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1) MQ was not in danger of losing his job.

2) He was not in danger of receiving some sort of punishment.

3) He was not in danger of being hated by every god in the heavens forever.

All the gods there were either lower court or lower-ranking upper court. Mu Qing's colleagues, not his bosses. When they called for him, they were asking (not ordering) him to help them, as they assumed camaraderie. None spoke to him in a way that implied they had power over Mu Qing's employment and livehood.

What the actual narration says is this.

He truly didn’t. He had been getting along so well with all those heavenly officials, and they might have thought he was on Xie Lian’s side if he just stood idly by and watched his colleagues get pulverized. And that would have made his life so much more difficult.

-Chapt 98

Nothing about Mu Qing losing his place in the Middle Court or receiving any form of serious retaliation. It says he had been getting along with this group and thus if their opinion of him changed that would make his life difficult. The crux of the issue is that he did not want his networking to go to waste.

What's more is that the whole fiasco would NOT have been well received by the rest of the heavens.

When it came to laying claim to blessed lands, there was a “first come, first served” rule. If Xie Lian was strong enough, he could simply state that he was there first and request they find somewhere else to train.

Heavenly officials were not allowed to attack a mortal who hadn’t committed any major sins lest they be punished. These heavenly officials couldn’t do anything to him.

-Chapt 98

The thirty-some heavenly officials wouldn’t have voluntarily told anyone that they stole someone’s spiritual land for cultivation; they would’ve either kept it completely secret or twisted the truth. And so, Xie Lian had never heard any talk about the incident.

-Chapt 125

Respecting Xie Lian's right to cultivate wasn't just the right thing to do morally, it was a by the book rule. The 30+ there were a group of bullies going out of their way to be malicious. Harassing a mortal, stealing blessed land from him when he had more rights to be there is taboo. We all know heaven is full of gossipers and also full of hypocrites. If word had gotten out, people would talk about the group, including MuQing. Those who were already riled up talking about the fall of Xianle may soon turn to the newest story of the newest martial god bullying his former prince out of cultivating. Regardless if they spoke of praise or judgement I doubt he would want to hear any of it. Yet he'd rather risk that, than risk gossip about him still feeling attached to XL?

make friends with artists. commission somebody. learn to draw yourself. ask for a beta read. try a writing partnership. fandom spaces are communities, so engage with them! it is about the journey and the fact that we all love something enough to create and build together about that thing.

adults can and should engage in fandom activities if it's what makes them happy.

adults can and should continue doing whatever they like doing as teenagers if it's what makes them happy.

tsubakis story is a universal queer experience. anyone who is queer is able to relate to it (myself included) to various extents. as such, certain aspects of his story can be interpreted as them representing a different identity (the most common being a trans female)

however, i feel like these views are counterintuitive to the message tsubakis story is trying to convey. the whole point of it is to show that the things you love don’t need to be restrict to an unnecessary gender binary. you are free to love the things you like, and present yourself however you want, because you’re you. assuming tsubaki is a girl just because they present themselves as feminine, likes things that are considered feminine, and has people address them with feminine terms even though the story explicitly states that things like these don’t need to be constricted into a specific gender binary is pretty… eh….

it just further reinforces the fact that if you like girly things you are a girl, which is just generally a terrible message to spread. tsubakis story subverts these societal norms; that boys and girls must like certain things, and if they like some thing that was ‘intended’ for the other gender binary, then they’re either part of that gender or are “weird”.

and before i see anything about the feminine terminology, drag queens (both cis and trans) also address themselves and their peers with feminine terminology. im not saying that tsubaki is a drag queen, but things like this are common even in real life

perhaps it can be argued that it’s counterintuitive to try to force tsubakino into these certain labels. but i ask you to ask yourselves this question: if tsubaki wasn’t male, then why would nii satoru write a character like them attending an all-boys school? it certainly wouldn’t harbor good implications if this was true, as it would imply the fact that even if they identify as another gender identity, they are ultimately male.

tsubakino has never used a label for themselves throughout the story, so it makes sense as to why the confusion exists. but then again, i dont think things like these need to be spelt out to the audience.

in essence, tsubaki is undoubtedly queer. his story and his character are both very important to me, and the same applies to many people in the fandom. wind breaker has not only amazing, but explicit queer representation; something which is very rare in ‘mainstream’ mangas, as nii sensei is upfront about his identity with no filter or censorship

although it is important to distinguish what exactly tsubaki represents and how it connects with queer identity and maybe even wbks themes, at the end of the day they are tsubaki. after all, gender is just a small part of who we are. im not trying to diminish their gender id, but i think people are too fixated on whether tsubaki was intended to be written as x or y, rather than understanding whats been presented in the text on an objective level and its overarching themes

Look.

