Tropers take Metroid headcanon very seriously:
"Related to Samus being wlw; you can pry my trans Samus headcanon out of my cold, dead hands. Samus is still absolutely trans though. It's just science."
"Sneering at a trans headcanon (especially in a "lol, I'll beat you up or otherwise forcefully silence you" way), or for that matter headcanon rep for any minority (especially one with poor representation) comes across very differently to performative anger at, say, a ship you don't like.
"Eww, no Samus isn't allowed to be trans,
You Monster!!" has a very
different message to "Samus would never like pineapple on pizza,
You Monster!!"."
"A lot of fanwork I've seen goes "yeah Samus is gay but she isn't actively dating anyone, she just lives alone with her cat"."
"It's perfectly reasonable for Samus to pick up girls while hanging out at the bar."