OOPs #305
Feb01
The modern workplace
Shading: Koof
(High-res version available for free over on my Patreon!)
Out-of-Placers
A story of inconvenient changes
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OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
I suppose with how rarely yinglet females are seen among the general populace, the sexual dimorphism of the tail floof isn’t widely known… especially when so many male yinglets go out of their way to appear more female like Lopin.
It also raises the question of how Baxid eyes actually see the world, considering we saw in the previous page he has been shown an illustration of a dark brown yinglet with black hair and a red uniform, aside from the tail fluff, and he is mistaking a completely different yinglet for the person he’s been shown: cream colored with blonde hair and a white sailor uniform.
This isn’t even a “dogs of the same breed look the same to me” situation, these are two completely different yinglets.
Or it could be as simple as he’s so out of his element that he isn’t thinking straight and just asked literally the first Yinglet he saw, without a moment of critical thought.
Edits are needed before distribution!!!!
perhaps they would look similar with only hue? chroma and luma might be nuisances for baxxid eyes, too affected by the environment to be useful. it could only be perceivable in exceptional cases, where the chroma is too low to get a useful hue, or the luma is too high, and might damage the eye or have non-linear effects distort or wash out the hue
That’s true, if he’s seeing in a wider spectrum then a human, especially one made for both very dark and very light environments, those two colors might seem closer to each other.
I feel like a Baxxid saying “uhh” is a bit, unfitting. It’s an idle noise that probably wouldn’t make sense for their method of vocalisation. For them it would probably be more of that rumbling that they begin sentences with.
I like to think the “uhh” is intentionally chosen as an “expression of slight confusion”, since Baxxid are highly logical and had to learn the whole vocalization stuff of the language. ^^
Well you must remember that many baxxids go through a lot of effort to assimilate human culture and mannerisms. Mimicking human idle noises is hardly the most extreme thing they do to fit in.
Oh for goodness’ sake, Lopin…
Oh cool, the comic is updating and the plot is progressing.
yee!!!
Panel 6 made me wheeze with laughter! Part of me wants Kass to stand there for a while in stunned silence so we can see how far Lopin is willing to go with this. Part of me wants Kass to walk up quietly behind Lopin for a jump scare, and then make him squirm with threats of punishment for impersonating an officer. Either way, Kalgkur is about to be extremely embarrassed by this awkward first impression he’s making.
So do you think Lopin is some kind of trans, or is he (for now) just…. Lopin? It’s a leap in logic to be sure, especially considering some degree of ‘femboy’ culture in Yinglet society being prevalent. But a part of me is suddenly very interested in how swiftly Lopin hopped on the train of feminine features being highlighted.
Do you think there are any males that attach fluffy bits to their tail to further enhance their attractiveness to males or pursue some degree of gender transition? So many questions!
Lopin is certainly a queer one for sure, But unlike the Baxxid, the yinglets are relatively new with their integration into human society, so while I think it is possible that Lopin is unknowingly trans, it’s not in yinglet culture to identify as a different gender, at least not yet. once that cultural barrier is broken, I can bet the majority of feminine AMAB yinglets will either embrace being trans, or at the very least consider themselves a submissive femboy.
Yeah, I don’t think Yinglets have a concept of gender, only that some are considered Female and that this is the most desirable trait to have in themselves, because females are extremely valuable and desirable.
Please don’t conflate being female, transfem or feminine with being “submissive”, gross.
Yeah, I can see how that word wasn’t the right one to use, sorry.
Yinglet females are rare, so breeding with them is considered a great privilege generally reserved for the particularly important/impressive males. As a result, most yinglet males seek sexual relief from other males. This is apparently so common that a solid chunk of the male yinglet population adopt feminine personalities and “crossdress” with faux tail floof and other various clothing items and accessories. Based on the technological limitations and relatively primitive cultures of the setting, I don’t think transsexuals exist beyond rare magic/scifi artifact BS like what happened to Kassen. Frankly speaking if Lopin were aware of the concept, he’d probably identify as female… but I think the cultures we’ve seen thus far aren’t likely to invent the concept of transsexuals for some time (though Kassen may accelerate that).
In short, biological necessity has rendered the vast majority of the male yinglet population bisexual or gay, with many adopting more feminine appearances and behaviors to better attract sexual partners. Lopin is hardly unique in his femininity as far as yinglet males are concerned. Based on Lopin’s lack of sexual interest in Kassen as well as his preference for appearing feminine, I’d say he’s gay with a particular desire for more masculine and dominant partners.
Yinglets are horny, and when options are so limited, someone who just looks female is good enough for most. Frankly humans are hardly different when company of the opposite sex is unavailable. Just look at how many romantic entanglements there are in prison between convicts that were pretty certain they were straight before they were incarcerated.
sorry to speak off-topic real quick, but I need to make something clear. I know you don’t mean any harm with it, but “transexuals” is not exactly a PC term to refer to trans folk. it’s more often than not used as a derogatory slur against us by people who refuse to believe we deserve rights.
Other than that though, you make a pretty good point. Yinglet biology has certainly made a large chunk of AMAB yinglets to be more feminine, in order to please other male yinglets. With such a skewed gender balance, of course this would be the case.
