#i get that it's two attractive girls and one is canonically gay

[florallylly]

sorry queen but a cheater is a cheater is a cheater and that's not a label i easily let go of

[thrilling-oneway]

Also shout out to the person who said in the tags of that airi post who said that half the debates in this fandom are over gender or sexuality because that’s true and it pisses me off immensely

[laikabu]

re: my thoughts on laios’s sexuality (long post ahead lol)

let me start this post with this. first, this contains a lot of references to the new adventurer’s bible world guide book released last february. i can read japanese, but i’m sure they’re translated somewhere. general spoiler warning in case. also… i am ESL, so sorry for any grammar errors

second, if you’re on the team that insists laios doesn’t care about humans enough to form relationships, either read the manga again or at the very least read this thread.

last, please don’t chime in with your acearo headcanons on this post. there’s already a majority of posts here that insist laios is acearo and that anything else is impossible. i don’t like it the same way i don’t like when someone declares they hc marcille as bisexual to a poster who reads her as lesbian. i already have enough people here who declare he’s ace on my own art. at least people on twitter of all places don’t do this sort of thing to me. nothing in this manga is canon, you can headcanon anything i won’t get mad if you hc him as bi or something. just. don’t be weird on my post.

okay. trust me, i love women, and i love the idea of making my favs women lovers but the idea of laios being gay really appeals to me because of his background. this isn’t fueled by yaoi since i don’t even ship the only m/m relationship i bring up here, i just think it adds a nice layer to his disconnect with his own humanity

i do think laios has a very abstract relationship with his sexuality for a multitude of reasons. he grew up in a very conservative backwater village. he has a hard time recognizing his own feelings towards others just as much as vice versa. i don’t really care for the “laios is a monsterfucker” agenda people are pushing but i do think he’d engage in sexual thoughts in his own weird way, i won���t deny his deviantart fetish shit

as an autistic person myself, i relate to how he’d prioritize his special interest over social interactions. after all, he was fixated on monster food so he’s distracted from dark thoughts. he’s not an actual glutton

he’s shy around women, but i don’t think it’s out of attraction. i just think it’s because he’s awkward and doesn’t want to be seen as a threat. there’s a couple of times when, out of armor, he deliberately tries to make himself look smaller and nonthreatening.

he didn’t show any interest towards ashivia (the hubby hunter girl marcille replaced) and just humored her because she wouldn’t leave him alone. his other party members thought he was giving her special treatment so he had to tell her he “doesnt want to give her special treatment anymore”(even though he never did), so she left

ashivia did her best to butter herself up to laios and he didn’t care, but laios thought shuro was his bestest friend in the whole world because he was too much of a pushover to reject him. ironically… what ashivia did to him parallels what he was doing to shuro

also… yeah sorry i keep bringing up that one comic of laios saying if he were falin he’d marry shuro and then begging him to take him back to his country, or that comic of laios wondering why he doesn’t like him(and then the first two questions he asks the magic mirror was what if he or shuro were women). i don’t even ship them! but it’s not a reach to assume that he likes men because of this, even if it’s kinda played like a joke(after all,a lot of people like chilshi even though their ‘shippy’ interaction was played as a joke)

of course, given the setting, i don’t think knows he’s gay, he wouldn’t have the vocabulary to label himself. i do want to dance around with the idea of him forcibly confronting his own sexuality after years of yaad pressuring him to produce heirs lol. laios might not be cishet but he’s a king so he rdgaf about that right now. i’m open to him having female consorts for political reasons, but i don’t think he’s into women, is all.

before anyone brings up his succubus… god forbid an author makes hetbait. a part of the plot twist was that not-marcille wasn’t the only succubus enticing laios, his other party members were copied too. she was the only one who approached him. also… succubi aren’t always inherently romantic. once it realized marcille didn’t work, it switched to appeal to his desire to be a monster.

[deathnguts]

Marauders era characters and they’re bi/gay awakenings except not all of them are the obvious answer

Sirius: Remus (starting off strong with an obvious answer, god damnit)

Remus: Professor Ferox (I know he isn’t a canon character but his first crush being a cool teacher makes so much sense to me)

James: Frank Longbottom (young James was concerned with two things, and that was quidditch and pranks. Frank Longbottom let them get away with pranks and was captain of the gryffindor quidditch team)

Peter: No one (he’s Aroace to me and simply learned to be annoyed at romantic attraction)

Lily: Pandora (no explanation, simply vibes)

Mary: Lily (no explanation, simply vibes)

Marlene: Mary (fell for her best friend, rookie mistake)

Dorcas: Marlene (fell for a girl who fell for her best friend, rookie mistake)

Pandora: Dorcas (I’ve never actually seen anyone ship them, and I’m not exactly doing that either, but I can see Dorcas being Pandora’a first girl crush out of respect for her as a witch and admiration of her beauty and their friendship)

Evan: Regulus (Barty is the obvious answer but I like rosewater a lot and it makes sense for them to be childhood friends, therefore give Evan time to like Regulus even before they went to hogwarts)

Barty: Regulus (Barty’s brain chemistry was rewired by his love for regulus, even if you choose to believe they’re not endgame. I choose to believe that tho. I’m biased. Fight me.)

Regulus: Remus (hear me out ok, I’ve mentioned this headcanon before but like Remus just has that cool ‘bad’ boy persona with his scars and how quiet he is, combined with how he’s an intellectual and he’s Regulus’ older brother’s friend… as a younger sibling he was cooked from the start)

[mercyll]

Is Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury the first anime series to depict a married same-sex couple?

Given the rings and comments from the staff (excluding Bandai) it's pretty clear that both Suletta and Miorine are married. And looking at older anime couples I can't find another one where the characters are actually married to one another.

