On the Trensparent podcast with Nyle Nayga, educator Tanner Tattered discussed melanotan 2 at length, while sharing his observations about looksmaxxing influencer Clavicular.
The remarks about Clavicular came after a viewer asked about possible remedies for autism. Tanner began by addressing what existing research actually shows.
“Melanotan is actually studied on a model of autism in rats. So it showed that it reduced autistic behavior,” he said.
He then acknowledged the limited human evidence on the topic while referencing more informal observations from his audience.
“Have we tried this in humans? Kind of,” he said. “You know how we joke that we’re autistic and maybe like there’s a little bit of us that’s like kind of weird?”
Tanner explained that he had previously asked his followers to report any noticeable changes after using the peptide.
“For my followers, I talked about it. I said, ‘Hey, have you guys noticed anything like this? If you try it, let me know what you experience,'” he said. “I’ve had a lot of guys come back to me and say, ‘I’m way better at detecting social cues. I register sarcasm better. Conversation flows better with strangers. I’m less like abnormal.'”
He then brought up Clavicular’s use of the peptide directly as an anecdotal example.
“Not to bring his name up again, but Clavicular is actually a funny example,” he said. “I think that Braden (Clavicular) is definitely more on the autistic spectrum than not if you watch like some of his mannerisms and how he acts.”
Tanner claimed that during periods when Clavicular appeared more tanned in videos, his behavior seemed different.
“But during a period of time he was taking a lot of melanotan and in those videos where he’s a lot tanner, his mannerisms, his facial expressions are a lot more organic than when he’s not on it,” he said.
Despite the speculation, he emphasized the limits of the observation.
“This is entirely observational besides the one rat study,” he said. “If you have someone who has like legitimate fully to the point of like society dysfunctional autism, I don’t think that this is going to make a meaningful difference.”
“They might just get tan and still be autistic, but at least they get a cool tan,” he added.
Earlier in the episode, Tanner had laid out his view on melanotan II versus melanotan I. “I think that melanotan I actually is just kind of inferior to MT-II in every way,” he said. “The only reason you’d be using MT-I is if you didn’t want any of the non-tanning benefits.”
He described the relationship between related peptides using a family-tree analogy.
“You can kind of think of a family tree like MT-I off to the side, PT-141 off to the other side, and then MT-II is like the godfather of everything,” he said. “It does all things.”
Addressing cancer concerns, Tanner pushed back against what he described as exaggerated fears surrounding the compound.
“Pigmentation is protection against UV damage,” he said. “When you use melanotan, all you’re doing is getting a little bit more pigmentation for the same amount of UV damage. So overall, you are more protected against cancer than if you weren’t using it.”
He also offered practical suggestions for managing common side effects.
“You can take an antihistamine usually right before, a couple minutes before,” he said. “Sometimes that does offset the face flushing side effect that a lot of people don’t like with it.”
