#there's no reason for queer-coding nowadays

[petr1kov]

sometimes i feel like queerbaiting is a lost art form that both peaked and was left on the 2010s. the cultural moment was such that we had shows wanting to be 'modern' and 'open-minded' enough to acknowledge that yes, gay people exist, so logically speaking our main characters could be gay and a portion of the audience would be interested in seeing it happen, but also still being homophobic enough that openly embracing and portraying any non heterosexual relationship was never even remotely considered as a real, actual possibility. and that's how we ended up with like. the guys from house and destiel and bbc sherlock etc

[zeroducks-2]

What's up with batman and the erasing of queer history? Sry I try to interact with fanon as little as possible

There is no simple or short answer to this but to try and not make it a wall of text - Batman/Robin has always been a staple of the queer community, so much so that to this day there are "brudick" graffiti in big cities and lots of older gay couples have been using them as a reference for solid partnership which endures in spite of adversity.

Originally there was no indication anywhere that Bruce and Dick were in the roles of father and son, rather they were partners against crime, one the shadow of the other, and they would share everything both when it came to crime fighting and in their everyday lives. They're shown sleeping together, going on lake trips together, finishing each other's sentences and Dick being viciously jealous every time Bruce would "replace" him with any of the women he used to have flings with such as Talia or Selina.

Did DC mean for them to be read as a queer couple? No, of course not. Bob Kane and others wrote a partnership, an unbreakable bond which would allow these two men to overcome any obstacle together, and queer people read into it as queer people always do.

Someone else read into it though: Frederick Wertham, who called Batman a pederast and used Batman and Robin as an example of how the evil comics would corrupt young minds to send them on the way of perdition and sin. He wrote all of this and many more infuriating shit in his book Seduction of the Innocents, which was then the major influence in creating the Hayes Code, which is the reason why we never had queer characters in comicbooks and movies and anything really for decades (and we're still struggling today).

Wertham and the Hayes Code did not stop the queer community from loving Batman and Robin though, therefore what started happening was the more subtle shift towards Bruce and Dick having a father and son relationship rather than a partnership. You can see this clearly with Jason Todd for the first time: Bruce takes Jason in and treats him as his own son, the narrative calls them father and son, and there is no doubt in the mind of who's reading that Bruce perceives Jason as his child. It all went steadily downhill from there.

Nowadays, writers have Dick say character assassinating things like "I love you dad" to Bruce, Tim saying "we will save our dad" to Damian, and everyone in the fandom acting like this has always been the case and actually you're weird and you should be sent death threats for shipping Brudick, because "UMMM that is literally his son?!??!?!?". DC has been pushing the idea that these folks are a nuclear family for a while now, but whoever has actually read the comics knows it's not the case, and it used to be very different before.

Brudick, among queer people, used to be entirely uncontroversial. While Wertham raged about how it corrupted the minds of young men and the Hayes Code prevented queerness to be anything but vaguely hinted and coded in the text, queer folks didn't care and kept having matching Batman and Robin shirts.

Today queer people will call you a pedophile and a groomer and try to doxx you for posting Brudick art because apparently they're doing the fascists' job for them, either because they are genuinely misguided or because they think that if they're enough morally pure they will have a spot among the chosen ones, hell if I know. What I know is that they'd suck Wertham's cock and balls if he wrote Seduction of the Innocents today, and it's DC's fault too with their erasure of every found family dynamic among the batclan, and the way they've been pushing the idea of a "batfamily" instead, in which everyone has a strict role of son or brother or father, and shipping them makes you the antichrist.

[heraxic]

Hello :o

I just wanted to say thank you (and also thank crumb) for getting me back into thinking about Karl Heisenberg 24/7.

I really love your artstyle, from the amazing expressions (especially the peeved/angry ones) to the scribbly lineart. As someone that’s trying to learn to draw more digitally, I really like to observe your stuff o.o

Your Moldy Family comics are funny, cozy, sweet and comforting all at the same time, and they made me discover and appreciate Eveline (oh man I love how much of a goth tween she is), and the way you draw Heisenberg (his physicality if that makes sense, his clothes, his hair, his everything) is just *chef’s kiss*.

As a former Greek Mythology child, that AU is so so nice owagh. I love all the monster adaptations/designs, it’s all so clever: I love that Kyril is scaley, hairy AND has wings (which I feel aren’t depicted often nowadays with gorgons), Alina is so majestic, with the black tipped limbs and the blood soaked dress, and the daughters being harpies/sirens(?) is also so perfect.

Idk if you’ve already said it, but what is it about Karl’s character that made him interesting to you?

I hope it makes sense (I’m a bit tired) and thank you again for the excellent food :]

Thank you so much!!!<<<3333

he lives in my head rent free…. his crusty-ass hair and barrel-shaped bod gets me every time

im glad you like my scribbly lineart! I tend to get concerned whether it really looks like anything haha

I miss drawing the mold family but i think my forte has always been fantasy, especially cause i love mythology more than anything. That’s not to say i wont go back to the modern mold family though

For greek au karl i wanted him to look like someone had haphazardly stuck animal parts to him so it’d look deliberately unnatural for him to have a relatively normal human body under all that-

I’m not sure i can fully describe why Karl is so interesting. Surface level, being voiced by Neil Newbon is always a big plus and his face model Joel Hicks is awesome-looking. His character design matches his abilities and personality really well, and speaking of personality, queer-coded villains who make a big show out of everything are always going to be my favourite. His gritty, masculine aesthetic is really inspiring in terms of gender as well. On a deeper level, in spite of all the terrible things he’s done, i find him sympathetic and relatable. After decades spent in a highly dysfunctional family, not living on his own terms, completely alone, I need him to finally be okay and get better for his own sake, with the support of people he trusts. It’s the same reason i love Eveline. Morally dark-grey characters who deserved better and could’ve gotten better with a good support system.

[cute-little-fly]

Why I like and relate to Helluva Boss

This post is going to be personal and introductory to me and where I stand as a fan of the show.

When I decided to make this blog I really wanted to talk and tell the world why I think this show is cool, and it’s worthy of respect, even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Yes, is different. Yes, it’s weird. Maybe it is even cringe, if you care about that. But… I have seen that this show has been special not just for me, but for other people and I think that matters more than perfection and correctness, considering the current state of things.

You know, and it’s not just for the sake of escapism or just because okay is silly and it doesn’t matter. I mean, if that are some people’s reasons to watch it perfect! Go for it!! But, for me it is more than that.

