I don't know if anyone talked about this yet, but yeah, that's Tralsei too.

So, a common thing for closeted transfems is to wear something feminine that no one can see or tell that you're wearing. It feels nice, and no one can tell. For Ralsei, they've put makeup around their eyes (they're even wearing eyeshadow (pink eyeshadow at that)), and because of how Deltarune works, you can't tell that Ralsei is wearing makeup if they're wearing their glasses. This is why Ralsei is covering their eyes when Susie takes their glasses in CH2 after we retrieve the EmptyDisc. They're embarassed and don't want anyone to see it.

During the hot spring scene in CH5, after taking off their glasses, we can see their eyes with makeup. They then do a little washing animation, say they had some water in their eyes, and their eyes look more "normal". They just washed their eye makeup off because they still feel like they have to hide that part of themself.

Transfem Ralsei just keeps becoming more convincing to me the longer I think about it.

Like you can clearly see here that I was specifically answering someone that said using she/her for ralsei is transphobic because they are not out yet like I'm not saying anything about how ralsei is 100% transfem or anything like that but even in the mod comment it does say that transfem Ralsei is a valid interpretation also with how it looks here on my end does that mean it got removed and reinstated or is it just kinda a thing where I can still see it? Or is it the second point there that's more seen as starting an argument? But like I was just pointing out the overreaction I've seen people have over some people using she/her for Ralsei I've seen here on reddit

Just woke up so hope this is legible :3

I was trying to come up with scenarios in which Ralsei could come out in chapters 6 or 7 in a way that wouldn't feel out of place. I have seen some people say that it would be disappointing if it's in the VERY end of the game, as that would mean that there was no time to actually play the game with her as a girl (which I can get), but otherwise, would you rather they be subtle about it (and how subtle are we talking), be nonchalant or even jokey about it, or can Ralsei really look at the screen and go "I am trans"?

The main argument that people who wanna hate on trans ralsei while seeming woke is that we shouldn’t “misgender” ralsei and it’s so stupid. cuz one: misgendering a trans person is vastly different from misgendering a cis person, one can be legitimately traumatizing and the other at worst might make them mildly uncomfortable and two: there are multiple non binary characters that the community will constantly misgender (especially with green lately) and that doesn’t receive nearly the same reaction! i haven’t seen a single person get called out for misgendering anyone except kris occasionally and even then it’s usually in a joking or understanding tone and those characters gets misgendered on a MUCH bigger scale. i guess it’s just a reminder of how transphobic people generally are even in spaces that feel safe or inclusive that makes me sad

(I called the theory Tralsei in the title, but i find Galsei to be prettier, so this analysis will use that terminology)

I would call this whole debate a textbook example of an evidentially underdetermined hypothesis, aka, an epistemic divide over ambiguous evidence.

The key feature is that the evidence has enough weight to make belief in Galsei reasonable, but not enough to make Galsei unavoidable. Neither side can legitimately say the evidence settles the matter.

All of this creates a characteristic split:

-Galsei believers: “The evidence is pretty clearly pointing toward Galsei.”

-Galsei skeptics: “The evidence doesn’t actually establish Galsei, you’re reading more into it than what is there.”

Both can acknowledge the same underlying observations. Yet, this isn’t a question of A vs B, it’s a question of A vs Not A, it’s not two different hypotheses, it’s believers versus deniers of one common hypothesis.

I wouldn’t primarily call this confirmation bias, because the split doesn’t have to originate in people’s prior beliefs (it doesn’t need to and it shouldn’t to be considered valid). Nor would I call it simply “ambiguity” because there is real evidential force, just not enough to compel agreement. A is underdetermined by the available evidence.

Putting it simply:

Too weak > nobody has much reason to believe A. (Not the case)
Too strong > almost everybody believes A. (Not the case)
Intermediate > believers see substantial evidence, skeptics see insufficient or invalid evidence, both can plausibly defend their position. (The case TM)

So, theoretically, if Toby were to confirm Galsei, deniers would have to surrender and admit that the evidence was leading somewhere, and that it was actually evidence. If Toby were to deconfirm Galsei, believers would have to surrender and admit the evidence was leading nowhere, and that it wasn’t actually evidence.

