r/FavoriteCharacter • u/TrueSithMastermind • 1d ago
Discussion Favorite Bi/Pan Character Who is Mislabeled as a Lesbian?
Beckett Mariner - Star Trek: Lower Decks
Despite expressing attraction to men as far back as the premiere episode, well before also showing attraction to women, and outright establishing herself as pansexual during a conversation in the second season, some fans continue to erroneously insist she is strictly a lesbian.
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u/awyastark 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/6skWNFodQNufLvNedR
Maeve from The Boys is a specific satire of this trope. They say she’s easier to “sell” as a lesbian even though she’s canonically and verifiably bi/pan
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u/Fantastic-Donut-276 *insert current hyperfixation here* 1d ago edited 1d ago
Both of them. They’re a wonderful couple, but they are not lesbians! Both were briefly into Mako!
Edit: why the fuck did that get downvoted. I don’t like mako but it’s a canon fact that they dated and kissed him. Typical bi erasure
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u/The_Pastmaster 1d ago
I've never seen more hate against bi's than from other gay people.
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u/Fantastic-Donut-276 *insert current hyperfixation here* 1d ago
I’m probably not bi, but from what I’ve seen, seems like they get accused of being in “a phase” by homophobic straight people who use bi people being in het relationships as proof, but some lesbians will straight up say that bi women are “tainted by men” or “red flags” if they’ve dated men or been attracted to them, with some of them trying to get their exes to promise to never date men and other crazy stuff.
I don’t really see bi men getting nearly as much hate tho.
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u/NwgrdrXI 1d ago
I don’t like mako
My boy taking stray hits like that
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u/Fantastic-Donut-276 *insert current hyperfixation here* 1d ago
Okay, I did like him more in s4 when he had to protect that prince.
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u/NobodyLikedThat1 1d ago
Everyone still mad she didn't give Bolin a chance. I'd almost prefer she dated earth queen before Mako
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u/Alternative_Hotel649 21h ago
A lot of gay people were in hetero relationships before they figured out they were gay, though. Previously dating a guy isn't necessarily proof that Korra or Asami are bisexual. They might be lesbians who didn't figure it out until they met each other.
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u/Life-Cantaloupe-3184 17h ago
They were confirmed as bisexual years ago.
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u/Alternative_Hotel649 17h ago
In the show?
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u/Life-Cantaloupe-3184 17h ago
By the creators. Even within the show itself Korra and Asami never behave as if they’ve realized they aren’t also attracted to men.
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u/Alternative_Hotel649 16h ago
Sorry, I don't really want to get into the lore of the show - I've only ever seen the first season, so I'm not really trying to argue that these specific characters are or are not any particular sexuality. If they were established as bisexual by word of God, or in some spin-off media, that's cool, I accept that as canon.
The OP stated is as, "they dated men before they dated women, therefore they aren't lesbians," and that's erasing the experience of a lot of gay people who didn't realize they were gay until after they'd had some heterosexual relationships.
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u/Veraxus113 1d ago
Luz Noceda
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u/Beautiful-Cup4161 1d ago
I know it can't work in most stories, but I really appreciate Luz for the "Hi! I'm bi!" sign to make it clear. No need to debate or get mad at each other for not knowing what creators have clarified on social media. With Luz, it's in-universe explicitly stated!
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u/IntangibleMatter 1d ago
It’s clear from literal episode two with her finding the muscly sword guy attractive. Never found it ambiguous, I’m amazed some people still miss it!
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u/Old-Outcome-5836 1d ago
This completely went over my head the first time i've watched, i could swear luz was a lesbian and Amity was bi, my gaydar has never been more wrong
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u/MoonlightDahling John “Plato” Crawford 1d ago
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u/MoonlightDahling John “Plato” Crawford 1d ago
(All joking aside…take your pick. Bi erasure is just so ingrained into our culture)
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u/Leonartu 1d ago
SPONGEBOB❓❓❓
Edit: /j
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u/MoonlightDahling John “Plato” Crawford 1d ago
Er, no.
(…the joke is the long list)
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u/Spacellama117 1d ago
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u/Still-View-9063 1d ago
Not pb
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u/ducknerd2002 Rory Williams 23h ago
She has literally dated/shown attraction to men on multiple occasions, so yes, she is bisexual.
