Author: Team Mercury

Hello, we are Team Mercury! Please contact our socials or email us at team.mercury@trans-media.org if you have any questions or concerns!

Categories
Song

glass beach & blood rivers by Glass Beach

glass beach & blood rivers tells a story about two genderqueer people running away from their unsupportive families in a desperate attempt to get away from it all. The two people’s relationship is shown to be storied and affectionate, a beautiful representation of a queer friendship/relationship. This story is told from the perspective of one of them comforting the other, reassuring them that they aren’t a burden and urging them to stay alive.

This song covers alot, and gives us details about the life of the main character from a few of Glass Beach’s other songs, “yoshi’s island” and “bedroom community”. We learn through the second verse as the singer, who I’m going to call “Glass”, comforts the other person, who I’m going to name “Beach”, that Beach’s parents were verbally abusive to them. Despite this, Beach believed that they treated them this way out of love. 

Later in the song, Glass tells Beach about the first time they ran away. They stopped taking calls, and drove away to nowhere in particular, just anywhere but where they were. At one point, someone named Yuki told them to talk their problems through with their family, rather than running from them. 

Full song lyrics: 

i promise you’re not wasting
anybody’s time
and all the things they’ve told you
are so god damn rough, i understand

they said your friends will hurt you
and you’re friends don’t really care
you told me you’re their daughter
and they treat you this way just to keep you safe.

so please listen clearly, i love you dearly
it hurts to see you so torn apart like this
another sleepless night
to laugh about the times we tried to die
with heavy eyes
i’ll stay awake with you
and we’ll keep us alive
til the morning comes

in here
you’ll be ok
and when your heart breaks
i’ll be beside you
so please
stay here with me
breathe in like waves                                                                                                                                                                                          on a glass beach

I stopped taking calls for the first time then I cut off my phone line
and took the highway one for nowhere south
when Yuki said i should just call up family
and tell them how i felt
no one who loves you should make you feel so unsafe
no no one who loves you should make you feel alone

in here
you’ll be ok
and when your heart breaks
i’ll be beside you
so please
stay here with me
breathe in like waves
on a glass beach

blood in your veins,
the blood on your hands
so stop it, you’re fucking hurting her

can we forget about the places that we should be?
we don’t have to go home today.
i’ll sleep on a million couches,
if we have to, to keep us both safe.
until we can take back
the years they’ve stolen from us
we’ll always live like we’re
hopeless kids.

but when
we’re with all our friends
can we just pretend
that no one can hurt us?
cause hey,
i love you, ok?
it’s so hard to say
that i fucking need you too

tonight
when they close their eyes
look up to the sky
and climb up the moonlight
it’s ours
the moon and the stars
they’ll forget who we were
and we’ll be together again.

sleep til the sun sets
sleep til the sun sets
sleep til the sun sets
the summer sun sets.

Categories
Song

Dysphoric by Cavetown

Description:

Dysphoric is about… well, gender dysphoria. This song, with it’s slow rhythm and solemn lyrics, depicts dysphoria in a way that most couldn’t articulate. It shows the hopelessness of feeling trapped in your body and being able to do nothing about it, with the singer pleading “find me a way out, if you love me”.

Song links:

Bandcamp, Soundcloud, YouTube

Full song lyrics:

Don’t let me see what I am
cause I can’t stand it, no I can’t
I’m coming back ’round again
It’s been over a year, I thought this was the end

And now I don’t remember comfort
because what I am is what I’m not
I don’t belong here, it’s just hopeless
Find me a way out if you love me at all

Don’t let me hear what they say
cause I can’t stand it everyday
I’m thinking that I should leave now
and I don’t think I’m coming back this time

‘Cause now I don’t remember comfort
because what I am is what I’m not
This phantom skin, it’s weird to live in
So find me a way out if you love me at all

Categories
Character Game Transmasc

Captain Spaceboy

Spaceboy is never mentioned to be transmasc or implied to be in-game, due to OMOCAT (game devs) not knowing, but his original creator confirmed that he is, and there’s old art of him on her Twitter account after getting top surgery.

Spaceboy is the captain of the Space Pirates, and the player’s second boss battle in OMORI, not including the tutorial boss. Outside of the Boss Rush, he can be fought as a boss twice.

