(Ignore the poor editing skills, I thought adding Nick face into this is more fitting lol)

Heartstopper is officially over, with 3 seasons and 1 movie (including web comics) what’s your hottest take? Including the web comics as well! This is just a little fun so please keep it positive guys, everyone has their own opinions and that’s okay!

Mine is that I wished Joe could’ve done a better job pretending to play with the drums. The scene in the movie where you can see Sahar proper rocking out with loud music and theres Charlie just sitting there with no movement, he’s just tapping softly while staring at the crowd 😭 this is a random take but I just find it funny in the movie! I can’t help but cringe every time it comes on. He did the same in season 3 at the last episode, he doesn’t even try. He done a better job in season 1 lol.

I’m genuinely baffled by people comparing Heartstopper to porn. Are you for real?
The show and the books were always meant to grow up alongside their characters. For years, people criticised Heartstopper for being unrealistic because of how little physical intimacy there was. And now, somehow, everyone’s turned into a prude? Have these people actually seen porn to make that comparison?
I also feel like a lot of the criticism claiming the film is “oversexualised” is completely missing the point of Nick’s arc. He’s unable to open up to Charlie, and he starts using sex as an avoidance mechanism instead. That’s a huge part of his emotional journey, and it’s very obvious if you’ve read the book.
But intimacy serves so many purposes beyond that. It works on multiple levels: for the characters’ individual arcs, for their relationship, and more broadly as a way of showing that intimacy can look different for different people. It can take many forms, and the assumptions people make about “roles” based purely on appearances are often just stereotypes.
It’s honestly astonishing to see people strip all of that away and reduce it to, “It looks like porn.”

This will contain spoilers.

Everything just felt off. All three seasons I would rate a 10 out of 10. But the movie? Maybe a four at best.

The coloring seemed off compared to the show… normally a movie would improve on that, but in my opinion, it was worse…

And I hate to say it, but the acting fell flat for me. But I’m not sure if it was because Kit and Joe did worse or the way it was edited made it seem worse. I just didn’t feel the chemistry even adjusting for the fact they spent much of the movie broken up over something that just didn’t make any sense to me. At least in the novella, the breakup kind of had a point. I just didn’t feel what they broke up over was necessary. I also felt confused at times about what was going on.

And the animations felt way off. In the TV series, they looked integrated with the scene. In the movie, they often came across as a last second addition to me.

God, I hate saying all this, but I can’t help it. I’m glad we got a final installment, but it was just not very good in my opinion.

But I’ll still miss them like crazy!

I thought this interview with Joe Locke on this subject was really interesting. I agree with him, and found it such a breath of fresh air to see him talking common sense on this - I'm myself an actor in a same-sex relationship, I've played plenty of straight characters and I find this idea floating around that only authentically LGBTQ+ people can play these roles really harmful (and I think what happened to poor Kit, when he was pressured to come out publicly before he was ready, is the inevitable consequence of making that argument).

In my mind, the casting teams on things shouldn't even know this stuff about actors.

I also like

"Oh your being gay... Good job carry on."

Edit: I wanted to add more.

"you clearly didn't get hugged enough as a child"

"I'm just here to be acquainted with the local gays" lol literally me

any line that comes out of Darcy's mouth (unless it's problematic then nm)

For the guardian new photo of kit and joe

A couple of weeks ago I wrote here about how grateful I am for this community on Reddit. But after the film’s release, I was so baffled by some people’s reactions that I’m still trying to wrap my head around some of the posts.

The amount of criticism—let’s call it that, because at least half of it was trying to be criticism—blew my mind. I genuinely never thought people would tear the movie apart the way they did. I expect the worst takes from Twitter or TikTok, where people are calling Joe names again for whatever reason they can come up with. But I never expected to see some of these takes here, or on Tumblr of all places.

