The Genders of Birdo and Poison: The Final Rehashing

[Mikintosh]

http://m.blog.hu/ni/nintendowii/image/Birdo_nintendo.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/Poison-cfasaltoutfit.PNG


It's all just very confusing. For Birdo, the original instruction manual for Super Mario Bros. 2 said (for no reason I can think of) that "he" was a crossdresser, although this hasn't been reflected in any Nintendo game since (and "she" had a female voice in the SMB2 remake Super Mario Advance). As for Poison, she was originally designed for Final Fight as female, changed into a transexual before without modifying the visuals. However she's treated as a woman for most of her appearances, but occasionally referred to by Capcom as a man. And the director of Street Fighter IV "confirms" she's male, but the character has never been in any games that he's directed (as far as I know). What's y'alls verdict?

[SSJ Jake]

Birdo has always been male character in Japan. It's trophy on SSBB states that Birdo is a "creature with an indeterminate gender". But then again, Brawl also states that Kaptain K. Rool is King K. Rool's brother (following Japanese canon), so that's not exactly a reliable source. I guess I'll just go with Birdo being a transvestite dino.

As for Poison, he's confirmed to be male, so I can't really argue there...

[jph139]

Birdo's a woman. Well, that particular Birdo is a woman... I assume there's a whole race of them, with many of different gender, much like Yoshi. But yeah, unless someone can get some proof from the Japanese version... I'm pretty sure Birdo wanting to be Birdetta is an American addition.

As for Poison, she's totally a man (wink wink). Originally it was just to avoid censorship, but now it's probably a massive in joke.

[SSJ Jake]

Actually, from what I've just read on Mario Wiki, that whole "wanting to be called "Birdetta"" was literally translated from Doki Doki Panic's instruction manual...somewhat. Birdo is actually called Catherine in Japan (as well as Western versions of Wario's Woods) despite being male and would rather be called "Cathy".

[Eddy]

They're both males. Nintendo keeps Birdo's true gender hush hush as they don't want to upset parents who don't have an open mind to the idea, but yeah, Birdo is and always has been a male.

[Hail 2 U!]

As for Poison, she was originally designed for Final Fight as female, changed into a transexual before without modifying the visuals. However she's treated as a woman for most of her appearances, but occasionally referred to by Capcom as a man. And the director of Street Fighter IV "confirms" she's male, but the character has never been in any games that he's directed (as far as I know). What's y'alls verdict?

Poison's been a man ever since Nintendo stepped into the picture when Capcom tried to release Final Fight on the SNES in English-speaking countries.

There's a whole convoluted story behind it, but here's the gist of it: When Capcom tried to explain beating up on Poison to Nintendo, they said that she was a man, thus it was okay. But somehow, even though that happened, Nintendo didn't allow that explanation to fly, so Capcom still had to make Poison and Roxy both into actual men (fun fact, in Capcom's canon, Poison is a "newhalf" while Roxy is supposedly all woman) so they turned them into Billy and Sid, who were poking fun at Billy Idol and Sid Vicious, respectively.

There are also various sources that show that Poison is a newhalf, like the book "All About Capcom" that chronicles a lot of their characters.

Also, there's one very funny visual clue in Street Fighter III: When you pick Hugo (who's basically an offshoot of the Andores from Final Fight) Poison is traveling with him as basically an agent/partner. In one entrance pose, Poison blows a kiss at Hugo and Hugo shudders for a couple seconds. :p

[Zorak Masaki]

Wasnt Birdo originally supposed to be named ostro (which instead became the ostrich character from SMB2)? In fact, ive seen promotional material and game guides which have ostro and birdo switched around.

[SAMaine]

Poison is a newhalf.

Birdo is a male who just wears a bow on his head, thus subverting the general identification of a female in the Mario Universe. Birdo is a crossdresser.

[kenjisalk]

Don't forget that gawdy mascara and that tacky big glass ring.

He's a massive trap, though I'm sure it's more of an afterthought joke about the confusion rather than originally intended.

[Hail 2 U!]

Wasnt Birdo originally supposed to be named ostro (which instead became the ostrich character from SMB2)? In fact, ive seen promotional material and game guides which have ostro and birdo switched around.

That's all it was, somebody at Nintendo screwed up and switched Birdo and Ostro's names in the SMB2 manual, and in the credits as well.

About Poison, here's a little snippet from a Capcom source book (I forgot to post this yesterday) :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/ckimbro/poisonmale.jpg

And also, for anyone who unlocked the Final Fight bios on Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1, there is even more confirmation that Poison is a guy. They also state that Roxy (Poison's counterpart/palette swap) is a woman.

[sdp]

They're both males. Nintendo keeps Birdo's true gender hush hush as they don't want to upset parents who don't have an open mind to the idea, but yeah, Birdo is and always has been a male.

Thats what I would think but s/he's also been used as Yoshi's love interest in some games with artwork. Then again its probably Nintendo forgetting I mean they are also very inconsistent with DK Jr/original DK/DK DKC on who current DK really is.


Poison has always been a tranny though recently capcom said she was post-op now so she can be considered a female now.

[Hail 2 U!]

};2866662']Poison has always been a tranny though recently capcom said she was post-op now so she can be considered a female now.

In the interview with Capcom about Street Fighter IV, Ono (the game's producer) stated that in Japan, Poison's still a newhalf, but in America, he/she is a post-op transsexual.

Don't know why this change was made; it might have been due to the outrage that English-speaking fans had when finding out Poison was a man, so they just decided to make him into a female strictly for that audience. So there's still two different opinions about the whole thing.

Well, they are the masters of rewriting canon, after all. :sweat: