Mystery Person X ([info]mysteryperson_x) wrote,
@ 2008-05-02 16:46:00
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Fun Nintendo-based timewasting
I've been reading through an insanely nerdy (yet awesome) blog that Jordan linked me to, all about little details of the Mario universe: Coin Heaven. It's sadly now defunct, but reading through archives has been fascinating and hilarious, both for the articles themselves and some off-site things the author linked to.

A favourite of the latter is some random blog's Top 10 Nintendo Romances of All Time. A few parts of this are just classic, including Mario and Peach's list of treasured memories and the implication of Wario and Waluigi as romantic partners (we sure as hell don't know what else their relationship is meant to be).

My favourite part, though, is in the comments. Someone asks: But aren't the Ice Climbers brother and sister? and gets the response: "Look, you don’t have a lot of choices when you’re up there on the mountain. Things happen. Popo and Nana have nothing to be ashamed of and I will not have you judge them."

(Sadly, I looked it up afterwards and it seems that Popo and Nana's relationship is ambiguous but implied to be friends/lovers and not siblings. Still a great comment though.)

Something else I came across was the Wikipedia talk page about Birdo, which included the inevitable tl;dr arguments about his/her gender. (I typically go with "his" since the SMB2 manual was perfectly clear about the matter, and more recent English-language materials have only used feminine pronouns for the sake of censorship.) The great thing I found buried in there was a link to the Japanese character page for Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, which includes the following quote about Birdo/Catherine:

"Appears to be Yoshi's girlfriend -- or is that boyfriend!?"

Thank you for brightening up my day, Nintendo of Japan.



Why yes, I am supposed to be working on a presentation.

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[info]voicing
2008-05-02 05:57 pm UTC (link)
Oh, Nintendo. XD

Off-topic, but I need a fictional character (w/ picture if you have one) from you.

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[info]mysteryperson_x
2008-05-02 06:18 pm UTC (link)
Oh yeah! I read that post and then managed to promptly forget about it >.> Sorry!

I'll go with that venerable man of mystery, Tuxedo Mask :D Any picture from Google's image search is fine - not sure if you want one with a white background or a more backgroundy background, so there are some options. (I'm quite partial to the third result and its backgroundless equivalent below.)

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[info]voicing
2008-05-04 04:18 pm UTC (link)
Sure! Let me know if you change your mind. *goes back to layout searching*

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[info]llieno
2008-05-02 11:03 pm UTC (link)
Well, going by the SMB2 depiction, you'd still refer to Birdo as 'she'. Transgirls are still girls, afterall.

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[info]mysteryperson_x
2008-05-02 11:22 pm UTC (link)
That's a strong argument, although the fact that Nintendo used "he" in the first place, and references to Birdo's sex as male continue to be made in Japan, can't be ignored.

Also, I think perhaps we're just approaching this from different perspectives. I like the idea of a male character who is unashamed of dressing and acting in ways that don't fit with the stereotypes of his gender (while also being part of an ambiguously gay relationship), while you like the idea of a transsexual character who is accepted as female by those around her.

Of course, if Birdo was a real person I'd use whichever set of pronouns he/she preferred. I just think that casually referring to Birdo as "she" obscures the most interesting aspect of an otherwise minor character.

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[info]llieno
2008-05-02 11:30 pm UTC (link)
Well, my arguement rests on two factors: one being the words "he wishes he were a girl" in the original character description, and the fact that Birdo has been referred to as 'she' since.

I can see how you interpret it, though, and in either case, we're probably not going with what Nintendo of America want! If it weren't for the two factors above, I'd be tempted to leave gender out of it altogether...

So...Japanese Birdo = gay, Western Birdo = trans?

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[info]mysteryperson_x
2008-05-02 11:43 pm UTC (link)
I think it was actually "he thinks he is a girl" and wishes to be called Birdetta. Same difference though I guess.

Of course, Birdo being gay in Japan relies on Yoshi being male. To the best of my knowledge, Yoshi's gender is unspecified in Japanese materials (where they'd have to go out of their way to note it since, as I'm sure you're aware, gender-specific pronouns are rarely used in Japanese). Yoshi's species might even reproduce asexually, which makes sense since Yoshi is ostensibly male yet seems to lay eggs. Much like Birdo, actually.

Thinking too hard about the Mario universe can cause severe brain ache.

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[info]mysteryperson_x
2008-05-02 11:46 pm UTC (link)
As a slight addition, Birdo's Japanese name is "Catherine", and the name he wants to be called is "Cathy". Both are female names (although whether that would be clear to Japanese gamers is unknown) instead of one being nonspecific and one being feminine as in the English version of SMB2.

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[info]rayvinblade
2008-05-02 11:04 pm UTC (link)
For some reason, I've always been of the impression that Birdo was Yoshi's girlfriend. Well...ever since Melee anyway. Wondering if his/her trophy indicates it maybe..?

Either way, it sounds like awesome procrastinating tactics are being deployed here. (He says while desperately trying to avoid writing the final 1000 words of his dissertation...)

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[info]mysteryperson_x
2008-05-02 11:30 pm UTC (link)
They've implied that Birdo and Yoshi were in a relationship ever since Birdo was reintroduced as a regular in the various Mario sports games. I don't think there's anything specific about it in Melee, but it's not surprising that you got that impression somewhere along the line.

Birdo's trophy descriptions from Melee and Brawl can be found on this page. Interestingly, the Melee one just says "she", while the Brawl one says that Birdo is of "indeterminate gender" and then uses "it" for the rest of the text.

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[info]jadering.blogspot.com
2008-07-10 10:19 pm UTC (link)
Watch http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/887/887354p1.html now. Obviously, most anything involving a spandex-clad tokusatsu superhero enlisting the help of video game characters lost to obscurity is worth watching in and of itself but, unless one discounts anything in which she/he/it actually speaks instead of trumpeting as not cannon, this seems to be the ultimate confirmation of the Catherine/Birdo situation.

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