#i think toxic gay people are interesting!!!

[shaylogic]

Okay analyzing George and Jayden's favorite scene (in case of 2 dead dragons, "I don't want to be a bad guy!")

I saw a post talking about how Edwin turns up Charles' collar and how that is an acceptable Edwardian share of physical touch between men.

Additionally, you could see it as him helping re-establish Charles' Cool Guy confidence with the popped collar look, when he's feeling vulnerable.

Even more so, I was thinking about Edwin bringing a warm lantern to a cold boy in an attic, and now he's bracing him against the night with the collar's warmth.

~~~

Besides the collar part of this scene, something I've been paying attention to across other scenes is how the friend group directs their attention of listening to and helping support each other.

For example, I already wrote in this post about how Charles actually started to open up to her before the kissing scene about his anger, but she doesn't quite pick up the significance and gets distracted with her issues with David.

That same night after the night nurse violence, Edwin tells Charles he can confide in him, and Charles responds with the polite shield of essentially "same, mate" rather than opening up to him.

Charles' whole thing is about not being able to be vulnerable about himself and to focus on making things easier on others (because his abusive dad trained that into him)

So it's interesting in the collar scene that after they hug and Charles immediately moves the focus to Edwin "what are you worried about, then? " ("how can I help you with what you're going through?"), Edwin responds in avoidant gay panic about Cat King/Charles stuff "Let's get you sorted first"

And!!!!!!

Please rewatch Charles' face journey throughout this scene

He is in the habit of putting others first, and people are all too happy to receive the help. Think again about the scene in the first episode when Jenny tells Crystal that people all focus on themselves. Maybe you get a good day when they think of you for a second and then it's back to them.

Crystal is still working through not remembering how toxic she became in response to her own parents, and she still got some habits of focusing on herself as Jenny points out that she can't begin to recognize and work on yet because she doesn't get her memories back until the end of the season.

Edwin is also preoccupied with his gay panic, so his response to Charles in the collar scene was avoidance, like Crystal not quite recognizing her rare opportunity of Charles opening up to her when he hadn't even done that with Edwin.

I think Edwin and Crystal equally didn't quite fully catch on to Charles' needs, but Edwin accidentally did the right thing in returning the focus to Charles.

Charles seems surprised, but grateful. You can see in Jayden's acting that Charles leaves that exchange feeling a little more seen and loved.

[kinardsevan]

so I’ve been thinking about this for like two days now, and I’m gonna say it. 

I’m fucking bothered. The amount of crap going around right now into relation of Tommy as a character and the rhetoric it’s being equated to is infuriating. Now personally, I try not to speak on things I can’t chiefly relate to (i.e., I’m not a gay male firefighter, so I won’t speak on the reality of living that life), however, I’m highly concerned about the attitude people are giving off in relation to the way that Tommy is undeserving of a redeption arc/is an asshole because of who he was in the past. 

First of all, I want to remind those who would actually take the time to read this: he’s a television character, and in no way does that put Lou in the position of being deserving of any vitriol for the shit he’s had to put up with. Or has it already been so long that we’ve forgotten about the shit Isabel Gillies was put through when Elliot Stabler returned to L&O:SVU (a whopping 5 years ago)? To that end, these actors are just earning a paycheck. They don’t deserve the abuse spewed at them any more than any person who works in retail or food service does because someone makes a small mistake on your bad day.

Further though, I’m concerned by the attitude that there is hatred spewed towards the character of Tommy because of who he WAS. I find it highly unlikely that there’s a single person on this planet that hasn’t forgiven at least one person in their life for some shitty thing they did in the past. To that end: we clearly have seen based off the way s7 went that Hen and Chimney made that choice at some point. Does it excuse previous behavior? No. I don’t know that when you forgive someone that excusing bad behavior is the intention. However, you give them room to grow and flourish. To that end, the arc that Lou has been given for Tommy is clearly within those lines. 

