#altho they are all gap moe

[baby-xemnas]

"cutest in the world" is a title shared between all first mates, unlike pirate king where it can be only one - all the idiot captain trio's wives stand on the top of cuteness pedestal

bepo is peak overt teddybear little girl kyaa~ cuteness

killer is peak milf sexy housewife cuteness

zoro is peak bodyguard gap moe scary lap dog cuteness

[termagax]

essentially i just think its an interesting topic w him because like he does kind of embody a sort of machismo and its hard to tell how much of that is a genuine self-expression and how much of that is a persona but that is his whole thing innit. how much of "roadhog" is a mask and how much of it is just. his face.

i feel like its easy to point to the gap moe and just say see. femme behaviour. and i think that kicks ass as a reading but to me i think. hm. like i just think that these two parts of him are not neccessarily "one is the true self and one is a protective persona" as always i think its more complicated than that. and honestly i dont know how much HE knows the distinction between the two either.

part of my personal read on him is that he was a majorly troubled kind of social outcast kid and i think it would take him a while to come around to being comfortable in his own skin, yk? for a LOT of reasons i wont get into here. and im sure that that would give you that defensive layer of machismo and aggression thats difficult to break through but a)at this point its been baked into his life for like. 40 years. and b)he doesnt seem particularly interested in breaking it down at all. i think even the version of him we see in the game where he seems a lot more comfortable with the goofy, cutesy parts of himself he is still very much a Big Dog type of man and he seems to enjoy it a lot. just generally it doesnt ever seem to me that he has much resentment for that part of himself, at least not now? BUT at the same time i absolutely think that he does struggle with feeling alienated from himself and his identity especially wrt the idea of Mako and how he conceptualizes essentially this dead boy inside of him. and i think in my read of him that he felt like mako was dead way before roadhog ever got to come out. again i read him as a bullied outcast kid who grew up into this angry insecure adult with something to prove, and i think that machismo and need to hide the Soft Parts is something hes had for way long yk. so i guess i do read him as kind of gnc although again i dont think this is something hes really interested in reflecting on hes got a job rn so he dont care abt that.

but i do think his willingness to be anything other than an unapproachable brick wall of a man has ebbed and flowed thru his whole life. ikind of read it as peaking through his teen years - early 20s and then mellowing out a bit, so by the time he met fish* they wouldve known him as a lot more comfortable with himself and their relationship wouldve probably facilitated the closest he ever got to actually thinking abt himself in regards to gender. but i think it would spike again once the apocalypse starts happening and its very useful to be the biggest roughest meanest bastard in the wasteland and very bad to be any kind of vulnerable. and i think this would mellow out over time because i think at some point his reputation gets ahead of him and he feels like he can essentially do whatever he wants and rest easy in the knowledge that anyone who says anything will get their teeth punched in. altho i do think hed be more cagey about it around people hes close with during that period mostly because that requires being honest abt anything and. frankly emotional intimacy is just not a part of his and fishs relationship in that period. and the again i think the point we see him at during the games is probably the most chill and normal hes ever been with it because i think hes really kind of found a comfortable place with himself, like i think at that point he feels like he knows who he is and he doesnt feel the need to explain it or dissect it or find that line between roadhog and mako i think hes fine being in the grey area. i will not go on a tangent here abt how fish and rat play into that self-perception thematically but do know i have that locked and loaded.

this is a lot of words to say i think hes dubiously nonbinary and if he were placed in any different less hostile circumstances maybe he couldve done something about that but at this point in his life i dont think he feels the need to yk. theyre chilling.

[yuuzuforia]

absolutely giggling over how dan feng is always 😐😐 and imagine if hes fucking rude and blunt too 😭 like ppl ask him for help and hes like: are u that stupid that u cant even fighre it out on ur own???

but when it comes to his meow meow aka us, he does a whole 360 degress turn and deadass goes 🥺 omg what do u need help with? itsok, i will always help u yada yada (insert cheesy romance shits)

and can u fucking imagine how the other high cloud members will react??? I CANT 😭😭😭😭

maybe i shld write this

WAIT OMG SAME DAN FENG/IMBIBITOR LUNAE HC….holy crap altho i wrote this with dan heng in mind i feel that the same premise could still be applied hehe

he absolutely is SMITTEN i feel and fear. one second he’s all “Please shut your mouth.” the next he’s all “hewwo do u need help 🥹 i miss u already 🥹🥹🥹 can we cuddle 🥺”

dan feng gap moe is so real im here for it i want yingxing to point and laugh at him SO BAD

IF YOU WRITE IT…LMK BB YOU KNOW I EAT UP THAT IMBIBITOR LUNAE SHIT