Also the fact that so many of y'all are using Ralsei being referred to with they/them pronouns in the latter part of ch5 as evidence for them being a binary trans woman is weird.
Why won't you even entertain the idea that Ralsei could be nonbinary?
If anything, a lot of Ralsei's chapter 5 dialogue implies that they're genderfluid or genderless. Let's talk about that one line everyone uses, shall we?
"Oh, I'm so excited! I've been a prince for a while, but I haven't been a princess yet." Does that really imply any sense of permanence to this character's sense of gender, with how casually they're treating the idea? Yes, Ralsei treats the idea of switching gendered roles with excitement, that is worth talking about! But treating this line as a confirmation of Ralsei's status as a binary transgender woman is doing a disservice to their character.
"I've been a prince for a while," they say. For a while. If you've always been something since the moment of your birth, do you say you've been that thing "for a while"? Would you say "oh yeah, I've had brown eyes for a while"? It's really weird phrasing if we're interpreting Ralsei as a binary trans egg who's never thought about their gender before, which seems to be the common interpretation.
Ralsei consistently has a casual attitude towards gender and gendered norms. For example, when they are identifying as a man, they still present very femininely, to a point at which many first time players mistake Ralsei for a woman. Ralsei never shows any discomfort with being perceived as a feminine, nor with being perceived and referred to as a man. The few times we see Ralsei dressed in a more traditionally masculine style, (butler outfit, for example) they don't seem outright uncomfortable or dysphoric with it, the only time they express annoyance with being made to present this way is when Flowery puts them in the butler outfit, which is pretty obviously because of their personal beef with Flowery.
In their ACT sprites, Ralsei has plenty of masculine AND feminine outfits! And you know what happens in chapter 5?? Ralsei gets two sprites for any costume acts, one masculine and one feminine, which are swapped between at random. Previously, the only character who had this double spriting was Kris, y'know, famous canon nonbinary character?
Ralsei is gender nonconforming from the get go, and doesn't feel the need to justify their gender expression, suggesting a level of self confidence on the matter of gender. Is that behavior one would expect of a binary trans egg who has never once questioned their gender identity??
So, to summarize, Ralsei treats gender identity as something casual without any real permanence, Ralsei is never shown to be insecure in their gender or to dislike any given gendered presentation, Ralsei is very gender-nonconforming from the start of the game, Ralsei willingly swaps between gendered presentations in their sprites, and Ralsei has a pronoun switch to the neutral (they/them) part way through chapter 5.
Let me rephrase that, Ralsei is shown to be completely comfortable in many different gendered expressions and even enjoy playing with their gender, and Ralsei's pronouns change sometimes.
How in the world is this the story of a binary trans character, in either direction??? If there is an intended trans reading of Ralsei's character, it is not a binary one. Ralsei treats their gender as something malleable, something that can be played with, and something that, at the end of the day, isn't all that important. Ralsei's gender is, heavily implied by their own words, something that is subject to change! Something that has changed in the past, and will change again!
Ralsei is such a meaningful character when looked at through the lens of genderfluidity and gender-nonconformity.
But no. They have to be a binary transgender woman with a normative story about normative gender dysphoria, who will transition to be a normative woman who conforms to normative feminine presentation and gendered roles.
I'm not even saying genderfluid Ralsei is a canon/intended reading. I, unlike some people, will not claim my personal reading to be canon until it's actually stated in the game or by Toby Fox himself. The pronoun switch isn't present in the equally canon Japanese translation, making it likely a mistake, so it's not hard proof of anything.
And hell, I'm not even saying you can't personally view Ralsei as a trans woman. That's your prerogative.
But what I AM saying is, assuming Ralsei's story is meant to be a trans story, the insistence on reading it as a binary trans story despite all of the evidence to the contrary is fucking weird.
