In Defense of Gil

I talk about g1 Gil Webber from Monster High and why I don't think he's as bad as the fandom makes him out to be
*For adult doll collectors
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0:00 - Intro
2:01 - The Webisodes
16:34 - The Movies
23:24 - My Thoughts
#monsterhigh

[@kelleypopelar3162]

I never really thought he was that bad a boyfriend. It just seems like the community has lumped him with his parents that actually were the problem… guilty by association.

[@cure_delia]

honestly, it felt like gil was more afraid of what his parents might do to him bc in one of the episodes, they transferred him to another school after finding out abt his relationship with lagoona. i feel like the fandom skips this piece of info a lot as to why he didn't stand up for her more.

[@AmyRose507]

I didn't really delve into g1 content until much later, but something that always stuck out to me was Gil being heavily asian coded with Lagoona being australian. I know fantasy racism loves to paint white coded characters as the victims to make a point, but with Gil I saw the asian parents not wanting their kid to be with someone from another race which IS super common irl (shoutout to the half of the family I don't even know because my grandma got disowned for this💀) so this conversation always screamed more of xenophobia to me from my own experiences, plus this becoming a SUPER common trope for stories surrounding asian/white mixed relationships to stir up drama and white angst Anyway I agree so hard with this video, he's literally a teenager and only knew his bubble until he went to monster high, but at the end of the day Lagoona has every right to not want to be in a relationship with him and might be better to not be in it

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Very well said!

[@Obell18]

As I said before... BASED-faery is our fave faery. This is A GEM. Thanks for sharing such personal experiences and perspectives♡

[@Obell18]

+ So many hate Gil but don't mind about what an oblivious girlfriend Cleo was? And her relationship with Deuce is the fave of the fandom. Sorry not sorry. The truth hurts 🤷🏻‍♀️ (I am actually a hater of all G1 romantic canon relationships) I'm happy about the Cleo change of airs in G3. She is totally more aware of others feelings, specially Frankie's❤ that IS healthy sh*t.

[@RambleMaven]

I agree the conversation around Gil lacks nuance. I’m Black and grew up in a predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhood. A lot of my Hispanic friends had racist parents and I just couldn’t come over to their house because of that. My parents were strict. I couldn’t even have a boyfriend (I snuck and had a boyfriend anyway but the guilt ate at me and unfortunately I would break up in times where I felt super guilty and get back which him when the feelings subsided which wasn’t fair to him at all.) My parents literally kicked my brother out for not following the rules and that didn’t even have to do with race or sexuality (he’s cishete) I say all this because I understood the fear of parents even without bigotry involved. Gil somehow formed his own world view, thought his parents were wrong, and stood up to them which is pretty brave but maybe his parents weren’t as strict as mine so he felt more safe to do so?? My point is I agree it’s not easy to tell where he should have been in standing up to his parents because as you said they didn’t go into enough detail and the details we do have say he stands up for her quite a bit.

[@RambleMaven]

Also I wanted to add that the argument that Lagoona deserves better can still be made but to say that Gil sucks and didn’t fight for her just because Lagoona may deserve just isn’t realistic to me.

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

100%! You can totally say Lagoona deserves better while understanding Gil might have a complicated situation. Some parents just don’t facilitate a safe environment for one reason or another (and I’m sorry you have firsthand experience with that)

[@ohdarling6657]

I feel like peoples forget that Gil is only 16! Standing up to your parents is a huge thing at this age

[@aruvius]

I think what doesn’t help Gil’s case is Deuce and Clawd being the best boyfriends. ofc neither of them have the same problems as Gil, but he also doesn’t treat Lagoona like the other guys do (treating them like actual queens). it also doesn’t help that Gil and Lagoona never got a dedicated movie like the other couples. being just a subplot was not enough time for them to have a full arc. Scarrier Reef could have been their chance, but it was only about Lagoona.

