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tickledpink31 · 1 year

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Epics of Ink & Light Chapter 14: Tracking Dog

Summary: In which Flor and Ambrose set out to find Minako, but Flor is haunted by the ghosts of her past.

Notes: I am so sorry for the long wait. Work kept me busy, and I was a bit burnt out.

To my readers, the Savanaclaw arc will be taking a different turn. I must thank @raven-at-the-writing-desk for giving me permission to use their ideas for the Savanaclaw arc. If you would like to read their alternate rendition of this arc, here is the link.

If you do not want to be spoiled do not search it up.

My Instagram Read on Ao3 Read on Wattpad

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº Flor ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Meanwhile…

The mirror was pulling Flor, inviting her, luring her. One must be cautious when a calling takes over your thoughts. Is it a friend or a foe? Hard to say when you lose your ability to make an accurate judgment.

Just like how that tattered Veil was to her not long after Mom and Dad died.

Renowned scholars of the Wizarding Community have all said the same thing: traversing different worlds was a one-way ticket with no way back. Granted, most were specifically talking about the afterlife, and Twisted Wonderland was no afterlife. Still, the Veil in the Death Chamber piqued an intense curiosity within Flor when it came to different dimensions. During her time as an Unspeakable in the Death Chamber, the Veil had a vice-like grip on her that only worsened after her parents’ deaths, and she was subsequently transferred to a different department.

Standing in front of this strange mirror right now, the Nezumis would tell you that those scholars were dead wrong. However, it might be in their best interests to never let them know that.

The Ministry would have a field day if they find out that a two-way mirror of a different kind existed, one that was not just for communicating. Worst of all, it could be the straw the breaks the camel’s back for the Nezumis.

Actually, this wasn’t a straw. This was a whole bloody anvil.

Who knows what could have happened to Minako? Wounded like an animal somewhere? Dead with her remains scattered across the Bridge between the worlds? Flor had to swallow back a retch just from thinking about it.

“I must warn you,” Ambrose warily spoke beside her, “it was hell just to get in this very room. The damage that the blot caused to the Bridge is more severe than I assumed. Stepping inside that mirror could risk us never being able to cross the other side.”

“This is my sister.” Flor hardened her gaze at her reflection. “How could I possibly live with myself if I don’t take risks for her?” For my family?

It wasn’t long after that Flor packed her things that she faced her first obstacle, that obstacle being the crushing hugs from her siblings and her wife. They lasted far too long, and their arms squeezed a bit too much, but honestly, it’s hard to blame them. Convincing them to finally let her go was just as crushing as their embrace.

What if Ate Flor went through the mirror, and they lost her too?

Bloody hell, she was an arsehole these past two days.

“Headmaster,” Flor softened her tone. “I’m sorry about my behaviour yesterday. I know you must have been kicking yourself over this mess.”

Ambrose gave her a forlorn expression. “Heavens, Mrs. Nezumi—”

“Flor.”

“Flor, I expected your anger. I would have been surprised, disappointed even if you didn’t lash out. You love your family to pieces.” Ambrose gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. “I’d react the same way if a loved one of mine went missing too.”

Now, that was something Flor would pay to see: Saint Ambrose getting angry.

“You know, I’ll admit that I only trusted you because Minako did. She has a good judge of character,” Flor confessed.

Ambrose nodded solemnly. “Did you know that she was looking for someone to understand her?”

“What?” Flor’s head whipped around so fast just to take a good look at the old man. What was he getting at?

Ambrose closed his eyes in reminiscence, “That day I discovered the copy mirror. I wouldn’t have found it had I not heard your sister’s wishes.”

It hit Flor like a ton of bricks.

That day Minako disappeared out of the blue not long after the Hogsmeade catastrophe. They all assumed that she had run away, although there was no sign of how she could have possibly escaped when her bedroom was in the attic and that her window was shut. That is, unless she somehow learned how to Apparate all on her own. (It would have been a plausible theory since this was Minako, but she would have been tracked down for that by the Ministry for performing Apparition at her age.) She turned up nearly twenty-four hours later through her mirror with an old man in wizard’s robes.

Said man continued his story, “She fell right through the mirror and appeared right in front of me.”

“She must have been frightened,” Flor said.

“She was, and you know what happens when she’s frightened.”

Flor already knew: the curse would trigger.

Minako’s curse may be a strange case in both worlds, but blot was a phenomenon that was known in Twisted Wonderland. Of course, Ambrose would know why she was spitting out ink. Of course, he would have an idea on what to do about it and explain it.

Aside from the other victims, nobody really knew what bearing the curse was like.

If Flor could recall from her findings, their ancestors did not have the best track record of supporting the curse victims. Locked away from the outside world, used as scapegoats for the family’s misfortune, and at best, the victims were abandoned as soon as signs of their curse began to emerge. A premature death was sweet freedom, their only salvation.

Minako shall never know that kind of suffering, especially from her family. Well, that’s easier said than done. Families hit bumps in the road, no matter how close they are. One prominent memory often came to up that reminded Flor that.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

A year after the Tragedy, Henry, the son of the shop owner at the local tailor’s had been giving Minako a couple of shy glances whenever they stopped by the shop. Minako, in turn, had been giving him some equally bashful looks.

And it didn’t stop with the tailor’s son. There was Gwen who lived right across from them and Harper from Minako’s ballet lessons.

With the likeness of any concerned parent, Flor had been dreading the day her sister would exhibit any form of attraction. Throwing the family curse into the mix only made a recipe for disaster.

It was only a matter of time that someone would make a move on Minako. Henry, with his tickets to the travelling carnival, made plans to invite her on a date.

Or he was planning to had Flor not scared him off with a simple glare before Minako could even say yes.

“You’re not going,” Flor bluntly stated once they got home. Although she had her back turned as she put her shoes away, she could sense the dejection etching its way onto her sister’s face.

“But why?”

“You know why.” Flor could list so many reasons. “What if you get scared being up high on a roller coaster? Nullanathema can’t save you then.”

“I’m not a two-year-old.” Minako said, her teeth clenched. She continued to reason with her, “And we won’t even go on any of the scary rides. We’ll just play some games, eat some funnel cake.”

Minako made good points. There were other ways to have fun at a carnival… But even with precautions, there were several more ways to become stressed or fearful in a rowdy environment like that.

Suppose that the event attracted a large crowd, one you could easily get lost in. That would be the least of her problems—with large crowds, there could be miscreants too. A thief sneaking a hand inside your purse, kidnappers, or worse, murderers. Even if Minako did sense danger before it could snag her, panic would come in an instant. It would be like stepping on a landmine. Worse yet, the curse would trigger in front of a bunch of Muggles. The Ministry could come after them for breaking the Statute of Secrecy.

And that boy. What if Henry was not as kind as he presented himself to be? Say that he tried to go for a kiss, but Minako refused him. That rejection might be met with anger or even further harassment. Boom! A landmine.

A thousand scenarios ran through Flor’s head, all ending terribly. Minako deserved to have some fun at her age, but the cons outweighed the pros too much.

“Can you prove to me that you can control emotions when you go there? Have you been able to keep yourself stable while you were at school?” Flor hissed. In hindsight, she probably should have softened during their conversation.

“I’ve been controlling my emotions.” As Minako said this, the twisted black veins on her skin took shape.

Flor grabbed her sister’s wrist where there were no curse marks. “Look, you’re already slipping right now. Take your potion.”

Minako only jerked her arm back in response. “I’ve been controlling my emotions,” she repeated, emphasizing every word now for Flor to take the hint. “You just make it so hard. I can’t believe I’m not even going to have a love life because of everything!”

“You’re thirteen. You don’t know what love is,” Flor groaned, pinching her brow.

“You know what I mean!” Minako was close to sobbing. “Is it too much to ask to have a normal life for once?”

“Well, you can’t. You’re cursed. We’re cursed. You were kicked off the Quidditch team because of it, remember? We were lucky that word of your condition never left Hogwarts before Flitwick wiped everyone’s memories.” At the time, Flor had thought that bringing up Minako’s blunder on the Quidditch field would get the point across, but all it did was reopen old wounds.

“Don’t… talk about that.” Oily tears leaked from the corners of Minako’s eyes. The lights all throughout the house began to flicker.

All too quickly, the lightbulbs had burst and shattered with a buzz. The house dimmed and the complaints from everyone else in the house came clamouring from upstairs.

With her energy spent, Minako’s shoulders have all but sagged forlornly, perhaps knowing that she had just proved Flor right. However, Flor wasn’t celebrating here for winning the argument. She had only meant to let her sister down easy, but look at how things have escalated.

Minako didn’t have to be told to go to her room. She was already dragging herself there, most certainly to cry and cool off a bit.

And Flor? She let her sister be while she cleaned up the shattered bulbs and tried to find a way to turn the power back on. The whole time, she kept wondering how Mom and Dad would have dealt with this differently. Would they have been better?

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

After that incident, Flor had noticed how much Minako had buried herself in her studies. There was no mention of any crushes ever again after Henry. Whatever the reason Minako had for no longer pursuing romantic relationships or even friends outside of her tiny circle, Flor could only blame herself.

Crush down your emotions until they wither and die. What a great lesson, Flor!

Wild and free spirits can’t be contained. That was why Flor, for a lack of a better word, kept a looser chain on Minako in the years following as long as she had an extra bottle of Nullanathema at her disposal. She let her go out biking in the woods by herself, pursue magical creatures with caution, and even almost let her go to Romania with her friends last summer (the latter was a ship that had sunk because of that incident at Hogsmeade).

