Basement X

I thought it was a strange to out "past Bobby" as being gay given that there was never any indication (blatant or subtle) that Bobby was gay at all. There was that one scene in Chuck Austen's run where he was accused of being a homophobe but that's about as close as I can see.

In the course of Bendis telling the story, I can see how, if past Bobby was gay, he'd repress it until it became second nature and lived a lie to the point where he forgot about it and believed himself to be 100% straight until he was outed.

Thoughts?

It doesn't bother me really. I can see how some are upset that it's not present Bobby and the past one coming out changes continuity and all. But honestly, it doesn't bother me. The question will be will this stick for long? Will they do a "these are alternate universe X-Men" in a few years? Will any of this attest post- Secret Wars?

EDIT

People on Twitter have been posting scans of X-Men & X-Men related comics from years past of Bobby's reactions towards people who are or were believed to be gay and Bobby's reaction in most of them has ranged from being okay with it to not wanting to deal with it.

The revelation of Bobby's orientation doesn't change how I feel about him: Sexually frustrated. Joking.

I'm in the same boat as Tragic when I wonder is this a long term change or short term change? Changing/revealing someone's true orientation, in some cases has a deeper impact than revealing their secret identity and to reverse that willy nilly can damage the character as well as the brand. Marvel revealing Peter's identity and then giving him a cosmic annulment was pretty shitty but I think we all knew the status quo would be restored eventually. Having Bobby come out as gay/bi but then undoing all that would seriously damage Marvel's reputation.

So Is Bobby gay, straight or Bisexual? Bobby is still young and immature and will we now see more phallic statues made of ice or less?

The change doesn't bother me, I just wish they had done a better way of having him come out. This wasn't willingly, it was forced. The writing was typical Bendis so it was well written, just cliched. I'm interested to see what they do with adult Bobby. Bendis did say he plans to continue the story somehow, which is strange if he's done with the X-Men.

I believe it, and a lot of his dangling plots, will be handled in Uncanny X-Men 600.