#darren douglas

[darren-douglas]

A little Astro concept art to brighten your timeline 

See more here too https://darrendouglasart.com/

[ginge1962]

PSI-Judge Anderson: The Candidate (collection of some Judge Anderson strips from the pages of 2000AD), cover by Fay Dalton.

Free with an issue of the Judge Dredd Magazine and featuring the talents of Alan Grant, Emma Beeby, Darren Douglas, David Roach, Emma Vieceli, Maura McHugh & Nick Dyer.

[asexualenjolras]

CA$H PIGGOTT.

I need to talk about Cash Piggott and how important his character is to the asexual community.

I absolutely adore the fact that Cash calls people out on their acephobia and never, ever apologises for who he is. He doesn't think he's broken.

In season one, we see Darren say "you know what, I think there's something really fucking wrong with you, Cash," and Cash immediately, with no hesitation, screams "well fuck you then".

In season two, we see Dusty say that he's being selfish asking Darren to give up sex and he immediately stands up and says "fuck this" because he knows he doesn't have to listen to people making him feel bad about his sexuality.

And when he's talking to his nan about it, Cash says "it's not fair, I would do anything, why does it have to be the one thing I can't change about myself?"

In every single one of these scenes, we never see Heartbreak High blame Cash for his sexuality. We never see him apologise to anyone for not feeling sexual attraction, and we never see him feel guilty about it, or try to change who he is.

CA$H recognises that his sexuality might be difficult for people to accept and understand, but he never lets other people make him feel like he's broken, or flawed. And that's so powerful to see.

Because asexual people are not broken. And we can't be fixed. And we are not being selfish for putting in boundaries.

I absolutely adore Douglas Piggott. He means the world to me, and this representation is so, so important.

[mikewheelerscloset]

if heartbreak high doesn't get a s3 I will riot btw

[them-bo-dacious]

this may be controversial but it is my opinion 🫣

[svltburn]

DARREN RIVERS and CA$H PIGGOT Heartbreak High: S2E2 SLTs vs. CUMLORDS

[pricklypearflowers]

New day, new heartbreak high text posts 💔

[reyenii]

CA$H: it’s, um, it’s not normally like this. i promise. don’t laugh at me DARREN: sorry, no, you look cute.

[rkoradiopictures]

[shimmerluna]

idk if it's ever directly discussed, but logically speaking, it's pretty likely that Ca$h also has self-esteem issues after being bullied by literally everyone in his life except his Gram before he met Darren. He seems to have a good idea of who he really is, but he still hides it most of the time. He's still been taught that he isn't enough, and being himself is punishable with violence and relentless taunting.

I think this is part of why he and Darren struggle so much with his asexuality. They both have low self-esteem, so Darren thinks Ca$h isn't into them because they're not good enough, and Ca$h thinks he's not good enough if he can't give Darren sex. Neither of them believes their partner would be willing to make sacrifices for them or accept their perceived imperfections, so they fall into a cycle of breaking up with each other instead.

[darren-douglas]

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider from my Concept Sketchbook

See more of my sketchbook here https://darrendouglasart.com/

[hlfgdlsbn]

Okay firstly I’m not Australian and before I watched hbh I’ve never heard of eshays (also not British so no clue about roadman either) and even now I only know about them in the fictional sense.

But everything I read about them makes me think that is rather hard to actually become one, especially one being kind of respected. Which Ca$h arguably is. Chook lets him get away with more stuff than others it seems (Ca$h lost the clothes/money and Chook let him just pay him back, which sure isn’t easy but he actually didn’t harm him for that, he punched him in the face bc Ca$h put himself between Chook and the boy). Chook also really seems to have trusted Ca$h and had some deeper bond with him, one that Ca$h reciprocated.

While we don’t know the details, Chook evidently was the person who helped Ca$h. He got him out of his troubled home, got him a family and trust and somewhere to belong. Gave him a name to be respected. And all this apparently before Ca$hs Nan was in the picture. So Ca$h had no one but Chook. So to get to the point Ca$h and Chook have a complex relationship, in which being eshays is just one part but one that definitely makes it even more difficult to get out of it.

And so I don’t understand how Darren, Harper and Amerie expect Ca$h to simply cut the eshays and especially Chook off. Like they seem to understand that they are dangerous but expect Ca$h to just walk away from them without facing consequences? Ca$h isn’t just some runner for Chook who maybe could get away with it, he’s part of Chook's inner circle.

In the end I’m just mad because they don’t think about it, Ca$h is putting his life (and to his horror also his Nan's and his friends life) in danger and the others don’t see it and are just pissed that Ca$h doesn’t do what they want him to.

[sassy-sofia]

I can’t help but focus on the way Ca$h has his head on Darren’s shoulder in the back during the bus scene. Move people, I want to see this soft moment!

[youronebraincell]

Cash would’ve killed Chook in broad daylight if he found out what he did to Darren

[asexualenjolras]

I've just finished Heartbreak High (delayed, I know) and I was so excited about the asexual representation we were given ... just to jump on here and find that a lot of people are saying that Cash's asexuality story was handled poorly because he doesn't explicitly say he's on the asexuality spectrum, or because Darren didn't respond very well but I disagree with everything that's being said.

