#but at the same isn’t that what queerbait Is. like isn’t it just insane shit like that. yeah anyway exactly op you get it. Youuuuu get it.

[starkjoy]

it’s insane how disappointed i am with this season… like i don’t even know how to deal w this lmao. i just feel like i’m being gaslit into believing all the stuff i previously thought about tomshiv’s dynamic and even tomgreg’s (in terms of the nero/sporus subtext) isn’t true. it’s a weird decision on the writers’ parts.

the whiplash is so odd to me that i can’t help but wonder if they’re intentionally misleading us for some late-in-the-game twist. that’s probably delusion though—simplest explanation is that they changed their mind or it’s shitty writing. seems to be a trend with hbo final seasons. let’s see how it all ends before we make any final decisions, though.

unlike failed internet darling mlm ships of the past, tomgreg isn’t a case of fandom creating a narrative and setting themselves up for disappointment—the writers intentionally implanted homoeroticism into their plotline. the actors knowingly played around with it. jesse literally called them homoerotic a few weeks ago. it’s really sad to think succession may fall prey to every other queerbait-adjacent (adjacent for now since the season isn’t over) curse, leaning into the queer undertones until they’ve written themselves into a gay corner with the internet convinced something is gonna happen, only to backtrack and pretend the vibes were never there at all. it’s too early to say if that’s the case here, but it certainly feels that way at the moment. i mean, what else are we supposed to think when the writers go from nero and sporus gay marriage as the through line of season 3, to disgusting brothers hetero sex tour comedic relief background noise with tomshiv redemption front end center? am I supposed to be enjoying this?

all that being said, on a positive note im glad we’ve seen how much closer tom and greg have gotten as partners, and that they’re scheming together and on the same page. i’m glad they’ve had at least one interaction each episode. i’m glad greg seems much more into tom than previous seasons, quelling any unrequited friendship accusations. i’m glad we got insane homoerotic undertones in episode 1, even if they’ve dropped off since then. but where we’re sadly lacking is depth—what was once the hallmark of tomgreg’s deeper connection in contrast to tomshiv’s emotional constipation. now greg makes sexual quips while tom rolls his eyes…end scene. and again. it was funny and cute at first, but now it’s getting boring. don’t they deserve a more interesting arc in the final season after years of build up? why are we subject to tomshiv rehashing the same shit we’ve seen for 3 seasons instead?

also, one of the most compelling arcs of season 3 was tom’s vengeance, especially because we saw it play out from his perspective. outside of his plane convo with greg, tom’s pov has all but been erased. even the tomshiv moments are from the lens of shiv’s experience. and as much as we may sympathize with shiv’s heartbreak over his betrayal and her dad’s death, it feels almost wrong that the show is trying to make me feel bad for her? we saw how awful she was to tom for three seasons, we saw from tom’s perspective how much she hurt him. i don’t feel bad for shiv on the tom front at all, the fact that she kept his baby feels wildly out of character, and frankly it’s a little insulting the amount of time the final season is spending trying to convince the audience otherwise.

hey, maybe my feelings will change in a few days. maybe the final episodes will change all of our minds. i’ll always have some hope for tomgreg, but right now it’s not looking promising given the treatment they’ve received so far. anyone with any positivity to share hit me up because I could use it!!

[eisforeidolon]

https://www.tumblr.com/eisforeidolon/718435014496354304/sure-you-can-interpret-deans-sexuality-however

I was literally called biphobic by a heller because I said in canon Dean is straight. She squalled about how she’s bi and Dean is so special to her because he is just like her, and just because he doesn’t act on his attraction to me it doesn’t mean he can’t be bi.

Like, bish please, he says he doesn’t swing that way specifically at least twice, and in other words a bunch more times. Dean. Says. He. Is. Only. Into. Women.

Also, another person on this same forum chipped in with suggesting not using the word canon because it’s triggering. 👀. Only if you hate the text of the story. 🙄

It really isn’t a difficult concept to grasp. And, for real, like whatever you want and ship your little heart out, but stop screaming how it’s canon when it isn’t, and how if you don’t support it you’re a bigot. It’s insane.

Also, you noting how he could tick a box and they’d still explain it away. Well, on the hook-up App his profile says “interested in: women.” What do they do? Photo-shop it to say men!

Ugh!!

Sorry for the rant, but I feel you on your frustration with this.

I'm sorry you had to put up with that, anon. I was a multishipper until I got pissed off at all the posts shouting you had to be a homophobe to think canon detestiel wasn't a thing, but at least it wasn't done on a personal level.

Oh, man, I just find that kind of bizarre projected overattachment-as-interpretation so fucking weird and off-putting. "I'm bisexual and I see myself in Dean, so Dean must be bisexual! I was abused as a child and John reminds me of my abuser, so John must have canonically done X type of abuse!" As if any character is remotely relatable to you then they have to be exactly like you/your experiences in all the details? What an absolutely bizarre and myopically self-centered way to engage with fiction. Like, with a perspective like that do you get that other people than you exist and have different experiences, even when they might have some things in common, too? Just ... IDGI and I don't want to.

I also just can't with the idea that the word canon is triggering. I ... can't. As if it hurts you that there's a source material that doesn't match the fantasies you made up in your head instead?! What.

Again, yeah, the problem isn't the ship at all. It's that they can't just stay in their lane and be remotely normal about it - trying to insist it's canon despite the actual canon because [giant pile of horseshit, projection, stereotypes, and wishing reallll hard] and insisting anyone who refuses to play along with their make-believe must be a bigot. I don't care if people ship a ship I personally can't stand anymore, I care when they're fucking delusional flaming assholes about it.

