#Especially when it comes to Bowser & co.

[superthatguy62]

Mario & Luigi Brothership: Something interesting about Bowser & his minions

Spoilers, kinda.

An interesting anecdote from one of the islanders on Offandon, despite Bowser arguably being portrayed in a more villainous light than most Mario RPGs that don't have him as the main villain which is further evidence that M&L Bowser = best Bowser.

[supersmashreaderz]

Baking a Cake With The Smash Fighters(Part 2)

Smash Fighter x Reader

Part 3 Coming Soon!

Chrs: Peach, Bowser, Zelda, Sheik, Ness, Ganondorf, Marth, Roy, Pikachu and Pichu

Reader is GN!

Princess Peach:

Baking a cake with Princess Peach is like working alongside a master chef(practically the goddess of baking). She’s elegant, precise, and effortlessly graceful in the kitchen. Peach is always cheerful, offering you encouraging words as you work together. She has a knack for making even the most complicated steps seem easy. Peach shares little tips and tricks she’s learned over the years, making the experience fun and educational. Together, you create a perfectly sweet and beautifully decorated cake, with Peach adding a signature peach on top. At the end, she gives you a warm smile and says, “Thank you for helping me, this turned out beautifully!”

Bowser:

Unlike Princess Peach, Bowser’s approach to baking is loud, boisterous, and slightly chaotic. His massive claws aren’t exactly built for delicate work, so you often find yourself guiding him carefully. Despite his rough appearance, he’s surprisingly enthusiastic and eager to please, especially when it comes to impressing you. Bowser grumbles when things don’t go his way, but he quickly recovers, insisting that you’re doing great. He may add too much of something (like sugar), making the cake a bit unbalanced, but it’s still delicious. Bowser proudly presents the final result with a gruff smile, his cheeks slightly flushed as he says, “Told ya we’d make it awesome!”

Falco:

Baking with Falco feels like working with a co-pilot in the kitchen. He’s confident, a little cocky, but surprisingly skilled. He jokes and teases you throughout the process, acting like he’s the pro here, but there’s no denying he’s having fun. You’ll catch him sneaking tastes of the batter and pretending not to, but he’s quick to get things back on track when needed. Once the cake is in the oven, he leans back and casually says, “Told ya, nothing to it.�� The end result is solid, and Falco looks smugly pleased, especially when you compliment his flying-themed cake decorations.

Zelda:

Baking with Princess Zelda is a calming and magical experience. She’s gentle and thoughtful, guiding you through each step with care. Zelda uses her magic to help speed up certain tasks, but she’s also deeply invested in the traditional process. Together, you create a cake that’s not only delicious but also beautifully decorated, with intricate designs made by Zelda’s careful hands. She smiles softly throughout, enjoying the peaceful time you spend together. When the cake is done, Zelda offers a soft compliment, “You did wonderfully. I hope we can bake together again.”

Sheik:

Baking with Sheik is unexpectedly efficient and smooth. Despite being more focused on combat and stealth, Sheik’s precision translates well to the kitchen. Sheik moves silently, with an air of mystery, and you find yourself impressed by her quiet confidence. While she doesn’t say much, there’s an unspoken camaraderie as you work together. Sheik seems to enjoy the peaceful break from her usual activities, and though she remains mostly composed, you catch a hint of a smile when the cake turns out perfectly.

Ness:

Baking with Ness is pure fun and chaos. He’s constantly excited, bouncing around the kitchen, eager to try every step. He often rushes ahead, which sometimes leads to messes, but his enthusiasm makes it hard to be upset. You both end up covered in flour and batter at one point, laughing the whole time. Ness loves decorating the cake, adding as many colorful toppings as possible. By the end, it might not be the neatest cake, but it’s full of fun and personality. Ness proudly presents it, his grin wide, “This is the best cake ever!”

Ganondorf:

Okay....Baking with Ganondorf is an experience you wouldn’t expect. He’s serious and stoic, handling everything with intensity, as if baking a cake is a battle to be won(to the point it's almost terrifying). His heavy-handed approach can lead to some smashed ingredients, but surprisingly, he’s very capable and doesn’t mind following instructions. You’re the one who lightens the mood, and despite his usual demeanor, you notice his efforts to make the experience enjoyable for you. When the cake is done, Ganondorf stares at it with pride, offering a rare, gruff compliment, “It turned out well… thanks to my power.”

Marth:

Baking with Marth is elegant and refined. He’s polite and charming, treating the whole process with grace. He’s surprisingly skilled, delicately handling the ingredients and ensuring every step is followed perfectly. Marth pays attention to detail, making sure the cake is as visually appealing as it is delicious. Throughout the process, you exchange light conversation, and he occasionally shares stories from his homeland. By the end, the cake is a work of art, and Marth offers you a sweet smile, “It was an honor to bake with you. This cake is a testament to our teamwork.”

Roy:

Roy is full of energy in the kitchen, which makes baking with him exciting but sometimes chaotic. He’s eager to help, but his enthusiasm sometimes causes spills or slight mishaps. Still, he’s quick to laugh at himself and keep going. He gets a bit competitive, trying to do things faster or better, but it only adds to the fun. You both end up with flour in your hair and batter on your clothes, but Roy’s smile never fades. The final cake may be a bit rough around the edges, but Roy is beaming with pride as he declares, “We did it! This cake is gonna be awesome!”

Pikachu and Pichu:

Baking with Pikachu and Pichu is adorable, though quite the challenge. They try to help, but their small size means you do most of the heavy lifting. Pikachu helps out with little electric shocks to speed up mixing, while Pichu excitedly runs around, trying not to cause accidents. It’s a bit of a mess, but their enthusiasm makes it all worth it. By the end, you’ve created a cute, colorful cake that both Pikachu and Pichu are proud of. They both celebrate by sharing little happy shocks, and you all sit down to enjoy the cake together.

[oh-hell-help-me]

July 15: Be A Dork Day

Luigi knew himself to be a grade-A dork.

He knew it. His brother knew it. Peach knew it. Even Bowser and the Koopalings knew it before they considered him a part of their family.

It was a facet of himself he accepted and even embraced around his friends and family.

Sometimes, however, it can be a bit chaffing to not be taken seriously. Especially after he became a Hero in his own right- never mind his new position as a co-ruler.

So, when he realized what day was coming soon, he had an idea that might just work.

First, he asked Bowser if he wanted a break from court hearings.

The Koopa looked wistful at the thought, but he is quick to disparage the suggestion. After all, hearings were a necessary evil, as the drawbacks tend to entail frustrating discussions that may actually lead to some sort of improvement to the Kingdom.

It was also impossible since it required Koopa Royalty to be readily available to the Kingdom’s citizens.

Luigi was quick to point out that he was now part of that Royalty. And yes, he knew exactly what that entailed.

The vehemence behind it was enough for the Koopa to close his mouth with a click.

More gently, Luigi also pointed out that he noticed the stress that has been getting to him. Heck, Bowser’s time after the recent hearings has been cut with an hour or so of enforced relaxation.

Hours that are undone by paperwork right after.

Bowser glanced away, sheepish, but Luigi’s hand on his muzzle guided his gaze back to him.

He urges him to take the opportunity- maybe take one of the Koopalings for some company.

After some contemplation, Bowser concedes- if Luigi promises to ask for help if the citizens give him trouble.

He promises and says that he can handle it.

(If he leaves out how he’ll ‘handle it’, then it’s no one’s concern but his.)

…

The first day of hearings had been greeted with a dramatically changed Throne Room.

The blazers were dimmed, the lava was concealed (except for the falls behind the podiums), and his throne was situated lower than usual- placed where the lava’s light would only light him from the back.

