u/PepperEffective1219

I read a series of transfem Ranma fanfictions a while back (by ThrashJazz on AO3) and they were so, so good!

Are there any works that you folks recommend for transfem Ralsei? It's okay if theyre W.I.P or unfinished or whatnot.

fair warning, this is a long post and the thesis is stated about halfway through. the general gist is, Flowery's clocking abilities are kinda crazy.

[INTRO] we're all familiar with the supporting evidence for a transfem reading of ralsei (given the subreddit), but I don't think people talk very much at how Flowery himself reinforces this reading (outside of the bridge scene or the closet).

in Chapter 5, along with all the other stuff that can be interpreted as forced boymoding (like equipping Ralsei's hat on them constantly), Flowery CONSTANTLY genders Ralsei as a boy and a "little guy" when theyre with the Fun Gang. It is constant and explicit, sometimes with a voice line (Hey there, little guy!) accompanying it. As we know, the only time he really switches up on this is when they're alone together.

[QUESTIONS] but that's where I started wondering about something. In Queen's mansion way back in Ch2, theres a scene where Susie takes Ralsei's glasses off to joke around. This is where the player can first learn about Ralsei's eye shadow, something that they show Susie in order to get their specs back. When she sees Ralsei's face, she has a sbocked sprite before handing them back to them. I'm assuming that this is because the glasses, for whatever reason, obscure it from their normal view. Kris never sees Ralsei's face here: we as players can see it through the dialogue portait, but Ralsei is facing away from Kris. Keep this in mind

now, this left me with two questions:

1. why did Flowery never mess with Ralsei's glasses? he was clearly picking on them and their appearance by any means necessary, and it wouldve been a nice callback to another established #identity thing that Flowery uses to pick on them (for instance, he steps on Ralsei a handful of times iirc, and he brings the hat back that was supposedly lost by the hat rack in Castle Town)

2. what's with the beef between Flowery and Kris? Flowery picks on Ralsei very explictly, but he also shows his care and support in private (and in critical moments like when he tells Kris not to "be a bully" when he force-reenables Ralsei's voice lines for those who turned them off). On the other hand, he just kinda treats Kris with quiet contempt (till the end of their fight, where he goes all out on solo Kris and demands they get up to keep fighting). I guess it could be chalked to jealousy for Asgore's attention, and he's usually focused on Asgore, Susie, or Ralsei, but like...he doesn't seem to treat Kris in nearly as high a regard as Ralsei does. he talks about how Kris has changed, and not trusting them with whatever theyre working on, too. in the staircase scene leading up to the dark fountain, where Ralsei asserts themselves by attacking Flowery, he challenges Ralsei on this:

"What, trying to take be down before the big finale? That's not like you, Raly. Dont you LIKE serving humans...?"

Kris is the only human we know of in this world, so it's reasonable to assume he's referring to Kris specifically here (we are the Soul as far as we know atm, so i dont think theyre talking about the player directly either).

i don't have a solid answer for #2, but I think there's a pretty straightforward answer for #1 that MAYBE has something to do with an answer for #2.

[ANSWERS] the game is very careful to make sure that whenever Ralsei is with the Fun Gang, or even just around Kris, Flowery never makes reference or light of Ralsei's femininity as he does privately. This is doubly interesting with how he's the first person in the game to convince Susie to wear a bow (the ONLY bow she even likes wearing on her head for a time ends up being the spiky one Flowery gave her) after 4 chapters of her refusing to have anything to do with them. Ralsei, with their voice potentially cut off by the player, stares across an untraversable gap where Flowery is helping a different member of the Fun Gang (who canonically hates wearing bows on their head and also deals with some gender presentation struggles!) explore a slightly more fem coded (per in-game symbolism) presentation over drinks...doesn't that sound a little familiar to a later scene where Ralsei is the one alone with Flowery? Maybe even talking about drink tickets, perchance?

"okay, so what does Kris have to do with this and what are you getting at with this big text wall?"

