womeningames:

Women in Games Profile 4: Poison 

Name: Poison

Origin: Final Fight Revenge

Notable Appearances: Street Fighter III (cameo only as Hugo’s manager), Capcom Fighting All-Stars(a canceled 3D capcom fighting game), Street Fighter x Tekken

Biography: Poison Kiss was a member of the Mad Gear Gang. She patrolled the streets of Metro City until the gang was broken up by Mike Haggar, Guy and Cody. She remained a petty thief until Sodom recruited her into his new Mad Gear. The new gang was doomed from the start, however, and Poison quickly found herself without a job again.  

            Fed up with her life of crime, Poison decided to go straight. Hugo, another former Mad Gear member, had also decided to abandon his criminal ways and became a professional wrestler. Poison offered to become his manager, and he accepted. With Poison’s help, Hugo “Andore” became a star, and both became rich beyond their wildest dreams. Her first appearance was in Capcom’s classic beat-em-up, Final Fight (1989). Her first fighting game appearance was in Final Fight Revenge, and she crossed over to the Street Fighter series as Hugo’s manager in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact & 3rd Strike. 

            There has been a lot of confusion surrounding Poison’s gender over the years. In an EGM interview when asked about Poison’s sex, Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono stated “Let’s set the record straight: In North America, Poison is officially a post-op transsexual. But in Japan, she simply tucks her business away in order to look like a girl.” Seemingly, Capcom thought a pre-op transsexual would be too taboo for conservative Western audiences.

 

(taken from the awesome website, http://www.fightersgeneration.com/main.htm) check this site out!

Personal Commentary: Seemingly by pure coincidence and a string of unplanned events, Poison has become a poster-girl (yes, girl!) for the transgender community. Even if Capcom did not initially intend to create a character that would represent the transgender community and that many gamers (and gaymers, of course) would latch onto, Poison has found quite a following over the years.

What began as just another hypersexualized female character in video games has evolved into a powerful icon, even if Capcom is still struggling to figure out just quite what to do with the character right now (in most recent interviews, Capcom has decided to avoid discussing Poison’s gender altogether despite what they’ve previously confirmed in past interviews, as you can see in the biography section above).

Regardless, I think Poison is an important and welcome character, and I’m proud to feature her as a transgendered woman in games. Here’s hoping she kicks major ass in her first fighting game appearance as a cast member of Street Fighter X Tekken!