Perfect, for what Luigi planned to do.

By the time the first citizen waltzed into the Throne Room, Luigi had long since settled himself on his throne, casually splayed and wearing a crown instead of his signature hat.

The Koopa that came in had slowed down as he approached, almost looking apprehensive for a second before seemingly registering that he was looking at Luigi, not the Koopa King.

(Luigi would never voice it, but the flippancy and moment of distaste he saw in the citizen's eyes made him feel uncharacteristically spiteful.)

"Where's the King?"

"Having a vacation." Luigi couldn't exactly see his own face, but friends in his high school's theatre club have called it his 'devil-may-die glare'. He never actually looked in a mirror to see it, but the Koopa's reaction as he lets the light pass over his face is priceless.

"Th-then I can come back-"

"There is no need." He eases forward, crossing his legs and primly twining his hands together to rest his chin on his knuckles. "I am right here, am I not?"

"Yes, but-"

"Do you, or do you not have important business here?" And maybe Luigi is laying it on thick, because he now has a suspicion that this is the same Koopa that bothered Bowser over his position as royalty- still questioning the decision after they married, after they had worked to improve the Kingdom's near famine, even after Luigi worked his butt off to contribute in every way he could-

"Of course!" And this isn't helped when the Koopa seems to rally under some sort of inflated snobbery. "I just feel that the matter should be handled by someone-"

"Someone what?" And Luigi didn't raise his voice, but the delivery is what he focused on when he cut off the sentence.

"I, ah-" The Koopa was certainly unsettled, maybe even scared by the way his head sunk into his shell.

Silence.

"If there is not a reason that makes myself unpreferable," He lets his eyes narrow, and the Koopa's flinch was all he needed to know that he didn't slip from nearly laughing at the situation. "Then you may be granted audience."

The Koopa's hearing was short and benign, after that, but the citizens who came after became more and more respectful as time went on.

The rumor mill is better than he thought.

Though he hopes that this doesn't get back to Bowser.

…

(When Bowser came back from his break, he was never told how exactly the court hearings went, but the collective change of disposition towards his husband was visible.)

(He’s… not sure he wants to know, but he feels like he should be proud.)

[cthulhusstepmom]

Price is so right for chucking soaps freezer meal those things are crimes against humanity also love that gaz is an accessory to the crime 😂

BUT IMMA BE HONEST REPTILE GUY SOAP IS OCCUPYING A NOT INSIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF MY BRAIN!! Do you think hes a snake guy? A lizard guy? Turtle dude maybe? Dude is 1000% in love w crocs and gators tho. Probably what sparked his love of all things scaly when he was younger. What do you wanna bet he was one of the kids chasing frogs and looking for tadpoles throughout childhood? Probably stumbled over a common lizard basking in the sun while glomping thru a park or something and spent the afternoon falling more and more in love.

Consumed any and every morsel of age appropriate reptile info, eventually became a dinosaur kid etc. but also carried that love of them into adulthood. Imma bet he always wanted one as a pet, but bc he enlisted so young he never got the chance. Maybe he gets inspired by the communal tank to start looking into it 👀👀

Anyways i love ur fish lore so much ❤️❤️❤️

You are(as always) right on my wavelength!!

In my head Soap's dad is a reptile person and his mom is an animal person so he definitely gets it from somewhere. When he was young, Soap's parents kept all the herps locked up, both for his safety and the reptiles' God knows Soap was an exuberant and curious kiddo. It's only after they find him in the backyard flat out on his stomach at 4 years old, hand outstretched and a wild little lizard sitting in his palm that they realize just how empathetic he is. After that he gets to play with the reptiles more, always supervised of course. But he grows up surrounded by scaly critters, the equivalent of his childhood dog is a black and white Argentine tegu named Buddy who's turning 23 this year. He spends his days running around and getting into everything, carefully bringing back his catches to take pictures of before running them back to put exactly where he found them.

One day he comes home from primary school with a bloody nose and a black eye, discipline slip clutched in his hand. At recess some of his classmates had been throwing rocks at a little frog that had wandered into the playground and, when Soap had told them to stop, threw a book and ended up killing the little amphibian and little Soap beat the shit out of them with limited success(it was four against one you gotta give the little man credit). Soap's parents show up to the meeting with the headmaster and the parents of the other students with Primrose: a 17 1/2 foot reticulated python. After that meeting they go to the zoo and little Soap declares that one day he's going to have a crocodile that he can feed bullies to.

Having enlisted at such a young a young age Soap doesn't have many animals to his name, just two. A 14 year old ball python he rescued named Martha and a 3 year old bearded dragon named Bowser, both left in the capable care of his parents.

While he doesn't have the facilities to have a reptile on base and, despite popular belief, he does have impulse control....sometimes, he somehow ends up with quite the collection. The thing about soldiers, especially stupid ass new recruits, is that they make a lot of bad decisions (I mean they are soldiers so their track record is already in the negative). And Soap can't bear to see any animal suffer from improper care so he ends up operating a rescue out of his quarters. He's taken in everything from corn snakes to baby asian water monitors and on one very memorable occasion a surprisingly chill sidewinder.

He keeps it all very top secret, the only one he trusts is Laswell she takes care of feeding everybody when he's gone. It's not that he doesn't trust his team but it wouldn't be the first time he'd had a usually rational CO go ballistic. One time when he'd first enlisted and he was missing home, he'd found a little garden snake and was playing with it when his lieutenant at the time had seen, ordered him to attention and shot the poor snake in the head laughing as he did. He's learned the hard way that machismo doesn't mix well with his hobby.

Right now he's lined up a home for a little leopard gecko and a bearded dragon both with pretty bad mbd. A little more difficult to find a place for is the lavender false water cobra he's named Hugo and the 7 foot albino labyrinth burmese python he's calling Wee Man.

With the fish tank he's starting to get comfortable with the idea of bringing the team in on his escapades. But then Ghost shares his trauma with him and it terrifies him. He cannot let Ghost see his snakes, not because he's worried his Lt will hurt them, but because they'll hurt Ghost.

[renapuppy]

i think that the portrayal of Dr Robotnik in modern sonic media is dumb. like.. in the sonic adventure games, Robotnik was kind of an existential threat to the planet and I feel that his portrayal should reflect that.

like.. say what you will about sonic 06'. we all know it was bad, but I feel that they actually had the best portrayal of eggman

he's got the over the top outfit, the evil moustache, the full moon specs what more could you ask for??

like.. they obviously put a lot of effort into the opening cutscenes of sonic 06', but CMON

this is so cool. I look at this screen cap and this tells me that this guy is A Big Deal. this is the kind of person who will rule the world with an iron fist, crush it beneath his heel. but like.. look at him now

I get some of the elements that are still there but he looks goofy AF. this looks like the kind of guy who just got back from band practice, not an evil overlord dictator. I cannot take this guy seriously I swear

and while I'm on the subject, what the heck is up with his name, Eggman? I think it's dumb cos haha he looks like an egg. Really? that's the best you can come up with? in lore it's stated that he grew the accept the name but that's dumb. what kind of moron would drop the badass name Dr. Robotnik in favor of Dr. Eggman. he's supposed to be an evil genius!

the first paramount sonic film did an AMAZING portrayal of Robotnik imo, look at his design! it still fits that evil dictator overlord vibe while still keep some cartoonishness that sonic as a franchise needs

bonus points because Jim Carrey did an absolutely AMAZING performance as Robotnik for both movies. ESPECIALLY when he got the master emerald

like! nothing screams super cool overlord than this right here. dude was literally levitating and bending reality to his will. THATS COOL! WHY CANT WE HAVE MORE OF THAT??

you can have a cartoonish villain that is more than comic relief and has a cool likeable design. just wait till y'all hear me yap about bowser I swear

[fostersffff]

Saw your post about the TTYD remake and I wanted to say that I totally resonate with your description of TTYD being a Papercraft-themed RPG with Super Mario elements. It's one of the reasons the game had never really interested me before…it always felt to me like they made a whole separate paper-themed RPG and then decided at the last minute to put Mario and co in there to increase sales, ha. Actually playing it for the first time via the remake hasn't really changed that opinion, either. At least Super Paper Mario goes full-tilt unapologetic about it being only vaguely Mario-flavored, which makes it endearing in its own way. Meanwhile TTYD is in this weird half-step area about it all.