We often make fair arguments about the show, against shallow or bad intended criticism. I read them and I think, yes, makes sense, they are overblowing silly stuff… But, the reason why we defend this show it’s because it brings us something special, and because it caters to us deeply and I think that is very important to talk about too!!

Considering that part of the reason why I talk so much about the show (besides being kinda fixated on it), it’s that for me it was unfair to see how much negative unfair stuff. So, here I have my list of (some) reasons why I like Helluva Boss. My opposite version of these kinds of posts of why I stopped liking it.

Reason 1: This show doesn’t try to cater to everyone, and THAT is a good thing!

This might be controversial, or not, but I wholeheartedly believe that the reason why most of mainstream media nowadays falls so flat and devoid of soul, it’s that they are trying too hard to cater and be liked by everyone.

That it’s just… hardly possible, and less now that public opinion and politics are so divided. I think that even the notion that things in the past were liked by “everyone” is kinda a lie… It was just because hiding queer and minorities was accepted, because all media catered to the majority and because doing the bare minimum for minorities was the standard. Also “normies” usually didn’t had much access to things like queer cinema or comics, and the internet didn’t had enough presence for this kind of people to discover those things and rant about them with other… let’s say similar people. They just had less issue with those things existing, because they were out of their sight, and there was no right wing making noise and fuzz about it.

Reason 2: I watched the show just when I was just discovering and accepting my neurodivergence, and it made me feel seen in different ways.

This show has one of the best neurodivergent coding that I have ever seen without been too on the nose, it feels natural and they just kinda exist.

At the same time, we see them struggling with things like Blitzø with his spelling, and Stolas having a hard time socializing in parties. The first time we saw Stolas in a party at the Circus I just thought… Oh man, I know what that is like. Then, I saw some people on the internet not understanding why Stolas doesn’t just… talk to people… and I thought like: What??? Then it hit me… I realized how that wasn’t a shared experience for everyone.

A lot of the things this show has are experiences of people that didn’t fit in, like neurodivergents, and that was so valuable to me and one of the main things this series touched me. So, this differences we have with other people are also not painted in a idealized way. It’s realistic, and at the same time they are unapologetically just how they are.

Reason 3: This is a labor of love, and these are rarely found in animated shows, or are cancelled.

Labour of love shows and movies need to be supported right now. I know this show won’t be cancelled or that it’s highly unlikely and that just… gives me peace to engage with it. You can say it has flaws or anything, but it is being made with love and passion. That’s undeniable.

Reason 4: Helluva Boss has male leads that display different expressions of masculinity and their romance is top tier.

You know… it doesn’t bother me that most of the leads of this show are male… because these men not are just queer, they display a varied of behaviours related to masculinity and the negative ones are not applauded.

It’s not the same to have a male focused show where male say to each other: are you going to punch like a girl? Or they just sit to watch soccer and not touch the kitchen (Blitzø is shown cooking his own meal), or are not shown as any traditional way men are according to traditional masculinity.

I always asked myself why the issue with the Helluva Boss women being not focused most times has never bothered me, considering it bothers me in other shows, and this is the exact reason.

Helluva boss men are queer, and they aren’t mysogynistic. Millie is appreciated and elevated by her boss. Moxxie is flawed and is not traditionally masculine, but his arc is about finding his own courage.

Blitzø’s initial issues with temper and treating others badly are not painted as: he is just a man and he can’t prevent it. It’s a result of his trauma and the series addresses that as a problem he needs to overcome to make fulfilled bonds with his found family and love interest.

Reason 5: The female leads are actually cool!!

They are unapologetical, they have their own agency, they have their own set of issues… so, they are both capable and relatable at the same time, the same way male leads are. Millie is shown to be very resourceful on fights. She is actually very good and Blitzø saw that on her.

I understand why fans of the Helluva Women might feel disappointed that they are less focused and less utilized in some plots. But… they are good characters.

Reason 6: The animation, The music, The aesthetic.

Self explanatory. I sing the songs in the shower sometimes.

Reason 7: The humour is quirky… a lot of the times it works with me.

You know… I don’t like a couple of jokes of the series… But, most of the times, the humor of the series works with me. Being an autistic person, I have a very weird relationship with humour. I don’t laugh at all with shows like “Arrested Development”. There are some humor that I just don’t get why it is funny, even if I understand the jokes. With Helluva Boss I manage to laugh a lot of times! I love silly humor and this series delivers that to me most of the times.

Reason 8: Helluva Boss queernes is cool and good actually.

This has been discussed before… and the only thing I want to add is that after this show, I find some common queer representation boring and insufficient. Blitzø cross dresses as if it was a normal thing and it’s not framed as: oh how funny the man looks like a woman and that is just so funny... Nah… he looks like a DIVA and serves cunt. Phrases like: Be nice to him, he is gay… show support and normalization of being queer and I find it very endearing.

Reason 9: Helluva Boss has adult drama and is silly at the same time.

I have always disliked the idea that when you grow up you are meant to not like or not engage with some things anymore… Because I am an adult, and I still like silly things. Like the way my humour doesn’t match with some adult comedies, and maybe it matches with children’s humour. Helluva Boss gives me both. Helluva Boss makes me laugh and cry. I can be a hopeless romantic and feel like a clown at the same time.

Reason 10: Helluva Boss is deep down a light hearted story with angst and some hard themes.

Interestingly when I was younger I used to look for more dark-themed stories. Distopic universes, disasters, sad and dark endings. You get it. But… recently I have to admit being enjoying more “found family stories”. Sometimes I just want to watch something safe. That makes me feel strongly? Yes, but safe too. Helluva boss is very good delivering that.

[kerokasa]

re: the language of queerness in project sekai

i’m specifically using queer here to denote a type of subject-position/relationship to society, rather than any specific identities a character might hold. i don’t think a game like project sekai is particularly interested in ever putting straightforward labels on characters, even though a character like mizuki clearly reads as trans to many players.

which ofc is my entire point… the game communicates a lot of information about mizuki without a lot of direct references to identity, instead using the language of difference as a euphemism for transness/queerness.

an event like “beside unchanging warmth” ultimately points to a trans story without stating anything explicitly, and i think it’s interesting to read it while paying attention to what the word choices are actually doing here.

in flashbacks to elementary school mizuki, the word “weird” (変/hen) is doing so much heavy lifting. it’s a word that inherently calls up a certain kind of relation/power dynamic between what is considered normal vs abnormal. the language is walking this precarious line of saying-not-saying, where nobody actually defines what makes mizuki “weird”; the responsibility is placed on the reader to infer that mizuki wearing frilly/cute (feminine) clothes is seen as transgressive by her classmates.

it feels important that mizuki seems especially hurt by the word “weird” in this flashback, and i think the line delivery supports this as well. contextually, i can’t help but read it as a stand-in for more overtly derogatory language/transphobia, softened and sanitized by replacing anything specific with a comparatively broad adjective like “weird.”

