#that’s just accidental queercoding

[lemon-lace]

Watching my first watch through of SPN ever. I’m on season 9 and as someone who has been on tumblr since ancient times but didn’t actually get in to it, I think everyone DOWNPLAYED how crazy Destiel is. How did veterans survive that….. It’s just. What. What am I watching. Why does Deans voice get SOFT when he talks to Cas particularly??? Why did Dean ditch Sam to watch Cas at the supermarket???? I think because of the meme I was convinced it was cas who was the one obviously in love but. No. It’s Dean. And it’s embarrassing for him. This is crazy but Destiel fans weren’t crazy y’all were on to something all this time…..

[magentagalaxies]

i need to keep working on my finals but i high key just want to watch the producers again

[zukkaoru]

how do i tell my mom she accidentally queercoded this character by switching their gender bc she didn't have enough boys to fill all the male roles for this play

[lalaloobzy]

Do gay people even know about Bang the Drum Slowly?

Sad queercoded fictional baseball stories are something the world is severely lacking

Basically; outspoken and opinionated pitcher finds out his shy pushover catcher has a terminal illness and decides to become his rock, sticking by him and standing up for him and protecting him through everything and the rest of the team doesn't know about the illness so they just assume Author and Bruce are gay (but they're not.... except they kinda..... nvm)

**Check it out if you're intrigued but be warned it's from the 50s so the racist and homophobic attitudes of most characters are sooooo gross (and there are slurs in the book. the movie is from the 70s so its... slightly less gross in that respect)**

[ineedyoutotellmeyouloveme]

“house is not queerbaiting it’s queercoding” actually it’s just straight up homophobia that was accidentally so homophobic it turned back around to being gay

[3nyasu3]

Okay, let me use this as an excuse to ramble. I've wanted to make a post about this for ages

The answer is: sort of. Because in SM114, he had a crush on Pheromosa.

The thing is, Pheromosa is "gender-unknown". While it was probably not the intent of the showmakers to make Meowth canonically queer with this, I still believe that this is quite compelling evidence. I guess you could say they made him "accidentally canonically queer".

But while this is the most head-on evidence, its not even my favorite.

In episode BW044, Meowth has an intense crush on a male Purrloin, only to quickly retract his feelings when Purrloin tells him he is male in the end of the episode. While this episode is clearly just homophobic in nature, I still call bullshit. You really want to convince me that pokémon determine another pokémon's gender by looks alone? And not like, by smell or instinct? I firmly believe that the thing that actually made Meowth retract his feelings was the peer-pressure of the twerps starting to laugh and point at him during the gender-reveal.

Next, we have his insinuated crush on the boss. I am not going to say much on this, you know the images. James' words here confirm that it is always Meowth's imagination that we are seeing. Also, they had to cut a boss fantasy scene in DP030 in the english dub because it was too suggestive.

And I just have to add this because I ship them, sorry, but his interactions with Pikachu sometimes seem a little on the queer side as well.

So much for actual somewhat queer material. But don't get me even started on the queercoding.

The whole story of him being trapped in between the worlds of pokémon and humans feels like a very trans metaphor to me. Also the discrimination he sometimes faces, people calling him disgusting or a freak just for the way that he is. His trans voice actress Maddie Blaustein read his story as him being a human trapped inside a pokémon body, and it was the reason she decided to come out to her co-workers! If that is not transcoding, I don't know what is.

The way he sometimes has crushes on humans also feels like queercoding / bicoding to me. He literally is queer on every side of the spectrum. Can't get any queerer than that.

And last but not least, considering his amazing trans and lesbian/ bi voice actress, it feels just unfair to label him as cishet. Come on, we can do better than that. It's what she would have wanted.

