Zero Suit Samus SSB4 design sexualized?

[Carter]

What do you think about her new design?

I know this is probably a little late, since Zero Suit has already been confirmed, and being as this is a Fire Emblem Site, the hype is currently about Ike.

But I wasn't on this site for a pretty long time until yesterday, and just wanted to get some of my thoughts out.

So I was just on youtube, trying to look for gameplay videos for Zero Suit. There was a recommendation on the side, for "G.G. is TIRED of Samus Complaints!" Clicked on it, Gaijin Goombah was the guy who made it.

Do some of you know him? Because honestly, never heard of him.

Well anyways, the video was about how SSB4's new design for Zero Suit was a bit... (over)sexualized. Personally, I thought there wasn't really a difference about the two designs, until people (on youtube) kept bringing it up.

"Her boobs are bigger"
"The Heels are sexist"
"They changed her from a non-objectified heroic badass, to a teen boys wet dream. It's ridiculous."

Now, I really didn't notice this, as I enjoyed Zero Suit because she was the perfect fighter for me. Not because of her looks (though I think her design is great). That last comment up there I... kinda agree with, but I don't think she was changed so much to a point where she's JUST a sexual icon, and not even a fighter anymore. Some youtubers kept ranting on about how sexualized Zero Suit became, and how the her being sexualized bothered them a little. But I really don't see how that comes into play...

And it was weird too... apparently, she was always a sexual icon! If you were to beat the Samus game on the NES; the faster you would beat the game, the less-clothed you be able to see Zero Suit! (That sounds so dumb, imo.) 6:42 in the video.

I just thought it was stupid that this was actually some people's INITIAL REACTION to Zero Suit returning to the fray! [some] people kept thinking that, it's ridiculous, that Zero Suit couldn't be attractive; that it took away from her badass-ness(?). Apparently, Zero Suit becoming attractive made her too sexist. for some lame reason (sorry about my choice of wording sentences).

Gaijin was saying that women that are extremely attractive are more than just a body. And in my opinion, Zero Suit is still a badass, just with a healthier, cleaner look!
This was just a huge rant from some fans about her new design. If anything, Zero Suit's changes in ability should be the talk, I mean, if were gonna go on about her anyways. It was pretty disappointing to see that so many people felt as if she became a sexual icon, and not a fighter anymore. She's still quite the badass as Zero Suit from Brawl.

Well, this isn't Youtube, it's a Fire Emblem site, so I'm almost pretty sure we'll get different responses about Zero Suit's new design. So what do you guys think about Zero Suit's SSB4 design?

Edited June 12, 2014 by Carter

[Naughx]

Well in a way it's all covered by her suit so you only see the curves.

---

Now if you talk about Cia/Shia from Hyrule Warriors... Yeah.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Naughx

[Lord of Gabriel Knight]

I think it's slightly more sexual, but that's not that big of a deal. Samus is just as badass as she's always been. I think her heels are too steep, they should be lowered a bit.

But other than that, Samus' new look really isn't that new. She's been in skintight suits since the very first Metroid, so looking at her body shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

[Djing]

Justin Bailey

That is all.

[Dai]

I don't dislike the heels because I think they're sexist. I dislike the heels because I don't like their design. And color. Although I can understand the heel because hey, I guess it makes a lot more sense for fire/jet stream/etc. coming out of a tunnel more than something else, I guess.

I don't think she's oversexualized. Besides, she's kicking ass, as usual.

[Knight]

The Super Metroid costume is still more sexualized IMO. I don't really mind, there's a difference between looking sexy and portraying a character in a sexist way. Samus is still the strongest warrior in the galaxy whether her boobs are the size of pluto or jupiter.

[Naughx]

The Super Metroid costume is still more sexualized IMO. I don't really mind, there's a difference between looking sexy and portraying a character in a sexist way. Samus is still the strongest warrior in the galaxy whether her boobs are the size of pluto or jupiter.

From a practical point of view, it would probably be quite heavy to have boobs that size.

[Jedi]

If Samus is sexualized for men. Ike is for women.

