Bubbles: “That’s not a unicorn, that’s a plain old pony”
Buttercup: *knocks his horn off*
“It’s not a unicorn it’s just… Sad"
I can’t believe this is in the fucking script
“No way, ponies have shorter legs.
It’s a colt.”
“What’s a colt?”
“A baby horse.”
“Then what’s a filly?”
“Uh a horse with attitude?”
they fucking just brought up gender
blatantly
and tried to cleverly cover it up
But essentially they just had Blossom say “That’s a dude!”
So this is basically the same thing as ripping off a transperson’s pants and telling them they aren’t that gender
how do they show the reaction
okay not bad, I mean it’s still awful that they’re showing something like this when being outed is a triggering traumatic experience-
aaaaand they made him get over the top angry and ridiculous over this
“WELL EXCUSE ME, I MAY NOT HAVE A HORN
BUT I DO HAVE A HEART
AND IN THAT HEART I KNOW I’M A BEAUTIFUL UNICORN”
okay so great way to depict the concept of being trans. y’know. By making it look like an over the top joke and like he’s just crazy and angry and being whiny and dramatic.
“Woah, drama bomb.”
HOLY
FUCKING SHIT
DID SHE REALLY JUST SAY THAT?!?!
By the way did I forget to mention they’re basically saying being trans is like claiming you’re a mythological creature?
C:
“WE’ll get the professor to turn you in to a unicorn, and then I can be friends with a REAL LIVE UNICORN!”
okay so
she’s only supportive of his identity because it’d be cool to be besties with a unicorn
imagine if I had a friend who was like “OH it’d be cool if I had a guy friend, get an operation so I can have a guy friend!”
y’know
basically denying I’m a guy unless I have a penis
Or in this case, fucking horn.
ew she’s even fantasizing about it and imposing her ideal of what a unicorn should be on him
so now we need a scene transfer
let’s see, what’s a perfectly appropriate scene to cut away to in an episode that was specified as a trans issues metaphor?
a pickle museum
that’s right folks
we’re talking about a transunicorn getting a horn transplant, and the best way to do a scene transfer is a joke about a museum containing pickles
y’know
cuz phallic jokes
classy.
“Professor! He needs this!”
“I NEED THIS”
…… so yeah his feelings on this matter don’t actually matter to bubbles apparently, she just wants him to be a unicorn for her sake.
Because that’s how being trans works
right?
people are actually imposing what THEY want you to be, you’re not actually trans, you’re just trying to be something someone else wants you to be C:
(except I’m pretty sure the actual trans issue would be if everyone kept insisting he was a pony over and over and over)
So the professor got done explaining that this procedure isn’t fully tested yet and is risky.
“Well it’s up to you Donny, is this something you want to try?”
“As long as my BFF Bubbles says it’s a good idea, I am DOWN!”
Oh
so
now he’s only doing this because Bubbles wants him to
not because he actually really badly/passionately wants to be a unicorn???
Also, trans operations are risky and still under research, so this is actually a super serious decision.
Professor: This is your body and it’s a serious
choice!
Thoroughly weigh your options as you read through this document in all its entirety.”
Okay there is no excuse now. This is 100% a trans issue episode, when they use terminology like “it’s your body and it’s a serious choice”
And this is how they treat it.
“EH, I SKIMMED IT!”
Note how it says “FOREVER” in big red letters?
Indicating to our lovely children that this is a permanent change, and such a serious, risky procedure :C
So now we see what direction this episode is really going
They’re basically giving the moral that “changing your body is risky and bad and comes with lots of bad side effects”
Don’t believe me?
let’s continue down the transphobic trainwreck!
So yeah guess what
it didn’t work
this is how they’re depicting transitioning by the way
by making it look FUCKING HORRIFYING
So yeah, transkids? Good luck feeling confident in your important decision about your body. I’m sure this will make you feel confident that it’s the right thing to do if it makes you happy. C:
So now that he’s gotten his operation with bad side effects, he’s reduced to being a freakshow
and his conditions get worse
he’s fucking crying, he’s horrified
he turns in to an even bigger monster because the side effects are THAT bad
oh wow so
they cut back to the pickle museum
and shatter a pickle statue
okay let me explain why this is so fucked up
The mayor is explaining if this pickle statue breaks, bad luck will occur. And it gets shattered.
