42 pages • 1 hour read
Rick
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Rogue Space as Secret Bond
Rick and Grandpa Ray have uncommon interests and identities that place them outside the mainstream. When they discover that they both love the sci-fi television show Rogue Space, they suddenly have a bond that leads them to get to know one another and discover other shared qualities that place them outside the mainstream. They don’t feel safe sharing those parts of themselves with others, so Rogue Space symbolizes the bond of their secret knowledge about one another.
Rick, initially wary of Grandpa Ray, considers him a stranger until he discovers that Grandpa Ray is a fellow Roguer. “Did you ever ask?” Grandpa Ray replies to Rick’s delighted surprise (43). They watch Rogue Space every Sunday, which is also when they have their deepest, most vulnerable conversations, from Rick’s increasing doubts about Jeff to his coming out as asexual. Grandpa Ray supports him through all of it, accepting Rick’s identity when the rest of the family doesn’t and comforting him through the ending of his friendship with Jeff.
In turn, Grandpa Ray reminisces with Rick about his late wife, Rose, whom Rick never knew, and his own discomfort with their “normie” family. Grandpa Ray is vulnerable and reveals his comic-convention-going, crossdressing-cosplay days with Rose. Rick’s choice to attend Space Con with Grandpa Ray—in cosplay—signifies both his acceptance of Grandpa Ray and all his layers as well as a desire to continue their close bond, even as Rogue Space comes to an end.
Hobbies as Comfort
In Rick, the characters’ unconventional hobbies provide both comfort when dealing with the often judgmental society around them and self-expression that leads to more positive relationships.
Rick’s hobby is spinning quarters. While it is less conventional than baseball or video games and less flashy than theater, he finds the action soothing. He cultivates it into a talent until he can spin several quarters in one go, spin simultaneously with both hands, and stop them so they balance on an edge. While Rick doesn’t think much of his talent initially, it is uniquely his. By sharing it with his classmates, much like his ace identity, he cultivates new, healthy friendships with Ronnie and Melissa and shows off his talent and self-expression at Cabaret Night.
Similarly, Ronnie’s talent for art—drawing faces on objects—and Melissa’s talent for theater serve a similar purpose. Ronnie’s visual self-expression and openness to displaying it signal both his comfort in his LGBTQIAP+-adjacent identity (he has two moms) and his confidence, which garner him popularity at school. Melissa’s love for theater makes her a star emcee at the talent show and gives her a space to be comfortable with herself as she transitions into living openly as a girl. The Rainbow Spectrum Cabaret Night showcases the students’ various talents, just as the club creates a safe space to express and celebrate the various LGBTQIAP+ identities.
Similarly, Grandpa Ray identifies as a cisgender, heterosexual man, but his hobby of cosplaying as women is his own source of comfort and self-expression. His willingness to cosplay with Rose and later with Rick signals his close bonds with them, but in the interim, his secrecy and solitude at family gatherings indicate his lack of comfort and closeness with his relatives. It is only when he is open about his hobby that he can be comfortable with others. In this way, Alex Gino uses hobbies, especially unconventional ones, to demonstrate the importance of acceptance, individuality, and self-expression.
Video Games as Dark Cosplay
Two important motifs, video games and cosplay, offer outlets to characters looking to experience identities outside themselves and to express parts of themselves that others might judge harshly. Cosplay offers characters the opportunity to try on identities that align with parts of their personality and to inhabit those identities; video games also allow players to assume identities, or avatars, and then inhabit the universe of the game and behave according to its narrative. Both cosplay and video games grant the participants an escape from their reality, opportunities to behave in ways they might not otherwise, and identities they cannot express in their everyday lives.
Jeff’s relationship to video games has key components in common with Rick and Grandpa Ray’s cosplay. He can assume an identity that allows him to express himself, and he can inhabit a reality that isn’t his own. Grandpa Ray and Rick find shared connections and community through cosplay. Jeff, though, uses video games to explore dark narratives, express aggression, and find creative means of violence. He then blurs the line between the violence and aggression of the video game and his real life by acting out to hurt and exclude people and to destroy what others have built.
Jeff garners a mix of sympathy and anger. He has a troubled, vague relationship with his father, and his toxic behavior may stem from those issues. While rude and hateful to others, he is caring to Rick. Jeff waits for Rick before progressing in the video games they play together, something Rick values in their friendship. Still, the type of games Jeff likes hint at and foreshadow his later behavior: action/fighting games, auto racing/theft games, civilization-development games, etc. He seeks the same power and control that he has in the video game in his life at school. The lack of real-world accountability in the video games also spills over into his real life.
In a bar-fighting video game, Jeff crows at the violence he inflicts: He smashes bottles of alcohol on characters’ heads and celebrates the glass shards sticking out. He considers being barred from the virtual establishment as a victory, much as the way his blustering nonchalance at his own isolation in school and his pointedly anti-gay language and behavior signal meanness, apathy, and entitlement.
Jeff also plays a civilization-building game—not to foster community but in anticipation of the major disaster to befall it. He celebrates when Godzilla flattens the town he has worked so hard to create. Similarly, he makes a concerted effort to vandalize and destroy all the Cabaret Night posters that Rainbow Spectrum worked so hard to create.
Video games and cosplay provide avenues for characters to explore alternate identities and express aspects of themselves they may conceal in their daily lives. While some, such as Rick and Grandpa Ray, find camaraderie and self-expression through cosplay, Jeff’s engagement with video games reveals darker inclinations, including aggression and violence. Jeff’s destructive actions in both virtual and real settings underscore his disregard for community and cooperation and lead to the end of his friendship with Rick.
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