Pidge

Not Sure What I Want To See Them Do In Season 2, Why Not Both: The Pidge Gunderson Story

No really. On the one hand, a female pilot??? Awesome! They wouldn't even have to change a thing, Pidge could just be themself and have that be cool. But then, does it become a case of "you can be an awesome paladin too, as long as you're completely indistinguishable from the boys"? Feminine rep in these genres would be so cool. Don't let the angry mysoginists carry on in plausible denial that that plot line didn't happen and Pidge is actually Just A Cis Boy - Let Pidge Be Feminine It Won't Bite You I Promise

On the other hand: dies of thirst for trans rep

maybe Pidge will re-accept and lean back toward their femininity (they left cutting their hair to the last minute, it seems; almost remorseful about the change as a marker of their femininity bc let's face it this is a cartoon and shit is symbolic, if a girl (cis or trans) cuts her hair in real life it does not magically make her a boy in the same way you can have long hair and be a boy ANYWAY it's a complex discussion about presentation vs identifying but Pidge's internal identity wasn't the issue for them at that point in time)

OR MAYBE Pidge will find themselves at odds with it all, in which case comes the important distinction of "I can still identify as a girl behaving/dressing how I do because girls can be anything fuck you nothing has to change" (great)

or "maybe I don't identify as a girl but it's because of my own feelings on the matter not because of how other people see my presentation/behaviour" (also great)

or even "actually I identify as neither/both/don't give a fuck say what you want I do what I want at any given time" (my pref I think) IN ANY CASE there needs needs to be some elaboration on Pidge's actual inner workings about it because they are a cartoon character and do not have the agency to define themselves

look what it boils down to is there are not enough characters exploring these issues so Pidge is left in a nebulous void of You're The Only One We've Got So Any Way You Handle This It Shits On Someone and I'm so sorry my space child

please help
I've spent too long here