Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1255374-20150613052057/@comment-995426-20150802181536

Let me put this in perspective. Every gay person I know (and some people I know who aren't) who's been watching this show, is acutely aware of what's been going on with Mikey and Leatherhead. It's not theoretical or some kind of wishful thinking&mdash;it's something that's come blatantly to people's attention as something very familiar to their own experiences. Even my dad in his 70s (who is not gay) had no trouble connecting the dots. Nick pulled a Mikeyhead on us, just as surely as they pulled a Korrasami; but of course, there are going to be plenty of people who are not savvy enough to recognize it. Whether it was a decision on the part of the writers or the storyboarders, it still happened with all the subtlety of an anvil.

Now, with that in mind, what does it tell those same audiences if Mikey is seen as moving on without even beginning to address what they've seen? It can be jarring; even outright insulting, like they're even retconning things. I mean, such an audience is already used to their periphery demographic being ignored or misunderstood, but it's even worse if they feel they have been given attention and then unceremoniously ignored.

As for Raph, he's a more complicated matter than Mikey. Mikey strikes us as bi. But Raph is plain gay&mdash;strongest gaydar-tripping on the show by far, even before all his tension with Slash.