here's all the evidence i and others have found so far hinting at the possibility of mushroom transitioning later in the comic! this is a long post, so i'll put it under a readmore to be safe.
(i wrote most of this in november of last year with some minor additions this week, so if there's any weirdness in writing, that's why! also, i fully intend to update this as time goes on and more comes out about mushroom in the story, pardon the bad pun!)
EVIDENCE WITHIN THE COMIC ITSELF
the most obvious piece of evidence hinting at trans mushroom within the comic itself is this panel from wolves without teeth:
when referred to as a girl, mushroom seems shocked and a bit upset. the background detail emphasizes her discomfort at the phrase.
interestingly, mushroom is sometimes referred to with it/its pronouns, specifically as spore. this is seen in alliance, red eyes and try again.
these are easy to pass off as the first and last ones are likely just jokes and the second is similar to how most people refer to babies irl, but by this point packmother should know that mushroom is (currently) female, so why not use she/her when referring to mushroom here? throughout this entire scene, packmother only ever calls mushroom "[dynamite's] friend" or "the mushroom". the ONLY usage of any pronouns in relation to mushroom is packmother calling spore an it. despite this, packmother calls dynamite "the boy" in this exact image. so why not call mushroom "the girl"?
this line from phylactery really stands out to me, too. sometimes you feel things before you know them, and while this could be foreshadowing about mushroom's upcoming fourth form (more on that later), it could just as well be about gender.
i'd also like to bring up the parallel of gender identity struggles with dynamite's insecurity about being a bestial object.
(from expiration and into the wild, respectively)
these all apply to dynamite first and foremost of course, but if the dialogue was flipped (and slightly changed), it would fit perfectly with a trans character coming to terms with their identity.
this page from left behind in specific reminds me a lot of how it feels to hide your true self in fear of abandonment by family and friends. that's probably just me, though, it's up to you if you interpret this page the same way.
there's a LOT of small details that may have more to do with mushroom getting older and not liking the way her body is changing, but it could also relate to her gender. here's the ones i'm aware of, at least:
picking at her veil like this could potentially be dysphoria-related. similarly, mushroom's bedroom mirror is broken in left behind. could this be a metaphor for how she feels about her current identity?
interestingly, cracked mirrors in relation to transness have also appeared in a news post for familial feeling, the episode that reveals minty's backstory in which his family rejects him for coming out as trans. this is almost definitely a coincidence since that episode prominently features minty looking into a mirror throughout it, but this isn't the first parallel between minty and mushroom (which you'll see later).
it should be noted that mushroom is also insecure about her height, so much so that she walks on her knees to avoid being at full height (keep this ask in mind for later!) according to the most recent epicpoop video, quote, "It's not entirely cartoon logic, it's just, like... something she does out of insecurity because Mushroom doesn't like being so much taller than everyone. It gets to a point where she can barely fit in door frames and stuff, which is not good in Objectified world." height is often something trans people are insecure about, and while this could easily relate to lawless/false kings within the comic's lore, it could also be a symptom of dysphoria.
finally, and perhaps most importantly, is mushroom's "fourth form" that has been heavily foreshadowed. this is most apparent in this specific piece of promo art for hide and seek:
as you can see, each spot in the clock represents a distinct stage in mushroom's development. the fourth spot is blank, aside from the silhouette of a towering mushroom wearing what appears to be cattail's cloak. brightening the image doesn't reveal anything, unfortunately, but we DO have some information about this upcoming form from chester's commentary:
(source)
this is also confirmed to NOT be in reaction to "drastic events" and is simply from getting older in this video from chester's youtube.
(transcript: Someone asked, "So, in Hide and Seek's release art, it shows a clock with Mushroom's current forms"—right—"assuming that the silhouette in the fourth slot is her fourth form, how soon will we see her in this form, and will she enter this form through drastic events, similarly to Pilobolus?" [...] That's a good question. Okay, how am I gonna answer this... you are actually... hmm... I'm really, uh, I gotta be careful with this one. 'How soon will we see her in this form'... later. 'Will she enter it through a drastic event?' No. (laughs) I-in layman's terms, we call this getting older. That's all I'm gonna say.)
note how chester specifically says "I gotta be careful with this one". a major cast member going through a gender transition is definitely something to keep under wraps until it happens in the comic, right? the only further information on this form is that it will possibly have more mantis-like arms.
another interesting inclusion in promo art is the parallel between the release art for concrete jungle and try again. these are extremely similar and are only two episodes apart. credit to @spacedog2763 for noticing this!
(also, i don't know where to put this, but the concept of mushroom being "reborn" could be allegorical? this is definitely a stretch, but i do find it personally relatable as a transgender man. do with that what you will)
EVIDENCE WITHIN BONUS CONTENT
in turtleshell's journal, there is this small exchange on pages 12 and 13:
"Cattail shared that he had his child through the traditional method, using a spawning stone in Outer Ring. However, he hadn't considered the absence of a machine to determine the child's gender.
