#that hug got some homoerotic subtext

[secretly-larry-daley]

I have a confession…

I ship Larry and McPhee!! I know, the humanity! The scrutiny! The horror!

[koalatysleep]

Thank you for the excellent meta @datshq! <3 Stumbled across this after I meta-screamed about why Kuwameshi my beloved OTP is the undercover love story in YYH! So happy to have found fellow Kuwameshi fans who enjoy meta!

The point about Yusuke 'harassing' both Keiko and Kuwabara got me thinking! Even though on the surface it seems similar, there's actually a key subtle but significant difference behind Yusuke's motivations to do so!

In Episode 1 when Yusuke 'harasses' Keiko, it's coz she was berating & nagging him quite harshly to do better in school (i.e. she verbally harassed him) - she immediately assumed he must have done something bad for Takenaka-sensei to be looking for him (when actually Yusuke hasn't done anything and Takenaka just wanted to proactively counsel him), and she outright says he'll drag her down with him into a scolding if he doesn't go meet Takenaka soon! Yusuke flipped her skirt not because he was pervy or romantically interested in her, he flipped it coz it was the fastest way to stop her words which were quite hurtful for him, coz it inadvertently confirms his worst fears about himself, that he is 'bad' and is a 'burden' for people he cares about! Keiko's words + his mom's nagging afterwards hurt him so much he fell into a black mood which was only alleviated when he brawled Kuwabara! I wrote a bit more about this in another meta about Yusuke's fear-based "Identity" (the emotional armour we build based on deep-seated fears and emotional wounds) vs his True Self!

Contrast this to Episode 67 when Yusuke seeks out Kuwabara in a good mood to eat lunch together! Yusuke jabbing Kuwabara in the ass is more of a Freudian slip! You can see from his reaction he didn't expect Kuwabara to be so outraged! ROFL! Apart from the obvious homoerotic subtext and LOL hilarity of Yusuke literally jabbing Kuwabara in the ass just as Kuwa's thinking about becoming "a real man" for Yukina, it's actually so cute and so sweet that Yusuke is seeking out Kuwabara to do normal everyday things together! This is Yusuke's way of asking for Kuwabara's attention, this is Yusuke's way of asking Kuwabara to take care of him (by feeding him), this is Yusuke realizing on some levels after the events of the Dark Tournament and everything before that, that Kuwabara is his OTP!

When Kuwabara reacts with outrage instead (coz Kuwabara's still in denial about his feelings for Yusuke at this point in time), Yusuke reacting with semi-hurt defensiveness to highlight his own strengths semi-insecurely and semi-proudly is so human and relatable! Even with so much unexamined subconscious emotions in each of them for the other, they nonetheless have a great time with each other and pounce on the opportunity to be physically close to each other under the guise of rough-housing and bickering, to the extent they totally forget about their audience! Screencaps in undercover love story meta! There's one frame where Yusuke was full body-hugging Kuwabara!

But I digress! Thank you so much for writing and sharing your meta, love it!!

DATS Meta: Yusuke and Kuwabara and the universe singularity

So, Yusuke and Kuwabara. Their relationship is the single most important relationship in the entire show. All of the arcs up until the Sensui one rely on it developing and existing. Yusuke wouldn’t have beaten Toguro if he hadn’t spent the earlier part of the series growing closer with Kuwabara, and Kuwabara learned to shred dimensions because he felt the same way. Also holy shit these two have parallels to

all the canon couples in the show

, which means that the romantic relationships were chosen and depicted specifically to showcase aspects of Yusuke and Kuwabara’s relationship.

First there’s the way Kuwabara and Keiko both have similar scenes with Yusuke. They both get a dream of Yusuke inviting them to kiss him, Yusuke sexually harasses them both and is protective of them and flies off the handle when they’re threatened. Only, because of Kuwabara being in the line of fire more often than Keiko, it’s really more pronounced in Kuwabara’s case. A Yuyu arc just isn’t complete unless Yusuke screams after or because of Kuwabara at least once.

The start of the Sensui arc especially has a direct comparison between Kuwabara and Keiko, with Yusuke being dismissive and avoidant with Keiko in one scene and then opening up to Kuwabara about his worries in the next one. Yusuke feels similarly about Kuwabara and Keiko, but Kuwabara is closer to him because he understands the world Yusuke has wrapped himself in and therefore more easily offer him support.

Then there’s the other meta I wrote about Genkai and Kuwabara sharing a bunch of parallels and Genkai and Toguro both seeing some of Toguro in Yusuke. Genkai and Toguro are at the very least hinted at being romantically involved. The fact that Genkai sees these parallels in Yusuke and Kuwabara’s relationship, judging by her behavior before her death, it says a lot about Yusuke and Kuwabara’s rapport in-universe. Everybody Can See It.

Lastly we have Sensui and Itsuki. The romantic nature of the relationship here is more blatant, although it’s more twisted. Still, the twistedness doesn’t erase the similarity. Yusuke and Kuwabara are codependent to a degree, this much is canon in how they simply can’t function if they think the other is dead. Similarly, Sensui and Itsuki also would never leave each other. But the similarities don’t end on simply having an unhealthy fixation on each other.

One is the Spirit Detective personally chosen by Koenma, a downright prodigy in combat with quickly growing combat prowess. The other is completely devoted to his Spirit Detective, would even tear the fabric between the realms apart for him, and has the power to do that, to control dimensions to that degree. You only need to swap the names and that description would fit Sensui and Itsuki as well as Yusuke and Kuwabara equally.

These are the facts. From a more one-dimensional standpoint, this could all be read to mean that Kuwabara seems to be deliberatedly coded as Yusuke’s love interest, but that’s probably not the case since the show keeps pushing Keiko. Instead it’s merely to show that the relationship is important. The most important one, the one the entire story, and therefore universe, of Yu Yu Hakusho revolves around.

No, this is not the ship manifesto. This is practise.

[themauvesoul]

So I started thinking about an anon that you got a while back that said something like ‘supernatural was pretty normal about gay people when they were present, why do they act like this with Dean?’

And the thing is I recently looked at a different tumblr that collected a lot of the shows grievances with gay people (besides jokes.)

The word gay is said 13 times in total, half by Dean and the rest are mostly one off characters (apparently never after season 8 except for the one time in a preacher’s sermon.) Homosexual is said once. No actual queer person identifies themself as such. They imply and talk around it until the characters and by extension the audience realize.

No one is allowed to kiss anyone of the same sex that they are long term partners with (the one kiss I can recall was Charlie with Gilda.) In fact the couples are only able to have a few moments of intimacy, and none of them give any indication that they’re married.

A majority of the queer characters have small parts and die. The first out character not to die in the episode they were introduced in was The Chief (a one off, unnamed joke where a man with the iconography of a Dominator. He also does not check for consent before attempting to have a scene but that’s getting off topic.)

We have other things like Donna’s cousin wearing a shirt that was never fully visible (which the actress had to later confirm actually) said a common lgbtq phase and had two interlocking Greek symbols for women. The one time (blink and you miss it) that a queer couple appears to be raising a child I believe neither mentions their partner and they are never in the same room at the same time. And a queer person being killed but their murderer was forgiven with no consequences or hesitation.

Sorry for going off on you but I am now realizing that we often focus on one off jokes or one particularly bad scene, etc rather than putting these examples all together.

No literally it’s like. There’s this phenomenon where lgbtq+ characters are either allowed to ACT queer, or they’re allowed to SAY they’re queer. With virtually no overlap. Which is how you get the Disney flavor of representation. Where some guy says “oh yeah my boyfriend died and it sucked :/“ in infinity war and THATS their gay representation. And it’s also how you get stuff like xena, which is so infamously homoerotic that it STILL has a cult following of lgbtq+ women, almost 20 years after it first aired. But like. In infinity war, we never see the boyfriend. We never see any behavior that is visibly queer. And in xena, we see the behavior. Gabrielle and xena LITERALLY kiss. But it never gets a name. And it never gets to fully escape the subtext.

So what’s weird abt spn is that most stories have one or the other. But spn has BOTH. we have Charlie, and the chief, and donnas shirt, and all those other small, meaningless parts where the characters get to SAY they’re queer, but they don’t necessarily get to BE queer. And then right alongside that you have dean and cas. Who are BEING queer. Actively. They’re given plots that most writers would reserve for heterosexual romances. They’re all up in each other’s business. They’re staring at each other from across an empty room they’re cupping each other’s faces when they hug they’re dying for each other and confessing on their deathbed. But they never get to say it. They never get to declare that relationship as queer. And it never leaves the subtext.

So it’s like. It’s very strange, because each renders the other absurd. If these side characters are able to say it, if Charlie can be a lesbian and Donna can wear a pride shirt, then why can’t dean say it? Why can’t cas? And conversely, if dean and cas can all but French each other on screen, why can’t Charlie do that with another woman? Why can’t any of the other gay couples touch each other on camera?