And don't even get me started on how they wail about being queerbaited and then do shit like photoshopping that screenshot to say men to quite possibly actually queerbait other fans into believing it's legit canon. Ugh.

[lokislytherin]

do you think ptj will do jaeyeol/jay’s character any justice? 🥲 i’ve read so many comments on reddit saying that ptj will just throw jay away because he’s served his purpose (attracting a large enough fanbase through queer-baiting) because jay’s potential to be a great character is just going down the drain (he’s the son of steve hong, he should he able to step in and help right? also big daniel is kidnapped and jay used to have such a strong “daniel is in trouble i gotta go help him” sensor so where tf is he?)

okay, but excluding all that, i think jay should be developed further as a character because he has so much potential that’s being wasted so far. i really hope ptj hasn’t forgotten about him and pulls an eli jang arc for jay because he’s super interesting to me, like i wanna know why he doesn’t talk, why he isn’t acknowledged by his family (?), where tf is he when all this is going down, what does he do in his free time, what are his likes (besides daniel lol)??? i just want to know more about him as a person IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK PTJ???

ahem, sorry for the rant, i just caught up to the latest chapter and i am FUMING because the last time we saw jay was in chapter 300+ and he wasn’t even that prominent in the chapter? i just miss when all we had to care about was daniel having to hide his 2 bodies from people, crystal being a snoop, jay and joy fighting over the same man, zack and mira’s relationship, zoe’s inner conflict not knowing she likes the very same person, etc. like what’s with all these new characters i do not give a single shit about? i loved the hostel chapters though but once they got to the worker’s arc, man…. pls just bring the original cast back.. this story is getting too much man..

so what do you think? 😅🥲

hello anon, thank you for the ask! hoo boy this is a big one so imma break it down into bitesized chunks if you don't mind

jay as the queerbait character: honestly i see where those redditors are coming from? insert a hot male character with a good, interesting dynamic with the mc who is also male, and you have the interest of women and queers! even if we don't count me being a jaeseok ship fic writer, i still really enjoy the dynamic they have, the only one that comes close for me is vasco and jace but to me jay's queer energy is too strong to see them as solid bros yk. as a queer who is horrible in social situations i kinda see myself in jay sometimes and it's really nice to have that TT

jay's potential as a character: anon you're so right. jay is the son of steve hong and honestly he could have a much bigger role to play not only as a character who can fight (because hello?? maybe jay's not the best in a dirty street fight but systema and kali are deadly in their own right) but also as a Plot Relevant Character? i've probably mentioned this before in other posts but he reminds me of khun maria agnis from tower of god: both were shown in early chapters and had a decently big impact on at least one of the main characters, both have long bangs and eyes that have not been seen in 300+ chapters, neither character has been seen in 200+ chapters i swear to god. maybe i'm on copium but i still believe that this is bc they're preparing for their comeback as an insanely OP character

more on jay's potential: dear ptj, where is jay's 1) backstory 2) CURRENT SELF. WHERE TF IS HE. as i've said before my predictions are 1) med school so he can be the 'call an ambulance! but not for me! oh wait i am the first aid' guy 2) preparing for his OP character arc

I MISS EARLY LOOKISM CHAPTERS TOO ANON. WHEN ARE ZACK AND MIRA GOING TO GET TOGETHER FOR REAL. LIKE WHERE'S DANIEL'S MOM. unless daniel went 'i'm going to get myself into a shitload of trouble do you mind looking after my mom for me in case things go wrong 🥺' and jay said yes at the cost of his canon appearances bc he's whipped. pathetic gay little man (affectionate)

i hope that answered things? i feel like you sent me a rant and i just ranted back with more speculations and headcanons LMAO

anyway join me let's hold hands and start a prayer circle for hong 'jay' jaeyeol's reappearance in canon anybody who misses jay is more than welcome to join bc i'm p sure jay's fandom is almost as big as samuel seo's tiddies and they're pretty damn massive, so ptj's bound to notice us and bring jay back as an Important Character... right...?

btw i'm not caught up with the manhwa oops. i'm only up to ep 394 but i'm speedrunning the latest chapters and my urge to punch eugene increases every chapter.

[daddysboyys]

Stranger Things Spoilers!

I think a lot of people are missing the point when it comes to the story the Duffer brothers are telling about Will and his queer storyline in Stranger things. 

I see a lot of anger in the tags that they queerbaited us. Let me be clear: This is NOT some Sterek type Jeff Davis shit where they dangle a carrot in front of us.  I’m sorry, but this is a show that takes place in the 1980′s, at the height of America’s AIDs epidemic. There was a lot of fear and hatred toward the LGBTQ community. Queer kids didn’t confess their queerness to their straight best friends and make said best friend realize that he is, in fact, gay too. You need to look past your ship for one fucking minute and realize that the raw authenticity of a gay boy in love with his best friend and unable or terrified to do ANYTHING about it because of the way the world looked at gay people in that time period is really cathartic for a lot of the older LGBT community. I have never related to any character more in 30+ years than I did seeing Will hold back tears and look out the window crying because he HAD to keep himself together while suffering devastating heartbreak. I needed that. I realize Will’s queer storyline is not over. He’s obviously going to come out at some point. And I fully trust the Duffer Brothers to handle it respectfully and authentically. A lot of people hated this scene and story. They think it was written by someone who doesn’t know what it’s like to be gay, but I can tell you the 80′s and 90′s were a very different world and this captures it exceptionally. It was written by someone who understands EXACTLY what that feels like.  So while the Bryler ship isn’t a thing, that doesn’t mean Will can’t have an excellent story. He doesn’t have to end up with Mike to be happy. People go through heartbreak. They grow. They get over the people that couldn’t possibly feel the same way. Will can be happy without being with Mike. And frankly, Mike suddenly realizing that he’s queer would be so out of character, it’d have felt like the writers were pandering

