#and not even because of aw2

[lesbianalanwake]

Alan Wake 2 going up in a popularity contest against things with undeserved hype and sweeping best narrative and best art and game direction regardless

[honestlyvan]

(Crossposted to Dreamwidth)

The thing that makes me the most "run around in circles" crazy about Initiation is that Alan wrote the Casey of the Dark Place into the story to help him, and then made it so that Casey knows even less about what is going on than Alan does.

Alan never gives Casey the opportunity to get past step fucking one to help him, explains nothing to him, and Casey ends up with no idea what he's even doing here, no idea what his assigned purpose is, no idea what his narrative goals are. He's an actor given no script, no stage direction, to the point that Casey doesn't even know they're in a story, and it makes him sink deeper into depression with every passing loop with no knowledge to ground him.

And it's impossible to tell if this is because Alan didn't realise that he had the perfect opportunity to write Casey like the Diver, a living repository of Alan's accumulating knowledge about the Dark Place, a seeing-eye dog to guide him through the dark -- or if Alan did try that, and it somehow went so horribly wrong that now he and Casey can't both survive in the same narrative line without trying to kill each other -- or if Alan did try that, and it went horribly right, and now the Dark Presence can't let Casey live because Alan's bespoke perfect little detective is too good at finding out useful things.

And instead, in the story we currently have, Alan made up a guy for a specific purpose of helping him, but because Alan is the protagonist, because it's his story, his fault, his duty and his job to get himself out of it, he doesn't even let Casey fulfil his narrative purpose. What the hell else is Casey supposed to do, Alan, other than the thing you literally made him for? He's the detective -- he's supposed to solve things.

[ilkkawhat]

I can't believe it's almost been a year since AW2 was released. It really changed my life. For better or for worse? Who can say, but I've been having fun.

lol it's so surreal to me that it's been less than a year that I bought and played Alan Wake 2 (one month past release, in November) purely on a whim because I saw people on the silent hill subreddit talking about it and someone even made a meme about "friendship ended with silent hill now alan wake is my new best friend" and I kid you not within just a few days my life just...changed entirely.

I have a lot of depression and anxiety and somewhere in 2023 things just...went wrong and I stopped creating. stopped giffing, never thought I'd write again and drawing lmao forget it, that shit's been hard for me to do ever since a very discouraging experience back when I was maybe like, 11 or 12. stopped going on tumblr, had given up on discord a long time before then and became a miserable ghost doing nothing but burying myself in work in what i will admit is a toxic, overwhelming and stressful environment. I still played games, still watched shows but nothing was like. Sticking with me, I guess? Not like to obsession levels and minus some good vacations I was just...empty.

And playing Alan Wake 2 for the first time was a legit terrifying experience for me--not on the levels of the first time I played Silent Hill 2 maybe (legit locked myself in my room and put on my lamp in the middle of the day cause of the sound of footsteps behind me in that game lol and my dishwasher at the time sounded like that one chugging sound in the apartments) but the dread I was feeling as I got legitimately lost in the woods of Cauldron Lake and turned around in Coffee World (having basically explored it all before triggering the parts where the enemies spawn in) and the basement of Valhalla Nursing Home was thrilling and I was excited to be playing something that was so disturbing and mind bending and emotional, too. Not even knowing the story of Alan and Alice, my heart broke during Alice's final tape. Not knowing Alan's character outside of what I saw in the second game, his "fuck it" moment where he went back into the Dark Place felt so heroic. I felt an odd sense of nostalgia watching the Koskela brothers commercials, like I had known them my whole life. Alex Casey (both the FBI agent and fictional detective) is my favorite kind of wise-cracking guy who has a heart of gold, the old guy who I wish could be my dad. Tom Zane was that mysterious wild card that you know under the surface has something sinister, unsettling esp with his manipulation of Alan but is just so fascinating to watch. Of course I saw so much of my obsessive self in Rose with her shrine for Alan. Saga's time in the dark place felt so real to me, I cried and still cry every time I read that note from her mom at that part of the game (I know you can read it sooner but it packs a bigger punch with Saga's fight to get out of her own mind.) All of the characters quickly stole my heart and ran with it and maybe it was over a few days, maybe it was all at once the floodgates just...opened within me.