Shaking her head, Flor found herself facing the mirror once more. There was no time to be dwelling on her mistakes.

Ambrose politely offered his hand to her. “Are you ready?”

With no hesitation left, Flor accepted his hand.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall… take us to Twisted Wonderland.”

The mirror began to glow in response. They both put one foot out, and stepped through the glass.

Mirror travelling was a lot more comfortable than Apparition and less terrifying than using the Floo. It took away the feeling of being shoved into a tight space or the thought of being eaten by the flames of their fireplace. Well, it bothered her less now that she was an adult than when she was a child freshly picked from the Muggle community.

Still, getting used to mirror travelling took less than a day during their first trip to Twisted Wonderland as opposed to a whole year in Hogwarts.

All around them was an endless void. The last time Flor went through here, she swore she saw flashes of herself in a different life swirling in the haziness. Best not to get too curious sometimes, just like how the Veil could have taken Flor to the other side had her superiors not intervened.

The Nezumi family’s mirror had one particular quirk that set it apart from other magic mirrors, dimension-hopping aside. To put it simply, regular travelling mirrors can take you to different countries in less than a second, but these two mirrors added an extra step with a Bridge in between the two destinations. The Bridge was quite literally a bridge paved with a dazzling light for a lack of a better description. Rest assured, the Bridge was almost like solid glass if you were to walk upon it.

Looking at the Bridge now, it did pose a question: Minako would have come across this when she fell through the mirror. Why did she bother crossing to the other side? She likely couldn’t have known that it was a portal to another world. Even with her impulsive tendencies, surely Minako had enough common sense to not go about messing with the unknown.

On the other side of the Bridge, was their destination, currently covered in blot. Their way to Twisted Wonderland was barred by what looked like an oily parasite. Miasmic fumes wafted from it as it squelched and gurgled.

“What happened here?” Flor grimaced and plugged her nose.

“Lower your voice. They might hear us. It seems that the blotlings took an extra measure to make sure that we do not make it to the other side,” Ambrose explained.

“Summoning my Patronus should make them go away, right?”

“Do it. Make haste before they— Oh no.” Ambrose’s expression suddenly shifted into one of terror.

Flor followed the old Headmaster’s gaze, turning her head to look above them. Only then did the hissing and growling sounds finally reached her ears.

A blob of ink in the floating in the void, wriggling and bubbling just like the things hovering over their exit. It was disgusting to watch. Where were the gremlin noises coming from? It didn’t even have a mouth.

“Summon your Patronus, but make no sudden movements,” Ambrose whispered, slowly pointing his sceptre towards the blob.

This was exactly Flor had in mind when Ambrose informed her about the blotlings on the Bridge. Simple droplets of ink that were harmless at a glance, but neither of them were going to take any chances.

Happy memory in mind and a narrowed focus, Flor recited the incantation, “Expecto Patro—”

Too little, too late. All of a sudden, the grating snarls turned into a roar as a pair of chicken-like legs (or were they actually it’s arms?) sprouted from the blob. Then out popped a sinister green eye that practically made up the whole body. As it blinked, the ink squelched and dripped onto the bridge.

“Now!” Ambrose shouted.

“Expecto Patronum!”

In his Patronus incarnate, Pluton burst from the tip of her wand. The dog barked and gnashed his teeth, charging airborne towards the blotling. The inky monstrosity was gone as soon as it had appeared when Pluton chomped down on it.

It should have been over, but then more blotlings gathered in masses.

“Shit!”

And in the midst of her panic, Flor lost her focus and Pluton disappeared.

Ambrose summoned a blaze of fire. It sliced through the air and swallowed the blotlings whole. However, the swarm was only increasing.

“Flor, keep your focus!”

“Expecto Patronum!” Silvery vapour formed from the tip of her wand, but it was quick to fade, and it did nothing against the blotlings. Flor knew that her will was faltering, worst yet was that the blotlings continued to multiply.

Focus! Focus! You’ll die here if you don’t focus!

Flor stumbled back. She took deep breaths and wiped the sweat off her brow.

“Hurry!” Ambrose’s voice was becoming more and more hazy.

“Expecto Patronum!” Nothing. Flor felt like a child again in her first attempts to cast the charm.

The blotlings were closing in on her. They had amassed so much that they had become an oily, black wall with putrid green eyes. Ambrose was out of sight. Flor gagged on the smell. Quick as lightning, an inky tendril pinned her arm down, sending her to collide against the ground and her wand flying from her hand with a clatter.

“Fuck!”

A harsh yank in a fruitless attempt to free herself only spurred the demons even more, a mass of ink weighing down on Flor’s back and pushing her against the ground like a mousetrap. When the ink crept up to the exposed skin of her cheek it burnt. Her arms stretched out, desperate to find traction on her palms and crawl out of the trap she was in, but the splatters of ink made its way to burn her hands too. They wouldn’t even give her the chance to scream as they formed an oily muzzle around her mouth. They were planning to suffocate her here!

Flor got the message now—the bawling, Minako clawing at her skin, her ungodly tantrums during that awful summer. She knew that the curse was a painful experience, but how could someone not wish for death if this is what they felt every day? Minako’s willpower was stronger than she imagined.

Willpower… of course. Minako had spontaneous bouts of wandless magic because of her.

Glancing back at her wand, Flor knew that it wouldn’t get any closer. She had to give it a try. She gave the inky muzzle a good yank to rip it off her mouth like a band-aid, leaving a stinging sensation on her face. But with her mouth finally free, she blocked out her unhappy thoughts and let out a battle cry.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!”

From her palms, Pluton came out brighter than ever, fiercer than ever. His teeth were bared and that was all the blotlings needed to send them scattering away. To the more stubborn ones, Pluton trapped them in between his jaws and shook them around like a chew toy. Reliable as ever even postmortem. Flor couldn’t believe it as the blotlings released her.

“Good boy.” Flor allowed herself to soak in the triumph for just a brief second and swiped her wand back from the ground.

“Flor!” Ambrose’s hand reached in through the forming gaps of the of inky wall, pulling her out of the darkness.

“Look out!” Flor swung her wand above Ambrose, guiding Pluton around like a fiery torch as more blotlings descended upon them. High-pitched shrieks and snarls that promised agony echoed through the void as the monsters died by the masses.

Even with their fright of the light, much of the blot army surged on. They crashed down against the Bridge like a comet with the intent of crushing both Flor and Ambrose. They had missed but only by a few millimetres and the impact had shaken the balance of the mages.

Flor was out of breath, stumbling on her feet as she sprinted for the other side of the mirror. Pluton’s light was waning. Ambrose, skilled as he may be, was highly prone to overblot with the high level of mana in his system. Yet he wasn’t stingy with the amount of water he was spraying at the blotlings. Black dots were quickly beginning to colour his crystal.

“There’s too many of them! We’re getting out now!” Flor bellowed, pointing her wand towards the wall of ink where their exit should be. “Pluton, this way!”

Pluton readily pounced on the blot, teeth and claws plunging into the gloppy barricade. One vigorous slash ripped up an opening big enough to run through. Both mages bolted for freedom, light engulfing them once more.

The wind was knocked out of Flor as she hit a rough patch—wooden floorboards, that is. Sawdust entered her nose and mouth. She gagged convulsively and coughed them out. The hammering in her chest refused to cease, her mind still buzzing from the adrenaline.

“Ambrose?” she wheezed. She did see him jump to the other side with her, right?.

Much to her relief, there was a weak reply of, “I’m here.”

“Ambrose…”

“Yes?”

“This… isn’t the academy.”

A dark and tiny room. The windows were boarded with planks of wood where sunlight peeked into the gaps. There were grimy little knick-knacks and trinkets scattered on the shelves. The floorboards creaked and howled with each little step Flor took. She carefully walked up to a drawing desk and ran a finger across the surface, collecting a thick layer of dust. Ink from the knocked over inkwell had been spilled on it and had long since dried presumably. Whoever owned this place was either supremely neglectful or it was abandoned. She hoped that it was the latter.

“Did you move the mirror somewhere by any chance?” Flor asked. The logic of that was skewed though. Why would he move it out of his office? And into this dusty, desolate room?

“I did not request to have the mirror moved at all,” Ambrose replied. “And this isn’t the copy mirror!”

“What?”

Indeed, that was not the copy mirror. Just some regular travelling mirror.

“No…” Flor rushed back to the mirror, landing on her knees with a thud. Her hand touched the filthy glass. “No, no, no! Mirror, mirror.”

“Flor.”

“Mirror, mirror, take us back to Earth.” The mirror didn’t respond. This can’t be happening.

“Flor, please!”

“Shut up!” Flor’s grip tightened on the frame, dirtying her hands even more. Tremors ran through her as she pleaded once more. “Mirror, mirror!”

“Flor!”

Without warning, the Headmaster yanked her by the back of her jacket. Luckily, she had enough momentum this time to roll on her side as she fell back.

Flor didn’t even have time to retort back at the Headmaster when a deafening explosion burst from the mirror. With a quick incantation from his mouth, Ambrose quickly summoned a shield that enveloped them from the blast.

On a reflex, Flor had shut her eyes and covered her ears. There was no need to fold into herself with a shield to protect them, but she curled into a ball anyway. The sound of explosions took her back that night.