The question often is though… how many of the feminine ones WISH they were female, and how many of them are comfortable just being feminine? That’s where the post I made above comes into play. I can honestly imagine that a lot of the feminine yinglets were going to be female, but got unlucky in the genetic lottery. It’s kind’ve similar to how trans folk are born nowadays, except on a much larger scale due to the skewed gender balance.
Yeah, that would be the defining question here on Trans-ness, how much does Lopin want to BE a female versus just thinking it’s good to be one…. Though, I think a lot of transgender stuff lies in human culture: pronouns, roles, perceptions, fashion… All this stuff is part of human culture, not intrinsic to simply existing as a mammal.
Keeping in mind that medical options for transitions actually go way back to before we have records. This includes surgical and hormonal treatments mentioned in records from ancient Greece.
The field guide entries, especially one that isn’t listed in the archive but can be found by going to oops 27 and clicking forward to the next page, confirm that yinglet males are generally happy to satisfy their mating instincts with other males. And yinglets’ enclave society seems to use the act more for social grooming than for procreation, while the idea of monogamy is alien to them. All this is to say I don’t think yinglets use or think about “gender identity” as humans do, so asking Lopin about his might not even be a question that makes sense to him. Whatever the case may be, Lopin does seem comfortable in his own skin, unlike Kass, who was forcibly transmogrified against his will by “that thing.”
Link to that entry…
https://www.valsalia.com/comic/the-val-salian-regional-field-guide/the-val-salian-regional-field-guide-entry-7-yinglets-revealed-part-12/
I don’t think yinglets in general are advanced enough to even grasp the concept of being trans. The only one I can think of (besides Kass) who might is the Matriarch.
It’s not a matter of advancement though. Someone was born male and wants to be female. That is simple, not hard to grasp. Some cultures have overcomplicated sex and gender in such a way that confusion is injected, but Yinglets may not be one of them: for them, there is a caste system of male and female, but it is purely biological in both who is on top and why.
I was referring to mental advancement, since most yinglets have the mental capacity of an 8 year old. Besides, with the ratio of males to females not being 1:1, that throws things off even more. I bet that the more effeminate ones will play up that aspect to get laid more, not because they want to be female instead of male. All they know is that there are a few who lay eggs, and the rest do not.
In Field Guide 4 (FG04), Ran describes two personality types of male yinglets: “aggressive/seeking” and “receptive/preening.” I think, for example, Patriarch Kattajak fits the former type, while Lopin and Patriarch Chakki fit the latter. In a society where emphasizing your “feminine side” is perfectly common and normal for members of both sexes, I suspect there’s far less reason anyone would want to physically “transition” from male to female. What yinglet society has no good place for is the “tomboy” female personality, which we know is a bit of a challenge for Zally. Obviously this is grouping people into very broad categories, and the “mileage may vary” for any particular person.
Also, I think most yinglets are literally less than 8 years old, so it’s no surprise that they act like it. The ones who survive their first decade of life are probably less danger-prone, mellow out, and are good candidates to become patriarchs. Considering that the younglets who met Kass in the nursery were already starting to speak before they were even a year old, it might be yinglets have a natural talent for language, and someone like Pekkit will soon become the first great yinglet poet.
Thanks. That’s what I was trying to get at without digging through the archives.
It’s explicitly stated in https://www.valsalia.com/comic/the-val-salian-regional-field-guide/fg04/ that the observed broad categorizations of male yinglets include aggressive/seeking and receptive/preening behavior, at least insofar as Ran’s sociological studies have gotten at, and yes, the more receptive/preening/feminine yinglets are explicitly stated in said field guide to self-decorate, such as attaching bundles of grass to the tips of their tails to increase their perceived femininity.
Lopin actually doesn’t do this though, as seen here, where his tail is still the more slim type most males have!
The look on Kass’ face is priceless. XD
Yeah, 50/50 if Kass strangles Lopin, or just turns around and walks away.
Taking another moment to appreciate the fact that Kalgkur has been completely naked for pretty much the entire comic.
This page is mis-tagged: whoever put it in didn’t put the commas between them so it’s all one tag.
Dang, so much of this comment section all debating on whether or not Yinglets grasp the concept of being trans. I feel like this is a topic that can be debated till the end of time until the comic makes an official statement of the case.
It is an interesting question, with a lot of information about transgender people that isn’t widely known outside of the transgender community being stated.
How NOT to impress one’s new boss, Baxxid edition.
Checking back for updates, still really wondering what Kass is going to say about this interaction and the way Lopin is basically misgendering them with someone they have to trust with their life…
Am zhinking dat it is less of a gender issue, zhan one of impersonating an officer. Kassen de Human really, really loved de idea of being an officer, and Lopin muscling in on de on fekking zhing zhat Kassen has benefitted from in all of zhis would be zhe zhing zhat gets Lopin choked again.
As a Yinglet, we genderwise are Bi/pansexual for de most part. Lopin got a lot of positive attention wearing a dress lately, and enjoyed it quite a bit, so I don’t see what he’s doing here as even a sexual issue, and one of being an attention whore. De guy just loves being made much of IMHO.