(this raises a lot of interesting questions for me wrt what makes queerness legible in translation / in my experience, anglophone fans are often looking for specific markers of identity when said identities generally originate from a certain class of euroamerican queer culture and academia! which is not to say prsk should or should not be more explicit in depicting trans characters; it’s just another point of discussion)

all this leads me to other instances in which the game draws attention to weirdness/difference — and the reasons i believe both mizuki and rui’s storylines evoke queer coming-of-age plots.

this might be slightly controversial to say, but it’s hard not to draw the connection given their middle school friendship, and how much rui’s background emphasizes the same ideas of weirdness/difference. even their final kizuna rank, which is correctly translated in english to say “i guess we’re both different” (僕達も変わったものだね) returns to that word 変 that upset baby mizuki so much.

i’ve seen some people argue that rui’s backstory should just be read as an indicator of his neurodivergence and well. for what it’s worth, i’m gay and neurodivergent like every other goddamn person on this site and within the context of rui’s arc throughout the game, i think there’s still a very strong argument to be made that mizuki and rui bonded over their shared experience of being queer.

after all, why is mizuki having “weird” taste in clothes taken as unassailable evidence of her transness if rui’s “weird” thinking cannot also be read as queer (or queer and neurodivergent)?

i will note that rui’s insecurities have never centered around an inability to communicate with his classmates (unlike nene, whose arc is VERY much about her becoming comfortable around new people and realizing that they want to be her friends). although other students are afraid of him, rui is a skilled communicator in public and doesn’t appear bothered by social interaction.

rather, rui’s insecurities center on this idea that he is dangerous to the people around him / he expects to be punished for expressions of vulnerability or intimacy.

fan communities nowadays sometimes forget the origins of “queer coding” as a concept in cultural criticism. going back to classically queer coded disney villains, romantic/sexual interest isn’t really a huge part of what makes these characters queer coded. rather, it’s about presentation — stereotypically effeminate mannerisms, ursula’s visual resemblance to drag queens in the little mermaid, vocal inflections that audiences (often subconsciously) associate with gay men in particular.

queer coding is shorthand that tells the audience these characters are sinister, untrustworthy, duplicitous. it’s rooted in a history of homophobic and transphobic rhetoric that paints queer and trans people as insidious, contagious (as in the AIDS epidemic), corrupting and luring innocent straight youth into degenerate queer life.

which brings me back to why i think a queer interpretation of rui’s backstory makes it so much richer and more meaningful. starting in the main story and then really coming to the forefront in wonder halloween, rui has internalized this belief that he is a danger to his peers. that his desire for closeness will always inevitably cross a line and he will end up rejected and alone.

this mirrors a really common, familiar experience of being a closeted gay teenager and the fear of how the people around you would react to your identity. in many cases, people are afraid of coming out because of how their friendships will inevitably be sexualized, or they’ll distance themselves in order to prevent anyone from misinterpreting their relationships and intentions.

personally speaking, i really identify with rui for these reasons, even if the story uses his inventions/directing as the stated reason for his fears. it’s really not until the formation of wxs (and meeting tsukasa specifically, as mizuki and the pandemonium trio have pointed out) that rui begins to feel safe enough to be honest and vulnerable about his desires both on and off the stage.

and it is important that it’s tsukasa in the end! tsukasa flips the script that rui is used to — rui has cut himself off to avoid rejection, but tsukasa is the one who seeks rui out, invites him into the troupe, works for him to stay. tsukasa recognizes something in rui and for the first time, someone isn’t reacting from a place of fear or simply not understanding the scope of rui’s vision, but instead he wants the very thing that rui thinks he needs to suppress. it’s also significant that tsukasa is another boy, and it’s significant that the idea of “weirdness” comes back in the form of “oddball 1-2”, which reframes difference as something that connects rui and tsukasa as a unit. he is no longer alone because he’s too weird, but now that same weirdness brings him closer to another person.

i also think it’s so fascinating how mizuki and rui bond over their shared difference or “loneliness,” and the game presents it as these 2 people who really have nothing in common besides their loneliness — i think mizuki says something along the lines of being happy that rui has found people that can relate to him outside of simply being lonely. it reminds me of my own experience being closeted in high school and somehow drifting into spaces with other kids who eventually came out as queer/trans, and how we were each on our own parallel journeys without ever really talking about it with one another, or how gay/lesbian communities in small towns are often very close out of necessity (unlike in big cities, where gay/lesbian communities don’t overlap as much because they don’t need to). it’s as if rui and mizuki have a shared understanding that even if the other’s particular experience is inaccessible to them, they have to be each other’s support system.

all this is to say. mizuki’s story only really makes sense to me as a trans story. similarly, rui’s story is so much richer when read in a queer context. nobody has to agree with me and i don’t really care about the game’s ultimate intent, but i just wanted to articulate how i personally find a lot of value in interpreting these characters in this way.

[slaanxsh]

The reason individual Slaaneshi characters are so straight despite Slaaneshi as a whole reading as very clearly queer is because Slaanesh is also associated with depravity and degeneracy of the worst kind. Even Slaanesh himself is a freak among the gods, different from them intrinsically and to the point of fear, hatred, and discomfort from everyone. The most overtly masculine of the gods, Khorne, just straight up openly hates him for reasons that aren't even super clear at first, even though Tzeentch would make better sense as a rival since Warriors and Wizards often are pitted as rivals/opposites in fantasy. But no, big masculine Khorne hates on feminine Slaanesh instead.

GW most likely isn't going to strongly code Slaanesh/Slaaneshi as being queer because they've also pretty irrevocably and clearly said he's a fucking freak and in fact the worst kind of freak on top of being artsy-fartsy. Trying to marry that with Queerness, a group of people historically and currently labelled as freaks and predators, is a PR nightmare waiting to happen. ESPECIALLY nowadays.

