#This is the kind of bi rep I WANT

[supreme-burrito]

THAT IS A BISEXUAL

[sarasade]

okay I think my Viren multishipping agenda has been fulfilled. For now. Though I haven’t drawn any Viren/Harrow/Sarai yet so maybe I’ll do that one next!

I love Viren centric shipping ‘cause all of his relationships end miserably lmao. Or he’s manipulated, girlbossed and gaslighted. Viren just has that Dark Void Bisexual energy; rejected and used by both men and women:)

[catnippackets]

disclaimer: as a sex-repulsed aroace person myself--

on one hand, there is definitely a bit of a double standard when it comes to handling canonically queer characters like, from what I've seen in the circles that I frequent (if you've had different experiences then great but I'm just telling it how I see it). for example, you're morally reprehensible if you ship a canon lesbian with a man or refer to a canon bi character as a lesbian. people will be so angry with you. and it's understandable, since there's so little queer rep in comparison to cishet rep that when there IS a rare actual queer character, the unofficial rule is "don't take that away from them when you add more headcanons to them". like, respect that this one is REAL and NOT just a headcanon. I think it makes perfect sense to feel upset when people take that away, even if it is just fiction and not even canon to the original source. and yet, whenever there exists a canon asexual character suddenly it's all "oh well asexual people can still have sex so it's fine if we headcanon THIS canon sexuality as something different". it makes me feel so genuinely heartache-y and depressed to see ppl ignoring that aspect of a character.

and by "canon" I'm also including characters that were never specifically referred to with a label but are very obviously coded as something, because those characters will still get the "even if it's not stated it's pretty obvious!!" treatment when it comes to showing attraction to the same gender, but not when they DON'T show attraction to any gender. like aro and/or ace coding just doesn't count. I understand that it's kind of hard to represent an absence of something, especially when you're only implying it and not even directly showing it, but it's not impossible. there's a lot of characters that you could argue are aroace coded the same way you could argue a character is gay coded. obviously to a degree every queer identity gets disrespected in fandom and it's something you just kinda have to deal with, but it's easier to notice when it's something you personally relate to. I don't think it would bother me as much if we didn't have that unofficial "respect the canon" rule and everyone just went wild with whatever, but the double standard does genuinely hurt me, especially when I see people I thought were cool about this stuff participating in it. so whenever I see someone fiercely defending an asexual character it really makes me feel good, like I'M being defended, not a random fictional character that I might not even recognize the name of. I feel safe, like that person will respect ME.

THAT BEING SAID,

AS a sex-repulsed aroace person who enjoys thinking about the entire spectrum of intimacy and where a character may fall exactly on that spectrum, ALSO as a person who is aware that "asexual" simply means "does not experience sexual attraction" and not necessarily "is violently repulsed by anything sexual", sometimes I DO want to play out scenarios for my own enjoyment. sometimes I DO want to think hm I wonder where this ace character's line is, compared to a different ace character. I wonder if there is anyone who would be an exception for them, and how they could go about dealing with that exception. I wonder if they're favourable, neutral, or repulsed. if those aspects of their character aren't explicitly stated then what's to stop me from playing around with them and working through my own issues in a controlled and non-canon environment? if they have the same identity as me, I am way more likely to want to play around with them like a doll and perhaps play out scenarios that I might have thought about before but don't actually want to do for real. I'm not taking away their identity, after all; I'm just, in this scenario, imagining this ace character as an ace that might have sex on at least one occasion for whatever reason. either just to try it, or because they do have someone they'd make an exception for, or if they got bored enough, whatever the reason. it isn't quite disrespecting their truth unless it's explicitly stated either in canon or by word of god that it's something they're uncomfortable with. and to be honest, if I see another asexual creator headcanoning a character as somewhere on the asexual spectrum and depicting them in sexual situations, it makes me almost happy, to know that they're still acknowledging that character's canon identity and accepting and exploring the nuance that could come with it, even if I personally believe that this specific character would be repulsed instead of neutral or favourable. there's this understanding of "I'm doing a character study exploration thing", and not "I don't care I just wanna sexualize this character"

but I literally feel GUILTY when I want to write what is essentially a thinkpiece disguised as a fanfiction or original story on asexuality and take an asexual character (canon or coded) and involve them in sexual situations to explore different avenues of the spectrum. I feel like I'm betraying everyone who's like me and is frustrated with how aroace characters are treated within fandom. I'm like "am I being just as bad as those other people who will disrespect a character's canon sexuality just because they think that character is hot and want to ship them with someone? do they do the same thing with other types of queer characters? how does this reflect that person's view of people, if they're explicitly told someone feels a certain way and decides to ignore it for their own amusement? or is it just because they're fictional and not real people and I'm being really sensitive and thinking way too much into it? am I not doing the exact same thing? do I have more credence to explore scenarios like this because I am aroace and sex-repulsed myself and therefore have a pass to do whatever I want and it won't come off as a little weird the way it might if someone who's allosexual did it?"

