Heartstopper S2: HeartTopper

The topping in question

That’ll do OP

Brava OP

Pride

Kit Connor is a straight gay-baiter.

Cancel his ass!

These guys are too ugly to have such a loyal following.

R6 and none of the people posting here have a dick.

Always nice to have local commentary. Anyway

So do we think Netflix already filmed all their promos and we are stuck with Bash?

R9

i mean they probably have more from this day. theres got to be more promo but who knows if he is included in that yet

The boys at Wimbledon

R11 twitter still not finding it is sending me. I presume wills plus one took it?

Checked out that troll account who replied to JBC and omg

R13 why is it so well done lol

OP is flicking her bean, as we type.

R12 it would require them admiring they lurk here.

Admitting*

I wonder if they’re a DL lurker or if there’s Bash tea somewhere we haven’t heard about.

R18 well now someone here has to get that info

r18 There used to be someone who said Bash treated his ex very poorly though I dismissed it as a weirdo at the time. not sure if it's the same thing though

They should drop it here… nothing like DL to get the information out to Twitter and Reddit without us lifting a damn finger

Thing is people can say anything, wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more to it but people are also clout chasers.

I heard the James stuff ages ago, no details but just figured it was a Bash hater. Can't even recall who was talking about it but they had mentioned knowing someone who knew the ex-bf

Do kinda love that person just point blank admitting they won’t share it because their fav (presuming Kit?) is friends with him. The honesty is good

They need to share the tea with us as we all dislike Bash now.

Does it involve their fave though? They could mean Joe which doesn’t bode well, did Bash abuse Joe or something?

R26 I think they mean it would reflect badly on Kit/Joe for associating with Bash, which is bullshit because how would they know his whole life story or what he was like with an ex? They're not responsible for whatever Bash's done.

R26 I doubt that. I think they'd spill if it were that dramatic

These interviews then leading to Bash cockblocking Kit and Joe to Brazil gives major possessive vibes. Kit is hot but he’s not that much of a threat like damn man.

R29 Genuinely reaching the point where I hope Joe and Kit wind up together and Bash rots.

Someone tell infinite candies that Joe and Bash breaking up isn’t her breakup and she has to stop crying in her mothers basement about it

R29 I don’t know, you put Kit and Bash in front of me and I wouldn’t hesitate in my choice. Especially post-glow up.

I forgot he legit went on that Brazil trip for no reason other than to block. I wonder how pissed Bash was when they finally got a solo trip with NYC/DC yes I know they were already broken up but I’m sure it got to him.

R33 I hope Joe mentioned it in the Rollacoaster interview the way Kit mentioned seeing plays in the NYMag profile. I hope he says he had the time of his fucking life.

Not that anyone asked, but have been thinking about how the cast is going to feel about bash moving forward. I think Kit will continue as he has been particularly as joe seems to really really want peace and in fact I think if bash chilled out, joe would be friendly to him. But I think after Pride he’s seen how shitty bash can be and if for some reason Joe just honestly told him that bash was making his life a misery and he couldn’t handle it anymore, Kit would cut way back on the nice comments etc. tobie and kizzy seem to just be looking for an excuse to cut bash out.

So Netflix have whipped up something real quick to at least share on the Most account. Clearly the Bash stuff is now being viewed as unusable

R31 She's stanning Chrlie after slut shaming him yesterday. Someone tell her Charlie has a boyfriend he wants to come back

Weirdos back to hating an actor called Sebastian Bash? Perhaps it's time to get a life instead of pretending you know these people because they couldn't give two shits about you morons. They actually have a life, even Bash. Get a real hobby instead of one that has to do with hiding behind your phones or pc and being weird and gross.

I hope Joe and Kit are asked if the other is a good kisser on screen and Joe is like “Yeah!”

R39 Wish he had more projects under his belt so he'd get one of those "who's the best kisser you've worked with" questions and he answered Kit despite kissing Bash.

R36 wow something out of Netflix that Joe is actually in a majority of, is this a miracle?

R38 back to? We never stopped.

Welcome back! I missed your insane meltdowns.

R41 dw, Rhea is the image on the post. The white straight character instead of literally any of the queer characters (let alone Joe), being used on the Netflix queer account. Just outdoing themselves today

R33 He went to Brazil for attention as well. I think people sometimes make it too much about Bash being scared of Kit and Joe being alone together like they'd bang if he wasn't there to stop them. He liked using Kit for clout over Joe in fact and liked to even take away from moments that should have been more about Kit and Joe to make it about himself and Kit.

R38 suspected Steph! Hey girl. How’s the intergenerational wealth going? Good, I bet.

R44 It's a combination of both. For all that he's an attention whore, it's still strange how much more demonstrative Kit became with Joe as soon as they broke up.

Idk if anyone cares, but more friends of charlie posting with no sign of Bash but more of the boyfriend. And none follow Bash either. There were like 20 people there. Having my doubts he got to fuck the twink.

R47 Imagine meeting a bunch of new people and none of them liking you enough to bother following you.

I’ll be pissed off too but I would hardly call the comic amazing.

Who is the fat one?

Netflix Brazil coming in with the damage control

The fact that Baby Queen used the fandom’s desperation for content for clout for a mid song

R52 then got absolutely no traction this time because Netflix and See Saw fucked up so badly today. Art

It fucking better because the promo is shit.

Are the crew in on damage control? Cause there’s been a couple of random posts where they’re like 2 weeks and posting empty set pictures?

R51 They did it the right way. Start with Nick and Charlie, then you can do Nick and Charlie apart, don't just focus on freaking Nick

R54 Don't trust employees

I’m sure season 2 is going to be good, people will love it, the cast and crew will be excited and proud when it’s here. But, they have really done a bad job keeping the enthusiasm leading up to the release.

R57 honestly I just hope (and honestly think this will happen) Kit but especially Joe body it so hard that it’s clear to Netflix and Alice who their moneymakers are, they cut out the side character bullshit, and they actually give joe the hype he’s earned

R49 Honestly hope comments like these keep popping up. If anything will cause Alice to step in, it's her ego.

R58 Kit and Joe got a lot of acclaim from the show right off the bat, but a lot of it also rolled in after they were already shooting S2 (Emmys, the year-end best of lists citing them specifically as what made the show work, etc.). Hoping them knocking it out of the park plus all of that causes them to course correct if the second season strays too far away from them with all of the side character shit.

The only part of the video that was released I like is Joe telling the story about his unwashed T-shirt and Kit having to muzzle him and Kit clearly suddenly goes back to that smell and was like “Oh, yeah! You stank!” Lol

*nuzzle not muzzle, maybe in season 10

Something wild about Bash talking to Kit about the time he pretended to SA his boyfriend's character while his boyfriend sat there and didn't get a word in

Some random Brazilian twerp is trying to argue that Bash is used in promo because he’s the most famous and best actor of the group and that if Kit wasn’t hot the majority of the fandom would have profile pictures of Bash. I wonder what it’s like to be that delusional?

R63 Hah follow up tweet compares him to Zendaya in Dune

R63 I just know it’s an ugly twink

[quote]two Vogue cover models

So fucking desperately retarded.

R63 that’s interesting, then why hasn’t he been cast in anything lol

R66 thanks babes xx

Anyway maybe I’m just a dick but rhea posting about her one year of diabetes like it’s one year of sobriety or cancer free or post transition or something big makes me laugh

R62 all that money and no 40 quid for crest white strips, huh

R60 Poor Kit and all of the olfactory trauma he suffered around Joe.

R62 That big-ass grin after watching that scene is crazy.

R63 When I tell you I burst out laughing. Convinced Brasilians are born with brain damage.

R62 his obsession with using “I’m so sweet and Ben isn’t” as promo and, as someone else pointed out, with basically calling himself a good actor is nuts. Couldn’t even throw ina “poor Charlie, joe was so great here”

R70 in Disney onboarding they literally warn you about Brazilians and only Brazilians lol

Ha. As a frequent park visitor I can see why r72

I’m not a frequent park visitor but I’m from a neighboring country and yeah, I get it.

Oh man Netflix really fucked up. Another post this one with almost 4k likes.

Someone said that having Joe Kit and Fuckface together makes it look like a love triangle to locals, omg don’t speak that into existence!

R75 Hardly anyone actually speaking up for Joe though.

R77 yeah it’s annoying that most of it is focused on bash hate (which I welcome) and not the overarching issue that Joe is always sidelined, including for but not limited to his useless ex

R75 What’s with this fucking myth about Bash being so famous that people keep perpetuating? Someone is doing it in the quote tweets of this one as well. (And yes, it’s another fucking Brazilian.)

R79 Apparently from GoT, and I watched GoT and he was a blink and you miss it younger Ned who had like maybe one line. Nobody knows who he was.

Didn’t GoT fumble itsself though?

R70 The Brazilians think Joe and Kit are ugly and Bash and Will are the pretty ones so there's that.

R81 He was in the good part of GoT for an episode

R75 The way they have such an easy set-up and fumbled so hard. All you needed to do was get Joe and Kit in front of a camera and it would have made noise. Now people are more positive about that AI-looking RWRB poster than about HS.

R80 As someone that didn't watch GoT, the only one of the younger non-regular actors I remember hearing about was Bella Ramsey.

R82 Incredible, they're only right about Will.

This is his whole GoT career

R84 Bella played an important character

Joe’ new story fucking lol

Not Joe trolling Kit on IG Stories.

Joe is so damn funny. Guessing he’s with Kit rn

Joe saving Netflix from ruin

R89 hilarious that Netflix still haven’t gotten it through their fucking heads that the winning formula isn’t “side characters in still shots” or “bash third wheeling joe and Kit and supplanting joe” or even just Kit solo. It’s legit just let joe and Kit interact one on one and see it go viral. Shockingly bad marketing

R87 Will this be Kit and Joe's way of doing social media in a way that fits along strike guidelines? Just shitposting about each other, because i would love that lol.

This word needs to be banned from DL

R91 I saw an eras style sweatshirt with photos of joe today. Would love Kit to post that back. Kit, as we love to think you frequent DL, here’s the link

R91 Think Joe's just being a little shit as usual. Though them going back and forth would be something fans would love. Take the bait Kit.

Kinda wonder if he saw the drama today since nothing fans like more than Joe mentioning Kit or trolling Kit.

Joe and Kit .are such an improbable pairing. Is that the appeal?

R94 Probably did. I don’t think I saw a single person from the main cast like the video on the HSTV account.

He’s so likable and cute

Is it just me or is bash a less attractive version of the guy from The Summer I Turned Pretty

R98 Gonna be honest, I don't know what that is so I'm gonna need a picture.

Anyway, another comic/Joe + Kit comparison.

This reply is sending me.

R99 They did Kit so dirty this season. His haircut is horrendous. So many great barbers in the UK too...

R101 It definitely has and it's hot as fuck, but it also sounds like he has a bit of a head cold in that video.

This is random, but does anyone know if Joe Bash Updates followed Daily Joe Locke? I'm pretty sure that they did and I think they unfollowed after they posted the Joe edit, lmao.

R102

ha love them. jb updates can stay pressed

I finally broke down and quit twitter, but I used to be friends on twitter with both the admin for the Daily Joe Locke account and the admins for JoeBash Updates. They used to be close moots. The whole former Joe/Bash corner of the fandom has completely fractured. It’s actually the reason I left twitter and now get all my gossip here.

Just checked and the DJL admin still follows the JBU admin but not the other way around. So it was an unfollow, not a block. It’s still obnoxious.

R105 Something about the respective stan accounts mimicking the breakup is cracking me up. DJL > JBU.

R104 the amount of joe stans who used to defend Bash with their life who now roast him worse than DL does sometimes is a bit funny. They almost seem more upset than Joe does. Though guess it makes sense since they thought Bash always looked out for Joe and turns out not so much.

R106 Another layer, until very recently they still had the pic of Joe, Bash and Connor at Adele as their pinned tweet, which I guess was a fan pic of them meeting them. They changed it now. The drama.

This one is at almost 12k likes now. A Herculean fumble on multiple levels.

R109 Getting ratioed on on promo post is super embarrassing

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

There are a bunch of quotes and stuff in that article...but I can't get over how terrible this picture of Rhea is.

Thats fucking horrible

We need a drinking game for interviews

Take a shot Yaz compares herself to some truly iconic person. Take a shot if Rhea mentions type 1 diabetes. Take a shot if pre-breakup Bash pretends Joe doesn't exist in interviews. Might be too much. We'd die.

R112 Did I miss something? What is this sudden urge to drag Rhea all the time?

People drag her for writing hot girl summer on Bash's IG and then not liking Joe's posts anymore, which is petty and maybe misguided, though truthfully the pic is just terrible.

R116 misguided of who, DL? I mean I think if the rest of the cast can see bash be a complete piece of shit to joe at pride and keep it professional, she doesn’t need to be out here taking sides publicly.

I mean, regardless of your feelings about Rhea regarding the break-up, that’s an objectively terrible picture. Those faux baby hairs never work on white girls.

Honestly kind of smart of rhea to not shut the fuck up about her diabetes. We all know Alice is looking for reasons to write storylines other than the one people care about, aka nick and Charlie, so rhea may be able to spin this as a very serious issue that deserves a whole arc. Bash should come up with one of his own for Alice to write an afterschool special on. How hard it is to have a nonexistent ass as a queer man or something

R117 I mean maybe they are fine idk. I'm not sticking my neck out defending her. Roast away

Lol the bash Stans are trying it. Private means he needed to be curt and rude to joe when joe tried to engage with him, yep

Maintaining your privacy means acting like you hate your boyfriend?

