The gang chats about Castlevania: Nocturne Season 1, a more diverse and slightly queerer entry into the Castlevania Netflix franchise. The animation is great. Everyone has childhood trauma. And we feel old about everyone being teenagers. Episodes We Mention: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights Dragon Age: Inquisition Dragon Age: Redemption and Absolution C…

Continuing with Cal and Bret's excitement for Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release, we read most of the 2020 book Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights. Dorian and Mae make a cameo, we have fun with the Antivan Crows and a terrible time on The Wigmaker Job, and talk a lot about Soulless. Minor spoilers for Veilguard. Episodes We Mentioned: Dragon Age: Inquisi…

In anticipation of Dragon Age: The Veilguard coming out, we talk about two Dragon Age shows. The 2011 web series Dragon Age: Redemption, starring Felicia Day and Doug Jones (what?!), is so cringe Bret and Marika almost died. The 2022 Netflix series Dragon Age: Absolution is so great and queer that we love it and want the characters to appear in Vei…

Welcome to The Rift, Xena's first and most dramatic story arc. We only talk about Been There, Done That, The Deliverer, and Gabrielle's Hope but a lot of stuff happens. Our married couple has to go through a lot of dramatic elements and plots involving child murder and we are only five episodes in. TW: Sexual abuse and rape. Episode We Mention: Que…

The Hyperfixation gang talks about the second season of Yellowjackets. Topics include if there is actually anything supernatural going on or if it isjust group psychosis, cannibalism, Frodo, adult Tai and Van reuniting, and Shauna and Jeff being a straight couple we actually like. TW: suicide, alcoholism Episode We Motioned: The Sandman: The Netfli…

After mentioning it maybe 100 times, we are finally talking about Yellowjackets. We cover the first season with Jackie and Shauna's homoeotic relationship, the numerous 1990s queers, possible supernatural elements, and excellent high school girl representation. Full spoiler for season one. Episodes We Mentioned: Book of Boba Fett: The Streets of Mo…

We all saw Deadpool and Wolverine and Cal needed to talk about it. There is a collection of cameos, queerbaiting, not a lot of plot, and odd jokes and body issues. But despite all that, Marika is glad Dafne Keen is back as Laura. Episodes We Mentioned: Andor Interview with the Vampire Republic Commando: Hard Contact Part 1 The Matrix Our X-Men Epis…

Hyperfixation concludes their talk about Interview with the Vampire season two. Fuck you, Armand! Claudia has some badass moments, Louis realizes the last 70 years have been a lie, and Daniel should not have stayed in the apartment with Armand. Episodes We Mentioned: Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Ep. 5-6 Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Ep…

The Hyperfixation gang discusses episode five and six of season two of Interview with the Vampire. The flashback episode to the original interview is Cal's favorite episode. Claudia gets a girlfriend and everything is different now that Marika has finished the season. Spoilers through the end of season two. Episodes We Mention: Interview with the V…

Hyperfixation finishes their conversation about the queerness in the second season of Xena: Warrior Princess. Xena and Gabrielle fight a god with Callisto. They are basically married and Xena almost confesses her love to Gabrielle. And then the season ends on a chaotic episode that Cal did not watch and Marika and Bret attempt to explain. Episode W…

The gang returns to the messy queerness of Interview with the Vampire talking about season two episode 1-4. Again we spend a lot of time talking about Claudia and the recast. Cincinnati is mentioned and we go on multiple tangents about the Midwest. Full spoilers for episodes 1-4 and minor spoilers for the rest of the season. Episodes We Mentioned: …

Cal's Trans Pride Month ends with a talk about transness in video games. After a (very) brief history of early characters, the gang discusses character creation, the treatment of various trans characters, and the ability to create your representation, whether it is in The Sims or Baldur's Gate. Episodes We Mention: Baldur's Gate 3: The Storytelling…

Cal's trans pride month continues with Netflix's Nimona from 2023. For an animated kids movie, it has a lot of great queer representation, a lot to say about queer solidarity, anarchy, fascism, the police state, and being a modern trans kid. Episodes We Mention: Queerness Through Xena: Warrior Princess Season 1 Mutant May: The New Mutants Our First…

