“Marco is a Trans Girl” Theory

(Note: If you’ve come here to find out what the whole Trans Marco thing is about, this post was written back in July 2016 when Season 2 was just starting, and as such is a bit obsolete. I have a restructured version that better explains how this has all played out here)

I’ve written about this before, but I wanted to compile everything thus far into one big post outlining the theory in full.

Which is: Marco Diaz is not only a closeted transgender girl, but will come to terms with it, come out, and transition as part of their character development over the series.

Now before I get too far into this, I want to adress the biggest (and, so far, only) counterpoint that people have brought up:

Disney wouldn’t allow this.

Which I don’t think is entirely true. Yes it would be huge, yes it would be completely unpreccidented and something Disney’s never done before, but I don’t think it’s impossible. They have been more lenient on LGBT-content in their shows. Gravity Falls was finally allowed to have ther gay couple in the finale, and there was a lesbian couple on Good Luck, Charlie. Niether of these are really much to write home about, but they do show that Disney’s willing to improve.

Tumblr user beckyhop goes into more detail about the subject here: http://breastforce.tumblr.com/post/151500411690/beckyhop-so-remember-when-i-gave-people-a

Plus, the Disney cartoon Lloyd in space had an episode in 2002 titled “Neither Boy Nor Girl” which explictly dealt with gender and being non-binary.

On top of all this, a Disney-licensed children’s book reciently came out with a genderfluid character in it, so we know they aren’t entirely opposed to having transgender characters in stuff.

As I’ve written below, there’s a MASSIVE increase of allusions to Marco Being a Girl in Season 2 and that none of the hints were really concrete until just now. This could potentially mean that inbetween the production of Season 1 and Season 2, Disney finally gave them the approval to go through with it.

And well, there has to be a first time for everything, and this could very well be it.

Anyway, full theory under the cut.

(Last Updated: 2/20/17)

(Note: Again, if you’ve come here to find out what the whole Trans Marco thing is about, this post was written back in July 2016 when Season 2 was just starting, and as such is a bit obsolete. I have a restructured version that better explains how this has all played out here)



(Note: Since this is still only a theory and not something officially confirmed I’m using gender neutral terms for Marco here) (I don’t want to go through the post and edit all the pronouns so I’ll keep them as is.)

St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses was the first major clue that Something Was Up, and it set the foundation for all the others. In the episode, Marco disguises themself as a Princess to break help Star break into a boarding school.

And the whole thing seems completely natural. Marco’s personality barely changes, they don’t constantly speak in falsetto (except for one instance towards the beginning, but it’s quickly dropped), their gender is never made fun of, questioned, second-guessed, or even really brought up at all, even by the villain.

So while this particular episode alone doesn’t provide much of anything concrete in terms of evidence, what it does prove is that the writers would be capable of handling the subject. Most media would have somebody suspect that there was something ‘off’ about Marco or constantly bring up how they’re the “odd one out” amongst all the other girls. Instead, Marco’s allowed to simply just be a girl for an episode without any objections from the narrative.



Also just as important, this episode gives us a glimpse into what all this would like if it ends up happening: Making Marco Trans wouldn’t have to involve much more than taking how Princess Marco was written in St. O’s and making it permanent.

But there’s really not enough there at that point to establish anything more than a headcanon. Just because they could make a character transgender doesn’t mean they will.

And then Season 2 hits.

From the first four episodes alone, one of which Marco isn’t even in:

Marco’s very first appearance is this.

Which, alright, they’re an effeminate person. Doesn’t exactly prove anything.(Edit: We later see in Bon Bon the Birthday Clown that it actually does, but we’ll get to that later.)

They then spend the rest of the episode trapped in a closet that they want to get out of.

Which just so happens to be a Closet of Secrets.

Star even proposes at one point that it might be easier for Marco to just spend the rest of their life in the closet.

And, to top it all off, the writers specifically have Marco spend their entire time in said closet wearing a goddamn skirt.



Then we move on to Mr. Candle Cares, the very next episode Marco appears in.



Almost right away in the beginning of the episode: Marco outright states that they’d love to be a Queen.

Subtle.

Then there’s Red Belt, the very next episode, which opens up with a dream sequence.

Marco finds themselves buried in a casket.

The writers then do a bait-and-switch where it seems like they’re horified that they’re dead, but it turns out they’re actually scared of the fact that they’re buried in a suit.

This is huge. Especially since it takes place in a dream sequence already filled to the brim with symbolism that screams ‘hey this shit is going to be important’.

While it’s easy to take it at face value as a small joke about Marco’s lack of priorities (Which, even then, can be used as evidence of Marco being trans). I definitely think the scene is foreshadowing Marco’s future and the character development they need to undergo.

