Mr & Mrs X: Gambit and Rogue Appreciation 2019

[Kalternativa]

Has anyone been following War of the Realms? Is he one of the twins?

Screenshot_20190601-123722.jpg

[Jumpyshark]

Has anyone been following War of the Realms? Is he one of the twins?

Screenshot_20190601-123722.jpg

spoilers:

Ha, that's Freya, with some funky powers courtesy of wielding a Dark Elf sword. Behind her is Odin, in some custom Iron Man + Dwarven armour.

end of spoilers

[Kalternativa]

spoilers:

Ha, that's Freya, with some funky powers courtesy of wielding a Dark Elf sword. Behind her is Odin, in some custom Iron Man + Dwarven armour.

end of spoilers

Thank you!

[PeachFlavoredXanax]

Can you feel my dagger eyes of envy?

Hahaha At least you know it’s being taken care & loved of by a ride or die Gambit & Rogue fan if that’s any consolation.

I know we can get down on Carey for some of his choices, but he really brought Gambit back into the spotlight and restored him back to a heroic character after the whole Deathbit thing. Plus I've come to realize he's one of few writers that actually acknowledges their time from X-Treme X-Men, for what it's worth.

I’ve met Mike Carey & had drinks with him so I’ll say he’s really lovely in person. And... I don’t hate the idea/plot of Rogue being like “I’m fucking exhausted from our relationship Remy, I wanna put us on ice for awhile.” Rogue has only ever been with Gambit while he’s hooked up with at least 5% of the over 18 female population on earth. Rogue standing on her own two feet for awhile and dating other people I support since she has some serious arrested development. The crazy ass storyline we got made my blood boil; Magneto is the guy who watched the live feed of her losing her virginity as well as murdered thousands of humans (which makes Rogue look like an ******* since she was always riding Gambit hard about not stealing things), or she basically jumps into bed with Mags over some story from the Holocaust about 5 minutes after she breaks her long term relationship’s heart. No thank you to that bullshit.

[Nox Noctes]

Yeah, if Carey had paired her up with someone less objectionable, I definitely wouldn't be as annoyed by it to this day. What's worse is that it cast a shadow over the whole of his work on the X-Men for a number of readers.

[Couplest]

See, I was afraid of that. Gambit's role gets hyped up for the podcast, but he doesn't get enough scenes. Without giving anything away, what did you think of Gambit's portrayal?

spoilers:

I don’t want to say I didn’t enjoy it because he had some good lines, but he was a bit one-note and I felt it kind of reminded me a lot of origins, we meet him and he disappears and then shows back up but never feels necessary. Again, just my feeling. This is also supposedly after Gambit spent some time with the X-Men and he takes a necklace from a kid he knows belongs to the kid’s mom.That just felt so off it bugged me more than some of the other things.

end of spoilers

As far as Carey, for me his cons outweighed the pros by the end in regards of his time as an x-writer which is a shame. After awhile Gambit was just there and even Carey’s Gambit Origins was kind of just a boring rehash. And I was not a fan of the whole rogneto thing at all. But I did enjoy his earlier stuff. But it’s like when Weezer released Beverly Hills and I hated it so much it
ruined the rest of their music for me. I guess I’m a baby out with the bath water type girl about some things.

[AppleJ]

I agree wholeheartedly. The way his work started out, he handled both characters really well. The Supernovas arc and Messiah Complex and the Xavier portion of Legacy were really great. He gave both characters a lot of depth. I mean, he wrote the Gambit X-Men Origins, so clearly he liked him as a character. And I definitely agree that Rogue wanting to step away from their relationship and figure out what she really wanted and who she was also made sense. But I'll always be mad about how that storyline was handled. It was a huge misstep, it was rushed, and ignored so much key continuity as you mentioned. Part of me wonders what his long-term plan would have been had he stayed on. The way it's written towards the end ... it feels like it was pushing toward where things went under Gage anyway. But I suppose we'll never know. At any rate, the good panels he wrote were REALLY good. We at least can thank him for that confessional DPS and Rogue's projected memories of their sexy times together.

