#ALL THE OTHER CHARACTERS ON ONE ARE CANONICALLY QUEER

[canichangemyblogname]

I'm convinced that they must think gay and bi men don't watch TV or something. Why would there be faggots watching their own representation when M/M relationships are for the "girlies"? **

The fact so many of us also liked Michael and David despite the fact they hardly had any scenes at all (because they were both secondary characters) must also be indicative of our nasty, disgusting sexual feelings for men, right? It certainly couldn't be the more logical conclusion: we're queer and support actualized queer representation.

Buck and Tommy's relationship was literally canon. Your argument depends on the assumption that it never was. People will enjoy a canon, on-screen relationship like all the other on-screen relationships over the years. Why do you 🫵 hold a different energy for this relationship than others? (Hint: they can't get hot to it like if it was Buck & Eddie.) Are you going to include all the members of the GA who thought Buck x Tommy was "sweet" among us nasty, disgusting fetishizerrs? They *also* liked Buck x Tommy despite their lack of screen time. Will you hold the same energy for them, or is it only *us*--mostly queer men-- who have these nasty sexual feelings for men?

Why do you hold a different standard for enjoying a canon m/m relationship than any other canon relationship on the show? I find Chim x Maddie a compelling and sweet relationship. I will tune in just to see Angela Bassett and Peter Krause act opposite each other. I was rooting for Eddie x Anna as well as Eddie x Marisol. I also enjoyed Buck x Abby, Buck x Ali, Buck x Taylor, and Buck x Natalia, all of Buck's other canon relationships. Does any of this mean I fetishize straight relationships? By your logic, enjoyment of a canon relationship-- especially one with few scenes together, like Buck x Ali or Buck x Natalia-- is indicative of a fetish, so I should, no? But you wouldn't make that argument. You haven't made that argument. Why?

Why is it that enjoying seeing a m/f relationship on screen is conventional or usual, but enjoying seeing a m/m relationship on screen is an abnormal sexual fixation? Why is the enjoyment of an m/m relationship different than the enjoyment of any of Buck's other canon relationships? Why are the people who have enjoyed the show's queer m/m representation the people with "bad" sexual thoughts? But enjoying all of Buck's other canon relationships is simply just enjoying the show for the show? You get how this paints queerness as an abnormal sexual proclivity and "straightness" as something that is just "part of the narrative"™️, right?

This is also really ironic for someone with "loves SPN" in their URL...

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**(NOTE: I have genuinely seen this subset of Superfan argue that m/m stories "center" women and that slash is by and for women for women's sexual satisfaction and liberation. And I'd like to think that I should not have to point out how this mentality means that fandom is built not only on queer men's eroticized bodies but also on their exclusion. In fact, it would not exist and could not continue to exist without our invisibility and exclusion. Because slash-fiction oft requires the fan to ignore the lived reality of the people-- queer men-- they are depicting for the fiction and to cater to the satisfactions of their audience. When queer men come in and say, "Well, actually, we don't do that--" it ruins a fantasy. Sometimes, it's the fantasy that they create for the "representation," as opposed to personal and audience satisfaction. Sometimes, it's the fantasy that they are creating accurate depictions of queer men. Sometimes, it's the fantasy that m/m sex and relationships cater to them and their desires and personal ideas of what is "hot." To thus continue to reproduce the community and maintain the fandom status quo-- like all those fan canons people treat as canon-- they must push out the detractors and people who challenge popular fanon, which is often queer men. How do you do that? Hostility and homophobia. Slash-fiction communities cannot continue if there are a wealth of queer men in them. Because their intended audience and creators are non-men. Because the genre was created on queer men's exclusion and only possible in the first place due to queeer men's invisibility.)

[mythographers]

I have seen Galadriel treated as just one of Sauron's many victims and saw a post today. I won't pinpoint the post but it's something I've seen a while actually.

Galadriel isn't a damsel in distress but s2 doesn't help when she's held hostage for several episodes. But that's another post.

Hm. But I didn't say she was using Halbrand the same way he was using her. I brought up that she isn't fitting into the box of gendered victim. It's gendered, that fandom attempts to place her in that box even when she doesn't fit it. I brought up her actions to support that point, not to say that she used Halbrand via the same methods and the same scale and scope that Sauron used her.

Halbrand was always Sauron but my post was about what Galadriel knew and she believed Halbrand was a human man. She didn't know he was Sauron. Within her limited knowledge, I am speaking of what she did.

Galadriel is very clear about her intentions for a human man and she says that he can redeem his bloodline, that he's special, and that fate brought them together.

She, with all her rank and position that she lists in front of the Numenoroean court, flattered and singled out a human man about how grand a purpose he would have in following her to the Southlands.

I don't think it's overly villainizing Galadriel at all.

She is upfront about her intentions, yes. But the only reason the Halbrand character doesn't cow before her focus on him unlike Celebrimbor does before an emissary of the Valar telling him how special he is and how he can surpass his family's legacy is because the Halbrand character wasn't a human at all. [Also. I know the deception Annatar does with Celebrimbor about his true goals while Galadriel never hides her goals from Halbrand. This comparison is purely about the similarity of flattery and invocation of family. Sauron always deceives about his goals and Galadriel never does. That's the kind of nuance I'd like to see more in Galadriel meta].

