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Transgenderism and the PYRO

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by sysreq, Nov 21, 2013.

  1. sysreq

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    Those of you who play/have played team fortress 2 will understand my point here.
    The Pyro is a fictional pyromaniacal character from the popular free shooter, Team Fortress 2. Every other playable character in the game is male. There are 9 total playable 'classes.'
    The pyro's gender is undisclosed in the game, mostly because they wear a gas mask which obscures their face, unlike any other class.

    If you haven't play TF2, you should go watch THIS video. Even if you've played the game and know the backstory to the Pyro, you should still watch it. It's not long.

    What I'm wondering is, based on evidence supporting all 3 possibilities, (they are a girl; they are a boy; they are neither) (they have a male voice (the voice actor is Gary Schwartz), they keep a 'feminine looking' change purse in the spawn room cubby/locker.

    I really, really dislike gender stereotypes, but what do you guys think?
     
  2. Cin Vhetin

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    Wow that video started off kind of funny but then started to feel very similar to some "How to spot a tranny" articles I have read. Then it proclaims gay and bi people are schizophrenic.

    Anyway I personally consider the Pyro to be genderless. I also generally refer to the Pyro as it because not only do I feel like the Pyro has no gender, I feel the Pyro has given up it's humanity. Between all of the chemicals it is exposed to and repeated fire exposure I don't even know if it would be recognized as human. I think the Pyro has clearly lost it's humanity and sanity and gender was lost with that. Headcanon is that the Pyro either used to be a girl and these are the last shreads of humanity we are seeing or the Pyro had a sister who died in a fire, probably caused by the Pyro, and this event is what destroyed the Pyro. The purse and Pyrovision are desperate attempts to preserve it's memory of her from the insanity. Or I may just be reading way too much into this.
     
  3. Necrose

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    What Cin Vhetin says would explain the male voice and purse thing. I never really gave much thought to it, personally. Pyro is clearly insane and all the other team members, particularly Scout and Heavy as seen in Meet the Pyro, are afraid of it because it's insane. Do we really need to read anymore into it than that?
     
  4. GeeLee

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    I'll be honest when I'm being hunted down by a maniac with a flamethrower I rarely stop and consider the maniac's gender.
     
  5. Necrose

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    I know, right? There's a maniac trying to kill you with a flamethrower. That's all that really matters.
     
  6. Minamimoto_Fan

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    The pyro's just the pyro. When the opposing team uses fifty million spies, there's only one class you can count on.

    I never gave much thought to the Pyro's gender, I just kinda assumed the pyro was male like the rest of the classes since the muffled voice is masculine in nature. Is it possible? Yes, I'll admit that, and if it turns out the pyro is somebody who's transitioned, cool.

    The pyro is a homicidal psychopath that I'll stay the hell away from when I'm playing medic or spy, and I'll always fear that masked maniac no matter what C:
     
  7. GeeLee

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    [​IMG]

    ?
     
  8. sysreq

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    I totally didn't intend to start a "WHY ARE YOU BRINGING THIS UP YOU FREAKING TRANSPHOBE" conversation.
    It's something that seems to bother everyone else and the given ideas here make some sense.
    Besides, [the pyro]'s still one of my favourite classes besides scout, heavy, medic, soldier....all but demoman, basically. I HATE not having a point-and-shoot hitscan GUN that I can rely on when I couldn't be bothered to time a charge or bounce a pipebomb properly.

    All joking aside, it was just a question. Not one really begging for an answer, I just wanted to know what people thought.

    The video is by TheGameTheorists, one of my all-time-favourite gaming youtube channels that covers more than just Minecraft.

    Admittedly, the guy says some very cis-het-ist things which is kind of to be expected since he's a 20-30 yr old white male from the mostly-liberal state of California (like any other youtuber, apparently (other than AntVenom; he lives in Maine!)). He's also kind of unfeeling in that particular video, but then again it's a rather sensitive subject, esp. on the Internetz.

    But that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY. Thanks for watching.
     
  9. Minamimoto_Fan

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    You underestimate my inability to use heavy to his full potential. Medic and Pyro are my classes my modus operendi, with the occasional Engie and Demoman
     
  10. GeeLee

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    How can you have an inability to use the Heavy? It's just point, shoot, laugh, point, shoot, sandvich, point, shoot etc with the occasional overcharge from a medic.
     
  11. Aldebaran

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  12. Ruthven

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    Umm....OP posted that exact video.
     
  13. Cin Vhetin

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    I did not mean to imply you personally were transphobic. I had problems with the video but you yourself even commented on some of the stereotypes in it. I did not view the video as a direct reflection of your personal viewpoints.

    As for the original question I think it was perfectly valid. My personal opinion is until specifically stated by canon a character can be anything anyone wants it to be. I often get a bit creative with my interpretation of characters to make some easier to relate to. My sister actual installed the femscout mod for TF2 and will call me transphobic for misgendering the Scout because they are still a guy on my end.
     
  14. Mrcake

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    The pyro is gay.
     
  15. An Gentleman

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    That's basically what I think.
    Besides, in a universe with ghosts and magic and weirdly anachronistic technology...
    I wouldn't be surprised if Pyro was an alien or something.
     
  16. Argentwing

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    The Pyro is clearly female:

    [youtube]J91ti_MpdHA[/youtube]
     
  17. sysreq

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    Agreed, certainly. I never understood the femme-scout mod for TF until I fully understood gender truly, and why it's so fluid.