R121 don't get the need to act so freaking weird just because they were fucking. It was for sure coming from Bash the whole time and not Joe. He can't act professional for one moment, before or after the break up

R122 the same user commented that joe “acted the exact same” except… he wasn’t the one visibly flirting with Kit and he actually tried to talk to bash in it and looked over at him several times. Bash stared at the camera or at Kit. There’s a difference.

Joe as far as I remember was also complimentary of Bash in other interviews and I'm struggling to come up with a similar example for Bash.

R125 yet another example of both bash being a shitty clout chaser and joe an excellent actor. Because there was a lot to praise in joes performance and basically nothing to praise in bash’s

This is Kit, isn't it?

R127 those look like his hands. Joe needs to sack his PR rn. One cover and Kit’s just keep coming. Thrilled for Kit, fuming for Joe.

R127 Looks like him but the nose is a bit too big.

Will never get over how joe booked the biggest job post HS by a country mile snd gets less coverage than Kit, Yaz, and will. Awful PR

Kit follows the photographer so definitely him. I’m thrilled for Kit but kind of wild that after HS he’s booked one indie film and gets all this press

R130 His PR sucks. Just like Kit's team sucks at getting him new roles (I really hope he has one and can't announce it yet).

Honestly being a joe / Kit joint stan is at this point mostly a cycle of me being happy for Kit and feeling bad for joe that Netflix, the cast, and PR all continue to hype Kit a lot while joe gets fuck all lmao

I understand all the press, his online engagement is fucking nuts and he made global headlines last year, but it’s not like other outlets don’t exist that Joe could be getting features with. It’s fucked and I don’t really get it. Why is he determined to stick with such shitting representation

R127 Replying to myself, Kit is the only cast member followed by the Guardian Saturday account and he followed Nick Thompson recently so it's him.

R131 2 indie films, he won those acting awards, and he was at the center of one of the biggest stories in the last year so the coverage makes sense. At this point it's on Joe's PR agency more than anything else because Joe has hooks too, but they're not being used.

R131 Sadly, that has nothing to do with publicity. Will and Yaz have more coverage than Joe and they're not booking new roles either. It comes down to PR.

If I had a direct line to Joe I would tell him 2 things: dump Lego from the roster, dump Prosper from your life. Switch to Public Eye.

R133 I might be the only one but I don't feel bad for Joe because next year, he'll be everywhere. I know it sucks right now but Joe is with Marvel. He'll go to late-night shows and he'll be on billboards all over Hollywood. I think he's in a really good place. Just needs to switch PR agencies.

My guess is also after an embargo on it kits PR told press he was willing to talk about the coming out, which is part of why these really serious publications are so rabid to include him. Im guessing a bunch all thought they’d be the first mover on that issue.

Is there a reason that Public Eye wouldn’t have him? I know that’s sort of an insane question but I’m perplexed by the situation. Would it be too close to rep both he and Kit? I’ve always wondered why Joe isn’t with ITG too

R140 I can't think of a single reason they wouldn't take him, especially since they already have 2 other cast members on their roster. It might be Joe not wanting to switch.

R138 I mean it’s objectively absurd that Kit got hunger a month after HS and this year is getting British Vogue, New York Magazine/Vulture, and the Guardian back to back with no further work yet, and Joe is getting what Kit got just after s1. To be clear Kit is extremely deserving. Joes PR is just heinous

R138 I don’t necessarily feel bad either, but I do worry about his general PR. Marvel will do its Marvel thing for a month or two, but then what? He needs to get his ducks in a row on the PR front.

The "no further work" thing is irrelevant because he's out there for Heartstopper right now.

I just need Joe with another pr agency because i can’t put up with this when its time for Agatha

R144 it’s relevant for who these magazines are deciding to book. If they want someone for HS, They are deciding between two leads, one of whom filmed as a marvel lead between seasons and one of whom did a small indie. As I’ve said multiple times, it’s not a dig to Kit. It’s saying all else being equal with PR, I think there would be a more even division - Kit has the coming out story, joe has marvel, for instance. It’s just joes PR is so uniquely bad at their jobs, or kits is extremely good.

R142 Not really. Kit's name holds a lot of power for journalists and entertainment publications. He has a story to tell. Joe does too but his PR isn't good at selling it. I think Joe's career progression is insanely impressive. He's witty and intelligent. He has a lot of interesting thoughts. He needs a better PR team that can sell him to these publications. R144 Yeah, he's the co-lead in one of the biggest shows on Netflix UK and the new season is dropping in 2 weeks. That alone will get him a lot of attention. Joe, seriously, you can do so much better.

R142 it actually feels like Joe is going backwards. No Dior at fashion week but clearly no established relationship with Ami this point, he had GQ features after S1 first dropped, GQ MOTY last year. So far we have had a short piece In Entertainment Weekly and a cover with an Indi magazine that Connor was on months after his last paying job ended… At least he and Kit used to get coverage together. I absolutely agree that it’s down to PR. It feels like the coverage he manages is through his own charm and online clout (we often sleep on the fact he has pretty great engagement even though he’s hiding the numbers rn). He was in every official and unofficial photo round up of the Vogue self portrait party because he looks great, was charming up a storm, and has a great following.

R147 not to be a dick to you but I’m getting sick of caveating how clearly Kit deserves it and stating that my issue is the disparity, not joe deserving it MORE than Kit. My issue is not “Kit got these serious publications, he shouldn’t have, joe should have”. It’s “if Kit is getting things of this tier, it is crazy that Joe is stuck with things Kit did over a year ago”.

Also, joe and Alice did the actual full guardian interview last year so shitty they don’t follow him, but whatever

I’m hoping Charlie’s storyline in S2 gets the focus it deserves so Joe can have an entire conversation about it. He certainly can’t talk much about Billy without getting into trouble with Marvel.

R146 If, big if here, they were deciding between the two for some reason, Kit makes sense because he won the acting awards for the show being promoted and had the big story related to the show being promoted. Kit's two movies and Joe's Marvel series don't matter because they're not really talking about them at this point, they can't say much. The thing is, [italic]Kit's only been in, what, 3 magazines at this point?[/italic] There are hundreds of others Joe could be popping up. Prosper isn't pushing him. I don't think it's even gotten to the point where these publications are debating between the two because Prosper isn't doing shit.

R151 but I think you’re misunderstanding me. That’s exactly my point. “If all else was equal” is what I’m saying. Maybe Kit would still get marginally more, but I do think Joe could talk about marvel to some extent — and both the most recent Kit interviews have at most touched on HS, not been about HS. they’ve been about him, his career, and his coming out. Joes could touch on HS and Marvel and be about his career progresssion to date. The point I’m making is not “Kit shouldn’t get this”. It’s “all else is not equal” BECAUSE joes PR is shit.

R151 this. It’s like not like there is a tiny pool of media. I don’t care that Kit is booking bigger things (BV is massive for his stage in his career) it makes sense. But Joe isn’t being featured anywhere at the moment. I’d love to be able to hear from them both. Prosper clearly don’t do shit for him.

R149 I know. I think you may have misunderstood my reply because I was agreeing with you. I was just explaining that the problem is Joe's PR. There are no other reasons, in my opinion, why he's not getting those opportunities because as you said, he's the lead in Heartstopper and a future Marvel actor.

R149 Guardian proper doesn’t follow any of them, it’s just the specific Saturday magazine account that follows Kit.

R150 spoiler: it won’t, and even if it does get a full arc and he kills it, it won’t get attention because his PR is shit

R155 ah gotcha, that makes way more sense, thanks.

I have to think that Netflix PR at least booked something for them together if they booked Cosmo for the girls + Kizzy, right? Where the fuck are they in all of this?

R158 Last year, all the big covers/interviews came out after the show aired. We have to wait.

Also (and this is again due to good PR), in the case of British Vogue, apart from the obvious hook of Kit's coming out story, Kit's been fostering a relationship with BV/Conde Nast for almost a year by going to their events (both public and private). That plus the Loewe/JWA connection made that feature happen.

R160 oh agreed, Kit getting BV over joe made total sense to me based on connections and story. Hopefully Self Portrait is a step in that direction for joe. But again, I just think getting hunger a year after Kit as sort of the best publication while Kit is getting coverage by really serious publications shows how good kits PR is and how awful joes is

R161 Definitely, and now that Joe is in the UK through at least the beginning of the next year and potentially longer depending on the length of the strikes, those are the kinds of relationships he can foster. If his PR wakes the fuck up. I really thought something was going to happen with AMI since they sent him with someone from his agency but given the option I'd prefer Self-Portrait at this point.

Honestly not to psychoanalyze but I think joes lower self esteem probably plays in a tad here. Not thinking he deserves better coverage than what he’s getting or thinking that’s cocky. Need CAA to step in and tell him “this is ridiculous, you need a better team”

Honestly i just want something good for him. Like i know he is not Kit levels on engagement but he still does pretty good. He has the body for fashion, witty & smart and seems like he does care for the community. I need someone from CAA to tell him to sack his uk pr because they are not doing jack shit. He can go to the one kit/yaz/will have ir he can get himself a us pr agency to market the fuck out of him

8k likes.

R165 the fake lesbian ratioing the actual video says it all

Anyway, on a lighter non “joe deserves better in every way” (which, true) note — they’re so hot and so obviously fond of one another. Gonna need Kit to rail him asap

R167 Look, the way that goddamn video should’ve gone in the first place.

Honestly if Netflix had any sense they’d 1. Make the promo 95% just joe and Kit, 2. Do fun creative things that just let Kit and joe be Kit and joe. Joe showing Kit around IOM for instance, Kit taking joe to the gym. Alas

Also maybe I’m misreading this. But when Kit jokingly said bash was flirting with him all day, bash actually seemed semi pissy in saying wow. Seems more like he wanted Kit to indulge him and flirt back with him

imagine, they gave them a budget and have kit & joe go around London and do things. the fans would promo tf out of that and it would be low effort on netflix part

Will never be over joes lips

The thirst trap videos are already circulating. That setup was horrible. Joe looked like an outsider.

R173

ewww, ick vibes

One thing Heartstopper fans are doing right at the moment is not let Netflix breathe at all on Twitter. Even the casual fans who are not part of the fandom are calling out Bash/Netflix. Wonder if Bash has seen the backlash.

R175

he lurks so i no doubt he hasn’t seen it. probably complaining to his annoying ass circle about how people are out to get him

R173 yeah I’ve seen multiple tweets about how if they didn’t know better they’d assume bash and Kit were best friends and neither liked joe. The same thing happened re pride. There’s a common denominator.

R176 something about how joe tried to out him by acknowledging their TikTok probably and how joe should get on IG to defend him.

Anyway, sorry to Will for the crop but I wanted to focus on the most important part of this photo, joes perfect legs. I want to bite his inner thighs

Seriously, fuck Netflix. Don’t actually care about the sensitive Joe fan accusation now (which tbf have basically stopped since what’s-her-face fucked off and that one guy has chilled). The inclusion of Bash in that video was a fumble with Twitter, and an absolute fucking joke in terms of how they treat Joe. Bash talked over him, interacted only with Kit and by the sounds of that “he’s been flirting with me all day” this is just part of what they filmed that day. Grim

R178

no one has posted the photo on twt yet huh?

R166 that appears to be a real lesbian. Faux lesbian’s quote tweet has 20K likes… wow

She might be the dumbest person alive. Well it’s a toss up her or bash

R181 She's getting mixed reactions in the quote tweets. This whole thing was a mess. We already had a cute video of Joe and Kit reacting to S1 scenes. No one asked for this.

R183 Does this person have worm for brains. Yes, that's one thing we should fight for, more media that shows queer hardship.

And people are missing the point on the SA being show. it wasn't the time or place and the actor who had to actually pretend to be SA didn't get to speak about it.

R183 well that person is dumb as fuck because no one was saying the scene shouldn’t be in the show, they said it wasn’t an iconic moment to make actors react to.

This is to be clear no slight at all to Kit. I actually think considering they’re both his friends and how young he is he’s remarkably good at being sensitive to joe. But things like this remind me of the importance of interviewers in things like this, because while bash shouldn’t have been there at all, a good interviewer who can steer the questions back to joe and make sure he speaks enough is essential. Even with just Kit he talks less (in large part because in this and GQ they made every scene Kit focused), but when you have an attention whore like bash not only talking a lot but also engaging the only other person in the room, Joe doesn’t get a look in. It’s telling that cropping joe out of the video would be easier and more seamless than cutting bash out.

R185 clearly just conducted by one of the Netflix pr people who desperately want to suck Bash’s dick

I nearly spat out my drink when I saw best acting moment in the show and it turned out they meant BASH. It was one of joes worst scenes and he still absolutely bodied bash in it

In light of the comparison between this guy and Bash this made me fucking howl. I see this for our guy too. His 7 minute role being the one he spends two decades riding

R188 I mean all these girlies tweeting about how they just want to give bash, their little ray of sunshine, a hug will probably come true. He’ll be on the con scene for HS, and if he can swing it, for GOT. But then again his dad will float him a humble manor home if he’d prefer to be a stay at home son

R181 for the curious, Kit loving lesbians qrt has more than double the likes of the clip itself

Poor guy had a whole meet and greet on the plane.

