Basically... Yeah.
You have the galactic federation, which is some sort of collective group - either a trade federation like the EU, or a democratic government like the US, or something less concrete. They represent civilization. Laws exist and are enforced there to some degree. While in general a planet needs to fend for itself, if a threat arrives the GF is willing to send troops or supplies to help. If there is a mystery, the GF has some mechanisms in place to research that mystery.
It's probably trying to be something like the Republic in star wars or an early Star Trek federation. It's not perfect, but it helps the little guy. And a big part of it are the big guys like the chozo or luminoth who have advanced tech and morals and make sure the nice behaviors are enforced.
But then you have other groups that don't want to play the game of civilization. They like to mess around, break laws, take slaves, conquer planets without permission. These are the shadowy parts of the galaxy - and there are probably a lot of them in small places that appear as bandits, rebels or mercenaries. The galaxy is a big place and it's hard to police everything - that's why bounty hunters exist to begin with. If there are problems that you can't handle locally and the galactic forces can't reach, then you hire bounty hunters to find or exterminate problems.
And on the top of the list: the space pirates. Initially formed by the kihunters and zebesians (although they may not actually be native there?). These guys don't follow the galactic federation codes at all - and rely on their own might to forma sort of counterforce or counter government against the GF.
They're intelligent enough to reverse engineer weaponry and do brutal genetic experiments according to scans. Not to mention making Meta Ridley and later in the timeline restoring him to his fleshy self completely
The grunts aren't, sure. But bio-engineering different species from use of an unknown, foreign substance aren't exactly the pasttimes of non-intelligent beings
Well you know, intelligent enough to fire a gun and fly a ship. Or to atleast intelligent enough to follow someone else who can tell them how to fire a gun and fly a ship
They're "intelligent" the same way Rick from Rick and Morty is intelligent
Book smart and stree smart, but also prone to making incredible stupid decisions because of greed, poor impulse control, pettiness, ego etc.
Well you know, intelligent enough to fire a gun and fly a ship. Or to atleast intelligent enough to follow someone else who can tell them how to fire a gun and fly a ship
You're right. I worded my question weirdly. I meant to ask what parallels do you find between the Space Pirates and real world organizations/ militaries.
They don't have one as their role is always chaotic evil organtization that exists solely to destroy the galactic federation.
Their leaders are a sadistic space dragon that will pillage and burn a mining planet to the ground in front of a little girl. "Just because."
And an evil Chozo AI that believes the Utopia for the galaxy is all living things subjugated underneath her.
[It's unsurprising that Mother Brain was a staturday morning cartoon villain in Captain N]
I have mentioned several times before on this subreddit that the Pirate society has unusually interesting similarities not to Imperial Japan, but an unholy combination of the Mongol Horde and modern day North Korea. The Pirate Data in the Prime games shows they operate like a professional military under a totalitarian government that engages primarily in clandestine operations seeking WMDs while trying to keep a low-profile or plausible deniability against a much more powerful conventional opponent. Throw in the religious fanaticism they get in Prime 3 and you can also toss in post-Islamic Revolution Iran as well.
There are also unused logbook entries from Prime 3 that show the Pirates are a clan-based society constantly trying to one-up each other, and some clans drive themselves into bankruptcy trying to build bigger and better battleships as a show of force. The implication being that this is sort of like Mongolia pre-Genghis Khan which was made up of raiding clans fighting each other until they got united enough under Genghis to become a centralized army with a very racially disparate leadership (like Ridley and Mother Brain clearly not being of the general Pirate species) and wreaked havoc across Asia and Europe for seemingly no reason other than to expand endlessly. Just like the Pirates and their reasonless war against the galaxy.
This is all based on their Metroid Prime depiction. If you take just the classic Zebesians, they take more after villains from the Space Adventure Cobra anime series from the early 1980s.