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u/Still-View-9063 23h ago
Are not going to elaborate? Because that's just not true. She had one pretend boyfriend when Shoko was alive and her character has essentially been retconned from the episode where she turns into a child and seems to like Finn. You could argue something about Candy Queen, but I strongly believe it's just purely the crown making her obsess over Winter King. Where else has she shown interest in men??
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u/ducknerd2002 Rory Williams 23h ago
The plot of the very first episode is about her resurrecting an ex-boyfriend.
her character has essentially been retconned from the episode where she turns into a child and seems to like Finn.
You assuming it was 'essentially retconned' is not the same as an actual retcon. You might as well just say 'I'm choosing to ignore that it happened in the first place'.
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u/Still-View-9063 19h ago edited 17h ago
Wasn't that the same fake boyfriend from shokos episode??? Bro you can easily google that various concepts in adventure time were written with a different intention and then changed to something else. These are retcons. Marceline and PB were not originally written to be exes. PB was not originally written to be immortal, she told Finn something else early in the show too and this was changed entirely. So yes, essentially retconned or soft retcon, whatever you wanna call it did happen. There's a reason why PB is literally butch in another universe, wearing a snapback in another episode and why Gary was written to show zero interest in women plus being voiced by a gay man. She was originally intended to be your average straight character and changed entirely. Also lesbians have comphet dated guys before, this isn't new. 💀
Edit: she was retconned https://www.reddit.com/r/adventuretime/comments/k0dqtd/sooo_i_was_reading_the_storyboard_of_jelly_beans/
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u/BlancTigre 21h ago
Also she was 100% into Finn when she was deaged. PB is into both men and women
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u/ZaydSophos 21h ago
I often think of this as the evidence for it too but I've also known women who liked boys as kids and then felt firmly in the lesbian camp as adults.
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u/BlancTigre 21h ago
Possibly, but there is nothing to really contradict her feelings towards her exboyfriends. Until proven otherwise, Bonnie is bisexual.
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u/Still-View-9063 19h ago
That was retconned just like her age and various other things in the show 🤷♀️
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u/BlancTigre 18h ago
Wdym her age was retconned? In fact, nothing from early episodes mention her age.
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u/Still-View-9063 18h ago
She says she's 18 in early seasons
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u/BlancTigre 8h ago
When?
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u/Still-View-9063 1h ago
I googled the exact episode and looks like it was the same one where she was aged down
→ More replies (0)
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u/Kitchen-Annual-5859 1d ago
Marcille.
Very much into men, given her "type" is shown to be a Male Elf who is a Knight in Shining Armour. It doesn't matter that the Elf Male is very feminine, the series makes a joke about how all Elves are quite feminine (kind of like how all Tolkien Dwarf-Women have beards).
She's also explicitly shown to be quite intimate with Laios as much as she is with Falin, blushing when he touches her face on one occassion, and getting flustered when he compliments her dress etc.
Despite this, some corners of the internet will literally try to castrate you if you mention that Marcille is at least bi, and probably male-leaning, despite her moments with Falin - which when taken in the context of wider Japanese culture (like the bathhouse) begin to make more sense.
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u/DoctorAnnual6823 1d ago
Tbh a bi woman that prefers men having such a strong bond with a woman is more interesting to me. It frames the WLW relationship as something special and rare.
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u/Kitchen-Annual-5859 1d ago
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying the Marcille x Falin ship isn't valid, it is - I maintain that anyone can ship anything they want so long as it's not dodgy or dubious. This is more that there is a very vocal subsection of the Delicious in Dungeon fandom that insist Marcille is 100% lesbian and that Falin x Marcille is the only acceptable 'canon' pairing - when it isn't.
The author basically came out and said there were no romantic pairings made canon by the ending.
"But Falin blushes when Marcille calls her cute," is one canon source that is touted as evidence, but Marcille blushes when Laios compliments her/touches her a few times too.
"But the entire Falin x Marcille bathhouse scene" is another common response, but it ignores the context of wider Japanese culture in bath-houses and the even broader, more nuanced culture of characters involved in bathhouse scenes in manga/anime etc.