Some people theorize that the scene is foreshadowing that Marco is going to die. I don’t think so. Rather, I believe it’s foreshadowing the death of Marco as their identity.

Or, in other words.

It’s a visual metaphor for ‘Marco’ becomming a deadname.



Upon seeing themselves in a suit (which they don’t want!), they’re reminded that they’re unsure of themselves and their future.

And how, to Marco, there’s something holding them down. Something that they’re missing. Something that sets them apart from the rest of the cast (!!!!!!!!). Marco interpits this as not having their Red Belt; although that’s a pretty obvious Red Herring, because there’s simply no way that episode concludes all of Marco’s character development.

And especially since this state of unease and generalized dissatisfaction with their life, which, by the way, what’s the term for that again?

Ah, yes.

This dysphoria that Marco expieriences is triggered by seeing themselves in a suit. They feel caged by who they currently are.

And to top it all off?

The corpse is buried in Mewberty Hearts

Which are associated with an oncomming physical change.

(And, as a side note, were featured in the episode that also contains this little bit of dialogue:)



Which Tumblr user applejee pointed out that By the Book later hints that Glossaryk has a sort of ‘Future Vision’, assuming he’s not bullshitting his way out of it (which, granted, is just as likely):

On the subject of Mewberty, though, another connection from the same episode is towards the beginning, as pointed out by @greenwithregrets​ and @jacquelineadelia​:

“Your little boy hands are part of the problem!”



Marco doesn’t make the connection the seemingly obviously connection that they’re a “boy”, and when Star reminds them of it, they look at their own hands in confusion and dissapointment. There’s a considerable pause when this happens before Marco responds to Star.

This could also explain why the corpse was specifically buried in Mewberty hearts: Them being dead and buried in a suit calls back to a time where they were reminded of what they believe to be their reality: that they’re a boy and can’t escape from it. Which is why it causes them so much distress.

Going back to Red Belt, @marcodiazisatransgirl also pointed out a line that occurs afterwords with some pretty huge implications.



In their own words:

Marco hasn’t had just the one “stuck in life” dream, they have had many on such a regular basis that they’ve confided in Star about them. Guys, there is actually something going on with Marco. Like. IN THE ACTUAL SHOW. They have felt unsettled over the long term and the show just doesn’t show it. But it gives us a hint, in this dream, and this line the show tells usthat there is something going on with Marco, not some little throwaway episode problem but something BIG.



Tthis indicates that the dream sequence wasn’t just a one-off foreshadowing thing but an actual problem happening with Marco. Those feelings of unease and unsatisfaction, of feeling different from everyone around, feeling different than everybody else, feeling like there’s something missing, they’re something that Marco expieriences over and over again.

It’s pretty apparent from this that Marco is actively suffering from Gender Dysphoria.

Which the next episode, ‘Fetch’, goes on to basially confirm that dysphoria is a concept the writers know well.

This is not only a suprisngly accurate depiction of what Dysphoria is like, but it also matches up with the events that occured in the dream sequence.

“All I want to be is like them”

After the dog makes their little speech that alludes to Marco’s dysphoria, we immidiately get this exchange:



Which, if the dog’s a metaphor for Marco, pretty much speaks for itself.



And it may even have a connection with the later episode Friendenemies, where Marco themselves is referred to as a girl by Tom.

Yes you could say he’s just singing the lyrics to a song, but it’s a song the writers specifically came up with for this scene. Combined with everything else, it strikes me as very, very intentional.



So what does this mean with everything put together?



Marco, a character who has outright stated they’d love to be a girl, will undergo character development that involves physical change, coming out of the closet, and results in them discarding their current identity as ‘Marco’, which is something they subconciously feel a state of unease (AKA dysphoric) about.

After which, they will likely be reguarded as a girl, and we’ve potentially already been shown a glimpse of end result.

Which is something that may have just been kicked off by ‘Gift of the Card’.

Where, first of all, Princess Marco is back.

After that scene we cut to this.

hrmmm.

HMMMMM

Not to mention that the aforementioned wallet is a Space Unicorn wallet.

As in, a callback to that other thing Marco was insecure about.

And of course, they could just enjoy typically feminine things, it doesn’t necessarily make them trans.

But at that this point they’re practically waving a flag in front of our faces that Marco has some insecurities to work out. (It’s later confirmed in Naysaya that the ballet shoes are in fact an insecurity of Marco’s)

Not to mention the timing of the scene, it’s immidiately after a scene about Princess Marco. If this were just a random point in an episode I wouldn’t have counted it (and there were a few scenes between ‘Fetch’ and ‘Gift of the Card’ that I didn’t count for this very reason), but the fact that they chose specifically this, specifically Marco once again feeling insecure about gender related things, right after a scene about Marco and more explictly gender related things, is very intentional.

