TADC EP 9 Spoilers, youâre forewarned.
Iâve peeked into TADC spaces in multiple ways. Fandom wise. And selfship wise. And I wondered, why do I feel complicated? I wondered if this was a soulbonding thing, but, no, not quite. This is fandom as a whole. I figured to toss my thoughts into the void.
Now, thereâs obviously the media illiterate transphobes who deny Jax canonically being closeted transfem, and just people who despise Jax. This is nothing new. I donât care, Iâve heard the arguments run on forever and I like complicated characters who did bad things, oh well. But why did I feel iffy about the people spreading Jax joy too? Food for thought. (I cycle between all pronouns for Jax when relevant, but stand that Jax is canonically deeply closeted transfem and utilize she/her for a scenario of Jax being out.)
Thereâs an opposite party where people love out transfem Jax, which awesome baseline, but I come to notice so much art lowkey just makes her⊠cutesy and nothing else? Like, just yippee aesthetic but expression wise and stuff just a totally different person. And yeah so many of Jaxâs issues are their self identity and fear of opening up & shit but, but also being a victim of emotional neglect, abuse, and projection (arguably subtle covert emotional incest). This would exist regardless of Jaxâs point in their transition. maybe itâs the auto âoh now all of Jaxâs issues are gone and Jax is palatable and perfectâ feeling? And like, we see the ability for Jax to be awkward and soft and stuff yeah,,, Doesnât make Jax any less Jax. Thereâs lots of facets to him but yeah.
Lots is based off of Gooseworxâs latest art and expression for Jax. Which I mean. The caption is labeled âJax if she wasnât a huge piece of shit.â Ergo if Jax wasnât,,, basically all of herself the entire show. And itâs meme-y. Which, people can definitely like and stuff!
Maybe I just donât like the idea of Jax only being acceptable as this cute palatable all issues gone person. Feels like a number of folks genuinely take the âI/this can fix herâ even with no ill intentions lol. If more depictions just had Jaxâs canon personality and expressions (which CAN still be Jax and non-jerkish. See: Jax getting along with Pomni & when Jax was friends with Kaufmo and Ribbit) Iâd feel fine. Iâve yet to see a piece where it still feels like Jax. And this isnât to say I think this is bad or malicious or even intentional. Iâm not telling people to stop. But it seriously feels like the second people draw Jax out, every single ounce of who she is disappears. Her only issue wasnât dysphoria magically fixed by transitioning. Emotional abuse shapes how you interact and navigate relationships in general even if she gets the chance to work on these things, sheâs allowed to not be perfect. Sheâs allowed to be more than âcuteâ.
