Alaska Native Manitou Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 (edited) What characters in books, movies, songs, games, mythology, etc. are or seem to be non-binary? I was inspired by an article about the game Call of Duty: https://www.yahoo.com/news/call-duty-lets-gamers-play-222947450.html I'll also mention my all-time favorite Final Fantasy character--Quina Quen. And Mogumo from Love Me for Who I Am. Edited November 18, 2020 by 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senACEay_11 Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 There's this really cool character in the Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman who is genderfluid. The character is a sailor, and they explain how when the light hits them in different ways, they change genders. Personally, it was one of the coolest, most powerful yet subtle ways of introducing a queer character. And it wasn't like this character was discussed once and never heard of again. No, like, this person is decently prominent in the book, and you see the other characters actively change pronouns and gendered terms. It was super cool, I loved it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmbo Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 (edited) That's a good topic. Spontaneously I can think of many sci-fi characters that could fit. Some human and some alien. But maybe aliens wouldn't count as representation since they often have more than two sexes? Edited November 19, 2020 by Holmbo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Native Manitou Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 @Holmbo It depends on how they are handled. Sci-fi, fantasy & even horror can metaphorically address real-world issues; but then sometimes it's just weirdness for weirdness's sake. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmbo Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 (edited) @2 Spirit Cherokee Princess Yeah I know what you mean. For example one character that comes to mind is Tak in Becky Chambers book a close and common orbit. Tak is part of a species which has three genders. The third is when someone fluctuates between male and female sex. So they change sex at times. I'm not sure if this could be considered a non-binary character since it confirms with the gender identies their culture has. Edited November 20, 2020 by Holmbo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sol Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 (edited) there's Yuu Asuka from Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align)! they had two little scenes where they talk about their feelings regarding gender with the main character. it was a really small subplot, but it was treated in a very respectful way and took me by surprise. the anime itself has many many flaws, but i'm glad at least these scenes were done nicely. since most non-binary characters i've seen before are some kind of weird entity or not human (justifying their gender non-conformity), it's kinda refreshing seeing an actual normal person being enby. yuu is just a soft tennis club manager who is questioning their gender. https://i.redd.it/sap3nqausp241.png (i'm not able to add images for some reason, so i put the image link) Edited November 26, 2020 by babo_ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristoph Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 There was a historical moment in Polish translations of the games, because the person who was doing a translation for ’Bugsnax’ decided to keep a nonbinary character (Floofty) as nonbinary. The translator decided to use dukaizm forms for them. Polish is very gendered language and it’s very common that translators are doing ciswashing. There was also a very long discussion about Polish translation of ’She-Ra’ where nonbinarity of Double Trouble was erased. I don’t know if they corrected it or not. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Native Manitou Posted December 18, 2020 Author Share Posted December 18, 2020 (edited) Endrance in .hack//G.U. plays online as a male character with feminine characteristics. The novel describes Endrance as someone to whom the concept of gender has no meaning. About .hack//SIGN: Spoiler Tsukasa is gender fluid. Online Tsukasa is male & even gets a girlfriend. Offline Ann Shouji is a girl. Edited January 10, 2021 by 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaAro Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Crona from Soul Eater has an undetermined gender. In the whole Japanese text there is no hint of it. In the translation Crona is given male pronouns, but in the original gender-neutral ones are used. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MulticulturalFarmer Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 On 12/17/2020 at 9:02 PM, 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess said: Endrance in .hack//G.U. plays online as a male character with feminine characteristics. The novel describes Endrance as someone to whom the concept of gender has no meaning. About .hack//SIGN: Hide contents Tsukasa is gender fluid. Online Tsukasa is male & even gets a girlfriend. Offline Ann Shouji is a girl. Wait is this related to the .hack series where people go online into a virtual world and defeat enemies, make friends, and participate in weird competitions? Also, there were some characters named Shugo and Rena. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Native Manitou Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, MulticulturalFarmer said: Wait is this related to the .hack series where people go online into a virtual world and defeat enemies, make friends, and participate in weird competitions? Also, there were some characters named Shugo and Rena. Yes. Shugo & Rena were the main characters of .hack//LEGEND OF THE TWILIGHT BRACELET, a 3 volume graphic novel that also had a TV series & a music CD. It's part of the greater .hack multimedia franchise created by Hiroshi "Piros" Matsuyama. https://dothack.fandom.com/wiki/.hack//Wiki I've added images to the previous post. Edited January 11, 2021 by 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaAro Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 For completeness* sake: FL4K from Borderlands 3, non-binary according to official lore * FL4K is a robot so duh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MulticulturalFarmer Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 2 hours ago, DeltaV said: For completeness* sake: FL4K from Borderlands 3, non-binary according to