For the ship game, Jean/Scott/Logan polyship in the X-men comics and for the JSA fandom Sand Hawkins/Cameron Mahkent?
Ooo, okay!
So for Jean/Scott/Logan - I SHIP IT (with an asterisk).
What made you ship it?
I don't think I've ever NOT shipped it. At least once I read a lot of the 90s comics, and we reached the point where Jean actually seemed interested in Logan, as opposed to the early Claremont issues where she seemed revolted by him.
There's always been an interesting vibe between the three characters that no adaptation has really managed to nail. And that's the fact that Scott and Logan have always had a complicated relationship with OR without Jean. It was never just about her, though of course, she's important to both characters.
But ultimately, Scott and Logan's initial clash was more of an issue of leadership. When you look at the team established in Giant-Sized X-Men, you see a bunch of character who are individually very powerful and experienced in their own individual fields. Logan's worked for the Government, Storm was a Goddess, Kurt was in the Circus, and so and so forth.
The Original Five, on the other hand, spent their entire adolescence and young adulthoods as X-Men. This means that, in the context of BEING X-Men: specifically working as a team, using their rather limited powers (Jean and Bobby excluded) to strategic advantage together, they're pros. But they're also decidedly unworldly. They haven't had to deal with real world concerns in a long time. (Something that I think subtly comes up even IN the original sixties comics, see for example, how they mishandle Fred Dukes.)
And even though the initial 60s comics ages them into adulthood, Giant-Sized and subsequent issues actually retcon them back down pretty quickly. (Bobby, for example, mentions not being able to drink. In 1975, that means he'd be seventeen.)
So you end up with this contrast of real world experience vs. X-Men experience, expertise as a solo agent vs. expertise in team work. Instinctive rage vs. trained discipline. Jaded cynic burned by the world vs. earnest idealist forged yet sheltered by their mentor.
And this conflict ends up best embodied by Logan (as the most quintessential renegade of the group) and Scott (the leader and most disciplined.) And of course, this being a team endeavor, both character have to reluctantly start appreciating what they each bring to the table.
Jean's a part of that, but it's worth remembering that a lot of this development happened when she was either presumed dead or actually dead.
The love triangle itself, I think, only really gets its substance in the 1990s. Before that, the characters may have had some flirtation, but they weren't even on the same team. THEN we see more heat between Logan and Jean. But that's also the point where Scott and Logan really settle into their dynamic too. And it starts being really obvious that as much as Logan is attracted to Jean, he also kind of idealizes their relationship in general. Particularly once they get married.
And of course, there's Scott's monologue about Logan's appeal (in which you start wondering if Dolly Parton doesn't have a thing for Jolene herself), or Logan licking Scott when out of his mind. All of which give the obvious love triangle a bit more bite.
The Throuple on the Moon didn't come from nowhere. Just saying.
What are your favorite things about the ship?
I've mentioned this before, but my favorite about the ship is that, in the context of the comics, the dynamic is not what a lot of people expect.
I think a lot of people who watch the cartoon or the movies first get this idea of Scott and Jean as fairly well-adjusted sorts, and Logan being the dude with massive issues who vibes with both and gets welcomed in with open arms and comfort and...
Honestly, that's not the vibe in the comics at all, IMO.
Logan DOES have his issues. No question. But we're also dealing with a woman who might as well be a goddess, who tends to die and come back from the dead a LOT, each time, having to re-adjust to the world drastically changing without her. And that's not even getting into the issue with having eaten a star that one time.
And we're dealing with a man who spent his childhood as the experiment of a telepathic mad scientist, who fled into the clutches of a telepathic thug, and was rescued by a telepathic idealist who immediately drafts him into his cause because, by the age of sixteen or so, he's already been "carved" into a perfect tool/weapon/surrogate. And tends to deal with any kind of emotional upheaval with either fleeing to a shrimp boat or becoming the governor-general of the entire mutant race or becoming a Che Guevara style mutant revolutionary or...
Well, you get the idea.
They're ALL fucked up. If anything, Logan's probably the BEST adjusted of the three, because he's had time to process his shit and learn a few coping mechanisms.
And I just find that absolutely enthralling.
I also like that each side of this triangle (square, if you include Emma), gives something different to each character.
Scott and Jean are, of course, the OG goddess-mortal pairing. Scott is a man who can hold a woman who ate a star in his arms and think "yeah, okay, I'm still all-in." He doesn't just accept everything she is, he's enthralled by it.