Now in context of this episode, why this was either on purpose or just a really shitty choice: we once again have someone saying ‘if you break thing (that happens to be a phallic object joke btw) then bad stuff will happen’
it’s the same thing they’re saying this episode
if you try to change your body
bad things will happen
he smashed his pickle, so despair will follow (see where I’m going with this? you don’t make jokes about smashing pickles in a trans issues episode, it’s in really poor taste)
Bubbles comes in and tells him he has to calm down
“LOOK AT ME, I’M A FREAK, WE ARE NO LONGER BFFS!”
yes because being bffs is way more important than his feelings, Bubbles (you selfish little shit)
holy shit they wont stop with the fucking pickle thing
Buttercup and Blossom join
Buttercup: Woah, he’s a freak.
Bubbles: He is not a freak, he is my friend!
REALLY?! THAT’S WHY HE’S NOT A FREAK?! BECAUSE HE’S YOUR FRIEND? WHO BY THE WAY YOU ONLY WANTED TO BE FRIENDS WITH IF HE WAS A UNICORN?!?!!
“Donny this is all my fault, I put
you in danger just because I wanted to be friends with a unicorn”
oh good at least she admits it but that doesn’t exactly fix the problem now does it? Nor does it remotely tackle transissues,
what the hell is it trying to say here
“friends of transpeople shouldn’t pressure them to change themselves”??????
i’m pretty sure that’s not the major issue transpeople are dealing with
I’ll expand on this once I’m through all this garbage and have a final say in how this episode could have been handled because this is such shit writing and such a shitty message for confused trans kids.
“DEEP DOWN IN YOUR HEART OF HEARTS, YOU ARE A REAL LIVE UNICORN!”
“NO, IN MY HEART I KNOW I’M A MONSTER!”
Uh, guys
I know you’re trying to make this a good message and all
but you’re really REALLY not
“i just wanted to be friends with a unicorn”
so what does she do
continue to insist he’s a unicorn
and this upsets him
yeah you had that coming, Bubbles
ugh this is something I’ll expand on as a final say, this is just too messed up
SO IN AN AMAZING TWIST, UNICORNS APPEAR!
“Wait which ones are stallions?”
… WOW.
just
wow
throw in a joke about gender binaries in a trans issues episode
s’great
that’s just
real great
“I blamed you but I didn’t think of
the consequences either. I sooo wanted to be a unicorn
too…”
“But you ARE a unicorn!”
so being trans is just ‘wanting it’ I guess, and wanting to change comes with HORRIBLE consequences.
Oh by the way
turns out
he actually IS a unicorn
“I had to wait until you went on an intense journey of adolescent discovery.”
so there’s no trans issues here at all I guess
because he was a unicorn the whoooole time
no really
he was actually a unicorn the whole time, no magical transformation in to a unicorn or anything
he just had a horn under his hair and he never looked
I’m not making that up, that’s what happens.
Look they even fix the pickle museum
And then they have a happy ending and fly away AND GOD WHAT TRASH
I’ll reblog one more post with a final say because this episode was a mess and there was actually one VERY simple solution to it
Episode Review
Where the fuck do I even begin?
So the overall lesson in this episode really didn’t come off as accepting or tolerant of trans issues in the slightest.
They outed their ‘trans’ character at the start, didn’t address how wrong that was
the overall lesson here is not to change your body because bad things will happen and you’ll be a monster
I want to say this right now:
I am trans. And it’s people telling me that I’m NOT a boy, that I SHOULDN’T want t change that makes me feel like a monster.
It makes me feel like a freak.
CN decided to make a trans character a villain for trying to change ‘who they are’.
I’m going to keep this short and simple because the fix to this abomination IS simple:
This episode would have been PERFECT if he became a monster because everyone kept insisting he was a pony over and over and over and over
his anger could grow from no one letting him be what he feels
and in the end, bubbles insisting to him that he IS a unicorn, and that she was wrong for not treating him like one from the start
and everyone accepting him as a unicorn
Imagine this ending:
Everyone believing in him and accepting him as a unicorn is what turns him in to a unicorn
But most of all, the most important thing, is that he has to believe in himself.
He might not have been a unicorn in body but he was a unicorn at heart and that’s what mattered most, and as long as he was true to his heart and everyone else could accept him for what he feels on the inside.
Bam, unicorn. The problem is solved, he no longer feels like he has to be a monster or a freak, he doesn’t feel trapped in his own body and misunderstood and mislabelled.
You see.
How fucking HARD was that to fix?!
Instead, we got this. This thing that tells us trans people are whiny, dramatic, angry, and that it’s risky/dangerous to try and change your body. That they should just accept their own bodies and it’ll all be okay.