Anyway, I was wondering about the line between SPM and Sticker Star that you'd alluded to! My assumption was that Sticker Star was an attempt to reset the involvement of the Mario elements back to Square 1 (and over-correcting to Square -1 in the process, somehow) while leaving the amount of RPG-flavoring basically as it was, but I was curious whether this idea was in line with what you were thinking 🙂

Honestly I probably should've clarified what I meant in the actual post, but I'd be happy to do it here:

In Paper Mario, the "paper" part of it was pretty strictly aesthetic. It's especially obvious when you look at how the game was marketed in Japan where it was called "Mario Story"; the "Paper" part was an admittedly charming bit of localization marketing, and to this day I think about how that Nintendo Power ad was maybe one of the greatest print ads of all time.

There is no tangible impact on gameplay (that I can recall) stemming from the fact that the game looks like a pop-up book. In terms of its story, it's also pretty safe in terms of Brand Integrity™ for Mario, even compared to Super Mario RPG: you must save Princess Peach from Bowser, most NPCs are standard Super Mario species with a fun accessory save for a handful of weirdos, all the places you go are totally in line with pre-existing environments in Mario games.

The Thousand-Year Door (tellingly called Paper Mario RPG in Japanese, rather than Mario Story 2) leaned into the paper aesthetic, resulting in the fact that everything was papercraft lending itself to mechanics: you get the curses that turn you into an airplane or boat or roll into a tube or turn sideways to slip through narrow cracks, and a ton of puzzles involve revealing that the obstacle in front of you is a piece of paper overlayed on top of the actual path. It also got a little weirder with the story: the hub is a pirate shanty town built on ancient ruins, you go to the WWE to fight Hulk Hogan and uncover Vince McMahon's sinister conspiracy, there's a murder mystery on a train, the main antagonists are a bizarrely futuristic army hunting for a treasure that is secretly An Ancient Evil. It's not at all a bad game, it's just a very different vibe than the first one.

Like you said, Super Paper Mario is where they got REALLY weird with it- so much so that maybe they would've been better off just making it an original IP if not for the loss of the branding. My post that referred to it as "papercraft" was innacurate, because I was just thinking about the perspective shifting gimmick, which isn't inherently papercraft-related. But the more important thing with Super Paper Mario is that it got Really Weird, but again: that's not a bad thing! I haven't played it in years but I pretty fondly remember SPM.

And then for whatever reason, around this time- late 2000's- Nintendo becomes INCREDIBLY brand conscious about Super Mario, basically to the extent that anything that is not identifiable as a Core Super Mario Element cannot exist. So the time comes for IntSys to make a new Paper Mario game, but they absolutely cannot have it be weird- no interdimensional megalomaniacs, no going to hell and heaven and fighting the usurper god, and for good measures, no existing Super Mario species with accessories, either.

At around the same time, the video game industry at large was kind of in a dark period for RPGs. There was still a lot of good stuff coming out, but the mainstream Western (i.e. The Biggest Market) opinion was that they were outdated and boring. So, IntSys, either by their own volition or at Nintendo's urging, needed to make a sequel to Super Paper Mario that couldn't be weird or have RPG elements from prior installments, which left them with the papercraft gimmicks they messed with in TTYD.

And that's really what Sticker Star felt like: it's just about the papercraft gimmick, which this time around was stickers. It's ostensibly an RPG because combat is turn based, but there's not really any reason to engage with it, because everything is based on your sticker inventory. The bosses are extremely obnoxious slogs unless you bring the correct item that instantly defeats them. Hell, even Origami King, which I did actually like, wasn't an RPG either; it was still turn based, but it had a lot of the same problems.

And Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam... M&L faired a little better in that it got to keep being an RPG, but the two games that came out during the same era as Sticker Star- Dream Team and Paper Jam- placed a much higher emphasis on the weird gimmicks. Like, Bowser's Inside Story's gimmick was "Bowser is a character you can play as!", Paper Jam's gimmick was "Paper Mario is here, which means we can have PAPERCRAFT TANK BATTLES and other Papercraft Gimmicks!"

[greyennui]

GreyEnnui AO3 Works List

Don't Commit

BotW Link/Sheik (Sheik's POV) Status: Ongoing Rating: Explicit Summary: Sheik lies in wait for the Hero of Legend, ready to fulfill his duty to the clan and take out the one person who could stop Lord Ganon. But this kid isn't a Hero. He's weak, unskilled, and knows nothing. Unable to bring himself to do the deed just yet, he instead follows the scrawny blond to Kakariko, determined to learn more. But he finds more than he's bargained for in the village of his enemies, and, against his wishes, his life is turned upside down.

Anger is but Passion Borne of Love (co-writer: @waterho-writes)

Bowuigi Regency Romance Status: Ongoing Rating: Explicit Summary: A Regency-period retelling of Beauty and the Beast, featuring Luigi and Human!Bowser.

A New Companion

BotW Link & Wolf Link (Wolf Link's POV) Status: Hiatus Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Summary: The Hero of Twilight finds himself in a different Hyrule, facing a different Hero, and wearing a different body. Communication is a bit difficult, but they manage.

Gan Doesn't Die at the End

10,000 years before BotW Link/Ganondorf (Link's POV) Status: Ongoing Rating: Explicit Summary: It's ten thousand years before the events of Breath of the Wild, and Princess Zelda and the Sheikah monks are scrambling to prepare for the prophesied coming of the Calamity. When Link—a gifted battle mage from the Zonai tribe—draws the Master Sword, he's thrust into a destiny he doesn't want—one that conflicts with the plans of his new lover, the Gerudo King Ganondorf. Link knows he has to face fate head-on to save Hyrule, but at what cost?

The Hero's Sword

Pre-BotW Link One-Shot (Link's POV) Status: Completed Summary: A twelve-year-old prodigy swordsman has recently arrived at Hyrule's Military Training Camp, where he hears a strange voice calling him into the forest. Link answers the call, against his better judgment.

No Small Thing

Pre-Calamity Link/Zelda One-Shot (Link's POV) Status: Completed Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Summary: Link isn't supposed to have feelings for the princess. He isn't supposed to want to touch her, especially not behind closed doors. Zelda has other plans, and she doesn't hesitate to put them in motion.

Did She Know?

Post-Calamity Link/Zelda One-Shot (Link's POV) Status: Completed Rating: Mature Summary: Link and Zelda get a little closer on a chilly night.

Different

Post-Calamity Link & Zelda One-Shot (Link's POV) Status: Completed Rating: General Audiences Summary: Link and Zelda finally have some peace after defeating the Calamity, and they talk about their feelings.

My Hero, My God

Pre-Skyward Sword Link & Hylia One-Shot (Link's POV) Status: Completed Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Summary: This is how I imagine the Fierce Deity came to be, and what that was like for him.