R180 Kind of funny, looks like I gave them way too much credit when it came to finding things. I don't think they've picked up on Kit's Guardian cover either.

R192 now I’m actually really curious where you found the pic. I’m guessing DJL will be the first account on twt to pin it down. But they were working overtime today cropping bash

Yeah, DJL can steal stuff if they want. They always source the pics and were doing the lord's work today

R193 I have a feeling DJL won't post it if/when they find it because it's not from a random fan or a fellow famous person. They never post Lucy's posts even when she's public so I think they have a rule about that.

R195 makes sense. I wish there was a DM function on DL because I’m so curious both who posted it AND how you found it

Took them about 13hrs but the info account posted about Kits guardian cover

Random thing to remember, but when we were all interrogating the kind LA DLer who went to the Emmy’s about joe and bash, they said they didn’t notice Joe and bash being affectionate (minus the photo of joe leaning into bash and bash giving him no energy back), and that actually they were apart talking to separate people. At the time didnt think much of it but now I’m realizing, this was an event where they didn’t know many people AND joe had just lost an Emmy to their good friend. You’d think bash would want to stick with him and be half comforting or supportive. Guess not

R198 Just get the feeling Bash started checking out towards the end of last year the more I look at it. Not completely obviously since he kept following Joe around, just the general vibe I get. honestly most people understood it was probably pretty shit that he had to constantly wait around for Joe to follow and everyone thought that might have contributed too it. Too bad he acted like such an ass after.

Though Joe's always been the more physically affectionate one between the two

I honestly have started wondering if the first DA of whatever was in fact correct and Joe ended it because everything is pointing to Bash being an irl dismissive, possessive, showboating cunt. My new, based on absolutely fucking nothing, theory is that Joe took Lucy as cover to the rural play because he had realised Bash was a dick to him and ended it while he was there (or shortly after he returned to ATL). I’m choosing to think we read too much into the rearranging of rings in TS photo and being cutsie wearing his Olympics sweater, or maybe he thought he’d try to make it work and then decided not to bother. Not trying to dissuade anyone of the Bash went first theory but I’m choosing to believe that while he was away Joe realised how much more he was worth than this shit head and the way he treated him (based on this single Netflix pr clip)

R200 I can see Joe ending it, though still lean towards bash or a big fight, but don’t think he intended toor took Lucy as cover. Love the “rural play” shade though.

R199 you’re prob right but funny how when it was joe making all the effort in coming to London, being the plus one, etc for over a year pre show bash had no issue

LMAO!

R200 Maybe I'm babying Joe, but I think he's a combo of too nice and too insecure to actually do that. I think he was in it until the final moments. We've mentioned a hundred times already, but the person's behavior who changed pre-breakup was not Joe's

While I still think bash ended it, someone kind of floated this theory in an earlier thread I’ll crib from a bit if joe did. Basically that joe, having not seen bash for any period longer than a few days in months while bash was rich kidding around London unemployed and hanging out with monks, decided to use a few days of his one week off to go see bash’s play. And that, instead of treating him like a princess and spoiling the shit out of him, Bash decided to use this time to berate joe for not doing enough (having to miss his closing date, not spending the full week with him), brought up that billy agreed and didn’t like joe, and joe had a moment of clarity that he couldn’t keep getting this shit

R203 yeah putting aside how obviously distant bash was in the months before the break up, in hindsight things like Joe showing off the Cartier ring, bringing Bash one of the Taylor Swift bracelets, wearing the sweater, and whatever else make it more likely that he felt something was off and was trying to make it work

[quote] instead of treating him like a princes and spoiling him

A sin not worth forgiving and I'm serious

R203 you do you (said not in a cunty way). Agree nothing changed about Joe’s behaviour. In my version those legendary women he worked with gave him a talking to about self-worth and giving yourself permission to love and put yourself first (or something equally self help). It’s an elaborate scenario I’ve made up based on literally nothing except the fact that it seems like Bash has given off fucked up vibes forever that were excused because he seemed to love Joe

R206 my soft spot for joe is legit crazy so so am I. And in all seriousness even if bash felt they had issues or was a bit unhappy, when your boyfriend has sacrificed half his singular week off seeing family and friends he hasn’t seen in months to come to your play and hype you up, that is not the time to list your grievances

And not trying to argue against the idea since who the fucks knows, but if Joe knew his worth he would not be fucking around with the guys he's been fucking around with. No offense to OF Nick full offense to Lego

R207 I can get behind Patti telling him to dump the guy in a rural play since that's unseemly and Aubrey taking him to a gay bar

R208 Joe could fuck Bash's brother and I wouldn't blame him for it. So yeah, same.

And I can imagine him whining that Joe couldn't make his closing since he had to go do things with Kit tbh

R210 Patti heard bash’s American accent and called to dump him herself

R209 personally think big dicked, funny, arse eating OF Nick was the absolute perfect rebound (but I’m a fanboy now so objectivity has been lost). Lego is batting so far above it’s insane. I hope that he is literally spending every minute they are together praising Joe’s perfect body and face. I also hope he can fuck and eat arse potentially as well as OF Nick

Another theory that’s been kicking around in my head with no real proof is that bash being weird about joes friendships with the other HS guys (or guys generally maybe), especially Kit, contributes to none of them visiting him in America. Not saying Atlanta while joe is working is an ideal vacation spot, and obviously some of them were busy, but it seems unlikely to me that tobie for instance wouldn’t be down to visit or have free time for it

R213 I choose to believe for my own sanity that tal in private does nothing but call joe beautiful, sexy, and glorious and both physically and verbally worship him. Even so joe can do better. And while I do love OF nick I still think Joe is absolutely out of his league too and frankly I judge him for not falling madly in love with joe!

R213 I cannot think there is any self respecting queer top who would see joes ass and not faceplant into it

R215 Mate, he probably did, come on now. Joe is seemingly his absolute type, plus he’s all the other amazing traits we know about him. I have always chosen to assume that joe wanted to keep it casual. Which I fucking hope is what is happening with Lego too.

R216 the absolute truth

Place your bets: How many stupid weirdos who know nothing are gonna ask if Kit really gave Joe the hickey when that scene comes out?

Tbh I mainly expect a lot of very casual fans to be asking if they’re together irl because the chemistry is so intense. But yes, purateen are going to have a lot of feelings and want to know exactly what happened

I’ve already explained how makeup fucking works to people on TikTok and the puriteens are hella annoying.

i’m confident the chemistry will make me question them for a second too

R219 How many of them are on DL is the real question

I believe they practiced for research purposes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if terrible Joe/Kit Fanfiction starts being written

When do we think the Heartstopper season 2 premier will be?

Going to say the 27th because that's when the RWRB one is.

Bash stans's new line of defense seems to be that Joe started flirting with Kit in interviews first. They seem to not understand that the flirting/banter between Joe and Kit never happened at the expense of Bash the way Bash's desperation for Kit happens at the expense of Joe.

Still hilarious that Kit made it a thing that Bash was flirting with him the entire day when Joe is right there. And Kit’s eyes were on Joe both times he’s squeezing Bash’s knee. How is his flat ass not embarrassed?

R228 I’d go crawl into a hole if someone told the room I’ve been flirting with them the whole time.

R228 The only upside was Kit either deflecting or treating it as a joke the entire time.

R228 said it upthread but bash seemed annoyed Kit said that instead of flirting back

R227 That person summed it up well since at least Joe fans thought Bash was a good boyfriend.Joe and Kit play love interests. They don't flirt with each other in interviews while ignoring other people. Joe has never done that. Like fuck Bash, do you not even remember your character is love interest of Joe's too, not Kit's.

R229 Saying in front your the guy's boyfriend too. Like chill out Bash.

R227 actually says a lot about bash as a person and boyfriend that the one time he’s there, Joe is the most nervous and quiet I’ve seen him, he makes zero attempt to really create banter or flirt with Kit, and he actively goes out of his way to try to engage bash

Yeah, in retrospect it’s wild that the vibes were that off when they were still together at that point. That interview could have happened post-breakup and probably would have gone about the same.

R227 that person is demented. Their tweets are just a defense of bash 24/7, a personal favorite being that no former colleagues have publicly shit on bash therefore he’s lovely.yeah, most people are more professional than bash but get a few drinks into Ncuti or kizzy and see what they think. Also as someone else mentioned, they are randomly both trans and Jewish post the HP game so they can better defend him.

Anyway, this tweet is batshit. Much as I dislike bash I’ll agree the fandom had given him some unfair shit. But to not mention Kit at all when he literally felt forced to come out, and to act like joes bullying was in the past when to this day I come across multiple really vicious hate tweets about him daily is demented. These people can’t be real

Yes, this is definitely what everyone wants to see more of, Netflix.

R236 and of course rheas bug eyed self has already replied. Glad our brave queen could take a few min away from her v important disability advocacy, kissing bash’s flat ass, and being bitchy to a teenager to try to angle for a bigger role.

RWRB is doing a screening for some fan accounts next week. Netflix is dropping the ball

R238 Going to assume the info about the cast attending is out of date, especially since both leads have been vocal about the strike.

So the three clips we have of joe and bash in public or PR settings together are of (1) Bash ignoring joe going “Brighton is pride! Gay people!” In the soho house interview until he finally seems annoyed and goes “yes rainbows”, (2) bash ignoring joe even when he talks to him, dismissing his statement rudely, and flirting with Kit here, and (3) refusing to take a photo with him at Dior? Bearing in mind he only had an invite to all 3 because of joe. What a fucking charmer. And we wonder why Joe has low self esteem

The Kit cover. He’s hot

‘I wasn’t used to the idea of millions of people being interested in my private life’

Heartstopper's Kit Connor is 19, lives at home with his mum and dad – and is a megastar thanks to Netflix’s take on the teen gay love story. In tomorrow's @gdnsaturday, the actor talks about accusations of ‘queerbaiting’, being outed at 18, and his pal Elton John.

R234 The vibes are weird in general after the summer of last year looking back.

R240 I was gonna say that again. Not that a relationship can fix your self esteem but kind of wild how Bash treated everyone else publicly vs how he treated Joe.

R241 When I think of Kit Connor I think of rebel

The fact that for a third time in a row the piece talks about the coming out pretty much confirms to me that my suspicions his PR has alerted media that the embargo or pause he very understandably had on talking about it is over, and it explains a large part of the recent interest. Kits amazing generally but that story was way bigger than him

I'm not going to lie, as much as I love Kit I'm over the queer baiting/coming out story. I understand that it was a big cultural moment and had a profound effect on him but it's reaching a point where I feel it's being milked a bit.

Extremely hot cover, though.

R243 I don’t know, I’m super into Kit leaning into the James Dean thing.

R245 I think he talks about it super eloquently but tbh I’m almost worried that at a certain point he’ll get backlash because people will say he’s using it for attention. To be clear, that’s not how I feel — it’s his shitty experience and his story and I would never stop complaining about it, let alone handling it in as eloquent and diplomatic a way as he does. But when it’s the focus of every big or serious interview he does I do think people will start being bitchy about it eventually. But I think his PR is really good so I’m sure they’ve anticipated that and are being strategic

He could run the risk of that always being the topic of conversation or lead to other personal conversations, but seems like he's got a good team behind him though (better than Joe's tbh) so I'm not concerned.

R248 literally everyone’s is better than joes. He is one of the easiest people in the world to pitch — his career progression, being out in his first role, being a working class actor in a classist industry, being super political and successfully lobbying for a law change with his platform, his body dysmorphia, being queer in marvel (even if he can’t discuss the role). Easy. And yet he’s getting a magazine kits or landed for him a year ago. Fuck Prosper PR

Joe liked Lego's shitty Disney tattoos so the theory he avoided Tobie's post for Disney is debunked. Sorry my guy.

R249 UK industry is soooo nepo babyish too, and he's gotten where he is by his talent so yes it's a good angle, and he's so proudly openly gay too.

So my thoughts, generally. I don't think the overlap between the readership of the 3 publications he's talked to so far is super significant to the point where it would lead to oversaturation. Kit gives great interview, so even when he's addressing one of the biggest things to happen to him in the last year (understandable) a couple of times, we're hearing the one story with different dimensions. But mostly, after a year of every op-ed writer across 6 continents milking the fuck out of Kit's coming out, and after everyone from celebrities to politicians weighing in on it, Kit absolutely has earned the right to "milk" it.

R251 I don’t think anyone is disagreeing about kits right to discuss it. As I said at r247, I’d never shut up about how Fucked it was and I would not do it in as nice a way. People are voicing concerns about the way people will react to it, not Kit doing it. I don’t think we need to defend Kit from people mentioning the fact that people are dicks and will be nasty and say he’s just using it for PR.

It’d be weirder if he wasn’t talking about it, to be honest. And I appreciate that the Guardian Sunday cover highlighted the teen idol part.

Okay, which DLer is this?

R252 People were already doing that before he said a single word about it, they're not worth paying attention to. It's always the same miserable gays, too.

R254 sure, but I think it’s unfair to act like I’m saying Kit is milking it when what I’m saying is I hope his PR is thinking strategically and making sure he avoids backlash, which I also then say I’m sure they are.

Also, wouldn’t be surprised if we end up hearing that Elton and David reached out after Kit came out, it would make sense if that was the trigger in the closeness they have now. Taking Kit under their wing after that.