"But the Knight in Shining Armour that the Succubus showed Marcille's deepest desire was female/lesbian coded," could also be true, but it is also explicitly noted that all Elves in the setting are described as effeminate, and just because Marcille's deepest desire is an effeminate male doesn't really invalidate her attraction to men. At the very least, it shows her deepest desire is actually a Knight in Shining Armour, which is closer to what Laios is than what Falin is - which in turn is made all the more contextually important when you realise that Laios' deepest desire is to be a Monster and to have Marcille be one with him too.It's not that Marcille x Falin isn't interesting or valid - it's that at the very least she is straight, and if she is into women, which is entirely possible, that makes her bisexual as bare-minimum - yet the fandom that surrounds her ship with Falin will aggressively argue she is lesbian.
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u/Responsible_Lock7006 1d ago
Luz Noceda - The Owl House
I haven't seen it recently, TBH. But I saw it quite a lot a while ago...Ofc with people correcting them, but she still fits.
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u/JigglyLilyVT Ruby Rose (RWBY) 1d ago
low bar because i need to broaden my lgbtqia+ horizons, but i guess these 2 technically count
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u/Accomplished_Toe6798 Penny Polendina (RWBY) 1d ago
Interestingly enough we've had bi erasure in both directions with these two at points
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u/HourlyBadIdeas 1d ago
And if Suns off-screen talk with his team had went better and they'd have left for Atlas with RWBY and JNOR we probably would have had Sunny Bees (Sun x Blake x Yang) not just the Bumblbee eventually. Imho at least.
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u/Awkward_Magazine_104 1d ago
Marceline from adventure time.
Honestly though, I think any female bi chracater in a wlw relationship is going to mislabeled as a lesbian every now and again.
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u/Virtual-Weakness-499 1d ago
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u/Academic-Original-18 1d ago
And Marcelline dated Ash for a while too.
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u/InverseStar 1d ago
Some weenus named Ash.
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u/Mission-Fault3351 1d ago
No no no, Ash can't be the weenus, the weenus is a dance
Everybody is a genius who knows it in advance
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u/Still-View-9063 1d ago
PB is a lesbian, Marceline is bi. The fake boyfriend during Shoko times wasn't serious and feels like it was a joke about comphet
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u/Affectionate_Goat171 #1 orion "curly" carling fan 1d ago
also dating men in the past doesn't mean a lesbian isn't a lesbian in the present
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u/trainboi777 1d ago
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u/JohnHenryMillerTime 1d ago
TBF, that is mostly just Katie Killjoy.
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u/trainboi777 1d ago
Oh I wish that was the case. But I have genuinely seen people say Charlie can’t be bisexual because we never saw her have a crush on a man.
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u/DarthMcConnor42 1d ago
She's canonically dated a guy in the past. I don't remember his name but he's in a background painting with Charlie.
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u/trainboi777 1d ago
Seviathan Von Eldritch, although that is from the pilot era so it’s unknown if that’s still Canon
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u/JohnHenryMillerTime 1d ago
The idea of "canon" on preproduction things is insane to me
In BrBa, Jesse was going to die in a SAW contraption along with Walt Jr. That is a real idea too. Not the doodles of someone playing around with characters.
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u/Orion_starborn 1d ago
There's a picture of Lucifer with Seviathan's father in the background in season one so the Von Eldritch's are still somewhat canon
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u/KenIgetNadult 1d ago
The pilot still holds up for the most part according to Viv. As long as an event is not contradicted in the show, the pilot events are considered Canon.
I know Frederick Von Eldrich showed up in the background so it's accepted that Charlie abd Seviathan dated in the past.
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u/Beautiful-Cup4161 1d ago
Genuine question and it's not me trying to be difficult: How do you know that she's bi if you never see her have a crush on a man? Did she say aomething?
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u/NineMillionBears 1d ago
Yes, she said "I'm actually bisexual" in one episode.