Also; keep in mind the setting. This takes place in the 80′s. As stated before, the world looked very different then. And I know, I know, it’s a show about fighting demons from another dimension. So realism is out the window, right? But what makes the show so great is that it’s a show about fighting demons in the 1980′s. For the outlandish stuff to work, to suspend our disbelief to accept all the insanity, to keep the show grounded, the world it takes place in needs to feel authentic. It needs to be believable. You can’t go around making everyone totally accepting of gays. You can’t make teenagers pre-occupied with their own troubled relationship realize that his friend is confessing his love to him right there in a car and just expect Mike to get it.  So no, Will didn’t come out and explicitly say that he’s gay. Or tell Mike how he feels. The Duffers did something even better. They’ve shown the audience without having to have him come out and say the words. Will is gay. Or at the very least, he’s Queer and he’s in love with Mike. And we know it. It’s canon now. And they pulled that off without some cringey dialogue. We know. The other characters are yet to find out.  I’m sorry the Bryler ship isn’t a thing, but it was never going to be. Nor should it be. That doesn’t mean Will can’t find happiness. 

[awed-frog]

This Destiel wedding thing is so... fandom was obnoxious first, there was nothing from Sam&Chad's initial tweets to indicate a Destiel wedding. But then for Sam&Chad to pretend the next day like they had no idea where the fandom was taking it? Even more obnoxious. And while I think Sam is TECHNICALLY right that the show isn't about romance (it had romance, but it was never the driving force), the context for her comments is awful.

Tbh I haven’t followed the thing on twitter and I only have a very vague idea of what’s going on, but I’m fed up with people pretending gay fanfiction or gay anything is hurting ‘the integrity’ of the show. The show’s been shit for years and somehow no one ever said anything about that. The bad writing, the wandering arcs, the laughably tropey characters, the disappearing plot points, the obnoxious retconning, not to mention the determined queerbaiting they insisted on until the bitter end...I think people like Samantha Ferris need to remember there is a fundamental difference between fans and creators: fans are generally not making money here. They can be insane, sure, and they can be annoying and rabid and toxic and a lot of other things, but they are random nobodies just doing their thing. The people on the other side - they’re making money (off the bad writing, off the homophobic choices, and even - as is coming to light more and more frequently - off the literal abuse of cast and crew members). They might like their job or whatever, but they’re not doing it ‘for the passion’ or ‘because they love the characters’. Would Sam have played Ellen for free? Of course not. AND THIS IS OKAY. Getting paid to do your job is okay - that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, as a society we gradually descended into a dystopic pretend game where we’re all friends together because customers and owners are the same and have the same rights and duties. They are NOT and they do NOT. Customers are the product, they are not in control, and that’s it. The best example of this are universities, where students have been turned into customers with disastrous consequences, but the entertainment industry is a close second. 

And yeah, technically Supernatural isn’t about romance and - unpopular opinion - all those fanfictions from various fandoms that are 95% about intimacy and people just having breakfast together would totally not work without the drama, adventure, tragedy and general malarkey of the source material, but at the same time it’s disingenuous at best and homophobic at worst to keep pretending like (straight) romance and (straight) relationships don’t play an important part in most ‘not a romance’ stories out there - including Supernatural.

[fast-food-fish]

Supernatural, Brain Rot and Why I Just Can’t Get into it Right Now

Honestly, this isn’t what I intended my first post to be, but then something unfortunate happened.

This doesn’t actually start on November 5th. The origins of this post go all the way back to last April when I was heavily considering watching Roswell New Mexico against my best judgement. It’s actually quite ironic that that’s what caused me to get to where I am now, in the exact same place just with a different show. Basically what happened was last April a very polarizing? Offensive? Bad? (all of the above) Episode of Roswell New Mexico came out (you know the one). I followed a blog, then November 5th happened and they decided to start rewatching Supernatural and post about it. Now my brain is rotten.

I have a very underwhelming relationship with Supernatural. Originally I told myself I would never watch it. Mostly because of the queerbaiting. I was worried that I would be too attached to the relationship and it would never go anywhere, but it also isn’t something I would watch normally anyways. Now, and especially when I was younger, I watched a lot of teen dramas and that just isn’t what Supernatural is. But I decided to watch it for some reason and I figured that because I already knew Dean and Cas would never get together I didn’t have to worry about becoming invested in their relationship. I was wrong. 

I only watched two seasons, and I don’t remember why I stopped, but obviously I never saw Cas and therefore never had the chance to become invested. After that I just wrote Supernatural off as being a bad show, until (and I know how insane this makes me sound) I watched like three days worth of CSI, which I would not ever recommend doing. It quite literally melted my brain. I’m sure that it was actually inevitable, and the real reasons I started actually wanting to watch Supernatural came later, but, now I’m invested; just not in the actual show, but the version that everyone on here talks about, the secret version that’s actually good. I became invested in Supernatural through posts analyzing elements of the show that I don’t think were even intended to really mean anything. But what really gets me, what really rots my brain is what it could’ve been. And I think that’s a relatively universal feeling. I see post after post analyzing every aspect of the show and like I know it’s not good, most of the people posting and reading said posts know it’s not good so what’s the point? Why this show?

