#Scott was just as attracted to Logan as Jean was and I will die on this hill | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

portsidewonderland · 3 years

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Okay, I’ve been wanting to write this for the last three weeks, but I’m finally - finally - sitting down to do just that.

First, I’m a Rogan shipper. I’ve been a Rogan shipper for the last 20 years, but in that time, I’ve grown, I’ve experienced my own sense of love, and I’m a writer so I’d like to think I’m familiar with structure, characterization, and the like.

Second, I’m focused on the film franchise, strictly speaking. Just wanted to make sure that is clear.

Having said that, when I discuss how utterly wrong the X-Men franchise is, I’m talking about from a story standpoint. When I speak of Logan and Rogue, if that ship isn’t your jam, fine, but the points I make still stand.

Finally, spoiler alert for all of the movies.

Okay, I think we’re ready to jump in.

1. After the first movie, everyone forgot the heart of what made the first movie so special: Wolverine & Rogue

I don’t necessarily mean together. I mean, the movie focused primarily on Logan’s story and Rogue’s story. It was told through THEIR POV. This is important because, essentially, we’re asked to connect with these two characters AND WE DO.

The dialogue, the acting, and their stories (which reflect each other’s as well as stand on their own) draw us in and we are hooked.

Even the critics thought some of the best scenes are the ones Logan and Marie share together. Multiple critics discuss chemistry, how they add to the scene, etc.

Regardless of whether you ship them or not, there’s a compelling story between the two. This vulnerable, slip of a girl is the most powerful X-men out there (or one of) and this growly, fierce angry, broken man who’s been alone for so long that out of everyone he’s met and seen, THIS girl brings him to his knees.

And it’s because she isn’t scared of him.

Even after watching him beat the shit out of his opponent, even after seeing the claws threaten humans and slice through a barrel of a gun, she still thinks, I can trust him.

And when he catches her in his trailer, she STILL isn’t afraid of him. She gives him lip. She calls him out on his shit.

That’s how she manages to slide through the cracks.

And that is BEAUTIFUL.

I’m not here to talk about the performances, but Jesus Christ, I love this scene so damn much. The chemistry RADIATES. The glances, the confusion, the curiosity, and the attraction. (Sorry not sorry, it’s there on both parts, I’ll die on this hill.)

Anyway, the first movie is about how this girl brings the savage, feral Wolverine to his knees. How she gets him to STAY. How she gets him to open up.

Yes, Logan wants info on his past, but he’s staying for Marie. We all know it.

When he threatens Jean after first waking up, Jean is scared. And for good reason, obviously.

But Logan STABS Marie with his claws, and guess what? She’s still not scared of him. She’s worried about him.

This is THEIR story.

Do you really think Wolverine is going to go running around in leather for anyone but Marie? Yeah, I don’t think so. I mean, he literally STABS HIMSELF IN THE CHEST to free himself and get to her.

He PROMISES her that he’d take care of her. Do you think Wolverine bullshits? Hell no, he doesn’t.

And that’s why....

2. The whole Jean thing was just not great.

Okay, can I tell you something?

I don’t see Jean as a sympathetic character. She’s engaged to Scott and suddenly, Wolverine comes strolling in and she can’t get her shit together?

I mean, okay, I get it, let’s be real.

But Scott isn’t a bad guy. He nay be a dick, but he treats Jean well. Because we’re not in Cyclops’ or Jean’s head, we as the audience don’t see any marital/romantic issues between them. Hence, when Jean gets flustered by Wolverine to the point where she lets him goad her into reading his mind, she knows what she’s doing. She likes it. She likes Logan’s attention.

Not because she likes Logan.

(I read this fic where basically Jean tells Logan he could have been anybody, and I thought that was so perfect)

But because he’s giving her attention. He makes her feel desired.

And she leads him on.

Right there, I don’t like her, and I think that’s why a lot of Rogan shippers don’t like her is that she has no problem toying not only with Logan’s feelings, but with Scott’s.

But that’s not even the worst part of this.

At the end, when Logan asks for Marie and Jean makes her comment, she adds, “I think she’s taken with you.”

Like - why would Jean say that? Why mention it?

That’s petty ass shit right there.

To me, what she’s trying to do is align herself with Logan as adults and belittle Marie for having a little crush on him. Like it’s so juvenile.

And the worst line of this whole movie is when he says, “Tell her my heart belongs to another.”

Want to know why?

Because the writers/director haven’t SHOWN this. This line is forced here to TELL the audience that we should be shipping Jean and Wolverine. It’s sloppy writing. It tells me they think the audience are idiots.

Really, Logan?

Jean has your heart even though you completely go against Tall Dark and Feral to pick up a girl, then stay at the school with her, leave a fucking mansion to bring her back, make a promise to her, go after her after she’s kidnapped, stab yourself in the chest, fling yourself on the Statue of Liberty AND RISK YOUR FUCKING LIFE TO SAVE ROGUE’S JUST BY TOUCHING HER and you want me to believe your heart belongs to Jean????

Please, tell me, why the FUCK should I buy that?

Oh, because they’re the same age?

LOL no.

Anyway, I didn’t like Jean’s characterization because of that. Because she’s leading people on, because she needs to put down Marie’s feelings after her ordeal because of her insecurity, because of it all.

Which is why I’ll never ship them together.

Logan is at his worst when he’s around Jean.

Anyway.

And Jean is just the worst.

3. They took something meaningful and they fucked it

Logan promises to take care of Rogue. Do you know important that is for both of them as individuals and their relationship?

Rogue only goes back because of Logan. Not for anyone else. Not even Bobby. She comes back, she stays, for Logan.

Where do we see that after the second movie?

He��s so goddamned focused on Jean, on everything about her, that he barely notices that Rogue is ready to get the cure.

I’m GLAD they got a scene together. Because of their looks.

I am.

But shit.

It’s like Logan has completely forgotten all about Rogue, and I’m sorry, but after that first movie, I just can’t buy that.

I can buy that he leaves to check out his past. The dog tag scene is one of my absolute favorites. That’s perfect. Makes sense.

(Also, side note: Fic is so beautiful about this but he isn’t afraid to touch her. Like, he doesn’t HAVE to play with her hair but he does. It’s playful and flirty. It IS. He could have just said he liked her hair BUT HE HAD TO TOUCH IT. And this is HUGE for Rogue because honestly SHE’S afraid to touch and of herself but if Logan isn’t afraid, she stops being afraid - if that makes sense.)

But seriously? He’s not calling the mansion, not writing to Rogue?

I don’t believe that for one second.

This is why I will never watch The Wolverine after that first time (I refuse especially after the director said he was contemplating adding Rogue at the end and didn’t and FUCK EVERYTHING.) because he just leaves because he’s upset about fucking JEAN

I’m sorry but the Wolverine isn’t ABOUT Jean.

If that was the case, we should have had point of views between Logan and Jean in the first movie, not Rogue.

We should have SEEN their development, but we didn’t.

We’re TOLD it.

I’m sorry, but how do you want me to believe that the big bad Wolverine runs off to Japan because he’s sad about Jean? Like, so he’s just going to leave Rogue alone with all of those threats? Are you fucking kidding me?

Show them keeping in touch or SOMETHING. You can’t expect me to see such a huge transformation arc in Logan in the first movie that just gets shit on in every other movie (besides the second). Because that makes Wolverine look like a big, gigantic ASSHOLE and I get that he’s supposed to be that way, but NOT with Rogue.

Which is why Days of Future Past pisses me off as much of the rest them (I’m only discussing the Rogue Cut because I refuse to acknowledge that Bryan Singer - who gave us the first movies - regulated Rogue to such a fucking small cameo.) because Rogue was treated as garbage.

Now, I’m going to assume Logan doesn’t know about what really happened to Rogue because no one told him. But honestly? If he cares about Rogue the way I know he does, he should be asking about her every single time he and Xavier talk.

I love that Logan can sense Rogue when she steps in to help. I love that Rogue refuses to let go of Logan’s mind even in the heart of danger (@bigfrogbestfrogs has an awesome breakdown of these scenes). But I’m appalled at how Kitty is chosen before Rogue? Like, even when coming up with the idea for this movie, why not involve Rogue more?

I refuse to discuss Bobby and her together at the end.

Fuck that.

4. The timelines

Look, I’m not even going to go into the shit that is the timelines.

But honestly?

Fuck everything about that.

I get Singer wanted to retcon X3, but I don’t care.

Based on Apocalypse, the future still sucks so everything failed and then the movie LOGAN takes that shit and amplifies it.

5. LOGAN (the movie)

I’m sorry, but this movie is amazing in some ways and sucks in others.

Want to know why?

Because it takes everything about what made the first movie great and emphasized it.

Laura is too young to be a love interest, so clearly, it’s paternal, and I’m here for it.

But there are so many parallels between logan and Laura and Logan and Rogue that for Logan not to say anything or feel anything in a way tgat tells the audience he’s feeling something just boggles my mind.

Even if he carried HER picture or played with the dog tags and thought of her, something that shows the audience he remembers her, dammit, and she MEANT something to him.

But FUCK how could he NOT?

And that’s why the scene where he’s reading that comic book and he sees himself saving Rogue is so poignant.

Because his gaze lingers.

I mean, obviously I’m assuming she’s dead (which is bullshit but whatever). But still.

And then when he’s dying and Laura is holding his hands and you get that prophecy of him dying with his heart in his hand and I loved how they paired it with the Logan and Rogue song. I loved that callback.

And if the films in between them weren’t such shit, it would be enough.

But it’s not enough for me.