and these two opinions are at war in my mind constantly. like both of them can and do co-exist but I still struggle to accept that lol

[phoenixkaptain]

I love Stardew Valley and I love the community and I love how we all bond over pixelated chickens like we’re seventy-year-old women bonding over grandchildren- - -

But I get so annoyed with the character hate, like!!! All the characters are great!! All the romance-able characters are great!! I keep getting recommended videos about the bad parts of characters and I just want to scream!!

Penny: lovely. Charming. Kids are a big part of dating her because she teaches kids, of course she’s going to react a bit badly if you hate children. She is trying to teach kids so that they don’t have to have the same life she and her mother do, why do you hate this woman who is just anxious?

Shane: lovely. Charming. Perfect. “He still drinks after we get married, which ruins the whole story” NO. No. Shane is an alcoholic, and a severe one. If he quit cold-turkey, he would fucking die. “Harvey pumped his stomach” HE WOULD DIE. And I don’t care that my husband is messy, he has his own room and I don’t have to go over there!!

Maru: lovely. Charming. She hates working. She loves working on machines. She thinks about machines to build for you to make life easier. She’s adorable. She has a complicated relationship with her brother and I want to help them fix it goddangit because I love fictional siblings.

Elliott: lovely. Charming. An artist. He only leaves his home for like four hours a day. I can really relate to the desire to shave off all of one’s own hair. I feel that in my bones. Also, is friends with Willy and I fucking love Willy so A++

Leah: “she’s a lesbian” She’s fucking bi stop erasing bi rep in Bi Rep the Video Game

Sam: he’s a musician and a skater. This is what the perfect man looks like.

Emily: just the most charming. She has a complicated relationship with her sister because she takes care of her. She works at a saloon, how can someone not love a literal saloon worker? She’s crazy, she’s wild, she’s a flower child, I’m in love with her

Harvey: glasses. Doctor man. Occasionally puts on headphones to not so subtly hint that he doesn’t want to talk to you. This is what the perfect man looks lik-

Abigail: I don’t see a lot of people complain about Abigal, but I’ve seen a few and it just feels like- you guys love Sebastian so much but don’t like Abigail? What type of double standard is this?

Alex: everyone always says not to date him if your playing a female farmer, but honestly, his dialogue only cuts out parts if you play male. Like, he still says he felt different about you from day one even if you’re playing as a girl. The character affected the most by your gender choice in regards to dating Alex is George, and if you’ve already befriended George, he’ll apologize for being mean about your sexuality when he never even said anything mean about your sexuality, which is kind of funny

I never see people complain about Haley or Sebastian, which is fair, because Haley has a cute character arc and Sebastian loves frogs (this is what the perfect man lo-) My only problem is that people praise these two but rag on everyone else when I feel like all the characters are balanced pretty evenly in terms of good-bad traits.

Which trait is which is dependent on the person playing the game anyway, so when someone like me plays, I can’t help but find the characters perfect because I’m very forgiving when it comes to fictional characters’ undesirable traits. I mean, my favourite trait of all is stupidity, pure and unbridled, I’m talking facepalm-inducing, groan-worthy, the type of character people complain about the most; the type of stupid that makes people stop enjoying things. How can I dislike these characters who are cute and a bit awkward and so ready to bed the first hot farmer they come across even when that farmer sifts through their trash and passes out three steps away from their own house and drinks mayonnaise and would eat hay given half the chance. Like come on. They’re all moron-sexual. I can relate to that.