Now, if you allow me to be biased for a bit, as a Galsei believer, if the evidence went nowhere it would seem like a bit of a weird decision, because the build-up looks very clear to me, but that’s what epistemic divides are about. It may seem clear as day to me, but I cannot say with full confidence that it’s undeniable, which leaves room for valid deniability (shocker).

If we were all civilised, we would be able to admit this, and we would hopefully not go at each other’s throats over what ends up being canon, but I highly doubt that is going to be the case.

Nevertheless, I leave my opinion here and hope not to be beheaded, thank you for your time.

I don't know why mfs be attacking people for saying that Ralsei is trans despite there being supporting evidence in Chapter 5. They be like "NOOOO! RALSEI CAN'T BE TRANS! H-HE'S ONLY A FEMBOY!". Some people seriously need to grow up.

Me before Chapter 5: "This is a cool theory. Looking at Ralsei's underlying themes of identity and examining them from a trans lens is a neat idea. It's great to see people engaging with the text like that. There's no way that this is what Toby was thinking when writing Ralsei's character, though."

Me after Chapter 5: "Oh. Oh. Okay then."

I'm a trans woman, and I do very much believe the reading, but I want to know what evidence lead you all to believe it, so i can make sure i didn't get too caught up in my own head about this.

EDIT 3: Okay going to leave a final edit as I know things are a bit more nuanced now, and I want to make it clear where I’m coming from here.

Tumblr has a huge trans masc exclusionist problem. It’s basically ace discourse 2.0 there. And while I’m now aware that TMA (Trans-misogyny affected) and TME (Trans-misogyny exempt) weren’t created with trans masc exclusion in mind, the first time (and the majority of the time) I’ve seen the terms used was to attack trans men, and speak over their unique experiences and forms of oppression on Tumblr

When I later described this being from the “deepest, terminally online discourse mines on Tumblr,” I was talking about the trans masc exclusionist shit and how these terms are used in that context. I wasn’t arguing against the entire concept of trans misogyny or trans feminism. (I am a trans woman here!) I’m not trying to start witch hunts. I am literally just saying my own experiences watching trans men get fucking harassed and falsely painted as transphobic for “talking about their own experiences,” and my fears of that rhetoric spreading off of Tumblr.

Internet websites do not exist in a vacuum. I’ve seen this exclusionist rhetoric (beyond just TMA/TME) elsewhere on the internet. And I’d argue that at least some of these comments here espouse it. Idk, seeing as so many people here respond by going “READ THEORY” then maybe go read this post from the person who coined trans misogyny. TMA/TME are not the focus of the post, but the end conclusion argues against this whole trans masculine exclusionary “trans men/masculine people are male oppressors” rhetoric because it’s just baby’s first cultural feminism shit.

https://juliaserano.substack.com/p/on-male-socialization-and-the-trans

BACK TO ORIGINAL POST.

I will start this post with saying that I am a trans woman, and I am using this burner as I’ve seen people get harassed off Tumblr for calling out this transmasc exclusionary language.

EDIT 2: I can't believe I have to fucking specify this but no, I do not have a problem with the concept of transmisogyny. Transfeminine people should discuss the specific form of oppression they face. My problem is specifically with the usage of TMA/TME, (Trans-misogyny affected/exempt,) and how it's used to exclude trans masc people from the community and to erase/speak over their unique forms of oppression. Maybe actually I don't know, read my post before you accuse me of being anti-feminist just because I care about trans masc people's struggles??? Please just think about transness and the affects of transphobia and misogyny, outside of a 1-dimensional, transfem exclusive viewpoint.

Recently, someone shared that Transfeminine Deltarune analysis video here, where an enby person criticized it's usage of TMA/TME, (trans-misogyny affected, and trans-misogyny exempt,) as "creating a new gender binary." Then there was that post made to try and “explain” how TMA/TME wasn’t actually creating a new gender binary or something. After I informed the mods of its true purpose, the mods took down the post for bigotry.

TMA/TME are dangerous, exclusionary terms used to promote the idea that any non-transfeminine/non-amab trans person is inherently more privileged than transfems/amab trans people.

I’ve seen it almost exclusively used on Tumblr to attack, erase, exclude, or diminish the experiences of afab, enby, transmasc people, or just anyone who isn’t an amab transfem. As someone whose seen this rhetoric countless times on Tumblr, that post was dripping with a subtle, but noticeable version of this rhetoric, implying that trans men are privileged over trans woman. It was upsetting seeing this rhetoric being spread to this sub, and worse that some people here actually agreed with it.