Just to clarify, I don't think Kit is milking it. He's absolutely earned the right to talk about it. I just feel that I'd rather see his experience about it in one really good, well written article rather than several magazines using it as their lead. I don't feel the optics are fantastic in the way it's currently been done. That isn't Kit's fault, more something his team should be aware of and anticipating.

R256 I agree this will almost certainly be the story.

Tbh I don’t think Kit’s coming out will be the issue. You see the miserable gays talking about already but who gives a fuck. I think it’s more likely just over saturation generally but considering how incredibly popular he is, his PR are doing a great job keeping that contained. I’m glad he stopped talking about how people shouldn’t make assumptions about his sexuality based on his version of masculinity. That went down like a tonne of shit with the gays in the comments when the queer media started reporting that quote from the GQ interview.

Instagram caption for Kit's cover was amended to add the following:

[quote]* This interview and photoshoot took place before Sag-Aftra went on strike

R242 First putting his tiddies in the shadows and now covering it up with text. Ugh.

R259 interesting, he and joe both seem very concerned about not strikebreaking and standing in solidarity as much as they can. Good for them

Optics are fine, the average reader isn’t seeing all of these stories anyway. One or two at most.

It only shows they’ve got a real future in Hollywood to consider.

R259 That's pretty interesting. I think they are for sure going to limit promotion. Wonder if this means no new interviews at all. Netflix being struck but technically being able to force actors to promote is pretty shit

Joe reposted Aubrey's post about the strike earlier as well

She, Joe and Kit should go search for hot daddies together

R265 she’s also posted it with I ❤️ hot moms. Equal opportunity, love it. Kit and joe wing manning for one another would be great, Kit and joe fucking one another would be better

It is what it is. Yaz talks about being trans in every interview because it's a huge part of who she is. Kit coming out is a huge part of what's happened to him since he blew up. Hitting the same talking points in one promo cycle is what every celebrity does. New York Magazine's print story did lead with the coming out, but British Vogue's was titled "Boy Wonder," Guardian's is "Rebel With a Cause." I feel like we're getting into the talking in circles part of the day, though, so I'll let it go.

R263 Pretty much. I'm sure both of them feel real solidarity, but they're also being very careful for the sake of their careers.

R255 One more thing, though! Just so there's no confusion, I'm not sure if you're also R245, but they're the ones that said "where I feel it's being milked a bit," and that's the only reason I used that word in my general thoughts.

R268 oh I missed that. No, different person, sorry for the confusion

I have a feeling HS is going to look like a quaint relic in 5 years time. I haven’t rewatch season 1 for a few months, but even looking at clips now, not sure it’s aging well. The only reason I’m still invested is because Joe and Kit is hot as fuck. The fact that we don’t have any confidence it’s going to improve or not is annoying (not because of the 2 leads).

R270 I'm fully expecting it to be an "of its time" thing, as long as Joe and Kit get what they can out of the experience it's whatever.

I guess Alice is going the predictable "Nick misses Charlie's show" route and this'll kickstart their issues around Nick going off to uni.

R271 as per usual with Alice, ick continues being the most shit boyfriend of all time improved only by kits acting and Charlie continues to be an emotional mess improved only by joes acting

R270 It's a bit old even now since Alice writes the characters like they are on tumblr in 2013

JBC freaking out over the tweet ratioing Netflix is so funny, enjoy those 5 likes versus the 27.9k likes on the original tweet. Also, the tweet doesn't even mention Bash, they tell on themselves.

Wasia was performing at latitude fest today. Wonder if any of the cast went

Maybe Heartstopper will be the friends they found along the way 🤪 For real though, I agree that it’s just gonna be forgotten about in 5 years. Sure the cast will have their friendships and the good memories and will forever be great full for it but the show totally eclipses the comics and Netflix is doing so bad with it.

Does the fact that the interview clarified it was done prestrike mean we won’t be getting any promo for HS? That would be unfortunate, I was looking forward to al the cute promo interviews.

R277 Probably. I'm hoping that Netflix saw the writing on the wall and got Joe and Kit to do shit before the strike was called, but given how completely fucking inept they've been up to this point I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get anything other than what their own PR agencies booked.

The only content we will get will be from that one day on set in the winter so… get used to seeing bash dominate the conversation, flirt with kit and monopolize his attention, and Joe be quiet and retreat into himself. A lovely way for us to see the lead!

It's shitty though interesting in a twisted way to see what a fucking awful boyfriend he was. Bash stays losing since he has zero redeeming qualities now

And yep, I expect more promo from the same day with him treating Joe like shit. They still haven't released all they filmed that day.

Start placing your bets, what is the potential scene in S2 that would inspire an entire article?

I’d like to think the article would be about eating disorders and mental health.

At the end of the day, this is just a cheesy little show that expresses queer joy and in no way is trying imply its realism. People are going to enjoy it, the cast are proud of it and it’s keeping Netflix on the map for a couple of years after Stranger Things finished. It’s not any deeper than that.

R281 either EDs (I think one of the actually interesting things Alice does is make it about control and OCD explicitly rather than looks), something about parents enabling their kids shittiness (Sarah Nelson is meant to be mum of the year but does fuck all about David bullying nick), or the ethics of outing ((if as we guess Ben and imogen date and Charlie and nick don’t want to out him)

R281 Nick coming out for the 15th time (biphobic brother edition)

Another Cori/Kizzy feature.

How many pictures can we expect from a typical Guardian Saturday cover story?

R287 Last week's had the cover plus 3 with the story.

Another Kit picture from Andy Gotts.

Is the literal main character of the show going to get any covers/promo…? What the fuck is going on.

R290 I like Cori and Kizzy a lot and I'm glad they're getting these opportunities but it is SO fucking weird that Joe is invisible right now. The kid looks great on magazine covers and gives good interviews. It's astounding how much they're dropping the ball with him.

R291 At this point I'm thinking that Joe stuff is going to come out in August. All of this stuff with Cori, Kizzy, Yaz, Will, and Kit was shot in May. Earliest Joe was back in the UK was near the end of June. His stuff might be delayed a month because of it.

Kit was back at Whitgift this morning:

[quote]Incredible to see @whitgiftschool alumni at Whitgift Summer School this morning. One of @kit.connor ‘s biggest fans, Katy met him and chatted about her summer! Myles Alcindor and Kit Connor then put Clemens, one of the Senior Activity Leaders through his paces in a game of basketball 🏀 🏃🏻‍♂️

One more.

R292 ah true, he has been busy with Agatha since January.

R293 Big fan of this picture.

R251 I agree. And people are already clowning him for it after the British Vogue article. If talking about it helps him process the trauma, I don't have a problem with it. I think he's doing it for his own piece of mind rather than for the fans.

R293

oh he looks good, but lowkey the guy on his left is hot

R289 fucking amazing that he had that opportunity. The photos are so different for him

R297 I thought it had been universally well received, or is it just the usual people out to find fault in him?

R293 nice bulge shot there

R292 Not only was Joe busy until later, but magazines might also be choosing to hold off interviews with him until after the show comes out so they can discuss s2. Joe admitted to having body dysmorphia in GQ last year and Charlie’s ED is supposed to be a big part of S2. If Joe wasn’t available until June anyway, and magazines want to draw that parallel it makes sense to feature Joe in August or September issues of things.

R302 Joe’s pr is so shit that I’ll believe it when I see it but I agree you have a fair point there

R300 There were multiple viral tweets where everyone was dunking on him. Some were defending him but he received a lot of hate and biphobia.

At least they won't cut down on Charlie's storyline. I wish we had more interviews with them but we probably won't because of the strike. I just want to watch the season and be done with it tbh.

R305 Sexual threat? Has that always been there? Didn't notice it in S1 but I assume it must have been.

R306 Yeah, that was there last season.

If Kit is back at whitgift and was at his brothers graduation the other day, we truly are getting basically no promo. And joe will be least featured of anyone. Incredible scenes.

R308 Honestly think they're honoring the strike and not shooting anything new, which fucking sucks.

Joe and Kit have such expressive faces. The way you can see everything they're feeling rewatching this scene.

R308 They definitely filmed some things in NYC. Btw, no one has received the Rollercoaster magazine yet?

R310 I don’t think I’ve seen anyone get a dispatched email yet, a UK DLer might have better luck finding it on newsstands before then.

R309 when Joe reposted Aubrey’s post (which is location tagged at Netflix, though I don’t think he was really considering that) I thought it was probably over in terms of promo

R310 they said they’re hoping to ship the, soon to someone who tweeted a scrrenshot

R310 at this point I’m bracing myself for minimal content and for most of it to include bash

Kit liked the New York Magazine profile's photographer's post, I think this is the first time he's acknowledged it at all.

Joe hasn’t like tals reel from a few hours ago so holding out hope he’s doing magazine shoots or something

R316 Genuinely hate you for making me aware of that reel because I went and looked like an idiot, and now I'm haunted by the fact that he is so fucking bad at his job that he can't even fucking trace a stencil he Googled and printed out. How the fuck did he fuck up the top of Donald's head like that? I would fucking sue.

Joe truly has one of the most expressive faces.

R317 Christ on a cracker.

R317 but I also made you aware of the fact that Joe didn’t like it, so silver linings that he’s busy rn. Also I looked through all the other tattoo artists at the shop and other friends tal has hung out with, and minus his brother Joe met at the event, the Pusey at doll who doesn’t follow joe back, Lucy (who I still think got a tattoo), and that sofi photographer, none of them follow joe and vice versa, joes friends don’t follow him. So that’s something.

R317 Thinking about how Joe is probably rocking one of his tattoos. Day ruined.

R321 miraculously I think it might just be sex. And until shown otherwise I choose to believe joes perfect skin is unmarred by Tal

Have to give it to their marketing team. They know it's the leads that are the talking point and that's all they are focusing on.

R323 tweet deleted lol

The affection.

I’m getting edits of this video now on TikTok and some of them are so funny (and strange).

R325 this is odd to say but I’ve noticed how much mutual respect, let alone fondness and genuine friendship, they have for one another when talking. Joe defers to Kit a lot or shouts him out for being great, Kit lets Joe (who is quieter and shyer in interviews) actually say what he wants to say without interrupting or taking up the story himself. It’s a great dynamic. I wish interviews were more evenhanded and gave Joe more to talk about so we could see it more

R327 A communication skills coach on YouTube did an analysis of one of their interviews from S1 and basically hit the same points you did.

R328 that’s funny, I hadn’t seen that. I think I notice it because acting is often a field that attracts bigger or more attention seeking personalities, so having two people who so clearly respect one another and want to hear each other out is really refreshing, especially given they’re so young

R323 Was this about RWRB? To be fair, they don't really have a choice. They butchered all of the interesting side characters minus one.

Legit funny that bash fans have to close crop him in the interview to try to prove he’s a little sweetheart because the full frame shows him being extremely dismissive of or ignoring his extremely sweet, shy at the time boyfriend and flirting with their clearly taken aback costar

“Of course he ignored Joe” to DEFEND bash is one of the craziest things I’ve ever read

The reply is equally moronic.

[quote]also J is doing the exact same thing like

You mean when Joe was trying to engage Bash, that thing?

R333 also it’s the combo of joe trying with bash and bash dismissing him, bash basically praising his own acting ability while ignoring joe in their shared scene, bash flirting with Kit in front of him, and bash straight up never looking at joe even when he was speaking that pissed people off. Joe did none of the above. Crazy how when joe brings up their TikTok bash goes “everybody did it” to dismisss it as unoriginal and when Kit tries to be nice and say he never did, bash immediately says they have to make sure Kit does it

Joe's been online recently, he liked Yaz's most recent post.

Incredible how dumb Netflix are. This random screenshot with Bash cropped out has more likes than the Netflix UK account's post of the video and is 3k away from surpassing the main Netflix account's post.

They’re marketing department is so brain dead it’s unbelievable.

Marketing Hearstopper should be the easiest thing in the fucking world. Sit Joe and Kit next to each other and turn on a camera. Done.

Their* Jesus

The Brazilians are starting to get fed up, too. 9k likes on this one.

I do think Netflix may be scrambling now though. Usually once they start promos they release a video a day. Not having something today makes me think they are afraid to release more Bash content.

God, we need new content. Nothing more excruciatingly boring than a retelling of the stupid tweets Bash's fans are making.

R340 yeah, them not reposting it on IG makes me think the same. They got ratioed in an awful way. But also does ,ale me worry that indeed most of their pre filmed promo is from that day and has bash’s dumb ass in it. Alas

R341 as always with people complaining, you’re welcome to post other content or scroll by

Ok so did S2 leak anywhere or are they just shitposting

Gonna be fun, no new promo, Joe and Kit not reposting anything and all the promo Netflix has will have Bash in it. I doubt they got a lot of Joe/Kit promo stored away since Joe was gone for over 6 months

Looking forward the that fan tweet Q&A video being questions about Kit they'll make Joe answer and a question about his coffee order. And Bash being annoying.

R343 The N at the top right makes me think it’s actually a screenshot from the trailer?

R343 Please, let this be true.

R332 I enjoy the comments about how it's Bash's 1st ever hs promo interview. Poor guy had to learn how not to treat his then boyfriend like total shit. Give him time! If he didn't ignore him and flirt with Kit then people would think he and Joe were fucking is the next leap in logic I'm assuming they'll use.

R344 god I can see it.