I also don't believe I said that Galadriel deserved to be catfished. My point remains the point I was making from the beginning, which is about Galadriel being forced into the box of the gendered female victim beyond what's onscreen.

I agree that there is a desire to see characters as purely victims and victimizers which is what I was attempting to work around with my post. My pet peeve is the ironing out of Galadriel's flaws, when I love those flaws.

I agree with you about Sauron's and Galadriel's goals in s1.

My confusion in the de-exceptionalizing of Galadriel was in direct relation to making her a pure victim of Sauron, eliding past her actions, and transmitting the exact ways in which Sauron victimized others to her, despite there being an entire season to evaluate their dynamic on its own. A queer reading of Sauron can exist without doing that. I know it can because I've read those posts and metas analyzing Sauron to Adar, Celebrimbor, and Galadriel, and agreed.

Does it matter if the goal wasn't to diminish Galadriel or make her a victim if that's the end result? If Galadriel isn't a pure victim or damsel and there's more nuance than that, she shouldn't be made into that, for whatever purpose. There are ways to do a queer Sauron reading without overly victimizing Galadriel.

But the post I saw today wasn't about a queer reading of Sauron at all so that's not the only reason Galadriel's being trope-ified in this manner.

Hm, I touched on it a little because you brought it up but I didn't want to address romantic relationships in this post because this post was evaluating Galadriel and Sauron's dynamics as they are in canon without any romantic subtext. So, this post wasn't about a straight relationship: I even mention I used the ship tag for visibility but it's a general character post.

Sauron's relationships, including with Galadriel, are not canonized so I wanted to keep it very dry about the actions characters take.

And I'm a new viewer of TROP but a longtime reader of Tolkien so I'm quite familiar with that side of the world :)

Gennifer Hutchison who's a writer for TROP said that Sauron and Galadriel's relationship is different. She called it a relationship of equals. She went on to say that it's unlike the love bombing and manipulations of Celebrimbor in the second season. Galadriel is also using Halbrand in the first season which supports her point.

So why is there the insistence to de-exceptionalize Galadriel and insist that every way Sauron used and victimized Celebrimbor or even Adar can be transmitted to her?

The showrunners said that you've gotten to know Sauron by watching Halbrand.

Why the insistence then that the show started in s2 and Annatar is the way to understand Sauron's relationships? There's two seasons to watch with no need to make things up.

Galadriel isn't just prey that the dastardly villain preyed on that many of you want to make her be. A large part of s2 included her own culpability being listed for you and a large part of s1 included her agenda to take a human she met and use him as a tool against Sauron. She was telling this man she met he was very special, destined for greater things, and that their meeting was fate. Does the fact that he turned out to be Sauron erase the power differential she believed existed between an elf of her stature and a human?

From my point of view, many are forcing Galadriel into the box of female victim beyond what's on screen.

[semyazzayee]

I'm starting to think viv genuinely believes acesexual is a person that doesn't get fucked instead of person who doesn't feel attracted to commit sexual intercourse or horny w others

Also, as some already pointed out

characters who are in the spectrum here fall in a aroacephobic stereotype where we only love ourselfs and that being why we dont feel as attracted to others. Because of extreme self love

Mammón gives a chance to Glitz and Glam who are clearly not jesters or clowns but rather bonermaking show, flirts with Leviathan and as a friend pointed to me out yesterday he surrounds himself with sexual robot fizz instead of the average ones in OOPS.

In general, the way he interacts with those mentioned can't make me buying him being ace at all and Bee points out that nobody wants w him

Octavia It's just a Child (Not deniying exploration is possible in adolescence,in fact its the most revealing time I think with the hormones making many start to experiment Sexually) So I didn't expect her being canonically ace much less when she barely appears in the series and hasn't been seen interacting with others w her same age to draw conclusions

If the part where she is disgusted bc her father is talking sexually on the phone with the man which he cheated on her mother ruining the dynamic in the family for her its clue that shes not interested in sex then it's a very unclear one. Her rep doesn't give any kind of actual weight but it's not confusing at least

Alastor doesn't really stick with me as ace rep again, they never do anything with it except Rossie saying a skippable pun.

They could use Angel dust to make him realize hes Ace based on what he tells like Todd in Bojack (also the best and most complete ace rep I've seen so far) who had to be pointed out by someone else that what he feels already has a label and it is valid not to wish that kind of exchange with others

Also, both Alastor and Mammón view themselves over others in a godlike way and that the others can't get within their reach. Thats about it.

-

okay that was more long than i tought it be-

I usually just roll my eyes when people say Vivziepop does acesexual representation bc

she's never done anything with her ace's characters outside of only one pun so she proclaiming herself as a queer pillar when on her series there are no real efforts to discuss queerness except mlm wattpad yaoi stuff being putted in motion its kinda empty, just a no 4 me.

But yesterday we (friend & I) agreed that Mammón who is one of the few characters who are supposed to be on the spectrum the spectrum can't even feel like hes on it.

