Honestly that’s a stretch. My fiancée(who is a transgender woman). She doesn’t even own a vibrator but then again she does have me and enjoys what I…. Do to her….
@@ryanhernandez8324The joke is that a vibrator is intended to be put into a woman's vagina in order for it to work. Since Birdo is canonically trans and still owns a vibrator that she uses regularly, it means that she was probably able to gain a vagina through bottom surgery. Natalie is probably transfem as well based on their comment and so they want Birdo's surgeon because they're able to pull off a bottom surgery that is actually able to replace one's penis with a vagina and possibly vice versa.
I think Vivian is the best trans representation thus far, because not only her looks aren't a parody and she does look like a woman, but she is also victim of transphobia coming from her sisters, which is sad, but very relatable. And also, the way she decides to accompany Mario because he accepts her for who she is, which makes her happier than her sisters ever did, is very sweet and also relatable. Basically, Vivian is the most accurate depiction of what being trans is like.
The only bad part I'd say there is about Vivian's representation, is Goombella's tatle stating "she's actually a boy". But that's more or less "normalized" transphobia from the early 2000s... outside of that, no one questions her feminity (on the good guys side at least). She still presents as a woman with she/her pronouns and Mario is totally okay with it. Mario is the ally king we all need.
well there was also the Japanese translation. i don't think there's any way to say she's the best trans rep ever or even the best in this video considering the pokemon girl who was treated as she is. she may not be horrible and the transphobia from her sisters more than likely wasn't a call to the struggles trans woman face but more presented as "her sistsers know she's really not a woman but she's delusional" and that was likely what was intended
This was cute. I was aware of the examples, but I wasn’t aware of how explicitly they’ve coded Birdo as trans. The Captain Rainbow punchline does make me smile a bit, just because it’s a funny reductive way they conclude she’s a girl.
Two short corrections/additions: The Italian version of TTYD is actually surprisingly progressive in its translation of Vivian, validating her identity rather than continuously implying her to be a guy There is a female equivalent of the Black Belt class in the form of the Battle Girl, so the fact that Beauty Nova doesn't refer to her past self as a Battle Girl makes her identity as a trans woman a bit more explicit in the English version as well
Just to clarify a bit on the Samus thing, the person claiming Samus was trans (while also making fun of trans people by using derogatory term) was a backround artist who had nothing to do with Samus's design, and the person who later corrected it was one of the two involved in creating Samus. So, the original claim was made as a transphobic joke by some random backround artist.
i always thought it was really weird and nonsensical that vivian's sister called her ugly all the time so the context of her being trans and the original dialogue being transphobia instead just makes so much more sense. it's such a shame that one of the best trans characters in gaming had her identity completely erased in the US version
Reason why Nintendo erased Vivian's original identity is because they're trying to avoid transphobia and from audiences who are transphobic in the US (plus, the age rating as well). We're known to be LGBTQ+ phobic but eventually we're slowly out growing that.
I do remember hearing that BOTW’s Link was specifically designed to be androgynous so that any gender of player could see themselves in him, so I always thought the Gerudo outfit was a representation of that. The outfit, and Links ability to be in Gerudo town with all the woman and still be comfortable with himself and them, really spoke to me as a nonbinary person. Though as much as I think that the Gerudo outfit itself was included without any ill will (especially since I don’t know if discussion of trans people in bathrooms is as prevalent in Japan as it was/is in the US/UK and other English speaking countries), I definitely cringed when I was talking to Vilia. There is no excusing the way they treated her :[ I can only hope that Tears of the Kingdom continues to make strides towards inclusivity, as well as other Nintendo franchises
I thought that Link's design was meant to be androgynous from the very start, for the reasons you just described. I could be wrong though. That kind of thinking would even more sense on the original NES, where most games don't even have dialogue so you can imagine Link to be whatever you want. Which is why it's just so bizarre that they haven't included the option to play as a female Link yet. Although for story reasons, it would have been more of a challenge in games like OOT or BOTW where the Gerudo are involved.
@@darrenmacqueen9884 you’re right, Link was always meant to be androgynous (“Link” between the game and the player), I didn’t explain myself well enough in the original post lol. What I forgot to explain was for Twilight Princess, they specifically tried to make him more masculine, so I think they were going for a more modern version of a return to form for the new game. BOTW Link is also less expressive than other games like SS and Windwaker so that the player can map their emotions onto him. And I totally agree with the female Link thing! We do have Linkle, but she’s from a non-canon game and so isn’t a part of official Zelda lore. To me it would make perfect sense for there to be a female Link, it makes sense that Princess Zelda would always be female and Ganondorf always male since that’s an identifier of their reincarnation, Link doesn’t have anything that ties him to a specific gender. Here’s to hoping Nintendo looks back at Linkle and gives us a canon AFAB Link in the future, it’d be amazing
@Marrble No worries! Thats interesting about Twilight Princess, I didn't hear that. But it makes sense since he does look more masculine in that game. And I really like Linkle. It would make so much sense just to give players a choice and would really match what the developers originally intended for the character. It's done in so many other games, including other Nintendo games. Why not Zelda?
Feels kind of misleading to mention Samus. Considering she isn't trans. But It's good to see you explained the reason for bringing her up though, she appearing on the thumbnail was one of the only reasons I clicked on it. This video is great and explains these all very well.
The only shred of evidence that is used for her being trans is a joke from a BACKGROUND ARTIST that if is to be taken seriously would also mean we'd have to believe her waist is two feet around and her bust size is almost four feet in circumference.
Yeah, but I think she did a pretty good job explaining why she put her on the list, and that segment was also a pretty good display about how the possibility of her being trans used as a running gag is cruel and transmisogynistic.
Yeah. I understand Birdo and the others, but Samus? Samus was created with the intention to snap the 'all VG heroes are dudes' trope that existed when she was made. She was just a badass in a suit. I never saw her as Trans coded. There was a whole thing about sexist morons using her as an example of 'butch' girls. -_- fair point about the misogyny.
Fun fact: In Mario Kart 8 in the Sunshine Airport track there are voicelines over the loudspeakers in the airport section. One of these voice lines mention a “Miss Birdo”
@@alejandrobasombrio3803 you act like you can’t be passionate towards a character, what’s wrong with that? You most likely indulge in some of your favorite media and have character you like, so what’s the issue?
I'd like to point out the Monty Python image you used at the end to demonstrate trans women being used as a punchline. That character, Loretta, came out to her friends towards the middle of the movie and after that scene, she was properly gendered throughout. The joke was that she wanted to have babies but did not seem to grasp that she biologically could not. It is problematic, but it was probably, unfortunately, the best representation a trans woman could hope for in 1979.
@@ingridsoleil Given that she was accepted as such, she just didn't understand biology, the joke worked and moved the plot along If they still referred to her as "he" then you would have a point
@@zachcouch1987 you can make whoever a punchline, as long as it is something about themselves that they CAN change. race and gender (in most cases, as in, you can make SOME appropriate jokes based on them) are things you cannot change, and as such, you have to tread EXTREMELY lightly or else you will be perceived as offensive. that's not 'special snowflakism', its wanting to be respected like a human being. you can make jokes on the person, not on the solid.
There’s a few more trans Nintendo characters not mentioned here, both from Animal Crossing. Gracie, the giraffe fashion designer, is trans according to the very first game in Japanese (unfortunately it’s a lot of the same transphobic rhetoric, apparently there is a line that the cranky villagers could say sometimes that reveal her “real name” which sucks, but I’m glad she’s at least successful as a character). The other is a villager character named Velma, a goat. It should be noted that she is the only female goat to have a goatee, although that’s not what I’m focusing on; in the GameCube game, her default clothing is a Gracie-made design. I like to think that they’re girlfriends and that Gracie made that outfit for Velma.
@@jeanduresau yeah, i ended up finishing the video after i made the OG comment, but i decided to keep it up even after seeing the section on samus. People still think she's trans now though, and use sexist and somewhat transphobic arguments. (E.G. trans b/c shes 6 ft tall, as if cis women are all 5'2")
Birdo is a girlboss, I don’t play her, but the people who do are the ones you can really trust. I think the history of how minority groups in general were portrayed in media is very interesting. It’s always a bit of a rocky road to say the very least. I think with trans people we are mid way through the story. We’re not at a state where good trans representation is common, but we’re also not in a state where they are made a complete mockery in media. It’ll be very interesting to see how it develops because I do believe it will and is getting better, it’s just a matter of when.
First off fantastic video, second There was one additional positive for birdo in the Mario kart series, in Mario kart 8 (and deluxe) there are advertisements on the side of race track that advertised the “Women in racing organization “ and one of the versions of the ad feature birdo alongside peach and daisy
While I don't hate Hubert being trans the fact it's just fans headcanons and not confirmed is a bit of a stretch to say he's trans like to me he just looks like an emo and before anyone comes for me for misgendering him like I said him being trans is NOT confirmed so me calling him male isn't offensive
The part of link cross dressing to enter the garudo village was ( in my opinion) just a call back to ocarina of time were he had to infiltrate the village to advance the quest too, but when got caught he was kicked out because he was a male. And Nintendo knowing and heavily leaning into that link is seen as androgynous giving him the chance to cross dress to sneak in. I really hope that it was just that innocent idea why the developer made it that way, regardless of politics ( especially the game took a longer time to make)
@@gay4sswhovian no, that's not at all what that was about, link is a boy. He's just pretty androgynous to serve that purpose, but they refer to gim with male peonouns and call him a guy and all that.
Honestly this video was very informative. I came, unfortunately, expecting some reaches based on small amount of evidence as that is what I am use to but honestly this video was breath of fresh air as you clearly pointed out your evidence, where you got from and you made it clear when you knew something and said thing was confirmed versus being hinted at or suggested at. I will say, while a bright outlook on Hubert as trans, I think it is just him wanting to ride a pegasus as there is another instance of this in warriors where the main male protagonist exclaims outright that he wishes to be a pegasus knight as he admires them and thinks knights are cool. Now obviously I could be wrong and the intention for Hubert to be trans is what was intended but I think it's simply that he wishes to ride a pegasus instead of a wyvern due to their elegance and probably more steady flight. Hubert just seems like that kind of guy.
Plus it's said in the character's profiles that Hubert is afraid of heights hence that being the right answer for the letter. I still like to think of Hubert secretly being trans though, it would be interesting
I saw Vivian as a transwoman because of how she uses she/her pronouns in English and because of her excitement in meeting someone else who is interested in trying a different gender expression to their asab. This could definitely be me projecting how I feel about meeting other people who don't conform to their assigned sex. But it was nice to see someone who looked nice and seemed happy presenting as their true self.