[itstokkii]

Actually wait. More AU ideas i just remembered:

vamp hunter au: in this au uzb's a vampire hunter who wishes to successfully kill the vampire duke that terrorized their town 10 years ago and since has never let them know peace. she meets and works with turkey, a young vampire noble, whose family hates the duke. she insists that the deal is transactional: he helps her train and improve her hunting skills, she helps kill off the duke's cronies one by one until they make it to the duke himself. however, slowly she finds the vampire's presence more than just tolerable, and everything culminates when they both have to pretend to be engaged in a vampire masquerade...

she ends up killing the vampire duke, looking absolutely disheveled and injured to an inch of her life. as he immediately carries her to medical care, he can't help but stop and look at her and think she couldn't be any prettier.

vlogvamp au: turkey's a streamer/gamer who was told of an abandoned castle, in which those who enter do not come back alive to tell the tale. turns out there's a vampire living alone in this gigantic castle. he simply wishes to go and explore inside, but he can't unless she invites him: vampire rule. he tries sneaking in many other ways, getting caught each time until she gives up and invites him in so he won't cause chaos trying to come inside other ways. he slowly documents his life staying with a vampire until the playlist is 300 videos over the span of a year in which the audience can see the romance unfold themselves.

gangster au: met in elementary school, he was in third grade while uzb was in first. she once cried while playing hide and seek with him because he hid too well every time, and he gave her a tulip hairpin as an apology. she still wears it to this day, without any knowledge of that hairpin being an engagement heirloom of his family.

at some point he realizes how much he likes her, but tries to distract himself from it by uh. one night standing regularly. this is a problem because uzb's very put off by it and she's starting to avoid him more and more, whereas turkey's confused(and also sad) that she's distancing from him, especially because he still does like her.

gakuen hetalia au: uzb and india are co-presidents of the tea club. it works a bit like a cafe and a bit like a host club, in a non-romantic sense. you get to choose your tea set, they'll brew it and bring it to you, and they'll get to be your therapists for an hour or two.

turkey's in the gourmet club with france and china, and they regularly partner up with the tea club. when uzb's not listening to her guests talk about their problems, or trying to break up the sexual tension between india and china, she's trying to resist the charms of a certain turk trying to feed her baklava...

korea and taiwan are very much aware of the romantic tension between the two, and always make sure to go to the club during the collaboration window to keep up with how turkuzbek is sailing before updating their instagram account dedicated to the ship, which, by the way, has about 200 followers.

korea is also one of turkey's close friends, as well as uzbekistan's, and insists on getting them together. at some point he gets so frustrated he gives turkey a week to fess up. if he fails, korea's taking uzb out.

super mario au: in this au mario and luigi(kazakhstan and kyrgyzstan) are related to princess peach(uzbekistan). she's kidnapped by bowser(turkey) who wants to marry her. their outfits are all based on their regions(turkey has an ottoman noble fit, uzb has one of a bukharan noble/princess) and turkey sings about princess uzbekistan on his lute. unfortunately she finds him kind of attractive anyway,

actor au(is this inspired off of the fact that the main characters who fall in love in the drama mendirman jaloliddin are uzbek and turkish? yeah lol): if hetalia was a drama series. this would be sort of like crash landing on you where basically the actor and actress actually fall in love in real life, date, and eventually after a few years, get married.

they'd read thirst tweets of themselves and the other pretends not to agree wholeheartedly with them. sadik entertains these tweets for a while until he himself can't continue with how...passionate some of the tweets were. nargiza reads the first five and immediately short circuits while turkey laughs next to her. there's so many edits of them together in red carpet events or galas, and everyone loves their dynamic of flirty guy x cold, tsundere girl.

because of how well they do in the hetalia drama series, they both constantly find themselves in movies where their characters' relationships are...quite close. sometimes they're already in an established relationship as husband and wife, and sometimes it's a slowburn childhood friends to lovers deal. whatever the case, the turkuzbek fans eat it up every single time.

royal au: she's the best assassin of the kingdom that wants prince sadik dead. she spends a year in his kingdom, and slowly falls in love with him, which is a big problem since she's being paid a lot for this job–and the cost of failing is her life.

[year2000electronics]

something something er- something something- 

HAIL THE ORIGAMI KING! 

info/ref post all about my legion of stationery! the alternate outfits are based off battle phases- knocking all of rubber bands bands off, destroying tape’s dispender, and scissors unsheathing her blade

a full info post under the cut!

THE MISSILE MAESTRO: COLORED PENCILS

Pronouns: He/they

A snobby artist who complains about others so much that it’s only when he gets into the groove of things that he can finally let loose. He’s either complaining his heart out or so absorbed into making a deadly masterpiece. It’s anyone’s guess what’s what at any moment. He considers the Legion to be more of an army or a regiment than an actual group, so feels less need to establish social relationships with the others. Despite the extremely Frenchy name and moustache, he mostly just has an accent. He complains too much to bother with two languages. He was actually the one to assign each member of the Legion to a streamer! He could very objectively see their strengths and weaknesses and assigned each member accordingly. (He says he messed up with Tape, though that’s probably because Tape won’t stop ditching his streamer to come bother him.) In battle, he takes out a monocle he uses as a reticle for his missiles. How pretentious...

THE ELASTIC ENTERTAINER: RUBBER BAND

Pronouns: He/she

A second, snobbier artist- this time in the art of theatre. However, unlike Colored Pencils, Rubber Band isn’t some hipster who goes against the grain just to do it. Rubber Band loves to express himself through showbiz, shows off at every opportunity he gets, and thinks everyone should love his work JUST as much as he does! Everything she does is extravagant to the max. Olly brought her into this boring old world for a REASON, after all! (What do you mean the reason isn’t to be a STAR???) Rubber Band gets along with most of the other members just fine and takes a lot of inspiration from them just due to how differently they express themselves compared to her! Of course, this is aside from Colored Pencils, who he has a rivalry with. He has on at least three different and overly complicated layers of clothing. It’s ridiculous.  Rubber Band still supports the group... just in her own unique, Shakespearian, Rubber-Band way.

THE DISCO DEVIL: HOLE PUNCH

Pronouns: He/hee (Just a little music humour for you dudes. Heh heh. -Oh, you need an actual answer? Uh, yeah, he/him’s chill.)

Don’t let this guy’s party animal nature lower your guard- Hole Punch is one of the most fiendishly clever members of the Legion. He might be the craftiest of them all, actually. How DID he get all those toads to a secret temple...? Doing the absolutely spine-chilling acts of turning Toads into disco zombies and stealing the sun just for a party, Hole Punch is deadset on making life his party- and everyone else will be his guests, whether they like it or not. His ‘ancient’ tastes in disco music and outdated slang baffle most who try to befriend him, especially certain DJs, but since the other members of the Legion are just as out of touch as him, Hole Punch is one of the most popular members. He considers the Legion ‘in’ enough to include them as part of his exclusive inner circle.

THE SHIFTY STICKER: TAPE 

Pronouns: He/him

‘Ey, I’m gettin’ described here! Tape, much like he appears to Mario, is a no-good, dirty, cheatin’ mobster. Gangster? Eh, just let the translators figure it out. He’s a bit hotheaded, and plays dirty the first chance he gets. He’s also super protective of his ride, of course. However, strangely enough, Tape is considered the one who looks out for the rest of the group. Thanks to his position at the Great Sea, he can very easily slip away from his post not only to sneak up to Shangri-Spa, but to visit the other streamers. Because of this, he feels a greater need to defeat Mario, to get revenge for his fallen allies. Cos DAMMIT, SOMEBODY’S GOTTA! Rubber Band insists Tape would make a great actor, and he’s got the perfect charisma, but he worries he’d fumble his lines. He’s also prone to making empty threats- dude got defensive over a streamer’s feelings, FFS. Tape really wants to see Olivia join her brother again. Half executing the boss’ orders, and half cos... it might cheer the kid up a bit....He’s also that type of bad boy who gets all blushy when he’s embarrassed. 