Kit: “how was it working with Olivia”, “can you describe your thought process behind this scene”, “what are your career goals”

Joe: “what’s your coffee order”, “how amazing was Kit in the coming out scene” “can we see your weird thumbs haha”

With bash’s dumb ass commenting on how amazing and sexy Kit is

R343 god those jawlines

R343 The need to leak the trailer. No one cares about Netflix or Alice anymore.

Figured it out, it’s an alternate thumbnail for the reaction video from yesterday. Pops up when you Google the title of the video. I think they might have accidentally used the thumbnail meant for the trailer at first and it got picked up.

Christ the way Joe’s face just reads like he is absolutely in love.

He’s so talented. Kit too lol.

R352 not to be cheesy though I am, but bash giving up joe looking at him that way… total fumble

R352 No offense but the random girl in the back is stealing the scene.

Whoever said they’re scrambling, correct. No new promo today and posting about Tara and darcy

DJL posted a higher resolution of the picture.

R356 they’re both so hot but god joes perfect face. If I was bash I’d kill myself for losing that

Hilarious once again how obviously all the accounts come on DL. Seeing that still everywhere. Gotta do the watermark trick in the future

I think DJL figured out how to get the higher resolution on their own and then everyone else stole it from them, lmao. Don't quote me on that, though.

R358 No one’s found the Wimbledon picture yet, right?

R355 Yup full on damage control, Im so curious what the rest of the promos look like. If Bash suddenly is missing.

R361 he does t shut the fuck up, so doubt they can cut around him. It’s actually wild how little of a fuck they give about joe

We’ve all talked about what an utter prick bash was towards joe in public, so here are some examples from pre breakup

R363 Not a Greatest Hits compilation. Please know that I cherish you deeply, DLer.

R363 The photographers saying together and Bash walking off, Bash refusing to say pride or gay as Joe repeats it, and holy shit that last clip ive never seen that what an asshole... Your boyfriend comes running up to you excited you pat him and then just leave him behind wtf.

R363 The only way you could make it more damning is by following those clips with all of the times Kit did the opposite (the times he waited for him at the first London Pride they did, the times he checked up on him the second London Pride, all of the times he's complimented him in interviews).

R366 funny you should say that. My only other Vimeo video is this

R365 and walking off after Joe had just lost the NTA, mind you. I think joe is actually really humble and didn’t expect the NTA or Emmy but for bash’s reaction to be ditching him after the NTA loss and actively presenting and posting about joes Emmy loss is batshit

its crazy how the plus one treating the invitee like that.

R362 I don't know about that. This was the first time Bash has been in a promotional interview for the show. And knowing they are canceling pre-established interviews because of the strike (the brazil Twitter guy) I think they'll release the little content they have, after the premiere.

Crazy chemistry

R370 yeah. The clips aren’t getting hammered on Insta the same way they are on Twitter. They might release stuff there and just avoid Twitter.

R363 so funny and yet sad really. To me Joe actually looks a bit pissed in parts of the new reaction video tbh. And, I’m an absolute fan of Kit (basically just want to fuck him less than Joe) but I don’t think Joe loved him grabbing Bash’s knee like that at all. I realise it was just their dynamic but it makes me wonder if Joe wasn’t actually as okay with all the flirting as he made out. Kit obviously would have had no idea about that so I’m not putting it on him at all. Think that either Joe wasn’t comfortable enough putting those boundaries in with Bash or Bash didn’t give a fuck. Not a great look for the ex either way

R372 I thought Joe looked more uncomfortable than pissed, but I do also think if he knew one of bash’s “boundaries” was no joke flirting from other men, and yet those same guys could joke flirt with bash and in fact he would instigate it, it’s not fair or fun.

YMMV, but I thought what made him uncomfortable was that Bash had apparently been hitting on Kit long enough that Kit pointed out that it'd been going on all day.

R374 while also completely ignoring joe in the process. If a minute after I tried to mention a TikTok we made to my boyfriend and he was curt only to them tell our mutual how sexy he is, I’d be peeved

R374 Yeah. Kit even shared a look with Joe before saying that. It looked more like Bash was all over Kit for some reason that day. I don't think it's necessarily bad, Joe is a big flirt and I don't think he cares. The thing that seemed to bother him was Bash ignoring/dismissing what he was saying and barely making eye contact.

R363 The bro pat and walk away after Joe came exciting running after Bash at the NTAs is crazy in hindsight

Also starting to think bro hugs in public were bash's idea

R373 I wasn’t clear really. My comment was an observation in two parts. Joe looked pissed in parts unrelated to the flirting and more just when Bash was dominating the responses. Watching that whole interaction with the knee grab again it’s actually just fucking weird, as Kit is looking straight at Joe and not at Bash at all both times. If they didn’t then go on to call each other darling later I’d say that Kit was grabbing him in a “calm it the fuck down” way. So my earlier comment doesn’t really stand

Lol not Patrick sharing Joe’s Rollacoaster cover a month after the fact because Joe’s pr and Netflix have done nothing else to promote him at all since. Just wow

R373 Bash always does that shit. I mentioned last ago in a thread Joe must be the most secure person in the world to deal with his public behavior with other people and not mind it since he didn't get any of the same behavior back and seemed to limit himself in how he acted with other men while dating Joe. Spoiler, he probably wasn't

R390 Er, while dating Bash. Bash did no limiting of behavior. I can't type

R379 atleast he finally sees Joe deserves attention.

R380 yeah seems less like joe was so secure and comfortable in the relationship and more like a combo of him being a very sweet non jealous person but also being insecure and getting walked all over by his narcissist ex

R379 I had been wondering earlier if Netflix had told Alice and Patrick to start reposting press given that it looks like most of the cast is hands-off at this point on that front, but sharing that cover a month later is wild.

R300 that was more what I was going for. It’s just the first time we’ve seen something so blatant go on and Joe just didn’t looked like he loved it. But now agree that the look was probably more exhaustion/annoyance from having to deal with it so much that day to the point Kit actually had cause to mention it, rather than with what actually happened on screen.

R380 Hilarious. Back in the day, everyone was saying how Bash must be so secure to date Joe knowing he has to make out with Kit for work. People called him mature when he said his favorite scene was the corridor kiss.

R396 I don't know what to think about him constantly saying he loved that scene now. I think it was more for attention than much else. And also constantly pushing that he loooved the scene with Joe making out just tracks with him acting like there was nothing between the two of them in public. I guess if I were charitable I'd say he was hyping up Joe, but seems doubtful since he could have picked a Joe scene.

R387 I always thought their dynamic was “private not secret” but now I’m not so sure. I think it might have been as secret as Bash could get away with without losing Joe. His comments about that scene now read as deflecting attention away from his actual relationship

R388 There's nothing secretive about kissing in public and grazing your boyfriend's ass at a festival. I think he said that was his favorite scene because he was overcompensating.

I also know they’re extremely close and he’s her only child so of course she’d want to see him. But sort of nuts that joes mum, who is a teacher and has a real job 5 days a week without a high income, spent as much time in America as his extremely rich unemployed boyfriend did

R389 damn, told. Entirely good point

Will also point out for all Lucy and joe are staying mature and liking things, for the bash Stans who like to lurk and insist that the Steph and billy unfollows mean joe did something wrong — joes mother’s threads account is or was public and her following looked like just her default IG following. And she does not follow bash anymore.

R389 Well, who wouldn't with Joe. I think overcompensating is a good word for it though.

R392 She was mutuals with Bash's mom after not following her at first too. Not sure if she still is since I don't really go there.

R393 she’s now private but yeah, she was.

Unrelated: Joe has followed them on IG for a while, but he just followed wonderland magazine on threads. So hopefully something coming there.

For some reason it’s still sending me that none of twink Charlie’s friends or brother follow bash

R395 There arent even any other pics of him in any of their or charlies posts or stories, safe to say they were immediately sick of him.

R396 Who took the video of Bash cozying up to Charlie?

They're only reposting the clips with Joe/Kit/Bash. And they changed the name of the video to 'Heartstopper cast rewatch season 1 scenes'. I think for once they took notice of the backlash. Bash needs a better PR asap.

*Without

R397 Charlie's brother tho was probably just taking a video of Charlie. They seem super close

R400 Really? I thought it was one of Bash's friends. Gosh, he was acting this obnoxious in front of people he barely knows?

R401 no, bash was the only non Charlie friend there. Everyone else knew Charlie and his brother. And of the 6 profiles of theirs I saw, zero besides Charlie follow him

I'm reading Kit's Guardian profile (have no idea how to transfer it over, hopefully it goes up on their actual site soon), and he's super endearing in this. Anyway, the sexuality stuff:

While Heartstopper is explicitly about queer love, Connor was not asked his orientation when he auditioned- "It would have been so inappropriate to ask a 16-year-old," he says, but there was something "unspoken"in the "little notice before the casting call, saying: 'We really want the characters to pass authentically.' "I was thinking: 'Well, I feel I can play this role very authentically.' I knew that I was a queer man, but I didn't feel I wanted the world to know. Not because I was ashamed, but because it was private."

All good. Until he was papped holding hands with Maia Reficco, his co-star in the forthcoming film A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. Heartstopper obsessives wanted to know why he was holding a woman's hand. He was accused of "queerbaiting" (defined as straight people appropriating queer culture). Some might shrug off online pile-ons like this, but Connor says he "was still very freshly 18. Still newly in the public eye. I wasn't used to the idea of millions of people watching what I was doing, or having a genuine interest in my private life." At home one evening, he padded about the house working himself into a stew. Then did something he now describes as "frankly a bit rash". He typed: "i'm bi. congrats for forcing an 18-year old to out himself. i think some of you missed the point of the show. bye".

"It was a human instinctual reaction," he says. "I did it, turned off my light and went to sleep." On set the following morning, his cast member friends ribbed the hell out of him, he says with a smile, which was "good because it took the sting out of it all". But he wants to be serious for a second. He wants to add that "the whole point of the show is that [queerness] is not always so stereotyped. There are so many lines in the show where someone goes: 'Nick Nelson, he's the straightest guy in the school. He's the captain of the rugby team so there's no way [he's queer].' Sometimes you just need to give people space." Season two, which deviates a little from Oseman's original work, incorporates a lot of Nick's struggles coming out, "which is important", he says.

He won't say who he is or isn't dating now; he will say that he'd be self-conscious of dating a girl. "I would annoyingly. I would be more conscious and might be less open about it." Later, he returns to this subject: "Although now I know that I'm queer, I personally don't find it a super defining factor. I wouldn't want to be defined by 'queer actor'. I want to play all parts. Hopefully, I can do that if my career lasts, if I flourish. Touch wood."

About working with Joe on the intimate scenes:

Season two of Heartstopper is less chaste in that the issue of arousal is touched on, so to speak. Connor says the love scenes are a lot less awkward. “Firstly, because the relationship between Nick and Charlie shifts, because it's no longer this angsty, nervous, adorable, 'like we have a crush on each other'; we are boyfriends now. But also because Joe and I are so much more comfortable doing those scenes with each other. It was a lot easier, and that relaxed vibe comes across. We've all improved as actors, too."

R403 he’s super well spoken. It honestly does make me feel better that he did seem to see the coming out as a “fuck you” moment rather than a deep trauma. Not saying it was ok at all, but I’m glad it was overall liberating in some senses. Doubt the cast would’ve rubbed him over it if he seemed upset. But ngl I am rolling my eyes at S2 being nick struggles to come out 2.0. Can Alice write him an original storyline?

Love that arousal is the description. Thank the lord.

R404 this is actually exciting.

There are a bunch of pictures and I'm honestly too lazy to extract them all (have to go into Developer mode to get them), but I like this one.

I agree with him totally about not just wanting to be the “queer actor” and I hope he’s not restrained that way. It’s so shit he’d feel self conscious of dating a woman especially because statistically it’s literally just easier. Much larger population of women into men than queer men. But I get why he would feel self conscious even if it’s really unfair.

I’ve always been curious for joes thoughts on the same. He doesn’t “pass” as easily, though apparently people thought he passed well in the trials, and his first two huge roles will be gay. plus he’s gay rather than bi which makes it even harder for people to separate him from queer. But I wonder if he’s happier leaning into playing primarily queer roles, or if he feels stereotyped

R407 whoever did the lighting for this was fantastic

R403 He keeps correcting himself. You can tell this whole thing messed him up. I noticed Joe is doing the same thing in interviews now. They are super cautious of what they're saying and how it can be interpreted. I'm not surprised he feels this way about dating. He's going to get hate if he's ever seen dating a girl so I get it. I hate how Alice and Patrick did not help them navigate this at all. Him and Joe deserve a medal. R407 Hot!

R410 There's one part in the interview where the interviewer basically notes that he starts spiraling and blushing and she gives him an out, specifically when he's talking about his body.

R410 I feel like they almost face opposite problems in some weird ways that manifests similarly. Anything Kit says goes viral and lso he’s extremely cautious of it, which sucks. Him saying in the video that he worked out as he felt self conscious of being too scrawny for nick was turned by the fans and outlets like attitude into his deep commentary on the pressures out on men to conform, for instance - he can’t make a passing comment without it getting blown up and I can fully understand being so paranoid of that.

And then joe seems extremely private, but the few times he’s really opened up about things they’re hand waved off immediately or reduced to nothing, like the body dysmorphia thing in the GQ profile (especially crazy, as it was actually directly caused by online bullying and mirrors his character) which was not further reported on by any outlet and was ignored by fans.I can see why you’d get anxiety from opening parts of yourself up in a scary way and getting no support.

is the article behind a paywall?

