I always thought of Samus as your typical, distant stoic at times. She's not gung-ho like the modern space marine archetype (though oddly she was probably the original space marine), she's not quick to anger like boring Hollywood tough chick types, and is more than likely polite, curt and proffessional. Though in classic Byronic fashion she'd probably also be lonely.
I also imagined someone who, in all honesty, has severe issues due to what she had to go through when she was young. Having your entire family and everyone you knew murdered before you even hit puberty would mess anyone up. And then of course she has her surrogate family leave before attaching herself to Adam who puts up with her. Even before that she was expected to be some kind of galactic guardian despite her trauma and her relationship withAdam helped compound the matter
I didn't get a lot of this from the games though (with the exception of Fusion). Most of it was just stuff I personally projected onto her before Sakamoto fleshed out the now ex-Mary Sue Samus. Even the Prime I found failed in giving her any sort of significant characterization. Other M more or less gelled with what I saw. Samus is friendly, but not talkative. Proffessional, but not a doormat. Strong, but not a stand-offish bitch. Contemplative, but not whiny. Flawed, but not submissive. I would call her a far more human protagonist than a LOT of her contemporaries. I would probably compare her to Aya Brea (PE1 &2 , not 3rd Birthday -blech-) due to trying to be human more than anything.
