Trans Characters in Fandom

A person who is trans or transgender is someone who self-identifies their gender as different than the one they were assigned at birth. 
In the late 20th and early 21st century, more media creators have specified characters as transgender, by either subtle hints or stating it outright. There are examples of both canonical trans characters and popular trans headcanons in fandom, although some segments of fandom resist the idea of transgender characters being canon. This resistance has been called out as transphobia by other fans.
Aside from some fans not even accepting characters as trans, there have also been arguments in fandom regarding the way these characters are depicted in fanworks. For example, when artist ohnips drew the cast of Dream Daddy genderswapped, many fans stated it was transphobic because it depicted a trans man as a woman. See also The Lup Problem for issues surrounding fanart portrayals of a trans woman as more masculine than her brother.
Labeling a trans character genderswap/genderbend/bodyswap is seen as transphobic, as this implies that their gender identity is something temporary or comical, thus diminishing or denying the existence of LGBTQ people.
== Examples ==
===Trans Fanfic===
An early (1982) depiction of transgender issues in Australian fanfic can be found in The Other Side of the Galaxy, a Star Trek TOS fan fiction story written and published by South Australian fan Betsi Ashton. Significantly for its era, three introduced Mary Sue characters change their gender from female to male (and species from human to Vulcan) during the story. Because the narrative remains predominantly presented through the perspective of het cisgendered females, the transition would appear to be for political comment regarding gender roles and empowerment of females, rather than for any authentic transgender exploration. Nevertheless, due to its totally non-judgemental nature, it might be seen as a groundbreaking exploration for its time, in Australia at least.
===Trans Fandoms===
*I Saw the TV Glow
===Canonically Trans Characters===
The following are clear examples of canonically trans characters in fandoms:
==== Television ====
* Buck Vu from The OA is a trans man (although in one parallel universe within the show the character presents as female).
* Elle Argent from Heartstopper is a trans woman.
* Jules Vaughn from Euphoria is a trans woman.
* Nia Nal from the Arrowverse is a trans woman.
* Nomi Marks from Sense8 is a trans woman.
* Sophia Burset from Orange Is the New Black is a trans woman.
*Theo Putnam from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a trans man.
*Viktor Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy is a trans man, transitioning in the third season after his actor, Elliot Page, came out.
*Kai Bartley from Grey's Anatomy is nonbinary.
*Delenn from Babylon 5 began as a form of nonbinary alien, then transitioned into a cisgender female human.
==== Video Games ====
*Birdo from the Super Mario Brothers franchise is a trans woman in the Japanese version of the games, although she is a cis woman in many international versions.Birdo - Super Mario Wiki, the Mario Encyclopedia
*Vivian from the Paper Mario games is a trans woman. This was censored in the initial US release, but the 2024 re-release undid this to restore her identity. https://www.ign.com/articles/paper-mario-the-thousand-year-door-remake-restores-characters-trans-identity
*Bridget from the fighting game franchise Guilty Gear was initially depicted as a male crossdresser but declares that she is a girl instead of a boy at the end of Guilty Gear: Strive. After some fans claimed Bridget was still considered male in Japan, the game’s developers released a statement clarifying her gender.[ https://www.guiltygear.com/ggst/en/news/post-1657/ - 11th volume of “Developer’s Backyard”(9/14 Release)]
*Cremisius "Krem" Aclassi from Dragon Age: Inquisition is a trans man.
*Damien Bloodmarch from Dream Daddy is canonically a trans man. Additionally, the player can create and play their protagonist as a trans man.
*Eric Cooper from Assassin's Creed mentioned that he has had surgeries and a doctor friend helps regulate his hormones. Not all fans picked up on this and some believed he was "just gay". Eric being transgender was confirmed on TwitterTweet from AC Initiates, May 12 2014, and again in an AC Encyclopedia some years later.
*Erica Anderson from the game series Catherine is a trans woman.
*Samus Aran, protagonist of the Metroid series, was stated by Hirofumi Matsuoka in an 1994 interview to be a "newhalf" (a Japanese term referring to trans women who have not had gender confirmation surgery). Some Metroid fans dispute the canonicity of this.
*Bloodhound is nonbinary and Catalyst is a trans woman, both from Apex Legends. 
*Frisk, Chara, and Napstablook from Undertale are nonbinary.
*Venus from We Know the Devil is a trans girl.
*Luna-Terra and Pluto from Heaven Will Be Mine are trans women 
==== Western Animation ====
* Raine Whispers and The Collector from The Owl House are both nonbinary, using they/them and he/they pronouns respectively.
==== Other ====
*Alex Fierro from Magnus Chase is genderfluid.
*Claude Montesse from Claudine...! is a trans man, portrayed surprisingly sympathetically for 1970s Japan.
*Lup from The Adventure Zone: Balance was a character teased for a long while, but then formally introduced in episode 60 and stated by Griffin to be a trans woman. (Griffin had sought input from fans on how best to introduce a trans character.Tumblr post by bryn (otohimeheart), April 6th, 2017)
*Isabella Yamamoto from the Paradise Kiss manga and anime series is a trans woman.