There are series that depict engagements and proposals (implied or otherwise with queer characters).

Some examples would be:

Yuri & Viktor from Yuri on Ice, where it's implied that they want to be engaged.

Ranma & Akane from Ranma 1/2, both find themselves in an arranged engagement but end up falling for each other anyway. Ranma is canonically genderfluid in both the anime and manga and Akane is attracted to Ranma as both a man and a woman. And this is ignoring all of Ranma's other fiances who know about their curse and want to be in a relationship with them anyway.

Utena & Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena, while the circumstances of their engagement are out of their control, the two of them fall deeply in love with one another despite that. And in the movie they kiss.

Other LGBT anime couples are together or in love but next explicitly depicted as engaged or married would be:

Michiru Tenou & Haruka Kaiou from Sailor Moon, they are very much together and in the Crystal series end up living together and adopting a baby.

Yukito Tsukishiro & Touya Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura, who are in love with one another.

Eiji Okumura & Ash Lynx from Banana Fish, who are in love with one another. And it hurts.

Yuu Koito & Touko Nanami from Bloom Into You, who are two girls who fall in love with one another. And in the story you watch them grow and get closer.

Nezumi & Shion from No. 6, a sci-fi drama where two boys fall in love. This one also hurts.

And countless other examples, none of which I could find have the characters taking their relationship further than dating or engagement.

So, is Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury the first married same-sex couple in anime?

On a minor note, there have been several gay weddings depicted in manga.

Some examples would be:

Our Dreams At Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani, which was written by an asexual, X-gender author.

Until I Meet My Husband by Ryousuke Nanasaki and illustrated by Yoshi Tsukizuki. This manga was written by a gay man and based on his own essays about his life. The manga is auto-biographical.

I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up by Kodama Naoko, who has written several other LGBT manga, most of which are Yuri.

And there are several more!

Bonus:

Shoutout to Episode 7 of the 80s anime Dirty Pair for having a wedding between a cis man and a trans woman in one episode.

[genericpuff]

What are your thoughts on the whole Hestia x Athena thing in LO? Personally it always infuriated me with how hypocritical it was of them to date each other despite them both being members of/Hestia being in charge of TGOEM. It especially annoyed me how Hestia constantly told Persephone that as a TGOEM member she can't date anyone but later saying that her relationship with Athena doesn't count. I give some credit to Artmeis for calling them out when finding out, but it wasn't enough

The hypocrisy is one thing but it at least could have been expanded on as a plot point (Hestia didn't even have the spine to return the coat and apologize, Artemis had to do it ???), but what REALLY ticks me off is that Rachel clearly tried to include queer rep through Hestia and Athena who are two traditionally aro/ace goddesses. So really all she did was erase their original queer identities, both of which are still massively misunderstood and argued over whether or not they're "real". And shit, we even see that in her old asks that lesbian sex "doesn't count" and that asexuality is somehow just a sliding scale / stepping stone towards "becoming" another sexuality (in this case, gay).

Like... you can be asexual and also still be romantically attracted to the same sex, "becoming gay" doesn't automatically erase someone's asexuality. Artemis can be gay and aroace. Lesbian sex is still sex and isn't a "loophole" to retaining one's virginity. To be fair, the whole "vestal virgins are flaming lesbians because you can be a virgin and still have hot lady sex" thing came from an anon, but like... she doesn't do anything to challenge that idea in LO either, if anything it's reinforced through Athena and Hestia using their relationship as a "loophole" within TGOEM (and the narrative never actually stops to analyze that.)

And then the cherry on top is Rachel removing the sexualities - sometimes even entire character identities - from canonically or commonly-accepted queer gods and giving them to others. Crocus is no longer a lover of Hermes, but a one-dimensional nymph who was killed as a plot device and then never spoken of again. Ampelos is no longer a satyr loved by Dionysus, his name now belongs to Psyche, a heterocis black woman who doesn't know how to read and has been basically forced into slavery. All of Aphrodite's children who ranged in gender and sexual identities are now replaced with one-dimensional cutout characters with no specific labels or characterizations beyond the translations of their names. Eros has been reduced to the "gay best friend" whose first introduction into the story is inebriating a 19 year old girl with the intent of dumping her in an older man's car. Apollo has been turned into a generic big bad whose only goal is getting his hands on Persephone and nothing else, with zero nuance to his actual characterization or plot arc, he's just "the rapist" who conveniently becomes a pawn in some bigger nefarious plan that makes zero sense. Dionysus and Achilles have both been turned into babies.

If Rachel wanted queer rep, she was already in the right place. The entire Pantheon was her oyster. But instead she managed to go the complete opposite with it and not only erase the queer identities of Greek gods in LO, but went the extra mile of egregiousness by replacing those queer gods with token-queer stereotypes and one-dimensional characters who are just there to say they're gay for the brownie points before being shoved back into the closet. They're out, but they're still not seen.

[shaylogic]

Messy Masterpost: I don't have the words so here's a mess of links and ideas

@captainfantasticalright's Dead Boy Detectives: a breakdown of Dante's hell. This post is a masterpiece of understanding how the Hell/afterlife dynamics work in Sandman Universe and DBDA, and it's sent my mind buzzing like crazy

My post about Simon's book

Not just any book

Theory about Simon's brother/father? Being a part of Burgess' Cult ("Order of Ancient Mysteries")

Thank you @niko-sasaki-dbd

Ba'al ==> Sa'al

Seems like Simon may have gotten a demon-summoning book that worked from his brother who may have been involved on Burgess' cult from Sandman. He died with book in hand, and that's the one he's tearing apart on repeat in Hell. Tumblr user listed above identified what the book might be, based off the image.