She heard the bits of glass shards pelting against the shield. [Flor was twenty-two, driving Kento and Alexis back home when she saw the window to Minako’s room shatter from the heat of the flames inside.]

The force of the blast sears through the wooden room next which splintered the already weak boards and ripping the entire structure apart. [The car made a violent lurch as Flor hit the brakes. Too little, too late as the roof came crashing down the second she stumbled out the door.]

The tremors didn’t stop even after the dust had settled. [Minako, whose little legs were stuck under a beam, was the only person in the house she could find. She was so still when she held her. Nary a twitch nor a rise of her chest told Flor that her sister was still alive.]

[“Wake up! Wake up!”]

Flor’s ears were still ringing. It didn’t even register to her that Ambrose was calling her name until he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Take deep breaths. Slowly now,” he soothed.

In and out. In and out. Flor slowly uncurled herself from her position, finding the strength to sit up. She squeezed the Headmaster’s arm like he was an anchor to keep her mind from drifting back to insanity.

“Thank you…” Flor swallowed back her tears. The palpitations in her chest grew lighter and eased the discomfort.

And finally, she had registered her surroundings now that the walls of the tiny house had come down. This place was deserted. The air was dense and humid, and the fact that she was donning a jacket didn’t maker her feel much better. There was a severe lack of trees with only the driest shrubs, sand, and the occasional tumbleweed.

“Where the hell are we? And why would someone have a shed in the middle of nowhere?”

Ambrose brushed the dirt off his robes. “Perhaps this shed is… or was owned by a heretic. Or perhaps it was for a magician seeking isolation in their quest for great power. I’ve known several mages who’ve travelled far up north or the deserts performing the same—”

“We’re getting off track,” Flor cut him off. She hastily removed her jacket and tied the sleeves around her waist. “Do you know where we are?”

“The Sage’s Isle doesn’t have any deserts. My best guess is that we’re in the Afterglow of Savanna or in the Scalding Sands.” Ambrose stroked his beard.

Now, I get it. “I think I know why my sister went missing.” Looking over at Ambrose’s expression, it seemed that he was beginning to realize it too.

Blot made Minako’s powers unpredictable. From blowing fuses to overgrowing the plants in their garden, there really was no telling what she could do.

“Everything, will be alright. If I recall, you have the ability to teleport,” said Ambrose.

“No!” Flor blurted out. “It’s dangerous to Apparate overseas. I might kill us both through splinching. But… I have enough range to take us anywhere within the country… like a town or a village.” She straightened her posture, feeling hopeful about the idea. And then her shoulders sagged. “The problem is, Apparition will fail if I don’t know where to go.”

“And we don’t know if we’re in the Afterglow of Savanna or the Scalding Sands. Simply naming a place off the top of my head could risk um… splinching, you said?” Ambrose added.

Flor sighed before rummaging through her knapsack. “I guess we’re just going to have to find the nearest town ourselves in this heat. Good thing I brought some brooms.”

Ambrose jumped back in surprise as she pulled out a pair of brooms. Despite how old they were, they were still quite fast.

“Ah, extension charms. I forgot that you have those,” Ambrose chuckled nervously.

“Can you ride?” Flor asked.

“I’m decent for someone of my age.” Ambrose gingerly plucked one of the brooms from her hand.

“Good. Let me know if you’re feeling tired. I don’t want you to have a stroke.”

And so, they mounted on their brooms. They soared high into the air, the desert sun beating down on them. With any luck, the next town shouldn’t be too far.

And Flor sure hoped that luck was on her sister’s side too.

◐ ━━━━━ ºoº ━━━━━ ◑

Notes:

I was going to write about what Minako has been up to in the second half of the chapter, but the bit with Flor and Ambrose got a bit too long. I didn't want to leave people waiting any longer. Thank you all for your patience.

I wanted to draw Flor's patronus too, but I didn't have time. Maybe someday, I'll get to it.

#my writing #my art #twisted wonderland x harry potter #twisted wonderland #harry potter #epics of ink and light #epics of ink & light #twisted wonderland fanfic #twisted wonderland fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #twisted wonderland oc #twisted wonderland mc #harry potter oc #oc: minako nezumi #oc: flor nezumi #ambrose the 63rd

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heloflor · 7 months

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The issues with Movie Peach: A comparison of portrayals

Ok so I know it’s been literal months since the Mario Movie came out but I’m still a bit salty about the way Peach was portrayed in it, and honestly the more I think about it the more I find flaws in this “adaptation”, and I need to get it all out, hoping talking about it here will help me stop thinking about this shit and finally get over it. If you enjoyed her movie portrayal, good for you and feel free to ignore this post. For the others, here are the things that bother me about it.

(Very long post ahead! A bit over 11k words. It’s "cut" in several parts to make it easier to follow. I also made a Google docs version in case it’s easier to read. Tl;Dr under the cut because Tumblr does weird things due to the length otherwise)

Tl;Dr: Outside of a few personality traits that are the same but expressed differently, which is an issue all main characters in this movie have when compared to their game selves, the main issues with Movie Peach are her body language and the fact they removed the overly kind nature, more or less pacifist nature, wit and softness she has in the games and instead made her confrontational, a competent physical fighter and overly-confident, all of which make her OOC when compared to the games. This is especially insulting given the way Illuminations seems to look down on Games Peach and consider what they did with her in the movie to be an improvement, when Peach’s main issue in the games isn’t her personality but her lack of screentime to make said personality shine.

Setting a few things straight before we start, just to make sure we’re on the same page here:

1. No, it’s not about the pants. While an argument could be made about Peach only wearing pants in outfits that require it (adventurer and farmer in Odyssey, some events in Olympics, Strikers, swordfighter and Kung Fu in Showtime, biker in Kart, her cap/snow/moon outfit in Odyssey and detective in Showtime do have pants in a setting where it’s not necessary but both also give her a long jacket, making it look like she’s wearing more of a dress with long stockings rather than actual pants, same for Olympics ice skating) ultimately there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her wearing pants. Heck, one of her scraped Odyssey outfits has her wearing jeans, and it’s one of her best outfits! Also Showtime might have more outfits with pants that will make this argument null (I mean the concept art for Odyssey kinda already does with the jeans). All this to say, the people who claim Peach was “ruined” because she’s *looks at smudged writing* “wearing a biker outfit on a bike” need to chill tf out.

2. There’s also nothing wrong with the fact she can parkour. In all the games she’s playable, Peach can keep up with Mario without any issue (she does have a slower walking speed in Super Paper and 3D World but it honestly barely matters, and it makes sense given she has a dress). Plus, the movie establishes that she was raised here, so it’s normal for her to have the abilities needed to get around. Now I do take issue with her body language in the training scene (more on that later) and the mention that she first-tried it (I like when characters struggle and grow rather than getting everything right first-hand) but both of those things are unrelated to her platforming abilities. So if you see little to no mention of her being great at it later in the post, it’s because that’s not something I consider out of character for her.

3. I am beyond excited for Princess Peach Showtime. From what we’ve seen so far, this game perfectly encapsulates what makes Peach who she is, and I am so happy that she’s getting her own game again!!! As for the swordfighter and Kung Fu outfits, it’s mentioned later on in the post but yeah it absolutely works with her game personality. Again, the issue isn’t with the outfits, or in that case with some specific abilities that work with what we know of her, the issue is with the personality that goes with it.

4. While the post will likely give the opposite impression, in no way do I consider myself some sort of expert on Peach’s character. This is a character that was created 15 years before I was even born, and I have no rights whatsoever to dictate what Nintendo can or can’t do with their own characters or how they choose to portray them. It’s just that she’s a character I absolutely adored as a kid and, while I’m not sure if she’s currently my favorite Mario character (hesitating between her and Bowser), I’m still incredibly attached to that character and her potential, hence why I care so much. But by the end of the day, I’m just some random weirdo over-analyzing a character from a kid-oriented piece of media.

5. I have no issues with the strong female character archetype, or at least none outside of the common grievance of “stop giving us boring planks of wood with amazing natural abilities and instead give us great characters who happen to kick ass and be badass!”. In fact, was this movie a completely original piece with characters unrelated to Mario, I’d probably enjoy Peach’s character. My issue in this specific case is that this movie is meant as a faithful adaptation of a specific franchise, so you’d expect all the characters to be in character. And while all main characters have some traits that are missing or not exactly the same as their game counterparts (I could make a short post about it if anybody asks), it still works very well for what Illuminations was going for and they’re still recognizable. Peach is the only exception where her character feels very butchered. There’s also the issue that it feels like Illuminations looks down on Peach’s game portrayal and wrote her this way with a desire to “fix” her, when there’s nothing wrong with her in-game personality. More on that later. But yeah, it does feel insulting if they do look down on her game character.

(Also I know this is a whole other discussion but I’m really not a big fan of the way everytime a new female character is created she needs to be called like “girlboss”, “damsel”, “Marie Sue” etc. Can’t a female character just exist without being put in a box, like male characters do (obviously I’m talking outside of fandoms, I know men are put in boxes around here)? Also can’t sweet female characters, strong female characters and anything in-between just exist without people arguing over which ones are “better”? Just let women be women. And while I do understand the issue with how many movies do nothing with their women outside of making them the love interest, which is an issue, by that point we have so much diverse female rep that we should be able to write characters the way we want without having to compensate for the shitty portrayals. You want your female characters to be likable or great role models? Just make them interesting. Give them goals, an arc, interesting relationships, things they’re good at and things they struggle at. And if you want them to be soft and kind and raise a family? Go ahead! You want them to be badass as hell and kill without a sweat instead? Go ahead!

