Undertale is odd on those grounds because are the ghosts supposed to be the ghosts OF anyone in particular? If so, does that even affect their gender identity since they no longer have brain structure, chromosomes, or reproductive organs, if they ever did? If they were once alive and became genderless upon becoming ghosts, wouldn't that be Assigned Non-Binary At Death?
This would probably work only in a modern day au/some reimagining, but I reallllly like the idea of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast being a severely stealth transdude who is overcompensating so hard, or conversely, a trans woman who is trying to do away with her Evil Thoughts by performing masculinity super super hard. (Either would be interesting) The Beast for projection reasons I also kinda headcanon as a trans dude. Obviously not canon but still.
Given that the Blook family appears to have it's own family ranking and relationship ties, ghosts move on into the world by inhabiting things (and this is seen as natural and just What We Do) and that skeletons appear to just be A Type Of Monster, I think it's pretty fair to assume that Undertale Ghosts are a species of monster, rather than an aspect of human souls trapped on this mortal coil. So it would still be Assigned NonBinary At Birth, I think. Which then raises the question of how ghosts are born, but there's a few monsters like that.
not a headcanon, exactly, but Nagisa from Assassination Classroom has a story that would be pretty much almost identical if he was a transboy. Like, it's extremely relatable for me, anyways.
So a couple years ago I got into a discussion with someone about trans headcanons that really, really didn't seem to work, and they asked me to guess some of the nonsense they'd seen, and I actually... wound up... with a trans headcanon that I think works pretty well... Shiki from The World Ends With You has this character arc where she's deeply envious of her Spoiler: SPOILERS very attractive and feminine friend, whose appearance she's taken for the bulk of the game; shiki herself is a plain jane next to glamorous redhead Eri, and has depression and inferiority issues that she tries to bury under a bubbly personality. It struck me that this would be a character arc that would work just as well if she were a transgirl, and I actually kind of still like the idea, though it's definitely not canon. Also I thought Rhyme was a dude for a really long time before they used pronouns for her but that one I blame on anime artwork. Dammit, TWEWY. :V
Fruits Basket has tons of genderweird characters, all of whom revert to their assigned gender by the end of the story. And I'm like nooo, my relatable neurotic darling Ritsu Sohma would be so much happier presenting as nonbinary! George Parley from Gunnerkrigg Court really strikes me as a trans girl: canonically, her father was a psychic who filled out her birth certificate in advance, and got everything right except for the gender. And I'm thinking - what if Parley Senior got the sex right, and didn't consider gender a separate issue. Her boyfriend Smitty might be a trans dude, but it's hard to tell - with his probability-manipulating powers, he wouldn't even need to transition. A series of unlikely events would cause extra testosterone to show up in his morning glass of orange juice. Me and my friend Rinny had a headcanon about Stiles from Teen Wolf. The full name of 'Stiles' Stilinski is never given in the show, despite him being one of the most important characters. There are a few gags where people see it written down, can't pronounce it and move on. And since Stiles is Polish, the consensus is that he has a weird Polish name with too many consonants. But what if he has a female Polish name, and he never chose a new name because he goes by 'Stiles' anyway - I think Agnieszka Stilinski sounds about right. Also I am irrationally attached to the idea of an AFAB nonbinary Erik Lensherr - I see them as someone who doesn't exactly know what gender they are, somewhere between trans man, nonbinary-but-not-having-a-word-for-it and GNC woman who sometimes crossdresses for safety's sake.
Aw man, now I'm sad about Sohma Ritsu all over again. Ritsu cutting their hair off and presenting as male as if they'd been "cured" never sat right with me. @LurkNoMoar , your Stiles Stilinski headcanon is relevant to my interests and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. One more reason for me to feel unreasonably attached to Stiles and his underachieving ADHD red hooded jacket wearing self. I like to imagine that Naruko Shoukichi from Yowamushi Pedal is a trans boy. He's said that he loves biking because it's a sport you can be great at even if you're small. Plus he just generally takes on life like he's got something to prove, which I can relate to. "I'm a guy! I'll prove it by being awesome at Guy Stuff! See? Look at me being a cool guy!"
When I was a lil Lurk, one of my first ships was Ritsu/Mitchan, (she's a very minor character, Shigure's editor who's always panicking to the point of threatening suicide). Those two neurotic flailing darlings were my fave. And I actually had a bunch of headcanons about the two of them learning to cope with their weirdness, and about Ritsu figuring out how they want to be. (I sort of imagined them presenting as male-but-in-a-Ritsu-way, with kimonos that are male-cut but colorful, and long hair styled in a bun, possibly with hair ornaments.)
i dig trans boys karkat and dipper a++ headcanon. but anyways. KICKS DOWN THE DOOR and starts ranting about fallout namely John "Zombie Waifu" Hancock. everyone was arguing about how he might not have a dick, since he's a ghoul, and i'm like yes okay but consider - he never had a dick in the first place and he's totally ok with that. hancock is his chosen name and you never find out his birth name and frankly that's good enough for me lmao.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT YES TRANSWOMAN SHIKI IS THE BEST SHIT. FUCK. ASFDGHH im sorry i just really love shiki a lot and her story just gets to me so much
Mr Mistoffelees from Cats (the musical and the TS Eliot poems) is canonically AFAB. Of course the joke is that a supposedly male cat ends up having kittens to the owners' great surprise, but still. Trans Mr Mistoffelees.
Why not both? Also a while back I ran across someone insisting Rose was a canon trans woman with no explanation over and over again. I responded with verbal eye rolling because shut up but then someone else came along and explained that since Gems don't reproduce sexually and they're literally made of light they probably have no genitals at all, so in order to have Steven she had to modify her own form to be female-like both externally and internally and I was like.... ho yes A+ you get a gold star that makes so much sense.
At first I thought you meant Homestuck Rose and was so confused. I mean transwoman Rose Lalonde is fucking cool in my book but canonically supported????
i mean that seems like kind of a reach for canon status since stephens birth was not like a natural human birth at all but it's a cool headcanon anyways so who gives a fuck lmao.