Cal's trans Pride Month continues with the gang watching 1998's Disney's Mulan as a trans narrative. Amid all the silliness and memorable songs, this movie has a lot to say about masculinity, femininity, gender performance, feminism, and gender role.Hyperfixation: A Queer Fandom Podcast

For this week’s trans pride month episode, we talk about the queerness in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Cal mostly wants to talk about Dorian, but Krem and Maevaris get featured too. This game had a lot of queerness for being from 2014 and we have a lot to say. Episodes We Mentioned: Baldur’s Gate 3: The Storytelling Jedi: Fallen Order Queerness Through…

During the first episode of our trans themed Pride Month, Cal attempts to convince Marika and, to some extent, Bret that The Matrix (one and four) are trans narratives. Cal succeeds on some level so we all get very emotional about queer and trans issues, our own coming out experiences, and what going back into the closet as adults would be like... …

The Hyperfixation gang returns to Xena for the second season, which upped the gay. Gabrielle marries a man and is widowed within minutes. Gabrielle voices her love for Xena and they kiss, but people still argue that they are not gay. They are basically married now and we are only halfway through season two. Episodes We Mentioned: Queerness in Xena:…

Cal has the gang talk about the first season of the Netflix adaption of The Sandman. Everyone liked its interesting levels of queerness, how much it feels like a comic book adaption, and the interesting updates its does to its original 1980s time period. Episodes We Mentioned: Mutant May: Marauders (2019) Queerness in Xena: Warrior Princess Season …

The gang talks about the new Fallout series on Amazon. Bret is very excited and very focused on the lore. Marika hates Maximus. Cal is worried about potential queerbaiting. But, we all liked this show and its very faithful adaption of the video games. Should it be queerer? Who from New Vegas might appear in season two? Episodes We Mentioned: Queern…

Marika finally makes the gang talk about Xena: Warrior Princess and the queerness throughout the first season. Did all 1990s television look like this? Was Xena good lesbian representation for the time? Is it subtext or is the text too strong to ignore the gayness?Hyperfixation: A Queer Fandom Podcast

We wrap up vampire month by finally talking about Interview with the Vampire, mostly the AMC series, but also the book and movie. Cal did a lot of research into Anne Rice. We have a lot to say about Claudia and her gay dads. Trigger warnings for domestic violence, abuse, and suicide.Hyperfixation: A Queer Fandom Podcast

Hyperfixation's vampire month continues with Castlevania: The Netflix Series, which Marika surprising liked and disrupted how the gang was going to cover the series. We have a very long conservation about sex. We talk a lot about how Dracula and Carmilla are adaptions in name only, how it started as a movie, and how much this show hates the Catholi…

Vampire month continues with Marika making the gang talk about the first season of Carmilla the web series, the 2014 Canadian adaption of the novella of the same name. It was a very specific, very tumblr moment on the internet for Marika. Cal and Bret find it... fine. Cal makes comparisons to Baldur's Gate and Bret has seen as a lot of SyFy origina…

Hyperfixation kicks of Vampire Month with Carmilla by J. Sheridan La Fanu, the first lesbian vampire and a book that predates Dracula. Why were books from the 1800s like this? Why are vampires and horror always queer? And why won't Marika shut up about the web series?Hyperfixation: A Queer Fandom Podcast

This week's hyperfixation for Cal is about Kotor and the queerness in the Knights of the Old Republic video games. Cal has a lot to say about Revan and how the character's gender is handled throughout the video games and various books. Bret knows things about video games and Marika is only bringing Xena comparisons. Episode We Mention: X-Men Blue O…

Bret explains the Fallout universe and it's history before the nuke that dropped and created it because all of the gang is suddenly interested because of the upcoming Amazon Fallout Series. How does it alternate history compare to other alt-history narratives? Why does it parallel the current U.S. so closely? Is the Terminator future always a possi…

