The (not so) Thinly Veiled Anti-LGBTQ+ Bigotry in the TMNT Fandom (ft. mrabubu and bowandbrush)
The TMNT fandom has an anti-LGBTQ+ problem. But it's kind of subtle, so it may be hard for most to identify it. Sadly, and disturbingly, no community is safe from these forms of discrimination and fandoms are no exception to the rule. And, currently as an increasing number of nations are becoming more socially conservative, the rights and even existence of LGBTQ+ people are in peril. That said, the TMNT fandom has been around for several decades and with it comes the burden of years’ worth of bigotry. Of course, this won't be a comprehensive record of all anti-LGBTQ+ controversies found in the TMNT fandom. Instead, this will highlight a few subsets or types of anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes in the fandom specifically on Tumblr. A few rather popular fan artists on Tumblr uphold these attitudes both from a more secular and a religious perspective. These fan creators are so popular with their works being shared by other TMNT fans and casual TMNT enjoyers alike that their wide reach and appeal make it all the more prescient to call attention to their somewhat low-key bigotry. In other words, these fan artists with such abrasive and discriminatory views don't deserve having the large platform that they do to further spread vitriol against LGBTQ+ people, especially with how the TMNT fandom and franchise has become more inclusive and accepting of marginalized peoples over the years. Note: please read the alt text on each image.
Exhibit #1: Mrabubu, the Secular LGBTQ+ Bigot
Tumblr user mrabubu (aka Kishi) is a fan artist with mass appeal who's most known for her AU where (adult) Leo from Rise of the TMNT is in a relationship with a woman, and their love story is one of tragedy, joy, and out of character melodrama. Which is all well and good at first glance. Leo doesn't have a canonical sexual/romantic orientation and people can pair him off however they like. No one interpretation of the character's orientation is correct, and no one should be harassed over their interpretation of the character's orientation.
However, it's Kishi's needlessly incessant insistence that she doesn't headcanon Leo as gay or imagine him as being attracted to men that really should be raising more eyebrows at this point. While it's not right to accuse Kishi of being homophobic for not shipping Leo and Usagi or not interpreting Leo as gay, it's Kishi's persistent, and even aggressive protestations of not being homophobic that draw attention to that alleged homophobia. It's a real "you doth protest too much" sort of situation with Kishi having gone on longwinded rants about not portraying Leo as gay or interested in men at all. The following is just a small portion of Kishi's near constant complaining about queer headcanons and representation in the TMNT fandom.
In addition to that, Kishi only seems to discuss LGBTQ+ anything only within the context of this obnoxious shipping discourse. Meaning that virtually all of Kishi's posts about queerness are extremely negative and combative in tone. Kishi's adversarial attitude towards LGBTQ+ representation within the TMNT fandom is continued in two noteworthy situations.
Mrabubu Case 1
In mid-2024, one innocuous comment made on Kishi's work (Y/N:❌️ Usagi:✅️) sent Kishi on a warpath against Leosagi and the "Leo's gay" headcanon. A warpath that led her to another user, taringill (aka Vika), whose homophobic tendencies are much more overt and explicitly malicious. Somewhat paradoxically, Vika seems, at first glance, to be more accepting of queer headcanons than Kishi. However, the caveat is that she overwhelmingly favors mlw/hetero ships, shows very little interest in wlw ships, and virtually no interest in mlm. It turns out that, much like Kishi, she's willing to headcanon characters as bisexual, pansexual, aromantic, asexual, and so on, but only if they're mlw partnered or single. Thus, Vika is not beating the homophobic negotiations anytime soon, especially in light of reasons that will be discussed soon.
Vika asserts that the RotTMNT fandom is plagued like a disease by fans who headcanon Leo and other characters as being gay or lesbian and seems genuinely both confused and enraged that some people in the fandom don't prioritize mlw/hetero ships. Most of Vika's, subsequently Kishi's, ire stems from this YouTube video, "what made rise gay? | analyzing rise of the tmnt's queer coding" by heybuwan. The video just notes the queer subtext within the series and interprets the work through a queer theory lens while noting aspects that are queer affirming (i.e., Hypno-Potamus and Warren Stone as a canonical couple) and considers how such representation has limits as a children's program in a very much still anti-LGBTQ world. It's a nice video essay. Although, as a certified RotTMNT critic, I think the video hypes up the series too much, especially towards the end, but it's still a well-made video that’s worth a watch.
