#Also I know that using the DS sprites for these might be confusing because the DS characters are different from the 64 ones

[browniesnivy]

Harvest Moon 64 Memes

Been playing a lot of Harvest Moon 64 lately.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Podoboo

Debut: Super Mario Bros.

Before I start this post, I’d like to clear something up. Podoboo? Yes, Podoboo! I’m well aware these enemies are often called Lava Bubbles and that’s the name Nintendo has been trying to make standardised these days, but you know what? You can’t make me! Podoboo is a lot cuter, plus its the name I grew up with and changes in society scare me and cause me to lash out! Maybe Lava Bubble is closer to the Japanese name of just “Bubble”, but since when has that been a factor in any of the localised names? Do you really want to refer as Lakitu as “Jugemu”, huh? I’ll have you know one of my civil rights as a citizen of Wet Dry World is to refer to Mario enemies with whichever official name I please. Like it or leave it!

So this is a post about Podoboo. Do you like Podoboo? I certainly Podo-do! They are perhaps the most generic design you could give to a Mario enemy, a visibly Dangerous Thing with two eyes, but they have always charmed me! It’s the little things, like their distinct shape and the fact their pupils are somewhat wider than most obstacles like this. They bring me comfort in dire times. No matter what happens, I know Podoboo will be there, jumping at a set height in a particular spot of lava! Without them I would be nothing! 

So simple is their design, isn’t it weird to think they started off as even simpler? The Podoboos in the first SMB game are completely blind, and with no eyes they may as well not be creatures at all! Of course, I’m very glad they are creatures, and their iconic behaviour was there from the start! They love to jump, of course! There is nothing they would rather be doing!

Awaken! As of Super Mario World, they have been gifted sight and are no longer blind to the sins of this world! Hurray! What do you think they see as they jump up and down? I’m surprised it doesn’t make them dizzy!

You’ll be glad to hear Podoboos have had an expansive career ever since, now with their new trademark eyes! After all, they are THE lava enemy! Anywhere you’ve got that tasty hot fire juice, these guys are soon to follow! Here they are in Super Mario RPG, called Sparkies here because they couldn’t make up their minds on a localized name and probably because they confused them with Li’l Sparkies. In Yoshi’s Story they even called them Spark Spooks! Geez, I’ll even take the name Lava Bubble over this! But doesn’t this render look nice and juicy?

Though any great career has its flops, and I have to say... I am usually the first to campaign for the unique designs from the first three Paper Marios, but I do not really like this Lava Bubble! This takes away from their distinct Mario-y charm and makes them look like a Fire Enemy you could find in any other game! Though in the RPGs they are able to float around without needing any lava, the ones in Super Paper Mario act just like the platformer ones, jumping around despite not looking like they should be doing that! Ok!

The Podoboo from New Super Mario Bros. DS just wasn’t trying very hard at all. Come on! They could’ve it a bit more justice than this! 

Ah, there we go! The Podoboos in New Super Mario Bros. Wii decided to finally stop messing about and go back to what everyone loved from them in Super Mario World. I encourage experimenting with your identity, of course, but it’s good to be back, and now they are more mortal than ever! A single shot from an Ice Flower is enough to instantly vaporize a Podoboo in a puff of smoke, which is a bit scary! Are they really just pure fireballs that can be put out just like that? What a frightening life to live!

And in Super Mario Galaxy 2, they... hey, wait!! You took away their eyes again! Now you are just being inconsiderate. This outraged me as a kid! One of my most vivid memories of playing this game with my brother involved chanting “Podoboo rights! They deserve eyes!” because this upset me so much. Maybe my past as an activist is why I am so passionate about Mario enemies these days... I think I was 100 percent correct in hindsight, and now you know some of my backstory, too!

What relief it gave me to find out they were back to their usual selves in 3D Land! And they have been ever since, of course getting redesigned for the modern Paper Mario games and everything. 

What’s this? Blue Podoboos! Podo-blues, even...! They show up in 3D World, in its incredibly cool-looking blue lava levels! It’s a well known fact that blue fire is objectively cooler than red fire, and it seems even the Podoboos wanted in on the action! Blue Lava is an actual phenomenon I’ve just learnt, though it’s a sulfuric fire rather than lava. Could it be that Podoboos, being made entirely of lava, adapt to their environment? I’m not sure...

