#forgetmenauts

in honor of trans day of visibility, i thought i'd compile a list of my personal most transgender forgetmenauts songs

starting off strong with charlatan in red. i mean. need i even elaborate??? i know y'all know what mean.

next is coordinate song. the line "feels most like I'm me" is the main support for this interpretation but it's one of those allegories that once you see (hear?) it you can't unsee it, and this will always be a trans song to me.

my next choice is the whole thomas the rhymer trilogy. the whole trilogy. or just the character of thomas the rhymer. my reasoning here is that he is voiced by kit (more feminine voice) in Thomas the Rhymer and Truth Be Told, but in Faerie Queen he's voiced by walker (more masculine). now, in faerie queen, it's established he can't speak, so the song must be his internal voice, as opposed to in the real world like the other songs. why would his outer voice be feminine but his internal voice be masculine?? well i have an idea. (🏳‍⚧🏳‍⚧🏳‍⚧🏳‍⚧🏳‍⚧)

speaking of, the next song on this list is jack. if thomas the rhymer (aka the hawker in jack) is trans, and the song is about him luring jack into the woods, tempting him... wait, i've heard this story before! (its the same metaphor as charlatan in red.) also the way his mother never calls him jack, and the emphasis on his name and also boy throughout the song... interesting.

i'm not gonna write as much about this one but rusalka and the shepherd girl has the same vibes to me. its a pretty similar concept to Jack and charlatan in red (monster/Bad Person luring your child away to join them... hmm.) so i say it's trans.

last on todays list is i took a zombie to prom and all i got was this lousy tshirt. i mean Came Back Wrong is already an INCREDIBLY transgender trope as is, and the concept of something about you changing and your lover or someone in your life being disgusted by you and wanting nothing to do with you... it hurts but it's accurate.

I’ve noticed some variations in the fanbase, so I’m curious!

so if you listen to the song on the side of the parent/narrator with the fox being someone actually using the daughter or manipulating her into someone she doesnt want to be, they are really caring. they never really blame the daughter, saying things like "lost my little girl to the foxes" rather than saying she ran away. it feels to me more like they are blaming themself for not being able to help her rather than blaming her for leaving. the chorus also feels like they are trying to help, rather than telling her to come back, and assuming her choices are wrong just because they dont understand them they are giving her reasons to try if she ever wants to. reasons to keep fighting if she feels trapped. "if they catch you by the eye and smile their wicked smiles remember me and run" i think of as the parent saying if they (the charlatan) have wicked intentions and you realise that remember a relationship that didnt, run based on the memory things can get better, run with the knowledge i am here for you now and always, if you need it.or if you dont. the end too, instead of questioning her choices directly about her being married, they tell her actions she can take to be less trapped. "dont let them take another daughter" a reminder even if she feels completly lost she can help others not be taken, she still has agency. her choices still matter, even if nothing makes sense, there is good in the bad, the sun can shine even while it rains, do not give up hope.

a vixens lament also works with this interpretation.( yes i am talking about the subtext of a song with no lyrics. dont worry about it.) its her realising she has become something else, a vixen rather than a daughter, and that she doenst want to be. there are no words because she feels voiceless. in my heart that song is her running, with her childeren back to her parent and she has a happy ending. in my heart.

helena and gerard, vampire lovers with a tragic fate.