Now that I'm updating the site to reflect the Siryn of 2008 rather than 2004, and the writing skills of a 27-year-old rather than a 19-year-old Monster, let's face facts: the Great Soap Opera of the Siryn Sweepstakes is over. Theresa has given up regular contact with both James and Wade, and my attempts to present an unbiased account of her romantic options were mainly a formality. In any fandom, any fan with a particular attachment to a character is going to have some very set opinions about that character, and if the character has any standing as a romantic entity, then the fan is going to have something to say about what romantic relationship is the one that should happen, should continue, or should end. That fan is going to hold some bias, and that bias is going to show, so I say: acknowledge the facts but don't lie about your loyalties.
In the Sordid Details account, I've done what I can to recount the full story of what happened in Siryn's romantic storylines, primarily between Warpath and Deadpool. That was in terms of narrative, but in terms of opinion, to hell with this "Pros and Cons" business. I'm a Terry/James shipper. I was in the beginning, and I still am now. That appears to put me in a minority among online Siryn fans (*shrug*), but I'm okay with being in a minority. The truth is I like Theresa with James Proudstar, and I want you to like them, too. Of course I'm not going to twist anyone's arm over this--Harry Potter fandom showed me the dangers in that--but if there's going to be a discussion about shipping, I'm ultimately taking the side of Cassidy-Proudstar.
Why the preference, then? What made Warpath a better match for Terry than Deadpool did? Why ship one and not the other? I'm not going to try to convince anyone that one was a substantively better pairing than the other. Both had interesting storylines, both had valid beginnings and intriguing developments, but Siryn never actually hooked up with either guy. There was never any "involvement" on either side. How do I define "involvement"? There would be snogging at least, or I should see the pairing wake up and behave like they'd just gotten lucky. In following interactions, they should behave like they mean something to each other. There was no snogging and certainly no waking up together with Siryn and anyone except Jamie Madrox since...pretty much since the character of Siryn has existed, come to think of it. The relationships she had with Warpath and Deadpool, therefore, were not really "involvements" but rather romantic storylines.
So, then, you ask, why do I ship her with Jimmy when she could also be shipped with Wade? Perhaps it was simply because Terry/Jimmy came first, and I was too stubborn to consider something else, but then again: I gave Terry/Wade a chance. I dabbled in it for a while, but I ultimately decided Terry/Jimmy was the right idea. I suppose the difference between ships is what kind of relationship archetype you like: Best Friends Become Lovers or Good Girl Meets Bad Boy. Three guesses which archetype matches each 'ship, and the first two don't count. I happen to favor friends becoming lovers. *shrug* I can see the entertainment value in Good Girl/Bad Boy, but I think the type is ultimately overrated. I think it's unhealthy, and that friends becoming lovers is more fulfilling and viable in the long term. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I like to see Theresa interacting with Wade--as good friends. He's a fabulous character, but that doesn't mean he's a suitable romantic partner for Theresa. I think that Theresa and James were an entirely viable couple that were never given their chance.
Although the waffling ultimately became the rule of the day, in many ways the development of Terry/Jimmy was very well-crafted. Ever notice how Siryn liked to watch Shatterstar during his work-outs, and Jimmy never really liked the guy? That was jealousy at work. Remember how, in 49 and in the early 70s, under the scribeship of Loeb and Moore, respectively, other characters mistook Theresa and James for a married couple? That's hinting. As of the early 20s of X-Force, James's interest in Theresa could, arguably, be passed off as physical attraction: she was cute and he wanted a piece of that action, right? After they came home from Ireland, that dismissal no longer applied. He'd seen the complications in Theresa that she normally kept hidden, and he wasn't deterred. What about Theresa, then? Did she feel the same way about him? If so, why didn't she tell him? Why didn't they ever get together?
For reasons of psychological realism, they could not get together soon after 31. For one thing, Theresa had just kicked a drinking habit, and that is a dangerous time to approach any romance. Is that what Nicieza and the editors were thinking while producing those issues? I have no idea; in fact I think that the Terry/Jimmy attachment was rapidly attaining the status of a fun "toy" they liked to play with: it was a shiny thing they could pull out here and there to keep the fans entertained, but they weren't prepared to turn it into anything else. Regardless of creator indecision, I think Theresa was genuinely attracted to James. She may not have fully understood her feelings--perhaps that was the point--or she may not have felt herself ready for a relationship, but underneath the uncertainty, I think James's romantic inclination was reciprocated. Furthermore, if I ever argued that Theresa "should" have gotten together "because" he helped her quit drinking, or that he was the guy for her because he was able to help her that way, then I apologize now. Theresa should not have pursued a relationship with him "because" he helped her sober up any more than she should have gotten together with Deadpool "because" he was responsible for her getting her powers back. Gratitude is no substitute for love. The significance of X-Force #31 to their relationship was as a bonding experience: they got to know each other, they went through something together. They could not have gotten together, however, soon after he helped her in such an important way. Their dynamic would have been about her "needing" him for the sake of her mental stability--it would have been asymmetrical, unbalanced. James put it to Emma Frost in #42 that Theresa "needed" him, and he wasn't about to let her down, and this is not necessarily, on a character level, what was indeed the case. It was just as easily James couldn't very well make a solid argument for staying with X-Force based on his being in love. A relationship initiated at that stage, either way, would have led to an unhealthy dynamic.
