Online Kombat

[WindKnight]

I thought there was a transexual character in street fighter?

You mean Poison? She was from Final Fight aaand I **think** she was only transsexual as a response to a moral panic over beating up women in a beat em up, this was apparently worse and was ultimately cut (no pun intended).

Nah, poison is still trans, but whether she's pre-op (japan) or post-op (everywhere else) is determined by localisation.

But, yes, her origin was to deflect Americans uncomfortable beating up a woman (ignoring the fact she's a combatant and trying to kill you) by saying she was 'a man' so it would totally be ok to beat up a trans woman instead.

 

[Revolutionary]

Does he have sassy fatalities? because if not I don't even see why it's relevant.

 

[XDSkyFreak]

Wait what? This is a thing now? I mean, I know the scene and the dialogue, I just went "oh, so he swings the other way but he gets accepted for it. Can't believe I say this, but kudos MK X. Now can I get back to breaking bones and organs?" and just went on playing. Why in cerberus's nine balls is this a controversy? Jeesus ... sometimes I'm glad I canceled all news subscriptions and disconected all my social media profiles. Ignorance is a bliss these days.

 

[Toilet]

I didn't know a character in MKX was gay which means it was handled with more class and tact that anything Bioware has recently released.

Spoiler: I feel like I have to explain this more.

Bioware uses sexuality as a selling point in their recent games rather than an anecdotal unimportant character trait that sexuality actually is.

 

[Silence]

I don't give a fuck.

No seriously, I didn't even know characters in fighting games had specific sexualities. oO.

 

[Daymo]

I've got mixed feelings on the whole tokenism debate. On the one hand, I would like to see more fleshing out of a character dealing with their sexuality. On the other hand...do they always need to? I mean there are black characters in fighting games and they don't exactly flesh out their race and any experiences related to their race. Why not just let them have a gay character who just happens to be gay, end of story? We have plenty of characters who just happen to be heterosexual, end of story, why not the other way around?

A lot of the guys are doing it for their family or to impress a lady as well, so they aren't just heterosexual end of story, but it's such a common motivation that we don't think about it.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

The longer I write, the less I care!

 

[Erttheking]

I've got mixed feelings on the whole tokenism debate. On the one hand, I would like to see more fleshing out of a character dealing with their sexuality. On the other hand...do they always need to? I mean there are black characters in fighting games and they don't exactly flesh out their race and any experiences related to their race. Why not just let them have a gay character who just happens to be gay, end of story? We have plenty of characters who just happen to be heterosexual, end of story, why not the other way around?

A lot of the guys are doing it for their family or to impress a lady as well, so they aren't just heterosexual end of story, but it's such a common motivation that we don't think about it.

Ok then. Just throw in a husband or boyfriend. Problem solved.

 

[Lightknight]

Is he stereotypically gay? How is he identified as such in the game?

 

[Winnosh]

It's relevant because Mortal Kombat is one of the few fighting games where people actually do play it just for the story and characters and not for the fighting some times. So introducing a gay character actually does have a bit of relevance

 

[WarpedLord]

Is he stereotypically gay? How is he identified as such in the game?

They really don't draw much attention to it. This is the only reference to it in game.

Oh yeah... I totally understand why people could be upset about how blatant that was. [/eyeroll]

 

[SweetShark]

Guilty gear. venom. Comon guys. Gay people have been in videogames a long time. This isn't news. I'm not say anymore about the subject because i know how quote happy people are.

Maybe because we already know Guilty Gear is from Japan, the most people said "ehhh, whatever, I saw worst from Japan". Also Vemon isn't only gay, but also a children lover [if I remember right].
What would happen if you had this kind of character in MK? CHAOS!!!!!! RAGEEEEE!!!!!! CCCOOOMMEENTSSSSS!!!!! TTHHHRREEEAAADDSSSS!!!!!!

 

[Shanahanapp]

As far as I can tell the people who are complaining about this basically have the viewpoint of "I'm not against gay people being in games, but I don't want to actually see it." If it's a subtle bit of backstory (such as here) it's "pointless" and "the game's about fighting so who cares" and if it's actually a large part of a character's backstory or relationships (like in say Inquisition) then it's being "shoved down our throats". I'm curious as to what sort of depiction of homosexuality they'll actually be happy with.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I didn't even know about this until now. And people care? It's a fighting game character. Their sexuality is as important as their political ideology or the fact that they like cats more than dogs and vice versa. When it comes to fighting characters, what's on the outside is what matters.

 

[whatever55]

I thought there was a transexual character in street fighter?

yep her name is poison, she was originally a futa but the japanese devs thought that was to weird for Americans so they changed her into a transsexual.
there is also a cross dresser in guilty gear named Bridget (that makes every other male character in GuiltyGear gay but Bridget himself is straight and identifies as male).
there's dan hibiki in street fighter that a lot of people suspect is gay but no hard proof.
also skull girls have some lesbians.
most fighting games are made by the japanese and the japanese give 0 fucks about this, they are much less sexually inhibited then Americans which may explain why an american fighting game getting an lgbt character sorta is considered news.
however i still don't give a fuck.

 

[Glen Compton]

Is the subtext to the comic that those two guys are domestic partners?
If not, I am disappointed...

 

[teh_Canape]

I thought there was a transexual character in street fighter?

Thats Poison youre thinking about there.

And as far as i can work out, his gender was never mentioned in Final Fight, but only in the japanese manuals and guidebooks.

true but I think she was made canonically transexual female along the line in street fighter games, though I don't keep up with that

 

[Areloch]

My only concern when I heard about it was them bandying that aspect of him like it was a trophy, or worse him being 'Faaaaaabulous' or the like.

Watching the cutscene, and it merely being confirmed via the developer, I see nothing to be mad about. The character happens to be gay, it's important to the character's motivations and backstory, and it isn't trounced around like it's some big thing for the sake of publicity.

Gold stars from me.

 

[Adultratedhydra]

ITT: Gay/trans character in Japanese developed game? pfft not news, theyre all xenophobic degenerates anyway.

Gay/trans character from a western dev? PARAGONS OF DIVERSITY AND LOVE.

I suppose netherrealm need to be given props for writing a better gay character than anything Bioware has ever come up with.

 

[CaitSeith]

Is he stereotypically gay? How is he identified as such in the game?

They really don't draw much attention to it. This is the only reference to it in game.

If I didn't know he was gay, I would probably interpret that as just a classic "forbidden love" trope (like being in love with a girl from the enemy clan or something).