Wow! I'm so impressed by the thoughtful presentation of Tom's characterization!

I think I said it before but playing this really feels like watching a trainwreck in slow motion. This is absolutely a compliment

It took me several attempts to get past the initial date segment (I think I might have been accidentally re-selecting the same combinations lmao) but once I escaped that section of the narrative, it really unfolds in an engaging way. Tom's voice is interesting to me in the way it functions as a kind of ideological hydra, shifting between manosphere podcast bro vibes, identity policing and preemptive rejection based on what a "true" trans experience might be, and trying to isolate the protagonist away from other people they might learn from. There is a chilling horror in the feeling that Tom is so thoroughly entrenched that he has foreclosed the possibility of nonmasculine gender exploration for now. But I also feel like there is a kernel of hope. The fact that he has to come up with such a wide array of rationalizations instead of succeeding with simpler ones makes me feel like the containment is failing in the long run.