I think we can all agree that the first trans character ever was the pawn in chess........ You know, cause it can turn into a queen.... PLS DON'T KILL ME
It’s worth mentioning on the note of Birdo that in Mario Kart 8 on Royal Raceway, there’s some signs for the Women of Racing Organization, which features a render of Birdo along with renders of Peach and Daisy, I just thought this was notable since it’s more than a text entry somewhere in the game about her and you didn’t mention it in the video
I didn't talk about her because final fight is not a first party Nintendo game, also it was an arcade game before it came to nintendo systems! I'd love to make a video that talks about her though as I think she's very nice
@@ymyrgul170 Also I belive it was said that Poison was called a man because of a controversy ''girls shoudn't be fighting'' or something and they be like ''no that is a guy'' :v so..- can't tell if Poison is a trans or was just a misunderstanding..?
@@ymyrgul170 There was a Gamespot article I read years ago called “That Girl is Poison” about Poison through the lens of her being trans and transphobia in society. It’s neat how Poison went from being made trans so as to avoid “looking like the player beats on women” (yes that was why) to being a fan favorite to the point of being playable in Street Fighter when they added in Final Fight characters. People genuinely like trans women in games these days, with Bridget being a great recent example of this.
@@lucad9667what exactly is that opinion? Go on, share it with the class. It's not immature to not want to accociate with people who agree with a dude who's pretty clearly a shitty person. Not everyone can get along, and for good reason, believing otherwise is more immature. Very ironic for you to speak of immaturity. Especially because Hero hei himself is VERY immature. Literally most if not all of his videos is him acting pissy over Twitter drama with really bad takes. Anything minor sets this man off. Also what do you mean "we"
Maybe someone has already pointed this out, but the Japanese description of Vivian at 11:48, especially the way they wrote "Otokonoko" does not necessarily specify that Vivian is a male "daughter". Rather, I personally believe Vivian is just called "boy" here. The word "Otokonoko（男の子, 男 meaning "male", の "of", and 子 "child" = so "male child" altogethter）" is a very generic word for "boy", so generic that I can bet every 5 year old Japanese child knows it (though they obviously would not know to how to write it in Kanji). The word for "male daughter" that ymyrgul meant also reads "Otokonoko", but is written 男の娘: notice the second kanji is different here. It is a pan where the kanji 子 "child" in the original word is swapped with 娘, which means "daughter", or "young female". And it has, although a case of it being used is reported to be found in a magazine in the 70's according to Wikipedia, become somewhat popular almost only through its Internet usage and Japanese Otaku culture, and thus is an Internet slang that only people who are old enough, but not too old to be a nerd on the Internet, can understand. In the description at 11:48 the word in question is written オトコのコ, using neither of the kanjis but katakana, which makes the real meaning somewhat ambiguous. So you COULD interpret that as "male daughter", but considering the fact that the word 男の子 is far more generic especially when compared to its Internet slang version, and also that Nintendo always follows its policy of being family friendly, and googling the Internet slang version could lead you into some NSFW content, I believe it's pretty unlikely that Vivian is mentioned as "male daughter" here. Though I don't mean to deny the idea of the character being confused about its gender, at all. The way the character is described in the game, especially the appearance obviously, clearly depicts its gender ambiguity, which, from the western perspective, may be seen as those of trans, I suppose. I just wanted to share some linguistic and also somewhat cultural take of mine as a born Japanese who has been living in the country for the most part of his life.
I’m surprised there wasn’t at least a passing mention of how it’s canon that all Toads choose their gender. It was meant to explain why all the Toad children we see are guys (excepting Mario RPG which is very likely not canon anyways) but it was cute of them to say. I also remember the transphobes being mad at this so, you know, all the better to say every Toad or at least every Toadette is trans.
In the Manga, Samus is shown to be biologically female and referred to by those close to her as female. I had read the manga multiple times to find any evidence for or against her being trans (also because it’s a good read) and found none to support it. It does, however, seem to portray her more as asexual.
@@mikoartz5006 as in, not having a romantic or sexual desire towards anyone. Though there is Adam Malkovitch, there seems to be more of a deep respect rather than anything else, as Adam is the only person Samus is okay with calling her “Lady” and him being the only person she’s willing to take orders from.
@@voltageauthor then am asiansexual because am mostly attracted to asians see you it make no sense ur turning personal taste into a sexuality and its stupid af
@@mikoartz5006 how am I turning my own personal taste into a sexuality? I’m not asexual. I’m only going off of what the manga and games provide as canon.
While not a trans character Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has a non-binary character named Juniper, they are never referred to with male or female pronouns, their english voice actor is non-binary and even in the game's code their gender is 2 where male characters are 0 and female characters are 1, Juniper is a hero character which are optional 7th party members, though Juniper is a non-optional hero as they teach the party how to rail grind which is necessary to progress
Eh I don't think hubert is trans. I just think hubert wants to do something he can never do and he can't say it out loud because of his character nit really able to be vulnerable to others
hoping the TTYD remake addresses vivian's trans identity in a positive way, unlikely but hoping there are also some characters that aren't explicitly trans but are coded that way, penny in scarlet and violet probably being the most notable. my reaction to penny was that she felt like maia arson crimew as a pokemon character, and crimew is nonbinary. her ace is also a sylveon, which has the same palette as the trans flag, and even says "Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!" when she terastallizes it, and that line sounds like it's encouraging someone to come out
as a Zelda fan I can say I truly thought that maybe Vilia was dressing like a woman because you know.. the legend of the Gerudo is that every 100 years a male gerudo is born and he becomes their king, but this male Gerudo would be Ganondorf and well years years later it be taboo for a male gerudo to be.. around gerudos, so to protect him he had to be dressed and act like a Vai, though we can all see Vilia started to actually Feel like a true Vai and so he became a She, raised to be female being ok with that and being femenine made it right for her. Bet she has a lot of struggles since her physic is not that 'pleasant' sadly; so here we can all see she lives outside the city a little solitary to avoid the bullying or maybe the 'suspicious' looks of something that poor Vilia has to hide.. but the book says t..they are a hylian..? oowh;
Yeah thought the same thing when I was playing got really sad for Vilia because she was excluded by her own people and dunno if was my translation (used a mod for a fan translation from my country) but her speak seemed melancholic, and knowing about the book is like yikes!
Loved the video. The inclusion of the original Japanese script in many a case was a nice touch. Weirdly enough, I'd say James Somerton's video on generally intersecting ground ends up feeling more positive in the end. Then again, bigger pool to fish from. That said, this further reinforced my opinion that Paper Mario is Nintendo's greatest series, despite never playing it, nor other Nintendo titles!
a great video! a lot of sad moments, but i see you tried your best to lighten the mood in the end felt a pinch of "ouch" when you said "i will refer to her as birdo, even though i believe birdetta is her preferred name". sure you made this decision out of good intentions and this is just a character in a videogame who cannot be sad because somebody used the name they don't prefer, so i stayed till the end and wasn't disappointed. thank you for your content!
Shiver was highly implied to be non binary during the build up to the release of Splatoon 3. I don’t remember the details but people have said the same guy who censored Vivian being trans in NA was the one who said Shiver was female. Most people have moved on from this discussion but our fandom enjoys hcs of Shiver being many identities. Personally I use she/they for them. It’s disappointing we were so close to getting an enby idol, but at least they destroyed gender in the player customisation
Thanks for making this video. It's interesting to see and I enjoyed it. You asked for feedback and all I would say is sometimes your music is a little louder than it needs to be while you're talking and so it distracts from your voice. Other than that, good vid. I subscribed ❤
Hey, I have no idea how this showed up in my recs, but I was genuinely floored to check this (I like listening to things in the background) and see the viewcount was so low!! I really really enjoyed this, and the amount of research and personal translation, including explanations and clarifications of such is incredible. I appreciate content like this so much, and it genuinely kinda shocked me to see it bc I'd never seen this topic brought up as far as Nintendo characters go. I'm NB and GF, and even if I don't share some of these (i suppose one or two could be considered as such, while others are obvious and undeniable) headcanons, its downright lovely to see such heartfelt sympathy in interpretation. I also like, NEVER EVER comment on videos (maybe three times in ten years lmao) and i wanted to say before anyone came in to be ugly or shitty to you, that you've done a great service, your editing was great, i couldnt stop laughing near the end with the spinning gerudo etc. I really honestly wish you the best, and i hope you make many more videos on things you find enjoyable or just wish to share, and that you learn quickly and easily even better ways to portray ur thoughts thru them. Thank you again for this!!! I look forward to more from your channel!!! Have a wonderful day! ♡♡♡
If you want some enby representation in a Nintendo game, I can do one better: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 features a canonically _nyan_-binary character who exclusively use they/them pronouns, it's not much, especially compared to the entire coming-out arc of the prior game, (and their class is also complete trash gameplay wise), but it's something.
This video made me realize I was trans for some dumb reason it’s been a year at this point and I am going to the gender clinic very soon I just want to say thank you :)
the way ppl really thought link crossdressing had anything to do w american laws against trans people is astounding to me.. like i can see the connection but come on this shi was in development for years before its release in JAPAN. not everything is about the us ffs
With the pegasus knight thing there's something very similar that happened with Ignatz and Marianne's supports in Three Hopes! Please watch them, the whole support session honestly feels so trans-coded and Marianne's very sweet about it.
i played the Italian version of Paper Mario: TTYD back around when it came out, and I can say: in that version, it is EXPLICITLY said that Vivian is transgender. Amazing representation!
They don't. But she says she was a man and now she's a woman, and the same in the goombella description while her sisters mock her. While it's clear she feels trans the game doesn't use the word.
