#and brothership is really good

[iridescentjellyfish]

my copy of brothership arrived yesterday and now i can safely say this

[melonthesprigatito]

I'm not really in the Mario and Luigi fandom (the only other game I've played being Bowser's Inside Story) so I'm speaking from an outside perspective but find it absolutely crazy that people are talking about Mario and Luigi Brothership being 40-50 hours long like it's a bad thing.

I'm just sitting here, perplexed because 40-50 hours is my average completion time for Pokémon games. I beat Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in 150 hours. 40-50 hours feels like small potatoes for a story heavy game.

And they're talking about it being slow and having padding and having too much dialogue and that REALLY confuses me because it's a story based RPG. What did they expect? You literally signed up for this! Shock and horror, the story based game has storytelling.

All the dialogue they keep saying should be cut in half is there to develop the characters so you care about them when the bad shit happens to them! I'm half way through the third sea and I'm super invested. The Concordians are so silly and adorable, I love them. I went back to Desolatt Island to do a sidequest after a certain point in the story and my heart sank when I saw all the islanders being caught under the influence of the bad guy's scheme and their friends being worried about them.

I dunno, man. I'm just not noticing any pacing issues. It feels pretty episodic to me. I'm 19 hours in and it feels like the story is progressing normally to me. Maybe it's longer than other Mario and Luigi games, I wouldn't know.

[maraschinotopped]

might as well. hey do you wanna see a little brothership sketch compilation.

[starryluminary]

FINALLYYYYY GOD. THIS TOOK 2 WEEKS TO BEAT

Reached 30 tags so here’s the rest of my thoughts:

AND I PLAYED FOR ANOTHER TEN HOURS. IT NEVER ENDED

but yes. despite all that whining I did have a blast with brothership

I want to play through it again. I feel like this is the kind of game that needs a second play through to digest it properly

Ok that’s it. Glad I finished l. Goodnight folks

[thoughtpeek]

I'VE FINALLY FINISHED BROTHERSHIP IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!

[retro-system]

i didnt realise how much i'd miss starlow til she was gone

[illdothehotvoice]

It think it's so funny how much I hype up Superstar Saga like objectively she isn't even the best game in the series I just think she's really neat

[kazumasougi]

and all of this is part of a completely separate rant about how kids games dont do things like this anymore because i guess its like. a waste of time or something. but the reason this game was so magical to me when its way more obscure than other mario titles is because it was legitimately something so special. all of its one-off mini-games and unique animations made it so delightful and i can only hope that brothership brings back that same energy

[pianokantzart]

Brothership is really good guys

[bberetd]

DYEMMIT BELIEVERS UNITE 🫡

Dyode and Emmit deserve to kiss onstage forever

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Gobblick

Debut: Mario & Luigi: Brothership

The embargo on Brothership enemies that-I'm-not-sure-if-we-actually-had-or-not is OVER! Which MOD TWEETER is happy about, because she finally gets to talk about her favorite creature from the whole game: GOBBLICK!

From the success of fictional pitcher plants like Victreebel and...er...Victreebel, it's no secret that they've captured the hearts of millions worldwide! And yet, finding a decent video game pitcher plant in this day and age is hard. And that's sad! Especially since Wet-Dry World has arbitrarily decided my rent should be paid for in articles about video game pitcher plants!

Gobblick is SUCH a good pitcher plant design though, definitely worth the wait!! Look at that gut! Those spots! That big, long licker! The ridges on its leaf and lower jaw, seamlessly combining pitcher plant and bear trap aesthetics!

But, of course, the BIG show-stopper: EYES IN A VOID, BABY!!!! I love it!! It works PERFECT with the pitcher plant design! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they added them to REAL pitcher plants in a future update! They even remind me of that one talking pot in Winnie-the-Pooh that stuck onto my mind since I watched it as a child!

Since they're on the INSIDE of what is definitively its mouth, though, that raises the question...are these Gobblick's eyes at all? What if they're the eyes of something else? But...what would that something else be? A spider? A Lickitung? Perhaps it's the eyes of a treeshrew, and it's attacking out of embarrassment of us catching it using the bathroom? I'm sorry, hypothetical treeshrew! But you probably shouldn't stay in there, if that's the case, even if you're shy!

