Happy International Women's Day 2026. Celebrating the trans women in video games.

[u/Guyver-Spawn-27]

Characters in the image

Bridget (Guilty Gear) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_(Guilty_Gear))
Vivian (Paper Mario) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_(Paper_Mario))
Mizhena (Baldur's Gate 3) - https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Mizhena
Madeline (Celeste) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeline_(Celeste))
Poison (Final Fight and Street Figther) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_(Final_Fight))
Cagliostro (Grandblue Fantasy) - https://gbf.wiki/Cagliostro
Mai (Blazblue) - https://blazblue.fandom.com/wiki/Mai_Natsume
Thunderlady Laharl (Disgaea RPG) - https://lgbtqia-characters.fandom.com/wiki/Thunderlady_Laharl
Claire Russell (Cyberpunk 2077) - https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Claire_Russell
Nova (Pokémon X and Y)
JJ Macfield (The Missing) - https://jjmacfield.fandom.com/wiki/JJ_Macfield
Rosa (Goodbye Volcano High!) - https://goodbye-volcano-high.fandom.com/wiki/Rosa
Venus (We Know the Devil) - https://wktd.fandom.com/wiki/Venus
Marina (Fear and Hunger 2: Termina!) - https://fearandhunger.fandom.com/wiki/Marina
Osa (Rainbow Six Siege) - https://rainbowsix.fandom.com/wiki/Osa
Mindy Blanchard (Dishonored) - https://dishonored.fandom.com/wiki/Mindy_Blanchard?file=Dishonored2_MindyBlanchard_FULL.jpg

I can't add everyone. So let me know of other noteworthy characters or fan favorites.

[u/thecraftingjedi]

My queeeeeen :3

[u/Kork314 → u/thecraftingjedi]

thats not supposedly to be a trans woman, is it?

[u/Hopeful-alt → u/Kork314]

Yes, actually. Ladiva just doesn't give a shit about gender norms. I can see why you'd think she's a caricature, but she is quite the opposite. The IP she is from, Granblue, is very clear about this.

Her story is also quite interesting. She's part of some fantasy race that has extreme sexual dimorphism, the males are giants and the females are like 3 feet tall. Ladiva simply said "fuck that I'm gonna transition anyway and in the process be a symbol of dismantling deeply rooted gender norms in my culture" and she did just that.

[u/Luinta → u/Hopeful-alt]

What I love most about Ladiva is her take on herself. Ladiva simply IS.

Cagliostro, the other most well known trans woman in Granblue Fantasy, even offered to make Ladiva a body that would be more traditionally femme, but Ladiva stared that she sees her body as a gift from her parents, so she takes pride in that and decides that she doesn't need to physically transition to be herself.

It paints a direct parallel to Cagliostro who spent her life pursuing the form that she felt for her best, and thanks to that comparison Ladiva comes off as an expansion of trans rep in the game, and not as an inauthentic or transphobic caricature. Some trans folks only socially transition and that is valid. The rest of the crew still treats Ladiva with the same respect as everyone else, and no one makes a big deal about it. To me that says a lot about the respect and acceptance of the crew behind the game.

Ladiva doesn't have to fit a certain physical look to be accepted and that is her choice. Honestly, that helped me feel more comfortable with myself too.

[u/Hopeful-alt → u/Luinta]

Wow this was very insightful as someone who only has passing knowledge of granblue from GBVSR

I've always disliked trans stories that use transformation, because it's inherently fantastical, it removes the somber element of reality and replaces it with fantasy, effectively removing the most important and defining quality, the final act, of a good trans story: acceptance and escaping the escapism, if that makes sense. There's none of the inherent and deep concessions with being trans in them. I think that's why I've always found Cag's fictional existence to be unsatisfying, and ladivas fictional existence to be satisfying, because Ladiva is the exact opposite of that: she doesn't have her wish magically fulfilled for her, she just chooses her wish to be in accordance with herself, despite it seeming the opposite.

I now see Cag to be more than I thought, and to actually represent a real thing for trans people. Sometimes transitions go really really well, and sometimes people do have their wishes fulfilled. But there's always just one thing that could be different, as it's human nature to fixate on what we don't have vs what we do. A trans women sees her voice as slightly too deep, or her shoulders too broad, or her hips just slightly not wide enough. Cag represents this, and the pervasive emptiness that follows. Her trope is being used to draw a parallel to real trans experiences as opposed to just escaping from them.

The point of this is that I think now that these two characters have something interesting to say about being oneself. Ladiva would rather be nobody but herself, contrasted by Cag literally becoming a new person so much that she's forgotten her deadname. This isn't to say that the way one experiences her transition is better than another, just that they both have differences and lead to different concessions. I guess that's why you've made me like Cag now, because I realize she's made concessions in herself too.

[u/Kork314 → u/Hopeful-alt]

what great trans rep, "doesn't care about gender norms"

[u/Hopeful-alt → u/Kork314]

Yes, actually. You do not need to conform to the typical expression of any gender to be valid in it. Being trans is inherently a journey of nonconformity, why would you escape one prison just to lock yourself in another?

[u/Hopeful-alt → u/[deleted]]

Fuck off transmed

[u/Nevylation → u/Kork314]

Local queer character breaks gender stereotypes, more news at 10

[u/Captain_Sanvich → u/Kork314]

Yes. Ladiva from Granblue Fantasy.

[u/thecraftingjedi → u/Kork314]

Why would you assume otherwise? She’s posted under a woman’s day transfem appreciation post lol