Also last thing about it but I find it pretty crazy how Disney specifically struggles so much nowadays with female characters in live-action. I mean Disney Animations Studios gave is tons of great women, both protagonists and antagonists, all with different personalities (Snow White is childlike and naive, Cinderella refuses to let her situation take her down and remains kind to those “below” her, Ariel is curious and passionate, Jasmine is stubborn and independent, Esmeralda is incredibly selfless while still having no issue standing up for herself, Megara is cynical and sharp, Tiana is determined and hard-working, Mulan is very smart and loves her father so much she’s willing to die protecting him, Rapunzel is spunky and has a natural talent to bring people together, Elsa is shy and introverted, Anna is impulsive and empathetic, Mirabel is probably the most relatable Disney protagonist, the list goes on), heck the Disney Princesses is their most popular brand that they didn’t buy out from the competition, and yet when you look at the remakes and the superheroes movies, they give us the blandest characters, whose “empowerment” messages are the most nothing thing when compared to the original animated movies. Mulan especially is a ridiculously good example of that given how fantastic the message of the original movie was in terms of female empowerment.)

Now, with all that out of the way, let’s get into why I dislike Movie Peach when compared to Games Peach:

1. The two biggest issues with Movie Peach

Starting with one of my two biggest issues but also the shortest to explain: her body language. To go over it quickly, just watch her scenes in the movie while focusing on her body language, mannerisms and facial expressions, and then go to her scenes in the Mario + Rabbids games along with the trailers for Princess Peach Showtime and do the same thing. You’ll quickly notice that Rabbids and Showtime have a very similar Peach, while the Movie gives a completely different vibe. In fact, on body language alone, they come off as two completely different characters.

Now there are small moments where her body language in the Movie works as Peach, such as her reactions when Mario is training or when she’s watching the fight between him and DK (at least when the camera isn’t fully focused on her for that second case). But overall, she’s still very different from the games.

To give more precise examples, notice the way Movie Peach always looks very confident when she’s about to start a fight. In comparison, the first teaser for Showtime opens up with Peach and Stella going on stage, and Peach comes off as someone who isn’t sure if she can do it but is willing to try her absolute best. Basically when I look at Movie Peach her face says “Alright, let’s do this >: )” while Peach in the first Showtime trailer has a face that says “Alright, I can do this”, if that makes more sense.

Then there’s also things like in the first Rabbids games with Peach showing up to the fight floating with her parasol Marry Poppins style. And upon being about to land, Mario extends a hand to help her even though she doesn’t need it, which kind of reminds me of the ending of Super Princess Peach where Mario is the one in distress yet Peach is the one getting carried bridal style by him because that’s just the kind of person she is. I just can’t picture Movie Peach doing the same.

Btw funny thing but while I disagree with the people claiming that Movie Peach is basically Daisy, since Daisy is very aloof about her role as ruler while Movie Peach takes it incredibly seriously, I do believe that Movie Peach’s body language would fit Daisy very well.

I guess it’s also worth mentioning how different her voice sounds in the movie? But then again I watched it in french and only saw some english-dubbed scenes through video reactions, and I can’t say I really care about the og dub enough to take a good listen. That being said, I’m not the biggest fan of her french voice when you compare it to what Peach sounds like (I do think the voice actress did a great job though, regardless of whether or not she sounds like Peach). And looking at trailers in different languages, the German version I believe has a much higher-pitched voice and it does feel a lot more like what Peach sounds like.

Second biggest issue is how great she is in combat and that’s the biggest one for me. Not only did they remove some of Peach’s traits (which we’ll get to in a moment) but they added something that is extremely out of character for her.

In the movie, Peach is a fantastic fighter, especially with hand-to-hand combat. She drop-kicks Mario, would have probably won against DK no problem had she accepted the duel, does a great job defending herself in the Rainbow Road scene, is very quick and agile when confronting Bowser at the wedding, and was single-handedly winning against a whole army, probably would have won had she not gotten distracted. She’s also clearly aware of those abilities, very often smiling during those fights, showing tons of confidence in her abilities.

On top of that, she’s very confrontational. She hears of Bowser being a menace and immediately wants to go to war. When a stranger gets a bit too close for comfort, she attacks. When encouraging her Toads before leaving, her posture when she gets interrupted shows a desire to fight. When they meet the first Kong and he glares at her, she immediately glares back. She also takes a fighting stance when he roars at them. When Bowser approaches, she’s willing to take him out all by herself and later on starts the battle at the altar. All-in-all, fighting is her first solution to pretty much every problem.

Peach in the games, however, is very different. If you look at her relationship with fighting throughout the series, three things will arise:

1. Peach doesn’t like fighting and only does so if there’s no other choice. In Mario 3D Land, she fights back against a pile of Goombas but looks incredibly uncomfortable doing so. In what we’ve seen of Showtime, she cowers when Stella uses her magic on her hair and then looks confused about having to be the hero for a second there.

In Smash Bros Brawl, the one cutscene where she truly shines has her stopping fights left and right and trying to befriend everyone while letting Sheik protect her if needed; she doesn’t even take a fighting stance when Mr. Game and Watch attacks (at least in the cutscene compilation I saw, could have been a glitch where her animation didn’t trigger considering she’s dusting her dress off instead, which looks like an idle animation; note that I haven’t played this game). Btw it’s both very funny and pretty embarrassing for the Movie writers that a fighting game of all things understood Peach’s dislike over fighting better than they did. On that note, this one Ultimate trailer with no music that got memed a lot features Peach and Zelda surrounded by a gust of wind, and while Zelda looks ready to fight, Peach instead gasps and looks at the wind, completely dropping her guard and forgetting about the whole “having to fight” thing.

Then there’s the Mario and Luigi series where she sends the twins to fight her battles, the first Rabbids game where you meet her very early on yet she only becomes playable much later in the game, plus in both Rabbids games she’s a support character whose role is to protect the others (of course she still has an attack like everyone else; also I’m in no way saying that a support character is “lesser”, it’s an essential role in making sure the hard-hitters use their turns to attack rather than heal).

In Paper Mario 64 she also doesn’t fight directly and in the last boss uses her wishes to strengthen Twink, playing support. Even in the Super Mario Adventures Comic, outside of dropkicking on the Koopalings, she never fights directly. When going back to the tower, she threatens to blow it up but doesn’t do anything when Wendy calls her bluff. There’s literally only one panel during the “getting the keys” fight in which she’s visible, and she’s in the background running around and looking surprised!

Oh yeah and while I might be wrong as I’ve only seen it in like, 2 cutscenes, Peach in the Rabbids games doesn’t seem to have a fighting stance, at least outside of cutscenes. So you know how the characters have some small animations, like “thinking” stances or “happy/cheering” stances or “sad” stances, you know the ones? Well in at least two scenes, while everyone is taking a fighting stance, Peach is standing with her mouth open in surprise. I know one of these moments is in the Last Spark Hunter DLC but I couldn’t tell you which is the other cutscene. I’m not even actually sure if it’s true for a second one but also for some reason I remember seeing it at least twice. 🤔 Btw random fun fact but Bowser also doesn’t have a cheering stance, at least not in this DLC.

I also know incredibly little of Super Mario RPG but doesn’t she use magic in this game, and is again the supporting character meant to heal the others?

Also also not sure if this matters much since other characters like Daisy do it too, but in Super Mario Party, and possibly other party games (?), during the minigames that require punching other people, she pushes them instead. You can see she doesn’t use her fist but her palms instead.

Lastly, because it does need to be brought up, yes Peach jumps on enemies without any hesitation in the platformers she’s playable in. This is basically the main reason why I called Peach “more or less pacifist” in the Tl;Dr. And honestly, the only counterargument I can give is the fact that those aren’t really fights, at least outside of bosses. You’re just kind of hopping on enemies’ heads and then they disappear. But in games that are more focused on the fight itself like the RPGs or the Smash cutscenes, Peach tends to either be less comfortable with fighting or have more of a supporting role.

Now, I could also point out how the vast majority of platformers Peach is playable in are co-op games (Bros 2 USA, 3D World, Super Paper, Wonder), and the stories of those games imply the whole group is going on an adventure together, meaning it’s possible Peach does less fighting and more exploring for example, leaving Mario and Luigi to do most of the fighting. And while this is an idea I like to explore in fics, I don’t want to diminish Peach’s abilities here. Plus Super Princess Peach and Showtime prove that she doesn’t hesitate when on her own.

And yes I know the real reason why she doesn’t hesitate in the platformers is because people want to be able to play as her and it’d be stupid to have a character who doesn’t have the basic abilities literally every character has, so it has less to do with her personality and more to do with gameplay. The RPGs on the other hand assign different abilities and roles to different characters, so they can make Peach the healer/support as a means to make her an active character while keeping her personality intact. Still, for the sake of argument and to avoid being a hypocrite, I consider the platformers as proof that she can fight directly when she needs to, with the RPGs and Smash cutscenes showing that this might not be her preferred choice.

All this to say, Peach is not much of a fighter. If she can prevent a fight, she will choose the more peaceful option. She’d also rather have other people fight instead of her or play support for them. But if it all comes down to it, she will fight. She’d rather not, but she will if needed.

