best thing a male character can do is be dog-coded. second best thing a male character can do is sob hysterically
third best thing a male character can do is be a little gay about his best friend
- it’s also good when female characters are dog-coded, gay about their best friend, and sobbing hysterically. ava daniels is a solid 3 for 3. carol sturka is dog-coded (/generally canine-coded) and sobs hysterically; she is not gay about her best friend in the traditional will-they-won’t-they yearning sense, but she was in a loving lesbian marriage with her best/(ostensibly) only friend and now has a will-they-won’t-they yearning thing with her hivemind chaperone (who is also every person on earth). trinity santos fulfills the spirit of the criteria without following it to the letter; she is gay about a woman who called her her sidekick the day they met, she has moments of intense emotional vulnerability not narratively dissimilar to hysterical sobbing breakdowns, and while she is not explicitly dog-coded, she has the right blend of posturing/fierceness/attachment issues that i wouldn’t balk at someone saying she is
- that said, i can’t think of a time i’ve been deeply attached to a male character who didn’t unequivocally fit within at least two of these categories (and the sobbing hysterically part is pretty much non-negotiable, so it’s really gotta be that one + at least one of the other two). meanwhile, i’ve been attached to many female characters who don’t fit this mold at all.
- i sort of agree with the tags and comments saying one of the other best things a male character can do is transition. but then that’s not a male character anymore. then you have a transfeminine character, and as i’ve established, women don’t need to fit this criteria to be great
- i can’t control the tags on this post. i know that. death of the author. people are going to continue tagging this with guys who aren’t even a little bit like this just because those are their special guys and that’s fine, that’s how tumblr works. but i can tell you right now it’s not about 21 pilots