In conclusion: your favourite bachelor and/or bachelorette is as wonderful as you think they are and screw the people who try to tell you otherwise. The characters are great because they appeal to different people. Enjoy the game and enjoy the dating and I swear to God if I see another person say that certain farm layouts are bad because they don’t make enough money- the game doesn’t have a time limit! You can make as much money as you want! You could sell one sap everyday and nothing else and you would still be able to make it to however much money you desire to have. There’s not really a fast way to make ten billion gold, that doesn’t mean that the farm layouts you don’t like are bad and yes I’m ranting just because I love the slopes of the mining farm its layout is chamrjng and picturesque and provides a unique challenge to decorating and placing buildings and it’s actually the BEST farm layout because I just decided so and-!

Stardew Valley is a great game, 10/10 would recommend, and the new update is already great because I found carrot seeds and I like carrots :)

[thegayloragenda]

Okay I want to put all of my current predictions out here (these are subject to change, of course):

• I think this show is going to get a little more colorful or a little bit more gay with each show because I think she’s running out the clock.

• I am CLOWNING for an eventual pronoun change during surprise songs.

• I think Karlie will probably show up again. And if she shows up for the rep announcement I will die dead.

• I’m also clowning for a rainbow variation of every outfit or perhaps a debutation variation if she plans to drop them together. Maybe a karma outfit. Idk. I don’t really know what is coming next in regard to music or if there will be anything (what if she just went black out for a year and then dropped rep next December 😂).

• I’m split because I think she’s either going to continue this Travis stunt until the Super Bowl or she’ll break up with him while on tour (if it’s real that’s totally fine but the way this relationship has been crammed down our throats gives me the ick so bad). I have no idea how that breakup will go down especially since they’ve made an entire Christmas movie about this relationship.

• I’m still assuming we’ll get a proposal / breakup.

Overall, I don’t think Taylor Swift would pander to this side of the fandom the way she has if she didn’t have a plan to blow everything up. I assume she’s a good person. I assume she’s supportive of the fans who see her. I’ve been in this fandom long enough to know what it looks like when she’s in the closet and when she isn’t. The closet isn’t even glass anymore. The closet is just invisible at this point so if she’s just a straight girl who loves rainbows, she’s absolutely diabolical in the very worst ways.

And before anyone comes for me, yes she can be bi or pan or whatever she wants to be. I don’t care about muses or labels. I notice patterns and I can’t help but connect the dots. I see bi and lesbian dresses and her calling attention to them so that’s where my focus is. I care about freedom for her (whatever that looks like) and I also think some clarity about who she actually is will help a lot of us decide if we want to keep supporting her and giving her our money. I’m placing my bet on her being who I think she is so I’m here to support her until the end of this roller coaster ride.

I will make a post on the final day of this tour but I just want to say this: I have had the TIME OF MY LIFE in this labyrinth. I have made lifelong friends because of this side of the fandom. Thank you to ALL of my friends on here who have followed me and commented on my posts and said such kind things. Thank you to everyone who has messaged me their insights and theories. And finally, thank you to my fans who have messaged me your homophobic, brain-rotted hate comments. Good luck in the aftermath!

And to Taylor (if you ever see this), thank you for keeping my mind so stimulated. I will probably never get dementia because of you. You have been so good for my brain health. Thank you for teaching me about my own history as a queer girlie. Thank you for helping me heal my relationship with my neurodivergent self. Thank you for being the “mother” who saw me when my own mother just talks about how gross and wrong gay people are. Thank you for being kind and strong and brave in the face of shame and fear and danger. Thank you for leading a revolution of New Romantics! No one does it like you, girl. I love you so much. I hope you got a giggle over the chaos and the wrong predictions. I hope this tour brought you joy and hope and peace and healing. I know I haven’t always seen eye to eye with some of your choices, but I do respect you and I do hope the rest of your life is sunshine and rainbows and you get to hug your mom forever and take really long naps with your person after all of this is over. Long live 💜

Update: I do think the election plays a big role in how loud she can be. @casuallycruel131313 pointed this out, too. We’ll get way more once Kamala has been elected! I think Canada shows will be wildddd.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

hey skyen, you mentioned about kuina that she seemed transmasc to you and in my experience i think more people see zoro as a transmasc person, the reason being is his want/need to break gender stereotypes rather than enforce them. through kuina, his story to become the greatest swordman is inherently about breaking gender roles. and personally i think a lot of transmascs see this as their relationship to cis women. (especially in how kuina pushes zoro into the "weak" category with him and parrots sexism without knowing how it affects him) i also think his story is WAY more satisfying from a gender perspective if you see him as transmasc, regardless of if its intended or not. (the truth is that theyre BOTH transmasc, actually, why not?) (idk if you read fanfiction, probably not, but the fanfiction Burning Man on ao3 really goes in depth with transmasc zoro. its also the best fanfiction ive personally read for op)

Yeah, I can absolutely see that.