This interview at 12:52 George Rexstrew answering that Edwin's favorite thing about Charles is his unconditional love and acceptance of him.

Post about Charles bearing his soul to the Night Nurse like Orpheus played music to Cerberus

Interviewer talking about "straight friend" Charles "rejecting" gay Edwin, only for George, Jayden, Beth, and Steve to stiffen up slightly. Asking about how Charles didn't have a gay panic reaction to Edwin's confession. This interviewer is actually gay and interviewed on a gay network later, which threw me after this question.

=>If Charles had really gay panic rejected Edwin, it really would have ended like Eurydice, thrust back to the pit of Hell to wallow in the internalized homophobia, rather than being released with the support and healthy love of Charles.

Actors have reiterated multiple times that the case is not closed on Edwin and Charles' romance, they're just getting started and figuring it out in the midst of all the chaos.

People are stuck in Hell because they believe they belong there but Edwin gets out the second time because Charles KNOWS he doesn't belong there! And reminds Edwin of this when he's getting pulled under in it all

Charles went back to his red polo after the confession and escaping Hell with @nerdytacollama's excellent addition on episode 7 specifically!!

Edwin's whole arc was about accepting loving and being loved and his attraction to men, and his love of his best friend, specifically

Steve Yockey saying the confession NEEDED to happen on the stairs out of Hell. One reason being that Edwin may have been too afraid to go through with it after, another being that he could get dragged away forever at any second and it could be his last chance.

[above article pic quote from this]

But also based on the Hell worldbuilding of the Sandman Universe where people only go to hell if they believe in it and believe they deserve to be there > Edwin believing his want for intimacy at all letalone with other men being "such a sinful life" (Night Nurse paperwork) > the upward climb of healthy love from the Dante's Inferno Post > Edwin HAD to confess on the stairs and be accepted! It freed him of Hell~!

Simon moved on from Hell with Edwin's mutual sorrow for the two of them and somewhat understanding/forgiveness? Maybe self-acceptance from the gay guilt

Edwin's form saying he would serve in Hell for living such a sinful life and then be reassigned to a more pleasant state (Hell not an eternal afterlife, just time served and then moving one)

[image posted in @reviewcreature's post with @melefim's addition]

If Edwin went back now, loved and accepted by his friends and himself, would he pass on to the better place?

My post wondering about reincarnation in the Sandman Universe, which others weighed in on in the comments about how it's indeed canon

The parallels of the Lust room in hell being a butcher shop with bloody hanging bodies to reflect the debauchery of bloody writhing lust bodies ===> compare to "Girls' Night" when Jenny was running and hiding from stalker Maxine in her butcher shop behind meat ===> compare Edwin's arc of accepting "sodomite sin" of being attracted to men (challenge to the epitome and catalyst (ha) by the Cat King) and him having been through the Lust room of hell before and him STARING AT THE RED BULL ON THE BUTCHER SHOP WALL (as compared to directly in the first linked post)

The purity of Charles and Edwin's love compared to that and the stereotypes of how male love is depicted in media, as George, Steve, and Jayden have spoken out against gently in multiple interviews

How it's partially childlike, partially deep friendship where two men can hug and cry, partially a crush, partially potentially reciprocally romantic

The juxtaposition of Edwin's archetypical confession to Charles on the stairs of Hell on the way out of the Limbo of it, with Maxine guilty and desperate just below them, not even looking toward the open door

Fans wondering why it was so easy to get out of Hell. The worldbuilding canon saying that Hell is what you make of it (Charles says this in the original Season of Mists Ch 4 comic, Edwin says it in episode 7 to Simon). People in Hell stuck because they feel they deserve it.

@podcastenthusiast's post about being glad Edwin didn't see Simon move on, because then he'd really wonder we he himself suffered so long

==>CHARLES got Edwin out because he KNEW he didn't belong there!!!!

They push and pull each other by the arms the whole way to the top!!!!!!!

Magical weight in the snake pit "nothing's meant to leave this place"

Charles literally dragging Edwin out of Hell for the love and devotion to him!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allegory of dragging him out of his self-rejection and holding him by the face saying over and over "I love you. I accept you. I'm not leaving without you."

Openly gay producer/director Steve Yockey insisting on being the one to write Episode 7 and you can feel it in every color on the screen.

There's no higher power deciding this, despite the paperwork and minders ensuring everyone is sorted. It's an internal self-decided fate, unconscious.

I'm not gonna be able to link and list every pic and organize this in the state I'm in but--

ARE YOU SEEING ALL THE THINGS I'M SEEING?

Girl help I'm getting visions!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wheeloffortune-design]

'You need to understand,' I tell my brother with a manic look in my eyes, 'that, as a community, we were used to queerbaiting. We were used to crumbs. If a show had two semi-attractive male leads with a minimum of chemistry, we shipped them. Yeah, sure, it could be cringe, but it's not like we had a lot of queer characters to obsess over.

'And most of us were girls, right, or at least were subjected to media aimed at girls all our lives, and we were trained to recognize romance. We know the story beats, the dialogue, the framing, the language used in media that says this is a romantic scene. And then, there was a decade or two where all the stories were about male friendship (but let's be honest all the stories are about male friendship since bloody Gilgamesh and Enkidu, but don't get me started on that)-- and anyway, they kept using all those framing devices for romance to talk about friendship. The silences, the stares, the jokes, the sacrifices and promises and-- you get what I mean. So of course we shipped the hell out of these guys.

'And if they really wanted us to ship straight couples, maybe they should have given bigger roles to women, huh. But that was the scene: great shows with a male lead and his best friend, and they were all interesting and handsome and they faced adversity together, and overall had the most romantic story arcs without being romantically together. Yeah, I know you've seen the Winter Soldier.

