Hanging an led screen with this on it as I dip into the hotel room with my girlfriend.
To add a little fine detail to this, I like to think that Gandrayda’s whole shapeshifting ability needs a not insignificant amount of sourced energy. She would need to, say, tap into a ship’s power grid and siphon some energy out before transforming.
So imagine that scene aboard the Mothership where she reveals herself to Samus happening soon after a power flicker that cuts the lights out for a second, then it happens again as she leaves. Could be a really interesting tell for when she’s present, having a mini power outage.
Of course, with the PED equipped, that energy can be sourced from the Phazon growing inside of her, making her all the more deadly and capable. There’s no tell any more, no indication that she’s in your midst.
Headcanon that Gandrayda's been employed by the Federation as a spy for a long while; Specifically, to keep tabs on the Space Pirates. She was the one who reported that Mother Brain was responsible for controlling the Metroids, and with her destruction, the Metroids would turn on the Space Pirates, hence why they're used and prioritized a lot less in Prime and Echoes, and have a tendency to turn on their 'owners'.
(As for why we see Metroids feeding on Space Pirates in Zero Mission, it's because Mother Brain is a cruel entity who rules through fear and needs to feed her bioweapons; She doesn't mind disposing of lesser pawns, especially if some of them doubt her authority.)
If Metroid were to have a story adaptation... During the Zero Suit portion of the first game, Samus would find herself cornered at one point by Space Pirates; Only for one of their own to turn on them, shooting them down. Said Space Pirate reveals themselves as the spy the Galactic Federation alluded to, the one who dropped all of this key intel regarding the Space Pirates' Metroid operation.
Gandrayda isn't explicitly identified, not yet; But her wink, the way she calls Samus 'Sammy' and her leitmotif at the end; These hint to that. Plus, maybe she can take the form of an Urtraghus Space Pirate, adding to the implication and to allude to how Gandrayda debuted in Corruption and did take such an appearance there. Maybe the Space Pirates would have a more mixed army pulling from all the species we've seen, or they'd operate separately and in their own sectors, requiring Gandrayda to imitate a Zebesian idk.
The main reason why the Federation didn't notify Samus of Gandrayda is that she wasn't supposed to be on Zebes during the Zero Mission; She was stationed on the Space Pirate Mothership, which was locked in battle with Adam's fleet elsewhere (as shown in the manga). But when Ridley received news of Samus' infiltration of Zebes, he immediately flew the mothership back to that planet; Hence why in-game, he arrives about halfway through. Gandrayda stayed with the Space Pirates she'd infiltrated.
Otherwise, the Federation would've notified Samus of their spy on Zebes; Because they wouldn't want her to accidentally kill such a key asset. Plus they'd explain to Samus that the spy will introduce themselves as Gandrayda, since the Space Pirates don't know about her yet, but may suspect a spy; This is to play it safe so Samus knows she can trust whoever she comes across, because communications with the Federation are cut off on Zebes due to Mother Brain's monitoring and ability to intercept (This required Gandrayda to get off-planet to report intel).
But Gandrayda was supposed to be on the Mothership, which Adam was supposed to destroy after she fled through an escape pod, so none of these instructions were required at the time. So after saving Samus, Gandrayda leaves to maintain her cover, not bothering to elaborate on her exact identity. It's only in a future episode, somewhere between the games and before Corruption, that this Space Pirate spy is elaborated on to be a shapeshifting bounty hunter.
Gandrayda ends up playing a key role in saving the galaxy, acting as a turning point for the Federation's victory, much in the same way Samus herself did; Unlike other hunters like Rundas or Ghor (no offense), Gandrayda and Samus were both responsible for key, specific actions that nobody else could've done. And these actions shifted the tide drastically, changed the playing field definitively.
As a result, Gandrayda considers herself just as much the Hero of Zebes as Samus is to the rest of the galaxy; She can literally be the 'Hero of Zebes' herself by turning into Samus. And this helps drive her one-sided rivalry with Samus, especially since... Gandrayda can't take credit the way Samus does.
Not that Samus tries to; But in the end she's recognizable, she's a unique bounty hunter with iconic armor that anyone can see at a distance. She CAN be stealthy but she's also just as capable at blasting her way through an entire planet. Being well-known helps her career, it creates a bogeyman to terrify the Space Pirates, and a symbol of hope for the galaxy that the Federation can always remember if they're out of all other options.
Gandrayda can't be that; She's best suited as a spy, an infiltrator. Someone people don't notice, someone most of the galaxy, and even the Space Pirates, don't know about; So they can't suspect that someone they know they can trust has actually been impersonated by Gandrayda. She's meant to lurk in the shadows, she doesn't go the big and explosive, glamorous work. Her entire gimmick is being unrecognized, what is she without that?
And this feeds into this deep-down inferiority complex and resentment, including towards Samus. Not that she ever externalized it... Until Corruption, when Dark Samus took control and brought out the worst of Gandrayda through Phazon. That was when she actually revealed herself to the Space Pirates, many of whom still feared Gandrayda as secretly fooling their god into believing she was on their side; Not that they'd ever openly doubt Dark Samus' own evaluation of using Gandrayda. And it turned out they had nothing to worry about, alas... But the fear was in a way a form of recognition, validation even, for Gandrayda. She was otherwise a secret even to most of the Federation military, with only the upper echelons knowing of her.