It’s easy to just write all of it off as a severe case of brain rot, which is initially what I did for myself but I think it goes deeper than that. Now what initially got me interested in Supernatural wasn’t November 5th or even really Destiel at all, I mean like it was but it also wasn’t. What really happened that made me want to actually watch Supernatural was that I finally saw its potential. As I said before, I wrote the show off as bad, I never thought about what could make it good. And now this also ties into the final part of the title, the issue with Supernatural having potential is that I’m going to think about that all the time. I read this post and like I can’t get into it. Like seriously I can’t allow myself to think about what Supernatural on HBO would even be like because it would fully consume me. I think about that post alone like at least once an hour and it kills me every time. And there are so many other things like it, so many parts of the show that indicate there being something more, so many layers to every element of a scene, whether it was intentional or not. There’s so much to look at and read and there’s so much that could be done with these characters that just wasn’t. 

I like to think there’s like three different versions of the show, the version that the writers wrote, the version that they accidentally wrote (ft jacting joices), and the version that fans have made. And like having actually looked into it now I see what makes Supernatural so appealing, I understand why people project onto Dean, I even project onto Dean. A lot of the things he goes through I have also gone through, just without all the monsters and shit obviously. I know what it’s like to raise your sibling and feel responsible for them and even if that isn’t something that everyone in the fandom has gone through there are so many other aspects of him to relate to. His repression caused by his trauma, his awful relationship with his father. His belief that he ruins everything he touches, that he is a bad person who can’t stop others from suffering. And that’s just with Dean alone and like I’m sure there’s more for him, my very limited knowledge of his arc comes from things my sister has told me and things I’ve read in posts. And I really don’t even think I could fully get into Castiel, like the idea of an angel who falls in love with a man is such a good concept, like just the fact that he defied his orders for Dean and like the line “the very touch of you corrupts,” it kills me. I don’t know what to do with it. Like the show has so much potential and that’s what kills me and that’s why I can’t get into it.

Like in all honesty Supernatural doesn’t so much interest me but perplex me. It’s like an experiment gone so completely wrong. And I apologize that a lot of these thoughts are half baked, as stated in the title I just can’t get into it right now. Prior to this I haven’t allowed myself to fully put time into thinking about Supernatural because I know it could consume me, but the more stuff I read and watched the more inevitable that actually felt. It really was only a matter of time before the brain rot kicked in.

[tvcoroner]

Stop equating being mentally ill to being an asshole. That’s just an insult to mentally ill people? You are so uniformed yikes. A person is an asshole because they are an asshole. That doesn’t equate to them being mentally ill. Saying stupid and ignorant shit like that just makes YOU look bad.

And someone disagreeing with you does not make them misinformed. People who react this insanely have obvious mental problems. Not even people who are simply an asshole are this dedicated to treating people like shit on a daily basis.

These people get upset, they feel like they’re not being heard, and so they make as much noise as possible to feel like they’re not being ignored. The problem here is that they’re not being ignored, they’re just simply not being given what they want.

And instead of just accepting that the show simply doesn’t want to make Supercorp happen, they have to create a nefarious reason for it. They have to invent a monster to be killed because it’s a lot easier to believe something is actively working against you than it is to believe that nothing is.

They read fanfiction and dream up these idealistic fantasies in their heads of what the Supercorp relationship would be like. They desperately see hints that Kara and Lena are in love with each other in every action they take because they NEED it to be there to feel validated.

And every single time, without fail, whenever reality inevitably shows their fantasy to be only that, they respond harshly. For them, they attack the actors who are basically the face of the reality they don’t want to acknowledge.

Suddenly, everything becomes queerbaiting because the fantasy they’ve built up in their heads is more real to them than well...reality. To them, of course, Lena and Kara are in love with each other. The signs are ALL THERE! It’s in every scene and every look and every action and it’s obviously being placed there intentionally by the writers in order to queerbait, and any time those same writers outright say they’re not going to make Supercorp canon, which they have, then it’s just an excuse to keep doing it.

What they see and what they feel are the truth and anyone who doesn’t see it is lying for selfish reasons or blind.

But the problem is that when you think you’re right and everyone else is wrong you build up one hell of an ego, and their ego won’t even for a single second allow them to acknowledge that they may be wrong. They will never acknowledge that there isn’t any queerbaiting because they’ve so closely tied their self-image into the queerbaiting being real, and their massive ego will never let them have even a moment of self-reflection to realize that.

And that is not “asshole” behavior, that is a mental problem. It’s extremely unhealthy, can make someone harshly lash out at anyone or anything that challenges their perception, and make them obsessively devoted to making sure that perception is maintained even if they have to reject every bit of evidence that contradicts them.

And the actors they target, as I said above, are the face of what’s working against them. They will only not target them in one way, and that is by saying they ship Supercorp. You’ll see this all the time. If a new actor comes on the show that could play a love interest for Lena or Kara, the SC fandom asks that question.

If you don’t answer yes then you’re made an enemy if that actor does become a love interest. Hating a character achieves nothing, they’re not real, and hating a writer achieves even less, they don’t care, but hating an actor usually gets some kind of response, and any response at all makes them feel validated.

I think Lena said something about that in a previous season, about how responding to bullies only makes them feel validated. I only remember it through a gif and I can’t find it anymore, so I may be wrong. It’s funny, because I remember the SC fandom praising Lena for saying that while being completely blind to the fact that Lena was talking about them.