I started writing again. First with a character that I never thought I'd write for again because at the time, even just thinking about him legit hurt me. Then I started scheming up fics for Alan. Then I started giffing even from self-captured gameplay footage that I don't think I've ever done before. Then I started drawing in my Alan Wake journal--a journal which, I had not done since the peak of my CSI obsession during my teenage years and even then it wasn't to the extent of what that journal is now (which admittedly, has not been filled out in quite a number of weeks and maybe that's partially cause I tend to journalize myself on here too) And then one day I couldn't contain it anymore. I started sharing again. I don't talk to anybody really like, ever outside of these asks and occasional replies but I truly never thought I'd be part of a fandom again. I worried I'd fuck it all up again (still worry about that) for myself, or others. Or both. But all the kind messages, the kind tags, the awesome people I've started following because of Alan Wake, I wouldn't give any of that up.

And of course things branched off, crushing so hard on him I got obsessed with Ilkka. I played some of Remedy's other games (still working my way through Max Payne 2 and Quantum Break very very slowly) and went back to the first Alan Wake, of course which if I had known about earlier or had an Xbox I'm sure I would have loved it back then as much as I do now. Hell I even platinumed that and Alan Wake 2 and as someone who is notorious for not finishing games other than like. The Legend of Zelda series and playing some other endless games...think it says something that I've managed to beat and complete (I always do the rhymes, stashes, lunch boxes, every playthrough) Alan Wake 2 almost 10 times now.

I was happy. I'm still, for the most part when I'm not at work, happy. Call it what you want, a delusion brought on by a distraction of obsession, a dangerous escape threatening the part of me that is still rooted in reality in the way that like, what if I become too crazy about it where it blinds me to certain things or experiences or chases people away from me because I'm too weird about it (a very real thing that has happened before)

But damn with all of that...I'm having fun with it too.

[velvetjune]

i played the remastered alan wake a while back and am replaying the original on steam, and, honestly, they’re so similar, I couldn’t tell which is which if you held up comparisons. ive come across reviews about the game looking outdated and bad (mostly compared to other releases in that time), but the original looks great and I like the hazy dark lighting for both this and awan

[bitegore]

I've been watching Alan wake's American nightmare gameplay to try to sleep for a while now and. It keeps taking me completely by shock how much me and Mr scratch are the same fucking kind of thing. We even talk the fucking same. He even compared Alan to a rodent talking about putting him in a rap maze and making him run the same thing over and over and over because it entertains him to watch him struggle and fail and struggle and fail and struggle and fail over and over and over. He is just like me. The only difference is that I don't kill people. Because I don't want to go to jail. Like. The fuck actually

[pan0ramy]

so

i'm officially into alan wake now

[neuromantis]

aw2 gave me perhaps, one of the most important realizations of my life. just now. "how do you run from an idea?"

the world i created when i started writing. i liked it. and i liked my characters. they were real to me. but. i could escape there. but i couldn't live there. with my family and friends and loved ones, the only ones i've had then.

i needed to stay outside and keep writing them. i could never join them. so i kept writing. every day i would write more of it, obsessively. and with that came a realization of the genre of the story it was shaping up to be.

i keep calling it "automatic writing", because i really never felt like i was in control of it. ideas just used me as a conduit. the story was telling itself. and it wasn't. a nice story. not one with hopes or happy endings.

i once told someone a long time ago that i couldn't stand writing anymore because i loved those people. loved their world. but if i made more of it. they'd have to suffer for it. so i quit. i kept meeting new ideas and characters and i only wrote down the barest of outlines. because the narrative would inevitably doom them, there had to be no narrative anymore.

i think what also made me stop it, was meeting Adam. a guy i knew like 10 years ago who suddenly messaged me. he re-sent me my own message to him from 2013. "well what about the fact that perhaps there IS a god, but he just specifically hates you?"

the last couple of years made me accept it. Adam is me. N(adam)ian. The one who made it all. The one who set up the rules. The one they'd be suffering for. And I don't want to be that. So I chose to leave them. They don't let me. But at least I can not write.

