NickCaligo42 said:
... Oh, of course. You're absolutely right, sir. It's not this game that's the problem. It's us plebs who've only played the games and see Samus as an assertive, resourceful, self-sufficient and courageous space explorer and bounty hunter, and not the brooding, insecure, impotent, co-dependent, self-doubting, vulnerable, delicate flower that she's actually been this whole time, which we'd all know if we'd read the manga like you real fans. Thank you for enlightening us with your wisdom.
No, it's that you can't see that just because Samus isn't invincible and actually has issues to deal with, that doesn't make her any less assertive, resourceful, self-sufficient, or courageous. She asserts herself when she essentially tells Adam to fuck off and starts using her abilities on her own. She's resourceful everytime she DOESN'T use her abilities, because that's actually what being resourceful is about, making the best of what you have. The more you have, the less you need to rely on every resource. Once you have the screw attack, how often do you really need to use most of your other attacks? How often do Overblasts and Lethal Finishes get used when all the enemies die in one attack? She's self-sufficient in that she never asks for help, not once, even when Ridley's wrecking her, and she still spends the vast majority of the game alone kicking ass all by herself. And she's courageous when even after Ridley's surprised her, traumatized her, and just all in all freaked her out, she still turns around and faces him anyways, and kicks his ass.
She's most certainly not impotent, otherwise she wouldn't have won in the end. She's hardly co-dependent when she functions just fine before and after everyone else is dead. And she's hardly delicate, what with all the ass-kicking that she does. And just because she does some brooding, has moments of doubt or weakness, that doesn't mean she IS weak, or that she's always insecure. Everybody has their moments of weakness, that's called BEING HUMAN. And half the point of this game was to humanize Samus, which wasn't going to happen if she just went around being awesome 24/7.
[img src="http://www.comicsninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/boba_fett_21.jpg" /]
In Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Boba Fett wasn't a person. Oh sure, he LOOKED cool, but he never acted awesome in the slightest. He was given no personality, he never had any particularly awesome action sequences, and he went out like a complete and utter chump. Boba Fett was infinitely better after they actually gave him some CHARACTER. And I'm not talking about Episodes 1-3, I'm talking about things like the short story of him from Tales of the Bounty Hunters, where they made him a real person, and still managed to make him absolutely kick ass, which is much what they did with Samus in this game. She still does all the ass-kicking, and looks awesome doing it.
I'm not going to bother quoting your picture of what's her name from Twilight, because she doesn't deserve to even have her face posted once, let alone twice, but are you really trying to compare Samus, who even at her most vulnerable still kills fierce aliens without a second thought, and has no problems at all moving on without Adam, especially considering she's the one who left when they had their falling out, to what's-er-name, who literally can't do anything on her own, and wants to commit suicide when the sparkly vampire leaves her? How can you be so STUPID? Get this through your thick skull, not everyone who has an emotional problem is a blight on society. Grow the fuck up, and get over this whole 'feelings are for sissies, babies, and whiners' bullshit, it makes you sound like a little kid.
Are you really trying to defend this creative decision?
What is it you care about, exactly? The character of Samus Aran, or the fluff you've been spoon-fed by third-party manga writers who want to make a quick buck on your devotion to this series? It seems like you're more interested in preserving the "vision" of these merchandisers than what Samus actually stands for among thousands of gamers--that being not a hollow vessel, but a genuine symbol and model of assertiveness. Not aggression, not "badassery," but assertiveness. You're putting her obnoxious daddy issues over an ideal that people can aspire to, just because some publisher says they're canon?
Actually, personally, I disliked the manga, but reading it does help understand what the angle is that they're going for here. And here's the thing, being a hollow vessel is exactly what you're arguing she should be. Your claiming she should be an ideal, not a character. That would make her nothing more than a hollow vessel to put forth that ideal. What exactly is it that you expect her to do? When Adam tells her to obey his orders the very first time, do you expect her to tell him to fuck off? And then what? Adam is forced to tell her to get off the ship for getting in the way of a military operation? And if she pushes the issue and refuses, all the soldiers are forced to turn on her for going against them and putting their mission in jeopardy, forcing Samus to kill, or seriously injure the very people she's there to help and rescue? What do you think would happen if you charged into a military zone with god knows how many weapons, and they told you to drop your weapons, you think they would accept any answer other than 'Yes, sir'? You think being assertive means never having any doubts, never being concerned over what other people say? There just isn't any other way to say it other than no, you're wrong.
Somebody can be worth aspiring, can still be a symbol, can still represent admirable traits worth aspiring to, while still being a flawed human being. Not even the best of role models are perfect.
droppingpenny said:
For everyone who points to the Manga:
Who the fuck cares about the Manga, I expect her to be a faceless bounty hunter the way she was in EVERY SINGLE GAME! If you are fine with Sakamoto raping this character, it is your decision, but thinking we are not allowed to critisize this game because the manga ruined her character before the game is just pathetic.
Oh, every single game huh? I guess if you completely ignore Fusion, Zero Mission, and the opening sequence to Super, I guess you'd be right, but then, that wouldn't be every single game, now would it?