*Yussa Erenis from Critical Role is trans. on Twitter Ashton and Fresh Cut Grass from the third campaign are also trans; both of them use he/they pronouns.
*Giselle Jewelle from Bleach is a trans woman.
*Hana from the anime film Tokyo Godfathers is a trans woman. The redub of the film cast an actual trans actress to voice her.
*Cancer Deathtoll from Saint Seiya is nonbinary. They question their gender several times in the series. Nasu Veronica from Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas is a trans woman.
=== Ambiguously Trans Characters ===
There are, however, examples where because the characterization is mostly done through subtext, without direct creator confirmation, they're more ambiguous and fans argue about whether or not their identity is truly "canon."
*Mettaton (from Undertale) is often perceived by fans to be a transgender character based on Undyne referring to his old identity with they/them pronouns.
*Urushibara Ruka from the game and anime Steins;Gate is seen by many as a trans girl; one of the plot arcs involves her altering the past so that she is designated female at birth. Ruka being transgender is disputed by some, however, including the game's English localization staff, who stated "he believed his romantic feelings towards Okabe would no longer be unfounded if he were born female". There was a huge debate over which pronouns to use on Ruka's Wikia page.
*Grell Sutcliffe from the anime and manga series Black Butler calls herself as a lady and desires to medically transition, but was called a man and referred to with he/him pronouns by the manga's author prior to 2018, leading some fans to wonder whether Grell is a trans woman or an effeminate gay man.
*June Egbert from Homestuck.
*All dwarf women in Discworld can be read as trans as discworld dwarfs didn’t have a concept of womanhood (all dwarfs are referred to as men) until Cheri Littlebottom introduces the concept to dwarfs.
*Strong Sad from Homestar Runner.
===Popular Trans Headcanons===
==== Video Games ====
* The characters Alphinaud Leveilleur and Alisaie Leveilleur from Final Fantasy XIV are identical-looking twins with different genders. While canon does not touch on this at all, many fans use trans headcanons for either of them to explain it.
*Fire Emblem: Three Houses fandom tends to write Felix Hugo Fraldarius and Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd as trans men, and Yuri Leclerc as nonbinary.
*Fire Emblem Engage fan works frequently feature transmasc Prince Alcryst, with trans girl Goldmary almost as common. Some female Alear smut also features her as intersex.
* Toyosatomimi no Miko, a character introduced in the 13th Touhou Project game, is interpreted to be trans female by some. In canon, her true identity is that of the real life Prince Shoutoku, a male Japanese politician from the sixth century. In the events of the game, Miko is resurrected in the modern day Gensokyo. A profile from Symposium of Post-mysticism indicates that she and her fellow shikaisen had some degree of freedom in choosing their forms when they reincarnated, since they'd already abandoned their body and flesh. Supposedly, most shikaisen tend to choose something similar to their old appearance, but Miko opted to change to a look "more suited to modern times".rabbiteclair (13 January 2018). Is Miko Toyosatomimi canonically trans, or is that a popular interpretation of her backstory?. Tumblr. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
* Chihiro Fujisaki from Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is often headcanoned as Trans Female or otherwise transfeminine.
==== Western Animation ====
* The headcanon that Danny Fenton from Danny Phantom is a trans man is a widespread example of a trans headcanon. Fans have pointed out many parts of canon that seem to indicate this, and persist in the headcanon despite Butch Hartman shutting it down.Me on a date: How do you feel about that trans Danny Phantom theory that's going around?, July 17, 2015 
** Hartman created The Fairly Oddparents as well, and fans also spotted parts of that show seeming to indicate Timmy Turner is a trans boy.I just had a massive realization about the fairly odd parents, January 27, 2018Trans Boy Timmy Turner Headcanon, February 24, 2017 (dead link)trans timmy turner headcanons, July 3, 2015
* Lake from Infinity Train is commonly headcanoned as nonbinary. This is often considered to be backed up by Word of God.Reading as a Lake trans character posted by u/Example-exe to the InfinityTrain subreddit As of January 2023, a YouTube video full of clips to support this has 1.6 million viewshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NwC93uuWP8 and there are 87 works in the Nonbinary Lake | Mirror Tulip tag on AO3https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Nonbinary%20Lake%20%7C%20Mirror%20Tulip/works.
* Mulan from Disney's movie of the same name.Mulan and Being Trans by Dreamsounds
* Steven Universe fans have gathered evidence to support the headcanon of Lars as a trans man.