And like. We all know the answer. It’s because straight people have made all these leaps and bounds! They can stand to say the word gay, but only if they don’t have to see the full shape of our desire. They can see the outline of our desire, but only if it doesn’t have a name. So like. You get two options. You can be an out and proud gay person who is a desire void. Or you can be someone who has desires they aren’t allowed to name, desires that could be friendship if you interpret it the right way. So like. I kinda lied in that one post. Bc the truth is spn is weird about every single gay person on that show. They’re just weird about them in different ways.

And fundamentally, I think that’s why the confession means so much. Because it’s like. It allows cas to fully embody queer desire. It allows him to act in queer ways and articulate those acts as queer. He can be it AND he can say it. Finally, we are wholly, fully embodied, fully seen and fully depicted. And then he dies literally 2 minutes later. So.

[1-800-i-ship-it]

Do you think there's something between Khun and Baam?

I definitely see some chemistry and possible sexual tension 🤔 I definitely think there's more to their relationship.

I've read loads of comments recently about how their relationship is toxic. That Khun isn't there for him emotionally and doesn't really care about him. I don't think that at all.

I also find it weird that they focus so much on Khun and his feelings/actions towards Baam when Baam acts similarly to him! He even hugged him after reuniting at some point I'm sure!

hi anon!

okay absolutely YES yes the gay subtext? the homoerotic subtext??? it is there and i think khunbam is so real haha

FKAJDLF YES U GET IT THE CHEMISTRY AND TENSION- YEAH YEAH ASDHFKJWELF (fun fact my queue tag is a quote from khun to bam "so at least tell us when you go somewhere so i can chase anytime" aight yall if that aint gay idk what is)

oof :( i unfortunately cant speak much about recent chapters bc im actually not caught up yet rip i think im only one ep past the first hiatus but when i catch up i'll think about that; i find it a little difficult to believe that their relationship is toxic, i think it might be miscommunication or smth but overall they do care for each other very much so if there is some sort of issue, hopefully it gets resolved (and we got fics while we wait >:D)

AASDJFKL yes yes bams affection to khun! the way his smile lights up when he sees him! its so precious <3 YES THEY DID HUG AFTER REUNITING ALSO ALSO THE S3 EP 66 HUG (do i have this ep number memorized? yeah)

and the reunion hug!! not pictured but im def sure it happened, also love rak just chilling there xD

thanks for the ask! have a nice day~

[vaguely-concerned]

watched the end of the ruination animated short

and you know what? YOU KNOW WHAT? Graves was there being very handsome, he had maybe the one line of dialogue that was genuinely entertaining in the whole thing (and that could very easily be interpreted as some ~*light homoerotic subtext*~ if one had a mind to, which of course I do), there was absolutely no more weirdness with him and Vayne at all (like a bro Akshan jumped on that shitty grenade, thank you Akshan you're a real one) -- considering how things have been going lately, I'm gonna chalk this one up as a win, my friends hahaha. I'm just going to post some screenshots of him being beautiful, because there's basically nothing else substantive to be gained from this short other than knowing that at least it's over now. Oh boy.

I'm going to assume that cigar is there because TF is not right now in a position to give him a Look about it

A lil angry block of a man and I for one love him very much even though this event has brought little except misery to anyone

Frame by framing my way through this (only the Graves parts tho I'm not crazy) I noticed that Akshan is actually coming over to check if Graves is okay here! (He's resting his hand on the shotgun and leans in to make eye contact, it reads better in motion.) Aw <3 Like I said, Akshan is a bro

"Don't nobody around here own a shirt?"

First of all this was the only line in this whole thing that inspired any kind of genuine emotion in me (it got a whole laugh-snort lol), and secondly Malcolm. Malcolm why is 'there sure are a lot of shirtless men around me right now' your takeaway from this situation (WE KNOW WHY even if depending on the emotional storyline we go with he may not understand why himself quite yet lmao)

Fun little animation/characterization detail: when he notices Akshan is gone, he actually gives a wide-eyed little dismayed look at first, like he's honestly worried that Akshan took it as an insult before he gets more annoyed hahaha

honestly his (teeny tiny) moments in this feel more right characterization-wise than all the visual novel stuff put together (though if that's not damning with faint praise...)

at least this was nice, right?! ;________; man, I hope these two get another chance in some years with much better writing when they decide to do something focused on taking down thresh, they deserve so much better than they got this event

Graves' reaction in the background to them reuniting is SO GODDAMN SWEET tho

He's smiling at them like that because he knows what it's like to get back to the person you love again after such a long time and he's thinking about how he's going to sweep TF's scrawny ass up in a bear hug and kiss him silly once stuff has settled properly and he can get out the blue card to teleport right back to him. Ssssh trust me I am right about this (or at least more right about anything than Riot have been this whole event, as low a bar as that is. Aaah no I will not stop bathing in this salt I have earned every grain)

These last few moments where he seems to react to Gwen talking to him are really cute too. He has such tremendous, like... Big Warm Safe Gay Uncle vibes in this one and it's wonderful, where the fUCK was this at any point during the vn??

And now... to sit back and watch the circus of how Riot will try to salvage any of this, this should be entertaining because my heart is blackened and deadened to whatever bullshit they throw at me now

[matan4il]

Everyone is talking about Buddie , that Brothers Thing and unrequited love ... i am actually so lost rn haha it would be so great if you could explain who said that and why everyone is talking about unrequited love...

Thanks :)

Hi Nonnie and thank you for the ask. People are referring to this vid in which Ryan refers to Buddie as brothers and the subtitle refers to them as ‘bromance.’ The unrequited love bit, I don’t think it’s something that’s been said officially anywhere and I consulted a few friends, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Hope this helps! And BTW, the next ask also ties into this... xoxox

thoughts on that recent buddie featurette?? 👀  i'm personally not that worried about it, if they're going for making  them canon they wouldn't reveal it in a short clip like that, plus the  vibes we got from both ryan and oliver were completely different, but  i'd love to hear your thoughts on it! it's so nice to have you and your  metas back <3

Thank you so much, Nonnie! I’m really glad you’re happy to have the weekly metas back! *hugs and sends so much love*

TBH, I’m not sure you need me, you already said a lot of what I’m thinking. ;) Because yes, if they’re gonna make Buddie happen, they won’t say anything beforehand, def not in a low profile social media vid. Until then, ‘bromance’ is probably seen as a “neutral” way to address the relationship (it isn’t, but I don’t know how sensitive to these nuances a social media team would be). At the same time, they ARE dedicating a whole featurette to this relationship. They haven’t done that for some of the canon couples of the show! That says a lot about how much the show recognizes that Buddie matter. And indeed, I’d be a lot more worried if canon started treating them as no-homo-bros with zero slowburn subtext. We got Buck stepping into the light in the way that a romantic prospect reveal would as recently as ep 408.  That’s not a way that a show normally frames a friend babysitting for another (totally platonic) friend. And I’m sure it won’t be the last time we see this kind of Buddie subtext. If the show wanted the shippers to let go, it wouldn’t keep using its cinematic language in this way.

In general, nothing that’s said in promos is binding, even less so if it’s said by one of the actors rather than by one of the people in charge. Tim, for example, while promoting ep 314 made us think someone will def die and it’s just a question of who will it be... then no one did. This show has even contradicted its own canon (example: when did Buck put in for Navy SEAL training? eps 102 and 405 contradict each other), so contradicting a passing comment from an actor in a past promo? Really not that big of an issue...

And then the word ‘brother’ itself... As much as it’s weird to hear it being used to describe Buddie, 'coz the kitchen scene is not normal siblings behavior, I’d point out that while Ryan uses it, he def doesn’t portray Eddie’s gazes at Buck like those of a brother, they seem adoring and in love to me. Compare how Eddie looks at Buck with how he looks at Chim to get what I mean... So why use that term? Maybe because it’s easy, since it comes from canon. Eddie called Buck ‘brother’ pretty early on in ep 201. And it didn’t take one bit away from the homoerotic tension of that episode. If anything, the term increased it, because why is Eddie calling Buck ‘brother’ when they barely know each other and when Buck’s been mostly a jerk? Probably ‘coz Eddie still found him attractive and awesome, and wanted to be that close to him. So yeah, don’t let the use of the word ‘brother’ discourage you. At the end of the day, this is not what determines whether Buddie will go canon or not... thank you, Nonnie! xoxox

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

I am curious: what are your favorite scenes from your main ships (date, dair, derena...)?

scenes involving milo don't count, sorry!

for me, it's really not just scenes, but body language & just in general, how they are with each other, you know? dan and serena grin at each other and hug SO much, you can tell that being around each other in s1 made them both so happy, and even after that glow fades the way they look for comfort in each other... top level stuff. the way blair looks at dan... we never see her as radiant at any other point. she was not looking at anyone else like this. and gosh, dan and nate. they're both so comfortable around each other that there's absolutely nothing weird about like. discussing that one ex girlfriend whom they both share AND both were in love with. there is literally no other duo who trusts/enjoys each other's company so much that they're comfortable in a love triangle. (probably because they're more in love with each other than with the girl, but that is not the point. or is it?)