[blanketforcas]

hey cw, yeah. it's about your favorite american hero. turns out your homophobic jokes accidentally queercoded him. yeah. sorry. no it's too late now, the actor fully internalized it cause he was already predisposed to it bc of his d- yes, daddy issues you got it! your set is full of 'em, i hear ya. haha great times i bet. anyways yah so. turns out whatever the guy's dealing with, he put it all into this character and queercoded him even further. oh- what's that? your writers are aware and are writing it into the narrative too? no no i won't tell the big boss, secret's safe with me. what else can you tell me about what's gonna happen on the show? omg no way. bi lighting for real? yeah they weren't aware of that last time were they haha. so like, intentional this time? ok nice! what else you got? dean's flustered by several guys again? yeah i mean i kind of expect that now. oh he's-? he's saying "i love you" to cas?? mm sorry man i think that's a bit too soon for homeboy, he's gonna want that changed to "i need you" or something. he'll genuinely believe that'll make it less romantic tho, no worries. just go with it, he'll figure it out eventually... if i know why he's so weird about this destiel thing? well um. have you perhaps noticed something about the way he acts around misha, compared to, say, the other one? [pause] [what do you- oh.] ... sir are you still there?

[runin-reads]

James/Lily vs James/Sirius: a case of accidental queer coding

Jily (James/Lily) is a pairing central to the HP universe in the sense that had they not been married, Harry Potter, the main character, would cease to exist and neither would his story as we know it. Yet we are left with only a few brief glimpses of their relationship in canon whilst other pairings are textually far more fleshed out– take Prongsfoot (James/Sirius), for example, who are frequently portrayed as The Duo, not just by those closest to them (Lupin) but by many others too such as McGonagall, Flitwick and so on. Harry himself could see how close they were during SWM in OOTP and this is someone who had a very limited time with Sirius and close to none with James. 

Queercoding is described as “the subtextual coding of a character in media as queer. Though such a character's sexual identity may not be explicitly confirmed within their respective work, a character might be coded as queer through the use of traits and stereotypes recognisable to the audience.” One character comes to mind when I think of “queercoding” and that’s Sirius Black. He’s estranged from his family, goes against the norms associated with his upbringing, there’s no mention of any ex-girlfriends and most notably he has intense love and devotion for his male best friend; James Potter.  At first glance, James had led an incredibly hetero-normative life by virtue of his wife and son, but through his relationship to Sirius there’s leeway to reach a queer reading of him as well. 

As recognised by countless characters and even Sirius himself, Prongsfoot come in a two-for-one deal:

“Do you remember who his best friend was?”  “Naturally,” said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. “Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here — ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!”  “Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course — exceptionally bright, in fact…”  “You’d have thought Black and Potter were brothers!” chimed in Professor Flitwick. “Inseparable!” 

The use of the word “brothers” in the above quote is one reason why fans don’t interpret Prongsfoot as queer-coded and/or romantic. However, it’s important to note that Sirius never referred to James as a brother, and there’s no canonical proof to suggest that Flitwick was close to James and Sirius– he was their teacher, not their friend or confidant. He isn’t calling them “brothers” either but rather he’s saying that word to express how strong their bond was. Hence why I believe an exclusively fraternal reading of their relationship doesn’t hold much weight. 

They are, however, established as each other’s closest friend and most trusted confidant. 

“Harry had the distinct impression that Sirius was the only one for whom James would have stopped showing off.” “Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was the best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry.  “I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me.”  “Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it,” Black hissed

On multiple occasions James and Sirius were described as a unit– The Unit– within their friend group. Lupin said they were “the cleverest students in the school.” They were the “ringleaders” of the Marauders; always on the same page and in agreement with each other.

“Then, with identical fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.” 

Even during their very first encounter, they quickly and effortlessly become a team. 

“Got a problem with that?”  “No,” said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. “If you’d rather be brawny than brainy–” “Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?” interjected Sirius.  James roared with laughter.

This excerpt from DH also neatly sums up the Marauders group dynamic:

“To Sirius’s right stood Pettigrew, more than a head shorter, plump and watery-eyed, flushed with pleasure at his inclusion in this coolest of gangs, with the much-admired rebels that James and Sirius had been. On James’s left was Lupin, even then a little shabby-looking, but he had the same air of delighted surprise at finding himself liked and included” 

Lily herself acknowledged Sirius’ importance in James’ life in her letter to Sirius, where she all but says that only he could lift James’ mood whilst the Potters’ were hiding from Voldemort’s forces. 

“James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell — also, Dumbledore’s still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions. If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much.” 

