Transfem Headcanon Bracket

One last poll to cap things off, pitting my personal favorite characters from the tournament - particularly in terms of how eagerly I would argue for their identities - all against one another

RALSEI PROPAGANDA

ralsei is destined by prophecy to be the lonely prince, and she wants again to believe that the prophecy to change, given hope by her new cool friends kris and susie who are also very transfem. she starts the story as a complete doormat, hiding her face under two layers, and a lot of her development thus far has been developing her own identity beyond the lonely prince and the third hero. she wears a formless robe at all times. of the main three, she is best benefitted by and most associated with the PrincessRBN, which is made by combining blue pink and white ribbons. that very white ribbon is the first armor in the game, which she is very bashful about if you give it to her. she has no possessions until her friends start giving her things because she doesn't believe she deserves anything. she can certainly survive in an empty room alone, after all- she has for ever so long before the heroes arrived -so why would she ever need anything more? she doesn't subject any other darkner to nearly the same level of depersonalization at all by the way. the closest she comes is the end of chapter 3 when she is very clearly projecting =====

JAX PROPAGANDA

transfem creators self insert. [...] like jax' reaction of extreme embarrassment and anger at being put in a maid outfit was because "wasn't ready to ask those questions about himself", and zooble (who put her in said outfit), did so not out of cruelty, but for their own purposes. zooble also compliments how it looks and jax just kinda storms off. okay so the visual in episode 8 now. the top half of jax' skin being ripped off by the shadows of the only people shes trusted in the circus. she covers her chest and crotch, awkwardly trying to pull her skin back up and uncharacteristically shrinking in on herself, legs crossed and looking down. i dont think i really need to say more about that. i call her digital because her circus is amazing. i had to stop calling her digital on account of her goose no longer worx.

Over the course of running the headcanon bracket, both of these characters were eventually disqualified on the grounds that they were discovered to both be CANON.

But which one... is the MOST trans?

What do I mean by that? It's all vibes and personal taste. I refuse to offer a concrete answer. Play in the space

Why would I make two very drastically different gals duke it out like this? Because I think it's genuinely interesting to see what elements of characters' stories and personalities most resonate with a trans audience, and in particular, the trans woman experience

MAHIRO PROPAGANDA: 

Mahiro starts episode 1 by being drugged and forcefemmed by her sister, and then sees herself in a dress for the first time later on in the episode and you can see light welling up in her eyes, and a blush appearing on her face. the next scene is mahiro putting on a dress that she likes even more and being giddy and so happy about it that she cant help but laugh, and by the end of the *first* episode, she's thinking to herself about how she found a role she can finally thrive in, and that she should stay like this, rather than going back to the torture that her life was before. This happens in episode 1 of the anime, and chapter 3 of the manga. Her thoughts about being forcefemmed in episode 1/chapter 3 are from herself quote: "But, strangely enough, I think I'm okay with it. It feels like my coat is finally cut according to my cloth. Maybe it's time I give up trying to be the older brother, and stay as I am now..." She also makes the conscious choice multiple times in the manga to continue being a girl often being visibly distressed before she is able to get her medicine. She also does feminine things, like playing with her hair after going to a hair shop and her sister gets her a "fluffy princess hair" treatment, which she then fluffs around and plays with, and she also likes to take selfies of herself while making herself look more feminine and cute. =====

JAX PROPAGANDA

transfem creators self insert. [...] like jax' reaction of extreme embarrassment and anger at being put in a maid outfit was because "wasn't ready to ask those questions about himself", and zooble (who put her in said outfit), did so not out of cruelty, but for their own purposes. zooble also compliments how it looks and jax just kinda storms off. okay so the visual in episode 8 now. the top half of jax' skin being ripped off by the shadows of the only people shes trusted in the circus. she covers her chest and crotch, awkwardly trying to pull her skin back up and uncharacteristically shrinking in on herself, legs crossed and looking down. i dont think i really need to say more about that. i call her digital because her circus is amazing. i had to stop calling her digital on account of her goose no longer worx.

* If you would argue a character is canon transfem, which character would you be most likely to argue for the gender status of?

MORGAN PROPAGANDA

A defense attorney in an aggressively corporatized cyberpunk future. She’s hot, she’s sassy, and she enjoys. Hobbies :) in her spare time :) Don’t worry about it. :) Plus like, the toxic yuri she has with her prosecutor rival would be even hotter to me if AT LEAST one of them is trans =====

RIVET PROPAGANDA

It’s LITERALLY established in the series’s lore that “female Lombaxes [the race she is] don’t have tails.” We see another Lombax in one of the early games who proves this. :) Sure is interesting that Rivet’s got a tail, huh? Anyway she’s also an alternate reality version of the main character with her own matching robot pal. I’ve been a fan of this franchise since I was a kid, and it makes me SO GIDDY to imagine a character like myself getting to play a role in this setting

* If you would argue a character is canon transfem, which character would you be most likely to argue for the gender status of?

JENNY PROPAGANDA: 

Born XJ-9, but insists on being called Jenny by her mother. Functionally cis by the narrative, but very specifically grapples with identity in a way that inspired a well of trans-readings after the fact =====

GWEN PROPAGANDA

IT HAS ALL COME DOWN TO THIS; THE FINAL ROUND DROPS AT 11AM CST ON JULY 7TH

Oh that was FOR SURE one of the matchups I was thinking. Especially since I expected them to be the championship match!