The Princess
by Christine Smith is a Slice of Life webcomic about an elementary schooler named Sarah and the people around her.
Sarah is an archetypical girly-girly who loves everything pink and anything involving princesses. What sets Sarah apart from the rest of her schoolmates is she's transgender.
Unlike most webcomics about transgender people it's very fluffy, yet it still manages to show Sarah's trials and tribulations.
The Princess contains examples of:
- Actual Pacifist: Sarah deals with regular attacks by bullies with completely pacifistic means. Possibly others, but we don't see the most likely candidates in conflicts where violence is likely.
- Art Evolution: Noticeably. One of the most recognizable leaps was early on it switched from monochrome to full-color.
- Battle Cry: "Cry! HAVOK!"
- Big Sister Bully: Not even Chuck is spared from Penny.
- Cast Full of Gay: Loads and loads of transgender characters of various sorts.
- Clothing Switch: Marta steals one of Felix's uniform suits to wear at school. However, it was the only clean set he had, leaving him wearing one of her jumpers instead. Both of them end up in trouble at school for this.
- Daddy's Girl: Sarah's father is supportive of her femininity. Her mother not so much, though she slowly gets better.
- Dreadlock Rasta: Marley, possibly also Rastafarian.
- Dog Got Sent to a Farm: Said by the kid themself, not for a pet but for their father. Irma insists that he was sent through a one-way portal to another dimension, and when Sarah questions it they quietly ask her to drop the subject. The dialogue in the actual flashback makes it clear that he died from illness, and that Irma is struggling to talk frankly about it.
- Don't Split Us Up: Chuck's mother went to jail while pregnant with him, and his father saw this as a chance to leave her and take their daughter Penny with him. They grew up separately, with their father telling Penny to think of Chuck as a distant cousin.
- Evil Costume Switch: Sarah goes grimdark. It doesn't last long. Happens again later.
- Freudian Excuse: Penny and Chuck both have the same Abusive Parents.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Sarah. As well as being an Actual Pacifist, she goes out of her way to try to help the bullies that attack her.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Marta, Irma's girlfriend. Irma thinks she is a boy at the beginning of their relationship.
- Lighter and Softer: The comic as a whole is this in comparison to most webcomics centered around trans people. Which often have a dark(Trans Girl Diaries, Venus Envy), cynical(Assigned Male, Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls) or melancholic (Rain, With Great Abandon) tone to them. Even more lighthearted ones like I Want to Be a Cute Anime Girl have some edge to them. The Princess on the other hand, presents itself as almost like a children’s book. With an adorably simple sense of humor and artstyle as well as a very fluffy tone that is perfect for young children.
- Loving Bully: Sarah is bullied by a boy who is attracted to her. We later learn he's so aggressive because he has Abusive Parents.
- Mama Bear: Even before Wendy accepted Sarah as a girl, she did not tolerate anyone disrespecting her child, as seen when she blackmailed the principal after Sarah was being bullied in school and the principal refused to do anything about it.
- Mid-Battle Tea Break: Over the love of a comic book character.
- Morality Chain: Sarah, for Irma. The two fall out for a bit, and things go badly.
- Operation: Jealousy: Sarah asks Jules to pretend to be her boyfriend in an attempt to make her crush Mars jealous. Several characters lampshade how rarely this actually succeeds in sitcoms. Not only does it not work, but it ultimately strains their friendship when Sarah falls for Jules and becomes much too invested in what everyone else considers just Puppy Love.
- Princess Phase: Sarah is never seen without her princess clothes, much to her mother's disapproval. In the time skip, it appears she has outgrown this and is dressed more casually.
- Puppy Love: Lots of crushes and talk of holding hands.
- Rebellious Spirit: Irma is a Nominal Hero Lancer with strong
Chaotic Neutral tendencies. - Someone to Remember Him By: Downplayed and invoked prior to the comic. Irma's mothers visited their fathers to ask them to help them have a child, just to learn that one of them had a terminal illness; however, it's because of this reveal that he agreed to their request, wanting to leave behind someone for his partner to love even after he was gone. He lived just long enough to hold an infant Irma.
- Time Skip: The comic was on hiatus for 2 years. When it returned, a 3 year time skip had also occurred in-universe.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Irma and Sarah seem to be a masculine, roughhouse girl and very feminine and pacifistic girl who dresses up as a princess. Since the comic eventually reveals Irma to be genderfluid, this dynamic gets Played With.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Irma has a huge set of outfits to wear. Somewhat justified by their theatrical parents, but still a bit of a running gag.