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[Nox Noctes]

Thanks, Couplest. It's a Wolverine podcast, so I guess we shouldn't expect too much from it as Gambit fans. It's always kind of baffled me how they barely use any of the X-men lore. There are so many characters out there that could cameo and they just make up new characters. I mean, I enjoyed season 1, but I would have enjoyed it more if there were more recognizable characters.

I wasn't a big fan of how Carey wrote Gambit either (too passive, if that makes sense?), though he did give him a few good speeches. It's one of those situations where Carey (who is generally thought of as a good writer) came up with a terrible plot/characterizations that damned him for a segment of fans. Frankly, I expected better from him.

[PeachFlavoredXanax]

But it’s like when Weezer released Beverly Hills and I hated it so much itruined the rest of their music for me.

I’m not the biggest Weezer fan, but I also don’t dislike them either. Is Beverly Hills really that different from their sound? Like... too pop-y? Am I allowed to fawn over their cover of Toto’s Africa or will that cause you to mute me?

I guess I’m a baby out with the bath water type girl about some things.

I totally get you girl. I did kinda get pretty “meh” on Rogue for a few years in light of Carey’s choices and skipped over all the Uncanny Avenger stuff which I’ve tried to now go back and read but Rogue being all goodness team captain is just boring af to me.

[AppleJ]

I wasn't a big fan of how Carey wrote Gambit either (too passive, if that makes sense?), though he did give him a few good speeches. It's one of those situations where Carey (who is generally thought of as a good writer) came up with a terrible plot/characterizations that damned him for a segment of fans. Frankly, I expected better from him.

Yeah, I get what you mean. I didn't like that he spends most of his time on Utopia isolated and sitting around struggling with the Death persona and we barely see him at all. And the fact that Rogue does so little for him during that time really bothers me also. And in the Hunt for Legion's personalities he is extremely underutilized and just stands around a lot, though some of what he says in that arc really impresses me. So I'm mixed. But then in Age of X, he's really well done both in speech and action. Mostly I just find him really unevenly written, but I think he did like the character though maybe not as much as some others. Sometimes it feels like characters are serving plot moreso than the other way around in his stories. Basically I can't call him a favorite writer but I can't say I hate his work either save that one choice that really botched things up for so long.

As for Rogue in UA, I was really not into the idea when it first happened. I've always been an X-reader and had no interest in the Avengers books. So I had to go back and read it later just to find out what had happened with her. They still are not my favorite reads because it's so much constant action compared to the X-books, but the Red Skull plot at least was pretty interesting. I did appreciate seeing Rogue leading and some of the art is great, but they aren't stories I find myself revisiting often.

Still feeling angsty about where they will be going after HoX/PoX. We're gonna need some sort of distraction while we wait this thing out. So I'm looking into that Madureira variant for HoX and apparently it's a 1 in 50. If you want it better start hunting early!

[Couplest]

Ha! Let’s just say that Beverly Hills showed a lack of self awareness that put their entire catalogue of music in a new light. There are a lot of “thought” pieces that do a better job describing the phenomenon than I would but pretty much after that I was done. And let’s just say I’m not a fan of their Africa cover.

Yeah, the post-Carey Rogue took some time for me to come back to. We needed some space. I did read Duggen’s Uncanny Avengers run, but after what we went through with Carey I didn’t love her portrayal as much as others. She was a leader but her personal life was so flaky and not in an interesting storyline way, but in “when a dude writes Rogue” way. She and Johnny Storm has some offscreen relationship for some reason to create drama that causes her make a catty comment about Medusa to him (and then for Zub to annoying try to shove them back together later), she sees red skull gambit and tries to throw herself at him, only to end up liking/making out with Deadpool who is yet another person who has done worse things than gambit and happens to be the writer’s favorite. Sound familiar? Rogue being under a female writer for her main storyline has been a nice break honestly.

