#rina x nini

[blues-valentine]

HSMTMTS Final Season Spoilers:

Ricky and Gina’s first relationships (Nini/EJ) prepared them for their own trials this season.

The thing about Ricky and Gina going thought similar situations as PW and Rini is to showcase not just why they’re different but that they’ve learned from their previous relationships too.

Because that’s the whole point.

Ricky’s relationship with Nini failed not just because they outgrew each other but because Nini wanted bigger things for herself and didn’t feel like she needed Ricky to get that anymore. She herself said on the pilot that being away from Ricky actually made her come out of her shell and pursue leading roles. And Ricky wasn’t ready to accept that change so in order to protect that relationship he started to become too attached and making Nini feel pressured about balancing YAC and Ricky. He thought he had to put Nini’s dream on hold only to realize not only did it made him selfish but not a version of himself he wanted to be. This is why he corrected all of those mistakes with Gina when presented with the same issues. Not just this final season but last season as well. (X)

It was stablished last season, Ricky’s love for Gina changed what he thought he knew about love. Gina is the representation of change.

For Ricky, the idea of Gina and him growing apart and walking different directions terrified him — he has seen this before and it didn’t end with people choosing him. But he wasn’t going to be the old Ricky that would delete Instagram posts and be like “I want you to leave the movie and stay here with me” and that’s because he now knows that’s not how you love. And he isn’t going to make Gina feel guilty about living her dreams. And that’s why he was the most supportive and attentive boyfriend she could’ve asked for. And Ricky knows it could cost him losing Gina but he is ready to deal with that as long as Gina is doing what she’s meant to do.

For Gina, she was living her dreams but Ricky is also part of her dreams. Gina’s arc has never been just about finding success but finding a place to belong and she found that (with Ricky, with East High). By holding the whole movie offer from Ricky, she understood why EJ did what he did last season and I think it was a very good learning experience for her and closure for the two of them. Gina was very naive and new in her relationship with EJ and going thought that allowed her to understand other points. I feel like if she hadn’t been in a relationship with EJ first she wouldn’t have known how to handle this issue with Ricky. But as opposed to Nini, who basically told Ricky she didn’t come back for him. Gina would fight for Ricky. Because she wants both the fame and him and I’m glad they didn’t have her compromise on either of those.

The contrasts and differences in all of those relationships needed to happen. It would’ve been too easy if Ricky and Gina were just in a perfectly honey moon stage even with all of those circumstances. And I would say they handled it gracefully and better than others would have (including PW and Nini). The thing about Ricky and Gina is not just that they both give the other something they need (stability, propose, ambition, understanding) is that PW and Rini gave up on each other too easy. Maybe because they just weren’t the right person. And if anything the season shows is that whatever happens next Ricky and Gina will find a way to make it work together and unlike Troyella (“who are not a real couple”) Ricky and Gina are.

[sunsetsentiments]

why does nobody talk about how horrible hsmtmts was in writing its main female characters lol,, and yeah,, both of them: nini and gina

like first, they're actually decent people in spite of their flaws or they have great development and come out better people,, but then when it comes to their relationships, suddenly they're somewhat aggressive and overly insecure. being insecure is normal,, being angry at your partner when they do smth stupid is normal,, but when the show portrayed it,, it was over the top for the sake of drama? for no??? reason???

like nini gaslighting ricky for being honest with his feelings when she was the one who told him to tell the truth. gina storming out and telling ej that maybe the old, worse version of him, is the real him in front of everyone, despite knowing he's highly insecure about his past. and the show sells it like we're supposed to clap and root for these "girlbosses".

don't get me wrong,, ricky and ej were weird too at some point,, actually all the characters were written badly by the end. it's rly frustrating when there was so much potential and the writers flopped towards the end of season 2 and never recovered.

[platonicsoulmatesstobin]

Rini- wrong person, right time

Portwell- right person, wrong time

Nini and EJ- right person, wrong time (fight me)

Rina- right person, right time

Seblos- right person, right time

Madlyn- right person, right time

Redlyn- wrong person, right time

[daphnebowen]

the contrast between hsmtmts 1x10 and 4x08 concerning Ricky is crazy.

in 1x10 he leaves the performance, quite literally hightails it off the stage because he thinks he’s not good enough for nini. He thinks he’s not gonna be able to help her get into YAC because of how badly he’s messing up (and I mean, he messed up one performance and nini wasn’t even there, so how would he know??) and gives the role away to ej because he thinks “ej is the right Troy for ninis Gabriella.”

