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#so yeah when i say i've played a lot of mario

thankskenpenders · 6 months

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I'm a huge fan of Ian, but one criticism of him that I've seen that I kind of agree with is that he sometimes falls into "look how much I know about Sonic" in his writing. For example, a number of references in Frontiers like Tails namedropping Dark Gaia out of nowhere. It's a nice change of pace from Sega not knowing where they wanted to go with Sonic for like a decade, but it might be too far in the opposite direction. What do you think?

There's definitely a thin line between Ian's love of references and lore and lyric quotes being fun and grating, yeah. I think he tends to do it well, choosing things that will support and enhance the story he's trying to tell rather than just dropping random references for the sake of it, but sometimes it can kinda make me roll my eyes and go "okay, Ian, settle down buddy." He readily admits that sometimes he just really wants to play with all the toys in the toy box.

I think an example I might point do would be some of the Classic Sonic comics for IDW. The Tails special in particular felt like it relied very heavily on Ian being excited to use the Witchcarters again, and to use Flicky Island as a setting, but I felt like the story left me wanting a little more beyond just "this obscure old stuff is back again." (The art in all the Classic stuff is phenomenal, though, of course.)

Frontiers absolutely is jam packed full of references, but I think it works there because acknowledging and building off of decades of continuity is one of the main points of the story in Frontiers. It's part of a greater effort Sega has been making to acknowledge Sonic's legacy after much of the late '00s and early 2010s were spent being kind of ashamed of that stuff and trying to streamline the series. Frontiers, meanwhile, wanted to look back on all those past adventures and their inconsistent writing and figure out how to wring some proper character arcs out of them, so that the cast can reflect on those arcs and figure out what they want to do next. Mining hit-or-miss old material for a compelling throughline like that has always been something Ian's excelled at - it's literally what he did to the Archie comics when he started out - and having the characters acknowledge their past adventures is a part of that. It gives us a sense that Sonic and co. really have gone through a lot together, and that those experiences have shaped who they are today.

It's also worth remembering that a ton of more casual Sonic fans aren't as immersed in the state of the canon or Ian's referential writing style as we are. When Frontiers came out you'd see people say stuff like "OMG, Sonic mentioned Jet the Hawk!! I didn't know Sonic Riders was canon to the main series! I loved those games!" That kind of reaction is probably a big part of why those references are there. Sega wants fans to know that Sonic DOES have continuity, unlike a series like Mario where every game and sub-series is kind of its own thing, and that all the old stuff still matters. And if that's what you wanna do, then Ian's the guy for the job.

#anon #ask #tkp asks

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weirdmarioenemies · 29 days

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Name: Melon Bug (again)

Debut: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

(I wanted to write some more about Melon Bug, and I liked the original post just fine, so this post will be a continuation since that one was so short!)

An isopod! Oh, joyous day! It may not look like one at all with that big ol’ nose, but when it’s rolled up, there is no mistaking it! Here’s a very fun fact: when an isopod curls into a ball, it’s called conglobation! Use that in your everyday lives.

Melon Bug technically isn’t an enemy, you know the drill, weird Mario friends, that usual thing. When curled up, Yoshi can lick them up and spit them out, defeating enemies they hit! Could this be the first instance of weaponized isopods?

The Player's Guide says "These feisty hoppers transform from bug to melon and back again." Feisty? They're only slightly more feisty than a real pill bug! And a real pill bug has a negative Feistiness Level. I don't think whoever wrote this has played the game, since Melon Bug is harmless! I also don't think they know about real pill bugs, because they clearly can't cogitate conglobation. A bug transforming into a melon? How unrealistic! What do they think this is, Trip World?

I think "Melon Bug" is a very good name. An incredible name, even! When Melon Bug curls up, it, obviously, resembles a melon, what with both being round with stripes. While real pill bugs don't really have "stripes", their tergites (armor plates) do give a "lined" appearance. If you ask me, Melon Bug could be a good name even for real terrestrial isopods!

What do YOU call pill bugs? I've always called them roly-polies, but they have so many wacky names. Woodlouse? Yeah sure, a bug that lives under wood, why not! Butchy-boy? I don't get it, but it's funny. Then there are all the names comparing them to pigs which I just do not get, but groundhogs also get compared to pigs in common names a lot, so maybe people just don't know pigs as well as they like to think. And THEN! England gave them a bunch of CHEESE-related names. What is happening over there? Are British people somehow making cheese from isopod secretions? Why would you call this creature a CHEESELOG? That's a straight up food! I kind of love this name for them for being so ridiculous! Anyway, my point with all this is that Melon Bug would be more actually fitting than the majority of the common names these have been given, but sometimes it is more fun to be unfitting!

Isn't it weird how Melon Bug's art doesn't quite look like the sprite? Such bulging eyes in the art, but little dots in-game... well, we now know the reason!

Remember Super Donkey, from the 2020 gigaleak? I feel like it's been far too forgotten for how interesting it is! Anyway, as I mentioned when talking about that game, Melon Bug was originally designed for it! It seems like the Yoshi's Island art was drawn before they decided to shrink its sclerae, and lighten its colors, but after they decided to give it little red shoes.

If you grew up calling roly-polies something else, or if you know fun names from other languages, I would love to hear them! And I hope you love and appreciate these creatures! They are so common and easy to observe, so rather than get jaded to their presence, celebrate them, and you will be able to find delight whenever you turn over a log!

#melon bug #yoshis island #super mario world 2: yoshis island #mario entities #weird mario all stars #mod chikako

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illdowhatiwantthanks · 3 months

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Home for the Holidays

Casey Novak x autistic fem!reader Warnings: some explicit language, mentions of sex, mostly just fluff on fluff on fluff Prompt(s): From novelbear, thank you! 😊 Word Count: 2.3k

Summary: You bring Casey home to meet your parents and siblings. Adorableness ensues.

Casey's leg bounced up and down as she stared out the passenger window of the rental car. You were only a half hour away from the Nashville airport, and already the crowded city streets had given way to fields, barns, and the occasional herd of cattle on a hillside. Bluegrass played softly through the speakers. You sighed contentedly, knowing just when to turn, just when to slow around a curve, just when to watch for deer crossing the road. You were almost home. Casey let out a shaky breath and you took her hand, pulling it to your lips for a quick kiss before lacing your fingers through hers. "Casey," you sang, trying to get her out of her head. She didn't answer.

"Honey, you're gonna be fine."

"God, I hope they like me," she muttered, her breath fogging up the car window.

"Of course they'll like you. What's not to like?"

"Oh, I don't know," Casey replied sarcastically, throwing up her hands. "I'm a lawyer. I'm blunt as shit. I probably swear too much. And I'm fucking their little girl."

"Okay, first of all, I'm not little. I'm almost thirty. So that'd be a dumb thing for them to care about." Casey said nothing. "Secondly, you're the only person I've ever brought home. If anyone's gonna be scared, it's them! They don't want to scare you off. Chances are not good that I'd ever bring someone home again." Casey bit at her fingernails. You batted them away from her mouth. "Quit with that, you just got them done."

"I'm just saying it's a lot of pressure!" she said, pulling at the strings of her hoodie.

"This is a lot of pressure!?" You laughed. "You made me meet your parents two months in! And you gave me one day's notice!"

"Yeah, but they live in the city, so it wasn't a big deal. I see them all the time. And it wasn't Christmas."

"Oh, don't even start. You were so butthurt when I went home for Thanksgiving without you."

You pulled down your street, houses twinkling with holiday lights, and waved at a neighbor walking a dog.

"Who's that?" Casey asked.

"I don't know."

"You just wave at people you don't know?!"

"Here? Yes. In New York? No."

You pulled to a stop in your family's driveway and grinned at their decorations–a giant pride flag, made entirely of Christmas lights.

"Wow," Casey said, gawking at the display.

"What can I say? They're aggressive allies."

You sat silently in the car for a moment, then took Casey's hand. "You ready?"

You nearly leapt out of your seats as two hands slammed on the driver's side door.

"Y/N!!! Come on, come on, come on!"

You smiled big, eyes sparkling, stimming quickly at your ears and shaking your head. It was your baby brother, Eli. Not such a baby anymore–16 years old. You threw open the car door and he barreled into you, squeezing his arms around your neck as tightly as he could.

"Who's here?!" he said, bouncing up and down with his hand on your shoulders. "Y/N's here!!!"

Casey watched you from a distance. You'd told her all about your youngest siblings–the twins. That they were, quite literally, one in millions. Fraternal twins, both born with Down syndrome. Casey knew, from you, that Eli loved Mario Kart and Les Misérables and called once a week to sing "One Day More" with you. She knew Winnie was a hotshot in the local Special Olympics basketball league (even at 4' 10"), a budding artist, and "kind of a bitch right now," as you'd told her on the way over.

"Can you say that about someone with Down syndrome?" Casey had asked.

You'd scoffed. "People with disabilities can be bitches just as much as anyone else."

Now, as she watched you with your brother, she got it. She got it when you said that they were your favorite people in the world which, until now, had made her ridiculously jealous. She got it when you said that you would give up everything to take care of them when your parents weren't able to anymore. Your face was alight with so much joy, so much connection. Connection that Casey knew you didn't get many other places, aside from her. And she knew then that she'd give up everything for you to have that, even if it meant moving to help you take care of your siblings when the time came.

When you and Eli finally separated, he turned his attention to Casey.

"Hi, Eli!" she said, bending down to be a bit closer to his height. "I'm Casey."

Unlike Winnie, who could talk the ear off a donkey, Eli was mostly non-verbal. He had autism, too, like you, and for this reason, you'd always felt a deeper connection to him. You knew you weren't supposed to have favorite siblings, but Eli was yours. So when he decided to use his limited words to talk with Casey, it was a big deal.

He looked first at Casey, then at you, and asked, "Girlfriend?"

You nodded, beaming. "Yep! Yeah, Casey's my girlfriend."

He stepped closer looking Casey over. After a moment, he seemed to decide that he liked her.

"Casey, big squeeze," he said, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Eli pronounced her name "kissy." You thought your heart might explode. She patted his back and looked to you for a translation.

"Big squeeze means he wants you to hug him as tight as you can. Like, really tight, to the point that you're afraid you might hurt him." She obliged and he laughed in her grip. When she let him go, he patted her on the back and jogged inside.

"It helps with, uh, autism stuff. The deep pressure," you explained.

"Does it help you, too?" Casey asked as you took your luggage out of the trunk.

"What?"

"The big squeeze. Do you like those, too?"

You smiled at her, quick and bright. "Yeah. Yeah, I really do."

"Come here." She pulled you into her and squeezed as hard as she could, using every muscle in her body to put pressure on you, flexing so hard you could feel her shaking. Your body, on the other hand, felt light as a feather, as if all the stress, all the tension in it was seeping out. When she let you go, you sighed happily, your body tingly. You felt almost high.

"Yeah, we're gonna do a lot more of that," Casey decided, observing how much you'd relaxed.

Tennessee wasn't cold, not like New York, but the warmth from inside hit you hard anyway. "Come on," Eli urged, impatiently motioning you toward the living room, where you knew your parents would be sitting. You helped Casey out of her coat, then took off yours, hanging them by the door.

"Mom, Dad!" Eli yelled. "Who's here!?"

Your parents walked into the kitchen, absolutely beaming at you. They'd never say it, but they'd given up on you dating. You just hadn't been interested. They'd gotten used to the idea that you could be happy without a relationship, after years of you sending them articles about asexuality. But you could tell they were happy to see you in love.

"Hey, y'all," your mom said, wrapping Casey in a huge hug that took her off guard.

You smiled as your dad did the same to you, kissing the top of your head. "Hey, sweet pea," he whispered. "Glad you're home."

Casey cleared her throat and reached out to shake your dad's hand. His biker-style beard and imposing height always made him seem scarier than he really was. "Mr. Y/L/N, it's very nice to meet y–" Once again, she was cut off by a bear hug.

"Welcome," your dad said, nearly smothering her. "We're so glad you're here."

