I hate Trans Ralsei Theory

[u/ProbodobodyneInc]

Even if we ignore the numerous times he has been referred to as he/him, a boy, a guy, a dude, a prince, we must also realize that just because he isn't traditionally masculine, he isn't transmasc (or transfem)

There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy, and there is no Princess from the Dark.

'Oh but Deltarune is all about breaking free from fate' I can hear exactly two of you say in your heads (I can read your mind,) I know one thing, and it's that I can't break free from the fate of going through Undertale 2 and finding that both routes lead to the same goddamn ending of Gaster Friend Inside Me Penumbra Phantasm Big Shot World Revolving Jarona Shadow Crystal Always Bet On Papyrus Knight.

ZHOTAN!

(Also, I'm not transphobic, before you try to spew that label onto me)

[u/dat_potatoe]

I hate trans discourse in media because there are two opposing sides to it I find equally obnoxious.

Case 1: You have a character where their gender isn't fully clear. The creator might have put in just one or two things that could be very loosely interpreted as them being trans, either intentionally as a wink wink nudge nudge for fans to speculate on or unintentionally by pure accident. Or more than that, people are just deliberately misinterpreting things and reading into things that aren't actually there. From this point excitable trans people in the audience are over the moon about apparent representation and start insisting that it is "canon" and shouting down anyone who disagrees. You don't want to be mean either, or rain on their parade, but like they're just wrong and being toxic about it so...

Case 2: You have a character where it's never explicitly stated they are trans, but the subtext is basically bold header text and they are for all intents and purposes canonically trans. The creator made it very clear through the narrative that they are, left a million bread crumbs and obvious signs, the only thing the creator didn't do was have the character look to the camera and outright awkwardly say "I'm Mr. Transy Transington and I'm Trans". In spite of this, bigoted fans still plug their ears and deny all of it and treat that reading of the character as insane. Sometimes even after the creator grows exhausted and takes to the internet and says "yeah they actually are trans". As ridiculous as it seems there really are boy Jax truthers out there.

Anyway, back to Deltarune:

• I don't buy into the theory, but I'm not discarding it either. Some of it is a ridiculous reach to me (why do people think Toby would in-universe reference just two out of three colors of the real life flag with the food voucher colors, the dude isn't a talentless hack) but other pieces of evidence I think are solid enough to at least make it a valid theory.
• I don't care as long as people aren't insisting its canon.
• 99% of Deltarune fan theories are absolute dogshit anyway, including your favorite ones.
• This doesn't strike me as a solid counter-argument since a lot of people do go by their default pronouns before fully coming to terms with their identity.

[u/baconater-lover → u/dat_potatoe]

I love Deltarune but you are right about theories lol, 90% of them are headcanons.

Surprisingly, trans Ralsei has much more stocks after the newest chapter, to the point where if Toby actually went that direction it wouldn’t feel like an asspull.

It could also just be showing how a guy who is literally developing a personality in real time (like not even related to gender identity just developing your own consciousness lmao) doesn’t have to adhere to male stereotypes.

We’ll see what Toby does. Either way I still think Ralsei’s story works as an analogy for transitioning, regardless of what actually happens to him in game.

[u/Zealousideal_Spread4 → u/baconater-lover]

being gnc in general often just works as an analogy for being trans and viceversa, both groups have very similar experiences in a lot of ways, i just hate how whenever a character is a femboy or trans people will insist they must be the other, let the plot do its thing.