Post by Evie ❤✿ on Dec 31, 2019 22:15:37 GMT -5
Mario franchise:
Birdo/Catherine - Among the most well-known if not the most recognisable (at least for international Nintendo), but sometimes it can be an extreme stereotype that may be controversial. Birdo was originally referred to as a boy who thinks he is a girl, in a way what may now moreso be considered quite impolite (in Western culture at least, but I've read of Eastern cultures that understand this too since long ago, like there are influences from ancient Egyptians with faiths associated with personal transformation).
「自分をメスと思いこんで口からタマゴなどをはくヤツ。キャシーと呼ぶときげんがいい。」 ("He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He'd rather be called Cathy.") - Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic instruction booklet, page 35.
Additionally from Super Mario Wiki regarding BS Super Mario USA, "The voice actors for Birdos, and her friends are all okama, a Japanese term for men who act and dress like females, furthering the franchise-long running joke about Birdo's ambiguous gender."
I think Nintendo games just call Birdo she/her now?
Vivian - Apparently this is usually only implied in the Japanese version of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and a few but not all of the localisations, and Vivian is picked on by her other Shadow Siren sisters because she is different.
(This one seems to be from serious academic research: "Francesca Di Marco. Cultural Localization: Orientation and Disorientation in Japanese Video Games. "))
In the Japanese version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian is a transgender girl. Other characters, as well as narrative text, describe Vivian using masculine terms such as otoko "man", and otōto "little brother".[3][4][5][6] However, Vivian initially describes the shadow sirens as san shimai "three sisters",[3] and routinely uses the feminine first person pronoun atai. This continues in Super Paper Mario; Vivian's catch card describes her using the term otoko no ko "boy".[7]
In the English and German localizations of the game, all masculine descriptions of Vivian are removed, and she is referred to with exclusively female pronouns. Consequently, the nature of some of Beldam's insults towards Vivian was altered, as they originally focused on her masculinity. However, all other localized versions of the game explicitly retain the transgender portrayal.[1][8][9][10]
EarthBound franchise:
Magypsy
Introduced in Mother 3. I still haven't completed a playthrough of this game, so I'll quote Wikibound.
The Magypsies are a group of characters in Mother 3. They are mystical, androgynous human-like beings, existing to protect the Seven Needles on the Nowhere Islands for a very long period of time, with their lifespans surpassing those of humans. There are seven in total, and they are masters of PSI. Magypsies frequently get together for tea parties, and are generally good-natured. They also took Kumatora in their care when she arrived on the islands, seeing that she was orphaned. When the time has come for the Seven Needles to be pulled, each Magypsy will disappear forever when their respective Needle is pulled, and leave behind their memento. The memento consists of a razor and lipstick, and instantly revives the holder if they fall unconscious in combat.
The Magypsies are named after the seven modes of music, which in turn were named after Greek regions. This naming scheme was decided on by Shogo Sakai, Mother 3's composer
(I think in an interview Shigesato Itoi himself asserted he was influenced by people like this.)
Pokémon franchise:
Opal: Opal may be cisgender (born in the body she associates with and identifying with a binary), but there do seem to be inspirations here. She is a Fairy-type gym leader,and one of her Pokémon is Sylveon; which fans have noted alludes to trans culture (even if not inspired by it). (sorry I'm sleepy and may have made an error there but there is a kind of 'pastel', pale pink on many/maybe gingham on Weezing aesthetic associated with birth. What was said about Sylveon representing trans pride colours though has become a trend/meme since a long time ago and before Sword/Shield). I think fairies are analogous with creation and make believe (such as affirmation of which prayer is a counterpart too, that anything is possible as long as it's for unconditional love; associated with the colour pink), which is probably what she was alluding to in the way she expresses herself in word; although she can also come across creepy (with the plot element with Bede).
Opal is also associated with mermaids and sirens, who in folklore well.. there powers are amazing; but like the Athena inspired archetypes they have a highly developed power to transform things, and Opal works on transforming Bede; a stereotypical "jerk" rival to a responsible Gym Leader.
