#the koopalings are not bowser's kids

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

There Might Have Been No Koopaling Retcon?

In a previous post I talked about how the Koopalings were originally meant to be Bowser's Kids, and that this was retconned. However, upon further examination it seems the Koopalings since the start might have never been intended to be Bowser's children.

Okay so in the Japanese Manual of Super Mario Bros. 3's manual they are called Kokuppa 7 Kyōdai, meaning 7 Little Bowser Siblings. Notice how that doesn't say Bowser's kids, let's move on.

In the Japanese manual they are called Kokuppa 7 Ninshū meaning Team of 7 Little Bowsers. Again, not outright saying they are his kids.

So here's the thing, kuppa is Bowser's Japanese name, but also more than likely the name of his whole species. Similar to how Goomba can be named Goomba, but it's also the name of their species. So with that being said the little of 7 little Bowser/Koopa Siblings begins to make sense. Keep in mind Koopa Troopas or Common Koopas are called Nokonoko in Japan instead of Kuppa. The Japanese said wasn't saying they were Bowser's 7 children, it was saying that's their species name. Heck if the English side didn't give them their names they would have probably all just been called Bowsers.

So what's going on here? It's probably a localization problem based on misunderstanding the Japanese text and or adding to it. This is not uncommon especially back in the day. I intend to cover some examples in the future which I will link here. So if anything the the Team of 7 Little Bowsers were not intended to be his children, but the localization team added it in.

This naming is even seen in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga with them being called Kokuppa-gundan, aka Little Bowser Corps.

This naming could also explain Koopa Kid or his proper name Minikuppa, he is a species of Mini Bowsers, or if we were to say it in English Boss Koopas. Also showing this hypothesis to be wrong, and a hypothesis in this post to be correct. But..... In the manual it Morton and Larry call Bowser oyaji, which apparently means father. However, it can also mean boss, or old man. But Bowser does say ore-sama no musuko-tachi meaning my sons or my children.

[ieatsockz]

Bowser and his hectic ass children ‼️‼️

[fangirlingpuggle]

Half asleep Bowuigi idea where Luigi gets kidnapped and somehow castle chef is not able to make food and Luigi volunteers because these kids are hungry and they need to eat!

He makes a massive Italian meal, Kamek doesn't even know where he got the ingredients from but he eats a bit and is not complaining, all the Koopalings eat it and are instantly like ‘we are keeping him’.

Suddenly all the minions are actually really really trying to stop Mario it goes to Kaizo levels hard and Mario is not having a good time, but he is getting his brother back. Peach is not sure if she should be offended or not that they’ve never been this bad when it was her kidnapped.

Bowsers confused why it’s taking Mario so long (He’s a bit happy though because the green one is kinda nice to talk to NOT THAT HE WILL EVER ADMIT THAT)

Bonus: The Koopalings met Polterpup and lose their minds because IT’S A DOG! IT’S A GHOST DOG! HE HAS A GHOST DOG WE ARE KEEPING HIM AND THE DOG! WHY DID YOU KEEP KIDNAPPING THE PRINCESS DAD THIS GUY IS SO COOL AND HE HAS A DOG!

[doweesig]

Those darn Koopa Kids always causing trouble for everyone smh

[so-very-small]

i’d be so shameless if i was in Peach’s position here like

ohhhhh nooooo the big scary king with strong arms and fangs and big hands stole me away. nooo *twirls hair* *bats eyelashes* omg he wants to marry me? he planned a whole wedding with the very best details ON THE MOON? AND HE’S LIKE FOUR TIMES TALLER THAN ME? OH NOOOO *winks* *giggles demurely*

[childofsardior]

Kisses from Wendy to all her followers! 😘

Here you go with the clean selfie only! ↓↓↓

Happy Wendy's Day in my Summertime Series style :3

I literally spent all day making this and like 2 hours only to mimic Instagram's page someone help me please

You can also find a closeup of the pics under the cut ↓↓↓

[misscryptidart]

Stepdad Luigi helping the kids beat a hard level in Cooking Mama

[mooneyedmoth]

Wendy should get to be silly too, as a treat

[pianokantzart]

Bowser in fanon: Fantastic dad, great with kids, dotes on all his children and does everything he can to protect them

Bowser @ The Koopalings in canon:

[lore-of-the-mushroom-kingdom]

The Koopalings Are Not Bowser's Children

So I realize I have not made a post addressing the Koopalings and their status, only ever referring to it in passing. So as we know the Koopalings in the manuals were called Bowser's Kids, and that this led to external media such as the Super Mario Adventures comic and Super Mario Bros. 3 show depicting him as his kids.

