#queer-coding

[prokopetz]

Given how intense the queer-coding of villainous characters has been in certain eras of media, it kind of makes me wonder whether the "one of them is short and fat and inarticulate and the other is tall and thin and uses big words incorrectly" thing was ever an MLM stereotype at any point.

[eeriesilkworm]

It's All Relative:

Mike Wheeler’s bedroom isn't just queer-coded, it's politically charged in context — thanks to this print.

Alternative title: Triangles, triangles and more fucking triangles.

The more you look, the clearer it becomes that Mike's bedroom is an absolute masterclass in queer-coded set design.

I probably don’t need to address the famous "one way" sign pointing to the closet — that symbolism should be obvious. However, I do want to focus on the print which has been placed (quite intentionally) beneath it:

Relativity (1953) by M. C. Escher

Relativity is one of Escher's most recognizable works. It's a lithograph (originally a woodcut) that depicts a labyrinth of staircases inside a world where the normal laws of gravity do not apply. In fact, it appears to have three centres of gravity occupying the same space.

It plays with dimensions, which is fitting for a show like Stranger Things which is about alternate dimensions. The three gravitational forces could even be referencing the three known dimensions within Stranger Things: The Rightside Up, The Upside Down, and the mysterious Dimension X.

But beyond that, this image also speaks to Mike's character and psyche. Otherwise, it wouldn't be placed inside his bedroom which represents his personality, privacy, and inner world.

The Meaning of Relativity

Relativity is obviously the state of being relative.

To be relative means that something gains its meaning or significance only when compared to, or understood in relation to, something else.

When you focus on a single point of gravity in Escher's print, the scene appears normal. But when you assess the image as a whole, you notice that something is off. The three centres of gravity are made interesting when we notice them in relation to each other. That's why it's called Relativity.

Basically, we're being told that if we want to better understand Mike Wheeler, we need to look at him relatively.

We need to pay attention to the context and look at the bigger picture.

Well, you don’t have to tell me twice. Let's zoom back out.

In the bigger picture, the blocking has Mike stood between his bed and the closet. Framed above him is the "one way" sign, and the print of Relativity.

This is our point of interest: the spot our eyes are naturally drawn to.

All Signs Point to The Closet

As it turns out, the "one way" sign is highly relevant to this analysis.

That's because the perceived significance of the "one way" sign is relative.

On its own, a "one way" sign in Mike’s bedroom is just a traffic sign and nothing more. In relation to the closet, however, it transforms into a visual cue for the state of being "in the closet."

The symbolism of the "one way" sign depends entirely on its relationship to the closet, and Relativity (1953) underscores that fact with humour and cheeky precision.

It's a slapstick fish-to-the-face for anyone still denying the possibility of Mike being queer. It's as if the set designers are saying, "Look at the sign in relation to the closet. And just to make sure you see it, here's Escher's Relativity sitting right between them to give you instruction."

It's not even hidden in plain sight — it's being pointed to.

And here's the kicker: the sign, the print, and the closet aren't just thematically connected — they are spatially triangulated.

Their relativity is both metaphorical and literal!

It's also queer imagery: Special thanks to costume designer Amy Parris for confirming that the creatives behind Stranger Things are well aware of the triangle's significance in LGBTQ+ history and symbolism. (More on that later).

The Penrose Triangle (Tragedy)

The triangle imagery becomes even more overt: at the centre of Relativity sits an inverted Penrose triangle, also known as the Penrose tribar or impossible triangle.

An impossible shape is a form that can be drawn, but cannot possibly exist in three-dimensional reality — unless it is an optical illusion. Psychologist Lionel Penrose and his mathematician son Roger Penrose popularised the Penrose triangle in the 1950s, describing it as "impossibility in its purest form".

It's... actually quite tragic, when you think about it.

The impossible triangle suggests that Mike feels trapped in an unsolvable dilemma — caught between two realities (the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional) — with no way to reconcile them.

That's because Mike is at the centre of a dysfunctional love triangle:

The two-dimensional reality that only exists within his mind: a romantic union with Will Byers. The three-dimensional reality that exists within real life: a romantic relationship with El Hopper.

But remember, the impossible triangle is an optical illusion — it doesn't actually exist.

Like Relativity, when you assess the bigger picture (rather than focusing on a single point) something about this love triangle is… off.

It's not just impossible; it's fake.

In Relativity, the three points of gravity hold equal importance. This mirrors the way Mike, Will, and El each contribute equally to sustaining this phony love triangle.

They're all either hiding something or being dishonest.

Their dysfunction comes to a head in the Rink-O-Mania scenes, where it is most obvious. It's the crux of the blame-game that even fans can't resist joining: Who’s the real asshole in this love triangle?

Dustin already gave the most succinct answer long ago: they're all being little assholes.

But that’s the tragedy, isn’t it?

These aren't bad people — they're timid teenagers. The impossible triangle isn’t a joke at their expense; it's a reminder that all three are stuck in a structure that can’t hold.

And Mike isn't the perpetrator; he's just at the heart of it.

That’s why Relativity hangs in his room and not El’s or Will's: the impossible puzzle is his to solve, because he's the one with the most to lose. Since the problem with this love triangle is fakery, the only real solution is honesty. Relativity foreshadows that Mike will be the one to break the illusion — to reveal the truth.

The Pink Triangle (Triumph)

Of course, the fact that the triangle in Relativity is inverted is also significant. Maybe not in Escher’s original intention, but certainly for the creators of Stranger Things in relation to Mike Wheeler.

See what I did there?

As Amy Parris has noted, the inverted triangle is queer imagery, because it is linked to the pink triangle.

The pink triangle has a horrific origin:

During the Second World War, it was used in Nazi concentration camps to mark gay men and trans women. At the time, the inversion signified "sexual inversion" — an outdated, offensive term once used to pathologise homosexuality.

Much like the word queer which was used as a slur before being reclaimed by the LGBTQ+ community, the pink triangle (or inverted triangle), was also reappropriated.

It’s now a symbol of pride, gay liberation, and equality.

This reclamation began in the 1970s, sparked by Holocaust survivor Heinz Heger's memoir The Men with the Pink Triangle. In The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Dr. Frank-N-Furter famously wears a pink triangle over his heart.

I used the word triumph in my subheading with intention, because triumph implies victory over persistent struggle and enduring resilience.

After the Holocaust, the queer community faced another devastating battle: the AIDS epidemic.

The conservative Reagan administration was infamously silent during the crisis's peak years in the 1980s — and Stranger Things is set squarely within this political backdrop. In this era, the pink triangle's significance re-emerged, taking on new prominence as a symbol of the ACT UP coalition and the fight against AIDS.

Their slogan?

SILENCE = DEATH

Does this slogan remind you of anything from the show? Because it should. Eddie Munson said something strikingly similar in season 4:

"It's forced conforming... that's what's killing the kids!"

Silence = passivity, compliance and conformity.

This wasn’t just an empowering line to capture the spirit of Stranger Things; it was a direct and intentional reference to the fight against AIDS.

And let’s be clear: Eddie Munson is heavily queer-coded. He appears to have used the hanky code, showed a clear attraction to Steve, and was persecuted by his community during a mass hysteria that mirrored the real-life Satanic Panic.

