History Main / TransAudienceInterpretation

* [[https://the-niche.blog/2019/11/14/wilhelmina-slater-is-the-true-trans-woman-of-ugly-betty/ This essay]] by a trans woman makes a case for interpreting Wilhelmina Slater of ''Series/UglyBetty'' as trans, and a better example than Alexis, a canonically trans character. The main point is that Wilhemina's obsession with maintaining her feminine looks (including cosmetic surgery), her former identity as the mousy unattractive Wanda, and her goal to reclaim what she considers to be a rightful position as editor-in-chief all hold more weight if she lives in fear of transmisogynistic stigma.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' Many fans interpret Mulder as a transgender man for several reasons, but primarily due to his dressing in baggy suits, having unsupportive parents, and, of course, going by the name Fox.

*** Crossing the Pacific hit Chihiro's story ''hard'' with ValuesDissonance; with America's looser gender roles, a [[RealMenWearPink man with openly feminine hobbies]] is seen as more acceptable, and while it's still reasonable that Chihiro ''would'' be bullied for it because KidsAreCruel, the idea that said bullying would drive him to present as a girl to everyone in his life breaks many Americans' suspension of disbelief, even by the standards of a series where Chihiro ''also'' created an AI advanced enough to be functionally indistinguishable from a human on an old laptop he scrounged up. Trans audiences are also [[UnfortunateImplications uncomfortable]] with how Chihiro's gender is only revealed after he's dead (except to [[spoiler:Mondo, his killer, who also promises to keep his secret]]) by examining his corpse, and the ''possibility'' that he might be trans and still in the closet is never brought up; once the big reveal happens, everyone immediately switches pronouns and takes it for granted he was a WholesomeCrossdresser, even though the one who delivers the relevant exposition is Monokuma, who would ''absolutely'' not be above outing Chihiro against their will ''or'' misgendering them just to disrespect their memory. Pointing out that these fans could ''also'' be said to be erasing Chihiro's gender identity by insisting he's trans when he's not [[FlameBait is a great way to start a fight]].
*** While it isn't quite as prevalent as viewing the character as a trans girl, there are also a good number of fans who split the difference between the game's text and fanon by interpreting Chihiro as a transgender ''boy'', making his story about a transman who is bullied out of his preferred gender identity because nobody thinks that he can have a female body ''and'' [[InTouchWithHisFeminineSide a feminine demeanor]] but still consider himself to be male.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': Gwen Stacy has been interpreted by a large section of the film's viewership as being trans-coded, if not being outright transgender. She has a trans pride flag hanging in her room, and later in the movie, when she [[spoiler:finally has a conversation with her father and yells at him about having to hide part of herself in case he didn't accept her]], she is bathed in bright blue, pink, and white light (the "Trans Pride" colors) which solidified the implications to many that her arc is an analog to those in the transgender community coming out to their loved ones.

* A strong negative opinion of the character's canon gender, or a desire to be seen as "not like the other boys/girls"

* If the character is a WholesomeCrossdresser, and [[AlwaysMale he]] crossdress enough to the point that it becomes a part of his entire character, then some may see it as a sign of him being non-binary or a closeted trans woman.

* ''Literature/WaysideSchool'': One of the students in the first book is an introverted boy named "Nancy," who hates that his parents gave him a feminine-sounding name. Eventually he befriends a girl named "Mac," who hates that her parents gave her a masculine-sounding name. They both agree to trade names, which ends up turning the introverted Nancy into the talkative, attention-grabbing Mac.

** Going hand-in-in with fans interpreting Lila as a trans woman, fans will also headcanon Skid's father as a trans man, to keep both of them as Skid's biological parents via [[MisterSeahorse his father being the one to carry him]].