[nickelkeep]

Queer Representation in MtG

So, after my glorious nerdgasm over Kyniaos and Tiro popping up on my dash the other day (you can find that post here), I had someone message me (the awesome @hyperazraphael) and ask me about other queer representation in MtG. As I mentioned, Wizards still has a long way to go, but I went ahead and looked up all the characters that are Queer, believed to be Queer, and in one case, there is a fuckton of Queerbaiting.

As a friendly reminder, the couple who started it all off:

Kynaios and Tiro

(Art by Will Murai)

Goddess, I cannot get enough of these two beautiful men. The lore behind them, the fact that the Story Lore is that their actual History is forgotten, and people thought them enemies when they were lovers. The new art (above) showing the statues below being built? Ugh. So beautiful.

(Art by Magali Villenuvue)

But my previous post was about them, so let’s move on to the next.

Alesha

(Art by Anastasia Ovchinnikova) Alesha, Who Smiles at Death caused such an uproar when she was printed. She is the first official Transgender character in MtG lore. Her story is very simple. Born male, when she earned the right to name herself, she picked Alesha, and it was accepted by the Khan of her tribe, no questions asked. She even rises to power to lead the Mardu tribe. Her story is beautiful and can be read here: The Truth of Names.

Hallar

(Art by Bram Sels)

Sorry, wish I had more lore on this awesome character. Their card is fun to play though.

Ashiok

(Art by Karla Ortiz) Let me tell you about my Homeslice Ashiok. First and foremost, “Every nightmare is a caged bird that yearns to be set free.” Holy shit, you may think me insane, but that line is beautiful. As is this agender/non-binary character. While the art portrays them as somewhat masculine (I’ll forgive it), in lore Ashiok has been described as extremely androgynous. People who were attacked by Ashiok could not determine their gender. They do fall into the trope of the Villainous Queer, at least that seems where WotC is going with them, but I love them so much!

Yahenni, Gonti and the Aetherborn Race

(Yahenni, Art by Lius Lasahido)

(Gonti, Art by Daarken)

This race literally has no gender. Confirmed. Just listing the two heavy hitters for you here.

Oviya

(Art by Magali Villaneuve)

One of the saddest stories of the plane of Kaladesh. Oviya Pashiri was a revered Lifecrafter. She lost her wife, and “stopped working.” And by stopping her work, we mean she started working in secret to overthrow the goddamned Consulate, cause they’re fucking assholes. Seriously. They make the Empire look like saints. Also, boo to killing Lesbians. Bad Wizards. Bad.

Xantcha

(Art by Mark Winters)

Xantcha has been around forever, first appearing as a Vanguard. She’s Phyrexian, which means at birth, she is born genderless. She’s also unlike other Phyrexians in which she can think against the hivemindish thing they have. Some people think that she should get the title as the first Transgender character, as she went from having no gender to being female, but I will leave that up to the masses.

Lazav (and - fight me - other Shapeshifters)

(Art by David Rapoza)

Meet this regal looking badass. They’re the Guild Master of House Dimir. And Non-Binary. Lazav has pretty much been confirmed as such, so I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that all Shapeshifters are Enbies. They can take on the form of any person, regardless of gender, race, sexuality... Fight me.

Hal and Alena

This is an MtG example in which I don’t have an art or a card, but a story.  Under the Silver Moon

While it’s not 100% confirmed, it’s along the lines of Destiel. Read between the damn lines.

Warning on the next one. This is the one that I read as Queerbaiting. 

Chandra and Nissa

(Card: Deadlock Trap, Art: Jason Rainville)

As a reminder, Queerbaiting is the practice of hinting at, but then not actually depicting, a same-sex romantic relationship between characters in a work of fiction, mainly in film or television. The potential romance may be ignored, explicitly rejected or made fun of. Really, I don’t want to get into this one. This one is not Canon. I honestly don’t even think there is enough support. If you read stories starting in the Kaladesh storyline, they imply that Chandra has unexplained feelings and attraction or something growing between these two ladies. But it’s never confirmed. And Nissa, who has been Miss “I hate every other race that isn’t elves” is starting to see Chandra as someone she can talk to, but maybe something more too if you squint and cross your eyes. 

Look, I’m cool if you ship these two. And if WotC does actually put them in a relationship together, awesome, there’s more LGBT visibility. But we don’t know if they’re Lesbians or bi or pan or demi or whatever. Their sexualities have never even been discussed. But we get fed this:

Chandra shifted awkwardly. "So . . . friendship?"

Nissa blinked. Chandra worked very hard not to stare.

"Yes," Nissa smiled.

Nissa closed her eyes, and took another deep breath, her headache receding. It felt good to confess insecurities. She smiled and looked Chandra in the eye.

"I am thankful for your companionship. You have taught me much about what it means to be a friend, Chandra. It means much to me."

"Right. Yeah." A soft smile returned to Chandra's face. "I want to be a good friend to you." 

(From The Writing on the Wall by Alison Luhr)

That’s from an official MtG Story. How do you read that? Serious question. Do you need more context? Nissa asked Chandra and only Chandra to go on a walk through Naktamun with her. And Chandra is having the weird fluffy feelings again. Now how does that read? Any different? 

Again, if WotC wants them to go Canon, awesome. Let’s hope they both survive War of Spark.

[dragonquill]

Gotham and LGBT+ Representation

So. Gotham.

On its surface, Gotham has more LGBTQA+ characters than most shows, and this should be good.  But the more the series limps on, the more enraged I am by this representation, and the more I feel like Gotham manages to be more dangerous for the community than shows that pretend we don’t exist.

