Because I saw a lot of confused posts by people who seem to think that the Trans Lars headcanon has sprung out of nowhere after “The New Lars”, when in fact this episode only further completed a picture that has been in the making for a long time. Don’t believe me? Here’s everything I could find to indicate that Lars is a trans boy, from the very beginning.
*
First of all: From his looks to his mannerisms, Lars is someone who
adheres to a quite strict code of hypermasculinity that is, apparently, self-imposed.
If you look at his environment and at the people he associates with, it does not seem likely that he picked up that kind of behavior from direct outside influences. Sadie is totally chill and also doesn’t give much of a hoot about stereotypical gendered presentation. The cool kids are also chill, and actually surprisingly in touch with their not so stereotypically male sides. Ronaldo? – Nope. Now we met his parents, and they also don’t seem the type for toxic masculinity. But Lars draws the need to be perceived like that from somewhere, and if it’s not from the pressure and the standards of masculinity coming from the people around him, then where?
I mean, this is almost a caricature of “manspreading”.
Sometimes – ok, pretty often – he takes it too far and comes off as simply a jerk (though I feel like I need to mention that Lars has some very real emotional issues and this is by no means all related to him being trans!), but as it always is with over-the-top behavior in a certain direction: it’s mostly just there to distance yourself from something else that you really don’t want to be associated with. In Lars’ case, the most distance from being seen as a girl is achieved by playing up his masculinity, and as he’s still young and insecure about himself, he tends to overdo it.
In Lars and the Cool Kids, Lars takes center stage for the first time. And takes off his shirt. Some people have used this to discredit the trans theory, because his chest is flat and he doesn’t have any surgery scars that we can see, but actually, I beg to differ. It is unlikely that Lars at his age would have had top surgery done anyway, but surgery is not the only possibility here. He could be on puberty blockers. He could be on T. Additionally, he could just have naturally small breasts – you know, those exist. And if you look at Lars’ build (barely discernible upper chest fat, no hip fat, skinny as a stick), it seems that he has just always had a very boyish figure anyway, no matter what gender he was assigned at birth. (EDIT: For those who don’t want to discount surgery completely: there is such a things as Keyhole or Periareolar Surgery, which is perfectly suited for naturally small-breasted people and leaves little to no noticeable scarring. Thank you @papercrane for pointing that out!)
And looking at him in this episode, he is definitely not completely flat-chested.
A boy that skinny has no business having that much muscle in his upper chest area, and yet he is consistently drawn with that slight outward curve of his chest and the line in the middle of it. You can often even see it while he has his shirt on. This is not character design happening on accident; this is very much intendend.
And I believe Lars is aware that he passes very well, but maybe not entirely upon close inspection. It doesn’t seem like going around shirtless is something he is accustomed to, and his reaction when he sees the Cool Kids all undress for going swimming is the opposite of enthusiasm: shock, maybe a little bit of fear.
He then turns away to take his shirt off and visibly steels himself, taking a deep breath and a sort of “I can do this”-moment before turning around again, ready to face them.
Then, of course, they almost get eaten alive by Rose’s moss and Lars saves the day with Steven, all the while shirtless, and by the end his initial anxiety about it seems to have all but dissipated. He even initiates Steven’s “chest-high-five” that he had been fending off before; showing, I believe, both that he has bonded with Steven and that he has become a little more confident about casual touches in that area being okay.
We get another very nice shot of Lars’ upper chest area in Coach Steven.
And really, that looks pretty obvious to me. Especially as he’s, you know, facing downwards, so gravity is doing its part to amplify the effect.