[tookuni]

Reciprosexuality, aroace spectrum and trauma - Sanji's case

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65252653

Aroace and trauma

Some of us aroace are on this spectrum naturally. Others are because of past experiences. Sometimes, we're not even sure which is which, and it's okay.

In Sanji's case for this fic, I didn't want to analyze the subject too much. There was already a lot going on, and I felt like it was truer to the character to leave it to interpretation, just like it is for a lot of his other traits in the canon.

Sanji is scared of being rejected by men, so him being able to feel attraction towards them only when he's sure he won't be rejected could be interpreted as a trauma response.

But it doesn't have to. Sanji is (unwillingly) queer coded anyway, and we can have fun with it without linking all of his behaviors and feelings to his history. It could just be his nature. Even better: it could be this specific nature that added up to all the other reasons he treats men and women so differently. It would be like a reversed bi panic: he can't panic over other genders, so he panics over women only. (I might explore this in other works, I think it's really fun to have Sanji have non-bi-bi-panics)

Or… It could be both. Anything you feel suits him best.

The fear of not being enough

That fear being ingrained in Sanji's brain, I felt compelled to make him feel it when it comes to his attractions as well. Of course Sanji is terrified of not being enough towards a man, even more if this man is Zoro.

It is, unfortunately, a fear that has proven true for a lot of us, our partners wanting more from us than we could ever provide without forcing ourselves. Love and sex are never owed, but even if we are nowadays more conscious of this fact, it doesn't shield all of us from the guilt we can feel towards partners (who can, even unwittingly, make us feel like what we're giving is not enough). Especially for people who have self-worth issues, like Sanji.

I also intertwined this with Sanji's tendencies to like to please people. It's his nature, but considering his background, one could wonder which part is genuine and which part is overcompensation. It's something that maybe they will work out together, or maybe Zoro will let Sanji go with the flow and sort out things through experience, like what they usually do anyway :D (If I write a sequel, I will probably come back to this empathy thing, because I think it's really hot)

I will be back!

[reel-fear]

Genuinely so curious who Mike thinks is gonna be buying The Cage or the new DCTL GN bc with the way he tweets as far as he's concerned, it's not gonna be:

The queer people he has actively admitted he will never show any representation of in the games.

2. The POC he has actively fought against representing in his franchise. [Who he also mocked for thinking they would be represented in his franchise]

3. The Bendy fandom which has always been concerned with topics of diversity esp in the sense of queer people since its creation. Who he has responded to really poorly esp in regards to the GN.

4. The fans who critique him. [He blocked me for doing so lol]

5. His fans in general who he tweets about like this currently. [He's being vague about why people were mad at him or sent him 'nasty messages' because if you actually looked into why you'd see he was in the wrong. Either way, a very hateful way to speak abt ur own fanbase.]

Reminder while Mike is trash talking his fans he has always treated them rather poorly. The fans who won the fanart contest for Chapter 5 never got their posters actually in game due to it being rushed. Not only was chapter 5 a big slap to the face story wise, but it was literally so rushed he couldn't be bothered to add in the art his fans gave him for his game FOR FREE. [Meatly blames this on a crazy timeline, reminder him and Mike are the literal ceos of this company. The proposal of future updates here is also pretty cruel considering Mike nowadays happily admits he corrupted Chapter 5's source code and therefore literally can't update it At All currently. Because he is a moron]

At least they got to be in Boris and the dark survival, and by that I mean that was the Only game they got to be in so far, isn't that just treating your fans like you love them? Shoving their hard work into a spin off game almost nobody has played or addresses much. [Hell, who knows if with the Lone Wolf rebrand they'll even stay there. In which case they'll be in None of the games, only in the credits of BATIM]

6. The Bendy fans who just generally disagree with him on stuff. Like the new ink demon design where there is literally a public poll showing people generally prefer the old one.

7. The Bendy fans who can see he is actively lying to them. To their fucking faces.

He says this has always been the case, but screenshots and links to tweets regarding the books being canon prove it was not. Does he really think bendy fans are stupid or something? [Unless he's admitting here he lied to Kress when he told her the books were canon which sounds worse!]

8. Anyone who doesn't like the idea of giving money to a guy who laid off tons of employees then afterwards thought it was a great idea to express his anti-union views! Also brag about how good of an employer he was, according to his employees, he was not!

So in summary; Mike is an awful person who has not learned anything from the awful things he did. I will not be purchasing The Cage because, combined with this and his absolute refusal to take any kind of critique or see any differing interpretation of his franchise, I have no reason to think my problems with the franchise will ever be addressed or fixed. I probably will pirate The Cage along with any future Bendy Products [Including the movie] and will do my best to avoid giving it any kind of monetary support. Unless this changes any time soon, I can't see myself making anymore positive Bendy posts soon.

Mike has just managed to make it so hard to speak positively or optimistically of this franchise when he's so willing to broadcast how little he cares about it or its fans. I'm at the point where I refuse to pull any of my punches with my problems with it. What's the point of trying to play nice with my critique when either way the people creating it don't care?

So with this post, I want to invite anyone who feels similarly about the franchise to tell me, make a post or send an ask talking about how all of this makes you feel. It may not change how things are, but genuinely seeing other people share my feelings of anger makes me feel better. It feels nice to see when other people share our same concerns and worries. I'd also love to know if anyone else thinks they'll be avoiding purchasing Bendy products over this.

I'm not forcing anyone to participate in it nor trying to say anyone who doesn't supports mike but genuinely maybe if we can collectively decide to boycott things like the movie, graphic novel and The Cage... It might at least make the bendy devs acknowledge how much they have destroyed their own fandom's faith and trust in them.

The way Mike tweets about his actions like he had no control over why people were mad at him at least proves to me he takes NONE of it back nor regrets it. If you didn't know about his actions and only went off his tweets, you would be led to believe Mike has been needlessly picked apart by fans over things he couldn't control [or in his own words, had his words twisted and taken out of context]. That is not how you speak about your actions if you have actually learned better from them.

anyway, that has been my bendy dev callout post. This is an open invitation to anyone feeling similarly upset about the way the franchise is going to talk about it. It's genuinely nice to see how people feel about this and the more we talk about the more it's likely the bendy devs are forced to address our concerns. I don't think they will but hey, that's why I'm not gonna support them with my money anymore nor am I gonna be nice to them in any content I make critiquing Bendy. I mean I'm also basically making this post just in case anyone asks me Why I feel this way towards to bendy devs/as a way to respond to anyone who thinks I am too harsh in my critique in the future.