There was so much potential and everything got shit on and it angers me soooo much.

Anyway.

That’s me venting.

Luckily we have so many talented Rogan fic writers and that our ship has survived 20 years.

But still.

What could have been...

Shit.

#logan x marie #wolverine x rogue #Logan x rogue #Wolverine x Marie #Anna Marie #wolverine

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rescue-ram · 2 years

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Scott/Jean, Scott/Logan and Logan/Jean for the ship bingo :D

You will note none of these have the aesthetic box checked, because none of these are particularly compelling on a visual level to me- nevertheless they make me COMPLETELY INSANE ♥️

Scott/Jean

MI AMORS. The only conflicting factor is that 90% of my favorite Scott/Jean moments that had me frothing at the mouth when I first read them have been retconned to be between Scott and the Phoenix Force so that's awkward lmao but no, they're SO GOOD, I love them so much, they compliment each other really well and they are SO SO MESSY GOD BLESS like I can't explain it, I love them both as sugar sweet OTP babies and as messy twice divorced middle aged disasters, I love them best at their relationships extremes and they have been through SO MUCH together, not to mention they canonically have sooooo muchhhh of the weird cringe shit I love in OTPs (telepathic bonds! mutual pining! dying for the one you love! killing the one you love!) Scean is good good shit, but I have not found a lot of good good Scean fiction (though I have found some!) and have been tragically underinspired to write some myself... Maybe someday. Anyways, I love them ♥️

Scott/Logan

MI OTRO AMORS ♥️. It genuinely took me a while to get into this ship- for a long while I literally only read it because Scott was my fave and I was DESPERATE for Scott centric stories. I fell in love with them as the inverse of Scean- if Scean is rooted in the characters closeness and the drama comes from division, Scogan sets them as diametrically opposed and the catharsis comes in the moments when they see they're more alike then they are different. The Scean moment that had me running around showing shitty scans to everyone I knew was the Plateau Sex Scene (the layers!! The trust!! The vulnerability!!) and, by contrast, the Scogan moment that straight up converted me, werewolf style, from begrudgingly reading Scogan for lack of anything better to read to frothing at the mouth and howling at the moon that I SHIP IT was the epilogue of AvX when Scott asked Logan to murder him (THE LAYERS!! THE TRUST!! THE VULNERABILITY!!!!!!) God it genuinely makes me insane. He knew he was going to die and wanted it to be done by someone who cared!! I'm literally nauseous just thinking about it! They make me sick, I love them! So yeah, Scogan has a lot of shit I find uncompelling- the bullying is obnoxious, I hate when Scott is written as a stick to make Logan cool, I also hate when their relationship is flattened to make it more conventionally shippy- but what IS compelling makes me want to walk into the sea and I LONG for a comic arc to truly Go There with these two and give us the deranged canon relationship we all deserve to bear witness to

Jean/Logan

The thing with Jean/Logan is- I get it. I truly do- both from the Doylist perspective of why others might ship them, and from the Watsonian understanding of why the characters are attracted to each other. That mutual attraction and the conflict around it is an important part of their dynamics, I would not do away with it! But it is lacking that je ne c'est quoi, except I can c'est quoi, because that's Scott. Like, without Scott there, it's just generic romance novel dynamics to me, which I get and think interesting stories could be told around, but is just not for me dawg. I also really like fics where Jean and Logan have settled into a platonic relationship, knowing they'll never act on their attraction, and some of the other axes they align on can be explored.

I realized I just said I only like Jean/Logan when they're actively cucking Scott and am laughing at myself because that's ridiculous, but it's true. They need to reenact that Erica Moen comic or nothing baybee 🤣 Slightly more charitable is just admitting these three have been my trash OT3 since age 12 when I watched the movies and I can't imagine Jean/Logan apart from that, but I'll stick to laughing at myself

#thank you for the ask #this is the most deranged ive been on main in a while #x men #scott summers #jean grey #logan

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kurtty-drabbles · 5 years

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Coraline au (nice to meet you, my name is...)

N/A: Finally, is time to LK gets that well-deserved punch.

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @discordsworld @bamfoftheundead

Arriving in Brimar is an experience no X-men could ever forget. The city smells like sludge, but, it seems only the X-men think the smell is a problem or even notice the smell.

"Alison" Scott starts speaking once looking at the city one last time, even with his ruby visor, a red Brimar is even worse. "Is your visions lead us to this city?"

"Yes, in my visions...the mutant Kitty Pryde in need of help" Alison clarifies calmly as she too is looking at the city. The team is Scott, Logan, Jean, Alison and Longshot as the others remain in the school to protect the students.

"Kitty Pryde?" Jean asked a bit sceptical. How she need help? Didn´t she defeat the shadow king? An enemy that not even Professor X managed to defeat. "how she´ll need help?"

