Why is Tomcat given the they/them/their pronouns?

[cubs2084]

I'm in chapter 3, so maybe it's related to some character revelation later. But between the clearly female design, and the female voice actress, Tomcat appears to be a woman. So why does the script never refer to her as such in terms of referential pronouns?

[Oddbrother]

Choice of pronouns to describe a character is a matter of preference and not by looks alone. Some people choose to be "gender-fluid".

[Ailes]

Visually I always saw Tomcat as male, even though they descrbe themself as a "southern belle".

Turing is called "they" by your character too, but I suppose it is easier to consider a machine as "gender-fluid".

[Link]

Yeah, it's a gender fluid thing, which granted, the game never explains so if you're unfamiliar with it, it's a little confusing. I had a friend who realized they were non-binary/fluid/etc. and also started using "they", so I thankfully had a legup on all of this when I first played.

[postbuttwave]

Because their gender is non-binary.

[ubercub]

Singular they is a common and easy pronoun for genderqueer, genderfluid (like TOMCAT), and non-binary folks. I happen to use them myself.

SPOILERS ON THE GAME'S ENDING Near the end during Wintermute, it may be revealed that TOMCAT's birth name is Julian Thomas. We like to think they go by Jules for anyone who knew that name. But regardless of their appearance or voice, they are an AMAB (assigned male at birth) genderfluid individual, and we love them very much.

[cubs2084]

Originally posted by bear:

Singular they is a common and easy pronoun for genderqueer, genderfluid (like TOMCAT), and non-binary folks. I happen to use them myself.

SPOILERS ON THE GAME'S ENDING Near the end during Wintermute, it may be revealed that TOMCAT's birth name is Julian Thomas. We like to think they go by Jules for anyone who knew that name. But regardless of their appearance or voice, they are an AMAB (assigned male at birth) genderfluid individual, and we love them very much.

Ok, I thought it might be some reveal that happened later. That makes sense. It just was not remotely obvious. To me, Tomcat looks female and has a female voice actress, so it's not remotely clear. Certainly not like some of the other trans/queer characters who have shown up so far. Thanks :)

[cubs2084]

And thank you all for no one jumping on me as "ignorant CIS scum" or some such. I should hope it clear I'm not one of those idiots itching to give this a bad review because of the themes or characters. Tomcat is just...less apparent in terms of fitting the category/theme. Far less so than, say, Symmetry, or Bridget (the lizard Hybrid in the VIP room)

[Ailes]

Originally posted by cubs2084:

And thank you all for no one jumping on me as "ignorant CIS scum" or some such. [...]

I've never seen the devs jump here at anyone, neither other players. This anti-trump-voter-tweet that is linked in another thread is the first of harsh words I've seen from them. I'm not too much into these themes either, I certainly didn't buy the game for them. I wouldn't say I'm against them either. I can understand if people have mixed feelings about a game being so "politicized" but it's not like ROM was only one big slap into the face of bigots. There are games like Dreamfall Chapters that don't cater specifically towards the LGBT community but which are still highly politicized in a manner that can feel offensive, boring, annoying or interesting depending on who you're gonna ask.

I sometimes play choose-your-own-adventure games here on Steam. Or, more like read them. These were the only ones aside from ROM where I had seen genderfluid characters. I sometimes have mixed feelings about it. I think ROM has a fairly good balance, there are "normal" characters too. It can sometimes feel as if these games paint a picture in which being a "normal", that means heterosexul woman or man, is a crime of sorts. In Valhalla I get the feeling as if any straight character is a bigot ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ or idiot. That is also why I sometimes feel uncomfortable with Yuri visual novels, since they are essentially representations of the wet dreams of the creators.

[Link]

Originally posted by cubs2084:

Tomcat is just...less apparent in terms of fitting the category/theme.

I mean, I guess that's the point though, right? You can't really tell what somebody's gender is just by looking at them. You can make an educated guess, sure, but it's not always going to be the right one. Until the thing mentioned in the spoilers, I always assumed they were assigned female at birth.

As for jumping down people's throats, I don't find that very helpful to the cause. I know some people feel as if it's not our job to be educators (See Jess' storyline and attitude when it comes to discussing Hybrids), and that's fine, but being unnecessarily hostile about it certainly won't help.

Originally posted by Bahuemac:

This anti-trump-voter-tweet that is linked in another thread is the first of harsh words I've seen from them.

To be fair to the devs, I'd say it's safe to say that any game that has a story focus around acceptance of others who are different from yourself and not treating them as 2nd class citizens, etc. and was also designed by a diverse group of individuals probably doesn't align with a Trump Supporters views.

[Ailes]

Originally posted by Link:

To be fair to the devs, I'd say it's safe to say that any game that has a story focus around acceptance of others who are different from yourself and not treating them as 2nd class citizens, etc. and was also designed by a diverse group of individuals probably doesn't align with a Trump Supporters views.

They could've maybe still used less harsh words. Just look in those other threads how those Trump lovers are jumping at this opportunity to bash the game and/or devs. They'll probably lose interest soon again but it is still kinda sad.

[Arynis]

Originally posted by cubs2084:

And thank you all for no one jumping on me as "ignorant CIS scum" or some such. I should hope it clear I'm not one of those idiots itching to give this a bad review because of the themes or characters. Tomcat is just...less apparent in terms of fitting the category/theme. Far less so than, say, Symmetry, or Bridget (the lizard Hybrid in the VIP room)

Hey, you were curious and wondering, that doesn't make you ignorant or anything. I think people and the devs are happy to see others wanting to learn more about things like this.

[Link]

Originally posted by Bahuemac:

They could've maybe still used less harsh words.

Why though? So people wouldn't come to the forums to troll? This is nothing new to them. We had a wave of this BS when they annoucned Zoe Quinn would be doing a minor voice role.

If they feel strongly enough about the things they put in their game, and there's a group of people out there who oppose the values and ideals and message that the game has, they they should oppose those people. It could've been said nicer, but what's the point in playing nice to a demographic who is already hostile towards you?

[Ailes]

I looked at a VA list for the first time now. I liked Katelyn (Zoe Quinn). I mistook Zinn (Jessi Nowack) for Laura Bailey (she sounds like her and she is also a Telltale VA).

I like the idea of hiring VAs who have actually experienced some of the social aspects that are dealt with in the game, or who represent the groups their characters are affiliating with them.

I never heard any of this drama regarding Zoe Quinn. I had my fair share of Internet drama and try to stay away from it. My net presence isn't that great as Turing might say and I suppose I'm better off that way. I guess I feel sorry for Quinn but it's not very surprising, this is the Internet and I believe stuff like that happens all the time. Instead of asking for companies to enforce better policies and protection perhaps the users should learn instead not to share too much of their personal information on the net, especially not on social networks. Or maybe to log out completely if they can. I can imagine there is lots of peer pressure and all, but I don't know, if person X has some very good friends shouldn't they stick with them if they aren't on Facebook and Twitter and Twitch and whatnot? If they won't maybe they weren't really friends to begin with. I'm not looking for excuses for the people who had harrased her but, well, as I said it's not surprising to me that something like that has happened to somebody like her.