Since it's pride month, I can't think of a better time to talk about this.

So like... the scene in Alternate Reality Show where Paintbrush tells Lightbulb about their gender is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire show, and it's also really important to me.

I love how Paintbrush's gender is described as being C: None of the above. Like, there's no need to try and fit them into this box. They can just be their own thing, and that's completely okay. The fact that it also wasn't a big thing and it was handled with so much understanding makes it feel like really good non-binary representation, which we definitely need.

I first watched Inanimate Insanity and this episode before my egg cracked, and I was still identifying as cis. I loved this scene from the moment I first watched it, because I was very down for LGBTQ+ representation as a member myself (I already knew I was omnisexual), but it also just resonated with me in a... non-cis way, that I didn't really realize was non-cis at the time. A lot of it was definitely me being hyped for the representation, but I also think that part of me felt... seen. Understood. Accepted.

I also think that while my gender questioning was coming to its peak, that scene helped me feel like it was just okay to be who I was. Like I didn't have to fully fit into the binary. Whether I was A, B, or C, (or if it was an answer that continually changed, like what turned out to be the case for me) I could live as that part of myself without feeling ashamed. And when my egg finally cracked and I realized I fell under the non-binary umbrella, I was able to really appreciate this scene in an entirely different way. It just feels so personal and real to me.

(Also while we're talking about eggs cracking I could ramble about how the entire Baby Shimmer plotline could definitely be read as a trans allegory if you squint hard enough, but I know that's almost certainly not what the writers had in mind so I'm not gonna bother)

Anyways, I just really love this episode, and this scene, and Paintbrush, and I don't understand why I care so much about the fictional anthropomorphic objects, but whatever. One general consensus that hopefully most of us can agree on is that Inanimate Insanity rocks.