Fan Fave Bridget Joins Guilty Gear Strive, Comes Out As Trans

Love to see a queen residing their reality.Screenshot: Arc System Works / Kotaku

EVO 2022 got here with an assortment of hype moments over the weekend, together with essentially the most unbelievable “Cell Yell” I’ve heard since Dragon Ball FighterZ’s first season in 2018. Sprinkled all through the match have been a couple of bulletins, too, such because the welcome reveal of rollback netcode for extra preventing video games. But maybe most enjoyable was information that traditional fighter Bridget is the following DLC character coming to Guilty Gear Strive. What’s extra, within the day or so since, arcade mode footage revealed that Bridget has come out as a trans woman. Talk a couple of primarily based W!

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Bridget was first launched in 2002’s Guilty Gear XX, presenting as a really cute boy who immediately stole the hearts of followers. Though born as one in every of two twin boys to a multi-billionaire couple, Bridget’s gender presentation was decidedly female regardless of their use of masculine pronouns. (Official cause: convoluted anime bullshit.) However, with Bridget’s official return as a playable character in Strive as a part of the sport’s $25 Season Pass 2, ArcSys has given them a “come out” second the place they announce they do, the truth is, determine as a lady.

Arc System Works

An adept yo-yo consumer, Bridget’s dialogue in Strive exhibits her turning into comfy in expressing her trans identification, telling deuteragonist Ky Kisuke and U.S. Secretary of Defense (lol) Goldlewis Dickinson that, “[calling me] Cowgirl is fine. Because…I’m a girl!”

Yas, Queen, dwell your reality! We like to see it. In reality, loads of of us on-line celebrated the reveal with fan artwork and memes. Someone even created a mod for Bridget that sees her donning the blue, pink, and white colours of the Trans delight flag. It’s cool!

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Kotaku has reached out to Arc System Works for remark.

Not everybody was thrilled about Bridget’s trans-ness, although, which shouldn’t come as a shock on this area. Ready to dismiss their identification wholesale, there are many gross tweets decrying ArcSys giving us an precise trans character in Strive. While there’s some nuance to the concept that the studio could possibly be “erasing a character’s previous identity,” as one tweeter put it, many of the unfavorable discourse oscillating round Bridget is framed as bad-faith arguments over “grooming.”

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The unfavorable response towards Bridget’s popping out is disconcerting to say the least. At a time when the U.S. authorities is penning laws geared toward attacking the queer expertise, getting illustration in media—particularly in video games—must be seen as a boon. It reassures of us in our neighborhood that it’s OK to be who you’re, and the way you determine is each accepted and liked. As a nonbinary particular person who sees a little bit of themselves within the elegant “grim reaper” Testament, Strive’s first enby character, I’m completely residing for Bridget coming into her personal.