Gerard Way

Gerard Way is best known as the creator, lyricist and lead vocalist of American alternative rock band My Chemical Romance, one of the core three bands constituting the Bandom canon. He is also known as the creator and writer of acclaimed comic book series The Umbrella Academy.
Way was also a writer for the 2010s revival of Doom Patrol and is credited with the creation of Peni Parker. 
See Wikipedia for more detail.
== Shipping ==
As of Apr 7, 2017, there are 10142 works tagged 'Gerard Way' on AO3.Gerard Way AO3 tag
=== Popular Ships ===
The most popular AO3 ship tags involving Gerard are (non-exclusive numbers as of Apr 7, 2017):
*Frank/Gerard with MCR guitarist Frank Iero: 7647 occurrences.Frank/Gerard AO3 tag
*Waycest (sibling incest pairing with Mikey Way): 495 occurrences.Gerard/Mikey AO3 tag
*Canon het pairing with wife Lindsey Ballato: 391 occurrences.Gerard/Lindsey AO3 tag
=== Minor Ships ===
Other AO3 ship tags involving Gerard (non-exclusive numbers as of Apr 7, 2017):
*Bert/Gerard with The Used Bert McCraken: 197 occurrences.Bert/Gerard AO3 tag
*Ray/Gerard with MCR guitarist Ray Toro: 134 occurrences.Ray/Gerard AO3 tag
*Bob/Gerard with former MCR drummer Bob Bryar: 83 occurrences.Bob/Gerard AO3 tag
*Grant/Gerard(/Frank) with comic writer and Danger Days verse villain Grant Morrisson: 50 occurrences.Frank/Gerard/Grant AO3 tag
*[Bandit/Gerard] (Baycest)
*Various other OT3 and OT4 ships such as Frank/Gerard+wives, Frank/Gerard/Mikey as well as MCR GSF.
==Depiction in Fanon==
Several characterization tropes might be found within the same story. 
=== Basement!Gerard ===
Gerard is often shown as introverted (living in his parents' basement and rarely leaving it), and/or totally immersed in his creative work to the point where he forgets to eat (or sleep) and disregards the time of day. Many stories also include him lacking in personal hygiene and generally being untidy. Examples: 
*Pavlov's Dog by iamtheenemmy, in which Frank uses sex to condition Gerard to shower more. 
*Warmer by jedusaur is a crack take on the trope, playing with the other common Bandom trope of creepy!Gabe Saporta:
=== Loner!Gerard === 
Often related to the previous trope. 
In the popular Highschool AU genre, especially as inspired by the "I'm Not Okay" music video, Gerard is commonly a "loner", a victim of bullying, and/or the outcast "goth kid" if he is still in school. When Mikey Way is the central focus of these stories, Gerard might also be depicted as the mysterious older brother who goes/went to college. Examples:
*Nightswimming series, by waxjism: Gerard is seen as a mysterious, scary or tragic figure by most who don't know him well; over the course of the story he tentatively starts reconnecting with former close friends. 
*The Anatomy of a Fall, written by novembersmith & podfic by klb, in which Gerard is the new kid at school who endures bullying of escalating proportions: 
=== Chubby!Gerard ===
Photographic evidence and Gerard's own statements show that he was overweight as a teenager. He also visibly lost weight between Revenge!Era and The Black Parade tour/videos. (Post!MCR appearances have also shown various changes in weight, which fans have remarked upon.) Thus, especially in Basement!Gerard fanfic, as well as fic set during the Van Days, he is often described as having baby fat or just being pudgy or overweight. Slash fic with seme Frank and uke Gerard often contains this trope. In 2007, valerie_z had something to say about this trend:
=== Fanboy!Gerard ===
Also related to Basement!Gerard. He and his brother Mikey are often depicted as fans of comics, horror, fantasy and sci-fi films, roleplaying and of course, music. Examples:
*sing it for the n00bs by jedusaur on AO3: a Gamer AU where the Danger Days verse is an MMORPG. (2012-03-16)
*Any Place You'll Allow (Rogues and Queens) by airgiodSLV on livejournal (2009-06-14), where Gerard mistakenly enter a strip club:
=== Addict!Gerard & Depressed!Gerard ===
Many stories focus on Gerard's alcohol and drug addiction and his struggle with depression. These are usually angst, or whump.
Examples:
*Love: The Package Deal by jjtaylor on livejournal, later posted to the AO3: Gerard has amnesia and reverts to a mental space where he is still drinking. (Jun. 15th, 2008)
*Skin of the Canvas by sinsense on livejournal (2008-06-17) includes several scenes where Gerard deals with his alcoholism and vividly depicts his social anxiety:
=== Artist!Gerard ===
When not written as a singer in MCR, he is most commonly made to be a (struggling or successful) artist: a painter or comic book writer.
Examples: 
*An Emergency of the Heart, written by Bexless and read by isweedan: a Cinderella!AU where Gerard is an unfulfilled cartoonist for Cartoon Network. 
*Paris!Verse by mrsronweasley: Gerard is an artist based in Paris, Frank flies over for his gallery opening. 
*The Sky-High City by sevenfists: After the band ends, Gerard writes children's books. 