Curiously, Opal likes to drink tea like the previously mentioned Magypsies, but this could be a coincidence; and Britain (the region of which Galar is inspired by) is associated with British tea.
The Legendary Starfy franchise:
Note: In Japanese, "boku" is a pronoun like "I" stereotypically associated with males, but I think some women use it too (I get the impression it may be used by quite sophisticated people who simply prefer it despite past history(?)). As I wasn't born in Japan, I'm unsure exactly what the connotations are like. My Japanese teacher said when she hears "boku" she thinks of a classy person, like a prince. (There is also a promotional song called "Boku wa Starfy", which may support this)
Wozart: A classy androgynous presenting character. The official Western style playing cards depict Wozart as a queen; however, Wozart dresses like Mozart, has a bow tie that may be stereotypically 'manly', and uses boku.
The Jellato Sisters: The Jellato Sisters (originally known as the Kuriore) originally used "boku" in the original Japanese games. For whatever reason, they became The Jellato Sisters. I don't know further details on this yet, except that their style of speech in the English version of the fifth game (simply called "The Legendary Starfy") was changed significantly becoming very stereotypically girly at some parts for instance;
Moe: It's the Moe Show...with me, Moe! Today we're excited to welcome a frosty, darling Jellato Sister!
Jellato Sister: Hey, babe! Sorry I'm late. Ran into a bunch of babes I know over in Chillydip Cove! i hope the weather here isn't too chilly for you, babe.
Moe: What? Me? Oh, yeah, it's a little cold, I guess. Um, is "babe" some sort of Jellato slang?
Jellato Sister: Babe! Come on, babe, really? Jellato slang? It's Jellato life! We're all babes here, babe!
Moe: I would love to keep talking with you, but I'm going to need some help. Translator! Translator!"
It may be the case that some parts of the translation were majorly reworked (and perhaps some would consider 'poor translation' but I don't know. I have a text dump though of Japanese Starfy 5 sorry about the poor structure of it); unless The Jellato Sisters were feminised (other than in appearance though all characters became 'chibi') even in the Japanese version of the fifth game.
Style Boutique franchise:
I recently learned that Style Boutique has a cross-dresser who may identify as trans or non-binary. It's not on The Cutting Room Floor yet, but I wish I could find it
Apparently there is a character who in a Japanese release is explicitly a cross-dresser, but was either changed to female in the localisations or reverted back to presenting cis-male(??) I personally think they should have left them as they were.
Birdo/Catherine - Among the most well-known if not the most recognisable (at least for international Nintendo), but sometimes it can be an extreme stereotype that may be controversial. Birdo was originally referred to as a boy who thinks he is a girl, in a way what may now moreso be considered quite impolite (in Western culture at least, but I've read of Eastern cultures that understand this too since long ago, like there are influences from ancient Egyptians with faiths associated with personal transformation).
SMW said:
「自分をメスと思いこんで口からタマゴなどをはくヤツ。キャシーと呼ぶときげんがいい。」 ("He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He'd rather be called Cathy.") - Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic instruction booklet, page 35.
Additionally from Super Mario Wiki regarding BS Super Mario USA, "The voice actors for Birdos, and her friends are all okama, a Japanese term for men who act and dress like females, furthering the franchise-long running joke about Birdo's ambiguous gender."
I think Nintendo games just call Birdo she/her now?
Vivian - Apparently this is usually only implied in the Japanese version of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and a few but not all of the localisations, and Vivian is picked on by her other Shadow Siren sisters because she is different.
SMW/Lots said:
(This one seems to be from serious academic research: "Francesca Di Marco. Cultural Localization: Orientation and Disorientation in Japanese Video Games. "))
In the Japanese version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian is a transgender girl. Other characters, as well as narrative text, describe Vivian using masculine terms such as otoko "man", and otōto "little brother".[3][4][5][6] However, Vivian initially describes the shadow sirens as san shimai "three sisters",[3] and routinely uses the feminine first person pronoun atai. This continues in Super Paper Mario; Vivian's catch card describes her using the term otoko no ko "boy".[7]
In the English and German localizations of the game, all masculine descriptions of Vivian are removed, and she is referred to with exclusively female pronouns. Consequently, the nature of some of Beldam's insults towards Vivian was altered, as they originally focused on her masculinity. However, all other localized versions of the game explicitly retain the transgender portrayal.[1][8][9][10]
EarthBound franchise:
Magypsy
Introduced in Mother 3. I still haven't completed a playthrough of this game, so I'll quote Wikibound.