Or, most likely, these ARE the eyes of the noble Gobblick, and it uses them to watch its food go down! When you're a pitcher plant, is there honestly anything better to do?

Yes! And that thing is: attacking plumbers! Gobblick is such a fan of battling Mario & Luigi that he has not one, but TWO battles against them! That may not seem like a lot, but that's more than most Mario bosses in most single mainline games!

"Well, that's fine and all, but I bet none of its attacks include the coveted Root Attack," you might scoff. And you'd be wrong! Although real pitcher plant roots are, frankly, not really something to write home about, the root arms of Gobblick are able to dig through ground as they approach the brothers, in a way similar to Whispy Woods! Kirby's Dream Land 2 fans rejoice!

But, this isn't even Gobblick's only form! In fact, the first time I saw and fell in love with Gobblick was in its SECONDARY form! Warning, however, that this form is built off of integral spoilers for the game, so if you click below, do so wisely...!

Name: Glohm Gobblick

Debut: Mario & Luigi: Brothership

WOW! If you loved Gobblick already, then I hope Glohm Gobblick was worth the wait–it certainly was, for me!

Wine-red is just a perfect yet underrated color, especially for pitcher plants! I couldn't believe I had never thought about making a reddish pitcher plant prior, myself, but that just goes to show how ingrained plant color stereotypes are! I saw a picture of a pitcher eating a rat once, and it never escaped my mind, and THAT was red!

But Glohm Gobblick isn't just this beautiful shade of red for no reason! It's under the effect of being Glohmed, which makes anyone other than Mario & Luigi more powerful while amplifying their desire to be isolated and lonely! And unlike some other characters, there's nobody around that's worried for our poor friend Gobblick...it exists only as an optional boss you can come across on your own. Don't worry, Gobblick, we love you...!

Gobblick is never truly alone, however. Thankfully, the game specifies that this is not the Gobblick, but a Gobblick! It's one of MANY! Please expect Gobblick to make its way alongside Toads and Piantas as one of the main recurring Mario People, being charming background fodder for decades to come.

Or not, since it's canonically from another world. Too bad.

This should cover my Wet-Dry Rent for the next few weeks! Join me next time when I finally cover the last in the top three most popular video game pitcher plants: Weepinbell. Bye.

[linderosse]

Quick break from our usual content to share: I was extremely fortunate to have the chance to visit Super Nintendo Land several months ago, and it was AWESOME✨

Most of y’all know me for my Zelda art, but I’m actually also a Mario superfan <3. I’ve played almost every game in the Mario adventure/paper/RPG serieses (starting Brothership live this Wednesday!), plus a large majority of the action/3D/platformers (they’re all really good; I recommend!)

Anyways, I had such a blast running around the park, trying out the food, collecting badges, making friends, and finding secrets. I even managed to score above 150 on the Mario Kart ride on my first try!

…but it was still summer back then, so it was very, very hot that day. I’m glad I finished Nintendo Land off in the morning before the temperature rose. It was 108 degrees Fahrenheit when we left— and my car registered 115 outside in the parking lot.

That Princess Peach cupcake in the photo literally melted in my hands five minutes after I left the building 🥲.

[c-lavanda]

More and more people are saying Mario & Luigi Brothership has a really good story.

Can't wait for the fanfics!!! ❤️❤️

I'm not a writer, sorry. I can't contribute 😭

BUT I’LL DRAW I PROMISE

[peanut-tyrug]

CAUTION: This post contains spoilers from Mario and Luigi: Brothership. If you haven’t beaten the game yet, don’t read beyond the cut

—

I feel like not enough people have talked about the symbolism and themes within Brothership

I noticed it as I played. It unfurled before me… and I couldn’t help but be absolutely impressed by it. This is by far the most in depth M&L story I’ve ever seen

