Board Thread:Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard/@comment-5896827-20161014021044

I felt like Alex was handled poorly. Not a character who happens to be a transgender, but a transgender who happens to be a character. Alex didn't have any defining traits that wasn't related to being transgender (dream jobs, favorite games etc.) The only trait that wasn't related to being transgender was the love of camping. Even that wasn't really explored or explained much. Alex just camped a lot with his family (if I remember correctly). Despite the fact Alex's had a hateful family. It isn’t said how, when or why or what impact it had on Alex. It only there to give Magnus and Alex a similarity.

Everytime a character interacted with Alex, it had to do with gender. I think the only time gender didn’t enter Magnus and Alex’s convos were in an off-hand mentioned conversation off-screen (Magnus mentions they made fun of Uncle Randolph’s place, that’s it).

Alex is a human, not a transgender robot. He has other things going in his life too. Then, we were fed all the information we would ever want to know about transgenders and then some. Alex seemed to be a vessel for sharing the author’s views or educating us about being gender-fluid. To be honest, I felt like I was being talked down upon. I know what those terms meant. I’m not five. If I want a lesson like that, I go to tumblr which I have done in the past. In fact, it was in those moments I forgot I was reading a book and believed I was reading a tumblr post.

The only other traits Alex seems to have is fluidity (which seems to be a defining and important part of the plot and his character) and a chip on his shoulder. Chip on his shoulder is no exaggeration either as he would literally have a murderous rage at even a person looking at him wrong (aka Magnus). It’s obvious Alex has some demons in the past he needs to deal with and a lot of inner turmoil. Rather than helping him deal with it though by allowing Alex like himself no matter what people call him, people cave into his requests and did what he wanted in fear for their life. He could’ve had a very interesting arc and character growth as he learned to love himself but instead we got, “ Ask questions, get the wire.” Alex isn’t any different than at the start of the story beside having a few people he semi trusts.

Tl;dr: Alex's character had a lot of potential but the author seemed to forget that Alex had other defining traits than being a transgender.

Note: Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings. I am not writing this to hurt. I'm just seeing if anyone else was disapointed with how the author treated the character. Alex had so much potential but was instead a tumblr preachy, homicidal teenager.

PLEASE READ: If you respond to this, please keep all conversations civil. This will be about the character Alex, not transgenders. I know a lot of you feel strongly about topics like these because you're part of the LGBT community or very religious. Remember, no personal attacks as that is against site policy and is not acceptable anyways. 