McCree. Cowboy look is over the top?

Story Discussion
1

Why do YOU think this guy is dressed like a cowboy?

Personally, I think it’s all a ruse and he is or was a double agent. But what do you guys think?

I said a lot more about my idea here: What happened in Zürich - #9 by Sinzh-1450

But I really want to know what others think.

Edit to clarify since I’m getting a lot of “It’s a video game” and “he’s from the southwest”:

Does anyone else besides myself have a headcanon for WHY McCree is dressing like a jangling cowboy when there is a not a horse to be found anywhere in this game? What is your story for why he’s dressed this way?

somethings I’ve heard are:

  • transgender and the costume started pre-transition to draw attention away from feminine traits
  • orders from Reyes to adopt a style
  • he’s not yet answered the recall and is still cruising the southwest and the clothing is how he stays incognito while moving thru southwestern biker gangs (this one is looking to be pretty close to canon, so I’m really wishing I could remember who told me that idea)
2

Because he grew up on a farm in the Southwestern United States and people who work as farm hands often dress like cowboys because they are cowboys.

3

I spent many years working and living at a ranch in the southwest.

I have spent countless hours dressed in a manner very similar to McCree. I’ve hung out with many coworkers and family members who would also dress like McCree many hours of the day. Up to and including chaps, spurs, and gun. (The gun because rattlesnakes and angry bulls or wildlife could be an actual and legitimate threat. I only had to use the gun once. A coworker stumbled onto a sidewinder, it was chasing my coworker down a dirt road and I shot the sidewinder in the head.)

And I think McCree’s dress is over the top.

While you may wear that clothing while you expect to work with or near horses or other livestock, as soon as you enter an environment where you are not going to be working with horses and livestock, you take the spurs off (especially if you’re going to be walking on anyone’s nice floors), you take the chaps off (you sure as hell don’t sit on anyone’s furniture wearing them if you can avoid it), and you store the gun.

The men had the additional issue of being required, socially, to carry their hats as it is bad manners to wear them inside.

It’s S76 who grew up on a farm, anyway. Ranches and farms are almost completely different animals.

(Not saying you’re wrong just that the above is why I think McCree’s dress seems like a ruse.)

4

There’s an interaction between Ashe and McCree where she says “you’d still be on a farm if it weren’t for me”. S76 isn’t the only farm boy on the roster.

Also, everyone’s outfit is over the top. McCree isn’t special in that regard. Overwatch’s entire roster are caricatures.

5

McCree was originally a sci-fi racist looking caricature that chris metzen pulled from his armpit and smeared on a page but then he lost the confederate flag (thankfully) and gained like, respect for other human beings but the Cowboy in a Sci-Fi Film look stuck.

The end.

1 Like
6

I think Mccrees look was ripped off of Silas from call of juarez game 2006

Fans of this game accuse paladins of copying overwatch hero but they never thought overwatch copy other games too huehuehue.

7

And I just thought Blizzard made a cowboy to represent a gun slinger as a fictional character to escape reality/create imagination much like having a talking gorilla or an angelic doctor.

…That or McCree is actually Genji wearing cosplay. :stuck_out_tongue:

8

Source o.o?

9

It’s a pretty generic look, tbqh.

10 
https://i.imgur.com/MajP3Xr.jpg

In the OW artbook - notice how they crop out the arm bit.

Full, terrible, racist artwork.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/cc2a4bb4211cf4f4617f583922a1a6b6/tumblr_oxuucg1Ekx1urf394o1_500.png

Thank god the art team was like “what if no”.

1 Like
11

all cowboys have generic look but you can make them unique in some sorts
but if you put Silas and mccree side by side youll see the matching color scheme of serape and pants and boots etc, its almost as if its a carbon copy, just added a robotic arm and futuristic armor and voila we have a Hero named Jesse McCree

was it a coincident? i think not, in my opinion anyways

i even got fooled by the image thinking it was McCree when i first saw it, because out of all the cowboy character in games McCree have a recognizable/iconic features, but lo and behold it was a character from a 2006 game and not a very famous game it was. thats what it hit me like wait a minute! did they juts ripped this guy look off?

12

have you ever been to the american southwest.

you can see sometimes people just legitimately dress like that.

boots, hat and all.

13

they were villains. thats like saying its racist to design characters relating to a certain country’s fascist regime in the 1940s as enemies for a video game about world war ii… they’re the bad guys and the stuff made it v clear.

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14

Why is “generic” considered a bad thing? Does every character need to look like a special snowflake?

We have achetypes for a reason. They are easily recognized, and they’re generally pleasing to the eye. I consider Mcree to be much more pleasing to the eyes than say Moira’s design. Mcree looks like an obvious Cowboy, which is “generic”, while Moira looks like something I can’t really put a finger on, which is “special”, I guess.

Personally, I think archetypes are good. Just because something looks boring to you doesn’t mean it’s bad design. Mcree is easily recognizable at a glance as a Cowboy, and little bits and details (like his robot arm or his BAMF buckle) set him apart when you take a closer look.

17

So this person linked artwork that was the concept of McCree and they have similar color scheme there as well, and some of that concept art is from the 90s.

So yes, I’m inclined to think it’s a coincidene. Red Serapes aren’t exactly new on cowboys.

20

Yeah. I’m glad they removed that symbol as well. Villains in this game are treated much the same as any of the other heroes, you’d actually have to view nonexistent lore to see why they are so bad.

We don’t need that symbol in the game.

1 Like
21

You know how many people would see this design and use it as an excuse to be absolutely ugly? OW would never have been a game on my radar had this design gone through.

All the villains in this game are somewhat ‘relatable’ in a way. But that symbol, and the placement of it, are unforgivable.

22

Blizzard was pretty open about pulling elements from a lot of older FPS games ( h ttp://time.com/4344566/overwatch-interview/ ), but yeah that’s pretty similar.

My guess is though that both Juarez and Overwatch were going for a look that called back to Clint Eastwood’s character (Blondie) in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, some great images here: h ttps://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/film/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-at-50/

Since they can’t tint the entire environment in sepia tones to make the Juarez character and McCree feel like Blondie in that film, they tint the entire character in richer sepia tones (red, orange, gold, brown) to call back to that mood.