This week's hyperfixation is X-Men Blue Origins #1, which finally lets Mystique and Destiny be Nightcrawler's biological parents. Is it clear how much Marika cares about the X-Men? Why couldn't Mystique conceive a child? And why would Kurt be surprised by that? Episodes We Mentioned: Kate Pryde and Murder Wives Marauders (2019)…

This episode's hyperfixation is the storytelling of Baldur's Gate 3, but also kinda DnD in general. Cal mostly, but also Bret, give Marika an overview off the basics of Baldur's Gate 3. How do you write a story this detailed? Why does everyone have so much trauma? How does Astarion think we don't know that he's a vampire?…

Hello! Welcome to Hyperfixation: A Queer Fandom Podcast, formerly Briikasak: A Mandalorian Podcast. We are in a transition period, away from Star Wars. It is not Ashoka's fault, but our conversation about season one of Ashoka will hopefully make you understand our desire to pivot. The Ahsoka series... is fine. Why is Thrawn wasted? Why is Sabine a …

The Briikasak gang channels their inner Sinjir and drunkenly covers the end of Aftermath: Life Debt. The team is separated. Temmin gets shot by his father, Rae kills her only friend, and everything goes to shit on Chandrila. Episodes We Mentioned: Aftermath: Life Debt Part 2 Aftermath: Life Debt Part 1 Watch Along for the Next Episode: Bad Batch Se…

The Briikasak gang returns to Aftermath: Life Debt with Norra and the crew. They bump into Han Solo. Sinjir is tortured about being a torturer. Jom is blowing up his life for casual sex. Rae is probably autistic and Norra isn't all that happy about her husband being back. Episodes We Mentioned: Aftermath: Life Debt Part 1 Aftermath: Part 1 Aftermat…

Happy Pride from Briikasak! We revisit the Aftermath series with book two Life Debt. Sloane is the head of the Empire, sort of, and Norra and the crew are working for Leia and the New Republic. Jas and Sinjir are not here to make friends, apparently, and everyone is having an identity crisis. Episodes We Mentioned: Aftermath: Part 1 Aftermath: Part…

The gang finishes the Vita Ayala Run of New Mutants with Issues 19-24. The two teams unite to defeat the Shadow King and free Amal Farouk. Rahne's storyline is still bad, Karma gets a girlfriend that isn't Dani, there are jarring artist changes, and we get frequently sidetracked. Happy early pride and ACAB! Episodes We Mentioned: Mutant May: New Mu…

For the second episode of Marika Mutant May, the gang chats about one of Marika’s favorite New Mutants runs. Cork and Bret are forced to deal with Rahne’s poor writing again. Dani and Karma should be gay. We have no idea how old Anole is and struggle to understand mutant religious practices. Episodes We Mentioned: Mutant May: Marauders (2019) Mutan…

Marika was able to pull Cork and Bret away from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor long enough to talk about New Mutants: Dead Souls from 2018. Everybody is a monster, Rahne is poorly written, Illyana should have more piercings and tattoos. Cork makes some very good Star Wars parallels and Marika struggles to answer multiple very specific X-Men questions. Ha…

The gang chats about what was announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023 about and not about The Mandalorian. Is Cork's theory about the Yuuzhan Wrong right? Will Marika be able to follow Ahsoka without watching all of Rebels? Will we be seeing Din and Grogu in a movie someday? Episodes we mentioned: Cork's Crazy Theory: Where Star Wars is Going Rebel…

The gang chats about the finale of season three "The Return." The Mandos retake Mandalore. Moff Gideon is defeated. Grogu is officially adopted and he and Din settle down at a house. This could be the end of The Mandalorian and we are kinda okay with that. Episodes we mentioned: Dark Saber History Early Mandalorian History: The Mandalorian Wars Bri…

Because why not? Bret goes for weird. Marika goes for women. Cork can't make a decision about the Children of the Watch. Briikasak is a Mando'a word meaning a social gathering among comrades during difficult times. In Briikasak: A Mandalorian Podcast, three queer comrades with varying degrees of Star Wars knowledge socially gather to discuss The Ma…