then compare that to 4x08 (and by association, 4x07). Ricky has never been more ready for this musical in his entire life. Even after he finds out about Gina leaving (which is almost worse than finding out your mom has a new boyfriend, even though he’s known about Todd since thanksgiving, don’t hurt me ok) Ricky keeps his head in the game and continues to be there for Gina. because he knows her. he knows that he needs to be there for her, in part because of all of his character development and also because Gina is the one. Gina is his person. Gina’s the one who constantly supports him and gets him and is there for him. so he stays with it and absolutely slaps the entire second half of the show. and then and then and then - man literally SPRINTS to the real stage in order to catch Gina before she’s too late. Because while nini had to practically pull Ricky into the aisle to begin their performance (a bit dramatic, but I digress) Ricky runs for his life (after his life / future hehe) so he’s able to give “the audition” (and the performance) “of a lifetime.” (Direct quote from the leaked script, by the way. I didn’t make it up) I dunno I just thought it was interesting how Ricky was one foot in the door the whole first season with nini, never quite committing, but the whole fourth season Ricky is jumping around inside the house being the absolute best boyfriend ever and chasing his future wife down to sing her a song.

I have no idea if this made sense or even if anyone will know what I’m talking about but it’s been on my mind for a couple of hours and I just had to say it

so hopefully it makes sense at least a little bit lol

[soursfilms]

“ever since you discovered boys you spend way too much time trying to see yourself through their eyes” - season 1 episode 5

the moment kourtney said this to nini, and when nini sang out of the old, a song about wanting to leave your old town and start something new, it always made it known to me that at the end nini was getting some feminist type of ending. so even if rina wasn’t a thing or even if rini lasted longer, i always had a gut instinct nini’s journey was away from east high and she was going to “choose herself” in the very end. her going back to ricky regressed her character growth. it was made clear by kourtney that nini saw herself through his eyes, and nini herself mentioned she needed to find herself (she literally told ricky these exact words in an argument in the first episodes about how she found herself at camp, away from him) the show perfectly showcased this in the first season and second season. this wasn’t just added spontaneously, it’s been there since season one. to deny that is to admit you never understood her character in the first place. for people to still not see that is beyond me. olivia wrote and sung so many nini songs that depict this (the rose song spells it out perfectly) and yet people still aren’t actually listening or understanding the lyrics, it’s honestly sad.

“olivia leaving” didn’t change anything. these themes with her character have been there since season one. as i just described by taking two examples from the first season. which was written and recorded way before olivia blew up. it’s honestly tiring that people purposely ignore this because they have a one dimensional view of the show and believe they’re right. or that the writer/creator of these characters and show is “lying” as if they know more then the man who created these characters in the first place.

[whatever-color-of-the-rainbow]

Ricky: From now on, we'll be using code names. You can address me as “Eagle One.”

Ricky: Nini, code name; “been there, done that.”

Ricky: Gina is “currently doing that”. *high fives her*

Ricky: Ashlyn is “kissed once in Beauty and the Beast.”

Ricky: Jet, code name; 'if I had to pick a dude.'

Ricky: Carlos is...

Carlos:

Ricky: “Eagle Two.”

Carlos: Oh, thank God.

[ginaluvr]

rinis claiming that rini MUST have been endgame originally probably didn’t watch s1 closely enough

not only was nini unhappy in their relationship in s2, but that was already implemented in s1. kourt called her out for hinging so much for her self worth on ricky’s perspective of her. she confessed that without him she felt she was able to bloom and find herself. nini had nothing left to gain from being with ricky.

gina, alternatively, was set up in s1 as having everything to gain from him. the ability to fully be herself, to open up and let her guard down, to experience ‘firsts’ that she never got to have before.

they didn’t just spontaneously ruin rini on a whim in s2. they were destined to fail. nini had just outgrown ricky at that point and by s3 gina was finally growing into a version of herself where she COULD allow herself to finally love someone as much as she loved him.

to summarise rinis don’t get either of the girls’ characters or development and it’s likely that they wouldn’t respect them even if they did

[wildm00re]

tapping back into my rina obsession for 5 minutes just to say that irl drama played no role in your ship not being endgame because 1). the first eps of s2 (when rini evidently were abt to die a slow, painful death) were filmed at the beginning of 2020 literally a whole year before driver’s license drama

and 2). if the writers *really* wanted to, they could’ve easily delena-ed them and made them endgame regardless of the actors’ irl relationship + they could’ve easily written nini off (like they wrote elena off when nina wanted to leave) and still have had her and ricky do long distance for real this time or whatever—

but they didn’t because as explicitly stated by the writer, he completely changed the direction of the show once he was moved by rina’s chemistry in 1x05/6

also if this scene, filmed in s1, wasn’t the biggest foreshadowing ever that a lot of y’all obtusely ignored, then idk what else to say