I think Kirby has a decent amount of good trans rep, although there aren't any transfem/trans woman characters. It's moreso in regards to non binary people, Kirby is gender neutral in Japan, Morpho Knight is referred to exclusively with it/its and Fecto Elfilis is referred to with they/them. There are other characters who are speculated to be non binary as well, such as Gryll who's literally never referred to with any pronouns of any kind (due to having only made a major appearance in a Japan only puzzle game where nobody references them besides themself and only making cameo appearances afterwards.) The cool thing about Kirby is that while trans topics are never mentioned specifically, Kirby and other characters such as Dedede are shown as being gender nonconforming without it being presented as anything wrong. In fact there's some White Day and Valentine's Day artwork posted to the Japanese Kirby Twitter account (white day is a day where people give reciprocal gifts after Valentine's Day.) The Valentine's Day artwork only shows female characters making treats while the male characters wait outside for them, whereas the white day artwork shows the opposite (only that the female characters are off screen.) The sole exception is Kirby who's present inside as both parties make their gifts, him also having a chef hat implies that he's also helping with this. This could imply that Kirby may be bigender. I wanna also bring up Pokemon again, there's a Japan only manga named How I Became A Pokemon Card. This manga features a trans boy named Akari, his transgender identity being a secret to everyone. except his mother until he was forced to wear a skirt in middle school. Akari's first Pokemon was a Pikahu, but the sad thing is that his mother only gave him said Pokemon once he promised that he'd act more feminine if he got it (in addition to considering it his graduation, birthday and christmas gift all in one.) Heck he didn't even want a Pikachu at first, as he wanted an equally cool Pokemon to his best friend (Akira) who got a Scyther. Upon getting the Pikachu, he stormed off into the woods in anger and once pursued by Akira and Pikachu, his best friend Akira scolded Akari by claiming that he wasn't acting like neither a male or a female, but rather like "a pathetic human being". In the end Pikachu proves it's worth by defeating a herd of Ariados and Akari learns that coolness isn't an objective fact, but the transphobia he faces isn't really addressed or called out (at least according to the Bulbapedia page, havent read the full manga yet) Idk if this is exactly good rep, but the manga does portray Akari as a boy so I suppose it's fine? Pokemon is an interesting series in terms of gender in all honestly, not only are there many pokemon with undiscovered genders but some glitchs/translation errors actually have led to some Pokemon changing genders. The Pokemon Azurill has a different gender ratio to it's evolutions and 1/3 female Azurill will evolve into a a male Marill prior to generation 6, where this was fixed. In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, the character Wigglytuff is presented as a man as they're referred to exclusively with he/him pronouns. They would later reappear in Super Mystery Dungeon however this time being gendered with she/her in the English localization, this was just a translation error but Wigglytuff's personally one of my favourite PMD characters so headcanoning them as trans is kinda nice to me. It's also worth noting that most legendaries are gender unknown/genderless but Solgaleo and Lunala are referred to as being both male and female (despite being coded as genderless), and every legendary in Mystery Dungeon is gendered in a binary way. Honestly PMD's approach feels like just something poorly aged, like they assumed people wouldn't understand if they used they/them pronouns but unfortunately this still hasn't changed with the newer titles (the last title being a remake of the first game which came out in 2020, unfortunately not changing any genders/pronouns.) sorry for the super long comment, but i hope you like it! I think there are also some non binary people in Mother 3 but idk much about that game myself, so yeah.
Genuine question, when has King Dede ever acted gender non conforming? Another thing I dont want to come as transpjobic but like the pronouns of entities like morjo knight and such should t be taken into account as they are quite literally like ancient evils with no concept of gender, this including Kirby as he comes from Void
@@sergiorodriguez6719 You would think that if Fecto Elfilis was meant to have "no concept of gender" then the same would apply to Elfilin, but he uses he/him. Elfilin disproves this idea for Fecto Elfilis, which in turn makes it less likely that this was the intention for other characters. Plus, Void uses he/him. Don't know how he's referred to in japanese, but clearly shows that Void does have a concept of gender, which means Kirby does, too.
Great analysis, thanks for compiling all of this and sharing! I had to laugh at 17:58 though, I love the serious discussion while watching spinning T-poses with soothing music in the background lmao
Now that Paper Mario TTYD is being remade I can't wait for the people who melted down over Starfield's pronouns to melt down over a trans character in a Mario game because the culture war has melted all of our brains.
While not mainly trans based characters, the Magypsies from Mother 3 are just as equally interesting. Itoi made them to be positive portrayals of gender queer people, seeing as how they help you through the events of chapter 6. Of course, now a-days they do seem to represent a more stereotypical depiction of gender queer people, essentially just being drag queens with magic, but still think that they are a noteworthy part of Nintendos history with Trans representation.
I actually have an interesting fact about Catherine that I love sharing. In Super Mario Bros. 2, the original pink Birdo you fight from the start of the game, and the one that Nintendo tends to use for all their sports games and generally considers to be *the* Catherine, actually leaves the game about halfway through and her final appearance is as a friendly character. You fight her for the last time as a miniboss at the start of the second world in the original NES game, and then she vanishes until the end of fourth world, where she shows up to fire an egg for you to ride across a chasm on so you can enter Fry Guy's fortress. After that? She just leaves. All of the rest of the Birdo minibosses that appear in the game are the Red and Grey/Green varieties, but we unfortunately don't know their names because the original Japanese manual only used the original Catherine name preceded by the boss's color to describe them, and that's a real shame. While Catherine can be fought in her final appearance in-game, since she's just the miniboss object placed in a non miniboss context, her placement and the fact that she is the only way to get across the chasm to get to Fry Guy gives the implication that she is there to assist the playable characters rather than fight them. This is also slightly given further weight in Super Mario Advance, where both Clawgrip's entrance and some scrapped content for Mouser and Triclyde reveal that most, if not all of the bosses were meant to be regular sized enemies or animals that Wart turned into monsters using Dream Magic. If Robirdo's color is correct, which all of the bosses match their shrunken versions, even Triclyde's Cobrat form would have used his palette, then that is undoubtedly meant to be Catherine transformed into a monster and made to fight the player in the third world. After something like that, defecting to the side of the protagonists would only make sense, giving a bit more context to why she appears to help the players get to Fry Guy.
And just to clarify-- Catherine is probably my favorite video game character. I think she is very special in the fact that despite the reality of Nintendo repeatedly treating her very unkind and horribly, her... depiction? portrayal? characterization? within those unkind and horrible situations is almost always one of self-confidence and with a strong assertion of her own identity, even in Super Mario Bros. 2 where her assertion of her gender identity is used to assist the player. Even if that characterization is meant to be taken as a joke by the developers, I think that when taken earnestly, it's really nice to see that not even her creators can truly bring her down.
I have to, jokingly, respond to link's age being a problem... I think the problems of Link's chronological age in any relationships might be offset by him having severe memory loss most of the time >.> Link's dating life is *fraught* in this story!
13:00 I believe that the referenced dialogue is actually when she defeats you, as it is meant as a "I have improved from my previous state and that's why I won"
3:08 you have to take in mind that is the American version of that, Nintendo of America was very transphobic they're also the ones who gave her the name birdo in the first place
This was an amazing video. That being said, i feel like the Hubert one at the end is kind of a stretch. If the devs were intending him to be trans or trans-coded, there would be more than one piece of evidence to suggest that. And likewise, while it’s true that pegasi usually don’t allow men to ride them, it is implied in Thracia 776 and Fates that they are willing to cooperate with men if the rider wishes. In fact, male Pegasus knights are encountered as enemies in Mystery of the Emblem. And even beyond that, does Hubert even know that Pegasi almost only allow women to command them?
@@misscalicogirl I guess so, I just feel it’s kind of misleading, the video’s called “history of trans women characters” not “history of characters that can be headcanoned as trans women”. trans headcanons are fine of course, but I feel it’s out of place in a video like this that’s trying to be informative.
@@thebloatgaming553 I agree and with also FE:Warriors: Three Hopes coming out if the devs intended for him to be trans they would've brought something up in that game even if they never mentioned it previously in Three Houses I don't mind headcanons I just when ppl try to make them canon
On the topic of Fire Emblem, there's another trans character from that series, that being Kyza from Radiant Dawn. In the Japanese version of the game, they use a clearly feminine speech pattern and their page in the 20th anniversary encyclopedia says "body is male, heart is female?" while also refering to them as an okama (which, from what I understand, is a Japanese term which can mean from effeminate or crossdressing man to trans woman). In the English localization they removed almost all of that and Kyza is refered to as a guy, and then in the more recent mobile game Fire Emblem Heroes they use they/them pronouns for them (which is why I've been using those throughout this comment), kind of implying they're non-binary. Overall, pretty interesting, but unfortunately the representation here is almost on the same level of transphobia as Birdo's "he thinks he is a woman", and keep in mind that Radiant Dawn came out in 2008....
Isn’t Devdan/Danved also a more stereotypical example of an okama with his mannerisms also? Now that I think about it, Radiant Dawn had a lot of queer and queercoded stuff for the time. Heather explicitly said she likes women and Soren is the type of guy who everyone just accepts as gay without it ever having been explicitly said because how he acts has no straight explanation. I am disappointed that they removed Kyza being NB when localizing the game, especially when they kept Heather being lesbian in
Hubert's case is pretty unique. At first glance it really does seem too vague to conclusively hint at transness, however there are a few peculiarities about 3 houses that make it more likely. First of all, pegasus knights arent the only flying class in the game. If it was just about flying and a fear of heights, they could have easily written the letter to say that Hubert wanted to be a wyvern knight (a non-gender locked class). This could just be how the line was translated, but i think its interesting how the letter is worded to focus on looks. like, what does the way you look like have to do with your supposed fear of heights, Hubert? I think it's notable that Hubert's supposed fear of flying isn't mentioned anywhere else in the game (that im aware of). Secondly, 3 houses is a very light-handed, lore heavy game. most non-essential story beats are implied rather than told to the player outright. for example, there is a book you can find in a banned books library in the DLC route that implies that the game takes place thousands of years in the future, after our current day modern society has long since fallen. its a pretty big reveal about the setting of the game and the motivations of one of the main villains, and its just a single line hidden away in a non-essential part of the game! given all of that, if they were going to imply that a character was trans, it would be perfectly in line with the writing of other major character revelations to have this reveal about Hubert hidden away in a randomized anonymous letter.
Nice video overall, though I mostly disagree on the conclusiveness (or even likeliness) of Hubert being a trans woman. The rest seem pretty obviously transcoded (other than Samus, of course), but Hubert seems to value the occupation of being a pegasus knight more, not really the being a woman part. It isn't hard to imagine how appealing being a pegasus knight would be, in fact, in the note Hubert explicitly states that they wish to be one to "indulge in the lofty view", nothing to do with being a woman. I myself have a sort of personal example relating to this. I had a wish (and to be honest, I still sort of do) that I would be able to become a mother, which is impossible as I am male. Nothing to do with wanting to be a woman, I just wanted motherhood, as I saw it as the deepest, most intimate connection you can have. Is it possible that Hubert is trans? Yes. Your interpretation is perfectly valid, just I am not very convinced is all. Sorry if it seems I am denying Hubert's trans-ness for the sake of it, my sole intention is for discussion and laying out my thoughts.
Very nice video. Good history. Supports claims with concrete evidence and doesnt go into headcannon until the very end of the video. Which is fine because you state that outright and- in my opinion, is a very cute way to end. Enemy Felix with Darting Blow tho.