On related lines, I've also seen an interpretation of the story that Kuina and Zoro are the same person, and that Zoro's flashback depicts a metaphorical series of events rather than literal, where he battles with his assigned identity over and over as a child and can never "beat" her, never overcome or break out from under her.

But when he realizes that his assigned identity is miserable and in pain, and that all that even she wants is to be a boy, he has to go through the trauma of seeing her die, and go out into the world as truly himself. Through that lens his quest to become the greatest swordsman in the world is, in part, a quest to spite every motherfucker on Earth who told his past self that he would never be able to transcend his assigned gender.

So long as you assume that Kuina's father is playing along with it to the point of setting up a grave for his dead daughter who never was, it does explain why he would let Zoro take away the Wado Ichimonji, an incredibly important and valuable family heirloom, and treat Zoro so much like a direct son.

The Three Sword Style already represents Zoro carrying Kuina's spirit and memory with him always - his two-sword style in the hands, her one sword style in his mouth - and in this reading the style would be carrying the memory and pain of his childhood with him, and letting it empower him to become greater than anyone without his experiences could ever be.

It's one of the nice things about One Piece, I think, that it is open to these kinds of interpretations. Luffy being aro/ace is basically canon, which I appreciate a lot, and nobody can tell me Nami and Vivi didn't have a mutual crush going during Alabasta, and there is no understanding of Ace I will accept where he wasn't the most bi/pan wandering disaster the Grand Line had ever seen since Roger.

I do hope the actual explicit text of the manga will catch up to that someday... I was really happy to finally see some actual transmasc rep with Yamato, and a bit more playfulness with gender in general in characters like Izou and Kikunojo in the Wano Country arc, and honestly canonically transmasc Zoro or Crocodile would be enriching to both of those characters, I think.

[usercelestial]

the whole queer eddie being included in a queer characters posts reminds me of like when people were wishing the bucktommy date scene got cut instead of the eddie and buck in Bobby’s room and eddie praying …when there is that whole random ass scene with no real adherence to the plot or the characters with polly the neighbour right there as an option for them to cut..but no they wanna cut the scene with the mlm queer couple (that many mlm queer men in this fandom love) all because they hate tommy, can’t handle a daddy issues joke, and the fact that it’s not eddie with buck

yeah ultimately a lot of their cries for activism and queer rep are performative. they do not truly care about queer characters or queer representation and i think most people could smell that from a mile away. these people have always been way more concerned with their own ship than with anything else. they like to pretend that if you don't ship The Thing or if you don't hate bucktommy then you must not want eddie to be queer or even like his character and that's. a thought lol. but i think it's really interesting why they've come to that conclusion.

like for me, i love eddie enough that i don't have to change his character to make him something that i like. i love eddie enough to allow him to be his own character outside of my own interpretation of his queerness and outside of his relationship with buck. but at the same time i also love eddie enough to see myself in him and create theories about his identity. these two things co-exist: seeing the character for what the canon shows me he is AND seeing the character for what i'd like him to be. i think most people are able to find the balance and be pretty normal about it. i think these people are genuinely so far deep into whatever they want the story to be that they have to rewrite canon to fit that perception of the character and feel threatened when that gets pointed out.

which again, like i truly do not give a shit if you do cherry pick canon, just don't come for people who are like hey you know that's just your headcanon right? like don't act like your own interpretation is better than anyone else's. it's not, it's still just an interpretation. i do read eddie as queer while still acknowledging that within the canon universe, he is identified as a straight man by canon. which makes my reading of him just a headcanon (aka canon in your head but not anywhere else), no less valid and important but still not the story they may be trying to tell.

i've talked about this a little bit before but i think a lot of the issue here is the idea of playing nice and remembering that this is all pretend which i don't think they've really had to deal with before. a lot of these people have never been confronted with another big kid on the block. their ship has kind of held precedent for a really long time, along with their headcanons and their ideas of what these characters are. so now that buck actually is bisexual and is dating a man, who isn't eddie, suddenly their entire worldview of canon breaks down.

