#i really hope this isn't indicative of a dislike of my female characters because i love them

[myirlnameiscloud]

Starscream's gender

An investigation on Starscream's gender, and proof that they're not fully male. I will be using the words male/man/mech interchangeably, as well as female/woman/femme. My own word for nonbinary Cybertronians is enbot. Anyways, maybe I'm biased and just projecting my genderqueerness onto Starscream, but I really do believe I'm right about their gender. I think it's at least PARTIALLY cannon due to the reasons I'll be discussing. 

Reasons listed under the cut:

-Femininity: Literally anyone can obviously see that Starscream is feminine. Especially in TFP. Earthspark and Bayverse made them a bit more masculine than usual, but I dislike Bayverse and only like season 1 of Earthspark, so maybe those aren't the best judges for Starscream's general traits. Of course, gender expression doesn't indicate your gender identity, but I think that in this case, their femininity indicates something deeper and more connected to their identity than just expression.

-TFA Slipstream: For those who are unfamiliar, TFA showed Starscream creating a few clones for themself. Each of these clones embodied a core aspect of Star's personality. One of these clones was Slipstream, a femme. It is debated on what exactly she represents, but I think that she represents Starscream's gender. Starscream is very identity-focused, and this is shown in the way they talk about themself, often saying that they're a born leader and such. This is why I think that Starscream's gender identity is so important to them, that it is an entire core personality trait represented in Slipstream. Some say that she represents other aspects, though, but I entirely disagree. "She represents Starscream's treachery!" Then why is she a woman? "She's his backstabbing side!" Then why is she a woman? "She represents his shame!" THEN WHY IS SHE A WOMAN?? Slipstream generally acts the same as Starscream in TFA, so she doesn't just represent a way they act. She represents their gender, or at least the female portion of their gender.

-Use of pronouns: Starscream is almost always referred to with he/him in every continuation. WITH some exceptions that can be easily missed. In Cyberverse, near the beginning, we can tell that they are referred to as they/them a few times. Maybe I'm looking too into it, but I'd say that's a clear sign that their gender isn't exactly male. I'm sure there's more examples of Starscream using pronouns other than he/him. (I hope) Also, some G1 dubs refer to Starscream with feminine pronouns, but I'll get to that later.

-Trickster role: The trickster role in and of itself is a role commonly filled by a queer character. Some examples are Loki from Marvel (forgive me for not knowing much about Marvel) who is genderfluid, Double Trouble from the Shera reboot who is nonbinary, and Deadpool (Also from Marvel) who is pansexual. The trickster role is an archetype characterized by not wanting to conform, among many other 'abnormal' traits. In this non-conformity, one can find themself also not conforming to traditional genders and sexualities. Starscream, as a revolutionary character of this archetype, also defies those in charge of them (usually) and despises conforming to anyone else's opinion on how they should be. The way I see it, this also includes not conforming to binary genders in a 'typical' way. Cybertronians view gender differently from humans, however, and it's possible that there IS no binary/typical gender for them. But, it is seen that almost all of the other bots describe themselves as either a mech or femme, so it can be argued that those ARE their usual/binary genders. Because of Starscream's trickster-esq traits, they do not conform to this standard and defy the general binary of femmes and mechs, instead falling more into the enbot category.

-G1 French dub: In several(?) dubs of G1 Transformers, Starscream is a woman and is referred to with feminine pronouns. I know that this was the case in the French dub, but have not done my research regarding other non-english dubs yet. Many say that this was due to Starscream's high-pitched and feminine voice, or that it was somehow a mistake, or that they thought Starscream would better fit their role as a woman. Regardless, Star has officially been recognized as a femme to many people already, only adding to their overall genderqueerness.

-Screams "like a girl" in TFP: (TW - brief abuse mention) An unfortunately disturbing aspect of TFP is that the creators thought that the abuse Starscream received was funny because they screamed, in their words, "like a girl". I don't have anything against the voice actor for Star in this version, Steve Blum, who I think did an excellent job, but I very much dislike the way the creators used some of Starscream's feminine traits as a 'comedic' thing. The abuse Star endured at the hands of Megatron was graphic and traumatizing, and I don't think it should be excused as laughable due to the way they scream. So instead, I will turn the creator's thoughts into a compliment to Starscream. They scream like a girl because they ARE are a girl, and they're proud of it. Nothing funny about it. 

-Vibes: Just trust me. I know Starscream is an enbot because we're literally best friends. We literally gossip together. They literally tell me everything.

Anyways, all of this proves that Starscream isn't fully male. They are nonbinary. Specifically, I think that Starscream's REAL gender is bigender or pangender, but honestly, any nonbinary identity with some female in it works, too. As for their pronouns, I think it's an any-pronouns situation, with a preference for they/them. That part is just based off my headcannon, though. Also, this is kinda my first real post, and I am new to Tumblr. I have no idea if any of this sounds normal to the tumblr social system. I'm autistic and have no idea what is normal. :> The end! :3

[the-phoenix-heart]

Here is the next character in my series, Ukraine, who I think came out beautifully.

She’s got the short blonde hair, the large blue eyes, the face structure, the soft but also unrelenting feel, and the maternal vibe. I adore her.

Here are other Hetalia Artbreeders I have done.