I would also like to mention that this is based on my own personal interpretations/opnions

~~~

— Theming and Symbolism in Characters and the World —

Most M&L games have a theme to the world we visit, this is most noticeable in Superstar Saga and Dream Team. Superstar Saga’s theme is humor and laughter, while Dream Team’s is sleep.

Both games have their own original species to match with these themes. The Beanish and Pi’illos. There’s not much to it other than that. There isn’t any reason for why these peoples were chosen, outside of theming

Brothership feels the same way for a time. It doesn’t seem like there’s a reason for why the Concordians are all cords or outlets outside of theming… but there’s more to it

Late into the story, Bonds become more prevalent in the plot. Yes, it’s a pun, but it’s also symbolic. Bonds refer to relationships between characters, Mario and Luigi included. Connections (also a pun) are part of this symbolism as well

Connections and Bonds are generally the same thing. And they both add a symbolic reason as to why the people behind Brothership chose for the Concordians to be plugs or outlets or cords

Not only is it theming, it’s also symbolism

~~~

— The Power of Friendship, but cooler —

“The Power of Friendship” is a trope that’s used a lot in shows, generally being used for younger audiences. The trope has been clowned on due to how corny it can be

I will not deny that Brothership is in the same boat… but what makes it feel unique is that the “power of friendship” trope, in this game’s instance, has symbolism

As mentioned before, Bonds are symbolic of relationships between characters. This makes the story feel nowhere near as corny or cheesy (Imo) as it would if it *didn’t* have this symbolism

~~~

— In-depth characters… the Bros. included —

Most M&L games don’t go too far in depth with their characters. Not that they always need to… but character depth is always welcome

Brothership goes far beyond what any game in the series has done, and gives most of the main cast some level of depth. They were given more to enhance their characters, and make them more interesting

This also goes back to Bonds, which also allow for more interesting characters. Willma and her family, Chilliam and Burnadette, Connie and Cozette, Junior and Buddy, and the IDLE Crew (plus Peach and Starlow) are all notable examples… and so are the Bros

M&L’s whole gimmick is fixating on the Bros. and their brotherly bond. It isn’t just the original characters that are tied into the story by Bonds, it’s also Mario and Luigi. Part of the whole plot is their powerful bond, and how easily they are able connect other Bonds

~~~

— An Unexpected, yet welcome, Turn of Events —

This isn’t necessarily a theme, but something I thought was really cool and eye-opening

Something that I didn’t expect to do was visit the Extension Corps when gathering Bonds… because why would you? Why would you go back to the people who wanted you gone and ask for their Bond Power? Why would the plot have you do that?

The Great Conductor says that Bonds don’t just come from good people… he’s right. It’s not just good guys who have bonds. It was a point in the story I didn’t expect at all, but gladly welcomed. It’s honestly very profound and bold to me

When we go back to the Extension Corps, we see them grow as characters. After the Bros. walloped them, they went back to Slippenglide and reformed, being tired of doing evil