R413 I did some uh, technical stuff to get around it but yeah, you can pay for it here.

Honestly this is zero percent on kit, and maybe blameless on the magazines part too. They’re all just reporting what happened. But it must be weird for Maia to keep having her name dragged into this, especially because lost in the clusterfuck of the cyber bullying that forced Kit to come out is the fact that she has been relentlessly harassed and also called a queerbaiter too, despite being out for years. Would be very interested to hear her perspective at some point

Got bored and ended up pulling all of the pictures, here.

R416 the one you posted and the cover are the best. He’s hot as always though

Oh, forgot to mention, he brought up theater again towards the end of the interview:

It's the lunchtime rush, so I walk him back to Borough station to get the train. He skips enthusiastically and earnestly through a range of subjects from AI to cancel culture ("I mean, maybe this is just me being a hippy, but I think people should just be nice to each other and have an open discussion about when people are saying things that are ignorant and wrong".) He tells me how much he'd like to do more theatre and also play roles that are against type ("I would lose the weight for a role if I had to").

And we are at the station. He's sweet and polite and thanks me a million times for my time. He asks me if I am going to be all right getting the train and getting home and then when I laugh, he realises what he's said and the colour returns.

R418 that’s extremely endearing. Any other mentions of HS/Joe?

R403 Does sound like S2 will focus mostly on Nick coming out again, though Charlie really doesn't do much in vol 3 and it's just the start of all his issues.

R418 Twink Kit returning

R420 side character joe again, thrilling. At this point wouldn’t blame anyone who seeing magazines and promo thought Kit was the solo lead and then Yaz and bash as the next two. I’m sure Kit will act the hell out of it but I’m so tired of Alice being unable to think of new storylines. Nick had his main coming out drama already, I feel like an arc developing his speech to imogen about realising he doesn’t like who he is around his friends and forging new friendships/putting boundaries on his old ones would be better. But whatever

R419 No Joe specifically, this is the Heartstopper stuff right before the Joe mention:

But first we discuss Heartstopper. The show's charm is its innocence, and for that reason Connor never thought it would be a hit. "We were surprised anyone was watching it," he says - "extra shocked" when he learned American audiences loved it, too. He couldn't imagine savvy modern teenagers buying into the guilelessness: "We don't have any drugs in this show. We don't have any sex. We don't even have vapes. So, yes, it was wild. Especially with 18 -year-olds; I thought it might hit a slightly lower age group. I was looking at the TV shows people my age were watching, and it was super-saturated with dark, sexual content, pretty stressful-to-watch shows." Euphoria, chiefly, but also 13 Reasons Why, Top Boy, and Skins, which is still popular. Even Stranger Things and Sex Education had their moments. Heartstopper provided an antidote, Connor believes: "It was called 'the anti-Euphoria thing', which was catchy but true."

It subverted what was out there in other ways, too, he argues. For the most part, "queer media is pretty dark and depressing and involves a lot of trauma" by focusing on how hard it is to be your- self. "Whereas we Wanted to push the other message: that being queer can be beautiful. There will be adversity, sure. There are highs and lows. But the highs can be really high, so it's worth fighting for."

Plus, he feels it's important for young queer people to have a gentle, romantic show. "I don't think there's a lack of queer sex in the media, but a lot of the time when queer people are on screen, especially gay and bisexual men, they are heavily sexualised. So, I think there's something quite nice about the fact that we're not sexualising it.” Director Euros Lyn deliberately sought the opposite, Connor says, to capture the sentimentality and charm of old Hollywood romances complete with Charlie standing on tiptoes for a deep, passionate kiss after sports day. Perhaps because of this, audience appeal was surprisingly crossgenerational. Sure, he gets teenagers showing him the tattoos they'd had in tribute (most popular: the leaf illustrations that the series lifted from the original graphic novel, but also their characters, "or the little 'hi' that Nick and Charlie say to each other, people have that in speech bubbles"). But he's also stopped by "older queer men in their 30s, but also plenty in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, proud and overjoyed that younger people in the queer community are starting to have these experiences in school."

Charlie’s never been a side character and I doubt he’s going to start being one now, Kit’s obviously going to talk about Nick’s stuff in an interview. I expect we’ll hear about the Charlie stuff from Joe in the Rollacoaster interview.

R421 tbh I'm preparing for the worst, I actually think it's smart to introduce Nick's dad early instead of waiting for coming out 2.0 later, but all the mess with his brother and the family dinner happens later and we have a new scene of Nick, Charlie and his dad added. and If they take away Charlie's spin the bottle scene and give it to Issac....well, I guess Charlie can be a good supportive boyfriend while he suffers in silence.

R423 well we’ll see in under 2 weeks. To me it’s less about screen time and more about storyline. Charlie can be onscreen for half the show but while joe is cute as hell doing it, if it’s just him making doe eyes at nick and supporting him through his sexuality struggles again, then I don’t consider that co leading

R425 Unless his stuff got the chop in the editing room, Joe's already said that he has a more mature storyline and that Charlie goes on a bit of a journey. Plus the added self-harm warning to the show's rating.

There’s some sort of frenzy on Twitter because the sweater Kit’s wearing is unreleased and from the clothing brand of someone from One Direction? I don’t know.

R426 again, we’ll see. I don’t doubt he’ll have some amount of stuff. I just can foresee it being disproportionate and unequal. From stills and things seen during filming, we know nick has an added scene with Charlie and his dad, the brother and family dinner stuff moved up, some scene(s) with Ben AND imogen. And from what we’ve seen truth or dare is taken away from Charlie to give to Isaac, though admittedly that’s a p small moment. So maybe I’m totally wrong, will be delighted if so, but not holding my breath

R427

its apperantly Louis Tomlinson (i think) his merch line. apparently his stylist is the same one that did the looks for this interview.

ok so thats mention #3 of theatre isn’t it. either he really wants that either role or he already has something booked.

Yeah, it’s beyond purposeful at this point.

I am still manifesting joe and Kit in a play together, though it seems unlikely sadly. But I can see each of them doing a play directly after s3 as their next project

With the way things are going, have a feeling that the second season won't be doing that good in the views department.

R421 Nick coming out is not the end of that storyline. We all know coming out is not a one-time thing. It affects every aspect of your life and your relationships. I think it's important to show family members that aren't welcoming. That will make the show more realistic. All of Kit's stuff is coming out now so it feels like Joe isn't getting anything, but as others said he was in Atlanta up until recently. I believe his interviews and editorial stuff will come in late July and August.

R434 I just want Kit to have a new storyline to act, it’s not that big a deal. I’m not saying homophobic brothers are unrealistic, just that Alice could give him more varied stuff

I oscillate between thinking Joe will still be given meat (the self harm warning) all the way to Joe not being a lead anymore really. I’m not saying they didn’t film it - just that in the end Kit is more valuable property and Joe gets left out during editing in favour of Yaz who gets the show coverage. I hope I’m wrong. I love Joe’s Charlie and as a kid who was bullied myself (because I couldn’t pass) I’d be disappointed to see his story minimised. Also, I fucking love Joe on screen (and would desperately like to see him naked) which I’m completely vocal about.

R434 don’t begrudge coming out story at all. God knows the guys who don’t present queer do have to come out repeatedly. Still not optimistic about Joe content though. Netflix are basically silent on him and his pr is clearly shit and Kit’s profile is absolutely huge

R435 Oh, right. I agree but with Alice, I'm not expecting much. Anything interesting about Nick (and Charlie) comes from Joe and Kit's acting. I'm still wary of the way she's going to introduce Charlie's ed. I hope it's not out of the blue like in the comics. Is this new?

R437 It's from Kit's Guardian profile but it's so grainy that I assumed it's a screenshot from the first scene video or something.

R436 yeah I agree. It’s a combo of things that are making me suspect Charlie is going to be super sidelined this season. How little Netflix has tried to make “joe and Kit” central in promo, including at pride (last year they had them recreate the piggyback and this year no pics together), the fact that basically all the show memes they post on their page are nick (the majority), then imogen, Ben, and Elle about as much as Charlie, the nonstop discussion of every storyline but Charlie’s in promo (yes, I agree Kit discussing nick makes total sense but Alice? Patrick?), how few of the stills feature Charlie while still having nick, so it’s not just lack of main character stuff. I think they’ll nominally be co leads but nick will get the way stronger storyline and Kit way more praise and attention. Though also think joes absolutely shit PR does nothing to help.

R435 I find David pretty unrealistic for zoomers, not that they don't exist but... maybe he listens to Andrew Tate or something and is just a bad seed. Should have made it Nick's old facebook auntie.

The whole storyline is a bust anyway since it just takes Tori telling him to fuck off for him to behave. Something to be said about how Nick's mother isn't all that wonderful, but I'd guess they wouldn't go there.

For the curious, the “cast reacts” video has 12.1K likes on twitter. The fake lesbians tweet shitting on it has 31.1K

I keep going back and finding new bits in Kit's profile. We didn't know that he's dyslexic before this, right?

[quote]He could riff for hours on why observing life is great. He's discovered Raymond Carver's stories, which are amazing in many ways, not least for his dyslexia, being short. "He can write poetically about things that are so mundane."

R442 that’s honestly kind of hilarious to me because bash never shuts the fuck up about his. Meanwhile Kit has it too snd it’s mentioned in passing for the first time now.

Damn, Bash isn’t even the best at having a learning disability.

R439 I just hope Joe hasn’t been waiting for a more mature storyline only find it’s been left out in edit. No reviewer is going to say a single thing against such a progressive show and fans could give absolutely no fucks about Joe at all. Might just be us queer guys here giving a shit

This is genuinely completely unrelated to the media push Kit is getting rn. I think that is a function of how huge his coming out story is, him being great for publicity as he goes viral, and how good his PR is. And also have loved all his profiles, he is so eloquent and likable

But just in regard to Netflix, Patrick, Alice, and the show entity as a whole? Seeing how joe is treated in comparison to literally every other cast member, I hope he gives them zero energy and knows he deserves way better

R440 Basically Nick's story is all about his coming out and Charlie's whole personality is his ED. Great stuff from Alice. But seriously, guys, there is no way Joe will be a side character. C'mon. I'm ready to eat my words if I'm wrong.

R445 I want to say since the season went through the rating classification process and came out of it with a higher rating and a self-harm warning, the storyline is still there.

R444 that might be cuntiest thing ever said here. congrats

Another thread about this crap or is it the same one?

R447 I feel totally the same in reverse — if Joe is actually treated as centrally, given as moving a storyline, and given as much serious onscreen time (not just “Charlie supports Nick coming out for the second and third time”) I will be so so thrilled to eat my words. Just feels unlikely

R447 I think there's a close to zero chance of Charlie being a side character. I think what there is a possibility of is that we're left dissatisfied because the writing ends up being complete shit.

I'm going to predict it's mostly Charlie supporting Nick throughout the season and he gets most of the meaty storylines, but Charlie's issues with be in the background and obvious to most. Nick's gonna really want to save Charlie though in S3, cue the uwu love can't cure mental illness thing

And Isssac is gonna cry because he gets asked to kiss someone

R449 Appreciate it, cunty is always the goal.

R447 but nominally a side character versus storylines is a big difference. I think he’ll have a good bit of screentime. But for instance look at the scenes they reacted to the other day. Nick monologuing about his gay crisis, Nick running to Charlie in the rain, etc. Charlie might be there for all of that but if it’s nick emoting all over the place and Charlie giving him hugs and validating him, I don’t really think of that as co leading the show

R446 yeah Patrick hypes rhea, bash, and Yaz more than Joe. The Joe to Kit comparison isn’t even funny. See: him reposting every possible magazine cover before half heartedly posting joes

R455 Just because they reacted to those scenes doesn't mean Joe wasn't leading the show. The first episode is basically all about Charlie. We learn about him and his sister, his dick of a boyfriend, his friends, etc. We see Charlie with his friends and he has an identity outside of Nick. He had his trauma with Ben and his trauma from being outed (although that wasn't explored and I hope it will be in season 2). We see him briefly struggling with food, struggling with his overthinking with the little dark animations. I think you're focusing too much on the fandom and Netflix's bad promotion and not the reality of the show.

R457 what I am saying and have said consistently is the switch up from Netflix, not just the Kit interviews, is what makes me guess Joe is being sidelined. Last year, nick and Charlie were both used a lot in the memes Netflix posted, they had joe and Kit recreate the piggybacks at pride, Alice and Patrick’s interviews about the show discussed both storylines, the interviews pre show focused on clips that featured joe heavily too. Now, Netflix couldn’t be bothered to get a single pic of joe and Kit at pride, or even have them next to one another in the group pic. Charlie is nowhere to be seen on the Netflix IG. Alice and Patrick’s interviews don’t mention him at all. The scenes Netflix chooses for them to react to are nick heavy. I again may be wrong, and would be fucking thrilled if I was. But I feel like no one who shares my concerns is being crazy or pulling them out of nowhere. It’s a pattern of behaviour from those making and editing the show that makes me think yeah, we’ll have a few Charlie moments, but it will be the nick show.