[bunny-heels]

hey apparently there's an occurrence that can happen in AW2 when you play as Saga in the Nursing Home where Ahti just suddenly starts freaking out and talking like a normal person, and combined with the fact Ahti has been in Bright Falls for 3 years and Scratch was pretty much very close to getting the ending he wanted, and everything is centered around the lake getting fucked up when Ahti is literally a Sea God, it probably means Scratch was fucking with the lake so much to the point where it was making Ahti just lose his mind. and its very fucked up and i fucking hate it and i hate hearing him sad and lost and confused. this is the worst thing ever.

did you guys ever watch the movie A Wrinkle In Time. theres a god-like character in it that only speaks using other peoples sentences. when everything starts falling apart she starts speaking fully for herself, using her own words, and specifies to the main character that it means everything is falling apart. the reason she speaks the way she usually does is because the worlds are balanced. her speaking normally means everything is wrong and something needs to be done.

Ahti is never supposed to make complete sense. like you can generally get the gist of what he's saying but most of the time he's basically speaking his own weird lingo. him making complete sense is not good. Scratch was probably close to fucking killing Ahti even. i fucking hate this i hate this so much.

[pinkomcranger]

my thoughts on Saga Anderson and the lack of spotlight on her in fanworks

Hmmm…this has been bothering me since I waded into the fandom after AW2 dropped. WHY DOES 99.9% OF THE FANDOM SLEEP ON SAGA WHILE IT'S HALF HER GAME???

I DON'T understand the fixation on Casey (even though I adore him and he's the other half of my OTP), or Zane to the point that when Saga is in ensemble art, she's relegated to being the "bro". And for what purpose? She has just as much build up and storyline as Alan himself. She certainly has more screen time than FBI Casey. I see posts going "oh, I love Saga so much, she was so badass" and then almost nothing when it comes to fan work.

Do y'all understand, how, as a black woman, this frustrates me to NO end? I go to her tag on AO3, see new fics, get excited...just to see she's the bro or footnote to CaseyWake. I've literally been brought to TEARS over this. Saga was written with SO much love and care, and it's so obvious. She was not the stereotypical sassy, angry, loud black woman that we tend to get when we're even thought of at all.

And it's genuinely PAINFUL to see all of the love, all of that care, ALL OF THAT RESPECT, IGNORED by fandom because you want to focus on the white men. Because why? I get it, het is so icky for most of you, fine. But to not even give her fanart/fics just on her and her daughter? It's terribly egregious.

Saga Anderson is genuinely a role model. She's smart, warm, funny, dedicated, sympathetic and passionate. She will change REALITY just to save the ones she loves. She's NEVER had to deal with anything like the Bright Falls situation and she came through it with such GRACE. She saved the fucking day. She did what Alan couldn't do in THIRTEEN YEARS. And she gets no recognizance in fanworks?

And I know the majority of this fandom happens to be made up of women, at least for fanworks. You truly mean to tell me you can't, at all, even a little bit, relate to this woman? You can't make her the focus, instead of a background character? The white men are easier to understand and draw/write for?

I can't tell anyone who to like, or who to ship, nor would I ever try to, because on the internet, it seems like het is icky despite how amazing the woman is. But I've seen comments towards andercase fanart going "Saga, no, you're married!" But shipping CaseyWake in the same breath, despite Alan being married and getting back to his wife being the main motivation for Alan to do anything at all.

It comes off as hypocritical, it comes off a wee bit "I don't know what to do with this black woman...hmm, let's just make her root for CaseyWake" I'm left feeling that Sam and the team love Saga more than the fans ever do or will. And that fucking sucks. Because to put so much thought into a character and love the character, just to be ignored?

That hurts, really really badly. I genuinely enjoyed feeling like I was represented. I loved having a character I could relate to, one I could understand. But it feels like I'm in the minority. When she tells Alan he's not alone in this, this is THEIR story...well, that was the truth for me, and I wish others felt the same way.

I genuinely adore the works Saga has gotten that focus on her, and I see so much love and care put into them. It just somehow feels like fandom made this game into CaseyWake 24/7 and it's icky.

[skylitcreations]

Can I just say that I deeply appreciate Remedy showing a marriage that has problems but still works to sort through those despite terrible circumstances because they care about each other enough to do so? I see so many people assume the worst of Alan and Alice's marriage just from the brief glimpse we get while Alan is in the middle of a really rough point in his life to the point they assume she is in an abusive relationship and that she must be crazy to keep trying to find him and not move on.

But Alice made this very clear in AW2 that he didn't get mean until the writer's block hit. When most all of your income comes from your creative endeavors and you reach a block in that, there's a lot of pressure on you to create even when you can't. When you're the primary breadwinner of the home and everyone else relies on you and you can't do the one thing that makes you useful? It's devastating and can ruin so much of how you view yourself.

