#but also these two characters are fucking gay

[procelibacyactivism]

#see the thing is a fair number of the women reading these fanfics are very self aware about their kinks and why the are interested in them#and use fanfic as a prosocial bonding activity deeply concerned w the interior experience of the participants real and fake#instead of jerking it alone in their bedroom to disembodied dick in pussy moneyshot fake moans performative fake sex#you cannot compare fanfic to mainstream porn. it is a completely different medium. there's a lot of slop but all of it is heartfelt.#and I cannot emphasize enough that nobody is actually being raped or abused in the fake world of “I got so horny I couldn't see straight”#10k lovingly crafted noncon fuckfest fanfic whipped out on the high of seeing fanart of your favorite characters getting dirty with it#whereas porn-watching men are actually getting off to real-life abuse in many cases and just do not care#I have concerns about fandom esp what it has done to the weird girlies vis a vis gender and yes there is some bleed into Real Sex but damn.#what a fucking take

don't leave this take in the tags!

BL/romance fiction can be problematic and sugarcoat abusive patriarchal dynamics but it's also MUCH tamer than mainstream porn. and i used to read a ton of bl in high school and even the unplatable stuff wasn't like mainstream porn. it felt more like the confessions of the traumatized, if anything. feels like a lot of popular titles were basically just genderbent shojo heroines in traumatic situations. 'equality' and healthy relationships didn't seem common in BL, despite the fact that having two males in a romantic relationship seems at least partly motivated by a strong desire to evade or contemplate how unequal het relationships are. gay crit of BL/yaoi is often hilariously myopic and male-centered and socjustice discourse is exploited by them to feed their self-centredness. some gay guy complained that the handsome men in yaoi made it seem like gays who didn't fit the archetype were' garbage' while completely ignoring how misogynistic japan is and how images of impossible beauty are fed to women as something to aspire to by pop media. yaoi is also not for gays. if i complain that sports mags feature gross, ugly moids why would my opinion matter?

incheresting op on the subject:

[...]She pointed out that for her boys' love manga were liberating in the sense that, unlike in heterosexual stories, in the case of yaoi, for a character to look at another's body meant also to have his own body looked at. Whereas in straight material the woman was always the object and the man the viewer—in yaoi this role division did not exist. She agreed, however, that, as a reader of yaoi, she was similar to dirty old men looking at pornography featuring women.[33]

men jerking off to videos simulating rape or at least violence featuring real women often facing actual pain and abuse is not the same as fanfic girlies reading about sasuke being exposed to sex pollen. be fucking serious.

also you basically never hear of someone injuring her partner during sex because she read destiel bdsm omegaverse, but men will demand their partners try extreme shit they saw in porn, sometimes with severe consequences.

[davidisnotmyname]

MAJOR FUCKING SPOILERS FOR THE SEVENTH COMIC (also this post is really long be warned)

Okay I wanted to give my thoughts on the seventh comic because I, a sleep deprived teenager with absolutely no knowledge on comic making or writing, feel that my opinion is logical and good /s

First off, my immediate reactions to the comic:

OH MY FUCKING GOD THATS A CHILD. THATS SOLDIER’S AND ZHANNA’S CHILD. THATS THEIR BABY. WHAT THE FUCK

the second I saw this shit I knew this comic was gonna give me an aneurysm (in a good way).

waitasecond…

THERESTWOOFTHEMOHMYGOD (also im so fucking happy that the joke I see in fan media a lot about Soldier naming his kids stuff like that is officially canon)(also east meets west fans were eating good this comic)

I like that the comic creators have put so much focus on Spy and Miss Pauling’s relationship. Not only is their dynamic great, but it shows that Spy isn’t a heartless jackass and he not only genuinely cares about the people around him, but can and will show it (I mean most of us knew that already but… someeeee people have fallen victim to the temptations of flanderization)

you’re gonna see this come up a lot in my rambling but I fucking love the shit the mercs are doing in the background, their expressions are so funny: Heavy is sick of their shit

Demo is asleep

Scout can’t breathe

Spy is also sick of their shit

Medic (and that godforsaken baby baboon) is sightseeing

Pyro is having the time of their life

and Sniper and Pauling are just trying to make sure they don’t all fucking crash and die

This is irrelevant as fuck (but most of the stuff I say is) but I just wanted to bring up how much I liked the secretary’s design. It’s very pleasing to look at.

