Gotta post this for posterity: this video was released on June 30 2022, roughly one month and 9 days before Bridget's reveal in Guilty Gear Strive on August 8 2022. As a result, my reading of Bridget in this video does not take into account her new plot direction in Guilty Gear Strive, something that I have discussed at length with my discord and with my friends. I'll repeat the plot points here: I am totally cool with this new plot direction, and I think it really adds some purpose to Bridget's whole journey. Allow me to provide my reading of Bridget's new plot: At some point before the events of Strive, Bridget _does_ manage to achieve what she's been chasing after since XX; to prove her 'manliness', she actually becomes a top-class bounty hunter with tons of money, and is so successful that her village even stops believing in the twins superstition. But she finds that even this doesn't bring her the closure or satisfaction she thought it would. Even though she's far from home and no longer obligated to abide by the superstition, the fact that she has spent her entire bounty hunter career attempting to defy it means that she never truly escaped it in the first place, forcing her to abide by a false expectation that she put on herself. But to lose this identity she has built for herself would mean that she is nothing without it; "I'm afraid of losing what I have", in her own words. It takes a pep talk from Good Dad Ky and Pro-Trans Uncle Goldlewis to learn that her hardship hasn't been for nothing, and she now has the freedom to choose who she wants to be; to be the person that makes her the happiest, not the person she _thinks_ people want her to be. It is actually an extremely common theme in Guilty Gear Strive that characters come to terms with who they are and their place in the world; Testament, Bridget, Baiken, Jack-O', and many more share this theme. A lot of people expressed that this change in identity also takes away from her representation as a transfemme male, but I don't think anything is taken away from the character at all. If you looked up to Bridget as a transfemme icon, you absolutely still can. The important takeaway from the story is that labels aren't as carved in stone as people think they are. People change, learn things about themselves, and sometimes come across bumps in the road. Some people spend their entire lives never knowing who they really are. But Bridget teaches us ultimately that you can choose who you want to be. Not because anyone expects it from you, not to prove yourself to anyone, but because you deserve to be the person who makes you the happiest. Be who you want to be.
Agreed! :D One little thing, it's been roughly 1 month and 9 days since the video was posted and Bridget getting announced; I think you forgot July 😅 Have a lovely day
@@thechugg4372 imagine thinking genuine appreciation and respect for a trans character is just a fabricated story to selfishly protect one's self _in a video about appreciating LGBTQ+ characters_
The people I used to run with back in the day when Guilty was new would always make fun of me for playing a homosexual character. "You know your character is gay right??" for anytime I thought anything was cool about Venom. That shit was so annoying and I'm straight so I can't even imagine what actual gay people had/have to deal with at the time. 22 years later and I just think Venom is cool as hell.
Well, probably was actually good at Venom to which is why they said that. Fuck, literally the word gay felt more of a slur to me back in the day then the word fag was yet now fag is the slur. It's weird. Hell, same reason I picked up Venom. He's fucking cool and I wanted to learn a charge character so I thought I would pick him up as he could also go in and do damage and not just zone. Like, the amount of expression you have with him as a character is insane as Venom players all play Venom differently. Some use the balls more, others use his fast hitting attacks, some use him as rushdown, others zoning and setplay. Honestly, the character is pretty much works with the themes of GG. Being different, living and expressing yourself how you wish. Not to mention one could even make the argument and joke that a gay guy using a bunch of balls and a long rod to poke and fight the enemy either from far or in your face is pretty gay yet super cool at the same time.
Oh right! I just remembered something even more funny! They said Venom was gay but probably played Sol, a character who was LITERALLY named after a gay man Freddie Mercury in two parts. His real name is Frederick and his epitaph of Badguy is one of Freddie Mercury's nicknames. One character who is expressly gay and one character who is based in, named after and even likes the music of a gay man that Daisuke himself loved.
Ngl Ladiva not going for a sex change and keeping their body as is but changing their gender identity is kinda wholesome and could def be a nice inspiring and motivating story for people who are in the same boat as her.
Testament's list of hobbies is so funny to me. It's like Daisuke was like 'what do non-binary people like' and then just wrote down every single answer he found.
Its not even "what do non-binary people like." It looks like they just wrote down every single hobby that came to mind. Off note, but big step-up of Fighting games that just go "Likes: Fighting. Dislikes: Mean people"
She's a true pinnacle of self-love and unshakeable confidence, something many more of us should strive for because we're all awesome in our own respective ways
Poison isn't trans lmao smh. She was in final fight but they changed her sprite to a male sprite because of censorship and back then it didn't look ok for a male protagonist to beat on female enemies. That's the real story.
THE GAYEST FIGHTING GAME made me laugh so hard. But jokes aside, Ladiva's backstory is so inspiring, it honestly makes her one of my favourite characters of GBVS
When I first watched Seth's story mode, what I took away was that he was an exaggerated depiction of gender dysphoria. Literally struggling with your own body because it clashes with your identity. The computer voice in Seth's body even establishes that gender was the incompatible parameter which made his programming not function properly. I agree that it was mostly a botched plot and I see it as basically a display of one of the struggles of being non-cisgender instead of a story about identity
I think that you and a lot of people are trying to add more to seth's plot than there really is. The transfer process to the new body went wrong because juri fucked up the transfer and didnt care to fix anything. I really dont get the gender dysphoria thing because when fighting and in a lot of their animations seth seems pretty comfortanle with their new body. They're insane because the seth a.i is completely busted and they can only think about bison, it gets so bad that any trace of psycho power is registered as bison. An incomplete rogue a.i going mad the more sentient and aware it becomes is a cool concept to explore but the devs probably kept it simple because it's still a street fighter game and they probably didnt want a soma level existencial machine crisis character in their story. There is no "botched plot" when there really wasn't much there to begin with tbh. To me the most interesting part about seth is the whole doll unit 0 deal, WHO THE FUCK is that. Was that a prototype for mass produced dolls?seth's original body?juri's mother?(they look very similar), I think if anything that's the most interesting part about this narrative. Sorry for the block of text, and I do appreciate your theory. I just think that everyone is trying to spin this story as something that HAS to do with seth's gender identity because the idea of having an nb character in sf is cool it really is but they become dissapointed when it really isnt the primary focus of their struggle and call it a "botched plot" when, again, there really isnt much in there TO botch
@@NACHO1111NAC I see your point but if that is the case, I find it very strange that they made a point of having Juri point out that Doll Unit Zero is a woman and imply that it's somehow related to Seth's malfunction. That's what bugs me about this plot
I'm not into Granblue and thought Ladiva was a very bad joke on trans people and all. Now learning about the race dysmorphia this is wholesome as hell. I fucking love Ladiva now.
In the mobile game she got an event where she part-times as a bartender and the whole event is basically other characters confiding and consulting with her regarding their worries. It was super wholesome.
"Anyone can fight and anyone can win. In the ring, we are all equal." That's fighting games in a nutshell, and thats why this genre is so powerful to depict LGBT+ representation. Great, great video, mate.
There's a bit in Testament's episode mode where Chipp is baffled that somebody as extraordinary as Testament has a normal day job, to which Testament says "I AM normal" and I think it fucking rules to see a non-binary character say that so loud and proud.
I like that line from Raiden about "They care where your heart is, not who it belongs to." Or however it went, it's acceptance while also being like "we're warriors, we don't have time to discriminate"
Yes! PERSON 1-"DUCK BRO!" PERSON 2- "Excuse me! It's MA'AM!" PERSON 1- "Whatever, kill that dude!" PERSON 3- "OMG I'M A WOMAN!!" PERSON 1- "JUST KILL THE BITCH!"
Just a small heads up: normally non-binary identities are considered as part of the T and/or Q in LGBTQ+. It's not to say that anything is the video is worg, just to help disentangle the terminology.
I think that line comes from how many people make sure to distinguish between "queer and trans people", reserving queer to people that aren't straight (which would then make "queer and/or trans people" more accurate, but whatever)
"In the ring, we are all equal." The FGC is the only community I've ever been apart of where that's utterly true. Doesn't matter if it's Ricki Ortiz, SonicFox, Lil' Majin or WhiteBoi Anderson, everyone's hype and trying to learn from each other. Zero social barriers or "proper ways of existing," we're all just trying to have fun and/or win a tournament by learning from ANY stronger player and teaching the learning ones. Got to experience that again at CEO 2022. Because of this, fighting games are the greatest gaming genre to me.
Kung Jin is always a difficult one I find since people just leap on to paise how sublet it is when if you have to clarify in a tweet "he's gay" in a fighting game it's too subtle. I'm genuinely tired of folks assuming being open about your sexuality just makes "your entire personality gay" because they never apply that same logic to straight characters they can be straight and a person but a gay guy is always seen as just being gay and thier characteristics are discarded by the audience because they're just that gay guy.
gotta say, as a Granblue player, the "... And Belial" made me laugh really hard. and honestly, GBVS being the gayest fighting game makes sense when the original game has quite a few characters who could easily be interpreted as gay or bi. Hell, some go beyond subtext to being pretty much text (hi Meg, Grea, and Anne, lol) hell, during Valentines or White day you can change a setting to make it so that the game ignores the gender of your MC, so technically we can make almost everyone bi, LOL... though i say almost, since there are a few who have set relationships who make sure you don't forget about them on those days (hi again, Meg, Grea, and Anne)
Granblue really doesn't shy away of showing when character have interest in each other leaving very few to interpretation. Because of that i find strange to categorise Zeta as a lesbian, i play gbf for more than 5 years and i can't say if she is or isn't because she is a character that never shown any kind of romantic feeling towards any other characters nor even Gran/Djeeta, diferent of her friend Beatrix that even tho she tries to hide have a thing for the capitain. The closest one would be Vaseraga but that would be a stretch, because the game tends to pair him with Almeida, and even if he is the person that right now Zeta trusts the most they more like budy cops than a romantic pair
@Emma Planas as a cis man, I initially thought that Arc Systems was doing bad faith representation with Bridget. Then I read how her story in XX actually goes. Tl;dr I may be a moron
He canonically still is male. The arcade endings the one where he transitions in particular which you get if you fail isn't canon. People are more than welcome to accept it as such but in the actual lore it's not Canon he still femboy
Hey, just wanted to thank you for citing my video in your work. It brought a smile to my face, not just for having my work recognized after all this time - but for seeing someone else go to bat against the too-often perpetuated censorship myth. On a more personal note, as someone who eventually transitioned herself, I appreciate your highlighting and celebrating diversity in a time that sorely needs more of it.
I'm so glad you liked the video, I reference your video very often whenever I get to talk about Poison, and it inspired me to go ahead with this video in the first place. Part of what I love most about fighting games is the way they express character, and there's just something incredibly special about how fighting games tend to handle their best LGBT characters that no other genre has really yet to accomplish.
Testament is such a rad redesign. I don't think I've ever seen someone's queer identity so deftly weaved into their plotline. Knowing the struggle Testament went through makes their new presentation so much more gratifying to see. A lot of trans characters in fighting games already WERE trans when they're first introduced, and that's great, but it's cool to see someone come into their own identity over the course of the franchise rather than know who they are out the gate. Threading in their new androgynous presentation with their new outlook is such a fun bit of character work, I think they pulled it off really well.
