American conservative transgender activist Brianna Wu has been involved in a number of media projects. This page supplements an overview of Brianna Wu’s work as related to the trans community.
In college, Wu published a comic strip titled Socially Unconscious. In 1999, Wu dropped out of college to form Socially Unconscious Productions, with a goal of creating an animated film based on the masculine main character from the comic. After the company failed in a year, Wu updated the strip in a new art style featuring young women that became the basis for characters in Wu’s 2014 videogame Revolution 60.
Around the time Revolution 60 for iOS was released in 2014, Wu began podcasting on gaming and tech topics. Wu also got involved in the Gamergate controversy, which significantly increased Wu’s public profile. Several of Wu’s subsequent announced media projects were never released.
Wu has self-produced media for two unsuccessful runs for Congress and for other political candidates via Rebellion PAC, where Wu served as Executive Director.
Starting in 2023, Wu began appearing in the media to support Zionism, leading to a break with many former supporters in the progressive movement. In 2025, Wu traveled to Israel to produce a media project about Zionism.
In 2024, Wu began appearing in the media to criticize the trans rights movement. Wu is a transmedicalist and transsexual separatist critical of many progressive positions within the trans rights movement. That year, Wu launched Dollcast, a conservative transgender podcast that hosted a number of anti-trans activists and featured a rotating cast of other conservative trans people.
Socially Unconscious universe
Main pages: Socially Unconscious and Socially Unconscious Productions
In 1998, Wu began publishing a comic strip called Socially Unconscious in the Millsaps College student newspaper The Purple & White. In the original version, a masculine self-insert with Wu’s deadname was the main character.
Socially Unconscious Productions (SOCCON) was an animation studio Wu started after dropping out of college in 1999: Brianna Wu (70% owner), Sara E. Champagne (20% owner), and Stephen G. Phillips (10% owner). Wu’s parents gave Wu around $30,000 to cover operating expenses like hardware and software, then loaned the company around $170,000 more over three payments.
Wu’s goal was to produce an animated version of the comic strip centered on a masculine self-insert, under the working title The Cracker. It was never released, and the company ceased all operations in about a year.
Folllowing the failure of Socially Unconscious Productions, Wu returned to Millsaps College in Spring 2000. The strip returned with a new art style and focus in Fall 2000, revolving around women at a fictional sorority and student newspaper. Following negative community response, Millsaps Purple & White stopped running Socially Unconscious after three installments in 2000. Wu dropped out of Millsaps a second time soon after.
Wu never made any loan payments, leading Wu’s parents to dissolve the company in 2002.
Timeline
- February 16, 1999 – SOCCON founded
- March 2000 – SOCCON ceases all operations
- August 26, 2002 – Wu’s parents legally dissolve SOCCON, write off $170,000 in losses, and send Wu to drug rehab
- 2004 – Wu blames Champagne and Phillips for the studio’s failure: “These two assholes ruined my film. [Phillips] is a weasel tried to take financial advantage of the fact that I’m a nice [person] that does not want to cheat people, and [Champagne] is just a lazy bitch that wouldn’t do any work, despite the fact we were paying her. Both of you are human filth.”
After the company failed, Wu continued writing new material in the Socially Unconscious universe, creating a sockpuppet coauthor named “Lauren Milovy.”
- Socially Unconscious: The Election Eve
- Socially Unconscious: The Princess Complex (planned sequel)
- Socially Unconscious: The Heineken Diet (planned sequel)
Some characters would become the basis for characters in Wu’s 2014 videogame Revolution 60:
- Brea Anamatata (a “funky spacekat princess” widely considered an idealized pre-transition feminine self-insert of Wu)
- Minuete
- Allison Holiday
- Lani Cameron
Wu made several unverified claims on the project’s website:
“Socially Unconscious debuted as a four panel comic strip at the Daily Mississippian in the summer of 1998. Gaining popularity, it was soon syndicated to 11 newspapers. The funds to turn it into a movie soon followed and the SOCCON team spent 2 years and $150,000. The sequel, called Election Eve has been optioned as a novel. While developing the script for the movie 13 alternate scripts were written, with different adventures for the characters. I want to produce one of them as a radio drama, following with more if the project is a success.”