On the other hand, Jily is portrayed in a less compelling way for lack of better words. I spoke about this in my other meta but to summarise it briefly: Lily is James’ wife, the mother of his son and… that’s pretty much it. In the books they’re barely spoken about as a couple, unlike Prongsfoot who are always mentioned together as if they were a package deal– which they were, as recognised by practically everyone. That’s not to say Jily has zero textual backing, though it is far and few between.

“How come she married him?” Harry asked miserably. “She hated him!”  “Nah, she didn’t,” said Sirius.  “She started going out with him in seventh year,” said Lupin.  “Once James had deflated his head a bit,” said Sirius.  “And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,” said Lupin. 

Conclusion

What we do know about James and Lily’s relationship is limited to the following: Lily disliked James because he and Snape were enemies, James developed feelings for her first, they began dating in seventh year once James had matured, they got married when they were nineteen to twenty years old, had a child together. The end. 

On the contrary, James and Sirius are constantly implied to be each other’s closest, most loyal friend; each other’s most trusted confidant. They are equals in every conceivable way. Both were popular, from wealthy backgrounds  and intelligent. Throughout the entire series Sirius’ only priority was Harry, James’ son. He went through unfathomable lengths to protect Harry: he was the first to escape Azkaban, he snuck into Hogwarts with all the dementors around and lived off rats during the GOF so he could be close to Harry, the last piece of James he had left. 

There’s also evidence to suggest Sirius was a narrative parallel to Snape. There are two adults in Harry’s life who sought to protect him due to their respective relationships with one of his parents. Snape was a double agent for Dumbeldore out of love for Lily; Sirius escaped Azkaban to protect Harry out of love for him, an extension of his love for James. 

All these factors are  why I believe that by not fleshing out Lily as a character and Jily as a couple, JKR accidentally queer-coded Prongsfoot. 

[shigayokagayama]

reasons i wholeheartedly believe teru is intentionally queercoded:

1. heart eye panel

2. most mob psycho characters are a parody of some sort of common shonen trope (reigen as a parody of mentors and dimple as a parody of cutesy mascot characters in particular come to mind) and, using this logic, it follows that teru would be a parody of the “homoerotic shonen rivalry” trope, and the easiest way to parody that would be to take out all the “rivalry” and just leave the “homoerotic” part while still making him insist he’s his rival.

3. seriously how do you accidentally crosshatch a heart why else would it be there

[transmasculineswag]

Transmasc Swag Polls- PRELIMINARIES (FUCK SHIT DAMN IT UHHHHHH)

This round will eliminate the LOSER. The two characters with the most votes have a guaranteed spot in the polls, so choose whichever one suits you.

Propaganda and other info under the cut.

Why are these characters in the prelims?

I have publicly talked about having all three of these characters in the polls at separate points, so it didn't feel right to me to just quietly drop one of them. Otherwise, Chilchuck would've been kicked out since he wasn't actually submitted during the submission round

Canonicity Levels-

CHILCHUCK: Gender Tomfuckery

VASH: OOPS! Accidental Trans Man, Subtext/ Coded

LAIOS: Because I Said So

MEDIA?

Dungeon Meshi (and other related media), Trigun (and other related media look I'm not typing every one of them out)

BIG SPOILERS FOR DUNGEON MESHI, AS WELL AS THE TRIGUN SERIES IN GENERAL UNDER THE CUT

CHILCHUCK PROPAGANDA-

[Pollrunner's Note: As he was not submitted, I will have to take a crack at it until someone writes their own propaganda]

He is constantly infantilized by both his employers and people who are (technically speaking) much younger than him, both because he is short and because he has the appearance of a kid. Despite this it is clear from very early on that he is one of the more mature characters in the party, and is the series' Union Man. He has three grown (biological) daughters and is Very Much Divorced.

VASH PROPAGANDA-

Literally every single other member of his species (besides him and his brother) are female and referred to as she/her. Vash has scarring all over his body including heavily on his chest. Also, in the Stampede adaptation, Vash has the quintessential transmasc undercut. The Jesus allegory of the most fucked up queercoded twisted biblical tragic space western ive read in my damn LIFE.

[Pollrunner's Note: We're not even going to get into everything going on with him and Wolfwood I don't have enough space for that lmao...]

LAIOS PROPAGANDA-

Hes autistic and im autistic and autistic people love to be trans! also he has a complex about wanting to be a monster. Augh.