"Where's Winnie?" you asked, looking around.

"Upstairs on her iPad." Your mom rolled her eyes. "Want me to get her?"

"Nah. She'll figure out I'm here eventually."

You all made your way to the living room, where Eli promptly got on his own iPad, put his headphones on, and proceeded to perform a series of silent, choreographed dances in front of the Christmas tree. Casey watched him, amused and delighted that neither you nor your parents seemed to find this out of the ordinary at all.

"How was your trip?" your dad asked, lowering himself into a seat next to your mom.

"Good," you said, taking Casey's hand in yours when you noticed she was picking at her fingernails again. "The airport wasn't even too bad."

"I bet it'll be a shit show tomorrow..." your dad mused, thinking about Christmas Eve flights of years past.

"So, Casey," your mom started, clearly eager to get to know the only person who'd ever managed to turn your head. "Tell us about yourself. Y/N says you're a lawyer?"

"That's right." You squeezed Casey's hand as she spoke. "I'm an Assistant District Attorney at the Manhattan DA's office. I prosecute cases for the Special Victims Unit."

"Special Victims?" your dad asked. "Like victims of assault?"

She glanced at your brother who shimmied in the background. "Uh..."

"He can't hear," you told her.

"Yes. Assault, rape, sexually-motivated homicide, child abuse, things like that."

"That's gotta be such a hard job," your mom empathized.

"It's admirable work." Your dad nodded approvingly at Casey, and she seemed to relax a bit. "Those pieces of garbage deserve to rot in hell. But jail's a start."

You rolled your eyes. Your dad was a passionate man, with a tendency to turn more aggressively passionate at any mention or hint of violence toward women and children. Come to think of it, Casey reminded you of him in that way.

"I couldn't agree more," Casey told him.

"You met playing softball?" your mom asked, clearly trying to redirect the conversation.

Casey's face brightened. "We did!" She wrapped an arm around your shoulder and you leaned into her, blushing a little. Your parents shared a glance; they had never seen you this close to anyone. "We're on the same rec team. Y/N's the catcher and I pitch."

"Still got that catcher's gear?" your dad joked, winking at you.

You shot him a glare. "I know I'm not that much taller than I was when I was twelve but, no, Dad, the gear from my middle school team doesn't fit anymore."

"Ooh!" he exclaimed, sitting up and pointing at Casey. "Has Y/N ever told you about her softball nickname?"

"No, she hasn't," Casey said, smirking at you.

"I coached her team when she was little. She played catcher, of course." Your dad leaned forward, as if he and Casey were in on a delightful secret together.

"But she would jump forward to grab the ball," he continued. "Which was obviously a terrible idea because–"

"She's gonna get hit," Casey finished, nodding.

"Exactly. She was really good, but she always jumped out and we kept telling her, 'You can't be pouncing like a tiger, you're gonna get hurt.' And one day, sure enough, she leaned forward and bam! She was laid out. Thank god she had the helmet on, or it probably would've cracked her skull."

Casey laughed, but placed a hand absentmindedly on the side of your head, as if checking to make sure you really were okay, all these years later.

"After that," your dad chuckled. "Word got around with other parents and the girls on the team, and they started calling her El Tigre. For the rest of her softball career–El Tigre!"

Your cheeks were burning as Casey and your parents laughed together, but your heart was warm, too.

"Okay, okay," you said, "I'm gonna go say hey to Winnie." You looked at Casey. "You want to come?"

"Sure!" she said, standing next to you and placing a hand on the small of your back as you moved toward the stairs. You looked back at your parents to see them watching you intently, holding hands, nearly bursting with happiness. They liked her. You could already tell.

As you emerged upstairs, you gently grabbed Casey's waist and pressed her lightly against the wall.

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I thought we were going to see your sister."

"We are," you said, standing on your tiptoes to kiss her softly. You felt her body melt into yours, the stress of the day dissipating. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay first."

Casey sighed contentedly and brushed your hair behind your ears. "I'm good. They're really nice people, your family. They really love you."

"Yeah, well," you scoffed. "Wait until you meet this one."

You knocked on Winnie's door and threw it open when she called, "What!?"

Winnie sat at her desk in all her diminutive glory, Special Olympics medals hanging from a cork board and Usher's "Yeah!" blaring from the speakers.

"'Sup, nerd," you said, standing in the doorway.

Winnie gaped, looking from you to Casey.

"What are you doing here, Y/N?" she finally said.

"Uh, it's Christmas?" you responded.

Winnie pointed at Casey. "Who are you?"

You could tell that Casey was holding back laughter. "I'm Casey."

"You're Y/N's friend?" Winnie asked, leaning back and swiveling in her desk chair.

"No, I'm not her friend. I'm her girlfriend," Casey said as the two of you took a seat on the edge of Winnie's bed.

Winnie seemed to think very deeply about this. "Her girlfriend?"

You both nodded.

"Like, when you have a crush?"

You blushed.

"Yep," Casey nodded, patting your leg. "I have a big crush on Y/N."

Casey shot you a cheesy grin. She was loving this.

Winnie smirked and waggled her eyebrows. "Do you kiss!?"

"Oh my god," you groaned, rubbing your forehead.

Casey on the other hand, seemed to be living for this conversation.

"Oh, absolutely," Casey told her. "I do kiss Y/N. I love to kiss her."

Winnie scoffed and turned back to her desk, fiddling with her iPad.

"What about you, Winnie?" Casey continued, crossing her legs and getting comfortable. It blew your mind that Casey seemed to be getting along with Winnie so well. Or maybe Casey just liked pushing people's buttons. God knows, Winnie was nothing but buttons to push these days. "Do you have a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend?"

The look of absolute condescension on Winnie's smug face finally drove Casey to the edge. She burst out laughing. "Why are you looking at me like that!?"

"I don't have time for that," Winnie said. "I have to work out." She pulled up her sleeve and flexed her bicep.

"Damn!" Casey exclaimed, standing up to squeeze Winnie's arm. "You are strong!"

Winnie pulled her sleeve back down. "Yeah, I know."

"I hear you're really good at basketball," Casey said conspiratorially, squatting down next to Winnie's desk. "I'm more of a baseball girl myself, but you wanna play tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" Winnie exclaimed, genuinely excited before she remembered she was too cool for us. "But I'll win."

Casey raised her eyebrows. "That's some big talk."

Winnie shrugged. "I can't help it that I'm the best."

"You got me there."

You gestured to Casey and she followed you to the door.

"Y/N can't play, though," Winnie added, glancing back at Casey.

"Aw, why not?" Casey protested. "I love playing with Y/N."

Winnie shook her head. "She is really bad."

"Ouch, Winnie," you said, glaring at her.

Casey cracked up again, and you elbowed her in the stomach.

"Good night, loser," you called as you shut Winnie's door.

"Good night, dork!" she yelled back.

Casey had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.

"See?" you whispered to her. "I told you. A little bitch."

Casey grabbed your face in her hands and pressed her forehead to yours. She kissed you quickly, then laughed, a wide grin on her face.

"What's this for?" you asked, as if you needed a reason.

"Oh, it's nothing," Casey said, serious, before giggling, "I just have such a big crush on you."

"Ugh, stop!" You pushed her away. "That's so dumb."

"It's cute!" she protested, and you didn't know if you'd ever seen her this giddy. She came up behind you and wrapped her arms around your waist, pressing her face into your neck. "Come on, you say it, too."

You rolled your eyes, but a smile tugged at the corners of your mouth. "I have a massive, huge, heartstopping crush on you, Casey."

She buried her face into you, planting kisses up and down your neck as her fingers tickled your stomach. You squirmed and giggled and shushed her as you both headed back downstairs. You didn't want to seem too in love. Your parents would never let it go.

#casey novak #casey novak x reader #casey novak drabble #casey novak one shot #casey novak fluff #law and order svu #svu #autistic #neurodivergent #casey novak x autistic reader #x autistic reader

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snakeeyesdraws · 10 months

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Overly Analyzing the Super Mario 3D World story intro

So I've been playing Super Mario 3D World a lot, and since I haven't seen many people talk about the opening cutscene, I wanted to do that since it contains a lot of very cute animations!

This will kinda be a scene by scene analysis with me just pointing out things I like, but if you'd like to see the full cutscene in better quality than my screenshots, you can watch it here!

The scene starts off with all of the main playable characters going for a walk under a starry sky filled with fireworks. I know blue/yellow Toads have been staples of Mario games now, since they colour code the main characters and Mario is obviously red, but its does delight me that Blue Toad is just invited on this little walk with them.

(Also if you listen closely, you can hear Mario say "Ah Princess, what a beautiful evening!" and I thought that was cute)

Their walk is interrupted by Toad noticing something offscreen, and they run ahead to see a broken pipe in the middle of the path! Mario and Luigi closely examine it, and then we get...

ACTUAL PLUMBING FROM THE SUPER MARIO BROS!

Real talk, the more the series goes on the less relevant their status as plumbers often becomes, so anything that references it or shows them actually using their plumbing skills makes me so happy. And their tools are colour coordinated!

A bunch of power ups and the green Sprixie Princess pop out, and we get some classic 2d artwork, which I absolutely adore. More of this in every 3d game, please.

The ground and pipe start rumbling, and this is where I really wanna focus on the character animation of the main four here. All four of them start looking around for the source of the tremors, and we see both Peach and Luigi lifting their hands up, Luigi looking more anxious.

Bowser suddenly pops out of the pipe and roars, startling all four main characters. We can see very different reactions from all of them.

Toad and Peach jump before covering their ears, very clearly intimidated by Bowser's roar.

Luigi is the only one to fall over completely from Bowser's appearance. He stays on the ground and holds one hand up in front of his face, flinching when Bowser roars. Dude is clearly terrified by Bowser.

Mario does jump in surprise when Bowser pops up, but he's the only one who doesn't cower when Bowser roars. Instead, he immediately gets into a confrontational pose, with one hand held out protectively towards Peach. This isn't his first time dealing with Bowser, obviously, and his instincts are to prepare for a fight and to protect Peach.

However, Bowser's target this time isn't Peach, but instead the green Sprixie Princess. A lot of people poke fun at the set up for this game - "if Princess Peach isn't in danger, why do any of them care?" - but I always like when Mario & Luigi and the others try to rescue others simply because it's the right thing to do.

Bowser turns to glare at Peach and Mario, taunting them to react. Peach and Mario are both upset by the capture of the Sprixie Princess, but neither react too strongly to Bowser. Both of them have interacted with him enough to know what he's like.

Conversely, both Luigi and Blue Toad react much more when Bowser turns to them. Blue Toad stumbles onto one foot, while Luigi cowers back further, keeping his hand raised defensively, which seems to be a common mannerism of his when he's frightened. Bowser seems to be grinning a bit more in this pose, as if he knows he can get a bigger reaction out of these two.

When Bowser disappears down the pipe, all four of them regain their bearings and jump back up, reaching out for the green Sprixie Princess.

Peach is the first one to rush forward to the pipe. She sort of flounders on the edge of the pipe before she slips down it - yeah, I don't think she had a game plan there outside of trying to rescue the green Sprixie Princess. But proactive Peach being included on the adventure is always a win!

Before Luigi even lands his startled jump, Mario is already rushing forward to follow Peach down the pipe, and Toad is right behind him. I'd say it's out of mostly courage on Mario's end, and mostly out of loyalty to the princess on Toad's.

Then we get to my favourite animation of this scene (can you tell I'm biased?)

While Mario and Toad follow Peach down the pipe, Luigi pulls himself together and slaps his cheeks twice to hype himself up. It's one of my favourite quirks for characters to do, and it's doubly endearing on characters who are timid in nature. Luigi was arguably the most started and scared by Bowser's appearance, but he knows he has to do something! Totally adopting this as a common mannerism of his

Luigi then follows the others down the pipe, and they travel to the first world of the game, bringing the opening cutscene to a close.

Fun fact; since I've only ever played this game solo, and since I main Luigi, I assumed that his animation of landing on his stomach outside of the pipe was unique to him, since he's established as quite clumsy.