A couple small notes: 1. Another way you could describe Bridget is “gender non-conforming”, a type of gender expression that doesn’t match the expected gender norms 2. Not sure why you mentioned non-binary separately throughout the video, but the T in LGBT covers both binary and non-binary trans identities, in case that wasn’t clear. Still, this video is very much appreciated and I do enjoy seeing the good rep we get in media highlighted. Happy pride! (Note: as of Strive, Bridget is actually a trans woman now)
Maybe I'm just out of the loop here but I don't see how trans can be non-binary. To my knowledge non-binary means not identifying with either gender while trans means being biologicaly one but identifying as the other
@@andret3739 “Transgender” means identifying as a gender other than the one assigned at birth. For some, that’s the opposite binary gender, for others, like me, it’s something outside of that binary. In fact, the white stripe on the trans flag is meant to represent non-binary trans identities. Hope that helps.
@@andret3739 nonbinary is an umbrella term for every gender identity that's not male or female. Trans is also an umbrella term for people who don't identify with the gender they were assigned with at birth. Not all trans people are nonbinary, but all nonbinary people (unless an individual doesn't want to be referred to as such) are trans.
@@terreausore2435 they aren't bitching, they're just educating. In the Bridget section he literally admits himself it's not something he knows too much about. If you don't understand the difference, I'm worried for you
@@terreausore2435 "This salad is really good, but the cucumbers are kinda rotten, I think." "WOW, THE CHEF MADE A WHOLE SALAD AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO COMPLAIN THAT PART OF IT WAS BAD?"
Ok, have to give GB credit. I have heard the "she's actually 1000 years old" excuse to have a bait loli character in your franchise. But never have I heard "But she's actually an ancient mtf trans alchemist that transfers her soul to the body of a girl" twist to it.
Lolibaba (that's what the trope is actually called, meaning "loli old lady") is not an "excuse" for anything, it's a trope that plays off contrasts between an extremely old age and a childlike visual design.
For a long time i struggled to find a gender identity that would fit me, never knowing if i wanted to transition or not. and then GBVS came out. I didn't know anything about it but I gravitated towards the buff grappler as i usually do and then noticed Ladiva used she/her while having a beard and being muscular and i seriously went "You can do that!?!" i was fascinated by Ladiva, her manerisms and her aesthetics and just... everything really. She made me discover i was non-binary and helped me discover myself. I may still not know much about GB, but i can't thank Ladiva enough for giving me an identity and showing me i could be myself without restrictions
Ladiva looks like such a power move, loving her body because her parents gave it to her. I wish more people would be more accepting. Ladiva is well loved and accepted so she's able to embrace both her soul and body and I find that very beautiful.
I love Riesbyfe in Melty Blood for just being a massive lesbian flirt whos also a serious knight of the church. These two things are never really brought up as conflicting with each other.
a little fact: there's actually a third trans rep in the original game, named Barlurga (the only one of the three who's FtM)... though unfortunately, he hasn't had as much time being in the game to iron out some early "oof"-ness as Ladiva and Cags... but a recent event did feature him and did him a lot more justice (hell, the one time he was misgendered was to show what an absolute asshole the event's villain was, and Barlurga looked and sounded about ready to feed the dude his own scrotum after he said it)
@@joshblackwell8632 You'd be surprised what can sell people. The main reason I ever considered Strive in the first place was Faust. There's a lot of things that I enjoy about the game, but Faust was the big reason for me to try it.
I think this channel might be my #1 when it comes to what covering I love about fighting games. Way too many content creators in this genre that I know cover only the competitive aspects of fighting games, but fighters are so much more than just excellent 1V1 action. How these games can express such a wide variety of different characters with their own personalities and themes is beautifull. It's an aspect that makes games like Team Fortress 2 so beloved.
One thing that I feel is worth mentioning about Cagliostro, as someone who's learned about GBF lore primarily through osmosis, is the fact that she's absolutely in love with her body to the point of ocassionally making people uncomfortable. And I feel like its kind of beautiful having a trans character carry around a mirror just to oogle at themselves for achieving their "true form" while being willing to admit that, to many people, that would ne really fucking weird to do anywhere besides the privacy of your own home. But Cag doesn't care. She's adorable and perfect in her eyes, and girl feels obligated to spoil herself at every opportunity, even if it means making people squirm from radiating a manic level of self love.
I think Kung Jin was one of the best gay characters because his entire character wasn't "The Cartoonishly Flamboyant Gay Guy" Like some characters end up being outlandish stereotypes. And it's always great when they aren't.
Me before watching the video knowing that Venom is going mentioned: Venom is so fucking cool. Me after watching the Venom segment: Venom is so. Fucking. Cool.
Poison is probably my favorite Street fighter character and as a trans woman myself I hope to one day have the kind of self-confidence and living my best Life energy that she constantly radiates
Indeed. Both her and Seth are very inspirational to me as a trans, since they both never get nervous or feel ashamed but are confident and proud of their abilities, and it never is a central focus which imo is the healthiest way to represent it
@@blyat8832 Seth is more like a robot who doesn't care what body to be in rather than feeling one way or another. Same with M.Bison who keeps the Dolls as spare bodies (even if female Bison could be a thing since SNK vs Capcom).
I LOVE the interpretation of Venom’s hair as a metaphor for “blinding” his judgement, and in his ending when he puts his hair up, it’s him valuing himself and un-clouding his vision. I always took a tactician’s interpretation and thought that his hair was a way to hid his gaze from others, so they can’t see how he will hit the pool balls.
Note:I wrote this before Bridget was revealed to officially be trans*. Not sure if I should just let it sit as a catalogue of my mistakes or just delete it...Either way I feel like an idiot who now lacks representation. Bridget is a character who could have easily been a joke, but given that Guilty Gear is essentially a heavy metal anime fighting game, he's just another over the top personality in a roster of campy over the top personalities and that's awesome. As a GNC man, he was not necessarily the representation I wanted when I was younger (like goth him up and add some serious occult vibes and that would be perfect), but the representation perhaps I needed. He could go toe to toe with a bunch of badasses without having to sacrifice any of those things that made him stand apart from a lot of other guys. Also, Testament always had a killer design, but this redesign is just next level. I know they're nonbinary, but still as a gender nonconforming guy, that's a look I wish I felt I could pull off.
She* Bridget goes by she/her And apparently thanks to people like you she's still considered a joke character disgusting chasers and coomers are meant to fap to...
Even though I despise Cagliostro's personality (egomaniacal types and bratty kid tropes always rub me the wrong way), I still respect her as a great example of a trans character. Ladiva is the BEST though. Amazing video as always!
The way i interpreted Seth was that the "Doll prototype" was one of the most up to date replacement bodies made for Bison since his preferred choice of body where women (the dolls). When Juri got the body she turned it on to find if it could be programed into a ally or something without knowing that Seth was in it. Getting corrupted from the process broke every sense of identity Seth had made for himself before, drilling into his mind that he is not the leader of S.I.N: the tyrannical weapons manufacturer bent to bring conflict to the world, now he exists only for Bison's sake. So he keeps saying "MY NAME IS SETH!" over and over, telling himself frantically that he still has a identity besides being a spare body for Bison. The fact that his voice and his pronouns are kept as male while in the female body shows that despite having no biological sex (being an android and all) being in a female body don't change the fact he still identifies as male(calling himself king at multiple times), if gender wasn't important for his identity that wouldn't happen, we would just call him "them". Therefore he is trapped: his body and mind in a state he don't identify as himself. It shows how much it sucks to be in a state of self you don't identify as your own At least that's my take on it... Besides, didn't Ryu canonically beat Seth in that SF4 animation? Isn't it canon? In conclusion, i like Seth as a character! Even in SF4: being that featureless bland looking robot who actually has a full fledged personality, personal philosophy and goals, being very human for a robot!
I feel that fits Seth more than giving him a gender identity, he was still proudly calling himself a king and saying that he was still Seth. I feel still having him be non-binary can work for him since he seems to firmly stand with his own beliefs.
@@Perdix64 It most certainly could work! Despite of his "personality module" being the thing failing and the imagery of his body having changed from a male design to a female one, Seth claims that "This version of Seth is true perfection!" Knowing how Seth is, if he was able to sort out the issue wiith the "personality moule", he surely would keep the superior body! Now if Seth would keep identifying himself as a man like he did before, start identifying herself as a woman to fit the new body or identify themself as non binary by virtue of having both male and female traits it's hard to say. There is no way to make right or wrong assumptions about Seth's gender on the way the character is right now. Maybe that's the point. I keep using male pronouns because i think that at the end of the day Seth didn't change at all besides from his apparence. He still has the same way of talking, fighting, and expressing himself (besides that personality error), so if Seth was a "he" before, Seth is still a "he" now, but just on a woman's body. If someone thinks that this interpretation is far off the mark feel free to tell me tho. I'm just glad to have more oportunities to discuss about gender! It's something i always struggled with and really like to talk about (if those comments and one i did about Testament on another video don't show it XD)
Yea pretty much what I thought to. It's pretty much an analogy somewhat to forced conversion or even gender dysphoria that someone forced on you on a whim basically. Something done outside of your control and in a similar instance to Testament. As Testament had his body fucked with after they died so did Seth to the point both ended up loathing the world and trying to find meaning. Seth more so do to still having some control and frantically trying to keep their identity. Testament on the other hand found peace with Dizzy and then continue to come into their own by hanging out with Dizzy's parents, IE the old couple who raised her and continuing to find more beauty in the world. Hell, in Seth's case you could actually see that in their gameplay as he always keeps absorbing new abilities and trying to reclaim himself by continuing to do what he always did but now he's so fucking unhinged shits getting to him. His moves be direct copies actually reflect that to as after winning he goes from calm and every movement is completely the same his more original moves and personality shown at the end shows someone who is more unhinged and rabbid.
@@Perdix64 How can you be "non binary" when you're an artificial man-made humanoid machine devoid of gender? He's far more of an "it" than a "them" considering his nature and the fact he's incapable of human reproduction.
Not even a "may or may not". She all but looks at the camera and says "I am a Trans Woman". Daisuke (series creator and head writer) said, in no uncertain terms that she's a girl now, too.
Funnily enough, my intention was to watch this video to recognise LGBTQ representation in the genre, but you also ended up reinforcing to me why Guilty Gear's characters and narrative is so amazing. I've met a fair deal of people who tell me it's wack, but I've always been hesitant to believe that as it never sat right with me when characters like Venom, Testament and so many other cool characters exist with their own personal struggle and arcs.
Ladiva is basically what I hope for LGBT characters, She is a very respected individual, a good friend and true to herself. the part where she refused Cag "Gender transformation" offer with " I was born this way because of my parent love so I refuse to change my appearance" is beyond base
@@ikagura in short, a lot of legal precedent gearing up to strip away what rights queer people have fought tooth and nail for along with hate crimes ramping up because the perpetrators feel emboldened by it
I'M SO HAPPY SOMEONE REMEMBERED JIN AND TANYAAAA AAAAAAAA People Often forget that MK had Jin as the first LGBT character in the franchise and it often frustrates me how often i have to correct my friends on Discord on this fact!