As an aside, the blue Lava Bubbles aren’t to be confused with Lava Bubble (Blue), which are from Mario Galaxy and show up during King Kaliente’s fight! They hop around on the ground and have square-ish eyes, which is enough to make them different I guess!

The Podoboo’s next big appearance, in Super Mario Odyssey, was in Soup! Yes you heard me- Soup! Some delightfully pepto-bismol pink coloured soup, no less. This is why I wasn’t too sure about Podoboo’s being able to adapt to their environment earlier- the Luncheon Kingdom is a big soup volcano after all, but the fact these Lava Bubbles are able to live in it is very interesting!

There is simply no way I would talk about Odyssey here without talking about possibly its greatest achievement, the best game design decision ever made! After decades of begging from fans, they finally did the impossible- they made Podoboo playable! Now it is Podo-you! It is quite unlike the other captures in the game, since it keeps the Podoboo’s simple-looking eyes and simply adds onto it a nose and a mustache! You may very well be the world’s first Podoboo with a sense of smell! I wonder if that is a benefit or not. The constant smell of soup might be a bit overpowering. 

Not only is this delightful, but it gives us more insight into the life of the humble Podoboo. First of all is the fact that they can swim around in lava, not just jump in one spot! Do you think they do this when we aren’t looking? I really hope so! Imagine a school of Podoboos swimming through molten lava in a castle’s moat. How delightful! 

The Luncheon Kingdom is also home to a number of Lava cannons, marked with a Podoboo’s lovely face. These are cannons for only for Podoboos to launch themselves across the kingdom, from one body of lava to another! My question is whether this was technology made by Podoboos themselves or whether it was made by some generous Podoboo lovers as some lava equivalent to the Fish Tube. I think I would take either explanation! 

And last I have a Podoboo appearance that even I, the world’s biggest Podoboo fan, didn’t know about! Paper Mario Color Splash has a Big Lava Bubble boss which speaks with you through a Shy Guy translator! It is quite upset that you barged into its volcano and decided to change the temperature. Mario, of course, kills it anyway, and also the Shy Guy translator without a second thought.

Still, just take a look at this sprite sheet! How cute! A little disappointing that they thinned out the eyes, but wow! They more than make up for it with this range of expressions! An angry Podoboo! A sad Podoboo! And my personal favorite is of course the shocked Podoboo with its assymetrical dot eyes, which might be one of the best things I’ve ever seen. 

To be honest, I could talk about Podoboo forever! If you didn’t stop me, I would go on all day about their every appearance, but I kind of had to limit myself to some of the most relevant ones. I just think they’re neat! And cute! And silly! Besides, I’m Mod F Boy, so I’m basically obliged to talk about fireballs with eyes! But for now I must bid you Pod-adieu! 

...Not! What, did you really believe me? Well you clicked the Keep Reading button, so you only have yourself to blame for this. Here I am talking about more Lava Bubbles from all over, because Lava Bubble’s career has taken it BEYOND the Mario series! Wow!

Podoboo’s had quite a few appearance in the Zelda series, appearing in Link’s Awakening, both the Oracle games, and even Cadence of Hyrule! Their Zelda wiki page is still called Podoboo instead of Lava Bubble, which means those Zelda fans have it better than we do. But wow, this is a pretty angry looking Podoboo! I wouldn’t mess with them! 

Both the Oracle games even had a Podoboo Tower! Amazing! They look quite a lot like a Fire Snake, but they are simply a tower of Podoboos! Why don’t they do this more often?

Hm... The Cadence of Hyrule one doesn’t have any eyes. Come on guys! It’s 2019! Podoboos having eyes should be standard! Though they still made the conscious decision to call them “Podoboos” in 2019, so I can’t be too mad. 

And they have even spread to Minecraft! In the Mario Mash-up Pack, they replace the Magma Cube enemies, and really there was no better choice for this. And now we have a Podoboo Cube! What more could possibly be left for Podoboo?

The answer is obvious- Podoboo in real life! Thanks to a certain Lego Mario set, Podoboo is now real and can be in your home for the small price of 19,99 US dollars. Please give a Podoboo a home today! Just make sure you don’t own anything flammable. 

[theoriginoffire]

Second tierlist, for the boys! It was also posted to my main, but I’m going to expand on it here. You can find the girl one here. 

