The Transexual Nature of Q Branch Gadgetry
This is an idea that started with how much gender envy I feel for the Aston Martin in Goldfinger despite the fact that it's an inanimate object which got me thinking about what that car, and Q Branch's work overall have in common with the transexual or transgender experience. (this also goes along with my headcanon that llewelyn!q is trans but that's its own story)
I'm going to use the DB5 as an example because it's beautiful and also something Bond physically inhabits like a body, but this is relatively true of most of Bond's gadgets. First off, it's just a beautiful classic car, and that's an elegance I long for. However, just as a human body may fail to suit its owner despite its inherent beauty, the gorgeous DB5 is not entirely sufficient to Bond's purpose. So Q modifies it. He takes its form and adjusts it to the needs of its owner and his life, making a beautiful thing all the more beautiful because it aligns perfectly with the person for whom it is a vessel.
Along with my desire to be as classy as a high end 60s car, I also long for that customizability of form to suit my purpose and my mind. I wish to change the vessel I inhabit to suit the life I live. This is a radical idea to most people, just as the modifications Q makes sometimes reach the fantastical. I want to live in a world where those changes are not just a fantasy. Like the world of Bond where Q can make a gadget do anything, I want to have the ability to modify my body to my exact specifications.
And the thing is, Bond doesn't just use his car or other gadgets for practical purposes. They have to be beautiful and match his sense of style. They give him confidence in his interactions with others and make him feel comfortable as he goes about his work. You can use and upkeep a body just to stay alive, but to the transexual sensibility, a body should also reflect its occupant to the world, and make them comfortable in it. You don't have to settle for something that just gets the job done, you can make it perfect for you.
I think Q's ability to see those possibilities in the items he works with is also in some ways a transexual outlook. The ability to take something and know how it could be, should be, changed for the purpose of its owner rather than make do with it as it was made mirrors the ability of trans people to see the possibilities of changing our bodies to align better with our selves. It's all about thinking beyond what the average person says is possible, about daring to imagine and realize a better life, a better way to physically interact with the world. In a world full of dangers, we must alter what we are given and create a vessel tailored to our survival.