But in 4 player mode, you can see all of them coming out of the pipe together, and Mario lands on his stomach too. Just thought that was a cute detail.

So that's the opening cutscene of Super Mario 3D World! It's not terribly complex, but I've always adored it for showcasing a lot of personality with the main characters, and since I didn't really see any discussions on it, I wanted to highlight it!

I do recommend you watch the cutscene since a lot of the nuances and details can't be shown in screenshots - or better yet, play the game yourself! It's a ton of fun ^^

#snake talks #Super Mario #Super Mario 3d world #smb #mario #super mario bros #woke up with the urge to info dump about this game so. here we are #this was fun too do!! I might do more of these :]#just as a character animator I really care about and love small details like this #this cutscene isnt long but it tells so much about the characters and its very cute

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angelxd-3303 · 11 months

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"The best way I can describe it is like...a rut, I guess?" Cranky Kong took a sip of his margarita, nodding. Luigi swirled his, continuing.

"It's like when you get stuck in a ditch, and you rev the engine, but all it does is create a rut in the road. Then, even when you fix the kart, driving over that spot will get you stuck again. Realistically, I know I'm in a completely different situation. I have a husband who has and will fight for my safety, Mario and I will never have to be in the run the way we were before, so it should be ok, right?"

"Then ya drive over the rut."

"Exactly. Something happens, or someone says something, and it's like you're right back in that moment. Mario tends to get stuck in his own head a lot more than I do, but I know I'm still guilty of it. Whenever I'm alone too often, I tend to fall into the rut of: 'Mario went off to find us something to eat, I'd better go hide until he gets back!' Next thing I know, the entire Capital is in an uproar because no one can find me, and I've been tucked into the bottom of a broom closet for hours." Cranky Kong snorted at this, chuckling at the mental image.

"The worst part is, I know Mario had it so much worse. He shielded me from so much as a kid, and I can only imagine what he deals with." The two looked out across the arena, where Mario and DK were going at it. Seeing the competitive grin on Mario's face made Luigi's eyes sparkle.

"Your son has done him so much good. He and Peach are a match made in heaven, but DK has a way of bringing out the little kid in Mario. He helps him focus on the moment, and gives comfort when the past is all he can think of." Cranky Kong gave a rare smile.

"Yeah, well that human has been good for him too. DK's really grown up since he started dating your brother. He's still a little shit, mind you, but he's more... balanced." It was Luigi's turn to chuckle, the noise drawing Polterpup from where he lay by his master's feet. The dog yipped, tongue lolling out as he panted happily. Luigi patted the spirit's head softly. He looked back up in time to see DK scoop Mario up and spin him around. Mario laughed, a warm smile resting easily on his face. The older brother rested his hands against DK's cheeks and softly kissed his forehead. The ape grinned, holding him closer. Mario shifted to rest on DK's back, and the couple left the arena to meet Peach in the doorway.

The princess hugged both of them with an elated smile, and Luigi sighed. Cranky Kong nudged his knee with his own.

"You're all doin' great, ok? For the hell you've seen, you and your brother are doing great." He assured. Luigi leaned back against the warm stone seat.

"Yeah." He said, gently playing with his earrings.

"We're doing great."

#luigi #mario #cranky kong #donkey kong #my au #princess peach #mario x donkey kong x peach #Bowuigi #cranky kong and kamek tagteam to be therapists for their traumatized sons-in-law.#Gadd finds out and is quite miffed at being excluded #yes the broom closet thing actually happened. i might write that story later

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factual-fantasy · 5 months

Text

28 Asks! Wahoo! :DDD

(Post in question)

XD I'm glad you like him! This makes me want to make some lore for the little critter. Some of the other imps and cats have lore, so Armpit should too!.... Starting with giving him a proper name <XDD

(Video in ask)

Oooo pretty song! Though I'm not sure what they'd think.. :0 They might just enjoy it in general and not have much thought afterwards <XD

Google seems to say that that's a scary game, I'm sure they'd be too scared to play <XD

I feel like what it would take for Bonnie to yell at someone is if they were yelling at him. But even so.. I just don't know if that's how Bonnie is..

Like if say, Monty was really barking at Bonnie for how he's behaving and just shoving everything in his face. I'd like to think that Bonnie would eventually blow and yell back something like "I DON'T CARE" or "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IM GOING THROUGH".. Buuuutt at the same time.. Bonnie is mellow and kind by nature.

Seeing Monty yelling.. he might just shut down even more. He's so tired. He's tired of everything. And now Monty's yelling about something and its all just.. so exhausting. It might be easier for Bonnie to just stand there and not say anything and wait for Monty to get it all out of his system and then leave. Fighting back is just gonna make Monty yell more and cause more drama. Bonnie would give up in an argument pretty quickly and just stand there until the other person is done yelling.

And what's Monty gonna do? Push Bonnie around? Bonnie is way heavier and stronger than him. Pushing him/encouraging Bonnie to get physical is just gonna result in Monty flailing about and Bonnie standing stiff as brick.

I've never seen that movie(..?) before so I cant really say.. But judging by Google images, it looks really cool! And it has a lot of cats in it XD

I remember them! What a whacky cast of characters :00 My favorite is probably the Monkey XDD

I've never watched any of the Ghibli movies although I really should 💔

Now considering all the stuff I've heard/seen about those movies.. the food looks delicious, and the lands seem peaceful..?? They all might camp out for a while in one of those worlds and just bask in the peace and quiet.. 😌

XDD Hey I see that digital circus reference!

Although they didn't have any rides like that fortunately, and STAFF bots didn't exist when Foxy was still in service. If a kid had an accident of some kind, whether it be an injury or a uh. "Spill".. It was probably Foxy's job to alert an employee and they'd come in and clean up the mess and/or whisk the injured child away so Foxy could go back to work.

If you go to my blogs post search and type in "super mario bros", you should find 99% of all my Mario artwork!

If you have any trouble finding it don't be afraid to send another ask- idk if ur on mobile or PC it might be different <XD

Seam could have known how to do that perhaps..? But his powers were never meant to hurt people. Seam was the court Magician. He would just use his powers to put on these beautiful displays and show off these bizarre tricks and shows. (Usually along side Jevil to add extra flare and humor to his performances)

Although... technically you could say that he did use his magic to harm once. I don't know if it counts as a hex.? But he did lock Jevil away in a magical cell made of his own magic... does that count? :0

Yeah that was the intention. Seam, that Older imp and the two cat ladies worked under the King directly. So they wore these beautiful robes and headdress things to show their status. Jevil was the court jester so he just wore a jester outfit.

If Jevil had any other role he'd probably be dressed all fancy just like them. :0

Yeah <:( for a lot of reasons.

For many years talking has hurt Seams mouth and face, obviously- So he's resorted to mumbling and talking very quietly. After years and years of doing that his voice cant be great. When the stiches were removed I can imagine him raising his voice and it just sends him into a horrible coughing fit. Plus those holes in his mouth are still there, and they cant feel great to be stretched around..

I can see him struggling to make certain sounds. Like the word "cheese". He'd probably cut off half way cuz the holes were stretched and it felt like a punch to the lip. :'(

That's a good question... I think at least for now, Seam just wants to cover it up.

Underneath that wrap.. his face is pretty messed up. Its not just his eye.. I imagine that the eye hole also didn't heal great so I don't know if they could even put in an artificial eye. It might hurt Seam or make his face really sore.. Plus after the eye was in, he'd just want to cover it up with a bandage anyways..

So for now, he just covers his face and doesn't touch the wound. And I don't think he'll have the courage to mess with it anytime soon... :((

I have not :/ But I have seen ads for it EVERYWHERE. So I am aware of its existence. XDD

I've never heard of that game no.. but Googling it, I can say that I love the art style! :D

Awe,, Thank you so much!! :DD

Possibly! :000

Aww.... nah that would destroy anybody.

I mean if they absolutely had to for some reason, like they could never return to the surface because if they did they would die.. They would survive underwater for a while. But then eventually they'd run out of supplies and they'd starve or the octopod would stop functioning after a while..

Also MAN they would all be ruined mentally. Never being able to see their families again. Never being able to feel the sun on your skin or breathe in fresh air. Being stuck underwater for the rest of their lives would destroy all of the Octonauts. Save for possibly Inkling, but even then being trapped down there and all your friends are miserable would wear on Inkling too..

Maybe not the whole playground. But I can easily see Christmas/holiday themed decorations being hung up around the Daycare :)

Hmm.. I hadn't planned/thought about something like that... But that's a really cool idea! Perhaps at one point they were pursued through dimensions :0 Terrifying!

@kiyuktuk

Which "Wapeach" are you referring to? If you're talking about the ship of them, Mmmm nahh,, I don't think they'll ever be a thing..

Are you referring to "Wapeach" as in the peach wearing that purple outfit with the long purple boots? If so I don't know what to make of that <XD

Judging by Google images.. they'd see the desert wasteland, turn right around and jump through another mirror. <XD They need to find food man!

(Post in question)

Bad Endogeny! No! Don't stab people's legs! >:(

Never heard the song before, but I'm sure Jangles would be up for it! XD

XDD 1 Jangles is powerful enough, the world cant handle 2-

@beryl-shade

Jangles would be in awe of his idols. Sans and Papyrus would probably be wondering why this 3ft(??) tall plastic Halloween skeleton decoration is alive and talking XDD

@octonauts16 (Post in question)

Oh! No no, Cici is Bibi's little sister. I don't think I'll be making him a girlfriend any time soon <XD

I'm cautiously excited. I always love to see more FNAF but I'm worried that they might twist the lore even further and make things even more confusing... <XDD

#my response #fnaf security breach #factual fam #super mario bros #octonauts #undertale #deltarune #seam and jevil #seam deltarune #jevil

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silenzahra · 2 months

Text

Today's the anniversary for me! ✨

I know the Mario Movie was released on April 5th 2023, but back then I was seeing the Holy Week processions with my dad, so I didn't get to go to the cinema until April 8th, which was a Saturday, and that was when everything changed for me 😌💚❤️

This is going to get a bit long, personal and emotional, so it's totally fine if you'd rather not read it! 💖

As I've mentioned, this movie saved my life simply because I was in a terrible place when it came out. Admittedly, I had been feeling a bit better that week thanks to the fact I was going out every day and was distracted and such, but my mind was still not totally... fine.

Until, at 8PM, the Mario Movie finally started and I spent the next hour and a half with a silly smile on my face, feeling like a little kid again and experimenting lots of feelings and emotions I hadn't felt in many months. Happiness. Joy. Laughter. A warm heart. Tension. Pure emotion. Excitement. Nostalgia. The urge to cry, though not from sadness.

And the need to get those cute brothers off the screen and give them each a big bear hug.

(Posted this edit on my Instagram account last Friday.)

Mario and Luigi did really save my life. I had already fallen for them long ago, when I was 13 and played Superstar Saga on my GBA, since that was the very first game that made me see these two as endearing and charming characters with a beautiful sibling bond based not only on love, but also trust, laughter and comfort.

And, in all honesty, seeing this movie, seeing that bond translated into it, was totally a dream come true. Aside from the M&L games, we don't really get to see much of these two taking care of each other (please correct me if I'm mistaken!). Also, I'm a 90s girl, so I had been wanting a good animated Mario movie since... I honestly can't remember. All I know is I used to watch the cartoons (specifically the one based on Super Mario Bros 3), and then I ran into the live action movie from 1993 and... Welp. Let's just say I'd rather forget it 😬 (Sorry if you did like it, it simply was NOT my cup of tea.)

And then this movie was announced, and every new trailer made me feel more and more hyped, and reminded me of my love for the Super Mario franchise. I had already been hyperfixated on it back in 2013-2016, when I played Dream Team and fell even harder for them (especially Luigi), and when I finally got to see this movie, that obsession came back stronger than ever.

I felt like a little child again. I went back to play my old favorite games. I listened to the ost on loop for months, and it ended up becoming my most listened album on Spotify last year.

And I also felt the urge to write again.

