So I wanted to start off by saying, I think the development team has done a pretty great job with the cast of male merc's in TF2. They are diverse, interesting, and compelling. From Soldier to Heavy to Sniper the male cast reflects a large spectrum of personalities and player fantasies.

With that being said, lets talk about Scout. From a marketing standpoint, he's the star of the show. He's a great merc. When we look at the way he's portrayed in promotional media, lore, and art in game we know a few things about him..

He's Fast.
He's Silly.
He's Kind.
He's a good Friend.
His body seems to be comprised of about 95% spunk.

Almost all of his art reflects this. He's got cool skins: https://embed.gyazo.com/0f06add0a57fa1eec2c0208c7c2c3955.png

He's got fun poses:
http://i.imgur.com/vzeJs.png

He's got amazing victory animations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh0re50CPN0&ab_channel=TF2Videos

All of this art reinforces the great character you've built around scout.

Then out of seemingly no where we have this pose:
http://i.imgur.com/lIkY13g.png

WHAT? What about this pose has anything to do with the character you're building in scout? It's not fun, its not silly, it has nothing to do with being a fast elite killer. It just reduces scout to another bland male sex symbol.

We aren't looking at a spy pose here, this isn't a character who is in part defined by flaunting his sexuality. This pose says to the player base, oh we've got all these cool diverse characters, but at any moment we are willing to reduce them to sex symbols to help boost our investment game.

Getting art into a triple A game isn't a small task, it has to go through an implementer, a team lead, an art director, and a creative director. This is a team effort. And I believe the team is responsible for upholding the great example TF2 can set to the rest of the industry for creating strong male characters.

I have a young daughter that everyday when I wake up wants to watch Meet the Scout again. She knows who scout is, and as she grows up, she can grow up alongside these characters.

What I'm asking is that as you continue to add to the TF2 cast and investment elements, you double down on your commitment to create strong male characters. You've been doing a good job so far, but shipping with a scout pose like this undermines so much of the good you've already done.