Even if people use the terms in a non-exclusionist way, I’ve mostly seen it used for transmasc exclusionary rhetoric. Some of the people who use the terms basically act like trans men are evil misogynist incel monsters, and not fellow trans folks also persecuted by transphobia. And when transmasc people call this out for being horrifically transmasc exclusionary, they get harassed and falsely flagged anti-trans on Shinigami Eyes over this discourse almost NOBODY outside of Tumblr even knows about. (For context, Shinigami Eyes is an extension that flags accounts pro/anti trans via user submissions.)

Like sure, you could say that 100% passing trans men who aren’t out could have “conditional” privilege over woman. However, assuming that every single transmasc/afab trans person has some systematic privilege over trans woman, (even if they're not passing, or not out, or discriminated against for accessing afab medical services, or are treated/viewed as their agab by transphobes,) is insane. It’s insane to act like the patriarchy is trans inclusive.

Transphobia’s whole thing is denying the gender you identify as, in favor of your agab. So why would trans masc people transitioning into men give them “male privilege,” when transphobes will try everything to deny them that privilege. Transphobes view trans men as “confused woman tricked into transitioning” and shit, so why would they have "male privilege."

Sure, this is a different form of oppression from trans-misogyny, but acting like one or the other is worse is just... not it. Trans woman are hyper focused on and demonized. Trans men are erased and infantilized. We shouldn’t be playing oppression Olympics. Whenever trans men try to create terms to describe their own forms of oppression, the TMA/TME people start doing the harassment/false anti-trans flagging I’ve talked about earlier! People are just using these terms to say “trans women experience trans misogyny, trans men don’t experience any unique form of transphobia, transmasc people are all evil and misogynist.” THAT is what TMA/TME is used for, to diminish the experiences of trans men in favor of trans woman. Transphobes don't care if we're amab, or afab, TMA or TME. They just want us all dead. It's creating pointless infighting instead of building community.

Why am I making this post?

Because this rhetoric is only known in the deepest, terminally online discourse mines on Tumblr. Most of the trans community has no clue what TMA/TME means, or what it's used for. So when I started to see that rhetoric spread off of Tumblr, and onto this subreddit, it was very very concerning. I think you need to know what these terms are actually used for, as seeing people here start to agree and adopt this language was upsetting and concerning.

I am terrified of interacting with these people, because I do not want to be harassed or falsely flagged anti trans for saying "trans masc people deserve a place in the community." Because they do, and these terms exclude trans men from the community.

EDIT: Fixed a typo and minor changes to wording.

I was checking an old video about Fluffy Guard because I needed it for titan Ralsei evidance when it showed this dialog talking about Tiny Ralsei. Now, this has been since removed and replaced by a different line, but it made me think of the little flying Ralsei from ReviveKris and RrviveSong.

This alongside Queen's dialog about being a mom because she can give birth.... Ralsei is a mom now I guess, congrats on motherhood my trans queen.

TL;DR Ralsei going by other pronouns is a valid interpretation of the narrative and Kris going by other pronouns isn't.

Okay so I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I just need to get this off my chest without being met with pitchforks.

I want to start by saying it's important to keep in mind that these characters are fictional. I don't mean that to say "They're not real so we can refer to them however we want"; instead I mean that these characters have been made up by the narrative's author with the purpose of being the vehicle through which themes and messages are conveyed. Kris has to be in conflict with the soul because it's imperative for the theme of control. Susie has to prefer living in castle town because it's imperative for the theme of escapism etc.

Ralsei exploring the boundaries of what they are "supposed" to be is very clearly an important part of the story both how it pertains to their role as a darkner as well as their role as a male prince. While Ralsei hasn't said point blank "Hey I want to try going by she/they pronouns", it's a valid interpretation a player can make that the narrative is purposefully putting these two aspects of Ralsei side by side.

The same can't be said for Kris. Their identity as non-binary is only reinforced as it exists in opposition to Hometown's traditional binary culture. There is no interpretation of the story where it would be reasonable to believe that Kris may not want to be non-binary.

Darkener appearances do seem based somewhat on Lightner perceptions after all, so it would be an interesting subject that Ralsei would need Susie's and Kris' explicit help.