When Testsment was revealed to make it into Strive and I saw their new design I felt such genuine happynes seeing how they were living their best life, it was like reuniting with an old friend after years and seeing that they are doing great. Now I want an extra chapter for the story mode (like they did when Baiken got added) with them on it.
@@blyat8832 calm down. i was just excited and kinda hoping for some representation. I love when i click a LGBTQ video and find one of my fav youtubers in the comment section. its so hot
@@JP-br4mx I never got upset or mad lmao, my intention for my reply was to let you know that he does support/like them, not to attack you or anything like that. Don't assume stuff
Bridgette has the brand of trans vibes where he is a gender non-conforming cis man who’s story feels like a trans man (having to be raised as a girl even though he’s really a boy, wanting to be seen as a man, etc.). He’s technically not trans but he’s just as limited by our world’s gender norms, and it’s inspiring seeing him break free and find himself.
18:50, there's a multilayered joke in there somewhere about Venom wanting to express his feelings so much, that he forgot the small detail that his interest is literally blind...
I always liked that Blazblue has Mai (a trans woman) and Amane (a crossdresser). I like that it distinguishes between the two since so many people still refuse to do so. I also like that it shows both characters in a generally positive light.
Amane is also canonically gay, 99% of his plot being about his lust for Ragna. Also, he's an Onnagatta, which ends up being used as shorthand for queer a lot
Mai is... awkward as a trans character though due to the "genderbend" tropes around her, i.e. that she never willingly chose it, it was never a part of her identity until it was forced on her. Compare that to the characters mentioned here from Granblue, for example, and can see a clear difference in what they represent and the agency involved for the character's identity.
I honestly like this cross dresser interpretation of Bridget, though I will accept Strive's new transgender interpretation. Still happy as heck for Testament having a happier life.
@@ByaKyuren I don't judge, people throws these subjects so much nowadays that makes other people getting far from the cause and realise that it was supposed to be normal.
It was nice hearing about Bridget, though Gender Identity and Gender Expression are definitely two different things. I see Bridget (and some other characters) as more early attempts at representation but before the understanding/cultural awareness was at a point to have it more clearly. It's more like they're related conceptually though not officially within, I think. Crossdressing is more an expression of gender rather than another identity all to its own. EDIT: BRIDGET IS CANONICALLY TRANSFEM NOW OH FUCK
You people are ridiculous. Bridget's entire character is about hiding him so they didn't exile or kill him because it was bad luck to have two of the same gender twins. It was forced on him by his parents (Surprise, 2022 and parents are using their children as a rainbow purse fashion statement.) >I see Bridget (and some other characters) as more early attempts at representation but before the understanding/cultural awareness ... Bridget's first game was in 2002, dude... I hate to break it to you but Japan has been doing crossdressers in media decades and decades before that. Hell, Kabuki was originally women actors playing both male and female, and later men playing both male and female (sorry no in betweens). The funny part though is only the creator's know if they're making fun of y'all or not. The fact is that you all care and twist other people's work into something that may or may not be there because you need it to be true more than the person who made it......
@@QQnowQQlater The impact of a work depends on how it's interpreted, not by what the author intended. That's 101 when discussing culture and entertainment.
I love Ladiva. Excellent portryal of a character...and I appreciate that she is so comfortable with being herself that she doesn't need to change anything about herself to be who she is.
One thing I've always liked about how fighting games represent characters in these struggles is the good ones weave it in super well. Like I love what they did with Testament because it feels like they are Testament and they are also non binary for lack of a better way to explain it. Their personality shine so much that I love them and when learning they were NB it was like a "oh I'm happy for them moment" and not a feeling of them just slapping it in because they needed a NB character. Its like Sol, I love Sol because of everything he believes in and has done but the fact that he has a wife is a "oh thats cool" moment for me.
You can tell that Kung jin is character and not a token because they didn't hesitate to eliminate him in the next game because he didn't stick with audience at all
@@Darkloid21 if it was just being a token they would've keep him because it's not like that token doesn't work now but instead they kick him off because it didn't work as Kung Lao's replacement
@@Soulxstar actually it’s because he’s a token that they kicked him off. It was a non threatening way to score points that could be safely ignored. In short him being in the game didn’t count. It’s not the same as taking out Jax which would have been noticed and been met with WAY more backlash.
@@lunasperidot8760 yeah but in the case of Kung he was just a low effort and risk include to score points who had nothing to him besides questions about his sexuality. Then again it’s MK so I wasn’t expecting much
@@burni988 Yeah that's true. It's really hard to name any mainstream trans male celebrity besides elliot page. But that's a special case because he didnt get famous as a trans man, he was mostly closeted.
Even though it's through subtext, and likely not intended, Bridget is also great trans masculine representation! His story about being perceived as an omen, as well as his drive to prove this superstition wrong and to prove that he is just as much of a man as every other man, and literally being assigned female at birth (well, shortly after birth, by his parents), works incredibly well and I find it very empowering from both a trans masc point of view, a gender nonconforming point of view, and a queer point of view in general. The fact that he is always adamant in his identity as a man, the fact he doesn't let anyone be mistaken about it, and his genuine strength as a character who can hold his own against the cast of Guilty Gear, are reasons why I find Bridget in particular to be very strong representation, despite a lot of the LGBT themes not being overtly told to us. I hope he is considered for Strive in the future! Edit: DAMN THIS AGED LIKE MILK JUST DISREGARD THE WHOLE DUMPSTER FIRE OF A REPLY CHAIN UNDER HERE THIS COMMENT MEANS NOTHING AND BRIDGET ISN'T A CROSSDRESSER ANYMORE
In a lot of ways, he works as trans feminine representation too. We're always getting reduced to 'guys in skirts', so it's cool to see a character who embraces that. He's honestly so messy that he can kind of be read every which way.
Bridget is awesome, but I don’t really think he can be considered trans. He’s biologically male and still identifies as such. He’s a great rep for transvestites though!
@@frustratedsquirrel I just draw parallels between his society perceiving him as female because he was designated that way after his birth and the trans experience in general. I really don't think him technically being biologically male harms the reading of Bridget being a trans man, considering that his primary struggle is that his family and society would not accept him for who he is, he can't "come out" as a man, so to speak, without facing severe ostracization. He was designated as a girl without his consent, and he doesn't just want everyone to accept him as a feminine man, but a man in general. So I think it works, I think it's great representation through subtext. But that's just me though.
That was really wholesome. When I noticed the video ended and was going to press the like button I saw I've already liked it in the beginning because I was already expecting a nice talk coming from you. Love your videos, keep up with the amazing content =) (sorry if something is incoherent, I am a Brazilian fan of yours and my knowledge of English comes only from browsing and gaming on the internet for years)
I’m glad to see this covered. Hopefully we get more queer characters in SF6 in addition to the eventual return of Poison, with Poison ideally getting a new trans English VA in SF6 (maybe Testament’s VA, Kayleigh McKee, she’s great). That said, I’m pretty sure Seth uses he/they pronouns interchangeably within SFV (Falke refers to Seth as they, while Dan uses he when referring Seth). They’re obviously still non-binary, but I’m just being more specific with the pronoun usage. As for MK, I’m not too big on the Jacqui slander (even though I agree that Kung Jin’s absence in 11 was disappointing).
Seth refers to himself as "king" in some of the sfv win quotes so I assumed using he was correct, but maybe the original japanese term for king/queen has no defined gender.
This video slaps!! I honestly wasn’t expecting much given the reputation of fighting games but this was enlightening and an overall interesting watch!! Thank you :)
i'm honestly so glad that you included bridget. while yes he's not not literally queer in-lore, when we're talking about fictional stories then we have to take time to recognize coding and subtext-- bridget may not *literally* be trans but he still very well represents both the struggles and the joys inherent to transness and gender nonconformity, so thank you for including him and recognizing that importance edit: WOO!!!!!!!
"Granblue Fantasy Versus is THE GAYEST FIGHTING GAME!" Put it on the back of the fucking box. I also have the great mental image of Ladiva just being like "Momma gave me this big muscle body so I could HUG BETTER, DAMNIT!"
I love Cagliostro, her pursuit of ultimate cuteness is something to be admired and it’s something I myself often thought about. When I saw Testament’s i was in genuine shock. And in all honesty I didn’t think much about them in the story, but seeing their growth into accepting themselves and loving the world they once hated, it was such a great way to wrap up their character arc.
I really liked your video, as a Mexican I get very happy seeing my country represented on any game, but I'm also glad that people from any country, culture or in this case the LGBT+ community get represented in many such cool ways in this awesome videogame genre 👏👏
ABI what a beautiful video, thank you so much for this, I was just learning Leo in Tekken and read online that Harada confirmed Leo to be NonB, so I was thinking about this topic yesterday. It's great to see FGs represent our community in wonderful characters like Leo, Ladiva, Poison, Testament, Mileena, Venom and more.
Great video! Just a nitpick. Probably separated non-binary people from LGBT just because you went to highlight them, but we're totally in that community. People of different sexualities and gender expression, as well as gender identity and sexual intensity are all under the umbrella. I love this video so much! I've always been in ally but my intensity had waned over the years because I was around a lot of toxic people. I got away from all that and I realized it was stunting my own growth and my own journey. Recently I was able to come out as non-binary (the bi-gendered variety) and it's so cool seeing representation in games I didn't even know had it. I got into street fighter recently and I had heard about Poison before, but I was only aware of the myth and didn't know that she was planned as a trans woman to begin with. That is so cool! And I didn't view stuff as non-binary but it makes so much sense. It's a shame that the story doesn't really highlight that in an interesting way. If they bring Seth back, I hope they can do something interesting with them.
Also, I want to mention that I find Poison funny, because I once told a Trans-workmate about her and she said "Nah, she isn't trans, her hips are too wide."
While some trans women have small hips, this is certainly not every trans woman.: -Hrt distribute fat on your thighs, so every trans women have some hips based on much fat you get from that. -If you start before your hips bone fuse (before 19-21), you hip bones will grow on hormones. -They still do grow on hrt after around 20 years of hormones if you start really late. -Some trans women get fat graphs on their hips (which I assume is why Poison has those hips)
"two knights that feel very strongly about each other" but that's not Vane Also other things that help Cagliostro's reading as trans is that she gets really pissed off when someone outs her as being born a boy like when Clarisse called her her uncle
As both a transwoman and a huge fan of your stuff, you really knocked it out of the park with this one. You handled the topics of gender and sexuality really sensitively, with the quality you reserve for all your other videos. Made me smile, fantastic work!
One thing I like about Kung Jin is how he has a masculine design. There are many queer male characters in media that are given feminine traits and are flamboyant so it's cool to see Kung Jin break away from the stereotypes.
It’s funny, Testament’s redesign was revealed not that long after I myself had come out as NB publicly and it was kinda… Perfect? It was the first time in a long while that I had felt so much solidarity in a character’s journey and identity. Just as I myself had started to fully embrace who I was, my favourite fighting game revealed that a long-struggling character had also come to terms with their existence and embraced who they are. I usually go in a bit of a cycle with DLC characters in fighting games where I play them for a week and then go back to my main after I get bored, but the solidarity I felt with Testament has pushed me to genuinely try to learn them and they’re easily my new main. It further deepened my love for this game and series, and I’m so happy for it.