[kacchanrawr]

mha final volume spoilers

For the past few months I've kinda just come to accept MHA's ending to be whatever. Not the best, but not the worst I've seen it's fine whatever. But seeing the final volume extra content honestly just has me genuinely hating the ending. I'm trying to keep an open mind cuz it's not officially out yet and leaks can be kinda dubious, but I'm genuinely so upset.

Ig the main feeling I have is: genuinely what's the point??? I mean there's a lot of things going on in mha and depending on what you care about ig you could feel like everything's fine and resolved, but personally? Just no. My main problem a few months ago was with Toga's death, but now I'm just even more pissed.

As so many people have probably already discussed: killing the villains off after all this stuff about saving them is a fucking problem right?? With Toga's case specifically (cuz she's my fave and I care the most about her), it's her just dying after she finally found the love and acceptance she's always wanted from Ochako. Like why? Even if you can technically make sense of it with her explanation of "I want to live life as I please", it's just stupid and distasteful. It would be one thing if she said that cuz she was just running away to be free, but to kill her? Of bloodloss of all things? Idc abt people going oh thats sooo poetic, no i think it's stupid. So many other characters have lived after going through worse like for fuck's sake, Edgeshot's still around.

What's the point of that emotional resolution if you don't show the aftermath, of her being able to live happily, or at least how she'll go on with life from then on? She didn't have to die, she could've just escaped or whatever (I was hoping that was the case when there was no mention of Toga's body). But by killing her, the only message I got from mha's whole saving the villains thing is: "sooo maybe having empathy for the deviances of society is important actually, but it's kinda inconvenient to deal with them." And even if that wasn't Hori's exact intention, that's what his story seems to be saying by killing off the villains.

And then the fucking nail in the coffin is the fact that Hori used Toga's death to drive Izuocha. It was one thing when he did it with the cliff talk when Ochako was mourning Toga (I always found it distasteful okay), but it's so much worse to write Toga literally pushing Ochako to Deku. So not only did Hori kill off the queer character who finally had her resolution and romance so he won't have to deal with her, but he's really following through with the Bury the Gays trope by using her o push the girl she loves to a man? Ew.

The worst part is that even if Izuocha got together and they're canon or whatever cuz of that last part, the way Hori did it is so fucking mid. Like seriously, if you were gonna do my girl dirty like that for that het romance, at least make it good?? But noooo. I mean they don't have to be like kissing and getting married and having babies or whatever (that'd just be shit), but at least have them properly get together. What is that "implied romance" ass handshake?? There's no fucking reason to make it implied, they're not queer or forbidden or complicated or anything. Bro just didn't wanna commit to actually fleshing out their romance. And you used Toga and her death for that, for absolutely fucking nothing?? The funniest part is that everything Togachako did is infinitely more romantic than that handshake, so how am I supposed to be convinced by this "implied romance"? (anyone who says implications enough for izuocha I'd say the bar's just on the floor for you cuz they're het)

And then there's Bakugo. I mean I was fine and whatever with the original epilogue, but what the fuck? So you're telling me bro lead Project Deku Hero Suit or whatever for 8 years, only for Deku to reject him when asked to be a part of his agency? It may or may not have been explicitly stated that they'd be in a hero agency together whatever, but I feel like it was a natural conclusion that they'd end up working together/closely as a hero duo? Win to save and save to win, wonder duo defeating ShigAFO together, that hospital talk about competing together for the rest of their lives, him being the one to reach out to Deku at the epilogue chapter, hello? DEKU REJECTED THAT AND FOR WHAT. Also ok fine this may sound stupid to be upset over, but why the fuck is Bakugo rank 15. Like we do just be writing whatever I guess

I'm still holding on to some hope that the leaks were ass and inaccurate. Or maybe even completely fake cuz the chapter's been getting a lot of AI art allegations? Though it's also probable that's just the leaker who used AI to get high res pictures of the leaks. IDK MAN JUST PLEASE DON'T LET THIS BE COMPLETELY ACCURATE PLEASE LET ME STAND CORRECTED

[helluverse-rewrites]

✨Sexualities✨

Alright so I'm thinking I'll start small for the rewrites. I don't really want to change much about the Hazbin sexualities since I've been thinking more about the Helluva Boss rewrite so I might cover the Hazbin characters in a different post

Note: I will not be changing any canon sexualities (except for one but you'll understand when I get there) but I will add on to canon sexualities and change some characters from being straight to queer. And the people I don't include have their sexualities the same as in the show. Also you could leave your headcanons in my inbox if you so desired

Tagging some people so they know I'm doing stuff on this blog @reviseyourwhat @darwuzhere @sobeksewerrat @hollowflight-propaganda

...

