Did you play the original?

The Italian translation of the original also has Vivian say “I know I am a real woman.”

the italian translation actually keeps her gender identity and her love interest for mario

Vivian is Trans in paper Mario?!? Next thing you’re gonna tell me is that Birdo has been trans for the last 35 years….

The big question is: How does gender even work for a shadow? If gender for a shadow is a matter of self identification, that makes Beldam even more of a scumbag since if so, shadows can be whatever. Or am I overthinking a Mario species? XD

The thing with the original japanese version is that Vivian refers to herself as female, when other characters and sources refer to her as male, for..a few reasons. Beldam is always meant to be just an abusive bigot and a bully to Vivian, while others such as the original jp Tattle dialogue may come from less understanding of trans 20 years ago. The remake now adjusts some things to a more accurate translation and adding onto it making it more clear with having a better understanding of it all now.

*How are shadows even transparent? We can clearly see them.*

Wait until people see birdo...

in retrospect, the new translation is actually much closer to the original ITALIAN translation, where she specifically comments that she feels like a woman and is proud of it, despite the persecution of her sisters. so this isn't new, just finally being spread globally.

"In the original Gamecube version" I think you mean "In the English and German gamecube versions".

Finally, Vivian and Madeline can recreate that one handshake meme

Here's the thing. It's not "new dialog." It's just a correct translation

“There’s a big controversy right now” No, there isn’t. There’s the people who understand the fact that this is canonically more accurate to the original as well as impactful for Vivian’s character, and the people who are afraid of change and anything different from them.

She’s my girl

So heres the thing about transgender and anything LGBTQ in Japan, they don't have a word for it. In the original, they had even less words for it. Otokonoko is a word to basically generalize the queer community, it can mean effeminate (optionally gay) man, trans woman, or simply a cross dresser. It's a word often used by characters who describe people in that position, but there is no distinction between those 3/4 labels under that one word. But through other dialogue, its pretty clear that Vivian is the transgender part of the Otokonoko label

This actually isn’t new… it’s just the original Japanese TRANSlation, it was censored by most other countries though

For Hooktail they also changed Cricket to frog if I’m not wrong. I mean smart move who gets poisoned eating crickets

no way people are mad about this.

A line in the Japanese script; "それに　じつは　アタイ・・・ 体は　オトコのコだけど ココロは　カワイイ　オンナのコなの" "The thing is... I... I have a boy's body, but my heart is a cute girl's!" (using feminine first person pronouns)

"Oh yeah i like-a train choo choo"

Beldam speech bubble

In a nutshell Nintendo did it before it was cool

Vivian was always Trans in the original Japanese version. It got censored on US Markets and Europe.

In my opinion this is a rare moment of uncensorship

I genuinely dont care if Vivian is trans. Vivian is Vivian. Shes a good character either way

Fans of the original game already knew this, even though it was never mentioned in game itself in the US. Other regions still touched on it, and it's not new controversial news. It was actually pretty progressive for the time

For a bit of details, the french version of Beldam in TTYD (gamecube) literally says "What are you talking about ?? You are a BOY." (boy us in red btw.) After Vivian says "Three shadow sisters !".

the italian og had her explicitly trans lol

If I remember correctly, one of the translations said something like "She used to be a man, but now she's a woman and proud of it!"

Vivian, Birdo, Madeline and Bridget all come from some of my favourite games for definitely no reason at all nuh uh nope nuh (transfemme egg panic intensifies…)

Mario is tolerant. He'll accept anyone and anything at face value. He treats anyone and anything with dignity and respect. He has seen too many things in his travels to be narrow-minded.

In English, it's new In other languages it's the normal dialogue

I don’t really see what the big deal is for the people complaining. It’s not like this confirmation changes the character journey of Vivian. She’s still the underdog and black sheep of her family, is constantly bullied and belittled by her older sister, isn’t really as down with the evil plans as they are, and ultimately decides to join Mario’s party because of his kindness to her when he had no name or body. And her decision to come back after she learns the truth about him still works. Like nothing about the character redemption has changed. The character still has the same journey. She’s still the same lovable party member she was in 2004. What’s the big deal?

I played the old paper, mario, religiously, and vivian was always my favorite, so I see vivan as her since I was using the western version it's crazy how 20 years something originally not accepted at all is widely accepted today

That’s so cute. Vivian is such nice transgender representation.

Uh, okay? Why the hell are people mad it's just a game lmao

There was a scraped potion shop seller concept in skyward sword where it was a pair of twins. They were both dressed in pretty outfits with one being noted as "wishes he was born a woman" and the other just being born a woman

yes yes yes, they made it cannon in the English versions too! finally

SMASH! What's next?