anyway, more specific answers. under the cut. this is one of the longest answers i've ever written on this blog possibly but you KNEW that would happen when you sent this ask, didn't you? (affectionate)

derena: i tagged one of my ds reblogs as 'the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one' and like. look at them! this hug from 1x10 kills me in the best way. they are both the literal embodiment of :D when they see each other! i love 1x10 as a whole moment, their entire thing at cotillion is so sweet and they're both so happy. the fact that he is talking about his chemistry teacher during this kiss in 1x07. that bit at the end of 1x05 when they talk about their siblings (being there for their sibling because of fallible parents being a derena parallel makes me simultaneously really sad and really soft, tbh). 1x05 gives me SO MUCH SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT but the way they walk off together arms around each other does something to me - these are two people who are still getting to know each other but who really like what they see, and who trust each other and. are just having a good time together! back when derena was my OTP, the 1x11 "your story's about me?" was absolutely a fave, too, and i still adore it, albeit in a different, more nostalgic way. i like a dan who writes cute stories about serena. no empty shell sabrina van skoneker bullshit. she is so much like you, daniel! you'd be shattered if she did this to you. don't do this to her. tbh, most derena moments from s1 are just A+ romance. the bit in 2x02 in the jitney is so funny, they're SO bad at being exes. the bit in... 3x03 i think?? i don't remember... on the contrary. when they're talking about dan's fling w/ georgina and serena's relationship with carter, the ease with which they talk and how happy/supportive they are of each other's new relationships... yeah. love to see it.

i also really like any instance of them having honest/open conversations. 1x13, talking about how serena is concerned about blair. 1x08, serena talking to dan about feeling jealous of vanessa. this bit from the touch of eva or whatever that episode is. 4x04 i think. this is the conversation everyone is trying to get dan to have and he's avoiding EVERYONE else. derena interactions in 3x21 (can't find a gif right now) - the fact that dan is with serena when her dad abandons them, the fact that he goes all the way there with her. 2x07, "i'm really glad you're nate's friend. he really needs someone like you right now" (though i'm cheating, that's technically a d/n moment too klhdflkgf). there's a bit in s4 where he's advising her against having an affair w/ colin, i don't remember the ep number, but the way he takes her side so easily and naturally and puts due blame/responsibility solely on her professor... yeah. 4x10 i think this ep is?? idk. but like my tags say, im sentimental about this moment because while what dan was doing was irresponsible, sneaking her out of the ostroff, he was the only person in this episode who was actually talking to her and listening to her and taking her seriously. nobody else was doing that!!

i probably have more moments i'm not remembering, but we're only 1/3 into this answer and LOOK AT THE WORDS, good lord, i'm sorry.

dair: my favourite dair episode is hands down despicable b (5x21) which i have heard is an uncommon answer. i just love the conflict resolution of it all, okay!!! 1x04 & 2x08 are like. standard answers any dair shipper will give, and i'm no different. i love dan being able to give blair advice and blair actually taking his advice even though they're not friends yet!!! be right back, yelling at the intimacy of it all!! 5x16, with their getting together (this little kiss and dan being so startled by it), blair admitting a flaw she genuinely does have and dan saying it's not awful because it's her, which is just. romance at its finest. those vows, good lord. 5x18.... they're having fun! blair showing up at the loft in lingerie for dan... the delight on her face.... (i know this moment blows up in their face but when she's there she looks so happy and proud of herself and this was like THE moment when i was like. oh. dair is really the heart of this garbage show huh).

i think for me, the thing that really sells dan & blair together is the serena of it all. both of them love serena more fiercely than anyone else, and that is what brings them together. (fwiw i definitely think nate loved serena this much and this deeply, too; the writers just wanted to pop the serenate balloon, which even i think was extremely unnecessary and ooc.) but (& i have so much meta about this) their relationship grows beyond serena. their entire s4 arc is SO good. i love how comfortable around each other they are, in such an adult way, in the sense of like. they both bring so much stability to each other? morgan tagged this edit "the marrieds" and like. yeah. b offers to help him shave. they're having breakfast & reading the paper together.

all the love declarations we got that weren't a simple 'i love you.' be your charming wonderful self (how could she not love you/ tell me what would make you happy, dan) i told chuck he doesn't have my heart anymore (you spent your life earning the keys to set you free when you were free all along!!!!) dan's pep talk to blair in 5x21 (already linked a gifset earlier, here's another one if you want i guess). there's definitely more... but honestly, the way the dair arc was executed was so good - while i do have my complaints, i also think keeping those aside, it was SO close to perfect. i love dan & blair's banter and gradually becoming closer and closer and closer. it felt very organic and real and GOSH. the way penn & leighton looked at each other while playing dan and blair...... it's just SO MUCH.

date: this is the hardest, because it's. *screams*. maybe you saw me losing my mind over those 2 seconds of nate handing dan a waffle? i love almost every scene with these two, even the hellish s6 breakup scene. my favourite episode for d/n (& also favourite gg episode in general) is 2x06 - i love the homoerotic subtext of it all. nate pretending to be dan because dan's name is the first name that came to his head. dan flirting w/ nate while tied to that thing, in his underwear. them becoming friends. and 2x07 as a follow-up to that! dan getting nate to live in the loft with the humphreys for a while. i am so soft.

4x09 is a terrible episode in general, especially for serena my beloved, but the d/n moments in that one? off the CHARTS. this weird overly macho flirting, in some ways THE most iconic d/n line. this entire finish each other's sentences nonsense. someone (i think it was ana but im not sure?) compared the energy of those scenes i just linked to the book blairenate love triangle resolution, blairena choosing each other over nate in the books, date choosing each other over serena in the show (if only! RIP.) after the saints & sinners ball, this cute little moment of 'youre the only one who understands me. please tell me they went home together. i mean. how could they not have.

3x07, them watching vampire porn together. a tag i used on ao3 (& also on here, once) is 'nate brings out the himbo in dan'. here is a prime example. 'is she levitating?' i don't fucking know, dan, what do you think?? (i was telling my partner that that's what i love abt dair vs date. around blair dan is an intellectual, a librarian, an art historian, a museum curator. around nate it's like dan is competing to be #1 himbo on the show. can my girlfriend actually fly? i don't know, dan. i can't believe you're seriously asking such a question.)

3x12 pep talk. (sorry about the shitty quality!) essentially nate telling dan that he (dan) is hot and that he shouldn't talk himself down so much.

dan making nate gay in his book. you know. his book from which blair found out he was in love with her. nads (who i will not tag in this billion word long gushy meta, because i value her sanity) once called inside "wish fulfilment' and. i mean. yeah

nate checking dan out at the derena wedding continues to be hilarious. hilarious in the same way as dan sexually fantasising about nate. canon really went 'let's give ivy some special easter eggs' and i appreciate them a lot!

i love the way they are around each other - so quietly attuned to each other. i showed my sister my date!husbands gifset, and she was like. yeah they're so married. and it's just stuff like how dan looks for nate over his shoulder, it's not even an active action, it's as easy and natural and intuitive as breathing, checking to see if nate is still there.

oh, that wasn't as hard as it could've been! okay. cool. im SURE there's more things i could scream about, because it's DN, the fact that they're non-canon makes me THAT much fiercer about them than dair/derena, to be honest. so many dots to connect!! anyway.

[smugraccoon137]

Supergirl Season 2 episode 8 Medusa review part 2

If your curious part 1 was just my breakdown of Kara and Mon-els relationship that got way too long. But as always SPOILERS AND GAY THOUGHTS AHEAD

Me and kel get so excited when Lenas in an episode. Like practically giddy. I can’t help smiling when shes on screen honestly. And yes Katie McGrath is beautiful, but beyond that such a pretty smile and lovely voice. I’m sure ratings started to spike when she joined the cast. Okay enough about pretty girls on to the review 

Tipsy fucking Alex though guys I can’t get over this mess of a person. 

Alex: if I have to come out to my mom then I choose to do it drunk

Kara: no your not *yoinks beer*

Alex: wait no my coming out juice

Kara Danvers sneaky sneaker extraordinaire can totally interview Lena and find out Cadmus things without anyone knowing. The confidence this goofball has is top tier

Underrated relationship: Alex and Winn though. I really really love Winn and honestly Alex is such big sister energy to both him and Kara. 

wow Lenas pretty in the interview scene. A touch of auburn hair from the sunlight really makes this shot and we never get to see her with her hair down. Fan service honestly, or maybe she heard a certain beef cake reporter was gonna come by and wanted to dazzel her.

Lena: hair up is for business. Hair down is for flirting friendship time with Kara

Poor baby thinks she falls short nooooo. Your doing your best godamn your only like 25 jesus. Kara give her a hug she needs love and affection

Kara thinks shes being so sneaky in this interview. Such a golden retriever, bad at sneakin. As soon as she toes the line Lena catches on and kicks her out. Really good acting in the scene, the subtle change in expression to show Lenas guard raising. Good job Katie.

