cvn88 wrote:I've got to say, I'm liking Crissy, aka Blackout, more as a mind-controlled minion in The Bride more than I liked her as, well, herself in any of her appearances and even more than her time as the Black Controlunit during the Night of the Drones. Letting her show her "bad" side, and giving her a new look, seem to be doing wonders for her and I hope that something of that survives the expected "reset" at the end of that storyline.
Let me concur and echo these sentiments. I've always liked Crissy, especially when she was that sweet girl-next-door type that debuted in Sorority Sleuth. But as the villainous Blackout, she's unhinged, dangerous, and absolutely stunning as a dark and desirous beauty. I think a lot of MC fans enjoy the mindless human robots and the mindless zombie girls (I know I do), but there is also something undeniably attractive about having the pure and noble heroine corrupted and twisted into something lustful, evil, and taboo. She's a mockery of her former ideals and a shadow to her former purity.
As Blackout, I personally think is she is vastly more interesting than any of her prior appearances. Not that I didn't like her as a cute and naive little college girl that couldn't bring herself to swear, blushed at the thought of sex, and called her sexy bits her "muffin" and "cupcakes"; I did. As some pure and virtuous girl uncertain of herself in the big bad city surrounded by superpowered heroines and deviant villains, she was like Alice in Wonderland, trying to find herself, fit in, but always a bit of an outcast due to just how much the world of Metrobay didn't "click" with her. She was afraid and almost ashamed of her powers, of being the young rookie that didn't even know enough to get a proper uniform.
Not that I haven't enjoyed her recent robot fetish either; it still strikes me as very abrupt and extremely of out character, which is why I've been wanting a clear-cut explanation for it (though I surmise it was Silver Satin's fault for crashing her brain during the Night of the Drones). That story has been a great exploration of the past themes, characters, and motifs of Twisted Tales, with the nostalgic kick of the mind control helmets, Dr. Twisted making mindless robot girls again, and plenty of excuses for hot robot girl sex.
But Crissy as Blackout is just heads and tails more appealing to me. It's like Gothikka demolished the self-created walls she had that kept her from fulfilling her destiny or tapping into her full potential. Her powers aren't something she fears and barely controls anymore; they're weapons of vast and immense power she gleefully wields with confidence and conviction. Her body is no longer something she shamefully hides and calls by pet names; she's damn sexy and she knows it, flaunts it, and craves the attention. She's no longer a weak-willed doormat that quietly endures the lectures and chastises of her peers and superiors; she's a dominant, fiercely driven, sexually liberated woman that delights in confronting, capturing, and controlling everyone that ever looked down at her and took her for granted. The Squad trained her out of fear that she might one day slip down a dark path, and I love how their fears have been more than justified.
Simply put, she's also just so much more FUN as Blackout. No offense to Miss Tanner, but she's been a bit of a whiner for awhile. When she first started, she whined and complained about how shameful it was to be naked, how embarrassing it was to be captured and toyed with. She whined about her power, about being a rookie police cadet, about how she had trouble fitting in. When she got her head zapped by Marcy and awoke with a robot kink, she's spent the last several issues bitching and whining about wanting to be a robot, complaining that this or that isn't scratching her itch, whining to Silver Satin and Ted and Mechana... practically anybody willing (or unwilling) to listen.
As Blackout, we get none of that. Gothikka has twisted her into a woman of action. Now, instead of seeing something beyond her reach and complaining about it, she just outright takes it. She's cast off the Squad's short leash and assumed a position of control and dominance. She may still be Gothikka's slave, but she's not like the others. The ZomBabes are typical mindless beauties, devoid of emotion, thought, and free will. Blackout is brimming over with personality, exuberant enthusiasm, dark inclinations and desires, and more than a little twisted independence. She's just as dominant as Gothikka, but they compliment each other quite nicely. Still, there's a reason she's different; she's better than the other slaves, more wickedly creative and imaginative than they are, and pure and simply ENJOYS being what she is. If Gothikka left the picture and Blackout remained, I get the feeling she wouldn't WANT to go back to being "boring old shy and overlooked Crissy". Right now, she's someone legendary Squad members fear; her power brought Omega Woman to her knees and helped dominate the will of Ms. Metrobay. There's that old Machiavelli saying, "it is better to be feared than to be loved", and Crissy finally has the respect and awe of her peers, but she had to become a powerful, frightful force of evil to get it. Would she ever want to trade that away just so she can slip back into a generic cadet outfit and "pretend to be a grown-up heroine" again? Even though she serves Gothikka, this is the least reliant she's ever been on others; here she stands up for herself and can stand as her own character without needing to fall back emotionally on Marcy or Ted.
Beyond that, she's having fun. I don't think I've EVER seen Crissy "have fun". As Blackout, things go her way. She gets what she wants. If she meets resistance, she stands up to it, fights it, and takes it by force. She's proud of her sexuality, no hesitation or restraint as she taunts and teases her adversaries. She lords over them with a wicked smile as she taps into dark desires her ignoble self would have blushed at before. It's like a dam has ruptured and everything she kept secret, everything she bottled up out of fear and self-loathing, is gushing out. She loves being this powerful, this sexy, and this confident. More importantly, she loves who and what she is rather than fearing herself as a freak and outsider. In an odd way, though corrupted and tainted, she is more happy and at peace with who and what she is than she ever was before. And that makes her damn exciting in this incarnation.
Sorry for the long-winded rant, but I just love how Blackout feels so RIGHT in The Bride story. She just has everything going for her; her design is fantastic, her personality is amazing, her sex appeal has skyrocketed, her story potential is phenomenal, her actions are exciting, her dialogue is snappy, her powers are impressive, and her evolution into Blackout has made her more interesting than she's ever been before. And yet this feels like just a taste, a sample, a single small spoonful of delicious ice cream with a gallon jug of it waiting to be devoured. I hope that at some point Blackout exists like this again, and I don't say this lightly about any character, but I wouldn't mind if she existed like this permanently. She's more interesting, more fun, and more sexy, and she exists as a villain that you can truly cheer on and get behind. After years of being the weakest, most useless and patronized rookie that nobody really respected or took seriously, it is beyond satisfying to see her step into her own, show them why they should have given more of a damn about her, and why she's not "just another rookie"; she's a power player, someone that is just as potent and destructive as Valient Grrl or Omega Woman on their worst days. Honestly, I don't know if I'd want her any other way.