personal gay/bi mike ramblings & other late night thoughts //

Been thinking about how I relate way more to gay Mike as a bi dude rather than to bi Mike. (This isn’t whos interpretation is right or anything) I’ve seen the post that was like both gay byler would portray different experiences under one label and show that no label outright owns a specific experience. A bi Mike’s arc would be more about choices in relation to others with less introspection and a gay Mike’s arc would explain internal turmoil and self depreciation in relation to a queer identity and the need to hide it, which would require more of it . And ofc gay people don’t own this flavor of experience but in Mike’s case would explain his actions if under that lense for me personally. Also noticed the later headcanon is more prevalent for those with a bigger Mike bias than Will which is interesting.

Also thinking about what a mess or I guess how much ambiguity there is in both Will & Mike’s characterization when it comes to their relation to their sexualities which ultimately causes people to develop strong opinions and get angry when people get their arcs or dynamics wrong. The thing is that the Duffers like ambiguity - it gives them freedom and they also don’t like to state things outright when it comes to identities and very important sociopolitical issues while trying to be “realistic” /half-neg ( ex: Karen & Nancy talking about feminism without mentioning women, the way Robin’s coming out was handled without mentioning any gay words while the show is comfortable using homophobic words )

Anyway almost got heated on a completely separate topic.

It is sometimes confusing as to what is meant to be presented as a “Will Arc” and a “Mike Arc” On the one hand Will struggles from overt homophobia from others and from Lonnie growing up, on the other hand he has Joyce, Jonathan, Mike, and the party who adore him and while I doubt Will understands that they would accept him no matter what, there’s definitely an earlier self acceptance in his identity as a hyper-visible gay man(you can see it with the Turing Project & the bravery with the painting). I define internalized homophobia as “a set of complex contradicting behaviors based on society’s homophobia and heteronormative pressures” and some people define it as “being sad that people are being homophobic to someone” I think both Will and Mike have degrees of both and sometimes it’s hard to see how much of either both characters have. And for Mike, it solely depends on how you read his sexuality thus explaining his actions and feelings. Again, it is vague which I think is humanizing and realistic.

I won’t touch the dynamics topic until the tag evolves beyond late stage fandom spoon/fork binarization of gay relationships but just noting that aspect of byler isn’t void of complexity.

One last thought for the night:

Just looking at the fandom and noticing unfortunate patterns. Mainly the desire to be right above all else and largely at the expense of collective fun and creativity which is like the main point of fandom. I think it comes mostly from having to fight the GA and m*levens to prove we aren’t crazy (insert Joyce Byers gif here) a year ago and that mentality sticking for way too long. Like the desire to to defend your thoughts and feel your feelings strongly about a topic is amazing and is another big fandom driver but at some point people getting angry for fanon, headcanons, people having fun making things in a way that isn’t popular loud accounts approved is honestly concerning. I see it a lot from the side I agree with too and it’s like. We can do better right? Not everything needs to be activism tinged?

Anyway anyway thanks for reading this far I’m passing the whole fandom edibles as we collectively rewatch the source material and resetting our very “seeing red at posts we disagree with” adled brains. 💕

calling racism a 'toxic topic' that was 'too much' for you as a white person is hilarious, btw.

But I feel like feelings like yours about bucktommy (just not being into it) aren’t the same as what the people you’re talking about mean when they say people are being puritanical about sex. Because there’s a significant amount of buddie fans right now that act like Buck is practically debasing himself by not saving himself for Eddie. That’s what people are talking about, not people who just aren’t invested in the ship.

i mean i get you anon but unlike you in your ask acknowledging some people may just not be into it, in my experience on 911blr i see very little acknowledgement from most bucktommy shippers that there could be reasons not to vibe with the pairing that have nothing to do with wanting buddie. or with queerphobia or fetishizing or puritanism. those words get thrown around too much and eventually i snap.

i think whoever came up with "general/basic dni criteria" as a term should be hunted for sport

SHIT I had forgotten all about this specific fucked up way reproductive issues and systemic fat discrimination interact and I’m getting mad at everything all over again 🥲

the thing about it (I say as if you've been hearing the thoughts from my brain this whole time and have complete context) is that if you hate a character because you think they're poorly written, that's fair, and if you hate them because something about them hits close to home in a bad way, that's also fair, but I feel like some people just. take it way too personally. like you realize this character isn't a real person guilty of actual wrongdoing, yes? you understand that not everyone is reading the exact same things into them as you are? you know you don't have to make your takes every random person's problem? I just feel like some of you don't know that, is all

the realization that tumblr does not work like twitter and i cant just vague post about random discourse or arguments otherwise people will wrongfully assume its about them has flipped my whole life upside down

*long, deep, belabored sigh*

I don't understand this weird trans guy binary we've made. You're either the masculine man's man who wants a beard and a bike and a body builder build or you're a thin effeminate femboy who's some sort of anime stereotype to people. It's like the only possible options are taken directly from that fucking "normal trans man" comic. And this isn't even a dichotomy made by cis people, the call is coming from inside the house. Why have we decided to sort people like this. Stop projecting your narrow tiktok-fed views of men and masculinity onto real life people.

