#the way i drew baby ash is based on how his younger self is shown in the anime but also how... i dressed too????

[love-is-a-pearl]

wait, in one comic where you drew Ash around 5 years old (The one where he got the Z marks on his cheeks) he was already masc presenting there. Does it mean he had been trans since he was a toddler or something? That's highly critical to me, good for him if he really is trans but it seems like Delia really wanted a boy if he'd been trans for so long

is more like.. for me in pokemon universe people just leave their kids go ungendered until they're 10? Kinda?

Like, think homestuck "you only get a name at 13" kinda deal and the whole "what's your name?" and "what do you look like?" that the professors ask in pokemon games intros.

I like to think those are not by accident, they're more like a way to make sure kids are being gendered in the way they prefer once they become "working class", "official adults" or whatever being a pokemon trainer means in pokemon society.

Is more like.. up to the point they get a starter, kids are free to do what they want, go by different names every other day and just have fun exploring that shit yknow?

And when they get their starter, they get to make a BUNCH of important decisions, like picking their forever partner, the name that will go in their ID, their pronouns, all that shit, yknow? So, most parents will raise their kids taking that into account.

(changes can happen of course, I mean I LOVE the idea of gender fluid Ash but that's something i cant say its "canon" in my AU since I havent explored that idea in detail yet)

Is not really "he always knew he was a guy deep inside uwu" but more "kids in pokemon universe are raised in environments that just lets them test this shit out" kinda deal.

And like, I favor drawing the characters close to how they look in the anime cause I prefer that for continuity sake, but since they are cis in there they will never look too different, but I will always try and tweak some small things here and there (like, giving Ash longer hair in that comic) to imply something more.

(also Ash was canonically bullied by his peers because of the issue with his father so.. i wouldn't put it past him to dress up more "boyish" or even using his father's clothes to prove he would go and be like him but better yknow? before realizing that "Hey, is not that I wanted to be like dad. I just wanted to be a dude" lmadopaspd)

...

But for real... sometimes... is just not that deep? People will give sonic top scars and he is like.. 9? and a hedgehog asopdjasiodj

pokemon is just my little escapist solarpunk utopia and I like pretenting it is a better place than real life even with the smallest little things QwQ