#trans travis martinez

[moonagedaydreamsofrhiannon]

Perhaps the wilderness in Yellowjackets is not just a symbol of death. Perhaps it is also—in its own way—freedom.

In the wilderness, Lottie didn’t have to hide her visions for fear of being called crazy. She was exalted as a leader and a prophet. But when she returned, they called her crazy and locked her up.

In the wilderness, Misty didn’t have to be ashamed of her intensity and eccentricity. She was helpful, she was needed, she was important. But when she returned, they called her a freak and exiled her once again.

In the wilderness, Tai didn’t have to pretend to be something she’s not. Her other self was not a weakness but a strength, it gave her power, and kept her alive. But when she returned she had to suppress her urges and hide her other self, or lose everything.

In the wilderness, Shauna didn’t have to be small, and hide the fire inside her. She was angry, and violent, and powerful. But when she returned, she was forced back into a supporting role, forced to contain her darkness and her drive in order to fit a role she never wanted to play.

In the wilderness, Travis didn’t have to put on an act to fit the societal expectations of masculinity. He was feminine, and emotional, and soft—not the man of the group, but just another Yellowjacket in the hive. But when he returned, he was forced back into the cage—back into the closet—isolated, hardened, closed off and separated from the girls once more.

In the wilderness, Natalie didn’t have to feel guilty for surviving. She was the hunter, the provider, and the gun in her hands made her a savior, and a leader, not a killer. But when she returned, she was a killer once again, haunted by guilt, and outcast by society for the things she did to stay alive.

The wilderness gave them the freedom to be their truest and most authentic selves, but the cost was the blood spilled. The cost was their old selves. The cost was a place in the world upon their return.

Maybe the wilderness did not destroy them; it simply changed them into something new, something irrevocably different, something that would never—could never—fit back inside the narrow box of their old lives, and because they could no longer fit, society called them broken.

The wilderness freed them, but it never let them go. Because once you’ve tasted flesh and blood, once you’ve stared death in the face and overcame, once you’ve been to the very brink and seen the true depth of your own capacity for violence, once all the former markers of morality and success have become meaningless, in a world where survival at all costs is the only law, how can you ever go back to a world ruled by pointless, hollow, conventions? Once you’ve shed every remnant of your humanity, once you’ve run with the wolves, and howled at the moon, and become one with the ancient wild gods, how can you ever be a human again? Once you’ve had a taste of complete freedom, how can you ever be satisfied with a fake, insignificant, half-life, made up entirely of half-truths and haunting?

[girlypopmoomin]

The real reason Lottie keeps giving Travis mushrooms is cuz she wants to see which ones might turn him into a girl. There’s no HRT out there so she’s gotta improvise.

[pzychojinx]

nobody will get this except transfemme travis martinez truthers but listen. listen. travnat i saw the tv glow au.

[bluemoonscape]

Trans Jackie consumes me just as much as Trans Travis in the sense that they both just make sense - which does not by any extent make them canon, but does make those headcanons such an interesting possibility to explore. They both were repulsed and anxious about sex on different occasions. They treated it like something to get out of the way. Where Travis fits in with the girls in the wilderness particularly after becoming one of Lottie’s followers, Jackie is an outsider in ways she never has been. Jackie wears feminine clothes at home and then packs her quintessential wardrobe of Mormon schoolboy clothes for when she’s away, suggesting a performative element to her femininity somewhere along the line. I’m so deep into transmasc Jackie self-made propaganda I forget she was around for like one season and then froze to death like noooo thats the father of Shauna’s children actually

[nessberry]

"betrayed the lesbians bc I prefer travnat to lottienat-" do not say that. your lesbian brain is just more advanced bc travis is a girl and the others do not even realize this

[dakotaversions]

crazy how much ive been thinking abt closeted trans girl travis yellowjackets. i like her now. god its so. i get it. lashing out in the absolute nightmare scenario yr in by externalising yr internalised misogyny and just being a total shit. bad at "straight" sex for unexplainable reasons. the dysphoria of being stranded in the woods with like 12 pretty girls. Doomcoming just the whole thing. i LOVE HERRRRR

[comfortablynumb]

An incomplete list of characters that are trans because I said so:

Luke Skywalker from Star Wars

Dipper Pines from Gravity Falls

The Creature from Lisa Frankenstein

Gomez and Morticia from the Addams Family

Claudia de Lioncourt from Interview with the Vampire

Daniel Molloy from Interview with the Vampire

Pandora and Regulus from Harry Potter: The Marauders Era

Will Solace from the Percy Jackson/Rick Riordan Universe

Steve Harrington from Stranger Things

Travis Martinez from Yellowjackets

[mistandshcdow]

travis: hey girls !! hey!!! i’m literally a lesbian too pls let me into ur club

yellowjackets: wtf you’re not a lesbian

lottie, stepping in from a shadowy corner: no, she’s right

[leoleolovesdc]

i don’t think t-girl travis would present any different than she does now tbh. doesn’t even change her name either. she just asks people to use she/her pronouns and moves on with her day

[imsososolesbian]

Transfem butch Travis

[palm-tree-21]

Same show just gay

[moonagedaydreamsofrhiannon]

I love you unfairly hated female characters (Dawn Summers, Skyler White, Mabel Pines, Piper Mclean, Nymphadora Tonks, Katara, Korra, Heather Duke, Elle Greenaway, Katniss Everdeen, Lucy Gray Baird, Travis Martinez)

[comfortablynumb]

She’s so beautiful, your honor, don’t lock her up with those cisgender cannibals!!!!

i will take those shorts off with my teeth so help me god i need him so bad im drooling anskdndnsnsndndmdm

[bi4bisamjess]

Travis Martinez: Masculinity and Control in Yellowjackets

sorry for the pretentious title. i need to talk about travis for a second. i have a consistent mythos in my head about who he is as a character that i forget people don't have. yes i am embarrassed. incredibly long meta under the cut.