I either don’t like you too much or you’re forced as an ‘option’

I’M SORRY EVERYONE, I JUST DON’T LIKE LLOYD. I don’t even have a good reason. 

That said, I don’t really hate any of the dude characters. Calvin’s down here because I vaguely remember him being sexist, though it’s more interesting to me that a glitch stops you from marrying him in Tree of Tranquillity at all. Pete/Jack on the other hand is the only marriage option for the gameboy colour game, and I’m not to thrilled about that, but I don’t dislike him or anything.

No personal interest

Sorry fellas, you’re just not my type? After playing more of SoS I think I’d put Raeger higher since he’s kinda funny, but I wouldn’t date him. 

Unique?

A cut above ‘no personal interest’ because I have a bit more respect for ‘em. This varies, though, so I’ll run through:

Bob has a body type you don’t usually see in candidates. Angelo does art. Julian is rather feminine and I think that’s neat. Gustafa is weird but, like the other Forget-Me-Not candidates, he breaks the mould. Dan is...well he’s got a gambling problem but this negative aspect makes him stand out. Klaus is a modern older-bachelor type that actually looks older. His first event is strange, though. Skye was added so people would have eye candy for DS Cute and, while he annoys me, I still respect his inclusion and army of fangirls. Mikhail ... has a violin? Idk. His design intrigues me. I haven’t actually met him yet!

Mason is REALLY interesting, but he doesn’t have a face and ends the game so he’s pretty low. 

Harvest King is also a fantastic inclusion to AP in my opinion, but if I were putting in that much effort, I think I’d rather woo the Goddess. 

Oh You Know

A lot of these dudes are fandom-hated or mean in general. But I like them for that reason. I don’t think Brandon or Allen or Kappa are nice, but I LOVE poking fun at them, so I appreciate their existence as a result. This is essentially the ‘Would Date For the Lolz’ tier. 

I know Jamie is a lot higher on my ladies list, but consider that the extent of my divided opinion!

I like you but not THAT much

I suppose this is similar to the ‘friends’ tier on the ladies’ list. I’m not too interested in marrying them, but I’d be inclined to raise their friendship some.

I should marry them...

Fellas I’ve considered dating but it’d take time and effort that I don’t have. They weren’t top priority on my first playthrough. Lots of interesting routes, though!

Why did I marry them...?

A confusing tier to be in. I never got around to marrying Dirk, but I’ve married both Carter and Rod. Rod is really sweet and nice, I just... hate his clothes, and personality-wise I prefer a few of the other candidates. I’m really sorry Rod, you deserved better. 

Carter is, uh. The oldest man of oldest men, and deluded to boot. I mostly married him to get a specific child sprite. He has a really funny blushing face, though, and I’m going to use that to validate my decision. 

With Dirk, it’s simply a change in taste. He looks pretty young in Bazaar, and I was young when I was interested in him. But nowadays I’d rather marry ...

Ivan

... Ivan. He gets a special tier because I liked his name so much that I named my mascot OC after him. I’ve never really fancied him, per se, but I think he’s well dressed and is my top choice for GB. 

Married ‘em or was going to

My various husbands. I’m not as certain about Hiro anymore, but the last time I played ToTT I was pursuing him. Mistel has dropped a few tiers since I first made this, I’d rather date Elise. Like his sister, Mistel is written quite poorly, and he doesn’t even like birds! It’s hard for me to trust people that don’t like birds...

Ludus was my replacement for marrying Inari after finding out I can’t have kids, and...he’s pretty nice! I respect him and his hardworking nature. I’m not as crazy about him as I am about Doctor, though, who I’ve married a few times.

Soseki is ... unusual. I’ve come to love him, despite how much I hate his ‘ohh nooo I’m so old’ shtick. C’mon dude, you’re only pushing 30. He’s got a rather mysterious backstory and his trust issues are explored in his heart dialogue. I think he has a lot of potential, so I married him, and I still ship him with my MC, Duck!

WE HAVE HISTORY

My all-time favourites. 

Pierre is one I’m not super interested in anymore, his face is baby, but I hardcore crushed on him when I was 13, so I still have a lot of respect for his character. I like seeing Gourmet family lore, and he makes a lot of funny faces, as well as having a personality centring around the culinary arts. I like food.