[frostluvrs]

i always knew the discourse about gina “changing” (in a bad way) and “‘not feeling like/being herself” and “turning into nini” after s3 was ridiculous because it was said literally in a s3 interview that sofia had full creative control over gina’s style and hair in s3 and that it would be the same in s4 (she literally had a pinterest board for s4 gina that she deleted bc of spoilers) but it’s nice to see sofia talking about gina’s style and her style evolution while relating a lot of it to herself and her own style evolution

i would say i hope this puts rest to so much of the discourse surrounding a simple style change that is not that deep but we all know certain groups of people in this fandom ignore what’s inconvenient for their narrative so 😕😕

[curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn]

joliviaspws rinispws are gonna be forever mad that rina is endgame 😅 but for real, I never want to hear a peep about rina being "fanservice" ever again, when the only hsmtmts tweets that are going viral are ones explicitly hating rina, calling them disgusting, claiming they're the worst ship, etc.

[torturedpoetskywalker]

Polyship Week 2023

Post-Season Four - Nini's still in California writing her new album, Ricky and Gina decide to make a surprise visit to her. - Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts/Gina Porter

wc: 365 | ao3 | polyship week (@polyshipweek): day 18, long-distance relationship | fandom: high school musical the musical the series | rating: general | tags: polyamory, triad, established relationship, long-distance relationship, fluff, teen romance, pov nini salazar-roberts, post-season/series 04, california

[blues-valentine]

let’s talk about how gina compliments ricky’s love language so much and he was able to be himself in this relationship as opposed to nini

You know, I appreciate how much this season made emphasis on how both Nini and Gina react differently to Ricky's love gestures. Nini felt suffocated by him. Gina wanted him to fight for her and do those big gestures. And both reactions are valid. I made a post last season about how Ricky and Gina’s love languages complement each other and I love how the show proves me correct on how I interpret this characters. This is going to be a lengthy post.

Ricky is pretty much a huge gestures type of guy. He is unabashedly romantic when he wants to be. He is also incredible clingy and someone that needs reassurance and affirmations. He gives love by big gestures and likes to receive love by words of affirmation.

His relationship with Nini ever since the start of the series showed how incompatible they’ve become for each other. To start off, I think Nini was unable to understand Ricky’s family situation because hers is very different so it might have been because of this that she didn’t understand his reaction towards a public declaration of love (his parents probably didn’t do that anymore). She was unable to identify what he needed from her and he failed to communicate why he felt that way. It goes both ways. He needed to say the words when he felt he was ready to say it. And that's very imporant.

But also, the first thing we learn about their relationship is that Nini feels like she was able to shine over the summer and it’s hoping for new opportunities that she feels Ricky holds her back from. Ricky is resistant to this and tries out for the musical to get her back, an idea Nini is not happy about because she feels he is invading her space. During his audition, he performs a song for Nini to try and tell her he loves her. He thinks is a declaration of love but for Nini is not. But Gina is actually impressed by this. And so, even with the first episode, the show lists many reasons why they don’t seem to be compatible anymore. Nini doesn’t like Ricky’s easy going approach to things. And is absolutely fair. I think she needs someone that pushes her to be more ambitious and that shares the same desire for challenges.

Ricky confessing his love for Nini in an outburst at the end of Season 1 felt like he forced it out because he knew that’s what she needed to hear from him to get back together. He was afraid to lose that sense of familiarity. It’s what makes his love confession to Gina so different because it was intentional. He was so sure and so confident and he wanted to tell her that despite not knowing what the future holds.

Early on Season 2, it's made clear they have completely different ideas on what the other is willing to do for each other. Ricky relied too much on her to have some sense of stability because everything at his home keeps falling apart. Nini just wants to spread her wings and it’s willing to go far to pursue her dreams (“I resolve to follow my dreams however far away they take me”) which is why she felt so trapped and suffocated by him. Ricky’s abandonment issues made him clingier than usual. I also think she was a bit rude at times and had a hard time trying to understand him. Like, when he said he was told he had not profitable qualities on the aptitude test and she brush it off and told him she didn’t come back for him. It was pretty harsh. I don't think neither of them knew what the other needed emotionally anymore. It was a bit of a mess and Ricky didn’t even know what he was supposed to do. Ricky’s love language for her was quality time and gestures but I don’t think that was Nini’s vibe. It got to a point she wasn’t receptive of his attempts at fixing their relationship. And as I said, Ricky needs to feel that his attempts are at least appreciated. And Nini never really did a good job at lifting him up.

A lot of Ricky's issues with how it went down with Nini is that he was dealing with his mom abandonment issues and Nini wasn't putting the same efforts into staying with Ricky (long distance or otherwise) and she's valid for this. But seeing it from Ricky's perspective too is like another person is also choosing to leave him.