Despite Wu’s claims:
- Critics found no evidence that the strip ever appeared in the Daily Mississippian
- In 2025, I contacted Ole Miss archivists, who sent digitized copies of all Daily Mississippian issues in summer 1998. I was unable to find evidence that Socially Unconscious ran during the time Wu claimed. Daily Mississippian ran several syndicated comics at the time: Doonesbury, Arlo & Janis, Dilbert, Shoe, Non Sequitur, and Peanuts
- The strip ran for seven installments in 1998 and three installments in 2000 in the Millsaps College student paper The Purple and White, where Wu was listed as cartoonist
- Critics found no evidence the strip was “syndicated to 11 newspapers”
- Critics found no evidence that Election Eve was “optioned as a novel”
Gadanin Productions LLC
In around 2004, Brianna Wu’s future spouse Frank Wu became interested in producing an animated series with the working title Guidolon:
“Essentially it’s about a Giant Space Chicken whose a director making a movie about a giant space chicken. The whole concept has some great laden humor which at this point is untapped. Right now there trying to make a deal with adult swim to see if they can get the show produced.”
A page on Kaijuphile listed the credits for Guidolon.
In March 2006, Frank Wu incorporated Gadanin Productions LLC (Delaware entity 4132468). Frank Wu wrote: “Gadanin Productions, is now officially an LLC! Yeah! That means if anyone sues anyone because of Guidolon, I don’t lose my shirt. Yeah! Gadanin, by the way, is named after a misspelling of a protein that makes fish smell bad.” [This may be a reference to catenin.]
In May 2007. Frank Wu released a director’s cut of the project on YouTube.
After Frank and Brianna Wu married in 2008 and moved to Massachusetts, Brianna Wu began revisiting characters from the Socially Unconscious universe, with the goal of making a videogame. In 2009, Amanda Warner and Brianna Wu met to discuss possible collaborations. In October 2010, Warner was hired by Gadanin Productions as a LLC modeler, texture artist, and character poser. In November, Warner and Brianna Wu co-founded Giant Spacekat Productions, which was initially described as a division of Gadanin Productions.
Gadanin Productions LLC registered Revolution 60™ as a US trademark in 2014 and as a European Union trademark in 2015.
Chessboard Holdings / Giant SpaceKat Studios
After announcing Giant SpaceKat Studios with Amanda Stenquist Warner in 2010, Brianna Wu incorporated Chessboard Holdings, LLC in July 2013 as Delaware entity 5363216, which did business as Giant Spacekat. Chessboard is the name of the “good guy” spy agency in Revolution 60.
People connected to Chessboard/Giant Spacekat
- Brianna Wu (2010–2019)
- Frank Wu
- Amanda Warner (2010–May 2016)
- “Natalie O’Brien” (2015–2019)
- Carolyn Van Eseltine
- Emma Clarkson (2015)
Revolution 60
In 2013 Gameblyr was the original announced publisher for Giant Spacekat’s first game, Revolution 60. The game was previewed at the 2013 PAX East gaming conference, where it received favorable response.
The game was released for iOS in 2014. In 2016, Giant Spacekat launched a Kickstarter that raised $12,728 to bring the game to PC and Mac.
Many Giant Bomb readers also took issue with my own studio’s game, Revolution 60, which does indeed feature stylized, gorgeous women. I’ve never found feminism to be at odds with portraying the beauty of the female form. https://medium.com/the-magazine/a-follow-up-to-badass-girls-need-not-apply-6bda25f349b2
Project Untold
In November 2014, Wu and Anna Megill announced Project Untold (originally called Project GoGo), which was created to develop Megill’s idea for interactive media. Wu devised a scheme to raise $23 million in venture capital “to build games that are going to let you interact with stories and in extremely organic ways.” In January 2015, Megill began freelancing and launched a Patreon, writing: “Giant Spacekat is funding Untold with venture capital, but that takes time. I have to survive in the meantime. So I set up a patreon.” Megill’s Patreon was later removed.