As always, it seems the best part of Bendy isn't actually anything about canon but about what the fan's are creating with the ideas Bendy failed to do anything interesting with.

Also the books, the books slap.

[angstics]

also tv and movies do not have a history of queerbait.

there was gay coding and there was gay exploitation and there was strong same sex friendships and all that, but there was no "hinting towards gay relationships to bait queer viewers into watching" (maybe there are stray examples and id love to investigate them; maybe adaptations of gay books/plays, tho gay viewers were not a market). first off because there was no possibility of a gay livelihood being portrayed til the 60s, but also because once it became possible there was no reason not to take advantage explicitly. AND that ANY sort of indication was taken as explicit because of the stark contrast to the past absolute absence. which led to movies like midnight cowboy, which are so obviously gay that they dont have to spell it out but people NOWADAYS talk about it like it was some secret. JOHN WAYNE KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON.

so. orienting the current day term "queerbait" in that context is total nonsense to me. the severe limitations on queer representation then exist for the same reason that queer representation is limited now: homophobia. just, plainly. unchangeable homophobia. then, it was societal and imposed by censors (the relationship was more complicated but lets leave it there). now, there's still some of that (the 911 actor explicitly said his character was supposed to be bi years ago but it was shut down by a previous network exec) but personal conviction that is self-imposed (even subconsciously) is more significant. so what impact does the history of lack of queer representation impact the current day lacking in a direct way? (indirectly, you could say much more, but that's like talking about if homophobia didnt exist).

film & tv censorship (which were separate, should be pointed out) have a lasting legacy. and that legacy is in how hard it is to make shows/movies with gay leads, or main gay romances, or anti-heteronormative stances. it isnt in whether creators want to make gay tv shows or movies. and most dont want it. and you can see this clearly in when they want it, they do it. hannibal did it.

whatever sense people have they are being Queerbaited is in tensions related to this homophobia.

i think fandom pushing for it is good. maybe the creators also want it and having vocal support is an argument against the legacy of & current day censorship. i also like that fandom surfaces the latent homoeroticism in heteronormative relationships & identities, making these shows more complicated for both the viewers and the creators. fandom loses me when they allow themselves to lose their minds over it. they lose me when they co-opt a history they dont care to understand

[amageish]

People seemed to like my post chronicling the queer history of Felicia Hardy, so I'm going to do something similar to that... Let's chat about the queer history of Marvel's unwitting power couple, Ellie Phimister and her girlfriend Yuki Ohara.

Let's dive in!

Content Warning: This summary will include discussion of anti-mutant hate crimes and genocide, as that is part of Ellie's comic book story.

Like a lot of queer X-Men stories, this one begins with queercoding in the 80s.

While Jim Shooter famously prohibited any queer storytelling in Marvel Comics during his tenure as Editor-in-Chief of the company and, on top of that, the Comics Code Authority also banned it, Chris Claremont, the architect of the X-Men as we know them today, never really followed those rules - and neither did his editors, artists, and co-writers. There are so many queer-coded relationships throughout his runs on the X-Men and the modern X-Men stories are still playing catch-up to this day, canonizing the intentions of him and his collaborators one character at a time. Mystique and Destiny are probably his most famous pairing nowadays, as that is canon now, but he also wrote the Juggernaut as being with Black Tom Cassidy, Kate Pryde as being bisexual for most women she encounters in her life, and, the topic for today, Storm being in a romantic relationship with the Japanese assassin Yukio.

Yukio is, to put it mildly, a risk-taker. She runs through life with seemingly no self-preservation instincts whatsoever and, for some reason, always gets by nonetheless. She and Storm have a fling while Storm is in Japan (Uncanny X-Men 172-173) and this leads directly into Storm's famous punk era, which certainly does recontextualize some of the vibes of her having suddenly gotten a mohawk and a taste for leather.

Their later reunion in Uncanny X-Men 311-313 is extra funny to me - both because of the narration textually referring to them as "more then friends" and because of Yukio justifying her daredevil attitude by suggesting it would have been "politically incorrect" of the villain to have attacked them in public.

These two "kindred spirits" hang out for a bit, but Yukio is ultimately a Wolverine character and not a larger X-Men team member, so they naturally split off as time goes on. Their last appearance together was during the 2014 Death of Wolverine event - though their affair was mentioned by an angry Kitty during the Storm flashback mini earlier this year.

That said, Yukio is obviously a Sapphic and I guess when the team behind the movie Deadpool 2 decided to give their version of Negasonic Teenage Warhead a girlfriend, they looked at the list of queer-coded characters and decided she was the right one for them...

Now, as for Ellie...

Eloise Phimister AKA Negasonic Teenage Warhead debuted in Grant Morrison's New X-Men, but her name was not said on-panel until after she was already dead. She was one of Emma Frost's students, a gothic woman with telepathic powers that foretold the death of her and her classmates at Genosha... and yet she died nonetheless.

This is a very tragic character. She has a silly name, but that is part of the heartbreak of this moment. Ellie is a child who died as a result of a genocidal desire to kill all mutants. Her silly name emphasizes her youth... which makes it REALLY tonally dissonant when it played for comedy from here-on-out.

She was briefly brought back by the camp gay villain Selene when she revived horrific versions of many deceased mutants as part of X-Force... and then she was revived for real with a new design fter the release of the first Deadpool movie. She maintains her precognitive abilities and future-sight here, but otherwise... Well, she's now a comedy character in a Deadpool book. She also can warp reality now, partially as an explanation for why she looks/acts different then her first appearances.

She paled around with Deadpool for a bit, but didn't do anything explicitly queer in the comics until 2022 (good god) where she kissed an unnamed woman, causing Wolverine to wonder if she'll one day lead a X-Men team that is exclusively made up of her multiple girlfriends. This comment is also a subtle not to the implied status quo of the Krakoa era, where Wolverine himself has two partners - dating both Jean Grey and Scott Summers.

This is a funny moment, though I do wonder why it took so long for her to be queer in the comics - Marvel comic books are generally the most queer media Marvel puts out, so I do wonder if it was something specifically about her being a Deadpool character that caused people to hesitate to greenlight queer stories about her.

Finally, in 2023, Ellie got her first solo series in the form of an Infinity Comic.

This series uses the increasingly-popular approach of having "fate" be a stand-in for "the concept of being a loyal adaptation in a multimedia landscape," as she is fated to kiss a girl named Yuki Ohara or else the fabric of reality as we know it will be destroyed.

