Redraw of that scene from TTGC
Gem of the empire
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One thing to note is that Juniper's non-binary (2) is totally different to Roc's non-binary (4).
(Tags from @jinmalos)
Since I've seen Roc mentioned at least twice now this makes me wanna go on a bit of a side tangent about him in regards to this.
So, firstly, yes, Roc's gender is coded as 4, while Juniper's is 2. This requires a brief explanation for how gender coding in Xenoblade 2 works versus how it works in Xenoblade 3. In 2, the reason blades have coded genders is due to mercenary missions, where some missions require blades of specific genders. In 2, the number coding goes from 1 to 3, this being because beast blades are considered a third "gender" I guess, haha. In 3, it goes from 0 to 1 with Juniper uniquely being 2. So this is why Roc's gender is listed as 4 and Juniper's as 2, because the gender mechanic works differently between the games! ...we don't actually know what it does in 3 yet to my knowledge.
Now, continuing, you'd actually be right that it's not "accidental" Roc's gender is coded as 4, being separate from male, female, AND beast. The only other Blade to be in the 4th gender category is Poppibuster, likely because of it being a two-in-one Blade with one male and one female. Which leads me to this bit of Roc's concept art from Alrest Record:
He has a very, very feminine body. This is even noticeable in-game, but only in this concept art can we really see how he even has boobs.
With this in mind, I think it's all but outright said that Roc is meant to be non-binary, perhaps bigender seeing as he shares this gender category with another blade that's male and female, or he may even be meant to be a trans man. There's definitely a bit more interpretation to be had with Roc's gender compared to Juniper's, but he's still undoubtedly meant to be transgender in some way or another. It's no accident!
faroreswinds