But enough trying to explain Why That Kinda Actually Matters, let’s move on to the real meat of he episode: Princess Marco’s getting more involved with the plot, and they’re actually referring to her as ‘Princess Marco’ in the show.

And as usual, her portrayal is the same was as it was in St. Olga’s. Nobody questions it, they all just accept that Marco’s a princess.

And if the ending is any indication, this isn’t it for Princess Marco, and we’re going to get more of her as the season progresses.

So what does this all mean?



Well, as I said earlier, I have a feeling this episode kicked off what may very well be the character arc leading up to Marco coming out.

We now have a major antagonist that reguards Marco as a girl and refers to them with a girl, complete with she/her pronouns. Marco has shown to have gender-related insecurities, openly wishes they were a girl, and has been shown to expierience dysphoria.

These two things are going to collide at one point.

This post will be updated as new episodes come out and we get more information.



ADDENDUM: MARCO HAVING DYSPHORIA HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AS OF ‘NAYSAYA’

And the next episode, Bon Bon the Birthday Clown, expands on that with this scene:

Not only do we actually get to see Marco “covering the mirror when they showever”, but the fact that they’re in the towel from before gives us another hint:

It’s not just because they’re an ‘effeminate guy’, the fact that they’re okay with seeing the mirror when they are dressed like that, rather than simply being fully dressed, indicates which parts of their body they are ashamed of.

Which means that the shame they feel towards their body isn’t just average teenage insecurities and that it is, in fact, gender dysphoria.

EDIT #2:

Remember way back when I said that Glossaryk was hinted at having a sort of future vision?

Since I first posted the theory, gotten a lot of people bringing up that in Season 2, Glossaryk calls Marco “Margo” instead of Marco, but I dismissed it as a bit of a stretch. Since I couldn’t find any transcripts that listed it as ‘Margo’, I figured that people were just mishearing how Glossaryk prounced their name.

NOPE.

The most recient comic as of this writing confirms that these people were right, Glossaryk has been calling them ‘Margo’ this entire time. Given that, again, Glossaryk’s hinted at being able to see through time, it’s a very likely possibility that this is what their name is going to be:

Margo Diaz (Which I personally think is kinda lazy of the writers but I’ll more than gladly take it.)

UPDATE: CREW RESPONSE

I’ve avoided talking too much on the meta side of things, but a number of storyboarders at this point have responded directly to the theory, and reading in between the lines, we can find out the truth. I’ve dumed out my thoughts and observations in this post, but I’m going to explain it a little more coherently here.

To start off, here are the posts from storyboarders on the show either referring to either Marco being trans, or the concept of LGBT representation in Star Vs in general. Parts that I find noteworthy are bolded.

What picture does this paint? Well, for one, the crew really wants trans marco to happen, but as of now such a big change to a major character isn’t something they can do, so an explict confirmation on whether or not Marco is trans is out of their hands.

So the writers have been coding Marco as a closeted Trans Girl in order to give trans people something to relate to with sings such as their body dysphoria or openly wishing to be a girl.

So depending on how things go, they may not be able to give Marco a big moment where they come out and remain a girl for the rest of the reasons. But it’s clear that the writers are pushing get LGBT representation into Star Vs, but by the looks of it all this hasn’t just been one big coincidence: They’ve been writing Marco as a closeted trans girl this whole time.

In addition one of the writers who’s credited on several episodes - including the aforementioned ‘Bon Bon The Birthday Clown’, along with Friendenemies (pictured above) - was the same storyboarder behind the transgender symbol in Gravity Falls that got infamously censored by Disney - which has coincidentally formed the entire argument that Disney wouldn’t allow Trans Marco in the first place.

So we now have definitive proof of at least one of the writers working on Star Vs actively attempting to get transgender representation into a Disney XD cartoon in the past.

ANOTHER UPDATE:

I’ve linked to this part at the top of the masterpost, but I’ll repeat it here.

Heinous dropped a bombshell on us. Marco’s been keeping up the ‘Princess Marco’ persona in private.

This means I was wrong about this all leading up to Marco comming to terms with being trans, because they already did that a long time ago. She’s known she can be a girl and has been presenting as one behind the audience’s back this entire time.

With an episode full of metaphors and double entendres, with people calling Marco ‘Princess’ and ‘she/her’ without anybody questioning it, with Marco easily referring to herself as a girl to an audience of people who know them as one, with a sense of familiarity, and a fuckload of *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*’s from the writers, it’s safe to say that this is confirmed.

She’s literally a closeted girl.

Marco Diaz is a closeted trans girl.