None of this is to say that what the character of Tommy did was okay or acceptable. However, I’d venture to guess that if we’d never seen the recurrence of Tommy Kinard on the show in s7 (and most likely s8), no one would bat an eyelash at the mention of his character, because in terms of how his storyline was wrapped up in s2, things are left on good terms. However, because he’s now Buck’s love interest for the moment and possibly forseable future, he’s got all kinds of problems. He has all kinds of toxic behavior. Nevermind the fact that this rhetoric comes from the same people who fail to also concede that Eddie, the preferred option as a LI for Buck for a large crowd, also has his own toxic behaviors. Hell, he even has his own toxic behaviors towards Buck. But you don’t see those who appreciate Tommy as a character pointing fingers at those issues. 

If you want to call me toxic because I’m not afraid to point all of this out, so be it. It is canonically unfair to tell someone that they are a toxic person because of who they used to be, and not the person they are today. The attitude towards “Tommy blame Gerrard for his behavior”, as though the character is supposed to resolve every issue he previously created with other characters in the limited screen time he was given, given the contract extension. Although, something tells me that even if Tim & Co had put the effort into making the scenes all about that instead of devoting it to the point of his character development (Buck and Tommy’s relationship), people would still find something to complain about. 

I’m not saying you have to like Tommy with Buck. I’m not even saying you have to like Tommy, period. But it’s arguable to say that if you’re going to decide not to like him, first, Lou is not the person to blame (someone else very well could’ve played the character and yall would be doing the same thing). And second, maybe find some realistic reasoning behind not liking him other than the fact that it makes Evan unavailable to chase after Eddie (because some people clearly aren’t prepared for that discussion). 

~

[vulpinesaint]

sorry i will actually never apologize for liking nbc hannibal in a basic cannibalism girlblogger way. truly the show contains multitudes. anytime someone goes “oh of course you like hannibal 🙄” i just like. idk. sorry you don’t appreciate the beautiful cinnamontography and sound design. also i just Know you haven’t seen that they tied mads mikkelsen up naked like a pig for that show. lots of talk about the gay people and the therapy and stuff but nobody talking about that one. nobody ever seems to bring That up in conversation

[biblicalhorror]

Aroace Riz real but also Fabian is SO clearly in love with him and Riz has no idea

[blueberryblogger]

just saw someone recycling ye olde "X character doesn't read as Y identity to me, someone who doesn't & has never held that identity & thus am not as intimately familiar with mannerisms, tropes & characterizations that are typically associated with Y identity. There is no evidence for X being Y and you guys are acting insane."

like. do you understand that you are using the EXACT SAME excuse that other people are using to shit on YOUR headcanon that you're so attatched too because it has so much evidence?

did it ever cross your mind that it would probably be harder for you, person who isn't X, to pick up on subtler tropes & identifiers of X that you've never experienced because you aren't X?

like you get how it sounds like you're shitting on other wueer people?

[kjzx]

I've been thinking a lot about my sexuality these last few years, I'd even say sometimes obsessing to an unhealthy degree, and I think I've come in terms with the fact I almost certainly am bisexual and denying that is pretty lesbophobic and frankly dumb in many ways, and mainly cruel towards myself. Gonna be reading up on internalized biphobia and whatnot

[gemscales-and-tea]

Am I salty that Vincent and Rody weren't given an ending where they could be a twisted, gay cannibal couple? Where Vincent's influences leads Rody down a dark path that results of the both of them being fucked up but fucked up together? And that literally the only apparent reason this wasn't made a thing is because the creator said they would be 'toxic' as a couple?

Even though they also made a bunch of gay af side art pieces for them?

Am I salty that pearl clutching is literally the reason we don't have a fucked up cannibal couple ending? Not even as a bonus 'non-canon' ending alongside the FOUR other potential endings?

I fucking might be.