'So we were pretty okay with crumbs. We made mountains out of crumbs. It was fine, relatively speaking.

'And then there was Sherlock,' I say, waving at the tv, where episode one is on pause on a frame of John Watson licking his lips while he asks Sherlock if he has a boyfriend. 'That show brought it all to eleven. The handsomeness, the chemistry, the drama, the stares. The jokes about them being a couple, so many jokes. You know that haha are you a married couple is a romance trope, right?

'The actors made acting choices that hinted at attraction, and the directors kept those choices and framed them in images and music and timing-- because everything in a show is a choice. Those are the choices they made.

'So of course we went crazy.

'And the people who made that show loved the attention. They had fun with us, until it was too much for them. And then they started making fun of us.

'I think it kinda broke us, as a community. Because we loved the show, and the characters, and the actors, and the writers. And the show kept framing the story in a way that said "You're right! This is a romance!"

'And then the interviews went from hinting at romance to plainly mocking us. Haha those silly fangirls, they see gay stuff, but Shelock Holmes isn't gay, what are they thinking, huh. Silly little girls.

'I'll be honest, it hurt. And it's not like there was a lot of queer media to focus on either, at least not mainstream, well produced shows like that. It took many years after that whole debacle to get canon queer characters. We're still all surprised that Our Flag Means Death had a real kiss.

'So yeah,' I sigh, looking at the paused tv, 'imagine, in an era where queerbaiting was the norm, to become the one show that became synonymous with queerbaiting.'

I unpause.

"It's fine, it's all fine," says the tv.

'Yeah right,' I scoff.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi! Curious as to your headcanons on how Harry would realize he’s gay/come out? I like to imagine him not realizing it until he’s blundered his way into a relationship with a man, but surely he would be to clever for that 😆

Lol, I mean, yeah, Harry is clever, but not when it comes to relationships as he so adequately demonstrates throughout the books. That being said, I think it has more to do with his hectic situation rather than his intelligence. He just has other priorities — like, not dying. I saw someone suggest that by book 7, Harry is somewhat aware of his orientation with his: "not my type, but he'll do" comment to a transfigured Ron asking how he looks.

Like, I think Harry was aware he finds men attractive since 4th year, but he didn't really know what it means because he had other priorities. Like, he'd think he just finds guys attractive but it's normal, he has eyes, after all. But in general, I think the moment Harry is not in immediate life-threatening danger, he would figure it out. Just give him a moment to relax. It might take another failed relationship like Cho, but I really believe that he would get there on his own.

It probably wasn't anything big or grand either, just, kinda like a gradual understanding of: "huh, I guess I don't like girls" that eventually leads to "huh, I always thought guys are hot". (If we ignore the epilogue we can say he had this moment of epiphany while camping in the woods, I mean, there was a lot of silent time for introspection there, or maybe through a talk with Hermione/Ron)

If we go with canon-divergence for fic purposes when he's younger and is still wrapped up in, like, 3 plots to kill him a year, he might just blunder into a relationship with a guy and only realize it's a relationship later. But, Harry is smart enough to know that if he's holding hands and cuddling with someone that isn't a usual friendship for him. Especially if this is after his disaster date with Cho where he dreaded her wanting to hold his hand or kiss him again. Harry would notice if he was interested in that compared to with Cho, that he actually wants to spend time with this guy and likes looking at him and being close to him, but it might take him a while still. It's also very possible [male Harry ship of your choice] would be the one to basically tell Harry what they have is a relationship, but it really depends on the specific canon divergence. In general, it's less likely Harry would start this relationship as he is in a quest to be normal (which is part of why he decided he has a crush on Cho), she's a safe option — pretty, good at Quidditch, and appearing unattainable when he chose her. Point is, I don't see the Hogwarts-aged Harry pursuing a relationship with a guy without certain changes to get him there (the guy of your choice might though).

Alternative to this situation, it could be Ron or Hermione who bring it up to Harry, with Ron being the more likely of the two to bring it up. I think Ron has known since 5th year that Harry is gay, Hermione doesn't seem to really know, but by 7th year she probably figured it out (I mean, even in the muggle world this is the UK in 90s, it's not like being gay was overly accepted). So, they could also bring it up to him.

As for coming out, I feel like he would accidentally joke about it a bunch, like in that book 7 comment and most people would think it's just a joke, but I think Ron and Hermione would clue in early he actually means it. Ron at least would have already known and both I believe would be supportive of Harry. I think a bunch of others would be told as well, I think most Weasley kids won't have a problem with it at all (Ginny is likely to be disappointed, but I don't think she'd be mean about it to Harry). I think Molly and Arthur might struggle a little, due to ignorance rather than malice, but they would definitely be kind and try to be supportive. Arthur would probably mention some Weasley cousin who's gay as a way to connect to Harry because I'm sure there is one. Sirius would support everything Harry does and chooses (and he himself is likely, not straight) so, yeah.

Beyond that, coming out more publicly would heavily depend on the Wizarding World's approach to homosexuality. I personally believe they don't treat it great and it's kind of an unspoken thing — considering we don't see any gay relationships in the books, their focus on legacy and producing children, and the characters that are mentioned to be unmarried seem to live like confirmed bachelors (Dumbledore, Aunt Muriel, Alphard and Cassiopeia Black, etc.). Also, considering Harry's dislike of the Prophet and the attention he receives, I don't see him choosing to ever make it public knowledge since it's none of their business.

