Cartoon Characters Who Were Significant In The Development Of My Queer Identity And Current Inspirations For My Weightlifting Routine -The Toast

Cartoon Characters Who Were Significant In The Development Of My Queer Identity And Current Inspirations For My Weightlifting Routine

ByDaniel Mallory Ortberg

on January 28, 2015 in LGBT

Hyena, Gargoyles

Influence on queer identity: Haircut, lascivious smile
Weightlifting inspiration: Squats, swimmer’s press

Kida, Journey To Atlantis

Influence on queer identity: Look at her
Weightlifting inspiration: Deadlifts

Carmen Sandiego, Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Influence on queer identity: Hair lustrousness, general butch-y swagger, boots
Weightlifting inspiration: Bent-over rows

Queen Beryl, Sailor Moon

Influence on queer identity: Cackling, imperiousness, redheaded deviousness

Weightlifting inspiration: Shoulder presses

The fox version of Robin Hood, Robin Hood

Influence on queer identity: Roguishness
Weightlifting inspiration: Endurance, cardio

Johnny Bravo, Johnny Bravo

Influence on queer identity: Campy, performative masculinity
Weightlifting inspiration: LIFT HEAVY

Gaia, Captain Planet

Influence on queer identity: Chillness, headbands, Bonnie Raitt-style stripe of white in hair
Weightlifting inspiration: Dips and pullups; functional strength

Fox, Gargoyles

Influence on queer identity: Cyborg extensions complicating notions of gender binary, lipstick
Weightlifting inspiration: Tricep extensions, planks

Demona, Gargoyles

Influence on queer identity: Everything

Weightlifting inspiration: Bicep curls, squats, bench press, box jumps

Monterey Jack, Rescue Rangers

Influence on queer identity: Sweaters, self-acceptance
Weightlifting inspiration: Food as fuel

Tank Girl, Tank Girl

Influence on queer identity: Cutting jeans into shorts, kissing girls
Weightlifting inspiration: Kettlebell swings

Poison Ivy, Batman

Influence on queer identity: Unhealthy romantic friendships, campy high femme performance
Weightlifting inspiration: TRX straps

Livewire, Batman

Influence on queer identity: That haircut, eyeliner application
Weightlifting inspiration: Walking lunges

Spinelli, Recess

Influence on queer identity: Leather jackets, machisimo
Weightlifting inspiration: Lift heavy, get in fights

Mallory is an Editor of The Toast.

Comments (73)

Logging you in...

Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout

Logged in as

+41 Vote up Vote down

ramina 119p · 530 weeks ago

You guys, I am doing a cosplay of Queen Beryl and seeing her here made me real real excited/happy

her anti-gravity boobs and shoulder talons inspire my entire life just saying

+22 Vote up Vote down

hussified 119p · 530 weeks ago

I can't decide if Kida or Spinelli gets more of my vote - right now it's a 50/50 awesomeness split.

+16 Vote up Vote down

thebellewitch 122p · 530 weeks ago

Bonnie Raitt stripe of white in hair: I want that. Sadly, as my hair begins to gray (I'm 31! Geez! 31!), it does not seem to be happening.

10 replies · active 530 weeks ago

+72 Vote up Vote down

bluebluebaby 111p · 530 weeks ago

CAN WE TALK ABOUT SHEGO IN KIM POSSIBLE THO

+51 Vote up Vote down

logicbutton 128p · 530 weeks ago

This post speaks to me.

Olivier Mira Armstrong, Fullmetal Alchemist

Influence on queer identity: disdain for paternalistic men
Weightlifting inspiration: swagger, everything else

11 replies · active 530 weeks ago

+16 Vote up Vote down

PierrePoutine 126p · 530 weeks ago

Very illuminating. I would also nominate Velma for inclusion in a roster of queer cartoon influences.

3 replies · active 530 weeks ago

+6 Vote up Vote down

pocketsprings · 530 weeks ago

Cheetara
She-ra
Jem

+11 Vote up Vote down

Sara · 530 weeks ago

SPINELLI !!!!

+10 Vote up Vote down

PretzelcoatlX 127p · 530 weeks ago

I never got to chance to see much of it before it went off-air, but Cybersix's drag king ways and never skipping leg day were one of my influences.

And if we're going into the video game realm, Sabin from Final Fantasy VI/III, for being a muscle bear who can suplex a train.

1 reply · active 530 weeks ago

+63 Vote up Vote down

katiemcgillicuddy 125p · 530 weeks ago

Influence on queerness: tank tops with boots, tough but vulnerable, questionable taste in romantic partners
Weightlifting inspiration: chest press, ship maintenance

2 replies · active 530 weeks ago

+5 Vote up Vote down

jekyllian 141p · 530 weeks ago

OMG

just

OMG

+52 Vote up Vote down

Räven 125p · 530 weeks ago

The foxiness of fox-Robin Hood makes me have unusual yearnings.

1 reply · active 530 weeks ago

+24 Vote up Vote down

Ava Adore 116p · 530 weeks ago

Hells to the yes re: Spinelli, fox-Robin Hood, and Carmen Sandiego.
Up for nomination: JESSICA FUCKING RABBIT, my queen.
(Also who let me watch Cool World as a child???)

I also found a lot of mine were non-cartoon, like Trini the Yellow Power Ranger and Rizzo from Grease and Atreyu from the Neverending Story. In YA books, I was about Kestrel from Night World and Helaine from Diadem and the version of Little Red where she kills the wolf or is the wolf.