[Pollrunner's Note: Not a lot of propaganda here but I seeded a lot of commonly headcanoned autistic characters into these polls out of spite for... well. If you're autistic and trans you probably understand already don't you. It's self care and self love for me actually :) ]

[joe-spookyy]

asks you about american werewolf in london

hoooly shit it’s finally happened. someone asked me The question. thanks anon.

i am now going to try and sell you all on this movie cause i can’t recommend it enough and i think everyone should watch it. so: let me tell you a thing or two about hit 1981 horror comedy an american werewolf in london!!! and this is off the top of my head so if any of it is slightly off numbers wise im sorry. if you like 80s horror, men, queercoding, re-animator, the thing, jaws, saw, the lost boys, or just werewolves in general. hear me out on this one. link included to watch.

The Premise:

fresh off the heels of his cocaine fueled jazz musical masterpiece The Blues Brothers (1980), director john landis decided he was going to cook up the greatest film ever made. and he did. he was actually gonna have john belushi (jake blues) and dan akyroyd (elwood blues and yes the ghostbuster) play the two main characters, david kessler and jack goodman. now, who are these fellas? well i’m so glad you asked. david (played by david naughton) and jack (played by griffin dunne) are two dear pals from new york on a cute little backpacking trip across europe. david's the tall one. he's silly and gleeful to be out and about. jack is the short one. he's very much not gleeful about the fact that they're on the rainy moors and wishes they were in rome. together they find their way to a cute little pub and go inside, looking for hot drinks. the locals do not love this. they also do not love when jack asks them why there's a five pointed star on the wall (since lon chaney and universal studios assert that that's the mark of the wolfman!) it gets awkward. so they leave, with nothing but the warning to stay off the moors, stick to the roads, and beware of the moon. obviously, they do not follow this. wouldn't make for a very interesting movie if they did. and, as i'm sure you've assumed, they encounter a werewolf, leaving jack like this (dead):

and david, who survived the attack, with the curse of the werewolf. but fear not! david is transported to a hospital where he makes a lovely recovery, and jack um. well he stays dead. but he comes back to haunt david! he shows up a few more times in further states of decay to tell david that he really ought to just kill himself so that the curse is broken, jack and all the other werewolf victims can rest in peace, and david won't accidentally maul any additional civilians as a werewolf. hey while we're talking about jack heres me when i dressed up as him at a horror con. and the man himself.

anyways. hijinks ensue, and you're taken on a delightful romp across 97 minutes of fun as david tries to navigate life as... you guessed it. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON!

why it rules:

in my opinion, that's enough to make this movie flames as fuck. but if you're not convinced yet? let me tell you some more. first off. the practical effects on this bad boy are straight up excellent. they're done by my personal favorite vfx artist rick baker (who also worked on star wars, men in black, videodrome, king kong and more!), and he does not hold back. the picture of jack shows how nasty and detailed the wound is pretty well, but in action it's even better with all the nasty fleshy bits dangling and wiggling and eugh. it's gross. but it's so well done. and he does a terrific job showing how jack decays throughout the rest of the movie. but of course, what really matters is the werewolf. it's not called an american dead guy in london. which is good. cause that would be a dumb name for a movie. anyways. if we’re going to talk about the werewolf, we have to start with the iconic transformation scene. sped up.

wow! pretty impressive stuff right? it’s all practical, no cgi, and i think the way it’s almost drawn out and the relative silence of the scene adds to the impact it has, since it sort of forces the audience to sit with and feel just a little bit of the discomfort that david seems to be feeling. we just have to watch him scream in pain and beg for mercy. yeesh. now, the transformation scene is hard to top. but i think the final werewolf design is actually pretty solid. it’s distinctly not man, but it’s also distinctly not wolf. i would include a picture, but i feel like part of the allure of the film is how it (jaws style) doesn’t really let you get a good look at the monster itself until the end of the movie. it’s a great way to build the tension and leave a little bit up to the audience’s interpretation. and the audience will always imagine something way more horrible than you could have ever created. which is kind of beautiful. the first time i watched, i found myself kind of disappointed in the werewolf’s appearance - its face seemed to be stuck in a sort of permanent scowl. i was kind of lost, because i couldn’t imagine why a static face had won out over whatever the vfx team was clearly capable of making. but Oh. dear reader. when nurse alex price, david’s dear love, who cared for him in the hospital, allowed him to live with her, and even banged him, approaches the wolf. when she tells david she loves him. the wolf’s eyes soften. it begins to drop the snarl. see. i lied here’s part of the wolf. all snarly like and scary. before it melts at three simple words from alex. god.