You know? I'm surprised Zelda and Sheik weren't even mentioned. Even though Sheik's gender is going to be the subject of debates until the heat death of the universe, there's a loooooot open to interpretation regarding it. While yes, at the end, it's revealed that Sheik is ultimately just a disguise so that Zelda can run around Hyrule without arousing Ganondorf's suspicions and that she used magic to do so, it opened the door to discussions as to what gender Sheik is. Ruto believes Sheik is a boy, Sheik never really clarifies because they feel it's not important as opposed to the greater task of destroying Ganon, and Zelda never clears it up after the fact. Later Nintendo descriptions of Sheik have also been mum on Sheik's gender as well, which has only furthered the debate. Given the content of this video, I wouldn't assume you'd come to a conclusion one way or another, but I felt it was at least worth mentioning because the capability for Zelda to use magic to change herself biologically to be a man to better play the part *is* there. Hell, there's some people who think Sheik and Zelda are two separate personae entirely, yet sharing one body.
I think at the time impa turned Zelda into sheik thus actually making her male using magic or whatever. But as time when on I think Nintendo just said it was a costume disguise thus making sheik female the entire time in OoT.
Ignatz had a similar Pegasus knight experience in Fire Emblem Warriors: 3 Hopes. Which even before Ignatz's Support with Marianne, I read Ignatz as queer due to how hiding love of art seemed like a closet metaphor
If that's your headcanon cool but I doubt hiding love for art = being a closeted gay I just think Ignats was embarrassed about saying he loves art because he might've been worried people will make fun of him for it but like I said it's a headcanon I'm not going to cause a fight over a headcanon
@@Neo-Queenserenityt2l I summarized it very succinctly. There were quite a few reasons why I see Ignatz feeling like he has to force himself to be a soldier for the sake of his family and pretend to hate art, such that he lies every time he sees art as a metaphor. Also I don’t think there’s one point where he’s afraid people will make fun of him. It’s moreso that people will see that he’s not the person he needs to be for his family
I think the Hubert one is off base. as a long time fan of FE, the series has had some mixed representation throughout, good and bad. Hubert wanting to be a Pegasus knight doesn't really confirm much at all as he wouldn't be the first in the series to be a male who wishes they could fly on pegasus back, usually in games without the male flying class option of wyvern knights(usually still not genderlocked). Most likely in this case the reason for it being anonymous is the idea of him, a rather straight lace and serious type of person, wanting to ride what is seen as kind of a feminine graceful creature would be seen as very "out of character" and would probably be embarrassing for him to admit as it kind of goes against his whole aesthetic and the way he tries to present himself to others. A better example of a potentially trans character within the series would probably be Kyza in the Tellius entries, as the Japanese lore info + in game traits about how he speaks suggest he is likely FtM. as far as I'm aware he is the only good case for trans reps in the series with solid evidence to suggest it, though there are several bi/gay reps throughout
Had no idea birdo was trans . I heard the rumor she was a guy or not gendered and it’s very unfortunate that that’s all I heard abt her ☹️ birdo had always been a fav of mine she doesn’t deserve the mistreatment she gets
Well I mean it makes sense as I can see Yoshi being trans as well since well he can pop out eggs so I think it's sweet that both Yoshi and Birdo are kinda a trans-couple I said that because I'm not sure if they are actually a couple not the trans part
i hope this doesnt sound transphobic but i dont think that Link was supposed to be trans or that they meant gerudo town to be transphobic, i just think they just made it that way for story stuff (yes i love zelda.) but anyway, i love this video oh my god just everything is so good
Nothing transphobic about saying that, from what it seems the video agrees. While it points out that Link having gender nonconforming outfits was a good exploration of gender to some people and that there’s queer subtext there, that’s not saying he’s trans. And both the video and most trans people agree that the Gerardo plot line wasn’t intended to be transphobic, these are easy tropes to fall into, especially with Japanese media that has a different culture around gender, but it does stumble slightly in terms of trans stereotypes.
Good video. I liked how you presented your evidence for each character to show why you came to each conclusion. While I knew about some of these (Birdo, Samus, the Pokemon trainer), I got to learn about more possible representation. The positive representation of Vivian was the best insight, as I've yet to play that game. My only criticism of the video is that the volume mixing is a bit off. The background music sounds a bit too loud and it was difficult to hear you in certain spots. Regardless, keep up the good work.
Japanese games have a surprising amount of gender divergent characters, like Poison. I’ve always wondered why, given Japanese culture is fairly conservative
@@DarkPsychoMessiah yeah basically. while it's still shunned and taboo / not accepted the violent and hysterical kind of queerphobia is basically absent throughout their history.
What came to mind for a feminine Hubert was the mother from the comic The Monstrous Duke's Adopted Daughter, with her slender face and dark wavy hair. She is also very talented in combat, as well as a great mother, imo. This video is a great history on Nintendo's most popular trans characters and their unfortunate missteps and stigmatized interpretations. Thanks for your work on it! While it's unfortunate that Vivian's trans identity was removed from the US translation, it seems like they were trying to avoid having her bullied for her identity, opting for her being called "ugly", which she objectively isn't. I wonder if Mario was portrayed as being accepting of how she chooses to identify? That could have been a nice conclusion to portray in the US release, since the other Shadow Sirens are clearly in the wrong with their bullying. But I can understand wanting to avoid bringing scrutiny to the identity of a trans character as well. Hard to think of many situations for a character to be canonically trans without, well, outing them. Acknowledgement with acceptance seems to be the only formula that would work for that. I would be excited to have that portrayed with Vivian and Birdo in the future.
I can't help but feel a weight on me as I think about trans representation in media. So much of it reinforces tropes that are used to villainize us, or otherwise portrays us as less than in some way. We're just people, it's not difficult or complicated. We just want to be seen as normal people 😫
very good video but since you asked for feedback the one thing that botherd me was just that the background music was just a little bit too loud but other then that i really enjoyed it :)
Yeah I remember thinking they were a relatively positive portrayal when I played the game years ago but I have to wonder how their depiction is actually received by those in the trans community. I feel like their entire deal is a huge reason the game never got an official English release
The whole finding a vibrator to prove she’s a girl has gotta be the wildest statements I have EVER seen regarding a Nintendo game. Period.
That is wild holy shit how was this allowed😂
@Natalie me too, me too
@natalie7662I don't get this joke all the way, sorry. Could you spare a moment to explain it? Thank you! 🙂
Honestly that’s a stretch. My fiancée(who is a transgender woman). She doesn’t even own a vibrator but then again she does have me and enjoys what I…. Do to her….
@@ryanhernandez8324The joke is that a vibrator is intended to be put into a woman's vagina in order for it to work. Since Birdo is canonically trans and still owns a vibrator that she uses regularly, it means that she was probably able to gain a vagina through bottom surgery. Natalie is probably transfem as well based on their comment and so they want Birdo's surgeon because they're able to pull off a bottom surgery that is actually able to replace one's penis with a vagina and possibly vice versa.
I think Vivian is the best trans representation thus far, because not only her looks aren't a parody and she does look like a woman, but she is also victim of transphobia coming from her sisters, which is sad, but very relatable.
And also, the way she decides to accompany Mario because he accepts her for who she is, which makes her happier than her sisters ever did, is very sweet and also relatable. Basically, Vivian is the most accurate depiction of what being trans is like.
Depends of the trans💀
@@olaf-chan-728 Yeah I guess it does.
The only bad part I'd say there is about Vivian's representation, is Goombella's tatle stating "she's actually a boy". But that's more or less "normalized" transphobia from the early 2000s... outside of that, no one questions her feminity (on the good guys side at least). She still presents as a woman with she/her pronouns and Mario is totally okay with it. Mario is the ally king we all need.
@@kitkatboard Yeah I agree with everything you say. No wonder why she'd rather go with Mario even though he's on the opposite side.
well there was also the Japanese translation. i don't think there's any way to say she's the best trans rep ever or even the best in this video considering the pokemon girl who was treated as she is. she may not be horrible and the transphobia from her sisters more than likely wasn't a call to the struggles trans woman face but more presented as "her sistsers know she's really not a woman but she's delusional" and that was likely what was intended
This was cute. I was aware of the examples, but I wasn’t aware of how explicitly they’ve coded Birdo as trans. The Captain Rainbow punchline does make me smile a bit, just because it’s a funny reductive way they conclude she’s a girl.
Yeah neither did I, growing up I never looked or thought deeper than “she’s Yoshi’s girlfriend”
the anime nidoran pfp omg 😭
@@amethystimagination3332 speaking of that yoshi and birdo are T4T and you can't convince me otherwise
Birdetta is her preferred name
@@celestialstarnexus I thought it was Birdie? Didn't she say it was in one of the games?
Two short corrections/additions:
The Italian version of TTYD is actually surprisingly progressive in its translation of Vivian, validating her identity rather than continuously implying her to be a guy
There is a female equivalent of the Black Belt class in the form of the Battle Girl, so the fact that Beauty Nova doesn't refer to her past self as a Battle Girl makes her identity as a trans woman a bit more explicit in the English version as well
As an Italian I can confirm that I haven't played paper Mario la porta vecchia di mille anni
@@diamondmemer9754 Have some *respect* for the Paper Mario title that rhymes /j
@@Miju001 it rhymes with "I've never played this game before"
Glad to see UA-cam can translate stuff like "mvrbu" but not actual foreign languages
@@diamondmemer9754 holy shit you're italian?? I see you everywhere on yt
Just to clarify a bit on the Samus thing, the person claiming Samus was trans (while also making fun of trans people by using derogatory term) was a backround artist who had nothing to do with Samus's design, and the person who later corrected it was one of the two involved in creating Samus. So, the original claim was made as a transphobic joke by some random backround artist.
Exactly
:( well, that's sadly expected
i always thought it was really weird and nonsensical that vivian's sister called her ugly all the time so the context of her being trans and the original dialogue being transphobia instead just makes so much more sense. it's such a shame that one of the best trans characters in gaming had her identity completely erased in the US version
Reason why Nintendo erased Vivian's original identity is because they're trying to avoid transphobia and from audiences who are transphobic in the US (plus, the age rating as well). We're known to be LGBTQ+ phobic but eventually we're slowly out growing that.
The dialogue certainly dates itself, but that's hindsight for ya.
@@AFKei True, though the US version does hint a few things that Vivian is in fact, transgender.
Nintendo of America is the reason, also the reason Catherine was called Birdo in the first class
I do remember hearing that BOTW’s Link was specifically designed to be androgynous so that any gender of player could see themselves in him, so I always thought the Gerudo outfit was a representation of that. The outfit, and Links ability to be in Gerudo town with all the woman and still be comfortable with himself and them, really spoke to me as a nonbinary person.
