Birdo, lost in translation.

Birdo, Birdo, Birdo, what can I say about Birdo, uhhh, Ostro, no wait Catherine, or is it Birdetta? Well either way, what can I say that hasn't already been said? Well not much but that's not going to stop me cracking open this can of worms and telling all you fine folks at home the strange tale of a pink dinosaur with a twenty six year spanning identity crisis.

From go-karting to egg based warfare Birdo has been a returning character in the Mario universe since 1987, orginally there were multiple Birdos in the universe until she was identified as an individual in the Mario spin off titles much in the same way as Yoshi and Toad. Birdo first appeared as a boss and wandering enemy in Doki Doki Panic, the game that would later be re-skinned as Super Mario Bros 2. Birdo's entry in the Super Mario Bros 2 manual appears as follows: ''He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He'd rather be called Birdetta'', though this is often omitted. The Japanese trailer for the game even has her speaking with a masculine voice and acting foppishly while she sits on a coach with a rather flamboyant feather boa, it gives her the air of a (and I really do hate this term) drag queen. 

 

'But Abi!' I hear you cry, 'Birdo shoots eggs! How could she not be a girl?' To which I say YOSHI! Mario's trusted, male, egg laying stead. Heck I'm not even sure Nintendo understands how egg laying works, Birdo shoots them out her face and Yoshi can even eat himself into an egg, anyway....

In later games Birdo was voiced with a sequence of horn like noises and depending on which game you play these are either deep or high pitched, she even varies from low tones when calm and high pitched when angry in certain games, which added to the air of mystery. A trophy in Smash Bros Brawl lists Birdo as ''a creature of indeterminate gender'' and uses the pronoun 'it'. 

''A pink creature of indeterminate gender that some say would rather be called Birdetta. A big ribbon on its head is its most distinguishing feature. In Super Mario Bros. 2, you can return fire on Birdo by jumping on the eggs shot from its mouth. Be careful not to get psyched out by fake-egg fireballs!''

The UK version of the Mario Strikers website repeatedly refers to Birdo with male pronouns but ask Nintendo America and Nintendo of Europe and shes a girl . A confusing case indeed, Birdo's gender keeps flip flopping between titles and translations but after a rather bizarre quest in the Japan exclusive game title, Captain Rainbow, Birdo's identity as a proud transgender character was backed up with the presence of the *cough* mystery vibrating quest item titled as ''proof that the owner is a woman'', which is found in her house, under a pillow. 

So, how should you address Birdo in the future? Well any practicing transvestite or transgender woman will tell you, myself included, female pronouns all the way. With the makeup, mannerisms and her incredibly flirtatious attitude I have no doubt in my mind Birdo is a fully qualified girly girly, even if her voice does change more often then a puberty stricken teenage boy. 

So next time you're playing Mario Tennis why not pick our darling dinosaur, she's a unique character and sure to bring more fun to the table then that plain old Koopa Troopa. 

I make no copyright claim on any of the images or videos used in this article, this blog is 100% fan warbling and all images and videos within are used without prior consent because I am a cheeky so and so.

My Little Pony, clonies are magic.

Yup, that's right! My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. You have heard of it right? If not, welcome to the internet, we have pictures of cats.
Anywho, lets start with Caramel. Caramel is one of the hundreds of background ponies seen throughout the series, appearing as Chance-a-Lot in the official merchandise, his first speaking role being in  The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, I think, does he speak in Winter Wrap Up? Either way that's kind of irrelevant, as much as I could wax lyrical on the all these little titbits I think it's time we got to the meat of the issue.
Caramel appears to change gender between seasons, yes really. Take a look at this convenient JPG=












But what is this really? It's one hundred percent pure fanon and while I love the idea this is clearly and instance of clonie-ism. What's a clonie? A clone pony of course! Animation usually requires a few short cuts to keep the budget low, Mallet Space, The Flintstones repeating backgrounds, the Hanna Barbera neck tie, and one of the many tricks up the DHX teams sleeve is repeated ponies, clonies. Got it? Good. Apparently they use a random generator to pick the characters colours and a cutie mark (that tattoo on their backside), there is also a few repeating characters like Lyra, Bon Bon, Colgate, Time Turner, Derpy Hooves and Berry punch who appear in the background frequently, often multiple times in the same scene, but have become firm fan favorites.
So yeah, nothing but fannon, another little smidge of over analyzing from the Brony community.

But does the show present any sort of pro LGBT values or play with any gender tropes? Not really, but not in a malicious way, it's just not addressed directly, regardless of what people will tell you about Rainbow Dash. But the show does function on a marvelously feminist level.
The main (mane) six characters, all female, function somewhat realistically for a cartoon, truly relatable emotional highs and lows, fun character interplay and heck even the fashionista Rarity (my personal favorite) has to work hard to achieve her goals, a far cry from the Barbie and Bratz 'flaunt it if you got it' instant gratification mentality that seeps into young girls television like an oozing mold.

Even after Shining Armour, a far more stereotypical strong male archetype is introduced at the end of season two the girls are still kicking butt and taking names, regardless of if they are talking the enemy down, kicking a dragon in the face or using the collective forces of friendship to magic blast their enemies into submission. Surprisingly Shining Armour doesn't turn up to save the day with burly manliness, instead he and Princess Cadance save the day against impossible odds using the power of love (yes really) and not resorting to violence.
I love this show, it honestly deserves its ravenous fandom and it really champions the idea that we are all awesome, all have a purpose and we are accepted for who we are and viewed as equals. Honestly, that's the idea isn't it? Acceptance? Equality?
Check the show out if you get a chance, I recommend 'Dog and Pony Show' as a fun place to dive in. Sorry this article isn't longer, I really could go on for a while but I feel that I'm already spinning it circles.

Oh, also, before I go I feel I would be amiss if I didn't mention this, the spa ponies, Lotus and Aloe share the same colours as the transgender flag, again, it means absolutely nothing in the show and has no real relevance to anything, it's just kind of neat.

Oh and one last itty bitty thing, this clip from the season three episode Magic Duel, but I will let you watch the full episode for context, I'm going to go before I shower you with extra random clips, come back next week for more nonsensical ramblings.