Netflix has spent a year promoting Nick Nelson and the back of Charlie’s head. Why would it be unrealistic to think they asked and pushed for Kit to be the focus of S2? I would fucking love to be proven wrong and I guess we will see. The media I agree generally that Kit’s got a more compelling story and great PR. The coverage makes sense and I love to see it. Kot’s interviews are great. The show and Joe having shitty PR are two seperate issues

R459 honestly my guess is Alice got her ensemble show, side character dreams at the expense of Charlie’s storyline and Netflix was more than ok with that so long as nick and Kit got good storylines

R459 joe's got an equally compelling story but nobody knows about it since his team sucks.

R461 I just mean in terms of the public interest in Kit’s coming out but yes, Joe’s story would also be extremely engaging if his team bothered to get it out there. I hope by the time Agatha comes around Joe has seen the light on his shitty PR and moved on to someone much better

R461 Can't just blame his team when the shows marketing team and Netflix are also least bothered with Joe/Charlie in general.

It's honestly a good thing that Joe managed to bag Marvel cause with the way he gets treated on here is just not okay as he's supposed to be the lead.

Given bash was cited as an example of a Nepo baby in an article about UK classism a few months ago, I would die laughing if they did another one using him as an example of that and joe as an example of the rare exception

R464 I can't find it but Joe described exactly Bash when he talked about the type of young rich actors who steal all the roles in an article and those he worried he couldn't compete with.. He was not being shady in any way obviously but I always found it funny he was describing his (ex) boyfriend

R463 Joe is going to be a treated like a king at Marvel, I totally expect them to pitch him and use him for everything like they do with Iman.

They are going to lean into using the younger actors because they are affordable. But it will be great for Joe because he will be a poster boy for Marvel going forward.

R466 I should also give the caveat here before anyone inevitably jumps down my throat that this isn’t a “poor white gay boy” thing. Much as I think joe and Kit are the strongest actors, I do genuinely think the shows diversity and the way it’s launches so many queer actors, including very prominently a young black trans woman, is so important. But I ironically think one of the things that would make Joe stand out in any other show, and will be used by marvel which is his being out as gay so young, and starting his career that way, just doesn’t stand out against the rest of the Heartstopper cast. You have a black trans woman basically making history on TV, an aroace writer who is one of the only public figures out as such, a queer teen idol whose coming out was huge, for instance.

And media can’t really talk about how cool it is that Joe, with no experience, wealth, or connections, booked two huge gigs and got multiple award nominations as an out gay teen in the context of heartstopper, given that kit was forced to come out by complete assholes bullying him. It isn’t a good look to hype up how amazing it is that joe has been booking jobs full time as an out gay actor when his costar went through a situation of feeling forced to declare his sexuality. But when it’s in the marvel context it doesn’t feel as in tension with the “no one has any obligation to tell you their sexuality” thing, which is also true

R458 Agree to disagree because I really don't see it that way. All the examples you've described are what I said earlier (Netflix's bad promotion and the fandom's response). Alice has her faults but she still cares about Charlie. I would argue way more than Nick. She's not going to let him be side-lined. All the characters have more storylines this season: Elle and her new friends, Isaac's ace adventures, and Tara and Darcy's newfound challenges. I don't know why they haven't talked more about Charlie's new storylines and I'm pissed about that. Either way, we'll see what the deal is soon enough.

R469 as you said, agree to disagree and we’ll see soon. I pointed out four things that have significantly changed about the show promo since last year, not just this one interview or the fans. The fans don’t make Alice and Patrick’s interviews, or run Netflix social media, or operate the pride float. Nothing would thrill me more than being wrong.

Oh Marvel will totally run with the being out and so young, and also being super new to acting. Weather he is or not I bet they will want him to be the sorta comic know it all Iman is, the fans fucking love that.

I cant wait till we get interviews with Joe, Iman Vellani, Hailee Steinfeld, Kathryn Newton and whoever the rest of the crew end up being. Joe will thrive with those girls.

I really, really think people on here are being fatalistic and Charlie won’t be reduced to a side character, but feel free to beat my ass if I’m wrong in 2 weeks.

R472 i agree he is literally the main character, we know the show literally starts with him again.

R472 clesrly people just aren’t going to agree and it’s best to table it and see how things shake out august 3.

R471 I actually think they’ll lean into the new Tom holland thing with him. People were immediately endeared when he posted and deleted the story showing the Agatha of Westview chair, the emoji colours he used for Kathryn and Aubrey’s Emmy noms got people talking and fondly saying he accidentally spoiled again. Young, English, extremely sweet, 1/2 of a soon to be iconic onscreen movie couple? I think they’ll go down the Tom holland playbook

R470 Alice didn't go into much detail, but she's mentioned Charlie's storyline at least twice (Radio Times and Attitude). This is the Radio Times quote:

[quote]Oseman added that while Charlie (Joe Locke) was focused on supporting Nick, he may end up neglecting his own feelings as a result – with Nick then starting to feel concerned about his mental health.

It sounds like it'll go like it did in the comics, Charlie starts spiraling and Nick is the only one that picks up on it.

R474 but I want to bitch about something that hasn’t happened yet… tbh I’m not that excited about the show at all. The shine is off the Apple with S1 for me and I was really just looking forward to hearing from Joe and Kit more. Thrilled to be getting the more grown up interviews with Kit, he’s really thoughtful and such great queer representation, but I’m annoyed to not hear from Joe. Frankly, I’m a gay man and it was really exciting to see a gay young guy get so much promotion last year. Sad to see it doesn’t matter to anyone on the HS team this year. Particularly disappointed in Patrick who you would think would want to promote the out gay guy and not the white straight girl

R477 well I think rhea is queer? But regardless she is not overly burdened by talent and imogen sucks, so he needs to drop the obsession and hype joe

Hopefully Marvel course corrects quickly before Agatha comes out and they properly map out what they're doing. Secret Invasion is basically an atomic bomb of a flop and it's setting up The Marvels so that might not do too hot, either. And The Marvels is setting up YA.

R478 yeah, I was talking about the character. After I wrote it I realised that was neither clear or made sense as I’d been talking about Joe not Charlie. But I honest to god don’t understand Patrick’s obsession with Imogen or Rhea.

R479 What are you talking about lol, the Nielsen numbers just came out and Secret Invasion is their #3 biggest debut for Marvel show... Thats very good.

R480 he likes mediocre actors whose only standout trait is unusually coloured bug eyes (rhea and bash). Liking Kit is his only sign of good taste. I also think he feels a sense of competition with younger cuter bottoms

R477 His interviews are coming and I'm excited to hear how he comes across to interviewers when he's on his own.

R481 Give it about a week or so. It did well the first week, stayed the most viewed program on D+ 4 days after the first episode was released. Subsequent episodes, it's only been #1 for a day and then quickly surpassed by Bluey, and one week it didn't even hit #1.

Anecdotally, Secret Invasion is the first Marvel series that no one I know is watching, but I think there are different expectations of Agatha and I’m sure Marvel expects it to be more niche.

R484 Bluey is a juggernaut, and just got new episodes, I dont think you can would compare the two. Bluey is something that parents put on and leave running for hours lol.

We need to stop though. we've gotten to far from hearstopper lol. let me get us back on track, Fuck Bash.

Secret Invasion was so fucking tedious and I have watched them all (MCU gay). I have high hopes for Agatha as I agree it will go niche, which can only be a good thing. They tried to appeal too broadly with SheHulk (which I enjoyed) and it obviously fell flat with the traditional MCU bros. Also, as an Australian I think it’s fucking hilarious Bluey is so big in the USA. our only successful entertainment exports are always for children. Maybe they find our accents less grating

R486 think as Joe is Marvel discussion is well within parameters but yes- Fuck that cunt ex; and or, Kit’s Guardian interview is great.

Really loving Kit’s sport spice photoshoot. Those lips are especially pouty. The bits and pieces I have read from the interview (I am not paying for that) seem really endearing and lovely. Joe and Kit really pull off likeable effortlessly.

I hope we getting something similar for Joe at some point.

R487 here, I’ll do a few things to keep us on topic.

1. Agatha will be very successful. I agree they’re going pretty niche, but they also have some wide appeal built in. Straight men are ridiculously into Aubrey, Kathryn has a lot of love from WandaVision, and comic fanboys are obsessed with Wiccan. Plus as excited as I am for the eventual Wiccan and Hulkling storyline, I do actually think it’ll be good for Joe that they can’t have the usual talking point of “I’m fine with gay characters, but why is everything about their sexuality?” Because his storyline in Agatha won’t be about that.

2. Kits interview was great and he’s become much more obviously comfortable as a model this year, which I love. We haven’t seen as much from joe but I’m optimistic, his fan candids have been stunning and Rollacoaster was fantastic

3. Bash is an absolute flop and it is funny that post HTDBW date announcement, we’ve seen zero other promo for it. For context his announcement tweet got about 1/10 the likes of the lesbian shitting on the Netflix interview video.

R488 I figured out a non-techy way to bypass paying for it, pull up text view. This link should take you to it, just click the black arrow on the left of the Elton picture and you should be able to read it.

R490 extremely endearing piece. I really like the format of the interview and the photoshoot being distinct and the interviewer getting to really spend time with him. Hopefully he and joe have more of those in the future, as they are both pretty shy and I think this is better insight than an hour of canned questions

Interesting that they supplied a nutritionist to bulk him up.

I was never a one direction stan but there seems to be a lot of louis Tomlinson stans ( i didnt even knew he had any) it seems to be whats driving him trending rn, that hoodie he wore

R493 probably people who still genuinely believe he and Harry styles are in love and have a child. Have seen a few saying they want to see Joe in the Harry styles Gucci collab

R494

ewww keep Joe away from Gucci for our sakes

R495 well Harry lambert, who is holding a grudge on precious bashy’s behalf, helped with that collab, so it seems unlikely

R494 Gucci sucks, but would be funny given the Harry Lambert drama

Bash hates always brings the hive minds out

R498 speaking of, wasn’t he attractive once upon a time?

R499 Starting to think being in close proximity of Joe made him more attractive. Though Bash peaked last year

Speaking of not peaking at 21, our guy OF Nick has some nice thighs

Don't remember the last time I did this so I'm just going to do Friday to Friday. Only significant change is that Kit's about 2k away from hitting 5M.

R502 will genuinely never get how Kit is THAT much more popular than joe. Love Kit but it annoys the shit out of me.

R490 thanks for posting that! Reading the whole interview really solidified my thoughts on Kit being incredibly likeable.

R502 The Monday +7 for Kit is cracking me up.

R503 He's more popular with women for one. Need Agatha to raise up Joe's standing with the (real) elder lesbians Also given the fact that half the Joe hate come from ugly twinks out of jealousy, I'm assuming tons follow Kit in hopes he'll fuck them.

R503

He is the ideal boyfriend love interest type. It always happens in every paring. 1/2 is always more popular, i can’t think of a paring where it hasn’t happened. Plus he is buff and a softie type, the appeal for the girls goes a long way

R502 so Kit gained over 7500 and joe lost about 200. Fantastic. Love how much this extremely woke fandom cares about gay men

R507 I get that, but having about 1.5 times joes following is absolutely batshit and frankly unfair. I love Kit and this isn’t his fault but Joe is a fucking saint for being so uncompetitive

Ngl love the absolute vindication of Kit saying he loves being mobbed and loves the attention. Fuck off to the Twitter girlies who used to post here worrying about him because he was so introverted. There is a difference between introversion and being some kind of retiring delicate flower. He’s such a likeable guy. I really love this interview

Yeah every interview I’ve read of kits reenforces to me that he’s extremely likable and kind, but also incredibly ambitious and minus invasions of his personal life, seems to really enjoy fame. That’s not a bad thing at all, he’s extremely humble about it and I feel like having his life if you found no fun in fame would be hellish and draining. But the wallflower, anxious baby Kit thing is absurd for that reason. Boy networks like crazy, goes to events a lot, and loves fan attention. He is smart about his career and wants to be a star. Good for him

R500 but did he somehow… lose a jawline? Starting the rumour he got jawline fillers last year and now they’ve dissipated

For these recent numbers, factor in that Joe is relatively quiet right now while Kit has had 3 profiles and photoshoots come out in the last month. He's getting an immediate boost from that.

R513 yeah but Kit is 2K from 5 million while joe is barely hanging onto 3.5 mill. It’s not just this week

R509 I know people who follow Kit and didnt even know about hearstoppper, Kit is just hot to straight girls.

Joe is hot to gay guys. We are easily outnumbered lol.

When Agatha comes out there is a chance he blows past Kit.

R514 Hence why I said "for these recent numbers" and not overall.

It’s fucked, but Joe will just never get the love Kit does. Even after Agatha. For all he hates it, Kit is a straight girl heartthrob and they will obsessively follow what he does. He’s point of difference is that adult media is interested in him too because he’s interesting, well spoken and a bit of a queer phenomenon. No point being too upset about it - he’s still got a great future and he’s a great guy to follow if you’re gay. He seems to cope with the delta really well

R512 Jaw fillers at 19 is crazy. He just gained weight, it's not that big of a deal.

R516 ok, and my point was overall so

R518 ok I was in fact joking. Just saying he looked like he had a jawline head on last year, and now he doesn’t. And don’t think it’s weight gain, he’s skinny

Apart from all of the obvious (his likability, talent, and so on) Kit is bisexual appeal in action. He had both sides into him.

Oh, you were talking about Bash? My bad. Carry on.

R519 So next time answer someone who was talking overall.

R521 not to nitpick but joe has all the former. Also very likable, talented, etc.