Real quick Lena why is your office so ugly? How do you keep it clean? You spend 99% of your days in this place and its whiter than a hospital room. I hate it. Why is your desk an oval? and why does it have a hole in it? Kara cant eat you out in secret anymore damn. 

OOHHHhhhh noooo the fucking gas bomb in the bar what the fuck. EVERYBODIES DEAD JESUS WHAT WAS THAT

Poor Mon-el. What happened at the bar was fucked up, and he feels like its fault when its obviously not.

Love that he and Kara are having bro time playing some Monopoly. Oh no not Kara asking if he likes her. Honestly thought these two had good chemistry in this scene. Im a sucker for dumbass not understanding certain words and phrases. So Kara having to reiterate her questions and finally being like “You don’t want to mate with me do you?” was super fun. Omegaverse vibes mfs. Although I am confused by mon-els reaction “I mean have you seen the kind of women I’ve been attracting?” I honestly don’t know what this means.

Kara internal reaction though: Oh thank god

Wow Kara really just has no regard for her own life, huh? she just opens the door and possibly contaminates herself. It’s good to want to help people, but love you gotta care about yourself too

Good reveal with the fortress of solitude. Oof Kara gonna feel like its her fault all those aliens died and mon-els sick. They do a really good job of showing Karas relationship with her parents through their holograms. She wants so badly to see them again, to talk to them. And she can, but not really. They just aren’t real.

Lena cattily to her mother: im used to celebrating holiday weekends alone at my desk

me to Kara: please invite her to thanksgiving

Okay so Lena being adopted is another interesting parallel to Kara. Also the fact that both Kara and Lena fall into there families shadows, and are left behhind or forgotten. Really interesting how Lena and Karas relationship is so similar to Clark and Lex’s for obvious purposes. Though the CW queer coding the fuck out of their relationship in Smallville really only adds to Supercorp fever. Its always been Homoerotic subtext Harold!

Me watching Lena and Lillian trade verbal blows: Wow ya’lls relationship is fucked up. Lex and Lionelle would spar and fence but you two are on another level jesus

oooooof that last line. 

Lena: I know your lying

Lillian: and how could you possibly know that?

Lena: because you told me you loved me. And we both know thats not true

Who wrote this jesus fuck my heart. The PAIN.

Bonus thought Lena thinks Karas smart. Goofball beefcake sneaky sneakster who doesnt know the difference between flirting and friendship is smart she thinks. I love these idiots

Wow Kara just doesn’t wait huh? Oh cadmus is going to be at LCorp? Not on my watch. Lena’s there. I know this because I tune into her heart beat just to check on her cus she likes to work late. Don’t worry Alex it’s for friendship reasons.

That LCorp security guard got princess carried for .2 seconds. Best moment of his life.

God its like dark out. Lenas working on a holiday weekend into the night. I hate this, give her friends.

Lena looks so scared when Kara gets thrown into the giant LCorp sign

And then hurt Kara looking up at her with dread.

Kara internal: fuck don’t come out now. I came here to save you

God I love the protectiveness. Its *chefs kiss*. Hank throwing the beam at Lena and Kara even in her hurt state throwing herself in front of it. Sometimes self sacrifice is gay. But how Lena looks at her after wards like “I can’t believe I’m alive. I can’t believe she chose to save me”. Met with a gruff “Get out of here!”. mm yes this is my kind of content. Fight for me.

I was robbed an aftercare scene but I doubt it will be the last time. (*COUGHS* the “im leaving” phone call *COUGHS*)

Talking about the virus Eliza: what about Lena Luthor?

Kara: What about her?! (super defensive is also a super power maam)

Winn: Luthors can be pretty good actors

Kara: No, I looked into LENAS EYES. She doesn’t know anything about cadmus or her mother

J’onzz: Would you stake Mon-els life on that?

well I guess that really puts Lena and Mon-el right next to each other in priorities huh? Which one is more important? 

Wow Lena totally has a crush on Supergirl after that. Flustered dork. 

Lena: *laughs nervously* you know that doors not really an entrance

Kara: *upsettit stone face pupper*

Lena: :,) 

Okay but the way Lena just says “Anything” all breathless and helpful when Kara says she needs her help. Shes crushin hard

Kara tells Lena her mother is in charge of Cadmus. 

Lena: >:(

Annnd the crush is dead. That did not last long. Really love that Lena has such a different relationship with Kara vs Supergirl though, good dynamic having her reactions so different. Which I believe actually relates as a Clark and Lois parallel? Seeing as how Lois has two separate relationships with Clark and Superman. 

OOf the way Lenas throat bobs with genuine sadness because who she thought Supergirl was is wrong. Shes just like the rest of them. Thinks Lena is just another crazy Luthor. It hurts

Kara: I know what its like to be disillusioned by our parents, but Im a pretty good judge of character, and you are not like your mother. She is cold and dangerous. And you are too good and too smart to follow in her path. Be your own Hero.

Wow just what a good line. They are capable of some things here and there arent they? Melissa's delivery on this is excellent. And the way Katie McGrath is able to show such depth of sadness and bitterness even from a shot of her BACK is really cool. Great acting in this scene in particular. And I can see why the “desperation to be good” is such a highlighted part of these two relationship. Its the one thing in common between Lena and Supergirl, the place where they can meet in the middle. And the way Lena looks after her as she leaves! AHHH thats the good shit, the pining

Okay big Mon-el scene in coming so if you dont want to hear my ranting skip over this part. 

Funny how as soon as Kara has this big impactful scene with Lena full of tension and emotion the writers were like: shit we almost forgot Mon-els dying. 

Kara: *staring sadly back into Lenas office kind of wanting to go back in*

Writers: *cough cough* KARA He’s DYINGGGG

Kara: Oh shit right. Mon-el Oh no. My *looks at poorly written handwriting on her palm* romantic interest?

Wow Mon-el looks like shit, poor guy. Someone swaddle this pillow princess and get him some soup.

Heres a question. Kara is visibly upset that Mon-el is dying. Is it because she’s sad that the guy shes likes is dying. Because her friend is dying? Because her father created the virus thats killing him (what the writers want us to think)? Or because no matter what Kara does the people she loves keep falling through the cracks and shes helpless to stop it?

Her parents. Clark. Her adoptive father. Now Lena. Now Mon-el. Why can’t she ever do anything? Why is it always her fault? This poor kid has some deep seeded abandonment issues

Mon-el: you know you look beautiful with the weight of all these worlds on your shoulders.

I do remember my reaction here, cus I thought this was a weird line. A line that was obviously meant to be romantic and complimentary, but it felt unsettled in my stomach. Coming back and watching the scene it sits even more uncomfortably there. He obviously means well, but this line is kind of just shitty. Its a very selfish and unthoughtful thing to say to someone. 

Kara’s entire fucking life has revolved around other people and making sure they are happy and taken care of. But having “failed” at such a young age to do the impossible things asked of her (carrying on Kryptons legacy, raising Clark) she overcompensates. Any normal person would just make their life revolve around their family and friends, not healthy but it works. But Kara feels responsibility over an entire world of lost people and lives. So the amount she overcompensates is ungodly. She does have the weight of worlds on her shoulders. This is not a joke or hyperbole. Its just her life. And thats so fucking shitty. And to have someone actually see that and acknowledge it. To make it a reality so to speak. Then to have them say “yeah you look good like this” while you’re a shaking Atlas being crushed. It is just a little too much isn’t it? That pain to have someone see you finally, and then completely miss the point. For them to go “oh wow your so strong. your so brave” instead of “let me help you. you shouldn’t have to do this at all, forget by yourself. But now I am here”. 

I imagine this was the scene that crowned my darling himbo boy Mon-Hell? Which is so unfortunate. I hope Im wrong, but I feel that his character might just end up a big missed opportunity

I want everyone to know that me and Kel screamed through the entire enxt few seconds of the scene. We knew the kiss was coming from how they were building it up. But god was it painful, especially for it to be delivered after a line like THAT. But yeah very loud angry screaming

Also not to be that bitch but Kara and Mon-els scene was a total of 1:53 RT, and Kara and Lenas ran at a 1:57 RT. Just sayin...

No Lena don’t be evil thats too sexy...

Okay but the way that Lena just tricks Lillian is so good. Shes so clever. And added bonus she makes her ask for her help, which is nice actually. Lillian's obvious vice is weakness and that is often shown in embarrassment. A woman like this asking for help borders that line of weakness and its nice to see on such a dislikable character. Lena didn’t just get what she wanted she got a point over her mother.

Lena looks good in the purple coat. Repeat she is pretty

Love the mental chess game between Lena and Lillian. Lena offering help right off the bat and giving her the isotope free of charge. And then Lillian making Lena launch the virus to prove herself. Good stuff.

Kara appears: don’t do it Lena!

