Thanks for participating in our first ever @thunder-pride event, all of us who had a hand in planning it were so excited for this and it was everything we dreamt it would be.
People sharing headcanons, writing fics, making art, digging up old content to pass around again and just having fun. It also brought the Thunderbirds and Gerry Anderson queer community into the spotlight, there are so many more of us in this fandom than I ever thought and I hope that even though pride month is over, we'll all keep going strong!!
I'm so honoured that I had a hand in planning this, it was an amazing experience and I met people and made a bunch of new friends who love and support eachother.
@mrmustachious @knyee @silverstarfics @quasar-concept @tanushakyrano @avengedbiologist and everyone else.
Y'all are amazing people and I'm so glad that I met you.
And @tracybirds thanks so much for inviting us all to help make this event, you are truly awesome!!
Ok this is getting long so yeah thanks for tuning in, thanks for joining us for Thunderpride 2023 and I hope to see you all again next year.
It's 1st June so that means two things. One, it's my birthday!! And two, it's the first day of pride! So here's something I made for @thunder-pride to celebrate!
I hope everyone has a great pride month and enjoys everything we have in store. Keep on being you! ❤💛💚💙💜
Reblog and send each other numbers to play! Let’s generate some wonderfully queer discussions 😄
Text version of all questions is under the cut 😊
What’s a queer headcanon you enjoy?
What’s your favourite queer ship?
Do you have a favourite queer fanwork?
Which character(s) make you proud to be yourself?
Talk about a fanwork with queer themes that you’d like to make
Do you have any queer OCs?
Share a queer headcanon for a background character
Talk about your first experience with queerness in fandom
What inspires you to make queer content?
What has been your favourite experience creating queer content in fandom?
Send in a character and I’ll…
11. …tell you a queer headcanon for them
12. …tell you how they’d show off your identity
13. …tell you how they’d celebrate Pride
14. …tell you how I think they’d come out
15. …tell you how they’d support someone else coming out
16. …tell you what queer media they’d obsess over
17. …tell you what queer artist they’d listen to
18 …tell you what queer character they’d connect with
A mix of thunderpride posts! Belated Happy Birthday Tintin 💕 Late Genderfluid & Genderqueer Day, Day, advance non-binary day and advance Gordon day!!!
I love projecting onto characters so TinTin and Gordon are both Non-binary Genderfluid!!!! 💕 I think this also counts "Let's celebrate" because they're dancy2 and posing
@thunder-pride day 4 whoo!! I haven’t written a teenage Virgil in ages so hopefully this turned out okay. AO3 here.
Middle school was a hell the likes of which Virgil hoped he’d never have the misfortune of experiencing ever again. The other kids sniffed out difference like bloodhounds, but rather than celebrate it they used it as an excuse to torment him. He tried to keep his head down, but he also tried to be kind which had the side effect of drawing attention to him. So, it was understandable for him to dread high school. If middle school bullies had been bad enough, just how much worse would it be around fully-fledged teenagers?
Shockingly, it wasn’t that bad. People tended to forge their little groups and stuck to them, a little like the way prey animals banded together to find safety in numbers. Virgil was never going to be part of the popular crowd, but he found his people in the arts kids. They were all different in individual ways but they seemed to celebrate this diversity within their own circle.
So, after a little while, he began to drop his guard and let them in, and in doing so began to confront some of his own repressed feelings which had marked him as a target for so many years. It was a slow process, not aided by the climate in which he’d grown up. The world had entered a new era of peace and understanding after so many decades of conflict, but there were still pockets of adversity in some areas more than others and it made self-acceptance so much more terrifying. Even once he’d admitted those feelings to himself, he was still scared to search for a label.
His friends had no such fears. They were so proudly themselves that it left him stunned. They were like exotic birds with all their colourful displays, spreading messages of love and acceptance until the world had no choice but to hear them.
For the first few months of their friendship, he was a little in awe of them. He longed to have their confidence, to share that ability to be unapologetically true to his heart. The little ember of hope in his soul – the same one which still believed he’d eventually leave this place and be something more – knew that he’d eventually reach that level too; it would just take him a little bit longer.