I'm genuinely tired of people trying to canonically rewrite or force Tsubaki to be a trans female when he's explicitly written to be gender non-conforming, comfortable with what is traditionally seen as feminine, and open with expressing himself without conforming to rigid masculinity in Japan.

Making him a trans female is not the queer activism you think it is. Tsubaki is comfortable being a gender non-conforming man. Erasing his identity by forcing him to be a trans girl defeats his entire message of how men can be comfortable in their own bodies, even if they enjoy things not associated with their societal gender. I don't think making Tsubaki go to an all-boys school if he IDs as a trans female is any good writing either.

Forcing him to be transfem also completely erases the meaning of this scene:

They never say that lipstick is a "girl's thing", that makeup is a "girl's thing", that liking "cute and pretty things" (paraphrasing) is a "girl's thing". Because that's the whole point! Things you like don't need to be gendered! You like what you like, you can be what you are and break gender norms, you are your identity and nobody can take that expression from you. That's the fucking essence of being queer!

"Why do I like this? Normal boys don't like it" / "CUZ YOU'RE A GIRL!!!!" <- this is not the fucking progressivism you think it is!!! You are forcing him into the gender binary of being a female when he sees himself as a queer, gender non-conforming gay man!!!!

He doesn't see himself as a woman. He still accepts that he loves Umemiya. He is comfortable with both his sexuality and gender expression.

Tsubaki literally says he likes "cute and pretty" things, not "girly and feminine" things. He doesn't gender what is traditionally and societally framed as "feminine" because he isn't bound by the hierarchy of gender expectations.

People always say they want more gender non-conforming characters, that they want more men who are comfortable with traditionally feminine attire, but y'all couldn't even respect Tsubaki's identity and the outlying existence of Japan's otokonoko culture as a whole 🥸 Quoting Niisato's interview isn't a cop-out to be openly transphobic. Insisting Tsubaki is transfem does more queer erasure to his character as a gnc and openly gay man.

Like, sure, after you're done reading this and you still insist he's transfem, it means no matter what people say you're not going to change your mind, so go ahead with the queerphobia lol. Speaking as someone who's transneu and genderqueer myself, trans and gnc experience come hand in hand, I understand why people would read him like that even though it blatantly goes against what is established as his character, but I digress. But that doesn't excuse taking away Tsubaki's defiance of labels. That doesn't justify calling Niisato's writing of Tsubaki as a censored version of transness, or a refusal to commit to writing a trans character.

Tsubaki is an intentional and well-written character, he expresses everything he wants to express. He isn't a 'half-assed trans character' that Niisato didn't commit to, he is who he presents as on the tin: gnc, queer, and gay.

"He wants people to call him big sis" -> the whole concept of drag culture is tossed out of the window, I guess. And I suppose genderqueer people don't exist anymore. Anyone can do drag, but plenty of cisgender & queer men also don a drag queen/hyperfeminine identity when dressed up. That doesn't make them any less of a man. That doesn't make them a trans woman. You can also call girl 'dude, bro' and boys 'girlie'... does that change their gender? No lol 🥸

Western fandom has a serious problem of erasing people who present as gender non-conforming by forcing them to fit the binary of male/female. It's like the inverse of toxic masculinity: "this male/female character likes feminine/masculine things, so he/she must be a girl/boy!" <- how is this progressive? How is this better writing for Tsubaki? How is forcing him into another rigid box good for his character?

Let Tsubaki be a gay and genderqueer man, omfg. Gendering the things he likes into 'girly' and by default making him transfem is just an assassination of his character.

There's plenty of transfem anime characters out there that deserve your love. But Tsubaki—and on that note, all the otokonoko characters out there—are men who aren't restricted by the tight binary of gendered items/hobbies.

For the love of media literacy, please accept that men can be men while liking (unnecessarily-gendered) 'feminine' things, and in that vein, it's not that you like "girl's stuff" as a man—you like it because you like it.

Make-up, clothing, sparkly things, and long hair aren't gendered as 'feminine' to Tsubaki, even if he accepts that it is traditionally liked by girls. He likes it and that is it. That is final. He likes it so he wears it, he is honest and true to who he wants to be.