So Mike Wheeler — a teen growing up in a Reagan-voting household, a member of the Hellfire Club, and one of Eddie Munson’s chosen protégés — keeps a symbol of queer resistance and liberation hanging in his bedroom.

He also wears a custom-made shirt with a triangle over his heart.

Is that significant? Is it intentional?

Well, we have to go back to Escher's Relativity, which reminds us that it’s all relative: The inverted triangle in the print hanging in Mike’s room, and the triangle over his heart, only gain their full meaning when viewed in context: the bigger picture.

And in Stranger Things, a story about freaks and outcasts beating the odds, that bigger picture is the AIDS crisis: it's right there, providing the backdrop — the context.

Pride is a Riot

Queer liberation is not supposed to be polite or palatable: it’s about breaking down barriers, opening doors, making people uncomfortable, and demanding visibility.

One of the most prominent visual motifs included in season 4 of Stranger Things is the Creel mansion door.

A door — something which opens and reveals the truth inside (like a curtain, a gate, or a closet). Notice that doors, curtains, gates and closets all play a recurring role in Stranger Things; this show has an obsession with metaphors about opening barriers and revealling truths.

Now, the set designers haven't just suggested that Mike is in the closet, they've implied it’s a "one way" destination. He can’t leave. It’s the impossible shape. A locked door. But Robin already demonstrated how we can open a locked door and let the light (truth) in.

By smashing it with a brick — a possible reference to the Stonewall riots.

They didn't need to include this moment. The door didn't have to be locked, and Robin didn’t have to be the one throwing the brick. Heck, they could have thrown in a little fanservice and had Steve take off his jacket and punch through the glass with his fist.

Like the "one way" sign, the significance of the brick is relative — relative to its wielder:

Robin Buckley, a canon lesbian who is partially closeted and partially out.

Interestingly, when we look back at Mike Wheeler's room — and specifically his closet — we can see that the set designers placed a mirror inside.

Mirrors show our reflection; they expose truths and confront us with our reality and identity. In this case, the mirror also catches rays of light streaming from Mike’s window, just like the beams that poured in when Robin’s brick smashed through the Creel mansion door. Light is truth, illumination and exposure.

The Matter of Perspective

We can wax poetic about Escher's Relativity all day, but its core principle is simple; it's about perspective.

Is Mike Wheeler queer-coded?

Well, it's relative. Whether you read Mike as straight or queer depends on your point of view, and your way of seeing the world: Are you sympathetic to the struggles and experiences of queer people? Are you queer yourself and know that experience intimately? Do you see queerness not as an "inversion" of the norm, but as an equally valid expression?

If the answer to any of these is yes, then you probably interpret Mike as queer due to your perspective.

I don’t at all begrudge those who simply aren’t familiar with queer-coding — but I do detest those who refuse to see it, or see it and choose to deny it.

Because silence is death.

Mike’s sexuality needs to be both recognized and canonized, because overt queer representation matters. It doesn't matter if it makes Them™️ uncomfortable — queer lives matter more than stupid respectability politics.

Stranger Things has already been catering to Them™️ by watering down the narrative: keeping Mike hidden behind the curtain, and in the closet.

I don’t mind because I love a riddle, but we’re heading into the final season now. The endgame.

The curtain has to open. The door needs to be smashed. But will they do it? That likely depends on the perspective of the Stranger Things creators themselves. So, what is their perspective? What is the ethos that drives the show's storytelling?

For the answer, we can turn to David Harbour's SAG Awards speech (edited for brevity):

"This award… is a call to arms from our fellow craftsmen and women to go deeper, and through our art to battle against fear, self-centeredness, and exclusivity… and through our craft to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society by revealing intimate truths… We 1983 Midwesterners will repel bullies, we will shelter freaks and outcasts... we will get past the lies… And when we are at a loss amidst the hypocrisy and the casual violence of certain individuals and institutions we will… punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak, and the disenfranchised, and the marginalized."

And remember the context: a story set in a conservative Midwestern town in the 1980s, in the shadow of the AIDS crisis and the Satanic Panic, where one of the main characters is a canon gay teen in love with his best friend.

I'd say their perspective is pretty fucking clear. 🔺

[starcurtain]

Comparing Phaidei and Other Hoyo MLM Ships (Part 2)

<- Part 1 is back that way.

In the first part of this, I laid out some of the ways Phaidei fits within Hoyo's normal pattern for queer-coded MLM ships: They're equals but opposites, perfectly matched; they've ostensibly got a "rivalry" as a cover for their laser focus on each other; their models are deliberately placed closer together in cutscenes than other characters' are, and they're intentionally paralleled to a heterosexual married couple. All of these are traits that other Hoyo MLM pairs also show, a sort of foundational standard for Hoyo's queer-coded MLM ships.

But then Phaidei just took a huge side-step around all of them, and started doing things that Hoyo hasn't done in any of their other recent games. (Tiny aside here: HI3 does wildly different things with its characters; I think that being first published when Hoyo was a more obscure company allowed them to get away with things--like the Bronya/Seele kiss and Welt and Co.'s cross-dressing, for example--that "modern" Hoyo games cannot get away with due to greater levels of public scrutiny.)

I said it in the other post, but it bears repeating:

You really aren't imagining things--Phaidei is actually different.

So I wanted to take a closer look at what was making it feel so unique, by comparing its differences to other popular Hoyo MLM ships.

Here we go:

1. The Feeling's Mutual

There was no heterosexual explanation for this framing.

In Part 1 of this post, I noted that Hoyo has a typical personality pattern they follow when queer-coding their male characters, particularly in using "difficult" personalities to create an artificial sense of distance between the characters. If one character is angry all the time, or tsundere, or using sarcasm to cover for their fear of getting close to others, Hoyo can mobilize that personality gap as a shield to give anti-LGBT+ players plausible deniability. Hell, there are people still out there genuinely convinced that Alhaitham and Kaveh have a toxic relationship. There are people out there saying Ratio despises Aventurine because he was mean to him one (1) time while undercover. That's how effective injecting a little bit of bickering into a queer-coded relationship is.

Hoyoverse is very, very familiar with creating this delicate balance of teasing the ship while feeding anti-LGBT+ players and censors just enough "Look, they don't like each other; they're arguing!" contrary material to avoid setting anyone off.

Which... makes it absolutely bizarre that they made almost no effort to do this with Phainon and Mydei.

Sure, on paper we're told that Phainon and Mydei are rivals. Phainon describes it as "He's both my friend and my foe." And yes, they have their quips (Phainon's "It's exhausting talking to you sometimes" comes to mind).

But animosity--the genuine desire to one-up each other--is completely missing from Mydei and Phainon's "rivalry." They aren't Sasuke and Naruto. They aren't Izuku and Bakugou. They don't actually even want to beat each other--they want to be equals. If you defeat Mydei in the 3.0 competition, Phainon immediately folds and calls the contest off. If you let Mydei win, Mydei immediately folds and declares no contest.

Although Aglaea notes they compete because they're "impulsive youths," what she was actually missing is that Mydei only let himself be goaded into Phainon's hot bath competition because he was worried about Phainon and wanted to take Phainon's mind off the failed trial. Then, immediately after beating Phainon in the hot bath challenge, he lets Phainon win the "take more people home" challenge, to tie up their score again.

