Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #450: Disney Tarzan (1999)

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #228: Bruno (Pokémon)

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #145: Puzzle Fighter Donovan I played tons of Super Puzzle Fighter as a kid, but was unfamiliar with Darkstalkers - I just knew I had an inexplicable magnetism toward the ripped dude whose torso was half exposed.

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #064: George of the Jungle (1967)

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #326: Ska-Punk Biff (CN Groovies ~ Jabberjaw (Running Underwater), 1999)

I don't know if I've ever established this here on the Bloosk, but the "Crush/Scene # ____" labels I add to all the examples here are just large nonsense numbers to establish "Gosh dang, there were an awful LOT of these now that I look back" and not some sort of definitive ranking or posting order.

Scenes That Lived Rent-Free In My Mind As A Kid, To My Great Confusion #472: Sumo Size (Super Duper Sumos) Even as a kid I knew this was an exceptionally mediocre cartoon, but my gay little eyes were still drawn to the men regularly transforming into 12-foot walls of scantily-clad, muscular bulk.

Honestly, I wouldn't doubt that this movie might've been what first unlocked a very specific Pandora's Box in my young mind, haha...

Key gay memory: Visiting GameStop after middle school, slinking to the far corner of the store to find the big Street Fighter guide, and gawking at all the official artwork. At the time I was still closeted and in denial, utterly terrified anyone who saw me looking at said guide would just *know.*

Scenes That Lived Rent-Free In My Mind As A Kid, To My Great Confusion #508: Kurt's Image Inducer (X-Men: Evolution, S2 EP6, "Adrift")

Scenes That Lived Rent-Free In My Mind As A Kid, To My Great Confusion #128: "Yo, Terra. You, Me - Movies, Friday?" (Teen Titans, S2 EP23, "Betrayal")

Scenes That Lived Rent-Free In My Mind As A Kid, To My Great Confusion #059: Buttermilk, It Makes a Body Bitter (Animaniacs, S1 EP41)

Scenes That Lived Rent-Free In My Mind As A Kid, To My Great Confusion #558: "I see why they made him king of the jungle..." (George of the Jungle, 1997)

Scenes That Lived Rent-Free In My Mind As A Kid, To My Great Confusion #247: The Molecular Muscle Enhancer (Kim Possible, S1 EP20, "Ron the Man") 💍💪

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #479: Aladdin

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #638: Dr. Proctor

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #264: Raymond (Totally Spies) Another fairly critical point in "Carl finally realizes he's gay." I found myself tuning into Totally Spies daily just to see if the bodybuilding-focused episode happened to be on.

There used to be a live show at Disney's Animal Kingdom called 'Tarzan Rocks!' that caught Baby Carl's attention thanks to the lead actor's rather impressive, uh... stage presence. (These photos are from a different, similar show at Disneyland Paris, but they very much get the idea across, haha)

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #053: Lt. Surge (Anime)

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #650: Teenage Bamm-bamm

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #481: Lion-O

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #113: Pazu

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #237: Gene Starwind

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #322: He-Man (2002)

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #352: Fukuo

Abrupt memory: In 2000, during the Sydney Olympics, I remember "Down Under" being on the radio incessantly. My 10-year-old ears would perk up every time I heard the line "He was six-foot-four and full of muscle" as my unknowingly gay little imagination would kick into high gear.

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #124: Lee Shang

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #708: Jorgen Von Strangle

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #549: E. Honda

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #377: Angemon

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #432: Gaston

The numbers I attach to each crush entry don't have any meaning or ranking or anything, I just pick them at random (thought I DO keep a list). When I started doing these on Twitter I added "#352" to the first one to emphasize 'there were a LOT of these' and it just sorta stuck around as the format.

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #086: Val Hallen

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #683: Tenchi Masaki

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #334: Biff Atlas "This kind bodybuilder loves muscles and lilies. Why lilies? They symbolize purity."

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #399: Cartoon Jackie Chan

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #677: Joey Wheeler/Jounouchi

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #171: Hercules

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #215: Brock

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #470: Sly Cooper

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #255: Matrix

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #284: Zarkos

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #153: Sabin Figaro

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #131: Chad/Yuuichirou Kumada

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #617: Kurt Wagner (X-men: Evolution)

Tiny, Oblivious Baby Carl: “I don’t know why I keep coming back to stare at this *particular* ad in this old magazine; I haven’t even played any of the Crash games...”

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #562: Samurai Jack

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #021 - David Kawena

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #198: Vash the Stampede

Character I crushed on as a kid but didn't realize since I didn't know gay was a thing #424: Johnny Bravo