Introduction

this will be similar to my recommendations but it will only be my favs and I will write why i like them in more detail

keep in mind this isn't necessarily just my favorite stuff but rather things that i have smth to say about or that shaped me


shows

Cover Image for Star vs the forces of Evil

Star vs the Forces of Evil

I think I was about 12 when I first watched that show. It was probably the first cartoon I didn't watch on TV (but online) and impacted my life quite a bit. I was only kinda starting to draw more and I immediatly made fanart of this show after I fell in love with it. At this point I mainly showed my art to my mom and family but because of Svtfoe I joined Amino which was essentially my first experience with social media.
There where definitely some toxic things there however it mainly motivated me to draw more and from then on I realized I wanted to make art.

I still like the show itself. I loved all of it as a kid though now I do think they kinda messed up in season 3 & 4 by adding so much shipping content.
Storyboard image of transfem Marco It's kinda funny how I resonated with Marco back then only to much later find out they where initially meant to be a trans girl which looking back explains a lot about the character and my connection to them. I'm still mad at disney for not allowing it.
Star herself also gave me some gender envy looking back.

Especially these lines in her ballad song in season 2 really summed up the vibe that I admired and aspired to be back then and still to this day to be honest:

'Cause she's a rebel princess, she's the best
She's a ball of lightning in a hot pink dress
She's a thunderstorm roaring through the night
She's our shooting Star, and she's lighting up the sky!'

Cover Image for Kim Possible

Kim Possible

When I was a child I at some point decided not to watch the show anymore because "It's a girl show".
Before I didn't really care for it. I for example loved watching barbie movies as a child and also had a toy horse that was one of my favorite toys.
But I developed some of that toxic masculinity through elementary school.
However when I was like 14/15 I started to slowly get over it and decided to watch it again and I absolutely loved it.
It made me quite mad at toxic masculinity for how it made me refuse to enjoy such nice things and after that I let go of it more and more.
Kim possible is funny enough the show that made me realize how dumb it is to judge media like that in this gendered way.
And it's not even a "girly" show, it literally just has a female protagonist.

And of course there was also some gender envy of Kim looking back. I actually wanted to learn a backhand spring because of her but that never happened obviously.
It still holds up as a great and funny show. Kim and Rons relationship is the cutest and I love that they had to make a 4th season even if it wasn't initially planned as we could actually see them in the relationship and not just have the first kiss be the climax and end of it.

Joss Possible from Kim Possible next to Kim and Ron Also fun fact as a child I didn't have a crush on Kim or Shego but her texan cousin who only shows up in like 2 episodes.
And this fear at the end of season 4 where they have to decide what to do after highschool and Ron is worried to be separated from Kim is so real. Like to be fair I don't care too much about my future career as long as I can do art even if it's just a hobby and be with my gf, but this fear of being separated from the people you love is relatable.
The fear of change.
But that's also why I think it's a fantastic coming of age show because it represents those aspects quite well.

Kim and Ron kissing in the finale

Cover Image for Shera

She-ra

The show may have it's flaws sometimes but I absolutely love it.
Seeing Catra and Adoras relationship when I was younger was amazing. It was definitely not the first lesbian couple I saw in media but I think it was the first time I really saw sapphic love.
catra in suit And it was also this moment that I started to feel this desire to be a girls girlfriend.

Fun fact before I transitioned I always thought Catra was hot but I told myself "No I can't think of her like that because she is for the lesbians". Which looking back is pretty funny.
But yeah I still think she's hot and she always gave me massive gender envy.

scorpia and perfuma

I also love the other characters a lot.
Scorpia is honestly a role model and her love for physical touch is something I deeply relate to (even if I'm not that forward with it like she is).
I also really like Perfuma, and on that note obviously also the ship between Scorpia and Perfuma.
I wouldn't consider Perfuma trans representation since nothing was mentioned in the show but I still enjoy the headcanon/ somewhat confirmed by creator canon that she's trans.

Also I was obsessed with these kind of edits back then and I still am: Catradora || You deserve love too by SnowFalls3 ,
take me back to the start | catra/adora by nialies

Cover Image for Gravity Falls

Gravity Falls

Gravity Falls was one of the first cartoons I really got into just like svtfoe.
I've made a lot of fanart back then and I still adore the show.

gravity falls book I even had a version of the journal and was obsessed with translating all the codes and mystery. And at that point I still had trouble with english because I was like 13, so I was literally reading the journal with a dictionary next to me trying to translate not just the code but also the english.
I even remember especially struggling with the word "muse", which is how stanford described Bill at the start but I didn't know what it meant and the dictionary just gave me the same weird word in german because I didn't know the word in either language but thought I just got the wrong translation.

