Samus Aran: Who cares about over-sexualization?

[TheMysteriousGX]

Oddly, I think that a lot of the problems with Other M's portrayal of Samus could be symbolized with heels.

Of course, I haven't liked the Zero suit since it showed up in Zero Mission itself. "Oh look, a forced stealth section because your suit got damaged. Good thing the Chozo kept an entire spare, upgraded suit around for you to find!"

Bleh. Put me down as another for "Rocket Boots or Shoes would be fine, but Heels would break an ankle."

 

[theNater]

]That's a fair point. To me, though, it's kinda like asking "What would character x do in a zombie apocalypse?" You can ask "Why put him there in the first place?" but I feel as though you can learn more about a character by putting them in a situation we have never seen them in.

From a character analysis perspective, you are right. The answer "to see how they react" is absolutely sufficient justification for an analyst to put a character into any situation. If a blogger wants to consider simultaneous zombie outbreaks in Gotham and Metropolis to compare and contrast the reactions of Batman and Superman, I wouldn't ask for any deeper justification.

But from a character design perspective, the question of why is something that absolutely needs to be considered. What is the designer trying to convey about the character or the world they live in? If an author wants to write a story about Superman fighting zombies and can't give a good reason why it's zombies instead of robots, then they need to put the pen down and think until they have an answer. If they don't, the story will be weaker for it.

Heck, this change in Samus actually contains an example of good design. There's a very good reason for why she is wearing rocket shoes; to explain the mechanical changes in how she fights. If they had put her in sensible-looking rocket shoes but hadn't made any mechanical changes, you can bet I'd ask why they had put the rocket shoes in.

]However, your point is a valid one, too, although I'd argue that despite how they look, they are helping. Just look at her fight with them.

I've never claimed otherwise. The issue is that they'd help just as much if they looked like flats, so the fact that they look like heels should have an explanation.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I just think the design is fucking gross, that's my only beef with the high heels.

LOOK AT THEM. Ruin a perfectly nice, streamlined and simple character design with fucking neon-green chunky pieces of shit like that. She's actually far LESS sexy to me now with those things on her feet, well done Nintendo.

That's pretty much my thoughts on it right there. Sexualization be damed, the just look plain stupid.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Every time I hear someone decry Nintendo for 'oversexualizing' Samus by adding heels to her Zero Suit, it's all I can do to keep from laughing in their face.

Did everyone suddenly forget that the reward for 100%ing a Metroid game is usually just an image of Samus in either a bikini or a small tanktop and boyshorts? Because I didn't. You know how people found out that Samus was a girl? 'cause when you finished the game, she took her clothes off for you, the player. Jeez.

"Reward for 100%ing a Metroid game is usually". By saying a Metroid game usually does this you make it sound like most games in the series give out this "reward". I've only played 2 games in the series, but I'm pretty sure only the 1st game hands out that "reward". You can count Other M I suppose for showing Samus in her Zero Suit more often than other games in the series, but that is more something that shows up constantly throughout the games rather than a reward for speedrunning or 100%ing.

Also, people have already addressed that the first game did this and why that doesn't matter. I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but instead of actually reading through the defenses of people who dislike the heels and taking them into consideration you decided it'd be easier and, most importantly, funner to just make fun of these people. You don't even give them a chance (I keep saying "them" because, while I empathize with both sides of this argument, I'm actually indifferent to this whole thing); you just dismiss them. I don't think that's cool, sorry.

See Mecegirl's post for a set of pictures. But it's in basically every Samus game. Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, Zero Mission, etc.

And no, I'm not going to give them a chance. They're losing their shit because a character who reuglarly strips down to her underwear as a reward for the player was given heels. Not even 'just heels', but rocket heels that actually have a practical function. It is a joke.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

]That's a fair point. To me, though, it's kinda like asking "What would character x do in a zombie apocalypse?" You can ask "Why put him there in the first place?" but I feel as though you can learn more about a character by putting them in a situation we have never seen them in.

From a character analysis perspective, you are right. The answer "to see how they react" is absolutely sufficient justification for an analyst to put a character into any situation. If a blogger wants to consider simultaneous zombie outbreaks in Gotham and Metropolis to compare and contrast the reactions of Batman and Superman, I wouldn't ask for any deeper justification.

But from a character design perspective, the question of why is something that absolutely needs to be considered. What is the designer trying to convey about the character or the world they live in? If an author wants to write a story about Superman fighting zombies and can't give a good reason why it's zombies instead of robots, then they need to put the pen down and think until they have an answer. If they don't, the story will be weaker for it.

Heck, this change in Samus actually contains an example of good design. There's a very good reason for why she is wearing rocket shoes; to explain the mechanical changes in how she fights. If they had put her in sensible-looking rocket shoes but hadn't made any mechanical changes, you can bet I'd ask why they had put the rocket shoes in.