Writing has always been an important part of my life. I started at 8 and I simply couldn't stop. To me, it is like breathing, so when I spend some time away from writing, I'm not exaggerating when I say I feel a physical pain on my chest. And due to the bad place I was in, I had been away from it for way too many months.

It turns out all I needed was a dose of brotherly love in order to feel my fingertips tingling again with the urgent need to start writing.

So yeah. There are many things I have to celebrate today and to be thankful for. First of all: I'm alive, and happy, and better than ever, still struggling with anxiety and fears but feeling way better than I'd felt in the years before this film came out. I feel emotion, and joy, and will to continue living and enjoying life and fangirling and being myself. I feel connected to Mario and Luigi and my heart simply warms up every single time I think about them (which is 24/7 tbh).

And I'm writing again! 2023 was the year I've written the most in my entire life, and I owe it to this wonderful movie, and so far I've continued to write this year too, and that's also thanks to Mario and Luigi.

And of course, and more importantly, this film has led me to meet all of you, beautiful people, and I honestly couldn't be more grateful 🥹🫂💖 With you I can fangirl and scream and cry and be myself, and that's why I felt like sharing this with you guys, because I know you understand and share the feelings I've experimented these months since I first saw this movie. I love each and one of you with all my heart 💖💖💖

And after talking non-stop, I believe I kinda feel like finally showing my face here (the real one, not this one 😂), so... Here I go! 🤭👇

This is me today! 🤭 With lots of Mario stuff as you can see, and I even painted my nails to match the main characters! 💅

The blue is for Toad, the pink is for Peach, green and red for Luigi and Mario (obviously) and black for Bowser since he was played by Jack Black! 😁

Admittedly, I'm not very good at painting my nails because I'm not into makeup and such, but I do like to see them all painted, I think they look beautiful 🥰 Last year I used to paint them red and green all the time since I went not once, not twice, but thirteen times to see this movie, and every time wearing a different shirt 🤭 Though the one I'm wearing today is the one I wore exactly one year ago, as you can see here! 😁

I literally cannot remember when or where I bought it, but it was simply PERFECT to wear to go see this movie 😁 And you bet, when the Toad guard said that quote from the first Super Mario game, I went all silly in the cinema: "OMG my shirt!!!!!" 😂😂😂

And here are some pics from some of the other twelve times I went, and you can get a look at some of the Mario shirts I own! I may go and show them all together in a different post, and maybe also the earrings since I own a lot: red shrooms, superstars, fire flowers, green shrooms... Would you like that? 🥰

Now that I see it, I look a bit scared on the first one 😂 The green shirt I'm wearing on the second one is pure GOLD, and on the third one I kinda felt like I was taking a picture with Mario himself 😂😂😂

I did own some Mario merch before the movie came out, but last year I went and bought tons of it, including shirts, earrings, and of course plushies! 🤭

They look like a cute little family OMG aren't they ADORABLE I love them all so so much 😭❤️💚✨

So this is it! This is my little celebration of the first year since I saw for the first time the movie that saved my life 🥰 In all honestly, I would've liked to bring a fic or something, but as you all know, I went through a very hard Holy Week and I'm still not feeling totally ready to get back to writing (even though I've gotten a couple new ideas, for which I'm deeply grateful).

But I hope sharing my experience and feelings (and my face! 😂) is enough for this year, and let's hope I can bring a new Mario story to share with you guys very soon! 🥰

I love you all so so so so so so so so so so much!!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖

#super mario bros #mario movie #mario movie anniversary #face reveal #this is me!

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gunthermunch · 1 year

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[Transcript under the cut]

Elsa: admit it Lucas, it could certainly be worse. Lucas: uhm, well… Max: WHEEZE Pierce: Mila is going to passive-aggresive kill us. Max: AH- WHEEZE HAAAA Elsa: what's so funny Max Max: YOU- no i can't AHAA Pierce: gotta say this could make a funny situation but we really have nothing to eat now Lucas: we have Max's noodles Elsa: i'm not eating that. Max: A-HHAAAHAHA

Lucas: so, what do you call this? Max: noodles and woe Lucas: what's that Max: i don't know, why don't you have a taste Lucas: hm. hm!! nice! isn't this just garlic noodles tho? Max: garlic noodles and woe Lucas: pretty sure this is ketchup Max: and distress Lucas: …why are you watching me eat like that. it's not poisoned, right? Max: this is just the face i was born with Lucas: true Elsa: hey are you two playing mario kart with us or what!!

Max: YAAWN Max: i have to call it a night, for my own sake Elsa: for our sake Max: yeah, i'm starting to see the spiders Pierce: night dude Lucas: …yaawn Elsa: are you kidding me Lucas: what? i need to sleep like, a lot. Elsa: sigh sure thing buddy. Pierce: chuckle he's such a lost cause Elsa: hm… Pierce: Els? Elsa: nothing, i'm just thinking Pierce: when aren't you thinking?

Max: ha..ahaha Lucas: hey…? Max: ah, hi blondie Lucas: chuckles what's up with you? Max: well i'm just ''reflecting'' on how i had the craziest 24 hours of my entire life Max: and yet, this is the calmest i've ever been. it's… hysterical. Lucas:…Elsa told me you went out last night. I can only imagine what happened, clubbing sounds like too much for me. Lucas: but, I’m glad you’re fine and calm Max SNORES Lucas: sigh. Lucas: i'm…so glad.

#he didnt just got jumpscared by max snoring btw what scared him the most is him putting his head on his shoulder #ts4 #munch #lucas munch #max villareal #elsa bjergsen #pierce delgato #strawberry the dog

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takikojou · 2 days

Text

J2 Sunday panel - 26th May 2024 - Purgatory Con Düsseldorf (part 1)

(from memory and from the second question onwards, I had some support) Jared: Guten Morgen The whole audience: Guten Morgen Jared is baffled and turns to Jensen: Did you hear that? Jared: Guten Morgen The whole audience: Guten Morgen Jared: This is my new favourite moment of all time!

(Note from me: In school, at the beginning of every class, the teacher says “guten morgen” (good morning) to the pupils and the whole class answers “guten morgen”. It’s kind of indoctrinated…)

Fan 1: I love Radio Company. When do you play a concert in Germany? Jensen: We’d love to. There has been some talking about a tour but we don’t have any plans yet. Jared: But only if David Hasselhoff is the opener. Jensen and the whole crowd laugh) Jensen: I’d open for the Hoff! (Here starts the word-for-word script) Jensen: My favourite song from Radio Company? Oh. Oh, they’re all kind of uniquely special but um, I probably listen to either ”Quarter to” or “City Grown Willow” the most. (crowd cheering) Thank you.

Fan 2: Hi, my name is Pia and um me and my friend play Mario Kart a lot lately… Jared: Oh, on which system? Fan 2: On the switch. Jared: Okay. Fan 2: And we wondered what characters Sam and Dean would take in Mario Kart and how good they would be. Jared: I know mine because I've been this character for all time and it's kind of appropriate. I'm Yoshi. (crowd cheering) Jensen: So I'm growing the ocean. Fan: That's a good character. Jared: Thank you. I know. Jensen: Uhm, I’m the Shy Guy. Jared: Um, Who are y'all? Fan 2: Um, I'm the King Boo, the ghost with the crown. Jensen: King Boo, yeah. Fan 2: My friend plays Rosalina. Jensen: My daughter plays Rosalina. I'm gonna kick the shit out of her, so it's done. It's not good yet. Well, my eleven-year-old, however… She's she could beat me now. I don't like it. I kick her off the couch. (Makes a massive kick motion) Jared: Thank y'all so much for your time. Jensen: Thank you.

Fan 3: Hi, my name is Sadina and I want to ask… Jared: Deanna? Fan 3: Sadina. Jared: I wanted to say Dean meat Deanna, Deanna meet Dean. Fan 3: I want to ask how your experience in Germany is so far and if you want to see something. Jared: It's been fucking terrible. (audience laughs) Awesome. I love it. We've been able to meet some of our German fans over the years and they're always wonderful and kind and loving and it's always so funny. To think so. Part of my Heritage, my mother's father is 100% German so I'm 25% German.(audience cheers) I know a little German, he’s over there! His name is Franz… I’m sorry. Top secret joke. The movie Top Secret, not a secret. But uh, what time is it? It’s great to be here. I love it here, had a great time. Love it. I will come back anytime, y'all invite me? (audience cheers) Jensen: I've always had a good time here. Like a uniquely cool fun time when I come to Germany, haven't been in a few years so it's nice to come back. I haven't really had the opportunity to kind of explore the town walked around a little bit on Friday when I arrived, but Yeah. I’d love to love to turn this into more of a vacation date next time. So… Jared: Bring us back. Jensen: Definitely like to come back.

Fan 4: Good morning. First one. Uhm, did you borrow Dean’s leather jacket? Jared: Dean’s leather jacket? No. Someone did. Someone borrowed Dean’s leather jacket. No. I didn’t. I certainly would give it giving it back to him. Jensen: No, I mean, you know, that jacket got stolen, right? Jared: Yes, yeah. Yeah. Jensen: That’'s really sad cuz it was like, it was the one of a kind, the jacket that was picked out. It was only one of them, it was from Warner Brothers wardrobe lockup. So it was a vintage coat. And they mailed it from the center of Vancouver mailed it back down to LA… Jared: We went to do a photo shoot. Jensen: We went and did a photo shoot and then it never returned. I mean, I don't know if somebody stole it or it just got misplaced or what but it was searched for quite a long time. It was never found. So we had just kind of getting rid of a jacket. Jared: Yeah. Plus I sweat in t-shirts. So if went to anonymous and it’s something I could wear, but if I ever find it, I'm gonna take it back and give to this, dude. Fan 4: Yes, it was my idea. Jared: I would love to. If anybody finds Dean’s leather jacket for sale on eBay or something. Please buy it and we'll reimburse you and everything. Yeah. Notify your authorities. Yeah.

Fan 5: My question is if you had a chance to reshoot an episode or assume, what would it be and if you want to change anything? Jared: To reshoot an episode or a season? Fan 5: If you have a chance to be shooting an episode or a season. Jensen: Bugs. Jared: Bugs. I don’t want to reshoot that with a bunch of bees. Jensen: We shot that and we changed that aspect. Jared: Right. Fair. Jensen: Not because they… they ended up using the bees, the live bees that we were having to work with. They didn't show up on camera. Jared: So they had a visual… Jensen: They had a visual professional, like, put 'em in, with the computer, which we could have from the get gun!

Jared: Also, before we shot the episode with the bees and like you said, we had like 60 000 bees in that building with us in the room in the house or whatever and so a couple of weeks ahead when they were making sure we could do the episode, they were like, hey, we're gonna do a bee allergy test to make sure you're not allergic to bees like. Yeah, sure, cool. And so a couple of days later this guy shows up and he's like, hey, I'm here to give you a bee allergy test. I'm thinking it's like, you know, a swab or something like no, they have a little mesh guard and they put it on your arm and they take the bees with a tweezer and make the bees sting you. I was like, fuck this! No! Literally, you have this little kind of a sleeve on you and they grab a bee and put the stinger into you. That was strange for sure. You know, if I could reshoot a season it would be season four and I wouldn't change anything. I had a great time that year, not that obviously because I've met my wife but I love that season. I feel like if it was a dryer, like I just feel this great memory of that 2008 / 2009 season like I can still smell of winter and it was dry and it was it was crazy good time. So I'd like it back then. And also the house was there, you know, you and hired all. It just was really cool.

#jared padalecki #jensen ackles #j2 #purgatory 8 #sunday panel

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coldmori · 6 months

Note

Nosy Anon Things:

Sunny & Omori & Hero & Kel 23

Everyone 27

🎻:

...

we used to get along.. but the recital came and then she.. left..?

i don't understand why she left.. or where she went..

maybe i wasn't good enough...

🔪:

perfect.

🍳:

kel's always been my motivation to keep going, I don't think I would've made it without his help.

i've been striving to be more like kel, since he's always so happy all the time and he's a lot more fit than me

🏀:

I thought that him leaving would mean ma and pa would pay more attention to me, but even when sally wasn't around they just.. didn't care?

