Chapter Text
Trevor Collins: The Icon We Need and The Icon We Deserve
One of the most popular web shows, RWBY , has just wrapped its fourth season. In my opinion, it was amazing and sad, how could they do that? How? This heart wrenching finale won the show a Webby and an award for ‘Best Animated Web Series’. And now, there is groundwork in place for the release of a manga adaptation early next spring. But I actually scored a chance to sit down and talk with the head animator of RWBY , Trevor Collins.
If you don’t know who Trevor Collins is, you’re definitely missing out. He was in charge of most character designing for the show, working closely with the head writers to develop an art style that worked for the scripts. According to Miles Luna, one of the head writers and co-creators, Collins actually helped push the show to the level of representation it has now. “Trevor marched into my room one day and slammed a script down on my desk.” Miles Luna recalls. “He said ‘Miles, Miles, Miles, we need representation here! Queer characters! You know how hard it is to grow up without role models, okay? We need to show our younger audience that they’re accepted’. So, we talked for like, four hours about how we can incorporate the aspects of the LGBTQIA+ community. It’s mostly his fault that we ended up with agender characters like Penny and trans characters like Jaune. That, that was an incredible idea because it lends so much to his story. Trevor is great and I respect him so much.”
When asked about Collins, Kdin Jenzen, a voice actor on RWBY , laughed and said “I love Trevor with all my heart, he’s like an older brother to me.” She continued to say that he saved her life a few years ago and helped her get to where she is now.
Collins recently came out as trans on twitter, saying “Shout out to all those trans kids out there, you can make it through this. If I survived it, you can too.” and then later “To clear up any confusion after the last tweet, yes, I am ftm trans thnks”. He went into more detail in a video that you can watch here , explaining that he identified as asexual as well as homoromantic. He explained his views on representation and diversity in the media, offered advice to teens struggling with their identity, and talked about the effect that being trans had on his mental health. When asked what lead him to come out now, he explained, “I just got married a few months ago and it was- It was amazing seeing my name on the certificate. It felt right, and I just felt that there was no reason not to be entirely open about it.”.
As it was mentioned above, RWBY is a great platform for queer representation, featuring characters from all across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. It features not only Penny and Jaune, but an asexual character named Lie Ren, genderfluid Blake Belladonna, bisexual Weiss Schnee, aromantic Ozpin, demisexual Ruby Rose, and non-binary Velvet Scarlatina. While being host to a slew of queer characters, there are also some straight, cis people, like Glinda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen Even though it just wrapped a season, there have been many reassurances that it will not be stopping, which is great news to any of its fans.
When asked what his plans for the future were at ComiCon, Trevor Collins stated that he was going to spend a lot more time with Jeremy [his husband and main voice actor of RWBY ] and our dog, Goose [known for playing the part of Ruby’s dog, Zwei], but that he was going to continue to work on Ruby and maybe come up with some new character designs.
Jeremy Dooley, when asked about his husband, stated “Trevor is by far the best thing that’s ever happened to me. We met at a dumb college festival a few years ago, and we’ve been inseparable ever since, even though it took me a few months to ask him out. It was a good time, he’s a good guy, and I love him with all of my heart.”
I sat down with Trevor at a local cafe to talk about multiple things. He was very nice and cordial and he deemed it ‘really cool’ that I was interviewing him. I also learned that he has amazing fashion sense, and when I told him this, he offered to go clothes shopping with me. But then we actually had to do the interview.
I asked him about his mention of mental health and asked him to elaborate on it. “My mental health isn’t the best.” He admitted, fiddling with a wooden coffee stirrer. “Some of it is genetic, honestly, but a lot of it was growing up trans with my parents. They were very religious and it took its toll on me. Not that all religious people are horrible, I know some great religious people! But, for a while in my teens, religion scared the hell out of me. My parents made me go to church since I was born, and they talked about the sins of homosexuality and being trans a lot. Like, excessively. It horrified me because they were talking about me, even if no one else knew it. It kind of amplified my anxiety a lot, like the sit up straight, act straight thing. I was so scared of doing anything wrong. I attempted suicide once. Beginning of high school, I believe. I survived, my friend found me on the floor, but I couldn’t tell my parents, they didn’t believe in mental illnesses. And everything got worse without meds, I spiraled into depression, crashed even. And when I came out to my parents as trans, that… That did not go well. Suffice it to say, they believed that I was a sinner and they tried to fix that.” “Do you have any advice for trans kids?” Trevor nods. “Yeah, actually, just keep your head up, you’re real, you’re valid, and I love you, you’re so brave. It’s hard, it’s going to be hard, but it will get better.” “Does your anxiety affect your part in the creation of RWBY ?” “Yes, kind of. There are those inevitable days where I’ll spend four hours on one frame because the lighting is not quite right and I have to fix it because this needs to be the best I’ve ever done. It’s hard, sometimes I’ll end up wasting an entire day and then I’ll work through the night to make sure it gets done.”
It’s about this time that Jeremy Dooley comes into the cafe, a large dog that can only be Goose jumping along beside him. He apologizes for having to drag Trevor away, but I have everything that I need, and Trevor bids me goodbye.
To recap, Trevor Collins is an angel on this good earth and he’s an amazing queer icon. He works on a popular show and is happily married. He also has a cute dog, what else do you need to know?