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Definitely they deserved a dedicated movie! Deuce really was top tier, and so was Clawd…most of the time. He was rough in Friday Night Frights imo. It would have been interesting to see how Gil/Lagoona would have been if they’d both been allowed to have consistent growth instead of having to stay mostly the same

[@stormvirvel]

Finally! I 1000% agree with everything honestly (except I haven't been through any experiences similar to yours or to Gil, as my parents are absolutely not homophobic or racist in the slightest. I have had several other relatives who were racist though). I always thought people overreacted when it comes to him. Like you said, sure he wasn't perfect but no one is so. I always kinda liked him even to be honest but I never said anything cause I didn't have the energy to deal with all the hate and negativity that would come with it. I've watched all the webisodes and movies many times and I can 100% guarantee that Clawd and Heath are the most misogynic characters in Friday Night Frights (maybe Manny as well), and that Gil barely has any screentime or lines. So if he's actively participating in the misogyny there is no way of proving it really. Speaking of Friday night frights, one thing that bothers me the most regarding this topic is how people paint up Clawd to be this perfect guy and that Gil sucks, but they tend to forget how truly awful Clawd were in Friday Night Frights (misogynic comments all over the place and also trying to control Draculaura) but somehow he is allowed to be excused for his behavior. Meanwhile Gil, who always chose Lagoona in the end and almost always stood up for her (just like you said), he's the biggest douche to ever exist. This is actually the biggest reason I dislike G1 Clawd so much cause this annoys me to no end. ps I'm not saying that I want Clawd to get all the hate instead of Gil or anything, I'm only saying that it just isn't logical and they should be judged on the same bases (which they are not).

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Tea! I hated how Clawd was portrayed in Friday Night Frights, I did like him up until that point but yikes they really made him the bad guy in that one

[@EllieseBrown]

Danggggggggggg not you defending G1 Gil Webber!!! I was so ready to see you slash him with your chaotic vibes… I’m still intrigued to see what you’ll do with this! 💅✨

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Me and my hot takes 🤪

[@_frankiefreak_]

I feel like the fact we never properly see Gils parents in the first place doesn’t do Gil any favors either. He‘s basically the one who always brings the racist topic and relationship issues into the show so I feel like most of the people who absolutely hate him just associate him with those things, even tho the parents are the super gross part in all of that. I wish we would have seen them because it would have shown that Gil is a victim here too.

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Totally fair! We only ever see a couple of tentacles to represent them, much harder to be mad at that than a character who actually is given a face and lines

[@qryptid]

Love the nuance around the struggle of dealing with bigoted family and trying to stand up to them, and stand up for your friends, when you're a literal child. Obviously the anti seamonster rhetoric is wrong and I don't feel like the movies or webisodes ever try to imply otherwise, and defending Gil doesn't imply it was ever okay, but it is understandable where Gil himself, stuck in such a hard spot, may have made poor choices or said or done things in the shadow of his parents beliefs. He can have done some things that were unkind or obviously the wrong choice and still be doing the best he can in the difficult circumstances he's in.

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

👏🏻

[@whitneyellis834]

I've heard some of the trash talking about him that goes on in the fandom at large, but have held a pretty similar position on as you on it. I think it's also worth noting that he was born, raised, and socialized as a man, and yet still defended her to the level he did. There are plenty of mentally and emotionally unregulated grown adult men out there that wouldn't have gone to the lengths he did to defend her, or even paid specific enough attention to things she had done to use as perfect counterpoints to his parents. The vast majority of teenage boys I knew growing up would blatantly make in fun of any 'negative' traits their girlfriend had the second she wasn't around in front of his friends or family. I think he did what he felt was safe and testing his limits, because I also feared getting kicked out by my parents for certain beliefs I held (and I was for a brief time.) Given the circumstances, he did better than I would have expected him to and I'd only hold him to a higher standard if they were, say, in college or fully functional adults. It really makes me wish they'd delve into the characters' lives as adults so we could get more mature, interesting, and better written storylines.