Now, Gina is someone that wants to feel wanted. She wants people to fight for her. This is probably due to her family and how they didn’t put her as a priority growing up. How her mom barely even validates what’s important for her. This is why she liked EJ at first, because he gave her the attention she needed at that time. And it’s fair to say Gina gives love by words of affirmation and gifts. And likes to receive love by gestures and quality time. Same as Ricky.

She was impressed by Ricky singing to Nini at auditions on the pilot. She told Ricky to sing the song to Nini by the phone on Valentine’s Day because “every girl [her] likes a sweet gesture”. She threw a big surprise party for Carlos when they weren't even that close yet. She likes huge gestures. And I don’t think it was a coincidence when Ricky asked her back in Season 2 *if they were dating* and he went behind her back but for a good reason (and the whole thing about asking Miss Jenn if she can add Nini to the show last minute) if she’d like it. Gina answers that she would be flattered. Ricky took Gina's words without considering that this is not something Nini would want. For Ricky, it’s so they can spent more time together (and Gina sees it that way too) but Nini does not. She sees it as an added pressure. And you see how much Ricky's midset has been altered by his relationship with Nini that on Season 4 he thinks Gina would be relieved by Dani taking her place as Gabriella because she's been too busy with the movie despite him wanting them to spend time together. And Gina isn’t happy. For her, the the show is also a thing for them.

The season actually makes a lot of parallels to this. It also parallels this especifit moment from Season 2 when Ricky wants to send a *dumb* text to Nini that says something about "he is happy she's following her dreams but also he wishes he was her dream. And wants her to turn aroud and come back here. I believe the word he used was forever." And we know Nini would've felt pressured by that text. And that’s understandable. But the writers are so funny because on 408 during Gina's confessional she says she hasn't made a decision about the movie yet and wishes Ricky would fight for her a little more. And in Ricky's confessional he says he once told a girl (Nini) to stay home and it didn’t end too well so he doesn't want to make the same mistake. But Gina wants for Ricky to be Ricky and go all and beyond. But he has grown too much to be selfish. But he does end up doing what Gina wants by singing to her about forever fully expecting her to follow her dreams away from him without even knowing Gina had already decided to follow her dreams and be with him too. We truly love a full circle.

Moving to Season 3, it’s clear Gina likes the feeling of sharing things with a partner, and she saw how EJ was unable to give her that or even make space for her to be a priority but I do think there’s a lot of growth on Gina about understating the needs of her partner too. For example, Gina was able to give Ricky space after the whole Halloween situation. Ricky called her asking her for space and she allowed. It wasn't a break up, just mutual understanding that everyone needs a minute to take it all in and it's not because they don’t want to face it.

On Season 4, right off the bat, it shows us Gina embraces Ricky’s dorky and clingy side a lot. She likes his unexpected visits and ideas. She likes when Ricky plans stuffs and sneaks into her trailer. She likes when Ricky texts her a lot. Gina wants to feel that love because she lacked a lot of that growing up. Unlike Nini, who wanted to be free and get new experiences. Gina likes the stability Ricky provides her. And another thing Sofia said on a interview is that Gina likes how Ricky is very easy going because Gina is already too perfectionist. But mostly, I think you can appreciate how Gina encourages Ricky to be a little more ambitious while Ricky encourages Gina to be more relaxed. To be more giddy and bring down her walls. Nini felt like she coulnd't be truly herself around Ricky while Gina is the total opposite, she feels seen and understood with him because he is able to give her that with the way he is. And Gina does it to Ricky in return by making him feel wanted and appreciated for who he is. I do hope Nini finds someone (preferentially a girl) that makes her feel that way too. Seen and understood.

And also, let's point out how both Ricky and Gina's love language is also physical touch because they are unable to stop touching each other even if by friendly little shoulder touches. They’re unable to stop kissing each other. Gina can’t stop cupping Ricky’s cheeks. Or holding hands. In conclusion, Ricky and Gina are perfect and love each other so much. And their love story is so well written and for the books.

[behold-the-brave-battalion-17]

Ricky: Wait, you have a crush on me?!

Gina: Oh come on, it's not that weird!

Ricky: It is! No one's ever had a crush on me... 

Gina: *climbs up onto the table* HEY IF ANYONE HERE HAS EVER HAD A CRUSH ON RICKY BOWEN, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND!

Nini, Jet, Big Red, and Lily: *all raise their hands* 

Ricky: Oh…

[platonicsoulmatesstobin]

I'm glad Olivia left hsmtmts to continue her music career, but I would literally KILL to have Nini's reaction to rina. She wouldn't even be surprised she'd just cheer them both on and I missed her so much the last two seasons 😭

[shubblelive]

doing us all a favour i asked about lesbian gina