Ethazo

Ethazo is the slash ship between Ethan Clade and Diazo from the Strange World fandom.

Canon
Diazo is stated to have been a friend of Ethan before the events of the movie. Whether he already had a crush on him when he first met him or if he developed it over the course of knowing him is unclear.

As Ethan's friends show up at the beginning of the movie to discuss their plans to play a card game together, Ethan gets upset thinking they're doing something without him. Diazo then shows up having laid down at the back of their wagon, holding up a pair of cards for Ethan. Ethan gets flustered and stammers upon seeing him. As Ethan awkwardly picks an "explorer" card, Diazo tells him that he picked it for him and they exchange glances. Diazo reminds him that his grandfather is a famous explorer and tells him that he actually looks a lot like him. He then says that the only thing different about him is his hair, taking his beanie to reveal it and playing around with him by keeping his beanie out of his reach. But then Ethan's father Searcher shows up to ruin the moment, asking if the boy is "him". He then approaches Diazo while introducing himself, telling Diazo that Ethan talks about him all the time, which Ethan tries to deny. As Ethan physically pushes his father out of the scene and walks home with him, Searcher teases his son about Diazo being cool and him seeing why Ethan likes him. He then starts a story about his own first crush, but Ethan quickly stops him.

After Ethan's family gets trapped underground in the titular "Strange World", Ethan mentions Diazo again as he pretends to chat with him about his weekend. He snarks that he was just going through a "nightmare tunnel" to rescue his dad.

Later, when Ethan's grandfather Jaeger wands to bond with his grandson, he asks if there are any sweethearts waiting for him back home. Based on Ethan's awkward smirk, he guesses that he is right. But when Ethan tells him about Diazo, explicitly referring to him as a "he" multiple times, Jaeger isn't even remotely phased. He then gives advice about how Ethan could impress Diazo, by putting him into a dangerous situation and then saving his life. Ethan is not impressed, pointing out how toxic and dangerous such a romantic display would be.

As Ethan is piloting the ship by himself, his mother Meredith tells him that Diazo should see him now. As Ethan looks back to her shocked, she casually tells him that Searcher told her what happened between them.

After the conflict is solved, Ethan and Diazo stand on a cliff in the Strange World, pressing their faces against each other and smiling, signifying the start of their relationship.

Fanon
Despite being the first time the protagonist of a Disney movie is allowed to be gay and get together with their same-sex love interest, Ethazo is not very popular. Many chalk this up to the movie being a box-office disappointment, with some even speculating that Disney intentionally sabotaged it by putting it in theatres instead of making it a VOD exclusive like some of their previous releases.

With that said, Strange World is often regarded as a forgettable movie, with Ethazo often being seen as the only remarkable thing about it.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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