#Hanabihei

[magister-magolor]

Drawing Compilation!

(These last two are just character drawings while all of the others are completed drawings)

[mkmikunasu]

[magister-magolor]

YESSS I WAS OBSESSED WITH THESE GUYS THE SECOND I SAW EM!!!!! I ALREADY LOVED BOB-OMBS AND THESE GUYS MIGHT JUST BE EVEN CUTER YUUEWU I EVEN MADE FANART AND KNEW WHAT THE JAPANESE NAME WAS BEFORE AN OFFICIAL ENGLISH ONE WAS RELEASED THEYRE SO CUTE AND COOl!!!!!!

Name: Baboom

Debut: Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Baboom is my number one favorite new enemy from Wonder! In the days after the game's release, I was extra careful during what felt like the eternity before I got to play it myself (it was a week at most.) to not spoil anything for myself, and I succeeded, mostly! Yippee! And while I was playing through the beginning of the game, at least three friends all individually told me there was one enemy that they felt I would absolutely love. And they were right!

Let me tell you. I gasped when I saw it. I gasped when I saw this little waddling plastic tube. You know me! I do things like that. Its pure white eyes. Its adorable little trot. Its use of primary colors like some kind of baby's toy. But don't give it to a baby! This is explosive! You also shouldn't give any living creature to a baby! Why would you do that? You should be giving it some mashed carrots instead.

Speaking of babies though, it is Baboom who is the baby here, because it is canonically the newest of the living bombs produced by Bowser's Minions! What a little darling! It may be a little unclear what exactly it does at first, but when attacked, Baboom will begin shooting fireworks directly upward, one for each body segment! This "uses up" each segment, including the last one, but they don't actually explode themselves. Do you think they can still live after this? A "spent" Baboom, a single red segment, living a peaceful life wherever it landed? That would be nice.

I hate fireworks. Far too loud and bright. But Baboom makes it fun! It can be carried, and its fireworks used as an upward attack, defeating enemies, breaking blocks, and making coins fall! It is so enriching to shoot upwards in a Mario game. These fireworks cannot hurt the player, which seems like a big problem for a weapon made to fight Mario. An enemy that defeats enemies, and does not hurt our heroes? My word! Can this be? The classic and beloved story trope of a weapon made for evil rebelling against the circumstances of its creation? Hooray! Who says Mario games don't have complex stories? Look at the motivation I personally ascribed to this one disposable bomb. What are the other enemies thinking at any given time? There's surely a stunning story in every Snortoise!

Wonder has all these cute little animations for enemies bumping into each other, and Babooms will do a little... nod? toward one another when they meet! It's hard to tell if it is a nod given its anatomy, but whatever it is, I think it is saying "hello my friend!"

I would be remiss to talk about Baboom without mentioning Kab-omb, the ORIGINAL firework Bob-omb variant! I like Baboom more, but I hold a lot of respect for Kab-omb. A bomb just looking for a kiss, or maybe a glass of chocolate milk with a bendy straw. Is that so wrong?

[magister-magolor]

The bomb guys from Mario wonder are named "Hanabihei" internally. This means Firework Soldier. Compare this to "Bomuhei", the Japanese name for the Bob-Omb.

This leads me to believe the official English name for the Hanabihei would be something like a snappier version of "Firework-Omb" that rolls of the tongue better while still retaining part of the word "Firework" and the "-Omb" ending.

Also, look at this awesome and cute Hanabihei/ Firework Soldier/ Firework-Omb render from the Mario Wiki!