In fact, Mydei and Phainon's relationship is so devoid of the actual back-and-forth typical of other Hoyoverse MLM ships that at one point, Phainon even asks for it:

(Though he's equally quick to demand compliments from Mydei too.)

Instead, virtually every line from Phainon and Mydei through both 3.0 and 3.1 reiterates that they care deeply about each other, and are concerned for not only each other's physical well-being but also each other's mental and emotional health. They freely and consistently support each other both on the battlefield and off, confessing their struggles and relying on each other for advice. Whenever they're separated, the game intentionally hammers home how worried they are without the other around.

Over and over and over again, the devs tell you how well Mydei and Phainon know each other and how much effort they're putting in to take care of each other:

The game doesn't let us forget that they are one another's "closest person," and that the respect they have for each other is mutual. Although I wouldn't go so far as to speculate they actually recognize romantic feelings, canon makes it clear that they are aware their emotional connection goes both ways. They don't just value each other's battle prowess, intelligence, or usefulness--they value each other's feelings explicitly, every single time emotions are expressed between them in the game's text.

In fact, Mydei even scolds Phainon for approaching their goodbye with a straight face; he knows that Phainon is hurt by their parting, and he wants Phainon to be honest, as Mydei is being honest in turn:

The rainbows in the background really sold the scene, ngl.

This isn't Renheng, where resentment has taken away any glimmer of joy. This isn't Ratiorine, where even if Aventurine were in a more stable mindset, Ratio's inability to spit out his feelings might keep them from going anywhere. Even with Haikaveh, the Hoyo ship known for Alhaitham's devotion, Kaveh's own struggles and refusal to accept Alhaitham's kindness are an active plot point keeping them from progressing. Maybe you could draw a parallel between Phaidei and Cyno/Tighnari for levels of "mutual," but even then, Cynari interactions are often left off-screen or in the background, for the players to fill in the blanks. On the contrary, Phainon and Mydei's fondness for each other is constantly in our faces.

The devs wanted players to know Phainon and Mydei are invested. We're supposed to see how much they want to be near each other.

More than that, we're supposed to understand just how deeply they trust each other.

Okay, okay, yes, I know this is massive foreshadowing to the inevitable betrayal and tragedy impending (come on, Amphoreus wouldn't qualify as an ancient Greek drama without it!), but I think that a lot of people are missing the key here: By this point in the story, Mydei already knows how he's going to die. He knows someone is going to stab him in the back and finally end his immortal life. When he entrusts Phainon with this secret, he's not trusting Phainon to keep him safe. He's trusting Phainon to do the opposite.

He's telling Phainon: "I want it to be you."

If the prophecy can't be changed and fate is set in stone, then Mydei wants Phainon to be with him in his final moments, to be the one to finally set him free from the "curse" he perceives his own immortality to be. Of course it would be Hoyo who makes "I want to die by your hands" into a declaration of ultimate trust, but it is an explicit statement of trust, in a way that very few--if any--other modern Hoyoverse MLM ships get to show each other on screen.

Phew, that was a lot!

But I think this is one of the clearest and most defining differences between Phainon and Mydei and other Hoyo MLM ships--the devs took away players' ability to claim they don't get along. You might still be able to call them "just friends" or "brothers in arms," but unlike Alhaitham and Kaveh who fight, Ratiorine who scheme, or Renheng who are actual enemies, Mydei and Phainon explicitly like each other. They trust each other. They seek one another out.

It might seem like a small thing on paper, but this is actually a big thing in practice. Hoyo is pushing the boundary here, reducing the avenues for deniability. It is harder for anti-LGBT+ fans to claim that Phainon and Mydei don't have obvious in-game ship-tease than for virtually any other modern Hoyoverse MLM ship. (By the way, this is why some people have resorted to unironically repeating the "Phaidei is industry plant yaoi" thing; because they can't deny the queer-coding is actually there this time, they instead have to try to de-legitimize the ship in other ways, such as dismissing it as nothing more than bait.)

This also means Hoyo has less of an "out" if people start to really question. It would be harder to explain away Phainon and Mydei's relationship than it would be to explain away even Alhaitham and Kaveh's. Alhaitham and Kaveh have "They're always arguing" and "Their friendship was ruined by their fight" or "They're just roommates," etc. to lean back on. Phainon and Mydei... are really bad at even pretending to be rivals...

All of this to say: Hoyo made a bold and deliberate choice allowing two of their mainstream male characters to be so emotionally close and attentive to each other on screen. They went outside their own current comfort zone for this one, guys.

2. We're Conspicuously Missing a Twink

Moving on from Phaidei's emotional differences, I wanted to talk specifically about Hoyoverse's perspectives on gay men, and how easy it is for companies to slip into not only stereotypes for gay characters, but also extremely heteronormative portrayals of gay relationships. As sad as it is, it is easier to market queer-coded male characters to yaoi fans (who are often--although obviously not always--heterosexual women) if they fit into the expected pattern for heterosexual relationships: a highly masculine man to "wear the pants" in the relationship, paired with a delicate, effeminate man to obviously be the bottom.

Now, don't get me wrong: Gay relationships come in all varieties; people have different preferences, and categorical groups like "twinks" and "bears" exist so people who have those preferences can find each other. Obviously plenty of hyper-masculine (and just masculine-leaning) gay men do want more effeminate partners. Plenty of real guys consider themselves twinks and have great relationships with men ranging all the way up the most masculine dudes you've ever seen. But "masculine man with feminine man" isn't the only kind of gay relationship around, despite the fact that that's what Hoyo's yaoi shiptease might lead you to believe.

(Edit: I can't believe I have to say this, but it seems some portion the HSR fandom cannot read, so apparently I do: Stop using my post in your hunk/twink or hunk/hunk discourse; if you didn't bother to read the paragraph above this in which I word-for-word point out that real gay relationships come in all varieties, including lots of relationships between masculine men and more effeminate men, then that is on you--this post isn't about how "hunk/hunk" is more "real gay" material or "hurr durr twinks bad;" it's about how Hoyo has served up a hunk/twink ship 20 times in a row, with their constant modus operandi being yaoi genre staple tropes in which one character is essentially designated as the bottom and the other as the top specifically using masculine versus feminine coding, because that is what sells to the yaoi fan demographic they are targeting, particularly to heterosexual female yaoi fans, who are predisposed toward heteronormative relationship patterns even in the gay media they consume. The only situation in which hunk/hunk is "more progressive" than hunk/twink is for Hoyo, who clearly have hunk/twink as their comfort zone and only very, very rarely step out of that established pattern. This entire post is about Hoyo's patterns for creating their mlm ships, not about gay rights activism--read the essay in the context of Hoyo's design philosophy or just stop reading here, please.)

