this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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There's none of this backlash when people appreciate how Faust was.
People can freely discuss that version of the character, without getting-- this. This meta-rant blithely wondering what the big deal is, if you only had to write volumes about what a big deal it is.
Nobody whines about Baiken because giving up a ruinous quest for vengeance is character growth. Not inadvertently trolling the fandom by contradicting all prior motivation... in a way that makes describing that motivation sound like bigotry. Again: Bridget's whole deal was to "man up." Proving worth through bounty hunting, to be taken seriously, whilst staying comfortable with oneself. I.e., cute as fuck.
Rejecting the societal demand to prove gender identity would make perfect sense. Telling anyone to "man up" is toxic enforcement of prejudice. Rejecting that identity instead is bad, actually. It's an endorsement of those gender roles. Bridget being trans now is not growth. It's a sloppy misunderstanding of everything the character was about.
But all criticism of that bad writing has to walk on eggshells. I'm fretting over every reference to how Bridget used to be. I wind up editing every sentence a dozen times, scrubbing any hint of contemporary phrasing, like that wasn't also a celebrated queer fictional character.
Old Baiken was not erased. Old Faust was not erased. But if someone today posts a 2010 drawing of Bridget on an image booru - how do you tag that?
imagine if Bridget were a real person then reread your last two paragraphs
No.
I'm not going to treat discussion of a fictional character a if it's about a real person. Real people cannot be written badly - characters obviously can.
How would we ever discuss stories that handle these topics, if anything an author made up was as absolute as a living person's private decisions? Sometimes authors fuck up. Sometimes that fuckup is more useful as a teachable moment than any kind of representation. I'd argue this qualifies, not because Bridget in Strive is handled poorly, but because Bridget was the goddamn patron saint of Y-boners. This character taught 4chan that Kinsey zeroes can still appreciate anime thighs of any gender. 4chan! And now it's hard to even describe that situation, let alone fondly remember and praise it, specifically out of deference to how we address real living trans people.
If this was a new character - there'd be no issue whatsoever.
It'd be downright hilarious to introduce Bridget's unnamed sibling, the entire reason Bridget was raised as a girl, and reveal their parents got it completely backwards.
But instead, all appreciation for who this character was is spoiled, all past support now sounds like hatred, and even acknowledging that shift is condemned. What needless turmoil over such a cheerful character in the silliest fighting game.