Jean and Logan are, it's funny to realize, the ordinary couple. She's the girl next door who makes him want to be a more civilized dude. He's the courtly knight who brings a little romance into her life. They're the ones more likely to have candlelight dinners or sex in a hot spring.
And then there's Scott and Logan. They're a bit more chaotic, but at their best, Logan is someone wild and uncontrolled, who challenges Scott and jars him out of his complacency, forcing him to justify the decisions he makes and orders he gives. While Scott is someone who sees the big picture while remaining an idealist at heart, giving Logan a cause and a direction so he's not just a wild-man, but the honorable warrior that he so dearly wants to be.
Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
Well, this is where the asterisk comes in. Because I do ship it in the sense that I genuinely believe they're all three attracted to each other, and that they all three, deep down, truly love each other. I believe they banged on the moon, many times.
But I also think banging on the moon was probably a terrible idea. Because there are so many issues between these characters. Primarily Scott and Logan. But my entirely unbiased opinion is that if Jean ever thought about how Logan treated Scott during the 2010s in particular, Logan would have a Problem.
I think Krakoa served as a temporary reprieve. The joy of finally having a safe place, and the ability to have people actually return from the dead meant that everyone could and did set their issues aside and just go with what they felt.
But the issues are still there. Issues that we see, for example, when Scott goes to Logan for advice/comfort when he was uncomfortable with the Crucible and all Logan does, or maybe can do, is tell him to "talk to a priest". We see it in the way that the crux of Jean and Logan's relationship, after all the pining and build up, basically amount to a sex scene in a hot spring, and Jean protecting him during his jaunt through time: something she'd have done regardless of them sleeping together.
It feels like a waste.
So while I do ship these characters, it would only be after they ACTUALLY addressed the issues between them. And biased Cyclops fan that I am, that includes a fucking apology, LOGAN. Hmph.
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Sandy Hawkins and Cameron Mahkent. - I could ship it!
Gosh, it's been AGES since I've read 2000s era JSA. And I completely forgot about the new version! I need to catch up on that! (Also, is it true that he's in Justice League Unlimited? Awesome, if so!!)
I feel guilty because I have a lot less to say about these two. But I do think they have potential. Based on my fairly dim recollection anyway!
What Made You Ship It?
I'll be honest, my investment in this pairing is in Sand, not Icicle. I vaguely recall thinking Cameron was an interesting villain, especially when matched with Sand. Though as Sand villains go, I've always personally preferred Johnny Sorrow.
That said, while I think Sorrow/Sand has excellent darkship potential, I don't really think they'd be a feasible couple in anything but a very id-type of fanfiction. You know, the kind you read logged out of AO3 because you don't want to admit that it's in your history.
I feel like Cameron, on the other hand, probably is more of a...I don't want to say redeemable per se, but I feel like he's the sort of villain that I could see doing a temporary team up with the heroic characters against someone worse.
And thus, I feel like something could be fleshed out there.
(Honestly, I always kind of felt like Sandy's flirtations read a little like comphet. Ever since that fantasy where Kendra gives him a closed-mouth kiss, when he's convalescing. It's like, dude, that's IT? That's as far as your fantasy life can go with a girl???)
(That said, I remember reading the first issue of the new JSA, and maybe he has a thing with Jade now? When I catch up, I'll have to see what I think about it.)
What are your favorite things about the ship?
I do like a good enemies to lovers set up. Especially in comics. I also like jokes about powers. I once suggested that Sandy should bang Ben Grimm because I enjoy making jokes about earthquakes and rockslides.
So I feel like, between Icicle and Sand, there's a lot of material there.
In a more serious sense, I think there's a lot that can be explored with the idea of legacy, both from a heroic side and a villainous side.
There's also something really interesting in the idea of Cameron having gotten his powers from prolonged exposure to his father's ice gun, and Sand's whole...well, that thing where his mentor turned him into a sand monster. Oops.
I'd be interested in exploring that.
Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
I'll be honest, I haven't really read anything by folks who ship the ship, so I have no idea what's popular or not.
I suppose though, I'll go back to what I said before, which is that while I think Cameron's got potential, I'm here for Sandy.
I do think it'd be interesting to see how Sandy would do as a step-parent? Or a third, if Cameron's still with Artemis...