THE DUAL-BLADED DUELIST, SCISSORS

Pronouns: She/her 

Scissors makes a pretty good first impression by her standards, convincing you she’s some kind of dark, mysterious, and serious swordsman. However... the moment you actually step into Bowser’s Castle, the evidence begs to differ. The way she makes those cutout soldiers lent credence to her appearance at first, but the way she finds them absolutely adorable and coos to her Handaconda about how much of a good boy it is... Yeesh. What doesn’t help is when you actually get her on the battlefield, she’s still spouting battle banter at you, but she’s practically hopping off the ground from how excited she is to SLICE THE PLUMBER IN HALF. I mean, just look at her hair! It’s so chopped up because she gets so excited to SLICE that she nips her hair by accident all the time. While it’s true she may not be the strong, silent type, Scissors is still pretty scary to deal with, so don’t underestimate her despite her quirks. The Legion still consider her one of their own... even if they don’t always ‘GET’ her, per se. Like that one time she tried to get them to accept something she made called a ‘Yape’... whatever that was. (Fun fact: her ‘scarf’ is actually Handaconda having a rest on her.)

[foximator-blog]

More Mario AU details and headcanons.

Just more random stuff related to my alternate universe, so I will mention Ocs, and some things might be a little weird. Some are geography related, but I'll have individual character ones too.

GEOGRAPHY HEADCANONS

The Mushroom kingdom, Bean bean kingdom, and modern day Hyrule are technically separate land masses, but are close enough to be connected by some of the largest bridges in the world. Though there is a smaller stony and crystal island between the Mushroom kingdom and Bean bean kingdom that's treated as the "border" so to speak.

The Koopa kingdom is also pretty close, but not close enough to build a bridge. During Bowser's weird kidnapping days, he'd sometimes set up temporary "main" fortresses on temporary volcanic islands created by his and Kamek's magic.

South of the Mushroom kingdom mainland is Isle Delfino, and further south of that is the Rainbow isle, where Rainbosaurs like Yoshi originally come from.

Diamond city is on a smaller island neighboring the Metro kingdom.

The DK isles are actually a group of islands with different ecosystems connected by tropical beach areas in between them all. The center jungle island the Kongs live on is called Congo Bongo, and the Kremling King K Rool has taken up the spooky swamp island, and hopes to conquer the others.

The Empire of Sarassaland is actually on one of the biggest continents in the world, made up of 8 kingdoms. It's the only remaing empire in the world.

Wart's kingdom is located in the clouds, and kind of drifts around freely. He once took over the Pastel lands where Birdetta and other Palettesaurs come from, but after Mario and co defeated Wart, the Palettesaurs liberated their lands from his army.

CHARACTER HEADCANONS

The Kongs use special music related magic to fuel their strength and agility. Each kong uses a different instrument that relates to their style and personality, and the magic becomes much stronger when they play their instruments in harmony.

Of course, the Magical banana hoard also plays a role in their strength... Though the Magical bananas are used as the main ingredient of Cranky Kong's potions, or sold to restaurants in the Metro kingdom so the Kongs can participate in trade and economics.

These magic banana restaurants are somewhat popular, and may be why Metro kingdom residents have become so tall over the years.

The Kongs and Kremlings were once on opposite sides of a great war... Though the Kongs did win, their numbers have dwindled, which is why K. Rool keeps trying to take them over.

K Rool isn't actually a king, but as the only surviving general of the Kremling army, no one questioned him when he decided to declare himself one.

K Rool wants the bananas so he can make magic fueled super weapons.

Bowser may kidnap Peach from time to time, but he's actually pretty diplomatic and a fair king despite his great pride, so he hates tyrants like Wart, K Rool, or King Boo.

King boo cries victim, but his real reason for hating the Mario bros is because they were the first to survive his ghost house, and King boo is frustrated because his army relies on luring foolish mortals into his house in order for them to die and join his ranks.

Ramona rightfully hates King boo because of what he did to her... but she has gotten the hang of standing up against his creepy advances, especially with the help of her own loyal following of Boos.

Good boos look like the classic in game boos, and they are loyal to Ramona. Dark evil boos have darkened faces and violet eyes, and of course are loyal to king boo.

Dry Boss (dry bowser) is the skeleton of a dragon koopa reanimated by King boo to be his second in command. Similar to boos, Dry bones who are loyal to these villains are darker and more sinister looking.

Bob-ombs are a combination of magic and technology, and after they explode, they will regenerate over time. Bigger bob-ombs contain more magic and explode with a wider radius... at the cost of taking longer to regenerate.

King Bob-omb is considered a king by other bob-ombs not because he rules a kingdom, but because he is the biggest and most powerful of them, and has the ability to change his size to alter his blast radius. Such power is considered "Kingly" for bob-ombs.

Captain Syrup oddly enough, favors ice magic in my AU. Aside from being able to create swords of ice, she also lacks temperature sensitivity because her magic keeps her regulated. She could just as easily bundle up in a volcanic area or go sunbathing on an iceberg if she wanted to.

My OC Blitz actually doesn't habe a true magic alignment... but he has used the super ball flower E. Gadd created quite a bit, and his body has become rather cartoonishly stretchy and flexible as a result.

While most of the time Mario or a group are responsible for the heroics, the Sunshine and Oddysee events are the only times in the AU my OC Fritz ends up being the hero in the end.

The oddysee events are the last time Bowser engages in his weird kidnapping shenagins. Afterwards he's a full on ally in thwarting enemies like King boo, Wart, or K Rool.

I probably trailed on too long, sorry ^^;

[earthnashes]

Super Mario: headcanon brainstorms

HEYOOOO Ya’ll! Sorry for the slow posting as of late; outside of Patreon content I’ve been really hitting an artblock ;w; I think I’m starting to break through it though and with it comes some new ideas. Specifically, for Super Mario headcanons, which is something I’m consistently asked about. I think it’ll do me some good to switch gears for a bit too, so that I”m not focus near exclusively on LoZ anymore.

SO I figured I could share some of the base ideas and thoughts I had for the new headcanon/au to at least get myself started; a lot of this is brainstorming so subject to change, but it’s a start nonetheless! uwu Basic idea for the AU is to focus more on Modern Fantasy and Slice-of-Life, so instead of a huge grand adventure it’s more about the everyday lives of the characters and how I interpret that. owo THAT SAID, have some quick headcanon bunnies:

-The Mario crew and the Koopa Clan are basically frenemies with a friendly rivalry goin’ on. None of the plots Bowser pulls is out of any real malice and is more treated like a super intense game of “King of the Castle”l; it’s to a point where it’s basically tradition! Everyone in the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdoms are in on it.

-Bowsette is Bowser’s younger sister and, technically, co-ruler of Koopa Kingdom. However, I’d like to think that she overall hates the idea of being involved with politics and has gone off to do her own thing, much to the chargin of both her parents and the frustration of her older brother. Debating on the idea that she’s a part of a super small traveling band, trying to make it big on her own terms but thus far not really having much luck. She always phones in big bro to “borrow” from the family private treasury on promises she’ll pay back. Bowser knows she won’t but supports her anyway.