While Deadpool is only in it for a bit, it is a very meta narrative, with a lot of commentary on the way that female characters are written in comics in general and female reality-warpers specifically, with Ellie having a lot of anxiety about the risk of her becoming like Jean Grey or Scarlet Witch - not helped by the TVA chasing her down and declaring her a threat. However, in the end, she meets her girlfriend-to-be and pauses time itself to get know her properly before having their universe-saving kiss. Good for them!

Since then, she has appeared exactly once - in a Pride issue fashion show - but I imagine she and her girlfriend Yuki are just in a little reality-warp bubble, hidden away as Fall of X finishes up.

Synergy is a dirty word in the comics landscape, but I personally like Ellie and her romance with Yuki - and I'm very relieved that they introduced a new, younger Yuki O. based on the movie for her to date instead of just retconning the established Yukio into becoming Eloise's girlfriend... Storm doesn't deserve to have her girl stolen away like that!

Also, Yuki has a giant mech and electricity powers. Maybe a little cliche for a Japanese character's powerset, but it is badass...

I hope we see more comic book stuff with these two eventually... There is potential there that is as of yet untapped - especially as they are probably two of Marvel's most notable queers by virtue of being in wildly popular movies, even if their comic queerness is a relatively modern thing.

[fuckyeaharthuriana]

mordred through time (movies, tv shows, opera and musicals)

Part 3: From 2002 to 2010

Other Parts: Part 1: From 1949 to 1981 -> here Part 2: From 1982 to 2002 -> here Part 4: From 2014 to 2017 Part 5: From 2018 to 2023

Complete list of part 2 media with extra information and some of my thoughs regarding the evolution of Mordred’s role is under cut.

In part 2 I talked a bit about how in movie adaptations (since Excalibur 1981) Morgause disappears and Morgana takes her role as Mordred's mother. Here I wanted to note how we actually have a very big gap of Mordred movies in the 2000s. Most of the media in this video are recordings of musicals or opera or tv shows.

Another small point is that we have here the second instance of Mordred in a romantic relationship (the first instance being Mordred and his lady in "Sword of Lancelot") in Merlin BBC, where his love for Kara is a central part of his character development. The third and only other instance will be in a webseries (in part 4!).

2002 Merlin the Return: Craig Sheffer plays an over the top extremely evil Mordred in this tv movie. He is still Morgana's son, and he is the main antagonist (and a wizard). The movie is - an experience. It mainly focus on modern day characters meeting time travelling Arthur and Merlin.

2003 Gary Hughes' album "Once and future king": The song is "The Hard Way", one of the two songs sung by Mordred (the other being "Demon Down"). This album (divided in two parts) has a total of 20 songs sung by different artists each interpreting an arthurian character. It is an interesting narrative musical that follows the rise and fall of Arthur. We do not know if Mordred is Arthur's son.

2003 recording of Albeniz's "Merlin" opera: This is a 1902 opera that is rarely performed nowadays. This recording is the only available dvd of it, and Mordred (a baritone) is played by Àngel Òdena. Mordred is the main antagonist alongside his mother Morgana.

2003 Camelot, Papermill Playhouse: I was lucky enough to have some bootlegs videos of Camelot performances so I decided to put them as well. It is pretty interesting to see how Mordred's "The Seven Deadly Virtues" and "Fie on Goodness!" gets campier, more comedici and sillier! Here Mordred is played by Barrett Foa.

2005 Camelot, Bad Hersfeld (Germany): Another recording of the Broadway musical, here fully translated in German! This is the website of the open air event. Unfortunately I could not find the name of the actor.

2008 Camelot (Live from Lincoln Center): Live from Lincoln Center used to be a tv series dedicated to filming and sharing musicals and performances. This is thus another Camelot musical adaptation. Bobby Steggert (who is now a therapist!!) played an over the top, super-campy, queer coded Mordred! This is probably the first time we have a Mordred that is so obviously queer coded in his presentation.

2008 Merlin (BBC): This 5 seasons tv show was extremely popular, so much it led to the rise of a bunch of arthurian tv movies that were probably trying to ride "Merlin"'s popularity. The show is episodic-like, slightly comedic, and focuses on Merlin and Arthur. Mordred appears as a child (not related to Arthur or Morgana) at the end of Season 1 and he was portrayed by Asa Butterfield (not in video). Then he returned as an adult in Season 5, potrayed by Alexander Vlahos. This is another instance of a sympathetic Mordred. While he ends up being a villain and finding an alliance with Morgana, the show makes a point to explain his reasons. At this point this is the second time we see a sympathetic (but still villanous) Mordred on tv. Interestingly this is also the second time we see a Mordred who is in a happy romantic relationship (there are only three instances, it seems, in all media!), as Mordred is in love with a woman named Kara.

2009 Merlin and the Book of Beasts: This is a fantasy tv movie that focus on Merlin helping Arthur's daughter reclaim Camelot. It features a baffling performance from Merlin's actor (not sure what the director or the actor himself was thinking), and a villain called Arkadian who is supposed to be Mordred and Arthur's son. Here we go back to the role of extremely evil Mordred, and Arkadian also kidnaps his half-sister to marry her and continue the Pendragon dynasty. Mordred (Arkadian) is played by Jim Thorburn.

2010 Avalon High: This is a tv Disney channel movie adaptation of Meg Cabot's novel by the same title. The movie butchers the main story of the novel and tries to surprise its viewers by changing the character's arthurian selves. The protagonist Allie is now King Arthur's reincarnation (instead of the Lady of the Lake), and William (her love interest) is... unknown character instead of being King Arthur. The novel has William's half brother as Mordred, but the movie changes that and now it is the teacher (Mr. Moore) who is revealed to be Mordred, while Marco is just a misdirection. Mr. Moore is played by Steve Valentine.

2010 Merlin and Arthur the Lion King: Continuing our journey into sympathetic Mordreds, we have another one here! This movie is one in a series of tv movies/dvd movies by variation of "Arthur" and "Merlin" in the title. My personal theory is that the hope is that people would find the movie by googling for more popular media (ex. "Merlin 2008 BBC", "King Arthur 2004"). In this animated kids movie, Mordred is a kitten and one of Arthur's friends. He first works with Morgana to stop Arthur from becoming king, but then ends up deciding he does not want to betray his friend anymore. This might be one of the few iterations of a completely redeemed Mordred in movies/tv!