now there's canon gay representation. now you don't have a moral argument to justify your ship bc that thing you've been begging for, "canon bi buck/more canon queer characters" does exist. so now what are you arguing for? just a preferred ship? no that can't be, it must be more than, we must be fighting for something bigger.

but now you're forced to confront that it's all just headcanons and vibes and theories that have ran unchallenged for years and years. so now you have a group of people who do not know how to grapple with the reality they are being shown vs the reality they've created in their heads clashing against people who are fans of the same reality the show lives in and don't really care about the non-canon anymore. which, if that's your prerogative, if you prefer non-canon stuff, then go for it, that's what fandom is for, but the issue here is that they view this as genuinely a threat. they don't want any other interpretation. it doesn't just feel like a threat to their ship, it feels like a threat to the canon world they've created about these characters. they see other people coming in excited for something that isn't their thing, and now feel like we're taking something away from them. they don't want to see canon anymore, even if it's something they used to claim they want. they don't want queer rep, they want to be proven right.

[eddiegettingshot]

sorry it is absolutely fucking hilarious to get self-righteous about “buddie shippers” being problematic or whatever because, crucially, “shipper” and “fan” are not actually social categories. forgetting this is why we have men perpetuating actual misogyny against actual women and nb people, why i saw someone saying verbatim that eddie (latino man) doesn’t need to be queer because the show already has henren (black lesbians) to be “queer racial rep,” why i’m seeing people pretend like lesbians and bi women have some kind of hidden structural power, why i’m seeing people come up with insane conspiracy theories about hacking and crimes to defend a white man with a recorded history of racism who was being racist, why people are throwing around whatever fucking accusations they want at any given time because it’s easy to use real problems to make a point, why straight people feel comfortable saying whatever the hell they want to queer people who disagree with them, etc. etc. and, despite seeing a notable absence of people pushing back against behavior like this, i still don’t think these things represent people who Ship Bucktommy, but people who suffer overall from a deep lack of understanding of power and oppression, and who are too ready to say whatever the fuck they want in service of their tv show opinions. but anyway, if that’s how we’re playing it, i guess i will feel ashamed of being associated with Vile Buddie Shippers when people start expressing any amount of shame from being associated with Extremely Misogynistic Bucktommy Enjoyers

[buddiebeginz]

These are the kinds of comments I've been seeing all over social media lately. These ones in particular are on the ABC YT. If you love Buddie you need to get out there and start posting about it. This season is still being written and they will take audience reaction into consideration at least to some extent with storylines this risky and a move to a new network.

Buck's bi storyline all on it's own is important I'm thankful the show is doing it and no Buddie doesn't have to happen for this storyline to happen. But as I said in a previous post 1. Buddie happening will be just as important for queer rep as Buck 2. Buck as a character deserves an epic love story. I don't get people who argue against this. Look at characters like Athena and Bobby and Chim and Maddie they all found their soulmates and got years of the show to build their romance. That is what Buck deserves.

Do NOT tell me you care about Buck if after only a few episodes of him even knowing Tommy you're like f*ck Buddie Tommy is endgame. Have you even been watching the show? Buck and Eddie have literally put their lives on the line for each other multiple times. Have been there for one another at their best and worst moments.

After all that Buck has gone through especially with relationships and after all his parents have put him through I want to see him realize he has real love with Eddie right in front him. I want to see him realize he has his own little family right there with Eddie and Chris. Realize that for all the years he spent trying to be enough for his parents he's always been enough to Eddie and Chris. I want to see him get married at some point and see like a montage of his and Eddie's moments all through the show. I see the importance of Tommy in Buck's bi journey right now but he's not Buck's person. I don't get how people aren't seeing that.

[joyboyish]

okok i saw someone talk about how they dont like zolu (which if u dont idc) but it came down to a mass mischaracterization of zoro, luffy, and sanji so i wanted to talk about it

note that the person i saw was a zosan shipper but im not at all saying zolu is better than zosan or that zosan sucks (also sorry if this comes off rude im autistic LOL)

"zolu doesnt work because luffy is aro ace!"

im aspec, but you guys need to realize asexuality and aromanticism is a spectrum. for example: someone whos demisexual would only have romantic/sexual feelings if they already have a close bond with that person. using luffys aromanticism as an excuse to why zolu doesnt work is. weird. aspec people already dont get a lot of rep, but boiling it down to one definition isnt what we are