It absolutely loved the show and the characters back then. Mabel was and still is my favorite because of her happy, kind, excited attitude. I wanted to be more like her in many ways however I also quite related to Dipper. His struggle with masculinity and acceptance for his non comforming parts are of course relatable to a trans person

Cover Image for Gravity Falls

Arcane

Incredible show.
I mainly checked it out for the art which is breathtaking. Like the animation is absolutely amazing and so is the background art.

I've made quite a few fanarts and style studies of this show after I finished because I wanted to learn from it.

viktor

Viktor is probably my favorite character. His entire arc is absolutely amazing.

I also of course love the relationship between Vi and Caitlyn and I'm really hoping they will take this relationship further in the next season.

Also the soundtrack.
God damn it's so good.

caitlyn and vi

Cover Image for Avatar

Avatar the last airbender

what's there to say
If you haven't watched it yet get off this website and start now.

It's an amazing show exploring all kinds of themes from friendship, trauma, war and colonialism and many more.
It also has probably the best redemption arc ever with Zuko.

Toph is probably my favorite character. I love her personality and the way she finds her way into the group and grows comfortable around them over time.

azula I also want to mention how I love how Azula is written as a villian. The buildup to her spiraling in pure anger at the end is amazing and her character as a villian makes a lot of sense to the viewer I think.
Like you can really see why she treats people the way she does and why her values lie where they do.

By the way I think if I lived in this world I would have liked to be an earthbender.
I just think I vibe with that the most.

Cover Image for owl house

The owl house

I love this show so much. The characters are great, the magic system is really fun, the story is interesting and it has amazing queer representation.

I love that Amity and Luz got together like halfway through season 2 instead of dragging it on till the finale.
It was great that we actually got to see them as girlfriends and how they interact. And even just hearing them say the word "girlfriend" is really wonderful and just makes me so happy considering how queer representation is always supressed so strongly.
camila
Eda is such an amazing mother figure and I love her character so much.
That aside I also really want to mention Camila. She is such an amazing, caring and supportive mom. I always love seeing relationships like this in media and the way she just basically adopted multiple children simply because they needed the help just shows so much about her character.

It was sad they had to cut season 3 so short but that considered, it was still absolutely amazing and I cried so much during this finale.

If I could choose a covin I'd probably go with the beast keeping covin because I love animals and it seems to give you some shapeshifting abilities which is dope.

Also the design of my fursona Sky was actually partially inspired by Hunter in season 3.

Cover Image for Amphibia

Amphibia

I wasnt actually super sure with this show for a while because while they weren't bad, I didn't love the episodic episodes that much but the story still kept me watching and after season 3, I don't regret that one bit.
The ending was fantastic. Marcy is a total comfort character for me but I love all the main characters

--(Spoilers)--

anne sasha and marcy I loved the relationship between anne and her parents, how they were kinda toxic sometimes but also ended up growing together.

anne sasha and marcy And I loved they showed friendships don't always last. Many shows end by saying "and decades later they were still besties". But here they don't.
Some friends you lose because of life circumstances, like anne and the planters being separated but others also just don't last. Anne and Sasha stopped being close naturally and while they still know each other and obviously sometimes though rarely see each other, that's it.
And that's sad but also very real and it especially personally hit because of similar experiences.

I don't really talk to anyone from high school anymore (except my gf) and while I made new friends at college, I assume it will be similar with a lot of them and that's unfortunate, but I guess it's also ok. That's just how life moves on I suppose.


--(Spoilers end)--

Seeing these characters grow up like that just really makes me think of my own life and how I'm becoming more and more adult

Cover Image for Wakfu

Wakfu

Had to include the show where I got my name from
I was actually watching it when I was really questioning my gender and was thinking, why not try to come up with a name just in case and see how I feel about it. Amalia just felt right.
amalia It's beautiful name and starts with the same letter as my deadname so it was also convenient. I was actually even considering evangelyne but even I just had to google how to spell it so I think you can guess the issue. Not to mention it would seem very weird in german and no one would know how to pronounce it.

And I also love amalias plant magic and her charater so I suppose it fits well enough. Especially in the 3rd season she was great. Before that she was sometimes a bit annoying but that's totally fair for a 13 year old charater.

I even played dofus for a little while, after watching the show, which is the game it's based on and it's quite fun as well

Also Dally and Evangelynes relationship in season 3 was the absolute cutest and most wholesome thing. I do have some mixed feelings for the season and the ending but it still had many great things.