Before I start, let me say that I know there is no such thing as a healthy relationship on this show, especially romantic ones, but I still argue that m/f relationships are treated, on the whole, with more respect than queer ones, and it really gets under my skin.  I’m going to sort through the various romances played in the series, as well as the strongest example of queerbaiting on the show (Penguin/Riddler; a one sided romance) to explain what I mean.

NOTE: I am not against all the m/f pairings on this show, INCLUDING the controversial Lee/Ed, even though it doesn’t row my boat because of how it has been wedged into this No Homo Ed idea.  But the idea that we should accept out of nowhere straight couples, and that straight couples are generally given more nuanced relationships, burns my cookies.

Relationship 1: Jim and Barbara  m/f, one presumably straight character, one definitely bi character

The one good thing: No one shows any problem with the fact that Barbara is bisexual, and in the first season I never got a vibe that Barbara’s sexuality was erased because she was engaged to Jim, a man. Everything Else: Of course this relationship was unhealthy, with Jim expecting her to accept everything she was told and her being clingy and demanding.  Jim is meant to be the protagonist of the show (a whole ‘nother issue, in that he is incapable of personal growth and responsibility), so the show is crafted to make her seem unreasonable for wanting to know what’s going on in his life.  Eventually, they break up.  Jim moves on to another m/f relationship while Barbara, tellingly, has relationships with both two men and a woman but remains obsessed with the wonderful Jim Gordon.  Of course, she was also kidnapped and sexually tortured, which allowed her to release her “real” self.  How nice.  And JIm gave no shits about really helping her.  But this was all Gotham-typical terrible writing of women.  The relationship was shown as dedicated and mutually loving until it fell apart, at which point the bisexual character went batshit.

Relationship 2: Montoya and Barbara f/f, lesbian character, bisexual character

THe Good: Um..I guess....Montoya’s being lesbian hasn’t...affected her job?

The Rest: Montoya and Barbara had a mutually toxic relationship which involved drugs in their past.  They’ve both cleaned up.  Babs has moved on.  Montoya, however, is written as the jealous, possessive bitch who wants to get Babs away from that evil, evil man.  She dogs Jim at work and tries to tell Babs not to see him.  Tellingly, when Babs and Jim DO break up, they’re together for one night and then Montoya gives a speech about how they can’t be together and disappears from the storyline entirely.  Their relationship was written entirely as a foil to JIm/Babs, presents a lesbian character as a jealous bitch, AND was shown as mutually unhealthy.  

Relationship 3: Jim and Lee m/f, both so far presented as straight Overview:: This relationship was well-developed, they suited each other well, they were shown as loving and good for each other.  They break up, there’s Gotham-appropriate drama, Lee goes fucking batshit but whatever.  The relationship itself is treated as well-developed, interesting, and healthy, as well as long-term (still in love after breaking up).  As far as actual, believable and nuanced relationships in the show, this and Ed/Oswald are the best written.  The difference is, of course, that since JIm and Lee are a straight couple, they get a time period of actual happiness before things fall apart, instead of it being a one-sided, queerbaiting mess.  Also, Jim is obv. still in love with her two seasons later.

Relationship 4: Ed and Kristen m/f, both so far presented as straight (Ed presented as NO HOMO) Overview: This relationship is toxic and terrible, Ed is a creepy stalker, and Kristen ends up murdered.  AND YET, it manages to be treated respectfully for  few episodes, they are shown to date traditionally, people are happy for them.  Kristen is held up as Ed’s True Love despite the fact that he didn’t really know her as a person, she was horrified by his dark side, and he frikking murdered her in the end.  NO HOMO Y’ALL.  Hella unhealthy, but Love of His Life and the writers just won’t revisit this and show how terrible Ed’s behavior was throughout.

Relationship 5: Jim and Valerie m/f, both so far presented as straight Overview: Presented as a healthy short term relationship.  Ignoring the horrible treatment of Valerie as a character which stems, again, from the terrible writing and fridging of women, the relationship itself progresses along normal paths and is treated as a regular relationship until it turns out Jim is obv. still in love with Lee and they break up.  

Relationship 6: Babs and Galavan m/f. presented as straight and bisexual

HERE WE GO.  Once she goes crazy, Babs abandons her “healthy,” “normal” monogamous relationship with Jim Gordon and the writers immediately turned to the bisexuals are promiscuous stereotype (don’t tell me I’m slut shaming because I’m not; people who have responsible sex lives do you, I’m talking about representation in this show).  FOr no apparent reason, she is thrown at Galavan.  At the same time, it becomes clear she is having sex with Tabitha.  Her actions are increasingly sexual in nature without the influence of her “good man,” and she becomes more and more unstable.  Sexual only relationship, exists to make Galavan look more powerful because he’s having sex with a hot lady.

Relationship 7: Babs and Tabs vs. Relationship 8: Tabs and Butch f/f, bisexual and bisexual; bisexual and presented as straight

Okay this is the one that just....ugh.  They could have gone with happy polyamory, but instead they create a weird sort of love triangle.  Babs and Tabs have a sexual relationship that is never portrayed as a romance.  They are both HIGHLY sexualized characters by this point in both dress and actions; Tabitha has definite dominating tendencies.  ANd yet, when Tabs starts her relationship with Butch, Babs becomes the jealous one while saint Butch, our everyman, is fine with sharing.  The entire triangle reeks of “It’s awesome these two women are having sex because LOOK OUR EVERYMAN character is TAPPING THAT.”  Butch falls in love with Tabitha, there are certain indications she begins to return his feelings.  Babs, meanwhile, murders Butch out of jealousy.  Damn those women who love women and their insane jealousy.  

