From an Environmental Engineer at Nintendo of America
Post text:
SourceMy first major “win” at my new job: in the original version of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, this character, Vivian, is canonically trans in the Japanese release and is trying to escape her transphobic siblings who keep mocking her. In the US release, this was changed to her just being generally bullied. We remade the game for Switch, and a few months ago we were having a meeting about localization and I INSISTED that we keep her identity accurate this time. Not everyone was on board. MOST people weren’t on board because of the current political climate in this country over trans identities and bodies. She will be presented correctly in the US release of the game next month and I could not be more proud of queer fortitude and getting to fight for representation in the face of bullshit politics, even if it is just one fictional character in a cartoon video game. I’m glad they made the right choice.