Was/Is There a Point to Teen Beast & Jeen's Makeout Sesh?

[cwatz]

I think its mostly teasing or eating up page space. Not much different than Cyke/Laura.

There is some small bits of merit to be found in these things though. The Beast incident had traces of character development in it. Jean was pretty lost. Scared of dying and falling down the same path. Knowledge that the relationship with Cyke hits some pretty big bumps and he turns into a giant douchebag (from her perspective at the time). Finally just a teenager exploring sexuality in general and what guides attraction, "Why not Hank?". With Cyke/Laura, they found a mutual support system, when they didn't feel they had other avenues to turn to. Less developmental, but provides a source to the "why".

Lastly all these things could just be testing the waters. Float an idea out there, see what traction it gets, and the doors are left open to revisit it at a later point if people liked it.

[xhx23x]

Lastly all these things could just be testing the waters. Float an idea out there, see what traction it gets, and the doors are left open to revisit it at a later point if people liked it.

I'm not sure about that one, Beast seems to pretty conclusively lose interest after the BotA incident.



after that he was listing his options mentally when Jeen caught the stray thoughts (or was that Scott?).

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Sure there was a point. Beast is a sorry excuse of a bro. Which totally makes sense considering how his older self won't shut the hell up about how good of a bro he is to Scott.

Nice throwback to real life Bro Lore, really.

[cwatz]

I'm not sure about that one, Beast seems to pretty conclusively lose interest after the BotA incident.

after that he was listing his options mentally when Jeen caught the stray thoughts (or was that Scott?).

There is a difference between losing interest and being pissed off.
Jeen kept giving Tyke the cold shoulder, but is clearly pissed about him leaving. IE: She still cares.

Beast was the same way iirc. He was pissed over her leaving with Tyke, but the fact he is still running everything through his head implies that hes still caught up in it.

[Tomppa]

if by now you haven't figured out that All New X-Men is just Bendis trolling X-Fandom then there's no hope for you. Still even his trolling is lacking, seeing as Claremont did it better

Looking back on it, it was just poor writing with the author just trying to find shock value. Same thing with Jean coming onto Cyclops in All-New X-men #26 and contradicting everything she'd done in the series up to that point. Just bad writing and grasping at shock value.

It was just an attempt by Bendis to create some controversy maybe a little outrage and when it did neither he got bored of it and moved on.

I think its mostly teasing or eating up page space. Not much different than Cyke/Laura.

There is some small bits of merit to be found in these things though. The Beast incident had traces of character development in it. Jean was pretty lost. Scared of dying and falling down the same path. Knowledge that the relationship with Cyke hits some pretty big bumps and he turns into a giant douchebag (from her perspective at the time). Finally just a teenager exploring sexuality in general and what guides attraction, "Why not Hank?". With Cyke/Laura, they found a mutual support system, when they didn't feel they had other avenues to turn to. Less developmental, but provides a source to the "why".

Lastly all these things could just be testing the waters. Float an idea out there, see what traction it gets, and the doors are left open to revisit it at a later point if people liked it.

This is all Bendis' run on ANXM has been, filler, trolling and coming up with different pairings for simple shock value and a little bit of some really slow moving character development for mostly just Jean. Tyke has had some but mostly these guys might as well not be there.

There's a good chance it will still be addressed, remember due to the sliding timescale only a couple of weeks have passed since the kiss

This is really ridiculous. I have hard time believing that it's only been two weeks in story between the point when O5 formed the X-Men/Jean came to school and Tyke went into space.
I know that's how long it's been because it was said so in Tyke's solo but that seems pretty far-fetched even for Marvel's sliding timescale. It means that all the events in X-Men Vol 1 #1-8 and ANXM #1-26 happened in just two weeks! Bendis has been writing over 2 years worth of issues of ANXM and everything has happened in 2 WEEKS?! That to me seems too much off.

Really, the oddest thing about Jean/Beast was that Beast never had a thing for Jean like that.

