Olive. Artist can be found here
Transcendent is a Slice of Life Fantasy webcomic by tumblr user leclecarchie. It tells the story of the first girl to go to Xavier's School for Juvenile Sorcerers alongside her brother Owen. Normally the school doesn't allow girls, being an all-boys academy, but they're willing to make an exception for Olive. Why?Because she's Transgender, of course!
Olive has gone to Xavier's for most of her life, and once she came out the school decided to make an exception for her due to her only having one year of schooling left, as well as the headmaster refusing to accept that Olive was actually transgender.
The comic is mainly a slice-of-life comedy, focusing on Olive's struggles to fit in now that she's come out, her new and old friends adapting to the situation, and just the various problems a girl like Olive is going to have. It can be found here.
The webcomic provides examples of:
- A-Cup Angst: Early on in Olive's transition, she's nervous about going outside in a swimsuit. She gets over this after being informed by an Alpha Bitch that her (the other girl's) boyfriend wouldn't stop ogling Olive. This delights Olive, to her brother's confusion.
- All Gays Love Theater: Not all gays, but resident theatre kids Lyndon and Itsuki are dating and very much Sickeningly Sweethearts.
- Amazon Chaser: Two boys accompanying Olive to the carnival are absolutely wowed by Olive's ability to ring the bell of a strength challenge with ease.
- Art Evolution: As Transcendent's gone on, it's evolved from rough sketches to solid lines and character designs.
- Author Appeal: Gigi's introduction, considering the author has shown a preference for femslash stories in the past. Considering Gigi's popularity, however, this seems to be something she shares with her audience.
- Big Brother Instinct: Owen. It doesn't matter who you are- if you threaten or ogle his sister, you're dead.
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Lyndon gets upset with Itsuki for not remembering their anniversary, and pretends to be dating Olive to make Lyndon jealous, to which Itsuki responds by fake-dating Owen. The two are broken up for approximately an hour before Olive, Owen, and Sid shove them into a room to force them to make up, where Lyndon tells Itsuki why he's upset, and Itsuki answers that he always thought their anniversary was the day they met when they were children. The two resume their relationship shortly thereafter.
- Bridal Carry: Itsuki with Lyndon, constantly. Lyndon later proves that he can return the favor, and Itsuki insists on his boyfriend carrying him all the way home.
- Cast Full of Gay: Olive is, obviously, trans, but Owen is pansexual, Lyndon is bi and is dating Itsuki, who's gay, Gigi is in love with Olive, and various LGBTA+ supporting and background characters appear sporadically.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Gigi does not take it well when anyone else flirts with Olive, and is jealous of her close friendship with Sid.
- Cool Old Lady: Gossamer, a secluded witch who lives with her griffins, stuffs Sid and Olive with homemade cookies, comforts Olive, and sends her home with a griffin herself.
- Cosmetic Catastrophe: When Olive, still in the closet, is left alone in her mother's room, she immediately begins putting on her mother's makeup. When her mother comes back, her response is to gently correct Olive's eyeshadow, even though it will make her late for her date.
- Custom Uniform: Sid commissions Lyndon and Itsuki to make one for Olive, as her current standard-issue uniform meant that she wasn't getting enough air.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Gossamer Dusk. She wears dark purple, lives in a creepy house in a town known for dark magic, and upon first meeting Sid and Olive she drags them into her house for 'treats'... and she feeds them plenty of cookies, dotes on her pets, comforts Olive about their mutual inability to bear children, and entrusts Olive in taking care of Cyan, a blue jay tabby griffin.
- Dude, She's A Lesbian: Gigi is incredibly jealous of Sid when he comes trick-or-treating with her and Olive at Halloween, and doesn't seem to realize that Sid isn't interested in Olive that way.
- Girls Love Chocolate: Played with. Olive does like chocolate, but because nearly every boy at her school is interested in her romantically, she gets an overflow of chocolate for Valentine's Day and has to gorge herself on it so that none of it goes bad. And when poor Gigi comes by with a giant chocolate bunny, Olive ends up throwing up the chocolate she was offered.
- Good Parents: Owen and Olive's parents. They realized Olive wasn't entirely cisgender before she did, but they didn't push her and let her come out in her own time. They also dote on both their children,
- Happily Adopted: Roman, Gossamer's son. The day that she was told she was sterile, Roman was left in a basket on her doorstep, and she's raised him as her own since.
- Insult Backfire: When a bully tells a still-in-the-closet Olive that she looks like a girl, she immediately lights up and thanks him for it.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Gossamer and Olive discuss this; because Gossamer is infertile and Olive is trans, neither of them has been or can become pregnant. While Olive initially feels some insecurity at the fact that she can't get pregnant, Gossamer reassures her that motherhood is about being there for your child when they need you, and that blood is irrelevant.
- Mentor in Transness: Olive, to Joe. After a still-in-the-closet Joe asks Olive why she's a girl in an all-boys academy and she explains what being transgender is, he realizes that he's a trans boy and comes out. The two meet later on Halloween, where Joe's mother thanks Olive for helping Joe come to terms with himself and saving their family.
- Mistaken for Romance: Olive and her brother when they try to go to Old Man McConnel's winter stand. It's embarrassing enough for Olive to delegate Sid as the person to get coffee for them.
- Nonuniform Uniform: Discussed by Ms. Valiance, when she notes that all of Olive's friends wear their uniforms incorrectly. When she praises Owen for wearing his correctly, she is Instantly Proven Wrong as he's lax with his dress code as well.
- Odd Friendship: Between Olive and Sid. Olive is a sweet, outgoing girl who wants to go into arcane combat. Obsidian, meanwhile, is an introverted potions master whose Brutal Honesty often chases off potential friends. After their initial meeting, the two remain close and go on various misadventures together.
- Odd Name, Normal Nickname: Sid's real name is Obsidian.
- Old Friend, New Gender: Gigi meets Olive again for the first time in nearly a decade and she instantly mistakes her twin brother to be her grown up. After explaining the situation, Gigi is stunned but not for the reason Olive thinks.
- Open-Minded Parent: Owen and Olive's parents realized that Olive was trans before she did, and made accommodations in how they treated her, including teaching her how to use makeup and making her a dress for Christmas.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Griffins, which in this universe are housecats mixed with common birds. Olive later gains one, a blue jay tabby named Cyan from Gossamer.
- Ship Sinking: As of Valentine's Day 2021, Olive has officially turned Gigi down, though the two are still good friends.
- The Smurfette Principle: Olive is the only girl in her friend group until Gigi joins the story. Justified, as she goes to an all-boys school.
- Stating the Simple Solution: A variation. When faced with a puddle, Owen chooses to jump into the puddle, Sid uses a drying potion to keep his feet dry, Itsuki carries Lyndon across, and Olive... moves slightly to the right.
- Tampon Run: Olive's mother sends her on one, but since Olive is trans and hasn't had to shop for the supplies before, she quickly becomes overwhelmed and just buys one of everything.
- Urban Fantasy: Used as a fun backdrop for the story. It doesn't affect much aside from some characters' races and the specifics of Olive's transition.
- Wish-Fulfillment: An example of Tropes Are Tools. Olive is respected as a girl and treated as such by every character we're supposed to like or respect, she has a tight group of friends who support and help her through her transition, and her brother and parents are incredibly supportive and do their best to accommodate her to the best of their ability.
- Wizarding School: Xavier's is a school for sorcerers.
