THREAD: WHAT TO DO WITH A PROBLEM LIKE RACHEL
We may be overthinking it a bit --
Just let her hair grow longer
Have guys fight over her as they fight (!) over Jean Grey, in other words, (Dare I say it in this changing climate?) Make her hotter.
But please don't let her suffer "the bathing suit" (brr!) that Carol Danvers suffered from for most of her years as a character.
Or...
Have NOTHING change about the character at all except have people (younger MU males) start noticing her.
Simple, easy.
Thanks for listening.
AFAIC the only "problem" with Rachel is the existence of first Hope and then Teen Jean. Neither of whom are/were worth a damn to me as characters, but who took much more prominence for editorial than Rachel.
I won't say anything I think others haven't said already - except that for me, while Rachel filled a similar power role to Jean in the old days, she was never 'derivative of Jean.' In her classic era Rachel was volatile, powerful and dangerous. She was all rage and fire. Jean, who was often sainted whether alive or dead (and I've usually preferred Jean dead myself but her latest return is fine by me as it's been long enough and they've kept her more down to earth so far - I have nothing against her atm), was not that.
Making Rachel a sort of neophyte pre-Teen Jean after Morrison's run may have worked to make her character more accessible to new audiences, but longterm it drained her of who she was. Rachel was always the renegade. She stood out because of that dark history and how it shaped her behavior and power. I could never mistake her for Jean or Hope or Madelyne. So yes, they should get back to that.
Also: She has always read as queer to me, even more than many Claremont characters with countless homoerotic/sapphic-coded relationships. Putting her with men has not worked. When he tried it with Kurt, admirable an idea though it was, all the femme trappings he forced on Ray still couldn't make me stop assuming she would top.
If leather was all it took to make a Claremont character full queer the entire mutant population would be doing shifts at the Eagle. No, it was many things (and the rat tail).
I agreed with the ones who want to give her a new power from the Summers DNA. Now, with the fact she's not an Omega(even she's the 1st mutant to be stated Omega by Nimrod himself) anymore, they can explain she has half the level of Jean and she has another energy power related like Vulcan(energy absorption & projection from any part of her body and super strength/durability/speed/regeneration/stamina, etc). With her Psionic powers she battles at high range and for her energy power she can battle in close/mid range.
“Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.” Goethe
Male love interests for Rachel never worked. IDK why they don't reveal she is bi or lesbian
Rachel's love interests:
- Guy who will be her future slave owner/torturer
- Sword freak who she was in love with against her will
- Sentient bacteria who killed her mom
- Uncle Kurt who has no soul
But mention a girl and editorial will think that's going too far.