Honestly, I don't understand why so many people make things like this such a big thing nowadays. It shouldn't matter what a fictional character's gender is. Just play the game and have fun. 😭

People need to grow up and accept that trans people can & will exist, also Vivian was trans in the original japanese version. So her being trans is nothing new.

Vivian its cute and lovely, there is no more to argue and just accept it ❤️

This is an issue Ive been passionate about for awhile. To my knowledge the japanese version has: The sisters mocking and being transphobic* to vivian multiple times. This was changed to her being mocked for being prettier than them in the english version. Goombella states explicitly that vivian is male, vivian shows visible discomfort (cries) when referred to as such. Her little speech at the end of the game focuses on this, thanking mario for accepting her for who she is. (Varies slightly between all versions.) I hate censorship in media like this, and love to see more trans rep in popular media. I didn't think paper mario ttyd would ever get a remake partially because of this, and when it was announced I thought there was no way they'd ever fix it. Im very happy to be wrong. *I believe Sticker Star refers to her as an "Otokonoko", which is slightly different from transgender for complicated reasons that don't translate well to other languages, so they are usually localized as the same. This is why the Goombella line didn't make it to certain versions including the remake; in english it would be considered disrespectful to out Vivian, so she gets to reveal that herself. The same doesn't necessarily apply to Otokonoko. If someone has a better understanding of this Im happy to learn more, but the point is she identifies as a woman, she's not a crossdresser and for the sake of our culture she is transgender.

Honestly this just makes me like this character more, glad to see some reputation

that's been known since the early 2000's its not exactly new

Alternatively: She is cis female and Beldam is just that cruel that she viciously bullied her into thinking she was a boy because she refused to let her refer to herself as a sister. With what limited dialogue we have to work with, it can be interpreted either way. However the fact that Beldam makes a point of shouting at Vivian for referring to the trio as the "Shadow Sisters" on the basis that they should be "The Three Shadows", because "'Sisters' makes us sound less mysterious... and less scary!" She doesnt say they arent sisters, just thay Vivian is stupid for using a less scary name for the trio. She even refers to Vivian as being "sappy" for enjoying being referred to us her sister. So either Beldam is a Bully, or a Transphobe. And I dunno if Nintendo would be up for having an actual transphobic character (even a villain, although she does get redeemed in the ending) in one of their licensed IPs. It seems a bit too heavy for a mario game

*New*, hah, yeah right . . .

I'm French and it seemed obvious to me, I didn't know it was censored in other versions!

We stan trans representation

Oh my god a ghost, call Luigi

People are getting pressed over a trans video game character 😭

Smash ether way

Doesn't matter I still love Vivian, she's an awesome character and super cute ❤

we couldnt just be happy about a remake??

I was concerned before about how'd they'd handle it in the remake, but sounds like they did it right

Are we REALLY still getting so hung up on this issue almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century?! Our species has grown from eating fleas off each other's butts to splitting the atom and walking on the moon! What the actual fluff?! We have watched our planet grow old; isn't it high time we, as a species, finally GREW UP?!?🤯 Love is Love in any shape or form, and both a desperate need and inalienable right of EVERY living thing! Is that pure and simple truth really so hard to accept and honor...?!🥺💔

It’s not “new dialogue” it’s just uncensored as in Japan she was trans. But they censored it in English.

I remember hearing about this change from another video. But I like the way you explain things here

Good for her

Happy that it’s being represented in the remake

In the japanese original version, it's pretty much discussed that she is trans: it starts right before the first shadows sirens fight where they introduce themselves and Vivian accidentally calls them "3 shadow sisters" instead of "shadow trio", to which Beldam responds with "how are we 3 sisters?!? You're a boy aren't you?" (JP: どうが三姉妹だよ　あんた、オトコじゃないかい！！！！！！！). When Vivian joins the team, she states "I have the body of a boy, but inside my heart, I'm a cute girl" (JP: それにじつはアタイ。。。体はオトコのコだけど、ココロはカワイイオンナのコなの).

I mean cross dressing does commonly lead to trans awakenings

"Oh no, a trans in my game!? Gross!" It's just a bloody game. Who cares if a character in game is trans, nonbinary, or anything around that regard. I personally don't give a damn, I just want to play a game where I fight wacky characters and enjoy it. Side note: I'm purely expressing my thoughts on this topic, in case someone thinks otherwise for some stupid reason.

well, there goes Undertale red and yellow.