Relationship 9: Oswald and Ed m/m, asexual gay, NO HOMO OHMIGOSH presented as straight

The Good: RLT is proud no one made a big deal in-show that Oswald fell for a man.  That’s nice.  Shame it’s followed by the gay guy falls for straight friend cliche he said he’d never play....

Ah, the ultimate in queerbaiting and one of the most cliched of all storylines when it plays out.  Here we have one of the most nuanced, well-developed relationships in the show, the two characters knowing each other over an extended time, growing as people, and apparently learning from each other.  (OF course it’s hella unhealthy, they MURDER TOGETHER, but this is GOTHAM).  Then, Oswald falls in love, determines to tell Ed, and Isabella appears out of nowhere with her Wholesome Straight Love and it all falls to hell.  SPECIFICALLY because a woman was thrown at Ed in an astonishing move of NO HOMO.  Oswald, our gay man, becomes insanely jealous a la Babs and has Isabella killed.  Ed destroys Oswald’s life, followed by one of the most obvious COming Out parallel storylines IN HISTORY (Coming to grips with his feelings for Oswald; becoming the Riddler) which, as soon as they meet again, is completely ignored in favor of their hating each other.  Relationship becomes interesting and nuanced again in season 4; 4x15 is shameless queerbaiting; Lee is IMMEDIATELY thrown at Ed a la Isabella to make sure there is NO HOMO.   The weirdest thing about all this is canon Riddler is queer as a three dollar bill.

Relationship 10: Ed and Isabella m/f, both presented as straight What the ever loving hell.  Some of the worst writing in Gotham history, giving no introduction or interesting follow through.  I’m so proud y’all saw Vertigo, good for you.  Pat pat.  Isabella is created for no other reason than to NO HOMO Ed.  She isn’t given time to develop as a complete person, behaves in weirdly abusive ways, is obsessed with tragedy, and is willing to completely destroy her own identity to pretend to be Kristen.  Then she dies.  The end.  And yet, this is another Love of Ed’s Life, we’re supposed to believe he is deeply in love with her within two weeks (and not be suspicious how “perfect” they are together), and her Pure Straight Love saves him from the evil Oswald’s Gay Love.  Yes, I get that one can read this with layers of meaning (literature degree here), but NONE of that appears in-show, and I am no longer giving the writers the benefit of the doubt. Once again, as with Ed and Kristen but in reverse, the writers see nothing problematic with Isabella’s behavior...I guess?  So?

Relationship 11: Lee and Mario m/f, both presented as straight THEY LOVE EACH OTHER IT IS PURE AND RIGHT look at this normal, healthy relationship that ends so tragically!  AWWWWWWW!!!  No one is manipulating anyone!  Yay!  Sure, she goes batshit after, but here was a nice, healthy relationship complete with wedding and Lee standing up to Jim’s bullshit.  THANK GOODNESS THEY ARE STRAIGHT.

Relationship 12: Babs and Ra’s m/f, bisexual and presented as straight Again, bisexual Babs is having sex with Not Bashir to improve his cred because he’s tapping a hot chick.  And that’s about it. Relationship 13: Sofia and Jim m/f, both presented as straight This is one that comes out of nowhere, she is OBVIOUSLY manipulating him and he is OBVIOUSLY a moron, but we’re all supposed to accept it because we have tossed together an attractive male and an attractive female so sex obviously happens.  Naturally the relationship is a mess and destructive, but the audience is still meant to just buy into it immediately because, despite a total lack of chemistry between the actors, no emotional build up, and her Using Her Evil Feminine Sex to manipulate him, they’re straight so.  Sex.  ACCEPT IT.

Relationship 14: Ed and Lee m/f, both presented as straight WTH.  They were really interesting as friends with shared interests and then Riddler suddenly decides Ed is in love with Lee because she is Pretty and Smart, ohmigosh, and just in time for 4x15′s epic  queerbaiting.  SO the basis of this relationship is Ed Has a Type.  Lee deserves better than Ed but, hey.  Man, Woman, Sex has to happen.  Also there are hints that she’s just using him a la Sofia because we didn’t get enough of that this season but whatever.  ED IS STRAIGHT 5EVA and women can only use sex as a weapon!  Listen, it’s hella unhealthy yet again, but we are just supposed to accept it because Ed is totes straight and she’s purty and yuk yuk men are so easy to lead by their dicks.   AT LEAST They were given some background before the Sudden Romance, which could make them one of the more interesting potential couples, and I can see why people ship it, but it’s so insulting to the storyline and to the characters that it was obviously created entirely to give fallback from the queerbaiting they were going to do with Ed and Os.

IN SHORT: It is more harmful to fill your show with bisexual stereotypes and tired, cliched gay fall for straight friend storylines and bitch jealous gays and lesbians and only straight relationships are valid than to not have them there at all, and Gotham needs to be called on the carpet for it instead of being lauded as forward thinking and open.