]However, your point is a valid one, too, although I'd argue that despite how they look, they are helping. Just look at her fight with them.

I've never claimed otherwise. The issue is that they'd help just as much if they looked like flats, so the fact that they look like heels should have an explanation.

Well, they could simply be a prototype. Maybe she's simply testing them out. Perhaps the final design could be flat boots and these are just a concept design they're tying out. Or maybe the rockets are too big for flat boots and that's the only way they could properly fit on her feet until they find an alternative.

 

[mecegirl]

]Is it really that hard to believe Samus would wear heels? Looking at those images, Samus has gone through quite a few design renditions. Is it really hard to buy a rendition of Samus that has heels? Let alone ones that aid her in combat?

Also, I've never played Other M, but the problems I hear about Samus in that game had nothing to do with her heels.

Why is it so easy for you to believe that she would wear heels when she hasn't worn them before? In real life not all women wear heels, so what's the problem now? Its not like anything was stopping artists from depicting her with obvious heels before Other M happened. They chose to give her an aesthetic closer to American Gladiator than Miss America. And that choice reflects upon her as a chracter and on the world she inhabits.

The heels are the least of the problems with Other M, its just fitting that a game drowning in gender stereotypes would be the one to put her in them. She is a girl after all. Of course she wears heels!
Yahtzee does a pretty decent job at harping at all the way's Other M felt the need to push Samus' gender down player's throats http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2015-Metroid-Other-M

 

[mecegirl]

I just think the design is fucking gross, that's my only beef with the high heels.

LOOK AT THEM. Ruin a perfectly nice, streamlined and simple character design with fucking neon-green chunky pieces of shit like that. She's actually far LESS sexy to me now with those things on her feet, well done Nintendo.

That's pretty much my thoughts on it right there. Sexualization be damed, the just look plain stupid.

They really look stupid. Like I'm not even sure that some folks would have noticed the type of shoes Samus had on if they weren't so clunky and mismatched.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

]Is it really that hard to believe Samus would wear heels? Looking at those images, Samus has gone through quite a few design renditions. Is it really hard to buy a rendition of Samus that has heels? Let alone ones that aid her in combat?

Also, I've never played Other M, but the problems I hear about Samus in that game had nothing to do with her heels.

Why is it so easy for you to believe that she would wear heels when she hasn't worn them before? In real life not all women wear heels, so what's the problem now? Its not like anything was stopping artists from depicting her with obvious heels before Other M happened. They chose to give her an aesthetic closer to American Gladiator than Miss America. And that choice reflects upon her as a chracter and on the world she inhabits.

The heels are the least of the problems with Other M, its just fitting that a game drowning in gender stereotypes would be the one to put her in them. She is a girl after all. Of course she wears heels!
Yahtzee does a pretty decent job at harping at all the way's Other M felt the need to push Samus' gender down player's throats http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2015-Metroid-Other-M

I think I understand a little better now. I just wasn't really shaken up about it, and I don't think it was their intent to make it come across that way nor do I think they're trying to say anything demeaning with their inclusion. I think they just thought it was a nice little addition to her arsenal, which is how I see it. I don't see them as shoes, I see them as weapons.

And from what you're giving me about Other M, here they're not playing up her gender as much as that game. Here she just has heels, and that's it, while Other M seems to take that much further. Like you and many other posters noted, if the heels were just boots or shoes, everything would be fine. In Other M's case, changing the shoes probably wouldn't have mattered if the writing was still the same.

 

[Erttheking]

Every time I hear someone decry Nintendo for 'oversexualizing' Samus by adding heels to her Zero Suit, it's all I can do to keep from laughing in their face.

Did everyone suddenly forget that the reward for 100%ing a Metroid game is usually just an image of Samus in either a bikini or a small tanktop and boyshorts? Because I didn't. You know how people found out that Samus was a girl? 'cause when you finished the game, she took her clothes off for you, the player. Jeez.

"Reward for 100%ing a Metroid game is usually". By saying a Metroid game usually does this you make it sound like most games in the series give out this "reward". I've only played 2 games in the series, but I'm pretty sure only the 1st game hands out that "reward". You can count Other M I suppose for showing Samus in her Zero Suit more often than other games in the series, but that is more something that shows up constantly throughout the games rather than a reward for speedrunning or 100%ing.

Also, people have already addressed that the first game did this and why that doesn't matter. I'm sorry if this comes off as rude, but instead of actually reading through the defenses of people who dislike the heels and taking them into consideration you decided it'd be easier and, most importantly, funner to just make fun of these people. You don't even give them a chance (I keep saying "them" because, while I empathize with both sides of this argument, I'm actually indifferent to this whole thing); you just dismiss them. I don't think that's cool, sorry.