I never had much skill in school, and though they congratulated me on my sports achievements it never sounded as excited as when hero did something science-y or math-y

I love hero, but it's hard to live up to him..

I missed him when he said he was leaving but now that I know my parents don't care about me, even after he leaves, I just wish he'd come back even more

at least he was someone to play mario kart with

haha

sorry.. rambling

hero is great!

🎻:

don't... like anyone...

...

i dont dream about kissing anyone.. or cuddling anyone.. or hugging him.. or telling him i love him.. or borrowing his sweater.. or us living together.. mmm..

🏀:

I don't really like anyone, but I would say that my type is...

uhh..

well..

i talk a lot so i'd like someone who was more like a listener, yeah?

and i think dark hair is nice...

like.. black hair..

and like, I guess like..

y'know kinda shorter, and-

I-I guess like very- very black aesthetic, like,

m-my, like, whole thing is very- i like bright colors and i think it would be fun if-if someome was just my opposite, y'know? opposites attract?

so like short and dark colors and a listener.. and short hair cause i have longer hair, for a boy.. and

and pale..

and..

uh..

🎀:

description: my girlfriend

🌱:

haha..

this is just a ploy to get me to reveal my crush!

i-it's not gunna work! that secret is safe with me!

... haha.. secret... yeah..

🍳:

please stop reminding me of her..

🧺:

hehe

you already know the answer silly!

#coldmori #{❄️} asks #{❄️} character asks #{❄️🎻} sunny post #{❄️🏀} kel post #{❄️🎀} aubrey post #{❄️🌱} basil post #{❄️🍳} hero post #{❄️🧺} mari post #(nosy anon game)

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accio-sriracha · 6 months

Text

Marauders as conversations I've had with my three brothers.

~~~♤~~~

*playing mario party*

Sirius: What even is birdo?

Remus: Are you kidding me?

Sirius: No... What it's like a- it's like a duck, right?

James: *laughing and spitting out soda* A duck?

~~~♤~~~

Peter: Can somebody please give me some sugar, I'm going to like pass out.

James: *walking towards him with stretched arms* Okay, c'mere bro, I'll give you some sugar.

Peter: *running away screaming*

Sirius: *watching the chaos* Who even says 'give me some sugar' anymore?

Remus: Fuck if I know man, I just live here.

~~~♤~~~

James: We have a lot of weird conversations in the car

Sirius: I guess, idk they seem normal to me.

James: Pads, you literally just told me you would torture zombies into submission in an apocalypse...

Sirius: ... okay maybe you're right.

James: We should have more serious conversations like... like our taxes or something.

Sirius: If I ever talk to you about my taxes just fucking shoot me.

~~~♤~~~

James: I just built an entire working community complete with a hospital and a grocery store in minecraft.

Sirius: Oh yeah? I just put on knee high socks without rolling them up first.

James: *sighing* fuck you got me there, man.

Remus: *staring at them both in disappointment* I cannot believe I live with you two.

~~~♤~~~

*in the car blasting 'I Want It That Way' by the Backstreet Boys*

James: *singing horribly* YOU ARE... MY FIRE

Sirius: *literally just screeches* THE ONE... DESIREEEE

Peter: *absolute war-cry* BELIEVE... WHEN I SAY-

All three of them: *whales are terrified across the globe* I WANT IT THAAAT WAYYYY

Remus: *curled up in the backseat trying to read* What is my life?

~~~♤~~~

*playing minecraft*

James: YOU FUCKING BLEW UP MY HOUSE YOU DICKBAG!

Sirius: I'M LITERALLY TELLING YOU IT WASN'T ME!!

Peter: *shaking in creeper magnet* What if we all just have some chips guys??

~~~♤~~~

*texting*

Sirius: Can u plz get me diet soda while ur @ the store

Remus: No.

Sirius: Plz, im dying, i rlly need drinks

Remus: Text me properly and maybe I'll consider it.

Sirius: ughhhhh nvm ill ask james

~~~♤~~~

Sirius: That basketball game was so much fun, dude, we got some free stuff!!

Remus: How'd you get those?

Peter: *sighing* He stole them off of a table and ran away.

Sirius: *nodding* We also got taco bell :)

Remus: You know what, remind me not to ask next time.

~~~♤~~~

*Peter and Remus prepping a meal*

Sirius: You ever wonder if fruit can feel things?

James: *not looking up from his phone* They can.

Peter: *Horrified*

Remus: Well, there goes my help for the fruit salad.

~~~♤~~~

Remus: I really just want to go home and drink tea and read my book, not gonna lie.

James: You are such a nerd.

Peter: Says the guy with like 400 Pokémon cards.

James: *gasping* Those are collectors items, leave them out of this.

~~~♤~~~

James: These are my brothers, Peter and Remus.

Sirius: *offended*

James: *quietly* I try not to introduce you if I can help it, it scares people off.

~~~♤~~~

James: *walking through the door* Hey guys, I'm back!

Sirius: *screaming at Peter to turn off the smoke detector*

Peter: *literally trying to put out a fire*

Fire: *is from a microwaved ramen with no water in it*

The entire house: *smoking and smells like radioactive styrofoam*

Remus: *lying face down on the couch low-key sobbing while listening to spotify*

James: *turning back around* You know, one of these days I'll come home to a normal household.