Moxxie and Millie are a bi4bi couple. Look me in the eyes and tell me Millie is straight. Exactly, you can't. This woman asked Blitzø what sex with Verosika was like with zero filter. Like, come on, they had a perfect opportunity to include a bi4bi couple why didn't they. What was stopping them

And Moxxie is also trans now. We need more trans characters in the show actually

Barbie Wire is now a lesbian 🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊 now, I love the fact that there are so many pans in the show, but there aren't hardly enough lesbians

Striker is bi and ace! I found it weird how someone from the crew (can't remember if it was Vivzie or someone else) said how he wouldn't be at a pride parade, but I say no because Striker is literally one of the best characters ("WHY IS IT ALWAYS A SEX THING????") he is so ace coded

And Stella is a lesbian. Remember, Stella was also a victim of a forced marriage. I like the thought of two people being forced into a straight marriage while being gay and a lesbian respectively

While Mammon is ace, he is also demisexual! I have no reasoning for this other than we need more sexualities that are lesser known

Speaking of which, while Vortex is bi, he is also genderfluid! They wear a bracelet to indicate what gender they're feeling that day (blue for guy, pink or purple for girl, and white for nonbinary. And if she wears all the bracelets it means any pronouns and if she wears two it means he's using those two pronouns)

Vassago is a demiboy and uses he/they pronouns

Asmodeus is also demisexual as well as pan (which is already canon)

[luv-byers]

I think some ppl forget that byler not being endgame would be the greatest waste of time EVER, specially for Will’s arc. Now let me explain.

Ofc Will is one of the most (if not the most) complex character of the show, his connection to the upside down is essential for the plot and in s5 we’ll discover many more things. His character is not defined by his sexuality only, ofc, but it is an important thing, specifically if we’re talking about the 80’s. Which leads us to the main point of this post: his love interest.

Him being the only character who hasn’t had any love interest/crush, or that actually avoids talking about love is something that they remind us every season.

S1: didn’t care that the pretty girl (don’t remember her name srry) was crying at his funeral.

- also, foreshadowing that he might be gay (lonnie called him slurs, the bullies at school doing the same…)

S2: he didn’t want to dance with the girl at the SB

S3: “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” “i’m not gonna fall in love…”

S4: “i think there’s someone he likes”

But we never get an actual answer. What we expect at the end of the show is seeing him with someone, to be in love, to show that he can also find someone to love just like everyone.

Him being gay adds more depth to his character, bc now we know why he wasn’t interested in girls at all, and also why he’s so scared to fall in love: bc it would be with a man, and he knows he wouldn’t be accepted.

The Duffers choosing Mike to be not only his love interest, but THE ONLY ONE, is a wild take. It’s not a simple crush.. it’s pure LOVE, he’s been in love for years. They could’ve chosen anyone, ANYONE, but they wanted Mike to play that part. Now tell me, why would they do that if it would be a simple “no, i dont like u back lmao, i care ab my gf” at the end? Why would they choose to waste 1 out of the 2 queer characters’ love story?

“It’s so vecna has something to torment him with” that’s one of the most stupid shit i’ve ever heard.

Vecna has plenty of things to torment him with: his ab*siv3 dad, the bullying he’s dealt with since he was a kid, everything he went through in the UD, him being gay, etc etc

They could’ve kept it platonic: will doesn’t want vecna to “tell” mike he’s gay bc that’s his best friend and he doesn’t want him to hate him for that. Or simply ANYONE ELSE. Mike didn’t have to be part of that trauma yk.

They could’ve added a character to be his love interest, maybe in s3, then a little scene with him in s4 to remind us that he’ll be present in s5 and then that’s it, happy ending.

Why did they choose to write mileven in such a poor way compared to other canon ships in the show, and on the other hand give us emotional, tender and intimate moments with byler if they didn’t intend to make them endgame?

When you make scenes be so easily misinterpreted you are not being clear. If mileven was clearly endgame there would be no “ship war”, bc it would be obvious. The reason why there are plenty of analysis and byler proof is bc they wanted us to notice those things. Bc guess what: if we have proof is bc there is something to prove.

They would’ve avoided any type of hint that could lead us to believe that Mike could be in love with him as well, or that he’s very queer coded.

Things like “the closet” (official soundtrack), the one way sign, him looking at will’s lips constantly, and other things, all that would be GONE.

Plus, they would wanna promote mileven and make us believe that they are THE main couple. For example, that final take? Why tf are will and mike together, alongside with other two canon couples, and then El at the front? Why isn’t Mike with her? They will defeat the evil with the power of love, right? They’ll be the powerful couple of the show… right? Doesn’t seem like it.

If Will gets rejected, not only everything they’ve been building since the beginning will be for absolutely NOTHING, but also things will be even WORSE than before.

Will, after getting rejected by Mike, will not be able to even look at him in the eyes. Not only he got rejected, not only Mike is his best friend, but also he’s a BOY. So, not only he confessed his feelings which “are not mutual” but also he just came out of the closet. How great is that? Even if they tried to play it cool afterwards I know that Will would be way too embarrassed to ignore it, so they would end up not talking to each other.

So not only they wasted a great part of Will’s character but also one of the main friendships of the show. All for what? To keep on going with mileven? To use a queer character’s feelings for their own good? After making so many people get bored of it or losing hope after season 4? After letting us see that she works better on herself without mike? What kind of shitty promo is this?

To sum up, byler/mike’s internalized homophobia would make Mike’s character even deeper and would explain some things that he’s done/said. If it wasn’t that and he was just being an idiot, then wow, they definitely nailed it……..

[menofsweaters]

Okay, I finally broke down and read the MHA epilogue leaks and I'm throwing my thoughts at the wall here so they'll get out of my brain. I fully did NOT seek these leaks out, but I was inundated with them all over tumblr, Insta, and even TikTok.

