But with the increase of other LGBT+ teens in the ranks (and if Adam really does get a kind of LGBT+ teens group going), there’s more of a chance of him actually addressing it head on.
For those who are cannon blind, while it's never said outright (because it was a kids show that came out between 2003-2006) and therefore not strictly cannon, Jack was heavily insinuated to be either bi or pan.
Both in that he developed blatant crushes on both women and men pretty equally, and in that the show and other characters occasionally like to snicker about it, or throw around not so subtle innuendo.
(For anyone who might decide to watch it in the future, it never gets too bad but it does occasionally throw a few terms his way that could be construed as mildly(?) derogatory. )
(More often coded language with double meanings, that may or may not have been accidental, then direct insults on his sexuality. Again, nothing too bad imo, though ymmv, but this show was very much a product of its time.)
Some people also interpret him as being somewhere on the gender queer spectrum. I don't know how comfortable I feel about taking liberties with that. I’ve seen some real bad takes in the fandom on both sides of the argument and that kind of soured me on taking a firm stance.
He doesn’t really have a solid label for what he is, isn’t sure if he wants one. And while he doesn’t consider himself in the closet, he’s surprisingly a bit cautious about actually being out.
How he talks about it and how open he is will depend entirely on who he’s with and how comfortable he is around them. It’s one of the few things he’s weirdly non-confrontational about, largely because it’s one of the few things about himself he’s not all the way comfortable with yet.
He’ll openly flirt with guys if they flirt with him first but he’s not big on instigating flirting with men the way he does with women. Tends to default to uselessly fawning and trying to grab their attention, do things for them that he hopes will make them like him.
Just a little more cautious with guys, and more likely to get nervous or shirty if anyone calls him on the fawning thing, particularly in a teasing way. He won’t outright deny it but probably won’t admit to it either, not unless there's an actual relationship to admit to.
He's also not really open about it with his parents. Again, not exactly hiding it (they pretty much already know) but it's very much a not spoken of thing. Like with most things about Jack that they don't approve of, they just pointedly ignore it.
But to get it out of his system while he can, because he will grow up, he will put all this villain stuff (and 'other behaviors') behind him, he will inherit their company, he will have a 'proper family', and he will give them a legacy.
That’s probably not going to come up in rp much if at all, unless people are okay with that turning up in a memshare. It’s way too based in headcanon for me to feel comfortable bringing it to the table much, and it’s not something he’s likely to want to share on purpose.
But I guess, like, that’s going to be a base for some of his behavior and why he’s “open” but more quiet and cautious about it then one might think someone with his rebellious streak would be.
And, I don't really know how to properly segue out of that depressing bit in to this, but uh...now I'm gonna roast Jack on his terrible taste in crushes.
Part of me wishes at some point, through enough memshare stuff or just Jack continuing to making terrible choices in game where people can see it playing out in real time, someone sees a pattern forming and takes him to the side to have a talk.
His crushes include, one of the monks who beats his ass on the daily, Clay's sister (who I'm convinced was the leader of a lesbian biker gang), a thousand something year old evil warlord who turns in to a giant lizard monster and regularly treats him like garbage,
a thousand something frozen bad ass mermaid hunter, and the mermaid (only after he found out she was evil and turned into a man eating monster. Quote: "She's quirky.")
I play Soren as bi because why not and literally the only thing we get is him thinking (incorrectly) Rayla is into him because...because they fought? Plus some of his muttering about Prince Kasem was like...
i stay silly :3
I think when they open up to each other more, Catra's definitly going to be one of the people Jack's very open about, and comfortable with talking about that stuff with. But I do feel bad about Catra having to figure that out about this world.
Kevin isn't someone you'd expect to be chill and supportive about this but it turns out that when you are dead, the world is full of so many things that are so much scarier than being on the wrong side of weird macho bullshit
And since his universe has absolutely no issues at all with queerness I kinda figure it's never come up because it really is no big deal and he's been too preoccupied with other stuff (and there's been no one shippable since he's surrounded by siblings and sibling-like friends) so it hasn't come up
Zita
Aw Kevin. I think unfortunately Jack would be more cautious about being open with that around Kevin at first, more just because you never really know, and he'll probably feel a little foolish about it the more he get's to know him.
One of like the big esteemed generals (like THE big general) is queer, there's been queer queens and leaders of nations, what is UP with these other worlds??
atippleofyourtears share some of that bi confidence with him, please! but for real, I think after he's settles in with the group some, he probably will open up more and become more confident cuz their such a good bunch for that.
Listen, there's got to be some twerpy smartbrained little weasel person out there for you, male or female or something else, that's just as weasely and evil as you
Cuz I think he would get Mac is just in the closet and overcompensating (which is the only reason he just kind of deals cuz he gets it), but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with and he doesn't want to be in the cross fire, cuz he just...can't with that.
Kevin will dip if the group wants to talk about this a lot because it starts to become uncomfortable for him. He didn't have himself all figured out before he died and what's left of his potential to feel this kind of emotion about other people is just ??????