I don't really care myself nor do I see her new design as sexualized

[Junkhead]

Doesn't Brawl Samus have more and ass and breasts? If anything, they toned them down a bit, here.

[Knight]

"non-objectified heroic badass"

Metroid Fusion ending

[Emeraldfox]

Isn't it her Other M design.

Where were you when Other M came out.

Oh, Ashei >>>>>> Cia

[peener weener]

i watched the video. basically, he goes "this is why it's ok: because people aren't angry about idealised men and women who creat idealised women." i have never seen that guy make an intelligent argument.

[Anacybele]

If Samus is sexualized for men. Ike is for women.

What's funny about this is that there are people that ship them together. lol

Anyway, I have no problem with Samus's heels, but I really think her boobs are overkill. Just, ugh. They weren't this big in Brawl, I think.

[Loki Laufeyson]

This thread in a nutshell:

ZSS' boobs are less defined in this new game than they were in Brawl. Observe the curves. It does look like her teats gained a bit more in mass in Smash 4, but they dont look so...defined. It looks more obvious that shes wearing a suit. As for her heels, look at that second link of mine again. They may be kinda silly looking, but they arent just there for looks. They are freakin' rocket propelled heels. Thats kind of fucking awesome and i would totally wear heels if they did that. And yeah its part of the Other M design only made more functional actually. Other M Zero Suit had these ridiculous wedge heels that didnt have much purpose.

Justin Bailey

That is all.

Also this. Samus has always had a sexualized edge to her. More of the Ripley from Alien sort of edge, but the edge nonetheless. Samus is supposed to appeal to boys and girls. Nice looking badass for the boys, really big badass figure for the girls. I see really very little wrong with her design to be honest. It does suit her nature (lol pun) because Samus isnt the self conscious type (Other M Samus can bite me. There was stuff wrong with her and it had very little to do with her design) in most of the games anyway.

Metroid Fusion ending

That is sexualized but i dont feel comfortable calling it outright objectification. Its Samus showing some skin but it looks to me like shes all "fuck yeah, i beat shit up. Now i can relax." I have no problem with a little bit of fanservice if its not blatantly objectifying the character/person. This image doesnt sent the message to me that shes an object. Just good looking and stylized. If the zipper on her top was undone a bit, showing cleavage, maybe i could see the objectifying aspect.

[Anacybele]

Defined or not, I still think her boobs are ridiculously round and huge. She looks like she went and got a boob job between Brawl and now. :/

[Emeraldfox]

How are her breasts bigger, I don't see it.

[Loki Laufeyson]

How are her breasts bigger, I don't see it.

I think its how the suit seems to fit around her boobs this time around. Instead of defining them so much like Brawl's ZS, this one sorta just looks like a sports bra that doesnt smush down the boobs. /shrug

Defined or not, I still think her boobs are ridiculously round and huge. She looks like she went and got a boob job between Brawl and now. :/

At least you are blatantly honest about your prudishness and not hiding behind some cause. I feel like a lot of the noise made about Samus is just "i dont like it so im going to call it offensive."

MOD EDIT: Sorry, had to remove the image, even if it made a really good point.

Edited May 25, 2014 by eclipse

[Rehab]

I think it would be/is dumb to sexualize Samus, during gameplay, assuming you wanted to actually keep around what makes her cool, because I've always felt that the entire point to and oomph behind Samus having been badass is "this could literally be a person of either sex, silhouette and all, and you never would have known which if we hadn't shown her with her suit off."

But, I think that ship has sailed long since, with ZSS, and fucking heels are the least of the things to comment on regarding that outfit (skintight, curve-hugging, shiny boobs, and that's not even particularly new stuff, etc etc). And yeah, it's a thing that female characters sometimes get heels on their outfits when they're doing shit that makes having them impractical at best, but it's a cool jet boot design. I would wear heels if they did that.

And Justin Bailey being a cheat code makes it difficult for me to take seriously in any capacity. Not taking that into account (because I'm not), cheesecake fanservice during gameplay isn't any hallowed tradition to Samus. I can at least say most of the nerd retrospectives I'd heard singing Samus' praises before ZSS happened were as far as possible from having anything to do with that kind of thing, anyway.