I imagine Witch Weekly keeps placing Harry in number 1 their Most Eligible Bachelors list years after he has already moved to live with a "close male friend" of his (choose who to your preference). And like, everyone knows, but no one would really acknowledge it. Whenever Harry is asked about "when he's gonna settle down" by some interviewer or random ministry personnel or some foreign ambassador he needs to be held back from throwing hands when younger. Later in life he probably gets used to it, besides, the older he gets, eventually the questions would stop, I imagine. It's also possible eventually attitudes in the Wizarding World would change, but that's something that takes time and depends on a lot of other factors.

[showsandstuff]

Am I the only one who is disappointed with Caitvi in season two? When I watched the first season I had the biggest caitvi brain rot because they actually gave me SUCH a fun dynamic with them. Buddy cop Caitvi was hilarious, I loved that so so much!

And season 2 started of strong imo but then it rushed through everything. I loved the scene in the cell, obviously, but it was misplaced. Your sister is about to kill herself girl what are you doing this is not the time!! And other than romantic and sexual tension there wasn't all that much left of their previous dynamic aside from the brief scene in episode six...

Idk, I think I'm just annoyed. Usually when I see a non canon gay ship get more traction than the Canon lesbian couple, I just assume it's misogyny or lesbophobia, and move on with my life. But I can't even do that here because Caitvi was WAY more popular in season 1 (as they should).

Jayvik isn't getting somewhat more popular in season 2 because people don't like lesbians, but because their arcs are connected so strongly to each other. (Also I'm not saying that Jayvik is now more popular than Caitvi, but it's like a graph where the super high stocks caitvi are still even while Jayvik is skyrocketing rn)

Wanna know why Jayvik wasn't all that popular in season 1? Because (after act 1) their arcs were mostly separate, safe for a couple of moments. Viktor worked on his body and Jayce was doing politics.

Caitlyn and Vis arcs intertwined more, they actually did shit together and it was beautiful, funny, romantic, EVERYTHING!

Also a fun opposites attract buddy cop dynamic is also just more fun than men who do science together (in my personal opinion)

Now let's look at Caitlyn and Vis relationship in season two.

It starts of strong. I momentarily thought that Caitlyn was uncharacteristically mean to Vi when she refused to become an enforcer, but she apologized for it later and I recognized the fact that Caitlyn was grieving. Then once we get to episode two and three I could already feel their relationship being a bit more odd. The kiss (though I cheered) didn't feel right. I felt like something was missing, and that was their chemistry from season one. Also I feel like we glossed over too many decisions that Caitlyn made, and I think Vi should've put a stop to it sooner. But overall I was okay with them in act 1.

Then we had a timeskip and the two were fully separated. Act 2 literally started with Caitlyn in bed with another woman, like we can see they're not together anymore. Caitlyn has obviously changed, there is not much of the sweet cupcake left that we had come to love in season 1, and Vi is boxing and getting drunk.

Then they meet and like... Vi calls Cait cupcake, and Cait switches sides IMMEDIATELY? GIRL WTF?!

I get that Caitlyn wasn't entirely on Ambessas side the entire time, but I had hoped for more drama first. So you're telling me the very next interaction the two have after their heart wrenching falling out is them making up again? Come on.

Then we had act 3 and overall it was better I think but the timing of their hot scene in the cell was just odd, like what about your sister about to kill herself? I was very happy and hyped in the moment but then I realized how rushed this was. Why? Why make em fuck right here? And in the final act, the two weren't together because again, their arcs were not as connected. And that's actually pretty cool to have a couple who do their own things! But it doesn't help their relationship when they, in turn, aren't given enough time to develop as a pair!

I feel like season 1 did this incredible job of setting these characters up, showing us why they work so well together and why they would fall for one another. And season 2 gave us pay off for it but with very little set up, which was needed because of how Cait changed throughout the season. I don't mention Vi here because she did not change. She had her drunk boxing phase, which we got nothing but a montage off, but everything else is basically season 1 Vi aside from very few things here and there. Like her becoming an enforcer wasn't a character change for Vi, her finally letting go of powder and calling her sister Jinx, wasn't a big character moment for Vi, they were pay off for a set up we didn't get enough of.

SO TO GET TO MY POINT:

S2 was rushed. We should've AT LEAST gotten 3 seasons, like minimum, because there was a whole lot of plot and very little moments in between for characterization. Especially for Caitlyn and Vi and their relationship to each other.

I still generally prefer Caitvi to Jayvik, but only because of season 1. Season 2 gave me the two things I wanted most (a sexy scene and a kiss) but forgot to give me the things that made me fall in love with this ship in the first place.

Which was the hilarious buddy cop dynamic of rich girl cop Cait, and broke butch prisoner Vi.

[columboposting]

I say this as a certified gwen cooper stan and defender and lover etc etc so if i see anyone in my replies coming for my girl its on sight. But it is honestly completely batshit insane to me the way seasons 1 and 2 of torchwood consistently do this thing where on-screen development or depiction of Jack and Ianto’s romantic relationship is directly preceded by a category five Gwen and Jack Unresolved Sexual Tension event. Like, Jack propositioning Ianto over Suzie’s corpse comes right after a scene where Jack and Gwen make moon eyes at each other from across the Hub; in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Jack only asks Ianto out on a date after a failed attempt to woo Gwen; in Reset, Martha’s conversation with Ianto about getting him and Jack a red UNIT hat comes after her convo with Gwen where both of them are like “man we must be the only two people in the world who havent been with Jack.” The obviously most insane example is in Something Borrowed when Gwen and Jack dance together extremely intimately AT GWEN’S WEDDING and Ianto literally has to WALK OVER to take Jack off Gwen’s hands. (If I missed any more examples please tell me because i feel like I did. Also Fwiw not every Janto scene follows a Gwack UST event, though by the same turn not every Gwack UST event is followed by a Janto scene. But I think there’s enough here for it to be a pattern.). So there’s this consistent thing where we see Jack make moon eyes at Gwen and only going to Ianto after this fails to result in anything substantial. This creates the impression that Ianto is Jack’s second choice for a partner, and that Gwen is his first.