See Mecegirl's post for a set of pictures. But it's in basically every Samus game. Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, Zero Mission, etc.

And no, I'm not going to give them a chance. They're losing their shit because a character who reuglarly strips down to her underwear as a reward for the player was given heels. Not even 'just heels', but rocket heels that actually have a practical function. It is a joke.

Nothing like gross oversimplification. .01% of the content her games that most people won't ever get to because you have to get 100% item completion in every game in order to get it, something most players do not do because it's next to impossible to find some of those items without a guide in your lap, and in other games you have to go so far as to do all of this and beat the game in two hours, something that I'm pretty sure you could mess up by dying once. That's your definition of regularly? In that case Silent Hill is regularly about UFO abductions and everything being masterminded by a Dog and fans shouldn't complain when those become main focuses in the next entry.

Yes, because rockets could only be put in high heels.

 

[MerlinCross]

If they were designed differently(More like Chell's footwear) or just plain boots, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Kinda weird if not dumb design choice to me.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Man, a lot of people are railing against Other M, but from what I understand it's well-deserved. That said, I really dislike the high heels and that samus in the zero suit is a separate character (I understand it was the same tech limitations from the 3ds that killed off the ice climbers that forced zero suit and shiek to be separated). From what I understand, the zero suit is just what she wears under the armor, so where does she keep the heels?

Also, why has no one else mentioned that her zero suit is basically just underwear? I'm not saying it's bad for her to use it (it makes for an interesting bit of characterization as I wonder if it's the suit that's awesome and if she would ever bother with any other clothing besides the zero suit), but to focus on the zero suit entirely and then add high heels rather than some proper megaman boots seems, well, wrong and more than little bit like fan-pandering. Samus is a woman raised by aliens, wtf would she care about high heels? There are metroids, space pirates, and that prick Ridley out there somewhere just waiting to get killed by her.

 

[jamail77]

See Mecegirl's post for a set of pictures. But it's in basically every Samus game. Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, Zero Mission, etc.

And no, I'm not going to give them a chance. They're losing their shit because a character who reuglarly strips down to her underwear as a reward for the player was given heels. Not even 'just heels', but rocket heels that actually have a practical function. It is a joke.

While it may be in every Metroid game it isn't like Bayonetta or Dead or Alive. In those games the female characters do this the whole time contrary to Samus who only does it rarely by comparison. In the former, that's all the female characters are about really (although in Bayonetta's case it's more positive towards her character than an excuse to pander to male fanboys).

Your 2nd paragraph says it all. You won't give them a chance because you're basing the argument on only 2 factors. There are multiple factors that go into the dislike of Samus' heels. It goes beyond her, again, rare (by comparison to other pandering games; as a whole she still does it frequently I guess, again only played 2 games in the series, so my knowledge is limited on that) tendency to strip down. As for the practicality, others have already pointed out that you don't need heels to have rocket jets. Iron Man uses normal footwear rockets to propel him, just for example. Heels aren't comfortable footwear. They became popular through societal expectations. I don't know a single woman who enjoys wearing heels for practical purposes; they only enjoy them when they want to look sexy for someone or when its required for a fancy party. I suppose dominatrixes appreciate high heels too, but I won't go into that because this isn't a BDSM or fetish thread and it'll just derail the topic at hand.

I'm not saying you have to agree with people who dislike the heels, but I'm really tired we can't have civil discussions regarding subjects like this because of people who talk past each other and aren't actually considering the other side's argument on a mature level. It's nothing personal. As I said, I'm mostly indifferent to this whole issue because I don't care much for Metroid or the Super Smash Bros. series for that matter. I just think the attitude people have to these sort of arguments is really unnecessary. Calling people a joke? That's just disrespectful. And, just to reiterate, I'm not singling you out: There are certainly people on the opposite side of the argument of you who have been acting just as badly. I just haven't seen any of them in this thread, but rather other places. Believe me, I'd be calling them out just as much as you. So, it's not because I have a bias towards the other side; again, I'm indifferent.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

And no one wears heels in combat for a damned good reason, they're impractical as all hell. You can make up all the magical techno-whatsit excuses for why 'no, these heels are good' but in the end it's all just nonsense being made up for the sake of trying to fit a character wearing heels into a situation where that makes absolutely no sense.

You're calling rocket heels ridiculous in a game where dinosaurs, foxes, giant monkeys, and pokemon duke it out with punches that make falcons in the air and everyone summons magic bubbles out of their asses for a shield?