While this was the original intention this was retconned and the Koopalings went from being Bowser's kids to his commanders. Note: There might have never been a retcon to begin with, however they still aren't his kids. I made another post going into detail on why this is. In a Gameinfomer titled Mario's Creators Answer Burning Questions About The Series interview when asked "In Super Mario Bros. 3, the Koopalings were supposed to be Bowser's children. But there's also Bowser Jr. Are they all his kids, and are they all from different mothers? Is Bowser Jr. a Koopaling?" Miyamoto responded with the following "Our current story is that the seven Koopalings are not Bowser's children. Bowser's only child is Bowser Jr., and we do not know who the mother is."

While many people have come to the conclusion that they are still his kids and they are just adopted, this isn't accurate. First off the intent is that they aren't his kids anymore, and you are still someone's kid if you are adopted.

The next part is the simple fact that they are never called his kids in any newer media. On the official website for NSMBWD they are only referred to as "leaders of Bowser's Troops." In cards they aren't called his children either.

The Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia outside of lifted text from old manuals which the Encyclopedia even notes, the Koopalings are never called his kids.

There is also the fact in game they are never called his kids, nor any implication they are adopted.

There is also the fact that they are too old to be his kids, and could even be as old as Bowser if not close to his age. In Color Splash Roy talks about attending night school or in other words he's in college. "I guess I'll just have to hope Lord Bowser can defeat you…" "Yeah, I know what irony is. BOOM. Knowledge is power, so I started going to night school."

There is the fact that the Koopalings only ever refer to Bowser by titles such as Lord Bowser and never father or stepdad, and they do the same for BJ calling him Lord Junior. They never talk about Jr being their brother, they talk about how he will be their boss one day, and they are even called his friends. "That punk will eventually be our boss!" "All right, Lord Junior.. We'll be facing off against Shy Guys in this next battle." "Well, he is Bowser's kid. There were bound to be some speed bumps." "They say that helicopter parenting doesn't work anyway. Just let 'em run wild!"

When Bowser asks them to watch over Junior they don't watch over him like older siblings, and even refer to it as being a form of parenting. They even directly refer to him as Bowser's Kid. There is also the fact Bowser beat up Iggy after making fun of Junior in front of Bowser. With all that being said, the Koopalings are not Bowser's kids but rather his underlings.

[sketchedboba]

*internal screaming*

I refused to draw her canon design, sorry not sorry for those that wanted to see that

I STRUGGLED with making my version because I really REALLY didn't want to put her in heels.

Her canon one reminds me of kids taking their parents clothes to try on, but where would she even get them from.. and the damned LIPS

UGH my literally anger at seeing so many POC anime characters with these damned lips (that's a whole other rant)

ANYWAYS, she is actually a mushroom kingdom egg. It's actually been established (at least in the Paper Mario franchise) that there are some Koopa and Goomba living in the mushroom kingdom. I do like to think she hatched there and was found at a young age. She is posh because she believes that since she originated there that she's above most of the Koopalings.

Resulting in her standing up straighter and not fully wearing the spiked bracelets and accessories associated with high ranked Koopas or her siblings. She doesn't dislike them, but the group does make fun of her trying to act like she's "better" (mostly just mimicking her when she's scolding one of them)

Four outta seven are done!! Next is Iggy, my second favorite of the seven.

I'm considering making a comic about Bowser finding the eggs once I finish these,but idk if anyone wants to see that. Also Luigi's lil moments as a somewhat second dad. I have silly lil comics in my mind 😂

[fangirlingpuggle]

So just had a thought that Bowuigi not only means Luigi is dad to the Koopalings but also Uncle Mario.

Mario suddenly being uncle to the 8 Koopalings and having to babysit them.

Just an entire game where Luigi and Bowser are heading on a retreat and Mario has to watch the kids, with Bowser threatening to destroy him if anything happens to his kids (It’s the first Mario’s actually been scared of him)

The first moment Mario turns his back the 8 kids disappear... the entire game is just him finding the kids, 8 worlds 1 kid in each world and he has to drag all the ones he’s found with him.

Mario fighting giant piranha plant while trying to make sure none of the Koopalings get eaten.

At the end Mario is exhausted...and the kids all want him to babysit them again

[bootyliquor9000]

adding onto my previous post abt me getting back into bowigi: here are the koopalings!!!!!

listen igot lazy with the alt texts

[marinerainbow]

Ok, listen. I know that there is so much potential for angst in the royal koopa family, and I love what people have done with them! Bowser favoring his only blood son and spurring resentment within the Koopalings. Ludwig and Junior having a rivalry- especially in regards to the throne. All the kids feel neglected because of their dad's emotional blockage and him focusing on taking over the world instead of family, etc. I truly love what people can do with all this royal drama and angst potential!! I want to write novelizations of some of your guys' adaptations of the koopalings + Junior and Bowser!!!

