There’s this fairly old theory that Tamaru is trans, and I’ve never really understood it, nor can I find a good explanation of it. I’ll just get to my 2 questions right off the bat:
Is the theory that Tamaru is MtF or FtM?
What inspired this theory?
These questions purely come from the position of not knowing what’s going on, why everyone wants Tamaru to be a girl, or what that really means for the character. I just want to understand what this is all about.
It originally came from his fear of heights, light blue body*, and ability (and willingness) to swim, making some people think he was a Ga-Matoran that was misplaced in Le-Koro. So Male → Female
*this might not be a part of it, but I feel like I remember there being some lime Ga-Matoran in one of the unfinished 2001 games? (I’m going off memory here, I might be wrong)
**This is my understanding at least, I may be wrong in some places but thats what I’ve heard in my time
EDIT: I found the game I was talking about; they had teal, not lime
It’s on the third picture
I didn’t know this headcanon until now but I’m interested. It’s really interesting to see bionicle characters that don’t follow gender norms. Had elements not be gender exclusive, we would’ve had female Pohatu
So…it’s flimsy at best and doesn’t really add anything to the character. Guess that’s about what I shoulda expected.
Given that Matoran aren’t sexually dimorphic, I feel like it woulda been more interesting if they just didn’t care about or even have gender norms at all. Though, given the Polynesian inspiration Bionicle took for a lot of its lore, it is worth noting that Hawai’ian culture recognizes a 3rd gender called mahu, to which various religious duties are assigned.
While true, I like to see it as an addition while not adding anything if that makes sense?
I get that it kinda adds something in the sense that it gives representation to a demographic that otherwise doesn’t show up in Bionicle (although can they really be trans if they have no biological sex?), but in terms of adding to Tamaru as a person, it’s not meaningful information and doesn’t change how I see him. Maybe if G3 ever happens, they could sneak in that he’s FtM in some subtle way, like how there’s a trans flag in the background in literally one frame in Celeste, but idk, I just don’t see it as an important detail on any scale.
I don’t know where exactly it got started, but I remember seeing someone on BZP really pushing it a few years ago.
From what I understand, since there’s very little trans representation in media, a lot of trans people and trans allies will headcanon characters as trans. Same applies to the broader LGBT+ fan communities.
While I don’t think LEGO would actually do this, a trans allegory or in-universe equivalent could be plausible in canon. “What is gender in BIONICLE” is it’s own topic, but there’s also the division of elemental types and their associated roles.
Tamaru for example could “coded” MtF, but “Le-Matoran to Ga-Matoran” in-universe .
Quick edit: Just remembered some one drew a Trans Takanuva, and this is probably the logic behind it. A Ta-Matoran who felt out of place who “transitioned” into a Toa of Light.
I read trans as translucent and was very confused.
So, we know that there were Av-matoran disguised as other elements (I.e. Takua), and we know that there are female Av-matoran (I.e. gavla). Perhaps tamaru could be a female avtoran who got (mistakenly?) disguised as a Le-Matoran?
Side note, my phone tried to correct Tamaru to Tamara. Coincidence?
Question answered, topic closed.