Lena: why not? im a luthor

Okay so obviously Lena switched the Isotope and the Virus won’t work. But thats what makes this line so perfect. Throwing it back in Supergirls face. Like “Yeah, Im a luthor. And Ill show you what im capable of.” But instead of mass death and destruction Lena saves the day. She saved thousands of lives, and its because shes a Luthor that she was able to do that. Really nice way to full circle that 

Wow Lillian really just starts booking it without Lena, huh? bitch

I really love the scene of the virus falling all around National City. The choice of an orangish snow falling was a really really good one. Paired with some excellent music for the mid season finale.

Its sad but I do love Hank just being ready and at peace with death. Im sure he misses his wife and daughters. 

Okay but Lena calling the cops is tea. Send your mom to jail honey. 

So we’re really not gonna talk about how Lena saved everyones asses? Like don’t you think Supergirl would want to talk to the woman that A) kind of tricked her, and B) saved National City. Thats just what makes sense??? But no we’re going to ignore that the DEO is a kind of shit at their job sometimes. And that the woman that they were accusing of having a part to play in all the xenophobic shit is the one who did their job. BY HER SELF. 

Okay rant over. This was a long one review dear god. Really really good episode though. I enjoyed rewatching all the scenes even if it was a mixed bag of feelings. Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed all the screaming!

[sebdoesthings]

Okay, so here’s my Witcher themed cards against humanity deck, which features stuff from the books, games and Netflix series (though not much of the latter). It includes over 400 white answer cards and 100 black question cards. 

Some of the white cards include:

Yes, I love both paths of tw2 equally. There's Iorveth and there's uh... *looks at smudged writing on hand* Vermin Roach

Being a gay ass bitch

The inherent homoerotic subtext of holding the tip of your sword under someone's chin

Ass

The Decoctions of the Grasses, downed like a shot

Really fucking gay

The bestiary, featuring terrifying supernatural monsters like: Boars! Bears! And dogs!

Yennefer of fucking Vengerberg

Furiously looking for the "hug Regis" button

Just the dumbest shit imaginable

Carrying around 24 monster brains, 16 swords, 8 broken rakes, a whole arsenal of herbs and Dettlaff's missing hand

Kind of heart, dumb of ass

The 7/10 kids on average who don't survive the Trial of the Grasses

Gerland of Ryblia

Getting drunk at Stygga Castle because you're a big galaxy brain, then dying 

Fuck.

Some of the black cards include:

Nilfgaard is tired of invading the North. This year they've decided to invade ____ instead.

Go on. Thrust ___ in.

Geralt of Rivia, the White ____ 

____, the only cure for the Catriona plague 

Geralt got tired of gwent and dice poker. Now he's into ____

There’s also a horny deck, even though there’s some quite dirty cards in the original deck already. There’s only very few cards in the horny deck, but i update both decks frequently. The horny one can be found here.

It includes only white cards so far, and some examples are:

Dilf Roche

The Tower of Swallowing

Monsterfucking

Now, clicking either of these links will take you to the website where you can play cards against humanity online and for free. I recommend playing while also voice chatting with your friends.

Feel free to use these decks as much as you like. Take screenshots and send them to me, make suggestions for new cards, tell me funny scenarios, tell me what you think of the cards, anything.

I’ve poured hours into making these cards, so I hope you all enjoy.

Reblogs appreciated!

[ko2vo]

Do you have any queer horror media you recommend?

Sorry to take a couple days to answer! At first, I didn’t think I knew very many but the more I thought about stuff I’ve found over the years, the longer the list got. I’ll put some stars beside personal faves.

BOOKS/FICTION

Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - It’s pretty typical for a list like this but I’d still like to include it because it is a great read.

★★The Wishing Game by Patrick Redmond - Two boys at a boarding school in the 1950s become very close, intimate friends and mess around with a Ouija board. The main cast isn’t overtly stated as queer (I like to interpret them as such though, they hug and kiss behind locked doors), but there is a very depressing but influential queer subplot. Heavy warnings for homophobia, f-slur, suicide, mental health, psychological horror. As well as an extremely dynamic relationship that has all the elements to be healthy but goes sour. But honestly I love this book and really want more people to read it and talk to me about it haah.

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks - Messed-up kid grows up on an isolated island and has some unusual ideas about the world. There are gender themes that make me interpret the MC as a trans man (and both me and the other transguy that rec’d this to me just pretend the last five pages dont exist PFFF). 

The Little Girl who was Too Fond of Matches by Gaétan Soucy - Very similar to the Wasp Factory but more fucked up. The death of their father causes two siblings to realize they have very strange misconceptions about the world. Another one that does gender themes but very different, I’d recommend checking out the wikipedia page before the book cuz very fucked up.

★ Dangerous Saviour by tenuous - NB author with an original m/m work. It’s got a very stereotypical slasher movie feel and it really is a lot of fun. Mind the tags and Explicit sexual content. But tenuous is great at introspective terror.

Claustrophlia by Ezra Blake - Another title available for free, homoerotic horror. Scroll down on the page for the EXTENSIVE trigger warning list, definitely not for everyone. If you like Saw movies, this could be for you.

WEBCOMICS

★★Nasty Red Dogs by kosmicdream - Surreal horror. Dogs roam the night. Absolutely love the moral grey in all the characters this artist creates and the entire cast is some shade of queer. They also write Feast For a King, which has 6000+ pages at this point and equally terrifying moments and queer cast, so if you like NRD, definitely check FFaK out too.

★ Ninety-Nine Righteous Men by K. M. Claude - A complete and finished webcomic! Religious horror themes with discussions about forgiveness, rape, and power imbalance. If you can handle the themes, its a really beautifully crafted story. This artist is also part of a duo that runs a zine called Two Dead Queers and I haven’t had the chance to explore the site yet but eyes emoji

GAMES

Boyfriend to Death - An 18+ horrorporn vn, it’s pretty popular around this site and I really enjoy Lawrence in the second game LMAO. A dating sim with a torturey twist. MC is gender neutral so I’m throwing it in as queer horror jlhkfjhk

Hello Charlotte - Not explicitly queer but another game series that I love and is open to interpretation, especially in EP3. Surreal horror in a surreal world.

OTHER

Rope (1948) - A really interesting movie? About two men that kill someone and host a dinner party while the body is in the room. Homoerotic subtext.

★ SPINES (podcast) - Love this podcast. Wren wakes up in a pool of blood with no memories and attempts to find the people she remembers being there. Grotesque, body horror, weird superpowers with repulsive consequences. And Wren has a voice that I absolutely love. In the second season, there is a NB androgynous character who becomes a very important character and I love them a lot.

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

finally. i decided to do this. anyways hello there, i am jake and today i want to talk about something; you see, if you are in the tf2 fandom, you probably know about heavymedic. Wherther you are a hardcore gamer who resents f2p’s or a person that never played the game but has trillions of notes on their art- you know heavymedic exists and most of all you probably ship it.

And I find that weird. In the few fandoms in my life I have been in I had never seen a single ship be so widely if not shipped, then accepted. Sure, maybe everyone in the GF fandom knows what Billdip is - for better or for worse. Sure, maybe the HS fandom is 70% shipping.

But I have never ever seen such a phenomenon in a prominent multiplayer game fandom. A fandom, sadly, oftentimes filled with toxicity. Overwatch is very similar here - yet ships are either a hot topic of discussion or straight up ignored. But TF2? In here for whatever reason we ship these two mercenaries. And in this essay I will try and find a reason or two why is that.

Apologies for any mistakes or incoherency. English is not my first language, I need to ramble, and my vocabulary is all over the place.

Content warning: mentions of homophobia, blood, death, mentions of WLW fetishization, nsfw mention. Also MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE TF2 COMICS.

Part 1: Canonical Evidence and Interactions

Let’s be honest: I could ramble about this one for days on end. But I’ll try and keep it short.

First and foremost we have the official videos. And of course the first thing that comes to mind is Meet the Medic.

At the very start of the part where Medic himself appears, we see him telling a joke about a particularly gruesome situation to Heavy.

He laughs along with him, visibly enjoying his company. He even smiles as he waits for another joke. Heavy only shows genuine fear a lot later.

And of course this damn scene always cracks me up. Medic slightly pinches Heavy’s cheek and strokes his lip gently (the other part is almost not noticeable unless you play the video at slow speed).

Of course we all know about the Hand Hold that happens somewhere halfway in the vid. I don’t think I have to explain the gayness in that. The fact their hands stay interlocked even after Medic helps Heavy up. The deep breath Medic takes because even he cannot handle the emotions. That few seconds is unresolved sexual tension manifest.

Overall the short shows a strong feeling of trust between these two. Medic confides in Heavy and reverse. Yeah he puts a baboon heart into his friend’s chest cavity but the fact (as proven at the end of the video) that Heavy was the first one to have an Ubercharge implanted into him shows that Medic at the very least considers him a lab rat.

I treat End of the Line as non-canonical, as do many others, and as such won’t discuss it here. But it will forever crack me up that Valve endorsed such levels of homoerotic subtext.

These two have some short moments in other videos, like for example in Invasion Heavy helps Medic up (CINEMATIC PARALLELS) but it’s nothing major so I guess I’ll skip forward.