"Well..." Alison is about to explain, but, Longshot interrupts the moment to point out the leader of this city is greeting them. The man looks like a corpse, except, the flesh is still pink and human-like appearance, but, is not a flattering look to anyone.

"You´re the X-men. My master warned you would be here" the man´s eyes linger to Dazzler and again, is not a flattering look, "he also talks about you, Dazzler, my master is in a good mood. If you all leave now no one will face the consequences, so, X-men, leave now"

The X-men does not need any confirmation to know that this city is strange and the X-men can´t leave or rather they don´t want to.

"Well, tell your master to shut up, he´ll have to deal with us," Longshot said already expecting the leader of the city would go berserk, however, that didn´t happen at all.

"Very well. You all are warned" and the man just leaves the X-men with their wits and luck. Logan is giving a stink eye to Dazzler as while he wouldn´t ever confess this, Logan really would prefer to leave.

"You and your damn bird may have brought us to a trap, Dazzler, you know that, right" Logan states.

"The bird is Pheonix and she´s listening to your blasphemy with attention" Logan only rolls his eyes and speak with Jean Grey, who, for some reason, is not happy with Logan right now.

"Ok, let´s all stay together and search for Kitty. Jean?" Scott asked and the red hair nods and confirms what everyone should know by now. "I can feel her presence....deep down in this city, but, I can´t tell more of that...and...and" Jean grouches to the ground "there´s something there as well. The fire is too great. It will burn us!" Jean almost went hysterical if Dazzler and Scott didn´t manage to calm her down.

"The fire Scott, the fire. Is reaching his raw form" Jean states quivering a lot.

__________________________________________________________________________

Cletus loves to hunt, in fact, is one of few things he and his late father used to do to bond, so, this is an activity Cletus still enjoying doing. So, when the X-men arrives in the landscape as Cletus knew they would his plan is in motion. Kill the X-men. 5 mutants must allow him a great reward from Cthulhu. Carnage will live to his namesake.

Longshot look up and saw a weird creature staring at him, it´s too fast to register. The creature jump in front of the X-men in full Symbiote form scream something "Time to die"

Longshot is using his luck power and it seems to work as the supposed claw that should render his flesh from his body is gone exposing just a human arm.

"My luck power saved us" Longshot states happily even if he´s still focused on the situation.

"Not quite, little reality warped" a voice echoes in their minds and it seems only Cletus understand what it means and who is speaking. "interesting power, but, I´d not have time to explore this...I have to deal with this traitor"

"Traitor?" Carnage speaks suddenly feeling his body heavier and heavier to the point he can´t stay on the ground and when he lays down Carnage´s body makes a hole in the ground and the hole is cover with black goo. "I served Chtulu all my life. Who are you?"

"Who Am I? Oh, now I´m more offended, I´m Knull and I´m your real God and to make matters simple for your tine brain...I´m really mad at you, Carnage"

And the X-men won´t forget this scene so easily.

__________________________________________________________________________

The city of Brimar has a big mountain, if the city had the mind for tourism, that would be the main attraction, however, Kitty is not here to talk about tourism.

"The mission is over?" Jupiter asked confused, a part of him is glad is over, but another is confused as to why it was so...easy for Kitty to do that. His feline eyes glance at Cosmo. Did the magical dog help Kitty behind the scenes?

"Yes, is over" Kitty states looking at the gem of infinity firmly held in her hand as the blue fire is around her hand and in the gem. Kitty´s azzure eyes(Jupiter blinks at that, since when she has azzure eyes) look at the mountain for a moment before deliver. "get rekt squidboy" and crushed the gem.

No, crush would mean there are pieces of the gem, Kitty somehow manages to completely erase the gem without breaking a sweat and with this action the mountain is gone.

"No infinity gem, no squidboy ...in this plane" Cosmo explained more to Jupiter than to Kitty.

"Yeah...is over. Now, Dagon has no power and can´t bully me or my family anymore" Kitty states not minding that her hand is still wrapped around the blue fire.

The sound of claps snaps Kitty back to reality. A man with curly raven hair, and athletic figure and a malicious smile come into her view. Kitty is not impressed by IT.

"You did a fantastic job. Surpass all my expectation, Miss Pryde, the cats are right about you" IT speaks in a mix of malicious and satisfied. Kitty is still not amused. "You´re my mate"

The cat is calling IT forever alone and chiding him. Cosmo is not being a happy dog and is growling at IT, however, IT is not caring. As IT´s eyes are on Kitty whose hand is now back to normal.

"Yeah, well, then I want something from you," Kitty said knowing the faces Jupiter and Cosmo must be making now. Certainly is opposed of IT.

"As you defeat chlutlu, in a non-conventional way, but is still valid, I shall grant your wish for free" IT smiles far too animalistic to be human.