[@samannwrap]

Love this debate!! I would love to see a video about ur take on the gen 3 Cleo and Frankie ship

[@Draculaura200]

I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THIS FINALLY THIS MAY BE LONG!! But I LOVED the way they portrayed lagoona and Gil's relationship!!! As someone who was in an interracial relationship as a teenager (and still am 6 years strong now ✊) I thought it was VERY WELL DONE!! And so much like my real life high school experience with my boyfriend. I think it was nuanced but gil always corrected his mistakes and came through! And lagoona was ALWAYS STRONG IN HER BOUNDARIES! She was NEVER willing to take the abuse if gil was gonna let it happen! For context, my boyfriend is asian he immigrated pretty young at 8. he has very traditional boomer Korean parents! And they actually wanted him with a white woman. I am Mexican and immigrated when I was about 12. (Now WE KNOW that being Mexican does not equal not being white I AM white but to his parents I WAS NOT white! They don't care about the logistics they did NOT consider me white) they were incredibly prejudice to me and treated me awful. They hated that he was dating me. As teens it caused SO MANY ISSUES! At one point we broke up for about a month and then reconnected because we both felt we were being really stupid teenagers and blowing things out of proportion. My boyfriend asked if he could just not tell his parents we got back together because he had already told them we broke up... I immediately shut it down I told him no if he had to hide me or my relationship then we were NOT gonna get back together. He immediately told his parents the next day that we got back together and realized how selfish it was so ask me to be okay with that. There were times were he didn't adequately stand up for me when his parents said something and I would be very hurt and upset and he would go and face them and make it right meaning he would make sure they knew he didn't agree. I knew he didn't agree with them but I also understood that he was very scared of them. We were teens he was completely dependent on his parents! He lived with them they paid for his car and when he graduated they paid for his college he even worked at their store meaning his paychecks came from them. It would be 100% valid for someone to have left that relationship for those things I wouldn't blame anyone for deciding to break up because he did slip at times and succumb to the fear over me. But I knew he didn't feel the same and he did over time get better at overcoming that fear. He felt a lot of fear meeting my parents too... He put it off for awhile he was really scared they would treat him poorly the way his family treated me. Especially because my family knew what his family was doing. I'm very thankful my family is so open minded and accepting of so many different kinds of people. My mom and sister both being bisexual and my brothers growing up around that, my family is very forward thinking. They were incredibly accepting of him and my interracial relationship. I think I would've been more upset had they tried to show an interracial relationship where everything went right all the time and no one ever slipped up to that fear of the family. my boyfriend was SCARED of losing his family, as awful as they were it can be hard and sad. Interracial relationships can have so many challenges especially as teens. I saw so much of my relationship reflected in lagoona and gil and I think it proudly showed gil correcting his mistakes and lagoona being very firm in boundaries. Two very healthy and needed things in these situations. I'm not gonna say gil was the perfect character but honestly... That's exactly why he was a GOOD character. He made mistakes and had to fix them! He had to do internal work on himself! He had to do hard emotional things for someone he loved! I loved gil and I loved the relationship they portrayed. It's real and it was shown the healthiest way it could've been.

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Very sorry you had to deal with that difficult experience, but kudos to y’all for making it work! Thanks for sharing your story, very insightful to hear from someone who lived through something so similar to the Gil/Lagoona situation

[@LaBellesGrace]

The fandom isn’t ready for you to spit the factssss. Loved this video and how much you covered! Gil is such an interesting character in the POV of MH fans. I lean more towards white myself, but my grandmother and her family experienced terrible racism in the 50s. Despite the generational trauma that’s come along with that type of upbringing, they are also some of the most loving and most welcoming people you’ll ever meet. I grew up with a serious “invisible” and complicated hearing disability, so it’s been so easy to see both Gil and Lagoona’s perspective in certain ways.