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming: I don't want to say that Hoyo's track record on this front is bad, because honestly it's not. Their male characters often have surprisingly complex expressions of gender identity, with interesting blends of masculine and feminine traits. But... Hoyo does have a pattern. Plenty of their queer-coded MLM ships fall into this same general (and kind of stereotypical) profile: Alhaitham is inexplicably ripped and represents calm rationality, while Kaveh is "the spitting image of his mother," has to wring out his wrists when he uses his own weapon, and represents passion and romanticism. Ayato is the head of his clan; Thoma holds housekeeping classes for Inazuma's other housewives. Xingqiu is the "refined" rich boy in ruffles; Chongyun is the down-to-earth working lad. Wriothesley is the most masculine man in Genshin Impact; Neuvillette mothers the entire race of Melusines. Over in Star Rail, Aventurine covets pink diamonds, bathes himself in sparkling perfume, and is so tiny Ratio's hands can encircle his waist. (I don't actually think Aventurine is as feminine as some other people read him, but trying to pretend that he isn't designed to evoke queer tropes is just silly.) Moze is as ripped as Alhaitham, while the game itself mocks Jiaoqiu for being a pink-haired male character. I'm going to talk more about Renheng in a sec, but Renheng is also this way, with the more "delicate"-looking Imbibitor Lunae to Yingxing/Blade's solid frame.

Mydei and Phainon don't fit this pattern at all. Both of them are as tall as Star Rail models come, and while Mydei's build has an impressive degree of bulk, Phainon is no slouch either:

Neither one of them is visually effeminate in any manner, and they're also not stereotypically effeminate in their roles in the story. Neither of them is a housekeeper or a home-maker; (again, poor Aventurine catching strays, but:) neither of them is in the business of blinding people into deals with their good-looks or careful facade of helplessness.

Theoretically we could say the devs tried to squish Mydei into a more heteronormative role by giving him traits traditionally perceived as "feminine": he cooks, he plays house with children, he puts milk in his juice and turns it pink, he's paralleled almost exclusively to his own mother... But his role in the plot is such a quintessentially masculine story (son of a self-fulfilling prophecy, father-killer, god-slaying warrior, king to his people, aura-farming champion of the Amphoreus battle cutscenes, etc.) that clearly we are not meant to perceive him as a solely effeminate figure. The whole "malewife Mydei" thing comes across as comedic in many cases because the game itself continually insists on asserting his masculinity.

Conversely, Phainon, despite being the "gentler" of the two characters, the one who is described as having a soft heart and being outgoing and kind, is even less suited to being called feminine. His "Messiah"-esque role in the story, literally being the "prodigal son" of Amphoreus, paints him as the very picture of a classical male hero. Even more so than Mydei, he is a private and closed off person who hides his heart--and his own identity--from those around him, traits more often stereotypically associated with emotionally-closed-off men than female characters.

Up to this point, Hoyoverse had a relatively stable pattern in the MLM ships they baited in their recent games. They primarily played it safe, sticking to queer-coding relationships that both visually and narratively reflect heteronormative relationships.

But Phaidei once again broke the mold.

This time, Hoyo chose to queer-code not the more delicate-looking man (although I guess there's still plenty of time for Anaxa, I shouldn't sell him shorter than he already is lol), but two overtly masculine male characters, who can't be readily projected on to a stereotypical heterosexual relationship by a heterosexual audience. This was a big departure from Hoyo's norm, and I think this actually deserves a lot more respect than people are giving it. Hoyo didn't have to pick their two muscle-bound warrior male leads and make them close and caring. They didn't have to expose themselves to the obvious question: "Why are two 'manly' characters being so soft on each other?" It is harder to pass off Phainon and Mydei's queer-coding as accidental, or suggest the fans are just reading too much into it, when nothing about them can be mistaken for a "traditional" heteronormative relationship that heterosexual yaoi fans are familiar with. For a game produced in China, where standards for depicting men and masculinity in media are so high, making the choice to bait two masculine men together (let alone this expansion's "hero," who is an expy of a beloved former character), was a very bold and risky choice on Hoyo's part.

Companies don't make bold and risky choices on accident.

Finally, I wanted to make one more point about why I appreciate Phaidei's emotionally attentive depiction--it's because there's a whole other realm they could have taken the "could end up a villain" queer-coded main character. As I mentioned in the first part of this post, queer-coding villains is a trope as old as dirt. When you queer-code a male villain particularly, you add an extra layer to the danger: Now the male villain is not just a physical threat, but a sexual one. Adding queer-coding to the male villain has often, in past media, been used to conflate homosexuality with deviance or perversion and suggests sexual violence even if nothing ever truly occurs.

Maybe the real Hoyoverse queer-coding was the red flower petals we threw along the way.

I said I was going to bring up Renheng, and here it is: Unfortunately, Blade and Dan Heng fall into this latter pattern a bit. Although he has his reasons, the game's portrayal of Blade's "pursuit," especially in the early portion of their story, casts Dan Heng into the role of the victim, a young man being hounded by a crazed stalker who refuses to let him go. Their cutscenes, including Dan Heng's nightmares, paint Blade as an overwhelming presence who invades both Dan Heng's physical space but also his mental space, making it impossible for Dan Heng to escape his clutches. This "We must pay the price together" absolutely reads, out of content anyway, as some sort of yandere death pact. Their lightcone is literally called "Nowhere to Run."

Even though Blade is not deliberately engaging in any form of sexual behavior, his obsession with Dan Heng in their early scenes can give players the impression of a cliched "depraved homosexual," and the implication that sexual violence could occur is present through their early interactions. This isn't on accident; Hoyo was playing with the yandere trope on purpose! I'm not going to lie, part of Renheng's early appeal for many players was how scary and dominating Blade came across as. The subtle sexual implications of pursuit are the point, and if you think Hoyo wasn't capitalizing on the intersection of "sexy" and "dangerous" with Renheng's early interactions, then you're probably a little too pure for this world.

As things progress, of course, we see this dynamic between Renheng dissipate, shifting his narrative from "crazed pursuer for unknown reasons" to "potentially the victim" of their past scenario, an effect which they achieved through the slow drip feed of Yingxing and Dan Feng's backstories. This, I think, speaks to not only a shift in the devs' intentions for Blade and Dan Heng's relationship (there's more to be said here about the Yingxing-Baiheng-Dan Feng mess that is the cut lore, etc.), but also to a shift in the way the devs wanted Blade to be perceived by fans, from a potentially predatory figure to a much less toxic potential love interest.

Anyway, back to Phaidei: We know that Phainon is headed for a downfall. It's been so obviously foreshadowed at this point that there's really nothing much more to say than that--however, even though he may also have a brush with villainy, like Blade, and even though we know Flame Reaver's very likely going to kill Mydei... I don't think that the devs will use Phainon's queer-coding as part of his villainous/Lord Ravager identity. I don't get any sense that the dev team has any intentions of conflating Phainon's potential homosexuality with depravity, or using it as a motive for his descent into destruction (he might be gay and potentially end up on Nanook's side, but he won't be a villain because he is gay). I definitely don't think we will see the kind of sexually-threatening physicality between Flame Reaver and Mydei that the devs did earlier with Blade and Dan Heng, even if "stabbing someone from behind" does have an inherent sort of sexual symbolism.

I appreciate that even in a story headed for the obvious "stabbed in the back by the villain form of the man I loved," the devs seem like they have moved on from falling into the pitfall (accidentally or intentionally, to sell yandere tropes) of portraying of gay men as predatory.

3. Leave Room for the Trailblazer

In part 1 of this post, I mentioned that Hoyo uses the placements of characters in scenes to indicate closeness, and I already pointed out that Mydei and Phainon stand really... really... close together, much closer than they stand to other characters.