-Peach is the youngest rulers amongst the current Kingdom Leaders, having been unofficially crowned queen as a teenager (she’s currently late 20s). This is due to her father being unfit to rule in his current condition, and while he is still King his daughter has effectively taken on all of his duties. Why he is unfit to rule is something I’ve yet to decide.

-Luigi and Mario will keep their sidejobs as plumbers but they both have a secondary occupation! Mario is the acting bodyguard to Princess Peach and her best friend; he’s so good at his job due to his unassuming appearance. Luigi on the other hand owns his own bakery! He and his Yoshi companion Peppers (a red yoshi to mirror Mario’s green Yoshi friend) specialize in sweets, especially cookies, but they also bake fresh bread and bagels. uwu

-Pauline is the president of Metro Kingdom instead of the Mayor. I’d imagine Metro Kingdom is very different from any other kingdom due to it relying on popular vote over monarchy, with Pauline as the most recent leader of the Kingdom. She’d be highly popular amongst the citizens of the Kingdom and is damn good at her job. She also isn’t native to Metro Kingdom; I think I like the idea of her being originally from wherever Mario and Luigi are from before she ultimately moved to Metro Kingdom. They’re old buddies. owo

-I’m thinkin’ the Yoshi are sorta-kinda like Pokemon in terms of their role in society? They’re intelligent and in the wilds have their own basic societal structure, but in the Kingdoms (particularly Mushroom Kingdom) they are companions to the residents. A common misconception outside of the Mushroom Kingdom is that they’re pets; they are nothing of the sort.

-The Koopalings are not Bowser’s biological children but he has adopted them as his own kids. Toying with the idea that they’re teenagers and they maybe met Bowser through either a job ad during one of his bouts with the Mario crew, or perhaps he hired them all to babysit Junior (yes, all of them; Bowser is a very protective father) and it just snowballed from there. We’ll see!

-Rosalina is a goddess who makes her home amongst the stars and the Luma. She’s also pretty close to Peach; I love the idea of them having a older sibling/younger sibling vibe. I don’t think they’d be blood-related although that might change, but right now i’m trying to consider how they met... maybe Peach wished on a star when she was young, and Rosalina herself showed up? hmmmmm....

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND that’s all for now folks! I think I’ve made a pretty good starting point for myself so let’s see where this takes us! owo Art will be made soon; right now I’m workin’ out a style that’ll fit the tone I want. In the meantime, feel more than free to ask any questions or comments ya might have, and thank ya for taking a read! uwu

[dooodle-bug]

Inspired by @jooniix (if you don’t mind), I decided to make some headcannons for Traitor au Scissors! (warning: it’s LOOOONG)

-Basically, this whole betrayal thing happens after their defeat and Green Streamer is cleared (don’t ask me how that works just roll with it). They basically flop on the ground and go unconscious for a while out of shock (or maybe the frostbite).

-When they wake up, they are 1. Overwhelmed and ashamed of themself for letting such a thing happen, ESPECIALLY being defeated by paper and 2. start getting Deep Thoughts about life (I feel like if you’re in a serious, life-threatening situation, that happens)

-So what they do is recollect themself and realize something, well two things: Olly doesn’t give two hoots about them, which is pretty heartbreaking for someone so loyal to him. They also realize/come to the conclusion that in this trashy paper world, they’ve been held back from their true potential: they COULD’VE defeated Mario had this world not suppressed their ability.

-Logically, they bring themself back up and prepare for world domination because gosh-darn-it, “This world has been terrible to me, but since I’m so powerful, I’m gonna remake it to me MY world and do whatever the heck I want to!” (there’s a lot more to that, I think, but I might write a fic about it)

-They prepare via Unauthorized Militarization of the Cut-Out Soldiers (despite knowing they don’t even NEED them, they still make em to futher show how powerful and godly they are).

-Then Scissors flies off to the castle, which has now transformed into the Origami Castle, but instead of cutting everything to shreds (or asking why/how it transformed), they decide to have one final interaction with their dear king and creator, Olly.

-They easily get to the top level throne room (bruh they can fly and cut paper) and barge in on Olly, who was casually folding cranes, but is now shocked/surprised/scare of why Scissors (who he presumed to be dead) it towering before him. Scissors “interrogates” him on why he acted the way he did to them (in my hc, he treats them like trash and acts like he’s a god to keep them from trying to betray him) as well as doing this dark monologue of something like “Did you REALLY think you could contain my power and keep me from reaching my FULL potential??!” Olly is quivering in fear as they wave their blades around, knowing that there probably is no way of convincing them otherwise and that it was PROBABLY a bad idea to give life to a pair of scissors.

-After that monologue and Olly attempting to fight back (leaving him severely wounded), Scissors decides to Finish Him, slicing him in perfectly in half.

-When Mario, Bowser, and Olivia enter the throne room (oh I forgot to mention that it took place during Stapler’s boss fight), instead of seeing Olly, they see Scissors, who is casually sitting on his throne, Olly’s remains in their hands.

-They shred up Mario and Co., except for Olivia because I say so (also because they see no reason to kill a weak and defenseless child), hanging their remains on the wall as a trophy (they’ll do that with every battle victim they find worthy). Origami Castle now Scissors Castle, some redecorating is done, most notably the flayed corpses littered everywhere.

-Of course, Scissors then decides that Now is The Time to Kill and proceeds to rip literally everyone and everything to shreds with a quick move of their blades.They use said remains to make those twisted amalgamations that serve only them. Nobody is Safe as they shred up everything, planning to make a Better World for them to rule (damn this is darker than I thought).

-After shredding up everything, they get bored and lonely from being so OP, and then decided to bring the other stationery back to life, also to serve them, but also to help them in making their kingdom a place where stationery giants rule and do whatever they want. The legion is kinda iffy about it, especially considering their creator was just slain, but they’ll get used to it.

-Then there’s this arc where everyone realizes how messed up Scissors is being and they all try to stop them and yadda yadda yadda, there’s the au for you, enjoy :o).

[maggotsandcream]

Since I've been looking at a lot of Mario Bros fan content for the past few months I've run across a couple of posts where folks came up with and defended ideas about why in Super Paper Mario the Chaos Heart worked best with Luigi of all people and not one of the villains. I have a theory myself, but I don't think it actually had much to do with his personality.

As interesting as it would be if Luigi were predestined to be the ideal vessel for the Chaos Heart due to something intrinsic about him, I don't think that was actually the case. I'm not saying this to disparage the folks who've come up with ideas along that line as they tend to make for some really interesting character interpretations, it just doesn't happen to be my personal head canon for this. I think what actually set up Luigi to be it's ideal host was his reaction to Bowser and Peach's sham wedding right at the beginning of the game.

First off, if Count Bleck and co. had known that they were going to need Luigi from the beginning, they probably wouldn't have just dumped him in with Bowser's minions at the wedding. Sure, they got rid of Mario and kept Luigi which is sometimes pointed to as evidence that they were already planning to use him, but pretty much the only reason they yote Mario into another dimension was because he was causing them immediate problems by trying to rescue Peach. They basically didn't register Luigi as more of a threat than a Goomba to their plans nor did they see him as particularly useful to have around. If you had someone you thought was vital to your evil plan to destroy the multiverse, I feel like you'd probably keep a better eye on them than that. Heck, if anything I don't think you'd risk tossing them unconscious into a group of goombas and koopas who might have enough of a grudge against them to maybe go in for a bit of revenge if they hadn't been so happy about the wedding happening at the same time. Not to mention Bleck and Nastasia literally don't who Luigi is when he tries to break up the wedding a little bit late.