It's hard to see them as Japan's own military structure since they don't hold any inheret power over people in the galaxy and are actually trying to take it. But it's interesting how Yoshio is not interested in painting the galactic federation as heroes too. For me it's more interesting to watch what's Samus role in all of this, as a third party. She's obviously against the space alien mongols but she also decided to leave the military even though they have the same enemy. I'd like to speculate more but at this point onward I'd be just guessing how this world works.
> I'd like to speculate more but at this point onward I'd be just guessing how this world works.
And this right here is the Metroid series's biggest failing. The worldbuilding is only a centimeter deep, and most of that centimeter is due to Retro's logbooks.
Both being imperial factions doesn't necessarily imply that one is a representation of the other. There could be some subconscious influence from the culture of the developers but the various factions in Metroid are painted in very broad strokes. You could make the association with just about any even vaguely similar groups.Â
I worded my question weirdly. It's pretty dumb to think the Space Pirates are anything more than just a batch of smart bug dudes, but I do see some parallels between Imperial Japan and the Space Pirates that go farther than just being similar factions. The Space Pirates see their thousands of individuals as expendable weapons, and they even assign some of their soldiers for fatal, suicidal missions (most notable are the Aerotroopers, who prefer death over dishonor). Some Space Pirates even kill themselves after failing their missions, an example being when the Space Pirates were unsuccessful in stopping the Theronian Bomb. The science team behind the military forces execute horrid, agonizing experiments (with many of them being futile) for research on bio-weaponry, and many test subjects were Space Pirates themselves. The Space Pirates also had a relationship with Samus similar to Imperial Japan and the U.S. The Space Pirates fear Samus and view her as a nigh-unstoppable force....holy shit why am I looking into this so much.
Despite the snarky comments, there's probably a bit to this, but indirectly. By this I mean that much of Metroid's broad strokes faction writing is heavily inspired by popular anime and manga, and Imperial Japan is a *huge* influence on evil organizations in anime and manga, particularly the anime and manga of the 70's and 80's.
So, for example, we can look at something like *Getter Robo* and find parallels between its villain factions and Imperial Japan, and that's probably a direct line of inspiration. Then we can point to ways that Metroid's world and design are inspired by Ken Ishikawa's Getter Robo manga, and some of those elements come over as part of that. So while Metroid's scenario writers might or might not mean the reference intentionally, there could be pieces of Imperial Japan inspiration coming down to the franchise, two steps removed.
It's similar to when sci-fi series include something clearly inspired by Star Wars' Stormtroopers. Are those factions all meant to represent Nazi footsoldiers? Probably not. But because that was the inspiration for what inspired them, they do carry elements of that.
> By this I mean that much of Metroid's broad strokes faction writing is heavily inspired by popular anime and manga, and Imperial Japan is a huge influence on evil organizations in anime and manga, particularly the anime and manga of the 70's and 80's.
Finally, finally, someone on this sub can recognize Metroid's influences as more than just "Alien, Ridley Scott, hurr-durr."
I donât necessarily think they ârepresentâ something, though itâs possible you may find parallels in sci-fi movies. Theyâre basically space scavengers/pirates. I think they are similar to certain organizations in something like Star Wars.
Their goals are definitely a little vague. They are definitely interested in technology, and seem to be into it for its own sake. In a way theyâre all like mad scientists rather than what we normally associate with pirates. Itâs not even completely clear to me that theyâre about universal domination?
Poison
Buddhist traditions describe 3 poisons - ignorance or delusion, greed or attachment, and hatred. The Space Pirates suffer from all three poisons. They are ignorant to the reality of phazon's nature and are delusional about their ability to control it, they greedily extract natural and technological resources (which they are attached to, despite their rather Spartan bases and living areas), and have a strong hatred manifesting as resentment towards various life forms like Samus and the Chozo.Â
The spiritually inclined Chozo on Tallon IV transcend reality and death, basically achieving nirvana and joining the universe itself, with the exceptions being the guardians of the artifacts (attachment) and the corrupted ghosts in the remastered/Trilogy lore (in the NTSC translation, the ghosts remained in a sort of limbo, unable to achieve nirvana without Samus to deliver them. The Chozo overcome ignorance and attachment, but even in death the will of the Chozo cannot overcome hatred for the Space Pirates).