James: Maybe you'll all be dead, but it'll be normal.

~~~♤~~~

#its me im remus #marauders as conversations with my brothers #marauders as things my friends have said #incorrect marauders quotes #the one i used for peter is type one diabetic so its funnier #harry potter #marauders #marauders era #marauders headcanon #dont judge us we're happy being weird #we also play a lot of minecraft #incorrect quotes #we also curse a lot im sorry

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blazehedgehog · 1 month

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Thoughts on Dr. Robotnik's Ring racers and the current version of SRB2 Kart?

I never dug too super deep in to SRB2 Kart because I very rarely play online games with randos and I had no real consistent group to play with otherwise. Like, I tried to play the few times Tracker hosted a server, but he lives in the UK and I'm on wifi so it just didn't really work out.

So I was kind of waiting for the singleplayer campaign mode. I could see the potential in SRB2K. "The Mugen of Kart Racers" has been an idea in the back of my head for literal decades at this point. But I did not care about time trials because there were no items.

I streamed about four hours of Ring Racers (obviously) a couple days ago:

youtube

And I've also seen a lot of SRB2 Kart diehards lose their mind over some of the changes and problems in Ring Racers.

As someone who has never really put more than, say, two hours in to SRB2 Kart, Ring Racers is... fun? Yeah. It's fun. I'd say I enjoyed myself.

But it's also got problems. Broadly speaking, the entire game is way too complicated for its own good. It's nice that they really sat down and thought very deeply about kart racer mechanics and tried to elevate things to a new level, but it feels like they overthought a lot of it. And I mean beyond the fact this game opens with a very wordy, 30-60 minute tutorial. Don't get me wrong, it needs at least some of that, because it's a very mechanically dense game, but that's also sort of the problem.

Like I literally just bailed out of a Discord conversation about this because I wanted to write it over here, but let's take, for example, the spindash.

The spindash mechanic has three primary functions in Ring Racers:

You charge up a spindash at the right time during the starting line lobby segment to get a boost going into the first lap

You charge a spindash to get through one of the speed barriers for secret shortcuts

This game has Sonic-style physics and there are slopes where, if you aren't already going fast, they are too steep of an incline to drive up. So you have to stop and charge a spindash to clear them.

What value does this actually bring to the table? What's useful about it?

The starting line lobby segment is annoying because even CPU racers will bump you into a FAULT state, forcing you to start in last place. Lobby segments are also different sizes, different lengths, so as a newbie like myself, that already puts me at a disadvantage. Charging a spindash for a starting line boost does not add anything you could not already do with Mario Kart's more traditional starting line mechanic. So that means everything around it is just to make the game less friendly to newbies.

Unless you are an ultra-skilled sickos player who optimizes ring consumption to the max, or you're lucky enough to have a boost item, you are never going to be setup to crash through a speed barrier. I certainly never am. I only touch them by accident and they always make everything worse for me when I do. I would never stop and deliberately use a spindash to clear one of these, and places in the map where I get owned are never near one for it to act as a shortcut to get me back in the race faster.

The only time you need to use a spindash on a slope is if you get blasted by someone else's weapon, and there's always this deep dread to that where it's like, if I have to spindash to get up a slope, the race is already lost. Getting slammed by a weapon can already be very devastating on its own, but adding the extra step of having to come to a complete stop, wait 2-3 seconds to charge a spindash, and then crawl up the incline? It's insult to injury.

So, then, in practical terms: what value does the spindash bring to this game? The shortest summary is it's a recovery mechanic that adds an extra step to systems that are tuned to be very difficult and maybe don't even need to exist. You could remove the spindash (and all the systems that depend on the spindash) and I think it would be a better game.

And there's a few systems like this in the game, like the ring tether system, the air drop, and so on. It's nice to finally see someone trying to meaningfully evolve the kart racer into something with greater depth, but I also feel like people who liked SRB2 Kart liked it because it was a very good one of those. And it had extremely friendly mod support.

I get the desire for what's happening here. People were unfairly harsh about how "SRB2 Kart is a bad name" and the developers wanted to both establish a fresher identity and push things in a new direction. But they're also kind of reinventing a lot of wheels and adding all of these extra steps, which will and is hurting the pick-up-and-play element of "it's just a good kart racer." If you roll up on a friend group with Ring Racers and say "hold up, you gotta play the 40 minute tutorial first", that's a killer, and that's still considering they've already trimmed the tutorial length once since it launched only a few days ago.

A kart racer with the depth of a fighting game is definitely an interesting idea and like I said, I was having fun in the stream, but it's just one of those things where the more I think about what the ideal form of this game is trying to be, the more I wonder.

And that's not even considering that some things that worried me about SRB2 Kart are still here, like how many very narrow and winding tracks there are. Sometimes you get what is effectively a rally racing track but there's 8 other hyper-aggressive cars on the road with you and they're all armed to the teeth with projectile weapons. Even in SRB2 Kart's time trial mode, when I was the only one on the track, it could be hard enough to stay on the road. Now that I'm being knocked around by other racers at the same time? It can borderline on feeling impossible.

Again, I don't hate this. It's just that there's a lot of weird friction in places I feel like it does not benefit from or need.

#questions #Anonymous #srb2kart #dr. robotnik's ring racers #kart racer #mario kart #sega #sonic team #fangame

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weirdmarioenemies · 9 months

Text

No one stopped me but myself, but I'm back to ranking all the Super Mario Galaxies

Sorry this took so long! Mix of some busy weeks and some low energy. These are long posts! Takes a lot of time to write them.

Hello, everyone! Today we're approaching the top of the mountain. The very best galaxies these games have to offer... at least to me. I know I've stated this a lot but like, opinions are totally subjective, and what appeals to me may not appeal to you and vice versa! But these ones appeal to me and quite a lot.

By the next entry, we will have covered all of the galaxies there are, which is pretty exciting. You can expect it on some Sunday, but given how the last few weeks have gone, I won't make any promises about the specifics of when. And if this is the first time you're seeing one of these posts and want to catch up, I've got you covered. Here's part one, part two, part three, and part four.

With that out of the way, I think we're about good to go! Let's start covering some of the best these games have to offer!

20. Grandmaster Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Grandmaster Galaxy should be grateful we're not ranking the galaxies in the order you play them, or else it'd be dead last.

If I'm not mistaken, Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the first game to feature a very long, very difficult gauntlet as a "final test" of sorts, and here it is! This is another of those things that has basically become a series staple of Mario games at this point, with similar levels existing in 3D Land, 3D World, and Odyssey, and given they've latched onto this concept so much, it's probably not controversial to say that the first instance of this probably did something right.

And it did! The Grandmaster Galaxy throws a number of different obstacles at you, from a segment where all you have to get around is those Yoshi Tongue Flower Things, to a segment with electrical mazes, to a segment where you have to dodge Ring Beamers around flip-swap panels and disappearing platforms, to a segment with some tricky pull star timing. I would go ahead and say the segment with the flipswitches and Sentry Beams is on the easy side, but that's towards the start, so it's probably fine.

The first run of the galaxy is challenging, but also feels a bit like a "practice run," giving you room to acquaint yourself with each step of the galaxy before the Perfect Run, where you have to do the whole thing in one go with only one health. This is the time where I admit: I've only ever beaten the Perfect Run with help from a Co-Star Luma. Is that cheating? I dunno. I never promised I was great at video games! Only good enough to 100% most of the game and beat the Grandmaster Galaxy non-perfect run, and still do the Perfect Run with a little help. ...That counts for something, right?

Either way, I think Grandmaster provides more than an adequate challenge, making it succeed as both a test of skill, and as a finale for the rest of the game to build up to.

19. Matter Splatter Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

If you exclude boss missions, I'd say Matter Splatter Galaxy is probably the best one-off galaxy in the first game. Actually, the Garden in general is a really good dome. This is the first of its galaxies I'm covering on this list! (As long as you don't look at the Hungry Luma standing outside. I question how much Snow Cap Galaxy single-handedly weighs down this dome if you're willing to include it.)

I've kinda ragged on a lot of the smaller-scale galaxies in the first game, and while the small scale is maybe part of the reason I've been more dismissive of them, as a whole, I think what hurts them more for me is that I rarely find their gimmicks all that unique or interesting. If a gimmicky one-off galaxy has a good enough gimmick? Then yeah, I'll love it to bits! And Matter Splatter Galaxy has that "good enough gimmick".

I touched on this one a bit when talking about Sweet Mystery Galaxy, what with how both make use of the "what you can see is all that's there" concept, but as a whole, I think Matter Splatter does it a bit better, due to the lack of player control. It adds an element where you have to consider when you want to approach, and makes for some fun improvisation when your timing is off. You lose out on some of that improvisation when the location of the ground is something you have more control over, you know?

But what truly escalates Matter Splatter to me is how much variety they get out of its gimmick. For the first half of the galaxy, droplets of matter will "light up" the ground you can walk on, with the ground gradually fading until another drop hits the same spot. It's a fun test of pattern recognition and timing, and it comes with both 2D and 3D segments for a bit of added variety! As a whole, I'd say I generally prefer this half of the galaxy since it feels a bit more distinctive, but it's not like this galaxy suddenly becomes weak in the back half.

The back half switches things up, focusing on large, moving "spotlights" you have to keep yourself in, changing to a bit of an autoscroller, where you have to swiftly adjust to whatever obstacles are coming up ahead, now testing your reflexes and improvisational skills a bit more. Once again, we get both 2D and 3D segments for added variety, and the mix of the galaxy's unique gimmick and autoscrolling format allows for some really fun misdirection in this part. It's a fun switch-up that doesn't depart dramatically from what makes this galaxy so great. All of this comes together to make a one-off gimmick galaxy that feels like it truly gets the most out of a unique concept.

Before I move on, though, I want to talk about the Spring Mushroom. The Spring Mushroom is a weird power-up. It's pretty infamous, and like, for good reason. It's difficult to control, it feels kinda jank to use at times, and most people find it more frustrating than fun and like. I'm not even gonna say I disagree with that sentiment! And yet somehow, against all odds, every galaxy that prominently features the Spring Mushroom has ended up scoring really highly for me. Are these galaxies just great in spite of featuring the Spring Mushroom? Is the Spring Mushroom's jank secretly a good thing? Or is there just something wrong with me? The answer is probably a mix of all three.

18. Bowser's Galaxy Generator

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Oh hey, it's the finale of the main Super Mario Galaxy 2 campaign! These big finale boss missions are always great, and while I think Galaxy 2's doesn't quite stack up to the first game's, I'd still say that I'd consider it a worthy successor. It still absolutely succeeds as one last grand mission to close out the main game.

Like any good boss galaxy, I love Bowser's Galaxy Generator for its length and sense of variety. Possibly even more so than the Galaxy Reactor from the first game, the Galaxy Generator seems to try testing your knowledge on everything you know, featuring most of the game's brand-new power-ups, save for the Rock Mushroom and Bulb Berry. I think this idea of focusing on the game's new content was the right call, since it helps it feel a bit more like a finale to Super Mario Galaxy 2, specifically.

The level is also adequately challenging! I find the Yoshi segments towards the end to be the toughest, with the Dash Pepper segment being tight enough that even the smallest mistakes can be punishing, while the Snake Block section afterwards requiring some pretty tight reflexes to dodge the Magmarrghs.

With that out of the way, while the level is solidly challenging, I do think the final boss fight is a bit on the easy side. Both the asteroids and Bowser are big enough that landing the hits isn't too much of a challenge, even in the second phase. Heck, arguably less so in the second phase, when replaying this level, I always think of that phase of the fight as being sort of a freebie.

But I also wouldn't say it's a bad fight -- it does a good job escalating the game's previous Bowser encounters, and ground pounding asteroids into a massive Bowser while hurtling through space definitely has a sense of grandeur that I really appreciate. Maybe it could've been a little more difficult or a little longer, but it's certainly memorable, and still very fun, so the fact it's not as difficult as it arguably should be doesn't bother me that much, and doesn't hamper the Galaxy Generator from its S-tier position.

17. Flip-Out Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

I find it a little weird that this is the penultimate galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2, you know? Between the boss rush and ultimate challenge levels, you have this weird one-off gimmick level that introduces a variant of a gimmick seen back in World 1, just with an added twist. I guess they wanted the final Hungry Luma galaxy to be a parallel to the first one? I'm not really sure. None of this matters of course, because Flip-Out Galaxy is fan-flipping-tastic!

Yeah, I know that doesn't hit as hard as a real F-bomb, but we try to keep the blog at least somewhat family-friendly, you know? And also the pun!

Anyway, as you may remember, I love Flip-Swap Galaxy quite a bit. Top-notch weird gimmick galaxy, always a joy to play. So I think it goes to say that I love this more difficult spin on its gimmick just as much, if not even more, if the rating hasn't spoken for itself already. Flip-Out Galaxy shifts the focus from the red and blue Flip-Swap panels to red and blue walls that pop in and out when you spin. And of course, that means it's time to perform some Wicked Wall Jumps! This is what that weird short mission in Honeybloom Galaxy has been training you for!

Since this is the penultimate galaxy in the game, it's a pretty tricky one, since a poorly-timed spin can take out not just the walls you're jumping on, but the floor underneath as well, and you'll have to spin a lot when alternating between red and blue walls! Timing will also prove important, not just for exiting a wall jump and spinning to give yourself solid ground to stand on, but also for a segment where you have to keep wall jumping until the spikes underneath you recede, which becomes especially difficult when you throw in the Cosmic Clones...

On that note, I love the decision to use specifically the Cosmic Clone mission for the second Green Star here, and putting it towards the end, too. Makes grabbing it a bit trickier, which is nice for a galaxy this late in the game! Flip-Out does pretty much everything I'd want it to -- it brings back a great old gimmick, changes it up in a way that feels unique, and uses it to craft a fun, albeit challenging late-game mission. My only knock against it? It being so late in the game means you have to play a lot to get there, and they crowd so many of the game's worst galaxies before it, just to rub salt in the wound. But hey, if it's for a galaxy this good, it may as well be worth it.

16. Cosmic Cove Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

I know a handful of people have been disappointed by the low rankings I gave to a lot of these games' water galaxies, so consider this an apology. Well, an apology of some sort, it's not like I decided to move up Cosmic Cove a bunch because people were upset that I didn't like some of the water galaxies. It just happens that I felt a lot of them suffered from having weak missions, hampered a bit by somewhat janky underwater controls. Give me a water galaxy that mitigates both these problems, and I'm sure to fall in love with it. "Underwater" is like, a pretty notable part of My Brand! There's a reason I've put three water galaxies on today's list, everyone!

Case in point: Cosmic Cove Galaxy! Cosmic Cove Galaxy is just gorgeous. I'd say that it's aesthetically one of the strongest galaxies in Super Mario Galaxy 2, which definitely counts for something! I mean, have you heard its music? The harps and pianos create such a relaxing atmosphere, and it sort of reminds me of the music in the next entry on our list...

But let's not get ahead of ourselves! Cosmic Cove isn't surviving on looks alone, because it's a pretty fun galaxy to play as well! I think they hit a really nice balance here, where the underwater sections have a somewhat linear path to take, so it doesn't feel like you're wrestling with those Janky Water Controls, but if you decide to go off the beaten path, there's a good bit more to see than you'd expect, which is nice, given this is a very pretty galaxy and one I enjoy spending time to take in! Obviously there's less to do once you've frozen the water, but having a big open plain to skate around on is also pretty fun. And while we're talking about ice skating, the Hungry Luma star is probably the second best bunny chase in the Galaxy games.

And let's not forget the second main mission, either! The underwater sidescroller is really neat, especially when they start having blocks of water floating in space, and even moving on their own. I think this is another of those concepts they brought back in Super Mario 3D World, if I'm not mistaken! It's such a memorable part of the galaxy, that I sorta forget there's that planet with the Spin Drill and the Micro Mecha-Bowsers and the Fizzlits at the end, but that planet is fine too.

Cosmic Cove manages to do a seamless job blending aesthetics and gameplay to create one of the series' most memorable galaxies. And it introduces us to Snoodles and Fizzlits! Those are like, maybe two of my favorite enemies. Bonus points for that!

15. Space Junk Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

Can I be honest? Space Junk Galaxy is one of those galaxies that mostly made it this high for the vibes, above all else. Don't get me wrong, I like Space Junk Galaxy a lot. I think all the missions here are fun, if I was rating it on gameplay alone I'd probably still rank it highly. Space Junk on its own is a solid A-tier galaxy, but I think this is one of those galaxies where the atmosphere brings it up a tier higher for me.

While most of the galaxies in these games focus on the grandeur and excitement of exploring the cosmos, Space Junk Galaxy takes a more melancholic approach to the setting, the idea that outer space is mostly, well, space. Space Junk Galaxy isn't really focused on having big, exciting setpieces. Space Junk Galaxy is about everything inbetween, from lost spaceships, to small asteroids, to well... miscellaneous space junk. And I think it works in its favor!

I could make the same argument that I made against Gusty Garden Galaxy, that Space Junk Galaxy feels like it was cobbled together from miscellaneous bits and bobs of larger levels that were getting too big, but in this case, I think that's the point. To the extent that something trying to be a cohesive level design in a 3D platformer can at least, Space Junk does a really good job capturing that feeling of emptiness, in the best possible way. The first mission here, which largely consists of Mario floating through space via a trail of Pull Stars, may not be the most exciting mission, but it has such a specific atmosphere that I can't help but say it may very well be one of my favorites across both games.

Admittedly, this is the part of this review where I have to concede that Space Junk's biggest strength is probably also one of its biggest weaknesses, that a galaxy so focused on all the emptiness and in-betweens of space struggles to find enough content to fill out six missions. The second mission basically has none of the atmosphere, instead being a weird Airship mission with a boss fight at the end, and then the third mission has another boss fight, because what else are you gonna do here? Don't get me wrong, these are still fun missions, but I think they end up working against the general atmosphere and tone that this galaxy sets up in the first mission. I think this is one that would benefit from the sequel's smaller-scale galaxies, with two "main" missions, and a comet or secret star or something.

Still, this is a galaxy that is fun from start to finish, and when it goes for being atmospheric, it nails it. I mean, have you heard the music here? This has easily gotta be a top 5 song across both games for me, I love it so much. While I think having fewer, more focused missions could've benefited it a little, Space Junk Galaxy will always leave such an impression on me that I can't help but feel like it's one of the standouts from these games.