[THE REASON I MADE THIS POST] my proposal, thesis, whatever, is that for whatever reason, Ralsei is very, very concerned with how Kris in specific perceives them. not just lightners or even just the other Heros in general (the climbing castle scene adds to this, but for brevity's sake im gonna just focus on Flower Kingdom scenes). building off of that, however Ralsei thinks Kris wants/needs to perceive them is at odds with their internal sense of identity. At first I just thought, well that makes sense right? Ralsei is shown to be very subservient to lightners in general. There's even a whole (kinda weird tbh) meme about it.

[LIGHTNER ANALYSIS] but that isn't the whole story here, and it's something the game constantly contradicts. Ralsei does not exhibit this trait evenly across lightners: theyve chewed out Susie several times for doing things like being violent and a "bad hero" in Ch1, been condescending towards her healing magic for a moment in Ch4, etc, etc. They treat Susie as an equal.

what about Noelle and Berdley? Ralsei doesn't interact with Noelle whatsoever as of now (please please let that chanhe in the future Toby), and Ralsei literally screams at Berdley when he attempts to make a dark fountain. Is that what Ralsei acts like to their "superior" lifeforms? The ones who "give them purpose?" Because it seems to me like Ralsei doesn't really treat them like it.

as for the adults, there isnt really much to say here. Ralsei's interactions with/regarding Undyne, Toriel, and Asgore are extremely limited. Asgore is the only one who even sort of acknowledges Ralsei's existence, and the other two are mostly unconcious during their screentime 💀. Definitely no clear pedestals for these three either as of now.

the same cannot be said for how Ralsei treats Kris. They put Kris before themselves so much that Flowery once again has to remind them to stop thinking of Kris in Ch5. Over something as small as a free drink Kris would maybe like! Never criticizing Kris during a no recruit run and only giving a light suggestion that Kris doesn't take Noelle to the festival in a WR run are big examples, but the real horror is in the dialogue options. If Kris tells them to smile, they'll smile. If Kris tells them Nah, bro..., then they'll discard the dress they chose for themselves and resign to just being a Prince again immediately.

[RE: BURNING EYES(HADOW)] before I close this out, let's circle back to the eye shadow situation. In the hot springs scene between Kris and Ralsei, where Ralsei is trying to very politely tell Kris that they shouldnt open more fountains (which is afaik the first time they really reprimand Kris for doing anything serious in the game), the latter's glasses fog up. During my playthrough, I was like oh shit! We're gonna see their eyeshadow again after how many chapters?? And we did...for one ellipses. Ralsei moves away from Kris before they wash it off, citing "water in [their] eyes." After washing it out, they...put their glasses back on? and they don't fog up anymore?? This is the second time Ralsei has kept Kris from seeing their eyeshadow, and this was far more intentional (and odd) than the last. I can't fathom why exactly this comes up twice or why Kris is prevented from seeing it, but it has happened twice so far and I'm interested to see if this mini plot ends up going anywhere.

anyways. i brought that up to support the idea that Flowery recognizes Ralsei's special treatment of Kris. The drink voucher scene (a scene where he's explicitly written to tell Ralsei to stop thinking about Kris' feelings over their own) happens before the hot spring talk, and he crashes the latter to insist that Ralsei tell Kris (and Susie!) their full, complete thoughts. Not to handwaive or lightly suggest against Kris' dark fountain openings, but explictly put their foot down and say what theyre feeling about it. Maybe even imply that, gasp! Kris isn't a plainly "good" character by default and is a complex person. But Ralsei struggles to express this in their usual tone. Their dialogue is full of pauses, small corrections. It gives the impression that it's difficult for Ralsei to confront Kris on something they really dont like. And as if that wasnt enough, they immediately follow it up with compliments about their piano playing, Kris's fingers "playing the same keys, but knowing something [Ralsei doesnt know]." And finally, calling Kris THE hero (not A hero, not one of the heroes. THE hero) and deferring to their judgement again. "Even if you do something I disagree with, I'll just assume I don't understand it yet." Polar opposite of Flowery's clock. Washing their eyes (in my interpretstion of this scene) is a visual tell for Ralsei still holding back from challenging or questioning Kris in any significant way. This CAN be read as a sweet "I believe in ya, pardner!" moment, but it is VERY off and I'm a little worried about the cohesiveness of the Fun Gang in the future, especially as Susie is completely left out of this convo about the Fun Gang and the fate of the both worlds. One step forward, two steps back.