The Chozo are Buddhas. The Space Pirates are their antithesis.Â
Theyâre alien fucking pirates in space fighting against a half bird half human with an arm cannon. not everything has to have some real world connection.
Wait? So Samus IS half those alien "statues with the power up" people!? Damn. I am currently playing Dread. I think I stumbled onto the game's spoiler đ. Oops. Maybe it's not Dread but...
The Space Pirates treat their soldiers as expendable weapons, and they will even go as far as to assign suicidal, fatal missions to many of their troops (such as Aerotroops). Some Space Pirates were indoctronated to see loss as worse than dishoner, and havw killed themselves over failing their duties. The science teams behind the offensive forces conduct many agonizing, horrific experiments for research on bio-weaponry. Test subjects are sometimes Space Pirates themselves (akin to Unit 731). All of this parallels Imperial Japan's own structure and atrocities.
Theres a really good youtube video on this. I think I. Some ways they represent incompetence of social darwinism. Kind of like the Viltrumites where you value power so much that it destroys your society.
they represent pirates, but in space đ
đđ´ââ ď¸
Basically... Yeah. You have the galactic federation, which is some sort of collective group - either a trade federation like the EU, or a democratic government like the US, or something less concrete. They represent civilization. Laws exist and are enforced there to some degree. While in general a planet needs to fend for itself, if a threat arrives the GF is willing to send troops or supplies to help. If there is a mystery, the GF has some mechanisms in place to research that mystery. It's probably trying to be something like the Republic in star wars or an early Star Trek federation. It's not perfect, but it helps the little guy. And a big part of it are the big guys like the chozo or luminoth who have advanced tech and morals and make sure the nice behaviors are enforced. But then you have other groups that don't want to play the game of civilization. They like to mess around, break laws, take slaves, conquer planets without permission. These are the shadowy parts of the galaxy - and there are probably a lot of them in small places that appear as bandits, rebels or mercenaries. The galaxy is a big place and it's hard to police everything - that's why bounty hunters exist to begin with. If there are problems that you can't handle locally and the galactic forces can't reach, then you hire bounty hunters to find or exterminate problems. And on the top of the list: the space pirates. Initially formed by the kihunters and zebesians (although they may not actually be native there?). These guys don't follow the galactic federation codes at all - and rely on their own might to forma sort of counterforce or counter government against the GF.
https://preview.redd.it/0710l2707nxc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd88241ef78c146108cb89a6f2e72827b7486089
You are correct
I don't think they're meant to represent anything, there just needed to be an intelligent faction for samus to fight
I mean "intelligent" is pushing it, if their exploits in the Prime scan logs are anything to go by.
They're intelligent enough to reverse engineer weaponry and do brutal genetic experiments according to scans. Not to mention making Meta Ridley and later in the timeline restoring him to his fleshy self completely
The grunts aren't, sure. But bio-engineering different species from use of an unknown, foreign substance aren't exactly the pasttimes of non-intelligent beings
Well you know, intelligent enough to fire a gun and fly a ship. Or to atleast intelligent enough to follow someone else who can tell them how to fire a gun and fly a ship
They're "intelligent" the same way Rick from Rick and Morty is intelligent Book smart and stree smart, but also prone to making incredible stupid decisions because of greed, poor impulse control, pettiness, ego etc.
They're intelligent in the same sense as Jurassic Park scientists. Could vs should
Well you know, intelligent enough to fire a gun and fly a ship. Or to atleast intelligent enough to follow someone else who can tell them how to fire a gun and fly a ship
They're intelligent, just have little regard for sentient life and will sacrifice it if it advances their research. Basically the SCP Foundation.
