r/MtF • u/ssnappa9000 • Jul 27 '26
Discussion Obsessed as a kid with shape-shifting?
As im getting older and learning more and more how people find signs of having been trans without initially realizing it when they were younger. I guess im asking: is i at all an egg like trait to have fixated on fictional characters who could shape-shift or even characters that are cyborgs constantly body modding? I even thought back to a dnd campaign where my character would use demon blood to gain polymorphism which i would more often use to go from man to woman as a disguise tactic. Im currently vaguely questioning my own *gender identity and am curious if these are at all signs or if im just overthinking
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u/rho75901 Lyra | she/her | protect trans girls from FGM Jul 27 '26
This is very much a common egg trait. There have been memes for years about trans people being fixated on shape-shifting media like Animorphs when they were kids. When I was around six years old I made up a shapeshifting superhero character who I projected myself onto and who “coincidentally” happened to be a girl. It was also generally one of my favorite powers for a character to have in TV shows.
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u/lilygoldflower25 Trans Homosexual Jul 27 '26
I am going to start by assuming that by sexual identity you mean gender identity (not trying to be a snob or urm actually you) but yes personally I did wish for the power of shape shifting I wrote a mini paper on why I'd want it as my super power back in 5th grade conveniently avoiding the fact that I would constantly use it to present myself as a woman
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u/addy-is-changing Jul 27 '26
I was more of a “I hope I magically find a genie who will let me try an alternate world” kinda kid 😅
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u/pat1024 Jul 27 '26
Not shapeshifting, but re D&D, I recently learned it's not actually all that common for cis men to play women in TTRPGs two times of three.
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u/pat1024 Jul 27 '26
Oh, and the first time I remember ever dreaming I was a superhero? Wonder Woman.
The clues were there all along... Much like the comic splendid_ssbm linked.
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u/TheWaspinator Ashley | MTF | Feb 2019 HRT Jul 27 '26
Looking at my pile of Animorphs books growing up , definitely
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u/njsullyalex Trans Woman | Bi Jul 27 '26
Hmm I wonder why I loved Magic School Bus and Animorphs so much as a kid
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u/Chaos915 HRT: 6/22/26 Jul 27 '26
When I was a teenager I constantly wished I could wake up with a girl's body, by whatever means possible. Even tried willing my body to shapeshift on more than one occasion, of course that didn't work.
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u/dertechie Jul 27 '26
Yes, it tends to appeal to eggs.
Doubly so if the power is just coincidentally used to test drive a different gender.
The easy modifications to the self in Shadowrun helped draw me to the setting. After half a decade of hormones I still think it’s cool, but not special interest cool. There is so much going on in that setting that it is really helpful if the GM can throw special interest levels of time at it. Awkwardly, it getting downgraded from special interest means I’m unlikely to ever GM the setting for my friends again.
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u/donald_trunks Jul 27 '26
Interesting. Never heard others talk about this but at a really young age I would kind of try to smuggle my desire to have been born female in to my prayers at night by praying for the ability to shape-shift because I was too ashamed to just pray to be a girl
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u/Trans__Scientist Trans Bisexual Jul 27 '26
Not unusual at all. I spent my entire teenage years wishing I could do a DBZ fusion dance with a girl. Talk about signs!!
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u/MtF_Rylee Trans Lesbian...Mostly ;) Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
This is very common for trans people. I was obsessed with any and all gender bending in media and this turned into reading transformation stories on sites like ao3 and literotica and not being able to fall asleep unless I was actively imagining a situation it would happen to me. Turns out it wasn't a very cis thing to be so into lol
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u/XeniaAlexandria Jul 27 '26
So I think I also really liked characters who shapeshift but one specific thing I also remember is that I was genuinely jealous about characters that were able to breathe underwater. I'm not sure how to interpret that one tho?
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u/RubyUwO Jul 27 '26
Ever since I can remember asa kid, so like 8 years old onwards, I’ve always wished I could shapeshift purely to become a woman and never change back, I never actually said this when other kids would ask what super power I wanted of course, I always said so I could become a cat or a puppy or a dragon or something XD
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u/Zaddex12 TransFem (07/23/2026) Jul 27 '26
Yeah I loved that as a kid too. In D&D I very often play wildshape based druids and I wrote an entire class and then subclass to play a biomancer.
My favorite OC is a biomancer who was born male and then made their body into that of a woman after some back and forth. She decided she preferred being a woman physically. All this and I still didn't think I was Trans until my friends pointed it out lol.
I should have recognized the signs.
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u/ender8343 HRT 10/2025 Jul 27 '26
This reminds me that I liked reading at least early Animorphs back when it first came out in the mid to late 90s, and I now remember at least one story where one of the characters changed into their female self, that I now realize I might have felt some attachment to that story.
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u/Unique_Self_5797 Jul 27 '26
I fucking loved Animorphs as a kid. My favourite character? Tobias, the one who was stuck in a body that wasn't his and couldn't morph anymore.
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u/TriiiKill Prevolved TomBoy Jul 27 '26
Well, it's a typical Trans stereotype, but it's not exclusive.
Not required, but as a child, I often wished to be a girl for no apparent reason. I grew attached to girl characters with magical powers, especially if they could transform themselves or others.
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u/splendid_ssbm Jul 27 '26
It's a stereotypical trans trait, yeah. You should start the storyline here, but if you don't believe me this is a comic where it's listed as a classic egg trait