(Long post that's a positive rant incoming/my headcannons of the Koopa Royal Family incoming)

... but after watching the Mario movie, seeing the old Nintendo Power comics, and getting back into Mario, I caN'T HEADCANNON BOWSER BEING A BAD DAD OR THE KOOPA KIDS BEING MISERABLE WITH HIM! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT THE SAME GUY WHO ANNOUNCED TO HIS WHOLE KOOPA ARMY THAT HE WAS GOING TO PROPOSE TO PEACH, THE SAME GUY WHO WROTE A WHOLE ASS LOVE SONG FOR THE PRINCESS, THE SAME GUY WHO PLAYED GOLF WITH MARIO, WOULDN'T SET HIS WHOLE KINGDOM ON FIRE FOR ALL OF HIS BABIES!?!?

Don't get me wrong, he definitely has anger issues, and I believe in MatPats Bowser's backstory theory. I'm certain there have been plenty of instances he messed up as a dad. And having a bunch of kids, sometimes some of them slip his attention- at least the first year or so when he first had them and was learning how to Dad. But I'm telling ya'll, if my Bowser ever heard any one of his kids, from his eldest Ludwig or his only darling daughter Wendy or his baby son Junior, were feeling any sort of bad, he'd be like "Oh Hell no!" And take that child out one-on-one and give them lots of love, lots of assurance, and set fire to any fool who tried to tell him that they aren't really his kid.

One time, Bowser got so mad and roared within Lemmy's presence and made the baby boy cry. To this day, after he's long made up for it, Bowser still feels so guilty and heartbroken that he did that and has vowed himself to never let himself get that angry around his kids again... Unless when it came to Mario because they know in that instance, his fury isn't directed at them.

THIS IS THE SAME GUY WHO, EVEN THOUGH BOWSER JUNIOR DISOBEYED THE SCREEN TIME ALERT IN THAT NINTENDO SWITCH PARENTAL CONTROLS VIDEO, HE HESITATED TO SHUT OFF THE CONSOLE BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT HIS SON DEVASTATED!!! And- And we see in Bowsers head, he imagined Junior to be sad and heartbroken! Junior is still a baby, and he's a little spoiled, so more than likely, he would have thrown a tantrum if Bowser had switched the console off. But BOWSER DIDN'T HESITATE NOT BECAUSE OF THE HEADACHE A TANTRUM WOULD CAUSE, BUT BECAUSE HE DIDN'T WANT TO BREAK HIS SONS HEART! I CAN'T EVEN 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I'll take it this far; you guys wanna know what my headcannon on who is Bowsers' successor? Well, in my headcannon, when he adopted the koopalings and had Junior, he knew it was going to be an issue. And he loved ALL of his kids so much, he didn't want to have to choose between any of them! The rest would hate him and the chosen one! All of his babies would start fighting! So what is a koopa king to do? 🤔🤔🤔 well, as we see in Super Mario Wii and in Super Mario Bros 3, he lets his kids run the world's he takes over! They all have their individual world/kingdom to rule!!! He makes sure that A L L of his kids get to be kings and a queen! Until Mario ruins it all saves the day. If Bowser had his way, the whole world would really be family run instead of just Bowser run.

Again, I must emphasize how much I absolutely ADORE everyone else's depictions of the royal koopa family. One of my favorites is Tyrranux's dark Mario AU that I found on Deviantart years ago, and one of my favorite blogs for the koopalings asktehkoopz shows a much-more-wholesome-but-still-angsty depiction of the family. This post is not AT ALL intended to bring you guys down! This post is to show you guys how weak I am compared to you. I love angst and dark themes, but... I CAN'T do it with the koopa family! They are wholesome and loving while attempting to take over the world in my headcannon 🥺🥺🥺🥺

So, tldr; in my headcannon, outside of invading kingdoms and kidnapping princesses every other week, Bowser is a loving, emotional, a bit goofy, not so great at disciplining his kids unless it's really bad like when Bowser Jr. Turned him into a monster in Bowsers Fury, dad who would blow up his whole kingdom if any of his kids got hurt.

[childofsardior]

⭐ The Star Kids and their Gigantic Ice Creams 🍧

Celebrating both Larry's Day and Morton's Day with a quick photo taken during their Summertime Vacantion!

[bridoesotherjunk]

doesn't bowser have 8 kids

Yes and no.

Original canon? ? All 7 Koopalings plus Junior are Bowser’s kids.

Post 2012-2013 canon? ? Only Junior is Bowser’s child. Miyamoto retconned the original canon and made it so the Koopalings are just 'underlings'

---- everyone ignores this new canon because it fucking sucks and we all want Bowser to still have 8 kids.