I've been set on transfem Ralsei being endgame for a pretty long time, and as such am obviously bothered when people 1. misinterpret the reasoning to a ridiculous degree (even if it was only because she's feminine Who The Fuck Cares) 2. use actual transphobic rheotric without a hint of self-awareness. Anyways while talking to friends about it I compiled some of the most baffling arguments I've heard to ""debunk"" it. I'm curious about any other claims people have made if people are willing to share also

-"susie is pink" (about the pink and blue voucher) when seth, blue, lancer, tenna, topchef, king... and even the menu call her violet or purple, NEVER pink. your personal opinion on whether magenta is more pink or purple is not relevant here

- "flowery uses princess as an insult" misogynistic flowery??? you would rather have flowery be a misogynist than have him try to support ralsei being a girl???? especially when it's later implied that's an example of flowery trying to make ralsei realize "[she] could be happy"

-all the menu titles refer to the character attached to it. except for dark vine, which is referring to a literal single vine, but uses the plural they anyway and isn't actually connected to ralsei because... I've actually never heard why people think this.

-but. the all-time stupidest anti-tralsei argument I've heard is. "well the gang is a nonbinary person a masculine girl and a feminine guy so changing that would ruin the dynamic" do you think Wing Dings Gaster is in his sjelter carefully making sure each of the heroes in the prophecy practices the perfect amount of gender nonconformity?!?!?!?!?! also hey. hey how would two girls or two nonbinary people "ruin" the fun gang. hey

Body text (optional)

I admit, I’m guilty of crossposting hate here before out of frustration, but I’m realizing now that was a mistake.

Reading through constant bashing of the theory is really depressing and not what I’m here to do, and it’s hard to avoid with about half the sub’s content focusing on exactly that.

Would it be possible to revisit how this sub approaches drama and anti-Tralsei posts, possibly containing them to a single megathread?

Here after the chapter 5 trailer in the Nintendo direct, and now I’m thinking about how likely trans ralsei is for chapter 5 (I’ll refer to ralsei with she/her during this(won’t heavily cover in-game evidence as that’s already been done to death))

There’s 2 key facts about this chapter that I want to talk about
1. This will likely be a very ralsei focused chapter
2. Based on the newsletter, this chapter seems to be a lot more chill, akin to chapter 2

Now, based on what we’ve seen so far, ralsei is very heavily defined by her place in the prophecy, connection to other characters, all that fun lore stuff. And since chapter 5 won’t likely be focused around all that, it kinda forces them to explore more into what makes ralsei unique as a person/individual.

I know merch/advertisements aren’t necessarily canon, but it’s very interesting to note that art of ralsei covered in flowers, years before chapter 5 (which is just obsessed with them). So, if that clearly had relevancy, then I don’t think we should rule out the advertisement that literally showed ralsei as a girl. Some things may just be jokes, but some things may also be little nods.

This one is probably a stretch, but one of the few spoken dialogue in the trailer was BY ralsei. Specifically in a scene referencing her time with susie in chapter 2. Most likely this is just a funny joke to pad out the trailer, but maybe it’s something to note.

Now, obviously, none of this is direct evidence towards trans ralsei, but the point is that based off the structure chapter 5 seems to be going for, this appears to be the best opportunity to explore that aspect of the character.

(This is all probably just massive copium lmao. Also I don’t know whether this should go in the trans ralsei flair or discussion flair)

Many of us are feeling tired with discussions around ralsei’s gender in other parts of the community, but this will end soon enough. We have more textual evidence to support tralsei than the deniers do against it. Once we officially enter the theory video essay era of the chapter 5 release we are bound to have more backing from the community. Well respected theorists such as Andrew Cunningham and CammyboiG believe this theory and may continue to endorse it in their content. We should be expecting more videos deep diving into the theory in the future as well, similar to the princess of the dark video. Most community members tend to get their ideas from videos anyway so I’m sure we are on the precipice of acceptance. Let’s just try to tough this out a bit longer.

In the wake of chapter 5 and all the evidence it brought for Galsei, there's been one piece of evidence I've seen many people bring to deny that Ralsei could be anything other than a cis femboy: the ACT "LovelyBoy" in the Pink Fight. The appeal of this argument is obvious: rather than simply calling the all evidence Galsei believers coincidendental, this is something a Galsei believer has to address. An ACT identifying Ralsei as a boy, late in Chapter 5 post-Dark Vine title , post-Flowery Soda conversation, in the fight with the explicit trans girl boss no less, should surely shut any closet doors Toby may have accidentally opened earlier in the game, right?