"if you ship zolu its because of the one piece live action! they straight washed sanji!"

ok this one kind of pissed me off bc😭..... none of the strawhats are canonically queer. you can def hc someone as gay, bi, lesbian, etc. but until oda says something is canon it isnt. for example, i hc zoro as gay and sanji as bi! but neither of these are canon. sanji wasnt straight washed, his characterization is very similar to the animanga, same as the other characters. the only real difference is they toned down a lot of things they werent able to do bc its not animation

"it feels cishet female gaze-y!"

zolu, arguably, has one of the most complex dynamics in the show. zoro has completely dedicated himself to luffy and luffy has pushed him to accomplish his dream. zoro sacrificed himself in thriller bark, giving up his dream, and promise to kuina, and nearly died in the process. zoros unwavering loyalty in luffy and luffys unwavering trust in zoro is part of the main appeal. im not a cishet female, so its probably why most of this got me upset, but i myself hc them both as aspec, and that they arent very sexual people. i wouldnt necessarily call either "female gaze-y" since the male gaze is a product of the patriarchy and the female gaze is more in a "how does this man treat a woman" way but yeah.

if u disagree w me thats ok! u can block me or send me an ask explaining why u prefer zoro and sanjis dynamic! its just not for me! i just think throwing around baseless accusations like straight washing or fetishization is weird

ok bye sorry

[wenellyb]

I don’t understand why people complain about bucks coming out arc. I think really having it wrap up in 4 episodes was perfect. I thought Tim and Oliver were very clear that it wasn’t going to be a huge deal? Just that oh these are new feelings and moving on. I feel like for me it was very reminiscent of my bi realization. Just oh okay moving on. I think it is good rep to show that realizing these feelings and coming out doesn’t have to be big and scary because it isn’t for everyone.

Hi Anon!!! I agree

For me, Buck's coming out arc was in episode 4, 5 and 6. And they did it perfectlyas you said. I don't know what more they want? Him struggling with his feelings? Drama??

He's obviously happy, and I don't think they need to spend 10 episodes on this storyline.

One of the reasons, why I liked episode 4 is because it reminded me of Levi's storyline in Grey's Anatomy that gave us, to me, the best coming out scene in TV history, because it was about Joy, the joy of founding out who you really are.

Too often in earlier shows or movies, the storyline were always about "struggling with your sexuality and struggling with being out", etc,.... Enough! I love these new kind of storylines.

I don't know what more they want?

[glisten-inthedark]

Ngl I’m so torn between gay Mike and bi Mike for a few reasons

I want good bi rep with Mike and internalized biphobia is as real and important to represent as internalized homophobia, so I think it would be so awful for the Duffers to write that into the story

Also I almost think it would be more “palatable” to the general audience because I think a lot of people would be upset if they thought Mike was “”””””leading El on”””””” (as if he’s not just a confused teenager in the ‘80s who’s scared of being labeled a slur) and would be more accepting of a narrative where Mike fell out of love/romantic feelings for El

Tho considering all the biphobia that surrounded Bridgerton recently;;; ugh

But on the other hand, I feel like gay Mike makes a ton of sense narratively, the idea that it’s always been performative heteronormativity would make sense especially since in season 1, Eleven looks like a boy and is mistaken as a boy by multiple people including my aunt who despite being told she’s a girl over and over kept calling her “him” 🫥, it makes it feel like Mike subconsciously felt she was someone acceptable to crush on because she looked like a boy but was a girl so it was “safe”

It’s honestly really hard for me to put into words why gay Mike feels like it fits so well but yeah I want bi Mike pretty bad too

Hi!!! How are you doing?

I actually agree with all of this, and I am also torn between Mike being bisexual or being gay.

Honestly, the whole matter of how the audience is going to deal with all of this is something that I've been going over in my head. I realized that regardless of how they go about it, it will be complicated for people to digest, and I don't even think that it will be for lack of trying (not for the non-homophobic/biphobic asshats anyway).

Unfortunately, many people are unaware of things like internalized homophobia/biphobia, especially if they aren't queer themselves, or are at least in touch with the community, so yes, I think Mike being bisexual might be a little more "palatable" as you so aptly put it, rather than him being gay, because I also think there might be a lot of misconception about him and El, so yes, there might be people getting upset because they would think he "led El".