Second is their interactions ingame. You might call me a weirdo for trying to find stuff in there but holy shit I have things to say and I’m going to say them.

You thought I was going to fanboy over the “i love this doktor” voiceline huh? Well not really. I wish these two had unique lines if they assist one another.

Heavy is literally listed on the official wiki as the “ideal medic buddy” and multiple pages on that exact wiki say some pretty interesting things.

I have to say something about the Gentleman’s Ushanka and/or Pocket Medic. They are both community cosmetics - but the fact they both got accepted by Valve says a lot. Above is text snipped from the actual wiki.

Last but not least: The Comics. Darned comics. The pair of mercenaries has basically no interaction - unless you count issue 6.

Heavy getting absolutely PISSED when Medic is killed by Ch*avy. Their reunion. Medic referring to Heavy by “my friend” in a totally straight way. Kind of sad Valve wasted an opportunity for them to hug. Maybe they knew their comic artist ships them and wanted to avoid having to answer the Question™.

Part 2: Dynamics

This part’s a bit trickier, mostly due to the reason that I’m new to this whole dynamic analysis thing. Yeah I’m good at spotting canonical evidence but very specific shipping dynamics often escape my gaze.

The most obvious one is Big Guy, Little Guy. Quoting the TVTROPES page:

[…] This trope describes a pair of guys who always fight together, are best friends forever, and quite often have a very obvious hierarchy: The little guy is often in charge […] The little guy is usually listed first, since he’s the leader, and they are always listed together, as if they are one entity. In fact, some episodes may center on the fact that they can’t live without each other. […] If this is a case of Brains and Brawn, the Big Guy is usually the Brawn, and the Little Guy the Brains. It’s almost never the other way around, but in some cases the Big Guy can be rather smart too. […]

A sub-type of this, a common favorite here on Tumblr is known as “small chaotic big calm” and hoo boy if that isn’t these two. I don’t really have much to say here - again I am not an expert.

Part 3: Fandom Impact

So you don’t think Red Oktoberfest (as Heavymedic is sometimes called) is super popular on anywhere else than Tumblr? Wrong.

It’s hard to find TF2 fics on Archive of Our Own not tagged with Heavy/Medic. Of course most of them only contain hints to their relationship but go in the main tf2 tag and I can guarantee you, you’ll gonna see “implied heavy/medic” all the time.

But these two go further than AO3 or Tumblr or Instagram or whatever. They are recognized even within the wider circle of the fanbase. Take this SFM, for example. (I am using the Saxxy Awards version of Secret Lives here mostly due to the fact that the Heavymedic moment is much gayer. In the normal version, the dialogue isn’t changed, but they simply hold hands.)

But it gets deeper. (WARNING: THE GAY MOMENT IN THIS ONE IS NSFW. NOT EXPLICITLY SO BUT JUST A HEADS UP TUMBLR PLEASE DO NOT FLAG ME)

And the best part? The comments are extremely positive. You’d expect hoards upon hoards of homophobes screeching but no, the comments are supportive. Even on places such as Reddit or Youtube, comments like “yeah they’re gay and in love” do not get downvoted/disliked to hell; in fact the opposite.

Part 4: Canon Status

Let’s be real. Most ships are shipped because people want to explore the dynamics in fanfic, fanart or something else. But Heavymedic is shipped because… well, I have no idea.

Actually, I kind of do - but only theories. You see, while the canonical evidence is here, the creators have never said anything about them. No confirmation, no disproval, no hinting, nothing.

But the ship is so prominent! There has to be something causing this!- you say. And to that I present you 2 theories on why Heavy/Medic is so popular.

Theory number 1 states that we simply all choose to interpret their interactions as homoerotic. And this is very easy to disprove - there’s simply no way we just collectively agreed on these matters out of nothing. There has to be something bigger.

And theory 2 states that, well, our interpretation is the desired interpretation. But this is even more ridiculous than theory 1 for a number of reasons. If they are in fact gay, why hasn’t Valve made them canon yet?

A Theoretical Scenario

I am going to ramble big time on this one, so buckle up lads. I’ll discuss a theoretical scenario in which, well, if that was not obvious, Valve confirms Heavymedic as canon. Maybe then we will see why they will probably never do so.

TF2 is considered by typical capital G, alt-right Gamers as a “non-political” game. This means no women (in the game itself, at least, and if even, sexy women only), no queer folk and no minorities (for some reason they accept Demoman but throw a fit if someone draws any other merc as not being pearl white). Team Fortress 2 was around before Gamergate and other things like Gamers Rise Up. It’s a classic and Valve is regarded as the good guy to Epic Game’s bad guy. If Valve did anything to confirm doubts, wherther it be clearing up popular fanon or confirming ships, these people would throw hands. (Although they seemed to ignore when one of the writers confirmed Miss Pauling is a lesbian. Huh.) Even those that don’t play TF2 would come to the aid of their bros.

Let me illustrate with two very similar examples. In both cases these confirmations were the first made by the company as a whole, both are fairly recent and both confirm a character as gay.

First we have the confirmation of Tracer from Overwatch as a lesbian. It was done in one of OVW’s comics. Tracer is the FACE of Overwatch as a whole and while most of the fanbase accepted it (thankfully the Gamers are reluctant to infest ow), some people threw what I can only describe as a hissy fit. At least her girlfriend’s a background character.

Second is Neeko from League of Legends. Unlike Tracer she was added a while before it was confirmed she was gay. LOL is much more toxic and filled with Gamers than OW and holy shit people smeared LOL so much.

Of course these are not accurate to Heavy/Medic. In both of the cases I listed it was girls being wlw and we all know how much cisgender heterosexual gamers LOVE yuri porn. Apparently only girls can be gay because they can jack off to it - if it’s two guys then it’s disgusting. Nevertheless I think these are good approximations - in every case the company gets “shat on” on social media and other sites. With the community that Valve has, I think even if they wanted them to be gay, they would never ever confirm it.

Conclusion

I’m sorry for that ending. I had to theorize a bit. Regardless I’d love if you shared this on other sites, reblogged or whatever - I wasted at least 1 and a half hours of my life on it. Feel free to cite this as a source if someone asks you why you ship the big heavy weapons expert and the feral battle medic.

[themadhatterofficial]

Steggy v Stucky

Endgame Spoilers

I will go on record saying that both of these ships own my heart and my bby Steve deserves happiness. And I’m so glad that he got his dance and his happily ever after.

But...

I think Endgame’s finale was a cop out.

From the beginning of the film, I immediately knew that Steggy would be the final hurrah. Bucky wasn’t mentioned at all (except for Steve literally telling Steve that he was alive because he knew that it would make the old him freeze which come on), and right off the bat it was all “the love of my life” and that old ass compass we haven’t seen in forever. We knew.

But I was genuinely upset that they just threw Bucky away. I was sure that they wouldn’t have the balls to make Stucky an actual thing, but they exchanged like two sentences. After all the “even when I had nothing, I had Bucky” and “till the end of the line” and “don’t do anything stupid until I get back” all we get is a half-assed hug and Bucky watching from afar after Steve returns all wrinkly and shit?

(ThEY coULDn’T EVeN hAVE A gOOdBYe??!?)

And don’t get me wrong, I adore Peggy. She’s my girl. She’s Steve’s Best Girl. They had an epic love story for the ages. But, imho, it was for the ages. Pegs moved on. She had a life, a husband, kids, everything. And, most importantly, she wanted Steve to move on, too.

Idk, I just feel like Steve’s arc just flew away, never to touch solid ground again. He showed growth throughout the MCU, adjusting to life as it was and evolving into who he became. He was where he belonged.

Honestly, I just feel like it was a disservice to both Steve and Peggy’s characters to have them just have a convenient and slightly lazy way to be like “and now Steve suddenly time travels so he and Peggy can live happily ever after like nothing happened and now Steve has to watch his little niece Sharon grow up just knowing that one day they would have an awkward ten second make out underneath a bridge whilst his brainwashed ex-boyfriend watched from a beaten down slug bug.” They had their respective lives, and I think it was selfish to have Steve suddenly appear into Peggy’s life and erasing everything that she grew to be. She deserved better than that, and Steve deserved better than that.

The whole situation was just so disrespectful to me, for everyone involved. Steve’s character fell flat, Bucky was tossed aside like some half-developed side hoe, and Peggy was used as a convenient cop out for the overwhelming homoerotic subtext that has been plaguing Marvel’s nightmares since 2012.

It just read like a really bad fanfic, tbh.

Continued here:

https://themadhatterofficial.tumblr.com/post/184555941609/steggy-v-stucky-cont

[sourcherrymagiks]

Carry on Countdown 2019

Day 18 - Crack!

Lamplight

Ao3

Simon

He’s trying to avoid talking to me. That’s how it happens. There was kissing. Amazing kissing. Merlin and Morgana, he’s beautiful and when he kisses me back.....

