In the Japanese Nintendo GameCube version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian is implied to be a transgender woman but is often treated as male. While various other characters and narrative text describe Vivian using masculine terms such as otoko ("man"), and otōto ("little brother"), Vivian initially describes The Three Shadows as san shimai "three sisters",and routinely uses the feminine[8] first-person pronoun atai. Furthermore, she becomes upset when Beldam insults her by referring to her with masculine terms.
In both her party profile in The Thousand-Year Door and her Catch Card in Super Paper Mario, Vivian is referred to using the term 「オトコのコ」, otokonoko; being written in katakana, this should be read as 男の子 ("boy") but could be read as 男の娘 (otokonoko, literally "male daughter", a Japanese-language term that refers to a feminine-presenting or cross-dressing man). However, the latter term was not in any documented use until 2006, two years after the original GameCube release, and the former term is also used in Koops's party description, making it extremely unlikely that the latter interpretation was intended.
In the original English and German localizations of the game, explicit reference to Vivian being transgender is removed, as are instances where peers and flavor text refer to her with masculine terms. Consequently, Beldam's insults are changed to be gender-neutral. However, all other localized versions of the game contain a version closer to the original. The original Italian version more explicitly identifies Vivian as a trans woman; her description as a party member states that "she used to be a man, but now she's a woman and proud of it," a sentiment that she reiterates during her initial appearance.