* Many fans support the theory/headcanon that Marco Diaz in Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a trans girl.Marco is a Trans Girl - The Megapost 2.0, March 1, 2017 Trans Marco Week was organized by tumblr user queenmarco from April 2-8 of 2017.post, March 17, 2017
* Pidge from Voltron: Legendary Defender is also commonly headcanoned as trans: either as a trans girl, trans guy, or nonbinary. As of March 2019, there are 487 works in the "Trans Pidge | Katie Holt" tag on AO3 (312 in "Trans Female Pidge" subtag, 62 in "Trans Male Pidge" subtag), 874 works in "Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt", and 1,436 works in "Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt". Trans headcanons are also common for the other VLD characters. In February 2017, the "Trans VLD Week" event took place.Trans VLD Week
** Trans male Keith has also become very popular, particularly among Sheith or Klance fans. The former camp often does this to avoid writing actual mpreg if they want to give the couple biological children.
==== Other ====
* Some Les Miserables fans believe Enjolras is written as a trans man and trans!Enjolras is a fairly popular tag on AO3.Trans Enjolras tag on AO3. Retrieved October 23, 2019. Jehan is also often headcanoned as nonbinary.Nonbinary Jean Prouvaire tag on AO3. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
* The Matrix is commonly read as a trans allegory, with the red pills representing Premarin (a form of HRT) and the blue pills representing Prozac (an antidepressant).https://web.archive.org/web/20200531205515/https://fender-jess.tumblr.com/post/617622427923578880/also-the-form-of-estrogen-they-prescribed-trans As such, trans and nonbinary headcanons for all the characters abound.
* Peter Parker has been widely headcanoned as a trans man.Tumblr tag search for #trans peter parker
* Yentl from Barbra Streisand's film of the same name.
* Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad is often headcanoned as a trans man.
== Portraying Headcanons in Fanwork ==
Depending on the medium, there are many different ways to express that a fanwork is portraying a character as trans when they may not be as such in the text.
=== Fanart ===
Usage of pride flags in the background of images is common.
=== Vidding ===
Some vids will use manips to indicate a character physically transitioning. Still image editors may use pride flag color palettes to indicate transness. Song choice makes a huge difference, and story vids can be used to express a trans narrative.
== Meta about Trans Headcanons ==
Fans, especially fans who are trans themselves, often have headcanons about characters being trans. These often are shared as text posts on Tumblr or Twitter, as submissions to Tumblr headcanon blogs, as artwork, or as fanfiction. There is occasionally discourse over these headcanons, and some are of the opinion that these headcanons are too often based on stereotypes.
Additionally, there are sometimes disagreements over whether depictions of trans people must include the realities of dysphoria and transphobia and all they entail, or whether works where trans people are allowed to exist without them are better. Others argue that both are good and important.Tumblr post by bicatperson, retrieved November 11, 2021
===Further Reading===
* Fanart meta: genderswap, crossdressing, and trans-ness (2010)
* Trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse characters on AO3 (Oct 2021) by Destination: Toast!
== Fanworks ==
File:Danny Phantom Trans Pride Button - RosiesThingFactory.jpg|A button featuring Danny Phantom in his ghost form, with the trans pride flag as a background. (therosielord, 2021)
File:Myrkky-TransHarryPotter.jpg|Fanart of Harry Potter in sweatpants and a chest binder. The binder is in the trans pride colors by Myrkky (2019)
File:Moon Daisy.png|Princess Daisy declaring "I am a Proud Trans Princess" with a happy wink and blush. (Moon, 2019)
File:FatherTedSaysTransRights.jpg|A screencap of Father Ted with a large sign photoshopped to say "TRANS RIGHTS". (pirate-pizza-party, 2019) 
File:Krem by Amonkirabepraised.png|Fanart of "Krem" Aclassi of Dragon Age, a canonical trans man, in a chest binder. (Amonkirabepraised, 2015)
File:Bridget by ToasT-Arts.jpg|(NSFW: genital outline)Bridget of Guilty Gear, a canonical trans woman, in a trans-pride bikini. (ToasT-Arts, 2022).
File:Fallen Tiefling by Gunderstank.jpg|A transmasc tiefling OC with top surgery scars. Based on The Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel. (gunderstank, 2022).
===Vidding===
* comeback 🚪 trans non/disney by interplanet janet
* Let me see who you are. [Non/Disney Trans Mep] - - hosted by Amani
* S★MEPS | DRESS TO IMPRESS Multifandom IC [#32] (TRANS PRIDE MEP!) hosted by StarstruckMEPS
* thin 💙💖🤍 full MEP hosted by howlelujah
* True Trans Soul Rebel AMV by SakuraYuki112Jr
* [CCS] Beautiful Soul MEP hosted by Childhood Creativity Studios
==See also==
*Transfic
*Fictionmania - an archive for fiction about themes of gender-changes, cross-dressing, and transgender characters
==External links==
* TV Tropes: Transgender
* Wikipedia: List of transgender and transsexual fictional characters (needs additional citations!)
* Wikipedia: List of transgender characters in film and television (needs additional citations!)
* Wikipedia: Media portrayals of transgender people (needs additional citations!)
* Nonbinary Wiki: Nonbinary gender in fiction
* Recs tagged Trans & Non-Binary Characters at Fancake
==References==
Category: Queer