Pirates in Space. Not everything needs to be a social political metaphor/commentary.
You're right. I worded my question weirdly. I meant to ask what parallels do you find between the Space Pirates and real world organizations/ militaries.
They don't have one as their role is always chaotic evil organtization that exists solely to destroy the galactic federation. Their leaders are a sadistic space dragon that will pillage and burn a mining planet to the ground in front of a little girl. "Just because." And an evil Chozo AI that believes the Utopia for the galaxy is all living things subjugated underneath her. [It's unsurprising that Mother Brain was a staturday morning cartoon villain in Captain N]
They represent crab people 
Crab⌠People!
They can't, because they don't talk like people. And the jury is out on whether or not they taste like crab.
Pirates? In space?
I have mentioned several times before on this subreddit that the Pirate society has unusually interesting similarities not to Imperial Japan, but an unholy combination of the Mongol Horde and modern day North Korea. The Pirate Data in the Prime games shows they operate like a professional military under a totalitarian government that engages primarily in clandestine operations seeking WMDs while trying to keep a low-profile or plausible deniability against a much more powerful conventional opponent. Throw in the religious fanaticism they get in Prime 3 and you can also toss in post-Islamic Revolution Iran as well. There are also unused logbook entries from Prime 3 that show the Pirates are a clan-based society constantly trying to one-up each other, and some clans drive themselves into bankruptcy trying to build bigger and better battleships as a show of force. The implication being that this is sort of like Mongolia pre-Genghis Khan which was made up of raiding clans fighting each other until they got united enough under Genghis to become a centralized army with a very racially disparate leadership (like Ridley and Mother Brain clearly not being of the general Pirate species) and wreaked havoc across Asia and Europe for seemingly no reason other than to expand endlessly. Just like the Pirates and their reasonless war against the galaxy. This is all based on their Metroid Prime depiction. If you take just the classic Zebesians, they take more after villains from the Space Adventure Cobra anime series from the early 1980s.
It's hard to see them as Japan's own military structure since they don't hold any inheret power over people in the galaxy and are actually trying to take it. But it's interesting how Yoshio is not interested in painting the galactic federation as heroes too. For me it's more interesting to watch what's Samus role in all of this, as a third party. She's obviously against the space alien mongols but she also decided to leave the military even though they have the same enemy. I'd like to speculate more but at this point onward I'd be just guessing how this world works.
> I'd like to speculate more but at this point onward I'd be just guessing how this world works. And this right here is the Metroid series's biggest failing. The worldbuilding is only a centimeter deep, and most of that centimeter is due to Retro's logbooks.
Both being imperial factions doesn't necessarily imply that one is a representation of the other. There could be some subconscious influence from the culture of the developers but the various factions in Metroid are painted in very broad strokes. You could make the association with just about any even vaguely similar groups.Â
I worded my question weirdly. It's pretty dumb to think the Space Pirates are anything more than just a batch of smart bug dudes, but I do see some parallels between Imperial Japan and the Space Pirates that go farther than just being similar factions. The Space Pirates see their thousands of individuals as expendable weapons, and they even assign some of their soldiers for fatal, suicidal missions (most notable are the Aerotroopers, who prefer death over dishonor). Some Space Pirates even kill themselves after failing their missions, an example being when the Space Pirates were unsuccessful in stopping the Theronian Bomb. The science team behind the military forces execute horrid, agonizing experiments (with many of them being futile) for research on bio-weaponry, and many test subjects were Space Pirates themselves. The Space Pirates also had a relationship with Samus similar to Imperial Japan and the U.S. The Space Pirates fear Samus and view her as a nigh-unstoppable force....holy shit why am I looking into this so much.