You could argue that this pattern constitutes Jack choosing Ianto over Gwen, but… I dunno. The obstacle that consistently stops Jack from pursuing Gwen further in the scenes I’m talking about is not his commitment to Ianto but Gwen’s commitment to Rhys. (If you want an example of TW S1/2 actually showing Jack choose Ianto over Gwen I’d point at End of Days: Gwen metaphorically awakens Jack by kissing his corpse (he doesn’t seem to object but Gwen is obviously the one initiating), and then Jack immediately runs off to make out with Ianto. Compare with, say, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, where Jack tries to initiate with Gwen, gets cock-blocked by her engagement ring, and subsequently asks Ianto out. You see the difference?

To set my cards on the table I am obsessed with Jack and Gwen’s straightbait situationship, and I think it is completely fine and cool and entertaining, actually, for Jack and Gwen UST to coexist with canon Janto (Jack is from the Free Love century and has two hands; meanwhile it baffles me that people get on Gwen’s ass for the crime of (checks notes) being into Jack Fucking Harkness, as if being attracted to him is not completely normal and understandable), HOWEVER the show’s scene to scene editing CONSISTENTLY gives the impression that Jack would choose Gwen over Ianto if given the opportunity. So for all that I think a lot of Gwen hate is like, people being unfairly mad at Gwen for “getting in the way” of a gay ship that, per the show’s writing, she never actively interferes with or disapproves of and is generally shown to support, the way the show uses the language of editing does actually kind of value Jack’s hypothetical straight relationship with Gwen over his existing gay relationship with Ianto in a way that frankly fucking sucks. I have no idea whether or not this was intentional or whose fault it is (if I had to blame anyone I’d blame the writers involved and the editors involved, but tv production is complicated and this is a systemic problem that would be difficult to identify if you’re only looking at one episode at a time) but whatever happened its like. A lowkey homophobic element of an otherwise mostly queer-friendly show. Literally what were they thinking.

[do-you-ship-it-polls]

Following this blog is making me realize I really don't think I get what makes shipping appealing to most people.

Like, whats all this about character dynamics being more important than gender? How do you get invested in and want to see a relationship if your not attracted to at least one of the characters? Are there really straight dudes and lesbians out there reading / watching yaoi & straight girls and gay dudes out there reading / watching yuri?

Also not sure why people get invested in ships between characters that basically never interact or both have incompitable orientations or especially one where both have a mutual hatred of each other in canon.

Like, unless it has the potential to appeal to a very specific kink or fetish I have, I think almost all the ships I've submitted here involve at least one character that canonically has a one-sided crush or attraction to the other.

Is this the reason people think im a pedo for shipping child characters with eachother :(

If you need to find at least one of the characters attractive, it probably means you're shipping in a self-insert way, or like... to wank to them or something. I think most people just like exploring character dynamics in writing, their imagination or art.

That's also why it's so much fun to ship enemies together. There's so much more to explore when you think about the path they would need to go on in order to date, rather than a couple that are already attracted to eachother. At least in my opinion. (And enemies tend to follow the same patterns that people with crushes do, since they're obsessed with the other person). Light and L want eachother dead or in prison and they are probably the most popular death note ship because of it. Those two think about eachother 24/7.

And for characters that don't interact in canon, it's fun to imagine "what could have been" or what could happen post-canon, pre-canon etc. And sometimes it's just for fun. Shipping in general is just for fun and doesn't have to be taken seriously.

And if we're going into my personal experience - i'm mostly attracted to men but I think yuri is fun to read/watch. I also like gay romance, and sometimes straight romance. Romance is romance. yknow. It helps to imagine that heterosexuality isn't the default for everyone. A lot of writers miss out on good pairings because they make their characters strictly hetero. (just a personal opinion, writers choices should be respected, etc etc)

It just sounds like you're shipping with your hand down your pants.

(Also if anyone wants to respond to this, please write a comment or a reblog instead of sending me an ask!)

[jinbeisluffy]

I see so many posts over different social media platforms about sexuality/gender hcs for the strawhats and i want to add in my own two cents because i believe im very correct (but anyone’s opinion is valid so long as it doesnt go against canon coding)

Luffy - the most aroace and trans guy to ever BREATHE. i dont mean aroace in that hes somewhere on the spectrum where he can still be attracted to people, because he cant. this guy had never grasped the concept of romance and never will, because theres no reason for it to him. hes trans because i say he is, i dont have many reasons for THAT but its just the signals hes sending me. trans to trans communication trust

Zoro - gay. thats it thats the post. no but i dont ship luffy with anyone but zoro is just attracted to literally any man who is strong, thats his criteria and thats all he ever needs. is he aware of it? not at all, he has no idea that its not normal to get bricked up by the thought of other men

Nami - i havent seen a bigger lesbian in media ever, genuinely i dont think any other character is as obviously lesbian as she is. she loves girls unapologetically no matter what, supports all girls at the end of the day (cough kalifa) . i also hit her with the asexual beam because i can, specifically demisexual because i THINK so

Usopp - while i wanna consider kaya, i wanna consider sanji too and thats making me lean between bi or omni even if omni is a label under the bi umbrella. its more a question of if he recognises his preference for men or not, because he does prefer then at the end of the day. the ace beam bounces from nami to usopp because he too doesnt feel anything and doesnt think about it either