I always find it amusing that fighting games, whom some can argue are not known for their story, can create great LGBT+ characters, compared to current AAA games, with actual character development that isn't just "I'm Gay/Trans"
The lack of story importance is arguably a blessing because they never have to overthink it like some other pieces of media do. They just stop at interesting concepts, designs, and loud personalities and just kind of roll with that for as long as they can like professional wrestlers do
Bro, you got a pretty big mistake about Chun Li: she wasnt the first playable female character. That would be Yuki from the 1985 fighter Onna Sansirou - Typhoon Gal, and Star and Fan from _Yie Ar Kung Fu_ released earlier in 1985.
Hey, just a quick thing: I would be interested in seeing another video on the topic, if you ever want to continue talking about this. However, I think in the future, it might be a good idea to have other queer folks as part of your video collaborators. Like, having LGBTQ+ players or creators in the video would be a great step I think, we know what good representation is and is not lol
It would also help to have someone in the community proofread the script and check any problematic points. I feel like the talk about Ladiva's "belief" and the reference to her youth could've been written better.
Finally someone has mentioned MegatonStammer's POISON document 💜💜 I mean, every person interested in Poison's history behind The scenes should really watch it since there is a rundown about everything
I just wanna say, thank you for this video! Homophobia and similar bigotry is still rampant in video games (the industry and the communities), so its really important to see these characters that are often disrespected get the love and attention they deserve 💗
Hi, so for what my word is worth as someone who’s at least 3 letters of LGBT, I have a couple comments! First, you don’t have to count being nonbinary as a separate thing to being LGBT! As a form of rejecting your assigned identity at birth, it’s implied as part of the T. That’s what the white stripe in the trans flag represents. It’s all under the trans umbrella. As for the video itself, I have no qualms with anything except the section about Bridget. In my experience of the LGBT community I don’t generally see crossdressing grouped in as a queer identity. It can go hand in hand with aspects of it, but is not, itself, a letter contained within LGBTQUIA+. I worry that the answer to “why does Bridget still dress that way after escaping his village” is that his character is a relic of a time when “heeheehoohoo boy looks like girl” was funny enough to serve as a gimmick. There’s absolutely room for lighthearted queer readings of the character though, but whether they’re an intended part remains to be seen. Maybe they’ll handle it with as much grace as they handled Testament if Bridget comes to Strive. Who knows.
It's so cruel that you put so much work into this video... and a whole section of it about Bridget has been turned on its head just a month later. Great video though! Found the channel and subscribed because of it! Would love to see a video about your thoughts on Bridget and her newfound identity!
I was beaming throughout this whole video I loved it So Much. So much joy. So much pride. I connect a lot with Testament and the ending here only cemented it further. Thank you.
Venom was always cool to me because of how he look then he became even cooler when I found out his sexuality, because unlike most at the time, his sexuality wasn't his personality, it affected his relationships ( as it would) but it wasn't all he was/all his gameplay was, just because your gay doesn't mean all you do is kiss people and shoot hearts/ rainbows every where.
Thank you very much for this one, A.B.I. It... feels really warm being able to see that so much of it is there. The one I can offer to this conversation from Them's Fightin' Herds is that of Cashmere, the venture capitalist reindeer from Rein City, and her unhealthy obsession with Oleander. While not exactly a playable character, Cashmere none the less has some of the most dialogue of any character, given she has dozens and dozens of voiced lines and appearances that regularly cycle as TFH gets new patches. She's Velvet's cousin, but always, ALWAYS puts her trade and devotion to the almighty salt cube before all else. She's shown to be a bit of a snake oil salesdoe, willing to pass off a wad of tinfoil as fashion to an unsuspecting Arizona in story mode in exchange for all of the cow's salt. However, that shrewd taste for stonks goes STRAIGHT out the window when the Champion of the Woodlands ever happens to visit Cap & Cash's Caps for Cash. she becomes outright flirtatious, offering to let the unicorn try on and have selections from her select catalogue. It's only her WInter Sprite partner, Cap, to pull her back to reality and remind her that the store needs to make a profit. Oleander, for what it's worth, has been shown that Cashmere's blatant thirst does at least flatter her a little, as the demon FHTNG teases Oleander about it in a bit of story mode dialogue is Arizona has the tinfoil hat she can buy from Cashmere. Foenum does not seem like a world with any sort of discrimination over same-sex relationships, given there seem to be instances of it in story mode from just general NPCs, so maybe it's more that Cashmere is really about that mono-horn life, but... still, it's there and it makes me smile.
Gotta post this for posterity: this video was released on June 30 2022, roughly one month and 9 days before Bridget's reveal in Guilty Gear Strive on August 8 2022. As a result, my reading of Bridget in this video does not take into account her new plot direction in Guilty Gear Strive, something that I have discussed at length with my discord and with my friends. I'll repeat the plot points here: I am totally cool with this new plot direction, and I think it really adds some purpose to Bridget's whole journey.
Allow me to provide my reading of Bridget's new plot:
At some point before the events of Strive, Bridget _does_ manage to achieve what she's been chasing after since XX; to prove her 'manliness', she actually becomes a top-class bounty hunter with tons of money, and is so successful that her village even stops believing in the twins superstition. But she finds that even this doesn't bring her the closure or satisfaction she thought it would. Even though she's far from home and no longer obligated to abide by the superstition, the fact that she has spent her entire bounty hunter career attempting to defy it means that she never truly escaped it in the first place, forcing her to abide by a false expectation that she put on herself. But to lose this identity she has built for herself would mean that she is nothing without it; "I'm afraid of losing what I have", in her own words. It takes a pep talk from Good Dad Ky and Pro-Trans Uncle Goldlewis to learn that her hardship hasn't been for nothing, and she now has the freedom to choose who she wants to be; to be the person that makes her the happiest, not the person she _thinks_ people want her to be. It is actually an extremely common theme in Guilty Gear Strive that characters come to terms with who they are and their place in the world; Testament, Bridget, Baiken, Jack-O', and many more share this theme.
A lot of people expressed that this change in identity also takes away from her representation as a transfemme male, but I don't think anything is taken away from the character at all. If you looked up to Bridget as a transfemme icon, you absolutely still can. The important takeaway from the story is that labels aren't as carved in stone as people think they are. People change, learn things about themselves, and sometimes come across bumps in the road. Some people spend their entire lives never knowing who they really are. But Bridget teaches us ultimately that you can choose who you want to be. Not because anyone expects it from you, not to prove yourself to anyone, but because you deserve to be the person who makes you the happiest.
Be who you want to be.
Agreed! :D
One little thing, it's been roughly 1 month and 9 days since the video was posted and Bridget getting announced; I think you forgot July 😅
Have a lovely day
This is both an excellent comment and should be pinned for future viewers to understand Bridget’s new story
HECK YEAH
Imagine having to do 2 whole fking paragraphs to prove you're not offensive to a video game character, dear god.
@@thechugg4372 imagine thinking genuine appreciation and respect for a trans character is just a fabricated story to selfishly protect one's self _in a video about appreciating LGBTQ+ characters_
The people I used to run with back in the day when Guilty was new would always make fun of me for playing a homosexual character. "You know your character is gay right??" for anytime I thought anything was cool about Venom. That shit was so annoying and I'm straight so I can't even imagine what actual gay people had/have to deal with at the time.
22 years later and I just think Venom is cool as hell.
he is
dude be drippin' like crazy in xrd, he is my little brother's favorite character
@@nicovelardita8619 Tell your lil bro, random YT guy who's too old for his pfp says "you got good taste bro"
Well, probably was actually good at Venom to which is why they said that. Fuck, literally the word gay felt more of a slur to me back in the day then the word fag was yet now fag is the slur. It's weird. Hell, same reason I picked up Venom. He's fucking cool and I wanted to learn a charge character so I thought I would pick him up as he could also go in and do damage and not just zone.
Like, the amount of expression you have with him as a character is insane as Venom players all play Venom differently. Some use the balls more, others use his fast hitting attacks, some use him as rushdown, others zoning and setplay.
Honestly, the character is pretty much works with the themes of GG. Being different, living and expressing yourself how you wish. Not to mention one could even make the argument and joke that a gay guy using a bunch of balls and a long rod to poke and fight the enemy either from far or in your face is pretty gay yet super cool at the same time.
Oh right! I just remembered something even more funny! They said Venom was gay but probably played Sol, a character who was LITERALLY named after a gay man Freddie Mercury in two parts. His real name is Frederick and his epitaph of Badguy is one of Freddie Mercury's nicknames. One character who is expressly gay and one character who is based in, named after and even likes the music of a gay man that Daisuke himself loved.
people are so dumb, also i agree venom the baker is cool both in story and gameplay i wonder if we will see him again a long side robo-ky
I'm far from a Guilty Gear expert but "Sharknado made me realize I'm NB" was not something I was expecting
That's kinda in line with how batshit insane GG lore goes at times.
The best thing with Guilty Gear is just experience and not question it.
For me the most random thing is that They have a job in construction and is forklift certified lol
@@LoudRockin Are you fucking serious? That's amazing!
yeah its like this stuff is made up nonsense or sum
Ngl Ladiva not going for a sex change and keeping their body as is but changing their gender identity is kinda wholesome and could def be a nice inspiring and motivating story for people who are in the same boat as her.
Agreed!
It’s at 69 likes when I’m posting this, but I’m liking the comment anyway.
@@enigmaj1494 well, it's at 96 now, dunno if that means anything
It's super cool. It's definitely a different perspective on how to handle how how to feel about conforming to gender stereotypes.
There's no such thing as gender identity. You've been brainwashed to believe a lie.
Testament's list of hobbies is so funny to me. It's like Daisuke was like 'what do non-binary people like' and then just wrote down every single answer he found.
I'm so glad Testament came back so they could be the king of Gender Neutral Combos
Random bullshit go
@@dracocrusher what about gender footsies?
Its not even "what do non-binary people like." It looks like they just wrote down every single hobby that came to mind.
Off note, but big step-up of Fighting games that just go "Likes: Fighting. Dislikes: Mean people"
@@kiss-shot_is_bae They definitely have enough feet to work with between their own and the two fairies...
Poison is the epitome of "I'm sexy and I know it". She's sassy, she's powerful, she's hot, she's angry. She's amazing. I love her
I’ve always loved that about her
She's a true pinnacle of self-love and unshakeable confidence, something many more of us should strive for because we're all awesome in our own respective ways
Poison isn't trans lmao smh. She was in final fight but they changed her sprite to a male sprite because of censorship and back then it didn't look ok for a male protagonist to beat on female enemies. That's the real story.
@@ubiquitousking5630 the documentary mentioned in this video actually talks about that story, and it's bullshit lol
@@moonlight2870 this documentary is bullshit. I agree with you on that part 😂😂
THE GAYEST FIGHTING GAME made me laugh so hard. But jokes aside, Ladiva's backstory is so inspiring, it honestly makes her one of my favourite characters of GBVS
dood.. Ladiva is a girl, and yeah she is great
@@raichirup You're right sorry, fixed it!
