The gays are watching Heartstopper: The reaction vids you need to see now!
We are in Heartstopper hell. We can’t stop watching. It’s on in the Q+ Magazine offices on repeat constantly, we’re scouring social media for absolutely anything we can about the cast and crew, and we’re listening to the soundtrack like obsessed maniacs. And still, it’s not enough.
So we went searching for more.
Those of us that hadn’t already read the graphic novels read every single page immediately after watching and then went back and started again. We’re stalking Alice Oseman and Netflix’s accounts for news of renewal as well. In the midst of all that, we accidentally stumbled across a reaction video of someone watching Heartstopper and just like that, we went down the rabbit hole.
And babies, the gays are watching Heartstopper with gusto and filming themselves watching too. It’s like eating your favorite dessert – one isn’t enough! While there are many that we have enjoyed, these are just some of our favorites. If you haven’t checked them out yet, do yourself a favor and set aside an evening to devour these videos! We promise you won’t regret it.
Gavin Hetherington
This was the first reaction video we watched and it sparked our obsession and made us want to watch them all. This reactor is absolutely adorable and a massive fan of the graphic novel series. His love and excitement for this franchise bleeds through the screen every time he does anything.
Notable moments include his absolutely hysterical reaction to discovering that Olivia Colman is Nick’s (Kit Connor) mom (same, bestie, same), and his delight when Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) manages to scare the hell out of Tara (Corinne Brown) with her trumpet after trying for ages.
During the milkshake date, he stops to talk about how it’s been so long since he has been on a date and that he didn’t even try and get a boyfriend when he was Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick’s age because it was such a scary time for him. He mentioned, so importantly, that if he had been blessed with this kind of representation when he was a teenager, his life might have turned out very differently – and my dude, we completely agree with this!
Brad Evans
This is an incomplete reaction series that has two episodes currently out. We expect the next two will be released over the next two weekends. This reactor’s sheer joy at watching his community come to life on the screen in front of him is absolutely epic.
“God we’ve got lesbians, we’ve got transgender, we’ve got gay, we might have a bisexual in our house! Oh, we LOVE THIS,” he exclaims with utter delight.
This reactor also makes a lot of fun of the trauma, the bullying, and all the mess that he went through as a young gay man – and we did laugh a lot because of the way he delivered it, but the fact that almost every reactor is talking about their childhood queer trauma in their videos as they watch Heartstopper is utterly heartbreaking.
In this series, he makes a comment about how, if you’ve never been bullied and you’re gay, he envies you. That truth really hurt deep in the soul. It makes us think about the scene where Nick is telling Charlie that he shouldn’t have to put up with any of the mess that their peers have put him through. While Nick is right, it’s not the reality for most queer people.
We can’t wait to see the next episode of this reaction series.
Jackie-Ross Lavender
We stumbled across this reaction video by chance, but we’re really glad that we did. It’s not cute, and it’s not funny, but what the reactor talks about is really, really important. Despite the fact that Heartstopper is a ball of pure joy and happiness, watching the show has brought a lot of queer trauma to the surface for many.
The reality is, a lot of queer people have been through a lot on their journey to self-acceptance and many of us have deep, long-lasting scars that might never really heal. Watching Charlie and Nick go through this together has made the queers feel many things. From pride, happiness, and joy that something like Heartstopper even exists, right through to the triggering torments of the past.
For many of us, watching Heartstopper is a juxtaposition of both of those things. And this is definitely what happened to this reactor. The conversations that this reactor is having with his audience around the things he has dealt with in life for simply being gay are so important. Watch with a box of tissues, but definitely, absolutely watch (especially if you’re straight – you folks need to hear these stories).
Kevin (Irish Reader)
This reactor is another die-hard fan of the graphic novels. These reactions are really special because the sheer joy these OG fans experience watching their world come to life on screen before them is delightful.
This reactor spends the majority of the video on the verge of tears of happiness as he watches these characters come to life for the first time. Watching the gays get all emotional about seeing Nick and Charlie on screen only serves to highlight just how important it is that queer people are represented on television as well.
The gays are reacting with such passion and emotion because it’s rare to see the community accurately represented in this way. We say it all the time: representation matters. And when you watch these reaction videos, you’ll really understand why.
PJ and Thomas
This is less of a reaction video and more of a conversational review about the show. These gay husbands have quite a prominent following on YouTube so we’re happy to see them giving Heartstopper all the love.
Like everyone else, they discuss all the great things about the show (maybe with less emotion than some of the others) but they also have conversations about some of the harder things that this show has brought up for folks around the world.
It’s a theme we are seeing across all the reaction videos. Whether they’re funny or not, the gays are talking about their trauma. Clearly, Heartstopper is the show that everyone didn’t know they needed!
Miguel Padilla (Dr. Miguel)
Although very short, this TikTok video really resonated with one of the staffers here at Q+ Magazine. It’s in Spanish, so we’ve provided a translation for you here.
“I haven’t stopped crying. I recorded a YouTube video reacting to the 1st episode, I’m currently on the 3rd. Ufff. I’m not gonna tell you what the story is about, y’all already know by now. But you know what I feel? I feel like they owed the community this story. They owed us the chance to dream with a love like this. They stole many things from us. I just saw the scene of the kiss between the two girls, so beautiful! My first kiss with a boy, I remember I had to glance twice to make sure no one was watching and would follow us home and… kill us. Many and many and many of us had to hypersexualize ourselves thinking that’d be the only way someone would love us. I think it’s really beautiful that there are young kids right now that can watch this. So thank you for letting us dream like straight people.”
This TikToker hits on several key discussion point that we’ve also seen circulating online about how our queer experiences have played out over time. Take a look. It’s emotional and lovely.
We’d like to acknowledge that while Heartstopper is bringing much joy all around the world, as we’ve already discussed above, it’s also bringing up a lot of pain. You are not alone. If you ever find yourself in trouble, ask for help. These resources below are internationally accessible organizations endorsed by The Trevor Project.
Heartstopper is available to stream on Netflix globally now. Check out our season one review, the most relatable queer moments, and some of our top 5 cutest moments among other Heartstopper things we’ve published (we told you, we’re in Heartstopper hell).
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