Jessie & Woody @marianasfs - Tumblr Blog

all right, folks--buckle up and strap in for a long post...because I have so much to say about Rogue & Gambit (2018) 🥺❤

so first of all, I should explain that I started my X-Men comics reading journey in June of this year (2023) after I revisited the animated series in April, and fell back in love with Gambit & Rogue as a couple, and they truly were my first ever OTP in any sort of media considering I was like 4 or 5 when I first started watching the cartoons 💖💖💖 so I got really into making fanart of Rogue and Gambit while I was rewatching XTAS, and then I started reading fanfic, and then I started writing it lol--and then I found out that I could actually read as many Marvel comics as I wanted to with the Marvel Unlimited app--and the only thing that had kept me from reading the X-Men comics before was that it was just not affordable when you had to pay for each individual comic issue. (although we did have ONE comic book based on the animated series when I was little that is actually part of one of my very first core childhood memories...and that's a whole journey that deserves another post since I scoured MU and wikipedia and finally ebay to try and recover the specific book lol)

So this was great for my renewed obsession with Gambit & Rogue! I could finally read Mr. & Mrs. X, which I'd been so curious about ever since I heard of it/saw it in bookstores (but I was not going to pay $25 or more for each volume). like I've said before, Gambit & Rogue were the OTP of OTP's throughout my childhood and even though I didn't read the comics and hadn't watched the show in years, they were always in my heart as I got older (and I even own a romantic gambit & rogue shirt I bought in like 2017 lol)

so I downloaded the comics app, and I could have just done the free trial and read Mr. & Mrs. X and Rogue & Gambit (2018) to satisfy my curiosity, but because I only ever watched the X-Men cartoons and movies, I knew there was a lot that happened in the comics before Rogue & Gambit got married, and I felt like I should actually see the full story of how they got there--especially if it took so long for Marvel to actually get them to that point 😅

AND GOODNESS...IT TOOK SO MUCH TO GET THEM THERE LOL

so let's fast forward 5 months later--I have read most of the main plot X-Men series from 1980-2018 and I read all the spinoff comics that featured both Rogue & Gambit because not only did I want to see their love story from the beginning, but I wanted to understand who Rogue & Gambit were as characters before they met, and I wanted to be able to view and analyze their romance within the context of EVERYTHING that was going on around them. I didn't skip around. I went through the best of the X-Men series and the worst of the painfully bad writing arcs, and I made sure to reflect on everything I thought would be important throughout the series (even the poorly written parts lol) and I'm so glad I went about my reading journey this way...because it made seeing a spread like this SO WORTH IT.

If I had never read any of the comics before Rogue & Gambit (2018), these images would have meant nothing to me. But having read through almost 40 years of X-Men comics, almost 30 years since Rogue & Gambit's beginning, all within the span of 5 months--I remember all these moments! I remember how I felt when I saw/read them for the first time--the joys of their early dynamic, the pain and touching heartfelt moments as things got more serious for them, even the tiny moments illustrated here that were in between BIG MOMENTS but that I really loved and that stuck in my mind--and of course, the most heartbreaking, bittersweet moments, too--and that one X-treme X-Men panel where I had my sickos t shirt "yes...hahaha YES!!" reaction because I loved it so much lol

it's all here 🥺

and Rogue & Gambit (2018) is all about going through Rogue & Gambit's history: their ups, their downs, moments of beauty, moments of ugliness--and it gave us 'missing scenes' from the earlier days of X-Men that I had always wondered about--including how they first met! and that lovely bittersweet look at what happened at Scott & Jean's wedding...

and I'm sorry I'm writing such a long preamble to my actual review of this series because I just need to say... I am so glad I invested the time (literal months! literal years, decades of comics!) to read Rogue and Gambit's full story--to see these characters develop and evolve separately and together, to get to this point now in Rogue & Gambit (2018) where I am right there with Rogue and Gambit, having internalized all their history looking back on it all at once, and after all this time I still believe in their love the same way they both do! and to see them finally bridge that gap of anxiety and fears and Marvel's asshattery of breaking them up for no good reason repeatedly--finally they were given the chance to actually communicate about their relationship and come to an understanding of where each other stands. IT WAS JUST SO SATISFYING.