Wu and other Giant Spacekat employees attended 2015 PAX East panels. On March 7, 2015, Megill participated in a panel with Kim Swift, Brianna Wu, Mike Bithell, and John J. Ryan titled “Do Game Devs Have Creative Freedom?”
Megill left after three months soone after, noting “NDA active” and releasing no further details. Project Untold was never released.
Cupcake Crisis
Starting in December 2014, Brianna Wu teased several clips from a children’s in development under the auspices of Giant Spacekitten, titled Cupcake Crisis. In interviews, Warner and Brianna Wu said it was inspired by Warner’s child.
Cupcake Crisis was never released.
Revolution 62
Wu announced a sequel titled Revolution 62 in 2015. Wu told gaming blogger Jason Weissman of HAO Gamers:
- “We’re going to innovate the hell out of the dialogue wheel. At it’s core, the dialogue wheel is a slightly more complicated version of ‘pick one of three responses’ from the days of DOS games. We’ve got ideas to truly bring innovation to this mechanic.”
- Revolution 62 plans to dive deeper into the dark side of Amelia and the light side of Min, thereby demonstrating the duality of all humans: nobody is totally good, and nobody is totally evil. “R62 opens with (Amelia) experimenting on a C9 shard. The scene is brutal. She’s there, clearly making it feel pain. And it’s academic to her.”
After these initial announcements, there were no further updates. Revolution 62 was never released.
Podcasts
Main article: Podcasts
Starting in May 2014, Wu began co-hosting podcasts, producing hundreds of episodes that focus on gaming and technology.
- Isometric: 102 episodes (May 2014 – April 2016)
- Disruption: 90 episodes (April 2016 – January 2018)
- Rocket: 470 episodes (January 2015 – December 2023)
Wu has appeared on hundreds more podcast episodes as a guest.
In October 2024, Wu launched Dollcast, a conservative transgender podcast.
References
Weissman, Drew (June 8, 2015). Viva Revolution: An early report on Revolution 60’s sequel. HAO Gamers http://haogamers.com/blog/2015/06/08/2575/ [archive]
Wu, Brianna (January 7th, 2014). Women in gaming. The Loop Magazine https://www.loopinsight.com/2014/01/07/women-in-gaming/
Wu, Brianna (January 6, 2014). A Follow-up to Badass Girls Need Not Apply. The Magazine https://medium.com/the-magazine/a-follow-up-to-badass-girls-need-not-apply-6bda25f349b2
Wu, Brianna (December 31, 2013). GOTY 2013: Badass Girls Need Not Apply. The Magazine https://medium.com/the-magazine/1b56d8c8a1fb
Cartwright, Lucas (September 13, 2013). Indie-focused Publisher Gameblyr to Launch Revolution 60 and Pathogen. https://pressreleases.triplepointpr.com/2013/09/13/indie-focused-publisher-gameblyr-to-launch-revolution-60-and-pathogen/
Wu, Brianna (April 11, 2013). Choose Your Character. The Magazine http://the-magazine.org/14/choose-your-character#.UsOHR3nVSNo
Resources
Socially Unconscious (sociallyunconscious.com) [1998–2006 – archive]
Guidolon (guidolon.com) [2006–2014 – archive]
Gadanin (gadanin.com)
Giant Spacekat (giantspacekat.com) [2014–2019 archive]
Kickstarter (kickstarter.com)
- Bring Revolution 60 to PC and Mac!
- kickstarter.com/projects/spacekat/bring-revolution-60-to-pc-and-mac
Revolution 60 (revolution60.com) [2012–2019 – archive]
Election Eve (electioneve.com) [2003–2006 – archive]
Bishop University (bishopuniversity.com) [parked 1999–2000 – archive]
X/Twitter (x.com)
Tumblr (tumblr.com)
- Revolution Raver
- revolutionraver.tumblr.com (2014–2014)
- “Special thanks and a hearty welcome to Carolyn VanEseltine, who scrambled to get labrats.. I mean playtesters of all skill levels together for us and driving all over creation to get to their input for us.”
App.net (alpha.app.net)
- spacekatgal
- alpha.app.net/spacekatgal
5by5 (5by5.tv)
- 5by5.tv/isometric [2014–2015 – archive]