[@LanaSlayRey]

THANK YOU.

[@Spidrick]

I am a new subscriber and new to collecting Monster High. I found the video very insightful and thank you for sharing your story. I wasn't aware of the Gil "hatred" but I can understand why it exists. I agree with your point of view and would like to point out that one of the purposes of cartoons is to teach a lesson. I think having Gil be uncertain at times about his parent's reaction and maybe secretive but in the end choosing Laguna is a valuable teaching moment for us all. He acknowledges the issue but in the end chooses to act his feelings. Just my 2 cents.

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

That definitely makes sense! If characters are always perfect in a cartoon there’s no room for growth or lessons, it’s so much more rewarding (and important for young audiences) to see characters becoming better people over time

[@princessofstars666]

This is a great video essay! Id love to see more, but I don't have any specific ideas. You made a great argument here and had really interesting examples, I didn't know about Lorna in the webisodes!

[@therococofaerie]

Great job on this video and I love all your points. I totally agree with you 😊

[@vespiaries]

i enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this and i think you made some really great points! tbh i find gil really forgettable so i never had strong thoughts about his relationship with lagoona … or really even remembered he existed most of the time 😆

[@jameshamer481]

As your oldest fan, lol, i never knew the MH lore. I feel you made a very good case presenting both sides equally. Great video as always.🎉🎉

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Thank you so much 🥰

[@Francisco-ok1gk]

OMG this video is gonna be very controversial, especially Monster High fans😅😅

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Yeah I really woke up and said “I wanna cause dissent and discord”

[@Francisco-ok1gk]

It’s OK we have all different opinions and it’s OK to have different opinions than others and it’s OK to share your own opinions and explain you have those opinions

[@ambiguoussarcasm]

FINALLY! Ive been waiting for a video about this, the fandom just has a hate boner for the poor guy

[@nawresskacem9374]

I don't think Gil is bad because he is racist or misogynistic ,i just think the movies mishandled Gil's character... I was okay with him and his evolution in the webisodes ,but i wasn't thrilled how he went back to being passive about standing up for Lagoona in 13 wishes for example ,where she devolved into a weird fresh-water monster to appease his parents (at least this is what i remember from that movie) ... he was also very passive until almost the end of the movie in the great scarrier reef (tbh that movie made zero sense anyway) overall ,i wanted him to have a cooler and stronger character personally and I love Lagoona i think she deserves the best so maybe it's just me thinking she is too good for him as i say this ,i may have missed pieces of media involving him or forgot. You really bring valid points to the conversation ,i love videos like this because sometimes i have such thoughts in my mind but then I'm like "who should i share my thoughts with on this very specific topic no one i know in real life is familiar with or cares about?" hahaha

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

I definitely get what you mean, many many characters in MH unfortunately suffered from repeating the same arc/lessons over and over again and not actually getting consistent growth :/

[@alishanightshade3270]

Really agree with you. I’m afraid to told problems to my parents like sickness and forget to bring something. They always blame first and gives useless advices like It’s your fault to have that. My parents don’t like south Asians, European. Always saying how stupid and how pride they were. Parents don’t listen. That’s why I think Gil’s parents might be similar with that.

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Sorry you have that experience, I know it can be so hard

[@cutiestcat19]

Yes he was that bad. This evil man does not deserve to be defended.

[@graighobart9131]

Not sure if anyone said this already but in Friday Night Frights Gil and Deuce are the only guys who dont really put down the girls or are misogynistic about them playing the sport and are shown supporting them from their first game onward. So it helps your argument, haha. Of the prominent guys, it's mainly just Manny, Heath, and Clawd that say anything like that. Anyway, great video! I agree with pretty much all of your points and actually had been considering making a write-up or something similar about this exact topic. I might still, but it's good to know im not alone, haha. Also, I can't wait for you to watch the g3 show as i think you'll like it a lot more than the g1 media

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

I’m part way through the g3 show and yeah, I like it a lot more haha! Still very kiddish at times but I like how the characters are done and it somehow feels more authentic

[@graighobart9131]

@FaeryTaleDolls that's great! I understand what you mean. I love the G1 media but I do think the way the show tells its story and characterizes everyone is way better

[@sainttan]

I think Gil's hot, but they have to gave him that under water voice... Just to easily differentiate from the other boys.