Extra note: 2003 is also the year Heather Dale (singer) released her album "May Queen" which has one song that in my opinion seemed to be sung by Mordred or to Mordred: "Crashing Down". Because it is not certain but only my interpretation I did not add it.

In the same album we also have "War Between Brothers" which reference to Mordred (sung by an external narrator). A previous album ("The trials of Lancelot" in 2000) also contains the famous song "Mordred's Lullaby" which is sung by Morgana to Mordred.

[lucelute]

To the people who are trashing fujoshi's by saying that we are making men the center of our universe: FUCK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!!!!!

Like if you feel uncomfortable with Yaoi in general as long as you are not homophobic that is ok, I'm not going to force it onto you, it isn't everyone's cup of tea and that is ok, you don't tell me how to live and I will not care either, but if you are hating on us and the whole genre because you think that we are making men our whole thing, in most cases you are ignoring and erasing a big part of who we are and why we like it.

I will not speak for fujoshi's as a whole as I'm just one person, who yes happens to be female, but has made a lot of interspersion and talk to people with similar tastes to understand where I and some others come from.

While we do have a lot of good female representation nowadays, may I remind you that this was not always the case, there is a lot of old media that sidetrack women to just a few stereotypical roles and didn't use them as much, many times being reduced to being love interests with not much development, making in many shows the closest relationships between two men.

Most times when shipping we want an emotional connection, and a lot of media with mainly male characters still gives them a lot of close connection that is lacking in most hetero-depicted couples.

Queer representation and media are also something that is just being normalized, Yaoi like it or not helped a lot of women to realize that liking other women is an option, that ''Hey if two men can kiss, why couldn't two women do the same?'' because most sapphic coded characters in the past were fetishized for the male audience, and the fact that most of the fandom is queer is very telling.

A lot of women that like Yaoi are queer. Most of the women who like Yaoi have not been hetero, I'm pansexual, I used to talk to an asexual who liked it too, and a lot of bisexuals, and lesbians, why? because queer relationships/coded have only become more open and unfortunately most relationships between women used to be more of a fetish and directed to men, making it unappealing to most women who like women as they tend to objectify us.

There are a lot of reasons why someone may feel more attracted to Yaoi as a whole, but I hate that even though it is an outlet, hobby, or just interest that doesn't have any real consequence in real life and doesn't harm anyone we are shamed for it, and most of the time tamer than men with a similar taste.

I don't like that I sound so hateful, because honestly? I don't care all that much what men do in their own time as long as it isn't harmful, but it is tiring because the excuse to hate on us is that we have internalized misogyny without viewing the bigger picture or giving us a bit of grace.

And honestly, I think it is more misogynistic to attack women for a mainly female-like genre while men liking a similar thing has been normalized, as it is usual that something mainly liked by women will be attacked even by other women.

I'm sorry for the rant and if it isn't all that coherent, or if I missed a point, English is not my first language, I don't hate men, and I'm just tired of having to defend my likes because of someone else believes.

Also, Yaoi was the first actual time I realized that being hetero was not the only thing I could be, or that it was not wrong to feel for others who weren't men, the community helped me find so much of myself, that no, men weren't the only option and that it was ok, it helped me not to feel so lonely or weird, especially growing up in an already hard and confusing environment.

[curseof-thefold]

PINNED POST FOR INFO AND SHIT

hi, i'm robin, i also go by jude or judie. i'm a 22 y/o from Romania with a Bachelor's Degree in Universal and Comparative Literature, with a minor in English Language, Culture and Literature from the University of Bucharest. i specialised in 20th century american literature, especially horror novels and their adaptations

i don't support censorship of any kind and in any circumstances. i don't believe in immoral art. all art is important and should be preserved. i believe the attitudes in fandom that lead to fights, harrasement and even real world harm, all over the perceived morality of the way some ppl choose to appreciate art is frankly disgusting and i abhor anybody who takes part in such behaviors

i'm a non-binary transneutral person and i use they/he/it/she pronouns. i'm also gray asexual and aromantic, my aromantic identity is very important for me and i talk about it often. i'm not as implicated in discourse as i used to be, but i support trans unity, the use of the term transandrophobia and its iterations (transmisandry, anti-transmasculinity etc), i don't support exclusionism and the presence of radical feminists in queer spaces as i view them as inherently hostile

i'm a feminist and personal pacifist although i believe violence is necessary and sometimes justified in class struggles and in the fight for human rights, i'm just not willing to ever harm another living being outside of self defence. i believe in collaborative effort and civic actions before any drastic action. i don't support people who make a mockery out of activism and treat it like a joke and i'm highly skeptical of people who are more interested in creating community infighting rather than advocate for their communities. i also don't believe in the idea of unique opression, i believe it's impossible for a form of opression to only ever be directed towards some groups and never others. some might call those other groups "collateral damage" but i believe that that it's unfair to the people who deal with those struggles

i reject the idea that the feminist fight is women vs men as it is a reductive, useless and childish understanding of feminism. the actual fight is everyone vs patriarchy, and patriarchy =/= men, but the toxic mysogynistic, sexist, classist, amatocisheteronormative system that hurts everyone regardless of assigned sex, coercively assigned sex or self identified gender

i hold a special place in my heart for the transmasculine community as i used to be part of it. i might be using most regular pronouns online, but irl i use exclusively masculine pronouns and i'm often lumped in with their community. many of their struggles are also mine and the ones i don't share i still intimately understand. that being said i don't allow intercommunity fighting, any trans masc/man who badmouths trans fems/women will be swiftly blocked, this goes for any queer on queer slander

i'm professionally diagnosed with ADHD, severe depression, OCD and BPD, i will not tolerate any villanizing of mental illnesses, regardless of circumstances. yes, this even goes for the other personality disorders from the B Cluster (Narcissistic, Anti-Social and Histrionic), and all the disorders under the Schizofrenia umbrella

