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***Update 3 – 2015-09-10 – 16:25 CEST***



Believe it or not, but we did, in fact, receive an answer from Brinna Wu. Sure, it took a couple of days, and she didn´t say all that much. But it´s better than nothing I guess. Anyhow, this was the mail that I sent to Brianna Wu:



“Hi =)

As I could not find (or be given) Brianna Wu´s e-mailadress, I will try to reach her via this contact form instead. To make a long story short, I found out about the “Metroid´Samus Aran is a Transgender Woman. Deal with it” article about three days ago. So I made a response article to Wu´s and McGrody´s article (http://thegg.net/opinion-editorial/metroidsamus-aran-is-not-a-transgender-woman-and-this-is-the-reason-why/). And I would love to hear a comment from either Wu or McGrody (since it took me quite a while to write that article).

I should point out that I agree with Wu about the following:

1. It´s indeed a problem that people automatically assume that a video game character (no matter gender) is straight by default.

2. It´s true that there are very few transgender game characters

3. I wouldn´t dislike Samus Aran even if she was a transgender woman (but it´s very unlikely that Samus is a transgender person)

I simply want a comment or a response, that´s all. I have also reached out to Nintendo about this, and some of the Metroid devs. Thank you for taking your time.

Have a nice day, Robin Ek TGG”

And this is what Brianna Wu (via Giant Spacekat´s Administrator Natalie O) said to me/us:

“Hi Robin,

This is the response from Brianna:

Robin, I’d love to comment – but given that one of your writers spent much of yesterday attacking me personally in a comments section, I will obviously have to decline. You need more professional colleagues. – Natalie O Administrator, Giant Spacekat”

As for the “attacking” part, we will cover that in a separate article (we have a lot of photos and archived evidence to prove Wu wrong) in the near future. Anyhow, we also received an e-mail from Nintendo in Sweden (Bergsala). So I took the liberty to translate our mail conversation for you guys:



“Hi Robin, I received the following email from Nintendo of America because Bergsala AB is Nintendo’s distributor in Scandinavia. As for the request? I will try to answer all of your questions with the best of my ability.” – Patrik Johansson Bergsala AB

My answer:

“Hi Patrik 🙂

Wow! It seems like I have been tossed around all the world because of this matter, first it was Japan, then the United States, and now Sweden. Anyway, to make a long story short. Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody published an article about Samus Aran and Metroid (Metroid’Samus Aran is a Transgender Woman. Deal with it) on September the 1st, in which they claimed that Samus Aran was a transgender woman. Something of which I reacted on, as I have been a fan out of Metroid and Samus Aran since I was just a little kid, that´s also the reason why I wrote a response article on the matter (http://thegg.net/opinion-editorial/metroidsamus-aran-is-not-a-transgender-woman-and-this-is-the-reason-why/).

With that said, please allow me to get to the point of this. I would love to know where Nintendo, Yoshio Sakamoto, Hiroji Kiyotake and Makoto Kano stand on in this matter? Because I have found no evidence whatsoever that Samus Aran is a transgender woman. However, I want to be very clear that I have no problem with transgender people, and if such would be the case with Samus. Then I’m totally okay with it. Nevertheless, I (and many other Metroid fans) would like to have a final answer from Nintendo, so that there will be an end to this debate once and for all.

A big thank you in advance. Have a nice day” – Robin Ek TGG

Bergsala AB again:

“Hello,

Nintendo knows of the Metroid and Samus Aran transgender discussion, but they don´t always go out and respond to statements such as that, especially not when it comes to mere speculations. So I’m not quite sure whether or not Nintendo will comment on this matter. Sometimes, it is better to let things remain open to your own interpretation.” – Patrik Johansson Bergsala AB

My last mail to Bergsala (Nintendo Sweden):



“Hello again Patrik

I figured as much, as there was quite a lot of rants from the Metroid community when they found out about Brianna Wu´s Metroid article. Yes, that I can understand, but where does the line go really? Sure, Metroid and Samus Aran are just pure fiction. However, should people really be allowed to make up whatever they want? And then claim that their stories and thoughts are the truth? (like in the case with Wu and McGrody). Oh well, I guess that we just have to wait and see if Nintendo will make an official statement about Samus Aran being a woman or not, as there is evidence that states otherwise.

