2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 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 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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 post Share on other sites
2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 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 post Share on other sites
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 post Share on other sites
babo_ 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_ 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rony 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. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 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 by 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DeltaV Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 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. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MulticulturalFarmer Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 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 post Share on other sites
2 Spirit Cherokee Princess Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 (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 by 2 Spirit Cherokee Princess 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DeltaV Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 For completeness* sake: FL4K from Borderlands 3, non-binary according to official lore * FL4K is a robot so duh Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MulticulturalFarmer Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 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 post Share on other sites
DeltaV Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 (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 by DeltaV Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Holmbo Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
2 Spirit Cherokee Princess Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 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? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DeltaV Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 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. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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