More info:

  • Other names: Space Boyfriend, Space Ex-Boyfriend, Space Husband, Space Ex-Husband
  • Pronouns/gender: he/him, transmasc
  • Media Appearances: Minor character from video game OMORI

Story (SPOILERS!!!!):

As Omori and his friends explore Otherworld, they make it to the house at the top of the campground’s hill. A Space Pirate stands in front, guarding the door, and informs the player that this is the home of the captain of the Space Pirates, Capt. Spacebo- I mean, Space Boyfriend. When the player enters the home and climbs the stairs, they see a sleeping Spaceboy. Another Space Pirate explains that his girlfriend, Sweetheart, left him. He’s been laying in bed, lovesick, since she left. They’ve been cleaning his house for him since, and they want to wake him up in the only way they know how: by playing a special mixtape of his and Sweetheart’s favorite songs. The tape has gone missing, though, and they suspect it was thrown away on accident. The party is asked to go find it in the Junkyard.

Once they get so far through the Junkyard, they find a sprout mole named Rosa, who has just found the special mixtape. She’s a huge fan of Sweetheart, and believes having the special mixtape will make her collection truly worthwhile. The party chases her into an area with a line of caution tape. Written on the ground before it are the words “Do Not Cross” with an arrow pointing at the caution tape. Rosa has crossed the caution tape already, and stands still, unresponsive, in the middle of TVs glowing red that are in the shape of “404”. Crossing the caution tape initiates a boss fight against Download Window. After defeating Download Window, the party takes the tape away from the still unresponsive Rosa, who then begins to react again. She tells the party that she’s heard from a reputable source that the special mixtape was thrown away by Space Boyfriend himself, so there’s no point in them trying to return it. They choose not to believe her. After Kel calls her an ugly plant creature, she promises the party that she’ll be getting her revenge and leaves the Junkyard.

The party then returns and tells a Space Pirate what Rosa said. Kel ignores the conversation, takes the special mixtape from Omori’s pocket, and walks to the boombox to put it in. While he does, the rest of the party and the Space Pirate agree that it’d be better not to play it. Kel then puts it in, and Hero yells at him not to once it’s too late. Space Boyfriend then wakes up. Enraged, he yells at the party that he’s going to make Sweetheart pay for not treating him right. The party tells him that they can’t let him do that. Space Boyfriend feels as if he’s been challenged when Aubrey calls him “Space Ex-Boyfriend”, and a boss battle initiates shortly afterward.

Once the party defeats him, he suddenly becomes polite and kind. He explains that “his other half got the better of him” and apologizes for the trouble. Two Space Pirates, clearly afraid, come to tell him his favorite planet is missing. He tells them it’s alright and to call him Capt. Spaceboy again. He also tells them to gather the crew so they could all go together to get sno-cones, as he believes it’ll help him more than just laying in bed. He thanks the party and says if they ever need anything, they can go to him. Hero takes the chance to ask about Basil, but Spaceboy doesn’t know anything. Aubrey gets more worried and starts to cry. Spaceboy desperately tries to comfort her by giving her a sno-cone ticket and a train pass, saying that if he can go from traveling on trains to flying his own spaceship, then he’s sure she’ll find her friend.

After he leaves his home with his crew, the E key can be found under his pillow.

Later in the game, he flies into Sweetheart’s castle in his spaceship as she’s trying to marry herself and he marries her instead. The next day, she divorces him, and in the true route, the party never hears anything about him ever again.

Categories
Song

calico by glass beach

Description:

Calico is a comforting song for any gender non-conforming people. The singer is comforting a male calico cat, who is a stand-in for a gender non-conforming person! Calico cats are almost always female, so he/him pronouns used to describe a calico cat gives the cat a bit of gender-nonconformity, through which transgender listeners can relate. With the lyrics “Calico, don’t go” and “you’re not gonna leave him alone” the singer comforts the listener and reminds them that there are people out there that care about them and will protect them.