Always gotta ask for my girls Squirrelflight and/or Nightcloud :)

certain beloved members of vm and m9 are similar levels of morally ambiguous and unable to decisively deal with their personal shit that imogen temult is but only one them is constantly shit on for it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Someone: *Digs up shit from about half a decade ago that some semi-popular internet personality had said as proof that they are some flavor of bigot*

People who take longer than one second to form an opinion: “Hold on, that’s a little unfair. Is there proof that this is something they’ve done continuously/is a belief they actually hold? And why should we just trust the word of this random person?”

Some headass on Twitter: “UM, ACTUALLY the person who posted this is literally a queer teenager! You’re a homophobe who is harassing a minor and you also are the same type of bigot as this internet personality AND you condone the jackasses who are actively sending death threats to this ~Queer Teen~! ...Anyway, I’m still gonna consume this person’s content that I just called a bigot, but as I am a good internet citizen I’m gonna advertise that I don’t condone this creator’s actions <3″

i don't write fanfiction but rn i'm just thinking about how infuriating it must be to receive a negative comment that's completely unnecessary, especially if it's misrepresenting what you wrote and your intentions...i would go crazy

i know very little abt the stanley cup discourse so maybe im wrong but all the posts i keep seeing about it seem to just be making fun of people/calling them sad for liking to collect stanley cups and tbh i think you guys are being mean for no reason lol

I really cannot understand this fandom. One half of it has been complaining about Adrien's "just a friend” thing for 7 years, while the other half has been proving that friendship and platonic relationships are in no way worse than romance. But somehow this all has flown out of the window as soon as we got romantic pre-reveal Adrienette and platonic Ladynoir.

It's become increasingly obvious to me that some people in this fandom never truly understood the love square. The outrage I've seen operates as if they are separate people, but they're not. The "true selves" mindset is still a bullshit way to make one side seem better than all the rest and isn't rooted in canon no matter how many mental gymnastics people do to justify it. I mean how many times does canon have to say that they are the same people with or without the mask before it sticks for some people and they understand that the love square is ONE SHIP with 4 unique dynamics as a result of secrets. That has always been its appeal. If I see another "the love square is dead bc adrinette is canon now" post I'm gonna scream. The love square as a set of 4 dynamics comprising one ship isn't dead just because one side got together. There has always been platonic dynamics in the square, and saying the other sides are "dead" just because they're platonic is just evidence that people don't know how the square works. The only thing that will ever dissolve the love square is a reveal because that is the only reason we have the love square in the first place. If the kids always knew their identities, we wouldn't have had it. So as long as they don't know their secret identities, the love square dynamics still exist, they are just different now. Something finally changed and development happened, and now people are mad because it wasn't the side they wanted? As if the development of all sides aren't linked and one day going to morph into a unique post reveal dynamic that takes from each side? I mean, it's not like one side hates each other, damn. All sides are pretty much good with each other at this point.

As I've said numerous times, the Adrinette development needed to happen this season. Clearly, or they wouldn't have done it. Marinette's issues stemmed from loving Adrien, so the only way for her to work through them so they can have a healthy post reveal dynamic is for her and Adrien to work through their romantic issues together as a couple. She has no qualms being his friend. All of her stammering and fumbling was always linked to love. The panic she has felt around him this season was linked to love. And I'm glad they're addressing it and finally helping her become comfortable around him. That development is long overdue. Them dating is a good thing, some people in the fandom just never quite grasped the concept that they're all the same people, so they made up this version of canon in their heads where their favorite side was the star of the show and most correct while the rest were just for show. There is no "most correct" side, even with one of them dating. That mindset is reductive and stems from lack of understanding of the characters and their relationship. Even as an Adrinette stan, I'm not saying Adrinette is better than the other sides bc they're the side that has stuck romantically. All of the sides are important and have offered important key development for the ship as a whole. Adrinette couldn't have gotten where it is today without the other 3 sides and vice versa. All of the development is for the benefit of the post reveal dynamic. That is what this show has been building to since day 1.

Honestly, some people in this fandom love showing their ass too much. As someone who has actually watched all of the released eps, the plot this season is actually the best we've had. The development is great and believable (for the most part), the adrinette is simultaneously the sweetest and most angsty shit I've seen in canon thus far. I haven't enjoyed the show this much since s1, yall. Some people just don't value friendship/platonic dynamics and view them as lesser than romantic ones, and it shows. There's no reason to be outraged by the other sides being platonic while one side is dating unless they view platonic relationships as being lesser than romantic ones. It isn't a race, nor a competition, and platonic relationships have just as much value to add as the romantic. They are building to a full completed square where all of the sides dissolve into one dynamic that will be an amalgamation of all sides. Idk why that is hard to understand. RIP to everyone else, but I'm different I guess. 💅

By the way for anyone that it really bothers, I believe in and have fun with astrology, I don’t understand the aggressive hatred toward it but regardless I don’t support shitting on peoples beliefs or spirituality because you think it’s silly to believe in or because a couple people who believe the same thing were mean to you or made you uncomfortable