Thank you for taking your time to answer all of my questions. – Robin Ek TGG

And this was Bergsala´s last mail to us:

“This is how Nintendo has described Samus Aran over the years “For decades, Samus Aran has been known as one of the first female protagonists in video games, and one of the most enigmatic” – Patrik Johansson Bergsala AB

This may not be “all” that much, but at least I tried my very best to get an answer from Brianna Wu and Nintendo on this matter.

———————————————————–

***Update 2 – 2015-09-06 – 17:18 CEST***

About two days ago I (we) received an answer from Nintendo regarding Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody´s article about Samus Aran and Metroid. And sure there might not be all that much to it, at least not for now. However, it seems like we have set the sea in motion so so to speak. And I did contact Nintendo´s US Public Relations and Media Contacts yesterday. So I’m waiting for their answer. Anyhow, this is what Nintendo has told us so far:

“Response By Email (09/04/2015 09:57 AM)

Hello,

Thanks for contacting Nintendo. To better assist you with your request, please visit the Corporate section of our website (www.nintendo.com/corp/index.jsp), and click on the “Public Relations and Media Contacts” link. Here you will find a “Request for Information” form that you can fill out. Please do not submit a request which requires a response in less than 24 hours.

For the latest information on Nintendo-related products, head to our website at www.nintendo.com. Go to the Corporate area of our site for our company history, financial info, etc. For product-specific information, click on the name of the system listed to the right of the Nintendo logo at the top of our main page.

Thank you.



Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc.

Reese Nicholson”

———————————————————–

***Update 1 – 2015-09-04 – 13:32 CEST***

I just wanted to inform you guys that I have reached out to Brianna Wu and Nintendo for a comment regarding the “Samus Aran is a Transgender Woman. Deal with it” article. So it´s going to be really interesting to see who will answer me first, and what they will say? Then again, I might end up with nothing, but at least I tried…

———————————————————–

The day that Wu and McGrody turned Samus Aran into a transgender woman

Before I state what I think about this matter, I just want to point out that I have ZERO problems with trans gender people whatsoever. With that said, I will try my very best not to sound angry while I’m typing this. However, I can make no promises since Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody has chosen to pick on my number-one favorite video game character of all time (no matter the gender). Yes, I’m talking about Samus Aran from the Metroid series. Because apparently Miss Wu and McGrody have gotten this idea that Samus Aran is a transgender woman. That´s correct, in their article ” Metroid´Samus Aran is a Transgender Woman. Deal with it” article, McGrody and Miss Wu, has portrayed Samus Aran as a transgender female. So, Right off the bat, the article is nothing more than a “rage bait” piece. As its sole purpose is to make Gamers and the Metroid fans angry (all for the clicks, money and attention). So don´t give them what they want and seek, simply ignore the article. As for me, I´m just going to give my thoughts and opinions on the article. And that´s it.

Nevertheless, I´m going to admit that Wu´s and McGrody´s article are at least a “bit” better than Alexis Kleinman´s “Nintendo’s ‘Strong Females’ Are Everything That’s Wrong With Video Games“. article. Sure, I may not agree on most of the stuff that Wu and McGrody wrote, but the article does raise some interesting points at least (like why people always assume that a game character is straight, for example). So I’m going to walk you through the “Metroid´Samus Aran is a Transgender Woman. Deal with it” article step by step. So let´s start shall we ?

Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody Vs the Metroid fanbase

It´s quite obvious that Wu and McGrody´s goal was to make the Metroid fans jump into a defensive position, simply by forcing them to prove that Samus Aran indeed is a female intergalactic bounty hunter (which later would allow Wu and Ellen to pull-out the “transphobia card” and then claim that their being victims of harassment when people start to call them out). I mean, it´s like I would say that Solid Snake is a woman who’s trapped inside of a male body (or something stupid like that). Of course, the MGS fans would get very angry at me for saying stuff like that. However, this was the kind of reaction that Wu and McGrody wanted and aimed for. Even so, things might not have gone as well as Wu and McGrody had hoped for. And I´m going to present to you a number of reasons why (facts, evidence, etc.).