The evidence for Theresa's reciprocal interest in James was subtle, but, in my opinion, still important. The times when they were mistaken for a married couple don't amount to attraction: on the panel, they simply meant that Theresa and James were comfortable together, as shown previously by their frequent physical contact. Above the panel, however, such humorous moments were significant. It was a device for showing that the romantic storyline is still active, that the question of attraction is still in the air. The "You can put me down now" scene in X-Force #39 was telling; Theresa's body language suggests that though she may be nervous, she is certainly not uninterested. Her reaction to Banshee's question about James, in X-Force #42, shows a similar emotion. Banshee's making her uncomfortable, because it's a confusing issue, not a negative one. Then, of course, came the Age of Apocalypse, following which Siryn became Deputy Leader of X-Force and accordingly careless with James. As I say in Sordid Details, Theresa had come to take James and his place in her life for granted. If she neglected him in those first few weeks or so--and I won't dispute that she could have treated him better--it was arguably because she thought James wasn't going anywhere, that he would always be there with her. The affair with Risque, of course, proved her wrong, and she didn't forget the lesson learned. Her worrying over James while he was missing after the battle with Selene, also, wasn't necessarily romantic, but her jealousy towards Risque (issue #65) was. The most viable time for beginning a Terry/James "involvement" would have been just after the "Death of Warpath" storyline. Her monologue to him in #74, again, wasn't necessarily romantic, but rather could be explained in the context of an especially deep and meaningful friendship, but then what of her thoughts in #75, after James had died and come back to life? Thinking that the incident had made her realize just how much he meant to her is an indicator of romantic attachment.
Of course it never actually materialized, and I think that if it had materialized--if the pairing hadn't been left to waffle around for so many years--it would have been more popular. That it didn't happen is a sign of the "toy" syndrome I've suggested above. Oddly enough, there was space in the books to have Meltdown hook up with Sunspot and break up again, but no room for Siryn and Warpath (by then calling himself Proudstar) to get their act together. Perhaps JFM knew ahead of time that Siryn wasn't long for the series and therefore wasn't about to bite off more than he had time to chew. But I still think the editors and writers simply enjoyed bringing the storyline out to play with it now and then: Jesse Aaronson's remark in X-Force Annual '99, about how Siryn liked Warpath, was an example of hinting at a pairing through another character, and reminding us readers that it wasn't over yet. In X-Force #100, too, we see a glimpse of an alternate timeline in which Siryn had gotten together with Warpath, but then he'd abandoned her, and she'd ended up with Deadpool. They were still playing with that storyline. It was still open for discussion.
It was never exactly resolved, but I'm not so naive enough as to confuse fannish enjoyment with canon advocacy. It's 2008, and the X-books are not in the same configuration as they were in 1998. I don't think Terry/Wade has a canon future, as their behavior in "Enema of the State" was enjoyable, but it wasn't exactly screaming romantic potential, either. There's also the matter of Siryn being in X-Factor Investigations. Peter David is apparently unreceptive to the requests to see Deadpool in the pages of X-Factor, and I can't picture it happening, either. X-Factor's tone is in the tradition of film noir: it's not without humor, but it's muted, subtle. Deadpool's esthetic is madcap dark humor. I like Deadpool, too: he's an extremely entertaining character, but you don't stick a square peg in a round hole. You don't rant about evil clowns, Simon Cowell and Karl Rove, all in the same breath, in Mutant Town. Warpath, meanwhile, has been off in Uncanny X-Men and cuddling up to Hepzibah--which is fine--and is now a part of the new team called X-Force, which has only him in common with the X-Force of the 90s, so we probably won't see any interaction between him and Terry any time soon. If the writers and editors, between the handful of them, couldn't get him and Terry together when they appeared in the same book and fought on the same team, then it's pretty much resolved in the negative now by virtue of inactivity.
I still love the thought of Theresa and James being together, but I'm aware that with the direction the characters have gone in canon, it's probably not going to happen. So that is why we (or at least I) {singsong}have FAN-FIC!{/singsong}