However, it's not just that their models are literally positioned closer together in cutscenes--it's that their body language explicitly closes other characters out. Plenty of Hoyoverse MLM ships are ship-baited by moving the models of the male characters closer together, but very, very few of them are positioned to so consistently exclude even the player.

For comparison, consider the well-known scene where Alhaitham brings the Traveler and Paimon to his and Kaveh's house, which was framed with both domesticity and intimacy:

Although Alhaitham and Kaveh are also prone to the "stand shoulder-to-shoulder" thing that Hoyo does when they want to imply closeness between characters, the framing of their scenes nevertheless leave enough space for the Traveler and Paimon to be active participants in the conversation, enough space between Alhaitham and Kaveh for Traveler to not look blocked out.

For example, despite standing next to each other in that moment above, the camera deliberately cuts Alhaitham out, so that only Kaveh and the Traveler duo occupy the shot. Later on, Alhaitham bridges the divide between the Traveler and Kaveh, turning away from Kaveh toward the Traveler--once again, the conversation and scene are open to the Traveler, and thus, to the player.

Here's a live demonstration of my earlier point: Alhaitham and Kaveh stand closer together than the player and Candace, indicating their closer connection.

Other scenes play out similarly--although Alhaitham and Kaveh are close, their body language doesn't actively exclude other characters or the player from feeling like part of their conversations.

Over in Star Rail, we see the same general situation. We know that Aventurine rarely stands close to other characters, with Ratio being the one relatively consistent exception, but even so, the camera will usually give them some breathing room, making it feel like there's enough space for the player on the other side of the screen to be part of the moment:

Meanwhile Blade excludes both Dan Heng and the player, putting us on equal footing to Dan Heng and giving the impression that the player and Dan Heng are standing against Blade together. There is still room for "us" in this scene.

However, once again, Phaidei proves the exception. Mydei and Phainon don't just stand close--they don't even want to share air with anyone but each other.

A very normal way to have a group conversation. Definitely.

Consistently when standing side-by-side, they turn inward to face each other, rather than facing other characters in the conversation, literally forming a closed unit despite the fact that they're supposed to be in a group scene:

The thirdest third wheel to ever third wheel.

If it wasn't enough for the devs to just imply that the Trailblazer isn't able to break through Mydei and Phainon's circle, they decided to call it out in the text itself, echoing the player's own thoughts: "What about me?"

As I mentioned in the first part of the post, the devs also consistently use specific camera angles to capture both Mydei and Phainon in the frame together, at the same time, further emphasizing the closed nature of their conversations.

You will never see so many over-the-shoulder shots again in your life. You are the outsider looking in on their private moments!

Perhaps most telling about the devs' intention to create an intimate air for Phainon and Mydei's conversations is that literally everyone else disappears when they speak to each other. For example, Phainon and Mydei's first goodbye takes place in the Garden of Life, which is actually a pretty bustling plaza with numerous NPCs. But every single NPC was deliberately removed by the dev team for Mydei and Phainon's scene there, to allow them a private moment:

Even in their final farewell, where Mydei was seen off by a literal bustling crowd of NPCs, not a single person is visible during their goodbyes--until the exact moment Mydei reminds Phainon that the whole rest of the world is waiting for him. The whole rest of the world didn't even exist for Phainon until Mydei forced him to remember.

It's not just the Trailblazer (and us, the player) who is third wheeling Mydei and Phainon's relationship. They literally exist in a world of their own when they speak to each other. No other modern Hoyoverse ship is on this level of excluding even the player--excluding even the damn NPCs!--to make a point about their closeness.

I thought I was going crazy the first time I was watching these scenes, thinking "It can't be that the devs actually went that far in framing Mydei and Phainon as a pair." But they did. They actually did.

The envelope has been pushed off a mountain, my guys.

But that still wasn't enough for the devs. They needed to go further.

4. Deploy Shoujo Manga Trope #57

I know I just said that Phainon and Mydei's relationship doesn't map well to a typical heteronormative male/female relationship, but that doesn't mean the devs gave up on any and all attempts to apply mainstream romantic cliches to Phaidei. On the contrary, the dev team's thought process seems to have been "Hey, we're doubling-down on our queer-coding for Phainon and Mydei. How can we make it really, really, really obvious they're a ship?" And then they literally spun a roulette wheel of romantic tropes and threw every single one of them at patch 3.1 at the same time.

We have the "romantic lead beautifully framed by red rose petals blood glitter":

The "You used my love to manipulate me" subplot:

Phainon begs for compliments, and Mydei's reaction is to look away demurely and call him a scoundrel?? Am I seeing things?!

This is where he'd be blushing like a tomato if he was a female character.

The "please look after my dear husband when I'm gone" tragedy trope:

THE RING???

"LET'S MEET AGAIN IN THE NEXT LIFE"?!!

What do I even say about all... this...? Do I even need to say anything at all? Has any MLM ship in a recent Hoyoverse game gotten remotely as many romance flags? Alhaitham, where is Kaveh's ring?!

What I actually want to say isn't a specific breakdown of any of these moments, but what they mean in totality. Remember that Hoyo made every one of these choices with deliberate intent. They knew what the picture would add up to. These are explicitly romantic tropes that are extremely difficult to interpret in other lights.

You are supposed to read "If there's a chance in the next life" as "I want to be reincarnated with you; I want to meet you again; I want to be with you in a softer world."

You're supposed to think of the ring as a wedding ring. For one, Gorgo would only have gotten it through her marriage to Eurypon, but even more so--there was no reason this item needed to be a ring in the first place except to evoke images of wedding rings. We already knew from 3.0 that Castrum Kremnos used crests and seals for identification. Why make it a ring and not just the crest of Castrum Kremnos? Furthermore, why involve Phainon at all? The audience would never have known any different if Chartonus just said "Found this I did; have it you should, Mydei." It's a ring and it's a ring deliberately from Phainon because the devs want you to see it as a wedding ring.

What an incredibly bold move on Hoyo's part, and I don't even really mean just in the context of being a Chinese company, but even in the context of being a global company. Hoyo lives and dies by the revenue of their character banners, and choosing to explicitly and (nearly) exclusively apply romantic tropes to their male lead and deuteragonist in a brand-new patch cycle was a legitimately daring choice. Their deliberate application of romantic staples to an MLM ship, in a way that is difficult even for anti-LGBT+ fans to write off, was a very, very calculated decision. I genuinely hope it pays off for them. I hope Mydei and Phainon's banners both sell well, so the devs' receive a clear message in turn that fans appreciated their boldness and their commitment to creating queer content for these two characters.

I'm just going to end on one final note, about a scene that you may have noticed I conveniently skipped. Yes, the most conspicuous scene of them all:

5. A+ Censor Dodging

By some miracle of obliviousness, some Olympic-level mental gymnastics, or by sheer force of will, I think some people might still have made it to this point thinking that Phaidei was not being deliberately baited by the devs. You could maybe, somehow, convince yourself that the blood glitter rose petals and the shoulder-to-shoulder emotional conversations were just coincidences, that the turn-away-and-pout "I'm not worried about him!" was just dudes being tough guys, that the Trailblazer was a third wheel because Phainon and Mydei are just "really good friends."

