Guilty Gear ‘s Testament Gender Reveal Is A Heartwarming Step Forward for the FGC

Fans are reacting well to the gender for Testament from Guilty Gear Strive, after the character’s reveal yesterday as the final DLC character for season 1.

For those out of the loop, the character was given a bold new redesign, even sporting new pronouns: the character now goes by They/Them pronouns, as mentioned on both their official bio and during the live reveal yesterday.

The character was further confirmed as being nonbinary during ArcREVO yesterday, when Arc System Works marketing rep Riku Ozawa (translation by AmaranthSparrow on reddit) mentions that the character was originally envisioned as being androgynous, but with Strive they went with an agender style instead.

For context, think about it like instead of having your character look like both a knight *and* a Wizard, instead having them look like they didn’t have a specific job class.

A Community In Support of Hot Goths With Big Scythes

Admittedly, progressive character design is always a source of anxiety in the community- every now and again there’ll be transphobes and other bigots throwing fits about a character if they’re anything but cis and straight, especially for older “legacy” franchises like this one.

Thankfully, this wasn’t the case with the Guilty Gear fandom, as many people didn’t just applaud the new gender for Testament – they also praised them for being the sexiest the character’s ever been.

“Non-binary androgynous grim reaper is one hell of an aesthetic and I’m super down for it”, writes redditor gbrincks.

Nonbinary redditor Hummingmoth also applauded the game’s first explicitly nonbinary character not being a robot- another common trope in fiction that wants progressive points but doesn’t want to deal with talking about gender identity.

“Also another they/them, I will say in general a stereotype for nonbinary people are robot/wearing a mask, so for me personally I found it very nice that testament is just looking hot and flaunting it”, they write.

While one of the most popular fighting games right now sporting blatant nonbinary representation is something to be applauded, older Guilty Gear fans are also saying this has been par for the course for the Guilty Gear series- things like gender identity are second only to how rock-and-roll you are.

“Guilty gear is metal as fuck, gender doesn’t matter in the face of that overall badassery. If Testament is they/them now? Excellent. Sorta explains why Testament X Dizzy was never canon, they were getting all of her fashion tips though!”, writes redditor Andvari9.

Guilty Gear Strive

Publisher: Arc System Works

Developer: Arc System Works

Release Date: 2021-06-11

PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam

Experience the thrill of battle with the in-depth mechanics and gorgeous animations of Guilty Gear -Strive-, the latest entry in the cutting edge Guilty Gear series! - Graphics so stunning they look like hand-drawn animation! Graphical advances make for a game so beautiful it could be mistaken for hand-drawn animation. The new generation of graphics are a delight for the eyes down to the tiniest detail! - The cutting edge of the fighting game genre! We set out with the goal to innovate the fighting game genre with this title. This game appeals to a wider audience, while maintaining the deep game mechanics that define the Guilty Gear series. The complex mechanics such as the dramatic new wall break system create opportunities for the mind games associated with fighting games. One clash after the next tells a story unique to each battle! - Their fates come to a conclusion! The story of Guilty Gear has been told over more than 20 years. At long last, each character's fate comes to a conclusion! What shocking truth awaits them? Content of the Ultimate Edition : - Guilty Gear -Strive- - Guilty Gear -Strive- : Season Pass 1 - Guilty Gear -Strive- : Soundtrack and Artbook - Guilty Gear -Strive- : Ultimate Edition Special Colours

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