Samus Aran: Who cares about over-sexualization?

[PikaPika2]

I'm gonna put all my cards on the table: To me, Samus Aran is a strong example of a Heroine who kicks butt and looks good doing it. However, I don't focus much on the latter. I don't know why people hate what they did to her in SSB4. They decided to give her heels. ROCKET Heels at that. That being said, those heels were used to balance power, and speed. What people FOCUS on is her appearance. Why? Does that mean anything at all? Honesty, I don't mind, and I don't see it as Over-sexualization... and it was probably used to appeal to gamers who make that fan art. You know who you are... But I need your opinions too. I just want to know what you think.

 

[The Madman]

I dislike it because it's dumb and makes it feel like the devs are trying to pander to their audience. I don't like being pandered to, it's condescending.

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. Frankly the entire 'zero suit samus' thing was stupid as hell to begin with, but now she's wearing heels as well? What's next? A suit with a convenient boob-window because, I dunno, she's solar powered now?

There's a place for sexuality and hot characters, but Samus isn't one of them. Not in this context at least.

 

[Fappy]

I just think the heels are plain stupid. That said, SSB isn't a Metroid game so I am not worried about it. Metroid Other M damaged her character far more than rocket heels ever will :/

 

[PikaPika2]

Here's my view: Zero-Suit Samus was quick and agile in SSBB, but not very powerful. People are angry that the new Zero-Suit Samus is a sexual icon. No. JUST. NO. The rocket heels were ment to balance out her power and speed. These heels are clunky, metal, and not very attractive. And another thing; Why are attractive women not allowed to kick butt? Chun-Li from Street Fighter; it's cool. Laura Croft from Tomb Raider: all good. Ivy from Soul Calibur (Who, might I add, is extremely underdressed) that's fine. But now all of these gamers go freaking out about Samus being in Rocket Heels. Samus was meant to be somewhat like how they're depicting her. Ever since the first game, the faster you beat it, the less clothes she has on. This, of all things, isn't something to complain about.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't get why people get so upset about this. It's a Japanese game. If it's Japanese and there's a combative lady in it, chances are she's wearing high heels:

Ada Wong in Resident Evil 2, 4 & 6
Anna Williams in Tekken
Bad Girl and Holly Summers in No More Heroes
Bayonetta and Jeanne in Bayonetta
Cammy in Street Fighter
Excella and Jill in Resident Evil 5
Fran in Final Fantasy XII
Gwendolyn in Odin's Sphere
Ivy Valentine in Soul Calibur
Jenny in Bloody Roar
Mistral in Metal Gear Revengeance (and Raiden for that matter)
Trish in Devil May Cry

And just a few non-Japanese games as well:

Catwoman in Batman: Arkham City
Shaundi in Saint's Row
Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat
Xian Mei in Dead Island

Where're my million threads complaining about these characters wearing high heels (or being all sexy eye candy for that matter)? Or is it because Samus didn't use to wear them, but now she does? Is that it?

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I really don't understand that reaction.

They're heels. Women wear heels. Hell, women wear heels in order to look formal and professional. What's the problem? Are women who wear heels sexualizing themselves and should be ashamed? Is it some stigma that "Tough women don't wear heels?" It's fine that she's wearing a skin tight bodysuit, but the fucking HEELS! That's where the line is crossed!

Not to mention the heels here are used as weapons. They're just another tool that Samus utilizes. They're not meant to look pretty, nor do I think that's the intent of the developers (in fact I can safely say that I HIGHLY doubt that's the case), they're meant to kick you into outer space, presumably while you're too busy gawking at them because HEELS!

Hell, it's part of why she's one of my best characters and I find her way better here than in Brawl.

 

[default]

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.

 

[Roxas1359]

I just think the heels are plain stupid. That said, SSB isn't a Metroid game so I am not worried about it. Metroid Other M damaged her character far more than rocket heels ever will :/

Honestly, the only thing I hate about the heels is the yellow on them. That is just an ugly color.
But yeah, Other M damaged her character more than anything, so let's hope Sakamoto isn't allowed around the story of the next story of Metroid because that story was all his doing. Which is sad because Team Ninja actually gets blamed for the story by people.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I just think the heels are plain stupid. That said, SSB isn't a Metroid game so I am not worried about it. Metroid Other M damaged her character far more than rocket heels ever will :/

Honestly, the only thing I hate about the heels is the yellow on them. That is just an ugly color.
But yeah, Other M damaged her character more than anything, so let's hope Sakamoto isn't allowed around the story of the next story of Metroid because that story was all his doing. Which is sad because Team Ninja actually gets blamed for the story by people.

Thats the worst part of Other M for me. Team Ninja's story probably would've been cheesy and a bit fan service-y, but Samus would've a momentous ass kicker (and badass) like say, Rachel or Ayane or Helena.