+20 Vote up Vote down

ProfPumps 90p · 530 weeks ago

Since my twitter is private, I don't think my reply to today's "how did you know you were gay/bi" shows up, but for the record, my answer was: Jessica AND Roger Rabbit.

+14 Vote up Vote down

katerii 114p · 530 weeks ago

Team Rocket, tho.

1 reply · active 530 weeks ago

+13 Vote up Vote down

jennycieplak 120p · 530 weeks ago

Well, fox Robin Hood certain helped in my awakening as a straight girl, too. I didn't realize Kida existed, maybe I would have gone in a different direction if she had been around when I was a kid...

+26 Vote up Vote down

telophase 124p · 530 weeks ago

Integra Hellsing from the manga version of Hellsing:

5 replies · active 530 weeks ago

+13 Vote up Vote down

Just_a_Dinosaur 124p · 530 weeks ago

Well, the rest of my day is going to be spent pondering my cartoon influences now. (in regards to my queerness, that is; I don't even lift bro)

+18 Vote up Vote down

fakegeekgrrrl 118p · 530 weeks ago

Okay but how has no one mentioned Sailor Uranus yet. http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpmylcRuRJ1r02d...

Hiiii <3

3 replies · active 530 weeks ago

+7 Vote up Vote down

floridagal1 102p · 530 weeks ago

highfive for including Johnny Bravo!

+12 Vote up Vote down

crawlkill 129p · 530 weeks ago

women really get the short end of the phallus when it comes to a gushing list of Robin Hood's impacts on their queerery

would also have accepted the misunderstood woundedness of Slagar the Cruel

+27 Vote up Vote down

chrisyukine 1p · 530 weeks ago

The Major

Influence on queer identity: Purple hair and leather jacket, my physical body is a shell to be remade as I want.
Weightlifting inspiration: Running, squats, core strengthening, typing.

+9 Vote up Vote down

pretty_monster 106p · 530 weeks ago

i shall henceforth refer to this post when determining whether a particular exercise/philosophy is legit and worthy of inclusion in my life.

*brb updating workout routine*

+55 Vote up Vote down

zachariahary 147p · 530 weeks ago

So I know the Toast sets a pretty high standard for tags, but I'm not sure "gargoyles, gettin' swole, LGBT" is gonna be topped.

Also really hope someone one day performs a Google search for all three of those and it yields only this piece.

+11 Vote up Vote down

Carvell · 530 weeks ago

Just realized how much Lela's particular combination of toughness and vulnerability is a prototype for Lana Kane of Archer

+7 Vote up Vote down

vmartinipie 113p · 530 weeks ago

ugh I need to work out more so I, too, can look awesome in anatomically improbable outfits...

+18 Vote up Vote down

avidbiologist · 530 weeks ago

Aaaah this is so great. For me, when I'm around mostly women, my gender-aspirational(?) type seems to be the comically incapable beta male (Shaggy from Scooby Doo) or the scrappy and widely ignored but still hopeful protagonist dude (Rocko, also Balto but I think that is also because he is "mixed-race").

But when I end up in a group of dudes I feel 90-95% Johnny Bravo in that I have this inherent need to prove my masculinity to people who see me as this adorable little semi-Asian girl, and I have no idea how well it works but dudes get so baffled. It's great.

+18 Vote up Vote down

redschuhart 116p · 530 weeks ago

Influence on queer identity: shingled bob, ability to hover while meditating, icy exterior covering too many emotions

Shoutout to Robin also from Teen Titans, and Raimundo from Xiaolin Showdown for their cocky/insecure androgyny (they were small and slim, I took any genderqueer inspiration I could scavenge...) Thank you, Robin and Raimundo. for being the prototypes to my new over-identification with Lars from Steven Universe

+6 Vote up Vote down

gaytown · 530 weeks ago

Sailor Uranus aka Haruka/Amara. That voice acting of the English dub holds a special place in my heart.
http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh3k7fEpL21qejr...

+4 Vote up Vote down

autumnlorayne 104p · 530 weeks ago

Kida! She is so sexy. She definitely helped me see myself as sexual, as sexy.

+11 Vote up Vote down

JGlo · 530 weeks ago

Harley and Ivy remains my absolute favorite episode of Batman. Still pissed that men came between them. I wanted them to be badass together forever.

+5 Vote up Vote down

squishycatmew 99p · 530 weeks ago

My current fitness goal is basically "be Hawkgirl" (DCAU version), so, yes.

+5 Vote up Vote down

OncoMouse 121p · 530 weeks ago

Demona, yessss. Explains my queerness, my powerlifting, and my attraction to red-heads.

+2 Vote up Vote down

Maty · 530 weeks ago

Not a cartoon character, but Illia from Star Trek:The Motion Picture figured importantly in my trans identity. The fact that a person could fundamentally change was inspiring, if that's possible at ten years old.

+2 Vote up Vote down

Holistic Fertility 20p · 530 weeks ago

The first one looks like Jean Grey.

+3 Vote up Vote down

simoneblatt 106p · 530 weeks ago

Yessss Carmen Sandiego is my patronus.

But um what about Dana Scully I think my actual sexual orientation is "Mulder and/or Scully please"

+1 Vote up Vote down

poirot · 529 weeks ago

got to monterey jack grinning then guffawed

guff aw

Post a new comment

Comment as a Guest, or login:

Submit Comment

Subscribe to

Comments by IntenseDebate