Itty Bitty Stitch: Wtf, Birdo.

[Leeloo]

I've been working on a gift of a pattern, "whatever," from Subversive Cross Stitch, and missed stitching sprites so much. So I combined the two spheres of stitching, and came up with this yesterday for my bf, who enjoys playing as Birdo in Mario Kart Wii. It's really freaky, and we're all asking ourselves this when we encounter Birdo:

(previous out of focus image replaced with this one) http://www.flickr.com/photos/74044959@N06/6680252007/
I'd have never guessed I'd now own so many different colors of pink floss.

[johloh]

HAHA thats so f-ing awesome. there is nothing worth saying other than "WTF?" when encountering birdo. what a weird character.

I just looked up birdo on wikipedia, do you know its referred to as catherine in japan? odd.

"Birdo's gender has changed throughout various American game versions, but has always been male in Japan. In the original manual for Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is referred to as male that believes he is female, and would rather be called Birdetta.[1] Most later American-localized games, such as the Mario sports titles, which have featured Birdo with a diamond ring, have usually listed Birdo as a female.[citation needed] Recent localizations have avoided the use of any gender pronouns when describing Birdo. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it is said that Birdo is of "indeterminate gender" in its trophy.

In addition, the trailer for the Wii game Captain Rainbow is narrated by Birdo using a distinctly male voice. However, reviews have stated that part of the plot surrounding the Birdo character is gender related and involves proving its womanhood.[2] In Super Mario Advance, Birdo is wearing a bow and can be green, red or pink." - wikipedia

interesting.

[Zopa]

Hahahaha, this is so good. XD

And after reading johloh's post about Birdo, the weirder I think he/she is..

[benjibot]

In the transgender community, it's considered good etiquette to use the pronoun chosen by the individual and not necessarily the one indicated by the individual's birth genitalia. So it would be polite to call Birdo a she as that's the gender to which she identifies.

I remember that tidbit from the Super Mario Bros. 2 manual. Oddly, I don't remember being shocked by it, I just really liked it. I wonder if any member of the "religious right" ever got ahold of his kid's manual and banned him from playing a Mario game.

[johloh]

who knew nintendo was so progressive?

[Leeloo]

Aw, now I feel a bit bad about my WTF? comment. It's definitely not geared specifically towards Birdo's gender preference, it's just the whole package together [that mouth!] that comes across as bizarre. Hope I haven't offended anyone... I like to consider myself very open-minded. : /

[johloh]

Hope I haven't offended anyone... I like to consider myself very open-minded. : /

I doubt you've offended anyone. birdo is a weird boss. spitting an unlimited supply of eggs at enemies that need to be caught and thrown back at birdo for harm is odd...definitely worth of a WTF?

[Leeloo]

hmm, I wonder where these eggs come from, and if they are Birdo's, how does she make them if she's male?
Actually, I had just always assumed Birdo was entirely female, so my wtf didn't even have to do with that. It's just.. everything together is like, whoa.

Glad folks like. I need to do more subversive/sprite stitching projects.

[benjibot]

If we do assume that those are, in fact, Birdo's eggs it opens the quite disturbing idea that she has a some sort of cloaca-like opening in her mouth for the purpose of depositing eggs. Or, perhaps less disturbingly, has evolved some sort of biological mechanism wherein eggs and be either laid or regurgitated up into the mouth for defense purposes.

Perhaps they are merely egg-shaped defensive mechanisms, like a porcupine's quills. Only eggs.

Maybe the biomechanics of video game characters are best left unexplained?

[johloh]

Maybe the biomechanics of video game characters are best left unexplained?

agreed.