2. Peach doesn’t know how to fight. Now this might be a flimsier argument but bear with me here. Basically, the first time I thought of this was due to the 86 anime and Adventures Comic, both of which have her defend herself using furniture, which does give the impression that she doesn’t know how to fight so she does the second best thing: throwing heavy shit to at least do some damage.

But even with those aside, Peach is definitely one to use unusual weapons. In Super Princess Peach and a few other games, she fights with a parasol. Her gun in Rabbids 2 is even shaped like a parasol. In Super Mario RPG, from what I’ve heard/seen, she uses a frying pan. And while I don’t know her Smash moveset, looking at her character descriptions from the wiki, the Smash games keep mentioning her using said frying pan along with turnips, her parasol, sports gear and Toad as a shield, with her hand-to-hand combat being her kicking while in the air. I also know what her final smash sort of looks like with the way the screen changes to look like a Peach-themed frame (and I think I remember hearing that peaches fall off the sky but don’t quote me on that).

She also uses magic, mostly star/wish-related magic, which seems to be healing magic for the most part? On that note, her specials in the sport games tend to be heart-shaped. And while it’s definitely undermined by the swordfighter and Kung Fu outfits, her main means to defend herself in Showtime is a ribbon. And who knows, maybe we’ll get some other wacky ways to attack in other transformations?

So yeah, overall, Peach doesn’t seem like someone who knows how to fight. She just holds onto an object that she’s comfortable with and wacks people with it. In a way, it goes with what’s said in the previous part. In platforming games, she jumps on enemies just like everybody else. But when it comes to more hand-related combat, Showtime is seemingly the first time where she’s getting some abilities on that front.

Now, there is the argument that Showtime is all a play, meaning her abilities are her playing a role. But I do think that, regardless if this is a play or not, her physical abilities in this game do come from her. So even if the fights are “scripted” to an extent, she’s still capable of executing those moves. Same deal with the possible argument that Stella might be giving her those powers/boosting her. Peach still is capable of doing them on her own, unless we’re explicitly told in-game that Stella gave her those abilities and Peach wouldn’t be able to do them without her. But then this would undermine her baking and detective skills, and we know how much Peach loves baking. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see once the game comes out.

3. Peach is physically weak, much more so than what the movie shows. This is actually why I saw her Smash descriptions because I went to the wiki pages for all the sport games to check her stats. And in all the games showing said stats, her strength is almost always below average, sometimes by a little, other times by a lot, with quite a few instances having her as one of the physically weakest characters. I can only remember one exception where her strength was around the same level as everyone else. Everything else, she’s below.

For those curious about which stats I used to check on that: every game that has a “strength” stat, I checked it. As for the others, for the golf games I looked for the ball distance a throw gives as it seems like the one that would require the most strength, and for some Strikers games it was the shooting stat. I didn’t take Mario Kart into consideration as I don’t think there’s anything in that series that would count (even weight doesn’t really have anything to do with it), and the baseball games were a bit more complicated. By that I mean that Peach in Sluggers for example (at least I think it was Sluggers) has a bad stat as a hitter, but good at pitcher. And both of those positions require physical strength I believe? Unless Nintendo considers pitcher as more of a technique-related skill and hitter as more strength-related? But yeah, just leaving this here in case it’s relevant. Literally the one time I don’t spend time looking at the other characters’ stats to see what they have in comparison, it’s the one time where I’m not sure what it means in terms of strength.

(Speaking of which, because I found those interesting, know that Mario is always the most balanced character, Luigi tends to be not as strong as his brother but has more agility than him, Bowser is always one of the strongest, DK and Wario swap between which one has the same strength stat as Bowser and which one is a bit weaker depending on the game, Daisy is a fast character in the Olympics games which I find funny considering Mario Kart Wii, and Waluigi tends to be on the weaker end due to being lanky apparently.)

And outside of the sports games, one of her Smash Melee descriptions calls her one of the weakest characters physically, and how using her is a test of endurance (again, a literal fighting game gets it), while that one long gone Doctor Mario mobile game has her attack stat in combat mode be at its lowest, while her defense on the other hand is pretty good (haven’t played this game actually, just stumbled across the page and looked up some stats, funny how well they’re tied to the sport games, like with Mario being balanced, Bowser having the most attack etc).

Now there might be more examples I’m forgetting, but all-in-all, there’s a pattern of Peach being weak when it comes to physical strength. And on unrelated news, the part of me that headcanon her as a Toad is very happy about that fact.

2. Other personality differences

And speaking of patterns! Here’s something the movie removed from Game Peach: her wit. Peach in the games is smart, resourceful and quick-witted. And while it’s not something the games really focus on, it’s absolutely there.

In all those sports games I mentioned, there’s one stat that’s always her highest, and that’s her technique. In all the games that have a stat called technique, she has the highest one. In almost all the games that don’t have stats but just put the characters in categories based on their abilities (all-around, strength, technique, speed etc), she’s put in the technique box, with only like one exception in an Olympics game that puts her in the speed category, switching with Daisy. In strikers, the golf games, the tennis games, and likely the baseball games, her best stats are the ones related to her control over the ball, which I’d argue is the most related to technique (don’t remember the exact names of the stats but it was something along the lines of passing the ball, giving effect to the ball, choosing the trajectory of the balls and being pitcher respectively). One of the Olympics games I believe even calls her quick-witted.

On that note, I like to think that this is why she makes for a great swordfighter and Kung Fu artist in Showtime, as those are skills that require a lot of technique and she’s good at picking up on it (also is there an Olympics games that has a fencing challenge that she’s playable in? Because that could explain it too).

As for outside of the sport games, you have the 86 Anime where she manages to outsmart Bowser though she doesn’t get away with it, the Adventures Comic with her outsmarting the Koopalings and even managing to escape the tower by making fast decisions on where to run to and using Wendy’s possessions against her (granted she got lucky with the cape, but still), Paper Mario 64 with her sneaking around the castle finding info to help Mario, same deal with Thousand Years Door (from what I’ve seen of it), Superstar Saga with her switcharoo plan, Partners in Time with her quickly grabbing the star against Elder Princess Shroobs, Dream Team with her and Toadsworth going through a few trials on their own (plus, depending on when she got captured, she might have been the one to think of hiding with Madame Broque), Showtime with the detective outfit, all the games where she’s able to send Mario items (like Galaxy) or attempts to run away (3D Land), and overall she’s seen as a great Princess loved by her Toads, which is a role that requires a lot of thinking to take the best decisions for her people.

On the other hand, Movie Peach lacks this wit. While she does have a lot of technique given how much she can do physically, she lacks the smart decisions that Games Peach is able to do. Or at least, she doesn’t think things through like, at all. I mean if you look at her decisions one by one:

- She intended on traveling to meet the Kongs all on her own, going on a fairly dangerous adventure without a single person in tow. The only reason she went with others was because Mario showed up.

- She meets that completely random guy that broke into her castle and is immediately willing to take him on said difficult journey after one day of seeing him train, all because he looks like her (this is the main reason why I would’ve loved to have Toadsworth in the movie, he could’ve told her not to go alone, thus giving an excuse as to why she would take Mario with her).

- When Cranky refuses to land his army, she just doubles down on what she just said. While her arguments make sense, she clearly didn’t know what to say and had no backup plan in case he refused, and only got the army due to Mario’s impulsiveness (granted I think she could’ve taken DK in a fight). And while yes, she’s surprised when Cranky first accepts, meaning she might have expected him to disagree, the fact she says “that’s it?” makes it seem more like she expected a deal rather than a direct approval. She didn’t come off as someone who expected him to say no, but instead expected a conditional yes and didn’t consider what to do in case of refusal.

- When Bowser arrives, she intends to face him alone, literally getting surrounded by Koopas the second Bowser steps out of his ship. Then she tells him to use the star now. She basically sent herself on a suicide mission here, and clearly decided to face him without any sort of plan. Was she hoping her looking badass and all would be enough to deter him or something???

- The wedding scheme. Now, this one is fine overall and does show she can come up with plans, but also a few people have pointed out how there could have been alternatives. She could’ve tried talking Bowser out of the sacrifices, try to accept the marriage and bide some time in order to strike when there isn’t a fricking army standing right next to her. But instead, she chose to blow up the whole thing, which was a crazy dangerous plan. It also showcases what I was saying about her being confrontational, when this is the first thing she can think of. Now of course, in the end it was the best idea due to Bowser wishing to sacrifice other people, meaning she needed to act now. But with the context of Peach not knowing about said sacrifices, it means she still intended on doing the most dangerous thing first rather than getting the marriage over with and destroying Bowser’s empire from the inside. Heck had she waited until after the marriage she could’ve gotten access to the Star during the night or something. Also, again, there’s no telling how Bowser would’ve responded had she asked him to spare those lives, at least for the time being.

So overall, while I wouldn’t call Movie Peach an idiot as she’s not, she isn’t that smart either. She keeps rushing into dangerous situations thinking her fighting abilities will be enough to solve the issue, exercising none of the caution and patience Games Peach has when trying to escape or snooping around. And it honestly sucks that Illuminations decided to take out what is arguably one of Peach’s biggest strengths and replace it with another type of strength that not only she doesn’t need but also goes against her character.

Now, before we get into the last thing bothering me, which is her kindness or lack thereof, I’d like to talk about a few minor traits that could’ve worked in the kindness part but can also be talked about separately. Those things are her snark/sass, her seriousness and her anger. Basically, those are traits that both Movie Peach and Games Peach possess, and as a result it doesn’t bother me when Movie Peach displays those.

