Thea/Rodger

The first reason why I don’t like trans woman Glisten is because I don’t think Glisten was written as a character who represses anything. When we look over his dialogue he never seems to be unhappy with his identity itself, there’s nothing hinting at Glisten being unhappy as a man, nothing hinting at Glisten being confused with his identity either. 

I think one thing that makes me a diehard trans man Glisten truther is the way he refers to what he wants to be. Glisten wants to be perfect. He knows he wants this, and he constantly chases validation for it. I think this can be read as Glisten wanting to be a man, desperately, but his femininity and his ofab body parts make him feel like he’s pushed back, like he can’t be who he truly wants to be. I consider this a form of “evidence” as to why i think trans man Glisten is so good- he doesnt want to just be just anything, he wants to be perfect. Him having a specific word for what he wants to be could be read as him knowing he’s a trans man but feeling set back, like he can’t accomplish that but desperately wants to, resulting in him chasing validation for his “perfection” (look at the Boxten and Brusha conversations for a little example). I like to read this as Glisten wanting to embrace his femininity as a trans guy but feeling very insecure and needing validation as he does so. 

Personally a criticism I have for the transfem Glisten headcanon is I fail to see how him choosing to use she/her would be a major story beat for him? He’s already a very feminine character, and honestly I don’t think this headcanon adds much to his character beyond a bland explanation for why he’s so insecure. Bland, because once again I don’t think it makes his character more interesting, in fact the opposite. 

Another reason is the fact that I think Glisten is best as a doomed character- his twisted is a sad, miserable little thing that aimlessly wanders Gardenview, who snaps and goes insane when you finish the floor by doing the final machine. He doesn’t have a happy ending here, which I think is worth pointing out. Because Twisted Glisten is such a miserable little rat thing, and normal toon Glisten’s self destructive view of himself, I find it extremely difficult to imagine Glisten having a happy ending. He’s not a happy little thing, and the implications seem to say he’s not going to be, at least for an extremely long time.

Final reason is simple: I believe that Glisten is meant to be the “camp gay” trope, considering it’s the 90s. Him being a woman would go against this and if I’m gonna be honest on a personal level? Just not my taste! I like him being an effeminate queer man, plain and simple, I think it fits him best and I don’t like when that’s changed, personally. 

Maybe I’m just choosing to see the worst in people (I don’t hate people with this headcanon!!) but it feels stereotypical to me, like they saw the words “feminine” and “heavily insecure” together and made a jump rather than thinking about his character. I do think it contradicts the way he’s written and actively detracts from his writing. 

In comparison, I think him being a trans man fits neatly into his themes. I think it also has an interesting message: to not be afraid to embrace your femininity if you can, because if you feel shame for a side of yourself you cannot control, and if you can’t embrace yourself for who you are, then you’ll never truly be at peace. 

Once again, this is just my headcanon, it’s not a theory or anything like that. You can enjoy whatever you want. Personally I just don’t like this interpretation of his character and I have reasoning for it, which is why I made this post. :P