I couldnāt decide between Bapzo and Baptanzo, so now we have both.
And same.
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Real talk, Baptiste makes me feel like a idiot for a lot of reasons, so I apologize to anyone I argued with on this thread.
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I donāt follow any non-NSFW artists on twitters but now I have to find all the Baptiste fanart going forward because thatās how in love I am with him. For some reason that makes me anxious hahahahaā¦
I do not foresee a shortage in that regard, so take heart in that! lol
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Not that this is in any way shocking, but Chu has confirmed that they havenāt thought about Baptiste being LGBTQ in detail yet, as they are still working on his story. This of course doesnāt mean yes or no, but donāt expect a confirmation, not that any of us were expecting it.
Hmmm, interesting.
Donāt tempt me to get back on my soapbox lol, but honestly Baptiste would be amazing for representation. A black man and a man who made bad choices yet made himself into a redeemed hero, plus he is prime for a happy ending.
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Iām not going to debate because I completely agree. He hits all the right spots for good representation.
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I can see him as a dude that swings both ways the only other character I can also see swing both ways is Sombra
It honestly would be a fairly big mistake not to make him representation, the only thing I would do is maybe have it be revealed in a few months as opposed to a few years.
Hmmm, Bap I wouldnāt have a problem with, but Sombra strikes me as most of the bad female bi stereotypes that exist rolled into one character, personally.
I brought up Sombra because I think she has a thing for both Reaper and Widow tbh.
I see, I still see a lot of bad stereotypes in making her bi, personally.
I donāt think Blizzard has any intentions to reveal anything in a long time.
But I honestly think, from the little weāve seen, he is an excellent contender. I think at this point I wouldnāt want anyone else to be revealed bi but him, preferably with a boyfriend because they are never going to do anything with Soldier 76 being gay, or for that matter releasing Vincent or his husband as a hero, so Baptiste having a boyfriend would allow for at least one instance of a positive m/m relationship that is acknowledged in the lore.
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Thatās true, and thatās fair.
But NOW ITāS SOAPBOX TIME. (I wish there was a spoiler option so I could hide it for people not interested, tbh)
I suppose Iām just stuck in this fantasy/āI think I know better than Chuā state.
Like, Baptiste is would be INCREDIBLE as gay rep, but as bi rep heās merely the best option available. Again, it depends how they portray him, but in any case all he can be is just as good bi as gay, in my mind.
Compared to Jack, who wouldāve broken so many stereotypes as a bi man. Especially the stereotype that we are merely going from partner to partner. Iāve floated this idea before, but Jack carrying two pictures of two seperate people (he is carrying a stack of photoās, after all) he cared about over his life would be a great way to have bisexual rep. Itās rare that bisexual men are portrayed as being in love/hung up, which bites.
Whereas making Baptiste bi, you could have that same idea but it would be much harder to do and convey effectively, same with most other characters in the roster. Itās easier to portray bisexuality tastefully with past relationships, imo.
Baptiste being gay frees you up to do so much more in the way of positive rep, namely the happy ending aspectā¦ He could have a significant other who he is committed too, maybe itās his first and only love (Iāve gotten criticism for the idea of having bisexual characters have different sex/gendered partners in their past, but my justification is that with that there is no real way to simply say āOh heās just gay/straightā) and he could be fighting for that significant other, in the same way that Tracer fights for Emily. Again, a very positive m/m relationship, and better than that one that could end in fluff.
But thatās passed at this point, so I agree that Baptiste is really the best bi male option.
TL; DR - Baptiste being bi is the best in a ehhhhhh situation for representation.
Interesting soapbox, and some interesting points. I can see where you are coming from with Soldier 76, and how heād be great bi representation, if only because of how easy and convenient it would be for Jack to carry pictures of his past loves. It just would be an easy painless way the āā rip the bi reveal bandaid āā without much fuzz.
And Bap would be glorious gay representation as well, ESPECIALLY since we have two homosexual (male and female) characters who are whitey whitersons, couldnāt be more white. And while that is not a bad thing by any means, it does strike as a bit odd. But they can still release LGBT poc characters, thereās no doubt about it.
But what is done is done, and itāll probably take years and years and years for Baptiste to get more lore to begin with, and whatās done with Soldier 76 is done. Whatever.
For me, I donāt really care about the label, and while I really want exclusively gay male characters, I think that doesnāt mean much to me, because Iād rather have excellent depictions of male x male relationships that are positive, whether those two men are bi, gay or bi and gay, rather than sad mopey gays and offscreen irrelevant gays who are allegedly happy. Labels donāt matter, I just want that good male x male feel-good romance, gay chicken soup for the gay soul.
But I think for Overwatch, we wonāt be seeing this, definitely not in near future, and possibly not even in distant future. And itās okay, there are other media that will āā do better āā than Overwatch, even if I hoped that Overwatch would deliver like the Gay Gods they pretend they are (I joke, but nevertheless).
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I agree 100%, reducing the stigma that exists against male/male relationships helps both gay and bi men.
I suppose I view bi male representation as important because so often we have our existence questioned, or as I said, viewed in skewed ways. Not to say that does not apply to gay men, but I feel that it hasnāt really been challenged with bi men. I agree that culture needs to depict m/m relationships more positively.
To me it feels like Chu is doing representation in a way that has become outdated. Like, making Jack gay would be great representation about 5 to 10 years ago, but when Steve Cortez, Shiro and Raymond Holt have been around for years, he feels dated/safe, especially compared to Baptiste.
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I can understand wanting specifically bi male representation. I honestly canāt name many western bi male characters outside of Bioware games (though I canāt name many gay male characters outside of BW either). Though Iām sure especially western comics have tons of them.
I feel like the twist about the most vanilla, stereotypically masculine, kind of boring and dull, character being gay is a bit overdone, but that is not really an attack on gay characters, but western tropes in general. MOST CHARACTERS especially in gaming will fall in extremely gendered tropes. And itās also worth mentioning that rarely do gay characters get to evolve as gay characters. Not only that, but itās good to keep in mind that A LOT of gay men specifically enjoy masculine men, so that probably factors into character designing.
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me logging onto Battle.net to update this PTR ā¢
Oh yeah also Iām on the PTR and wow they ACTUALLY gave a male character cakes. Blizzard never does this.
Also he seems to speak Haitian Creole! Playing around rn but def says āBonjouā and āBonswaā!
Played him a bit, heās fun. Like, potentially broken AF, but fun. I canāt hit anything with primary because hitscan is alien to me, but as far as healing goes, thatās pretty good. You hit one aoe heals + 2-3 bombs and everybody is topped up.
Watching my whole team tank a D.va bomb with my immortality field: āYou want a bandage for that? :3ā
Heās really charming. Great voice and he looks really good in-game.
I canāt see him not being hated for his abilities though. His E can literally counter all ultimates (except EMP). Thatās a yikes.
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oh yay another counter for D.Vaās ult.