But then devs said "No, we need to be unmistakable. We need to make ourselves 1000% clear. We are baiting the yaoi fangirls, guys; please stop ignoring our hard work."

If going further than they've ever gone with Mydei and Phainon's body language wasn't enough, if Phainon's being willing to kill a god to save his man wasn't enough, if implying a wedding ring wasn't enough, what else could the devs possibly do to remove all plausible deniability and make it undeniably clear that they are baiting Mydei and Phainon as queer characters (even if it is only for the benefit of yaoi fangirls)?

They can do something they've never done in their recent games before: Imply actual sex between male characters.

(Side note, Hoyo lesbians have had this implied sexual content pass from the beginning. You will always be famous, Beiguang. It's only the male characters that can't even have implied sex. 😂)

Obviously Phainon and Mydei are not having sex in the game. The dialogue even goes out of its way afterward to remind us that they remained fully clothed in that bath, thank you. But the refusal to show what was actually happening--censorship used as a tool to imply--the cut to the black screen, the narration of one animal pursuing another, the discretionary water droplets between the moaning... (And another little edit because @mynabirb made such a good point in the tags: The fact that they chose to "censor" this with a butterfly, the literal symbol of romance in Amphoreus, is almost too much. The devs really did say "Time to silence all doubts.")

From the player's perspective--and examining this as a choice on the dev team's part--there is no way to read this scene other than "sexually suggestive." You're supposed to think "This sounds incredibly sus." Because it is sus. Because the devs added this scene knowing that it would intentionally make people think about the idea of Phainon and Mydei having sex.

Sure, this scene is really funny in context. You're supposed to come out of it laughing, going "Wow, they're idiots." But you will also, whether you like it or not, come out of this thinking "Damn, Hoyo really went all in on the yaoi bait, didn't they?"

You can't "Devs didn't mean it" out of this one.

Which is brave as hell on Hoyo's part, to be honest! Even if this is nothing but queer-baiting, they saw that sick yaoi fan money and decided to go all in on it.

Say it with me: A dev team from a country with notoriously strict rules against depictions of homosexuality in media, from a company with a huge global fanbase including many conservative and religious countries, and with a majority male target audience, went out of their way to undeniably include sexually suggestive gay content in their game.

Whatever their motivation--be it simply money or from a genuine desire to tell gay stories--this wasn't a casual decision. This took commitment. This decision almost certainly went all the way to the top brass of the team for clearance. Someone probably had to fight to get this added.

But they did it, and not with Kaveh and Alhaitham (the previously undisputed kings of current Hoyoverse queer-coding) but with two brand-new (to Star Rail at least) characters who have extremely important roles in the game's on-going narrative--major characters who can't be overlooked.

Phaidei is literally built different.

But I'm still left with one lingering question:

Is Hoyo queer-coding or just queer-baiting?

Even though I played 3.1 in a sort of stupefied haze because I actually couldn't believe what I was seeing in Phainon and Mydei's scenes, I also ended it with a pretty bittersweet feeling.

How amazing that Hoyo pushed the envelope so far with Phaidei... But at what cost?

Did Mydei really have to leave Okhema never to return? Or is he being banished from the plot because his relationship with Phainon was too intense?

Isn't this just the "bury your gays" trope, in essence?

Lore-wise, there isn't any reason Mydei actually has to leave Okhema forever. Sure, he presumably is going to fight the Black Tide where it manifests across Amphoreus, but what about that requires him to "never return"? Demigods aren't geographically bound to the locations their Titans blessed, or Aglaea and Anaxa wouldn't be able to leave the Grove. There shouldn't be any reason Mydei can't visit Okhema when he wants.

The more you think about it, the worse it looks that the dev team implied Phaidei harder than they've ever implied an MLM ship before, only to immediately turn around and go "And then Mydei left forever." As if the only way it's okay to make characters that gay is if you then get rid of at least one of them. (Speaking humorously, at the rate Phainon and Mydei were going, if the devs didn't get rid of Mydei, he and Phainon probably would have been making out on-screen by 3.2, but you know what I mean.)

Sure Phaidei can be the MLM Star Rail ship with the most support in canon--but only at the cost of never being seen together again, apparently.

I'm not sure I like this trade off.

However, I am telling myself to remain cautiously optimistic. We know that Mydei's role in the story is not done, and that he and Phainon are destined for a reunion, even if it won't be a happy one. We've been told that Amphoreus's story will be "heart-warming." I choose to believe that the devs will try to scrabble some sort of positive ending out of all this. At the very least, perhaps we'll end with a "in another life montage," and get to see Phainon and Mydei finally meeting in that library.

So is Hoyo queer-coding from a genuine desire to include gay characters or just baiting hard to sell Mydei to fangirls?

I'd say let's wait and see. Amphoreus has barely started cooking.

In the meantime, I think it is worth examining (and appreciating) Hoyo's willingness to mix up their own patterns, break their own trends, and to try something truly new and different with Phaidei. Even if this is all the content we ever get, Hoyoverse did things they haven't done before in any of their recent games, and showed that they're willing to push the limits for queer content in order to tell the stories they really want to tell.

I am a served fan, Hoyo. Well played, well played.

[paladinsquest]

STurn Analysis Part 02

Part two of my old analysis which I did in 2025 before S5 came out and never managed to finish.

Contents: Don't ask me to explain - Substitute - The rebel kind

Songs missing: After the earthquake - The better side - What do you want me to do? - Block Rockin' Beats - Just what I needed (AKA one of my favourite songs ever, thanks Finn Wolfhard for having impeccable taste in music and introducing me to The Cars)

Don't Ask Me to Explain - Montreal

Fun fact: Finn mentioned this album and song on Track Star, a youtube series, where you have to guess the song titles! Cherry peel is an overall solid album and has some excellent moments - but not to forget, it's also very queer. Needless to say, straight people can also enjoy songs about queer experiences. But especially when it comes to indie pop, I feel like you have to connect to the lyrics to really enjoy a song - at least enjoy it enough to mention it in public. I'm not saying that Finn has to be queer to enjoy the song - though I would not rule out the possibility tbh - but playing a queer character, especially one struggling with their identity and sexuality would also give you that kind of deeper connection this specific type of music. But let's get to the song - Overall, the narrator appears to be in love with someone who is "hiding who they are". There's an overall element of restlessness, and forlornness, a frustration of being trapped in a situation where neither party is brave enough to make the first step but is dependent on the other:

Especially this first line is very Mike to me with its 'naivité'. In S1 and S2, Mike doesn't want to turn into a "normal" grown-up which includes a heteronormative relationship. This includes not only the outward affection towards Will,

but also his identity as a nerd - being a nerd means he's an outcast anyway. He can turn into a hero in a dnd campaing, and put on costumes.

Season 3 marks Mike slowly overcoming this naitveté, as he grows older (remember, puberty = MF). Thus, realizing who he "has to be", Mike steps right into the conformity role-play with El.

Let's continue with the lyrics:

The song explicitly states that both parties are in the closet, and that this really is a queer love song. And the final revealing "Besides, I don't want to be the one who's coming out first/ I'd really like to but I'm just too shy" -

comes just before the punch in the gut: "It's so easy to laugh to myself/ And pretend that I could love you but I can't".

Sound familiar?

