#bi guys can also have it

[murasaki-sama]

The Book of Boba Fett and the Mandalorian have some interesting Butch + Twink potential romance/friendship moments, and I for one am living for it.

[tiny-huts]

I am in complete agreement with the Astarion is (and all the other companions are) pan crowd. He is canonically pan and that should not be erased. But every post about it really needs to have at least one comment devaluing his attraction to men and denying the fact that he seems to have a preference for men (which is accurate to the lived experiences of bi/pan people. MANY people have a preference). Also many people need to realize that most people are not upset that you are having Astarion kissing your lady Tav but that most people are upset that many (not all) astarion x f!Tav works completely erase his more feminine mannerisms and stuff him into a tasteless hetero male love interest box which is like djddjjdjd not great and I do not trust it

[lazybakerart]

‘If he’d been a woman, I would have married him’ says house to wilson <- there is just so much to unpack here, the main one being wilson’s understanding nod.

[vyeoh]

I'm rewatching all the Marvel Defenders shows on Netflix and as much as I mock the MCU now, I need non-Marvel fans to understand that I was and still am a fan of "Daredevil fighting the gentrifying assshole who bought out the police force because ACAB both as a lawyer and vigilante of the community" and "Jessica Jones fighting the man who mind controlled her into doing unspeakable things and forming a community of fellow survivors and allies while dealing with PTSD in a range of both healthy and unhealthy ways" Marvel. God I love these idiots they carried so hard

[wis-art]

Women, so pretty, so shaped, i am so lesbian,,,

[xiyade]

the face of the man who WILL be discussing this with his wife right before bed

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

Victims meet Victims

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

spirk walked so johnlock could fly.

[crescentfool]

does anyone else want to stick these two in the same room together or is that just me... i simply think they are adjacent in vibes... (+a bonus thing???)

get u a fictional guy that makes you feel like this... seeing these guys just evoke a Similar Kind of Brain Chemical and Response. Help Me.

also have bonus yosuke doodle featuring the same brushes used here...! from january 23rd, lol.

[anastacialy]

alright that last post had me thinking. i understand a ton of people wish penelope and colin got more screen time directly. believe me, i get that! i am always the first to say we should have gotten ten episodes, not eight, just to let the other plots and especially scenes with colin and penelope breathe a little more. but. i keep hearing a lot about how some of the other plots were "completely unnecessary" and "didn't add any value" and that's just plain incorrect. i think a lot of people who i see saying this just sort of... don't understand? narrative foils?

for those uninitiated, a foil is "a literary device that compares and contrasts one character with another to reveal their traits, values or motivations of one character through the comparison and contrast of another character." think of this like a mirror, or a photo negative.

if you are looking for foils of only penelope and colin, we've got plenty, though many other characters foil each other, too. this is bound to happen naturally in a show with so many characters, but for this post i'll focus on them first and foremost: - the mondriches: many wondered what the point of the mondriches plotline was, and though i simply enjoy having them on my screen, (they are incredibly cute together) their narrative purpose is very clear. their son is now a baron, and they must navigate the world as not someone with title, but as the mother and father of a titled lord. penelope and colin, we learn by the end of the season, also have a son, who will be the new baron featherington. it is the very same solicitor that delivers the news to alice and will, who threatens to take away the chance at keeping the estate from the featheringtons. the titled son plotline was clear from the beginning, though it was a "mystery" which sister would turn out to be the mother of the new lord featherington. (mystery is in quotation marks since i doubt anyone actually believed that it wouldn't be penelope). either way, they are foils to another family, and other main characters.

still, they are not finished in their role, as they also serve to illustrate the struggle of working members of the ton, and the argument to give up a business you love in order to remain in good standing. in this, will is penelope's foil, and alice is colin's. though i love both alice and colin, they initially do not understand what it means to give up something you have worked unbelievably hard for, and see their partners giving up their businesses as the easy, clear choice. alice contrasts colin by winning her argument, and convincing will to let go of his bar. will contrasts penelope in the same way, by letting go of something that was important to him in order to make room for other ventures. while will and alice come to a compromise that prioritizes alice's desires (hosting balls to entertain rather than keeping the bar) penelope and colin come to a compromise that prioritizes penelope's desires (revealing her identity as whistledown and getting permission from the queen to continue writing). yet, both pairs have made the choices that are right for them, and both feel satisfied by the compromises.