Anne with an e

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Sense8

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The end of the fucking world

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music

Cover Image for against me

Against me

I dont remember when I found against me and at first they didn't have much of an impact on me but as I questioned more about my gender they became my comfort band.
The punk lyrics and the queerness as well as just banger sounds make this pretty much my favorite band at the moment. Laura has an amazing voice with great energy and the fact she continues to sing the same way she did pre transition is really powerful and helped me find acceptance with myself. Trans people living unapologetically is a big comfort for me and helps me with how I am different from cis people and that is ok.
But of course also relating to "transgender dysphoria blues" with lines like this make me feel less alone with these thoughts

"You want them to see you
Like they see every other girl
They just see a faggot"

Cover Image for yungblud

Yungblud

Yungblud was one of the artists I found when I was listening to a lot of modern rock music. I remember the first song I heard of him which was "loner".
Aside from being a banger itself it lead me to check out the rest of his stuff.
"Mars" was one of the other songs I found early on which is about a trans girl whos parents accepted her after they came to a Yungblud concert with her and saw all of the people around her just embracing her.
At that time when I found him I was starting to express my femininity more still thinking I was a cis boy and Yungblud was one of the people I found comort in. In that time as he also frequently expresses his femininity by wearing skirts and dresses. Something I used to very much admire and still do.
Now that I figured out that I'm a trans girl Yungblud's "Mars" has become one of my favorite songs. I find comfort and joy in many of his songs but especially "mars" helps when I'm feeling isolated or lonely.
On top of that I find it really encaptures the feeling of being trans especially in this time with the rise of transphobia around the world. Shouting out into the world if there is life on mars in hopes to find community and support after the world has made you feel like an alien.
That's what the song means to me.
Mars by Yungblud music video

Cover Image for guns n roses

Guns n roses

Appetite for Destruction was essentially my introduction to rock music.
I used to play a lot of PlayStation with my brother, especially fifa. And at some point, when I was about 10 years old maybe, he found an old vinyl player from my parents and the album Appetite for Destruction on vinyl. So we put that on while playing and I instantly fell in love with this genre.
After that I really got into rock especially older stuff from the 80s and it was the genre I predominantly listened to for the next few years.
I also had this thing for a while where I would write off other genres mainly pop and rap as dumb and boring which is really stupid looking back.
Back then Axl Rose was a sort of role model for me. Not because of his personality but because of his vibe and confidence and also his style. I didn't change my appearance much in these years but this 80s rock aesthetic was something I admired for long.

I probably mainly liked it for the androgynous gender expression and also because I found these rock stars hot.
Guns n roses had a huge impact in my taste of music and influenced a lot the kind of music I wanted to play on guitar though I did move more towards modern rock as I got into my early teens.

games

celeste

celeste cover image

This is probably my favorite game in general. It has a really cute story and the gameplay is fantastic.
I have over a hundred hours in it because I absolutely love it. Though 30 of those hours are in the strawberry jam mod and not the base game.

The story about self hatred and depression and how to deal with that is fantastic and I love that the game has a trans protagonist.

It is a bit weird how most of the game happens sort of separate to the main story with the b and c sides as well as chapter 9. However I also don't know how you could have done it otherwise except for leaving this content out which wouldn't have been that nice.

Kena Bridge of Spirits cover image

Kena Bridge of Spirits

It is definitely the most beautiful game Ive ever played. The animation looks like a Pixar movie and the story made me cry multiple times.
The gameplay is really fun and I love the little spirits that follow you around.
The environment art is also gorgeous.

kena It also has this cool semi open world. The game is relatively linear but it still gives you enough to explore to make the world feel big and alive. And since it's only semi open world, meaning you can't just go pretty much anywhere but have more clear paths, this means that everywhere you can go is a beautifully made environment that will for certain have some sort of reward for exploring.
Unlike bigger open world games where you can often walk for hours through the same landscapes without finding anything interesting.
I actually did a few painting studies of it (which I should probably do more of ) and it made me consider going into environment art for video games but I'm still very much not sure of it.
But Kena really showed me again how beautiful games can be visually.

Getting Over it

relaxing game

Undertale

cant get myself to play the genocide route
also have a crush on undyne so thats that

echo cover image

Echo

Echo: A Magnificent Furry Horror Game by Locke After this visual novel I just accepted that I was a furry lol.

I found out about it through patricia taxxons video on the marble blast series where she just put this random segment on echo and I'm so glad she did.
Though I only got the game after watching the video for like the third time (it was sort of a comfort video for me)
And at that point I wasn't super sure if I was a furry because while I quite liked the art and the community I also didn't engage all that much with furry media.

But then I played Echo and oh my is it good.
The characters/ world building and story in general are fantastic and while I'm not the biggest fan of horror I still loved it.
Every route is amazing on it's own but the way everything is connected and you just get this huge full story in the end is amazing.
I would recommend keeping Flynns route for the end because it's the wildest and also my favorite.
Because of Echo I also started Adastra which is equally amazing.

Minecraft

Minecraft has been one of my oldest gaming experiences. It was by no means my first game but definitely one I played the most. My time with the game however was nothing special. I played it a lot with my older brother back then but also alone. I remember building all kinds of things without ever looking at any references or tutorials. They looked shit but it was fun and I liked them

I recently found out that Mooblooms could have been in the game and now I'm mad about everyone who voted for the damn glow squids instead.

Moobloom Minecraft mob next to a bee. The pixel art animation was from the offical mob vote.