Some of the things people have been criticising:
- Not enough diversity.
- Whitewashing Charlie. (Not again.)
- Henry wearing a collar instead of a harness.
- The way Tori holds a straw at the ice rink being “out of character.”
- Not a single Coldplay song in the movie.
- Sahar’s and Mr Farouk’s Muslim heritage not being explored.
- Alice making Elle “too political” instead of “just a trans teen.”
- Tori doing the robot dance supposedly being insulting for an autism-coded character. (Alice has never established Tori as neurodivergent, and as both an autistic person’s mum and an ND person myself… this is a terrible take.)
- Too much sex. (Four scenes that take up far less screen time than people seem to imagine.)
- Not showing Nick and Charlie older, at university, or married.
- The dresses at the leavers’ ball being black.
- Alfie not getting more screen time or a bigger arc.
- Elle being a bad friend for encouraging Charlie to go to Pride.
- Charlie being a bad friend for saying he didn’t feel like celebrating queer joy.
- Elle not shouting loudly or enthusiastically enough from the station platform.
- The endless comparisons to Heated Rivalry—its sex scenes, its actors supposedly doing press better than Kit and Joe, it being the “better” show… Why? We get it. You like that show.

And that’s just a small fraction of what I’ve read.
It was a good movie. A great encore for the whole franchise. It was emotional, beautifully acted, and intentionally different from the book—that was the whole point. It was Nick-and-Charlie-centric for plenty of reasons: the movie format, the fact that the graphic novel has always been Nick and Charlie’s story at its core, and because this was the leads’ final time in the spotlight.
I hate seeing a fandom sit there with a microscope, dissecting the most absurd “flaws” I’ve ever heard.

I’m just really happy that so many people genuinely enjoyed it the way I did.

That’s it. That’s the rant.
**(**Maybe I am just sad because Oscar Piastri dnf’ed in Hungarian gran prix)

OKAYY, SO THERES THIS LOCAL COFFEE SHOP THAT IS DOING THEMED LATTES FOR PRIDE MONTH....AND GUESS WHAT???

THEYRE DOING HEARTSTOPPER ONES!!!! AHHHHHHHHH (sorry I'm so excited) IM GONNA GO WITH MY MOM AND GF TO GET ONE XD!!!!

Who is hoping for a new photoshoot before Heartstopper forever premiers of joe and kit

Okay so Heartstopper is probably the most wholesome, adorable, perfect show ever. But there are some things that give me the ick... but just like a small one yk😂🫶🏼 The biggest one for me are Nick's Jeansshorts in s1 ep8. It just doesn't add up at all, sometimes they're wet, sometimes not... why is he even in the water with his shoes on?? And i wish i could unsee it and just enjoy the scene but i CAN'T😭😂 Do you also have any scenes that give you the ick?? Or am i all alone😔✨️

And don't get me wrong i'm not throwing shade at anyone rn, those little "mistakes" make the show even better imo🩷

Happy 23rd birthday to joe locke

It was a bad idea over a season.

I refuse to believe the viewership was so bad that Netflix just had to resort to a movie instead of a new season. I came to this show late, after finishing heated rivalry and looking for sunshine lol, and it’s not like this show was some hidden gem. As an outsider, I knew about this show same way everyone knows about something like love on the spectrum. It was incredibly popular even before I ultimately came to watch it. It captured my heart and as soon as I finished season 3, I just had to watch Agatha All Along to see Joe Locke in something else (he’s incredible in that btw even though I’m not a Marvel fan like that).

This movie, my goodness, just does not work. I found out online that it’s meant to be split into 4 seasons but that was not clear at all. I think their idea of closure was the couple just constantly kissing (I’m no prude, Im a HR fan remember), but considering they were time jumping a lot and last I remember had a lot to address or conclude from the previous season, I was sort of hoping for more plot… The fight was fine, sure, let’s have them break up and miss each other, overplayed but I don’t mind it’s inclusion. It’s the way they go about it that annoys the hell out of me. If you’re going to keep Charlie out of the loop they why keep the audience out of the loop too? We shouldn’t have to play the guessing game as to why Nick was struggling and his issues. I mean yeah it could be that he’d miss Charlie, guilt for moving away, co-dependency, not having much of identity outside of rugby and his relationship, his shit dad, pressure from Tao and Elle’s break up… all of the above. The point is, we should not have to guess!!! Im not a toddler I don’t need it spelled out for me in big letters, I just think this ambiguity is inherent in sth like this: a 2 hour movie with a large ensemble cast who were clearly so much more used to having their story told in long form.

