Does the manga spoil the illusion for you?

[Jof]

[quote="zeldafn333"](not necessarily as a 20 year old comic, but just so people can understand the story).
quote]

That comic isn't 20 years old, it was released alongside MZM.

[CapCom]

Not to mention that he outranks her. I doubt they changed rank relationships in the army of 20X5.

[newhenpal]

Yes, but fortuanetly for me it didn't stray far from what I thought Samus was like.

It seems like no franchise can have an element of mystery anymore.

[Shinespark]

There is a possibility that Nintendo will disregard the Zero Mission Manga altogether when Other M comes out. I mean, it's not uncommon for companies to retcon their previous works. If it's down to a Metroid game and a Metroid Manga spin off, then quite obviously the game is going to take presidence. That said, I'm getting the sense that Other M will try its best to tie things together, although with Super Metroid and Fusion as priorities and any left overs for the Manga.

[sharonlover]

There is a possibility that Nintendo will disregard the Zero Mission Manga altogether when Other M comes out. I mean, it's not uncommon for companies to retcon their previous works. If it's down to a Metroid game and a Metroid Manga spin off, then quite obviously the game is going to take presidence. That said, I'm getting the sense that Other M will try its best to tie things together, although with Super Metroid and Fusion as priorities and any left overs for the Manga.

They weren't a spin off. The manga was a prequel story to M:ZM and used as an advertising ploy to get people to 'continue the story' with M:ZM. Metroid Zero Mission is a remake of the original metroid with added story and content. They aren't going to disregard it.

[Shinespark]

I suppose. Although I seriously doubt that they won't make SOME changes to the existing lore. Just look at what Lucas did to Star Wars over the years

[CapCom]

Well, I'm not sure how much of the manga was Sakamoto's idea. Given his role in Metroid Prime, I would say he was an advisor and would have stated what the characters could and could not do, but I don't think he wrote it. There might be something in the Author's Note at the end of volume 1, but I have only read about half of that (none of which was talking about Metroid).

[-ChozoChild-]

"Does the manga spoil the illusion for you?" It depends on which manga. xD

I appreciate how the Metroid ZM Manga had detailed images and gave us an idea of what happened to her during the very beginning of the Metroid saga.

To me… Samus’ past is what really makes me interested in this series.
I find that manga is just as important as the games to understand how it all started and to know what happened that lead up to her 1st mission.

They also gave us that motherly-feel that I believe Samus has, she loves and cares for the other creatures.
She has that don't-mess-with-me type of mentality when she's facing off against her opponents.
At times during the manga she seems to like a normal girl with a lot off stress.
I don't know... I like Samus to be more of a person we can relate to through her emotions and her actions.

Sure she acts different then that silent, alone bounty hunter who is hidden in mystery.

But part of me wants a better understanding of what her true personalty is like.
When I think of her as 'alone' and 'silent' for example...
I just get this feeling that Samus is being more betrayed as the villain in some ways then the hero.

I use to think of Samus as that, but now my mind has changed. I friend of once said he Samus was more like a cold-emotionless robot.
I think he wrong in many ways, but I can also see that it isn't that far from the truth.

With the other manga, I don’t think there as important as the Metroid ZM one.
I do really like the entertainment value of them, but it doesn’t really scream Samus’ personality to me.
Some of the characters are memorable though, such as Houston. I liked him quite a bit.
He would be a very fun and exciting character if he was to be added into the games, maybe it's just me.

[Shinespark]

Well considering how Samus can happily wipe out entire species and crash space stations into planets, it's not that surprising that your friend thought that she was a cold hearted robot . But I always felt that the games had a certain roleplay element in it where Samus never seem to react to anything happening in front of her, big or small. All the reactions were done by the player. To suddenly see her care so much for those little animals during her training in the manga seems a bit unbelievable considering how the game forces you to shoot countless different creatures just to make it to the other side of the room.

[-ChozoChild-]

To suddenly see her care so much for those little animals during her training in the manga seems a bit unbelievable considering how the game forces you to shoot countless different creatures just to make it to the other side of the room.

True. You have a good point there.

But I aslo don't think that Samus has to shoot everything that moves.
Remember in Prime for example their were some creatures that didn't want to hurt you.
Like those huge toad-like aliens that swallowed Samus in her morf-ball form then spit her out.
They weren't necessary trying to kill her, they were curious about that round like object in front of them.

How can I forget the Etecoons and that one Dachora in both Super Metroid and Fusion!
She saved them both times inside her ship. So 'yes' there are non-harmful aliens in the games, as well as bad ones.

I like to think that most of the less intelligent aliens are like animals. I'm talking about the Zoomers and the Shriek-bats etc.
Not all animals in the animal kingdom want to hurt you, just think about this way...

Samus is entering onto the alien's homeland she is invading their space so they have every right to protect themselves against her.
I'm not saying the aliens are all nice either... I just think it depends on how you play the game, and how you think of Samus.

[sharonlover]

wasn't there something in the manga that explained that Mother Brain had infected or gassed, or something, the creatures of the planet making them hostile?

[gigatravis]

wasn't there something in the manga that explained that Mother Brain had infected or gassed, or something, the creatures of the planet making them hostile?

Yes, and she also gave them weapons. It was in chapter two.

[Shinespark]

I suppose at the end of the day it's up to you to interpret the Manga in whatever way you like. I mean personally, I still view Samus as someone completely different to what they portrayed. I mean, I acknowledge the fact that the Manga is canon, I just still like the idea that some of the details are left to the imaginiation.

Short answer: yes.

While I do like a lot of the things that the manga introduced, its portrayal of Samus as a character ruined it for me. The PTSD was an interesting and logical character quirk, the fact is that without it, manga Samus was pretty much a normal teenaged girl.

Normal girl. After literally being raised by space aliens. Yeah.

Ever since my first introduction to Metroid, what struck a chord with me was the idea of a woman stolen away from humanity now having to readjust to her species and establish a true identity. The whole story is set up for exploring those themes. Any portrayal of Samus that DOESN'T focus on the identity crisis and battle with alienation will not be satisfactory in my book.

Is that fair of me? No.

Do I have the right to demand that someone else's (Nintendo's) character live up to my own literary tastes? No.

Is it stupid of me to impose my own ideas onto a canon that clearly conflicts with them? Yes.

Do I have any choice over whether or not the manga is official? No.

Do I care? Fuck no.

There were some other things that irked me about the manga (the galaxy being relatively cosmopolitan and civilized goes against the feeling of the games, imo. Too much of Mass Effect or Star Wars in what should be more like Aliens), but I wouldn't have minded that so much (after all, as I said before, it also brought in a lot of cool things. Mother Brain and Ridley seemed interesting, and Gray Voice was an awesome character) if I had liked the portrayal of Samus. For me, that was the deal breaker.

Since coming to that decision, my fan fiction has all been sort of an "Ultimate Universe" type deal. A fan-continuity, inspired but not restricted by the original.

[CapCom]

Where is everybody getting the idea that the manga is canonical? I don't see Yoshio Sakamoto's name stamped anywhere on it as a writer. Sure, it uses characters and events, but I have never read anything that says it was taken from his design notes (and no, Wikipedia does not count). If 'canonicity' were determined simply by the Nintendo copyright, then Episode of Aether and Samus and Joey (among other things) would be canon when they obviously aren't. The manga holds more water than any other adaptation, but I don't know how far I'd go to say 'this is exactly how it happened'.