As someone who normally steers clear of LGBT politics, Ladiva is such an inspiring character I had to click on this video.
When I first watched Seth's story mode, what I took away was that he was an exaggerated depiction of gender dysphoria. Literally struggling with your own body because it clashes with your identity. The computer voice in Seth's body even establishes that gender was the incompatible parameter which made his programming not function properly. I agree that it was mostly a botched plot and I see it as basically a display of one of the struggles of being non-cisgender instead of a story about identity
I think that you and a lot of people are trying to add more to seth's plot than there really is. The transfer process to the new body went wrong because juri fucked up the transfer and didnt care to fix anything. I really dont get the gender dysphoria thing because when fighting and in a lot of their animations seth seems pretty comfortanle with their new body. They're insane because the seth a.i is completely busted and they can only think about bison, it gets so bad that any trace of psycho power is registered as bison. An incomplete rogue a.i going mad the more sentient and aware it becomes is a cool concept to explore but the devs probably kept it simple because it's still a street fighter game and they probably didnt want a soma level existencial machine crisis character in their story. There is no "botched plot" when there really wasn't much there to begin with tbh. To me the most interesting part about seth is the whole doll unit 0 deal, WHO THE FUCK is that. Was that a prototype for mass produced dolls?seth's original body?juri's mother?(they look very similar), I think if anything that's the most interesting part about this narrative. Sorry for the block of text, and I do appreciate your theory. I just think that everyone is trying to spin this story as something that HAS to do with seth's gender identity because the idea of having an nb character in sf is cool it really is but they become dissapointed when it really isnt the primary focus of their struggle and call it a "botched plot" when, again, there really isnt much in there TO botch
@@NACHO1111NAC I see your point but if that is the case, I find it very strange that they made a point of having Juri point out that Doll Unit Zero is a woman and imply that it's somehow related to Seth's malfunction. That's what bugs me about this plot
@@arthurpprado seth is a predetermined A.I. so I presumed it was a calibration issue. Kinda like shoving software on incompatible hardware.
@@omgazr0 yes, that's why I'm saying that it's exaggerated. It's the logical extreme of being in a body you don't belong in
Looool if they turn Seth's story into a literal coming of age trans story XD
I'm not into Granblue and thought Ladiva was a very bad joke on trans people and all. Now learning about the race dysmorphia this is wholesome as hell. I fucking love Ladiva now.
Anyone who has played Granblue Fantasy (the mobile game) knows that Ladiva is a bundle of wholesomeness. She's always spreading positivity.
She's not even LGBT, she born a girl and is straight. Her race is just literally buff.
@@mugen1813 did you not watch the video??
@@ribry8512 Yeah, I'm just saying from GB Lire cause I play the game
In the mobile game she got an event where she part-times as a bartender and the whole event is basically other characters confiding and consulting with her regarding their worries. It was super wholesome.
"Anyone can fight and anyone can win.
In the ring, we are all equal."
That's fighting games in a nutshell, and thats why this genre is so powerful to depict LGBT+ representation.
Great, great video, mate.
Yeah, just not in an actual ring
If we really were all equal man and woman would fight in the same categories.
In a fighting game it can be, but irl this statement is kinda dumb.
@@nateborg7286 extremely dumb. It operates on utopian ideals
@@nateborg7286 We are literally talking about fighting games.
@@nateborg7286 we are literally talking about fighting games what is wrong with you
There's a bit in Testament's episode mode where Chipp is baffled that somebody as extraordinary as Testament has a normal day job, to which Testament says "I AM normal" and I think it fucking rules to see a non-binary character say that so loud and proud.
This is coming from Chipp of all people
Testament is asexual
@@galvanizedgnome yeah, protect them from you.
To be fair Testament is literally making a blade out of the blood of two magic faries that were just mauled by a Skull in a pole
androgyny, as well as the fact that testament is a gear
I like that line from Raiden about "They care where your heart is, not who it belongs to." Or however it went, it's acceptance while also being like "we're warriors, we don't have time to discriminate"
We have Guts to spill.
Worry about that.
Yes!
PERSON 1-"DUCK BRO!"
PERSON 2- "Excuse me! It's MA'AM!"
PERSON 1- "Whatever, kill that dude!"
PERSON 3- "OMG I'M A WOMAN!!"
PERSON 1- "JUST KILL THE BITCH!"
Easily one of the best treatments of the subject in the medium.
Just a small heads up: normally non-binary identities are considered as part of the T and/or Q in LGBTQ+. It's not to say that anything is the video is worg, just to help disentangle the terminology.
I think that line comes from how many people make sure to distinguish between "queer and trans people", reserving queer to people that aren't straight (which would then make "queer and/or trans people" more accurate, but whatever)
it's also just shorter to say
Where does skin color and Ukraine fit into the LGBTQ flag? This shit is becoming too complex.
@@Pendji hah, good gag
@@Pendji it’s not that complex, non-binary people are trans and thusly we’re part of the T
AND NOW BRIDGET IS USING FEMALE PRONOUNS!
I'm so happy for her!
"In the ring, we are all equal." The FGC is the only community I've ever been apart of where that's utterly true.
Doesn't matter if it's Ricki Ortiz, SonicFox, Lil' Majin or WhiteBoi Anderson, everyone's hype and trying to learn from each other. Zero social barriers or "proper ways of existing," we're all just trying to have fun and/or win a tournament by learning from ANY stronger player and teaching the learning ones. Got to experience that again at CEO 2022.
Because of this, fighting games are the greatest gaming genre to me.
🔥
Out of the many communities I've been in over the years, the FGC has absolutely become my favorite
This is definitely one of the reasons
just don't look at the chat when any trans player is up on stream..
@@joncliffmckinley5868 "the chat" is why I think it's less an FGC issue and more an issue of those streaming sites. Twitch loves to hate.
@@joncliffmckinley5868 I just don't look at chat ever as a matter of policy
Kung Jin is always a difficult one I find since people just leap on to paise how sublet it is when if you have to clarify in a tweet "he's gay" in a fighting game it's too subtle.
I'm genuinely tired of folks assuming being open about your sexuality just makes "your entire personality gay" because they never apply that same logic to straight characters they can be straight and a person but a gay guy is always seen as just being gay and thier characteristics are discarded by the audience because they're just that gay guy.
gotta say, as a Granblue player, the "... And Belial" made me laugh really hard.
and honestly, GBVS being the gayest fighting game makes sense when the original game has quite a few characters who could easily be interpreted as gay or bi. Hell, some go beyond subtext to being pretty much text (hi Meg, Grea, and Anne, lol)
hell, during Valentines or White day you can change a setting to make it so that the game ignores the gender of your MC, so technically we can make almost everyone bi, LOL... though i say almost, since there are a few who have set relationships who make sure you don't forget about them on those days (hi again, Meg, Grea, and Anne)
Belial needs no introduction imo.
Yeah I burst a laugh on that too.
For anyone who doesn't know why "And Belial" is all you need as an explanation, see his character theme "Parade Lust".
@@RavenCloak13 aw hell
Granblue really doesn't shy away of showing when character have interest in each other leaving very few to interpretation.
Because of that i find strange to categorise Zeta as a lesbian, i play gbf for more than 5 years and i can't say if she is or isn't because she is a character that never shown any kind of romantic feeling towards any other characters nor even Gran/Djeeta, diferent of her friend Beatrix that even tho she tries to hide have a thing for the capitain.
The closest one would be Vaseraga but that would be a stretch, because the game tends to pair him with Almeida, and even if he is the person that right now Zeta trusts the most they more like budy cops than a romantic pair
> Mentions Bridget because he is a crossdresser.
> Monkey paw curls.
> She is no longer a crossdresser.
benevolent monkey's paw, just this once
@Emma Planas as a cis man, I initially thought that Arc Systems was doing bad faith representation with Bridget. Then I read how her story in XX actually goes.
Tl;dr I may be a moron
@Emma Planas And seriously, Goldlewis! Love hearing the spectrum of "I'm a simple man," accents dropping the basest lines.
He canonically still is male. The arcade endings the one where he transitions in particular which you get if you fail isn't canon. People are more than welcome to accept it as such but in the actual lore it's not Canon he still femboy
@@yorukage5926 uh huh, and did you get that from the wiki or playing the damn game?
Hey, just wanted to thank you for citing my video in your work. It brought a smile to my face, not just for having my work recognized after all this time - but for seeing someone else go to bat against the too-often perpetuated censorship myth. On a more personal note, as someone who eventually transitioned herself, I appreciate your highlighting and celebrating diversity in a time that sorely needs more of it.
I'm so glad you liked the video, I reference your video very often whenever I get to talk about Poison, and it inspired me to go ahead with this video in the first place. Part of what I love most about fighting games is the way they express character, and there's just something incredibly special about how fighting games tend to handle their best LGBT characters that no other genre has really yet to accomplish.
I have loved your documentary since it was posted 10 years ago!
I watched it yesterday and it is Awesome!
It still Holds up! 👍👍💯
Testament is such a rad redesign. I don't think I've ever seen someone's queer identity so deftly weaved into their plotline. Knowing the struggle Testament went through makes their new presentation so much more gratifying to see. A lot of trans characters in fighting games already WERE trans when they're first introduced, and that's great, but it's cool to see someone come into their own identity over the course of the franchise rather than know who they are out the gate. Threading in their new androgynous presentation with their new outlook is such a fun bit of character work, I think they pulled it off really well.
im pretty sure testament was always agender most people just didnt realize till strive
The gender neutral
You could say they wrote a "New Testament" in their life story
Testament they/them thussy neutral mixup
If they're trans who cares. They're best to use as practice dummies kinda like in real life
A couple small notes:
1. Another way you could describe Bridget is “gender non-conforming”, a type of gender expression that doesn’t match the expected gender norms
2. Not sure why you mentioned non-binary separately throughout the video, but the T in LGBT covers both binary and non-binary trans identities, in case that wasn’t clear.
Still, this video is very much appreciated and I do enjoy seeing the good rep we get in media highlighted. Happy pride!
(Note: as of Strive, Bridget is actually a trans woman now)
Maybe I'm just out of the loop here but I don't see how trans can be non-binary. To my knowledge non-binary means not identifying with either gender while trans means being biologicaly one but identifying as the other
@@andret3739 “Transgender” means identifying as a gender other than the one assigned at birth. For some, that’s the opposite binary gender, for others, like me, it’s something outside of that binary. In fact, the white stripe on the trans flag is meant to represent non-binary trans identities.
Hope that helps.
@@andret3739 nonbinary is an umbrella term for every gender identity that's not male or female. Trans is also an umbrella term for people who don't identify with the gender they were assigned with at birth. Not all trans people are nonbinary, but all nonbinary people (unless an individual doesn't want to be referred to as such) are trans.
@@terreausore2435 they aren't bitching, they're just educating. In the Bridget section he literally admits himself it's not something he knows too much about. If you don't understand the difference, I'm worried for you
@@terreausore2435 "This salad is really good, but the cucumbers are kinda rotten, I think."
"WOW, THE CHEF MADE A WHOLE SALAD AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO COMPLAIN THAT PART OF IT WAS BAD?"