"Ok, my wish is you let me punch you until you feel pain and you can´t take revenge after that, are you ok with that?" Kitty asked and Jupiter along with Cosmo are calmer now. This is a harmless wish, although, Jupiter notices Cosmo is chuckling (as much a magical dog can)

"Of course, Katzchen, feel free to hit me until your little heart is content" and IT even let his facer closer of her. And Kitty didn´t waste time to hit him. The first time, nothing happened as IT still amused. "Don´t you want to trade your wish? I can give you something else, anything really"

Kitty didn´t reply as she hit him for the second time. This time his smile dies a little as this punch hurt a little. IT now looks serious for a moment, until, Kitty gives the final punch and now...the hurt is prominent.

In fact, her punch manages to break his mask and hit his real face, no, IT can feel the punch hit him in all time and places. This makes IT fall to the ground as his mask is falling to pieces and the pain is still travelling through his body, through time and place.

A tentacle wrapped around her fist as Kitty would punch him again. "You got your wish, I´m in pain" IT is speaking with a certain hardness in his tone.

"My family and I are out of gods games, got it?" IT only recognises by nodding silently. "great, and stop talking about mate, I´m not an animal, no offence Jupiter and Cosmo" the cat and dog are chills with this. "and if you really want to have a girlfriend how about you try to be nice?!" and leaves.

The X-men arrive shortly and witness the most bizarre situation ever. Jean asked. "so...the mission is over?" and Dazzler nods silently wondering if she did her part correctly. She feels as the X-men aren´t even needed here, but, if Pheonix wants something...no one denies her anything.

#coraline au #lk got punched #suidboy get rekt #kitty pryde #lovecraft kurt #jupiter the cat #Cosmo the dog

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sebeth · 6 years

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Giant-Size X-Men #1

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Extra Spoiler Warning for the Deadly Genesis miniseries…

“Second Genesis” by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum.

Winzeldorf, Germany – Kurt Wagner flees from a mob of crazed villagers.

“Perhaps things would be simpler – safer – if I had stayed with Der Jahrmarkt but the life of a carnival freak is not for me – not for Kurt Wagner! Let them come if they must – let them try to kill me! At least if I die, it will be as a man!”

The villagers overwhelm Kurt. Kurt is able to teleport so I’m not sure why he wasn’t able to escape the villagers. The crowd freezes right before they stake Kurt. Enter Charles Xavier: “You are a mutant, Kurt. I can help you find your true potential.”

“Can you help me be normal?”

“After tonight’s misfortune, Kurt – would you truly want to be?”

“Perhaps not. I only want to be a whole Kurt Wagner! If you can make me that, teacher…I will go with you.”

It’s easy for the Professor to dismiss “being normal”, it’s not so easy if you have blue skin, pointed ears, fangs, glowing yellow eyes, a tail, and three fingers per hand.

I had “Savages” from Pocahontas and “March of the Witch-Hunters” from Wicked going through my head as I read this scene.

Quebec, Canada: Wolverine meets with Charles Xavier at a secluded military installation. Xavier informs Wolverine that he “has a need of mutants – a desperate need!” Wolverine jumps at the chance to “get out from under the red tape and rigmarole”.

A military official objects to Wolverine’s resignation: “The government has invested a great deal of time and money turning you into what you are now...you haven’t heard the last of this!”

Nashville, Tennessee: The Professor recruits Sean Cassidy, the Banshee, to the X-Men.

Can’t a man watch the Grand Ol’ Opry in peace?

Kenya, East Africa: Villagers entreat “Ororo, Great Goddess of the Storm, come unto us and ease our burden!”

“I am here, my children. What do you wish of me?”

The villagers offer to sacrifice goats and chickens if she ends the drought and brings rain. Storm agrees to do “as they plead”.

Cue a rainstorm.

Xavier congratulates Ororo on her beautiful display.

“Wh – Who are you? What business have you in Ororo’s land…an…offer? What have you to offer a goddess?”

Ororo agrees to leave with the Professor after he offers her “the world”

Ororo’s debut isn’t very flattering to her character. The arrogance is off the charts. Ororo knows she isn’t a goddess – she’s an orphaned street rat – but she’s referring to villagers much older than her as children and claiming the territory as “Ororo’s land”. Why do the villagers have to approach her to end the drought – if she’s acting as a caretaker she should have produced rain before it reached drought levels – instead it appears that she’s on an egotistical power trip. To top it off, Ororo ditches “her land” as soon as she’s offered a better deal! No wonder Dr. Doom’s attracted to Storm!

Osaka, Japan: The Professor recruits Sunfire to the X-Men.

Lake Baikal, Siberia: Peter Rasputin rescues his unnamed sister from a runaway tractor. Xavier would like Peter to come to America. Peter asks his parents what he should do. Peter’s father responds: “Do as your heart tells you, my son. It will not betray you…Dosvidanya, Peter. Our love goes with you… We are already proud of you.”

The Extraordinary X-Men series has a scene where Illanya reminds Peter that their father made him sleep in the barn like an animal. It never rang true to me. Granted, the Rasputin parents don’t have much onscreen time but it didn’t seem true to their characters. Peter’s debut scene clearly shows the love the Rasputins have for their son – he definitely wasn’t sleeping in the barn. Peter also transforms in front of the village and no one even batted an eye – so I’m throwing the Extraordinary X-Men scene out of canon!

Giant-Sized X-Men #1 was published in the midst of the Cold War/Red Scare – it was rather gutsy to make one of the new characters a Russian hero – and one that didn’t have to do a heel/face turn or redeem himself from his Communist leanings.

Camp Verde, Arizona: “John Proudstar does not like the reservation. He does not like to watch the old ones, sitting slumped against their doorsteps, dreaming dreams of glory long gone. John Proudstar is an Apache – and he is ashamed of his people.”

John chases down a bull and wrestles it to the ground: “There, horned one – do you see? There is still a man among the Apache!”

Yeah, take that, poor bull!

Xavier approaches John to join the X-men. John’s not impressed: “You’ve got five seconds to vamoose, white-eyes…The white man needs me? That’s tough! I owe him nothing but the grief he’s given my people!”

Xavier implies John’s a coward causing John to change his mind and join the team.

John Proudstar isn’t a likable character. Unfortunately, John’s never allowed to develop past the angry young man/proud warrior stereotype.

Charles muses to himself: “But will you – will any of you X-Men be equal to the task that lies before you? Or will you carry the world down into ruin?”

Let’s talk Deadly Genesis. The mini-series retconned the events of Second Genesis. We discover Professor Xavier launched a rescue operation before he assembled the members of the Giant-Sized X-Men team. The team consisted of four foster children of Moira MacTaggert: Vulcan, Darwin, Petra, and Sway.

The four were total newbies whose only training consisted of psychic training by Professor Xavier. The four believed they had trained for months for this rescue mission but had only received hours of training. The four manage to rescue Cyclops, put him on the jet, and send him back to Westchester. The four attempts to rescue the others but are massacred. Scott witnesses the massacre from the jet. Xavier erases the memory of the rescue attempt from Scott’s mind – along with the fact that Vulcan is his younger brother.

Some don’t like the Deadly Genesis revelations as they are not flattering to the Professor. Let’s be honest, the Professor was never a great man. In the original run, he had creepy thoughts about Jean (his underage student) and faked his death to his students. No, having Changeling replace him during his “death” doesn’t make it better. Not to mention all the times he bailed on his “life’s mission”.

If we include the events of Deadly Genesis, the Professor responds the massacre of newbies by composing a team that’s mainly newbies! Clearly, Xavier’s intelligence is overrated.

Let’s check the members’ resumes:

Kurt: Performs in a circus, runs from villagers

Peter: Farms

John: Chases bulls, whines

Ororo: Lounges in a chair, accepts villager’s offerings, makes rain storms

Sunfire has very limited experience.

Banshee and Wolverine are well-trained and very experienced. I’m not sure if Xavier is aware of the depth of Logan’s experience – to be fair, neither is Logan at this point.

Wolverine and Banshee are the only logical selections to send after the captured X-Men. The original team had more powerful members – Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Havok, Polaris – and were captured. I don’t know how the Professor expects this team to do better. Did it never occur to Xavier to call the Avengers or Fantastic Four and see if they could help?

Back to Giant-Sized X-Men:

Westchester, New York:

The team assembles at the school. Peter and Ororo love their costumes. It’s implied Professor X designed the costumes. I wonder if Peter ever wondered why his costume didn’t have material on the sides of his chest/abdomen. Ororo should have many questions about her costume – for starters, why am I half-naked and the rest of the men are fully clothed – or 75% clothed in Peter’s case? And why are Peter’s boots mid-thigh length? Peter will be a brawler – I can’t imagine that would be comfortable to run in. And what’s with the pointed shoulder pads – to stab someone in the eye?

Did John Proudstar add the feathered headband to his costume as a sign of his heritage? Did Professor X throw it in? Would John resent it as a stereotype or appreciate the nod to his culture?

For the record, Dave Cockrum is one of my favorite artists and few can top his character designs. Storm’s original costume and the Imperial Guard designs are a few of my favorite Cockrum designs.

Professor Xavier introduces the group to Cyclops. Scott recaps the events that led to the recruitment drive: Professor Xavier detects a new mutant presence on the island of Krakoa in the South Pacific. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, Polaris, and Havok travel to the island. It’s mentioned that Beast isn’t available for this mission – this is around the time he was working for the Brand Corporation. The group lands on Krakoa but are ambushed. Scott regains consciousness, realizes he’s unable to fire his optic blasts, and retreats to the mansion. Scott’s powers return at the mansion but with increased intensity.

Did Scott retain his power up? Or was this forgotten and never mentioned again. Did the other imprisoned X-men receive power-ups? If not, why was Scott the only one?

