The perception of Cameron has indeed changed for most of the characters, but I don't think that would've been possible w/out the fundamental changes he's undergone since this story we're reviewing.
A character like Morgan, who despised men & was not easily trusting of anyone outside of her close knit circle, would not have the regard for Cameron she does TODAY if she sensed him to still be the "lowest form of man that slipped UP the evolutionary scale" :haha:
I maintain that when it comes to Cameron vs. Morgan & Alison- that was a collision doomed to create "the perfect storm." Morgan was already functionally psychotic when The Six began & as Alison became a more fleshed out character, she was shown to be hard, cold & homocidal. To have characters like those two collide with a manipulative sociopath? It was a match made in hell.
They fed off each other as they brought out the worst in each other. I can understand why Morgan & Alison despised Cameron & I can see why Cameron felt like he had to defend himself as best he could, BUT there came a point when He & Haleigh DELIGHTED in antagonizing Morgan. Somehow they KNEW Alison wouldn't be effected by what they were doing the same way, but Morgan was different & once they sensed that, they went all out & it cost THE SIX big time.
Alison prooved to be the person who unknowingly sewed the seeds of Erika's destruction, I think. Alison was not prepared to have her family falling out of the sky in her lap & that's just what happened as the Six opened & progressed. THEN to find out that her "long lost" sister was responsible fore erasing this from her memory w/ a spell to the point that she couldnt "SEE" it via her retro/precognition? For HER, this was an act of disrespect & AGGRESSION & i think that was what inflamed her brutal dismissal of Erika.
In theory, ALISON SHOULD have been the one to be able to pull the surviving King/Marble children together, but she couldn't. It just wasn't in her & she had no conscious interest either, given that she viewed Cameron as though he were a slimey eel & now she had to contend with Glenda the Good Witch? :haha:
We know Alison left home @ an EARLY age, & that prior to that, she had had to protect Cameron from their abusive mother by FIGHTING Kelly, literally. Erika managed to erase all of this from her memory & now, after having made a life for herself & having a close knit circle, here they are? For her, @ that time, there was no way she could adjust & sadly, even if she could, she simply wasn't willing.
Malice definitely did a number of all of Kelly's children. Alison was cold, hard & homocidal; Cameron was antagonistic, manipulative & a sociopath ; Kelly was a people pleaser & over extended herself @ the expense of herself. They all represented extremes brought on by their individual attemps to cope & adapt.
But looking back @ this story & knowing what's happened since, it does seem sad & tragic. Erika was a tad annoying for my taste...but she had the potential to be a BALM to her sister & brother...but ALISON was just too far gone for that to be possible.
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Cameron is similar to Blaze (particularly Firebird) in that he deviated from his sibling's power table but still had some mystical accents/potential. I think that will always be apart of him, just as it is shown to be apart of Firebird w/ regard to Spellbinder. But Firebird never had to endure such trauma @ the hand of magick users as Cameron so while she revels in the intrigue of the mystical accents to her nature, Cameron has only RECENLY been honest w/ himself & OTHERS about his deep seated prejudice AGAINST magick users in general. One can argue that this was apart of him from early on & what allowed him to be so GLEEFULLY nasty to Morgan & Alison.
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From the start, up to this particular storyline, Haleigh had had the most field experience as a field leader. While Morgan had also worked in a similar setting, her time with Valiant did her more harm than good & in this story, she was rapidly descending into madness. Delilah had the potential to be a binding force,but was still too new to the situation & clearly would err on the side of concern for Morgan, Alison & Blaze before the others on the team so, yes, Haleigh was the one most capable BUT I think she & Cameron fed off of each other's base instincts & made each other WORSE when it came to their antagonizing Morgan.
By herself, Haleigh seemed more tolerable, but w/ Cameron? She was just as infuriating if not WORSE than him in this story.
Her attempts to either pull everyone together OR rebuke Morgan &/or Alison came across very heavy handed...not a sign of good leadership @ all but under the circumstances of this story, all the subterfuge, manipulation & everything else happening? it's a wonder ANY of them was able to do anything :haha:
Haleigh has since shown herself to be a uniting force in the Six on so many levels. The Master Mold caper is a fine example of this :nod:
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Kelly King's legacy to her King/Marble children overall was the magickal gift of SIGHT. For Alison- a full fledged retrocog/precog; Cameron- flash premonitions; Erika- clarivoyance. Much like Christopher's legacy to his children was an affinity for one of the four elements.