Raven Beak is an individual of science. He's also a sentimental warrior poet who is not immune to superstition. How will his daughter learn to gut her enemies if he doesn't pass down the family heirloom? Also grandma will be disappointed if the sword doesn't go to Raven Beak's first-hatched.
Started late 2023.
Extras:
Our interest in their hand sanitizer was purely for the betterment of mankind. Everything has clearly gotten out of hand now, yes, but it was worth the risk.
Him again…
Ya girl is sick and bedridden, so I’m doing some gameplay theorizing. Something I’m curious about for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is how Sylux’s boss battle will actually function. For how cool Sylux is from his design and mystery, Metroid Prime Hunters’s gameplay loop did few favors in making an intriguing combatant. Sylux had the Shock Coil, an electrical weapon which could drain Samus’s energy to replenish his own, and a secondary form that left trip mines in its wake. This is all well and good, but how does you defeat him? You uh… you shoot him. You just shoot him. In Metroid Prime Hunters, the gameplay loop revolves around precise aiming against moving targets, a mechanic that worked well enough for a DS game with a somewhat limited control scheme. However, Metroid Prime 4 is a very different game. Lock on alone makes this approach tedious, especially with the Shock Coil allowing Sylux to regenerate health. Given his intro cutscene, it appears he will have some allies backing him up, at least in the initial encounter. I wonder if it’s possible that the Shock Coil’s siphoning function could be tied to the Metroids-ahem, Mochtroids he has, tethering the electrical arcs to the Mochtroids in order to actually make the attack replenish his own health. There could also be certain environmental hazards to use to your advantage. I could also imagine some sort of evolving state, requiring different beam types to deal damage, similar to the Metroid Prime in the first game. Alternatively, there could be specific timing windows to exploit, utilizing specific opening to rain hell during. Imagine having a narrow window during his energy siphoning attack where you could stun lock him, prevent the attack, and deal significant damage, but getting the timing wrong could punish you with even greater damage and siphoned health.
I feel like this more sympathetic tone towards them could have made Ridley’s appearance in Metroid: Samus Returns a bit more impactful by having him be a sort of narrative symbolism for the use and abuse of the Metroids by higher powers who wanted to play god. Maybe start the game with Samus delving into the desolate, barren husk of a landscape that is SR388. The planet is cold and dead on the outside, dust fluttering about in the wind, harkening back to all the dry, lifeless bodies left behind in the wake of the rampaging Metroids we’ve seen throughout the series. As she delves deeper into the underground cave networks, it becomes clear that, while many have become terrifying, dangerous predators, there is an ecosystem that some that aren’t Ridley may call beautiful. There are creatures that take on different roles in the food chain, with different mutations of Metroids having many different roles in this natural, albeit highly competitive, web of life.
Maybe have some monologues about the tragedy of it all. The capabilities of these creatures are sure to be exploited if ill-intentioned people acquire them, and moving an entire, dangerous ecosystem off world simply not be feasible for a simple Bounty Hunter, even one of such renown as Samus Aran. It’s a very unique dilemma to explore. Either kill an entire ecosystem of innocent creatures, or let them live and possibly end up with your inaction causing hundreds, even thousands of deaths in the long run, all passing on in incredible agony.
Then, all is said and done. An entire biological order has been wiped from existence. The Queen Metroid, which spawned all this blooming life like a goddess of creation, has been slain. With her gone, the possibility of an ecosystem of this type is gone forever. But one Metroid remains. A single, lone hatchling, oblivious to all of Samus’s terrible deeds on this world, innocent and friendly. The possibility still remains. The Space Pirates have already succeeded in asexually multiplying Metroids to orders of magnitude of their original supplies in the past. This one single specimen could make a legion if it falls into the wrong hands.
But this is a child. A lone child, without its mother, sitting in an afterglow of ash and death, with none of its kind left for hundreds of light years. It looks up hopefully to a stoic, alien figure, sigils in its technology baring the mark of the Chozo. Quite familiar, no?
As Samus and the last child of the Metroids leave this barren waste behind, she believes that maybe some good can come of this. If nothing else, she has done some small favor for this weary conscience of her’s.
Then, who else should show to complete the metaphor but the Cunning God of Death himself? Contrasting Samus’s gentle approach with the baby Metroid, Ridley is brutal, shrieking alien obscenities at this frightened child, beating it into submission as it fights back against his taloned grasp. This is the face of heartless control and abuse, this is the face of those who made the Metroids an enemy to life in the galaxy. They used these animals to commit atrocities, like throwing the condemned to a pack of starved wolves. This is what playing god looks like. And now the Hunter must cut him down to size.
Really nice thing about Metroid as a series? The Metroids themselves are both presented as incredibly terrifying creatures with the after-effects of their lifeforce draining being showcased disturbingly, particularly in Super Metroid and Prime 3 (GFS Valhalla, anyone?) yet the overall narrative framing of them still makes it pretty clear that nothing in the series is really their fault, the danger they pose is entirely due to outside factors like the Space Pirates and Phazon. Even though them starting to show up in any given game is usually a sign that you're entering The Hard Part, they're still just creatures at the end of the day and treated very sympathetically; Space Pirates abusing them is specifically called out in some of the Prime 2 scan entries.
Pride month is ending and I never got to kiss my girlfriend once :(