Circe

Thinking about Cam and Pal and the distinction between them. The little things that are different, past even the things that Nona mentions in the book.

Like how Pal would probably seem a bit taller as he's always standing straight. How cam is more tense and more eyebrows while Pal lets his face relax.

People forget that the reason wtnv became so popular on 2013 tumblr is that it was openly and explicitly queer from day one. That just... didn't really happen in media in the early 2010s. This was peak superwholock years, where the queerbait of johnlock and destiel were legitimately considered good representation in some circles. Night Vale really broke completely away from that mold and a lot of young, queer fans flocked to it because of that.

I've seen similar things happen with The Legend of Korra, where people today will say "they're just holding hands it's not that big of a deal, why is everyone freaking out" about the finale, but when it aired back in 2014, having word of god confirmation that the protagonist of a popular kids show was in a same sex relationship was unheard of. It was a massive step forward. LOK doesn't really compare to Steven Universe and She-Ra on terms of on-screen queer rep but it aired in a different time and a different culture of LGBTQ+ acceptance.

We absolutely can and should criticize media, even if it was groundbreaking in the past. No piece of work should be exempt from evaluation. All art is ultimately telling you something, and also, no work is ever purely unproblematic. To assume there is a state one can reach of being entirely unproblematic is to assume there is a point where we, as people and activists as well pieces of art, can stop trying to be better. Wtnv, since we're talking about it, has been criticised by some (myself included) for having some ableist pieces (probably unintentional as they're in contrast to some very upfront and center anti-ableist messages, but nonetheless they're there) and for a lack of explicity and clarity in it's racial representation.

But to lump wtnv in with superwholock as a "cringe 2013 fandom" is to ignore and belittle it's incredibly political themes and open criticism of the surveillance/police state(s) and the United States government, as well as the fact that it was groundbreaking queer rep made by actual queer people.

TLDR:

WTNV, along with being really well written especially for the time (the early 2010s weren’t great for this sort of thing), was unapologetically, unabashedly gay.

For anyone who’s never listened to it, the narrator (who is either male or male-presenting or something along those lines) clearly and openly states his romantic attraction to another male character within the first six minutes

 kimye is divorcing because kanye hooked up with jeffree star 

me:

J Michael Straczynski

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/babylon-5-creator-j-michael-straczynski-details-a-painful-origin-story-of-his-own

It doesn’t!!! even stand!! for anything!!!

“PATH is downtown Toronto’s enclosed pedestrian walkway linking 29 kilometres of shopping, services and entertainment connecting Toronto Coach Terminal to Maple Leaf Square/Air Canada Centre. The Acronym (PATH) does not stand for anything - just signals that there is a pathway.”

I’m not exaggerating about the part without a ceiling:

and like this

and like this

and like this

Here’s an entrance to the PATH at Union

And here’s another- also at Union

And here’s another a few blocks away, though tbh I have never been able to enter here because it always seems to be locked, no matter how much I want Wendy’s that day. 

And you’d think these mixed aesthetics would make it easier to navigate, or at least figure out where you are, but again, there are over 70 different entities designing this shit and not one original thought between them. So while you may well know when you step from one property to the next, whatever the look of your current section it’s more than likely they’re a nigh identical section somewhere further just to confound your mortal sense.