On the latest episode of the sometimes controversial H3 Podcast, while discussing the current furor surrounding YouTube personality Trisha Paytas, host Ethan Klein compared her to Voldo from Bandai Namco’s long-running Soul Calibur series. The bizarre fighting game character is overtly sexual, being clad in bondage and exclusively communicating through a series of deep groans throughout his extended tenure, making the Trisha Paytas Voldo analogy potentially unflattering.
Perhaps what drew the direct comparison is Voldo’s almost androgynous appearance; we know the character is a man, but many of his mannerisms and outfits are intended to be seductive and feminine. Klein appears to believe that this gender fluidity mirrors that recently expressed by Paytas, who reported that she feels like she identifies as a man before retracting her statement due to backlash from the community.
ALSO: WWE 2K20’s questionable Rock model has fans perplexed
Paytas mainly cited the fact that she likes to wear comfortable clothes and no makeup sometimes for prompting questions about her gender identity. Response to this was overwhelmingly negative, with most appearing to believe that it was a nonsensical rationale, which after taking time to consider Paytas apparently agreed with and ultimately retracted her original announcement.
As Klein and his co-hosts together deconstruct the video, he pauses and interjects: “You ever play Soul Calibur? There’s that one wild ass… Do you know what I’m talking about?” Following a quick Google search for “Soul Calibur bondage dude,” the H3 Podcast host confirms that Voldo was the fighter he couldn’t initially bring to mind.
Exclaiming “Voldo baby,” Klein then elects not to show the images while his co-host and spouse Hila Klein makes an attempt to steer the conversation back towards the main thrust of the ongoing discussion. It should be noted that Paytas’ long fake fingernails could also have been a factor in initially sparking the comparison, since Voldo’s character design features claw-like knives that protrude from his hands almost like fingers.