#pogey

So fraggle rock fandom how we feeling after ep 5

My cynical old walnut of a heart is once again powerless against the Henson Company. In this case "Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock".

A recurring background character in this series has been a fairly generic Fraggle named Pogey, who is always introduced by showing up yelling "I'm Pogey!"

And in this episode we finally discover why. It's not that Pogey isn't smart (a bit literal perhaps, but that's not the same thing), it's that Pogey is very proud of the name "Pogey" because it took them a VERY long time to find a name they felt fitted the them they wanted to be.

Though gender presentation is hardly straightforward with Muppets, Pogey is, I think, the first deliberately genderqueer Muppet, and the show introduces the concept elegantly.

Wembley (always a favourite of mine) is having an identity crisis AND self esteem issues. He tried a new look which he really liked, but talked himself out of, because he worried people wouldn't like him anymore (and Red inadvertantly snapping at him over something else didn't help)

Red, who is having a bad day, had asked Pogey to join in a cheer for Gobo they are arranging, and whether they wanted to be a "Go" or a "Bo" and they have to try and explain that they're not a "Go", nor a "Bo", except sometimes they're both... or in between.... or neither.

Pogey meets up with Wembley and explains how they can be different from what they were, and change many times, but they know that, at their core, they are still always Pogey.

Cue a visit to the frankly fabulous Great Glitterini (voiced by Adam Lambert) for Wembley to realise that maybe he does want to feel like that sometimes, and that's okay because no matter what "I'm Wembley!"

Helped, in no small part, by the glitter in the Great Glitterini's "Glitter Globe", which allows anyone to express themselves as as any version of themselves they can think of.

Though I'm cis, I've seen friends realise that how they happened to be born as is not who they really are, or want to be, and recognise the importance of Wembley's line in the above.

"You look amazing!" followed by an almost mournful "... and happy"

Because I can't think of anyone I know who has decided to become their truer selves whose baseline happiness level didn't increase. An old schoolfriend was one of the most miserable people I know, I'm talking Marvin the Paranoid Android levels of cynicism here, but since she came out as trans, she is SO much happier with her life.

And finally, just cap this charming episode off, we get a rendition of one of my all time favourite Fraggle Rock songs from the original series "Free and High!" with the Great Glitterini being joined by Wembley, Pogey and Doc.

And the scene at the end where Wembley, more comfortable in himself and publicly trying a new more glittery look, meets his friends again and Gobo, his room-mate and absolute best friend in the world, immediately and unprompted, tells him he looks amazing, and that he's never seen him happier, honestly... ugly crying right here, I'm not ashamed to say it.

I did so much art while i didnt have acess to this account so ill post some personal favourites here 💖💖💖