Sunfire decides he doesn’t wants to be part of the rescue mission: “I do not even like my fellow mutants! I certainly will not risk my life to help them!”

I’m sure the feelings mutual. However, Sunfire changes his mind and rejoins the group mid-flight.

The X-Men arrive at the island. Scott splits the group into pairs: Cyclops/Thunderbird, Sunfire/Nightcrawler, Storm/Colossus, and Banshee/Wolverine. Sunfire objects to pairing up with Nightcrawler. Wolverine complains about Banshee’s sonic powers. Enhanced hearing has many drawbacks! Peter leaps out of the airplane causing Storm to panic: “You fool, you cannot fly!” Peter responds “Of course not, but I can land with the best of them!”

Scott gets the brunt of Proudstar’s attitude: “Yes sir, General One-Eye Sir! I just hope you’re not leading me into another Little Big Horn! It’d be just my luck to be the first Indian massacred by….”

Can we nominate Scott for sainthood? He had to deal with Wolverine, Thunderbird, and Sunfire and didn’t kill any of them.

Scott and Proudstar find a temple as do Storm and Colossus. Banshee and Wolverine battle giant crabs and reach the temple. Nightcrawler and Sunfire battle golden birds and snark at each other: “I begin to think the mutant community is no more hospitable than the human…” The duo also reach the temple.

The group find the original X-Men inside the temple. Angel warns that it’s a trap and the new mutant is the island itself.

The group battles Krakoa, the “island that walks like a man”. Professor X mentally joins the battle. Storm, Polaris, Havok, and Cyclops team up to deliver the final blow. The X-Men retreat as the island breaks apart.

The issue ends with Angel asking “What are we going to do with thirteen X-Men?”

Krakoa could have used more fleshing out – is it a mutant that turned into an island or a mutated island? What exactly are its abilities? As it is, it’s relegated to a plot device – and a boring one at that.

Poor Scott didn’t even realize his entire future could be summed up in this issue: a lifetime of mutants questioning every command and mouthing off at every opportunity. Poor Scott had to deal with Thunderbird, Wolverine, Sunfire, and Havok this issue.

The recruitment scenes were the best part of the issue. You could tell Banshee and Sunfire had previously appeared in the X-Men series as their recruitment only took one to two panels. Wolverine had made an appearance in the Hulk, also written by Len Wein, so he had a bit more panel time. Storm, Nightcralwer, Colossus, and Thunderbird’s recruitment received more page time as they were completely new creations. The battle with Krakoa was “meh”.

#X-Men #Cyclops #Storm #Professor Xavier #Wolverine #Nightcrawler #colossus #Banshee #Sunfire #Thunderbird #Deadly Genesis

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shobogan · 7 years

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For the meme: ScottxJean or JeanxLogan

:D I CAN DO BOTH

Scott/Jean:

Canon itself is very…inconsistent for me. The way Jean and Scott are portrayed can be obnoxious for a lot of different reasons, from glossing over their issues to present them as this pure perfect couple to making them barely seem to like each other. Jean often gets the brunt of this, being portrayed as a Generic Perfect Girlfriend or an unreasonable nag, but Scott can be flattened and flanderised too.

That said, when they work for me, they really work. When their shared history as child soldiers and all of the loss and trauma that shaped them is acknowledged, when they’re allowed to both complement and enable each other, when their respect and devotion and love feel real and earned. When they’re truly and fully portrayed as equals.

I loved the way Claremont explored and developed their relationship (though he didn’t really have enough space in the original run, and my reading was supplemented a lot by added scenes and backup stories in Classic X-Men.) They’re freaking adorable in First Class without being generic or overly cutesy. I adore The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix and I think it’s very telling that their relationship was at its most functional when raising a child in a post-Apocalyptic future.

Then we get to New X-Men and, honestly, I think the dissolution of their relationship was done really well. There’s so much they’ve never been able to unpack, because they’re too busy fighting for their lives and recovering from unbelievable trauma and mourning their friends and protecting their people. They still love each other, they’ll always love each other, but it just wasn’t working any more.

This didn’t justify Scott cheating on her, which is pretty clear in both the narrative and his own head. He knows he fucked up, he’s sorry for fucking up. I hate that we didn’t have the time to see Jean truly deal with it, that she had to die instead of letting them get a goddamn divorce and explore how their relationship changed.

Jean/Logan:

I range from “tolerable, potentially interesting” to “for fuck’s sake enough already” on this. I understand the initial attraction, I really do - they’re both dangerously passionate, wrestling with rage that can kill. Logan saw the worst in Jean, and Jean saw the worst in Logan, and neither of them flinched. Jean is one hundred percent ready to call him on any and all of his shit and let’s be honest, Logan needs that.

