While it's clear to me that Fiyero isn't, like, intentionally or explicitly a trans allegory or anything, there really is something so special and relatable in him as a trans man. And I realize I'm probably reaching in some of these parts, and absolutely projecting my own trans experiences (#lifesucks) but yeah. I love my t-boy metaphor Fiyero <3
Starting off, he's lived his whole life thinking people only want him for his body, status, and dancing moves. Of course, in real life, dancing moves don't really have some giant gender status in every day life, at least in standard American culture (I think, idk), though body language very much so could, and obviously our bodies and our sexes do- thanks to sexism, that directly hits up on status. Both because being a man or a woman directly affects how you will be treated in life, and of course being trans is a whole other nasty can of worms. Both in how society treats you and how, at the moment, the law is going. And oftentimes, trans people- including myself- very much so continue to present as our assigned gender at birth for the sake of others, or for fear of someone seeing the deeper us. Some even detransition. Or, for those have already transitioned but not detransitions, it's more akin to the fear someone discovering it (being trans) because then, if they ever had basically a cis-persona to "fit in" with the cis people around, it would be shattered. Suddenly you go from "name" to "name the tranny," (read: in reverse, his true self is Fiyero Fiyero to the depressed bisexual who yearns, but he's become Fiyero the playboy aka not his true self) and its all anyone ever sees you as, and really, the only other people to not boil down transness to your entire personality are those who relate (read: Elphaba).
A whole lot like Fiyero pretending to be shallow in toe with his hot playboy persona for fear of people rejecting who he truly is. A whole lot like Fiyero thinking everyone will only like him for his body (pre-transition) and that he should never change it, and when it does (scarecrow), he's utterly convinced he's unlovable.
And deeper into his transformation. He's thrust into this body as his only means of survival (read: not transitioning in the first place or de-transitioning to survive in a progressively anti-trans world), and he hates it, so so much. He no longer has the same status or persona as before (read: switching back to the original gender roles one is thrust into via birth versus at least having the gender roles of who you truly are inside as well as possibly having to start over with friends, family, a job, etc. if you want to be more than "name the trans one"), which further convinces him of how unloveable he is (read: trans people knowing they aren't their true selves and thus believing relationships to be disingenuous due to the "lie" about their identity)
And, of course, the most obvious: generic body dysphoria
Anyway, thanks for coming to my TransED Talk