Wikibound said:
The Magypsies are a group of characters in Mother 3. They are mystical, androgynous human-like beings, existing to protect the Seven Needles on the Nowhere Islands for a very long period of time, with their lifespans surpassing those of humans. There are seven in total, and they are masters of PSI. Magypsies frequently get together for tea parties, and are generally good-natured. They also took Kumatora in their care when she arrived on the islands, seeing that she was orphaned. When the time has come for the Seven Needles to be pulled, each Magypsy will disappear forever when their respective Needle is pulled, and leave behind their memento. The memento consists of a razor and lipstick, and instantly revives the holder if they fall unconscious in combat.
The Magypsies are named after the seven modes of music, which in turn were named after Greek regions. This naming scheme was decided on by Shogo Sakai, Mother 3's composer
(I think in an interview Shigesato Itoi himself asserted he was influenced by people like this.)
Pokémon franchise:
Opal: Opal may be cisgender (born in the body she associates with and identifying with a binary), but there do seem to be inspirations here. She is a Fairy-type gym leader,
Opal is also associated with mermaids and sirens, who in folklore well.. there powers are amazing; but like the Athena inspired archetypes they have a highly developed power to transform things, and Opal works on transforming Bede; a stereotypical "jerk" rival to a responsible Gym Leader.
Curiously, Opal likes to drink tea like the previously mentioned Magypsies, but this could be a coincidence; and Britain (the region of which Galar is inspired by) is associated with British tea.
The Legendary Starfy franchise:
Note: In Japanese, "boku" is a pronoun like "I" stereotypically associated with males, but I think some women use it too (I get the impression it may be used by quite sophisticated people who simply prefer it despite past history(?)). As I wasn't born in Japan, I'm unsure exactly what the connotations are like. My Japanese teacher said when she hears "boku" she thinks of a classy person, like a prince. (There is also a promotional song called "Boku wa Starfy", which may support this)
Wozart: A classy androgynous presenting character. The official Western style playing cards depict Wozart as a queen; however, Wozart dresses like Mozart, has a bow tie that may be stereotypically 'manly', and uses boku.
The Jellato Sisters: The Jellato Sisters (originally known as the Kuriore) originally used "boku" in the original Japanese games. For whatever reason, they became The Jellato Sisters. I don't know further details on this yet, except that their style of speech in the English version of the fifth game (simply called "The Legendary Starfy") was changed significantly becoming very stereotypically girly at some parts for instance;
The said:
Moe: It's the Moe Show...with me, Moe! Today we're excited to welcome a frosty, darling Jellato Sister!
Jellato Sister: Hey, babe! Sorry I'm late. Ran into a bunch of babes I know over in Chillydip Cove! i hope the weather here isn't too chilly for you, babe.
Moe: What? Me? Oh, yeah, it's a little cold, I guess. Um, is "babe" some sort of Jellato slang?
Jellato Sister: Babe! Come on, babe, really? Jellato slang? It's Jellato life! We're all babes here, babe!
Moe: I would love to keep talking with you, but I'm going to need some help. Translator! Translator!"
It may be the case that some parts of the translation were majorly reworked (and perhaps some would consider 'poor translation' but I don't know. I have a text dump though of Japanese Starfy 5 sorry about the poor structure of it); unless The Jellato Sisters were feminised (other than in appearance though all characters became 'chibi') even in the Japanese version of the fifth game.
Style Boutique franchise:
I recently learned that Style Boutique has a cross-dresser who may identify as trans or non-binary. It's not on The Cutting Room Floor yet, but I wish I could find it
Apparently there is a character who in a Japanese release is explicitly a cross-dresser, but was either changed to female in the localisations or reverted back to presenting cis-male(??) I personally think they should have left them as they were. 