So what did make him the ideal host for the Chaos Heart? Trying to Goomba stomp it while it was still forming. Either A touching it in that state made it bond to him in some way or B you need to do something chaotic and unexpected in front of it for it to bond to you such as disrupting carefully made villainous plans, fail a rescue attempt, and accidentally spread everyone out by the resulting shockwave.

It really would make more sense for Dimentio or possibly Count Bleck himself to have become it's host. I especially think it would be funny if Bleck tried coaxing the heart afterwards like:

Bleck: Come on, I brought you an evil clown, it doesn't get much more chaotic than that. Just bond with Dimentio already.

Chaos Heart: *angry heart noises*

Nastasia: Um, I can just brainwash the green plumber too, you know. It's not like free will has stopped us so far.

Bleck: Fine, he is trying to organize the Goombas anyways. Better to break that up before it becomes serious.

I think it also fits better with the prophesy about how the "green one" would "decide" how things go since Luigi doesn't actually make any decisions as Mr. L considering he's brainwashed. Having the decision be to try to rescue Peach and fail in such an unexpected way works pretty well, though, as that sets up a good deal of the rest of the plot.

[madamspeaker]

I don’t quite understand how the whole conviction hearings work but since they’re calling witnesses, might they call Nancy? I know it’s not justified but Christine’s tweet got the idea in my head and I could totally see Republicans doing that just to suck (especially when we call McCarthy)

Van der Veen, the lawyer who does lawyering like a really bad actor, said that if the House Impeachment Managers called Jame Herrera Beutler then he would call Nancy and Kamala, and more. Abby D. Phillip on CNN made the point that it was pretty clear that Van der Veen hadn’t thought witnesses through when he said that because the entire point of calling witnesses is to help your case, and it’s pretty clear to anyone with a shred of sense that calling the victims of the attack you client is charged with inciting is probably not going to do that. He was trying to showboat for his audience of one in Mar-a-Lago, although frankly it looked more like a tantrum. I think he genuinely assumed that the Senate wasn’t going to allow witnesses and that he’d be done and on his way home just after 3pm. I honestly don’t know if Nancy will be called - it doesn’t make any sense for the Trump team to call her because she does nothing to help their case - she was the victim of the crime - then again sense doesn’t seem to be something these guys have. Various Republicans have been trying to suggest that Nancy was in some utterly mad way to blame for the attack - inferring various things about her role in the security of the Capitol, but as Christine pointed out, Nancy isn’t in the military or police chain of command, and when it comes to the Capitol, she and McConnell are on an equal footing as to their responsibilities - she knew as little as Mitch did - you can’t infer something about her and not then say it also applies to Mitch. My understanding is that individual witnesses would have been be voted on by the Senate (there remains some confusion over this however - that first vote put the cat among the pigeons today and a lot of senators don’t seem to know what exactly it is that they voted for (!!!), so this could all change), but I would question whether there’s 51 votes there to call Nancy, Kamala, or Muriel Bowser - their testimony has nothing to do with what Trump is charged with. Herrera Beutler'’s testimony however does go directly to what Trump was thinking during the attack, which is part of the insurrection charge. Likewise, so would the testimony of Pence’s then CoS - he would be able to confirm the Tuberville timeline as to whether Trump put Pence in even more danger with that mid-afternoon tweet. If Trump’s team want to call witnesses, they would have to go find people who counter Herrera Beutler, but the problem is, I very much doubt such a person exists.

[echoeternally]

How Do I Ship Bowser & Mario?

Part 2: Finding Common Ground Between Enemies

{Previously, we built up Mario’s character, which can be found in Part 1. The next entry continues based on that.}

And, above all else, realize that Mario is just as multi-faceted as his co-stars: he has his own set of quirks, but also his flaws.

How this relates to Bowser and sets them up as a potential couple, that’s for the next post. That will also dive further into Mario’s personality traits, and therefore help flesh out his character.

Be warned, however, as this will contain spoilers to endings of select Super Mario games, and includes spoilers to the recent title, Luigi’s Mansion 3. 

Obviously, Bowser and Mario hold opposite traits, because Bowser is meant to be Mario’s designated enemy.

Where Mario is joyful, but somewhat reserved, Bowser is grouchy, yet very loud and outspoken. Mario likes to help others and is strongest in quieter moments, showing his compassion. Bowser, on the other hand, has funnier moments when he belittles his underlings, is fierce and dominant with his imposing final boss moments, and is overall one of the more abrasive characters in the series.

As much as they are opposites, however, they do share a number of qualities.

Both Mario and Bowser are leaders: Bowser leads his own kingdom, while Mario tends to be the head of his friends, either leading them on adventures, or having everyone join in on a party or with sports. Both characters tend to be stubborn: Bowser constantly wants his way in all aspects of life, and has a fierce determination to see it through, while Mario does all he can to help others and wants to find peace, even if it must be fought for.

An important quality both share, which is one that people may find surprising at first glance: their compassion.

Mario loves others. His brother is normally someone who gets priority in his depictions, and this is best exemplified through the Mario & Luigi series. It shows up in select cutscenes in other games, and through Luigi’s dialogue from time to time; I think the latest example comes from Luigi’s Mansion 3, where Luigi goes to all ends to save Mario, who very excitedly runs and gives his brother a big hug upon his rescue.

As well, Mario is distraught over Peach’s kidnapping and weeps upon finding her locked away. Obviously, given that Peach is traditionally depicted as Mario’s love interest, his love for her is typically demonstrated multiple times in many games, perhaps most famously during Super Mario Odyssey, but consistently hinted at by numerous characters such as Rosalina during Super Mario Galaxy, or the Toads during...most games.

I could list everyone else that Mario shows love and compassion to, such as being brave and protecting Toads, rescuing, befriending, and bonding with Yoshi, and pretty much go across every one-off character that he’s ever come into contact with. But, I think you get the picture based on that.

Now, with Bowser? He’s usually a jerk. His biggest, showy moments, most especially in RPGs, involve him either belittling or bullying his troops. This is, however, because he’s traditionally set in the role of the lead bad guy: the player is meant to identify that he’s evil, and needs to see this full force. If someone treats others as beneath them, they’re obviously not good.

Of course, the quickest character one can point to being an exception is Bowser Junior, who Bowser showers with love and adoration. He spoils his son constantly, but also takes him under his wing, teaching him how to fight Mario and kidnap Peach. And there’s the key point to Bowser: he loves. It’s not like with Peach, where he essentially lusts for her and wants her both for her beauty and to take control of her kingdom; with Junior, this is Bowser actually being a father, and wanting to give his son the world as best he can.

Though this doesn’t always get a front-and-center view in the video games, it does come up, either in passing dialogue from main entries starting with Super Mario Sunshine, or else shows up frequently in spin-off games, especially in sports games where Bowser is playable, and thus is allowed to be demonstrated as a good character because he’ll be under the player’s control, and therefore will be able to showcase his redeemable qualities. More recently, Bowser has been included in video game trailers and animations to help advertise Mario and Nintendo games as a whole, and typically, he shares the screen with Bowser Junior, to continue showing his fatherly side.

Because of how they were depicted in prior games and related media, the Koopalings have also been given an affectionate side from Bowser. He’s spoiled them before, and tends to value them higher than other soldiers in his army. In more recent titles, this is most prevalent not necessarily in on-screen depictions, but rather, implied by circumstance. Sure, one could label the Koopalings as extremely powerful and therefore given more to work with than mere grunts.

