Hah. I'd never clued in that the reason why Samus isn't widely lauded as the crown princess of gaming characters is because she's essentially androgynous. That makes sense.
Small anecdote: My sister, watching me go from Metroid Prime to Metroid Prime 3 was disappointed, because the motion capture used in the small scene whenever Samus steps into her gunship shows a distinctly feminine grind to her gait. Add my sister to the list of women who feel that every step Samus takes from androgyny diminishes her.
Also interesting that you should mention Commander Shephard. Another standout female character who does a lousy job representing women because she has to stick to the same script as Man-Shephard. Fem-Shephard only stands out because of the exceptional job Jennifer Hale (also the voice of Samus in the Prime trilogy, what a coinkydink) does voicing the character, making the male version seem like a cheap imitation.
I just watched Kill Bill, and none of the killers in those films pulled off "tough woman" nearly as well as Jennifer Hale can. The female action hero role is a really difficult pair of shoes to fill, probably because there's so little demand for the archetype. So video games just use Jennifer Hale for it every single time.
"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event." — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.