*Artist!Gerard fanart by theopteryx.
=== Advocate!Gerard === 
Gerard is shown to be passionate and often outspoken about art and social issues (especially gender stereotyping)reflectedeve. , posted in bandfandom_ref, May. 27th, 2008.. He is the most likely member of the band to be written as very (academically) knowledgeable of these topics.
Examples:
*Sunday Best by brooklinegirl: Gerard discovers Frank sometimes wears panties: 
*Social Activism (or, How to Make the World a Better Place by Kissing Spencer Smith), written by airgiodSLV, podfic by opalsong: 
=== Genderbending!Gerard === 
Often related to the previous trope. 
On top of enjoying dramatic stage makeup and playing with feather boas on stage, Gerard has been quoted in interviews talking about experimenting with crossdressing and putting on make-up in the privacy of his own basement2005 MTV Overdrive interview: see My Chemical Romance Interview - VMA Virgins on youtube, 2005-08-29 livejournal post at chemicalromance. It's thus unsurprising that Gerard is often depicted as a man experimenting with masculinity/femininity, as defying gender norms, or as a woman, for example:
*Two-Act Performance Art by littlemousling on AO3, where Gerard is a drag queen. (2011-04-12)
*Hang On To Yourself by brooklinegirl on livejournal, later posted to the AO3: Gerard puts on makeup and a fur coat in the basement. (2010-12-28)
*Gerard Way as Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn fanart by xojemmaxo on dreamwidth. (2012-12-18)
*Lady!Gerard from The Black Parade era (direct link) fanart by theopteryx on tumblr. (2012-1-14)
*Vampires and Zombies by [kreepykunt] on AO3, an au where Gerard Way and Mikey Way are female.
*MCR picspam by janesays on dreamwidth (2012-4-20) with a section on genderqueer!Gerard:
In 2014, Gerard made several statements about gender on Twitter and in a Reddit AMAThe Reddit AMA. tumblr thread with relevant screenshots that made fandom very happy, though there was some disagreement among fans as to what this actually meant about his gender identity.From ekamangan on tumblr, October 2, 2014: hey i know we’re all super stoked about gerard way and his gender feels but he said on his twitter that he prefers the he/him pronoun set so let’s continue doing that and ignore the post that says his pronouns are they He also made positive comments on twitter in April 2015 about fannish interpretations of his Killjoys character Party Poison as nonbinary and said, "I think I was starting to experiment more with expressing more femininity with the character, but not sure it made it all the way."Gerard Way. 22 Apr 2015 tweet. See also the tumblr thread with screenshots. These comments may have been the inspiration for some more recent fanfic depicting Gerard as trans/nonbinaryExamples: Spectrum by penceyprat (raughy), posted to Wattpad circa May 1, 2015 (first comment) and to AO3 (2015-05-02); golden by shslry (2015-06-17)., although it also fits within a larger panfandom 2010s trend in exploring gender identity. (The earliest fanwork in the Trans Gerard Way tag on AO3 was posted in June 2015.)
====Genderbending!Party Poison====
*Let's Blow a Hole in this Town by anda-chan on deviantart, one of several photos featuring cosplayer Maru-Light (September 7, 2011)
* Party Poison by NekoFlameAlchemist, another cosplay (March 25, 2013)
*non-binary party poison headcanon accepted, tumblr gifset of a cosplayer by bestguesses (August 20, 2015)
*askfempartypoison on tumblr
*Look Alive by rosalui on livejournal. Ficlet in which Party Poison crossdresses for an undercover mission (May 14, 2011)
== Gerard Way & the Hormones ==
Gerard Way's solo music project post-MCR has inspired some fans to make art, gifs, and a tiny amount of fic. His album Hesitant Alien was released in 2014, and he went on tour with his backing band The Hormones. Concert footage from the tours has been made into gifs, promotional and other photos of Gerard have been used as photo references, and the album itself, along with the character of Lola (a pink fuzzy alien) have also generated fanworks.
Examples:
*hesitant alien by monkos on deviantartalso on tumblr, direct link (September 21, 2014)
*The Alien has Landed. by NikkTheHuman on deviantart (September 30, 2014)
*The aliens are coming by dragon-flies on deviantart (October 27, 2014)
*untitled tumblr fanart by manylus (January 5, 2015)
*Action Cat by nezumi-zumi on deviantart (February 1, 2015)
*untitled tumblr gifset by caitor (February 26, 2015)archived, with 24,275 notes as of 28 April 2016
*Hesitant Alien by kalivana on deviantart (June 7, 2015)
== Fannish Resources ==
*8-part 'Why I Like Gerard' primer by valerie-z on livejournal (2007)
*Picspam by erraticonstilts on livejournal (2009-04-10)
*onstage!gerard picspam by erraticonstilts on livejournal (2011-02-26)
*Massive Geespam by revii on livejournal (10 July 2008)
*gerardwaypictures.com aka vacationadventuresociety on tumblr (high-resolution photos)
*RPF with Gerard Way as a character at AO3
*Gerard Way and the Hormones RPF at AO3
== References ==
Category:My Chemical Romance People & Characters Category:BandomCategory:The Umbrella AcademyCategory:Doom Patrol!$Category:Dark Horse Comics