But anyway. He’s also a stuck up twat who can avoid the shit out of anything. We were back in the room after the kissing (Great Snakes,that kiss though) and he was taking forever to hang his blazer up so he didn’t have to look at me or talk to me. What was I going to do but come up behind him and kiss his neck? I ask you, what else could I have done?

Which is how we came to stumble and fall into the wardrobe. And then straight out of the back. Into a drift of snow.

“Erm Baz, this is going to sound pretty stupid but I think we just fell into...”

“Narnia”

“Yes”

Baz

I know that this is somehow his fault. Why does he always have to involve me in his ridiculous heroics. Although, to be fair, this is well outside of his usual remit.

“Snow, might I suggest we go back? From memory Narnia has its own set of chosen ones. Lots of them. They can probably get by without you”

“I’m not sure that’s how this works, the path has gone”

I look around and he’s totally right. It’s just us, in the snow, under a lamppost.

I can’t keep the petulant tone out of my voice as I say “But you are our chosen one, you belong to the world of Mages”

He laughs and kisses me. “Didn’t know you cared you big softy” I briefly toy with the idea of snapping at him but instead I pull him back into another kiss.

When I pull away to catch my breath and try to get a hold over my treacherous body, Simon gets up. I grumble a bit under my breath but then I decide to co operate a bit. Grudgingly. It seems very unfair that we are here and not snogging in our room. Even though I was the one avoiding the snogging (Why?, I’m such an idiot)

Snow’s sketching in the snow with a stick. It looks like nonsense until I’m standing right next to him. Then it hits me at once, he’s drawn a map of Narnia. From memory.

I must be staring at him because he starts laughing.

“I know you think I’m a thick urchin who’s only ever read cereal packets but I’ve loved Narnia my whole life”

“Me too, that part is not quite right” I alter the shape of the western forest slightly so it ends further from the frozen lake. “I would definitely remember if you were the hero in it. I suppose you do have a bit of Peter about you”

“Fuck off Caspian” he throws a snowball at me. I throw one back. Then I kiss him again because this is all unbelievable.

He’s sketching plot points out now, trying to work out the timeline.

“Right you gorgeous villain, we need to get to the camp here in time for the battle. There’s enough footprints and sled tracks here to show they’ve all been through fairly recently. I don’t think we can help at any point up until the end, do you agree?”

“I do, excuse me while I try to absorb the shock of you being a reader.” He lightly punches me on the arm, he’s blushing. “Is your magic working?”

We both laugh

“As well as it ever does, yours?”

I take out my wand and cast ‘lights out’ at the lamp post. It blinks off.

“Cool. Let’s get moving. Keep your wand out. I don’t want to draw my sword until I need it and I, Erm, can I hold your hand please”

“Come here” I grab his hand and before I can stop myself I’ve kissed his knuckles.

“I like this, you,like this” he bumps my shoulder with his.

Simon

I’m really excited. I dunno if it’s the Baz thing or the Narnia thing but I’m so amped up I’m practically skipping.

“So, Caspian then?” Baz asks with his eyebrow up.

“It’s possible that I might have been not entirely straight for a while”

“You think?”

“There’s no need for that tone you wanker”

Then I’ve got him up against a tree. This want is everything. I need to touch him, kiss him, press myself against him.

He doesn’t just let me, he right there with me, pulling my hair, licking my neck, moaning into my mouth.

He pulls away gasping “Right Snow, let’s get back to the mission and stop debauching the pristine Narnian forests”

“But I like it, I like you” I’m whining a bit.

“You aren’t completely intolerable either Snow”

We seem to have been walking forever. I slept about ten minutes last night. I would kill for some Turkish delight.

“In the books it doesn’t seem this far”

I moan to Baz

“Heaven forbid that the made up world is larger than the children’s book made it appear”

“I get your point, even though you’re a twat, but its hardly made up is it?”

He shrugs. I’m rubbing off on him. That makes me smile. I nearly don’t hear the crack of the twig, I’ve disarmed the guard before I’ve had chance to worry about my sword or magic. They aren’t the best written soldiers.

“Take us to either Peter or Aslan please” I ask the battered looking Narnian as politely as I can be arsed to. I’m not great at manners when I’m hungry and tired.

Baz

Peter is beautiful, not a patch on Snow obviously, but still. The two of them together are blinding. Simon offers our assistance and Peter accepts a little unwillingly. I’m not sure he would at all if not for the wonderful Lucy. She never sees herself as the protagonist so she doesn’t have the same struggle as Peter. To be fair I wouldn’t want to share my story with Simon bloody Snow if I already had three siblings and a lion muscling in on the action. Poor fuck.

The two of them spend the afternoon practicing, Snow is better trained and in great shape but Peter is faster and lighter in his feet. It’s glorious.

When Simon fights Edmund it’s a different thing. No longer a master class in heroic swordplay fought by two golden leaders. Now it’s like a cunning bar fight. Simon has to stop himself from head butting Edmond. When he throws an elbow at Edmond’s face,then stops before it connects, Edmond is not so polite and punches Simon in his exposed ribs. It’s very feral.

When they’re done he comes over and presses his sweaty lips to mine. I don’t know how I avoid making a scene.

Obviously it’s still a bit of a scene. Uncomfortable coughs and averted eyes abound. Then simultaneously everyone decides to ignore it and peace is restored.

I leave to speak with Lucy. She’s got magic and I want to see if I can help her use it. It doesn’t work like ours though. She can’t harness it. I advise her to go to Watford as soon as she can when she returns home. She probably won’t.

She gives Simon a small banner embroidered with a dragon holding a blazing sun. He tucks it into his pocket because the courageous fuck won’t wear armour. He kisses her head. I’m completely flabbergasted when she gives me one emblazoned with a flaming moon. I must be allergic to it because my eyes are watering.

After dinner we talk tactics. Simon keeps quiet about upcoming plot points and focuses on the battle. Simon and Peter lean over the map, blond hair and copper curls tumbling together as the argue over every inch. From his plan I deduce that Snow’s aim is to kill the witch while keeping all the kids well out of the way. This goes down like a sack of shit with Peter. It’s his story and he is the king. Gorgeous (and capable) as Simon is he can’t lead this army. They aren’t loyal to him. Also he won’t play by their outdated battle rules, fight in a line and die, because he knows better. They finally agree on enough compromises to keep everyone happy and save lives. A lot of lives.

In spite of the protests I hold my ground. I will stay by his side regardless of what he thinks he’s going to order me to do.

It’s fun. Really. I mean there is an impending battle but, Crowley, I’ve read that battle so many times. It’s going to be brilliant. I catch Simon’s eye and I know he feels it too.

Simon

I can’t fucking sleep. This is going to be epic. I’m traipsing around the camp looking for anything to take my mind off the combination of wanting to get into this battle and wanting to do unspeakable things to Baz.

It’s not the time though, right?

We still haven’t talked. It’s possible we’ve managed to bring a fictional world to life to avoid talking. But I’m going to tell him after the battle. Hopefully it will be dead romantic.

Baz

The battle starts off early and badly, not quite as badly as I remember because Simon is genius at this and Peter listened to about a quarter of his suggestions. Plus there are two of them.

The absolute confidence of them helps keep up the morale that’s been damaged by Aslan fucking off.

Simon hadn’t mentioned that he was the bearer of a flaming sword or that he had a particularly impressive brand of violent, pulsing magic so when he calls his sword, the fear it causes slams the first wave right back.

I cast quickly and use so much magic that I’m nearly spent in moments but I have taken down most of the ogres and a couple of hags. Peter, Edmond and Simon smash through line after line of the White Witch’s army. Simon is actually grinning, the prat.

I wait for Simon’s signal to disarm the White Witch. Then he’s on her in a moment with Edmond and Peter. She never stands a chance.

By the time Aslan arrives back with the girls there’s only cleaning up and healing to do. He growls at Simon and Simon shrugs at him. He turns his back clearly as pissed off as a magical lion gets.

“This was not your battle Mage”

“Explain how it just was then wise one?”

Simon is brillant at one liners, when he’s not fighting me. I guess it’s in the job description. Aslan grunts and continues back to his tent. What a prick. I guess he’s not willing to let the homoerotic subtext turn into the story.

It’s very clear we’ve outstayed our welcome.

Simon

That was mega. But now it’s time to go. I don’t want to fuck with these guys and I also don’t want Aslan to eat me.

It’s a pretty shitty deal those kids have got anyway. Kings and queens in one land but not able to stay. We hug them goodbye. At least I live where I live. Except for right now obviously.

I grab Baz and we set off back to the lamppost.

“That was amazing, you were amazing” I say to him

He looks at me like he thinks I might he taking the piss.

“You did an ok job yourself Snow. You’re not as pretty as Peter though”

I’m glad he catches me when I jump on him. “Take that back Pitch”

“It’s an objective fact Snow, he is more dashing, I just prefer you”

“You do?”

“Yes you attention seeking numpty, I have appalling taste so I prefer you to most people”

“Good. Because, well, I’m, I think I might be, falling, you know, for you” Merlin. I doubt he’s even going to understand that.