Though as much as I think that the Gerudo outfit itself was included without any ill will (especially since I don’t know if discussion of trans people in bathrooms is as prevalent in Japan as it was/is in the US/UK and other English speaking countries), I definitely cringed when I was talking to Vilia. There is no excusing the way they treated her :[
I can only hope that Tears of the Kingdom continues to make strides towards inclusivity, as well as other Nintendo franchises
I thought that Link's design was meant to be androgynous from the very start, for the reasons you just described. I could be wrong though. That kind of thinking would even more sense on the original NES, where most games don't even have dialogue so you can imagine Link to be whatever you want. Which is why it's just so bizarre that they haven't included the option to play as a female Link yet. Although for story reasons, it would have been more of a challenge in games like OOT or BOTW where the Gerudo are involved.
@@darrenmacqueen9884 you’re right, Link was always meant to be androgynous (“Link” between the game and the player), I didn’t explain myself well enough in the original post lol. What I forgot to explain was for Twilight Princess, they specifically tried to make him more masculine, so I think they were going for a more modern version of a return to form for the new game. BOTW Link is also less expressive than other games like SS and Windwaker so that the player can map their emotions onto him.
And I totally agree with the female Link thing! We do have Linkle, but she’s from a non-canon game and so isn’t a part of official Zelda lore. To me it would make perfect sense for there to be a female Link, it makes sense that Princess Zelda would always be female and Ganondorf always male since that’s an identifier of their reincarnation, Link doesn’t have anything that ties him to a specific gender. Here’s to hoping Nintendo looks back at Linkle and gives us a canon AFAB Link in the future, it’d be amazing
@Marrble No worries! Thats interesting about Twilight Princess, I didn't hear that. But it makes sense since he does look more masculine in that game.
And I really like Linkle. It would make so much sense just to give players a choice and would really match what the developers originally intended for the character. It's done in so many other games, including other Nintendo games. Why not Zelda?
link is a transmasc king
Yeah that's much only critique of the vid calling Link "male bodied" when he's more androgynous.
TIMESTAMPS (@ymyrgul feel free to copy these into the description):
0:00 - Intro
0:42 - Birdo
8:04 - Samus
10:37 - Vivian
12:24 - Beauty Nova
13:56 - Vilia
19:21 - Hubert
I’d like to imagine Gerudo Link has had a more positive impact than bad; it definitely made me realise some things about myself
I figure Cloud Strife has done the same for some kids too.
I have a bad feeling about what those things are…
@@gabrielsalahi3656 « bad » huh? Hmm 🤨
@@aleisshiki3649 it’s not a complicated sentence
Link made me gay twice now
Feels kind of misleading to mention Samus. Considering she isn't trans. But It's good to see you explained the reason for bringing her up though, she appearing on the thumbnail was one of the only reasons I clicked on it. This video is great and explains these all very well.
The only shred of evidence that is used for her being trans is a joke from a BACKGROUND ARTIST that if is to be taken seriously would also mean we'd have to believe her waist is two feet around and her bust size is almost four feet in circumference.
Yeah, but I think she did a pretty good job explaining why she put her on the list, and that segment was also a pretty good display about how the possibility of her being trans used as a running gag is cruel and transmisogynistic.
Yeah. I understand Birdo and the others, but Samus? Samus was created with the intention to snap the 'all VG heroes are dudes' trope that existed when she was made. She was just a badass in a suit. I never saw her as Trans coded. There was a whole thing about sexist morons using her as an example of 'butch' girls. -_- fair point about the misogyny.
@@IAmBuddythedecibwave she was added due to the two comments from people on the team joking about how she is and isn't trans respectively
@@Wince_Media Whole point of the latter part of my comment.
Fun fact: In Mario Kart 8 in the Sunshine Airport track there are voicelines over the loudspeakers in the airport section. One of these voice lines mention a “Miss Birdo”
Mario apologizing for transphobia took me OUT 😭😭
Seeing Birdo being called "it" was so painful
It
It
@@gamma_800 ya think you're a real jokester don't you?
It's a fucking dinosaur. Troons getting angry at a fictional dino being "misgendered" is hilarious
@@alejandrobasombrio3803 you act like you can’t be passionate towards a character, what’s wrong with that? You most likely indulge in some of your favorite media and have character you like, so what’s the issue?
Birdo is a total queen. Excited to play her when Kart Deluxe updates
It’s dlc
@@Estfireemblem they probably have it
Im not gonna play her even once
@@tylerasada2908 why
@@Estfireemblem i think she looks weird
I'd like to point out the Monty Python image you used at the end to demonstrate trans women being used as a punchline. That character, Loretta, came out to her friends towards the middle of the movie and after that scene, she was properly gendered throughout. The joke was that she wanted to have babies but did not seem to grasp that she biologically could not. It is problematic, but it was probably, unfortunately, the best representation a trans woman could hope for in 1979.
And in fairness to it, the joke is more about as you pointed out, the fact that she can't biologically have children, as opposed to her coming out.
So no one can't make trans people a punch line?
@@zachcouch1987not when it's strictly about the persons gender. Its rude and should not be allowed.
@@ingridsoleil Given that she was accepted as such, she just didn't understand biology, the joke worked and moved the plot along
If they still referred to her as "he" then you would have a point
@@zachcouch1987 you can make whoever a punchline, as long as it is something about themselves that they CAN change. race and gender (in most cases, as in, you can make SOME appropriate jokes based on them) are things you cannot change, and as such, you have to tread EXTREMELY lightly or else you will be perceived as offensive. that's not 'special snowflakism', its wanting to be respected like a human being. you can make jokes on the person, not on the solid.
There’s a few more trans Nintendo characters not mentioned here, both from Animal Crossing. Gracie, the giraffe fashion designer, is trans according to the very first game in Japanese (unfortunately it’s a lot of the same transphobic rhetoric, apparently there is a line that the cranky villagers could say sometimes that reveal her “real name” which sucks, but I’m glad she’s at least successful as a character). The other is a villager character named Velma, a goat. It should be noted that she is the only female goat to have a goatee, although that’s not what I’m focusing on; in the GameCube game, her default clothing is a Gracie-made design. I like to think that they’re girlfriends and that Gracie made that outfit for Velma.
Theres another villager called Julia i think but she's a peocock and is also trans
I think Sasha may be another one, because he is actually a boy, but he looks like a girl.
i feel like shino coukd count as a trans girl because shes the only girl deer with horns
Apparently every animal crossing character is trans and to think my parents said I wouldn't learn anything on the internet
@@lucypie09 saying somebody is or could be a trans male cos they look feminime doesnt really make sense
If you read the manga, you see that samus was actually a little girl at one point, showing that she is (most likely) not trans.
She's not trans, the trans Samus thing comes from a transphobic joke made by some random background artist on the dev team.
@@jeanduresau yeah, i ended up finishing the video after i made the OG comment, but i decided to keep it up even after seeing the section on samus. People still think she's trans now though, and use sexist and somewhat transphobic arguments. (E.G. trans b/c shes 6 ft tall, as if cis women are all 5'2")
Birdo is a girlboss, I don’t play her, but the people who do are the ones you can really trust.
I think the history of how minority groups in general were portrayed in media is very interesting. It’s always a bit of a rocky road to say the very least. I think with trans people we are mid way through the story. We’re not at a state where good trans representation is common, but we’re also not in a state where they are made a complete mockery in media. It’ll be very interesting to see how it develops because I do believe it will and is getting better, it’s just a matter of when.
Birdo is official a women, look at the Nintendo Homepage
I always found birdo as weird freaky case , dude shoots eggs from his mouth 🤨
First off fantastic video, second There was one additional positive for birdo in the Mario kart series, in Mario kart 8 (and deluxe) there are advertisements on the side of race track that advertised the “Women in racing organization “ and one of the versions of the ad feature birdo alongside peach and daisy
I always thought nintendo sometimes were right with birdo, but they made mistakes during all this time, but I think she wasn't made as a joke
Huberts hair just has that "I want a feminine haircut but not that obvious so I will not get in trouble" quality to it
Its funny how I married Hubert in the game because they literally just look like me before I transitioned……… wait, did I marry myself??
While I don't hate Hubert being trans the fact it's just fans headcanons and not confirmed is a bit of a stretch to say he's trans like to me he just looks like an emo and before anyone comes for me for misgendering him like I said him being trans is NOT confirmed so me calling him male isn't offensive
The part of link cross dressing to enter the garudo village was ( in my opinion) just a call back to ocarina of time were he had to infiltrate the village to advance the quest too, but when got caught he was kicked out because he was a male.
And Nintendo knowing and heavily leaning into that link is seen as androgynous giving him the chance to cross dress to sneak in.
I really hope that it was just that innocent idea why the developer made it that way, regardless of politics ( especially the game took a longer time to make)
I believe it was so
Link is canonically non binary though Aonuma said so beceause he wanted link to be gender neutral for players
@@gay4sswhovian no, that's not at all what that was about, link is a boy. He's just pretty androgynous to serve that purpose, but they refer to gim with male peonouns and call him a guy and all that.
@cringe ass and old Earthbound Pikmin fan he was never stated to be non binary, just the link. And it was Miyamoto who said it, not Aoulnuma
@@gay4sswhovian that is 100 percent not true
Honestly this video was very informative. I came, unfortunately, expecting some reaches based on small amount of evidence as that is what I am use to but honestly this video was breath of fresh air as you clearly pointed out your evidence, where you got from and you made it clear when you knew something and said thing was confirmed versus being hinted at or suggested at.
I will say, while a bright outlook on Hubert as trans, I think it is just him wanting to ride a pegasus as there is another instance of this in warriors where the main male protagonist exclaims outright that he wishes to be a pegasus knight as he admires them and thinks knights are cool. Now obviously I could be wrong and the intention for Hubert to be trans is what was intended but I think it's simply that he wishes to ride a pegasus instead of a wyvern due to their elegance and probably more steady flight. Hubert just seems like that kind of guy.
Plus it's said in the character's profiles that Hubert is afraid of heights hence that being the right answer for the letter. I still like to think of Hubert secretly being trans though, it would be interesting
Ignatz also wants to ride a pegasus in Three Hopes
I saw Vivian as a transwoman because of how she uses she/her pronouns in English and because of her excitement in meeting someone else who is interested in trying a different gender expression to their asab.
This could definitely be me projecting how I feel about meeting other people who don't conform to their assigned sex. But it was nice to see someone who looked nice and seemed happy presenting as their true self.
Wait, who else did she meet that's interested in expressing their gender differently?
@@jadethenidoran They're talking about Link.
I think we can all agree that the first trans character ever was the pawn in chess........
You know, cause it can turn into a queen....
