamp for Brubaker's run. The removal of the skull was like the erasing of everything Bru didn't like, the "extreme" developments that took place with Polaris after the age of Claremont.

Her new, streamlined costume is symbolic of a return to a simpler time when Polaris was just an extra and the only notable thing about her character was her devotion to Havok. Removal of the intricacies of her original costume design is symbolic of the hard reset Bru did to her character.

Some people do not think the skull means warning don't mess with powerful badass ahead, but that it means crazy and evil so some artists even ones trying to write her origional try to leave it off or make it all green so it doesn't seem like a skull.



Obviously, far from everyone feels that way.

[alf_to_the_rescue]

That was a very ugly costume for Jean.

[Seresecros]

That was a very ugly costume for Jean.

as per usual