it hits me like a huge truck every single time. rick baker never misses and this movie was certainly not an exception. he got an academy award for it and it was well deserved.

not so into the technical stuff? that’s okay. i have more to praise about this movie. it is one of the best blends of horror and comedy that i’ve ever encountered. although some of it looks a little dated, i do think it maintains its fear factor. it’s plenty gory, and in my humble opinion, the subway scene (you’ll know it when you see it) is one of the most effective bits of horror i’ve ever encountered. even when isolated from the film, it still packs a punch. but i’m not gonna put it here because i want you to just watch it with the rest of the movie. sorry. and on top of the horror, it’s honestly hilarious. if you don’t think seven dead people ganging up on one dude and listing ways he should kill himself in the middle of a porn theater while a porno plays very loudly in the background. well. i don’t know what to tell you. you probably won’t like this movie that much. also, the final needle drop over the credits at the end is so abrupt and so funny. love it.

and of course, being an 80s horror movie with two male leads. i’m sure you can guess what i’m going to say. it is not hard to read jack and david as friends, but it’s also not very difficult to read them as having a little something going on. like love. fellas is it gay to go on a little trip across england with just yoh and your best bro? hard to say. textually, i do think it’s kind of telling that every time jack shows up, it’s either right after or while david is having a heterosexual experience (flirting with alex, banging alex, watching straight porn in the porn theater.) it’s almost like… something other than jack… is haunting david. i dunno. i’m not a cop. but it’s interesting. seems like something the average tumblr user might like to keep an eye on, so i’m letting you know. also they have a conversation while david is completely naked which is like. hello. plus the inherent queerness of the werewolf narrative is something i could talk about for HOURS and was especially prevalent, alongside vampire movies. in the 80s during the aids crisis. my short essay on this ⬇️

also, there’s a classic john landis third act car crash scene, where, in the same vein as the blues brothers, an obscene amount of cars are absolutely demolished.

also also, the muppets make a brief appearance in this movie. this made me jump for joy, because i love the muppets. and you should too.

fun and true facts

still not sold? well, check out this last ditch effort in the form of fun facts. or, if you just want to know more, read on.

micheal jackson was so impressed by the effects in this movie, particularly the transformation scene, that after seeing it, he promptly hired rock baker (vfx guy) and john landis (director guy) to work on the music video for his hit song thriller. you’ve probably seen it, but if not, go watch it. tbh, even if you have seen it before, go watch it again.

david naughton was a doctor pepper spokesman before the filming of this movie. he was in at least a few bits of promotional material, including at least one commercial. unfortunately he lost the job because of the amount of time he spent dick out in this movie. doctor pepper did not want that to be the representation of their brand. cowards, the lot of them.

speaking of his dick, you actually never fully see it at any point in the movie despite the fact that it seems they never felt like telling david to wear pants on set. there is a reason for this! david (character) is jewish and canonically circumcised (dunno how else to put it) and david (actor) is neither of these things. so, to avoid ruining the realism in his. werewolf movie. john landis took great care to never show the whole thing.

the american ambassador who visits david in the hospital is played by frank oz, who also voices miss piggy. because of her brief cameo, he technically plays two different roles in this movie, although miss piggy is simply credited as “Herself” in the end credits of the movie. he also voices yoda which isn’t relevant but it is really funny to me.

see you next wednesday, which is the name of the porno in the movie, is actually a fun john landis easter egg! many of his movies include the phrase “see you next wednesday.” it’s also seen on posters in the subway scene.

in the scene where jack first visits david in the hospital, he was supposed to take a bite of david’s toast, after which it would immediately fall out of his ruined and torn to shreds throat. however, it was cut for being too gross. which is sad i feel like it could have been funny.

when david calls home to talk to his parents, he mentions two siblings: rachel and max. these are the names of the directors children in real life.