Sanji - oh my god where do i begin. maybe just the blatant queer coding of wci as a whole?? of course hes attracted to women, thats not an aspect you can remove or just toss around to being something else. he loves and respects women, but he is so QUEER. all of wci is just queer coding, its a queer story and sanji is a queer character i will die on this hill. he probably has some kind of gender issues too, what specifically? no clue, but he likes people of multiple genders and is in deep denial about it all the time he wont ever truly accept it but he can one day as a treat live with that fact

Chopper - oh hes a reindeer he cant really have a sexuality DID WE FORGET THE FACT HES HUMAN TOO ISNT THAT LIKE HIS WHOLE THING, NOT BEING A MONSTER BUT ALSO A HUMAN. HE IS BOTH? i dont have any specific labels to slap onto him, just that hes a people lover and encourager of literally everything. ace beam bounces onto him too

Robin - trans trans trans trans trans trans trans trans you will accept robin transfem into your life right here right now. she can like anyone, she has no label on it, she just likes people and cant bother with genders or anything like that. the ace beam actually skips her because if they were doing a hear me out cake she’d be the one putting all of the crazy things. freak. (lovingly)

Franky - HOW TRANS CODED IS IT NOT TO REBUILD YOUR OWN BODY TO BECOME A BETTER VERSION OF YOURSELF AND TO REBUILD YOUR LIFE IN A WAY YOU WANT, BUT GOING BACK TO WHAT YOU LOVED ABOUT YOUR OLD SELF, AND EMBRACING IT. literally, trans goals. he modified his body and went i might as well give myself top surgery and an awesome dick while im here!! sexuality wise hes a lover of everyone, but he has preferences for women (robin) but encourages all bromances (with brook)

Brook - THIS IS WHERE IM MOST PASSIONATE!!!! people can say that hes the token straight grandpa. but theyll never understand the joy of old gay brook had a romance with his captain, the joy of brook trying to subtlety let the other strawhats know he accepts them (he isnt subtle at all and everyone knows). look at brook in drag twice for no reason and tell me he isnt queer, in some way. the ace beam finally hits someone and its brook, insert skull joke here

Jinbei - very specifically old gay man who didnt really do much throughout his youth, he always knew he liked men but he never had TIME to do anything, too busy being awesome and a father i fear. now that hes with the crew he isnt automatically gonna seek anyone out, but hes also not gonna restrain himself from finding interests in people, hes being more selfish now and thats good for him. finally the ace beam hits jinbei and proceeds to fly off towards other op characters that i might talk about some other time

can you tell im asexual and love projecting onto characters with it !!!!

[wendytestabrat]

kyle "liking" heidi was a HUGE cop-out

i can't believe we just got a 50 min long kyle-sided kyman episode and still all i wanna talk about is this episode from 2017 LOL. "doubling down" is prob the episode i've done the most rants on and i ain't stopping now. ok so like what i wanna talk abt his how fucking forced the whole kyle liking heidi thing was and how it came out of completely nowhere. and i have a theory on why that is...bc if kyle rlly was supposed to like heidi they rlly did NOT do a good job convincing us that was the case. ok so what i think what happened was this episode was originally intended to be a SUPER on the nose kyman episode abt kyle confronting his feelings for cartman but then trey parker pussied out and changed the script at last second bc he was too afraid of canonizing kyman lol. and trey does this bs A LOT especially with the 6 days to air format, he'll write the script one way and then he suddenly changes his mind at last second and wants it to be something completely different lol. bc yeah it's sus AF how in s20 they were originally setting things up for kyle to realize he's gay for cartman like in the little red riding kyle scene and then the scene of him crying over the picture of cartman (which was how we knew right away his jealousy was bc he had feelings for cartman NOT heidi) and then out of nowhere they revealed kyle liked heidi like hWat. that made us feel gaslighted AF. and i remember back in the day (in the ancient year of 2017) when they dropped the promo for that episode the description said "kyle is playing with fire when he gets in the middle of cartman and heidi's relationship" or some shit like that, which was ambiguous AF but kyman shippers got all excited bc we assumed the episode was abt all of kyle's jealousy with cartman & heidi finally coming to the forefront BC OF HIS FEELINGS FOR CARTMAN NOT HEIDI. so i feel like they released that description to be ambiguous on purpose bc they didn't know if they were gonna continue the route of having kyle liking cartman or change it to kyle liking heidi. and the only reason why they changed it to kyle "liking" heidi was bc they were too chicken to go forward with a kyman plot that strong, and bc it would've been too hard to change the episode to something completely unrelated on such short notice. it's not bc matt & trey give two shifts about kydi lol. it's obvious they LOVE kyman and deep down wanna make it happen, i think they either just don't know the best way to write it in yet or they're too afraid to piss off the non-shipping fans of the show. so that's the reason why we only get hints and they never take it any further than that. bc even tho kyle supposedly "liked" heidi this attraction was hardly believable and it still seemed EXTREMELY obvious that when kyle "liked" heidi, he was still repressing his feelings for cartman and those feelings came out in more unconscious ways throughout the episode. bc yeah for YEARS they've been writing kyle's character as gay and obsessed with cartman so that's why it was hard for them to make us believe kyle actually liked heidi and why him and heidi had 0 chemistry dhdhskks. and the reason why all kyle did was ask heidi about cartman was bc the original premise set up for the episode was for him to be a jealous snake bc he HATES heidi and LOVES cartman. he even deadass trashed heidi in the beginning when he was like "why is she still supporting him?!?!" which showed how much disdain he had for heidi (and cartman also called him out for having a problem with heidi back in s20), yet they expect us to believe he actually liked her??? LOL. kyle also literally says "i think we're all going out with cartman right now" so i think the way things were set up in the first half of the episode was actually the original vision for the script about kyle liking cartman. the moment when the girls told kyle he "likes" heidi was when they decided to change it up out of nowhere. they probably originally intended to have one of the characters call him out for liking cartman or some shit which stan and butters got pretty close to doing LOL.