They are like ants to me. I want to put them in a jar with holes in the lid and a bunch of leaves and then roll them down the stairs

I know this might not be what the scene is trying to imply, but fuck yeah, lesbianism (also thank god they gave Scout some semblance of character development, they are very cute as friends)

more background mercs. Medic and Pyro in particular have me in hysterics (this comic has so much good shit I can use for my discord pfp). Also Demoman my belemoman

GOD I FUCKING LOVE THE CHARACTER DESIGNS SO MUCH, thank you young Administrator for reminding me that I am in fact gay in every direction. RIP Admin, she served cunt and died

Get that fucking thing away from me

MAKAMI!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! THIS SHIT BELONGS IN THE LOUVRE!!!!!!! THIS IS GENUINELY THE MOST INCREDIBLE PANEL IN ALL OF THE COMICS, I AM AWESTRUCK

Yet again more background mercs. They saw your AO3 history.

okay I was gonna say something but my phone flagged this image as nudity for some fucking reason? What

anyways, as I was saying:

GAY (guys listen it’s canon okay you have to believe me guys wait come back no wait)

also my first thought when I saw this was “heavy is trying to hold him back from doing weird shit to the corpses,” and I don’t care how anyone else interprets it because I am objectively the most correct /j

also looking back at this I’m realizing heavy’s hands are almost the size of medic’s entire torso lmao tf2 isn’t beating the yaoi hand accusations

I’m actually gonna be sick and die oh my god what the fuck is wrong with me

I’m not gonna put all of the panels cuz I feel like it’ll get annoying quick + the image limit, but the whole series of Pauling just standing there as the Admin is cosplaying a Nature Valley Honey and Oats Bar while everyone slowly trickles out of the room just hits so hard and so good. These comics are such a compelling narrative disguised as a series of shitposts and I’m all for it.

MISS P. NAME DROP???!!!!! (Also can we get an F in the chat for all the Francine Pauling truthers)

He is literally her dad I don’t make the rules (also yes I’m aware that it’s stated that he’s her legal guardian literally two panels later so this joke really isn’t funny, but none of my jokes are so what’s your point)

Yet another casual masterpiece by Makami, with the added bonus of the subject being a beautiful hairy old man who’s built like a fucking brick house. Heavy Weapons Guy TF2 I wish you were real. Also bearded heavy goes hard, i need to cook him into a fucking soup oh my god

Hey chat so did you know I’m actually going to be inconsolable for the next three years. Also this is obviously photoshopped we all know his last name is Elbertson (no but seriously I actually started running around my room and rolling on the floor when I got to yet another name drop)

Okay, I need to either say this now or have it fester in my psyche for eternity. That haircut gave me physical and psychic damage when I first saw it. Scout tf2, you’re ugly as shit but that’s honestly poggers, welcome to the club man (also oh my god he looks so much like Jerma I’m screaming, but Jerma isn’t ugly though I promise I would never diss my king like that)

Nobody talk to me

I SAID NOBODY FUCKING TALK TO ME

spy with his granddaughter, he loves her so much but still can’t bring himself to reveal who he truly is. I actually can’t fucking do this anymore this comic is gonna have me keel over and die of a heart attack

That’s it. Get in the fucking wood chipper right now /j seriously though I can’t even begin to explain how much this scene means to me. Spydad was one of the main things that got me so interested in tf2 over a year ago, and seeing him and Scout not only being civil about it, but genuinely caring about each other is everything. I’ve never been one for spydad angst (no shade if you do like it, I just personally prefer happier stuff), so I’m glad that this was the route the comics took with that plot point.

also don’t think I’m not gonna bring up the fucking mask. after seventeen years, we finally have spy’s face. Not only that, but the reveal was done through him giving it to his granddaughter. It’s done in such a casual and sweet way but it’s so impactful. He can be vulnerable around these people. This man, who’s spent his life building up walls around himself, refusing to let anyone through to the point of wearing that stinky ass balaclava everywhere, can now freely live as himself with his son and grandchildren. I’m gonna start eating screws I swear to god.

oh fuck I hit image limit hang on I have a little bit more to say check the reblogs the rest of my descent into madness will be present there shortly.

[inacteveny]

Ranting about Millie's pregnancy

The whole "justify the cheating because they're gay" critique is debatable, since it's not exactly confirmed if the ex-boyfriend did cheat. But the "Millie getting pregnant because Vivienne doesn't know what to do her character" critique is pretty valid.