 

[Erttheking]

Uh, ME! It's stupid because it conflicts with her character! Yes we've see Samus wearing skimpy and revealing outfits before Other M, but you know what they had in common? They all happened AFTER the main mission was done! There were no more space pirates, no more Metroids, no more Ing, no more X, no more Dark Samus, no more hostile wildlife, Samus was done, she was on her down time and at that point she can do whatever the Hell she wants as far as I'm concerned. She did not go running off into battle wearing high heels in any of the games before this, and I have to say I liked the earlier ones a hell of a lot better than this! It's the same problem that always happens with sex appeal in games, there's no intelligent thought put into it! Just slap some T&A, some skimpy clothing and high heels on a female character and call it a day. No care for whether it makes no sense for the character, the tone of the scene or just in general, just throw boobies in there because why not? Is it too much to ask for sex appeal that has more thought behind it than "BOOBIES!"? Am I asking for too much?

Plus the design on her heels are just stupid looking anyway. They look like they're made out of rubber. And the yellow clashes with the blue of her zero suit. And if they really, REALLY wanted to get zero suit samus rockets in her feet, Haloid managed to come up with a less stupid design. And that had Master Chief actually being a woman who got into a sexy all female dance with Samus and other women. So just do what it did. Have her use the boots of her power suit!

 

[Roxas1359]

Thats the worst part of Other M for me. Team Ninja's story probably would've been cheesy and a bit fan service-y, but Samus would've a momentous ass kicker (and badass) like say, Rachel or Ayane or Helena.

...now it's even worse because I'm thinking of a Team Ninja Metroid game, and it probably would have a better story than Other M did. Not to mention that if it didn't work out, it could easily be labeled as spinoff and forgotten over time. Sadly, that's not the case with what we got... >.>

 

[Erttheking]

Ok Nintendo justified them.

ROCKET BOOTS Guys
Look at how raised that heel is right there.

Now where was I ? oh yeh the visual difference is implied to relate to their functional difference on some level who knows maybe it's entirely possible the heels as designed as something akin to the portal boots to help lessen long falls ?

They weren't boots. They were high heels. There is a difference. And saying they justified it is like saying how the Shark in Jaws was justified coming back to life because of voodoo. Ergo, yes they justified it. And the justification was stupid. If they wanted to give Samus rocket boots so bad, what was wrong with her space jump boots? Canon part of her character.

And Chell has worn those since day one. They've become a part of her character. As opposed to Samus who seemed to be perfectly satisfied with practical footwear and then decided to wear heels out of nowhere. It's about as smooth and natural for her character as dumping a bag full of jellybeans on a wedding cake Also Chell had those heels forced on her by GLaDOS, she doesn't wear them by choice, and even then she doesn't take part in active combat, spending the majority of the game solving puzzles. Samus apparently thought that heels were a good idea for an active combat zone. But then again at the end of the day? Yeah, Chells heels do look pretty fucking stupid and I'd probably be happier with them gone.

The problem isn't "High Heels bad" The problem is "High Heels thrown in without any rhyme or reason, no matter how little sense it makes for the character, the tone, or really for anything in general." Simply put, Samus heels don't make any sense on multiple degrees. Take a look at the other post I've written if I forgot anything.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Because this exists:

Spoiler

Look at that. She's over six feet tall outside of armor. This picture represents everything you really need to know about Samus. No need for high heels.

 

[Nazulu]

I don't know if this is off topic or not, but they just don't look good, that little colour is also a focus point that imbalances the design, plus I find they don't make any sense. If Shiek can move around and beat the hell out of all the characters swiftly without heels, then why the hell can't Samus too?

Also, I hate the anime Samus design in general. It's so bloody generic looking, and I find it odd that she can suddenly move quicker without the armour. She was a bullet in Super Metroid (the best of the lot).

Though I say this, it actually doesn't bother me at all since they've separated the Zamus from the suit as different playable characters, cause now I can just treat her as an imposter. Haha

 

[Nazulu]

Because this exists:

Spoiler

Look at that. She's over six feet tall outside of armor. This picture represents everything you really need to know about Samus. No need for high heels.

This has always been my vision of Samus when playing through all the old Metroid games. I just reckon it feels the most compatible with everything she's been through, including it makes her not cliche and hell of a lot meaner.

 

[Candidus]

I mind it...

Insofar as I really like it.

I have absolutely no problem at all with the increasing post-Other M sexualisation of ZS-Samus.

The more the better.

Edit: And having skimmed the other posts, I'm pretty delighted to read discussion of a hypothetical Team Ninja Metroid, because I literally said something along the lines of "I like the sexualisation so much I wish Team Ninja would take a crack at Metroid" as I was typing my little reply.

I'd buy a console just to play Team Ninja's Metroid.

 

[Rahkshi500]

-snip-

No active combat? Chell was in combat with Glados and Wheatley in both games, and even when she wasn't, she was still in perilous situations that could get her killed if she messed up.

 

[Erttheking]

The problem isn't "High Heels bad" The problem is "High Heels thrown in without any rhyme or reason, no matter how little sense it makes for the character, the tone, or really for anything in general."

If they make no sense for anything in general, that's still the same as saying "High Hells bad!" And no active combat? Chell was in combat with Glados and Wheatley in both games, and even when she wasn't, she was still in perilous situations that could get her killed if she messed up.

You can make high heels match the tone of a genre easily. RWBY is a perfect example, and so is Bayonetta. Goofy series with over the top action and clearly divorced from the reality we know. High heels fit in perfectly there. In a mainly serious game like Metroid, they don't fit.

Eh, fair enough. Chell's high heels don't fit at all, I'll admit that.