Ok, have to give GB credit. I have heard the "she's actually 1000 years old" excuse to have a bait loli character in your franchise. But never have I heard "But she's actually an ancient mtf trans alchemist that transfers her soul to the body of a girl" twist to it.
Lolibaba (that's what the trope is actually called, meaning "loli old lady") is not an "excuse" for anything, it's a trope that plays off contrasts between an extremely old age and a childlike visual design.
And not just the soul of any alchemist, but the soul of _the grandfather of all alchemy._
For a long time i struggled to find a gender identity that would fit me, never knowing if i wanted to transition or not. and then GBVS came out. I didn't know anything about it but I gravitated towards the buff grappler as i usually do and then noticed Ladiva used she/her while having a beard and being muscular and i seriously went "You can do that!?!" i was fascinated by Ladiva, her manerisms and her aesthetics and just... everything really. She made me discover i was non-binary and helped me discover myself. I may still not know much about GB, but i can't thank Ladiva enough for giving me an identity and showing me i could be myself without restrictions
Pog
Ladiva looks like such a power move, loving her body because her parents gave it to her. I wish more people would be more accepting. Ladiva is well loved and accepted so she's able to embrace both her soul and body and I find that very beautiful.
Happy for you
I love Riesbyfe in Melty Blood for just being a massive lesbian flirt whos also a serious knight of the church. These two things are never really brought up as conflicting with each other.
Oh, I want my cute roast beef back in Lumina man... I got Power Ciel again but give me my other girl man!
@@RavenCloak13 pray for the next 4 free characters
Lol not me tearing up at hearing Ladiva's reason for not taking that potion. Might give Granblue Fantasy a chance now
a little fact: there's actually a third trans rep in the original game, named Barlurga (the only one of the three who's FtM)... though unfortunately, he hasn't had as much time being in the game to iron out some early "oof"-ness as Ladiva and Cags... but a recent event did feature him and did him a lot more justice (hell, the one time he was misgendered was to show what an absolute asshole the event's villain was, and Barlurga looked and sounded about ready to feed the dude his own scrotum after he said it)
Uh what? So it took 1 line of dialog to make you give the game a chance Instead of graphics, gameplay, music, setting etc?
@@joshblackwell8632 yes
@@SourCherryBomb That honestly doesn't make sense and is very bizarre/ridiculous but ok. To each there own.
@@joshblackwell8632 You'd be surprised what can sell people. The main reason I ever considered Strive in the first place was Faust. There's a lot of things that I enjoy about the game, but Faust was the big reason for me to try it.
This channel, Theory Fighter, Stumblebee, and GekkoSquirrel make fighting game content on a level above the rest! I love your videos!
What about Rooflemonger and Thorgi :(
@@A-1-Sawce Big fan of Thorgi, I haven't watched Rooflemonger
Agenda shiet
I think this channel might be my #1 when it comes to what covering I love about fighting games.
Way too many content creators in this genre that I know cover only the competitive aspects of fighting games, but fighters are so much more than just excellent 1V1 action. How these games can express such a wide variety of different characters with their own personalities and themes is beautifull. It's an aspect that makes games like Team Fortress 2 so beloved.
@@A-1-Sawce rooflemonger is a big meany.
I don't like him
Bridget being on this list 4 months before becoming one of the most popular trans characters in a while is very funny
One thing that I feel is worth mentioning about Cagliostro, as someone who's learned about GBF lore primarily through osmosis, is the fact that she's absolutely in love with her body to the point of ocassionally making people uncomfortable. And I feel like its kind of beautiful having a trans character carry around a mirror just to oogle at themselves for achieving their "true form" while being willing to admit that, to many people, that would ne really fucking weird to do anywhere besides the privacy of your own home. But Cag doesn't care. She's adorable and perfect in her eyes, and girl feels obligated to spoil herself at every opportunity, even if it means making people squirm from radiating a manic level of self love.
I think Kung Jin was one of the best gay characters because his entire character wasn't "The Cartoonishly Flamboyant Gay Guy" Like some characters end up being outlandish stereotypes. And it's always great when they aren't.
Kung Jin is most definitely that homie. Everything for him in mkx was good but then mk11 lore just started using his name in vain
Like, looking at him, you wouldn't be able to tell he's gay, he doesn't wear it on his sleeve. He's just a dude who happens to be gay
@@firepuppies4086 Like his entire personality isn't "I'M GAY!! A TOKEN AT BEST BUT STILL GAY!!!"
@@ShiniRyuga and I imagine he still gets some shit from more traditionalist characters that find out, but that's just as realistic.
Ok but he didn't managed to be a flawless Asian queer token either
Me before watching the video knowing that Venom is going mentioned: Venom is so fucking cool.
Me after watching the Venom segment: Venom is so. Fucking. Cool.
Poison is probably my favorite Street fighter character and as a trans woman myself I hope to one day have the kind of self-confidence and living my best Life energy that she constantly radiates
Also awesome video :-)
Indeed. Both her and Seth are very inspirational to me as a trans, since they both never get nervous or feel ashamed but are confident and proud of their abilities, and it never is a central focus which imo is the healthiest way to represent it
Well, it's kinda jarring the reason why Capcom decided to make Poison trans because they literally said that this is for "not hitting women"
@@blyat8832 Seth is more like a robot who doesn't care what body to be in rather than feeling one way or another.
Same with M.Bison who keeps the Dolls as spare bodies (even if female Bison could be a thing since SNK vs Capcom).
@@ikagura way to not get the point at all lmao
I LOVE the interpretation of Venom’s hair as a metaphor for “blinding” his judgement, and in his ending when he puts his hair up, it’s him valuing himself and un-clouding his vision. I always took a tactician’s interpretation and thought that his hair was a way to hid his gaze from others, so they can’t see how he will hit the pool balls.
there's a bigger issue here
bridget is british
Note:I wrote this before Bridget was revealed to officially be trans*. Not sure if I should just let it sit as a catalogue of my mistakes or just delete it...Either way I feel like an idiot who now lacks representation.
Bridget is a character who could have easily been a joke, but given that Guilty Gear is essentially a heavy metal anime fighting game, he's just another over the top personality in a roster of campy over the top personalities and that's awesome. As a GNC man, he was not necessarily the representation I wanted when I was younger (like goth him up and add some serious occult vibes and that would be perfect), but the representation perhaps I needed. He could go toe to toe with a bunch of badasses without having to sacrifice any of those things that made him stand apart from a lot of other guys.
Also, Testament always had a killer design, but this redesign is just next level. I know they're nonbinary, but still as a gender nonconforming guy, that's a look I wish I felt I could pull off.
She*
Bridget goes by she/her
And apparently thanks to people like you she's still considered a joke character disgusting chasers and coomers are meant to fap to...
@@Homodemon I wrote this before I heard that had even announced. Or at least before I was made aware.
I really hope they end up creating more GNC guys to fill the gap that was loss with Bridget's transition, I need a cute guy to play in strive ASAP....
Even though I despise Cagliostro's personality (egomaniacal types and bratty kid tropes always rub me the wrong way), I still respect her as a great example of a trans character. Ladiva is the BEST though. Amazing video as always!
The way i interpreted Seth was that the "Doll prototype" was one of the most up to date replacement bodies made for Bison since his preferred choice of body where women (the dolls).
When Juri got the body she turned it on to find if it could be programed into a ally or something without knowing that Seth was in it. Getting corrupted from the process broke every sense of identity Seth had made for himself before, drilling into his mind that he is not the leader of S.I.N: the tyrannical weapons manufacturer bent to bring conflict to the world, now he exists only for Bison's sake. So he keeps saying "MY NAME IS SETH!" over and over, telling himself frantically that he still has a identity besides being a spare body for Bison.
The fact that his voice and his pronouns are kept as male while in the female body shows that despite having no biological sex (being an android and all) being in a female body don't change the fact he still identifies as male(calling himself king at multiple times), if gender wasn't important for his identity that wouldn't happen, we would just call him "them". Therefore he is trapped: his body and mind in a state he don't identify as himself.
It shows how much it sucks to be in a state of self you don't identify as your own
At least that's my take on it... Besides, didn't Ryu canonically beat Seth in that SF4 animation? Isn't it canon?
In conclusion, i like Seth as a character! Even in SF4: being that featureless bland looking robot who actually has a full fledged personality, personal philosophy and goals, being very human for a robot!
I feel that fits Seth more than giving him a gender identity, he was still proudly calling himself a king and saying that he was still Seth. I feel still having him be non-binary can work for him since he seems to firmly stand with his own beliefs.
@@Perdix64 It most certainly could work! Despite of his "personality module" being the thing failing and the imagery of his body having changed from a male design to a female one, Seth claims that "This version of Seth is true perfection!"
Knowing how Seth is, if he was able to sort out the issue wiith the "personality moule", he surely would keep the superior body!
Now if Seth would keep identifying himself as a man like he did before, start identifying herself as a woman to fit the new body or identify themself as non binary by virtue of having both male and female traits it's hard to say.
There is no way to make right or wrong assumptions about Seth's gender on the way the character is right now. Maybe that's the point.
I keep using male pronouns because i think that at the end of the day Seth didn't change at all besides from his apparence. He still has the same way of talking, fighting, and expressing himself (besides that personality error), so if Seth was a "he" before, Seth is still a "he" now, but just on a woman's body.
If someone thinks that this interpretation is far off the mark feel free to tell me tho.
I'm just glad to have more oportunities to discuss about gender! It's something i always struggled with and really like to talk about (if those comments and one i did about Testament on another video don't show it XD)
@@chara2038 yeah, I’m on your side with this one, Seth seems like the type to not give a fuck about this situation.
Yea pretty much what I thought to. It's pretty much an analogy somewhat to forced conversion or even gender dysphoria that someone forced on you on a whim basically. Something done outside of your control and in a similar instance to Testament. As Testament had his body fucked with after they died so did Seth to the point both ended up loathing the world and trying to find meaning. Seth more so do to still having some control and frantically trying to keep their identity.
Testament on the other hand found peace with Dizzy and then continue to come into their own by hanging out with Dizzy's parents, IE the old couple who raised her and continuing to find more beauty in the world.
Hell, in Seth's case you could actually see that in their gameplay as he always keeps absorbing new abilities and trying to reclaim himself by continuing to do what he always did but now he's so fucking unhinged shits getting to him. His moves be direct copies actually reflect that to as after winning he goes from calm and every movement is completely the same his more original moves and personality shown at the end shows someone who is more unhinged and rabbid.
@@Perdix64 How can you be "non binary" when you're an artificial man-made humanoid machine devoid of gender? He's far more of an "it" than a "them" considering his nature and the fact he's incapable of human reproduction.
Bridget is the character I want to see being brought back in Strive most. I'm dying to know how he will be portrayed as a more grown up.
You got your wish now, rejoice.
@@MilenAnessar I'm dying with joy here.
The arcade ending is even more relevant for this video too ^^
1 month later in a move nobody expected, Bridget may or may not be trans now
Aged quicker than anyone could have expected
Not even a "may or may not". She all but looks at the camera and says "I am a Trans Woman". Daisuke (series creator and head writer) said, in no uncertain terms that she's a girl now, too.
