Hey, Lily, you know what isn't canon in Digimon? Tai having any gender identity issues whatsoever, let alone Tai transitioning. You know why you want that to be a thing to the point you're getting artwork of it made? Because it isn't about Tai's identity, it's just aesthetics and you projecting yourself onto a character to be with your type. In this case, a boy who transitions into a girl and gets adoring (and presumably inappropriate) praise and approval from their sister.
It's why Peet's rewriting of Digimon is so fucking awful, they don't understand how Digimon works, fucker just wanted to make one of the characters trans, and want to fuck their sister in spite OF MAKING NO FUCKING SENSE IF YOU FOLLOW THE ORIGINAL MATERIAL.
I wish I could remember which pages of the thread we were talking about this, but I distinctly remember talking about Tai/Taichi being trans, why it doesn't fit into the canonical universe, and alternatives into making it sound (at the very least) reasonable.
As someone who grew up with
Digimon Adventure, it's my understanding that it's the interpersonal relationships that trigger evolution,
primarily a partner with their Digimon...
Funny, it was also my understanding that CD-Lily prided herself in her characters and relationships. It's so strange to see someone who openly bragged about such things fall flat when it comes to
actually writing about such characters...
I'm being sarcastic, of course.
Because the Digimon is a reflection of their partner, it would make sense for the Digimon to follow suit, so the idea of the Digimon in question having trouble with evolving until the partner accepts themselves as trans
is something I can see and get on board with. How do you think Agumon evolved into SkullGreymon?
One can even argue that the Crest of Courage
could make sense for such a character
if you approach this idea with cowardice being a critical reason why Tai can't and won't accept himself as a trans-female. However, this idea falls flat when you remember who's responsible for his "Digi-Egg" cracking in the first place... and that's Kari/Hikari. As it's been established, CD-Lily has written Trans-Tai to have a support system from the get-go, which is great for wish-fulfillment, but crippling in terms of reasonable, personal conflict, and this is strange too because I was under the impression CD-Lily preferred low-stakes conflict over the world being destroyed.
There's a plethora of questions that CD-Lily would need to address for this to make more sense in-canon that
could provide that relationship-based conflict that she's allegedly into. How do the other Digi-Destined/Chosen Children think about Trans-Tai? To what degree does it affect them, if at all? Are any of the other Digi-Destined so affected by the change Trans-Tai underwent that it makes them reconsider things about themselves that they didn't think about until now?
And how can the audience know that the end result isn't just another evolution that's going to go wrong? When Trans-Tai inevitably accepts herself as a trans-female and Agumon evolves, how is the audience supposed to know that this isn't another case of SkullGreymon? In-universe, Tai is one of the few Digi-Destined who
has deviated evolution, but there have been cases where that was for the
worst.
You know who I think could provide some interesting conflict? Matt/Yamato.
And no, I'm
not saying that because he's the most generic white boy of the team.
Aside from Agumon and Kari, the next most meaningful relationship that Tai has is with Matt,
mainly because they share the evolution of Omegamon/Omnimon. As children, I can see Matt being initially hesitant to accept Trans-Tai,
not because he's a bigot, but rather significant changes in his life
usually leading to long-term
negatives for him, namely the divorce between his parents separating him and T.K./Takeru. Is this plausible? Would this have
any effect on Omegamon in any way? What changes would Omegamon undergo after Matt accepts Trans-Tai and his own personal experiences blinding his perception in life?
Has CD-Lily ever thought this far into the story?
It would be
really neat to see CD-Lily try to tackle the implications of Trans-Tai, at least in theory.
However, I can see this falling flat for two reasons:
- Despite the claims of valuing low-stakes conflict, she hardly writes any in, or at least any without any long-lasting impact that doesn't land in her favor.
- CD-Lily herself is a racist bigot towards human beings she doesn't care about, especially towards the Asians/Japanese and white-presenting people. Matt is both.
I would sooner believe that she would change the story of
Digimon Adventure 01 to have Trans-Tai and Sora's respective partners evolve into Omegamon (or an Omegamon-equivalent) rather than deal with this.
If she
does tackle this with
this interpretation of Matt in mind, Matt would more than likely just have the in-universe equivalent of being shouted down and that be it. Why? Because as the
Hunter boring white boy of the team, he needs to shut up because he's hurting other people's feelings, especially the important feelings of the minority-coded characters.
Does anyone remember how CD-Lily wrote Princess Leia in
The Sith Resurgence?
Actually, after giving this a little more thought, I
can see CD-Lily tackling this, but falling flat in more places than where it lands. I can see her re-characterizing Tai in such a way that Matt is passive aggressively treated like garbage for it, at the very least Trans-Tai treating Matt the same way CD-Lily treats Mikaila in real life. After all,
these are the mistakes a fan-fiction writer would make, which she
is one, compounded by
her infamous quote of what you like saying shit about you.
Anyway, enough of my rant - I smell another shitty fic in the works by CD-Lily.
The only difference is that she's now making people pay for it.