DNI/DO NOT INTERACT

please remember that first and foremost DNI lists and respecting them are a courtesy and not a right. they are part of an unwritten set of rules created to help everyone have a safer and more pleasurable internet experience. this code is nowadays either misused or completely disregarded. i value this code and respect it, i ask others to do me the same courtesy

if u read what i explained above you will understand the reasons behind this list, the things i didn't mention above will be explained

minors (i reblog NSFW)

zionists (as a pacifist i obv don't support genocides)

anti-shippers/anti-fiction

exclusionists

pro contact radqueers (not implicated in this discourse so i won't add more)

radfems

ppl against the term transandrophobia

ppl against transunity

ppl who endorse terms like "narcissistic abuse" "bpd abuse" misuse psychopath, generally use mental disorders to describe abuse or abusers that have not been recognized as such by themselves or a medical authority

modern day self described marxists or leninists who don't come from a post-communist country (they have a tendency to be very disrespectful towards the struggles of the ussr and ussr-adjacent countries from the 20th century)

pro-russia, pro-putin (do i have to explain)

pro-censorship

natalists (i find them to be extremely classist and a tad eugenicists as a group)

find me on ao3 if u like bad fanfic

curseofthefold

https://archiveofourown.org/users/curseofthefold

[lipsticklens]

What is Howard from :00???

deep inhale

he's from the mighty boosh!! originally a british live comedy duo of julian barratt and noel fielding, it expanded into a whole comedy troupe!! they're best known for their tv series, which ran in the early morning hours from 2004 to 2007!! ( twenty episodes across three seasons ) but they also had a radio series, live shows, and a book!!

putting the rest under a cut because i love love to over explain, teehee ♡

the main plot of the show is following best friends howard moon ( julian barratt ) & vince noir ( noel fielding ) through their misadventures!! they start out working at a zoo, then unemployed touring musicians, then working at a boutique owned by their shaman alien friend, naboo the enigma!

vince is the "me" character of all time. idrk if kin is the right word for it anymore, but it's also the only one i know to use ... but anyway

he's definitely the more famous & popular of the two main characters!! he's extremely queer coded; his femininity and queerness is basically portrayed as the reason good things happen to him ♡ he's very optimistic, always in a good mood, friendly with everyone, canonically one of the most beautiful people in the world, but also kinda dumb & vain & can be selfish. he loves new wave music!!

ouughh howard ... ♡♡♡ ... how do i describe him. he's a big lumbering northerner. he's obsessed with jazz music & stationary. he thinks he's simultaneously god's gift to the world and also the worst most untalented human to ever live. he's pessimistic, overly blunt and honest, socially awkward, can't help but insult everyone around him ... ... but also he's so intelligent and passionate and at the end of the day is willing to risk his life for the people in his life!! his abandonment issues have never been worse, and frankly, he's not about to lose anyone else!!! he's my boring grumpy husband and i love him with every piece of my soul!!! !!! !!!

uhh , so yeah!! basically, the show is all about following vince & howard's bad luck, getting in and out of absurd situations! other notable cast members who play a variety of characters include mike fielding ( naboo the enigma ), dave brown ( bollo the gorilla ), rich fulcher ( bob fossil ), and matt berry ( dixon bainbridge ) in the first season!! everyone is so talented, the show is **so** funny, it rivals doctor who as my favorite show in the world ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡

... howeverr i always want to give people a heads up when i'm recommending this show. there are definitely some episodes & jokes that weren't ok back then, and certainly aren't ok nowadays. i don't wanna sugarcoat it, there is a straight-up blackface episode, along with a handful of other instances where they ( esp noel fielding ) sort of "soft imitates" another race. that's not ok!! there's no way around that. it kills the mood whenever they include it in a scene. i like to think, as i've been following the life & work of the whole main cast of the boosh, that they've all grown past this and know better now. ultimately i can't know for sure, though. and i would never begrudge anyone who still holds these stupid ugly "jokes" against them.

thank you sososooo much for asking!!! !!! wow wow i love talking about this show. it's available i believe on amazon for streaming, but it's also such a cult classic show in the uk that there's tons of bootleg options!! i also have a boatload of personal lore worked out for the backstories and my selfship version of howince! ♡♡♡ maybe someday i'll just . lore dump.

[tc-doherty]

I have been known to talk about this before but ooooh it really grinds my gears

I get that people explore all kinds of things, and different things can matter in different ways to people and that is all fine! But I hate it so much personally. For a lot of history (mostly talking about Europe here, but a lot of fantasy is 'based' on Ideas About Europe), it wasn't built into the infrastructure to Be Queer. It wasn't necessarily an identity, so much as a set of behaviors people engaged in. But at the end of the day, most people still needed to go get married and have children so they could actually survive.

I'm not saying nobody engaged in queer behavior, they absolutely did! A lot! And for a lot of history it wasn't even an issue. In the eyes of the church, sure it was a sin, but so were SO many other things like, you know, all premarital or extramarital sex in general. And having sex for reasons other than procreation.

Very rarely was there any aspect of identity or community similar to what we have nowadays. And there was also a very different understanding of gender and sex and behavior, which is all super fascinating to explore and gives you lots of ways to deal with this in fiction!

In some places, queer behavior was expected, but to be grown out of, or only in certain circumstances. In many places it wasn't an issue as long as you still did what you needed to do for your family (i.e., getting married and having kids). I've even seen this attitude still reflected in modern society in some places - listening to an interview with a lesbian woman in China whose family members basically told her "get married, have kids, get divorced, and then you can do what you want to do, no one will care at that point"

If you go look up the laws of Hammurabi* there four specific rulings about male/male sexual conduct that bring up some really interesting things about the society. About who owes who what based on what role they play, and what it might say about them, and anyway if you were upper-class and also the bottom and then decided you didn't like it, you could literally sue someone for fucking you as like......deformation of character, basically? Hilarious! Queer history is great and fascinating! There's so many ways to approach it!

People can do whatever they want, but queer as an identity (neutral) just doesn't really show up in my work. It doesn't seem right to me that my characters would talk about themselves like that, or that their societies would be built like that.

And it just doesn't do anything for me personally to have modern queer frameworks put into non-modern settings.

*It was a while ago that I was doing this research, so it is possible that it wasn't Hammurabi specifically but a similar legal code from the same period. But, you know.

he would not fucking say that but it’s he would not fucking talk about his queer identity like he was reading out of a college campus lgbt center brochure

[suenitos]

obviously like never assume that networks and streaming services see you as anything more than data or a statistic based off of algorithmic constructions yeah yeah but i guess it never occurred to me that that is probably an industrial reason why it seems queer/coded characters are now in high school so much more nowadays, or at most in their 20s/just generally very young for the most part, or even extending to more queer children representation, and its not just because theres an increased demand from those younger audiences to have that range of representation. but to be honest i could also just be talking out of my ass completely and this is a crack theory cause i really dont watch that much tv to even be sure this is even partway true