Song links:

Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, YouTube Music, Amazon

Full song lyrics:

Some stray cat came through the backyard
Must have climbed up some fences

You’ll pick him up off the ground
and you’ll hold him in your arms
and you’ll kiss him on the head
and you’ll tell him he’s a lucky boy

Pick him up off the ground
and you’ll hold him in your arms
and you’ll kiss him on the head
and you’ll tell him he’s a lucky little
(Calico, don’t go)

You’re not gonna leave him alone
You’re not gonna leave him alone
You’re not gonna leave him alone
You’re not gonna leave him alone

Categories
Song Transfem

bedroom community by glass beach

Bedroom Community represents the transfem community in a similar way to Yoshi’s Island. The name of this song, Bedroom Community, could refer to an online community that the main character is a part of, a community of trans teens who hide away in their bedrooms online, where they feel like they can be themselves under digital personas. The song goes in depth in different ways, such as her relationship with her father, who is both unsupportive and extremely religious, going as far as believing that “Satan waits upstairs, watching over his daughter”. The daughter is going through a whole emo phase, struggling to express her femininity and writing sad songs as the only way she knows how to express her feelings.

This song also seems to connect to other songs by Glass Beach, specifically “yoshi’s island” and “glass beach and blood rivers”. The repeated verse in yoshi’s island, “run yourself out of words to say you’re hopelessly lonely”, could be a reference to the songs written by the main character of this song. bedroom community includes the verses, “melancholia can spread like a virus, I know you got it from that stupid girl”, which is a line spoken by the father to his daughter. This part of the song seems out of place, as there’s no specific “girl” referenced anywhere else in the song, but it starts to make sense if you consider it in the context of “glass beach and blood rivers”, which centers around two genderqueer characters and their storied relationship. These three songs tell the story of one trans girl’s life and her relationships with her parents and lifelong best friend.

Song links:

Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, YouTube Music

Full song lyrics:

Here it is again, a heart of excitement
in the form of a girl who hates her life
as she sits alone on the floor of her bedroom
waiting for answers, wasting time

Here it is again, the son of a soldier
Remington shotgun, rolled up sleeves
to keep Satan out of the walls of the suburbs
His last bastion of modernity

But Satan waits upstairs, watching over his daughter
She writes emo songs, she’s so depressed
Her lyrics are naive but she still sings her heart out
The only way she knows how to confess

And as she gets up to shut the bedroom door behind her,
he stands right beside her, she’s trying to get her head on straight
With box dye hair to match her black thigh highs
and scratched nail polish, she performs femininity
She laughs so hard, I watch her lose her balance
fall over backwards to the arms of Mephistopheles
but she’ll never leave her bedroom in this bedroom community

He said you’ll never be okay, ‘kay, if you don’t come to your senses
With you everything’s the end of the world
Melancholia can spread like a virus
I’m sure you got it from that stupid girl

You’ll never be okay, if you don’t come to your senses
but I feel so defenseless, so alone
I thought he was right when he said that he loved me
He’s still thinking of me from up there

And as they stop to look at her they won’t look further
Like it’s not a murder, it’s an inevitable tragedy
The bloody hands of all the heartless fuckers
who emotionally fucked her to monetize her suffering
Flipping through a spiral notebook for some
sad, hopeless words to turn into a liturgy
So she’ll never leave her bedroom in this bedroom community

Da-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no-no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
No, no, no, no-no, no, no, no
No, we’ll never leave our bedrooms
We’re a bedroom community!

Ba-da-da-da, da-da-da
Here it is again, a heart of excitement
in the form of a girl who hates her life
as she sits alone on the floor of her bedroom
waiting for answers, wasting time

Sidenotes:

A demo version titled “bedroom community demo 11” can be found on the internet, which is a little different than the released version. Some parts of the tune and some lyrics are slightly different, but it’s not too far off the later version, and is really just as good.

ne Member Notes:

I love this song so much!! I think it’s tied with Yoshi’s Island as my favorite song, it represents the trans experience in ways and words that, like Yoshi’s Island, WILL legit just make me cry a bit if I’m in a vulnerable mood. Like the lyric “but I feel so defenseless, so alone”, OH boy yeah that one hurts sometimes, I love this song

-Sylvie <3

Sorry to anyone who uses Amazon Music and wanted a link. I gave up on finding it because not only am I not familiar with the site, but for some reason the pages are only coming up in Spanish. I’ll add the link when I can ><

-Win!