The point to this thread is to share your interpretation of Samus' character, with mine below. Pre Other-M, her character was entirely open to interpretation, and there is still a measure of breadth for interpretation, as the vociferous arguments about the game can attest
Though on that note, I will leave a note of warning, that I will not allow this thread to be derailed into an Other M hatefest. If you would rather hate Other M, simply ignore that portent of Samus' character, though we shall be able to debate the meaning of that character in context to her portrayals in other Metroid titles.
Certainly Nintendo fans and many gamers in general have been fascinated by a female character that does not (at least in her basic portrayal) flaunt superficial elements of her femininity, though that perhaps comes from the fact that her femininity was originally just a one-off joke of sorts (which raises other implications). However, her reactions to the tumultuous events that she was subjected to has shown Samus to be something more than a faceless ass-kicker either.
The Baby Metroid and its involvement in the end of Metroid II and Super, as well as the bonus mission of rescuing the Etecoons and Dachoras in Super and rescuing them again in Fusion portrayed a character of heroic compassion to a point, someone with pity and love for the small things caught up in the big galactic conflicts
Secondary elements of her characterization that i feel actually mesh with her Other M development came into play from the Metroid Prime series. Prime being 3D obviously gave Samus more opportunities to emote, even though they did retain her as the silent heroine. The stories in Prime were invariably tragic (or at least the backstories of the various places she moved through were,) and Retro showed Samus as awed or reflective of these events in a number of cases (postgame shot of Prime 1 comes to mind)
Last of all i would like to draw the inspiration for this thread, Major Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell, who bears many similarities to Samus' portrayal as a whole (and i'm including Other M in this one, though in the narrower consideration this works as well). Motoko's only difference is that she was more overtly sexualized from the get-go, but that has never really had any bearing on the interpretation of her character, at least as far as the anime was concerned (but that discussion would derail this one)
Who do you think Samus is, and what other characters would you compare her to?
Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.