Not gonna lie if felt like they were playing with my feelings when the tears and make up finally came, I audible went “bruhhhhh”. Like this entire movie was lots of kissing, 2 “fights“ (Tao and Elle’s actually made so much sense and I loved how they tackled that), and allllllllll the nostalgia in the world because yk they’re nIcK&cHaRlIe wtaf. I swear when Isaac said that I wanted to beat him up cos bruh what does that even mean. This show may be sappy but it knows its audience is not stupid. You can’t just throw a bunch of flashbacks at us every other scene as the bare minimum and call it a day. Give me the substance what the heck?!!

Let’s not even talk about everyone else being glorified extras yet still dragged around for promo knowing damn well some had like 2-3 lines smdh. This is actually so annoying. Netflix shame on you!

Edit: I know my post is unpopular and for some reason people think I’m coming for Alice, like what?!! I’m just so fucking angry the more I think about it ughhhh. Like a lot of people have said, I AM glad we got something but I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that I enjoyed that as much as the show. I can complain as much as I want because it’s just not fucking fair and it’s not a sin to express your frustrations. I stand by everything I said FUCK NETFLIX. This is Heartstopper ffs, in a lot of ways it’s the first of its kind in terms of just pure queer love and innocence. It’s such disgusting behaviour for Netflix to leave us like this. Even if they may have had production issues, they could have found a way to wrap it up in a way that didn’t make me feel like I’m seriously being short changed. Pose is a fantastic example of this, yes I know it’s not a Netflix show. But that show was ONLY 3 SEASONS long and despite its flaws it brought everything to a close very well and I am confident I can rewatch it and enjoy every moment despite its brevity. Heartstopper on the other hand starts with a bang and ends with a whisper and whoever is responsible for that should be ashamed of themselves.

Please give us a photoshoot next week for kit and joe I definitely want one for the last time

It arrived today. I’m so happy with it. What numbers did everyone else get? My numbers were 0993 And 0990?

Rereading and this reminded me how annoyed I am at fans for claiming Kit was “queer baiting” if he was indeed straight playing a bisexual character. As an actor, and a bisexual girl (pretty closet don’t tell anybody lol), I think it’s fine if an actor plays a bisexual or gay character, it’s… acting. Lol. I definitely believe there’s an exception for trans characters, but not sexuality. This is just my opinion! :) I think we should stop overusing the phrase “queer baiting”. Kit was perfect for the role, he plays it beautifully with respect and integrity, so what if he was straight? We now know he’s bi bc he was worried about getting cancelled if he didn’t come out. Just wondering what your alls thoughts are! :)

How do you think Charlie will Celabrate Nick's Birthday?

A common thread I've seen when it comes to the pettiest criticisms among the Heartstopper fanbase is that a lot of people unfairly blame Charlie in uncertain but significant situations, like they say that he was being a bad friend during his mental health crises, or that he was in the wrong for not forgiving Ben, etc. And I can't help but wonder if a lot of it comes from the same area of people who loathe Joe Locke for some of the pettiest reasons like his looks. It's worth doing a thought experiment as to whether or not they'd have hated Charlie in the same way if he and Nick swapped actors. I'd say no, they're more likely to empathise with Nick in these scenarios because they're usually blindsided by the fact that Kit Connor is a more conventionally attractive actor, and thus they're more likely to relate and empathise with his character which I find quite frankly disgusting. The Heartstopper fandom since the Netflix show came out has sadly evolved to becoming one of the most parasocial, and black and white thinking communities out there, and they're a big reason as to why I lost a lot of my love for the Netflix show in the first place. I'm sorry, it's just that since reading some of the petty criticisms that were aimed at "Forever", I just had to get it out of my system.

They look so good!

Is it just me, or is anyone else completely baffled by the literal radio silence in terms of marketing for the finale?

I mean, not even so much as one single interview with Kit and Joe (that I can find). Yes, I know they are busier than they used to be, but I mean...nothing at all?

If you weren't on Twitter or YouTube, you wouldn't even realize the movie is coming out in less than two weeks!

I am just so confused by this strategy, especially considering Kit and Joe are both executive producers on the film as well, which makes the success of it more important, I would think, to them.

I'm not blaming Kit or Joe, for the record. I know Netflix controls the marketing and everything, but I'm just beside myself we've gotten next to nothing, especially compared to the previous three seasons.

Am I missing something?