Kingjackl said:
I was thinking, if one of the GTAV protagonists had to be female, which one should it be? I don't think it would work for Michael because his entire character can be summed up with "mid-life crisis", and it could theoretically work for Franklin, but what about Trevor? If you didn't change anything about his personality, actions or mannerisms, just made him female, how good would that be?
As well know, not only are there not enough female protagonists out there, but there aren't enough that break the moulds of 'safe' characterisation. They're all conventionally attractive, very few of them have dark or grey morality, and the ones that are are mostly player-created avatars like the Saints Row boss. If Trevor had been female, and just as ugly, despicable and manic as he is now, it could probably have been one of the most unique female protagonists out there.
Out of all the GTA V protagonists, Trevor is the one who would be least suited to a gender swap.
Take his opening scene where's he's fucking Ashley then curb stomps Johnny, destroys the lost and intimidates a high ranking member of the Varrios Los Aztecas.
Would you have a female Trevor fucking Ashley with a strap on? Would Johnny be as angry about a lesbian having sex with his woman and would he be intimidated and back down, then get beaten to death by a women? Would the traditionally misogynist groups like The Lost and Aztecas have as much respect for a woman and thus be fearful of and intimidated by a female Trevor, irrespective of how crazy they are?
A lot of Trevor's issues stem from his childhood and relationship with his mother. It just wouldn't be the same if a female took issues with a mother who made them wear dresses, nor would be the same if the female Trevor was forced to dress like a boy by a gigolo stripper father.
The random switch scenes where Trevor wakes up in a dress would just fall flat if it was a women who suddenly woke up wearing trousers and a shirt... unless you emphasised that this was a crazy act of cross-dressing by limiting her normal wardrobe to stereotypically female attire like dresses, skirts and blouses.
What about the story arc where Trevor falls for Patricia Madrozo (who bears a resemblance to his mother) and white knight rescues her from Martin, forcing Trevor and Michael to go into exile. Would you just make Patricia suddenly bisexual, or would you swap their genders around too and have it so it's a female Mexican crime lord called Martina Madrozo who has her meek husband Patrick stolen by Trevoretta? Would the story work with Martin Madrozo also being female... which could affect the gender of his girlfriend, which would also has a knock on effect of changing the gender of the Tennis coach who was sleeping with Michael's wife, who would also possibly need change genders along with Michael himself unless we apply Skyrim levels of bisexuality to most of the key characters.
Some of Trevor's Strangers and Freaks missions revolve around him being male, like when he's mistaken for the actor Jock Cranley, or is offered sex with the wife of someone in returns for favours. Swapping genders in that case to have her mistaken for a female Arnold Schwarzenegger parody or doing favours for a woman who is pimping out her husband just wouldn't be the same and would seem odd (male sex trafficking by women just isn't as much of a recognisable thing or stigma).
Even minor facets to his personality and conversations wouldn't be the same, like the question of his bisexuality and subsequence conversation with Franklin and LaMar. His "any hole's goal" attitude towards sex and the penetrating act of dominance wouldn't be present if he was a bisexual woman, nor would it be such an issue and talking point with Franklin and LaMar, since female bisexuality is a lot more accepted and almost expected.
How would his alpha male relationship with Ron, Wade and Floyd work if he was female? A female Trevor convincing Ron to leave his wife and making Ron distrustful of woman... because a woman told him so? What about when he consoles Floyd about having a small penis by showing Floyd his vagina... then goes undercover as a female dockworker in an all male environment?
Changing Trevor's gender wouldn't be such a simple task and would require complete rewrites of many aspects of the story and supporting characters, or if nothing else was changed, it would have the effect of a lot of things not making sense... a gritty realistic crime drama where sexual dimorphism, sexism and misogyny exists in the world, except in the case of Trevoretta, who everyone just pretends is a man and who acts like a voracious lesbian. It would be as odd as changing Franklin to a white man but not changing the race and ethnicity of any of this family, friends or background and still have story dialogue making many references to him being black.