I too think Cameron was jealous. Alison was VERY "together" with the manifestation & use of her powers. He even said this himself earlier on before this story. As far as their telekinetic manifestations went, Alison WAS stronger @ the time, but as Brandon said, both characters' power tables have changed through the years to suit them as they became defined as individuals & in more recent times, they've changed in subtle ways to compliment each other in their sibling dynamic, which they both celebrate more. Even their codenames, Prophet & Harbinger play off one another.
While Alison is still a powerful time mage, Cameron has definitely evolved into a more versatile psionic, allowing him to attack in more vicious ways similar to what his sister is known for :nod:
Earlier on in the Six, it was implied that Cameron was a disappointment to his mother b/c he was NOT a full fledged magick user & this, in part, lead to her abusing him as a child. It was suggested that b/c she as a magick user, it was expected that her progency would also be magick users & would service Mystech. Alison left/escaped her home under her own power; Erika managed to avoid this fate as well & Cameron was deemed as a disappointment. It's ironic that MORGAN was viewed the same way by her father b/c she she was a witch, even though Mystech was VERY interested in her, HE seemed to think BLAZE was the more important offspring due to her manifesting more of HIS genetic heritage. So there was something Cameron & Morgan had in common, being seen as a "disappointment" by one of their parents.
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I think Alison was almost OVERWHELMED, between the revelation of her family- sister, brother & now mother & the growing visions of Spellbiner & the inferno? I think this was more than she was expecting & she was torn between dealing with a family that she frankly was happy to do without & the impending DISASTER that would be unleashed by someone she cared about & DID consider family. The precog was @ a loss! oh the irony. It seemed like she was tolerating or @ times enabling Morgan...but when she LEFT to get Ororo for assistance, she was thinking/moving two steps ahead, since already knew Kelly's fate was sealed.
Up to that time, she'd been defending her friend, trying to shut Cameron & Haleigh down, even warning them...but nothing was working. It made her think that KILLING THEM before wouldve been the right thing to do after all. To her, they were abusing Morgan & since she despised them, it wasn't until the VERY END that she began to see that Morgan was crossing a line that even SHE couldn't stand idly by & watch.
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Oh yes, Spellbinder was DEFINITELY just as insane as Kelly. The REASONS for their insanity are vastly different but the end result LOOKED the same :haha: Kelly was actually ON to something though. She sensed the darkness in Morgan & under different circumstances, she might have been able to strike an unholy deal w/ Spellbinder to get back @ Christopher & /or Malice OR manipulate her until being her catspaw in an effort to destroy her children. But Kelly was never on Malice's level when it came to that kind of manipulation & control :haha:
Kelly & Morgan were on a collision course in this story & the King/Marble children were almost MINOR DETAILS @ one point, considering the fact that Morgan wanted to settle a score w/ Kelly from their last encounter during her timeon Valiant. It was hardly a case of "good vs evil" w/ those two. It was more like a "battle of the [insane] bitches" :haha:
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Story wise, it was important for one of the King/Marble children to kill Kelly. Looking back on it...it's too bad we couldn't have pulled it off in a more Charmed- "power of 3" move w/ the three of them working in concert.
I remember BRANDON was DEAD SET on it being either Erika or Cameron, even though Alison was the one best suited to do it
. He wanted Cameron to be redeemed & b/c Alison had spent so much time belittling him & making him out to be weak, he felt Cameron needed to be the one to end the threat of Kelly.
Spellbinder could have killed Kelly, but I think that would have taken away from the build up that Brandon had been trying to work toward & I'm actually GLAD he didn't want it that way b/c I enjoyed the "b plot" of Spellbinder transforming into her "Darkchild" persona, crossing the line of being there to HELP to being JUST AS MUCH OF A DANGER :nod:
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I think on the SURFACE it seemed Kelly & Morgan were similar or perhaps traveling the same path, but Alison could already see that Kelly was almost a "side show" ALREADY as her visions of the Inferno were becoming stronger & more clear. Kelly is from the same generation as Malice, Shadow Weaver & Enchantra & those three women stand STRONG in mainstream time. Kelly was broken down by a relentless Malice & in some ways regressed, which in turn, minimized her effectiveness & relevance.
Spellbinder generally was not easily controlled or manipulated, so that made her stronger than Kelly, but Kelly was a bit more adept @ deception, manipulation & subtlely than Morgan.
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I'll admit, that while I DID sometimes find her pollyana-esque routine to be ANNOYING
I did like Erika back here in this story. Delilah was also a favorite of mine as was Blaze, once she & Alison had their urgent talk.
Overall, i think this story was a glimpse into the tragic legacy of the King/Marble family forever touched & tainted by Mystech & Malice.