and it would not have felt like such a good read or half as rewarding if I had never read any of the comics before 🥺

ok, so now that I'm done being sentimental and explaining to you all where my headspace was at while I read this series--and I needed like a day or two just to kind of process for myself because of course I binged this all in one sitting after midnight lol--let me just share all the moments in Rogue & Gambit (2018) that made me scream, squeal, laugh, and cheer for my favorite X-Couple, forever and always 💖💖💖💖💖

this was a good bit (and betsy "I know everything" is extremely relatable 😂)

i'm not going to add screenshots of every moment I enjoyed, because it would be most of the 5 separate issues lol but let's just talk a bit about the moments I loved best

so first of all...it is kind of hilarious that they are sent to a couples' therapy resort (considering that well...EVERYONE in the marvel universe desperately needs therapy) as not-so-undercover operatives, but sticking rogue and gambit in a room where they'll have to actually finish their conversations is a good idea. also this whole bit got a good laugh out of me (you gotta up your kissing game, gambit 😂)

I have to just say--as someone in the mental health profession--obviously this whole therapy 'resort' seemed bogus from the start, and the therapist doesn't really do anything except ask gambit and rogue questions about how they met/what happened in the past alkdsfhasdg to clarify, I'm not a marriage counselor, but I am a counselor who has worked with families and I've done group counseling sessions, and...this is not how therapy works--but gambit and rogue wouldn't have known that (and maybe there would have been more therapy shown on the page if the focus wasn't just for the reader to get a look at these specific scenes from the past, but the creative team didn't feel they needed to show actual therapy, which is fine...but it was just funny to me that their 'therapy' was really just actually talking to each other about this stuff for the first time and having to literally be shown each other's perspective of events 😅)

anyway...this was cute...got me looking like this emoji 🥺🥺🥺

I HAD always wondered how gambit and rogue would have met with all the craziness that was going on at the time gambit entered the story--I think rogue had just returned from the savage land and I vaguely remember that there were like gladiatorial-like battle events happening on muir island where everyone was not really in control of themselves? and on the one hand...it was funny to see their 'first kiss' but yeah, kind of fucked up rogue didn't remember it! remembering her headspace back then, of course she would have felt violated, so that kind of ruins her perception of the first meeting with gambit, which would have been sweet. anyway it was cute and a little funny before it got sad, which is how rogue and gambit seem to usually go... ("you're mah hero or somethin'" makes me laugh every time i see it though asdlkfhasghl so cute of awkward 20/21-yr-old rogue not used to being flirted with)

the flirting while on a mission and finally just getting to be on an adventure together A+++ (why haven't the writers for the last 15 years before this realized gambit and rogue are always more fun together than they are apart?)

I already saw screenshots of this moment on tumblr so I knew to expect the steamy kiss, but...I was not expecting for this excellent conversation. thank you to kelly thompson for finally just having them talk this shit out and FOR ONCE not ending it in a 'well we just can't get through our problems *shrug*' conclusion, but a 'here's how I actually feel, this is why i've been scared to make things work, but I've never stopped loving you and so let's actually take this leap together'. THANK YOU. it's finally a mature response written for Rogue (but considering romance has generally not been written well in X-Men series as a whole, it's unfortunately VERY RARE to see romantic problems worked through in a healthy way)

*self-explanatory screaming *

this made me laugh lmao

this just made me smile so much (and that leia/han solo parallel 👏)

so during this whole battle where they have to kill their clones, gambit and rogue get glimpses of each other's past, including inner monologues (and omg how rogue didn't realize gambit felt bad when she implied that she didn't trust he was a good man/would always do the right thing... it shouldn't have been breaking news to her that it would have hurt him to hear that lmao but it was 🙄) I felt so emo seeing this flashback to Scott and Jean's wedding, and 90's Rogue will always have my heart because of how vulnerable and insecure she was while falling in love with Gambit and how scared of it she was at the same time 🥺❤ and Gambit gets to know how she felt on the inside, and he actually CRIES after he learns how she felt about herself 😭😭😭 girl it made me cry, too

so... all's well that ends well. rogue & gambit are back together ❤

and I'm here shouting like WOLVERINE TOLD YOU ALL OF THIS 25 YEARS AGO (in the real world) ROGUE ALSDKHFASDG

well, at least she finally took his advice lol things are never going to be perfect for her and gambit (for anyone, really) and I do really love this monologue from rogue and this line "I'll take messed up with you any time, Remy LeBeau" 🥺💕💕💕

anyway, Rogue & Gambit (2018) was beautiful and had a perfect ending--and I love this fakeout setup where you think Gambit's going to ask Rogue to marry him, but instead it's "How you feel 'bout cats?" 😂

*tearing up at rogue meeting the cats and the good moments finally outnumbering the bad ones 😭*

so off I go finally to read Mr. & Mrs. X (and I've already read the leadup to the wedding in X-Men Gold) and this will probably be my last stop for the X-Men comics for now... and I can finally stop giving Marvel my money every month 😂

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Jessie & Woody