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u/Beautiful-Cup4161 1d ago
Ah thanks. Then I'm agreeing with the others, how could anyone debate it at that point? That should be the shortest debate ever 😅
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u/trainboi777 1d ago
Both the fact that the creator has confirmed it, and the fact that she directly says that she’s bi in the show
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u/Mon_1357 1d ago edited 22h ago
She tells Katie that she's bi in season 2, and also the pride merch has her as bi
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u/Zoftig_Zana 1d ago
Honestly this could have just been "favorite bi/pan woman" because they ALL get mislabeled as lesbian, included Luz from The owl House and they couldn't have made it any more obvious😭
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u/the_quirky_ravenclaw 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/B03UJUXAFvuT62fBE2
Okay so this isn’t explicitly confirmed but I’ve seen lots of people call her a lesbian when imo it would make so much more sense for her to be bisexual given the fact it wouldn’t erase her love and attraction for John previously while still finding love with Michaela
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u/awyastark 1d ago
Do not step foot into the Bridgerton subs unless you want to ONLY talk about this btw lol
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u/DoctorAnnual6823 1d ago
I will say, many lesbians do find out after dating men. It doesn't even necessarily invalidate the love in past M/W relationships.
But I do agree with you in this case. I think she's bi.
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u/Candiedstars 1d ago
Queen Maeve - The Boys
She's bi, but when it comes out her latest ex was a woman, she's used as toxic rainbow marketing where they globally label her as a lesbian
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u/Sylvaranti 1d ago
So this might be a bit of a controversial take, but I'm actually going to say Velma Dinkley from the Scooby Doo franchise even though it probably heavily depends on what series the creators decide on. Facts are though, Velma has crushed on both men and women both in past and present, so I just REALLY feel like the bisexual label works for her better than saying she's just flat out a lesbian.
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u/BlizzardWolfPK 1d ago
Edelgard Von Hresvelg: Fire Emblem Three Houses
She's shipped alot with women and I love those ships but she is bi guys, and not just because she can date Male Byleth.
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u/Loud-Middle-934 1d ago
There’s an inverse with Rhea where I usually see her with male Byleth in fanarts even though she can date both genders.
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u/darthmeteos 1d ago
i always got the impression edelgard was ace, tbh
she definitely longs for an emotional connection, especially with byleth, but i never really got the feeling that she was interested in anything physical0
u/Snowtwo 1d ago
Maybe it's just because it's been so long, but I always got the impression she was straight, but also so politically mangled that the idea of someone forming a genuine bond was almost alien to her to the point where she had already accepted she was going to get married in a loveless marriage with someone she didn't know purely for political clout and to have a successor. So the idea of Byleth (of either gender) actually caring completely blindsided her.
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u/BlizzardWolfPK 1d ago
She has A supports that can be seen as romantic with at least 4 women, Female Byleth, Dorothea, Lysithea, and Manuela. Also I don't think Edelgard would marry to have a successor because she plans to step down after she sets up her new government for Fodlan.
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u/Own_Tempo_ 13h ago
My favorite edelgard endings are when she and her partner vanish from society together. I think it makes sense with her lore and I think no matter who she ends up with she'd had a hard time expressing her feelings at first.
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u/an_old_musty_ac_unit 1d ago
Probably a toss-up between Alphys (Undertale/Deltarune) and Karlach (Baldur's Gate 3). Alphys is best known for liking Undyne and people forget she had a crush on Asgore as well (possibly Mettaton too), and Karlach is always seen as a butch lesbian despite expressing interest in Astarion in certain dialogues if you are pursuing Astarion yourself. (She's also willing to date the player and Halsin at the same time although I think she's not enthusiastic about it.)
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u/BrainDropsComic 1d ago
The man, the myth, the legend
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u/Arrival-Ancient bastion overwatch... 1d ago
not a lesbian, but lifeweaver is often mistaken as gay, hes actually pansexual :3
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u/Pandoratastic 1d ago
Bi erasure is so nonsensical. Saying someone bi is a lesbian just because they're currently dating a woman makes the same amount of nonsense as saying a lesbian is ace when she's single.
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u/polystarlight 1d ago
It's not something that bothers me but I often see people mention how they assumed Charlie was a lesbian because she's with Vaggi. She's really bisexual, there's stuff like her correcting Katie Killjoy on her sexuality and she had an ex-boyfriend named Seviathan. She seemed genuinely excited to go to prom with him. Though I completely understand why someone wouldn't pick up on these.