Proof that this is a trans issues episode since people keep saying I’m overanalyzing:
“In addition to shattering old tropes and kick-punching dated ideas, the new “Powerpuff Girls” will also address issues of gender and identity. One upcoming episode in particular touches on ideas of gender identity – a topic open to conversation even in animated shows, thanks to programs such as “Steven Universe,” which explores gender fluidity and rejects established gender norms.
“We did an episode where there’s a unicorn. Basically when it starts out, he’s a pony, but he wants to be a unicorn,” Jennings explained. “He has to go through a transformation to become a unicorn and so it’s a whole [episode that asks], ‘What are you on the inside? What are you on the outside? How do you identify yourself? How do people see you?’ There’s a lot of subtext in that.”
I’m kind of impressed that someone managed to produce an episode even worse than Brotherhooves Social.
Real fuckin glad someone else has tackled it so I don’t have to experience it, though.
(This is a very long post that I’m crossposting here from Facebook. Please give it a read.)
Ten years ago, I first took an interest in cosplaying. On the
surface, I made it seem like I was just looking for a way to express my
love of my favorite nerdy stuff, as I had done with Star Trek in my
early childhood. In reality, I was doing so because I wanted to explore
my gender identity.
I figured these conventions were the perfect safe space for me to explore this aspect of myself. I was wrong.
See, this was 2005-2007, when the “it’s a trap” meme was… extremely
prevalent. I’ll admit to taking part in this charade, if only because I
wasn’t sure how to truly express myself. By the time 2008 rolled around,
I completely abandoned the term and resented any time someone said it
to me. I regret ever using it to describe myself.
In early 2009, I
finally adopted the name “Sophia” and started presenting solely as
myself at all cons I went to. I thought things were going to look up. I
was wrong.
If anything, the bullshit continued and got worse.
I’ll never forget, when I did the mecha panel with my crew in 2010 at
AnimeBoston, we’d invited two newcomers to join us on it that year. I
remember introducing myself, saying how long I’ve been a fan, and one of
those two chucklefucks said, “and he’s been a trap for just as long” to
an audience that laughed at this horrible joke. I remember Doug turning to me, the one who runs these panels each year, with a look on his face of “oh my god, sophie, I am so sorry.”
Later that year, I finally started hormones. I said to myself, finally,
I can be who I was meant to be. I’ll look better in costumes and people
will always know to gender me properly. I was wrong.
I learned
that there were people, ones I considered friends, deliberately
misgendering me behind my back, including one I looked up to due to a
shared resemblance. She was incredibly horrible about it, saying things
like “she didn’t want to look like a man”, because apparently saying you
look like a girl who happens to be AMAB means you look like a man. Nice
covering for your transmisogyny there, honey.
In 2012, I got
into Homestuck. I’d noticed the fandom was filled with transgender men,
nonbinary people, and all sorts of other weird queers. I figured I’d
finally found my safe haven from the bullshit I deal with every time I
put on a costume. I was wrong.
I was called “boy Terezi” while I
was cosplaying her, despite my breasts clearly being visible in the
tight shirt I was wearing. I had someone ask me, “are you… a guy?”
minutes into my arrival at a meetup while I was cosplaying Roxy. It was
soul crushing and frankly humiliating.
In 2013, I briefly moved to California, hoping I’d find safe haven in their cosplay community. I was wrong.
At AnimeExpo, I was working some boring event at the con because I
wanted a free pass. My roommate and I did Touhou costumes for it,
because, why not. Before we’d even arrived at the con center, I was
misgendered by another guest in the hotel we were staying while we
waited for the shuttle. Once we got to the event, one member of its
staff misgendered me as well, and I lost it, running back to my hotel
room to change because I just couldn’t take it.
In 2014, I
returned to my homeland of New England in an attempt to get my life back
on track. I ran a panel on gender identity in convention culture with
one of my best friends, hoping we might just change some minds among the
con’s unwashed masses. I was wrong.
While the panel was a
success, with a line so long they couldn’t let everyone into the room,
it did nothing for those who were not in attendance. After the concert
Saturday night, I was hoping to meet up with my (cool) Homestuck friends
in the bar at the Hilton. I tried getting in through the side door, but
it was locked. There was a man next to me, who only heard me say
“goddamnit” muttered under my breath. As he walked away, he yelled out
to be, “You’re really attractive from behind even though you’re a guy!” I
yelled out a few choice words to him, as you’d expect.