[yenneferw]

girl spill the tea about gotham 👀👀👀

another long post 

sexism

gotham doesn’t know how to write women who aren’t villains. in a show where most of the characters are villains, this wouldn’t be so much of a problem except for the fact that there are some Good Guys, like jim and whatever his partner’s name is. and some women were good in the beginning, like barbara or lee, but they all turn evil – lots of times because of the fact that men hurt them, and uwu their delicate female sensibilities couldn’t handle that and they went crazy. barbara was also super petty with lee when she first came in, like super jealous and shit, because the writers apparently don’t know that all women aren’t possessive and overly jealous like that. 

also, like…….. ed was really fucking creepy to kristin, ngl, she had every right not to want to be with him, and him continuing to pursue her after that and be treated like “aw poor guy :(” when she turned him down was creepy af, especially when he KILLED her bf!!! (i forgot abotu this but i guess he was mistreating her, which, valid of ed to kill him for being abusive, but wasn’t he fucking stalking her to find that out???) and then he killed her when she found out and didn’t want to be with him anymore bc of that! 

they aged up ivy, and then promptly made her into an evil seductress. not only is this sexist to assume that the moment a woman is old enough to have sex with a lot of men, she’s going to and her main weapon is going to be her sexuality, but it’s also really creepy that someone who’s technically a preteen mentally is now being made out to be a seductress. 

they also had that girl who flirted with bruce be an underage seductress. like what is it with gotham and thinking it’s okay to have young girls utilize their sexuality like that… silver or whatever her name was isn’t as bad or as prominently sexual as ivy, but still

also tabitha was totally sexualized too! and not only is that sexist but it’s Really racist, because she’s the only woman of color for a period on the show, and to sexualize the only black woman you have? or to oversexualize a black woman and play into that trope at all? yikes

also??? at some point alfred apparently slapped selina to tell her to stay away from bruce… a fully grown man SLAPPED a CHILD! a young girl! what the fuck!

also? every woman who Isn’t bad, or isn’t bad Yet, is in love with some guy on the show. like barbara? dating jim. lee? dating jim and then mario. selina? dating bruce. kristin? dating ed (and then killed by him). 

and women are constantly being brutalized by men on the show. liza was strangled by falcone for betraying him. oswald killed mooney. 

racism

also????? did not fucking know this but they hired a white stunt woman for mooney, who is played by jada pinkett smith, and fucking put her in blackface. like holy fucking shit

also, tabitha being oversexualized is not okay!

not to mention they barely ever have people of color on the show, they regularly kill mooney off and bring her back and kill her off again. tabitha often plays such a minor role, and sometimes her only role of the episode is to switch back and forth between barbara and butch’s arm candy, or to kick ass without ever getting any real development. she’s a good character sometimes! and then other times, they completely forget that. 

they drag mooney through hell in back, torturing and killing her on screen 

many of the people of color on the show seem to have some Point for the white characters too, like tabitha often is the gf of barbara or butch, and lucius i don’t remember much about, but it seems a lot to do with him is just what will push bruce’s story forward? i haven’t watched in forever so i could be wrong But 

ableism

the mentally ill of this show are constantly portrayed as stereotypically crazy, and arkham is a fucking shitshow. the mentally ill in that asylum are treated like absolute shit, and they’re all treated like they’re volatile and evil for having mental illness. characters like jerome are obviously not well but they’re just fucking crazy. ed goes insane and he starts killing people just because. like there is no good representation of mentally ill characters. in arkham some of them are vegetative, childish, in cages like animals, confused about what’s happening to them, showing symptoms of schizophrenia, drooling on themselves – and when it’s not played to spark fear of the mentally ill, it’s played for fucking laughs! like seeing the mentally ill confused and dehumanized is funny!

homophobia

i used articles to help me write the rest of this post but when you look up “gotham homophobia” all that pops up is about robin lord taylor blah blah blah so i’ll have to do most of this from memory 

first of all: they bring about barbara’s bisexuality rather early on if my memory serves, having her get with an old gf of hers, montoya. her thing with montoya is short lived and montoya is forgotten about altogether. montoya was a bisexual woman of color who seemed to be looking into the corruption of gotham if i remember correctly, and offered a healthy relationship for barbara! but no, that was forgotten about. 

then barbara later gets with tabitha after she turns evil, and their relationship is never given anything of merit. they sleep together and kiss, and are sometimes seen draped on each other’s arms. however, their relationship is never developed beyond this sexualization and fetishization. tabitha even leaves barbara multiple times for butch when he appears to want to be with her finally, and there’s not even a conversation between barbara and tabitha about this. their entire relationship isn’t even worth a conversation, and barbara is fully aware of tabitha getting with butch instead. it’s just two girls kissing for the sake of two girls kissing onscreen. 

then there’s ed and oswald, who were queerbaited for a while, with the two of them growing very close. robin lord taylor himself said that he just thought that os was “emotionally fractured” after his parents died, before it was revealed that os was gay, and yet they kept up that same relationship between them that fans loved. finally, they revealed that he was gay and had him ALMOST ask ed out, after several episodes bringing them closer and closer together – ed is even going to get wine, and when he arrives, os is prepared to tell him his feelings! 

then ed sees a woman who looks just like the woman he murdered (this is never explained or explored, she’s LITERALLY just there to get in the way of os and ed), and he begins to date her instead. so oswald kills her (another random useless piece of sexism for manpain), proving himself to be immature and volatile in his gay affections. and that’s the way his love for ed is treated! immature, volatile! later, ed hallucinates oswald and even robin lord taylor said that that wasn’t romantic like… how is it not?? how, after all this queerbaiting? 

robin lord taylor is also extremely reluctant to say that os is gay at all, continuously saying that it’s ambiguous – and yeah, bi and pan rep is important, but there are already three (if poorly represented) bi people on the show. would it fucking hurt to let os be gay??? they have oswald begin to ahve tension with a woman played by crystal reed, and i stopped watching before this, but for fuck’s sake! it’s so fucking performative to call him gay, not let him get with the guy, treat his crush on the guy poorly, and then have him flirt with a woman. 

i think this show makes me so mad bc i liked it so much – the first two seasons were well-written, if problematic, imo, and then the writing went downhill and it was just the problematic aspects after that, and after all the homophobia i just couldn’t watch it anymore.