Substitute - The Who

This song is about a couple that is together based on false presumptions. It's a recurring theme that the narrator states that their partner likes them based on something that is untrue:

= El and Mike are both in a relationship with a made-up version of the other: El with a perfect boyfriend who loves her for who she is, and Mike with a superhero, who saves the world and changed his life. Just like the narrator of the song realizes, he's a substitute for someone else. This again is both the case for El and Mike: El is the substitute for Will, or really any boy - "she's the only girl that will have him" - and for El Mike is the substitute for someone else, who truly puts her first, and loves her for who she is.

And as soon as Mike is not in her life, these people take up more space in her life (Max, Hopper, and Joyce).

Fun fact: there's also the "(Substitute) My coke for gin" line for the new coke truthers (theory by @ghostgirlinsatin ).

The Rebel Kind - Modernettes

The Modernettes are a pretty niche Power Punk Punk Rock band that formed in 1979, and based in Vancouver - which explains Finn's connection to the band. Niche because it's rather difficult to find much about them online, and only little more than a hundred ratings on rateyourmusic despite their - imho - great sound. In The Rebel Kind, the narrator sings about a difficult life filled with sparse pay and spending the evenings drinking in bars while they yearn to be free and true to themselves. There's also the distinct gender/ sexuality/ identity layer:

The narrator considers himself to be part of a group of people, who are some kind of outsiders. Being part of that group comes with difficulties, but he wouldn't have it any other way. However, he is not free yet, for some reason he cannot join his kind, and instead has to prove himself as a man first. Personally, this song is very brokeback mountain: cowboy vibes and the depression that comes with the forced heteronormative life style, a person yearning to be free, trapped in the bounds of what society deems normal.

In other words, this fits the Mike Wheeler closeted gay agenda. Bronski Beat's Smalltown boy. Need I say more? Baltimore's Tarzan Boy from in the Rink-O-mania scene - Jimmy McShane was gay - also shares the motif of a young gay boy moving to a bigger city where he can live true to himself. Mike can't be himself in Hawkins, he can't be with Will, and El may be the only chance for him to be with someone he loves - even if not that way - and who actually likes him instead of seeing right through him.

I could not find out too much about The Modernettes, so it remains unclear whether the song was actually written about gender/ sexuality or is rather based on the daily life of a struggling artist, and the dream to make it as a band. Either way, the artist's original idea is rarely the only correct to interpret media.

Thanks for reading! <3

[chirpsythismorning]

S3 is underrated bc it comes off so meaningless the entire time, when in reality it’s the opposite. The jokes in particular were top notch and it’s because most of them went over everyone’s heads. Like, do people even know that they hinted at Robin being lesbian right at the start of s3???

[girl4music]

"So if the Willow/Tara relationship is so fondly recalled a generation after Buffy ended, why is the same not true for Xena and Gabrielle's relationship? There are several points of difference between the two series that make plain precisely why Xena was never able to be as explicit with its queer content as Buffy. Most obviously Xena began a year and a half earlier and only briefly were the two shows thriving conterminously. Xena was already half way through its penultimate 5th season when Tara was first introduced on Buffy and by the time the Willow/Tara relationship was in full bloom, Xena was heading towards its final episode. Even more importantly, Xena was a syndicated series with its producer Rob Tapert of Renaissance Pictures hawking the product to local and national networks whilst remaining reliant upon advertisers and a handful of key sponsers.

When considering the queerness of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship then, what ought to be emphasised is intentionality. As a syndicated series in the mid-to-late 1990's Xena was in no position to include openly queer characters on its show. What made the series groundbreaking and positive for the LGBTQIA+ community was that when Xena's showrunners, staff writers and stars discovered early in Season 1 that they had a legion of queer fans, rather than being repulsed they actively embraced their unexpected fanbase. Skirting the expectations of networks and advertisers in much the same manner that Buffy a few years later would use magic as an allegory for lesbianism. It's also worth emphasising, as one further point of departure between the two shows, that the Willow/Tara relationship was carefully planned out in advance by Joss Whedon whereas when Xena first aired in September 1995 nothing of the sort was even remotely contemplated. A taste of the conservatism showrunner Rob Tapert and his writers were forced to deal with maybe gleaned from the fact firstly that Tapert was strongly advised when pitching the series simply to make Xena male, and secondly that when the first episode was released censors and local advertisers voiced concerns over the opening credits sequence since it featured Xena getting intimate with the shirtless warlord Draco and it was feared that his long braided hair might lead audiences to conclude that Xena was in bed with a woman. Yet despite the fact that Xena's early episodes were never intended to be anything but straight, they inadvertently came off as incredibly queer. Right from the outset Gabrielle is heavily coded as a baby gay. Feeling utterly trapped by her dull peasant existence, Gabrielle yearns for excitement and adventure and longs to see the world. Yet the way she expresses this to Xena entirely gives off the vibe of 'only gay in the village' staring down the barrel of a heteronormative life she doesn't want. In scene after scene across the show's first few episodes the Xena/Gabrielle dynamic enjoys a decidedly romantic undertone even as their writers felt compelled to push boyfriends of the week upon both characters.

All of this came to a head in episode eight in an inadvertently deeply romantic scene as Gabrielle tearfully farewells Xena right before she departs on what appears to be a suicide mission. Actors Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor have always claimed that it was around this point in the show's run that they first became aware of their lesbian fanbase as they rapidly found themselves inundated with fan mail from queer women of all ages at the same time as an abundance of Xena/Gabrielle femslash began appearing online in the early days of the internet. To their lasting credit both stars, alongside producer Rob Tapert, enthusiastically jumped at the chance to please their new and unexpected demographic. As we shall see in the final section, they sometimes miss the mark, but on the whole they proved remarkably successful in respecting their queer fanbase whilst maintaining plausible deniability with the censors, networks and advertisers whom they needed to appease in order to sell the series. What resulted was a noticeable shift in the tone of the Xena/Gabrielle relationship across the back half of Season 1. Despite intermittently continuing to thrust boyfriends of the week upon both characters the show's inner-core of staff writers took note of the warmth, affection and intimacy that had originally won over their queer viewership and began integrating these types of scenes into their stories with increasing frequency. Just as importantly the intimacy Xena and Gabrielle began displaying towards one another did not exist in a vacuum as little droplets for the benefit of queer viewers but was instead used as a genuine form of character building to reinforce the show's central message that neither protagonist could contemplate life without the other. When, for example, Xena is struck by a poisoned dart and Gabrielle thinks she's dead, she kisses her a fond farewell, has a furious grief-stricken breakdown over her death and then risks her own life to prevent Xena's body from being torn limb from limb, and, in even more iconic fashion, when the tables are turned in the season finale and a wounded Gabrielle seemingly dies in Xena's arms we get an incredibly powerful acting moment from Lucy Lawless as Xena's stoic warrior facade entirely crumbles upon the realisation that she might have lost Gabrielle.