[WE TECHNICALLY GOT THE SIX SOUL ASGORE FIGHT AFTER ALL] Flowery spends the entire chapter egging Ralsei on publically. The way he treats Ralsei in front of the others is evocative of players who treat/speak poorly on Ralsei: He minimizes Ralsei's influence in the team, treats them as a literal stepping stool, replaces Ralsei in the party with someone with "good stats" (himself) like ppl talk about potentially replacing them with Noelle, tells Ralsei they look better with the hat on like all those "am i the only one who misses Ch1 Ralsei" posts say, throws them in a literal closet, etc. And to reiterate. Constantly, constantly calls them a boy and a lil guy to belittle them publically. Not Princess publically, when theyre disrespecting and walking all over Ralsei. He opts for shit like Lil Guy. Why? Look at none other than His Best Friend: Asgore.

Asgore's persistent boundary-crossing (an extension of his inability to let go of the past) caused Kris and Toriel to put up walls around him, despite his persistence in reentering their lives. This bit of characterization remains from Undertale, and is a core aspect of his character (even if it comes up less with his self isolation, it's apparent at the end of true pacifist that he's still got issues respecting Toriel's boundaries). Asgore clearly cares for them both, but the way he expresses it is disrespectful and inconsiderate. He forces his way into interactions (Eggs Husband), does things like bear hug Kris despite them not liking his hugs (something Asgore admits...after hugging them), and literally stalks people offscreen only to pop in whenever the time is right. I've heard people discuss whether Flowery is like Rudy or Asriel more, but imo? he reminds me of Asgore way more than either of them (especially his self dacrificing behavior). Flowery pushes Ralsei's boundaries more than anybody else in the game, forcing Ralsei into developing more explicit boundaries and putting their foot down more than ever before. I think a great example of this is the short butler outfit scene where Ralsei tells the fun gang they only like wearing the butler outfit for the Yass Slay Queen in the incredibly queer Cyber World. I bet Ralsei does feel more comfortable playing a butler for a(nother) woman but not a man. Anyways! Is this a preferable path to learning your boundaries, esp in real life? Absolutely not. But as far as the game is concerned, Flowery's actually pretty effective with this insistence. After all, he convinced Susie to wear bows, taught Ralsei to learn what hate truly is (/j), and even managed to make the resident Eggs Husband reflect and vow to be better about how he treats Toriel (and Kris, too).

that also might be part of why Flowery acts the way he does (noticeably colder) to the Fun Gang as they make it up to the staircase scene I discussed earlier. obviously, he's upset that the flowers' day with Asgore is coming to a close sooner than the flowers wish. But I wonder if Flowery is a little disappointed that Ralsei is still holding things back for Kris' sake, even after spending the whole chapter trying to get them to stop. Ralsei didn't add Susie to the fountain convo like Flowery suggested, and Ralsei still went out their way to remove their eye shadow before talking to Kris. It'd add a bit of spice to that staircase scene too tbh. When Flowery pulls Ralsei close and looks into their eyes, asking if they like serving humans, do you think he saw any of the pink eyeshadow left in Ralsei's fur?

[END] anyways that's enough for one post. i just wanted to give this guy his flowers ba dum tssss keep giving us gay ass antagonists toby please i need this

what are some things yall wish people understood/had some more empathy about re: transfem readings of Ralsei?

for example, I've seen a lot of comments about how a transfem Ralsei would make them less relatable (to them personally) as a character, and that bothers me lol. i wish people didnt talk as though transfemininity (or for that matter, any of the genderqueer readings of Ralsei!) reduces a character's relatability. Especially when we have so few characters transition to anything midwayish through a series and they dont get like. merc'd right after ;-;

Ralsei's character doesn't just revolve around how they present, but their difficulties with identity as a whole (which this kind of reading addresses very well imo). their role in the prophecy, their role as a healer, their role in two Lightner's lives as a Darkner, and even their own internal struggles with identity and figuring out who they want to be, etc. those are all things that Ralsei goes through that lots of people can relate to. just wish people wouldnt rob themselves of a great character arc in a compelling story in a future where Ralsei is canonically trans </3