Lunchtimes were usually spent in the art studios. Their teacher was a laid-back man who was difficult to age, always wore flamboyant suits and had an enamel pride pin on his lanyard. He welcomed them with open arms, assuring them that they were free to spend as much time in the studios as they wanted, adding with a little joking smile that they kept him feeling young. They pushed workbenches aside, spread out their various projects, unpacked their lunches and took up residence on the floor for the next forty minutes.
It was a relatively large space, yet it seemed as cosy as a tiny cottage. There was a skylight which projected sunny spotlights on summer days and provided a steady drumbeat of rain when the weather grew gloomy. Every surface was cluttered with colour and chaos. There were uniquely shaped antique lamps scattered about the place. One wall was covered in postcards from their teacher’s travels. It was a home away from home and Virgil loved it.
Mari burst through the door when he'd just started on his latest piece. His hands were smeared in charcoal which had added a strange taste to his sandwich, surrounded by quiet chatter and music from Felix’s latest playlist, occasionally interrupted by ads because none of them wanted to pay for Spotify Premium even though they could afford it.
“What time do you call this?” Annie teased, looking up from her portrait to reveal several streaks of acrylic paint across her nose.
Mari dropped her bag onto a table with a groan. “I know, I know, I’m late.” She peered over Virgil’s shoulder as she sank down to sit beside him. “Huh. Looking good, Vee.”
“Um, excuse you?” Felix tossed an eraser at Mari’s head. “We’re still waiting for an explanation. And it had better be great because you abandoned me with this lot for like a whole twenty minutes. Do you know how long that is, Mari? Nearly an entire half-hour.”
“Hey,” Virgil protested.
“Oh, not you, Virg.” Felix winked at him. “You’re a delight. No, I’m talking about our resident cryptid hunter over there.”
“Mothman is real,” a disembodied voice echoed from behind a door as Sam hunted for a new set of watercolours. “You’re just a hater.”
Felix twirled a finger around his temple.
Sam stuck their head around the door with a suspicious glare. “I know you’re making fun of me.”
“Me? Never.”
“He was,” Annie confirmed.
Felix tossed up his hands in mock offence. “Traitor. Virgil, you’re my new bestie.”
“What about me?” Mari shot him a wounded look and leant a little heavier against Virgil’s shoulder. She broke a piece off her chocolate and offered it to him. “Actually, no forget it. I’ve decided I like Virgil better than you. He lets me use him a backrest.”
“You didn’t actually give me a choice,” Virgil began to point out, then cut himself off with a fond sigh as Mari patted his head and slid another square of chocolate into his hand. He returned to his sketches as Mari finished her lunch. He was vaguely aware of their conversation, only really tuning back in when fingers slid into his hair and started braiding the longer strands. He twisted to glimpse Mari’s smile, brighter than the sun as she arched a brow and waited for protests which never came.
“Oh, cute pin.” Sam reached for Mari’s bag. “Where did you get it?”
“Etsy.” Mari moved onto a new braid. “Want me to send you a link?”
“Please.” Sam held up the pin for Virgil to see. “Look at this little guy. Pride frog! I love it.”
Virgil tried to place the colours and came up empty-handed. “Sorry, this is going to sound really dumb, but… what flag is that?”
“Pansexual.” Mari paused, glimpsing the flash of confusion which he tried desperately to hide before anyone could call him out on it. “It’s when you like people regardless of their gender, so you mostly fall in love with their personality.”
“Wait, there’s a word for that?” Virgil dropped his stub of charcoal and sat up so quickly that he nearly knocked his head against Mari’s. “I thought I was… I don’t know. But there’s an actual community?”
Mari looped an arm around his shoulders and planted a kiss on his temple. “Virg, honey, I am going to text you a link to a really great video which can explain all of this way better than I can.”
Felix rolled over to face him. “So, do you think this is something that might describe you?”
“Um.” Virgil ducked his head. A faint knot of relief was unravelling in his chest. “Maybe?”
