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HE'S HERE

After a monster recording, editing for days and technical difficulties in the upload (apologies to the 107 people who downloaded a version of thise episode missing the last 30 minutes), Queer as Fact is proud to present our episode on French revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre, whose apparent lack of sexuality has been a point of discussion for scholars ever since his death.

Join us as we try to find the real man behind more than two hundred years of conflicting propaganda, explore methods of approaching history on the asexual spectrum, and add to the pantheon of Queer As Fact historical pets.

We're also just about to hit 2 million downloads! So go on and download the episode:

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7 for Marius please?

7.do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)

ooh ok if this is gonna be Controversy let's do it: Marius (in the novel) is much more relevant to Valjean's arc than Javert or even Thenardier are, because Marius is much more in Valjean's own footsteps than Javert is.

Obviously I'm not talking about material circumstances! But: both of them lose their family , or rather have their families stolen from them. Both of them spend a large chunk of their lives fully in the grip of the abusive power that took them from their family, and come out feeling cold and uncaring about the world; both, by chance, happen to find exactly the right person who works for the church to introduce them to kindness and love they had thought would never apply to them, and for both of them it sparks the beginning of their efforts to care about the larger world and be a better person. And they both stall out until they meet Cosette, who provides them the direct personal incentive they need to tune back into life a little more! At which point, exactly because they are messed up in so many of the same ways, they become absolutely opponents; they can't help seeing each other as a threat because they both have this fucked-up, love-starved experience of life.

And then, obviously, having to deal with all of Marius and his BS is the push Valjean needs to examine his own life and soul again in a way his more obvious antagonists, Thenardier and Javert, could never make him do; they're material threats, the needed reaction is pretty obvious (run! grab Cosette and run!)

But with Marius he has to actually take a look at his own motivations and consider his morals again! the threat is moral and existential, it's great. I may not agree with Valjean's conclusions XD but the need to double-check his own motives is important, and, right or wrong, definitely changes him!

Anyway. People don't have to like it. I don't like it. But facts is, Marius is essential to the story. Alas! etc. :P

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4, 5, and 7 for Joly for the character ask game? :D

4. how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged)

Joly honestly seems like a delight? a little goofy maybe but eh he's in his 20s, he'll get a little more centered with age. I....I am not gonna date a guy in his 20s, put that one back in the oven, but I'd love to hang out with him. I think he'd be super fun to watch Star Trek with (probably latch onto all the minor characters and get super excited by all the Space Diseases), but also!! he'd be so fun to go to Weird Museums with! Take him to the Hall of Bad Taxidermy at the Buckhorn and have a laugh, good times. :D

5.ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?

NOOOOOOO sads or angst Joly should get to be happy always Some characters I can handle seeing suffering; some characters I actively want to see suffering; but Joly should never have to deal with anything worse than Sitcom Stress Levels because of Improbable Hijinks (legle's or his own, either way!). I'm sure, as a character, he could handle suffering; he's basically the Hobbit type and they're tough little souls, but I don't ever wanna see him suffering.

7.do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)

...I don't think I have a Controversial Joly Take. I feel like we're all mostly agreed on Joly except for minor flourishes. Sweetheart, in a wacky throuple of some sort with Legle and Musichetta, has the kind of health anxiety a person gets from Chronic Conditions Syndromes . Likes cats.

hmmm OH , I think he is just Absolutely Amazing at card games . Like, he's twitchy in all kinds of weird ways no one can really read, he always looks innocent, he has all kinds of horrifying medical facts to drop into the conversation that utterly derail everyone else's train of thought and it's not as if he doesn't do that anyway so it's not even a tell!--and it drives other players up the wall but they can't get mad, because he is always like that. He wins So Much Money.

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Round 3, Matchup 41: III.viii.22 vs IV.vi.1

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🍒 character questionnaire 🍒

(send an ask with a character name + a fruit emoji and i'll go through these questions with the character in question! alternatively: send specific numbers + a character name)

off the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?

adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?

throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?

how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged (fakedate them! escape a dinner date through a bathroom window!))

ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?

weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?

do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)

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Round 3, Matchup 40: III.viii.21 vs IV.ii.2

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I...I'm not sure I can explain why this hit me so hard but.

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to Orbit the Earth in 1961. In 1967, the Soyuz 1 crashed on reentry, killing cosmonaut Vladamir Komarov, when the parachute lines tangled. Gagarin had been the back up pilot, and was banned from future space flight after since the USSR didn't want their national hero to also die in a fiery crash.

Less than a year later, he died in a plane crash. (A test flight for a new fighter jet.)

A year after that, the Apollo 11 astronauts set foot on the moon.

They brought with them a little satchel to leave as a memorial. In it were medals to honor Gagarin and Koramov, along with patches for Apollo 1 and the three astronauts who died on that mission.

And something about that just...

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One of the best letters I’ve ever seen just popped up on my Facebook memories. Still makes me laugh.

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Round 3, Matchup 39: III.viii.19 vs IV.xii.3

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Google docs is getting out of hand

it changed "rapture" to "raptors" like three times

"rapture overcame him" -> "raptors overcame him"

honestly? probably makes for a better story

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GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY, the 1972 Telugu adaptation of Les Mis is back on the menu boys!!

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Round 3, Matchup 37: III.viii.5 vs V.iii.4

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what if I just delete everything and turn into a platypus and live on the banks of a rushing stream

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wee little oldmen just to get my default idea for them down

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18th century tumblr user