Never did I expect them to have any ounce of depth…. But they do, and it’s great :)

~~~

— A Combo of Nature and Tech —

This is more on the smaller side, but I thought it was cool

Brothership combines tech (plugs, outlets) with nature (plants, trees), two things that don’t necessarily go together, but makes them compatible. They aren’t always used in positive ways either

Connie and Cozette utilize nature in a positive and healthy way, protecting and caring for the Uni-Tree, while Reclusa does the opposite

Reclusa summons the flowers that stick onto people’s heads and creates their own isolated paradise. He creates the Soli-Tree. I may be over analyzing this, but I like to think this ties into real life, in a way

Nature, or specifically plant growth, can be both positive and negative. Not all plants are good for organic life, some are harmful or deadly, much like the Doom Blooms or Weeping Reclusa

—

This isn’t really too organized, but I just really wanted to discuss all of this and get it out of my head

Thank you for coming to my silly Ted-Talk :)

[jelly-fish-wishes]

Finished the game…and I have SO MANY THOUGHTS!!!!

Spoilers below!

Gameplay was standard for an RPG. Bros moves new and old were great! But there were other features that were great, like the second camera in the Fake Mushroom Kingdom! That was an amazing mechanic that was unfortunately used for that one moment. Luigi selecting with the A button is still a thing that bothers me, but it doesn’t affect the game and story, so it gets a pass. Exploration was fun! Everything felt balanced to me and the story was PHENOMENAL! Now for the story…

The game WAS DEFINITELY a little slow at first, but it took its time to give us a little world building before we got to the REALLY good parts starting with Desolatt Island and the introduction of Zokket.

Boy was HE a real menace. Intimidating. We didn’t know his motives until the end of the second ACT. And by then, his motives were beginning to reveal themselves to be strange. What was the point of secluding everyone? Being purposefully forgetful of the names of his allies and enemies?

The Extension Corps were not just likable. They were LOVEABLE!!! Ten with his “similar to Fawful’s arc, but not quite” complex, Ecks being the little twat that he is, and Shun being the silent, but smart and brawny one, uuughhh they’re all great. And their battle was definitely one of the most memorable of them all!

Team IDLE was adorable. At first I thought they’d be trouble makers, but they were quite the opposite. I kinda wish they’d stop with the obesity jokes with Ellow. And Loog was…just there ngl. Their bond with Peach was great tho!

Starlow.

I’m kidding, she was mostly there for cameos and references to other games, other than that she had no reason to be there. It would have been wrong to not include her anyway. She was an important character in the previous games, so her absence would have caused an uproar the way people wondered why Toadsworth was gone after a certain point in the entire franchise.

I can see how they really wanted to bring back the Firebrand and Thunderhand, but couldn’t for some reason, so they replaced them with the Firebrand and Ice Flowers. And PERHAPS the Thunderhand was ALSO replaced with Luigi’s Bros Attack “Zapperator.” I wonder why they couldn’t bring it back. If they did, would Heatfreeze, Skorcheen and Slippenglide have had Fire and Thunder Concordians instead? I get excited thinking about it.

Bowser coming in to kickstart the 3rd ACT was EXCELLENT! The action, the cinematography, the way Bowser changed targets the minute he saw the Bros. This koopa was a major inconvenience in a good way. Besides, if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have found the Great Conductor, who I assume is the one who can technically go in and out of the Warp Zone AT WILL without a pipe! His attack in the Bros Attack says a lot about his abilities hehehe.

The reveal of Zokket as Cozette came as a surprise to me since Zokket calls himself a HE while Cozette is a SHE. Bro got so brainwashed that she forgot her own pronouns (this isn’t my joke, but it’s still true). Cozette showing remorse over actions beyond control made me attached to her. And then we are introduced to the one and lonely only: RECLUSA. OH BOY DO I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ON TUIS BASTARD.

Reclusa, Reclusa…where do I even BEGIN???

He is the MOST SUCCESSFUL Villain in the franchise. He has destroyed countless of worlds and plans to keep going. He got a reaction out of Mario because he not only threatened the Mushroom Kingdom, but the entire world it’s on. The last time I saw Mario react in such an emotional manner was when had to leave Luigi behind with Dimentio in Super Paper Mario.

Speaking of SPM, can we talk about the similarities with it and Brothership? Villain is a guy in a tophat with three minions. Minions are beloved by everyone in the fandom. True villain is a zesty frilly bastard who disposes the one in a tophat and uses plants to control people and becomes a giant freak monster boss in the end and dies by the hands of love and friendship??????? History repeats itself…and I’m happy about that.

But…the ending…holy cow…

Reclusa clinging to what life he had left in him felt very somber. He had no regrets and yet he seemed remorseful in the way he was stuttering. His death…kinda hurt a little…kind of a shame he is definitely a character we’ll never see again like Dimentio or Fawful.