It wasn’t until later that he finally got around to watching the video Mari had sent him. He curled up in a corner of the couch and plugged in his earphones. The house was relatively quiet for once with Gordon staying over at a friend’s place and Alan already asleep. He hugged a cushion to his chest and balanced his phone against his knees.
Oh.
It fit. It fit him perfectly and he wasn’t sure what to do with the warmth in his chest. He wasn’t alone. There was an entire community of people like him.
Movement flickered in his peripheral vision. He yanked an earbud out, heart pounding as though someone had walked in on him committing a crime.
“God, Johnny,” he muttered shakily. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Don’t call me Johnny,” came the predictable reply. Then, hesitantly, “Are you okay?”
“Huh?”
John shifted uncomfortably, unable to make eye contact as he pointed out, “You look upset.”
“Do I?” Virgil wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and registered that his face was wet. “Oh, right. No, I’m okay. It’s happy tears, I promise. I just… I figured something out, that’s all.”
“Good for you.” John hung around for a moment longer, voice soft as he added, “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks,” Virgil called after him. He stole a glance down at the new pan pride pin Mari had gifted him and curled his fingers around it with a smile. “I’m proud of me too.”
I was kinda nervous about posting this since it was meant for Autism Acceptance Month. But I've kind of forgotten to post it.
But I decided to post it now because this month is about love and acceptance.
No matter who or what you choose to be, always remember it's what on the inside that counts. Don't just only be yourself. Try to be the best version of yourself you can be.
You are valid😊❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷💖🖤🤎🩶🤍🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🌟
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Line art: Me💕
Colors + shading: @dragonoffantasyandreality 💕
Background: Alan30141 from Discord💕
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Tagging: @alexthefly, @skymaiden32, @louthestarspeaker, @tracybirds, @jacksonstarkiller, @the-original-sineater, @janetm74, @thunder-pride, @godsliltippy, @avengedbiologist, @squiddokiddo, @n-chu4ever, @misstb2, @misssquidtracy, @nourelle-tracy, @willow-salix, @chenria, @ak47stylegirl, @katblu42, @dreamycloud, @gaviiadastra, @teapotteringabout, @gumnut-logic, @thunderbirbthor, @tikatu, @mothmannerly, @yarol2075, @bassic-ally, @thundergirl007, @lenle-g, and to all of Thunderfam and the LGBTQ+ community,
Scott and Brains and number 13 - Tell you how they'd celebrate Pride?
So I answered with a fic. Perhaps answers for one character more than the other, but there is alway room for more fic :D Many thanks to @onereyofstarlight for the reassurance :D
Just a scene, really, but more than I've written for weeks.
-o-o-o-
Scott yawned, drawing in breath enough to kickstart his brain again. A hand through his hair, he stood up from his desk and slapped the holoprojector off.
He arched his back until it cracked. Damn, he’d been sitting there far too long.
His watch declared it to be four in the afternoon. Honestly, he knew it from the angle of the sun hitting the villa, but whatever.
That watch also sprouted a tiny holographic version of Virgil. The recording of his younger brother was listing things on his fingers on what not to forget for their celebration in Auckland.
Scott rolled his eyes. Virgil was such a nanny nag at times.
Yes, yes, he could remember to dress correctly. No, he wasn’t going to bring a date this year. Of course he would bring a spare pair of shoes for Gordon, it was standard.
And yes, he would drag Brains out of his…
Scott blinked. He had Brains duty? Virgil usually did that. How the hell had Scott ended up with Brains duty.
He grit his teeth.
Grandma. Only Grandma would be able to manhandle their heavy lifter into doing this.
The guilty expression on tiny Virgil’s face was mixed with sympathy.
Yeah, so much for that comment on Grandma’s oatmeal cookies. For goodness sake, they had been hardtack. He was only being honest.
So she wrangled Brains duty onto him.
Scott wasn’t sure who he should be sorrier for, himself or Brains.
He sighed and let his arm drop, leaving tiny Virgil nattering away, hanging sideways off his wrist.
Brains duty.
Scott was a military veteran, in charge of one of the world’s largest companies, and commander of an elite rescue team.
He could do this.
Yeah.
Right.