14. Cloudy Court Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

I've mentioned before how a few of the galaxies in Galaxy 2 feel like they're meant to be "sequels" to galaxies from the first game, and Cloudy Court is no exception, feeling like a bit of a follow-up to Gusty Garden Galaxy. I mean, you have the grand orchestral score, you have the "garden in the sky" theming, you have lots of segments where you're riding on wind currents, even the Japanese name, "Cloud Garden Galaxy" ends up harkening back to the first game's "Wind Garden Galaxy". I think there's a reason they showed this one off a lot in the game's earliest trailers.

That being said, while it does feel a bit like an attempt to capitalize on Gusty Garden's success, in many ways to me it also feels like a refinement of Gusty Garden, taking some of the concepts that worked there and expanding on them a bit to make something that, to me at least, feels more interesting and cohesive. In my review of Gusty Garden, I characterized it a bit as a galaxy largely carried by its music, that otherwise felt like it could've been thrown together from leftover assets from galaxies that had gotten too large. Cloudy Court manages to avoid that feeling pretty easily, it was pretty clearly built from the ground up, and given how much it changed from the initial trailer to the final release, it seems like one they spent a lot of time on trying to get just right.

And in that regard, I think they largely succeeded! Cloudy Court manages to hit on the familiar elements we love about Gusty Garden, but also manages to hold strong on its own, with a number of distinct and memorable segments. I don't know why the drum trampolines are here, but I'm not complaining, it's fun to have them! And the combination of the wind currents and the Cloud Flower makes for some very memorable platforming challenges. And some fun secrets, as well! Obviously as a Galaxy 2 entry it's gonna be a bit more linear by default, but even then they manage to hide a lot of 1-Ups here, adding a little extra reward for going off the course, which you know I always appreciate.

While a lot of "sequel" galaxies end up falling flat to me when they struggle to live up to what came before, Cloudy Court is one of the rare exceptions that not only lives up to its predecessor, but in my opinion, surpasses it. I feel like we think of Gusty Garden as a better galaxy than it truly is, but Cloudy Court simply is that good, which to me, makes it a contender for one of the series' very best.

13. Boo Moon Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Man, it's hard to go wrong with ghosts. Nice for an appropriately spooky galaxy to end up at #13, huh? Maybe that was a little deliberate on my part, but it's not like I don't think Boo Moon Galaxy deserves it.

Boo Moon Galaxy is so, so stylish I think. I feel like Super Mario Galaxy 2 goes for a bit of a "storybook" aesthetic, so why not have a galaxy that leans into that a bit? Stuff like the dark maze at the beginning, poison swamp folding up at a 90 degree angle to match the snake blocks, the crescent-moon see-saw planet, and the haunted house pop-up book at the end are all such distinctive visuals with a bit of that Storybook Feel to me, and end up making for a galaxy that manages to provide a very fun twist on an already fun theme.

Not to mention that this is also a decently tricky galaxy! I gotta be grateful for those musical notes that spawn the three 1-Ups during the Snake Block section, because I've fallen into that poison swamp more than a couple times, especially when going for the secret star, and even more so when going for that one Green Star. The second mission, which I believe is the sole appearance of the Boo Mushroom in Galaxy 2, also involves some precise timing as you weave your way through Octoboos, particularly towards the end.

I'm a sucker for a good ghost galaxy, so this one was probably gonna get high marks no matter what, but with a stylish and distinctive aesthetic, that's enough to bring it up to a top-tier with a fittingly spooky number. Happy Halloween, everyone!

I mean, it's September. That's basically Halloween.

12. Tall Trunk Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Really, shoutout to World 3 of Galaxy 2 just giving you a choice between two absolute bangers right off the bat. I think Tall Trunk ends up just barely winning out against Cloudy Court for me, but the two are really close in quality, and no matter which I'm in the mood for, I know I'm in for a great time.

Like Puzzle Plank, this is another galaxy that brings such a high level of unfiltered joy whenever I reach it in a playthrough. Maybe there's something about these big galaxies made of wood, I dunno. Probably also has something to do with the music. Yeah, I know this one just borrows the music from Yoshi Star Galaxy, but I always associate it with Tall Trunk first and foremost. Unlike Puzzle Plank however, I think Tall Trunk feels a bit more fully realized -- I never really feel underwhelmed playing through Tall Trunk, which let it climb a good bit higher on my tier list.

Tall Trunk is a galaxy not only with a great aesthetic, but two very fun and very distinct missions! The first mission is a showcase of the Blimp Fruit, and I love how it gets used in so many different ways, from climbing a tree, to searching for Star Chips around a cylindrical planet (Super Mario Galaxy 2 has a lot of those, huh?), to making your way through a long spiral to grab the Power Star. Then there's the slide, which weeeeeee wheeeeeeeeeee yippeeeeeeeeeee wahoooooo!

It's fun.

This galaxy also has to get bonus points for being the home of the Whittles, arguably the best Galaxy NPCs. Don't get me wrong, the Gearmos offer close competition, but the Whittles are just too adorable. Also, the Tall Trunk Galaxy is a sacred site to the Whittles, giving us one of few glimpses into Religion in the Mario Universe.

I think I have to agree with the Whittles when it comes to this galaxy: "Treetop. Good." Truer words have never been spoken.

11. Flipsville Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Oh hey, I've talked about this one before! I mean, clearly I have to enjoy this one a good bit to give it its own post with some in-depth analysis, though I hate to say, I still have yet to figure out who's selectively breeding Pupdozers, why they'd be doing it, or if that has even happened at all. Sorry. I know you're disappointed in me. Maybe I'll have the answer next time I talk about Flipsville.

I did sort of go over my opinions in that post, though more of it was dedicated to talking about the galaxy itself, so I probably don't have to fear repeating myself too too much. To reiterate: I think this one is great! The gimmick of the grates that reverse the gravity of the galaxy is really really neat, and this galaxy uses it in some interesting ways, particularly during the autoscroller where you have to flip at the right time to avoid running Mario into spikes. (That being said, my favorite usage still gotta be that one Green Star that you can only reach by taking a leap of faith from underneath.)

Also shoutout to the Pupdozers as an enemy design that takes advantage of this gimmick! I'm pretty sure they're only in this galaxy, so I may as well talk about them here. I also have to shoutout this galaxy's distinctive aesthetic, "weird 1950s suburban house" is not really a level theme you see in video games often, and it gives this galaxy more than just a unique gameplay gimmick. I really dig it.

Speaking of digging, I do remain a little iffy on how the second mission shifts focus to the Spin Drill, I feel parts of it end up feeling pretty similar to the Spin-Dig Galaxy, but the gimmick of flipping between the two sides of the planets remains in tact, and the final room with the gravity walls that switch in time with the music where you have to use the drill to grab Silver Stars or Purple Coins is really cool, so I can't complain about it too much. I mean, it's not like it makes this galaxy any less fun, y'know?

Flipsville Galaxy will always stand out to me as one of the most distinctive galaxies in the sequel, both in its theming and in its gameplay, and for that I will always consider it a personal favorite!

10. Slimy Spring Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Slimy Spring Galaxy is one of the most atmospheric galaxies... well, I was gonna say in Super Mario Galaxy 2, but it's really one of the most atmospheric galaxies in general. I'd say that as a whole, the first game typically wins out on atmosphere, but there's a few places where the sequel really shines, and more than any other, I think Slimy Spring showcases that.

Slimy Spring Galaxy is so, so very claustrophobic. You're given a green shell, and from there, it's a long, linear swim through a narrow underwater cave. Besides the very start, there's hardly any coins or air bubbles to refill your air meter, so you have to rely on what little air you do have to make your way to the end. And believe me when I say that these tunnels are designed to be just long enough to run you to the very end of your air meter. You only really get a brief breather in the middle, and with limited air, mistakes made in this galaxy can be especially punishing.

I love the way Slimy Spring Galaxy puts you in this distinct state of mind. Watching your air slowly run out while making your way through a dark, seemingly unending tunnel can be a bit nerve-wracking, but obviously the game's not gonna present you with a galaxy that's impossible to beat. You just have to trust that the game's gonna take you where you need to go, and try to avoid letting any obstacles this galaxy throws at you trip you up. Admittedly, I still see my fight-or-flight reflex kick in when I reach the Gringills.

Slimy Spring Galaxy is one I've really only grown to appreciate more and more with time. It's not really one of the game's most "fun" galaxies by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't really feel like it's trying to be -- the rest of the galaxies exist to be fun, so what does it matter if Slimy Spring Galaxy tries to do something else? Slimy Spring Galaxy is pretty much unrivaled in its atmosphere, and for that, it has easily become one of my favorites.

I really love the sunset at the end of Slimy Spring. It sort of feels like the game saying that even in the most uncertain of times, everything's gonna turn out alright at the end. I feel like I'm being a bit wax poetic here, but I dunno. I think Slimy Spring Galaxy just does that to a person.

9. Honeyhive Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

So remember how earlier I said this was a top 10 Galaxy? Well how many of you guessed it'd show up at #9? Congratulations if you did! I'm sorry I don't have anything to award you, besides I guess my review of Honeyhive Galaxy, but even people who didn't guess correctly are getting that... Sorry.

Whatever. Honeyhive is great! I mean, you've seen me talk about it when talking about every other bee galaxy. This is the honey-gold standard all other bee galaxies strive for, and few can achieve...

What makes Honeyhive so great to me is its sense of scale. It arguably has the largest starting planet across both games, with lots of little nooks and crannies that all get utilized throughout its many missions. I get the feeling you wouldn't even need to add more to this galaxy to give it a full set of missions, but Honeyhive Galaxy is here to spoil us anyway, because it's Honeyhive Galaxy, and it's great. It does a very nice job making each mission feel familiar, yet distinctive, which I really appreciate.

I also think it does a really good job showing off the Bee Mushroom, with lots of high ground that becomes much more accessible with it, plenty of water to show off its main weakness, lots of flower and cloud platforms you can only access with it, and honey walls to climb up. Not only do you get to spend time among the bees, but you get to join them. Become one with the hive.

Oh, and have I mentioned that the main missions here are all super great too? The first mission is the big showcase for the Bee Mushroom I mentioned above, but the second has some fun platforming through a wooden obstacle course, and the boss fight against Big Bad Bugaboom is always a blast that makes some great usage of the Bee Mushroom. The Purple Coin and Luigi missions are sorta whatever to me, though I appreciate the Cosmic Mario race and the weird shortcuts you can take in it, I think it's nifty.

Really, I think the thing holding back Honeyhive from an even higher spot for me, and this is pretty unfair, is the fact that it's so early in the game, that the novelty of it all has kinda worn off for me. It's hard to get excited about Honeyhive when it's a place you have to go to early in the game, you know? But again, that's a small gripe that ultimately changes nothing about just how good this galaxy is. It's sweet as honey!

8. Deep Dark Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

Deep Dark Galaxy is one of those galaxies that always kinda surprises me when I play through the first game. It's one of those galaxies I never really think about all that often, and I'm rarely that excited when I get there, but then I play through it and go "wait a second, this one rules!"

I'm wondering if it's because it's in the Garden, where it has to deal with some serious competition. Being "that water galaxy with the dreary atmosphere in the way of Dreadnought and Melty Molten" isn't exactly the most flattering look, but at the very least it makes for a galaxy that always manages to surpass my expectations. Hopefully, putting this one at #8 will make me stop forgetting how good it is once and for all.

Still, I don't think counting the dreary atmosphere of this galaxy against it is really fair, because that's kinda what it's going for -- it's literally called "Dungeon Cave Galaxy" in Japanese. And you know what? For a Dungeon Cave, I love how silly they still let this Galaxy be! Stuff like the weird inflatable duplicate of the Gateway Planet, the weird floating circus platform, and that planet where you have to ground pound tennis balls into a watermelon to make it grow are such odd things to put in a galaxy like this, but I think they all end up working in its favor. The added surrealism makes this place so much more memorable.

And man oh man, I know I've talked a few times about how I love galaxies that let you goof off and do whatever, and I think no galaxy does that better than Deep Dark. I swear, in my latest playthrough of Galaxy, I spent more time in the spawn beach area than I did playing the rest of the mission. For an area that looks to have so little going on, there's lots of hidden goodies to look for, and shooting yourself out of the cannon at the Gateway and Octoguy planets is so, so fun.

While I'm sort of lukewarm on the mission where you swim through Guppy's eight rings, everything else in this galaxy I think is super fun, from the Kamella rematch on the pirate ship, to the aforementioned weird watermelon planet, to even the untimed Purple Coin mission! Usually those untimed exploration-based Purple Coin missions are never my cup of tea, but in this case, I think the combination of a smaller area to explore, better utilization of the underwater areas, and no places to fall off makes it feel a lot less grueling to me.

Deep Dark Galaxy is a great galaxy that always surpasses my expectations, and for that I think it deserves a spot in my top 10.

7. Freezeflame Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy Tier: S

Freezeflame Galaxy is so cool. And also so hot. That's kind of its whole gimmick. I feel like I made the same joke with Shiverburn Galaxy. Whatever. Freezeflame Galaxy's missions consist of an excellent ice level, a pretty good fire level, and a combination of the two, to make a galaxy that is as varied as it is fun. I will come forwards and say I like the Freeze part of this galaxy a bit more than the Flame part, but again, both are good.

I love the feeling of verticality you get from the ice sections. I love that upwards climb with all the varied obstacles and Ice Flower platforming, followed by a pretty fun boss fight against Baron Brrr. And then you can climb the other side of the mountain too, with its own varied obstacles and platforming challenges! Let's just say this one's good for my inner West Virginian mountaineer, okay? And then you have a Purple Coin mission that makes you climb both sides, which might be a bit much, but I'm glad they were being thorough.

But while the peak of the mountain may be the peak of the mountain here, it's not like the fire mission isn't doing any heavy lifting here, either. It's no Melty Molten, sure, but the Fire Flower gets used for some pretty fun timing puzzles, and I appreciate the use of the Galaxy games' gravity shenanigans halfway through. Really, most of my gripes with this section come from how the Fire Flower is handled in these games. The fact you need to spin to activate it, combined with how it stops you in your tracks when you throw a fireball just doesn't feel very good at all, especially when you throw in the timer. But that's not really this specific galaxy's fault, is it?

Gripes about the Fire Flower aside, I'm happy to say this galaxy's two great tastes taste great together as well! I'm a little bummed it takes until this galaxy's third mission to put the fire and ice together, but when they do, they use it very well, making for fun segments where you switch between the two, followed by a memorable segment where you use the Ice Flower to skate across lava. And on that note, I really enjoy the Cosmic Mario race here. Lots of places where I decide to take a risky shortcut, and it doesn't pay off and I fall in a Black Hole. Classic.

The Freeze and the Flame aren't perfectly balanced, from the levels to the Flowers featured within (no seriously. where was the Ice Flower in Galaxy 2), but both are very enjoyable, and the combination of both in one galaxy makes for a very memorable location. Not surprised at all they decided to revisit this idea in Galaxy 2.

6. Chompworks Galaxy

Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Tier: S

Look, I can spend all day talking about the gorgeous atmosphere of Cosmic Cove or Slimy Spring, or the exciting challenges of Grandmaster or Flip-Out, but when you ask me what my favorite galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is, I'll probably say it's Chompworks, because I'm only human, and I love Funny Chain Chomp Factory Galaxy. This is literally a place where Mario enemies are made! How can I resist?! There's Star Bits arranged like Chomps in the sky and everything!

I just love everything about Chompworks, from the music, to the theming, to the gameplay itself. It's one of those very unique galaxies that always stands out in my head, and if you know me, that can only be a good thing! I really appreciate the light timing puzzles they incorporate into this galaxy, the balance of needing so set everything up just right so the Chomps can reach their goal, but also not get too close because as you may realize: getting hit by a huge ball of steel rolling at you, even at slow speeds, hurts a lot.

I really like the active role this galaxy gives you in Chomp Production, how even when the Chomps start rolling, you'll need to make some adjustments to its path if you don't want it to crash early. Like, this galaxy has one of the rare inclusions of Flip-Swap panels outside of Flip-Swap Galaxy, just for the purpose of crafting a puzzle that can use them, and I appreciate that! If anything, I feel like there's room to elaborate on this mechanic even further, but I'm not gonna pretend that this galaxy isn't doing more than enough already. I think the Cosmic Clone comet is a fun enough shake-up, since you're gonna need to stay in one place a lot for some of the challenges.

You know, this factory doesn't seem very efficient. All their assembly lines are weird obstacle courses that need manual intervention, and most of the Chomps get destroyed at the end anyway. The Gearmos always chastise you for your poor efficiency, but maybe they wouldn't need Mario if they just built a more efficient factory. You see Gearmos? This is why you're only the second best Mario Galaxy NPC species. If nothing else, feel grateful your horribly-designed factory is a really, really well-designed Video Game Level.

Circling back to what I said about the Spring Mushroom earlier, same sentiment applies here. Not a great power-up on its own, but when I reach the mission that uses it here, I never see myself going "Ugh, the Spring Mushroom?", probably because the level is designed with it in mind, and the trickier control scheme is kinda the point. That being said, if you really don't want to use the Spring Mushroom, know that there's a fun optional challenge in trying to beat the level without it! As far as I'm aware, it's possible, and I know I've had my share of fun backflipping over Chomps in the past.

Is Chompworks Galaxy the best galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2? Maybe not, but since when has this list been about objective quality? I don't want to pretend I'm presenting anything other than my personal opinion here. Chompworks Galaxy appeals to my autism brain in some incredibly specific ways, and with a mix of that and its unique theming and design sensibilities, managed to end up at the top of Galaxy 2 for me. Sorry you couldn't make the top 5!

Speaking of the top five, I think they're all worthy of their own post, as I've hinted to a couple times at this point. It probably shouldn't be too hard to figure out which ones they are via process of elimination, though I do find it fascinating that after Galaxy 2 generally performed better, all the top 5 are from the first game. Again, Galaxy 2 is a remarkably consistent game that clusters around A-tier, while Galaxy 1 has some higher highs and lower lows.

The finale for this series should be ready next week, or the week after, or the week after that, or the week after that. I'm not really sure anymore. There's a Splatfest again next week, so I'll probably want to tune into that (Go Team Frye!) but I also have fewer galaxies to cover in general, so it might not take along as this one. Then again, I probably have more to say about my favorites... Either way, thank you for reading the series up to this point! Nothing matters more to me than knowing that people will listen to my ramblings about 10-to-15 year old Videos Games.

#mod hooligon #super mario galaxy #super mario galaxy 2

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mrs-luigi-vargas · 3 months

Text

Lowish-effort Aro Mario and Aro Bowser icons for @arospecfanworksweek! They're very simple but I like making them I should do it more often :D

Anyway there's whole lot of rambling about the headcanons under the cut if you're curious, haha. I guess it makes this entry technically match Day 1's prompt but honestly I wasn't intentionally trying to follow said prompts at all, lmao