[binders-and-beanies]

Not to make it deep bc I do love having my own music taste but like. Listening to music that most people don’t like means you have to listen to music you don’t like during sexual/romantic moments, while you’re on adventures, while you work and study, any time you’re in public. Your happiest times are narrated by something that doesn’t feel like it’s for you and your most stressful times are almost mocked by the background music lol. Like not to be a bitch about it bc we all have to experience things that aren’t our favorite but I wish the world made it easier for me to like feel included in my own life. I wouldn’t mind other types of music at all if it weren’t an automatic expectation that I’ll like it and never want to show anyone what *i* consider to be A Vibe

[13eyond13]

have you dated a lot?

Not really! I've had 3 official relationships, 1 with a girl and 2 with guys... the girl was first and the guys were after that because I wasn't 100% sure if I was gay. After I broke up with the second guy I just kinda stopped dating altogether for a long while and slowly realized and accepted that I was indeed gay and that I missed being with a girl and that the idea of spending my life with a man didn't appeal to me at all, even though I like guys as friends and can find them cute and attractive and whatnot sometimes too. MOSTLY I've just been single for long periods of time though, and rn I'm like the constant single 9th wheel of my friend group which is getting pretty old hahaha

[werewolfest]

Truthfully I need to just make an our flag sideblog so I can be more obnoxious but I’m not ready to break down yet

[cupiare]

started off really enjoying a fairly honorable defeat but the drama is getting a bit dreadful i won’t lie

[starry-eyed-psychopomp]

So Cecil won the Sexyman Rematch and honestly, isn’t that just the essence of modern tumblr?

Like when the original match was on Twitter, Sans won. And like, sure that makes sense and he wasn’t a BAD pick and I don’t think people still voting for him are wrong, but it’s also just the obvious “lol isn’t tumblr so weird?” pick that you’d EXPECT a bunch of ex-tumblr users on Twitter to choose. Like, haha we picked the weird skeleton guy as our sex symbol, wasn’t tumblr a wacky time?

Because the users who fled to Twitter did so because they realized tumblr was a cringey hellsite and wanted nothing to do with it. They were embarrassed by their tumblr phase, and they still are.

But the tumblr users still here are the ones who decided that, yeah, we’re cringe as hell, who gives a shit? And because of that, the current vibe on tumblr is just, overall, an unabashedly honest revelry in our weirder interests. Like, yeah, we’re still a mess and a hellsite and there’s toxic shit, but it’s the internet, what do you expect? The tumblr community is able to look fondly on the cringe of the past and move on to the sincerity of the future, and that’s part of why we picked Cecil.

Because yeah, it’s still weird and So Tumblr that a guy with no physical appearance won the sexy tournament, but if you look at the people celebrating Cecil’s win, that aren’t focusing on that aspect so much. They’re celebrating everyone’s favorite canonically gay uncle who dresses like a loser and loves his husband. Cecil is cringe, but we love him.

This isn’t ex-tumblr picking the wackiest choice, it’s current tumblr looking back on that cringey era and finding the joy in it, and I think that THAT is just so tumblr

[luckycloverforducks]

Fuck it, HH swap AU

Their core personalities and backgrounds stay the same, it's mostly a role switch

Niffty <--> Husker

Angel Dust <--> Vaggie

Alastor <--> Charlie

(the typical for swap AUs, I know,,)

Everyone else stays the same

These r edits bc I was just figuring out their designs for the AU, I'll draw them normally another time (Husker isn't here cuz I can't find a good png of the mf)

In this AU Alastor started the hotel mostly because he randomly thought up the idea once and thought, "that's fucking hilarious, I'm doing that" + a secondary sentimental reason he'd kill me for saying (he got genuinely fully invested in the cause eventually)

He advertised it on his radio show suddenly out of the blue after 7 and a half years of radio (lol) silence. Alastor still owns Husker's and Niffty's souls but they're also obviously friends (or atleast close to it)

Also he can read tarot bc why not :3

Charlie is closer to her dad in this AU and more sheltered, adopting a more aloof, smug, and dangerous persona so sinners take her seriously, she also has a very slight condescending outlook towards sinners but she's at her core still compassionate and still views them as her people and want to protect them to a certain extent, and she still thinks the Exterminations are unnecessary and cruel, but she doesn't feel like she can do much about it since according to Lucifer's stories and discouragement, she knows heaven likely wouldn't listen much if at all, but when she heard of Alastor's little project it resparked hope in her and she decided to invest in it, becoming co-owner and funder for the hotel.