Nevertheless, Vika rants and raves about how (pro-)LGBTQ+ RotTMNT fans voicing their interpretations of the series being queer coded are somehow imposing that reading onto other fans and are erroneously asserting that their headcanon is canon. Vika's uncharitable and incorrect understanding of the video essay takes a turn for the worse when she repeatedly refers to these fans as being "crazy." She calls the video "schizophrenic nonsense" and claims that these fans are peddling "hallucinations and fantasies" for a "stupid agenda." With the long history of queerness and queer people being pathologized, notably homosexuality having been considered a mental illness within modern medicine in the not-so distant past, it's unsettling to see Vika perpetuate this idea that same-gender attracted people are clinically insane. All in all, Vika was so triggered by the video essay that she went on a petulant homophobic tirade using ableist language to discredit and shame fans for exploring queer coding in the series.
Vika Anti-LGBTQ+ Rant: Part 1 on July 8, 2024 (Warning: ableism and homophobia)
Vika Anti-LGBTQ+ Rant: Part 2 on July 8, 2024
But what does all this have to do with Kishi? Well, Kishi seems to agree, or at least doesn't express any opposing views to these extremely bigoted tirades. Vika tags Kishi multiple times in these rants and claims that she had discussed the matter privately with Kishi, which seems to be corroborated by Kishi's comments to Vika on Kishi's initial post about the one Leosagi favorable comment that seemed to kickstart Kishi's own anti-LGBTQ+ downward spiral.
The following is an approximate English translation of Kishi and Vika's exchange via Replies on the post seen above:
Kishi: sorry, I wanted to add a little at least in the comments, because I kind of understand what video you're talking about, and honestly, for me it's one of the most vivid proofs of how crazy some people are, because from the phrase when the author moved on to the section with Leo "And now let's talk about everything that… Is connected with Leo", I, honestly, was a little shocked at the start. And from the fact that, supposedly, people deny that Leo is gay and is proof of the opposite, I'm just, well, speechless.
There are actually a lot of thoughts, you can't really describe them in the comments, for the most part I expressed them in posts as softly as I could. I hope that people will start to understand something.
Vika: Yeah, I watched the video and… I didn't get it! I really thought Leo was gay because of his popularity and the fans forcing this headcanon. But at the same time, I never gave up on my headcanon. When I saw Ron's post… Oh, how good it is. It's actually great that the creators decided not to give an exact answer for free creativity, but… For some reason, the fans got it wrong
Yes, you're right… I really felt more comfortable in the fandom after such posts, support from other fans. Despite the fact that foreign fandoms are sick with such things, even American fans understand that something crazy is happening in their fandom, which is very pleasant for me personally
Oh, I noticed that you subscribed to me, nice :3 Kiss you on the forehead💋❤️
Kishi: and most of the "evidence" there is frankly far-fetched. Well, like about glam rock, like, Leo loves it, so he's gay. But the author has once again proven that he doesn't understand a damn thing about what he's talking about, because the genre itself is not about gayness at all, but rather about outrageousness, and debauchery and vulgarity in extreme cases. The guy has once again proven that people just want to see something that isn't there.
I like your thoughts xD
Vika: Thank you, colleague! And I thank you :)
Yes, yes, yes, I remember. Why Leo's behavior can't be perceived as his uniqueness, although it is. There is no hint of any orientation in his behavior. And if a person reasons in the style of "you like something wrong, strange, then you are gay." The tolerasts themselves think in stereotypes. If you are into glam, then you are gay, because they wear makeup. Curtain. The person has shit in his head.
Mrabubu Case 2
In 2024, there was a TMNT OC x Canon competition that Kishi and a few other popular RotTMNT fan artists were finalists in. One of these competitors received a hateful and homophobic message from an anonymous person on behalf of Kishi's OC, Ana.
Once this hate message was brought to her attention, Kishi addressed it on her blog in the most tepid way possible.
She doesn't admonish her fans specifically for slinging homophobic slurs at her competitors. After going on numerous rants about how she's totally not homophobic, she can barely string together a paragraph to discourage her fans from being homophobic. It's almost as if Kishi's much more concerned with and passionate about denying accusations of homophobia than she is about decrying homophobia. Kishi's homophobic pattern of behavior, coupled with her avoidance in calling out homophobia directly, has allowed homophobic attitudes to flourish and fester in her community of fans.