[@nawresskacem9374]

i cannot bear it 😂they did him dirty with that voice (but the voodoo doll guy and Heath aren't much better)

[@serenasilvercrest3154]

I agree with you

[@delbelcoure]

💗

[@Vanessa-nh5es]

🤗♥️🖤🤗🧚🏻🤸🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️🔥🧚🏻

[@kenzihenderson5258]

Yes! Justice for gil! Now there actually is unfortunately some aspects in the webisodes that occured later that you skipped. You know the episode where gil takes a broken hearted Lorna to the dance as a friend to make her feel better (and was encouraged to do so by the ghouls)? Well I've legit seen ppl use that as evidence that gil cheated on Lagoona. Yeah no joke cheating on Lagoona is also a charge fans have made against him. Nevermind the fact that Lagoonas friends encouraged him, nevermind it was a misunderstanding and everyone explains/apologizes to Lagoona and nevermind that gil and Lagoona spend the rest of the dance together...fans still accuse gil of cheating. So I think the worst accusations I've seen against gil come from a place of just straight up misremembering. Like these are the conclusions made out of context or based on what people remember as kids. I don't think any of the ppl accusing gil of being toxic or cheating have actually researched the media in detail which I why I was so exciting when you took the time to. Because yeah, when seeing it again gil does not cheat gil is not toxic. He's just a cowardly guy that disagrees with his parents who slowly learns to be braver against racism becuz of his relationship with Lagoona and how she gives him the courage to be open. They grow together

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Ahh yeah I missed that! Didn’t see it on the wiki and I don’t think I watched the webisodes that far so I didn’t remember myself 😅😅 but in general I agree there’s a lot of misremembering with Gil…seems like a lot of people only remember his bad moments and not the good ones

[@Zhade11]

I gotta say something controversial. . . I like and relate to G1 Frankie Stein.

[@EnzoOttaviani]

me too i think i am kinda weird and silly like her sometime

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Controversial indeed lol

[@Zhade11]

@@EnzoOttaviani I also act impulsively for social approval sometimes and take a lot of things way too seriously. But my crusade to see Faery Tale Dollz make one positive video about Frankie will still continue.

[@xXJoeyXxcoooool]

it’s kinda funny how serious this is (no offense not trying to say you can’t be interested in it :) )

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

Every once in a while I get intense haha

[@KaminoKatie]

Lagoona deserve a way better partner than Gil

[@fireblast4642]

Response:If not sticking up for your girlfriend infront of your parents and not fighting for your love and being a toxic fish is really bad then YES.Gil was REALLY BAD!

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

The video ain’t even live yet 😭

[@fireblast4642]

@@FaeryTaleDolls Ik just wanted to come by early and drop a comment! Dw will be watching the video too

[@sharonthompson672]

🤣🤣🤣 I contributed early feelings too 🖐️🙂 One episode of Mr no spine breaking Lagoona's heart was enough for me. But I've got a strong reaction to classics and snobs. Makes my blood boil. I'm sure the storyline was trying to touch on the pressures kids go through between beliefs and cultures they're raised in versus becoming aware of the great variety in the world and the conflict that raises when you realize your idols have clay feet. Okay, I'm done. 😬

[@Cici45900]

I love your video but 40 min for Gil is a longgg time 😂 boy has a lot to explain 😂

[@FaeryTaleDolls]

I mean mostly a) I’m just a talker and b) it’s a nuanced topic I didn’t want to just slap into 10 mins ya know?

[@Cici45900]

I get your video. No worries.