Samus Aran is a transgender woman because I say so!

For example, both Wu and McGrody claim that the number-one reason behind WHY Samus Aran is a shemale (transgender woman), is because Aran is 6.3″ (191 cm) and 198 pounds heavy (90kg) female. First of all, even in the real-world women like that does exist (Maria Sharapova 6.2″, Jayne Appel 6’4 and Carolyn Moos 6’5 are all tall and strong pro Athlete´s), secondly Metroid is fiction, third of all Samus Aran´s DNA is mixed with The Chozo´s DNA (The Chozo is an ancient and highly advanced race of bird-like sentients that exists in the Metroid Universe). And that DNA mix gave Aran godlike (inhuman) powers and strengths. Then let me point out some other things for you as well. Samus Aran has ZERO male physical attributes whatsoever (hips, Adams apple, big hands, a ding dong etc.). And since 1986 (which was the year that Nintendo released Metroid 1), there have been zero to none mention (official confirmation by Nintendo) about Samas Aran being a transgender woman. Just think about it for a second, wouldn´t Nintendo have confirmed this a long time ago if there was any truth to it? I mean, why would Nintendo have stayed silent about this matter for over 29 years? It just doesn´t make any sense.

Nevertheless, even if we ignore all of that, and turn off our logics for a moment. Then what more could Brianna Wu possibly add to the mix to prove that Samus Aran is a transgender female? Well, this, for example:

However, here´s the thing. Brianna Wu and McGrody have taken out specific parts of that 1994 interview to push their own agenda (stuff that´s out of context) for Samus Aran being a transgender woman. Well, it´s a fat lie. And here´s the reason why:

That´s just the half of it though, because it´s about to get even better:

So what about that “1994 interview” with Hirofumi Matsuoka (Matsuoka was a background designer for Metroid) then? You know, that interview that Brianna used as “evidence” to prove that Samus Aran is a transgender woman? Well, let´s start by reading the actual interview shall we?

“Secret of Samus that only I know: Samus isn’t a woman. As a matter of fact, she’s actually a shemale.” – Hirofumi Matsuoka (background designer for Metroid. Matsuoka also worked on Super Metroid), via the official Japanese strategy guide to Super Metroid published by Nintendo

Well, that interview isn´t fake. However, it was Yamane Tomoyoshi (Super Metroid, Metriod Fusion, Metroid Prime 1-3, Metroid 2) that created Samus Aran´s design. Not Matsuoka Hirofumi, thus, Matsuoka was not the person that shaped (created) Aran´s life story. And Brianna Wu never mentioned that everyone who took part in the 1994 Super Metroid interview, joked and laughed a lot. So it was not the kind of interview that should be taken seriously at all (I bet that there was alcohol involved in that interview as well for that matter).

Besides, let´s not forget what Yoshio Sakamoto (Metroid co-creator) once said the following about Metroid and Samus Aran:

“When we were almost done with the development of Metroid, one of our staffers casually suggested, ‘Why don’t we make Samus Aran a female character to surprise the player?’ Back then I thought it was a nice idea, but I couldn’t foresee what a huge impact this would have on the future of the franchise.”



I would also like to add the following text from metroid.wikia, regarding the 1994 interview:

“In the 1994 Super Metroid Official Guide, a number of biography cards were published about each of the members of the development team. Hirofumi Matsuoka, one of the background artists, answered one of the questions – which asked if there were any secrets of Samus that only he knew – with “Samus isn’t a woman. As a matter of fact, she’s actually a shemale.”

