star sister

If you're a Roguneto shipper, it's no secret that season two of X-Men '97 has been somewhat of a letdown.

While we all know that Rogue will eventually end up with Gambit, most of us were expecting some kind of closure to the Roguneto chapter, instead of the eerie and uncharacteristically evasive "I-won't-acknowledge-this-ever-happened" behavior from Rogue.

Prior to the rewrites, it had been hinted by the website Collider that there was expected to be more Roguneto moments in the coming seasons. There was swift backlash to that article. After the rewrites and some revelations from Beau DeMayo himself on Twitter regarding what was cut from the show, it became doubtful any of it would happen.

As I watched season two, I could sense that a lot had been cut. Many viewers complained of the pacing, but season two has so far felt very disjointed and I couldn't help but wonder if the cause of that was the willful omission of Roguneto by the writers of X-Men '97. It felt like they had gone out of their way to make sure it went unacknowledged throughout the season.

Why would they cut it? Well, the Romy fandom in particular, has been very vocal about their displeasure with the inclusion of the canon ship Roguneto in the X-Men '97 show. And it wasn't just mere complaining. They wrote to Marvel en masse, trying to browbeat the company into not releasing more Roguneto. Some of them harassed the VAs of the X-Men '97 show, and some even bullied the Marvel artists that depicted Roguneto in their artwork - to the point where one of the artists in particular actually took down his art from his social media account after receiving death threats.

Sadly, this toxic behavior seems to have worked. Marvel/Disney has pretty much caved to the demands of the Romy shippers and what we're left with is a stale version of X-Men '97 than what we could have had if the Romy shippers had been patient and let it play out.

Being a Roguneto shipper myself, I thought I could lean on others in the Roguneto fandom and cultivate our enthusiasm for the ship. I looked to others in our small fandom for solace and support, and shockingly, found practically none.

What I was not prepared for was the negative, Debbie-downer mentality of the average Roguneto shipper. While the Romy fandom enthusiastically posted fanart and celebrated their favorite ship with gusto, Roguneto shippers remained inert and aloof. Many attempts to connect with Roguneto shippers and celebrate the ship were met with derision and moral grandstanding.

The attitude among Roguneto shippers seems to be: "I am above all this. I am not like Romy. I am not going to spam and gush about my ship and be as obnoxious as them. I am not going to push Roguneto in everyone's faces."

My response to Roguneto shippers is this: How's that working out for you? Do you think Marvel is going to reward you for sticking your nose in the air?

Does acting like a snob make you better than Romy? What is so bad about celebrating Roguneto publicly? You're worried you'll look like Romy shippers? (Which is impossible, by the way, unless you are the sort of person who likes to harass people online). If you won't even advocate for Roguneto, then why should Marvel?

It's a well known fact that fortune favors the bold, and I believe this is why the Romy fandom has been so successful in getting what they want despite their poor online behavior. Their enthusiasm is unparalleled and Marvel wants to cater to the people that have that fire. That spark. That energy.

Conversely, most Roguneto shippers I encounter are huge sticks in the mud. They're more concerned with their image and having the moral high ground instead of celebrating the ship.

I'm not saying Roguneto shippers should start harassing Marvel, the writers, the artists, or the VAs. That is never the right thing to do - but if you Roguneto shippers thought you could stand on the sidelines, and judge everyone from your lofty perch and act like showing pride and enthusiasm in your ship is somehow beneath you, then you absolutely deserve to have your ship shafted.

I find myself wanting to celebrate the ship more on my own than with others in the fandom because their behavior just brings everybody down. They're too negative and self-righteous. Roguneto shippers have made this ship "not fun". We just don't have each other's backs and we refuse to advocate for this ship in the name of "not looking like Romy." There's way too much in-fighting.

It's both ridiculous and embarrassing.

Roguneto shippers, if you're unhappy with the way things are going - you need to step it up. This "holier-than-thou" behavior is not cute. If you can't do it, then kiss your favorite ship goodbye. Because if you're not going to stand up for Roguneto, no one else will.

There's nothing wrong with posting about and defending your favorite ship, as long as you're not rude to others.

Post that fanart. Write those fanfics. Collaborate with others. Stop placing constraints and restrictions on yourselves and other Roguneto shippers. Let the creativity flow. Let Marvel see that Roguneto matters.

to start with, i'm sorry this has been your fandom experience, op. unfortunately this isn't a unique experience to you and it's certainly not only something that's been happening in this corner of fandom, even within the marvel community. fandom etiquette has been on a pretty clear downward trend in the last handful of years and we're all witnessing that in real time.

but, that being said: as a roguneto fan who has contributed art, fic, and even spoken with and commissioned a marvel comic artist myself, i'm very curious what you're proposing this ship fandom do. from what i've seen there have been organized ship works--a ship week, a zine, even, and there have been shippers that have approached the VAs and the comic artists/writers at conventions to express their gratitude for their work. personally, if i had more pull at marvel i'd be making more happen. as it stands, i have a full time job irl and fandom, even for a ship i feel so passionate about, is a hobby for me, just as it is for a lot of us. fandom should be fun, entertaining, communal--it should be something to give people community in whatever way they choose to interact with it. no one should be told or in any way guilt tripped into some specific way to engage with fandom.

i applaud your enthusiasm, op, i do; i'm glad you're passionate about the ship, but i think that in your zeal you're showing the same level of self-righteousness you're accusing this ship fandom en masse of. you said yourself: there are people working in an 'official' capacity regarding this fandom--show writers, artists for marvel, voice actors, people who work directly for marvel and even for the x-men 97 series itself--who have been harassed into silence or even off their socials by the romy fandom. you're asking people who create fan content largely for free, who do not work for nor have any kind of protection from marvel or disney, who owns marvel, to weather that same kind of treatment willingly, and in the same breath berating those among us who might not be up to task there as being 'snobs', 'sticks in the mud', 'self-righteous', even 'ridiculous and embarrassing'. as civil as i'd like to keep this, what's embarrassing is that you took the time to type all of this out and post it on an anonymous burner account instead of owning what you're saying to and about the rest of us.

i have the utmost sympathy for people who aren't comfortable dealing with harassment over fiction. i have sympathy for people who are trying to engage in fandom as they are able, who are engaging in their ship in whatever ways make them happy. i do not have sympathy nor do i have any respect for someone who would deign to call out the rest of a ship as demonized as this one because we aren't up to your standard of fandom activism--and do so behind a mask. if you've been around the fandom for more than, i don't know, 30 minutes, then you'd also be very aware of how people who openly and actively ship rogue/magneto are treated in fandom spaces at large--because it's Not pleasant. i don't think there's anything particularly respectable about calling people lazy or snobbish or whatever else you want to say for not being thrilled at the prospect of being called groomers, pedophiles, abuse apologists etc. over a fictional ship in spaces where we're dogpiled for it frequently too. the 'romy enthusiasm' is largely a bunch of vitriolic bullying and tantrum-throwing when they don't get content catered directly to them and their ship, so to be perfectly honest: no, i don't want to be like the romy fandom and yes, i do think i'm better than a lot of those fans if for no other reason than the fact that i have not ever harassed anyone or participated in the harassment of anyone over fiction and taken gleeful pride over the fact that the group i'm part of has done anything like that. take that however you want. the romys are not somehow a ship fandom whose behavior should ever be aspired to or even normalized; that ship has content for it most ships could only wish for, and it's still not enough for them.