Peach in the games can be sassy at times, especially in the competitive games. That sassiness can also be turned into playfulness a few times, like in Superstar Saga when she trolls Mario and Luigi about her voice and laughs about it, or during the escort mission where she makes comments about how “it wasn’t that bad” when you exit an area.

Like Movie Peach, she’s also fairly serious during dangerous situations. It’s just that, due to her personality, she expresses a lot of worry in those situations, which might take away some of her seriousness when compared to her movie self.

As for her anger, boy is it present in the games, but again it comes off as toned down due to her inherent softness. In the 86 Anime, she’s constantly talking back against Bowser and gets mad at him a lot, same for Paper Mario 64. In Super Paper Mario, it’s easy to get her angry. In the ending of Odyssey, she’s pissed off, and I actually love how when she gets on the ship she needs to take a deep breath to calm down enough to bring back a smile for Mario. That doesn’t mean she isn’t angry anymore, but again she’s incredibly kind and compassionate so she’s willing to put it on the side for now and focus on getting home. Also in the intro of Super Princess Peach, she’s absolutely furious after reading Bowser’s letter.

About her anger, I can’t help but wonder if this is what Miyamoto meant in an interview related to the movie where he apparently claimed that Movie Peach is how he’d always wanted her character to be. Because let’s be real here, this claim, if true, is corporate bullshit. Miyamoto has a lot of power at Nintendo, he could’ve made Peach like that from the get-go if that’s what he’d always wanted. Hell just look at Showtime where Peach is the same as she’s always been in the games, very much proving that claim is false. So again, I can’t help but wonder if by that claim, Miyamoto meant her temper. Or maybe he was referring to the Adventures Comic, which is the only version outside of the movie in which Peach is confrontational, but then again she doesn’t know how to fight in that comic so…

I’d also like to talk about her confidence, since earlier I mentioned how overly-confident Movie Peach is in her fighting abilities compared to the games. Now, that’s not to say Peach isn’t a confident person, far from it. In fact, there’s that character pic from the second Rabbids games showing off her weapon and her smile makes her look very confident (that pic is at the very end of that post btw, if by then you remember this part). But despite her confidence Games Peach definitely comes off as a very humble person, while Movie Peach is low-key showing off during those fight/platforming scenes.

All this to say, if you praise the movie for “giving” Peach those traits, she actually always had them. It’s just expressed differently in the games. This is also what I meant in the intro when saying how all the characters are a bit off when compared to their games selves, but it still works for the most part. The traits are there, but in a different way that does make it seem weird while still making the characters recognizable. The issue with Peach specifically is that they went further than just changing a few traits.

Also because I don’t know where else to put it, Peach in the games is definitely a lot softer and delicate than her Movie counterpart, but I consider this mostly linked to body language, hence why I’m not making a whole part about this. But it’s definitely something the movie is lacking about her.

There's also her stubbornness and love for baking, but those are also things I don’t really want to focus on. Given the situation the characters are in and the fact Illuminations doesn’t know how to write scenes where characters just sit down and talk, there really wasn’t any opportunity to have Movie Peach talk about cakes. Now I do believe that this lack is due to Illuminations considering Peach’s love for baking as “making her weak and feeble”, but again, even if it wasn’t the case the movie has a pacing issue so they couldn’t have talked about this anyways.

As for the stubbornness, I just don’t really have any example in mind and don’t really know how to explain it as a result, but I do believe that both the movie and games selves have it. I might actually be inclined to say Games Peach is more stubborn, but again I don’t really have any examples of that. I mean I guess there’s the Mario and Luigi series where she disregards Toadsworth’s concerns a few times (wanting to see the Toad village in Superstar Saga, using the time-travel machine in PiT, the intro of Dream Team with the trap door). From the little I’ve seen of it, Paper Mario TTYD also has her go against his wishes at the beginning?

Now, for the last difference between the two: her kindness. Peach in the games is one of the kindest sweetest people you’ll ever meet. I think I remember someone actually mentioning how her liking cakes so much is fitting given her personality, as cakes are sweet and soft and bring a smile to your face, just like she does (sadly I can’t remember where I read this, whether it was a tumblr post, a youtube comment, something said in a video or something else). And while Movie Peach is definitely kind, it’s not as much as Games Peach. Hell whenever I see people praise Movie Peach for her kindness, they say something along the lines of how the strong female character archetype usually doesn’t make women be this nice. So what Movie Peach is clearing is actually a very low bar of human decency that people were asking for. In other words, Movie Peach is nice the same amount a basic supporting character should be nice.

In comparison, Games Peach really is kind to a fault. She’s always warm and welcoming to any new person, is said in one of her Melee trophies to be such a forgiving person she’s willing to play against Bowser, which is a sentiment you can also see with the few times they’ve worked together, also that one cutscene in the Last Spark Hunter DLC where the Rabbids go to Bowser for comfort and when he lets that happen Peach gives him the softest smile. Even in games like Mario Odyssey where Bowser is trying to forcefully marry her, she seems to show concern for him after he’s defeated in the Cloud Kingdom. On that note, she’s also very nice to Junior, despite how awkward it might be for her (never raises her voice on him in Sunshine, has over 80% compatibility with him in the Gamecube Baseball game, plays with him in one of the Switch Online ads/explanations).

Also as mentioned before she’s willing to temporarily let go of her anger at the end of Odyssey to call Mario to come to the ship. I also made a post about four instances where Peach jumped into a dangerous situation without thinking because other people were in danger, whether she knew those people or not + whether they were good or bad people. Btw since earlier I mentioned how Movie Peach lacked wit compared to Games Peach, those four moments show that yes, Games Peach can be impulsive at times and do things without thinking them through, but those instances are specifically related to her kindness/desire to help others, unlike Movie Peach who just does what she think is best in the moment and never plans anything. Also ironic I bring back the wit since I consider Peach’s kindness to be her second biggest strength, on par with said wit.

On that note, I’m one of those people who make up animations in my mind while listening to music and recently was listening to Wander Over Yonder songs thinking about Mario (“I’m the Bad Guy” with the Shadow Queen tho, or “You’re the Greatest Reprise” with Kamek, Bowser, Luigi and Mario when taking the order of which characters speak/sing first, also you have no idea how much I hope someone will make an animatic of Bowser singing “You’re the Greatest”). And the funny thing is, while thinking of voices and how the actor for Wander would fit either Mario or Luigi very well, it got me thinking of how both properties have a very nice/positive cast where even the villains can be friends from time to time, and I ended up comparing Mario with Wonder and realize that Wonder is actual pretty similar to Peach in some ways.

Both Wander and Peach are people who value friendship and understanding over fighting. They both love helping others, though it’s a lot more amplified with Wander, and are both willing to give the villains a shot at redemption, perhaps a bit too much, trying to see the best in people. Now what’s interesting here is that, while Peach is intelligent and her governing a Kingdom shows a level of maturity, at times she comes off as naive or airheaded, and I can’t help but feel like her kindness is the reason for it, and comparing it with Wander explains it.

The short version is, if both of them received an invitation from their respective villain claiming they were willing to change their ways, both would happily accept and go meet the villain with a smile. The difference however is that Wander would have Sylvia looking out for him, ready to jump in any moment. While Wander will play dumb on the possibility of the villain setting up a trap, he’ll be very much aware of said possibility and will be able to escape it. Peach on the other hand will drop all defenses and completely fall for the trap.

And I think that’s the thing with Peach’s kindness, and why she comes off as naive. Unlike someone like Wander who keeps a level of realism over the villains’ intentions and plays dumb about it, Peach believes the best of everyone to a fault. I’m especially thinking of that scene in the Switch Tennis game, with Wario and Waluigi showing up and half-collapsing, leading Peach to immediately run to them, ready to help, forcing a Toad to step in and tell her to be careful. Peach knows that Wario and Waluigi are bad news, yet the second they’re shown in trouble, she forgets all about the possible danger and wants to help, straight up needing someone else to remind her of said danger. In a way, it reminds me of that statement Miyamoto once made about how easy it could be to capture Peach by just giving her cake. While I’m not the biggest fan of this statement as it comes off as mocking her character, when you think about it, there is some truth to it.

Now I guess we kinda went off-topic here but also it’s a good way to show the way Peach expresses her kindness in the games, and how the movie failed to convey that. Games Peach sees the best in everyone, to a point where it can become a flaw, while Movie Peach is a lot more guarded (see her attacking Mario when he got close or her body language around the first Kong they meet). Also, Games Peach is someone who doesn’t seem able to hate anyone, though it is mentioned in I believe a Mario and Luigi game that she hates Bowser. Even then, I don’t remember said hate being really conveyed. Don’t get me wrong, Games Peach can very much be mad at someone and/or dislike them, and I do believe she doesn’t have the best opinion of Bowser, but she never comes off as outright hating anybody. Movie Peach on the other hand absolutely hates Bowser. Just look at her face when he tries to flirt with her. There’s nothing but contempt in her eyes.

3. In defense of Princess Peach

Lastly, I want to expand a bit on that whole “Illuminations looking down on Peach’s character” thing and the way people see Peach in general, along with talking about how I feel about some of her portrayals because why not.

Thing is, to an extent, I get it. Peach’s character origin is rooted in sexism, with her being meant as the damsel in distress who’s constantly helpless. She was definitely meant as a character of her time, and I get why some might find her boring as a result.

But the thing is, even with that origin in mind, Peach has always been more than that. Literally one insignificant year after the first Super Mario Bros game, we had the 86 Anime which gave her a personality. And then we had Mario Bros 2 USA where she was a playable character, one of the earliest playable female human characters in gaming (she wasn’t the first but still definitely pretty early). And while the mainline games kept a status quo of her being captured, we had the Adventures Comic with her being able to escape all on her own, the Mario Kart series with her being playable in every single one of them, same deal for the sports and Party games. She was playable in Smash starting with Melee, she was playable in the first two Mario RPGs (Super Mario RPG and Paper 64). Despite her role as damsel in distress, she was far from being put on the side when it came to non-mainline games. She even got her own platformer where she had to save Mario!

In some small ways, Peach actually reminds me of Luigi. He was player two in tons of games and absent in almost all big 3D games, meaning most players didn’t get to play as him in the majority of mainline games unless they played in multiplayer. Or he was playable but under specific conditions (pushing buttons in the right order for Mario Bros DS, finishing the main story and doing one special world in Mario 3D Land, literally finishing the game 100% in Mario Galaxy 1). And the first time he had his own game, it was in the early 2000s, less than 5 years before Super Princess Peach (granted Luigi’s Mansion was apparently a console launch title, which is a bigger deal; also no I’m not including that Mario is Missing shit), and it took forever to get sequels. And while he was playable in the Mario and Luigi series, he’s barely playable in the Paper series, neither is he in RPG.

Overall, while he does have much more playable appearances than Peach, a lot of it is conditional in the mainline games and he definitely struggled to get recognition, to the point of it becoming a recurring joke in the Mario and Luigi series + Nintendo made a whole “Year of Luigi” event to compensate for his lack of time under the spotlight.

As for personality, Luigi is shy and quiet, easily frightened, and often gets himself in trouble, with a few games needing you to save him. He looks up to Mario for safety and confidence and relies on him a lot, Mario basically being his rock. So you can definitely draw some parallels between him and Peach.

Now where am I getting with those parallels? Basically thinking about it, it does bother me a bit that Luigi gets praised for being an adorable dork while Peach is called bland and boring for expressing rather similar traits/being in the same situation, and I say that as someone who absolutely adores Luigi! In the end, I’m just going to assume it’s due to the weird hatred against women some gamers and fandom spaces have for some reason.

Speaking of which, since people claim to have an issue with Peach’s personality and how bland she is and how the movie “gave her a personality”, I’d argue that there’s nothing wrong with her character, the issue is her lack of screentime.

The best example of that is with Smash Bros Brawl. For most of the cutscenes, she’s getting captured left and right and is basically a non-character. But then there’s that cutscene on the ship where she takes the spotlight, and that scene is great! It’s incredibly fun to see that character during a huge crisis just pulling out tea out of nowhere and generally being more focused on befriending people than protecting herself. Seriously, while I strongly dislike how little agency Peach has in this story, I absolutely love this scene! Btw can we get some justice for Zelda? No because if Peach got shafted by the story, Zelda got it even worse. Even as a kid I could tell from her design that she could’ve done more to help, but instead the only time she actually does something, it’s as Sheik. Girl is clearly able to fight for herself yet she’s useless for the whole thing, it sucks!

The second best example is with the first Paper Mario trilogy, which is also probably my favorite version of Peach. The first game especially did a wonderful job at showing that just because Peach is captured doesn’t mean she has to stand around and do nothing, she can still help. This idea of having interludes with her sneaking around the castle does wonders for her character and really helps in making her personality shine, from her kindness to her wit to her adventurous side to her ability to put her foot down when interacting with Bowser.

Another thing I really like about it is how much it puts some of the kidnappings into perspective. In Paper 64, she finds items by sneaking around and then sends them to Mario. Hey remember the few games where she manages to send letters with one-ups and other items? Same with Mario 3D Land where she’s put in some sort of dungeon, tries to escape, and is put in a cage under high surveillance. Notice how in most New Bros games she’s in a cage when you reach Bowser’s castle, implying all those instances might have been failed attempts to escape.

Basically, while Peach doesn’t get much screentime, some games kind of makes you realize that she does a lot more than you’d think. She tries to get away, she tries to find ways to help Mario. She doesn’t just sit there and lament like many claim. Heck you can also see it in the 86 Anime and Adventures Comic. And reminder that the anime was created one year after the first Super Mario game!

Now the last example I have of Peach suffering from lack of screentime is with the Mario and Luigi series which, outside of the 2023 Movie, is probably my least favorite version of the character, not due to her personality but due to how wasted she is. And between those games being RPGs, meaning they’re supposed to focus on the characters, and the fact that the first Paper Mario games did such a good job with her character, the lack of screentime in those games is particularly aggravating.

In Superstar Saga, she’s actually pretty great! She’s fun, we see her kindness, playfulness, wit and desire for adventure shine. I especially like the way we see her craving for more adventures but can’t go on her own due to how defenseless she is. As someone who made a timeline of the games and has the first Paper trilogy + all the platformers with Peach playable taking place after this series, it’s a great way to slowly set up Peach’s growth into someone who can eventually go on her own adventures as a hero. Honestly the only issue I really have with Peach in that game is the game itself making a joke out of her getting kidnapped all the time. Not the greatest example of meta humor, guys...

I’ve also seen about half of Dream Team and she’s fine in it. I like how they brought back her thirst for adventures. But unlike Superstar Saga, she does feel more like a plot device in this one. Like there’s this whole section where Bowser and Antasma got the dream stone and Starlow is making a big deal about them kidnapping Peach, leading you to try and hide her. Thing is, if it was any other villain, I’d understand the urgency, but this is Bowser we’re talking about here. Peach is going to be fine, why are we wasting our time hiding her when we could focus on the bigger picture!

And even before that there’s this whole section of finding an older Pillow to reach Antasma for no other reason than Peach getting captured, because apparently they couldn’t think of any other excuse to have us meet the main villain, or give a reason for Bowser to show up for that matter. So yeah, the way they used her in Dream Team does make her feel like more of an object than a person, at least past the intro of the game.

But then we get to Partners in Time and Bowser’s Inside Story, and oh boy do I hate what they did with her. In PiT, you could literally take her out of the story and nothing of importance would change. The missing time machine? Just have the whole crew be Toads, it’s enough motivation for Mario. Petey Piranha? Either put a Toad, Kylie Koopa (and remove her scene later on) or even Baby Bowser, I mean why not! Princess Shroobs’ fake-out? Either keep that whole thing in since it’s technically not Peach (just have the characters comment on how she’s supposed to be on vacation or something and how weird it is that she’s there but oh well we gotta protect her) or, if you consider that cheating, just remove the scene and find a better excuse to have Bowser show up and go to the volcano. Or have Shroobs disguise herself as someone else, that’s still a possibility. As for the scene explaining who Elder Shroobs is? Was Peach even necessary in this scene? I mean, it’s pretty obvious what happened, and Elder Princess Shroobs could even explain it herself while gloating. I swear when I saw a let’s play of this game and Princess Shroobs commented on Peach now being useless to her, my first thought was “She was useful to you? Didn’t you try to kill her like an hour ago?”

As for Bowser’s Inside Story, she’s nothing more than a plot device. What does she do in that game? 1. Gives exposition about the Blorbs. 2. Is in danger as a means to motivate Mario. 3. Gives exposition about the Dark Star. 4. Is in danger as a means to motivate Bowser. Oh and did I forget to mention that she’s unconscious for the latter half of the game? Peach in that game could straight-up be replaced with a non-sentient magical item and the plot would stay the same. And I honestly don’t know what’s more insulting between that and what PiT did.

All-in-all, the issue with Peach isn’t her character, it’s the lack of time devoted to her. When she has enough room to be a character, she’s great! When she doesn’t, she’s either boring or a plot device, and it sucks that this is what most people remember her for when she has more going on than just getting kidnapped.

And since I’m out there giving my opinion on Peach’s different appearances throughout the franchise (you can skip directly to the conclusion if you want, this part is pretty off-topic):

My views on the first Paper Mario trilogy and the Mario and Luigi games are explained enough I think.

I also really like how she’s depicted in the 86 Anime. I like how she keeps standing up for herself against Bowser and talking back to him, on top of the usual being kind to Mario and co + her trying to be smart to escape. For Bowser, it’s like early on she realized he’s not going to raise his hands on her, so she’s free to fight back as much as she wants, even if she doesn’t have the abilities to get out of there by herself. Idk, while the Anime itself isn’t all that amazing (it’s pretty funny in how bonkers it is though), I really like what they did with both Peach and Bowser. And it’s pretty fascinating how their modern personalities aren’t that far off from this very early portrayal.

The Mario + Rabbids games also absolutely nail Peach’s character. It’s honestly kinda crazy when you think about it that both the 2023 movie and Sparks of Hope were being developed at the same time, both worked on by a different company that Nintendo had some level over but ultimately mostly gave advice to, and yet the movie struggles to depict the characters properly while Ubisoft did a ridiculously good job at it. Seriously, remember earlier when I said every character in the movie was a bit off? If you want to see a comparison, go see the cutscenes of the Rabbids games. And even if you don’t care about characterization, still do yourself a favor and go watch those cutscenes, they’re amazing!

The Adventures Comic is an interesting one. While she’s very provocative and willing to fight, she also doesn’t know how to do so, and it makes her scenes very funny. Like I love how in the beginning she rants about how she’s going to defend her kingdom, then the next time we see her she gets attacked by Lakitus and gets kidnapped. Girl lasted 10 seconds out there. That contrast of her being all bark but no bite is just very funny, and it fits well with how comedic the story is overall. Also, the way she’s so willing to act is probably why people remember her as a badass in it. Because she does talk like a badass, but she’s not one because her actions don’t follow suit. Still, I don’t take that comic much seriously so Peach is definitely very fun in it, and that’s enough for me. And again, that comic does a good job at showing that Peach’s biggest strength isn’t her ability to fight, it’s her wit and good heart, shown respectively with her tower escape and her constant desire to actively help.

Also, about this comic and how people see it, even outside of the fact they’re not the same as she doesn’t know how to fight in it, I find it really weird that this comic is used as proof that Movie Peach is in character, considering how 1. Before the movie, this comic was the only time in over dozens of portrayals that Peach was shown as confrontational; in statistics we call that an outlier, 2. This comic was made in the 90s, you’d think a more recent portrayal could be used as proof but nope, Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Showtime are still different from her comic and even more so her movie self, and 3. That comic is outdated anyways considering the Koopalings are said to be Bowser’s kids in it, so unless Nintendo came back on their words after re-releasing this comic in the late 2010s, it’s still outdated.

The mainline games are...the mainline games. I’d also put the second Paper Mario trilogy and Luigi’s Mansion 3 in the same basket. When she’s on-screen, Peach is her usual sweet self, but those games also suffer from barely giving her any time to shine. I do enjoy her depiction in games like Odyssey, Mansion 3 and the intro of 3D World (mostly because those cutscenes are cute), but again all those games definitely suffer from having her on the back-burner for pretty much the whole thing, and are the main reason why people dislike her character.

I also can’t help but wonder if Sunshine is the reason why she’s seen as a “dumb bimbo” by some people, especially given the “Mama Peach” trainwreck of a cutscene. And I will say, Peach definitely feels very meek in this game. She clearly can tell that something’s off, yet she barely insists on telling Mario and Toadsworth. You’d think a princess would be more assertive than that, especially when the Mario and Luigi games show that she’s not afraid to go against Toadsworth’s wishes.

Going back to the kidnapping issue, ultimately I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with her being kidnapped, especially when it’s impossible in the mainline games to beat Bowser directly without a power up (the intro of Odyssey straight-up shows that Mario can’t win against Bowser in a fist fight) meaning it’s normal for Peach to be unable to fight back easily. Bowser is incredibly powerful all things considered (enormous physical strength, fire breath, every part of his body is a weapon, can use magic, necromancer, can jump incredibly high, has an army at his disposal, his car clown heavily negates his slow walking speed), to the point where even Mario and Luigi are kidnapped sometimes (Super Princess Peach, 3D Land for Luigi, and while it’s not Bowser, Luigi’s Mansion for Mario too). This also all kind of leads into a message about working better together or how it’s okay to ask for help, which reminds me of that Tumblr post about how Mario never travels alone.

That being said, Nintendo should definitely either do something similar to Paper 64 (or at least what 3D Land did with the letters showing her try to escape, that’s already a start), either have her only kidnapped in specific games like the big 3D games the same way Luigi isn’t playable in almost all of those, or reinforce her role in other Mario series like making Showtime the first of several games + bring her back under the spotlight in the Paper Mario series. Again, when thinking of Luigi and his time under the spotlight, you can definitely do a similar work-around where she still gets kidnapped in some games while being playable in others, whether those others are different game series or for example around half of the upcoming 2D platformers.

And call me an ass for that but, while I’d love to have her playable in almost if not every 2D platformer, I still maintain that the big 3D games should keep having her getting kidnapped. Again, outside of Galaxy (and even then for the first one it was very conditional), Luigi doesn’t show up in those either. And if you maintain a good balance between her being kidnapped in the big 3D games + a handful of 2D platformers all while making her a major character in the RPGs and even getting her own series, you’re basically keeping the status quo of the kidnappings all while removing the issue of a lack of screentime.

(Note that my main “issue” with having less kidnappings has to do with Bowser’s character. If Bowser doesn’t kidnap Peach, you need another excuse for him to be the villain. And given how his crush on Peach, the main reason why he kidnaps her, is the first thing used to make him more of a softie which I love him being, I don’t want to see him do more and more messed up things all while his crush gets forgotten. Then again, him being a dad is currently the main thing Nintendo uses to make him a softie, and Origami King still showcased his crush despite him being a teammate, with the two upcoming RPG remakes following the same trend)

Not very much to say about her depiction in the sports and party games. The characters don’t exactly have much personalities here, so other than more proof on how her body language should be, there isn’t really anything to say in terms of “I like/dislike the way they portrayed this character”...also I don’t own a single sports game and only have like 3 party games (DS, Island Tour and Super) so outside of watching the cutscenes there’s not much I know about those games.

Conclusion

Edit: Ended up making a table explaining the differences so putting it there as a good way to wrap up the comparison. While I won’t edit that part of the post as it’s a small thing, note that I ended up considering Movie Peach as not being someone who gets angry as all her “angry” moments are her being serious, and she also doesn’t come off as a stubborn person as she doesn’t have to argue in her choices and doesn’t have moments where people tell her something’s a bad idea yet she does it anyways.

+ Huge difference in body language, mannerisms and facial expressions

+ Huge difference in voice if you want to take it into consideration

+ Slight difference in facial structure if you want to take it into consideration

Finally, a few closing thoughts about this whole thing, and more specifically the fact that one of my two biggest issues is her fighting abilities. Thing is, when you look at her jumping on enemies in the platformer games, her abilities in the sport games, the fact she’s in Smash and the upcoming Showtime game, it’s very easy to disprove my arguments, since Games Peach very much knows how to defend herself. And while I maintain that she’s not that great of a fighter in the games compared to the movie and is more of a pacifist, I understand this view. And thinking about it more, I think the true issue with her movie self is the attitude Illuminations has about it.

As said much earlier, it feels like Illuminations doesn’t like Peach in the games. I also think I’ve seen somewhere that her VO made a comment in an interview about finally giving Peach some personality, something along those lines? Then there’s also the supposedly original script where Peach was the main character, and how Nintendo told Illuminations to rewrite it upon reading it.

And even outside of the production info, that disdain over her Games character is all over the movie. Toad keeps hyping her up, along with other characters. During the training montage, when she does the demonstration, the camera slows down to show just how “cool” and “badass” she is. You get the vibe that, even if Mario wasn’t here, she still would’ve gotten the Kong army and taken on Bowser all by herself. There really are moments where it feels like the movie is going “Hey look at what we did with Peach! Isn’t she awesome! Isn’t she so much better than that wimp that keeps getting captured!” The best example of that is when she saves Toad on Rainbow Road. Like, this was the worst offender for me.

Princess Peach Showtime, on the other hand, gets who Peach is. The intro shows her going on a stroll with her little pink parasol. She cowers when Stella uses magic on her. And while she has a swordfighter and Kung Fu outfits, said outfits are given just as much importance as her baking and detective outfits, the former showcasing the one hobby Peach has been into for years, and the latter showing off her intelligence. And even outside of those outfits, her main attack is magic, more specifically a cute little pink ribbon. Also, like mentioned way earlier, the fact that it takes place on a stage gives the impression that Peach is playing roles, though again it doesn’t diminish her abilities.

I think that’s why I can’t stand her fight-oriented attitude in the movie but can’t wait to play Showtime. The movie looks down on Peach’s character and feels the need to “improve” it by changing many things about her, while Showtime embraces who she is and simply expands on it by giving her a more action-oriented role with the abilities she already possesses. I think that’s also why her body language in the movie bothers me, as it goes into that direction of “making her stronger” by removing her mannerisms. Now, again, there are a few more things other than her fighting abilities that they did wrong with her character, there’s a reason this post is so long after all. But by the end of it, I think it really comes down to how much disdain Illuminations has for Peach.

And on that note, you have no idea how relieved I was when the first trailer for Showtime dropped and Peach was her normal self! While I know the movie is going to get sequels, meaning we’ll keep seeing this random badass woman cosplaying as Peach, it’s at least very relieving to know Nintendo is going to keep writing Peach the way they’ve always done. And I can’t wait to see what Nintendo got in store for this wonderful, adorable, hyperfeminine, incredibly kind, witty, soft, cake-loving pink Princess!

Thanks for reading!

(All pictures were taken from the Mario Wiki except the first one that’s from the 86 Anime and the Mario Odyssey one)

#Super Mario #Princess Peach #Princess Toadstool #Mario Movie #Movie Peach #Flor talks #long post #VERY long post #been a while since I wrote such a long-ass thing; I kinda missed it #tho like usual I hope it's easy enough to read; especially given the amount of parenthesis in some parts #I love how some of those observations were actually made while writing this post #like I just wanted to comment on Peach wearing pants being normal; thought of all the times she did and went 'wait a minute'#same thing with Luigi; I knew for a while about him not being as playable as one might think #but then the thought of it came and it was like 'hold on there's a parallel here'#also I love how I say 'Games' Peach but then mention the 86 Anime and Adventures Comic as part of 'Games' Peach #granted the 86 Anime is pretty much the basis for her modern personality; same for Bowser btw

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