It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, but I just had to. I had to say something about this piece in particular, because I can respect what it seems to be trying to do but not how it does it. I want to point out the mistakes and the outright misinformation in the article below, but first, let me just write a little disclaimer here:
I am a transgender individual; all of my friends know this, and quite a few of those friends are also transgender. Those friends also agree with my disdain for the piece I am about to examine and have expressed their own. My interpretation of Brianna Wu’s intent is an attempt to raise support for transgender individuals by giving them a role model, but her writing below has failed to do that. I intend to demonstrate that in this article, so don’t even think of mislabeling me as a “transphobe” and writing me off before you actually read my argument.
Got it? Good. Let’s begin the discussion. Indented paragraphs are taken from the original article.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the lack of women protagonists in videogames. But our problems with diversity don’t stop there. As one article recently noted, shockingly, there have only been 14 playable black women in videogame history. Gamers who aren’t cisgender white men often find themselves lacking characters they can rally behind.
Mm, no, let me stop you right there. Gamers who aren’t cisgender white people lack characters they can rally behind. By this point, there are plenty of games which offer the option of a female playable character and some even have a female lead instead of a male lead, which actually enforces a female perspective on male gamers just as much as the reverse would force a male perspective on female gamers.
My point is that you’re pulling the “white men” card pretty early and it’s not making you look very credible when there is already a great deal of evidence to refute that claim, such as – oh, I don’t know – the subject of your own article.
Having said that, I will absolutely concede that non-white individuals and those who do not conform to a gender binary are somewhat lacking in role models in video games, and that is an issue which should be addressed. I want more awareness put on that, much like you do.
Representation for transgender people is equally tough to find in gaming. Both Dangonronpa and Persona 4 managed to blunder transgender representation. One of the most famous transgender video game characters, Poison from Final Fight, is empowered but blatantly oversexualized. Characters and stories like this reinforce the harmful idea that transgender women only have societal value in their sex appeal.
I’m struggling to think of the examples you’re trying to bring up here. I can only assume you’re referring to Chihiro and Naoto respectively, neither of whom were specifically depicted as transsexual or transgender individuals if I recall correctly. Maybe that was an intended part of their depiction, but if that is the case and if any sort of “blunder” took place I’d very much like to see the evidence you have for this.
While we’re on the topic, show me evidence that those characters had no value outside of their sex appeal. If you’re going to make a sweeping statement you should make sure it’s consistent with what you said not two sentences ago.
That’s why I’m thrilled to tell you that one of the most famous women in videogame history happens to also be a transgender woman! It’s none other that Nintendo’s Samus Aran!
Here we go…
It’s true!
“That’s right, folks! The character you’ve known and loved for decades turns out to be something very different from what you thought she is!”
I love the enthusiasm here, I just had to laugh. Can I just point out this is comical in its presentation? It’s like you’re throwing a party and you haven’t even gotten to the evidence behind your claim.
In 1994, the writers of the official Japanese Super Metroid strategy guide asked Metroid’s developers if they could share any secrets about the intergalactic bounty hunter. Hirofumi Matsuoka, who helped work on the original design for Samus Aran, claimed that she “wasn’t a woman,” but instead, “ニューハーフ,” or “newhalf.” This language has its own issues, but terminology used for gender in the early 90s was as different in Japan as it was in the West.
Oh dear. Okay, this is very tricky for numerous reasons, some of which you’re going to address and some which you overlook.
Let me just lay out my problems with the data presented so far:
1. There isn’t a direct source provided for this, so those of us with an immense amount of patience are forced to go out of our way to find the Japanese Super Metroid strategy guide issued in 1994 and then translate it in order to support your claim, something which you should be doing as part of this to dispel any doubt from our minds.
2. As you stated, the language used is ambiguous. Not just the reference to the word “newhalf,” but also the phrase “wasn’t a woman.” Wasn’t, in past tense here. In your mind, that probably means “Was a man, is now a woman.” In my mind, it means “Wasn’t a woman in development, was made a woman before the game shipped.”
Samus is a video game character. She is part of a work of fiction. Granted, she is as real as the story around her is written, so I’m not saying she can’t be a transgender individual. I’m saying that there is a more logical and, I would assert, more likely explanation for the language being used here. If the designers originally had the concept of a man in a space suit while designing the game, they may have changed their minds and decided the character would now be female for any number of reasons.