The so-called hints throughout the season that supposedly show that Millie could be pregnant can just be easily interpreted as "Millie just being Millie", it's just her nature to be THAT mad, or THAT wholesome, or whatever. Not in any way shape or form was there any foreshadowing of this twist.

Not only is it such a lazy twist because of the lack of foreshadowing beforehand (please prove me wrong if there actually is), it also shows that Vivienne doesn't understand what made Ghostfuckers such a good episode for Millie.

Brandon Rogers while writing that episode knew that he didn't need to pull such a lazy narrative decision for one of the most underused main characters in the show just so critics could shut the fuck up. No, instead he understood that what Millie simply needed more screentime. Easy peezy lemon squeezy, just flesh out her character, show us her backstory a little bit, make sure she serves an important part of the episode and isn't just "Moxxie's wife." all the time, that she is really one of the most important people in Blitzo's life.

Brandon knew all he needed to do for Millie in that episode was make her matter, simple. Vivienne doesn't understand that. She'd rather make one of the laziest and overused plot twists to the most underused main protagonist in the show just so us critics can shut the fuck up about Millie being done dirty all season, but that's exactly what Vivienne did anyway because of this.

No foreshadowing whatsoever. Lack of understanding of why Ghostfuckers was such a good episode for both the stars Blitz, Millie and I.M.P as a whole. Lazy as Garfield ahh twist for the most underused main protagonist in the entire show. Overall, boring, disappointing, lazy, and maybe even annoying. It's clear Vivienne pulled this out of her ass just to wrap a weak bandage around the wasted potential of Millie this season.

I might watch one or two episodes of Season 3, but I have zero faith in it being good, because Lord have mercy on Vivienne handling this lazyass plot point well.

Thanks for reading my rant on why I don't like what Vivienne did to one of my favorite characters in this dumb show. This is J levels of being done dirty, but hey, at least Liam Vickers is a much better writer than Viv anyway.

[transtrashpanda]

I really hate how much this fandom ignores Peter as being part of the group because he betrayed the Potters (and when they do include him he's treated like shit), so here are my favorite Peter hcs cause he's one of my fav characters and doesn't get enough attention!!

he's amazing at herbology and loves plants + him tutoring the others in it because he and James are the only ones who give a damn about it (James' mum adores gardening and he helped her a lot growing up)

he is a fiend for green clothes and wears green (sage greens particularly) c o n s t a n t l y

he had braces starting the summer after third and ending in early to mid fifth (he was lucky enough to not need headgear though)

James and Sirius affectionately called him "brace-face" and "tin-grin" during that time

he, James, and Marlene all grew up together and Euphemia's love for gardening got him started with his love of plants (he always takes time to talk to her about his new plants when they all go to the Potter's for the hols and she thinks it's just the sweetest)

probably smoked weed

ok he definitely smoked week

aroace but doesn't have the labels to properly describe it cause it's the 70s

doesn't quite understand gay people (or romance in general but he gets that slightly more) but if it makes his mates happy then it's cool by him!

he and James are the sole reasons Remus and Sirius regularly consume meals

has major anxiety but also a fuck it we ball mentality (one of my favs! it's so fun to play with how they mix for him!! highly recommend)

really fucking funny but doesn't talk much so no one outside of his friends know about his absolute wicked sense of humor

he either remembers every word of a conversation you had with six years ago or doesn't remember even talking to you two days ago. there is no in between and there is no way of telling which you'll get

he probably had a lazy, orange cat who ONLY liked him and Sirius

yum bagels

struggles with words but will randomly say the most eloquent, wise old man esque shit ever and then goes back to stuttering

reads books with Remus and Lily!!

wore green to a quiddich match against slytherin once and James and Sirius stole everything off his bed and hid it from him for a week (he just cuddled with Remus every night)

loves baking and cooking but is pants at it (he's getting better though!!)

can convincingly bark like a dog???

probably cried to Lily a couple times because 'why are his friends so fucking oblivious??'

makes fun of his friends unprovoked, constantly

literal god at chess (only time he loses is when he pretends to while teaching underclassmen)

insanely good at photography!!

asfhgfsfdaaa

I love him sm and have so many more so if you're interested don't be afraid to send an ask :)

[rosesforwildwitches]

It's not just that he left her because he found out he was gay, it's that up until he got with Blitzø, he literally didn't see a single alternate to his life continuing down the path it was going and had no concept of a life outside of his arranged marriage with Stella. He also literally mentions that he stayed with her despite her being abusive because he believed it would shield Octavia from mistreatment and give her a "normal", happy upbringing. Plenty of parents who shouldn't be together stay together with the best of intentions because of the social pressures to have a two parent heterosexual household, and Stolas's situation is an example of that.

