>>11316025This is gonna seem a little rambly, but I bring it home to toys, so stay with me.
There's an entire episode dedicated to their identity, it just comes later.
it's also established as the reason non-binary comes up is because terrans are linked with humans. That whole premise is very "dragon riders of pern" and problematic. It emphasizes that these transformers are first and foremost part of this earth family, and diminishes their cybertronian identity. The whole first season only plays into it lightly, they try to course correct in season 2, but by then other things happened that made it too late.
And then, what REALLY upset people: instead of having Optimus having to make a decision about how to respond to a new perspective he couldn't understand, they have him apologize, as if he could possibly have known five minutes after this guy was born that "guy" was wrong.
Hell, even the idea that they could understand -from birth - gender dynamics and where they fit in is ridiculous.
It's teaching kids to be apologetic for offending people when the kids are just being normal, and talking how normal kids talk.
That's what's damaging. It's literally shaming kids for just operating normally.
And yeah, parents don't like that shit, so they don't let them watch the show, and they don't let them buy the toys, and the whole thing tanks, even if it gets better later.
We've seen it a dozen times. "Go woke, go broke" doesn't mean "you better not put anything progressive in there" it means "if you purposely try to subvert societal norms in your mass consumer product, the product isn't going to be consumed en mass"
But that's what happens when people invest based on optics instead of bottom line. You get more stock value if you start doing things that critics praise you for, but then your sales might suffer.
It's no different than Oscar bait movies vs blockbusters. Which one is about making money?
If you want your toys to continue, they have to make money.
