hi sorry im unsure. is thomas being trans just your interpretation or was that actually retconned? /gen
So there's a lot to say but your basic answer is that SWERY has discussed Thomas being trans and refers to her using she/her pronouns in this interview from 2018 [link] (contains spoilers for The Missing)
The point he seems to be making and the point that I want to get into is that this is not a retcon either. Thomas has always been a trans woman, just a closeted one. Further elaboration under the cut
What you have to keep in mind is that this is a trans character written by cis writers back in the late 2000s (The game was in development hell for so long that most of the writing was completed around like 2007ish). I do feel like it’s important context. Think about your average (cishet) layman’s knowledge about trans people back then.
Thus the reason I don't consider the way Thomas was talked about in that later interview to be a retcon is it seems to be more of a case of SWERY learning more about the subject after working with trans consultants when making The Missing (which is great btw go check it out). To speculate a bit I think he realized that the character he wrote that wanted to be a woman... would, in fact, just be a woman.
Even before that interview, I feel like the intention is still clearly there, regardless of how poorly it was handled. For example, in a Q&A from 2010/2011 SWERY mentions that one of his inspirations for Thomas was his friend transitioning [archive link, formatting is broken]
And in the game itself, there's Thomas' inclusion as a goddess. She's not treated as an exception. She wears a dress and is happy like all the others. Multiple characters in the epilogue refer to the victims as “the girls” without ever making any sort of distinction such as “Thomas and the girls.” She’s one of them. So if you only care about in-game evidence, she is still acknowledged as a woman, even if it is only in death.
do you mine if I upload your edit of yorkmas to internet archive?
I really like the edit you did.
Hi! Not sure specifically which edit your referring to? Do you mean my Thomas fancam? idk enough about the internet archive to say otherwise but if that kind of fan content is allowed on there then go right ahead I guess lol! And thank you !
The folks in Greenvale wish you a... umm... happy? Halloween !
[Image ID: Artwork of the major cast of Deadly Premonition dressed as characters from different pieces of media. From left to right there is, Francis York Morgan as Sissel from Ghost Trick, Emily Wyatt as Padmé Amidala from Star Wars, George Woodman as Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth, Thomas MacLaine as Anya from Mouthwashing, Carol MacLaine as Mima Kirigoe from Perfect Blue, and Anna Graham as Sayaka Maizono from Danganronpa. End ID]
❝...Say Zach, do you remember the first bar we ever went into? Fun times, wouldn’t you say Zach? That's right. It wasn’t like any of the old movies we saw back then. Such as 1994’s indie cult film, Pulp fiction, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Boy did that Uma Therman sure know how to dance… Did you know the set location was actually a closed down bowling alley? Still, It was quite the culture shock for us to truly experience the real deal. Though you could never handle your alcohol, could you Zach? For being in a small town such as Greenvale, The Galaxy of Terror has a surprisingly lively nightlife atmosphere. Great place, though they don't serve coffee. I think it could even rival that of bars in other bigger Washington cities, don’t you think Zach?❞
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My piece for Bonus Footage @deadlypremonitionzine for Deadly Premonition's 15th year anniversary! This game has that small town campy charm while simultaneously being one of the most haunting horror concepts that it made a very strong impression on me the first time I came across it about eight years ago.
Mostly this piece was inspired by the thought of these two sisters getting the happy ending that was denied for them, in an alternative universe kind of way. With Carol still performing her heart out on stage, and Thomas able to join in by accompanying her on the piano.
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Prints and more!
Where you can find the zine!
bonus symbolism under the cut;
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Thomas is wearing a squirrel necklace specifically modeled after a Beechey ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi), to go with her special interest and because it's the most common type locally to where the game would take place.
The film strip is homage to Zach and York’s love of movies. The sound waves (which used to be printed on old film reels!) is the actual visual audio pattern with Carol singing “I dream of you” which I transposed using editing software. Even though it's a blink and you miss it detail I thought it was worth the effort haha.
Besides all the police station keys from Thomas’ search request, I added other in game items, such as the red seeds, York’s no smoking lighter, Thomas’ biscuit, York’s coffee (with FK swirled in the cream!), the reversed piece sign, and some cigarettes.
The leaves falling are specifically from the red trees local to Greenvale, that sparks the entire plot (and the horrors).
Bonus Footage, the 40-page, fifteen year anniversary fanzine, is now up to read for free on itch.io. With art, writing, and messages from fans, it's the perfect tribute to a game we love.
You can find it here - take a trip to the primitive world.
A lot of my favourite games are horror semi-timeloops (Zero Escape, Umineko, and I've been playing Higurashi at the moment which got me thinking about it), and the idea of Deadly Premonition as a semi-timeloop that only the player is aware of...
The way chapter select works in Deadly Premonition lets you keep going back to constantly improve the past. You can go and do sidequests and the results are now canon - that now happened, you changed the past. You can resolve everyone's personal problems, even after they're dead.
Having the power to return to the past and help people, talk to people, spend all day with Emily or Thomas or George if you want. Spotting new clues, investigating, seeing the answer right in front of your face. Catching people doing things they shouldn't, having every opportunity to blow the case wide open and not being able to. Watching someone you've come to love die horribly and then going and having dinner with them. Becky just died and you're going to her house to encourage her to reach out to her boyfriend. Carol was murdered and you're at her bar asking if there's anything she wants to tell the police. Thomas was driven mad, but she's here, dancing in the storeroom. Emily had to kill herself, but she's knocking on the door to the hotel room, she's giving you a grocery list, she's shocked to think the people she knows could be involved.
You can keep going back and reunite Emily with her father, you can reassure Thomas that Carol is safe at work, you can show George a bit of human compassion, but the worst things are set totally in stone. A timeloop with no good ending. A timeloop where you just give everyone the best final week you possibly can. A timeloop that lasts as long as you can bear it, but never gets better.
You have to admit it's unresolvable, even if everyone will always be waiting right there to see you again.