PLS DON'T KILL ME
They should add more dlc
@@ebony7025 Yeah it's been so long since the last update
Queens is too OP please nerf
It’s worth mentioning on the note of Birdo that in Mario Kart 8 on Royal Raceway, there’s some signs for the Women of Racing Organization, which features a render of Birdo along with renders of Peach and Daisy, I just thought this was notable since it’s more than a text entry somewhere in the game about her and you didn’t mention it in the video
I am so upset that Poison was totally overlooked as she originated from a Capcom game exclusively on Nintendo.
I didn't talk about her because final fight is not a first party Nintendo game, also it was an arcade game before it came to nintendo systems! I'd love to make a video that talks about her though as I think she's very nice
@@ymyrgul170
Also I belive it was said that Poison was called a man because of a controversy ''girls shoudn't be fighting'' or something and they be like ''no that is a guy'' :v so..- can't tell if Poison is a trans or was just a misunderstanding..?
@@ymyrgul170 There was a Gamespot article I read years ago called “That Girl is Poison” about Poison through the lens of her being trans and transphobia in society. It’s neat how Poison went from being made trans so as to avoid “looking like the player beats on women” (yes that was why) to being a fan favorite to the point of being playable in Street Fighter when they added in Final Fight characters. People genuinely like trans women in games these days, with Bridget being a great recent example of this.
@peefromtmv We are allowed to have an opinion, and your sentiment towards it shows immaturity. We can disagree and co-exist.
@@lucad9667what exactly is that opinion? Go on, share it with the class.
It's not immature to not want to accociate with people who agree with a dude who's pretty clearly a shitty person. Not everyone can get along, and for good reason, believing otherwise is more immature.
Very ironic for you to speak of immaturity.
Especially because Hero hei himself is VERY immature. Literally most if not all of his videos is him acting pissy over Twitter drama with really bad takes.
Anything minor sets this man off.
Also what do you mean "we"
Maybe someone has already pointed this out, but the Japanese description of Vivian at 11:48, especially the way they wrote "Otokonoko" does not necessarily specify that Vivian is a male "daughter". Rather, I personally believe Vivian is just called "boy" here.
The word "Otokonoko（男の子, 男 meaning "male", の "of", and 子 "child" = so "male child" altogethter）" is a very generic word for "boy", so generic that I can bet every 5 year old Japanese child knows it (though they obviously would not know to how to write it in Kanji).
The word for "male daughter" that ymyrgul meant also reads "Otokonoko", but is written 男の娘: notice the second kanji is different here. It is a pan where the kanji 子 "child" in the original word is swapped with 娘, which means "daughter", or "young female". And it has, although a case of it being used is reported to be found in a magazine in the 70's according to Wikipedia, become somewhat popular almost only through its Internet usage and Japanese Otaku culture, and thus is an Internet slang that only people who are old enough, but not too old to be a nerd on the Internet, can understand.
In the description at 11:48 the word in question is written オトコのコ, using neither of the kanjis but katakana, which makes the real meaning somewhat ambiguous. So you COULD interpret that as "male daughter", but considering the fact that the word 男の子 is far more generic especially when compared to its Internet slang version, and also that Nintendo always follows its policy of being family friendly, and googling the Internet slang version could lead you into some NSFW content, I believe it's pretty unlikely that Vivian is mentioned as "male daughter" here.
Though I don't mean to deny the idea of the character being confused about its gender, at all. The way the character is described in the game, especially the appearance obviously, clearly depicts its gender ambiguity, which, from the western perspective, may be seen as those of trans, I suppose. I just wanted to share some linguistic and also somewhat cultural take of mine as a born Japanese who has been living in the country for the most part of his life.
I’m surprised there wasn’t at least a passing mention of how it’s canon that all Toads choose their gender. It was meant to explain why all the Toad children we see are guys (excepting Mario RPG which is very likely not canon anyways) but it was cute of them to say. I also remember the transphobes being mad at this so, you know, all the better to say every Toad or at least every Toadette is trans.
In the Manga, Samus is shown to be biologically female and referred to by those close to her as female. I had read the manga multiple times to find any evidence for or against her being trans (also because it’s a good read) and found none to support it. It does, however, seem to portray her more as asexual.
the vid says that....
Asexual wtf
@@mikoartz5006 as in, not having a romantic or sexual desire towards anyone. Though there is Adam Malkovitch, there seems to be more of a deep respect rather than anything else, as Adam is the only person Samus is okay with calling her “Lady” and him being the only person she’s willing to take orders from.
@@voltageauthor then am asiansexual because am mostly attracted to asians see you it make no sense ur turning personal taste into a sexuality and its stupid af
@@mikoartz5006 how am I turning my own personal taste into a sexuality? I’m not asexual. I’m only going off of what the manga and games provide as canon.
Birdie's section made me cry :( I love her sm
I laughed hard when I saw hubert in the thumbnail.
''Lady Edelgard... I hope you can refer to me by my pronounces she/her.''
While not a trans character Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has a non-binary character named Juniper, they are never referred to with male or female pronouns, their english voice actor is non-binary and even in the game's code their gender is 2 where male characters are 0 and female characters are 1, Juniper is a hero character which are optional 7th party members, though Juniper is a non-optional hero as they teach the party how to rail grind which is necessary to progress
That’s pretty awesome
Juniper is the best 🙏🙏🙏
Juniper my beloved!!
Love that Yoshi is canonically dating a trans woman.
Based af
Yoshi lays eggs, he’s T4T for sure
Eh I don't think hubert is trans. I just think hubert wants to do something he can never do and he can't say it out loud because of his character nit really able to be vulnerable to others
hoping the TTYD remake addresses vivian's trans identity in a positive way, unlikely but hoping
there are also some characters that aren't explicitly trans but are coded that way, penny in scarlet and violet probably being the most notable. my reaction to penny was that she felt like maia arson crimew as a pokemon character, and crimew is nonbinary. her ace is also a sylveon, which has the same palette as the trans flag, and even says "Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!" when she terastallizes it, and that line sounds like it's encouraging someone to come out
I really am hoping the English translation will, but I doubt Nintendo will have the guts to.
Boys and girls and those all around, do i have news-
@@lucasparadox6823 YEA!!!!
as a Zelda fan I can say I truly thought that maybe Vilia was dressing like a woman because you know.. the legend of the Gerudo is that every 100 years a male gerudo is born and he becomes their king, but this male Gerudo would be Ganondorf and well years years later it be taboo for a male gerudo to be.. around gerudos, so to protect him he had to be dressed and act like a Vai, though we can all see Vilia started to actually Feel like a true Vai and so he became a She, raised to be female being ok with that and being femenine made it right for her.
Bet she has a lot of struggles since her physic is not that 'pleasant' sadly; so here we can all see she lives outside the city a little solitary to avoid the bullying or maybe the 'suspicious' looks of something that poor Vilia has to hide..
but the book says t..they are a hylian..? oowh;
Reject official book canon, embrace trans Gerudo headcanon
Yeah thought the same thing when I was playing got really sad for Vilia because she was excluded by her own people and dunno if was my translation (used a mod for a fan translation from my country) but her speak seemed melancholic, and knowing about the book is like yikes!
@@tylerasada2908 unbased
Well it all cannot be true anyway since we have mention from some gerudo npcs to be married to gerudo men so theyre definitely not banned
Vilia is a Hylian, not the next Gerudo male
I remember always playing Birdo in Mario Party Wii, I just always loved her silly personality and the way she looked :3
Very in depth and engaging high quality video essay. Great content, keep it coming!
Loved the video. The inclusion of the original Japanese script in many a case was a nice touch.
Weirdly enough, I'd say James Somerton's video on generally intersecting ground ends up feeling more positive in the end. Then again, bigger pool to fish from.
That said, this further reinforced my opinion that Paper Mario is Nintendo's greatest series, despite never playing it, nor other Nintendo titles!
Three Houses is one of my favorite games. I haven't thought about the note Hubert made, but it's a nice headcannon, I enjoy it
a great video! a lot of sad moments, but i see you tried your best to lighten the mood in the end
felt a pinch of "ouch" when you said "i will refer to her as birdo, even though i believe birdetta is her preferred name". sure you made this decision out of good intentions and this is just a character in a videogame who cannot be sad because somebody used the name they don't prefer, so i stayed till the end and wasn't disappointed. thank you for your content!
The Pokémon one about the black belt went WAY over my head as a kid, all I could think was just beating her Pokémon 😂
Shiver was highly implied to be non binary during the build up to the release of Splatoon 3. I don’t remember the details but people have said the same guy who censored Vivian being trans in NA was the one who said Shiver was female.
Most people have moved on from this discussion but our fandom enjoys hcs of Shiver being many identities. Personally I use she/they for them. It’s disappointing we were so close to getting an enby idol, but at least they destroyed gender in the player customisation
Thanks for making this video. It's interesting to see and I enjoyed it.
You asked for feedback and all I would say is sometimes your music is a little louder than it needs to be while you're talking and so it distracts from your voice.
Other than that, good vid. I subscribed ❤
The Spanish, French, and Italian flags killed me.
Hey, I have no idea how this showed up in my recs, but I was genuinely floored to check this (I like listening to things in the background) and see the viewcount was so low!! I really really enjoyed this, and the amount of research and personal translation, including explanations and clarifications of such is incredible.
I appreciate content like this so much, and it genuinely kinda shocked me to see it bc I'd never seen this topic brought up as far as Nintendo characters go.
I'm NB and GF, and even if I don't share some of these (i suppose one or two could be considered as such, while others are obvious and undeniable) headcanons, its downright lovely to see such heartfelt sympathy in interpretation.
I also like, NEVER EVER comment on videos (maybe three times in ten years lmao) and i wanted to say before anyone came in to be ugly or shitty to you, that you've done a great service, your editing was great, i couldnt stop laughing near the end with the spinning gerudo etc.
I really honestly wish you the best, and i hope you make many more videos on things you find enjoyable or just wish to share, and that you learn quickly and easily even better ways to portray ur thoughts thru them.
Thank you again for this!!! I look forward to more from your channel!!! Have a wonderful day! ♡♡♡
Really hoping this blows up, and you get a lot of support as well! ♡♡♡
thank you so much! this means the world to me!
If you want some enby representation in a Nintendo game, I can do one better: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 features a canonically _nyan_-binary character who exclusively use they/them pronouns, it's not much, especially compared to the entire coming-out arc of the prior game, (and their class is also complete trash gameplay wise), but it's something.
@TMVGemini24 (Pee) They're owned by Nintendo, so they're at least as Nintendo as Pokemon is, possibly even more-so.