Since then, the quote has been a source of heated debate in the community regarding the legitimacy of this claim. Supporters claim that since the development team of Metroid was fairly small (particularly by today’s standards) and Matsuoka was a fairly prominent member of it, so it isn’t unlikely that he would know certain facets of Samus’ character that wasn’t necessarily portrayed in the game itself. On the other hand, critics point out that even if Matsuoka was a developer, he was not one of the designers working directly on Samus’ original design, and his level of involvement with such – if any – is unclear.” – metroid.wikia

In other words, there never were any actual thoughts of transforming Samus Aran into a shemale. No, instead the Metroid team switched from a male character, to a female protagonist (heroine). And this became more and more obvious for each Metroid title that Nintendo released. For example, there are no doubts (whatsoever), that Samus Aran is a female in Metroid II (as seen in the picture above). So it´s much more likely that Hirofumi Matsuoka´s statement about Samus Aran being a shemale, was nothing more than a compliment on his behalf. As Aran is a very tall, strong and powerful woman. So maybe Matsuoka thought of Aran as their own version of, She-Hulk?

The origin of Samus Aran

Yet again, even “if” we deny all of this which I have written up to this point. We would still have the origin of Samus Aran to bounce back on, and that´s also something which Brianna Wu brought up on Twitter just recently (and in her Mary Sue article about Samus Aran). Because Wu claimed that no one knew for sure what gender Samus Aran had in the Metroid Manga (Samus is a three-year-old young child at the very beginning of the manga), as nobody has seen Samus genitals from her birth and early childhood. Well, let´s take a look at Samus Aran´s background story shall we?

“Samus began life as *a young girl* on the mining colony of K-2L with *her* parents, Rodney Aran and Virginia Aran. When she was three years old, her hometown was visited by the Chozo, a bird-like race. They were in need of Afloraltite, which was mined on K-2L by the Federation colonists there.”

***SPOILER WARNING!***

And once the space pirates destroyed everything and everyone (besides Samus) on K2-L (Samus homeplanet), this happened:

“Soon after the Chozo left, they received a distress signal from the colonists. Old Bird feared the worst, and ordered the ship to return to K-2L. Old Bird and Grey Voice discovered Samus and brought *her* to their home planet, Zebes. Mother Brain, a sentient organic robot created by the Chozo, predicted that Samus’s frail body could not withstand harsh life in Zebes. The Chozo hoped to evade this problem by integrating Chozo DNA with *hers* and equipping her with the Power Suit, a bio-mechanical armor with the ability to assimilate many weapons and functions” – metroid.wiki

Well, there sure is a lot of “Her” and “hers” to be found throughout the Metroid Manga, and zero references to “transgender,” “shemale” or “newhalf.” I think you get my point.

Then I found this picture (as seen above) when I read through the Metroid manga. Why would Samus father (Rodney) call Samus a “girl,” if she´s a boy? That just doesn´t make any sense at all. I mean, why would Aran´s dad lie about such a thing? Nevertheless, let´s “assume” that Samus indeed was a boy. Then why would the Chozo turn Samus into a girl? And why would Samus accept that decision? And I find it hard to believe that the Chozo would pump Samus full of female hormones as well, as I see no logical explanation at all to why they would do such a thing to her (don´t forget that Samus was in a terrible shape after the space pirate attack as well, so why risk her health further by turning her into a shemale?). And guess what? The 2002 Metroid manga was produced and sanctioned by Yoshio Sakamoto (during the Metroid Fusion era). So the whole thing with “newhalf” (half-male and half-female) and Samus Aran (something of which Brinna Wu repeated throughout her article), is nothing more than make believe nonsense.

And ask yourself the following question. Why have Nintendo always portrayed Samus Aran as a woman (no matter if it´s been games, TV-series or comics), if she´s a shemale (transgender woman)?

Here´s another question, why would Nintendo base Samus Aran on famous and strong female actors such as Sigourney Weaver and Kim Basinger, if they intended to make Samus Aran a shemale? I mean, wouldn´t there be male actors (sport stars or whatever) in the mix as well then?

What I agree on, and what I don´t agree on

Now that I’ve gone through all the evidence and facts that I have at this time. I would like to share my thoughts on Wu´s and McGrody´s Samus Aran article as a whole. And this is what I agree on:

1. It´s indeed a problem that people automatically assume that a video game character (no matter gender) is straight by default.

