Some months ago a game has been released – Alice: Madness Returns. It’s a sequel to released in 2000 American Mcgee’s Alice which introduced the re-imaginated version of Alice in Wonderland. Believe it or not, I really do think that Alice bears a strong resemblance to X23 and I’m gonna tell you about those similarities.

But before we get started. I’m not talking about such similarities, like if they were both killers or else. I’m talking about the Potential that makes the character great and unforgettable, which includes personality, story and the whole concept of the character. And don’t treat it too seriously, I just wanted to share with you about my equally favorite character of all time.

Let’s get started.
 

Here I post the picture of them both. Kinda similar ain’t they? I could talk about such details like dark long hair, big green eyes, similiar facial features, but I would miss the point in here. I am talking about that scary, serious and mysterious “thing” lurking in their look. Both have the eyes which would consume you entirely, like if they were analyzing you. You all are familiar with that scary X23’s look and you know that it refers to her dark, serious - killer nature. The same is with Alice. The whole concept of American Mcgee’s Alice was to re-imagine known Alice Liddell into a dark, cynical, macabre girl. And she really is, but first of all, she is as independent, strong-willed, confident and even as sensitive and emotional (those only appear in drastic moments, the same is with Laura) like X23.
 

She even has the similiar decadent nature like X23 (I’m talking about her personal narration in the Ongoing series). They both feel like they don’t belong to this world. X23 because she is a clone, manufactured to kill. Alice because she suffered a deep trauma of losing her whole family in the fire, which took her to the mental asylum for seven years. After leaving the asylum, she lived in the orphanage and she still couldn’t adapt to her new life, because of the traumatic memories.
 

At this point I want to mention that their stories, (not to insinuate that they are similar – they live in different times and Alice is not a superhero), are told very seriously, without any boundaries. X23’ stories introduced such controversial themes like physical torture and abuse towards a child, prostitution and self-injury, and those (except torture) you can find in the Alice’s stories. But on top of that, both stories have a strong psychological element.

And the final similarity – the things that defines them – their weapons.

Just compare those stances:

When someone mentions X23, the first thing you have in your mind are her claws. When mentioning Alice, the first thing you have in your mind is her kitchen knife. Both can do extraordinary things with their weapons (American Mcgee’s Alice is an action based game – in wonderland she’s brave fighter) and both weapons are raised to a legendary level in public’s interest.

And that would be all. I love both characters and I just can’t tell how big impact they made on my art (for both I made songs and both are the main inspiration for my own dark and twisted character, who appears as the main character of my book, not to mention that other characters’s names resemble theirs). I strongly recommend you getting into the character and the games in which she appears, cause she’s worth it.

wicked scary