This idea began when I started thinking deeper about the "canon" (not canon) Goose drawing of transfem Jax ft. hair and clothing. I was not sure how to feel about it at first. Why add to his design? Kinda upholds older narratives about transition (grow out your hair! Wear ribbons!) It didnt sit right, with the culture of "genderbending" leaning more recently into "change it a little and just imagine a different gender bc gender is fake anyway!"
But knowing how Goose likes to play with expectations, I took that gut reaction and looked at it more closely. Why ADD hair? Why ADD a bow?
Why not? Throughout the show, we never see Jax ADD anything to himself by choice. If something is ADDed to him, like, say, a maid outfit, he deals with it. Maybe, in his mind somewhere, he spins it up in some weird irony to justify its addition.
So Jax doesn't play dress up with himself. This is like the opposite of Zooble's mixing and matching, and other characters are seen to sometimes enjoy being dressed up for adventures.
What HAVE we seen Jax permanently change about his appearance? Um. Well, we hear that he LOST his tail (havent seen much about why this choice was made in the writing, not sure if theres a consensus yet) Not his choice, but it stays gone. If hed LOST it on an adventure, it would have been returned by the end. (Not getting into its return in chapter 6. Something something his manifesto being the closest he gets to accepting that he has a persona and therefore accepting being perceived in a very base way)
By the finale, we know WHY characters look the way they do. Caine read their brain scans and made their reflections show who they are inside. Mulan style. Jax turned pink and purple, and his room is worse. When a character ABSTRACTS, it's because they completely LOSE their sense of self. They might as well look like nothing, an amorphous shape, because they dont care to be perceived at all.
So, does the LOSS of his tail represent the beginning of Jax's ABSTRACTION?
Jax does not like his appearance ("I look stupid"). He also does not care enough to alter it by ADDing to it so when he LOSEs his tail, sure, he's confused for a moment. Alarmed by an unsanctioned change. But he gets over it, because things just happen to him.
If he cares, he loses. If he ADDs back the tail, it means he prefers looking one way over another. It means he thinks the rabbit is HIM and it is absolutely not. And if he tries to ADD something, even something small like a tail, it means he has some kind of control over the circus, which he CANNOT. He's not around for the rebuilding, the characters learning basic creation, but dont you think Pomni would have made him a new tail? A simple purple sphere? Easy!
See how he freaks out at the suggestion he could LEAVE? And then again at the suggestion that everything around him is in some way REAL? His entire character is REFUSING to accept agency, to fix or ADD to his situation to make it easier. He's already surrendered by the time we meet him.
Jax's design is BORING. Big props to the design team in making a character thats fun to draw and watch, but tells us fucking NOTHING about him when we meet him. Hes smooth, distinct lack of fur, his only rabbity feature is his ears, he is a very uninteresting bunny! No nose, no whiskers, no tail, no real paws/claws, one plain article of clothing for decency, about 3 colors total that arent even particularly complementary (purple and yellow sure, but red/pink overalls? Why?)
What's his biggest fear? When Caine goes AM mode, what's the first, most deep-set fear he shows Jax, based on his intimate knowledge of his inner workings? Skinning him. But not in a realistic, violent way--removing his bodysuit, the one remaining thing that gives him any sort of personality. Eyelids that let him emote, ears that fit him into a rabbit schema, one of his only three colors (not to mention its the "girly" one).
He LOSEs everything about him he has left, and he cant ADD it back. Because he never let himself learn how.
His design was always basic, smooth, the only details were on his face, because hes an action figure. A toy to dress up and customize. But hes the naked barbie left at the bottom of the toy chest because to wear clothing gives him a role and a purpose, which--as much as he preaches the opposite--he does not want.
Because if he accepts a role, he has to accept the wrong one. Because hes too afraid to accept the one that feels true to himself. Because then hed be giving others ammunition. To laugh at him, and then give him a hug, like its fine. Like they can just see him without causing him pain. Not even KNOWING it causes pain. Because he would have to TELL them it hurt him, and look at what happened the last time he did something like that.
Every time he ADDs something, he LOSEs some control. And eventually, he could lose everything. And then he could ABSTRACT. And thats the only thing he has left to LOSE.