Did he handle that stress well? No, of course not. He was going through it and didn't care who he brought down with him. Was that healthy? No. It was the exact opposite. Something major had to happen for him to learn his lesson and realize he was being stupid. They clearly had a strained marriage cuz of that, and it could have ended with a divorce despite them loving each other. Sadly, the wake-up call he got was far worse.

Alan didn't know how to handle his negative emotions in a healthy manner, and now he's in a position where those negative emotions quite literally became a weapon against him and everyone he cares about. He's having to face his demons in the most extreme way, and it's made him realize what's truly important to him.

And Alice, haunted by everything that happened (and, eventually, being literally haunted) began to try and stop letting her fears drive everything and take control of things herself. Through this, she began to face her fear of the dark head-on in order to try and make sense of everything and see if she could get Alan (the REAL Alan) back.

They both pushed through because they care about each other more than they care about their faults. Marriage has its ups and downs because we as human beings have our ups and downs. It's not all happiness and roses. Marriage has its thorns. But if you only concentrate on the thorns rather than figuring out ways to work with those, then you'll miss the appeal of the roses and forget why you liked them in the first place.

[rohssillydoodles]

Like everyone else i’ve been having a lot of fun with the photomode (i already got like 400 pics and i’m only halfway through the game).

Because every picture you take with this turns out to look like a goddamn painting I decided life should mimic art and did some redraws of some of my favorite shots. It’s a lot of fun and i’ll probably do even more when I get the time.

AW2 Photo Mode & Acrylic on Paper

[voluntarysubmission]

Reading the manuscripts from Alan Wake: American Nightmare is so funny because Alan loves his wife so much and really seems so sad that he was ever an asshole to her. He's pretty much writing "I sucked so much, I can't believe my wife likes me let alone loves me, I'm so lucky to have her, and I miss her so much, I just want to be back with her, I'm a better person now and I want to be a good husband for her".

He's aware it's been at least 2 years that he's been gone, and that she thinks he's dead and is more sad about that because he doesn't want HER heart to be broken, and hopes she's moved on, but also really wants to get out to be with her again? Thinking about her is how he stays sane in a place that actively gnaws at the mind.

I guess by AW2 he's become much more resigned to her thinking he's dead and less actively just thinking about how he misses his wife, but it's still very sweet that as soon as he realises she's being haunted, he's like "nobody endangers MY wife" and continues to terribly haphazardly try to save her.

Alice unfortunately doesn't get much characterisation through the games, and I hope she gets more screentime in future stuff, but it's nice that Remedy shows that Alan is kind of just a loving puppy even years into their marriage. And she loves him too!!!

Anyway I'm pretty much just pointing at Alan now and going "haha check out THIS guy, he LOVES HIS WIFE, what a NERD" but with as much affection as I can because I genuinely love it.

[cauldronlakefiles]

Alan Wake and The Implications™️ of Gnosticism as told by Carl Jung (1916)

So in AW2 NG+, there is a new video called "Spiral," where he ruminates on the implications of what the Spiral could mean (spoilers below, and a very long post ahead)!

"There are loops beyond these loops. Vast, complex super structures. Beyond what's happening to me now, ahead of me. And I'm there as well. A version of me, something I have become- some elevated, enlightened version- an archon, a demiurge, a demon of some sort- playing a secret game."

Now this is veeeery interesting to me. 

In the Gnostic religion, The Demiurge (literally "artisan" in Greek) is described as a creator of the material world. He is the God of the world, but not the God of the universe. Think Cronus or Odin, under Uranus and Burí. The Demiurge cannot create something out of nothing. He takes matter, already existent and created by the upper god, and turns it into our world, though it comes out imperfect due to the matter being imperfect. 

Then, we have another Greek word admist his monologue: the "archon." The archon is Greek for "ruler" but in Gnosticism, it is the builder(s) of the universe, composed of a team. There's usually seven, and each one rules a planet.

And finally, the demon. That's self-explanatory. In Gnosticism, the definition is interchangeable with the Archons. The Archons are demons and the demons are Archons. Yes, this is relevant.

