#tamarack has an identity crisis and also she doesn't know how to deal with her shit because shes 14 and is going to be cringe about it

[mistyscenter]

Don't get me wrong step 2 is about the teen angst about discovering yourself and how messy the world really is and how 14 is a bad age and an overall shitty experience....I also think more people should embrace the cringe side of being 14.

Teenagers are cringe, it is in their nature to be cringe,make your MCs cringe, draw Qiu and Tamarack being cringe, draw the rest of the gang being cringe because it is fundamental for teen development to be cringe.

Maybe not but... everyone is cringe at 14 lol make your MCs cringey teens

[mistyscenter]

YEAH EXCTLYY!! They don't understand how that was going to impact her growing up and I fear far too many parents don't view their children as people and don't view parenting as a life long job!!

I do like we get to see that dynamic though, because it is something we should talk about.

The second part, buddy is literally just fatphobia </33, fat bodies can be hard when you first try to draw them, but so is everything else lmao. In my opinion, as someone who went to school for drawing and my school has actual professionals that are in the art industry, that makes you a bad artist in my eyes because you're not willing to brunch out out of your comfort zone and expand your skills.

I don't know if that last point was referred to what I said or not, But I do want to expand on it: because you're right they're too different characters going through different things.

Fundamentally their issues are kinda the same, an identity crisis because of burn out and discovery (in the case of Qiu) or because of what's happening in you life and you feel like a shell or your younger self (in the case of Tamarack).

But is still different because, as I mentioned, Qiu is going through a gender crisis at 14 years old, 14 sucks as an age as it is, you then go and you put on a gender crisis? No shit Qiu is the way that they are. They also, used to be extremely well known in Golden Groove, and they still are and they still have to carry the burned of popularity while also dealing with everything else. I do think most people miss on their identity as a person of color tho, because in the step 2 prologue (as far as the public demo goes) They no longer go as "autumn" nor spell out their name to people, and yeah it is because they got tired, they got tired of constantly explain their identity to people, including their identity as a Chinese person.

I think that this is also one of the main reasons you can't compare the two, Qiu is a Chinese person who, their whole life had to spell out their name for others to understand. You can't really separate Qiu queer identity to their heritage, both of them are the reason of their distress in step 2 and both come from the rightful anger of having to constantly excuse your existence.

I already explained Tamarack so I'm not going to repeat myself again, but Tamarack case is also interesting because we meet her an an outsider of Golden Groove and we see her again as, once again an outsider. That is so shitty, to think you've had 4 years of your life to built connections and routines and to settle in a new normal you had to get used to, only for that normal to be taken away from you due of outside forces. I think MC on some level can relate to her because how much they had to move out as a young child, so depending on MC relationship with her, the two can grow even closer but that's not my point. My point is that, once again you can't compare the two because Qiu never had to moved out from Golden Groove and loves their hometown, Tamarack had to learn to call it home and now her home might be taken away from her and, this is the worse part, she doesn't even know. Tamarack whole arc is that she's lost in what will happen to her, she can't make up a future because her future is so uncertain, her issues stem from a lack of stability and unstable homelife.

So yeah comparing the two is dumb because, objectively speaking, they're both going through a lot of shit at the god damn age of 14 and they have such different issues that you can't even compare them because they both stem from two different things happening in their lives.

Everyone is always out there talking about Qiu, BUT WHAT ABOUT TAMARACK ???

What about the fact that she's stuck in such a shitty situation where everyone tip toes around her because they don't know if she will leave or not?

What about the fact that her dear grandparents don't make their son accountable for neglecting her and only blaming his wife?

What about the fact that she's no longer that joyous and enthusiastic kid that she once was because of this situation?

Gender crisis sucks, especially at 14 and especially if you are a person of color, but no one really talks how having a shitty home life fucks you up as a teenager