Stella's character wasn't assassinated because she was written as she is from the start, much in the same way that in Disney films Maleficent and Ursula (and for male examples Scar and Judge Frollo) weren't character assassinated by not being "more complex" than being power hungry and self serving. Sure Scar could've been a far more complex character with political motives and a backstory, and he explicitly has sympathetic family in the direct to DVD sequels, but him being written as a pure evil character without much moral grey is part of his appeal and it makes the story work. A character being written the same way from the being of the story isn't character assassination, it's a character being written as an evil antagonist.

Also saying Valentino is realistic and Stella isn't is incredibly biased, I know because I've met women who act like Stella and treat their partners like that IRL (where I was also a teenager at the time and didn't have enough info on the situation to get social services meaningfully involved or do anything to help). I've seen that shit happen when I've been in no position legally or financially to help or stop it, and the fact is female abusers aren't as statistically common as male abusers, but they're just as traumatic and awful to those they abuse, and it's not unrealistic to depict that. And frequently, people brush off female abusers significantly more than male abusers, because I have seen women get away with laughs from a crowd saying they throw shit at their boyfriends and laugh when he flinches, when I know those same people would call the cops and possibly actually get a response if it were a man saying that about anyone.

I'm not saying him being in an abusive situation gives him a pass, he still fucked up as a father, and I literally agree with the first three paragraphs of your original post. I'm also not saying it gives him a pass for his classism. He's literally not being babied by the narrative, his actions as a father literally got him kicked out of his daughter's life by Octavia herself and the narrative portrays it as sad and tragic for Stolas but justified and emotionally understandable from Octavia's side. He got kicked out of his position of power for his actions and is currently couch crashing at Blitzø's place and trying to learn how to live in normal society, where most of the imps rag on him for being formerly higher class. This is literally the narrative showing the natural consequences of his choices and how he's trying to deal with it.

ok this isn’t a hellaverse acc anymore but i have to get this rant out here,

octavia was not being irrational with how she acted in sinsmas!! just imagine being in her shoes: your dad cheats on ur mom with some random dude, constantly picks him, and even sacrifices his life for him on live television. how would that make you feel?

“oh but stolas has shown he cares about her!” he SAID he cares about her with words, yes, but he had never shown it with his actions, atleast not on screen. you can see it in the loo loo land ep when he claimed he wanted to have a special day for via but made blitzo tag along despite the fact he can defend the both of them just fine because?? he was just horny i guess???

you can also see it in the seeing stars ep when he goes to la to look for via but gets sidetracked by blitzo again, at the end it wasn’t even him that found her, it was loona 😭

stolas is not a good father, nor was he “trying his best”, and the fact that the show expects the audience to believe that shows how incompetent the writing is at times

[garlic-sauc3]

  “Dammit, JB, why did you have to go and screw us all up like that?” 

  JB could tell he was trying to be mad, but the tears in his eyes and waver in his voice gave him away. JB looked down, “I’m sorry, okay? I just… didn’t think it would affect you all.”

  “Oh, so you were just gonna throw yourself into danger so you can –  I don’t know!? Fucking die?” Synth was yelling now, tears escaping from his eyes rolling down in a way that was unnatural for the stone cold man. JB flinched back at that, he wasn’t used to being the blunt of his anger. 

  “Sort of…” He whispered, instantly regretting even letting it escape from his mouth. 

  Synth paused, “You what?”

  He shrunk back, “I – I just, I don’t know… I just mess up so much and well…” He hesitated, before snapping his mouth shut when he realized what he was saying. 

  “Well what?!” Synth grabbed the collar of JB’s printed Coca Cola tee and yanked him forward.

  He was used to Synth’s aggression. It was the only thing that Synth ever seemed to feel, he was either angry or just cold. Sometimes JB used to wonder if he was dead, but that was stupid. God, he was so young then. 

  Synth was all hard edges and tough love. He was the quintessential bad boy, but he was gentle. JB could feel him breaking, and guilt chipped away at him for causing it. 

  “I figured you guys would be better without me.” 

  “You don’t know anything do you?” Synth let out a bitter laugh and let go of JB’s shirt and he stumbled a bit, “We would be shit without you. We need you.”