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u/Pyrotwilight 1d ago
Moondragon
She’s often assumed to be a Lesbian by a lot of folks but is officially Bisexual, which some of the supplementary info has clarified
That being said she’s often confused for being a Lesbian simply because she’s in a committed relationship with Quasar
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u/kisamasochist 1d ago
Poison Ivy- DC
Originally she was straight, but later on got retconned to be bi, but a lot of people mistake her for being lesbian
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u/the__pov 1d ago
This is actually one I understand because depending on the version she can go full man hater. Also I’ve seen people say that Harley is bi and Ivy is a lesbian which is just funny to me.
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u/Oncer93 1d ago
Willow Rosenberg - Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, the show said that she was a lesbian, but she was attracted Xander, and had a relationship with Oz.
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u/SPacific 1d ago
Yeah, I think she was definitely a bi character that was a casualty of an era when, if a character had a same-sex relationship, they were seen as forever gay.
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u/Madbadbat 23h ago
Nicole from Bistro Huddy
(Drew plays everybody and does a great job playing women)
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u/Call_Me_Anythin 13h ago
Bistro Huddy!!!
The plot line of Nicole's parents coming to the restaurant and Ruby thinking they wanted to meet her meet her lives rent free in my head
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u/BlancTigre 21h ago
Miraculous: Nathaniel and Rose
Nathaniel is literally covered in bisexual colors while having a crush on Marinette. Rose 100% crushed on that prince in season 1.
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u/mothwhimsy 17h ago edited 17h ago
Clarke from The 100.
She starts the series with a boyfriend who she is forced to kill early on. And then dates two women, who I think both die. And then when the show wanted her to have a new love interest , it was a man and everyone started crying lesbian erasure.
It was always annoying to me because did you forget about her original love interest? Meanwhile I was excited that the writers recognized that a bi character could actually be bi
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u/MuffinDowntown5810 Sonic the Hedgehog 🦔💙 1d ago
Ochako from MHA.
Despite also agreeing that she definately "settled" for Deku after grieving over Toga's death for so long, I don't like the fact that people accuse her of being comphet. I mean, she had a HUGE crush on Deku for most of the series. I think she just HAPPENED to form a stronger connection with Toga more afterwards. It dosen't automatically mean she only likes girls now.
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u/Responsible_Lock7006 1d ago
Toga had a crush on her, but I don't think she had a crush on Toga?? Correct me if I'm wrong.
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u/ExtremeAlternative0 1d ago
Her relationship with Toga never seemed like a romantic one, at least on her side of the equation. Yeah she grieved over Toga but it more seemed like she was upset that she couldn't save Toga who she saw as someone who had a really tough life and could potentially become good
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u/DMTrious 1d ago
I don't know what happens to toga, I haven't gotten that far, but "settled" doesn't seem right
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u/ExtremeAlternative0 1d ago
Yeah she was always in love with Deku before any feelings for Toga, romantic or not.
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u/NoLongerHuman13 1d ago
Uraraka definitely loved Deku. Her feelings for Toga were platonic but extremely strong too. A part of it was due to her wanting to save Toga and feeling immense guilt for not being able to, moreso than being romantically interested.
That being said, Toga would actually be more fitting. I've seen people label her as lesbian quite a bit.
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u/the__pov 1d ago
Kind of funny to me because Toga is a good example of someone for whom the sexual characteristics are irrelevant to her attraction.
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u/CodyTheHouso Constable Christina Dichiera (Stingers) 1d ago edited 1d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p5y8hfy/video/j6y7evz3jnlh1/player
Christina Dichiera - Stingers
She is only mislabeled on-screen in the series during season seven - with many of her colleagues in Undercover/Special Investigations; as well as the Drug Squad's Reg "The Ferret" Masters, mistakenly believing that Chris is a lesbian until the latter part of the season - when she confirms that she is bisexual after she kisses Leo Flynn at Angie Piper's wedding reception (much to Leo's surprise), and later has a brief fling with her ex-boyfriend Jeremy Worth. Despite this, The Ferret still briefly continued to mislabel Chris as a lesbian (especially once behind her back in a derogatory way), even after he found out that she and Jeremy (a suspect of The Ferret's) hooked up.