Look…
all I can say is being a trans woman who cosplays is extremely tough,
and there are so many factors that work against us, like the existence
of male crossplayers doing it “for the lulz”. Some of them tend to be
incredibly transmisogynist… I speak from experience. If you do know a
person who is, as far as you know, an AMAB male, who wants to cosplay a
female character, ask them why. It could be they’re just a big jerk who
wants to make fun of trans women, or maybe they themself is a trans
woman coming to terms with who she is. If the former, advise them that
it may just be a terrible idea. If the latter, do what you can to
support them. God knows we need it.
(This is a very long post that I’m crossposting here from Facebook. Please give it a read.)
Ten years ago, I first took an interest in cosplaying. On the
surface, I made it seem like I was just looking for a way to express my
love of my favorite nerdy stuff, as I had done with Star Trek in my
early childhood. In reality, I was doing so because I wanted to explore
my gender identity.
I figured these conventions were the perfect safe space for me to explore this aspect of myself. I was wrong.
See, this was 2005-2007, when the “it’s a trap” meme was… extremely
prevalent. I’ll admit to taking part in this charade, if only because I
wasn’t sure how to truly express myself. By the time 2008 rolled around,
I completely abandoned the term and resented any time someone said it
to me. I regret ever using it to describe myself.
In early 2009, I
finally adopted the name “Sophia” and started presenting solely as
myself at all cons I went to. I thought things were going to look up. I
was wrong.
If anything, the bullshit continued and got worse.
I’ll never forget, when I did the mecha panel with my crew in 2010 at
AnimeBoston, we’d invited two newcomers to join us on it that year. I
remember introducing myself, saying how long I’ve been a fan, and one of
those two chucklefucks said, “and he’s been a trap for just as long” to
an audience that laughed at this horrible joke. I remember Doug turning to me, the one who runs these panels each year, with a look on his face of “oh my god, sophie, I am so sorry.”
Later that year, I finally started hormones. I said to myself, finally,
I can be who I was meant to be. I’ll look better in costumes and people
will always know to gender me properly. I was wrong.
I learned
that there were people, ones I considered friends, deliberately
misgendering me behind my back, including one I looked up to due to a
shared resemblance. She was incredibly horrible about it, saying things
like “she didn’t want to look like a man”, because apparently saying you
look like a girl who happens to be AMAB means you look like a man. Nice
covering for your transmisogyny there, honey.
In 2012, I got
into Homestuck. I’d noticed the fandom was filled with transgender men,
nonbinary people, and all sorts of other weird queers. I figured I’d
finally found my safe haven from the bullshit I deal with every time I
put on a costume. I was wrong.
I was called “boy Terezi” while I
was cosplaying her, despite my breasts clearly being visible in the
tight shirt I was wearing. I had someone ask me, “are you… a guy?”
minutes into my arrival at a meetup while I was cosplaying Roxy. It was
soul crushing and frankly humiliating.
In 2013, I briefly moved to California, hoping I’d find safe haven in their cosplay community. I was wrong.
At AnimeExpo, I was working some boring event at the con because I
wanted a free pass. My roommate and I did Touhou costumes for it,
because, why not. Before we’d even arrived at the con center, I was
misgendered by another guest in the hotel we were staying while we
waited for the shuttle. Once we got to the event, one member of its
staff misgendered me as well, and I lost it, running back to my hotel
room to change because I just couldn’t take it.
In 2014, I
returned to my homeland of New England in an attempt to get my life back
on track. I ran a panel on gender identity in convention culture with
one of my best friends, hoping we might just change some minds among the
con’s unwashed masses. I was wrong.
While the panel was a
success, with a line so long they couldn’t let everyone into the room,
it did nothing for those who were not in attendance. After the concert
Saturday night, I was hoping to meet up with my (cool) Homestuck friends
in the bar at the Hilton. I tried getting in through the side door, but
it was locked. There was a man next to me, who only heard me say
“goddamnit” muttered under my breath. As he walked away, he yelled out
to be, “You’re really attractive from behind even though you’re a guy!” I
yelled out a few choice words to him, as you’d expect.
Look…
all I can say is being a trans woman who cosplays is extremely tough,
and there are so many factors that work against us, like the existence
of male crossplayers doing it “for the lulz”. Some of them tend to be
incredibly transmisogynist… I speak from experience. If you do know a
person who is, as far as you know, an AMAB male, who wants to cosplay a
female character, ask them why. It could be they’re just a big jerk who
wants to make fun of trans women, or maybe they themself is a trans
woman coming to terms with who she is. If the former, advise them that
it may just be a terrible idea. If the latter, do what you can to
support them. God knows we need it.