However, they’re given very, very powerful tools, most especially in their magic wands; the fact that Bowser trusts them shows a deep respect for them. I think, however, that they’re best shown as being very important to him when the game is over, and it’s the Koopalings (and usually Bowser Junior) who are fishing Bowser out of whatever hole he’s fallen into, and dragging him off to recover and prepare for the next one. Sure, they could be super loyal, but I think that, when the dust settles, the Koopalings are supportive of Bowser in a type of surrogate situation: he fulfills the need of a father to them, and they fill in additional roles as children to him. So, no, they may not be his kids, but he certainly has a soft spot for them.

If we go down the line, we can go back and forth with how Bowser is seen as a father to his men kind of role, given the extreme bouts of loyalty some of his soldiers have in various games. The thing is that, depending upon the game, Bowser is also depicted in various ways, and therefore, his compassion is varied based on title.

So, we’ve got that Mario can be a normally all-around nice guy, and Bowser’s not always a sweetheart. However, Mario can be a bit rough when he chooses, and Bowser can open up with exposed layers to those closest to him.

How the heck can that possibly help them relate to one another, and furthermore, view one another as a romantic interest?

Easily, my dear Anon!

[That answer will begin with the next portion in Part 3! Here’s where to follow.]

[ae0nx]

FRUITS BASKET ‘19 EPISODE 24 VS FRUITS BASKET ‘01 24-26 (PART 1)

*takes a sip of wine* ...I honestly don’t know how this review/recap is gonna work cos... I have a whole load of notes on the new 2019 episode, the three last 2001 episodes and the manga. And I thought I was gonna do a simple comparison but goddamn it... those last three episodes of ‘01 go way off the rail. 

If the last three episodes of ‘01 were Mario in Mario Kart, it’d be him just doing a continuous drift... way into the grass... while trying to pick up Princess Peach, Bowser AND Luigi... even though the game wouldn’t allow it and he has a one person car.

*sigh* So, let’s start off:

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When I think of the True Form Arc, I think three simple points are vital to be shown:

Kyo’s true form is to be revealed to the audience and to Tohru

Kyo’s past with Kazuma and his mother/(partly)father 

Tohru still accepting Kyo and declaring her love need for them to be together and share each other’s pain and joy

The True Form Arc is a very important story, very emotional story, but at most is a stepping stone to a bigger arc/conclusion and 2019 understood this the most and pretty much followed the manga to the book, with a few flourishes they took from the 2001 anime. 2001 did... well... it did a disjointed mash up of a sorts. So, I’m mostly gonna use the 2019 version to talk about things I found interesting about the main plot as well as the particular things they did that intrigued me this time around. And I’m gonna pretty much try and compare it the 2001 version when it does relate and try and treat the other non-canonical stuff it puts in as a sort of ‘elseworld’ story and not judge it on it’s accuracy but if it’s interesting or not. Cool?

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- I’m still not comfortable with the way the episodes are split up for the True Form Arc this time around. If I can give one compliment to the 2001 version, is that they really let the arc sit with you and for the audience to digest it and feel it (oh, the ever lasting rain). Yes, three episodes of true form Kyo was way too long! But I do think that at least 1.5 episodes would’ve been perfect for me. 

- In general, I really love that Kazuma is respected by all the Sohmas. Even Shigure manages to behave himself!

When I took a first glance at Kyo’s kinda cold/awkward attitude to Kazuma, I just assumed it was as was said, that Kyo was being shy about his feelings toward Kazuma and also not wanting to show any slither of ‘weakness’ or vulnerability around Yuki. But then, I found myself thinking... 

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re with a group of some friends and they’re good friends and you’ve just gotten to know them fairly recently but then your BEST friend comes along and they’ve known you for pretty much most of your life and you are genuinely happy to have them there... butttt they also know EVERY single dirty secret about you and you are just silently internally begging them to not tell your other friends about that time you threw up in their bed when you were underage drinking at their house party? That was the feeling I got the most and I love it haha

First tears of the evening. The fact that Kyo would be so vulnerable to let someone even touch his head must be so shocking for the new viewers and I’m so excited for them.

LOOK AT HIS SMILE! I CAN’T. I COULDN’T SAY NO TO THAT SMILE.

I just love his metaphor of the ‘lukewarm bath’. God, my boy is really not adjusted to this slice-of-life living, he really does think he’s in a shonen anime lol. But, in all seriousness, I’ve found this to be a thing most commonly amongst the straight, cis guys that I know. They find it hard to have personal and emotional friendships (let alone relationships) and the reason - that I’ve been told anyway - is cos they’re scared that with that much softness it’d just give way for them to fall completely apart... It’s really unfortunate that sometimes society won’t let them fall apart and sometimes they can’t find a safe space to fall apart.

And kid, we all know from the New Year’s episode that you scream when you don’t know how to express complex emotions of love - stop kidding yourself. God, that episode still has my favourite Kyo smile.

- Right. So, I really don’t like that Kazuma forcibly takes off Kyo’s beads without Kyo’s consent or want to reveal his true form. And I think a lot of it stems from this additional scene in ‘01 with Akito that reveals that this was an actual premeditated idea formed between the two...

I really don’t like that addition at ALL. I haven’t re-read the manga completely so let me know if I’m dissing the canon, but Kazuma knows that Akito does not have the best intentions for Kyo. I get that Akito is the head of the family but I feel like characters like Kazuma, Ayame and (kinda) Kagura tend to skip across the lines and regulations that Akito sets. And this just made no sense to me. Why would he?

But regardless of that addition, I still don’t like the decision to take off Kyo’s beads forcibly. Kyo needs help breaking down his exterior, yes but I do question whether he maybe would’ve ended up telling Tohru in his own time? Hmm... Maybe not. But I do like that in the very near future (spoilers), Kazuma does recognise this action he took.

I love this moment so much. Shigure and Kazuma are actually on the same page for just this arc in taking actions that will manipulate situations and hurt people for a greater good and it’s insane when you think of it like that - especially when you hate Shigure as much as I do. But Shigure being well aware of the personal catastrophe that could await from pulling off a move like this shows he’s aware at the very least... (not that he cares *sigh*)

- Kazuma confronting Kyo for the eventual reveal, I really loved in the 2019 version. The spinning camera definitely made that intense feeling a lot more real. And the rain... and Kazuma essentially playing the villain was a different take than ‘01′s version. In general, Kazuma in ‘01 just looks so tired and almost haunted?

Maybe it’s the grey hair that’s doing most of the work, but he just looks and acts so exhausted and weary which is interesting when you include Kyo’s later thoughts on why he doesn’t want to burden Kazuma with having the title of ‘father’ in relation to him. I definitely prefer ‘19!Kazuma. You can tell he loves Kyo but he does run a dojo so he has more of an edge and a sternness about him so if he’s gonna teach Kyo a lesson he’s gonna fucking mean it lol. But tbh, Dameon Clark sells it in both versions. Even the way he says ‘you haven’t changed’ in the ‘01 version is heartbreaking. You can tell he knows there’s many facets to this character and he puts his all into it in both iterations.

SO MUCH CAN BE SAID IN ONE LOOK. THESE BABIES. 💔

While I will get into what I like and dislike about what 2001 did with these three getting involved in what is essentially Tohru and Kyo’s story in part 2 of this review (it’s already way too long and I’m scared I’ll lose the whole thing), I do also respect the original manga story of them essentially just turning their head away from Kyo and it’s implied that they can’t help it(?). It really just solidifies to the audience what Kyo’s position in the family is. While he is liked by what seems like a lot of members of the zodiac, they can’t help him because they are under the same rule of Akito and the order of the zodiac. Which is why I really love what Kagura says in ‘01 to Yuki after Kyo runs off...

But... you’ll have to read part 2 to see what I feel about the next part of the episode. 😈

Link to Part 2 here!