First and foremost, canon genuinely means very little to me. 90% of my enjoyment of MHA comes from fan works, including creating my own AUs and whatnot with friends, so like... canon being bad can't hurt me. I'm also old and have lived through way worse queerbaiting and fandom wars. There's also probably a lot lost in translation that we don't know yet and won't know until the official release. 🤷‍♀️

In no particular order, here is my brain dump on:

Izuocha and shipping in general

- as mentioned above, I don't really care about canon and I don't think ships need to be canon to be meaningful and enjoyable. I'll ship characters who never meet. I'll ship characters from completely different fandoms. Who's gonna stop me? In general, I think the shippers need to stop putting so much emphasis on a particular ship being canon.

- ALL THAT BEING SAID, BKDK was my first MHA ship and it's incredibly important to a lot of people. I think Hori had the opportunity to do something with that relationship that would have been groundbreaking, and he chose not to. He also had the opportunity to simply not focus on any ships and he didn't do that either, soooo... yeah. I think it's okay to be bitter that we still can't have a canon queer ship in shounen. It's reasonable to be disappointed. BKDK and Togachako were the most moving and complex relationships portrayed in the entire manga, in my humble opinion, and it does sting that they got pushed aside.

- I am not a fan of Izuocha, even though I generally like Ochaco. I just find it boring. I'm not enthused by het ships in general, but Izuocha in particular has zero chemistry in my eyes. They're also very similar characters in their mannerisms and personality, and I prefer "opposites attract" type ships that are more dynamic. I prefer Izuku and Ochaco as besties. They went through such similar traumas during the war, being unable to save someone that truly mattered to them, I would prefer to think of this ending as them helping each other move past their PTSD to rekindle a closer friendship.

- ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, while the chapter did not explicitly pair up ANY couples (except apparently Mushroom Girl and Vantablack? which is?? cute but random???), it's definitely implied that Izuocha is pursuing a romantic relationship. Feel free to tell yourself something different but it is what it is.

The hero rankings and other random plot crumbs

- the rankings also felt so incredibly random to me?? Best Jeanist dropping below Mt. Lady? what??

- good on Lemillion being number one though, I always imagine him in the top spot and I think the MHA world needs a hero like that to lift their spirits after the war. It makes sense that he's popular.

- also makes sense that Shouto is number two but wtf do you mean AIR CONDITIONING HERO

- so many of the updated character designs on the adult heroes are BAD, but Jeanist looks slick

- they changed Shinsou's hero name? for why? and gave him a bad haircut??

- absolutely no mention of how Hawks and All Might are working to revamp the hero rankings system, do not accept this

- Mirio is one of my favorite characters but his scene was weird af

- so many inconsistencies in the art style and messaging

- people randomly saying ominous things with no follow through like "heroes won't be around for much longer" or whatever

- I saw someone mention an implication that Bakugou is married to a woman but I didn't find any sign of that in the leaks, so I think that's fake. I know everyone is upset about Dynamight being number 15, and I agree that's too low, but that irritation is low on my list of grievances.

- the whole conversation between Baku and Deku about joining his agency was confusing and unfulfilling? I get why Deku would say no to being a sidekick, but I also don't feel like that's what Bakugou was offering, and they had the conversation in the car with Kirishima... just awkward. Which segues into my next talking point

Horikoshi's writing as a whole

- I think you can easily track the degradation of Hori's writing from the vigilante Deku arc to now. It's disjointed, confusing, often strays from established themes, and meanders around on weird tangents. It's... not great. It's not awful, but not great, especially for an epic climax/epilogue. Which is fine! He's a human being, not a content machine! But I think it's fair for fans to be disappointed that the writing has gone downhill, especially since the art has improved and become much more dynamic and interesting at the same time.

- in my view, it's incredibly easy to see that Hori lost his passion and was completely burnt out on MHA as we approached the end. The writing reflects a desire to wrap up everything quickly. Vital details are written in text rather than shown on the page. Storylines and themes are abandoned. Characters die, fail, or excel completely off screen. Hori spends more screen time and puts more emphasis on random side characters (see: Dai and the figure escaped a basement and was saved by that grandmother) rather than main characters, probably because it would be too difficult to give better endings to the main characters.

- you can also see the difference between the complex symbolism and plot points set up since the very beginning in earlier chapters, and all of that complexity and the hopeful vibes are bled away at the end. It's sad, actually.

- I saw an interesting take that this final chapter is Hori trying to make everyone happy - implying Izuocha while leaving BKDK still kind of open, making Deku a teacher AND a hero, listing all of the rankings, etc. and I think this is the theory that makes the most sense to me. He's taking a safer route and trying to please as many fans as possible, while unfortunately disappointing everyone.

- I've also heard that there's pressure from editors or Shounen Jump to have the series end this way, but I don't know about that. I'd think they would want to keep milking this cash cow forever. Maybe that partially explains the lack of queer canonical ships.

- SPEAKING OF WHICH, I've heard consistently from the fanbase that Hori is more progressive and more queer-friendly than other mangaka, but I honestly haven't seen any proof of this. Feels like wishful thinking. I've also hear that he's had other canon gay and trans characters, but the only ones I know of are Magne and Tiger, both characters that are simply implied to be gender nonconforming and maybe trans. But these are also not necessarily great portrayals, even if they are intended to be canon. Maybe there are characters in other works of his that I don't know about.