The surprise reveal that Samus is a woman at the end of the original Metroid is ingenious for its time because it made the game more progressive. But if she was originally a man in her concept stages, the change to her being a woman doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with her in-game story. Remember, this question was asked of one of the character’s co-designers, who would have seen Samus in all of her development stages. Not development as a literal baby, but development as a character.
I realize that my assertion here is conjecture, but your claim that she is transgender is also no more than conjecture with the “evidence” you have supplied up to this point.
There has been some debate asking if the comment was in jest or genuine. Some have compared Matsuoka’s use of “newhalf” to the offensive Western term “shemale.” It’s possible to interpret this as an ugly joke about Samus’s traditionally masculine appearance, as illustrated in the 80s by Nintendo Power, where she is said to be six foot three and 198 pounds.
In the uglier context, “newhalf” refers to trans women who have not had gender confirmation surgery – equivalent to Matsuoka laughing and remarking, “Yeah, Samus has a dick!”
Despite seeing this so frequently, I’m going to point this out rather than let it slide: you have provided a grand total of no evidence that these exchanges have taken place. Taking a screencap of even one forum thread or something which shows people discussing this issue would offer a lot more weight to your words.
I realize I’m a skeptic, but I have no way of knowing what you’re saying is true otherwise. As I know my readers are in the same position, I provide proof of my claims when possible to minimize the work they have to do and the number of holes that can be found in my argument. I would rather you do the same and not waste our time.
However, “newhalf” wasn’t always used in a pornographic or insulting context, especially in 1994 Japan. The term is older, and stems from popular use of the term ハーフ, or “half,” used to refer to Japanese people of mixed-race origin. This form of self-identification became popularized throughout the early 1980s. By 1982 it had been picked up by the press and was used to refer to transgender performers such as actress and singer/songwriter Rumiko Matsubara.
I’m not going to go deep into the language used here because I don’t think it’s actually that important, but you brought up something interesting here that I want to touch on.
Samus was raised by an ancient race of bird-people, the Chozo, and infused with their DNA (feel free to fact-check me here). It could easily be said that she is inhuman as a result of that, and an argument could even be made that referring to her as “half” makes perfect sense in this context. One could say that she is half-human and half-Chozo – in other words, of mixed-race origin.
I would also suggest that this upbringing, not her original sex, has more impact on her current physique. Colloquially speaking, she was given space-steroids and also trained in the art of war. Of course she would be very physically fit, even unusually so, under those circumstances.
Looking to negate Matsuoka’s remark, some gamers have pointed to a FAQ on the Japanese Zero Mission site by Yoshio Sakamoto, co-director of Metroid. There he says Samus being a newhalf is not impossible, but unlikely. Others have pointed to Samus’s portrayals as a child in Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid Other M, and official manga as proof that she is actually a cisgender woman.
And that’s good, honestly. These people are seeking the truth. If the co-director of the series says so even without using absolute terms, we can infer from that and the circumstantial evidence that Samus is, in fact, a woman – and always has been.
This is where we get into the uglier world of cisnormativity and transgender erasure. Over the years, Nintendo has slowly altered Samus’s design into a petite blond woman with large breasts.
No. No, this is misinformation. A simple search for “metroid series ending screens” on Google takes us to this page. I bring this up because it is a tradition of the series to reward players for doing exceptionally well by showing Samus without her armor.
Note the original game, first released in 1986, which shows Samus in her very first design – pixelated NES graphics and all. Note the best possible ending: Samus, in a bikini of all things – very clearly feminine, even as such a tiny sprite.
Take a look at the second game, which was seen in 1991. Once again, in the best ending, Samus is in her underwear and is very clearly feminine.
Super Metroid, the third game in the series released just 3 years later in 1994, gives us the blueprint for what Samus would become in more refined designs. The best ending shows her in a revealing but very sporty outfit, with long and wavy blonde hair.
Look back through and note, also, how tall she is in each of these endings. It’s a little hard to tell in the first two, but her long legs in particular make her look very tall and fit – especially in her Super Metroid design, which has enough detail to show that she is quite toned. That design actually looks more masculine than her previous designs.
Proceeding into Metroid Fusion, the fourth game of the main series, we can see that her design has remained consistent. The Samus depicted in those ending screens is the same Samus we are familiar with today, and she is shown to be very fit underneath all of that armor. If what you’re claiming is true, Samus would be less fit and more demure with each iteration, but this is not the case. If anything, her body has become more developed over time.
