Yeah, I agree that’s certainly the way it seems in Uprising.

Personally (and this is just my own interpretation, and may be weird, because I am weird)–

–I think the fact that Flynn’s Grid seemed to have a clear distinction between “body” and “clothing” is part of the whole issue of “Flynn didn’t really understand programs, and tried to make the program world into a glowy-aesthetic copy of the human world.”

Which I’ve talked about before, as part of why I like the Encom system better.

I think that in the Encom system, the visual render that naturally manifested for programs isn’t a “body with clothing,” any more than a videogame avatar is.

I think it’s a graphic interface that facilitates their interaction with the world around them, by having senses and being visible and tangible– but it only looks like a clothed human because it’s echoing something from the User who created it.

The part that looks like clothing– and the circuits on that part– are all part of the “body.”

And I’m not saying the “clothes” can’t change! I think every part of the visual render can change– I think some programs can probably do a whole videogame character creation thing with sliders for the shape of every body part!

I think they can switch out outfits as easily as a videgame avatar can. And I think it’s entirely possible that some programs have “naked with human anatomy” as one of the appearances they can set their render to.

It’s all code. It’s all customizable depending on the needs of User and Program.

But that change isn’t the same as a human taking off and putting on clothing. It’s a visual shift, triggered by a change in the code– and it looks more like a Magical Girl transformation.

At least when we see Yori do it.

In the 1982 movie, Yori’s the only program we see making such a dramatic change in “clothing.” (We see two very different “outfits” for Dumont, as well, but we don’t see how he changes.)

There are behind-the-scenes pictures to suggest that Tron is also capable of some change, but we only ever saw him filmed with his render looking like that bodysuit.

When I write fanfiction, personally, I work from the headcanon that Tron doesn’t have a “naked with human anatomy” render (nor do Ram or Yori).

They have no need for it– the circuits on their outer shell are capable of all the pleasurable stimulation they could want.

Again, I realize this headcanon may be “weird.” But it does have some basis in canon– as much as any interpretation of program anatomy can have, in that movie.