love these panels so much. unfortunately even as he's moving down the pipeline from sympathetic villain -> unsympathetic villain, he remains so funny and charming ...
I'd never criticize someone for disliking Starline's queer coding - no matter how you spin it, he does play into the stereotypical depiction of an effeminate gay supervillain - but just speaking for myself personally, I think the way it's handled is so deeply lovable. unlike the more classic depiction of effeminate villains (creepy, dissonant, predatory, pathetic), there's a clear attempt to use Starline's queerness to humanize him. his sincere devotion to Eggman is the closest he gets to truly valuing someone else, his theatrical flair and little mannerisms make him come off charismatic and powerful. in the short scene above, he's home alone(-ish), doing normal person stuff that grounds his character in mundane problems that are funny only because they're so shockingly innocent compared to the kinds of contexts we usually see him in. to me, his queerness feels like a sort of counterweight to all the evil he does - yes, he's one of the worst villains around, but he's still a person with thoughts and feelings and a broken heart and mundane problems and a goofy little live, laugh, love mug on his desk where he does his evil planning.
I think it really shines through how much the writers love this character and want the audience to relate to him through these little moments. his queerness makes him more likeable and more relatable, not less. he's a queer character for queer people.
not too dissimilar to what I was talking about regarding Zavok yesterday, where I think interpreting him as gay rounds out his characterization in a way that makes him feel much more human.
anyway anyway anyway signing off for tonight, thank you all for reading along, you're da coolest <3333
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