Granted, her Zero Suit depictions do seem to tone down the muscles underneath all that armor, but I want to point out that the Zero Suit isn’t a depiction of her naked body. It is, in fact, a body suit which is very specifically intended to be worn underneath her armor. It is the only thing she can wear underneath the armor, and it is for her protection. Depictions of her without either the suit or the armor still demonstrate her toned physique.
In this brief claim, you also failed to mention her depiction in Metroid: Other M, where she is in fact shown to be weak and inadequate (as seen in this uncharacteristic breakdown). Glossing over the evidence you could provide to back up your claims honestly makes you look extremely unprofessional and lazy, assuming you even did your research. I’m sorry if that’s too harsh for you, but it’s the truth.
Finding her sexually attractive, some gamers are flat-out uncomfortable thinking about her as a transgender woman. As @ThatSabineGirl points out on Twitter, many gamers are incorrectly assuming she is cisgender simply from her gender presentation. The truth is, you can’t know if someone is transgender by simply looking at them. [UPDATE September 2nd, 11:40 ET: At their request, we have blocked out the name of one of the individuals involved in this discussion.]
Fans asking for ironclad proof of Samus’s apparent transition can suspend their disbelief enough to believe there are bird aliens that develop powersuits, but can’t believe a girl could declare her gender identity at a young age.
No, they can’t believe a character who has been depicted as female for so long and who has not been hinted at to be transgender in anything but the one example you didn’t provide evidence for actually existing is suddenly transgender just because someone says so.
Also, what? “Can’t believe a girl could declare her gender identity at a young age,” am I reading that right? She was raised from a young (and as far as I can tell, unconfirmed) age by the Chozo, an alien race who may not even have a concept of gender. If they do have one it may be wholly unlike a human perspective. So why would she have a human perspective on gender?
Besides, this is the same canon that purposefully misgenders the main character in both the Western and Japanese manuals for the original NES release in order to keep her gender a ‘surprise’.
Which doesn’t have anything to do with anything, if we’re being honest. Wouldn’t be a surprise if the manual said “hey by the way Samus is a girl.”
No matter what fans say, the intent of the creator is the only opinion that really matters. When J.K. Rowling announced that Dumbledore from Harry Potter was gay, that was the end of the discussion. Some fans couldn’t accept or understand it, but her public statement was the only source that mattered. It’s an authorial acknowledgement that this character, like any, can realistically be queer or transgender without it having to define them.
Yes, and in the case of “Dumbledore is gay,” because the author said so the readers of her work had no say in the matter. That is what actually defines canon. There has not been an official statement made by the person with authority over Samus’ sex which confirms nor denies your theory that she is actually transgender, and until there is you cannot assert that she is.
If a director of the series or designer of the character walked out tomorrow and said “Samus is a girl, and always has been,” that would be the end of the discussion and you would be the one eating crow. You didn’t design Samus and have not provided ironclad proof that she is transgender, so you have absolutely no authority to speak on the matter as if you have.
What’s the harm of giving the benefit of the doubt to one of the most marginalized communities in gaming? Gamer Aria Ehren correctly points out that assuming characters are cisgender and straight without a preponderance of evidence is erasure.
There technically isn’t a harm in giving the benefit of the doubt so much as there is a harm in making wild assertions on a matter which is inconclusive at best, and unlikely at worst.
Queer gamers have seen the language used for gender variant characters like Poison, Birdo, and Vivian evolve over time. That there’s been so much discussion around a throwaway quote in a Metroid strategy guide shows how desperate LGBTQ gamers are to find faces and stories like their own in games.
And you know what, that’s sad. It truly is. I wish that there were more characters in gaming today who presented a positive perspective on homosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals, transgender people, transsexual people, and many things in between. I think we’re getting there, too, but we’re definitely not there yet.
For many, confirmation from Nintendo or Matsuoka isn’t important – it’s that we allow space for everyone in these worlds we love.
I don’t agree that official confirmation is unimportant. In fact, I think it’s the most ideal thing to ask for regarding this topic so we can focus on more important ones.
The correct thing to do is push for more acceptance in designs moving forward, not dramatically alter an existing character’s design and undo years of steps in the right direction for one group (female gamers) just to pander to a smaller, more oppressed group. With this piece, you are suggesting we do exactly that. I can only hope you didn’t actually realize what you were saying or the implications behind it when you wrote it, but this is not the answer.
One Among Nothing 