Respect, I want the original dialogue, even if I may not like it. (I mean that generally, not specifically here)

I have no problem with the change frankly as it doesn’t remove much from the character

İ didn't know that.Thanks for that info Garo.❤❤❤

A better explanation for Japanese (since meta text at the time could not be trusted but culturally does in fact reference Vivian's trans identity but that's a whole other story) is that she calls her group the "Shadow Sisters" which is immediately followed up by Beldam calling her a man. Now, in the Switch's Japanese, she at one point says "I may have the body of a man, but my heart is a cute girl's!". All localizations of the scene where Beldam berates Vivian are now gender-neutral, saying "Shadow Trio" or "Three Shadows" because "'Shadow Sisters' isn't as menacing".

I’m honestly so happy with this. I remember hearing about Vivian way back in middle school and it made me sad to see her story censored. And now the remake finally tells the whole story and I’m really happy

arguably not new dialogue just original dialogue that was finally translated

In france there wasnt any censoring in the original but in the remake its lightly less obvious weirdly enough

Brother in any version of the original game apart from the us release it was said they were trans

The original japanese release implies this too its been part of the game since it was made. This isnt some kind of new thing, the original guide book also implies vivian being trans, its also implied that's why beldam is so mean to her for no apperant reason other than being siblings

they were always Trans tho

Bro I can’t wait for the 100% of ttyd remake

girl we been knew

Great Short as always! :D

Very interesting 😁

WOOOOO!!!! LETS GO TRANSFEMS!!!

She’s just like me fr

I’m so happy they fixed it, like Oml she’s one of my fav characters

based mario the thousand year door

OMG when Grubba said SLUUUUUURP 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Yes a new video from my favorite KZfaqr

Cant be controversial if it was done in 2004! Seriously we can’t just change what was already established, sorry most English players didn’t do their research unlike you did. Besides most (OG) Paper Mario fans accept that Vivian is trans, sorry the new Mario fans cant accept what we did 20 years ago.

How exactly does a Shadow that only wears a hat and gloves cross dress?

It boils down to In 2004, the handling of trans people in media was much worse. And while Vivian is arguably treated as a joke in some original dialogue, she always saw herself as a girl. The modern dialogue adapts the story to be more respectful to trans people and makes Vivian actual trans representation done right

Im trans too

I don't care that gender she is. I still will love her anyway❤

Hooktail is also a female but was not really referred to as female in the american version outside of like one instance

I guess we will know in the next 1000

I played all of the Poshley Height’s chapter with Vivian because my girl deserved that all inclusive 3 day train ride after what she’s been through.

"SOMEWHERE IN THE ABYSS..."

Wasn't Vivian always presented as trans in the original Japanese version of the game? 🤔🤔 Vivian being trans isn't exactly *new* information to a lot of Mario fans who are aware of what the original Japanese game is **supposed** to be translated to, the original English translation of the game just chose to intentionally censor it.

This is 100% removed in the UK versions I'm sure. (Considering past translations)

It kills me when "current year" people lose their mind over stuff they used to play as kids but overlooked the details back then, but call it "woke, controversial" today. Vivian was bullied by her sisters, was mocked about how different she was and how her sisters don't see her as their real sister. For people not in the know, okay benefit of the doubt. But looking at the dialog and researching the character in the early 2000's to 2010's to affirm how she is trans hurts my heart. The same thing happened when people realized the character Poison was developed to combat the "violence against women" talks, cause assaulting trans women is socially accepted. Or how Bridget wasn't a mentally confused cross dressing "trap".

really happy to see stuff like this :))

The same thing happened in Spanish, I played the game in Spanish because it is my native language and I didn't like certain details of the new translation, not because Vivian is Trans, it is more faithful to the original language like that, but rather because of other aspects, such as the format in which Vivian's sisters pick on her for being "ugly" and not because she is Trans, since that would be "promoting transphobia" when what it really does is show a real problem and how it should be faced (there are people who don't accepts you for who you are, and you should stay away from them even when they are family), or the Goombas who tried to flirt in a sexist and disgusting way with Goombella, in the original game Goombella humiliates them and defends herself by showing that she is a strong character and showing to the Goombas as the pathetic ones that they are, in the translation they removed this because "it was very sexist" and they made the Goombas bother Mario and Goombella defends him, the original dialogue showed how strong Goombella is, the new one seems very stupid to me, as if Mario needed someone to defend him

They're paper

What’s interesting about Vivian is that she has a similar history is Birdo. They were both created as transphobic representations of trans women (they’re often described as cross dressing men rather than with the gender they identify with), but both of them got censored in some localized versions. It’s cool to see the detail of Vivian being trans be brought back and in a much more respectful way