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Author Topic: Gargoyle's gender?  (Read 2681 times)

digitalizedMind

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Gargoyle's gender?
« on: August 06, 2024, 12:26:55 PM »

Fun fact: the story mission dialogue never refers to Gargoyle with any actual pronouns, it just says "the hacker" when referring to Gargoyle. My theory is that they are nonbinary, although it could be possible they have no canon gender, like how ULTRAKILL characters have no canon height (source: hakita, the lead dev).

I noticed this back when the story missions were first released. I thought it was easy to spot so I didn't bring it up, but it seems like most people don't pick up on it because they aren't familiar with nonbinary people.

I also want to mention Gargoyle fits several nonbinary stereotypes: a. naming yourself after your favorite word, b. having an appearance that makes people guess your genitals with 50% accuracy, c. adhd, d. femboys and trans women are known for being programmers/IT
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David

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2024, 05:02:08 PM »

(I'll admit, Gargoyle was sorta kinda inspired by going out drinking with a couple nonbinary folk.)
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digitalizedMind

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2024, 08:52:14 AM »

tbh, I'm nonbinary myself and Gargoyle is easily my favorite character in the entire game lol. Not just because I like the queerness, but I unironically want to be like them.
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Dadada

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2024, 12:02:31 AM »

Fun fact: the story mission dialogue never refers to Gargoyle with any actual pronouns
Ohh, didn't notice that, always thought Gargoyle was an eccentric male hacker.  :o

d. femboys and trans women are known for being programmers/IT
I always had the impression this one was a stereotype propagated by and in the Interwebz. "shrug"
Like immigrants from country x doing profession job y, but I know people from x doing all kinds of professions jobs and not just y. "shrug"
« Last Edit: August 08, 2024, 12:23:20 AM by Dadada »
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Pizzarugi

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #4 on: October 01, 2024, 08:52:25 PM »

You know, I had never thought about that until you mentioned it. You're right, I don't think Gargoyle's gender is ever referenced in any of the story writing. It completely went over my head and I defaulted to male pronouns.
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Beep Boop

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2024, 07:00:55 PM »

Apparently it is "Yes".
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Phoebe Core

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2024, 11:42:00 AM »

(I'll admit, Gargoyle was sorta kinda inspired by going out drinking with a couple nonbinary folk.)

that's it, I have been on the fence about it for a while, I am done pretending I can keep doing this with all this queer stuff. but I am buying another copy of Starsector as a "guest code" for people I want to play this game. This game f****** rules keep up the great work starfarers!
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BigBrainEnergy

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2024, 12:55:43 AM »

A "quirky" hacker character could've easily been over the top and annoying, but David did a fine job writing Gargoyle. Definitely one of the characters of all time.
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Vanshilar

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2024, 09:20:21 PM »

I just want to say, I feel like this is tackling contemporary social issues "just right": not in-your-face, but it's just treated as, in the future no one bats an eye about these types of things, they just *are*.
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happycrow

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2024, 01:16:33 PM »

imo the "correct" part is that it's literally the least interesting thing about Gargoyle there is to talk about.
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Pizzarugi

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2024, 12:05:12 PM »

imo the "correct" part is that it's literally the least interesting thing about Gargoyle there is to talk about.
For cisgendered people, sure. For non-binary folk, however, they probably appreciate the representation being in the game. The closest thing they have otherwise is being able to choose "captain" instead of sir or ma'am.
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happycrow

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2024, 12:30:04 PM »

Let me restate the premise more clearly. I'm not arguing against representation; I'm saying that the writing is good because it avoids one-dimensionality/tokenism/Planet-of-Hats. ("a gender designation isn't a personality") The fact that Gargoyle has ass-tons of skill and personality and gender is simply there is what's great. The character isn't one-dimensional or token at all.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2024, 11:43:46 AM by happycrow »
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SonnaBanana

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #12 on: November 30, 2024, 08:44:38 PM »

It's nice and all but best part isn't even a thing yet: their own sidequests and involvements in Colony Crises.
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Phoebe Core

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Re: Gargoyle's gender?
« Reply #13 on: December 02, 2024, 04:20:57 PM »

I just want to say, I feel like this is tackling contemporary social issues "just right": not in-your-face, but it's just treated as, in the future no one bats an eye about these types of things, they just *are*.

Their writing is such a breath of fresh air when it comes to representation or whatever and should be the standard. So many different pieces of media represent us (people under the trans umbrella and lgbtq family in general) so often as either caricatures or tokens in their works all in the name of inclusion, but they never feel like people in these worlds, being more akin to something that makes shareholder happy. Gargoyle is written as an individual human being inhabiting the Persean sector 200 cycles after the collapse, their skills relations, and past deads define them, not their identity, and that is such a wonderful thing.
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