First and foremost, I think it is so important to remember that this guy is a LOSER. He's never been to a school dance. He got made fun of and given a cruel nickname in the 7th grade that has stuck with him all throughout high school. He hates his dad, or at least has complex feelings about him. He's never had sex. He is so insecure that it is laughable.

We can only assume that Travis's dad shaped some of his perceptions of what it means to be a man. In the pilot, we have Coach Martinez honestly, if not cruelly, tell Jackie her worth is in her influence and that she is not particularly skilled at soccer. Coach Martinez's office has several pictures of his family, yet seems distant from his wife and Travis when they leave for nationals. We can see Travis's complex relationship with masculinity (misogyny with Nat's perceived sexual history, stoicism, and aggression to mask emotional distress), and can only assume that a stoic, critical, and distant father is one of the reasons for this. But we could also discuss 90s masculinity and cultural influence as well.

Travis was not (obviously written to be) athletically skilled as a kid, and is not mentioned to be on a sports team. He had a spinal fusion at 13, presumably due to some chronic health issue like scoliosis. His father invests time into the Yellowjackets team, and we see Ben describe them in flashbacks as monsters, so clearly there is some sort of reverence Coach Martinez has for ruthlessness and success. In the original script of episode 4 (I think), we see Travis described as a "sensitive kid trying hard not to be" (or something along those lines), and I can certainly see resentment building between Travis and the Yellowjackets as they represent everything his dad wanted him to be-- athletically skilled, successful, and cut throat. He is resistant to receiving help, outright lashes out in order to maintain this fragile identity as masculine and independent.

He has an interesting sibling relationship with Javi where he is simultaneously trying to force his own thoughts of their father onto him ("Dad was a dick") and protect him from the reality/brutality of their situation (does not tell Javi he dug up the body for the ring). Coach Martinez gives Javi gum for the flight, a gesture of care, and seemingly does not extend the same to Travis. We see Javi as innocent, naive, and artistic. He is presumably unaware of the marital problems in their family, while Travis is. Where Travis resents the Yellowjackets for the attention they receive from his father, he resents Javi because he is supported emotionally and allowed to be soft.

He values honesty, and the audience can see this in seasons one and two– Nat obscuring her relationship with Bobby Farleigh is the initial reason why they break up in 1x7, Nat planting Javi’s shorts is similarly a big point of contention. He is quick to project his own insecurities onto other people, namely Nat-- any skill or sexual experience she has is an attack on his worth as a man. He consistently sabotages his relationship with her by lashing out, not because Nat is doing anything wrong, but because he is afraid of being perceived as not good enough.

Travis’s arc throughout the show is interesting, especially because the audience sees Travis in season one obsessed with control of his own image, honesty, and power. By season two, he is willing to give in to spirituality-- in winter, he opens up to Lottie's "Wiccan bullshit", seeing ritual and belief as rejecting his own ego in a productive way. I have seen a good amount of people talk about how Travis's passivity in the second and third season is his way of protecting himself from the rest of the team, especially following his assault and almost murder in 1x9, but I think there is a little more nuance than just this. There is still an element of Travis seeking control within the routine of Lottie's spirituality. He cannot find Javi following the events of doomcoming, cannot find food in the winter months, cannot protect Shauna from the risk of childbirth, so he submits himself to drinking the tea Lottie prepares, praying, and ritual self harm.

Following Javi's death, we see Travis completely submit. He consumes his brother’s body not only to survive, but also to spiritually keep Javi with him. He eats Javi’s heart as a display of devotion, reverence, and attachment. His acceptance of Nat’s leadership comes from similar motivations, and this marks his almost complete relinquishment of autonomy within the group.

By season three, he is no longer hunting. He is completely detached from the team, past Lottie, Akilah, and the wilderness itself. He spends his time tripping on shrooms to “listen” when Lottie no longer can. It makes a lot of sense why fan opinion has gotten more positive– Travis this season is so passive that he becomes pathetic, both to the audience and the characters. Van, Tai, and Lottie each try to protect him, Akilah provides him with comfort. The rest of the group does not punish Travis for his lack of contribution as they did Jackie– they largely ignore him. And once his two main acts of autonomy (escaping with Kodiak, killing Lottie) fail, there is nothing left. He does not participate in the final hunt of Mari, and the group allows him to get drunk or high with no consequence. It is only when Travis is in Shauna's way that she cares about his lack of participation. The writers have officially connected the proud, aggressive season one Travis to what we know of him in the adult timeline– an isolated addict. He dies doing exactly what he did in the woods: trying to submit himself to meaning, to something bigger than himself, and dying for it.

[aretheyqueer]

Is she a lesbian trans girl?

reason: Attracted to women, has a very complex relationship to masculinity and femininity, and while trapped in the wilderness is literally becoming one of the girls. Might start going by she/her but could also stick to he/him as a butch lesbian.

[nessberry]

you can kill me but you can never take sex repulsed ace lesbian transfem travis martinez away from me