Then he kisses me and I know he does.

Baz

I’ve been kissing Snow for hours. We don’t know how time works here relative to Watford so we should get back. But it’s complicated there and easy here under a lamppost in a forest full of spring.

It’s also not our story.

Simon still has his own story to finish.

“Ready Sweetheart?”

“Not really love”

“Shall we do it anyway?”

“After you”

[xaphrin]

So I just went to the tumblr of the person who posted the Dick and Bruce hugging fanart on the hopes of finding some more wholesome Batfam moments and well, apparently that person ships Dick and Bruce... I know there's an innumerable amount of DC ships and I'm not trying to ship shame (cause lord knows I've got my fair share of crack!ships lol)but I never thought anyone would ship those two. I'm legitimately shocked!

If I remember correctly, quite a few years ago there was once an art show at MoMA about the subtle homoerotic subtext of the relationship between Batman and Robin, so... 🤷

I mean, everyone has their thing, and I know a lot of people ship Bru/Dick, it's just not as big of a ship as say... Super/Bat or Jay/Dick. So, you know, whatever is your thing. It's not my job to be the moral police.

[one-ishmael]

Chapter 10: A Bosom Friend

Now that we’ve got church out of the way, it’s time to get real chummy with some dudes just bein’ bros. Just a real couple o’ old pals, pallin’ around! That’s it and that’s all, certainly no subtext here, no sirree.

These next few chapters make an interesting counterpoint to the harsh, literally sermonizing tone of the last little run. It’s a nice change of pace.

SUMMARY: Ishmael gets back to the Spouter-Inn, and finds Queequeg examining a book at the dining room table, counting its pages in awe. Ishmael decides to become friends with Queequeg, and strikes up a conversation. Queequeg is very receptive, and quickly declares them married, and after a while they go on up to their room. Queequeg divides his money evenly, giving half to Ishmael, they then get in bed together and share their deepest secrets with one another, as married couples are wont to do.

So, I mentioned before, back in The Counterpane, that there are a few parts in Moby-Dick; or, the Whale that could be construed, by modern readers, as a bit homoerotic. Queequeg sleeping with his arm around Ishmael, sure, that’s a little gay, but this chapter, hoo boy, there’s really no other way to read it than a budding romance.

I mean, let’s take it point by point. First, Ishmael finds himself merely interested in this strange “savage” who he was forced to sleep with the night before. But as he gazes at him, he takes note of his handsomeness, the fine shape of his head. He delves into phrenology and says that “Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed.“

Phrenology is a pseudoscientific theory from the 19th century that posited that the shape of the head indicated the shape of the brain, which, naturally, determined your personality. You could use some calipers to measure the lumps on a skull and tell if someone was a criminal, by the size of their Crime Organ. It’s pretty interesting, and all obvious hogwash, perfect material for the Sawbones podcast, one of my favorites, who have of course done an episode on it.

Let’s not beat around the bush, Ishmael is secretly checking out Queequeg while pretending to watch the storm outside, “Whilst I was thus closely scanning him, half-pretending meanwhile to be looking out at the storm from the casement.” He is enamored with the stoic personality of his bedfellow, the way he goes through life perfectly self-aware and ease with his own existence, warts and all. Even so very far from his homeland, among these people who must seem so strange to him, Queequeg never falters!

Also this passage, which I take as a personal attack on myself:

Surely this was a touch of fine philosophy; though no doubt he had never heard there was such a thing as that. But, perhaps, to be true philosophers, we mortals should not be conscious of so living or so striving. So soon as I hear that such or such a man gives himself out for a philosopher, I conclude that, like the dyspeptic old woman, he must have “broken his digester.”

And then, and he continues to stare longingly, we get this line

I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned against the wolfish world.

Ishmael is just falling head over heels in love with Queequeg. He’s got a crush. There is simply no other way to read it, I’m sorry. Ishmael throws away all doubts relating to Queequeg’s origins, decides that since he hasn’t found any true kindness among his fellow christians, he’ll try being friends with a pagan.

There have been some hints and indications of it, but Ishmael is remarkably open-minded and tolerant for a man in the early 19th century. Indeed, after he finally works up the courage to start chatting with Queequeg and they share a smoke, get hitched, and go back to their room, Ishmael has no problem literally worshiping an idol with his best pal.

I really love the logic he uses for it:

I was a good Christian; born and bred in the bosom of the infallible Presbyterian Church. How then could I unite with this wild idolator in worshipping his piece of wood? But what is worship? thought I. Do you suppose now, Ishmael, that the magnanimous God of heaven and earth—pagans and all included—can possibly be jealous of an insignificant bit of black wood? Impossible! But what is worship?—to do the will of God—that is worship. And what is the will of God?—to do to my fellow man what I would have my fellow man to do to me—that is the will of God. Now, Queequeg is my fellow man. And what do I wish that this Queequeg would do to me? Why, unite with me in my particular Presbyterian form of worship. Consequently, I must then unite with him in his; ergo, I must turn idolator.

It’s hard to argue, frankly. A lot of the logic of religion is rooted in more ancient practices that are based in more polytheistic understandings of the world. You’re only supposed to worship your god because you’re on their team, essentially. But if you really believe that your god is the only real one, and all powerful, and all knowing, then why should they be so jealous of your worship? Would they really be so petty as to punish you for being kind to a friend?

Now, as the new married couple settle in to bed for the next chapter, I will entertain some argument about their status as clear and obvious homosexual lovers. There’s nothing explicit here, of course, and I hear you saying that friendship was different in those days.

Long, long ago, before modern society, there was a strange place called The Past, and they have strange habits and customs that look odd to our modern eyes. We may see some men hugging each other, being physically intimate, and think “goodness, how homoerotic!” But, in that time, it was simply more acceptable for men to express physical affection for one another with no sexual subtext whatsoever. They were, in fact, just dudes bein’ bros. Or companions being bosom chums, whatever the 19th century equivalent phrase is.

So what I am reading as something more than friendship was actually just that, and would have been understood to be that at the time.

But I say to you: Yes, things were different in the past, but that cuts both ways! You simply could not speak openly about these things, which were especially common among sailors. There is a famous saying, that the traditions of the Royal Navy amount to “rum, buggery, and the lash” (or something like that). Men cooped up together on a ship for months and months, it’s no surprise, frankly. And there’s no way that Melville, who was a sailor for his entire youth (even if he only went on one whaling voyage) would be naive to these facts.

The language employed in this chapter, I posit, frames this more as a crush and budding romance than anything else. If Melville intended a mere close friendship, he could have written it differently, and who cares what he intended anyway, he’s not around to argue. Interpretation is creative! I say: they’re gay, and make a good couple.

Ah, if this were a serious bit of writing, I would go track down some more sources to cite and whatnot, really develop a strong argument. But hey, I’m just havin’ fun here, not doin’ this for a grade. So you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Up next, The Nightgown, in which we get an intimate portrait of the young lovers in bed, and one of the most #relatable bits in the whole book!

Until next time, shipmates!

Image Credits:

First four from this article, last two from this one. All anonymous photos.

[arthur-rex]

ooc: The Tears of Uther Pendragon Part 1

What. The. H.

Seriously? Showing the ghosts of drowned children in a family programme? 

I mean, don’t get me wrong. The sight of Uther going mad in front of all the nobles of court because of the kids he’s murdered is absolute karma to the soul and so very delightfully Macbeth but this sinister tone is pretty bold to have right at the beginning of the season, no? 

I’d like to think it can be maintained throughout this season. But I doubt it. There’s probably another troll special edition bumper episode coming up soon, isn't there? *sigh*

Morgana, though. What a lady. Finally, the wicked witch of Camelot has arrived!! :DD I don’t think my face has ever pulled so many smiles before. I almost felt tempted to count all of Katie McGrath’s little smirks in this - there’s at least 6 in just the 45 minute episode. Yes and I was grinning along with every single one with her like a fool.

So *clears throat* should I mention my fascination for Morgana/Morgause slash is continuing to be fed by episodes like these? Maybe not.

What I will say, is that BBC Merlin seems to be very generous with the homoerotic subtext for like-minded fans. Always happy to see both M/M and F/F ships given prominent airing in a drama *thumbs ups*

Also:

^ Perhaps this episode should have been called “The Tears of Uther AND Arthur Pendragon??”

Poor boy. Yes, give him a big hug Morgana, you wonderfully manipulative cold-hearted bitch. Give him the narrative push he needs to be the King. I hope that happens in this season, season finale would be fab *fingers crossed*

Nice to have some more Dragonlord moments again between Merlin and Kilgharrah so soon in the very first episode. I’m glad Merlin finally has someone to save his ass once in a while! A boy and his dragon. What a dream team :’)

OOoo, zombies in the second part! How exciting :D

Speaking of... has anyone yet thought to do a Merlin/GOT crossover with the Night King and his White Walkers marching on Camelot? Merlin and his dragon stand in his way. And Arthur has the sword Excalibur which appears to be the only blade that can kill the Night King?