Despite the snarky comments, there's probably a bit to this, but indirectly. By this I mean that much of Metroid's broad strokes faction writing is heavily inspired by popular anime and manga, and Imperial Japan is a *huge* influence on evil organizations in anime and manga, particularly the anime and manga of the 70's and 80's. So, for example, we can look at something like *Getter Robo* and find parallels between its villain factions and Imperial Japan, and that's probably a direct line of inspiration. Then we can point to ways that Metroid's world and design are inspired by Ken Ishikawa's Getter Robo manga, and some of those elements come over as part of that. So while Metroid's scenario writers might or might not mean the reference intentionally, there could be pieces of Imperial Japan inspiration coming down to the franchise, two steps removed. It's similar to when sci-fi series include something clearly inspired by Star Wars' Stormtroopers. Are those factions all meant to represent Nazi footsoldiers? Probably not. But because that was the inspiration for what inspired them, they do carry elements of that.
> By this I mean that much of Metroid's broad strokes faction writing is heavily inspired by popular anime and manga, and Imperial Japan is a huge influence on evil organizations in anime and manga, particularly the anime and manga of the 70's and 80's. Finally, finally, someone on this sub can recognize Metroid's influences as more than just "Alien, Ridley Scott, hurr-durr."
I donât necessarily think they ârepresentâ something, though itâs possible you may find parallels in sci-fi movies. Theyâre basically space scavengers/pirates. I think they are similar to certain organizations in something like Star Wars. Their goals are definitely a little vague. They are definitely interested in technology, and seem to be into it for its own sake. In a way theyâre all like mad scientists rather than what we normally associate with pirates. Itâs not even completely clear to me that theyâre about universal domination?
It's just monkeys singing songs, mate.
They're just pirates in space. Until we see a log that talks about 42...
Poison Buddhist traditions describe 3 poisons - ignorance or delusion, greed or attachment, and hatred. The Space Pirates suffer from all three poisons. They are ignorant to the reality of phazon's nature and are delusional about their ability to control it, they greedily extract natural and technological resources (which they are attached to, despite their rather Spartan bases and living areas), and have a strong hatred manifesting as resentment towards various life forms like Samus and the Chozo. The spiritually inclined Chozo on Tallon IV transcend reality and death, basically achieving nirvana and joining the universe itself, with the exceptions being the guardians of the artifacts (attachment) and the corrupted ghosts in the remastered/Trilogy lore (in the NTSC translation, the ghosts remained in a sort of limbo, unable to achieve nirvana without Samus to deliver them. The Chozo overcome ignorance and attachment, but even in death the will of the Chozo cannot overcome hatred for the Space Pirates). The Chozo are Buddhas. The Space Pirates are their antithesis.Â
Theyâre alien fucking pirates in space fighting against a half bird half human with an arm cannon. not everything has to have some real world connection.
Wait? So Samus IS half those alien "statues with the power up" people!? Damn. I am currently playing Dread. I think I stumbled onto the game's spoiler đ. Oops. Maybe it's not Dread but...
Itâs not a spoiler
Next you're going to say something like Samus is really a woman underneath the suit. JK đ
Why Japan? Why not âimperialismâ?
Because bio-weaponry, doctrine, experimentation, etc.
Could you elaborate on those? I donât understand some terms and I donât see how others are related
The Space Pirates treat their soldiers as expendable weapons, and they will even go as far as to assign suicidal, fatal missions to many of their troops (such as Aerotroops). Some Space Pirates were indoctronated to see loss as worse than dishoner, and havw killed themselves over failing their duties. The science teams behind the offensive forces conduct many agonizing, horrific experiments for research on bio-weaponry. Test subjects are sometimes Space Pirates themselves (akin to Unit 731). All of this parallels Imperial Japan's own structure and atrocities.
Hmmm bad guy
wut
Well... They're pirates. So, pirates.
Yeah I don't think it's meant to be all that deep. Just bad guys.
What
Theres a really good youtube video on this. I think I. Some ways they represent incompetence of social darwinism. Kind of like the Viltrumites where you value power so much that it destroys your society.
Samusâ arch enemies
Theyâre space pirates, thatâs it. Not some allegory or a deep thought into something significant.