From a cutesy feminine appearance donning a wedding dress to a punk rock tomboy wearing spats and shorts, ArcSys continues to spit in the face of longstanding Guilty Gear fans by rewriting history.
The most recent reintroduction of a character to Guilty Gear Strive is Elphelt Valentine, yet another female character that has undergone a significant redesign. Her new look shifts from a wedding dress-inspired design to an outfit with a death metal aesthetic.
Arc System for lack of a better term has been pandering exclusively to western FGC fans for quite some time, completely disregarding actual Guilty Gear fans for a newer and more diverse audience.
ArcSys previously retconned the whole character of Bridget from Guilty Gear XX when he made his debut in Guilty Gear -Strive- back in August of 2022, with the so called “new fans” of the franchise desperately proclaiming the character as Transgender, further facilitated by progressive nonsensical botched English localization that added fuel to the fire.
A whole social media campaign, stemming from righteous individuals who wish to be “validated” for who “they truly are” forcefully imposed the belief that Bridget was now considered to be transgender, mainly due to his color scheme aligning with the trans flag therefore making it “canon”.
It’s just a load of nonsense. For years, the character identified as male, and now suddenly they’re labeled as trans, using “her,” and fans are supposed to just accept it.
To make matters worse, they push this “it was there all along” narrative, which is ridiculous, especially when back in 2009, I remember Ishiwatari previously stating in an interview that creating Bridget as an “otokonoko” intentionally.
I don’t mind respecting the creator’s vision, but context matters, and it’s clear that this isn’t what the creator originally intended, and they’re being dishonest about it, with Ishiwatari seemingly changing his mind and supporting the western woke headcanon of Bridget identifying as a girl.
And what a trans “icon” Bridget is, given his backstory in previous Guilty Gear titles, Bridget was born in a village where male twins were considered an omen of bad luck.
To circumvent this superstition, one of the twins would typically be either exiled or executed. However, Bridget’s parents opted for a different path, choosing to raise him as a girl and putting in considerable effort to provide him with the best life possible, otherwise he’d be killed.
So in essence the actual lore and backstory of Bridget as a character was that he was forcefully groomed into being raised as a girl, not that he himself identifies as one, while fake fans continue to gaslight regarding his actual gender, missing the point entirely that they themselves are trying to label an icon of grooming and superstitions as being transgender.
And thus the cycle continues with ArcSys abolishing any sort of femininity by pandering to western sensibilities with the redesign of Elphelt.
Despite undergoing a transformation into a more masculine design, Elphelt’s moveset has also undergone significant changes. It appears to align more closely with the style of Noel Vermilion from the BlazBlue series. Amusingly, if she emerges victorious, Elphelt even lets out a death metal scream, adding a touch of humor and potentially aggravating her opponents further in defeat.
Nevertheless, I take issue with this new design, as Guilty Gear -Strive- appears to have been influenced by a vocal group of self-proclaimed western “fans”, ArcSys continues adhering to woke ideologies.
Elphelt’s bridal motif has been entirely discarded in favor of a more assertive rockstar aesthetic. In her previous portrayals, she notably had larger breasts with a hint of exposed skin, but now that’s been altered, her breast size has been reduced, and her outfit has been swapped for spats with shorts underneath, seemingly in an attempt to avoid any unintentional suggestive elements during gameplay.
One glaring omission that seems to go unnoticed is that Elphelt’s redesign lacks any roses or flowers.
This is significant because Guilty Gear’s entire concept revolves around each character being inspired by music bands and rock artists, influencing everything from their design to their moves and personalities.
Elphelt Valentine is rooted in the rock band Guns N’ Roses, and her theme incorporates both guns and roses. In her Guilty Gear Xrd depiction, roses and flowers adorn her outfit and factor into her moves, but in her redesign, not a single rose is present. This seems like a compromise to cater to a broader audience that might find a girl with roses too feminine, sacrificing her musical inspiration in the process.
This goes beyond betraying the fans; it’s a betrayal of their very inspiration.
And once again given the color choice of her new design, the worst kind of “fans” are taking to Twitter to once again assert the headcanon that Elphelt somehow in some way shape or form is transgender.
Yet another evident instance of how social media botting is employed to manipulate narratives is evident in discussions surrounding ArcSys and or Atlus.
Mainly by botting replies underneath Western FGO’s most canceled star, Luna, who proclaimed that the belief of Elphelt being trans is fucking stupid. They did the same exact scheme with Bridget. However, now it’s Elphelt’s complete social media presence that’s undergoing botting.
There is absolutely no vision left for the franchise, with Strive being laced with censorship, notably censoring I-No’s win pose animation, then moving onwards with progressive retconning of establish characters and now seemingly catering to an exclusive crowd of individuals who collectively hate femininity in all shapes and sizes.