What I find interesting is the intersection where these definitions meet, the center of the Venn diagram. The Demiurge, the Archon, and the Demon is Yaldabaoth, The Son of Chaos and The Prince of Darkness. He is also known in some iterations as Samael, the Angel of Death, and is primarily viewed as the precursor to our modern day Satan, as well as the Gnostic equivalent to Seth, Saturnus/Cronus, and Typhon. He is described as having a face made of "half flame, half darkness, defiled with blood." 

If you ask what his morality is, you will spur a fishtfight among the occult (as I found out by perusing the various forums and subs). He is generally considered evil or amoral, but he used to be depicted as a genuinely "good" God. He is usually described as arrogant, a "fiery nature," ignorant of higher powers and jealous of other gods. 

Now, Jung further developed his idea of the Demiurge and Archon and Demon from Yaldabaoth, giving him the name of Abraxas, as taught by Basilides. Little is known about Abraxas, as the sources beyond Jung are scarce, though his name dates back to the ancient Greeks. The church burned much of the text that held his name. The Catholic Church outright banned him for being a pagan God and a demon. He is the God of time, and is more powerful and more dualistic than the aforementioned Yaldabaoth (both morally and figuratively) . He was a prominent figure in his book, *Seven Sermons to the Dead,* where he had this to say about him:

"That which is spoken by God-the-Sun is life; that which is spoken by the Devil is death; Abraxas speaketh that hallowed and accursed word, which is life and death at the same time. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness in the same word and in the same act. . . He is the God of the cosmos, extremely powerful and fearful. He is the creative drive, he is form and formation, just as much as matter and force, therefore he is above all the light and dark Gods. He tears away souls and casts them into procreation. He is the creative and created. . . His power is the very greatest, because man does not perceive it at all. He is magnificent even as the lion at the very moment when he strikes his prey down. His beauty is like the beauty of a spring morn. To see him means blindness; To know him is sickness; To worship him is death; To fear him is wisdom; Not to resist him means liberation … Such is the terrible Abraxas … He is both the radiance and the dark shadow of man. He is deceitful reality."

Abraxas is duality, the God and the Devil combined in one. He is the beginning and the end. The first word and the last.

Anyway, we reach the part where he has successfully Ascended. He pronounces himself the "Master of Many Worlds." He becomes, in this sense, an "archon, a demiurge, a demon," and I can only imagine what that entails. Talk about a character arc! 

[wondrouswendy]

James McCaffrey voiced three of my favorite characters in games. Zachariah Trench, Alex Casey, and even Thomas the Poet. They all mean different things to me.

Cancer is a sensitive topic for me. I lost my dad to it a few years ago. Cancer keeps taking family members, friends, and people who I've never met, will never meet, but who I have met through their artistic performances. I hope they know how much their work has been an inspiration, a guiding light, a helping hand during difficult times.

Control and Zachariah Trench helped bring me out of a devastating writer's block two years ago. Working on Days of Thunder, writing from Trench's point of view, helped me grow as a writer and as a creative. I've written countless stories featuring James McCaffery's characters and I was working on countless more when I saw the news this morning. It was a gut punch.

For me as a writer, I try to listen closely to the voice performances to try and mimic the tone, cadence, style of speaking for the character. So I spend a lot of time while writing to try and mimic/iterate on what a character like Zachariah Trench or Alex Casey would say, because obviously with fanfic you have to think outside canon/the box.

Talking with @rangerzath about it, I have to steal something they said because it rings so true to me: "the thing that hits hardest is that all of the characters he voiced were fighting something existential, and it's devastating to know that the man behind the voice was fighting something too" and that pains me on multiple levels. I wish he didn't have to go through this. I wish NO ONE had to.

I'm comforted in the fact that he will live on through his art and his performances of such fantastic, vulnerable characters. I know in my heart he gave his all with his last performance of Alex Casey. His delivery of several lines in AW2 will hit much, much harder now. His performance was truly a masterpiece, and he was vital to the characters and stories being told through this game and others he has been a part of.

McCaffrey will be deeply missed by the fans of Remedy's games, and his presence will be missed in all other Remedy games going forward. It will not be the same without him. I'm sending my best wishes and warmth to his family and friends, may he rest in peace.

[autisticwriterblog]

Autistic Remedyverse Headcanons: Alan Wake

Favourite Ways to Stim: Clicking his pen. Running his fingers over typewriter keys. Rocking himself back and forth in his chair. Biting his fingernails (although he tries not to do this one because he got bullied for it). As a kid, he loved running his thumb across the Clicker after his mother gave it to him.