- maybe I'm jaded, but I also can't shake the assumption that Hori purposefully implied Izuocha at the end because he doesn't like his main characters being seen as gay. We've seen this in many other fathoms. Even if Hori didn't want to make BKDK canon, there are other popular queer ships that could have been given a tiny spotlight if he really wanted to have that representation.

- this is going back to shipping a bit, but Hori had this entire manga to create a meaningful relationship between Izuku and Ochaco and he just... didn't? Instead he literally and figuratively pushed them together at the end? Why not show them going on cute dates and getting closer? Why not a kiss? It just feels like a half-hearted cop-out. Ochaco has more chemistry and more screen time with Toga's ghost living in her brain than with Izuku. I am not exaggerating.

- I think Hori has a major case of "oops I accidentally wrote a powerful queer love story" syndrome (see also: Destiel) and just didn't know what to do with that. There's so little room for chemistry with other characters when you make the entire story about Bakugou and Izuku's relationship. 👀

- I think a lot of fans put Hori on a pedestal and expected perfection, but it turns out he's just one guy and he can't please everyone. I never got the vibe that he was a particularly great writer, and I never got the vibe that he was going to make BKDK canon. I think he (kind of like a certain JKR) created an amazing world and beloved characters, and then really fumbled at the very end when all the pressure was on.

Okay, I think I've cleansed my brain enough of all this.

TLDR: I think Horikoshi's writing has unfortunately been going downhill for a long time and this is the culmination of that. I feel bad for the man because he's probably under so much pressure and so burnt out - he wants to be done. Maybe we would have gotten something better if Hori could take some extended breaks or hand off the manga to someone else.

I'm disappointed about BKDK but more in an "I'm disappointed that we couldn't have this representation in 2024" way than a personal way. I would have preferred no ships. I'll keep enjoying fan content of lots of different ships that aren't canon and you should too! The canon can't hurt you! I hope we get the queer shounen we all deserve one day.

[poppitron360]

Hello :)

What is in your opinion a) the best Sapphic ship and b) what are your headcanons for them?

This has been in my ask box since may, and it’s been on my mind for a while.

So sorry I took ages to answer, I was waiting to finish the series so that I’d have all the relevant info (I’d heard Thalia x Reyna is a thing and I wanted to see for myself) don’t worry I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU-

Also, Life has gotten pretty badly in the way of things lately.

Tbh I haven’t really seen/paid attention to the sapphic ships in PJO.

Currently, drafting this before BoO, I’d say it’s probably Ruegard (Selena x Clarisse). While I very much think Beckendorf and Selena were in love, you can’t have two same-sex characters parallel Patroclus and Achilles and NOT have them be queer-coded (Unless Rick genuinely believed that Patrochillies really were just platonic besties, which is objectively false and factually incorrect and gay erasure honestly Rick).

I think Dying For Each Other IS queer culture (Valgrace for LIFEEEE).

While I swear by Aro/Ace Reyna and will die on this hill, the ships she’s paired with are cute dynamics.

- Theyna is badass. It gives similar vibes to Buffy x Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (easily one of the non-canon sapphic ships of all time) I just love how when they first met Thalia kidnapped Reyna and Reyna hit her with a chair. I just see that and think “couple goals”.

- @demigod-shenanigans has forced me to think about Pipeyna and honestly yeah they would be really cute. Particularly their dynamic paired with Valgrace. I love Reyna and Jason’s friendship and I love her relationship with Leo.

- Reynabeth (is that a ship? It should be). Daughter of War Goddess x Daughter of War Goddess SUPREME!!!!

But also, we need more aro/ace rep in media. I heart my aro/ace siblings.

Pipabeth is also some of the most sapphic shit I’ve ever seen. I think it’s just RR not really knowing how female friendships work (or maybe it’s me never really having the kinda touchy-feely female friendship I see on TV all the time, and so being unable to comprehend that kind of platonic compassion, but I’m not gonna unpack that here) but you can’t tell me these aren’t two cottagecore lesbians collecting mushrooms and building a fence and shit that cottagecore lesbians do.

Also shoutout to Rachabeth and basically any sapphic Annabeth ship. She is bi in my mind.

Shelper is underdeveloped. There is so much potential in a mortal x demigod relationship that was explored a little bit with Perrachel but never fully. I need to write a fic about them at some point.

I was writing something earlier and ended up maybe starting a Nyssa x Lavinia ship (hardened grunge Lesbian x bubblegum Lesbian)

But my favourite???

EMMIE AND JO!!!

We NEVER get sapphic romances for old people. I NEED a spinoff about them. I mean, you’ve got the forbidden romance from being in the Hunters of Artemis turned marriage (Idk if they’re canonically married or not but they are in my mind) and you’ve got them being badass fighters and you’ve got them being moms to Leo and Georgina and basically everyone at the waystation. It seems like “giving up immortality for each other” is Rick’s standard for “true love” and Emmie and Jo did exactly that. I love them sm.