griffin dunne, who plays jack, also appears as the family therapist in a season 2 episode of succession. this was a jumpscare.

while they were filming the naked in the zoo scenes, they were unable to actually close the zoo, so when filming carried on past the opening time of the park, they just kept going and allowed butt naked david naughton to run loose around the zoo. they did, however, succeed in closing piccadilly circus for the car crash scene.

in the beginning when jack is being attacked by the werewolf, it was in fact half a wolf prop on the front of a wheelbarrow. this is a very funny vision for me.

jack is right - the five pointed star is considered the mark of the wolfman, according to 1941’s The Wolf Man, played by lon chaney junior and produced by universal pictures. the guy knows his stuff. interestingly, rick baker did the makeup for the 2010 remake of the wolf man as well. he did pretty good, i think.

this isn’t even about this movie but blues brothers is an awesome film too and a fun fact about that one is there was a whole part of the budget devoted to buying cocaine. and you can tell. great movie.

director john landis did in fact kill three people the year after this movie came out. so. i do feel a little bad promoting it because jesus christ. but. no harm no foul in pirating it. it’s one easy internet archive search away. and sometimes it’s on tubi. but just in case, here’s the internet archive link. https://archive.org/details/an-american-werewolf-in-london

so. anyways. please check out this baller ass movie and talk to me about it. thank you so much to whoever asked this. i love you. thanks for reading. bye.

[sixofcrowley]

fucking crazy how destiel is a ship with so many canon/non canon variants and dynamics which revolve around the same premise of a faithless man and a fallen angel which constantly create a compelling and alluring story. it definitely helps that jensen and misha share a very delicate chemistry which is rare on screen because it’s usually passed off as awkward but because they had the time to expand it and build upon the relationship between dean and castiel it creates a very unique and recognisable dynamic between them which can be then applied to other pieces in media, even when breaking the fourth wall or with metanarratives such as in ‘the end’ episode. it’s such a genius and hypnotic relationship in media, even crazier when you account that the entire premise of their story is accidental and wasn’t planned by kripke, but was instead acknowledged very eventually by misha collins and writers who were able to push past the cw and incorporate subtext and queercoding only for them to fuck it up in one episode at the end of season 15. it’s even crazier when you just pick apart the end (season 5, episode 3) because just days after castiel rebels in canon, dean is thrown against the narrative in an alternative universe where cas’ rebellion was so prominent that he followed dean to the literal end from croatoan virus to blindly following orders when he knows it’s a suicide mission. and then they apply that principle and dynamic to their relationship consistently in the show, from season 8 with naomi’s capture and to seasons 12+ after cas’ deal and when co parenting jack, they definitely have their flaws and their bumps but they are a rare, unparalleled ship amongst media.

[butchdykekondraki]

Do you think Authordraki was doing All That (transfem Kondraki evidence) on purpose or do you think 🥚 or do you think a secret third option?

this ask has been Rotting in my inbox for like 3 weeks now but anyways. i really do think it was purposeful cause i just. man i dont know how someone could write that without it being purposeful queercoding. i do not think writing a character saying they are "a pretty princess" in bold italics is accidental or meant to be played as a joke. but thats just My Opinion idfk authordraki might be playing me like a damn fiddle here

[willthewise7]

Are you concerned that Henry doesn’t seem to be gay after all, even though he was so heavily queercoded in the show? I mean he could be bi, but that’s not expressed in the show, right? I’m worried about what that means for mike. If the same writers accidentally queercoded Henry, couldn’t they have accidentally queercoded Mike? A lot of the ones most confident about gay Mike were also the ones most confident about gay Henry. What are your thoughts?

Potential spoilers ahead:

I mean, I have to admit, I did originally theorise that Henry could be gay. However, the show clearly makes this not apparent. It’s not expressed in the play that he’s bi, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t in the show. I don’t see that happening though as they have other things to wrap up.

As for Mike and Byler, I really don’t think we need to worry. Yes they could’ve accidentally queer-coded Henry, which makes that possible for Mike, but it’s also possible that we misread the Henry situation. Mike has way more queer-coding than Henry did. I did think Henry could be gay or bi from how they paralleled him to Will so much. But the comparing of Henry and Will seemed to be just in the case of them being vulnerable and sensitive children.