He's happy to be another voice of "you should get to feel safe about who you are and what you feel" but if it becomes a thing for him to share in, he can't and will get out of there
i stay silly :3
Man I love Noelle for that, and that's okay. He can take the ribbing, at least it's coming from a place of semi solidarity, it way better than coming from you're straight frenemies or judgmental ghost mom.
Mac's one Kevin has a lot of thoughts about because he knows he can't talk Mac into making peace with himself and he doesn't think any of them probably can, so he will be kind to him but he won't try to push Mac to name it because it would be stressful and unproductive for all concerned probably
Zita
Oh god, kevin. T-T I like to think Jack's going to catch on to that eventually, and not be sure if it's a vampire thing or a Kevin thing, but also probably not question it, because that's his business and if he want's to talk about he will, if he doesn't then he shouldn't have to. Because he deserves to be comfortable, too.
Yeah, Kevin just kind of politely but firmly keeps people out of his Romance Problems zone because it's directly related to his most central trauma and nobody else should have to put up with that.
She-Ra has always been a very queer world and a very queer story. This is a world where almost all of your mains are women. What does that mean for gender? What does that mean for sexuality and this fantasy sci-fi planet?
Why would our characters follow the "rules" of our world, the biases that we've built up in our world? What if we just started from the grounds that this is a world with a really rich tapestry of experiences and that includes sexuality, that includes gender.
Everybody else seems to have this on lock so he can just not invite anyone to imagine any aspects of his private life that he is busy not having, it's fine.
this is not even the worst but admittedly the worst is all variations of accidentally hitting on vaguely maternal figures which, combined with the fact that he comes out as 100% gay after a few years of going "ok i'm bi" makes me think it's less about sincerely being into hot moms and more a deeply repressed desire for a mom in general lol 🙃
tinybro
Oh HEy! He and Dave kinda have that in common! -Hits on the same dude he's contently trying to make his replacement Dad, cuz that's not weird!- Jack has a lot of complicated feeling about Chase in general...
if someone ever points it out to them dave just makes that face like "why is this the point of commonality and why would you be cruel enough to bring it up oh my god"
So he's aware of how homophobic earth was (I figure not even his planet because we see none of it and they've been set in their ways for millenia) but it's definitely lolol people banging rocks together, gotta endurance hunt an antelope with a stick
MAybe willing to give a future take on it and also highlght the absurdity of holding anyone to that standard when Earth has a kajillion cultures that have different takes, and the galaxies and universes do too so who is anyone to say it's morally wrong when it hurts no one
they don't get gender/sex/sexual attraction to begin with and y'all are telling then there's this whole extra layer to it of some people arbitrarily deciding some variations on all that are right or wrong
at least if someone tried to explain via the birds and the bees they could potentially follow that because bugs and birds are some of the only other life on earth
atippleofyourtears Seeing so many adults just being real comfortable with their sexuality and their relationships, will probably help a lot, in and of it's self, since that's not something he's used to seeing. He's coming from a world that's past us technologically, but socially is stuck in 2003-2006.
I have a feeling that's going to be a rough conversation, but I really want to play with that. I think it's something he seriously needs to hear, particularly from someone like Kevin who hasn't gone out of their way to hurt him, and does seem to genuinely care about him as a friend.
That's one of the things that will be confusing and frustrating about being friends with Jack because first of all being friends with Jack is a confusing and frustrating endeavor, but also like... Bro you are too smart for the self-destructiveness to be all accidental.
Also lucky for jack unless he’s like actively saying to Mac “I want to bang a dude because I am sexually attracted to dudes” it’s probably going to fly over Mac’s head, he doesn’t really pick up on those cues (which is also why he’s so obvious to everyone), he’s accustomed to the gang which is v homoerotic, touch-heavy and boundary-ignoring between the guys
so tbh I lowkey hate that bryke threw Homophobia into A:TLA as a theme, only because i like to get away from homophobia in fiction like give me some relief ffs
but also because I headcanon Zuko as a solid leaning-towards-men bisexual and he has so many other things to be personally insecure about without throwing "great grandpa said Homophobic Rights" into the mix
I'm just not into exploring internalized homophobia in fiction and I'd like to be able to skip that step with Zuzu! he has so many other problems already!!!
anyway I get around that exactly that way, he realized he was into dudes early on, but between being a mediocre firebender compared to Azula, being too sensitive and empathetic compared to Azula, and his political status guaranteeing that he would have 1) a wife so he could have 2) an heir whether he was into it or not, it just didnt seem important enough to
so he can still come at Jack with "it's not a big deal." unfortunately hes coming at it from the "you probably have real problems to worry about" side.
watch all these sunshine kids like "it's okay! its okay to be gay!" with Zuko the living storm cloud following behind with "you should save your worrying for your actual problems that you definitely have"
She-Ra has always been a very queer world and a very queer story. This is a world where almost all of your mains are women. What does that mean for gender? What does that mean for sexuality and this fantasy sci-fi planet?Why would our characters follow the "rules" of our world, the biases that we've built up in our world? What if we just started from the grounds that this is a world with a really rich tapestry of experiences and that includes sexuality, that includes gender.Jack: "This just in, Niels is a Bi icon."