Link to the n*de photos
He deals with endearing/annoying townsfolk, his mom's much younger boy toy, and the 13-year old son that he didn't know he had. While trying to jump-start his rap career. Hey, Crap Happens.
Right: Anton Schneider. I don't think he's the same one.
Going through the cast list, I found Greg Vinciguerra, who voices Toni's son in the English dub, on the Transgender Talent Instagram (he also voices Brinley Bear in Wolf Pack).
And Charly is played by the nonbinary German actor Sky Arndt.
Surely the character is trans, too.
More LGBTQ representation: The Boy Toy, Johnny Carrera, is played by straight actor Dmitrij Schaad, but voiced by JP Karliak, founder and president of Queer Vox, an organization for LGBTQ voice artists.
Vincent Redetzki, who plays school band leader Paule, is gay in real life.
I'm reviewing Episode 1.3, which is Charly-centric: he experiences "his first heartbreak" and meets his first arch-nemesis.
Scene 1: Fleischer's Towing Service (his Mom's company). Asleep on a day bed, Toni is awakened by his son Charly: he had a nightmare. Can he sleep in Toni's bed? There's no room, but Charly squeezes in anyway.
The narrator, a talking duckling named Tupac, explains that Charly didn't really have a nightmare. He just wanted to cuddle with his dad.
Scene 2: Toni is exhausted after getting no sleep, but Charly is energetic, and makes breakfast for him, the duck, and the Boy Toy: Chocolate-ketchup fountain, sausage water coffee, green farfalle, and chocolate scrambled eggs. Does Charly have a learning disability? Boy Toy insists that they try it to avoid hurting Charly's feelings, and it turns out to be delicious.
Boy Toy: "It feels like love in my mouth." This is completely innocent of double-entendre.
In other news, is it weird to be in love with your cousin?
Boy Toy: It's normal in Mexico. Toni: It's weird in Germany.
Charlie announces today's plan: Paddleboard limbo (a real sport where you stand on a paddleboat and negotiate a barrier).
Toni: "Sorry, no time. I have writing to do today." Ms. Muller-Muller has commissioned him to write eight rap songs.
Meanwhile, the evil Mayor Veronica and her son are surveilling them, cooking up mischief.
Scene 3: Toni starts to work on a rap song, but is distracted. Narrator: "He hasn't finished a song in 18 years."
At school, Charly heads for Sascha, his girl cousin. She is played by Sherine Ciara Merai, who is gay in real life, and voiced by Jonna-Lynn Alonso, a bi/pan, genderfluid, femme presenting voice artist.
Apparently they've considered dating before, and he is reporting on his research. Genetics: No problem with their offspring. So Charlie must be cisgender. A trans boy doesn't produce sperm, so...wait, is Sascha a girl?
Social attitudes: A problem in Germany, but they can always move to Mexico.
Nope, Sascha breaks up with him. Narrator: "The first heartbreak of his life."
More after the break
Next, Band Leader Paule comes in to introduce the newest member, Köbi from Switzerland. He tries to impress them by speaking in Swiss German. I ran into that problem in Switzerland. I couldn't understand a word.
Next he demonstrates that he is a guitar whiz. Sacha is totally impressed, but Charly glares. Moving in on my ex-crush! My arch-enemy!
Köbi is played by Maxwell Mare, a 19-year old actor from Höngg, Switzerland. There's not a lot about him online, but presumably he is gay, because why would they cast a cisgender straight guy?
He appears in every episode. Ten to one he'll be dating Charly by the end of the season.
Scene 4: It's 13:13, and Toni continues to procrastinate. He finds an old video that he got as a child, with muppets explaining how to rap. Maybe that will give him some inspiration.
Meanwhile, Sascha is buddying up to Kobi, while Charly fumes with jealousy. He tries to impress Sascha with a photo of his pet duck.
When Kobi notes that he's allergic to most animals, especially dogs, Charly tries to ridicule him, but Sascha finds it endearing -- and touches him!
Charly starts to stomp off in a jealous rage, but Kobi stops him: "What do cool guys like you do for fun around here?" Aww, he wants to be friends.
The villainous Charly snarls: "I know just the thing, mwah-ha-ha. I mean, we like to hang out at the scary, dangerous, abandoned airplane hangers. Don't worry about the pack of vicious wild dogs -- that's probably just a rumor." He touches Kobi, too!
"Hang out?" Kobi is delighted. Maybe he thinks this is German slang for kanoodling. "Ok, see you in a bit." Smiling shyly, he leaves. Charly laughs maniacally.
Band leader Paule appears to criticize his laugh. It's not evil enough.
Scene 5: Toni watches the video. Just as the Muppet is about to reveal the one thing you need to become a rap god, it switches to the movie Armageddon. Someone taped over it. (the Narrator explains about VHS tapes).On RG Beefcake and Boyfriends: Eden Hasonovic, who plays Rick, does not appear in this episode, but I wanted more backsides in the review.
Meanwhile, evil Mayor Veronica works on a scheme related to the season's plot arc, and Charly heads to the police station/nail salon where Sascha's mom works. He pushes to get back together, but she says "It's over. Just deal with it."
Out in the main office, Sascha's Mom gets an alert on the police radio: There's a massive wild dog, probably rabid, in the old hanger lot. Uh-oh, Charly just wanted to give Kobi a little scare. He didn't want him to actually get hurt...or...ulp...die!
Scene 6: Kobi rides his bike to the hangers, overjoyed at the prospect of "hanging out" with Charly. Did you pack..um...never mind. It's dark and scary, with a gate that says "Beware of the dog," but Kobi sneaks in through a hole in the fence. I'd go home and suggest a nice, safe movie instead. Apparently Kobi is really invested in getting with Charly.
Charly rushes home and tells Dad Toni what happened, and they drive out in his tow truck. It's a long way.
Toni: So, Kobi might die because you want to keep making out with your cousin. But don't worry, we'll save him."
Cut to Kobi running through the woods, chased by vicious, snarling...psych! They're puppies! But he's allergic, so he's still scared. He climbs into an abandoned car, but it's too late. His throat is starting to constrict.
.jpg)
Scene 7: Charly and Dad Toni arrive at the hangers and find Kobi. Charly apologizes: "It was a trap, but I'm here to rescue you now." Less chat, more rescue, and where is his epi-pen?
He can't leave the car with the puppies around, so they drive up in the tow truck and tow him out, just as the big rabid dog starts to attack!
Scene 8: That night, Charly and Dad Toni are preparing to watch the movie Armagedon, when Boy Toy tells them that Miss Muller-Muller dropped by today, and wants the eight rap songs on her desk by 8:00 tomorrow morning. Ulp, he hasn't finished any of them!
The end.
Beefcake: None.
On RG Beefcake and Boyfriends: This profile was a little light on the d*cks, so I added some random Deutsch dudes.
Heterosexism: Miss Muller-Muller is interested in the Boy Toy.
LGBTQ Characters: Kobi is definitely gay. He appears in every episode from now on, so hopefully he and Charly will get around to "hanging out."
Charly is definitely cisgender, but he's a femme presenting boy played by a nonbinary/femme presenting actor and voiced by a trans actor. That's got to be intentional.
My Grade: A lot of surreal absurdity. Not much gross-out humor. But I would prefer more openness in the depictions of the gay/gender fluid characters. B.
See also: Luke Blumm: Femme boy survives the Nazis, a cult, and Maine, but not a homophobic Mom. With his twink physique and some co-star c*cks
No comments:
Post a Comment
No offensive, insulting, racist, or homophobic comments are permitted.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.