And it's been said before in other friends, but the other great thing about Sentinels comics is that while they do include all these diverse characters, they also mostly don't mention it. I mean, it's relevant to them as characters, but it's not relavent to them as superheroes. Tachyon's wife isn't mentioned in her bio just as Legacy's wife isn't mentioned in his. Dr. Medico's partner is only mentioned because they adopted Idealist. Anthony Drake is asexual, but the only reason we know that at all is Word of God. And the only characters with mentioned opposite sex partners are Wraith and AZ, because those partners are part of their origin stories.
Have I ever mentioned I encountered this guy on another forum? When I first signed up here and saw his name in some of the threads I was all "Damnit, no." Until I realized he wasn't still here at least.
I would argue that these things need to be mentioned, and representation is mitigated when they are not. Like it is totally irrelevant that Dumbledore was gay because nothing in the books (or really, nothing beyond JK Rowling's word on the topic) mentions it. If they're invisible, how is it better than them not being there?
What makes Sentinels stand out in this particular regard is what you mentioned about partners not being mentioned except when relevant. The unfortunate aspect of that is people assume heterosexual and cisgender as default unless it is explicitly stated otherwise.
That said, I think that it's great that Tachyon's story is not about how gay she is or Dr. Medico's story is not about how gay he is. Or how asexual the Argent Adept is. Or how non-binary Tempest is. These things are important features of each character, but aren't their raison d'être. That is to say I'm not disagreeing with you all that strongly.
I totally agree with you that having it show up is much better because that assumed hetronormative, cisnormative stuff. Having a card for instance where Tachyon is with her wife or something could add a lot of extra aww momements and bigots can just gals being pals it away or whatever.
I also totally agree that it is cool that they didn't make the details here just do check a diversity box but because they care about making the characters varied. It's never how they sell the game it just exists with the game and I really respect that. Still I'd adore if we got some cute extras if maybe only in the comic were getting that show us a panel with these characters and their partners.
Somebody please correct me if I’m off base here, but isn’t the fact that it’s never mentioned and doesn’t matter to his plot or relationships with other characters EXACTLY what makes Dumbledore a good role model for people who share his orientation? I would think that then they’d have an example of somebody who is able to do whatever epic things they do without their orientation ever being relevant.
No, from the point Rowling mentioned it, it's basically tokenism because it's irrelevant to any interpretation of the character beyond word of God or the sake of it being there. Basically, nothing about his sexuality within the fiction as published has any relevance to Dumbledore, it means nothing at all for the character, this isn't true for real lgbt people. To be representative it has to make up at least part of the the character, and be visible in doing so. Sure it doesn't have to be a huge defining part of the character, which is the aspect you're thinking of, but it needs to actually be seen as at least some part of them, for Dumbledore it effectively isn't. Basically, it not being an issue within setting and it hardly even existing within the setting are two different things.
Obviously opinions differ on this point. But personally, I think that it's pretty ridiculous that a character could be as central to the plot as Dumbledore was without EVER ONCE mentioning their sexuality. No, you don't have to harp on the sexual orientation or play up stereotypes. But sexuality is a part of life for most people, and should be treated as such.
Probably not in a kid's book though eh? I get that the Harry Potter books crossed over into adult reading, and of course there is a time and a place to talk with children about sexuality, but let's not confuse what those books were intended to be when they were written!
To be clear, I totally agree with your sentiment in literature that is crafted for adult readership. I don't believe it has a place in books written for the pre-teen market.
Why not? We see representations of heterosexuality all the time in kids' books. Married moms and dads, boys and girls dating, first kisses. All that junk.
