Julian seeing Garak off at the airlock and giving him back the Delavian chocolates is still one of the sweetest most romantic gestures in the whole series

I was thinking about what would the different Star Trek shows look like if depicting queer people was just a-okay at the time, without making drastic changes and without taking many of my ships into account (I am showing so much restraint here). Here are my thoughts (no TNG, I haven't seen that yet):

and fuck if you think about it, the writers do to Julian the character exactly what Jules' parents did to their "disappointing" child. they didn't like the way he was unfolding — so they reached in and reconstructed him.

The writers took the naive, fantasy-enamored lover boy developed over several seasons and retroactively remade that character into a facade. A mask. A shell into which the new, "true" Julian takes root.

And like Jules' parents, who eradicated the child they couldn't see any potential in, the writers don't seem to have thought through all the repercussions of their meddling.

Julian was never actually the naive young dreamer that is the foundation of how other characters + we the audience understand him; he fabricated the starry-eyed doctor (insensitively) enamored with "Frontier Medicine" to conceal the Truth, which is lies and shame; he got as far from earth as possible not for the thrill of it, but out of the terror of being Found Out.

He doesn't enjoy conversing with the station's resident Exiled Spy because Garak's his foil, someone exciting because of how unalike they are; he loves Garak because here is someone who knows what it is to be built of lies. When Julian is with Garak, he's not the only one constantly deceiving everyone, not allowing anyone to get too close. In mutual acceptance that they will never know the full truth about one another, each paradoxically ends up knowing the other better than anybody else ever will.

Nor does Julian play secret agent in the Holosuites so he can fantasize himself completely different — he's tapping into what he sees as his true self, escaping to a reality where dealing in secret identities makes you a hero, not a liar. He gets to be who he is — a genius of deception — where that's a good thing. Where he doesn't have to be afraid that friends who find out will be disgusted, betrayed.

Both Julian's parents and Julian's writers doom him to ceaseless stress and stigma. Even when his deepest fears come true, even when Everyone Knows — and it is, miraculously, okay — they've opened him to exploitation by those who'd use his powers for further subterfuge.

Does Julian ever get to just Be Himself? Or has he been rewritten, reshaped by forces beyond his control, too many times?

I think Bashir and Kirk would really vibe as two goofy bisexual men with saviour complexes (unless those complexes were opposed).

Garak and Spock, however, would hate each other sight and have the craziest beef known to all of faggotry. The only reason they would stand each other is because of their bfs who theyre pathetically devoted too, like two competitive PTA moms whos kids are friends

Odo is such a unique character. Here's our resident tight ass. He works as a paul blart mall cop. He worked in a concentration camp but didn't like it very much (it was in the mall). Every 16 hours he turns into soup. He looks like that because he doesn't really "get" faces. He is the result of a sad beige mom and evil scientist dad. He got hit on by the Betazoid ambassador that one time they were stuck in an elevator together. His situationship is an evil chaos goblin and he falls in love with his boss.

What genre each DS9 character thinks the story is:

Sisko: A military drama

Dukat: Same as Sisko, but Dukat is the main character

Damar: Same as Dukat, but one of the characters (himself) goes through a redemption arc.

Kira: A "Revelations"-esque war between good and evil. She's lucky (or unlucky) to be the right hand of her people's Messiah.

Weyoun: Same as Kira, but replace Sisko with the Founders.

Worf: An epic poem (he literally says this is how he viewed the events of "The Best of Both Worlds", and I think he views the Dominion War the same way)

Dax: Same as Worf. Jadzia and Ezri view this genre differently.

Nog: A coming-of-age story.

Odo: A neo-noir crime drama

Bashir: A spy thriller (positive)

Garak: A spy thriller (negative)

O'Brien: A buddy cop film in which he is the old, cynical cop.

Quark: A fable about what happens when no one around you follows the Rules of Acquisition.

Eddington: Literally Les Miserable (Starfleet Academy is light on media literacy courses, so he thinks his terrorism and treachery is on the same level as Jean Valjean's noble struggle)

I think we need to babygirl-ify Kira more. My bitch with all the mental illnesses. More traumatised than Jesus. Religious and the right-hand of her messiah but she's not processing that rn cause she has too much on her plate. Personal beef with hitler and the pope. Dates anyone who makes her feel an even vague sense of safety, regardless of chemistry. Pointedly ignoring her attraction to women because of her flagrant mommy issues. Woman of all time

Character who is apparently an 'open book', but it turns out that a lot of the writing is incomprehensible or outright illegible, there are pages missing or in the wrong order, different parts of the text contradict each other, and 'reading' this person leaves you more confused than you would be if they revealed absolutely nothing.

Bashir has that type of energy that old ladies love. And hes a doctor. I think if he ever met Mila, Garak would be getting married the next Day (neither of Them get a Say)

It’s wild how many people genuinely dislike Worf. Yes he’s grumpy and can be rude and really dedicated to bad decisions at times but that’s part of his charm. He is Kahless’ most miserable soldier and I think that’s great.

Graphic design is my passion.

Ok that’s all of them I felt like making. Trying to get these on Redbubble or something for t shirts but if you want a print or poster just download one and print a couple for you and your Par’Mach’kai ❤️‍🔥

@imadoctornotanescalator NEED THAT JULIAN DESIGN ON A SHIRT!!!!!!

@lazuelazuli ME TOO!!!!

OMG, this is amazing!! But I NEED SUCH A COLLAGE WITH GARAK PLEEEEASE!!!!!

Someone just pointed out to me that Garak is like the only/best Cardassian codebreaker in the federation during the war. This leads me to wonder if all the augment needling on the defiant had less to do with just finding the déception and augmentations hot, and more to feeling like he was finally worthy of doing something about it

Odo being good with/liking kids is such a peak character trait. Like, all accounts suggest he should find kids so annoying but he is consistently shown to not only be good with them but he's almost better at interacting with them than he is with adults. A part of me wonders if that's because in changeling years, he is a kid but it's just, like, a small thing I really appreciate.

Truly I think Garak should get the opportunity to (verbally) torture Richard Bashir. Just absolutely lay into him for what he did to Julian and the consequences of his actions. To dissect him to his core. Or just stare at him without saying anything a la Kelas Parmak for an extended period of time until Richard breaks completely. To make him feel the true weight of his actions in a way even jail won’t.

And of course Julian should get to watch- as a treat!