Angel Dust/Anthony never made a deal with Valentino and actually stayed in his family's crime/mafia business for the 1st half of him being in Hell, but his dad is a POS and kicked him out for being gay so he started doing s3x work, and then he met Alastor after he brutalized his harassers one day, and Angel wanted to repay the favor somehow. Alastor seems interested in him so they struck a deal (not a soul deal, just a simple deal) which has Angel/Anthony is under Alastors protection in exchange for Angel/Anthony's loyalty and assistance when needed (which is a rare case so Angel still feels like he owes Alastor). They grow friendly with time, and Alastor offers to have him be patient zero for his redemption project, and he accepted.

Vaggie/Vi is still a fallen exterminstor and still met Charlie the same way she did in the show, but after that they went their separate ways and Vi finds herself making a deal with Velvette. Instead of being a pornstar like Angel in the show, she is an influencer and a rockstar/singer, she does enjoy making music and playing the guitar but Velvette tends to overwork her and make her do things she doesn't really like for views/popularity. Velvette is the nicest to Vi/Vaggie compared to with her other employees (which isn't a very highly set bar tbh) but she also frequently break her boundaries.

Vi met Charlie again during one of her concerts and they got close and started dating. (Also one sided Velvette x Vaggie is sort of slightly maybe canon in this AU bc toxic Yuri is fun (and it's only fully one sided after Charlie and Vaggie/Vi started dating))

She helps manage the hotel when needed, but is honestly only there cause Charlie is.

Not much about Niffty changes tbh (she's perfect the way she is, utterly unhinged 😍) she's just a bit more mellowed out and less hyper (she's still hyper just not all the time like in the show) and she's also a bartender and has surprisingly good taste for alcohol, and also frequently makes borderline poisonous drinks while experimenting, but when she gets it right it's really good. Doesn't stop the others of being terrified of her drinks though

Husker is a more smiley and charming in this AU, using a laid back attitude to put people at ease and more willing to open up to him if they need to (he used to use the information people share as blackmail when he needs to back when he was an Overlord, although he never actually needs to spread anything, just threats), and he's still very observant but he's also slightly more unhinged- He's a sort of butler/cleaner for the hotel

He still gets grumpy time to time, but mostly when he's drunk, which isn't as often anymore ever since Niffty was put in charge of the bar (understandably so)

He has a bit of an anger issue and also gets annoyed easily, and sometimes makes unhinged threats as a sort of joke (they stop being much of a joke once you genuinely piss him off)

He likes things clean and tidy because it helps him pretend to be put together

He and Alastor are a bit friendlier compared to in the show, hes still one of the few people that knows more about Alastor, though hes still bummed about the whole being owned by Alastor thing (Husker can also read tarot to a lesser extent bc Al taught him for funzies and Husker thought it's interesting)

His gambling addiction is also ever so slightly worse

[adamsrcnan]

OKAY OKAY here we goooo an annoyingly long-ish post about all my thoughts on The Sunshine Court

Spoilers Spoilers Spoilersss you've been warned

First things first it is so interesting to see Nora writing from not one but TWO new people's perspective. Jean's perspective is just devastating being inside his head is heartbreaking the constant fear and panic and how much of his energy is used on just pushing down every memory of what was done to him. His coping mechanisms are terrifying and i truly do hope by the end of book 2 he has a healthier way of dealing with it bc baby boy stop hurting yourself :( Every sentence was so painful to read. But also his resilience the entire time to get through it no matter what, god i fucking love him!!! He is a fighter.

Jeremy's perspective is sooooo refreshing. He is such a little sweetheart i could cry. The fact that he sends hand written letters and he's so caring and genuine but he can also be so stern. When he dropped that "i asked you a question" to Lucas fkehdjdfjdh OK SIR. I'M SAT. His relationship with the family butler is so endearing as well i need more background on that for sure! My only one criticism is that he didn't have enough pov chapters and i'm hoping we'll learn more in the second book of course because there's still so much about him and his (dysfunctional? toxic?) family dynamic that we don't know yet but also i'm greedy and i wanna know EVEYTHING about him !!!