Hyper- or hyposensitive? Hypersensitive. Alan is very bothered by the textures of his clothes and the foods he eats. He gets overwhelmed easily by loud noises and gets increasingly irritable surrounded by noisy people. He often wears sunglasses even when not hungover because his eyes are sensitive to the light.

Meltdowns or shutdowns? Meltdowns. Alan gets violent if people approach him because he doesn’t want to be touched, and he’ll start hitting himself in the head if he can’t get out of the situation that overwhelms him.

Special Interest(s): Writing. He has loved it ever since he first picked up a pencil. And his frustrations with writer’s block and getting bored of his Casey series will never change how much Alan adores to write. Which is why writer’s block devastates him so much.

Social Issues: Alan really struggles with talking to strangers, which caused him a lot of anxiety when he got famous and people started recognising him/wanting interviews. This is part of why he gets so intoxicated when he goes out partying, because when he’s drunk Alan gets less anxious about screwing up socially and it’s the only way he can cope with going to busy and noisy places. He really struggles with making friends, which is why he relied so heavily on Barry well into adulthood. He masks a lot, although his mask will falter when he gets overwhelmed, tired, or drunk.

Communication: Alan started speaking earlier than other kids his age. He goes semi-verbal when overwhelmed or during/after a meltdown.

Canon details that stood out to me: During Door’s talk show in AW2, Alan thinks he’s being pranked; as someone who easily falls for jokes at my expense, I took this as Alan having experienced this same thing a lot. Alan just generally comes across as a very socially awkward person who reacts to struggling in a situation with anger.

[koskela-knights]

How I think AW2 characters would react to you coming out as transmasc

Alan Wake: He understands. He's been through it too. He'd probably be enthusiastic to share his experience with another transmasc person because, besides Barry and Alice who are supportive, he doesn't have someone else to talk about it. He probably has some old binders lying around which he'd offer you for free.

Saga Anderson: She'd be supportive from the get-go. She would probably do some research to understand you better, but would mainly ask how she can support you. She'd be quick with using a new name and/or pronouns.

Alex Casey: Supportive Uncle Casey comes out whether he wants to or not (He can be a softy even if he doesn't want most people to know). He will give you some life advice and might share his hair routine and hair product secrets with you. Besides that, he will be casual and formal about it and move on as usual.

Thomas Zane: He'd be compelled by you and might see some of his own gender fluidity reflected in you. If you'd feel uncomfortable or uncertain about your appearance he would definitely love to give you some fashion advice. He would probably do, regardless of your situation. He'd like to tell you about his late wife, Barbara who was also trans.

Rose Marigold: She'd try to be supportive but wouldn't know how to be discrete about it in public, which could lead to some awkward outing at the Diner. However, if anyone would try to start shit with you, she would immediately jump to your defense and scold the person in question. She has probably read some trans AU fanfics so she'd have some of the terminology down.

Anderson brothers: They would recall having met the 'rocking transsexual community' during their Ragnarok tour back in 1975. Tor would call you a 'hardcore guy'.

Koskela brothers: Ilmo would start using super masculine words to try to validate your identity, maybe would even start calling you 'sport' and 'champ' (words he normally doesn't use). He would make bad puns too (if you're an employee he'd point out every payment as a trans-action or some shit) Jaakko would be supportive in a more quiet way. He'd perhaps start wearing an allyship flag pin on his jacket and have a small trans flag plotted somewhere in the workshop.

Valhalla Nursing Home residents: Some might not really know much about trans identity, but they'd try to at least gender you correctly. Some residents might tell tales about a nephew or an aunt 'back in the day' who had changed their sex and since then lived as the other gender and everyone was chill with it.

Tim Breaker: He would definitely try to help change your legal papers if you were to live in Bright Falls or Watery and you hand't had the chance to change those things. In the same conversation, he will invite you for a D&D session and treat you like a friend. No big deal.

Kiran Estevez: She'd be serious about it and formal. Quickly changing name and/or pronouns if applicable before your coming out. Trying to relate or show understanding, she might talk about statistics regarding medical transition and the increased happiness rate that often comes with it.

Warlin Door: His stage persona would be enthusiastic, willing to bring you onto the show to tell him and the audience all about your life story and whatnot. Off-stage, he would act formal and neutral about it. As long as you're not in the way of his plans, he doesn't care what your gender identity is or was.