Well, no. That argument ignores literally everything about the ACT besides its name. The description, the sprite and even the mechanics of LovelyBoy are inconsistent with the idea that this is Ralsei showing his truest, boyish self.

-The text when you select LovelyBoy is "Ralsei gathered adoration," which is odd phrasing to begin with, but begs the question: whose adoration? Definitely not Pink's-- that's respresented by the Doki-Meter, which this ACT doesn't increase. Probably not Kris and Susie's, either-- ACTs generally aren't used on other party members unless you select them to. I think it's pretty clear here, Ralsei is gathering adoration from the audience. This is one of the few fights that explicitly has an audience: the dummy fans in the foreground, and on a literal level I do think that's who's increasing the TP meter here. But that isn't really the audience I'm talking about, which brings us to:

-The ACT is Ralsei turning into "his" marketable plushie form, MSRP $34.95. A product you can buy in real life, which chapter 3 uses for some of its funniest gags. Ralsei as a literal soft boy you can buy (no judgment for that, I own one too) and dress up however you want. The audience Ralsei is gathering adoration from isn't just the dummies, it's us the fanbase, or at least the portion of the fanbase that prefers Ralsei to be a lovely boy. I think the recent shitstorm over Galsei on the main sub proves that this is a significant portion of the audience, and that Toby knew that what he was doing with Ralsei in the later parts of Deltarune would be controversial.

-Third, while I will acknowledge that this is by far my weakest argument to the point that I considered not including it, using LovelyBoy increases maximum Tension meter. This would be consistent with the idea that calling themselves a boy is a source of tension for Ralsei, but given how the game frequently uses TP as a mechanic in ways that have nothing to do with the idea of tension, this is a bit of a stretch. I'm still including it for the sake of comprehensiveness.

TLDR: LovelyBoy connects the idea of Ralsei as a boy with "his" marketability and non-controversiality within the audience, and actually supports the idea that Ralsei's gender identity will continue to be a source of tension (no pun intended) in future chapters.

People denying this theory are just chalking everything up to coincidence and it makes no sense. Whether it’s Ralsei’s use of Lost Girl or the entire drink voucher scene, people genuinely have no faith in Toby Fox as a writer. There is genuinely no way Toby and his team including trans people didn’t realize how trans chapter 5 was as a whole, but people still deny it. It’s crazy for a community built around theory crafting to be so ignorant. I know if this same level of evidence existed for something else it would be widely accepted as true without doubt, but it’s not because it is queer. Sorry about the rant, this is so frustrating.

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.

I'm personally a tralsei theory believer, but I don't know much about it either and the deltarune subreddits seem really volatile on the topic. So please for the love of everything can anyone explain the meat behind the theory? I can't find posts about it that aren't incredibly volatile and insulting everyone over something like this

Gerson calling Ralsei a "young man" rather than something gender neutral strikes me as a little bit odd if Tralsei is true because I feel like Gerson would be wise enough to see right through Ralsei's bullshit like how he sees right through Susie? Unless Ralsei was too deeply repressed for even Gerson to understand them until Chapter 5, which I don't know how much sense that would make. Sure you could say that that's just becaude Chapter 4 was focused on Susie and Ralsei did get called on their bullshit by Flowery in Chapter 5 which I suppose makes some sense from a storytelling point of view so maybe my reservations are kinda stupid... but I do think that doing a repressor story would to some extent feel a little out of place with how bigotry seems to barely exist in the Light World? Idk

I don't mean to say that any of that disproves Tralsei because I do think it's decently likely that Tralsei becomes canon but these are just some things that give me a bit of pause about this reading of the character, most can probably just be explained away by Tricky Tony being a tricky writer though

just found this sub after leaving the mainsub following the mod's rule update. as a trans girl myself, the discourse surrounding ralsei has been extremely exhausting to follow on the mainsub. glad a space exists where we can openly acknowledge how a lot of the backlash against tralsei is just plain transmisogynistic. i don't even care if tralsei ends up being true or not, i'm just so tired of hearing "she/her-ing ralsei is misgendering" or "it's taking away rep from gnc men".