~~~

OK, so I've headcanoned Mario as aro for a while, now. Part of it is me projecting, of course. But also I think it would be interesting if he was, mainly because of how it would affect his dynamic with Peach. Because, you know, the hero and the princess; the knight and the damsel; he was a boy, she was a girl - at least a lot of the Toads seem to think that it couldn’t be any more obvious. But Mario wouldn’t think it was obvious. And any suggestions otherwise would just be mostly awkward and off-putting for reasons that are difficult to get across to the romance-minded. He and Peach were already close, as friends. That's all they needed to be, right?

But anyway what I'm trying to say is a major appeal of this headcanon for me is the like…inherent defiantness of it. Standing in step with so many normally romance-coded things and doing them platonically despite what everyone wants or expects. And then also me projecting, like I said before 😊. Wrote a couple of fics about it even, if you wanna read them~ 😁

As for aro!Bowser, though, it's only something I've vaguely been thinking about recently. 'Cause I read a whole bunch of Bowuigi fic last year, and in almost all of those they gotta wave away/retcon/reconcile Bowser's attraction to/kidnapping of Peach, right? So one way I've seen of doing that is something to the effect of Bowser kidnapping Peach because Junior needs a mom. Which is such an interesting rationale to give him, haha. But to be fair its usually not by itself; there's usually a sense of 'well, Peach is very kind and beautiful, so marriage is definitely the way to go on this (or so I thought'. But sometimes it isn't and that's very funny to me. The things shippers do to pull their stories off are something to behold sometimes 🤭

But still! It got me thinking. What if Bowser's crush on Peach was completely manufactured? Unknowingly, of course; in the sense that Peach is very kind and beautiful and powerful and the monarch of a nearby kingdom in his age range so that's how these thinks are supposed to go, yeah? He wasn’t totally sure; becoming King didn’t really leave any room to know otherwise, with how much work there was to be done every day. At least Kamek had seemed to think so, though, talking about alliances and heirs and a bunch of other things Bowser hadn't been really listening to. Though Kamek was hardly wrong about anything important, would it kill him to be a lot less boring about it?

But even still, Bowser's proud and headstrong and stubborn, so when the marriage-alliance with Peach doesn’t work out then he decides to make it work out. And then the kidnappings start. And then continue. Because "it'll totally work this time, this plan is perfect!".

Like trying to jam a square peg into a round box over and over with no clue that there's anything wrong. Or maybe an inkling of a clue that we've decided to ignore because, you know, "I'll kidnap Peach for good, this time, you'll see!"

Also I remember seeing discussion somewhere about how Bowser could be interpreted as someone with abandonment issues, which could play into this too; people will stay if you keep them by force, after all, whether by kidnapping, marriage, or both.

So yeah. Not the greatest outlook on things, obviously.

Regardless, I think that in this universe where Mario and Bowser are both aromantic they both get on track to consciously realizing it post-Super Mario Odyssey.

Mario because as he and Peach are flying home Peach obviously wants to know why he snap-proposed to her like that. To which Mario has to sheepishly explain how his inner competitiveness had flared up when Bowser had tried to propose to her again. To which Peach sighs because yeah, of course it was that. And then Mario gets around to asking if Peach is okay, to which Peach describes the nightmare of a past while she'd had because of this wedding business, to which the conversation pivots to weddings in general, and then romance in general.

And Mario contributes to the conversation as best he can, but… he knows from watching Luigi's romance-related ups and downs over the years that the way he himself thought about the concept wasn’t…correct.

But Peach won't stand for Mario thinking that there was something wrong with him; it takes an overnight stint or three in the castle library (to Toadsworth's chagrin) before she finally finds an answer for him. So she invites him to the castle for tea, and for a vocabulary lesson that'll change his life.

Meanwhile Bowser sits on the moon,. Reflecting on his utter defeat that must have been more crushing than he'd thought for him to not even remember how he got out of that cave, thinking about how even aside from Mario being on his tail the entire time this whole wedding planning business was more of a stress-filled ordeal than he'd initially thought it would be, considering the fact that the post-wedding future that he'd figured he'd figure out as it came had stubbornly remained an amorphous blob of ambiguity instead of snapping into place during those final hours, despite the Broodals' assurances to the contrary. He'd indulge in a rare bout of self-reflection, maybe, about these inconsistencies.

And then he would shrug, get up, and make his way home. Because while he wasn’t particularly sure about marrying Peach anymore, he knew he would still be kidnapping her. Because of the engaging process of making and executing perfectly laid plans, because of the adrenaline rush of a good fight, because of the future bonding experiences with his kids, because the rest of his minions needed something to do, ha.

Because of the fact that he was Bowser, King of the Koopas, and he's absolutely not the sort of person to just give up, even if his core motivations have shifted slightly! And just as Mario would always show up to ruin his plans and take Peach back home Bowser would just make new plans, and he was going to successfully pull a kidnapping off and beat Mario once and for all, he just knew it!

#idk everything changes. nothing changes. you know how it is #i'm far more attached to the aro mario hc; the aro bowser one's mostly a fun thought exercise haha #arospecfanworksweek #mlv.txt #i dunno why i wrote so much supplementary text lmao #it's admittedly not the most comprehensible thing I've ever written ^^;#smb #aro

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