Kishi's bias against expressions of queerness in the TMNT fandom actually has been a bit of an open secret since late 2024, with a few fans having already raised the alarm. So, kudos to them!
Overall, Kishi just seems like a person whose homophobia and transphobia stems in part from how she doesn't find queerness to be appealing to her personally. Gay Leo is sexually/romantically incompatible with her self-insert cishet woman Ana, so she's very vocally against that headcanon. Trans man Leo isn't appealing to her either, and she doesn't want to understand that identity so she's very vocally against that headcanon. Kishi seems scandalized by and dismissive towards LGBTQ+ headcanons for not just Leo but most likely all fictional characters she engages with.
Bonus Content! Kishi continuing to whine about LGBTQ+ RotTMNT headcanons and bemoaning the potential for queer representation in the series on Reddit.
Now, let's move on to the next subset of anti-LGBTQ+ TMNT fans: the religious fans.
Exhibit #2: Bowandbrush, the Religious LGBTQ+ Bigot
Bowandbrush (aka Lexie) is a self-proclaimed "Jesus Freak" Christian who coincidentally is on friendly terms with Kishi making for an expanded universe of LGBTQ+ bigots because birds of a feather flock together. Much like, Kishi, Lexie also enjoys complaining about the popularity of Leosagi.
Anyway, there's much less to say about Lexie as Lexie's Likes (and her Reblogs), which are currently public at the time of my posting this, speak for themselves:
This is a pretty open and shut case. Lexie is just your run-of-the-mill bigoted conservative Christian who thinks being LGBTQ+ is sinful according to religious dogma that supposedly denounces queerness. However, this religious dogma has been contested and debunked over the years. Regardless, there are LGBTQ+ affirming religions and strains of Christianity and it should go without saying that any belief system that condemns marginalized peoples for simply being who they are is a deeply flawed belief system.
After having fallen down this rabbit hole of somewhat hidden bigotry within the TMNT fandom, I'm left feeling less safe in my place within it. Very naively, I had taken for granted the growth of the fandom into a more inclusive space in recent years and almost forgot that there are fans who are by no means truly friendly or accepting of LGBTQ+ people.
Recently I shared with a fellow fan my idea for an AU and this interaction went fairly well. That was up until I mentioned that there would be wlw and mlm pairings featured in the story at which point the fan wanted to break off communication with me citing how there are things they're not comfortable sharing or talking about, especially involving their real life. There is a chance (plausible deniability and all) that this fan may have cut contact with me for other reasons not related to LGBTQ+ bigotry. However, considering the context, I have my doubts. This fan often shies away from LGBTQ+ anything on their blog, has never posted anything pro-LGBTQ+, and seems to be a homophobic Christian fundamentalist if their Like history is anything to go by. It made me think about how there are people in the TMNT community, many in fact, who hide their bigotry for fear of being made to face the consequences for their discriminatory attitudes that oppress marginalized people.
These bigots in the fandom often don't voice their support of LGBTQ+ people and their rights. They avoid mentioning anything about LGBTQ+ representation or when they do, it's almost always for the purpose of conveying a negative sentiment (i.e., repeatedly voicing their distaste for popular LGBTQ+ headcanons or wlw/mlm ships). They cultivate fan spaces that are LGBTQ+ neutral at best or LGBTQ+ negative at worst, where LGBTQ+ people and their representation is begrudgingly tolerated or outright squashed. And, in this day and age where enthusiastic and unequivocal LGBTQ+ support is necessary and crucial to many, this neutrality or negativity is inexcusable.
These barely concealed bigots like Kishi/mrabubu and Lexie/bowandbrush do not deserve the space that they take up in the TMNT fandom. So, it'd be best to just block/ban/ignore/deplatform/exclude them and move on to greener pastures, especially in these very trying, unsafe times for LGBTQ+ people.
Well, enough negativity. Let's end this on a positive note!
To everyone else who isn't a bigot like Kishi and Lexie, please connect with and support LGBTQ+ TMNT fans. There are so many LGBTQ+ people in the TMNT fandom, and they and their works should be cherished and celebrated, especially over bigots like Kishi and Lexie. LGBTQ+ fans, let's make some noise and please stay safe out there. Cis straight fans, please raise awareness and support us.
