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Nov 15, 2023

"Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts": Specifically, Literally, Audibly, and Canonically Gay

Kipo (Karen Fukuhara), a cheerful, adventurous 13-year old girl living in a post-Apocalyptic "burrow," is swept onto the surface by an  underground earthquake.  It's forbidden for burrow dwellers to go "above," and she is horrified by the tales she has heard.  But she has to travel through a ruined city to get home.

A lot of the script is Korean, so I'm thinking Seoul.

The surface is occupied by many mutated animals, some sentient, some not.

Mod Frogs, concerned with fashion and world domination, appear to be the dominant species.  But there are also tribes of Timbercats, Snäkes with umlauts, Newton Wolves, and Fitness Raccoons.  It reminds me of Kamandi, the last boy in the world, in 1970s DC comics.

The big bad, a mutated mandrill named Scarlemagne (Dan Stevens), is particularly interested in Kipo, and keeps sending his agents to capture her.



 Fortunately, Kipo's father Lio (Sterling K. Brown, who played a gay character on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) has been to the surface before -- for reasons of his own --  and left clues about how to get back down below.



Kipo hooks up with:
1. Wolf (Sydney Mikayla), a warrior-girl who grew up on the surface

2. Benson (Coy Stewart, seen here playing a gay teen opposite Nolan Gould in a music video).  He's a fun-loving, carefree 13-year old who has spent several years on the surface.

3. Dave (Deon Cole), a sentient bug about the size of a human baby, who turns into a muscular superhero, but never when it would be useful.



A lot of beefcake and gay connections in the voice cast.  On the show, it seems obvious that  Benson and Kipa are going to fall in lo-ooo-oove.  But I skipped to the last episode to make sure:

They get back to the burrow.   It is ruled by Hoag, an over-fastidious, micro-managing type.   And...and...

Benson has a meet-cute with a boy.  A boy with pink hair and twin earrings yet.  "I think I'm falling in love with you" plays in the background.

Um...um...Benson is gay.

The episode ends with the four friends starting out on a new adventure, so Benson won't have time to do much dating, but...

It's not just subtext.

More research reveals that in one episode, when a monster makes them live their "biggest dreams" so it can live on their brain energy, Benson dreams of a rad party with dozens of cute boys.

And his plot arc involves looking for a boyfriend.

And he specifically, literally, audibly, and canonically says:  "I'm gay."

1 comment:

  1. Kamandi was DC, and just a Planet of the Apes knockoff. And tied to (what else?) Countdown. (Seriously, at the end of Countdown, Karate Kid dies, releasing a virus that mutates all sapient life on Earth-52, throughout the universe, other than Kamandi. And yes, I know viruses don't work that way.) Yeah, pretty much every bad comic is connected to Countdown in some way. Even if it was written before Countdown. Even if it was pre-Crisis or post-Flashpoint. Even if it's not a DC comic. Countdown is like a nexus of bad ideas.

    Unlike Kamandi or Countdown, this sounds interesting and likable.

    ReplyDelete

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