What I loved about Samus's body language and character in Metroid Other M.

At the time of its release Other M had the most amount of cutscenes where Samus was fully animated. These cutscenes are highly detailed and really showcased Samus's overall character through body language, and dialogue as well.

Many of these scenes are some of my favorites throughout the whole series in regard to Samus herself.

As had been the case with its predecessors, Other M depicts a major aspect of who Samus is. Outside of being a ferocious warrior, she is also a caring, kind hearted, and compassionate woman.

This aspect of her character was seen when she spared the Baby Metroid on SR-388 even though it was her mission to exterminate the Metroid species in Metroid II,

when she saved the Dachora and Etecoons from the exploding Planet Zebes in Super Metroid,

when she mourned the fallen Marines and Bounty Hunters in Metroid Prime 2 & Metroid Prime 3,

etc.

I would like to showcase just a few of the scenes from Other M that display these sides of Samus, particularly from the end of the game.

Near the end, Samus is tasked with saving a survivor in a room called MW.

When she eventually reaches MW she finds a woman (who is later revealed to be Madeline Bergman) hiding in one of the many side rooms of MW.

Seeing Madeline through the glass window of the door, Samus needs to get Madeline's attention and goes to knock on the door. However she knows Madeline must be terrified so she briefly hesitates by lightly releasing her clenched fist and clenching it again, then instead of knocking, more gently taps the door.

Samus didn't want to scare Madeline, but still needed to get her attention.

Despite Samus's best efforts, Madeline was still scared. Even though it didn't work, this shows Samus was still conscious of Madeline's state of mind and tried her best to not startle her.

Still being scared and panicked, Madeline opens the door to let the Queen Metroid out to keep Samus occupied.

Samus fights and kills the Queen, while Madeline runs off. She eventually catches up to Madeline.

At this point there's a large gap between Samus and Madeline, despite this, Samus slows her pace not wanting to scare Madeline again, who is seen desperately trying to open a locked door.

When Samus closes in, Madeline yells at Samus to not come any closer, Samus stops immediately upon hearing Madeline. Even so, Madeline yells at her again the same thing. Samus remains still. Now Madeline turns around and says: "stay away from me".

Without getting any closer to Madeline, Samus waits a few moments in silence before she tries to calm Madeline down saying "easy", then proceeds to say she won't come any closer unless Madeline says so.

Still without moving closer to Madeline, Samus raises her left hand to her chest and introduces herself as Samus Aran and an independent bounty hunter.

By the look in Madeline's eyes, she seems to recognize the name Samus. Samus then states she knows the situation and how Madeline must feel, and that she's there to secure Madeline's safety.

After a long pause Madeline relaxes the tension in her body and slowly lowers her left arm, which had been raised flush to the door behind her out of fear.

Now, Samus gently asks "May I come closer?" Madeline nods "yes" and Samus begins to walk over to her.

Within this whole exchange, Samus not once raised her voice or yelled at Madeline, she wasn't angry or impatient (despite Madeline previously unleashing a Queen Metroid upon her).

We see Samus wanted to save Madeline and get her to safety. She didn't take Madeline by force, even though she clearly could have. She even kept her arm cannon lowered the whole time.

If Samus wanted to she could have either raised her arm cannon at Madeline to force her to comply or she could have easily ran over to Madeline and grab her by force, she didn't do either of these; the method Samus chose was to calmly converse with the woman, to make her feel at ease.

Samus wanted Madeline to feel as comforted as possible during this whole ordeal.

Immediately upon hearing Madeline yell at her, Samus stops in her tracks. She respected Madeline's wish for her to keep her distance, and just as before in room MW, she understood Madeline's mindset of a woman who is panicked from this horrible situation, where all of her coworkers had been slaughtered (Samus herself survived the slaughter of her colony when she was a child).

Samus is patient and waits through several long pauses, she doesn't want to startle or scare a victim. She gently tries to calm Madeline down with words like "easy", and tells Madeline her name and occupation (independent bounty hunter) to lay the foundation of connecting with her on a personal level.

She didn't want to seem like a "powerful scary robot" she wanted to connect to Madeline on a human level.

After this connection has been formed, we see Madeline truly trusts Samus with her life. 

Later when MB (Melissa Bergman, Madeline's android "daughter") and the additional Federation soldiers show up, we see Madeline hiding behind Samus, trusting she'll protect her. We also see Samus deliberately place her own self in front to shield Madeline from any harm (and physically keeping Madeline back with her left arm).

And during the confusion of the situation, Samus is shown to go as far as turning her arm cannon against the Federation soldiers to protect Madeline.

After MB is killed and the Federation come to bring Madeline into custody, we see Samus try to reach out to Madeline but is stopped by the Federation Colonel (who is implied to be part of an illegal sect of the Federation responsible for the creation of MB).

At one point this Colonel taunts Samus about the fact Adam, her temporary Platoon commander, is dead and how that makes Samus an "outsider" who can't have contact with the witness (Madeline).

He also taunts Samus about her "illegal cargo" (taking the Baby Metroid from SR-388), after this Samus turns and glares intensely at the Colonel.

(Gif is slowed down from original footage)

After cutting himself short of yet another taunt aimed at Samus, the Colonel tells someone to "escort the lady".

Samus doesn't move, she stays still. Even when the Federation soldier who goes escort her grabs her arm and tugs to get her to move, she stands still (and slightly clenches her left fist).

(Zoomed in and slowed down from previous gif)

This suggests Samus was contemplating what to do next, how should she handle this situation feeling Madeline is being wrongfully taken in and/or fearing for Madeline's safety? Samus may would have done something to prevent this.

We don't know exactly what that "something" would be, as Anthony, a member of Adam's 07th Platoon who was presumed dead, is revealed to be alive and the same Federation soldier who came to escort Samus. Upon recognizing his voice Samus turns her head to look at him, and is put at ease.

With Anthony still alive, this reinstated Samus's status on the Bottle Ship as official, allowing her and Anthony to take Madeline into custody instead.

The scene ends with Anthony winking and giving Samus a thumbs up, with her nodding and smiling in response.

There's a plethora of scenes of Samus from Other M which I really like and could analyze as well, such as her banter with Anthony,

her clenching her fist out of anxiety during a long elevator ride,

or the way she tilts her head before confronting the Queen Metroid.

I won't go deeper into these, as I don't wish for this post to be much longer.

In only the few scenes I've shown from Other M, with just her body language alone, we can see so much of her feelings and personality; from her concerns, compassion, anxiety, anger/frustration, to her happiness, which all shows who Samus is.

What she does and doesn't do, even her body language, are all directly tied to her own trauma and self anointed mission: save the people of the galaxy, no matter how dangerous, even at the expense of her own safety or life; don't let anyone go through the pain she suffered at the hands of the wicked.

I really loved how this aspect of her was portrayed in Metroid Other M.

See you next mission!