"VIctor and Valentino": Gay Half-Brothers Fight Mayan Monsters

14% of the U.S. population is Hispanic. 48 million people speak Spanish as their first language.  So we need lots more animated tv shows based on Latin American folklore.  Legend Quest: Masters of Myth stars paranormal investigators from Mexico and Spain, but they travel all around the world  Victor and Valentino stays firmly entrenched in Mesoamerica, with forays into Aztec and Mayan an mythology.

Vic and Val are preteen half-brothers living in the town of Monte Macabre, to where half the population has mystical powers and ancient gods and monsters are lurking everywhere.   Vic is young, dumb, fiery, and mischievous, the one who  says "Let's borrow Abuela's magic gourd to summon a spirit to do our chores" while Val, older, portly, intellectual, complains "But we promised not to!"

Other than the ubiquitous paranormal, most plotlines are pedestrian and rather moralistic:  some minor bit of mischief, disobedience, or shortcut-taking unleashes a monster.  There is no plot arc, no building toward a final confrontation with ultimate evil.  Instead, the boys learn a Valuable Lesson.

The supporting characters are somewhat more interesting.

1. Grandma Chata, who may be a supernatural being, and knows more than she is telling.
2. The boys' nemesis, Charlene, who has mystical powers, and her big, lumbering but soft-hearted sidekick Pineapple.
3.  Guillermo, an autistic boy who refers to himself in the third person and can see things other people can't.
4. Dreamy Andres, a teenager who Vic and Val are in love with.
5. Xochi, the boys' babysitter, who is canonically lesbian.


But the real reason I keep watching: Vic and Val are always competing over cute boys.  

1. Val tries to win a soccer game by inviting Juan, the ghost of a famous soccer player, to possess him.

2. The boys are desperate to go to Andres' pool party, but Grandma's fifth quinceañera (75th birthday) is scheduled at the same time, so they use a magic flute to travel between the two parties.




3. The boys find a hidden skate park occupied by adult-less Lord of the Flies children.  Jauvier, their leader, bonds with Vic but leaves Val behind.

4. Val tries to impress Baker, the snooty head of the photography club, by getting a photo of the legendary chupacabra.

Plus neither Val, Victor, or any of the boys they like express any heterosexual interest, except in two episodes:

1. Val falls for a girl who turns out to be a malazihua, an evil succubus who seduces and eats her victims, so that hardly counts.

2. Victor disparages the Dia de Amor, until Charlene tricks him into going on a date with her. Then he admits that dating might not be so bad -- it's like hanging out with a friend.

Rather a gay way of framing boy-girl dates, isn't it?