and the last note on the mondriches' purpose: they show us what is expected of families of the ton, to inform penelope and colin's arguments later in the show. we are shown alice and will being given separate bedrooms, as many of the other families have been shown to have, though it hasn't been quite as clearly remarked upon until now. in their plotline, it is quite a big deal that they are expected to sleep separately, as they haven't before, and do not wish to now. they ultimately decide that they will share alice's designated room — and later, we see that after they argue, it is likely penelope's room that colin is sleeping in front of, rather than going to (presumably) his own. now, it is unclear whether this was simply a set limitation or not, as we never see an interior of colin's bedroom, but it's likely that he had long since decided they'd be sharing penelope's, as that is the room he chooses to introduce to her in the mirror scene, and the sitting area of that room is where he places his desk, whereas hers is inside the bedroom proper. (we only see this and their drawing room, but i don't doubt that the house is larger than was shown, given the size of both those rooms and the hallways that connect them.) - violet, agatha, and marcus: let's see, a brother and a sister, where the sister's best friend wants to be romantically involved with the brother, and all three of them are being weird about it. now where have i heard that one before? in these moments, agatha is a foil to eloise, marcus to colin, and violet to penelope. through them, we can extrapolate ways eloise may be feeling about penelope and colin's relationship, as violet and agatha talk it out, whereas eliose scampers off to scotland quite quickly. the contrast here is that violet and marcus are very timid and reserved in their relationship until they obtain the 'blessing' of agatha to pursue it, whereas penelope and colin dive headfirst into marriage before eloise and penelope reconcile their damaged friendship. however strangely, though, the foils here seem to swap characters often: marcus also mirrors penelope, as it is him who wronged agatha, not violet. another comparison within these three are violet and agatha mirroring penelope and colin, as violet has to outright state to agatha: "i hope you know that my care for you is not contingent on your aid. i am here for you, agatha, always." which shares a sentiment with what penelope states to colin later: "it is not what you do for me that makes me love you. [...] just being you is enough, colin. i do not need you to save me, i just need you to stand by me." agatha and colin, here, both assume their value lies in what they can do for others, rather than simply being themselves with those closest to them. - benedict, tilley, and paul: what, do you not want to see benedict kiss a guy? the fuck?

[mattzerella-sticks]

When Eddie comes out as gay the funniest thing Buck can do is set him up on a blind date with Josh only for Buck to learn too late that Josh and Eddie don't like each other.

[aru-art]

been on an oc redesign kick. this is incomprehensible to anyone but me and like 2 other people probably. hi tim if ur reading this

[boom33713]

projecting my aroace experience on my fav character is hilarious actually. not only because using them as a lens for my own experience is highly entertaining but also because it fits so fucking well im not even kidding.

[mblue-art]

ough,,,, you givb me lust brainrot,,,,,,, hes jbust a littol guyTM,,,,

-juni

HECK yeah 🫶🫶🫶 good thoughts, i hope ! he deserves to be appreciated 💜

mme whne,when lust sans does anything that's so very him

(emoji src)

[rageagainsttheapathy]

Part three/four of my Steve Does Rocky Horror au! Because I live here now, apparently.

Parts One Two and Three (slash two-and-a-half) here.

So Eddie spots Steve half in half out of his Frank-n-furter costume behind the theatre and basically SCREECHES his name in shock, and then when Steve jumps half a foot in the air and looks around frantically for whoever the hell just recognised him, because oh-shit-oh-fuck-what-if-it’s-a-homophobe-from-Hawkins and spots Eddie, there’s a brief moment of mutual deer-in-headlights staring at each other, before Eddie snaps of of it and BOLTS away, dragging Jeff behind him.

(The boy is a runner, okay, this has been established)

Jeff REFUSES to believe that Eddie saw THEE Steve Harrington behind the theatre. No, nope, you Have It Wrong, My Friend, That Man Just LOOKED Like Harrington, Let Me Live In Denial, Please And Thank You. Eddie, meanwhile is having a crisis about the fact that he spent a solid two hours lusting avidly over Steve Harrington’s thighs in fishnet stockings, which is an objectively INSANE sentence to think, what the FUCK is even happening?! Steve Harrington is NOT sexy! He DOES NOT sing and dance in high heels! THE WORLD AS EDDIE KNOWS IT IS CRUMBLING AROUND HIM!