They eventually settled on her being a daughter, but couldn't be certain if it was the right choice until she grew older,— a prospect which seemed to make him nervous, considering he could only blame such a conundrum on himself. Such considerations had never crossed my mind, given the notorious difficulty of navigating to spawning stones in Paradise. I assured him that his child could always change their mind on their own, just as I had! This seemed to soothe his anxieties enough, at least, for him to smile as he bid me goodnight."
this is one of the most deliberate inclusions in the entire journal entry, in my opinion. there was absolutely no need for this to be included as it adds nothing to the warhammer entry on its own... unless, of course, you consider it being foreshadowing for mushroom realizing she's trans later. it could also just be a way to signal that turtleshell himself is a trans man, but i feel like that's communicated well enough through his design having visible top scars, much like carrot. it's just so specific.
for the final part in this section, here's the thing that made me make this post to begin with: the donation banner for kind. this image has been included in every episode release post on the website's news section since february this year, starting with the release of vampiric gambits pt. 2.
as you can see, it includes all of the currently known main cast members who are some variety of trans. minty is a trans man, sharps is a trans woman, painkiller is nonbinary, fossil and comet are demiwomen, and spool is a demiman. minor characters such as maple syrup (trans woman), carrot/turtleshell (trans men) and bic (nonbinary) are absent. but there is a hint here of what may be coming in the future:
if you look very closely at the far right of the image, you can see that there is a seventh character in the image, just barely visible. zooming in reveals that whoever they are, they are colored in with the same blue as minty and spool, who are both transmasculine. i want to quickly go over each possible character that could fit here, and why i believe it's mushroom.
the possible candidates in the main cast (note the absence of any minor characters in the image) are, in no order: razor, gum, fuzzball, sugarcube, and dragonscale; while i guess you could argue that citrus/dynamite/brandy/wagyu could hypothetically be trans men, i find it extremely unlikely since they're not given any unique gender markers on their reference sheets, unlike every other non-cis character, even the ones whose gender has never been brought up in the comic like comet. we can immediately rule out sugarcube based on the character's height. if it were razor, it would be flatter or sharper, depending on if it's her face or "hair", same with gum's face and cloak. dragonscale's wings or face would be much flatter, not to mention she's not tall enough. fuzzball is also too short, aside from her clip, but it tends to face moreso to her left, as is visible in her reference sheet:
her little ponytail is also a poor match as it's more smooth and less rounded.
but you know what is a perfect match for that tiny cut-off shape?
mushroom.
the rounded bump at the exact height her head would be if she was moved to be level with the other cast members... it's just too close a match to ignore. if it were carrot or turtleshell, why would they be cut off when it's already well known that they're both trans? if it was maple syrup, she would be pink, not blue. bic would be white, and even then, the shape wouldn't match them at all. the only other possibilities i can think of are ID_SYMBIOTE, who is listed as being female and using she/her on the apocalypse guide or maybe a book 2 character, despite book 2 being years away. in my opinion, at least, it would be odd for someone to be included in an image that may not even be relevant anymore by the time book 2 is finally released.
(also, please donate to kind here! every dollar counts!)
EVIDENCE WITHIN CHESTER'S COMMENTARY
this one comes from the official objectified Q&A video. every single character is referred to with the correct pronouns without fail, except for mushroom, who is only referred to with they/them pronouns throughout the entire two hour runtime of the video.
(this quote is directly from chester at 1:50:13)
(and this one is from moai at 1:58:42)
this even happens within the commentary videos. mushroom is yet again referred to multiple times with they/them being used alongside she/her, though they/them is much more frequent, especially early on in the series.
it's also been seen on chester's posts:
(source)
and finally, here are some other posts chester has made about mushroom:
a character actively transitioning would certainly be an interesting development! (source)
dysphoria hoodie! (source)
and here's a last minute addition from less than an hour ago. puberty is often the point where people realize they're trans! (source)
and finally, when asked if a character will transition within the comic chester had this to say:
(source)
CONCLUSION
with all of this in mind, here is how i think the mushroom trans arc is going to go:
i believe that the catalyst for her realization will be bic, who may very well be the first non-cis character mushroom has been in close proximity to, aside from her dad's friends (carrot and turtleshell, namely). we know that the razor pack's tasks seem to be arbitrarily divided by gender with the females being more like warriors and the males doing more laborious tasks like fetching water and mentoring. i think we'll see bic feeling out of place, mushroom relating to their struggles and realizing that maybe she's not cis either.
please let me know if i missed anything (i'm sure i did) and let me know what you think! i know some of the things i included in this post are massive stretches, but i wanted to be as comprehensive as possible. plus, things that seem insignificant have come back to haunt us in the past, like mushroom saying "i would never eat a bug", her vomit being black to foreshadow cordyceps and the news post title for demo day's release directly quoting the future description for ASSIST_BLOOM_02.
okay that's all, thank you for reading, and a big thank you to the center ring server for helping me out with this post!
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