I know I'm coming off as dismissive but that's only because I am. I mean of all the games that are out there that appeal to pure fun, whimsy, and ridiculousness for the sake of ridiculousness it's Super Smash Brothers, and people are getting all worked up because they put heels on zero suit Samus? I'd say that if something like that is really bothering you then you either have things pretty easy or your priorities might be due for a reevaluation. Yes she's wearing a type of shoe normally associated with women. Yes they're not practical in combat. No that doesn't mean the patriarchy is rearing its head and that SSB was ever intended to be a realistic fighting game.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I just think the design is fucking gross, that's my only beef with the high heels.

LOOK AT THEM. Ruin a perfectly nice, streamlined and simple character design with fucking neon-green chunky pieces of shit like that. She's actually far LESS sexy to me now with those things on her feet, well done Nintendo.

That's pretty much my thoughts on it right there. Sexualization be damed, the just look plain stupid.

They really look stupid. Like I'm not even sure that some folks would have noticed the type of shoes Samus had on if they weren't so clunky and mismatched.

Yeah it might not have been such a big deal if they weren't coloured bright yellow. Even if the very concept of giving her heels is stupid. And who thought that was a good idea anyway. I thought Zero Suit Samus was perfectly functional as she was in Brawl, in fact she was one of my favorite characters to use.

 

[Thorn14]

I got nothing against heels. They're just a bad design.

Thats all really.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Personally I think that Samus out of her suit shouldn't even BE a character. Other M should be ignored as much as possible.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

the boots kind of add to the idea that nintendo wants Samus to be a sex object instead of the bad ass warrior she was in games before the horrible Metroid the Other M existed... that "game" is what started it and the boots are just rotten cheeries on top of the cheesecake Nintendo's turned Samus into.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

You're calling rocket heels ridiculous in a game where dinosaurs, foxes, giant monkeys, and pokemon duke it out with punches that make falcons in the air and everyone summons magic bubbles out of their asses for a shield?

I know I'm coming off as dismissive but that's only because I am. I mean of all the games that are out there that appeal to pure fun, whimsy, and ridiculousness for the sake of ridiculousness it's Super Smash Brothers, and people are getting all worked up because they put heels on zero suit Samus? I'd say that if something like that is really bothering you then you either have things pretty easy or your priorities might be due for a reevaluation. Yes she's wearing a type of shoe normally associated with women. Yes they're not practical in combat. No that doesn't mean the patriarchy is rearing its head and that SSB was ever intended to be a realistic fighting game.

Nerds take their hobbies seriously. It's kind of in the definition. You'd get the same reaction from a "controversial" redesign of Fox.

Of course, if you're too cool for these kinds of discussions, feel free to ignore them.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

Haven't read the whole thread, so chances are you'll see a few repeats here.

Samus has been treated as fanservice for a while now. I didn't know about Other M until about a year ago (might be longer, can't remember), but I was always irked by the poster my friend had on his wall. In fact, it's this one.

For what other reason does this image exist but to show off her ass and tits?

At this point I've conceded that she's just another product of the time. Someone who's famous for her actions she performed in a mechanical suit is now easier to find in her underwear because she's a young attractive woman and this is video gaming. The Zero Suit and heels were aesthetic choices designed solely to titillate that they had to justify after the fact.

I just know that someone's going to come along and say 1) Sexy doesn't mean objectified and 2) How do you figure she doesn't enjoy doing it?

My response to that is she's a product made by men for boys. Do you honestly think her personality was used to construct that image above, even though she possesses no actual autonomy, or do you think the image above was constructed and any attempts to justify it came afterwards?

Comparing her to Ellen Ripley (her inspiration), I'm glad that she (Weaver) wasn't as attractive as Samus because then the scene in the Narcissus at the end of Alien would come very close to being her defining trait in the sequels and on the net.

 

[mecegirl]

]I think I understand a little better now. I just wasn't really shaken up about it, and I don't think it was their intent to make it come across that way nor do I think they're trying to say anything demeaning with their inclusion. I think they just thought it was a nice little addition to her arsenal, which is how I see it. I don't see them as shoes, I see them as weapons.

And from what you're giving me about Other M, here they're not playing up her gender as much as that game. Here she just has heels, and that's it, while Other M seems to take that much further. Like you and many other posters noted, if the heels were just boots or shoes, everything would be fine. In Other M's case, changing the shoes probably wouldn't have mattered if the writing was still the same.

It's not about intent in this case, a lazy design is still a lazy design. By modern conventions, high heels are a gendered shoe. About the only thing that can be done to change the gendered nature of the shoe is to start a world wide high heel wearing movement among men. So because the character doesn't have a solid history of wearing heels, like Princess Peach does, there is no other reason why they designed the shoe to look like heels besides 'she's a girl and girls wear high heels'.

One would have to ignore a heck of a lot to view the new boots as some neutral design choice. Why? Because we all know that Star Fox would never be given high heel rocket boots. We all know that Captain Falcon would never be given high heeled rocket boots. And we know the reason why is because they are male characters.