@@MrMobiusfan My comment is 8 months old, I typed it before Daisuke made the statement
Yes, Bridget is a transfemme. Unambiguously
Funnily enough, my intention was to watch this video to recognise LGBTQ representation in the genre, but you also ended up reinforcing to me why Guilty Gear's characters and narrative is so amazing.
I've met a fair deal of people who tell me it's wack, but I've always been hesitant to believe that as it never sat right with me when characters like Venom, Testament and so many other cool characters exist with their own personal struggle and arcs.
Ladiva is basically what I hope for LGBT characters, She is a very respected individual, a good friend and true to herself.
the part where she refused Cag "Gender transformation" offer with
" I was born this way because of my parent love so I refuse to change my appearance"
is beyond base
Hey.
Thanks for this.
Pride month has been rough in the USA, and this was a cool reminder that we shouldn't stop fighting.
ditto
Keep strong Elion, we're all together in this, big hug from Vzla
Rough? What happened?
@@ikagura in short, a lot of legal precedent gearing up to strip away what rights queer people have fought tooth and nail for along with hate crimes ramping up because the perpetrators feel emboldened by it
@@ikagura Judges are blocking the feds and empowering state governments.
I'M SO HAPPY SOMEONE REMEMBERED JIN AND TANYAAAA AAAAAAAA People Often forget that MK had Jin as the first LGBT character in the franchise and it often frustrates me how often i have to correct my friends on Discord on this fact!
When Testsment was revealed to make it into Strive and I saw their new design I felt such genuine happynes seeing how they were living their best life, it was like reuniting with an old friend after years and seeing that they are doing great. Now I want an extra chapter for the story mode (like they did when Baiken got added) with them on it.
Yeah, Testament. The grim reaper. He knows what road he's travelling.
@@QQnowQQlater *They
@@ravenfrancis1476the song uses every pronoun, and so that is what i will now do. he, she, they--
it's like a bunch of infinity stones
Greatest collab ever!!
Honestly I'd kill to have you, the 4th snake, and SonichaXD collab again with this guy in one video. I bet that would be fun to watch XD
hey, are you part of the LGBTQ gang???
@@JP-br4mx he's said many times he supports and is all for more representation of that in games and media in many of his videos lmao
@@blyat8832 calm down. i was just excited and kinda hoping for some representation. I love when i click a LGBTQ video and find one of my fav youtubers in the comment section. its so hot
@@JP-br4mx I never got upset or mad lmao, my intention for my reply was to let you know that he does support/like them, not to attack you or anything like that. Don't assume stuff
Bridgette has the brand of trans vibes where he is a gender non-conforming cis man who’s story feels like a trans man (having to be raised as a girl even though he’s really a boy, wanting to be seen as a man, etc.). He’s technically not trans but he’s just as limited by our world’s gender norms, and it’s inspiring seeing him break free and find himself.
he had no choice. he has an identical twin brother and where he came from, identical twins are illegal and he would have been executed.
Bridget may not be trans, but he's got honorary membership
@@LeahLuciB So uh... about that honorary membership...
@@davidvulakh744 One of us! One of us!
@@LeahLuciB ONE OF US
18:50, there's a multilayered joke in there somewhere about Venom wanting to express his feelings so much, that he forgot the small detail that his interest is literally blind...
I always liked that Blazblue has Mai (a trans woman) and Amane (a crossdresser). I like that it distinguishes between the two since so many people still refuse to do so. I also like that it shows both characters in a generally positive light.
Amane is also canonically gay, 99% of his plot being about his lust for Ragna. Also, he's an Onnagatta, which ends up being used as shorthand for queer a lot
I thought you were talking about Mai Shiranui and got extremely confused for a while
Mai is... awkward as a trans character though due to the "genderbend" tropes around her, i.e. that she never willingly chose it, it was never a part of her identity until it was forced on her.
Compare that to the characters mentioned here from Granblue, for example, and can see a clear difference in what they represent and the agency involved for the character's identity.
@@Luna_Everywhere You misspelled "Carl".
I honestly like this cross dresser interpretation of Bridget, though I will accept Strive's new transgender interpretation. Still happy as heck for Testament having a happier life.
Oh, a video about LGBT characters, I'm sure that the comment section will be civil and free of bigots complaining about LGBT people's existence.
It is . So many bigots
They're more about people don't wanting to see these subjects on the channel, since they are tired of reality and twitter.
@@nate_bpn5173 what do you think that says about them exactly lol
@@nate_bpn5173
That's not a good excuse.
If the existence of these people bothers them, that's on them.
@@ByaKyuren I don't judge, people throws these subjects so much nowadays that makes other people getting far from the cause and realise that it was supposed to be normal.
It was nice hearing about Bridget, though Gender Identity and Gender Expression are definitely two different things. I see Bridget (and some other characters) as more early attempts at representation but before the understanding/cultural awareness was at a point to have it more clearly. It's more like they're related conceptually though not officially within, I think. Crossdressing is more an expression of gender rather than another identity all to its own.
EDIT: BRIDGET IS CANONICALLY TRANSFEM NOW OH FUCK
Absolutely, I can almost guarantee Bridgets character will get expanded just as well as Testament in strive.
nah they not bringing him back
You people are ridiculous. Bridget's entire character is about hiding him so they didn't exile or kill him because it was bad luck to have two of the same gender twins. It was forced on him by his parents (Surprise, 2022 and parents are using their children as a rainbow purse fashion statement.)
>I see Bridget (and some other characters) as more early attempts at representation but before the understanding/cultural awareness
... Bridget's first game was in 2002, dude... I hate to break it to you but Japan has been doing crossdressers in media decades and decades before that. Hell, Kabuki was originally women actors playing both male and female, and later men playing both male and female (sorry no in betweens).
The funny part though is only the creator's know if they're making fun of y'all or not. The fact is that you all care and twist other people's work into something that may or may not be there because you need it to be true more than the person who made it......
@@QQnowQQlater The impact of a work depends on how it's interpreted, not by what the author intended. That's 101 when discussing culture and entertainment.
@@QQnowQQlater ur head is full of marbles and loose nails and nuts and bolts and such all rattling around
Still find it hilarious that a person named *Venom* is a _Chef._
Like what-
I love Ladiva. Excellent portryal of a character...and I appreciate that she is so comfortable with being herself that she doesn't need to change anything about herself to be who she is.
One thing I've always liked about how fighting games represent characters in these struggles is the good ones weave it in super well. Like I love what they did with Testament because it feels like they are Testament and they are also non binary for lack of a better way to explain it. Their personality shine so much that I love them and when learning they were NB it was like a "oh I'm happy for them moment" and not a feeling of them just slapping it in because they needed a NB character. Its like Sol, I love Sol because of everything he believes in and has done but the fact that he has a wife is a "oh thats cool" moment for me.
One month. This video had one month before becoming out of date. Goddamn Arc Systems, we do not deserve you.
You can tell that Kung jin is character and not a token because they didn't hesitate to eliminate him in the next game because he didn't stick with audience at all
That’s pretty much the definition of token.
@@Darkloid21 if it was just being a token they would've keep him because it's not like that token doesn't work now but instead they kick him off because it didn't work as Kung Lao's replacement
@@Soulxstar actually it’s because he’s a token that they kicked him off. It was a non threatening way to score points that could be safely ignored. In short him being in the game didn’t count.
It’s not the same as taking out Jax which would have been noticed and been met with WAY more backlash.
@@Darkloid21 to be fair didn't people really like kaneda and he didn't come back
@@lunasperidot8760 yeah but in the case of Kung he was just a low effort and risk include to score points who had nothing to him besides questions about his sexuality.
Then again it’s MK so I wasn’t expecting much
Man, it is kind shocking that a genre so male dominated as fighting games doesnt have a single trans man
I feel like trans male representation is really low in general. Just a random thought I have.
@@burni988 Yeah that's true. It's really hard to name any mainstream trans male celebrity besides elliot page. But that's a special case because he didnt get famous as a trans man, he was mostly closeted.
I hadn't even realized that... Damn.
Thank you for introducing to Cagliostro to me. I have never had so much in common with a fictional character as I have with her.
Very positive video and I'm happy to see something like this getting made. Great job
Thought that thumbnail looked familiar. Great to see you, I can't believe you aren't verified, I love your videos as well.
Even though it's through subtext, and likely not intended, Bridget is also great trans masculine representation! His story about being perceived as an omen, as well as his drive to prove this superstition wrong and to prove that he is just as much of a man as every other man, and literally being assigned female at birth (well, shortly after birth, by his parents), works incredibly well and I find it very empowering from both a trans masc point of view, a gender nonconforming point of view, and a queer point of view in general. The fact that he is always adamant in his identity as a man, the fact he doesn't let anyone be mistaken about it, and his genuine strength as a character who can hold his own against the cast of Guilty Gear, are reasons why I find Bridget in particular to be very strong representation, despite a lot of the LGBT themes not being overtly told to us. I hope he is considered for Strive in the future!
Edit: DAMN THIS AGED LIKE MILK JUST DISREGARD THE WHOLE DUMPSTER FIRE OF A REPLY CHAIN UNDER HERE THIS COMMENT MEANS NOTHING AND BRIDGET ISN'T A CROSSDRESSER ANYMORE
In a lot of ways, he works as trans feminine representation too. We're always getting reduced to 'guys in skirts', so it's cool to see a character who embraces that.
He's honestly so messy that he can kind of be read every which way.
Bridget is awesome, but I don’t really think he can be considered trans. He’s biologically male and still identifies as such. He’s a great rep for transvestites though!
@@frustratedsquirrel He's kind of a mess tbh. no matter how you read him there's also sorts of weird problematic bits, but I still love him.
Isn't Bridge biologically male at first?
@@frustratedsquirrel I just draw parallels between his society perceiving him as female because he was designated that way after his birth and the trans experience in general. I really don't think him technically being biologically male harms the reading of Bridget being a trans man, considering that his primary struggle is that his family and society would not accept him for who he is, he can't "come out" as a man, so to speak, without facing severe ostracization. He was designated as a girl without his consent, and he doesn't just want everyone to accept him as a feminine man, but a man in general. So I think it works, I think it's great representation through subtext. But that's just me though.
That was really wholesome. When I noticed the video ended and was going to press the like button I saw I've already liked it in the beginning because I was already expecting a nice talk coming from you. Love your videos, keep up with the amazing content =) (sorry if something is incoherent, I am a Brazilian fan of yours and my knowledge of English comes only from browsing and gaming on the internet for years)
Thanks :)
I’m glad to see this covered. Hopefully we get more queer characters in SF6 in addition to the eventual return of Poison, with Poison ideally getting a new trans English VA in SF6 (maybe Testament’s VA, Kayleigh McKee, she’s great).
That said, I’m pretty sure Seth uses he/they pronouns interchangeably within SFV (Falke refers to Seth as they, while Dan uses he when referring Seth). They’re obviously still non-binary, but I’m just being more specific with the pronoun usage. As for MK, I’m not too big on the Jacqui slander (even though I agree that Kung Jin’s absence in 11 was disappointing).
Wasn't Seth just an "it", since it's actually an AI?
