Fake or ? : Yoshi and Turok
Your favorite video game characters are in the closet, and we're opening the door.
Let's face it, there aren't a lot of openly ? characters in video games. Sure, there is a smattering of stereotypical ? courtesy of Japan's refusal to enter the 21st century, but overall it's hard to find anything for ? gamers to get excited over. Well it's time to fix that. I'm looking into all the rumored, joked about, and all but confirmed "? " characters in video games, and I'm going to decide, once and for all, whether they are, in fact, ? .
Consider me the referee for things related to ? gaming. For the ? readers who don't get the sports reference, consider me the judging panel from Project Runway, but for video games.
I'm qualified to speak on such matters because I'm pretty much the Perez Hilton of IGN, minus the pink hair, bad attitude, and like 60 lbs.
In honor of IGN's Dinosaur Week, I'm going to start with two supposedly prehistoric poofs: Yoshi and Turok.
Yoshi
Here's the situation. For over a decade now, Yoshi has been more or less dating the pink, egg spitting dinosaur, Birdo. He was cuddling her in Mario Tennis, then started bringing her to all of Mario's parties. They've been paired up in numerous games.
[IMG]http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/116/1164533/fake-or-? -yoshi-and-turok-20110427045603335.jpg[/IMG]
However, the thing about Birdo is that, well, she's a dude. Technically Birdo is transgender, a male that identifies as a female, at least according to the manual for the first game she was ever in.
Now some have written it off as mistranslation, or a mistake, and Nintendo has danced around the issue. They refer to Birdo with gender neutral pronouns, and make little nods to the issue.
However, in 2003 Nintendo pretty much confirmed it on their own official Mario Kart website. The bio for Catherine (Birdo's in Japan) not only admits that Yoshi and Birdo are dating, but is the first time they call Birdo Yoshi's "boyfriend."
Verdict: ? (technically ? )
It's a tricky situation here because there are a lot of unanswered questions about Birdo. And dating a transgender or ? individual doesn't, by definition, make you ? . Still this relationship is well into the ? category, and enough for Yoshi to join the club.
Let's face it, there aren't a lot of openly ? characters in video games. Sure, there is a smattering of stereotypical ? courtesy of Japan's refusal to enter the 21st century, but overall it's hard to find anything for ? gamers to get excited over. Well it's time to fix that. I'm looking into all the rumored, joked about, and all but confirmed "? " characters in video games, and I'm going to decide, once and for all, whether they are, in fact, ? .
Consider me the referee for things related to ? gaming. For the ? readers who don't get the sports reference, consider me the judging panel from Project Runway, but for video games.
I'm qualified to speak on such matters because I'm pretty much the Perez Hilton of IGN, minus the pink hair, bad attitude, and like 60 lbs.
In honor of IGN's Dinosaur Week, I'm going to start with two supposedly prehistoric poofs: Yoshi and Turok.
Yoshi
Here's the situation. For over a decade now, Yoshi has been more or less dating the pink, egg spitting dinosaur, Birdo. He was cuddling her in Mario Tennis, then started bringing her to all of Mario's parties. They've been paired up in numerous games.
[IMG]http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/116/1164533/fake-or-? -yoshi-and-turok-20110427045603335.jpg[/IMG]
However, the thing about Birdo is that, well, she's a dude. Technically Birdo is transgender, a male that identifies as a female, at least according to the manual for the first game she was ever in.
[IMG]http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/116/1164533/fake-or-? -yoshi-and-turok-20110427045604835.jpg[/IMG]
So Birdo is a boy's name, huh?
So Birdo is a boy's name, huh?
Now some have written it off as mistranslation, or a mistake, and Nintendo has danced around the issue. They refer to Birdo with gender neutral pronouns, and make little nods to the issue.
[IMG]http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/116/1164533/fake-or-? -yoshi-and-turok-20110427045604366.jpg[/IMG]
Translation: "She appears to be Yoshi's girlfriend -- but is she really his boyfriend?!"
Translation: "She appears to be Yoshi's girlfriend -- but is she really his boyfriend?!"
However, in 2003 Nintendo pretty much confirmed it on their own official Mario Kart website. The bio for Catherine (Birdo's in Japan) not only admits that Yoshi and Birdo are dating, but is the first time they call Birdo Yoshi's "boyfriend."
Verdict: ? (technically ? )
It's a tricky situation here because there are a lot of unanswered questions about Birdo. And dating a transgender or ? individual doesn't, by definition, make you ? . Still this relationship is well into the ? category, and enough for Yoshi to join the club.
Comments
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Turok
Let's cut to the chase here. Check out this official storyboard from the 2008 Turok game of Turok making out with another dude.
[IMG]http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/116/1164533/fake-or-? -yoshi-and-turok-20110427045603928.jpg[/IMG]
Yup. That's Turok, giving the gravelly voiced Slade a big ol' man-kiss before running off to fight the final boss. The image has sparked debates from people wondering whether the game's homoeroticism was censored, or whether Chad Smith is ? himself, or just likes to make dumb jokes.[IMG]http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/116/1164533/fake-or-? -yoshi-and-turok-20110427053203410.jpg[/IMG]The line under the picture stating the panel was omitted from the game points a lot more to this being a joke. It also makes no sense in the context of the story, coming out of nowhere right at the very end. If you're going to make your franchise's titular hero ? , you're going to do it right, and this is wrong (on so many levels).
Verdict: Fake (unfortunately)
As much as I'd like to say Turok is a masculine, badass, totally ? video game hero, the evidence points to this being the storyboard equivalent of a "no ? " joke. Lame. However I'm certainly not going to stop any of you from adopting him as the new ? gaming mascot, 'cause that'd be hilarious.
So there you have it. Yoshi is out. And frankly I'm thrilled that Nintendo has (probably unwittingly) made one of their mascots ? . In fact, I think we ought to make Yoshi the ? gaming poster dinosaur.
Turok may not be playing both sides, but he's certainly not the only overly masculine shooter character with a lot of latent homoeroticism. But we'll save that for a future article. -
i guess psn is not back on yet...
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lol at this thread
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i been knew birdo is a ?
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Damn lol they really ? Yoshi over.
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Aint Birdo a bad guy in Mario 2? I remember him spitting eggs out of his mouth
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Right!! And wasn't Super Mario 2 some weird ass game from Japan that they remade with Mario characters because the real SMB2 was too complicated for non-Japanese minds?
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I always wondered why Cee would pick Yoshi when we would play Super Smash Bros on my Hummer's N64. It never added up, one Falcon Punch would ? him every time, but he was loyal to that egg spitter.
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The real SMB2 is known to us as "Mario the lost worlds" on the Super mario all stars SNES game
And what we got was a photoshopped version of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic -
Birdo, known in Japan as Catherine (キャサリン Kyasarin?), is a fictional character in the Mario series of video games, who first appeared in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, which was localized for English audiences as Super Mario Bros. 2 and is an enemy to Mario. Since her appearance, she has been a recurring character in the series, more frequently in the Mario sports games as a playable character, as well as Mario Party titles. She has also made several cameos, particularly in the Super Smash Bros. series and the Wii video game Captain Rainbow.
Birdo's gender in the original manual for Super Mario Bros. 2 asserts that Birdo is a man who believes that he is a girl, but Birdo is more likely female, and would rather be referred to as "Birdetta". Later releases of Super Mario Bros. 2 lacked any mention of her gender in either the game or the manual. Nintendo eventually established Birdo as female, first in Mario Tennis which depicted Birdo and Yoshi as boyfriend and girlfriend. However, several games portray her as male, such as Captain Rainbow, or refer to the gender confusion without assigning one, such as in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It has been suggested that Birdo is a post-op transgendered by transgendered video game developer Jennifer Reitz, while Wired editor Chris Kohler felt that it was a way of retconning her transgendered status.
Concept and creation
Birdo is a pink, anthropomorphic creature who wears a red bow on her head, and has a round mouth that can fire eggs as projectiles.[1] She also wears a large diamond ring on her finger. Birdo was originally featured in the Family Computer Disk System video game Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic before it was converted to the Nintendo Entertainment System game Super Mario Bros. 2 for North American audiences.[2] In early art of Birdo, the character had an orange tone.I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I Birdo's name was mistakenly switched with another Super Mario Bros. 2 enemy, Ostro, both in the manual and in the end credits.[3] The mistake persisted in the version of Super Mario Bros. 2 included in the Super Mario All-Stars compilation, but was corrected in the Game Boy Advance re-release titled Super Mario Advance.[4][5]
Since the character's North American introduction, Birdo's gender has been an issue of discussion and speculation. The Japanese manual states the character's name is "Catherine", but it would rather be known as "Cassie."I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I However, in the first edition manual for the North American release of Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is referred to as a male who believes he is female and would rather be called "Birdetta".[6] In later printings, the second sentence was omitted, and no mention of Birdo being male was included in most later games featuring the character.[7] In the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Melee, Birdo, called Catherine, is described similarly to the original manual, though wanting to be called "Cathy".I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it is said that Birdo is of "indeterminate gender".I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I Birdo appears in the Wii Japan-only video game Captain Rainbow, which delves into Birdo's gender.[8] Birdo is often lauded as the first transgender video game character.[2][7] The character was given a female voice actor in Super Mario Advance, a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2.[9] The Spanish language website for Mario Smash Football, while describing Birdo, suggests that the character's gender is indeterminate.[10] The European website for Mario Strikers Charged Football refers to her as a male character -
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wasn't there a ? guy in the japanese version of streets of rage (can'r remember which...1 or 2 i think)
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To this day I still havent beaten SMB2
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Daaaaaaaaamn Yoshi, In elementary you was da maaan yoshi
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Yeah, I remember reading that ? about Birdo in the Mario Bros. 2 manual as a kid, like what the ? ?
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Yeah SMB2 as we know it wasnt even originally actually SMB2.And what we got was a photoshopped version of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic
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Zangief from Street Fighter is ? .
Poison from final fight/street fighter is a preop ? in Japan, Post op in America. -
Zangief from Street Fighter is ? .
Poison from final fight/street fighter is a preop ? in Japan, Post op in America.
I think Eagle from CVS2/ SF1 is confirmed ? too -
young ice is ?
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Volgin, Strangelove and Vamp in MGS were all confirmed bi, Voldo in Soul Calibur was suspect and Hana and Rain in Fear Effect were definitely drinking from the furry cup
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Yoshi lost LMAO
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE18NgEERtU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrL3Jc0isF0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7utCPsyXEN8