There's so little bisexual representation in this day and age that it'd be awesome to see it in such a big TV show.

However, as you mentioned as well, there's a lot of biphobia going around as well, literally people dismissing it outright or acting as if it's not real, so it's like we say in Brazil: "Se correr o bicho pega, se ficar o bicho come" which roughly translates to "Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't" kind of situation.

So I'd be happy with both outcomes, although I also think him being gay makes a lot of sense from a narrative perspective, I'd be happy with either scenario.

Thanks for the ask and I hope you drop by again (:

[bucksboobs]

I just think if people are going to say they don't care how the way the talk about a ship negatively effect mlm then they need to stop pretending they want the ship for "queer rep".

It’s so funny to see them being like “this isn’t the bi rep Oliver wanted 😢” every time Tommy is less than chaste meanwhile 1) Buck is by far the horniest character in the series and that’s saying something when Athena and Bobby are out there role-playing on screen. 2) Oliver is on record multiple times as loving the way this was handled and specifically saying he doesn’t want to rush into Buddie (if it happens) because of the way it might come off to have him come out and Eddie be like “oh so that means you’re into me?” 3) the bi rep they want is apparently stripped of all mentions of him liking or having sex with his boyfriend so idk if that’s the kind of bi rep I would want tbh!

[ibuprofinator]

I think it would be helpful for us to divorce characters from their non-het sexualities in the sense that it's not something THEY chose, but was given to them by writers/devs/whoever for (usually) very specific reasons.

this part of the reason why playersexual vs bi and gay/lesbian headcanon discourse is so annoying to me. there's always a sect of people who refuse to engage with the REASON why all the da2/dav/bg3/etc companions are bi. there's sometimes this instance that just because they aren't playersexual by that one person's definition of the word means it's good rep. when, no, sometimes the reason they're all bi or there's only bi options with straight - but no gay options - is a form of homophobia AND biphobia. biphobia in the sense that it's used as a way to not alienate straight players instead of a sexuality they respect. homophobia in the sense that, well, they don't want to engage with sexualities that are "more exclusive" for lack of better phrasing.

and then you get into the nuance of them making characters that are very easily read as lesbian or gay due to coding or steryotypes that queer people can recognize straight, or bi/playersexual in such a way that their queerness can be ignored (which, off topic but stereotypes like fem gay men/masc lesbian women etc aren't always BAD but that's a whole other discussion).

and then talking about or having headcanons for non-het sexualities of an all-bi/playersexual cast of romancable characters turns into people saying you're "erasing bisexual representation." which is also kind of insane since some random person on the internet, or even a popular fan interpretation, is never going to have anywhere near the same weight as the actual piece of media. fandom is always going to be a smaller portion of the fan base than the people who engage with a piece of work more casually that make up the bulk of its consumers.

we can talk about how people ENGAGE with headcanons that turn a bi character into a gay man/lesbian, but it's not biphobic on its own to say (for example) Korra is a lesbian.

[feelbetterlove-books]

Oughhhh okay first of all, I am SO happy to see Bucktommy back on our screens and I WILL be mass reblogging things about them soon, fair warning! I took a bit after the ep to stop jumping up and down about how good it was, but then I came across the subject of this post and so first, to get it out of my system: a rant! It's not about the episode, probably not of any interest to most people, especially Bucktommy fans trying to protect their peace, so feel absolutely free to ignore this, I'll put it under a cut, I just have to get it out. I've been holding my tongue where bobs are concerned for the most part because I don't want to be mean/have a bunch of negativity on my blog/have any of them find and come after me like they're known to do, but idc rn.

So, there's this author I follow on insta, have followed for years, have read a few of her books and had the rest on my tbr. The ones I've read weren't mind-blowing or anything tbh, but for contemporary romances (not my usual genre) I had fun with them. What I really liked about her was that she is so outspoken about all of her books having bi characters: f/f and m/f. Bi4bi m/f, bi woman x straight man, bi woman x lesbian etc. I love to see bi rep and her efforts to make bi characters visible are great, I respected her for it and I found out last season, she's also a 911 fan! A Buck fan! Cool! She ships B*ddi3 but usually idc ship and let ship, I didn't think she was a Bucktommy hater.

