This series was supposed to start later, in November. I wanted it to kick off on Transgender Day of Remembrance and then end on the Day of Remembrance next year with the wrap-up. However, being reminded of some cultural attitudes out there (from my "Not the first: sensationalizing diversity" article on this fansite) made me realize I didn't want to wait.
Anyways, starting May 1st and going every day for as long as I can (hopefully a year) I will spotlight a transgender superhero (and possibly have to delve into the villains, too). It won't matter whether said hero was done well or horribly offensively: I simply want to give them spotlight.
Can I find 365 characters? I hope so. I haven't even found 200 yet, though, and am scouring. Problem is finding characters that fit the bill when I haven't witnessed their source. My guidelines are that the characters be superheroes or crimefighters in a superhero universe (or, in the case of villains, supervillains or lawbreakers in a superhero universe); that sources given are not simply because in one issue they happened to be gender flipped or crossdressed as a disguise (it has to be shown as either a valid alternate reality where they had their gender switched, therefore discerning this as an actual branch-off of the character and not just one of those weird days superheroes have, or the disguise is either permanent or the primary disguise).
Superheroes also means that I won't be spotlighting some characters I would like to look at. Definitely no supporting non-combatant will work (though a bias means I WILL consider non-combatant mutants or the like--things can be a little murky in this regard), but also characters from series that aren't quite superhero. This means manga such as Ranma 1/2 (unless people can give reason for it to be superhero), video games like Final Fight and things like that.
But even though I disregard some manga doesn't mean I disregard it all, considering magical girls and the Dragon Ball and Naruto-like shonen series are definitely superhero. It's a matter of personal feelings, but since I'm not a manga reader, I really may be missing a lot in that arena.
In the end, I just wanted this article to set up what I will be doing, but also get suggestions from readers if they are so inclined to give them. After all, having gotten over 100 characters does not mean I've gotten them all, and the fact that I haven't read or seen their appearances doesn't mean I can't write about them (I'll need to know where a summary of their story can be read, though)--after all, I have a lot of (though likely not all) Whateley characters I'm going to do, without having read any of that.
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