But he was also one to look a challenge in the face and beat it with a baseball bat. So he strode off to the elevator to begin the search for his victim.
Perhaps ‘victim’ was probably too strong a word. He loved Brains like a brother and would put his life on the line for their genius without thought, but the last time he had Brains duty, he ended up with lipstick stains on his favourite suit and glitter everywhere.
Everywhere! He was still finding the sparkly stuff in One. Three rescuees just this last year had complained about the glitter on their clothes. He just couldn’t get rid of it. Even Virgil had tried.
Scott secretly thought that perhaps Virgil could keep Two cleaner than One simply because of Two’s lack of velocity. One mached the glitter into her infrastructure and the sparkly shit could never be removed.
Another slow blink as he stepped onto the elevator.
Maybe he had read too many reports today. The insanity had climbed into his brain.
Brains.
He hit the number for the man’s residence and let the elevator take him there.
This was a special time of the year for their friend. Pride was something that was supported by every Tracy and not just because it was the right thing to do. They had friends and family who were involved with the movement, but he had to admit that one Doctor Hiram Hackenbacker was particularly special.
In oh so many ways.
Scott had to admit that, their father meeting Brains for the first time? Had nothing to do with Thunderbirds.
More Thunderpride than anything else.
The entrance to Hiram’s home was as simple as was to be expected. The sticker slapped on the door by a much younger Gordon declared ‘Genius onboard’. It was partly torn at one corner where someone had obviously tried to pry it off with little success.
But the painting on the wall beside the door hinted at more of Brain’s personality than anything else. Half gears and construction, half pink and purple rainbows, Virgil certainly knew how to communicate with his brush.
Scott knocked on the door.
Beyond the wood, he could hear muttering and footsteps and the general chaos he had been expecting. When the door failed to open, he knocked a little harder.
“Brains, are you ready?”
“Scott?” More muttering and fussing behind the door before it was flung open. “You’re here?”
“Ah, yes, that I am.”
“Why aren’t you dressed?” Long false eyelashes darted up and down as Brains looked him over.
“Need to wear the uniform to fly. I’ll get dressed in Parnell.” And glitter, so much glitter. Brains had it on his cheekbones, in his hair and even in his nail polish. One suit down, Scott wasn’t going to trash another any time soon. His IR uniform was able to be incinerated if necessary. “You need any help?”
His friend stepped back. “How do I look?”
Scott’s eyes widened as he looked beyond the glitter. “Wow, you’ve really done it this year.”
“You think?” Hiram, or more correctly, Lady Thunder, twirled on the spot. Heels sparkled in the light beneath layers of taffeta and silk skirts, all in shades of startling pink and purple, sharpening to lightning whites and stormy darks. Full length sleeves disappeared into white gloves to contrast the voluminous dark curls on her head. Purple lipstick, pink eyeshadow and lightning bolts clinging to her earlobes wrapped her up in a dazzling display of personal power.
Scott couldn’t help but stare, his brain caught in admiration. Lady Thunder truly was a freedom for Brains. Joking about glitter aside, this was the one time of the year that it was obvious that their friend could be who he wanted to be. It was as if his costume removed all the pressures of his upbringing, academia, and life in general. Not that the Tracys had ever put any demands on their friend beyond the needs of occupational health and safety. He could be whomever he wanted to be, wherever and whenever as far as the brothers were concerned. But this one time of the year? Lady Thunder was truly let loose. They would fly into Auckland, to their chosen venue and maintain the mystery of who Lady Thunder actually was, and watch her sing on stage, dance, and really just enjoy herself.
It was a glorious sight to see. The world loved her, and really loved the mystery as well.
Honestly, Scott found it a true privilege to be one of the few who did know Hiram for who he and she was.
Really, pretty damned amazing on all fronts.
Despite the glitter.
The blasted glitter.
“Ready to fly?”
“Yes, yes, give me one more moment.” Lady Thunder disappeared into the depths of her rooms hunting something down.
There was no stutter when Lady Thunder spoke. Never a hesitation, never a founder, and honestly that said the most of all.
Scott’s lips curled a little to one side as the Lady darted muttering from one room to another.
