#Pokemon and Powerpuff Girls alike

[carriedreamerxx]

That time you're going through your Google docs and you discover yet another project you loved so much but it didn't get off the ground past one or two chapters.

The archive of a writer is filled with treasure honestly. E.L.E.M.E.N.T was a fun one but oh the unfortunate timing : 2020 - uhhh probably not meant to be : story started with a plague you know 😅

Shame it was a fun one.

And so my journey into the past continues.

[azuremist]

do you think red son or macaque count as being queercoded? it seems like something youd know about :]

YES, actually, the history of queer media and queer-coding in media is a HUGE interest of mine! So I’m happy to answer this question! (In much more detail than was likely intended.)

“Coding” is defined as when a character is subtextually given physical, action, or personality traits that draw a parallel to a real-life minority. Popular examples include fictional races being black- or Indigenous-coded, “weird kid” characters being given autistic traits, and, of course, queer coding.

The history of queer coding goes all the way back to the Hayes code. Basically, explicit queerness was NOT allowed on film, and the heroes had to always be in the moral right. So, in order to portray queerness, it had to be both subtextual, and it had to be done with the villains. This is the origin of the “queer-coded villain” trope, which still prevails in media today! Given that both characters you asked me about are villains (or at least antiheroes), I think it only right to cover the tropes regarding the queercoded villain.

Examples of queercoded villains in popular media include the likes of

Ursula from The Little Mermaid

Team Rocket from Pokemon

Shego from Kim Possible

Scar from The Lion King

Him from The Powerpuff Girls

Ways which villains (specifically, male villains) are queercoded include effeminate mannerisms, being well-dressed, flamboyant hand gestures, a sense of “pettiness” or even “bitchiness” to them, and little to no interest in women. These are alongside typical traits used to queer-code male characters, such as living with a male roommate and an interest in fashion or musicals.

SO! Let us apply ALL of that to the characters aforementioned.

Red Son:

Red Son absolutely falls into a few aspects of queer-coding. He has longer hair, and is drawn in skirts in official crew art, and has a very affluent way of speaking. His rage at the implication that Mei is his girlfriend may also fit neatly into this category.

That being said, I do not think that Red Son could confidently be defined as “queer-coded”. I feel as if the traits that could attribute to the idea aren’t a big enough part of his character. I feel like, if he wore a skirt in the show instead of in crew art, we could revisit this, though.

Macaque:

Now, Macaque is where we really hit the nail on the head. Here, we have tons of aspects of a classic queercoded villain. From his flamboyant, almost teasing style of evil, to his interest in theater (remember what I said earlier about musicals?), to his relationship to Wukong (which people on the crew are aware of and support the notion of their relationship being romantic; even to the point of one of them agreeing to the notion that they are bitter exes online), to his plain bitchy demeanor when not on the battlefield, I think that Macaque is a classic, true-blue example of a queercoded villain.

But, to be honest, I would be amiss if I didn’t bring up another character.

Tang:

I mean, you saw this coming, right?

I think that Tang is the best example of a queercoded character in LEGO Monkie Kid; even though I do consider Macaque to be queercoded. His complete disinterest in women attempting to court him has been used three times as setups for jokes. His relationship to Pigsy is exceptionally close, is pushed as important by the crew and the official Twitter for the LEGO toys alike, and.

Like

HE SAT IN THIS MAN’S LAP. Do I- do I even need to explain-?!

Not only that, but Tang also falls into a few different classic queercoding traits! He’s well-dressed, is far more emotional in later seasons than would be expected for an adult male character, and, in earlier seasons, has a sense of cattiness about him at times. I mean, it’s all pretty blatant, textbook stuff!

I definitely think that, at LEAST with Tang, the queercoding is on purpose. In the words of the former showrunner of LEGO Monkie Kid, Villads Spansberg, “There are many great people working on this show, and they all bring some of themselves to the characters. So even if it’s not written down, there’s a lot of layers being added, and I'm sure a lot of that is intentionally done to make our cast relatable to minorities around the world who feel there’s been a lack of representation in TV animation.”

Given that many members of the LEGO Monkie Kid crew are queer themselves? I think it’s safe to say that they know exactly what they’re doing.

[wolfdragon88]

any series or shows you like to watch? Or movies? Or rather the YouTube and alike type?

Ben: There's a lot to list. Theres the Disney movies and their series like lilo and stitch, or duck tales, for example some dreamworks flims like how to train your dragon. Shows like courage, the cowardly dog , Danny phantom, mlp friendship is magic, Powerpuff girls, the oringal one and the oringal teen titans. Anime is also a long list like Fruit baskets, some of iskeai anime like the sword, spider, and the slime, pokemon, yugioh, digimon, welcome to demon school iruma, salior moon, cells at work, heavens desgin team, and ect.

Silver: we do like to watch things like prehistoric animals, stuff about real life animals or what if fiction animals exist.