Thereafter, Xena's writers became evermore emboldened in making the Xena/Gabrielle relationship the centrepiece of the story. Growing the implied love and affection between their heroines to the point that by mid-season 2 in the episode 'The Quest', Xena and Gabrielle at last share their first on screen kiss. This episode, it should be noted, aired in February 1997, almost exactly four years to the day before Willow and Tara's first kiss on Buffy, and yes, the kiss took place with Xena inhabiting the body of Autolycus the thief, played by Bruce Campbell, but we nonetheless get to see Xena and Gabrielle in the spirit world leaning in to lock lips immediately preceding a hard cut to Gabrielle and Autolycus, leaving the viewer in absolutely no doubt as to what was actually going on. In essence the Xena/Gabrielle relationship was no longer subtext. Xena had unequivocally kissed Gabrielle romantically, albeit to appease networks and financial backers in the body of a man, and as the series progressed other similar excuses were concocted to enable the pair to express their physical intimacy whilst maintaining the necessary plausible deniability. 'The Quest' proved a line in the sand moment for Xena and Gabrielle's relationship. Only two episodes later in the light-hearted 'A Day In The Life' their behaviour makes plain that they're now unquestionably dating and are very much in the honeymoon phase. They can't keep their hands off each other, they bicker like an old married couple, they enjoy decidedly un-platonic baths together and they even repeatedly bemoan the fact that men keep crushing on Xena. From here-on-in the series makes no bones about the fact, but one giant rift and a few ill-conceived boyfriends of the week aside, Xena and Gabrielle are in a canonical romantic relationship throughout the rest of the show's run. Indeed within the limits of the conservative censorship guidelines they were forced to work with, Xena's writers went out of their way to highlight the physical and emotional intimacy of their leads' relationships with each other, and with other women, in a manner that really cannot be read as wholly platonic unless you're the kind of person who has a 'see-no-homo' mentality. This was done, it should be emphasised, not to queer-bait, nor to keep the heterosexual male viewer engaged, but rather to queer-code for the benefit of the show's substantial lesbian audience who were the driving force behind the packed Xena cons that became enormously popular during and in the years immediately following the show's run. It's abundantly clear moreover that cast and crew alike were entirely onboard with what was going on between its leads."

This is a very well-worded, clear and concise analysis on the intentional queer-coding in the TV shows ‘Xena: Warrior Princess' and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. If you get chance to watch the entire video, it's well worth it.

It's very true that Willow and Tara's relationship is much more acknowledged and praised for being 'explicitly canon' WLW/queer representation than Xena and Gabrielle's relationship is but - as the YouTuber said - that's because most people don't take in the historical context behind how and why Xena and Gabrielle couldn't be explicitly canon and if not for what the Xena creator's did with the Xena/Gabrielle relationship, it's likely Willow and Tara never could have been either since Xena preceded it and faced a lot more challenges of which gave it the victory necessary for Buffy to follow and continue to break down the barriers of censorship.

Xena and Gabrielle never ever get on those "the most groundbreaking LGBTQIA+ ships or couples in TV art/entertainment of all-time" lists simply because it wasn’t confirmed as a canon one in the show itself - which is incredibly sad and frustrating for me - but regardless - it is true that they still broke the most ground in getting WLW representation (or any queer representation) to even be allowed to be seen in a major TV show format.

I say it all the time: Xena and Gabrielle were really the greenlight and blueprint to every bit of positive queer representation we have today and I just want people to be aware that their queer ships probably would not exist if not for them and the insanely brave and fearless creators/cast/crew that did many things first before any others did and they should at least be honoured for that if not for anything else because we had virtually fucking nothing at all until they came along and changed the TV landscape forevermore until explicitly canon queer content could be permissible in TV media.

I don't like it when queer people ignore Xena and Gabrielle's legacy in the LGBTQIA+ community because if it wasn't for them and the amazing people behind creating them,... where would we even be now? We would not be as far as we are. I can guarantee you that. We wouldn’t be in a position where showrunners and networks can queer-bait the hell out of their straight (but still intentionally queer-coded for the purpose of exploitation) characters. We most certainly would not be in the position to see genuine and sincere positive WLW/queer representation. There would be no Willow and Tara. There would be no Waverly and Nicole. There would be no EXPLICITLY CANON WLW/queer couples.

You guys do not know how good you've got it. I never had any of this when I was a queer child. All I had was Xena and Gabrielle. That's it! It’s all that I held on to. And to this day I still hold on to Xena and Gabrielle with an iron grip because I am still convinced that they are the best WLW/queer representation in all of TV history simply because they didn’t have to be but were anyway because the creators/cast/crew felt it was much more valuable as a WLW love story than completely platonic and when you watch the show for yourself, you do see that this is the truth. It is a lot more valuable that way.

Everything works much better. The storytelling, the arcs, the characterization, the tonal quality. All of it. The dialogue is snappier, funnier, more campy, more vibrant with the queer narratives involved. It feels right. But as soon as you switch it over to a straight narrative or a more heteronormative outlook, that quickly vanishes. Some of the worst episodes of the show are the ones where they try to force-feed you straight relationships - knowing that there’s already an extremely strong and substantial one established between the two leads and you ask yourself - other than blatant homophobia - why they can’t be that central romance of the entire show.

But don’t worry because as far as the creators/cast/crew are concerned - they are. They don’t want those straight relationships or boyfriends of the week either. They don’t so much mind the various other WLW/queer relationships or girlfriends of the week, but even then, they’re still pretty adamant that it’s X&G that they ship.

When you’ve got that - that sincere intention - it really doesn’t matter what’s explicitly canon and what’s not. If the creators/cast/crew are completely onboard, it really makes absolutely no difference whatsoever if they are or aren’t because as far as anyone that matters sees it - they already are and that already drives the heart of it. Then you look at ‘Supergirl’ or ‘ONCE’ or ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ and you think - if only they were that damn brave. If only they took risks. If only they met the challenges. But no, they went the other way on all of that even when they didn’t need to because censorship was a lot less severe. That’s why I have no love or respect for them. And I’m not asking for too much because Xena and Buffy did it and they’re regarded so highly in fandom. Not with everything but definitely for real and true WLW/queer representation and I think that maybe we need to acknowledge it more because what we have today is good representation but not good storytelling and the only way someone like me will pay attention is if there’s both and they’re cleverly intertwined together.

[dreamyhopes]

People who insist Sam has no queer-coding boggle my mind. He was literally kicked out of his family for being different wtf are you talking about??

[kyriolex]

Welp. It turns out Himawari isn't the only person who needs protection from haters

People are being absolutely abhorrently homophobic towards poor Mitsuki because he talks to Eida about love and apparently he says he loves Kawaki (Boruto)?

Though some are saying it's a mistranslation, even if it is, that STILL doesn't give people the excuse to be disgusting and be angry at even the POSSIBILITY that a male character in a Shonen could be Gay or anything other than Straight.

I'm utterly disgusted by the way people have been acting towards this chapter. The Homophobia AND Misogyny really jumped out. Nice to see the Fandom showing it's true colors 🙄

I don't know why anybody is surprised by Mitsuki's confession. He's spent the entire manga claiming Boruto is his sole purpose for existing and calling him the Sun to his Moon. He's said his goal is to spend the rest of his life by Boruto's side.

The anime even has Mitsuki tell his team not to assume someone's straight. (I don't remember the arc, just the line "He could also love a boy, you know.") The only way this boy could get more queer-coded would be if he started wearing a rainbow flag pin.

Homophobes are just mad that they got their plausible deniability taken away. Just because someone doesn't like the BoruMitsu ship doesn't mean they have to be hateful.