Kevin and Jean are so just tragic it actually breaks my fucking heart like "you didn't have to slit my throat on the way out" JEAN??? and "promise me you won't try again. I can't lose you." KEVIN??? And the fact that Jean to this day is still keeping that promise. Also Jean's obvious but secret long term crush on Kevin the way it's subtly dropped every time Jean has to stamp down on his desire's and "temptations" GOD PLEASE I CAN'T STAND IT

SPEAKING OF!!! BISEXUAL JEAN ??? BI JEAN??? BI JEANNNN !!!!

Neil and Jean oh my God like where do i even start?? The guilt Jean feels at what happened to Neil in the Nest and him finally calling him by his name after Riko's death and telling him his game was good. And Neil seriously needs to give himself more credit for how much of a caring person he is because the way he indirectly told Jean that he thinks he is worth saving and didn't even hesitate before asking Stuart to send someone after That Guy after what Jean told him. Neil Josten the man that you are!!!

Jean's little sister Elodie what a beautiful name. Them being so close and him reading to her. The way he found out about her death jolted me differently. It was so awful and i'm so sorry Jean didn't get to see her grow up and meet her again.

Renee and Jean oh my god. Jean thinking she's beautiful (bitch me toooo) And the whole right person wrong time ugh i can't stand it. Him wearing her necklace all the time, enough that Jeremy always notices it. And unabashedly stealing her picture from the foxes lounge. Like he did not give a fuck. He said this one is mine. One good reason to stay alive being rainbows i'm gonna FKSJSKDHDH. Theirs would be such a soft love.

Speaking of soft loves Laila and Cat are EVERYTHINGGGG. God they are so cute with their little domestic life and their rich gay boy son who crashes on their couch with his cardboard cut out dog. That whole friendship dynamic is beautiful. Their fierce protectiveness and care over Jean as well and the patience they have with him even after the little kitchen incident. When Cat took Jean out for a drive on her motorcycle god that was such a heart warming moment and Jean helping them cook as well and becoming the girls' little sous chef it's so cute so endearing !!!

FINALLY FINALLY THE JEREJEAN DYNAMIC

PLEASE I'M GONNA SCREAM

Jeremy being the one who told Jean that Riko was dead i don't even know what to begin with THAT like hhhhhhh. The way they're both stupidly attracted to each other but won't/can't do anything about it. THE WHOLE "say yes Jeremy" SCENE WTF WAS THATTT I WAS GOING INSANEEEE. Both of them having to stop mid sentence when they catch the other looking FINE as hell. Jean being so obvious that even Lucas picks up on the way he looks at Jeremy. Jeremy being there to ground Jean in a Moment and helping him come down from it. Grabbing his face and telling him he's okay. Moving into the room with him to make him feel more comfortable !! The way Jean grabs Jeremy's chin (boiiiii). Jeremy constantly reminding Jean that he is NOT A RAVEN ANYMORE no matter how many times he has to say it. Jeremy saying he'll wait as long as it takes until Jean speaks to him. JEREMY GIVING HIM A HUG AND JEAN CLUTCHING DESPERATELY TO HIS SHIRT FUUCUFHDHSJHSSUHDH and then the "will you help me?" And the "Anything you need" AND THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE A CERAMICS CLASS TOGETHER?!?!?!!!! i can't i can't i can't i caaan'ttt

There's so much more to say but i'm gonna leave it at this for now because i need to go re-read it again and take my time with it this time round but i really could not have asked for anything better Nora truly outdid herself here !!! I'm forever grateful she blessed us with this after so long.