Exactly!

Yes, he did. At least in that point in time they all wanted to do her, even Xavier.

Honestly, I have full on forgotten about the kiss. I remember it did get brought up again now during the 04's moved into NXS when Jeen was hearing's Henry's and Tyke's thoughts. Didn't they fight about it in front of Morph? I know someone did... I think that was the end of it. Like others said, it was mostly Jeen experimenting with her options which makes sense. What would've been stupid was if it had been pursuit in a serious fashion.

That's true but after growing up there has been no hints at all that Beast still had any kind of romantic interest in Jean. They always acted more like brother and sister. But yet in ANXM Jean got the whole idea of kissing him after she read from present Beast's mind that he STILL supposedly had unrequited love for her. That went against all previous characterization of Jean/Beast relationship ever since early days of O5

[AcesX1X]

Really, the oddest thing about Jean/Beast was that Beast never had a thing for Jean like that.

yes. in the original stories beast was very chauvinistic and irrational towards jean.

[xhx23x]

There is a difference between losing interest and being pissed off.
Jeen kept giving Tyke the cold shoulder, but is clearly pissed about him leaving. IE: She still cares.

Beast was the same way iirc. He was pissed over her leaving with Tyke, but the fact he is still running everything through his head implies that hes still caught up in it.

That could be true also, but I just think it served its purpose and there's no real merit and going back there. It drove the group to further mistrust and changes, what else can we get out of it? Alternative babies? I think the 05 need to start looking at their options outside of their little group.

That's true but after growing up there has been no hints at all that Beast still had any kind of romantic interest in Jean. They always acted more like brother and sister. But yet in ANXM Jean got the whole idea of kissing him after she read from present Beast's mind that he STILL supposedly had unrequited love for her. That went against all previous characterization of Jean/Beast relationship ever since early days of O5

This was not adult Jean though, this was a Teenage version of a girl he clearly views through an idealistic-lense. And all he was doing was thinking about when he had a crush on her and how things might've gone differently had he done something about it. It's the same as someone finding a picture of an old crush and was left wondering what could've been. This is worse though since its a living breathing picture. Who can hear your thoughts, so Beast should've managed his nostalgia a bit better, but I don't really see how its out of character to think about what ifs when hit with a memory from high school.

[cwatz]

That could be true also, but I just think it served its purpose and there's no real merit and going back there. It drove the group to further mistrust and changes, what else can we get out of it? Alternative babies? I think the 05 need to start looking at their options outside of their little group.

I feel the same. I couldn't see them going back there anyways. Like I mentioned before, the story was about a confused teenager fearful of her future, and the core behind the relationship seemed to be Jean exploring teenage sexuality. "Why not Hank, hes a good guy, hes a friend, blah blah blah". Not a whole lot of lust or extreme attraction though. Basically it was her discovering the friendzone.

This is all Bendis' run on ANXM has been, filler, trolling and coming up with different pairings for simple shock value and a little bit of some really slow moving character development for mostly just Jean. Tyke has had some but mostly these guys might as well not be there.

I don't exactly disagree, but I think that's a bit on the harsh side. There is undeniable filler/trolling. However some of these cases provide character exploration and/or entertainment. The cafeteria or the most recent Cyke/Jean bedroom are a few examples.
The series has certainly had slow moments, and can be annoying on an issue by issue basis. However in a giant clump when pace is no longer a factor, viewing it as whole product its still quite good. The filler isn't annoying at all in that context.

As for the Jean focus, its true, but its also inevitable. Gone for a decade not only begs for attention, but she also has the most tragic past which is ripe for dramatic content. The biggest reason actually has nothing to do with her as a character though. The O5 have doubles, Jean does not. That makes you ask "what if" questions, and wonder about crazy possibilities. If it were just doubles, the whole cast would feel like awkward secondary characters coming from a strange premise (which is still an issue with some readers, or should I say non-readers).