[forsoobado137]

as for your au, do you hc any nations as being queer? which ones? how does this play into politics and homophobia? would they stay closeted because of it? I've always thought relationships between nations would be seen as extremely problematic under the public eye, hence the hundreds of years of pining and denial. Not only for national relations but also because the relationship would most likely be a queer one considering the ratio of male/female nations.

It would be kind of hard to justify being homophobic if it's known that the literal personification of your own country has a long history of queerness. It's not like anyone has the right to tell them to not be, when the only other immortal beings are probably of the same gender, and being two immortal beings who have been through literal war and death together they have a bond that no human could possibly hope to understand.

Obviously I don't know your stance on shipping so you don't have to answer this, but the subject and implications of homophobia and relationships have always been so interesting to me in a public au and I need to hear someone else's thoughts. Thank you!!

Some of my queer headcanons kind of align with what is already canon/popular in fanon. I'm just going to do a quick bullet list. It's okay if you don't agree with them.

Italy: Bisexual. He mostly likes women though. He’s kind of half closeted because of biphobia and homophobia, but also everyone lowkey kind of knows.

Germany: a gay. A homo. I cannot see him with a woman. The only one who doesn’t know he’s gay is himself.

America: I see him as aromantic. He has sexual attraction, but he doesn’t vibe with romance.

France: very openly pansexual. Also kind of gnc. He mostly dresses in suits, but he loves expressing his French fashion regardless of gender norms.

Poland: Genderfluid and gay, but he's very closeted because of queerphobia.

China: Undecided level of queer. But he doesn’t really care about labeling it.

Greece: pan, but he doesn’t even acknowledge it.

Sweden: Canonically gay.

Spain: Bisexual because of his marriage with Austria.

Austria: Denies being queer because the marriage was political. Forever unlabeled.

Wales: Aroace. I cannot see him as anything else. His only love is for dragons or something.

Vietnam: Lesbian. She does not care for men.

Egypt: Non-binary. When someone asks if he's a boy or a girl, he'll reply "I'm Egypt."

It can get very messy with politics. Nations being in public relationships with each other is always going to be seen as a political statement. It's only something that is allowed if they're legally married. If they do enter relationships, especially if their governments are enemies, they keep it on the dl. A lot of nations, such as Poland, are closeted because of A: being forced by their bosses to do so, and B: the queerphobia they would face should they come out.

It doesn't matter if a country is openly queer, there will always be homophobes and shit. The most common form of Olympic-level mental gymnastics is claiming "my nation has been brainwashed by the queer community, which is why these anti-queer laws are necessary to keep them safe!" Sometimes, they'll protest in the streets/harrass the nation (though nobody likes the people who do this). Sometimes, they just denounce their citizenships and move somewhere else (good riddance).

[strapped-and-beheaded]

Love interest ranked on how well they'd do polyamory

I think nearly none of these people should even be in any relationships, they should all be in therapy, but I'm ranking them on how many chapters of a fic there has to be before I'm convinced polyam works for them

starting strong with Black wolf, their route is just the pack's route and the pack is just a huge commune polycule, they all fuck you, they all care for your kids, you're their beloved alpha cumbucket, monogamy would be harder actually even.

this is just vibes but I think Robin could do well, you need to tell them what polyamory is tho, but like the lunch event where Sydney kisses you while leaving and Robin kisses you as well? kinda fun and flirty, kinda playful.

I just get good vibes I think Robin would have fun with it if you had a good talk about it and made sure you were all ready. yeah just vibes.

Whitney doesn't know what that is also, they don't care about gay shit like that(ignore that they are gay and have gay sex with you) but if they get multiple sluts that's awasomesauce, they're chilling, they tuned out the rest of the explaination after the part where you get to have awasome threesomes.

they see it as solely a sex thing for a while then one day realisation this is very romantic hits them square in the face and kills them on impact

Alex... ngl all I can think about is Dolya's homestead au. I think if you were dating he plans your futures together as a marrried couble on the farm growing old together with kids so he gets super averse to open relationships or hearing out polyamory, but if you start poly he'd be fine.

I can see him getting two attractive farmhands who are dating and he's trying to be normal about then you offer poly and he's not complaining. or just a ragtag group of 19 year olds working the farm fighting intruders and having to share rooms together at night until it gets really steamy and romantic... yeah homestead au supremacy

pure Sydney not in a million years. corrupt Sydney, very slowly. so many things they gotta unlearn about how they view love and life. if they were the one who had multiple crushes and lead through it I think you can slowburn that shit, harder if you wanted to date someone else.

but like I wouldn't be a Sydney fucker if I didn't wanna slowly queer up this repressed little church boy/girl more and more until they're near unregonizable and happier then they could have imagined. also it's canon my pc and my friends pc and my other friend's pc are all dating sydney and they are all in love and together rn it's canon

mid point honorable mention Avery. the fuck is a polygon or whatever you just said? they're not even actually dating you mono style. take off your clothes, take your money and leave.

Great Hawk does not understand what polyamory is, that is a bird, you're their spouse why do you need other people are they not providing enough support to you? why would they look at anyone else when they have the best spouse in you? they are grumpy because you brough the topic up but can be easily calmed, not changing their opinion tho.

alright you know what it is, Kylar active murder suicide risk. just for bringing it up they'll probably kidnap you. if you end up in a polycule by some miracle that relationship is a ticking time bomb baybeyyy. great if you get off on seeing Kylar suffer and want the risk of murder to spice up your life. which I do.

I got attacked by bees on the way to Eden's cabin once and she kept me in a dog cage for a week for cheating on her before I reloaded an earlier save because cage life got boring. genuine death wish.