I think Heartbreak High handled this storyline in the most authentic way and let me explain why:

Firstly, I think it's important to remember that Cash is an eshay. He's grown up around a very bigoted group of young people, who - you can assume - hold very extreme, neagtive opinions about the LGBTQA+ community. Despite this, we see him accept his love for Darren in a very real way. He's not afraid to be seen with them in public but he does panic a little when his fellow eshays see him with them - even going so far as to say that Darren is a "customer" when asked who they are. We see at the Mardis Gras that he panics when he sees his eshay friend dealing. He isn't afraid of being out, he's afraid of their opinions of him being out. He's afraid of the eshays, not of being queer.

If you think that Cash and his eshay friends would have a deep understanding of sexuality - let alone asexuality - then you're very mistaken.

Not only that, but asexuality is massively misunderstood anyway. People on the asexuality spectrum can go years without finding a label that fits them. I was 18 when I discovered the spectrum. I spent 18 years of my life thinking I was broken.

We see that Cash has accepted this part of himself - he doesn't worry about him being broken or a disappointment, he just worries that he will lose Darren because of it. That's actually really advanced, considering he doesn't even know what asexuality is.

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Secondly, Darren is a non-binary, queer person. They have a good understanding of the community and different sexuality but one thing that they don't understand - or even know about - is asexuality. This is common in the community. Asexuality is massively unrepresented and there is a lot of false information out there about it.

From Darren's perspective, their partner didn't want to have sex with them. They've grown up feeling like they were unlovable, it's a very authentic reaction for someone to have. And it's a barrier that a lot of asexual people have to overcome in relationships because their partners just don't get that it isn't personal.

Quinni says it the best, she says that "Cash might just be wired differently", and that's what makes Darren a little more understanding - that and speaking with their dad about their trauma from their parents' divorce. They finally understand that Cash didn't have bad experiences with sex but doesn't have that attraction or urge to sleep with someone. They have a lot of unresolved trauma from their childhood, and hypersexuality can be linked to that.

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Thirdly, it is so beautiful that Heartbreak High have explored the asexuality spectrum in the way they have; usually, ace characters in shows and movies don't have a love interest while they figure out what they feel about or want out of relationships. In Heartbreak High, we see Cash understand that he is attracted to Darren romantically - he actively says he has loved them since he was in Year 8 - and not be afraid of that.

He also knows he is repulsed by sex and doesn't feel anything towards it. He knows it isn't anything to do with the other person and tries his best to communicate that to Darren. And then we see Darren accept Cash's boundaries and we seem them really try to support him through this development.

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Additionally, we don't see Cash label his sexuality at all. He doesn't say "I'm bisexual but don't like sex", or "I think I'm gay but sex isn't for me". This is really important because it gives room for the show to explore his sexuality in further detail later on. We can still get him discovering the word, and we can still see him finding a term to identify with (if he wants to, some people don't need a term to understand themselves).

There is so much room to talk about the difference between sexual attraction and romantic attraction, and room for the show to explore where Cash lies in that bracket of identification. We don't know if he's homoromantic, greyromantic, demiromantic, biromantic etc, and I really hope we get to see him explore that. Because it's a challenging thing to have to try to understand after coming to terms with being on the ace spectrum.

There is so much pressure to label yourself at that young age. I think it's rather positive that we have a character that understands his preferences and knows how he feels about sex without having that pressure so early on.

Sure, he likely doesn't know what asexuality is but it will be really interesting to see where the show takes this in future.

As I said, I didn't find the word to describe my sexuality until I was 18. Some people don't until they're middle aged. There's still time for Cash to discover the term and identify with the asexuality spectrum.

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We see that Cash has tried sex and didn't enjoy it. He doesn't have that urge to go further, and when he does he doesn't enjoy it. That's such good bloody representation. I can't get over it. Despite being shown to be quite anxious about how he feels around sex, he isn't shown to be ashamed of it. That's so healthy and so important.

He doesn't get it and he is still having those confusing problems with his sexuality but he isn't ashamed of it.

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Finally, I just want to reiterate that Cash not explicitly saying he's asexual does NOT mean that he isn't asexual. The writers and directors of the show have expressly said that he is asexual representation. This pressure to label yourself when you're still trying to figure things out - as Cash says directly - is really dehumanising.

Cash is a human being. He's a young person that is really confused about why he isn't like everyone else. He's having an internal struggle with his preferences and he doesn't understand why he feels the way he does, why he's "wired differently", why he doesn't "feel the same shit" as Darren and other people his age.

It's a really confusing time when you are growing up ace. It makes no sense until you find the community and you find that you're not alone.

Cash Piggott is canonically asexual and it's even more raw that he doesn't label himself so early on because that is the ace experience for so many people.

-

I love Cash. I love him so much. And I hope the show explores his asexuality in more detail in the future. I think the show did this so well.

Cash's experience isn't every asexual person's experience - it's his experience. The ace experience is a very personal thing and to see it brought to life on screen in such a raw way is SO IMPORTANT.

I LOVE DOUGLAS PIGGOTT WITH MY WHOLE ACE HEART.

[pricklypearflowers]

💔💔 heartbreak high text posts 💔💔