The initial love triangle wasn’t that bad, because it wasn’t played up too much. We got to see Logan’s resentment of Scott turn into respect. When Jean died, he mourned both for Jean and what he never tried to have with her, but he didn’t take it out on Scott. And crucially, Jean was never portrayed as a prize to be won.

In later runs this fluctuates a lot, from tediously obnoxious to poignantly bittersweet. My favourite version of this is a Logan who loves both Scott and Jean, and puts their happiness above anything else. (Of course, this also requires Scott/Jean to be written well.)

Ever since Jean died, though - ugh. There’s a lot more focus on tragic lost romance than their actual friendship. She’s become the object of tedious pissing matches between Scott and Logan. It’s infuriating, and it’s one reason I was frankly glad when he died.

Don’t even get me started on the movies.

[Send me a ship and I’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it]

#jean grey #scott summers #logan howlett #with all my heart #renaroo

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avelera · 7 years

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So like since you ship Rogan can you like give us the full essay why? Im super curious because I don't like him with Jean

Hey Anon!

Shipping manifestos are always fun to write. I mean, this isn’t a “do or die” style ship for me, I’m not sure I’d ever write it (especially when it’s an older fandom which means there’s dozens of delicious completed fics out there already like this one). But I will try to speak to this.

The thing about Rogue and Wolverine is that it’s not a ship necessarily based on mutual interests of any kind, which is unusual for me. Rather, it’s a relationship built on mutual experiences, and for being the only one who was really there for the other person in some ways. Wolverine with his memory loss and Rogue with the loss of her home life are both adrift when we meet them. More than Jean and Logan, Rogue and Logan are the misfits at the beginning of X-1 clinging to each other against the storm. Most of the best emotional moments are between them as they have something of a “foxhole” mentality, it’s them against the world, even against the other X-Men. That really appeals to me.

I just reblogged another post which summed it up nicely as that they are two of the most dangerous people in the world, and Rogue is one of the only people who is actually dangerous enough to kill Wolverine. There’s something rather poetic and fatalistically romantic about that. His are also the only powers that have saved her life rather than harmed it, one of the only times someone used her powers against themselves on purpose to help her.

There’s the fact that they’re very much loners too, and “loners who find each other” is a great trope to work from. Basically, it’s a great fanfic ship because so much of what lies between them is potential, but they are consistently extremely important to each other. There’s a devotion between them that is rare even within the franchise, and there’s an allure to that. I prefer it to be when Rogue has grown up, but I think Logan does too, he keeps her away from him but at the same time he’s not paternalistic towards her, he makes it clear he’s not her father. There’s an unacknowledged spark between them and I think you could make a very good case that it’s the level of emotion there that makes him the most cautious. Jean is kind of a flirtation, I think Logan is comfortable with it because he cares for her but it’s never going to happen. It’s safe.

Logan is another perhaps tired but favorite trope of mine, tough outer shell with a soft center. Logan cares about the few things he loves in his life with intense passion, he’s intense about most things really, it’s why he tries to keep his walls up. He’s also constantly having what he loves most ripped away from him which makes him very protective, but it also makes him very careful of becoming protective in the first place. He know knows how far he’ll go, he knows he’ll give anything and everything for the people he protects. Within hours of meeting Rogue he was ready to die for her. Same with Charles, Jean, Laura, and the others. He’s self-aware about this too, which is fascinating. He doesn’t act standoffish to be a dick, I think he really does it because he knows he’s a magnet for trouble and he knows once he starts caring he’ll not be able to stop.

So I think that’s a very obvious reason he tries to keep Rogue a little bit apart but also consistently fails to do so. She triggered his protective instinct and you can have a real knight-and-lady relationship structure there, except Rogue is also a devastating force of her own.

(To quickly touch on Jean: I’ve never liked homewrecker ships, they don’t sit well with me. I think Logan kinda imprinted on her as an attractive adult woman in the house who was gentle with him, and I think his joke to rile up Scott went a bit too far and he accidentally fell for her, but I don’t think there’s much more than a crush there. I don’t think Jean ever really reciprocates except maybe some basic physical attraction because, hello. But I actually find Scott and Jean really cute together so… *shrugs*

Bobby just feels like… a normal teenage boyfriend. I approve of him because it would be sort of a weird imprinting thing if Rogue just held out for Logan, but I don’t sense a lot of chemistry with her and Bobby except in a teenage relationship sense. He can’t really handle her powers, and as I recall he eventually ends up with Kitty late anyway, because people are allowed to have more than one relationship growing up ffs. The very fact that even in X-1 Bobby feels the need to assert to Logan that he and Rogue are together feels indicative of their chemistry as well.)

Anyway, not to ramble for so long. I haven’t really thought of them in awhile and it’s been ages since I’ve seen X-3 or DoFP but I still think they’re one of the best het ships in film.

#rogan #rogue #wolverine #xmen 1 #xmen 2 #logan howlett

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