#again. like. i have nothing against fanon or fanfiction or shipping or hcs!!

[wheelercore]

The "fruity four" thing really was a great example of this fandoms strange relationship with the character's sexuality (excluding robin because she canonically a lesbian ofc), and by that I mean have you ever seen that tumblr post about how people will hc a characters sexuality completely based on their personality? That's like. Exactly what I'm talking about here, in particular this weird Asshole = Heterosexual thing going on. So you'll end up with people (fans aren't already invested in Gay Mike Truthism (tm)) who are like Nancy is actually a lesbian! Steve is bi! Dustin in pan! Lucas is bi! Mike is the Token Straight Friend though because he's a dick and I don't like him! And it's just weird to watch because ofc I have no problem with hcs, god knows I have my own, but it's like trying to hit the bullseye with a dart and instead you pluck someone's eye out with it.

And this fandom attitude just doesn't mesh with any media that actually seeks to tell a complicated story about a gay boy in the 80s who feels all the worst feelings about himself and the people around him. Yeah of course he's going to be a bit of a grouch. Maybe a bit of a meanie head as he has to pretend to be heterosexual. Maybe he does actually deserve to be with the boy he's in love with though?

It could be that it isn't explicit yet that Mike is very possibly gay, fair enough, but something similar is done with Will. From the beginning its been pretty obvious that his character was queer, but you even still get people (who aren't fans of will and mike obviously) who will be like oh he cries too much. Oh he's so pathetic. Or he's so weak when he's giving monologue about being different and how that makes him feel like a mistake, how he's clearly suffering from the long term effects of the abuse he's suffered from Lonnie and from bullies.

Idk it just feels to me like the point is being missed. Badly.