This video made me realize I was trans for some dumb reason it’s been a year at this point and I am going to the gender clinic very soon I just want to say thank you :)
Yippee I wish you luck
the way ppl really thought link crossdressing had anything to do w american laws against trans people is astounding to me.. like i can see the connection but come on this shi was in development for years before its release in JAPAN. not everything is about the us ffs
A very well made video, was a really nice watch. Thank you for ending on a possible high note
With the pegasus knight thing there's something very similar that happened with Ignatz and Marianne's supports in Three Hopes! Please watch them, the whole support session honestly feels so trans-coded and Marianne's very sweet about it.
It's just wanting to ride a pegasus instead of the wyvern, I'm sure they're already familiar with horse riding and having the horse fly is just a plus
i played the Italian version of Paper Mario: TTYD back around when it came out, and I can say: in that version, it is EXPLICITLY said that Vivian is transgender. Amazing representation!
They don't. But she says she was a man and now she's a woman, and the same in the goombella description while her sisters mock her. While it's clear she feels trans the game doesn't use the word.
I think Kirby has a decent amount of good trans rep, although there aren't any transfem/trans woman characters.
It's moreso in regards to non binary people, Kirby is gender neutral in Japan, Morpho Knight is referred to exclusively with it/its and Fecto Elfilis is referred to with they/them.
There are other characters who are speculated to be non binary as well, such as Gryll who's literally never referred to with any pronouns of any kind (due to having only made a major appearance in a Japan only puzzle game where nobody references them besides themself and only making cameo appearances afterwards.)
The cool thing about Kirby is that while trans topics are never mentioned specifically, Kirby and other characters such as Dedede are shown as being gender nonconforming without it being presented as anything wrong.
In fact there's some White Day and Valentine's Day artwork posted to the Japanese Kirby Twitter account (white day is a day where people give reciprocal gifts after Valentine's Day.)
The Valentine's Day artwork only shows female characters making treats while the male characters wait outside for them, whereas the white day artwork shows the opposite (only that the female characters are off screen.)
The sole exception is Kirby who's present inside as both parties make their gifts, him also having a chef hat implies that he's also helping with this. This could imply that Kirby may be bigender.
I wanna also bring up Pokemon again, there's a Japan only manga named How I Became A Pokemon Card.
This manga features a trans boy named Akari, his transgender identity being a secret to everyone. except his mother until he was forced to wear a skirt in middle school.
Akari's first Pokemon was a Pikahu, but the sad thing is that his mother only gave him said Pokemon once he promised that he'd act more feminine if he got it (in addition to considering it his graduation, birthday and christmas gift all in one.)
Heck he didn't even want a Pikachu at first, as he wanted an equally cool Pokemon to his best friend (Akira) who got a Scyther.
Upon getting the Pikachu, he stormed off into the woods in anger and once pursued by Akira and Pikachu, his best friend Akira scolded Akari by claiming that he wasn't acting like neither a male or a female, but rather like "a pathetic human being".
In the end Pikachu proves it's worth by defeating a herd of Ariados and Akari learns that coolness isn't an objective fact, but the transphobia he faces isn't really addressed or called out (at least according to the Bulbapedia page, havent read the full manga yet)
Idk if this is exactly good rep, but the manga does portray Akari as a boy so I suppose it's fine?
Pokemon is an interesting series in terms of gender in all honestly, not only are there many pokemon with undiscovered genders but some glitchs/translation errors actually have led to some Pokemon changing genders.
The Pokemon Azurill has a different gender ratio to it's evolutions and 1/3 female Azurill will evolve into a a male Marill prior to generation 6, where this was fixed.
In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, the character Wigglytuff is presented as a man as they're referred to exclusively with he/him pronouns.
They would later reappear in Super Mystery Dungeon however this time being gendered with she/her in the English localization, this was just a translation error but Wigglytuff's personally one of my favourite PMD characters so headcanoning them as trans is kinda nice to me.
It's also worth noting that most legendaries are gender unknown/genderless but Solgaleo and Lunala are referred to as being both male and female (despite being coded as genderless), and every legendary in Mystery Dungeon is gendered in a binary way.
Honestly PMD's approach feels like just something poorly aged, like they assumed people wouldn't understand if they used they/them pronouns but unfortunately this still hasn't changed with the newer titles (the last title being a remake of the first game which came out in 2020, unfortunately not changing any genders/pronouns.)
sorry for the super long comment, but i hope you like it!
I think there are also some non binary people in Mother 3 but idk much about that game myself, so yeah.
^The two replies above me are cringe.
You bring up some interesting ideas! :)
@@alienenthusiast thanks, i just ignore transphobes haha :)
Genuine question, when has King Dede ever acted gender non conforming? Another thing I dont want to come as transpjobic but like the pronouns of entities like morjo knight and such should t be taken into account as they are quite literally like ancient evils with no concept of gender, this including Kirby as he comes from Void
@@sergiorodriguez6719 first Kirby light novel
@@sergiorodriguez6719 You would think that if Fecto Elfilis was meant to have "no concept of gender" then the same would apply to Elfilin, but he uses he/him. Elfilin disproves this idea for Fecto Elfilis, which in turn makes it less likely that this was the intention for other characters.
Plus, Void uses he/him. Don't know how he's referred to in japanese, but clearly shows that Void does have a concept of gender, which means Kirby does, too.
I personally don't think Samus is transgender but everyone else sure is! Great video miss!
This was so so important work and I hope you keep it up beyond Nintendo
I'm cis, and thought that in this day and age, trans rep would be great, but this video has really opened my eyes, thanks!
Great analysis, thanks for compiling all of this and sharing! I had to laugh at 17:58 though, I love the serious discussion while watching spinning T-poses with soothing music in the background lmao
Yoshi is T4T real
It was interesting to see the common headcanon that Samus is trans finds somehow a basis from an official source, although such a bad one at that
Transgender dinosaur sings and gives you a goat.
Peak representation.
I'm glad you mentioned the Zero Mission interview. Absolutely wild that that still exists on Nintendo's web page right now.
While I'm not trans, Link definitely did something to me.
Now that Paper Mario TTYD is being remade I can't wait for the people who melted down over Starfield's pronouns to melt down over a trans character in a Mario game because the culture war has melted all of our brains.
While not mainly trans based characters, the Magypsies from Mother 3 are just as equally interesting. Itoi made them to be positive portrayals of gender queer people, seeing as how they help you through the events of chapter 6. Of course, now a-days they do seem to represent a more stereotypical depiction of gender queer people, essentially just being drag queens with magic, but still think that they are a noteworthy part of Nintendos history with Trans representation.
I actually have an interesting fact about Catherine that I love sharing.
In Super Mario Bros. 2, the original pink Birdo you fight from the start of the game, and the one that Nintendo tends to use for all their sports games and generally considers to be *the* Catherine, actually leaves the game about halfway through and her final appearance is as a friendly character. You fight her for the last time as a miniboss at the start of the second world in the original NES game, and then she vanishes until the end of fourth world, where she shows up to fire an egg for you to ride across a chasm on so you can enter Fry Guy's fortress.
After that? She just leaves. All of the rest of the Birdo minibosses that appear in the game are the Red and Grey/Green varieties, but we unfortunately don't know their names because the original Japanese manual only used the original Catherine name preceded by the boss's color to describe them, and that's a real shame.
While Catherine can be fought in her final appearance in-game, since she's just the miniboss object placed in a non miniboss context, her placement and the fact that she is the only way to get across the chasm to get to Fry Guy gives the implication that she is there to assist the playable characters rather than fight them.
This is also slightly given further weight in Super Mario Advance, where both Clawgrip's entrance and some scrapped content for Mouser and Triclyde reveal that most, if not all of the bosses were meant to be regular sized enemies or animals that Wart turned into monsters using Dream Magic. If Robirdo's color is correct, which all of the bosses match their shrunken versions, even Triclyde's Cobrat form would have used his palette, then that is undoubtedly meant to be Catherine transformed into a monster and made to fight the player in the third world. After something like that, defecting to the side of the protagonists would only make sense, giving a bit more context to why she appears to help the players get to Fry Guy.
And just to clarify-- Catherine is probably my favorite video game character. I think she is very special in the fact that despite the reality of Nintendo repeatedly treating her very unkind and horribly, her... depiction? portrayal? characterization? within those unkind and horrible situations is almost always one of self-confidence and with a strong assertion of her own identity, even in Super Mario Bros. 2 where her assertion of her gender identity is used to assist the player. Even if that characterization is meant to be taken as a joke by the developers, I think that when taken earnestly, it's really nice to see that not even her creators can truly bring her down.
I have to, jokingly, respond to link's age being a problem...
I think the problems of Link's chronological age in any relationships might be offset by him having severe memory loss most of the time >.> Link's dating life is *fraught* in this story!
Its fiction so who cares
@@mikoartz5006we care
13:00 I believe that the referenced dialogue is actually when she defeats you, as it is meant as a "I have improved from my previous state and that's why I won"
3:08 you have to take in mind that is the American version of that, Nintendo of America was very transphobic they're also the ones who gave her the name birdo in the first place
The new Paper Mario TTYD remake leaves her being trans in all versions, so that's great!
This was an amazing video. That being said, i feel like the Hubert one at the end is kind of a stretch. If the devs were intending him to be trans or trans-coded, there would be more than one piece of evidence to suggest that. And likewise, while it’s true that pegasi usually don’t allow men to ride them, it is implied in Thracia 776 and Fates that they are willing to cooperate with men if the rider wishes. In fact, male Pegasus knights are encountered as enemies in Mystery of the Emblem. And even beyond that, does Hubert even know that Pegasi almost only allow women to command them?
its just a headcanon dude.
@@misscalicogirl I guess so, I just feel it’s kind of misleading, the video’s called “history of trans women characters” not “history of characters that can be headcanoned as trans women”. trans headcanons are fine of course, but I feel it’s out of place in a video like this that’s trying to be informative.
@@thebloatgaming553 I agree and with also FE:Warriors: Three Hopes coming out if the devs intended for him to be trans they would've brought something up in that game even if they never mentioned it previously in Three Houses I don't mind headcanons I just when ppl try to make them canon
I'm a Trans Girl and love Nintendo Games and well not perfect representation i atleast appreciate the company trying to represente trans woman^^
On the topic of Fire Emblem, there's another trans character from that series, that being Kyza from Radiant Dawn.
In the Japanese version of the game, they use a clearly feminine speech pattern and their page in the 20th anniversary encyclopedia says "body is male, heart is female?" while also refering to them as an okama (which, from what I understand, is a Japanese term which can mean from effeminate or crossdressing man to trans woman). In the English localization they removed almost all of that and Kyza is refered to as a guy, and then in the more recent mobile game Fire Emblem Heroes they use they/them pronouns for them (which is why I've been using those throughout this comment), kind of implying they're non-binary.