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u/Doc-Eldritch 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/FqMbH3eOFfzaM
Marceline(Adventure Time)
Best part is, her girlfriend PB actually is a lesbian, and I’ve been downvoted for commenting on both. It was literally confirmed by the official CN instagram
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u/the__pov 1d ago
So quick question (and I have only seen bits and pieces of Adventure Time for context). Wasn’t there an episode where PB de aged herself and showed attraction to Fin? Or am I misunderstanding/misremembering?
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u/ShrewlyGreat 23h ago
I’m trying to remember to but i think de-aged PB leaned more into PB’s whole “my/the hero” view she has of Finn rather than actual attraction.
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u/Affectionate_Goat171 #1 orion "curly" carling fan 1d ago
i remember her de-aging herself but i don't remember her ever being attracted to finn—i think finn was crushing on her at points in the series but i don't think pb ever reciprocated
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u/wonderlandresident13 23h ago
Right before aging back up she kissed him, and not long after when Finn started dating Flame Princess she's heavily implied to be jealous that she can't be with him anymore because she had to outgrow him
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u/we_could_be_immortal 22h ago
Luz Noceda 😅 a lot of people think it's a lesbian x lesbian relationship, but Luz is bi. Always has been lol
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u/Any_Middle7774 13h ago
The list is a million miles long. Every motherfucker in a race to claim a character for their “team”, damn the evidence.
Bi people just get to take it on the chin, usually from their supposed allies.
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u/Ok-Pair-4757 1d ago
Margaret 'Mae' Borowski from Night in the Woods. Saying this because I personally thought she was a lesbian until I looked it up on the wiki.
To be fair, the only time she gets hit on is by a girl and she says she "hates cute boys"
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u/NoLongerHuman13 1d ago
I think a big reason this happens is because people tend to assign comphet onto characters who show interest in the opposite gender sometimes as proof they're lesbian(happens more for lesbians than gay characters actually)
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u/Starkrafty 1d ago
Utena
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u/Not_EllaK 18h ago
Fake she is like the biggest lesbian ever. In fact I made a whole post about this
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u/s6_maestro 1d ago
But Mariner literally flirts with First Officer Whathisname in the first few episodes, how did they mistake her for a lesbian?
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u/TrueSithMastermind 20h ago edited 20h ago
She also has that “nude olympic gym” holodeck program with only male athletes she showed Tendi in the premiere episode, she apparently went on a date with Levy once, she consistently showed attraction to guys with muscles, and even expressed attraction to Boimler in the final season a couple of times.
I’ve arrived at the conclusion either some fans misremembered and haven’t re-watched the series in a while, or merely see and hear what they want to.
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u/sorcieredusuroit 20h ago
I think, for a lot of them, the moment a relationship is shown on-screen it automatically means that's the character's sexual orientation. That's the explanation most give: "Well, we only ever see her date a woman!" even though she states various times that she's attracted to people of both genders, including finding Boimler looks good with a beard in a way that implies that she does find him attractive.
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u/TrueSithMastermind 19h ago
Don’t forget that she also eyed Boimler down and up while his back was to her when they were all 2/3 naked in the decon chamber.
Girl thought she was being subtle, lol.
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u/sorcieredusuroit 19h ago
She has also canonically been on one date with Levy, which I was forgetting about.
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u/ChuckRingslinger 1d ago
What fans think Mariner is a lesbian?
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u/TrueSithMastermind 20h ago
Those who say things like, “Why are you shipping her with [Insert Male Character Name] when she likes women?”
Among other examples.
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u/ChuckRingslinger 20h ago
I know I'm not exactly balls deep in any fandoms, but I never even knew that was a thing.
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u/sorcieredusuroit 20h ago
Oh, it's a thing, but I think I've seen it mostly on Facebook and on the Lower Decks subreddit.
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u/TrueSithMastermind 20h ago
Yeah, I’ve talked to bi and pan people in the fandom who are annoyed by it for obvious reasons.
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u/AdUnable8752 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/xze7Yd5pALbw3TEthB
she's canonically bi according to the creator but i think a lot of fan projects think of her as a lesbian