2. It´s true that there are very few transgender game characters

3. I wouldn´t dislike Samus Aran even if she was a transgender woman (but it´s very unlikely that Samus is a transgender person)

However, other than that, there are very few things that I can agree with regarding the “Samus Aran is a transgender Woman. Deal with it” article. Like the fact that Wu and McGrody pretended like “Metroid: Other M” doesn’t exist (even though I don´t like the game, you get to know quite a lot about Samus Aran´s background story while playing). The very same thing could be said about “Metroid Fusion.” And not only that, you also get to see a very feminine and sexy Samus Aran at the end of the game (as seen down below). So I find it very hard to believe that Samus Aran is a shemale, I’m sorry, but I don´t buy it.

I would also like to point out that I found some really good comments on Wu´s and McGrody´s article on this matter:

“I’m fine with the idea of Samus being transgender, but it just doesnt’ really work unless she somehow got a genetic re-coding at a very, VERY young age (talking like 2 years old) because her home was destroyed when she was that young.

She was taken in by the Chozo at some point, sure, but that would also mean that the Chozo would have to know of her transgender state, would have to support it somehow, and would have to be capable of providing her with human female hormones – in the correct amounts – to maintain her development as a woman. That or you again handwave it with genetic re-coding, which is stupid.” – Chris Barber



“While I’m 100% into the idea of Samus being a transgender woman, intent of the creator is NOT the final word. The only final word on any piece of art or media is the content of the work itself.” – Nick

Now you might think that this would be it, that there would be no more fuss over this subject, sadly enough no. As Wu and Ellen went totally nuts on Twitter once people started to confront them about their Samus Aran article, thus all the madness which you can witness for yourself down below:

Brianna Wu´s and Ellen McGrody´s madness on Twitter

And as if this wasn’t bad enough, rumor has it that Brianna Wu (or someone who supports her) tried to edit the Samus Aran Wikipedia page (the person in question tried to add Wu´s and McGrody´s statements about Samus Aran being a transgender woman to Wikipedia, as if it´s a proven fact). However, someone at Wikipedia disapproved these changes. Thus the following outrage:

And I´ll have you know that this madness is still going on as we speak. That´s why it has taken me quite sometime to compile and write this article, and before I wrap this article up I want to talk about Samus Aran and the Metroid legacy.

Samus Aran and the Metroid legacy

You know. The most tragic thing about all of this isn´t the “Samus Aran is a transgender woman” article. No, it´s the fact that Samus Aran and the Metroid series haven’t received the respect and appreciation that they so deserve. I mean, it´s not like Samus Aran was the very first well known video game heroine or anything (sarcasm). And how many female intergalactic bounty hunters do you know of? Not only that, Nintendo has released twelve Metroid games to date (Metroid: Other M is the latest Metroid game in the series, and it got released back in August 2010). That´s also why I think that it´s a big joke that Nintendo doesn’t show the Metroid series more love and respect. And I can´t say that I´m really excited about “Metroid Prime: Federation Force” either (even if it´s said that Samus Aran will be a part of the game now). As “Federation Force” was anything but the game that I (and the fans) wanted. As I hoped to see a Metroid Prime 4, or a new 2D/3D platform Metroid game. And seriously Nintendo, don´t you think that Metroid and Samus Aran deserves a 30th Anniversery collection? (Metroid turns 30 years old in August next year).

At least, I think that it would be a great opportunity for Nintendo to show Samus Aran and the Metroid series some well-deserved attention, love and care (maybe Nintendo could release a Metroid collector’s box with all the games, interviews, extras and other Metroid collectibles?). Well, time will tell, as for Brianna Wu and Ellen McGrody´s article about Samus Aran. I´m just going to say that they’re out on very thin ice…

Source:

themarysue

Archive

super ellen 3d world

metroid.wikia

gamecola

altscifi

The Metroid Manga (ENG)

***Disclaimer***

This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.



Robin “V-Act” Ek

The Gaming Ground

Twitter: @TheGamingGround

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Tags: Brianna Wu, Ellen McGrody, Metroid, Nintendo, Samus Aran, Samus Aran is a Transgender Woman