I was also expecting Cozette to purposely stay behind because of the guilt she had. Was it just me? No? Hmmm.

Also

I knew they were going to say goodbye but I suppose deep down I brushed off the idea that they’d never see each other again.

Ireen saying goodbye to Peach???

Or Snoutlet with the Bros…the widdle tear he shed…man……..

Like, man…Junior and Buddy…come on man…OOOUUUGHHH….that one hurt….

This game

Wow

10/10

[year2000electronics]

Did Mario know about the rumors of the Dark Star Child? If yes, what exactly did he know?

What exactly was that one alternate timeline with Luigi on Bowser's side like? And what had happened to its version of Mario?

Has Antasma ever used his vampire transformation powers (in the main timeline)? And what exactly does that whole process entail?

What happens if any of the Star Children are seperated from their jems?

Does Luigi's Dark Star necklace act funky after the prophecy was foiled, with all that forbidden power but its assigned cause being no more?

EXCELLENT QUESTIONS! answers going under the cut because they got long

so both light and dark prognosticus are kept very secret in the FOTS world, obviously, but seeing as the dark prognosticus is ACTUALLY dangerous, it's far-better kept, so the prophecies of the light prognosticus enter the cultural consciousness much easier, so the stories of the four star children get spread far and wide, and in contrast, the far more secretive dark prognosticus gets seen as "not canonical" or just "old wives' tales"- so for a lot of people, the idea of the dark star child ALONE is ridiculous (it'd kinda be like if you talked to two different, i dont know, christians, and one says the book of revelations is about a hypothetical end, and the other says the rapture is happening Tomorow)

and even then, people who DO believe in the dark star child usually go "well it's probably that furious monster king they mention. he sounds scary"

it's the same for mario, because as much as i love to focus on Luigi's Issues, taking a step back into mario and luigi's ENTIRE life- yknow from birth to present- here's pretty much what it looks like, right

the purple tallies are every "foreshadowing moment" i've put in the timeline, so there's yoshi's island, where the only person who saw that foreshadowing is kamek, and then dream team, where antasma says he sees something dark in luigi, brothership, which i won't get fully into because spoilers, and finally, what i've been lovingly referring to as "the train wreck"- where a bunch of grand reveals all happen near the tail-end.

so for mario, it never even occurred to him! he's lived with this guy for at least 20 years with no incidents up until now! the heck is going on??

as for the alt timeline, i imagined it would be a very similar sort of situation to mlp season 5's finale where the gang travels through a bunch of different super-crazy timelines and you get just enough info to understand what's going on, but you can't stay for long because THERE'S THINGS AT STAKE!!

BUT this specific timeline has luigi being raised by kamek as one of his own, so it's bowser and luigi who end up being The Brothers instead of mario and luigi! mario ends up fine, of course, he just needs to work twice as hard to get stuff done. maybe peach teams up with him instead of getting kidnapped? much to think about. in a hypothetical where this was the real timeline, mario would have to convince both bowser and luigi to go along with him to do SPM lol, what a headache

i did a few sketches of some hypothetical alternate timelines- flashy, conveys what it is quick, and then POOF! its gone

as for antasma, i actually had the idea a while back that maybe he slowly starts turning everyone on pi'illo island into his army, so the more you clear the story, the darker the island gets- but that kinda happens with brothership and the glohmed concordians so i might have to scrap that

but yknow, in bowser's early appearances, he's portrayed as this blue-pale colour, and he also is rocking this really cool cape- and seeing as antasma is using bowser for his own plans in a parasitic way, i think it would actually be super cool for bowser to be a vampire for most of dream team

i think antasma would be the only one who could CAUSE nightmares/fear but anyone turned into a vampire by him would have to suck all the rest/good dreams out of people, so youre left super exhausted and when you go to bed you'll either have no dreams at all or have freaky nightmares

the necklaces have a special connection to the star children! i'm sure youve seen those 'cursed object' or 'magical object' stories where the object will just spawn back somewhere if it's lost. that's good for the star children! their artifacts aren't Artifacts Of Power or anything, moreso just yknow, charms of protection, of good luck, stuff like that. it's a representation of the star spirits' blessing. so a lot of it is just 'these things have sentimental value to these crazy kids'

but of course, they'll come back even if the star children don't want them to at the moment...

and after the fact, luigi's necklace is... wait for it... perfectly normal! it's no longer hidden, but it's not like it's some big scary macguffin, either. it symbolizes that the star children have broken free from the chains of "fate" and "destiny"- how they can choose who they wanna be now. and luigi chooses to be a normal guy!

thanks for your questions!!