  “Look, I’m sorry. I know I always mess shit up, I feel like I should just leave… somehow.” He rubbed at his arm, trying to look anywhere but Synth’s eyes, those burning, vibrant eyes. 

  “Then ignore those fucking feelings! How many times do I have to say that I fucking need you! We all need you!”

  “Okay. I – okay.” 

  “JB, you fucking swear to me that you’ll stay with us.”

  He glanced up at Synth’s eyes, he looked dead serious, even as tears ran down his face, “I won’t–”

  “Swear to me you won’t try to fucking leave!”

  JB looked down, “I swear.”

  He felt Synth’s arms wrap around his waist, pulling him into a tight hug. It was comforting, in a rather unusual way. Even though Synth wasn’t one for hugs, or tenderness, or crying, he was hugging JB. Keeping him close so he wouldn’t try to leave again. He was sobbing into his shoulder, and this time JB didn’t care that his favorite shirt was getting wet. 

@kitsuna21 you wanted to read it

[welcometogrouchland]

Extremely bad batgirls comic I made featuring Steph's sex life and Cass' ability to read everything but the room

[a-tear-in-space]

I firmly believe polyamory can save them.

[starspangledbatter]

THIS! It’s kind of disappointing that they even consisted of the line “Cheating isn’t so bad” to begin with. I feel like cheating should only be justified when the partner is abusive towards you and that’s it. I completely understand why Stolas did do it and I feel bad for him being stuck with someone like Stella but yet again, he still committed actions that aren’t excusable (ex: breaking your child’s promises, coercing someone beneath you, etc). Sometimes it feels like the narrative acknowledges he did something wrong but somehow still finds ways to work around it? It just seems to drain out all nuance by excusing what Stolas does, y’know? It fails to make Stolas completely rounded, real, and accountable. Doesn’t matter how much he fucks up, at least he “tried”. Like Todd Chavez says “You can’t keep doing shitty things and feel bad about yourself like that makes it okay!” It’s nice that Stolas does regret his actions but you can’t also have the narrative award him for it at the same time.

It’s strange how HB seems to award cheaters, too. I’m genuinely wondering if Viv or someone on the team cheated on their ex-partner and excused it because they were actually gay. Just think about it.

Martha cheats on her husband with a married man and kills people? Well, that’s okay because she’s awarded with Mrs. Mayberry while her family is nowhere in sight and that’s cool because she’s most likely a misunderstood sapphic anyways.

That unnamed man possibly cheated on his wife because he was gay? Well, that’s okay because he’s happy and that she’s just a homophobic bitch who doesn’t understand her kids. She’s the only one in the wrong for this.

Stolas cheats on Stella and unintentionally ruins his family life and image? Well, that’s okay because Stella was always a bitch, Octavia is a naive clingy brat who the writers dislike, and Stolas never even liked her and was fixated on his childhood crush that he coerces 25 years later, anyways. But that’s also okay because their love is written in the stars and Blitz is the big jerk who keeps on pushing him away.

“Grace and Frankie” does none of that. It has characters acknowledge that cheating is wrong but it also doesn’t vilify the gay men either. Same goes with the wives. There’s a lot of nuance provided between the two, which makes both sides interesting and reasonable to sympathize with. Grace and Frankie aren’t bad women because they were rightfully upset and saddened with finding out they were cheated on. At the same time, Sol and Robert aren’t bad men for coming to terms with their sexuality and fearing that they would hurt their wives feelings by doing so. Sure they were still in the wrong for cheating, but that never meant they did so to intentionally hurt Grace and Frankie. Helluva Boss seems like it’s lacking an open-minded view like this. They just make the wives homophobic bitches and call it a day.

ACTUALLY YOU KNOW WHAT???

IF YOU WANT A SHOW THAT PORTRAYS BOTH REALISTICALLY AND WITH NUANCE THE FALLOUT OF TWO QUEER MEN CHEATING ON THEIR WIVES THAT DOESNT VILIFY THE WIVES OR THE QUEER MEN WHILE STILL HOLDING PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS GO WATCH “GRACE AND FRANKIE”

FIRST SEASON IS A LITTLE SLOW THEYRE GETTING THEIR FOOTING BUT THE SHOW IS SO GOOD SO ANTI-AGEIST IT HAS OLD MAN QUEER RELATIONSHIPS AND OLD WOMAN FRIENDSHIPS AND IT STARS THE IMPECCABLE JANE FONDA AND LILY TOMLIN.