@@MrAuthor3DS Not really, no. Capcom either uses he/him, they/them, or avoid pronouns entirely.
Seth refers to himself as "king" in some of the sfv win quotes so I assumed using he was correct, but maybe the original japanese term for king/queen has no defined gender.
Why does the voice actor have to also be trans?
@@SingWhenTheEndComes To be more faithful? I dunno, a VA can voice characters that aren't like them (I mean goku is still voiced by a woman).
Was not expecting how unfathomably based Ladiva is
This video slaps!! I honestly wasn’t expecting much given the reputation of fighting games but this was enlightening and an overall interesting watch!! Thank you :)
you love to see it
You really do
The B in A.B.I. Stands for Based.
A Based Idea 😎
i'm honestly so glad that you included bridget. while yes he's not not literally queer in-lore, when we're talking about fictional stories then we have to take time to recognize coding and subtext-- bridget may not *literally* be trans but he still very well represents both the struggles and the joys inherent to transness and gender nonconformity, so thank you for including him and recognizing that importance
edit: WOO!!!!!!!
It only took a few years to cross that Bridge...t, but the struggles and the joys continue!
To this day, Trans Men are pretty much nonexistent in fighting games.. 😰
@@FarticusSnottington Leo's non binary, not a trans man. We don't have any masculine meaning representation, but for sex appeals or punchline.
"Granblue Fantasy Versus is THE GAYEST FIGHTING GAME!"
Put it on the back of the fucking box.
I also have the great mental image of Ladiva just being like "Momma gave me this big muscle body so I could HUG BETTER, DAMNIT!"
I love Cagliostro, her pursuit of ultimate cuteness is something to be admired and it’s something I myself often thought about. When I saw Testament’s i was in genuine shock. And in all honesty I didn’t think much about them in the story, but seeing their growth into accepting themselves and loving the world they once hated, it was such a great way to wrap up their character arc.
I really liked your video, as a Mexican I get very happy seeing my country represented on any game, but I'm also glad that people from any country, culture or in this case the LGBT+ community get represented in many such cool ways in this awesome videogame genre 👏👏
Why do you need representation. Pick who looks cool
@@babytricep437 Representation is important, helps people see themselves in media
And yet Americans tell us we're wrong for liking characters like T. Hawk and Speedy Gonzales.
ABI what a beautiful video, thank you so much for this, I was just learning Leo in Tekken and read online that Harada confirmed Leo to be NonB, so I was thinking about this topic yesterday. It's great to see FGs represent our community in wonderful characters like Leo, Ladiva, Poison, Testament, Mileena, Venom and more.
Great video! Just a nitpick. Probably separated non-binary people from LGBT just because you went to highlight them, but we're totally in that community. People of different sexualities and gender expression, as well as gender identity and sexual intensity are all under the umbrella.
I love this video so much! I've always been in ally but my intensity had waned over the years because I was around a lot of toxic people. I got away from all that and I realized it was stunting my own growth and my own journey. Recently I was able to come out as non-binary (the bi-gendered variety) and it's so cool seeing representation in games I didn't even know had it. I got into street fighter recently and I had heard about Poison before, but I was only aware of the myth and didn't know that she was planned as a trans woman to begin with. That is so cool! And I didn't view stuff as non-binary but it makes so much sense. It's a shame that the story doesn't really highlight that in an interesting way. If they bring Seth back, I hope they can do something interesting with them.
It’s great to see this sampler of how inclusive and varied fighting game characters can be, and Ladiva is best wife 💪💖
Also, I want to mention that I find Poison funny, because I once told a Trans-workmate about her and she said "Nah, she isn't trans, her hips are too wide."
What does hips have to do with that?
To be fair, body proportions in SF are always a tad whack because limbs need to be thicker than normal for visibility
@@metaphobic which is also why nearly everyone has huge-ass hands and feet
@@metaphobic In 3D it kinda looked jarring (especially SFIV's chara design).
While some trans women have small hips, this is certainly not every trans woman.:
-Hrt distribute fat on your thighs, so every trans women have some hips based on much fat you get from that.
-If you start before your hips bone fuse (before 19-21), you hip bones will grow on hormones.
-They still do grow on hrt after around 20 years of hormones if you start really late.
-Some trans women get fat graphs on their hips (which I assume is why Poison has those hips)
"two knights that feel very strongly about each other" but that's not Vane
Also other things that help Cagliostro's reading as trans is that she gets really pissed off when someone outs her as being born a boy like when Clarisse called her her uncle
As both a transwoman and a huge fan of your stuff, you really knocked it out of the park with this one. You handled the topics of gender and sexuality really sensitively, with the quality you reserve for all your other videos. Made me smile, fantastic work!
One thing I like about Kung Jin is how he has a masculine design. There are many queer male characters in media that are given feminine traits and are flamboyant so it's cool to see Kung Jin break away from the stereotypes.
It’s funny, Testament’s redesign was revealed not that long after I myself had come out as NB publicly and it was kinda…
Perfect?
It was the first time in a long while that I had felt so much solidarity in a character’s journey and identity. Just as I myself had started to fully embrace who I was, my favourite fighting game revealed that a long-struggling character had also come to terms with their existence and embraced who they are. I usually go in a bit of a cycle with DLC characters in fighting games where I play them for a week and then go back to my main after I get bored, but the solidarity I felt with Testament has pushed me to genuinely try to learn them and they’re easily my new main. It further deepened my love for this game and series, and I’m so happy for it.
OK so Bridget just got added to strive and SHE explicitly comes out as trans on dialogue during arcade endings
talk about timing
The amount of lesbians I know that would happily let Ladiva step on them
As a Blabzlue player I am upset there's no Amane because he's amazing and perfect and literally me :3
I always find it amusing that fighting games, whom some can argue are not known for their story, can create great LGBT+ characters, compared to current AAA games, with actual character development that isn't just "I'm Gay/Trans"
You don't develop into being gay or trans.
The lack of story importance is arguably a blessing because they never have to overthink it like some other pieces of media do. They just stop at interesting concepts, designs, and loud personalities and just kind of roll with that for as long as they can like professional wrestlers do
"Bridget has the least impact on the guilty gear lore"? A.B.A. is like introduced and that was it
Bro, you got a pretty big mistake about Chun Li: she wasnt the first playable female character.
That would be Yuki from the 1985 fighter Onna Sansirou - Typhoon Gal, and Star and Fan from _Yie Ar Kung Fu_ released earlier in 1985.
Gods, youtube/fgc commenters are still large trash fire. I enjoyed this vid, thank you for making it. :)
Guilty gear be like : Bridget is a boy, hold my bear.
One month latter, bridget : I'm a girl.
Hey, just a quick thing:
I would be interested in seeing another video on the topic, if you ever want to continue talking about this. However, I think in the future, it might be a good idea to have other queer folks as part of your video collaborators. Like, having LGBTQ+ players or creators in the video would be a great step I think, we know what good representation is and is not lol
It would also help to have someone in the community proofread the script and check any problematic points. I feel like the talk about Ladiva's "belief" and the reference to her youth could've been written better.
Finally someone has mentioned MegatonStammer's POISON document 💜💜
I mean, every person interested in Poison's history behind The scenes should really watch it since there is a rundown about everything
I just wanna say, thank you for this video!
Homophobia and similar bigotry is still rampant in video games (the industry and the communities), so its really important to see these characters that are often disrespected get the love and attention they deserve 💗
@@terreausore2435 i literally dont care, what youre saying doesnt even make sense.
@@terreausore2435 edge Lord alert
@@terreausore2435 whoooooshhh
@@LizardKingRequiem Maybe it does. The character does not feel disrespected, people do.
Hi, so for what my word is worth as someone who’s at least 3 letters of LGBT, I have a couple comments!
First, you don’t have to count being nonbinary as a separate thing to being LGBT! As a form of rejecting your assigned identity at birth, it’s implied as part of the T. That’s what the white stripe in the trans flag represents. It’s all under the trans umbrella.
As for the video itself, I have no qualms with anything except the section about Bridget. In my experience of the LGBT community I don’t generally see crossdressing grouped in as a queer identity. It can go hand in hand with aspects of it, but is not, itself, a letter contained within LGBTQUIA+. I worry that the answer to “why does Bridget still dress that way after escaping his village” is that his character is a relic of a time when “heeheehoohoo boy looks like girl” was funny enough to serve as a gimmick. There’s absolutely room for lighthearted queer readings of the character though, but whether they’re an intended part remains to be seen. Maybe they’ll handle it with as much grace as they handled Testament if Bridget comes to Strive. Who knows.
Yeah, crossdressing isn't a gender identity. It's part of gender expression.
Thanks for making this video! It means a lot to me to see awesome people talk about this.
It's so cruel that you put so much work into this video... and a whole section of it about Bridget has been turned on its head just a month later.
Great video though! Found the channel and subscribed because of it! Would love to see a video about your thoughts on Bridget and her newfound identity!
I was beaming throughout this whole video I loved it So Much. So much joy. So much pride. I connect a lot with Testament and the ending here only cemented it further. Thank you.
I can't tell if this Bridgette section aged like wine or like milk.
It aged like cheese
Bridget is now a girl
One month and this video already needs an update. Guilty Gear Strive dropped a bomb on you with the Bridget DLC.
Venom was always cool to me because of how he look then he became even cooler when I found out his sexuality, because unlike most at the time, his sexuality wasn't his personality, it affected his relationships ( as it would) but it wasn't all he was/all his gameplay was, just because your gay doesn't mean all you do is kiss people and shoot hearts/ rainbows every where.
Thank you very much for this one, A.B.I. It... feels really warm being able to see that so much of it is there.
The one I can offer to this conversation from Them's Fightin' Herds is that of Cashmere, the venture capitalist reindeer from Rein City, and her unhealthy obsession with Oleander. While not exactly a playable character, Cashmere none the less has some of the most dialogue of any character, given she has dozens and dozens of voiced lines and appearances that regularly cycle as TFH gets new patches. She's Velvet's cousin, but always, ALWAYS puts her trade and devotion to the almighty salt cube before all else. She's shown to be a bit of a snake oil salesdoe, willing to pass off a wad of tinfoil as fashion to an unsuspecting Arizona in story mode in exchange for all of the cow's salt.
However, that shrewd taste for stonks goes STRAIGHT out the window when the Champion of the Woodlands ever happens to visit Cap & Cash's Caps for Cash. she becomes outright flirtatious, offering to let the unicorn try on and have selections from her select catalogue. It's only her WInter Sprite partner, Cap, to pull her back to reality and remind her that the store needs to make a profit. Oleander, for what it's worth, has been shown that Cashmere's blatant thirst does at least flatter her a little, as the demon FHTNG teases Oleander about it in a bit of story mode dialogue is Arizona has the tinfoil hat she can buy from Cashmere.
Foenum does not seem like a world with any sort of discrimination over same-sex relationships, given there seem to be instances of it in story mode from just general NPCs, so maybe it's more that Cashmere is really about that mono-horn life, but... still, it's there and it makes me smile.
I wish Venom would return and find himself a cool boyfriend who loves him ❤
He’s my favourite character, it’s sad to let him go. 😭
Idk If arcsys changed their mind about bridget but that part didn't age quite so well