[ganondoodle]

i did say i didnt want to talk more about it but i needed to make a correction-

CORRECTION; he did not say its perfect, but defended it as in 'what show has ever gotten all its plotlines wrapped up nicely when you got so much going on' ..... like it wasnt also him that introduced all those plotlines that ended up going nowhere or got a weird end to them or ... a really forced feeling open end to make room for whatever they are doing next

also another fun thing is (apparently, dont take my word for it) that they usually made sure not to stray away too far from leagues canon, to find a balance between arcane version and league ... but didnt do that for viktor (which is why hes nothing like he is in game .. or was (since they are erasing old game viktor..)) from season 1 they could have still gotten around to that, like imo him realizing that the hexcore isnt doing what he likes and replaces it with mechanical stuff or non corrupted hextech or jayce doing that to save him could all have worked to make him an updated version of leagues one without getting rid of literally everything of game viktor (but then there couldnt have been a timeloop :((((( what a loss :((( and we couldnt have made the entire plot suddendly revolve around god complex viktor ... and not make the class conflict magically be solved bc they had to fight together to defeat a threat tm (and then also kinda ... didnt ... like its jayce with ekkos help who gets through to viktor but the enforcers and zaunites needlessly dying was kinda .. for nothing ... cheap shock value maybe but utterly unearned imo)

(and just as an addition; i am aro/aco and i do love ace characters and also firmly believe that romantic love isnt the highest form of love and you can love just as deeply platonically and they are inherently linked and not really one or the other anyway bc in the end its love either way whether that makes you want to kiss someone or hug them tightly- HOWEVER it being used as an attempt to invalidate the popular gay ship (bc they absolutely love each other .. like ... that is undeniable, in whatever you may want it to result in) is just shitty to multiple queer identities ..... even ignoring the fact that asexual alone doesnt mean no kissing ... (and i do note that there are hetero and lesbian pairings EXPLICITLY in the show but the gay one is kept vague and then attempted to be invalidated by one of the writers which ... >_>))

arcane season two only had 3 writers left at the end ................. yeah it shows, the more i think about everythign the worse it gets

and if they fumble the whole class divide stuff of piltover and zaun THIS badly ... then oh boi are we in for a ride, cant wait what shit they come up with for the other regions (derogatory)

[asofspades]

In the past 24 I've got a guy to have beef with me on tiktok for saying that Jayne and Viktors relationship was definitely not brotherly and that what they have goes beyond the realm of romantic or platonic as we understand it, dude was pressed because I was "calling them gay", didn't understand that a single co-creator stating he views them as brotherly doesn't suddenly negate all the symbolism and the work of all the other animators, creators and designers involved, and he minimised the impact animator's interpretation of the characters have on the portrayal of said characters. Dude also negated the existence of queer platonic relationships and there existing things that go beyond friendship and romance which as an aroace stung a bit but then I thought "meh, that's just a stupid person, I'm ignoring that.

And then there's people having one sided beef with me in the MHA fandom because I said I think Izuocha is not well developed as a romantic relationship and it feels weird that Hori would suddenly make them canon. Some people are also mad I said I would've preferred no relationships to be canon because there wasn't proper development, or that I think the epilogue we already had was perfect and this feels a bit overkill. And then they say bkdk fans are toxic like😅. Would Izuocha be a good ship if they'd been properly developed? Yes. But they just weren't plus it feels like Ochako's personal development got sidelined in favor of a ship, she had a CRUSH, a teen crush that mainly originated because she admired Izuku's heroism, but her arc is about learning to appreciate herself for the hero she is and stop trying to imitate Izuku. And frankly it also feels like throwing away her entire plot with Toga, kind of like they used the queer character as a crutch to justify a poorly developed straigh couple. And that's not even mentioning how weird it is that after 8-9 years of not seeing each other they suddenly fall in love like, that's a bit weird. And I won't even talk about how I feel like they just threw away all the symbolism and effort they put into Izuku's relationship with Bakugo. There should've been no endgame couples.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The squad of all time has arrived on scene.

[knifearo]

ultimately when it comes to shipping and fandom space treatment of aspec characters i just don't accept "aro/ace people can still date/have sex" as an answer from nonaspecs. like yeah. mhm. okay. now i think we both know that you're not saying that out of real interest in the diversity of aspec experiences. so you can turn in your seventeen-page essay on why and how you plan to examine this character's aspec identity within the context of a romantic or sexual relationship complete with evidence from canon and peer reviews from multiple aspec people within the next week or i'm putting you in the pit from the edgar allen poe story

[kickedoutofthecommunity-aces]

Friend, you just said one of the things that makes me more insane than anything else.

Gay men and lesbians get to jump up and down, scream shout, and rip people to shreds of you so much as think of a canonically gay character as even bisexual. They treat their gay headcanons like the writers are too stupid to write what's obvious, even if it wouldn't make sense.

But they make a canonically aspec character gay, and we call it erasure, then suddenly it's "just fiction" "not a big deal." They're allowed to shout down any talk about a canonically gay character maybe being straight in some situations, but ace and aro people just need to shut the fuck up about our rep.

The more I come along the more I find that the most aphobic people in the world, are other queer people. Most straight people couldn't give a shit (not all, some care) but most negativity is coming from within the community.