Carl has a whole entire tragic backstory attached to him, but long story short, you can only play as a boy in the EU version of Magical Melody. I really wanted to marry him bad, but had to marry Kate instead. Nowadays I have means of playing the USA version and I was finally able to marry him. I think he’s great. A polite fellow with a big dream.

Gill is just really good, probably my top favourite. He comes off as cold and aloof, but as the son of the mayor he cares deeply about the town(s) he lives in, and in turn warms to the farmer because of their work ethic. He might be distant at first, but not in the same way that Vaughn and Neil are. I’m just a bit soft for his character type, that’s all.

[bregee13]

How does TR affect botRapo? And a new Bot?

botRapo is an accidental fusion of the generic male and female Raposa. They are fully aware that they and their world exists in a game. Errr games? In terms of lore, they are directly connected to the code of the game. In fact, due to the nature of BotRapo's existence, they are directly rooted in the code's very core. Afterall, they are a fusion of what is essentially two different Raposa templates. So how would newer games affect them, their world, and their existence?

Well first off, they were based entirely on the generic sprites in the first game. So you could say that's their origin sort of.

Their code wasn't involved at all with the Wii game (which is a non canon game), so they probably wouldn't be there. And if there was a character like them in that game's code, it would be a coincidence. It would either be a non-canon version of bot or a new character all together.

Since a bunch of sprites from the first game was used in TNC and that many new sprites were based on the old generic ones, it is very likely that botRapo would be in TNC also! But what exactly does that mean?

If botRapo is in both DS games, how does that work? Does that mean there's two different botRapos? If so, they'd be clones to some degree? Do they know each other? Does TNC bot have DTL bot memories? If we look at the Collection bundle, would they be able to interact with their clone there? Would the Collection have one or two bots? What if there's only one botRapo and they only exist in the most recently updated game they are in? What if there is MANY different versions of botRapo that fit all of these circumstances?! And while they technically have multiple versions of themselves, the main version would be the one with the most memories. The main bot would be the one that exists in the most updated version of the game as they have memory of all versions of the games they were in. But what about the other versions of botRapo? The outdated versions of botRapo would be permanently stuck in their respective versions of the games. Meaning they'd be trapped in a world where everything seems to stay the same. The main bot would be aware of their many clones who are either blissfully unaware or are suffering horribly. BotRapo has probably come to the conclusion that the Creator doesn't care for them or their world because of this. That certainly explains why they're so mad a lot of the time.

But now we're at the most important question. How does Drawn to Life: Two Realms affect botRapo? I honestly don't know. On one hand, it's a canon game. So the rest of the Leopard Gang would be able to move on to TR without even noticing it. But botRapo is so deeply connected to the sprites and code from the DS  games they might be tied to them in a way that they won't be able to move on from the DS games. This is due to the TR sprites being brand new. The only way botRapo can move on to TR is if their code was put in there in some sort of way.

So it sadly looks like botRapo will end up stuck in TNC while the rest of the Leopard Gang move on to TR without them. Which is going to be very sad especially for Layla who has really grown to like bot. To her and the rest of the gang it'd be as if botRapo has disappeared from nowhere and died. be I wonder if Two Realms will have any generic Raposa. If so then there might be a new character similar to bot in terms of how they were made. A new Raposa Fusion made for Drawn to Life: Two Realms. They'd likely be a completely different character despite being in a similar situation. I envision their design to be reverse of BotRapo's. (Really tall instead of really short, and Male/Female sides being swapped) I think that this new character would meet the Leopard Gang right away and try to be really friendly with them (especially to Layla after they learn about botRapo). It would also be cool if this new character and the Leopard Gang were to try to get botRapo back. After all, TR will probably get updates after release! And all the ones that weren't that fond of bot would learn to appreciate them.

...You know, thinking about this might technically be pointless to some degree. Because I had decided a few months ago that The Leopard Gang is actually a fictional series within the Rapo World. So this might not even matter. In fact the whole meta with botRapo is very confusing when you look deep into it like this. That kinda sounds accurate to a bunch of comic book series (Which The Leopard Gang franchise definitely has).

So what do you all think? Does any of my ramblings make any sense? Do you think botRapo will be separated from the rest of the gang? What name should I give this new fusion character? Let me know!