Ode to Jax from a non-binary person's perspective
The creator decided to iron it out and remove the self interpretation and Jax is trans Male to Female within the cannon.
While I respect this, and support it, I feel like it would have been better to not say anything at all on the subject. There was enough people creation the transfem content that it was just a nice diversion between two settings and two implications of a character.
Some of you may say that there was signs along the way, and again, the interpretation is fair. I liked being able to introspect on a character in different ways however, and some of his toxic autonomy could be very well had been a 'girl-ification' from a toxic mother to a child that is already being compared to a toxic man in their life.
I would have liked more clues as well. 'The maid outfit-" the maid outfit was only in scenes where Jax was uncomfortable. There was no inkling that they enjoyed it. None of the merch, none of the scenes. We had one scene of a fem-aligned character putting a bow on Jax's head.
"When I showed weakness, I was less of a man than him. If I lashed out, I was just as bad as him".
"I told her .... something deep and personal, something that I thought could get her off my back"- This would have been a better lead in, this would have allowed for more of a understanding through viewers like me. I told my mother that I wanted to kill myself, that I was loosing my connection with reality, that I didn't know if I was just a figment of my own father than a real person and she also laughed and degraded me for hours. I felt connection in that to Jax (still do), but that was the appreciation of open ended-ness since I am only non-binary and asex and do not receive the full societally push back from my identify or sexuality.
Then you have the death scene (back to 'Isn't She Lovely', the song of the century: it was very good in this show). "I hate you, you know that?"...."I don't want to go"
Jax says this before the eclipse in their existence. This needed to be handled so much better if it was just about Jax. I understand that in the canon it was supposed to be a coming out song, per gooseworx. (Still unsure why it focused a lot on Pomni or interactions involving Pomni (bathroom scene), they could have shown pictures from before she (pomni) entered the circus as to alleviate the confusion if it was Jax thinking of Pomni and their expression of 'isn't Pomni wonderful?") (also yes, it could have just been a 'lets use old clips i don't want to make more', understandable but still needed another push).
I want trans-centric characters in media, but I want to to be clearly gleaned from the material, I want it said out loud within the media. Show don't tell, for sure, but show Jax expressing desire to be a girl like Zooble expressed their nonbinarism. "It doesn't work like that', I know. It doesn't work like that in reality. But progression would have been great, not just an egg reference (trans symbolic) and a bad montage (it is BAD if it was just about Jax).
All in all, I think that was gooseworx did was a bit scummy as well. There are years of Jax fan-art, storylines, comics, etc that I expect now will receive backlash because Jax wasn't represented as trans. I know this because I have seen it. I believe that it was left, truly, to a divided opinion/observance because it generated that last bit of toxicity in an already toxic fandom, then did a rug-pull after the final open release (also to avoid spoilers, understandable) to just make the whole thing even worse. This fandom was horrible to them. And its horrible to itself.
This opinion is expected to be un popular. But I want feedback and other opinions. I think I will do one more funnybunny piece, and then I am ready to close this chapter.