Being aspec in fandom is really exhausting sometimes. You have an aspec headcanon? People will rip into it despite you literally agreeing that it isn't canon. You theorize a character is aspec? Oh boy, get ready for the fandom to act like you are the actual devil come up to stop their ships from being canon (even if you also ship it).

And if the character is canonically aspec? The main tags on tumblr are fucking unusable. If it's a webcomic or video or something, the comments are a cesspool of aphobia. And in both everyone insists they aren't aphobic, that the aspec people are the bad guys. Putting a canon aspec character next to their flag guarantees someone will get mad at you.

Double this if aromanticism specifically is ever mentioned. Triple it if it's any aspec identity besides ace/aro.

But, y'know, it's all fiction. Nevermind that it's how aspec people are talked about in real life. Nevermind that the implications are that being aspec is infantile and undesirable. Nevermind that aspec people are spoken over or tokenized every single time.

[do-you-know-this-queer-character]

Do you know this queer character?

Elliot is Bisexual and uses he/him pronouns!

[izartn]

On Blue Lock, Episode Nagi movie:

It was like one of those outsider pov fics from a secondary character pov but official. Given that's one of my fave genres of fic amd I knew that about the movie coming in I enjoyed the perspective it offered, and also the melodrama of NagiReo xD

Also why was the ost so much better than in the anime itself? Did I blitz too quickly through the episodes? It made the kinda recap this was, entertaining as it got, much better. Why XD I hope that ost is in season 2.

Liked how NagiReo were the last ones to cross that door and that Ego had to bait Ngi into it. Would have messed up his 300 teens plan for Blue Lock is these two refused lol though I think he was absolutely prepared for that. Funny how Nagi is the one who gets the Blue Lock mentality despite being the reluctant of the pair.

I loled at how little the other guys in V mattered though, and at the replay of the match against Z, Nagi getting more and more fixated in Isagi and football for himself, to Reo alarm and happiness respectively.

I am not the only one who thinks Nagi is/was depressed due to a lack of challenge and isolation in his life, right? That whole, leave me I don't want to even try, just want to stay in my comfort zone idling the days away....

Going to other matters....

Also. Why did that Isagi and Bachira separation at Stage 2 look 100% more gay than it was in the anime? I swear it was the typical Shonen friendship on the season. Ah I know. Because Nagi, BL character that he is, was there remembering himself and Reo in rosy flashbacks. Hilarious taking what happened just before between them. But then Nagi is confident on their friendship in a way that Reo just isn't.

The contrast between their mental states re:change are so fucking funny in a sad way too. Reo is so insecure, compared to Nagi, I guess it comes from his family reputation and money being all he was before he meet Nagi and so he's insecure about his own merits but really. He's coping about as well as my bestie in HS did to her situationship with another girl collapsing when she was 14, that's the level of gay ass failing were talking about. That Nagi just didn't voice aloud the emotional reassuring parts to Reo during the breakup was so teenage boy of him, he just thinks he's being clear enough and then, everybody else can see Reo is just. Not manging it well. Love that they just fucking went pass Nagi being brutal to Reo on the 3vs3, like. Yes this is Nagi PoV the movie no you don't get to see what the fuck was he thinking. I personally imagine he was trying to like, do a reverse psychology on Reo, but it didn't work(?) (except it kinda did) bc Nagi has a 0 in interpersonal communication. Who knows though. Maybe the manga?

Anyways I'm really happy about that post-credits and additional time! So season 2 is gonna start from the jump after the 50 days timeskip, huh? Not surprised at all by who I saw there as the starting 11 for the U-20 match, of course our protags and company are there.

That after all the movie they end up bringing it back to NagiReo kinda having maked up, and Reo having friends/rivals telling him to quit the sad face, they're gonna be the best is soooo funny. Yes Reo you have friends, you're there on the 25 of 300 even if you're on the sidelines right now, relax XD Happy for him he seems to get friends other than Nagi, he needs more than a (boy)cough(bestie) friend.

And that was it!!! Thanks to @ashen-sky for telling me to wait for the post credits! Very appreciated given almost my whole sala walked out.

[funkle420]

i love how so much of the stuff in delicious in dungeon that's not central to the main plot is left up to the reader/viewer's interpretations. it leaves a lot of space for fans to imagine what else happens outside of the plot, especially with how good the world building is. a sentiment ive seen more than a few times is that any character in dungeon meshi can be shipped with almost any other character, and because of how it ends you can even imagine characters who didn't interact much or at all eventually becoming friends and/or lovers, and there's so many ways for fans to imagine what else happens in this world after the story ends. there's little bits of interaction between characters that could easily be interpreted one way or another, but there's no malicious baiting or anything that's intentionally implied without being explicit.

That said, it is a little sad that there's no canon romance between Falin and Marcille, as far as I can tell, cause this type of thing happens so often in stories, where two characters of the same gender have romantic vibes but the writer didn't have the slightest intention of it being romantic. Also a little sad that, as far as I can tell, she didn't intend for Laios to be autistic either...

(to be clear, im NOT mad at ryoko kui here! this is JUST me being sad about the lack of good, intentional representation for queer and autistic people in media and how that conflicts with my appreciation for Kui's writing)