Before the play, I thought they were compared because Will chose to be good in bad situations and Henry chose to be bad. But now the play demonstrates that the mindflayer was causing him to be bad without much of a choice. Henry’s story is very unfortunate. Will on the other hand has his friends and family to support him, something Henry didn’t have. I think the story is telling us how having support is vital in being loved and loving yourself. Because at the end of the day, nothing is stronger than platonic and unconditional love. Also though, that you can change and rise up against things that are bad and to rewrite your mistakes.

I did kind of go off on a tangent but what I’m trying to say is, I believe that Mike is a different situation. Henry’s story was just misunderstood because we didn’t know enough about it. We have had more seasons and content to analyse the queer coding of Mike. Whereas we haven’t had enough to properly gauge at the same for Henry.

Therefore, and to answer your question, I don’t believe that this has any weighting on Byler apart from being positive. The story seems to be lining up to show you how being loved and having that love can create good. It can not only fight evil and negative emotions, it can make someone complete. Whole. Will having his love returned could have massive implications on the supernatural storyline. Especially if Will had powers. Remember, both the show and the play constantly keep reminding us of the reoccurring theme of love beating evil, in relation to activating and making powers stronger.

[bylerpolls]

We Bylers often say it would 100% be queerbaiting if Byler isn’t endgame, and yet most of the GA- even some queer people- are blind to Byler and see no evidence Mike isn’t straight. A lot of our arguments are based not just on the narrative itself pointing to Byler, but on the belief that the Duffers and their writing team have been subtly queercoding Mike since the beginning.

But if lots of straight people are blind to queercoding in general and Mike’s in particular, do you think it’s hypothetically possible that the Duffers- assuming they are straight- truly accidentally queercoded Mike, and no queerbaiting is involved? (at least in the actual show- some of the S4 marketing might be a different story). Is it hypothetically possible that the clues we find are truly accidents, and we’re just filtering things through our subjective queer knowledge and experience?

That Mike is less complex than we think? That any odd behavior in Mike is just because he’s an awkward, contradictory teen boy? And that the writers always intended Will to be a gay kid falling in love with his straight best friend? And all the perceived queercoding, including the visual parallels to other ships, is from that?

I ask this not because I believe this btw, but because most of the GA does believe this. They say it wouldn’t be queerbaiting for Byler to be unreciprocated, that we’re looking too far into things, and that it’s highly unlikely the writers intentionally wrote Mike as a queer character.

So what do y’all think?

A) While unlikely, it’s hypothetically possible

B) It was possible at first, but S4 took things into explicit queerbaiting territory if true

C) It’s not possible at all, not even in earlier seasons. The story and queercoding clues for Mike/Byler are too specific for this to be true.

D) It’s hypothetically possible, but writing a slowburn story where a gay kid falls madly in love with his straight best friend would still be queerbaiting, so they wouldn’t be off the hook

E) I believe this is what happened

F) A secret sixth thing

[wulfums]

So did the Clone High writers like. Forget that FYC happened. And in any other show that would be a solid relationship confirmation.

Like guys if you dont want Mr B and Scudworth to be gay why did you have the best ep of that season end in an insanely romantic way. Mr B saying he feels like he Is in heaven when w Scuds. Them calling the clones a family they made and love.

Was all that like. Intended to be a joke ??? Like the mere concept of these two middle aged men having relationship drama and being in love is the whole joke.

Like they made a point to put into FYC that Mr B went through being used by a Chaser(of robots)…like his whole backstory is queercoded.

But if they were just gonna double down hard on uncomfortable het crush plots w Scudworth (with a dash of zoophilia thrown in. But dw guys the skunk is a girl so its straight so its ok) why did they even make FYC.

Like im sorry but there was clear intent w that ep to have Scudtron be canon at the end in a subtle poetic way.

Like. Theres no way the gay overtones in FYC were accidental. With the way they doubled down on “dont worry theyre straight” in s3, FYC has become the worlds most insane obvious case of queerbaiting.

Like theres no way around it. They genuinely purposely queerbaited using Scudworth and Mr B bcuz idk the implication of older gay men is funny??

Its also wild because its regarded as the best reboot ep.

If you dont want them to be gay then like…..stop making them gay?? Its really fuckin weird.