R523 why nitpick about these recent numbers when everyone is pointing to an overall popularity disparity. I’d be willing to bet money that joe could have 3 interviews drop next month and Kit none and joe still wouldn’t gain more than Kit.

R525 Does it matter? Joe has Marvel. He'll get more than Kit in no time.

R524 I didn’t say that he didn’t, I was ticking off reasons why people would follow Kit.

R517 ngl I don’t think Kit hates it. I think he hates the word heartthrob understandably, because he wants a serious career and not to be stereotyped as the teen movie hunk. But I think he knows the positives (as well as very obviously the negatives) of a rabid fanbase who will support anything he does career wise and monetarily

R527 I understand that, I’m saying that there’s a reason the popularity difference is SO big that can’t be attributed to that. Like joe is pretty much equidistant in followers from Will as he is from Kit. That’s mental

As much as i would like for Joe to have more recognition, the straight girls are not checking for him so Kit will always have the advantage. it sucks but it is what it is

I would personally love it if Joe blew up in popularity like Jenna Ortega did after Wednsday, but i am keeping my hopes from going supper high. I know there is no sign of it besides just wishful thinking from fans but if Elizabeth olsen did have some type of appearance on Agatha i would loose it

R521 I don’t think when people talk about the disparity they are referring to the gays. I’d think that their appeal there would be pretty equal

R526 I mean does it “matter”? Maybe not. Can I find it really irritating that an out gay guy is pretty overlooked by fans consistently because they don’t want to fuck him? Yes. And I know this isn’t unique to joe at all, and Kit isa way better actor and person than most of the male leads on tween shows so I’m genuinely glad for his success

Yall when Joe is in two movies titled Avengers Kang Dynasty and Avengers Secret Wars he will have the most followers by far.

Yeah, I really wouldn’t get hopes up on Marvel. It’s not like all of the actors sm blow up Tom Holland style Simu Liu has less followers than Joe and the guy had his own movie. Joe is absolutely great and I’d love him to be more popular but he’s doing really well for an young out gay actor

R534 Shang Chi was a pandemic release it never blew up. Simu hasnt gotten a real Marvel bump yet, Its coming.

R534

yeah this. (also side bar, can’t stand simu and manny jacinto should have been in barbie instead)

R534 yeah with a fairly substantial career behind her after being in a marvel film, Kathryn newton has 1.9 million. Marvel will be amazing for joe but he’s not hitting 50 million from this or whatever people think

Honestly I’m not too worried about followers on Insta versus real world success by landing high profile jobs and recognition by the industry.

R534 Xochitl Gomez also has less than Joe after Multiverse of Madness. I think the only YA that has more than Joe is Hailee Steinfeld and she joined the MCU with a ton of followers.

R532 The way you're talking it's as if Joe has no success. He's probably the most successful gay teen actor right now. If you don't compare him to Kit, he's doing extremely well.

Also, Joe’s PR company sucks.

R540 Pretty much. Joe had the 5th biggest boost from a Netflix show overall after the first month post-HS release.

R535 I hope so. I actually like his jock schtik and he’s a great advocate for his community- doesn’t mince words. But R534 you make a compelling case - no one is more built to play a Ken than Manny Jacinto (another guy who has had an unfair failure to get off the ground fully).

Tom Holland is both the exception and Spider-Man who is truly probably the most popular superhero (because of cross generational appeal). I’m bias there - maybe other little boys loved Batman but I was all in on Spider-Man.

R540 I know that? It is kind of irksome that any comparison gets shut down because Joe is still doing well. I am allowed to still point out the disparity sucks.

R540 “if you don’t compare him to Kit” ok well… the comparison is there to be made. Co leads of the same show. Both queer men. Both very likable. Close to identical award nominations. One has 1.5 times the following the other does. Why can’t I point that out?

R543 Manny Jacinto is both a better actor and hotter than Simu Li, I'll never get it.

Instagram is all tits and ass. Joe could do with a thirsty photoshoot asap.

R537 R539 Both Kathryn and Xochitl had small roles in their respective Marvel projects and Antman was kinda a failure. Joe is the co lead of Agatha, with many leakers saying the show is actually about him.

R547 he lost followers after the crop top pics, so

R548 I’m honestly starting to think I need to start a Marvel thread on DL. I know it would get FFed into oblivion but I have many feelings and absolute expert opinion

R548 Don't think anyone's gotten a substantial boost from a D+ show, but am open to being corrected on that because I don't have the energy to double-check right now.

R547

instagram is not into twinks unless your gay, thats the problem

Guys let’s not turn this into Twitter where any complaint about the difference is shut down as somehow shitting on Kit. If anyone starts implying Joe deserves it more or being shitty that’s fair to call out but I think people wishing it was more equal are in their rights.

It’s true Joe also got big off HS but so did the entire cast. Yaz got Vogue from what, 20 min total in the show? Will is close to 2 million, bash as well for even less screentime. Th fact is kit is just way more popular than Joe and a large part of that predates the coming out, it’s because people are hornier for him. Nothing wrong with acknowledging that while they’re both gorgeous, joes appeal is more to queer men because people are close minded while looks wise kit has a really broad appeal that both queer guys and women find hot, and that his being bi means girls can imagine dating him in a way they can’t with Joe

Overall they’re both doing great and I’m not worried about either of their careers or anything tho

R551 I can’t think of any, first person I thought to check was May Calamawy since she was the female lead in Moon Knight and that was her first appearance, she’s not at half a million yet.

R550 I can talk Marvel all day lol, but yeah if you think the others hate these threads I think Marvel one may cause a meltdown. Maybe when Agatha is closer.

R538 I will say I’m way less worried about this now that joes landed marvel, but IG followers absolutely matter for casting unfortunately. Sophie turner beat Saoirse Ronan, a much better actress, for Jean Grey on the back of her social media following. So it’s sadly not just a shallow thing that can be shrugged off

R555

ohh i would join, but yeah would probably get nuked quickly

R551 yeah but thats why I said before wait until hes in an Avengers movie. That's where the real attention would be.

R555 it’s so true. Nothing elder gays hate more than something outside of their narrow fucking window of interest.

R556 Saoiris dodged a bullet there tbh

I think Joe’s doing great, I think it’s weird that straight women aren’t into him (but I would) particularly as they all badly want to fuck Timothee but I guess it’s that Joe won’t fuck them so the fantasy can’t exist. It’s a bummer but Kit will also slow down in a few years when he’s not the newest guy. I’d think he will actually get up to Timothee numbers on Insta between now and then - which is amazing as he is also an out queer actor

Sad reality that some initially followed Joe for Kit content only. I bet those are the ones who are leaving.

Well Netflix does nothing to help. Instead of putting any effort into balancing their coverage they just nonstop spam Kit and nick, including having the Pride post with just his face — and randomly, a bunch of imogen memes which I will never understand. If he breaks out in a big way after Agatha, it’ll be funny to see them suddenly pretend they’ve always treated them equally.

R560 same reason Yaz loses followers in pretty big numbers. If he doesn’t post about the show / Kit some just aren’t interested

Joe will not get the numbers he deserves when people within HS can’t be bothered to hype him up. He’ll need to look elsewhere. I’m also sure if Joe wanted to make those numbers a priority, he’ll find a way (like firing his PR).

R563 aside from Jenny and Kit no chance of that. Leila and cori reposting his photoshoot was nice though, even Kit snd Jenny didn’t

From the article: is this a generic Marvel reference or are they telling us something about a future role?

R563 He would also need to start posting regularly

R565 I refuse to accept he got in that crazy shape for fun. I still swear he must have got Hulkling and the working out was a test.

R565 think it’s the former, doubt she’d have any knowledge of his marvel or any other castings. I get what she’s saying, it’s a shorthand reference to the super built type, but it’s ironic considering joes twink self was the first marvel casting of the lot

R568 Joe's shilloute is going to look so unique amongst the other heroes im so excited to see it.

R567 I think he’s shaping up for all the shirtless scenes in Season 3 eg beach and “I love you” shower.

Am I the only one that can't help but cringe at the use of "sexualized" (though I certainly understand what he's getting at)...

"Plus, he feels it's important for young queer people to have a gentle, romantic show. "I don't think there's a lack of queer sex in the media, but a lot of the time when queer people are on screen, especially gay and bisexual men, they are heavily sexualised. So, I think there's something quite nice about the fact that we're not sexualising it.” "

Like, sure, it might not be appropriate for Heartstopper considering the material and main demographic...but we as gay/bi/queer folks are sexual beings. What we've fought for is inherently about sexuality. In the beginning, it was rooted and born out of sexual liberation. Maybe I'm just too old for seeing it the way Gen Z does...

R571 tbh I kind of thought he was talking about the stuff like Elite and Euphoria, hyper-sexualised. I don’t get the impression thinks the show should be completely without sexual acknowledgment, after all being bi is about being sexually attracted to more than one gender. It’s hard to have a story about two teenage boys without acknowledging that they want to more than to hold each others hands. And from the one kiss we have seen, this season has a much more horny vibe.

R571 I do think a lot of the conversations end up circling back around in interesting ways. Even setting aside the sexualisation. The discourse about whether or not it’s ok to ask that out people play queer characters. I think even 5 years ago the “right”, progressive answer would’ve been yes, it’s extremely important. Now, the progressive answer is no because that forces people out of the closet and that casting should be diverse but never ask about sexualities. (Trans casting is still exempt from this for some reason). I think about conversations about how queer men were only accepted in mainstream shows if made palatable (so close to asexual, married, adopting a baby) from around the time of modern family, and now it’s full circle that having very desexualised queer men is more progressive and shows us as more than just horny monsters. It’s interesting, I legit see both sides of both arguments. And especially when Kit is so young, I get how not having to do super hot and heavy scenes on camera was a relief and felt like a breath of fresh air

If “heavily sexualised” means gratuitous dimly lit sex laced with regrets, then I’ll take the opposite just for the variety.

600 replies in two days, will the discussion threads even be usable once the new season actually airs? I sure hope you people don't post there once it does, I want to discuss the episodes with regular DLers instead.

Link to the article for anyone who doesn’t want to read it through the Press Reader.

"he doesn’t want to be the guy who posts shirtless pictures of himself after working out. "

Well shit.

Looks like the review embargo lifts early next week, so we’ll hear if it’s good or bad then.

R578 I don’t think a single critic will say a bad word about it, even if it’s overstuffed and preachy. Because of its content and how beloved it is it seems untouchable without sounding like an arsehole. I’m more interested to see what the thoughts are of the “regular DLers” old mate mentioned above

BTS video of Kit’s Guardian shoot.

R580 such a hot ginger

Joe posted. Really not expecting much promotion from him (or Kit) other than stuff he has to do under contract.

R579 Probably needs to be a regular discussion thread just to discuss the show and not the cast or anything else. Assuming some random DLer would make one.

Probably a good call to post one of the reactions where you can just crop Bash out and the only way you can tell he was there at all is because he says one phrase off camera.

The shots where he had the pink hoodie and gray shorts are hot af

R584 My second favorite bit.

(This was my first favorite bit.)

Guy is thick

Someone post the size difference pic from the shitty Pride

Never mind it's already posted R8!

Well let's look at it again

Always love how deeply political/into social causes joe is

R586 it’s nice to see his legs. Seeing as he wears mostly long pants and after the workout video when he said he doesn’t always do leg day I didn’t know if they’d be out of proportion with his upper body. Obviously not the case. Kit has always been my number 1 in terms of hotness but he really has turned it up for me lately. All I need is for him to wear his glasses a little more and I’m pretty sure I’ll explode.

Sometimes I tell myself that Kit isn't as hot as I think he is. Then I see a new pic or video of him and immediately realize that I'm an idiot for ever thinking that

Gonna need joe to move. Go for a walk. Get a coffee. Post a nude. Whatever he wants

So seeing as we are less than 2 weeks away do you think we will be getting the trailer soon? I am still disappointed about the lack of promo we will get because of the strike. Honestly, I was looking forward to promo over the actual season.

R594

Im thinking it would come out next week

R594 Monday is 10 days before the season drops so my guess is the trailer comes out then. I’m hoping the strike is over before the 91-day viewing window is done and Netflix sends them out for promo.

The Guardian profile's been warmly received among the people reading it that aren't Kit stans. A couple of reactions:

[quote]This is such a sweet interview by Charlotte Edwardes with Kit Connor. He seems thoroughly sweet and kind and unspoilt by fame, and I hope it stays that way for him.

[quote]Kit Connor is gonna be such a star. Also didn't realise that was him in the film Little Joe (and War and Peace). Also - such a dearth of openly bisexual male role models. Please don't mess this up, world.

Feels like it's had the best reception out of the 3 pieces thus far.

Really going to need his team to keep it up with these profiles, and joes team to step it the fuck up

It’s such a no-brainer. Not every celebrity has the personality for these kind of in-depth profiles, but Joe and Kit both clearly do.

R598 The blurb for Joe's Rollacoster magazine is really good 'Joe Locke rounded off his school days with a star-making role in Netflix's landmark queer drama Heartstopper. Just over a year since the show's debut, the 19-year-old is returning to Truham High for its second season - filming his entry to the Marvel universe in next year's Agatha: Coven of Chaos for good measure. High school graduations aren't usually followed by this trajectory, but it's safe to say, Locke's no regular graduate.' The magazine is taking its sweet time shipping the orders. Here, new tread. I need the break!