[smokey78]

Yea but the population was further alienated. The sales have dropped year after year since Carey's run right? And to the point that readers that would have liked Romy have not returned, time and interest has waned.

Also I didn't know, last year, Neko says she was dropping the Gambit Guild forum/site, but she's still around and the forum is still around! What changed?

[AppleJ]

Yea but the population was further alienated. The sales have dropped year after year since Carey's run right? And to the point that readers that would have liked Romy have not returned, time and interest has waned.

Also I didn't know, last year, Neko says she was dropping the Gambit Guild forum/site, but she's still around and the forum is still around! What changed?

Dunno. I honestly haven't been back there in well over a year or more.

[anyajenkins]

She’s kinda going with a wait and see approach. She didn’t shut it down, but she’s not doing as much and waiting to see what develops with the stories.

I was one of the people that left after legacy, I couldn’t support a story that sexist. And yes, I realize he probably wasn’t ‘trying’ to make it sexist, but any story that hinges on a female character deciding she just ‘shouldn’t think so much’ about the rotten things a guys done to her, is sexist. There probably were a bunch of people who left and didn’t come back, though it’s impossible to know for sure.

[Nox Noctes]

Yeah, I get what you mean. I didn't like that he spends most of his time on Utopia isolated and sitting around struggling with the Death persona and we barely see him at all. And the fact that Rogue does so little for him during that time really bothers me also. And in the Hunt for Legion's personalities he is extremely underutilized and just stands around a lot, though some of what he says in that arc really impresses me. So I'm mixed. But then in Age of X, he's really well done both in speech and action. Mostly I just find him really unevenly written, but I think he did like the character though maybe not as much as some others. Sometimes it feels like characters are serving plot moreso than the other way around in his stories. Basically I can't call him a favorite writer but I can't say I hate his work either save that one choice that really botched things up for so long.

As for Rogue in UA, I was really not into the idea when it first happened. I've always been an X-reader and had no interest in the Avengers books. So I had to go back and read it later just to find out what had happened with her. They still are not my favorite reads because it's so much constant action compared to the X-books, but the Red Skull plot at least was pretty interesting. I did appreciate seeing Rogue leading and some of the art is great, but they aren't stories I find myself revisiting often.

Still feeling angsty about where they will be going after HoX/PoX. We're gonna need some sort of distraction while we wait this thing out. So I'm looking into that Madureira variant for HoX and apparently it's a 1 in 50. If you want it better start hunting early!

Ha! Let’s just say that Beverly Hills showed a lack of self awareness that put their entire catalogue of music in a new light. There are a lot of “thought” pieces that do a better job describing the phenomenon than I would but pretty much after that I was done. And let’s just say I’m not a fan of their Africa cover.

Yeah, the post-Carey Rogue took some time for me to come back to. We needed some space. I did read Duggen’s Uncanny Avengers run, but after what we went through with Carey I didn’t love her portrayal as much as others. She was a leader but her personal life was so flaky and not in an interesting storyline way, but in “when a dude writes Rogue” way. She and Johnny Storm has some offscreen relationship for some reason to create drama that causes her make a catty comment about Medusa to him (and then for Zub to annoying try to shove them back together later), she sees red skull gambit and tries to throw herself at him, only to end up liking/making out with Deadpool who is yet another person who has done worse things than gambit and happens to be the writer’s favorite. Sound familiar? Rogue being under a female writer for her main storyline has been a nice break honestly.

It's interesting how we all had more or less the same reaction to Rogue's portrayal. To me, it just wasn't her at all: what she did was simply out-of-character (or at least, who I've always thought Rogue to be). Carey was a Rogneto fan and forced the storyline to the detriment of the characters. Frankly, I couldn't read anything Marvel after Carey until the Rogue & Gambit mini came out...and I honestly don't think I missed much (I did speed read a few trades from the library last year though just to catch up ;P). I'm still not sure what to expect next now that MMX is wrapping up.