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1.17.2008 Boo is a girl?!?! And deal with it Amanda, Wario is MINE.
I've hid it long enough on this website. I'm a geek. A total geek. If graduating from Computer Programming and working in IT aren't proof enough, I'm a 27 year old girl who still spends way too much time playing video games, watching cartoons, and buying toys. It's ok I'm at peace with it.
In Taiwan it's heaven. There are lots of girls like me. It's perfectly acceptable for girls my age to buy toys or cute things. I'm really glad I don't live in Japan and only have to deal with the trickle of what is available from Japan around here.
One of my shameful addictions is the 30 - 50NT (95 cents - 1.60 Canadian dollars ) capsule machines. Like any kid I used to love the awful 25 cent ones we had growing up even though the toy would practically dissolve in your hand when you took it out because it was so cheap.
One of my latest splurges was on some squishy foam Nintendo characters. i heart nintendo. Thankfully on my third attempt I got the one I was looking for. Boo. I love boo. Boo first appeared in Super Mario 3 and it was a love hate relationship from the start. As cute as the boo was boo was also TERRIFYING. That menacing smile, that eerie zig zag sneaking up on you, that "if I cover my eyes you can't see me" attitude.... and how many times did I get cornered underneath a staircase by boo. Arrrgghh. I tried to capture of screenshot of the exact moment I'm talking about but found it incredibly hard to play a game with no right arrow key since my right arrow key on my mac stopped working ever since my former roommate's kitten decided to pee and run at the same time while flying by my PowerBook :'(
Anyway my new squishy Boo has been put on my purse strap and as I was leaving school one of the students who is half Japanese half Taiwanese noticed it and started playing with it saying she knew what it was from. I asked if she knew Boo's English name and she laughed when I told her and explained to her why the ghost is named Boo. Then she told me in Japan Boo is called テレサ which in English translates to Teresa?!?!? Teresa??!?!?!?! How feminine and not at all terrifying. One of the most subtly terrifying Mario characters (look at those teeth), the BEST Mario Tennis player.... Teresa. Yea!
In my search I also found you can buy my boo on amazon. I really need to setup my taiwan ebay store. They're selling boo for over 8$ US and I bought him for about 1.50$ US.
Before I came to Taiwan I spent many weekends on Joe's couch. Those were the golden days. Playing hours and hours and hours of Mario Kart 64 with people I loved, and people who could tolerate me. Amanda and I would always duke it out for Wario, because he's the best, and because he has the best catch phrases. Well Amanda honey, he's mine now. I got him on my first try. ooo it burns doesn't it. You'll never have him. Unless you want to fly to Taiwan to visit me and take him by force???
mmmm Nintendo.
Labels: geekiness, Only in Asia
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5 comments:
You can keep your Wario Catherine, both of us know I could whoop you with any character BLINDFOLDED!!! (Except that stupid ape, or bowser.)
Raf, NO WAY MAN. I found out lately that the Japanese, like the Chinese have phonetic equivalent names that they give English people. Like all of my Taiwanese students have had their English names translated into Japanese by their Japanese teacher. Now by Mario Bros 3 the nintendo world was universal enough that the people responsible for naming the characters knew that if they named the ghost Teresa it was the phonetic equivalent for a female English name. And really, males "acting shy". I think in the Japanese version they fully intended on boo being feminine but didn't think it would sell out West. Not that "Boo Diddles" is super masculine or anything but then later as more and more girls started playing video games, especially on Nintendo systems they tried to feminine everything and introduce the "pink" boos. But come on. There was no mistake or coincidence there. They knew what they were doing.
OK, I see your point and agree that the game creators were likely familiar with the Western name Teresa.
However, I still don't believe they intended Boo to be a girl, *and* based on my brief research, I don't believe most Japanese people commonly view them as female either. I know, you're already convinced, and anything I say will probably drive you further into denial, but I'm gonna go ahead - and step by step - burst your Boo bubble anyway. Ready? Here we go...!
1. Back to my original point, the defining characteristic of Boos are the fact that they turn away and cover their eyes when you look at them. (Read: SHY.) From the Super Mario Bros. 3 Manual: "Boo is too shy to look anyone in the face. But when you turn around..."
2. Who ever said all Boos even have a specific gender? They are basically a species.
3. Two words: Kingu Teresa
Just look at it this way: it was fun while it lasted.
(~_^)
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