The next day, Eddie has joined Jeff in denial. He is Not Thinking about Steve at all, no sir, Steve who? He just wants to enjoy getting to really know the new show he just watched, maybe learn the songs on his guitar, practice at shouting the right things at the right moment so that next time he goes to the stage show, he can properly Get Into It. He needs the film version! Get to know Tim Curry as Dr Frank, and not That Other Guy Who Shall Not Be Named And Also Isn’t Nearly As Sexy.

Let’s Go To Family Video, he says. It’ll Be Fun, he says.

(Guys, Gals, and Pals, you know where this is going.)

“No, Robin, I SWEAR, it was definitely Munson. You think I could mistake that guy for anyone else?” Steve is saying, still kind of worried about the whole thing.

Ding! Goes the bell over the shop door.

“GOOOOOOOD AFTERNOON, FAMILY VIDEOOOOOOOOO-Oh shit” says Eddie.

Because Oh Yeah, This Is Where Harrington Works. Why did Eddie choose NOW to remember that? Literally ANY OTHER TIME would have been a better time for him to remember that.

“…Munson.”

“…Harrington.”

“…Buckley.” Says Robin, who was feeling left out.

This time, the stare off ends not when Eddie panics and runs, but, when Steve, who is both awkward in uncomfortable situations and desperate for Validation, asks Eddie “the show wasn’t THAT bad, was it?” All self-deprecating and shit, to which Eddie responds with

“Are you kidding me, that shit was the COOLEST THING and you know it” which means that Steve, now adequately complimented, switches to Flirting Mode™️.

(He does not realise, Ladies and Gentlefolk, that he has switched to Flirting Mode. But don’t worry, Robin will (gleefully) inform him later.)

“Oh really? What was you favourite part?” He says, leaning forward with a seductive smile.

Which is about when Eddie remembers the fishnets and the corset, and loses the ability to function again.

Robin, stood off to the side, is watching both of them judgementally while also memorising this entire conversation to relay to their Gay Adoptive Parents on their next Indy weekend.

They’re gonna find it HILARIOUS.

[apatheticlexicographer]

i'm about to get mauled ALIVE for saying this but here goes:

i think m'leven's relationship should be based on a mutually requited crush. both the implications it would have on their personal development as characters and the message it would send to the audience would be substantially more impactful, healthy, and progressive than if they only dated out of obligation. in fact, the thematic message of their relationship SIMPLY DOESN'T MAKE SENSE without a foundation of genuine romantic attraction.

still with me??? okay, good.

when shows deal with romance they tend to fall into the categories of either having pretty much every character shipped with every other character at some point, or of having the endgame ships be the most obviously pushed from the start. byler has definitely been built up from the start, but the majority of the show's audience didn't consider it as an option for canon until s4, when they started making it blatant. hell, a lot of people didn't even realize WILL was queer until s3 (again, when the show started to place heavy emphasis on it), and even then a lot of people thought he might be ace rather than gay.

mike and el, on the other hand, were practically the show's flagship couple for the first 2 seasons at least. it wasn't until s3 that their popularity started to dip and their relationship began to receive a lot more criticism. which makes sense, considering they hadn't actually been IN said relationship in the previous seasons. they had a couple of romantic interactions, sure, but we didn't see how they would interact *as a couple*. people obviously couldn't predict how their dynamic would actually pan out!!! that isn't to say that the negative aspects of their relationship were a bait-and switch, though: red flags were visible since at least s2, but they were far from being the focal point and a lot of shippers interpreted them as being cute (like el's jealousy over max).

having a show acknowledge the fact that the first person you get a crush on (because correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm pretty sure they're canonically each other's first crush???) isn't necessarily your ~soulmate~ is a great thing. even better when they go a step further, and play with the concept!!! the text of stranger things doesn't actually push m'leven as a paragon of romantic love. if you listen to what the other characters say about their (romantic) relationship, their opinions are entirely neutral/negative???

lucas teases mike about his crush in s1, but calls him hopeless in s3. hopper is out of line with how agressively he acts about their relationship, but the resolution of that character arc for him is about him acknowledging that he's been overbearing and accepting that he needs to let el grow up, and NOT some hammy realization that "what they have is true love, i was wrong to interfere!!!" max thinks their clinginess is sweet at first in s3, but she isn't very close with either of them. once she and el start to bond AND SHE LEARNS THAT EL HAS NO EXPERIENCE WITH ROMANTIC ATTRACTION OUTSIDE OF MIKE she encourages el to assert her own self-worth and dump him. [which... actually mirrors the progression of opinions in a lot of audience members??? 🤔🤔]

and those are just a few examples!!! i won't go on an exhaustive list, because honestly we'd be here all day.