(This is a very long post that I’m crossposting here from Facebook. Please give it a read.)
Ten years ago, I first took an interest in cosplaying. On the
surface, I made it seem like I was just looking for a way to express my
love of my favorite nerdy stuff, as I had done with Star Trek in my
early childhood. In reality, I was doing so because I wanted to explore
my gender identity.
I figured these conventions were the perfect safe space for me to explore this aspect of myself. I was wrong.
See, this was 2005-2007, when the “it’s a trap” meme was… extremely
prevalent. I’ll admit to taking part in this charade, if only because I
wasn’t sure how to truly express myself. By the time 2008 rolled around,
I completely abandoned the term and resented any time someone said it
to me. I regret ever using it to describe myself.
In early 2009, I
finally adopted the name “Sophia” and started presenting solely as
myself at all cons I went to. I thought things were going to look up. I
was wrong.
If anything, the bullshit continued and got worse.
I’ll never forget, when I did the mecha panel with my crew in 2010 at
AnimeBoston, we’d invited two newcomers to join us on it that year. I
remember introducing myself, saying how long I’ve been a fan, and one of
those two chucklefucks said, “and he’s been a trap for just as long” to
an audience that laughed at this horrible joke. I remember Doug turning to me, the one who runs these panels each year, with a look on his face of “oh my god, sophie, I am so sorry.”
Later that year, I finally started hormones. I said to myself, finally,
I can be who I was meant to be. I’ll look better in costumes and people
will always know to gender me properly. I was wrong.
I learned
that there were people, ones I considered friends, deliberately
misgendering me behind my back, including one I looked up to due to a
shared resemblance. She was incredibly horrible about it, saying things
like “she didn’t want to look like a man”, because apparently saying you
look like a girl who happens to be AMAB means you look like a man. Nice
covering for your transmisogyny there, honey.
In 2012, I got
into Homestuck. I’d noticed the fandom was filled with transgender men,
nonbinary people, and all sorts of other weird queers. I figured I’d
finally found my safe haven from the bullshit I deal with every time I
put on a costume. I was wrong.
I was called “boy Terezi” while I
was cosplaying her, despite my breasts clearly being visible in the
tight shirt I was wearing. I had someone ask me, “are you… a guy?”
minutes into my arrival at a meetup while I was cosplaying Roxy. It was
soul crushing and frankly humiliating.
In 2013, I briefly moved to California, hoping I’d find safe haven in their cosplay community. I was wrong.
At AnimeExpo, I was working some boring event at the con because I
wanted a free pass. My roommate and I did Touhou costumes for it,
because, why not. Before we’d even arrived at the con center, I was
misgendered by another guest in the hotel we were staying while we
waited for the shuttle. Once we got to the event, one member of its
staff misgendered me as well, and I lost it, running back to my hotel
room to change because I just couldn’t take it.
In 2014, I
returned to my homeland of New England in an attempt to get my life back
on track. I ran a panel on gender identity in convention culture with
one of my best friends, hoping we might just change some minds among the
con’s unwashed masses. I was wrong.
While the panel was a
success, with a line so long they couldn’t let everyone into the room,
it did nothing for those who were not in attendance. After the concert
Saturday night, I was hoping to meet up with my (cool) Homestuck friends
in the bar at the Hilton. I tried getting in through the side door, but
it was locked. There was a man next to me, who only heard me say
“goddamnit” muttered under my breath. As he walked away, he yelled out
to be, “You’re really attractive from behind even though you’re a guy!” I
yelled out a few choice words to him, as you’d expect.
Look…
all I can say is being a trans woman who cosplays is extremely tough,
and there are so many factors that work against us, like the existence
of male crossplayers doing it “for the lulz”. Some of them tend to be
incredibly transmisogynist… I speak from experience. If you do know a
person who is, as far as you know, an AMAB male, who wants to cosplay a
female character, ask them why. It could be they’re just a big jerk who
wants to make fun of trans women, or maybe they themself is a trans
woman coming to terms with who she is. If the former, advise them that
it may just be a terrible idea. If the latter, do what you can to
support them. God knows we need it.
SOPHIA 30/F/Inglessa Province
Expect to see lots of Gundam, robots (namely of the transforming and piloted variety), Star Trek, tokusatsu, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Marvel Comics, Overwatch, Dragon Age.