official lore * FL4K is a robot so duh Isn't borderlands a playstation game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaAro Posted January 14, 2021 Share Posted January 14, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, MulticulturalFarmer said: Isn't borderlands a playstation game? Multiple platforms, including PS4. Why are you asking? ? Games ARE allowed: On 11/18/2020 at 12:05 PM, 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess said: What characters in books, movies, songs, games, mythology, From the wiki: One of these [pins which FL4K wears] depicts the binary code of the number 2 crossed out, as well as the colors yellow, white, purple, and black. This may be a reference to the character's gender identity, as the pin itself is a pun on the word "nonbinary", and the colors of the pin are the colors of the nonbinary flag. The story is the same for all characters but their dialogue differs. But I don't know anything about FL4Ks dialogue and if there are some more references. Played as Moze: very simple, massive firepower and a big mech. Edited January 14, 2021 by DeltaV 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmbo Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Gimlet Barns in the book Game changer is only refered to as they/them. Their daughter calls them Mada. They're described as having a tenor voice and elfin features. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Native Manitou Posted January 17, 2021 Author Share Posted January 17, 2021 On 1/14/2021 at 10:04 AM, DeltaV said: For completeness* sake: FL4K from Borderlands 3, non-binary according to official lore * FL4K is a robot so duh I've always wondered why robots are assigned a gender. To me the binary only matters in regards to who can have a baby together; if a robot can neither impregnate or give birth, it seems pointless. A Korean woman author known as Wann explored this concept in the short story Automaton (from the collection 9 Faces of Love published in English by Netcomics). In a world where robots are implanted with human brainwaves to let them easily move & talk like people, they all look like attractive women (because they're made by men). 2 who were part of the same batch are very attracted to each other & have a secret "lesbian" affair. Spoiler At the end it says the brain patterns they received came from a husband & wife. A transgendered robot? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaAro Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 On 1/17/2021 at 3:49 AM, 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess said: I've always wondered why robots are assigned a gender. To me the binary only matters in regards to who can have a baby together; if a robot can neither impregnate or give birth, it seems pointless. Don't ask me. Gender is completely opaque for me. I assume it's something vaguely inspired by biology of sexual reproduction. But does it follow that only beings capable of meiosis and enough self-consciousness can have a gender? Still I can just cite the official lore about a character's non-binary status. I'm just unsure that a robot can be cited as "representation" of any group, because for "representation" we have humans in mind. So the character should be a human or at least a very relatable humanoid (e. g. Tolkiensque elves). Therefore I wrote "for completeness sake". Not because I think FL4K cannot be non-binary. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Native Manitou Posted February 28, 2021 Author Share Posted February 28, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuySomeCheese Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 Alex Fierro in the Magnus Chase series is canonically gender-fluid. Alex's default pronouns are she/her, but she wants people to use the pronouns that match whatever her currant gender expression is. She's amab too, which isn't very important but I feel like I see a lot more afab representation so it was refreshing to me ig. The series does mention that she was like kicked out of her house because of her gender fluidity, so maybe be a bit careful if that would be triggering to you. Overall though 10/10 great character great story great author. Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan is the first in the series Spoiler on her character relationships below (not like bad I just don't want to spoil the book for anyone lol) Spoiler She gets a boyfriend and when he figures out he likes Alex, his internal monologue is really funny. He's really supportive of her too it's really cute. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karst Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 One of the earliest sci-fi works to really explore gender identity was Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. It's about a cisgender man from Earth struggling to function as an envoy to a planet where the locals never really got into the whole "gender binary" concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaAro Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 Izana Shinatose from Knights of Sidonia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaAro Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 PS: I’m a bit surprised … no reaction for Izana! Nobody knows this manga / anime? Cause we’re in an aro board. And while Izana isn’t aro what happens to them ihmo seems like a non-binary aro‘s worst nightmare. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Native Manitou Posted August 27, 2021 Author Share Posted August 27, 2021 Gonzo from the Muppets. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonmerci Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 I don't know if a mot of view watch sex education. But in season 3, they added a non binary character in the main characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 On 10/1/2021 at 2:53 AM, nonmerci said: I don't know if a mot of view watch sex education. But in season 3, they added a non binary character in the main characters. I heard, but I haven't seen Sex Education for fear that it doesn't represent young queer people well. The character that I say is controversial by some: Spoiler Loki, from Loki's series in disney+ came out as genderfluid and it is within the non-binary umbrella There is discourse since the actor that plays it is believed to be straight (at least he hasnt confirmed nor denied anything) and no action is viewed as "standard" sexuality of straight. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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