Overall, pretty interesting, but unfortunately the representation here is almost on the same level of transphobia as Birdo's "he thinks he is a woman", and keep in mind that Radiant Dawn came out in 2008....
Isn’t Devdan/Danved also a more stereotypical example of an okama with his mannerisms also? Now that I think about it, Radiant Dawn had a lot of queer and queercoded stuff for the time. Heather explicitly said she likes women and Soren is the type of guy who everyone just accepts as gay without it ever having been explicitly said because how he acts has no straight explanation. I am disappointed that they removed Kyza being NB when localizing the game, especially when they kept Heather being lesbian in
Vivian is now officially trans in the english remake!
The internet made me think birdo was a homosexual guy when I was really young. The internet sucks
Hubert's case is pretty unique. At first glance it really does seem too vague to conclusively hint at transness, however there are a few peculiarities about 3 houses that make it more likely.
First of all, pegasus knights arent the only flying class in the game. If it was just about flying and a fear of heights, they could have easily written the letter to say that Hubert wanted to be a wyvern knight (a non-gender locked class). This could just be how the line was translated, but i think its interesting how the letter is worded to focus on looks. like, what does the way you look like have to do with your supposed fear of heights, Hubert? I think it's notable that Hubert's supposed fear of flying isn't mentioned anywhere else in the game (that im aware of).
Secondly, 3 houses is a very light-handed, lore heavy game. most non-essential story beats are implied rather than told to the player outright. for example, there is a book you can find in a banned books library in the DLC route that implies that the game takes place thousands of years in the future, after our current day modern society has long since fallen. its a pretty big reveal about the setting of the game and the motivations of one of the main villains, and its just a single line hidden away in a non-essential part of the game! given all of that, if they were going to imply that a character was trans, it would be perfectly in line with the writing of other major character revelations to have this reveal about Hubert hidden away in a randomized anonymous letter.
Nice video overall, though I mostly disagree on the conclusiveness (or even likeliness) of Hubert being a trans woman. The rest seem pretty obviously transcoded (other than Samus, of course), but Hubert seems to value the occupation of being a pegasus knight more, not really the being a woman part. It isn't hard to imagine how appealing being a pegasus knight would be, in fact, in the note Hubert explicitly states that they wish to be one to "indulge in the lofty view", nothing to do with being a woman. I myself have a sort of personal example relating to this. I had a wish (and to be honest, I still sort of do) that I would be able to become a mother, which is impossible as I am male. Nothing to do with wanting to be a woman, I just wanted motherhood, as I saw it as the deepest, most intimate connection you can have.
Is it possible that Hubert is trans? Yes. Your interpretation is perfectly valid, just I am not very convinced is all.
Sorry if it seems I am denying Hubert's trans-ness for the sake of it, my sole intention is for discussion and laying out my thoughts.
Very nice video. Good history. Supports claims with concrete evidence and doesnt go into headcannon until the very end of the video. Which is fine because you state that outright and- in my opinion, is a very cute way to end. Enemy Felix with Darting Blow tho.
I personally wouldn't call Samus Trans but instead missgendered woman, but i get where are you going for
Wasnt that the point
Poor Birdo. Seems like her time with Popple is a mirror of Luigi's crush on Peasley
I'm so fucking excited to watch this been waiting so long
The end of the video was super sweet and Im happy to know about that now! Great video!
You know? I'm surprised Zelda and Sheik weren't even mentioned. Even though Sheik's gender is going to be the subject of debates until the heat death of the universe, there's a loooooot open to interpretation regarding it. While yes, at the end, it's revealed that Sheik is ultimately just a disguise so that Zelda can run around Hyrule without arousing Ganondorf's suspicions and that she used magic to do so, it opened the door to discussions as to what gender Sheik is. Ruto believes Sheik is a boy, Sheik never really clarifies because they feel it's not important as opposed to the greater task of destroying Ganon, and Zelda never clears it up after the fact. Later Nintendo descriptions of Sheik have also been mum on Sheik's gender as well, which has only furthered the debate.
Given the content of this video, I wouldn't assume you'd come to a conclusion one way or another, but I felt it was at least worth mentioning because the capability for Zelda to use magic to change herself biologically to be a man to better play the part *is* there. Hell, there's some people who think Sheik and Zelda are two separate personae entirely, yet sharing one body.
zelda being genderfluid seems very plausible to me tbh.
It's not a debate, Sheik is female and it's just a ninja disguise
I think at the time impa turned Zelda into sheik thus actually making her male using magic or whatever. But as time when on I think Nintendo just said it was a costume disguise thus making sheik female the entire time in OoT.
If possible I would love to see a video about trans men in Nintendo games!This video was lovely!
I'm suffering the effects of taco bell I'm fighting for my fucking life send help
My condolences
your next sex session is NOT gonna be fun..
Ignatz had a similar Pegasus knight experience in Fire Emblem Warriors: 3 Hopes. Which even before Ignatz's Support with Marianne, I read Ignatz as queer due to how hiding love of art seemed like a closet metaphor
I'd ship Ignatz x Raphael but someone cursed the mental image by relating it to an image of a hamster eating a banana
If that's your headcanon cool but I doubt hiding love for art = being a closeted gay I just think Ignats was embarrassed about saying he loves art because he might've been worried people will make fun of him for it but like I said it's a headcanon I'm not going to cause a fight over a headcanon
@@Neo-Queenserenityt2l I summarized it very succinctly. There were quite a few reasons why I see Ignatz feeling like he has to force himself to be a soldier for the sake of his family and pretend to hate art, such that he lies every time he sees art as a metaphor.
Also I don’t think there’s one point where he’s afraid people will make fun of him. It’s moreso that people will see that he’s not the person he needs to be for his family
I think the Hubert one is off base. as a long time fan of FE, the series has had some mixed representation throughout, good and bad. Hubert wanting to be a Pegasus knight doesn't really confirm much at all as he wouldn't be the first in the series to be a male who wishes they could fly on pegasus back, usually in games without the male flying class option of wyvern knights(usually still not genderlocked). Most likely in this case the reason for it being anonymous is the idea of him, a rather straight lace and serious type of person, wanting to ride what is seen as kind of a feminine graceful creature would be seen as very "out of character" and would probably be embarrassing for him to admit as it kind of goes against his whole aesthetic and the way he tries to present himself to others.
A better example of a potentially trans character within the series would probably be Kyza in the Tellius entries, as the Japanese lore info + in game traits about how he speaks suggest he is likely FtM. as far as I'm aware he is the only good case for trans reps in the series with solid evidence to suggest it, though there are several bi/gay reps throughout
This was a fantastic video, you deserve so many more subs!
Had no idea birdo was trans . I heard the rumor she was a guy or not gendered and it’s very unfortunate that that’s all I heard abt her ☹️ birdo had always been a fav of mine she doesn’t deserve the mistreatment she gets
Well I mean it makes sense as I can see Yoshi being trans as well since well he can pop out eggs so I think it's sweet that both Yoshi and Birdo are kinda a trans-couple I said that because I'm not sure if they are actually a couple not the trans part
i hope this doesnt sound transphobic but i dont think that Link was supposed to be trans or that they meant gerudo town to be transphobic, i just think they just made it that way for story stuff (yes i love zelda.)
but anyway, i love this video oh my god just everything is so good
Nothing transphobic about saying that, from what it seems the video agrees. While it points out that Link having gender nonconforming outfits was a good exploration of gender to some people and that there’s queer subtext there, that’s not saying he’s trans. And both the video and most trans people agree that the Gerardo plot line wasn’t intended to be transphobic, these are easy tropes to fall into, especially with Japanese media that has a different culture around gender, but it does stumble slightly in terms of trans stereotypes.
And I tought that Birdo is the name of the species like yoshi.
Good video. I liked how you presented your evidence for each character to show why you came to each conclusion. While I knew about some of these (Birdo, Samus, the Pokemon trainer), I got to learn about more possible representation. The positive representation of Vivian was the best insight, as I've yet to play that game.
My only criticism of the video is that the volume mixing is a bit off. The background music sounds a bit too loud and it was difficult to hear you in certain spots.
Regardless, keep up the good work.
this was a really good video thank you for making it💕
Captain Rainbow is crazy how did they make that game
Japanese games have a surprising amount of gender divergent characters, like Poison. I’ve always wondered why, given Japanese culture is fairly conservative
Their culture regarding LGBT is different from the west
while they like to laugh at queer characters and use them as ridiculous stereotypes and punchlines, they’re less afraid of seeing them than the west
@@DarkPsychoMessiah yeah basically. while it's still shunned and taboo / not accepted the violent and hysterical kind of queerphobia is basically absent throughout their history.
loved this sm!!! looking forward to more videos like this
What came to mind for a feminine Hubert was the mother from the comic The Monstrous Duke's Adopted Daughter, with her slender face and dark wavy hair. She is also very talented in combat, as well as a great mother, imo.
This video is a great history on Nintendo's most popular trans characters and their unfortunate missteps and stigmatized interpretations. Thanks for your work on it!
While it's unfortunate that Vivian's trans identity was removed from the US translation, it seems like they were trying to avoid having her bullied for her identity, opting for her being called "ugly", which she objectively isn't. I wonder if Mario was portrayed as being accepting of how she chooses to identify? That could have been a nice conclusion to portray in the US release, since the other Shadow Sirens are clearly in the wrong with their bullying. But I can understand wanting to avoid bringing scrutiny to the identity of a trans character as well. Hard to think of many situations for a character to be canonically trans without, well, outing them. Acknowledgement with acceptance seems to be the only formula that would work for that. I would be excited to have that portrayed with Vivian and Birdo in the future.
I can't help but feel a weight on me as I think about trans representation in media. So much of it reinforces tropes that are used to villainize us, or otherwise portrays us as less than in some way. We're just people, it's not difficult or complicated. We just want to be seen as normal people 😫
It’s so exhausting ;-;
I absolutely love your content. I'm a trans Nintendo fan and hope you keep on making amazing content
very good video but since you asked for feedback the one thing that botherd me was just that the background music was just a little bit too loud but other then that i really enjoyed it :)
Was hoping you'd cover the Magypsies from Mother 3, they're an interesting bunch for sure
Yeah I remember thinking they were a relatively positive portrayal when I played the game years ago but I have to wonder how their depiction is actually received by those in the trans community. I feel like their entire deal is a huge reason the game never got an official English release
I love this video!! But omg you can't just end the video without telling the ending for Hubert you wrote in your head? Spill the tea friend!