That is, until tonight when I went on insta and saw her post. Bee cupcakes as the first pic, I went oh cute, for 911!! But then I scroll through the post and find this bingo card, the more I looked at it, the more I was like 😬 oh so she's a bob, huh? She only cares about Buck and his bisexuality if he's with E**ie? I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but then there's this in her stories (edits by me to highlight what I'm on about):

And I've blocked a LOT of blogs to try and avoid Tommy/Bucktommy hate so getting blindsided by this when I was in such a good mood enjoying our favorite guy's scene sucked. I literally felt sick about it for a while afterwards and I've decided to unfollow her and unhaul the books I own without reading more. It's not the first time I've stopped supporting an artist I was a fan of, granted this reasoning may seem dumb or petty to other people but I just can't get over it, I mean-

You're a romance author with 5 books published, I didn't think it was a stretch to assume you at least had some decent media literacy and appreciation for a good story/a sweet, queer, rom-com inspired ship. But you hate Tommy just because he's in the way of your ship? You champion bi characters, but will hate on the gay boyfriend of one who is breaking stereotypes and making people feel represented because you think his straight best friend would be a better match? Seriously?

And it's not only these two things, I looked her up on tw*tter, which I'm never usually on, but had logged into today to look at Lou's posts, and I found that she follows multiple people who I know to be particularly nasty Tommy haters/bobs. So. Yeah. I'm out of there, I just can't look at her the same anymore, not to be parasocial or whatever but she always seemed cool, I liked her, I wanted to support her work, I HAVE supported her work personally and as someone who works as a bookseller, I've pointed people to her books and sold them.

But now I just have a bad taste in my mouth. There has been SO much hate towards Tommy, Bucktommy, and worse, the real people who ship them, Lou, and even Oliver over the last few months, because it's constantly being stirred up by this kind of B*ddi3 shipper. I would feel sorry for them for how desperate and bitter they are if not for the fact that I simply cannot stand them anymore. They are miserable and determined to make Bucktommy shippers miserable, too.

I just don't get why people can't stay in their fandom lane and leave others alone?? Like, getting mad that Buck's ESTABLISHED BOYFRIEND and E**ie's FRIEND, WHO HE LIKES, was in one (1) scene, when it narratively made sense for him to be there to remind the ga of him, is pathetic. Tommy came to support E at the virtual birthday party of his estranged teenager, and make a heavy scene lighter and you're acting like he's some kind of monster. I can't even, I'm done!

I hope all the bestie boos will start to leave the fandom soon, when Tommy sticks around, because tbh they only care about one thing that's never going to happen and they don't even seem to have fun on their side of the "ship war". They're too busy being nasty all the time, can't talk about their ship without dragging ours down.

Anyway this rant is becoming more generalized than what I planned to say about that person and has already gotten sooo long, so I'm just going to post it to throw all my anger and frustration out there with it and then bury it with happy Bucktommy posts!! If any Bucktommy fan for some reason actually reads this 1. Oof. Sorry! 2. I 💙 you, Bucktommy fans are the best and I'm so glad to be in this fandom despite everything!!

[austajunk]

Why do you hate MLM gays so bad lmao just let them have one thing I’m begging you

Harassing people for previously shipping Komaeda with women is obviously not okay- but there’s also things like transmasc/nonbinary headcanons for characters they want to ship with him and it doesn’t hurt anyone to have gay rep

Just have an open mind about it

Okay.

Alright.

First of all,

Me hating MLM gays?

I don't. I love any type of Komaeda. Gay or bi. But also consider, maybe we deserve some clear bisexual male rep too, hm? I know as a biromantic asexual person, there's a lot of headcanon and canon rep I would like to see people venture into as well.

Secondly, why do you assume I don't have an open mind? I'm a multishipper. My mind is as open as it can be. People deserve to have fun and take canon and transform it to what makes them happy. That's the purpose of transformative fiction, after all.

Storytelling is a meeting of the minds. I'm a huge fan of Kodaka's mind, let me tell you. I think he's brilliant and I love understanding where he's coming from when he's writing characters. I'm not usually a "Death of an Author" kind of person, you see? But with frivolous things like shipping, it's very much "Eh live and let live".

And yes. People who "previously shipped" Nagi-wagy with female characters are getting shit for just having fun on their own end. Somehow I don't think you really care about that. They aren't taking away your gay rep. And also, again, what if it's Bi Male Rep? What then? Is that somehow LESSER than Gay Rep? If so, please rethink your priorities.

Cheers. Let's have fun. ^^