[gophergal]

*JFK voice* Nothing bad ever happens to the Queer German Besties!

[undergoing-mitosis]

can we talk about the fact that the icons, the memes, the tumblr sexymen who broke history, reigen arataka and sans undertale, are both some of the most exceptionally written and executed characters i have ever had the pleasure of stumbling across? please can we talk about that?

[austin-friars]

'I would love to do a poetry prompt thing where someone sends me like...a word' as stalkerish as this sounds, THIS IS MY TIME. Your Joan of Arc poem changed my brain chemistry forever, so if you don't mind. Flex those poetic muscles at me with the word 'profane' 🙏

Omg it is not stalkerish at all! Thank you so much for sending this my way. You send the right word to the right person! I hope yu enjoy this!

-

Profane - relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious

Hope you enjoyed anon <3. Thanks again, and for anyone reading; If you want your own poem - send me a random word for a prompt!

[goosologist]

[kuzunoha-xiv]

i like TFP wheeljack but i cant deny i did laugh a little at the decision of making him specifically a cool edgy lone wolf samurai, at first i wasnt super familiar with g1 wheeljack so technically TFP was my first full impression and i thought he was interesting (i had only seen very little of g1 and finished TFA and bayverse at that point) but then i got more familiarized with the original version and i was like ?????

like. who saw this guy and thought "fuck it. lets give him two katanas"

[emo-protagonist]

tag watches supernatural update: hey yall halfway through season 8 rn, so far i think it might be my favorite season. i think my favorite episode ever is probably hunteri heroici, the one with the cartoons, that was super funny. larp and the real girl was also super good i liked that one. only issue that i’m having with this season is every episode cas is not in, i complain that he isn’t there (i am in love with multiple character from this show). anyways no complaints yet except i wish they kept wearing glasses like the one episode where they had to kill a hellhound cus that was super cool they looked super hot i was very onboard with that 👍👍👍.

[aprillikesthings]

okay actually I want to copy-paste what I wrote, because I think I ended up writing a REALLY good summary/advertisement for She-Ra--

Okay, so. Uh. Things to know:

It's listed as five seasons but it's actually four, because the second season was split into seasons two and three.

The animation budget was not super high, and you can tell. It improves in later seasons but it's still a little wonky here and there.

Like most animated shows theoretically aimed at children (it's rated y7 in the US), the first season takes a while to get going, because they have to introduce all the characters. The actual plot does start in the very first episode, though; and some fan-favorite moments of the show are in that first season.

When people say "yeah it's gay," they're not kidding lol. You could absolutely make the argument that there's not a single cishet character in the whole show. That said: I've met people who completely missed all the extremely heavy subtext up until the very last season. Somehow. But if you've already watched some Gay Cartoons or been in fandom before, there's obvious hints from episode one. JFC I remember watching that first episode and going "oh shit. They meant for us to ship this. It's....not even subtle."

If enemies to lovers is not your thing, you will not enjoy it. And by enemies I mean literally almost killing each other.

There are also themes of child abuse and religious trauma. They manage to not pull any punches while working around the y7 rating. If you're a child abuse survivor (hi!) or a religious trauma survivor (the show runner grew up conservative Calvinist/PCA) there's a few scenes which might be hard to watch, but everyone's different. (The themes around religious trauma are mostly told via allegory. The child abuse stuff is not.)

If you spend much time on any site where people are talking about the show you will be heavily, HEAVILY spoiled for a huge plot point at the end; but that might not bother you? I know I have a friend who refused to start watching it until she knew how it ended, and then marathoned it.

It rewards rewatching. It's a really wild experience to start over from the beginning Knowing The Things You Know. It also rewards close watching--people's expressions changing for just a split second happens a LOT. Multiple main characters are intentionally suppressing, literally unaware of, or lying to themselves/other people about their feelings and motives; and close watching/rewatching means picking up on that stuff, which (imho) is like, 80% of what makes it so damn fun.

I make the show sound entirely serious, and it's not lol, there's a lot of humor in it, too. It's not some grimdark edgy thing For Kids. Parts of it are fucking hilarious.

Someone on a she ra meme sub: hey Reddit keeps suggesting this sub, even tho I haven’t seen she-ra. I do like gay cartoons. But like. How gay is it

A few people: I mean it’s not really gay until the last season

Me, without having read any other replies: it’s gay from the first episode if you know what subtext is