The gang chats about the very good "The Spies." Moff Gideon returns! Bo-katan reveals her backstory! Grogu gets a mech suit! Cork is saddened by the death. Could we see Pedro's face next week? Should the whole season have taken place on Mandalore? Briikasak is a Mando'a word meaning a social gathering among comrades during difficult times. In Briik…

The gang chats about the well-directed, poorly written "Guns for Hire." Are we supposed to be a broad comedy episode but the writing was too bad? Why are Din and Bo-Katan detectives now? Bo gets the Dark Saber but why now? But hey, Lizzo got to meet Grogu so that's nice. Briikasak is a Mando'a word meaning a social gathering among comrades during d…

The Covert comes to Nevarro's aide to save it from those pirates Din and Greef pissed off in the first episode of the season. We spend a lot of time with that one New Republic traffic officer, but also get to see Elia again and get some hints to Moff Gideon's whereabouts. Bo-katan is given a quest by the Armorer and is possibly taking Din's leading…

The Briikasak gang chats about the Carl Weathers directed "The Foundling." Why did the covert pick such a dangerous base? Has Ahmed Best's Star Wars reputation been saved? Does Cork have a new favorite episode? Is the Armorer flirting with Bo-Katan? Briikasak is a Mando'a word meaning a social gathering among comrades during difficult times. In Bri…

The Last of Us show ended, following the exact ending of the game, which Cork loved and Marika has confusing feelings about. Ellie's agency is taken away in multiple ways. The Fireflies reveal their turn intentions. Briikasak is a Mando'a word meaning a social gathering among comrades during difficult times. In Briikasak: A Mandalorian Podcast, thr…

Bo-katan accidentally becomes a Child of the Watch. Dr. Pershing and Hot Officer, I mean Elia Kane, return and meet for the first time. The New Republic's rehabilitation program has some red flags. Join the Briikasak gang as we discussion The Convert and try to figure out who it refers to. Briikasak is a Mando'a word meaning a social gathering amon…

Cork could not contain his thoughts so the Briikasak gang talked about Ellie and Joel's encounter with cannibal, pedophiliac cultists in Wyoming. Yay... Bella Ramsey better get that Emmy and none of us know what venison meat looks like. SPOLIER ALERT for this episode, all The Last of Us video game content, and season one of Yellowjackets. Briikasak…

The Briikasak gang travels with Din and Grogu to the mines of Mandalore, with its many Lord of the Rings references and possible problematic inhabitants. Bo-katan has some humanizing moments, Grogu is actually an attentive toddler, and Cork is pissed about that mythosaur. Briikasak is a Mando'a word meaning a social gathering among comrades during …

Pedro is fully committed to being a dad and it got even gayer, so the Briikasak gang chatted again about The Last of Us. This episode includes Melanie Lynskey being terrifying, how much seeing the Jackson settlement is setting up the next season/game, and how adorable and heart wrenching the baby gays are. SPOLIER ALERT for these episodes and all t…

The Mandalorian is finally back! Din and Grogu (somehow, he returned!) start Din's quest to rejoin the Armorer and her cult. There was a lot of setup and not a lot of actual stuff, but it was fun. The gang speculates how and if the timeline makes any sense anymore, talks about how much better Bo-Katan's wig is, and if anyone is following The Creed …

The Briikasak gang returns to its origins, The Mandalorian. Cork talks about his theories on this season. Marika is very committed to the show replacing Cara's role. How will the season be without Grogu's safety being a main plot driver? What does being a Mandalorian mean? Is the Armorer, Bo-Katan, or both the big bad? Briikasak is a Mando'a word m…

Confused by what going on in all the new Mandalorian trailers? Don't know how Grogu returned? Fully understandable since most of season two's conflict was resolved in the silly Boba Fett show. The Briikasak gang recaps the important Mandalorian story lines from Book of Boba Fett so everyone can be caught up before season three starts. Briikasak is …