[ashleyloob]

RE: Your post about saphics romanticizing WLW relationsips and toxicity. I am a dude but I grew up with a queer mom and of course was around a lot of queer women most of my life. I saw them in relationships, I saw those relationships be normal, loving, dysfunctional and sometimes extremely toxic. They were normal relationships. When I got older I dated and knew queer women my age and ran into that sort of odd attitude where people seemed to think there were negative things in relationships that just wouldn't happen if they dated only women. Particularly I remember a past partner of mine's sister went on a first date with a women to her house who ended up locking her in and not letting her leave for the night. She slept on the floor to avoid sharing the bed and was obviously very shooken up by the experience when she was able to go home the next day. My partner at the time was shocked not just because that happened to her sister but because she didn't think a woman would do that to another woman. Like woman weren't capable of being shitty or abusive in relationships. And not to victim blame, but I don't think she would have gone to a dude's house on the first date specifically in case something like this happened. I saw a lot of that too, a lot of young women in queer relationships putting themselves in dangerous situations under the assumption that they didn't need to be cautious the same way they would when going on first dates or being in relationships with men. Which was odd to me having grown up seeing my mom and her friends in relationships, again they weren't all bad. They were normal relationships and some were dysfunctional or abusive, so I knew this was possible, but so many young women I met seemed to think it wasn't.

very interesting perspective, yeah I do agree that women tend to let their guard down around other women far too easily, def had situations where I realized that early on so I do kinda cringe a bit when baby gays don't realize the problems they had in their heterosexual relationships can very easily manifest again in queer relationships too

[wen-kexing-apologist]

What was the best scene in this OF ep and why was it Sand and Nick attempting to hook up, realizing they don’t like each other like that, having a good laugh and then settling in to cuddle for the night?

BESTIE, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SO RIGHT ALL THE TIME?!

Hands down, no holds barred, the best scene in this entire episode, and possibly one of my favorites in Only Friends and, dare I say, BL ever was Sand and Nick attempting to hook up, realizing they don't like each other like that, having a good laugh, and then settling in to cuddle for the night.

CAUSE IT'S

SO

FUCKING

QUEER

Far far too often in shows, BL or otherwise, there really is no attempts at showing different forms of platonic love, especially between men. It's part of what I really loved about New Girl actually was the very loving, comfortable, affectionate, and extremely platonic love between Nick and Schmidt.

Here though, I think there is frequently this perception that if people are friends with the gender they are attracted to, that they will inevitably give in to desire and fall in love or whatever (this is extremely common in hetero relationships to be sure) but that isn't the case, and it doesn't have to be the case, and we really should be showing people that it is a-o-fucking-kay for boys to platonically love each other.

My best friend and I are extremely queer platonic, and without a doubt the majority of the people that have seen us interact inevitably end up asking if we are dating, had crushes on each other, etc. and it truly can take a significant chunk of time to try to convince them we aren't lying. We cuddle, and kiss eachother on the forehead, and hold hands, and I love them but not romantically, and the same goes for them.

And the same can and should go for Nick and Sand. I love their loser friendship, I love that they were like "hey let's try it", I love that they realized that the care they have for each other was platonic, but that the care exists, and that they cuddled in bed because you can give physical affection to people you love without it being romantic or sexually charged. I love that the awkwardness of kissing your friend lasted like ten seconds and then they were like "yeah, it's cool let's be physically affectionate with one another assured in how we see our friendship"

And so too, in a show like Only Friends where you have so many hook ups happening, or any show where you have a romance, it can be really interesting and important to show people try to be physically intimate, and to have there be no sexual tension within it so that you can establish with even greater sincerity and believability a romantic pairs' attraction to one another.

With every episode of Only Friends that comes out, I keep thinking about that ask that @absolutebl got about why people were excited for this messy, toxic show when they hated other messy, toxic shows (like TharnType), and how much of that answer revolves around the trust we have for Jojo as a queer man in depicting actual queer male experiences. I will forever be grateful to Jojo and co for giving us this scene, and now I shall sit here and wait patiently to praise whatever show gives me gays all platonically making out with each other in the club.

(and putting all the rest of that aside, let's be real, these boys have been put through the fucking wringer with their boys of choice and they deserve a little laughter).