furthermore, m'leven's steady downward trajectory is not the only instance of the show basically dunking on the trite expectation that a character's first love interest is automatically their happily-ever-after, AND the recurring motif that any relationships a character explores before their endgame ship are wrong because the alternate love interest is Bad.

dustin has his first crush (onscreen, anyway) on max in s2, but ends the season happy despite his sadness over rejection and later gets together with a girl who's basically his perfect match. in s3, robin confides to steve about how she was so far gone for tammy that she would cry into her pillow. in s4 she's able to laugh over just how bad her singing is without denying it, and is tentatively flirting with vickie. joyce was genuinely really happy with bob, but after having time to heal from the tragedy of what happened to him she's ready to move on with hopper.

again, not an exhaustive list. why??? because outside of m'leven, the only relationships where the characters ARE each other's first love interest are: lumax, whose entire arc together is about growing up as a couple (you know, the exact arc m'leven shippers pin on mike and el, as if it would make sense for 2 couples to have the same format and message...); stancy, which is only one prong of Love Triangle Hell and the controversy around it speaks for itself; and TED AND KAREN. WHO ARE POINTED OUT EXPLICITLY BY THE TEXT OF THE SHOW IN S1 NO LESS, TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF A WORST TIMELINE FUTURE THAT CHARACTERS DO NOT WANT TO REPEAT.

but if you're reading this, you already know all of that.

the point i'm trying to make is that stranger things shows a consistent palette of themes across all the relationships it portrays. i've obviously been going over the romantic ones, but this applies at least as much to the plationic bonds as well. those themes are of GROWING AND MATURING, of SHIFTING DYNAMICS, and of BECOMING SECURE IN YOUR PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

i'm sorry but to present a pair of characters with apparent mutual feelings; to elaborate on how dysfunctional their relationship is; and to ultimately reveal to the audience that actually they were both just confused, they never had feelings for one another in the first place and that's why their relationship didn't work out; sends an extremely mediocre message, to put it nicely. all the characters learn from that lived experience is "don't date people you don't have feelings for, and if you were unsure about how real those feelings were... get good???" meanwhile, all the audience learns from that VIEWED experience is "if the relationship doesn't work, it's because the people involved don't like each other enough." if byler goes on to be canon and is immediately much healthier, that only enforces that shitty message. in that situation the only reason THEIR relationship works while mike and el's didn't is that they actually have feelings for one another!!!

from a show which has explored complex arcs and messages with *LITERALLY EVERY OTHER RELATIONSHIP* they touch on, this would be beyond disappointing. particularly as the central message for the arc of 2 of the mainest main characters in the whole show!!!

on the other hand, to present a pair of young characters at the start of the show and flag them as having an obvious mutual crush; to allow them to explore that crush as a serious prospect; to have them realize that their relationship is dysfunctional; and to have them move on as friends; sends???

a great???

fucking???

message???

they both get to progress and move on as more enriched people than they would have been without their time in a relationship, and that is fucking wonderful.

el has a deeper understanding of romantic interactions based on actual lived experience and not just TV shows. she's able to develop into her fledgeling sense of identity more securely with the knowledge that relationships can change, and that's okay. not everything has to be forever.

mike understands how to process and manage his own feelings much better, and is equipped with a firsthand understanding of how a relationship can become emotionally dysfunctional without proper communication, making him ready to enter a new, healthier relationship. he has displayed the same overprotective behaviours towards will as he has to el, but he's begun to learn how to manage them so that he doesn't stifle his partner. after previously failing to communicate his feelings to both el and will in s3 when he fought with them, he's been making a deliberate point of doing so in s4. this didn't work with el when he tried to open up about his own experience with bullying, but it DID work with will when he admitted to his failings in balancing relationships.

are either of them finished in their personal arcs??? no, of course not!!! they're not even fifteen!!! but they have both grown as people, not in spite of their romantic relationship, but BECAUSE of it. you don't change as you grow up, so much as you start to understand yourself better. but self-discovery and subsequent self-acceptance CANNOT come without self-explaration.

it's okay to try things out, and it's okay if they don't end up being right for you.

meanwhile, the broader message about relationships that this imparts on the audience is an extremely important one. one which gets overlooked continually by storytellers in every industry. one which the show itself has brushed on, but not explored in depth.

one which fandom, in particular, likes to ignore.

ATTRACTION ≠ COMPATIBILITY

(...and that's okay!!!)