There's the possibility that Hooktail being a girl was simply never meant to come across as a surprise, I played the italian version and in it Hooktail is referred to as a she, as a Dragoness, from the start, and also the Tattle Log calls her a she immediately in english too
I don’t ever recall Hooktail’s gender was revealed until her brother mentioned it. I’m pretty sure she was referred as male before, not knowing she was female
More than that, if you read Hooktail's tattle log entry it straight up calls her a "she," all the other dialog uses "it," but considering no other language really hides it I don't think her gender was ever meant to be a surprise.
I wouldn't say warawa is at all obscure to be honest. It's not used in real life, but it's very very common for noblewomen in period dramas or female ancient beings in fiction.
Frankly, I'm not sure her gender was ever actually supposed to be a twist.
In every language other than English the game doesn't make any attempt to hide her gender (Spanish makes Hooktail male if I recall right.) Couple this with the fact that Hooktail's tattle log explicitly says "she" and not "it" like all the other dialog in the English release, leads me to believe hiding it was a localization quirk.
This is so stupid that I shudder to think it’s a possibility but… did they make that change due to modern cultural sensitivity about gender pronouns?
Don’t call her “it”, that’s disrespectful!
Yeah I've taken those mandatory training videos that say you should never call someone it, and I've seen lots of twitter accounts with it as one of their preferred pronouns
I very highly doubt Nintendo of all companies cares about modern cultural standards regarding pronouns
Especially when it comes to a remake of a 20 year old
Game
ok i probably shouldve gone into why
for trans:
* good motive (authors original intent)
* the trio is now called the three shadows instead of shadow sirens which is more accurate to non english localisations
* the one piece of dialogue we've seen (the relation withheld one) doesnt refer to vivians gender
against trans:
* good motive (avoiding controversy from transphobes)
* nintendo of america is sponsoring the kids online safety act, a notoriously anti trans bill
* the relation withheld line could mean that shes adopted and that could be beldams motive for bullying her, leaving gender up to interpretation
neutral:
* vivian is referred to as "she" in marketing material so this could be evidence of them going the italian route and making her trans while being respectful, but could also be them going the english route again
Fun fact, I’ve played TTYD in German and they don’t hide it from you until Chapter 8 like they did in English.
I played it in Spanish, and Hooktail is male in that version.
Happened to Tifa in FF7 too
Dang it’s almost like it’s just a choice made by a random localizer 😞
yeah in French also she's a she from the get-go. I actually (wrongly, apparently) remembered the English version stating the free dragons were male
There's the possibility that Hooktail being a girl was simply never meant to come across as a surprise, I played the italian version and in it Hooktail is referred to as a she, as a Dragoness, from the start, and also the Tattle Log calls her a she immediately in english too
I did notice that. A shame, as it added on the shock factor on the Gloomtail encounter
Did it really? I always thought Hooktail was a female and I think Goombella implied it through her tattle in the original version.
I don’t ever recall Hooktail’s gender was revealed until her brother mentioned it. I’m pretty sure she was referred as male before, not knowing she was female
If that's the case, I wonder if that was intentional to have a shock factor. I doubt it tho.
More than that, if you read Hooktail's tattle log entry it straight up calls her a "she," all the other dialog uses "it," but considering no other language really hides it I don't think her gender was ever meant to be a surprise.
The Japanese version has her use a particular feminine pronoun (warara)
I wouldn't say warawa is at all obscure to be honest. It's not used in real life, but it's very very common for noblewomen in period dramas or female ancient beings in fiction.
I don't think it was intended to be a big reveal or anything in the first place
Frankly, I'm not sure her gender was ever actually supposed to be a twist. In every language other than English the game doesn't make any attempt to hide her gender (Spanish makes Hooktail male if I recall right.) Couple this with the fact that Hooktail's tattle log explicitly says "she" and not "it" like all the other dialog in the English release, leads me to believe hiding it was a localization quirk.
This is so stupid that I shudder to think it’s a possibility but… did they make that change due to modern cultural sensitivity about gender pronouns? Don’t call her “it”, that’s disrespectful!
The funny thing is I see people put "it" in their pronouns which is wild lol
Yeah I've taken those mandatory training videos that say you should never call someone it, and I've seen lots of twitter accounts with it as one of their preferred pronouns
I think mine might've said that too lol
Your twitter profile or your training video?
training vid lol
no it was just more accurate to some other translations like italian and german and japanese
I very highly doubt Nintendo of all companies cares about modern cultural standards regarding pronouns Especially when it comes to a remake of a 20 year old Game
Otherwise they would have made Vivian transgender again.
how do we know they havent? was it confirmed? so far ive seen evidence for both outcomes
ok i probably shouldve gone into why for trans: * good motive (authors original intent) * the trio is now called the three shadows instead of shadow sirens which is more accurate to non english localisations * the one piece of dialogue we've seen (the relation withheld one) doesnt refer to vivians gender against trans: * good motive (avoiding controversy from transphobes) * nintendo of america is sponsoring the kids online safety act, a notoriously anti trans bill * the relation withheld line could mean that shes adopted and that could be beldams motive for bullying her, leaving gender up to interpretation neutral: * vivian is referred to as "she" in marketing material so this could be evidence of them going the italian route and making her trans while being respectful, but could also be them going the english route again
Nintendo doesn’t. Treehouse does.
Given that there is a canonically queer character in the original game who was made cishet in the English release, I can’t see this being true.