“It’s a Trap!” Gender-Bending Video Game Characters

Playing through a game, a little injected eye candy for the player always helps the experience go much more smoothly. Some video game vixens can give a man the extra fuel needed to carry him through his dreams. It’s all well and good…until you read the game’s manual. One look at the character’s profile and suddenly you’re not so sure of yourself. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Here are some classic video game trannies that may have fooled you.

Flea from Chrono Trigger

Many subtle hints were dropped; more that were not so subtle in the original Japanese version, but depending how old you were when you first played this, you never caught on until years later. Flea was a complete, post-op transsexual. However, Flea was also the kind of trannie that, had you met in a bar, you’d spot a mile a way. (Unless you were tanked, to which you better hope your buddies bail you out!) The simple fact is that s/he just tried too hard. Flea wore outfits that were gaudy, overly feminine, and no matter how much makeup s/he applied, there was just no hiding that man-face.

Bridget from Guilty Gear X2

Bridget is the spunky little nun from Guilty Gear that fights with a yo-yo. You see, the village where Bridget grew up holds a belief that great misfortune will befall a family who bears two male twins. Hoping to avoid persecution, Bridget’s family raised him as a girl, while raising his brother normally. Ironically, as the years had passed, his parents grew ashamed at just how well Bridget had accepted his “arrangement.” Hoping to both regain his family’s pride and debunk his village’s superstitions, he set out to prove his masculinity by becoming a bounty hunter.

Has anyone yet guessed that this game was made in Japan?

Birdo from Super Mario Bros. 2

It gets a little creepy when otherwise androgynous cartoon characters enter the gender-bending mix. Birdo is a character that you’d normally just assume was female. All the signs are there: loves pink, wears a hair bow, spits eggs…Those are things girls do!

But if I may quote the game’s instruction manual, “He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He’d rather be called Birdetta.” Coming from a video game that is designed for children, this may be a bit confusing. Luckily for Birdo, most kids would just write it off as being silly. And villains are supposed to be silly and weird!

Just…don’t take it too far.

Dry your tears, Cody... I'd have hit it, too.

Poison from Final Fight

Poison’s story is by far an interesting one. When she originally appeared in Final Fight over in Japan, she was 100% female. However, Capcom USA and Nintendo didn’t care much for the depiction of men hitting women for when the game was to be ported to the states. So Capcom simply said that no, it’s cool…it’s a man in drag. So while violence against women is regarded as uncalled for, it’s perfectly acceptable to beat transvestites with pipes and baseball bats?

Ever since, Poison’s gender has been raveled in mystery. Some games continued to portray her as a male transvestite, while others supported her womanhood. It wasn’t until last year that we’d receive the official verdict from Capcom.

Personally, I don’t buy either the Japanese or North American canon when it comes to Poison. As far as I’m concerned, she was all woman when she first appeared in Final Fight, so she’s really been all woman ever since. Any other story is just nonsensical politics.