* Princess Ozma of the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' series is seen by many Oz fans as a transgender icon thanks to the twist ending of the second novel, ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''. [[spoiler:When Ozma was an infant, the Wizard of Oz bribed the witch Mombi to kidnap Ozma and magically change her into a boy to hide her away so the Wizard could take the throne of Oz without challenge. Mombi renamed her Tippertarius, and "Tip" grew up into a teenager without ever suspecting any of this. At the end of the novel, Glenda the Good forced Mombi to reveal all of this and transform Tip back into Ozma. The restored Princess Ozma then became the ruler of Oz]]. Not much more was ever said about it in the original books (not surprisingly since they were written in the early 1900s), which basically gives modern writers a clean slate to make Ozma's first appearance in the series be much less seemless than the second novel made it appear. Sometimes that's as simple as making her a TomboyPrincess, and sometimes she's given even more severe gender identity issues. Depending on point of view, Ozma could be seen as either a transboy or a transgirl, and different works vary on which one they go with. For instance, the tv show ''Series/EmeraldCity'' went with the former, while the webcomic ''Webcomic/YellowBrickRamble'' goes with the later.

* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': Flaky was originally envisioned as male, but after many viewers [[ViewerGenderConfusion thought she was female]], the creators eventually stated her to be female. Because of this, along with her not having [[TertiarySexualCharacteristics eyelashes]] like the other female characters, some fans portray her as a trans girl who hadn't come out yet when her first episodes aired, or as nonbinary or genderfluid.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Strong Sad is interpreted as a transmasc due to him having a higher pitched voice compared to both of his older brothers and having eyeliners

* ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity'': A common fan theory is that Lightbulb is transfemme, for three reasons. One, her voice is one of the [[VocalDissonance more masculine]] ones in the show. Two, she was originally intended to be male, but was [[{{Retcon}} rewritten to be female]] to balance out the show's gender ratio. Third, and most importantly, she was the only one to figure out that Paintbrush is [[NonHumanNonBinary nonbinary]] on her own, which could imply that Lightbulb herself is LGBTQIA+. The II crew have been [[ApprovalOfGod accepting]] of such a theory, but have refused to [[ShrugOfGod confirm or deny it]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': Miriam's butch appearance has lead to more than a few fans believing that she is actually trans.

** If you are sensitive to spoilers and want to read ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz'' before delving any further, you can [[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54 find it here]].

* Princess Ozma of the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' series grew up as a young boy named Tip, but she was born female, this was a spell cast on her as a baby by the witch Mombi to hide her identity. The spell was undone, and not much more was ever said about it in the original books (not surprisingly since they were written in the early 1900s). Modern fan fiction writers however often have Ozma’s transition be much less seamless than it appeared, making her either a TomboyPrincess or giving her even more severe gender identity issues. Whether or not she still feels more like the boy she grew up as inside or identifies as a female varies. ''Series/EmeraldCity'' went with the former, making Tip a trans boy.

* Some ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fans joke that Hedwig, as in the protagonist's pet snowy owl, is a transfem icon because she's described as having pure white plumage, which is a male-only trait- real-world females have gray edging to their feathers. In the film adaptations, Hedwig is played mostly by male birds.

** As the inhabitants of the world of Mata Nui are all cyborgs with no difference in sexes ([[TrueBlueFemininity besides girls being blue]]) and ability to upgrade their own bodies, trans headcanons are popular among the wider cast of Matoran and Toa.

** Takua the Matoran, later Takanuva the Toa of Light, is a popular choice for trans headcanons. In their first appearances in the ''Bionicle'' video games, Takua was noted to be unusual among the Matoran in that, despite being told he was a Ta-Matoran, he felt uncomfortable staying in one place and preferred to travel the island exploring from village to village. Takua's arc in ''WesternAnimation/BionicleMaskOfLight'' further aids this interpretation, in that Takua tends to deny having any kind of destiny despite the Mask of Light calling him, until he finally accepts it and transforms into his true form as the Toa Takanuva. Later lore would reveal that Takua was never a Fire Matoran, but a Light Matoran whose identity was secretly kept from him for his own safety, adding another angle to why he seemingly experienced dysphoria with who he was raised to believe he was.

* ''Webcomic/YellowBrickRamble'': This is a comic adaptation/reinterpretation of the second ''Literature/LandOfOz'' novel, ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''. Anyone who has read the original novel will remember the twist ending where [[spoiler:the main character, the farm boy Tippetarius, turned out to be the long-lost Princess Ozma, heir to the throne of Oz. When Ozma was a baby, the Wizard of Oz bribed the witch Mombi to kidnap her and magically change her into a boy, all to make sure nobody could contest The Wizard's flimsy claim to the throne. At the end of the novel, Mombi is forced to reveal all of this and to transform Tippertarius back into Ozma. The restored Princess Ozma then becomes the new ruler of Oz]]. Because of that twist ending, many transgender people have come to see this novel as a sort of transgender coming-of-age story, and ''Webcomic/YellowBrickRamble'' explicitly rewrites much of the story and characters with that interpretation in mind. Be aware, though, that the webcomic assumes the reader knows all of that spoiler-tagged information, because that knowledge is absolutely central to how the comic artist has rewritten the story. People sensitive to spoilers are advised to [[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/54/pg54-images.html read the original novel]] first before diving into this webcomic. Fortunately, the copyright on ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz'' expired a long time ago, so it is legally available for free all over the internet.

* ''Webcomic/YellowBrickRamble'': This is a comic adaptation/reinterpretation of the second ''Literature/{{Land Of Oz}}'' novel, ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''. Anyone who has read the original novel will remember the twist ending where [[spoiler:the main character, the farm boy Tippetarius, turned out to be the long-lost Princess Ozma, heir to the throne of Oz. When Ozma was a baby, the Wizard of Oz bribed the witch Mombi to kidnap her and magically change her into a boy, thus making sure nobody could contest The Wizard's flimsy claim to the throne. At the end of the novel, Tippetarius is transformed back into Ozma and becomes the new ruler of Oz]]. Because of that twist ending, many transgender people have come to see this novel as a sort of transgender coming-of-age story, and ''Webcomic/YellowBrickRamble'' explicitly rewrites much of the story and characters with that interpretation in mind. Be aware, though, that the webcomic assumes the reader knows that spoiler-tagged sentence up there, because that knowledge is absolutely central to how the comic artist has rewritten the story. People sensitive to spoilers are advised to [[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/54/pg54-images.html read the original novel]] first before diving into this webcomic. Fortunately, the copyright on ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz'' expired a long time ago, so it is legally available for free all over the internet.

* ''Webcomic/{{Yellow Brick Ramble}}'': This is a comic adaptation/reinterpretation of the second ''Literature/{{Land Of Oz}}'' novel, ''Literature/{{The Marvelous Land Of Oz}}''. Anyone who has read the original novel will remember the twist ending where [[spoiler:the main character, the farm boy Tippetarius, turned out to be the long-lost Princess Ozma, heir to the throne of Oz. When Ozma was a baby, the Wizard of Oz bribed the witch Mombi to kidnap her and magically change her into a boy, thus making sure nobody could contest The Wizard's flimsy claim to the throne. At the end of the novel, Tippetarius is transformed back into Ozma and becomes the new ruler of Oz]]. Because of that twist ending, many transgender people have come to see this novel as a sort of transgender coming-of-age story, and ''Webcomic/{{Yellow Brick Ramble}}'' explicitly rewrites much of the story and characters with that interpretation in mind. Be aware, though, that the webcomic assumes the reader knows that spoiler-tagged sentence up there, because that knowledge is absolutely central to how the comic artist has rewritten the story. People sensitive to spoilers are advised to [[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/54/pg54-images.html read the original novel]] first before diving into this webcomic. Fortunately, the copyright on ''Literature/{{The Marvelous Land Of Oz}}'' expired a long time ago, so it is legally available for free all over the internet.

* While they existed in the fanbased of the film and original comics, ''Anime/ScottPilgrimTakesOff'' has popularised trans headcanons of Scott as an "egg", who's yet to realise they're trans, thanks to it portraying him more as OneOfTheGirls, and his attraction to Ramona Flowers (herself the subject of a lot of transfemme headcanons, thanks to her dyed hair and fashion sense being interpreted as queer). This is also helped by the live action movie having a LGBTFanbase, including trans women who identified with that iteration of the character before coming out.