I personally think it's kinda to the character's credit that I still think she looks badass, though I could still gripe about the people putting her together. I can see how somebody could hate ZSS' design (in smash 4), but I can't say I think it looks particularly worse.

Also, about "Ike is to girls as Samus is to guys in fanservice," abridged version; dude, it's not the same.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Rehab

[Carter]

How are her breasts bigger, I don't see it.

I really don't know... but they just seem bigger, well at least to Ana and I. But maybe it's because I've never really noticed her design in Brawl. I got into the Metroid series (partially) only after I found out samus was a girl, and that they was actually someone inside.

IMO, her Brawl design is kinda lazy compared to her SSB4 design, but that's probably because of newer graphics and all that jazz.

And I agree with Loki. Although, I really do love her heels. I think they look good, the electric yellow, and, as you said, they're rockets! What's not to love?

[Florete]

I haven't watched the video, but I will comment on the idea of Samus being sexualized here.

To start off, the arguments do have merit. I noticed right away that her boobs appear bigger and when the high heels were shown, my thoughts were, "Really? High heels?" Both of these are signs of feminizing/sexualizing her character.

However...I don't think it's a big deal if this is as far as it goes. The boob job isn't exactly justifiable, but the high heels are at least made practical. There are a few different ways this argument can go, including "She's a woman! She can wear what she wants!" to, "That doesn't mean anything when she was designed by a man!" but in the end, while it could be going down a bad road, it's not anything to cry about yet. Give her a cleavage window and I'll start complaining.

Samus having always had a mildly sexualized aspect to her previously also doesn't justify anything, but as far as this post is concerned, I find that irrelevant.

Lastly, all these people complaining about her design being over-sexualized just to make teen boys drool reeks to me of what seems to be a growing trend on the internet that I call "white knighting:" when men who know little of feminism act all pro-female and pro-equality while just making a fool of themselves and hitting all the wrong bases, sometimes even unintentionally being anti-feminist, as Loki's linked image represents. Now, sure, it's better to have these white knights than outright sexists, but...well, we still have a ways to go.

At the end of the day, I will admit that the heels still disappoint me a bit because I liked the fact that her design previously had no female markers (except possibly the pony), but again, it's not that big of a deal. Yet.

What will really decide things is how she is portrayed in her next game (if she gets one). Other M was much more problematic than her appearance in SSB4. The series really needs to redeem her.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Yeah Other M did damage. I refuse to play the game after seeing the youtube videos of LPs and stuff. Nope nope nope.

Also, about "Ike is to girls as Samus is to guys in fanservice," abridged version; dude, it's not the same.

Captain Falcon comes somewhat closer. But i think the biggest fanservice for females in Smash is actually Link. /shrug

And now we are veering into female aimed fanservice which is a topic all unto itself. look, we really do have different fanservice triggers. Like while shirtless dudes is definitely one of them, ladies like their fanservice in weirder, more subtle ways. One example of blatant fanservice for females: Thor 2 film. Loki in handcuffs, period.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

gajin goomba, not even once.

besides her heel's atleast have a practical function in the form of jet boots, or atleast thats what i've heard.

[eclipse]

Meh. That's not a very flattering angle for her in SSB4. I don't mind the heels, as long as they're functional.

Now, if she jiggles while running. . .

[Loki Laufeyson]

Meh. That's not a very flattering angle for her in SSB4. I don't mind the heels, as long as they're functional.

Now, if she jiggles while running. . .

I dont think Nintendo would go far enough with Samus as to add jiggle physics. The only time ive ever seen jiggle physics on a Nintendo game, it was third party.

[Carter]

Seeing jiggles from Zero Suit would be pretty awkward, imo. I guess I wouldn't notice it in battle anyways. But it's weird to think that some people might, just to see it.

And I'm not really sure if it's a thing or not, because people haven't really been pointing it out. But to me, it looks like SSB4 Zero Suit is wearing a bit more makeup.

SSBB:

SSB4: