Nomgett - YappityYap Central

Excuse me for a second

*cries aggressively in the corner*

I’m gonna talk about Dead Boy Detectives for a second, specifically Charles and Edwin’s deaths.

Edwin died in a basement and Charles in an attic, and Edwin went to Hell and Charles was presumably meant to go to Heaven. Edwin died by fire (demons from Hell) and Charles died by ice (hypothermia). Edwin was targeted for his queerness and Charles for the color of his skin, the country his mother came from. Edwin never seemed to get along with the boys who would kill him but Charles called his murderers friends until they turned on him. Edwin died by supernatural means while Charles died by run of the mill racist teenagers. They died more than 7 decades apart.

When you look at the details there are so many differences but the story is still the exact fucking same. Two boys who died at the hands of a group of their classmates who decided that they did not fit with the rest of them and therefore must pay the price. Two boys who died on the same grounds of the same school, whose deaths were brushed aside and covered up by people who held the same titles. More than 70 years apart and not a single thing has changed, Charles’ death didn’t get any more attention than Edwin’s, because more than 70 years later the same fucking story happened again.

Edwin’s death didn’t change a damn thing, and it could happen again now because Charles’ death didn’t change a damn thing either. And then the ghosts of two 16 year olds decided that if the adults, if the living weren’t going to change anything then they fucking would. If the living would not grant them justice and would not grant them change, then they fucking would.

Because there was a difference, in the end. Edwin was murdered, and so was Charles, but while Edwin died scared and alone Charles didn’t. Edwin died in a cold, dark basement, but Charles died in warm light of a lantern, even if that warmth wasn’t enough to save him. Edwin died to the sounds of his own screams, his own voice pleading for mercy that would not come, but Charles drifted off to sleep to the sound of a kind boy reading him a book.

The living won’t change. The story could and will keep on repeating because the living will not make sure it doesn’t. The living are messy. But the dead, for all the ways they will never change, will never get any older, they can change the story, at least a bit. Charles and Edwin can’t make sure that no other boy dies at that school, but if the story repeats itself yet again they can make sure the victim is at peace. They can solve the murders and find the lost items and release the spirits who are trapped. The living won’t help the dead, but they can help each other.

So they call themselves the Dead Boy Detectives, form an agency and get an office and help who they can, because they didn’t matter to the living, and many of their clients don’t either. But they matter to the dead.

Their clients matter. And Charles and Edwin matter too.

EXCUSE ME THE TOP ROW MIDDLE PICTURE!!!????

SO CUTE I WANT TO AGAGAHHAHAB

I will talk for literal hours!

@netflix see this is why you should renew it you dumbasses

This

The way Dead Boy Detectives handles queerness and labeling of sexuality is honestly so refreshing. The way it's handled makes is very obvious that it's not the kind of media in which characters are assumed straight until proven otherwise; the characters' sexualities are left undefined because the focus isn't on specific labels, it's on the relationships between characters.

As the show goes on, it becomes abundantly clear that the characters' sexualities are a non-factor. Sure, Jenny dates women, but a label is never put on that. Same with Edwin - he is clearly interested in men, but not once in the show is he labeled as gay. It's not necessary in either case; labeling these characters wouldn't add anything to their stories or character arcs. The show is completely relaxed about labels because they're almost never a part of or even relevant to the plot.

And so, in a show that is so utterly unconcerned with labels, it would also be exceeding strange to impose the label of "straight" on any character. Characters like Charles and Crystal, who clearly demonstrate attraction to the opposite gender, don't come across as strictly heterosexual, they come across as people experiencing human emotions. And a character like Niko, who never expresses romantic attraction to anyone, really can't be assumed heterosexual either, because it simply wouldn't be in line with what we know about her.

Heterosexuality never comes across as the default in this universe. It never seemed as if the writers automatically assumed any character, no matter how background, to be straight. Queerness is explored not as a defiance of the norm but as just another way of loving someone. In a world where being queer is always viewed as alternate or deviant, and where coming out is a lifelong process that begins again every time you meet someone new because you're always assumed cishet, this kind of complete abolishment of heteronormativity is a breath of fresh air. Seeing queerness handled in such a casual way onscreen honestly feels a little bit revolutionary.

Please open this fine platter I present to you

They are gay your honor

Edwin looking at Charles

Charles version

Save it 👹

I would apologize for this but there’s nothing to apologize for unless you are @netflix 🤷

It's my 2nd time drawing a human face so I went with the perfect model: Charles Rowland. I also decided to pick the most bad quality picture at the hardest angle

This picture was sharpened with unblur ;)

Edit:

Genuinely tweaking bro I'm like 20 minutes in and this is how it looks like ( I totally have not been procrastinating all day)

Bro is LOSING the IDGAF war against a crow and a cat.

Hey @netflix do you remember tweeting this? Because I remember when you tweeted this!

We're still waiting for you to be "so annoying" about them. Maybe a good place to start is renewing Dead Boy Detectives!

You and @warnerbrostv need to put your heads together and figure out a way to do right by this incredible show and its creatives. Customers are sick and tired of the "Netflix Graveyard" sending poignant stories with great LBGTQ+ representation to an early grave. Queer stories deserve to be told, and the people who feel seen by them enjoy to have closure. We pay the subscription fees that everyone else pays, so have a little integrity!

LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS. Everyone from the fans to critics to journalists and pop-culture sources has been screaming about this show's worth, and you two are the only ones who fail to see it! Open your eyes and know a good thing when you have it; Dead Boy Detectives is a hit, people love it and want more of it, so it's a guaranteed profitable investment long-term.

You already have season 2 scripts @netflix and @warnerbrostv, so make it happen!